Hi SEO Super-Friends, Google says to chase the user, not the algorithm. To oversimplify: Google watches what users click on and search for, then uses that data to rank more satisfying documents higher. One thing I've noticed working as a Google Quality Rater and examining hundreds of sites hit by recent Google Core Updates is simply how lazy many websites are at satisfying user intent. Don't make the user do extra work. Here's an experiment I tried last year on a post that ranked, but not great, for how long your title tags should be. The post had lots of science and original content, but the answer was buried several paragraphs down the page. I was making the user do extra work! So, I added a couple of paragraphs and put the answer in the very first sentence. Folks who wanted a quick answer could get it, and other readers who wanted to explore the data could stick around. Was this a good idea? Would users bounce faster if I gave them the answer quicker? It doesn't really matter because traffic nearly tripled shortly after that change. (It's not a high-traffic page, but it's a solid worker, and imagine this at scale.) There are other examples. Let's say you want to rank for "20 Best Restaurants In Chicago". Does your reader really want to scroll all the way through your 4000-word article to learn all the best restaurants? Try this on a few pages and see what happens to your rankings. If you see a positive pattern, start thinking about doing this at scale. Remember, everything is an experiment. 5 Top SEO Tips This WeekThese are the best SEO resources I've seen recently. Hope you find them useful. 1. Why Ranch-Style SEO Is Your Future-Proof Content StrategyThe Skyscraper technique is dead! Not really, but its natural heir may be Ranch-Style SEO, a way of structuring your content, as explained by Bernard Huang. 2. 10 SEO A/B tests that delivered over 10% more traffic + a bonus 50% winnerYou know we love a good SEO test. The folks at SearchPilot run A LOT of them. Here, Craig Bradford reveals some of their top-performing A/B tests. The lessons may spark some good ideas for you to try yourself. 3. EEAT Your Soup - Quality Evaluations in SEO by Cindy KrumWere we just talking about how Google uses click and engagement data in rankings? This deep dive perspective from Cindy Krum explains how E-E-A-T ties into all this and how to shift your thinking about what could really drive rankings for your website. 4. Shifting Signals: How GSC’s Inbound Links Report Can Reveal Third-Party URLs Being Canonicalized To Your OwnDid you know that "link inversion" means that sometimes your pages can inherit the link signals of third-party web pages you don't even own? (Or, in some cases, the opposite can happen.) Here, Glenn Gabe shows how to use Search Console to track down link inversion issues. It's not an easy process, but it's helpful if you deal with a lot of duplicate content across the web. 5. It’s not you - it’s Google Search ConsoleGoogle Search Console is the source of SEO truth! Except when it isn't. If you rely on Search Console for data—and you probably should—Gianna Brachetti-Truskawa explains all the pitfalls and what to watch out for in the data. The MozCon lineup is 🔥Looking forward to seeing all my SEOold + new friends in Seattle this June. I'll be on stage helping to emcee the event. Hope to see you there! Recommended SEO Tools1. Keyword InsightsStill our favorite Keyword Clustering tool. There's a reason other companies have copied them continuously. We often start any new SEO content strategy here. 2. InLinksProbably the best internal linking tool on the planet. We like it so much we'll probably write a guide on it. In the meantime, here's how it works. 3. SemrushThe "everything" SEO tool. We use the API for pulling bulk metrics (it's super-robust) and we also use them for general keyword research and competitor analysis. 4. WhiteSparkWhenever we get an inquiry for local SEO services, the first place we typically send them is WhiteSpark. If you're curious about what they can do for your local SEO, simply Google them and check out the reviews. SEO Newsletters We LoveGrowth MemoKevin Indig has a degree in business and uses it to write one of the smartest SEO newsletters on the planet. Great for high-level strategies and long-term thinking. Eli's NewsletterLast week, Eli Schwartz wrote about Google's upcoming expansion of SGE. Posts like this are worth subscribing to the newsletter alone. Best of luck with your SEO! Cyrus |
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Links, links, links Google's Disavow tool is something I use occasionally to help sites strategically recover from traffic losses of one kind or another. Many SEOs use it to disavow "shady links." But what would happen if you disavowed every link pointed at your website? I was curious enough to try and find out... (who needs traffic anyway?) My traffic didn't exactly tank, but the experiment ended up surprising me more than expected. What I learned is that the tool is still very powerful. And...
Howdy SEO Super Friend! As we spot a small number of sites recovering traffic from Google's last round of updates, it's becoming clearer what Google wants when it talks about "Helpful Content." UX (Ads & popups ↓) Business Model (Review sites ↓, ecommerce & forum sites ↑) First-hand Experience ↑ Now, based on our latest SEO study, we can likely add over-optimization to that list. Google says they want to demote content that's primarily made for search engines - but how do they know what to...
You still need links to rank in Google. For years, many SEOs used HARO for link-building and digital PR. It was free. You recieved cool emails every day. And it was really time-consuming. The old HARO is no more, but the landscape for pitching journalists and building links through digital PR is more robust than ever. If you haven't pitched to publications in a while, here are my top 3 recommended alternatives to HARO for link building: HARO - Wait, huh? While classic HARO is gone, new owner...