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vineri, 22 mai 2015

Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die - Whiteboard Friday - Moz Blog

Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die - Whiteboard Friday

Posted on: Friday 22 May 2015 — 02:17

We all know by now that not just any old content is going to help us rank in competitive SERPs. We often hear people talking about how it takes "good, unique content." That's the wrong bar. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand talks about where we should be aiming, and how to get there.

For reference, here's a still of this week's whiteboard. Click on it to open a high resolution image in a new tab!

Video transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we're going to chat about something that I really have a problem with in the SEO world, and that is the phrase "good, unique content." I'll tell you why this troubles me so much. It's because I get so many emails, I hear so many times at conferences and events with people I meet, with folks I talk to in the industry saying, "Hey, we created some good, unique content, but we don't seem to be performing well in search." My answer back to that is always that is not the bar for entry into SEO. That is not the bar for ranking.

The content quality scale

So I made this content quality scale to help illustrate what I'm talking about here. You can see that it starts all the way up at 10x, and down here I've got Panda Invasion. So quality, like Google Panda is coming for your site, it's going to knock you out of the rankings. It's going to penalize you, like your content is thin and largely useless.

Then you go up a little bit, and it's like, well four out of five searchers find it pretty bad. They clicked the Back button. Maybe one out of five is thinking, "Well, this is all right. This solves my most basic problems."

Then you get one level higher than that, and you have good, unique content, which I think many folks think of as where they need to get to. It's essentially, hey, it's useful enough. It answers the searcher's query. It's unique from any other content on the Web. If you read it, you wouldn't vomit. It's good enough, right? Good, unique content.

Problem is almost everyone can get here. They really can. It's not a high bar, a high barrier to entry to say you need good, unique content. In fact, it can scale. So what I see lots of folks doing is they look at a search result or a set of search results in their industry. Say you're in travel and vacations, and you look at these different countries and you're going to look at the hotels or recommendations in those countries and then see all the articles there. You go, "Yeah, you know what, I think we could do something as good as what's up there or almost." Well, okay, that puts you in the range. That's good, unique content.

But in my opinion, the minimum bar today for modern SEO is a step higher, and that is as good as the best in the search results on the search results page. If you can't consistently say, "We're the best result that a searcher could find in the search results," well then, guess what? You're not going to have an opportunity to rank. It's much, much harder to get into those top 10 positions, page 1, page 2 positions than it was in the past because there are so many ranking signals that so many of these websites have already built up over the last 5, 10, 15 years that you need to go above and beyond.

Really, where I want folks to go and where I always expect content from Moz to go is here, and that is 10x, 10 times better than anything I can find in the search results today. If I don't think I can do that, then I'm not going to try and rank for those keywords. I'm just not going to pursue it. I'm going to pursue content in areas where I believe I can create something 10 times better than the best result out there.

What changed?

Why is this? What changed? Well, a bunch of things actually.

User experience became a much bigger element in the ranking algorithms, and that's direct influences, things that we've talked about here on Whiteboard Friday before like pogo-sticking, and lots of indirect ones like the links that you earn based on the user experience that you provide and Google rendering pages, Google caring about load speed and device rendering, mobile friendliness, all these kinds of things.
Earning links overtook link building. It used to be you put out a page and you built a bunch of links to it. Now that doesn't so much work anymore because Google is very picky about the links that it's going to consider. If you can't earn links naturally, not only can you not get links fast enough and not get good ones, but you also are probably earning links that Google doesn't even want to count or may even penalize you for. It's nearly impossible to earn links with just good, unique content. If there's something better out there on page one of the search results, why would they even bother to link to you? Someone's going to do a search, and they're going to find something else to link to, something better.

Third, the rise of content marketing over the last five, six years has meant that there's just a lot more competition. This field is a lot more crowded than it used to be, with many people trying to get to a higher and higher quality bar.
Finally, as a result of many of these things, user expectations have gone crazy. Users expect pages to load insanely fast, even on mobile devices, even when their connection's slow. They expect it to look great. They expect to be provided with an answer almost instantaneously. The quality of results that Google has delivered and the quality of experience that sites like Facebook, which everyone is familiar with, are delivering means that our brains have rewired themselves to expect very fast, very high quality results consistently.

