Category: Google Updates & Algorithms

Discovery ads are native Google ads that appear in various feeds, including Google’s homepage on mobile devices. The basic concept with these ads is to create a visually rich ad experience. If you’re new to this approach to running ads, here are a few reasons you should be using Google’s Discovery ad campaigns, brought to you by the experienced SEO professionals from Saba SEO, one of the top digital marketing and SEO companies San Diego businesses rely on for unmatched expertise and high-quality service

You Can Tell Visual Stori

With Discovery ads, you can tell stories by presenting collections of multiple images in a carousel format. Viewers of these ads can then simply swipe from one to the next. You can use single images as well for times when you want to showcase a specific product.

Google Will Figure Out What Headlines & Descriptions to Use

Google uses machine learning capabilities to find the right mix of headlines and descriptions. When setting up Discovery campaigns, you’ll enter a single landing page URL. You’ll also get to enter up to five descriptions and headlines, and Google will use accumulated data to find the best combinations of descriptions and headlines to boost ad performance.

Discovery Ads Have Impressive Reach

Discovery has approximately 800 million global users. This alone gives you impressive reach potential with your campaigns. But that’s not all the reach potential you’ll get with your various Discovery ad campaigns. Google also distributes these ads to:

• YouTube’s mobile home feed
• Gmail social tabs
• Gmail promotion tabs

Campaign Setup Is Easy

Discovery campaigns are fairly easy to set up. Simply select your campaign type, upload and input the specific ad-related info, and Google takes care of optimization and ad delivery.

While there are many appealing benefits of Google’s Discovery campaigns, realize there are some differences from other types of Google ad options. For one thing, you can’t change manual bid strategies or have access to device targeting and similar features. Even so, Discovery ads can be an effective complement to your other digital ad efforts because of the reach potential.

Keeping up with Google’s latest features is one of the smartest things you can do in today’s online and mobile-centered marketplace. If you need help staying on top of Google trends to remain competitive, call on the SEO and digital marketing experts from Saba SEO, a premier provider of Internet marketing service San Diego companies have relied on for more than ten years. Call one of our SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717.

Google Search Console (GSC) is addressing COVID-19 concerns with a new “special announcements” tool specific to site markup. Specifically, it’s a type of structured data markup related to the global pandemic, which is having a significant impact on search results and search behavior. The San Diego SEO specialists at Saba SEO offer the following advice on what you need to know about this new Search Console feature and how to use it.

Using the Report, Which Is Limited to Certain Websites

The new Search Console report was first introduced in April 2020. The markup can be used by any website. However, it’s currently only specific to search results on Google for certain categories. Right now, this means government and health-related websites, since sites of this nature typically post information about stay-at-home orders and guidelines and school closings.

Utilizing the New Announcement Tool

The main reason for the new report is to help website owners identify and fix implementation errors. Websites using this new markup will be able to keep track of rich results in GSC to achieve this goal. The special announcement structured data is designed to do three things:

• Identify errors
• Discover warnings
• Enable valid implementations

Site owners can also use this tool to confirm markup has been correctly added. You’ll also be able to find out which specific pages on your site need attention. Once a fix is made, it can be validated directly from the GSC report.

Check your Performance Report in Search Console to find special announcements info. You’ll also be able to view total impressions and clicks related to Google results featuring SA markup. Additionally, SA structured data is supported by GSC’s Rich Results Test tool. This tool can be used to test markup once it’s added to a page. Code can also be uploaded to review markup for new or updated pages that haven’t gone live.

When it comes to utilizing Google tools to increase your online engagement and conversion rates, let the experts at Saba SEO help you out. As a leading San Diego SEO company, we have designed successful digital marketing strategies for businesses all over the globe. We specialize in search engine optimization, paid marketing, content writing, web development, and social media management. If you need a comprehensive SEO strategy for your business, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today. 

