andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

To be in lockstep with Google’s algorithms, SEOs are now working with other teams to accomplish their goals, whether it’s user experience (UX), development, media or something else. This process is what’s referred to as “SEO democratization.”

With the increased emphasis that Google and other search engines are placing on high-quality user experience when ranking sites, it’s essential to realize the scales are leaning more towards UX.

Correctly implemented, democratization can transform the effectiveness of an organization’s SEO and growth marketing strategies. Democratization lowers costs, streamlines workflows, and achieves measurable, definite outcomes in ways that aren’t possible with “legacy” approaches. 

If you’re wondering what SEO democratization means and how it might be useful for your company, this post covers all the essential points. We define the term “SEO democratization,” answer why it’s important, and outline practical tips for democratizing your SEO department. 

What Is SEO Democratization?

SEO Democratization refers to the transformation of SEO into a company-wide and department-spanning discipline. This is in comparison to the traditional role of SEO as a discrete activity that had little relation to other operations within a business. 

In the past, an organization’s SEO team was usually self-contained and largely concerned with making technical changes to a website. Even disciplines with overlap were usually handled within the confines of the SEO department (such as link-building that required marketing outreach or content creation). 

In the modern day, however, SEO needs input from other departments. This is because search engines are increasingly taking a holistic approach to evaluating the quality and relevance of a website. For example, Google has clearly stated that it takes a variety of factors into account—content quality, user experience, brand mentions, technical on-page structure, and more—as exemplified in web admin tools like Page Experience and Core Web Vitals reports.

Why Is SEO Democratization Important?

Democratization is important because modern SEO needs to leverage multiple and distinct skill sets to be effective. Specifically, the inputs of numerous departments are required to create high-quality content, delivered in the context of a rewarding customer experience, that fulfills extensive on-page technical criteria (yep, it’s a mouthful). 

Let’s take a relatively straightforward example of content creation. What does it take to publish a video on a company blog? 

Developers ensure the video software is in place, content creators brainstorm and execute original content, branding experts check that the tone aligns with the company’s mission, and sales and marketing create calls to action and guide viewers through the appropriate funnel. Finally, SEOs ensure all on-page and off-page considerations are taken into account. 

It is impossible for one department to handle all of these tasks; collaboration is essential in a world that demands a multidisciplinary approach. 

It’s also worth clarifying that technical SEO is still vital. Canonical tags need setting. 404s need fixing. Keywords need to be included in content. But SEO as a field has grown in its scope. As a result, many SEO professionals see themselves as more akin to growth marketers. 

How to Successfully Democratize Your SEO Activities

Follow the five steps below to create an integrated, democratized SEO strategy that leverages the multitude of abilities and skill sets in your company:

1. Create Clear Scopes of Responsibilities, Goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

If SEO processes are to be distributed effectively, tasks must be clearly defined on a department-by-department basis. 

It’s crucial to recognize that the SEO department is responsible for implementing an overarching infrastructure to ensure performance is tracked, waste is limited, and best practices are maintained. In addition, its critical teams are aligned on the bigger goals for the projects.  For example, with Brightedge, a common broad metric is Share of Voice against a specific type of search.  Teams can measure progress against this metric to gauge whether or not their efforts are helping them achieve visibility for a specific mindset. 

All-in-one enterprise SEO platforms like BrightEdge are instrumental in this regard. They provide a central and accessible platform where SEO-specific workflows and data can be shared and delegated.

In addition, project management tools are essential for creating a collaborative space that is available on a daily basis. If your organization uses software such as Zendesk, Jira, Wrike, Trello, Asana and Monday, BrightEdge provides a shortcut for assigning SEO tasks. As long as email-based task creation is supported, you can send assignments from the BrightEdge platform to your internal project management system.

2. Create an Integrated Tech Stack to Streamline SEO

An accessible and integrated tech stack means that non-SEOs can interact with, and share data between, platforms without the need for technical SEO knowledge.

For example, content marketers will benefit from a content management system (CMS) like WordPress that is pre-configured with the correct technical on-page SEO. Similarly, user experience developers can leverage conversion data from an SEO tracking platform. 