How do we create "10x" content?

So, because of all these changes, we need a process. We need a process to choose, to figure out how we can get to 10x content, not good, unique content, 10x content. A process that I often like to use -- this probably is not the only one, but you're welcome to use it if you find it valuable -- is to go, "All right, you know what? I'm going to perform some of these search queries."

By the way, I would probably perform the search query in two places. One is in Google and their search results, and the other is actually in BuzzSumo, which I think is a great tool for this, where I can see the content that has been most shared. So if you haven't already, check out BuzzSumo.com.

I might search for something like Costa Rica ecolodges, which I might be considering a Costa Rica vacation at some point in the future. I look at these top ranking results, probably the whole top 10 as well as the most shared content on social media.

Then I'm going to ask myself these questions;

What questions are being asked and answered by these search results?
What sort of user experience is provided? I look at this in terms of speed, in terms of mobile friendliness, in terms of rendering, in terms of layout and design quality, in terms of what's required from the user to be able to get the information? Is it all right there, or do I need to click? Am I having trouble finding things?
What's the detail and thoroughness of the information that's actually provided? Is it lacking? Is it great?
What about use of visuals? Visual content can often take best in class all the way up to 10x if it's done right. So I might check out the use of visuals.
The quality of the writing.
I'm going to look at information and data elements. Where are they pulling from? What are their sources? What's the quality of that stuff? What types of information is there? What types of information is missing?

In fact, I like to ask, "What's missing?" a lot.

From this, I can determine like, hey, here are the strengths and weaknesses of who's getting all of the social shares and who's ranking well, and here's the delta between me and them today. This is the way that I can be 10 times better than the best results in there.

If you use this process or a process like this and you do this type of content auditing and you achieve this level of content quality, you have a real shot at rankings. One of the secret reasons for that is that the effort axis that I have here, like I go to Fiverr, I get Panda invasion. I make the intern write it. This is going to take a weekend to build versus there's no way to scale this content.

This is a super power. When your competitors or other folks in the field look and say, "Hey, there's no way that we can scale content quality like this. It's just too much effort. We can't keep producing it at this level," well, now you have a competitive advantage. You have something that puts you in a category by yourself and that's very hard for competitors to catch up to. It's a huge advantage in search, in social, on the Web as a whole.

All right everyone, hope you've enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard Friday, and we'll see you again next week. Take care.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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Your Daily SEO Fix

Posted on: Thursday 21 May 2015 — 13:29

Posted by Trevor-Klein

We at the Mozplex have noticed a recurring event. Somewhat regularly, one of our community members—sometimes even a Pro subscriber—will ask us if we know of any tools that'll do a good job solving for a particular use case. They've got a need and are looking for a solution. That solution, it turns out, is available in our own tools—they just never made the connection.

This week, we began a series of video tutorials we're calling the Moz Daily SEO Fix. The videos are shorter than two minutes each and are designed to offer you solutions to some of the most common problems faced by SEOs and online marketers of all stripes. A new video will be released every weekday for a month, and we'll post a weekly roundup on Thursday afternoons.

Whether you're a seasoned veteran of the old SEOmoz days or have never once used a Moz tool, we hope these videos will show you a way to make your marketing life a little easier. =)

Fix 1: How to reclaim links using Open Site Explorer

In today's Daily SEO Fix, David explains how to use the Open Site Explorer's top pages tab plus the filter for 4xx and 5xx errors to find the pages on your site with the most potential link equity that are broken and can be redirected. 301'ing these URLs to relevant pages on your site can give your rankings a serious boost.

Fix 2: How to build links using Fresh Web Explorer

In this Daily SEO Fix, Michael shows you how to set up an alert in Fresh Web Explorer for anyone who mentions (or links to) your two biggest competitors but not to you. Monitor your inbox for these alerts and you'll find new link building opportunities, ripe for the picking.

Fix 3: How to find the best times to tweet using Followerwonk

Finding the best time to tweet is unique for everyone and figuring out what times work best for you is key to maximizing your presence on Twitter. In this Daily SEO Fix, Ellie shows you how to use Followerwonk to find the best times to tweet so your followers don't miss out on your updates.

