Google’s principle of E-A-T — which stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness — is the search engine’s way of determining the value of content on the web.

But, what does it mean for content to reflect expertise, authority, and trustworthiness?

“Expertise, for me, is the amount of knowledge you have in a field,” said Kevin Rowe, founder and CEO of PureLinq, in a recent webinar. “You build more expertise the longer you’ve been in a field.”

“Authority is how other authoritative figures validate you — this is reflected through authoritative links. And trust is [expertise and authority] over time,” he added.

When most marketers consider E-A-T signals, they often focus their efforts on creating high-quality content. And while this is one of the most important factors, these professionals could be missing out on potential ranking signals from authoritative backlinks.

According to Rowe, considering E-A-T when building links to your site — and generating content — is a great way to improve rankings, especially for those in the YMYL (your money, your life) space.

What Google says about E-A-T and YMYL

Google offers marketers a lot of resources for marketers looking to improve their sites’ E-A-T signals, says Rowe. Whether it’s documentation such as the General Guidelines or communication on social platforms such as Twitter, these resources can provide additional context into how the search engine determines site authority, expertise, and trustworthiness.

The information suggests Google relies heavily on the concept of E-A-T when evaluating YMYL content. According to the Guidelines, it’s “possible to have everyday expertise in YMYL topics.” This can be presented in the form of forum posts, articles detailing one’s personal experiences, or any other content that seeks to give searchers advice.

However, despite all of the resources available, Google doesn’t actually offer specific strategies about how to improve E-A-T or even the way its algorithms work in conjunction with it.

“They give a lot of information about how they’d like the search engine to work, but it doesn’t always work that way,” Rowe said. “So, we have to use testing and analysis to understand the cause and effect relationships.”

E-A-T isn’t an update or algorithm; it’s a principle to follow when optimizing your site in general. So, marketers should use Google’s guidelines and documentation to inform their testing and optimization efforts to better adhere to this principle.

How to establish E-A-T with link building and content

While there aren’t straightforward steps from Google for improving E-A-T, marketers can work on enhancing the quality signals for their sites through strategic link building and content creation efforts.

“It’s all about how authoritative your links are and how expert-driven your content is,” said Rowe.

Rowe highlighted three ways marketers could begin sending higher E-A-T signals.

Create subject matter expert content. Write content from a position of expertise. Your pieces should be the go-to resources for readers interested in a given subject. If you’re not an expert in the area, hire someone who can create this content for you.

Message sculpting. Focus on the needs of the audience you’re writing for. People searching for YMYL content want relatable messages that speak to their personal situations, so make sure your writing reflects this.

Identify link building opportunities. Look for reputable, relatable sites and start pitching your content to them. A great resource Rowe recommends is HARO, which connects subject matter experts with journalists who publish content in those areas.

High-quality content and links from authoritative sources are the foundation of E-A-T. Rowe highlighted how these aspects are inextricably intertwined: “Expertise, authority, and trust are about the amount of knowledge and content shared on [and from] your site. It’s about who you are, who’s writing the content, and what other people think about it.”

Watch this webinar presentation at Digital Marketing Depot.

The post How E-A-T content and link building can drive YMYL SEO success appeared first on Search Engine Land.

I was born a salesperson. Growing up in Texas, my dad had me working at Trader’s Village, selling everything from belt buckles to hat pins (and every other trinket you can imagine).

You didn’t have to know much about the product. You just needed to know how to haggle pricing.

Selling SEO services is different. You must have a keen understanding of the product/service you represent. And very importantly, you must understand how (or if) an SEO effort can benefit the prospects you’re speaking with.

If you’re not one of the agencies that send a one-sheeter to show the various SEO packages you offer, you are trying to customize an approach for your prospects. In my opinion, we should do a bit of heavy lifting before having our initial calls with prospects. This article will provide some thoughts on how you may want to approach the initial call.

Initial questions to ask the prospect

First, I recommend that you ask your prospect to provide some initial information so that you can do the homework for the initial call. It’s helpful if the prospect has already provided you with an RFP detailing the scope, in-house team capabilities and availability for the SEO effort. If they haven’t completed an RFP, you can download the SEO RFP at my company’s blog and re-brand it/use it as a template for what you may want to provide them.

In lieu of that kind of information, you should begin by asking (at least) these four questions:

1. What are you hoping to accomplish with this SEO effort?
2. Who are some competitors that you believe to be doing well?
3. What type of in-house support do you have for this effort?
4. What have you done (if anything) historically for SEO? (Perhaps they have current activity?)

With this information, you can dig into things and determine how you will shape the call.

Do the research

I begin by looking at the prospect’s website. I want to check to see if there’s any quirkiness. Let’s call this a “mini-audit.”

