Matilda is a two year old cat that often gets called an alien due to her large glassy eyes. She already has well over 18,000 followers on Instagram and people even draw far art of her riding in spaceships.
Fans of the popular Game of Thrones television series can now visit the places in which every episode of the show was filmed at.
Created by Moroccan travel company Lawrence of Morocco, the infographic labeled the different seasons in color codes, while showing the actual name of the location and country where the filming took place.
For instance, Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland was Dothraki Sea in the show, and Daenerys and Drogo's wedding was shot at the Azure Window of Malta.
For years now, we've heard the drumbeat from Google that marketers should stop focusing on building links. While it's accepted wisdom that you should avoid manipulative link building to rank higher in search results, the popular narrative would have us believe that external links aren't important in Google's ranking algorithms at all, and that link building can be safely ignored.
Moz's study examined the top 50 Google search results for approximately 15,000 keywords. This allowed us to examine not only what factors correlate with higher search rankings, but also how frequently those characteristics are seen.
At this point I must insert the usual caveat that correlation is not causation. Simply because a feature is strongly related to high rankings, this doesn't prove or disprove that Google actually uses it in its algorithm. That said, it sure is a hint!
The relationship between external links and rankings
When we look at what the study found about links, we find a strong relationship.
The correlation between higher rankings and the number of linking websites (root domains) sits at .30. This number seems small, but it's actually one of the highest correlations the study found. (Smaller correlations are also not surprising—with over 200 ranking signals, Google specifically designed their algorithm so that one factor doesn't dominate the others.)
Even more telling is the number of websites we found in the top results that had external backlinks, or rather, the lack thereof.
Out of the top results, a full 99.2% of all websites had at least one external link. (The remaining .8% is well within the margin of error expected between Mozscape and Google's own link index.) The study found almost no websites ranking for competitive search phrases that didn't have at least a single external link pointing at them, and most had significantly more links.
In other words, if you're looking for a site that ranks well with no external links, be prepared to look for a very long time.
That said, the study did find numerous examples where individual pages ranked just fine without specific external links, as long as the website itself had external links pointing at it. For example, consider when The New York Times publishes a new page. Because it's new, it has no external links yet. But because The New York Times' website itself has tons of external links, it's possible for the new page to rank.
In all, 77.8% of individual pages in the top results had at least one external link from another site, which means 22.2% of individual pages ranked with no external links.
What the data says about links and Google rankings
There are a number of conclusions you can reasonably draw from these numbers.
1. External links are almost always present for competitive searches
If you want to rank for anything that's even remotely competitive, the chances of finding a website ranking without external links is very rare indeed.
2. It's possible to rank individual pages without links
As long as your website itself is linked externally, it appears more than possible to rank individual pages on your site, even if those pages themselves don't have external links. That said, there's a strong relationship between links to a page, and that pages performance in search—so it's much better if the page actually does have external links.
To put this in layman's terms, if a lot of people link to your website homepage, it's possible for other pages to rank as well, but it's even better if those pages also have external links pointing at them.
Although not examined in this study, it's likely most of the pages without external links at least had internal links pointing at them. While not as strong as an external link, internal links remain a decent way to pass authority, relevancy and popularity signals to pages on the same site.
3. More links correlate with higher rankings
It seems obvious, but the study confirmed the long-standing correlation between higher rankings and the number of external links found from unique websites.
Indeed, out of all the data points the ranking correlation study looked at, the number of unique websites linking to a page was one of the highest correlated relationships we found.
4. When can you rank without links?
Despite the fact that we found almost no websites ranking without external links, it is still possible?
Absolutely, but there's a catch.
The 15,000 keyword phrases used in this study were, for the most part, competitive. This means that lots of other people and websites are trying to rank for the same term. Think of phrases like "Galaxy s6" and "New York car insurance."
Non-competitive phrases, by their nature, are much easier to rank for. So if you want your website to rank without obtaining any backlinks, you might succeed by targeting more obscure phrases like "Oregon beekeeper ballet emporium" or "Batman flux platypus." These phrases have much lower competition, and by default, much lower traffic (and in many cases, none.)
