Google has filed a lawsuit against a company that allegedly was charging business owners money for free Google Business Profiles, selling fake reviews and promising first-page rankings.
Why we care. If anyone claims they are calling on behalf of Google and demands that you pay money for a free service, just don’t. Protect yourself. Do your research. Never pay such demands. It’s a scam.
G Verifier promised first-page rankings on Google. G Verifier, which Google’s suit alleges was run by Kaushal Patel of Ohio, threatened business owners that if they failed to pay (typically $99), their Business listings would be deactivated or marked as “permanently closed” and their positive reviews would be hidden – resulting in lost visibility and revenue.
The G Verifier Websites also make false promises regarding search prioritization and ranking. For instance, G Verifier tells business owners that they will “[g]et the first page on Google search” and that “[i]f you buy the service from us, your Google Maps business location will come first in Google search.” These statements, which imply superior placement among organic search results, are false and deceitful. No service can guarantee that Google’s search engine, which uses a complex algorithm, will place a particular webpage on the first page of results, much less that it will be the very first result.
Google said “hundreds and hundreds” of Business Profile users contacted Google to report the scam since December 2021.
G Verifier also sold fake reviews. Google’s lawsuit noted that in G Verifier’s FAQ section, one question was: “Why should I buy Google reviews from you?” Also, G Verifier discussed its usage of Virtual Private Networks to get “reviews from the country or place of your choice.”
The website also allowed for the purchase of negative reviews, which could be used to harm competitors.
What Google says. In its blog post announcing the lawsuit, Google said:
“We are filing a lawsuit against scammers who sought to defraud hundreds of small businesses by impersonating Google through telemarketing calls. They also created websites advertising the purchase of fake reviews, both positive and negative, to manipulate reviews of Business Profiles on Google Search and Maps. This practice exploits entrepreneurs and small businesses — and it violates our policies on deceptive content.
This is not the first company to impersonate Google, nor will it be the last. So always beware of anybody who claims they are from Google demanding any money for first-page rankings or for 100% free services.
Cyber Monday in the US this year brought in over an 8% increase in sales since FY21. Globally, sales hit $46.2 billion, a 2.4% increase YoY. Black Friday also saw an increase this year of about 12%. This brings total sales for the weekend to around $68 billion. The figures are not adjusted for inflation, which plays a big part in the cost of goods also increasing.
Record numbers for Shopify. Shopify reported that 52 million consumers globally spent $7.5 billion on Shopify merchants, a 19 percent increase over last year.
“Consumers voted with their wallets over Black Friday and Cyber Monday by shopping with independent businesses,” said Shopify President Harley Finkelstein. “The future of commerce is on any surface, whether that’s shopping online or in store.”
Toys topped the most popular items shopped. The most popular toys shopped this year were:
Pokémon cards
Legos
Hot Wheels
Disney Encanto
LOL Surprise dolls
Cocomelon and Hatchimals toys
Gaming consoles PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X
Games FIFA 23, God of War Ragnarök, Madden 23, NBA 2K23, and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Highest spending items. The average selling price during cyber week increased about 3%. Not surprisingly, the total amounts spent on the most popular items this year also increased, some as much as nearly 700%!
Toys, 684% increase
Electronics, 391% increase
Computers, 372% increase
Sporting goods, 466% increase
Appliances, 458% increase
Books, 439% increase
Jewelry, 410% increase
Honorable mentions. Other products topping the list of popularity were:
Smart TVs
Apple AirPods
Apple MacBooks
Tablets
Smart watches
Instant pots
Air fryers
Other factors weighing in. Aside from inflation and higher-priced items, this year we also saw an increase in trends surrounding discounts and chatbots.
Average discount rates hit 30%
The use of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and other payment options rose by +5% YoY, while the average order value for BNPL went down by 5% in the U.S.
Chatbot messages increased 53% on Cyber Monday compared to 2021
Dig deeper. You can read the full articles from MediaPost here and here.
Why we care. Sales aren’t over yet. If you’re an ecommerce brand or advertiser, you may want to keep your ad campaigns or discounts running until after the holidays to capitalize on the upward trends.
