Category: SEO

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Google is Dropping Continuous Scroll in Search Results

Team reviewing a proposal from McCord Web Services.

In a significant shift, Google has announced that it will be dropping continuous scroll for search results and moving back to displaying 10 organic results per page. This change reverses a feature that had been rolled out to improve user experience by allowing seamless scrolling through search results. The reversion to the classic 10 results per page format is expected to have a profound impact on organic search results and the need for businesses to invest in Google Ads to maintain visibility.

Introduction

If you’re a business owner who relies on Google Ads for your online presence, this Google search update is a game-changer. For a while, continuous scroll made it easier for users to browse through multiple search results without having to click ‘next.’ Now, Google is reverting to its original format of displaying only 10 organic results per page. This change will undoubtedly influence how businesses approach their SEO and advertising strategies. Here’s why this shift is crucial and how it impacts organic search results and Google Ads.

The Impact on Organic Search Results

Decreased Organic Visibility

One of the most immediate impacts of this change is the decreased visibility for websites that are not on the first page of search results. With continuous scroll, users were more likely to see and click on results beyond the first 10. Now, being relegated to the second page or higher means potential organic traffic will drop significantly.

Increased Competition for Top Spots

The fight for those coveted top 10 positions will become fiercer. Businesses will need to work even harder to produce high-quality, SEO-friendly content regularly. This means investing in SEO experts and consistent content updates to stay competitive.

Quality Over Quantity

While quantity has always been a factor in SEO, quality will now take center stage. Google’s algorithm favors sites with valuable and relevant content. Therefore, businesses must prioritize creating engaging blog posts, detailed articles, and informative website content to improve their chances of ranking within the top 10 results.

The Impact on Google Ads

Increased Need for Advertising

With fewer organic results being displayed per page, businesses will find it more challenging to gain visibility through organic search alone. This change will likely push more companies to allocate budgets for Google Ads to ensure they remain visible to potential customers.

Higher Competition and Costs

“As a Google Partner and SEO expert, my firm feels that businesses will need to increase advertising budgets in Google Ads and work with an SEO expert to provide quality blog and website content in order to improve site visibility,” says Nancy McCord, Founder of McCord Web Services. This increased reliance on Google Ads will lead to higher competition for ad placements, potentially driving up the cost-per-click (CPC) for competitive keywords.

Strategic Ad Campaigns

Businesses will need to become more strategic in their ad campaigns, focusing on targeting the right audience and using compelling ad copy to stand out. This also means leveraging all available features of Google Ads, such as ad extensions and A/B testing, to maximize ROI.

Conclusion

The shift back to displaying 10 organic results per page is a significant change that will influence both organic search results and Google Ads strategies. Businesses must adapt by investing in high-quality content and increasing their advertising budgets to maintain visibility. By understanding the implications of this update, business owners can make informed decisions to stay competitive in an increasingly challenging digital landscape.

Stay ahead of the curve and consider working with an SEO expert to optimize your website and a Google Ads consultant to enhance your ad campaigns. This dual approach will help ensure that your business continues to thrive online despite the evolving search engine landscape.

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Navigating the Next Wave of Search: How Google’s SGE Will Reshape Organic Traffic in 2024

SEO Strategy is Changing Due to Google's SGE in Chrome.

In the realm of digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), we stand on the brink of a monumental shift. Google’s introduction of its search generative experience (SGE) is poised to redefine how we interact with the world’s most popular search engine, and by extension, how websites capture organic traffic. This evolution promises to alter not just website placement but the entire browsing experience within Google Chrome. But what does this mean for your SEO strategy in 2024?

Understanding Google’s SGE and Its Impact on Website Placement

At its core, SGE leverages advanced AI algorithms to understand and predict user intent in unprecedented ways. This technology doesn’t just aim to provide answers but to anticipate the underlying questions users may not even know to ask. For businesses, this translates to a significant shift in how website placement within search results can influence visibility and organic traffic.

The Case of the Niche E-commerce Site

Consider the case of a niche e-commerce platform, which, upon the rollout of SGE, observed a 20% decline in organic traffic for product searches. Traditional SEO strategies that once propelled the site to the first page of Google suddenly seemed less effective. Through an adaptive SEO approach, focusing on rich, contextual content, and aligning with SGE’s predictive capabilities, the site managed to regain and eventually exceed its previous traffic levels. This case study underscores the need for nimble SEO strategies that can evolve with Google’s advancements.

SGE’s Transformation of Google Chrome’s Browsing Experience

SGE is not just altering search results; it’s set to transform how users browse in Google Chrome. By integrating a more intuitive understanding of user queries, Chrome will begin to offer a browsing experience that’s seamlessly aligned with individual needs and preferences.

