Monthly SEO Report Covering April 2018
Stuart Cole
Welcome to this months SEO report covering all the important changes in the world of SEO. When I started writing this report I thought it was quite a quiet month, but, really it wasn’t as you will see below.
Hope you enjoy and get something from this report. Please share and help others keep on top of SEO.
If you have missed any of the other reports, which will still be relevant, then we definitely recommend you catch up, here is a link to the SEO Report Updates.
Structured Data
No matter how small the clue from Google about what decides or what doesn’t decides how websites are ranked we report them to you here every month.
Google have confirmed that Structured Data does NOT give you a ranking boost. It does however help them understand what your page is about which in turn will help them add your content to their Search engine.
So, not directly helping your website rank but does in a longer winded way.
Mobile First Index
As we all know (if you didn’t know, see last months SEO report) Google’s Mobile First Index roll-out has started. I haven’t personally see any sites that have been moved over yet, but, apparently some have.
Google have assured us the “Public” not to worry about moving over to mobile first index , they will be adding them site by site and checking the internal links on your site match, so comparing the desktop and mobile versions internal link structure. This will ensure all pages that have links to them will get indexed and hopefully you will not see any ranking drops.
Glossary
If you are new to search engine optimisation or just need a little refresh on the phrases used in our report head over to our SEO Glossary page, everything you need to know in one place.
RSS Feeds
RSS feeds do not help your website rank better. Simple as that.
GDPR
Oh no not GDPR here too!
Sorry about that I am sure you have read enough about GDPR already, just a quick note though that Google are sending out emails informing Webmaster owners that it is up to them to change how long Google should hold your data.
To do this you need to use Google’s Search Console – following their email directions – and make the change for each site.
Basically, they are passing the “responsibility” buck to us. Thanks Google!
Algorithm Update
Around 17/18th April there was an algorithm update by Google and looks to have taken a good week to roll out.
Google confirmed that this update was a broad core update – which we reported on our Twitter at the time – which re-values each web page and gives a ranking boast for better content.
It’s always good to keep en eye on your ranking positions. If your rankings have dropped the only real thing you can do, is make your content better (for this update anyway).
Job Postings
Did you know that there is a Rich Snippet designed to help highlight any job openings you have in your business? If not you should start using it as it is used by Google.
However, Google have warned that if your job position is now filled (congrats!) you should update your web page’s rich snippet to show this. Otherwise a big black mark could be heading your way in a form of a Manual Action Penalty and you don’t want one of those!!
