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Google Search Console Notices For Removing Noindex Robots.txt https://ift.tt/2yjmKT9 Google is now sending out notices to those webmasters who have a noindex directive in their robots.txt file. Google Search Console is sending out notices that they should be removed because it is not something Google will support after September 1, 2019. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 July 29, 2019 at 06:37AM
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Best Tweets from #SEMrushchat: How to Diversify Your Content On a Limited Budget https://ift.tt/2GA8Dxc In last week‘s SEMrushchat, our guests Kelly Hungerford and Mack Collier, and the SEMrush community discussed ways to diversify content strategy affordably. Topics included identifying content to update / repurpose / reuse, strategies for creating content, ways to repurpose content, user-generated content, and tools for visual content. SEO via SEMrush https://ift.tt/1K8Zzbp July 29, 2019 at 03:36AM
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Google Answers: Safe to Redirect Affiliate Links? via @martinibuster https://ift.tt/2OlFbS2 In a Google Webmaster Hangout, Google’s John Mueller answered if redirecting affiliate links was a bad practice. He answered the question then offered what he felt was a better way to deal with affiliate links. Affiliate Links and AdvertisingAffiliate links are basically performance based advertising. A publisher is paid when a user clicks an affiliate link and buys a product.
Should You Redirect Affiliate Links?There are many reasons why people redirect links. One of the oldest SEO myths is that Google hates affiliate sites and will not rank a site if it hosts affiliate links. The response was to hide affiliate links by redirecting them through a folder that is blocked to Google. This practice is called cloaking links. Ranking issues is not a reason to redirect affiliate links. Another reason to redirect affiliate links is that it helps in managing those links. That’s a good reason to redirect links. Is 302 Redirecting Links a Bad Practice?There are many reasons to redirect an affiliate link. Here’s the question:
This is what John Mueller offered:
Is it Safe to Redirect Affiliate Links?Contrary to John Mueller’s personal opinion there are many good reasons to redirect an affiliate link. There are times when an affiliate link is long and full of many parameters. Using a redirect is one way to clean that up and make sure that it works. Redirects are also used to track clicks. Another reason to use a redirect is to hide your affiliate links from parasites. Affiliate parasites are malware hidden in browsers that can rewrite your affiliate link so that it links to the affiliate site with someone else’s affiliate code, creating a cookie that credits another site. This is a way to steal income from publishers. Yes, it is safe to redirect affiliate links. Affiliate marketing legend Rae Dolan wrote an article that lists seven reasons why to redirect affiliate links. Here are the seven reasons to cloak affiliate links:
Google Confirms it’s Okay to Redirect Affiliate LinksYes, according to Google, it is safe to redirect affiliate links. There are at least seven reasons why you should consider redirecting affiliate links. It may be useful to test if redirecting affiliate links results in more clicks and higher earnings. Most importantly, Google will not penalize a site for redirecting their affiliate links. Watch the Webmaster Hangout here. SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 29, 2019 at 02:27AM
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Google’s John Mueller Answers if Linking Out Good for SEO via @martinibuster https://ift.tt/30ZWM3s Google launched a new video series that answers a single question. The first episode was about links but in my opinion it did not adequately answer the question. The question is:
The SEO community has thought of outbound links as ranking signals since at least 2002. I hope to show you how and why outbound links for SEO was invented. Algorithms from before Google existed used outbound links to calculate something called a hub score. Because of that, the SEO community latched onto outbound links as a way to help a site rank better. That is the origin of the practice. In 2002, Brett Tabke (founder of PubCon) wrote the article that became the foundation for modern SEO. That article launched modern SEO. The article was titled, Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone I strongly urge you to read that article, it’s an amazing document that formed the basis of modern SEO. Here is what Brett Tabke advised about outbound links:
This is the background information behind the question, Does linking to other websites help or hurt SEO? We already know that some links will hurt your SEO. What we really want to know, and what John Mueller did not address, is if outbound links help SEO. He answered that outbound links helped users. But that answers if outbound links help users and that was not the question. Here is what John Mueller said:
That’s it. Mueller’s answer said nothing about whether it helps your SEO. He answered whether it helps users. Doing things that helps users makes the users enthusiastic for that page. Indirectly that can lead to links. But that’s not an answer to the question, do outbound links help a page rank better. Mueller did not answer that. If are interested in an answer that addresses the nuances that are missing from John Mueller’s video, read How Outbound Links May Affect Rankings Outbound Links to Watch Out ForGoogle’s John Mueller reiterated the well known advice to avoid linking out to advertisers and through untrusted comments. He also advised against reciprocal links. Here is what John Mueller advised:
There are three issues with outbound links that Mueller avoided answering: 1. In my opinion Mueller missed an opportunity to address a longstanding SEO myth about outbound links being a ranking factor. 2. It could be that a link on a page says something about that page. But John Mueller didn’t address that. 3. Some people state that you should link to a .edu or .gov web page that it will help that page rank. I believe that’s a myth but Mueller missed the chance to address it. This video reminds me of a popular television commercial for a burger chain, where a senior citizen opens the bun of a competitor’s hamburger to find a dime size patty and asks, “Where’s the beef?” Constructive CriticismThis article is written from the point of view of constructive criticism. I am a fan of Google and greatly admire the work John Mueller does to bring useful information. This video however misses the high bar that Google has set for itself. I sincerely hope Google does better in future editions. If you are interested in an answer with nuance, read How Outbound Links May Affect Rankings If you want to watch a video that tells you what’s good for site visitors but avoids answering if outbound links are good for SEO, watch Linking Out: Good for SEO? SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 29, 2019 at 02:01AM
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New Study Shows Which Keywords on YouTube Get the Most Video Views via @MattGSouthern https://ift.tt/2yhTagU A study of popular YouTube videos in 2019 reveals which keywords are associated with the most views. Pew Research Center published an analysis of every video on YouTube created by high-subscriber channels in the first week of 2019. For the purpose of this study, a high-subscriber channel is defined as one with at least 250,000 subscribers. There are at least 43,770 channels with that many subscribers. Analysis of the study is broken down into three parts, but I will only be going over the third part as it’s the one most closely related to SEO. The third part of the report focuses on keywords in video titles and descriptions that were associated with more views. YouTube Keywords With the Most ViewsPew Research Center narrowed down a list of 20 keywords in YouTube video titles that are associated with the largest increase in median views. Here are the top 20 keywords in order:
In particular, the keyword “Fortnite” was associated with the largest increase in views out of all of the words examined in the study. It was also the most common of the top 20 most-viewed words. In examining keywords used in YouTube video titles and descriptions, the study discovered another common practice amongst high-subscriber channels. Seven-in-ten videos cross-linked to other social media platforms. The most commonly referenced social platforms were Twitter (58% of all videos), Facebook (51%), Instagram (50%), and Snapchat (9%). Based on that data, the study concludes that mentioning other social media platforms is associated with higher view counts overall. For more data, see the full study here. SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 28, 2019 at 10:45PM
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Pinterest Marketers Can Now Create Ad Campaigns on a Mobile Device via @MattGSouthern https://ift.tt/2K1jp1P Pinterest is making it possible for advertisers to create and edit campaigns with new tools optimized for mobile. The new Mobile Ad Tools build off of the self-serve tools rolled out by Pinterest last year. Mobile ad tools offer simplified ad creation with consolidated targeting options, which makes it easier to set up promoted pins. Other features include:
In an announcement, the company states:
Pinterest marketers can get started advertising on mobile by following the steps below:
That’s it. Any business can promote any of their pins from a mobile device in a few simple steps. SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 28, 2019 at 07:39PM
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Facebook is Letting More Advertisers Place Ads in Search Results via @MattGSouthern https://ift.tt/2Y7aTHj More advertisers can now place ads in Facebook’s search results, a placement that has been in testing since last year. Facebook’s search ads were first rolled out to a select number of businesses in the US in December. Now, it appears a greater number of advertisers are seeing ‘Facebook search’ show up as a placement option when setting up ad campaigns.