Responsive display ads (RDAs) are so named because they automatically adjust to the size, format, and appearance necessary to fit within available ad spaces. Rolled out in 2018, it’s a type of Google ad that combines elements of machine learning to boost the effectiveness of your display ads. If you haven’t yet seriously thought about ads of this nature, the experts at Saba SEO, an industry-leading San Diego SEO company, explain why you should consider running responsive display ads.

RDAs Are Fast & Efficient

If you normally run a bunch of display ads at once, it can be a time-consuming process to adjust image sizes and make other necessary adjustments to make sure ads are properly sized and displayed. RDAs take care of all these tasks for you, which makes it much easier to prepare, run, and manage display ads.

RDAs Amplify Your Message

Instead of carefully preparing a small number of display ads specifically designed to fit certain spaces, you can produce highly adaptable RDAs, which gives you the opportunity to get your message out to a broader audience. Plus, Google’s machine learning models automatically determine which headlines will likely work with which ads, allowing you to further boost the effectiveness of your brand’s message with your target audience.

Tip: Consider keeping RDAs in a separate group from other image-based ads you’re running to avoid unexpected spikes in your ad spending.

RDAs Offer Some Appealing Options & Features

Not surprisingly, Google has added some additional RDA features since these ads first launched. These features are intended to allow you to add video elements and track how your responsive display ads are performing. The new features include:

• Video Assets – Video elements won’t be right for every RDA, but it can be an effective way to encourage engagement when used appropriately.

• Combinations Tab – Located under “View Asset Details,” this tab will show which combinations of images, text, video, and other ad elements are working best for you.

• Ad Scorecard – This feature gives each ad a score that includes a grade for ad strength and suggestions about steps you can take to improve your score for that particular ad.

Responsive display ads are also appealing because they can be inserted into just about any ad space. Ultimately, this allows you to be more creative with your ads and how you present your intended message. With RDAs, Google allows advertisers to upload 15 images, 5 videos, and 5 logos and descriptions. You also get to include a handful of descriptions along with five short headlines and one long one.

If you need more in-depth information about advertising on Google, turn to Saba SEO. As a leading content marketing, search engine optimization, and web design company in San Diego, we offer a variety of services to boost online visibility. For almost fifteen years, we have helped organizations all over the world benefit from winning digital marketing strategies with proven results. To schedule an appointment with one of our experts, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.

The average Internet user conducts about 3–4 Google searches per day, and overall, somewhere around 7 billion searches are performed via Google daily. While there’s no denying the fact that this popular search engine is a true information powerhouse, there are some things Google does get wrong. Below, the San Diego SEO specialists at Saba SEO explain some of the more prominent Google drawbacks.

Glitches

Google does occasionally have some notorious glitches that create major headaches. In 2019, Google-related issues caused pages to be de-indexed, unrelated canonical URLs to be selected, and results to fail to fully render. While such issues are usually temporary, they can make it difficult to put out new content or maintain the desired level of online visibility.

Featured Snippet Accuracy

The purpose of featured snippets is to pull relevant answers to search questions from content. However, this doesn’t always produce accurate or complete answers. There’s also the possibility of other inaccuracies related to search results, but no search engine is 100 percent accurate.

Non-Text Content Indexing

Google willingly admits it has difficulty with crawling images, videos, and non-text content. And since non-text content tends to generate the most interest online, you can’t exactly put it on the back burner. The trick here is to use descriptive titles or captions whenever possible to help crawlers figure things out.

Data Access Restrictions

Google collects a massive amount of data related to search activity. However, it doesn’t just dish out this data for free—at least not all of it. Marketers typically have to invest in paid ads and reach a certain threshold to gain access to proprietary search data.

Organic/Paid Search Results Clarity

If you’ve opted for a largely organic search strategy, it can be frustrating if paid ads mimic your organic content and get priority placement. This is exactly what’s happening as Google continues to make paid ads similar to organic results.

Lastly, Google makes thousands of updates each year, but this isn’t necessarily something the search engine giant is doing wrong. Updates are largely made to improve the search experience. Of course, they can cause some minor palpitations if you’re caught off guard, especially if your content is negatively affected. For this reason, it’s important to keep track of your online-accessible stats via tools like Google Analytics.

