Hamid Khan

29/05/2023

🛑Many folks think: high rankings = successful results. 🛑

However, SEO isn't done yet. SEO is a multifaceted process that goes beyond just ranking. It's equally important to check whether the ranked results are getting desired clicks or not.

Let's discuss what influences Google's ranking algorithm and the significance of click-through rate (CTR) in determining your position.

There are three main factors that amplify your CTR game.

🌱Rankings
🌱RankBrain
🌱Other machine learning algorithms

Google has changed a lot with the introduction of its improved algorithm, particularly with the launch of RankBrain. However, it's essential to understand the current Google ranking signals as compared to the old Google.

🍏User Experience over Authority: Current Google aims to prioritize websites that offer a seamless and positive user experience as compared to just authoritative websites.

🍏User engagement metrics, such as click-through rate (CTR), bounce rate, and dwell time have gained significance in the current algorithm. I.e CTR + Bounce rate + Dwell time = Users Signals Satisfied

🍏Goal Completion: Current Google has more weightage on the satisfaction of the needs of the user after clicking on a result through SERP.

As proven by some studies, there is always an expected CTR for every position on SERP set by Google.

Google measures how users interact with search results according to each position they click on, and that’s how Google decides the repositioning of the SERP.

Shocked? Let’s explore it with an Example:

Suppose against X query, Position #2 gets 340 clicks on average compared to Position #3, which gets 950 clicks on average for the same X query.

If the position #3 result keeps getting more clicks than position #2, then chances are the position #3 result will beat the position #2 result against X query.

The more your pages beat the expected organic CTR for a given position, the more likely you are to appear in more prominent organic positions than before.

Your goal with content + links should be to beat your competitors when it comes to CTR.

Make sure you follow these best practices:

🍵Craft titles that are both captivating and concise
🍵Stand out from the competition by creating unique and differentiated titles
🍵Align your titles according to the searcher’s intent
🍵Incorporate power words and emotional triggers in your titles to evoke curiosity, excitement, or urgency
🍵Test different variations of your titles to identify the ones that yield the highest CTR
🍵Add a Number to your Title

Here are several templates that you can utilize:

9+ Best (but cheap) – No more back pain!
A Complete 70+ xx xx xx to Impress Your Clients
Product x vs. Product Y — which one is most worth it?
Product x vs. Product Y — which one is right for YOU
(Cover your ass) With our essential list of 17 bulletproof contracts

Enjoyed the post? Follow me for more growth-focused SEO advice.

Cheers.

02/05/2023

3 common canonical tag mistakes to avoid.

28/09/2022

🟥 Page's organic traffic dropped significantly while the rankings are unchanged? 🟥

Heck, it happened again! 😧

It seems to be an increasing scenario after cross-checking with Analytics and SEO tools confirms a drop in traffic without a change in rankings. Even the meta tags (title & desc) and schema markup are unchanged from your side.

But what could be the possible reasons then❓Hmmm, Let's dive in!

🌵 Fortunately, I have dealt with such a thing before.

To diagnose the cause of the traffic drop (if there is nothing wrong with your site) here are some interesting facts that you may be ignoring:

🍒 "Product Disruption" due to the change in user behavior.

For Example, changes in seasons, mortgage rates, and a disruption in the industry can all contribute to a change in the kinds of things users are searching for.

👉 Check through "Google Trends" to see whether your industry is going downwards, up, or holding steady.

🍒 "New featured snippets" acquiring real estate (position zero)

This could be a significant reason for traffic drop since there is a likelihood that google is showing more featured snippets than before, and that's taking away your potential visitors.

🍒 "Advertising carousels" at the top of the SERP

Google often shows advertising carousels on SERP, majorly on mobile devices. If this happens in your case, this could be a big reason for the traffic drop.

🍒 An "increase in videos" above your result on SERP

There is an excellent chance that an increase in the videos in the videos' carousel could avoid people from clicking on your result and hence a decline in organic traffic.

After all, you still have the opportunity to win back your lost traffic.

You must devise your next content strategy and try to target/outrank the already acquired featured snippets for better visibility and sometimes traffic.

👉 Here's a quick way to do it:

Analyze the already ranked content in the featured snippets area (text, image, video) and offer better value than the current ones.

Wait for some days and enjoy the results that you deserve!

20/07/2022

🔥

21/06/2022

How Google's search actually works? (PART: 1)

Yesterday night, I was having a zoom session on this topic in which I shared some shocking truths about what actually happens when you search a query on Google. 😳

So I thought of sharing it with you guys as well since the session had gone amazing!! 😃

Here's the complete session recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1d4sVKBUZ8

Here are the quick take-offs around which our story did revolve.

Google search stats everyone needs to know:

1. Average queries processed by Google (every second): 40,000
2. Average Searches on Google per day: 3.5 billion
3. A single Google query uses 1,000 computers in 0.2 seconds to retrieve an answer.
4. 16% to 20% of queries that get asked every day have never been asked before.
5. Google has answered 450 billion unique queries since 2003.
6. How is Google different from other search engines?

A quick Google algorithm updates stats:

1. On average, Google changes its algorithm 6 times a day
2. Probably in 2020, Google launched 3600 algorithm updates (minor and core)

How Google's search actually works?

What are Spider and Crawler?

2 Major types of queries:

1. Query deserves freshness (QDF)
2. Evergreen queries

A basic process followed by Google in processing a single query:

Step 1: The Crawl
Step 2: The Index
Step 3: The Query
Step 4: Understanding The Query
Step 5: Personalization
5.1. Date
5.2. Location
5.3. Previous History
5.4. Device
Step 6: Changing Search
Step 7: Future Challenges

Additional Research:
How to increase your page engagement to increase rankings?

Here's a quick checklist you can implement on your page to increase the engagement of the readers and reduce the bounce rate:

- A table of contents
- Bullet Points
- Numbered Lists
- Tables
- Embedded YouTube videos
- Pictures
- Important sentences in bold (or italic)

Since everything from the session is hard to explain here, I recommend watching the complete video, which I think is essential to understand for every Google user.

Lastly, do you want part 2 of "how Google search works"? Please tell me in the comments. 👇

Cheers,
Hamid

In this video, I will explain the algorithms and factors take place by Google in crawling, indexing and ranking a webpage against the user's query. #...