There are other edge cases where it's possible to rank without links, such as when the user is searching for your website specifically, or when you offer something very unique that can't be found anywhere else. Even in these cases, it helps tremendously to actually have links pointing at you.
Proceed with caution
There's good reason people believe link building is dead, as readers of this blog know well. For readers less familiar with this concept, or those newer to SEO...
Today, even slight deviations from Google's guidelines on manipulative links can land webmasters in penalty jail.
The web is filled with links. Billions of them. Many are built by robots, some are paid for by advertisers, some are good old fashioned editorial links. The challenge for Google is to separate the good from the bad in its ranking algorithm.
When Google finds a link pointing at your website, it can choose to do one of 3 things:
Count it in its ranking algorithm
Ignore it - or not give it any weight in boosting your rankings
Penalize you - if it thinks the link is manipulative
In fact, most people would be surprised to learn how many links don't actually help you to rank, or can actually hurt. To play within Google's good graces, it's best to understand Google's guidelines on manipulative link building, and knowing what types of links to avoid.
The safest link building is simply link earning, and to get your content in front of the right people.
But trying to rank in Google without any links at all?
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This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
The sitelinks search box (schema.org/SearchAction) is one of the most popular markups out there. According to SimilarTech, there are now more than 650,000 sites that have implemented this markup, making it one of the most popular of all schema markup types.
That said, we don't really know the reason why Google sometimes shows the search box for branded queries for sites that have implemented the markup, and sometimes doesn't. While we don't know what Google's criteria are behind the search box algorithm, we have the data to definitely see that there's a correlation between the traffic of the websites and the appearance of the markup.
What determines if Google displays your search box?
Using a SimilarTech "Websites using SearchAction Schema Entity" report, we compiled a list of websites implementing the above schema. We chose over 300 websites to sample, with varying traffic volumes. Then we researched each site and checked if Google was displaying a sitelinks search box when searching for the URL.
If we found a search box wasn't displayed, we looked at the website in question to see if there were technical issues (based on Google's setup instructions). Finally, we analyzed the results and produced the most common scenarios that would prevent Google from showing the sitelinks search box for a website.
Reasons why the sitelinks search box may not show (and what to do about it)
This list is ordered by frequency, from the most common to least common reasons that the Google sitelinks searchbox isn't being displayed:
Reason No. 1: Traffic to the website is too low
As you can see in the chart, amongst the sites with SearchAction schema markup, there's a definite correlation between website traffic and the likelihood that the searchbox will appear in Google search results. There were just a few sites (2.5%) with 100K monthly desktop visits where the searchbox was displayed. By contrast, nearly three-quarters of the sites with 50M monthly desktop visits had the sitelinks searchbox.
All the websites we tested implemented the schema SearchAction markup.
Here's what it means:
Monthly desktop visits – the number of average monthly desktop visits to the website according to SimilarWeb's analytics.
With "site:" search box – the number of websites that have the "site:" search box for their website:
With the custom search box – the number of websites that have the custom search box for their website:
The biggest difference between the custom search box and the "site:" search box: Searches inside the custom search box will redirect you to the website results page in the website itself, while the searches in the site:searchbox will lead you to a second search within Google.
Reason No. 2: Markup is not implemented in the site
This is fairly obvious, but it needs to be reiterated: The searchbox can only appear if the markup is implemented. There are two available schema formats you can use to implement the markup.
1. Using JSON-LD:
2. Using Microdata:
The Google recommendation is to implement the JSON-LD format, so if you prefer to do that, you can find the instructions here.
Reason No. 3: The URL attribute is wrong
This occurs when the "URL" attribute's value doesn't match the canonical URL of the domain's homepage, or there are problems with the canonical tags of the main domain.
The most common problems are differences between the URL value in the markup to the domain himself.
The "target" attribute in the markup should point to the search results page URL on the website, including a placeholder for the query input parameter name, wrapped by curly braces.
"target" attribute is not defined in the markup or defined incorrectly.
No search results page exists (404) or it's returning a server error (500)
The results page never yields results or the content is irrelevant to the search query input (this can be due to a technical problem in the engine of the search results page)
The field of the target in the markup isn't defined well.
