Andre Prudhomme

M Posted 11 years 2 months ago

t 9 min read

Survey of over 20,000 URLs shows presence of Non-Mobile-Friendly on first 3 pages of Google US SERPs fading fast. Mobile algorithm change is the most wide-reaching since Secure Search.

In preparation for the April 21 mobile friendly algorithm update, BrightEdge’s data science team designed a number of experiments to assess the impact of Google’s algorithm change.

The first changes took place on the 21st and are continuing to roll out. Although it's impossible to determine when the rollout is complete, BrightEdge research shows that the updates have already significantly impacted the composition of mobile friendly search results pages. This algorithm change can affect 100% of websites.

Methodology

BrightEdge's Data Science team created a representative sample of 750 keywords and utilized BrightEdge's industry-leading mobile and daily- search tracking capabilities to monitor those keywords and their associated SERPs for changes. The 20,000+ URLs represented were then tested for mobile-friendliness using Google's Mobile-Friendliness tool to classify each URL as mobile friendly or not-mobile friendly. These two data sets were analyzed together with rank to assess the impact of the update.

How did this change impact the makeup of the first 3 pages of SERPs?

Our researchers determined that as of April 27 there was a 21% decrease in the number of non-mobile-friendly URLs on the first 3 pages of the SERPs compared to before the update. Versus the decrease seen on page 1 of 17.3%, a more pronounced impact was seen on the 2nd and 3rd SERP pages, which saw a 20.7% and 25.2% decrease, respectively, in non-mobile-friendly URLs. We hypothesize that because other ranking factors are weaker on the second and third pages of search results that the mobile-friendliness of a URL had a bigger impact on rank than it did on the first page.

How was the change rolled out in the SERPs?

Based on the daily tracking of the 20,000+ URL set, BrightEdge determined that the updates rolled out to "above-the-fold" results first and then to lower results positions later on. In other words, Non-Mobile-Friendly URLs in positions 1-5 moved more in the first two days and positions 6-30 moved more after that. A proportionately smaller amount of changes were seen on pages 2 and 3 on April 22 and 23 with greater changes occurring between April 23 and 27.

How does the Google Mobile-Friendly tag relate to the mobile user interface score from the PageSpeed insights tool?

You may be interested in how the Google Mobile-Friendly checking tool relates to the API-based Mobile Page Speed Insights tool mobile User Experience score.

BrightEdge plotted the 20,000 URLs’ unique Mobile User Experience score against their Friendly/Non-Friendly tag and found that a score of 80 made the result Friendly. In other words, keep working on your mobile optimizations until you achieve at least a score of 80 on this test, which will allow you to achieve the Mobile-Friendly tag.

BrightEdge customers were ready for the Google mobile algorithm update

Knowing how to optimize your site for mobile requires a deep understanding of the experience your site is creating today in order to make improvements for tomorrow.

Many brands are concerned about the impact of Google’s mobile friendly algorithm update.

Meanwhile, BrightEdge customers have had technology in place for two years to help them understand their rank and the competitive landscape across 605 local, global and mobile friendly search engines – equipping them to win in the competitive mobile battleground.

BrightEdge takes mobile friendly search solutions beyond the webmaster and to the marketer with a comprehensive offering that helps brands understand their organic search and content performance by device.

The BrightEdge Mobile solution allows users to track and measure mobile device performance by:

1. Tracking and reporting on keyword trends and rankings across device type (desktop, mobile, and tablet).
2. Measuring actual rank by device in Universal Search with Blended Rank (image, video, social, quick answers, and local 3-pack).
3. Providing visibility into local organic performance by keywords and keyword groups across cities.
4. Understanding mobile readiness by providing marketers with a complete Mobile Site Audit.
5. Optimizing and understand actual mobile performance based on a deep integration between BrightEdge and mobile analytics.
6. Understanding the competitive organic landscape and Share of Voice for a brand across mobile devices.

