LIGHTHOUSE

Google’s John Mueller responded to a Reddit query about reducing a website’s third-party spam score, offering insights into how these scores don’t influence Google’s rankings. He explained that spam scores are generated by third-party tools based on their own metrics, which are often unknown and unreliable.

Mueller emphasized that Google does not use these scores and advised focusing on creating high-quality content rather than worrying about external tools’ opinions. He noted that ranking factors are evolving, with Google relying more on core topicality systems and AI, like SpamBrain, to assess site quality rather than outdated concepts of ranking factors.

Part 1: Google’s Danny Sullivan recently discussed the ongoing updates to their ranking algorithm, emphasizing that more improvements are coming. He advised publishers not to make drastic changes if their rankings haven’t improved, as Google continues refining the algorithm.

Sullivan highlighted that Google is focusing on better surfacing high-quality content from independent sites, filling gaps where big brands may not always provide the best answers. This signals positive changes ahead for smaller, high-quality publishers.

Part 2: A message was also directed to publishers whose content didn’t recover after the latest update, reassuring them that Google is still refining its algorithm. The aim is to better surface independent content, offering hope that future updates may bring improvements for those who were left behind.

Google’s Danny Sullivan also issued a warning against making changes to a site that’s already ranking well on the first page of search results. He emphasized the risks of trying to improve rankings from, say, position six to a higher spot, as it could backfire. With search results constantly evolving, Sullivan advises that once a site is performing well in the SERPs, it’s better to leave it as is. Making adjustments to optimize further could negatively impact rankings in future search updates.

Google has integrated links to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine directly into search results. This new feature, accessible through the “About this page” option in search results, allows users to view archived versions of webpages easily. It benefits researchers and others who need to see older versions of websites.

The Wayback Machine, a tool by the Internet Archive, has been preserving web snapshots for over 25 years, providing a historical look at content that may no longer exist online. This integration transforms how users can explore internet history through Google.

The co-founders of Yoast have launched a new WordPress plugin called Progress Planner that helps users manage tasks, boost productivity, and achieve content publishing and SEO goals. The plugin addresses challenges like procrastination and distractions by providing users with a clear roadmap to success.

It gamifies task completion with badges to reward progress and motivate users. Currently in its Beta stage, the plugin is free to use with a Pro version expected in the future. It simplifies website management and is available for download through the WordPress Plugin Repository.

Google Search Central released a new guide on Google Trends, offering both an introduction for beginners and a refresher for seasoned search marketers. The guide consists of six sections:

• About Google Trends
• Monitoring Trends
• Keyword Research
• Content Prioritization
• Competitor Research
• Analyzing Brand Awareness & Sentiment

The Monitoring Trends section explains that there are general and specific rising trends, which can inform content creation. The Explore tool allows users to view global or country-specific trends by filtering for time periods, categories, and search types.

The Content Calendar section emphasizes using Google Trends to prioritize content topics, focusing on seasonal trends. Google
advises planning content ahead of peak search times, ensuring it is available when users start searching. This approach helps maximize content visibility and relevance.

The article explains compressibility as a concept in SEO that could serve as a quality signal for search engines. Compressibility refers to how much a file’s size can be reduced by replacing repeated words and phrases with shorter references, helping search engines save space, reduce bandwidth, and improve retrieval speed.

In addition to compression’s basic function, the article highlights a 2006 research paper by experts Marc Najork and Dennis Fetterly. The paper suggests that compressibility can help detect spam, identifying duplicate pages, doorway pages, and those with repetitive keywords. It notes that pages with higher compression ratios often correlate with low-quality or spammy content. Search engines can use compression to analyze redundant content, measuring it by the compression ratio (uncompressed size divided by compressed size).

The study found that a compression ratio of 4.0 or higher often indicated spammy content, although results varied at higher levels due to fewer data points.

The concept remains relevant, as SEOs still try to rank duplicate content or overuse keywords, tactics that can increase compressibility and signal spam.

Google will soon be allowing you to expand your text ads. Are you ready?

Google recently announced that they will be allowing advertisers to expand the number of characters that are written on text ads. As you probably already know we are currently now limited to 25 characters on the headlines of a text ad and 35 characters on the description line. This new and very attractive feature,for those who desire to increase their overall click through rate and expand their brand awareness is ideal and should be fully taken advantage of!

I don’t think I’ve heard of a more exciting Google feature in recent years. I think this is an excellent opportunity for all advertisers to consider what kind of copy or content they may want to add so they can make their ads more compelling and hopefully increase their overall click through rate in their campaign strategies. Bottom line, every word on a headline and description line matters and connects one thought with another, therefore don’t underestimate the power of content and copy on your ads.

This roll out is expected to be completed over the next several months, my suggestion to merchants and advertisers is to keep an eye out and take advantage of this new feature!

Having Trouble? 
Having trouble with your pay per click ads? If your business needs help understanding this new Google development my recommendation is to hire a professional and contact us by email at emilio@lighthouseinternetmedia.com or call me directly at 305-389 8955

In your service,
Emilio Yepez
www.lighthouseInternetmedia.com
Emilio@lighthouseInternetmedia.com
305-389-8955

Making SEO More Complicated Than It Should Be?

