Inside #RankBrain: What #Google's new search algorithm means to you

Inside RankBrain: What Google's new search algorithm means to you During the past month, Google's RankBrain has been the focus of conversation for many digital marketers and search engine optimization (SEO) experts. But what exactly is RankBrain? Will it change SEO best practices in any way? Or will it prove to be ... read moreGoogle Search Now Surfaces App-Only Content, Streams Apps From The Cloud When Not Installed On Your Phone In addition, when Google finds in-app content that points to a mobile app you don't already have installed on your smartphone, it will offer you the option to "stream" the app instead. That doesn't mean ... to your search query inside mobile ... read more

FAQ: All About The New Google RankBrain Algorithm You may hear them both used interchangeably, or you may hear machine learning used to describe the type of artificial intelligence approach being employed. No. RankBrain is part of Google's overall search "algorithm ... this new system has become ... read moreHow Google Aims to Dominate Artificial Intelligence Crafting human search algorithm may soon be over after Google announced a new artificial intelligence referred to as RankBrain ... then you search "where was he born?" Google would then assume that "he" referred to the previous search to mean ... read moreGoogle starts crawling 'deep links' in Android mobile apps Previously Google has championed mobile-friendly websites, adjusting its mobile search algorithm to favour sites that ... It certainly offers a new means of using quality content inside your app to help promote it to new users. Getting more people using ... read moreGoogle's Research Boss on Turning Exploration into Products Google, as they called it, is now just one division inside ... summer. You can search your personal photos by typing, say, "dachshund" and it will find a picture of a dachshund if you have one. That's based on an advanced computer-vision algorithm ... read moreGoogle Provides Inside Look Into Algorithm Tweaking Process Google tweaks its search algorithms over 500 times a year. You may have already known that, but Google is sharing a new video today designed to give ... The video then looks at the "did you mean" and "showing results for" features as an example. read moreMicrosoft Lumia 950 review: Not a flagship, but a first step Rather than just peck out emails and rough drafts on the new Lumia 950, Windows 10 makes it ... That said, the general dimness of the screen means those colors often feel a little muddy -- you'll notice this more in photos with lots of warm colors. read moreHow to get the most from RankBrain, Google's new ranking-robot Google Senior Research Scientist Greg Corrado says turning off RankBrain would be like "forgetting to serve half the pages on Wikipedia." RankBrain is the first version of a new ... extracts meaning from queries so Google's search algorithms can ... read moreM, JWN, FB, AMZN: Jim Cramer's Views NEW YORK (Real Money ... and I think Amazon's amazing as you know from FANG, which also includes Action Alerts PLUS names Facebook (FB - Get Report) and Google (GOOGL), as well as Netflix (NFLX) -- people still go to the mall. Sure, not like the ... read more

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Mastering Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO): A 2015 Primer

One of the first SEO tutorials I wrote for CanadaOne was on Targeting the Google index or country in which you are marketing. It's an important step along the path to high rankings in Google Local that is not clear to many people who have targeted a specific or multi-country strategy. In July of 2012 I published The Google Local Search Primer which was basically a tutorial on how to rank in Google Local results.  At that time I broke the primer down into 3 steps which were:

Google Local page optimization

Optimizing your Google Local website landing page

Links and citations

One of the main resources that I use for Local SEO strategy is the Local SEO ranking factors compiled by David Mihm which was the main reference for the original tutorial. After 2012 the next important changes came about via the Pigeon update which you can learn more about in pigeon advice from local SEOs and the most recent changes are outlined in Local SEO ranking factors 2015. In this post I will be writing primarily about the latest changes to the ranking factors with some anecdotes about other changes that occurred between now and the Local SEO Primer. I will address the changes and provide some tips on future proofing your Local SEO.

Changes to Local Search Since Last Local Search Primer

In preparing this post I reviewed a lot of material on the topic to determine what changes if any have occurred in Local search since the original Local SEO primer. There have been a number of changes to the role of citations and links and most of all changes in the role of your GMB page (Google My Business page) which was formerly the merged Google+ Page and Places page which was just plain Google Places before that. The Places page was the first to appear in the SERP but after the merge of your Places and Google+ Brand page the algorithm became more focused on the explicit info and signals in the composition of the Google+ Local page.

Location and Distance in Local Search Algorithm

The Pigeon update began the move towards the website listed in GMB (Google My Business) contributing more to the Local search ranking algorithm. This a trend that has seen Google go farther and farther down the implicit signal path adding several signals from the website to the point where the NAP being on and matching what is included in your GMB page being a big factor. It also was the beginning of change to the location and distance ranking algorithm and this has also been changed significantly since the Pigeon update. The location algorithm has changed to a user centric measurement from the address's distance from the city/region centre. So now the algo looks for results based on distance from the user whereas in the past distance was based on distance from the core of the geographic region.

Note that although this is very true if the user can be identified as located in the geo targetted city I have to believe that if the user is not in the target city then it makes sense that they revert back to the original "distance from the core"  formally used by Google for GEO targetted queries. It also means that if you search for say hockey Google will return results with local professional and amateur teams in your area.

This is the first time that I've really seen the distance/location algo discussed. IMO, although all the experts seem to be saying this is new I am not convinced that this is an ever evolving algo that will become more and more user centric. For many things like restaurants etc. I've felt for quite some time that these are more based on the users location. IMO, this is amplified in a mobile environment where they may know exactly where the user is. I would not base any strategy on the location/distance algo because it is changing too fast. For instance one way to capture more traffic in this new scenario is to have multiple locations in different parts of the city. This will not be as useful in smaller regions where all the addresses would be within the algo distance calculation.

Local SEO SERP Display Changes

One of the biggest changes from the original primer is that it is again going through a transformation in the display of your Google My Business Info in the SERP. Phone numbers and other data points seem to be moving in and out of the SERPs with phone numbers and links to the GMB on Google+ being removed almost randomly in that one day they are there and the next they are gone. This is pretty much standard operating procedure as this is how Google tests searcher preferences and changes to the actions the user takes. IMO, they are removing these items to see how they affect click throughs on the new home service ads because if there are phone numbers and Google+ links in Local pacs people are liable to phone or click the G+ over clicking the ads.

There has also been a significant reduction in the number of listings in a Local pac from 7 (in most cases) to 3 listings. There are a lot of sites affected by this and the outcry from local SEO practitioners has been loud. I don't really understand this because this is not the first time that this change has taken place. In the past the algorithm for the number of listings and position of the Local pacs has changed and returned and changed again so I wouldn't panic, but, I would definitely make the effort to get into the top 3 listings so that when these changes to the algorithm happen they do not affect you negatively. I am looking into it further but my first impression is that when Google took the focus off the GMB page onto the business website for local rankings so links and especially "local links" have become more important.

Your Google My Business Page is Less Important to Rankings

In addition to the changes in the display of GMB data in the SERP there seems to have been a dilution of the GMB page as a major component of the Local Search ranking algorithm especially when compared to the algo at the time of the original Local SEO primer. Although there is correlation between Google+ activity and ranking it is increasingly apparent that Google+ Local and GMB are like other social signals that are correlated to ranking in that it does not seem to be the cause for higher ranks. Whether that notion was ever true is up for debate and I should admit that I am becoming even more sceptical of social signals as ranking factors. A recent whiteboard on the Moz came to a similar conclusion. For me "Social signals" are to SEO ranking what pyrite is to gold! Easily mistaken for the real thing by fools not willing to look closer! When this nonsense started I immediately pointed out that many of the signals cited as ranking metrics are blocked by Robots.txt on any Social Net work not willing to be robbed of their data by search engines hungry for social data.

