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Quick Guide to Scaling Your Authorship Testing with Screaming Frog |
Quick Guide to Scaling Your Authorship Testing with Screaming Frog Posted: 28 Oct 2013 04:12 PM PDT Posted by kanejamison Nearly all of us have used Screaming Frog to crawl websites. Many of you have probably also used Google's Structured Data Testing Tool (formerly known as the Rich Snippet Testing Tool) to test your authorship setup and other structured data. This is a quick tutorial on how to combine these two tools to check your entire website for structured data such as Google Authorship and Rel="Publisher", along with various types of Schema.org markup. The concept:Google's structured data tester uses the URL you're testing right in their own URL. Here's an example:
We can take advantage of that URL structure to create a list of URLs we want to test for structured data markup, and process that list through Screaming Frog. Why this is better than simply crawling your site to detect markup:You could certainly crawl your site and use Screaming Frog's custom filters to detect things like rel="author" and ?rel=author within your own code. And you should. This approach will tell you what Google is actually recognizing, which can help you detect errors in implementation of authorship and other markup. Disclaimer: I've encountered a number of times when the Structured Data Testing Tool reported a positive result for authorship implementation, but authorship snippets in search results were not functioning. Upon further review, changing the implementation method resolved the issue. Also, authorship may not be granted or present for a particular Google+ user. As a result, it's important to note that the Structured Data Tester isn't perfect and will produce false positives, but it will suit our need in this case, quickly testing a large number of URLs all at once. Getting startedYou're going to need a couple things to get started:
The video optionThis short video tutorial walks through all eight steps outlined below. If you choose to watch the video, you can skip straight to the section titled "Four ways to expand this concept."
Steps 1, 2, and 3: Gather your list of URLs into the Excel templateYou can find the full instructions inside the Excel template, but here's the simple 1-2-3 version of how to use the Excel template (make sure URL Tools or SEO Tools is installed before you open this file or you'll have to fix the formula):
Step 4: Copy all of the URLs in Column B into a .txt fileNow that Column B of your spreadsheet is filled with URLs that we'll be crawling, copy and paste that column into a text file so that there is one URL per line. This is the .txt file that we'll use in Screaming Frog's list mode.
Step 5: Open up Screaming Frog, switch it to list mode, and upload your file
Step 6: Set up Screaming Frog custom filtersBefore we go crawling all of these URLs, it's important that we set up custom filters to detect specific responses from the Structured Data Testing Tool.
Since we're testing authorship for this example, here are the exact pieces of text that I'm going to tell Screaming Frog to track:
Just to be clear, here's the explanation for each piece of text we're tracking:
Step 7: Let 'er ripAt this point we're ready to start crawling the URLs. Out of respect for Google's servers and to avoid them disabling our ability to crawl URLs in this manner, you might consider adjusting your crawl rate to a slower pace, especially on large sites. You can adjust this setting in Screaming Frog by going to Configuration > Speed, and decreasing your current settings. Step 8: Export your results in the Custom tabOnce the crawl is finished, go to the Custom tab, select each filter that you tested, and export the results.
Wrapping it upThat's the quick and dirty guide. Once you export each CSV, you'll want to save them according to the filters you put in place. For example, my filter 3 was testing for pages that contained the phrase "Page does not contain authorship markup." So, I know that anything that is exported under Filter 3 did not return an authorship result in the Structured Data Testing Tool. Four ways to expand this concept:1: Use a proper scraper to pull data on multiple authorsScreaming Frog is an easy tool to do quick checks like the one described in this tutorial, but unfortunately it can't handle true scraping tasks for us. If you want to use this method to also pull data such as which author is being verified for a given page, I'd recommend redesigning this concept to work in Outwit Hub. John-Henry Scherck from SEOGadget has a great tutorial on how to use Outwit for basic scraping tasks that you should read if you haven't used the software before. For the more technical among us, there are plenty of other scrapers that can handle a task like this - the important part is understanding the process so you can use it in your tool of choice. 2: Compare authorship tests against ranking results and estimated search volume to find opportunitiesImagine you're ranking 3rd for a high-volume search term, and you don't have authorship on the page. I'm willing to bet it would be worth your time to add authorship to that page. Use hlookups or vlookups in Excel to compare data from three tabs: rankings, estimated search volume, and whether or not authorship is present on the page. It will take some data manipulation, but in the end you should be able to create a Pivot Table that filters out pages with authorship already, and sorts the pages by estimated search volume and current ranking. Note: I'm not suggesting you add Authorship to everythingâ"not every page should be attributed to an authorâ"e-commerce product pages, for example. 3: Use this method to test for other structured markup besides authorshipThe Structured Data Testing Tool goes far beyond just authorship. Here's a short list of other structured markup you can test:
4: Blend this idea with Screaming Frog's other capabilitiesThere's a ton of ways to use Screaming Frog. Aichlee Bushnell at SEER did a great job of cataloging 55+ Ways To Use Screaming Frog. Go check out that post and I'm sure you can come up with additional ways to spin this concept into something useful. Not to end on a dull note, but a couple comments on troubleshooting:
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There’s always a spot for the best in the market.
