In a blog post from this week, LinkedIns Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen shares updates about the latest improvements to the platform’s search engine, accessibility features, and the content brands can share in feeds.
Though these updates might seem scattered or disconnected, they are all united by one theme. LinkedIn is making it easier for users to find relevant and useful content, especially from brands on the platform.
Updates to LinkedIn Search
LinkedIn is expanding its search results to include news, topics, trends, and more from connections and relevant content from creators related to your search.
As Cohen explains in the blog post:
“If you’re interested in a particular topic when you search for it you’ll see the latest insights, expert opinions, and other breaking news. From finding the right people, communities, companies, jobs, or content, you can now make progress on any professional goal by simply searching for the topic you have in mind.”
The biggest change coming from this is the introduction of content from people outside your network, though the networking platform promises to only include “relevant creators.”
Additionally, the search engine is being improved to make it easier to “re-discover” posts you’ve already seen in your feed.
Now, you can find something you’ve seen before on your Feed by searching with just the creator’s name and keywords used in their post.
Share Reviews (If You’re a Service Provider)
Any business knows the power of reviews. Up to 95% of consumers look for reviews before making a purchase, according to some estimates. Reviews also make a greater impact than most other types of content because they are authentic.
This is why LinkedIn is making it possible for the 4 million service providers on the site to share recent reviews with other users.
In a similar vein, Cohen notes service providers can also hight examples of their work in the new Featured section of the page.
Customized Referral Links For Creators
To help entrepreneurs and creators boost their visibility, LinkedIn is introducing the ability to add a link to the top of a profile to make it easier to find out more about your business or upcoming events.
With this, you can direct people checking out your content to pages about your business, upcoming events or courses you are offering, or other pages for your products or services.
Though the feature is currently only accessible to those in creator mode, Cohen does note it will be rolled out more broadly soon.
Real-Time Captions for Audio Events
Audio events have been massively popular for LinkedIn, but there has been one glaring issue: they were completely inaccessible to those with hearing impairments, or those who weren’t in an environment that allowed for listening to content.
To fix this, the platform has made real-time captions available for English-language users. This way, your audio events can be open and relevant for all.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/LinkedIn3.png280640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-05-16 18:11:502022-05-16 18:11:52LinkedIn Updates Its Search Engine and More
With internet speeds constantly increasing, smartphones becoming the primary way to get online, and people’s attention spans getting shorter than ever, it is absolutely crucial that your website loads quickly. Visitors will not hesitate to click the ‘back’ button and Google has slowly made loading times one of the most important ranking signals it uses.
At the same time, users have come to expect stylish, high-quality images from any website they visit. They don’t just want to find the best information. They want the best information in the most enjoyable package.
This creates a catch-22 for website owners. Users want to see a page filled with great images, but they don’t want to wait for it. Unfortunately, these high-quality pictures have the tendency to slow down how quickly websites load.
Thankfully, there are ways to mediate this by optimizing your images to make loading your web pages as efficient and quick as possible – as Alan Kent, Google Developer Advocate, shares in a recent video:
The video gets pretty in-depth at times and leans into technical details, so we will try to collect the most important tips and info below:
Google’s 6 Tips For Optimizing Online Images
1. Eliminate Image Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Don’t let the jargony name intimidate you. You have no doubt encountered CLS before, and it probably frustrated you.
CLS is where text or images move as each individual component loads. Because of this, you might have text which refuses to stay in place as you try to read it, have new images popping into place where a link was visible seconds before, or potentially open an entirely different page because a link appeared right where you were trying to swipe.
Though this issue can affect any type of content on a webpage, images are frequently a leading culprit because of the amount of space they fill on a page.
2. Keep Your Images Only As Large As Needed
It can be tempting to upload images in the largest size possible, to guarantee every little detail will be included without pixelation or artifacting. Some web designers see this as “future-proofing” their site or ensuring the best quality no matter how large an image is shown.
The problem is that this can be overkill. Even when rendering an image for smaller resolutions, browsers have to download the original image and compress it to render correctly. This slows things down, as larger images take a longer time to be downloaded and rendered in the proper size for the display it is being shown on.
The complication is that displays can range wildly in size and resolution – from tiny smartphones to gigantic monitors. That makes it hard to identify exactly when an image becomes “too large.”
The easiest way to find this out is by checking out the Opportunities section in the PageSpeed Insights report, under ‘properly sized images’. Here you’ll see which images are larger than they need to be so you can replace them with more properly sized alternatives.
