Anyone who works in marketing will know how difficult it is to keep up-to-date on the ongoing changes to SEO best practices, especially when search engines like Google seem to be doing their best to keep us on our toes daily! So, the team at Zool have taken a few minutes out to jot down what we consider the essential SEO updates from last year are, to help you better prepare for 2015!
“Page Layout Algorithm” refresh
This was Google’s third update to the Page Layout Algorithm, and they aimed to ensure more content-focused pages. Google released this update as a response to users complaining about the number of ads which appeared “above-the-fold” as soon as a user landed on the page. Seemingly against the widely believed fact that users do not scroll, Chartbeat (who provide real-time analytics for publishers) recently stated that 66% of user’s attention is focussed below the fold on a standard media page.
Two Panda Updates
Google introduced Panda back in 2011 as a way of blocking sites which consisted of poor quality content from ranking highly in search results. Panda 4.0 was released at the beginning of last year and was actually Panda’s 26th update, and it was widely reported that it was actually gentler on certain websites. Panda 4.1 was released in autumn last year, and again made things a little bit easier for small and medium-sized businesses as it was more precise than previous updates.
HTTPS Became a Site Ranking Signal
Hyper Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) means that the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is layered over the SSL Protocol for added security when communicating and transferring information over any computer networks. Google announced in August that it would now start using HTTPS as a site ranking signal, but it is only essential for transactional websites which handle personal data and login information. If your website is purely informational and doesn’t process any customer information, and it would be a big challenge for you to switch over to https, then Google itself says don’t bother.
Google Authorship Disappears
When Google started to drop authorship photos at the end of June, this signalled a removal of the concept altogether in August. Google apparently felt that authorship wasn’t as useful to users as they had initially hoped, and in fact, in some cases, the information shared was quite distracting. Google has revealed since that there was very little difference in click rates between search results which contained authorship information, and those that didn’t, so the removal of the concept will probably have a little effect (if any) on your SEO results.
If you or your company are looking to improve your SEO in the new year, then please contact the Zool team, we are always happy to help!
The Definitive Guide to Last Year’s SEO Updates
Digital SEO / Jan 15, 2015
Anyone who works in marketing will know how difficult it is to keep up-to-date on the ongoing changes to SEO best practices, especially when search engines like Google seem to be doing their best to keep us on our toes daily! So, the team at Zool have taken a few minutes out to jot down what we consider the essential SEO updates from last year are, to help you better prepare for 2015!
“Page Layout Algorithm” refresh
This was Google’s third update to the Page Layout Algorithm, and they aimed to ensure more content-focused pages. Google released this update as a response to users complaining about the number of ads which appeared “above-the-fold” as soon as a user landed on the page. Seemingly against the widely believed fact that users do not scroll, Chartbeat (who provide real-time analytics for publishers) recently stated that 66% of user’s attention is focussed below the fold on a standard media page.
Two Panda Updates
Google introduced Panda back in 2011 as a way of blocking sites which consisted of poor quality content from ranking highly in search results. Panda 4.0 was released at the beginning of last year and was actually Panda’s 26th update, and it was widely reported that it was actually gentler on certain websites. Panda 4.1 was released in autumn last year, and again made things a little bit easier for small and medium-sized businesses as it was more precise than previous updates.
HTTPS Became a Site Ranking Signal
Hyper Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) means that the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is layered over the SSL Protocol for added security when communicating and transferring information over any computer networks. Google announced in August that it would now start using HTTPS as a site ranking signal, but it is only essential for transactional websites which handle personal data and login information. If your website is purely informational and doesn’t process any customer information, and it would be a big challenge for you to switch over to https, then Google itself says don’t bother.
Google Authorship Disappears
When Google started to drop authorship photos at the end of June, this signalled a removal of the concept altogether in August. Google apparently felt that authorship wasn’t as useful to users as they had initially hoped, and in fact, in some cases, the information shared was quite distracting. Google has revealed since that there was very little difference in click rates between search results which contained authorship information, and those that didn’t, so the removal of the concept will probably have a little effect (if any) on your SEO results.
If you or your company are looking to improve your SEO in the new year, then please contact the Zool team, we are always happy to help!
