The SEOs Diners Club - Issue #3 - Weekly SEO Tips & News

March 13, 2022

Here are the weekly SEO insights for the SEOs Diners Club members. In addition, you can join our free The SEOs Diners Club network to ask questions and share your thoughts on these topics and more.

Why Are Internal Links Important for SEO?

John Mueller of Google confirms the importance of internal SEO links and recommends a strategic approach.

John Mueller answered a question about internal links. He confirmed that internal linking, which goes beyond the site breadcrumb navigation, is one of the "biggest investments" a publisher can make to show Google what content is essential.

Why is Internal Linking Important?

John Mueller is not saying that internal linking is a Google ranking factor. Instead, he says it's an excellent way to show Google which pages on a site are essential.

If we look at how a website is structured, the site structure resembles a pyramid in a traditional website.

The top of the pyramid usually contains general information about what the site is about and what it offers.

When you switch between the category and subcategory tiers via the menus, you will see that the topics flow from the very general to the very specific. The larger the site, the more likely a vital page will slip through and unnoticed by Google.

According to John Mueller, strategic internal linking is a significant way to drive Google and site visitors to the most popular or important topics.

You can read the details in the following blog post:

Google's John Mueller affirms the importance of internal linking for SEO and recommends a strategic approach

How Does Google Search Understand Human Language?

Google explained how artificial intelligence systems work to understand human language and return relevant search results.

Google Search is capable of understanding human language with the help of multiple AI models, all working together to find the most relevant results.

Information on how these AI models work has been explained in simple terms by Google's VP of Search, Pandu Nayak, in a new article on the company's official blog.

An overview of the major AI systems in Search

Nayak demystifies the following AI models that play a crucial role in Google's return of search results:

  • RankBrain

  • Neural Matching

  • BERT

  • MUM

Here's a rundown of what Google's major AI systems are and what they do:

RankBrain: Ranks content by understanding how keywords relate to real-world concepts.

Neural Matching: Provides Google with a broader understanding of the concept that expands the amount of content Google can search.

BERT: Allows Google to understand how words can change the meaning of queries when used in a specific order.

MUM: Understands information and world knowledge in dozens of languages ​​and multiple modalities such as text and images.

These AI systems work together to find and rank the most relevant content for a query as quickly as possible.

How Does Google Search Console Track "People Also Ask"?

John Mueller explained how clicks and impressions from "People Also Ask" snippets that appear in Google search results are attributed in Google Search Console.

When asked about this topic, John Mueller began his response by stating that impressions are counted for all URLs shown in Google Search, including "People Also Ask" snippets.

After a search is done, clicking on the "People Also Ask" section will consider each URL that appears to have received an impression. The order doesn't matter, so you don't have to appear at the top in the users asked them section. It is enough for users to see a URL of your page for it to be an impression.

Mueller states that clicking a link to a page counts as a click.

When it comes to measuring ranking position, the Search Console keeps track of when "People Also Ask" appears in a given set of search results.

For example, if it is displayed in the second position, all URLs are shown in the "People Also Ask" box will be counted as ranked in the second position.

Here’s how clicks and impressions from ‘people also ask’ snippets are attributed in Google Search Console.

Free Content-Led SEO Training with Brian Dean by Semrush Academy

You can improve your SEO-friendly content creation skills by joining this free training at Semrush Academy.

A few months ago, I mentioned that Semrush acquired Backlinko, and I strongly suggested that Semrush probably did this to diversify their training programs.

I recommend you to join the Content-Led SEO training created by Brian Dean for Semrush Academy, which you can attend for free. And I should point out; we could probably get such training like this for a few hundred dollars before Semrush acquired Backlinko.

You can click the link below to join the course:

Get your website into Top-3 of Google with a brand new course from Brian Dean.

Danielle Marshak of Google Explains How Google Understands Videos

What kind of work is Google doing to understand the content in videos? If you're wondering, here's the answer.

In the latest Search Off the Record podcast, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman from the Google Search Center team hosted Danielle Marshak, Product Manager of Google Search Videos.

Gary Illyes asked how Google understands what the videos are saying, and Danielle explained that they extract text and understanding from the videos in several ways:

  • Audio from the video file is used to understand what words are being spoken

  • Characters can be extracted from the video. This includes characters like headings throughout the video to understand where sections (important moments) are.

