Ian Bowden says, “Ranking signal studies and anecdotal feedback point toward the growing importance of user signals in search results. Historically, the link graph has been the primary mechanism for Google and other search engines to determine what content is best and most worthy of returning to users. However, the link graph does heavily favor desktop experiences, as a lot fewer people link to mobile sites. With more people browsing on mobile devices and quality mobile listings growing in importance, Google has to reduce its dependency on the link graph. If the mobile webpage is not as strong... [...]

Jayson DeMers says, “Few types of online business can benefit from SEO more than e-commerce websites that allow for direct consumer transactions. Not only can you secure more web traffic (and a larger stream of revenue), you can also optimize specific product pages to funnel traffic to your most profitable or popular pages. But SEO (and e-commerce in general) is always evolving. New technologies, new insights and new best practices emerge on a regular basis, and the best e-commerce webmasters are jumping on these changes to stay ahead of the competition. Below, I’ve compiled a list of seven... [...]

Marcus Miller says, “Local SEO is getting more difficult for many businesses. Google’s move from seven to three listings in the local pack, and the threat of various ads in the local space, has created a fiercely competitive environment for local businesses. Suffice it to say, if you wish to rank in that three pack in 2016 and beyond, your local SEO has to be 100 percent on point. In this article, I want to take a look at the primary local SEO ranking factors, along with the major competitive difference-makers and negative ranking factors. I will break down each of these to ensure that... [...]

Dominic Woodman says, “What do you do when Excel fails? Maybe you have more than a millions row of data. Perhaps you’ve tried to filter a large dataset with a VLOOKUP and Excel has decided to lay down and die. Excel is a fantastic tool, but that doesn’t mean it’s what we should use for everything. What should you use? The traditional answer is SQL, but setting up a SQL server if you haven’t done it and you’re not technical is a challenge. The free interfaces for working with it are typically very visually busy and not intuitive for those looking to get started quickly. Enter... [...]

Rustam Singh says, “In a world run by clickbaits, advertorials, paid news, sponsored content and referrals, it’s hard to understand who or what is behind making something go viral. All computers and digital servers’ record are mere clicks, not the implementation of those clicks or where those clicks lead to actual profitability by a business, or who is really clicking them. Of course, now servers have gotten much more advanced and several preventative ways to stop fake clicks to register, but in this constant cat and mouse game between fake publicity and reaching our genuinely towards... [...]

Winston Burton says, “With the rise of SEO platforms and enterprise-level technology, we are drowning in a sea of SEO data, with a lot of information right at our fingertips. But are we really getting a true and accurate picture of our SEO performance? As marketers, we pore over data all the time — but in order to glean meaningful insights, we need to make sure our data collection tools are set up properly and managed correctly for accuracy. Here is how to do it. Attribution Attribution has been one of online marketing’s biggest challenges. Who gets the credit for a conversion when there... [...]

Laura Lippay says, “In the first two posts in this series we covered site and page structure overlaps, and formatting and linking overlaps. In this final post we’ll cover accessibility and SEO overlaps when coding for media elements. Images and non-text elements As you can imagine, images online can be problematic for visually impaired visitors to decipher, but luckily we’re using technology here so you and I can help solve that issue with the proper coding on and around images and non-text elements. Some examples of images and non-text elements are: – Images, including graphs and... [...]

Samuel Edwards says, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn’t something that should be taken lightly. When properly executed, SEO can push your business in the right direction and provide opportunities that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. However, as the industry becomes even more competitive, with both large agencies and small boutique firms popping up every single day, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to differentiate the quality SEOs from the pretenders. If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, then you’ll find it difficult to choose the best SEO agency for... [...]

Logan Ray says, “Every SEO knows 301 redirects are necessary from time to time. But are they affecting your other optimization efforts by slowing down page load time? Or are they sending bots on a wild goose chase? How many 301s are out there that you don’t need anymore? Before I jump into this list, let me take you back to where this started: I was in a development meeting for one of our clients. This meeting had nothing to do with SEO. But, as usual, the discussion quickly sparked a few SEO considerations. This client, a manufacturer of home goods, is particularly sensitive about the... [...]

MOZ team says, “Success isn’t an overnight phenomenon when it comes to SEO, but with the right process and a dose of patience, it’s always within reach — even if you’re running your own blog. Optimizing your blog posts begins as early as the inception of your idea, and from then on you’ll want to consider your keyword targeting, on-page factors, your intended audience, and more. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand spells out a step-by-step process you can adopt to help increase search traffic to your blog over time”. SEO for Bloggers: How to Nail the Optimization... [...]