Google confirmed back in November that its Page Experience Update would be rolling out in May next year. As we finally close in on the end of 2020, we thought we’d preview the upcoming algorithm update and let you know what you need to do to ensure you’re ready for it.

What is the Google Page Experience Update?

The algorithm update will see the search engine take expected user experience into consideration when ranking web pages. Alongside this, a “visual indicator” will be tested – highlighting specific pages in the search results that are expected to offer a great user experience. As stated by Google… “The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.”

While user signals have long been a part of the Google algorithm and a huge part of the SEO process, the core web vitals getting added to these existing ranking factors is the key takeaway.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are essentially a set of factors that Google uses to evaluate page experience. They’re made up of the following user engagement metrics:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): marks the point in the page load timeline when the main content for that page has likely loaded.

First Input Display (FID): measures your website users first impressions by quantifying the experience they feel when trying to interact with unresponsive pages.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): this is used to help quantify how often your web users experience unexpected layout shifts, which occurs when a visible page element changes position from one frame to the next.

How to Prepare for the Page Experience Update

The first place to start is to get signed up and get your website added to Google Search Console if you haven’t done already. You’ll then be able to access the Core Web Vitals data for your website in the “enhancements” section.

You’ll see two reports – one for mobile and one for desktop, flagging URLs that are “poor”, “need improvement” or are “good”. From here, you can simply click on the URLs that have been flagged as “poor” or “need improvement” to view detailed suggestions on how to improve performance.

It’s important to note that most fixes here will need to be completed by your web company or a developer.

Additionally, be sure to check your websites mobile usability, overall site speed and ensure HTTPS is enabled – important UX metrics and SEO factors.

Finally, your website experience is the most important aspect of your overall marketing strategy, let alone SEO. Offer a poor experience and the majority of your visitors will likely bounce and go to one of your competitors. Take time, before the update, to delve into your entire websites user journey and overall experience, making improvements where necessary.

Looking at the Bigger Picture

SEO is a vital part of digital marketing and will continue to be for years to come. However, your other marketing efforts must also be on point and ready for 2021, especially considering how this year has been for many!

If you’ve not done so already, check out our interactive digital marketing checklist. Complete it to get a score for your current marketing output, discover new tactics, areas for improvement and receive bespoke suggestions from our experts to help take your marketing to a higher level.

Alternatively, feel free to get in touch with us directly by emailing enquire@wda-marketing.com or by completing your details on our enquiry form.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the most essential parts of a digital marketing strategy. When done correctly, over time, it can result in unparalleled brand awareness and return on investment, driving 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media.

However, due to the major search engines such as Google, making algorithm changes constantly, it can be hard to keep up with the optimisation techniques that are getting the best results. With this in mind, we’ve put together 6 SEO tips that are working right now to improve organic visibility, traffic and conversions.

Keywords

All SEO campaigns still start with keywords. While tracking keyword rankings is difficult and should only be used as an indicator to SEO success, they’re still very relevant in determining what is being searched for, what content you should write and how you should go about optimising it. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest can be used to research keywords and longer-tail terms can be discovered with Answer The Public and Google Auto Suggest.

Content

Content is a must when it comes to SEO and quality beats quantity all the time. The most important thing to remember when it comes to content is to write for users and not search engines. Many fall into the trap still to this day of trying to force the insertion of a target keyword. However, if you’re directly talking about that keyword or topic within the content then it will occur naturally anyway.

Secondly, the content should be varied. Don’t just rely on text to get your point across, make use of imagery, animation, video and even audio. The more diverse your content is, the more likely that visitors will interact and engage with it.

User Experience

User experience has long been a key search ranking factor with it continuing to grow in importance. Google, in particular, are launching their Page Experience update next May – putting further emphasis on UX when ranking web pages. User experience, whether for SEO or not, should be one of the elements of your overall marketing experience that you’re constantly striving to improve. Some of the fundamental areas to consider are website security, mobile responsiveness and speed.

