Author: admin

How Social Media Can Be Used to Flourish Your Business

Home Business Magazine Online

Social media is one of the most convenient and affordable tools you will find for promoting your business in the present day. Most people have an account on social media, and your company page/profile is just one click away from them. If you make your brand click the right way with people with the help of social media, you may be able to gain thousands of followers within a span of a few days.

There are different social media sites in Canada that businesses located in Montreal, Canada can make use of and grow their organization. These include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat among others. The biggest benefit of social media is that it provides the user with unlimited growth within a limited time span.

Promoting anything anywhere is easy with the help of social media these days and your geographical location hardly has an impact on it. Before you get started, however, you have to chalk out your business plan and all the crucial details.

Which Businesses Are Most Likely to Flourish in Canada?

Multiple business chains can thrive and flourish in such a promising atmosphere, a city where the dreams of entrepreneurs and business owners become a reality. The following are a few popular business chains that have shown a record level of success in the past few decades:

  • Consultancy.
  • Makeup and Beauty.
  • Health and Fitness.
  • Hospitality Chain.
  • Real Estate.

Apart from the well-known and well-established niches, there are a variety of other niches in that an individual can start their business and expect to attain a certain level of success a few years down the line. If they are lucky, they can get started with multiple business chains within this time too.

How to Proceed with Promoting Your Business

There is nothing called a bad idea — the situation gets bad only when there is a complete dearth of ideas and you don’t know how to proceed. When you have an idea, you can choose to proceed by keeping in mind the surrounding situations and the best way to strategize and finally implement your ideas successfully.

1. Research About the Market Is a Must

You need to assess your target customers, including age, location, and demographics, do a complete analysis of the market, and then come to a conclusion about the way you should promote your brand/product. Market trends will direct you on which way to go and the decisions to take regarding your business. The urgency with which you should undertake your promotional and marketing matters will also be decided by the market trends.

2. Get an Expert’s Opinion

You can also decide to take an expert opinion on taking the next step forward for your business. There are many business consultants who are actively working to provide guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners who already have a business and want to make it big. Consultancy is a separate industry in itself, as discussed above.

3. Patience Is a Great Virtue

Being patient is a quality that is rather underappreciated because everyone wants to get the best of everything at once. The same applies when it comes to achieving a certain level of success with one’s business. Entrepreneurs usually quit within six months or a year. Patiently managing your business is a quality that will pay off in the long run.

Be Alert, Active and Hardworking to Flourish Your Business

Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Even if you are exceptionally talented or gifted at what you do, you cannot expect your business to be a full-fledged grand success overnight. Business requires you to be alert, active, and laborious to a much greater extent than an individual in a 9-5 job. That is why being in business yields much higher profit margins compared to a regular office-goer. So, you can follow the tips and keep faith in yourself to make your business successful.

The post How Social Media Can Be Used to Flourish Your Business appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/marketing/social-media-marketing/how-social-media-be-used-flourish-business/

Technical SEO report reveals what matters in 2023

The State of Technical SEO Report 2023 is out from digital marketing agency Aira and the Women in Tech SEO community. So what matters in 2023? Here’s a quick summary of some of the more interesting results.

Resources matter. The biggest risk the report highlighted was an organizational lack of resources. A lack of resources means changes don’t get made or are very slow to get made – which means less than stellar SEO results. So if you work at a company where resources are lacking, prioritization of tasks will continue to be critically important.

Tools and technology that matter. Google Search Console was the most popular tool for technical SEOs overall – 92% reported using it. It was also the top tool used (78%) for measuring organic search rankings.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider was popular choice for crawling and log file analysis. Meanwhile, Semrush was the top choice for assessing the search visibility of a website.

For non ecommerce platforms, technical SEOs most preferred working on WordPress. Wix was considered the most problematic to work on.

Time matters. Sadly, waiting months for technical SEO changes to happen is fairly common – 88% of respondents waited anywhere from a month to 24+ months for technical SEO changes to be made. 

Perhaps a bit surprising: 22% reported waiting only a month for technical SEO changes to be implemented. Meanwhile, 20% reported waiting 12 months (which was down slightly from the prior year). And 11% of respondents reported waiting 24 months or longer.

Skills that matter. What are the top three skills a technical SEO should have? According to the respondents:

  1. Data anaysis (72%)
  2. Reading and understanding HTML/CSS (58%)
  3. Content strategy (39%)

It was surprising to see content strategy ranked so highly. But as Steph Greaves pointed out in the report comments:

  • “It’s definitely helpful to know how content relates on a website to fully understand internal linking opportunities that serve the user.”

Technical SEO = marketing. Search Engine Land contributor Mark Jackson has made the case that SEO is marketing. So it was nice to see that marketing (74%) was the top answer to this in-house specific question: “In your organisation, in which team does accountability for technical SEO sit?

Dig deeper. There’s much more to read. Here’s the full, ungated report: The State of Technical SEO Report 2023

Why we care. Overall, this report is good news for our industry. Clearly, we’re facing issues, most notably an uncertain economic outlook. Plus there have been many layoffs. But it’s encouraging that the report finds the outlook for SEO is still relatively positive and demand for SEO remains in a good place.

The post Technical SEO report reveals what matters in 2023 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/state-technical-seo-report-2023-391908

Google improves error classification in video indexing report

Google has updated the video indexing report in Google Search Console to improve the accuracy of the error reporting. Google said you might see “missing thumbnail” errors reclassified under new error types. Google also added that the total number of errors reported should not change, and that this is just a reclassification of errors.

January 19, 2023. This change went into affect today, January 19, 2023.

