Monthly Archives: February 2021

EAT, YMYL, & Beneficial Purpose: What Do They for Search?

This entry was posted in Advertising, Local, Marketing, SEO on by .

SUMMARY: Find out how to fix your pages and improve your quality standards. Get help from an organic SEO company.

Do you know what EAT or YMYL stands for? Do you know what these acronyms mean and what they’re for? EAT is “Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness” and YMYL is “Your Money or Your Life.” These two, along with beneficial purpose, make up the guidelines or three golden keys to how Google pages must be.

 

They are essentially quality standards. And work as a reference for the company’s human search evaluators. The evaluators are people who rate how well the algorithm is working. Is it doing its job, for instance? That’s why these three are also tools that give insight into what a high-quality web page should look like. Here’s why you need to know each one.

 

Understanding Quality for Google

 

The Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines or SQEG matter as the latest core updates incorporate practices on how you need to understand E-A-T and YMYL. Just keep in mind, though, that the evaluator guidelines only hand out clues. There aren’t any definite answers here, but we can analyze the data and infer enough from it to know what they mean. If you’re at a loss, though, consulting with an organic SEO company or hiring one to help you through this will make it easier for you to understand what these quality standards mean and how they affect your website.

 

Beneficial Purpose

 

What is the purpose of the page? If you’ve ever been to a site with pages that you weren’t sure why they’re there, that’s the kind of problem that this quality standard seeks out to eliminate. When you create a website, every page must have a purpose. If that purpose isn’t clear or if its intent is to harm users or deceive them or there to make money off users, then the page will get the lowest PQ rating. Websites must be created to provide help and assistance. Anything that goes against that will be penalized.

 

YMYL Content

 

Your Money or Your Life content could impact the safety, healthy, and happiness as well as financial stability of a user. That means the stakes are high for this content. If you’re creating these pages and handing out bad advice or erroneous information, then you’ll need to maintain the highest quality standards. If you so much as attempt to use your pages to spread misinformation, then you’ll get penalized by Google as well. Your page quality or PQ will go down in flames. That’s why pages with YMYL content need to maintain the highest levels of E-A-T.

 

E-A-T Standards

 

E-A-T is for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Every site must have these characteristics. If you want your page to score high on the rankings, if you want to get to the top of the SERPs, then you’ll want to increase E-A-T levels of your pages. Create content that helps you build your reputation as a trustworthy market leader.

 

Hiring Help

 

This is where pros come in. If you’re quite sure how or where to get started on fixing your pages, or how to increase the E-A-T of your sites, talk to a digital marketing service provider.

Google Analytics 4 – How to get started with GA4

This entry was posted in Advertising, ecommerce, Local, Marketing, PPC, SEO on by .

SUMMARY: Know how Google Analytics 4 will affect you. Hire an organic SEO company for guidance and help.

Google announced the launch of the Google Analytics 4. The update was previously referred to as App + Web. It’s an analytics tool that offers smarter insights to help e-commerce sites net higher returns. As the digital marketing sphere moves to a cookie-less space, the tool is envisioned to help with that transition.

 

Will It Affect You?

 

Every time a Google update happens, we ask this question: and for good reason. A Google update could be devastating to your ecommerce business if your site isn’t ready for it. And yes, it will affect you. But don’t panic just yet. The good news is, you still have time to prepare. The first step you’ll want to do is understand how your data works. This will save you a ton of headaches later. If you don’t know how, hire an organic SEO company to help you through this.

 

Set Up a Data Stream

 

The first thing you need to do is look for the admin section for Universal Google Analytics. Look for the feature that will allow you to upgrade a property. If you go with that upgrade now, though, keep in mind that you’ll need to use the gtag install for the GA. Once that step is done, the upgrade will create a new property. This one, though, will have tracking that starts with G-. Connect the property to a data stream then. If you’re keeping an eye on the traffic to the site and app, add both data streams to one report. Make sure you have the Universal Google Analytics code firing on the site or use the Google Tag Manager to make sure the data flows in both GA versions.