Before going on and saying that the onpage factors on the website linked to from GMB is now an important factor in ranking I will add that the pendulum swings both ways where your GMB page is concerned. It has been the focus at times and other times they have gone with what is on the website. IMO, the website signals have become more important as Google begins to trust/include more implicit signals in local search rankings. As it turns out the explicit data submitted to Google for the GMB page was quite likely less dependable (accuracy!) than implicit data on the site which is likely used by the user to go to the location!

It is no surprise to me that home service ads were introduced because **in general** the industries targeted as purchasers of the ads were also the biggest abusers of the explicit data provided through their Google+ page. You could argue that their willingness to go to great lengths to manipulate/overdue optimization of the data and take on the accompanying risk makes them top prospects to pay for the digital real estate they were/are squatting on.

Structured Data

Google's focus has moved further off of the GMB page for business info to the website page listed in the GMB. Structured data seems to have become the strongest signal that you can send Google to disambiguate the NAP and other business info to establish your brand/business as an entity. I have begun to make a point of adding organization schema using the name, URL and logo itemprops on almost all pages on a website. There was recently a discussion in the SEO Dojo group where a member shared a site that had 5 NAPs in the footer of the home page. The member was under the impression this was not a good practice and in most cases that is true because multiple NAPs makes choosing the right NAP hard for Google.

The site was able to use schema structured data to disambiguate the addresses. Furthermore, by removing the schema structured data from the NAPs in the footer of their location pages they were able to disambiguate the NAP for their location pages. IMO, if you have real locations and aren't faking the locations using structured data on these "doorway type" pages adds value and higher trust to pages optimized for locations. Implemented correctly I strongly believe that structured data is treated as a value add to lower quality pages. On Bill Slawski's blog he wrote How Google May Use Schema Vocabulary to Reduce Duplicate Content in Search Results which shows a few ways that Google can/could use structured data to handle duplicate content.

Links and Citations

Another topic that was often cited by Local SEO's as gaining importance is building links and structured and unstructured citations. I would say that in the current environment that any mention of your site in local websites (linked or unlinked) is a huge factor in local rankings. Not to brag but after Pigeon I had already moved my link prospecting to local/country and topic specific targets. It was evident to me that this was where the algorithm was headed where links and citations were concerned. IMO, links and citations are more about location and topics than PageRank. PageRank is still a factor in the link equity passed, but, if you are a local centric business the location of the blog is just as important as the PR since most have little if any PR. After the latest update I saw a huge move in overall visibility because I had been targeting local/topic specific sites for over a year!

Future Proofing Local Search Rankings

Future proofing to a large extent is about understanding the capabilities of search engines, having a general understanding of IR (Information Retrieval) in particular the characteristics and trust placed in the explicit and implicit signals that are in Google search. So when I am future proofing my SEO I want to understand what kind of signal I'm manipulating because each has characteristics that affect trust and therefore either raises or lowers risk of manual or algorithmic penalties:

SERP click analysis (likely the best of the implicit signals since they occur on the Google site)

bounce rates (Google has said they don't use GA in ranking so I've never really understood bounce rates as a signal since Google can't really analyze much more then jumps from SERP to site and return)

on page implicit signals from behavioural data like dwell time and scrolling (think about the technologies involved because unless they have a way to collect the data and pass it via something Google controls... it aint happenin!)

I have assumed that when Google says we do not use Google analytics for ranking... It's true! Another unknown is what user behaviour data is collected from the chrome browser. Again I'm not sure of what or if behaviour data is stored as IMO, storing user behaviour data woulld result in a lot of data that is more likely used in machine learning for tuning the Panda algo than a factor in ranking websites. What seems like a ranking factor is more likely to be about the site quality score than the bounce rate or dwell time on .

These are examples of extremely noisy signals where some, I assume, are dependent upon a Google application to send the data outside of Google Analytics (GA) since they've said on a few occasions GA is not used in rankings. Explicit signals come directly from the user so in an age before structured data and machine learning these explicit signals would "seem" to be superior signals for the NAPs and business information the GMB provides. The noise around implicit signals is well documented in IR circles. Therefore when I read in the deep dive on the Local SEO Ranking Factors how these implicit signals (bounce rates, dwell time and scrolling in particular) are becoming a bigger factor I have to say I am very, very, sceptical mainly because of the type of signal they are. Those kinds of implicit data are hard to collect and easily abused!

I do believe that over time click analysis has grown considerably in importance. I have believed for many years that click analysis is a major factor in determining what search verticals appear in Universal Search. Before that I had suspected for years that click analysis was the reason for seasonal products to drop in the ranking in the off season. For the purposes of future proofing I have worked under the principle that it made sense for Google to lower the rankings of transactional sites that are out of season and raise the rankings of sites that are more informational in nature as that better reflects user search intent. This often is the case on general search terms where the SERP is a hybrid of transactional and informational sites. Therefore strategies that use the hypothesis have a better chance for success. For instance, all other things being equal, a sale on bikinis in June is going to have a better chance for success than a sale in January.

Structured Data

One of the takeaways from the Local ranking factors 2015 post on MOZ was that structured data and citations were must haves for a successful Local SEO campaign. IMO, this is partly due to structured data providing pseudo explicit data on the website. I would try to add as much of the explicit data from your GMB (store hours etc) in schema to your footer. At the very least I want to add those details to the home page footer. IMO, the recent local updates have moved further away from using GMB explicit signals in Local Search rankings choosing to rely more and more on the website's verifiable implicit signals.

That said, I'd add the caveat that the information in your GMB should be included in the footer and marked up with structured data. If Local SEO were a poker game I'd say that an optimized GMB page and NAP marked up with structured data is the ante; Oraganization schema markup and an optimized GMB is the first call bet and website authority is your "all in" bet!

Link and Citations

I have felt for a very long time that the metrics many SEO's have used for prospecting for links have been misguided or down right bad! I don't see the point for a local plumber to be prospecting out of the service area unless all the prospects in the region are exhausted because that matches where they can get business from and the SERPs/keywords they are targeting would be searched from. Basically assuming that the user centric location/distance algo does not change much if your business is regional in nature I would keep my prospecting to topic centric relevant sites within the region/country my business was in.. For my local Toronto clients I target Toronto and Ontario (the province) and Canada (country) sites relevant to the topic.

I especially don't really see the point in gathering unstructured citations from anywhere else. I find Link Prospector to be by far the best for local link prospecting because you can target blogs and other Google verticals, country indexes and presets for techniques like finding guest blogging, news and other specific types of sites like associations, resources etc. I'd like to also point out that some link prospecting techniques like guest blogging and press releases may be more suitable to local SEO then for ranking in general. Especially if local SEO is a strong motivator for trying to get a link from a site.

Conclusion to Local Search Primer Changes

If someone asked me for the elevator pitch version of this post I'd say "Google is now using more implicit signals from your website and links as the most important source for ranking your website and put less emphasis on the explicit data in structured citations and your Google GMB page!". That said I would not stop all activity on your Google Plus page, however, I would decrease the activity substancially preferring to use the resources spent in these activities to techniques that garnered local links. For instance offline events that provide local content and promotion would result in links and citations that are local.