Google’s statement. Google wrote, “Search Console can now more accurately classify thumbnail indexing issues. As a result, you may see a reassignment of “Missing thumbnail” issues to more specific issue types. The total number of affected videos should remain the same.”

What is the video indexing report. The video indexing report shows how many indexed pages on your site contain one or more videos, and how many of those pages a video could be indexed. Google said the report can help you understand the performance of your videos on Google, and identify possible areas of improvement.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of this report for one of my sites in Google Search Console:

Alphabet Inc.

When the report shows. Google said if Google detects videos on your site, the Video indexing report will appear on the left navigation bar in the coverage section. If Google has not detected a video on your website, you will not see the report.

What it tells you. The report shows the status of video indexing on your site. It helps you answer the following questions:

  • In how many pages has Google identified a video?
  • Which videos were indexed successfully?
  • What are the issues preventing videos from being indexed?

In addition, if you fix an existing issue, you can use the report to validate the fix and track how your fixed video pages are updated in the Google index, Google explained.

Why we care. You may want to recheck some of the errors in this report and see if some were reclassified from “missing thumbnail” to a different error type. This way you can resolve any errors that might not have been resolved earlier.

The post Google improves error classification in video indexing report appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/google-improves-error-classification-in-video-indexing-report-391938

Tips to Buy Your Employees Great Gifts in 2023

Home Business Magazine Online

It’s 2023, and the landscape of corporate gifting has changed dramatically since last year! This holiday season, gone are the days when a simple box of chocolates or a basketful of company logos was enough to show appreciation. With many of us still adjusting to the new normal in business and uncertain economic times, it can be hard to think outside the box and figure out what type of thoughtful gift would make your employees feel truly appreciated. A great way to make sure that your gifts are on trend and practical is to use online gift guides. These guides can help you find unique and creative gift options that might have passed you by if you had stuck with the old-fashioned shopping method.

Additionally, our tips below will help you find the perfect employee gift — from creating customized experiences to finding unique items with your specific budget in mind, we’ve got you covered on all fronts. Read on for helpful advice that will ensure you find exactly what your team needs this season.

Consider Why You Are Gifting

The first tip on this list if you want to buy your employees a great gift in 2023 would be to consider why you are gifting them with something, to begin with. This is quite an important tip since the motivation behind gifting makes all the difference in the world.

Are you gifting an employee so that you can appreciate their individual performance? Or is it a special occasion? Are you gifting more than one employee? And is that because of team performance, or because of an annual company performance appreciation day? The reason why you are gifting is very important since it will change the type of gift that you are getting.

Gift Something General in Most Cases

The next tip on this list, if you are looking to buy your employee a great gift, would be to gift something general in most cases. At the end of the day, gifting an employee is a very difficult thing to do since you don’t want to get them something too extravagant that makes the other employees jealous. More importantly, you also don’t want to get a gift that makes them question your relationship with the employee in question.

As such, in most cases, it is a good idea to go with a general type of gift. Some gifts that could be considered general include tote bags or drinkware, key chains, company-branded apparel, or desk accessories. Employees will always value a water bottle, a set of pens, or a new notebook.

Get Gifts That Coincide with Your Values

The next tip on this list is also quite an important one, and that is, if you are going to be gifting your employee with a gift, you should get something that coincides with the values of your company. What does this mean? This means that every company has a brand personality as well as a mission and values.

When you gift an employee, you should try to stick to those values as closely as possible. For example, if your company works within the energy-saving industry, it is safe to assume that you care for the environment. As such, you should try to get a “green” type of gift rather than one that will cause damage to the environment.

Consider That Some Gifts Are Taxable

One thing that you should do when buying your employee a gift in 2023 is to consider that some gifts are taxable. Gifts that are taxable, basically any sort of gift card or cash bonus, need to be reported to the IRS. For example, gifts of this type include a $30 performance bonus, a $20 gift card for your employee to visit a local restaurant, or even season tickets to visit or see a local sports team.

As such, you might want to consider getting a tax gift. A few examples of tax gifts include the occasional meal compensation or a non-cash gift that doesn’t have a very high market value. You could also gift your employees with a business mobile phone or give them an employee of the month parking pass. Tax gifts are gifts that are too trivial to justify with tax considerations or that are small or not expensive.

The post Tips to Buy Your Employees Great Gifts in 2023 appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/success-tips/tips-buy-employees-great-gifts-2023/

Enhancing Your Live Video Stream Quality with a VR180 3D Streaming Camera

Home Business Magazine Online

Live video streaming is a popular way to engage with your audience, share moments, and build an online presence. However, various factors affect the quality of your live stream. A VR180 – Ultimate Live Video Stream Experience is a great tool to enhance the quality of your live video stream. By utilizing the latest technology and advanced features, this camera helps you create captivating visuals and immersive experiences for your viewers. With its powerful software and hardware capabilities, it provides superior image resolution, wide field of view, and optimized streaming performance. This article explores how a VR180 3D Streaming Camera improves your live video stream quality, as well as its advantages over traditional cameras.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a VR180 3D Streaming Camera

1. Type of Content Streamed

When considering what type of content to stream using a VR180 3D streaming camera, it is important to consider the type of environment that it captures. Different cameras have different levels of resolution and fields of view. Therefore, it is important to choose one that best suits the type of content recorded. Additionally, some cameras are more suitable for capturing high-motion scenes or low-light environments than others. It is also important to consider the audio capabilities of the camera, since some record higher-quality sound than others. Finally, consider battery life when choosing a camera, as some offer longer battery life than others. With all these factors in mind, helps you choose the right type of VR180 3D streaming camera for any given project.

