Dr. Peter J. Meyers says, “It’s been almost two years (August 2014) since Google announced that HTTPS was a ranking signal. Speculation ran rampant, as usual, with some suggesting there was little or no benefit to switching (and possibly significant risk) while others rushed to sell customers on making the HTTPS switch. Two years later, I believe the data speaks for itself — Google is fighting, and winning, a long war. What’s happened since? If you only consider the impact of Google’s original HTTPS update, I understand your skepticism. Prior to the update, our 10,000-keyword... [...]

Rebecca Lieb says, “A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation on a SEO-centric content marketing program that members of our team have been engaged in across a two-plus-year run. The presentation outlined preparation and research, steps in execution, performance measurement and communication to teams. Our goals have been aggressive, requiring a high level of organizational effort, analysis and internal motivation to remain focused. SEO Content Marketing Goals Take note of the last goal we set out for the program: 250 content marketing assets. A mix of emotions ran across the audience member’s... [...]

MOZ team says, “SEOs and executives speak different languages. It’s a simple fact, but it’s one that often acts as a blocker for getting your ideas and investments approved. A simple change in how you communicate your marketing goals, triumphs, and challenges could be what’s standing between you and getting the C-suite buy-in that’s integral to your success. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand helps you translate your marketing jargon into financial metrics and data that the folks in charge will actually care about”. How to Tie Marketing Metrics to the Data... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google announced it will be adjusting how Dynamic Search Ads are triggered over the next few months. The goal is to improve ad relevance on queries. From the announcement: For example, ads that point to a landing page about iced coffee makers will be less likely to show for less relevant searches like “iced coffee.” As the updates roll out, performance may fluctuate, says Google. You’ll want to keep an eye on the search terms report even more vigilantly than usual with DSA campaigns during the transition period to see how query matching is affected”. Google... [...]

Stephan Spencer says, “When you aren’t marrying your SEO efforts with your content marketing, you aren’t going to get the best results. As an optimization geek, I’m all about getting the most bang for my buck (and effort). Because of this, it pains me to see other content marketers making these simple and easy-to-fix mistakes in their campaigns. Last month, I looked at five common SEO mistakes that content marketers make. Today, in part two, I explore five more costly SEO mistakes to avoid so that you can take your content marketing farther than ever before. 1. No systematic outreach In... [...]

Simon Penson says, “On-page content is certainly not one of the sexier topics in digital marketing. Lost in the flashing lights of “cool digital marketing trends” and things to be seen talking about, it’s become the poor relative of many a hyped “game-changer.” I’m here to argue that, in being distracted by the topics that may be more “cutting-edge,” we’re leaving our most valuable assets unloved and at the mercy of underperformance. This post is designed not only to make it clear what good on-page content looks like, but also how you should... [...]

Ryan Shelley says, “Keywords are essential to every aspect of your SEO campaign, from on-site placement and usage to link prospecting and acquisition. Knowing which terms to target and how to target them can either produce great results or end in a huge flop. Defining and categorizing your keywords will help in your link outreach and community building online, both of which are essential in order to drive relevant traffic to your site. While there are a number of schools of thought when it comes to the types of keywords we should use, I want to walk you through the seven types we use at my... [...]

Emily Smith says, “As anyone who’s contributed to business development at an agency knows, it can be challenging to establish exactly what a given prospect needs. What projects, services, or campaigns would actually move the needle for this organization? While some clients come to an agency with specific requests, others are looking for guidance — help establishing where to focus resources. This can be especially difficult, as answering these questions often requires large amounts of information to be analyzed in a small period of time. To address the challenge of evaluating prospective... [...]

Cyrus Shepard says, “How fresh is this article? Through patent filings over the years, Google has explored many ways that it might use “freshness” as a ranking signal. Back in 2011, we published a popular Moz Blog post about these “Freshness Factors” for SEO. Following our own advice, this is a brand new update of that article. In 2003, Google engineers filed a patent named Information retrieval based on historical data that shook the SEO world. The patent not only offered insight into the mind of Google engineers at the time, but also seemingly provided a roadmap for Google’s algorithm... [...]

Tony Edward says, “Spammy link building practices, which Google refers to as “link schemes,” may seem tempting, but they can ultimately result in a loss of search engine rankings. Google considers link schemes to be an attempt to fool the search engine algorithms. If lower-quality content can rank high just because it has amassed a high quantity of backlinks, that is not a great experience for the user. So Google strives to rank quality content that will meet user needs. I am actually surprised that this type of activity is still happening, given how many Penguin algorithm updates have... [...]