Google News is the go-to platform for millions of users worldwide for local and international news. It is the largest news aggregator in the world. It collects fresh news articles from around the web and serves it to users depending on relevancy, location, interests, and more.
Appearing in Google News provides a lot of benefits for website owners such as more website traffic and additional monetization options. It also opens up your website to a broader audience since it is available on various devices across different countries. And unlike Google Search, websites are served to a user through a feed rather than a search results page.
AlthoughGoogle collaborates with the news industryto make sure that only high-quality news appears on the platform, Google News is not limited to major news companies. As long as your website is a news website, whether it’s current events or industry news, you can appear in Google News and enjoy its benefits.
Google News Eligibility
I’ve received a lot of questions before from readers on how they get their website to appear in Google News. A few years ago, your website needs to be verified by Google News first before your content appeared on the platform. However, Google removed that requirement. Now, all you have to do is produce high-quality content if you’re a publisher. Sounds easy right?
Well, to be more specific, the content that you have to publish needs to meetGoogle News content policies. Once you meet these criteria, your website is automatically considered to appear in the Top Stories section or News section.
This method is quite difficult though because it would be hard to know if your website is really appearing in Google News.
Another method is to submit your website to Google Publisher Center.
Getting in Google News through Google Publisher Center
Google Publisher Center is the combination of theold Google News Producer and Publisher Console. Google doesn’t require a website to be submitted in Google Publisher Center but it does have benefits such as control over your brand and content that appears in Google News.
Do take note that submitting your content and RSS feeds on Google Publisher Center won’t mean that your content is guaranteed to appear in Google News. Also, keep in mind that the website you are going to submit to Google Publisher Center should be a verified website in your Google Search Console account.
Step 1: Fill in the details needed
Once you go toGoogle Publisher Center, simply click onAdd Publicationand enter the name of your website. The next screen will ask you for basic information about your websites such as description, website URL, and location. It is also important that you place the Google Analytics tracking ID in this section so you could track how much traffic you are getting from Google News.
Step 2: Submit your content
TheContentsection allows multiple ways to submit your content in Google News and customize your Google News feed by dividing them into multiple sections. You can either:
Submit RSS feed
Enter specific page URL
Submit YouTube video or playlist; or
Personalized feed from Google News
Step 3: Upload images
TheImagessection is where you upload your website’s square logo and wide logos. Make sure that the images you upload are high-quality and fit the specifications indicated.
Step 4: Ads management (optional)
This step is useful for websites that are running ads through Google AdSense. You could also control in this section how much ads Google sells on your website for users coming from Google News.
Step 5: Submit for review
TheReview & Publishsection will indicate if there is any missing information. Once you’re done filling in all the necessary details, you can now submit your website for review.
Keep in mind that approval may take 2 to 4 weeks according to Google. I think this depends on the number of websites they are reviewing. In my case, SEO Hacker got approved in 2 weeks and content that I published immediately started appearing in Google News. While you’re at it, why don’t you drop by SEO Hacker’s Google News page and follow us!
How do I know How Much Traffic I got from Google News?
In the Google Analytics account of your Google Publisher verified website, go toAcquisition,and checkReferraltraffic sources. If you are getting clicks from Google News, you should seenews.google.com.
Users also have their own “For You” sections and Google News uses the users’ interests for rankings and usability.
I also wrote an article before onHow to Optimize for Google Newsand I highly recommend that you check that out as well so you can get more success in Google News.
Key Takeaway
Google News is a great initiative by Google for both users and web publishers. Achieving success may take time similar to growing traffic from organic search results but you should take any opportunities that you can get for you to be able to grow.
In SEO, content is king. And it is more truthful in Google News. Always publish high-quality original content that is relevant to your audience and you will surely start getting higher placements in Google News.
Before 2013, SEO was virtually a straightforward endeavor. You had to incorporate the exact keywords inside your content and the important places such as title tag, H1, meta description, then build a high number of relevant quality links to those pages to ensure ranking on the first page. However, the same could not be said today. Search engines evolved in how they understand searches and queries to the point that the same strategies we used almost a decade ago are not enough now.
Today, a deep understanding of the meaning behind the keywords, content that effectively answers the context of the keywords, and the intent behind it is what succeeds in the search results. All of these were brought about by the age of semantic search. Let’s dive deeper.
What is Semantic Search?
Semantic search, simple enough, is the search engine’s way to have a deeper understanding of a user’s queries by analyzing and connecting the meaning and relationship between the words and their context. This in turn enables search engines to find the best possible relevant pages to display even if the user’s query wasn’t straightforward. Here’s an example:
This specific search is pertaining to the well-known phrase “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. Google understands the context between the words used in the query and effectively answers it by knowing the relationship between the animal (quick brown fox) that jumped over the dog. Now, if semantic search was nonexistent, Google might have shown me results that showed random animals jumping over dogs.
