Ever since Elon Musk took over as CEO of Twitter, there have been a lot of changes to the platform. Some people love it. Others are not so sure. Many marketers have even said their goodbyes to Twitter. As far as brands are concerned, many have left the platform or temporarily paused ads due to increased hate speech, safety concerns, and Musk’s overall lax approach to content moderation, account suspensions, and other issues. Here’s a rundown of all the changes that have happened so far. Whether you’re a fan or not, it’s worth keeping up with what’s happening with Twitter 2.0. The latest in the Twitstorm:
What happened:
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First Microsoft Bing. Then Google. Now Baidu is reportedly planning on bringing ChatGPT-style AI to its search results. Why we care. All the major search engines are seemingly in an arms race to add AI chat to search. Once search engines eventually add the chat features to search, it could have major implications for publishers (websites could see their traffic and visibility impacted, depending on how the AI chat is deployed within the search results) and searchers (will the information be accurate and reliable?). There are a lot of unknown unknowns here, which means search marketers should be watching all these developments. A standalone app first, then search. Baidu is expected to launch its AI chatbot first as a standalone app (similar to ChatGPT). It would then be gradually merged into Baidu search by March, according to reports. Baidu is reportedly using its deep learning model called ERNIE (which Baidu described as “a “pre-training language model with 260 billion parameters”) as the chatbot’s foundation and “training it on both Chinese- and English-language sources inside and outside China’s firewall,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Baidu also will limit the outputs of its chatbot to comply with China’s censorship rules. Dig deeper. There’s more coverage of the news on Techmeme. The post Baidu working on AI chatbot service that will be added to search appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/iQFVePM Creating content to satisfy long-tail search queries is an often-overlooked strategy. It’s easy to go after bigger wins, but focusing on the smaller gains can lead to powerful long-term results. Many times in SEO, slow and steady wins the race. Search has been evolving and talking about keywords might seem old-fashioned. But long-tail queries have never been more important. As search is second nature for many people these days and voice search gains popularity, searches are becoming more conversational. Creating content to satisfy this type of query can be really beneficial. To get the best results from this strategy you need to approach it thoughtfully. In this article, I’ll cover some tips to get more SEO benefits from long-tail queries. Long-tail keywords: What are they and why use them for SEO?Long-tail keywords are specific words or phrases that tend to have a better conversion value. They are usually longer (three to five words) and have a lower search volume. If long-tail keywords are not part of your strategy, you miss out on many opportunities. Nearly 95% of U.S. search queries get less than 10 searches per month, a large-scale study by Ahrefs revealed. It’s also widely accepted that 15% of search queries on Google are new. This statistic has been confirmed by Google many times, most recently in 2022 as reported by Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Roundtable. Long-tail queries can be easier to rank for and have the potential to eliminate ambiguity to drive qualified traffic and conversions. What is a long-tail strategy?A long-tail SEO strategy is a technique that places a focus on lower-volume search terms. This SEO tactic capitalizes on a lower competition rate to drive qualified website traffic. It can be a really effective approach because the searcher’s intent is usually much clearer with long-tail terms. This gives you an opportunity to make sure you capture really relevant, valuable traffic. 9 tips to maximize the SEO benefits of long-tail keywordsWhile leveraging long-tail keywords can be powerful and effective, it’s important to go about this in a planned and considered way. Here are my top tips for getting the best results from your long-tail opportunities. 1. Start small, gain tractionA long-tail keyword strategy is ideal for gaining traction in a new market. If you’re starting a new site or covering a new topic, putting your focus on long-tail keyword phrases within your content can help to give you visibility with the right target audience. By their nature, long-tail keywords are less frequently searched for and very specific. This means the people searching for them tend to have a very clear intent. Creating great content to satisfy these queries is ideal for building your reputation with the right people. It’s also a great SEO strategy to get things off the ground and build rankings around topics relevant to your niche. For example, here’s Amore Coffee, a small coffee machine rental company in the UK, making the most of the long-tail. That’s just one example, but across their website, they have managed to rank for a variety of detailed, long-tail queries around their main topic of coffee in the UK: This forms a good basis for their target audience to discover them via search engines. They’re unlikely to be driving huge amounts of traffic but they will be reaching people who are really interested in what they have to offer. 2. Stay relevant and build your presenceWhen working with long-tail queries, it’s important to be thoughtful with your choices. Don’t just create content for the sake of it. Select topics that are very closely related to your area of expertise, or product offering. Don’t stray too far from your core business goals. Make sure you can create highly relevant content that’s helpful and adds value. This will help you avoid the trap of taking a “search-engine-first” approach, which Google actively discourages in its helpful content guidelines. The “don’ts” include:
In most topic areas, there are many relevant long-tail queries to work on. The road to success starts by choosing the right ones and keeping them unwaveringly fitting to your audience and goals. 3. Define your goalsBefore you start working on your content, think about what you aim to do.
Your primary goal will influence the content you write.
