Last updated Sept. 2020. In your Google Ads account, you may have noticed a new Optimization Score, as well as recommendations on how to improve that score. Your initial thought may be “Wow, this is really insightful. Thank you Google for making it easy for me to increase my optimization score!” But beware. While some…
Here’s the thing: We knew Google was running our clients’ display ads on irrelevant sites. And the daily upkeep was maddening. We needed a fix, so we built a Chrome extension to give us more control over where our ads end up. You can download it here, and read on for the details. The Google…
Monthly search volume has long been the reigning metric to determine SEO opportunities for page creation and optimization. But given that only 50% of searches result in a click, how do you determine what searches are best to target for your business? If your KPIs depend on searchers clicking through (and ultimately, converting), monthly search…
We all know the keywords we want to rank for, but that doesn’t mean Google actually wants to rank your content for those queries. Google’s algorithm may have already decided the intent of a query directly conflicts with the page you would like to rank. By understanding SERP intent, you can help serve up a…
The complexities of SEO are exacerbated by the limited visibility we have into Google’s algorithm. Google claims more than 200 signals make up the main web search algorithms. When Google told us content, links, and RankBrain are the biggest contributor, it didn’t exactly unravel any mysteries of how to improve rank.
We recently had a client launch a new site in Wordpress. It was appropriately in a staging area before launch. Instinctively upon hearing the news of the launch, we decided to look for a robots tag. Sure enough, every page was marked as “noindex, nofollow”. The client was able to make the change before Google crawled the new site. Above I said “instinctively” because, well, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a site launch set to block search engines. It’s probably not even the 50th. I worked on an eCommerce platform where many sites launched with this issue. Wordpress – as fine a platform as it is – makes it super easy to launch set to noindex. Since developers often build sites in staging areas, they’re wise to block bots from inadvertently discovering their playground. But, in the hustle to push live an update or new design, they can forget a tiny (yet crucial) check box. I’ve gathered up three different ways you can monitor your clients’ sites, or even your own, without the use of server logs or an education in server administration. There’s different kinds of website monitoring (e.g., active, passive), but I’m keeping it simple and applicable for anyone. I wanted to pick a few that were diverse, free or affordable
This article is an entire rewrite from its original 2012 version. When Google launched the new Search Console (thus killing the legacy 404 report), it rendered the old version of this post useless. The bad news – the new URL inspector doesn’t work the same as the legacy report. In the previous report, you could…
Note: This post reviews web-based keyword tools. It doesn’t cover desktop tools or plugins. Keyword research is extremely important when conceiving new content ideas or optimizing existing content for search engines. You likely have a favorite keyword research tool – be it Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs. These tools are great for finding high…
On January 22, 2020, Google announced via Twitter that featured snippets will now be counted as one of the main organic search results, meaning that the same URL can no longer hold both the featured snippet and another organic listing on page one of Google. Google holds that this change will make page one of…
Update as of January 24, 2020: After Google received negative feedback about favicons in organic search results, they have rolled back the favicon portion of this update. The other changes including updates to the Ad symbol and breadcrumb placement remain intact. On January 13, 2020, Google announced that a new site design would be rolling…
For The Sake Of Your Account…Stop Using Broad Match! If you are still using Broad Match keywords in your PPC account, STOP! Have you compared the performance of Broad Match keywords to the other match types in your account lately? This antiquated match type comes with high CPCs and irrelevant traffic – chances are you…
Every few years, Google announces a significant update to its organic search system. From the inclusion of semantic search in Hummingbird to the announcement of machine-learning (RankBrain). Google is trying to get better at two things: understanding the intent behind a query and understanding the language of webpages. The better Google gets at these two…
