Familiarize Yourself with the Year’s Google Updates

Google generally doesn’t announce their updates nor what they entail, but there have been a few core algorithm updates this year and SEO experts jumped into research mode to figure out what changed and what it means for SEO strategies. At the top of your end of year SEO checklist, you should include a closer examination of the updates Google has released throughout the year if you haven’t already. Research not only what Google has to say about the algorithm changes, if anything, but other digital marketing journals and publications as well to gain more insight. Review your metrics in Google Analytics and Google Search Console and note the areas of your site where there was a drastic change that’s possibly the result of an update. It is also crucial for people to compare this year’s analytics to the previous year’s analytics to see if there are any repeating trends. Google Analytics can improve business growth and help you develop a strategy for the upcoming year.

Schedule Your Site Migration in the New Year

If you’re preparing for a site migration, it might be a better idea to wait until the new year. Unless it is something urgent that needs to be addressed immediately, waiting until the new year is more beneficial to your business because you retain all the holiday traffic you are likely to draw. You can use these last remaining months before the new year to learn all about site migrations and the most efficient and effective strategy for a smooth transition. Create a site migration checklist to make sure you don’t forget to do any important tasks in this complex process and prepare the necessary tools and components so that you’re good to go with the migration once the new year starts.

Utilize Social Media

Holidays are a great time to celebrate and a perfect opportunity to boost traffic to your website through social media. Implement a holiday social media strategy and take advantage of the overall holiday cheer that boosts people’s mood during this time of year. Make sure you have an audience willing to share your posts to help build traffic.

Refresh Content

Think about ways you can refresh content to make it relevant for the new year and add them to your end of year SEO checklist. Review the content on your website, change the dates and follow up on any news-related blogs with recent updates about the topic. Make sure to indicate that the addendum is, indeed, an update and include the date. If you haven’t crawled your site for 404 errors in a while, this is the time to do so. By crawling your site, you can find the broken URLs and redirect each of them to the appropriate pages to ensure users on your site aren’t running into pages that are no longer active. Your URLs should be evergreen so it will continue to rank and gain traffic beyond the year it was created.

Fully Optimize Your Website

Though you’ve read through your end of year SEO checklist, ask yourself if you’re ready to follow through and optimize. Consider hiring an SEO agency to help you ring in the new year with a freshly optimized site while you’re managing the business during the busy holiday season. You can pick up the holy grail that is the SEO Diet book here.

The post End of Year SEO Checklist appeared first on The SEO Diet.

What’s the Buzz?

Good blog content is current, it’s relevant to what’s going on in the world and specifically your industry.  Staying up to date on the trends emerging in your area of expertise as well as topics people are talking about is key in brainstorming content ideas that would do well on the world wide web. A great way to do this is to set up Google alerts and enable notifications across your social media platforms and forums. You can find inspiration for content topics in the unlikeliest places, especially if you give it a creative spin to make it relevant to your business and help it stand out in the midst of all the news people are bombarded with every day. If you are passionate about the topic and you enjoy writing the piece, readers will be able to tell and are more likely to return for more content.

Research Keywords

An interesting topic isn’t enough, though. Writing good blog content means producing good work. Anyone can write words, but you need the right words, a voice, and a point of view. Writing good blog content involves the strategic use of appropriate SEO keywords in order for major search engines to find your blog and rank it higher so people can find it. The experts of an SEO agency are masters at developing a content strategy the incorporates valuable keywords to ensure that articles and blogs are “fit to be found.” Keywords and interlinking go hand in hand as well. You want to make sure that the anchor text, or the keywords used to link to another page on the site, are relevant to the page you are linking to so Google can identify what that page is about and increase the ranking. If you want to learn more about keywords, check out the beginner’s guide to choosing keywords to help you get started.

