Google is an ocean of knowledge. For the common man, there is hardly any answer that he won’t find on Google.
Although, there are certain things about this search behemoth that are not known to all, not even to the SEO guys.
There are tons of information available on Google. And, to regulate and come up with information properly when someone searches for them, Google keeps on updating its algorithms.
So, even if you think you know much about Google, there are certain secrets that Google does not want to let you know easily.
Let’s find out what they are.
1. Google Updates Its Algorithms Countless Times A Year
Google keeps on rolling out updates in its algorithms, and that too countless times a year. Yes, in its initial days, things were different, and Google didn’t care to change much in its algorithms.
But why should it be important to you?
Well, with time, Google is focusing more and more on the convenience of searchers. Not only that, but the algorithm updates also make sure that searchers get what they look for, in terms of accuracy.
When not taken care of properly, these changes in Google’s algorithms can severely affect your visibility in the relevant searches.
Over the years, there have been several types of updates rolled out from Google. Most of them were just about minimal changes, but quite a few were pretty impactful too just like the Hummingbird update.
In fact, a significant update is about to come. This update concerns with the way a good lot of websites gather information about their target audience. It is about cookies.
Yes, Google has been planning to eradicate all sorts of third-party cookies from its search engine.
Today these cookies are used massively to track the individual movement of target audiences all over the web in order to gather information. However, today they are also considered as a security threat.
So, to keep up with these everchanging algorithms of Google, make sure that you have an editable website which can accept and adapt to sudden changes as the algorithm updates can impact your digital marketing strategy in various ways.
2. Google Knows About the Bounce Rate of Your Website
The main reason behind you’re not getting enough email sign ups, website traffic, or even adequate leads is nothing but bounce rate.
Yes, and, if you are wondering what bounce rate is, then let us tell you that bounce rate indicates the number of people who have entered your website but have immediately left it without performing any interaction.
Yes, in simpler words, bounce rate indicates the behaviour of your on-page audience. And you can easily track that through your Google analytics account.
Now if you too are having issues like unable to achieve marketing goals or high bounce rate, then there are several ways that can help you deal with the same.
Better the Readability of Your Content
First of all, how does your content look like? Does it appear in chunks? If so, then you need to take care of the same.
Yes, you need to shape up the appearance of your content to make it fast and easily consumable. You can make use of the following tips for the same:
- Use question-answer format to high up the engagement quotient.
- Use images to keep your audience attracted and break continuous reading.
- Use subheadings.
- Use quotes to break the text.
- Highlight the main points.
- Format properly.
Craft Robust Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions help search engines understand what a web page is all about. Not just that but, these HTML attributes also help searchers understand what information they will come across when they visit a particular page.
Try to keep your meta descriptions short and concise. Keep them under 155 characters. Because, if you do not then it will appear along with an ellipsis (…) in the end. So, even if you cannot finish your meta description within 155 characters, make sure your most important piece of information is placed within the given area to bring down bounce rates.
Also, include your relevant keyword within those 155 characters too.
Craft Interactive Content
Engagement is a very important factor when it comes to keeping your audience in your website. And nothing can provide you with better engagement than interactive content.
Yes, this is because, interactive content such as infographics, lookbooks, quizzes, e-books, checklists, etc. do a great job of pushing your website audience to take necessary action rather than just bouncing away.
And, utilising this benefit, you can easily educate them about your business organization as well as your offerings.
3. Google Holds Conferences and That Too Secretly
Google has been hosting a not so popular event since the decade. It is called dubbed Google Camp. This event takes place ever summer.
Well, from the name, you might think of this event as a little summer camp for kids, but in reality, this is a star-studded event where great minds attend to enrich themselves, every summer.
Previously this event has also covered important philanthropical topics such as global warming and education.
Although, not everybody can attend this highly authorised event as the admittance is quite expensive and selective.
This is why, every year former presidents, chairmen of several reputed brands, famous fashion designers, tech enthusiasts, etc. participate in this event to enrich themselves indulging in relaxing and in-depth conversations.
4. Google Comes Equipped with Advanced Search Options
We are extremely familiar with the search bar of Google that has helped us solve our queries countless times.
And, if you think that it is just you who refers to Google a lot, then let us tell you that 84 percent people have admitted to using Google’s search bar for at least thrice a day.
Despite being so familiar with this, a good lot of us do not have any idea about the advanced search options that come along.
Yes, these amazing built tools are quite effective and have a vast range of functions.
Let us check out the most useful ones among them.
Add “related:” to Your Searches
Yes, you can easily make use of this trick to find similar results to your searches. This is an extremely useful feature that broadens the area of your search keeping the theme same as before.
This is an extremely useful feature for marketeers. Wondering how? Let us tell you.
Using this feature marketeers can easily find out their competitors. Yes, by assessing content, category, and business type Google can easily find out vendors who offer products or services that are similar.