This just goes to show how far search engines have come to understanding the queries made by users. However, much like other machines, search engines are also limited to their own knowledge. Here’s another example:
Now, most of us know that the wizard in the Avengers is Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. But when I searched for it, the answer Google gave me is Chris Evans, the actor that played Captain America. This isn’t the correct answer, far from it. But this is what happens when I change a word in my query:
The search result actually shows the correct answer – Benedict Cumberbatch being the actor that played Doctor Strange. The snippet isn’t as accurate as we’d like but it still does answer the question. So, if you focus on the query I made, I changed the word “wizard” to “sorcerer” and Google actually gave me a fairly accurate answer. Why did this happen? The reason behind this is easier to infer than you might think.
Through the use of Knowledge graphs, introduced back in 2012, Google has an extensive database of public information and the entities contained inside them such as the people involved, their birthdays, parents, etc. Now, through the knowledge graphs that Google has, they use what’s contained inside it to better understand queries. The inference we can make is that in Google’s database, Doctor Strange (and the actor that plays the role) is known as a sorcerer and not a wizard. This, possibly, could be the correct answer to why Google was able to give me a more accurate answer than the one I previously searched for.
To summarize, Google uses the following to better understand a user’s query:
Search Intent
Context
Relationship and connection between the words
All of these things, coupled with your search history and behavior, affect how Google understands your queries and which results they display. Aside from Knowledge Graphs, Google released a series of updates over the years to make semantic search more accurate and effective.
In 2013, Google released its Hummingbird update to help with understanding complex search queries. This update was released to reward the pages that match the query’s context rather than the page matching the words inside the query.
To simplify it more, Google rewarded pages that answered the user’s query rather than rewarding the pages that just contained repeated mentions of the words in the query.
2 years after Hummingbird, Google released Rankbrain; a machine learning system that’s considered a ranking factor and analysis AI. Rankbrain shared the same purpose with Hummingbird but with the edge of its machine-learning integration.
Through Rankbrain, Google was able to deliver more relevant results by interpretingthe user’s through their location, behavior, and the words they used in the query.
This is the newest addition to the updates Google Released. BERT is Google’s way of better understanding longer queries and more complex sentences by processing the words and their context & meaning in relation to the other words contained in the search query.
Through the BERT model, Google aims to deliver more accurate and relevant results to “longer, more conversational queries”. By the end of 2019, the BERT model affects 10% of all queries made in Google. This might not sound like a large number, but consider how many users Google has and how many times they search per day.
Understanding Semantic Search Leads to Better SEO
Semantic search isn’t a small thing that we can disregard. It’s a massive process that changed an entire industry and it will only progress toward better things as the years go by.
SEO on the other hand is a practice that revolves around adapting all our strategies and tactics to hopefully reach the first page of an ever-growing search engine landscape. So, with semantic search, it’s only logical that our strategies change to better fit the current landscape. Some of the major changes we made in SEO Hacker include:
Changing our focus from keywords to topics
It’s not about just writing about a specific keyword anymore. Much like the queries that users search for, keywords can mean a lot of things. That is why shifting our focus from a keyword-centric content strategy to a topically-relevant content framework did us wonders.
The primary difference between a keyword and a topic is their scope. A keyword is only limited to the meaning it holds while a topic will include multiple keywords under it. Knowing what the topic is and being able to write about it and its corresponding subtopics is an essential part of creating high-quality, valuable content today.
A great example is writing about title tags. If we were to solely focus on keywords, we would create pages that target “how to change a page’s title tag”, “best title tag length”, “how to optimize a title tag”, etc.
But if we focus on writing about title tag as a topic then we would write a page about “The Ultimate Guide to Title Tags” or “All You Need To Know About Title Tags” where the content talks about the subtopics such as “how to change a page’s title tag”, “best title tag length”, and “how to optimize a title tag”.
Of course, you would need to know which subtopics are relevant to the users. You can’t write about everything about the topic at hand because that will not only waste your time and energy, but it will also discourage the user from reading everything as well. Using the example I used above, I wouldn’t include things such as “the history of title tag” or “who popularized the term title tag” simply because users wouldn’t care about those subtopics.
Understanding and serving search intent
Have you ever experienced ranking highly in the search results for a specific keyword, then you start noticing that you’re slowly ranking lower even though you know for yourself that the page ranking for the keyword is fully optimized and has valuable content? We’ve experienced that for a good number of our clients and the most common reason is that we’re not properly serving the intent of the keyword and the users.
Search intent is easily understood on paper but when applied in the search results, can be tricky and at times confusing.
The best way to mitigate this is to manually search for the keyword you’re ranking for and check the pages that are ranking higher than you. How does their content differ from your own? Is the context of their content different from your own? What kind of pages are ranking higher than you? Are they product category pages? Blog posts? Homepages? – these are questions you need to ask yourself when you’re slipping in rankings.
Simply put, your page should be something that Google would WANT to display on the first page of the search results for that specific keyword, and the best way to find it is to check what EXACTLY is Google displaying on the first page.
Key Takeaway
Outdated SEO strategies and below-average content aren’t enough for the search engines AND users. Semantic Search has changed the SEO game for the better and it actually serves users more relevant and accurate answers than before.
