Vice President of Search Engine Optimization, Hennessey Digital

Steven Guberman

As an SEO Professional with an eye for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s my job to stay ahead of the curve regarding Google rankings. In 2023, there are proven methods that can help you secure your spot on the first page of search results.

Google is constantly updating its algorithms and improving its understanding of user intent. This means businesses must adapt their SEO strategies to keep up with these changes and maintain online visibility. In this article, we’ll examine some of the most effective techniques for dominating the front page of Google search results in 2023 – giving you a front-row seat to success in the digital landscape. Whether launching a new website or revamping an existing one, these tips will give you a powerful advantage over your competitors and ensure you rank highly for relevant keywords.

Understanding The Basics Of Google’s Algorithm In 2023

You may be wondering, with all the advancements in machine learning, AI, and NLP within Google’s algorithm in 2023, what is left to understand about it? The answer is simple: understanding user intent. These technologies have allowed for a more personalized experience when searching online, but they cannot fully comprehend human thought processes or emotions. That’s where understanding user intent comes into play.

Personalization techniques have become increasingly important as Google continues to refine its algorithms. By analyzing past search history and behavior patterns, personalized results can be delivered and tailored specifically to each user. However, this does not mean that general ranking factors such as backlinks and content quality are no longer relevant. They still play a crucial role in determining overall search rankings.

Social signals also continue to play an essential part in Google’s algorithm in 2023. Social media has become an integral aspect of our daily lives, and its impact on SEO cannot be ignored. Search engines consider social signals such as likes, shares, comments, and followers when determining website relevance and authority.

As technology advances rapidly, voice search and virtual assistants are becoming increasingly popular among consumers. As a result, optimizing your website for voice search is now more critical than ever. With natural language processing (NLP) capabilities improving significantly over the years, it’s becoming easier for users to interact with their devices using conversational language.

Understanding these key components of Google’s algorithm in 2023 will help you create a successful SEO strategy that delivers results. But even with all these advancements at our fingertips today, keyword research still matters; finding the right targets remains crucial if you want your site ranked highly on SERPs – let’s dive deeper into why next!

Why Keyword Research Still Matters: Finding The Right Targets

Keyword research has been a staple in SEO for years and still holds great importance today. Finding the right targets through keyword research is crucial to achieving high rankings on search engines. Long tail keywords are especially important as they allow businesses to target specific niches within their industry. You can create content that speaks directly to your target audience by identifying these long-tail keywords.

To ensure you’re targeting the right keywords, competitor analysis should also be part of your keyword research process. Analyzing your competitors’ keywords will give you a good idea of what’s working in your industry and help you stay ahead of the competition. Keyword mapping is another essential step that helps ensure all pages on your site maximize their potential by targeting relevant topics and phrases.

User intent plays a critical role in keyword research as well. It’s not just about finding popular keywords; it’s about understanding why people search for those terms and creating content that addresses their needs. Focusing on user intent will drive more qualified traffic to your site and increase engagement with your content.

Keyword cannibalization is something that many businesses overlook when conducting keyword research. This occurs when multiple website pages compete for the same keyword or phrase, causing confusion for search engines and potentially harming your rankings. Avoiding this issue requires careful planning and organization of your content strategy.

Effective keyword research involves more than just plugging popular words into an online tool – it requires strategic thinking and attention to detail. By incorporating techniques such as long tail keywords, competitor analysis, keyword mapping, user intent, and avoiding keyword cannibalization, businesses can find the right targets to achieve first-page rankings in 2023.

Now that we’ve covered why keyword research matters, let’s focus on optimizing on-page elements for maximum impact.

Optimizing On-Page Elements For Maximum Impact

You’ve made it this far, and that’s great. But don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you’re on the first page of Google means your work is done. Now comes the real challenge: keeping your spot while improving user experience and increasing click-through rates.

One crucial aspect of achieving this goal is optimizing on-page elements such as content quality, site architecture, image optimization, user experience, and internal linking. These factors are essential for search engines and users alike when determining the relevance and authority of a website.

Firstly, Content Quality is paramount when ranking high on SERPs (search engine results pages). Your content should inform and engage visitors by providing value through unique insights or perspectives. Secondly, Site Architecture significantly affects how easily search engines crawl your website. Organizing your site hierarchy correctly and using descriptive URLs with relevant keywords included will help improve rankings significantly.

Thirdly, Image Optimization can make or break your SEO efforts since images are important in engaging users visually while helping them understand what they are reading about. Ensure all images have alt text descriptions containing relevant keywords so search engines can better identify their context. Fourthly, User Experience (UX) must be taken seriously if you want to keep visitors engaged and coming back for more. Ensure your site loads quickly without lag time or errors; otherwise, users may leave before seeing your offer.

Lastly, Internal Linking helps establish a strong connection between different pages within your domain; this allows search engines to understand better the relationship between each piece of information on your website. It also enables users to easily navigate seamlessly from one section of content to another.

Incorporating these elements into your SEO strategy will undoubtedly result in higher click-through rates on Google Search, improved search volume numbers, and improved user experience metrics like bounce rate reduction & session duration increase while maintaining keyword relevancy throughout your site. In the next section, we’ll explore creating high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your audience and drives conversions.

Creating High-Quality, Engaging Content That Resonates In Google Search

As discussed in the previous section, optimizing on-page elements is crucial to secure top rankings on Google’s search engine results page (SERP). However, it is not enough to rely solely on technical SEO tactics. Creating high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your audience is equally important and can contribute significantly to your website’s ranking success.

Interactive formats are a great way to engage your audience and increase their time spent on your site. Whether it’s quizzes, polls, or games, interactive content encourages users to participate actively rather than passively consume information. Viral content also has the potential to catapult your brand into the public eye by generating massive social media shares and backlinks.

Brand storytelling is another powerful tool for creating memorable content that resonates with viewers emotionally. By crafting compelling stories about your brand history or products, you can create an emotional connection with readers beyond just selling something. Data-driven insights should also be incorporated into your content strategy as they offer valuable insights into what topics resonate most with your target audience.

Visual storytelling through infographics, videos, and images can make complex information more digestible while capturing attention quickly. It allows you to communicate key messages visually while breaking up large blocks of text that may otherwise seem intimidating to read.

Incorporating these various forms of high-quality, engaging content will help diversify your website’s online presence and keep visitors coming back for more. In the next section, we’ll discuss the role of E-A-T in securing top rankings; understanding this concept will allow you to further optimize both on-page elements and content creation strategies for maximum impact.

The Role Of E-A-T In Securing Top Rankings

You’ve probably heard of E-A-T – Expertise Authority and Trustworthiness by now. But what exactly does it mean for your website’s search engine rankings? In a nutshell, Google uses E-A-T as one of several trustworthiness signals to determine the quality and relevance of your content.

First and foremost, establishing expertise is crucial for securing top rankings. This means demonstrating a deep understanding of your industry or niche, whether through relevant education or experience. However, claiming expertise isn’t enough – you need to prove it through well-researched, insightful content beyond basic information.

In addition to expertise, authority is another key factor in building trust with users and search engines. This involves establishing yourself as a thought leader within your field by creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience. By doing so consistently over time, you can build up a reputation as an authoritative source of information.

Finally, trustworthiness encompasses several other factors beyond just expertise and authority. For example, ensuring your site has strong reputation management practices can help establish credibility with potential customers. Focusing on user experience metrics such as page load times and mobile responsiveness can help ensure visitors stay engaged with your site.

By incorporating these elements into your overall SEO strategy, you’ll be well on your way to securing first-page rankings for years. And while many different tactics are involved in search engine optimization, focusing on E-A-T will provide a solid foundation to build future success.

Harnessing the power of semantic search and entity-based SEO will be critical for staying ahead of the curve regarding ranking algorithms for search listings. By leveraging structured data markup and optimizing content around specific entities (such as people or places), websites can better align themselves with modern searchers’ needs while enhancing their online visibility.

