Google Moves Ved Parameter In Search Results https://ift.tt/2tEqGM1 Eagle eye Dave Davies spotted that Google has moved the ved parameter that has been in the source code of the Google search results since at least 2013 from the href link section of the code. It is unclear why Google moved it but Google does change things often, so I am not sure we can speculate why it was changed. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 February 27, 2019 at 07:23AM
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All the Free PR Secrets You Need to Know to Scale Your Business by @lisabuyer https://ift.tt/2IGeeFN Can PR make your brand famous? Just ask Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic, two entrepreneurs who hacked their way to getting publicity without spending a dime on a fancy public relations firm or advertising. The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Fortune, to name a few, all ran stories on their startups, thanks to being just plain real and authentic. Their just-released book “Free PR” walks through how to get the attention of journalists, bloggers, reporters and get in front of the masses without a mega-budget or a PR background. History of PRPublic relations dates back to the early 1900s when publicity boards were formed to influence public opinion and eventually journalists. Press releases were used to communicate to journalists in crisis situations which helped repair reputations and resulted in positive press in the mid-1900s. As radio and TV evolved as media outlets, PR became a more critical communication part of a company. Journalists were the gatekeepers of what made the headline news and who was used as a source. Why PR?Public relations is considered a third-party endorsement versus an ad or sponsored content, which is obviously paid. Unlike ads, which stop when the paid campaign ends, public relations keeps on giving. This can be in the form of referring traffic, inbound authority links, branding, and more. It’s been shown that media breeds media. When your brand gets mentioned once in the media, more media tend to flock and it can be a domino effect. In an era when consumer trust is at a low, positive public relations results build credibility and credibility builds trust. Salesforce reports that 95 percent of customers are more likely to be loyal to a company they trust while 92 percent are more likely to purchase additional products and services from trusted businesses. Old School Meets New School OpportunitiesToday’s news cycles are 24/7. Journalists, media outlets, search engines, and social media channels are hungry for good content. We’ve come a long way from two to three TV networks and a few radio and print outlets in each market. The number of media outlets is massive and growing while the number of journalists and staffing is decreasing due to budget cuts. In the last decade, newsrooms have shed over 20,000 jobs, representing a 39 percent decline. For example, BuzzFeed publishes more than 200 stories and videos a day while The Washington Post outputs more than 500 videos and posts a day. There are more than 600,000 podcasts and 505 million blogs. More than 7,000 magazines in the US and 1400 plus newspapers. More than 1,700 TV stations exist in the US. Journalists are expected to do more for less. This includes finding artwork and multimedia. This leaves a huge opportunity for potential media coverage with the right PR savviness and tactics. So whether you are a digital marketer, startup, solopreneur, nonprofit, or any size organization – check out these PR tips to scale your public relations results on any budget. The Right Audience & AnglesYou must know your audience and angle before you can skip to pitching your story to the media. If you have your audience personas in place you should know what publications they are mostly reading. Once you know the publications then you can research who covers the types of story that fit your brand’s story. Discover what your prospect is interested in, then provide it. It’s business 101. “If you can’t tell the journalist why their audience will care then you are not ready to pitch,” Herold and Salamunovic said. A story angle is the spin you put on your product or service that makes it interesting or compelling. Bad Pitch: “I want you to write a story about an app I’m launching next week.” Good Pitch: “We are launching a new app for entrepreneurs that saves an hour a day in productivity, increases happiness in the workplace, and decreases stress.” The best story angles come from knowing your unique value proposition, or what makes your brand unique or innovative to your industry. This will help frame your story idea into categories, which could include:
Perfect Pitches & Press Releases for Free PRThere is an old saying, “the press release is dead, long live the press release.” Contrary to popular belief, the press release is not dead, it’s actually very much alive and well. A press release answers the critical questions about your brand’s news: the who, what, when, where, and why. Since the revolution of the digital age, many have come to believe that the only message that matters is the one that you put out online. Yet, they still want coverage in Forbes, The New York Times, NBC, and local media. If those are the goals that align with your business needs, then a well-written, attention-grabbing press release is your golden ticket to getting found in search and social. PitchingPitching a story to the media does not require a PR degree, but it does help to be a good writer, researcher, and connector You need to be able to sell what the journalists and media are buying in a way that’s helpful, relevant, and timely.
