Tuesday, February 28, 2023

This day in search marketing history: March 1

Google publishes Search quality rating guidelines

In 2013, Google published Its Search Quality Rating Guidelines.

Previous versions of the document had been leaked many times prior to this. But this was the first time Google went public with its document.

It detailed how Google’s search quality raters – people hired through a third-party agency to rate the search results – graded Google’s search results.

This document actually just a heavily edited version of an older leaked version. It went from 161 pages to 43.

What was missing? Of note, The Page Quality Rating Guidelines and Rating Examples. We detailed what else changed in Google Gutted Its Search Quality Rating Guidelines For Public Release.

This was released as part of Google’s larger How Search Works interactive resource, which provided a high level overview of how crawling, indexing and algorithms worked. Google also

Also on this day

Google URL inspection tool bug leading to errors for some

2022: Google confirmed there was an “increase in errors when inspecting URLs” and was working on fixing the issue.

Google removed App campaign placement data from Ads and AdWords API reports

2022: Google: “We made this change because the data provided didn’t fully represent the complete view of the placements that help developers monitor brand safety for their advertisers.”

Microsoft Advertising extends Shopping campaigns to more markets

2022: The company also announced the global availability of its Marketing with Purpose attributes, a pilot for multi-asset Audience Ads and greater support for Google Import.

TikTok videos can now be 10 minutes

2022: The maximum video length on TikTok increased to 10 minutes following months of testing.

Ginny Marvin joins Google as its new Ads Product Liaison

2021: In her new role, the veteran PPC journalist and former Third Door Media editor-in-chief would be helping marketers learn about Google Ads’ products and policies.

Video: Steve Marin on content, SEO and using data as backup

2021: Also discussed: ego ranking, how to help your clients write content and much more.

Botify founder: Half of enterprise pages not being crawled by search engines

2019: The company hoped the $20 million it picked up in series B would bolster its platform to tackle the “complex” SEO climate.

AMP user experience updates include video, lists, more

2019: A recap of some new capabilities rolled out by The Accelerated Mobile Project.

Google’s antitrust infringement continues ‘unabated’, Google Shopping competitors tell European Commission

2018: Four months in, 19 rivals said too little had changed.

Bing Ads launches ‘fan’ community program for its most dedicated advertisers

2018: Users could apply to join the new advisory program to help advance the platform.

AdWords Price Extensions now live on all devices

2017: Advertisers could show prices for types of products and services in text ad extensions on desktop as well as mobile.

Bing Ads Editor for Mac is now available to everyone

2017: The highly requested desktop tool is now out of beta.

Latest AdWords Editor Update Supports Callout Extensions, Video Campaigns, HTML5 Ads

2016: Version 11.3 of AdWords Editor was now available.

Google Takes Action On 65% Of User-Generated Spam Reports

2016: Google took action on 65% of the 35,000 user-generated spam reports submitted to Google monthly, according to Juan Felipe Rincon from Google speaking at SMX West.

The Associated Press Partners With Google & Twitter To Track 2016 Election Trends

2016: The AP Election Buzz tool tracked 2016 election-related search volume and tweets.

Bing Adds Interactive Solar System To Search Results

2016: Searching for [Solar System] on Bing would return a cool interactive solar system map.

Google Avoids Link Tax But Vague “Ancillary Copyright” Law Sets Up Future Legal Battle

2013: There remains ambiguity about exactly how much can be excerpted without a content license.

Yahoo Clues, App Search & Other Products To Shut Down April 1

2013: Yahoo Clues provided a snapshot of keyword searches over time, plus great demographic information about keyword preferences between male and female, different age groups and by location.

Search In Pics: Google Cubatron, Sleeping Dog & Robbie The Robot

2013: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Google Is Watching You (Or Not): New Privacy Policy Takes Effect Today

2012: Google said the new policy would simplify privacy across Google’s many properties and make it possible for the company to build a range of new products and services for consumers.

Bing Testing New, Google-y Local Search Results

2012: A new display for local search results looked quite a bit like what Google often showed.

Google Adds More Trike Views To Google Maps Street Views

2011: Google Bikes pedaled around the world capturing pictures of streets where cars could not venture. 

Google Doesn’t Sign Up As Facebook Ad Provider

2011: Facebook developers weren’t allowed to monetize their apps with ads from Google AdWords.

Bing Shopping Incorporates Natural Language Search

2011: Microsoft announced the ability to recognize price constraints, describing the innovation as “a small step in our journey to make search friendlier to natural language queries.”

Comments Made On Facebook To Appear On Sites

2011: Facebook announced changes to its Comment Box widget to keep at least some of the comments next to the original content.

On Twitter, Oscar Comes Up Short Against Super Bowl

2011: Twitter said its users sent a total of 36.4 million tweets in a five-hour span beginning with the Oscars pre-show and continuing through the end of the show.