Should you provide “work product” on a sales call? Honestly, I’ve debated this question back and forth for many years. I’ve settled on the thought that folks still don’t trust SEOs, and we must spend a little more effort to establish trust (and to educate). So I see this as “you must give before you get.” It’s good karma.

What’s involved in a mini audit? A few things:

Run a crawl on the prospect’s website

I use Semrush. I limit the crawl to 500 pages, just enough to get a sense of their website’s “brokenness.”

Perform site queries on their domain (and for their competitors)

When running site queries, if you’re unfamiliar, you search on Google for site:www.sitename.com and/or site:sitename.com. You will see the URLs that Google is aware of.

An example of something that you may be looking for would be finding subdomains when searching non-www (i.e., staging.sitename.com). You may find other weird URLs or subdomains showing in the results, so look at them critically.

Highlighting these opportunities to clean up the search results and make their brand shine could lead to a new client relationship. They will appreciate your ability to be inquisitive.

Investigate their organic performance

I run a Semrush Organic Overview report for the prospect and their competitors.

Make sure to filter to exclude any brand mentions:

How much “traffic cost” are they realizing versus their competitors? Here’s what that looks like, comparing Travelocity to Expedia:

The “Traffic Cost” metric is Semrush’s attempt to provide a “replacement cost” metric to show the estimated value of your organic presence (i.e., if you had to pay for this traffic via Google Ads, what it could potentially cost you, per month)

How many keywords are ranking in the top 10 (versus their competitors)? Are these “good” keywords or junk?

Run a Domain Comparison report (I use Ahrefs for this) to determine whether the prospect is competitive with those websites/domains.

Suppose you see a competitor doing well with their links. In that case, you should run a quick Site Explorer report via Ahrefs and check some of the “better links” (sort by Domain Authority) and see specific examples for how the competitor is gaining these valuable links. If something is relevant to your prospect, share that on a call as an example of what they may want to consider doing.

Is there a reason why Expedia has links from CDC.gov and PrivacyShield.gov, and Travelocity does not? At a minimum, you can create some dialogue to learn more about them.

Your goal in doing all the above is to help to identify whether an investment in SEO is viable. Suppose you happen to notice that many of their competitors have a significant organic search presence (greater than your prospect), yet their domain authority is roughly the same. In that case, one could argue that the potential is there. They need to build a better website, create better content or fix technical items standing in their way.

Having the call

The more clarity you can bring to an effort that many marketers see as “the dark arts,” the better. The more people understand how SEO works, the more likely they will invest in it.

If it remains confusing, they are more likely to choose the cheaper (one-sheeter) SEO plan.

For this reason, I typically host these calls via GoToMeeting. I’ll share my screen, share my research, take their questions and answer them directly (perhaps even by conducting additional research on the call with them).

The idea of the mini audit isn’t to give everything away. The idea is to show an example of how you look into things that you may want to address during the SEO engagement (and show them that you’re capable of finding opportunities).

Real-world example

I recently received an inquiry from an e-commerce company. They were sure they had been hit by Google’s July 2021 Core Update. I confirmed via Semrush that they had lost a significant presence in Google. I also confirmed via archive.org that they made substantial changes to their website navigational structure at that same time.

So, was it the Google update? Or, as is more often the case, were they not aware that the navigational changes they made impacted their organic presence.

I gave them this free advice, hoping that they will determine that I’m an honest broker and, because of that, they will want to do business with my agency.

If they don’t do business with us and take the free advice and run, I kind of figure that they aren’t the kind of folks that I would want to work with anyhow.

At least I’ve done my part to spread some positive mojo. Give before you get.

Summary: Selling SEO starts long before the sales call

When selling SEO, be prepared. Preparation is one of the keys to getting new clients. How you do that is by:

• Understanding your prospect: Their wants, needs, resources and SEO history.
• Doing your research: Finding SEO issues and opportunities.
• Demonstrating your professionalism: Your expertise, honesty, process and curiosity.

Once you’ve successfully sold those SEO services, the real work can begin. Go out and help your clients succeed!

The post How to prepare for an SEO sales call appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Google will deprecate Universal Analytics next year, the company announced Wednesday. Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023, and Universal Analytics 360 properties will stop processing hits on October 1, 2023.

Previously processed data in Universal Analytics will be stored for at least six months after the deprecation dates listed above.

Why Google is making the switch. “Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observable data from cookies,” Russell Ketchum, director, product management at Google, said in the announcement. “This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.”

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) differs from its predecessor in that it operates across platforms, doesn’t rely on cookies and uses an event-based data model for measurement. It also does not store IP addresses, which can help brands stay on the right side of privacy regulations.