The role of all-in-one SEO platforms is worth restating. For example, BrightEdge offers a suite of tools that empower multiple departments with different proficiencies to participate in the company's SEO efforts. Moreover, this often occurs in granular and highly specialized ways. Content creators leverage intent signals, technical teams track Content IQ to manage site health, marketers implement data-based insights, and executives and managers monitor dashboards to see how work is progressing across the company. 

3. Ensure Centralized Governance and Appoint Multi-Disciplinary Project Managers

SEO managers that understand different specialties and departmental processes should be responsible for coordinating professionals. Management should occur within the context of clearly defined processes, areas of delegation, and targets (as explained in step one). 

Establishing oversight and governance is a balancing act between micromanaging independent teams and allowing for complete creative freedom. Both extremes should be avoided. 

Regular meetings are essential for maintaining shared goals and keeping people on track when pursuing department-spanning objectives and KPIs. 

To ensure SEO is effectively democratized, many successful programs leverage scorecards with top level KPIs as guides. All-in-one solutions such as Brightedge enable teams to tailor dashboards to support these meetings. This minimizes manual work and creates a single source of information for teams to operate from. 

4. Provide Basic SEO Training to All Departments

Ensuring that different departments are versed in basic SEO can be instrumental in avoiding confusion and surmounting easily avoidable technical obstacles. Individuals in non-SEO departments don’t require expert-level know-how, but they should understand how their work fits into a broader SEO picture. 

In a similar vein, SEOs should also adopt a multidisciplinary approach, understanding core ideas in marketing, sales, web development, project management, and workplace psychology. In addition, they should pay special attention to how these areas relate to overall company goals.

Employees have finite time, but a basic understanding will make communication and collaboration possible and foster a mutual respect for the talents and skills of colleagues. In the long-term, this is a far more cost and time-effective approach. 

Many are surprised to learn that an enterprise SEO platform can fulfill this objective. For example, Brightedge provides a professional certification program that scales across an organization and ensures teams have the necessary skills to interpret insights and make optimizations where necessary.

5. Use a Well-Structured Core SEO Strategy

A well-structured SEO strategy that accounts for different domains of expertise and disciplines acts as a unifying framework for collaborative efforts. 

An organization’s high-level SEO plan still comes from the SEO department. This almost sounds obvious, but it needs to be stressed. And many tasks should remain as the sole responsibility of SEOs. Don’t imagine that you’ll be explaining hreflang tags or schema markup to eagerly listening content creators anytime soon. 

A flexible, detailed and measurable SEO program that clearly indicates where collaboration is required acts as the crux of an inter-departmental, democratized approach. 

Conclusion

SEO democratization represents a broader trend in the corporate space. Departments no longer operate as islands—it’s inefficient and detracts from the overall customer experience. 

Successfully democratizing your SEO activities will give you a competitive edge and allow you to respond more quickly to evolving algorithms and shifting customer behaviors and needs. 

An inclusive platform like BrightEdge enables you to coordinate the various aspects of a democratized SEO strategy. We provide tools for performance tracking beyond traditional SEO metrics, a content management platform, integrations with other apps, and more. Get in touch to arrange a demo. 

More Resources

• How Influencer Marketing Can Improve Your SEO
• BrightEdge eBook: SEO Pro Tips for Success
• In-House SEO vs. Agency Outsourcing

tvura

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

What is it?  

On August 18th, Google announced that it would launch an update to its search algorithm called the "Helpful Content Update." According to Google, this is part of a broader effort to help searchers see more original content written for humans, instead of search engines. This update is rolling out now.  

Unlike some algorithm updates, which may target a single page, this update will be sitewide. It leverages a new machine learning algorithm to determine if a high amount of content on your site is deemed not helpful. 

If this happens, you might see performance changes to your organic search channel, and it won’t appear in Google Search Console as a manual action/penalty.  

Background and Context  

For over a decade, Google has made continuous refinements to improve the quality of content served in its results.  This focus predominately started with the introduction of Panda in 2011.  

In 2014, Google shared its E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines to encourage marketers further to tailor on and off-page search and content strategies. The goal was to provide users with an experience containing the most relevant content from sources they could trust.  

In 2015, the release of Micro-Moment Methodology furthered marketers' approach to understanding the customer journey and aligning content strategies with intent.   

