A Month in Search: July 2018
Google recently updated it’s Google Trends user interface, giving us much more information about search trends – Topics and queries anywhere in the world on a given day. This can be a helpful tool when it comes to keyword planning as it gives you an insight into what the world is talking about and can often throw up some surprising results.
I’m sure you can guess what the most searched topic for the United Kingdom for July was? Yes we do like to talk about the weather, don’t we!
Now let’s see the topics the world of search were talking about.
Are you feeling secure?
Google’s Chrome browser has begun warning users that non-HTTPS sites are “not secure” So if a chrome user lands on an HTTP site, there will be a warning in the address bar that the site is “Not Secure.” this will create higher bounce rates for your site, lowering sales and conversions.
We talked about these changes in my blog for May. Google has given site owners plenty of notice that this update was coming in order to avoid the “Not secure” warning being displayed. Sites that have already migrated to HTTPS have nothing to worry about, but while this update will not prevent users from visiting a non-HTTPS site, it may cause users to think twice about which sites they visit.
The “Not secure” warning is part of Google’s push toward a safer web browsing experience. This is an ongoing effort that started back when Google made HTTPS a ranking factor in 2014. To find out more about HTTPS read more here
Google pulls – URL submission tools
Google has removed the public version of its URL submission tool, which allowed users to submit any page to Google’s index. Google is now advising people to use the Search Console – Fetch & Submit tool. Alternatively, site owners can notify Google about new pages with a sitemap file.
To submit a URL to Google’s index via Search Console, follow the steps below:
- Perform a fetch request for a URL using Fetch as Google.
- Click “Request indexing” next to the fetch in the fetch history table.
- Select whether to crawl only that single URL, or that URL plus its direct links.
- Click “Submit” to queue your request.
Google allows site owners to submit up to 10 individual URLs per day. Note that recrawling is not immediate or guaranteed. It also takes several days for a successful request to be granted. One of the limitations of submitting URLs via Search Console is that people will only be able to submit URLs from sites they have verified ownership of.
New chatty schema markup – Speakable
Schema markup is data about data.. Before you switch off, if you are a website owner who cares about search engine racking, and to whether people can find you on the internet, the Event Structured data is something you need to consider for your site.
So what is Event Structured Data?
Event structured data communicates information about an event. It is commonly communicated with a script called, JSON. This is a list of the most important data to include in Schema.org Structured Data:
- Location
- Address
- Name of event
- Start and end time of events
- Description of events
- Images
Learn more about Schema Event Structure here
This month Google went a step further with a new Schema markup – Speakable specification. This new event mark up, named speakable, enables publishers to mark up sections of a news article that are most relevant to be read aloud by the Google Assistant, including devices like Google Home. This new structured event mark up will be an important factor for driving traffic to your site especially for websites that give reference or information.
6 Reasons Google advises you to validate your code
Google hasn’t directly said bad code is a search ranking factor, but if you think about it… it is! This month Google has given some of their thoughts on the effects of good and bad HTML.
1. Could affect crawl rate
In a Google Search Console support page about drops in crawl rate, Google advises that invalid HTML could affect the crawl and indexing of a web page.
2. Affects browser compatibility
Valid HTML code will help assure that your site renders well across all browsers, including the version GoogleBot uses for rendering websites
3. Encourages a good user experience
Valid HTML can help a web page function across all devices, browsers and operating systems. This user experience factor is so important that it’s in Google’s Webmaster Guidelines:
4. Ensures that pages function everywhere
Poorly coded HTML causes the browser to go into “quirks mode.” Quirks mode means the browser is making changes to how the page is rendered. Usually, the web page renders fine. But sometimes the page does not function correctly.
5. Useful for Google Shopping Ads
Google Merchant Center is a tool for creating Shopping Ads. Google’s Merchant Center support page recommends using valid HTML, as it helps ensure that they detect the correct price.
6. Invalid HTML in head section breaks Hreflang
The invalid code in the head section can break Google’s crawl and cause it to not index the hreflang tags.
Check yours here with the official – W3C validation tool
How fast is your mobile?
This month Google has introduced a new way to evaluate the speed of mobile pages, launching a new report that grades pages on a 10-point scale. The new “mobile speed score” is integrated into Google Ads and can be found on the “Landing pages” page. From there, users can quickly see which pages are providing a fast mobile experience and which ones may require further attention.
Mobile speed scores are based on more than just loading times. Google evaluates a number of factors, including the relationship between page speed and potential conversion rates. For those who need help speeding up their mobile pages, contact us today and talk to one of our friendly developers.
Google’s doodle
As I’m sure you are aware there have been a few football matches played recently. Yes, the world cup in Russia has been played out in July with matches being played across 12 venues, across Russia, with the final being played in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where the French national team became the 2018 World Cup champions. Even though as an English man this was a tough day! Here at Verve we would like to pass on our congratulations to our neighbours across the ENGLISH channel for their lucky results!
Until next month – as always if you have questions please send me a message here or call me on 01743 360 000
