Forgive us for sounding basic and cliche, but it is hard to believe that the year is nearly over. In addition to the constantly evolving "new normal" due to the Coronavirus, District Maven expanded our client roster significantly in 2021. It must be true what they say: time really does fly when you're having fun -- or, in our case, really busy.
Another thing that kept us on our toes this past year was the plethora of released Google algorithm updates. Each provides valuable insights into how search engines read and evaluate websites while also rewriting search engine optimization best practices. While specific SEO guidelines have remained firmly intact, Google's constant efforts to improve and fine-tune their search program has shaken up (and in some cases clarified) rules long found in the digital marketer's playbook.
Check out our list below to learn what SEO strategies are here to stay and what valuable insights you need to know to deploy effective marketing campaigns in the upcoming year.
What SEO Rules Are Staying The Same
Spelling and grammatical errors look unprofessional to the human visitor, but search engines also look down upon it. Google views lack of attention to these details as a quality issue that directly impacts the user's overall experience on any given website. Frequent spelling and grammar mistakes make it increasingly difficult for Google to understand what the website is trying to convey. It also indicates that the content is of lower quality as a result.
When asked about how significantly poor copywriting can impact page rankings, Google Search Advocate John Mueller notably remarked that "...spelling and grammar mistakes for most websites is a higher priority than broken HTML."
Google has maintained for years that the number of backlinks pointing to a website doesn't influence its page ranking whatsoever. Millions of low-quality links from irrelevant or untrustworthy sites will do nothing to convince the search engines that your content is valuable. By contrast, backlinks from reputable, established sources will always hold more weight with Google -- even if there are significantly fewer of them.
Although freshly published content typically indexes through the search engines in about a week or so, it takes much longer for Google to update their results pages after reviewing and recognizing quality issue fixes on a website. This timetable increases depending on how large one's website is or how significant a change is made to it, as it takes longer for the search engines to re-crawl its content. Just be patient, and continue to publish fresh content!
No matter how many algorithm updates are released, Google continues to emphasize the importance of implementing the proper, white-hat on-page optimization techniques to a website and its pages. Title tags, META descriptions, and header tags are still amongst the primary ways the search engines digest a site's content -- a fact that doesn't show signs of changing any time soon.
"You never know how these things evolve over time, but at least at the moment, it is the case that we continue to use what you have in your title tag, in your title element, as something that we can use for ranking," Mueller explained.
It's hard to argue that anyone social media network is more ignored by most than Google My Business. The only people that tout its importance are those with an SEO background and trust us, we're not particularly the biggest fans of it either.
Nonetheless, it makes sense that GMB would hold serious weight in search engine results because it is Google-owned. Ranking well in local search results often depends on it and is equally as important as your website's on-page optimization. "… it sounds like what you're looking at is a local service or local business, essentially. And for that, I would make sure that you have a solid Google My Business entry set up," Mueller stated. "Because that's something that can be shown a little bit easier in the search results for queries like this."
When Google first mentioned the mythos that is its E-A-T concept, it sent low-key shockwaves throughout the industry. Because the acronym stands for "expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness" was included in their Quality Rater Guidelines, most digital marketing teams automatically assumed it was a direct ranking factor or a "score" a website could achieve better results. This, however, is not the case.
While there is no doubt the E-A-T insight reveal was undoubtedly an important one, it is intended to be understood more as an SEO philosophy instead of a direct ranking factor or a one-time fix. Instead, it is a critical clue in understanding Google's core values, how they are applied in evaluating other websites, and how they refine their platform.
We aren't the only ones who think that way, either. Google's Search Advocate confirms our view of the E-A-T philosophy. "It's more something that, our algorithms over time …we try to improve them, our quality raters try to review our algorithms, and they do look at these things," Mueller explained. "So there might be some overlap here, but it's not that there's a technical factor that's involved which would kind of take specific elements and use them as an SEO factor."
