msweeny

M Posted 3 years 11 months ago

t 9 min read

When it comes to finding information on your website using the built-in search feature, customers bring their experience with them -- they expect the quality of results and ease-of-use they’ve grown accustomed to from searching on Google or other popular search engines.  All too often, visitors using the site search feature leave disappointed. Nielsen/Norman group research found a mere 51% of visitors using site search found a relevant answer with their first query. Relevant site search results drop to 32% on the second query and to 18% on the third query. That is if the visitor is still trying by that time.

If someone visiting your site does not take the time to explore your home page or site navigation and fails to find relevant results when they use the site search feature, they will likely return to Google’s search results and make another selection. This means you have lost the chance to convert and signaled to Google’s ranking algorithm that your site was not relevant for the initial query. Double ouch.

Signs that Your Site Search Feature May be Underperforming

Visitors that land on the homepage quickly leave the site from the homepage
If more than 30% of visitors leave the site from the homepage (as show in Google Analytics User Behavior Flow), it is likely they did not find what they wanted on the page or in the navigation.

Visitors exit the site from the site search results page
If your site search results page has more than a 20% exit rate, it is likely that your site search did not deliver relevant results for their keyword searches.

Site Search Optimization Framework

1. Build your team - Improving audience engagement is an “all hands-on deck” initiative. Where available, team members should include developers, in-house SEOs, content managers, information architects and UX specialists – together these specialists will help frame the problem, deliver a solution and create meaningful benchmarks to measure success.

2. Collect site search data - Website search engines can report on visitor queries and behavior. The level of reporting depends on your application. Some standard reports are:

• Most frequent queries
• Queries that produced zero results
• Queries that produced zero click
• Search results page exit rate
• Search session reports (number if queries, results chosen, etc.)

3. Conduct keyword research - Compare high-volume, high-value keyword search performance on your website search engine and Google. Do the ranking results for your site content on Google match results returned by your website engine?

With enhanced configuration, site search engines can provide personalized data on visitor engagement with your search results. Your content team can manually curate top results as “Best Bets” for targeted queries or queries that produce zero results on their own. An information architect or UX professional can create a personalization framework to map specific content to observed site behavior patterns.

Another area where your developer will be helpful is configuring search engine webmaster accounts to use parameter exclusion to prevent search engines from presenting your site search results page in organic search results. You can also have your website analytics collect and report on site search usage.

4. Create an obvious, useful, and frictionless search user experience:

• Provide a noticeable search box at top of page (either right or left corner). Size the box to accommodate a two-to-three-word query. Those hourglass search icons are easy to miss.
• If you're going to have instruction text inside the search box, make it clear. i.e., “search this site”.
• Provide search suggestions as the visitor types their query. These represent most popular searches that contained similar terms.
• Provide spell-check/spelling correction as many of us rely on this to find information and check our spelling.

Use the search engine to map synonyms for your products or services, e.g. show the same search results for handbag, purse, pocketbook.

Reasons to Maximize Your Site Search User Experience

• Increase sales and revenue: Site search users have a higher conversion rate than those who do not use site search.  Answer customer information needs with their first query by tailoring relevance to your content landscape. Cross-sell and up-sell products with curated relevant results for high-value searches.
• Gain insights into what customers find too cumbersome to find through navigation: Site search reports can provide valuable information on what’s not working with navigation labels, categories, and menus.
• Leverage data to improve your rankings: Reverse engineer site search data to find the organic queries that bring customers to your site.

Leveraging internal site search analytics to help identify trends in the visitors coming to your site is crucial in helping drive conversions and understanding your audience better.

EVALUATE AND IMPROVE MY CONTENT WITH BRIGHTEDGE

jordan.walman

M Posted 3 years 11 months ago

t 9 min read

SEO writing involves researching, creating, and testing content optimized to rank for a set of keywords in Google and other search engines. 

Over the last couple decades, search engines have become very good at figuring out the intent behind individual queries and serving the most relevant, authoritative, and engaging content. This is mostly due to algorithm changes introduced to Google with natural language processing (NLP) in BERT, and RankBrain. 

At its core, effective SEO writing is about implementing a set of principles that allow for the consistent production of content that directly meets the requirements of searchers. Similarly, SEO writers should avoid outdated practices—like keyword stuffing and the creation of needlessly long content—that can actively harm rankings. 

With all that in mind, let’s look at five practical tips for consistent, effective, and rank-worthy SEO writing. 

1. Approach Content Within the Framework of EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trust)

The acronym EAT—which stands for authority, expertise, and trust—has been spoken about a lot in SEO circles over the last several years. The term is pulled from Google’s search quality rater guidelines, the in-depth documentation used by manual website reviewers.

So why is EAT important? It’s one of the primary frameworks in which Google evaluates content. While expertise, authority, and trust aren’t self-contained ranking factors in and of themselves, they’re a strong indicator of where Google places its emphasis when comparing pages. 

