SEO Insider News
September 24, 2020
We thought you might enjoy reading what we’re reading at Straight North about SEO developments. The articles below were collected from the staff and reviewed by our Director of SEO, Colleen Moran.
- Are keywords in URLs important for SEO? This Search Engine Roundtable article provides the answer. (The short answer: Not terribly important.)
- Managing Successful SEO Migrations deals with SEO issues during a domain change, merging domains, moving to a new platform, changing host providers, going from HTTP to HTTPS and restructuring URLs. VERY important reading if you are contemplating or in the midst of one of these activities.
- Going from big picture issues to small but important details, this Search Engine Journal article reports that Google Chrome is going to start warning users about insecure forms. This is important because if your form uses HTTP protocol instead of HTTPS, prospects and customers may be scared off before submitting their inquiry or question. It’s possible HTTP could be used on forms even if your website has converted to HTTPS, so this one can catch even diligent companies off guard. Straight North is already addressing this issue with our SEO clients.
- Web accessibility has become a hot SEO topic again. The best way to describe developments is to quote from Colleen’s internal memo:
“Web accessibility has always been an important subject in Web Design and SEO. Since people are generally using the internet more during COVID-19, it’s a topic that has re-surfaced in our industry. Here’s an overview on web accessibility and how to optimize content to ensure those with disabilities can access content. Additionally, here’s a great write up that explains accessibility thoroughly and helps break down some of the legal jargon surrounding this topic.” - Your website can lose ground in Google rankings through no fault of its own — external factors often play a significant role. This article, 4 Reasons Why Sites May Lose Google Rankings, explains what can happen and what you can do about it.
- As a writer, I love this nerdy (but important) article about the merits of using pipe bars instead of dashes in title tags. The pipe bar — “|” — takes up less width, allowing more of your title tag to display on screen. In addition, pipe bar separation is more readable. It’s small details like this that add up to make good SEO campaigns great ones.
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