SEO is stressful for most business owners, especially since so many things are required for success. It isn't uncommon for new District Maven clients to ask for a definitive checklist of "what to do" to guarantee themselves the top spot within the results pages, and our answer is always the same:
While there certainly are plenty of things that one should do to improve their presence throughout Google, it is essential to remember that no single ranking factor works universally. What is a key ranking factor for one search query that may impact another at all. Therefore, we always encourage our clients to think of it more holistically. The strongest performers in the SEO arena always focus on many things, but precisely what applies to their business or brand most.
New Insights To Remember In 2022
Breathe -- there aren't 200 different ranking factors you have to worry about for SEO. While it was Google that first shared this number, they have since retracted their estimation, saying that it creates an incorrect impression of how their algorithms work and can be misleading.
Mueller explained that Google has "… kind of moved away from the over 200 ranking signals number. Because it feels like even having a number like that is misleading in the sense that, Oh Google has a spreadsheet with all of the ranking signals, and they can sort them by importance and tell me which ones they are. And that's not the case."
Since previous Google algorithm updates focused on the importance of unique content, it became a widely accepted notion that any copy duplication would penalize the search engines.
While it is always best to have fresh, relevant and new content wherever and whenever possible, Google isn't bothered by repeating verbiage. In fact, they expect it to some degree. According to Mueller, the search engine will only show one version of the content while ignoring the rest. Ultimately, the page displayed is valid to be the most trustworthy and valuable to searchers.
"So if you have the same content on multiple pages, then we won't show all of these pages, and we'll try to pick one of them and show that. So it's not that there's any negative signal associated with that. In a lot of cases, it's normal that you have some amount of shared content across some of the pages."
The importance of receiving positive feedback from customers online cannot be overstated. Not only does it provide instant feedback to the business owner on the customer experience, but it also provides affirming details to potential clients or buyers. The number of reviews and the business rating can be powerful when it comes to local search engine optimization. However, this doesn't mean customer reviews are a direct ranking factor for organic results.
Scoring highly on Google's Core Web Vitals tool is the goal of all digital marketing teams. Still, Mueller warns web admins to remember that its evaluation is based on several factors instead of one or two. "The other thing to keep in mind with core web vitals is that it's more than a random ranking factor, it's also something that affects your site's usability after it ranks (when people actually visit)," he explained.
Mueller also encouraged business owners to be patient in monitoring their Core Web Vitals. Data is collected and updated every 28 days, which means that it will take some time for any changes to be reflected in one's Google Search Console or in PageSpeed Insights.
There is a theory that embedding videos from sources like YouTube or Vimeo will improve one's SEO efforts, but Google doesn't see a difference between the two when evaluating a site's value.
In our experience, there are some instances where it is preferable to use a natively uploaded video versus an embedded one, and we often do so interchangeably. Be warned, however: video files are traditionally much larger in size and can take up serious disk space if too many of them are uploaded to a website's server. This ultimately results in a website that moves very slowly, which is detrimental to both the user experience and Google's evaluation of your website's overall usability.
Witty language may keep the attention of human readers, but it won't do your search engine optimization campaigns any favors. It is important to avoid using sarcasm in content that conveys important information, as Google's algorithm is likely to misunderstand it.
"I would say there's definitely a risk that we misunderstand things like that or that we don't understand when there is sarcasm on a page," Mueller stated. "And especially if it's something where it's really critical for you to get the right message across to Google and to all users, then I would make sure it's as clear as possible."
Google's attitude towards 404 errors is not nearly as negative as industry experts once thought. Instead, the search engine considers them "normal" and expects to see some of them when crawling any given website. They do not treat them as a negative ranking factor when compiling organic search results.
Unless the homepage is returning a 404 error, we encourage business owners not to sweat it too much. That doesn't mean we recommend ignoring the problem, however. While Google may not be too concerned with a few 404 errors, human visitors certainly will get annoyed if they cannot reach their desired content quickly. Prevent potential customers from bouncing off your page by utilizing a plugin such as 301 Redirects to point old URLs to their new destinations.
about us
For over a decade, District Maven has worked with businesses across the country to establish a formidable and profitable brand online. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously. Regardless of the industry or client, trust, respect and integrity are at the heart of every relationship we maintain -- and we wouldn't have it any other way.