Google gives the following advice: “For informational content: very high quality MC (main content) is original, accurate, comprehensive, clearly communicated, professionally presented, and should reflect expert consensus as appropriate.”

Related reading: 5 Critical SEO Considerations for SEO in 2022

2. List and Organize Keywords

Thorough keyword research underpins every good content strategy. Generally speaking, SEO writing will focus on one target head term, used in the main headline, and several minor keywords representing branch topics, typically included in subheadings. 

The keyword-based outline of a piece of content should mirror its thematic structure. The decision to target a particular keyword in a subsection of a larger article or dedicate a whole page to it will ultimately come down to considerations of volume and competition. In either case, having a clear structure will ensure that you use all targeted keywords in your content. 

For example, suppose you are targeting the keyword “how to train a dog.” This term will sit at the top of your topic tree. Subtopics may include terms like “best treats for dog training,” “how to find a dog trainer,” and “common dog training mistakes.”

The BrightEdge platform, powered by Data Cube, enables SEOs and digital marketers to quickly and precisely identify relevant, high-performing keywords and semantically-related topics. Learn how Data Cube helps chart a content strategy aimed at closing content gaps and improving rankings.

Finally, it’s also worth noting that there’s little evidence that the Google algorithm takes keyword density into consideration. It is also unnecessary to account for synonyms—for example, “learn a new language” and “speak a new language.” Search engines can recognize terms with the same meanings and match them. 

Related reading: Data Cube Product Guide: Lift the Veil on Organic Search

3. Define Keyword Intent 

It’s difficult to understate the importance of keyword intent. One of the reasons that Google dominates search is because of its effectiveness at understanding the specific intent behind queries. 

Here’s a brief overview of the different types of keywords and their corresponding intent:

• Informational - Searchers that use informational keywords are looking for content about a specific topic or place, spanning the gamut from one-word answers to questions like “What is the national dish of Spain” (it’s paella) to in-depth guides for queries like “how to build an airplane” or “best Indian near me”.
• Commercial - Commercial keywords signify a desire to buy a product. Examples include “blue dress,” “GUCCI handbag,” “running shoes,” and so on. Review-style keywords like “best backpacks” are technically informational keywords but also carry an element of commercial intent. 
• Navigational - Keywords like “Wikipedia” and “Bing” from users that want to visit a specific website have navigational intent. These are usually just searchers looking for quick access to the website they already intended on going to.

One of the easiest ways to determine intent, or at least, how Google understands intent, is by looking at the results that already rank for a term. Once you know exactly what people are looking for, you can tailor your content accordingly and avoid costly mistakes resulting from confusing the intent of search queries. 

Related reading: What Is Keyword Search Intent

4. Optimize for Featured Snippets 

Featured snippets are excerpts from articles that provide searchers with fast answers. These snippets appear at the top of search results pages and include a link to the original website, so are valuable in terms of traffic. They are often referred to as “position 0”.

To optimize for featured snippets, begin articles with a concise explanation covering the main topic. This is also known as the “inverted pyramid” technique in journalistic writing. The idea is to start with a succinct summary of the main point and spend the rest of the article elaborating. 

This strategy also applies on a more granular level to sub-sections of content. Opening paragraphs after secondary headlines should follow this principle.

5. Optimize for Readability and Engagement

Clear writing that is free from obfuscation is much more likely to engage readers. It will reduce your bounce rate, attract repeat viewers, generate links, and satisfy EAT criteria. 

Here are a few practical tips to improve the readability of written content:

• Organize text under clear headers - Use clear, keyword-optimized subheaders to enable users to scan content (which happens a lot these days)
• Use short paragraphs - Two and three-sentence paragraphs are generally ideal for online content. 
• Use bullet points where possible - Like headers and short paragraphs, bullets allow readers to scan content easily and digest salient points. 
• Add rich media to text - Rich media like videos and graphics help break up text. This is especially the case with explanatory tools like graphs. 

Many organizations will have their own style guide for content creators to reference. If you don’t have one already, it’s worth creating one. Not only will such a guide ensure a high level of readability of your content, but it can also save significant amounts of time that would otherwise be spent on editing. 

Don’t Underestimate the Value of High-Quality SEO Writing! 

Writing effectively for SEO is a relatively straightforward process. And implementing the simple strategies in this post will enable you to consistently create articles, blog posts, and landing pages that are primed for high rankings, particularly when combined with a well-developed broader SEO strategy. 

On-page SEO factors like content are entirely under your control. Unlike off-page factors (links, brand mentions, social network shares, etc.), resources allocated to optimizing content are easy to manage and tie to measurable, repeatable outcomes.

EVALUATE AND IMPROVE MY CONTENT WITH BRIGHTEDGE

andrew.riker

M Posted 3 years 11 months ago

t 9 min read

Less than a decade ago, it was possible to rank on the first page of Google with little more than a block of mediocre content and a handful of spammy links. How things have changed.

