Google Search Console removes sitelinks demotion feature

After 9 years, Google has decided to drop the Sitelinks demotion feature from the Google Search Console. The post Google Search Console removes sitelinks demotion feature appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

from Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing http://ift.tt/2dP5EWU

Google says Penguin 4.0 roll out now complete

If you haven't seen a Google Penguin recovery by now, you may still need to do some link clean up. Google Penguin 4.0 is now fully rolled out. The post Google says Penguin 4.0 roll out now complete appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

from Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing http://ift.tt/2dyA9uw

Why Didn't You Recover from Penguin?

Posted by Dr-Pete

After almost a two-year wait, the latest Penguin update rolled out in late September and into early October. This roll-out is unusual in many ways, and it only now seems to be settling down. In the past couple of weeks, we've seen many reports of recoveries from previous Penguin demotions, but this post is about those who were left behind. What if you didn't recover from Penguin?

I'm going to work my way from unlikely, borderline conspiracy theories to difficult truths. Theories #1 and #2 might make you feel better, but, unfortunately, the truth is more likely in #4 or #5.

---

1. There is no Penguin

Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. Ok, this is the closest I'll get to full-on conspiracy theory. What if this new Penguin is a ruse, and Google did nothing or rolled out something else? We can't know anything 100% without peering into the source code, but I'm 99% confident this isn't the case. Interpreting Google often means reading between the lines, but I don't know of any recent confirmed announcement that ended up being patently false.

Google representatives are confirming details about the new Penguin both publicly and privately, and algorithm flux matches the general timeline. Perhaps more importantly, we're seeing many anecdotal reports of Penguin recoveries, such as:

Given the severity of Penguin demotions and the known and infrequent update timelines, these reports are unlikely to be coincidences. Some of these reports are also coming from reliable sources, like Marie Haynes (above) and Glenn Gabe (below), who closely track sites hit by Penguin.

---

2. Penguin is still rolling out

This Penguin update has been unusual in many ways. It's probably best not to even call it "Penguin 4.0" (yes, I realize I keep calling it that). The new, "real-time" Penguin is not simply an update to Penguins 1–3. It replaces them and works very differently.

Because real-time Penguin is so different, the roll-out was broken up into a couple of phases. I believe that the new code went live in roughly the timeline of Google's announcement date of September 23rd. It might have happened a day or two before that, but probably not weeks before. This new code, though, was the kinder, gentler Penguin, which devalues bad links.

For this new code to fully take effect, the entire link graph had to be refreshed, and this takes time, especially for deeper links. So, the impact of the initial roll-out may have taken a few days to fully kick in. In terms of algorithm flux, the brunt of the initial release hit MozCast around September 27th. Now that the new Penguin is real-time, we'll be feeling its impact continuously, although that impact will be unnoticeable for the vast majority of sites on the vast majority of days.

In addition, Google has rolled back previous Penguin demotions. This happened after the new code launched, but we don't have an exact timeline. This process also took days, possibly a week or more. We saw additional algorithm spikes around October 2nd and 6th, although the entire period showed sustained flux.

On October 7th, Gary Illyes from Google said that the Penguin roll-out was in the "final stage" (presumably, the removal of demotions) and would take a "few more days". As of this writing, it's been five more days.

My best guess is that 95%+ of previous Penguin demotions have been removed at this point. There's a chance you're in the lucky 5% remaining, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

---

3. You didn't cut nearly deep enough

During the few previous Penguin updates, it was assumed that sites didn't recover because they simply hadn't cut deep enough. In other words, site owners and SEOs had tried to surgically remove or disavow a limited number of bad links, but those links were either not the suspect links or were just the tip of the iceberg.

I think it's true that many people were probably trying to keep as many links as possible, and were hesitant to make the deep cuts Penguin required. However, this entire argument is misleading and possibly self-destructive, because this isn't how the new Penguin works.

Theoretically, the new Penguin should only devalue bad links, and its impact will be felt on a more "granular" (in Google's own words) level. In other words, your entire site won't be demoted because of a few or even a lot of bad links, at least not by Penguin. Should you continue to clean up your link profile? Possibly. Will cutting deeper help you recover from Penguin down the road? Probably not.

---

4. Without bad links, you'd have no links at all

Here's the more likely problem, and it's a cousin of #3. Your link profile is so bad that there is practically no difference between "demotion" and "devaluation." It's quite possible that your past Penguin demotion was lifted, but your links were so heavily devalued that you saw no ranking recovery. There was simply no link equity left to provide SEO benefit.

In this case, continuing to prune those bad links isn't going to help you. You need to build new quality signals and authoritative links. The good news is that you shouldn't have to wait months or years now to see the positive impact of new links. The bad news is that building high-quality links is a long, difficult road. If it were easy, you probably wouldn't have taken shortcuts in the first place.

---

5. Your problem was never Penguin

This is the explanation no one wants to hear, but I think it's more common than most of us think. We're obsessed with the confirmed update animals, especially Penguin and Panda, but these are only a few of the hundreds of animals in the Google Zoo.

There were algorithmic link demotions before Penguin, and there are still parts of the algorithm that look for and act on bad links. Given the power that links still hold over ranking, this should come as no surprise. The new Penguin isn't a free pass on all past link-building sins.

In addition, there are still manual actions. These should (hopefully) show up in Google Search Console, but Google will act on bad links manually where it's warranted.

