Miriam Ellis says, “Google’s widely publicized concept of micro-moments has been questioned by some local SEOs for its possible oversimplification of consumer behavior. Nevertheless, I think it serves as a good, basic model for understanding how a variety of human needs (I want to do, know, buy something, or go somewhere) leads people onto the web. When a local business manages to become a visible solution to any of these needs, the rewards can include: Online traffic In-store traffic Transactions Reviews/testimonials Clicks-for-directions Clicks-to-call Clicks-to-website Social sharing”. The... [...]

Janet Driscoll says, “Like any marketing channel, SEO is an investment. Whether you’re using in-house resources or hiring an agency to do the work, SEO isn’t free. To make the most of your SEO time (and perhaps direct financial) investment, it’s helpful to have an SEO strategy established to be your road map for execution. However, one of the bigger challenges to creating an SEO strategy is that the search engines (primarily Google) are shifting ranking factors and introducing new updates fairly regularly. Therefore, an SEO strategy has to be a living document, allowing for regular modifications... [...]

MOZ team says, “Hovering your finger over the big red “launch” button for your new website? Hold off for just a second (or 660 of them, rather). There may be SEO considerations you haven’t accounted for yet, from a keyword-to-URL content map to sweeping for crawl errors to setting up proper tracking. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers five big boxes you need to check off before finally setting that site live”. Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist MOZ  [...]

Janet Driscoll Miller says, “Like any marketing channel, SEO is an investment. Whether you’re using in-house resources or hiring an agency to do the work, SEO isn’t free. To make the most of your SEO time (and perhaps direct financial) investment, it’s helpful to have an SEO strategy established to be your road map for execution. However, one of the bigger challenges to creating an SEO strategy is that the search engines (primarily Google) are shifting ranking factors and introducing new updates fairly regularly. Therefore, an SEO strategy has to be a living document, allowing for... [...]

Kate Morris says, “Meta tags represent the beginning of most SEO training, for better or for worse. I contemplated exactly how to introduce this topic because we always hear about the bad side of meta tags — namely, the keywords meta tag. One of the first things dissected in any site review is the misuse of meta tags, mainly because they’re at the top of every page in the header and are therefore the first thing seen. But we don’t want to get too negative; meta tags are some of the best tools in a search marketer’s repertoire. There are meta tags beyond just description... [...]

Nate Dame says, “Effective content marketing is a vehicle for modern SEO. Just as wheels without an engine leaves you pedaling, content without an SEO strategy can’t keep up in a digital marketplace. And just like an engine with no wheels, SEO without content is a shiny machine that goes nowhere. Content needs SEO to stand out in the din of mediocre blog posts clogging up the internet these days, and Google has said that one of the top three ranking factors for organic search is “content.” But what does that mean? Not any content, surely. Unfortunately, search engines are not handing... [...]

Darren Shaw says, “Since its inception in 2008, David Mihm has been running the Local Search Ranking Factors survey. It is the go-to resource for helping businesses and digital marketers understand what drives local search results and what they should focus on to increase their rankings. This year, David is focusing on his new company, Tidings, a genius service that automatically generates perfectly branded newsletters by pulling in the content from your Facebook page and leading content sources in your industry. While he will certainly still be connected to the local search industry, he’s... [...]

In the latest episode of Moz.com‘s podcast series, Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin addresses how to do competitive research that will provide data that will enable you to improve your own SO position by responding to what you find in the competitive data. Fishkin reports, “By comparing top pages data from multiple sources against one another, you can get some really cool, powerful advanced SEO opportunities in your content and keyword targeting.” Fishkin identifies five bits of data that that can be found by analyzing competitive sites and that will help you: 1. Top pages by number... [...]

Ronell Smith says, “In all my years of SEO consulting, I’ve seen many clients with wild misconceptions about XML sitemaps. They’re a powerful tool, for sure — but like any power tool, a little training and background on how all the bits work goes a long ways. Indexation Probably the most common misconception is that the XML sitemap helps get your pages indexed. The first thing we’ve got to get straight is this: Google does not index your pages just because you asked nicely. Google indexes pages because (a) they found them and crawled them, and (b) they consider them good enough quality... [...]

MOZ team says, “How are you gleaning your competitive insights? We’ve got a ton of resources and tools at our disposal, and one of the best ways to learn what’s working for your rivals and how you can build your own success on top of those insights is via the top pages report. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand goes over how each data source can provide unique value and which questions you should be asking to get more out of that data”. How to Use Your Competition’s “Top Pages” Data to Bolster Your SEO Efforts MOZ  [...]