Today, the Helpful Content Update continues this trajectory by ensuring search users aren’t subject to automated content or content created primarily to rank in search engines.  SEO practitioners who have been following Google’s guidelines for how to create quality content should not be surprised by any of the guidelines.  

Who Will This Impact? 

Google has indicated that this update will be implemented across all searches. However, they've also noted that some industries may feel more impact than others. According to Google, the sectors that will feel the most effects of this update include:    

• Online-Educational Materials 
• Entertainment  
• Shopping 
• Tech Related Content  

Google did not elaborate on why they believe these specific segments may be impacted more than others. However, at BrightEdge, in conjunction with our partners at OnCrawl, we have noted some industries' search results feature more repetitive content in their listings than others. 

This could be an issue that Helpful Content aims to reduce.   

What Can Companies and Brands Do? 

SEOs and digital marketers can ensure their content is aligned to what the Helpful Content update is designed to reward. In the announcement for the update, Google suggested some questions marketers or copywriters should ask about their content to determine if the Helpful Content update could potentially impact it. 

From these guidelines, there are some inferences that marketers can make about how they approach writing content on their website, to continually adhere to the guidelines provided by Google. 

Ensure  

• Your content is aligned to your specific audiences 
• Your author has (and can show) knowledge of the subject matter 
• Your website content clearly shows your primary purpose 
• Every reader learns something from your content 
• You follow the guidelines for core updates and product reviews 
• You don't over-optimize your content – it might work against you 
• You are unique and write high-quality content. Follow Google E-A-T guidelines as they will grow in importance regarding what expertise and trustworthiness will be rewarded. 

Conversely, we can infer from the questions that there are some things marketers should not do: 

Avoid  

• AI Generated Content Technologies that automate creating content around keywords 
• Targeting keywords outside your sites' core competencies because they are trending 
• Repeating content from other websites or manufacturers' descriptions, where able 
• Over-optimize keywords on pages, so stop thinking about keyword density! 
• Clickbait titles that do not align with what the page offers, do not mislead 
• Pages that would require the user to go back and do another search to get more detail 
• Repeating or summarizing content that is available elsewhere 

These questions posted to marketers are all aligned with what Google has been saying for decades. If your SEO strategies are designed around these guidelines, this should be good news for the impact of this update. Helpful content should connect you with your visitors better and get more engagement out of your organic channel. 

Key Takeaways:  

• If you are following Google's guidelines for content creation, this update should be to your benefit 
• Avoid content automation and excessive AI-driven content generation technologies 
• Focus on making content that is unique and valuable to your user  
• More than ever, SEOs need to help their organizations create content that aligns with audiences' intents, organize it in a structurally sound way, and strike a balance between what's good for humans and for being found in search engines. 

Helpful content is good for marketers, especially those developing content to engage their audience and follow Google's SEO best practices.  

Not only does it remove poor quality content from your customer's journey, but it should also improve their overall experience learning about your brand and exploring your content. 

This all leads to a better conversion experience for your visitors. Helpful Content reinforces why it is critical to understand your audience's intent and needs as essential inputs into your content strategy.  

Ultimately, this update is the latest in a long history of serving the most helpful content for users. Google continues to update its technology to remove poor quality content (there were three spam updates last year alone) and reward people approaching content on their site the right way – which is content that speaks to their visitors.    

Leveraging BrightEdge for Helpful Content 

BrightEdge can help you ensure your content and site align with Google’s helpful content algorithm update. The BrightEdge platform enables users to define helpful content ideas, measure rankings, quantify the impact of the algorithm update and more. 

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

A well-executed search engine optimization (SEO) strategy helps you spread your brand message, promote your products, and speak directly to the needs of your audience.

Over the last several years, a growing number of businesses have sought to “algorithm proof” their optimization methods. Instead of asking, “What specific changes will help me rank better?” SEOs are instead posing the question, “What are the values and long-term goals of search engines and how can I incorporate these into my strategy?” 

If the idea of an “algorithm-proofed” SEO strategy sounds like a valuable asset for your organization, you’re in the right place. This post shows you exactly how to build an evergreen and sustainable approach to optimization that has a high chance of withstanding the inevitable changes that the future will bring. 

What Is Algorithm Proofing?