3. Use The Best Image Format
Which file format you choose to save your images in might seem like a minor choice, but it can have major effects on loading speeds. At the same time, choosing the right image format isn’t always as simple as choosing the one which outputs the smallest file.
While formats like JPEG or webP tend to deliver smaller file sizes from the same initial image, they do so by compressing the image. This compression subtly degrades the quality of the image to minimize file size.
On the other hand, larger file formats like PNG can preserve fine details to maintain the original quality of an image, though this results in larger files.
In many cases, your visitors may not notice the difference between a PNG or JPEG, making the smaller file the obvious choice. However, more complex images or very large images may look noticeably worse in small formats.
To identify images that may not be in the most efficient format for your site, check out the ‘serve images in next-gen formats’ section of the PageSpeed Insights report.
4. Compress Images Properly
While file formats have a big impact on how large your image files are, most formats allow you to dictate just how much compression occurs. If you’d like, you can prioritize preserving detail while receiving a slightly larger file, or you can prioritize getting the smallest file at the cost of the image quality.
To figure out what is best for your website, you can explore the ‘encode images efficiently’ section of the PageSpeed Insights report. Here, you’ll find details about images that may benefit from being compressed and how much this might shrink image files.
5. Cache Images In The Browser
Caching is a process browsers use where they temporarily store images or details from your website to s[eed up the loading process on related pages or if they return to your site.
If you do this, however, it is important for you to tell the browser how long it should keep these cached images This is done through an HTTP response header containing guidance on how to handle cached files and images.
If you’re unsure whether you’ve properly configured this header, you can also find details about this in the PageSpeed Insights report, within the ‘serve static assets with an efficient cache policy’ section.
6. Correctly Sequence Image Downloads
By default, web browsers wait to load details until they are absolutely needed. This is a practice called “lazy loading” that allows browsers to focus on the details you’re most likely to be focused on at the moment. This is not always the best process for loading larger files like images or videos, though.
To get around this, Google recommends establishing the sequencing order some parts of your site are downloaded and rendered by browsers.
Specifically, Google recommends using the following sequencing order:
“Hero Images” at the top of the page
Above the fold images
Images just below the fold
After this, Kent says most other images can be lazy-loaded without an issue.
Again, you’ll be able to find an assessment of how efficiently you are loading images on your website within the PageSpeed Insights report, under ‘defer offscreen images‘.
The way we use keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) has changed quite a bit since the early days of Google. Instead of stuffing pages with obvious keyword spam, SEO success is more about delivering content that is useful and interesting for your ideal customers. One thing that hasn’t changed during all that time, however, is the importance of keyword research.
Keyword research has similarly grown and evolved throughout the years, but attentive brands will know that keyword research has consistently been a huge factor in their online success since the creation of search engines.
What Is Keyword Research?
The idea behind keyword research has always been basically the same. The practice is all about identifying the actual keywords people are using to find your website and websites like yours.
With most modern tools, you can not only identify these keywords, but also assess their overall popularity, how difficult it would be to rank for these terms, and more.
Essentially, by looking at the terms people are already using to find you (and which popular search terms you’re missing out on, you learn what your customers are really looking for to best deliver it.
With this information, you can develop strategies focused on reaching the most effective audiences for your brand.
Keyword research also lets you identify emerging opportunities, set important benchmarks for your SEO efforts, and measure the success of your optimization.
Lastly, keyword research gives you the chance to check your own assumptions using real-world data. Often, brands quickly discover their top keywords are entirely different than assumed.
How To Use Your Keywords
Once you’ve identified the most important keywords for your brand, it’s time to actually start targeting these terms.
In the dark ages of SEO, targeting keywords meant seeing how many times you could fit a word into a piece of text. Whether the rest of the content was relevant, well-written, or just a string of gibberish were secondary concerns, at best.
This meant Google would think the page was full of great information about that topic and place you high in the search results!
Google’s systems have gotten exponentially more complex over the years. These days, the search engine uses machine learning to better understand the content they index and the intent behind search terms.
Pages can (theoretically) rank well for keywords despite not using them anywhere on their site since Google can understand how the page is relevant to the keyword topic.
Of course, it is better to still strategically place keywords you are targeting on the pages on your site and the content you share. But, the most important thing now is simply delivering the best resources for the keywords you want to rank for.