Quality now sits at the center of many Google updates and initiatives. In the last two weeks, the search giant has launched two features aimed at helping searchers find authoritative content  — a “highly cited” label that appears in Top stories and an addition to the results page notification for breaking news stories. The product reviews update has also finished rolling out, although early data indicates that its impact has been relatively limited. 

In other news, search console data is now available in Data Studio, allowing for customized charts. Google Search Advocate John Mueller has also made several interesting comments about popups, out-of-stock pages, and AI-generated content. 

Here’s your curated collection of the latest news, updates and search tidbits from the last two weeks. 

Google launches “highly cited” label and expands “about this result” feature

Google has announced two new features that tie in with its broader commitment to providing users with authoritative, fact-checked content.

The first is a “highly cited” label in mobile results within the Top stories section. The label is currently live in some results. The idea behind the highly cited badge is that it helps users identify stories that other journalists and news outlets respect, and thus are likely to carry authority. 

The other is an improvement to “about this result” in relation to breaking news stories. Google has added extra tips to the rapidly evolving results notice to help searchers filter results. The about this result widget, which shows data about the source of a story or piece of content, will soon be available for all English-language searches. 

Impacts of Google’s product reviews update appear limited

Google’s product reviews update has now finished rolling out. The ramifications of the algorithm change appear much smaller than previous iterations, according to data from several sources, including BrightEdge.

To recap, the update targets web pages that publish low-quality product and comparison-style reviews. There’s a multitude of best practices that Google wants reviewers to consider when critiquing products. That said, it ultimately boils down to ensuring that content is honest, detailed, and focused on the user. 

If you’ve seen rankings change for your review content, don’t worry. Modifying reviews to meet guidelines and fit with the update should be a relatively straightforward process. 

Google creates new template in Data Studio for monitoring search traffic 

Google has published a new template in Data Studio for monitoring search traffic on top pages. Visits from Discover and Google News in Google Search Console can also now be tracked. 

Where Search Console provides a uniform set of charts, Data Studio allows users to customize and compare representations of data. Connecting your Search Console with Data Studio is a straightforward process, so if you want to view your data “out of the box” we recommend trying that out

According to an update published on Google Search Central, “...as of today, the Search Console connector includes data for Discover and Google News traffic, similar to the data recently added to the API.”

Piping this data into a visualization platform like Data Studio will allow you to monitor and report with the valuable data that is only available from Google.

Google treats “out of stock” pages as soft 404s

Ever wonder if “out of stock” notifications on product pages might be harming your rankings? Well, according to a comment by John Mueller, there’s a significant chance the answer is yes.

Ecommerce listings showing an out of stock notice, which are largely inconsequential to online shoppers, are sometimes treated as soft 404s. 

In an SEO office hours hangout, Mueller said, “...when it comes to the normal search results, it can happen that we when see that something is out of stock, we will assume it’s more like a soft 404 error, where we will drop that URL from the search results as well.”

That said, there are exceptions. For example, if a product page doubles up as an informational resource, it may retain its ranking. Mueller also said that out-of-stock product pages would not detrimentally affect other pages on a site. 

AI-generated content is against Google guidelines

AI-generated content has received a lot of attention, with machines becoming ever more capable of producing content as good as that written by humans. However, as far as Google is concerned, it’s against quality guidelines. 

John Mueller said that content created by artificial intelligence falls under the bracket of spam as defined in Google Search Central documentation. As such, sites that use it may receive a manual penalty.

SEOs considering program-generated content should think twice, at least for the immediate future, and continue to write unique, engaging copy for intended audiences.

Google leverages AI in some search results

AI for content? Bad. AI for updating business details? Very good, at least if a recent pilot is anything to go by. 

Google recently announced a scheme to update business hours and certain pieces of road information like speed limits using AI-based programs. 

It’s still very early stages when it comes to artificial intelligence, but the presence of pilots like this one could presage a new direction in the way search engines organize web content. It’s a fast-developing area that SEOs should pay close attention to. 

John Mueller clarifies how Google views popups

Ah, the ongoing debate about popups. While Google has clearly stated that it dislikes large interstitials, smaller popups occupy a bit of a gray area. And there are a lot of mixed opinions about whether or not web admins should get rid of them completely. We know that intrusive mobile interstitials are still a no-no.

In a Google SEO office hours video, John Mueller provided some extra information about popups. He said: “often with banners, you have side effects on the cumulative layout shift, like how the page renders when it’s loaded. Or with regards to the…LCP I think, also from the Core Web Vitals side with regards to that page.”

In essence, non-interstitial banners could affect rankings because of potential negative effects on Core Web Vitals, especially related to CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), which measures how much a page “wobbles” while loading and LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), which is an aspect of page speed. 

Popups are an important issue for SEOs, and information like this helps them to form a balanced view about how to use them.

tvura

M Posted 3 years 11 months ago

t 9 min read

SEO is taking on greater importance in the marketing strategies of brands large and small. In fact, in a 2021 survey of BrightEdge customers, 75% of respondents indicated that the role of SEO would expand in 2022. Too often, though, despite the growing role SEO is expected to play in establishing brands and reaching consumers, SEO staffing doesn’t scale in parallel. It is not uncommon, even among big brands, for SEO teams to be comprised of only a few members. Sometimes entire SEO functions fall on just one SEO professional.   

