An intimate live evening with Google
I was very fortunate to get invited to a live evening with Google here in Bali (The Island of the Gods) on Wednesday so wanted to share the experience and the content with everyone at Wealthy Affiliate. I will present this primarily in note format.
Two presenters
- Aldrich Christopher .. Trust & Safety Outreach APAC @ Google (based in Singapore)
- Oisin O’Connor .. Product Specialist in CMS @ Google (based in Ireland)
Context
To give a context here is Google’s Mission Statement: “To organize the world’s information so it make it universally accessible and useful". That is a very amazing Mission when you think about it!
Topics
The topics for the evening were:
- Google Search
- Google SiteKit
How search works
- Crawling ... Google Bot ... there is a schedule ... you don’t need to do anything ... you can help by using a site map but it only makes a small difference
- Space Indexing ... can tell google how to search … this was above my “paygrade” so I will not elaborate on it.
- Algorithm ... there are constant changes, 6 to 7 changes a day. So don’t focus on what might be the top algorithm items at the moment. It includes a synonym algorithm so no need or point in “keyword stuffing” (infact it is detrimental because the Bot is smart enough to pick it up).
- Best user experience
New updates:
- The Google Bot is now evergreen .. It always operates on latest Chrome compatibility (previously it lagged Chrome updates)
- The Google Bot now has a smartphone .. so it uses mobile first indexing, any new sites will automatically be crawled using mobile
Some specific ranking considerations
There are over 200 ranking factors .. here are a few that were mentioned specifically
- Content is still king (and consider the Synonym algorithm … my thinking is that it is just necessary to write naturally but on topic).
- Speed is a ranking factor … 53% will leave your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load (this fits with “user experience”)
- Https .. is one of the ranking factors … between 2016 and 2017 there was a 32% increase in hacked sites (they also talked about setting up redirects if you are changing from Http to Https but that should not be an issue with a Wealthy Affiliate site because we have been on Https for so long)
A key focus of Google is the Quality and the Safety of websites.
From the security aspect, Search Console is set up to help you with quality and security issues. If there is an issue it will report in Search Console and also copy to your email. I have had this as a personal experience … my thinking is everyone should be using it.
Structured data was explained and while it is NOT a ranking factor it IS a requirement for “Featured Snippets” and “People Also Ask” that shows at the top of the Search results.
Summary to focus on
- Quality Content
- Search Friendly
- Mobile Friendly
- Fast
- Secure
- Structured
There are also a lot of resources available from Google. There are forums, webinars etc. Some of them are location or language specific so if you are interested then Google it!
SiteKit
I had read about SiteKit before and put a question here at Wealthy Affiliate. I am at two minds as to whether this should be a separate Post.
SiteKit is a Google plug in for WordPress. And this part of the presentation was a real “eye opener”.
4 Google modules out of the box:
- Search Console
- Analytics
- Adsense
- PageSpeed Insights
SiteKit shows the high level basics of the above modules then links to more detail on Search Console/Analytics.
It will generally not slow down your site (in some case there will be a very tiny difference) ... that could change in future depending on what modules are added.
It is currently in Beta although very stable but Google will not guarantee it.
My “take-ways” from the evening.
Firstly it reinforced that my decision to use Wealthy Affiliate and SiteRubix more than 3 years ago was correct. The two reasons for this were 1) It takes away a lot of technical issues. 2) The amazing support structure.
Everyone at the event was using WordPress and from the questions the presenters asked and also from the Q & A I knew more than 70% of the people there, which was a bit amazing considering my “paygrade” is not that high!
The presentation from Google has given me a better context for what I am doing although I knew maybe 80% of it already.
There were some things that I did not completely understand and what I have said here is my interpretation so I will not definitively claim anything as 100% Google policy or stated by Google!
If there is anything here I have not got completely correct or needs elaboration feel free to add it in a comments.
Cheers, William.
Recent Comments
17
Good afternoon William,
Now that is news! You were "intimate" with Google.
Did these people touch upon the fact that when a normal mortal searches on the internet Google takes you by the hand and guides you in the direction they think you should see but keeps the 100% of available information hidden from you? I am talking censorship, dictatorship or whatever one calls it.
I do not want to be nasty but I am upset by the latest findings, our freedom is flying out of the window.
I understand that for you this experience was very interesting and informative the same as for all of us.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thank for your comment Taetske ... the question you raise is a bit beyond my pay-grade and beyond that of the presenter too.
And yes it was a very useful experience inside of the scope of the evening.
Good to hear from you again.
Cheers, William.
I understand William.
You see lately, here on WA, there have been quite a few posts talking about these restrictions.
I receive also different newsletters of organizations, doctors, etc telling about the ban imposed by Pinterest, Facebook, and Google.
The direction all this is taking I really do not like. People with the "wrong" websites/niches will suffer the consequences.
All the best, Taetske
Thank you for the update William. It is interesting to know why our sites can sometimes fluctuate on the listings.
Derek
Thanks Derek .. in my ignorance before this, I was thinking months of stability then changes in the algorithm .. but multiple times daily, no wonder things jump around a bit. Thank you for your comment and insight. Cheers, William.
Hi Wiliam good to see you, and I hope that your journey goes well.
Any time we can get to hear that human presentation we should dive on it.
We can come away with so much and usually, our knowledge can be expanded.
From your article, my take-home Googles mobile-first indexing. I think that is going to become the dominant position moving forward.
Thank you for sharing much appreciated.
Thanks Alexander ... yes great input there ... and yes there is a different perspective when the presenter is human. Cheers, William.
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Great read and great info Thanks
Thank you for you comment Cindy ... Cheers, William.