DuckDuckGo Adds Yelp, The Free Dictionary To Search Results

2011: DuckDuckGo added two new content providers to its “zero-click” search results: local business listings from Yelp and definitions from The Free Dictionary.

Yelp: Google Told Us “Our Way Or The Highway”

2011: Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman: “Google’s position is that we can take ourselves out of its search index if we don’t want them to use our reviews on Places…. But that is not an option for us.”

Hello Chomp, Goodbye Android Market

2011: iPhone “app search engine” Chomp introduced a version for Android to help address the “problem of app discovery.”

Google To Increase Abuse Alerts To Webmasters

2010: With website hacking and other forms of abuse on the rise, Google announced plans to step up the notifications it sent to webmasters when the company found these problems.

Google Adds Flickr, Picasa Photos To Street View

2010: The integration worked the same way it had since February 2009. When images were available, a small box labeled “User Photos” would appear in the upper right of the Street View interface.

Is Google’s Street View Trike Headed Your Way?

2010: Google announced the winners of its Street View Trike suggestions contest.

Bing Adds Search History To Auto-Suggest

2010: Bing said that “44% of non-navigational search sessions last longer than 1 week.”

Happy Birthday, Yahoo: 15 Years Old Today

2010: Yahoo celebrated its 15th birthday, in honor of the company’s incorporation.

Pew: Portals Most Commonly Used News Sites

2010: “Portal websites like Google News, AOL and Topix are the most commonly used online news sources, visited by over half of online news users on a typical day.”

My Friendly Meet Up With Google Israel

2009: Barry Schwartz recaps his meeting with the Google Israel team in their Tel Aviv office.

What France Can Teach Us About Search Success

2009: Ville d’Eu (more commonly known as simply “EU”) was thinking of changing its name in order to rank more easily in Google.

Microsoft Live Search Tests: Best Match And Categorized Listings

2009: Microsoft Live Search appeared to be flighting a new instant answer called “Best Match” that highlighted what presumably Microsoft found to be ideal result for the query.

Google: Click Fraud Is 0.02% Of Clicks

2007: How Google came up with the figure plus some click fraud fighting initiatives it planned to implement.

Google Releases 2006 Annual Report & Google Subsidiaries

2007: With financials for the year, a list of all of the company’s subsidiaries, as well as details of Google’s merger agreement with radio advertising placement firm dMarc.

Hard Data On Yahoo Panama From Avenue A | Razorfish

2007: Search Impressions were up an average of 5%; Cost Per Click was down an average of 6%.

Citysearch Buys InsiderPages

2007: Insider Pages was a reviews-based local search company.

Outside.in: Building The ‘Hyper-Local’ Internet

2007: It appeared Outside.in was automating the process of collecting content from various sources. It also relied on tagging and user submission for content discovery and organization.

Danny Sullivan’s Ad Age Column & Fast Company Debate

2007: On what makes search magical, why a new Google isn’t likely and debating whether Google is overrated.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

< February 29 | Search Marketing History | March 2 >

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Last call for Google Ads API v11

Starting from March 29, 2023, the Google Ads API v11 will no longer be available. Developers still using v11 after this date will notice API requests failing.

Depreciation and sunset timetable. Typically, major versions are supported for approximately 12 months, while minor versions have a support lifespan of 10 months.

Migrate asap. To migrate to the newest version, visit the Google Ads API documentation here.

Dig deeper. Read the announcement from Google here.

Why we care. New API updates directly affect the functionality and performance of advertising campaigns. Once a version is sunset, all API requests using that version will fail, potentially causing disruptions to campaign management and optimization. By staying up-to-date with the latest version of the API, advertisers and developers can access new features and improvements, ensuring your campaigns are running efficiently and effectively.

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AI can’t write this: 10 ways to AI-proof your content for years to come

Don’t get it twisted. The machines are taking over.

It’s only a matter of time until we’re all serving aluminum overlords’ every beck and call.

Fortunately for all of us simple humans, that day is not today.

Despite being a regurgitating raconteur, AI is still a glorified mansplainer – like the Wizard of Oz, minus the fancy haberdashery.

It kinda sucks at basic math. 

It can’t wrap its dumb little head around anything subjective.

It’s eye-wateringly expensive to run. Orders of magnitude more than Google Search. As if that weren’t bad enough, AI content also makes a mockery of E-E-A-T. 

And its source material is probably (definitely) stolen, infringing on others’ copyrights and fair use intellectual property rights.

Promising? Sure. Ready for prime time? Not quite. 

So don’t fire your whole writing team just yet (unless they already sucked to begin with).

There are still a few things AI can’t do and won’t be able to do for years to come.

1. Google has already been disrupting top-of-the funnel content for years 

Microsoft made waves with a massive $10 billion investment into OpenAI.

That’s a lot of cheddar. But there’s only one problem…

Nobody uses Bing.

Seriously, no matter how you slice or dice the data, they have less than 10% of the market to Google’s ~80-90%+. 

