Bing has added a new feature to the new Bing Webmaster Tools[1]: a robots.txt tester. This is a feature Bing had in the tool prior to 2009 but dropped supporting it for the past ten-years or so. Now it is back and better. Where can I access it? You can access the new robots.txt tester within the new Bing Webmaster tools over here[2]. From there you can enter a URL to see how BingBot will fetch the...
Google announced that its testing tools and the Google Search Console Performance report will recognize if your AMP document is a Web Story.[1] Google said, “In our testing tools and Performance report we’ll use the term Web Story to identify this format.” What is a Web Story? In its developer document[2], Google said that “a Web Story is a visual storytelling format in Google Search results that immerses the user in a tap-through full-screen experience. Web Stories can...
In covering Google algorithm updates[1] for almost twenty-years now, one trend you notice over and over again is how SEOs tend to do two things. Many SEOs blame a Google algorithm update for their ranking declines and many SEOs often try to figure out which ranking factors they need to work on for a specific site. The thing is, often this is the wrong way to go about Google algorithm updates. In my keynote during our virtual SMX...
Selecting the appropriate e-commerce platform for your goals, circumstances and customers can influence your sales and the amount of time your staff dedicates to maintaining that platform. If you’re looking at Shopify as your next potential e-commerce solution, you need to be aware of its strengths and limitations, with regards to SEO as well as other considerations that could affect your organization’s success. “Shopify achieved 47% growth in Q1 2020 primarily on the notion of ease and...
Since its introduction in 2015, Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages[1] (AMP) framework has been controversial[2]. The company recently decided to no longer require AMP[3] for inclusion in the Top Stories carousel. That may lead to abandonment of the format[4] by many publishers – some of whom considered AMP coercive; however, the data argue that AMP pages do perform much better, boosting rankings and revenue. Page Experience taking over. There are various cynical theories about why Google created AMP. What Google said[5]...
30-second summary: A backlink is a link that directs visitors from another website to yours. Obtaining backlinks is fundamental to improving your sites search engine ranking, the best ranking sites have thousands of backlinks. While backlinks are important, they are not easy to get and the outreach process can be timely and expensive. There are a common set of guidelines to follow when looking to obtain backlinks. However, these guidelines are often breached, impacting a sites ability to get more...
After six months of uncertainty 2020 is finally beginning to find a style of its own. There are nods to Brutalism, a delightful blending of 80s pastels with 90s primaries, and the font style of choice is anything but geometric sans-serif. In this month’s collection of the freshest sites from the past four weeks you’ll find tons of new portfolios, from big agencies to freelancers, and some amazing primal scream therapy. Enjoy! Looks Like You Need Iceland Looks Like...
Competition is constant. No matter what business you’re in, there will always be other people competing with you for customers, subscribers, viewers, partners, etc. Even Google technically has competition — maybe you found this article through Bing? The point is…you have competitors trying to beat you. Do you know who they are? “Of course, I know who my competitors are!” – You (probably) But do you know who your search competitors are? Do you know who you’re really competing with...
About The Author Blessing Krofegha is a Software Engineer Based in Lagos Nigeria, with a burning desire to contribute to making the web awesome for all, by writing and building … More about Blessing …[1] Ever tried interacting with a GraphQL server in a client-side application and felt like giving up even before getting anywhere? Ever declined an invitation to join a code base that requires working with GraphQL API because you had no idea? Ever felt like...
30-second summary: Bear in mind that no marketing strategy has ever succeeded without the complex mix of data analysis and smart budgeting decisions. Marketers face the tough challenge of data-driven decision-making to craft the most profitable and effective marketing plan possible. Budgeting is a crucial part of any marketing strategy. Because of the growing benefits of using big data to bolster marketing strategies, expenses spent on analytics are expected to climb 200% over the next three years. Here’s a quick look at 10 ways that...
I’m PUMPED to announce the release of the new SEO Marketing Hub 2.0. We launched SEO Marketing Hub 1.0 last year. Since then, we’ve made hundreds of edits, additions, improvements and updates. This updated free resource library now covers over 41 key topics — including Schema, sitemaps, SEO software, content audits, link bait, SEO best practices, and lots more. You can check out SEO Marketing Hub 2.0 right here: Visit The SEO Marketing Hub 2.0[1] All in all, our resource library contains...
Emmett McBain was a Black American graphic designer whose work had a remarkable impact on the representation of Black Americans in advertising. He co-founded what became the biggest Black-owned agency in the USA. McBain designed almost 75 record covers by the time he was 24, and in the penultimate of his Inspired Design Decisions series, Andy Clarke will explain how his work can inspire what we design for the web. Along with advertising, selling is a skill...