Algorithm proofing your SEO strategy is about understanding the principles that guide Google and other search engines rather than specific technical ranking factors. Invariably, this means producing high-quality content and ensuring a positive user experience.

Technical on-page and off-page SEO is important, and often complements the creation of engaging, useful content. But the fundamentals of authoritativeness and quality should always come first, as seen with Google’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) guidelines. 

One recent example that illustrates the move towards content quality as the core ranking criteria is Google’s “helpful content” update, which began rolling out in late August. Among other factors, the algorithm change devalues content that regurgitates what already exists on the web, automated (AI) content creation, and excessive word counts. 

1. Prioritize the Experience of Site Visitors

Prioritizing the experience of your site visitors is the most fundamental aspect of creating an evergreen SEO strategy. Your primary focus should be on optimizing for web traffic, not an analysis of search engine ranking factors.

It’s also worth noting that the phrase “user experience” is too narrow in this context. It typically refers to how a site visitor interacts with the structural elements of a site’s design (navigation, responsiveness, page speed, etc.) and not overall experience, which encompasses your content and how precisely it meets a searcher’s informational, commercial or entertainment needs. 

User experience in the technical sense is important. But SEOs should take a holistic view of site experience. If you are guided by two questions—“What do my visitors want?” and “What is the best way to give it to them?”—you will naturally meet search engines’ algorithm criteria.

All the signs show that Google and other search engines are moving towards a model that prioritizes the needs of searchers, not content that fulfills an arbitrary set of technical criteria. So don’t go chasin’ algorithms. Instead, focus on sustainable tactics rooted in a deep knowledge of what your customers want. 

2. Implement a Smart Technical SEO Strategy

Technical SEO isn’t to be avoided. In fact, it’s crucial to ensure your content is accessible and machine-readable. Canonical tags and hreflang attributes aren’t going anywhere. It’s simply that they don’t constitute the whole picture. 

The bulk of your technical strategy should flow naturally from a nuanced understanding of your users and an awareness of what makes up a superlative customer experience. You should start with how your content is crawled on a website and move through to visitor conversions (in terms of your key digital goals).

HTML5, fast-loading pages, well-structured articles with clear headings, schema markup, HTTPS—search engines value all these things because they ultimately provide a better experience for the visitor.

It’s also worth noting that while user experience should be prioritized, optimizing for specific rank factors unrelated to user experience is still important. For example, building backlinks is still a beneficial SEO activity and demonstrates trust. Other tasks that are separate from the experience of visitors, such as the publication of a sitemap, also help search engines index your site more quickly. 

3. Create Informative, Authoritative Content

The tenets of good content have remained largely the same since William Caxton first invented the printing press, and probably existed even further back. 

E-A-T guidelines (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) encapsulate Google’s view of what makes up high-quality content. And this is likely mirrored by other search engines. 

Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, which give a useful insight into the general philosophy of Google, stipulate the following points: 

The amount of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) is very important. Please consider:  

• The expertise of the creator of the MC [Main Content].
• The authoritativeness of the creator of the MC, the MC itself, and the website.
• The trustworthiness of the creator of the MC, the MC itself, and the website. 

Recent algorithm updates affecting product reviews are an excellent example of how the algorithm penalizes and rewards authoritative content. 

4. Optimize Content for Position Zero and Featured Snippets

Content creation processes should be based on a combination of tested SEO principles and an understanding of searcher intent. This approach provides the best possible chance of ranking well in search engine results pages (SERPs), particularly for position zero results and featured snippets. 

Incorporate the following guidelines into your workflow to create highly rankable content:

• Frame headers as questions and write succinct answers that are suitable for inclusion in the SERPs as featured snippets.
• Use keywords to guide the structure of your article, but avoid “stuffing.” Research new keywords—most topics are evolving entities—and incorporate new sections into existing content.
• Create content that mirrors modern reading habits. Implement a clear headline structure to enable scanning, use short paragraphs, make abundant use of bullet points and lists, and avoid obfuscation and ambiguous language.

It’s also essential to keep in mind that the principles of E-A-T apply at every stage of content creation and work in concert with structural considerations. 

