Jo Cameron says, “Welcome to the sixth installment of our educational Next Level series! In our last episode, Jo took you on an adventure diving for treasure in the long tail of search. This time around we’re answering the call for help when you feel like you’ve done all you can, but you’re still not ranking. Read on and level up! You’ve optimized your pages, written delightful title tags, concocted a gorgeous description to entice clicks, used your target keyword in your copy with similar words, and your content is good, like really good. As far as you’re concerned... [...]

Ben Davis says, “What mobile UX mistakes should marketers be looking out for? Here are 23 of them for a start. The information is taken from a variety of Google resources and includes both factors that Google has explicitly stated could be detrimental to search performance, and other factors for which the same could be implied (e.g. from Google’s developer guides). Of course, many factors are used to judge page quality and ultimately if Google judges a page to have the best quality content, it may survive these UX errors. So, on we go… 1. Slow-loading pages For some time, speed... [...]

Cyrus Shepard says, “How fresh is this article? Through patent filings over the years, Google has explored many ways that it might use “freshness” as a ranking signal. Back in 2011, we published a popular Moz Blog post about these “Freshness Factors” for SEO. Following our own advice, this is a brand new update of that article. In 2003, Google engineers filed a patent named Information retrieval based on historical data that shook the SEO world. The patent not only offered insight into the mind of Google engineers at the time, but also seemingly provided a roadmap for Google’s algorithm... [...]

Ben Davis says, “We recently ran an article about the importance of canonical tags to differentiate between similar product pages. You can read that piece here. But what about when a competitor’s page seems to have bumped you out of the search results? That’s another topic that Jon Earnshaw, CTO Pi Datametrics, discussed at Brighton SEO last month. Let’s have a look… More books (where did kitty go?) Just like the last canonical example, we’re looking at Waterstones again. The chart below shows the Google search ranking (using the term ‘Test Your Cat’)... [...]

Bridget Randolph says, “As mobile technology becomes an increasingly common way for users to access the internet, you need to ensure that your mobile content (whether on a mobile website or in a mobile app) is as accessible to users as possible. In the past this process has been relatively siloed, with separate URLs for desktop and mobile content and apps tucked away in app stores. But as app and mobile web usage continues to rise, the ways in which people access this content is beginning to converge, which means it’s becoming more important to keep all of these different content locations... [...]

MOZ team says, “Through experimentation and analysis of patents that Google has submitted, we’ve come to know some interesting things about what the engine values. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers some of what Google likely learns from certain user behavior, specifically queries, CTR, and long vs. short clicks“. The Impact of Queries, Long and Short Clicks, and Click Through Rate on Google’s Rankings – Whiteboard Friday MOZ Blog  [...]

Angela Patteys says, “If the name “Google Webmaster Tools” rings a bell for you, then you might already have an idea of what Google Search Console is. Since Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) has become a valuable resource for so many different types of people besides webmasters—marketing professionals, SEOs, designers, business owners, and app developers, to name a few—Google decided to change its name in May of 2015 to be more inclusive of its diverse group of users. If you aren’t familiar with GWT or Google Search Console, let’s head back to square one. Google Search... [...]

Roy Hinkis says, “When Moz undertook this year’s Ranking Correlation Study (Ranking Factors), there was a desire to include data points never before studied. Fortunately, SimilarWeb had exactly what was needed. For the first time, Moz was able to measure ranking correlations with both traffic and engagement metrics. Using Moz’s ranking data on over 200,000 domains, combined with multiple SimilarWeb data points—including traffic, page views, bounce rate, time on site, and rank—the Search Ranking Factors study was able to measure how these metrics corresponded to higher rankings. These... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “Google is increasingly valuing ‘quality content’ when it comes to search rankings, according to a new report. This isn’t exactly news to most marketers, but the way in which Google determines quality is evolving. According to the study, positive signals such as the amount of time spent on a page are having an increasingly significant impact on rankings. This means it’s more important than ever to keep the reader engaged. With that in mind, I’m going to use this post to try and explain how you can achieve ‘quality content’ on your site based on some of the... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Earlier this year, Google announced that it would begin using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal on April 21, 2015. “This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results,” the company wrote on its blog. “Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” That created an imperative for website owners: address mobile experience, or else.  April 21 is just a week away and because of the potential impact... [...]