Google: Hreflang Not a Ranking Signal, But Will Drive Targeted Traffic

shutterstock_457580848.png

Google: Hreflang Not a Ranking Signal, But Will Drive Targeted Traffic

Google's Gary Illyes clarified the hreflang attribute is not a ranking signal, though it will result in more targeted traffic.

International Targeting Google Search Console Not Showing – Full Settings


International Targeting in Google Search Console Not Showing? Here’s How to Fix It
If you’re targeting an international audience, ensuring that your website is visible in search results across the globe is crucial. Google Search Console is a powerful tool that provides website owners with valuable insights into their site’s search performance, including how it’s ranking in different countries. However, if you’re having trouble getting international targeting to show up in Google Search Console, it can be frustrating and confusing. In this article, we’ll discuss why international targeting might not be showing up in Google Search Console, and what you can do to fix it.

Understanding International Targeting
International targeting is a feature in Google Search Console that allows website owners to indicate which countries their site is intended for. By specifying a target country or region, you can help Google understand your content’s relevance to users in those areas, and improve your chances of ranking higher in local search results. International targeting is essential for businesses that operate in multiple countries or target a global audience.

Why International Targeting Might Not Be Showing Up in Google Search Console
If international targeting isn’t showing up in Google Search Console, it’s likely due to one of the following reasons:

1. Your Site Doesn’t Have Enough International Traffic
Google Search Console won’t display international targeting data unless your site has received traffic from at least one other country. If your site is new or has only received traffic from your home country, international targeting may not be available yet.

2. Your Site Isn’t Set Up Correctly for International Targeting
If you haven’t correctly set up your site for international targeting, it may not be showing up in Google Search Console. To enable international targeting, you’ll need to indicate which countries your site is intended for by using hreflang tags, specifying the country targeting in your sitemap, or using a ccTLD or subdirectory structure.

3. Your Site is Not Optimized for Local Search
If your site isn’t optimized for local search, it may not be appearing in international search results. Google relies on signals like local listings, reviews, and social media activity to determine a site’s relevance to users in specific countries or regions. If your site isn’t optimized for local search, it may be missing out on potential traffic and visibility.

How to Fix International Targeting in Google Search Console
If international targeting isn’t showing up in Google Search Console, there are several steps you can take to fix it:

1. Check Your Site’s Traffic
The first step is to check your site’s traffic to see if you’re receiving visitors from other countries. If your site isn’t receiving international traffic, it may take some time for international targeting to become available in Google Search Console.

2. Set Up Your Site for International Targeting
To enable international targeting, you’ll need to correctly set up your site using hreflang tags, sitemap targeting, or a ccTLD or subdirectory structure. Make sure you’ve followed Google’s guidelines for implementing international targeting, and check your site for any errors or issues.

3. Optimize Your Site for Local Search
To improve your site’s visibility in local search results, make sure you’re optimizing your site for local search. This may include creating local listings, getting more reviews, and using social media to engage with users in different countries or regions.

Conclusion
International targeting is an essential feature for websites that operate in multiple countries or target a global audience. If you’re having trouble getting international targeting to show up in Google Search Console, it’s likely due to one of the reasons mentioned above. By checking your site’s traffic, setting it up correctly for international targeting, and optimizing it for local search, you can improve your chances of ranking

International SEO: Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) Guide


If you’re trying to figure out International SEO and how to drive more traffic to your website, then this is the video for you. Get this exact walkthrough and ALL the resources mentioned in the video for free. Click here: https://www.clickminded.com/cctld/

Today, we cover international SEO and Country Code Top Level Domains, or ccTLDs.

I’m going to talk about the most important pieces of information you should know about country-specific domains, whether or not you should buy them, as well as the implications of localized and internationalized domains for rankings in Google and other search engines.

A Country Code Top Level Domain, or ccTLD, is an internationalized version of what you might already be familiar with. Your perception of this depends on where you are from, where you grew up, and where you may have lived.

For example, I’m from the US. I grew up in the US and, for most of my life, I’ve only seen “.com” domains. In Germany, “.de” is very common. In Australia, it’s “.com.au” or just “.au”. In Mexico, it’s “.mx”. In China, it’s “.cn”. In the United Kingdom, it’s “.uk”. And the list can go on.

Country Code Top Level Domains, or ccTLDs, are all about international SEO. However, keep in mind that SEO is only one piece of a more comprehensive digital marketing strategy—so while it’s definitely important (and I am personally a huge fan of it), it is also essential that you don’t neglect other digital marketing channels.
marketing perspective.

Ready to go? Then watch today’s video!

Want more? Get this exact walkthrough and ALL the resources mentioned in the video for free. Click here: https://www.clickminded.com/cctld/

7 SEO Experiments To SKYROCKET Your Traffic


Learn seven SEO experiments that grew my traffic from 9,029 search visitors a month to 449,000 in two years.

► If you need help growing your business check out my ad agency Neil Patel Digital https://npdigital.com/

►Subscribe: https://goo.gl/ScRTwc to learn more secret SEO tips.
►Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neilkpatel/
►On Instagram: https://instagram.com/neilpatel/

Today, I’m gonna teach you guys seven experiments that I ran that grew my traffic from 9,029 search visitors a month to 449,000. That’s a huge increase. Now to clarify, I did that increase through a period of two years from January 2015 all the way to January 2017.