There are many questions about content length in SEO and what ranks the best.
While Google says there’s no specific word count they recommend, some studies have shown that long-form content tends to rank higher than short-form.
If you’re interested in writing long-form content, you probably want to make sure it’s going to rank, get read, and convert so you create an ROI for your effort.
What is long-form content?
Most consider long-form content to be over 1,000 words. It’s a content piece that goes in-depth, offers extra value for the reader and includes more research, insights, and information than a quick read.
Long-form content should leave the reader feeling comfortable with the subject and as if their questions have been answered and they know what to do with the information or how it applies to them.
What should you include in long-form content?
You want to create content that helps your reader. Think about them and what they need or want to learn from this piece. What questions do they have?
It’s your responsibility to anticipate their questions and answer them in your work. If you’re unsure what questions they have, then think about what you want to ensure they know.
Use the following guide questions to identify which information is most important to help them get to the next stage:
What do they need to know?
Why do they need to know it?
What can they do with the information?
What baseline information should they know to make this make more sense?
What if they don’t have that baseline knowledge already?
How does this information impact them?
What’s their next step?
Don’t write a bunch of unnecessary fluff to try to hit some word count.
You must ensure you’re providing value and helping your ideal customer so they want to consume more of your content.
If you get them to the site but find nothing of value, they’ll be less likely to stay or return another time.
Write to tell a story and provide value rather than writing to an arbitrary word count. Your content will be better in the long run.
Where do you start when creating long-form content to rank, get read and convert?
To start, make sure there’s a conversion path for your reader. Your content pieces need to tie to your products or services to drive revenue and conversions.
If you’re answering questions for your potential customer and providing helpful information, they’re more likely to convert if you offer a solution to their issues. Be helpful, and link to additional information that might help them move to the next step.
If you have an opt-in that ties to this content piece and is the next step for them, offer it in your work. You’re helping them and building your email list at the same time.
If you want your content to convert, you need to make sure there’s a conversion path. Everything you write needs to somehow tie to your core products and services.
I teach my students to choose content pillars that link to their products and services and write about topics related to those subjects.
Creating a long-form content piece and ranking at the top of Google is great, but if it drives irrelevant traffic, it won’t convert, and that’s a waste of your efforts.
Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.
How do you make sure your long-form content ranks?
We all know we have no control over the Google ranking algorithm, but we also know how it works and what’s most important from an optimization standpoint.
First, verify there’s search demand for your topic idea, choose a keyword (or keywords) you can rank for, write for your audience, and finally, optimize your content piece.
Make sure there’s interest in your topic
Start by making sure there’s an audience for your content piece.
It may seem like a great idea to you. However, if no one is searching for information on the subject, it’s unlikely that you’ll get much traffic due to low demand.
That said, search volume is not the most critical factor in choosing a keyword, and we’ll talk more about that.
Brainstorm the topics you think you want to cover, and then go to Google and see what’s there today.
Who’s written on the subject you’re considering using for your content piece?
Is there already information on the topic?
Do you have a new angle, new insights, or something more to add to the conversation?
If not, this might not be the best topic. Search the topic and see what shows up in Google Suggested Search.
Is there something closely related to your topic that Google suggests, or are there questions related to it in the People Also Ask section?
If you see your topic idea in either of those places, that’s good because it means there’s interest in your potential topic.
Research keywords
Once you know your topic is viable, use your favorite keyword research tool to identify the keyword or keywords you want to target for this new long-form content piece.
Long-form pieces can rank for multiple keywords a bit easier than short-form pieces just due to the length of the content piece.
Choose your keywords wisely. Look for a primary keyword with good search volume and the ability for your website to rank on Page 1.
Choose your keywords
Go to Google and see who’s currently ranking on Page 1 for the keyword you’re considering using as your primary one.
Are the websites similar to yours?
Are they more prominent brands or companies?
How in-depth are the articles?
Can you provide additional insight or value (not just more words) than the sites currently ranking?
If you see other websites similar to yours and content pieces that you feel aren’t as in-depth or are missing information on the topic you want to write about, then you’re probably making a good choice in your keyword selection.