Source: Mastering Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO): A 2015 Primer

#SEO #News Roundup: #Google Trials App-Only Content on Mobile Search

SEO News Roundup: Google Trials App-Only Content on Mobile Search Google is currently trialling the introduction of app only content on mobile SERPs. Currently experimenting with nine apps on the Android platform, the beta will index app-only content so that it is visible on mobile when relevant to the search query ... read moreSix of the most interesting SEM stories of the week Welcome to our weekly round-up of all the latest news and research from around the world of search marketing and beyond. This week: updates to multiple Google products, a single concession to Bing and many instances of mobile phone screenshots that you can ... read more

Street Fight Daily: Google Delivers Same-Day, Local Search on Mobile A roundup of today's big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology. Google Shopping Express Test ... Only 29% Of Consumers Regularly Use Mobile Devices To Find Local Businesses (Search Engine Land) Mobile Internet usage is growing hugely ... read moreTechnology Stock Roundup: TWTR-GOOGL Deal, YHOO Rollercoaster - Analyst Blog Since most news and media events break ... two led Twitter to end the agreement and Google had to close down its Real Time Search Engine service that was based on input from Twitter. The integration is live on mobile at the moment but will also be ... read moreRoundup: Hulu eyes world domination, Schmidt busts antitrust talk, Nokia plots app store and more Hulu closer to going global — The online video site backed by NBC Universal and Fox has signed a bevy of content ... has more. Google Founders' letter casts wary eye on Wolfram | Alpha — Widely circulated today, the search engine's annual letter ... read moreChina's Porn Trick Authorities even recruited college students and mothers to help in the roundup. The officials managed ... the foreign interloper Google, accusing the search engine of allowing too much porn to show up in results. By picking on a suspect foreign company ... read moreWhat's New in Digital Scholarship: Tracking SOPA, when filter bubbles aren't bubbles, and the uses of incivility How filter-y are search engine filter bubbles, really ... "Newspaper paywalls — the hype and the reality: A study of how paid news content impacts on media corporation revenues": Study from Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, published ... read moreHow to create a mobile website for your business Features include click-to-call, SEO ... Google maps integration. mobiSiteGalore has a huge selection of available features that you can draw on to create some very sophisticated mobile websites. Features include widgets to do site search, add Google News ... read moreHotel Mobile Marketing & Distribution Do's and Don'ts The Google ... prefer a mobile app only in the following three categories: social networking, music and games. For everything else they prefer to browse (i.e. search for mobile websites). In every other category that pertains to travel research, planning ... read moreHotelTonight expands and official launch for Crashpads, GetYourGuide uses British monarch, Gmail goes visual, and more Today Google announced a trial of a visual ... will be able to search for accommodation from providers such as InterHome and TUI. Roomlr is using a tool provided by NextPax known as the PaxGenerator to power the new search engine. The site claims to ... read more

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Source: #SEO #News Roundup: #Google Trials App-Only Content on Mobile Search

#Google Can Now Open #Apps You Haven't Even Installed

Google Can Now Open Apps You Haven't Even Installed Last year, Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google bought a small company called Agawi. At the time, the company specialized in streaming native mobile apps over the Web, so users could preview them before deciding to download them. It's now clear ... read moreDon't want to install that smartphone app? With Google, you may not have to There was once a time when searching the Web meant sitting in front of a desktop computer and typing words into the search box at Google.com. Now ... you tap a button, Google will open up the app so you can book a room, even if you don't have it installed ... read more

Google App Streaming: A Big Move In Building "The Web Of Apps" It would get even ... of app links if developers themselves haven't implemented the right code. Also, other than with the new app streaming test, you won't see app links unless Google knows that you have an app installed. With Android, Google can ... read moreGoogle Search Can Now Stream Apps Onto Android Phones This is a feature that Google has introduced a couple of years ago, but now it looks like Google will be taking things to the next level. Prior to this if you didn't have the app, you'd have to install ... can quickly and easily find what you need, and ... read moreGoogle Update: Now You Can Use the App Without Installing It Google seems to be evolving at every turn. Now, it has come up with a way to enjoy endless apps on your devices. It will allow you to explore apps on your phone without installing it, creating a new account for them and can even access them anytime. read moreGoogle's latest experiment will let you use apps you haven't downloaded See also: Google now shows you ... app directly, it will open a streamed version of the service. The streamed version will look almost identical to the app itself, Rajan Patel, the lead engineer on the effort, says, even though the app isn't actually ... read moreGoogle boosts mobile search: Now it surfaces app data and streams apps Now ... app-streaming from Search, so users can interact with an app that they haven't yet installed. App-streaming will, however, require a decent Wi-Fi connection, according to Google. "With one tap on a Stream button next to the HotelTonight app result ... read moreGoogle is Now Letting You "Stream" Apps Without Ever Installing Them Back in April, Google started indexing apps in Google Search to show relevant information from them in your results, even ... them to open an app as a search result, creating an experience similar to what you would see if you had the app installed on ... read moreGoogle and the Future of Apps One of the major benefits of many apps is that they continue to function fine even without good (or any) connectivity, since much of the content is stored locally. Streaming apps can, by definition, only work when you ... its Google Now assistant context ... read moreFacebook Now Using Google App Indexing To Drive Visitors From Search Into Its App One notable class of pages that haven't gotten Google App Indexing are personal posts or status updates that are open to the public. Google is able to index these now ... that Google can't index — and most cases, if you're talking apps from ... read more

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Source: #Google Can Now Open #Apps You Haven't Even Installed

How to Help Your New Website Get Indexed on Google

Imagine this. You're an entrepreneur with a hot new product. You're about to launch your website, sell your product, and change the world.

All you need to do is get your website up and running. Oh, and you need to get it to rank, too.

So, how are you going to do it?

Is it possible to create a new website and start ranking on the first page of Google in just a few weeks?

The old-school SEO companies used to claim they could get a "first position" ranking for your company. Today, the SEO game is much different. You can't guarantee or get first-page ranking with the same bag of black hat tricks. Today, there's a new content-driven, user-focused approach to SEO.

The process is different, but it is still possible to get your website ranked quickly. I'll explain how.

Know What You're Targeting

First, you need to define what it is you're trying to rank for. There is no such thing as simply ranking. You have to rank for a given keyword.

As you prepare your site for first-page success, decide what keywords you're trying to rank for. I recommend selecting a few long tail organic keywords. Long tail keywords consist of more than four keywords. They provide the best level of focus and concentration for your site's SEO.

Marketing Hub wrote a succinct post that defines long tail keywords and factors that proves its power.

According to Moz's research, long tail queries account for more than 80% of all organic traffic on the Internet.

Here's why this is important. If you want to rank for a head term, you have virtually no chance of ranking, let alone in the first few weeks of your site's existence. For example, let's pretend you want to rank for the term "mobile phone".

Based on a keyword grading analysis from Moz, this is a hotly contested term.

The sites on the first page of Google have extraordinarily high Domain Authority — as high as 100 (Wikipedia) and 95 (Samsung). You don't stand a chance.

But why would you want to target a word like that anyway? According to research, longtail keywords have more impressions, more clicks, and more conversions.

That's what you want, right — more impressions, clicks, and conversions?

If so, then it's in your best interest to choose a longtail term.

If you want to rank on Google, first define what keywords you're targeting, and then you can move on to the tactical methods described in this article.

Make Sure You Have a Search Optimized Foundation

The foundation of great SEO begins with a good CMS (content management system), and a good website.

