Apple stores near Surrey for shopping and iPhone repairs

Looking to buy a new iPhone, Mac or watch? Here are your nearest Apple stores in the UK

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/apple-stores-near-surrey-shopping-15443176

Waitrose stores in Surrey plus Christmas opening hours

A guide to finding your closest Waitrose supermarket in Surrey

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/waitrose-stores-surrey-plus-christmas-15465257

John Lewis stores near Surrey for shopping and gift ideas

Looking to buy something for your home or for a friend? Here are your nearest John Lewis stores

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/john-lewis-stores-near-surrey-15443242

Hampton Court workers and other Royal Palace staff could go on strike over pensions

"This is a pay cut for the rest of their lives," GMB London said

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/hampton-court-workers-royal-palace-15487488

Reaching higher together: how we all benefit from open source

You may know this open source fanatic as WordPress Core Contributor or esteemed speaker on WordCamps and other conferences. Today, Software Engineer & WordPress Consultant Alain Schlesser shares the details of his first experiences with open source and how to learn from, as well as contribute to open source projects. And, he is clear on one thing: “A world without open source would see less frequent technological advances, and they would come at a higher cost.” Read the 4th interview in our shout-out to open source interview-series, and find out how we all benefit from open source!

Q. Why is open source so important to you?

My belief is that open source is the principle that allows ‘knowledge’ to scale in the software engineering field. Reinventing the wheel before being able to tackle the actual problem can only take you so far. If everyone can stand on the shoulders of others, we can all reach higher and higher with time.

Q. In what way do you contribute to open source?

I contribute or have contributed to a lot of different existing open source projects, the most popular being WordPress Core. I also maintain or co-maintain projects, like WP-CLI, the command line interface for WordPress. Additionally, I also make sure that the client projects I work on contribute all reusable code back as open source packages. I usually collect these projects under the ‘brightnucleus‘ GitHub organization.

Q. When did you hear about open source for the first time? What were your thoughts about open source back then? And what are your thoughts about open source now?

I became more directly aware of open source in the mid-’90s. At the time, I got fascinated with the Sourceforge site, which hosted thousands of open source code repositories. It was the first time I had access to that amount of source code to freely browse and reuse for my purposes. It was a game changer for me. Endless amounts of knowledge in the software engineering field freely shared among peers!

At the time, I did not even have internet access at home, so whenever I had the opportunity to get access to the internet, I browsed the code repositories on Sourceforge and downloaded ZIP archives of whatever I wanted to inspect closer, to take the code back home with me (on floppy disks!).

Nowadays I think that open source is a critical part of our modern society. Almost everything is software-driven, and almost all software builds upon open source code, directly or indirectly.

Q. Does open source say something about the quality of the product?

Open source does not directly state anything about the actual quality of a product, but it does make it possible for anyone to assess the quality of a given product in detail. Proprietary software is not necessarily better or worse, but you only find out about its real qualities after starting to use it, you cannot vet it upfront.

Q. When and what was your first open source contribution?

I’m not entirely sure I remember correctly. I think it must have been a hardware driver for the Linux project, somewhere around the mid- to late-90’s. When I was experimenting with Linux for the first time, the driver situation was still really bad, and a lot of the less common hardware was not supported at all, or only supported in an incomplete and buggy way. It was pretty normal back then to write hardware drivers for more exotic hardware yourself, if you really wanted to get that new gear working.

Q. How do you learn from open source? How can others learn from open source?

Just open the code and read it! Most of it comes with both documentation and inline comments, so it should be easy to figure out what it does and why it does it.

If you reuse existing open source libraries, you can easily jump into and out of the libraries’ code and examine what it does. This open source variant of ‘learning by doing’ is a very fast way of improving your own code.

Projects that are well maintained will also usually provide you with free code reviews when you submit a pull request or patch. This is pretty close to having a mentor looking over your shoulder and telling you where you can further improve, all at the cost of zilch – it can’t get much better than that.

Q. Why is open source important for everyone?

It is difficult nowadays to find an electronic device that does not use any open source tools or libraries. Everyone is literally surrounded by the benefits of open source. A world without open source would see less frequent technological advances, and they would come at a higher cost.

Q. Do you have to be a developer to be involved with open source? How about diversity within the open source community?

No, you can easily get involved in open source without being a developer. Just take a look at the WordPress Community as a vibrant example of this, where people of all industries and backgrounds come together to collaborate on common goals.

Q. I want to contribute to open source! Where do I start?

Take whatever you are very passionate about and be very curious about it! I would bet you don’t have to dig deep to find open source projects that are related and that would welcome your contributions. If you need more hands-on guidance, start with an open source portal like GitHub, where you can browse thousands of popular projects and see what they need help with.

Read more: 3 reasons open source is awesome »

The post Reaching higher together: how we all benefit from open source appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/how-we-all-benefit-from-open-source/

WordPress 5.0 RCs, Gutenberg related news and food for thought!

Today’s roundup focuses on WordPress 5.0 and its upcoming release date, but we’ll also discuss some interesting and new Gutenberg related news. And, I did my best to introduce a couple of interesting bits throughout this roundup. Every single link is certainly worth checking out! Let’s dive in, shall we?

When will WordPress 5.0 be released?

The question I heard most in the last couple of weeks was this: When will WordPress 5.0 be released? And that is a great question! Unfortunately, not one we have a straight answer to at the moment. The first Release Candidate (RC) was released last week and we’re expecting RC 2 today. But, that still doesn’t point to a specific date. The best answer we currently have is that the date will be communicated. Basically, this means the Core team is working hard to fix the outstanding issues but is not quite ready to commit to a specific date.

My take is that they don’t want to send out a message with a specific date again if they’re not 100% sure they can commit to it. Matt Mullenweg certainly isn’t excluding a December release in his Gutenberg FAQ:

Is it terrible to do a release in December?
Some people think so, some don’t. There have been 9 major WordPress releases in previous Decembers. December releases actually comprise 34% of our major releases in the past decade.

So, let’s just wait and see what happens in the next week.

Gutenberg related news

A few Gutenberg related things have happened in the last couple of weeks that I think could be of interest for you to know. Matt Mullenweg’s post about Gutenberg FAQs is one of them, but there are more.

Block Lab

In a previous roundup, I talked about how ACF would be used to generate blocks for Gutenberg. But they aren’t the only ones trying to figure out how to improve this flow. Block Lab is trying to do exactly this as well. It introduces an interface in the WordPress Admin and a simple templating system for building custom Gutenberg blocks. Definitely worth checking out if you’ve been looking for easier ways to implement custom blocks.

Jetpack 6.8 introduces blocks for Gutenberg

Jetpack 6.8 was released this week and with it shipped a couple of blocks for the new WordPress editor. You can read all about it in WP Tavern’s post about Jetpack 6.8 or read the full release post for Jetpack 6.8 on Jetpack’s blog.

Food for thought

Smashing Magazine published an interesting article, by Leonardo Losoviz, about the implications of thinking in blocks instead of blobs. One thing Leonardo says particularly rings true for me:

I believe that switching from blobs of HTML code to components for building sites is nothing short of a paradigm shift. Gutenberg’s impact is much more than a switch from PHP to JavaScript: there are things that could be done in the past which will possibly not make sense anymore.

A paradigm shift is indeed what we’re looking at here. I’m enthusiastic about the things this new WordPress editor allows us to do that were previously very hard to do.

At Yoast, we’re also very excited about the possibilities the new editor introduces and we’ve already got some great ideas lined up. Not only will it allow our content analysis per post to be much more granular, but we also see a great opportunity to improve lots of different kinds of rich data. Our current How-To and FAQ blocks, introduced in Yoast SEO 8.2,  being the first examples of this.

Interesting site speed project

Delivering a speedy website has to be a number one priority for you. We’ve talked about how to use a page speed test to optimize your WordPress website before. Site speed is a topic that will become increasingly important as we move forward. This week, I came across an interesting project along the lines of our post about improving site speed that got me very excited.

Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages that is part of the Chrome browser. You give Lighthouse a URL to evaluate, and it runs a series of audits on the page for performance, accessibility, progressive web app capabilities, and more. It then generates a report on how well the page did.