It can be challenging for businesses to keep up with everything that goes on with Google’s operations, so it’s best to let the experts at Saba SEO take care of optimizing your online presence. We are one of the premier San Diego marketing companies, and we have almost fifteen years of experience in search engine optimization, website design, content development, and Internet marketing. Our experts stay up to date on last-minute Google changes and issues so we can offer customized solutions to help you increase your search engine ranking. Whether you need a mobile-friendly website or high-quality content, we’re here to help. Call us at 858-277-1717 to schedule an appointment with one of our SEO experts.

Unless Google indexes your site, no one will ever find your amazing content through organic traffic and traditional online search queries. These methods are responsible for one-third to two-thirds of all site traffic. In comparison, social media only brings about five percent of all site traffic.

Google and other search engines don’t automatically index. How do you remedy this? The digital marketing pros from Saba SEO, a top-tier San Diego SEO agency, offer the following tips to get Google to index your site with the coverage report.

Test Your Site

First, if your site is less than 500 pages, you need to test it. Create a search with site:yourdomain.com. For example, if your site is calories.com, you would input site:calories.com. This tells you what Google knows about your site. You can even be more specific and include keywords, such as candy (in our example, you’d enter site:calories.com/candy).

Use Google Search Console

Sign up for the free Google Search Console. This tool will help you determine which pages are indexed and which ones need to be fixed.

Obtain a Coverage Report

Use the Google Search Console to obtain a coverage report. Go to the Index section on the right-hand side of the page, then click on “coverage.” If you’re new to coverage reports, the site will advise you that it’s processing data and will need a day to process.

Note What’s Excluded

The report will detail what’s included and what’s excluded. “Included” means your SEO strategy is working. What’s excluded is your list of what needs to be fixed.

Start out with easy fixes, such as:

• Orphaned pages – There are no internal links to these pages. Include internal links. 
• Low-quality pages – Pages that are thin in content and information need to be deleted or beefed up. Aim for 1,000 words for each page, and include unique keywords and plenty of internal links. 
• Remove crawl blocks – Google cannot index a page if there’s a crawl block. Just type in yourdomain.com/robots.txt and remove.

If you need help getting your site indexed by Google, turn to Saba SEO. As one of the leading providers of SEO in San Diego, we have been in the industry for almost fifteen years. Our services include website development, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management. To make the most of your online presence and Google’s free tools, call us at 858-277-1717.

Google isn’t slacking in 2020. The search engine giant officially rolled out its latest core update on January 13th, 2020. While Google normally rolls out algorithmic updates on a fairly consistent basis every few months or so, this one is a big deal because it’s a core update that has the potential to affect online visibility, revenue, and rankings. Here’s what you need to know, according to the experienced professionals from Saba SEO, one of the premier digital marketing and SEO companies San Diego businesses rely on for unmatched expertise and high-quality service delivered with integrity.

The January 2020 Core Update Is Now Live

Just hours after the initial announcement, Google sent out another message declaring what’s officially called the January 2020 Core Update was live. The company further stated plans to roll it out to various Google data centers in the following days.

What It Could Mean for Your Site

Google core updates have a tendency to produce mixed results. For instance, there were two core updates in 2019. Some SEO and marketing experts believe the June 2019 update was more impactful than the one in September of 2019. An update in November of the same year was focused on local rankings.

What to Do if You’re Affected

First off, don’t panic if you’re affected by Google’s January 2020 core update. In some instances, a negative ranking may not have anything specifically do with your content or site. That being said, it can be helpful to take a look at your existing SEO strategy if a core update does affect you. Google suggests paying attention to:

• How your content is presented
• How descriptive and relevant your headlines, subheads, and meta descriptions are
• How trustworthy your content is
• How you’re promoting your online-accessible content

Because of the many factors involved that aren’t known when Google makes core updates, it’s not possible to fully protect yourself from being impacted in some way. However, what you can do is be proactive about checking your stats, being mindful of the SEO techniques you use, and responding to the needs and expectations of your target audience.

