SEO ON LONG ISLAND
JUST GOT A LOT EASIER!

As search algorithms become more and more advanced, user actions will play an important role in SEO and ranking. In fact, search engines like Google are advancing so much that they are actually learning user intent – this is called machine learning. Something that we’ve always preached with our SEO services is that you should always give the user the best experience possible. This correlates into longer time-on-site and less bounce rate, translating into improved rankings.

As the use of machine learning increases, user signals will factor more prominently into search engine rankings. UX issues could therefore prevent brands from reaching their potential in the organic search results — and, thinking more broadly, could stifle conversion performance.

RankBrain is a form of machine learning that helps Google prioritize search results for their users. Ultimately, Google has a responsibility to provide their users with the best possible results too – RankBrain delivers those results.

In short, RankBrain measures how a user interacts with the provided search results.

Here’s a quick example of how RankBrain affects SEO: Let’s say you do a search for “Best Website Designs of 2017”. You fed a list of Google results based on this query and you click on a listing that’s most enticing to you. You find that this content is the best content ever and you read through every single word of it. Google is picking up on this, noticing the time you’ve spent on this particular article, and guess what? They’ll be using that single to improve the ranking of that page that you clicked on.

The same theory works for content that is not highly valued. If RankBrain sees that users are clicking on the #1 result for this search, arriving on the page but immediately bouncing within a few seconds, RankBrain recognizes this and will demote this page and push it further down on the page.

“In the few months it has been deployed, RankBrain has become the third-most important signal contributing to the result of a search query.”

Important data points for RankBrain and SEO:

Dwell Time – How long someone spends on a specific page
Click Through Rate – The percentage of users that click on a specific result

If you’re looking to really improve your SEO for 2018, you must improve your CTR. Google rewards websites with higher click through rates. If you think about it, if no users are clicking on your page then why would Google reward you with improved rankings?

As with previous SEO ranking guides and lists, content has made the list and will most likely continue to be one of the most important ranking factors for most websites. As the data suggests, content that is informative, educational, creative, and lengthy seems to rank the highest.

Looking back at previous SEO ranking factor lists from years past, Google looked at the frequency and volume of published posts or articles when ranking. Now, Google is much more focused on the quality of content, bumping up content that exceeds the 2,000 word mark. In fact, you can go months without publishing a single piece of content on your website and the be pushed to the top of Google for a single piece of content that is highly researched and well thought-out.

Going back a few years, one of Google’s top SEO ranking factors was content. As previously mentioned, they focused on the volume of content produced around specific keywords. While Google still takes this into consideration to some degree, they’re getting a bit wiser as you may know and focusing more on context.

One topic we try to continuously drive home is the fact that Google wants to provide their users with the best possible user experience. Afterall, Google keeps its users coming back time and time again because of this. This leads to BILLIONS in ad revenue generated through Google Adwords. While this is a totally separate topic, it’s important to know WHY Google wants to provide the best experience so that users continue to return.

Providing contextual content is important because that page is most likely providing the best imformation for that specific topic. Think Wikipedia. There’s a reason why Wiki pages always continue to rank high in search results. It’s because of the DEPTH of content on a specific topic. Google knows that the information provided is going to proove to be the most useful to the USER.

If you’re looking to provide in-depth content to your end users, try shooting for content that exceeds the 2,000 word mark. With this goal in mind, you’re more likely to give the user the best and most useful content.

After you’ve mastered hitting the 2,000 word count mark, go back into your content and start adding LSI keywords throughout. These are keywords that are most commonly related to your content and page topic.

How to Find LSI Keywords

Okay, so we’ve identified the fact that Google loves LSI keywords when ranking pages, but how can you source LSI keywords for your content and improve your SEO?

Common LSI tools include:

LSI Graph https://lsigraph.com/
Google. Yes, just Google!

When searching Google for your main target keyword, scroll down to the bottom of the results page and look for “Searches related to…” The search terms you see in bold are LSI keywords. Google is actually doing the work for you and letting you know that these should be included in your content.

In 2017 Google announced that they they’ll be moving to a “mobile-first index”. What this means is that the version that Google see as your mobile version will be used as the most important version. In other words, if you have a separate mobile website with outdated content that differs from your main desktop version, Google will be serving the mobile version first.

This update is huge, but I think we all saw it coming from a mile away. Today, 60% of searches are made on mobile, and we can expect this figure to grow in the future.

How Can You Prepare for Mobile First Index?

In the past, it was common to see websites with both a desktop version and a mobile version of their site. While the content that was served to users on mobile devices was clean and easy to read, maintaining this content meant double-duty. You needed to update both your desktop and your mobile website. So it’s very important that your content is consistent across mobile and desktop. The best way to do so is to have a mobile-responsive website. As mobile-responsive website will ensure that ONE singular version will fit on almost any mobile device AND your desktop. This should eliminate the need to maintain two separate versions of your website.

Did you know that at least 40% of adults perform a form of voice search every single day? In fact, voice searches performed in Google are up for than 35 times since 2008, and, 20% of all searches on a mobile device are made through voice search.

So, how do you optimize your website for voice search?

First, it’s important to know that your website must be on the first page of Google in order to appear in the search results. Next, your content is best presented in question and answer format. Data is certainly suggesting that the results generating by voice search are in question format. Feel free to test it out yourself.