2. Cost and Budgetary Restrictions

When considering what VR180 3D streaming camera to buy, cost and budgetary restrictions are important factors to take into account. Depending on your budget, look for the most affordable option that offers the features you need. It is important to determine how much you are willing to spend on a camera, as well as how much money you have available in your budget for accessories such as tripods, lenses, and other add-ons. Additionally, if you plan to use the camera in a professional setting, be sure to factor in any additional costs such as software licenses or maintenance plans. Taking all of these elements into consideration helps you find the right camera for your needs without breaking your budget.

Steps to Prepare for Using a VR180 3D Streaming Camera

  • Gather Necessary Equipment and Ensure Proper Connection

When preparing to use a VR180 3D streaming camera, it is important to gather the necessary equipment and ensure that it is connected properly. This includes the camera itself, any cords or cables needed for power and connection, as well as a computer or laptop with the correct software installed. If using an external microphone or other audio equipment, set these up before beginning. It is also important to confirm that all of the connections are secure and that all necessary items are within reach before proceeding with the task at hand. Additionally, it may be beneficial to take a few test shots beforehand in order to be familiarized with the camera’s settings and menu options. Following these steps ensures that everything works as expected when capturing content with a VR180 3D streaming camera.

  • Set Up the Camera Angle and Lighting Conditions to Optimize Quality

When setting up a VR180 3D streaming camera, there are several steps to take to optimize quality. First, consider the camera angle and lighting conditions. Place the camera in an ideal spot to capture the scene you want to stream, such as at eye level or slightly above eye level. Lighting should also be taken into account; if possible, use natural light in combination with artificial lighting for better results. The next step is to configure the settings of the camera, including resolution and frame rate, to get the best image quality. Finally, make sure that all components are connected properly and securely before starting your streaming session. By taking these steps prior to streaming with a VR180 3D streaming camera, you ensure that viewers will enjoy a great viewing experience.

Tips for Enhancing Live Video Stream Quality with a VR180 3D Streaming Camera

  • Use Multiple Cameras to Capture Different Angles or Environments
  • Keep Your Equipment Up-to-Date With Regular Updates and Maintenance
  • Utilize Special Effects Software to Enhance Visuals and Audio Quality

The post Enhancing Your Live Video Stream Quality with a VR180 3D Streaming Camera appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/home-office/office-technology/enhancing-live-video-stream-quality-vr180-3d-streaming-camera/

Efficiency vs. volume in PPC: 4 tips to strike a balance in incremental conversions

In search marketing, you are often captive to what you can measure. That means if it’s not directly converting (or even converting with data-driven attribution), it’s wasted spend. 

Another way to frame this is the tradeoffs between efficiency and volume. The terms you are bidding on will eventually convert (unless you are bidding on utterly unrelated terms). But the question is, was that spend efficient and valuable?

In this article, I will share some insights about striking the right balance between efficiency and volume, a productive and healthy debate search marketers can have with businesses.  

1. Determine how the business is operating

We always suggest starting with how the business is operating overall. Each business has some important metrics that drive its decision-making. 

  • Is the business profitable? 
  • What is the available capacity of the team or product line? 
  • Are there specific seasonalities or unique market forces that may alter the normal state of the business (supply chain, holidays)? 

For example, if the product is highly profitable and there is capacity in the business, you would be willing to pay more for additional traffic and sales. 

The opposite is true. If profitability is poor or capacity is limited, it might be desirable to limit the amount of traffic or only find really profitable sales. 

If you are in a seasonally driven business you might have to make hay while the sun is shining. These are just a few factors that might impact your efficiency vs. volume debate. 

2. Forecast at various levels

A great place to start is Google Ads Performance Planner tool which can be found under Tools > Settings in the top menu bar. This tool lets you get a sense of the opportunity for your existing campaigns. 

You can select which of your search or Performance Max campaigns you would like to forecast the opportunity. Input and select some options to help generate some results.

Google will then create an output that looks like the one below. It creates a curve that provides the expected output of conversions for a variety of spend inputs. 

Business

You can create something like this for as few or as many campaigns as possible. Certainly, the input data and output curves will adjust. Often, the more granular you go the more specific and varied the curves will be. 

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

<input type="hidden" name="utmMedium" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="utmCampaign" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="utmSource" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="utmContent" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="pageLink" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="ipAddress" value="” />

Processing…Please wait.

See terms.

function getCookie(cname) {
let name = cname + “=”;
let decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
let ca = decodedCookie.split(‘;’);
for(let i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
let c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
document.getElementById('munchkinCookieInline').value = getCookie('_mkto_trk');

3. Evaluate the incremental cost per conversion

Now that you have this curve, the next step is to evaluate the incremental cost per conversion at various levels.

As a search marketer, it can be easy to focus on just the total CPA within search. However, there are other potential options that a business could use to invest in. 

What we recommend is to review the impact of various spend levels and what the next level of investment will do to the metrics. A table like the one below is a simple approach to this. 

Business economics

To get the incremental cost per acquisition, take the forecasted spend and conversions at various levels and subtract the new level from the prior level. 

Often, brands just look at the total CPA in aggregate and ignore incremental cost per acquisition. Looking at it at the incremental level will give you something to compare to other opportunities. 

For example, in the table above, going up from a total CPA of $351 to $405 is only a 15% increase in CPA. However, the incremental CPA is $891 or 120% above the total CPA of $405. 

This should spark the question, what else can I invest in that will drive a lower CPA than $891? This could be anything from product enhancements or advertising spend outside of search (display, social, programmatic). 

If something else can help you beat the $891 incremental CPA, then it is a better investment. Certainly, there are other things to consider, like level of effort and resourcing. 

4. Choose your bid models

Look at Google Ads’ different automated bid models as you decide. You can set target CPA, ROAS, or impression share or maximize event outcomes (conversions, clicks, conversion value). 