For the long-tail query “how much value will an extension add to my house” in the UK, Yopa clinched the featured snippet with their simple and objective answer: Overall, Yopa now gets more organic traffic from their article: However, Check a Trade’s more detailed article ranks well organically and has better overall search visibility. So, having a clear idea of what would be most beneficial to your business before you start work can help you to gain the results you need. 4. Conduct thorough researchSpend time and effort researching before you start. Some great keyword research tools that can help you find long-tail keywords include Answer the Public, Also Asked, and Answer Socrates. You can mine long-tail keyword data from tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. Industry forums, Reddit and Quora, can help add another dimension to your research. Nothing beats thorough research. It gives you extra insight into the way your target audience is searching, the topics that are interesting to them and common themes within a topic area. Don’t skimp on this step, even if the sheer volume of ideas might seem overwhelming at first. Use your research to define long-tail keywords that really matter to you and your audience. Building a strong strategy to support your main aims (and back up those valuable short-tail keywords) is much more effective than taking a random approach. Just look at all the questions you could answer about SEO strategy that can be generated in seconds: Some of these will overlap and others will be relevant to certain companies or publications. Take your time to assess the opportunities, do further research and really get into the mindset of your audience before you embark on your long-tail journey. 5. Don’t get hung up on search trafficA common question about targeting specific long-tail keywords is “what about search volume?” It’s a conundrum. As SEO professionals, it can seem counter-intuitive to spend time and effort creating content around search queries that have zero or low search volume according to keyword research tools. The trick with a long-tail strategy is not to be concerned with search volume. It’s more important to ask yourself whether the query is relevant to your business and if it is something you can add value to. Through a long-tail strategy, you can gain an in-depth understanding of the gaps in your audience’s knowledge and help to optimize their search experience. Mark Williams-Cook covers the topic of zero-volume keywords and why they’re important in detail in his recent Brighton SEO presentation. You can also watch the accompanying video for some in-depth advice. 6. Combine your keywordsEach individual search term might have a low search volume. But there’s a reason for this. It’s often because longer keyword phrases can be input in many different ways. The search intent might be the same but different people will phrase this in different ways. Moreover, many of these specific keywords are interrelated and cover different facets of the same topic. If you’re writing a long-form article, you can generate more traffic by covering a whole host of long-tail phrases in one detailed resource. Every successful piece of content ranks for multiple keywords, so think about the combination of terms you’d like to include in your content rather than focusing on specific keywords. Here’s an example of a popular article on Search Engine Land about how Google uses artificial intelligence. This snapshot shows a small selection of the long-tail keywords it ranks for: You can see these all cover the same theme but may discuss different facets of this theme. This is keyword clustering, but in real terms, it’s organizing things effectively for readers and following a logical structure. 7. Cluster closely related articlesTo really harness the power of a long-tail strategy, create a series of related articles focusing on different, closely related keyword clusters. Link these articles together to create clear pathways from one topic to the next, and build them all around a cornerstone page that targets your head term. This approach is known as a hub-and-spoke or pillar page and topic cluster method. Each article contains a series of related keywords that forms a useful resource. Linking them together helps search engines contextualize them and helps users to access information that might be useful to them without leaving your site. For example, Express Doors Direct clusters all their useful articles around internal doors in a way that’s accessible from the main category page to support the user journey: This way, if their website visitors have questions about their purchase they can get easy access to support. Search engines can determine that all this content is related and supports the overall topic of internal doors. 8. Scale upTargeting one long-tail term isn’t going to have an impact. If you want to embrace this approach, you need to think long-term. Plan to spend time on your long-tail strategy every month and create the amount of high-quality content your limitations allow. For a small site, this might be one article, for bigger teams you could tackle many. Be consistent, structured and organized. Make future plans and stick to them. Idea generation, research, content creation and optimization should be ongoing processes. This is a long-term strategy and not a quick win. Putting the work in on a regular basis can really pay off. 9. OptimizeTest, learn and optimize. Once your content has been established, use Google Search Console data to discover the long-tail keywords it’s ranking for. You might uncover phrases that you hadn’t originally thought of. This could provide opportunities for further optimization or additional content. You’ll also find opportunities to improve if the content didn’t fulfill your original goals. If you haven’t captured that featured snipped or PAA box you were after, review the length of your text, the objectivity and the entities you’ve included. Google’s Natural Language Processing tool is really useful for assessing this. A little optimization goes a long way. It keeps content fresh and up to date, providing a better user experience. Love the long-tailMy final tip is to embrace your long-tail strategy. Opportunities are rich and the results can be really rewarding. Get started and see where it takes you. You might be surprised by what you learn about your audience and who you reach with your content. The post 9 tips to get the full SEO benefits of long-tail keywords appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/sV1Er7W One of the most popular formats for written online content is the humble listicle. 55% of bloggers say they’ve published a listicle in the last 12 months (only how-to articles rank higher). But this popularity exists precisely because people love to read lists. We love clicking on list headlines because they’re incredibly specific and set an expectation for what’s inside the article. We know what we’re getting into, and it’s satisfying to behold. We love reading lists because our brains are wired for this exact type of information sorting. And, by the time you’re done reading this article, you’ll love writing listicles, too. What is a listicle?A listicle is a type of content that smashes together two things: an article and a list. Simply put, in a listicle, you present information formatted as a detailed list. Usually, accompanying each list item will be a few paragraphs of description to help the reader understand it, to give them background or history on it, or to explain why it matters. Listicles are formatted in a very specific way, with each list item denoted with a numbered subheading. Here’s a good example from a Reader’s Digest listicle of the 100 Best Books of All Time. Each book’s title is a numbered point on the list formatted as a heading. Underneath each list item is a summary of the book, why it made the list, and why you should read it. Why you should write listiclesListicles are one of the most popular content types for a ton of reasons:
Writing listicles and publishing them as part of your content strategy is also useful for meeting brand content and SEO goals. Listicles tend to get great engagement – when people see a typical listicle headline, they’re more likely to click it. In a BuzzSumo study of the most-shared headlines, articles that got the highest engagement started with a number, e.g., “7 unique ways to decorate for the holidays” or “10 of the best books of all time.” Half of the top 10 SEO expert columns on Search Engine Land in 2022 were listicles. (And that article itself is one example of a listicle.) Don’t forget keyword rankings. If your listicles are properly researched and optimized for the right topics/keywords, they’ll rank in search engines, grab clicks, and drive traffic and leads to your website. So, let’s answer the question: How do you write a good listicle that accomplishes all these things? How to write listicles that grab your audienceWriting listicles can be extremely straightforward. However, you can take your listicles to the next level by incorporating these steps. 1. Choose a great listicle topicFirst, make sure you choose a topic that lends itself to a list – not every topic will work for writing a listicle. The best listicle topics are straightforward and easily sorted into a list. If you do your sorting and are left with dangling information that wouldn’t make sense as part of your list, you need to rethink the topic or hone it. For example, this article you’re reading could have been a listicle, but ultimately all the information I wanted to share wouldn’t fit neatly inside the list format (such as the definition of a listicle and why you should write one). These “danglers” ruin the list – and defeat the neatness, simplicity, and satisfaction inherent in the format. Long story short: If you can’t fit all the information in your article neatly inside a list, you shouldn’t write it as a listicle. 2. Write a clear and specific listicle headlineThankfully, your listicle headline should write itself – but it shouldn’t be clickbaity. Click-bait headlines promise more than they deliver. That means your headline initially excites your reader in some way, but when they click and start reading, they immediately feel let down. Avoid this by getting clear and specific about what your article will include. Describe that in your headline, including the exact number of steps/points your list contains. For example, if I was writing a listicle about the best eco-friendly clothing companies, I would word it like this: “10 amazing eco-friendly clothing brands for the earth-conscious shopper” Or, if I was writing a listicle of tips to save money on heating/cooling: “5 simple tips to save money on heating and cooling your home” These headlines are descriptive, but they don’t over-promise. They’re also front-loaded with the number of points in the list. This listicle headline from a plumber is another great example. It’s simple but effective: 3. Outline and number the steps or pointsNext, lay out all the steps, points, or items in your listicle. Write them out as a simple list and number them accordingly. This is your outline – a very helpful step that allows you to see your entire article at a glance and ensure it makes sense from a zoomed-out perspective. At this point, ensure that your list items are ordered as logically as possible.
