Mobile users will no longer see the “more results” button on Google when reaching the bottom of the page. Mobile devices will now see the next “page” of results as long as they keep scrolling. You could think of it as infinite scroll, but Google has entitled it continuous scroll.

Google as stated, “With this update, people can now seamlessly do this, browsing through many different results, before needing to click the See More button. You can often find what you’re looking for in first few results, sometimes you want to keep looking. You will be able to continuously scroll up to four pages of search results without requesting more results.”

It’s way too early to know if this will motivate more searchers to look beyond the first page of results. Advertisers might see an impact the click-through rates, along with more traffic from Google search.  Only time will tell.

As you probably know, Google typically makes numerous tweaks to its search algorithm throughout the year, but only makes major core updates a few times/year. Google recently made the “December 2020 core update,” and it’s the first one was the May 2020 core update. So this update took seven months to roll out and is probably more substantive as a result.

Google recently issued a statement that “the December 2020 Core Update is now rolling out live. As is typical with these updates, it will take about one to two weeks to fully roll out.”

What to do if your organic search rankings take a hit by the December 2020 core update. Needless to say, these core updates affect the ranking so some sites positively, and others negatively. If your website gets “hit” negatively by this core update, Google advises that there really are no specific actions to take to recover. Google goes on to explain that a decline in organic search rankings may not signal that there is anything wrong with your pages. You are not probably not being penalized; your content just doesn’t meet the requirements of the updated algorithm. Google has published a page with recommendations for recovering from a drop in rankings following a core update. It’s a timeless piece and well worth the read.

Keep in mind that Google is determined to send its visitors to web pages with the most useful and informative content related to their visitor’s search string.  A drop in rankings (core-update related or otherwise) is an indication that your competition has strengthened their content and you need to do the same.

Content Is King

I may have coined a phrase in 2002 when I wrote “Content Is King.” Whether I was the first to use it is not important, but the underlying concept is: All search engines, and particularly Google, are looking to send their search visitors to the web pages that contain the strongest content related to the search string. That was a fact in 2002 and remains the overwhelmingly important criterion today when Googlebot crawls sites and ranks pages. The algorithm that programs Googlebot is updated regularly, but it always rewards the most indepth, useful, and current content with top rankings.

When Google is asked what you should do if there is a decline in search rankings for a website after a core update, Google’s answer is always the same: “There is nothing to fix. There may be nothing wrong with pages that perform less well in a core update.” The obvious website owner follow-up to that answer is, “Well then, how can I revise my webpages to rank high all the time – even after core updates to the algorithm?”

Google’s advice today is very similar to the recommendations following its Panda algorithm in 2011: “We suggest focusing on ensuring that you’re offering the best content you can. That’s what our algorithms seek to reward.”

Google has recently offered the following list of questions to consider when evaluating your content:

General Guidelines

• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?
• Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
• Does the headline and/or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
• Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerating or shocking in nature?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book

How credible is the piece, and how authoritative is the author?

• Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
• If you researched the site producing the content, would you come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
• Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
• Is the content free from easily-verified factual errors?
• Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life?

Stylistic issues and display.

• Is the content free from spelling or stylistic issues?
• Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Does the content have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content
• Does content display well for mobile devices when viewed on them?

Content Strength

• Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• Does the content seem to be serving the genuine interests of visitors to the site or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

BOTTOM LINE: Google (along with Yahoo and Bing) are continually searching for the strongest and most useful content for their search visitors. Follow these guidelines and Google will reward your pages with page 1 positioning.

Since 2001 (that’s the beginning!), the author, Kelley Lott, has been helping organizations grow and prosper through more effective Internet marketing. He can be reached at info@dynamicmediasolutions.us or by calling 703.365.7878.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, and its impact on the economy, Google announced that as part of its commitment of more than $800 million to help the economy, it is offering $340 million in ad credits for small and medium-sized businesses.

