The problem with directories: A good directory’s intent is to categorize the internet into different categories/subcategories, while providing links to good websites in those categories. Although there are legitimate directory websites, many were built solely for the purpose of building links back to webpages without consideration of link …

One of the problems international businesses continuously need to address is identifying themselves as “local” in the eyes of the search engines. If you are using out of date SEO techniques, you might suffer in your rankings. As such you should keep up to date with the latest techniques to …

They compare the performance and context of your content to the strength of your keywords. Links aren’t the only factor of importance; you also need to make sure your on-page SEO is up to scratch and that your keyword targeting is on-point. Giving readers relevant information and links to …

Backlinks are links to your content from other websites, social media posts, and blogs. They are extremely important for SEO as they are, in essence, a vote of confidence in your content. This was known as spamming. Search engines continue to usurp more “traditional” means of reaching customers, such as …

Make sure all your website images have alt tags to describe them to search engines. The well-publicised Panda and Penguin updates have had a significant (and in my view, positive) impact on the discipline of SEO. By keeping customer experience at the forefront of your SEO strategy, your site stands …

SEO isn’t about gaming Google. It’s simply about creating content that people want and that satisfies their search intent. You need to advertise to reach new customers and market your products or services. Ensure the number of new site visitors arriving via organic search is growing, month to …

To ensure that your website or web pages are discovered by users conducting searches in Google, you must implement the right tactics that appeal to the needs of users and search engines alike. SEOs constantly work to get new links connecting to their sites that are from sources of high …

With a global economy more businesses are going online now. That becomes even more valuable when you consider that only 8.5% of all traffic makes it past the first page. It’s no longer a means of holding a high page rank, it’s about bringing qualified traffic to …

Browse through your website and remember to note web pages that have restricted access. However, these elements are still subject to the algorithms of search engines and must avoid being too long or stuffed with keywords if you don't want to lose the rankings of your web pages. A well-thought-out …

By highlighting your website, you help Google better understand your site’s data. Data highlighter allows you to highlight parts of your website through Google Webmaster Tools, without having to make any code changes. This is typically done using web analytics tools such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner to determine …

If you are doing guest posts, always change your author bio and use different pen names. Long-tail keyphrases are typically related to your main strategic keywords and generally include three, four, or more words. Contextual link building is the quickest way to boost your site’s search performance. The page …

Finding authoritative sites that’ll link back to your pages can be difficult. Content that has been created with the best SEO practices will fly straight up Google’s rankings and what’s more, will help other pages to stay high in a Google search.– It’s great getting to …

By spring 2013, Facebook and Google+ added hashtags. Satisfy your users’ intent. Give them the information they seek! Perhaps they are searching for formal wear. So, you are trying to rank for those things, tuxedos and formal dresses or wedding outfits, which are tough to rank for. Can your title …

Discover your LSI keywords and make sure you use these throughout your article. Particularly in the first paragraph of text, the body of content, for links anchor texts and in the last paragraph of text. Among many, SEO or search engine optimization has emerged as a heart and soul of …

As search engine optimization (SEO) for small business has become more important, it’s also become more competitive. Key tenets of SEO—website presence, page rankings, link authority, and content creation require more time and resources than ever. It means that if you can continually show in all these search …

Build trust and engagement. Build these through the aforementioned speed, plus content that speaks to their needs. The combination of those two things also makes your site mobile-friendly, so they get a good experience on any of their devices. Search algorithms then sift through the data on the index and …

Not only do searchers click on organic results the majority of the time, an organic listing is between two and six times more visible than a paid one. Just like writing any great content, you need to know your targeted audience pretty well in order to be successful. These are …

It can be in the comments what is finally implicitly integrated well into the content also. Building trust in the customer through your content is a must. Focusing on user intent helps do it. We write content for our audience. Until our audience trusts our content it is of no …

The deluge of content that has appeared on the web over the past few years has reached almost terminal velocity. Although the algorithm update is likely to favour pages that function well on mobile – such as pages that feature readable text without tapping or zooming – if your content is high …

Employ keyword targeting. This is the classic ranking signal for on-page optimization, and it is still critical today. It does need to balance with the other on-page elements as well to be most effective. You have to keep in mind that in order to have people purchase or sign up …