Imagine bringing those audits fully into the context of WordPress powered sites. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Well, we may very well be heading that way. An interesting project aiming to do exactly this is to be kicked off at WordCamp US next week (will we see you there?). Imagine the impact of such a tool! Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Read on: What is Gutenberg? »

 

The post WordPress 5.0 RCs, Gutenberg related news and food for thought! appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/wordpress-5-0-rcs-gutenberg-news-and-more/

16 ice skating rinks in and around Surrey

A guide to indoor and outdoor ice skating rinks to enjoy this Christmas

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/16-ice-skating-rinks-around-15487171

Three-day music and beer festival can go ahead every year in Reigate's Priory Park

The inaugural festival is scheduled for July - but the council has insisted live music must finish by 10pm

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/three-day-music-beer-festival-15489000

Residents forced to evacuate homes after 'grenade' is found at Stanwell property

Police officers and a bomb disposal unit were called to an address in Viola Avenue on Friday morning (November 30) following the discovery

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/residents-forced-evacuate-homes-after-15489139

Turtle Bay adds vegan and tapas dishes to menu - take a peek inside Guildford restaurant

Laura Nightingale tried out some of the new plates on the menu at Turtle Bay in Guildford

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/turtle-bay-adds-vegan-tapas-15487633

Wanted Dorking man arrested on suspicion of robbery and attempted robbery after handing himself in

Surrey Police have thanked the media and the public for their assistance

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/wanted-dorking-man-arrested-suspicion-15487684

Fire causes severe traffic delays in Aldershot and Farnham area as A331 is closed

There were delays of up to 46 minutes as as result of the road closure

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/traffic-aldershot-farnham-a331-fire-15486117

Department for Transport extend Oyster to Epsom but ticket prices won't get cheaper

The Oyster and pay-as-you-go system will be make access to the capital "even easier for commuters"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/department-transport-extend-oyster-epsom-15485989

This Chertsey pub has launched cows in quilts to rival pigs in blankets this Christmas

It may be difficult to choose between the two

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/chertsey-pub-launched-cows-quilts-15483221

David Munro challenges every Surrey council to be 'sure' that it is not employing slaves

David Munro has called on leaders of all 11 borough and district councils and the county council in Surrey to delve deeper into the working practices of their contractors

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/david-munro-challenges-every-surrey-15486178

Local Search Ranking Factors 2018: Local Today, Key Takeaways, and the Future

Posted by Whitespark

In the past year, local SEO has run at a startling and near-constant pace of change. From an explosion of new Google My Business features to an ever-increasing emphasis on the importance of reviews, it's almost too much to keep up with. In today's Whiteboard Friday, we welcome our friend Darren Shaw to explain what local is like today, dive into the key takeaways from his 2018 Local Search Ranking Factors survey, and offer us a glimpse into the future according to the local SEO experts.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans. I'm Darren Shaw from Whitespark, and today I want to talk to you about the local search ranking factors. So this is a survey that David Mihm has run for the past like 10 years. Last year, I took it over, and it's a survey of the top local search practitioners, about 40 of them. They all contribute their answers, and I aggregate the data and say what's driving local search. So this is what the opinion of the local search practitioners is, and I'll kind of break it down for you.

Local search today

So these are the results of this year's survey. We had Google My Business factors at about 25%. That was the biggest piece of the pie. We have review factors at 15%, links at 16%, on-page factors at 14%, behavioral at 10%, citations at 11%, personalization and social at 6% and 3%. So that's basically the makeup of the local search algorithm today, based on the opinions of the people that participated in the survey.

The big story this year is Google My Business. Google My Business factors are way up, compared to last year, a 32% increase in Google My Business signals. I'll talk about that a little bit more over in the takeaways. Review signals are also up, so more emphasis on reviews this year from the practitioners. Citation signals are down again, and that makes sense. They continue to decline I think for a number of reasons. They used to be the go-to factor for local search. You just built out as many citations as you could. Now the local search algorithm is so much more complicated and there's so much more to it that it's being diluted by all of the other factors. Plus it used to be a real competitive difference-maker. Now it's not, because everyone is pretty much getting citations. They're considered table stakes now. By seeing a drop here, it doesn't mean you should stop doing them. They're just not the competitive difference-maker they used to be. You still need to get listed on all of the important sites.

Key takeaways

All right, so let's talk about the key takeaways.

1. Google My Business

The real story this year was Google My Business, Google My Business, Google My Business. Everyone in the comments was talking about the benefits they're seeing from investing in a lot of these new features that Google has been adding.

Google has been adding a ton of new features lately — services, descriptions, Google Posts, Google Q&A. There's a ton of stuff going on in Google My Business now that allows you to populate Google My Business with a ton of extra data. So this was a big one.

✓ Take advantage of Google Posts

Everyone talked about Google Posts, how they're seeing Google Posts driving rankings. There are a couple of things there. One is the semantic content that you're providing Google in a Google post is definitely helping Google associate those keywords with your business. Engagement with Google Posts as well could be driving rankings up, and maybe just being an active business user continuing to post stuff and logging in to your account is also helping to lift your business entity and improve your rankings. So definitely, if you're not on Google Posts, get on it now.

If you search for your category, you'll see a ton of businesses are not doing it. So it's also a great competitive difference-maker right now.

✓ Seed your Google Q&A

Google Q&A, a lot of businesses are not even aware this exists. There's a Q&A section now. Your customers are often asking questions, and they're being answered by not you. So it's valuable for you to get in there and make sure you're answering your questions and also seed the Q&A with your own questions. So add all of your own content. If you have a frequently asked questions section on your website, take that content and put it into Google Q&A. So now you're giving lots more content to Google.

✓ Post photos and videos

Photos and videos, continually post photos and videos, maybe even encourage your customers to do that. All of that activity is helpful. A lot of people don't know that you can now post videos to Google My Business. So get on that if you have any videos for your business.

✓ Fill out every field

There are so many new fields in Google My Business. If you haven't edited your listing in a couple of years, there's a lot more stuff in there that you can now populate and give Google more data about your business. All of that really leads to engagement. All of these extra engagement signals that you're now feeding Google, from being a business owner that's engaged with your listing and adding stuff and from users, you're giving them more stuff to look at, click on, and dwell on your listing for a longer time, all that helps with your rankings.

2. Reviews

✓ Get more Google reviews

Reviews continue to increase in importance in local search, so, obviously, getting more Google reviews. It used to be a bit more of a competitive difference-maker. It's becoming more and more table stakes, because everybody seems to be having lots of reviews. So you definitely want to make sure that you are competing with your competition on review count and lots of high-quality reviews.

✓ Keywords in reviews

Getting keywords in reviews, so rather than just asking for a review, it's useful to ask your customers to mention what service they had provided or whatever so you can get those keywords in your reviews.

✓ Respond to reviews (users get notified now!)

Responding to reviews. Google recently started notifying users that if the owner has responded to you, you'll get an email. So all of that is really great, and those responses, it's another signal to Google that you're an engaged business.

✓ Diversify beyond Google My Business for reviews

Diversify. Don't just focus on Google My Business. Look at other sites in your industry that are prominent review sites. You can find them if you just look for your own business name plus reviews, if you search that in Google, you're going to see the sites that Google is saying are important for your particular business.

You can also find out like what are the sites that your competitors are getting reviews on. Then if you just do a search like keyword plus city, like "lawyers + Denver," you might find sites that are important for your industry as well that you should be listed on. So check out a couple of your keywords and make sure you're getting reviews on more sites than just Google.

3. Links

Then links, of course, links continue to drive local search. A lot of people in the comments talked about how a handful of local links have been really valuable. This is a great competitive difference-maker, because a lot of businesses don't have any links other than citations. So when you get a few of these, it can really have an impact.

✓ From local industry sites and sponsorships

They really talk about focusing on local-specific sites and industry-specific sites. So you can get a lot of those from sponsorships. They're kind of the go-to tactic. If you do a search for in title sponsors plus city name, you're going to find a lot of sites that are listing their sponsors, and those are opportunities for you, in your city, that you could sponsor that event as well or that organization and get a link.

The future!

All right. So I also asked in the survey: Where do you see Google going in the future? We got a lot of great responses, and I tried to summarize that into three main themes here for you.

1. Keeping users on Google

This is a really big one. Google does not want to send its users to your website to get the answer. Google wants to have the answer right on Google so that they don't have to click. It's this zero-click search result. So you see Rand Fishkin talking about this. This has been happening in local for a long time, and it's really amplified with all of these new features Google has been adding. They want to have all of your data so that they don't have to send users to find it somewhere else. Then that means in the future less traffic to your website.

So Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm also talk about Google as your new homepage, and this concept is like branded search.

• What does your branded search look like?
• So what sites are you getting reviews on?
• What does your knowledge panel look like?

Make that all look really good, because Google doesn't want to send people to your new website.

2. More emphasis on behavioral signals

David Mihm is a strong voice in this. He talks about how Google is trying to diversify how they rank businesses based on what's happening in the real world. They're looking for real-world signals that actual humans care about this business and they're engaging with this business.

So there's a number of things that they can do to track that -- so branded search, how many people are searching for your brand name, how many people are clicking to call your business, driving directions. This stuff is all kind of hard to manipulate, whereas you can add more links, you can get more reviews. But this stuff, this is a great signal for Google to rely on.

Engagement with your listing, engagement with your website, and actual humans in your business. If you've seen on the knowledge panel sometimes for brick-and-mortar business, it will be like busy times. They know when people are actually at your business. They have counts of how many people are going into your business. So that's a great signal for them to use to understand the prominence of your business. Is this a busy business compared to all the other ones in the city?