Experiment number one, does post frequency affect search traffic? Now you guys already know that when you’re first starting off with a blog or a website, and you add a ton of content, of course, frequency and the amount of content as well as quality affect how much traffic you’re gonna get. Because if you have five pages that Google’s indexed, and then you have 100 pages, obviously you have a higher probability of getting more search traffic. But the real question is is there diminishing returns? What happens if you go from having 100 blog posts to 200, 200 to 500, 500 to 1,000, et cetera? What really happens? So I decided to test a few things.

Experiment number two, here’s another way that I really increased my search traffic. It’s pretty much just figure out if you can use social media data to figure out how to increase your click-through rate. We all know that click-through rate increases rankings, right? So if you’re number one versus number two versus number three, there’s a huge difference in how much search traffic you get. You, of course, wanna be number one. And when you’re number two and you’re getting more clicks on your listing than the number one listing, what happens? Well, Google will naturally move you up.

Experiment number three, who is Neil Patel? Some of you guys have seen this, some of you haven’t. And my big hypothesis with this test was does Google rank brands higher? And I wanted to really figure that out, right? Just like Pepsi, Coke, everyone knows about ’em. You see that glass, and you’re like oh I really want a Pepsi, I want a Coke. They have a really strong brand. So do these brands get preferential treatment when it comes to Google? And well first of all, before you can actually do that, you need to first figure out how does Google track if a brand is popular?

Experiment number four, is content really king? And it’s funny, right, everyone talks about like oh you should do a ton of stuff with content. Blogging’s the best stuff, and is it really the best stuff? I have no idea. I thought it was the best idea ’cause I’ve been blogging for so long, Quick Sprout, Neil Patel, Kissmetrics, Crazy Egg, et cetera where I’m like well let’s really actually see if content is king. So I invest so much time and energy into content ’cause I have a team that helps me.

Experiment five, does bounce rate impact search traffic? We’ve all heard about it, and you know there’s a few things that I ended up doing. I think this slide is wrong, right? Is this right? Let’s see. I’m just fast forwarding, all right, a bit misplaced, but I can go through it. All right, so in general, you’ve heard about it. And I started testing things out. And here’s a general synopsis.

Experiment number six, does keyword density or thoroughness matter more? So I’m assuming you guys have all tried shoving keywords onto a page. I know I have. I used to do things like aim for a higher keyword density than my competitors, use keywords within my h1 tag, use a keyword within my URL, and put the keyword within the first sentence of the content.

Experiment number seven, do URLs really matter? So I changed my URL, and in one month my search traffic grew by over 40%. Tyler from Canada who was giving a speech I think yesterday, he’s the one who told me about this. We got introduced by a mutual friend, Tony from Expedia.

If you like this video, like, comment, share. I do appreciate it. And if I can ever do anything to help you out genuinely even if it’s you know giving you some advice, I don’t care for the money, just leave a comment below, and I will do my best to try to help you out and answer all your questions. Thank you for watching.

Update Older Articles To Improve Rankings & Traffic


Is your site traffic coming down? Are the rankings of your once-popular articles coming down? It’s time to revisit your older articles and upgrade them. It would be ideal for updating all articles that were published more than 12 months ago, but if you are a one-man show or a small team of content writers, this may pose a challenge.

So, this video is all about helping the “single person or a small team” to update a large number of older articles.

Chapters (Timestamps):
00:00 – Introduction
02:10 – Identify the Right Articles to Update
05:35 – How to Update the Content
06:50 – Old way vs. New way of Content Creation
07:41 – #1: Satisfy Search Intent Within 3s
08:18 – #2: Properly Remove Outdated Info
10:09 – #3: Satisfy Secondary Search Intent
13:23 – #4: Trim the Fat
14:53 – #5: Merge Similar Content
16:36 – Submit Updated Content for Recrawling
18:36 – Outro

The Ultimate Sitemap Guide for Beginners:
► https://youtu.be/8GmgrxAQfMo

How to Properly Migrate to Rank Math:
► Yoast to Rank Math: https://rankmath.com/kb/yoast-seo-migration/
► AIO SEO to Rank Math: https://rankmath.com/kb/all-in-one-seo-pack-migration/
► SEOPress to Rank Math: https://rankmath.com/kb/seopress-migration/

We hope with a clear and focused strategy to update your older content. They will now rank better and possibly get back the traffic they have lost. If you have other strategies you would like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel if you want to learn more about how to beat your competitors on search engines:
► ​​https://www.youtube.com/c/RankMath/videos?sub_confirmation=1

Rank Math, the Swiss Army Knife of WordPress SEO, can take your SEO game to the next level. Rank Math already goes above and beyond other top-rated SEO plugins. Do you want to see the magic unfold for your website?
► Visit Rank Math today: https://rankmath.com

Rank Math Free Vs PRO:
► https://rankmath.com/free-vs-pro/

Here are 45+ unique features that set Rank Math apart:
► https://rankmath.com/blog/unique-rank-math-features/

Knowledge Base:
► https://rankmath.com/kb/

Connect with Rank Math:
► https://www.facebook.com/groups/rankmathseopluginwordpress
► https://twitter.com/rankmathseo
► https://www.linkedin.com/company/rankmath/