On May 11, 2016, Google "finished" rolling out its second mobile rankings update. Today we're publishing the results of our study to measure the impact of this new algo update. Google's first mobile update was a big one, was this one as significant?To find out, we took a baseline measurement of over 18,000 mobile queries between … [Read more...]
Why You Need to Understand Rel=Prev/Next for SEO
When you have a series of pages about the same product, category, or topic, it can cause problems for Google. The rel=prev/next link attribute can solve those problems.Find out why in this video, along with hints on how to properly use rel=prev next.Don’t miss a single episode of Here’s Why with Mark & Eric. Click the subscribe … [Read more...]
Why Google Should Not Be Your Only SEO Strategy – Here’s Why #73
Google is still the big dog in traditional search, but don't think that's the end of the story. These days, search involves more than what we might call traditional search, such as entering a query in the Google search box and getting a series of links to web pages. In those more non-traditional types of search, Google is feeling … [Read more...]
Why You Need to Understand the Noindex SEO Tag – Here’s Why #72
If Google doesn't index a page, it can't show it as a search result. There may be times that you actually don't want Google to index some of your pages. In this episode of "Here's Why" from Stone Temple Consulting, you'll learn why that is and how to do it.Don’t miss a single episode of Here’s Why with Mark & Eric. Click the … [Read more...]
Does Social Media Affect SEO? Matt Cutts Answers
Post updated September 1, 2015 and June 7, 2016 (originally published January 23, 2014)How far along is Google from using social media signals as ranking factors? Can Google use engagement and follower metrics from Twitter and Facebook to evaluate the authority of an individual?To me, the answers to those questions were the buried … [Read more...]
What Is Rel=prev/next and What Does It Do? with Gary Illyes of Google
In this excerpt from our recent Virtual Keynote on SEO Tags with Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes, Gary and our CEO Eric Enge talk about how Google views the rel="prev" / "next" tag on web pages. View the segment below, or skip below the video to get a summary of the main points.Rel = "prev" or "next" identifies a … [Read more...]
Why SEO and Social Media Are Digital Marketing Partners – Here’s Why #71
Learn how to combine the forces of SEO and social media to make them bigger than the sum of their parts, using what Mark Traphagen calls "reciprocal leverage."Don’t miss a single episode of Here’s Why with Mark & Eric. Click the subscribe button below to be notified via email each time a new video is published. Resources … [Read more...]
What Is Hreflang and What Does It Do? with Gary Illyes
In our second Virtual Keynote with Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes, our CEO Eric Enge asked him about how Google treats various SEO tags. In this post I will summarize what Gary had to say about the hreflang tag.You can watch the segment where this discussion occurs here:What is the hreflang tag?The hreflang tag is used … [Read more...]
What Is Noindex and What Does It Do? with Gary Illyes
In our second Virtual Keynote with Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes, our CEO Eric Enge asked him about how Google treats various SEO tags. In this post I will summarize what Gary had to say about the noindex tag.You can watch the segment where this discussion occurs in this video:What is a noindex tag?According to Eric … [Read more...]
SEO Tags with Gary Illyes and Eric Enge – Virtual Keynote 2
On May 5th, 2016 I had the opportunity to do a live video event with Google's Gary Illyes. We focused on strategies for controlling page indexing, Google's crawl, and overall site quality. Mark Traphagen then took us through a Q&A session with questions from the audience.Some key areas that brought out some gems include:How … [Read more...]
Why SEO Is Not a Do-It-Yourself Project – Here’s Why #68
Some things, such as electrical repairs or your site's search engine optimization, are better left to an expert. In this episode of Here's Why, we explain why SEO isn't for amateurs and what it would take to become a true expert level person in that field!Don’t miss a single episode of Here’s Why with Mark & Eric. Click the … [Read more...]
What Is Keyword Density?
Updated 4 May 2016 - originally published 2011You may have heard that you need to be concerned about keyword density. What is it?Keyword density is a measurement of the percentage of occurrences of a given keyword (or phrase) on a page out of all the words on a page. For example, if you have a page about "blue widgets", then the … [Read more...]
Google’s Featured Snippets: Automated Continuous Improvement
Today I'm publishing the third of our detailed studies on Google's rich answers in search. Google continues to make major investments in showing rich answers (sometimes called direct answers by others) above the regular search results. At Stone Temple Consulting, we've been tracking the growth of rich answers since December of 2014. … [Read more...]
