5 Must-Watch Google Webmaster Videos for the B2B Marketer

Every search marketer has a go-to industry source that they rely on for thought-provoking SEO content. Whether it’s Rand Fishkin from Moz, Wil Reynolds from SEER, or Danny Sullivan from MarketingLand, everyone has a favorite blogger. Personally, one of my favorite industry resources is Matt Cutts and his series of Google Webmaster Videos specifically.

Matt Cutts is the head of the Webspam at Google, and his team is tasked with modifying Google’s search engine algorithm to help display the most relevant and high-quality search results to users. Matt has an interesting perspective on SEO because unlike even the most popular industry leading search marketers, he doesn’t have to speculate on new algorithm updates –he works with the people that create them.

Matt Cutts comes out with a new video each week, where he answers questions from people around the world on topics ranging from the panda and penguin updates to the future of SEO. I highly recommend watching all of Matt’s videos, but for your convenience, I’ve put together a list of 5 videos that provide superb search insights for B2B marketers:

The bottom line: Google knows how to differentiate between natural and paid links; the latter are usually off-topic, keyword stuffed, and include keyword rich anchor text. Instead of worrying about being penalized, B2B marketers should focus on writing engaging and unique content. Creating whitepapers and targeted blog posts is a great way to pick up links organically, without having to worry about being penalized.

For some great B2B content marketing resources, I recommend reading these articles:

• 10 Content Marketing Resources for the B2B Marketer
• 6 Underrated Content Marketing Assets for B2B SEO
• What Halloween Can Teach Us About B2B Content Marketing

Is page speed a more important factor for mobile? Is it something that can change your rankings?

Google does factor page speed into their search results – however there isn’t a specific threshold or distinct set of metrics used in their rankings. Google analyzes websites on how they compare to other sites in their industry, with the slowest websites ranking lower than the quickest ones. In terms of mobile vs. desktop websites, page speed is equally important for both, but Matt Cutts could see it being more important for mobile results in the future.

For a quick way to analyze your websites page speed, I recommend looking at the Google Page Speed Tool. It will break-down how fast your website loads and provide actionable insights on how to speed things up.  It’s especially important for B2B companies to optimize for site speed because each missed lead could mean thousands of dollars of missed revenue.

What percentage of PageRank is lost with a 301 redirect?

This video debunks the notion that using a 301 redirect will eliminate the majority of PageRank to a webpage – Matt Cutts explains that only around 10-15% of link juice is lost. Something left out of the video is that 301 redirects work best when they direct traffic towards relevant and similar page content, so refrain from redirecting all errors to the homepage. It’s also worth noting that 302 redirects pass no search value, making them poor substitutions for 301 redirects.

B2B marketers should be aware of the importance of 301 redirects because B2B websites often have changes made to their site structure and page content. Some web developers don’t take into account how search engines register and crawl content, which leaves it up to search marketers to clean up after all the changes have been made. To learn more about the different types of redirects, I recommend this “redirection” resource from Moz.

What does Google think about advertorials, native advertising, and editorial content?

An advertorial is another word for a paid editorial written for advertising purposes. The Google webmaster team views advertorials as deceptive when they lack transparency about their marketing intent. B2B marketers who have paid for such content should both “nofollow” these paid links, as well as disclose the information to readers.

When popular UK flower company Interflora was caught paying for links, they lost the organic search rank for their own name, so it’s best to use proper business judgement in assessing each native advertising opportunity. B2B marketers shouldn’t disregard advertorials, but instead look to the broader (non-SEO) impacts they stand to gain such as building brand recognition and driving leads.

Should I add schema.org markup on my videos even if they are on YouTube?

Matt Cutts offers a simple answer to this question: the more schema the better! Truthfully I’ve highlighted this video mostly because of the importance and value of schema markup. Schema is a powerful way to add value to pages because they add rich snippets to search results, which range from ratings and reviews to pictures and video previews.

B2B marketers can use schema tags for webinars, putting author tags on whitepapers and case studies, and for reviews on product pages. Once implemented, these tags present an opportunity to increase click through rates, providing more organic traffic to your product pages, so I recommend getting these up as soon as possible. For some examples of schema best practices, I highly recommend  following articles:

• Basic Vocabulary for Schema.org and Structured Data
• Schema 101
• Google Webmaster Tools Schema.org FAQ