Google: Bad Idea To Make Your Images Low Quality To Improve Core Web Vital Scores
One SEO professional asked if they can downsize the images in a very heavy way where the image would become blurry in order to improve the score. John Mueller of Google said, “that sounds like a bad idea.” John added, “Page experience is just one of many things we look at for ranking, but if users don’t like your content, they’re unlikely to convert (however you want them to), and unlikely to want to come back.”
7 Actually Smart Tips to Reduce Bounce Rate
Reducing your bounce rate can be a good thing, but if you’re not increasing your conversions, it may as well be for nothing. Some of the best ways to decrease your bounce rate include:
#1. Page speed
No one wants to stay on a site that feels like it’s using dial-up internet. Make sure your site is speedy.
#2. Broaden intent satisfaction
People are visiting your site to gain knowledge and learn more about what services you provide or products you sell. Be sure to:
- Answer questions
- Link to related content
#3. Smart CTAs (Call to Action)
You want people to take that next step so tell them why they should!
#4. Use inverted pyramid writing
If people aren’t seeing what they’re looking for within a few seconds, they’re bound to leave the site to search elsewhere. Putting the most important information at the start is one way to make sure that you grab their attention from the start.
#5. Make site search simple
No one wants to spend their time digging through a site for one small thing. Be sure that your site utilizes a simple search feature for an easy experience.
#6. Add media
Your site can feel bland and empty without media accompanying your content.
#7. Reduce rage and dead clicks
Rage clicks are when people are hitting something that they think is supposed to be a button or a link and it doesn’t work. Dead clicks are when users are hitting something, an element on your site, maybe it’s an image, maybe it’s a special color text that they think is supposed to be a link or they think is supposed to be a call to action, and it doesn’t work.
What are the most important parts of local SEO?
Two of the most important parts of local SEO are: Keyword Research and Content.
However, when adding content, there are things that you should avoid, including:
- Content acquired from Wikipedia is among the worst you could possibly publish.
- Thin content in general
Local SEO Link Categories:
- NAP/Citation sites
- Central Chamber of Commerce
- Local manufacturing sites
- Local directory websites
- Partner pages
- Local social media pages and Facebook groups
- Local news pages
- NAP/Citation Sites (NAP=Name, Address, Phone Number)
Local Directory Site Placement:
- Industry-Related Local Sites
- Local Partner Websites
SEO news in March 2021: A rise in Google’s zero-click searches
Some of the key highlights include:
- Zero-click searches rose to nearly 65% last year
- Google predicts that a few pandemic changes are permanent: events are now massively being held online, working from home, etc.)
- Online shopping became the new normal
- Refreshed resources for video SEO
- Google My Business releases tool to manage review
- New Schema markup for education sites
- SEOs worried for two weeks about their featured snippets
- Bing news: Bing has been working on its image results, delivering a more visually immersive experience.
- WordPress News: Drag and drop blocks, A new color palette, A new Robots API, etc.
- Yoast news: Yoast SEO 16.0 release
Google’s John Mueller Answers Rapid Fire SEO Questions
Canonicals: Mueller says site owners should avoid using multiple rel canonicals on the same page when they point to separate URLs.
URLs: Having the date in a URL is fine, Mueller says. It doesn’t affect crawling, indexing, or the ranking of the page.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Using CDNs for images is fine. Mueller says images do not have to be on your server.
Broad Audience Targeting: It’s fine to have a single domain for a worldwide audience, Mueller says. Many sites have just one version that’s globally available, and they are able to rank in multiple countries.
Sitemap Files: You don’t need to include the verification file in your sitemap file. Mueller says the verification file is just for Search Console. Nobody else can do anything useful with it.
Google Updated The Core Web Vitals & Page Experience FAQs
Google: “Our systems will continue to prioritize pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experience are subpar. A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content.”
You do not need to clear all the core web vitals to be eligible in the top stories carousel.
The Google Page Experience update is launching in May 2021.
Google: Don’t Have Open Redirects On Your Website
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that Google “generally recommends not keeping open redirects.” An open redirect is when a parameter value (the portion of URL after “?”) in an HTTP GET request allows for information that will redirect a user to a new website without any validation of the target of the redirect. This can lead your site to allow redirects to any URLs on the web, even malware.
Mueller explained that if someone does exploit your open redirects, it can lead Google search to flag your website and potentially remove it from search. John said, “if someone were to redirect to malware or phishing content through your site, then the URLs on your site would lead there, and could be flagged.”
Google Search Dropping Three Pack For Two Pack (Local Results)
Google is testing showing a two-pack instead of a three-pack. Joy Hawkins: “According to what we’re seeing in BrightLocal, Google has been changing mobile results so that there are only 2 local results listed, instead of 3. For example, this is what a user used to see on mobile earlier this month (traditional 3-pack).”
If this change rolls out fully, it “could have a really positive impact on businesses that hold the number one organic position. With one less result above it, that position just potentially became more valuable.”