Harnessing The Power Of Semantic Search And Entity-Based SEO

Your website’s search engine ranking is of utmost importance. To optimize your content for the web, you need to harness the power of Semantic Search and Entity-Based SEO. The semantic web is a network that uses natural language processing algorithms to understand user intent and deliver more relevant results.

Entity recognition involves identifying and categorizing specific web content entities, such as people, places, organizations, or products. This process helps Google understand your site’s context and relevance to users’ searches. As a result, incorporating entity-based optimization into your content strategy can give you an edge in organic search rankings.

The Knowledge Graph is another powerful tool in the arsenal of Semantic Search. It provides information about related topics surrounding user queries based on their previous search behavior. Thus, topic modeling is crucial in optimizing content for the knowledge graph by understanding how different concepts are connected.

Incorporating these techniques will help improve your website’s visibility on SERPs and enhance its overall quality. So if you want to rank higher than ever and get ahead of the competition, it’s time to start thinking outside the box with Semantic Search and Entity-Based SEO!

This foundation must be built upon link-building strategies that work: earning high-quality backlinks. But we’ll talk about that later. For now, focus on mastering these essential elements of SEO – entity recognition, semantic web technology like Natural Language Processing (NLP), and knowledge graphs powered by machine learning models for topic modeling analysis – which will put you one step closer to dominating Google Search Page 1 ranking in 2023!

Link Building Strategies That Work: Earning High-Quality Backlinks

Guest blogging is a great way to gain high-quality backlinks and increase visibility. Broken link building is a powerful strategy that involves finding and replacing broken links with your own content. Influencer outreach is a surefire way to get your content in front of the right people, while resource pages can help you find websites actively looking for contributors. Internal linking, press releases, competitor analysis, sponsorships, local directories, social media posts, forum discussions, expert roundups, resource creation, and scholarship links are also excellent link-building strategies.

This table overviews various link-building strategies and their pros and cons to help you choose the most effective methods for earning high-quality backlinks.

Guest Blogging

Imagine having the power to secure first-page rankings in 2023 in Google Search. One of the proven methods for achieving this is through guest blogging. As an SEO content strategist, it’s important to understand how outreach tactics and blogger outreach can help you earn high-quality backlinks.

To start with, link prospecting is essential to any successful guest posting campaign. It involves finding relevant blogs likely to accept your guest post pitches. Consider domain authority, traffic volume, and audience relevance when conducting link prospecting.

Once you’ve identified potential targets for your guest posts, review their content guidelines carefully. This will ensure that your pitch aligns with their expectations and increases the chances of acceptance. Additionally, keep track of key metrics like Domain Rating (DR) and Referring Domains (RD), as these can help inform future decisions about where to focus your efforts.

In conclusion, incorporating guest blogging into your link-building strategy is a powerful way to improve search engine rankings and increase website traffic. By leveraging effective outreach tactics and adhering to content guidelines from target bloggers, you’ll be well on your way toward earning valuable backlinks through quality guest posts.

Broken Link Building

So you want the power to secure first-page rankings in 2023 in Google search listings? One proven method for achieving this is through link-building strategies that work. As an SEO content strategist, it’s important to understand how outreach tactics and blogger outreach can help you earn high-quality backlinks.

One effective approach to link building is broken link building. This involves finding dead links on websites within your niche or industry and contacting site owners with relevant replacement content. By leveraging effective outreach strategies such as personalized pitch emails, you can persuade these site owners to replace their dead links with yours, thereby earning valuable backlinks.

To start with, competitor analysis and content gap identification are crucial steps in identifying potential targets for broken link-building campaigns. Analyzing competitors’ backlink profiles can reveal opportunities where they may have missed linking possibilities due to outdated information or changes in website structure. Additionally, discovering gaps in existing content across sites within your niche presents an opportunity for creating new and useful resources that other site owners will be keen to link to.

Once you’ve identified potential targets for your broken link-building campaign, focus on crafting compelling anchor text that provides value to users and search engines. Furthermore, consider employing link reclamation techniques by monitoring mentions of your brand online and converting them into quality backlinks that boost domain authority. Incorporating broken link building into your overall strategy is a powerful way to improve search engine rankings and increase website traffic over time without resorting to shady tactics like buying links or engaging in black-hat SEO practices.

Technical SEO Essentials: Ensuring A Solid Foundation

Site architecture, crawling efficiency, URL structure, redirect management, and canonical tags are all essential components of technical SEO. A solid foundation in these areas can help ensure that your website is easily crawlable by search engines and provides a great user experience for visitors.

Site architecture refers to how pages on your site are organized and linked. It’s important to have a clear hierarchy of pages and use an internal linking strategy to make it easy for users and search engines to navigate your site. Crawling efficiency also plays a role here – if search engine bots have trouble accessing or navigating certain parts of your site, they may be unable to index all your content properly.

URL structure is another key factor in technical SEO. URLs should be descriptive and contain relevant keywords whenever possible, but they should also be concise and easy to read. Redirect management is also important – if you delete or move a page on your site, you’ll want to set up redirects so that any existing links pointing to that page will still work.

Finally, canonical tags can help prevent duplicate content issues by indicating which version of a page should be considered the “official” one. This is especially important if you have multiple versions of the same content (such as print-friendly or mobile-friendly versions) or if other sites are scraping your content without permission.

Attention to these technical details can create a strong foundation for your website’s SEO strategy. In the next section, we’ll examine how optimizing for mobile-first indexing can give you an even greater edge over the competition.

Optimizing For Mobile-First Indexing: Staying Ahead Of The Curve

Mobile responsiveness is not only a crucial factor in optimizing for mobile-first indexing, but it’s also essential for providing an excellent user experience. In 2023, Google Search will continue prioritizing mobile-friendly websites and rank them higher than those not optimized for smaller screens. With more people using their smartphones to browse the internet every year, ensuring your website is responsive on all devices should be a top priority.

Page speed is another critical element of successful mobile optimization. Users expect websites to load quickly and efficiently, especially when browsing on their phones. Slow loading times can increase bounce rates and lower search engine rankings. Optimizing images by compressing file sizes and reducing content length can help improve page speed and provide a better overall user experience.

Regarding image optimization, remember that visually appealing content is as vital on mobile devices as on desktops. However, high-quality images can slow down loading times if they’re not correctly optimized for web use. Also, consider using AI-Generated content such as images in your post. Optimize your images by resizing them to fit the screen size of different devices without sacrificing quality or clarity.

In summary, optimizing for mobile-first indexing requires paying attention to several key elements: Mobile responsiveness, page speed, user experience, image optimization, and content length. By prioritizing these factors and staying ahead of the curve with emerging trends in SEO best practices like structured data and schema markup, you’ll be well-positioned to achieve first-page rankings on Google in 2023! Speaking of which…

Leveraging Structured Data And Schema Markup For Enhanced Visibility

Did you know that websites using Schema markup can get up to a 30% increase in click-through rates? That’s right. It’s no secret that structured data optimization is crucial for SERP enhancements, and implementing schema correctly can lead to significant benefits. This strategy has been proven to work repeatedly, making it an essential part of any SEO content strategist’s toolkit.

Schema implementation involves adding microdata or JSON-LD code to your website’s HTML, allowing search engines to understand each page’s content better. By providing context about the information presented, rich snippets benefit from this approach by displaying more detailed results when users search for related topics. This leads to higher visibility and engagement rates among potential customers.

Many tools available online today make Schema markup easier than ever before. These range from free plugins like Yoast SEO (which includes built-in support for Schema) up to paid services such as Semrush or Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool. Whether you choose, incorporating these tools into your workflow will help ensure consistent success across your marketing campaigns.

To summarize, leveraging Structured Data and Schema Markup is key when aiming for enhanced visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). The use of schema allows businesses to take full advantage of rich snippets benefits while optimizing their content with relevant keywords and phrases. With the variety of schema markup tools available today, there’s never been a better time to implement this strategy into your digital marketing efforts.

As we progress towards first-page rankings in 2023, boosting site speed and performance through Core Web Vitals becomes increasingly important. Let’s explore how focusing on core web vitals can improve user experience and boost organic traffic next!

