Rank Ranger Blog

Technical content and the how-to queries that bring this content to the SERP is the bread and butter of SERP features such as Featured Snippets, Related Questions, and Video Carousels. As a result, technical content creators should be very concerned about search, and in particular SERP features.

More than being concerned, they should know what SERP features to focus on and how to hone in on them!

Let's have at it then!

This week we welcome video marketer extraordinaire, Itamar Blauer who comes on to share his expertise on:

• Tips, tricks, and general advice when optimizing your videos
• Breaking down video creation barriers
• How to get your videos to rank well on both YouTube AND on the SERP

Plus, why you should start thinking of EVERYTHING from an entity perspective!

A true content gap analysis does much more than point to the keywords you either need to target or need to better optimize for. There is an endless number of deep insights that emerge from the woodwork when getting into the nitty-gritty of a content gap analysis.

Here are some advanced (if not out of the box) ways to utilize a content gap analysis!

This week we welcome Investing.com’s Igal Stolpner who joins us to shed light on search competition analysis:

• How to know which competitors you should or should not focus on
• How to qualitatively gauge a competitor’s threat level
• How to be both innovative and effective when creating an SEO strategy based on your competition analysis

Plus, we look at how the length of Featured Snippets has changed and what that might mean for your site’s traffic!

Finally, a month of endless updates to the Google SERP! I've been complaining ever since 2019 began that Google has slowed down its production of changes, updates, and tests to the SERP. No more! June 2019 was a month for the ages with changes to domain diversity at the top of the SERP, additional layers of sub-topical information in all sorts of SERP features, and some good ol' updates to Google Ads!

And away we go with Google's whirlwind of SERP alterations made in June 2019!

This week we are going local again with the most electric personality within the world of local SEO the great, the grand, the gifted Greg Gifford who comes to discuss:

• From copy to images; how to optimize your Google Posts
• How to use Google Posts to promote your business
• What mistakes you should avoid when working with the Local Panel’s Q&A feature

Plus, we talk about the need for uniformity within the SEO industry.

It's always nice when theory meets reality. Not too long before I undertook the research for this study I wrote an article about why I thought Featured Snippets would be getting shorter. When I noticed that Google was throwing content barely a few hours old into Featured Snippets it seemed the content within them was a bit on the thin side. Thus, I took to analyzing 150 Featured Snippets to see if my anecdotal observation was correct.

Long story short, Featured Snippets are shorter... sort of.

This week we have none other than the grandmaster of local SEO, Professor Maps himself, Mike Blumenthal to share his local SEO wisdom with us:

• Do local marketers need to hop on the paid search bandwagon?
• What is the real story with Google My Business monetization?
• The role of reviews in local ranking

Plus, we take a look at how Google is further developing its Topic Layer.

On June 4th, 2019, Google released its second official broad core algorithm of 2019 (which was appropriately dubbed the June 2019 Core Update). At the same time, and further complicating the ranking picture, Google made a significant change to the top of the SERP by increasing domain diversity. Combined, the two "changes" created quite the substantial "ranking event."

With that, let's have a look to see how the June 2019 Core Update impacted rankings and how to look for signs of top-of-the-SERP domain diversity within your rankings!

Today we speak with Glasgow’s most prominent SEO expert, the straight-talkin' Craig Campbell about the myths of black hat SEO:

• Can black hat SEO techniques be effective if done properly?
• Where are the lines between white hat and black hat SEO? Is black hat SEO's bad reputation justified?
• Is it really "immoral?”

Plus, we look at a new level of customization on the Google SERP!

On May 22nd, 2019, Google's mobile SERP officially welcomed favicons. Many are touting the brand-building power of having favicons appear within your organic result. But is a picture really worth a thousand words? Who is helped most by the insertion of favicons onto the mobile SERP? Are there any losers? Does having a favicon make up for your site's name having less prominence? Simply, are the new favicons on the mobile SERP good or bad for your page's organic result?

In this episode, we welcome the fantastically fantastic Alli Berry of the Ascent to talk all about E-A-T - "Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.”

• The difference between expertise, authority, & trust
• How to build up your E-A-T profile for different types of YMYL sites
• Beyond the bio, how to build up your authorship credibility

Plus, we dive into some data on the latest Google Update, the June 2019 Core Update!