So will AI help? Sure. I mean, it can’t hurt! It was already a ghost town to begin with. 

I’m not (just) being flippant. I’m making a point. 

Google has already been disrupting SERPs – for years! – with a proliferation of featured snippet and knowledge graphs, and instant answers that give you exactly what you’re looking for… without requiring a single click.

That means U cAn GeT yUr DrInK oN without ever clicking on poor liquor.com below (and giving them some “ad cents.” (Get it?)

Google SERPs instant answers

2. Spend more time on MOFU and BOFU content (i.e., the less disruptable stuff)

Despite Google SERPs + AI already cannibalizing your top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content, it’s less destructive for middle or bottom-of-the-funnel (MOFU/BOFU) stuff.

You know, the kind that actually compels people to do something – click, opt-in, add to cart, start a trial, create an account, or just hit the Buy button. 

Content funnel stages

AI content will be similar for the foreseeable time, because the underlying technology relies exclusively on pretrained models.

It’s why machine can often beat Grand Masters at chess. They can scan and store information (read: patterns and moves) and then make decisions based on that data faster.

Like “garbage in, garbage out,” it associates data points that often show up together, then spits it back out again when called upon – without actually understanding what it’s saying. 

So while AI content can do a passable job at a simple, black-and-white query like “What is Advil?” and similar, it’s less useful for figuring out if you need Advil or if you should go to the ER.  

Which brings us to the next subplot:

AI content is notoriously wrong. Not, like, some of the time – but, like, all of the time.

3. Great content is often written by subject-matter experts, with quotes and nuance to add color to a topic or angle 

The world we live in is not black and white. It’s all shades of kinky, messy, sweaty grey.

That’s also why the best content is done by or with subject-matter experts.

‘Cause said experts rely on primary research and verifiable facts or stats vs. baseless claims to properly prepare persuasive points.

That’s not what you get with AI content.

Plus, it’s easy to spot, like the nerdiest game of whack a mole. A new version of ChatGPT is released, a few weeks later, Turnitin can spot it with 97% accuracy.

Take even the title of this article. It was initially going to be a straightforward “how-to,” but I knew turning it into a Top 10 listicle would get more attention. 

Knowledge of the audience should even inform the content structure.

But that isn’t all.

The very definition of “content” continues to evolve as more and more stuff shows up in today’s SERPs.

4. Better structure content types around the Query + SERP layout

Google “HubSpot tutorial” and here’s what you won’t see first:

  • PPC Ads.
  • HubSpot.com.
  • People Also Ask questions.
  • Traditional organic listings.
  • Knowledge Graph.

Give up?

Hubspot tutorial - Google SERPs

Videos!

C’mon, OpenAI. Where’s your vlogging game at?

This is a perfect segue (if I do say so myself) because the one thing that video often has over plain text is personality. 

The delivery of the content in video is arguably just as (if not more) important than the actual content.

But. That shouldn’t necessarily be the case.

It just is. Because most writing on the web suuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkssss.

Take the obnoxious-as-hell introduction of this article. 

I’ve worked with hundreds of brands in the past decade. And I can only count on one hand the number that would let us usually get away with something like that.

Most want to play it safe. Water it down. Make it more generic. Make sure the Oxford comma is just so. 

You know, because customers really care how you format em dashes. (Wait. No, they don’t.)

Get 10+ writers to drone on and on and on like the same nameless, faceless, Company, Inc. that’s been the content strategy over the past few years.

Yet, over the next few, it will die an excruciatingly-violent, Squid Games-esque death. 

‘Cause AI content is already the faceless master of the universe.

5. Think more recurring columns from individuals with personalities vs. lots of generic writing that all sounds the same 

Cue Bourdain. 

God, I love him. And miss him. Because he would drop bombs on the regular like so:

“If you are easily offended by direct aspersions on your lineage, the circumstances of your birth, your sexuality, your appearance, the mention of your parents possibly commingling with livestock, then the world of professional cooking is not for you.”

From the thought-provoking:

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life—and travel—leaves marks on you.”

To simple quips:

“When dealing with complex transportation issues, the best thing to do is pull up with a cold beer and let somebody else figure it out.”

What do you call that? Journalism? Satire?

No clue. I just call it endlessly readable. Can’t-take-my-eyes-off-it watchable. Literally-LOL listenable. 

AI can’t do that. Because AI ain’t got no soul.

It can’t make counterunitive arguments. It can’t weave a narrative that builds on itself. 

Not yet, anyway. And not over the next few years at this rate, either.

Those things are self-referential. They build arguments with one brick after another, which requires leaps in logic. 

Or they’re completely counter to what “most” acceptable norms might suggest on a particular topic or category. 

Remember: garbage in and garbage out. AI can’t process nuance like this yet.

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6. Mixed media increases persuasion, consumption and even memory recall

When people say "content," their minds drift to "text."

But the lines between content types have already evolved. And for a good reason. 