Metadata

Whilst simply optimising your metadata no longer has the impact it had 10 years ago, it still has its place. The meta title tag should include your main keyword or topic, related to the content on the page you want to rank. Ideally, this should be at the front of the title tag followed by your business name. Try to keep it less than 65 characters in length.

Alt text should be optimised also by describing what the image is. Again, this adds to the user experience. Finally, your meta description shouldn’t be discounted. It’s not had a direct impact on rankings in a while now but it should be written to entice the click from the search results page, directly improving traffic. One way to do this is to include your target keyword which will be highlighted in bold on the results page (if this is included in the query inputted by the browser).

Featured Snippets

Featured Snippets are short snippets of content from a web page that directly answers the query typed in. They are referred to by many in the SEO community as “position 0” due to them appearing above the number 1 organic spot. They’re a great opportunity for brands to achieve great organic brand awareness and clicks with roughly 8% of clicks attributed to them. Definitions and lists both commonly appear in the Featured Snippets box. During your keyword research, we’d recommend making note of the terms and phrases that trigger featured snippets and what content is being ranked. From there, ensure your page is optimised for the relevant terms and create a better content piece than the existing snippet.

Link Building

Link building is a vital component of SEO. Over the years there have been tactics that come and go, many of which can now get your website penalised, harming your reach rather than increasing it. We feel that the best way to generate links in 2020 is by consistently creating and marketing valuable, shareable content. Make use of social sharing icons, share it organically on social media, send it out via email and more to encourage your audience to link back to it.

There are also alternative ways to build links and one of the more natural that we utilise and recommend is to feature as a source in online blogs and publications. Use sites like HARO to connect with journalists looking for expert quotes on a topic and provide your insights!

If you’re serious about improving your organic traffic then start implementing the above today. For further help and advice on SEO and how to get more from it either contact us or email matt@wda-marketing.com for a free review. Also, be sure to check out our digital marketing checklist to get your marketing performance score and improve your overall marketing strategy.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google Webmasters Central Becomes Google Search Central: Google Webmasters Central is becoming Google Search Central with some of the former properties such as the blog and guidelines to be redirected to the new location.

Google’s Page Experience Update Set to Launch Next May: Google confirmed last Tuesday that the new Google Page Experience Update will launch next May and will see the search engine highlighting results that have a great page experience. The update will also mean that expected user experience for a given web page is considered when ranking the results. The Core Web Vitals report from Search Console is a great place to get a head start on preparing for the update.

As explained by Google… “Today we’re announcing that the page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.”

Googlebot Crawl Update: Googlebot can now crawl with HTTP/2 protocol and their Developers Support Page has been updated to reflect the change that was announced back in September but is now in effect.

Here’s what Google said… “Generally, Googlebot crawls over HTTP/1.1. However, starting November 2020, Googlebot may crawl sites that may benefit from it over HTTP/2 if it’s supported by the site.”

Facebook/Instagram

Facebook Messenger Vanish Mode: With the recent release of the disappearing messages feature in WhatsApp, Facebook has now announced a ‘Vanish Mode’ for Messenger – simply swipe up while in a chat thread to enter and swipe up again to turn back off.

WhatsApp eCommerce Functionality Improved: WhatsApp has made another update to improve eCommerce potential on the platform. They’ve now added a shopping button in business chats to help streamline purchases from the platform.

Here’s what WhatsApp said… “Now you can easily discover something you’d like to buy from your favorite business by tapping on the new shopping button at the top of chats.”

Instagram Redesign: Instagram has redesigned its layout by adding Reels and Shop tabs to the home screen. The updates further put Reels in the spotlight on the app following early complaints from users who said they were difficult to find. We feel the update is a little forceful on Instagram’s part and personally takes away from the UX on the platform.

Social

Twitter Carousel Ads: Twitter has launched a new carousel ad format option that enables advertisers to add up to six images or videos in a single ad. Carousel ads have been extremely popular on Facebook and Instagram as they’re proven to outperform static ads significantly. While Twitter are a little late with adding the format to their ad options, it’s great to see that they now have. According to reports, Twitter ran extensive tests and research prior to launching the format to ensure they’d work well on the platform.