Choose the keyword with the highest search volume that your website has the best chance of ranking for and is the word your Ideal Customer uses when searching for information on this subject.
How to make sure your content gets read
Now it’s time to write. Go back to your brainstorming notes.
What information do you need to include to answer your readers' questions?
Be sure you have that information. Sort it in a way that it’s easy to follow and understand so your reader wants to continue.
A long-form content piece is a time commitment for someone to read.
Thus, you must provide value, insights, statistics, and things that are unique from something else they might have read on the subject before – or they won’t continue reading.
Format your piece in a reader-friendly way. This is especially important with longer pieces. Consider:
Using bullets and lists – white space is your friend.
Using headers (suitable for SEO and your reader).
Breaking your text up into small, easy-to-read chunks.
Keeping your sentences and paragraphs short.
It’s better to have many small paragraphs broken up with bullets and numbers than big blocks of text.
People will shy away from reading a piece if the content isn’t formatted in a reader-friendly way.
Your final step is to optimize your content piece
Use your keyword in all of your SEO elements. Make sure it’s in the first paragraph of the copy, which it should be since your keyword is closely tied to your content topic. In most instances, your keyword will be in the title of your piece.
Add your keyword to your URL, image file name, and header tags, and use it throughout your copy.
Focus on providing value, being helpful, and offering information your ideal customer needs rather than how often you use your keyword. You’ll use it naturally by concentrating on your reader.
Done right, long-form content is worth the investment
Long-form content can be a significant time investment. It takes longer to write in-depth pieces than quick bites or short-form.
However, the payoffs can be great. Long-form pieces often rank higher in the search results than short pieces.
And if you’re creating content with an audience, you can rank for and tie to your business, bring relevant traffic to your website, and hopefully, get the conversion.
It’s worth testing long-form content if you haven’t done it yet. Not every piece you write has to be long, but those most important to your business should be longer and more in-depth.
To decide if “freshness” could be a ranking factor, we need to understand what the “Freshness” algorithm updates mean and how they affect search rankings.
Not sure which SEO metrics are useful and which aren't as prioritized? Discover which metrics in-house, agency, and freelance SEOs agree and disagree on.
As 2022 winds down, marketers are being asked to focus on efficiency and “do more with less.” The most successful have leveraged tools such as calculated metrics, artificial intelligence and real-time insights.
In this webinar, learn how a financial institution with over 21 million active customers connects its customer data, segments audiences faster and delivers personalized experiences in real time.
Join Salesforce in this free webinar and learn real use cases on finding success and business results by sending fewer communications that are more relevant and targeted.
Email marketing is still one of the effective ways to promote your brand. Follow these 12 actionable tips to ensure you're using email marketing wisely.
All four: iconic duos. But only one can generate over $80k in revenue once added to your website.
On May 17, 2016, Google introduced the concept of “rich cards.” Google has revived rich cards into what SEO professionals call rich results today. Rich results were created to make a more engaging experience on Google’s search result pages.
The result of rich results is a crowd-pleasing SEO tactic that produces an average of 58 clicks per 100 queries. Rich results are a dry and smooth SEO move, with flavors of structured data sprinkled with schema markup alongside sweeter code of JSON-LD.
In the words of the 2022 Women in Tech SEO mentor, Anne Berlin:
“For my money, I’d recommend implementing your rich result strategy from the get-go with as much detail as possible to extend the window of time before a change in policy forces you to make an overhaul to return your site to eligibility for a rich result which was previously driving traffic.”
Rich results make a great eye-opener and a quick win to start a new SEO project. And our need for SEO quick wins has never been greater.
Ahead are 22 things every SEO professional needs to know about rich results.
1. Rich snippets (previously rich cards) are now officially called rich results
Let’s be honest: Google changes names almost as often as Kanye West. As of today, Kanye West’s official name is now Ye. It’s got a Cher and Madonna vibe to it.
I digress.
When Google first released what SEO professionals call rich results today, rich results were called rich snippets, then rich cards.
Rich snippets and rich cards are rich results.
