Google ends support for data-vocabulary.org structured data in rich results
Beginning April 6, data-vocabulary.org structured data markup will be ineligible for Google rich results. Site owners must switch to schema.org markup if they want to maintain Google rich result eligibility. The company announced the coming change in January.
If you haven’t converted to schema markup for your structured data, your rich results will disappear from the search results page after April 6. That could mean a loss in organic visibility and traffic.
Google has been issuing warnings to site owners about pages that use data-vocabulary.org markup since January. Check your Google Search Console messages to view any warnings and resolve issues before April 6.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
More on the announcement
- Google is focusing on schema markup due to its increasing usage and popularity, the company said.
- Site owners can use Google’s Rich Results Test tool to test live code snippets.
- This change only pertains to rich results. Pages using data-vocabulary.org markup for other purposes will still remain valid.
Google: We Are Not Filtering Out Sites For Coronavirus Searches
Google's John Mueller was asked if Google is filtering out web sites for searches related to the coronavirus. John said no, he isn't "aware of anything where we're manually filtering out sites specifically around health terms." He did say that Google wants to show a higher level of sites for health related terms and he also said Google does have special one boxes of information.
But he said Google is not filtering out web sites for these terms. But Google does have special elements in its search results to highlight data, important information and content from certain trusted organizations.
Here is the video embed when he said this.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
Guide to Smarter search engine optimization
1. You don't need as many visitors as possible
This is a mistake that many beginners make. It's a good idea to to get many website visitors. However, you need the right visitors.
Doubling the number of visitors usually does not double your sales. You need visitors that are interested in your offers. If people come through traffic exchange programs to your website, they won't buy. If you optimize your website for generic keywords that have a very high search volume, people won't buy. Better optimize for targeted keywords with fewer competitors.
How to save time:
Focus on the quality of the visitors. Avoid traffic sources that deliver untargeted traffic. Optimize your web pages for keywords with a high conversion rate. Avoid vanity keywords that just look good. Getting 100 visitors through good keywords is much better than getting 1000 visitors through bad keywords.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
2. You don't always need higher rankings than your competitors
For some keywords, it doesn't matter if your website is listed on position 2 or position 7. Searchers will check multiple results on the first results page before they make a decision. If your website is listed in the top 3 results, it is possible that the time and effort that is necessary to move your website to position 1 is better used to get high rankings for new keywords.
The number of targeted visitors that you get through the new keywords might be more than the additional visitors that you get by increasing the position for a single keyword.
How to save time:
It's sometimes better to optimize for new keywords than to optimize for keywords for which you already have good rankings.
3. You don't have to use the keywords with the highest search volume
Keywords with high search numbers aren't necessarily the best keywords for your website. High volume keywords are often generic and they do not convert well.
If a keyword is so competitive that your website won't get on the first result page then this keyword won't work for you. If you cannot make it on page one then it doesn't make sense to use that keyword.
A targeted keyword with a low search volume will deliver more sales to your website. If you want great results, don't waste your time on high volume keywords that will deliver worthless traffic to your site. Focus on long-tail keywords that are much more likely to convert.
How to save time:
Use the keyword tool to find targeted keywords. Use the search numbers as a bonus but do not choose your keywords based on the number of searches. If a keyword is related to your business, you should use it on one of your web pages.
A highly relevant keyword with few searches usually has a much higher conversion rate than a general keyword with many searches.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
How COVID-19 may change the SERP forever
The new sticky side menu functionality at the left side of the page could solve some of the biggest problems Google faces going forward.
What started out as a simple alert panel has evolved into the most prolific set of direct information the Google SERP has ever seen. Google’s on-the-SERP coverage of COVID-19 isn’t only an easy-to-access beast of a data source, it’s also a peek at what could be coming to the SERP… permanently.
The uniqueness of the COVID-19 SERP
The SERP Google shows for many queries directly related to COVID-19 (i.e., anything from coronavirus to COVID-19 cure) is unique in two essential ways:
- The amount of raw data being presented. There is just an absurd amount of data that Google presents on these SERPs. Google is showing you a breakdown of the COVID-19 cases in your location (as well as the world at large) as an accent to a global map of the pandemic’s spread. Of course, Google gives you the opportunity to click ahead in order to see a full breakdown of the COVID-19 data shown on the SERP. It’s a testimony to how hard Google can push direct content if it really wanted to. It’s both radically awesome and a bit frightening at the same time.
- The left-hand menu functionality. While the right side of these ‘COVID-19’ SERP contains “knowledge” the left side contains specialty functionality. Here Google gives us a sticky menu (i.e., it follows you as you scroll down the SERP) that serves as a way to delve deeper into various aspects of the pandemic. Clicking on a given option brings up an entire SERP devoted to exploring that particular aspect of COVID-19.
While I could talk about the implications of Google going so deep into offering direct data on the SERP, it’s the functionality at the left side of the page that really caught my attention because I think it solves some of the biggest problems Google faces going forward.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
The COVID-19 SERP functionality solves some of Google’s biggest problems
Personalization is a tricky matter. There’s a lot to balance when trying to highly target a specific user. That’s true for us as marketers and that’s true for Google. Google has long faced issues around personalization. The prime example of this has been the controversy Google has faced in regard to personalization within the search results leading to a filter bubble. November 2020 is not that far off so you can expect the issue and allegations of “biased” results to rear its heads again once the US elections kick into full-gear.