In a recent BrightEdge webinar, we explored the challenges facing small SEO teams and learned the practical ways small teams can achieve big impact from SEO. Two customers shared insights into their methods and successes, and we provided guidance on how SEOs can use the BrightEdge platform to get big results with modest resources. Below are highlights from the webinar that you can put into practice. You can also access the full recording here. 

Prioritize and Optimize SEO Processes 

Maximizing SEO impact from a small team requires discipline. We laid out four basic principles to help bring the needed discipline to the SEO effort. While all SEO operations can benefit from these four guiding principles, working efficiently on the right things is particularly imperative for small teams: 

1. Create efficient processes within the team – even one-person teams can benefit from reducing re-work and eliminating high-effort, low-return steps in the SEO workflow 
2. Define success across teams – SEO will have an impact on the broader organization. Be clear on how other teams in the organization view SEO and agree on what constitutes SEO success 
3. Identify ways to minimize manual work – reducing manual work shifts your focus to the high-value measurement and strategy that contributes to SEO impact 
4. Pinpoint what will drive impact quickly – in short, develop the means to identify and prioritize the things that will help you deliver high impact fastest 

See What BrightEdge Can Do For Your SEO Strategy

Put Principle into Practice 

Dan Pizzolato – Assistant Director of Organic Search at CROWE - public accounting, consulting and technology firm 

Pizzolato initially took on SEO as a one-person team in 2018 and faced a couple of key challenges. For one, despite the important role content plays in Crowe’s client acquisition strategy, 60% of the company’s key thought leadership content was not ranking for top terms. Compounding the issue was SEO’s placement in the content development workflow: SEO was simply not considered until after content was created. 

Pizzolato took on the challenge and ultimately built a BrightEdge Edgie-Award-winning SEO program. He shared some tips from Crowe’s success: 

• Educate the organization on SEO – “Our journey at Crowe has been centered on internal education. Getting on calls with key stakeholders, educating them about what SEO is, how it works, how they can use it to drive their business goals.” 
  
  “We might identify some content that’s doing well, dig into the data, then get on a call with our key stakeholders, our content strategists and present the data. Everything we do is data-driven,” Pizzolato adds. Over the course of three years, Pizzolato was able to build up SEO’s role in the organization and incorporate SEO into multiple phases of content strategy and multiple facets of the overall business.  
   
• Highlight wins to build a case for staffing up – By not only delivering value to the business, but also improving perceptions of that value organizationally, Pizzolato was able to make the case for adding a second team member. Crowe’s enhanced understanding of SEO through Dan’s evangelism, and the demonstrated results from SEO measurement were essential to making a successful argument for staffing up.  
   
• Leverage technology to extend your capabilities – Pizzolato and his associate work daily in BrightEdge, which functions as an extension of the team. One of the key ways they use BrightEdge is to help them see clearly what’s working and where Crowe is winning. With this visibility, they can not only identify patterns they can leverage in the ongoing SEO work, but also further evangelize internally the impact of SEO.     

More practically, SEO technology has helped Pizzolato scale his team in an unconventional way: “I’ve been collaborating with our editorial team. I’ve gotten them access to BrightEdge, and now they’re in there on a frequent basis…” Now, he says, he rarely has edits to their content because the editorial team has already incorporated keywords in a natural and technically correct way. 

Dan Lauer – SEO Manager at HNI – solutions provider for home and workplace furnishings 

HNI is a collection of brands with thousands of product pages across multiple websites. Lauer assists each brand’s individual marketing team. One important nuance in HNI’s SEO efforts is the coordination required between SEO and a significant paid search component.  
 
Lauer shared some insights other SEOs can apply in their efforts: 
 

• Keep an eye out for low hanging fruit – Lauer started early in his SEO work using the BrightEdge Site Audit to identify areas that needed to be fixed on the site like, “Broken 404 pages, 500 server URLs, just easy stuff like meta descriptions, meta keywords, fixing H1 tags,” Lauer says. With 15-20 websites under the HNI umbrella, this early emphasis on identifying and addressing low hanging fruit helped HNI secure early, impactful wins despite the small SEO team. 
   
• Balance SEO against other marketing efforts – Some of the HNI brands employ a significant spend on digital advertising including search ads. “It’s a fine balance. SEO and paid work well when they’re collaborating together,” Lauer notes. “So, if you want to dominate the SERP having your Google ads as well as your local 3-pack, your knowledge graph entries, people also ask at the top of organic, you can really dominate page one.” The key point of collaboration? Keyword strategy for both SEO and paid must be in sync. Lauer concedes HNI has low probability of ever ranking high in organic for some ultra-competitive keywords. These keywords make rational targets for ad spending. 
   