If you call rich results, rich snippets, or rich cards, you might as well start talking about your troll collection from the ’90s. (Remember yesterday? We were so young then.)
2. Rich results, schema, and structured data are not the same
There is a difference between rich results, schema markup, and structured data.
Schema markup (also called structured data format)
Google doesn’t describe exactly what schema markup is because “schema” is a part of a language from schema.org.
While schema.org is helpful, Google clarifies that SEO professionals should rely on Google Search Central documentation because schema.org isn’t focused only on Google search behavior.
Google refers to schema markup as “structured data format.”
Think of schema markup (or structured data format) as the language needed to create structured data.
Schema markup (or structured data format) is required before you can move on to structured data.
Structured data
Again, in Google’s words:
“Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the page content; for example, on a recipe page, what are the ingredients, the cooking time and temperature, the calories, and so on.”
Ryan Levering, a software engineer at Google, breaks structured data down even further.
Rich results
In Google’s words:
“Rich results are experiences on Google Search that go beyond the standard blue link. They’re powered by structured data and can include carousels, images, or other non-textual elements. Over the last couple years we’ve developed the Rich Results Test to help you test your structured data and preview your rich results.”
3. Always use Google documentation instead of schema.org
Schema.org is often used by SEO professionals when writing schema markups.
But the reality is Google wants you to use Google’s documentation. Not surprising, right?
The most effective way to review this change is via Semrush. Filtering with instances where the subfolder ranks within FAQ rich results, we can see the uplift. This uplift correlates with other tools such a RankRanger and Moz, which show an overview of this data publicly. pic.twitter.com/ZxKjuqAwgB
So in honor of Oprah, this is your moment of freedom. Yes, you get a rich result tool. You don’t have to be a web developer to add markup to your website.
If you’re using WordPress, plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath do it for you.
If you’re using Shopify, there are tools in the app store.
If you’re on Drupal or Sitecore (or any other enterprise website custom-coded language), I’d recommend SchemaApp.
Or, if you’re into Google Tag Manager, you can add structured data with GTM.
Just be careful. When I spoke with Anne Berlin, Senior Technical SEO at Lumar, she shared that this can backfire on very slow sites.
“Where there is an excessive amount of (particularly render-blocking third party) Javascript on a site, the schema may not be injected into the DOM before googlebot's render timeout window is hit, and it moves on from the page. So this is a commonly used method, and has multiple advantages, but important to be aware that there may periodically be detection or validation issues when this method is used on an already slow template.”
At the risk of stating the obvious, this rich result test tool is – very useful.
Mostly because now you don’t have to understand what entities, predicates, or URIs are in relation to linked data formats.
If you’re testing in a staging environment, test with the rich result test tool.
After your webpage is live, test with the rich result test tool.
15. If your rich result violates a quality guideline, it will not be displayed in Google SERPs
If you violate Google’s quality guidelines, the chances of your rich result appearing in the search results are about as good as Blockbuster making a comeback.
It’s not going to happen.
16. You can receive a manual action if your rich result violates Google’s guidelines
The only worse than logging into Google Search Console to see you’ve received a manual action is the great Sriracha shortage of 2022.
Repeat after me: I can receive a manual action if your page contains spammy structured data.
One more time.
I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve worked with that asked me to markup reviews and ratings that weren’t made by actual users.
19. Always include recommended properties when available
If Google provides recommended property options, use them.
Lucky me, I’ve had the joy of working with Berlin, fellow SEO and plant lover, who shared her thoughts on recommended properties.
“When making a play for the added SERP real estate and CTR of product rich results, it is strongly advisable to fulfill more than just the minimum required properties. With competition for online shopping clicks and the associated advertising investments heating up, product rich results have been especially volatile this year. The more properties you've populated, the more new and experimental rich results you'll qualify for as they're rolled out.
One potential pitfall – read the recommended property notes in the Google guidelines carefully.
If you're marking up online events and just scan the list and think, eventAttendanceMode is not required, you could miss that if this property isn't defined, Google interprets the event as happening at a physical location.”
