#also there's a massive difference between being hypothetically and theoretically up to date with all the lgbt+ lingo
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
from The Moz Blog http://ift.tt/2ocPf06
via IFTTT
1 note
·
View note
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/n64xzds4ik?seo=false&videoFoam=true
https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js
Watch the process in action
https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content”? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/n64xzds4ik?seo=false&videoFoam=true
https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js
Watch the process in action
https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!
0 notes
Text
First Ten Years of the LHC: The Adventure Continues
After ten years in operation, the CERN particle accelerator located on the border between France and Switzerland has reshaped the physics of elementary particles. It will restart in 2021 with even better-performing facilities.
The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has now been running at full capacity for a decade, together with the four experiments that detect the particles produced by collisions between protons, one of the components of atomic nuclei. At a rate of around 30 million times a second, the huge accelerator collides protons at speeds close to that of light, in a tunnel measuring 27 kilometres in circumference.
The thousands of researchers, engineers and technicians taking part in this unprecedented scientific venture at CERN near Geneva (Switzerland) seek to shed more light on the physics of elementary particles and hence on the fundamental laws of the Universe. Ever since the launch of the most extraordinary particle physics experimental facility ever designed, there has been a wealth of surprises and discoveries, including a Nobel prize along the way. And this is only just the beginning. With the installations currently being upgraded to boost their performance, the project is scheduled to last until at least 2037.
A huge instrument
The LHC is based on a simple principle: every time the accelerated protons collide, their accumulated kinetic energy is transformed into “grains” of matter, as a result of the equivalence between matter and energy. These newly-formed particles provide clues about the elementary processes that gave rise to them.
Around twenty years ago, the proponents of the LHC calculated that, in order to detect significant phenomena, the protons needed to reach an energy of 7 teraelectronvolts (TeV), roughly that of a mosquito in flight but squeezed into a volume a trillion times smaller. This is why such a huge accelerator was needed, as well as four exceptional detectors, ATLAS, CMS, LHCb and ALICE, to observe the tiny particles produced by the collisions. ATLAS, for example, is a 40-metre long cylinder that has a diameter of 22 metres and a weight of 7,000 tonnes, while CMS, with a 15-metre diameter and a length of 21.5 metres, weighs in at a staggering 12,500 tonnes.
Higgs boson produced together with two top quarks in ATLAS.
CERN / ATLAS
Share
French scientists have played a significant role in each of these international collaborations. As Laurent Vacavant, deputy scientific director at the CNRS’s National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3), explains, “France provides 14% of the CERN budget and covers 10% of the cost of the detectors. Specifically, ten IN2P3 laboratories are involved in the four experiments, with 250 researchers, 280 engineers and technicians, and around a hundred PhD students working on a permanent basis, in addition to about 150 staff from the CEA’s Institute for Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe.” Over the past ten years, French teams, alongside 600 institutes and universities from across the world, have been involved in designing and building the detectors and analysing the results, as well as in operating and maintaining the facilities.
The Higgs boson finally detected
The LHC brings together several experiments designed to find answers to a number of distinct or related problems. ATLAS and CMS are what are called discovery detectors. As Vacavant points out, “with their tens of millions of sensors, they can collect data in every possible area”, which enabled them to finally track down a particle that, ten years ago, was purely hypothetical: the Higgs boson. The existence of this particle, thought to give nearly all other molecules their mass, had been predicted since 1964, but never detected.
Detection in the CMS of the Higgs boson decaying into 4 leptons (one of the ways it was discovered in 2012).
CERN / CMS
Share
Yet the power of the LHC enabled surprisingly fast progress to be made. As Isabelle Wingerter-Seez, in charge of Atlas-France until 2017, explains, “at the start, we thought it would take five or six years before we spotted anything. But as early as 2011 we began to notice a signal emerge from the noise, and in 2012 we were able to confirm that the Higgs boson was there!” Didier Contardo, who heads CMS-France, recalls: “we knew how best to detect it, the experiments and the analysis chain proved to be as successful as expected – if not more so – and both detectors observed the same thing at the same level of accuracy.” The discovery was announced on 4 July, 2012 in the CERN main auditorium. And the following year, François Englert and Peter Higgs, the scientists who had hypothesised the boson back in 1964, were awarded the Nobel prize (having died in 2011, Robert Brout could not receive the award).