For example, this listicle by Baking Kneads offers 13 tips for baking a cake. The tips follow a logical order, starting with prepping ingredients and ending with the right frosting technique. 4. Don’t chain yourself to a certain number of pointsAs you’re outlining your listicle, don’t say, “I must write 13 points or else...” That’s a recipe for an unsatisfying list. What if you have way more valuable information than that? What if you could easily write a list of 25 points, each one of them useful? On the other hand, what if you struggle to come up with more list items after number 7? The remainder of your points probably won’t be that valuable or interesting – and that’s how you end up with useless fluff. Instead, let your topic guide you on how much information you need to satisfy readers – and how long your list should be.
Great example: Plenty of people will tell you that including a certain number of items in your listicle is more engaging and will earn more clicks and reads. Some say to only use odd numbers, others stick to multiples of 5, and a few only build lists with 1-9 items. This Backlinko listicle completely throws all those “best practices” out the window by including 200(!) items. 5. Make each point or step clear and valuableTo write a truly useful list article, make each point or list item as clear and valuable as possible. This means being specific, actionable, and descriptive. For example, if I was writing a listicle of fall gardening tips, it would be easy to be vague, like:
“But wait!” my green-thumb readers would think. “Plant what bulbs? Prune what?” These steps only hit one target: They’re actionable. But, to be clear and valuable, they must be specific and descriptive, too. Here’s how I would edit them:
Yes, you could describe these actions in the paragraph text. But, you’ll make your overarching list more valuable (and optimized) if you get clearer at the list level. For the scanning reader, especially, this is super useful. It also helps search engine crawlers understand what your content is about. Here’s a good example of that from a gardening tips listicle by Eartheasy: 6. Use the right formatting for a listicleAlways use the same format for every listicle you write. Sure, you could skip the formatting and just do whatever feels right. But remember that listicles are popular precisely because of their numbered list format. It’s the reason they’re so engaging and attention-grabbing. So why mess with a proven standard? Here are the general rules to follow:
Finally, if your list is super-long, consider grouping it by categories. For example, a listicle of Christmas stocking stuffer ideas is grouped by type of gift: Ready to write your listicle?Don’t get overwhelmed when writing your listicle. Though there are lots of tiny details that will help your content rank better and earn more reads, you probably have an instinct about creating a good list already. Think about it: How many listicles have you consumed in the last week alone? The last month? If you’re like most online readers, it’s probably a lot more than you realized. Take all the things you love about listicles and pour them into your content. Add in these steps and tips, and mix well. Your effective listicle will be ready for your content calendar in no time. The post How to write a listicle (with 6 examples) appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/GwiF1OE Yahoo Search seems like it will be making a come back in the future. Yahoo has been dropping hints over the past couple of weeks related to this return and is also hiring a Principal Product Manager for the Yahoo Search platform to help lead these initiatives. The job posting. Yahoo posted a job listing for a “Principal Product Manager, Yahoo Search” a few weeks ago. The job posting, in part, reads, “We’re looking for a Product Manager for Search at Yahoo. We are looking for folks that are interested in pushing beyond the status quo to change the way folks interact and use search.” “As a Product Manager for Search, you will help develop our search strategy and roadmap and lead its execution. The ideal candidate will leverage strong organizational skills and deep subject matter expertise to partner with design, science, engineering, and other key cross-functional teams. You will determine what we prioritize for our customers in our search experiences and bring the vision to life. You will also lead the effort to discover and amplify content from across the vast Yahoo ecosystem to create new and innovative search experiences across surfaces and for our Search App. The role is also responsible for identifying and documenting product and business requirements and taking them from concept to production, while working with a broad set of stakeholders that include marketing, sales, legal, editorial, design, UXR, and other teams,” it continues to read. Twitter hints. Yahoo has reactivated its Twitter account for Yahoo Search, posting teasers throughout the past couple of weeks. Here are some of those: Yahoo executives. Brian Provost, SVP & GM, Yahoo posted on LinkedIn about this job listing and wrote, “There’s going to be so much innovation in Search in the coming years and there aren’t many places where you can immediately have an impact this big. Would love to hear from you if you have a passion for Search and building product experiences.” Karen Chin, Sr. Director of Product Management at Yahoo, posted on LinkedIn as well saying, “Looking to drive meaningful and innovative experiences for millions of users? We are looking for a seasoned Search Product Manager to take search into the next phase! Share and join us.” Jim Lanzone, Chief Executive Officer at Yahoo, took the helm of Yahoo in September 2021. Jim has a lot of deep roots in search. He worked at Ask.com for 7 years, starting in 2001 as an SVP, Product Management, then in 2004 as the SVP and GM of Ask Jeeves and then taking over as CEO in 2006. After Ask.com he became the President and CEO of CBS Interactive, then the CEO at Tinder and now at Yahoo as their CEO. It will be exciting to see what Yahoo Search does under Jim’s leadership, he is a creative mind that produced a lot of search innovation while at Ask. Why we care. Personally, I cannot wait to see what Jim and his team come up with for Yahoo Search. I am excited to see what new ideas, interfaces, and concepts the team brings to Yahoo Search. Yahoo was a pretty big player in search in the early days, then the company continued to decline and even Google veteran Marissa Mayer could not save the company. But now Yahoo has a blank slate and it will be very exciting to see if Yahoo can compete again. The post Yahoo is making a return to search appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/klM0yPt Analytics firm Jumpshot shuts downIn 2020, following critical articles about its data collection and sales practices, analytics firm Jumpshot was shut down by its parent company Avast. Jumpshot was made famous within the SEO industry by SparkToro founder Rand Fishkin’s (heavily criticized and widely circulated) zero-click analysis and presentations. Articles from Vice, PC Mag and Motherboard claimed that Avast and Jumpshot were “secretly harvesting” users’ browsing behavior, packaging it and reselling without their full knowledge. Fishkin defended the company and faulted the publications for what he said was incomplete and biased reporting. Read all about it in With Jumpshot shuttered, where will SEOs get their ‘zero-click’ fix now? Dig deeper:
Also on this dayGoogle merges its SafeSearch help information into a single new document2022: This document explained how SafeSearch works and added some troubleshooting. Apple’s big maps makeover now available across U.S., Europe coming soon2020: The new-ish Apple Maps has a range of improved features and content Will the Discover feed be Google’s next cash cow? What advertisers are saying about Discovery campaigns2020: Early looks at the new campaign type and native ad formats that have had little fanfare since launching in beta. New Google Search Console adds a security issues section2019: In anticipation of the old Google Search Console going away, Google moved the security issues into the new version. Now your Google text ads can show on YouTube search results, too2019: Google began incorporating YouTube into its Search Partners network. Agencies say search, social spend will rise, but increases target 5 platforms2019: While Amazon and LinkedIn cracked the top five, Marketing Land’s Digital Agency Survey found second-tier platforms were much less likely to see spending increases in the coming year. Bing offers a trio of new local search APIs2019: Microsoft released three location APIs: Bing Maps Location Recognition, Bing Maps Local Search API and Bing Maps Local Insights API. Google publishes comprehensive guide to featured snippets2018: Google explained what featured snippets are, the various user interfaces and treatments you can get from these featured snippets and how they interact with desktop, mobile and voice search results. Bing Ads’ new Audience Segmentation feature makes list performance comparisons a breeze2018: Advertisers could quickly see performance by audience and benchmark against non-targeted users. Report: Google AMP results in Google News more than double2017: A report found that AMP results shown in the Google News section for mobile users had more than doubled in the past several days. Fred Korematsu Google doodle honors Japanese internment camp survivor & civil rights activist2017: The Doodle featured Korematsu with his Presidential Medal of Freedom. Quickly See AdWords Performance By Search Query Length In Google Analytics2015: A new Word Count Query dimension in Analytics let advertisers quickly compare head terms and long-tail queries. Google Now Cards Integrated With Third-Party Developer Apps2015: Google Now could now be integrated with 30+ developer apps. Search “Super Bowl” & See The Best Search Results Page Bing Has Ever Had2015: Bing’s search results included original content and almost anything a fan would need to know before the game starts. Search In Pics: Google’s Greyglers, Yahoo Keg, 40 Penguins2015: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Google Q4 2013 Earnings Report $16.86 Billion In Revenues2014: That was an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Facebook Will Launch Graph Search For Mobile “Pretty Soon”2014: It had been over a year since Graph Search launched. Google Search Redesigns Stock Quotes “Card,” Drops Competitor Links, Then Brings Them Back2014: After attention was drawn to the fact it dropped links to competing financial websites, Google quietly restored the links. Yahoo Adds Local Business Snapshots Next To Search Results2014: The local business info included basic business information, photos, hours of operation and some data specific to the business type. Google Tests B2B Market With Google Shopping For Suppliers2013: The beta was open only to electrical and electronics industries. Bing On Super Bowl 47: San Francisco 49ers Twice As Many Searches Than Baltimore Ravens2013: 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had 50% more searches than Raven’s quarterback Joe Flacco. Get Me To The Gulag: Google’s Map Maker Becomes A Political Weapon2013: Some people on Google+ have added satirical, fake reviews to locations in North Korea. Yandex Joins Bing, Yahoo In Using Nokia-Navteq Map Data2012: Yandex licensed data from Nokia-owned Navteq to offer better and more comprehensive maps coverage around the world. A Roundup Of New U.S. Government Search Tools2012: FAA Mobile Web App, USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, National Archives Transcription Pilot Project and more. Google’s “Instant Previews” Now On iOS (iPhone/iPad) Browser2011: Many iOS users on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices reported seeing the instant previews button on the right side of the search result. Google Adds Snow Conditions & Interaction Mobile Weather Results2011: Google showed live snow results on the search results for ski resorts. The weather results had a slider and larger real estate for interacting with the weather. Irony: You Need A Map To Find Google Street View On The iPhone2010: Google Street View was terribly unintuitive on the iPhone. Losing Hope With Yahoo, After Watching The Paid Search Division Stumble2009: Rather than fixing its problems and earning more revenue by doing something advertisers actually want, Yahoo seemed more interested in doing manual tweaks to advertiser accounts – without explicit permission – to generate more money. Marin Software’s Multi-Conversion Tracking Helps Fine Tune Keyword Bidding2009: It enabled search marketers to define various kinds of actions or “conversions” (e.g., newsletter sign-up, ecommerce transactions, email capture). Google Universal Search Expands2008: In particular, Google Universal Search filled more than just 10 spots on the page, while shopping and blog search results were among the new resources being included. Yahoo Earnings Mixed, Company To Go Through With 1,000 Job Cuts Amid Uncertain 20082008: Total revenue in Q4 was $1.83 billion, which represented 8% growth year-over-year ($1.7 billion). Full year 2007 revenues for Yahoo were $6.97 billion. Scientologists Google Bombed Or Not?2008: Searching for [dangerous cult] returned the Scientology website in Position 1. Visualize Earthquake Data In Google Earth2008: The US Geological Survey and Google made global earthquake data available in Google Earth as one of the layers under “Places of Interest.” Google Adds Local Reviews In Search Results2007: Conducting searches on Google.com for local-specific information could now return local reviews and business comparisons. Yahoo Site Explorer Adds Features: Delete URL From Index2007: You could now delete URLs from Yahoo’s index with a click of a button. Yahoo Adds Link Badge In Site Explorer2007: Anyone could place code on their website to show off the number of links they have to a specific page or to their site. Click Fraud Reaches New High, Says Click Forensics2007: The industry average click fraud rate in Q4 2006 was 14.2% versus 13.8% for Q3, 14.1% for Q2 and 13.7% for Q1. Google Releases New Google Enterprise Search Application2007: The Google Mini would “enable companies to perform searches on intranets as well as internal business applications.” Google To Test SMS Feature In Orkut Brazil2007: The feature would let users send SMS messages to their Orkut friends from their mobile phones. Google Officially Adds Docs & Spreadsheets Integration With Gmail2007: When you received an email in your Gmail account, and it contained a Google Docs or Spreadsheet file, the file would have a link to “Open as a Google Document.” Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