Imagery is proven to increase memory recall. Meanwhile, scanning and skimming is the new reading. 

That's why showing people what something looks like will always, unarguably, be better than walls of text.

You might as well be dropping 300 words of Lorem Ipsum when an image comes into view, like so:

Wall of text vs imagery

Mixed media helps break up content, actually encouraging more scanning and scrolling, which your crack fiend-like audience is already accustomed to online. 

This should include everything from:

  • Featured images.
  • Charts and graphs.
  • Visualizing a process or explanation.
  • CTAs.
  • Even graphics that could be repurposed for social channels, video thumbnails, and more.

And it means anytime you explain some visual process, show it!

It's better to show people exactly how to "add a strikethrough in Google Docs," as an example, than to ramble on and on and on and bury the good stuff in walls of text around it.

Show people how to add a strikethrough in Google Docs

7. Create long, in-depth content that can easily be repurposed into more audio and visual mediums

You don't need another statistic to explain video's importance to marketing. No one does.

So let's skip the foreplay and focus on the important point:

The very same long, in-depth, nuanced, interesting content that AI can't do also lends itself really well to another human-friendly element: audio and video.

A basic element is to take in-depth content and create audio summaries. Or, simply include thematically related discussion-style podcasts into related articles. The Economist does both.

But you can and should do the same with video, especially as YouTube continues to eat away at traditional television + streaming time while also eating away at organic SERP placements, too. (See point #4 above.)

So take your top content, or most competitive "head" terms, and create everything from product-focused walkthroughs to in-depth reviews or even motion graphics. 

Just remember that we're shooting for what AI can't do = which often means more human inclusion with some talking-head elements, too. 

Video example with talking head

8. Illustrate stories with interactive content and data visualization

The theme over the last few tips here is to focus less on the actual content itself and more on how you deliver it.

Specifically, make it more interactive so it is easier to grasp and more interesting to focus on for a few minutes.

Data visualization is the natural extension, then. Again, take a cue from top publishers like The Economist, which has recently been churning out interactive content pieces like this overview of worldwide weather systems.

The Economist - visualization example

9. Lean into nuance and subjectivity by comparing alternative solutions for different audiences 

AI doesn't waffle. It can't, by definition. It's programmed to spit out facts like that supremely-annoying know-it-all in your office. (Err, Slack Watercooler.)

The good news is that this dovetails nicely with the fact that online audiences are also becoming savvier. Meaning: if you just spew BS, they'll see right through it.

Nowhere is this clearer than affiliate-related SERPs. Sure, you can still pull the wool of the eyes of rubes in the "make money online" space. 

But generally speaking, people are smart enough to know that there is no #1 right answer 100% of the time.

Instead, you often compare different options for different people based on a wide range of factors.

For instance, what's the best dive watch you can buy right now? 

The answer is entirely dependent on budget! 

What's "nice" at $100 isn't at $1,000, $10,000, or even $100,000. (Much to my bank account + wife's chagrin.)

But the point is that you can and should lean more into subject-style content.

At the very least, take a more balanced and nuanced approach to the kind of searches that might realistically work for multiple parties.

Once again, you can up the ante here by using better design, presentation, and even development to highlight these subjective differences clearly.

Think: comparison charts and graphics. Showcase pros vs. cons or which alternative is better depending on their budget, goals, and preferences.

Example comparison charts and graphics

10. Demonstrate how things works, not just what they're capable of

You should always strive to go the extra mile.

Sounds trite. But it's true.

If the competing content has zero images, you should have five. If they have 10 stock images, you should have 10 custom ones.

Your content will need a competitive "moat," made up of all these elements we're talking about today, to "future-proof" your content as much as possible. 

My last favorite example includes calculators, tools, quizzes, and other embeddable elements. 

Let's literally and figuratively go that extra mile now. Say you have two ways of determining your expected finish time in a marathon.

You can:

  • Painstakingly look up your mile time on the leftmost column of a huge chart, using both fingers to draw lines between that and your distance time… 
Marathon finish time - table
  • Or, you could punch in two numbers and get an instant answer:
Marathon finish time - calculator

(Hmmm. That latter example even kinda sounds like what AI is doing, anyway? 🤔)

Remember that "content" doesn't always mean "text."

Yes. You will often need text to start. A script is the nucleus of a video. 

But the actual presentation, format, delivery, or interaction will continue to matter more and more over the next decade.

Double down on what AI can't do

The cat is out of the bag.

AI will only continue getting better and better and better.

Pretty soon, we'll have no choice but to build digital pyramids in the metaverse in its honor.

Thankfully, that day isn't today. Or tomorrow. Probably not five years from now, either.

AI can do lots of things better than you and me. However, it's embarrassingly bad at a slew of things.

Compete on those latter things. On the things that aren't easily reproducible and aren't likely to change anytime soon. Especially the human bits that are already hardwired into our internal hard drives.

Machines might be able to beat you at chess. But they won't ever at intangibles like instincts or intuition.

