¡Domina el SEO y conquista Google!

 

One of Google's most notable features, and perhaps most importantly, its Rich Snippets, which allow us to view rich results from the SERP itself, the search page, without having to access the website.

 

For some time now, the battle over copyright has been taking its first toll in the digital world.

 

In this case, the best example is France, which has just approved a new intellectual property law that requires search engines to pay a fee for displaying rich content (Rich Snippets) .

 

Google was quick to respond, indicating that not only will it not pay the required fee , but it will also remove from its search results (SERPs) any rich content that might raise intellectual property issues . This leaves the results plain, with no preview, and only the metadata that website authors have entered manually.

 

France thus becomes one of the first countries to implement the European copyright directive approved this year . This directive directly confronts the press and major digital search engines.

 

What are Rich Snippets?

 

Rich Snippets are enriched fragments in search results , normally when a user performs a search in the browser, in this case Google, the results that it offers usually appear accompanied by a preview, in the form of an image, rating, video or other data that helps the user decide which result is the most interesting for their search.

 

 

With this new law, France intends to force Google to pay a fee for this preview , and Google has indicated that it will remove these Rich Snippets to avoid having to pay.

 

Consequences of this change

 

France was not the first EU country to see the almighty Google stop offering a service for attempting to charge a fee for its services.

 

Let's remember that both Spain and Germany stopped using the Google News service due to laws requiring them to apply a fee and, therefore, a tax. However, this regulation, which applies in France, must also be applied in the rest of the EU countries , as required by the directive approved in March. Each country can apply it according to its own criteria, but we can see an example of how Google will react to this directive.

 

Google has the advantage of being the most widely used browser in the EU, with almost 95% of Internet users using it, and this gives it a position of strength that other companies cannot assume.

 

We will continue to closely monitor any developments in this regard, as we are facing a significant impasse for SEO agencies like Click Online 360 .

[edgtf_dropcaps type="normal" color="#fec000" background_color=""]G[/edgtf_dropcaps]ogle, with its constant changes and ways to improve the content of its links , brings to light two new link attributes, Sponsored and UGC, as a way to improve the old “dofollow” attribute. As you know, the “nofollow” attribute was introduced no less than 15 years ago , in 2005, as a response to the continuous spam that occurred in its links. Its main function was to fight against all the comments considered as spammers. It also served to link a page without the need to promote it or transfer positioning credit to it, that is, to be able to put external links to your website without passing the positioning authority of your page to the linked one. On September 10th, this will be left behind; the authority will begin to be transferred and the ranking effects will begin to count. Google now reserves the right to decide what it wants or doesn't want to follow when ranking , regardless of the attribute used. Links are now suggestions , not a path to better ranking.

Why do you want to leave the “dofollow” attribute behind?

When this attribute was introduced, Google wanted to combat spam comments by restricting certain poorly differentiated links. Now, Google aims to provide better context about the content of its links in order to help its own crawler better understand the nature of the links displayed. This, therefore, will significantly change all the criteria it uses to rank links, as well as differentiate links to weight them more specifically. Google has decided to change the way it analyzes links so that they are not a guide to positioning your website . This means that blogs or pages with "dofollow" will no longer be a gift for your web positioning, but rather a "clue," since Google obviously doesn't want to give you that priority on a silver platter , but rather improve the quality of the content you offer on its platform. On the other hand, although they are not prohibited nor is it recommended to change the system for now, the old attribute is not expected to remain in operation for much longer. The new formulas must be gradually adopted, and while the process finally stabilizes, "dofollow" will be used as a clue, and can be combined with the two new ones.

So, what are the famous new attributes? When will they be implemented?

The new attributes are " Sponsored " and " UGC ," and we'll explain each of them below. But the first thing you need to know is that they were implemented this week, so they're now in effect. As we mentioned, until "dofollow" disappears, it will be used as a clue, while the others are the predominant and future kings of link ranking.

What is the “Sponsored” attribute?