• Clear the decks if you want to have some fun doing SEO – Once you’ve optimized for technical SEO, Lauer says, you can start to have some fun. The fun begins, “when you can actually start getting into that keyword strategy, when you can start to think of every page on your site as a homepage, when you can really show the brands that you can target keywords and get to that proactive SEO.” He adds that this is the stage where you can begin to leverage the larger organization – including design, content, IT and analytics teams – to scale SEO even as the dedicated SEO team remains small.  
   
• Outsource tasks to technology – Lauer’s ability to leverage BrightEdge and other technologies in his SEO work has given him added reach. “Having BrightEdge being able to do the technical and the on-page and off-page and content and data all in one spot; having all that data intertwined and connected really helps us automate what we’re trying to do.”  

Key Takeaways 

We’ve just touched on a few highlights from the webinar. Be sure and download the webinar recording for additional valuable insights from both Pizzolato and Lauer.    

In addition to both customers’ informative perspectives, we explore four strategies in the webinar to scale and produce quick wins using the BrightEdge platform. BrightEdge’s Dave McAnally gives a brief, but informative elaboration on each of the four strategies in the webinar recording, which include: 

1. Use anomaly detection to gain positive traction in your SEO campaigns 
2. Align keyword groups to your business needs 
3. Use BrightEdge Data Cube for content ideation 
4. Use the BrightEdge Recommendation Engine to prioritize SEO work 

Working alone or in a small SEO team doesn’t mean you can’t be successful on a large scale. Our webinar guests, much like many BrightEdge clients, have proven as much. If you find yourself in a similar situation, look here for some inspiration.  

tvura

M Posted 3 years 11 months ago

t 9 min read

July 2022 Update: We've updated our data to bring you the latest insights on featured snippets and universal search 

Changes to the Universal Search Landscape 

We know Google is constantly testing and changing their algorithm with the goal of creating the best user experiences and providing the most relevant search results. However, Google doesn’t only update the results. The SERP landscape is also constantly changing and has evolved dramatically over time. 

Marketers must be quick to adjust strategies to accommodate both algorithm updates and changes to the SERPs. Because of this, BrightEdge started tracking some of the ways Google is evolving the SERPs. 

Universal Search Methodology 

As Google has expanded the types and formats of search results in recent years, the makeup of the SERP continually changes to best accommodate search behaviors. BrightEdge began tracking changes to the overall SERP landscape in 2019 by evaluating how often featured snippets like Quick Answers, Images, People Also Ask, Local 3-Packs, Videos and Carousels were being shown. 

This research relies on the total number of keywords in the BrightEdge database across mobile and desktop devices in the United States and compares the number of keywords ranking for each category that month. Doing so, provides useful insights to track market trends and spot outliers in the data that could indicate a major update to the SERP landscape. 

Featured Snippet Findings 

At a high level, here’s how the SERPs are changing: 

• ​Quick Answers - September 2020 marked the beginning of a steady decline in Quick Answers across device types, though the downward trend was steeper for mobile. This downward trend bottomed out in October 2021, and began trending up in February 2022, current levels are closer to recovering to similar year-over-year levels. 
• Images – Results frequency on desktop are trending up since a 3-year low in November 2021 and are now at their highest level in over a year. Image results on mobile continue to trend downward and are now at their lowest point in three years as of June 2022. 
• Videos – As a percentage of search results, videos bottomed out in February 2022 at their lowest level in three years of tracking. Since then, mobile results have rebounded but are down year-over-year. Desktop results are back to similar levels year-over-year.   
• People Also Ask – People Also Ask results are surging. Beginning in February 2022, mobile results rose to a level nearly equal to the 3-year peak, and desktop results reached a 3-year high. Following a slight dip in March 2022, results have been stable through June 2022.  
• 3-Pack – After showing steady growth on desktop and an exceptionally flat curve on mobile through most of 2021, a significant change to how Google handles local search drove down the search result type on both mobile and desktop beginning in December. Through June 2022, results on mobile are slowly recovering, while desktop results are steadily rising and once again approaching peak levels. 

Quick Answers 

Back in September 2020, Quick Answers dropped down sharply, only showing in roughly 15% of all searches. Since then, the result type has continued to decline, reaching a 3-year low of 14% on desktop and 11% on mobile in October 2021. In February 2022, Quick Answer results showed some sign of recovery inching above 16% on desktop and 12% on mobile where it has been hovering through June 2022.  

Image 

Image results are now being shown less often on both desktop and mobile, however, while mobile reached a 3-year low in June 2022, desktop image results are again growing. Unlike some of the other features on this list, it’s harder to speculate as to why this may be the case. In January of 2020, Google announced that they were considering ways to improve featured snippet image results, primarily by limiting duplicative results and cross-domain references. The end result could have been a decline in unique featured snippets image results. Whatever the cause, a year of flat growth seems to have solidified a smaller presence than image results have held in the SERPs previously. 

Video 

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years ago

t 9 min read

Another SEO roundup, another algorithm update. This time, it’s product reviews. If you publish review content, you’ll want to take notice. Google is rewarding websites that provide in-depth, unique product evaluations, and reviewers responsible for generic summaries will quickly find themselves out of favor with the search giant. 

