Relevance’s latest round-up of Moz’s Top 10 is here, bringing you the latest tips on how to improve Google rankings. From pagination and tackling negative SEO to 55 of the best SEO tools, this post is packed with advice to help you increase search engine rankings.
Boost your rankings with these top tips
1. Google Core Update: News Sites Make Gains
Google has been working through significant changes in its algorithm, which it has named ‘the June 2019 Core Update’. The search engine rarely pre-announces and carries out major updates – that’s why these ‘core’ ones are so noticeable in their effect on search algorithms. It seems as if they are making the change from man-made algorithms to machine-generated (Machine Learning) rules. Some websites have already lost visibility while others – most notably news sites – have gained it.
2. Making Money with SEO: Pro Advice
Making money with SEO is a much more sophisticated business than it was 10 years ago. Get profitable with Rand Fishkin’s recent Whiteboard Friday, which outlines three tips to cash out on SEO. This 12-minute video covers the essential criteria to increase search engine rankings and your profitability. He then provides actionable steps that should help you raise your bottom line.
3. How to Correctly Implement Pagination
Ever wondered how to improve Google rankings using pagination? This comprehensive article will help marketers get the most out of pagination following recent changes of approach by Google, which indicated that pagination tags have now been deprecated. Lily Ray goes through the various implementation options for pagination, best practices and pros and cons involved with each method.
4. Is Your Favicon Optimised for Google’s New Organic Results?
Favicons are small shortcut icons that represent your website. Google recently introduced website icons next to its organic search results and with ads increasingly hard to distinguish from organic results, it’s important to optimise your website icon to stand out in the SERPs. The favicons are currently small and blurry, but you can do a few things to optimise them as much as possible. Start by keeping it simple and downsize your icon to under 64×64 pixels on a bright background, and check out the article for more tips.
5. The 55 Best Free SEO Tools Right Now
Premium tools are great but we all love freebies, and sometimes free tools do the job of increasing search engine rankings just as well. Cyrus Shepard brings you a comprehensive list of free tools tried and tested by Moz and other experts in the SEO community. The tools are classed in different categories including analytics, research, site speed, crawling and mobile SEO. The list includes old favourites like Google Analytics, BuzzSumo, SEMrush and Chrome DevTools to lesser-known ones like Wappalyzer and Beam Us Up. An essential checklist of SEO tools to bookmark!
6. Hit by Negative SEO? Read This
Are you having trouble restoring rankings with disavowal after a presumed SEO attack? Search Engine Journal is here to demystify using the disavow tool, helping you combat this negative SEO and regain your positions. However, negative SEO might just be a scapegoat for problems with your website itself. It’s worth considering that if you’re not seeing any increase in search engine rankings, the problem might lie somewhere else.
7. The North Face Faces SEO Dissaproval
The outdoor clothing brand The North Face has gained the disapproval of the SEO community. In a short-sighted plan to rank at the top of Google image search results, the company’s ad agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made manipulated Wikipedia in what has been called an unethical “marketing stunt”. The North Face campaign prompts some questioning as to whether short-term SEO gains are worth risking your reputation.
8. How to Keep Your Google Business Profile Professional
Even companies with great products and exceptional customer service can let themselves down with terrible Google Business profiles. Moz outlines five key sections of the online platform to get right, guard against comically bad profiles and increase search engine rankings. Read on to find out how to avoid everything from disgruntled customers and competitors hijacking your business listing to rogue Q&A sections.
9. Meet the Local Scroll Pack Feature
Mike Blumenthal delves into local scroll packs and why they’re showing up in a greater range of categories including retail, HVAC and restaurants. It appears different packs are being tested frequently, which implies that the feature is being prepped for release.
10. Restaurant Owner Subverts Yelp’s Review System
Is Yelp a “mafia” that extorts restaurant owners by manipulating star ratings? One restaurateur certainly thought so and got the backing of a huge number of fellow business owners, waiting staff and customers when he decided to subvert the online review system. Read the stranger-than-fiction David and Goliath story here.