Once you have a firm grasp of semantic search, then adapting to it will come easier than you think, especially if you’ve already made it a point to publish high-quality and relevant content.
Do you have any questions about semantic search? Comment it down below and let’s talk!
No one is innocent from using clickbait copy, even top digital marketers sometimes use sensational anecdotes in their content. This is a problem because if you built your strategy on this lazy technique, then it will bite you in the ass before you know it. That time has come now. Google made an announcement last week in which they introduced a new Clickbait Ads policy which aptly addresses the Misrepresentation sections of their Ad policies.
If you are planning on starting your ad with, “This client loved our business, what happened next will shock you,” or if you are planning on using this kind of copy in any of your Google Ads, content, don’t even think about it. It will be a waste of your money and worse, Google will not run your ads at all. Although this talks about Google Ads policies, I believe this should also be the same for Organic Search Optimization since creating too much clickbait content will only harm your rankings if an algorithm update explicitly tackles this area.
Now, we are going to talk about why you should care about this new Ad policy, what can you do about it if you are guilty of using it for your ads, and what to do to avoid this.
Implications of the New Policy
Together with the introduction of the new policy on clickbait ads, Google has also published a post on their Advertising Policies Help page on the Google Support website pertaining to account pausing action. They have notified advertisers about a new enforcement action for those who violate Google Ads policies. Before, if you violate a policy, the worst thing that can happen to you is your ads won’t run and that’s it. You’re still free to create a campaign for other Ad Groups, but Google noted this month that if you were investigated for a policy violation, your whole account will be temporarily paused and this also applies to advertisers who fail to verify their identity.
As the new clickbait policy rolls out in July, think about the missed opportunities that you can incur if you violate this policy. You would be disabled from running ads and who knows what will happen if your offense is a grave enough to land you in Google’s crosshairs.
Clickbait will not be an unbelievable copywriting strategy
There is no good way to use clickbait. It deserves the bad reputation that it gets. Let me just put this out there, this is not a “copywriting hack” that seasoned marketers should teach the young blood of the industry. This just encourages lazy writing and an attitude of your work being just “okay”. Yes, it dominates most of the ads and even some organic search results but that doesn’t mean that if you can’t beat them, you join them.
Each new piece of content that you are going to release for your audience deserves a well-thought-out execution. If you are going to write for people, make sure that you give something of value to them and this naturally falls into the goals that businesses have for Google Ads. You cannot expect people to become leads if they feel duped by clicking on your ad. You can claim that you can help them with their problem right away, they only need to click on the link, but the chances that they would be unsatisfied with your service or product is still there so why should you risk tarnishing your reputation just to exhaust your ads budget?
Here are some key points you need to keep in mind to optimize your search ad for the clickbait policy:
For YMYL sites, avoid imposing your business to your audience’s lifestyle in a threatening manner with copies like, “You need this today or your business is going to fail.” This just sets you up for more trouble of violating the misrepresentation policy because the ‘Clickbait Ads’ policy also flags “ads that use negative life events such as death, accidents, illness, arrests or bankruptcy to induce fear, guilt or other strong negative emotions to pressure the viewer to take immediate action” Stop being edgy, just write a comprehensive copy that does not mislead your potential client.
This may sound extreme but I have seen some advertisers who write copies or launch display campaigns with “ads which use depictions of severe stress, pain, fear or shock to promote a product or service.” This is way before Google’s crackdown on these types of content but back then, it is an extreme way of pressuring someone to buy from a business – by inducing a negative personal connotation. Ease up on the aggressive approach, just be honest and highlight the strengths of your business in your advertisements.
“You won’t believe what happened next…” has been a part of the internet ecosphere for as long as I can remember. Think about the content that you are putting out there, does it properly represent your business or the growth that you are aiming for? Is the click more valuable than quality content or a conversion leading to a possible sale? You have to make the clicks matter.
Optimizing Search Ads for Conversion Growth
To end, I would like to say that clickbait will always be there but if you are smart enough as a marketer, you would not contribute to the misrepresentation that it can perceive itself to be. Always write with the reader in mind. Is it going to contribute to the value of their business, lifestyle, or interests? Is it geared towards professional growth? Surround yourself with these ideas and you will not dare write another clickbait Ad again.
Earlier this month, Google released its annualWebspam Report in the Official Google Webmaster Blogfor 2019 where they discuss their fight against webspam. Webspam refers to webpages that try to manipulate Google’s algorithm or use techniques that are deceptive to users.
As someone who is devoted to doingwhite-hat SEO, I personally look forward to this every year. This is not only a good way of getting in the know on what Google is doing to make their website a safer place for users but also it is a great way to avoid trouble for your website.
Google discovers 25 billion pages every day that is spammy and manipulative.
According to Google, 99% of web traffic from search results lead to spam-free experience.
Google was able to suppress link spam more. 90% of link spam techniques were caught by their systems.
Manipulative link building techniques such as paid links and link exchanges have been made less effective.
