Technical SEO
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Google Search Advocate John Mueller Asserts Core Web Vitals Aren’t Major Ranking Factors Amid Industry Debate His statements address the growing discussion about the impact of site performance on search visibility. Mueller’s View: Mueller shared on LinkedIn, “We’ve been pretty clear that Core Web Vitals are not giant factors in ranking, and I doubt you’d see a big drop just because of that.” The primary benefit of enhancing website performance is improving user experience. A poor experience may naturally deter traffic by discouraging repeat visits, regardless of how users initially find the site. Mueller continues, “Having a website that provides a good experience for users is worthwhile. If users are so annoyed that they don’t want to come back, you’re just wasting the first-time visitors to your site, regardless of where they come from.” Small Sites’ Competitive Advantage: Mueller believes smaller sites have a unique edge in implementing SEO changes. Reflecting on his experience with large companies, he explains, “Smaller sites have a gigantic advantage when it comes to being able to take advantage of changes – they can be so much more nimble.” Mueller noted that larger organizations may require extensive processes for simple changes, while smaller sites can update things like robots.txt in just 30 minutes. He adds, “None of this is easy. You still need to figure out what to change to adapt to a dynamic ecosystem online, but I bet if you want to change your site’s robots.txt (for example), it’s a matter of 30 minutes at most.” Context: Mueller’s response came after Andrew Mcleod presented research revealing consistent patterns across multiple websites showing rapid ranking changes after performance modifications. In one case, a site with over 50,000 monthly visitors experienced a traffic drop within 72 hours of implementing advertisements. Mcleod’s analysis, including five controlled experiments over three months, showed traffic drops of up to 20% within 48 hours of enabling ads, with recovery periods of 1-2 weeks after removing ads. Consistent patterns were seen across test cases. Previous Statements: This guidance aligns with Mueller’s previous statements on Core Web Vitals. In a March podcast, Mueller confirmed that Core Web Vitals are used in ranking systems, but emphasized that perfect scores won’t notably affect search results. Mueller’s message remains consistent: while Core Web Vitals matter for user experience and are part of Google’s ranking systems, prioritizing content quality over metrics is crucial. Looking Forward: Core Web Vitals don’t directly affect rankings, per Mueller. Google’s stance on ranking factors remains unchanged, yet technical performance and user experience collectively influence traffic. Featured Image: Ye Liew/Shutterstock
Google Search Advocate John Mueller has reiterated that Core Web Vitals are not significant ranking factors, countering data that implied the opposite. His comments arise amidst increasing industry dialogue regarding the immediate influence of site performance on search visibility. ### Mueller’s Stance Mueller stated on LinkedIn: > “We’ve been pretty clear that Core Web Vitals are not giant factors in…
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Google Announces the Retirement of Sitelinks Search Box Feature
Google has announced the retirement of the sitelinks search box feature, effective November 21, 2024. This marks the end of a tool that has been part of Google Search for over a decade. Despite the removal, search rankings and other sitelinks remain unaffected. Websites can retain the existing markup, though it will no longer be utilized by Google. The sitelinks search box launched in 2014 to facilitate site-specific searches but its usage has declined. Although this change doesn’t impact search rankings, Google will update related tools like the Search Console rich results report and the Rich Results Test. While the structured data for the sitelinks search box can be removed, doing so isn’t necessary. Other structured data types, such as ‘WebSite,’ will remain supported. Website owners and SEO professionals should be informed, although no immediate action is needed.