5. Build an Effective Tech Stack

All-in-one platforms have largely replaced SEO point solutions. This is mainly due to the fact that putting together a comprehensive picture of SEO performance that incorporates more than half a dozen data sources is a time-consuming and unwieldy task, even for the best marketer in the world. 

The BrightEdge app provides an example of how integrated platforms generate insights into the nature of content performance in an efficient and integrated way. BrightEdge tools are used (among other things) to identify areas for improving page experience (Content IQ), find opportunities to satisfy unmet needs (Market Insights and Opportunity Forecasting), and use data to determine which content is successful (Data Cube).

6. Create Different Types of Content

A multimedia approach is usually best for site visitors. A varied content mix appeals to a variety of audience segments and accounts for different ways of learning. 

Certain individuals like bullet points, others respond better to infographics and charts, and some swear by video. All content choices should, of course, be informed by research into what mediums resonate best with your users. 

Variations of written content like case studies, white papers, infographics, and so on also have applications beyond search optimization. Often they can be utilized across departments for the purposes of sales, marketing, and customer onboarding. 

Finally, publishing well-crafted videos will likely increase exposure in search engines by allowing you to rank for terms with strong visual intent.

7. Adopt a Data-Driven SEO and Content Strategy 

Ah, good old data. The term “data-driven” has become a well-worn cliche over the last several years. It’s one of the buzziest marketing buzzwords out there. And it’s often misunderstood in an SEO context. 

Data lets you see which content performs well, identify the reasons for its popularity, and apply insights to future strategies.

Data also enables you to build detailed profiles, understand personas, clarify intent, and cultivate empathy with searchers’ needs. Qualitative data, in the form of feedback (sentiment analysis), is also important and can often be processed with automated tools. 

Comprehensive SEO platforms like BrightEdge will typically provide analytics tools. For example, Market Signal generates data observations about under-performing content along with guidance about how it can be improved. In addition, Page Reporting is a tracking platform for establishing page-level metrics like conversion and social media shares. 

8. Follow Ranking Algorithms and Adjust Your Strategy Accordingly 

Algorithm changes provide insights into which aspects of your SEO strategy are not functioning as well as they might. 

The most recent major update rolled out in July and applied to product reviews. This update provided an opportunity for SEOs to work with guidelines outlined in Google Search Central to identify problematic areas in their content strategy. 

Pay close attention to your SEO performance after both minor and major (core) algorithm changes and audit your site based on ranking fluctuations. This is one of the most effective ways to make positive modifications, especially when undertaken in conjunction with industry analysis from other web admins. 

Keep in mind that Google publishes information about core and other significant updates. 

9. Drive a Democratized, Department-Spanning SEO Strategy

SEO is increasingly moving beyond the walls—virtual and physical—of the SEO department.

High-quality content and user experience require the input of various departments, including marketing, web development, data management, and more.

As such, it is essential to foster cross-department collaboration within your organization. This ensures that everyone is moving together in concert to achieve your website goals.

Conclusion

Travel back a decade and the search engine landscape was wildly different from the present day. It was possible to rank for high-volume terms with keyword-stuffed pages and a handful of links from a forum. 

However, search engines have always aimed to provide searchers with the content they need. This hasn’t changed since Archie, the world’s first search engine, was released in 1990. The methods have evolved. But the aim has always remained the same. 

Algorithms are constantly moving closer to the underlying principles—informative content and excellent customer experience—that they first sought to manifest. And understanding and implementing these principles is the best way to bullet-proof your SEO strategy.

More Resources

• Google Algorithm Updates: A Running Timeline of Major Changes
• How to Optimize for Featured Snippets and Position Zero
• Optimizing for Search Amid the Data Revolution

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

Summer is in full swing. However, it doesn’t look like the algorithm engineers at Google, Microsoft, and the like have taken this as a cue to go on vacation. There have been many important changes over the last two weeks, and many SEOs will welcome the opportunities they bring.

Here’s your twice-monthly roundup of all significant SEO developments, algorithm updates, and news from the first half of August. 

