Month: September 2019

Categories
SEO

Google Quality Raters Guidelines Updated

Google recently published new Quality Raters Guidelines. Within it you’ll find significant changes to the “Quality Raters Guidelines” section and additional new areas of focus. In this blog post, we’ll track the changes and how they may influence search engine optimization trends.

Something that’s important to notice that many people use these guidelines for tips on how Google search algorithm works but this is not the right approach.

The guidelines are there for quality raters to focus on certain signals and page properties for the purpose of judging the quality of the pages. They are not instructed to look for Quality Raters Guidelines. Google uses quality raters to see if the content the algorithm is ranking meets quality standards and that’s it.

The guidelines are written to assist third-party Quality Raters Guidelines to rate the web pages. They do not contain hints as to what the ranking signals are within the algorithm. The guidelines however do provide hints as to what kind of quality issues the algorithm may be focusing on.

So far, the quality guidelines have been incredibly accurate for predicting trends in the algorithm. For example, the increased instruction on how to rate medical and financial sites coincided with algorithms designed to improve the relevance of those kinds of websites.

The last few Google core Quality Raters Guidelines strongly affected news websites. We see a new news section was added to the quality rater guidelines and it shows how the quality rater guidelines can reflect we’re past or future algorithms are focused. Even though there may not be hints about ranking signals in the quality rater guides, it may be possible to deduce algorithm trends.

What’s Changed

Though a lot of the guidelines have changed overall, an important section to pay attention to is the guidelines that appear in section 2.3.

Section 2.3 handles your money or your life topics. This change affects Quality Raters Guidelines and government related topics. Before this update, the news topic section was grouped in with public and official information pages.

Now the news topic is its own section providing guidance about how to judge and rate news pages. This is likely in response to the fact that Google has gotten a lot of negative attention from politicians and government pundits who Quality Raters Guidelines. It may not be coincidental that the news and government/civics section has been given greater emphasis within the new guidelines.

Topics are Now Emphasized Over Pages

Though it may seem minor, Google has emphasized the topic of a page over the word page itself. The word Pages has been removed in many places throughout the new guidelines whereas the word “topic” has been added in many places.

Removing emphasis from the word “pages” refocuses the sentence on the newly added instances of the word topic. Take a look at this change at the YMYL  section.

Old Version

“Some types of pages could potentially impact the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users. We call such pages “Your Money or Your Life” pages, or YMYL. The following are examples of YMYL pages:”

New Version, with additions added:

“Some types of pages or topics could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety. We call such pages “Your Money or Your Life” pages, or YMYL. The following are examples of YMYL topics:”

This change may appear minor but it has the effect of emphasizing the topicality of a page as something to focus on.

“Some types of pages or topics…”

YLML Rewritten

Section 2.3 that deals with YMYL has been rewritten almost in its entirety. In previous versions, Financial, medical, and shopping topics were in the top three of that section. Now we see the top topics are News and Current Events and Civics, Government and Law.

Those topics are followed by Finance, Shopping, Health and Safety, the new Groups and People and Other. The Other category has also been revised with this new series of update.

It’s worth noting that the Medical section has been demoted from third to fifth place but it has been renamed to Health and Safety.

New YLML Content

The changes to the YLML content are as follows:

  • “News and current events: news about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, technology, etc. Keep in mind that not all news articles are necessarily considered YMYL (e.g., sports, entertainment, and everyday lifestyle topics are generally not YMYL). Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.
  • Civics, government, and law: information important to maintaining an informed citizenry, such as information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, and legal issues (e.g., divorce, child custody, adoption, creating a will, etc.).”

These are the newly revised sections, including the new Health and Safety section:

  • “Finance: financial advice or information regarding investments, taxes, retirement planning, loans, banking, or insurance, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases or transfer money online.
  • Shopping: information about or services related to research or purchase of goods/services, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases online.
  • Health and safety: advice or information about medical issues, drugs, hospitals, emergency preparedness, how dangerous an activity is, etc.
  • Groups of people: information about or claims related to groups of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
  • Other: there are many other topics related to big decisions or important aspects of people’s lives which thus may be considered YMYL, such as fitness and nutrition, housing information, choosing a college, finding a job, etc. Please use your judgment.”

“Other” Topic Expanded

As shown above, the other section has been expanded. I specifically calling out Fitness and Nutrition, College search and job search, which are big topics in the affiliate marketing room, it’s possible they may receive additional scrutiny and emphasis in a future round of core algorithm updates.

