When we come across good information that we think can benefit our readers, we would share them in this “Resources” section. Most of our readers are business people, not IT expert, therefore only business or web-relevant, clear, and authoritative info will be shared here.
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:
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:
Check your business citation: PowerListing’s diagnostic scan
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)
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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