The truth is that links are still the most important component of the search algorithm. No matter how useful its content may be, a site without links is far less likely to rank highly in organic search results. If you’re not blessed with excellent writing skills, outsource this job …

If the competition in your niche is high, you’ll have a hard time ranking on competitive head terms. If you have little competition, you’ll even be able to rank for head terms. It sounds so very easy! You can no longer present less information on your mobile site …

Some websites (on entering them) request a malware installation. These kind of websites are categorized separately by Google, as they can sense something fishy or suspicious activity going on in there. Linking to such websites can negatively affect your rankings. Google is making a real push to get to grips …

SEO is a long-term strategy, so it sometimes takes months before you start seeing results. After the emergence of major updates, like Panda and Penguin, search optimizers have thrown around the term “penalty” to scare SEO novices into thinking that one simple mistake could instantly tank their site’s rankings …

Instead of creating content, a lot of websites should be focused on cleaning content. The addition of internal links – links from your own domain – to your content can be very effective for SEO. It’s a strategic way to inform search engines about the topics you want to serve as …

Link Building adds a level of credibility to your website which just isn’t present without those links to reliable information sources backing up whatever claims you’re making back on your own website. Everyone knows not to trust everything they read on the Internet, but finding other sites saying …

Alt attributes are the text alternatives to your image which will appear if your image fails to load, or if the user is accessing your site with an assistive device such as a screenreader. Because web crawlers don’t have eyes, they’re also what search engines “see” instead of …

It used to be that buying backlinks as you could was a successful means of boosting your organic search results. But today, it’s definitely not good to buy them in big packages. Google has declared that if you buy bulk backlinks to improve your rankings, you're breaching their guidelines …

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another. Whether you’re switching domain names, restructuring your URLs (more on that in the next section), or consolidating content as part of your website redesign, setting up 301 redirects is crucial to ensuring any “SEO juice” from your …

By regularly auditing your – or your client’s – sites, you can get a good feel for what you still need to do to improve SEO. Fully optimizing for user intent requires an understanding of how your potential customers buy via your inbound marketing channels. As a result, make sure that …

Google Panda and Penguin stopped keyword stuffing in its tracks making it not just not ideal but counter productive. The quality and quantity of links you have pointing to your site has a direct bearing on how highly it ranks in organic search results. You need to understand what keyword …

Be careful not to include links within content that lead directly to the desktop or mobile version of a page. Even if the user will be switched to the correct URL based on their device, Google sees these types of links as a bad user experience. Wouldn’t it be …

Maintaining a marketing strategy that complements your SEO is key in 2017, if you have a great product, get it out there and get it seen by potential customers. There has been debate on how much of your yearly budget you should be spending on marketing and the answer is …

If you need search engine optimisation help for your small business website, consider working with an SEO agency or hiring an SEO freelancer. This can be a complex area, and it pays to get it right. It’s totally understandable that Google takes user behavior into account in their assessment …

Use your website to communicate your value proposition and your general marketing messages (known as “high-level messages”). If there is one page which should be optimized for generic keywords, it is your homepage. With the increase in powers of content, the journey for internet marketing people has taken a knifelike …

Backlinks are important for Search Engines and users alike. From a user’s perspective, backlinks provide a way for people to find other sources of information on the same or related topics. SERPs will get more personalized and will take into account users’ interests, hobbies, location, search history, and certainly …

A common tactic is creating dozens, if not hundreds of short backlink-containing articles, which are then placed in blogs and websites that have been created for the express purpose of SEO. Although you may outsource some of the work, SEO is still your primary job as a site owner. This …

How do you educate people so they do value it? Links may very well become “democratized” as they become less representative of the overall sentiment of the online world. A very small percentage of internet users has ever published a link on a website or blog. It isn't just about …

How you’ve worked in the past won’t be how you work in the future. That’s because the SEO practices that have long been the norm are now being seen in a very different light. From the threat of Google de-indexing sites to legislation breaches leading to criminal …

If you don’t know where to submit a guest blog post or what forums would be good to participate on, research where your competitors are going to get links and follow suit. Search is very, very popular. Growing strong at nearly 20% a year, it reaches nearly every online …