Here’s what is known so far about this relatively new ad placement option. What to Know About Facebook Search Ads‘Facebook search’ is an additional placement option when creating newsfeed campaigns. That means businesses cannot place ads in Facebook search results without also placing them in the news feed. Facebook search ads, like newsfeed ads, are clearly labeled with a “Sponsored” tag. They can appear either as a static image or in a carousel format. Unlike Google ads, there is no option to target specific keywords or phrases with Facebook search ads. When a business places an ad in Facebook search, it will show up for search terms related to the business’s offerings. So the best way to show up for various keywords is to make sure they appear somewhere on your business’s Facebook page. SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 28, 2019 at 04:40PM Google is Replacing Voice Search With Google Assistant on Android Devices via @MattGSouthern7/28/2019
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Google is Replacing Voice Search With Google Assistant on Android Devices via @MattGSouthern https://ift.tt/2LMtqlF Google is reportedly in the process of replacing voice search on Android devices with Google Assistant. According to a report from 9to5Google, the old voice search icon has been replaced with an Assistant icon in the Google app and search bar widget. In addition, the search bar widget now invites users to “Ask your Assistant”, when previously it had the message “Say “Hey Google”” When triggered, voice queries are performed by Assistant and results open in a slide-up panel. It appears this change hasn’t been rolled out to all Android users, though 9to5Google can confirm it has been rolled out to some. What does this change mean?Google shifting the focus from regular voice search to Assistant is an indication of where Google wants to guide the future of its services. This change could potentially impact a small percentage of organic search traffic to publishers, given the Assistant’s penchant for providing direct answers. When users are given the answers they need from Google Assistant, they don’t have to search and click through to publishers’ sites. Although it’s important to keep in mind that Assistant can’t provide a direct answer for every query. Again, this change only has the potential to impact whichever percentage of searches are conducted using voice search on Android. However, it’s impossible to know exactly how large or small that percentage is because Google doesn’t provide voice search data. SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 28, 2019 at 01:09PM
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Site Navigation: The Foundation for Navigating Your Website to Success via @stoneyd https://ift.tt/32Zu9FA One of the biggest breakdowns I see most often in website architecture is sites with poor navigation. On a pure usability level, navigation has one job: help visitors find the information they need. But in reality, there is a lot more going on under the hood that makes a site navigation succeed (or fail). Navigation plays a role in usability, findability, search indexing, internal link optimization, and content optimization. All told, navigation provides a framework for a site’s structure and contributes to both user- and search-friendliness. Get your navigation wrong, and you’ll find an otherwise stellar-looking website performing poorly on a number of key success metrics. Get it right, and you have the foundation for building a high-performance website on all levels. Building an Efficient Navigational StructureWhen it comes to navigation, what is “efficient” for one site may not be efficient for another. Each site is unique and will have unique navigational characteristics. Here are some things to consider:
How these questions get answered often starts with understanding the two types of navigation links. Links that are:
Every site has both. Sometimes they are grouped together into a single navigation bar and sometimes they are separated visually. While I have a preference (separate), both are essential because they serve two distinct purposes. Customer-Focused NavigationIf you care at all about sales and conversions, you need to prioritize your navigation on what your customers want. Unfortunately, most sites focus on the company navigation items and the customers get the short straw. This is exactly opposite of what your navigation should be. One of the first questions I ask when performing a website audit is if the visitor saw nothing more than the navigation portion of the website, would they know if the site will satisfy their need? If your products or services are hidden under a single link item labeled “shop” or “services”, then the answer is likely “no.” Take a look at the two navigations below. Which one tells you immediately what the company offers? Example 1: Example 2: Both companies are manufacturers, but only one makes that clear through their navigation. And the visitor doesn’t have to search, read content, or click to know it! You can make the argument that the visitor should already know if they typed in your URL or clicked the link from Google, but why assume? Why keep your visitors guessing when you can provide the information (and the links) for what they want without forcing them to hunt for it? But what about Contact Us and About Us Links? Those are important too, right? Yes, absolutely. But not as important. Visitors are only interested in looking at those (or other company-focused pages) once they get further into the buying process. Those pages assist with the sale, but you have to show them that you have what they want first. Company-Focused NavigationThe second navigational focus is to provide links that point visitors to information about your company. As I said above, these navigational elements are important but are secondary to the customer navigation items. As such, they should be segmented visually as well. This can be done my making these less prominent (or hidden behind a hamburger menu), but still easily accessible. You can see in the KTC example above that they have their company focused navigation above the customer. Now, that’s still too loud for my liking, but the segmentation still works. Here is another site that puts the customer nav first but offers the company nav in a less obtrusive way: All the important items are there and easily findable, but secondary to the products that visitors want. This allows visitors to easily find and click those pages when they want them, but they are out of the way until the visitor is ready for them. While your company-focused links might vary, here are some pretty much universal navigation links that should be visible:
There are some exceptions to these options above and those typically fall into the lines of the size of your business. Certain well-known brands don’t necessarily need About Us links and don’t necessarily want (or need) people to be able to contact them easily. When you pretty much have more business than you know what to do with, you can afford to move those links to your footer, or even remove them altogether. But when you’re looking for every new customer you can get, consider carefully before you do. Ecommerce Navigation IssuesThe challenges for ecommerce websites magnify the importance of establishing a clear and proper navigation for your website. Your navigation is not only for the purposes of helping your visitors get the content they need, but ensuring the search engines can better find and index pages so they can be found in search. While the top level navigation is important in ecommerce sites, other navigational options can be equally, if not more important overall. Related ProductsOne of the best opportunities to get additional products in front of your audience is by adding links to products related to the one a customer is viewing. These can be in the form of:
Any (or all) of these options offer a way for you to increase the average visitor order, while also throwing additional link equity toward other pages. Amazon does a great job of offering additional products. In my search for 12 Monkeys (the single greatest sci-fi show in existence!), Amazon offers additional products that customers viewed and bought: Add to Cart Functions, Not LinksThis is less of a problem today than it was just a few years ago, but there are still some solutions and systems that are using natural links to add products to carts or to checkout. This creates all sorts of problems with search engines following links and, essentially, adding products to a cart. This type of functionality shouldn’t be limited to just cart links. The same applies to links for writing product reviews, adding a product to a wishlist, printable links, product comparisons, add comments or reviews, or any other link that serves as a function rather than leading the visitor to another page of content you would want showing up in search results. In the image below from Best Buy, none of the three buttons/links indicated are able to be “clicked” by a search engine spider. Filters Verses PagesOne of the challenges with ecommerce sites is determining when to have links to pages and when a filter will suffice. Let’s say you have an apartment finder website and you want visitors to be able to navigate their way to results that fit their living criteria. Someone may want a furnished, three-bedroom, pet-friendly apartment with a pool, washer and dryer, gym, has utilities included, and comes with a covered parking space. Some of those options will work just fine as filters. Heck, maybe all of them can be filters. But when it comes to good SEO, you also know that some of those can make for great optimized landing pages. So which is which? I think it all comes down to keyword research. If a significant number of people are searching for 3 bedroom apartments in Denver, then it probably warrants a page with content and a listing of those apartments. My gut tells me not as many are searching for a pool, utilities or even a washer or dryer. If that’s the case, go with filters. But if there is any level of search volume that you want to capture, go with landing pages and use “filters” on the site to drive people to the pages with the content they need. Other Navigational NeedsBreadcrumbsBreadcrumbs are the average website’s equivalent of Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. It’s used by about 1% of searchers, but a vast majority don’t want it to go away. Aside from being a great navigational tool that can help both visitors and search engines easily navigate a website, they are most commonly used as a visual aid. Breadcrumbs provide the at-a-glance indication that lets your visitors see where they are on your site. And if necessary, they can quickly navigate a couple of steps back. Despite their lack of actual use, breadcrumbs are a powerful SEO tool. When your breadcrumbs align textually with your main navigation and URLs, Google (and those other search engines) will use that as an enhanced signal for understanding the topic of a page and what it should rank for. Plus, when Google displays the URL in search results, they are more likely to show the more reader-friendly version: Rather than a less-than-readable URL: Finally, breadcrumbs help search engines better understand your site hierarchy. It’s always best when this is just a reinforcement of how you already have your navigation laid out, but on the chance that the navigation can’t be hierarchically accurate, the breadcrumbs can fill in the blanks. Keywords in Link TextNavigation is one of the easiest places to get your keywords into links. After all, if you’re presenting a link to your Coat Racks page, you’re not going to put “That thing you hang your coats on” in your navigation. But your navigation isn’t the only way to help visitors navigate your site. Content-based links provide a great opportunity to easily allow visitors to move from one page to the next based on what they are reading and what interests them. When adding these content-based links, the need to use keywords still applies. Instead of, “Click here to learn more about preparing personal tax returns,” a better way to link would be, “Learn more about preparing personal tax returns.” If you really want to keep the call to action as part of the link (and there is no reason not to if you can make it work), you would write this: Click here to learn more about preparing personal tax returns. Not only does this create a clickable call to action using keywords, but this helps prevent over-optimization of your link text by always linking with only your keywords. Search engines are pretty good about sniffing that out. Related TopicsSimilar to linking to related products with your ecommerce site, almost any site can benefit by linking to related topics on their blog. At the end of your post, provide a few related links that visitors might want to click through to. HTML LinksUnless you’re deliberately trying to block content from search engines, you want to make sure your links are crawlable. Search engines have gotten pretty good about following all kinds of non-HTML links, but they are not perfect. So yeah, you can get away with using those kinds of links, but it’s never ideal and opens up the possibility that Google either won’t follow it or won’t weight the link properly. Another common way to link that isn’t so great is to use selection forms or force the visitor to enter a password to view the content. For the most part, any content hidden behind these walls will have a harder time getting indexed. Which may be the intent, but just make sure it is. There is no way to overemphasize the importance of your website’s navigation to your overall optimization efforts. If your navigation is broke, your SEO is broke. Of course, fixing your navigation won’t fix all of your optimization issues, but for most sites, this is the best place to start moving toward a search engine friendly website that, at the very least, has the potential to perform in search. Image Credits Featured Image: Paulo Bobita SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh July 28, 2019 at 09:21AM |
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