First, we have the so-called Sponsored link; this refers to all links created for a sponsorship or advertisement , identifying which ones are sponsored and which ones are not. Thus, all ads that are part of these lucrative purposes for SEO or others through advertising or similar are flagged and can be monitored. For example, if a website tells you and provides information about several vacuum cleaners for comparison purposes and, in addition to the information, provides a direct link to a website that sells that product, they are using links for their own benefit, in which an agreement has been reached to redirect you to that page.

What is the “UGC” attribute?

On the other hand, UGC identifies links that appear in user-generated content. That is, it marks links within content generated by the user on the website, just as Sponsored links mark sponsorships. For example, a user who posts a comment or message on a forum, group, or any other website about a related topic.

Are you an SEO or webmaster? How does it affect you?

Although the use of "nofollow" will increasingly decline, Google still considers link attributes important—all of them. Flagging ads and potential penalties can prevent future penalties on your website . Even so, Google emphasizes that it's not necessary to change attributes, as it's still in place for now, although it recommends switching to "sponsored" in the long run. However, it's not necessary to choose a single attribute for your website, as these can be combined in a single link. The only incorrect way to use a link is to use sponsored links, especially when it's already part of an ad. If you want to create a paid or sponsored link directly, you must use the "sponsored" or "nofollow" attribute (preferably "sponsored" for Google) to be flagged. Otherwise, you risk a penalty.

 

In this article, we'll try to explain in detail and clearly what SEO is and what it's used for. We're sure you've heard about SEO or Google positioning many times. You might think these terms don't affect your digital business or online marketing strategy, since you already pay for Google Adwords ( now Google Ads ) and your strategy is perfect without having to go through a content study, a web audit, or heeding the recommendations of the almighty Google to get web traffic.

 

As an SEO consultancy and Google Ads specialist , we have to tell you that you're wrong, since keyword positioning is essential to avoid disappearing from search engines . Imagine for a moment that during your SEM/Adwords campaign period, you have to divert part of the money you pay to other activities within your company. If you don't have a good SEO strategy, you automatically disappear . And I'm sorry to say, if you're not on Google, you don't exist!

 

In this article, we want to give you a series of recommendations so you can stop asking that question...

 

“Okay, but how do I position my website? ”

 

Because with a basic understanding of SEO positioning, you'll have enough to start working on your digital goals.

 

Of course, the first thing we recommend is acquiring a free SEO tool and starting a real search engine strategy , as you'll be surprised to learn that there are alternatives to Google, such as Yahoo and Bing. Globally, Yandex for Russia and Baidoo for China, just to name a few, are some of the most popular search engines in the world, but they can also generate interesting traffic and potential new customers.

 

Are your ideas clear? Let's get started.

 

What is SEO?

 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization . The main purpose of an SEO strategy is to get the largest number of keywords in the best positions in search engines so that we attract the largest possible number of visitors to our website. However, it doesn't end there, as it's pointless if a user arrives at our website and leaves immediately , thereby increasing the website's bounce rate and, therefore, penalizing Google and other search engines.

 

A bounce rate is calculated based on the number of users who enter the website, visit a single page, and then leave.

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That's why it's essential not only to implement an SEO strategy for keyword positioning , but also to create correct content that is highly focused on answering the user's questions. This is the way to ensure that the user stays on the website long enough to avoid increasing the bounce rate and gain a potential client.

 

Another key aspect is to be familiar with the terms used by SEO specialists to know exactly what they're referring to at any given time. Here are some of them:

 

What are Keywords in SEO?

 

This is the keyword we want to rank our website for . If we have a business focused on selling dog collars, our main keyword to work with is "dog collars," but Google is smart enough to recognize and semantically differentiate keywords. Therefore, if "dog collars" is our main keyword, we can also work with its variants:

 

• Dog collars
• Dog collars (Adding an s at the end makes the word different)
• Dog collars

 

Each of these words is different for Google and will have a different search volume, so it would be a matter of studying all the options and positioning those in which the KD (keyword difficulty) best adapts to our work times, strategy and budget .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are Long Tails?

 

Long Tail, explained simply, are Keywords but long.

