Video SEO, a YUGE data analysis and changes to Google Search Console: What we read this week (5/1)
1. May 2020Is today Friday? Is it Sunday? What happened to April? Does the concept of time really even matter anymore? Are pants now considered “business casual”? When will baby Yoda save us?
The News Dashboard team is slowly succumbing to cabin fever. We’ll keep bringing our customers our best-in-class Google visibility tool, so long as we keep our homes stocked with coffee, tea, Coke and sourdough bread starters.
On the topic of customers: We want to extend a warm welcome to our newest customer: USA TODAY!
So, without further ado, here is what we read this week.
YouTube continues growing, make a channel NOW
Since launching in 2005, YouTube has seen its popularity ebb and flow. But it’s probably no surprise that a pandemic increased the platform’s viewership by about 15%. The video platform is also the world’s second-largest search engine, behind — of course — Google (which owns YouTube). Major broadcasters and publishers have had YouTube in their sights for years, but now more than ever is an opportune moment for mid-sized and smaller publishers to jump on the YouTube train.
Need more convincing? YouTube recently added a fact-check panel to its US search results. Remember: YouTube SEO helps with Google SEO.
Search Engine Watch published a good primer on YouTube content and SEO strategy this week. Check it out!
11.8 million Google search results analyzed
Content. Back-links. Page speed. Authority. What really matters in first-page search rankings? Backlinko dug into it and came out with some interesting findings. The SEO firm partnered with Ahrefs to analyze millions of search results to determine what the factors of Page 1 rankings are and, by extension, what strategies can companies use to boost rankings.
A couple of interesting takeaways for news publishers include:
- A site’s overall link authority (as measured by Ahrefs Domain Rating) strongly correlates with higher rankings.
- Comprehensive content with a high “Content Grade” (via Clearscope) significantly outperformed content that didn’t cover a topic in-depth.
- Websites with above-average “time on site” tend to rank higher in Google. Specifically, increasing time on site by 3 seconds correlates to ranking a single position higher in the search results.
Read more findings at Backlinko:
Trisolute News Dashboard presents at #optimizeoptimizm digital conference
You can watch the entire #optimizeoptimism digital conference, which addressed “some of the most pressing issues faced by digital media publishers at the moment and how we can optimize what we have to optimistically move forward,” below.
News Dashboard’s own Chelsey Heath joined publishing experts to discuss How to Thrive in Google News, sharing the latest data on which publishers rank best for the keyword “coronavirus.”
Google updates some Search Console reports
If you’ve noticed changes in some of your Google Search Console reports lately, it’s probably not your site. Google updated some reports within search console, including AMP, Mobile Usability and Speed, to “provide better performance.”
These changes won’t impact your search results.
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Read more
Google to pay in Australia, SERP shrugs and Question Hub: What we read this week (4/24)
Some help for newsrooms, Google may pay up and featured snippets: What we read this week (4/17)
A COVID-19 cornucopia, Google’s secrets and online reading patters: What we read this week (4/10)