DISC Inc

A mini competitive audit of Bard vs Google’s favorite tacos

As for seeking Bardic inclusion, my first impression is that you’ll still be doing the same tasks: making your GBP as fully-filled out as possible, earning good reviews via good customer service, growing and optimizing your website on the basis of consumer research. You’ll notice that Bard’s recommendations for getting mentioned in its lists of favorites didn’t contain a single surprise or novel notion for how to create visibility for local businesses. In other words, I see nothing game-changing here, but I do see a ton of room for your own research if your business isn’t included and wants to be

Google only counted the first anchor text

So even if you manage to figure out how we currently do it today, then that’s not necessarily how we’ll do it tomorrow, or how it always is across all websites.

Test #1 Takeaway: Google seems to be able to count multiple anchor texts on the same page to the same target, at least if one of the links is an image.

Test #2 Takeaway: When Google encountered two text links followed by an image link, Google indexed the first text and image anchors only.

Test #3 Takeaway: When Google encountered two text links followed by an image link and finally another text link, Google indexed the first text and image anchors only.

How to Optimize For Google’s Selective Link Priority Let’s be clear: Selective Link Priority most likely isn’t going to make a huge difference in your SEO strategy, but it can make a difference, especially in tie-breaker situations. In particular, here are five internal linking practices in a Selective Link Priority world: Be aware when linking on a page multiple times to the same URL that Google may not “count” all of your anchor text. When in doubt, you should likely prioritize both the first text link and image links on the page. Remember that each link to a URL—regardless of anchor text—has the potential to increase that URL’s PageRank. Don’t leave image alt attributes empty, and remember to vary them from any text link anchors. Not only can Google index the alt attribute as a separate anchor, but this gives you the chance to further increase your anchor text variations. Sites with smaller external link profiles may wish to limit the number of navigational links in preference of in-body text links. The reason is that if Google does indeed tend to prefer the first links on the page—and these are navigational—this limits the number of anchor text variations you can send to any page. (This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. In fact, it’s a nuanced, complex subject that may warrant a whole other post.) The most important thing to remember is this – anchor text is a powerful ranking signal, even for internal links. Carefully choosing your anchor text—while avoiding over-optimization—can make a difference in winning SEO. If your SEO game is otherwise strong, you may be able to get away with ignoring Google’s Selective Link Priority rules (as most sites do already.) But you should at least be aware of how it works and what it means to your strategy.

It’s probably no coincidence that Google announced the addition of “experience” in its search quality raters guidelines shortly after ChatGPT’s launch. 

Besides, expertise will build confidence with the human reading your content, so I would still consider adding: The author’s name. A descriptive bio containing: Their relevant qualifications. Links to their social media profiles. A Person schema with relevant properties for certifications or professions.

Authority can be demonstrated in three core ways:  Establishing a strong content architecture covering all aspects of a particular topic. Earning backlinks from other authoritative sites. Building a digital profile or personal brand as an expert in a particular topic.

Once again, the idea of publishing content that is truly helpful supports Standford’s web credibility guidelines: Make it easy to contact you. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose). Make your site easy to use – and useful. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently). Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers). Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

Although they carry less weight than they used to, backlinks are still an indicator of an authoritative site.

Consider page experience

Show your humans with an About us or Team page

Link to authoritative sources

Build topical clusters

Use internal links

Include different content types

Engage experts

Encourage reviews

Firebase A/B Testing will not be impacted by the Google Optimize sunset.

Focus on creating a documented strategy closely aligned with the overall business strategy.

Relationships and training

"...[L]ack of 'what to do next'"' actions (with a why)

and the losses

Why it matters.