20. Adding rich results on the canonical page is not enough if you have duplicates
“If you have duplicate pages for the same content, we recommend placing the same structured data on all page duplicates, not just on the canonical page.”
This step often gets skipped because SEO professionals often mistake that if you have a canonical page, you’re golden. Unfortunately, simply adding a canonical tag doesn’t mean you’re done with the page.
21. If you have a mobile and desktop version, add rich results to both versions
If you’re running an m.websitename.com and a websitename.com, you will need to add your rich results to both versions. Search engines treat these as two separate websites.
Whatever you do to the desktop version, you have to complete it on the mobile version.
22. There is no guarantee your page will receive rich results
Well… you did it. You added your product review structured data and tested it in the rich result tool, but nothing happens.
The truth is there’s no guarantee Google will reward your website with rich results.
Yes, this can result in all the feelings you felt when watching Chance and Sassy returning home at the end of Homeward Bound, waiting for Shadow to appear.
If you’re lucky, Google may limp your rich results back home. But it’s a waiting game.
Get rich results or die tryin’
Get rich results or die trying is a nod to the rapper 50 Cent and his relentless hustler mentality.
When it comes to implementing rich results, you’ve got to pull your bootstraps up and get creative to showcase a rags-to-riches story of what you can do before and after rich results.
“Depending on the type of rich result being targeted, you might need to improve a site's internal linking setup or rally the organization to define its voice and mission on an exceptional About page.”
Rich results are more than just the markup on the page.
Rich results require tact and attention to detail to reap the benefits. Just remember to pay homage to Google’s documentation shared above and “pour one out” for all rankings you’ve lost without rich results.
You hired your content marketing agency in good faith.
You had every hope they would soon start producing fantastic content for your brand or your clients’ brands.
That content would help build awareness around the brand, pull in more traffic, and generate more leads.
But your hope started to fizzle as months passed with little to no changes in awareness, traffic, search engine rankings, or conversions.
What gives? Is it time to fire your content marketing agency and move on?
Hold up. Not so fast.
It might be time to say goodbye. But you might also need to take a step back and pause before you leap. (Content does take longer to work than traditional or paid marketing methods – but it’s also more sustainable.)
Here’s exactly what to weigh and consider.
When is the right time to fire your content marketing agency?
1. You’re not seeing results in the expected time frame
Content marketing does not and will not work in a week – unless you have exceptionally rare or specific circumstances. It won’t work in one month or a few months, either.
To see the full ROI from content, it will take anywhere from multiple months to a full year or more.
That said, the needle should start to move before then. You should start seeing gains within a few months – incremental ones, but gains nonetheless. If you’re seeing absolutely no movement of any metric and six months have gone by, you may want to start asking questions.
And, by the way, your content marketing agency should have set accurate expectations for results from the beginning.
You should have set goals, staked out KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure, and strategized about tracking them. They should have given you an outlook about when to expect ROI and what it will look like.
If none of the above happened, that’s a good reason in itself to question the content agency you’re working with.
Remember, marketing for the sake of marketing is silly. You can and should expect ROI from it, and your agency needs to be accountable for moving that needle.
2. The agency makes repeated mistakes in your content
Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is whether you learn not to repeat them.
For example, say your content marketing agency creates content for your brand with a few glaring errors (like links pointing to low-authority pages or worse, competitors).
Say this happens during the first few months of your relationship. That’s something that can be quickly pointed out and corrected so it never happens again.
If your agency keeps making mistakes in your content, even after corrections, that’s a good reason to dump them.
The entire point of hiring an agency is to take content off your hands so you don’t have to worry about it. It’s their job to:
Nail your brand voice.
Link correctly in your blogs.
Use correct grammar and spelling.
Use keywords appropriately.
And generally, produce content you can be proud of.
If they’re not paying attention to details, they may not be the right agency for you.
3. You’re dissatisfied with the content quality overall
Content quality is an organic search ranking factor. That means you absolutely should be concerned with the quality you receive from the agency in charge of writing it.
Bad content can have a domino effect on your brand reputation and visibility. Poor content won’t rank well in searches, if at all, and thus will drive zero traffic from Google. (Click-through rates drop off a cliff beyond page two of a Google search.)