I recommend you build your site using WordPress. WordPress is the world's most popular CMS for good reason. It's intuitive, powerful, customizable, and provides a great platform for SEO.

WordPress by itself, however, doesn't mean that your site will be optimized. You must select a WordPress theme. A theme is the way that your website looks, and how it works.

Tips for selecting a theme:

Use a theme that has good support. You can probably find a bunch of free themes, but they may not have the level of support you need.

Select a theme that is lightweight and fast. Site speed is a critical SEO factor, so you want to choose a theme that does not have bloated code. I've found the Genesis Framework by StudioPress to have some of the best and strongest coding.

Choose a mobile optimized theme. A mobile and responsive site is now a requirement for search optimization. According to Google's mobile algorithm, a site that is not mobile friendly will not be as likely to appear in mobile search results.

Once you've got the right theme, I recommend you conduct the next step — installing an SEO plugin. An SEO plugin like Yoast doesn't do SEO for you. It simply makes it easier for you to do SEO.

Yoast is my choice for SEO plugin, because it provides full functionality for most of the critical SEO elements (apart from SSL and caching, which are handled by other plugins).

I consider these three features — the right CMS (WordPress), the right theme (your choice), and the right plugin (Yoast) to be foundational to a search optimized site. You don't have to take my recommendations regarding CMS or plugins. If you follow the steps below, you'll still be able to rank on the first page of Google.

Don't Allow Your Site to be Indexed Until it's Ready

Your new website is like a Christmas present. You want it to be wrapped up and put under the tree until it's time to open it up.

Like a good Christmas present, you don't want anyone to see it until it's time to be opened.

To do this for your website, you can create a robots.txt that tells the search engines not to crawl your site. You may also add a noindex and nofollow tag to the site's header. In WordPress, you can do this by adjusting the site's privacy settings. Your website hosting provider may even allow a cPanel password protection if you want to add another layer of access security to your site.

The moment you want your site to be live, you should remove these tags (and the password), and let the indexation begin.

Create a Ton of Content

This is where the true SEO power is — creating content. Content is what makes the search world go around.

The most powerful way to propel your site to the top of the SERPs is by developing a lot of content before you let your site get crawled and indexed.

I recommend creating long form content. The exact definition of "long" is debated. Most people agree that long form content is an article or page consisting of 2,000 words or more. What's indisputable, however, is the impact that long form has in the search results.

SerpIQ discovered long content is correlated with higher search results. In other words, the more content on a page, the higher that site ranked in the search engines.

When Moz measured word count and search ranking, they found a similar trend. Longer content received better indexation, higher ranking, and more backlinks — all ingredients to a successful website.

My research and testing corroborated these findings. Long content like the kind I publish on my blog gets stellar rankings, compared with equivalent and high-quality content of a shorter length.

To help your website get ranked quickly, here is what you should do:

Create at least 25 longform pages.

Make each page focused, high-quality, and relevant for your target audience.

Use keywords or semantic variants in the page titles.

Make these pages 2,000 words or longer.

Once your site goes live, it will make a major indexation splash, and start to soar in the SERPs. Even though many SEOs know that longform content works, it's hard to actually do the hard work of creating it.

If you do the work of creating the content, then the search engines will find you and rank you accordingly.

Keep Creating Content

Don't simply create the content and stop. Keep at it.

The search engines reward websites that have a regular output of high quality content. Based on Moz research, the freshness of your content influences its ranking.

One of the things working in favor of a new website is the fact that it is new. Due to Google's algorithm, newer websites — or recently updated websites, to be more precise — are likely to edge out more authoritative sites that publish content less frequently.

As an example of this, check out the following SERP (with scores from Moz). The top ranked page for "credit card score" is a page on CreditKarma.com. Notice that this page outranks both CreditCards.com and Credit.com. Why is this the case?

One reason is CreditKarma.com has been updated in the last two weeks. The other two sites have not been updated recently. Even though they have hundreds of thousands more backlinks, double the page authority, and more rank, CreditKarma steals the show. Even though it's the new kid on the block, it gets higher ranking due to regular updating.

The takeaway is straightforward. Even though you may gain great ranking, you cannot rest on your success. You must continue to create great content if you expect to maintain your position.

Promote Your Content

Finally, you need to get people to read your content.

Many times, a site won't get recognized by the search engines until it gets recognized by users. Why is this the case? It has to do with the impact of user metrics on search ranking.

When Google ranks a site, it does so based on more than 200 factors. One of those factors is <i>how many people click the site in the SERPs. The number of people clicking your site from the SERPs isn't any secret. You can find out yourself using Google webmaster tools.

Moz considers this to be one of the top ten categories of the Google algorithm.

The more people you have looking for and clicking on your site, the better your ranking.

This introduces a bit of circularity into the issue. In order to get high rankings, you must have a lot of searches and visitors. But in order to get a lot of searches and visitors, you must have high rankings. Which comes first? How do you jump into the cycle?

The answer lies in promotion. Don't simply publish content and expect it to magically become an overnight sensation. It's up to you to promote it.

How do you promote it? The goal of promotion is to get eyes on your content. People need to see it, read it, click it, share it, interact with it, comment on it, copy it, email it, etc.

Here is what you can do:

Facebook ads/promoted posts

Email newsletters

Sharing it with influencers and asking them to share it on their social networks

Posting it on Facebook

Posting it on Twitter

Posting it on Google+

Posting it on LinkedIn

Posting images on Pinterest

Posting it on industry forums

Posting it in comments

Promoting it using PPC

Syndicating it

Don't do anything dumb like buying links on Fiverr. Instead, go through the typical social and sharing channels.

Notice again, the algorithmic factors analyzed by Moz. Directly underneath "user usage" is the category, "Page-Level Social Metrics."

Page-level social metrics are things like Twitter and Facebook shares. The more social signals that circulate around your page, the better it's going to rank. You can impact this significant algorithmic feature by promoting your content as hard as possible.

Conclusion

Ranking on Google isn't complicated. The fact is, not a lot of people are willing to put in the hard work required to make a ton of high-quality content. It is demanding, but successful. Start with right foundation, and start pushing out the best content you possibly can.

Have you helped a new website rank quickly? If so, how did you do it?

Image Credits

Featured Image: nito/Shutterstock.comScreenshot by Neil Patel. Taken on November 2015.

Source: How to Help Your New Website Get Indexed on Google

#Google has publicly disclosed its search engine’s guidelines. Here’s what you need to know.

Google has publicly disclosed its search engine's guidelines. Here's what you need to know. | AutoTraffic Researchers study biofuels impact on bird biodiversity The overall findings present an interesting challenge for cellulosic biofuel developers seeking to produce cost-effective feedstock that also has the greatest ecological ... the feedstock to a point where its ability to sustain other life becomes hampered? read moreASK PHIL I'm having a tough time locating it but, I'd like to shoot you an email. I've got some creative ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it expand over time. read more

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Source: #Google has publicly disclosed its search engine's guidelines. Here's what you need to know.