In other news, there are several new search engine results page (SERP) features. Google has launched “Refine this search” and “Broaden this search”, and Bing is displaying an opinions section for some terms related to the war in Ukraine. 

Merchants will also be pleased about two new features: a trusted store badge and an integration between Merchant Center and Google Analytics. 

With all that in mind, here’s your roundup of all the top SEO news and developments from the last two weeks. 

Google Implements Product Reviews Algorithm Update

The biggest headline from the last two weeks is Google’s product reviews algorithm update, which will be rolled out over the next several weeks. It’s only a minor change as far as updates go, but it’s an important one nonetheless for merchants.

Review content that excels in terms of research, uniqueness, and actual use (as opposed to straightforward product summaries) will rank above lower quality alternatives. 

In a blog post on The Keyword, Google software engineer Perry Liu said, “Our work to improve product reviews will continue, including expanding these updates to more languages beyond English. Ultimately, our goal is to help people find trustworthy, reliable advice when they come to Search — no matter what they’re looking for.” 

Google published some additional advice on Google Search Central, which complements existing documentation, for sites with review content. If you generate traffic from product review pages and want to maintain (or even improve) your rankings, you should take note of these new guidelines. 

“Refine this search” and “Broaden this search” Launched in US-Based Google Results

Searchers in the US will see two new sections on some English-language SERPs. Refine this search and Broaden this search have now been fully rolled out. 

Refine this search provides users with options to jump to more specific results pages. Broaden this search, as you probably guessed, showcases tangential and higher-level topics. Both features put light keyword exploration in the hands of searchers, similar to how people use autocomplete.

Refine this search and Broaden this search hold the potential for traffic gains if leveraged in the right way. Search engine optimizers should consider experimenting with tailoring their content to account for both new features and be conscious of the fact that a reduction in traffic to some pages may be a result of users interacting with them. 

Bing Displays New Sections for Terms Related to Ukraine War

Towards the start of the Russia Ukraine war, search engines began displaying dedicated widgets in response to relevant search terms.

Bing recently implemented an Opinions section that contains links to opinion pieces from news outlets. Opinions sits alongside a general information box and events timeline. 

This is a notable development because it provides context for current affairs articles, which is likely to help stem the flow of misinformation. Search engines have come under fire in recent months for failing to regulate fake news.

News outlets will be particularly interested in the opportunities Opinions provides for increasing exposure of relevant journalistic pieces and columns. 

Some Merchants Qualify for Trusted Store Badge

Earlier this month, Google launched the Shopping experience scorecard, which rewards merchants that meet certain customer service criteria, specifically related to shipping and returns. Merchants that surpass these standards will receive a Trusted Store badge that appears on free Google Shopping listings. 

The Trusted Store badge will be rolled out over the coming months. Google said early testing showed increased levels of engagement with listings that showcase the badge. So if you promote products with free Google listings, there’s no reason not to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Google Announces Merchant Center and Google Analytics Compatibility

In an announcement on March 21st, Google said that it’s now possible for retailers to link their Merchant Center with their Google Analytics account. Doing so will allow users to see conversions from free product listings, thus measuring the effectiveness of Merchant Center product data. 

Getting set up is a relatively straightforward process (auto-tagging needs to be turned on). This new functionality ties in nicely with the upcoming release of the Trusted Store badge and will give merchants the ability to track conversions in line with Shopping experience scorecard factors. 

Google Introduces Grid Layout for Some Mobile Search Results

Some mobile queries now return visual grid results alongside traditional text ones. Certain keyword phrases, like “wallpaper ideas” and “hand tattoos,” show images in addition to titles and descriptions. 

Notably, many queries generate mobile results that display side-by-side, leading some commentators to ask if there are now two first-place positions.

From the perspective of conversions and traffic, there are both drawbacks and potential benefits to a grid layout. Having a visual element included as part of results offers opportunities to entice visitors with original, striking images. On the other hand, web admins that haven’t given much attention to visual assets or currently occupy the first spot may see a decrease in clicks. 

Google Says Alt Tags Only Relevant for Image Results 

Google Search Advocate John Mueller clarified the role of image alt tags in an SEO office-hours hangout. 

While it’s good practice to add alt tags to increase site accessibility, they don’t act as a ranking factor for pages. Google only uses them for image search.

Web admins who don’t care about visual assets showing up in image search don’t need to worry too much about optimizing alt tags. 

Google Considered Eco-Friendliness as a Ranking Factor

Here’s an interesting little tidbit to finish off with. In a recent tweet, John Mueller said that Google has previously explored ways in which it might reward eco-friendly sites with a ranking boost. 

Google has made numerous environmental commitments and aims to be carbon-free by 2030. And while it is pure speculation to suggest that the algorithm will one day account for environmental factors, comments like the one by John Mueller may point to interesting future developments. 