 

Real-time Refresh

 

Once you have your new code on the site, jump to the Real-time report. Check if the data is flowing in. GA4 combined all the individual reports from Real-time into a major one, so your user map will update in real-time. You can also check data from the last 30 minutes. Since Google Analytics 4 is designed to focus efforts on improving engagement, you can expect changes in events and conversions as all page views will now be tracked as events. More tractable conversions, though, still mean that you need to choose the events that you’re tracking carefully. Do that by customizing and editing events in the analytics interface.

 

Edit Events in GA4

 

Go to the events menu. You’ll see the standard events that come with GA4. At the top of the screen, though, you’ll find controls that make it possible for you to change an existing event or create a new one. Look for the sliders that can turn any of your events into a tracked conversion. Since only some clicks count as conversions, you’ll need to know how to modify events to pick which ones are worth tracking.

 

Get Help from Pros

 

Managing your site is a full-time job. If your hands are already full running a business, get help from experts. Find an SEO service provider to help you through the update and guide you through the changes.

Google Core Update: What is It? And How to Recover from One?

This entry was posted in Content, Marketing, SEO on by .

SUMMARY: Affected by a core update? Hire an organic SEO company to help you fix your pages.

Google rolls out changes to its algorithm often. That’s also one of the reasons why you’ll need to have a team of experts looking after your site. It’s not enough that you have a website. Given how frequent the company launches changes in its algorithm, it’s only smart that you have an expert who knows how to maintain your pages. That way, even when updates happen, you won’t have to be left behind in the dark.

 

What’s the situation?

 

Imagine this: you wake up, expecting everything to be the same. Certainly, you don’t expect your page rankings to change overnight. And since you’ve been using marketing campaigns that have been more efficient than ever, you’re set to see even better results and ROI. But one minute, everything is fine and the next, a core update has upended your rankings. You’re confused, in a panic, and wondering: “what just happened?”

 

What is a core update?

 

A core update is what happens when Google makes changes to its search engine algorithm and systems. The update is significant to the extent that it leads to broad changes. While the aim of the updates is to make sure sites continue to deliver more useful, trustworthy, a and relevant content, some of the updates could affect your site and lead to problems. That’s’ why hiring the services of an organic SEO company matters. With expert assistance, you can navigate through these changes with less stress and much greater ease.

 

How often do updates happen?

 

It can happen several times a year. Usually, you’ll see updates being rolled out every few months. Also, since Google announces the dates of the updates a few days before it happen, you can take that time to check your sites and make sure everything is in order. Or rather, you can hire pros to take a look at your site, assess your pages, and ensure that you don’t have anything that could trip any of the Google codes or rules after the update.

 

How is the core update different from all the rest?

 

The core updates are like a list of recommendations from Google. They change from year to year. That’s to be expected. Every year, technologies and platforms change. These core updates reflect or even react to some of those changes. The difference of core updates from other types of updates to the algorithm is the following:

  • Core updates are announced, and other algorithm updates aren’t.
  • Google acknowledges core updates, but not the others.
  • Core updates have names while others don’t.

Regular Google updates are more like minor tweaks while core updates tweak multiple features of the algorithm.

 

How do you fix issues from a core update?

 

Core updates make search results even more relevant to users. However, if your pages haven’t been updated or your content isn’t up to par just yet, if you’ve only been in the process of updating your content, then it could devastate your pages. You’ll need to hire pros to help you dig your pages out of the rubble.

