Category Archives: SEO

page experience google algorithm

Page Experience: Google’s New Algorithm for 2021

Google have recently announced a new ranking factor which will be rolled out in early 2021. This new ranking factor is called “Page Experience” and essentially measures how users perceive the experience of interacting with a specific web page. The purpose of this update is to ensure that Google will show sites that users really love at the top of their search results. In essence, user-friendly websites will rank higher than sites which are not user-friendly once this update is rolled out.

This new ranking factor signals the beginning of a shift in the world of SEO. It also means that many companies may now find themselves in the position of needing to update their website, and taking a much closer look at UX. We’ve broken down the impact that this new algorithm will have on your website’s ranking and how you can prepare for its arrival.

How does this new update work?

If Google believes that users on your website will have a poor web page experience, they may not rank these pages as highly on their search engine results pages as they currently do. They measure user experience using a set of metrics called Core Web Values which comprise user-centred metrics including page load time, engagement statistics and stability of your web content.

What is page experience?

Page experience essentially aims to understand how a user will perceive their experience on a specific web page based on Core Web Values such as how quickly the page loads, if its mobile optimised, runs on HTTPS, has intrusive ads or if content moves around the page as it loads.

What’s so important about this update?

This update signals a huge shift in Google’s algorithm. Google is now placing a greater focus on showing the sites that users love the most first. It is highly likely that in the coming years we will see many more updates focusing specifically on user experience. Google has also given a lengthy notice period, allowing website owners time ample time to update their Page experience, which is uncommon. This shows how important this update will be.

How can I optimise my website’s Page Experience for 2021?

Google have emphasised ‘Page Experience’ rather than ‘website experience.’ This doesn’t mean that only some pages of your website need to have a good user experience, but it seems to suggest that they’re going to focus on a page-level basis for their algorithm. If only a few of your webpages have poor experience relative to your overall website, then it wouldn’t make sense for Google to reduce the rankings of your whole site. That being said it is important that your whole website provides a great user experience both for the sake of ranking and for your users.

We’ve compiled our top tips to ensure your website is ready for the 2021 Page Experience Update.

   1. Optimise your site speed

The faster your website loads, the better your user experience will be. There are numerous websites and add-ons which can check this for you including Google’s Think With Google site speed checker. 

A website load time of less than 3 seconds on both mobile and desktop should be what you’re aiming for.

    2. Reduce Errors

Pay particular attention to any possible 404 errors or broken links on your website. Broken pages create a negative user experience. Use Neil Patel’s SEO analyser tool to discover any errors which could be impacting your user experience.

   3. Ensure Your Website is Mobile Optimised

53% of worldwide web traffic came from mobile in 2019. It’s no longer acceptable to have a website which is just suited to desktop browsing. To check if your website is mobile optimised input your domain name into Google’s handy mobile friendly test.

   4. Check Out Your Competition

How does your user experience stand up to your competitors? Your competitor’s user experience will directly impact your ranking as you’ll likely both be vying for the same keywords and search engine results. SEMrush is a handy tool to analyse your competitors.

  5. Analyse Your Website Design

It’s important to discover any usability issues that your website may have. One great way of discovering these is through the use of heat maps. We recommend installing Hot Jar, a heatmap tool for your website. An example of a potential usability issue which may become apparent when using heat maps is seeing a large number of clicks on a symbol that is not clickable but which users believe is. To improve user experience, these images could then be made clickable.

 

Conclusion

User experience is only going to become more and more important as time goes on. Analyse all on page metrics on Google Analytics, and compare them with previous periods to see if your engagement metrics are trending in the same direction.

This update means that website owners must now think ahead and ensure their websites offer the best experience possible. We are in a good position with this update as Google have provided us with advance notice. Use this time wisely to fix any usability issues you may have.

SEO with Evolution Digital

If you’re looking to improve your website’s user experience in time for the page experience roll out, or are looking for general SEO services, then be sure to contact our expert team here at Evolution Digital. Give us a call on 01 288 5118 to discuss your needs or shoot us an email at info@evolutiondigital.ie.

