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#DGPConf19

Effective SEO In 2019

Ian LockwoodBoom Online Marketing

#DGPConf19

The Basics Still Apply

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Metadescription

The Basics Still Apply

<h1>surveillance capitalism</h1>

Internal linking withkeyword anchor text

Site Architecture

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Further reading:https://builtvisible.com/solving-site-architecture-issues/

Site Architecture

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Search Console URL Inspection

Search Console URL Inspection

Domain-Wide Data In Search Console

• Unifies search metrics to a single URL

• Also unified to canonical property (e.g. separate mobile site data could shift to desktop site)

• Transition occurred on 10th April

Canonical Consolidation In GSC

PageSpeed Insights Update

PageSpeed Insights Update

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Google Lazy-Loading Guide

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/lazy-loading

Native Lazy Load Tag Coming

https://addyosmani.com/blog/lazy-loading/

Google Medic Update: 1st August 2018

https://moz.com/blog/googles-august-1st-core-update-week-1

Just Before The Update

http://bit.ly/bnmedic

Rank Ranger Data: YMYL Sites

https://www.rankranger.com/blog/august-google-core-update

Same Old Same Old

• Increase information on your site about your subject• Ensure content up to date & include proof of

expertise/information about the author• e.g. link to LinkedIn profile

• Obtain more links to demonstrate authority• Ensure contact information is readily available & you

have a solid About Us page• Improve online reputation through third-party reviews• Use https:// to serve your site

E-A-T: Expertise, Authority, Trust

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/algorithm-analysis-in-the-age-of-embeddings

Medic: Natural Language Processing

“You can view the rater guidelines as where we want the search algorithm to go,” Ben Gomes, Google’s vice president of search, assistant and news, told CNBC. “They don’t tell you how the algorithm is ranking results, but they fundamentally show what the algorithm should do.”

From The Horse’s Mouth

Further core updates on 27th September & 12th March

But Wait!

https://searchengineland.com/google-on-the-march-2019-core-update-this-is-not-the-biggest-update-weve-released-314099

So What To Do?

• Identify thin/low-quality pages• Not much text• Very similar to other pages (but different URLs)

• Improve quality or block from search engines• Edit/add more text to pages• Delete unrequired pages (404)• Noindex pages needed for users but which

could be seen as low quality

Content Quality

• Page load speed• Mobile-friendliness• Canonicalization issues• Rendering problems• Crawl issues

Technical SEO

JavaScript SEO Video Series

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2019/03/introducing-new-javascript-seo-video.html

• Check search terms vs. landing pages in Search Console

• Are users likely to get what they want?• Are standard features easy to find (contact info,

navigation, search function etc.)?• Do pop-ups or other “features” get in the way?• Get independent users to test your site

User Experience

• Quality over quantity• Use content to attract links• Avoid “spammy” links

Links Still Matter

https://www.blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/fighting-disinformation-across-our-products/

“But we’ve now reached the point where neural networks can help us take a major leap forward from understanding words to understanding concepts. Neural embeddings, an approach developed in the field of neural networks, allow us to transform words to fuzzier representations of the underlying concepts, and then match the concepts in the query with the concepts in the document. We call this technique neural matching. This can enable us to address queries like: “why does my TV look strange?” to surface the most relevant results for that question, even if the exact words aren’t contained in the page.”

Neural Embeddings

https://www.blog.google/products/search/improving-search-next-20-years/

Parsing through text, establishing relationships between words, understanding meaning & deriving greater understanding of the words.

Google analyses text one sentence, paragraph, section & page at a time.

In Short

• Connect questions to answers• 1 or 2 sentence answer you’d expect from a voice assistant• [Entity] is [Answer] uses the question in the answer

• Identify units, classifications and adjectives• Use expected units, be specific• “200 degrees Celsius” not “200 degrees”

Practical Application

Reduce dependency hops

Keep It Simple

Google Cloud Natural Language

https://cloud.google.com/natural-language/

Google Cloud Natural Language

“How often to wash hair?”

Example Text 1:

It seems as though we’re all divided when it comes to how often we should be washing our hair. Some people swear that washing less frequently makes their hair healthier, while others insist that double-shampooing is actually the way to go.

But how does your haircare routine stack up against the rest of America? A recent survey conducted by Lookfantastic set out to measure just that. It turns out that 49% of women polled admitted to washing their hair every damn day, which means that we, as a nation, are totally split 50/50.

If you’re not sure how often you should be washing your hair, it’s always a good idea to check in with your stylist next time you’re at the salon.

Clarity Is Important

“How often to wash hair?”

Example Text 2:

If your skin and hair are anywhere from normal (not super oily and not super dry) to dry, you probably only need to wash it once or twice a week, according to a Columbia University health column. If you have a greasy scalp, you probably need to wash your hair more often.

Much clearer = higher confidence in relevance &providing answer.

Clarity Is Important

• “The cat was often in the tree, but now it’s dead.”• What’s dead, the cat or the tree?• Antecedent is the noun the pronoun replaces

• Be careful with multiple sentences• Can be clear in a single sentence, but carried into another the meaning is lost.• “Vitamin B12 levels are important. On a TV programme last week, Ian said it should bewatched carefully.”

Avoid Unclear Antecedents

Cover letters are an important part of the job application process. You should almost always send a cover letter with a job application unless the hiring manager specifically asks you not to.

However, one thing that is less clear is how long your cover letter should be. If it is way too short, employers might think you do not care much about the job. If it is too long, employers might not take the time to read your letter, and will not consider you for an interview.

Being Correct Requires Clarity

Being Correct Requires Clarity

• Use related keywords as indicators, e.g. “people also search for” terms

• Brainstorm related keywords – tools can stick too close to the seed term

Improve Salience

• Salience is helped by addressing “does this article answer all the subjects and questions a searcher might have when they search?”

• Improves searcher satisfaction as Google is likely to know follow-up topics & questions

• Giving them this content eliminates additional searches

Follow The Query Through

• What else might the searcher need to know or ask?• What are the logical questions after searching for the keyword?• Related terms (definitions)• FAQs• Secondary topics (e.g. insulating a house/energy efficiency, securing your home, home décor)

Searcher Journey

• Isolate entities when not used in a sentence• Separate it in the text (e.g. separate paragraph) & avoid grouping it with a price, year or other data

• Use indicator words to disambiguate, e.g. “Beeston, Nottingham” not just “Beeston”

Disambiguate Entities

Much of this in more detail:https://www.briggsby.com/on-page-seo-for-nlp

A Little Light Reading