At the same time personalization puts Google on a collision course with another one of its ‘search result aspirations’ – diversity. As a means of effectively targeting its users, Google, more often than not, caters to multiple intents with an offering of a diverse set of results. Hyper-personalization and a strong diversification of the search results are obviously at heads with each other. You simply can’t have both. There’s not enough space on the SERP. You’re talking about showing an effective amount of diversity while strongly targeting a user with just 10 results. That’s damned near impossible.
So how is Google to solve this? With the functionality you see at the left of the page for COVID-19 queries.
Let’s take the two problems I’ve already brought up, the filter bubble and the collision that is personalization and result diversity, add another issue into the mix, and see how the unique functionality of the COVID-19 SERP is the great panacea.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
The problem of personalization is solved with user input
The biggest white elephant when discussing personalization within the search results is not the filter bubble nor is it the great battle for diversity vs. personalization. Rather, it’s personalization itself. I’ve long been on a soapbox saying, nay shouting, that the ultimate personalization that Google is after is not possible without user input.
I don’t care how smart Google gets and how great it becomes at offering personalized results, Google will never be able to know what a user in a specific moment is after (which is partly why it cannot abandon result diversity even with advanced personalization). The only way Google can offer the level of personalization it is after is by putting the user in control of the SERP. By letting the user tell Google what they want and by letting Google give that to them.
Now, how do you give the user control over the SERP?
I don’t know, how does a sticky menu at the left of the page that lets the user filter out what they want sound?
Imagine you searched for estate planning. (I recently realized my will is worthless ever since I moved out of the US.) There’s a lot you could mean by this query. Are you looking for information on the financial end? Do you need some tax information? If it’s the latter what state are you in as every state in the US has different laws?
In this instance, Google might look at my past behavior and think that I’m looking for a local lawyer to help me navigate the legalities of my “estate.” Which it does when I run the search (though in my case I have no prior search history):
Suppose, however, that despite my previous searches I really want financial information. In that case, the Local Pack I get is totally irrelevant and now I have to skim the result to pick and choose what I want or think of a more refined search to run and what a drag that is.
Now imagine I had a SERP with a sticky menu at the left of the page that let me see a SERP related to either local lawyers, financial services, etc. With user input, Google can offer me a full set of results that matches my exact intent.
I’ll take this one step further. Not every user has only one intent. How efficient would it be if Google let me toggle back and forth between various menu options so that I can open tabs for results that hit on multiple intents without having to run multiple queries? So if I wanted to look up a local lawyer and read up on some financial tips I could do both with the same search!
Simply, the sticky menu Google has implemented for COVID-19 queries brings a new level of user input to the SERP. That’s huge.
Previous news:
Top Internet and Google News Update - March 2020
Top Internet and Google News Update - February 2020
Google News Update - January 2020
More space prevents personalization trainwrecks
At this point, you can see how having a sticky menu, like the one seen on the COVID-19 SERP, prevents a collision between personalization and result diversity. The contradiction that is both superb personalization and diversity among the results is mainly a problem because of space. You can’t adequately meet both demands with the limited space a single SERP offers the user.
The sticky side menu functionality lets you breakdown the query by intent. It lets Google energetically target the user on the initial SERP without having to water that level of personalization down with a diverse set of results. Rather, the options within the menu would reflect the intended diversity Google needs to offer.
That is, the sticky menu would allow Google to engage in a topical intent-based segmentation. This could play itself out in a variety of ways. If you search for buy car insurance Google could offer you whatever it thinks is personally relevant on the initial SERP. It could then segment according to intent.
In this case, I could imagine a side menu that included a tab that read Compare policies where you would see results that compared what’s included in various types of insurance policies. I could also imagine a tab entitled Policy reviews where you could read reviews on the various insurance companies and their policies. If you don’t need to research anything at this juncture then you might click on a tab for Buy policies where all the sites that offer a policy would appear.
Nothing pops filter bubbles like sticky side menus
Last, but not least, a side menu that sticks gives Google the opportunity it needs to avoid any sort of filter bubble criticism. In such a scenario, Google would not have to directly worry about the results on the SERP further confirming a user’s biases. The side menu would allow Google to go full-on personalization. All Google would need to do is supplement the extreme levels of personalization with a broader set of content that would be accessed via the side menu.
Imagine the worst-case filter bubble scenario, political bias. Even if, hypothetically speaking, a search history slanted towards a particular political party produced results that reeked of confirmation bias, it wouldn’t be a problem. Google could counteract that level of personalization by supplementing perspective via, you guessed it, a sticky side menu!
You might have a set of initial results that are slanted towards a given political perspective. However, Google could easily supplement this with a broader look at the topic via the side menu. In this case, all Google would have to do is insert a tab that read Also in the news much like it does in its multi-carousel News Box on mobile:
Sunday, May 10, 2020
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