Don't have a Pro subscription? No problem. Everything we cover in these Daily SEO Fix videos is available with a free 30-day trial.

Sounds good. Sign me up!

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Seth's Blog : How to win an argument with a scientist

How to win an argument with a scientist

Make better science.

The act of being a scientist is the commitment to the scientific method, a series of hypotheses, tests and re-evaluations. When you make better science, the scientist's previous opinion doesn't matter, not if she's being a scientist.

On the other hand, if you want to win an argument with someone who refuses to act like a scientist, making better science isn't going to help you very much.

The person you're arguing with now (who might be a scientist during the day, even, but is merely being a person right now) is not going to be swayed from a firmly held opinion by your work to make better science. It's more likely that it will take cultural pressure, shame, passion, humor, connection and a host of unreliable levers to make your point.

This disconnect is why it's so frustrating to encounter people with deeply-held pseudo-scientific beliefs about things like whether or not to support your project. It certainly feels like better science and the relentless power of the scientific method would be sufficient to help them get things straight, but they fail because, in fact, there's no science happening here.

Anecdotes, non-falsifiable premises and most of all, a willingness to change tactics if it helps maintain the culturally-enforced norm are all hallmarks of a non-scientific point of view. In other words, the sort of thing humans do all the time.

The easy way to tell the two varieties of argument apart is to ask, "what evidence would you need to see to change your mind about this?"

• Email to a friend •

joi, 21 mai 2015

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Another US Foreign Policy Success: Isis Controls Half of Syria after Palmyra Seizure
Existing Home Sales Lower Than Any Economist's Estimate; Rising Supply a Good Thing?
Philly Fed Region "Weak but Stable"; Kansas City Region "Declines More Sharply"
China Manufacturing PMI Contracts Third Month, Output Index at 13 Month Low

Another US Foreign Policy Success: Isis Controls Half of Syria after Palmyra Seizure

Posted: 21 May 2015 08:32 PM PDT

Congratulations are in order for team Bush and team Obama for another stunning US foreign policy success: Isis Controls Half of Syria after Palmyra Seizure.

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) have seized the Syrian city of Palmyra, home to a Unesco world heritage site, putting nearly half of Syrian territory in the jihadi group's hands and sparking fears that treasured antiquities may be destroyed.

Isis announced it had "complete control" of the city on Thursday, and state television said President Bashar al-Assad's forces had withdrawn from the city, which is known to most Syrians by its Arabic name Tadmur.

Ancient Palmyra is known to the world for its iconic avenue of Roman columns, and was a cultural crossroad of the ancient world. The city dates back to the 1st century, when it was an oasis on a trade route linking eastern civilisations with the Roman empire. Its ruins lie to the southwest of modern Tadmur.

"Palmyra is an extraordinary World Heritage site in the desert and any destruction to Palmyra [would be] not just a war crime but . . . an enormous loss to humanity," Unesco head Irina Bokova said in a video.

Isis has developed a reputation for destroying or selling cultural treasures. Earlier this year it filmed its fighters smashing Assyrian artefacts at sites in northwestern Iraq.

Moderate Rebels Defect

In case you are wondering how this happened, please consider this IBTimes report from March 7, 2015: US-Backed Moderate Syrian Rebels In North Defect; Obama Strategy Set Back.

It was supposed to be a crucial instrument of the Obama administration's aims in Syria, an ostensibly moderate rebel fighting force that would keep the pressure on the authoritarian regime in Damascus without aiding the ruthless jihadist forces that have captured much of the country. But the soldiers of Harakat Hazzm -- the first Syrian rebel group to receive arms from the CIA -- disbanded this week.

As a result, much of northern Syria is in the hands of the extremists, and the United States is left with no palatable ally in the area in the midst of a regional conflict that continues to spiral out of control.

Hillary Backs Moderates

Please recall that Hillary was in favor of backing "moderate" rebels.

But it is not just Democrats who want to back "moderates". Chief warmonger, Republican Senator John McCain, does as well.

Has anyone bothered to question if we are even backing the right person?

Iran is actually our ally here. Iran wants to help the US fight ISIS. The only problem is Iran backs Syrian president Assad, while the goal of the US is to overthrow Assad to alleged "moderates".

