Search Engine Marketing News You Need to Know
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a critical aspect of any business, and the digital landscape evolves constantly. That’s why it’s essential to stay abreast of all SEO news and tricks!
Thankfully, there are a variety of sources for SEO news to stay informed. Here are five essential ones you should check out:
1. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test API
Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test API gives webmasters automated tools to test URLs that should display properly on mobile devices. It can be utilized to monitor key pages on your website and prevent changes that make those pages unusable on small screens.
Since 2015, Google has been rewarding mobile-friendly websites and penalizing those that fail to make their content accessible for mobile users. Furthermore, the tech giant has implemented a mobile usability algorithm which alerts webmasters of specific issues that may negatively affect search engine rankings.
This new tool can be utilized to assess your website’s performance, SEO, security, best practices and accessibility. It assesses more than 75 metrics and provides an overall score based on those findings.
2. Google’s Mobile Interstitial and Pop-Up Change
This week, Google revealed that they will begin penalizing websites with intrusive interstitials that prevent users from accessing their content. This is a significant development for many sites reliant on ads for income; it could have major repercussions for businesses with large mobile audiences.
Google has not made this announcement for the sake of users the first time. In fact, it’s part of their standard practice to make changes to products and services that affect usability.
Google strives to provide people with relevant search results and an enjoyable user experience. When these objectives aren’t achieved, Google is quick to take action.
3. Google’s Retirement of Content Keywords
Google recently announced the discontinuation of Content Keywords from Search Console, leaving many marketers bewildered. While keywords remain important in measuring online marketing success, they are no longer the sole metric used to assess success.
Many new tools and features have been introduced to help marketers optimize their site’s performance and avoid being penalized due to algorithm changes. One of the more impressive is Fetch and Render, which gives marketers a bird’s-eye view of how Googlebot interacts with websites. This is an essential step in any successful SEO strategy since it helps them comprehend how well their site is performing and how best to serve personas.
4. Google’s Experimentation with Mobile-First Indexing
With the rising use of mobile devices to search for information online, Google has begun testing out “mobile-first indexing.” This means when they crawl and analyze a website, they will first assess its mobile version to see if it meets their display standards.
Webmasters must ensure their sites are ready for this major shift!
Your mobile site’s primary content should mirror what can be found on desktop, so if it differs, then you must adjust its layout.
5. Google’s Recommendations for Webmasters
Google’s Recommendations for Webmasters provide a set of general best practices and quality standards that should be adhered to by webmasters in order to help their sites rank better in search results. If a site fails to abide by these guidelines, it could be removed from the index or face manual penalties from Google.
Search engine marketing is built upon these guidelines, which are updated frequently. Site owners, designers, SEO specialists or developers can benefit from understanding what search engines like Google look for when ranking websites in results.