#SEO #News Roundup: #Google Trials App-Only Content on Mobile Search

SEO News Roundup: Google Trials App-Only Content on Mobile Search Google is currently trialling the introduction of app only content on mobile SERPs. Currently experimenting with nine apps on the Android platform, the beta will index app-only content so that it is visible on mobile when relevant to the search query ... read moreSix of the most interesting SEM stories of the week Welcome to our weekly round-up of all the latest news and research from around the world of search marketing and beyond. This week: updates to multiple Google products, a single concession to Bing and many instances of mobile phone screenshots that you can ... read more

Street Fight Daily: Google Delivers Same-Day, Local Search on Mobile A roundup of today's big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology. Google Shopping Express Test ... Only 29% Of Consumers Regularly Use Mobile Devices To Find Local Businesses (Search Engine Land) Mobile Internet usage is growing hugely ... read moreTechnology Stock Roundup: TWTR-GOOGL Deal, YHOO Rollercoaster - Analyst Blog Since most news and media events break ... two led Twitter to end the agreement and Google had to close down its Real Time Search Engine service that was based on input from Twitter. The integration is live on mobile at the moment but will also be ... read moreRoundup: Hulu eyes world domination, Schmidt busts antitrust talk, Nokia plots app store and more Hulu closer to going global — The online video site backed by NBC Universal and Fox has signed a bevy of content ... has more. Google Founders' letter casts wary eye on Wolfram | Alpha — Widely circulated today, the search engine's annual letter ... read moreChina's Porn Trick Authorities even recruited college students and mothers to help in the roundup. The officials managed ... the foreign interloper Google, accusing the search engine of allowing too much porn to show up in results. By picking on a suspect foreign company ... read moreWhat's New in Digital Scholarship: Tracking SOPA, when filter bubbles aren't bubbles, and the uses of incivility How filter-y are search engine filter bubbles, really ... "Newspaper paywalls — the hype and the reality: A study of how paid news content impacts on media corporation revenues": Study from Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, published ... read moreHow to create a mobile website for your business Features include click-to-call, SEO ... Google maps integration. mobiSiteGalore has a huge selection of available features that you can draw on to create some very sophisticated mobile websites. Features include widgets to do site search, add Google News ... read moreHotel Mobile Marketing & Distribution Do's and Don'ts The Google ... prefer a mobile app only in the following three categories: social networking, music and games. For everything else they prefer to browse (i.e. search for mobile websites). In every other category that pertains to travel research, planning ... read moreHotelTonight expands and official launch for Crashpads, GetYourGuide uses British monarch, Gmail goes visual, and more Today Google announced a trial of a visual ... will be able to search for accommodation from providers such as InterHome and TUI. Roomlr is using a tool provided by NextPax known as the PaxGenerator to power the new search engine. The site claims to ... read more

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Source: #SEO #News Roundup: #Google Trials App-Only Content on Mobile Search

Tips to win at digital marketing - Paid search and SEO

Digital marketing's search engine marketing (SEM) can be summed up as a means to harness Google search for your business, as part of your businesses marketing mix to increase product sales and/or brand awareness.

SEM consists of search engine optimisation (SEO) and paid search (Google's AdWords) ads. Often businesses either invest in SEO or paid search ads but not both, or most likely not adequately investing in both. However, businesses should invest in SEM as a whole for various reasons.Paid Search can break through clutter via innovation Dunkin Donut's executed paid search in an innovative and powerful way. Be inspired by watching this video.SEO can piggyback off the latest tech to cut through clutter McDonald's harnessed "OK Google" voice search through SEO. This video explains it all.Keyword research Organic search and paid search keyword conversion data should be shared freely amongst both the SEO and paid search teams. For example, a well-executed paid search campaign will reveal insightful keyword-related data. This is the case because, for example, such a paid search campaign will show which keywords are resulting in the highest conversions, which, in turn, can then be focused on by the SEO team. In this way, SEO and paid search ROI can be maximised through focusing on the keywords that matter.Alignment makes SEM cost-effective This is quite obvious in highly competitive search categories, such as the financial industry. This is the case because paid search ads that target highly competitive keywords can be exorbitant. These expensive keywords would usually be popular non-brand-related search queries, keyword 'z' for argument's sake. Keyword 'z' costs many hundreds of rands per click, resulting in a massive monthly bill. Naturally, this source of business leads would also dry up as soon as you stopped paying for your ads, while SEO is ongoing ad not as 'payment sensitive.'

With SEO (assuming your website ranks #1 for keyword 'z') you will get a large amount of website traffic via keyword 'z', but you will only have to pay for SEO. What can end up happening is that paid search cost per conversions for keyword 'z' are much higher than SEO's cost per conversion for keyword 'z'. So, in this case, the paid search campaign was focused on brand-related keywords (less demand for them so they are affordable to target), where competitors' ads could potentially detract from the company's brand-related organic search listings.

These keywords perform better in terms paid search cost per conversion, while SEO focuses on the expensive keywords (in terms of paid search). Both SEO and paid search serve their purpose in a cost effective way.

'Owning' more of Google search However, when budgets allow for it, paid search and SEO should always work in unison. When a company's website ranks #1 in organic search, and #1 as an AdWords ad (for the same search query), there is often a boost in the number of people clicking through to your website via both the respective ad and organic search website listings. This is due to your company 'owning' more SERP 'real estate', i.e. the bigger the surface area in Google search that your company occupies the more attention your website will receive, like a massive billboard versus a small one. Mediative's independent research showed that the top performing ad gets roughly 10% of clicks for any given search query, while the #1 ranking organic search listing gets about 30% of clicks.

So your brand will 'own' approximately 40% of the search result page's clicks. One website I worked on showed an overall increase in click-through rate of over 35%, when its ad ranked first together with its number 1 ranking organic searc h listing. The reverse is true as well - your website could lose out on traffic if you don't have an ad above your number one ranking organic search listing. A competitor may syphon off clicks by ranking first as an ad, even if your website ranks first organically.

Ads can indirectly increase organic search traffic via the principle of attribution I have also observed paid search behave as a stimulus for organic search traffic. In other words, paid search ads can indirectly encourage people to click on organic search listings because of an increase in relevant brand awareness. I observed ads, which focused on keyword 'x', result in a monthly increase of over 100% in organic search-derived visits via keyword 'x' over the same period.Targeting the purchase funnel via organic search and paid search ads According to leading, independent research by Razorfish, "our research showed at least half (53%) of conversions and revenue happening through paid search are preceded by organic search visits within the previous seven days." So, in this case organic search acted as an awareness tool, while paid search 'closed the deal' at the end of the purchase funnel.

That being said, the reverse is also true - by targeting specific keywords along the purchase funnel, organic search can be used to engage effectively with consumers at any stage of the purchase funnel. Regarding the pre-purchase and awareness part of the purchase funnel, broad, category-based keywords (and related words) would be the focus. The decision-making part of the purchase funnel would focus on product-specific keywords. I've observed a blue chip, financial services company's website receive over 80% of their leads via organic search (with an amazing overall conversion rate of 20%). This also led to the highest number of l ong-term clients too, eclipsing all other sources of website traffic (including paid search). This company's paid search campaign was limited.

So, depending on your budget and other variables like time, an ideal mix of organic search and paid search ads can be harnessed to achieve excellent business results.

Quality score Another factor to consider is Google's Quality Score, which is an important element to consider when it comes to paid search. A Quality Score is a metric that is scored out of ten, which Google allocates to your prospective ad. A high Quality Score points out that your landing page (website page that your ad directs people to) is relevant to your paid search ad. Relevance refers to the contents of a landing page, which is where the strength of SEO lies.