Roots of Crisis

This is exactly the kind of idiocy one can expect when you think you can "nation build".

Without a doubt the roots of this crisis date back to the inane decision by George Bush to invade Iraq. But please recall that Hillary was in favor of invading Iraq as well.

The non-amusing fact in this mess is the policies of George Bush, Obama, and Hillary Clinton are similar if not identical. Yet, Republicans blame Obama and Democrats blame Republicans.

The only candidate who has an alternative plan to this mess is Senator Rand Paul.

Contemplating Success

Some may ask "Mish, how the hell can you call this disaster a success?"

The answer is simple: In spite of what they may say, the goal of mainstream Republicans and Democrats is obviously perpetual war.

A destruction of a major historic site in Palmyra will have even some peacemongers clamoring for retaliation.

Make no bones about it, the takeover of Palmyra was a major US foreign policy success, provided you understand the goal.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Existing Home Sales Lower Than Any Economist's Estimate; Rising Supply a Good Thing?

Posted: 21 May 2015 12:26 PM PDT

Existing Home Sales Disappoint

Economists overestimated existing home sales today, rounding out another impressive day of overoptimism.

New home sales came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.04 million annualized rate.

The Bloomberg Consensus Estimate was 5.22 million. 5.04 million was below the lower end of the consensus range of 5.10 M to 5.32 M.

Existing homes sales are not living up to springtime expectations, down 3.3 percent in April to a 5.04 million annual rate which is just below the low-end Econoday forecast. Three of 4 regions show contraction in April with the sharpest decline, minus 6.8 percent, in the South, which is by far the largest housing region. Year-on-year, total sales are still up a respectable 6.1 percent.

Another positive is a rise in supply with 2.21 million used homes on the market vs 2.01 million in March. This rise, together with the drop in sales, raises supply relative to sales to 5.3 months from 4.6 months. And another positive is a 4.1 percent rise in the median price to $219,400 which is up 8.9 percent year-on-year.

But this report in sum is a disappointment, failing to point to any building momentum. Strength in the housing sector may be switching, from existing home sales to new home sales at least based on this report compared to the historic surge earlier this week in housing starts & permits. But housing data month-to-month are always volatile and, on net, it's too soon to decipher how strong the spring housing season is right now.

Existing Home Sales

Existing Home Sales Month's Supply

Rising Supply a Good Thing?

Bloomberg says "Another positive is a rise in supply with 2.21 million used homes on the market vs 2.01 million in March. This rise, together with the drop in sales, raises supply relative to sales to 5.3 months from 4.6 months."

That strikes me as circular reasoning, if not completely ridiculous. Month's supply will automatically rise when sales decline.

Supply rising in 2005 was a sign of a major problem coming up. Apparently it's different this time. The Goldilocks' theory, which I find absurd, is that low supply is what's holding back buyers.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Philly Fed Region "Weak but Stable"; Kansas City Region "Declines More Sharply"

Posted: 21 May 2015 10:46 AM PDT

More weak economic reports came out today. Let's take a look at two regional manufacturing reports.

Philly Fed Region "Weak but Stable"

The Bloomberg Economic Consensus for the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey was 8.0. Economists got the leading sign correct, but the consensus estimate was a tad high with the index posting 6.7.

Activity in the Mid-Atlantic manufacturing sector is slow but stabilizing, based on the Philly Fed's general conditions index which came in at 6.7 for May, down slightly from 7.5 in April and against Econoday expectations for 8.0.

The best news in the report is a slight uptick in new orders, to 4.0 from 0.7. This isn't searing but is at least in the plus column as are shipments, at 1.0 from minus 1.8. Employment, at 6.7, is also in the plus column.

Manufacturers in the region are reporting significant price contraction, especially in costs which is a surprise given the rise underway in oil prices. Manufacturers are also reporting declining prices for finished goods as well. These inflation readings, if repeated in subsequent reports, will give the edge to the doves at the Federal Reserve.

A plus in the report is a healthy reading of 33.9 for the 6-month outlook, down only slightly from April's 35.5 and up from 32.0 in March. The manufacturing sector, hit by weak exports and trouble in the energy sector, has yet to find its footing this year but this report, which is very closely watched, points to stability that in turn hints at a rebound in the months ahead.