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3 Reasons You Should Have a Google Premier Partner

If you are trying to get your business more exposure by the most effective means, especially during the global pandemic, it’s no surprise that you will need to harness the marketing power of the internet. Having boosted ad campaigns on social media geared towards encouraging sales will reach your immediate followers, but this is truly just the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface, it’s no secret that businesses that successfully market online earn a great majority of their impressions through Google. But what isn’t as commonly known are the intricate inner workings of how Google operates. While you could spend hours doing research and watching the tutorial videos on how to take advantage of Google’s ad capabilities, it’s time-consuming and nearly impossible while trying to run a business.  And when you start looking for assistance with your online advertising, you’ll find that self-proclaimed AdWords expert are everywhere with bold claims like, “We help your Google Ads increase performance for better ROI and more leads, guaranteed.” How do you know which agencies are reputable and will be able to work within your budget to get the advertising results you need? Continue reading

women in store

Stay on Top of the Online Shopping Boom

It seems like ages ago when the everyday shopper could casually stroll into a store and make a few purchases, but COVID-19 changed all of that. We’re now in a time where we have no choice but to rely on the internet for a variety of things, especially when it comes to shopping during stay-at-home orders. The pandemic has certainly brought its fair share of challenges to large and small businesses alike, but those who have been able to pivot and take their sales online have been able to find the silver lining of the shutdowns.  As a matter of fact, it’s estimated that a whopping 23% of retail businesses will have shifted onto the internet by 2023. The internet landscape is getting more crowded – and at an exceedingly fast rate. This means that there’s no time like the present to start focusing on strategies to make sure that your business stays at the top of the search engine results and ahead of the competition. Continue reading

What to Do When Google Updates the Algorithm

This entry was posted in Local, SEO on by .

Google updates can be scary. Even if you follow all of the Google guidelines, you can still suffer from the dirty work of other people. But what exactly do you do when a new Google update comes up? How do you know whether or not a Google update is causing a traffic drop on your websites? And what steps do you need to take to figure that out?

During this guide, our organic SEO company will go over all of the steps you need to take when Google updates the algorithm.

 

  • Follow the right sources. As soon as a Google update happens, thousands of bloggers begin writing about it, but not all of these resources are trustworthy. We recommend following our own blog, as well as Moz, Backlinko, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Roundtable.
  • Check your traffic and positions. The fastest way to know if you have been penalized by the new Google update is to check your traffic. You can take a look at the Search Visibility widget from the cognitive SEO tool. If you see a drop in traffic, it’s the sign of a penalty. If most of your affected pages are on position 30+, you might not see a huge change in traffic, as those changes don’t get much traffic anyway. But if the positions decrease, you will probably notice a drop in the Search Visibility metric.
  • Check again and don’t rush to take action. We recommend checking the traffic again after about a week or a month to keep an eye on your traffic. If the traffic and positions have not dropped at all, we recommend giving it some time then checking them again.
  • Get in touch with an expert. An expert knows what to look for and how to prioritize any issues. You also don’t need to worry about making mistakes or taking unnecessary action that could cause more harm when you’re talking to an expert. We recommend doing your research to choose the right expert.
  • Audit your website. Every penalty fix should begin with a website audit. When you notice any big changes in your traffic, we recommend auditing your website, since you don’t know which plugin caused the issue. You should do a technical audit and audit your backlinks, content, and user experience.
  • Exclude other penalty possibilities. Even if a traffic drop shows up after the update is announced, it doesn’t mean that the update caused the drop. Google might look at your website and find some issues that you haven’t dealt with.
  • Develop a strategy for recovery and excuse it step by step. It’s now time to outline your plan, and prioritization is the key to a successful recovery plan. You might find a handful of problems, but you need to start fixing the biggest problems first that actually have an impact on the penalty.
  • Keep doing the good type of SEO. The best way to get out of a penalty is to continue doing good things. Keep doing the right things over a long period of time to see more results.

How to Build a Digital Marketing Strategy During a Recession

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Every recession has a few different stages, including the initial drop, the slow climb out of the recession, and the growth that follows the recession. The impact of a recession certainly depends on how big the initial drop is and how long it takes to climb out of a recession. There’s a recession happening right now as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and there’s a lot of emotional weight that comes with that recession.

Marketers and business leaders can’t allow themselves to become paralyzed by the global crisis and the pandemic. The actions that marketers and business leaders take now will give their companies the foundation to survive and perhaps even thrive as the economy stabilizes following the recession. Marketers and business leaders need to sort out how they work with their employees and community and how they speak to their customer base during the recession.

