What Are H1, H2, H3 meta tags?

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You probably have heard on some SEO guide about adding H1, H2, H3 meta tags on your articles and pages but what is a h1, h2, h3 tag? And more so, how does it help in onsite SEO?

Origin of heading tags

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 are heading tags that is used in html that you can mark up on title or headings. The number denotes the importance; the higher the number the lower the hierarchy. Usually, H1 will also have the largest font size to denote the over arching importance while the rest will have a smaller font. Heading tags provides readers a clear structure and they can then decide which paragraphs or headings are important to them. One example of good use of headings is when you are talking about a broad subject. For example, Soccer. In this case. the word “Soccer” will be your h1 while other topics beneath soccer such as the rules, methods of playing, types of field will be your h2 or h3.

Heading tags can be found on almost any WYSIWYG editors and even in Microsoft word. However, for Onsite SEO, heading tags have a great importance and it is essential to understand how to make the full use of it to gain an edge in the SERPs.

Onsite SEO

Headings are important for SEO because it gives the search engine robot that are crawling your page understand better about the topic of your article, it also uses heading tags to identify keywords that stand out from the rest of the paragraphs. As such, it is important for any content written to have specific heading tags that are clear and describe what your article is about. As a guide, I usually will not use more than h3 for articles that are less than 1000 words because there simply isn’t enough to elaborate further. However, if you take a look at Wikipedia’s entries, you will see that many of their articles utilise the full h6 tags. Especially for their broader topics that require a lot of explanation.

What to take note of?

Keywords used in the heading tags should help the user to understand what the underlying paragraph is about. In addition, you do not necessarily need to use all h1-h6 tags especially if your article does not need to. As such, it is important to do some keyword research so that you can also attract visitors to pinpoint parts of your article. Especially if you are looking to get them to purchase a product or service

What to avoid?

Randomly adding sentences to a heading tag will not help readers nor search engines. As such, avoid stuffing keywords as this might also have a negative effect on your onsite SEO optimisation.

Google Map Updates-May 2019

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Google Maps has been the number 1 map application for desktop and mobile devices alike and it is no surprise why. The application has been in existence since Feb 2005 and has been making steady strides to improve its features and integration into our daily lives. Here is why May 2019 updates for Google Maps is such a major improvement. Especially for Singaporeans.

Google Maps AR

AR stands for Augmented Reality and it is a big changer for Google Maps. Instead of getting an overview of what your next turn or direction is going to be like. Google will now switch the view to a live view of the street and augment the direction you should take on the street. No more confusing “head south” when yo don’t even have a single clue where that is. This change is likely going to improve directions for individuals who don’t have a good sense of direction.

How to activate AR?

Right now it only works on walking directions where it is needed more. Usually when you need directions, you need to hit “start”. However, if you have the latest version of Google Maps, you’ll see a new option called “Start AR”. click that and  you’ll activate that mode. Do take note that Google will need to access your camera so that it can actually augment the direction signs onto your screen.

google maps augmented direction

large arrows to show the direction planted right in front of you.

While this is still on testing mode, it already looks like a fool proof concept that could make its way onto driving. It will also be awesome if it could work 100% underground or in shopping malls to find stores.

However, that will be an issue due to poor connection to GPS.

Cinema showings and timings

While this is a minor update, to a movie buff like myself, this makes things so much easier. When you search for the cinema location. Not only will you get the usual business information and directions, you can instantly see the movie listings as well as timings on the go. Currently you are limited to just seeing the different movies and listing on different days. And you will still need to enter the website to make a booking. In the future, it will be interesting if they have integrate an API to allow you to book the movie all in the same window and see the pricing and availability on the fly.

cinema listing on google maps

You can select the date you need 5 days in advance

cinema listing overview on google maps

a short snippet of what shows are available. according to the latest release

What this means for the future?

Google has already integrated many useful functions within Google my businesses such as adding of products and services, adding of menus for restaurants, make bookings on hotels and not least. Pictures and videos content alongside reviews. With the amount of functionality and user driven information, it looks positive for businesses to start advertising on Google Maps in the future. In fact, you can already start ad listings on Google maps and it acts similarly like Google Ads.