We’re asking if modern best practices are bad for the web? Are modern frameworks taking us down the wrong path? Drew McLellan speaks to Lean Web expert Chris Ferdinandi to find out. Today, we’re asking if modern best practices are bad for the web? Are modern frameworks taking us down the wrong path? I speak to Lean Web expert Chris Ferdinandi to find out. Show Notes Weekly Update Transcript Drew McLellan: He’s the author of Vanilla JS Pocket Guide Series, creator...
Wow, has 2020 been a rollercoaster. For many, many reasons, but one in particular is that it seems to me that every single big player in the car industry game is redesigning their logo. And they’re all revamping and going for a flat logo design. First it was BMW, then VW, then just last week it was Nissan and I really thought we weren’t going to be hit with anymore major changes. But now, we see Toyota coming in hot...
I think of a creative practice as a combination of an approach (a design philosophy) and a series of techniques (craft skills); a good tool facilitates a technique, which in turn supports an approach. It wasn’t until I sat down to write a list of tools I can’t design without, that I realized just how many tools I rely on as an integral part of my creative process. The danger of tools is that they promote certain...
About The Author Zara Cooper is a software developer and technical writer who enjoys sharing what she learns as a developer with others. When she’s got time to spare, she enjoys … More about Zara …[1] Schematics in Angular 9 are code generators that can create components and patterns in projects using predetermined templates and layouts. In this article, Zara Cooper explains how to take advantage of schematics in Angular Material and ng2-charts to substantially reduce the time...
Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News[1] site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the...
Shopify store owners looking to maximize their organic visibility have a number of pitfalls to navigate, some of which are inherent to the platform itself and others that are common to e-commerce sites. Overcoming these SEO challenges in Shopify can help sellers increase rankings on Google and organic search visibility. No control over your robots.txt file The problem. Shopify does not allow store owners to edit their robots.txt file. This is an issue because the platform creates duplicate...
Small businesses (SMBs) are now in a Darwinian struggle for survival. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is completely disrupting and reconfiguring the market, with some SMBs adapting and others calling it quits. This will have big implications for marketing and advertising as well. In its Q2 economic report[1], Yelp paints a picture of increased consumer activity in late May and early June driving the growth of infections in states such as Florida and California. The report...
Google is showing attributes from product feeds in Shopping ads. If you needed more reason to pay attention to all the attributes available for your products in your Google product feed, here’s one: Google is surfacing more attributes from merchants’ product feeds in Shopping Ads. The example above, spotted by Jackson Lo[1], SEO lead, international growth at Shopify, this week, shows apparel ads with the “Material” attribute. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that surfacing attributes in...
Earlier this year, Google surprised merchants by opening up the Google Shopping tab in its search results to free product listings[1]. Now for the next phase of the shakeup: commission-free access to Buy on Google, the company’s native checkout from product listings. It is also integrating with third-parties to make it easier for merchants to streamline order management and payments. Items available to Buy on Google are indicated by a shopping cart icon in Google Shopping.Why we...
Structured Data Testing Tool was a simple yet effective tool to diagnose problems with Schema markup code snippets whether those issues were related to invalid usage, syntax, or a property that was required or recommended. We could edit our code snippets directly in the tool until we saw a list of green checks. Not only that, but it was perfect for quickly visualizing which types and properties a webpage had provided, something highly useful for harder-to-read...
So long as the COVID-19 pandemic remains in our lives, brick-and-mortar businesses will experience a roller coaster of re-openings, temporary closures, victories and setbacks. Along the way, it’s clear that they’ll need to monitor their Google My Business (GMB) listings closely to protect their reputations. In recent months, we’ve seen Google launch several features designed to help businesses react to the pandemic by updating their GMBs with relevant information that affects their operations. Let’s take a...
Google is starting to offer Google Guaranteed certification[1] for a monthly fee, outside of Local Services Ads. It’s positioned as an “upgraded profile” that will include a badge appearing on the profile and which may also appear in the Local Pack. We’ve asked Google a number of questions about the new program and will update this post when the company responds (update: see below). Below is a promotional screenshot captured by Tom Waddington[2], who told me the...
Page speed is a Google ranking factor[1], but its influence isn’t limited to your organic visibility. For e-commerce sites, speed is always a concern because low page load times improve the user experience and, in turn, conversion rates. The fastest Shopify sites share some common characteristics. “They generally use a very, very lightweight theme, very limited in terms of the images they use and the apps they run — essentially they’re limiting the total amount of requests...