These models also play a part in incremental cost decisions. 

  • If you choose to target a CPA, the optimization will prioritize hitting that CPA goal. 
  • If you look to maximize conversions, the CPA target will no longer be in control and volume will be the primary metric. 

Both models have a purpose depending on your business metrics and the priorities of the business at any given time. We see brands shifting between these models depending on their specific business objectives. 

Deciding between efficiency vs. volume in PPC

There is no “right” option to this matter and it certainly isn’t a static decision.

The choice between efficiency and volume should always be discussed and tested. Search is incredible in this regard. You can always adjust your aggressiveness levels on a near real-time basis. 

I once managed paid search campaigns for mortgages for four different banks simultaneously. All four had vastly different CPA targets given their business metrics and goals at the time. 

So take a step back, look at the business overall and understand how incremental spend or savings would impact the business. 

  • What is the incremental opportunity? 
  • How else can you find incremental results? 
  • Should you spend in other areas, improve the conversion flow, and just save the money? 

Once you start using data and understand how your potential actions will impact the broader business, you will be well on your way to balancing efficiency and volume. (Until you need to debate it again, that is. Because trust me, you always will.) 

The post Efficiency vs. volume in PPC: 4 tips to strike a balance in incremental conversions appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/ppc-efficiency-vs-volume-tips-incremental-conversions-391826

Ecommerce content: How to demonstrate beneficial purpose and expertise

Communicating your value proposition is the overarching goal of your website. But at a URL level, messaging needs to be more refined.

This typically means targeting specific keywords and topics on your pages and clearly communicating your expertise and beneficial purpose within your content.

Google’s recent addition of an extra E to E-A-T for “experience” in the updated search quality raters guidelines further enforces the need for ensuring your beneficial purpose is prominent in your main content. I also believe this is another contributing factor to the indexing quality threshold.

So how can you scalably introduce “experience” content into your pages without diluting your messaging or the page’s beneficial purpose?

In this article, I will share tips for incorporating ‘experience’ content for ecommerce sites and demonstrating expertise either at an author or site level.

Defining beneficial purpose and page quality

To recap, Google defines beneficial purpose as “the overall intention of the page, as determined by the creator of the page.” 

In other words:

  • What is the purpose of the page? 
  • Is it to sell a product or service? 
  • Is it to provide information? 
  • Or is it to generate leads?

On the other hand, Google’s definition of page quality is “a holistic evaluation of the elements that make up a page, including design, functionality, user experience, and content.” 

Here, it is vital to determine:

  • How well does the page meet its intended purpose? 
  • Is it easy to use? 
  • Is the content relevant and accurate?

Displaying product experience and expertise in ecommerce

Demonstrating product experience and expertise is vital in setting your ecommerce site apart from non-specialist retailers and generic quick-buck affiliate websites.

Historically, ecommerce websites interweave product and company reviews into their content and templates as a way of building trust and, to an extent, showing their experience in delivering a quality service.

As search engines are looking for more and more differentiation signals, investing in ‘experience’ content that doesn’t necessarily have target search phrases or an end goal of ranking in SERPs is a must.

As an example, Holts does a good job of demonstrating experience and expertise at a company and author level through content.

Holts - Staff reviews

Holts’ staff and authors review the products they sell. Their profiles also have information about them as consumers, such as their favorite cigars and strength preferences.

These product experience articles contain good internal links to related products and product use cases (e.g., game nights). They are difficult to falsify without the product experience, as they will stand out among your target customer base.

Similarly, if your product or service is in the YMYL space, you want to build as many trust signals as possible that your service is safe and trustworthy, and will not adversely affect consumers.

A great example of this is Optical Express in the UK, which has a comprehensive portfolio of surgeons and ophthalmologists, with individual profiles listing:

  • The governing medical bodies they are registered with.
  • The number of procedures and surgeries they have completed.
  • Reviews from their patients (aggregated, video, and written).
  • Professional memberships.

This content is typically found on small or independent practice websites. For it to be done at scale for a national provider is impressive, and again, serves as a verifiable trust signal that can’t be easily faked.

Utilizing user- and staff-generated content at the product level

The two examples before are great at demonstrating experience at a brand or domain level, but it can also be important to demonstrate experience at a product level.

This can be done either as a direct effort by the website trying to sell the product or through a collection of user-generated content.

For example, Amazon has been doing this for years by putting customer experiences on individual product pages, regardless if they are positive or not. They’ve done this through their “Customers questions & answers” section.

Amazon - Customer questions & answers

The responses, which can include videos and pictures, create unique relevant content to help potential consumers better forecast their experience using the product.

In the search quality raters guidelines, sharing first-hand experiences is highlighted as a signal of high page quality.

A lot of ecommerce websites already do this by aggregating product-specific user reviews on pages to build trust. Complemented with schema markup, this also gives them a chance to get review stars in the SERPs.

Another way of doing this is to create unique, experience content at a product detail page (PDP) level. Two websites doing this well are CardKingdom and TCG Player.

In this sector, most PDPs use the card flavor text and details. Thus, adding unique content that demonstrates product knowledge (and content useful for users) can be viewed as an additional, positive signal by Google.

CardKingdom - Pro Tip! content
An example of CardKingdom’s “Pro Tip!” content on product detail pages.

This unique differentiator can also be useful as a general page quality signal for the indexing threshold.

Developing ‘experience’ content

Many information and studies will likely be published in the coming weeks and months on how to create better experience signals in your content and improve page quality (for your source type).

However, it is important to remember that Google has been collecting data, setting benchmarks of ‘experience’ content currently “in the wild.” The search engine already has an idea of how content can:

  • Portray a value proposition.
  • Demonstrate a beneficial purpose.
  • Have a sufficient “page quality” for the source type.