While this may seem like it has decreased the importance of keywords, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. These days, this insight helps you spot new shifts in your industry, brainstorm the best content for your potential customers, and set the most relevant goals for your SEO efforts.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/What-Is-Keyword-Research-37.671-×-18-in.png4781000Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-05-05 17:30:132022-05-05 17:30:15What Is SEO Keyword Research?
Despite Google being very clear about its feelings on paying for SEO links (hint: it is not a fan), I still regularly come across stories of brands spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on links that promise to increase their rankings.
Typically, these individuals have heard success stories from others who had recently bought a ton of SEO backlinks and saw their own site jump to the top of search results. Unfortunately, this is rarely the end of the story.
Today, I wanted to highlight a more complete example of what happens when you pay for links and why.
The Full Story of Someone Who Spent $5,000 on SEO Links
In this instance, I came across someone who had spent thousands of dollars on links for SEO purposes through Search Engine Journal’s “Ask an SEO” column. In the most recent edition of this weekly article, a person named Marlin lays out their situation.
“I paid over $5,000 for SEO link building.”
From the outset, it is unclear if Marlin knew exactly what they had gotten into. While it is possible they directly purchased links from a website, there is also the potential that Marlin and their company put their trust in a questionable marketing agency that purchased or generated spammy links to “boost” rankings.
This is important because it is very common for online SEO packages to include “link building services” which are actually accomplished through link farms that will inevitably be identified and shut down. This is why it is crucial to know that the people handling your link-building efforts use proven, Google-approved strategies rather than cutting corners.
“At first, traffic was boosted.”
As promised, the initial result of buying links is frequently a quick spike in your search engine rankings. Even better, this payoff seems to come much more quickly than the rankings boosts seen from traditional link-building efforts. In some cases, you might even get a huge boost to your rankings within a week or two of paying for the service!
However, the story isn’t over.
“We then lost our rankings on those keywords and our traffic is gone!”
Despite the initially promising results, this is the inevitable conclusion of every story about paying for links.
In the best-case scenario, Google simply ignores your newly acquired low-quality links – putting you right back where you started. In some cases, depending on how widespread the link scheme appears to be, you can wind up even worse than when you began.
If Google believes you have a persistent habit of trying to manipulate search rankings, your site may receive a penalty that significantly impairs your rankings. In the worst cases, your site can be removed from search results entirely.
Why Paid Links Inevitably Fail
There is a very simple reason this story followed a predictable pattern. Google explicitly forbids any sort of “unnatural links” or link schemes. Additionally, the search engine has invested huge amounts of time and resources to identify these artificial links.
At the same time, Google is locked into a game of whack-a-mole where new link sellers are popping up all the time – which is why their links may help your rankings for a very short time.
In SEO, shortcuts are rarely as great as they appear. If you’re looking for long-term, sustainable success, the only option is to roll up your sleeves and build links the old-fashioned way: by creating great content and building real relationships with other members of your industry.
It won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it in the long run.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Buying-Links-Bad.png6751200Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-05-03 17:22:382022-05-03 17:22:39What Happens When You Pay For SEO Links?
Product pages may receive a temporary reduction in their visibility in Google search results if the product is listed as out of stock, according to Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller during the most recent Google Search Central SEO Office Hours session.
Surprisingly, though, this is not always the case.
As Mueller answered questions about how product stock affects rankings, he explained that Google has a few ways of handling out-of-stock product pages.
How Google Handles Out-of-Stock Products
Mueller says that, in most cases, Google treats out-of-stock listings as a soft redirect or unavailable page:
“Out of stock – it’s possible. That’s kind of simplified like that. I think there are multiple things that come into play when it comes to products themselves in that they can be shown as a normal search result.
They can also be shown as an organic shopping result as well. If something is out of stock, I believe the organic shopping result might not be shown – I’m not 100% sure.
And when it comes to the normal search results, it can happen that we when see that something is out of stock, we will assume it’s more like a soft 404 error, where we will drop that URL from the search results as well.
Theoretically, it could affect the visibility in search if something goes out of stock.”
In some situations, though, Google will essentially override this decision and continue to show a page if it is considered particularly relevant for users.
For example, if the product page also includes helpful information about the product in general, it may still be worth keeping in search results despite the lack of stock.
As Mueller explains”
“It doesn’t have to be the case. In particular, if you have a lot of information about that product anyway on those pages, then that page can still be quite relevant for people who are searching for a specific product. So it’s not necessarily that something goes out of stock, and that page disappears from search.”
