Search Engines
Understanding how search engines work, Google in particular, is important when working in SEO. The basics of crawling and indexing are amazingly useful to understand if you want to rank your own content.
Additionally, Google updates its algorithm several times a year. Understanding the more significant updates, and how they work, can help you to craft content and SEO strategies that are up-to-date.
We've written extensively about how search engines work, and included some of the top resources here. You can also browse the latest posts on search engines from the Moz blog below.
How Search Engines Work : New to SEO? Start with the basics of how search engines operate with our free beginner's guide.
Search Engine Ranking and Visibility : Learn the fundamentals of how search engines rank content on search engine result pages.
Google Algorithm Update History : A complete history of Google algorithm updates since 2000. This includes important links and references for understanding how Google works.
How Search Engines Value Links : Search engines work off a number of signals, but two of the most important are content and links. In this video, Rand Fishkin explains the basics of link evaluation.
MozCast : Is Google updating it's algorithm as we speak? MozCast is the Google algorithm weather report, so you can see how much Google results are changing each day.
What Do Dolphins Eat? Lessons from How Kids Search — Best of Whiteboard Friday
We're bringing back this slightly different-from-the-norm Whiteboard Friday, in which the fantastic Will Critchlow shares lessons from how kids search.
Is Google E-A-T Actually a Ranking Factor? - Whiteboard Friday
Showing expertise, authority, and trustworthiness in your site content is important to ranking well. But why is that, exactly? Cyrus Shepard explores whether E-A-T is a true ranking factor, making your E-A-T goals SMART, and how to communicate it all to curious stakeholders.
Understanding & Fulfilling Search Intent
Understanding what your target audience is searching and why is more important than ever. Britney Muller shares everything you need to begin understanding and fulfilling search intent, plus a free Google Sheets checklist download to help you analyze the SERPs you care about most.
Google's May 2020 Core Update: Winners, Winnerers, Winlosers, and Why It's All Probably Crap
The May 2020 Core Update was the second-hottest update since the August 2018 "Medic" Update. Dr. Pete takes a hard look at the numbers, including why measuring winners and losers is tricky business.
Use the Blank Sheet of Paper Test to Optimize for Natural Language Processing
The Blank Sheet of Paper Test determines if what you’ve written has meaning to someone who has never encountered your brand or content before. But what if we’re performing the BSoPT on a machine instead of a person? Does our thought experiment still apply?Level Up Your SEO Skills With Our Free Training
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How Google SERP Layouts Affect Searching Behavior
There are several studies (and lots of data) out there about how people use Google SERPs, what they ignore, and what they focus on. Two things I have never seen tested are the actual user reactions to and behavior with SERPs. My team and I set out to test these ourselves, and this is where biometric technology comes into play.![Opting Out of Google Featured Snippets Led to 12% Traffic Loss [SEO Experiment]](https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/images/blog/banners/5e9606eb26e4c5.73102989_2021-04-15-233658.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1618529818&s=b84a8c334b9687bd7ba200167d7b9f55)
Opting Out of Google Featured Snippets Led to 12% Traffic Loss [SEO Experiment]
Working with the team at SearchPilot, we devised an A/B split test experiment to remove Moz Blog posts from Google featured snippets, and measure the impact on traffic.
Getting Smarter with SERPs
Modern SERPs require modern understanding, and that means paying close attention to location and how it affects rankings. Learn about getting data that represents true traffic in this edition of Whiteboard Friday.
We Need to Talk About Google's “People Also Ask”: A Finance Case Study
The team at iProspect started noticing that YMYL queries that should return local (UK) content in Google's "People Also Ask" results actually have a heavy influence from the US. They decided to analyze over 1,000 of the most-searched-for keywords in the finance industry to see how much of an issue this actually is.
2020 Google Search Survey: How Much Do Users Trust Their Search Results?
As a result of Google’s dedication to combating misinformation and fake news, we could reasonably expect searchers to agree that Google has improved in its ability to surface credible and trusted content. But does the average searcher actually feel that way? Path Interactive conducted a survey to find out how users feel about the information they encounter in Google’s organic results.