Similar to www and non-www URLs, search engines consider URLs that render both with a trailing slash and without, to be different URLs. Just taking a fraction of that 14 billion for your business means people are searching for what you offer. Gut, brain, intuition, emotional intelligence, whatever you want …

It’s a familiar situation: you enter your search term in a search engine, click on a result and then… you wait. If nothing, or very little, appears to be happening, you click on your browser’s Back button and select a different search result, without even consciously thinking about …

The larger or higher-resolution an image, the more data is needed to load the image file. Each new image will slow load times further, so ensure your image files are kept as small as possible and the dimensions of your images are only as large as your site requires them …

It is important that you select keywords that are neither too broad nor too specific so that you will not have a difficult time having it rank on Google. Usually, companies do not understand the importance of a newsletter. If it is used properly, the benefits can be great. Publishing …

Google had changed their system to make these links appear as spam in some cases, and as a result, these “backlinks” that were once helping a website rank on the first page were in fact now hurting it. As long as the post can be linked to and gain traffic …

Links that are going from one page to another within the same domain are called internal links. The process itself is referred to as internal linking or interlinking. So you want your site to be among those most relevant for the keywords relevant to your business. Ideally you want to …

Depending on what visitors are searching, you will get the ranking sticking to the same position in some days and fluctuating with a wider range on other days. In the best case scenario, a site visitor turns into a paying customer. Understanding SEO is crucial to significantly increasing your traffic …

Mobile-first. It’s coming. And I still feel that a responsive website, in addition to all the AMP and so, is essential. Therefore, business owners who attempt to optimize their website by themselves may have difficulty keeping up with competitors who hire a SEO consultant to optimize their website. If …

Google has no problem telling you what you need to do to compete for their top ranking spots, just read their guide and do your best to follow through with their recommendations. Conversions come purely from building trust with the people sitting on the other end of the inter-tubes. With …

All sites have a home or "root" page, which is usually the most frequented page on the site and the starting place of navigation for many visitors. Unless your site has only a handful of pages, you should think about how visitors will go from a general page (your root …

A backup approach could be to set URLs with session IDs to noindex, but this limits page-level link equity potential in the event that someone links to a page’s URL that includes the session ID. Make sure that every page has one call-to-action, so the goal of the page …

In return, search engines reward helpful websites with better search rankings. In the past, commenting on blogs and forums solely for the sake of building links was the norm. The reality, however, is that many blogs and forums have little or no link value. Therefore, building links via this method …

Thin content can be identified as low quality pages that add little to no value to the reader. Examples of thin content include duplicate pages, automatically generated content or doorway pages. If it is deemed the intent is manipulative and low-quality with no value add, Google can take action on …

Try to create a one-stop solution for your customer’s conversion. SEO is marketing. It’s important that it be presented and treated as such, no matter how important a technical foundation is to the discipline. Creating content on a consistent basis not only builds links internally (by linking out …

Google wants to see a healthy link profile that signifies authority. This means quality links coming from quality content across the web with a healthy diversity. Canonicalization, also known as canonical tagging, tells search engines that a page URL actually represents a default master page. Here’s the thing, great …

Recognize and accept their learning curve and build some education into the job so they can fly. Googlebot is the name of Google’s web crawler. A web crawler is an automated program that systematically browses the Internet for new web pages. This is called web-indexing or web-spidering. Optimizing for …

Link exchanges, link outreach, blog commenting, forum commenting are all good ways to get high quality backlinks for your site. Getting links from high powered domains with high DA, but not great PA​ is still going to help you increase your rank. Facebook and Twitter are two of the highest …

There is always something new to try that could potentially make a huge impact on a campaign. Not only are generic keyword lists the opposite of unique, engaging content, they will also hurt your business' credibility in the eyes of your clientele, making it appear to be little better than …

This process ultimately results in increased search traffic and revenue. Want to drive more quality traffic? Optimize your content for Google answer boxes! In the early days of the Internet, people participated in traffic exchange programs. You joined a network of websites that opened pop-under windows that contained a link …

Those new to SEO think that this kind of online marketing strategy is a long, complicated process that includes many parts. While there are a lot of factors to consider when optimizing your website, they don’t need to be all done at the same time. To a certain extent …

Every SEO strategy focusing on making the best website possible, will make a website more usable and user-friendly. Linking internally is equally important. As in, interlinking the pages on your own website. This also signals to search engines that your page is mobile friendly which will boost search rankings on …

SEO helps your business be found quickly and easily by potential customers. Getting more traffic is top of mind for any business owner, so the thought of mastering ecommerce SEO has probably crossed your mind once or twice. CMO’s eyes light up when they hear growth hacking; it feels …

And that is why SEO is so difficult, in my view. By creating great relevant content with the right keywords​ and having a few decent backlinks built to those content pages, you can easily rank in Google depending on the competition for that particular search. Competition with a comparable piece …

So, not only have the algorithms gotten smarter, Google has implemented machine learning to better understand search queries through their RankBrain technology. Many businesses assume that optimising for search engines is an instantaneous fix. Not only is focusing on content creation good for search, but it’s also good for …

You’d be staggered at how many articles across the web consist of just a headline and then 700 words of block text. Google finds it much easier to analyse headlines and subheads than the main body of an article, so make sure they’re on-point and hitting all your …

