Search Engine Watch • 23rd August 2017

Why SEOs can’t afford to wait around for a mobile-first index

We’re often told that the web is increasingly mobile, and that it is imperative for businesses to adapt their marketing strategies to be ‘mobile-first’ in order to capitalize on this shift in internet behavior. But just how mobile is the web in 2017, and what does this mean for search?

Search Engine Watch • 2nd May 2017

Should Google be more transparent with its updates?

Most of Google's algorithm updates nowadays are unconfirmed and unannounced, leaving website owners and SEOs guessing as to what caused a change in ranking and what they can do to fix it. Does Google owe it to its users to be more transparent?

Search Engine Watch • 18th April 2017

The State of Schema.org: What are the biggest challenges surrounding Schema markup?

Using Schema.org markup, a form of structured data which helps search engines to interpret your webpages, is widely agreed to be beneficial from an SEO standpoint. While it may not correlate directly to an increase in ranking, using Schema.org markup allows search engines to pull through rich snippets and rich data like images, reviews and opening hours, making your site appear more attractive on the SERP and thereby increasing click-through.

Search Engine Watch • 30th March 2017

Study: Why do marketers still struggle with innovative search tactics?

Many marketers who are seeing flagging returns from their search marketing campaigns might wonder what they’re doing wrong – especially if they’ve already got best practices like accurate site descriptions and keyword optimization covered. But a new study commissioned by Microsoft’s Bing and search agency Catalyst, and carried out by Forrester Consulting, may have some light to shed onto why marketers aren’t realizing the full potential of search.

Search Engine Watch • 9th March 2017

How to turn off ad tracking in Google, Bing and Yahoo!

We all know that our favorite search engines track and collect a lot of data about us in order to personalize the results – and the ads – that they serve us. But that kind of tracking might not always be welcome, especially when it means that you have ads following you around the internet from a site where you bought a gift for a friend once, or for pregnancy products months after you’ve given birth. Or maybe you just don’t like your data being collected and used in this way.

Search Engine Watch • 2nd March 2017

Study: How valuable is it to have keywords in your domain URL?

There have been a number of debates over the years about the SEO value of having keywords in your domain URL. In a 2009 Google Webmaster video, Google’s then-head of web spam Matt Cutts confirmed that from a pure ranking standpoint, “it does help a little bit to have keywords in the URL”. More recently, Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller stated in a Google Webmaster Central office hours hangout that keywords in URLs are a “really small ranking factor”. But small can still make a difference

Search Engine Watch • 9th February 2017

What’s been going on with Google’s mobile indexing?

Back in October, Google announced the impending rollout of a mobile-first search index, a sure to be massive overhaul of the way Google indexes its search results which has had SEOs scrambling to prepare their businesses.

Search Engine Watch • 2nd February 2017

What can we learn from the winners and losers of organic search in 2016?

For the third year in a row, Searchmetrics has published its annual Winners and Losers Report, which reveals how certain sites fared in organic search visibility on Google.com over the course of 2016.

Search Engine Watch • 9th January 2017

Which Google algorithm changes impacted marketers most in 2016 – and what can we expect from 2017?

Between the long-awaited rollout of Penguin 4.0, a strengthening of Google’s mobile-friendly ranking signal and the ‘Possum’ algorithm update impacting local search, 2016 was an interesting year for Google algorithm changes.

Search Engine Watch • 11th November 2016

Five most important search marketing news stories of the week

I hope all of our readers are holding up okay after the absolute bombshell development that took place earlier this week. I’m talking, of course, about the news that Facebook is to begin delivering its Audience Network to television devices, bringing a new level of ad targeting to the space. (What did you think I was referring to?)

Search Engine Watch • 28th October 2016

Interview: Can you forecast SEO? Sastry Rachakonda says you can

In the world of search engine optimisation, there are a wealth of tools which produce analytics and SEO reports after changes have been made to your site. But what if you could predict how your site’s ranking would change before you’d made any alterations –and see the impact on traffic, ROI and more?

Search Engine Watch • 13th October 2016

The new wave of visual search: what it can do, and what might be possible

Visual search on the web has been around for some time. But in the last couple of years, it has come into new prominence, with companies like Pinterest and Bing developing into serious contenders in the visual search space, and search engines like Splash conceptualising new ways to search the web visually.

Search Engine Watch • 26th August 2016

Five most interesting search marketing news stories of the week

In this week’s round-up, we have two big changes for mobile on Google, plus some more insight into a change that Google made to its AdSense policy recently. And if you’ve ever thought about switching off from technology altogether, it turns out you’re not alone: more than 30% of internet users have taken a ‘digital detox’ in the past year.

Search Engine Watch • 8th July 2016

Five most interesting search marketing news stories of the week

As usual, Google is where it’s at this week, with news that HTTPS websites account for a third of search results on page one, an increase in the number of search results that receive a Quick Answer Box, and does Google’s newest acquisition mean it’s finding new ways to watch us all creepily?

Search Engine Watch • 24th June 2016

How to speak 'Search Engine'

The challenge of how to ‘speak’ search engine and tell it how to surface our content is what Search Engine Optimisation is all about. But are we doing it as well as we could?

Search Engine Watch • 3rd June 2016

What does Meeker’s Internet Trends report tell us about voice search?

This week saw the publication of Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report, packed full of data and insights into the development of the internet and digital technology across the globe.

Search Engine Watch • 2nd June 2016

Six lessons advertisers can learn from local SEO

Last month, ClickZ Intelligence published its report into ‘The State of Mobile Advertising’, in partnership with Search Optics. Among the report’s findings was the revelation that mobile advertisers are missing out on hyperlocal opportunities in a big way.

Search Engine Watch • 31st May 2016

The continuing rise of voice search and how you can adapt to it

Google’s I/O developer conference brought several huge announcements about Google’s future direction and projects, including two new technologies which demonstrate just how important voice search and natural language processing are to the company’s future development.

Search Engine Watch • 19th May 2016

Google’s recent SERP changes and tests: everything you need to know

Over the past couple of weeks, Google has been spotted introducing some interesting changes to the look and layout of its search results pages.

Search Engine Watch • 6th May 2016

Six fictional search engines we wish existed

With voice search and digital assistants letting you talk to search engines, and natural language search turning searching into a conversation, real-life search engines increasingly resemble something we used to only see in sci-fi films.