The question is, how do domain extensions affect a website’s search engine optimisation and rankings. 

In a recent episode of the Ask Googlebot video series on YouTube, Google’s John Mueller answered this question.

.com domains vs. Other extensions

A most commonly asked question concerning domains is if .com domains are somehow superior as compared to most other extensions? 

The first question answered by Mueller was covering this very query where the user hints if they can use .space, which is a newer extension.  Mueller recommended to “go for it.”

According to John:

“The newer top-level domains (TLDs) are equivalent to other generic top-level domains like .com when it comes to SEO. Pick something you like, there are lots of options out there now.”

A non-www or www domain? 

The next question was from a user working on their blog and wanted to know if they should go with a www domain or a non-www one, and whether either option can affect SEO.

Mueller straight up clears that Google holds no specific preference as to which one you’re using, so it all comes down to you at the end. You are allowed to work through the one you prefer. He hints that yes, there can be some technical issues that sometimes interfere, but otherwise, it is your own choice. 

Using rel-canonical Tag 

The next query was about rel-canonical tag element and if it can be used across different domains, such as generic top-level domains (gTLDs) or country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs).

Mueller confirms that this could be done, as the rel=canonical link element is not limited to the same domain name.

A global website with a ccTLD extension

The last question was about ccTLDs extensions (country-code top-level domain extensions) and whether they work for a global website without having a negative impact on search rankings?

John Mueller confirmed that this can be done.

“The answer is yes. While a country-code domain name helps our systems to geo-target for that country, it still allows for global visibility.

The only limitation is that you can’t specify other countries for geotargeting. For example, if you have a .fr website for France, you could use that globally. But you wouldn’t be able to explicitly geotarget users in Brazil.”

Summary

To summarize:

• It is totally acceptable to use a newer domain extension that isn’t a .com,
• Google has no preference for www or non-www domains,
• Rel=canonical link element isn’t limited to the same domain name, and
• Country-specific domain extensions can have global visibility.

You can watch the full video here.

The post Google’s John Mueller explains the impact of domain extensions on SEO appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

But it seems like more websites are being affected by the update.

What was the December Product Reviews update?

The goal of the December Product Review update was to encourage reviewers to provide high-quality and authentic reviews to users, enhancing the usefulness of online reviews. 

According to the update, Google recommended the following two suggestions to include in product reviews. The existence (or lack thereof) of the following new best practices in the reviews will affect search rankings:

• You should have used the product that you’re reviewing. This is to help ensure that reviews are authentic and genuine, based on the personal experience of the reviewer.
• You should give your readers multiple choices and links to purchase the product. Therefore, make sure to include links to multiple sellers and websites, instead of linking to only one.

Could the update also have affected non-English websites?

The official tweet mentioned that the update was solely for English-language product review websites.

But is the update targeting other language websites too?

Google’s John Mueller was recently asked this question as there had been an influence of updates noticed in German searches. The question was:

“I was seeing some movements in German search as well.

So I was wondering if there could also be an effect on websites in other languages by this product reviews update because we had lots of movement and volatility in the last weeks. My question is, is it possible that the product reviews update affects other sites as well?”

Mueller, at first, seems to be surprised with the contradiction between blog posts and update status but then replies that the update is most likely deemed to be global, and perhaps it just wasn’t mentioned in the blog post. 

“My assumption was this was global and across all languages. But I don’t know what we announced in the blog post specifically.”

Mueller also said that regardless of what happened, he believes that this update should roll out globally because it is “relevant across the board.”

Takeaway

Although the tweet highlighted English-only product review websites, product review websites in other English-language websites must be ready for any changes caused by this update. 

Google was not much empathetic on their update timing and they still have not clarified if the update changes will roll out internationally. The best action is to stay prepared and follow the two key points that are most critical to this December update.

The post Google December Product Reviews Update might also have affected non-English websites appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Knowing what habits and processes the best content teams share and follow is an excellent first step towards that.

In this post, we list five habits that can make content teams successful. Does your content team follow these habits, processes, and practices?

Let’s find out. 

Workflow organization

Abandon disorganized workflow. The best-laid plans can get messy once they get stuck in delayed timelines and unchecked workflow. 

After establishing a workflow process, make sure it’s communicated properly, so everyone is aware of the expectations and ensure there is no pending work down in limbo. A little help from technology tools like ClickUp or Slack can also help keep the content production team on track.