Long-tail keyphrases are typically related to your main strategic keywords and generally include three, four, or more words. This will help with your keyword focus and product placement within Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). These algorithms are Google’s secret sauce, and they determine which pages will be displayed for …

When choosing keywords, be specific without being obscure. Never try to optimize for a single word: instead, think of a string of words that accurately describe what you do. You can use various free online tools to get ideas. As search engines move ever further toward employing semantic intelligence in …

One thing you want to pay attention to is the speed of your future website. You can easily check that on websites like Google PageSpeed Insights, or Pingdom. Evergreen content is quality, useful content that is relevant to readers for a long period of time. Whether or not using bold …

Use answer boxes targets providing the best and most helpful details to visitors. This type of content and design is informed by the fast-rising use of mobile devices and other handheld tech devices. I think that ranking number one these days, is more about market share and visibility than just …

What if it fills them with confidence that they’re in good hands? 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 …

If it works for 91% or businesses, it is very likely to work for you too. The benefits of having a SEO friendly website are vast, a huge advantage is the building of brand awareness. With these tools, you can grow your domain’s authority and boost your site’s …

If you conduct business online, you need to use website analytics to track how well your site is doing. Otherwise, you’re essentially running your business blind and will have no insight into your site’s effectiveness. These constant changes in SEO strategies with Google’s change will never let …

Google doesn’t like it when ANY TACTIC it’s used to manipulate its results, and republishing content found on other websites is a common practice of a lot of spam sites.You don’t want to look anything like a spam site; that’s for sure – and Google WILL …

It’s super easy to get lost in the nitty-gritty details of content marketing. New social networks emerge, new tactics pop-up and Facebook and Google algorithms change all the time. Google has become tremendously more sophisticated about the signals that it does consider when it comes to applying relevance of …

No matter how much fun I have with my responses, people often seem disappointed (if they do not chuckle). You need to build content promotion into your content. This is the foundation of every successful content promotion campaign, and it starts with writing an irresistible headline. Targeting highly sought-after keywords …

Most searches are short because of what economist and psychologist Herbert Simon called bounded rationality. We exert the smallest effort (short queries) to get an adequate result. We exert more effort (query refinement) only if the initial work didn’t get us what we needed. Now, that was always kind …

To separate yourself from competitors, focus on the psychology behind the product. In my case, I started as a web developer and migrated to SEO through my love of analytics. Backlinks, also referred as inbound links are link backs, an incoming hyperlink to your website and that’s why they …

If users see your page simply spamming keywords with little regard for creating engaging, informative and readable content, they're less likely to stick around. Producing content for search engines is also content marketing, list building, and relationship marketing. There are some techniques that you can employ, right now, to really …

If you command authority in your specific niche, Google will always see you as an important asset. High-quality backlinks are those that provide a significant impact on your rankings. Low-quality backlinks will provide little to no effect, and negative backlinks are so bad that they can be harmful. Google, Yahoo …

Having a sitemap for your website plays a crucial role in SEO. It helps Google easily crawl your pages and index your website. Long titles aren’t displayed in full in search results which can be unhelpful to users. There's a lot of misinformation online when it comes to SEO …

Take it from me, the best way to succeed in search engine optimization is to build it into your business development strategy from the very outset. You search ranking depends not only on the search term used, but also on where and when you perform the search. You see, when …

Keyword stuffing fell out of favor once Google updated its search algorithm to combat and penalize this practice. Google makes approximately 500-600 changes to its algorithm every year, many of which combat similar "black hat" techniques that seek to game search results. The idea is to make every piece of …

Designing your website with mobile users in mind will give you the best chance at converting the traffic that search engines bring in. Some people believe you can shove a bunch of keyphrases into the content and still get a high ranking (commonly known as “keyphrase stuffing.”) A search engine …

When approaching people and companies for backlinks, keep in mind that you’ll need to offer them/their readers some kind of benefit/value along with your link – an exclusive offer or discount. The reason why most people fail to get contextual backlinks from guest posts is because they do …

Facebook and Twitter are two of the highest traffic referral sources for some sites, so be sure that you have profiles and are active regularly on both. People love to know about companies, so share company events, company awards, employee new hires, and most importantly, share information related to your …

Look at how your landing pages have performed since the launch of RankBrain to see if there are any correlations between user engagement metrics (such as time on page, bounce rate, and so on) and your SEO rankings. Search engines have only recently started providing better tools to help webmasters …

You’re playing in the attention game. Believe it or not, your readers have a very limited attention span. Using flash is considered to be a cheaper option than others; however, Google will not rank your website high if you are a user of flash. Search engines have really smart …

When you are at the top of the search results, in addition to a fact you are visible, it also means that you are easily accessible, popular among the online audience and that you are publishing important and useful content. Companies should consider how other reputable sources cover the chosen …

Your online competitors may not be who you think! By taking a broad look at your sector from an online perspective will help uncover potential opportunities that you are missing out on. Stick to these good practices and you’ll be on your way to free traffic. For some webmasters …

Make sure your visitors know where to find what they need, and of course, make it simple for them to get back where they started. One of the reasons your ranking is surging might be you are getting a lot of visits from specific devices or even region on specific …