Before making changes to your website structure, you must consider the impact it could have on search rankings and user experience. Google Search Advocate John Mueller recently shared valuable advice on this subject in a Reddit thread. With his recommendations, you can learn how to simplify your website structure without affecting its SEO. Read on … Read more
How does Google Search Console use product schema markup? Does semantic HTML make it easier for search engines to understand your website? Competition is fierce, and you need every easy win, but is semantic HTML worth your time? On Feb 23, I moderated a webinar with Google’s very own Martin Splitt, who shared his opinions, … Read more
Google reminds shoppers and merchants that it has several tools to establish consumer trust. In a recent blog post, Google highlights three key ways it helps people shop safely. 1. Automated Vetting Process One of the main ways Google ensures shopper safety is through its automated vetting process. Before a product or merchant can list … Read more
Keyword-rich domain names were once thought to be an effective way to increase a website’s visibility and improve search engine rankings. However, there are several reasons why keyword-rich domain names can be detrimental to a website’s success. In response to a thread on Reddit, Google Search Advocate John Mueller shares his opinion on domains with … Read more
Google is finally rolling out the local search features previewed earlier this year, including the ability to search your surroundings with your phone’s camera. At Google’s Search On virtual conference in September, the company had people buzzing over its innovative updates to local search. Google previewed an option to search for restaurants by dish and … Read more
Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) algorithm is now capable of identifying when multiple high-quality sources agree on the same fact. This update to MUM is part of a more significant effort to improve information literacy across the web. A Google-supported survey conducted by the Poynter Institute finds that 62% of respondents encounter false or misleading … Read more
Okay, so it’s been a few years now since Google announced the mobile-first index. Most sites have been moved over to Google’s mobile-first index and it’s no longer a “hot” topic in SEO. I found a tweet from John Mueller, Google Search Advocate, in 2021 that sums up the lack of focus on this topic … Read more
If you drill down to the very core, every search engine optimization (SEO) strategy has the same aim: convincing Google your webpage is the best answer to a user’s query. There are a lot of tactics you can and should employ to achieve this, but that’s the goal. And, as the Google brain has grown … Read more
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about what strategy to use to make specific pages show as sitelinks in Google’s search results. Mueller provided an answer that noticeably matched what’s in the official Google Search Central documentation for sitelinks, although he added a little more nuance than what’s in the official documentation. Nevertheless, Google’s new … Read more
Google offers a lesser-known advanced search command that could make your Google searching a whole lot easier. While it’s possible to use Google’s Tools menu to do the same thing, it takes six clicks to do what advanced search operators accomplish with one click. Advanced Search Operators Advanced search operators (otherwise known as search commands) … Read more
Someone from the SEO community called attention to a section in Google’s new digital marketing training course that recommends writing at least 300 words of content, advised specific areas of a web page for seeding keywords and recommended a keyword density for target keywords of under 2%. Some in the digital marketing community called Google … Read more
Google announced a breakthrough research in Natural Language Processing called Chain of Thought Prompting that raises the state of the art of advanced technologies like PaLM and LaMDA to what the researchers call a remarkable level. The fact that Chain of Thought Prompting can improve PaLM and LaMDA at these significant rates is a big … Read more
![Mastering SEO Within Google's SERPs [Podcast]](https://nicheplrnewsletter.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/sejshow-featured-image-ep270-6270214439179-sej.jpg "Mastering SEO Within Google's SERPs [Podcast]")
Google is always looking for ways to push the limits and make its search engine more intelligent. Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz joined me to talk about how you can optimize your site to better represent itself within Google’s search results, including title tags, featured snippets, indented results, and other Google SERP real estate opportunities. … Read more
Google reported 23% year-over-year revenue growth in its Q1 2022 financial results, surpassing the $68 billion mark in total revenue. That’s up substantially from the $55.3 billion reported in Q1 2021 but a marked decline from the 34% growth rate reported at that time, when consumers’ informational needs were at their peak due to the … Read more
Google Hummingbird was a rewrite of Google’s algorithm that consciously anticipated the needs of searching on mobile devices, in particular by enabling conversational search. Hummingbird set the stage for dramatic advances in search. Google never published an explainer of what Hummingbird was. However, there are records of Googlers explaining what it is. Let’s take a … Read more
Google’s John Mueller was asked if “unlinked brand mentions” were important in Google’s algorithm. It was apparent from John’s response that “brand mentions” is probably not a real thing in Google’s algorithm, but he also said that there may be value to site visitors who encounter them. Brand Mentions There is a longstanding idea in … Read more
Google’s John Mueller answered whether a content author’s expertise was important to Google’s algorithm because this plays such an important role in the Quality Raters Guidelines. John answered that he assumed there was some indirect work done on author expertise but noted that it was a “fuzzy area.” E-A-T and Google’s Algorithm It’s established already … Read more
At Google I/O earlier last year, Google announced that it’s exploring a new technology called MUM (Multitask Unified Model) internally to help its ranking systems better understand language. Dubbed “a new AI milestone for understanding information,” MUM is designed to make it easier for Google to answer complex needs in search. Google promised MUM is … Read more
