Back in November last year we brought you news about Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project, which was designed to strip down websites so they load much faster when viewed on mobile devices. While we cautioned against jumping straight in at the time, we did predict that AMP would ultimately have an effect on website rankings. Our Head of Technical SEO, Chris Philpot, has this to say: “Because Google’s algorithm is so secret, it’s exciting when it publishes one of…
There’s been a large and not-particularly-helpful change to Google’s indispensable Keyword Planner in the last few weeks. Accounts that aren’t spending much are now seeing vague search volumes, whereas big spenders are still getting the full data. Here’s what the same report looks like in Keyword Planner with and without the new limits in place: As you can see you’re losing a lot more than just exact search volume – the chart is no more, meaning identifying seasonality, mobile trends,…
You may have seen the recent article on Search Engine Land regarding 30x redirects and PageRank. If not, don’t worry – you can find it here. Essentially, the article summarises the confirmation by Google engineer Gary Illyes that a 30x redirect will no longer result in a dilution of PageRank. This is a source of contention as many in the SEO community have debated this for many years. So what are these redirects? 30x redirects enable websites to bypass broken…
Have you ever been searching for some information on Google and ended up on a page so monstrously bad that it offended each of your senses in turn? Many such pages exist, and the reason they’re often given prominence in search results is down to one thing – links. Links are the reason the Internet works, and the reason why so much of it is broken. Link building, link buying, link prospecting, and many other similar activities have contorted search…
Just when you thought the marketing world was overflowing with jargon, another phrase is thrown into the mix. This time: micro-moments. Google’s way of referring to the need to appeal to mobile customers regularly on the hunt for new information, this isn’t, however, a buzzword to add to your avoid-list. Instead, content marketers need to be focusing on, and optimising content for, these moments and incorporating them into their strategies. In this article, we explore: What micro-moments are Why you…
A video recently went viral of a police officer pepper spraying a group of students peacefully protesting outside a Californian university. The incident happened back in 2011. The reason it’s only just been exposed? The university paid consultants over £100k to ‘eradicate references’ to it across search results. Now, before you go thinking this is a post about how to destroy any and all evidence of bad press, it’s not; however, if this story has taught us anything, it’s that…
Have you been longing for a longer space to compose your page titles? Well, you are in luck! With minimal fuss and fanfare, Google has increased the width of desktop search results to 600 pixels. This means about 20% more horizontal real estate than before. How does this affect your website’s SEO title tags and meta descriptions? Read on to find out. What has Google changed, and why? A couple of weeks ago, Google displayed search results on desktop in a 500 pixel wide column. Now, that same column…
Apple recently announced that its News app, which replaced its Newsstand service and up to now has only been open to large publishers and titles like The Guardian or Vanity Fair, is to increase access to smaller publishers and even individual bloggers. It is thought that this is a bid to rival Google and Facebook’s equivalent news publishing services, though Apple estimates that 40 million people use the service already. This is great news for businesses and brands who want…