Google has announced that it will retire the sitelinks search box feature. This change, effective November 21, brings an end to a tool that has been a part of Google Search for over ten years. The sitelinks search box, introduced in 2014, allowed users to conduct site-specific searches directly from Google’s search results page. It typically appeared above the sitelinks…
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Google Updates Structured Data Guidance for Vacation Rentals
Google recently updated its structured data documentation for vacation rentals, requiring more precise data—a move that clarifies rather than changes the requirements. This update occurred without a formal announcement or notation in the developer pages changelog. Vacation Rentals Structured Data Specific structured data types make vacation rental information eligible for rich results unique to such listings. However, this is not…
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The Power of Schema Markup: Building a Reusable Content Knowledge Graph for Your Organization
Here’s the rewritten article with URLs removed: You’re likely familiar with Schema Markup for enhancing pages to achieve rich results. However, did you know it can also be used to construct a reusable content knowledge graph for your organization’s web content? Often, SEO professionals focus solely on attaining rich results with Schema Markup, thereby missing the opportunity to create semantic…
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How to Persuade C-Suite to Merge Home Page with Root for Better SEO Results If you’re an SEO professional dealing with a site that incorrectly redirects the home page, this guide is for you. Learn to effectively communicate the benefits of merging the home page with the root to non-SEO experts using data-driven examples and Python calculations of PageRank improvements. Topics include: – Hosting Placeholder Pages on the Root and Root Redirects – Why Merging the Home Page with the Root is Crucial – Communicating SEO Benefits to Non-Technical Leadership – Estimating PageRank Uplift with Python – Using Data to Persuasively Communicate to C-Suite Explore why it’s important for SEO to merge the home page with the root for improved site structure and authority. Understand how to model traffic impact through Python simulations and demonstrate commercial benefits to gain buy-in from leadership. Learn how a data-driven approach can bolster your SEO recommendations and advance your career.
If you’re an SEO professional, you might be working on a site that redirects the home page to a subdirectory, such as redirecting to a country-specific version or using placeholder content linking to the main site’s home page in a subdirectory. In these cases, you may struggle to convince your client or colleagues to follow best practices. If so, this…
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Mastering the Complexities of International SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide Achieving an effective international SEO strategy is often a daunting challenge due to the multitude of factors involved. It’s a task that demands not just technical SEO expertise but also a comprehensive understanding of your company’s commercial objectives, cultural nuances, and data analytics. However, industry perceptions often reduce international SEO to merely setting up hreflang tags. In this article, I’ll simplify the intricacies of achieving international SEO success into practical steps, transforming you from a beginner to an advanced practitioner. Let’s dive in! Part I: Cultivate Commercial Awareness 1. Grasp the Motivation Behind Your Company’s International Expansion Businesses expand internationally to grow through product and service diversification, market penetration, or capturing new markets. While your team might focus on traffic, leads, or revenue, leadership often aims to maximize shareholder value. Depending on ownership, company growth goals vary—founder-owned companies might prioritize sustainable growth maintaining profitability, whereas VC-owned companies target high growth to ensure returns for investors. Publicly traded firms often focus on increasing share value, while startups aim to demonstrate scalability and profitability potential, driven by their maturity stage. Understanding the reasons for business expansion is crucial for making informed SEO decisions, because what’s optimal for SEO isn’t always aligned with business objectives. Tailor your strategy to match your company’s growth model. 2. Prioritize Investment by Ranking Target Markets Before delving into hreflang implementation, let’s explore how commercial awareness influences international SEO prowess. Many companies categorize markets by priority, using metrics like average order value, required investment, market size, and similarity. American companies often first target similar developed English-speaking markets—like the UK, Canada, or Australia—leveraging transferable market knowledge, before expanding to large European economies such as Germany and France, or LatAm markets like Spain. Later prioritization varies, sometimes focusing on Nordic, Brazilian, or Asian markets. Part II: Develop Technical Expertise 3. Determine Your International URL Structure International SEO offers four URL structures, each with unique advantages and drawbacks. Whether it’s ccTLDs, gTLDs with subdirectories or subdomains, or structures using parameters, understanding their impact on localization signals, domain authority, and user perception is essential for optimal implementation. 