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10 Best SEO Chrome Extensions

The Google Chrome Store offers a whole host of extensions which can help you with SEO (over 100,000 to be specific). With such a wide range of options, it can be difficult to know which are actually useful! That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 Google Chrome extensions to help with SEO, which our SEO team have can’t live without!

 

1. MozBar

Moz Bar SEO chrome extension

MozBar is an SEO extension which allows you to obtain SEO insights about websites and SERPs quickly and efficiently while you browse. Some of MozBar’s key features include being able to create custom searches by search engine or region, quick assessment of page/domain authority, and being able to export your SERP analysis to a CSV file. Upgrading to MozBar Premium allows you to analyse keyword difficulty, page optimisation and dig deeper into SERP metrics.

 

2. SEOQuake

seo quake chrome extension

seoquake seo chrome extension

SEOquake is a free SEO extension by SEMrush which displays metrics such as Google and Bing Index for websites. It also provides information about the results in the SERPs such as backlink and traffic information as well as domain age and the number of pages indexed. The great thing about SEOquake is that it is comprised of several tools that you can use depending on your SEO aims.

 

3. Ubersuggest

ubersuggest seo chrome extension

Originally in website format only, this tool created by Neil Patel was recently developed as a Chrome extension and we couldn’t be happier! Ubersuggest allows you to obtain actionable SEO metrics within your Google, YouTube and Amazon search results. It allows you to get strategic competitive advantage on the top 10 results followed by a list of keyword suggestions based on your search term. A must have for anyone looking to conduct competitive research, to improve their SEO or for marketers working with clients to optimise their websites.

 

4. SimilarWeb

similarweb seo chrome extension

SimilarWeb is a fantastic SEO tool for general site analysis. It allows you to gain deep insights into traffic, bounce rates and site time amongst other key metrics. The SimilarWeb extension comes after their hugely popular website and provides you with the same scope of information, but directly to your browser toolbar which is convenient and efficient.

 

5. Google Pagespeed Extension

page speed seo plugin

The impact that page speed has on our SEO is often forgotten about among the myriad of other influences. However, page speed is a direct ranking factor for Google as well as an indirect factor as slow loading pages increase bounce rate and reduce time spent on site. The Google PageSpeed extension allows you to quickly analyse page speed of your own website, your client’s websites or competitor’s websites. You will be given a score out of 100 and suggestions will be provided on how you can boost your speeds. A really useful tool to solve an often forgotten about SEO factor.

 

6. Buzzsumo

The BuzzSumo extension allows you to see how many social shares a specific article has as well as its number of backlinks. This is useful for SEO in that it helps you analyse your own and competitor’s posts. This info will help you to benchmark against competitors and gain an understanding into the most common social media platforms your readers or competitor’s readers are using as well as how many backlinks is the industry norm.

buzzsumo chrome seo plugin

 

7. GrowthBar

growthbar seo extension

It’s easy to get lost sifting through all the data that some SEO plugins offer, luckily GrowthBar focuses on the key information you need and presents it to you while you browse Google. Allowing you to easily explore competitor’s backlinks, keywords that bring them the most traffic, look at their Facebook ads and so much more. This ad on really is ‘The SEO Tool Geared For Growth.’ GrowthBar is free for 5 days but costs $49(€42) per month thereafter.

 

8. SEOInfo

seo info chrome plugin

SEOInfo looks for any SEO issues on webpages and allows you to investigate them further. The issues that SEOInfo looks out for include duplicate meta tags, page speed and structured data errors. Discovering these issues and solving them will ensure that your hours of hard work put into SEO will not be put in jeopardy by having unsolved SEO issues on your website.

 

9. SERP Trends

serp trends chrome extension

SERP Trends is useful for keeping track of your website or competitors websites that you frequently search for. When turned on for the first time, all SERP positions are marked as new. On return searches this SEO tool will show you whether the website has moved up or down in the SERP rankings, if it’s a new result or if its position remains unchanged.

 

10. Screaming Frog

screaming frog seo chrome extension

Screaming Frog is an SEO spider which enables you to crawl websites, analyse SEO and fix any issues. This makes a usually long and difficult process far more simple and efficient. Using this extension will reduce your SEO stress and help to speed up an often time consuming task. The lite version of this add on is free with the paid plan being $160(€135) per year. 

