Since the expansion of Google’s Knowledge Graph, I’ve been getting tons of questions around different Knowledge Graph results. One of the most frequent questions I get from my clients and business owners is regarding which Knowledge Graph result is best to have: a general brand or local panel. Before going into the answer for this question, here are some examples of what a brand and local Knowledge Graph panel look like. Brand Local The answer to which is preferable is not as simple as you Continue Reading ...
Posts Tagged ‘ SEO – Search Engine Optimization ’
Canonical chaos: doubling down on duplicate content
Search engines are getting smarter. There is little doubt about that. However, in a CMS-driven web where content can often exist on several URLs, it is not always clear what is the authoritative URL for a given piece of content. Also, having content on several URLs can lead to problems with link and ranking signals being split across several variations of a piece of content. It is hard enough standing out in the often hypercompetitive search landscape, so you would imagine that most businesses Continue Reading ...
Fun with robots.txt
One of the most boring topics in technical SEO is robots.txt. Rarely is there an interesting problem needing to be solved in the file, and most errors come from not understanding the directives or from typos. The general purpose of a robots.txt file is simply to suggest to crawlers where they can and cannot go. Basic parts of the robots.txt file User-agent — specifies which robot. Disallow — suggests the robots not crawl this area. Allow — allows robots to crawl this area. Crawl-delay — Continue Reading ...
How to avoid an outbound link penalty from Google
Most of us are aware of link penalties that occur if you have low-quality or spam links pointing to your site. But did you know you can also be penalized by Google for how you link to other websites from your site? Yup, you sure can. It’s called an “unnatural outbound links” penalty, and similar to the inbound link penalty, it can be applied partially or sitewide. Recently, we conducted an audit for a new client, and we flagged the spammy linking that was being done in a particular Continue Reading ...
Connect audience insight to your SEO strategy
Audience enrichment — combining first-party data from your website with third-party data gathered from other sources to get a more complete picture of your visitors — is a hot topic right now amongst enterprise-level businesses. Evidence of its impact is clear in channels such as programmatic, which continues to rampage through paid marketing budgets, hoovering up the dollars left and right. eMarketer UK Programmatic Digital Display Ad Spend 2016 Being UK-based, the above overview from Continue Reading ...
What Google’s experimental content podium means for SEO
Google has been testing a new content platform called “Posts with Google,” and it could have a huge impact on brand searches, for both paid and organic. We all know that Google has had its struggles with trying to develop its own social network; Google Buzz is dead, and Google Plus seems to be on its way out. This new platform seems to have some social elements to it, though it is very different from a social network. On the official site for this platform, Google states the Continue Reading ...
Why Google’s quality updates should be on your algorithmic radar [Part 2]: The connection to low-quality user experience
In part one of this series, I covered a number of important points about Google’s quality updates (aka Phantom). I tried to provide a solid foundation for understanding what Phantom is and how it works, explaining its history, its path since 2015 and how it rolls out. In part two, I’m going to dive deeper by providing examples of “low-quality user engagement” that I’ve seen on sites affected by Phantom. I’ve analyzed and helped many companies that have been impacted by Google’s Continue Reading ...
Does finding that micro-moment feel like chasing fireflies? Here are 9 data points that will help you catch them.
Getting the attention of today’s consumer is harder than ever before. They are on multiple devices, accessing numerous forms of media. Their paths to purchase are as varied as flavors of ice cream. And many use ad-blocking technology to run from attempts to reach them. It’s like chasing fireflies that light up and disappear in the dark just as you swing your net. This is a reality that won’t be changing anytime soon. As consumers’ digital experiences are increasingly interrupted by Continue Reading ...
Exploring a newly-granted Google patent around social signals
Disclaimer: When discussing patents, it’s important to remember that simply filing a patent does not mean a technology is in use or will ever be used. It is simply a strong indication that an idea is being considered and likely tested. Every now and then, a patent comes across my radar that gets me excited, and one granted recently to Google fits that bill perfectly. We’re heard repeatedly from Google that social interactions are not a search ranking signal. In fact, you can read a Continue Reading ...
PPC + SEO = match made in marketing heaven
It has been quite a year for the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). We’ve seen numerous algorithm updates, including a final Penguin update and the introduction of Possum. We also saw major changes to the way ads are displayed on desktop SERPs. Google continues to tweak how online consumers receive content through organic and paid listings. In order to meet the demands of today’s search landscape and connect with more qualified consumers, strategists need to create campaigns that treat Continue Reading ...