Resources

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

While Google is still testing and fine-tuning its Local search page’s info structure and User Interface (UI), it is obvious that Google values “Mobile-friendly” as one of the major website attributes because it will offer a much better User Experience (UX) on mobile devices.

On a 11/18/2014 post by Google: A mobile-optimized site will get a “mobile-friendly” label on  mobile search results, “We see these labels as a first step in helping mobile users to have a better mobile web experience. We are also experimenting with using the mobile-friendly criteria as a ranking signal” (source: Helping users find mobile-friendly pages)

To test if your website is “Mobile-friendly” by Google’s standard

Simply type your site’s URL in Google’s Mobile-Friendly Testing Tool, it will give you indication if the URL meets the requirement, it may even provide extra findings for you to address.

For example, below is a screenshot of our website homepage testing result:

google's mobile-friendly test tool screen

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MOZ survey result: 2014 Local search factors

In 2013 Google released Local carousels and New Google Maps, in June 2014, released Google My Business, combined with the Pigeon algo update; these are all major factors changing the Local search landscape.

moz.com conducted an in-depth survey of industry experts and published The 2014 Local Search Ranking Factors result.

Below is a chart from that 9/15/2014 report which provides a summary:

MOZ-2014-local-report

Check your business citation: PowerListing’s diagnostic scan

 

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How Google search works… explained in 3 minutes

Here is a short YouTube video that explains how Google search works, by Matt Cutts–one of Google’s star engineers. It is by far the most detailed explanation packed in 3 minutes.

Additional info:
Google PageRank Lookup Tool by Nathan Friedly (This site is not affiliated with Google)

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Resource: How to write for the web

Here are five short videos titled: “How to Write for the Web” produced by CarletonUWeb. Total about 18 minutes long, they are SUPER helpful know-how even for a good writer who didn’t write for the web before.

Module 1: Headings

Module 2: Paragraphs

Module 3: Sentences

Module 4: Words

Module 5: Active vs. Passive

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