Boosting Site Speed And Performance: Core Web Vitals In Focus

To improve user experience and comply with Google’s metrics, Core Web Vitals must be in focus. These are measurable elements of web performance that relate to load time, interactivity, and visual stability. Improving these factors can lead to better rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) and increased conversions and customer satisfaction.

Speed optimization is a key factor in improving Core Web Vitals. Browser caching allows users to access previously visited websites quicker by storing website files locally on their devices. Image compression reduces the file size of images without sacrificing image quality, resulting in faster loading times for your site.

Mobile optimization is also vital for enhancing Core Web Vitals. Responsive design ensures your website looks good on any device while providing an optimal user experience. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are HTML pages optimized specifically for mobile devices, allowing them to load quickly even when internet connection speeds are slow.

In addition to improving Core Web Vitals, optimizing your site for SEO performance requires tracking analytics and reducing page load time. By monitoring traffic sources and visitor behavior through tools like Google Analytics, you can identify areas where improvements can be made. Reducing page load time by compressing images or minimizing HTTP requests will help keep visitors engaged and lower bounce rates.

Site maintenance is crucial for keeping your site healthy and performing at its best. Broken links not only harm user experience but also impact SEO rankings negatively. A server response time above 200ms could result in lost revenue due to abandoned shopping carts or impatient visitors leaving your site altogether.

Embracing the rise of voice search: optimizing for voice assistants is becoming increasingly important as more people use devices like Amazon Alexa or Google Home to browse the internet hands-free. In the next section, we’ll explore ways to optimize content for voice search and how it impacts overall SEO strategy.

Embracing The Rise Of Voice Search: Optimizing For Voice Assistants

With the rise of voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, voice search optimization has become crucial in any SEO strategy. Natural language processing technology is constantly evolving, making it easier than ever for users to interact with their devices using voice commands. As such, businesses must ensure their website content is optimized for voice assistant compatibility to stay ahead of the game.

To optimize your website for voice search queries, you need to understand how people use voice assistants. Most often, users ask questions or make statements in a conversational tone when using voice search. This means that keywords used on your website should be focused on long-tail phrases rather than short ones. Additionally, incorporating FAQ-style content can help improve your chances of being featured as an answer by Google’s Voice Search Analytics.

Here are three key ways you can begin optimizing your website for voice search today:

1. Use natural language throughout your site: Incorporate spoken phrases into titles and descriptions where possible
2. Create FAQ pages: Write out common questions and answers related to your industry or business
3. Test Your Site: Check whether Google Assistant can read the main headings aloud

By embracing the rise of voice search and taking steps towards optimization early on, businesses stand a better chance at securing first-page search listings in 2023 and beyond.

Transitioning into enhancing your local SEO strategy through dominating Google My Business…

Enhancing Your Local SEO Strategy: Dominating Google My Business

I’m excited to dive into optimizing Google My Business (GMB) listings – a key element for dominating Google My Business in 2023. Generating reviews and citations is also important for local SEO success, so I’ll cover that too. I’m confident that by following these proven methods, businesses can secure first-page rankings on GMB. Let’s get started!

This table outlines various tasks and activities for enhancing your local SEO strategy by effectively utilizing Google My Business and each task’s benefits.

Optimizing Google My Business (GMB) Listings

Imagine your potential customers searching for local businesses like yours on Google. Now imagine them seeing your business listed at the top of the search results, complete with photos and glowing reviews from satisfied customers. This is not a far-fetched scenario but rather an achievable goal with properly optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing.

Review management is one key aspect of optimizing your GMB listing. Encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews on your profile and respond promptly to any negative feedback professionally. Consistently engaging with customer feedback can boost your online reputation and increase visibility in local searches.

Citation building ensures that your business information is consistent across all online directories, including name, address, phone number (NAP), and website URL. This helps establish credibility and improve local rankings. Local link-building also boosts credibility and authority by obtaining backlinks from reputable local sources.

Photo optimization may seem minor, but it can greatly enhance the user experience on your GMB profile. Make sure to upload high-quality images that showcase your business’s products, services, or atmosphere. Additionally, properly geotagging these photos can aid in Google Maps optimization.

Speaking of map optimization, make sure to accurately pinpoint the location of your business on Google Maps, as this can impact how visible you are in local searches. Confirming ownership of your GMB listing through verification also signals trustworthiness to users and search engines.

By implementing these proven methods of optimizing your GMB listing – review management, citation building, local link building, photo optimization, and Google Maps optimization -, you’ll be well on your way to dominating local search results and securing that coveted front-row seat on Google’s first page rankings come 2023!

Generating Reviews & Citations

Now that we’ve covered optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing and your Google Business Profile, let’s discuss two crucial components: generating reviews and building citations. These elements can greatly impact your local SEO strategy by improving social signals, managing reputation, and increasing visibility on local directories.

Review management is key to enhancing your Google My Business (GMB) profile. Encouraging satisfied customers to leave positive feedback can boost your online reputation and increase visibility in local searches. On the other hand, addressing negative reviews promptly and professionally can show potential customers that you value their opinions and are committed to providing top-notch service.

Secondly, citation building ensures consistent business information across all online directories, such as name, address, phone number (NAP), and website URL. This not only helps establish credibility but also improves local rankings. By regularly verifying and updating this information, you’ll be ahead of competitors who neglect or overlook this step.

Furthermore, social signals play a role in improving overall search engine optimization (SEO). When people share or engage with content related to your business on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, it sends signals to search engines about the relevance and popularity of your brand. As part of your overall marketing strategy, consider utilizing these channels to amplify messages about promotions or events happening at your location(s).

In conclusion, generating positive reviews from satisfied customers while actively building citations across relevant directories are essential steps toward dominating local search results through GMB optimization. In addition to these tactics, don’t forget about the power of reputation management and leveraging social signals for increased online presence. With careful attention given to each element outlined here today – there’s no reason you shouldn’t see significant improvements in website traffic over time!

Exploring Video And Visual Search Optimization Opportunities

Visual storytelling is becoming increasingly important to engage audiences and build brand awareness. With the rise of social media platforms like Instagram, visual content has become more prevalent. This means businesses must consider their image optimization strategies to stay competitive. By optimizing images for search engines, brands can increase their visibility and attract more website visitors.

Video marketing is another powerful tool for boosting your SEO efforts. YouTube optimization, in particular, can be an effective way to reach new audiences and build credibility with potential customers. Creating high-quality videos that provide value to viewers can help establish you as an authority in your industry while also driving traffic back to your website.

Infographic design is another area where visual content can greatly impact your SEO strategy. Infographics are great for breaking down complex information into easy-to-understand visuals that people love sharing on social media. By creating infographics related to your industry or niche, you can drive traffic back to your site while establishing yourself as an expert in your field.

Incorporating these visual elements into your overall SEO strategy will take effort, but it’s worth it in the long run. Visual content tends to get shared more often than text-based content, which means more brand exposure and, ultimately, more power in the marketplace. So if you want to stand out from the competition and boost your online presence, start exploring opportunities for visual storytelling today!

As we’ve seen, optimizing images and using video and infographic content are all effective ways of improving SEO performance. But how do you know what’s working? Our next section will explore analyzing and measuring SEO success: metrics that matter so you can track progress over time and adjust tactics accordingly.

Analyzing And Measuring SEO Success: Metrics That Matter

I’m excited to discuss analyzing website performance and measuring SEO success; every SEO content strategist should know this. With the right metrics, we can identify opportunities for improvement and track our progress over time. We need to look at organic traffic, website speed, and user engagement to understand how our SEO efforts are performing. Finally, we should measure the performance of individual keywords and pages to pinpoint the areas that need more attention.

Analyzing Website Performance

When it comes to SEO success, analyzing website performance is crucial. To achieve a first-page ranking on Google in 2023, you must ensure that your site speed and user experience are optimized for search engines and users. High bounce rates due to slow page load times can negatively impact your rankings, so make sure your pages load quickly.