Out-of-Stock Products Don’t Hurt Your Entire Site
While it is true that listing one product as unavailable can keep that specific page from appearing in search results, Mueller is sure to reassure you that this should not impact the rest of your website:
“The other thing that’s also important to note here is that even if one product goes out of stock, the rest of the site’s rankings are not affected by that.
So even if we were to drop that one specific product because we think it’s more like a soft 404 page, then people searching for other products on the site, we would still show those normally. It’s not that there would be any kind of negative effect that swaps over into the other parts of the site.”
You can watch the entire discussion with Google’s John Mueller in a recording of the SEO Office Hours session below:
If you’re a business owner or operator, you’ve probably been told 100 times by 100 different people that you just HAVE to invest in Search Engine Optimization. Unfortunately, you’ve also likely never really heard why SEO is so important beyond broad mentions of “being found online” or that “everyone uses Google.”
Marketers and salespeople have a bad habit of talking about the power and benefits of optimization without explaining what sets it apart from other types of online marketing, how it impacts your ability to reach new markets, and why many SEO packages don’t cut it.
So today, I wanted to do just that.
What Is Search Engine Optimization
Before we can talk about what makes SEO special, we have to talk a bit about what it is.
In the simplest terms, search engine optimization is the name for a wide range of strategies and techniques used to increase your visibility on search engines.
In the past, this could be boiled down to the phrase “making your website the top result on Google searches.” These days, search engines are much more complex and what might be the top result for one user might be completely different for another.
As such, SEO has evolved to focus more on overall visibility across Google’s many systems with the goal of attracting as many potential customers as possible to your site.
How SEO Works
For our purposes today, we aren’t going to go very in-depth discussing the numerous strategies or techniques used in SEO. Otherwise, we’d be here all day.
What matters for this discussion is understanding that these methods affect how Google sees and ranks your site.
While some strategies are dedicated to helping Google understand the content that is on your site, others are intended to boost the overall value of your site. Combined, these approaches help ensure Google picks your site for relevant searches and gives you the best chance to attract website traffic.
Why SEO Is Essential in 2022
Google Is The Most Visited Site In The World
Marketers always like to say “everyone uses Google” to emphasize the importance of SEO (and they aren’t necessarily wrong), but what does that really mean?
It means that Google is a massive part of daily life for practically everyone around the globe, and can massively influence what information we see, who we do business with, and what products people buy.
The most popular site in the world NOT owned by Google – Facebook – sees less than a quarter of the traffic seen by Google.com.
No matter how you try to spin it, Google acts as the central hub to the internet for the vast majority of people out there. If you don’t play by their rules, you risk being disconnected from this hub and any potential traffic you might get.
Organic Search is Still The Main Driver of Traffic
When considering where to invest their marketing budget, many businesses find themselves asking the same question: “Why should I spend money on SEO, which is complicated and not guaranteed to pay off, when I could instead run ads that are guaranteed to appear above those search results?”
Organic search results get underestimated because ranking highly is rarely a sure thing – even for the biggest companies. Meanwhile, paid search ads are built around driving results without uncertainty.
Despite this, there is actually a very simple reason you should invest in organic search optimization.
At the end of the day, the majority of search results still result in a user clicking an organic link from regular search results. So while it may seem riskier, investing in search engine optimization has the chance for much larger rewards.
Better SEO Means Better User Experience
Every brand wants its website to provide the best user experience possible. A positive user experience increases the likelihood of driving conversions, while negative user experiences can sour people on your company entirely.
So, it should come as good news that the majority of SEO practices are intended to improve user experience in a variety of ways including speeding up your site, making it easier to use, and improving accessibility.
By ensuring you are optimized for search engines, you are also investing in improving your site for the real potential customers who will soon be visiting.
SEO Is a Process That Is Always Changing
Companies looking to save some cash on SEO will have an easy time finding dozens of cheap SEO packages across the web. The problems with the packages are numerous, but the biggest red flag is the assumption that SEO is something you do once.
In reality, SEO is something that needs to be done regularly to have a real impact.
When left alone, Google assumes websites are becoming outdated or irrelevant. No matter what industry you are in, there are always new products coming out, new information that can benefit your customers, and new ways to improve your site.
Additionally, Google itself is always changing. The company releases new guidelines, algorithm updates, and features for webmasters seemingly every day. Any cheap package deal is unable to take these updates into account and help your company stay ahead of the rapidly changing search results.