 

10 Best Chrome Plugins for SEO

We hope this list has given you a flavour of the SEO tools available and helped you to choose the best Google Chrome SEO extensions for your needs. However, bear in mind that using too many browser extensions can slow down your computer and clog up your browser bar so choose wisely. If you wish to know more about our SEO services, Get In Touch with Evolution Digital today.

Happy optimising!

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ppc vs seo

PPC vs SEO: What Are They & How Can They Work Together?

Are you finding it hard to wrap your head around PPC and SEO? Wondering what the pros and cons of both are? Looking for someone to tell you if you should be focusing on PPC or SEO? Well, look no further, we break it all down for you in our PPC vs SEO showdown!

 

what is ppc

What is PPC?

 

PPC is the advertising which features at the top and sides of SERPs on the likes of Google and Bing. It’s called pay-per-click as you pay each time the ad is clicked on. PPC involves bidding on specific words or phrases known as keywords. For example, if you sell women’s shoes you may bid on the keyword ‘Women’s sandals’ to advertise your range of sandals. The amount you pay for a click on this ad will depend on the competition of the keyword (i.e. how many other companies are bidding on it) as well as other factors including seasonality and page quality score. Some keywords are affordable. Other keywords cost much more due to a larger number of companies bidding on them.

ppc ads

 

seo dublin

What is SEO?

 

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, encapsulates the many practices to increase the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid results. It helps to increase the quality and quantity of traffic that reaches the website organically. SEO includes creating high-quality content that is appealing to prospective customers and using keywords related to your website in content, headings and tags. It also involves receiving external links to your website and improving technical elements including page speed, website architecture and URLs. Search engines have algorithms that determine the quality and relevance of a webpage which leads it to rank accordingly. It is important to uncover what is deemed important by search engines, keep on top of updates in algorithms and to optimise your website according to this.

SEO IRELAND

The Difference Between SEO & PPC

 

There are some clear differences between SEO & PPC.

 

  • PPC ads appear at the top of SERPs above the organic listings. Traffic from these ads have a cost per click.
  • SEO influences the positioning of organic results. Traffic that reaches your website through these organic results is technically* free. *We say technically as we must consider the cost of the work that has gone into SEO to ensure that the web page ranked high organically so that potential customers would click on the result. The traffic is free but SEO itself is not. However, in simple terms, for SEO you do not pay per click received.

 

What are the Similarities between SEO & PPC

 

Although, PPC and SEO have many differences they also share some common elements.

 

  • Both aim to drive traffic to a website, PPC does so through paid means while SEO does so through a series of practices to increase organic ranking.
  • Both PPC and SEO are driven by keywords. Keyword research is vital in a PPC strategy to identify and bid on words and phrases that have the greatest chance of leading to clicks and ultimately conversions. This is carried out by considering the search volume, competition and intent of keywords. For example ‘women’s sandals for sale’ displays a higher purchase intent than ‘reviews of women’s sandals.’ For SEO, keyword research is important to discover which words and phrases to use in titles, alt text and content to increase organic ranking. What keywords are relevant to the website and which keywords will attract a high quality and quantity of visitors. Keywords selected for both PPC and SEO help to get a targeted audience through the search engine to your website. Both PPC and SEO require careful keyword consideration and penalise ‘keyword stuffing.’

 

So, now you know what PPC and SEO are but what are their pros and cons?

 

The Pros & Cons of PPC

 

PPC Benefits:

 

  • Targeted: You can advertise directly to people who are actively seeking out the products and/or services you offer. You can also target specific languages, locations, devices and audiences through Google Ads & PPC
  • Measurable ROI: PPC has a measurable ROI, with metrics such as impressions, reach, clicks and conversions trackable through the ad platform where the PPC ad was created e.g. Google Ads.
  • Payment: You only pay when people click on the ad, hence the term pay-per-click.
  • Ad extensions: Ad extensions can be added to PPC ads including links to other relevant webpages on your site or to the phone number of your company. These increase click-through-rates, pushes competitors further down the SERPs and provides greater visibility and prominence on the SERPs.
  • Position: PPC ads most often feature above the fold so a user can see the ads at the top or to the right of the SERPs.
  • Budget: With PPC, you can decide how much you want to spend daily on your ads, leading to great budget control.