Analytics tracking plays an important role in measuring the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. By monitoring metrics such as organic traffic, backlinks, and keyword rankings, you can identify what’s working well and where there’s room for improvement. Use this data to continually refine your strategy and drive more targeted traffic to your site.

Conversion rate optimization is another essential component of successful SEO. While attracting visitors to your site is important, converting those visitors into customers or subscribers is even more critical. Analyze how users interact with your site using tools like heat maps and A/B testing to optimize the conversion funnel and increase conversions.

Finally, remember that these elements work synergistically to improve overall SEO success. When optimizing for site speed and user experience, you’ll likely see improvements in analytics tracking and conversion rate optimization. By taking a holistic approach to analyze website performance, you’ll be better equipped to secure a front-row seat on Google’s coveted first page come 2023.

Measuring SEO Success For Google Page 1 Results

To achieve SEO success, it’s essential to measure and analyze the performance of your website. One way to do this is by tracking conversion rates through tools like Google Analytics. Conversion tracking helps you understand how visitors interact with your site and whether they complete desired actions such as purchasing or filling out a form.

Another important metric for measuring SEO success is traffic analysis. Analyzing organic traffic can help you determine which pages on your site are performing well and which need improvement. Additionally, monitoring backlinks from other sites can give you insight into your site’s authority in search engine rankings.

Keyword ranking is another crucial element of SEO success. By identifying high-volume keywords relevant to your business and optimizing your content accordingly, you can improve your chances of appearing at the top of search results pages. Monitoring keyword rankings regularly to track progress over time and adjusting strategies as needed is also important.

Competitor research is another valuable method for measuring SEO success. By analyzing what competitors are doing well (and where they’re falling short), you can identify opportunities for improvement in your own strategy. Finally, user engagement metrics like bounce rate, session duration, and click-through rate provide insights into how users interact with your site and whether they find it helpful or engaging.

By continually monitoring these metrics, adjusting strategies based on data-driven insights, and staying up-to-date on industry trends, businesses can position themselves for long-term SEO success that drives targeted traffic and boosts conversions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Does Google’s Algorithm Differ In 2023 Compared To Previous Years?

Algorithm updates have always been a major concern for SEO content strategists, and in 2023, Google’s algorithm has become even more complex. The focus is now on user intent, meaning websites must quickly anticipate what users want to find and provide the most relevant information. Voice search has also gained momentum as people prefer to use their voice instead of typing queries. Machine learning is crucial in understanding user behavior and predicting future needs. Personalization has taken center stage with the ability to tailor recommendations based on individual preferences. In short, Google’s algorithm in 2023 is all about providing personalized experiences for your organic listings that meet the evolving needs of users while keeping up with the latest technology trends.

What Are Some Common Mistakes To Avoid When Conducting Keyword Research in 2023?

Keyword research is a crucial aspect of any successful SEO strategy. As an experienced content strategist, many companies make common mistakes when conducting keyword research. One mistake is not properly analyzing competitor websites to see what keywords they are ranking for and how you can improve upon their efforts. Another mistake is only focusing on high-volume short-tail keywords, neglecting the potential benefits of long-tail keywords that may have less competition but more targeted search intent. Additionally, it’s important to consider seasonal trends and negative keywords that could negatively impact your rankings. By avoiding these mistakes and taking a comprehensive approach to keyword research, you can powerfully optimize your website and drive traffic toward first-page rankings in 2023 – or anytime!

How Can Businesses Ensure Their Website Is Optimized For Mobile-First Indexing?

Mobile optimization is crucial for businesses today. Without it, your website could lose potential customers and revenue. Responsive design is a must-have, ensuring your site looks great and functions properly across all devices. Page speed is also essential – slow load times can cause visitors to bounce before they’ve even had a chance to see what you have to offer. The user experience should always be top of mind, as users are more likely to return and engage with your brand when their interaction with your website is smooth and enjoyable. Finally, mobile-friendly content is key – ensure your text is easy to read on smaller screens and that video and images are optimized for mobile viewing. As an SEO content strategist, it’s my job to ensure that our client’s websites are fully optimized for the mobile-first indexing era we’re in. With these techniques in place, you’ll not only please Google but also provide a powerful user experience that will keep visitors returning for more powerfully engaging experiences!

What Are Some Effective Link Building Strategies For Earning High-Quality Backlinks?

Knowing the most effective link-building strategies for earning high-quality backlinks is essential as an SEO wizard. Guest blogging is an excellent way to get your website in front of new audiences and build relationships with other bloggers. Infographic outreach involves creating visually appealing infographics that people will want to share on their websites or social media profiles. Broken link building entails finding broken links on authoritative websites and contacting them with suggestions for replacement content. The skyscraper technique identifies popular content within your niche and creates even better versions. Finally, social media promotion can help you reach a broader audience and encourage others to link to your site. By implementing these techniques, businesses can improve online visibility and gain more power in their industry.

How Can Businesses Measure The Success Of Their SEO Efforts Beyond Just Rankings?

As a savvy SEO strategist, you know that measuring the success of your SEO efforts requires more than just first-page rankings. While keeping an eye on your position in search engine results pages (SERPs) is important, true power comes from understanding how your website performs beyond those basic metrics. By looking at key indicators like conversion rates, user engagement, and factors like content quality, local SEO, and social media presence, you can better understand whether your website is truly making an impact in today’s digital landscape. So don’t just settle for ranking high – use these tools to measure the real effectiveness of your SEO strategy!

Conclusion

As an SEO professional, it’s important to stay ahead of the game and predict what Google’s algorithm will look like in 2023. By understanding these changes, businesses can optimize their website for first-page rankings and drive more traffic and sales.

One of the biggest changes we expect is an increased emphasis on mobile-first indexing. To succeed in this new landscape, businesses must ensure their website is fully optimized for mobile devices. This includes using responsive design, optimizing page speed, and providing a great user experience across all screens.

Another key factor for success in 2023 will be link-building. However, it’s essential to focus on quality over quantity when earning backlinks. Businesses should prioritize building relationships with high-authority websites relevant to their industry or niche. By implementing proven strategies such as guest blogging, broken link building, and influencer outreach, companies can earn valuable backlinks that will boost their search engine rankings.

Ultimately, success in SEO goes beyond just ranking on the first page of Google. It’s about driving meaningful results and proving ROI. That’s why businesses must track metrics such as organic traffic, conversion rates, and revenue generated from SEO efforts. By consistently analyzing data and adjusting accordingly, companies can achieve long-term success in the rapidly evolving world of search engine optimization.

The world of SEO is littered with references to Google’s algorithm updates. But if you don’t know how their algorithms actually work, then you won’t have much use for those up-to-the-minute updates on their inner workings.

Here, we’ll explain exactly how Google’s algorithms work so you can start optimizing for them more effectively than ever before.

• The Early Days of Google’s Algorithms
• Crawling and Indexing the Web
• Deciphering User Queries
• Determining Relevance
• Evaluating Page Speed and Quality
• Analyzing Page Experience

The Early Days of Google’s Algorithms

In April 1998, Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin published a research paper titled The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine. It introduced Google, a search engine “designed to crawl and index the web efficiently and produce much more satisfying search results than existing systems.”

Although Google’s algorithm has since advanced by leaps and bounds, its 1998 iteration is still familiar. As Page and Brin explained, the first Google algorithm calculated rank based on a number of factors including:

• each page’s incoming and outgoing links;
• each link’s anchor text; and
• the various keywords found on a given page.

It may sound simple, but keep in mind that in the 1990s most search engines functioned only by matching keywords to queries. This generated less-than-satisfactory search results, and Google’s new, more nuanced algorithm was a revelation.

With its invention, users saw the quality of their search results skyrocket and a new standard for search engines was born.

As you probably already know, Google saw incredible success as a result—between 2002 and 2020, the company’s annual revenue increased by close to 200 billion dollars:

But how do Google’s algorithms work today after decades of development? Keep reading to find out.