It is important to note that organized workflow is much more than just having project management or internal communication software. It is about defining how your content team works, what the priorities and roles of each team member are, and having full visibility into every part of the process.

Clear definition of individual roles

When building content plans and workflows, an important part is to thoroughly define the roles of each contributor in the team. Clear communication with each individual team member is the key to becoming more effective and productive as a whole.

Without a clear definition of roles, multiple team members might work on the same task. Unless that is intentional, it will only cause confusion and disruption, not to mention a waste of resources if multiple people are working on something that a single team member could handle.

Definition of roles also helps significantly when it comes to creating the aforementioned workflow. Successful and productive content teams divide their workflows into several phases (e.g., research, writing, editing, publishing), and assign each phase to a separate team member to keep things moving.

Attention to detail

A content team cannot be successful without being attentive to detail. There are so many moving parts in the content production process — from research to writing to editing — that it requires careful attention.

• Who are you writing for?
• What are their problems?
• Are you picking the right topics?
• Are you picking the right keywords?
• Are you structuring your post correctly, so it increases engagement and traction?
• Are you selecting the right CTA?

All these goals are achieved with careful attention to detail. And with attention to detail comes quality — which is one of the two core pillars upon which successful content teams are built.

Consistency

The second part of that equation is quantity. And quantity comes with consistency and productivity. 

Consistency is especially important for content teams as infrequent publishing may also have a negative effect on SEO and, therefore, organic traffic, conversions, sales, and revenue.

For content teams, consistency usually comes in the form of planning and executing on a content calendar.

Here is a guide on content calendars if you are interested.

Automation

Automation is a crucial component of productivity. Considering how important it is to consistently produce content, it helps successful content teams achieve that goal.

For instance, a content team can create social content and automate social posts by queuing them up with a tool like Buffer.

Similarly, you can also create marketing email campaigns, set up an email flow, and automate it based on triggers.

Small actions and automations such as these can be incredibly helpful when managing a high workload. It gives content teams opportunities to spend more time improving the quality or increasing the quantity of content they produce.

Both of which may translate into higher productivity, increased traffic, and more conversions.

Conclusion

There is a lot of competition out there for online businesses, and content is one of those defining online marketing aspects that can help you stand apart, drive traffic, and outdo your competitors.

But for that to happen, you need a highly efficient, effective, and productive content team. 

 To summarize, following are the five habits that can make content teams successful:

• They are well organized and follow a defined workflow.
• They define individual roles clearly.
• They are attentive to details.
• They produce content consistently by following a well-made editorial calendar.
• They try to automate as many things as possible to ensure high productivity.

The post 5 Habits That Can Make Content Teams Successful appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

A headline serves as the appearance of a dish, no one will eat the food, no matter how tasty, if you do not present it well. One can say the same about headings, 

No matter how useful, entertaining, or well-researched your content is, it won’t receive views if the headline is unable to capture the reader’s attention.

If you’re struggling with this, here are five tips that will help you create better titles for your content and drive more traffic and views.

Incorporate clear benefits 

When scrolling through an everyday feed, either of news or social media posts, people are selective in giving away their attention span to the whole content. 

It is mostly mindless scrolling until they jump at a header that addresses to their benefit. Your headline should communicate those benefits succinctly and powerfully. 

Your promised benefits can be in the shape of:

• A piece of new information
• A question, not mind-numbing but enticing enough to induce sudden curiosity 
• Useful solutions that would serve as unique rationales to common issues 
• Unique perspectives to generic ideas 

Remember, the level of expectations they hold for your content would be staged by your headlines. People have low attention spans, so a headline relating to their benefit shall certainly catch their eye. 

Use search results and see what’s working

Internet users seem to be accustomed to clickbait-y phrases that mark half of the content on their timeline. So work on the keywords you are going to utilize. After that, know what you are competing against. The Internet is flooded with numerous articles. To stand out and be better, you must have a thorough knowledge of what’s already there.

What’s more appealing for the audience? Is it commercial content or blogging? How-to questions, guide headlines, or infographics? What makes their content appealing? 

To know what you are getting involved in, scan the google search results and try to filter the articles that stand out. Now it’s time to produce a much better design for your exceptional ideas to get your content to Page 1. 

Additionally, if you notice a pattern on what’s working (by analyzing the top-ranked articles on Google SERPs), you can also take inspiration from those headlines and reverse-engineer their methods, saving yourself a lot of time and effort.