If you want to increase your rank for your particular web page or website on different search engines such as Bing, Google as well as Yahoo, then SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will allow you to do this. The purpose of SEO is to achieve the best result on a search …

SEO content should be clear, concise, and should aim to satisfy a user’s intent when they search for particular keywords. If you read something interesting on a blog, you should comment. Especially when a post is about something you may have written about yourself as well. In your comment …

Another valuable way to improve your domain authority is by getting other people to link to your website and your content. That takes time, some strategic networking, and a little ingenuity. You need to migrate your website from one host to another, or one platform to another, even to a …

What it boils down to is that the exact strategy you’re using for on-page SEO -- creating relevant, high-qulity content for a human audience -- should also help take care of your off-page SEO. It’s the classic two birds/one stone scenario. You can increase your search rankings and earn …

Whether or not a specific page ranks for a particular keyword depends largely on the quality of that individual page (content, user experience, number and quality of the backlinks, page load speed etc), and not the quality of your website as a whole. Content freshness matters. Keeping your content up …

When writing your articles, you need to keep in mind two things: first is your reader, next are the search engines. You need to make sure that both aspects are taken care of. Make it easy for your readers to understand and digest what you have to say. The number …

Stop marketing to audiences and instead market to customers at scale. Link building is a long-term project that never ends, and it is a natural part of the ongoing marketing cycle. In order to remain relevant to both search engines and human beings alike, you need to regularly acquire fresh …

In link analysis, search engines measure who is linking to a site or page and what they are saying about that site/page. Too many internal links can result in the user getting frustrated by getting bombarded with links and ultimately not interested in your content. A great way to …

For SEO to truly work and be sustainable, it needs to include a process of build up. Any SEO consultant who says otherwise is fooling you. SEO is an ongoing effort, but one that is totally worth it. Build trust and engagement. Build these through the aforementioned speed, plus content …

As a greater percentage of the population become increasingly technologically literate, it is no surprise that longer search queries are becoming the norm. For Search Engines, backlinks help to determine the page’s importance and value (i.e. authority). Historically, the quantity of backlinks was an indicator of a page …

Blogging is a leading source of leads and traffic for businesses when they are properly optimized for search. A backlink to your site is when another website provides a link to your site, and a good SEO campaign aims to get trusted websites backlinking to yours to demonstrate its credibility …

Content (i.e. in depth articles) react much more positively to links. Do not try to avoid no-follow links completely. These links may have value in improving your search rank. People love to browse through a clearance section for bargains. You could include overstocked items or products nearing the end …

In spite of changes that Google has rolled out over the past couple of years, using keywords is one of the best SEO tricks there is. You just have to use them in the right way. This means that users are relying on more conversational, colloquial and even dialectal sentences …

Always consider how diverse your target audience is into your content creation strategy; this can really help to boost engagement across your audience spectrum. Some of the pages on your website might not be linked to any other page. These are referred to as “orphaned pages,” and if a bot …

A sitemap gives the spider a rapid guide to the structure of your site and what has changed since last time. If you want people to hang around your site, or make the purchases, your site should load in lightning speed, otherwise the users will not even give a second …

If you are trying to increase the visibility of your site all on your own, you are going to need to become a student of search engine optimization. There are several great books that you can read to begin to get introduced to the world of search engine optimization. Focussing …

Generally speaking, the more QUALITY websites that link to you, the better. More website links bring more traffic, and that helps boost your web traffic. More importantly, Google counts every link to your website as a vote of sorts. If you get a lot of good “votes” from other relevant …

The length of search phrases continues to grow. Back when the Internet was just an upstart, single keywords were the only thing you needed. The basic premise is that a page will show up in search engine results because the website had mentioned the terms that were being searched for …

Google's algorithms try to mimic the decisions of real people. The better your links work with real people, the better the links will work with Google's algorithms. However, should you be able to rank highly for a generic keyword, you should expect a good amount of internet traffic from that …

Each year more than 2.8 trillion search queries are made on Google alone. This means that Google answers more than 88,700 searches worldwide per second.i In other words: Every second that your website is not indexed on Google, you miss out on hundreds, if not thousands, of …