Crawling and Indexing the Web

Just like Google’s original algorithm, its modern iterations start by crawling and indexing as many web pages as possible.

Crawling simply refers to the process in which Google’s web crawler (colloquially known as Googlebot) visits and looks at pages, all while accompanied by an endearing arachnid sidekick, of course.

When Googlebot visits a page, it will also follow any links the page contains. This makes it easy to see why crawlers are sometimes called spiders; they move from page to page as if climbing from one strand of a spider web to another.

This behavior is designed to imitate that of real, human users who navigate sites by clicking on links. It serves to demonstrate the importance of logical site organization and a recently updated sitemap—with their help, your site’s crawlability can drastically improve.

After crawling a page, Googlebot then sends the information it’s gathered to Google’s index where it’s filed away for future retrieval. This process is known as website indexation.

Google’s Search index stores information about hundreds of billions of web pages, and is more than 100 million gigabytes in size (that’s over 100 petabytes). When a user makes a search query, all the results Google delivers are pulled from its index.

So how does Google determine which results are worth delivering and which aren’t? That’s where the magic of its search algorithms come in.

Deciphering User Queries

The first step toward giving users the high-quality search results they desire is to accurately decipher what their search queries really mean.

This is done not only by matching keywords in queries to keywords in pages, but also by interpreting spelling mistakes and identifying synonyms. As Google points out, its synonym system helps discern when multiple words can satisfy the same query:

Google has also invested a great deal of time and money in teaching its machine learning systems how to understand the meaning of and context behind queries. Take for instance its BERT and SMITH models, both of which are carefully designed to accurately interpret phrases.

As Google explained on its blog, BERT makes it possible to return a search result that’s highly relevant rather than generic:

And behind the scenes, Google’s engineers are constantly working to build even more advanced machine learning models that come as close as possible to a human level of language comprehension.

Determining Relevance

Once Google’s algorithms have identified what a user is looking for, their next task is to determine which web pages are relevant and which are not.

Google can accomplish this by analyzing hundreds of different factors, the most basic of which being keyword presence. It does so with the help of deep learning models like SMITH and BERT, and also uses its proprietary Knowledge Graph to tell which pages will best answer a given query.

Put simply, the Knowledge Graph is a collection of billions of facts about people, places and things—in other words, it’s the ultimate encyclopedia. It knows things like the exact date of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s birthday, the length of the Great Wall of China and the height of a typical giraffe:

To ensure every query is answered as correctly as possible, the Knowledge Graph pulls from a variety of sources. Sometimes that means governments, schools and scientific institutions, but it can also mean websites like yours.

If your website is used to answer a user’s factual query, the relevant content will be displayed in a knowledge panel. These are “information boxes that appear on Google when you search for entities (people, places, organizations, things) that are in the Knowledge Graph.”

What’s more, if you “are the subject of or official representative of an entity depicted in a knowledge panel, you can claim this panel and suggest changes.” For example, if you’re the webmaster of a museum’s website, you can claim and update that museum’s knowledge panel to ensure complete accuracy.

More broadly, you can help Google’s algorithms recognize when your site’s pages are relevant to users’ queries by keeping each page firmly on-topic and implementing good entity optimization practices.

Evaluating Page Speed and Quality

Part of the reason that Google’s algorithms are so advanced is that they’re tuned to evaluate numerous factors affecting the user experience. These include things like:

• page speed;
• mobile-friendliness;
• content quality; and
• expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T).

(Please note that E-A-T is a concept, not a ranking factor. Google’s Danny Sullivan and Gary Illyes have both explained that a group of combined factors, such as links (which count as authority, per Gary) could all contribute to higher site quality and thus could potentially count towards the concept of E-A-T. Per Google, on multiple occasions, E-A-T does not currently exist in the algorithm as an individual E-A-T score or algorithmic attribute.)

While there are hundreds of ways you can tweak your website in order to improve those factors, some of the most fundamental include:

• using a WordPress caching plugin;
• removing unnecessary or outdated WordPress plugins;
• prioritizing image optimization;
• adopting responsive web design;
• eliminating long walls of text;
• striving for the highest-quality content possible;
• tailoring your content to suit your target audience; and
• ensuring accuracy and transparency across your site.

And to help keep tabs on your progress, you can use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and PageSpeed Insights.

Analyzing Page Experience

Google’s page experience update was originally scheduled for May 2021, but first started rolling out in June. As its name suggests, it’s centered around the experience users have on any given page.

This includes things we’ve already discussed here, such as page speed and mobile-friendliness. But is also includes factors called Core Web Vitals, a trio of signals called Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

LCP measures loading speed, FID measures interactivity and CLS measures visual stability:

With the page experience update now live, it’s crucial for SEO practitioners to consider those three signals when optimizing their sites’ pages.

The update includes more than Core Web Vitals, though—it also considers mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) and a lack of intrusive interstitials:

So to truly optimize your site for the page experience update, you need to account for those signals too.

Reverse Engineer Google’s Algorithms to Move Your SEO Forward

It makes sense that the most skilled SEO pros are often those with a deep understanding of how search engines work. After all, you need to understand how a car works in order to be a good mechanic.

And since Google is by far the largest and most powerful search engine in the world, you can become a better SEO practitioner yourself by learning how its algorithms work and reverse engineering them to your advantage.

Image credits

CNN / September 2015
Statista / February 2021
Google / Accessed June 2021
Screenshots by author / June 2021

Earlier today, Gary Illyes over at Google tweeted a rather interesting redirect pattern he was allegedly working on at the time. Looks like some good old fashioned regular expression (i.e. regex) coding:

As if on cue, all the SEOs begin wondering what that tweet could mean.

John Mueller followed up with his own eyebrow-raising comments, in true Mueller fashion:

Exactly how much of the Google algorithm’s behavior is there “just to mess with us?”

The answer remains to be seen, and it could simply be Mueller’s sense of humor.

Either way, we love it.

When it comes to search results, the sources of the information you find are just as important as the information itself. After all, you’re better off trusting medical advice from Mayo Clinic than someone’s personal blog.  

Now, Google’s making it even easier to see where search results come from. With just a single click, users can see detailed information about the domains behind search results. While still in beta, this feature is big news for search transparency as a whole.

• How Does the New Feature Work?
• Why Does Domain Information Matter?
• How to Benefit from Google’s New Domain Information Feature

How Does the New Feature Work?

Google announced the ability to see more information about search results’ domains on February 1, 2021:

Google Search is now rolling out a special icon that provides more information about the source of a result, if your connection to it will be secure, and more. This is a beta feature for now, offered in English in the US. https://t.co/9Vovj6vYcG pic.twitter.com/vL3FZOTvQg

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 1, 2021

As its blog post on the topic explains, this as-yet-unnamed feature is represented by an icon of three vertically stacked dots. The icons appear directly to the right of each search result:

These icons appear on both mobile and desktop results, as well as in the Google app on Android devices. Click (or tap) one to see a pop-up window containing additional information about the result’s parent site. This will contain a description from Wikipedia when available, as seen here in Google’s provided information about Merriam-Webster:

The window also includes useful information such as:

• whether or not your connection to the site is secure (i.e. HTTPS-based rather than HTTP-based);
• the site’s homepage URL;
• whether or not the displayed result is an advertisement or not; and
• links to send feedback, change your privacy settings, learn more about Google Search, view your browser’s cached version of the site and see similar sites.

And when no Wikipedia description is available, Google will attempt to add other pertinent details such as when the site was first indexed.

This feature is also available for results Google has aggregated from around the web, such as those that appear when users search for local jobs, businesses and attractions:

Why Does Domain Information Matter?

Google’s new Search feature is important not because it’s designed to help SEO practitioners, but because it’s designed to help users make more informed decisions about the results they click on. This serves to underscore Google’s commitment to transparency, user safety and a more secure web.