3. Google will monetize everything

Then, of course, a trend to monetize as much as they can. Google is a publicly traded company. They want to make as much money as possible. They're on a constant growth path. So there are a few things that we see coming down the pipeline.

Local service ads are expanding across the country and globally and in different industries. So this is like a paid program. You have to apply to get into it, and then Google takes a cut of leads. So if you are a member of this, then Google will send leads to you. But you have to be verified to be in there, and you have to pay to be in there.

Then taking a cut from bookings, you can now book directly on Google for a lot of different businesses. If you think about Google Flights and Google Hotels, Google is looking for a way to monetize all of this local search opportunity. That's why they're investing heavily in local search so they can make money from it. So seeing more of these kinds of features rolling out in the future is definitely coming. Transactions from other things. So if I did book something, then Google will take a cut for it.

So that's the future. That's sort of the news of the local search ranking factors this year. I hope it's been helpful. If you have any questions, just leave some comments and I'll make sure to respond to them all. Thanks, everybody.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

---

If you missed our recent webinar on the Local Search Ranking Factors survey with Darren Shaw and Dr. Pete, don't worry! You can still catch the recording here:

Check out the webinar

You'll be in for a jam-packed hour of deeper insights and takeaways from the survey, as well as some great audience-contributed Q&A.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/10857126

'Extremely vulnerable' Reigate woman went missing after being treated by ambulance crew, police say

Police officers are appealing for help in finding Rosie Black, 26, who was last seen being treated by ambulance crews on Thursday (November 29)

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/extremely-vulnerable-reigate-woman-went-15485917

Campaign launched to shut down Woking cinema with "rodent problem" until "it is clean"

Concerned mum Lucy Craske says Ambassadors Cinema needs a "full and thorough Environmental Health Office visit"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/campaign-launched-shut-down-woking-15485042

15-year-old Oxshott tech genius develops computer program to create stunning art

This teenager knows how to use neural networks which are computer systems modelled on the human brain

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/oxshott-student-art-computer-programme-15472964

Don’t miss these amazing speakers!

With the holidays arriving, you might not notice that the third edition of YoastCon is right around the corner! On 7 and 8 February, we gather the very best of the SEO and digital marketing world in Nijmegen. I’m really proud of – and impressed by! – our selection of speakers. In this post, I’d like to highlight some of the best speakers YoastCon has to offer. Want to read everything about everyone at YoastCon? Check out our speaker-overview.

The very top of the SEO industry

I’m extremely proud of our line-up. We’ve invited the very best of the international SEO community to speak at YoastCon. You definitely want to see Rand Fishkin, co-founder of Moz and Sparktoro. And what about Aleyda Solis, the expert on multilingual SEO? You can even attend sessions with Kris Jones talking about link building and Fili Wiese about site speed. Lots of practical SEO knowledge for sure!

Get your YoastCon ticket nowOnly €499 (ex VAT) - limited availability!

Google

Alberto Medina is flying in from Silicon Valley to attend YoastCon. Joost de Valk will do an interview with him on stage. You’ll be able to ask him questions as well. Alberto is a Developer Advocate in the Web Content Ecosystems Team at Google. He focuses on AMP, Progressive Technologies, and Content Management Systems.

Marketing experts

Apart from SEO focused talks, you can attend inspiring marketing talks as well. It will not just be SEO! We’re really enthusiastic about Wolfgang Blau coming to YoastCon. Wolfgang Blau is President of Condé Nast International. He’ll be talking about how the internet differs between continents. Interesting! And have you heard Els Aerts is coming? Els knows a lot about conversion optimization and User Testing. That’ll also be a great talk for sure!

Some awesome Yoasties

Of course, some Yoasties will take the stage as well. Joost de Valk will kick off YoastCon. That’s a tradition! He’ll talk about the latest trends in SEO. What can we expect in 2019? Jono Alderson will also be speaking. He’s already preparing his talk, and it’s going to be great fun! Next to that, I will be talking myself as well! I’m preparing a great talk about site structure and how to deal with structuring a site that is continuously growing. And, two of our most popular bloggers Caroline Geven en Annelieke van den Berg will also be speaking at YoastCon.

YoastCon for everyone

Want to update your knowledge about technical SEO? Learn from Kris Jones, Fili Wiese, Maura Teal, Jono Alderson, and Joost de Valk. Want to learn how to write the most awesome SEO-friendly texts? Learn from Kate Toon, Caroline Geven and attend our workshop on SEO copywriting. Want to get inspired by the latest trends on internet marketing? Learn from Wolfgang Blau, Geraldine DeRuiter, and Regine le Roux.

We’ve got talks and workshops for everyone! YoastCon is for everyone who’s serious about SEO and/or online marketing. We’ve got beginner-level workshops and state-of-the-art advanced level talks. We hope to see you there!

Get your YoastCon ticket nowOnly €499 (ex VAT) - limited availability!

Read more: YoastCon 2017: 10 takeaways to improve your SEO »

The post Don’t miss these amazing speakers! appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/dont-miss-these-amazing-speakers/

Police hunt for Chertsey man wanted after breaching court order

Contact police if you have any information you think may be useful

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/police-hunt-chertsey-man-wanted-15483896

This Chertsey pub has launched cows in quilts to rival pigs in blankets this Christmas

It may be difficult to choose between the two

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/chertsey-pub-launched-cows-quilts-15483221

Kwasi Kwarteng calls for funding to 'clean up our borough' as antisocial behaviour rises

The MP for Spelthorne said the borough has "an issue with antisocial behaviour"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/kwasi-kwarteng-calls-funding-clean-15440383

People released from Salfords custody centre are knocking on residents doors asking to use phones

Residents have raised concerns about ex-detainees appearing to be “left to their own devices” after being released

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/people-released-salfords-custody-centre-15483245

Surrey Property Awards 2018: See winners and which Celebrity Masterchef finalist won over the audience

Estate agents, developers and surveyors vied for a place on the red carpet

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/property-news/surrey-property-awards-2018-see-15477351

Witness appeal after 'fight' between two men on bus in Sunbury

A 57-year-old man was arrested after the incident

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/witness-appeal-after-fight-between-15482097

Woking Ambassadors Cinema and Theatre to remain open to public despite months of 'rodent problems'

Woking Borough Council has confirmed that the cinema has a "rodent problem"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-cinema-remain-open-public-15477125

Surrey PCC claims officers going 'beyond the call of duty' responding to people with mental health issues

David Munro says it is "not their role" to act as health care practitioners

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-pcc-claims-officers-going-15474325

CCTV images released after thieves steal £10,000 of donations from Aldershot community centre

Detectives would like to speak to the people pictured

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/hampshire-news/cctv-images-released-after-thieves-15479657

21-year-old with links to Tandridge wanted for 'a number of' violent offences

If you see him, don't approach him, police warned.

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/21-year-old-links-tandridge-15480572

Arrest made after Redhill, 81, woman dies in collision with lorry

Officers continuing to appeal for witnesses

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/arrest-made-after-redhill-81-15478873

Wind warning for Godalming, Cranleigh and Farnham as Storm Diana pushes through UK

It's wet and windy today, so it may be best to stay indoors

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/wind-warning-godalming-cranleigh-farnham-15480453

Cobham man reunited with Thai wife after winning three year long visa battle

The Dickson family have been reunited after spending three years apart

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cobham-man-reunited-thai-wife-15471394

'Warning sign' of changes to Surrey's libraries as county council considers £4 million cuts

Cuts to cultural services could also threaten Surrey Arts, adult learning and the Surrey History Centre

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/warning-sign-changes-surreys-libraries-15455627

The State of Local SEO: Industry Insights for a Successful 2019

Posted by MiriamEllis

A thousand thanks to the 1,411 respondents who gave of their time and knowledge in contributing to this major survey! You’ve created a vivid image of what real-life, everyday local search marketers and local business owners are observing on a day-to-day basis, what strategies are working for them right now, and where some frankly stunning opportunities for improvement reside. Now, we’re ready to share your insights into:

• Google Updates
• Citations
• Reviews
• Company infrastructure
• Tool usage
• And a great deal more...

This survey pooled the observations of everyone from people working to market a single small business, to agency marketers with large local business clients:

Respondents who self-selected as not marketing a local business were filtered from further survey results.

Thanks to you, this free report is a window into the industry. Bring these statistics to teammates and clients to earn the buy-in you need to effectively reach local consumers in 2019.

Get the full report

There are so many stories here worthy of your time

Let’s pick just one, to give a sense of the industry intelligence you’ll access in this report. Likely you’ve now seen the Local Search Ranking Factors 2018 Survey, undertaken by Whitespark in conjunction with Moz. In that poll of experts, we saw Google My Business signals being cited as the most influential local ranking component. But what was #2? Link building.

