Senior Director of SEO & Head of Organic Research and Data Journalist for SISTRIX
Lily Ray
Lily Ray is the Senior Director of SEO & Head of Organic Research at Amsive Digital, where she provides strategic leadership for the agency’s SEO client programs. Born into a family of software engineers, web developers and technical writers, Lily brings a strong technical background, performance-driven habits and forward-thinking creativity to all programs she oversees. Lily began her SEO career in 2010 in a fast-paced start-up environment and moved quickly into the agency world, where she helped grow and establish an award-winning SEO department that delivered high impact work for a fast-growing list of notable clients, including Fortune 500 companies. Lily has worked across a variety of verticals with a focus on retail, e-commerce, b2b and CPG sites. She loves diving into algorithm updates, assessing quality issues and solving technical SEO mysteries.
Lily is a member of the SISTRIX data journalism team.
IndexWatch US 2023 – Losers
8. February 2024
Where there are SEO winners, there must also be losers, and in 2023, it felt like there were a lot of them. Between various Core Updates, Reviews Updates, Spam Updates and the notorious September Helpful Content Update, 2023 produced a significant batch of sites that lost upwards of 50% of […]
IndexWatch 2023 US – Winners
26. January 2024
2023 was an unforgettable year in the SEO industry. In this report you’ll find the SISTRIX annual winners list and analysis of some of the more interesting gains. AI tools have also been used to categorise domains to expose sector-specific data.
Indexwatch: SEO Visibility Losers Jan-July 2023 🇺🇸
1. August 2023
The first half of 2023 has been one of the busiest and most eventful periods the SEO industry has seen for a long time, and this time, it’s not just because of ongoing Google updates like we’ve seen in recent years.
Indexwatch US: SEO Visibility Winners Jan-July 2023 🇺🇸
27. July 2023
The first half of 2023 has been one of the busiest and most eventful periods the SEO industry has seen for a long time, and this time, it’s not just because of ongoing Google updates like we’ve seen in recent years.
IndexWatch 2022: The Losing Domains in Google US
24. January 2023
2022 was a volatile year in Google’s organic search results, with Google launching many new SERP features as well as introducing and updating several significant ranking systems, such as the Product Reviews updates and the Helpful Content Update. This article analyses the losing domains of the year, with sector breakdown […]
IndexWatch 2022: Google US SEO Visibility Winners 🇺🇲
18. January 2023
2022 was yet another volatile year in Google’s search results, with the announcement of the new Helpful Content system, updates to other ranking systems, major algorithm updates rolling out concurrently, and significant volatility caused by external factors, such as the global economy. This issue of IndexWatch analyses the winning domains […]
Trends – Experts Discuss Trend Content. What Is It, and How Can You Use It?
13. April 2022
Trend content can bring great rewards, but requires expertise and data. How do you find trend content, how do you monetise it and do you really need to be an expert? Nicole Scott and Lily Ray join us to discuss trend content and the Axolotl Squishmallow, in the video below.
IndexWatch 2021: The SEO Losers In Google’s US Search Results. 🇺🇸
27. January 2022
2021 was a difficult year to compete for organic search visibility. Not only did Google launch a variety of major algorithm updates throughout the year, but the SEO landscape also became significantly more competitive. The second year of the coronavirus pandemic and continued lockdowns resulted in many brands shifting their […]
IndexWatch 2021: The SEO Winners In Google’s US Search Results
24. January 2022
2021 was a volatile year for Google’s organic search results, with frequent algorithm updates – both confirmed and unconfirmed – ranging from several broad core updates, to Product Review updates, to the long-awaited Page Experience update.
Google Quality Rater Guidelines: How the Algorithm Recognises Quality
25. August 2021
How does Google’s search algorithm assess the quality of websites? The Google Quality Evaluator Guidelines (also known as the rater guidelines) provide a framework that helps answer this question. Webmasters and SEOs can use this framework to gain a better understanding of how the algorithm operates and act accordingly.
What is Google Search Console and How To Get Started
18. August 2021
One of the best tools any SEO has on hand is the Google Search Console, or GSC, formerly known as Webmaster Tools. In it, you basically have a control panel of your websites performance in search. Whether you’re an SEO or a website owner, you should connect your domain to […]
IndexWatch 2020 – SEO Losers in Google US
2. February 2021
When monitoring SEO visibility, it is important to contextualize lists of winners by analyzing what happened to the losing domains as well. Throughout 2020, there were a variety of factors that caused visibility declines, but not all of them were the result of a poorly executed SEO strategy or any […]
IndexWatch 2020 – SEO Winners in Google US
12. January 2021
2020 proved to be an interesting and unusual year. Aside from the standard visibility changes we’ve come to expect from Google due to its ongoing algorithm updates and an always-improving understanding of user intent, the coronavirus pandemic also created drastic shifts in user behavior and market forces.