SEO Results Amplify With Time
Unlike almost any other form of marketing, search engine optimization is one of the few investments which tends to build on itself for greater and greater results.
As you optimize your website and create quality content to improve your search rankings, you also provide a more robust presence online. Your website becomes an even greater resource to potential customers. You start getting linked to by others in your industry. People start sharing your brand around social media.
Ads may drive immediate results, but these tend to stabilize with time. Effective search engine optimization, on the other hand, pays increasing dividends the longer you invest in it.
The role search engines play in our lives will only continue to grow as people become more connected and expect information to always be at their fingertips. For all these reasons, it is imperative that companies invest in the best optimization practices possible if they want to continue reaching prospective customers in an increasingly digital world.
Due to the long-term impact of SEO, the best time to start optimizing your website was probably months or years ago. The second best time, however, is now.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/What-Is-Search-Engine-Optimization1.png6301120Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-03-17 18:39:372022-03-17 18:39:39What Is Search Engine Optimization and Why Do You Need It
Inspired by the popularity of TikTok, Google is working to find new ways to include short-form videos in search results.
Google Product Manager Danielle Marshak revealed this during a recent episode of the Search Off the Record podcast with hosts Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman from Google’s Search Relations team.
Why Google Is Interest In Short-Form Videos
Though the entire episode is more broadly focused on discussing how Google handles video content in search results, the conversation eventually turns to the most popular video format of the moment – short vertical videos less than 5 minutes in length.
Beyond their popularity, the Google employees agree there is a lot of interest in short videos because they are easily digestible and can contain a lot of information in a compact package.
As Marshak says:
“And this format, it’s really cool because as I mentioned, it is very concise. You can get a lot of information in a short period of time, and you can also get a loot of different views and perspectives…
“So we think this kind of content could be useful for a lot of different types of search queries, and we’ve been experimenting with how to show it to users more often.”
Could TikTok Videos Appear In Search Results?
Since TikTok is practically synonymous with this specific type of short video, it was only a matter of time before the social video app was brought up.
Interestingly, Gary Illyes explained that the unique way TikTok works makes its content much easier for the search engine to crawl and index compared to others like Snapchat or Instagram.
Since every TikTok video has a unique URL and can be opened directly in a web browser, Illyes says there is a chance the videos could be directly indexed and shown in search results:
“You can actually open it on the laptop and you will end up on a web page and you can actually watch it on the web page. You don’t have to have the TikTok app for watching the video.
“So I imagine that if they allow crawling – I haven’t checked – then we can probably index those videos as well.”
Other Ways Google Is Integrating Short Videos Into Search
When asked about other types of short video content that Google might include in search results pages, Marshak mostly focused on educational or informational content, such as recipes:
“So let’s say, again, you’re searching for some new ideas to make banana bread. And right now, you might see traditional recipes, you might see longer videos, but you could also see short videos, which could just give you a different style or perspective.
“And people’s preferences are different. Some people might prefer to read; some people might prefer a longer video; some people might prefer short videos.
“And so we want to offer a lot of different options to get that type of information, in the format that is most useful for you. So that’s one example.”
From what was said, it seems the ideas are still in their early stages but the episode makes it clear that Google is taking TikTok and its popular video format very seriously. You can expect to see much more of it in search results sooner, rather than later.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Video-to-Content.png6401280Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-03-10 20:28:232022-03-10 20:28:25Google Wants To Emphasize Short Videos In Search Results
It is no secret that the past few years have wildly shaken up the world – especially when it comes to doing business. Coronavirus, international shipping delays, and rising prices have drastically reshaped customer needs and expectations in virtually every market – as a new report from Google makes particularly clear.
Using a comparison of search trends from 2021 to 2022, Google’s data reveals what customers are looking for as we settle into a “new normal” and brace for even more new challenges in the future.
What Customers Want
More than anything, the search trends from Google reveal that customers are looking for brands that can provide the goods and services they are looking for when they need them. This is reflected by significant increases in searches extended hours and quick service.
