It may be the height of summer, but that doesn’t mean that the SEO world has gone on holiday. Far from it, in fact, and it would seem that the SERP has been their main focus this month. We take a look at August’s top ten articles from the Moz blog:
1. Decoding the Google Answer Box Algorithm – a SERP Research on 10.353 Keywords
Razvan Gavrilas and the cognitive SEO team conduct the most thorough research yet in an attempt to find out more about the workings of the mysterious Google Answer Box, using 10,353 keywords. Their findings make for a fascinating read.
2. The Month Google Shook the SERPs
Google decided to keep everyone on their toes this July, with significant revisions to the SERP landscape, including changes to Google Authorship, an increase in “in-depth article » results and the “Pigeon” update. Read on for Moz’s Dr. Pete’s take on how these changes affect the SEO landscape.
3. The Beginner’s Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization
Turn the passive visitor into an active one with this 12-chapter guide to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) from the team at Qualaroo. It can be downloaded into a handy PDF guide for step-by-step implementation.
4. Surviving Without Snippets: Your New Video SEO Strategy
Google is constantly tweaking SERP’s and it didn’t take long for eagle-eye SEO’s around the globe to realize that only video snippets from YouTube and big brands were being shown in search results. Before we all start migrating our video media en masse to YouTube, however, take a read over this Wistia post.
5. We Analyzed Nearly 1 Million Headlines. Here’s What We Learned
Sometimes the most difficult content to craft is also the shortest. Here’s some very handy information for creating headlines that grab the reader’s attention and, crucially, encourage them to share your content.
6. How Do I Successfully Run SEO Tests On My Website? – Whiteboard Friday
Moz’s Rand Fishkin (and his shirts) has a bit of a cult following in the Relevance office, and the perfect way to finish up another week in this ever-changing digital marketing world is by watching his next Whiteboard Friday video. In this installment, Rand leads us through some key factors to remember when conducting SEO experiments on our own websites, as well as some example tests we can all try at home.
7. 5 Ways to Beat Your Competitors With Killer PPC Ad Copy
With a title that the authors of article number five above couldn’t have crafted better themselves, the Unbounce blog helps unlock the secrets to writing PPC ad copy which gets noticed.
8. Introducing Bot and Spider Filtering
A brief, but none-the-less important, announcement from the Google Analytics team to introduce a new filter for bot and spider traffic. A step forward in the battle to identify the real traffic your website receives.
9. How Do You Design Interaction?
If you’re flummoxed by the answer to the above question, read Smashing Magazine’s insightful piece on how words are often used as the first step in creating a meaningful user experience on your website.
10. This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened
Turning to the cycling world, James Clear uses Team Sky’s ‘Aggregation of Marginal Gains’ philosophy, where coach Dave Brailsford improved everything by one percent, to remind us that big picture results can only be achieved by nurturing the smallest aspects.
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