Founder @ZyppySEO Ξ Get updates at https://xitter.twitterapi.xyz/t.co/AeJMVsYdAx Ξ Follow for posts about SEO, AI, Brand Marketing, Google Ranking Signals + 10x Content
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Joined November 2010
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Can you leverage "Anchor Context" for SEO?
Google tells us to place <links> in relevant context, but most folks don't realize how Google can use those signals to evaluate links and ultimately rank webpages.
A patent by Anna Patterson and Paul Haahr (two titans of Google search), "Ranking based on reference contexts" explains how Google can utilize RARE words before and after the anchor text to determine context
Google can then use this context as a *distinct* ranking factor
Google’s API leak documents attributes that measure this exact thing: fullLeftContext, fullRightContext, and context2 — defined as “a hash of terms near the anchor.”
Patterson and Haahr explain that Google can rank pages “based on the number of different contexts associated with the links”
More diverse + relevant contexts = good.
On the other hand, if a lot of "contexts" look suspiciously similar, Google could label the links as spam
Importantly, Google talks about finding the "rare" words around the anchor text - words found with greater frequency than the rest of the page.
Most people—and link-building platforms—focus on anchor text and stop there. But context can be important!
New: We Opted Out of Google AI Search - Here's Exactly What Happened
You may have seen the experiment data that Google AI search links gave us a 0.9% CTR, but here's the full story
• Yes, AI citations had a ~1% CTR
• But impacted over 20% of our traffic
• Citations *also* increased regular organic clicks
Turns out Google AI citations are far more important than we thought (1/2)
Based on this small study, websites who opt out of Google's AI answers could see up to a 20% drop in clicks
• AI links had an ~0.9% click rate
• Opting out ALSO led to a drop in regular organic clicks - aka the "Halo Effect"
• AI answers continue to push down organic results
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode have a ~0.9% click-through rate says a new opt out study from @CyrusShepard
seroundtable.com/google-ai-o…
What happens when you opt your site out of Google's AI features?
• AI impressions go to 0
• AI impressions had ~0.9% CTR based on overall click data
• Surprisingly, regular organic clicks ALSO DROPPED without AI features
AI answers don't drive tons of clicks, but they matter
