by admin | Jan 18, 2024 | Random Postings
This is “About” AI – But It’s Really About People
In SEO Trends 2024, we dive deep into the realm of AI, but ultimately, AI is not the star of the show – you are. The human touch is still crucial when adopting AI into your strategy, and this ebook highlights the importance of working alongside it rather than relying on it as a human replacement.
“Helpful” Is A Bigger Word Than You Think
In 2024, Google will change the game with a redefined meaning of “helpful.” Inside, we explore how the definition of “helpful” content and websites is expanding and the impact of updates.
Here are some key insights:
- Google assesses the value and helpfulness of your entire site, so make sure your website has a clear and unique value.
- Engage with generative AI and understand how it works before you try to fight it.
- “Expertise” will be a key differentiating factor – insights and original data attributed to authors with names.
Prepare For Search Generative Experience With “Search Experience Optimization”
The experimental phase of Google’s SGE is causing ripples of anticipation and anxiety in the industry. But the key is being discoverable by generative AI, and knowing when to be its ally and when to be its enemy. Here’s what you really need to know:
- AI in search will upset performance for entire groups of queries, data gathering, and potentially the balance between the platforms.
- Search success may come down to being discoverable by generative AI and finding as many opportunities as possible to surface your brand to users.
Prepare For Disruption: Keep Calm, Educate & Move Quickly
Disruption is on the horizon, but while models for driving business goals may change, the essence of how people search for information remains consistent. The following will be crucial elements in navigating this dynamic landscape moving forward:
- Understanding a user’s true intent must guide you – spam and thin results are dying.
Don’t forget about technical SEO – keeping a tidy site can also help insulate you from ruthless core updates.
- Use AI strategically to give yourself more time for big-picture thinking.
by admin | May 11, 2022 | Search Engine Optimization
No one likes to make mistakes. Especially when they could cost you business. And chances are if you’re concerned about fixing something that could potentially cost you business, you’re probably not the type of person to read a blog post intro. So let’s get into it.
Keyword stuffing
The biggest, fattest DO-NOT-DO-THIS on the list: keyword stuffing.
Keyword is exactly what it sounds like: stuffing a bunch of random keywords into places they don’t belong, bogging down your content so it’s barely readable for any actual human.
This mistake sits at the top of the list, because algorithms are much smarter than they used to be — and much smarter than keyword stuffers give them credit for. Search engines know when you’re trying to play them.
Forgetting to change title tags and meta descriptions
Individual title tags and meta descriptions should be present on every single public page of your website. Title tags are a page’s message to the world, and meta descriptions are the explanation of exactly what a reader will find on that page.
If you use the auto-generated title tags and meta descriptions, you risk not accurately representing what is on your website, which will likely result in less views and clicks.
Not consistently updating your website
Miss Google values a fresh, clean, accurate website. Consistently updating your website is key to remaining relevant to search engines, and offers the added bonus of keeping all of your content current and correct.
Not using Google to your advantage
When people talk about SEO, they often mention how we need to do everything in our power to show up in a Google search… but people rarely mention all the ways Miss Google can actually help us do exactly that.
Aside from explicitly outlining everything we need to know about her algorithm, Google has a number of practices inside the Google Marketing Platform place to help us optimize our sites for SEO.
by admin | Jul 2, 2021 | Random Postings
Google uses a combination of algorithms and ranking factors to determine their
search engine results page. Every few months, Google comes out with a new
update, changing the way sites are ranked. Most updates are so slight that they go
completely unnoticed, but this update has been in the works since December of
2020. Because of the larger time period between updates, it will have a greater
impact on website visibility. To ready your site for the potential changes, it is
important to keep a watchful eye on your keyword visibility and frequently check
your core web vitals score using Google PageSped Insights. Keep reading to learn
more about what will be included in Google’s most recent update and how to
remain competitive in a constantly updating world.
What will be included in the update?
The new update will consider multiple user and page experience signals and Core
Web Vitals. Mobile and user experience are becoming more and more important
with each update, and this update is no different, but the most notable change is
the introduction of Core Web Vitals. Core Web Vitals include a set of three elements
that successfully measure user experience, interactivity, and general page speed.
These three elements are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). For the first time in JB Systems history, we will be
including these core web vital metrics in our Monthly SEO Reports.
- ★ Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the time it takes a site to load it’s largest
image or text block. It ensures that the viewer is seeing all content at a timely
pace. Google recommends an LCP of less than 2.5 seconds.
- ★ First Input Delay (FID) measures the time from when a user first interacts with a
page (i.e. when they click a link, tap on a button) to the time when the
browser is able to begin processing the interaction. Since a delay in the
processing of the website interaction is bad for user experience, Google
recommends an LCP of less than 100 ms.
- ★ Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures the unexpected movement of
elements on a site. A layout shift occurs any time a visible element changes
its position from one rendered frame to the next. When done wrong, these
unexpected shifts are often annoying to the consumer and will lead to a high
bounce rate. Google recommends having a CLS score (layout instability) of
under .1
In anticipation of the update, JB Systems has been monitoring Core Web Vitals on
our Advanced and Standard SEO Clients and have been working on site-wide
improvements that will maintain our client’s competitiveness. To learn more about
what you can do to improve your site’s Core Web Vitals, send us an email at
digitalmarketing@jbsystemsllc.com. We are happy to answer any additional
questions!
by admin | Jan 24, 2017 | Random Postings
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by admin | Jun 16, 2016 | JB Systems News and Events
You never know where a spontaneous conversation will lead. For JB Systems owner, Jerry Bauer, and Black River Falls High School principal, Tom Chambers, a chance encounter on a sailboat last October created a unique opportunity to introduce high school students to the world of programming.
“We just happened to land on the same sailboat,” says Tom. “In the process of skimming over Lake Pepin, we struck up a conversation about the needs in the IT area, the potential in our youth to fill those needs, and how we could work together make it happen.”
Their answer came in the form of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Non-traditional Occupations Focus grant. Since applying for (more…)
