A complete list of SEO platforms for link tracking and analysis, keyword rank tracking, keyword research, and competitive research.

This four-phase approach to search optimization is the key to keeping your blog posts relevant. Get all the details in one handy infographic.

Your goals will dictate what you track, how you track and why you track. Use your goals as a guidepost to keep you focused. By having this focus, you will be able to do the work that matters.

Now, it will be tempting to veer off-course and peek at all the other data you may be collecting. And if you must, then set up a limited amount of time to do so. But be careful that you don’t get sucked into the information overload trap.

Here are a few more tips to ensure you keep your head above all the data:

Spend your time collecting and analyzing data that is on a need-to-know basis rather than a nice-to-know basis.
Focus on quality of information collected, rather than quantity.
Don’t multitask. Single-tasking keeps your mind focused on what is most important.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well, and that’s certainly the case when it comes your website’s Search Engine Optimization. It’s safe to say that SEO best practices are a moving target with Google’s dedication to innovation and a constant stream of updates since inception. To hit that target, you need a content marketing plan and a good engagement platform. There are two main components of an SEO strategy, on-page, and off-page.

This cheat sheet will focus on on-page optimization and pointers to help you stay on top with less effort and more continuous, measurable results.

Controlling and improving the flow of your page content can actually help your SEO. In today's Whiteboard Friday, we cover the questions and goals you need to hit the bullseye on this process.

Consumers now expect to see rich content in SERPs that includes not just standard text listings, but video, images, local map results, featured snippets and more. The standard organic listings themselves also sometimes feature rich snippets, which enhance the listing by presenting information in a way that is easy to scan and often visually appealing.

Paid search ads have changed as well — in 2015, Google doubled the size of its highly visual product listing ads (PLAs), and last year they announced that up to four search ads could appear for “highly commercial queries,” whereas previously the maximum had been three. Even if you aren’t involved in paid search, it’s important to keep track of any changes that impact the overall SERP layout and design, as these changes may affect the way users engage with organic listings.

These seismic shifts in the industry have a profound impact on SEO. Although my company has observed that the overall share of organic traffic for websites remains the same as it was in 2014 (51 percent of all incoming traffic, on average), this stability didn’t come easily — and it will become harder to defend this level of organic traffic contribution. Marketers now need to consider how content is evaluated and displayed on a variety of devices so they can attract more clicks from the right search user at the right time.

When it comes to direct traffic in Analytics, there are two deeply entrenched misconceptions.

The first is that it’s caused almost exclusively by users typing an address into their browser (or clicking on a bookmark). The second is that it’s a Bad Thing, not because it has any overt negative impact on your site’s performance, but rather because it’s somehow immune to further analysis. The prevailing attitude amongst digital marketers is that direct traffic is an unavoidable inconvenience; as a result, discussion of direct is typically limited to ways of attributing it to other channels, or side-stepping the issues associated with it.

In this article, we’ll be taking a fresh look at direct traffic in modern Google Analytics. As well as exploring the myriad ways in which referrer data can be lost, we’ll look at some tools and tactics you can start using immediately to reduce levels of direct traffic in your reports. Finally, we’ll discover how advanced analysis and segmentation can unlock the mysteries of direct traffic and shed light on what might actually be your most valuable users.

You may have heard about private blog networks (PBNs) before, but you may not be sure what they are or why they are used. A PBN is a network of websites used to build links (and therefore pass authority) to a single website for the purpose of manipulating search engine rankings. This scheme is similar to a link wheel or link pyramid, as it involves several different websites all linking to one another or to one central website.

While these types of schemes were used commonly years ago, PBNs are now considered a pure black hat tactic and should be avoided at all costs, as they can lead to a loss in rankings, or even a manual penalty. PBNs usually provide little to no long-term value to the websites they are linking to.

PROMOTE THE RIGHT KEYWORDS

There is no better way to reach a large audience than with white hat SEO practices and strategies. The most important thing for your online marketing is choosing the right keywords. If you use them in your tweets you can easily be ahead of competitions since they will give relevance to your posts. But it’s crucial that you include them in your tweets so they appeal to the audience and do not leave any negative effects. Carefully prepared posts can have a noteworthy impact on the followers if the content is well-thought out and meaningful.

ALWAYS USE HASHTAGS

You’ve probably noticed people using hashtags on social media in abundance. This practice actually started on Twitter, even though the origins of hashtags date back to 1978. Incorporating them in your posts is like using metadata. If you pair them with the right keywords, you’ll get more desirable SEO effects. Use them in every tweet and as much as possible so you can be as high as possible in the search result list. However, keep in mind that they have to be meaningful and connected to what you’re posting, and also that you have to fit them in a 140-characters long message.

How to Increase Time Spent on Site

Tip 1 – Create Supplementary Content and Link To It
Tip 2 – Answer Multiple Queries and Kill Two (or More) Birds with One Stone
Tip 3 – Showcase Related Content

How to Improve Page Speed (and Tackle Bounce Rate)

1. Using a Content Delivery Network
2. Using a Good Hosting Provider
3. Compressing Images
4. Leverage Browser Caching
5. Minify Resources

This is the ultimate guide to dominating Google’s search results in 2018. And let me be clear about something: This is NOT a lame “SEO in 2018” predictions post. Instead, you’re going see tested strategies that are working right now… and will work even better in 2018. Let’s dive right in.

1- Follow the Best Practices for Having an Effective Website Structure

2- Identify the Most Potential B2B Keywords Having Buying Intent

3- Create a Blog

4- Produce Content Based on Target Business Persona

5- Monitor the Performance of Content

1. Don’t Focus On the Number of Characters
2. Don’t Duplicate Your Meta Description
3. Don’t Forget Keywords in Your Copy
4. Don’t Write Boring Descriptions
5. Don’t Be Lazy; Set Up Structured Data

All you need to know about optimizing your WordPress website for high Google rankings.

This week's Whiteboard Friday covers links in headers and footers, in navigation versus content, and how that can affect internal and external links, link equity, and link value between your site and others.

Here are a few methods SEOs should be using to keep current with the evolving environment:

1. Improve user experience

To ensure your web pages deliver good user signals, you must create a solid UX foundation. This means providing thematic continuity across your web pages, creating high-quality and relevant landing pages, using engaging images, offering interactive content, delivering fast page speed and developing an organized internal linking structure.

2. Embrace thematic continuity

We began focusing on creating more seamless hierarchical structures that leverage semantically linked keywords and topic clusters to promote an awesome UX. As opposed to simply creating content with a limited keyword focus, we focused on ranking our clients’ most important pages. HubSpot refers to this exciting new practice as “topic clusters.” 

3. Employ natural language

Perhaps the best way to optimize for an artificially intelligent search world is to optimize for voice search, as opposed to text search. Research has also shown that people searching by voice, rather than text, are more likely to use search phrases from four to nine words in length. This means you need to optimize for long-tail keyword phrases — which are usually longer in length — and page copy that is more representative of natural language. 

4. Personalize the buyer’s journey

This technology is still in its infancy, but we can also apply machine learning technology and data mining to personalize touch points along the buyer’s journey. Customer journey mapping can be used to build out buyer personas and personalize marketing touch points to maximize conversions and sales.