Or any other "i" word to complete the cheap alliteration joke that confirms there's a living, breathing human typing this after all.

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3 ways Google ensures safe online shopping

As an advertiser or SEO professional, it’s essential to recognize that with the growing popularity of online shopping, customers’ safety and security have become a top priority for e-commerce platforms. In response to this, Google has implemented three ways to help customers shop safely and ensure that merchants’ stores meet these standards.

  1. Vetting stores through automation
  2. Store badges
  3. Automated and human merchant and listing reviews

Automatically vetting product merchants. Before a product or merchant can list on Google, they must undergo a thorough safety review to ensure they meet standards. With the help of the Shopping Graph, a vast database of products and sellers, the systems can quickly evaluate the legitimacy of a business, ensure that the product information is accurate, and verify that the content adheres to Google policies.

These policies cover all products displayed in shopping results, including those obtained from web crawling. By following these policies, Google will ensure that the products you see meet standards and that you won’t come across items that violate the rules, such as violent weapons, merchants misrepresenting their businesses, or hateful content.

In January alone, Google prevented about 100 million product offers from being displayed and rejected nearly 300,000 accounts for quality issues or policy violations.

Store badges. Google offers store badges to businesses that are known to provide a positive shopping experience. The badges are awarded to stores that meet criteria for fast shipping, easy returns, high-quality websites, and excellent user ratings.

Google also displays ratings for both products and their various sellers, allowing you to learn from other shoppers’ experiences with those products and businesses. Additionally, the product listings link you directly to the merchant’s website, providing you with the opportunity to conduct further research about the store and its policies. This is so you can make informed decisions about your purchases and ensures that you are shopping with confidence.

Automated and human reviews for merchants and listings.

“Our automated systems are always monitoring for violating activity, and our team of human reviewers is on standby to review issues that might need a more nuanced perspective.” 

Google

Once merchants have been onboarded, Google will continue to monitor listings to ensure that nothing has changed in a suspicious or problematic manner since their initial inclusion on Google. For example, if a merchant met country-specific requirements for selling alcohol during onboarding, they periodically verify that those qualifications are still being met.

Google will also take various actions when they detect suspicious behavior, including removing suspicious listings that violate policies or banning a merchant from listing on Google.

Why we care. These efforts can directly impact advertisers ability to reach potential customers through Google’s advertising platforms and search results.

When customers feel secure shopping on Google, they are more likely to make purchases and interact with the merchants and products advertised on the platform. Advertisers and SEOs can take advantage of this trust by ensuring that their advertising and product listings meet Google’s policies and requirements. By adhering to these standards, they can earn store badges, improve their visibility, and increase the chances of attracting new customers.

By complying with Google’s policies and guidelines, advertisers and SEOs can avoid having their products or listings removed or being banned from the platform altogether. This would undoubtedly harm their ability to reach customers and affect their overall business goals. Therefore, it is essential for advertisers and SEOs to stay up-to-date with Google’s policies and make sure that their advertising and listings adhere to these standards.

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Microsoft Bing Chat launches quality improvements

Microsoft released version 96 of the Bing AI chat feature earlier this morning. This new update brings quality improvements such as a higher response rate to chats and also fewer “hallucinations,” Mikhail Parakhin, the CEO of Bing, wrote on Twitter.

What is new. Mikhail said the two main improvements to Bing AI chat include:

  • Significant reduction in cases where Bing refuses to reply for no apparent reason
  • Reduction of instances of hallucination in answers

Here are those tweets:

As a reminder, Microsoft had to limit the number of chats due to these issues.

Tone not live. Yesterday, Mike Davidson, Corporate Vice President, Design & Research at Microsoft, on Twitter said the ability to pick a tone for Bing Chat was live for some, but Mikhail said not just yet. It might launch in the coming days, he said.

Why we care. Again, it’s fascinating to follow all these rapid changes from Microsoft on its new Bing AI Chat. Keeping an eye on what Microsoft is doing to improve the quality of the results, how it responds to criticism, and more is something that is not just fun and exciting to stay on top of, but may teach us about how we can leverage these features to garner more traffic to our sites.

I wonder if anyone will pick up on these quality improvements but the speed of these updates to Bing Chat is so much fun to see.

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Case study: How to get rid of a negative ‘People also ask’ result

Managing online reputation can be challenging. You must keep up with Google’s ever-changing algorithms and rich results, including the People also ask box. 

Also known as PAA, this Google SERP feature plays a significant role in a brand’s online reputation. A potential client’s first impression of your company can be easily swayed based on the sentiment of the questions and answers presented by the PAA. 

Over the last year, my team and I have been studying and testing newer methods of influencing the PAA snippet. We recently found success for a client in the educational services industry struggling with a negative People also ask question about one of their products. 

By experimenting with ORM and SEO tactics, we captured the negative PAA and had Google pull a new, positive answer from our client’s FAQ page. 