Why Good SEO Takes Time – Here’s Why #66
If anyone promises you they can do good SEO for your site "instantly" or with a few simple tricks, run--don't walk--away! The truth is, truly valuable SEO takes time to accomplish.Why? In this episode of Here's Why, Eric Enge and Mark Traphagen explain all that goes into effective SEO, and why that takes time to get right.Don’t miss … [Read more...]
Why CTR Is(n’t) a Ranking Factor
Click through rate (CTR) on your listing in the SERPs, isn't used by Google as a direct ranking factor. But, on the other hand, it might cause your rankings to rise for indirect reasons. That good for a confusing start? Excellent!In this post, I plan to walk you through why it's not used by Google as a direct ranking signal. However, … [Read more...]
Why Google Uses RankBrain – Here’s Why #65
In October 2015 Google stunned the search world with a rare announcement of a major addition to their search algorithms, called RankBrain. Since that announcement there has been a lot of speculation (some of it, frankly, pretty wild) about what RankBrain does and doesn't do.In this episode of Here's Why, Mark Traphagen asks Eric Enge … [Read more...]
Does Google Monitor Smartphone Clipboards to Discover New URLs?
This may seem like a very specific question, but understanding how Google discovers new content is just the type of stuff that the geeks of the IMEC board love to do!TL:DR: For those of you who don't want to read the whole story, the short answer is NO, there was no evidence that Google monitors the clipboards of phones, either … [Read more...]
Why Black Hat SEO Still Works (Sometimes) – Here’s Why #62
We reckon it don't seem fair. Sometimes the bad guys win. In search, Google has made bodacious strides toward wipin' out so-called black hat SEO, but we still see cases where a dastardly spammer or link manipulator is rankin' high. Tarnation!In this episode of Here's Why we're gonna learn you good about why that happens, and why it … [Read more...]
RankBrain Myth Busting
Stop the Madness, RankBrain Isn't Taking Over the Whole Google AlgoIn today's post, I plan to do some serious myth busting on the topic of RankBrain. I also plan to share some perspective on how it impacts you as a digital marketer. This has been driven by discussions I have had with numerous Googlers along the way, and other smart … [Read more...]
Google SEO Certification: Why Doesn’t It Exist?
My first job at a digital marketing agency was managing AdWords accounts for clients. When I started, I didn't know PPC from PVC, but I had a great mentor, read every blog I could, and learned quickly from experience. Then came the day my boss asked me to get official AdWords certification from Google. I studied for that test harder … [Read more...]
Google’s Gary Illyes on Penguin: When Is It Coming and What Will It Do?
Featured in the Moz Top 10 for March 2016Recently Stone Temple CEO Eric Enge and I conducted a Virtual Keynote live online with Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes (@methode on Twitter). You can watch the entire event or read a full transcript here. In this post I want to focus on Gary's answers to our questions about the … [Read more...]
Why You Need an SEO Learning Program (Here’s Why #60)
If your business is using online marketing, you need staff who are well-informed on all aspects of SEO. In this episode of Here's Why, Eric and Mark explain why you need an organized SEO learning program, and help get you started on setting one up.Don’t miss a single episode of Here’s Why with Mark & Eric. Click the subscribe … [Read more...]
RankBrain: A Study to Measure Its Impact
Study: Does RankBrain Actually Improve Search Results?Google made a big splash in October 2015 when they announced the existence of a new ranking algorithm that they call RankBrain. The news broke in this article in Bloomberg. Google made some very limited comments about what it is, and has had little to say since then.For that … [Read more...]
Why Google Direct Answers Can Drive Traffic to Your Site
When Google started scraping answers from web pages and displaying them directly on the search results page for relevant queries, webmasters panicked. "Google is stealing our traffic!" they complained.But as it turns out, in many cases a direct answer that comes from your site can actually be a boon to your site traffic, putting your … [Read more...]
Google’s Gary Illyes on Emerging Search Trends – Virtual Keynote 1
IntroductionOn February 11th, 2016 I had the opportunity to do a live video event with Google's Gary Illyes and we took on a wide variety of topics in Search and SEO. We then had Mark Traphagen lead a 30 minute Q&A session in which we took questions from the audience.Our second Virtual Keynote with Gary Illyes, focusing on SEO … [Read more...]
