Dayne Ford

15 Years in Digital Marketing • #SEO #SEM, Digital Brands, Startups

[Lily Ray 😏 @lilyraynyc]

Love when Google’s like “why click on their affiliate links when you can click on *ours*?”

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@markjaquith Lol. They just hope people don't notice. Those bundles are a loss leader, or at least a lower margin—as a gateway drug into the Ryobi collection. Ask me how I know.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@lilyraynyc @rajanpatel Yikes — great find. The answer will undoubtedly be “these are two vastly different areas of Google,” but the timing of the events tells an obvious story.

[Lily Ray 😏 @lilyraynyc]

Oof.. if you think the Helpful Content Update was bad for some travel sites... look at what happened before.

These 6 travel blogger sites (removed names for this chart) were wiped out by the April 2023 Reviews Update... then the HCU made it worse.

(More to come in next article)

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@beehiiv Howdy! 👋 Does your platform support RSS-feed-to-post? For example, creating newsletter posts using content on a WordPress site

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@markjaquith Red bush just doesn’t have the same ring to it

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@xtinacomputes So true! The deepest, fastest speed nap I’ve ever experienced

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@Zenefits what has happened to your support over the past couple of years? No phone option and tickets remain open for 10 days.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@lilyraynyc I’m with you but let me play devils advocate for a moment. What if Google has enough data to prove the title customization is driving more engaged users with fewer bounces to sites? Surely they’re optimizing towards some sort of north star metric.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@SlackHQ I'm digging it! 👏 Whoever pitched this deserves a bonus.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@RyanMcCready1 Yep, you're fine. We're all longing for 2019. If we knew about 2020/21 I'm sure we'd all have squeezed in a hell of a lot more adventures.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@Suhail Spot on! They executed well. It doesn't get easier than a toggle.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@azarchick Yep, I tune these out! If someone doesn’t take the time to personalize their intro or lead with some value it’s a quick delete.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@RiaLolwut From what I’ve read, Google goes as far optimizing titles towards specific search queries. They’ve been doing it selectively for years but have clearly cranked it way up with this last update. Point being—I think there would too many to show us. Would be cool, though!

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@dan_shure Solid point! Plus, that builds rank diversity keeping you a little safer from shakeups. Maybe a hybrid approach is best, though? Setting and aiming for a baseline goal but still pursuing higher goals with your whale posts/keywords. Balance feels logical here.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@areej_abuali That's the best type of holiday! Enjoy it

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@bill_slawski I assume you shared this because of its relevance to the recent <title> SERP changes. Even though you published this 14 years ago it's as true as ever. I believe Google's optimizing titles to help users make quicker easier choices. There's no way they did this without enough data

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@areej_abuali You’re not alone! I’m trying my best to trust Google’s optimization and see the good it may bring. Perhaps, in the form of cleaner SERPs, improved CTRs, and search-to-content alignment.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@IanLurie We've also seen proof across our sites. In some scenarios as extreme as only a mid-section of our H1. I believe Google's trying to optimize towards less noisy SERPs—and that they have enough data to output more effective titles than publishers. Time will tell.

[Dayne Ford @dayne_f]

@lilyraynyc I've put a lot of thought into this. My best guess is that Google's removing noisy titles and optimizing for a faster click to search results. If they succeed it'll shake up the SERPs but result in a better UX. I hate losing control but it makes sense.