If you’ve been paying attention to Google’s updates over the last decade then this doesn’t come as a surprise—the search engine has made several large-scale efforts to improve digital safety:

• Safe Browsing, a blocklist service,was launched in 2007 to help shield users from phishing scams. Today, it protects more than four million devices and alerts users whenever they visit dangerous sites or attempt to download questionable files.
• Project Zero, a team of internet security experts, was formed in 2014 to proactively identify zero-day vulnerabilities in widely-used hardware and software products.  
• Chrome’s not secure warnings for HTTP-based sites, first announced in 2016, have effectively rendered HTTP obsolete and motivated millions of websites to transition to HTTPS.
• Play Protect, a security system for Android apps released in 2017, scans users’ devices for malicious or deceptive apps.

Given Google’s overwhelming market share, it’s no wonder that these efforts have had a profound effect on the internet as a whole.

Take for example the nearly ubiquitous adoption of HTTPS, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. As shown in Google’s Transparency Report, 95 percent of traffic across Google was encrypted as of January 2021:

Notice that steep increase in encrypted traffic after 2014 ? It just so happens that Google announced HTTPS as a ranking factor that same year, and SEO pros everywhere took note.

All this is to say that Google’s new inclusion of detailed domain information in search results fits into a long-running pattern of sweeping security efforts. And as an update that directly affects the way users see search results, it’s liable to affect best SEO practices for years to come.

How to Benefit from Google’s New Domain Information Feature

As with every tweak to Google’s search engine, the new domain information feature is flush with opportunities to improve your site’s rankings.

To help users further trust and glean useful information about the domain you’re optimizing, you can employ two smart strategies.

Create a Wikipedia Page

As mentioned above, Google uses descriptions gathered from Wikipedia to provide users with domain details. For instance, the first two sentences of Walmart’s Wikipedia page (outlined in red) are the same sentences users see when viewing domain information in Google’s SERPs:

So if your site doesn’t currently have a WIkipedia page of its own, you stand to gain a great deal of user confidence by creating one.  

To do so, you only need to complete a few simple steps:

1. Create a Wikipedia account with a username you don’t mind others seeing (Wikipedia readers will be able to see who created the page).
2. Become an autoconfirmed user by making at least 10 (accurate!) edits to other Wikipedia articles and waiting a minimum of four days.
3. Write the article and submit it for review, being sure to write the first few sentences with Google users in mind and only including verifiable information.

Migrate to HTTPS

Besides creating a Wikipedia page, the best thing you can do for your site in light of Google’s new feature is to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS if you haven’t done so already. This will ensure that the domain details Google provides to users states their connection is secure.

As Google explains, HTTPS is more secure than HTTP because it provides three levels of protection:

1. encryption;
2. data integrity; and
3. site authentication.

When migrating from HTTP to HTTPS, Google views the process as a site move with URL changes. To complete the move, you’ll need to prepare and test the new site, map each old URL to its corresponding new URL and configure the site’s server to redirect from the old URLs to their new counterparts.

To ensure your site’s success, be sure to follow Google’s HTTPS best practices:

• Obtain strong security certificates from a trusted certificate authority, preferably with a 2048-bit key.
• Implement server-side 301 redirects to point users and search engine crawlers from your old HTTP pages to your new HTTPS pages.
• Ensure your HTTPS pages can be crawled and indexed with the help of Google’s URL Inspection tool.  

More Info = More Clicks

The web is no longer as Wild West-eque as it once was, and both transparency and security are now paramount to a site’s success. Google’s new domain information update makes this clear as day by putting each site’s authority, security and trustworthiness front and center.  

So, now is the perfect time to take your site’s reputation to the next level and demonstrate just how click-worthy it is. And once you’ve got an appealing description and secure connection users can view right from the SERPs, you’re sure to enjoy more traffic as a result.

Image credits

Screenshots by author / February 2021

It takes a lot of work to create, optimize, publish and distribute high-quality content. From in-depth keyword research to savvy promotion, there’s a great deal of effort behind every blog post, article and landing page, and that’s exactly why it’s so frustrating to see your content copied and ranking in Google’s SERPs.

Fortunately, the demands of plagiarism victims everywhere have been answered: There is now an easy way to report copied content to Google, not only on Search but all Google platforms. If you want to stop bad actors from leeching traffic off of your content, it’s time to learn how.

How You Can Report Copied Content to Google

Arguably the best part of Google’s new reporting feature is just how simple and easy it is, as shown in a YouTube video from January 2021:

As Google points out, the creator of a given piece of content typically holds its copyright. This means that even if you haven’t officially registered your work with the U.S. Copyright Office or an equivalent government body, you still likely have the legal right to protect it from theft.

This generally applies to all kinds of content, including original:

• text;
• photos;
• graphics;
• music;
• sound recordings;
• videos; and
• computer software.

In other words, you’re not just limited to reporting plagiarized articles. Your podcast recording is also protected by copyright law, as is the YouTube video you worked so hard to create.

How the New Reporting Feature Works

If you see your copied content show up on Google Search or any Google-owned product or service, the first step is to head to Google’s official page for requesting illegal content removal.

Click the create a request button and you’ll be presented with a selection of Google products from which to choose:

For this example, we’ll select Google Search. Next, choose whether the copied content can be found on Search, Google Images or other Search features.

Then, you’ll be able to specify the type of issue you’d like to bring to Google’s attention. Your options include malware/phishing, personal information, intellectual property and more:

To report copied content, select intellectual property issue. On the next form, select copyright infringement.

You’ll then be asked to verify that you’re either the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner’s behalf, as well as to specify whether the copied content in question is an image/video or other form of content—we selected other.

Finally, read the provided instructions, click the create a request button and you’ll be able to get into the nitty-gritty details of the offending content:  

The copyright removal form itself is a true legal document and requires you to enter personal contact information, make sworn statements and provide a legally binding digital signature:

There are plenty of fields to fill out, and the more detail you can provide, the better your chances of getting the copied content quickly and effectively removed.

If the copied content appears on multiple Google products (for instance, on both Google Search and Youtube), you’ll unfortunately need to create a separate request for each one. Nevertheless, the myriad benefits of removing plagiarized content are undoubtedly worth the hassle of making multiple requests.

Good Riddance, Copied Content

Plagiarized content isn’t unique to the internet, but the internet has certainly facilitated its rapid proliferation. Much to the chagrin of hardworking SEO practitioners and content creators around the world, getting that plagiarized content removed has never been as straightforward as one would hope.

Fortunately, Google’s new content removal request system is changing that. Now it’s easier than ever to report and remove copied content across a range of platforms so you can get back to what matters most: creating and optimizing high-quality content your visitors will love.

Image credits

Screenshots by author / January 2021

Google recently unveiled its new SMITH algorithm, and it has massive implications for the future of content creation and search engine optimization.

If you want to be prepared for what Google has in store, learn how the SMITH algorithm works and whether it has what it takes to be the next BERT.

Google’s SMITH Algorithm at a Glance  

The Siamese Multi-depth Transformer-based Hierarchical (SMITH) Encoder is a lot easier to understand than you’d think—no, really. In essence, it’s a neural network-based algorithm that’s designed to comprehend and identify relevance between long-form documents.

It does so by using a combination of machine learning techniques such as encoders, embeddings and transformers, as illustrated in Google’s research paper on the algorithm:

It may look complicated, but the end goal of all those processes is simple: To understand long pieces of text and ultimately determine whether they are relevant to each other or not.

Google researchers trained the algorithm in two phases. First, they pre-trained it with large quantities of unlabeled text and allowed it to learn unsupervised. Then, they fine-tuned it through the use of supervised document matching tasks.

SMITH vs. BERT

If you’ve been paying attention to Google’s algorithm updates over the last year, then you’re likely already familiar with BERT, or Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers.

Just as with the SMITH algorithm, BERT is designed to comprehend and determine the relevance between pieces of text. It’s also trained in a similar method, first via unsupervised pre-training and next via supervised fine-tuning:

As Google proudly stated when introducing BERT, its GLUE (General Language Understanding Evaluation) score reached 80.5 percent, an impressive 7.7 percent improvement over previous models.

