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Short-Form vs. Long-Form Content (Which One Do I Use and When?) https://ift.tt/2RScefB Is there an optimal length that your content should be? Should you be setting minimum wordcounts for your content? In this guide, we tackle the topic of short-form vs long-form content, sharing insights into how long your content should be and how a successful strategy should balance different formats to drive success. SEO via SEMrush https://ift.tt/1K8Zzbp September 24, 2020 at 07:09AM
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Bing AI Autosuggest, People Also Ask, Intelligent Answers & More AI Improvements https://ift.tt/304L89u The folks at Bing posted a blog post showcasing some of the "next waves" of improvements around their deep learning and artificial intelligence techniques that help improve Bing Search. Bing highlighted improvements to autosuggest, people also ask, intelligent answers and captions. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 September 24, 2020 at 07:06AM
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Wayback Machine Does Not Impact Your Google Rankings https://ift.tt/3cra7Zz Here is a new question I've never seen before - does being removed or I guess added to the Wayback Machine impact your Google search rankings? John Mueller from Google said no on Twitter. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 September 24, 2020 at 06:45AM
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Google Tests Open Results In New Tab Toggle https://ift.tt/3iYDFQR Earlier this week we spotted Bing testing a toggle switch to open links in new tab and now we are seeing Google test a toggle switch to open results in a new tab. Coincidence? SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 September 24, 2020 at 06:31AM
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SEO Mythbusting On SEO Community vs Google With Martin & Barry (That's Me) https://ift.tt/3hYfH6M So I did an SEO Mythbusting video with Martin Splitt of Google way back last November. I posted the vlog I did with him minutes prior to recording this SEO mythbusting segment. They went well together. SEO via Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/1sYxUD0 September 24, 2020 at 06:13AM
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Featured Snippet Answer Scores Ranking Signals https://ift.tt/3kMzfg6 Calculating Featured Snippet Answer ScoresAn update this week to a patent tells us how Google may score featured snippet answers. When a search engine ranks search results in response to a query, it may use a combination of query dependant and query independent ranking signals to determine those rankings. A query dependant signal may depend on a term in a query, and how relevant a search result may be for that query term. A query independent signal would depend on something other than the terms in a query, such as the quality and quantity of links pointing to a result. Answers to questions in queries may be ranked based on a combination of query dependant and query independent signals, which could determine a featured snippet answer score. An updated patent about textual answer passages tells us about how those may be combined to generate featured snippet answer scores to choose from answers to questions that appear in queries. A year and a half ago, I wrote about answers to featured snippets in the post Does Google Use Schema to Write Answer Passages for Featured Snippets?. The patent that post was about was Candidate answer passages, which was originally filed on August 12, 2015, and was granted as a continuation patent on January 15, 2019. That patent was a continuation patent to an original one about answer passages that updated it by telling us that Google would look for textual answers to questions that had structured data near them that included related facts. This could have been something like a data table or possibly even schema markup. This meant that Google could provide a text-based answer to a question and include many related facts for that answer. Another continuation version of the first version of the patent was just granted this week. It provides more information and a different approach to ranking answers for featured snippets and it is worth comparing the claims in these two versions of the patent to see how those are different from Google. The new version of the featured snippet answer scores patent is at: Scoring candidate answer passages Abstract
Candidate Answer Passages Claims UpdatedThere are changes to the patent that require more analysis of potential answers, based on both query dependant and query independent scores for potential answers to questions. The patent description does provide details about query dependant and query independent scores. The first claim from the first patent covers query dependant scores for answers, but not query independent scores as the newest version does. It provides more details about both query dependant scores and query independent scores in the rest of the claims, but the newer version seems to make both query dependant and query independent scores more important. The first claim from the 2015 version of the Scoring Answer Passages patent tells us:
The remainder of the claims tell us about both query dependant and query independent scores for answers, but the claims from the newer version of the patent appear to place as much importance on the query dependant and the query independent scores for answers. That convinced me that I should revisit this patent in a post and describe how Google may calculate answer scores based on query dependant and query independent scores. The first claims in the new patent tell us:
As it says in this new claim, the answer score has gone from being “a measure of answer quality for the answer response for the candidate answer passage based on the query dependent score” (from the first patent) to “a measure of answer quality for the answer response for the candidate answer passage based on the query dependent score and the query independent score” (from this newer version of the patent.) This drawing is from both versions of the patent, but it shows the query dependant and query independent scores both playing an important role in calculating featured snippet answer scores: Query Dependant and Query Independent Scores for Featured Snippet Answer ScoresBoth versions of the patent tell us about how a query dependant score and a query independent score for an answer might be calculated. The first version of the patent only told us in its claims that an answer score used the query dependant score, and this newer version tells us that both the query dependant and the query independent scores are combined to calculate an answer score (to decide which answer is the best choice of an answer for a query.) Before the patent discusses how Query Dependant and Query Independent signals might be used to create an answer score, it does tell us this about the answer score:
Query Dependant Scoring for Featured Snippet Answer ScoresQuery Dependent Scoring of answer passages is based on answer term features. An answer term match score is a measure of similarity of answer terms to terms in a candidate answer passage. The answer-seeking queries do not describe what a searcher is looking for since the answer is unknown to the searcher at the time of a search. The query dependent scorer begins by finding a set of likely answer terms and compares the set of likely answer terms to a candidate answer passage to generate an answer term match score. The set of likely answer terms is likely taken from the top N ranked results returned for a query. The process creates a list of terms from terms that are included in the top-ranked subset of results for a query. The patent tells us that each result is parsed and each term is included in a term vector. Stop words may be omitted from the term vector. For each term in the list of terms, a term weight may be generated for the term. The term weight for each term may be based on many results in the top-ranked subset of results in which the term occurs multiplied by an inverse document frequency (IDF) value for the term. The IDF value may be derived from a large corpus of documents and provided to the query dependent scorer. Or the IDF may be derived from the top N documents in the returned results. The patent tells us that other appropriate term weighting techniques can also be used. The scoring process for each term of the candidate answer passage determines several times the term occurs in the candidate answer passage. So, if the term “apogee” occurs two times in a candidate answer passage, the term value for “apogee” for that candidate answer passage is 2. However, if the same term occurs three times in a different candidate answer passage, then the term value for “apogee” for the different candidate answer passage is 3. The scoring process, for each term of the candidate answer passage, multiplies its term weight by the number of times the term occurs in the answer passage. So, assume the term weight for “apogee” is 0.04. For the first candidate answer passage, the value based on “apogee” is 0.08 (0.08.times.2); for the second candidate answer passage, the value based on “apogee” is 0.12 (0.04.times.3). Other answer term features can also be used to determine an answer term score. For example, the query dependent scorer may determine an entity type for an answer response to the question query. The entity type may be determined by identifying terms that identify entities, such as persons, places, or things, and selecting the terms with the highest term scores. The entity time may also be identified from the query (e.g., for the query [who is the fastest man]), the entity type for an answer is “man.” For each candidate answer passage, the query dependent scorer then identifies entities described in the candidate answer passage. If the entities do not include a match to the identified entity type, the answer term match score for the candidate answer passage is reduced. Assume the following candidate passage answer is provided for scoring in response to the query [who is the fastest man]: Olympic sprinters have often set world records for sprinting events during the Olympics. The most popular sprinting event is the 100-meter dash. The query dependent scorer will identify several entities–Olympics, sprinters, etc.