SEO Archives - VereNorth

A great example of how AI still comes up short; in generating images

The Shifting Sands of SEO

in SEO by VereNorth October 17, 2024June 6, 2025

AI, Google’s Zero Click Searches, and the Future of What “Organic” Means in Marketing

Over the past year or so, we’ve seen some fascinating trends in organic search, especially with the introduction of AI into commonly used tools. It’s affecting how we approach SEO and plan organic strategies for our clients. For decades, Google has had a virtual monopoly on the search engine market, defining the rules of SEO as we know it. When we talk about SEO and organic traffic, we’re really talking about following the guidelines that Google sets. Play by enough of their rules, and your site ranks higher, gets more visibility, and ultimately draws more traffic from organic search.

Representation of Code Bloat and Impact on SEO and more

Bloated Code Hurts Digital Marketing Efforts

in SEO by VereNorth September 4, 2024June 6, 2025

In modern society, we’ve gotten really good at accumulating stuff. Between Amazon Prime’s Two-Day shipping and capitalism, it’s a wonder we haven’t started sending our excess stuff into space via SpaceX. And though there are plenty of how-to articles and influencers expounding the virtues of minimalism and telling us how to de-clutter and simply, how many of us think about how clutter manifests in the digital realm? Just like the closet in the guest bedroom, our finely tuned websites can get bogged down with unnecessary stuff. And what happens when that machinery becomes bogged down with unnecessary weight? Enter the dreaded “code bloat.”

When a website is laden with excessive code, it mirrors the clutter in our homes: it slows down performance, hinders user experience, and can ultimately drive potential customers away. This post will explore the detrimental effects of code bloat on your website’s performance and why it’s crucial to streamline your digital presence.

Google’s New Core Web Vitals Metric: Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth January 8, 2024June 6, 2025

Google has recently announced that Interaction to Next Paint (INP) will become a primary Core Web Vitals metric, replacing First Input Delay (FID), starting in March 2024.

What is Interaction to Next Paint?

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a fairly new metric developed by Google to help website owners and developers evaluate the responsiveness of user interactions on their web pages. It measures the time it takes for a website to respond to all user interactions, such as button clicks or link taps, and provides the maximum time for all or most interactions.

How Long Do 301 Redirects Last?

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth October 2, 2021June 6, 2025

Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes addressed a persistent question: How long do 301 redirects last? His answer: one year. But like many things with Google, there’s a bit more to it. Illyes goes on to explain that even after the redirect is removed, the signals do not go back to the origin page but stick with the destination page. So the answer to, “How long do 301s need to be alive to permanently move a page in Google’s eyes?” The answer is one year.

Let’s back up and explain that in detail.

Google Core Web Vitals Metrics for 2021 SEO

Google Announces Core Web Vitals. Start Planning.

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth June 26, 2020January 18, 2024

Coming sometime in 2021, Google will be changing the way site speed affects search rankings. The new ranking signal will be lovingly titled the “page experience signal” and will be combined with Core Web Vitals per an announcement from Google. Google suggests you’ll be given notice six-months before rolling out the changes, so you don’t have to respond immediately. But it would be wise to start preparing now.

Image SEO: How To Optimize Images For Better Ranking

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth January 30, 2019January 18, 2024

We hate to break it to you, but you may have an image problem. Here’s why:

In February 2018, Google made a big change when it removed the “view image” option. Now when you search for images, if you want to enlarge or copy it, you must click the “visit” button and go to the website where the image lives.

This means image SEO is more important than ever. But where do you start? Check out some of our top image tips below.

Google My Business Posts For Small Businesses

in Blog / Local Optimization / SEO by VereNorth July 20, 2017January 18, 2024

For small business owners, any tool that you can use to help bring information about your company to potential customers is a good thing. The more you can do to reach new people and keep your name in the minds of existing customers is worth looking into. With that in mind, Google has created Google Posts, a new way of communicating with your customers from your Google My Business listing.

How To Get Into Google’s Answer Box – Simplified

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth February 7, 2017January 18, 2024

Since 2013, when searchers have used Google to answer a question, or do a search about something that Google could infer as a question, at the very top of their results they have included an area that “answers” the question. That little spot is Google’s Answer Box, and yeah, it’s a big deal.

What is Google AMP – And Do You Need It?

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth July 7, 2016September 4, 2024

Google AMP launched on February 24, 2016 and the big question our clients have been asking is: Should I do it? As with most things, the answers depends on many factors. So read on to see if AMP is a good choice for you.

What is Google AMP?

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages.

What Google Panda does and why it matters to your website

in Blog / SEO by VereNorth January 29, 2016January 18, 2024

Originally released in February 2011, Google Panda is an on-going upgrade of Google’s search results ranking algorithm. The purpose of Panda is to put higher-quality sites near the top of organic search results while pushing low-quality sites further down the list.

Panda does this by acting as a filter to eliminate search results that are not useful to users such as those created only to attract traffic in order to get impressions and display advertising. Low-quality websites are also referred to as “thin,” which often means there are a lot of ads yet relatively little quality content.

So what exactly does high quality mean to Google? In a word: content. You must have relevant, unique, and valuable content on your site or you will be penalized with lower search rankings. But since quality is a subjective term, below are some specific things to remember when creating content. Read our previous post to learn more about Google Panda 4.2.