 

In 2020, there has been an increase in so-called " voice searches ." Tools like Siri, Alexa , and Google Assistant mean that users don't have to type what they want to search for into their smartphone or tablet, but rather have it dictated by voice . This makes it easier to search for something in more detail by not having to use their hands:

 

“Ok Google, search for golden retriever dog collars ”

 

The bold example is a long-tail search, where we see how the user not only searches for dog collars, but also adds the dog's breed.

 

 

In this regard, content should be tailored not only to those who type their search but also to those who search by voice, in order to offer the most accurate results and generate real, quality traffic to our website.

 

But long tails aren't just voice-based. During this past 2019, various studies showed that users are increasingly specific in their searches and, therefore, are using long tail keywords much more frequently .

 

What is a SERP or Search Engine Results Page?

 

The SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) are the search engine results pages where we find search results in the format of Snippets, Rich Snippets, Rich Cards, news, videos, images and much more .

 

To understand SEO correctly, you need to understand what the SERP is and all its features.

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In short, it's the page you find when you search for something on Google, and it gives you a series of results . Don't worry, if you don't know what we're talking about, you'll understand a few points further down.

 

Although the best way to understand what a SERP is is to see it with this graphic example:

 

 

What are Snippets, Rich Snippets, and Knowledge Graphs?

 

Snippets

 

Snippets are the results of the search taken by Google through the Metadata and displayed in the SERPs .

 

A Snippet is the response that our website displays in a search engine to the query made by the user.

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Google takes the information from the metadata (which we will see a few sections later) and displays it in the following way.

 

 

This is how a user normally sees us, but Google goes much further when it comes to displaying results in the SERPs. What if we want to be more striking? Well, although this is advanced SEO positioning , or at least not so basic, we will explain what a Rich Snippet is .

 

Rich Snippet

 

This is a rich snippet in the search results . Although, as always, a picture is worth a thousand words:

 

 

In this case, we see rich text snippets in Google results in a simple yet user-friendly way. In the same box, we have a small illustrative image, in this case a recipe, and a review of it, which can refer to the quality of the food, or even the quality of the item in question.

 

In any case, it is a reference so that the user performing the search clicks on these featured snippets before the non-featured organic snippets.

 

There are also variations for products, services, articles, jobs, books, and more.

 

However, what is currently working best in Google is the one known as Knowledge-graph , and in short, it is a Rich Snippet but with greater visual and content quality and which in SEO is known as position 0.

 

Knowledge-graph or Position 0

 

As in the previous points, a graphical example will better determine what a Knowledge-graph is :

 

 

As we see in this case, the snippet consists of a larger image and the recipe's ingredients, which helps the user know for sure if it's the recipe they're looking for so they can click on the link and see the preparation process. And like this, there are many types of Knowledge Graphs; here are more examples:

 

 

 

In this pair of examples, you can see that there is a variety in this type of snippets , which, without giving all the information, offer enough to make the user click interesting.

 

However, this is a somewhat negative section for certain types of businesses , since in many cases this featured Snippet offers enough information to prevent the user from clicking on any search results, resulting in the loss of visits to the website.

 

On the other hand, and as we mentioned a few paragraphs ago, this type of snippet often occupies Google Rank 0, which means it is above position 1 of the search engine .

 

On some occasions, we have detected that we position a word, for example gazpacho recipes, and our keyword is in position 8 of the search engine. However, by having correctly programmed the systems that launch this type of enriched text , Google also shows it in this zero position, which is at the very top, and also your search result in position 8.

 

Google doesn't do this to compensate us for a job well done—I wish!—but rather to offer a better response to its users . The bot detects our content, evaluates it, and decides it should rank eighth, but during its reading, it finds our rich code, and in the other results, it either doesn't like it or can't find it, and therefore decides that the user should see that code snippet in addition to our result.

 

What is a Bot?

 

Just as you've wondered , "What is SEO?" You've probably wondered , "How does Google work?"

 

Without getting into complex technicalities, we can say that Google uses a series of bots with enough intelligence and capacity to read our content, organize it, and position it.