It will be interesting to see how Google is looking to steer Google maps and where the marketing for Google Maps will take us.

 

 

What Are Buying Keywords?

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If you are running Google ads, did you know you can instantly increase profits and reduce cost just by using buying keywords? Before we dive into what are buying keywords, it is important to understand more about keywords and, how people use searches to get what they want.

Search Process

When people are searching things on Google, they are usually in 3 different stages. Information Gathering, Navigation queries, and Transactional phase. Understanding which stage you want to target will directly affect your sales and revenue. In addition, having a keyword research tool is invaluable especially if you want to find out what queries people are searching for.

 

Information Gathering Query

Individuals in this stage have two intentions; to find out more information about the product or service, and to find the different products/website to serve their need. During this stage, 90% of the queries will not result in a purchase. Take for example this scenario:

Mike is looking to take up a new hobby in Cycling. Due to the various discipline within cycling, he must first choose what type of cycling does he intend to embark on. Road cycling, Mountain biking or Trial riding to name a few disciplines. At this point in time, he will likely search on Google with the following keyword query: “Mountain biking” “road bikes” “mountain bikes” “types of bikes”. As the keyword search imply, Mike is not looking to purchase anything but rather to do more research on the topic. If you are a small site that is targeting the transactional phase, it is likely that Mike won’t be your target customer. As such, it is important to ensure your marketing efforts do not go to waste on general keywords. However, if you are a silo site whose sole purpose is to report on anything and everything bikes. It is then likely that you can eventually convert Mike through one of your Sales Funnel. There are many websites that do this effectively. Some examples are bodybuilding.com, bikeradar.com. These websites target all visitors because they bring the visitor through a complete journey. Such websites draw thousands and thousands of visitors everyday. However, it is not easy to be such a site and usually takes decades to build.

 Navigation Queries

Navigation queries come from the idea that people already know what they want. They are just using the search engine because they either have no idea what the URL address is or they are looking for something specific within the website. Due to the nature of navigation queries, there is almost no way that you can compete for such keywords unless you are using Google Ads. While the chance is low that you can convert someone that is looking for something specific, you could still sway their navigation if you have a more attractive product or service. Some examples will be competitor brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok. If someone is search for Nike Shoes, if you are Adidas, you could still sway their navigation if you have a more attractive sale or product. Perhaps offering free shipping and 10% off. Other than using Google ads for this, you have little no zero chance of getting on the organic query. This is also the reason why you should always choose a brand name instead of naming your website or brand as a generic keyword, this way, Google will have an easier time categorizing queries especially if your visitor is looking directly for you.

Transactional Queries

Transactional queries are the go-to query if you want to get the most conversions out of any product or service. This query comes from a user that has already obtained all the information he/she requires and is just looking for a website to complete the transaction. This query usually includes an exact brand name and occasionally the exact model number. It can include filler words such as “where to buy” “package” “free shipping”.

Out of the three types of queries, transactional queries usually consist of the least amount of searches or also known as the long-tail keywords. While they have lesser queries, they tend to have the highest conversions and also the most competition due to the stage of the searcher. As such, it is important for your website to be right in front of page 1 position 1-3 if you want to see any conversions. On Google ads, you will also find that the cost per click for such queries usually cost a lot more than the generic keywords.

How to position yourself for conversions？

One of the best ways you can position your website for such queries is usually to have a few dedicated articles for the product model as well as a “best of” article. These articles tend to do very well because people always aim to have the best of any product, as such, you are providing others your insights on what is better. Of course with any form of content, it is always better to be very detailed and concise. Adding different types of media also tend to work better because visitors are able to visualize what the end product will look like. More forms of media will also lead to more traffic from different sources which will definitely aid in your conversions in the long run.

In addition, it is important to have some local SEO integration done for the specific product or service that you are looking to rank for. Search Engine Optimisation is the core basis of ranking organically on Google

Google Ads

One of the best ways to get right in front of the searcher’s eyes is through Google Ads. Instead of appearing below through organic listings, you pay per click and compete against like minded merchants for a spot for 1-4. The higher your quality score and bid, the higher your position. From our experience, Google ads tend to work better for transactional queries because the user already knows what they need and are just looking for a provider. In addition, Google has so many new ad formats which makes it very visual and easy for the user to get what they need quickly. Using the right targeting techniques, Search Engine Marketing can be very effective to drive sales and leads.