This article shares findings that can help other brands struggling with negative PAA results.

But first, let’s quickly review how Google’s People also ask feature can affect your online reputation.

What is Google’s People also ask?

People also ask is a dynamic feature in the Google search results that provides additional information about a user’s initial query.

This Q&A style feature typically presents 2-4 additional queries. When clicked, an answer snippet will drop down, linking to the webpage from which Google pulled that answer. 

An example of a "People also ask" box on Google's SERPs
An example of a People also ask box on Google’s SERPs
A "People also ask" question when clicked
A People also ask question when clicked

Typically, Google will highlight the most salient information of the snippet in bold text, as shown above. 

While Google has not explicitly revealed which factors the algorithm uses for the PAA, we suspect they are similar to its search ranking factors, which include relevance, freshness, quality, authoritativeness, and more.

Can People also ask affect my reputation?

Absolutely.

The PAA typically ranks within the top 2-5 results on Page 1 of Google’s SERPs, which means there is a high likelihood that a user researching your company will see it. 

Even with a great website and other high-ranking, positive content on the page, having a negative PAA can make or break your online reputation.

Take Frontier Airlines, for example. Their Page 1 search results appear positive in sentiment, featuring their website, social pages, and other owned content. However, their PAA tells a different story.

Frontier Airlines - People also ask box

PAA questions related to trustworthiness, ratings and frequent cancellations could quickly raise red flags to users researching the airline, causing them to question whether it is the best choice. 

Provocative questions like these are also more likely to capture the user’s attention. Curiosity will lead them to look at the answers.

Let’s look at “How is Frontier Airlines rated?”

PAA - How is Frontier Airlines rated

Having 2.5- and 2-star ratings is not good. Seeing numbers like these can cause the user to question the airline’s quality and safety.

Even if other review sites have higher ratings, this result can plant a seed of doubt in the user, and they may turn to one of Frontier’s competitors instead. 

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How do I get rid of a negative PAA result?

Many ORM and SEO tactics can be used to remedy negative PAA results.

Our current approach is to try and capture that negative PAA result by optimizing a piece of owned content for Google to pull its answer from, and replace the current negative-toned answer with a positive-toned one. 

What follows are the steps we took to help our client with their negative PAA result.

The problem

Our client struggled with their online reputation due to a negative PAA that repeatedly popped up just below their website when searching their main keyword. 

The PAA question itself was not inherently negative. However, Google pulled the answer from a negative blog post that spoke poorly about the client's product. 

This threatened our client's business, as users who saw this negative PAA might be turned away from our client's product or other services.

The approach

Our initial ORM strategy was to try and push out that negative PAA by promoting the positive PAAs, which ranked below it. 

This worked as a temporary fix. However, with Google's dynamic algorithm, we saw the negative PAA return. 

Realizing that this PAA was here to stay, our next move was to try to capture the PAA and replace the negative answer with a positive one linked to our client's website.

Content evaluation

We start by evaluating if the content we want Google to pull its answer from already exists. If not, we'll need to create that content piece and decide where and how it should be published. 

If the content exists but isn't currently being pulled in as the PAA answer, we'll audit the page and see where we can make optimizations and updates.

In our client's case, they already had an FAQ page on their website for us to work with. We chose the FAQ page because its structure matched the PAA question and answer format. 

Next, we'll look at the existing page content to see what optimizations are needed. Through researching other PAA questions and answers, we've noticed that the PAA answer quite often matches the wording of the PAA question. 

Consider this example:

PAA - ice cream

Above, you can see that the answer "Ice cream was invented by China" follows the same structure as the question "Where was ice cream first invented?" 

There are two key elements here:

  • The PAA asks for a location ("where") and the answer directly provides that information ("China"). 
  • Both the question and the answer use the main keywords "ice cream" and "invented" – and in the same order. 

Keep these points in mind when writing your content. It may help Googlebot when crawling your page to see the association between the page content and any relevant PAAs.

Page format and schema evaluation

Once we learned that the target page content should match the target PAA, we did an audit of our client's FAQ page and noticed discrepancies between the wording of the PAA question and the wording on the FAQ page. 

Our target PAA question read "When was [product] invented?" so we updated the title of our target Q&A section on the FAQ page to match the PAA question text. 

We also ensured that the title was an H3 instead of plain text so Google could better understand the hierarchy of the FAQ page content. 

Then, we updated the first sentence of the answer text to say, "[Product] was invented in 2011…"

This perfectly mirrored our target PAA question and gave us a higher chance of capturing it with our content. 

Since we updated text on the FAQ page, we wanted to evaluate the page code to check if any schema had been previously implemented or needed updating. 

For an FAQ page, we'd recommend implementing FAQPage type schema to the code and ensure that the text in the code exactly matches the text on the page. 

This prevents any confusion for crawlers and helps emphasize the reliability and quality of the content on your page. 

