Google My Business Now Offering Some Businesses Email-based Confirmation

Now, you do not need to wait for the post card from Google or find out getting the mobile phone or telephone confirmation from your phone tree. Some can confirm their local listing via email.

Google appears to be allowing some companies owners to confirm their local listings within Google My Business through email confirmation.

Kiran C. Kumar uploaded a screen shot of this in action on Twitter. You can view Google here's offering Kiran 3 solutions to confirm the business. The very first option is by emailing an email address for instant verification. The other two methods are typical, via phone or postal card.

This is a screen shot displaying the e-mail option:

Here you can confirm the business “by email now,” and it lists one of the  e-mail addresses and their official website.

Which should help Google search engines get more confirmed businesses in Google My Business/Google Maps.

Read the full article on Search Engine Land.

Google Brings Rich Results Filter to Search Analytics Report within Search Console

After viewing leaked screen shots of a rich results filter in the Google Search Console, it is currently available for all to make use of.

Google Search Console has silently added an attribute within the Search Analytics report to filter data predicated on “rich results.”

Rich results are when your webpages arrive in the SERP as rich cards or other types of rich snippets. The report gives you an improved sense of just how many impressions and clicks you get for rich results and the way CTR might are different in comparison to normal SERP.

This is a screen shot displaying the rich results filter within the search appearance option:

At Google I/O, we found proof that this kind of filter was approaching, and today it is here now. Google did add the AMP filter compared to that report some time in the past.

Google hasn't yet declared the rich results filter availability in this report, however you can see it.

Read the full article on Search Engine Land.

Five Insights Your Paid Search Team Should be Stealing from Organic

Google Analytics recently added Google Search Console reports to help analyze inbound search traffic. Columnist and Googler Matt Lawson talks about how you can utilization of this improvement to enhance your paid search performance.

Having clicks is fantastic, but it’s a lot more important to learn very well what goes on once you get those clicks. That's the reason I was so excited last 30 days when my workplace, Google Search engine, declared a deeper incorporation between Google Search Console and Google Analytics (GA).

Along with these wonderful new information, you can view how visitors come to your site, along using what they performed after they got there.

It can a big win for incoming marketers of all styles and sizes. But I actually, alas, am not an incoming marketer. Paid search is my butter and bread. Not attempting to overlook out on the data-joining goodness of this new group of reports, I actually wish to have the cool new things you can do with Search Console reports in Google Analytics, and how you can take organic search insights and apply them to your paid search campaigns.

1. Find out what organic’s doing to push lots and lots of traffic (even if it’s unengaged traffic)
2. Identify organic webpages with great on-site engagement but low CTR to expand your paid strategy
3. Learn which queries are ranking well for every single organic landing page, and make sure your paid listings complement them
4. Use insight from the new Devices report to craft a strategy for device bid adjustments (including tablets)
5. See which countries performing well organically to help decide where to expand your Google adwords account

Bottom Line:-

These new Search Console reports in Google Analytics explain to you both how users reach your site through organic search and what they do when they get there. Your SEO team isn’t the only one which can squeeze value out of these reports, though. In case you’re in paid search, you can steal those insights and make them your very own.

Read the full article on Search Engine Land.

Brief Change Suggests Local SEO Ranking Factors are Different for Branded Queries

Do you know the dissimilarities between branded and non-branded local packs in Google Search Engine, and how might ranking factors be weighted in a different way for each? Columnist Joy Hawkins shares her observations.

I had a unique experience a few months back that proved that Google weights local ranking factors in a different way for branded search terms than they are doing for non-branded ones.

Before I clarify what occurred, I have to first explain that there are currently two different types of local 3-packs (branded versus non-branded), and my conclusion is that the ranking factors for these are not the same.

Branded vs. non-branded 3-pack

Typically the branded 3-pack is generally what you get when you search things like “sears dallas” or “starbucks seattle” or “state farm chicago.” (However, I frequently see Google Search engines displaying branded 3-packs for non-branded queries. I’ve always determined this means that Google Search engines somehow “thinks” the query is a branded search when it’s really not.)