Keeping up with Google’s changing algorithms and ranking factors is one of the smartest things a business can do in today’s online-centered marketplace. If you need help staying on top of Google trends to remain competitive, call on the experts from Saba SEO. For premier expertise in web design, digital marketing, and SEO, San Diego companies have relied on us for almost fifteen years. Call one of our SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717. 

Crammed with useful stats, Google Search Console (GSC) is a convenient portal that can be used to monitor and manage your website more efficiently and effectively. Google is now allowing Search Console users to gain even more insight into search behavior with product results filters. The experts from Saba SEO, a premier San Diego SEO company, offer the following advice on what you need to know about this performance report update and why it matters.

What Changes Has Google Made?

The purpose of the new filters is to capture and display data about impressions and clicks along with product-rich results. The additional stats will be based on product-rich results markup specific to your products. To find this new data, take the following steps:

• Click “Search Appearance”
• Click “Product Results”
• Look for your listed product-related clicks and impressions
• Segment your product clicks and impressions further by device, geography, and other more specific filters

What Are “Product-Rich Results”?

Product-rich results aren’t a new thing. The only thing that’s new is the ability to quickly view this info in a performance report. These results typically show product-related information that includes:

• Product ratings
• Product price
• Product availability
• Additional descriptive information

Why Does This Search Console Update Matter?

In the world of SEO, there’s no such thing as too much data. Having this info available in Search Console reports allows you to quickly see how well your product-rich results markup is performing. According to Google, this Search Console update will also help you learn:

• How much traffic is being generated because of rich data related to your products
• How factors such as your product pricing and availability are affecting customer interactions
• How your shopping traffic has changed over time

If you’re not seeing the desired results when you look at this newly added data, go back and see how keywords related to your products are performing or take a look at how your product pages are designed and how your technical SEO features are set up for those pages. Simply recheck your product results data in Search Console to see if your adjustments helped.

If you need help understanding how to use the many features of Google Search Console, turn to Saba SEO. We’re leading experts on SEO in San Diego, and we’ve been in the industry for almost fifteen years. Our services include website development, search engine optimization, and social media marketing. To make the most of your online presence and Google’s reporting tools, call us at 858-277-1717.

Google has never come out with an official ranking factor list—and they probably won’t do this for 2020, either. But some of the things Google emphasizes are known well enough to present this listing of the top ranking factors likely to be important in 2020 if you want to increase your online visibility. For even more detailed advice, reach out to the experienced SEO professionals from Saba SEO, one of the top digital marketing and SEO companies San Diego businesses rely on for unmatched expertise and high-quality service.

Image Optimization

Visual content is going to remain in demand in 2020. However, it won’t help you rank better if you don’t optimize your images so search engines can actually tell what they are. Key image-related ranking factors include:

• Alt text
• File name and title
• Image description

User Friendliness

Google now has a page layout algorithm that’s all about minimizing distractions and boosting user friendliness. Be careful about distracting ads and annoying pop-ups in 2020 if you don’t want to be penalized.

Site Structure

Flaws in site structure can make it difficult or even impossible for Google’s crawlers to check out your site correctly. You’ll have better odds of ranking well in 2020 if you pay attention to your site’s structure and make sure your sitemap is up to date.

Mobile Friendliness

Expect Google to continue to show love to mobile-friendly webpages in 2020, since the company already emphasizes how a site looks from a mobile perspective. But this doesn’t mean you have to abandon searchers coming to your site from desktop PCs. A popular solution is a responsive website design that allows your site to adapt to whatever screen it’s being viewed on.

Links

The number of pages and domains linking to a website and link quality are the two big link-related Google ranking factors for 2020. If you focus on quality and relevance over quantity alone, you should be fine.

The use of keywords in URLs is a smaller ranking factor that could still be useful for optimization purposes in 2020. Country code top-level domains, keywords in title tags, and page categories are some of the other minor ranking factors that could still help searchers discover your content more easily on Google’s results pages in 2020.