SEO News at a Glance

• Google finishes rolling out a product reviews update, first announced in July. If you publish product reviews on your website, check that you’ve implemented the relevant guidance on Search Central.
• Google implements several new features: “pros and cons” rich snippets, image windows in the main search engine results pages (SERPs), and AI filtering of misleading information in featured snippets.
• Bing adds three annotations — pricing history, coupons, and ethical information — to shopping results.
• IndexNow continues on its upward trajectory, with 7% of new URLs listed by Bing attributable to the open-source protocol.
• DuckDuckGo has decided to block Microsoft trackers, likely in an attempt to protect its reputation after a tweet outlining privacy issues was published. 

SEO News and Updates

Google Finishes Product Reviews Algorithm Update

Google has finished rolling out an algorithm update that affects product reviews, well ahead of the two to three weeks originally anticipated.

In a notification published on July 27th, Google said, “[We] Released the July 2022 product reviews update for English-language product reviews. The rollout was complete as of August 2, 2022.”

If you’ve experienced some volatility in your rankings, the update may provide an explanation. That said, early reports indicate limited effects and only minor fluctuations. Sites hosting poor-quality content haven’t been penalized. Rather, the update rewards those publishers that put out in-depth and knowledgeable reviews.

If you publish review content on your site, it’s worth reading the documentation on Google Search Central. Expertise, evidence of use, and an analysis of both benefits and drawbacks are among the main factors that Google is looking for. 

Google to Highlight Pros and Cons in Search Snippets 

Google announced that it will start displaying pros and cons in some search results for product review pages. 

The information will be presented as a rich snippet. Google has added documentation about the structured data that web admins should add to their reviews—either the positiveNotes or negativeNotes property, or both. Google will still attempt to extract relevant data in the absence of tags. 

Adding the correct schema to content is a relatively small job, but may lead to an increase in click-through rates. Product pages and customer reviews will not show pros and cons in search results, and at least two positive or negative points must be included (or one of each). 

Google Showing Quoted Text in Search Queries in All Snippets

When users enter an exact match search query using quotation marks, Google will show the block of text in which the quoted words appear in all search snippets.

For example, suppose you type “dog treats” into Google (with the quotation marks). You will now see that exact phrase in its original context in all the snippets for every result. Previously, this was only displayed sometimes, with a general page description used as an alternative. 

Google announced the change in a blog post on The Keyword: “The snippets we display for search results (meaning the text you see describing web content) will be formed around where a quoted word or phrase occurs in a web document. That means you can more easily identify where to find them after you click the link and visit the content.”

It’s good to know that Google is listening to user feedback. In terms of SEO, you may see a slight fluctuation in click-through rates, although it will most likely be small. 

Searchers Can Access Google Images From Within the Main SERPs

Google has implemented a feature that allows searchers to view images within main search engine results pages (SERPs) without being taken directly to the image results. 

When users click an image included in the “Images for” widget, an overlay appears. Google has confirmed that the feature, which applies only to desktop, is fully live. 

You may see some changes to your image click-through rates and a possible uptick in traffic from visual assets as a result of this development. 

Bing Includes New Information in Shopping Results

Bing has added three new clickable pop-ups or “annotations” to its shopping results: price history, coupons, and ethical choice ratings. The features are available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France.

The coupons tab lists various discounts that are available for specific products (from the merchant site), the price history shows a graph charting price changes over a given period, and the ethical choice box displays a rating generated by the fashion app Good On You.

All of these features are geared toward helping consumers make more informed choices. It’s almost certainly a positive move for retailers that receive substantial amounts of traffic from Bing. It’s also interesting to see how search engines other than Google are driving innovative changes. 

Google Implements AI-Driven Quality Standards in Search Results

Google has introduced several quality mechanisms to filter out incorrect and misleading information from featured snippets.

Google’s Multitask Unified Model or “MUM” technology is an AI-based system that processes information from different sources and in varied formats to answer complex questions. 

MUM cross-references callouts (the large word or words above a featured snippet) with other sources to check their veracity. It’s also possible to detect fallacious or nonsensical questions that shouldn’t be answered with a featured snippet, such as, “What was Abraham Lincoln's favorite cartoon?”

Google will also add more context to the “About this result” widget (accessible by clicking the three dots next to a page title). In addition, content advisory notifications, typically displayed for fast-changing topics, will now show when Google has low confidence in search results for a query. 

All of these updates are indicative of Google’s broader move towards prioritizing high-quality results with a trusted provenance. As a result, SEOs that focus on meeting the criteria of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EAT) are best placed to thrive in this emerging search landscape. 