A brief history of Google Analytics 4. GA4 was released in October 2020 with the promise of predictive insights, deeper integration with Google Ads and cross-device measurement capabilities. Since then, the company has made the following updates to its new flagship analytics platform:

• Google Analytics 4 updates include data-driven attribution, machine learning models to fill in measurement gaps and a Search Console integration
• You can now link Google Analytics 4 to Google Search Console
• Google launches new Google Analytics 4 home page
• Google rolls out Search Ads 360 integration for Google Analytics 4

Why we care. If you haven’t set up your GA4 properties yet, now is the time. Even though we have well over a year, configuring GA4 now will enable it to start tracking the metrics you care about so that historical data is there when you need to reference it.

This is also something of a wake-up call: Many search marketers have been dragging their heels when it comes to adopting GA4. In just over 15 months from now, that will no longer be an option, so the more familiar you get with GA4’s interface and capabilities, the better equipped you’ll be to handle the transition for your brands.

RELATED: How to get started in Google Analytics 4

The post Google to sunset Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023, in favor of Google Analytics 4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Google Search has rolled out the “refine this search” and “broaden this search” in the US based English search results, a Google spokesperson confirmed with Search Engine Land today. These features were previewed last year at the Search On event last September.

Google did say that while some are noticing the things to know/consider being tested, this is not yet fully live in Google Search yet.

Refine this search. Google spoke about this feature at Search On claiming the “Refine this search” features enable users to get more specific with a topic or zoom out to more general topics. You can now see it come up for a number of queries, here is a screenshot I saw on my mobile device for this feature:

Broaden this search. The “Broaden this search” features also enable users to get more specific with a topic or zoom out to more general topics, Google said. You can now see it come up for a number of queries, here is a screenshot I saw on my mobile device for this feature:

Things to know/consider. Google told us the things to know and things to consider feature is not live yet in Google Search. Google is indeed testing it, as we pointed out above, but it is not fully live yet.

US English. Google said the “refine this search” and “broaden this search” have rolled out in English in the US Google Search results.

MUM. It is hard to know if Google is powering these features off MUM right now. Danny Sullivan of Google just posted on Twitter that the Things to know feature is not currently using MUM, so it is not clear if these other features are or not. We have followed up with Google to find out if these features use MUM.

As I covered last month, MUM is currently used in only two applications in search thus far.

Google has confirmed that these features do not yet use MUM, but Google did tell us “we anticipate that applying MUM for ’things to know’ will enable us to uncover even deeper insights and help people explore information more easily.”

Why we care. These new search features may lead to searchers finding more ways to discover your site in Google Search. Or it might distract searchers from clicking on your snippet in the search results they are looking at. In any event, Google is constantly trying new search features and staying on top of what went live in Google Search is useful for many search marketers.

The post Google refine this search & broaden this search now live in search results appeared first on Search Engine Land.

With a number of privacy changes on the horizon, marketers will soon face new challenges with how we track and measure marketing performance. Measuring marketing ROI using native reporting from media platforms like Facebook and Google Ads will become increasingly less accurate and complete, and ultimately not even possible as third-party cookies are phased out.  

Frankly, marketers deserve better than what third-party cookies have been able to deliver in terms of measuring marketing value. Third-party cookies are predisposed to inflation and double-counting when it comes to conversions. And conversions, whether tied to an online purchase or a form submission, are what most businesses truly value. 

The deprecation of third-party cookies, therefore, presents an opportunity to improve the way we measure and report on campaign performance and ROI. It’s an opportunity to shift our reporting further down the funnel using first-party tracking and data strategies to create a more accurate and sustainable source of truth. 

We invite you to learn more about creating a first-party marketing measurement strategy in our session “How to measure marketing value in a cookieless world” at the upcoming MarTech virtual conference on Wednesday, March 30th. 

By attending this session, you’ll be able to:

• Understand how third-party cookies have led marketers astray
• Transition to first-party and even “no-party” marketing measurement
• Put a 90-day plan in place to get your measurement strategy future-ready

The post Measuring marketing value in a cookieless world appeared first on Search Engine Land.

More and more marketers are turning to Performance Max, Google’s goal-based ad campaign format that helps target customers that are most likely to convert. Its automation capabilities have made it an inviting option for those looking to enhance their Search campaigns.

“It’s a new goal-based campaign that aims to increase online sales, generate more leads and drive more store visits to physical business locations,” said Rodney Ip, global product lead of Google Ads, at SMX Next. “It’s designed to run alongside keyword-based search campaigns as well as your Awareness and Consideration campaigns so you can easily drive more conversions across the full range of search, display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover formats, all from a single campaign.”

“Performance Max puts your business goals front and center, and prioritizes these above other signals by inputting your specific conversion goals,” he added.

Performance Max is designed to complement keyword-focused search campaigns through automated bidding and targeting. Marketers looking to expand their customer reach and place greater emphasis on goal completions won’t want to ignore all that these campaigns have to offer.