Write Creative Headlines

A good blog post will have a compelling headline or an H1 tag. You want to use relevant and intuitive keywords you’ve researched in the title of your blog. Have fun with the title, but make sure it’s still informative. A straightforward title isn’t necessarily bad, but a clever title is more likely to spark someone’s interest and will make them more inclined to read the blog or article. The creative title attracts human interest and using keywords in the title attracts Google because it will know that the blog is relevant to a person’s search query.

Stay Committed

It can be a challenge to start writing good blog content and generate leads in the beginning. The best advice is to stick to it, check your analytics to see which pages are performing well and others that aren’t, and hone your content strategy. An SEO strategy to increase traffic to your site is like a garden that requires proper care, maintenance, and patience in order for it to grow and flourish. If you commit to your blog and adjust your tactics, your website will grow over time as well. Just remember blogs can be either formal or informal depending on the topic and your goals for the site; they come in so many varieties. Although we do recommend making your blog at least 250 words, check out competitors who are ranking higher than you and note the features in their content that boost their rankings. If you write a 250-word blog while a similar blog ranking on page 1 of the SERPs has a word count of 750 and features beautiful images, you might want to consider changing your strategy.

Shape up your business online with the SEO Diet and start developing a good blog content strategy to entice readers to your site.

Sources:

SEO Diet – Chapter 18: Blogs – Join the Conversation

Infographic added on June 30, 2020.

The post A Strategy for Writing Good Blog Content appeared first on The SEO Diet.

What Are Research Keywords?

Research is vital when you’re choosing keywords for your content strategy. Research is also the first step people take in the buying process. Think like a user researching the types of products or services you offer: what information are they looking for? What words or phrases would they use in their initial queries? When you answer those questions, you are better able to develop a content strategy that includes relevant content people are looking for using the broad keywords and phrases people use. Research keywords are more difficult to rank for, however. According to Chapter 9 in the SEO Diet, research keywords are usually broad and generally ask for a review or comparison, so they are pretty competitive to rank for. Sites that are ranking for well for those broad terms are generally large, established companies that people already trust.

But just because research keywords are difficult to rank for doesn’t mean they should be excluded. Instead, “choose a handful of research keywords that you would like to optimize your site for.”

What Are Shopping Keywords

After a person has passed the research phase of their buying process, they’re a little bit more informed so their search terms will be more specific and include a qualifier or modifier such as a particular brand or product. These are the shopping keywords to consider for your content strategy.

Just as the research keyword market is competitive, so are shopping keywords. Since shopping keywords are a little more specific, it might be more difficult to optimize and their search volume might be low but you have a better chance of generating the kind of traffic you want in order to achieve the goals you have set for your site. It might be a little tricky to naturally include shopping keywords in content sometimes but they are an integral part of your organic search optimization campaign that should not be overlooked.

What Are Buying Keywords?

When people are closer to a buying decision, they’ll search even more specific queries that might include the model number, color, size, year, location and other descriptors of the product or service. These will be your buying keywords to consider for your content strategy.

Buying keywords generate the most desirable kind of traffic for your website because they are the most likely to convert since they are ready to purchase. Of the three different types of keywords discussed, buying keywords are the lowest hanging fruit, so to speak, so they will be easiest to rank for, especially if you’re in a niche market. The traffic generated by these keywords is more likely to result in a lead or a sale, depending on what your goal is for the site.

If you want to learn more about the different kinds of keywords to consider for your content strategy or you’d like to generate more traffic to your website, you can pick up a copy of the SEO Diet book here.

Sources:

SEO Diet – Chapter 9: Different Kinds of Keywords

Related Readings:

 How to do SEO

A Beginner’s Guide to Choosing Keywords

The post Keywords to Consider for Your Content Strategy appeared first on The SEO Diet.

What Is a 301 Redirect?

As explained by SEO expert Joe Laratro in his book, SEO Diet, a 301 redirect tells the search engine that a page located at “x” has been moved to “y.” All the major search engines recommend 301 redirects for pages that have moved.