For example, the report shows these search phrases saw major increases over the past year:
“Late night shopping”: Up 100% year-over-year
“24/7 customer service”: Up 500% year-over-year
“Next day flower delivery”: Up 800% year-over-year
Return to In-Person Events
Google search data makes it very clear that consumers are itching to get back out and enjoy in-person events again, now that the coronavirus pandemic appears to be winding down. This has led to growth in searches for phrases like:
“Cinema near me”: Up 300% year-over-year
“Seating chart”: Up 600% year-over-year
“Spring break”: Up 100% year-over-year
“Unique things to do in”: Up 100% year-over-year
Some Pandemic Trends Linger
While shoppers are eager to ditch some aspects of the pandemic, Google pinpoints a few trends which popped up during quarantines and appear to be sticking around. These “sticky” trends include:
“Makeup game”: Up 700% year-over-year
“Best movies to stream right now”: Up 300% year-over-year
Google has confirmed that it is “slowly” rolling out the Page Experience update for desktop search results.
Back in November, the search engine notified webmasters that it planned to extend the Page Experience update – originally limited to just mobile search results – to desktop search results by February 2022.
The page experience update is now slowly rolling out for desktop. It will be complete by the end of March 2022. Learn more about the update: https://t.co/FQvMx3Ymaf
While the update is rolling out on schedule, the company says the update will not be completed until closer to the end of March.
What You Should Know About The Desktop Page Experience Update
For the most part, the algorithm update looks identical to the update introduced to mobile search results last year. As such, the most important aspect of the update is the use of Core Web Vitals metrics to measure website performance.
“This means the same three Core Web Vitals metrics: LCP, FID, and CLS, and their associated thresholds will apply for desktop ranking. Other aspects of page experience signals, such as HTTPS security and absence of intrusive interstitials, will remain the same as well.”
One factor is being dropped from the desktop Page Experience update, however. For obvious reasons, this version of the update will remove the mobile-friendliness signal which was originally built into the update.
What Does This Mean For Your Site?
If you have been having good performance on mobile search results, you are probably fairly safe from the newer desktop version of the Page Experience update. However, if you’ve seen drops in search visibility or performance from mobile searches in the past year, this update is likely to compound your pain.
To help you predict how the algorithm update will impact you, Google Search Console is launching a new report specifically dedicated to Page Experience metrics for desktop versions of sites.
This report is available in the Page Experience tab of Google Search Console, immediately under the mobile report.
Most people these days understand the general idea of how search engines work. Search engines like Google send out automated bots to scan or “crawl” all the pages on a website, before using their algorithms to sort through which sites are best for specific search queries.
What few outside Google knew until recently, was that the search engine has begun using two different methods to crawl websites – one which specifically searches out new content and another to review content already within its search index.
Google Search Advocate John Mueller revealed this recently during one of his regular Search Central SEO office-hours chats on January 7th.
During this session, an SEO professional asked Mueller about the behavior he has observed from Googlebot crawling his website.
Specifically, the user says Googlebot previously crawled his site daily when it was frequently sharing content. Since content publishing has slowed on this site, he has seen that Googlebot has been crawling his website less often.
As it turns out, Mueller says this is quite normal and is the result of how Google approaches crawling web pages.
How Google Crawls New vs. Old Content
While Mueller acknowledges there are several factors that can contribute to how often it crawls different pages on a website – including what type of pages they are, how new they are, and how Google understands your site.
“It’s not so much that we crawl a website, but we crawl individual pages of a website. And when it comes to crawling, we have two types of crawling roughly.
One is a discovery crawl where we try to discover new pages on your website. And the other is a refresh crawl where we update existing pages that we know about.”
These different types of crawling target different types of pages, so it is reasonable that they also occur more or less frequently depending on the type of content.
“So for the most part, for example, we would refresh crawl the homepage, I don’t know, once a day, or every couple of hours, or something like that.
And if we find new links on their home page then we’ll go off and crawl those with the discovery crawl as well. And because of that you will always see a mix of discover and refresh happening with regard to crawling. And you’ll see some baseline of crawling happening every day.
But if we recognize that individual pages change very rarely, then we realize we don’t have to crawl them all the time.”
The takeaway here is that Google adapts to your site according to your own publishing habits. Which type of crawling it is using or how frequently it is happening are not inherently good or bad indicators of your website’s health, and your focus should be (as always) on providing the smoothest online sales experience for your customers.
Nonetheless, it is interesting to know that Google has made this adjustment to how it crawls content across the web and to speculate about how this might affect its ranking process.
To hear Mueller’s full response (including more details about why Google crawls some sites more often than others), check out the video below:
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/John-Mueller.jpg337640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-01-11 18:31:032022-01-11 18:31:04Google Reveals It Has Two Ways To Crawl Web Pages
