One of the things that can cause a lot of panic to SEO consultant is ranking fluctuations. Many questions such as what did I do wrong come crossing the mind. Content that empathizes with prospective customers’ emotions can guide them through their journey as a buyer. Does your website feature …

Google is one of the masterminds in online searchability. Therefore, this search engine is an important gateway in helping your business be found through being searched for on the web. Linking out is huge. Don't be a link hoard; you're going to create content, so use it to gain favor …

Maybe a little bit of content writing. SEO copywriting is quality writing. Period. The keyphrases shouldn’t make the writing hard-to-read, sound repetitive, or lose its conversion focus. Instead of searching for "running shoes," a user may search "what are the best running shoes for arched feet?" As queries have …

For maximum ranking potential in search engines, ensure that no affiliates or 3rd party vendors use the same descriptions that you are using. In turn, that can lead to a range of other problems relating to high clicks and a click-through-rate (CTR) but low conversions and sales. In practice, an …

The search engine views your site as more trustworthy. There are a number of tools that let you check how many links are pointing to a site and what the authority of those pages are. Unfortunately none of them are perfect — the only way to know what links are pointing …

Check out my Complete Guide to Link Building to find the best methods currently in use. SEO isn’t an inherently spammy or unethical form of marketing. In fact, SEO strategies are more effective if you follow the guidelines set out by search engines. For this reason, satisfying user interest …

When approaching other webmasters to link to your site; it's really important to “suggest” suitable text for them to use; i.e link code that will have the most suitable link text for your site. While, for the most part, social media doesn’t have an instant ROI, you are …

If you’re a small business owner with aspirations of getting your website to the first page of Google search results, there’s a hard truth you should know: The deck is stacked against you. It may surprise you that where your site is hosted has any impact at all …

Google is getting smarter – to the point of becoming an AI with a LOT of personal information about its uses. Google is increasingly understanding what content actually means, rather than just what it says You should not try to‘trick’ Google. Now, the key to a successful website is less …

By properly using HTML tags, on-page linking, and internal backlinking, you can streamline your site to best serve your customers. By creating relevant content that guides users through the marketing funnel, you can improve sales and generate more interest in your brand. No follow links are defined as the links …

The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website. Backlinks are important for SEO because some search engines, especially Google, will give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their …

It has long been understood that Google’s ranking algorithm is complex (by design). Stick to these good practices and you’ll be on your way to free traffic. Businesses structure SEO strategy based on the SEO services they prioritize and the shifting customer buying journey. Using social media for …

Search engines have been tailored to predict the intent of customers, which explains why some searches have features such as local 3-packs, featured images or videos and Quick Answers. Understanding the intent behind searches allows marketers to create content messages and formats that will most likely appeal to customers. Editorial …

If you want to generate traffic through search, it’s best to do keyword research before you start writing. This way, you can focus on keywords for which a certain amount of search volume already exists – in other words, write toward topics that people are already searching for information about …

Linking to highly popular or trusted websites, news pages, blogs and message boards is an excellent way to add credibility to your own website. If you’re pulling proof for the claims you make from sources which a majority of other people already trust, it can only help you to …

If your website or webpage suddenly or gradually changes focus over time (say from a carpentry guide to a best practice SEO guide – sounds unlikely, but you never know), then anchor text pointing to you will likely change in line with the different topic. Google may then decide that your …

Thin content tells a search engine that your sitepage doesn’t have much to offer. As a result, those sitepages are ranked poorly in the search results. Sparse content is mostly characterized by a poor content (text) to code ratio. The common rule of thumb dictates that the amount of …

How do your competitors rank? Pick out a keyword for which you want to optimize your site. Check out the top 20 search results: Are your competitors somewhere in there? What is your ranking for this keyword? This information should help you to find a good niche for you and …

Link Exchange is another good way for building links. However, you need to be careful with this one. I am not asking to go around ‘asking people for links’. Just move subtly with it. Content marketers can harness the power of hybrid content. Alongside posting blogs on a company website …

Links from low-quality sites will do very little for your visibility. If the site practices Black Hat SEO (link-schemes, spamming, doorway pages) then can potentially harm your ranking. ‘Content is the King’, it is rightly said as the ranking of the website is dependent on the content of the webpage …

