The SEO community is always looking for new ranking factors and we have discovered over two hundred of them so far. But there may be hundreds more actually used by Google. Luckily, we don’t have to work on all of them. Most have very little weight in SEO and are often used as tie-breakers rather than ranking signals. Instead, here is the definitive list of Google ranking factors, each of which can make or break your search optimization strategy. 1. Backlinks Even though Google is planning to move away from backlinks in the future, they still remain the most important ranking factor for your pages. Except it is now too risky to use black hat SEO strategies — your links have to come from a variety of high authority websites that are similar to yours. Furthermore, some Google patents say that freshness and traffic may also be important backlink metrics. …

Posted by SamuelMangialavori Content, content, and more content! That’s what SEO is all about nowadays, right? Compared to when I started working in SEO (2014), today, content is consistently one of the most popular topics covered at digital marketing conferences, there are way more tools that focus on content analysis and optimization, and overall it seems to dominate most of SEO news. Don’t believe me? Here’s a nice Google Trends graph that may change your mind: Google Trends screenshot for “content marketing” as a topic, set for worldwide interest. But why is it that content is now dominating the SEO scene? How vital is content for your SEO strategy, actually? And most importantly: how can you be content with your site’s content? Puns aside, this post aims to help you figure out potential causes of your underperforming content and how to improve it. Why content is key in SEO in …

Are you ready to double your search traffic ? Understanding SEO is crucial to significantly increase your traffic and brand awareness. Right now, thousands of people are looking for content just like yours. You can help them find it by becoming an SEO expert. In fact, 40 percent of website traffic begins with a search query. That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) is so important. Staying on top of SEO takes a lot of research and experimentation. Google’s algorithms are constantly updated, so it’s important to stay tuned into the latest news. With a bit of practice, you can become your own SEO expert. That’s what I did! Every day, people use Google to conduct over 3.5 billion searches . In the U.S., 78% of people use the web to research products and services before buying. Once your website begins to rank on the first pages of Google’s search results, …

When you think about Google cache, what comes to mind? That thing you clear out when our computer is running slow? Cache can actually be a useful SEO tool to catch a glimpse of what Google wants you to do. In this guide, we’ll go through some of the best ways to use Google cache to track competitors and help you potentially rise in the SERPs . What Is Google Cache? Google cached pages are HTML backups of the content on a page taken at a certain point in time. This information is stored on a server and can be retrieved later for various purposes. Periodically, Google crawls sites and takes snapshots of the site at that point. They’ll ind ex so they can refer back later to see what has changed since then. Google also provides the date and time of that snapshot. If you’re dealing with underperforming pages …

The SEO community is always looking for new ranking factors and we have discovered over two hundred of them so far. But there may be hundreds more actually used by Google. Luckily, we don’t have to work on all of them. Most have very little weight in SEO and are often used as tie-breakers rather than ranking signals. Instead, here is the definitive list of Google ranking factors, each of which can make or break your search optimization strategy. 1. Backlinks Even though Google is planning to move away from backlinks in the future, they still remain the most important ranking factor for your pages. Except it is now too risky to use black hat SEO strategies — your links have to come from a variety of high authority websites that are similar to yours. Furthermore, some Google patents say that freshness and traffic may also be important backlink metrics. …

When you think about search engine optimization, there’s a good chance that Google is the only search engine that comes to mind. This assumption is a huge mistake, as the DuckDuckGo search engine has continued to gain in popularity with each passing year. Google is just a part of the SEO puzzle. If you are only focusing on what Google wants, you could be missing a large portion of the search market who use other search engines, like DuckDuckGo and Bing. “But,” you think, “isn’t SEO the same no matter what search engine you’re dealing with?” Not quite. Here’s why alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo are worth your time, and what to do if you want to rank outside of Google. Are Alternative Search Engines like DuckDuckGo Worth the Effort? Yes, Google is the most significant player when it comes to search engines. According to Statista, Google has a whopping …

Deleting outdated content on your website can’t be good for its health, right? Don’t be so sure. Google cares just as much about the quality of the content you created years ago as it does about that new article you’re about to publish. Seriously. Reviving old content can boost rankings. So can removing outdated content. Deleting outdated content can also improve user experience and boost your brand’s reputation by ensuring the content is as accurate as possible. Let’s go over how to remove outdated content from your website and search engines safely — and why it is crucial to the health of your website and overall digital marketing strategy. What Is Outdated Content? Outdated content is any page on your website that is inaccurate, lacks value, or doesn’t reflect your current brand positioning . Here are a few examples: Discontinued product or service pages Outdated advice Time-sensitive content, like a …

In SEO, you’ll hear plenty about keywords and how they affect your content rankings. But you don’t hear so much about Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and the influence it may have on SEO. If you’re not familiar with the term, Webopedia.com defines LSI as an “algorithm used by search engines to determine what a page is about outside of specifically matching a search query text.” More clarification on this is below. When used effectively, LSI can give your rankings a significant boost—and using it in your content may be easier than it sounds. Let’s get started by explaining what LSI keywords are and why they’re important. What are LSI Keywords? Put simply, LSI keywords are terms semantically related to your subject . Each LSI keyword, groups of words, or phrase you use is relevant to the main keyword you’re targeting. But, they’re not always synonyms—LSI also searches for ideas commonly …

Posted by AnnaleisMontgomery With businesses making the move to serve their customers primarily online and the footfall of customers in physical stores dropping dramatically, the value of SEO has been rediscovered. Businesses are now paying closer attention to their online experience and how they can compete on the internet. This post will offer a guide to businesses looking to enhance their organic reach and traffic, by providing some SEO solutions to issues they might be experiencing. This includes information suitable for businesses that haven’t engaged with SEO as a channel before, as well as those who have had more experience with it. The goal is to gain more traffic and increase conversions. Scenario 1: You don’t know what keywords you should be ranking for Targeting the right keywords is central to getting a return from SEO. Targeting the most valuable and relevant keywords to your product/service is crucial. How to …

Creating great content is key to an SEO strategy. But if you neglect the technical side of how your content is delivered, then you are putting up unnecessary barriers for yourself. Technical SEO encompasses the “behind the scenes” elements of an SEO strategy that speaks directly to search algorithms. But there are quite a few things to optimize for when building out a technical SEO strategy. For many business owners, it may be beneficial to hire a technical SEO consultant who can handle the nuances for you. 6 Ways a Technical SEO Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business Regardless of which type of service you hire for, your end goal is to grow your business. Hiring a technical SEO consultant is no different, and you should go into the relationship with an expectation of results. A technical SEO consultant will optimize both your website and content so that you are …