So we’re not reinventing the wheel or deviating too far from what we’ve already been doing when targeting E-A-T.

If anything, we’re now adding more unique perspectives, opinions, and user experiences to make content more “genuine” – diluting the marketing prose and keyword research-led content pieces with more human notions.

The post Ecommerce content: How to demonstrate beneficial purpose and expertise appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/ecommerce-content-demonstrate-beneficial-purpose-experience-391832

Big energy saving week: Save up to £1,500 per year!

Reading Time: 3 mins

Big Energy Saving Week: Save up to £1,500 per year 

It has been a bitterly cold start to the year. With millions of Brits across the country still working remotely or in a hybrid working arrangement, much more of our time is being spent in the comfort of our own home. 

Although this can be bliss in many ways – let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like being in your own space – it can also mean higher energy bills. With more cups of tea being made at home, kettles are boiling constantly, laptops and phones are being charged and you may even put the heating on when it gets nippy. 

According to analysis from Uswitch, those working from home use 25% more electricity and a staggering 75% more gas than those who work in the office five days a week. Thus, energy bills are much higher for those working remotely. 

It is Big Energy Saving Week, meaning there is no better time to find new ways to save. With 63 million adults reporting an increase in living costs in the last few months, here are some nifty ways to save yourself some money when working from home. 

 

Don’t leave appliances on standby

Letting your laptop or PC enter standby mode at the end of your working day is no equivalent to turning off your electricals at the plug. Turn off all your equipment, looking for lights indicating something may still be running. 

Although laptops and computers may look as if they are off whilst on standby, they are continuing to use energy. According to British Gas, turning off appliances at the plug and closing everything down properly can save you £147 a year. 

 

Turn off the lights

It may seem obvious, but turning off lights can make a huge difference in your home. Understandably, as we navigate through darker and longer days, with gloomy mornings galore, the lights may be one of the first things to be turned on. 

As the day gets lighter, make a mental note to turn off your lights as soon as you can, using natural light where possible. Lighting our homes makes up 10-15% of our annual energy bills. Turning lights off by midday, or when you leave the room, could save you £25 per year. 

 

Fill a flask

It is no secret the British love a good cuppa. Working from home means more tea, coffee and hot chocolate, particularly in the chillier months. Boiling a full kettle costs 8 pence per time. This may not seem too much, but if you are a regular tea or coffee drinker, the pennies can add up. 

Instead of boiling a kettle of water every time you want a brew, fill the kettle up once, boil it, and pop it into a flask. This will keep the water warm until your next drink. This could save you up to £329 per year! 

 

Smart food swaps

More time at home may mean an increased food bill. Lunches and snacks throughout the day may cost you more than you think, pushing your supermarket spend up. A great way to save on your food shopping is by ‘downshifting’.  

Downshifting is making smart food swaps from premium to supermarket own brands whenever possible. This can save you hundreds on your bills, and the taste of many own-brand foods are identical to that of your favourite premium brands. 

In fact, this could save you 30% every time you go shopping. This could be thousands of pounds over the course of a year. 

 

Turn off the TV

If you work from your living room, you may well pop the television on during your working day. Whether you watch it or use it as background noise, it could be costing you more money than it is worth. 

Televisions can be power hungry, so it is worth noting some ways to save. As previously mentioned, ensure your TV is turned off at the plug when not in use. According to Utilita, leaving your TV on standby could cost up to 28p per hour! 

Instead of having the television on whilst you work, listen to the radio, music or a podcast. If you like to have the telly on, reduce the brightness of the screen to reduce power consumption. Give it a go for Big Energy Saving Week!

 

Have a move around

Did you know, moving your sofa just six inches away from your radiator could save you £125 per year? This is because sofas and other bulky furniture will absorb much of the heat emitted from your radiators. 

This means your home will take longer to heat, and subsequently you may choose to leave the heating on for longer periods of time. This adds to your energy bill. So, it’s worth considering the placement of your furniture within your home to ensure maximum energy efficiency. 

The post Big energy saving week: Save up to £1,500 per year! appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/big-energy-saving-week-save-up-to-1500-per-year

Aldi launches new Amazing Savings section on its website

Reading Time: 2 mins

Aldi launch new ‘Amazing Savings’ section on their website.

Family favourite supermarket Aldi has just released a brand-new section on their website, hoping to help shoppers with the cost-of-living crisis. It is aimed at households wanting to save pennies as costs continue to rise rapidly. 

The Amazing Savings section of the budget supermarket’s website brings together the best deals across the store. From deals on food and delicious recipe ideas to help with cutting costs throughout the home and improving energy efficiency, the new addition to the website is likely to help thousands of people. 

Millions of people across the UK are feeling the pressure of increasing costs. With energy bills at a high, inflation causing the cost of food to soar and interest rates the highest they have been for years, everyday living is becoming more and more expensive.  

This spurred Aldi to introduce the new feature to their website to help customers save money and teach them savvy saving skills for food and homeware. 

Aldi’s website says:

“No matter your budget we’re here to help you make amazing savings. From delicious meal ideas for less to discovering all our latest price drops, you can find it all here.  

“Check out our energy saving tips too and enjoy the everyday at even better prices this year.” 

You really can find it all, as the Aldi website suggests. If you are looking for cheap, filling recipe ideas for the family, or want some tips on how to insulate your home, Aldi are bringing you all you need to get saving. 

The new section of the website even showcases ideas from Aldi shoppers. Content creators have been invited to show off their family meal planning, as well as how to make a meal for one, for under £1! 

The SpecialBuys section of the budget supermarket has always been a firm favourite. This section showcases the best deals across the store, including ways to beat heating costs, such as heated blankets and air fryers available to buy. 

