Question / Discussion Is Google nicking your content and traffic?

Jon

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Been reading some interesting stuff tonight on other forums around SEO / Building Sites

In a nutshell like @David Says... on another thread, there is zero money any more domain names that don't have traffic attached to them

But there is also zero values in what could be classed as classified or listicle sites

So if you run a website that lists all local shoe shops, dance classes, Chinese takeaway etc. Google is now taking that traffic as when the user searches 'shoe shop' it gives them a list of local shops, opening times, map to the location, link to the shop website etc.

Great for the user, less so for the user running the website listing all shoe shops in the UK etc.

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homie

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Especially true of the google home assistant things when the results are audio based so you don't get a list of its finds to scroll through . They will present only the information google thinks you want to /should see. You could ask it for something and it will just pull that information off a website and tell it to you but you would never know the actual website existed.

I dislike Google.
 

Jon

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Especially true of the google home assistant things when the results are audio based so you don't get a list of its finds to scroll through . They will present only the information google thinks you want to /should see. You could ask it for something and it will just pull that information off a website and tell it to you but you would never know the actual website existed.

I dislike Google.
Yeah good point!

being able to ask your smart speaker where the nearest shoe shop is means you don’t even have to use your computer!!!

websites really need to offer information and concepts that google can’t repurpose and take for itself!
 

UKHope

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I've always wondered about this, seems a cheeky practice.
Google holds a lot of power over content creators.
 
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Jon

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Here is another way Google is nicking your content!

They now provide 'FAQ' type answers at the top if you search for certain terms (usually questions)

8SNL8cw.png


So here you can see I have searched 'what is mystery shopping' which say I have spend HOURS writing a fantastic blog post all about yet if people search for this keyword they get YouTube answers first for some reason and then the 'People also ask' which lets people click a dropdown arrows and get answers to their question without even having to go to a website!
 

Jon

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Well I've put in my first Schema FAQ on a blog post today and re-submitted back to Google Search Console so will see if it makes any difference. I can't see it causing any damage and it took about 10 minutes to do.
 

UKHope

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Well I've put in my first Schema FAQ on a blog post today and re-submitted back to Google Search Console so will see if it makes any difference. I can't see it causing any damage and it took about 10 minutes to do.
Do you think it should increase traffic?
 

Jon

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Do you think it should increase traffic?
Effectively yes

It annoys me that a SERP has space being taken up with Google’s FAQ answers though lol
 

Jon

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K0MUsLa.png


Well Google is presenting SERPs with my FAQs in them now

8QrlVHh.png


What I have noticed is that it picks up Internal links I put into the FAQs so you can link TO the original article in the FAQ answer
 

David Says...

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There's an interesting blog about this here:


As I see it, we have a few options as publishers:
  • Play Google's game, and let it use our content. We need to find a way to monetise this; this might be by bolstering our sites' brands, or try to encourage click throughs. As the Sistrix blog says though, Google will take more and more.

  • Tailor our content to longer forms which provide more value than can be conveyed via structured data. That means fewer Q&As and recipes, and more long guides and reviews.

    The Internet is increasingly moving away from the Web towards thinner interfaces, such as AIs like Alexa/Siri, apps, notifications and smart watches. Longer content is harder to deliver on these, but it's also hard to monetise it,
  • Create a direct relationship with our readers via social media and email.

  • Diversify into other types of content in which Google isn't a major gatekeeper, such as podcasts
Or, of course, a balanced mix of all these.
 

Jon

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There's an interesting blog about this here:


As I see it, we have a few options as publishers:
  • Play Google's game, and let it use our content. We need to find a way to monetise this; this might be by bolstering our sites' brands, or try to encourage click throughs. As the Sistrix blog says though, Google will take more and more.

  • Tailor our content to longer forms which provide more value than can be conveyed via structured data. That means fewer Q&As and recipes, and more long guides and reviews.

    The Internet is increasingly moving away from the Web towards thinner interfaces, such as AIs like Alexa/Siri, apps, notifications and smart watches. Longer content is harder to deliver on these, but it's also hard to monetise it,
  • Create a direct relationship with our readers via social media and email.

  • Diversify into other types of content in which Google isn't a major gatekeeper, such as podcasts
Or, of course, a balanced mix of all these.

Great article that I agree with nearly everything in it!

It reminds me of when I used to work answering questions for ChaCha which was a text Q&A service which was SUPER popular! As time went on the need for people to text us and ask 'how many kilos in a pound' became less and less because they could just ask it on google and it would answer it for free.

I also agree with Google is going to hover up your content for the likes of 'How to guides' such as recipes or fixing stuff around the house and just present it in the SERP so It is very important to bung internal links into that howto/FAQ so you at least stand a chance of the user clicking through to your site.

Longer form content is where I have been trying to head over the last 6 months and is paying off in terms of pageviews / engagement so I would say you can't go wrong with producing some 2000+ word articles over the next year which answer MULTIPLE questions from a user search

The rise of smart speakers is a tricky one. They are now more affordable than ever and the old folks are FAR more likely to ask it how to cook pasta than actually look that stuff up on the web and then print out the instructions
 

David Says...

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Not everything can be reduced to data points. More discursive content, and more 'human' content, is where blogs might still have an edge.

The other way is by-passing Google...
 

Jon

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Not everything can be reduced to data points. More discursive content, and more 'human' content, is where blogs might still have an edge.

The other way is by-passing Google...
Ok so by by-passsing Google you mean doing more social media promotion maybe but social media is such a flash in the pan thing

You can promote your content on IG and within a day it's forgotten about and not going to be found again. Perhaps the only exception to that rule would be things on Pinterest

Things were simpler in 1998 lol
 

David Says...

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It's a continuously changing landscape.

The ideal approach is to promote via a broad range of channels (SEO, IG, FB etc), and capture the visitors. That might be via a newsletter, membership, push notifications or even a mobile app. You can then push content to your audience.
 

Jon

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It's a continuously changing landscape.

The ideal approach is to promote via a broad range of channels (SEO, IG, FB etc), and capture the visitors. That might be via a newsletter, membership, push notifications or even a mobile app. You can then push content to your audience.
funny you mention push notifications.

I've been getting great results via my current Wordpress / OneSignal combo which sends out a desktop notification via the users browser with a direct link to the new blog post I put out.

It's an excellent service and it's FREE to use up to 30,000 subscribers so I would say is a no brainer for anyone running a blog / website!
 

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How do you set-up the desktop notification mentioned above?
 

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