Not to mention, a visitor reading bad content is most likely to:
Bounce.
File you away in their mental “do not trust” folder.
Goodbye, ROI.
If the content isn’t cutting it, it probably has one of these things wrong with it. Bad content is:
Poorly structured with few headings and long paragraphs.
Poorly optimized with either little to no keyword placement or keyword stuffing.
Not set up to direct leads to their next action (using CTAs).
Missing external links to authority sites, or internal links to relevant pages on-site.
If you see any of the above markers consistently, it’s time to fire your content marketing agency. They should know better and do better.
4. The content marketing agency isn’t communicating well
You’ll never get good results with a content marketing agency that doesn’t communicate well.
Good communication on their end will help you clarify and pinpoint your goals, set your expectations, understand various stages and processes, get answers to questions as they pop up, and more.
Without solid communication:
You may be left feeling unsure about where you’re headed with content.
You might be unclear on what’s happening and when.
You might feel alone, when in fact you should feel like part of a team.
Some red flags to look out for regarding communication include:
Getting no response to emails or messages, or waiting days to receive a response.
Asking questions but getting unsatisfactory answers, or no answers at all.
Not knowing when you’ll connect with the agency next to go over your strategy, progress, or results.
A lack of transparency on their part, which leads to confusion on yours.
5. The agency continually misses deadlines
Meeting deadlines isn’t just a matter of adhering to a content schedule or publishing content on time.
Yes, those things are important factors in consistent content, which is important to the overarching success of a content strategy, but let’s not forget another aspect:
Meeting deadlines is also about showing respect and responsibility. If you and your agency specify deadlines in advance (such as when and how often content will go out on your blog), keeping those deadlines also shows:
The agency respects your time.
They respect your brand.
They respect the strategy and are following through with it.
They put care and thought into your content all the way down to publication.
Continually missing deadlines and offering excuses is therefore a good reason to part ways with an agency.
That leads us to our next point.
6. The agency isn’t treating you like a partner
To see the best ROI, you need to work well with your content agency. Your individual gears should turn in sync, otherwise, the whole operation will jam and stall.
Part of that is good communication, but another part is acting like collaborators and partners in every stage of the game.
For example:
Does the agency you work with treat your concerns seriously?
Do they listen well?
Do they keep you in the loop every step of the way?
This doesn’t mean they allow you to run the show, by the way. They’re the content experts, not you. That said, your content marketing agency should still keep you involved in the process and decision-making, and help you understand the strategy and its moving parts.
They’re accountable to you, just like you’re accountable to them. Mutual trust is important. If you’re not feeling the teamwork, you might want to reconsider the working relationship.
7. You suspect they’re using spammy or misleading techniques to get quick results
Usually, the only way to get uber-fast results with content is to cheat.
Even today, spammy tactics are surprisingly common in content marketing. However, using them is a giant trap. You may see swift gains in rankings or traffic, but these are unstable gains.
They will disappear just as quickly because Google is incredibly finely-tuned and can detect most types of spam through their automated systems as well as through manual action.
That may result in a penalty for your site – which could range from a ranking demotion to being completely removed from Google search.
If you suspect your content marketing agency may be using spammy techniques to quickly rank your site in search, they’re playing with fire. It may work for a short time, but will inevitably result in death for your site’s visibility.
If they’re playing with fire, dump them and find an ethical content agency that will build up your site rankings for longevity and sustainability.
What to remember before firing your content marketing agency
A content marketing agency’s job is to handle your content marketing so you don’t have to. They’ll manage everything from planning to creation to distribution.
If you hired an agency, you most likely don’t have the time or expertise to handle it yourself. At the same time, you expect smart strategy and results from whoever you hired.
And that’s totally warranted – but don’t make the mistake of giving up too early.
Content marketing is a long-term game. It isn’t about quick wins, but rather slow and steady gains that build over time.
It can be frustrating in the beginning, but consistency will pay off dividends in the future.