 

Pitfalls of PPC:

 

  • Expense: PPC can be expensive in some cases, for example when targeting high search volume, high competition keywords or targeting large areas.
  • Time investment: PPC will need considerable investment of time. It’s not just as easy as setting up the campaigns and leaving them to run. Bids, keywords and ad copy will require constant optimisation.
  • Skills required: successful PPC advertising requires practice. Therefore, many companies choose to use a specialist agency.

 

seo services

Pros and Cons of SEO

 

Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO):

 

  • Brand awareness: SEO practices help improve visibility in search engines for relevant, targeted keywords, increasing brand awareness among potential customers.
  • Credibility: Featuring in the organic results on SERPs can increase your credibility among potential customers. Some searchers skip PPC ads and place greater credibility on organic results.
  • No Cost Per Click: SEO is not entirely free as ranking high organically will require time and effort but there is no cost per click on a result when compared to PPC advertising. This can make SEO more cost-effective for attracting relevant traffic.
  • Customer Centric: SEO is an inbound marketing strategy. It focuses on providing relevant content to customers and considers customer’s intent and needs.

 

Pitfalls of SEO:

 

  • Time: SEO takes time and achieving high organic ranking will not happen overnight. 
  • ROI is more difficult to quantify: ROI is more difficult to calculate for SEO than PPC as the time and effort put into SEO is often not quantifiable as a monetary value.
  • Constant changes: Search engines such as Google constantly release new algorithm updates which change the ways in which they rank organic results. One change in ranking guidelines and a website which was ranking highly one day could be demoted the next day!

 

digital marketing

PPC or SEO: Which one should I use?

 

This is a difficult question to answer and depends on the requirements and situation of a specific business. For example, a newly founded ecommerce store which will be competing with larger, more established retailers will likely struggle if it just relies on organic search initially. In this instance, serious consideration would need to be given to PPC advertising to drive immediate traffic. However, a more local based, small business which is specific to one area may gain greater benefit from SEO. Barrell (2019) found 72% of consumers who conducted a local search went on to visit a store within five miles of them. In order to make the decision if choosing between PPC or SEO, clear goals and a long-term strategy is needed.

 

PPC & SEO Working Together – a Match Made in Heaven!

 

Although PPC ads won’t effect a website’s organic ranking and SEO won’t impact on your PPC ads, there are many ways in which PPC and SEO can work together.

Here at Evolution Digital we would ideally recommend implementing both PPC and SEO. It is clear that both have their pros and cons but where one falls short, the other excels. Utilising PPC and SEO alongside each other allows your website to reach its full potential on the SERPs. By running PPC and implementing SEO efforts, your website will appear at the top of the SERPs as a paid ad being the first or one of the first brands seen by the searcher and then again if a searcher skips the ad section and looks at the organic rankings. Having PPC and SEO efforts running in tandem affords a brand the potential to take up a large section of the SERPs, giving you double the exposure and double the chance of clicks.

As mentioned already, keyword research and optimisation are common elements of both PPC and SEO. If PPC was implemented first, then successful keywords from this can be used for SEO purposes. If a company has been optimising their site through SEO prior to implementing PPC then they will have vast keyword data that can help inform their PPC campaign. High performing PPC ad copy can be used to inform organic content on your website. The combined use of PPC and SEO practices helps increase brand awareness. If a person has previously interacted with your PPC advertisement then they will likely remember this experience, if it was a positive one then they will be more likely to click your organic results for similar products/services they are interested in. Even if a searcher doesn’t interact with the PPC ad the ad still helps to create brand awareness. 

 

ppc and seo

 

Google found that even when companies who utilise PPC appear as the first organic result for a keyword, 50% of the clicks they get on their ads were not replaced by clicks on their organic results when the ads were not present. Showing both a PPC ad and an organic result will double the chances of clicks and conversions (Parker, 2012). 

