Mark Johnstone says, “A few weeks ago, a post was published entitled The SEO Myth of Going Viral. It referenced 8 pieces of content across 4 different sites that went viral and, most importantly for SEO, gained hundreds of linking root domains. I was the creative director on a lot of those campaigns while working as the VP of Creative at Distilled. Today, I’d like to add some important context and detail to the original post. I actually agree with much of what it said. However, it’s based on the assumption that one big viral piece of content would result in a visible jump in rankings... [...]

Jesse Boskoff says, “When using local search engine optimization, a company should add localized keywords to a website’s posts, create responsive webpages that are compatible with mobile devices, post listings on Google Places, position backlinks on websites that are associated with a company’s geographic region and develop citations that feature incoming links. Typically, local SEO is able to improve a webpage’s conversion rates, increase traffic, boost the amount of customers who post reviews about a business and augment the number of visitors who follow the company’s... [...]

Aleh Barysevich says, “Last year, I wrote about five SEO trends you needed to know in 2016. Plenty of things in the SEO industry have stayed the same since I made those predictions (e.g., mobile optimization is still all-important, responsive Web design is still essential to ranking well, and keyword rankings are still important), but much has changed, too. In this article, I walk you through five of the hottest SEO trends that you can expect to see more of in 2017. 1. Rank Tracking 2017 is going to bring rank tracking back to the forefront. Yes, you read that right. Rank tracking is almost... [...]

Dr. Peter J. Meyers says, “This story starts long before RankBrain, but the action really kicked in around May of 2013, when Google announced conversational search for desktop. At the time, voice search on desktop may have seemed like a gimmick, but in hindsight it was a signal that Google was taking natural language search seriously. Just a few months later the Hummingbird update rewrote Google’s core engine, and much of that rewrite was dedicated to dealing with natural language searches. Why should you care about voice? For most sites, voice is still a relatively small percentage... [...]

Ben Davis says, “It’s that time of year again; time to take stock of everything that’s happened in marketing since January. Let’s start by looking at the big talking points in SEO, with the help of some our industry’s esteemed search experts. Here’s what happened in 2016, and for more on this topic check out these resources from Econsultancy: Search Marketing Training Courses SEO – Digital Marketing Template Files Site performance & AMP Felice Ayling, SEO and social director, Jellyfish: The biggest buzz of 2016 was of course caused by the roll out of... [...]

Miriam Ellis says, “Two dates to know: August 4, 2010 – the day Google enabled owner responses to Google My Business reviews; November 17, 2016 – the day Moz enabled incredibly easy GMB owner response functionality in the Moz Local dashboard. Why are these noteworthy events in Local Search history? Because reviews and owner responses are direct reputation management, free marketing, free advertising, damage control, and quality control all wrapped up in one multi-voice song about your brand”. Mastering the Owner Response to the Quintet of Google My Business Reviews MOZ  [...]

Wesley Young says, “As 2016 comes to a close and we begin planning for next year’s goals and budgets in earnest, it is prudent to remember to take time for reflection. Learning from successes experienced and mistakes made helps you set goals that will move you forward and plan for ways to get there. To help remind you of some of the most important lessons learned this past year, below are my Top 10 Insights from 2016. In full disclosure, it’s my Top 10 list and thus is largely derived from the articles I wrote this year and statistics cited therein, but at least you’ll know you won’t... [...]

MOZ team says, “Should you focus on perfecting your H1s and H2s, or should structured data demand all your on-page attention? While Google hasn’t completely pulled the rug out from under us, don’t let the lack of drastic change in page markup fool you. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand outlines where to focus your efforts when it comes to on-page SEO and offers some tools to help with the process”. Which Page Markup + Tags Still Matter for SEO? – Whiteboard Friday MOZ  [...]

Adam Dorfman says, “In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), a citation is a direct mention of a specific brand within an online platform. Some of the more common examples of online citations are comments published within a community blog about a favorite local coffee shop or an unpleasant experience working with a franchise outlet. Citations serve as contextual forms of content that are recognized and indexed by search crawlers. On a local level, citations have the ability to improve organic visibility for small businesses and community brands alike. Consumers mentioning a... [...]

Kerry Jones says, “I was in Peru earlier this year for a digital marketing conference, and I overwhelmingly heard the same frustration: “It’s really hard to use outreach to earn links or PR coverage in our country.” This wasn’t for lack of trying. As I continued to hear this sentiment during my visit, I learned there simply weren’t a lot of opportunities. For one thing, in Peru, there aren’t nearly as many publishers as in more populous countries. Most publishers expected payment for mentioning a brand. Furthermore, journalists did a lot of job-hopping, so maintaining relationships... [...]