How to Set Up a 301 Redirect

301 redirects are important and can benefit your website if you replace an old page with a cleaner, more optimized new page. If you have a platform like WordPress, implementing a 301 redirect is fairly simple. All you need to do is navigate to the plugin section of WordPress, download a “301 redirect” plugin, and activate. Once you have completed that step, you would enter the original URL (X) in the Request box and the new URL (Y) in the Destination box. Click “Save Changes” and BOOM! Just like that – congrats – you are done! Quick, easy, and problem solved.

However, not all websites are hosted through WordPress. What happens then? Well, as the SEO Diet explains, a bulk redirect sheet should be created and supplied to your webmaster to implement.

The Benefits of 301 Redirects

Now that you know what a 301 redirect is and how to implement it on your website, you need to know why 301 redirects are important. A 301 redirect can significantly benefit your business by maintaining user engagement and link equity as well as removing the old URL from a search engine’s index. Without the necessary redirects, your rankings on Google may decline – visitors may stop going to your page due to a 404 Error message and then organic traffic slowly begins to drop. 301 redirects can be used as a way to fix broken or missing links in order to regain your “link juice.” Major site redesigns often use 301 redirects for the top 25 to 100 pages for the best chance at maintaining rankings and accessibility to the users.

In chapter 2 of the SEO Diet, we go over Special Considerations for Website Redesigns. For more information regarding SEO secrets and tips and tricks, you can pick up a copy of the SEO Diet book here.

The post Why 301 Redirects are Important and How You Can Learn appeared first on The SEO Diet.

Step 1. Planning

To start the site migration you will need to create a sitemap of your new website. You can do this by compiling a list of all the URLs on the full site by using a tool such as Screaming Frog. When planning the site migration, you also want to make sure you speak with your PPC agency about their campaigns because you will need to set redirects on those URLs. Failing to do this will cause broken links and negatively impact the PPC campaign.

Now that you have the URLs in the planning phase you want to map each individual URL from the current site to the new site, individually. Benchmark traffic and ranking levels before and during the migration to measure against re-launch traffic and rankings. Make sure to register and configure the new domain in Google Search Console.

Step 2. Implementing Your Site Migration

Phase two on the SEO site migration checklist begins with the preparation and testing of the 301 redirects. Using the program like Screaming Frog, you can see which URLs are producing error response codes. Be sure to block all crawlers in the robots.txt file to prevent the staging site from being indexed.

Now for the moment of truth:

• MAKE THE SITE LIVE

This is where you can check that all pages exist and implement the 301 redirects at page level from old to new domain. Don’t forget to also remove the disallow rule in robots.txt files to allow the search engines to crawl the site. Ensure that Analytics tracking is installed onto your new site and functions properly with Google Tag Manager.

Step 3. Monitoring the Migration

Congrats on the new site! However, but there are still things to check off the SEO site migration checklist that are crucial. Through Google Search Console, you have to check daily for crawl errors and ensure that the 301 redirects are working.

Be sure to update all external links that point toward the old domain if possible and continue to monitor Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.

Conclusion

A site migration checklist is best designed and completed in tandem with an SEO agency. Be sure to contact an expert about the proper steps required to successfully execute a site migration or you can follow more in-depth steps with the help of the SEO Diet book.

Sources

SEO Diet ­­– Chapter 2:  Special Considerations for Website Redesigns

The post The Basics of a Site Migration SEO Checklist appeared first on The SEO Diet.

It Costs Nothing

In a world where everything costs money and businesses have tight budgets, it can be hard to find anything that is free that can improve your business. The good news is that Google Analytics is free, meaning it costs nothing for you to start using this useful resource and is a good place to start for business growth.

It Helps You See Your Best Content

One of the reasons why you need Google Analytics for business growth is to monitor how that content is performing on your site. According to the SEO Diet, the bounce rate will allow you to view the percentage of users who leave the page without any interaction or further exploration of the site. You can also look at changes in the search pattern by using the search feature and analyze how inbound links are growing.

