How E-A-T content and link building can drive YMYL SEO success
Google’s principle of E-A-T — which stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness — is the search engine’s way of determining the value of content on the web.
But, what does it mean for content to reflect expertise, authority, and trustworthiness?
“Expertise, for me, is the amount of knowledge you have in a field,” said Kevin Rowe, founder and CEO of PureLinq, in a recent webinar. “You build more expertise the longer you’ve been in a field.”
“Authority is how other authoritative figures validate you — this is reflected through authoritative links. And trust is [expertise and authority] over time,” he added.
When most marketers consider E-A-T signals, they often focus their efforts on creating high-quality content. And while this is one of the most important factors, these professionals could be missing out on potential ranking signals from authoritative backlinks.
According to Rowe, considering E-A-T when building links to your site — and generating content — is a great way to improve rankings, especially for those in the YMYL (your money, your life) space.
The information suggests Google relies heavily on the concept of E-A-T when evaluating YMYL content. According to the Guidelines, it’s “possible to have everyday expertise in YMYL topics.” This can be presented in the form of forum posts, articles detailing one’s personal experiences, or any other content that seeks to give searchers advice.
Source: How E-A-T content and link building can drive YMYL SEO success
Google business profile reviews posting bugs should be resolved soon
Over the past several days there has been an issue with reviews being posted to Google business profiles. A Google spokesperson confirmed that the maps team is “aware of this issue and is actively working to fix it.” Google did tell us that new reviews that do not violate its policies should appear now, while reviews that were posted over the past week will be reprocessed and posted by the end of this week.
Google’s statement. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land “our team is aware of this issue and is actively working to fix it. New reviews that are not in violation of our policies should now be appearing on Google Business Profiles as normal. Reviews submitted over the last week that were not appearing on Google Business Profiles due to this issue should be posted by the end of this week.”
The issue. There were numerous complaints throughout the local SEO community over the past week about reviews not posting in Google Maps or Google Search on business profiles. In fact, there is one specific company that has over 700 locations which saw their review count go from about 200 review down to 16 reviews in the past couple of weeks.
If you scan through the Google Business Profile forums you will see numerous complaints about reviews not posting.
Customers who leave reviews are able to see the review was posted in their view but when a searcher or business owner looks to find that review, it is not visible.
Source: Google business profile reviews posting bugs should be resolved soon
How to prepare for an SEO sales call
I was born a salesperson. Growing up in Texas, my dad had me working at Trader’s Village, selling everything from belt buckles to hat pins (and every other trinket you can imagine).
You didn’t have to know much about the product. You just needed to know how to haggle pricing.
Selling SEO services is different. You must have a keen understanding of the product/service you represent. And very importantly, you must understand how (or if) an SEO effort can benefit the prospects you’re speaking with.
Initial questions to ask the prospect
First, I recommend that you ask your prospect to provide some initial information so that you can do the homework for the initial call. It’s helpful if the prospect has already provided you with an RFP detailing the scope, in-house team capabilities and availability for the SEO effort. If they haven’t completed an RFP, you can download the SEO RFP at my company’s blog and re-brand it/use it as a template for what you may want to provide them.
Run a crawl on the prospect’s website
I use Semrush. I limit the crawl to 500 pages, just enough to get a sense of their website’s “brokenness.”
Source: How to prepare for an SEO sales call
Google to sunset Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023, in favor of Google Analytics 4
Google will deprecate Universal Analytics next year, the company announced Wednesday. Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023, and Universal Analytics 360 properties will stop processing hits on October 1, 2023.
Previously processed data in Universal Analytics will be stored for at least six months after the deprecation dates listed above.
Source: Google to sunset Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023, in favor of Google Analytics 4
Google’s free hotel booking links arrive on Search and Maps
Google is expanding its free hotel booking links to show on Search and Maps, the company announced Wednesday. The company is also adding reporting capabilities, support for hotel rates in Google Business Profiles and rolling out Local Posts to hotels as well.
Free hotel booking links expand to Search and Maps. In March 2021, Google started offering free listings within Google Hotel search. Now, the company is adding support for free hotel booking links on the Search results page and Google Maps. When a user clicks on these links, they’ll be taken to the hotel’s (or online travel platform’s) site where they can complete the booking.
New click reporting. Hotel owners can see how many people clicked on their free booking links via a new report in Hotel Center. The company plans to expand reporting to include impressions and booking value in the coming weeks.
Hotel rates in Google Business Profiles. Starting in April, individual hotels that meet eligibility requirements can manually add their rates to their Google Business Profile to participate in free hotel booking links.
Source: Google’s free hotel booking links arrive on Search and Maps
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