How does Google really work?
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How does search work?
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Each search engine has bots which crawl the Web, and index the content they find
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Google has main market dominance globally (exc. China)
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Can these also be considered search engines?
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Google has always said that they are open with how the search engine operates
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Hacked Yandex Code that confirm ranking factors
LINKS�- Age of links�- Ratio of good vs bad links�- Link from a top 100 page rank website�- Links and mentions from Wikipedia�- Anchor text
USER EXPERIENCE�- Broken embed videos�- Low quality content affects the whole domain�- Lots of Advertising�- CTR, time on site, bounce rate�- Returning users���
SITE STRUCTURE�- Top pages should be 1 link from main page and important pages less than 3 clicks
��- Links from main pages are more important than internal pages���
TRAFFIC�- Traffic and % of organic traffic / Buying PPC traffic affects rankings�- % of direct traffic�- Average ranking across all queries�- Verified accounts on social networks�
Digital PR & Link Building
Content & CRO
Technical SEO
Branding
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How goes Google ranks you
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Crawl
�Can search engines find and access your pages?
Render��Can search engines understand the content on your
page fast?
Index��Will search engines add your pages to their index?
Rank��Where will I rank in the search results?
�Trust��Taking stock and delivering insights and learnings from our tests, with clear next actions.
Core Web Vitals
International�Passes on authority
Content�
Quality, depth, availability
Internal linking�
Facilitates Google’s crawling pages & understanding the meaning of a page
Cannibalisation�
If Google finds more than 1 page that could represent a topic, it won’t rank any
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Algorithms
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The entire Google Search experience runs off of various algorithms
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These algorithms are designed to provide the searcher with the best possible results
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There have been a number of significant algorithm updates over the past decade
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Panda (2011) - major update focused on content quality
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Penguin (2012) - major update focused on spammy links
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BERT (2019) - major update to how Google understand natural language
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Helpful Content (2022) - “part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results”
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A couple of times a year, Google conduct ‘Broad Core’ algorithm updates
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There, can of course, be negative (and positive) impacts of an update
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What is SEO?
What Is SEO?
SEO isn’t about getting to number 1.
SEO isn’t about getting to 1 million clicks/impressions/users.
SEO is about growing a site to perform better within Organic search
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What Is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the process of improving websites to perform better within Organic Search.
“SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” In simple terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.” - https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo
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Anatomy of a results page
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Anatomy of results page: “technical seo certification”
Anatomy of a results page
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Anatomy of results page: “technical seo certification”
Anatomy of a results page
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Anatomy of results page: “technical seo certification”
Anatomy of a results page
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Anatomy of results page: “technical seo certification”
Anatomy of a results page
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Anatomy of results page: “technical seo certification”
Anatomy of a results page
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Anatomy of results page: “technical seo certification”
Anatomy of a results page
Anatomy of results page: Other search features
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Why is SEO Important?
What Is The Purpose of SEO?
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Without SEO
What Is The Purpose of SEO?
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Technical SEO
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How goes Google ranks you
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Crawl
�Can search engines find and access your pages?
Render��Can search engines understand the content on your
page fast?
Index��Will search engines add your pages to their index?
Rank��Where will I rank in the search results?
�Trust��Taking stock and delivering insights and learnings from our tests, with clear next actions.
Core Web Vitals
International�Passes on authority
Content�
Quality, depth, availability
Internal linking�
Facilitates Google’s crawling pages & understanding the meaning of a page
Cannibalisation�
If Google finds more than 1 page that could represent a topic, it won’t rank any
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Content
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How does content work?
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Metas�Meta titles and H1s help Google understand the core concept allocated to 1 page. It is not enough to make it rank but it allows Google to quickly identify the topic.��Google does not always crawl to the end of the page, so will only use headings to understand topic relevance.
On site�
Once Google has decided your site is relevant, you now have to compete with tons of other relevant pages in the SERPs.
If ecommerce: check # products & top/bottom page
If services: make sure enough content and tailored to the audience, main concepts should be there and linked to subconcepts
Reviews play an important role here.
Entities are important for NLP
Long Form�
Long form content is normally used to increase Authority & Relevancy.
You already have your page ranking, what makes you a bigger player?
Content clusters, following E-E-A-T allows Google to class you as trustable and authoritative. It allows you to compete with your fresh content.
I am also talking about video, images etc here�
External
Google also needs to know what others think of you, not just you and your website.
Any coverage in the news, social media, blogs, important relevant publications will have an impact in your brand awareness and in Google recognizing that you can be trusted.�
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External Links
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Why do external links still matter
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Mentions�
Pages where links go
Anchor text it uses
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Relevancy of domain
�They reinforce your brand importance, and how authoritative you are.
Particularly if these mentions come with a link and from Top Tier publications.
The pages where these links go are important, as it it tells Google:��1- that page is relevant, as it has been linked from another publication
2- It forces Google to crawl it from another path, forcing more crawling that allocated by crawl budget
The anchor text used will reinforce the power of your page.��If the anchor text used belongs to the same topic, it will tell Google you are not only relevant but an authority for that concept.
If the links come from websites that are not relevant to your topic, Google will consider it spam, effectually ignoring it or even
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Branding
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Traditionally ignored by SEOs, Branding IS a ranking factor
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If people don’t know you, are you…
Trustable?
Authoritative?
How to we increase brand awareness?
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Q&As?
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