I've seen high Quality Scores result in a lower cost per click (a cost metric relating to a company paying for each time a person clicks on its AdWords ad) and lower cost per conversion (the cost metric associated with receiving a specific business lead via the ad). Well-executed SEO on a landing page will result in a high Quality Score. Basically, the search phrases (what people Google search) you target with your ads should match the website's SEO-focused keywords. For example: A paid search campaign that targets keyword 'x' shoul d be driven to a landing page which has been optimised for keyword 'x' too.

What should your digital agency do? All of your brand's SEM efforts should be aligned by briefing the SEO and PPC teams at the same time regarding future marketing campaigns. The SEO team can create optimised landing pages and / or optimise existing pages to improve paid search campaign performance (indirectly via attribution and as direct landing pages). The SEO team should share SEO-related data (keywords with best CTRs and impressions etc.) with the paid search team and vice versa. Ensure paid search keywords are driven to optimised destination URLs (landing pages).Googling things is more popular than ever The future of SEM is bright. The consumer-related popularity of Google search within each of our client's industries is growing substantially by the day, across: mobile, tablet and tablet Google searches (in that order of significance).

There is therefore a solid business case to not only invest in SEM, as part of your company's marketing mix but also to ensure that you get it right.

Posted on 26 Nov 2015 13:26

Source: Tips to win at digital marketing - Paid search and SEO

Interview: #Google’s Head of #Travel on Its Transition to Booking Site

Interview: Google's Head of Travel on Its Transition to Booking Site When it comes to hotels, Google the search engine is transitioning toward becoming a booking ... Google's travel strategy, including for its new Book on Google functionality and Hotel Ads Commission Program. An excerpt of the interview follows. read moreInterview: Government digital chief Mike Bracken on the next five years GDS today is certainly the ingénue, recognised for its achievements and potential ... the idea of a common platform for all of government. Once you have that platform thinking, then you apply that to booking, registering, getting a licence – all ... read more

Expedia Books HomeAway For $3.9 Billion; Will Take On Airbnb based Expedia, the travel site spun off from Microsoft in 1999 that ... "'We are going to help HomeAway accelerate in its transition from a listings model to a booking model,' Khosrowshahi said, adding this will help it compete with Airbnb." read moreExpedia to buy HomeAway for $3.9 billion in cash, stock Expedia, the world's largest online travel ... off-site. However, it has announced that all listings would be available for direct booking by the end of next year, and it is adding a traveler fee. "We are going to help HomeAway accelerate in its transition ... read moreAmadeus and the new long game in hotel technology Late in 2013, Amadeus ... to air travel — central reservations, ticketing platforms, and the global distribution system [GDS] booking connections with agents. Amadeus might consider buying other Hotel IT companies to complement its current offer ... read moreBTC, Launching Site, Renews Group Purchasing Efforts In an exclusive interview ... automated travel booking, expense reporting, travel management reporting and data mining. BTC also will offer fulfillment, settlement and consulting services to its customers. The Web site will "make the transition to a ... read moreRupee will inevitably breach 60/USD: Credit Agricole Also Read: See profit booking, relief rally in Indian rupee: Emkay Rupee's underperformance against its Asian peers is likely to continue in the short-term due to India's ballooning current account deficit, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. The Reserve ... read moreMen's Basketball Wins Second Straight 81-59 on Saturday San Jose State (2-4) established its dominance from the start scoring the ... Cal State Fullerton is a very good transition team," said San Jose State head coach Dave Wojcik. "We pushed the ball and limited them to one shot. We want to play fast and ... read moreThe New York Times Just one day after Curry signed off, the advantage "Today" had over its top rival ... She nodded her head at all the right moments and said she would like to be able to travel more. She may have had reservations, but she agreed to give his idea ... read moreAsha Sharma From Porch.com Interview The site features stories from business-savvy and entrepreneurial ... she has been with the company from the start when it operated out of the CEO's basement, to its present day 17,000-square-foot office. As CMO, Asha continues to add fuel to the fire ... read more

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Source: Interview: #Google's Head of #Travel on Its Transition to Booking Site

The Optimized Publisher: Images

Expert publishing blog opinions are solely those of the blogger and not necessarily endorsed by DBW.

Let me drop some statistics on you: the Google domain was registered in September 1997, and today, the most popular search engine in the world indexes close to 50 billion webpages. Out of those webpages, Google has indexed more than 1 trillion page images for its Google Image Search (as of 2013).

In case you didn't know, images drive a lot of site traffic. Just look at the stats:

• Sixty percent of users are willing to consider search results that include an image.• Content that contains images leads to 94 percent more views.• More than 30 percent of users share images over the Internet.

Using search-optimized images on your webpages can give you a major advantage over your competitors. Book jackets and author images, pictures of book readings and other live events, or even a simple graph can significantly attract users and convert their visits to purchases.

But there are a few guidelines to follow when it comes to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of images. The average score for our participants for this SEO factor was a 2.2 (a "D" grade):

Image Size and Compression

When you have a great photograph, you want to share it with your family, friends and even strangers. But sometimes that "great" photograph can have some problems. It could be faded, too big to mail, or have "red eyes" because of the flash. Search engines can be a little picky about images, too, especially when it comes to size.

I talked a little bit about images and page load speed in a previous post. Large image files can really slow down page load speed for search engines and site visitors—a double whammy leading to lower page rankings. If you want to optimize your images for the web, consider these suggestions:

• Keep your images below 100k in size – As I said above, a large image can hamper your Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings. Resizing as many images as you can to under 100K can speed up search engine spiders, allowing them to crawl more of your site. Smaller image sizes also mean faster load times for users browsing your page.

The image for the book There Must Be 50 Ways to Practice Writing at WayzGoose Press is one of many over 100K in size.

Now, having one or two large images is not ideal, but it shouldn't damage your SEO. However, our evaluation showed that more than half of the WayzGoose images were over 100K. This many large image files could cause potential slowdowns for search engine crawlers indexing the website.

• Optimize, don't resize – Avoid letting your browser or site administrator resize your images for the page without also compressing your images to 100K or below. Resizing is just an effect: the image file size will remain the same no matter what you do to the image dimensions and slow your website load speed. Also, some file types degrade the image clarity when it is 100K or smaller. Stick to .JPG files for a majority of your images. Use .PNG for small images, such as icons. A high-resolution image may also be too much for most web browsing. At a minimum, your web designer should understand all of this and tell you, based on your website and the most common browser size of your users, what size your images should really be. For our purposes, keeping them under 100k should do the trick.• Edit your images – If you are going to use a 100K image, it should be of good quality, balanced and sharpened. If you are unfamiliar with Adobe Photoshop or other image editin g software, find someone who has strong skills in these areas to further optimize your pictures, especially images you take yourself. Get a second opinion before you post.• Exceeding the limit – Some pictures are just going to be over 100k in size if you want to preserve the quality or the clarity. In these instances, consider featuring a thumbnail that links to the full size image on a separate page.

Naming Your Image

As I mentioned in my Structured Data Markup post, the major search engines developed schema.org because most search engines have trouble discerning the traits of your product unless you tell them what those traits are. The same is true of images. Unless you explain what the image is, using specific content, Google just sees it as an image with no context. Remember, the search engines can't actually see what's in your image. You can remedy this with the following naming conventions:

• File naming – When you are naming your file, be as descriptive and unique as you can be. This lets the search engine (and the user) know what the image is about. Using ISBN numbers or other non-descriptive symbols provides zero information and leads to zero link juice, resulting in lower SERP rankings. Again, you need to tell the search engine exactly what the image is of, or it will not recognize it or understand when to display it when someone searches for what is in the image.

