MOZ team says, “One decision that you’ll have to live with for quite a long time is the domain name you choose for your site. You may have a list of options that you know are available, but what should you keep in mind when you sit down to make the decision? In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers eight criteria for picking a winner”. How to Choose a Domain Name – Whiteboard Friday MOZ  [...]

Isla McKetta says, “Feel like you’re already over the term “storytelling” without ever really having understood how you can successfully apply it to your writing? You aren’t alone. Like so much jargon, this amazingly powerful and useful word is in serious danger of being consigned to LinkedIn profiles and marketing parody. Even storytelling guru Annette Simmons is over the way we’re teaching storytelling as a content cure-all. “We need to stop ‘telling stories’ that oxytocin or the magic of a ‘narrative arc’ explain storytelling.... [...]

Miriam Ellis says, “The civics of local: Caring about your community From Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to Central Park in New York City, with all of the town greens, plazas, fountains, schools, and libraries in between, America’s lasting community resources stand as a testament to our civic-minded past. Town fathers, city boards, and citizens of former times dedicated themselves to enriching local life by creating public access to features that fostered identity, civic pride, and a higher standard of living. Modern cynics might look at today’s cityscapes and conclude that city planners... [...]

Mike Arnesen says, “Structured data has never been more important than it is today. We’ll talk about why briefly below, but that’s not what this post is about. This post is about giving you a new tool to add to your semantic SEO tool belt. My goal is to empower you implement semantic markup and structured data with greater ease and enable you to architect a more robust and complete web of linked data on your website (and beyond). Structured data is more important than ever I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. When Schema.org launched in June of 2011, search marketers gained access... [...]

Marcus Miller says, “We work with hundreds of local businesses — from hyperlocal, single-location businesses to nationwide, multi-location companies — at the company I run, Bowler Hat. One pattern we often see is that larger and seemingly more authoritative businesses don’t perform as well in local search as they should. There are many reasons for this, and having multiple locations amplifies the need for solid local SEO foundations. A common issue we come across is the lack of a well-optimized and well-performing landing page for local businesses. In this post, we aim to illustrate... [...]

Jeremy Gottlieb says, “Working in SEO, I always find myself poring over data and looking for ways to expedite the analysis process. Analyzing data can often be tedious, mind-numbing, and boring work, so anything that can be done to speed up finding that needle in the haystack is almost always a good idea. A few months ago, I began using a formula in Excel to categorize data and I’m constantly finding new ways to use it. It took a little bit of time and practice to remember the formula, to understand how it works and how to troubleshoot it if it breaks, but the time and energy put into... [...]

MOZ team says, “We don’t live in a world where we have the luxury of thinking about just user experience or just SEO. The two share many of the same spaces online, working in tandem and sometimes even clashing. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand details the considerations and compromises that must be made for UX & SEO to coexist in harmony”. Managing the Tensions & Tradeoffs Between UX & SEO MOZ  [...]

Ronell Smith says, “The gentleman sitting across the table from me at a crowded lunch spot has what he sees as a workable business idea for a local business, a sound plan to get it off the ground, enough funds to weather the ups and downs of the current business climate in his area, and the determination to stick around long enough to be successful. However, what he doesn’t have are the answers to three questions pertaining to content marketing for his small business: – “What should I write about?” – “How do I [rank higher in local SERPs?]” –... [...]

Alexander Kesler says, “There’s an ongoing trend that’s undermining companies’ digital and search engine marketing efforts, regardless of the industries they’re in. They start out with good intentions and a strong strategy, putting large amounts of time and effort into building up their profile with search engines. Usually, doing so provides positive results: They’ll start ranking well for some competitive keywords, and a good share of traffic starts coming from organic search results. When that happens, many companies get optimistic and start dedicating even... [...]

Brian Patterson says, “It was my first day at my new gig as a federal government IT consultant in Washington, D.C. I was slogging through the typical onboarding paperwork when a senior partner dropped by, introduced himself, and handed me a paperback book. “Read and implement this,” he said. The cover read The Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister, a book with a sole focus on “the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients.” “Client management must be important,” I thought. This encounter occurred more than 10 years ago, in my previous profession. Before doing search marketing... [...]