You might come away from that excellent survey believing that, since link building is so important, all local businesses must be doing it. But not so. The State of the Local SEO Industry Report reveals that:

When asked what’s working best for them as a method for earning links, 35% of local businesses and their marketers admitted to having no link building strategy in place at all:

And that, Moz friends, is what opportunity looks like. Get your meaningful local link building strategy in place in the new year, and prepare to leave ⅓ of your competitors behind, wondering how you surpassed them in the local and organic results.

The full report contains 30+ findings like this one. Rivet the attention of decision-makers at your agency, quote persuasive statistics to hesitant clients, and share this report with teammates who need to be brought up to industry speed. When read in tandem with the Local Search Ranking Factors survey, this report will help your business or agency understand both what experts are saying and what practitioners are experiencing.

Sometimes, local search marketing can be a lonely road to travel. You may find yourself wondering, “Does anyone understand what I do? Is anyone else struggling with this task? How do I benchmark myself?” You’ll find both confirmation and affirmation today, and Moz’s best hope is that you’ll come away a better, bolder, more effective local marketer. Let’s begin!

Download the report

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/10849796

Networking for bloggers: why, how and where

As a blogger, you are probably doing your best to grow your audience on a daily basis. You’re optimizing for Google, Pinterest, social media and you do your best to set up and maintain a social media strategy. But, if you want to take your blog to the next level, there’ll come a point you will need the help of your fellow bloggers. In this post, I will explain why you need a network, as well as how and where to build it.

Why you need to network as a blogger

We all know that writing is one of the most lonely professions in the world. Although blogging may not seem as lonely at first glance – you engage with your readers on a daily basis – there’s a high chance you work alone. As a writer, you often live inside your head. Your audience will only ever see your end result: a blog post or social media post. They won’t see the process of you thinking up your idea, killing your darlings or debating whether to write a certain article. You often take those decisions by yourself, or run them by your spouse or best friend. While this is a valid approach, someone who is not ‘in the business’, can only help to a certain extent. While it’s often worth it to discuss certain ideas with your personal network, you’ll probably only ever touch the surface. You might, for example, contemplate archiving your entire Instagram profile to start with a clean slate. Your best friend thinks you’re stupid, while you see bloggers around you do this and grow their following rapidly over the course of several months. And you might be left wondering if you’re cut out for this thing called ‘becoming an influencer’. If you’re at this point, you need a network of people who are like-minded.

At Yoast, I have a lot of colleagues to talk to whenever I need help. I know which person I should ask about SEO, which person knows a lot about Google Analytics and who can help me out when I broke my laptop – again. You need that kind of network for your blog as well. It’s very helpful to create a network so you can discuss certain topics: from SEO to developing websites, and from press releases to personal invitations. If you want to grow, you need a network.

How to network as a blogger

Truth be told, we’re in it for us. This means that everyone you’ll meet, is in it to gain something for themselves. This could be knowledge, reputation, information, cash, products or something else. Knowing this, you’ll understand you can’t just go to someone you don’t know and ask them for that piece of information you want. You might not get an answer or, in the unlikely chance you do get one, it probably is an evasive one. You need to adopt an open source kind of mentality while networking. This means that you’ll share your knowledge with the world and eventually will receive information in return.

I’ll take myself as an example. Although I knew quite a few bloggers online, my network didn’t really grow until I went to a Dutch blog conference last June, to speak about SEO. I told the crowd that I was going to share my secrets with them, and told them, honestly, how weird it felt to do that, because I might very well kill my own blog this way. Strangely, or perhaps not so strange at all, the opposite happened. My blog took off and with it, my network expanded tremendously. People knew where to find me, how to find me, and, also, that I was willing to help look into issues or questions. I answered each question I got, because I love helping out. Did I request favors for each question I answered? No. Was I offered help in return for answering questions or solving issues? You bet! Often, I told people not to worry about it, that I loved to help and that I’d be sure to let them know if they could help me out. And I took people up on their offer, twice now. One of them even got me an invite for a press event of the Walt Disney Company – I mean, it’s Disney!

Where to network as a blogger

You might feel very willing to network with your fellow blog-colleagues out there, but where to find them? If you’ve been on your own for a very long time, it can be tricky to get started. Don’t worry; there are various places where you can network as a blogger, both offline and online.

Online networking as a blogger

As your blog lives online, the easiest way to create a network is online as well. There are a lot of Facebook groups for bloggers in all sorts of niches and all kinds of languages. They’re created by bloggers like you and me. Try to find the groups where you can help other bloggers. I, myself, am in various groups, where I answer questions about the Yoast SEO plugins, SEO in general, WordPress or technical questions, as these are things I can help others with. In return, people help me when I have questions about Pinterest, Instagram or about certain press events that I’d like to attend.

Offline networking as a blogger

Offline networking is even more important than building a network online. While online it’s perhaps easier to mingle in discussions on forums, Facebook, or in Twitter conversations, the deeper and longer lasting connections will often start offline. Have you considered going to a local WordPress meetup, a WordCamp or a blog event in your city or country? These can be quite valuable – trust me, this is where the good stuff happens! If you’re unsure where to start, let me suggest YoastCon.

YoastCon for offline networking

YoastCon is a conference organized by Yoast. It focuses on SEO for all types of websites. I can guarantee you it will certainly focus on blogs as well! The conference will take place 7 and 8 February 2019 in the Netherlands. You’ll not only learn all there is to know about SEO from the very best in the field, there’s also plenty of networking opportunities.

Value your network!

Networking is not about transactions. It’s about building relationships, about finding the people you wish to work with and affiliate yourself with. It’s extremely valuable to invest in networking and maintaining relationships with your fellow bloggers. You never know when they’ll cross your path again or what you could mean for each other in the future. I would love to hear how you go about this, especially if it’s your fulltime job. And of course, let me know if I’ll see you at YoastCon! I would love to meet and talk in real life.

Read more: Caroline’s Corner: Work on your blog’s foundation »

The post Networking for bloggers: why, how and where appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/networking-for-bloggers/

Technology successfully trialled in Guildford will make railway 'more reliable'

New technology is set to give track workers an extra 1,600 hours a year to carry out overnight maintenance and renewal work

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/technology-successfully-trialled-guildford-make-15477275

Schoolboy, 8, inspired by Alan Titchmarsh sets up gardening business to raise money for hospice

Stanley Parrott asked for a trough for his seventh birthday so he could raise cash for the Princess Alice Hospice in Esher and his five-year-old friend who has cerebral palsy

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/schoolboy-8-inspired-alan-titchmarsh-15477535

Councillors pledge to quit smoking after hearing how much habit costs NHS

Cllrs Alison Griffiths and Cameron McIntosh are quitting after hearing how much the habit costs the NHS

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/councillors-pledge-quit-smoking-after-15477031

Reward of up to £3,000 for information on wanted Dorking man following 'masked armed robberies'

Three people had been arrested in connection with the crimes, but police are still looking for this man

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reward-up-3000-information-wanted-15477327

Storm Diana edges closer to Surrey as warning for wind moves towards South East

The yellow warning for wind has been expanded, meaning parts of the South East could be affected

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/storm-diana-edges-closer-surrey-15476645

Man wanted in connection with a 'number of alcohol thefts' from Walton supermarket

Surrey Police has released a photo of a man they would like to identify

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-wanted-connection-number-alcohol-15476090

Amount of domestic violence incidents reported to police in past five years has more than halved

CEO of Your Sanctuary, a domestic abuse charity based in Woking, believes it could be due to less people willing to go to the police

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/amount-domestic-violence-incidents-reported-15375457

Guildford Tories' annual dinner to be attended by Damian Hinds cancelled because of poor ticket sales

An email, seen by Surrey Live, said a turnout of less than 50 to the Secretary of State for Education's visit "reflects poorly on our organisation"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-tories-annual-dinner-attended-15475860

Drivers on A322 Woking spent more than 200 days with roadworks and temporary traffic lights

There have been endless roadworks on the road, a resident said

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/drivers-a322-woking-spent-more-15458374

Oxted shop Chanterelle closes after 51 years as owner claims council does not support businesses

Owner Stephen Tee believes he is the longest-serving businessman in town

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/oxted-shop-chanterelle-closes-after-15469624

McLaren make changes in bid to end mid-afternoon gridlock outside Woking campus

Earlier shift times have been introduced after extensive discussions and months of planning

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/mclaren-make-changes-bid-end-15474486

Scrapping free bus passes will hit low income carers hard, says Tory councillor

Cllr Christine Richardson said "taking money away from these people is doing them a disservice"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/scrapping-free-bus-passes-hit-15475635

Using a New Correlation Model to Predict Future Rankings with Page Authority

Posted by rjonesx.

Correlation studies have been a staple of the search engine optimization community for many years. Each time a new study is released, a chorus of naysayers seem to come magically out of the woodwork to remind us of the one thing they remember from high school statistics — that "correlation doesn't mean causation." They are, of course, right in their protestations and, to their credit, and unfortunate number of times it seems that those conducting the correlation studies have forgotten this simple aphorism.