The image for InterVarsity Press's publication Two Steps Forward: A Story of Preserving in Hope is experiencing this issue.

The file name "http://www.ivpress.com/img/book/218h/4318.jpg" relates to the ISBN book code (ISBN-10: 0-8308-4318-3) and does not offer any information about the image or the book it belongs to. By replacing the numbers with part of the book title—"Two Steps Forward"—IV Press could provide search engines with a little context for the image. It should be noted that IV Press is good at keeping the images below the 100K mark (this one is at 41K).

• Using alt tags – An additional nudge for search engines to understand your images is the alt tag. This is content found in the page code, and describes your image fully to the search engine using more text (and context) than is found in an image title file name. The maximum size for alt tags is 125 characters, so choose your words carefully, but don't jam your alt tags full of extraneous keywords. Google and other search engines may interpret this as spam. Alt tags are also helpful if your user's browser cannot display the image or if they are vision-impaired and require a browser reader to understand webpage elements.

• Keep content relevant (and close-by) – If you want to give Google a few more clues as to the nature of your image (and improve your page ranking at the same time), be sure that your image relates to the rest of the content on the page. For example, if the image is of a book author, there should be text close to or surrounding that image that provides information on that author. Google will use images in the vicinity of the content on the page to inform them as to how to categorize the image. Context for content is key when it comes to images.

A Sitemap for Images

As I mentioned in my post about website architecture, organizing your website by siloing helps search engines categorize and users find your webpages more easily. So it would make sense that organizing your images would have similar benefits. By adding all your site images to specific directories and subdirectories, you create a shortcut for search engines when they try to locate your images.

Using Google Webmaster Tools/Search Console can make the creation of an image XML sitemap a bit easier. This will help Google locate your images quickly and present them in the SERPs correctly. (I'll be talking about XML sitemaps in a future post—it's one of the criteria we used in our rankings)

Using Images to Your AdvantageImages are more than just aesthetic and informative decorations for your website. They exist as another method for potential customers to find your books online through search engines, and must be optimized accordingly, like other page content and meta description tags. Using them correctly can open up additional opportunities for SERP rankings and social integration. So it is time to take a good look at your images and see if they are ready to be unveiled or if they need a bit more tweaking.

We will now be moving on to code validation. It's less pretty than images, but maybe more important to your SEO than you think or what some experts will tell you.

Are your site's images optimized for search? Let me know in the comments below.

Previous Article: Page Load and Page Crawl Speed

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Source: The Optimized Publisher: Images

How to Prepare Your #SEO Strategy for #Google’s New AI

How to Prepare Your SEO Strategy for Google's New AI Meanwhile, The Grid is a company getting ready to launch its new Web design platform that builds websites for users. Its AI ... prepare for Google's latest search changes: Only time will tell exactly what effect RankBrain will actually have on SEO ... read moreHow to get the most from RankBrain, Google's new ranking-robot Here's how to keep your ... AI search gets smarter about semantics and meaning, rich schematic results become increasingly relevant for ranking because Google may tend to favor them as desirable, "smart" results. High-quality SEO will help to make ... read more

What Content Strategies Work for Google Hummingbird SEO This is one of the many changes that come with the new Hummingbird algorithm, which is supposed to eventually make Google search a "conversation ... you should have a compelling content strategy, to deliver to your site visitors. read moreThe Future of SEO The Google founders have long been interested in AI ... make your business data machine-readable to search engines, Web applications, in-car navigation systems, tablets, mobile devices, Apple maps, SIRI, Yelp maps, Linked Open Data, etc. – Future SEO ... read moreHow to Flip Your Startup in 5 Steps Lastly, large companies that seek new ... your way to top of the app store. Consider it a type of SEO investment! The vast majority of startups fail. At this point, you will probably think about what your next steps should be. The key for a flip is to make ... read moreHow Google Hummingbird Changed the Future of Search The Hummingbird update was the most ambitious adjustment of Google's search algorithm since 2001. In today's post, we're going to look at what Google Hummingbird is, what it means for SEO ... make the arrangements while you go about your day. Google ... read moreGlimpses Of The Future: 10 Fringe SEO Predictions For 2015 Whether it's Social Media Predictions for 2015, How SEO Will ... that Know Your Every Thought." The far-flung future of search is: [insert your own adjective here]. Attend Marketing Land's SocialPro conference and learn fresh new strategies and ... read moreWhy Authority Marketing Campaigns are the New SEO for Google and Bing SEO, search engine optimization came about as strategies to raise websites ranking. This began in the 1990s. At that time search engines were new ... introducing AI, artificial intelligence into the online experience. Google's wants to make people's ... read more10 SEO Stories From the Front Lines Therefore, even if Google can see your JavaScript links, most other engines can't (certainly not international engines like Baidu). Navigation links are a very important part of SEO and ... a press release. Make sure you have a good strategy around ... read moreVox Pop: Will a robot take my job? Mobile in particular has seen new AI-driven contextual experiences arising this year. So Apple now can pretty accurately guess what App you want to open based on the time of day, where you are and whether your ... would make a good content strategy. read more

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Source: How to Prepare Your #SEO Strategy for #Google's New AI

Three user behavior metrics that make a difference in SEO

Even though you optimize like crazy for keywords and keyword groups, don't overlook another powerful, although somewhat mysterious, Google ranking factor: user behavior. There's strong evidence that optimizing for user metrics can boost your position in SERPs.

True to form, Google has never explicitly said that searchers' behavior influences the way your web pages rank. But company executives over the years have mentioned this, most notably when engineer Amit Singhal told the Wall Street Journal that Google had tweaked its algorithms by including more signals of quality. He said, "How users interact with a site is one of those signals."

Google's patents also provide strong evidence that this is so. In fact, Google holds a patent on modifying search result ranking b ased on implicit user feedback.

Good performance in user metrics can impact not only the ranking of the page in question but also your website's overall quality score. Even if only some pages on your site perform poorly in comparison to other sites, Google may generalize and down-rank more pages – or even your entire website. This works the other way, too. Plenty of high-performing pages within your site can influence Google to up-rank more of your site in SERPs.

Related articles

Here are the three user behavior metrics you should optimize for:

1. Click-through rate (CTR)

There is no optimal or expected CTR for any particular search, but Google does expect it to fall into a range, depending on the type of query. For example, for branded keywords, the click-through rate of the top result is around 50 percent. For non-branded queries, the top result usually garners around 33 percent of clicks; 15 percent for a second-place result; and 10 percent for number three. If your listing falls outside of the expected range – even if it's above that range – Google may re-rank the result in real time.

How to improve CTR:

Use Google Analytics webmaster tools to identify pages with CTRs that fall below Google's expectations and focus on them first.

Make sure page titles and meta descriptions meet technical requirements. Eliminate duplicate titles and descriptions, and then optimize them for keywords.

Keep URLs clear and easy-to-read. For longer URLs, consider using breadcrumbs, which are Google's alternative way of displaying a page's location in the site hierarchy.

Include a strong call to action in the meta description. Speak directly to searchers about the value of clicking through to your page.

2. Pogo-sticking

If the searcher hops quickly back from a result to the SERP, that's an indication that the result page initially selected wasn't high quality. When a user pogo-sticks back to results like this, Google may down-rank the first page. If that searcher then dwells longer on the second page he clicked through to, Google may up-rank that page.