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years ago

t 9 min read

You don’t need to search far to find bad SEO advice. In the current search landscape, businesses need to be constantly on their guard against incomplete, irrelevant and downright incorrect ranking strategies. 

Knowing what not to do is just as important as having an effective positive approach for driving traffic from organic search. 

In this post, we’re going to look at eleven of the most pervasive SEO myths. If you’ve been optimizing your site for any length of time, you’ve likely encountered them. And recognizing them for what they are will give you a distinct competitive advantage when driving organic traffic to your site. 

How to Identify and Avoid SEO Myths

Taking a handful of straightforward steps will protect your team from falling victim to common SEO myths. 

Keep the following suggestions in mind when formulating an ongoing SEO strategy: 

• Pick your information sources well - Outlets like Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal publish articles written by seasoned professionals and industry insiders. More technical blogs like SEO by the Sea are also worth keeping up to date with. And let’s not forget your good ol’ twice-monthly roundup from BrightEdge to help keep you abreast of the latest developments. 
• Follow official channels - It’s a myth that search engines don’t publish information about how their algorithms work. Google regularly provides updates for web admins on Google Search Central, its search-focused podcast Off the Record, and its principal company blog, The Keyword.
• Keep testing - There is no substitute for in-house testing. Tools like Data Cube and Site Report from BrightEdge allow you to track your rankings over time and correlate changes with new optimization strategies. 

Now, Onto the SEO Myths…

1. SEO Is Dead

The phrase “SEO is dead” is one of the most overused clickbait headlines in the industry. It’s a tried-and-true hook for generating interest, and could not be farther from the truth with 74% of companies investing in SEO in 2021. 

Another variation of this myth runs along the lines of “just focus on creating great content” or “SEO doesn’t matter anymore.” 

It’s difficult to say exactly where this myth comes from, but it’s likely a result of a combination of two mistaken ideas: that search algorithms are essentially black boxes—and therefore nothing can be known about them— and that it’s not possible to compete with high-authority sites. Both of these premises are false. 

Search engines like Bing and Google provide extensive documentation for web admins. And Google Search Advocate John Mueller has publicly said that while it may be hard for small sites to compete with bigger ones, it’s by no means impossible. 

2. The Google Algorithm Is a Complete Mystery

Google has been vocal about many aspects of how its algorithm works, with regularly updated documentation, Youtube videos, blog posts, tweets, and more. Google Search Guidelines are easily accessed on the web. 

In-house testing from companies like BrightEdge that have access to large sets of data and regularly publish their findings also adds further clarity to the inner workings of search engine algorithms like Google’s. 

3. Short Content Doesn’t Rank

Have you ever typed a simple question into a search engine—something like “How long does it take to bake a potato?”—only to be confronted with a wall of 12,000 words of largely irrelevant information? 

Google hasn’t only said that length is secondary to quality; it may soon start actively depreciating sites built on unnecessary “fluff” content. 

Sometimes, publishing long-form content is the best way of catering to searcher intent. In other cases, it’s not. Google’s emphasis on EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trust) factors shows a clear move toward user experience and satisfaction as a primary ranking signal. The length of content should be determined by usefulness to the reader, not an arbitrary word count. 

4. Long-tail Keywords Are Phrases of More Than Three Words

Long-tail keywords are often defined as phrases of three or more words. In actual fact, length has nothing to do with what makes a keyword long-tail.

A long-tail keyword is simply a keyword that sits on the “long tail” of a graph that maps individual keyword volume against keyword variations.

It’s also something of a myth that all long-tail keywords are always easy to rank for. Often, “short tail” keywords provide more cost-effective ranking opportunities, depending on how competitive they are. A robust keyword strategy should incorporate both long-tail and short-tail keywords. 

5. Google Hates Pop-Ups 

Several years ago, Google announced that it would penalize sites for using mobile interstitials. Panic quickly ensued among web admins, with many worrying that they would have to discard a valuable lead-generation tool. 

Google advises against intrusive interstitial pop-ups, especially on mobile devices. But this doesn’t mean that all pop-ups need to be avoided, they should just adhere to search guidelines. Google uses the term “unintrusive dialogues” to describe acceptable pop-ups. 

6. Meta Tags Are Irrelevant for SEO

Look for information about how to use meta description and title tags effectively and you’ll find a wide spectrum of opinions. Some argue that meta tags are redundant while others prescribe an exact keyword density.

John Mueller has said that Google does use title tags to understand what a page is about. How much this still applies today is unknown. But there’s no basis for saying they’re irrelevant. On the flipside, Google also stated back in 2009 that they don’t recognize Meta Keywords as a ranking signal anymore, although other search engines around the world still might consider them a factor.

We recommend optimizing title tags for the algorithm, but also for click-through rates. This is because title tags are one of the primary elements at your disposal for controlling how your pages appear in SERPs. 

7. Generic Top-Level Domains Improve Rankings

Have you ever been told that you need a .com, .org or .net domain to achieve top rankings in search engines?

