Here is my SEO Santa list of items I will be asking for Christmas.
1. Can you talk to Google about the “merge and purge” issues in the local listings?
You could save me so much time if you could just get them to stop changing addresses and phone numbers randomly.
2. Maybe I’m asking too much, but could you get Google Analytics to stop counting organic search traffic as direct traffic?
I know that everyone is big on stripping their referrer data out of their browser – but it really messes with me when I can’t see the real source that is driving traffic to a website.
3. Santa, I think it’s time for you to talk to Google about how they talk to us.
I really appreciate the fact that Google has increased their communication to the SEO community.
But I want more.
I am tired of seeing responses from Google that side-step direct questions or give us no insight into what we can do.
I applaud the guys at Google for taking on a hard job, and I realize there are limitations to what can be communicated.
But maybe if they just stop answering the dumb questions and give us insight into by answering the better questions, we’ll actually learn how to make Google’s results better.
4. I know that I’ve asked for this before, particularly in 2014. But could you help the SEO industry come up with some kind of code of ethics?
Obviously, I’m not smart enough to come up with a feasible solution on my own – been there, tried that, have the scars to prove it.
But a code of ethics for the industry is needed now more than ever. Could you bring us a way to make this happen?
I’m not sure what kind of elf could help you with this, but he’s going to need to be tough. It’s not an issue that has an easy fix. It’s harder than getting the star to stay straight on the Christmas tree.
5. It’s pretty obvious to me that our elected officials really don’t understand how SEO works.
Maybe you could get the elves to leave a “Google for Dummies” book in the stocking of every member of the House and the Senate?
You might need to make a special version for the president. These folks make the laws that govern our industry.
It’s scary the lack of understanding they have about how it all works.
I know that Google, Facebook, and others are spending a ton of money lobbying, but those folks don’t necessarily have our best interests in mind when they take a senator out for a three-martini lunch.
Could you help us get some effective lobbying for the SEO community?
I know this is a hard ask, as there isn’t anyone looking to do this now, but it would make me sleep better at night knowing that someone out there was working to keep bad laws from killing our industry.
6. I would like it if you could help Bing, Santa.
I love Google (even if I hate them sometimes), but their dominance isn’t good for my agency or my clients.
Bing continues to convert better than Google across almost every vertical for us. But there isn’t enough traffic to make Bing a real player in our campaigns.
Could you help Bing take some of the market share from Google?
I’m also fine if you can help other search engines catch up to Google. We need more options.
I hope that you can help.
7. I know that I asked for “position 0” rankings for all of my clients, but I would give that up if Google would stop trying to keep visitors from websites.
Santa, if you could get Google to stop with the Knowledge panels and go back to being a search engine instead of an instant answer machine, I would be grateful.
I love you Santa, but I don’t pretend to think that even you have the power to make this happen.
But if you can try…please do.
Read this article in it’s entirety on Search Engine Journal: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-letter-to-santa/282981/
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