Not the most expensive, but the one that most ideally suits the needs of those that care.
It's easy to get lost in the chaos of mediocre, of discount, of close and cheap. But if you're the best, among the people who care to find and talk about the best, no market is too crowded.
The hard part is figuring out what 'best' means.
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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
Food Inflation in India Hits 18.4%; RBI Expected to Hike Rates; Pause Before Rupee Collapse? Posted: 28 Oct 2013 07:51 PM PDT As food inflation in India soars out of sight, Yahoo! Finance reports India expected to raise interest rates, roll back rupee support India's central bank is expected to raise policy interest rates for the second time in as many months on Tuesday to fight stubbornly high inflation, while rolling back further emergency measures put in place recently to support the slumping rupee.Rupee vs. U.S. Dollar Pause Before Rupee Collapse? With consumer prices rising at nearly 10% annualized, and food inflation over 18%, a hike to 7.75% is hardly tight economic policy. Moreover, India's property and stock market bubbles are both still going strong. Supposedly the RBI wants to maintain "growth". But what growth is that? Supposedly real growth takes into account inflation, but I am hard pressed to believe it. Regardless, this dam may be about ready to collapse, even if India's stock market hits new highs in nominal terms. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Expect to Be Paid in Spain? This Year? By the Government? Then Take a Haircut! Posted: 28 Oct 2013 03:47 PM PDT Here's an interesting post about service providers in Spain, owed money and interest by the government. Via translation from Cinco Dias, please consider Providers Who Want Payment This Year Have to Accept a Haircut The Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs gave the green light to the last phase of the plan to settle the commercial debt.Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
NSA Monitored 60 Million Phone Calls in Spain; Drowning in Useless Data; Hello NSA! Posted: 28 Oct 2013 11:16 AM PDT Is there anything the NSA is not monitoring? That's the question of the day as I note the Financial Times article NSA monitored 60m phone calls in Spain, say media The US National Security Agency secretly monitored as many as 60m phone calls in Spain in just one month, Spanish media reported on Monday.Drowning in Useless Data A friend of mine writes The NSA is currently drowning in data. The approach of grabbing all transmissions is futile. Computer programs to sort through it are futile as well.Hello NSA! Hello NSA agent ... How you doing? Having a good time sorting through useless data, day after day, after day, and wasting taxpayer money in the process? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Pettis: "Abenomics Likely to Fail in Medium Term, Debt Matters" Posted: 28 Oct 2013 01:01 AM PDT Michael Pettis, at China Financial Markets, discusses Abenomics, Japan's shrinking (for now) current account surplus, debt, and interest rates in an interesting email. From Pettis ... Abenomics in Japan is likely to put upward pressure on the national savings rate in Japan (but not necessarily on the household savings rate). This implicitly requires that over the next two or three years Japan run a higher current account surplus. In a world struggling with excess capacity and insufficient demand, pressure to increase the Japanese current account surplus is likely to result in higher unemployment – either abroad, if Japan's trade partners do not take steps to protect themselves from the counterbalancing deficits, or at home if they do.Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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When it's time to name your project, you probably want to find a domain for it. And, alas, all the obvious and most of the silly dot com choices were taken a very long time ago.
Time for wordoid.
Scroll down on the left, put a short word in the 'pattern' box and off you go.