You can check out the new section of the Aldi website here. 

The post Aldi launches new Amazing Savings section on its website appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/aldi-launches-new-amazing-savings-section-on-its-website

Google ranking signals: A complete breakdown of all confirmed, rumored and false factors

Every article you can find online about Google ranking factors will tell you there are at least ~200 or so odd variables that contribute to how a site will perform in the SERPs. 

That being said, there’s an enormous difference between what might impact SEO, what’s actually confirmed as a ranking factor, and what is simply a good principle to rank well.

It might sound like semantics, but “best practices” don’t just automatically translate into confirmed ranking factors in and of themselves. 

So let’s separate these confirmed facts from fiction and all the other stuff you simply should be doing as a good marketer on a daily basis. 

In this article, we’ll analyze all of the known, confirmed, rumored, and absolute myth-level Google ranking factors in an easy-to-read, highly condensed way. 

Confirmed ranking factors 

These are all the ranking factors that have been confirmed as true. We know they definitely impact your results in Google’s search engine to varying degrees.

Core Web Vitals 

Your Core Web Vitals assess page experience signals to evaluate how engaging the user experience is. They confirmed in 2021 that they are a ranking signal, so make sure your site has a “good” ranking standing.  

Source: Timing for Bringing Page Experience to Google Search

Anchor text  

Google has confirmed that they use concise anchor text (read: “SEO strategies” as the anchor text and not “click here”) to better understand what’s on your pages, which can directly lead to them placing your page higher in the SERPs. 

This isn’t the strongest ranking factor on the list (especially after the Penguin update), but it can still help. 

Source: Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

Domain history 

You may be running an up-and-up, fully legitimate business now, but what if a sketchy business was using the domain before to scam customers?

Domain history does matter, and it’s a confirmed ranking signal, though Google’s John Mueller has gone on to say that the issue will resolve itself over time. Still, we recommend playing it safe on this one.  

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (Nov. 13, 2018)

E-A-T 

Google’s E-A-T framework assesses expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness – and while it isn’t a ranking factor in and of itself, many of the factors that go into its calculation are ranking factors. So we’re putting this one in the confirmed column, but with a little “but only kind of” note. 

Source: How Google Fights Disinformation 

Headings  

Headings – including H1s and H2s – can absolutely be a ranking factor, as they help Google understand the content on the page. They aren’t the only ranking factor, but they matter, so have them clearly written and keyword-friendly.  

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours (Aug. 7, 2020)

HTTPS 

Secure search, or HTTPS – compared to HTTP – is a known and confirmed ranking factor. It also is an important part of a safe user experience, so make sure you get on this one fast if you haven’t already. 

Source: HTTPS as a Ranking Signal 

Content 

It’s abundantly clear that content is used as a search ranking signal, and the quality of the content, including how directly it answers a question, can be vital to performance in the SERPs. The content on its own (and not just headings) is assessed by Google.

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours (Aug. 7, 2020)

Links coming to your site from other sites have long been a general SEO best practice. That’s because PageRank established backlinks as “votes” from the very beginning, offering a new way to analyze quality that was originally modeled after citations to academic papers.

Source: Ranking Results – How Google Search Works

Keyword prominence 

Keyword density isn’t a ranking factor (we’ll get to that later), but keyword prominence is. This is the location of the keyword, and the closer to the title or beginning of the text, the more prominent it is.  

Source: English Google SEO office-hours (June 18, 2021)

Keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing – which involves over-stuffing your content with keywords in an attempt to get it to rank well – is a negative ranking factor, as confirmed by Google. Doing this will hurt you, so avoid it. 

Source: Spam Policies for Google’s Web Search

If you’ve paid for backlinks and you get caught (which is admittedly very difficult) it is a negative ranking factor. It’s best to stay away from this. 

Source: Spam Policies for Google Web Search

Mobile-friendliness 

Mobile-friendliness is confirmed as a ranking factor, and it’s been strengthening as a ranking signal for years. It’s particularly important for mobile search results, which have eclipsed desktop searches for at least seven years now. So here’s where mobile responsive best practices and confirmed ranking signals overlap nicely.

Source: Continuing to Make the Web More Mobile Friendly

Page speed 

We know that page loading speed is a confirmed factor for Google’s SERPs (and has been since 2010) – and it’s an important one. It also directly impacts the user experience, so make sure that your site loading times are as quick as possible. 

Source: Speed is Now a Landing Page Factor for Google Search and Ads

Physical proximity to the searcher

Google absolutely takes the physical closeness of the searcher into account when determining what results to show them, especially in local search. While you can’t change the location of your business, make sure that all of your business information (including location citations) are up-to-date and accurate. 

Source: How to Improve Your Local Ranking on Google

RankBrain  

RankBrain is an AI system released in 2015 (and significantly updated in 2016) to integrate AI into search queries for improved results, which is particularly helpful for ambiguous queries or long-tail keywords. It’s a confirmed ranking factor, but there’s no clear or distinct way to intentionally optimize for it. 

Source: Google Q&A

Relevance, distance and prominence 

Confirmed by Google as ranking factors, these three signals determine the popularity and geographical closeness of a business along with how relevant it is to the specific search. They are each vital for local search results, so take that into account when optimizing your local business page and remember to generate reviews. 

Source: How to Improve Your Local Ranking on Google

Title tags  

There’s plenty of evidence that optimizing title tags can have a correlative increase with ranking, though we know they’re not nearly as critical of a ranking factor as the rest of the content itself. It’s a small detail in a bigger picture, but they also say that Google looks for keyword stuffing here as a negative factor. 

