Changes in Search Results Formatting Affect Importance of SEO Ranking

SEO Moz has a new article up about a study conducted using eye-tracking technology to measure the importance of placement in Google SERP (Search Enginge Result Page) ranking. The results might surprise you: where even a year ago we could consider the #1 spot to be an all-important goal of SEO, changes in Google’s formatting methods for search results mean that #1 might not be all it’s cracked up to be. As Peter Meyers writes for SEO Moz:

[A]s Google moves away from 10 plain listings for more and more searches, it is definitely having an impact on search users. You need to be familiar with your competitive space and take advantage of SERP enhancements, like video thumbnails. Ranking #1 might not be pulling the weight it used to if your competitors down the page have more visually interesting results.

These results also suggest that the in-page Local/Places results are having a strong impact, even if they fall in the middle of the page. In these limited cases, they seemed to pull attention away from the top organic spots. If your query has a local flavor, you need to be aware of how your Google Places page is competing.

So what does this mean for businesses – especially small businesses – looking to improve their SEO? Well, for one thing, it certainly accentuates the importance of off-site results. Making sure that your Google Places Page is up to date and accurate, as well as optimized for your target audience. It also means paying attention to emerging web standards like schema.org, which will help set your results apart from the rest of the crowd. Properly formatting product pages, business listings, and blog posts with microdata will help you translate rankings into higher click through, as Google begins to separate results based on format.

Social sharing can help distinguish your results on Google's results page.

It also means paying even more attention to your social media marketing strategies. You’ve probably noticed that Google has started including the recommendations of your friends in search results, showing users what people in their network are talking about on the web. Getting your site out there will help ensure that your site isn’t just a search result – it’s a search result that comes with personal recommendations.

Read the original article here.