Finally, PPC and SEO can be combined through the practice of remarketing. If a visitor to your site is gained through SEO where they consume top-of-the-funnel content or browse items but do not make a purchase, then SEO can be combined with a form of PPC advertising – remarketing. Remarketing can bring these visitors back to complete their purchase through advertising on Google’s Display network, Facebook or other third-party advertising service with specific information relevant to their previous visit to your website. As you will be specifically targeting warm leads with these ads, there is a greater chance of gaining revenue from your investment.

 

digital strategy

 

Start Your PPC and SEO with Evolution Digital

An integrated strategy using both PPC and SEO has numerous benefits and is an approach we recommend here at Evolution Digital. However, we acknowledge that the use of both strategies will not be ideal for every business. For those who want high-growth and have optimal time and resources then an integrated approach will provide faster growth and greater exposure than just using PPC or SEO in isolation.

PPC brings immediate results while SEO is a longer term strategy requiring website optimisation and content planning. If you require immediate results then start with PPC but as you scale and grow, SEO is an excellent way to grow even more and capture greater market share. At the end of the day, all digital marketing strategies are focused on what works best for you. 

Why not speak to us today so we can help you discover the digital marketing strategy that works best for your business.

 

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Google May 2020 Core Update: What You Need To Know

On May 4th, 2020, Google turned out the latest in its chain of Google Search Broad Core Updates. This is the first core update to be announced since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. So much has changed since the outbreak of coronavirus took hold here in Ireland and beyond, including major changes in consumer & search behaviour, which is why this core update may have an even more prevalent effect on rankings than most. Some rankings may have changed already, so now is the time to check in on your analytics, and continue to monitor and note the changes with your keyword positions. Going forward, Google has suggested those with depleted rankings to “fix” & improve their content based on previous guidelines, so when the next Google Core Update is announced, you’ll hopefully find your way back up.

core update

 

What Is A Broad Core Update?

Google is constantly changing, evolving & adapting its algorithms to provide the best possible results for searchers. Minor tweaks are performed daily, but every few months or so Google releases a ‘broad core update’. This is a larger update that may noticeably change where your page ranks on the SERPs. Google ever so kindly informs us when they make these updates so that us content creators can prepare for a ‘Judgement Day’, of sorts. Essentially, Google’s goal is to give credit where credit is due. This means a reassessment of old and new content, every few months, to decide who deserves those top search spots the most. They call these reassessments – ‘Broad Core Updates’.

 

What Does This Mean For My Website? – A Content Reassessment

This means the content that you worked super hard, (or maybe not so hard?) creating, is going to be analysed by Google’s shiny, freshly-updated algorithm, and it could potentially move up or down in search results. In the blog version of the official update, Google has informed us that if you’ve dropped in the rankings, it doesn’t mean there is necessarily anything wrong with your content, you’re still following the guidelines and offering a fine piece of work. What it does mean is that the latest algorithm has assessed all the content for a particular search keyword and decided that certain results are better and deserve those tops spots.

 

Why? What Kind Of Content Should You Be Producing?

Google rewards original, informative & valuable content. Make sure that your content offers more than your competitors’. There needs to be freshness and uniqueness. Google’s core updates favour engaging, shareworthy publications. So make sure anything you release on your website is of the highest quality. Be sure to take your time and perfect your work. SEO experts should now be taking the time to inspect analytics and follow guidelines from Google based on previous outputs around topics such as BERT. Covid-19 has taken search queries and spun them like a top, with a lot of topics that were once highly sought after becoming almost irrelevant, and many others seeing a surge in search relevancy. 

 

search update google

 

 

Content Creation Tips for Core Updates

Whether you have been immediately affected or not, the best way t prepare and recover is to produce or alter old content to adhere to Google’s advice. 

 

  • Keep it quality

 

Make sure your content serves a purpose and informs. Keep it engaging and ask yourself if your content is share-worthy? 

 

  • Keep it original

 

We all know that Google is not fond of duplicate content. Keep it original and fresh. If you’re writing about something that’s already been written about, that’s fine. Ensure you write it in a personalised way and offer something extra to the table. 