Why Machine Learning Is Revolutionizing Search
Here's Why Monday Episode 57Machine learning is the next great computer revolution, one that is already here. We don't have to wait for the future; Google has been using machine learning to solve many complex search-related problems for years, and the applications keep growing, including last year's announcement of the addition of … [Read more...]
Google RankBrain as a Ranking Factor – The Future of SEO
In October 2015 Google took the rare step of announcing a major addition to its search ranking algorithms.That new addition, already in operation at the time of the announcement, was named RankBrain. It was revealed to be a major application of machine learning technology to aid a better understanding of search queries made by … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Some SEO “Experts” are not Really Experts
Since people realized that there was money to be made in the business of Search Engine Optimization, many have self-proclaimed that they are experts or “gurus.” Some indeed have legitimate claims and practice white hat SEO, but just as many or more don’t. In this episode of Here’s Why, Mark & Eric will explain what to look for … [Read more...]
SEO Experts: 12 Signs They Are Not the Experts They Claim to Be
The good news about SEO is that anyone with basic intelligence and the motivation to learn can eventually, over time, become an SEO expert. SEO is a potentially lucrative and rewarding profession that does not require a particular college degree. It can be learned on-the-job and from available resources.The bad news about SEO is that … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Digital Marketing Will Never be the Same (with Rand Fishkin)
Here's Why is a series dedicated to bringing you the most current and relevant developments in the world of digital marketing. For 52 episodes, Mark and Eric have lent their expertise to make these videos both fun and informative. For the very first time, they welcome a guest; but not any old guest, a very, special, guest.You might … [Read more...]
The Rise of Rich Answers in Google Search – Future of Digital Marketing
The Google search results page ain't what it used to be.Almost never do you see anymore the "ten blue links and some ads" that used to characterize a Google search result. In an effort to become ever more useful to its users, Google has been experimenting with many different ways of getting us more quickly to whatever it is we went … [Read more...]
How Much of Twitter Does Google Index? Future of Digital Marketing
In the spring of 2015 Google began implementing its recently-renewed agreement with Twitter that gave the search giant full, real-time access to all tweets on Twitter. Here at Stone Temple we had a unique opportunity to assess how much of a difference this made. We had made before and after "snapshots" of over 133,000 tweets and … [Read more...]
Which Is the Best Backlink Checker Tool? (Infographic)
How Good Are Backlink Tools at Finding Links? Recently we tested the three most popular backlink checking tools--Moz Open Site Explorer, Majestic, and ahrefs--to see how many links to a web page each actually showed. You can see the full study methodology and results in this post: Backlinking Tools May Not Be As Comprehensive As … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Turns 50: Eric & Mark’s Best Tips!
It has been quite the journey over our past 49 episodes of Here’s Why. We could not be happier to bring you a special, 50th edition episode. Mark and Eric look back and discuss tips and trends from the past year, as well as taking a look at Here’s Why’s past! The digital marketing landscape has and will continue to evolve in 2016 … [Read more...]
Mobilegeddon and the Future of SEO
We're eight months into the Google mobile-friendly ranking update popularly known as "Mobilegeddon." How much has changed? What is the future of mobile SEO?During his recent presentation to Boston-area marketers on "The Future of Digital Marketing and SEO," Stone Temple Consulting CEO (and lead co-author of The Art of SEO) Eric Enge … [Read more...]
Backlinking Tools May Not Be as Comprehensive as You Think
Just how good are backlink tools such as Open Site Explorer, Majestic SEO and ahrefs at identifying links to the pages of your site? That's the question we set out to answer in this study, and for many of you, the answer may come as a shock!(Want a quick summary of the results? See our 3-minute video and 12-slide deck at the end of … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Your Content Isn’t Getting Links
In the last episode, Eric and Mark told you why your content wasn’t getting the amount of shares that you would ideally like it to get. In this episode, they continue with the theme but shift their focus from shares to links.It can be hard to predict what content really takes off and drives links and traffic, but when it does it’s an … [Read more...]
The Future of Digital Marketing and SEO 2016 and Beyond
On November 10, 2015 about 100 Boston-area marketers, SEOs, and other professionals gathered at a Newton MA restaurant to hear Stone Temple Consulting founder and CEO Eric Enge present his insights on "The Future of Digital Marketing and SEO." The event celebrated the recent release of the third edition of the highly popular book The … [Read more...]
