SEO Snack: Week of May 26th
Quick Week Summary
What I worked on this past week
This past week we wrapped up Q3 client strategy (internal) meetings which took up a lot of time but is very much needed (look at last week’s blog for info around this). I also worked on a lot of meta title and meta description updates for clients as well as a good amount of page edits and new page optimization as we wrapped up some client work for May.
NOTE: I will be taking a week break as I will be in Hawaii from June 5th through June 14th. Tune in the week after for a likely shorter newsletter.
Week Insights
What I struggled with
GA4 Key Events Matching Google Ads
I hit on the difference between these two previously but we have a client that had a big discrepancy between GA4 key events and Google Ads conversions. It looked like Google made “its own” conversions in Google Ads and it started to duplicate numbers. We think we fixed it but time will tell.
What was a bigger headache than it needed to be
Avada WP Builder Links
I made a few edits to a client’s page and was having a tough time making sure that links were directly where they should be. Long story short, I had to triple-check everything as it seemed they continually went to the wrong page. It’s always important to check links due to the importance they can have.
What went well
Q3 Client Planning
I know I hit on this but overall these internal strategy meetings went very well. We revised our approach a bit since Q2 and it allowed for a lot more ideas from the team to come to the table. One thing I continue to value is input and feedback from those who might not physically be doing part of the strategy but they still chip in when talking about those pieces of the strategy. That’s the benefit of keeping the communication open and allowing those to feel that their input matters.
What to look out for or tune into
Google My Business Changes
Two pieces here. First, they’re removing the profile chat feature (July 15th it looks like) and the other is call history is going away (July 31st). Two things I don’t see a ton of value in but might be worth looking into (see below for information about the business profile chat shutting down).
What weird things happened
Google Ad Automated Conversions
I hit on this a bit above but it’s definitely something that’s a bit odd as Google set up conversions for us, which ended up duplicating some numbers. See more in number two below for more insight.
Key Takeaways
1. Building Websites Correctly (from the start)
I know I’ve talked a bit about this before but I want to go a bit deeper. As I continue to onboard new clients and work with recently onboarded clients, one thing that continues to be an “issue” is that websites just aren’t built on a solid foundation.
Now what do I mean by this? A few things.
First, make sure you are creating pages with intention. Too many websites have pages that are just trying to grasp at keyword straws that ultimately aren’t helping (or won’t for the long run). I get that you may want to hit a range of locations (for example) but the content and strategy of those pages need to be thought out, not just rushed and put together. It won’t help.
Second, the “structure” of your pages needs some thought. The parent pages and children pages need to be built out well. Too many times do I see URL structures that just don’t make any sense. What this leads to is a potential for a lot of 301s need to be made to fix what could have been set right from the start.
Third, your nav bar is important. I’ve seen messy nav bars, cluttered nav bars, and disorganized nav bars. What you should think about is what goes into what “group”. Blogs should not live in the services dropdown. Along with this is the order you have your nav bar set up. One client I’ve been working on had a mega menu of pages in the first slot only to find out that these pages are not that important. How people navigate your site is directly impacted by how you want them to. What I mean, is you have to “point” people in the right direction based on what they’re looking for. Are they in the early buying stage and just need info? Point them there.
Overall, this is something that I’ve started to look at a lot more closely. It’ll impact SEO because of the links you have on pages, the structure you have your URLs, and the content you ultimately make. All things Google looks at.
2. Check Analytics Frequently
This directly goes with the Google Ads and GA4 discrepancy. I’ve talked about how it’s important to not make drastic changes to your site or strategy based on a short period of data but it is extremely important to look at this data frequently.
It allows you to catch on trends quicker like are people jumping from a priority page quickly every week? Maybe it needs to be edited. Are people getting to your forms but not filling them out? Maybe it’s worth looking to see if the info you request makes sense.
The big point I want to make is it seems like Google is trying to “help” us out with the transition to GA4 and now the change from Conversions to Key Events. I’ve caught many key events being set for me when I already had them or even ones that should not be key events. For example, we had page views set as a key event for a client. Yes, you read that right, PAGE VIEWS.
You don’t need to look at this daily but at least at a weekly basis check in on things and make sure everything looks “normal” and if it doesn’t, start to dissect the problem.
Resources To Look At
1. Google Business Profile Chat Going Away
Here’s a resource about the profile chat going away. Again, it's not something I see as super valuable but it might impact a few folks out there.
2. SEO Behind the Scenes (event)
We’re having an SEO event in July (the 11th) at our office! Yes, I was forced to be one of the speakers along with Eric Hess (my boss, even though he hates that title). It’ll be a fun conversation diving into many things SEO-related. Please join us if you can and if you can’t, let me know if videos from it would be valuable, I believe we’re filming the whole thing. The link has the event info!