You will get a non-branded 3-pack when you search common categories like “shopping mall chicago” or “auto insurance baltimore.”

Read the full article on Search Engine Land.

Google Search Analytics Report Adds the Ability to Compare Queries

Now you can compare one search phrase to a new in the Google Search Analytics report within the Google Search Console.

The goal of the “Compare queries” filter is to compare one query against another. A person can currently only compare two queries. Here is what that report seems like when you do the comparison:

You are able to access this feature by logging into your Google Search Console account and clicking on Search Analytics. Then click on the Queries section and choose “Compare queries.”

Then that pops up, and you will enter in your search phrases:

For more information visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Common Misconceptions When Measuring SEO Content Performance

As Search Engine Optimization practitioners turn their focus in the direction of user engagement as a measure of content success, columnist Ian Bowden says the regular wisdom surrounding user engagement metrics may, in fact, be misleading.

It comes with an assertion by many that low bounce rate and high average time on website are indicators of successfully executing content. In some situations, this will be true; however, in many others, it will be an incorrect flag. At worst, these metrics can even be indicators of poorly executing content.

Below are a few common misconceptions:

1. Bounce rates should always be low across the site.
2. A high average time on site indicates strong-performing content.
3. A high average of pages per visit signals positive user engagement.

Make smarter optimization decisions

Implementing effective measurement frameworks to your content marketing initiatives will generate better goals, and for that reason, better optimization decisions. To get started:

• Categorize your content by user intent. 
• Create a suitable measurement framework for each category.
• Create advanced segments within your analytics packages.
• Optimize.

Quite simply, creating content with the informational needs of the user in mind is most likely to deliver success.

For more information visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

7 E-commerce SEO Trends we’re seeing in 2016

For those managing search engine optimization for e-commerce websites, contributor Jayson DeMers has some advice for what to focus on to stay ahead of the competition.

Number of types of online business can usually benefit from Search Engine Optimization more than e-commerce websites that allow for direct consumer dealings. Not only can you secure more web traffic, you can also optimize specific product webpages to funnel visitors your most profitable or popular pages.

Below, I’ve compiled a list of seven important SEO trends in the e-commerce industry you should be paying attention to:

1. Out-of-the-box SEO is better than ever
2. Long-form content is crucial
3. Sharability is key
4. Video content is outperforming pretty much every other kind of content
5. Mobile optimization is now absolutely critical
6. Voice search and digital assistants are gaining popularity and usage
7. Local results are becoming more prominent

Final thoughts

Keep close track of these 7 trends to ensure that your marketing campaign remains relevant and noticeable in the modern time. Depending on your goals and how heavy a role SEO plays in your overall business development, the recommendations above should take a top priority in your marketing spend.

For more information visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Infographic: The Ultimate Guide to SEO-Friendly URLs

Having an SEO-friendly URL structure can help search engines and users alike navigate your website more easily, potentially giving you an edge over the competition. To explain the basics, contributors John Lincoln and Brian Dean have put together this helpful infographic.

For more Information visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Google Tests New Look for "People also search for" Feature

Google has been caught testing a new interface again in the mobile search results. This one is around the "people also search for" search feature.

Here is an animated GIF based on some of the screen shots

Google is constantly testing new interfaces, so this should come as no surprise.

The post Google tests new look for people also search for feature appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Are we making SEO too complicated?

SEO has a lot of moving parts -- and that can mean a lot of wasted time and effort if we're not organized. Columnist Ryan Shelley shares his method for simplifying your SEO process by staying focused on results.

By simplifying your SEO strategy, you will strip from it some of the “extras” that don’t really matter and begin to focus on the tasks and actions that help your site achieve its overall purpose. To help make my point, I want to share something I call the “Simplified Search Productivity Cycle.”

A key thing to remember is that you have to allow yourself flexibility in the process. Keep it simple. Define what you want. Put together a plan of action. Review the results, and adjust as needed. SEO doesn’t have to be super-complicated; it just needs to be focused.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.