Do E-Commerce Sites Completely Mess Up Their SEO?
In this study we set out to see just how well some of the world's top e-commerce sites use SEO tags and robots.txt to manage their faceted navigation. The results I am reporting here today will show you how often these sites get it right, and in some cases, just how horribly wrong they get it. TL;DR I'll give it to you straight out … [Read more...]
Here’s Why eCommerce Sites Need Better SEO Tagging
In today's episode, Mark and Eric discuss the findings of Eric's study: Do E-Commerce Sites Completely Mess Up Their SEO? It was a bit troubling to find out that many major eCommerce sites do not implement their SEO tags properly, at all. Only about 25% of the pages we looked at were using their tags correctly. Hit the jump and … [Read more...]
Does Google Respect Robots.txt NoIndex and Should You Use It?
The availability of the Robots.txt NoIndex directive is little known among webmasters largely because few people talk about it. Matt Cutts discussed Google's support for this directive back in 2008. More recently, Google's John Mueller discussed it in this Google Webmaster Hangout. In addition, Deepcrawl wrote about it on their … [Read more...]
The Definitive Guide to Google’s Rich Answers
Rich Answers Are on The Rise!Google’s Rich Answers: What They Are, How They Work, How to Make Them Work for YouBack in February of this year, we published a study showing how often Google responds to search queries with rich answers. So we decided to take a fresh look and see how much Google has expanded their use of these types of … [Read more...]
Google Still Loves Wikipedia (More Than Its Own Properties)
In late July, we saw reports that Wikipedia had seen large drops in traffic. This led some to speculate that this Wikipedia Google traffic loss was because Google was favoring its own properties more, at the expense of Wikipedia. In today's post, I am going to reveal findings about Google's results using four different snapshots of … [Read more...]
Here’s Why The Art of SEO Has Changed Since 2009
Much has changed since the last edition of The Art of SEO was published back in 2009. There is one thing that hasn’t changed however; the complexity of Search Engine Optimization. In this episode of Here’s Why, Mark asks Stone Temple Consulting CEO and head author of the book Eric Enge, what has changed not only in the world of … [Read more...]
Does Google Treat URL Mentions Like Links?
Have you ever seen those URLs that people sometimes include on their pages, but which are not implemented as physical links? It can be frustrating if someone uses some of your content, and then gives you a citation like that, but it does happen. Did you ever wonder if Google treats those "URL Mentions" as a ranking factor?The IMEC … [Read more...]
How to Structure Your Data – Hardcore Marketing
In this episode of Hardcore Marketing (formerly known as Hardcore SEO) Stone Temple Consulting's Director of Technical SEO Mats Tolander discusses Schema and Structured data. Implementing both are crucial to a sound marketing strategy. As intelligent as search engines are, they only know what information they’re looking at if you … [Read more...]
Why Should You Not Fear Linking Out? – Here’s Why with Mark & Eric
With Google’s crackdown on link spam, many sites have become fearful of linking to any external content. Too many people were succumbing to the temptation to try to game their link profiles to artificially appear more authoritative than they should be. So Google had to do something to clean that up. The unfortunate side effect of … [Read more...]
Post Google-Twitter Launch: How is Google Indexing Twitter Today?
Back on February 4th, 2015, the news broke on a new deal between Google and Twitter, and on May 19th the the new deal went live. Back on February 10, 2015, we took a snapshot of how Google was indexing tweets before the deal went into effect. Today, we are releasing data on how Google is currently indexing tweets, now that the deal … [Read more...]
Your Mobile App Questions Answered With Google’s Mariya Moeva
Recently I had a chance to chat with Mariya Moeva, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, about the trends Google is seeing that impact the growing importance of mobile apps. (Find out more about Mariya at the end of the interview.) Also, Mariya has provided a handy form for you to ask her questions about mobile apps directly.Eric Enge … [Read more...]
Why is Building Your Brand an SEO Strategy? – Here’s Why with Mark & Eric
While ranking high in Google’s result pages will always bring value to your business, sometimes the reputation of the brand matters more to a consumer than only its search result rank. In this episode of Here’s Why, Mark & Eric explain why big brands should focus just as much on brand building as they do on their search engine … [Read more...]