5 Takeaways from March 2019 Google Webmasters Office Hours

Google Webmasters home page on YouTube, with multiple thumbnails of recordings.

Page speed is important as a ranking factor, but it doesn’t override other factors, said Google Web Trends analyst John Mueller in last week’s Google Webmasters Office Hours.

There are many ranking factors that Google balances in determining page rank; it’s not only links or content, Mueller explained.

That list of factors can change at any time.

And while an empty page will be fast, it would be a

…really terrible search result if someone is searching for something really specific.

The user wouldn’t be very happy with a page with no content in the search results.

Held multiple times every month and open to the public, Google Webmasters Office Hours hangouts give website owners the opportunity to ask questions about

  • Site indexing
  • Mobile sites
  • Internationalization
  • Sitemaps
  • Google Search Console
  • Duplicate content
  • Other webmaster-related questions

Continue reading 5 Takeaways from March 2019 Google Webmasters Office Hours

Plain Language: Use Descriptive and Meaningful Text in Your Links

Metal chain links

Have you ever visited a website, selected a link, only to discover the page you were taken to wasn’t what you expected?

Or worse, you selected a link on your mobile device, and a 5MB Excel spreadsheet started to download?

Me too. And it irritates me. Continue reading Plain Language: Use Descriptive and Meaningful Text in Your Links

Three Tips to Improve the Accessibility on Your Website

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at our Metro Detroit WordPress group about how to improve accessibility on your website. Creating an accessible website allows everyone, no matter their application, software, hardware or other capabilities, to use your site.

The presentation shared easy steps people can apply immediately on their website to make it more accessible.

Continue reading Three Tips to Improve the Accessibility on Your Website