IndexNow Responsible for 7% of New URLs Clicked in Bing

7% of new URLs clicked by Bing searchers in July came from the IndexNow protocol. This data is interesting because it illustrates the rapid growth of IndexNow. Google doesn’t yet use the protocol, but it has expressed interest and is currently undertaking testing. 

The benefits of IndexNow to both web admins and search engines are clear. Web admins can quickly let search engines know about new content. Search engines won’t have to rely as much on crawlers, saving computing resources as a result. It seems like a worthwhile option to implement as it helps combat the inevitable expanse of the internet, and more computing is needed for crawlers.

If you’re not already using IndexNow on your websites, there’s no time like the present to implement it. There are several simple integrations available and adding it to a CMS like WordPress takes minutes. 

DuckDuckGo to Block Microsoft Trackers

DuckDuckGo has announced that it will block Microsoft trackers after receiving a wave of criticism in relation to semi-opaque data-sharing practices. 

Privacy researcher Zach Edwards tweeted in May about how the search engine was transferring data to some Microsoft-owned properties via its mobile browser, initiating an immediate reaction from users and industry experts. 

After a somewhat dismissive initial response, CEO Gabriel Weinberg pivoted to apologize and say that DuckDuckGo will be updating all of its blocking scripts to include Microsoft trackers, the only company with which it had a “get out” agreement. 

And that’s all, folks! To round off, here’s a little SEO joke. What do SEOs wear when they go swimming? A pair of Googles. 

Recent Posts on the BrightEdge Blog

• How to Optimize for Featured Snippets and Position Zero
• The Rise of Alternative Search Engines

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years 2 months ago

t 9 min read

Mobile search traffic has exceeded that of desktop since at least 2016. BrightEdge data shows that 62% of all web traffic is from mobile devices and tablets. And some of our clients consider that figure to be a conservative one. 

Google has increasingly moved towards a model that prioritizes mobile experience. Its “mobile first” system uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking purposes. Furthermore, platforms and reports like Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and Page Experience all include dedicated features for optimizing mobile websites. 

Mobile SEO is a technical but well-understood and largely straightforward process. It’s also absolutely non-negotiable from an SEO standpoint. Marketers will also see noticeably higher conversion rates from a site that is not only mobile-ready but fully optimized. 

What’s the State of Mobile?

The current mobile landscape presents a multifaceted but also definite picture. And it leaves SEOs in no doubt about the importance of mobile optimization. 

Mobile devices constitute the most popular way of accessing the web, search traffic is predominantly mobile, and Google has been transparent about the fact that it prioritizes mobile websites during indexing and ranking. 

Here are some stats illustrating the current state of mobile: 

• Mobile traffic accounts for 62% of total web traffic. 
• A similar figure—around 60% of total searches— applies to mobile search traffic.
• Three out of every four ecommerce dollars are spent using a mobile device. 
• Mobile friendliness has a positive effect on brand perception. At least half of all mobile users prefer websites to apps. 
• Mobile friendliness boosts conversions according to qualitative customer data. 

Google prioritizes mobile friendliness, and it is likely central to the algorithms of other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo. Google has published extensive documentation on Search Central about how web admins can optimize their site and troubleshoot common errors. 

What Is “Mobile SEO” and “Mobile Readiness?”

Mobile readiness describes the compatibility of a website with mobile devices. Mobile-ready sites are tailored to meet the specific needs of mobile users, and tend to have responsive designs and simplified navigation, among other elements. 

Mobile SEO is the practice of optimizing a mobile site so that it ranks highly in search engines but is also aligned to the user experience of someone using a handheld device. In recent years, Google has adopted a “mobile first” approach, meaning that it primarily uses the mobile version of a site to determine rankings.

Google also offers a host of features in Analytics and Search Console (the Mobile Usability and Core Web Vitals (CWV) reports are two examples) that developers use to improve the quality of their mobile websites. 

Mobile Readiness: A Checklist

We’ve compiled this mobile SEO optimization checklist, which will ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and has the best possible chances of ranking. 

A solution like BrightEdge can automatically monitor these optimization factors and alert you when key insights arise or need attention. Consider implementing an automated solution if you don’t already rely on one.