Reason No. 5: The query input doesn't match
The value of the "query-input" name attribute doesn't match the string that's inside the curly braces in the "target" property. You need to make sure that the value of the "name" will match, otherwise it won't work.
Use this tag and, you guessed it, Google won't show the searchbox. But unless you're actively trying to disable the searchbox markup, this is likely one of the least common scenarios.
Now that we've covered all the reasons the sitelinks searchbox may not appear, here's what it means in a nutshell:
Beyond markup: Best practices for winning the box
First, there's a very strong correlation to site traffic. This is perhaps the main factor that determines whether or not Google will show the search box, even if all technical issues are addressed and schema is implemented correctly. Again, out of the websites we sampled that have more than 50M monthly desktop visits, 74% of them have sitelinks searchbox for their websites. When we checked the websites that have just 25-100K monthly visits, however, only 1.4% had the searchbox working for their site.
Secondly, as you can see from the various reasons listed above, there are a slew of technical kinks that may result in Google not displaying the searchbox. Some of these have to do with improperly implemented schema. If you suspect a technical issue is to blame, be sure to go through all of the tech-related scenarios listed above to ensure the bug is found. Then you can use our troubleshooting tips to fix the problem.
As you can see, there are several factors that affect the searchbox appearance in Google's search results. But if you play your cards right and do your due diligence, getting those valuable searchboxes to appear is easier than you think.
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It's possible you work in an industry built on perfect. That you're a scrub nurse in the OR, or an air traffic controller or even in charge of compliance at a nuclear power plant.
The rest of us, though, are rewarded for breaking things. Our job, the reason we have time to read blogs at work or go to conferences or write memos is that our organization believes that just maybe, we'll find and share a new idea, or maybe (continuing a run on sentence) we'll invent something important, find a resource or connect with a key customer in a way that matters.
So, if that's your job, why are you so focused on perfect?
Perfect is the ideal defense mechanism, the work of Pressfield's Resistance, the lizard brain giving you an out. Perfect lets you stall, ask more questions, do more reviews, dumb it down, safe it up and generally avoid doing anything that might fail (or anything important).
You're not in the perfect business. Stop pretending that's what the world wants from you.
Truly perfect is becoming friendly with your imperfections on the way to doing something remarkable.
I believe Podemos has tempered some of those claims (possibly an election ploy), but party leader, Pablo Iglesias, is very close friends with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
For the first time in 24 years, PP did not carry the vote in the Madrid municipal election. Instead, Manuela Carmena, a Podemos-backed, anti-austerity candidate is now Madrid's new mayor.
National Elections This Year
Spanish national elections are this year (on or before December 20), with no date set as of yet.
The most likely dates are purported to be October 25 or a Sunday in November other than November 1, All Saints Day, a religious holy day for Catholics.
Election Outlook
At this juncture it is impossible for any party to get a majority of votes. So what happens?
Unlike other neighboring countries' practice, such as Portugal, Greece or Italy, elections in Spain that result in hung parliaments rarely result in coalition governments at the national level. Rather, the party with the most seats has historically formed a minority government with the confidence and supply support of other parties, relying on legislature pacts or, in the event of a party holding a working majority (not absolute but large enough to govern on its own right), ad hoc agreements and/or variable geometry pacts, in order to pass legislation through the Congress.
Opinion Polls
This could get very interesting, especially if Podemos can pull off an upset. And it won't even be that much of an upset according to recent opinion polls.
click on chart for sharper image
It's very conceivable that an anti-euro party will find itself in power, in Spain, later this year!
Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Following the rebound in consumer spending (heavily weighted to subprime auto sales), economists expected a rebound in Industrial Production.
Instead, last month was revised lower, and this month was not only negative but also lower than any economist's estimate in the Bloomberg Econoday Consensus Range.