#SocialPRSecret to Pitching PeevesI caught up with Destiny Lane, a freelance writer for publications including Elite Daily, Thought Catalog, PaleoHacks, Jopwell, and Glassdoor.
Anatomy of a Press ReleaseThe press release is not a marketing document and should not be written like one. If you write like a journalist you will get noticed by a journalist. Get the who, what, where, when and how covered and keep it to 400 words with more details on your website. Below are key parts of a press release from start to finish.
VisualsJournalists said they “always” or “often” use multimedia elements 70.5 percent of the time. In addition, studies show that press release distributed with images and video gain more visibility in search and referring traffic.
OptimizationOptimizing your press release doesn’t mean making it all spammy with an overdose of keywords. If you are doing versions on social media make sure you have relevant tags including:
Distribution
Ready for It?Ready to start or relaunch your brand’s journey to getting free publicity, good links and build credibility? Grab your shades and watch the fame grow, just remember this process is one built with momentum. There is no such thing as the “pause campaign” button. Public relations is an “always on” process. More Resources: Image Credits Featured Image: Unsplash Subscribe to SEJGet our daily newsletter from SEJ's Founder Loren Baker about the latest news in the industry! SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh February 27, 2019 at 07:20AM Google SEO: American English vs British English vs Australian English https://ift.tt/2U9aIoF Jeffrey Cammack asked Google's John Mueller if it matters if someone uses American English versus Australian English. John Mueller said "it doesn't play any role for SEO" and added it might impact users "but not directly for SEO." SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 February 27, 2019 at 07:11AM Google Ads To Sunset Average Position Metric In September https://ift.tt/2Ez3QvJ Google announced that they are going to be sunsetting one of the oldest AdWords (Google Ads) metrics - average position. They are sunsetting it in September 2019 and it has been replaced by four new metrics they launched last November named Impression (Absolute Top) % and Impression (Top) % and Search (Abs Top) IS and Search (Top) IS. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 February 27, 2019 at 07:02AM Google Launches Domain Property In Search Console; Replacing Property Sets https://ift.tt/2Sv3iL4 Google has officially launched Domain Property in Google Search Console the day after they announced the closure of the Property Set feature. Overall, the concept behind Domain Property is similar to Property Set, it lets you combine multiple properties in Search Console into one, to see an aggregate view of the data. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 February 27, 2019 at 06:39AM
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Announcing domain-wide data in Search Console https://ift.tt/2BWWyjx Google recommends verifying all versions of a website -- http, https, www, and non-www -- in order to get the most comprehensive view of your site in Google Search Console. Unfortunately, many separate listings can make it hard for webmasters to understand the full picture of how Google “sees” their domain as a whole. To make this easier, today we're announcing "domain properties" in Search Console, a way of verifying and seeing the data from Google Search for a whole domain. Domain properties show data for all URLs under the domain name, including all protocols, subdomains, and paths. They give you a complete view of your website across Search Console, reducing the need to manually combine data. So regardless of whether you use m-dot URLs for mobile pages, or are (finally) getting the migration to HTTPS set up, Search Console will be able to help with a complete view of your site's data with regards to how Google Search sees it. If you already have DNS verification set up, Search Console will automatically create new domain properties for you over the next few weeks, with data over all reports. Otherwise, to add a new domain property, go to the property selector, add a new domain property, and use DNS verification.We recommend using domain properties where possible going forward. Domain properties were built based on your feedback; thank you again for everything you've sent our way over the years! We hope this makes it easier to manage your site, and to get a complete overview without having to manually combine data. Should you have any questions, feel free to drop by our help forums, or leave us a comment on Twitter. And as always, you can also use the feedback feature built in to Search Console as well. Posted by Erez Bixon, Search Console Team SEO via Google Webmaster Central Blog https://ift.tt/1Ul0du6 February 27, 2019 at 06:17AM 14 SEO Predictions for 2019 & Beyond, as Told by Mozzers https://ift.tt/2SZhSiO Posted by TheMozTeam With the new year in full swing and an already busy first quarter, our 2019 predictions for SEO in the new year are hopping onto the scene a little late — but fashionably so, we hope. From an explosion of SERP features to increased monetization to the key drivers of search this year, our SEO experts have consulted their crystal balls (read: access to mountains of data and in-depth analyses) and made their predictions. Read on for an exhaustive list of fourteen things to watch out for in search from our very own Dr. Pete, Britney Muller, Rob Bucci, Russ Jones, and Miriam Ellis! 1. Answers will drive searchPeople Also Ask boxes exploded in 2018, and featured snippets have expanded into both multifaceted and multi-snippet versions. Google wants to answer questions, it wants to answer them across as many devices as possible, and it will reward sites with succinct, well-structured answers. Focus on answers that naturally leave visitors wanting more and establish your brand and credibility. [Dr. Peter J. Meyers] Further reading:
2. Voice search will continue to be utterly useless for optimizationOptimizing for voice search will still be no more than optimizing for featured snippets, and conversions from voice will remain a dark box. [Russ Jones] Further reading:
3. Mobile is table stakesThis is barely a prediction. If your 2019 plan is to finally figure out mobile, you're already too late. Almost all Google features are designed with mobile-first in mind, and the mobile-first index has expanded rapidly in the past few months. Get your mobile house (not to be confused with your mobile home) in order as soon as you can. [Dr. Peter J. Meyers] Further reading:
4. Further SERP feature intrusions in organic searchExpect Google to find more and more ways to replace organic with solutions that keep users on Google’s property. This includes interactive SERP features that replace, slowly but surely, many website offerings in the same way that live scores, weather, and flights have. [Russ Jones] Further reading:
5. Video will dominate nichesFeatured Videos, Video Carousels, and Suggested Clips (where Google targets specific content in a video) are taking over the how-to spaces. As Google tests search appliances with screens, including Home Hub, expect video to dominate instructional and DIY niches. [Dr. Peter J. Meyers] Further reading:
6. SERPs will become more interactiveWe’ve seen the start of interactive SERPs with People Also Ask Boxes. Depending on which question you expand, two to three new questions will generate below that directly pertain to your expanded question. This real-time engagement keeps people on the SERP longer and helps Google better understand what a user is seeking. [Britney Muller] Further reading:7. Local SEO: Google will continue getting up in your business — literallyGoogle will continue asking more and more intimate questions about your business to your customers. Does this business have gender-neutral bathrooms? Is this business accessible? What is the atmosphere like? How clean is it? What kind of lighting do they have? And so on. If Google can acquire accurate, real-world information about your business (your percentage of repeat customers via geocaching, price via transaction history, etc.) they can rely less heavily on website signals and provide more accurate results to searchers. [Britney Muller] Further reading:
8. Business proximity-to-searcher will remain a top local ranking factorIn Moz’s recent State of Local SEO report, the majority of respondents agreed that Google’s focus on the proximity of a searcher to local businesses frequently emphasizes distance over quality in the local SERPs. I predict that we’ll continue to see this heavily weighting the results in 2019. On the one hand, hyper-localized results can be positive, as they allow a diversity of businesses to shine for a given search. On the other hand, with the exception of urgent situations, most people would prefer to see best options rather than just closest ones. [Miriam Ellis] Further reading:
9. Local SEO: Google is going to increase monetizationLook to see more of the local and maps space monetized uniquely by Google both through Adwords and potentially new lead-gen models. This space will become more and more competitive. [Russ Jones] Further reading:
10. Monetization tests for voiceGoogle and Amazon have been moving towards voice-supported displays in hopes of better monetizing voice. It will be interesting to see their efforts to get displays in homes and how they integrate the display advertising. Bold prediction: Amazon will provide sleep-mode display ads similar to how Kindle currently displays them today. [Britney Muller] 11. Marketers will place a greater focus on the SERPsI expect we’ll see a greater focus on the analysis of SERPs as Google does more to give people answers without them having to leave the search results. We’re seeing more and more vertical search engines like Google Jobs, Google Flights, Google Hotels, Google Shopping. We’re also seeing more in-depth content make it onto the SERP than ever in the form of featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and more. With these new developments, marketers are increasingly going to want to report on their general brand visibility within the SERPs, not just their website ranking. It’s going to be more important than ever for people to be measuring all the elements within a SERP, not just their own ranking. [Rob Bucci] Further reading:
12. Targeting topics will be more productive than targeting queries2019 is going to be another year in which we see the emphasis on individual search queries start to decline, as people focus more on clusters of queries around topics. People Also Ask queries have made the importance of topics much more obvious to the SEO industry. With PAAs, Google is clearly illustrating that they think about searcher experience in terms of a searcher’s satisfaction across an entire topic, not just a specific search query. With this in mind, we can expect SEOs to more and more want to see their search queries clustered into topics so they can measure their visibility and the competitive landscape across these clusters. [Rob Bucci] Further reading:
13. Linked unstructured citations will receive increasing focusI recently conducted a small study in which there was a 75% correlation between organic and local pack rank. Linked unstructured citations (the mention of partial or complete business information + a link on any type of relevant website) are a means of improving organic rankings which underpin local rankings. They can also serve as a non-Google dependent means of driving traffic and leads. Anything you’re not having to pay Google for will become increasingly precious. Structured citations on key local business listing platforms will remain table stakes, but competitive local businesses will need to focus on unstructured data to move the needle. [Miriam Ellis] Further reading:
14. Reviews will remain a competitive difference-makerA Google rep recently stated that about one-third of local searches are made with the intent of reading reviews. This is huge. Local businesses that acquire and maintain a good and interactive reputation on the web will have a critical advantage over brands that ignore reviews as fundamental to customer service. Competitive local businesses will earn, monitor, respond to, and analyze the sentiment of their review corpus. [Miriam Ellis] Further reading:
We’ve heard from Mozzers, and now we want to hear from you. What have you seen so far in 2019 that’s got your SEO Spidey senses tingling? What trends are you capitalizing on and planning for? Let us know in the comments below (and brag to friends and colleagues when your prediction comes true in the next 6–10 months). ;-) Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! SEO via SEOmoz Blog https://moz.com/blog February 27, 2019 at 02:13AM
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Google News Digest: New Features in Google Ads, Google Docs API, .dev Domain and More https://ift.tt/2tCJoUn In this digest, we have outlined all the important updates from February, from Google’s latest move to fight disinformation to its rollout of new features in display campaigns to the launch of Google docs API and .dev domains. Don’t forget to tune in to our Marketing Scoop podcast with guests JD Prater and Joe Martinez discuss the latest Google updates and developments in more detail. SEO via SEMrush https://ift.tt/1K8Zzbp February 27, 2019 at 02:05AM Instagram Video Posts Receive Twice the Engagement of Other Post Types [STUDY] by @MattGSouthern2/26/2019
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Instagram Video Posts Receive Twice the Engagement of Other Post Types [STUDY] by @MattGSouthern https://ift.tt/2T0eW5E A study on Instagram engagement discovered that video posts receive 2x engagement of other post types. The study also reveals how many followers most Instagram users have, and how many likes the average posts receive. Data was compiled by HubSpot after analyzing 48,065,694 Instagram More than 80% of businesses consider engagement the most important metric, which makes this study particularly relevant to marketers. Here are some key highlights from the study. Engagement on InstagramLikes and CommentsThe average Instagram post receives 5,963 likes, which is admittedly skewed by the number of likes received by highly influential users. The median number of likes is closer to 100, which suggests 50% of users receive less than 100 likes for the average post. Video posts received on average The average Instagram post receives 100.34 comments. Video posts, in particular, receive an average of 150 comments, although that’s skewed by the average number of comments on viral videos. The median number of comments per video is 4, which means more than 50% of total users receive less than 4 comments per video post. HashtagsThe average Instagram post contains at least 1 hashtag. Using more hashtags actually decreases the average engagement rate. It’s likely better to use fewer hashtags (no more than 5) than to use too many. Ultimately, when it comes to hashtags, it’s not about quantity. It’s about relevance. FollowersAccording to HubSpot’s data, 46.6% of Instagram users have fewer than 1,000 followers. Around 33.5% of users have between 1,000-10,000 followers. Only 9.8% have 10,000-50,000, and 2.7% have 50,000-100,000 followers. For more data on Instagram engagement, download the full PDF here. Subscribe to SEJGet our daily newsletter from SEJ's Founder Loren Baker about the latest news in the industry! SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh February 26, 2019 at 08:09PM |
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