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Search News from the Future |
Posted: 27 Oct 2013 04:21 PM PDT Posted by Reinhart Citizens of Moz, I come to you at a most desperate hour. I've just returned from London, Distilled's international headquarters, and I've been patiently awaiting this moment to share some potentially niche-shattering news with you all. I don't quite know where to begin, so I'll just say it: You see, the stories are all true. Will Critchlow is a wizard. I know, it's common knowledge that nearly all Englishmen are wizards, I've seen Harry Potter too. But Mr. Critchlow is a wizard with a most peculiar and exciting gift: that of clairvoyance. He can see the future!
And no, I don't mean in a Steve Jobs/Carl Sagan/George Orwell futurist kind of way either. I mean he quite literally has a translucent, viridian ball of crystal sitting on his desk that divines that which has yet to transpire! I wouldn't have thought anything of the object upon first glance, but one night I came back to the office to grab my misplaced jacket to low mutterings, frantic typing, and wisps of smoke coming from the other side of the room. I dove into the bean bag room so as not to draw his attention and waited patiently, shaking with dread but with a fully piqued curiosity. I couldn't make out what he was chanting and I don't think I would have been able to translate the Latin anyway. After about 30 minutes of this I heard him pack up his things and leave. I'm normally more of the craven type when it comes to adventure, but something that night pressed me to snoop around my boss's desk for the truth. The smoke and emerald glow dissipated as I shuffled some papers around. The smell of ozone lingered in the air. Nothing looked too out of the ordinary: the latest issue of Inc. Magazine, a Post-it note with a hastily scrawled and circled "Fire Phil Nottingham: Oct 31"... wait... this news clip read... 2016? Maybe he was just tired and mistakâ" 2020?! What was I looking at here?! What I'm about to reveal may shock or even scare some readers, but I believe it is essential that the Moz community hear it nevertheless. I may lose my jobâ"nay, I may be turned into a toad with a dreadful cockney accentâ"but it will have all been worth it to bring this knowledge to you all. My interpretations may be shaky at best, but the headlines were as clear as day: These are digital marketing news items from the future! You may never get a better chance to peek behind the tapestries of time as you do now. So read on, friends, and be brave. Term "mobile" removed from Analytics, Google's vocabularyMOUNTAIN VIEW, CA â" April 14, 2015 â" A term commonly used by webmasters, digital marketers and industry analysts may not be so common after today. Over the weekend, Google removed the term "mobile" from all of its web products, including Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, and the company's AdWords tool set. "Mobile has been a deprecated term for some time now," the search giant explained in a corresponding blog post. "The lines between where and when we view our various screens have been blurred beyond parsability. All web-based content can be viewed on any device these days and thus it makes little sense to refer to all non-traditional desktop visitors as 'mobile.' " The web is very close to becoming truly device-neutral largely thanks to thoughtful webmasters, CMS development teams and device manufacturers who have all come together to deal with the issue of rendering content from multiple angles. Data on device type, screen size, and other metrics is still readily available throughout Google's suite of webmaster tools. [...] Voice searches now constitute 28% of all queriesAUSTIN, TX â" June 29, 2020 â" Search engine corporations such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have traditionally held on tight to their data, offering limited info on global search trends, but a recent study conducted by the University of Texas has unearthed compelling evidence that shows almost a third of all search queries are now conducted via voice search. The nation's only "Professor of Search," Dr. Pete Meyers of the University of Texas explains the results of his institution's study: "They called me mad back in 2013, but voice searches now constitute a huge chunk of the search pie. Several years ago we would have found it laughable to be walking down the street talking to our devices, let alone talking to our devices within our home. But with the advancement of voice recognition software and the nearly ubiquitous nature of the hardware to back it up, today we're estimating that voice search makes up almost a third of all search queries, and that number seems to be on the rise." A few of the major contributing factors to the ascendancy of voice search include web-enabled automobiles, home appliances, [...] Traditional television advertising revenues wane as new year begins; YouTube, Twitter and Facebook post record annual reports NEW YORK, NY â" January 1, 2019 â" Google's video platform, YouTube (GOOG) along with social networks Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB), posted record gains in 2018 as social and video advertising revenues shattered forecasts and industry expectations. Analysts speculate that this was due in no small part to the transference of advertising spends on traditional television media. When FB and TWTR first hit the stock market, many buyers felt the social networks needed to prove themselves in the competitive world of media advertising, but as the multi-billion dollar industry of traditional television advertising continues to crumble amid stiff competition from a la carte alternatives like Netflix and Amazon, more marketing budgets are now trickling down to companies such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Google's