Emotionally charged headlines 

Bring emotions to your headlines by using a list of powerful words that evoke your reader’s emotions and complete your mission of making them click on your article. However, provoking emotions through such headlines must be done subtly. Read below and see how crafting an emotional headline can glide up a reader from their mind-numbing scrolling:

From: “Five reasons to give us your donations…”

To: “Become a donor. Save a child’s life today.” 

See how by a careful selection of words, you can evoke an unconscious desire in people to click on your article and even donate after some skimming. 

Use numbers in your headlines 

With an everyday explosion of information on the internet, there has been an ongoing growth of the total volume of content creators. As a result, it has become a huge challenge to stand out. 

80% of readers never make it past the headline. It is estimated that, on average, eight out of ten people will only read the headline, and only two out of ten will read the rest of the web page.  

After extensive research on content that resonates with viral sensations, it has been seen that headlines including “numbers” in them are more attractive to readers. The number suggests that the content can be quickly skimmed, it’s comprehensive and, therefore, will save time. 

By giving a clear expectation of what the content holds, your reader gets engaged quickly. Furthermore, it will be implying that the article is going to be well-organized and sequenced in logical order. And who doesn’t like to save time by reading comprehensive and organized content? Some quick tips on how to put the use of numbers to even better use:

• Use digits. 
• Try putting the number at the start of the headline.
• Multiples of 5 or 10 or odd numbers are the most-read ones for listicles.

Create and test multiple headlines 

Now that you know how an effective and attractive headline should be, it’s time to be creative! Keep in mind that one cannot achieve perfection on the first attempt. You will be discarding many headlines; there will be many drafts until you improve the final headline for your article. 

But hey, don’t be too harsh on your brain. Conduct A/B tests and rely on the test results instead of going by “gut feeling” that may not always be correct.

Conclusion 

There is no doubt that the headline of a post is the most important part of online content. Before publishing any article, look for any improvements in your headline, keeping the above-mentioned tips in mind.

Related Posts:

• On-Page SEO Guide
• H1 Tag Best Practices
• Meta Description Best Practices
• How to Make a Good Headline
• Headlines That Work

The post 5 Tips to Dramatically Increase Headline Performance appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Although not the best, it still can be an excellent source of free, organic traffic of people who are interested in your niche.

But is that a dependable source? Google’s John Mueller thinks differently.

Relying on Google Discover for traffic

When talking about Google Discover traffic’s inconsistency, Muller says, one either gets the traffic or they don’t. And due to this binary behavior, any changes in traffic would be quite visible.

Muller reasons the disappearance of traffic by saying:

“I think it’s always tricky with Discover because it’s… at least what I hear from people, it’s very binary in that either you get, like, a lot of traffic or you don’t get a lot of traffic from Discover. And that also means that any changes there tend to be very visible.

So my main recommendation is not to rely on Google Discover for traffic, but rather to see it as an additional traffic source and not as the main one.”

Improving performance on Google Discover

In order to improve traffic, Muller asks to follow the content guidelines provided by Google and to avoid using click-baits. Website content is evaluated by search crawlers under those oriented guidelines. 

“The other thing is with Discover, in particular, we have a set of content guidelines that we try to stick to in an algorithmic way.

And depending on the website itself, it might be something where some of these content guidelines, your website is kind of borderline.

So, for example, I don’t know the content guidelines all by heart, but I think there is something like clickbait-y titles or clickbait-y content in general or kind of adult-oriented content, for example,” says John.

What is Google Discover?

Google Discover tailors a feed of content according to your personal choices and interests. By keeping tabs on your interests and preferences, Google Discover presents a feed of curated content and monitors your interaction and engagement with the content to improve future recommendations. The feed can be customized by following content categories.

Google Discover can send a good amount of traffic to your website. However, as we just learned, relying on that traffic isn’t the best thing to do.

Instead, in order to build a stream of consistent, free traffic, we recommend optimising your website for the Google search engine.

Conclusion 

Muller is of the view that traffic on a website must not primarily rely on Google Discover. That’s because such a source of traffic can be inconsistent and reliable and, therefore, may have adverse effects on the foundation of a business. 

Following guidelines and avoiding click baits can improve chances of getting Google Discover traffic, however, keep it as an auxiliary source.

The post John Mueller explains why you shouldn’t rely on Google Discover traffic appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

For example, using the primary keyword phrase in the “lede” or intro of the article instead of using it once at, say, when half the article is done.