Higgs boson decaying into 2 bottom quarks, produced in association with two top quarks.
CERN / CMS
Share
Still no sign of new physics
The Higgs boson provided the missing piece of the Standard Model of physics (SMP), which describes all known elementary particles and their interactions (except for gravity). ATLAS and CMS, however, were also designed to discover unknown elementary particles and uncover new physics not described by the Model. To explain the nature of dark matter (article in French), the value of physical constants, or the absence of antimatter (article in French) in the Universe, it is necessary to go beyond the SMP – except that, much to everyone’s surprise, ten years of hard work failed to produce any evidence of new physics: “we didn’t spot even the tiniest hint of something that didn’t fit the Standard Model,” Wingerter-Seez explains.
The LHCb was designed to study the slight asymmetries between matter and antimatter.
Cyril FRESILLON/LHC/CNRS Photothèque
Share
Could it be that new physics simply doesn’t exist? Or that it exists in ways that haven’t yet been thought up? Or are its signals more exotic than those sought by the detectors? Nobody knows as yet. Therefore, having followed the most obvious leads, the experimenters are now hunting painstakingly for new clues. “We’re searching in less accessible areas for unusual processes, complex observables, models of new physics that were in principle less popular, and so on,” Contardo confirms.
Consequently, after the initial euphoria of its discovery, researchers have now embarked on a meticulous study of the Higgs boson, in particular to determine how it interacts with each of the known particles of matter. For example, in 2018 they observed its coupling to the top quark (the most massive elementary particle known to date) and its interaction with the bottom quark. What the scientists are hoping for is that they may spot some small discrepancies from the predictions of the Standard Model.
However, the surprise might come from the LHCb experiment, which studies the decay of particles called B mesons. According to the SMP, matter and antimatter are almost identical in every way. And yet there is absolutely no antimatter in the Universe, which is one of the great mysteries of fundamental physics. This prompted specialists to compare the properties of B mesons and B anti-mesons, with the aim of detecting a possible difference that might provide a clue.
A B Meson decaying into two muons.
CERN / LHCb
Share
Although this isn’t the case for the time being, LHCb has nonetheless observed a number of odd phenomena in the past few years: for instance, some mesons can decay either into electrons or into their heavier cousins, muons. However, as Renaud Le Gac, who leads LHCb-France, explains, “the Standard Model states that the two processes should be perfectly identical, but according to our data this is not exactly true. Although at this stage the differences are not yet significant, they provide the most promising route to observing physics beyond the SMP.”
Quarks galore
The CERN researchers have also made some other exciting discoveries within the framework of the Standard Model. For instance, whereas until now only particles made up of two or three quarks (such as protons and neutrons) were known, in 2017 the LHCb experiment produced a subatomic particle composed of five quarks, the pentaquark. This has helped improve the modelling of quarks and of the strong interaction, which binds together both quarks and the components of the atomic nucleus.
Representation of the hypothetical internal structure of a pentaquark.
CERN / LHCb
Share
The strong force and its mediators, gluons, are also the focus of research carried out at the ALICE detector, which studies a highly remarkable state of matter called quark-gluon plasma or QGP. The latter is obtained by colliding the nuclei of lead atoms, producing an extremely hot and dense “soup” made up of quarks and gluons, which are normally confined within protons and neutrons. This is thought to be the state the Universe was in, a microsecond after the Big Bang.
As Cvetan Cheshkov, deputy physics coordinator of ALICE, explains, “the energy produced in the LHC enables us to obtain the hottest, densest and longest-lived QGP ever observed.” Aside from breaking new records, this makes it possible to study the QGP in greater detail and determine its specific characteristics using new experimental methods. For the first time last year, for example, the physicists at ALICE detected particles known as charmonium, which are formed from the plasma, when quarks and gluons recombine. This shows that the particles were in a free state just before then. According to Cheshkov,“this is one of the clearest indications that a QGP really was produced.”
Heavy ion collisions recorded by ALICE on 25 November 2015.