Hacked spam is still a challenge and Google is still finding more ways on how they can better alert website owners that their website has been hacked and help them recover from it.
Google is continuously improving its machine learning systems and combining it with its ‘manual enforcement capabilities’ to identify and prevent spam from getting to the search results.
There was an increasing amount of websites using auto-generated and scraped content but they were able to reduce the impact of these sites on users by 60% more from 2018.
Google received 230,000 manual reports of webspam from users and was able to resolve 83% of it.
Google sent out 90 million error messages to website owners via Google Search Console. 4.3 million of these messages are about manual actions.
My Thoughts on this year’s report
Google has gone a long way in improving its systems in detecting webspam. They are catching more and more websites and penalizing them but unfortunately, a lot of people are still doing it. Google has a lot on its plate. 25 billion spammy webpages every day is mind-blowing but it’s really great that they don’t get to the users anymore.
It is also obvious that Google has doubled down on link spam anduser-generated spamand it’s safe to say that it is related to the new link attributes. For us SEOs, it gives us more reasons to use therel=”sponsored” and rel=”ugc” tagsto avoid getting penalized.
Website hacking is a persisting problem and it is definitely a huge one. It is good news that it is more stable the past year and Google is finding more ways to detect hacked sites and website owners. But I think it us up to the website owners to help solve this problem.Investing in your website’s securityis crucial and you should not leave it to Google to protect your website.
How can you help as an SEO?
As SEOs, let us be more responsible and respond to Google’s call in helping them combat webspam. We have a better understanding of the world wide web and we can easily spot webspam. I believe that what Google is doing is for the better of the internet and I believe we play a huge role in the fight.
230,000 webspam reports in the previous year is lower than I expected. But it may also be a good sign since Google is doing a great job in preventing webspam from appearing on search results.
If you find pages in the search results that are spammy, deceptive, and manipulative, you can use theReport Webspam tool in Google Seach Consoleto report the webpage. There is alsoa Chrome Extensionthat you can download from the Chrome Web Store so you could easily report webspam. Make sure to use these tools responsibly and only when necessary.
Guest posts are often an essential part of any SEOs link building strategy. Aside from contributing and establishing a connection with other webmasters, it enables us to improve awareness of our brand (depending on the content we write) and naturally gain a link back to our website. Even though guest posting is one of the well-known, quality link building tactics, as the years went by Google started to lay down rules and guidelines regarding proper implementation of guest posts that still hold up to today. So, here’s what you need to know about guest posts this 2020 here!
Guest Post Guidelines
Guest blogging and posting started for a good purpose – webmasters contributing to another webmaster’s website, providing quality content that helps their visitors learn, read, and take more value. However, much like what happened with effective and well-known SEO tactics, it was abused and Google had to crack down on people that intend to play their system. So, here are some things that Google released through the years:
Links inside a paid guest post should be nofollow
Guest blogging networks are spammy and have high chances of resulting in a penalty
Links inside a naturally contributed guest post should be nofollow as well
Guest posts made solely for building links is not advised by Google
Websites accept guest posts are susceptible to manual action penalties for having unnatural or irrelevant links that could be counted as trying to artificially affect another site’s rankings
Here are some resources where Google representatives talk about Guest Posting or blogging:
John Mueller’s 2017 recommendation for using your website to spread the “word” instead of guest posting for links
John Mueller’s post regarding the problem with using guest posts for links.
John Mueller reiterating that links within guest posts should be nofollowed
Take It With a Grain of Salt
I know that the guidelines sound like we shouldn’t do any guest posts at all. However, I can tell you that we still use guest posting as a core strategy in our link building team and we never experienced a penalty.
If we review Matt Cutts’ video, even though it was uploaded in 2012, it still holds today with regards to guest posting being all about contributing high-quality articles on other websites. The link was originally intended as just a plus, but it was abused. So, we make use of what we can deliver. Our team can curate expertly written and high-quality articles that enable us to use guest posting as a strategy since we comb through numerous sources, research the subject intensively, and ensure that sources are cited and the facts are correct.
With that said, I recommend taking what Google, or their representatives, have mentioned with a grain of salt. It’s nice to listen to them, but it’s also great for webmasters and SEOs to check what works and what doesn’t. If we base it on all their statements, then we shouldn’t be using guest posts as a dependable tactic. But we used our understanding of Google’s guidelines, what’s allowed and what isn’t, and made sure that whatever we post on the internet can and will bring value to the users, and we’re using guest posting – which shouldn’t be a primary tactic for link building, as per Google – as one of our effective tactics.
Here’s the thing: Google will always lay out guidelines and rules that we need to adhere to. And I suggest we listen. But we should listen attentively but never stop ourselves from finding out things on our own. Take things with a grain of salt and always try to experiment. With experimentation comes valuable strategies and tactics that can, hopefully, bring you to the top of the SERPs. Listening to what Google says adds value to your knowledge and wisdom which you will use to come up with better and more effective strategies. What do you think? Do guest posts still work for you? Comment it down below!