< January 29 | Search Marketing History | January 31 > The post This day in search marketing history: January 30 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/B6VvxZE Google penalizes French link networkIn 2014, Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted, “Today we’re taking action on a French link network that violates our quality guidelines (Buzzea).” Buzzea was less than thrilled about being called a link network, saying they “oppose this assertion since we never stopped wanting to keep the ethical side of sponsored articles focusing on quality and natural links created.” As a result of the penalty, Buzzea officially called it quits. Read all about it in Google Takes Down Another Link Network, France’s Buzzea. This was hardly the first link network Google had gone after:
Buzzea would be just the first of several link networks Google identified and took action against later in 2014:
Also on this dayFacebook testing brand safety topic exclusions for advertisers2021: Citing advertisers’ brand safety concerns, Facebook said the feature would allow marketers to choose whether to show their ads alongside potentially sensitive content. Google has stopped deduplicating right-sidebar featured snippets2020: URLs shown in featured snippets that appeared in the right rail of Google desktop results would continue to be included in the main organic listings. Video: Lisa Barone on the early days of SEO blogging2020: In this installment of Barry Schwartz’s vlog series, he chatted with Barone about the older days of SEO and then moved on to how her career has changed over the years. How to know when it’s time to pay for search analytics tools2019: Search marketing experts offered feedback on when to pay for search analytics tools, factors to consider and making the most out of what you buy. Google adds voice input and spoken results to mobile web search2019: Google added a microphone to the Google.com search field on Android phones to enable mobile web voice search. Tell Google which report you are really missing in new Google Search Console2018: A button in the beta Search Console explained why all of the old reports had not been migrated. Merkle Q4 2017: Search ad click growth fell, ad spend rose 23% across Google, Bing, Yahoo2018: Bing and Yahoo saw search ad spend jump 32% year-over-year. Google spend slowed slightly from Q3. Adobe: Paid Search Spend Growth Slowed In Q4, Mobile Continued To Eat Into Desktop2016: Retail advertising spend on mobile Shopping ads nearly doubled year-over-year in Q4. Search In Pics: GoogleBot Band, Inside Out Post-It Art & Hangouts Pillow2016: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. Google’s Matt Cutts: Don’t Try To Build Links Through Article Directories2014: That was Cutts’ answer to “Should I build links using article directories?” Report: Google Close (Again) To EU Antitrust Settlement2014: Two previous antitrust settlements were strenuously opposed and thus defeated by Google critics and competitors. Google May Be Forced To Pay $1 Billion To Patent Troll2014: Google was asked to pay $15.8 million in 2012. The plaintiffs were also seeking ongoing royalties, which the court awarded. People, Videos, News: Twitter Adds New Search Filters2014: There were also “photos,” “people you follow” and “near you” filters to further refine results. Seattle Seahawks Take The Lead In 33 States For Bing Super Bowl Searches2014: Bing also measured player searches, with Broncos’ quarterback Peyton Manning winning 72% of the searches over Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson. Bing Rewards Program Now Available On iOS & Android Devices2014: iOS and Android users could earn Bing Rewards credits (toward gift cards for brands like Amazon, Xbox and Dominos) by performing searches on their phone. Advertisers Increased PLA Budgets By 600% In Q4; Trend Likely To Continue2013: Those advertisers were rewarded with higher click-through rates and lower cost-per-click than text ads. Study: Reviews & Images Drive Clicks In Mobile2012: Images and reviews were very important in capturing users’ eye movements and clicks. A Year Later Even Google Surprised By Success Of Click-To-Call2011: Google was seeing millions of calls every month and it had become a core part of a large number of mobile search ad campaigns. Google Mobile Image Search Gets Popular Images2010: When you visited Google Images on a smartphone, you would see “popular images” and a link to browse more popular images. Yelp Ratings Appear In Google AdWords2010: Google confirmed it was “testing a feature in which text ads on Google search results pages may include star ratings and links to third party sites that have reviewed the advertiser’s business.” Microsoft Earnings Beat Estimates Online Services Post Loss, More On Bing And The iPhone2010: Online Services, which housed online advertising and Bing, reported $581 million in revenue vs. $609 million the prior year ago. Goojje, A Google China Knockoff2010: It is a basic search engine, playing on the Google name and Google logo. Google AdWords Testing New Interface2009: The new interface looked similar to the charting/graphing system that Google Analytics used. Google Toolbar For Firefox Adds Chrome-Like “Most Visited Sites” Tab2009: The sites you visited most often were listed when you opened a new blank tab in Firefox. YouTube Searchers: It’s All About The Music2009: Hitwise research suggested that 72% of the site’s Top 50 search terms from December 2008 were music-related. Live Search “Auto Suggest” Add-On For Firefox Released2009: You could add it to your Firefox search box manually via the add-on from Live Search. Google TV Ads Tells How DVRs Affect Your Ads2009: Google’s TV Ads team announced the addition of new metrics detailing time-shifted ad viewings. Martin Schaedel (Lazerzubb) Killed In Plane Crash2009: Known widely by his online handle lazerzubb, he was a fixture at various events. Google Street View Car Kills Bambi, Removes Pictures Afterward2009: Google said the image was removed because of several requests from users using the Street View image removal option. Google’s Position Six Penalty (Or Bug) A Reality2008: Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed the behavior and said Google had already begun reversing it. Microsoft adCenter To Power Ads On Wall Street Journal Digital Network2008: This was a huge deal for Microsoft, giving their ad program exposure to 20 million unique users and over 330 million page views per month. Byzantine Legal Fight For Control Of Ask.com Parent IAC2008: It was “open warfare” between IAC CEO Barry Diller and Liberty Media, one of its largest backers and investors. Once Again, A Google Murder Case2008: A UK woman was convicted of trying to murder her husband after researching methods on Google. Google’s Brin Calls China Censorship A “Net Negative”2007: Brin was arguing that some information is better than no information. Google TV Rumors Not Legit2007: ‘Twas a hoax. Google To Build Second Life Metaverse On Google Earth In China?2007: Just lots of rumors. Topix.net And Tribune In Mutual Classifieds Syndication Deal2007: Tribune had struck a deal that had Topix providing content and a back-end platform for general merchandise classifieds on their newspaper sites. News Search + Personalization + Social Media = Wikio2007: Wikio blended articles from major news web sites and blogs with commentary and tags from Wikio users. From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