 

A bot is a computer program that performs automated, often complex, tasks . Google has several bots that work differently and coordinate with each other to perform search engine optimization. These bots learn and improve over time.

 

Although they always need the human aspect that, among other things, works to improve these bots and avoid SEO malpractice or what is known as Black Hat SEO.

 

HTML and CSS, important for SEO positioning

 

In short, these are the basic languages used to display a website to the user via their browser.

 

HTML and CSS, contrary to what many sites indicate, are not programming languages , but rather tag languages in which each tag wraps the content to be displayed and gives it a style with CSS code, which is a cascading language for providing the design you want for your website.

 

It's important to have a basic understanding of HTML to be able to implement tracking codes, tags, and other elements necessary for SEO. On the other hand, knowing CSS helps give your website a touch of design and usability, which is also increasingly important.

 

I recommend this article from the Mozilla Foundation detailing this type of language, and our CSS Course to learn the basics of the style language.

 

What are Meta Keywords?

 

Meta Keywords were a fundamental part of SEO , and I say that well, they were, since they've become obsolete for some time now. These tags are inserted inside your website's <head> tags, and in them you tell the search engine the target words for which you intended to rank that page, article, or product.

 

They eventually lost their value as Google and other search engines were able to interpret the target words without meta keyword optimization. Furthermore, the goal of search engines is to satisfy users with their results. Therefore, they are increasingly improving their capabilities when it comes to crawling web content and positioning it, ignoring some of the so-called Meta Tags.

 

• Meta Title and Meta Description (Metadata)

 

Remember the previous point about SERPs? Have you ever wondered where Google gets those results and text from? Well, the answer is Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions . Depending on the year you're looking at, this section may have become obsolete, and we'll explain why.

 

Our goal as an SEO positioning company is to understand and study the changes in the different algorithms that primarily comprise Google. We'll discuss this in an upcoming Technical SEO article and another on Advanced SEO. During these analyses of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, we found that the trend is shifting from the character limits currently recommended in meta tags to pixels... Boom, your head has exploded and you don't understand a thing! Don't worry, we'll explain how Google displays the SERPs in its search results.

 

We'll keep it as simple as possible and without getting into technicalities; we'll get to that later.

 

Google launches its spiders (bots, crawlers, etc.) to study the content and assign it a value (formerly Page Rank). Once this process is complete, it reads the entire HTML code of the website in a matter of milliseconds, and within it are these meta tags that tell the search engine how we want to be displayed in the search results. It will take the Meta Title and place it in the blue section with a link in the SERP, and the Meta Description and place it in the white and gray sections of the SERP.

 

These texts, to use the analogy of a supermarket, are the packaging that must enclose the product. That's why it's so important to treat and maintain them well. If we don't add these meta tags manually or do so incorrectly, Google will search the content for the first thing it finds within the HTML tags that it considers visible text and index it. Don't know what we're talking about?

 

Here is an example:

 

 

In this example, we see two very unusual search results . This is because the WordPress installation uses a plugin called Visual Composer to create web pages. This element creates a series of shortcodes that allow users to create their website without any programming or computer language knowledge.

 

The problem we encounter here is that by not defining Meta tags, Google has located the plugin code as the first text for the description and has indexed it as is. Now tell us, would you enter this website to see its product or would you not trust it?

 

Well, although I can't name the website for privacy reasons, it's a movie site, with no risk, that's losing traffic due to its lack of metadata protection.

 

The way to implement these, I assume that if you are learning Basic SEO, it is almost certain that you are working in a CMS, Content Management System, type WordPress or Prestashop, so I have to tell you that you are in luck, with a simple Wordpress plugin you can implement these and in Prestashop they come by default, Yoast Plugins, Wordpress SEO and similar help you to place the meta tags correctly.

 

Regarding what we discussed at the beginning of this section, metadata has a limit of approximately 50-70 characters for the title and 110-140 for the description . By including this limitation in the meta tag, we end up with shortened titles and shortened descriptions, which gives a negative impression, or it doesn't fully convey the message you want to convey to the user searching for you.