Keyword stuffing occurs when too many variations of the same phrase are shoehorned to fit into important ranking factors, such as URLs, meta titles and descriptions, image alt text and body copy. This practice can significantly impair the user experience as the website is sculpted solely for search engines and …

Building an email list is important for most businesses. Email allows you to reach your customers directly, immediately, and for free. Some websites (on entering them) request a malware installation. These kind of websites are categorized separately by Google, as they can sense something fishy or suspicious activity going on …

You’re ultimately looking to rank for keywords that will bring value to your business (i.e., those bringing traffic that will convert into leads and customers). You, therefore, have to target keywords with relevant intent. The basic thing you need to remember when doing SEO is that you want …

Search engines were nothing new; the first one was Archie created back in 1990, and there had been more than a few created between then & when Google launched (most notably Yahoo!) The proliferation of smartphones and tablets mean more and more consumers will be viewing your website on the much …

Stop words are the small words in your SEO phrase, such as up, with, is, a, etc. While it’s widely accepted as a best practice to remove these from your SEO phrase, sometimes removing them can actually hurt your SEO. For example, “What is a graco taco?” makes a …

A page’s speed is crucial, so don’t forget testing it from time to time. From heavy images to unnecessary scripts, there is always a reason that your site gets slow.. Whether or not a specific page ranks for a particular keyword depends largely on the quality of that …

The old saying that “life is a journey, not a destination” can also be applied to SEO. Keyword research is the basis of all search marketing. It is the art of explaining what you do in the language that people use, and thus it should probably be the basis of …

Search engines want publishers to show the same content to the search engine as is shown to users When it comes to SEO, it’s all about following a correct strategy. SEO is the most cost-effective way to bring new visitors to your website. But, there is no secret method …

Similar to your title tags, meta descriptions are a simple, but highly effective way to improve your SEO. Meta descriptions are used to generate the small paragraph of text that appears below a page’s title in the search results. With the vastly reduced price of international communication and shipping …

As an owner or stakeholder in a website, you must take the time to discover content, evaluate that content, and implement a link to it on a webpage. Don’t stuff your footer with all kind of irrelevant links. Keep it focused, make sure these links are helping your visitor …

The more popular and important a site is, the more links from that site matter. A site like Wikipedia has thousands of diverse sites linking to it, which means it's probably a popular and important site. One of the best ways to captivate and ensure visitors come to your new …

Use it before it ceases to be an enabler of competitive advantage. Try to vary the lengths of your posts a little. This again looks more natural and suggests to Google that you’re not following a strict ‘formula’ of any kind! The thing is, in addition to Link Building …

When it comes to getting visitors to your site, you want to grow your audience and also keep them coming back. Content strategy and execution is a discipline in its own right. If you are looking to build a genuinely compelling brand experience shortcuts cannot be taken. At the heart …

Would you rather read 5 articles about one subject, or one or two well thought articles with significant amounts of data or thought process to back them up? Ensure the number of new site visitors arriving via organic search is growing, month to month and year over year. Since search …

Search engines aren't good at completing online forms (such as a login), and thus any content contained behind them may remain hidden. Google can’t depend on social media signals from platforms it doesn’t own and that are run by competitors like Facebook. Low-quality links can lead to a …

There are domains which are better to receive links from than others. These are domains that are “trusted” sources and have higher domain authority. Audit links back to your website and make sure they’re primarily from trustworthy, reputable websites. Another one of the best SEO tactics creates even more …

Search engine optimization affects only organic search results, not paid or "sponsored" results such as Google AdWords. Remember, Google doesn’t like content written for SEO purposes. Link building happens when you manage to get more links to your website from other sites than your competition. In other words if …

Does having keywords in your domain URL benefit your search ranking? This topic has often been debated up and down the years. The consensus is that they are a ranking factor, albeit a small one – but small can still make a difference in the grand scheme of things. On page …

Googlebot uses sitemaps and databases of links discovered during previous crawls to determine where to go next. Whenever the crawler finds new links on a site, it adds them to the list of pages to visit next. If Googlebot finds changes in the links or broken links, it will make …

If you hire an SEO company to help you rank for a certain search term, then you are probably missing the point. The better way to approach this is to hire an SEO company to help you increase your profits or your brand awareness Your target keywords should be in …