Core Google Algorithm Update June 2021

By Peter Brittain on July 2, 2021 in SEO News

On June 2nd, 2021, Google released the first of a two-part broad core update, unimaginatively entitled the ‘June 2021 Core Google Algorithm Update’. Those who follow SEO and Google updates will know that they are often a time where webmasters, marketers and SEO consultants wait with bated breath to discover whether or not it helps, hinders, or in some cases, destroys their online ranking strategy.

This trepidation comes as a result of previous, and we dare say, infamous updates which literally ended many business models overnight, as Google sought to improve the search results of those who use their search engine.

So, what do we know about the June 2021 Core Google Algorithm Update? Let us start with some of the basics, and the first of these is that it is a global rollout. This means it will apply to searches in all countries and in all languages.

The update is one of two being released in June, with the other being an update relating to ‘Page Experience’. The number of changes in this core update is so large, that Google is actually releasing the update in two parts; the first part in June, and the second part in July, so just like London buses, you wait for one update, and then several come along, one after the other!

Obvious there may be concern amongst those with vested interests in their website’s ranking that two updates, across 2 consecutive months, might cause a great deal of volatility, but Google has given assurances that most websites will not feel or see any significant impact to their rankings.

How To Get Backlinks From Authority Websites

By Peter Brittain on June 9, 2021 in SEO Strategies

Within SEO circles we increasingly speak about E-A-T, and why websites that have or display expertise, authority, and trustworthiness are going to get preferential treatment from Google when it comes to ranking.

With the ever-increasing ranking power that these high authority sites have, it means that the backlinks from them will pass some of that power to the websites they link to. That provides an excellent opportunity for website owners to harness that power by getting the authority sites to link to their own website.

Before everyone goes rushing off to write emails asking for a backlink from a huge website, it does not work like, although admittedly SEO would be a lot easier if it did. Instead, we need to take a more subtle approach, because otherwise, we are just going to look like spammers, trying to ride on their coattails.

That is not to say large website will not entertain backlinks to smaller websites. In fact, that helps their SEO too, given that linking out is a ranking signal to Google. So, we can get backlinks from them, and here are some ideas on how.

Give Them A Testimonial

Even the biggest of companies cannot resist receiving positive reviews and testimonials. You can take advantage of this by researching larger websites to see where they allow reviews or testimonials, and if they also permit a link within them. Obviously, you do not just copy and paste the same testimonial on each website, and even if you only can get one or two posted with backlinks, it is still worth it.

7 Local SEO Ranking Factors That Every Local Business Must Optimise

By Peter Brittain on March 7, 2021 in SEO Rankings

Unless you are trying to rank a website for a business that operates purely online, or if it’s a business that competes on a national or international scale, the ability to rank your business website for local search terms is vitally important. If you are a local business and not focusing on SEO that helps you appear on page one of Google for local searches, then you are losing lots of customers to local business competitors who are.

There are several actions you can take which will ensure that your local business’s website can compete with, and ideally, outrank your competitors, provided they are done correctly.

Below we have 7 of the most important ranking factors which Google look for when assessing local websites in its search engine results. Many of these can be implemented quickly and easily, while some may take a bit more time and effort.

Google My Business: Normally abbreviated to ‘GMB‘ this is arguably the most important ranking factor that exists for local businesses. It is essentially set up to let Google know what your local business is about. You need to include the business category, your business address, highly relevant keywords in the title, and even having your opening hours is a plus.

Linking: With backlinks, it is important that you focus on the type and quality of the backlinks rather than simply trying to amass as many as possible. By all means, try for high numbers of links, but make them quality links. Link signals which are especially influential in local ranking are the anchor text used and the authority of the websites that the backlinks are coming from.

How to Set Up Internal Linking on Your Website to Boost Its SEO

By Peter Brittain on February 12, 2021 in SEO Strategies

Lots of website owners trying to improve its SEO heed the advice that backlinks are important, and then put 100% of their efforts into creating those links from every website and social media platform they can find. What they overlook, is that the links that they have within their website, and how they are structured, are also important for SEO, and they play a role in helping visitors who visit that site too.

An internal link acts in much the same way an external link does in that when it is clicked, it will take the person who clicked it to a different location.

Whereas an external link will take them to a different website, an internal link will either take them to another page within the website, to another part of the page, or it could be used to allow the visitor to download something, such as a document file.

These are some of the practical applications of internal links, and it is important that the navigation that they can provide makes the task easier for visitors, rather than more difficult. Easy navigation means visitors are liable to stay longer on a website, and more likely to take action, which in many cases means they become a customer or become a subscriber to your email list.

From an SEO perspective, good internal links are desirable for many reasons. We know that when Google’s spiders crawl the internet, they do so using links that go to and from the hundreds of millions of websites that exist. If that is how they do it externally, then within a website it is the internal links that they crawl.

It follows that if your linking structure is optimised and provides a logical path throughout it, then Goggle will be able to crawl and index every page and all content that exists within your website. If so, then all those SEO factors such as titles, descriptions and meta tags contribute to the site’s ranking. Compare that to a website with poor linking where 50% of the pages are missed and therefore add nothing in respect of SEO.

Why Having Your Main Keyword in Your Domain Can Help Rank Your Website

By Peter Brittain on January 18, 2021 in Domains, Keywords, SEO Rankings

The question, ‘What’s in a name?’ gets used in many contexts, but when we are discussing SEO, it normally refers to the domain name of a website. In particular, the biggest debate surrounds whether you should use one or more of your main keywords in your domain name.

Several years ago, the answer would have been a resounding ‘Yes’ because having an exact match keyword in a domain name carried a lot of weight in Google’s ranking algorithm. Where this caused a problem for Google was a plethora of websites, many of them spammy, springing up using exact match domains, getting a good ranking, but offering little else in terms of relative or quality content.

Google soon realised this was bringing the quality of their search results down, and so they acted. In 2012 their algorithm was altered so that the spammy sites we mentioned did not benefit from their keyword domain. This also impacted some sites that would be regarded as not spammy, and since then there has been some confusion about whether having a keyword or exact match domain helps or hinders.

There have been several case studies and lots of comprehensive SEO testing to establish whether keywords in domain names make any difference to ranking. Whilst there are some variances on the scale, it is generally agreed that it can be positive, but with several caveats.

The first of these is that the amount a keyword in a domain name will influence a website’s ranking is limited, especially when compared to other factors like backlinks. It could tip the balance if all other factors were equal compared to another website, but it is not going to jump you from the bottom to the top of page one on Google.