–but none of them are of the type “man.” The term “sprinter” is gender-neutral. Accordingly, the answer term score will be reduced. The score may be a binary score, e.g., 1 for the presence of the term of the entity type, and 0 for an absence of the term of the correct type; alternatively may be a likelihood that is a measure of the likelihood that the correct term is in the candidate answer passage. An appropriate scoring technique can be used to generate the score. Query Independant Scoring for Featured Snippet Answer ScoresScoring answer passages according to query independent features. Candidate answer passages may be generated from the top N ranked resources identified for a search in response to a query. N may be the same number as the number of search results returned on the first page of search results. The scoring process can use a passage unit position score. This passage unit position could be the location of a result that a candidate answer passage comes from. The higher the location results in a higher score. The scoring process may use a language model score. The language model score generates a score based on candidate answer passages conforming to a language model. One type of language model is based on sentence and grammar structures. This could mean that candidate answer passages with partial sentences may have lower scores than candidate answer passages with complete sentences. The patent also tells us that if structured content is included in the candidate answer passage, the structured content is not subject to language model scoring. For instance, a row from a table may have a very low language model score but may be very informative. Another language model that may be used considers whether text from a candidate answer passage appears similar to answer text in general. A query independent scorer accesses a language model of historical answer passages, where the historical answer passages are answer passages that have been served for all queries. Answer passages that have been served generally have a similar n-gram structure, since answer passages tend to include explanatory and declarative statements. A query independent score could use a tri-gram model to compares trigrams of the candidate answer passage to the tri-grams of the historical answer passages. A higher-quality candidate answer passage will typically have more tri-gram matches to the historical answer passages than a lower quality candidate answer passage. Another step involves a section boundary score. A candidate answer passage could be penalized if it includes text that passes formatting boundaries, such as paragraphs and section breaks, for example. The scoring process determines an interrogative score. The query independent scorer searches the candidate answer passage for interrogative terms. A potential answer passage that includes a question or question term, e.g., “How far is away is the moon from the Earth?” is generally not as helpful to a searcher looking for an answer as a candidate answer passage that only includes declarative statements, e.g., “The moon is approximately 238,900 miles from the Earth.” The scoring process also determines discourse boundary term position scores. A discourse boundary term is one that introduces a statement or idea contrary to or modification of a statement or idea that has just been made. For example, “conversely,” “however,” “on the other hand,” and so on. A candidate answer passage beginning with such a term receives a relatively low discourse boundary term position score, which lowers the answer score. A candidate answer passage that includes but does not begin with such a term receives a higher discourse boundary term position score than it would if it began with the term. A candidate answer passage that does not include such a term receives a high discourse boundary term position score. The scoring process determines result scores for results from which the candidate answer passage was created. These could include a ranking score, a reputation score, and site quality score. The higher these scores are, the higher the answer score will be. A ranking score is based on the ranking score of the result from which the candidate answer passage was created. It can be the search score of the result for the query and will be applied to all candidate answer passages from that result. A reputation score of the result indicates the trustworthiness and/or likelihood that that subject matter of the resource serves the query well. A site quality score indicates a measure of the quality of a web site that hosts the result from which the candidate answer passage was created. Component query independent scores described above may be combined in several ways to determine the query independent score. They could be summed; multiplied together; or combined in other ways. Copyright © 2020 SEO by the Sea ⚓. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at may be guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact SEO by the Sea, so we can take appropriate action immediately. Plugin by Taragana The post Featured Snippet Answer Scores Ranking Signals appeared first on SEO by the Sea ⚓. SEO via SEO by the Sea ⚓ https://ift.tt/3e9HJLi September 24, 2020 at 05:49AM
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Google On Link Algorithms and How Long for Links to Work via @martinibuster https://ift.tt/33VSNI9 Google's John Mueller discusses how often link algorithms update and how long it takes for a link to take effect. The post Google On Link Algorithms and How Long for Links to Work via @martinibuster appeared first on Search Engine Journal. SEO via Search Engine Journal https://ift.tt/1QNKwvh September 24, 2020 at 04:42AM
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How to adapt your SEO strategy to navigate through the pandemic https://ift.tt/3mPZ9Sj 30-second summary:
Right after the initial shock of the pandemic, many businesses are reassessing their strategies to remain successful. Organic search can help you set up a successful SEO strategy to support your business’s recovery. Conductor has written a post-pandemic SEO strategy playbook with practical tips to explore business opportunities through organic search. Content created in partnership with Conductor. The power of SEO during COVID-19As we are all spending more time at home, Google searches are increasing. There is an estimate of 20 billion searches every day. This is a great opportunity for businesses to capitalize search traffic to increase sales. What’s more, SEO is a low-cost and very effective method to increase your brand awareness before you increase your ad spend. What’s important though is to understand how COVID-19 has affected SEO and how to adjust your strategy. Defining your remote communication styleWhen you’re starting with your adapted SEO strategy, it’s important to acknowledge the changes in your working environment. All remote teams need to evaluate their communication needs to improve their efficiency in the ‘new normal’. Start with internal communications and the tools that will get your team more productive. Foster an environment of transparency and accountability and document the team’s workflows. Improved visibility can help you prioritize the crucial tasks that you need to focus on. Moreover, the more transparent you are, the easier it becomes to collaborate with different departments towards shared objectives. Conductor recommends the use of surveys to gather feedback about your website, your marketing campaign or even for content ideas. It’s a great way to plan for short and long-term projects while getting perspective from various teams. All the findings can help you set up your communication style, how you’re interacting as a team and how you can be more productive. Create meaningful reportingYou don’t want more unfortunate surprises during turbulent times. Meaningful reporting can connect content, SEO, marketing, and web activities to give everyone the visibility to plan for future projects. It’s not enough to create reports that nobody is interested in reading. It’s time to build digestible reports that your stakeholders would appreciate. There are many things that you can measure to support your SEO strategy. You can also work alongside different teams to discover interesting insights that can lead to multiple wins. For example, working with the sales team can help you spot opportunities to appeal to potential customers. Search insights can help you create the right content while providing valuable data to your salespeople. Keep in mind, your executives should include what your stakeholders want to see. It’s important to align your tactics with the key factors that will affect your business success, such as traffic, revenue, retention, etc. Looking for creative reporting? The Conductor team is recommending the use of a five-minute video that can replace a time-consuming report. Use it to describe your team’s performance and what you’re planning to do next. Train your team to be self-sufficientThe best way to maintain your productivity in a remote environment is to train your team to be self-efficient. If there are many similar questions from your team, how about creating a report answering these questions? The idea is to reduce unnecessary meetings to empower your team to work on their own. Start by communicating your SEO strategy and what everyone will work on. Encourage your team to share their ideas and work on an action plan that will get the most of every team member. Identify high priority changesThis is the best time to focus on what matters. Work with your team and your key stakeholders to define your priorities and how to spend more time on them. It’s important to communicate all the changes with your customers to keep them up-to-date with what’s happening. Start by answering the question:
The answer can help you work on your internal and external communication to give everyone more clarity on what’s coming up. One of the first changes should be to look at your website and your content to make it more relevant. Explain how COVID-19 is affecting your businesses and how you’re still supporting your clients. Look at your current SEO strategy and adjust the keywords and content plan, if needed. Review your online profiles and business listing to keep all relevant details up-to-date. For example, ecommerce companies should update all the information around delivery details, product availability and potential offers. If you are changing your working hours or your business focus, make sure you communicate the changes with your customers. There’s no over-communication during a crisis. Looking at the bigger pictureIt’s not just about surviving the current situation. Your business should also look at the bigger picture of what’s coming up next. It’s the best opportunity now for planning, reflection, and collaboration. If you’re using Conductor, look at your workflows to understand the impact of the crisis in your visibility. Adjust your plans accordingly, if needed. Stay on top of change with regular monitoring and use your SEO strategy to maintain long-term success for your business. Ready to explore practical tips to improve your SEO strategy post-pandemic? Download Conductor’s SEO strategy playbook for additional ideas and templates. The post How to adapt your SEO strategy to navigate through the pandemic appeared first on ClickZ. SEO via ClickZ https://www.clickz.com September 24, 2020 at 04:05AM