 

Google now limits the size of the metadata by pixels, which gives us the ability to " play " with it more, adding elements like emojis and others that weren't possible before. The point, ultimately, is to make our product more attractive, like in a supermarket.

 

The importance of links and link building in SEO

 

Links are, to a large extent, one of the ranking factors that our SEO agency values most, and various studies have shown us that Google values most, along with content.

 

One of the most difficult aspects of ranking is creating quality content that truly interests the user who visits our website. But even more difficult is getting that user to link to us from their own website, adding value to our content. That's why Google highly values links when evaluating our content.

 

Unfortunately, where there's a law, there's a loophole. Link building is nothing more than attracting links by taking some action that also benefits the other party, whether financially, by exchanging links, or by paying for our business's materials.

 

This is why we strive to offer free SEO positioning , meaning that the monthly management fee includes strategies that are sufficiently interesting for the user to voluntarily create the link, or, failing that, the benefit is equal for both parties through a link exchange.

 

In any case, we'll go into more depth on this topic in the more advanced SEO section we're preparing.

 

Responsive and SEO

 

Have you ever run an email marketing campaign and your users tell you that the product price isn't visible or that they can't find what they're looking for? That's because the user accessed the site using a tablet or mobile phone, and your website content isn't properly adapted.

 

He thinks that if the user doesn't see it well, neither does Google, and it will rate it negatively.

 

In 2018, Google actually began evaluating the content of a website's mobile version, using the so-called Mobile First Index, before its PC counterpart, which obviously values it, but increasingly less so than the adapted version. So, that tells you everything.

 

Fortunately, these days, you don't have to have a domain for the PC version and a subdomain for the mobile version, as you used to. Nowadays, with a little knowledge of HTML and CSS , and a little Boostrap, you can have a website fully adapted to both PC and mobile.

 

But we have even better news if you don't have that knowledge of markup or programming: CMSs like WordPress, Joomla, Prestashop, and others do most of the work for you. In any case, we always recommend having that basic knowledge to be able to work on at least basic SEO.

 

We'll go into more detail on this aspect in the more advanced SEO article, but you should know that having a properly mobile-friendly version is very important.

 

Is SEO Free?

 

Yes, of course, SEO is free. The time you invest in research, finding the right niche, the right keywords, content, tools, and all the work involved, whether you do it yourself or hire a specialist SEO agency , comes at a cost that you must assume.

 

One of the main problems we encounter as SEO companies is that ROI (Return on Investment) is difficult to quantify in this field since there is no way to immediately measure the results. Also, unlike Google Ads, keyword ranking takes a long time to be reflected, since we depend entirely on Google updates and changes in the SERPs, Google results pages. Sometimes the optimization that an SEO company can perform can take months to be reflected in the search engine. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you fully understand what SEO is before hiring an agency or specialist.

 

Conclusions on What is SEO?

 

We know this is a long article, but we want to take your mind off what SEO is and give you a basic understanding of SEO, its meaning, and how positioning can benefit your business or online pages. In upcoming articles, we'll share SEO tools and more advanced steps so you can understand how Google works and what you can do to get to know it better.

At Click Online 360, we know that more than half of users who browse the internet do so from their mobile devices . That's why, before launching a website, we optimize it for mobile . By doing this, we're also optimizing the website's SEO . Google will rank it better if it's adapted. But why does it rank it better? The key is in the user experience. That's why we must always keep in mind: Having a responsive design: Having a responsive design ensures that the content is displayed correctly regardless of the screen size from which it's viewed. Furthermore, with this type of design, we ensure optimal navigation in terms of user experience, a fundamental aspect. Fast website loading speed: Not making the user wait is also a factor that influences their experience. Therefore, the loading speed must be fast if we want to improve SEO. Google's PageSpeed Insights tool allows us to identify all errors related to a website's loading speed. This way, we can know what to fix to optimize it (optimize images, for example): https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ A poor browsing experience is crucial when it comes to ranking a website compared to our competitors. And not only in terms of the website's quality, but also in how its content is displayed depending on the device being browsed from. Therefore, it's important for SEO to focus on the user: Their experience will influence our position.