Google scores ‘fresh content’ that’s updated regularly in a different way to a news article that doesn’t change. Each time you write an informative article related to your site’s topic, you should distribute it to a number of article directories. When you do that, you are making …

When it comes to long-term SEO strategies, there are so many tactics to consider. Share your good posts. Educate those in your circle. Solve their problem and encourage them to leave a comment on your campaign. Beware, excessive linking, either internal or external can lead to the exact opposite results …

Since heading tags typically make text contained in them larger than normal text on the page, this is a visual cue to users that this text is important and could help them understand something about the type of content underneath the heading text. Being on Yahoo or Google’s front …

Search Engine Optimization requires the inclusion of popular (highly searched) or profitable (highly searched just before buying) words into headlines, copy, and other page elements. Links may very well become “democratized” as they become less representative of the overall sentiment of the online world. A very small percentage of internet …

Join popular online forums and post valuable comments and discussions with links back to your site. This can get others to do the same if they like what they see. Although SEO marketing tactics take a long time to show impact and ranking against high-power competitors isn’t an easy …

To understand the challenge you face to rank well in your niche, or to steal ideas on how to get started, turn to your competitors. By taking a deep look at the links they’ve earned, and how they got them, you’ll uncover tactics you can replicate, plus get …

Mobile SEO should always be a work in progress because there are always new things to improve. Also, technologies arrive or get discarded. The days of stuffing keywords into bad content and having it rank are long gone. Now your content needs to focus on your target persona and your …

When choosing anchor text, select phrases that make sense to the reader within the context of the content. These phrases may even contain exact match words. Google has access to all this incredible data about where people go on the Internet through Chrome and through Android. External links are links …

Many moons have passed since search engines interpreted information solely on simple information like keyword density, but keyword stuffing is still prevalent on many sites. Because there has been quite some news about Google’s Penguin update and before that its Panda update, people are blaming those. Community hijacking involves …

Follow links are links that Google bots and humans can follow. The bot reaches the links and then continues onto the next page, bringing some value from the source site. Most companies use SEO to increase website traffic, which in turn, increases revenue. Great content never sleeps, never needs a …

Like any good SEO campaign, your optimization strategy should be dictated by your campaign goals. If your top level goals are straight-forward, such as increase revenue, then decide which optimization path is going to be the most effective based on your business. Right now, using structured data and rich snippets …

Good SEO consultants are hard to locate and they are even harder to hire. This is because there aren’t a lot of high-quality SEO consultants available for hire. There are lots and lots of bad SEO consultants or young entrepreneurs who think they know SEO. There's nothing like marketing …

In milliseconds, search engines assess a number of elements — images, keywords, content, metadata, links, etc. — before delivering results. Ever wonder how a small handful of lucky websites make it to the first page of Google’s search results? It’s because they were deemed the best resources for your search …

Not all links are equal, as high-authority sites contribute more heavily in this regard. This means you should aim for more reputable mentions – but without snubbing any lesser sites that might link to you, as it all adds up. It’s easier for a source to link to your content …

Google now indexes content from Facebook, Twitter and presumably more social media platforms to come. If your timing and relevance is right, your post could directly show up in search results. Google has given significant backing to its Accelerated Mobile Pages initiative too, and the evidence so far suggests it …

On a basic level, a website with good user experience has easy navigation, interesting, useful and valuable content, an aesthetically pleasing design and has quick and easy access to other pages and content on the site. Organic traffic is free, which is why it is best if you focus on …

The better people with relevant blogs know you (through social sites, forums, email, etc.) the more likely they’ll be to link to your site and to share your content. Influencer marketing is a great way to build a diversified traffic portfolio, because influencers have an effect on multiple traffic …

A good trick is to dig into your Google Analytics to see the top visited pages on your site. Links aren’t the only factor of importance; you also need to make sure your on-page SEO is up to scratch and that your keyword targeting is on-point. Using social media …

Getting your content out there and shared generously should be your goal. Make sure the content is better than what already is ranking for your keywords; provide unique value and a fresh perspective on the topic. Consider your exposure options for your content, and get your content out to as …

Search referrals are usually divided into organic (unpaid) and PPC (paid or pay-per-click) referrals. Search referrals are easy to filter by search engine but require a little extra effort to distinguish between unpaid and paid visits. Search referral data can be misidentified and faked. Search referral data may be reported …