< January 28 | Search Marketing History | January 30 > The post This day in search marketing history: January 29 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/ESQu64g Google begins experimenting with featured snippetsin 2014, Google started answering complex questions at the top of its search results with detailed responses (or answers) taken from websites. Does that sound like featured snippets? It should. Because it was. We know from Google that featured snippets were introduced in January 2014. We don’t know the official date Google began testing it, but this was the day Search Engine Land first reported on the new search feature. We didn’t yet know these answers were called “featured snippets,” but clearly that’s what we were seeing. All Google would say at the time was: “we’re always experimenting with different types of answers, but we don’t have more details to share at this point.” Read our coverage of what was then an experimental feature: Google Search OneBox Answers Are Getting More Detailed Also on this day‘Untitled’ search results sending users to spam sites, Google ‘working on it’2022: Google’s Danny Sullivan said it was “something our systems normally would typically catch, so we’re checking on it to improve.” SEO community mourns Hamlet Batista, advocate for automation in SEO and beloved friend2021: Those who knew him, admired him, learned from him and loved him, were left reeling from the loss. Google Search Console launches new removals tool2020: The tool temporarily blocked URLs from showing in Google and showed outdated content and content filtered by SafeSearch. A visual history of Google ad labeling in search results2020: A look back at how Google had treated ads in search results, from blue shading to the latest version of today. Botify partnership with Microsoft brings real-time content indexing to Bing2020: Immediate indexing and more control over content were the benefits for publishers and site owners. DuckDuckGo has other ideas for Google’s EU search choice screen2020: The changes included more search engine options and an introductory screen aimed at reducing bias. Google AMP errors widely reported by webmasters and publishers2019: This was a Google issue and would be resolved. DuckDuckGo is growing fast but not enough to grab SEOs’ attention2019: The search engine’s share was small but some of its metrics were better than Bing’s, according to a third-party analysis. Google Updates The General Guidelines Section Of Their Webmaster Guidelines2016: It expanded on examples about how to help Google find your webpages, how to give them better ideas on what those pages were about and how to make webpages that are good for visitors. iPhone Users, The AdWords App For iOS Has Arrived2016: You could check AdWords campaign performance, change bids and adjust budgets from your phone. New US Presidential “Candidate Cards” Are A Disaster For Google’s Search Quality2016: They added little value in return for Google giving up its valuable search results space. Yahoo Redesigns Home Page & App To Deliver Consistent Experience With More Relevant News2016: With its nearly infinite news stream, Yahoo users no longer needed to open news articles in multiple browser tabs. Google Now Supports Crawling & Indexing Locale-Adaptive Web Pages2015: Google added support for webpages that dynamically changed their content based on IP origin or language settings. Bing Maps Shows Super Bowl Spirit With New Venue Map, Streetside & Hi-Res Venue Imagery2015: The updates involved new satellite and ground-level imagery, and a detailed seat map of the stadium itself. Google’s Matt Cutts Explains That Older Sites Won’t Always Keep Their Current Rankings2014: Cutts answers the question, “How can an older site maintain its ranking over time?” Google Issues Subtle Warning To Affiliates That Have “Thin-Content”2014: The warning was mostly directed at affiliate sites in the “adult” industry. Moz 2014 Industry Survey Results: Google Webmaster Tools Ranked Top SEO Tool2014: 68.8% of participants planned to focus on conversion rates and performance metrics in response to Google’s elimination of keyword data. Google Showing Date Selector In Knowledge Graph Carousel For Hotels2014: You could click on the start and/or end date and a calendar pop up would show up to change your check in and check out dates. The Search Agency: CPC Increases Across The Board, Weaker Bing Ads Spend In Q4 20132014: The report showed paid search spend rose 37.4% year-over-year. DeepMind Buy Another Google “Moonshot” Of Sorts2014: “It’s not hard to imagine that machine learning and AI would have broad application across Google, from search and mobile … to advertising, robots, autonomous cars, security and the connected home.” 5 Tactics Super Bowl Advertisers Are Using To Boost Their Paid Search Campaigns2014: Five trends from the Super Bowl advertiser ads that ran on Google and the Yahoo Bing Network. Google Details How It Responds To Government Requests For User & Search Data2013: Governments routinely ask search engines like Google for access to user data for various reasons. Google said they take each request incredibly seriously. Google Promoting AdWords Express In Google+ As Way “To Get More Followers”2013: Google was apparently trying to cross-promote AdWords Express and Google+. With $14 Million More Q&A Site ChaCha Soldiers On2013: Over the previous 18 months, ChaCha had seen 2 billion questions and organized 129 million Q&A pairs. Two Weeks In, Google Says “Search Plus Your World” Going Well, Critics Should Give It Time2012: Amit Singhal told Search Engine Land: “… People are judging a product and an overall direction that we have in the first two weeks of a launch … We’re clearly not done. The product is not complete. It will improve.” Study: Reviews & Images Drive Clicks In Mobile2012: Images and reviews were very important in capturing users’ eye movements and clicks. Google Logo For Largest Observed Snowflake2012: It happened 125 years earlier, in Fort Keogh, Montana. Google launches algorithm to fight low-quality scraper content2011: The change to their algorithm was to prevent low quality scraper content in Google’s index. It impacted slightly over 2% of queries. Microsoft Q2 Revs Almost $20 Billion, “Bing Division” Still Losing Money Despite Search Revenue Increase2011: Online Services, which houses all Microsoft’s online operations including MSN and Bing, posted a $543 million loss. That was up from $463 million in 2010. AdWords Homepage Gets More Modular, Customizable2011: Google redesigned the homepage for its AdWords advertiser interface in an effort to bring more relevant, customized information up front for marketers. Bing Travel Now Offers Destination Comparison Tool2011: Bing’s destination pages let searchers compare several destinations at once in a side-by-side layout. Google’s Legal Woes Not Impacting Brand: Survey2011: Did scandals or an antitrust investigation make people less trusting of Google or tarnish its brand? Not at all. Google, Connecticut-led Coalition Agree To Negotiate WiFi Data Collection Issues2011: Google and the Connecticut-led coalition of 40 US states would begin negotiations aimed at settling issues related to Google’s collection of personal data over unsecured WiFi networks. Google Event on Feb. 2 To Showcase Honeycomb, Tablets2011: Demos of several tablets were expected Search In Pics: Google Mannequins, Google Voice Signs & Freezing Yahoo2011: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Google Maps’ Search Suggestions Get Personal2010: Google tarted personalizing search suggestions that appeared on Google Maps. Survey: Only 42% Of Americans Have Googled Themselves2010: That was slightly higher than the 36% of UK consumers who had done so, but far less than in Germany (59%) and France (56%). Google