{"id":265,"date":"2019-02-18T15:57:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webdev.cedarville.edu\/blog\/?p=265"},"modified":"2019-02-18T15:57:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:57:52","slug":"land-featured-snippet-in-spite-of-bad-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webdev.cedarville.edu\/blog\/2019\/land-featured-snippet-in-spite-of-bad-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"How We Landed a Featured Snippet in Spite of Bad SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SEO<\/a><\/p>\n

Optimizing web pages for organic search is a key component of any SEO strategy. We are taught to use targeted keywords in page titles, headings, and meta descriptions; to also include keywords in the page copy and the alt tags of our images. We adhere to sound SEO principles, doing everything we can to increase our chances of landing on the first page of Google SERP.<\/span><\/p>\n

What if I told you that sometimes none of this SEO stuff is really necessary? That you don\u2019t have to worry about optimizing your pages for search. Would you believe me? In this post, I\u2019ll explain how Google used one of our site\u2019s pages as a featured snippet, even though we <\/span>totally ignored<\/span><\/i> SEO best practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"meme<\/a><\/p>\n

Our Most Popular Pages<\/h2>\n

During the 2018 calendar year, some of the most popular pages accessed by external audiences on our website were (and still are) help pages created by our Information Technology department\u2013pages that explain how to accomplish specific tasks in Microsoft Word and Excel. I selected one page in particular to discuss in this post: <\/span>Excel: Repeat Spreadsheet Column Headings at Top of Page<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This page briefly explains the steps necessary to repeat column headings at the top of the page of an Excel spreadsheet. (Full disclosure – <\/span>our main website<\/span><\/a> has been redesigned since this page was created, and none of the help pages were included in the redesign. They are slated for removal because they are being moved to a different platform.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a screenshot of a Google search done Feb. 5, 2019, for the phrase “<\/span>repeat excel column headings.”\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

You can see that our page has in fact been used by Google as the featured snippet, taking the coveted position zero. You\u2019re probably thinking, <\/span>\u201cHe has to be exaggerating. The SEO can\u2019t be that bad if the page was selected for a featured snippet.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Well, let\u2019s take a look.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where We Went Wrong<\/h2>\n

There are many examples of bad SEO on this page, which was created long before we were aware of what SEO was or the best practices surrounding it. Let’s look at the page title, meta description, and header tags.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Title Tag<\/h3>\n

The title tag is the most important part of a page to optimize because it’s the first thing a search visitor sees about your web page in the SERP. The optimal length of the title tag should be between 50-60 characters (<\/span>Moz<\/span><\/a>). Any more than that and you have a good chance of it being truncated in search results. Our help page title comes in at a whopping 118 characters, almost twice the recommended length:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Excel: Repeat Spreadsheet Column Headings at Top of Page – Help Pages – Information Technology – Cedarville University<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In the screenshot shown above, Google displayed the first 64 characters of our title. Although long, the title does describe the page. A better title, based on current SEO principles, might be:<\/span><\/p>\n

How to repeat column headings at top of Excel spreadsheet<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This new title:<\/span><\/p>\n