The thing with search engine marketing is that it is a high-risk but high-reward process by itself. If you ask me, organic is still the way to go in terms of marketing since it is perpetual. The foundation of search ads is also built on keyword research and it is vital that you choose money-making keywords for your investment to bear fruit. But what are you going to do if the keywords that you really want are low in volume? Or are you confused why your ads are not showing on the search results page? It’s probably because you haven’t optimized enough.
It’s important that you act and bid smart so you can get your ads in front of the search results where your clients can see it instantly. Here are some of the tips that you can keep in mind in order to win at Google Ads:
Make use of the custom intent audiences
Google Ads has updated and upgraded the Audience Keywords to what they call Custom Intent Audiences. This can help you see your reach using your Display or Video campaigns so you can optimize your ads accordingly. It can prove to be beneficial especially if you’re in the dark about your market reach. Using this feature of Google Ads, you can see custom audiences based on their demographics and relevance to your target.
Build a keyword list to target, this way you will see how your ad performs in terms of user query. You can see data based on “what people are actively researching or planning”. This way, you can segment your ads per intent so you can experiment around ads targeting those in custom markets or those that will be useful for them based on the demographic data that your ad has returned.
Optimize your budget
There will be instances when you are puzzled why your ads are not displaying on Google. If you’re still scratching your head, why not look at your current ads and see if they are stealing bids from each other. Having too many ads from your campaign without the proper budget for it can cause an imbalance, especially if some of the keywords you are using are high volume keywords. If you are using low volume but specific keywords, in order to make your them shine, focus your bids on this ad group. If you want this to be highlighted for your Google Ads, you might as well train the focus to this group of these low volume keywords.
Don’t be afraid to pause ads especially if it’s not serving you much purpose in terms of clicks and conversions. Also, it would help if you get the feel of your market to see which one of your products or services can be most beneficial especially during this time of the pandemic.
Adjust ad schedule
Partnering with Google for ads can be tricky since your bid or your copy cannot be the means to an end. There are a lot of factors in order to receive the clicks and impressions that you are gunning for. Check and see if your ad schedule is up to par for the audience that you are targeting. There are certain days and time slots when you have to give your ads a rest. Optimizing your ad schedule will also ensure that you only get quality leads because you are aligning your schedule with their buying habits.
Take advantage of search terms
Search terms can help you get to the pulse of users quickly so aside from building your keyword list, you should also take a look at the search terms that are relevant to your ads. This is a nifty tool in the Google Ads dashboard that can help you make the most out of your search ads. You can find this on the leftmost part of your Ad Group dashboard and here you can see relevant terms that you may use to help you improve your ads.
This is a simple tip and one that has been done before but it can help you go a long way with your ads.
Research on long-tail and semantic keywords
Make use of long-tail and semantic keywords for your ads if your current keyword list is not converting. Semantic keywords can help improve the reach of your keywords, especially if your specific keyword list is composed of low volume keywords. Long-tail has proven to cater to high conversion goals so this is also an area that you should look into. Take advantage of search queries that are relevant to your goal and always make sure that you have created a list for the negative keywords.
Key Takeaway
Being visible online can go a long way for your business. Setting up ads and waiting for it to achieve results will only waste your time. Make smart and informed choices when setting up your ads and you will be rewarded with high quality leads. Search Engine Marketing is a great tool for businesses especially those who would want to be further empowered to reach their goals. What are the other things that you keep in mind when running Ads on Google? Comment down below!
Buying backlinks for SEO has been around ever since search engines used links as a ranking factor, especially Google’s PageRank algorithm. Google has always said that they are against buying and selling links for ranking purposes and they have done a better job in identifying links that are bought.
However, buying links is still a common practice. This is because many say that they have experienced success using this strategy and it is one of the quickest ways to increase their website’s authority. But of course, it comes with risks.
Just to be clear, this post is not to promote buying of links or condone those who are using this strategy. This post is created to talk about the practice of buying links and the pros and cons of it to help people decide if they should do it or not.
So what exactly is link buying?
Buying links (or paid links) is the process of paying another website to insert a link to your website in one of their pages. Usually, the goal is to buy as many links as they can to further boost their rankings in the Google search results.
Buying links can come in different forms:
Paid directory listings
Paid guest posts
Paid link placements
Private Blog Networks
It is considered to be a form ofblack hatorgray hat SEOtechnique since it is againstGoogle’s Webmaster Guidelines. According to the guidelines, buying and selling of links are a form of Link Schemes as it intends to manipulate the PageRank algorithm. Buying links is also misleading for users.
Why Do People Buy Links?
There are two main reasons why people buy links for SEO; first is that it saves a lot of time and second, the results are fast. Conventional link building takes a lot of time and effort. There are a lot of different strategies but the most common ones are content-driven.
You need to build great content first on your website to make it trustworthy. Then, you either wait for other webmasters to take notice of your content so they link to you as a resource or you can reach out to other webmasters. This process can take months of effort and you might not even achieve the number of links you are aiming for.