It proves to be very useful when you are looking into the search rankings, social strategy, and other marketing tactics.
Searching for Social Media Profiles and Mentions
Social media has become a very important part of our lives and that is why 49 percent of the entire global population is present on social media sites. This is why Google has come up with this advanced feature of searching social media profiles and mentions using ‘@’ symbol.
To utilize this feature, you can just write down the handle of a particular social media account with ‘@’ in front. Using this technique, you can easily compile results for that particular user including his web pages and tweets that the user has made.
For more specific results, you can just type the handle of an account the way we mentioned earlier along with the social media website that you are looking for.
Using Hashtags for Searching
Just like the ‘@’ function, the hashtag function works similarly. But it works better and helps you find out a lot more profiles than the former.
The ‘#’ is a great way to find not just social media profiles but also posts, images and other contributions made using the same.
To try it out right now, you can just search using #seo followed by changing the search date to “past 24 hours”. You can find the latter option under Tools section.
Doing this you will be able to see the activity done in the past 24 hours using #SEO.
You can also find the activity made just with this hashtag by simply changing the result type to ‘verbatim’ followed by typing #digitalmarketing in quotes.
It is extremely useful for marketeers as it allows them to find out the keywords that align with their brands message, as well as how their competitors use it on social media.
Access The Cache of a Website
Cache memory can help you learn a lot.
With it you can easily find out information about a website that is down. Not only that but you can also find out how often Googlebots crawl your website.
To do this, all you need to do is using “cache:” before the URL of a website.
But, using this technique you will only see the latest version of any website, not any old ones. This technique allows you to see the full version of a website, its text-only version, as well as view source.
You will also be able to see the snapshot taken by Google along with the timestamp.
5. Google Releases Its Own SEO Guides
Want to master SEO for Google? Well Google itself can help you with that.
Yes, Google releases its own SEO guides to help SEO people to get the best out of Google.
Not just that, but Google also has a starter guide as well as a developer guide to help people of every experience level.
The tools mentioned in these guides are also different based on the skill level, familiarity and how adept a professional is.
And, yes, these are the keys to success with SEO on Google.
6. Google Is Full of Easter Eggs
Besides being the world’s most used search engine, Google takes up the fun quotient very seriously too.
There are tons and tons of Easter eggs that you can find on Google. They range from functionality to create a heart shaped graph to solitaire and whatnot.
These are the perfect tools that can help you get a break from you tedious day job.
Below you can find some of the best Easter eggs.
Tic Tac Toe
In search of a distraction in order to get rid of boredom, you can make good use of this Easter egg. Tic Tac Toe, a classic game of X’s and O’s, that sparks up the kid in you.
To get to this, all you need to do is entering the term “tic tac toe” in your Google search bar. Yes, that’s all. Once you have entered the same, a tic tac toe game will get started with the Google AI.
Flip a Coin
If you are confused about which one to pick from the two solutions that are going on in your head, you can just utilise the good old trick of flip a coin. But what if you do not have a coin in your pocket?
Well, Google can definitely help you with that. All you need to do is entering “flip a coin” in your search bar.
Animal Sounds
Teaching your kid about the various types of sounds animals can make? Why take the headache of poorly imitating them in front of your child when you already have a far better option?
Yes, all you have to do is entering the terms “animal sounds” in your Google search bar and you are good to go.
7. You Can Get Directions from The Search Bar Directly
You might be used to using Google Maps to get navigational help on a regular basis, but you can get the same help directly from Google’s search bar too.
All you need to do is typing “directions to [destination] from your [location]”. That’s all it takes. Doing this, you can easily get piecemeal directions for the same.
Also, you can select from direction by car, public transport or just for walking.
8. You Can Search for Movies, Books, And News Too
Google is mostly known for its image and video searches; however, you can also use the benefit of differentiating your search results via medium.
Looking for a book, you can just click on the menu option “More”. Doing this, you can easily pick books, movies, news, etc. and remove just any other search confusion that you do not want to keep.
9. You Can Search Within Websites with Google
There are a good lot of websites that allow you to search items in them. But there are also websites that do not let you do the same.
But, no worries, you can easily do that through Google, just by simply writing “add site: [website URL]”. Having done this, you can see results just from that particular website instead of the entire Internet.
10. You Can Define the Number of Search Results
There is not digital marketeer on Earth who does not want their website to get the topmost rank in Google’s SERPs. However, from the searchers point of view, there are a good lot of occasions when the most relevant result does not come up.
To deal with this, just click on the “settings” option below your search bar and tweak the number of search results that come up. It’s that simple.
On a Concluding Note
The path to succeeding in SEO is full of obstacles. But the more you learn the more you get better and the easier it becomes to overcome those hurdles.
And, when done right, these little secrets can really help you in getting your job done. All it takes is a little more effort.