How to reduce pogo-sticking:

Improve page loading time. Searchers can get frustrated if a page doesn't load and bounce back.

Remove or limit distracting ads or pop-ups.

Add site search, so that if the initial result does not satisfy the searcher's query, she can keep searching within your site instead of hopping back. Google's custom search engines are a good option, because they allow you to use Google Analytics to track searches and identify search trends that you can satisfy by creating new pages.

3. Dwell time

Dwell time is the amount of time between when a searcher clicks through from a link on the search results page to when he goes back to the SERP. A longer dwell time is a clear indication – to Google and to you – that the result was valuable. The ideal search experience is when the searcher immediately lands on a page that has exactly the information she was looking for.

How to increase dwell time:

Use a tool such as WebSite Auditor to check for broken links on your site. Remove or repair them.

Up the quality of your content. Make sure every page is unique and delivers the information promised in the meta description.

Create task-oriented content pages. Analyze queries as the first in a series of steps leading to completion of a task. Provide several pages that can lead someone through those steps.

Entice searchers to stay on your site with links to additional information on the landing page. For example, on e-commerce sites, a Related Products section encourages them to keep exploring if the initial result wasn't spot-on or the item searched for is out of stock.

Conclusion

It's important that you follow SEO best practices and white-hat techniques when trying to improve your user behavior metrics. For example, Google won't be fooled by the use of bots to artificially increase overall dwell time.

Simply focusing on how to help searchers find what they're looking for on your website is the only effective way to optimize user behavior metrics.

For a deeper dive into how Google sees user behavior, read User behavior: A ranking factor to reckon with.

* Sponsored content in collaboration with SEO Powersuite. Views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and do not necessarily reflect Search Engine Watch's opinions.

Source: Three user behavior metrics that make a difference in SEO

#Google Customer Match From The Email #Marketer’s Point Of View

Google Customer Match From The Email Marketer's Point Of View | AutoTraffic Google Customer Match From The Email Marketer's Point Of View On September 28, Google announced the release of its Google Customer Match advertising product. If you're not yet familiar with it, it's a new way to leverage email addresses to connect with your customers and prospects on the web. Some of how it works ... read moreGoogle Launches Catalog Search Clicking on that match immediately brings ... have products no one else has. Either point might help stress your importance. What if you don't want to be included? You can ask Google to drop you by sending them an email. And has Google violated copyright ... read more

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Source: #Google Customer Match From The Email #Marketer's Point Of View

Beginner’s guide to paid search and PPC

Presenting a guide purely for the individual just entering the crazy world of search marketing.

This will hopefully touch on all the various elements you might hear uttered in the same breath as paid search, taking in such puzzling acronyms as PPC, CPM, CPC, SERP plus a few other made-up ones that I'll throw in just for fun.

First of all though, let's answer the most obvious question…

What is paid search?

On a search engine results page (SERP), you can pay for your website to appear in specific sections of the results. These paid-for ads normally appear at the top of a SERP, to the right-hand side, or within a separate 'Shopping' section.

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Here's the Google SERP for the term 'confetti cannon' and you can see how ads dominate the page...

You may also notice that the ads look increasingly like naturally occuring results that aren't paid for (organic results), they're simply labelled with a little yellow 'Ads' symbol.

Previously, paid results were defined by a beige box, presumably this was removed as searchers were getting used to ignoring the coloured listings in the same way nobody pays attention to banner ads anymore.

It's not just Google that offers an ad service, but also Bing and Yahoo too...

Google's offering is called AdWords. Bing and Yahoo share networks through their own paid search tools, Bing Ads and Yahoo Gemini. There has been an agreement between Google and Yahoo to serve Google results on the Yahoo SERPs, but this is subject to review by the United State Department of Justice, but let's not get bogged down in that right now. 

Why is paid search important?

Google makes the majority of its revenue from advertising. Whether that's through the paid-for AdWords results on SERPs, or display advertising throughout its AdSense network or pre-roll ads on YouTube, advertising is what keeps Google thundering along. 

Of the $17.3bn it made in Q1 2015, $15.5bn was from advertising sales, rather than say driverless cars or Google Glass. Then again, that still leaves $1.8bn in revenue from other products, so it's nothing to be cynical about.

Basically this all means that paid ads on SERPs are going to be part of your search experience for the long-haul, and they're probably only going to dominate search results even more in the future and become even less transparent, as search engines figure out ways to drive revenue while keeping on the right side of transparency.

But don't lose heart, you can use paid search to your advantage, especially if your site is new and struggling to achieve any presence on the SERPs with your current search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

And you don't necessarily need to spend a small fortune to do so, as long as you carry out some thorough keyword research and employ some imaginative tactics, paid search can be an effective revenue stream for even the smallest niche website.

Heck, you don't even need to be a business. I can just run a paid search campaign right now for the term 'Christopher Ratcliff' and anyone who searches for me will be served with an advert that I wrote myself saying "editor, writer, strong yet tender companion" with a link to a few online reviews from Peeple. Watch the traffic pour in!

What is Google AdWords?

It's important to talk more about AdWords just because it is so popular, and in doing so I can explain a few more terms used in paid search.

The basic principle of AdWords (and indeed all other paid search tools) is as follows: 

Picks some terms that a searcher might use on Google

Create an advert that will appear on the SERP based on those search terms

As you can see above, the search term remains in bold. You will also notice that there are three different companies serving an advert for the same search term.

How does Google AdWords decide which adverts to serve?

Chances are you won't be the only company wanting to serve ads based on your chosen search term. More often than not you'll probably be jostling with Amazon for position.

If you want to appear in this space, you'll have to bid against other companies. The amount you spend will depend on how much you're willing to pay Google AdWords every time a searcher clicks on your ad. The more you pay-per-click (PPC) the more likely your ad will appear in the search results. 

But it's not just how much you spend that is taken into account, Google also uses a metric know as a 'quality score'. This looks at how relevant your ad is to the searcher, how many clicks your ad has received previously (click-through rate - CTR) and how relevant your landing page is. You need to link to a specific landing page that fulfils the promise of your advert, rather than just a generic homepage.

So if your term is 'cheap confetti cannons' you better lead them directly to some discount party-starters otherwise you won't have a chance of being successful.

Bear in mind that even if your maximum bid is less than a rival company's bid, you still may appear above their ad if your quality score is better.

You pay Google AdWords each time your ad is clicked. The price you're willing to pay for each click is called cost-per-click (CPC). There's also a less common option called cost-per-impression (CPM) where you pay the search engine for every 1,000 times your ad appears on the SERP. The user doesn't have to click-through. This option may be better for brand awareness, rather than driving revenue.

Do I have to use paid search?

Nope. You can still rank highly in SERPs through various organic, unpaid means depending on the focus of your website. A thorough and disciplined on-page SEO strategy (good internal linking, fast loading pages, logical and clear navigation, the use of Sitemaps) coupled with quality content and a great user experience can still help you rank highly in SERPs, for no cost whatsoever beyond your own time and energy.

However if you're struggling to get higher than the top few organic results, paid search can give you immediate access to the lofty world at the top of a SERP. 

Many marketers will recommend that to truly master search marketing, you should be doing paid search as well as SEO, depending on the keywords you're not ranking for. Many businesses will do both, even if it has the top organic result just to completely dominate the SERP and push the competition further down the page.

Which is exactly what I intend to do to a certain San Francisco based architect once my ad has been approved...

Source: Beginner's guide to paid search and PPC