However, for those who buy links, things are a lot easier. They allot a budget, contact websites, send their payment, and it’s done! The bigger budget they have, the more links they can buy. It also offers a lot of flexibility since webmasters allow people who buy links from them to decide what content to publish, where the links are placed, the anchor text, and so on.
At first, glance, buying links is an easy win but there are a lot of cons to it. It is expensive and it gets more expensive should you want to get links from higher quality websites.
But money isn’t the only dues that you pay. As mentioned, it is a black hat SEO technique, and techniques that are against Google’s guidelines don’t come without a price.
What Happens if Google Caught You?
Whether you are buying links to boost your SEO or you are a website that is selling links as a form of monetization for your website, there is a high risk of getting penalized by Google. This is the biggest downside of using this strategy. Once you get hit by a penalty, it’s almost impossible to recover.
If Google noticed that you are buying links, they will issue a ‘Manual Action’ that can be seen under the Manual Action tab in Google Search Console labeled as ‘Unnatural Links to Your Site’. Once you get slapped with this penalty, your only course of action is to use the disavow tool and disavow all the links that you bought making all the money that you spent go down the drain. The worse part is, disavowing your links doesn’t guarantee that your website is going to recover.
Is there a proper way of buying links?
When you read between the lines of Google’s definition of Link Schemes above, it specifically talks about links that aim to manipulate the PageRank algorithm. Meaning, it is talking about ‘dofollow links’. Dofollow links pass on PageRank that may help increase the rankings of a webpage. If you are buying links for this purpose, this is dangerous.
However, Google is not against monetizing websites. It’s just a matter of properly labeling sponsored and affiliate links. Last year, Google announced new link attributes and one of them is therel=”sponsored’ tag. Google highly recommends that you use this tag for all paid links on your website to avoid being penalized. Prior to that, the nofollow tag was recommended to be used so paid links won’t pass on PageRank. Using one of these tags is fine.
Search Engine Round Tablewrote a short article highlighting John Mueller’s advice on affiliate links in a Twitter thread:
It is also important to note that paid links are bad if they are misleading users. If you plan on sponsoring links on other websites, take note that it should be clear to users that this link is sponsored and paid for by your website. Affiliate links should follow the same.
I would still avoid some link buying techniques such as paid guest posts, directories, and private blog networks. If you plan on buying links, keep in mind that your goal should be to promote or advertise your website on another person’s website visitors not to get links and increase your rankings.
Key Takeaway
Buying links is a dangerous strategy and could get you in a lot of trouble if done wrong. While it is an easy way to get links and increase your rankings instantly, the risks are too high and in my opinion, it’s not worth it. Though if you still plan on buying links on other websites, make sure that they are properly labeled and it comes through the form of advertisements or promotions, not for ranking purposes.
Here at SEO Hacker, we do not use the practice of buying links and we only use white-hat SEO techniques for our clients. We create great content and use different outreach strategies for our link building. While different SEOs could argue all day which hat of SEO is better, I personally believe that white-hat is the best. SEO is a long game. Strategies that take time will win in the end against strategies that aim to climb the search results in a short span of time may have repercussions.
Just a week ago, Google announced a new update that will effectively help them gauge how users experience your pages. The new update will include their old user experience factors such as page speed and mobile-friendliness which will be incorporated into the new Core Web Vitals they released to come up with a much more accurate metric for a user’s page experience. So, if Google determines that a page gives users poor experience, they MAY not rank it as highly as they are ranking it now. The official name of the update is Google Page Experience update and it is expected to be rolled out sometime next year.
Page Experience
This is simply a set of signals that Google uses to measure the user’s perception of the experience for a specific web page. This page experience, however, does not include the value of information inside the page. Here are the factors included in the Page Experience signal:
So, in the simplest terms, this is an amalgamation of small ranking factors that led to a bigger, and hopefully, major ranking factor. The majority of factors included in the Page Experience signals are already well-known in the community, but the newly launched Core Web Vitals are new and we’ll touch upon that topic below.
Core Web Vitals
Google defines Core Web Vitals as:
“Core Web Vitals are the subset of Web Vitals that apply to all web pages, should be measured by all site owners, and will be surfaced across all Google tools. Each of the Core Web Vitals represents a distinct facet of the user experience, is measurable in the field, and reflects the real-world experience of a critical user-centric outcome. The metrics that make up Core Web Vitals will evolve over time. The current set for 2020 focuses on three aspects of the user experience—loading, interactivity, and visual stability…”
We can simply understand them as measurable characteristics of a user experience outside of the information value contained inside. The current Core Web Vitals already contain three characteristics, namely:
Large Contentful Paint (LCP) – This deals with how fast a page loads (loading performance). Google has set the standard time of 2.5 seconds as the best time for a page to start loading and they use this as a determining factor as well to label if a page is Good, Needs Improvement, or Poor in terms of loading performance.