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Best Practice: Four ways to leverage lifecycle marketing https://ift.tt/3mPsADJ 30-second summary:
September 17 saw ClickZ host a webinar by David Greenberg, SVP of marketing at Act-On. The presentation really dug into lifecycle marketing best practice. Greenberg also highlighted how the lifecycle approach differs from the more traditional funnel approaches to thinking about customer journeys, and shows how the old ways are simply not enough when looking at marketing strategies in today’s omnichannel world. Here are our takeaways: The differences between funnel and lifecycle marketingGreenberg points out that the best way to begin to understand how lifecycle marketing is different from, and improves upon, funnel marketing is to go back to what we know about the traditional customer journey. Funnel marketing is primarily concerned with customer acquisition through sparking awareness, generating intent, and concluding in a sale/conversion. Greenberg highlights that in this context segmentation will be geared towards understanding buyer behavior, martech will mostly be deployed to help with lead nurturing, and the practice will largely be the domain of sales and marketing teams. Lifecycle doesn’t ignore this vital part of the funnel. But it looks at what happens after purchase too. There are other steps, here, that the user is or could be taking. And there is tremendous opportunity for engagement across:
‘This latter half needs to run like an engine,’ Greenberg says. ‘Marketers need to think about the funnel holistically.’ Why funnel marketing isn’t enough anymoreAs we start to understand how the lifecycle marketing journey differs from the funnel, it becomes quite easy to see why the latter falls short today. According to Podium, 93% of consumers say online reviews impact purchasing decisions. As a post-purchase opportunity, or touchpoint, advocacy is undoubtedly growing in value while traditional ways of reaching people (i.e. ads) are becoming less effective and more expensive. Greenberg also points to a plethora of new expectations among buyers and businesses. Things like personalization, authenticity, and meaningful connections are increasingly expected by consumers. While business owners are expecting marketers to do more with less, as well as trying to get more value from their customers. Four lifecycle marketing best practicesSo how do we start to plan and strategize lifecycle marketing? Greenberg offers the following four best practice steps: 1) Track digital behaviorsAwareness to purchase is relatively well covered, but what about post-purchase tracking? The software vertical is a good example. Are customers looking for help as they set up their product? Are they using it right? Are they logging in and taking action? Engaging here is helpful. And brands can also begin to identify who are enthusiastic customers (and who aren’t) at this stage. 2) Define segments pre- and post-acquisitionWith the data from step one, brands can segment out consumers from post-purchase activity as well as their pre-purchase activity. Segments might include:
Greenberg cites the hotel sector as a good example here – with different rewards streams designed for active members and less-active ones. 3) Engage around your offeringOnboarding and training with the use of digital cues can help customers adopt and use the product. Communications need to be timely, here. Importantly, in-touch/proactive customer support can help improve experiences, boost expansion, and drive renewals. 4) Develop advocacy programsWho are your advocates? And how do you elevate their voices? Incentivize advocates and fans to post reviews on neutral sites. But Greenberg stresses: these incentives must be reasonable, and the goal must be to drive authentic reviews. TakeawaysThe purchase funnel has changed a great deal in the past ten years. A sale or conversion is no longer the end of the story and lifecycle marketing is an important way for brands to make the most of the new opportunities available in the post-purchase part of the journey. It is very much a tidal shift. As more and more brands tap into engaging with customers across the adoption, expansion, retention, and advocacy touchpoints, then a growing number of buyers begin to expect those experiences from others. Likewise, business leaders are keen to compete with the market leaders, and they are putting pressure on marketing teams to understand customer lifetime value as well as growing the brand. The good news is that lifecycle marketing best practice techniques are not hard to achieve. The martech is there. But it is also knowing how to implement it and using it to understand the nuances of the post-purchase experience of your particular customers. Gathering post-purchase data and using it to segment in this context informs how you engage with these consumers, find your advocates, and ensure that they have the platform and the incentive to share why they love your brand and your customer experience. The post Best Practice: Four ways to leverage lifecycle marketing appeared first on ClickZ. SEO via ClickZ https://www.clickz.com September 24, 2020 at 03:58AM |
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