Jason Parks says, “One of the most common mistakes I see amongst companies investing in SEO is that they’ll write 4-5 internal blogs per month. When it comes to external blogs and distribution, there is no defined strategy. Zilch. Nada. Why External Content is Crucial Backlinks are the foundation of Google’s algorithm. If you want a complex explanation of the original PageRank algorithm, click here. I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version. Google views your site as authoritative when other sites link back to it. They don’t want to see a site that is spammy linking back... [...]

Sherry Bonelli says, “There’s one thing that remains true about SEO: it’s always changing. One of the big changes that we’re experiencing now in local SEO is the increasing popularity of voice search. Voice search used to be a novelty — now it’s a necessity, especially when you’re on the go with your smartphone or tablet. If you’re a local business, how do you optimize your business for this new personal assistant-type search? Here are some tips. Voice searches are on the rise According to Google, 20 percent of searches on its mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches.... [...]

JP Sherman says, “On-site search, also known as internal search, is a critical yet undervalued and underrepresented tactic in the search industry. In 2014,eConsultancy released a report that showed that 15% of companies dedicate resources to optimizing the on-site search experience, 42% fold on-site search into other online measurement responsibilities, and 42% of companies ignore on-site search. This report was released more than two years ago and after some extensive Googling, some Duck Duck Go-ing, and some slight Bing-ing, I couldn’t find any reputable site releasing similar, more... [...]

Laura Forer says, “Even if you’re already familiar with how to optimize your website for local search today, you probably know that the state of local SEO is always changing. Between updating your Google My Business page, understanding schema markup, and setting up the right monitoring tools on your own website, keeping up with local SEO can be a bear, an infographic from On Blast Blog points out. But fear not: The infographic also provide tips on how to succeed with local SEO now and prepares you for some possible upcoming changes. For example, although customer reviews are already... [...]

MOZ team says, “Launching a startup is a huge task all on its own. While it can be a challenge to factor SEO into the mix, it’s an incredibly important consideration. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand shares a comprehensive plan to kick off your new SEO audit and grab a piece of that organic search pie from the get-go”. How to Kickstart an SEO Audit for Your Startup – Whiteboard Friday MOZ  [...]

Aleyda Solis says, “Although many of us in the industry pay hundreds or even thousands for SEO software that helps to automate and simplify our everyday work, we already have one of the most handy free SEO tool sets in the market with Google Chrome’s DevTools. Built into Google Chrome, this set of web authoring and debugging tools allows us to validate some of the most fundamental and critical SEO aspects of any page. In most cases, using DevTools is pretty straightforward. But there are a few very handy and not so obvious applications for SEO analysis. Let’s go through them now. Start... [...]

Adam Feldstein says, “Another year has slipped by, and while we had our ups and downs, returning to our SEO roots has given us greater focus and renewed purpose. We’ve redoubled our efforts with the goal of building the best SEO product in the industry. We know it’s a lofty goal with so many great competitors out there, but this is the target that served as our north star in 2016 and continues to get us out of bed each morning. Our increased focus on SEO translated to a big increase in the number of new features and improvements we were able to add to Moz Pro in 2016. In fact,... [...]

Ronald Dod says, “It’s hard to believe that it’s time to start looking towards 2017, but this year is almost over. Now is the time to see what is going to be big in the search marketing industry in the coming months. We saw some big changes in 2016, and they are likely to carry over into 2017. We’ve compiled our top 4 SEO trends that we think will dominate the industry in the new year. This isn’t to say that these are all new – you’ve probably already about most of these and even started working on optimizing for them. But whether or not these trends are new or not is beside the... [...]

Julie Joyce says, “Back in 2014, I had 14 link resolutions. For 2017, I have 17 for you. Maybe you’re doing some or all of the following already; congratulations if that’s true, as you’re much more proactive than most. If you aren’t doing any, start with just a couple — but please, please, please make sure you do the first one. That’s the biggest first step you can take if you’re not clued in to what’s involved with your link development. 1. Check out your backlink profile This one is really never going to change, as far as I’m concerned. It’s definitely not earth-shatteringly... [...]

Greg Gifford says, “Welcome to my first Local SEO column of the year on Search Engine Land! While most other sites are publishing roundups or predictions for 2017, there’s really only one way to kick off the beginning of a new year: a new installment of Greg’s Soapbox! As you faithful readers know, my posts are almost always influenced by recent conversations with clients or near-clients, and this one’s no different. A few weeks ago, one of the auto dealers on our website platform called our support department with a question about inbound links. Our support team forwarded the call... [...]