We collect a search result. We then order the results based on different metrics like the number of links. Finally, we compare the orders of the original search results with those produced by the different metrics. The closer they are, the higher the correlation between the two.

That being said, correlation studies are not altogether fruitless simply because they don't necessarily uncover causal relationships (ie: actual ranking factors). What correlation studies discover or confirm are correlates.

Correlates are simply measurements that share some relationship with the independent variable (in this case, the order of search results on a page). For example, we know that backlink counts are correlates of rank order. We also know that social shares are correlates of rank order.

Correlation studies also provide us with direction of the relationship. For example, ice cream sales are positive correlates with temperature and winter jackets are negative correlates with temperature — that is to say, when the temperature goes up, ice cream sales go up but winter jacket sales go down.

Finally, correlation studies can help us rule out proposed ranking factors. This is often overlooked, but it is an incredibly important part of correlation studies. Research that provides a negative result is often just as valuable as research that yields a positive result. We've been able to rule out many types of potential factors — like keyword density and the meta keywords tag — using correlation studies.

Unfortunately, the value of correlation studies tends to end there. In particular, we still want to know whether a correlate causes the rankings or is spurious. Spurious is just a fancy sounding word for "false" or "fake." A good example of a spurious relationship would be that ice cream sales cause an increase in drownings. In reality, the heat of the summer increases both ice cream sales and people who go for a swim. That swimming can cause drownings. So while ice cream sales is a correlate of drowning, it is *spurious.* It does not cause the drowning.

How might we go about teasing out the difference between causal and spurious relationships? One thing we know is that a cause happens before its effect, which means that a causal variable should predict a future change.

An alternative model for correlation studies

I propose an alternate methodology for conducting correlation studies. Rather than measure the correlation between a factor (like links or shares) and a SERP, we can measure the correlation between a factor and changes in the SERP over time.

The process works like this:

1. Collect a SERP on day 1
2. Collect the link counts for each of the URLs in that SERP
3. Look for any URLs are out of order with respect to links; for example, if position 2 has fewer links than position 3
4. Record that anomaly
5. Collect the same SERP in 14 days
6. Record if the anomaly has been corrected (ie: position 3 now out-ranks position 2)
7. Repeat across ten thousand keywords and test a variety of factors (backlinks, social shares, etc.)

So what are the benefits of this methodology? By looking at change over time, we can see whether the ranking factor (correlate) is a leading or lagging feature. A lagging feature can automatically be ruled out as causal. A leading factor has the potential to be a causal factor.

We collect a search result. We record where the search result differs from the expected predictions of a particular variable (like links or social shares). We then collect the same search result 2 weeks later to see if the search engine has corrected the out-of-order results.

Following this methodology, we tested 3 different common correlates produced by ranking factors studies: Facebook shares, number of root linking domains, and Page Authority. The first step involved collecting 10,000 SERPs from randomly selected keywords in our Keyword Explorer corpus. We then recorded Facebook Shares, Root Linking Domains, and Page Authority for every URL. We noted every example where 2 adjacent URLs (like positions 2 and 3 or 7 and 8) were flipped with respect to the expected order predicted by the correlating factor. For example, if the #2 position had 30 shares while the #3 position had 50 shares, we noted that pair. Finally, 2 weeks later, we captured the same SERPs and identified the percent of times that Google rearranged the pair of URLs to match the expected correlation. We also randomly selected pairs of URLs to get a baseline percent likelihood that any 2 adjacent URLs would switch positions. Here were the results...

The outcome

It's important to note that it is incredibly rare to expect a leading factor to show up strongly in an analysis like this. While the experimental method is sound, it's not as simple as a factor predicting future — it assumes that in some cases we will know about a factor before Google does. The underlying assumption is that in some cases we have seen a ranking factor (like an increase in links or social shares) before Googlebot has and that in the 2 week period, Google will catch up and correct the incorrectly ordered results. As you can expect, this is a rare occasion. However, with a sufficient number of observations, we should be able to see a statistically significant difference between lagging and leading results. However, the methodology only detects when a factor is both leading and Moz Link Explorer discovered the relevant factor before Google.

Factor	Percent Corrected	P-Value	95% Min	95% Max
Control	18.93%	0
Facebook Shares Controlled for PA	18.31%	0.00001	-0.6849	-0.5551
Root Linking Domains	20.58%	0.00001	0.016268	0.016732
Page Authority	20.98%	0.00001	0.026202	0.026398

Control:

In order to create a control, we randomly selected adjacent URL pairs in the first SERP collection and determined the likelihood that the second will outrank the first in the final SERP collection. Approximately 18.93% of the time the worse ranking URL would overtake the better ranking URL. By setting this control, we can determine if any of the potential correlates are leading factors - that is to say that they are potential causes of improved rankings.

Facebook Shares:

Facebook Shares performed the worst of the three tested variables. Facebook Shares actually performed worse than random (18.31% vs 18.93%), meaning that randomly selected pairs would be more likely to switch than those where shares of the second were higher than the first. This is not altogether surprising as it is the general industry consensus that social signals are lagging factors — that is to say the traffic from higher rankings drives higher social shares, not social shares drive higher rankings. Subsequently, we would expect to see the ranking change first before we would see the increase in social shares.

RLDs

Raw root linking domain counts performed substantially better than shares at ~20.5%. As I indicated before, this type of analysis is incredibly subtle because it only detects when a factor is both leading and Moz Link Explorer discovered the relevant factor before Google. Nevertheless, this result was statistically significant with a P value <0.0001 and a 95% confidence interval that RLDs will predict future ranking changes around 1.5% greater than random.

Page Authority

By far, the highest performing factor was Page Authority. At 21.5%, PA correctly predicted changes in SERPs 2.6% better than random. This is a strong indication of a leading factor, greatly outperforming social shares and outperforming the best predictive raw metric, root linking domains.This is not unsurprising. Page Authority is built to predict rankings, so we should expect that it would outperform raw metrics in identifying when a shift in rankings might occur. Now, this is not to say that Google uses Moz Page Authority to rank sites, but rather that Moz Page Authority is a relatively good approximation of whatever link metrics Google is using to determine ranking sites.

Concluding thoughts

There are so many different experimental designs we can use to help improve our research industry-wide, and this is just one of the methods that can help us tease out the differences between causal ranking factors and lagging correlates. Experimental design does not need to be elaborate and the statistics to determine reliability do not need to be cutting edge. While machine learning offers much promise for improving our predictive models, simple statistics can do the trick when we're establishing the fundamentals.

Now, get out there and do some great research!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/10845587

Suspended coffee scheme founded in Reigate aims to spread charity with a free drink

The initiative encourages people to pay for an extra item so it can later be handed out to someone who needs it

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/suspended-coffee-scheme-founded-reigate-15465014

Here's your chance to become a Maze Master at The Crystal Maze

This could be a dream job for someone

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/heres-your-chance-become-maze-15471061

Cystic fibrosis patient from Woking fights for Orkambi to be made available on NHS

Veronica Lanzetta said a drug that is not available on the NHS could have made her childhood happier

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cystic-fibrosis-patient-woking-fights-15455584

Ask Yoast: Redirect from a domain to my site

It may just happen to you one day: unexpectedly, you find out that another domain is redirecting to your website. While you may find it strange someone would do that without asking first, you probably won’t immediately see a problem. If someone wants to send more traffic your way, why not, right?

Such an unexpected redirect to your site is unlikely to instantly cause huge SEO problems. Still, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your rankings and check what kind of domain this redirect is coming from. After all, if it’s some super-shady website that’s connected to your website like this, search engines could get suspicious, which might impact your rankings. So, what to do, when you face an (unwanted) redirect to your site? Let’s discuss in today’s Ask Yoast!

Central4all emailed us on this subject:

Someone is redirecting his or her site to my site. Is this harmful, and if so, what should I do?

When someone redirects their site to your site

“Well, it depends. If that site is very bad and has very bad links, then it might be bad for you. But generally, I wouldn’t be too worried. You can always disavow those links in Google Search console later on. For now, I’d say, let it go and see what happens. Good luck!”

Read more: Clean up your bad backlinks »

Ask Yoast

In the series Ask Yoast, we answer SEO questions from our readers. Have an SEO-related question? Send an email to ask@yoast.com. We’ll select interesting questions to be answered on video by Joost himself! Note: for urgent questions, for example about your plugin not working properly, please refer to our support page.

The post Ask Yoast: Redirect from a domain to my site appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/video/ask-yoast-redirect-to-my-site/

Appeal to find missing 'vulnerable' teenager from Chertsey last seen leaving for school

Princess Badilla was last seen wearing a navy school uniform with a white shirt

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/appeal-find-missing-vulnerable-teenager-15473281

Dead people may be aware of their own death, research suggests

The question of what happens to the brain as a person has long been the subject of speculation and research.