Know if Your Business is Achieving “Goals”

Google Analytics also has a tool that allows you to keep track of goal completions. The goal for each site varies, but the business owner defines their goal(s) when they set up Analytics tracking on their site. Google Analytics can then keep track of how many users are following through to goal completion. You can also set up numerous goals to study each one. This is an excellent resource for business growth. Once you complete that you will be able to develop campaigns with that information because you’ll see what visitors are interested in.

Google Analytics is Simple and Easy

The real question is: why aren’t you using Google Analytics for your business? Google Analytics might look confusing at first, but once you understand how the system works, you can use it to your advantage. You don’t have to be tech-savvy or know how to do SEO, all you need is practice and research. If this is something that does interest you and you want to know more about why you need Google Analytics for business growth, pick up a copy of the SEO Diet here. In this book, SEO expert, Joe Laratro provides helpful information on everything from Google Analytics to how you can grow your business online.

Sources

SEO Diet – Chapter 31: Testing & Tracking

The post 3 Reasons Why You Need Google Analytics for Business Growth appeared first on The SEO Diet.

How Google Analytics Work

Before we can understand how Google Analytics can improve business, we must know how Analytics works as a system. According to Google Analytics, they work with a JavaScript code embedded in the pages on your website. Once users visit your website and view a page, the JavaScript code references a JavaScript file which then executes a tracking operation for Analytics.¹ 

Understand the Analytic Information

According to the SEO Diet, web analytics programs let you track several things that will help you see what is going on with your business. You do not have to be a math wizard or have a degree to understand the numbers shown. Once you take a closer look into the analytical system in Google you can check the data for the day, the month, and the year to see where the site is doing well and where the site is struggling.  By showing the drops and increases in traffic, you can narrow down potential issues and focus your efforts to improve those pages or areas on your site that aren’t doing well. You can make changes to your website and determine if you want to improve your user experience or reach out to an SEO agency that can help organically improve a site’s analytics.

Create an SEO Strategy

An SEO strategy that tries a variety of tactics can be advantageous for your business. An SEO agency will be able to look at analytics for you on a monthly or even weekly basis. This will save you time trying to understand the whole analytical approach and what these numbers truly mean.

When creating a strategy, one thing an SEO agency will pay attention to is the bounce rate. It is a percentage of the number of visits where the user leaves the site without browsing any other page on that website, so ideally this number should be low. If a person is leaving the main page without exploring the site further, perhaps you may need to optimize the page with better keywords or include more interlinking.

Analytics can improve businesses in more ways than one, but you must have good idea of how to use that knowledge or hire a team of experts to implement effective tactics. You can learn more about what analytics can do for your business by grabbing a copy of the SEO Diet book here.

Sources:

Google – Tracking Code Overview

SEO Diet – Chapter 31: Testing and Tracking

Related Reading:

How to Do SEO

The post How Analytics Can Improve Business appeared first on The SEO Diet.

Perform Keyword Research

It’s essential to implement keyword research at the beginning of your SEO journey. Keywords are very important to your overall organic strategy because it provides insight into the words and the phrases that your potential customers are using to search for products and services that you offer.

Research Competitors

After researching the products and services that your business offers and what your potential customers may be searching, it’s time you understand the competition. Pay attention to the most popular websites that show up in the search engine results that are similar to your business. Ask yourself:

• What is this company doing well that I am not?
• What content gaps do I have on my site?
• What do they have on their website that catches my eye?

Post Content Regularly

Added new content to your site and keep consistent is key. You can write blogs, post pictures, share relevant news, and more, to maximize the visibility of your site and resonate with your targeted audience.

Become Familiar with Google Analytics

You need to be tracking your performance. Google Analytics is one of the best ways to measure your optimizations and pay attention to what’s working and what’s not.

To analyze the performance of your SEO efforts in Google Analytics:

1. Click Acquisition
2. Click All Traffic
3. Click Channels
4. Click Organic Search

Keep Up with SEO Blogs

If you want to stay up to date with all the new and past news for search engine optimization, following an SEO blog can keep you in the know, and you can also refer to old, yet informative content. Some of our favorite SEO blogs are on Moz, Search Engine Land, Ahrefs, SEMRush, and Search Engine Watch. Some may offer even offer a series of SEO tutorials that can help you learn.