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (Jan. 15, 2016)

URLs 

URLs are a minimal search ranking factor, which means that keywords in a URL are assessed when Google is crawling your site. Mueller has repeatedly stressed that this is not a ranking factor worth spending a lot of time on. 

Source: @JohnMu on Twitter

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

<input type="hidden" name="utmMedium" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="utmCampaign" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="utmSource" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="utmContent" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="pageLink" value="” />
<input type="hidden" name="ipAddress" value="” />

Processing…Please wait.

See terms.

function getCookie(cname) {
let name = cname + “=”;
let decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
let ca = decodedCookie.split(‘;’);
for(let i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
let c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
document.getElementById('munchkinCookieInline').value = getCookie('_mkto_trk');

Unconfirmed but suspected ranking factors 

Google hasn’t confirmed every single ranking factor out there, but that doesn’t mean that these elements below don’t have some sort of impact on the ranking algorithms. This is the unconfirmed but suspected-by-expert ranking factors that could impact your SEO. 

Alt text 

Having alt text for your images is definitely considered an SEO best practice, having alt text in and of itself is not a confirmed ranking factor. That being said, using it correctly and with keywords can help your SEO strategy by giving Google more context about what you have on the page. 

Source: Google Image SEO Best Practices 

Breadcrumbs  

Breadcrumbs help Google to assess the hierarchy of how your pages are arranged. Right now, we know it can help Google categorize pages, and that Google treats breadcrumbs as normal links in PageRank. We think they can have an impact on ranking, even if they aren’t confirmed as a direct ranking factor. 

Source: @methode on Twitter

Click depth 

Click depth, or the number of clicks it takes to get from your home page to the destination page, is very likely to be a ranking factor based on remarks from Mueller. But not a significant one. Think about how easy it is for users to get to the end page. 

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (June 1, 2018)

Local citations 

Location citations that mention your key business information like name, address, and phone number, and while having these appear online aren’t officially confirmed as a ranking factor, it’s close. Google has noted that local results favor the most relevant results and that businesses with complete information will be prioritized. 

Source: Improve your local ranking on Google

Co-citation 

Co-citation and co-occurrence help Google assess how closely two unrelated sites or pages may be related and may give them clues as to how the pages are related and in what context. A few high-quality, trusted links to your site can help Google put together some of the puzzle pieces, but still, this is unlikely to be a significant ranking factor. 

Source: Google patent on related entities and what it means for SEO

Language 

It only makes sense that someone searching for shoes in Mandarin is less than likely to come across a site written in Spanish. To reach users in different locations, you’ll want to create content in the languages they speak.  

Source: Ranking Results – How Google Search Works 

These are links to your own content on your site, but they need strong use of anchor text. At the very least, they definitely don’t hurt. That being said, they’re unlikely to be a strong ranking factor compared to others like site loading speeds. 

Source: Learn About What Sitelinks Are

Schema 

Schema markup is highly valuable when it comes to driving clicks, and it also provides microdata that Google is able to understand easily. 

It isn’t confirmed as a known ranking factor but we know it can help you rank for queries you may not have otherwise. So it may help as a ranking signal, but the worst-case scenario is it just helps your overall SEO. 

Source: Understanding How Structured Markup Data Works 

The user’s own search history 

Each user is different, and Google knows that. The algorithm do take the past search history into account when delivering search results as best as possible.

This, however, is not something that you can influence at all, and the impact is rarely significant (other than prominent locally personalized SERPs or frequently visited pages).

Source: @searchliaison on Twitter

Rumored but unlikely ranking factors 

These are ranking factors that have long been speculated about, and while they have not been outrightly denied so far, we have a good reason for thinking they’re unlikely to be official signals. 

301 redirects 

While former Googler Matt Cutts said in 2012 that Google would follow an unlimited number of redirects from one page to another, there may be a slight PageRank lost in the process. 

However, not much has been officially said, and, likely, they’re not a page ranking factor. In any case, you still want to manage redirects and linking closely to avoid issues in potential redirect chains. This is often more of a best practice for site performance.

Source: When migrating from HTTP to HTTPS Google says to use 301 redirects 

Canonical links do have a connection with search rankings, but we know that even when they’re used correctly, Google might ignore it and pick their own canonical URL to show in the search results instead. Think Captain Barbosa’s famous quote from Pirates of the Caribbean here, “The code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” 

Source: Google selects canonical URLs based on your site and user preference

Outbound links are way too easy for people to game to be a ranking factor, but it is important to note that the anchor text and the links you choose can help Google better understand your content so it can bring in value indirectly.

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (Jan. 26, 2016)

Disproven ranking factors  

While some rumored ranking factors are hanging in limbo, some have been disproven. Let’s look at what you don’t have to worry about, at least as far as SEO is concerned. 

Worth pointing out – there’s a lot that isn’t on this list, but we wanted to cover the big ones. 

Bounce rate

We’re listing this one first because it’s a common misconception that bounce rate impacts ranking. Google has repeatedly confirmed that bounce rates are not a ranking signal. 

Source: @methode on Twitter

404 and soft 404 pages 

Google itself has confirmed 404 pages do not impact how your other URLs rank, easily dispelling that ranking factor myth. Broken links and pages, however, can provide a poor user experience (so they should be found and updated when possible).

Source: 404 (Page Not Found) errors

Google Display Ads 

This one has a bit of an asterisk. 

Having ads from Display Ads on your page can lower site loading speeds, especially if you have a large number of them. So the concern was that these ads could hurt your ranking. And they don’t directly hurt your ranking just by appearing on your page.  

They won’t directly impact your SEO ranking, though you will want to make sure that you aren’t overloading your pages with so many ads that performance (including site loading speed) isn’t impacted, because you don’t get a pass if they do. 