Just read a nice article on search engine land that talks about whether or not your making your seo process more difficult than it should be. As an agency I’ve seen hundreds of seo strategies and have even created multiple seo strategies that were effect, but at times seemed complex, after years of working in this business what I find is that there is an approach that is practical, yet customized for each scenario but easy to understand by anyone seeking out to implement the right strategy.

Yes for those of us in this business, we know there’s a lot that goes into SEO, but I thought this article really drove home the power of using a simplistic process and approach when it comes to SEO, they even include a chart or info graph that makes understanding this process much easier, happy reading: http://searchengineland.com/making-seo-complicated-249991

Having Trouble With Your SEO? 

if if you need help or guidance in the area of seo or digital marketing, call us at 305 389 8955 or email us at emilio@lighthouseinternetmedia.com

Attention Business Owners: Please Hire a Professional When Building Your Website!

Many business owners underestimate the importance of having a well-designed website to represent their brand and their business online. A true professional in the business knows that these free websites and free hosting gimmicks that exist out there on the web give a business owner a mediocre shot at best representing their business online. As a matter of fact, most of these websites do us a favor because they allow our clients to appropriately compete and drown out their clients online! Most of these free websites and free tools online or low-cost tools to build a website just want to do volume business they really don’t help a business owner when it comes to representing the brand and their business online.

Business owners that have built their own website or have hired family members or long lost cousins to build their website ultimately encounter many pitfalls that soon cost them more in time, money and headaches and distract them from operating and running their business. Below are just some of the pitfalls I’ve seen over my career:

1. The site tends to never be completed and this always seems to be the case when a business owner wants to takes a shortcut

2. That friend or family member never seems to have time or wants to help with managing the website

3. Face it the website looks like garbage and it looks like a 3^rd grader did it. This is no way to run your business!

4. The person you hired, who will build and design your website runs with your deposit and can never be found again!

5. You think you saved money on the project, but what you really did is lose money by chasing away your prospects from doing business with you. Why would they want to engage you further when your competition is doing a much better job representing their business and brand online?

6. Its nine months later and you still don’t have your site done!

7. Finally, you can’t get around to developing content for the site and you simply don’t have the time and energy to deliver the content to your cousin or friend and therefore your website never gets done or completed!

A Few Last Thoughts!

Let me break it you, if you’re a business owner and you sell products and/or services, it is to your benefit to have the proper representation online so that you can actually be taken seriously in your industry and among your consumer client base. There’s nothing worse than a business owner who is in business represent themselves in an unprofessional manner because they want to save a few hundred bucks here and there. My message, experience and philosophy to business owners are as followed: You either do it right or you don’t do it at all, period, full stop!

The only caveat that I would add is that if you don’t do it, you’re going to be considered the minority because the consumer or your particular customer is already conditioned to research and look for your service online. Everything that everyone will ever do before they make a decision will probably go through some online channel to either verify the credibility of the business that they’re currently going to engage in, look at reviews or figure out whether or not you’re the best person in your area  or on the web to do the job.  So what’s my message to business owners? In your business planning you absolutely, 100% need to add a website to your marketing expenses!

Now for those who still don’t understand what I am trying to explain and still cant seem to get why its important to hire a professional to design their site, here it is again! Don’t be a cheap skate! Invest in your business and invest in your brand. You’re never going to be taken seriously if you don’t have at least some decent form of presences online. You don’t need to spend $15,000 or even $10,000 on a new website, there are plenty of agencies that can build your website for under $5,000 or even $2,500 but whatever you do make sure you get a professional to design your website and make sure that the branding of your business is represented correctly on the most important billboard in modern-day history: the Internet!

If your business is looking for ideas or needs help in relation to a website contact us directly at lighthouseinternetmedia.com, email us at emilio@lighthouseinternetmedia.com or call us directly at 305-389-8955

To your success,

Emilio Yepez

New Google Feature 

Google was recently caught 🙂 testing out a new search feature on mobile. If you notice in the image below Google now is trying to test a new version of “people also search for”  when you search for a query on your mobile phones. As you can imagine Google is trying to expand their options to the user when doing a search and offering multiple options to the user and increasing their ability to close the gap to better facilitate the user.

(credit image: Searchengineland.com)

Opportunity for Marketing 

The caveat in this story for Digital Marketers is to keep in mind that with this new feature you can leverage it to do further searches for keywords that otherwise you would have not considered in your marketing efforts. Do multiple searches  and see what this option relays back to you via a mobile search and test it up against your campaigns and strategy.

If your business is looking for ideas or needs help in relation to a website contact us directly at lighthouseinternetmedia.com, email us at emilio@lighthouseinternetmedia.com or call us directly at 305-389-8955
,

Emilio Yepez
Founder and President
Lighthouse Internet Media
www.lighthouseinternetmedia.com
Phone: 305 389 8955