4. Master Your Hreflang Setup Hreflang is a complex yet crucial component of international SEO. Proper implementation communicates language and regional versions of content to search engines, preventing indexing issues. Collaborate with your development team to ensure accurate hreflang tag generation from your CMS. 5. Error-Free Hreflang Implementation Implement hreflang in your sitemap, HTTP header, or HTML head, ensuring consistency across methods to avoid confusing search engines. Follow best practices—such as including domain and protocol, adhering to ISO language codes, ensuring reciprocation of hreflang tags, and establishing canonical and self-canonicalized URLs. Part III: Gradual Content Investment 6. Translate High-Performing Content With commercial and technical foundations in place, develop a content strategy focused on translating top-performing topics. Categorize content by topic using SEO tools and ChatGPT, analyze performance data, and prioritize translations that maximize conversions within your budget. 7. Localize English Content Adapt translated content to specific English-speaking markets, modifying spelling, terminology, local expressions, and statistics to align with local nuances. This enhancement prevents common indexing issues and improves localization effectiveness. 8. Create In-Market Content For priority markets, invest in original content addressing unique local needs, collaborating with local linguists to identify exclusive pain points and use cases. This targeted strategy sets you apart from competitors and reinforces regional relevance. 9. Synchronize Content Workflows Streamline your international SEO processes by integrating with teams responsible for content creation across your organization. Establish workflows for content updates, new content evaluation, and URL changes to ensure seamless global consistency and prevent technical issues. Final Thoughts International SEO is multifaceted and demands aligning commercial, technical, cultural, and strategic elements. Understanding your company’s global objectives, implementing precise URL and hreflang structures, and localizing content intelligently are key steps toward achieving international SEO success. By following this guide, you’ll lay a strong foundation for your international SEO initiatives and effectively navigate the complexities of expanding your online presence across diverse markets. For additional resources, explore market-specific conversion tracking methods, essential focus areas for new market entry, and a quick reference guide to kick-start international SEO. Featured Image: BritCats Studio/Shutterstock
Revising your international SEO strategy can be challenging. Many factors are at play, making it a demanding and often overlooked task. Success in this area requires deep knowledge of your company’s commercial strategy, technical SEO expertise, cultural awareness, and strong data skills. Yet, many in the industry simplify international SEO to just hreflang setup. This article breaks down the complexities…
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Leveraging AI and ChatGPT for Complex SEO Reporting in BigQuery
AI is transforming various sectors by democratizing skills once seen as exclusive, such as coding and data visualization. This guide explores how you can harness AI, specifically using ChatGPT, to streamline SEO reporting with BigQuery. We cover steps to analyze traffic changes due to algorithm updates and integrate search data with engagement metrics from GA4, helping to alleviate the manual labor typically involved in generating SEO reports. Discover the power of SQL queries, tips for troubleshooting potential errors, and methods for optimizing data analysis tasks using AI tools. Learn how to blend and assess data efficiently with ChatGPT, enhancing your strategic decision-making capabilities.
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Analyzing Traffic Decline from Google Algorithm Updates:
- Get insights on detecting pages affected by algorithm changes.
- Learn how to use BigQuery for analyzing search impact.
- Combining GA4 Engagement Metrics with Search Data:
- Understand the importance of engagement metrics for ranking.
- Execute SQL queries to integrate data from GA4 and Google Search Console.
Explore how AI can help manage large datasets and what limitations to be aware of with freemium services like BigQuery. Access additional resources for mastering GSC Queries in BigQuery and utilizing AI tools in technical SEO.
AI is revolutionizing all sectors by making previously inaccessible skills, like coding and data visualization, available to everyone. An AI operator using the right prompts can perform tasks of low to medium difficulty, enabling a greater focus on strategic decision-making. This guide will show you how to use AI chatbots, with ChatGPT as an example, to execute complex BigQuery queries…
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The Perfect Time for Organizations to Prioritize Schema Markup
There has never been a better moment for organizations to prioritize Schema Markup. Why is that, you may wonder? First of all, Schema Markup, also known as structured data, is not a new concept. Google has been rewarding sites that implement structured data with rich results. If you haven’t been leveraging these rich results in search, it is time to…
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Mitigating SEO Risks and Validating Theories with Machine Learning and Python
When working on sites with traffic, there is much to lose or gain from implementing SEO recommendations. The downside risk of an SEO implementation gone wrong can be mitigated by using machine learning models to pre-test search engine rank factors. Pre-testing aside, split testing is the most reliable way to validate SEO theories before deciding to roll out the implementation…
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Understanding Interaction To Next Paint (INP): A New Web Vital for Page Speed Optimization
The SEO field is filled with a variety of acronyms. From SEO to FID to INP, these are some of the more familiar ones in relation to page speed. Currently, there’s a new metric gaining attention: INP, which stands for Interaction to Next Paint. This metric measures how a page responds to specific user interactions and is assessed using data…
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