It’s also a reasonable assumption that quality raters just hadn’t been focusing enough on these topics. The fact that Google includes them by name in the new guidelines suggests that these are areas Google is paying special attention to.

Housing information could relate to anything from real estate and home loans to home improvement. These niches are also among big money in the affiliate area. Because that topic of housing information itself is vague, it will be interesting to see if housing-related niches will be impacted in future broad core updates.

Section on Identifying Content Updated

Google added information to this section to include new guidance on news and shopping pages.

“News website homepage: the purpose is to inform users about recent or important events. (MC – News Homepage)

News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic. (MC – News Article)

Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.

  • Content behind the Reviews, Shipping, and Safety Information tabs are considered to be part of the MC. (MC – Shopping Page)”

Author Information Section Updated

In section 2.5.2, they cover information about finding out who is responsible for a website and Quality Raters Guidelines. The section remains intact but has one addition:

“Websites want users to be able to distinguish between content created by themselves versus content that was added by other users.”

This change relates to news magazines as well as any sites that accept guest articles or allows Quality Raters Guidelines question-and-answer content.

This could mean that Google is reviewing guest posts and authors and it may indicate that Google is focusing on identifying low-quality sites and excluding them. Sites like Quality Raters Guidelines are full of spam links so this may be one reason why Google is considering paying closer attention to them.

Very High Quality Content Section Expanded

In section 5.1 where very high-quality main content is addressed, the section has been expanded to address the uniqueness and originality of the content. This section has a new focus on news sites but it isn’t limited to sites in that niche. The standards of high-quality also apply to all sites, but in particular YMYL sites.

The new section goes beyond the quality of the text content encouraging quality readers to judge the quality in the originality of artistic content that includes photography, images, and videos.

“A factor that often distinguishes very high quality MC is the creation of unique and original content for the specific website.

While what constitutes original content may be very different depending on the type of website, here are some examples:

  • For news: very high quality MC is original reporting that provides information that would not otherwise have been known had the article not revealed it. Original, in-depth, and investigative reporting requires a high degree of skill, time, and effort. Often very high quality news content will include a description of primary sources and other original reporting referenced during the content creation process. Very high quality news content must be accurate and should meet professional journalistic standards.
  • For artistic content (videos, images, photography, writing, etc.): very high quality MC is unique and original content created by highly skilled and talented artists or content creators. Such artistic content requires a high degree of skill/talent, time, and effort. If the artistic content is related to a YMYL topic (e.g., artistic content with the purpose of informing or swaying opinion about YMYL topics), YMYL standards should apply.
  • For informational content: very high quality MC is original, accurate, comprehensive, clearly communicated, professionally presented, and should reflect expert consensus as appropriate. Expectations for different types of information may vary. For example, scientific papers have a different set of standards than information about a hobby such as stamp collecting. However, all types of very high quality informational content share common attributes of accuracy, comprehensiveness, and clear communication, in addition to meeting standards appropriate to the topic or field.”

Very Positive Reputation Section Expanded

Section 5.2.3 referencing very positive reputation also got an update. The new content reads:

For YMYL topics especially, careful checks for reputation are required. YMYL reputation should be based on evidence from experts, professional societies, awards, etc. For shopping pages, experts could include people who have used the store’s website to make purchases; whereas for medical advice pages, experts should be people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. Please review section 2.3 for a summary of types of YMYL pages/topics.”

We know that website reputation has been a part of the quality raters guidelines for a long time. This doesn’t mean you should go out and then join as many associations as possible and seek testimonials from your customers. But if you are creating YMYL content it should be expert and focus on quality.

Big Changes: Are More on the Horizon?

With this Google quality raters is guideline update, we see a number of significant changes. It’ll be interesting to see how  sites are affected by it’s your garage for updates. If you want to read more of the guidelines and see the changes for yourself, you can download the Quality Raters Guidelines here.

Categories
Digital Marketing

How to Survive Algorithm Changes – Straight from Google

In case you aren’t aware, Google makes changes to its algorithm on a regular basis. In fact, in just one year’s time, Google recently made 3,200 changes to its search algorithm. People often sweat the major announcements regarding algorithm changes, such as the August 2019 one about Google core updates. However, there’s really no need to stress out. With so many changes being made in general, keeping some common sense advice in mind will help you to organically achieve better rankings over time. Follow these tips for surviving algorithm changes, straight from Google’s own recommendations.

