Kristina Kledzik says, “There’s a reason we use the terms  “white hat” and “black hat” for SEO: it used to be the Wild West. Black hat tactics were so effective, they were almost necessary to market online. Paying a few thousand dollars to an SEO could get you to rank #1 for almost any term (before you let them go and your competitor paid them the same to outrank you). You only got a few thousand dollars in return for that ranking, though, since there weren’t many people shopping online yet. Fast forward to today: Ranking well on Google is insanely profitable—much... [...]

Dan Virgillito says, “It’s becoming the drill for local businesses: another day, another marketing effort to connect with your audience. You churn out social media update after social media update, blog post after blog post – trying to attract customers and prospects who go online in any way possible. But your efforts continue to bring mere results. Granted, there are no shortcuts, your efforts on the web needs to place your business in a particular kind of role relative to your audience“. Local SEO: Ranking Your Website For Multiple Locations Business2Community.com  [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “One question we see regularly come up is what to do if you’re targeting particular locations/regions with your site content, and you want to rank for local searches, but you don’t actually have a physical presence in those locations. The right track can depend on a few circumstances, and in today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand helps you figure out which one is best for your organization”. Scaling Geo-Targeted Local Landing Pages That Really Rank and Convert MOZ Blog  [...]

Graham Charlton says, “A new study underlines the importance of organic search rankings, and the value of a page one ranking.  Put simply, If you’re not on page one of Google’s search results, you’re almost nowhere, with pages two and three picking up just 5.59% of the clicks. The study also has some interesting insights into the effect of ads on CTR, and differences between mobile and desktop search”. How branded search and ads affect organic CTR ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Jomer Gregorio says, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most fundamental digital marketing strategies any business with an online presence should have. SEO is geared towards generating natural or organic traffic, which is basically the top source of traffic for most websites. This fact is established by many studies, including the recent study from Conductor where it highlighted that up to 64% of website traffic is generated from organic search“. Most Important Technical On-Page SEO Elements (Infographic) Business2Community.com  [...]

Mackenzie Fogelson says, “In 1999, AdAge released its list of  most influential advertising campaigns of all time. At the top of the list was ‘Think Small,’ a campaign that introduced the Volkswagen Beetle to America. It was given top honors not because of its graphical juxtaposition, or its catchy copy, but rather its honest approach. It was the first major campaign to go against what the American consumer said they wanted. When Chevy was telling consumers bigger was better, Volkswagen acknowledged their shortcomings and advised consumers to, ‘Think Small.’”. 4 Ways... [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “Why hello there! You’re looking marvelous today, you really are. And, in other good news, Open Site Explorer has a bit of a new look—and an entirely new section called “Link Opportunities” to help make some link prospecting tasks easier and more automated. Come with me and I’ll show you; it’ll be fun 🙂”. Open Site Explorer’s New Link Building Opportunities Section (and a Slight Redesign) MOZ Blog  [...]

John Pearce has released a report on the problems that can come from SEO. IM NewsWatch has obtained a copy, ad with Pearce’s approval, we have posted it (at no charge) so you can discover things to watch out for (and if you have already gone to far, he gives you suggestions for overcoming the penalty Google assessed.) Overcoming a Google penalty can be a tricky business. 95% of sites that have been search engine optimized are in “the penalty box” and will never get out; that is, they will never rank well again. The report explains the kinds of penalties, the way you may be hit... [...]

Travis Bliffen says, “Last weeks’ post covered some ideas for quick content creation and the week prior gave you the knowledge to quickly find keywords that could be used as a starting point for content and ultimately, greater online visibility. Today you are going to learn how to implement keywords and content into your site along with a proper on page optimization structure. BEFORE YOU START Before you begin optimizing your site, you need to understand what works now, not what used to work”. SEO in 30 Minutes a Day – Optimizing Your Website Website Magazine  [...]

Matthre Barby says, “Five months ago, I decided (at long last) that I was going to start up my own food blog ( Pescetarian Kitchen). Both my partner, Laura, and I had wanted to do this for some time, as we’re real foodies, so we started to do a little research into the practicalities of it. One of the other motivations for starting our blog, outside of our love for food, was the fact that we’re both pescetarians (i.e. we follow a vegetarian diet, plus eat seafood). Now, when it comes to finding specialist pescetarian blogs, the results are pretty limited. I mean, I could count them... [...]