And for that matter, using Google Ads, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics won’t automatically impact your ranking, either. 

Source: The Top Heavy Update: Pages with too many ads above the fold now penalized by Google’s “Page Layout” algorithm 

AMP 

This one is simple: AMP is not a ranking factor, and we know that because Google has confirmed it multiple times, since 2016 at least. 

Source: This Week in Google Podcast 341

BBB 

While Better Business Bureau (BBB) reviews can impact consumer buying decisions, there is no evidence at this point in time that it can impact your SEO rankings, and one of Google’s team members confirmed it. 

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (Nov. 13, 2018)

Click-through rate 

Your click-through rate (CTR) has long been rumored to be a ranking factor, but it’s confirmed this isn’t the case – especially since Google knew that people were trying to game this years ago. So sure, it’s great for your site to have a higher CTR, but don’t expect it to help your rankings.

Source: CTR in the Google Algo: Google’s Gary Illyes and Stone Temple’s Eric Enge Discuss 

Code to text signal 

This one is not a direct ranking factor, but it can still impact the performance of the page, including ranking factors like loading speeds, along with user experience. So not important for ranking, but still good to keep in check. 

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (Mar. 27, 2018)

Meta descriptions

We know that having a strong meta description is a great SEO best practice to drive a higher CTR to your site, but Google hasn’t used it as a ranking signal since sometime between 1999 and the early 2000s. 

Source: @JohnMu on Twitter

Manual action 

Manual actions are those that manually adjust a website’s visibility in search results by demoting or removing a site or specific pages from Google Search. These are conducted by Google – and they’re a penalty, not a ranking factor. 

Source: Manual Actions Report

Content length

SEO writers will swear up and down that you need at least 1,000 words or 2,000 words or whatever that magic number is in order to be ranked by Google. That’s not true. 

Google doesn’t look at content length as a ranking factor, but you should have enough quality content to be competitive on any given keyword to rank well. 

Source: johnmu on /r/bigseo

Domain age 

The age of your domain can help with site authority overall (see below), but Google has confirmed that it is not currently a ranking factor.  

Source: @JohnMu on Twitter

Domain authority 

Google has repeatedly confirmed that domain authority is not a ranking factor, as any “site authority” score is created by a third-party tool.

Sites with higher domain authorities may correlate with improved SEO because some of the calculations may be close, but they’re correlative and nothing more. Really, this one is common sense. 

Source: johnmu on r/SEO/ 

Domain name

Your domain name is important (“www.coolshoes.com” can absolutely drive clicks), but it is not a ranking factor and hasn’t been for a while. 

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours (Sept. 11, 2020)

Google doesn’t care which link comes first. This isn’t the magic hack some people insist that it is. They care about the quality of the links. And remember, anchor text matters more than where the link is placed. 

Source: English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout (Feb. 20, 2018)

Recency of content 

Is Google automatically prioritizing a brand-new article over one written last year? No. 

That being said, the thoroughness and quality of the article matter. If you need to refresh to stay competitive, that can help your ranking. 

Source: @JohnMu on Twitter

Think that having a .gov or .edu at the end of your domain will make a difference? Maybe to users, but unfortunately not to Google. Not a ranking factor. 

Source: @JohnMu on Twitter

Keyword density 

This may have influenced ranking at one time, and though it’s a general best practice, it is not a ranking factor. And remember: keyword stuffing doesn’t do you any favor. 

Source: What is The Ideal Keyword Density of a Page?

‘We have no idea’ if these are legitimate ranking factors (or not)

Looking for a potential ranking factor that we haven’t discussed so far? There are a few that are still currently up in the air, with evidence that they may be a ranking factor but nothing to confirm that they actually are.  

Authorship of your content 

Does a specific author’s byline impact how Google will rank your page? Honestly, we’re not sure, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to use reliable authors who your audience will trust. 

Google has recommended adding author information into article schema and we suspect that authorship expertise does play a part in E-A-T. But again, it’s inconclusive at this time. (Note that we’re speaking about “authorship” more broadly here than referring specifically to Google’s old Authorship.)

Source: 14 ways Google may evaluate E-A-T 

HTML lists

Orders or unordered HTML lists could be a ranking factor, but we really don’t know. If it is, it’s not a particularly strong signal, but it can help with SEO, especially if it can help you snag a featured snippet spot.  

Source: How to get Google featured snippets: 9 optimization guidelines 

MUM

The Multitask Unified Model (MUM) was rolled out in 2021 to help the algorithms better understand language so Google can more effectively answer complex search queries. It’s not a known ranking factor right now, but it could be in the future, especially since Google has discussed how it’s improved some search results in early tests.  

Source: Using AI to Keep Google Search Safe

Text formatting 

Using HTML elements to format text can help both readers and Google’s crawling tools quickly find important parts of your content. There’s evidence that bolded or italicized wording, for example, may receive extra weight in importance. Since it can help you tell Google what you want it to notice on the page, it may impact ranking, but the jury is still out here. 

Source: @JohnMu on Twitter

Conclusion

There you have it – an expansive list of all the known, confirmed and refuted Google ranking factors, along with everything in between to keep us guessing.

And that’s just the point. This list will change in the future. That’s probably the only thing we can guarantee at the end of the day.

Because while the SEO rumor mill has speculated on what exactly Google’s “200 ranking factors” for nearly two decades, the truth is probably a lot murkier than that.

As Google continues to employ AI, machine learning, and other advanced technologies to slice and dice data, the true “ranking factors” that will move the needle for marketers tomorrow aren’t likely to be the same old static ones we used to rely on yesterday.

The post Google ranking signals: A complete breakdown of all confirmed, rumored and false factors appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/google-ranking-signals-complete-breakdown-391784