Who are the winners and losers since Google's mobile update?
If you're involved in using SEO to drive traffic, you’ll no doubt know the hype of the build up to Google’s mobile friendly algorithm update since it was initially announced in the autumn of 2014 and finally rolled out a month ago today on April 21st, 2015. Many predicted major changes as a result of the update, with Google’s Zineb Ait Bahajji saying at SMX Munich that the upcoming mobile-friendly algorithm update would 'impact more sites than their Panda or Penguin algorithms'. Even the mainstream media picked up on it, dubbing it 'Mobilegeddon'...
So one month on what has the impact been? Has it impact been like that of a zombie apocalypse, or is it more a case of Business as Usual for most? In this post I'll look at insights from different studies which show the impact of effected websites. I'll also look at how you…
10 things you need to know about Search Analytics - Google's new tool for Keyword Ranking reports
Rating of value of tool: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Google's announcement of Search Analytics launch
Have you seen Google's new Search Analytics tool? It's an important free tool to help with SEO since it shows how well your site is ranking for different keywords and where visitors are landing.
We've been using it during Google's Beta review and it's now available to all users of Webmaster Tools. In this post we'll explain the main features and where it fits in with Google's other analytics tools to support SEO. Here's how the new tool looks:
What do I need to know about Google's Search Analytics?
1. Search Analytics is a free tool to show how your keywords rank and the…
How to use Custom Segments in Google Analytics to check the impact of Google's mobile-friendly algorithm changes live since April 21 2015
Well, the mainstream media have been calling it 'Mobilegeddon', which maybe overstating it, but it's going to increase the questions by colleagues about 'have we been affected by this Mobilegeddon update?'. So, we definitely recommend checking in your analytics, now it's live to see what the impact is on you or your clients.
To help businesses prepare, we featured Google's guidance on mobile-friendly when it was first announced in November and more recently, Gavin Llewellyn explained 5 tools to help check your site is Google mobile-friendly.
I've been anxious to check the impact on SmartInsights.com too, so I thought I'd share the approach I've used and share what we found.
3 steps for using Google Analytics to check the impact of Mobilegeddon
The analysis used involves isolating the organic traffic from Google which arrives at a…
A visual checklist of how to review whether you're prepared for this month's Google's mobile algorithm update
This April, all responsible in any way for SEO are anxiously awaiting Google's SEO mobile update, with D-day on 21st April. To help give readers some practical actions and tools to review in his post Smart Insights columnist Gavin Llewellyn explained how businesses can ready themselves for the Mobile-Friendly algorithm update.
To supplement this, we thought this infographic from Instantshift.com gives a great visual summary of issues to be aware of including common mobile mistakes and how to overcome them, for example...
Like using 'meta name="viewpoint" tag which tells the browser how to adjust content and using "Rel=Canonical" to prevent confusion of duplicate content, consolidating indexing and ranking signals.
View the full Infographic at www.instantshift.com
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Are you ready for the Google Mobile-friendly algorithm change which could be 'bigger than Panda or Penguin'?
Back in November 2014, Google gave its first guidance about the impending algorithm changes to affect mobile SEO which were summarised in this Smart Insights alert. More recently, Google has been unusually specific and has revealed on its blog that there will be an algorithm update on the 21st April 2015, that will expand their use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.
How much difference will the mobile-friendly update make?
The indications are that this will be a major change with Google describing it as 'significant' in their alerts. Then, in this alarming quote, Google's Zineb Ait Bahajji said at SMX Munich that the upcoming mobile-friendly algorithm update will impact more sites than their Panda or Penguin algorithms. Although this sounds alarming it is to be expected since…
Check your competitor’s SEO strategies with the Ahrefs Site Explorer and Backlink History tools
We live in an age of competition where you have to be at the top of your game to survive, let alone thrive. If you are in the field of Internet Marketing, then you have probably been encouraged to improve your content and your promotion techniques on several occasions to achieve better results. All of these work perfectly fine, but they are not enough to get you across the finishing line ahead of your competitors.
Sometimes you are required to broaden your horizon and think slightly out of the box. How can you do that? Well it’s simple. Tap into the minds of your competitors and figure out the strategies that they are devising. This way, you can better equip yourself to compete with them and outsmart them.
When it comes to SEO, checking your competitor’s strategy with …
Will this be Google's biggest algorithm update of the year so far?
Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Google’s official announcement - ‘An update on Doorway pages’
Wow, this seems a strange one! It feels like back to the 1990s when Doorway pages were a common SEO technique to get ranked in Altavista which was popular before Google even launched. When Google launched in 1998, their push to create more relevant results soon saw them outlaw Doorway pages and issue webmasters guidance to avoid them. So a definite sense of Déjà vu for me and many other search marketers I’m sure!
I’ve rated this alert as 4 out of 5 since although this webspam penalty is clearly aimed at targeting SEO spammers, there is always the risk of false positives from companies who are looking to practice ethical SEO. Google has issued a warning on their Webmasters Tools blog and updated their definition of doorway pages,…
Five methods to prove the efficiency and effectiveness of SEO
Calculating and proving the value of SEO isn't easy. Not only is there the misunderstanding of how SEO works when discussing SEO with senior stakeholders, but there’s also the added complexity of measurement in a world of ‘Not Provided keywords’.
While rankings can show us how we’re performing for a particular set of keywords, search results are now personalised and this does not demonstrate ROI. Factors including personalisation, localisation and limitations on the number of keywords one can track mean that rankings should be used more as a high-level KPI rather than a solid success metric.
At an executive level, ranking data will not effectively communicate the true value of organic search so we need to find methodologies that will enable us to speak the ‘language of the board room’ and generate buy-in for further activity.
Structure measurement…
How can Digital Marketers use SEO ranking factors correlations?
Love them or loathe them, correlation studies seem to be everywhere when discussing 'best practices' in SEO. So we have to ask - 'how can we use them' and 'should we trust them'?
Moz and Searchmetrics are the best known publishers of correlation studies who produce reports from sample sizes in the order of hundreds of thousands of webpages, with the purpose of identifying what’s important and what’s not in the world of search marketing.
So how do you use them to inform your online strategy - do you try to remove yourself from all human emotion and blindly go with these numbers or do you ignore them and trust your gut instincts? Or is there a middle ground? You can see the challenge from this recent Searchmetrics SEO Ranking factors infographic.
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12 key issues you must consider for Mobile SEO
Mobile SEO refers to the search engine optimization of websites combined with flawless viewing on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Thanks to the increasing boom of portable devices, webmasters should be highly concerned with their mobile SEO plan. After all, more than 50% of Internet users now report surfing websites through their mobile devices daily. Google is already favouring mobile friendly sites.
Based on my experience of different mobile SEO projects, I have created this detailed guide on mobile SEO. I hope it will help newcomers to mobile SEO missing some of the key issues. Below I will spend time offering my recommendations to boost your understanding on how to properly optimize your website for optimal user experiences across all mobile devices.
First and foremost, according to Google mobile websites typically run on one out of three different configurations:
1. Responsive Web Design
2.…
