One thing that is a constant in digital marketing is change, and there were some changes this week. Here are some items that caught our attention during the week of March 21, 2022 …
This first item came out later in the day last Friday. Googler John Mueller was part of an online discussion during which someone pointed out that their inbound traffic from organic search dropped when their content distribution network (CDN) started returning a 500-series (server error) response code when Googlebot requested the robots.txt file. One of the main reasons WrightIMC expends a great deal of effort on website technical discovery is due to issues like this. A seemingly insignificant error can have significant repercussions on website traffic because Google calculates that a visitor will likely have a bad experience if they end up on the website.
John Mueller also commented about website content generated by AI or other automated means in another online discussion. While there may be a time in the future when AI-generated content will be of high quality, that time has not yet come. We often talk about content as a key part of a website strategy. It is essential, though, that it be high-quality content. Trying to “cheap out” on content by having machines or inexperienced people write is not the way to go. Your website is a business asset. It is vital to make a proper investment in its tech and content for it to work hard for you.
In another push for better content by Google, there was an update to their algorithm that controls how reviews content appears in search results. Again, Google stresses that thin, low-quality content will not perform well in their search results. Google shared some detail in what they consider quality reviews content worth learning more about.
In his second article for Search Engine Land, WrightIMC’s Elmer Boutin shares some leadership lessons he gleaned from his 14-year career in the U.S. Army. While not entirely related to digital marketing, you may find some tips to help you and your business.