If your agency is working diligently on your content marketing, publishing regularly, communicating well, analyzing metrics, treating you like a partner, nailing content quality, hitting deadlines, and keeping you in the loop – just hang tight.
Those results you long for will be coming around the bend.
How can one boost rankings in today's competitive SEO landscape? Focus on these 10 website optimization essentials and set yourself up for long-term success.
There are a growing number of reports across the web of Google Ads accounts managers threatening to contact clients directly, despite not being allowed to.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk sets his sights on improving the website’s search functionality, enlisting the help of prolific hacker and long-time critic George Hotz.
Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller – in a rare case of annoyance – said that any SEO advice mentioning “link juice” is not to be trusted. Is it or not?
I wondered about the context and doubted whether it was true. There are different opinions.
After Barry Schwartz shared the news on LinkedIn, a lively debate ensued. Even Moz and SparkToro founder Rand Fishkin chimed in on the comments saying, “Maybe link juice is real after all. Maybe y’all should write more about it!”
On link juice and bad SEO advice
When he dismissed link juice, Mueller was answering a question about outgoing links. He essentially ignored the original question and solely responded to the undesirable “link juice” mention.
While Mueller is usually neutral in his tone this time he came close to a rant on Twitter:
“Anything that talks about ‘link juice’ should be ignored.”
This is nothing new. He’s just reiterating what he expressed in the past more than once.
“I’d forget everything you read about ‘link juice.’ It’s very likely all obsolete, wrong, and/or misleading.”
So is link juice such a detestable term? Is it akin to the “snake oil” fringe SEO practitioners are still offering? Let’s take a look at the bigger picture.
Snake oil: A popular type of panacea in SEO
There’s a reason why the SEO industry had a bad rep for many years. Metaphorical snake oil has been sold in various ways and many websites have been harmed by misguided SEO advice or tactics.
The proverbial “snake oil” – a synonym for misleading promises of miraculous cures to all kinds of diseases – has often been likened to SEO.
Even in 2022, we see many more #seohorrorstories passed on Twitter and other social media than inspiring success stories. SEO experts themselves, not just outsiders, rather focus on those negative news.
Of course, the SEO industry is not the only one guilty of selling snake oil or spreading the word about it.
I had many clients asking me for unethical SEO practices over the years. To this day, you have to be very firm in your ethics in order not to get caught up in a downward spiral of shady SEO techniques. I also get requests for paid links and other similar offers regularly by mail.
The history of link juice
When Google started out in the crowded and messy search engine market, it had a revolutionary ranking algorithm that used the so-called “PageRank” to determine website authority. It was named after Google co-founder Larry Page, not (just) the actual “web page.”
SEO specialists started to use many different slang terms for PageRank – “Google juice” or “link juice” being among the most popular.
In the early years since its inception, Google performed pretty well by PageRank alone and grew its market share continuously.
First-generation search engines like AltaVista, Yahoo and Infoseek were easily gamed by simply using:
Keyword stuffing.
Hidden text.
Misleading meta tags.
Once Google grew big enough to dominate the market, unethical SEO practitioners mainly focused on artificially inflating the number of incoming links (also called backlinks) so that Google would rank them higher.
PageRank became less and less of a guarantee of high-quality search results leading to Google started adding more ranking signals to the algorithm over time.
As link juice became more abused, Google kept on adding more ranking signals, sophisticated technologies like AI and quality concepts like E-A-T.
Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.
We won't go too deep into the topic of link juice, as others have done before us. An evergreen guide by WooRank is still worth reading to get a quick overview. Their visualizations are especially self-explanatory.
In theory, the website authority of the site linking out is spread more or less equally to the pages it links to.
But in reality, the process is much more complex and link value depends on many other elements including:
Anchor text (<a href="example.com">I'm the anchor text!</a>): Too many keywords are a red flag, not enough pass less value.
Placement on the page: Footer links count less than content links, for instance.
Context on the site and page: Irrelevant or off-topic context passes less value.
Additional attributes: HTML rel attributes such as rel="nofollow, UGC, sponsored" devalue links.
The number of links: Link lists with dozens of links may not pass any significant value.
Is content the new link?