 

  • Keep it tidy

 

Grammatical errors will deplete your content quality ranking. Keep headlines and content descriptions to the point and informative.

 

  • Keep it classy

 

Make sure you’re not writing content for the sole purpose of ranking in search results. Don’t keyword-stuff, write with the good intentions of informing/ educating/ assisting your readers. 

 

If you would like a more detailed list of factors that Google’s algorithm is assessing, the full Google blog-style update  includes that and more on their latest core update.

 

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6 Ways to Optimise Your Youtube Practices

Billions of people watch videos on YouTube everyday. This makes the platform the second largest search engine after Google. Videos have risen as an important part of online marketing. While many companies have come to realize the power behind videos, they don’t necessarily know how to optimize their YouTube practices or content. How can you make sure that you and your brand capture this traffic? Taking just a few extra steps to optimize your videos will give you an online advantage, making your content easier to find and to share.

1. Name Your Video with a Target Keyword

The title of your YouTube video is important as it serves as a meta tag, which tells the search engines what the web page and your video is about. Just as it is important to optimize your written content for your website, it is important to identify keywords that help to identify your video. For this reason, it is important to use keywords in your video title. When people browse or search videos on YouTube, one of the first things that they notice is the video title. The title is what determines whether or not the viewer will actually click to watch your video. As long as your keyword fits naturally in your video title, it will serve you well to optimize your title.

2. Write Your Description with SEO in Mind

The description boxes on YouTube videos can also be helpful for search engines and viewers. Description boxes can be up to 1,000 characters, however, many viewers do not read past what YouTube automatically displays for description boxes, which would be only the first two or three lines of text. Despite this, it is still beneficial to optimize your description box with keywords and phrases. An optimized description allows your video to show up in the suggested videos sidebar on the website, which helps to expose your video to more users.

3. Tag Your Video with Related Keywords

Using tags on your video allows both YouTube and your viewers to know what the content and context of your video is. By using relevant tags, YouTube can place your video in the suggested videos sidebar as a similar video, in turn, broadening the reach of your video. Tags should be a mix of the most important keywords and more general keywords. However, it is important to avoid using irrelevant tags as Google may penalize users who do.

4. Track the Right Metrics

YouTube Analytics allows you to see your greatest areas of success as well as areas that need improvement. The three main reports that YouTube provides are Revenue Reports, Watch Time Reports, and Interaction Reports. Other important analytics to keep track of include audience retention, demographics, playback locations, traffic sources and devices. These analytics will

allow you to see everything from what location and devices people are watching your videos from, to how people discover your videos and when they stop watching them.

5. Encourage Embedding

If someone embeds your video on their site, it allows your video’s rating to be boosted in search engine results. If you embed your video on your own website, you also give your site the opportunity for increased traffic by giving search engines added content to rank. Embedding your videos on a website acts like a back link, enabling your videos to be placed in search engine results, resulting in more views. It also helps you reach a wider, more diverse audience apart from just your usual YouTube audience.

6. Encourage Your Viewers to Like and Share Your Videos

The most important interaction metrics that YouTube shows you on your interaction reports include Subscriber numbers, Likes and Dislikes, Comments and Sharing. These metrics show you how viewers feel about your videos and give you the opportunity to interact and form relationships with your subscribers. It is beneficial to promote your videos on your other social media platforms, like Facebook or Twitter, if you have any. It is also important to encourage your viewers to comment, share and leave a Like on your video. Similar to Views, the more Likes that you have on your video, the better your YouTube SEO ranking will be.

Having a strong YouTube presence can have a huge impact on your brand reach by giving you the opportunity to engage with the billions of users on the platform. Once people watch your video, you have the chance to expand your communication with them by encouraging them to go to your company website, ultimately leading to conversions. By optimizing your YouTube practices, you can take full advantage of the branding power that the platform provides.

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The 2016 SEO Checklist for small businesses

SEO checklist for small businesses

We all know small businesses cannot waste time and budget. This short 2016 SEO checklist can help any small business by improving your website optimisation and drive leads from organic traffic. Download the SEO checklist for small businesses in PDF here.

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