Luckily, our client had already implemented this schema type, so we just needed to update the schema text to match the new on-page text. 

Engagement and promotion strategies 

Lastly, we targeted the client's FAQ page with ORM tactics, including improvements in click-through rate (CTR), link building, and social sharing. Our goal was to send signals to Google and show that users are interested in the page, find the content valuable, and want to share the content with others.

When looking at CTR improvement for the FAQ page, you'll want to consider your query's monthly search volume (MSV) and the monthly CTR of your target URL.

Stay relative to the MSV and monthly CTR numbers, or else Google may see your engagement efforts as spammy, which can hurt your chances of ranking higher in the SERPs. 

CTR and MSV data can be found using tools like Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner.

Link building should also be intentional, as Google wants to see quality over quantity in backlinks. Find publishers and other third-party sites in the same field as the client, and work with them to write content that mentions the client, with the target keywords as the anchor text for the chosen links. 

In our client's case, we found ~8 publishers whose content focused on education and parenting topics. We provided them with the exact anchor tex and supplied the URLs we wanted them to use.

For our target URLs, we chose the FAQ page and the info page for the client's product mentioned in the PAA we are trying to capture. 

Many social sharing strategies can increase engagement to your target page. 

If your company has a connection to any influencers, you can send them the FAQ page and other target URLs and ask that they share them on their social media, along with relevant hashtags and keywords. 

You can also encourage friends, family members, and followers to share on their social media.

Be sure to avoid incentives with this tactic. You don't want to appear like you are "buying" shares. We're looking for genuine engagement here! 

Additionally, if the target URLs have a comment section or any other interactive feature, you can encourage your social media followers to leave comments or interact with the target page. 

We used several social sharing tactics for our client to help increase their FAQ page engagement.

The results

A few weeks after implementing these ORM and SEO tactics, the PAA question was updated to pull its answer from the exact section on our client's FAQ page. 

The PAA question and answer remain relatively consistent. We are continously targeting the FAQ page to solidify its spot in the PAA.

The post Case study: How to get rid of a negative ‘People also ask’ result appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Monday, February 27, 2023

This day in search marketing history: February 28

R.I.P., DMOZ

In 2017, DMOZ – The Open Directory Project that used human editors to organize websites — announced it was closing as of March 14.

By this time, DMOZ had been mostly forgotten as a resource. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that it took so long.

DMOZ was born in June 1998 as “GnuHoo,” then quickly changed to “NewHoo,” a rival to the Yahoo Directory at the time. It was acquired by Netscape in November 1998 and renamed the Netscape Open Directory. Later that month, AOL acquired Netscape, giving AOL control of The Open Directory.

Read all about it in RIP DMOZ: The Open Directory Project is closing.

Also on this day

New business openings nearly match pre-pandemic levels, Yelp says

2022: However, most major cities actually experienced a decrease in openings.

Etsy sellers to pay 30% higher transaction fees beginning in April

2022: A “considerable portion” of the revenue from the fee increase would be reinvested into the marketplace.

New Google Lighthouse extension for Firefox goes live

2020: Firefox had not yet reviewed the extension, so it got automatically categorized as “not a Recommended Extension.” 

Optimization scores, recommendations and their impact on Google Partner agencies

2020: Google said Partner agencies would continue to have “control and autonomy” as it put more emphasis on auto-generated recommendations.

Google’s new treatment of nofollow links has arrived

2020: Google was about to begin treating the nofollow link attribute as a hint, rather than a directive, for crawling and indexing.

Google experiments with public search profile cards

2020: Limited to India, the Google+-like feature gave personal brands and individuals some control over their own search results.

In feature battle with Google, Yelp improves restaurant waitlist functionality

2020: Yelp was rolling out its Notify Me feature, which supported Yelp Waitlist.

Google’s CTR answer just what you’d expect, and this is why SEOs go bananas

2019: Would Google give us a clear statement that outright said it does not currently use CTR directly in their core search ranking algorithm? Of course not.

Google opens complaint form to crack down on fake info in Maps

2019: Google launched the Business Redressal Complaint Form to allow searchers and users to report fraudulent activity relating to businesses Google Maps.

Amazon extends Sponsored Products to AmazonFresh for CPG brands

2019: Consumer packaged goods brands could extend their campaigns to their products sold in the AmazonFresh delivery program.

Multifaceted featured snippets begin rolling out in Google search results

2018: Multifaceted featured snippets would be surfaced for queries that were sufficiently broad enough to allow for more than one interpretation of what was submitted. 

Rand Fishkin leaves Moz, announces a new start-up

2018: After 17 years of working at the company he co-founded, Fishkin was starting a new company around influencer and audience intelligence.

Study: 11 voice search ranking factors analyzed

2018: 63.6% of voice search results didn’t use Schema at all. 

Google gives SEO tips on how to handle day-long site closures

2017: Tips from Google’s John Mueller on what to do if you needed to turn off your website for a period of time and worried your Google rankings will drop. 

