{"id":21782,"date":"2019-05-07T13:26:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T10:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/?p=21782"},"modified":"2019-11-01T12:49:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T10:49:31","slug":"gerry-white-relevance-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/21782\/gerry-white-relevance-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Relevance the Most Important Google Ranking Factor? Interview with Gerry White"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re back with a new guest for our cognitiveSEO Talks\u00a0series, Gerry White, an SEO expert with broad knowledge in\u00a0analytics, digital and search marketing strategy, social marketing and a lot more. With almost 20 year experience in digital, Gerry is a technical marketing consultant that has worked with companies such as BBC, McDonald&#8217;s, Gordon Ramsey, Premier Inn or DirectGov. Gerry has been creating, promoting and analyzing websites and more recently apps for companies across the world and he is also a speaker on international conferences. At the moment he is working at Just Eat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/85Uun4yClWo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCQMrMnn9ySK7ieo3fi9bsZA?sub_confirmation=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18341\" src=\"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/bt-subscribe-to-youtube.png\" alt=\"subscribe to cognitiveSE) youtube channel\" width=\"418\" height=\"54\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/bt-subscribe-to-youtube.png 418w, https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/bt-subscribe-to-youtube-300x39.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Working with so many companies and big-name brands, Gerry acknowledged a vast experience.\u00a0As Gerry mentioned in the cognitiveSEO talks, he&#8217;s always testing and does case studies on the go. For him and his team, it is very important to offer the user a great experience and always look at all the different ways people are navigating a site. He gives a rule of a thumb:\u00a0<\/p>\n<table class=\"author-quotes\" width=\"100%\">\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"author-quote-row\">\n<td class=\"author-text\" colspan=\"2\">Everything has to be super simple with site architecture. The bigger the sites, the more complicated things are. You need to make sure the SEO basics are right.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"author-image\" rowspan=\"2\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22075\" src=\"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GerryWhite.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"46\" height=\"46\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GerryWhite.jpg 250w, https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GerryWhite-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 46px) 100vw, 46px\" \/><\/td>\n<td class=\"author-name\">Gerry White<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"author-description-row\">\n<td><em>SEO Consultant at JUST EAT and\u00a0Co-organiser of ConferenceTakeItOffline.co.uk\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dergal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@Dergal<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/TakeItOffline.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">TakeItOffline.co.uk<\/a> <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In his spare time, Gerry helps organize the TakeItOffline digital round tables with businesses, consultants and agencies. Y<span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">ou should listen to this interview with Gerry White as you&#8217;ll get lots of insights and tips for creating better websites and make them loved by the user and Google. We wouldn&#8217;t want to spoil the talk for you so go ahead and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=85Uun4yClWo&amp;feature=youtu.be\">discover<\/a> it yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<table class=\"author-quotes\" width=\"100%\">\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"author-quote-row\">\n<td class=\"author-text\" colspan=\"2\">Improving the title tag will have a significant impact on SERP.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"author-image\" rowspan=\"2\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22075\" src=\"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GerryWhite.jpg\" alt=\"Gerry White\" width=\"46\" height=\"46\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GerryWhite.jpg 250w, https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GerryWhite-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 46px) 100vw, 46px\" \/><\/td>\n<td class=\"author-name\">Gerry White<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"author-description-row\">\n<td>SEO Consultant at JUST EAT and\u00a0Co-organiser of ConferenceTakeItOffline.co.uk <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dergal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@Dergal<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/TakeItOffline.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">TakeItOffline.co.uk<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tackled Topics:<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The biggest challenges in scaling your SEO efforts;<\/li>\n<li>How Gerry White uses testing for his clients;<\/li>\n<li>Strategies for increasing your rankings;<\/li>\n<li>Google Tag Manager Pros and Cons;<\/li>\n<li>What ranking factors still matter in 2019;<\/li>\n<li>The importance of relevance in Google rankings;<\/li>\n<li>The impact of anchor texts as a spam signal for Google;<\/li>\n<li>The importance of sitemaps;<\/li>\n<li>Most valuable SEO techniques used by Gerry White.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top 10 Marketing Nuggets:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The larger the website, the more things like crawl budget are absolutely critical. <strong style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=252\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">4:12<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s very important to make sure to solve any issues when using JavaScript for enriching UX; especially when releasing new features and technologies.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">7:53<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Every couple of quarters we look at all the different way people are navigating our sites.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=523\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">8:43<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Keyword research is one of those things that every SEO person hates to do. But it is a critical part of the job. We are using Data Studio to helps with this and it is one of the most valuable tips for business owners.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=549\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">9:09<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>For keyword research, we are using relevancy and the good-old-fashioned keyword volume as our main metrics. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=579\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">9:39<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Google tries to interpret every query and optimize the results based on your search. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=775\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">12:55<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Brand search can impact a website\u2019s rankings. I think traffic alone doesn\u2019t have a direct influence in rankings. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=873\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">14:33<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Google is still using link architecture as a key ranking signal. <strong style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=987\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">16:27<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In order to rank well for a particular page, you don\u2019t need to have a minimum number of keywords for a piece of content, but you do need to have enough keywords to show intent and relevance. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=1098\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">18:18<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Putting images in the sitemap is a quick win. <strong style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/85Uun4yClWo?t=1379\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">22:59<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re back with a new guest for our cognitiveSEO Talks\u00a0series, Gerry White, an SEO expert with broad knowledge in\u00a0analytics, digital and search marketing strategy, social marketing and a lot more. With almost 20 year experience in digital, Gerry is a technical marketing consultant that has worked with companies such as BBC, McDonald&#8217;s, Gordon Ramsey, Premier [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}