Quality of Content

As the saying goes, “Content is king.” This remains true. One rule that has always applied when it comes to SEO is that you should write for people, not search engines. There is some advice beyond this fundamental rule. Let’s take a look at some of the company’s suggestions.

First, they emphasize the need to provide original information, reporting and research. Google looks for new and original content, not just a rewrite of what’s already out there. That means their search engine is looking for you to go further. In fact, Google official recommendation is that webmasters work to provide “a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic.” When you take the time to provide users with a thorough answer to your question, they’re less likely to bounce to other pages. This will reflect positively in your favor when it comes to rankings.

Along these lines, it’s also important that you go above and beyond the competition. Google encourages users to provide information that is beyond the obvious. They want detailed research, along with an analysis of that information. Share data and insight from your own experience. This will set you apart. Be sure not to simply cut and paste data you come across, though. Take time to delve deeper into the content and to share your own original thoughts on the information.

Not only is your content important in Google’s algorithm; headlines matter, too. Your headline should be accurate and descriptive. If they don’t, your reader won’t stay on the page. You also want to avoid the temptation to write sensational or outlandish headlines for this reason.  A high bounce rate will hurt your rank.

You want to strive for content that people love. Google recommends making it so that folks will want to bookmark, share and recommend. In fact, they go a step beyond that and suggest that you write material that could be seen in a print publication such as a book or magazine. It can be tempting to dash off less than stellar content simply because online information is so readily available and easy to access. Shoot for professional, quality content and you’ll never go wrong.

Display of Expertise

Clearly, we can’t all be experts in everything. However, you should at the very least be knowledgeable about the subject you’re presenting. While it’s true that you’re writing for humans, search engines like Google also look for content that reflects a certain level of expertise. Your audience should at least have a modicum of trust in what you’re offering on the page. This will be reflected in the amount of time they remain there.

Google’s new recommendations involve providing your audience with evidence as to why they should trust you. Be sure you create an About Page that tells of your credentials and link to it throughout your site. Provide information about your background, linking out to works you’ve provided elsewhere. When you’re citing information that isn’t yours, be sure to list or link your source. You want to present yourself as an authority on the subject. You can do that with evidence of your knowledge and credentials, along with the fact that you are aware of other current and relevant sources.

Another issue that falls under the realm of expertise is the presentation of factual information. Be sure to fact check what you’re putting out there. You don’t want to unknowingly spread disinformation from questionable sources. It’s even worse if you are intentionally spreading “fake news.” Google will penalize you for this.

Comparative Information

Some of your ranking will be with regard to how your site compares to others. Google’s newest recommendations regarding algorithm advise webmasters to be sure they are providing substantial value in comparison to other similar pages within the search results. So, it’s a good idea to take some time to research the top several results on the first page for your search term prior to writing your content. This will help to guide your own content in a way that ensures your content stands out and offers a new angle.

Google also wants you to write in ways that are useful for the folks who are visiting your site, rather than trying to guess what will rank better. Remember the very first rule of content creation is to write for real people, not for the search engines. Pay attention to what visitors respond well to on your site already. Give them more of that or expand upon what you’ve already offered. Over time, as you continue providing content of value, Google will reward your efforts with higher rankings.

Presentation

Finally, the way your site looks and how it functions also matters to Google. Check for spelling and grammatical errors. In addition, your content should be easily readable. That means clear fonts and colors that make things easy to see are essential. Your graphics and videos should also look professional. Avoid just throwing things together or grabbing a free stock image. Avoid sharing too many ads, as this will make your page look cluttered and distract from the content. You also want to be certain your page looks good on mobile devices, as this is the preferred viewing method for much of the population. Consider the quality of your presentation in order to give yourself an advantage with regard to rank.

Keep these tips in mind as you move forward. These Google recommendations will help you to survive algorithm changes and maintain high rankings in searches.

Categories
Digital Marketing

Amazon Ads 101

Any savvy marketer knows that a digital presence is necessary in today’s overcrowded marketplace. Your business simply can’t survive if you’re not promoting your product online. In order to reach potential customers, you must target the types of media they frequent most. Amazon is definitely one of those places. In fact, there are currently more than 100 million Amazon Prime subscribers in the US alone. Amazon advertising is gaining in popularity. It comes in third behind Google and Facebook for ad sales.