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/dead-people-aware-death-research-15473189

Weybridge cosmetic surgeon's six-month ban for secretly recording 200 patients extended

Dr Natalie Blakely hired a private investigator to bug a colleague's confidential conversations at her Light Touch Clinic

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/weybridge-cosmetic-surgeons-six-month-15473053

Redhill woman, 81, dies six days after collision with lorry that left car overturned

Officers have issued photographs of a lorry they want to locate

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/redhill-woman-81-dies-six-15472138

Blackwater shooting: Farnborough man re-arrested in investigation of teenager shot in Hearsey Gardens

The arrest follows the execution of a warrant at an address in Tarn Close, Farnborough

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/hampshire-news/blackwater-shooting-farnborough-man-re-15471044

'Strict requirements' imposed on Brockham oil drilling company by Environment Agency 'prevent 'unacceptable landscape risks'

Anti-oil drilling campaigners have welcomed the conditions of the permit granted to Angus Energy on Thursday (November 22)

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/strict-requirements-imposed-brockham-oil-15470473

Mother-in-law charges family £17 each for Christmas lunch - would you do the same?

A man and his wife were apparently completely shocked by his mum's request

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/christmas-dinner-charge-family-mumsnet-15468671

Surrey's roads to benefit from an extra £7 million investment in repairs

The Department for Transport has revealed how the £420 million announced in the Budget will be spent next year

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surreys-roads-benefit-extra-7-15411920

'Idiot' falsely claims he was going to jump off a car park in Redhill

Initial enquiries established that the report was possibly false and that one of the group was just ‘messing about’

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/idiot-falsely-claims-going-jump-15470098

Claim dozens of libraries could close under Surrey County Council's plans to 'transform' the service

The cash-strapped council wants to cut its libraries budget by 42 per cent

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/claim-dozens-libraries-could-close-15468076

Add some sparkle to your Christmas dinner with this amazing Glitter gravy

Give your turkey dinner the wow-factor this festive season

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/add-sparkle-your-christmas-dinner-15466758

Trump toilet brushes are a thing and here is how to get your very own

Make your toilet great again

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/trump-toilet-brushes-thing-here-15434920

Man, 23, with links to Guildford and north Surrey wanted by police

Have you seen William Smethurst?

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-23-links-guildford-north-15469861

Residents evacuated from Walton flats following 'suspicious smell'

A resident said the smell was making him feel unwell

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/residents-evacuated-walton-flats-following-15469760

Teenage boys interviewed after suspected arson attack on houseboat at Godalming Wharf

There was an investigation by police and the fire service following the incident

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/teenage-boys-interviewed-after-suspected-15469732

What to Do with Your Old Blog Posts

Posted by -LaurelTaylor-

Around 2005 or so, corporate blogs became the thing to do. Big players in the business world touted that such platforms could “drive swarms of traffic to your main website, generate more product sales” and even “create an additional stream of advertising income” (Entrepreneur Magazine circa 2006). With promises like that, what marketer or exec wouldn’t jump on the blog bandwagon?

Unfortunately, initial forays into branded content did not always dwell on minor issues like “quality” or “entertainment,” instead focusing on sheer bulk and, of course, all the keywords. Now we have learned better, and many corporate blogs are less prolific and offer more value. But on some sites, behind many, many “next page” clicks, this old content can still be found lurking in the background.

This active company blog still features over 900 pages of posts dating back to 2006

This situation leaves current SEOs and content teams in a bit of a pickle. What should you do if your site has excessive quantities of old blog posts? Are they okay just sitting there? Do you need to do something about them?

Why bother addressing old blog posts?

On many sites, the sheer number of pages are the biggest reason to consider improving or scaling back old content. If past content managers chose quantity over quality, heaps of old posts eventually get buried, all evergreen topics have been written about before, and it becomes increasingly harder to keep inventory of your content.

From a technical perspective, depending on the scale of the old content you're dealing with, pruning back the number of pages that you put forward can help increase your crawl efficiency. If Google has to crawl 1,000 URLs to find 100 good pieces of content, they are going to take note and not spend as much time combing through your content in the future.

From a marketing perspective, your content represents your brand, and improving the set of content that you put forward helps shape the way customers see you as an authority in your space. Optimizing and curating your existing content can give your collection of content a clearer topical focus, makes it more easily discoverable, and ensures that it provides value for users and the business.

Zooming out for a second to look at this from a higher level: If you've already decided that it's worth investing in blog content for your company, it’s worth getting the most from your existing resources and ensuring that they aren’t holding you back.

Decide what to keep: Inventory and assessment

Inventory

The first thing to do before accessing your blog posts is to make sure you know what you have. A full list of URLs and coordinating metadata is incredibly helpful in both evaluating and documenting.

Depending on the content management system that you use, obtaining this list can be as simple as exporting a database field. Alternatively, URLs can be gleaned from a combination of Google Analytics data, Webmaster Tools, and a comprehensive crawl with a tool such as Screaming Frog. This post gives a good outline of how to get the data you need from these sources.

Regardless of whether you have a list of URLs yet, it’s also good to do a full crawl of your blog to see what the linking structure looks like at this point, and how that may differ from what you see in the CMS.

Assessment

Once you know what you have, it’s time to assess the content and decide if it's worth holding on to. When I do this, I like to ask these 5 questions:

1. Is it beneficial for users?

Content that's beneficial for users is helpful, informative, or entertaining. It answers questions, helps them solve problems, or keeps them interested. This could be anything from a walkthrough for troubleshooting to a collection of inspirational photos.

These 5-year-old blog posts from different real estate blogs illustrate past content that still offers value to current users, and past content that may be less beneficial for a user

2. Is it beneficial for us?

Content that is beneficial to us is earning organic rankings, traffic, or backlinks, or is providing business value by helping drive conversions. Additionally, content that can help establish branding or effectively build topical authority is great to have on any site.

3. Is it good?

While this may be a bit of a subjective question to ask about any content, it’s obvious when you read content that isn’t good. This is about fundamental things such as if content doesn’t make sense, has tons of grammatical errors, is organized poorly, or doesn’t seem to have a point to it.

4. Is it relevant?

If content isn’t at least tangentially relevant to your site, industry, or customers, you should have a really good reason to keep it. If it doesn’t meet any of the former qualifications already, it probably isn’t worth holding on to.

These musings from a blog of a major hotel brand may not be the most relevant to their industry

5. Is it causing any issues?

Problematic content may include duplicate content, duplicate targeting, plagiarized text, content that is a legal liability, or any other number of issues that you probably don’t want to deal with on your site. I find that the assessment phase is a particularly good opportunity to identify posts that target the same topic, so that you can consolidate them.

Using these criteria, you can divide your old blog posts into buckets of “keep” and “don’t keep.” The “don’t keep” can be 301 redirected to either the most relevant related post or the blog homepage. Then it’s time to further address the others.

What to do with the posts you keep

So now you have a pile of “keep” posts to sort out! All the posts that made it this far have already been established to have value of some kind. Now we want to make the most of that value by improving, expanding, updating, and promoting the content.

Improve

When setting out to improve an old post that has good bones, it can be good to start with improvements on targeting and general writing and grammar. You want to make sure that your blog post has a clear point, is targeting a specific topic and terms, and is doing so in proper English (or whatever language your blog may be in).

Once the content itself is in good shape, make sure to add any technical improvements that the piece may need, such as relevant interlinking, alt text, or schema markup.

Then it’s time to make sure it’s pretty. Visual improvements such as adding line breaks, pull quotes, and imagery impact user experience and can keep people on the page longer.

Expand or update

Not all old blog posts are necessarily in poor shape, which can offer a great opportunity. Another way to get more value out of them is to repurpose or update the information that they contain to make old content fresh again. Data says that this is well worth the effort, with business bloggers that update older posts being 74% more likely to report strong results.

A few ways to expand or update a post are to explore a different take on the initial thesis, add newer data, or integrate more recent developments or changed opinions. Alternatively, you could expand on a piece of content by reinterpreting it in another medium, such as new imagery, engaging video, or even as audio content.

Promote

If you’ve invested resources in content creation and optimization, it only makes sense to try to get as many eyes as possible on the finished product. This can be done in a few different ways, such assharing and re-sharing on branded social channels, resurfacing posts to the front page of your blog, or even a bit of external promotion through outreach.

The follow-up

Once your blog has been pruned and you’re working on getting the most value out of your existing content, an important final step is to keep tabs on the effect these changes are having.

The most significant measure of success is organic organic traffic; even if your blog is designed for lead generation or other specific goals, the number of eyes on the page should have a strong correlation to the content’s success by other measures as well. For the best representation of traffic totals, I monitor organic sessions by landing page in Google Analytics.

I also like to keep an eye on organic rankings, as you can get an early glimpse of whether a piece is gaining traction around a particular topic before it's successful enough to earn organic traffic with those terms.

