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To get you started with conversion optimization, here’s a giant list of 101 valuable, actionable tips on conversion rate optimization, divvied up into five sections: color psychology (what colors convert best), copywriting tips (what words and writing techniques help you sell better), sales funnel & landing page streamlining (making the conversion from visitor to dollars in the bank simpler), split-testing (seeing what works), and a few miscellaneous general tips.
These tips go beyond the general “have a professional design” — these are actionable, specific steps you can take to improve your website conversions today. I highly recommend that you bookmark this page and refer back to it constantly...
The value of links in Google's algorithm has been the subject of much debate. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand clarifies two of the most compelling arguments and offers SEOs his advice on how to treat links as we move forward.
Rand Fishkin: So web content trends: the way I see things going is essentially we have sort of what I call two big trends going on.
One is a massive increase in the number of marketers who are interested in and performing content marketing; and because of that, you have much, much more competition than you’ve ever had before. That increased competition is causing a second trend, which is what I call consumer or content fatigue.
People who use social media to find content, find things on Reddit, get stuff emailed to them by friends, use Facebook, are getting overwhelmed; the amount of content that they are receiving, or you know being able to access, is just exponentially larger than it was a couple of years ago...
Google is seemingly involved in a never-ending battle to fight spam and underhand SEO tactics affecting its search results. In 2013 we've had several updates and warnings, Hummingbird being the most obvious, but what will Google target next? I have a few ideas on this, and I've also asked SEOs for their views on the areas where Google is likely to focus...
Every time Google opens the gate and releases another update animal, it wreaks ranking havoc.
...But recently it seems that the modifications are coming too fast, too often, and that many of them also benefit Google’s bottom line. Is that a coincidence or a shrewd business move? For the answer, perhaps we should look to the latest addition to the Google zoo – the Google Zebra algorithm update. “Zebra,” as it’s come to be known, is an update that takes aim at online merchants. The striped brute has yet to be officially released, but savvy e-commerce sites are already making moves to stay ahead of the ever-changing curve....
Are the right technical pieces in place? Are you producing the right content? Are you connecting with customers, colleagues, and other industry thought leaders? These are the hallmarks of a good SEO program today.
Before you start thinking it’s all too difficult, it’s really not.There are some quick SEO wins you can achieve to take steps toward higher rankings. Here are nine of them you can probably do just by setting aside an hour here or there.
Content marketing, the creation and sharing of content in order to attract, acquire and engage readers, users and customers, became a “do or die” for online marketers in 2012Content Marketing is the New SEO. Having a Content Marketing strategy for your online business is key to SEO success in 2013. However, Content Marketing should be done correctly by following certain guidelines. Below is an infographic which shows the Do’s and Dont’s of Content Marketing....
The day many SEO professionals hoped would never come, but feared eventually would, apparently has arrived today. It appears that Google has cut off keyword data altogether.Nearly two years after making one of the biggest changes to secure search that resulted in a steady rise in "(not provided)" data, Google has switched all searches over to encrypted searches using HTTPS. This means no more keyword data will be passed to site owners....
Content marketing is now a $44 billion industry. And with businesses planning to increase their budgets toward search engine optimization (SEO) by up to 44% this year, PR professionals must be savvy in digital communications tactics in order to remain in the game. At a minimum, every PR pro should know the following seven SEO basics...
Neal Cabage is only the most recent writer to use the words “SEO is dead” in a headline. His article joins a long line of other articles and even a tongue-in-cheek website dedicated to the topic; see here, here, here, and here.
There are also many well-worded refutations of the idea that SEO is dead, of which Danny Sullivan’s 2009 post is a prime example. Most articles with that headline or a variation thereof are actually writers trying to stir up some controversy so they can then explain why SEO in fact is not dead.
Whatever the reason, the phrase has become cliché and tired, and I say that with this post, let us never see the words “SEO” and “dead” in a headline ever again. Let’s move on. But first, this final explanation of why SEO is not dead, and will never die....
With recent changes like Google’s Penguin 2.0 algorithm update, SEO and search marketing are moving rapidly from search-focused ranking tactics to a more holistic, content-focused practice. And as digital takes over the marketplace, PR is expanding beyond churning out press releases to sparking, engaging in and steering conversations about brands.Today’s PR is also today’s search marketing: a mix of audience research, content creation and promotion is the best way to raise brand awareness. The goal for both SEO and PR is to reach the right people, with the right messages, at the right time....
Disappointed by the SEO you hired? You’re not alone! A good number of our clients are coming to us having been messed up by some rather unhelpful “seo"... ...Confession: I really struggled to find the word “inadequate” to describe the SEO work that I’m talking about. I started with “incompetent”, thought about “lousy”, “deficient”, “unqualified” and “incapable”, and then finally landed on “inadequate”. I’m trying to use a term that includes some innocent deficiencies, and that doesn’t imply a conscious effort to scam. Tell-tale signs of an inadequate SEO Here are a few things that I’m spotting as I review the SEO work that’s been done for our clients prior to their coming to us for help. These are the things that have hurt our clients, and sometimes our clients have been the last to figure it out....