How Do I Test Structured Data On My Website?
11. December 2020
Structured data uses Schema markup to generate rich results on search engine results pages. Before your structured data goes live, it’s important to test it. In this post we show you how.
White, grey, and black hat SEO – What does it mean?
3. November 2020
Getting your search engine optimisation (SEO) right is going to get you on the front page of search engines. You can achieve this the right way, with white hat SEO, or the wrong way, with black hat SEO. Here are things to consider about the two, very different methods.
What are doorway pages and do they boost SEO?
3. November 2020
Doorway pages are a great example of an old SEO practice that has turned 180-degrees on itself. While these stepping-stone pages worked well for SEO, they offered little value to web users. Google’s algorithm updates along with other search engines, like Bing or Baidu, aim to keep up with searcher […]
How to Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool
6. October 2020
In this guide, we’ll provide step-by-step assistance on how to use Google’s mobile-friendly website test, discuss how easy it is for users to use websites on mobile devices, and give you tips for creating a mobile-friendly website. During the second quarter of 2020, mobile devices generated 51.53% of all website […]
What does the optimal meta description look like?
25. September 2020
Every aspect of your website, from the way it appears on desktop or mobile to the way Google displays it in search engine result pages (SERPs), should be geared toward user intent. Your meta description is no different. In this article, you’ll learn what the purpose of a meta description […]
SEO Performance Metrics and Tracking
25. September 2020
Tracking results for SEO campaigns can be one of the most important things you can do. Understanding if what you are doing is working, or not is crucial to efficient and effective SEO optimisation.
Google SERP Features: Result Types in the Search Results
30. September 2020
The days of the “ten blue links” are long gone and Google Search Results have never been so diverse. This page gives you an overview of all SERP Features found in the Google search result pages.
What is the canonical tag and how to use it
15. February 2021
In this post we are going to explain what the canonical tag is and what we need to know to use it in our SEO project. We’re also going to talk about how you can analyse and audit this link element.
What are Featured Snippets?
10. April 2017
Featured Snippets are direct and concise answers to the question behind a search. They are displayed in the Google search results. They are highlighted and clicked on less frequently than normal, organic results.
How do I create a sitemap for my website?
24. May 2016
A sitemap can be used to improve the indexation of a website. Sitemaps can be submitted easily and conveniently to the Google and Bing search engines. This article shows you multiple methods, and includes opinions from an SEO expert.
I have an XML-sitemap, do I also need an HTML-sitemap?
18. May 2016
It is recommended to provide both an XML-sitemap to help crawlers, and to consider the formatting of a site navigation system that helps users. The two do not have to be the same. The older concept of a formal, all-page HTML sitemap is a little outdated.
How do I safely move or migrate my website to a new domain name?
9. May 2016
Changing the domain name does not have to be the cause for any (long lasting) negative SEO effects. As long as you plan the move carefully and do it correctly, you do not have to fear ranking losses.
Why should a 404 error page return the correct HTTP status code and not be redirected?
4. May 2016
A 404 error page is a manually created error page that is returned when a nonexistent page is requested by a client. Redirecting a page can sometimes lead to user confusion.
Google Penalties and Manual Actions
30. March 2016
A penalty is the sanctioning of a website by Google. The reason for punishing a website is because of a non-compliance with the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
How can I remove a URL on my website from the Google Index?
29. March 2016
To remove a URL (web page) from your own website from Google’s search index, while leaving it active on your website, there are two options available. One uses the robots meta-tag, the other is a quick method using Google Search Console
How can I prevent the Google-Bot from crawling my website?
29. March 2016
If you want to prevent Google from crawling all or parts of your domain, you can do so within the robots.txt file.
Google-Index, Google-Bot and the Crawling and Indexing Process
23. March 2016
A website can only be found in a Google Search result after it has been added to the Google’s Index, and there are a number of ways to influence that. Understanding and controlling the process is extremely important as mistakes can have a huge negative impact. Get a quick overview […]
Complete list of Google Updates and Algorithm Changes
25. February 2016
It’s important to remember that a Google algorithm change may have been responsible for large changes in SEO visibility. We track every update carefully and below you’ll find the list of all known official and unofficial updates since the first in 2002