Remember that regardless of what changes you’ve made, it will usually take Google a few months to sort out the relevance and rankings of the updated content. So be patient, monitor, and keep expanding, updating, and promoting!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/10836762

Appeal to find motorcyclist who 'pulled over and assaulted' erratic driver who suffered a stroke on M25

The man in his 40s was taken to hospital for treatment where he remains

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/appeal-find-motorcyclist-who-pulled-15468888

Tory MP Sam Gyimah pictured posing with anti-Conservative flyer during student rally in PR gaffe

The embarrassing photo of the East Surrey MP was taken during a visit to the University of Surrey

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/tory-mp-sam-gyimah-pictured-15468523

How to create the right meta description

Missing teenager Francesca Grant 'found safe and well' in Kingston

Police thanked the public and media for sharing their appeal

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/missing-teenager-francesca-grant-found-15468655

Stanwell property granted closure order due to 'continuous visits at all hours from people looking for drugs'

"We want to send a direct message to county line drug dealers that we will not tolerate criminal behaviour," said Surrey Police

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/stanwell-property-granted-closure-order-15453029

PETA asked this Surrey town to change name because of slaughtering connotations

The village of Wool was not the first place to be targeted by a renaming campaign...

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/peta-asked-surrey-town-change-15467854

Man requires immediate hospital treatment for 'serious facial injuries' after violent assault in Camberley

Two men have been arrested and charged with ABH in connection to the incident

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-requires-immediate-hospital-treatment-15467675

Center Parcs Facebook scam could put your personal information at risk, police warn

Social media users are being warned to be wary of a scam which claims people can win a Center Parcs holiday if they share its Facebook post

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/center-parcs-facebook-scam-could-15465736

Paul Chuckle opens up about the death of brother Barry ahead of first pantomime without him

The surviving Chuckle brother sat down with Surrey Live ahead of his appearance in Woking's pantomime

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/paul-chuckle-opens-up-death-15458648

Two arrested after JCB used to rip ATM from wall in Alton ram raid

Two people have been released from custody by remain under investigation

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/hampshire-news/two-arrested-after-jcb-used-15464587

New Look silent on reason for Guildford store's sudden closure

The store had not previously appeared on lists of branches earmarked for closure

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/new-look-silent-reason-guildford-15455920

Second incident of child being approached by a man offering a lift in his car in Woking

Police are warning parents and children to be extra vigilant

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/second-incident-child-being-approached-15457249

Cyclists to be told they don't have right of way along canal towpaths following arguments

Riders will be asked to slow down and stop for pedestrians after issues boiled over along the Basingstoke Canal

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cyclists-told-dont-right-way-15452609

NSPCC launches Christmas appeal to raise awareness of child neglect

The NSPCC is contacted on average 55 times a day by adults worried about neglect, the charity’s latest figures reveal

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/nspcc-launches-christmas-appeal-raise-15449996

Surrey voice actress in this beautiful viral Christmas film recorded it in Whyteleafe

The heartbreaking short film 'Love is a Gift' that stars a former Oxted School pupil will leave you speechless

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-voice-actress-beautiful-viral-15460723

Bikes and tools among items recovered from Cobham burglars this week

Do you recognise any of these tools or bikes that could have been stolen from you or someone you know?

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/bikes-tools-among-items-recovered-15463963

Storm Diana could head to UK as Met Office warns of heavy rain and gales

The Met Office are warning of miserable gales and heavy rain to complement frosty evenings and fog, but there is light at the end of the tunnel

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/storm-diana-could-head-uk-15463134

Tesco Clubcard and Nectar cards are making big changes on where points can be redeemed

The changes are expected to come into effect next summer

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/tesco-clubcard-nectar-cards-making-15457906

'No life threatening injuries' in M25 crash which closed motorway for more than two hours

The M25 was closed at junction six for most of Sunday morning (November 25)

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/no-life-threatening-injuries-m25-15462388

Driver suffers stroke on M25 then gets punched by motorcyclist after crashing into barrier

The man crashed into the hard shoulder barrier but was then attacked by a motorcyclist and 'detained by other motorists' who thought he was drunk

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/driver-suffers-stroke-m25-gets-15461060

Father from Farnham who lost family in house fire the inspiration for new memoir

John Bickley's family were killed when a fire broke out in their home in Benllech in Anglesey, North Wales

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/father-farnham-who-lost-family-15444769

Large scale police raid ends with seven Woking men being charged for cocaine related offences

Police made 15 arrests at 13 addresses on Wednesday

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/large-scale-police-raid-ends-15460558

Alcohol shortage fears caused by Brexit as Majestic stockpiles extra £8million in hooch

The UK's largest wine specialist said it was bringing in an extra one million bottles of booze between now and March 2019

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/alcohol-shortage-fears-caused-brexit-15460046

Arrest after man allegedly 'exposes himself and makes threats to kill' in Guildford

Police have a man in custody but are still looking for witnesses

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-exposes-himself-makes-death-15459865

Man and woman jailed as part of police crackdown on county line drug dealing

Hanil Rozetta from Epsom and Claudia De Souza from Guildford both appeared at Guildford Crown Court on Friday (November 23)

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-woman-jailed-part-police-15458643

Fire in Sunbury completely destroys family home overnight

The roof and first floor were completely destroyed

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/fire-sunbury-completely-destroys-family-15459507

Surrey charity helps rescue orphaned rhino after poachers kill its mother

"This is possibly one of the most heart-breaking days I have ever experienced," said Georgina Lamb of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-charity-helps-rescue-orphaned-15448495

Pride of Britain honour for George and the Giant Pledge as money raised passes £800,000

Here's more about their upcoming events and how George is doing

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/pride-britain-honour-george-giant-15427835

How to rank high in Google

“Could you please write a post with a clear path on just what to do to rank high in Google?” “What should I do to make sure I’ll outrank my competition?” “Could you write a clear, step-by-step to-do list on how to rank high in Google?” Although I completely understand these questions, answering them is really, really, really hard. It’s almost as hard as ranking high in Google. However, in this post, I’ll do my very best to answer this million-dollar question: How do I rank high in Google? I’ll give an honest – and lengthy- answer, but I’ll also share some quick wins!

Want to get one of our plugins, courses or both? Now is the time! You’ll get a whopping 30% discount on ALL our plugins and courses and a $/€30 discount on a yearly subscription. 

Go to the Yoast shop now! ▸

Be the best result!

All SEO advice we give to the users of our plugin or the readers of our blog boils down to the same thing: just build a website that’s awesome. Google wants to give a user the best result for a certain search query. If your SEO strategy is focused on being the best result, and creating the best website possible, you’re probably on the right SEO-track.

Technical SEO must be flawless

WordPress actually is an SEO-friendly platform, so most technical aspects are already covered. For all things that aren’t, you can install the (free) Yoast SEO plugin, which fixes some minor issues WordPress has. Installing the plugin and using the default settings already improves your SEO significantly. If you make sure to run all updates of our SEO plugin, all major technical SEO aspects will already be covered.

Site speed is one of the factors that determine whether you get a good ranking in Google. While site speed was historically not the most important one, it’s growing in importance more and more. A slow website will result in a slow crawling rate; Google takes longer to fetch pages on your site and therefore might take longer to index new content. Making your website faster is a relatively easy way to increase the chance of getting high rankings in Google.

Site structure is clear

A clear site structure improves your chances to rank in Google. Search engines, like Google, follow links. So, how you structure your website, and the way you internally link your pages to each other, is of vital importance. Pages that have lots of links pointing towards them will appear important to Google, while pages that don’t have many links will be less significant to Google. Think of the structure of your website as a guide to Google, and therefore very important.

Content is still king

SEO copywriting is both a key element and a big challenge in every SEO strategy. As search engines spider web pages, the content of your website should be fine-tuned to the – ever-changing – algorithms of search engines. In addition to that, you should aim for quality content, and write clearly so that your audience both enjoys and understands your website. And we know that readability ranks!

Quick wins?

This post doesn’t contain a step-by-step manual on how to rank high in Google. And I fully understand that people do desire such a manual. I am very sorry, but such a manual simply doesn’t exist. That being said, I can give you some practical tips on how to improve your rankings!

1. Solve orphaned content

Orphaned content has few internal links from other pages or posts linking to it. Google will consider this type of content to be of less value. So, if an article is important to you, you should make that clear to both Google and your visitors. Link to that particular article from other relevant content. Linking to it from articles that generate a lot of traffic in the search engines will help Google and your audience get to your blog post. You can identify your orphaned articles with Yoast SEO.

2. Tackle keyword cannibalization

Keyword cannibalism can occur if you optimize two (or more) posts for focus keywords that are not exactly, but almost the same. For Google, it is hard to figure out which of these articles is most important. As a result, you could end up ranking low with both articles. Your internal linking structure could solve a part of your keyword cannibalism problems. Think about which article is most important to you and link to it from the less important long tail articles.

