You technically no longer need to use the disavow file to help fix your Google Penguin issues – here is why.
Google launched the real-time, more granular version of Penguin on Friday. Google wrote in its announcement that it “now devalues spam.”
Many SEOs and webmasters took that to mean that Penguin no longer penalizes – and it seems like they are right. Read more
Have you been waiting two or more years to recover from your Penguin penalty? Google said the recoveries are starting now.Gary Illyes from Google said tonight that those who were suffering from previous Penguin penalties should now begin seeing recoveries. He said this on Twitter:
Read more
Tracking return on investment from SEO can be tricky, especially since it often assists other marketing channels. But columnist Janet Driscoll Miller lays out a plan for proving organic search’s ROI and securing budget for the next fiscal year.
The approaching fourth quarter is often the time when companies begin the budget and planning process for the next fiscal year. And it seems that ROI, while always considered a top priority, has renewed importance now. Advertising Age recently reported that intense demand for ROI is causing companies to replace their CMOs at a rapid rate — as much as a 48-percent turnover in top retailers.
It’s a noisy marketplace. How are you optimizing your online presence to make your voice heard? It starts with ensuring you are up to date on on-page SEO basics to provide peak performance for your website and visibility for your target audience.
Over the past few years, the on-page “rules” have changed drastically as Google tries to ensure they’re delivering the best results. Now, a standard search result page shows pages that don’t necessary have the exact match query—or keyword—in their title tag or meta description.
Now, we’re dealing with ranking algorithms that include Hummingbird, Panda, Rankbrain and semantic importance within the page. Google is getting smarter. Your on-page strategies must be too.
If you are operating and managing your own Google AdWords it can be difficult to know exactly where to begin. For many small businesses that do marketing in-house, you can typically start by having a consultation with the Google AdWords team once you get your account set up. Unfortunately, the problem is there is often a lot that you can be doing for your AdWords (which involves spending less and earning more) that Google may not tell you because this gets into more advanced practices. Read more
Since the end of 2015, Google has been using an artificial intelligence system called RankBrain to process search results and inform its core algorithm to deliver more relevant organic search results. But, we still don’t know much about how Google RankBrain works, and according to Google itself, they don’t really know either.
What we have ascertained so far about how RankBrain impacts SEO is pivotal, and it means we need to start taking an even more human-first approach to search engine optimization.
Google RankBrain is Not Itself an Algorithm, but it is Integral to One
Google describes RankBrain as a key “signal” within its core search algorithm. Essentially, RankBrain is the part of the algorithm that is used to “understand” the meaning of billions of web pages and help Google’s algorithm return the ones that users will find the most relevant to their search queries.
While there are potentially hundreds of (or more) ranking signals and sub-signals within Google’s algorithm, Google has confirmed that RankBrain is one of the three top signals that inform search results, along with links and content. It’s kind of like the Holy Trinity of Google, with RankBrain becoming the biggest and most influential of the three.
That’s because for the queries it is responding to, RankBrain is informing Google’s algorithm not just about which links and content are best, but how it should interpret these types of signals in the future. This is incredibly important, because Google no longer has to make guesses about what it believes something means based on disparate factors like keywords and links, but is instead beginning to interpret data much like a person would.
Source – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-rankbrain-humanizing-seo/162663/
Late yesterday, Google announced “in app” search for App Indexing on Android. It allows developers to integrate their apps to let Google index locally personal content within the app, to be surfaced on search on Android devices, no wifi needed.
Google explained it that “content from your app can then appear for relevant queries in the Google app on Android in the new “In Apps” tab, or as an autocomplete suggestion.” Here is a GIF showing it in action:
Read More at Source From:> https://www.seroundtable.com/google-android-in-apps-search-22619.html
There have been major studies done on this, notably by both Moz and Searchmetrics. These are groundbreaking pieces of research, and if you’re serious about SEO, you need to understand what these studies say.
That said, these are too complex for most organizations to deal with. They need a simpler way of looking at things. At Stone Temple Consulting (STC) we deal with many different types of organizations, including some of the world’s largest companies, and some of the highest-traffic websites in the world. For most of these companies, understanding that there are 200+ ranking factors does more harm than good.
Why, you ask? So many people I talk to are looking for a silver bullet. They want to hear that they should only change their heading tags on the second Tuesday of every month, except during leap years, when they should do it on the first Tuesday, except in February when they should change it on the third Monday. These distractions end up taking away from the focus on the two things that matter most: building great content (and a great content experience) and promoting it well.
Today’s post is going to lay out a basic approach that most companies can use to simplify their thinking about SEO, and keep their focus on the highest priorities.
Read More At Source From -> https://moz.com/blog/the-two-part-seo-ranking-model-lets-make-seo-simple
Facebook first announced their Live feature about a year ago, initially only making it available for big brands and celebrities. Since then, the feature has been rolled out to all accounts and has added several new features (which we have yet to see).
Does Facebook Live Really Matter?
Worried this is just another thing you have to learn how to do and implement without seeing any results? In our fast-moving industry, it can feel like as soon as you tackle one new platform (Twitter), another one pops up (Snapchat). It can be seriously hard to keep up and stay relevant.
But this is a tool worth paying attention to.
The benefits start with video itself. According to a study by Insivia, one-third of all online activity involves watching videos. People are more likely to purchase an item after watching a video. People trust videos, and they are more likely to recall a video ad than an add in any other format.
Here are a few ways to get the most out of the platform.
1. Stretch Out Your Introduction
2. Ask Questions
3. Be Repetitive
4. Use Names
5. Participate in the Comments Section
Read More at Source From – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/tricks-for-getting-more-engagement-on-facebook-live/171155/
Columnist Brian Harnish details 5 free Chrome extensions he uses on a regular basis, for SEO tasks ranging from screen shots to checking links to content analysis.
Did you know that you can increase your SEO task efficiency by using extensions in Google Chrome? If you perform most of your SEO tasks manually, these extensions can help reduce the headache of repetitive tasks and help you make your work day run more smoothly.
Following are five free Chrome extensions I use on a daily basis to help increase productivity. From screen shots to checking links to content analysis, it’s all here!
1. Nimbus Screenshot and Screencast
2. Check My Links
3. Word Count
4. Open Multiple URLs
5. User-Agent Switcher for Google Chrome
By using these extensions, it is possible to increase your SEO efficiencies dramatically and take hours of work out of your day as a result. I highly recommend experimenting with them and working through different tasks that you normally perform manually otherwise. By doing this, you can help increase your SEO efficiencies exponentially and make your day go by much faster.
Source- Searchengineland.com/five-free-chrome-extensions-seo-practitioners-257274