Skip to main content

SEO Update: Google Makes More Changes to Mobile

Sometimes there are huge announcements with lots of bells and whistles, like this one about the forthcoming Google Mobile update on April 21st.
This is very important and something you should be aware of, but sometimes it is the little things that sneak under the radar that can also make a difference to our SEO.

More Mobile Changes on Google

Google quietly releases a whole bunch of changes that most of the time we are not even aware of.
And this month is no exception.

Google Mobile Search Results URL Changes

The most recent change that can impact your mobile search results is as follows:
  • Your website name instead of your domain name (no more madlemmings.com in there)
  • Breadcrumbs instead of the URL (so website URL is important)
You can see an example of this change below.
Google URL Schema Changes 2
Google URL Schema Changes1
Images Courtesy of Google
Note: These results according to Google are:
  • only affecting mobile search results
  • the site name change is US only (for now)
  • breadcrumb changes are worldwide

Why You Should Care

Now that Google is taking your site name seriously, you might want to make sure it is correct (some resources below to help with that).
Not only that, but your URL structure is starting to become more of an issue (for me too, as mine was wrongly set up years ago to use year and month). The better your URL structure is at helping people and Google know what your content is about the better. It helps in finding it too. (more resources below)

Useful Resources

Google has some useful resources to help with
  • getting your site name right
  • adding structured data for breadcrumbs
And if you want to learn how to structure your URLs
  • Moz’s Short Guide on URLs
  • More in depth guide from WordTracker

Yoast – WordPress SEO Changes

Yoast is always on the ball and is taking these changes into account very shortly to help us easily modify our sites for these changes.
They are rolling out a new feature on Monday April 20th to help us set the site name (as well as an alternate). Which hopefully Google will use in the Search Results Pages.
Here is what the new settings in Yoast will look like:
Yoast Sitename Feature

The can also help you implement the Breadcrumbs if you are interested in those settings.
ref: http://madlemmings.com/2015/04/20/google-seo-updates-mobile-url/

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Google Earnings Report Shows New AdWords Ad Format Increased Click Through Rates

Google announced their Q2 earnings last night and beat estimates, although some are worried about mobile ads being an issue and Nikesh Arora leaving the company. But the earnings report showed a couple things advertisers here would be interested in, at least two things: (1) The new ad format used for AdWords ads in the search results, that blend in better, had a nice increase in click through rates and that lead to more money for Google despite lower CPC prices. Here are before and after on the ad formats: Old ad format: New ad format: (2) Google broke down where the paid clicks came from in more detail for the first time: Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, increased approximately 25% over the second quarter of 2013 and increased approximately 2% over the first quarter of 2014. Sites paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads we serve on Google owned and operated ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Google Testing The Penguin 4.0 Algorithm?

  I think we are on the verge of seeing Penguin 4.0 launch soon at Google - I think we are just about there. I know, I know, it's been a while. I have seen some chatter in the industry, on and off chatter, over the past 12 hours or so, that people are noticing some drastic changes with the Google search rankings on and off. It can be nothing, it can be a blip, it can be a different algorithm or it can be people making stuff up - but it also can be Google testing Penguin 4.0 to a limited set of searchers. The folks at WebmasterWorld over the past 12 hours or so have been asking about it: JS Harris, a senior Webmaster World member said: I have a small list of 10 distinct keywords for my site that I check when I wonder if a major update has occurred. The bottom few results on page one generally come and go but the top spots stay immortal. They stay there, that is, until there is a major update. I'm only ever mildly surprised when I see a would be con...
Post a Comment
Read more

Google Update Early in This Month

So after reporting a Google update on May 1st, then waiting and watching the community over the weekend to say - oh boy, there was a Google update rolling out over Friday through the weekend - we then had Google tell us there was no update. I used a Panda bear giving an evil stare because most of us knew something changed. And Google, after a bunch of arm twisting, finally gave me/us confirmation, which I posted on Search Engine Land. Google told us this was not an update for web spam, but a normal Google core search quality update. That is what I said earlier but I didn't have it on record. I assumed it wasn't related to Panda, Penguin or core spam, but rather a normal Google search core algorithm update and it was. I am not sure exactly why Google wouldn't confirm it back then but now they are and hopefully in the future they will as well. So the 10% of you that call me out as a traffic whore (or whatever you call me) for being the first to report on ...
Post a Comment
Read more