In many cases, the best way to solve keyword cannibalization problems is content maintenance, which means: combining articles. Find articles that focus on similar search queries. If two articles both attract the same audience and basically tell the same story, you should combine them. Rewrite these posts into one amazing, kickass article. That’ll absolutely improve your rankings and solve your keyword cannibalization problem. After all, Google loves lengthy and well-written content.

3. Improve your site speed

Speed is a crucial aspect of SEO. Google just likes fast websites. You can improve your site speed through (better) hosting or by installing a caching plugin. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, by doing both. Read more about site speed in our article on how to improve your site speed. 

4. Fix those Google search console errors

The Yoast SEO plugin integrates with Google search console. If you want to improve your SEO, start by solving the errors that Google search console found on your website. Read our posts on Google search console to get started.

Conclusion: SEO stands for Seriously Effortful Optimization

SEO just is a lot of work. I cannot give you an easy answer to the question ‘How to rank high?’. SEO is a long-term strategy, and it’ll only work if that strategy focuses on creating an incredible website. You should focus on everything: great UX, flawless technical SEO, awesome content, good site structure. Our Yoast SEO plugin will help you optimize your website, making things a little bit easier for you. But you’ll have to put a lot of effort into it for it to be successful. SEO just stands for Seriously Effortful Optimization. Good luck!

Read more: How to become an SEO expert »

The post How to rank high in Google appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/how-to-rank-high-in-google/

Weybridge councillor Tim Oliver announced as new leader of Surrey County Council's Conservative group

He became leader of Elmbridge Borough Council just six months ago, and will now be put forward to become leader of the county council on December 11

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/weybridge-councillor-tim-oliver-announced-15458072

ATM ripped from wall by JCB and cash trays stolen in Alton ram raid

A JCB telehandler was left abandoned at the scene on Friday morning (November 23)

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/hampshire-news/atm-ripped-wall-jcb-cash-15455693

Stranger danger alert after reports of children being offered a lift in Surrey Heath

Surrey Police is advising parents and children to remain vigilant

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/stranger-danger-alert-after-reports-15457448

Report finds no link between Surrey earthquakes and oil activity but campaigners are not convinced

An estimated 14 earthquakes occurred close to Newdigate between April and September 2018

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/report-finds-no-link-between-15455610

Two year action plan to improve safety for cyclists and combat road rage unveiled

The Department for Transport (DfT) has proposed 50 new measures to protect the most vulnerable on the roads, including cyclists

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/two-year-action-plan-improve-15451071

Kitchen fire in high rise flats near Farnborough station

Five crews battled the fire throughout the morning

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/kitchen-fire-high-rise-flats-15455956

Business owners protest proposals by Woking Borough Council to demolish their shops

Petitions have been handed into the council asking shops in Guildford Road not to be demolished to make way for a wider road

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/business-owners-protest-proposals-woking-15451802

Here's how to become a Surrey Santa this year

Surrey based Santa school spills the beans on becoming the man behind the white beard

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/heres-how-become-surrey-santa-15455497

Photographs show transformation of former Pilgrim pub site in Dorking as housing development gets underway

Work began at the much-loved former pub site in summer 2018

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/photos-pilgrim-dorking-pub-housing-15452184

Police appeal for help to find missing 15-year-old girl from Walton

Francesca Grant has links to the Guildford, Elmbridge and Epsom areas

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/missing-teenager-walton-francesca-grant-15455640

Angus Energy to begin flow tests at Brockham Oil Field

The field has been in production for more than 30 years. Will anything change?

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/special-features/angus-energy-begin-flow-tests-15424862

'Fundamental failings' by Surrey County Council in handling of Parsons Green bomber despite links to Islamic State, report finds

Ahmed Hassan Mohammed Ali told Home Office officials he had been "trained to kill" by Daesh

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/fundamental-failings-surrey-county-council-15454233

Parents express horror over possible closure of Weybridge Children's Centre

"Without the place I would've felt so isolated because I met all my friends here"

from Surrey Live - News https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/parents-express-horror-over-possible-15453111

Yoast Black Friday sale: Save 30% on plugins and courses!

Hold on to your hats folks, because it’s Black Friday! Shoppers from around the world can’t wait to get a hold of the best bargains of the year. Of course, Yoast likes to join the fun, and we do that by offering you a whopping 30% discount on ALL our plugins and courses! What are you waiting for? Can’t decide what to get? Read on and find out what we’ve been doing this year.

Here are the Black Friday sale details

We won’t keep you too long, so here are the details of our 2018 Black Friday sale:

• Save 30% on all SEO plugins and training courses
• Save $/€30 on a yearly subscription to our plugins, courses or both
• Save €30 on a YoastCon 2019 ticket

Prices will automatically be adjusted once you add your favorite products to your cart.

Save $30 on our new Yoast subscriptions

One of the coolest things we’ve released this year is Yoast subscriptions. With a Yoast subscription, you get access to all our plugins, courses or both at a low monthly price. Or, if you want to save even more, you can get an annual subscription and save up to 60% off the regular price. We have three flavors, so there’s bound to be one that fits you:

• All our premium plugins: Get Yoast SEO Premium and all the add-ons for one low price, including 24/7 support.
• All our training courses: Get access to all the courses in Yoast Academy for one low price, plus get access to exclusive premium content you’ll find nowhere else.
• Get everything: All our WordPress SEO plugins and training courses for an even better price. This includes both support and access to exclusive content.

Yes, I want a Yoast subscription! ▸

Please check the webinar “SEO in 2019” we did this week to get a glimpse of the kind of exclusive content we’ll be producing for our subscription members:

Huge plugin releases and cool Premium features

We’ve been busy improving all of our plugins. Yoast SEO has undergone a metamorphosis this year, starting with the UX and feature cleanup in Yoast SEO 7.0 up to Gutenberg support in Yoast SEO 8.0 and a much-improved SEO analysis in Yoast SEO 9.0. 2018 was the year where Yoast SEO got a lot better, faster and above all, smarter. Here’s an overview of some of the impressive premium features available in Yoast SEO Premium:

Premium SEO analysis

In Yoast SEO 9.0, we added a much-improved SEO analysis. Not only was the regular analysis updated with a more flexible keyphrase analysis, but Yoast SEO Premium got word form recognition. This means that Yoast SEO Premium not only takes your regular focus keyphrase into account when checking your text but also forms like past tense, plural and more. Now, optimizing a text becomes an incredibly natural process.

Also, you can now even optimize your text for both synonyms and related keyphrases so that you can check your text for all the context search engines and humans need to understand a text fully. Last but not least, we’ll even check if you’ve spread out your keyphrases, synonyms and related keyphrases across your article.

Other indispensable Premium features

Of course, there are a lot more cool features in Yoast SEO Premium. Here’s a sampling:

• An excellent redirect manager that helps you handle those pesky redirects yourself.
• Social previews, so you can make sure your social post look their utmost best.
• An internal linking tool that automatically suggests articles to link to based on what you write.
• And of course, access to our excellent support team!
• Premium users automatically get access to all upcoming premium features.

Get Yoast SEO Premium now »Only $89 $62.30 (ex VAT) for 1 site

Yoast Academy: Loads of new and updated courses

The guys and girls of Yoast Academy have been incredibly busy this year. They released a slew of new or updated courses, and the pace will probably pick up even more in 2019. Here’s what came out in 2018:

• A free SEO for beginners course: an excellent introduction to all things SEO
• An updated Yoast SEO for WordPress training: learn all the ins and outs of the Yoast SEO plugin and how to set it up for maximum effect.
• An updated Site structure training: learn how encompasses a solid site structure and discover how to set your site up perfectly.
• A new Keyword research training: find out how to do keyword research realistically so you can get real results.
• A new Basic SEO training: a training to help you master the practical SEO skills using hands-on tips to rank higher.

Spoiler alert: there’s more where that came from! Discover the rest of our SEO courses in Yoast Academy. Not sure which course is for you? No worries, every course has free trials lesson that gives you a sense of what it encompasses.

Check out our courses ▸

Local SEO: powered by WooCommerce

Severing local customers? If so, you’re probably glad to hear that our Local SEO plugin just got more powerful. The Local SEO plugin now has something extra for your WooCommerce site: Pickup as a shipping method! This brings cool new opportunities for your local business. A local customer can now order products online and pick these products up in your store. New shipping statuses and shipping email options will make sure that your customer knows when their order is ready for pickup. Same low price, more options!

Get Local SEO now »Only $69 $48.30 (ex VAT) for 1 site

Don’t wait too long; this Black Friday sale is over before you know it!

So, that’s just a couple of suggestions for this Black Friday for you. We’re sure you’ll find something to whet your appetite. If so, please don’t wait too long because this sweet deal doesn’t last forever!

The post Yoast Black Friday sale: Save 30% on plugins and courses! appeared first on Yoast.

from Yoast • SEO for everyone https://yoast.com/yoast-black-friday-sale/