AdWords platform. Netflix introduces video, text advertisements for streaming content LOS GATOS, CA â" January 16, 2019 â" Earlier this month we saw reports that television advertising revenues were waning in the new year. Today we can report that some of those dollars will most certainly be spent on Netflix's streaming video platform. The company issued a press release this morning indicating that the company, for the first time in its history, will now display advertisements before many of their most popular original programs such as Arrested Development, Orange is the New Black, and the much-anticipated final season of House of Cards. Advertisements will be similar to those seen on YouTube, Hulu, and other video sites. Google cracks down on fake, purchased +1sMOUNTAIN VIEW, CA â" February 1, 2017 â" For the first several years of the social platform's life, Google Plus seemed a joke to many. Comparisons were made to MySpace and other defunct social platforms, and G+ was often called "a graveyard" as it faced competition from the already-established Facebook. But since that time, the network has shown some real staying power with the full faith and credit of Google Inc. behind it. To that end, in late 2016 we reported on Google's announcement that plus ones, Google's own brand of "Likes," would help determine the order in which documents appeared in its search engine results pages. This move forced webmasters everywhere, for big and small companies alike, to reconsider the social platform for conducting regular business. Since then, various scams have been created to generate fake or paid "+1s" for sites who want quick and easy exposure in Google's search engine. While this practice has been effective for some, it is not sitting at all well with the search giant. Today, Google announced a crack-down on those sites which it has determined to have been generating fake +1s. The process should be easy enough for Google as it has access to all of its users' account data and history. One well known Google representative, speaking on condition of anonymity, cut straight to the point, asking "What were they thinking?" in reference to marketers who've been attempting to game Google's algorithm. "As if we haven't been aware of fake Google plus accounts since Plus's inception?... [...] Panda and Penguin now refresh daily MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA â" July 22, 2016 â" Five years ago, Google launched a pair of systems designed to keep poor content out of its search engine's results and combat questionable citation building tactics. The former is known as the "Panda" update and the latter, "Penguin." Until this week, the two algorithms have been updated on unpredictable schedules based on when the massive amounts of data required to make proper determinations about the quality of a website and its internet-wide citations were parsed. This would result in periodic "refresh" days, where webmasters who engaged in deceptive marketing practices would brace themselves for potential losses of traffic to their webpages. These updates would traditionally occur four or five times per year. Last Monday, Google announced that they've dedicated additional resources to these systems and are now able to parse the same data sets many times faster than before, meaning that these updates will now essentially occur in real time. Google removes "organic keywords" tab from analyticsMOUNTAIN VIEW, CA â" October 31, 2020 â" [...] and for those who don't remember, Google used to give webmasters access to what was known as "keyword data," allowing them to make better decisions about their sites' development and what their users' intent might be when visiting. In the fall of 2013, Google denied access to almost all of this organic data by encrypting all searches generated through Google.com. Today, Google took it a step further and completely removed the "Organic Keywords" tab from its popular web analytics program. "We've been meaning to do this for some time now," said a senior Google representative, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We're very concerned about our users' privacy, and that's why we started to deny access to sensitive data such as search queries. We know our users don't want webmasters knowing what they're searching for, and we want to respect that." Later in the same conversation, the same Googler said with a grin and a chortle, "There'll always be keyword data in AdWords." Adopting a sing-song tone, one might have quoted Arrested Development's timeless one-liner, "There's always money in the banana stand." In other news, Google added a new tab to analytics titled "ASL," which includes less-sensitive data about users such as age, sex, location, weight, and sexual preference [...] Cutts: Given today's technology, page speed a "deprecated metric" for determining site quality MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA â" October 31, 2022 â" For as long as there have been websites, there have been slow websites. In past generations, particularly in the 2000s and 2010s, internet users have been frustrated with delay times and unresponsive pages. Because of this, Google has made several attempts to help webmasters create more efficient sites, and has also taken measures to ensure that particularly slow sites do not register as frequently in their search results. But technology has come a long way since the days of 4G and 5G wireless networks. So, there you have it. That's all I found in Will's office that fateful night. Leave a comment and wish me good tidings if you be so bold. Though as a soon-to-be-toad, I may have a difficult time responding to your queries. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! |
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