First Input Delay (FID) – This deals with how fast the browser responds to the first interaction a user makes with a page. The standard time for a good FID is 100 ms and goes up an increment of 100 as the FID score decreases.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – This deals with the sum total of individual layout shift scores for all unexpected layout shifts that happened while the page was open. Layout shifts happen whenever a visible element changes its position from one frame to the next. The standard CLS score for it to be considered good is 0.1.
You can check your website’s Core Web Vital scores inside Google Search Console.
I suggest you work with your web developers in improving your site’s Core Web Vital scores. Even though the Page Experience update isn’t set to be rolled out until next year, it would be best for you and your site’s visitors if you can improve this as soon as possible.
Ranking Based on Page Experience
Google has told us time and again that a user’s experience inside your website is important. So, with this update, they aim to further improve a user’s experience on the world wide web. This will also be of great help to us as webmasters and SEOs since giving our users great experience on our website will never be a bad thing.
Although, Google still made it clear that great content is still on top of page experience in terms of ranking. Their full statement is:
“While all of the components of page experience are important, we will prioritize pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experience are subpar. A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content.”
Another change they will be making is that AMP will no longer be required for an article or page to be included in the Top Stories section of the search results page – it will now be opened to any page as long as it meets Google News’ content policies and other factors they consider. But this does not mean that AMP will not be shown in the search results. AMP pages or AMP versions of pages are still crawled and indexed – no changes in the normal process.
Key Takeaway
This is another update that will keep us webmasters and SEOs on our feet since we have to continually improve how our visitors and users experience our websites. Does this mean that a website’s design is less important than the functionality and overall experience that the website gives? No. I believe design is a great way to improve a website’s functionality and it drastically improves a user’s experience. However, over-the-top design DO cause a slow-down in web pages, so a good balance of both will, I assume, lead to an even greater experience. What do you think about this news? Tell me in the comments section below and let’s talk!
Businesses have suffered a severe repercussion from the economical effects of the pandemic. Amidst the unfortunate climate regarding different industries, one of the businesses that continue to thrive is Digital Marketing and this is primarily because of the flexibility involved in its work processes. A team with solid core values and a clear vision in mind is one to reckon with in terms of productivity and results so this is a fundamental area to pay attention to.
For this article, I have asked experts from our industry about how they transitioned from their traditional workspace to a remote work setup and so far, their answers have affirmed how digital marketing is going strong even during this situation. I will also give you a preview into how our team is doing it and successfully so. SEOs and other companies who are looking for the benefits of a work-from-home setup, read on!
Impacts of Transitioning to a Full Remote Work Setup
Let’s tackle the hard parts of having a remote work setup. Not everyone can transition to remote work, especially if their scope of work requires face-to-face interaction with clients or if they have a need for onsite materials for them to accomplish their tasks. For digital marketing, there are also roadblocks to having this kind of setup.
Owner and Marketing Director of SEOteric, Matt Brooks says, “Communication, or rather connection, is harder to maintain. I would routinely visit each person throughout the day to connect, and that is much harder to do in a remote work environment. We all miss the connection of being together, and the culture you build is harder to maintain when working remotely”.
Connection has been seemingly lost since everyone is on the other side of a screen. Working as a team can be greatly aided by face-to-face interactions which can improve transparency in communication but with remote work, this can be difficult to do.
Paul Ronto, Chief Marketing Officer of Run Repeat echoes this statement, “One of the big downsides of remote work is the feeling of isolation. It really sucks productivity when you feel alone all day. We crave personal connection and losing those intra-office chats/relationships takes its toll”.
Still, the positive effects trump the negative since these can all be dealt with by the right mindset and vision for productivity in accomplishing tasks.
“Working remotely does not have any significant downsides for workers specializing in digital marketing. Digital Marketing flow has significantly increased and utilizing social platforms for targeted advertising has become increasingly effective and efficient during quarantine, primarily due to the spike of users and potential clients use of the internet and increase in social media screen time,” Tristan Barrett of YouPlanets says about the overall impact of remote work to digital marketing.
Key ingredients for digital marketing to thrive in remote work:
My team is still at the ready to empower businesses who are underserved in the digital world. The remote setup is not much of a surprise for us, so we handle it excellently. As their leader, I see to it that I overshare and target the most cohesive communication channels that we can take advantage of. I believe this is more important than keeping them in the dark and leaving my team members with more uncertainty than they have during this pandemic.
More than being transparent in terms of my communication, I also work hard in order to achieve KPIs and to motivate the utmost productivity in them. Instilling a vision in team members is essential since this can help them realize their purpose. To do this, there are key ingredients to maintain the growth that digital marketing can give to businesses. Let’s take a look at some of them here:
Trust
The call for unity resounds more than ever, especially since mobility is limited during these times. We cannot see each other but that doesn’t mean that integrity and precise work ethics would be absent. Trust is a two-way street so this does not only apply to team members but you have to trust the management as well. For all of us to have a sound working environment, it would be beneficial for everyone to feel safe in it.