This concept of keyword prominence isn’t new. Many SEOs have been using keyword prominence for years now. However, does it actually work? And is it still relevant?

In this post, we are going to shed some light on keyword prominence, if the concept is still valid, and how the evolution of search engines might affect this in the future.

The evidence of keyword prominence influencing search rankings

The first evidence of keyword prominence influencing search rankings came from former Google employee Matt Cutts. In 2011, Matt shared a video in which he discussed how Google search crawlers identify keywords on a page and influence search rankings of that page.

“The way that modern search engines, or at least Google, are built is that the first time you mention a word — [Google thinks] “Hey, that’s pretty interesting, it’s about that word,” said Matt Cutts.

However, Matt also cautioned against overdoing keywords because “there are diminishing returns.”

“The next time you mention that word, [Google thinks] “Oh OK, it’s still about that word.” And once you start to mention it a whole lot, it really doesn’t help that much more. There are diminishing returns. It’s just an incremental benefit, but it’s really not that large.

So the first one or two times you mention a word than that might help with your ranking, absolutely. But just because you can say it seven or eight times, that doesn’t mean that it will necessarily help your ranking,” Matt added.

But that was back in 2011, ten years ago.

What about now?

The latest evidence that keyword prominence still influences search rankings came by John Mueller during a recent Q&A session.

“I would recommend, if there’s something that you want to tell us that your page is about, to make that as visible as possible. So don’t just put that as a one-word mention on the bottom.

But rather, use it in your titles, use it in your headings, use it in your subheadings, use it in your captions from images, all of these things to make it as clear as possible for users and for Google when they go to your page that this page is about this topic,” John recommended.

John especially focused on thinking of keyword prominence from a user perspective. He said:

“You really need to make sure that the information that tells what this page is about is as obvious as possible so that when users go there, they’re like, “Yes, I made it to the right page, I will read what this page has to tell me.”

How Google BERT contextualizes search results

Google has constantly been improving its search algorithm for a long time now.  The improvements attempt to reduce spam and phishing sites. Quality and a more human experience are now priorities. 

They strive to enhance user experience and search results’ relevance. Google BERT is one of the recent attempts by Google to better understand the content even without the excessive use of keywords.

BERT (Bidirectional Encoder and Recognition Tool) helps Google comprehend search query context and improve search results by showing more contextually relevant web pages.

The importance of semantically related keywords

As we just learned, keyword prominence is still an important factor — both for search engines as well as website visitors. However, in the context of Google BERT, content marketers and SEOs need to be smarter with keyword prominence.

The use of semantically related keywords can help improve your search visibility and rankings. This practice will also be in line with what Matt Cutts recommended in 2011 — to avoid overdoing the same keywords over and over again as there are no incremental benefits past a certain point.

You can learn more semantic SEO here:

• What is Semantic SEO?

• How to Use Semantic SEO for Higher Rankings

• What are LSI Keywords and How to Find Them

The post How does keyword prominence affect search engine rankings? appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Josh has helped hundreds of businesses, both large and small, achieve huge increases in revenue and profit through his expertise in Search Engine Optimisation and Digital Marketing.

With over 10 years experience in web-development, SEO, CRO and digital marketing Josh is highly proficient at developing profit yielding, results driven marketing strategy for business of all types.

The post About Josh Hamit appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

The update ran between November 30th and December 8th.

So if you noticed any significant changes — positive or negative — in local search rankings between November 30th and December 8th, you now know the reason.

Here is the tweet by Google confirming the November 2021 Local Search update:

“Our November 2021 local search update has concluded. It began [on] Nov 30 and ran through Dec 8. It involved a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results. General guidance for businesses remains the same as covered here: https://t.co/uyXFfmUEIR”

The November 2021 Local Search update overlapped with other ranking updates as well as a design interface update for Google Maps and local pack. Both these changes at the same time may have resulted in traffic and ranking changes for either your business or your clients’ businesses. 

Because the timing overlapped, it might be difficult to identify exactly what led to how much change.

Google’s Local Search ranking factors

In the announcement tweet, Google mentioned that the update involved “a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results.”

That’s why it would be a good idea to revisit what ranking factors Google focuses on for local search results. The three main categories are:

• Relevance.  Relevance refers to how well a local business matches the searcher’s query.  For instance, despite the proximity, a search about a flower shop won’t rank a casino in the local search results.
• Distance.  Because local search results are more focused on location, the distance of the business is another important factor that Google considers. Despite how relevant the query is, it is unlikely that Google will prioritize a business that is in another state.
• Prominence.  Lastly, Google also evaluates how well known, credible, and popular a business is.