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Forgive us for sounding basic and cliche, but it is hard to believe that the year is nearly over. In addition to the constantly evolving "new normal" due to the Coronavirus, District Maven expanded our client roster significantly in 2021. It must be true what they say: time really does fly when you're having fun -- or, in our case, really busy.
Another thing that kept us on our toes this past year was the plethora of released Google algorithm updates. Each provides valuable insights into how search engines read and evaluate websites while also rewriting search engine optimization best practices. While specific SEO guidelines have remained firmly intact, Google's constant efforts to improve and fine-tune their search program has shaken up (and in some cases clarified) rules long found in the digital marketer's playbook.
Check out our list below to learn what SEO strategies are here to stay and what valuable insights you need to know to deploy effective marketing campaigns in the upcoming year.
What SEO Rules Are Staying The Same
Spelling and grammatical errors look unprofessional to the human visitor, but search engines also look down upon it. Google views lack of attention to these details as a quality issue that directly impacts the user's overall experience on any given website. Frequent spelling and grammar mistakes make it increasingly difficult for Google to understand what the website is trying to convey. It also indicates that the content is of lower quality as a result.
When asked about how significantly poor copywriting can impact page rankings, Google Search Advocate John Mueller notably remarked that "...spelling and grammar mistakes for most websites is a higher priority than broken HTML."
Google has maintained for years that the number of backlinks pointing to a website doesn't influence its page ranking whatsoever. Millions of low-quality links from irrelevant or untrustworthy sites will do nothing to convince the search engines that your content is valuable. By contrast, backlinks from reputable, established sources will always hold more weight with Google -- even if there are significantly fewer of them.
Although freshly published content typically indexes through the search engines in about a week or so, it takes much longer for Google to update their results pages after reviewing and recognizing quality issue fixes on a website. This timetable increases depending on how large one's website is or how significant a change is made to it, as it takes longer for the search engines to re-crawl its content. Just be patient, and continue to publish fresh content!
No matter how many algorithm updates are released, Google continues to emphasize the importance of implementing the proper, white-hat on-page optimization techniques to a website and its pages. Title tags, META descriptions, and header tags are still amongst the primary ways the search engines digest a site's content -- a fact that doesn't show signs of changing any time soon.
"You never know how these things evolve over time, but at least at the moment, it is the case that we continue to use what you have in your title tag, in your title element, as something that we can use for ranking," Mueller explained.
It's hard to argue that anyone social media network is more ignored by most than Google My Business. The only people that tout its importance are those with an SEO background and trust us, we're not particularly the biggest fans of it either.
Nonetheless, it makes sense that GMB would hold serious weight in search engine results because it is Google-owned. Ranking well in local search results often depends on it and is equally as important as your website's on-page optimization. "… it sounds like what you're looking at is a local service or local business, essentially. And for that, I would make sure that you have a solid Google My Business entry set up," Mueller stated. "Because that's something that can be shown a little bit easier in the search results for queries like this."
When Google first mentioned the mythos that is its E-A-T concept, it sent low-key shockwaves throughout the industry. Because the acronym stands for "expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness" was included in their Quality Rater Guidelines, most digital marketing teams automatically assumed it was a direct ranking factor or a "score" a website could achieve better results. This, however, is not the case.
While there is no doubt the E-A-T insight reveal was undoubtedly an important one, it is intended to be understood more as an SEO philosophy instead of a direct ranking factor or a one-time fix. Instead, it is a critical clue in understanding Google's core values, how they are applied in evaluating other websites, and how they refine their platform.
We aren't the only ones who think that way, either. Google's Search Advocate confirms our view of the E-A-T philosophy. "It's more something that, our algorithms over time …we try to improve them, our quality raters try to review our algorithms, and they do look at these things," Mueller explained. "So there might be some overlap here, but it's not that there's a technical factor that's involved which would kind of take specific elements and use them as an SEO factor."
