Andrew Dennis says, “In March, Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev stated that Google’s two top ranking factors are content and links. Content and links have a symbiotic relationship: great content attracts links, and links improve the visibility and popularity of content. However, not all types of content will attract links, and even content types that typically attract links require strategic promotion in order to secure those links. What makes content linkable? There are numerous types of content: blog posts, articles, white papers, eBooks, listicles, videos,... [...]

Barry Schwartz says, “Google launched the real-time, more granular version of Penguin on Friday. Google wrote in its announcement that it “now devalues spam.” Many SEOs and webmasters took that to mean that Penguin no longer penalizes – and it seems like they are right. Google’s Gary Illyes said on my public Facebook post that the new Penguin algorithm “managed to devalue spam instead of demoting.” But he also said that Google’s recommendation for using the disavow file has not changed. In other words, you should use the disavow file to help recover from Penguin issues. But... [...]

Kelsey Libert says, “The Fractl team has worked on hundreds of content marketing projects. Along the way, we’ve kept track of a lot of data, including everywhere our client campaigns have been featured, what types of links each campaign attracted, and how many times each placement was shared. While we regularly look back on our data to evaluate performance per campaign and client, until now we’d never analyzed all of these data in aggregate. After combing through 31,000 media mentions and 26,000 links, here’s what we found. Most marketers assume that if they build links on high-authority... [...]

Conrad Saam says, “In an April 2016 article on Moz by Kristina Kledzik, “How Long Does it Take for Link Building to Impact Rankings,” the author posits that new links take about 10 weeks to have an impact. Our findings show the exact opposite: High-end link building has an immediate and persistent positive impact. I’ll explain further and share our data here. Kledzik’s study was on a moderately large site with roughly 200K pages and focused on moderately difficult keyword rankings. She correctly points out that with a multiplicity of variables, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint... [...]

Todd McDonald says, “A steady rise in content-related marketing disciplines and an increasing connection between effective SEO and content has made the benefits of harnessing strategic content clearer than ever. However, success isn’t always easy. It’s often quite difficult, as I’m sure many of you know. A number of challenges must be overcome for success to be realized from end-to-end, and finding quick ways to keep your content ideas fresh and relevant is invaluable. To help with this facet of developing strategic content, I’ve laid out a process below that shows how a few... [...]

Alan Coleman says, “Hey Moz Blog readers. I’m delighted to share with you a big body of work the Wolfgang team has just completed. It’s our E-commerce Benchmarks 2016 study. We dove into Google Analytics insights from over 80 million website sessions and over one-quarter of a billion dollars in online revenue for travel and retail websites, calculating average e-commerce website key performance indicators (KPIs) for you to use as benchmarks. I hope these findings help you benchmark your KPIs and gain deeper insights into what you can do to boost conversion“. A Dozen Digestible... [...]

Miriam Ellis says, “Albuquerque’s locals and tourists agree, you can’t find a more authentic breakfast in town than at Perea’s New Mexican Restaurant. Yelp reviewers exclaim, “Best green chile ever!!”, “Soft, chewy, thick-style homemade flour tortillas soak up all the extra green chili,” “My go-to for great huevos rancheros,” and “Carne was awesome! Tender, flavorful, HOT!” The descriptions alone are enough to make one salivate, but the Yelp reviews for this gem of an eatery also tell another story — one so heavily spiced with the potential... [...]

MOZ team says, “The rules of link building aren’t always black and white, and getting it wrong can sometimes result in frustrating consequences. But where’s the benefit in following rules that don’t actually exist? In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand addresses eight of the big link building myths making their rounds across the web“. Weird, Crazy Myths About Link Building in SEO You Should Probably Ignore MOZ  [...]

MOZ team says, “At first glance, local links and local citations might seem unnecessary for non-local websites. On a closer look, however, there are strong underlying benefits to gaining those local votes of confidence that could prove invaluable for everyone. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains why all sites should consider chasing local links and citations, suggesting a few different ways to discover opportunities in your areas of focus“. Why Every Website (Not Just Local Sites) Should Invest in Local Links and Citations MOZ  [...]

Josh Denning says, “It’s no secret: If you want to rank high on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to make backlinking a priority. The more backlinks you receive from authoritative websites, the more trust you’ll have in the eyes of Google, the more traffic it will send you and the more more high-quality leads you’ll generate for your business. The problem, though, is most link research and backlink checker tools are costly, and when you’re bootstrapping a startup, you money is best allocated elsewhere. While much has been written on backlinking, little has been... [...]