If you’re not currently running Amazon ads, you’re already behind the curve. Don’t worry. There’s still time to get in on the game. With so many people using Amazon to find the products they need, it makes sense to highlight your company’s offerings with ad placements on the platform. Keep reading to get the scoop on all things Amazon ads.

Why Amazon Ads?

As noted, the sheer volume of users and Amazon’s top-three online advertiser position are quite compelling reasons to consider placing Amazon ads. In addition, we’re seeing a recent shift in the ways that people conduct their online searches. Amazon is becoming a go-to location for many buyers when it comes to finding what they want. According to Social Media Examiner, Amazon is catching up to Google in number of product searches. It’s estimated that 52% of product searches begin on Amazon, with only 30% being conducted through search engines. Younger people, ages 18 to 29, report even higher use of Amazon for finding products.

Because of their sheer inventory volume and the record number of searches being performed, Amazon has access to a wealth of consumer-related data. This type of insight offers unique advantages, both on and off site, that other platforms don’t have. Information such as past purchases, current shopping interests and times shopped can help you a great deal with finding just the right target demographic for your offerings.

Types of Amazon Ads

There are two traditional types of Amazon ads. These are sponsored products and sponsored brands. The ads are meant exclusively for retailers that are selling on Amazon. Their purpose is to drive immediate sales and to provide a high return on your advertising dollars. These types of ads show up in a timely manner when someone is shopping for or ready to purchase a similar item. The majority of advertisers choose to invest in sponsored products, with sponsored brands coming in close behind.

Sponsored products appear in an Amazon search much like organic results, but they’re clearly marked as “sponsored.” They work a lot like Google ads. Because they’re set up to run as cost-per-click (CPC) ads, you pay only when a shopper clicks your ad. Sponsored brands also run on a CPC model. They show up  a bit differently, though. When you invest in this type of Amazon ad, users will see a banner at the top of the page that features three similar products from your brand for each search query they perform. It’s a great way for your company to be seen by Amazon customers. You can customize the look of these banners and direct where users land upon clicking.

About Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP) Ads

Amazon DSP ads are meant for advertisers who don’t sell on Amazon. That’s right. You can still target Amazon users even if you don’t have a storefront or sell through the platform. It’s a fantastic way to create awareness for your brand with a wide audience. You can choose from various ad formats, including mobile banner, mobile web display, mobile interstitial, desktop and video. The primary goal of this type of strategy is to promote your company and gain brand recognition. You can even use the ad app to gain users’ demographics and shopping habits to better target your ads. This ad format allows you to direct users away from Amazon and to your own site, as well.

Locations of Amazon Display Ads

Amazon ads can be displayed in several different ways, in different areas of the page. It’s possible for an ad to show up on a category page through a completely unrelated search simply because a user was looking at a particular item in an earlier session. This is a strategic way to redirect a shopper based on prior search behavior. You can also target your ads to appear on pages for similar or related products. This makes sense as a means to help consumers discover your brand when searching for products like yours. These ads may be displayed at either the top or bottom of the page.

It’s also possible for Amazon display ads to end up on other sites such as CNN or ESPN. That’s because such sites are part of the Google display network, and Google’s AdX exchange is offered through Amazon DSP. Using Amazon DSP lets you choose from seven open ad exchanges, providing your ads  tremendous variety and reach.

How to Access Amazon Ad Services

You can access Amazon’s ad services in a number of ways. If you’re an Amazon seller, it’s easy to use the Amazon Marketing Group to set up your ads. Those who wish to gain access to Amazon users but who don’t sell on the platform can go through Amazon DSP. It is important to know that Amazon has rather high monthly advertising minimums. Therefore, you’ll need a large budget set aside for this purpose. Currently, you can expect to need to allot between $15,000 and $35,000 per month in order to have access to their services.

If your ad spend budget is much smaller, you still have options. It’s possible to hire an outside agency to run ads for your company’s products or services. The way this works is that such agencies pool the resources of several clients in order to meet Amazon’s monthly spending quotas. The agency works with each client in order to be sure they receive their desired campaign spending.

There you have it, an Amazon ads 101 primer. Hopefully, you now understand the basics and benefits of running ads on Amazon and are ready to give it a try for your company.

 

Categories
SEO

Rank and Rent Lead Generation

Rank and rent refers to a digital marketing strategy that involves building a site and nurturing it until it becomes visible to the search engines. When it achieves a high local rank, you then rent it out to a business who is interested in acquiring new leads. You collect profits from all the business leads the website generates.