1. Mobile and tablet responsive design: Your website should employ a responsive structure and layout that fits the screen size of mobile devices and tablets. A responsive design will display equally well both horizontally and vertically. If you are a BrightEdge customer, ContentIQ or BrightEdge Instant can help you assess how your site will render and load on both desktop and mobile environments. 
2. PageSpeed Insights: Run mobile pages through PageSpeed Insights and implement changes. Speed is particularly important for mobile sites because connectivity via cellular networks is often limited. Minification and browser caching should be priorities. BrightEdge customers can also bulk test pages for page speed via Instant and correlate its impact on rankings for targeted keywords via SearchIQ. 
3. Google Search Console: The Core Web Vitals (CWV) and Mobile Usability reports available in Google Search Console are useful monitoring tools and can help identify issues and areas for improvement on your mobile site. If you have separate URLs for mobile and desktop, verify them both in Search Console. 
4. HTML5: Use of HTML5 ensures a clean, functional codebase that is preferable for mobile-responsive sites. HTML5 can also be used to create visual effects instead of Flash. 
5. Social Sharing: Have social buttons available, but not intruding on the visitors experience. This will allow sharability of your content and help with visiblity.
6. Dynamic serving: If you implement dynamic serving on your site—two separate code files for mobile and desktop but served under the same URL—you’ll need to use the Vary HTTP header to alert Googlebot. 
7. Ads: Apply Better Ads Standards for mobile sites. 
8. Image compression: Compress high-resolution images to increase page speed. While other page speed factors are important, image compression is one of the biggest contributors to slow page speeds.  BrightEdge customers can automate these processes for images via Autopilot and leverage Instant to test how their page speeds are impacting rankings.  
9. Optimize lazy loading: Lazy-load images should be visible in the viewport. Lazy-loading images that require user interaction (such as a tap from the user) are not visible to Google, so shouldn’t be included on mobile web pages. 
10. Navigation: A simple dropdown navigation bar is best for mobile. 
11. Concise headlines: Long headlines are cumbersome when scanning content on mobile devices and take up valuable screen space. 
12. Legible, correctly sized font: Fonts should be configured specifically for mobile screens. Generally, they will be larger than on a desktop. 
13. Pared-down forms: Typing tends to be more demanding on mobile devices. Simplify forms wherever possible and don’t add extraneous fields. Autocorrect on forms can also be problematic because locating errors requires scrolling. Real-time autocorrection is preferable. 
14. Space around links and calls-to-action (CTAs): Links placed close together are easy to tap by accident. Space links to avoid this problem. 
15. Large buttons: Make it easier to tap buttons by making them large enough. A page’s primary CTA should be tappable with either thumb. 
16. Appropriate use of white space: White space adds to the aesthetics of a mobile site and contributes to a positive user experience. 
17. Avoid pop-ups: Pop-ups aren’t entirely wrong on desktop, but Google has stated explicitly that full-page interstitial pop-ups should be avoided. 
18. Meta titles and descriptions: Don’t use different meta titles and descriptions for mobile and desktop sites. Google’s John Mueller has advised against the common practice. 
19. Apply relevant structured data/schema markup: Apply structured data wherever possible as it can help your website stand out in organic mobile listings. Use the same data for mobile and desktop versions of your site. Update URLs on your mobile site if necessary.  Brightedge customers can leverage SearchIQ to see what Schema tags their competitors are using and how they are corresponding to high ranking results for keywords they are targeting.  
     

Mobile SEO Optimization: Make It a Priority

Mobile readiness should be a priority for all SEOs. However, don’t view mobile SEO as a standalone task that can be completed and then forgotten about. 

Mobile SEO optimization is an ongoing process that requires awareness of changes to user habits, SEO best practices, search engine guidelines (especially Google), and new technology. Moreover, mobile readiness reaches into nearly all areas of a business’ activities, including marketing, user experience, sales, and more. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that while mobile SEO optimization can be a technical and multifaceted process, documentation and guidance are widely available on the web. 

Extra Resources

Navigating the Google Page Experience Update

POV: Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Do You Need It?

Guide to Page Speed (With Numerous Detailed Guides for Mobile Optimization)

BrightEdge 2018 Mid-Year Mobile Research Roundup