BERT was clearly a winner, and Google reacted by quickly implementing it. As it announced at its Search On 2020 event, BERT is now used in almost every English search query and is helping make Google’s search results more accurate than ever.

Given BERT’s success, it came as a surprise to see a fresh research paper from Google detailing how SMITH not only met but exceeded BERT’s ability to understand and match long-form documents specifically.

Why? As Google explained in its paper, while models like BERT are highly accurate, they “are still limited to short text like a few sentences or one paragraph.”

Will SMITH Replace BERT?

On the surface, it might sound like the SMITH algorithm is poised to replace BERT. It’s important to remember, though, that SMITH only out-performs BERT when it comes to long-form documents. At the moment, it’s safe to assume that BERT still reigns supreme in terms of short pieces of text.

So, it might make more sense for Google to use SMITH in conjunction with BERT. With both working together, the search engine would be able to understand and match both long- and short-form content.

But this is all speculation until SMITH is actually implemented, and as Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan clearly stated in a tweet, SMITH is not live:

We publish a lot of papers about things not used in Search. I won’t be making a habit of confirming each one someone might speculate about because it’s time consuming & more important, we have tended to proactively talk about this stuff already. That said. No. We did not.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 13, 2021

Live or Not, SMITH Is a Big Deal

Even if SMITH never goes live, it’s useful for SEO practitioners to know that Google is making strides its ability to effectively understand and index long-form text and will soon be able to accurately match it with users’ queries.

For you, this means it’s time to focus on high-quality content creation and entity optimization. This way, you’ll be able to ensure that your long-form content is ready to top the SERPs whenever SMITH (or an algorithm like it) does go live.

Image credits

Google Research / October 2020

Google Research / October 2018

SEO practitioners spend a great deal of time battling to achieve better indexation, and Google’s index coverage report is an invaluable tool for doing so.

Now, that report is even better: As of January 2021, it’s received a slew of new changes designed to make the lives of SEO practitioners that much easier. If you want to make the most of those changes going forward, find out how they’ll change your workflow now.

What Is the Index Coverage Report?

If you’re a frequent Search Console user, then you may already be familiar with Google’s index coverage report. In short, the report serves to quickly reveal which of a site’s pages have been successfully indexed and whether any site indexation issues have occurred.

Given that website indexation is a core aspect of Google’s algorithm, it’s easy to see how useful such a report can be. After all, if your pages aren’t indexed, then it’s simply impossible for them to appear on Google’s search engine results pages (or SERPs for short).

Watch Google Search Advocate Daniel Waisberg explain how it works in a quick YouTube video:

The index coverage report is divided into two main sections, the summary page and the details page. On the summary page, you’ll see:

• the primary crawler Google uses to crawl your site (i.e. whether it views your site from a mobile or desktop user’s perspective);
• each page’s status (an error status means the page isn’t indexed, a warning status means it’s indexed but has an issue you should know about, an excluded status means it was intentionally not indexed and a valid status means the page is indexed);
• the reason for each page’s status;
• the validation status for each issue presented; and
• a URL discovery dropdown filter which allows you to see how Google’s crawlers discovered each URL.

Click any row on the summary page to open the details page, where you’ll see:

• a graph displaying the number of affected pages over time;
• a table displaying an example list of affected URLs; and
• the type of crawler (smartphone or desktop) used to crawl each URL.

The bottom line? The index coverage report gives you a view of your site’s indexation status that’s as broad or as granular as you want so you can make more informed SEO decisions from there.

What’s New In the Index Coverage Report?

On January 11 of 2021, Google announced several major improvements to the index coverage report. Each of the four new modifications are based on suggestions and feedback from Search Console users:

• The generic crawl anomaly issue type is no more and will be replaced by more specific issues going forward.
• Pages that were submitted and indexed but blocked by the robots.txt file will now be described as “indexed but blocked” and given a warning-level status (before, they were described as “submitted but blocked” and given an error-level status).
• A new warning-level status called “indexed without content” has been added. This issue indicates that the page has been indexed by Google but its content couldn’t be read.
• The report’s analysis of soft 404 errors, which occur when a page doesn’t exist but is still returning a successful HTTP status code, is now more accurate.

Overall, Google’s goal with those improvements seems to be increased accuracy and specificity. For SEO practitioners who want to spend more time fixing their indexation issues and less time trying to figure out what those issues might be (in other words, all SEO practitioners), this comes as welcome news.

If any of your site’s pages are affected by the new changes (for example, if a previously healthy page is now being marked as “indexed without content”), you can take a closer look at individual URLs’ indexation information with the help of Google’s URL Inspection tool. There, you’ll even get a screenshot of how Google sees each page.

Big Progress In the Fight for Perfect Indexation

We think it’s safe to say that site indexation troubleshooting isn’t anyone’s favorite task. But given indexation’s staggering importance, it’s a chore we all have to do.

That’s why Google’s updates to the index coverage report are so fantastic: With more precise issue types and increasingly accurate reporting, you can spend less time trying to figure out why a page isn’t properly indexed and more time working toward truly flawless indexation.

If you thought a fresh Google core update was one thing you wouldn’t have to worry about at the end of a tumultuous year, think again: Just such an update rolled out at the beginning of December 2020, and it was certainly a big one.

Want to keep your site’s visibility intact despite the latest algorithm tweaks? Learn when the core update was released, how it impacted SERP rankings around the world and what you can do if your site was one of those affected.

Google’s Core Update at a Glance

News of Google’s last core update of the year first broke on its public search liaison’s Twitter account:

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the December 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that:https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 3, 2020

This came as a surprise to the many SEO practitioners who weren’t expecting another core update before 2021, and understandably so: In a webmaster hangout from November 13, 2020, less than one month prior, Google’s John Mueller was asked if another core update would be released before the end of the year.

He responded that Google hadn’t stopped making core updates, but noted that “it’s always tricky” toward the end of the year, specifically because “we’d like to make improvements in search and we think our users deserve to…see those improvements in search, but at the same time we don’t want it to be super disruptive.”

Nevertheless, Google found time to squeeze out one more core update before the end of 2020, and some SEO pros were far from enthused:

Google December promotion – Get 30% off your website visibility today. pic.twitter.com/9f9yLBlzRL

— Mackyclyde (@mackyclyde) December 3, 2020

But did the update actually hurt websites’ visibility, and are its effects still being felt? You’ll need to take a look at some more in-depth data to find out.

The Impact of Google’s Core Update by the Numbers

As Google explained on the December 3, 2020 core update’s day of release, it typically takes one to two weeks for such updates to finish rolling out.

Yet its effects could be observed as early as December 4—data from the Semrush Sensor indicates that SERP volatility in the U.S. had a sky-high score of 9.4 on that day:

The same held true in regions around the world, with countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan and Australia all experiencing similar spikes.

Things calmed down in the subsequent days, although two medium-severity upticks also occurred, each less than a week apart.

As a December 11 analysis from Semrush showed, different types of websites were affected in very different ways—it would seem that Google’s algorithm, like life, is unfair. For instance, websites in the business/industrial, internet/telecom and beauty/fitness categories experienced a significant increase in SERP rankings:

By contrast, websites in the online community, shopping and news categories experienced a marked decrease in SERP rankings:

What’s more, the greatest portion (27.3 percent) of sites that benefited from the update had traffic exceeding ten million, while the greatest portion (32.3 percent) of sites that were harmed had traffic under ten million.

So, the irritated SEO pros of Twitter weren’t wrong in their predictions that some sites’ SERP visibility would suffer as a result of the Google core update, albeit typically only briefly. But is there anything webmasters should do if their site is one of those affected?

How to Respond to the Core Update

There’s “nothing wrong with pages that may perform less well” after one of Google’s core algorithm updates, as stated on the company’s Search Central blog. They haven’t been specifically targeted by the algorithm, and they haven’t been manually penalized for violating the webmaster guidelines.

Despite those reassurances, though, no SEO practitioner on earth is content to watch as their traffic nosedives. Google even acknowledges this, saying they “understand those who do less well after a core update change may still feel they need to do something.”

Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes, and Google closely guards the nitty-gritty details of its core updates. So if you want to ensure your site performs as well as possible, your best bet is to focus on:

• implementing savvy on-page SEO practices;
• developing a more high-quality content creation strategy;
• improving page speed;
• building a mobile-friendly site; and
• optimizing for Google’s E-A-T signal.

If you’re doing all those things, you can rest easy knowing that you’re actively working to improve your site’s rankings using proven, time-tested methods.

Another Core Update in the Books

While some SEO practitioners may not have been thrilled with the widespread effects of Google’s core algorithm update, perhaps it’s better to have gotten it over with before the new year.

Now that the worst of the SERP fluctuations are over, you’re free to focus on fine-tuning your SEO strategy and ending 2020 on a high note. It will likely be a few months before the next core update, so there’s no better time to give your site the TLC it deserves.

Image credits

Screenshots by author / December 2020

Semrush / December 2020

]]> https://iloveseo.com/seo/google/december-2020-core-update/feed/ 0 https://iloveseo.com/seo/google/what-to-expect-from-googles-may-2021-page-experience-update/ https://iloveseo.com/seo/google/what-to-expect-from-googles-may-2021-page-experience-update/#respond Mon, 23 Nov 2020 19:42:13 +0000 https://iloveseo.com/?p=833 What to Expect from Google’s May 2021 Page Experience Update on iloveseo.com by Carrie Powers

Earlier this year, Google rocked the SEO world with its announcement of a brand new upcoming search signal known as page experience. Now, we finally have a release date: In...

Google tends to be tight-lipped about the importance of its hundreds of ranking factors, and SEO practitioners typically need to rely on independent studies to learn which ranking factors carry the most weight.

E-A-T is the exception: Google openly proclaims its significance and even instructs its own Search Quality Raters to use it as a primary metric. So what is E-A-T and why is it so important? Find out and you’ll be able to gain a deeper understanding of Google’s standards and send your rankings soaring.

• What Is E-A-T?
• Is E-A-T a Ranking Factor?
• How to Increase E-A-T
  • Expertise
  • Authoritativeness
  • Trustworthiness

What Is E-A-T?

Google’s 2020 Search Quality Rater General Guidelines is a set of criteria designed to help the company’s third-party raters accurately evaluate the quality of web pages:

In its section on overall page quality rating, Google introduces the concept of E-A-T, an acronym that stands for:

• expertise;
• authoritativeness; and
• trustworthiness.

Specifically, it directs raters to evaluate:

• the expertise of the content’s creator;
• the authoritativeness of the content’s creator, the content itself and the website it’s on; and
• the trustworthiness of the content’s creator, the content itself and the website it’s on.

Whether or not a page demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness directly influences its quality rating. In Google’s own words, E-A-T is “very important” for pages that have a beneficial purpose.

It also notes that high E-A-T pages and websites come in all shapes and sizes. They can be centered around:

• humor;
• fashion;
• gossip;
• personal experiences;
• medical advice;
• academic subjects;
• forum discussions;
• tutorials;
• financial, legal and tax advice;
• questions and answers;
• news; or
• product or service reviews.

So, E-A-T doesn’t just apply to pages about advanced subjects such as science, mathematics and history. Rather, E-A-T applies to (and therefore influences the Google rankings of) all types of pages.

Is E-A-T a Ranking Factor?

Here’s where things get persnickety: In general, ranking factors are defined as objective metrics that search engine algorithms can use to automatically determine quality without any human input.

Yet while E-A-T is undoubtedly used to determine page quality, it can’t be objectively measured by a computerized algorithm—that’s why Google employs real people in the form of its Quality Raters to analyze it.

So is E-A-T a ranking factor or is it not? Confusingly, both are true. As Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, explained in a 2019 tweet, the Google algorithm uses multiple signals to determine if content would have high E-A-T in humans’ eyes:

Is E-A-T a ranking factor? Not if you mean there’s some technical thing like with speed that we can measure directly.

We do use a variety of signals as a proxy to tell if content seems to match E-A-T as humans would assess it.

In that regard, yeah, it’s a ranking factor.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 11, 2019

In short, E-A-T is a ranking factor (and a very important one at that), even if it doesn’t fit into ranking factors’ strict definition.

How to Increase E-A-T

To boost a page’s E-A-T, you’ll need to individually address each E-A-T component.

Expertise

In Google’s eyes, a satisfactory level of expertise can be either formal or informal—one is not preferred over the other.

For example, formal expertise can include college education or professional experience and tends to benefit content such as:

• medical advice;
• legal advice;
• scientific analyses; and
• academic reports.

On the other hand, informal expertise can include personal experiences or extensive research and tends to benefit content like:

• in-depth product reviews;
• discussions among peers;
• beginner- and intermediate-level how-to guides; and
• articles citing expert sources.

Depending on the context, even a topic as advanced as medicine may not require formal expertise. For instance, while a page outlining the symptoms of and treatments for an illness should come from a medically trained source, a forum post detailing an individual’s own struggles with said illness only needs to be informed by personal experience.

So when you’re evaluating a page’s expertise, it’s important to take a holistic approach and use your own reasoning skills to determine whether formal or informal expertise is required.

Authoritativeness

In the early days of Google, a page’s authority was determined solely by the number of links pointing toward it. Now, it’s not so clear-cut—Paul Haahr, a top-ranking Google software engineer, told Search Engine Land that:

We have no one signal that we’ll say, ‘This is authority.’ We have a whole bunch of things that we hope together help increase the amount of authority in our results.

Yet nothing in Haahr’s explanation tells us exactly what Google analyzes to decide whether a page is authoritative or not. So how can you work to improve a page’s authority if you don’t know how it’s calculated?

Start by considering the dictionary definition of authoritative. Merriam-Webster defines it as “possessing recognized or evident authority,” and “clearly accurate or knowledgeable.” From this we can gather that while expertise has to do with a page creator’s experience, authority has more to do with a page creator’s reputation for producing accurate, high-quality content about a given topic.

Knowing this, it makes sense why external links would play a role in determining authority: The more other pages link to a page, the more authoritative that page must be.

So, one of the most helpful things you can do to boost a page’s authority is to implement good link building practices such as building relationships through outreach, prioritizing content quality over quantity and encouraging social sharing.

You’d also do well to:

• ensure accuracy through thorough fact-checking;
• cite sources whenever possible; and
• ensure each page fulfills the overall purpose of the site it belongs to.

Trustworthiness

Google is heavily invested in improving the trustworthiness of the results it displays. It’s even partnered with the Trust Project, a consortium of news companies committed to promoting standards of honesty, accountability, accuracy and fairness in news media.

Those same principles apply to Google’s assessment of a page’s trustworthiness. In Google’s eyes, a trustworthy page should be transparent as to who owns it, link to reliable sources where appropriate and protect users’ privacy.

So if you’re looking to improve a page’s and site’s trustworthiness, make an effort to:

• include a thorough about us page on the website;
• publish easily accessible contact information;
• include author biographies for individually attributed writers;
• feature authentic user reviews where applicable;
• clearly outline the site’s privacy policy, terms of service and other legal fine print; and
• never publish spam, plagiarize content or engage in link schemes.

By following those practices, you’ll be able to build trustworthy pages that Google views as deserving of higher rankings.

Want Higher Rankings? Starting E-A-Ting Better

Some aspects of SEO are quick and straightforward—when you’re optimizing for page speed, for example, you don’t have to worry about abstract concepts like authoritativeness or expertise. Instead, you just need to keep experimenting until your loading times drop.

With E-A-T, though, success isn’t so clear-cut. To meet Google’s stringent quality standards, a website and all its pages must be accurate, transparent and trustworthy, and that can’t happen overnight. But by working to achieve a high level of E-A-T over time, you can help a site’s pages gain more trust, get more links and secure better rankings. Just like respect, E-A-T isn’t given—it’s earned.

Image credits

Google / October 2020