Automated bidding and targeting through cross-channel optimization

“Users help Performance Max understand what conversions matter most to your business,” Ip said. “Thanks to this focus on goals, Performance Max campaigns will leverage automated bidding and targeting technology, data-driven attribution, and automatically tailored ads to help you find more customers wherever they are across Google Ads.”

“Automation can help you invest your budget more effectively and dynamically allocate spend where the highest ROI opportunities are,” he added.

Ip illustrated the benefits of cross-channel automation by using a fishing analogy: fishing in multiple ponds versus fishing in the ocean. Using single-channel campaigns is much like the former; you may catch a big fish but it’s difficult to know if you’re missing other big fish in the other ponds.

The answer to this dilemma, says Ip, is Performance Max’s cross-channel optimization capabilities.

“Cross-channel optimization in Performance Max is a lot more like fishing in the ocean,” he said. “With all of Google Ads’ inventory combined, you can use automation and Performance Max to cast a wider net in one body of water where you can easily catch all of the biggest fish. Use Performance Max to find new customers wherever they are and simplify your campaign management.”

Here’s what marketers should have on hand to ensure the Performance Max campaign automation sticks to their goals:

• Conversion value rules for reporting.
• Audience signals that unveil user intent.
• High-quality text, videos, and images.

Performance Max conversion best practices

Ip noted a few best practices to help marketers improve conversion quantity and quality. These can help marketers get the most out of their campaign setups.

Choose actionable conversion goals. Not all campaigns will have the same goals, so marketers should make sure those they input are valuable to their organization.

“For example, if lead farms, phone calls, and store visits all contribute to your sales, make sure performance Max campaign is targeting and optimizing towards these specific goals,” Ip said. “This results in being able to maximize your marketing outcomes.”

Set conversion values. Ip recommends using value-based bidding strategies to help determine the worth of conversions wherever they occur.

“Set values to represent the relative importance of different conversion goals,” he said. “This helps Performance Max automation understand and prioritize the conversions that are most important for your business.

Import offline conversions. Many conversions take place in offline spaces. Performance Max campaigns allow you to import these and measure them alongside online conversions.

“For lead gen advertisers, you can also pair Performance Max with offline conversion imports,” said Ip. “Providing this data about which leads result in sales will help performance Max drive higher lead-quality across channels.”

Performance Max highlights the shift to automation in digital advertising. Marketers looking to get ahead of the game would be wise to see what these campaign types have to offer.

“We’re so excited that we’ve hit this milestone of launching performance packs to all advertisers,” Ip said. “We will continue investing in it and building new features to make it even easier to understand and manage your campaign to drive better results.”

Watch the full SMX Next presentation here (free registration required).

The post What marketers should know about Google’s Performance Max campaigns appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Microsoft Bing’s search results for queries related to the conflict in Ukraine show an Opinions section and two timelines (one in the main column and another in the knowledge panel).

The Opinions section. On Bing, news results typically appear in the “News about” section (at the top of the example above; this feature is similar to Google’s Top stories section) or in the standard, non-rich result listings.

However, media outlets often publish opinions and commentary on current events from non-staff writers. Bing has started highlighting these types of results in their own section, “Opinions.”

For the query [Ukraine Russia], the Opinions section included six results from different media outlets. When a featured image isn’t available, Bing will show a preview of the article (as shown above).

The timelines. For associated queries, Bing may show up to two timelines: the horizontal timeline that appears in the main column of search results and the vertically oriented timeline within the knowledge panel (on the right-hand rail of the search results).

The timeline within the knowledge panel begins on August 24, 1991, when Ukraine became an independent state following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and includes prior events, such as the annexation of Crimea, that have led to the current state of Russo-Ukrainian affairs.

The horizontal timeline in the main column only shows events from February 9 until March 5 (the screenshot below was taken on March 14).

Additionally, the main column timeline cites sources, whereas the knowledge panel timeline does not.

Why we care. The Opinions section may help Bing contextualize some news-related results for users. Informing users that a result is an opinion (and not strictly news) helps them understand the nature of the content, thus potentially reducing misinformation.

Likewise, the timeline features may help users understand how an event has unfolded, which may also help them make sense of the content on that same search results page. For example, if a timeline were present on coronavirus-related search results, it might provide a frame of reference for users, enabling them to better interpret the number of daily new cases or understand whether restrictions are being loosened or heightened.

The visibility opportunities associated with these features are primarily for news publishers, but as was the case with Google’s COVID-related search results page, these features may eventually receive a wider rollout, which could open up opportunities for brands as well.

The post Bing’s ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine’ results show Opinions section and timelines appeared first on Search Engine Land.