Other

Spotify Acquisition and Podcast Advertising Options Expanding: Spotify has made a major acquisition with Megaphone, a leading podcast advertising and publishing platform. The acquisition comes as Spotify aims to expand its existing podcast advertising options.

Spotify said… “The acquisition of Megaphone represents the next step in Spotify’s expanding the possibilities of this intimate and screenless medium.”

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is the announcement of Google’s Page Experience Update coming next May.

This gives advertisers and SEO’s plenty of time to delve into user experience reports and start improving relevant elements. User experience has been important in SEO for some time now and this just places even more emphasis on it. There have been far too many websites that focus solely on SEO, completely forgetting about the most important thing, the user journey. We’re excited to see what the update brings about and hope to see far better website experiences as a result. It should also provide a wake-up call for businesses that still haven’t optimised their site speed, security and responsiveness.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has already had a long history since its fairly recent inception. Throughout its time it has changed constantly – keeping businesses and marketers on their toes! A lot of this change has come off the back of Google and their ongoing Algorithm updates that happen nearly every day. While we could delve into the history of SEO that’s not what we’re here to do. We’re here to discuss whether it is still effective in 2019 and how you should be using it for your business.

Okay, so does it still work?

The phrase “SEO is dead” has travelled the community for a long time and it rears its head consistently after most large Google algorithm updates – causing panic and a lot of rash decisions being made. SEO is far from dead and yes it is still effective in 2019 however it continues to become more difficult and unpredictable. If done correctly, it is still a great investment for your business. So where should your SEO efforts be focused on this year?

Content

Content is a fundamental part of any SEO strategy. Whether that be in the form of blog articles, infographics, videos, whitepapers or something else – quality content engages your audience and will help to grow your traffic organically. Of course, it should be well researched and optimised which will assist in increasing its organic reach but most pieces of content need a little nudge. That’s where content promotion comes in. Promoting your content can be done in numerous ways including:

  • Sharing across Social Media
  • Internal linking
  • Paid promotion
  • Sending to your email database

Content promotion gets your content noticed and in front of the right audience. If you’ve produced a great piece, your audience is going to want to share and link to that content naturally which in turn will build your repertoire with Google and other big search engines.

Metadata

Title tags, meta descriptions etc. all fall under that category of metadata. Although this isn’t as important as it was a few years ago, optimising each page on your website can still boost your organic SEO as well as provide additional benefits. Let’s take a meta description for example. While this no longer provides any direct benefit to a pages search engine rank, it still provides an opportunity to persuade prospects to click through to your website.

URL Structure

The structure of your website not only has an effect on your organic search visibility but it’s equally important to your website experience. URL structure plays a big part in this. Your website URLs should be informative. This helps visitors and search engines to understand what the page is about instantly.

User Experience

The average time a visitor spends on your website shares a positive correlation with organic search rankings. With that being said, how do you get a visitor to spend more time on your website? First off, provide a fantastic user experience that is responsive, fluid and guides them every step of the way. Secondly, keep them captivated and engaged with exceptional content. One of the number one reasons for video content being so powerful is that it engages us like no other form of content can. It is proven that websites using video tend to experience a larger amount of time spent on their site per visitor.

Security

Your website’s security can alter your SEO performance and it can also have a negative influence on your website’s conversion rate. Many who see an unsecure site are likely to bounce immediately. Getting your website secure starts by making contact with your website hosting provider and asking them to install an SSL certificate. With most providers, you will have to pay for this. Once a certificate is installed and configured correctly your site should serve over HTTPS and show the secure symbol in the browser.

How WDA Can Revamp Your Business Marketing

WDA’s digital team are experienced in all aspects of digital marketing from SEO and PPC to Social Media and Email Marketing. We will work with you to create a business marketing strategy that’s unique to your business and will get results. We won’t just recommend SEO if we don’t feel like it aligns with your current business and marketing goals. On top of our digital marketing expertise, we are specialists in branding. Your brand is your biggest asset and often, giving a new lease of life to that, through a new brand positioning or visual identity is what will help your business stand out. For more details on how we can revamp your business marketing get in touch today by emailing anna@marketing.dev-wda.com or call us on 01332 372728.

