By Kevin Moore on 20 Jun 2019
Hey, Salut, Ciao, Hola, Cześć, Bok, Ola, Hallo, Γεια and greetings from the United Colours of Wolfgang Digital!
It’s been a while since we released an SEO Down Low and it’s for good reason, we’ve been extremely busy growing the SEO team and delivering world-class SEO strategies to boot! This month’s Down Low is going to focus on some of the major issues and opportunities we have been focussed on in the SERPs recently. Without further ado, we’ll jump in and discuss the following items, feel free to skip through to the feature that interests you most.
- Google’s June 3rd Algorithm Update and the biggest winners and losers
- Expertise, Authority & Trust (E.A.T) and our in-house E.A.T expert Ian
- Voice Search 2.0 and how you can adapt your strategy
- Content Assets – Did someone say Interactive Content?
- The Periodic Table of SEO and what it means for SEO IN 2019
- Wolfgang SEO locked and loaded – welcome Zonja head of our CRO department
Google’s June 3rd Algorithm Update and the biggest winners and losers
We’re only halfway through June and Google have already hit us with a bunch of updates and changes to how they present the results in the SERPs. Just check out this list of articles on SEO Roundtable:
On the 2nd of June 2019, Google pre-announced that they would be rolling out a core algorithm update. This blew our SEO minds, as they have never done this before. But what really made me quiver, was that they were so rude as to announce it on the Sunday of an Irish June Bank Holiday, seriously Google, a bank holiday?
And in their famous riddle me this, riddle me that style, they gave us an ‘update about updates – updates to their search algorithms!! Needless to say, our dedicated SEO team jumped into our clients Google Analytics accounts on Tuesday to analyse if there were any significant, and low and behold, they were all grand! But the real question is why they were grand? Read on and you’ll find out!
Here is a list from Sistrix of the initial biggest winners and losers of the Google Algorithm update, and it was through this list that we were able to begin dissecting some of the core elements from sites that lost up to 50% of organic traffic and understand what the core update was really about.
The most recognisable website that gave the clearest insights is the Daily Mail, a fine reputable publication (cough cough) Did I just hear himself across the pond say ‘Fake News’?
In our analysis, we identified a number of insights including the fact that last year, Wikipedia directly called out the Daily Mail in their source on ‘Potentially Unreliable Sources’,
“In general, tabloid newspapers, such as The Sun, Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail (see also the February 2017 RFC discussing its validity), equivalent television shows, should be used with caution, especially if they are making sensational claims. The Daily Express and Sunday Express should be treated with even greater caution.”
This was the first issue we identified that may have been adding to their loss in organic traffic of up to 43%. But as we looked deeper, the Mirror actually soared despite being in this list. Interesting…
Secondly, when you look at the overall presentation of the Daily Mail, even in comparison to its direct tabloid competitors, the Sun and the Mirror, it’s pretty hectic and slammed full of confusion with zero thought to UX, something Google hates and we look at this later in the 2019 Periodic Table of SEO.
The website Media Bias Fact Check rates the Daily mail as a 'Questionable Source' containing rightwing, propaganda and 'Trumplesteins' fave 'fake news'!! Google is using information like this to help inform how it ranks certain nws publications.
Lastly, and most importantly, the site lacks serious E.A.T (Expertise, Authority and Trust) and this leads us onto the next section of the Down Low.
Expertise, Authority & Trust (E.A.T) and our in-house EAT expert Ian
One of the major elements that were raised in the July 2018 Google Quality Rater Guidelines update was their focus on Y.M.Y.L (Your Money, Your Life) websites. (FYI it's 166 pages long - good luck!!)
Thankfully, sitting here on my sofa, I don’t have to delve deep into this topic, as my colleague DJ Ian Booth has written up one of the best synopsis’ out there and it's featured here in the Moz blog. I’d highly recommend reading this article if you care about your website, again E.A.T is rated highly in the Periodic Table of SEO and for good reason.
TD;LR: in 2015, Google officially released its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines and this gave us an insight into what Google deems to be a high (or low) quality website. Ever since then, this is being baked into their core algorithm and with each and every update, E.A.T becomes more important.
The more you ignore it, the more your website will gradually lose visibility. And we believe this is an important factor for all websites full stop, no matter what industry vertical or niche.
Voice Search 2.0 and how you can adapt your strategy
I started my advocacy for Voice Search back at Wolfgang Essentials in 2016 where I spoke on stage about what we termed Voice 1.0. When we started focussing our strategy on Featured Snippets.
I returned to the stage at this amazing Digital Marketing Event in 2019 to talk Voice Search 2.0. You can check out the talk here:
On stage, there was a bit of banter, as Fionn our new SEO developer, created a Google Action and so continued an in-house bit of fun between myself and Luke (Head of SEO) about who is the ‘World’s biggest Eejit’. Thankfully, Google answered just as I’d expected (or Fionn had coded) and the trophy is all Luke’s (see 5.07secs in).
Since then we’ve begun working on voice projects for a number of clients and are really excited to be bringing their search strategy to the latest channels of search – ‘Voice Assistants’. And with the explosion of Google Home devices and Amazon Alexa speakers, we strive to bring our clients the famous ‘Wolfgang First Mover Advantage’. Especially as the Periodic Table of SEO points voice as one of the ‘Emerging Verticals’ as you’ll see in the next section of the Down Low.
The Periodic Table of SEO and what it means for SEO in 2019
Another big release in June 2019 is the annual Search Engine Land Periodic Table of SEO. Highlighting all the major elements that impact on ranking in 2019 and beyond. The format is cleverly based on Dmitri Mendeleev’s original Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.
Here is a list of the key themes highlighted as the primary elements of any solid SEO strategy:
The main table consists of six positive groups:
- Content
- Architecture
- HTML
- Trust
- Links
- User
These are weighted in a specific manner to rate the most important elements to the top or +3. The guys at Search Engine Land also explore Toxins and Emerging Verticals. Here is a snapshot of some of the main elements, which we focus on, on a daily basis within the Wolfgang Digital SEO team.
Toxins to watch out for:
Emerging Verticals:
Needless to say, when we onboard new clients, we kick start our strategy with our now globally recognised Technical Audit, Organic Visibility Benchmarking and Competitor Analysis process, which has and will continue to analyse and examine all of these essential SEO elements and more.
Wolfgang SEO locked and loaded – welcome Zonja head of our CRO Department
As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been focussing on expanding our SEO capabilities for our clients and a great example is the creation of our SEO development team, Fionn and Samir are amplifying our content assets and linkable assets with examples such as the ‘Evolution of Gaming’, ‘Arctic Bestiary’ and ‘2019 KPI Study’.
And at the beginning of 2019 saw the introduction of our newest department and next level evolution of SEO, Zonja and our CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation) department.
What better marriage, than driving qualified traffic (guests) to your website and then giving them the most user-centric experience that will help them realise in a smooth manner the purpose for visiting the site was in the first instance. Here's a helicopter vew of the process Zonja has been rolling out for some of our clients and beginning to make some significant improvements across the board.
Thanks for your time and attention, we look forward to delivering the latest interesting, educational and light-hearted SEO tips and advice for many months to come. If you’ve any views on anything mentioned above or related to SEO in general, why not pop a comment down below.
One final note, hat tip to Luke Fitzgerald for bringing our SEO team on such an amazing journey - to the top!!
Cheesy Superpowers: Honest, Trusting, Strategic and great fekken craic! (Sorry Luke!!)