 

Overall, All types of query can lead to conversions. However, it is important to identify what type of website you have and select the group you should target. Only if your website is a silo site with tons of content then will you be able to target all types of searches.

 

SEO Mythbusters by Google Webmasters

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The art of SEO has always been a grey area for the entire SEO community. Not much information is available on Google about what the search engine sees as positive SEO and negative SEO except for the Google Webmaster Guidelines. These guidelines are so vague that it is difficult to decipher what really works. However, it looks like we are about to get more information from Google themselves who just released a video on their YouTube Channel about an upcoming series on demystifying SEO.

Google Webmaster SEO Mythbusting

From the looks of the trailer, it seems as though its going to tackle a lot of the grey hat SEO techniques and also touch a little more on the essential items to take note of from a technical SEO standpoint as well as navigation. Hopefully with this, the whole community will have a better idea on what to look out for and finally not get so many misconstrued information that it becomes a near impossible task to identify what works and what doesn’t.

From the video we can roughly tell this is what the topics are going to cover

  • Technical SEO – Javascript, HTML, CSS
  • Google Bot and crawling
  • Top 3 things to take note of for SEO
  • SEO for Applications and website
  • Navigation on your website
  • How to conduct a proper SEO audit with your developer and SEOs

Why You Might Want to Switch to a Google Pixel 4 Instead of Huawei P30

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The allure of Google Pixel devices has always been the clean android platform and the camera. Though it only sports 1 camera when most modern devices are sporting 2-4 cameras, the Single lens Pixel can still stand strong against the likes of Huawei, Apple and Samsung. With many reviewers still sticking to the Google Pixel due to its camera AI prowess and software. These two has always been the pillar of strong-suit for Google Pixel devices and it looks like its going to continue its dominance once more in 2019.

Just earlier today at Google IO Developer Conference, Google announced the budget Pixel 3A and Pixel 3A XL. The Mid tier phone is impressive on its own but this is not what we are buzzing about. Its about the next generation of Google Assistant that is set to hit the new Pixel 4 devices coming out later this year.

New Improved Google Assistant

Google Assistant is already on 1 billion devices. While Google Assistant is already leaps and bounds ahead of Siri and Alexa in every way possible, it is set to get even faster… blazing fast in fact. Google managed migrate the speech processing from its servers to your phone locally. What used to be 100GB of processing power has shrank to 0.5GB on your phone’s storage. While that means it takes up some storage space on your phone, it also means that many functions once only available with a data network connection is now available offline. Commands such as “switch on the flash light” “Open spotify” “call Amy” no longer requires a data connection in order to carry out the function. In addition to this, Google announced that the assistant can now process answers and commands 10 times faster.

How does this affect me?

While I use voice commands periodically, it does not match the speed of me picking up my phone to dial a number or to open an app. However, with the new changes, it seems as though using Google assistant is about to get a whole lot faster and efficient. In addition, Google Assistant is able to find context in your commands, which means you can initiate a conversation and multitask through various apps to get your tasks done. Theres also a video below on how fast these commands are recognised and executed. Its even faster than doing it manually. That said, it will be interesting to see when this update arrives to other countries other than United States. The accent such as the Singaporean accent is already hard to decipher for many platforms such as Siri and Google only managed to bring the Singaporean version back in 2018.

Monetisation

With such advancement of Google Assistant, it is likely Google’s plans are to monetise Assistant in some ways or another. Many experts have already seen growing usage and the advancement is quite clear that Assistant will be used for search instead of conventional means such as through Google search. With the success of Amazon’s Alexa, it won’t be a surprise if Google comes up with their own improved speaker to rival that of Amazon. Google has already monetised Google My Business and it won’t be surprising to see Google Assistant follow suit in the years to come

Google Pixel 4

The updates in Google assistant is already getting me excited for the upcoming Pixel 4. And with the amount of investment Google is pouring into its hardware, its no surprise that the upcoming Pixel 4 is going to be one of the best phones you can get your hands on in 2019. What features and functions are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!