WDA are never happier than when we’re immersed in a sea of web code, and this month we’re putting the final touches to our own site, which will replace the one you are viewing now very soon.

The re-build will bring the home of WDA fully in-line with our new brand visual identity, and has been created utilising a more flexible platform to allow us to better showcase our digital media work including motion graphics, video and animation. Social integration will also be much improved in this update.

Much like WDA’s ideas agency approach focusses on the message before media delivery, the new platform is designed to allow us to focus on rapid content creation and distribution, without technical factors getting in the way. Along with this increase in productivity, the site will be better optimised and have a more robust back end with better security and backups.

As we write, Ricardo and Kevin are refining a new intro animation sequence which we are creating to convey our ideas agency concept and explain our refreshingly different approach to brand marketing. The making of this sequence has also seen Patrick Chapman christen the new sound studio and make his debut as a voiceover artist!

For web, digital and motion graphics enquiries please email here.

WDA are pleased to announce the launch of Scorpion Exhausts all new website – the first key component of a planned extensive integrated marketing campaign which will start to roll out over coming months. The engaging new site marks the dawn of a new era for Scorpion who have a mission to re-establish the brand as a global leader in both 2 and 4 wheel categories within 5 years.

The new website has been re-built from the ground up, with design, copywriting, photography, coding, and search all completed by WDA. Packed with many exciting new products (including a whole new lineup of flagship ‘Red Power’ systems), the site has been designed to be simple to navigate with a nice clean interface in keeping with the new brand identity which was also created by WDA and revealed to the world last year.

The site has been created with future development and added content population very much in mind, and WDA plan to keep the site sticky by introducing a whole host of extra features and incentives over the coming months. Fans can already sign up to keep abreast of Scorpions various motorsport programs, and will soon be able to track their new mobile exhibition unit via the online calendar which will plot the movements of the new Scorpion roadshow, set to launch soon.

Connecting with customers

One of the most important aspects of the site was to convey to the customer what it means to own a Scorpion system. Positioning Scorpion in such a way that todays brand savvy riders and drivers could make an emotional connection was critical in re-igniting demand for the products. Adding the ‘brand’ page allowed us to directly communicate all that Scorpion ownership stands for; additionally we re-defined all the product categories so that customers understood individual range benefits and differences to make purchase decisions as clear and easy as possible.

Visit Scorpions new website www.scorpion-exhausts.com

Read more about the Scorpion rebrand here

At WDA we’re not known for clinging to history. Which is a good thing as todays digital media landscape is changing daily, which means WDA is constantly changing to ensure we always deliver our clients ‘Big Ideas’ through the most effective channels. And since most of WDAs creative thinking now finds its way online, an update of our website was timely.

It’s all part of a recent brand review where we took a long, honest look at what we do, what we’re good at and where our clients need us to go next.

Whilst the results lead us to a process which is visually more evolution than revolution; the refresh hopefully builds on our existing reputation and makes WDA even more relevant to our clients needs.

The new website has been designed around the visitor with the objective being to give a broad overview of WDA as quickly as possible. As such we have been quite ruthless in pruning back the content!

Search was a major consideration so an overhaul of the SEO was also carried out, and we took the decision to move any work examples onto the new blog for speed of update to keep content fresh.

We have also added in new service offerings (and a link to our new portfolio) which expands upon our online work including social media, viral video and email marketing.

The website also introduces WDA’s unique ROI (return on idea) process which revolves around our ongoing commitment to accountability and return on investment.

In addition WDA’s brand management wheel is also published which illustrates our Ideas based marketing philosophy which ensures creativity is at the heart of everything we do but fully supported by sound strategy and methodology.

Why not click here to take a look and see what WDA could potentially deliver for you.