Weak Demand

In light of rising energy prices, price contraction especially in finished goods tells the real story: very weak demand.

The six-month outlook is meaningless. Such readings are perpetually overoptimistic except at the bottom of recessions.

Industrial production will go nowhere with readings like these. I suggest things appear to be "stabilizing" before the next decline.

Philly Fed vs. Industrial Production

Kansas City Fed Consensus Way Too Optimistic

The range of economists' estimates for the Kansas City Fed Business Outlook Survey was -1 to +1. Economists were not even close on this one.

The early indications on May's manufacturing activity have been slightly positive, that is until the Kansas City Fed report where the composite index is in deeply negative ground at minus 13. This is the weakest of the recovery for this reading and follows an already weak minus 7 in April.

New orders this month are deeply negative, at minus 19, as are backlog orders at minus 21. These readings, reflecting contraction for export orders and trouble in the energy sector, point to significant trouble for the region's manufacturing activity in the months ahead.

Shipments are already in contraction, at minus 9, as is employment, at a deeply negative minus 17 that contrasts with mostly positive employment indications in other reports.

Kansas City Region "Declines More Sharply"

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reports Tenth District Manufacturing Declines More Sharply.

According to Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the survey revealed that Tenth District manufacturing activity declined more sharply in May and producers' expectations also fell, with both reaching their lowest levels since mid - 2009.

"Factories in our region saw an even sharper decline in May than in March or April, as exports fell further and energy - related producers saw another drop in orders," said Wilkerson. "However, firms' overall still plan a modest in crease in employment over the next six to twelve months."

The month-over-month composite index was -13 in May, down from -7 in April and -4 in March. The last time the composite index was lower was in April 2009. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory indexes. The overall slower growth was mostly attributable to declines in durable goods manufacturing, including a continued decline in aircraft production and further weakness in metals and machinery. In addition, several nondurable goods plants also reported sluggish activity, particularly for plastics and food production.

Production fell most sharply in energy-producing states like Oklahoma and New Mexico, but it was also down in most other District states. The majority of other month - over - month indexes also decreased from the previous month . T he production index contracted from -2 to -13, and the shipments and new orders index es also fell. The order backlog, employment, and new orders for exports indexes edged higher but still remained well below zero. The finished goods inventory index increased from - 1 to 0, while the raw materials inventory index dropped into negative territory.

Recession in KC Region

If it appears the KC region is in recession, it's because it probably is. Nonetheless, favorable expectations six months out refuse to die.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

China Manufacturing PMI Contracts Third Month, Output Index at 13 Month Low

Posted: 21 May 2015 02:20 AM PDT

The slowdown in China continues as the HBSC Flash PMI shows Output contracts at strongest rate in just over a year.

Key Points

Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ at 49.1 in May (48.9 in April). Two-month high.
Flash China Manufacturing Output Index at 48.4 in May (50.0 in April). 13-month low.

Commenting on the Flash China Manufacturing PMI survey, Annabel Fiddes , Economist at Markit said: "The Flash China Manufacturing PMI pointed to a further deterioration in operating conditions in May , with production declining for the first time in 2015 so far. "Moreover, softer client demand, both at home and abroad, along with further job cuts indicate that the sector may find it difficult to expand, at least in the near - term, as companies tempered production plans in line with weaker demand conditions. "On a positive note, deflationary pressures remained relatively strong, with both input and output prices continuing to decline, leaving plenty of scope for the authorities to implement further stimulus measures if required."

The positive note is "deflationary pressures are strong so that leaves scope for stimulus." Isn't that a hoot?

And if there was strength, that would be a positive as well. I guess it's simply impossible for things not to be bullish.

Two Point Summary

Economy weak - stimulus needed - stimulus is bullish
Economy strong - no stimulus needed - also bullish

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

Meet Voytek The Bear That Was Raised By Soldiers

Posted: 21 May 2015 07:32 PM PDT

Voytek is a bear that lived a life unlike any other before or after him. Voytek was officially an enlisted as a soldier in the Polish Army and became a dear friend to the humans who raised him.