Digital Marketing Reads – Volume 7

Here’s the latest instalment of Digital Marketing Reads, a roundup of some of the more interesting articles we’ve read lately in the digital marketing world.

Google Rankings and Nofollow Anchor Text

It’s long been established that a do-follow link holds more weight than a no-follow link, as a do-follow tells Google to pay attention and pass some SEO juice onto the site that’s being linked to. By contrast, a no-follow basically means to ignore the link.

But it begs the question: does the anchor text in a no-follow link help at all with search rankings?

According to this article, it does NOT. Why? Because Google ignores everything that’s contained within the link tags when it’s marked as no-follow. So not only does the link not exist to Google, but the anchor text doesn’t either. In other words, the words that were used as anchor text are disconnected from the link and the website the link points to, because Google doesn’t see the no-follow link at all.

Facebook confirms it is considering removing “Like” counts

Instagram recently began removing like counts from accounts from select countries (Australia included), and rumors have been swirling around for awhile that Facebook will inevitably follow suit.

Well, now it’s official: a Facebook spokesperson recently confirmed that Facebook is indeed considering removing like counts as well. As to when and whether or not this actually happens, there are no details as of yet.

How SEOs can master voice search now

In short,

“Optimizing for voice search means answering questions in featured snippets, paying attention to local SEO and perfecting your mobile-friendliness.”

These are all things your Melbourne SEO agency should be doing anyway to optimise your site, but with a projected 50% of all online searches being done by voice in 2020, optimising for voice search must now be a priority.

To achieve this, your main focus should be on trying to reach the coveted Position Zero (aka featured snippet) for your keyword terms, because Google voice searches are answered with a featured snipped whenever possible. And bear in mind that you don’t necessarily have to be ranked #1 in order to be pulled into the featured snippet box (in fact, 70% of the time it comes from rankings #2-5). For your best shot at Position Zero, ensure your article or page answers specific questions, particularly questions users might ask via voice search.

Image credit: SparkToro

Now, more than 50% of Google searches end without a click to other content

As you can see in the graph above, about half of all Google searches result in no clicks – neither on ads, nor on organic search results. That’s a 6% increase in zero-click searches in the past 4 years.

Why are people abandoning their Google searches half of the time without clicking through to any of the search results? It’s hard to say at this point, but one thing you can do to combat this is working to increase your click-through rate and reword your page title and description so that people will be more enticed to click on your website when it shows up in search results.

It’s important to note that just because people aren’t bothering to click on any search results half of the time, it doesn’t mean that your optimising efforts are for naught. There is still some value in getting your brand name out there in the search results, as it increases exposure and builds brand awareness.

Rock Solid Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Mildura & Melbourne providing Melbourne SEO services and online advertising services. Contact us for help in managing your SEO and PPC!