Well, it’s been said numerous times by Google officials that the type of domain a site uses doesn’t affect its ranking potential. 

There may be a slight advantage to a .com name from a usability angle as they’re easier for some to remember, but they don’t have any value from an SEO perspective. However, it is worth keeping in mind that links from .gov or .edu sites are valuable because they carry a high level of authority. 

8. Google Dislikes Duplicate Content 

Google won’t penalize a site for duplicate content in and of itself. The search algorithm has become much better at understanding which types of websites consistently produce similar content. Canonical tags should be used wherever possible to tell search engines about redundancy and to help assist crawlers in understanding your site. 

9. Domain Age Is a Ranking Factor

This has been a long stated myth for some time in the SEO community, especially when it comes to link builders and offering their services to target specific TLDs like .gov and .edu. John Mueller has said in no uncertain terms that domain age doesn’t matter to Google. Open and shut.

10. Link Building Should Always Be Avoided

Speaking of, link building has been a topic of contention for decades. Algorithms were originally built on the premise of tracking links to determine a site’s authority. Every link was essentially a vote, with links from high-authority sites carrying greater weight. This process is still a major component of how sites and individual pages are ranked. 

Through the years, people have learned ways to abuse this system. As a result, Google is constantly on the lookout for link farms, directory websites, and otherwise spammy signals that indicate questionable link-building practices. 

But this doesn’t mean that all link-building needs to be avoided. Links are still important. And while the majority of a site’s links should be organic, Google has also said that small numbers of guest blogs and link exchanges are OK. After everything, it is indisputable that high-quality links positively impact rankings.

11. Google Personalizes Results Based on Extensive Search History

It’s simply not the case that Google serves highly-personalized results for search queries. This debate resurfaced recently in a Twitter exchange between Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan and UCLA Professor Ramesh Srinivasan. The short of it? Google personalization is very limited. If users do experience different results for the same term, they tend to be for non-personalized reasons. 

Conclusion

While there are many factors that can influence rankings, the overarching fundamentals and principles behind SEO do not change. While the number of updates from the likes of Google, Bing, Yandex, and others over the last two decades is almost uncountable, search engines have remained committed to the task of serving the most useful, relevant web pages for search queries. As a result, ranking factors have remained fairly consistent. Although, without the presence of someone keeping their hand on the wheel it’s bound to have a negative impact on performance - it’s not quite a set and forget. 

Questioning third-party advice is essential when attempting to rank sites. By choosing your sources of information well, consulting documentation from search engines wherever possible, and leveraging in-house testing, you will lay the foundation for an effective long-term SEO strategy.

More Resources from BrightEdge

If You Care About User Experience, Invest in SEO
What Is the Value of an Integrated Marketing Strategy?
Best Practices for International SEO

dmcanally

M Posted 4 years ago

t 9 min read

BrightEdge here, reporting on the weather! 

At BrightEdge, we've spent a lot of time in the past year looking at how organic search varies across different industries.  We shared some insights into how Core Web Vitals impacted keywords across industries, we looked at how vaccines shaped search behavior and most recently, we've been looking at how attributes of winning sites vary across industries.  With last year's announcement of SearchIQ, we've been able to take a deeper look at different attributes of high-ranking sites to see if there are discernable differences that could be useful.  We found that while there are many commonalities, there are some big differences worth considering.

Defining industries using SEO and measuring results

Using some indices and Data Cube, we researched the top 1,000 keywords for 10 industries we were curious about -- a total of 10,000 total keywords.  This was fed into SearchIQ to pinpoint the attributes of all the pages ranking in top positions.  We then ran a correlation analysis to see if better metrics corresponded to higher rankings. We categorized these attributes into four buckets:

• Page Speed - Factors that would indicate pages load faster- including Core Web Vitals
• On-Page Factors - We assembled common factors SEO's look at including keyword presence in places like titles, content length and so forth
• Schema Usage - We collected the most common schema types the winning sites were using
• Backlinks - we looked at a few top level attributes of the backlink profile for the top ranking pages to see if there were noticeable correlations to higher results.

Benchmarking SEO across industries vary significantly

When we looked at all 10 industries, we saw that the common attributes of top sites vary significantly.  For example, we saw that with the top software-related keywords, the top pages loaded fairly quick but that did not necessarily translate to higher rankings.  We also found that schema usage is still pretty thin for many categories.  There were some interesting surprises; we saw how-to schema types common in real estate, suggesting the nature of winning pages may speak to users looking to learn.  We are sharing our weather report on all the different attributes we collected here.  You can use this infographic to see how your site stacks up. We'll be checking in regularly on these top attributes and sharing how things change over time. With 2022 being our first full year since the page experience update rolled out, and new concepts like MUM improving how Google interprets content, we expect to see some interesting changes over the coming years! 

More Resources from BrightEdge

Google Begins Using Page Experience to Rank Desktop Search Results
Four Imperatives For Successful SEO Execution in 2022
SEO Pro Tips for Success in 2022: How to Execute Startegy and Measure Wins