Google has never shared the exact details of how much weight it gives to these different search engine ranking factors. However, now that Google has “rebalanced” these factors, it is a good idea to just revisit how well your business ranks for each of these factors and work on the shortcomings. 

For instance, if your business already performs well in the relevance category (e.g., proper keyword optimisation and category selection), perhaps it’s the right time to focus on another category, such as prominence, by improving user reviews.

The post Google Confirmed Local Search Algorithm Update appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

However, the important question is what kind of impact website downtime can have on a website’s search engine performance and rankings? 

Google’s John Mueller recently talked about this during the December 10 Google Search Central SEO Office Hours hangout video.

An SEO professional asked John Mueller how he can minimize the impact on search rankings when the client website goes down for up to a week.

As John Mueller confirmed, unfortunately, there is no way to have a website down for a week and not face any negative SEO consequences. While there are ways to at least handle planned maintenance shutdown more effectively, there is never any guarantee of avoiding negative effects.

“Any time you have a longer outage, where I’m thinking more than a couple of days, I would assume that at least temporarily you will have really strong fluctuations, and it’s going to take a little bit of time to get back in.

It’s not impossible because these things happen sometimes. But if there’s anything you can do to avoid this kind of outage, I would try to do that.”

503 Result Codes

Whether the downtime is planned maintenance shutdown or unintentional, there is a possibility of negative consequences. However, if it is a planned maintenance shutdown for a day or two, then you should inform Google with a 503 result code.

“For an outage of maybe a day or so, using a 503 result code is a great way to tell us that we should check back.”

A 503 result code can help, but even that doesn’t work if the downtime is longer than usual. According to John:

“… but after a couple of days, we think this is a permanent result code, and we think your pages are just gone, and we will drop them from the index.

And when the pages come back, we will crawl them again, and we will try to index them again. But it’s essentially during that time we will probably drop a lot of the pages from the website from our index, and there’s a pretty good chance that it’ll come back in a similar way, but it’s not always guaranteed.”

Static versions

Another method is to redirect users to a static version of your website during the downtime. But for that method to work, it is important to ensure the outage lasts for less than a day.

“That could be something like setting up a static version of the website somewhere and just showing that to users for the time being. But especially if you’re doing this in a planned way, I would try to find ways to reduce the outage to less than a day if at all possible.”

Manually indexing pages

In cases like these, it is also possible to manually ask Google to index the pages on your website that it may have deindexed during the outage. This might expedite the indexation process, but as we just learned, you will still likely feel some negative effects.

You can manually submit pages for indexing the following way:

• Log in to your Google Search Console account.
• Browse to the URL inspection tool.
• Paste the URL of the page that you’d like Google to index.
• Click the ‘Request indexing’ button after Google checks the URL.

If Google still doesn’t index a page, it is also a recommended practice to double-check the robots.txt file, canonical tags, and redirects. Additionally, you can also create internal links to that page from other web pages on your site that are already indexed.

How to minimize website downtime

Your website is a way to stay connected with your potential and existing customers 24/7. You can’t achieve that goal if your website is down often. This damages the credibility of your business — in addition to all the negative SEO effects we talked about earlier.

Therefore, one of your big focuses should be to increase website uptime. Here are a few tips on how you can achieve that:

• Choose a reliable web host. An unreliable web host is often the biggest culprit why websites go down.
• Lighten website load. Compress images, minify CSS and JS files, and minimize HTTP requests. All that helps.
• Upgrade hosting plans. As your website grows in size and traffic, you will likely need better hosting plans, e.g., managed hosting plans.
• Deploy uptime monitoring plugins. Despite attempts, nearly all websites experience downtime. It is, therefore, important to use website uptime monitoring plugins to diagnose negative spikes and trends before they become bigger problems.
• Increase website security. Hackers attempt to force a website down to steal data. By improving your website security, you also decrease the likelihood of your website going down.

The post How Does Downtime Affect a Website’s SEO? appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

This week, we’re interviewing SEO Specialist, Josh Hamit.

1.  If you wrote a book about working in the SEO world, what would the title be?

• The Return of the Title Tag; Why On-Page SEO Is King / SEO: The Domain Authority Awakens

The post Team Interview Series: Josh appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.