A Surge in Organic Traffic for a Local Service Provider

A notable example of this in action involves a local service provider whose website saw an organic traffic boost following SGE’s enhancement of local searches. By emphasizing local SEO factors and ensuring their site was optimally structured for SGE’s locality-focused algorithms, they captured a larger share of targeted, local traffic. This success story illustrates the increasing importance of localized content and SEO in the SGE era.

Adapting Your SEO Strategy for SGE

Adaption starts with a deep understanding of SGE’s mechanics and its implications for user search behavior. Here are strategies to help you stay ahead:

  • Integrate Rich, Contextual Content: Go beyond keywords to develop content that answers the broader context of user queries.
  • Optimize for Predictive Search: Anticipate the next logical questions your audience might have, providing comprehensive resources that align with their search journeys.
  • Leverage Structured Data: Help SGE better understand the content and context of your pages, enhancing visibility in rich snippets and featured placements.

A Multi-faceted SEO Approach

The shift to SGE highlights the necessity for a diversified SEO strategy. A general-interest blog, for instance, found that its broad readership base fragmented across more specific interests with the advent of SGE. By employing long-tail SEO tactics and diversifying its content portfolio, the blog managed to tap into new organic traffic sources, demonstrating the value of a multi-pronged approach to SEO in the SGE landscape.

What to Make Of SGE’s Impact on SEO Strategies

The rollout of Google’s SGE marks a pivotal moment for SEO professionals and website owners alike. While the challenges it presents are non-trivial, they also offer opportunities for innovation and growth. By understanding the nuances of SGE, proactively adjusting your SEO strategy, and keeping user experience at the forefront, you can ensure that your site not only navigates but thrives in the new era of search.

The evolution of search is an adventure in itself, one that demands adaptability, foresight, and a deep commitment to understanding the shifting digital landscape. The examples of businesses that have already begun to adapt to SGE showcase the potential for increased visibility and traffic, provided we’re ready to rethink, revise, and revitalize our SEO strategies for 2024 and beyond.

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New Website Project Tutor with Carol

We’ve just completed a new web design project www.TutorWithCarol.com and are glad to share it with you.

This site designed for Carol Macina a professional math and reading tutor for K-8 grades uses our Pixelarity themes and is a quick and inexpensive way to have a search engine optimized website at an affordable price point.

To learn more about our Quick Start web design projects visit our web design page on our website for more information and examples.

 

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Yandex Leak Reveals Some Intel on Google’s Secret Sauce for Site Rankings

Image of the words Data Leak

Yandex, a search engine in China, that was built by ex-Googlers and matches the Google index about 70% of the time. Since the Yandex data leak, the SEO community has been trying to ID potential items that may actually impact ranking in Google.

We’ve found two really great articles that help to spell out what appear to be possible ranking indicators that Google may… or may not be using. You can visit the links at the bottom of the page to read all the gory details.

In a nutshell, however these are the items that from my years of experience appear to ring true as Google rankings.

• PageRank – Google does not show PageRank anymore, but years ago this was a really important factor and Google may still be using it. PageRank was a combination of factors such as inbound links, authority, and site freshness.

• Clicks and CTR – I have long felt that with Google having access to websites’ Google Analytics accounts that clicks and click through rate would eventually become a ranking factor.

• URL Construction – We have long known that Google like keyword driven URLs. We like to use hyphens versus underscores in our URL building for SEO optimized websites. The Yandex leak goes a step farther and says that too many trailing slashes is an issue and numbers in the URL are problematic.

• The Web Host – The Yandex leak goes farther into stating that web hosts also impact rankings. Low budget host will flow a lower ranking indicator to sites that are hosted on their servers. Reliability (downtime) may also be an important factor.

• Query Relevance that Matches Meta Titles and Page Text –  This rings true to me as a Google index factor as Google is all about relevance. We know the meta title tag is very important for ranking but should reflect page content and not be spammy.

• Presence of Ads on the Page – Yandex might be using this as a ranking factor, but more likely a quality factor. The leak states that Yandex does look for ads and adult ads, but does not reveal if this is a ranking factor.  I do not see Google using that for index rankings nor Yandex.

• Age of Links – Yandex appears to be weighting pages with newer inbound links and depreciates older inbound links when deciding page rank. This rings true to me as a Google index item. Google has done much to drop link numbers in various algorithm updates; impacting the placement of websites organically.

• Page Freshness – Yandex is looking at the age of pages and how frequently site updates are done. We have long know that site freshness is a Google indicator. This is one reason why we like blogging as a way to build organic placement over time.

• Bookmarks – Yandex ranks sites higher in the results if more visitors bookmark the page. Google may or may not be doing this, but I am leaning closer to may versus may not.

We encourage you to view the following article for more information. Does this give us enough to move the needle for organic placement. No, but it does give validation to many things we know that do move the needle over time for organic placement improvement.

Jake Ward’s LinkedIn post.

Russian Search News Article.