SEO is stressful for most business owners, especially since so many things are required for success. It isn't uncommon for new District Maven clients to ask for a definitive checklist of "what to do" to guarantee themselves the top spot within the results pages, and our answer is always the same:
While there certainly are plenty of things that one should do to improve their presence throughout Google, it is essential to remember that no single ranking factor works universally. What is a key ranking factor for one search query that may impact another at all. Therefore, we always encourage our clients to think of it more holistically. The strongest performers in the SEO arena always focus on many things, but precisely what applies to their business or brand most.
New Insights To Remember In 2022
Breathe -- there aren't 200 different ranking factors you have to worry about for SEO. While it was Google that first shared this number, they have since retracted their estimation, saying that it creates an incorrect impression of how their algorithms work and can be misleading.
Mueller explained that Google has "… kind of moved away from the over 200 ranking signals number. Because it feels like even having a number like that is misleading in the sense that, Oh Google has a spreadsheet with all of the ranking signals, and they can sort them by importance and tell me which ones they are. And that's not the case."
Since previous Google algorithm updates focused on the importance of unique content, it became a widely accepted notion that any copy duplication would penalize the search engines.
While it is always best to have fresh, relevant and new content wherever and whenever possible, Google isn't bothered by repeating verbiage. In fact, they expect it to some degree. According to Mueller, the search engine will only show one version of the content while ignoring the rest. Ultimately, the page displayed is valid to be the most trustworthy and valuable to searchers.
"So if you have the same content on multiple pages, then we won't show all of these pages, and we'll try to pick one of them and show that. So it's not that there's any negative signal associated with that. In a lot of cases, it's normal that you have some amount of shared content across some of the pages."
The importance of receiving positive feedback from customers online cannot be overstated. Not only does it provide instant feedback to the business owner on the customer experience, but it also provides affirming details to potential clients or buyers. The number of reviews and the business rating can be powerful when it comes to local search engine optimization. However, this doesn't mean customer reviews are a direct ranking factor for organic results.
Scoring highly on Google's Core Web Vitals tool is the goal of all digital marketing teams. Still, Mueller warns web admins to remember that its evaluation is based on several factors instead of one or two. "The other thing to keep in mind with core web vitals is that it's more than a random ranking factor, it's also something that affects your site's usability after it ranks (when people actually visit)," he explained.
Mueller also encouraged business owners to be patient in monitoring their Core Web Vitals. Data is collected and updated every 28 days, which means that it will take some time for any changes to be reflected in one's Google Search Console or in PageSpeed Insights.
There is a theory that embedding videos from sources like YouTube or Vimeo will improve one's SEO efforts, but Google doesn't see a difference between the two when evaluating a site's value.
In our experience, there are some instances where it is preferable to use a natively uploaded video versus an embedded one, and we often do so interchangeably. Be warned, however: video files are traditionally much larger in size and can take up serious disk space if too many of them are uploaded to a website's server. This ultimately results in a website that moves very slowly, which is detrimental to both the user experience and Google's evaluation of your website's overall usability.
Witty language may keep the attention of human readers, but it won't do your search engine optimization campaigns any favors. It is important to avoid using sarcasm in content that conveys important information, as Google's algorithm is likely to misunderstand it.
"I would say there's definitely a risk that we misunderstand things like that or that we don't understand when there is sarcasm on a page," Mueller stated. "And especially if it's something where it's really critical for you to get the right message across to Google and to all users, then I would make sure it's as clear as possible."
Google's attitude towards 404 errors is not nearly as negative as industry experts once thought. Instead, the search engine considers them "normal" and expects to see some of them when crawling any given website. They do not treat them as a negative ranking factor when compiling organic search results.
Unless the homepage is returning a 404 error, we encourage business owners not to sweat it too much. That doesn't mean we recommend ignoring the problem, however. While Google may not be too concerned with a few 404 errors, human visitors certainly will get annoyed if they cannot reach their desired content quickly. Prevent potential customers from bouncing off your page by utilizing a plugin such as 301 Redirects to point old URLs to their new destinations.
about us
For over a decade, District Maven has worked with businesses across the country to establish a formidable and profitable brand online. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously. Regardless of the industry or client, trust, respect and integrity are at the heart of every relationship we maintain -- and we wouldn't have it any other way.