October 15, 2017

68% Of SEOs Do Their Work Without Log File Analysis

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A few weeks ago, I conducted a poll asking SEOs how they do their job with or without log files. I discussed how log files can be an awesome way to uncover SEO issues including crawling, indexing, and even some ranking issues.

The poll showed that most SEOs, 68%, are doing their SEO services without looking at log files. We had over 350 responses and even with my poll disclaimer, the results are pretty revealing.

Almost 30% of SEOs actually said they do not need log files to do their job and an additional 38% said they would use them if they got them, but they “rarely” are able to get the log files. Only 15% said they always get the log files and 18% said they often get them.

Here are the results of the poll:

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Yext begins to verticalize local business listings syndication with ‘Yext for Food’

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Business listings with more content see more engagement, tend to rank higher and perform better overall. And as more searches take place on mobile devices (and eventually smart speakers and virtual assistants), marketers will need to expose more local business attributes and enhanced data for discovery and competitive advantage.

According to previous Google research, 50 percent of smartphone users conducting local-intent searches visit business locations within 24 hours. These numbers are even higher and more immediate for restaurants, which often see searches translate into visits within a few hours or less.

TripAdvisor found that “Restaurants with hours of operation on their TripAdvisor listing see 36 percent more engagement than those without them.” Yelp reports, “Businesses who complete their profiles see, on average, 5x the customer leads each month.”

Both sites also point out the importance of images on profiles. TripAdvisor said restaurants with between 11 and 20 photos see “double the amount of diner interaction over others with no photos at all,” and Yelp reports that “a business with 1-5 reviews and at least 10 photos sees 200 percent more user views than a business with the same number of reviews and no photos.”

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Regions And Cities Working Together For A Better Future

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Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Committee of Regions in Brussels. Organised by Age Platform Europe, the auditorium was packed with enthusiastic local and regional government officials representing around 300 municipalities, towns and cities from across Europe.

We learned about imaginative projects designed to match the needs of ageing communities to the mutual benefit of local businesses and solution providers.

Considering the diverse geographic, political and cultural background of the delegates it was heartening that general consensus seemed to be along the lines of: As we live longer, our aspirations should be expanding, necessitating new outlets for our skills and creativity in order to stay healthy, active and engaged members of society, long into what is currently termed ‘retirement’.

Yet, here we are, two decades into the twenty-first century with popular media still referring to the ‘silver tsunami’, a doom-laden metaphor coined in the late-twentieth century to describe population ageing.

Maybe it’s time to press reset, to redefine the common perception of age to stages of life (study, work, retirement). This wisdom, termed ‘chronologism’ by sociologist Michael Young, is also rooted in history and has long passed its’ sell by date.

Adopting a more agile approach to the way we manage our lives in what author Klaus Schwab has dubbed the ‘Era of Digital Transformation’ could have a significant impact on our health and wellbeing across the life course. Moreover, ‘Agile Ageing’, is a trillion-dollar business opportunity which cuts across health, social care and housing; and it is ripe for development.

Neighbourhoods of the Future

Earlier this year the Agile Ageing Alliance (AAA) published a white paper: Neighbourhoods of the Future- Better Homes for Older Adults – which concludes that a new breed of Cognitive Home could have a transformative effect on how we age. Facilitated by innovations in technology, business and service models, our homes could empower us to enjoy more meaningful, creative and independent lives well into old age; radically transforming our relationship with public services; creating new opportunities for learning and social engagement; leading to a reduction in the financial burden on State and citizens.

Smart business

Our homes are getting smarter through basic innovations such as smart meters and smart speakers, but this is just the beginning. Digital technologies, digital infrastructure and data production are already revolutionising our lives in so many ways and it won’t be too long before they are integral to our homes, enriching our lives and the lives of our friends and loved ones; facilitating a greater degree of interaction and communication, personalised support and preventative care, and enabling health and human services to be delivered remotely.

In truth, there’s a whole new phase of life up for grabs which nobody has catered for. Now, with the convergence of potentially game changing assistive technologies we have a golden opportunity to rethink the outlook for ageing populations and provide a much needed boost to the Silver Economy.

A 21st Century Cooperative

The big question is who will own our homes and of course the data we generate? For entrepreneurs and startups this is a fantastic business opportunity. But, to challenge the status quo I believe we need to rethink the development model. Why not involve public funders, SMEs, academic researchers and investors in a more equitable partnership with corporates, the stakeholders best qualified to create sustainable brands?

By investing in a cooperative for the 21st Century, in a spirit of open innovation and collaboration, corporate mentors will be able to tap into a fresh stream of passionate, innovative and potentially disruptive talent, while the SME gains access to a global ecosystem, assets, expertise and confidence.

If we don’t act, business as usual will see the more aggressive US tech giants establishing proprietary platforms and hoovering up promising incumbents, which will make it extremely difficult for European businesses to prosper thereafter. The land grab has started with the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple sizing up healthcare and the connected home, with voice activated products like Amazon Echo and Google Home making the early running.

We have been warned.

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Markets with home service ads: Service-area businesses are coming back to the local results

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After my column about Home Service Ads came out last week, I got a message from Google with some great news. They told me two things:

Google plans to add pure service-area businesses (SABs) back into the local results — this includes home-based businesses.
The disappearance of results for home-based businesses in markets without Home Service Ads was due to a bug (not intentional), which Google says should be resolved soon.

So, almost a year after deciding to remove service-area businesses from the local results, I’m starting to see that Google is adding them back.

Here is an example of a search result I spotted this morning.

A few days ago, it looked like this (Notice how every listing has a directions icon — meaning the address is showing on the listing):

Although owners of service-area businesses will be extremely excited about this change, service-area businesses aren’t the only listings returning to the local results.

The return of spam

One of the good things about Google’s decision to take SABs out of the results was that it eliminated the majority of spammy listings (but definitely not all of them). Looking at this one example, one of the listings that just returned to the local results is a keyword-stuffed duplicate for a business that already has a listing in a neighboring city — they are not allowed two. Their listing in the neighboring city is also using an address that doesn’t exist.

I recently shared at the State of Search event how I got 17 of the 28 home security business listings removed from the local results in one market — as they weren’t eligible for listings on Google My Business — after I combed through the competitors of a client of mine.

Spam is, unfortunately, alive and well.

The return of other junk

Not all the results that don’t qualify for a listing are necessarily “spam.” The term “spam” connotes that there is malicious intent. (“I know about the guidelines, and I don’t care that I’m breaking them because I want more business.”)