Keeping up with Google’s ranking factors is one of the smartest things you can do in today’s online and mobile-centered marketplace. If you need help staying on top of Google trends to remain competitive, call on the SEO and digital marketing experts from Saba SEO, a premier provider of Internet marketing service San Diego companies have relied on for more than ten years. Call one of our SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717.

Google has updated its search engine with a new algorithm called BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), which is their biggest algorithm change in the past five years. BERT has to do with natural language searches, and this new algorithm affects 10 percent of all searches. What do you need to know about this algorithm change? The experienced professionals from Saba SEO, one of the premier San Diego marketing companies, offer answers to these FAQs about BERT.

When Did Google Make the Change?

Google began rolling out BERT for English on October 21st, 2019. All other languages will eventually get the algorithm change.

What Is BERT?

BERT has been implemented to fix language confusion. For example, “I am going to the store” is different from “I am working 7 to 4.” With this greater clarity regarding natural language, BERT will result in better search results.

What Searches Are Affected by BERT?

A tenth of all searches are affected by BERT. These are searches that make natural language requests using devices such as Alexa, Google Home, and Siri. Natural language searches are slightly different from written searches. BERT is working on closing the gap to provide users the search results they’re looking for.

Will BERT Affect Featured Snippets?

BERT will definitely affect featured snippets. If a search request is for “without milk,” then snippets with that phrase will be featured, which means keywords and descriptions should include those natural phrases.

What Changes Should I Implement for BERT?

Do you need to make site changes to adhere to BERT? No. Continue to create rich, authoritative content that shows your expertise. Content doesn’t need to be a certain amount of words if you create high-quality material. Google is creating a knowledge base that rewards the top content providers.

Knowing all about Google’s changing algorithms is one of the smartest things a business can do in today’s search-driven marketplace. If you need help keeping up with Google trends to remain competitive, reach out to the SEO and digital marketing experts from Saba SEO, a premier provider of SEO services and web design San Diego companies have relied on for more than a decade. Call one of our SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717. 

The recent Google BERT update started out as a tweak. Instead, it’s a major deal. BERT, which stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, has affected one in ten online searches. This sounds like a major change, but it’s really about small adjustments. BERT has to do with natural language searches. The experienced SEO professionals from Saba SEO, one of the top digital marketing and SEO companies San Diego businesses rely on for outstanding expertise and high-quality service delivered with integrity, explain what you need to know about this important update.

Natural Language Searches Are on the Rise

Natural language searches are increasing because more people are using voice assistants such as Google Home, Alexa, and Siri in their homes and cars, and this means the language of the typical search is different. Ten percent of your searches may be affected by just a few words. Long-tailed keywords using natural language are the solution. In natural language, search words such as “for” and “to” give specific details. These words can change the total nature of the search. Google now looks at the entire sentence, not just the main keywords.

High-Quality Text Is Key

The Google BERT update looks for quality, which doesn’t necessarily mean quantity. Many SEO experts advise that content creators write posts longer than 1,000 words. But if your content is filled with high-quality information, including quotes from experts, it can be shorter. Quality is always better than quantity.

Keyword Density Is a Thing of the Past

The Google BERT update doesn’t look for keyword density. That’s part of the past. The update looks for deep dives into a specific topic, which means you need to create text based on subtopics. In that text, you must answer all questions and share all details. You should also share internal links to other articles that relate to this text.

Google Is a Knowledge Base

Google is creating the ultimate knowledge base. It’s rewarding sites that share creative information that answers questions, gives full explanations, and is fully complete. 

Keeping up with Google’s updates, changing algorithms, and ranking factors is one of the smartest things a business can do in today’s online-centered marketplace. If you need help staying on top of Google trends to remain competitive, call on the SEO and digital marketing experts from Saba SEO, a premier provider of Internet marketing service San Diego companies have relied on for more than ten years. Call one of our SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717.