CERN / ALICE
Share
In addition, the scientists were also able to specify the nature of the quark-gluon plasma. While according to theoretical models, it was expected that the primordial Universe, given its enormously high temperature, resembled a gas, it turns out that its properties were probably more like those of a liquid; what’s more, a liquid of a very special kind, since it is able to flow without any friction at all – in other words, a state of matter with no known equivalent.
Tiny droplets of QGP have also recently been observed. Half way between an extensive plasma and a collection of particles, they bridge the gap between the elementary theory of quarks and gluons, and the hydrodynamic models of the QGP used to describe its expansion and cooling.
While the LHC has already provided some answers, it has also raised new questions, some of them mind-boggling. To find the solutions, all the teams are endeavouring to crank up the performance of the accelerator and detectors, which are scheduled to resume operation in 2021. Some of the upgrades are being carried out in preparation for what is called the High-Luminosity LHC, which, after all of the analysis hardware and software have been adapted, will from 2027 see the number of collisions per second increase at least five-fold at the centre of the detectors. As Vacavant points out, “to date we have collected only 5% of the data that the LHC will produce during its lifetime.” What will particle physicists find out when they analyse this mountain of data? No one knows. However, Vacavant is convinced that “in the constant dialectical relationship between theoretical and experimental advances, we are now in a phase where it is up to the experimenters to clear the ground ahead.” In any case, one thing is certain. The LHC’s first ten years are merely the beginning of this extraordinary scientific adventure.
source https://scienceblog.com/515727/first-ten-years-of-the-lhc-the-adventure-continues/
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
http://ift.tt/2q13Myy xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 Bạn có thể xem thêm địa chỉ mua tai nghe không dây tại đây http://ift.tt/2mb4VST
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
via Blogger http://ift.tt/2GsHk5z
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
from Blogger http://ift.tt/2ojyYWH
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
from Blogger http://ift.tt/2EGLzOH
via SW Unlimited
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] published first on https://steelcitygaragedoors.blogspot.com
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
from The Moz Blog http://ift.tt/2ocPf06
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/8328803
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
http://ift.tt/2q13Myy xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 xem thêm tại: http://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study] http://ift.tt/2Fh5PU5 Bạn có thể xem thêm địa chỉ mua tai nghe không dây tại đây http://ift.tt/2mb4VST
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
http://ift.tt/2C7IQMs
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
0 notes
Text
The Google Ranking Factor You Can Influence in an Afternoon [Case Study]
Posted by sanfran
What does Google consider “quality content"? And how do you capitalize on a seemingly subjective characteristic to improve your standing in search?
We’ve been trying to figure this out since the Hummingbird algorithm was dropped in our laps in 2013, prioritizing “context” over “keyword usage/frequency.” This meant that Google’s algorithm intended to understand the meaning behind the words on the page, rather than the page’s keywords and metadata alone.
This new sea change meant the algorithm was going to read in between the lines in order to deliver content that matched the true intent of someone searching for a keyword.
Write longer content? Not so fast!
Watching us SEOs respond to Google updates is hilarious. We’re like a floor full of day traders getting news on the latest cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent theories that made the rounds was that longer content was the key to organic ranking. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on this. We at Brafton, a content marketing agency, latched onto that one for a while as well. We even experienced some mixed success.
However, what we didn’t realize was that when we experienced success, it was because we accidentally stumbled on the true ranking factor.
Longer content alone was not the intent behind Hummingbird.
Content depth
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario.
If you were to search the keyword “search optimization techniques,” you would see a SERP that looks similar to the following:
Nothing too surprising about these results.
However, if you were to go through each of these 10 results and take note of the major topics they discussed, theoretically you would have a list of all the topics being discussed by all of the top ranking sites.
Example:
Position 1 topics discussed: A, C, D, E, F
Position 2 topics discussed: A, B, F
Position 3 topics discussed: C, D, F
Position 4 topics discussed: A, E, F
Once you finished this exercise, you would have a comprehensive list of every topic discussed (A–F), and you would start to see patterns of priority emerge.
In the example above, note “topic F” is discussed in all four pieces of content. One would consider this a cornerstone topic that should be prioritized.
If you were then to write a piece of content that covered each of the topics discussed by every competitor on page one, and emphasized the cornerstone topics appropriately, in theory, you would have the most comprehensive piece of content on that particular topic.