The hawks may have some good arguments at this week's FOMC meeting but they won't have anything convincing to say on the manufacturing sector which, instead of rebounding from a weak first quarter, appears to be slowing further. All the main numbers in today's industrial production report are below low-end forecasts with the headline at minus 0.2 in May and April revised 2 tenths lower to minus 0.5. May is the fourth negative reading in the last six months with the other readings at no change. Capacity utilization fell 2 tenths to 78.1 percent which is the lowest rate since January 2014.
The manufacturing component fell 0.2 percent in May for the third negative reading in five months. Weakness in May was concentrated in consumer goods and construction supplies, the latter a disappointing indication for the housing sector. The mining component, at minus 0.3 percent, has really been hit hard by weakness in the energy sector but, in a plus, contraction here seems to be easing. The utilities component is positive but just barely at plus 0.2 percent.
Turning back to manufacturing, vehicles are actually a very big positive with a third outsized gain in a row, at plus 1.7 percent in May vs 2.0 percent and 4.0 percent in the two prior months. This reflects very strong consumer demand for cars and trucks underscoring unit vehicle sales which, in previously released data, are the strongest in 10 years. Excluding vehicles, however, the decline in May manufacturing slips another tenth to minus 0.3 percent. Another area of strength is capital goods which is showing life in the durable goods report and which here, tracked in the business equipment subcomponent, shows a 0.2 percent gain for May.
Otherwise, however, this report is surprisingly weak and echoes this morning's equally surprisingly weak Empire State report for June. Though there are no separate readings on exports in either of this morning's reports, weakness here appears to be pulling down the manufacturing sector.
Revisions
The Fed's Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report shows there has not been a positive report all year, but December 2014, February and March 2015 were revised from negative numbers to zero. January and April were revised lower from previously reported negative numbers.
click on chart for sharper image
Market Groups
Among the major market groups, only business equipment and business supplies registered production gains in May, with increases of 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. The production of consumer goods decreased 0.3 percent, as declines for both consumer energy products and non-energy nondurables outweighed a gain for durable consumer goods.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output fell 0.2 percent in May, as a decrease of 0.7 percent in the output of nondurables was partially offset by a small increase in the production of durables. The largest gain among durable goods industries was recorded by motor vehicles and parts; its index increased 1.7 percent. Results for other durable goods industries were mixed, with none posting a gain or loss exceeding 0.7 percent. Almost all major nondurable goods industries registered declines, with the largest drop, 1.6 percent, occurring in the petroleum and coal products industry.
I still maintain auto sales are going to collapse at some point, likely out of the blue, and it will surprise the economists when it does happen. I don't know when, but suggest some time this year. Next month would not surprise me in the least.
Car sales are registered when dealers take delivery. At the turn, dealers who have been loading up are going to take some pretty steep losses on inventory they will have a hard time unloading.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Both sides in the deadlocked Greek bailout crisis hardened their positions on Monday, a day after the collapse of the latest talks to broker an agreement between the cash-strapped government in Athens and its international creditors.
With two weeks to strike a deal before Greece's next loan repayment is due, Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, accused creditors of "political motives" behind the latest rejection of his proposals and claimed to be "shouldering . . . the hopes of the people of Europe".
Mr Tsipras says further pension cuts are a "red line" that cannot be crossed after successive bailout reductions that have reduced the average pension by more than 40 per cent.
"The Greek government has been negotiating with a specific plan and documented proposals. We will wait patiently until the institutions adhere to realism," the premier added.
In a rhetorical flourish, Mr Tsipras also said: "We are not simply shouldering a history laden with struggles. We are shouldering the dignity of our people, as well as the hopes of the people of Europe. We cannot ignore this responsibility. This is not a matter of ideological stubbornness. This is about democracy."
Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, called on Athens to rethink it position urgently and offer a new proposal to reopen negotiations. "While all actors will now need to go the extra mile, the ball lies squarely in the camp of the Greek government to take the next steps," he said.
François Hollande, the French president, said on Monday that "turbulent" times were looming "if we don't reach an agreement". "Let us not waste time and let's restart the negotiations as soon as possible," he said on the sidelines of the Paris air show.
Without the endorsement of the bailout monitors the chances of an amicable agreement on Thursday are remote, raising the prospect that eurozone negotiators may resort to the "take it or leave it" strategy used on Cyprus at a eurogroup meeting two years ago.