Having difficulties sorting through the jargon in the SEO industry? "The Small Business Owner's Guide to Speaking SEO" will have you fluent in no time!
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Getting the upper hand on your competition can be difficult and even more so when you’re not sure how your own website is performing. There are many tools available online that help you see how you’re doing with your SEO, and most importantly where your website needs to improve. All website owners should take advantage of these free tools to discover your website’s strengths and weaknesses, and to see how you compare against your competitors....
There has been a lot of talk lately about responsive web design, and a number of questions have arisen about how Google perceives sites that go down this route.Matt Cutts said responsive design “won’t harm rankings”. Given that Matt isn’t in the habit of telling everyone how to win at SEO, I think this is as close to an endorsement as we’re going to get. ‘Responsive’ is pretty much used as a byword for ‘mobile optimisation’, which is the science of crafting a better user experience for smartphone users. The key part of that sentence isn’t ‘responsive’, nor ‘mobile’, but ‘user experience’....
Over the last four months, Google has been ramping up its publicity of a more aggressive target for mobile site performance: sub one second page load times.
Enforcement of this aspiration comes from Google's usual source: algorithmic rewards for sites achieving this goal. You just need to look at how industry commentary has exploded around site speed issues over the last couple of years to see the impact this strategy has had.
I fully expect to see this industry focus switch to mobile-specific commentary through 2014.Let's take a look at the evidence, and the SEO opportunity...
Social media monitoring is an increasingly important activity for any large organisation, but choosing a monitoring tool is a difficult decision. To help identify the key factors and questions to consider, Our Social Times recently hosted a fascinating webinar on what to look for in a social media monitoring tool.
For those that couldn’t make it, you can listen to the recording here. Alternatively, read on for a summary of the discussions.
Panda, Penguin, Phantom, Hummingbird. Disappearing keyword data. Personal / universal / local / mobile search. These are indeed “interesting times” for SEO professionals, with rapid and wide-ranging changes to the search landscape being announced at an accelerating pace.
Given all of this change, what are the best practices for SEO as we head into 2014? Which SEO strategies, tactics, and ranking factors still apply? How have SEO techniques changed in the post-Penguin world? How do you recover rankings if your site is hit by a penalty?Find the answers to these questions and more here in more than two dozen of the best SEO guides of 2013 so far....
Internet search Tim Pritchard, SEO specialist at SellerDeck, offers a 10-point guide to how online retailers can get their website pages ranking on page one of search engines by using keywords that attract less competition.
Much of the SEO buzz around at the moment seems to be about creating low competition keyword campaigns. We all know it’s vitally important to get your keywords right because, along with your inbound links, keywords will be one of the most important factors in making sure you rank well for the appropriate search terms.
The problem is that, at the time of writing, there are over four billion web pages and any search for something within your specific market will no doubt bestow many millions of results.
How can we make sure our pages are appearing in the top 10? Here I'm specifically looking at SEO from an online retail perspective, as I believe an ecommerce keyword campaign is a completely different beast. Most ecommerce sites, however niche, will generally have a selection of products on offer and it’s important to consider each of these products as its own entity....
Google has a new search algorithm, the system it uses to sort through all the information it has when you search and come back with answers. It’s called “Hummingbird” and below, what we know about it so far.
To see big wins in e-commerce today, entrepreneurs need to cover all of their bases, from organic SEO to mobile advertising.
Analytics tools can create a pretty detailed snapshot of where your business stands — too detailed, in some cases.
Curious about which metrics really matter, we asked a panel of successful e-commerce entrepreneurs which pieces of data they measure regularly and what it tells them about their overall strategy. Their best answers are below....
Setting up any sort of Ecommerce store isn’t easy because there are so many things to consider.Filters versus categories isn’t usually the first thing on a company or Webmasters mind, but eventually this dilemma is going to hit him/her in the face and leave a lot of questions.
Although many don’t realize it, it’s incredibly important to understand the difference between the two for SEO reasons. If you’re starting an ecommerce store, you have to ask yourself: Would this page be better filed as a category or in a filter if I want the best SEO results?...
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Alice Stevert
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Late last week, it was discovered that Google had quietly updated their ranking article help document to reflect changes that they have made in their messages
If you are handling SEO, or website optimization on your own, ensure that you are making the most of the experience and take advantage of the numerous free tools available. These tools are all available at no charge and make it much easier to handle all aspects of website optimization, from choosing keywords to analyzing the competition and boosting your rank within the search engines. While there are literally hundreds of tools available at no cost, the following 5 are among the best that you will find....
An SEO audit is a great way to determine the current optimization state of your website and see what you need to improve. It’s also shows you the SEO strategy of your competition and how you can outdo them. Much of the key information for a website SEO assessment is available for free on the web and by inspecting your site’s source code. But to make it even easier and avoid having to look through website source code, you can use Firefox Toolbars that give you all of the information you need instantly....
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This is a valuable list of 101 optimization resources. Recommended reading for marketers and PR pros.