Updates Google Book Search After Apple iPad Launch2010: Less than 24 hours after Apple announced the Apple iPad, Google announced improvements to the Google Books home page. Google Formally Introduces “Clickable Phone Numbers” In Mobile Search Ads2010: It was a call for the price of a click on mobile handsets. Bing Debuts In-Depth Stock Pages2010: Bing’s “Stocks and Funds page” offered in-depth information for users following or doing research related to stocks and finances. Ballmer Blogs His Thoughts On Google, China2010: “We have done business in China for more than 20 years and we intend to stay engaged, which means our business must respect the laws of China.” Click Fraud Rate Hits Highest Level Yet2009: Click Forensics estimated the overall average click fraud rate for Q4 2008 at 17.1%, the highest level since they began tracking it in 2006. Yahoo Tries To Justify Automatic Account Optimization2009: The purpose: to help small- and mid-sized advertisers suffering from “performance issues.” Pew: Young Or Old, Search Cuts Across Age Categories2009: Search was almost equally used by all groups across the board. New “Addressless” Search Feature On Google Maps2008: Users could get directions or locations of businesses without inputting a destination address. Google Experimental Search Adds Info View & Map View2008: Google added map view and a new info view that allows you to show different results on the page. Google A “Mystery Buyer” In Colorado?2008: “It’s like dealing with the CIA.” Today Is “Data Privacy Day;” Bush Admin Launches Internet Monitoring Initiative2008: Google added a new video to its existing series of privacy videos, plus it developed a privacy booklet (PDF) to educate consumers and parents about online data privacy. New UK-Based Real Estate Search Engine DotHomes Launches In US2008: DotHomes sought to become “the Google of property search” and was crawling for listings. Google Lego Logo: Google Offers Lego 50th Birthday Wishes2008: The Google logo was made up of legos. YouTube to Begin Revenue Sharing for Video Providers2007: This would give original video creators the ability to earn revenue each time their videos were watched on YouTube. Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
< January 27 | Search Marketing History | January 29 > The post This day in search marketing history: January 28 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/xTcGQ5B A former employee allegedly leaked a Yandex source code repository, part of which contained more than 1,900 factors the search engines uses for ranking search results. Why we care. This leak has revealed 1,922 ranking factors Yandex used in its search algorithm, at least as of July 2022. Perhaps Martin MacDonald put it best on Twitter today: “The Yandex hack is probably the most interesting thing to have happened in SEO in years.” Yandex is not Google. If you plan to read the full list of Yandex ranking factors, remember that Yandex is not Google. If you see a ranking factor listed by Yandex, that doesn’t mean Google gives that signal that same amount of weight. In fact, Google may not use all of the 1,922 factors listed. That said, a lof of these ranking factors may be quite similar. So reviewing this document may provide some useful insights to better help you understand how search engines, such as Google, work from a technological standpoint. The bigger picture. The code appeared as a Torrent on a popular hacking forum, as reported by Bleeping Computer:
Yandex calls it a leak. Because the code appeared on a popular hacking forum, it was first thought that Yandex was hacked. Yandex denied this, and provided the following statement:
Dig deeper. You can find more coverage of the leak on Techmeme. Yandex ranking factors list. MacDonald shared the full list of 1,922 factors here on Web Marketing School. I highly recommend downloading it, as I fully expect Yandex will try to scrub this information from the internet. Alex Buraks also has an ongoing Twitter thread analyzing the various ranking factors. Many are what you’d expect to see – PageRank, text relevancy, content age and freshness, lots of end-user behavior factors, host reliability and many link factors (age, relevancy, etc.) The post Yandex ‘leak’ reveals 1,922 search ranking factors appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/NnmyMeD Incoming links, or backlinks, still matter for SEO. But they are becoming less important for Google. We know the latter to be true since Googlers have reiterated this for years. In November, Duy Nguyen from Google’s search quality team expressed the same, while explaining why link building campaigns are a waste of time and money and indicating where to allocate your SEO spend instead:
However, I don’t think spending 100% of your SEO budget on UX and content alone is enough to drive organic search results. Just going after links won’t cut it in most markets either. What you need is a balanced SEO budget. Achieving that balance is not always easy. To determine the best possible SEO budget, you must put a premium on tasks that move the needle. Read on to learn how. The ‘good old days’ of backlinks are (not yet) overWhen I started practicing SEO in 2004, many empty sites ranked on Google. I soon discovered there were shady practitioners behind those projects. “SEO spammers” have been using all kinds of tricks to build links to their otherwise useless sites. (In my opinion, you either do SEO or do spam. You can’t negatively optimize by definition. You either break or fix things.) The only use of such “over-optimized” sites, as Google later diplomatically called them, was to make money for their owners – often SEOs themselves who would create them for affiliate revenue and passive income. At the end of 2022, Google announced another link spam update dealing with:
Google states that spammy links “are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links are lost.” Thank God the days of common link spam are over! To be clear, backlinks are still a ranking factor. But because of Google’s “robust ranking signals,” they can detect and remove sites with unnatural link profiles from the SERPs and “rank the most relevant and useful results for all queries” instead. Google also updated the E-A-T concept in December to ensure that authors with proper first-hand “experience” end up higher in SERPs, hence the new acronym E-E-A-T. Keep a significant chunk of the budget for linkable assets and outreach that will lead to links down the road. Ideally, your content will be so exceptional that it will attract links naturally. You might be better off with a bigger content marketing spend than allocating dollars on link building. Building links to empty sites or those with shallow content will be a waste of money. On the contrary, quality content may earn links automatically. UX as a Google ranking signalUser experience (UX) as a ranking factor is nothing new. When Google introduced UX ranking signals to its ranking algorithm years ago, it was a paradigm shift. Before that, the ugliest websites with dismal interfaces ranked high with simple HTML pages. Nowadays, human quality raters and AI algorithms can spot which sites perform well with users and which are simply built to rank. You have no choice. Actual visitors can no longer be ignored. Outdated SEO tactics won’t suffice. Everything will not magically fall into place just because you have website traffic. Building findable and usable websites starts with writing descriptive and compelling titles and meta descriptions. There are numerous aspects of UX you have to take into account to meet searchers’ – and Google’s – expectations:
These are just the UX best practices. Once you have those covered and the next budget is available, you can invest more. One area that most sites still neglect is meeting the needs of people with disabilities, who make up about one in four people in the U.S. Accessibility affects non-disabled individuals as well. Here are some less obvious examples:
Complying with WCAG and ARIA standards for website accessibility also simplifies the crawling and indexing process. Why? Google is still the proverbial "blind five-year-old" to a large extent. The bots read the code and do not see the websites as humans do. Content’s ever-growing importanceThis should be obvious for people who have followed the evolution of the web and Google search in particular. More than ever, Google prefers content that is:
With content’s significance, can't we just slash the SEO department and replace the geeks with writers and photographers? Well, not so fast. To an extent, editorial links (those given by actual writers, editors and publishers) influence the ranking of a webpage on Google search results. Content still has to attract links or it will be largely invisible. There is too much mediocre and low-quality content out there. Most competitive queries have dozens or hundreds of sites fighting for attention by offering similar content. The only way to find out which one of those articles is truly helpful is by looking at who recommends them throughout the web. Sure, when investing in SEO, content is a must. But avoid spending money on cookie-cutter, regurgitated content merely written for Google bots to digest. That era is nearly over. With the helpful content system in place, Google not only takes content quality into account. They’re looking to reward helpful content for human beings in search of answers, solutions and inspiration. In the past, I often heard the line "let's add some SEO content in the footer for Google." This so-called "SEO content" strategy should not be a part of your SEO budget for 2023. That's like throwing dollar bills in the trash. Alternatively, focus on linkable assets or, even better, link magnets. What's the difference? The first type is linkable but still rather requires PR or outreach, the second one is truly stellar content that attracts links like a magnet. How to allocate your SEO funds in 2023 and beyondWith SEO being a multidisciplinary approach, you can't just build links and forget the rest. You must set priorities for your website and online presence as a whole. (Think social media!) The SEO budget is not just meant to be spent on technical SEO, like crawling and indexing. You have to make SEO a holistic endeavor or fail at it. SEO encompasses more than search engines, it is also linked to social and content. Avoid thinking in ‘strictly SEO’ termsWhenever I suggest improving UX or writing content for SEO, a common client objection I hear is… "Yeah, but that's not SEO. I just want you for SEO services." Well, this "strictly SEO" approach is futile in 2023. Embrace a holistic website optimization philosophy. SEO is not about "feeding the bots" but meeting searchers' needs. Google gets closer to being a mirror of human expectations every year and I expect 2023 to be a giant leap in that direction. It has been in the making for many years and now the time is ripe. In the best case, you don't pay for an SEO audit upfront before doing hands-on work but get a holistic website or web presence audit (including social media accounts). Assign SEO importance to actual tasksLook at the list below. Do you think the following are needed for SEO?
If your answer is “no,” you still adhere to a "strictly SEO" mindset. The tasks above have their place, even in traditional SEO strategies. Internal architecture relates to internal linking which can influence a site’s crawling and indexing. Well-done user experience design ensures findability, readability, fast load times, and a welcoming look and feel that is easy on the eyes. Divide the budget by departmentsDo you have a company with several departments (i.e., technology, content, marketing, sales, etc.)? Or are you outsourcing various tasks to freelancers? Even if you’re doing everything on your own (which is not advisable), you should allocate your "time" resources appropriately. As we have seen above, SEO tasks differ in nature. Some are technical, others are content-related or involve PR and outreach to journalists and influencers. Ultimately, SEO must drive results – specifically, revenue. So given this example, could you simply divide the budget by quarters? It's not that simple. A well-established website with all the technical SEO basics does not require 25% of the SEO budget anymore. Once a foundation is set, you can focus on the actual building. Is your site almost empty with no content besides self-promotional copy and product or service descriptions? Then invest heavily in the content department. You might even have to set up one in the first place. Most companies will have employees responsible for technology, marketing and sales, but not all of them assign someone to content yet. Let SEO people help ‘other’ teamsMost companies are not big enough to be able to afford a dedicated SEO team. If you're lucky, you will have an SEO specialist in the marketing department. But many rely on external agencies or independent consultants instead of paying for an in-house SEO. I myself have been working as a "hands-on" freelance SEO and consultant for many years. What I have learned is that SEO experts often get treated like aliens from outer space when confronted with an already-established business hierarchy. Website audit advice often ends up being implemented half-heartedly, if not at all. Many things get lost or misunderstood in the process of dealing with many different stakeholders. At times, freelance SEOs are treated at the lowest level in the hierarchy and SEO best practices as a mere afterthought. In some cases, they are not even in contact with those in charge of implementing the changes. In reality, SEO experts are like angels spreading wealth throughout the different teams and should be treated with regard. Assign a specific SEO budget, even if you don't have an SEO on the team. Then let the SEO practitioner "spend it" on the other teams. If your technical SEO foundation is sound, then assign the funds to the content and PR/outreach tasks. Or, if your website content is excellent and has earned many incoming links but nobody can find you – your technical SEO might be the culprit. Is your site dead slow, your content not in the index or barely readable? Then the tech team gets the bigger funds again. Just don't view the SEO as someone who competes for funds, attention and status against other teams and their members. SEO is not the lowest or the highest in the hierarchy. SEO experts help every other team in one way or the other. Balance SEO spend based on resultsWhere to place your bet on SEO often depends on the current technology, content and relationships which all change over time. Once you have established a solid content marketing plan, goals and KPIs, you can review the success of particular SEO efforts.
Key performance indicators like that can always be measured and inform you what works and doesn't. The post Where should you spend your SEO budget? appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/kOhj1fS |
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