  • Visual information can be extracted, such as objects, animals, or motions. Danielle said this is harder for Google to handle

  • Structured data is used by Google as well in some ways.

You can find more detailed information on the subject at the link below:

In the latest Search Off the Record, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman from the Google Search Central team had Danielle Marshak, a Google Search Product Manager for Videos, as a guest on the podcast. Danielle Marshak, who created a couple of new SEO video help resources recently, spoke about how Google understands the content in videos.

13 Content Promotion Tactics to Get More Eyeballs on Your Content

After writing an excellent blog post, applying these tactics can make the article reach more people and contribute to getting backlinks.

If no one is reading your newly published article, it won't do its job of persuading, engaging, or selling. Instead, you must promote your content yourself. Content promotion is one of the essential stages of "content marketing."

Published on the Ahrefs blog, the blog post below covers 13 simple and effective ways to promote your content:

  1. Do SEO

  2. Make your content shareable

  3. Share with your audience

  4. Email people mentioned in your content

  5. Add internal links to newly published pages

  6. Get your employees to share

  7. Share content in relevant communities

  8. Reuse your content

  9. Featured in newsletters

  10. Repost content on third-party sites

  11. Publish multiple guest posts on other blogs

  12. Communicate with people who wrote something you've dealt with

  13. Advertise

You can read the details by clicking the link below:

The content promotion puts "marketing" into "content marketing." Use these 13 content promotion tactics to reach more people.

Which is Better For SEO: Dynamic Prices or Static Prices in Title Tags?

This split test by SearchPilot was designed to look for the answer to this question.

I love split tests organized by SearchPilot. It is beneficial for me to develop different perspectives on some issues. This time they tested a subject that most of us are curious about. If you are curious about the analysis results, click the link below:

For this week’s #SPQuiz, we asked our Twitter followers what they thought the impact on organic traffic was when we added dynamic prices to the title tags of a customer’s travel/rental website.

Here’s what people thought:

The majority of you believe that adding dynamic prices would positively impact organic traffic. At the same time, there was an even split of 20% from the rest of our followers, thinking it would have no detectable or negative impact.

Free Technical SEO Certification by Blue Array Academy

I recommend this certificate program, which I recently completed and found very useful, to all SEO experts.

Blue Array's Technical SEO experts take you through the foundations of Technical SEO in a brand new course. It took me a month to complete the course at a slow pace. However, you will probably finish it within a few weeks if you spend more time.

Here is what you will learn in this course:

  • What to consider when investigating a website from a technical perspective

  • Which tools to use and how to interpret data

  • How to crawl a website most quickly and efficiently possible

  • What areas to check to comply with the Google Page Experience update

  • How to choose Structured Data

  • How to detect and resolve thin and duplicate content

  • The standard security issues and how to fix them

  • Check your internal linking to give your website the best chance to rank well.

You may enroll in the course through the link below:

This course will help you level up your understanding of the technical side of SEO. Help advance your knowledge of this in-demand skill, and progress towards a greater understanding of SEO.

7 Ways To Use Semantic SEO For Higher Rankings

Semantic SEO is the process of building more meaning into web content. You may try out these semantic SEO strategies to rank higher in Google.

Semantic SEO is building more meaning and topical depth into web content. By doing so, you help Google better understand your content. You also help Google see it as high-quality and thus promote it more often in the SERPs.

You may find seven ways to use semantic SEO for higher rankings on the blog post below:

Semantic SEO is the process of building more meaning into web content. Try out these semantic SEO strategies to rank higher in Google.

Book of The Week: Mastering In-House SEO

An indispensable guide for in-house experts and SEO agency employees alike.

In this ground-breaking book, Blue Array has compiled contributions from 26 leading in-house Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts on topics ranging from successful case studies, getting things done when you have no formal authority, career advice, community building, and many more.

Mastering In-House SEO [Schnieders, Simon] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Mastering In-House SEO

I hope you enjoyed my weekly SEO insights. Hope to see you next Sunday in the new episode. I wish you all a great week.

Best,

Mert Erkal