After rare Google confirmation of on-site penalty, Natural News is back in Google’s index

2017: HealthNews.com confirmed being reincluded in the Google index after being deindexed last week.

Now Official: Google Adds Restaurant Menus To Search Results

2014: Google announced that it’s now showing restaurant menus as a OneBox-style answer at the top of its U.S. search results.

AdWords Mobile App Download Campaigns Get Deeper Reporting In Google Analytics

2014: New reports on mobile app campaign performance included day parts, destination URLs and keyword positions.

Tweet Showing How Google Itself Is A “Scraper Site” Goes Massively Viral

2014: Dan Barker did a search for [what is a scraper site], which brought up Google’s own web definition at the top of the results, which technically outranked the original source of the content.

New Bing Ads Editor Version Now Available

2014: New features included the ability to rename campaigns and ad groups in the Browser pane.

Search In Pics: Yahoo’s 19th Birthday Cake, Google Jugglers & Canadian KitKat Android Statue

2014: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Google Testing Android/Chromebook-Like Navigation Element For Web Site

2013: Google was testing another navigation method to find all the various Google services and products.

Facebook Shares How People Are Using Graph Search: Finding Friends Tops List

2013: Facebook suggested some ways to go beyond that, for those who had the new search feature.

Bing Maps Adds Variety Of Hi-Res Image Improvements

2013: The prime feature that Bing was touting involved what it calls “top of the world” imagery — those hi-res, top-down images. 

Majestic SEO Now Supports 9 Languages

2013: The languages they currently support included English, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.

New German Law Will Allow Free “Snippets” By Search Engines, But Uncertainty Remains

2013: A proposed German copyright law wouldn’t require search engines like Google to pay to show short summaries of news content. But uncertainty remained about how much might be “too much” and require a license.

In Another “Right to Be Forgotten” Case, UK Officials Threaten Legal Action Against People Posting Pictures Of Convicted Killer

2013: UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve threatened legal action against anyone posting pictures of convicted killer Jon Venables online.

Bing Webmaster Tools API Now Available

2012: This feature allowed webmasters to easily use Bing WMT data in other locations.

Microsoft And Nokia Unify Maps On PC, Mobile

2012: Microsoft was relying heavily on the Nokia-Navteq mapping and data infrastructure. Nokia had made Ovi Maps much more Bing-like in appearance.

Google: Mobile Growth Occurring Faster Than Expected

2011: Google CEO Eric Schmidt said consumers’ adoption of the company’s mobile services has happened more quickly than executives expected.

Videos Of The First Googleplex

2011: Videos were posted of the old Google office from November 1999.

Search + Social Media Increases CTR By 94 Percent: Report

2011: Nearly 60% of cases that ended in a purchase begin with search – and social media played an increasingly important role during consideration and especially after a purchase is made.

Placecast and AT&T Launch Geo-fenced Mobile “ShopAlerts”

2011: This was opt-in “push” marketing via SMS or MMS tied to “geo-fences.”

Google Webmaster Tools: Now On Your iGoogle Homepage

2008: Rather than log into your Webmaster Tools account, you could add the Webmaster Tools gadget to your iGoogle page and access information from there.

Google Sites Launches: Replaces Jotspot With Team Sharing Software

2008: Google launched Google Sites, basically a relaunch of Jotspot but with many more features.

Google Health Formally Announced This Morning

2008: Google said it would not sell any personal consumer information. However, pages that weren’t part of the consumer health profile would potentially feature ads.

Google Maps Tailgates Yahoo, Microsoft With Real-Time Traffic Info

2007: Google Maps has caught up with Yahoo and Microsoft in adding live traffic reporting for the United States to their online mapping service.

Google Stepping Up Governmental Sales

2007: Google started a two-day sales event aimed at the U.S. government that reportedly brought in “200 federal contractors, engineers and uniformed military members.”

Google Buying TV Scatter Units

2007: Google was looking to hire a head of national TV sales in New York and dive into their TV ad play with “scatter inventory,” ads that weren’t sold well in advance.

Yahoo Provides NOYDIR Opt-Out Of Yahoo Directory Titles & Descriptions

2007: You could now tell Yahoo to not use Yahoo Directory information to make a title and/or description for your web page listings.

40% Frustrated With Video Search

2007: 32% said web video had too many commercials.

Is Voice And Mobile Search Company TellMe For Sale?

2007: Spoiler alert: It was. Microsoft acquired it March 14.

Monitoring Buries At Digg

2007: A new monitoring technique.

Keane, Head Of Advertising Sales Strategy At Google Goes To CBS Interactive

2007: At Google for four years, Patrick Keane was “responsible for developing and managing the strategic plans and relationships critical to growing Google’s advertising customer base.”

February 2007: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories

2007: The 10 most popular stories from February 2007.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

< February 27 | Search Marketing History | February 29 >

The post This day in search marketing history: February 28 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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