By 2019, Google has shifted its messaging to concentrate on quality content. From the outside, the pivot seems to imply that "content is the new link." Eventually, one of Google's main SEO documents which largely focused on links was updated to predominantly cover content.
For a long time, Google representatives have been wary of the industry's emphasis on link building. Instead, they underscore the need for quality content each time the question comes up.
Now, Google tends to overemphasize content in order to make people more aware of it and underrepresent links so SEOs stop obsessing about them.
In Google Search Essentials, the "key best practices" section mentions content six times including on top while links are mentioned only three times:
In my opinion, we have to put both tendencies into perspective and ensure we find the middle ground.
While the colloquial term link juice really sounds a bit sleazy, the concept behind it (Google's original algorithm) is still valid and used to determine website and page-level authority or value.
It's a huge oversimplification of the by-now very complex Google algorithm containing numerous checks and balances (as Kaspar Szymanski has summarized) ensuring a proper ranking less prone to manipulation.
At the end of the day, you still have to attract links to your website or else other content of similar quality will outrank you in organic search results. So, while using the term link juice may sound a bit outdated, it's not yet complete snake oil.
What do the experts say? Fishkin is not the only one to speak about link juice.
Brian Lonsdale, Co-founder of Smarter Digital Marketing Ltd, maintains:
"If Google doesn’t want you to do something it means that it works."
WhilePierre Zarokian, CEO at Submit Express / Reputation Stars, added:
"I will not fall for that. Google algo has been based on link juice since 1998."
What terms should be used instead of link juice?
You can say many things to refer to link juice without sounding like a drug dealer in a back alley.
Jessica Levenson, Global Head of Digital Strategy & SEO at NetSuite and Oracle, makes it pretty clear:
"Frankly, no one should use that term. Links and their purpose aside, it's the worst phrase ever."
What else can you say instead then? Some of the more professional-sounding terms include:
Link authority
Link value
Link equity
Daniel Foley Carter, Director at Assertive, explains:
"I call it link equity – irrespective of what Google says – anyone who's been in the SEO industry knows to take things like this with a big pinch of salt."
If that's too boring or technocratic for you, you can follow the advice of Brent Payne:
"I use 'link tequila,' it's just a lot more fun. And I love tequila."
Link equity is not enough
When you use a synonym for "link juice" though, remember that the concept is on the way out and doesn't work by itself as in the early days.
When I started out in SEO in 2004, it was still common to rank empty websites.
You could even get thin content pages to rank for competitive keywords solely by directing link juice to them. In 2022, that's a rare exception – if at all possible.
Focus on creating great content to attract great links
As always, the truth is found somewhere in the middle. While Google is de-emphasizing links in their algorithm and public rhetoric, its technology still relies to some extent on links.
It's still very difficult to get organic search visibility on Google solely by way of content. But once that content gets endorsed by links from authority sites, the probability of gaining visibility on Google's top positions grows significantly.
So how do we get there without buying paid links or otherwise gaming Google? There is a well-traveled path by now. It has worked for many content SEO practitioners.
Create 'linkable assets'
For many years, website owners wanted to buy SEO services instead of creating content that could actually earn links. I lost many potential clients when explaining that I can't artificially inflate the ranking of an empty site that only has self-promotional material as its content.
Linkable assets are any kind of comprehensive, valuable and unique resources that are likely to get recommended by other publishers. In-depth guides, unique survey results, and breaking news are some examples.
Attract links naturally
Once you have published content that is worth getting linked to, you ideally just have to sit and wait until people notice and link to you.
This is, of course, the theory. In practice, you will most likely be overlooked unless you are already having an established audience.
In such instances, you have to at least mention experts in your content who already have an audience. They can help you get the ball rolling.
Reach out to ‘linkaratis’
Influencers, journalists and industry experts are usually very busy and once they are established a social media mention may not be enough to get their attention.
Good old email outreach is your tool of choice then. So-called linkaratis are often open to helpful suggestions that match their interests.
When you choose the right people and focus on a few instead of sending mass mailings to hundreds of strangers, you get some initial traction until others notice you organically.