By producing the most comprehensive piece of content available, you would have the highest quality result that will best satisfy the searcher’s intent. More than that, you would have essentially created the ultimate resource center for everything a person would want to know about that topic.
How to identify topics to discuss in a piece of content
At this point, we’re only theoretical. The theory makes logical sense, but does it actually work? And how do we go about scientifically gathering information on topics to discuss in a piece of content?
Finding topics to cover:
Manually: As discussed previously, you can do it manually. This process is tedious and labor-intensive, but it can be done on a small scale.
Using SEMrush: SEMrush features an SEO content template that will provide guidance on topic selection for a given keyword.
Using MarketMuse: MarketMuse was originally built for the very purpose of content depth, with an algorithm that mimics Hummingbird. MM takes a largely unscientific process and makes it scientific. For the purpose of this case study, we used MarketMuse.
The process
Watch the process in action
1. Identify content worth optimizing
We went through a massive list of keywords our blog ranked for. We filtered that list down to keywords that were not ranking number one in SERPs but had strong intent. You can also do this with core landing pages.
Here’s an example: We were ranking in the third position for the keyword “financial content marketing.” While this is a low-volume keyword, we were enthusiastic to own it due to the high commercial intent it comes with.
2. Evaluate your existing piece
Take a subjective look at your piece of content that is ranking for the keyword. Does it SEEM like a comprehensive piece? Could it benefit from updated examples? Could it benefit from better/updated inline embedded media? With a cursory look at our existing content, it was clear that the examples we used were old, as was the branding.
3. Identify topics
As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a few different ways. We used MarketMuse to identify the topics we were doing a good job of covering as well as our topic gaps, topics that competitors were discussing, but we were not. The results were as follows:
Topics we did a good job of covering:
Content marketing impact on branding
Impact of using case studies
Importance of infographics
Business implications of a content marketing program
Creating articles for your audience
Topics we did a poor job of covering:
Marketing to millennials
How to market to existing clients
Crafting a content marketing strategy
Identifying and tracking goals
4. Rewrite the piece
Considering how out-of-date our examples were, and the number of topics we had neglected to discuss, we determined a full rewrite of the piece was warranted. Our writer, Mike O’Neill, was given the topic guidance, ensuring he had a firm understanding of everything that needed to be discussed in order to create a comprehensive article.
5. Update the content
To maintain our link equity, we kept the same URL and simply updated the old content with the new. Then we updated the publish date. The new article looks like this, with updated content depth, modern branding, and inline visuals.
6. Fetch as Google
Rather than wait for Google to reindex the content, I wanted to see the results immediately (and it is indeed immediate).
7. Check your results
Open an incognito window and see your updated position.
Promising results:
We have run more than a dozen experiments and have seen positive results across the board. As demonstrated in the video, these results are usually realized within 60 seconds of reindexing the updated content.
Keyword target
Old Ranking
New ranking
“Financial content marketing”
3
1
“What is a subdomain”
16
6
“Best company newsletters”
32
4
“Staffing marketing”
7
3
“Content marketing agency”
16
1
“Google local business cards”
16
5
“Company blog”
7
4
“SEO marketing tools”
9
3
Of those tests, here’s another example of this process in action for the keyword, “best company newsletters.”
Before:
After
Assumptions:
From these results, we can assume that content depth and breadth of topic coverage matters — a lot. Google’s algorithm seems to have an understanding of the competitive topic landscape for a keyword. In our hypothetical example from before, it would appear the algorithm knows that topics A–F exist for a given keyword and uses that collection of topics as a benchmark for content depth across competitors.
We can also assume Google’s algorithm either a.) responds immediately to updated information, or b.) has a cached snapshot of the competitive content depth landscape for any given keyword. Either of these scenarios is very likely because of the speed at which updated content is re-ranked.
In conclusion, don’t arbitrarily write long content and call it “high quality.” Choose a keyword you want to rank for and create a comprehensive piece of content that fully supports that keyword. There is no guarantee you’ll be granted a top position — domain strength factors play a huge role in rankings — but you’ll certainly improve your odds, as we have seen.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
colourmered
Just another stan
zhenyasaurus
GREEN COMES BLUE
lmakishima
♪ suki suki daisuki ♪
andchos
Untitled
dac-developments
DAC Developments