Let's Play Ball
The appeal by Hollande and the ECB does indeed suggest the creditors want a deal much more than Greece does.
And if so, it appears my thesis about Greece purposely drawing this process out for months without really wanting a deal is the correct one.
Who has the Ball?
The ball is actually in the hands of those who most want a deal. For months, Germany has stated the eurozone is prepared for a default and Greece is bluffing.
If so, why the massive angst? Who's bluffing whom?
Who's the Novice Game Player?
Flashback February 3, 2015: Bloomberg writer Leonid Bershidsky commented "By the time the EU is done with the Syriza novices, Greece's debt may be a little lower, but the government's radicalism will be a tattered banner."
On the same day Hans-Peter Friedrich, a deputy leader of the Merkel's Christian Democratic caucus, said "Greece, not Germany, is under time pressure".
German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said "Europe had already pushed its generosity to Greece to the absolute limit. We need solidarity in Europe, and besides we cannot be blackmailed."
Bershidsky is another in a long line of persons who do not understand simple math. Time will tell who is waving the "tattered banner" over what can and cannot be paid back. My bet, one way or another, is on the alleged "novices".
Reader Mailbag
Reader "AC" pinged me today with these thoughts.
Hello Mish
Indeed I think you are right. Tsipras voluntarily made the talks go on and on. If you think about it, that was in its best interest: Greeks could withdraw money and prepare, he could study other plans (Russia?), and he could study the behavior of his counterpart.
The last point is key in understanding who has the loaded gun. My feeling is that EU/ECB want a deal (their deal) and Tsipras doesn't.
I expect large concessions from the eurozone leaders at the very last minute, just one second before default should be officially declared.
Best regards,
AC
Too Little, Too Late
I expect concessions as well.
But will they be enough? Can they be enough?
I rather doubt it. The first reason is German public opinion is overwhelmingly against the idea.
Admit it, if you had the money to buy a giant dinosaur skull you would probably do it too.
Nicolas Cage was once known as one of the highest-paid actors of all time, making over $150 million between 1996 and 2011. Here's how he managed to blow through almost all of it.
Dinosaur Skulls Cage outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for a 67-million-year-old Tarbosaurus skull that was valued at $300,000. This wasn't the only dinosaur noggin he owns… I'm guessing he uses them as extremely ornate party punch bowls.
Two albino king cobras Some say he used them for protection, others say they were for… sexual activities.
Island in the Bahamas Worth $7 million, Cage bought a 40-acre island called Leaf Cay south of Nassau.
The Shah of Iran's Lambo He liked the late Shah's Lamborghini Miura SVJ so much that he bought it for $450,000 in 1997.
A haunted mansion in New Orleans Remember Madame LaLaurie from "American Horror Story: Coven?" Well, she was a real person, and a real crazy serial killer, and Cage bought the actual house that most of her crimes went down in. He doesn't own it anymore, because as a cheesy ghost tour guide once told me, no one has owned it for more than 5 years since LaLaurie disappeared.
An octopus Clearly everyone should own one of these.
A crocodile Things are getting weirder…
A Shark Seriously, what do you think he was planning?
The 1st Superman comic Cage used to have a comic book collection worth over $1.6 million, including Action Comics #1 which was the first appearance of the Man of Steel.
Two European Castles Kings have one, so of course Cage had to double that. He bought an $8 million castle in Bath, and then spent millions remodeling it. Then he bought an 11th century Bavarian castle in Germany.
A pyramid tombstone Cage decided he wanted to be buried in the famous St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans, and he already has his weird unexplained tomb there ready to go. It reads, "Omni Ab Uno," which means "Everything From One" in Latin.
Shrunken pygmy heads No one really knows why he spent his money on these, but he did.
Other lavish purchases included luxury yachts, 30 motorcycles, 50 cars, a private jet and 15 estate homes around the world. Eventually the party ended and he went broke, and then he owed the IRS $13 million. Hopefully he's got a handle on things now… but you live, you buy sharks, you learn.
Maybe he should find a way to profit from the glorification of his face on the internet.
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