 

Digital marketing during a recession

 

Here are a few steps you can take to use digital marketing to help reduce a downward economic turn during a recession, from our organic SEO company:

 

  • Don’t cut marketing spending. It might be tempting to cut your marketing spending dramatically in order to conserve resources, but this can create a bigger hole for you to climb out of. You might save money in the short term but you will probably lose money in the long term, and when your competitors are doing better than you post-recession because they didn’t cut marketing spending, you will only need to spend more money to get back to where you were.
  • Market like a global citizen. This is the right time to think about your core values as a company and as a business leader. Do you have what it takes to get through this global crisis with true integrity? This is not the right time to figure out how you can profit off of this crisis, because people will remember companies that are simply preying on their insecurity and fear to get ahead. It’s important to market through the lens of trauma and keep in mind that people are looking for things that will help them feel happier, safer, and more secure.
  • Keep a close eye on evolving consumer trends. It’s important to keep an eye on the data and trends around how people are spending or not spending money during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We can certainly look at how things played out in previous recessions, but the current crisis is its own unique situation.
  • Solidify sales and marketing alignment. It’s crucial to align your sales and marketing teams since your sales team is hearing anxieties in real-time. Marketing teams should be using insights from your sales time into how potential clients are feeling and why they are saying no. We recommend working together to take a consumer-based approach to meet consumer needs and respond to real issues.
  • Double down on content marketing. Content marketing and search engine optimization are crucial in the long run, so it’s important to take steps now to improve your content marketing strategy so that your consumer behavior can return to normal following the crisis.

Everything You Need to Know About the Google Analytics Upgrade

This entry was posted in Advertising, Content, Marketing, SEO on by .

If you own a website, you probably know how essential it is to keep an eye on your website traffic, the performance of your pages, and the overall health and well being of your website. The best platform to help you monitor everything on your website is Google Analytics.

Google Analytics recently received a huge upgrade with some new features intended to give you better insights into your website traffic in order to help you make better marketing decisions. During this guide, our organic SEO company will look at some of the new features in the Google Analytics G4 upgrade and how to interpret your insights to make better decisions.

 

What is Google Analytics 4?

 

Google Analytics 4 is an extension of the Google Analytics Suite recently rolled out by Google to help website owners get a better view of their customers’ behavior, as well as their website traffic data. This upgrade is the new default experience for websites and where improvements will be made in the future.

 

If you already use Google Analytics to keep an eye on your website traffic performance, you need to upgrade to the new version of Google Analytics 4. Once you set up Google Analytics 4, you can begin collecting data and experiencing the new features.

 

New features in Google Analytics G4

 

There are a few new features and changes in the appearance of Google Analytics, including more comprehensive data controls, further integration with Google Ads, improved focus on customer-related data, and smart insights improvement.

 

  • Comprehensive data controls. The Google Analytics 4 upgrade gives users the ability to drill down on their data so that they can create better marketing decisions. The acquisition tab has been improved to show a more holistic view of daily traffic. The user acquisition and traffic acquisition breakdowns have been enhanced to include more granular and visually appealing data. You are also able to add custom comparisons across different data channels to get an improved understanding of how traffic changes on a weekly and monthly basis.
  • Further integration with Google Ads. With the new upgrade, you can link Google Analytics 4 up with Google Ads and gain better insight into your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to determine how well you are managing your advertising money. When you integrate with Google Ads, you can track the origination of your audiences and see which countries, platforms, apps, and devices are responsible for your conversions.
  • Improved focus on customer-related data. The upgrade is designed to help marketers get a better view of how their audiences engage with the website and the related products and services. You can also customize your analytics around how your customer engages with your website by creating a custom traffic path analysis with different variable metrics.
  • Smart insights improvement. You can also pull custom insights on your demographics, performance, e-commerce, and technology with better data customization options. This upgrade is an improvement because it enables you to quickly pull data about your traffic for comparisons with other time periods.