It's also possible that you have a very different algorithmic problem in play or any of a number of technical SEO issues. That diagnostic is well beyond the scope of this blog post, but I'll offer this advice — dig deeper. If you haven't recovered from Penguin, maybe you've got different or bigger problems.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from Moz Blog http://ift.tt/2dMu1Rk

What did you learn at Pubcon to help your SEO?

from Google SEO News and Discussion WebmasterWorld http://ift.tt/2dMREgk

SearchCap: Attribution modeling, AdWords Budgets & personalizing local content

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: Attribution modeling, AdWords Budgets & personalizing local content appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

from Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing http://ift.tt/2esLf8t

Does Google Penalize Webmasters?

from Google SEO News and Discussion WebmasterWorld http://ift.tt/2dL8057

3 New Upgrades Make the Web's Best Keyword Research Tool Even Better

Posted by randfish

If you know me, you know I'm hyper-critical of the software, data, and products Moz releases. My usual response to someone asking about our tools vs. others used to be to give a rundown of the things I like about the competition and why they're great, then look down at ground, shuffle my feet in embarrassment, and say "and Moz also has a good tool for that."

But Keyword Explorer (and the progress Moz Pro & Local have made this year) brings out a different behavior in me. I'm still a little embarrassed to admit it, but admit it I must. KW Explorer is the best keyword research tool in the market, period*.

But we are never satisfied, so today, it's getting even better with the addition of some killer new functionality.

#1: Rank checking inside KW Explorer lists

First on the list is the ability to easily see whether a given domain (or URL) already ranks on page 1 for any of the keywords on a list. Just enter a domain or page, hit "check rankings," and the Rank column will fill in with your data.

Why is this crucial?

Because many of us who do keyword research need to know whether to add a list of keywords to our "already visible/getting traffic" set, or to the "in need of content creation or optimization" set. This feature makes it simple to build up a multi-hundred keyword list for targeting, and quickly include or exclude the keywords for which we're already ranking page 1 (or above/below any given position). This column now appears in the CSV export, too, so you can mash up and filter the data however you'd like.

Quick aside: If you have a keyword list with expired SERPs (after 14 days, KW Explorer assumes that Google's results may have changed substantially enough to invalidate the prior Difficulty & Opportunity scores), you'll get this experience when checking rankings. Just refresh the keywords on the list to fetch the latest SERPs and you'll be good to go.

But, of course, there's also the need to get more ranking data — the ranking positions beyond page 1, tracking over time, comparison to competitors, etc. And that's why, we've also added...

#2: Send keywords directly from a list to Pro Campaigns for rank tracking

Undoubtedly, our most-requested feature of the summer was the ability to import a list (or selected keywords from a list) over to a campaign to track. The previous export/import system worked, but it was an unnecessary hassle. Today, you can simply use the "I want to" menu, choose "Add XYZ to Campaign," and then select which campaign you want (or create a new one).

The keywords will auto-magically copy themselves into your campaign, using whatever default settings you've got for rank tracking (US-English, Google.com is most common, but you can rank track in any country or language).

Why is this crucial?

Because once you know the keywords you're targeting, you need to know how you're performing over time, how your competition's doing on those terms/phrases, and how the rankings are changing to include or exclude various SERP features (yup, as of August, we also track all the SERP features in Pro Campaigns).

The challenge, of course, is that you've got to know which keywords are worth targeting in the first place, and how relatively important they are, which is why we've worked like mad to deliver...

#3: Better, more accurate keyword volume and coverage than ever

(that's way, way frickin' better than whatever Google AdWords is doing with their "low spending" accounts)

Russ Jones and the Keyword Explorer team have been going full-force on a new, more powerful solution to replacing Google AdWords's weird, imprecise, always-30-days-or-more-behind keyword data with better information. We started working with clickstream data (searches and click patterns gathered from browser extensions, anonymized, and sold to us by various folks) early this year; Russ wrote a detailed account of the process here.

But now our volume numbers are even better, with the addition of dramatically more data via a partnership with the awesome crew at Jumpshot. Their clickstream-based search behavior, plus what we get from other sources, combined with our modeling against AdWords' impression counts on real campaigns, gives us higher accuracy, more coverage, and faster recognition of volume trends than ever before.

Why is this crucial?

When you enter a term or phrase into Keyword Explorer, you can now expect that we're providing the best, most accurate volume ranges available*. Marketers need to be able to trust the numbers in their keyword tools, or else risk prioritizing the wrong search terms, the wrong content, and the wrong investments. We have confidence, thanks to our test comparisons, that the volume ranges you see in KW Explorer's ranges will match real volume for the prior 30 days 95%+ of the time.

In the months ahead, Russ will have more to share comparing Moz's keyword volume data to AdWords' and, hopefully, an external API for search volume, too (especially after all the resounding requests on Twitter).

If that wasn't enough, we've also added volume numbers to Pro Campaigns, so you can see this high-quality information in the context of the keywords you're tracking.

Not too shabby, eh?

---

Let's get real. Moz had a number of years where getting one change to one product, even a small one, felt like pulling teeth. It took forever. I think you could rightly point at our software and say "What's going on over there?" But those days are long gone. Just look at all the useful, quality updates in 2016. This team is firing. on. every. cylinder. If you work on Moz's software, you should be proud. If you use our software, you can feel like you're getting your money's worth and more. And if, like me, you tie far too much of your self-worth to the quality of your company's products, well, even you can start holding your head high.

Rock on, fellow Mozzers and Moz subscribers. Rock on.

---

* In the English-language market, that is; outside of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia (where we get Jumpshot and other clickstream data), the suggestions aren't as comprehensive and the volume numbers are often missing. Sadly, it'll probably be this way for a while as we're focusing on English markets for the time being, and will need to find and make deals with clickstream providers in each country/language in order to match up.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from Moz Blog http://ift.tt/2e9uIn1