Summary of SEO 101 Episode 379
COVID-19 has taken over all of our lives and many businesses are understandably putting their online marketing on hold. Scott and Ross discuss some of the reasons not to put marketing on hold and how to do it yourself to keep costs low or negotiate better pricing temporarily. In addition, they cover general SEO news, some reassuring Mueller files, and answer SEO questions from the SEO 101 Facebook Group.
NOTE: If you like to receive our show notes straight to your inbox, sign up to our SEO 101 Podcast Show Notes Newsletter available at SEO101Radio.com.
Notes from SEO 101 Episode 379
Covid-19 News
Why Continue with Online Marketing during Pandemic
– Competitors are still working on their accounts (don’t get left behind)
– Competitors have stopped working on their accounts (take advantage of their reduction).
– If you cease efforts, this could result in a further decline of sales
– Even If you can’t serve clients today, efforts can generate leads that will turn to sales when you do return to normal
– A pause in SEO efforts can result in a decline in results. Coming back from those declines will take some time, extending your recovery once the economy goes back to normal
– Some businesses may actually see improvements in sales during this time. In particular those in various e-commerce segments
– Keep building content. A pause that is too long may jeopardize authority
– Google may still make algorithmic changes. If this occurs and nobody is keeping tabs on your website rankings and traffic may decline if nobody is there to act on changed guidelines.
– If you have never worked on seo, now may actually be a good time to do so. When things get back to normal you will be well-positioned hit the ground running.
– Keep plugins and CMS versions updated. Example. RankMath learned of a vulnerability on March 25th that allowed hackers to gain admin access. They fixed it the next day, but this still requires action on the webmasters side to keep the plugin updated.
General SEO News
Google Releases The Webmaster Conference Product Summit Videos
How to Add Your Business’s COVID-19 Alert to Google My Business
Marketers surveyed say they would choose Google Ads over SEO if they had to
“A survey by BestSEOCompanies.com, polled 1,000 marketing professionals and consumers (split almost evenly) and asked about the effectiveness of SEO vs. Google Ads according to several measures.
Marketers in roughly equal numbers found both SEM (90%) and SEO (87%) to be effective. Forced to choose one or the other, however, a surprising 64% said they would choose Google Ads, although SEO was seen as more affordable and sustainable than paid search.”
Mueller Files
Google: Spammers Would Love To Know Which Links It Labels As Spam
Google’s Mueller on Indexing of Hidden Tab Content
Questions from SEO 101 Listeners
Ross and Scott also welcome some SEO-related concerns from listeners. Please listen to the show to find out their detailed answers to these questions.
Carl Busch: I read today that podcast content is part of Google indexing now. There wasn’t really more information than that. Is Google just indexing an embedded podcast or is there more to it?
“Eventually, Google says it’ll support third-party playback, which is important for podcasts that are exclusive to certain platforms.”
Austin Thompson: Is Google Site Kit a plug-in you guys see as valuable?
Zena Scott: Hi guys, I hope you’re keeping safe and well?
Just a quick question. What’s your favorite SEO reporting tool?
End of Show Notes
If you have any questions you would like to share with Ross and John, please feel free to post them on the SEO 101 Facebook Group. And, if you enjoy SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM please consider supporting the hosts with feedback on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast stream.