The entire BrightEdge platform is mobile aware. Whether you are looking at actual business performance, rank, or competitive performance – mobile is integrated throughout the BrightEdge platform.  

enewton@brightedge.com

M Posted 11 years 2 months ago

t 9 min read

The value of social media stretches far beyond driving traffic towards a company website. Social media sites, such as LinkedIn and SlideShare, can help boost brand visibility for professionals and companies.

Although LinkedIn and SlideShare have always worked well together, in 2012 LinkedIn acquired the presentation site and has taken steps to make it even easier to move from one site to the other. SlideShare presentations easily integrate with LinkedIn profiles, making it simple for professionals to showcase their research, experience, and expertise. When you link the two accounts, you can add your SlideShare presentation to the summary portion of your LinkedIn profile with a single click.

The close relationship between LinkedIn and SlideShare means that they also have a significant impact on each other’s SEO. A well-constructed and optimized SlideShare presentation can increase visibility for the brand while also improving the SlideShare SEO for a connected LinkedIn profile and vice versa.

SlideShare SEO

SlideShare is one of the most popular sites in the world, with as many as 60 million unique monthly visitors. There are also more than 15 million uploads on the website. This has helped establish it as an authoritative site in the eyes of Google, and thus it regularly ranks highly on SERPs.

Google indexes the notes and transcripts on SlideShare, setting professionals up for success when they upload a presentation. The transcriptions and notes give you ample opportunity to include important keywords that can help draw people to your presentation and boost your visibility in two ways:

• SlideShare has an internal search function that people use to find presentations on the topics they are interested in researching -- increasing visibility for those already on the platform
• Google indexes the pages, using the keywords to display presentations for relevant queries -- increasing visibility for those researching a topic through the search engine

When you build a visually pleasing presentation that also uses well-placed keywords, you drastically boost the SlideShare SEO of your presentation and make it easy for people to find. It is also important to take advantage of SlideShare’s SEO-friendly options, such as employing tags and entering keyword centric titles and meta descriptions.

All of these features should follow keyword best practices of:

• using keywords that the intended audience is actually likely to search for
• avoiding using keywords excessively
• ensuring keywords flow naturally within the text

SEO on LinkedIn

SEO on LinkedIn makes it easier for people to find you based upon your experience and areas of expertise. As the largest professional networking site, LinkedIn has more than 300 million members and is used by B2B and B2B companies to do everything from finding jobs to finding new clients.

On LinkedIn, the key to SEO is ensuring that the entire profile has been completely filled out with an emphasis on keywords that are frequently used in your industry. You want to have a profile that is easy to understand and allows visitors to immediately see the qualities you bring to your industry. Professional, personal photos can also show both the LinkedIn algorithms and profile visitors that this person has invested time into the profile.

Embedded SlideShare presentations are excellent for boosting that confidence as well.

For tips on the best way to add SlideShare to a LinkedIn profile.

How SlideShare SEO and LinkedIn Work Together

SlideShare not only makes it simple for presentations to be embedded into LinkedIn profiles, they also encourage people to place live links within their presentations. Users can therefore link to their LinkedIn profiles, which helps to establish credible backlinks. As SlideShare presentations increase visibility thanks to the SEO efforts described above, the traffic to the LinkedIn profile will also increase.

SlideShare’s ability to drive traffic to LinkedIn can help improve the performance of the profile internally. LinkedIn has its own algorithms that decide the order to display search results and names. As a profile gains more traffic and expands its network, it can therefore increase its ranking within LinkedIn. This will then help SlideShare SEO efforts further.

When the presentation is embedded in a LinkedIn profile, it can also help the SlideShare site increase the number of followers. Viewers can engage with your presentation right on the LinkedIn profile, or they can follow the link back to your SlideShare page, where they can interact with your presentation and with your brand.

LinkedIn and SlideShare have both built themselves impressive reputations as services for professionals. While both platforms offer numerous benefits individually, when the two are combined, the SEO impact can be incredible. Those interested in taking advantage of this opportunity should focus on optimizing both their presentation and their profiles and then bringing them together to witness power of the bond.