This approach is something that local SEO veterans are running to because it is simple and easy to scale while being incredibly lucrative.

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is the practice of ranking a web page for a search phrase and then selling leads from that page. Companies such as HomeAdvisor and Yelp are examples of lead generation businesses.

HomeAdvisor and Yelp rank web pages for local search related keywords. Their business model depends on ranking for search phrases and then selling them leads from the Google local search traffic or paid advertising.

Rank and Rent Business Model

The rank and rent business model is a variation of this approach. Rank and rent rents the entire website along with all of the keywords that it ranks for to a single business.

This is an alternative to taking an existing site-built and working to get it rank within the search engine. The new websites are built, are tailored to a niche rather than a specific business. It’s still necessary to perform all the tasks that go into helping that website rank with the search engines. He must create content, do on page optimization, build a backlink profile, and so on.

For instance, someone in St. Petersburg, Florida could build a website for pool cleaning in the area with a domain like StPetersburgPoolCleaners.com. Keeping the domain name generic not only helps make it easier to rank for those local search keyword phrases but allows you to rent it to any pool cleaning business that services the St. Petersburg area.

The hard part is understanding how to setup call forwarding and call tracking to properly send the leads to the business. You aren’t a pool cleaner or a plumber and the people are calling you for those services, so you need to send them directly to the person who can help.

Rank and rent websites are easy to recognize because the site is incredibly generic with the information it provides. It can also be difficult in some industries where licenses are required. Generally, once the SEO has found the business to take the leads, they include their license number and information on the website.

This variation on the standard lead generation model is good for the business because the business can benefit from the rank and rent website as well as rankings from their own website. This variation is ideal for the SEO expert  because in the event that a business stops paying for the leads or decides they no longer want them, they can take the website and rent it to another business in the area. Oftentimes, local business owners don’t want those leads going to the competition so they jump on the opportunity to continue paying for leads from the property.

An alternative to this style of the rank and rent method is for the marketer to sell the warm leads to local businesses rather than renting out the entire website.

Businesses get the benefit of a pre-built website that’s already ranking and bringing in leads while the marketer gets money from the websites rental. Service companies  love the arrangement because it is a risk-free way to get into an SEO property.

For the marketer, rank and rent provides the promise of steady money without having to deal with day to day client work. The SEO marketer gets to create and optimize the website based on their own ideas of best practices instead of having to work within a client’s request and still gets income. While you are in the process of ranking the website, you have complete and total freedom to make decisions without having to report to a client every day. This can also be a good way for them to demonstrate skills to prospective clients when they are just getting started in the industry.

On the other side of things, the business renting the website or buying the leads has all of the benefits of the established website without having to wait for the results. Investing in a good SEO professional can be expensive which makes the cost of renting an already optimized website attractive.

Local Search Keyword Ranking

HomeAdvisor and  Yelp use their own sites to rank for search queries to sell ads and leads. An expose was recently published revealing the GrubHub buys domain names that match business names to sell leads from the unofficial website. The screenshot below shows that Google is ranking GrubHub for the name of the Mushers Deli Restaurant and the moshersgourmetlongbeach.com website, also owned by GrubHub is ranking below it.

The expose reported that ranking a business name is a way to attract users to the  GrubHub own site and when they click a button to place the order GrubHub gets a referral fee. Big brands like GrubHub rank domains other than its own in Google to generate leads. Though GrubHub is not practicing Rank and rent, it is ranking websites other than its own for lead generation purposes.

The rank and rent variation of this tactic involves ranking a website for the purpose of generating leads. The difference is that with the rank and rent model the search marketer isn’t selling the weeds but renting the website itself.

Is it Easy to Exploit Local Search Ranking?

In early 2019, website created almost entirely with Latin language filler content was able to ranked number one in the Google local search. Nearly all of the content was written in an extinct language and it’s still managed to rank at the top of local search.

The site ranked for months. Google didn’t remove the Latin language site until an article was published about it. The fact that his sight written almost entirely in an extinct language can rank in me Google local search exposes a weak spot in the local search algorithms.

The concept of rank and rent is not new. Domain brokers have been renting their domains for over 15 years now. The practice of ranking in renting domains for lucrative keywords has been around even longer as I’m aware of many people who rented or sold domains that ranked.

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