Alexander Porter of SearchItLocal shares that, “While office environments foster connectivity and creativity, they also allow for levels of oversight. Remote work requires trust, not only in individuals within a team but in the processes themselves. For me and the remote team at Search It Local, the greatest effect of working remotely has been the growing sense of trust in each other and the service we provide”.
Inherent trust is important in order to make a remote setup work and this gives freedom to work at a designated pace. I would like to work with a team I can trust so this is a valuable ingredient for remote work.
Invest in Productivity Tools
I invest in software because it greatly helps in getting things done. For this reason, productivity tools are one of the things that you should look into if you are aiming to increase productivity in your team. We use Hubstaff and Trello as tools to aid our productivity and this can help us track the tasks from team members. Additionally, they are efficient in monitoring how a team member performs so that is a great benefit from this software.
We also have a P2 Blog where we log on our weekly tasks. This is instrumental for our remote work process moving forward as we are transparent with the rest of the team on our workload. With this, team members are expected to log in their completed tasks and the tasks for next week. There is also a section for the things that came up during the week, so we can adjust expectations on the submission of tasks.
It would also help if you have tools for time management and Alan Silvestri from Growth Gorilla has this to say about this, “The biggest effect of constant remote work is the need to manage your own time. Fortunately, today’s tech offers a variety of tools to help you. But I’m always experimenting and trying to improve – that’s how critical time management is for success.
Streamline the Hiring Process
Most of the work processes now can happen online. Even hiring applicants can be done via Zoom calls. Our team has a 6-step hiring process and with the lockdown happening, we had no problems observing this for applicants. What’s lost now is the effort to go to the office and return for each step. This is how I know that an applicant is a valuable addition to the team.
Our own Human Resources Manager, Alexie Nobleta says this about the hiring process during the pandemic, “Applicants are more eager to move on with their application process now that there is an option to work from home. This is because job seekers are looking for a safe option. They also have fewer expenses when working from home so this helps in attracting them to pursue their application.”
Additionally, the CEO of Netbooknews, Kenny Trinh, says, “Remote employees have more freedom than traditional office workers. They can wake up at the office starting an hour and just sit in front of the computer. They don’t have to tense about catching a ride and reaching office though bad traffic. Who would want to miss this benefit?”
Pay close attention to your communication channels
As I said before, transparency is key to communication. We need to exhaust all communication channels possible so that not a word is lost in translation. This helps in improving efficiency especially because clients are expecting our responsiveness. Working from home has opened up a lot of avenues in communication as video chat has become a norm.
Andrew Laws uses Slack for their communication as he says, “During the COVID-19 Pandemic there has been an increased reliance on email for most companies. But not for us. We decided a couple of years ago to ban internal emails in favor of using Slack. Slack integrates brilliantly with our project management software (Trello). Remote working and careful configuration of Slack has also helped reduce our overheads, so even losing work has been more tolerable than it would have been otherwise”.
Communication is one of the key ingredients that we need in order for digital marketing to thrive. Without it, you might as well be working with a brick wall. Accessibility of information is of the utmost importance. Never forget this when you are transitioning to remote work.
Refine your process documents
Working on a remote setup is a chance to revisit your process documents as well as strike the right balance between efficiency and time management. It is high time that you see how you can refine your process so you can motivate maximum efficiency.
Jo McKee, the founder of McKee Creative has accomplished this for their team and he shared, “To do this we set up very clear Job Brief documents so that each person understands not only the task and the deadline, but also how it fits in to the bigger picture. We promote initiative, and provide incentives for the team member to grow with the business. It’s also really important to hire the right people. If you’re working remotely and hire the type of person who just “ticks the boxes” without thinking about the impact of their work, the quality of the work will suffer.”
In Google Drive, we have created an Agency Manual where new team members can find every workflow and template they need to complete their jobs. It also serves to introduce one another via a quick bio.
Digital Marketing and Business
The digital marketing industry is showing no signs of slowing down. As businesses are now realizing or revisiting the potential that an online presence can give to their growth, digital marketing is more prevalent especially since it can operate under remote work. We, as digital marketing experts, have to show stability in the form of our organization. Business Development Head, Charm Villanueva says, “We are already ahead of the game and it is our responsibility to guide businesses through the shift – from traditional marketing to digital.”
Tom De Spiegelaere also affirms this as he has seen a boost in conversions due to the circumstances of the pandemic. Businesses have seen the potential of online to help them achieve their goals and what better way than to serve that purpose for them, right? Tom says, “To fill that need, we’re doing our part in pivoting our strategies to help companies stay relevant, profitable, and helpful to their customers. The pandemic may have been a shock to us all, but this has proved how crucial a company’s online presence is. For that reason, business owners need a company like ours to help them navigate the changes in the market today.”
Key Takeaway
See how many digital marketing experts are navigating this change in a significant way? Remote work can do a lot for your company, especially now. For those who are scared to explore this option or opted not to do so, what have you got to lose? Productivity will be ignited if you lead your team. At the end of the day, no matter what the office setup may be, it would still be up to you as a leader to motivate your team in achieving a common goal.
Who else is working remotely? How do you like it so far? Comment down below!