Advertisers who are eligible will see notifications regarding the ad credits available in their Google Ads accounts. The credits can be applied on ads on Search, Display and YouTube ads, and on any campaign types.

To be eligible, companies will need to have had active Google Ads accounts since January 1, 2019. It is unclear whether an account is eligible if all ads were paused at some point.

Google has also committed $20 million in ad grants to community financial institutions and non-government organizations to run public service announcements on relief funds and resources for small and medium size businesses.

Google says it hopes to “alleviate some of the costs to stay in touch with their customers.” At this point, it is unclear just how much financial assistance the typical business will receive. The credits are intended to support existing customers.

Kelley Lott, president and founder of Dynamic Media Solutions, has been providing SEO and Internet marketing services to organizations located in the DC area since 1998. He is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on effective search marketing. If you find this blog useful, please leave a comment. Otherwise, we may conclude that maintaining the blog is not worth the ongoing effort.

The three major search engines — Google, Yahoo, and Bing — are all about trying to send their visitors to websites that offer positive experiences. Research has shown that over 80 percent of web surfers in 2017 indicate that they simply won’t revisit a website if it loads too slowly during their first visit.

Google has made it clear since 2010 that page load time is a major ranking factor in the algorithm that their search engine crawler Googlebot uses when evaluating each website for ranking purposes. Google accounts for more that 80% of searches made in Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland as well as throughout most of the country. Interestingly, the Bing/Yahoo search engines have a slight edge in searches on the West Coast.

So, when pages take too much time to load it can cause Googlebot lower your search rankings, and motivate your target customers to bounce off your website.

Why Do Some Web Pages Load Slowly?
Unfortunately, there are many factors that can cause web pages to be slow loading. Identifying factors that are slowing down your website, and then correcting the problems can be complicated and require some programming expertise. That said, here are some of the factors that most commonly cause pages to load slowly and consequently rank poorly with Google and Yahoo/Bing.

• Large images are often data hogs. All site images should be resized to minimize their impact on page load times.
• Ads and tracking tools can wreak havoc in terms of data consumption and need to be minimized.
• Slow delivery by your web hosting service can slow down your page speed. Not all web hosts are created equal. Make sure yours is not dragging you down.
• Embedded media – Video and streaming media — are huge data hogs. While properly configured video can enhance your website’s search rankings, be sure video clips are short and properly optimized to restrict data usage
• Unnecessary or outdated apps and plugins can have a major impact on page loading speed. Adobe Flash and Java are examples of plugins that can dramatically reduce page load times.
• Themes for template sites (like WordPress, Wix, and Joomla) vary widely in terms of data usage. Open source platforms like WordPress are great in that anyone can produce themes but not all themes are created equal. Basically, the more complicated your theme (like animated elements), the greater decrease in page speed.

While identifying problem elements contributing to slow page loads is fairly easy, correcting the problems without compromising the design and layout of your website is a challenge that requires a deep knowledge of website programming languages, as well as an understanding of the current strategies for effective SEO (search ranking techniques). If you’d like a free evaluation of your site’s page loading issues, give us a call at 703.365.7878 or click here and submit an online request.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog!

Kelley Lott, DMS founder, has been providing Internet marketing services for 15 years to companies nationwide, with particular emphasis to organizations located in the mid-Atlantic region. Feel free to contact him at seo@dynamicmediasolutions.us . Here is a brief summary of his observations to date.

THE DUST HAS SETTLED
When Google announced on September 26, 2013 that, for the first time in 10 years, it had implemented a completely new algorithm for its search engine, it rocked the world of SEO. While Hummingbird was technically “all new,” in reality it was more the formal implementation of a variety of spam checking and refinement techniques that have actually been in place for many months. None the less, the bottom line is that the rules of the SEO game have definitely been altered.
Continue reading “THE GOOGLE HUMMINGBIRD ALGORITHM: Lessons Learned”