Get Help from a Marketing Agency

Search engine optimization costs time and money. If you’re short on time but have money, an SEO agency is always an option. SEO efforts are an on-going, ever-changing, vital necessity for your website’s online presence and your brand’s reputation and awareness. If you enlist the help of digital marketing professionals, you can get your site in a good position in the search engine result pages without having to do all the work by yourself.

In his book, the SEO Diet, SEO expert Joe Laratro provides helpful information on how to do SEO in order to build a high-performing website and increase your rankings in the search engine results. You can get the SEO Diet here.

Related Reading

How to Create Relevant Content

7 SEO Tips to Drive Traffic to Your Website

The post How to Do SEO appeared first on The SEO Diet.

How to Choose the Right SEO Keywords

Whether you’re writing an SEO blog, a blog about boating, or any other type of blog, you need the right keywords. Put simply, keywords are how your customers and readers will find you, so you want to choose the most pertinent keywords. Follow these tips for SEO keyword research so you’re choosing SEO keywords that will serve you the best:

• Follow Google Trends to explore what searchers are looking up on Google.
• Use SEO keyword tools like SEMrush to explore which keywords on your website are already doing well and which could use some help. SEO keyword research tools can also help you identify related keywords and phrases.
• Dig through SERPs by googling keywords and see what related phrases pop up in the People Also Search For section under the results and other phrases that show up in the Google Waterfall.
• Check your Analytics and Search Console reporting for direct information from Google about which pages are doing well.

As you can see, the biggest tip for choosing the right keywords is research. The above keyword research tools and techniques can help you identify keyword opportunities to help your site rank for the right phrases.

SEO Keyword Tips

When choosing and using SEO keywords, remember some important tips:

• Avoid keyword stuffing, which is when keywords are shoved into content in an unnatural way
• Don’t choose keywords that searchers aren’t looking for, consider keyword volume
• Sprinkle in geo-specific keywords if you’re trying to get local customers, such as “sushi restaurant in Fort Lauderdale” rather than just “sushi restaurant”
• Use keyword variations
• Make sure the keywords are relevant to the content you’re writing

For more tips on keywords, pick up your copy of The SEO Diet. You can also contact our SEO experts to discover more approaches to effective SEO.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Choosing Keywords appeared first on The SEO Diet.

What is Black Hat SEO?

SEO practices are often organized in two types – black hat and white hat. Black hat SEO is the utilization of manipulative, deceptive, and often forbidden SEO techniques in efforts to quickly boost a site’s rankings in Google.

White hat SEO, on the other hand, is using good tactics rather than bad tactics to boost your site’s presence. The SEO Diet outlines white hat SEO tips and tricks so businesses can master online marketing without breaking the rules of search. This includes content writing tips and link building tips. You’ll find a link building guide in Chapter 27 of The SEO Diet.

SEO Practices to Avoid

There’s a lot of information out there on how to market your website online, but how do you separate bad tactics from good ones? It’s helpful to know common bad SEO practices that many sites use. Bad SEO practices to avoid include:

• Keyword Stuffing
• Paid Link Building on Link Farms
• Blog Spam
• Never Updating Your Strategy
• SEO Cloaking, in which content is presented differently to search engines than users
• Stealing content
• Not Doing any SEO

Yes, avoiding SEO altogether is one bad tactic to avoid. After all, if you’re not trying to optimize your business for the right people online, your competitors are likely taking your ranking spots.

How to Win at SEO

Good SEO doesn’t happen by accident, it’s something businesses must work at diligently if they’re ready to make it to the top of rankings. We suggest picking up your copy of The SEO Diet for expert SEO tips, tricks, and guidance from SEO guru Joe Larato. Our book outlines the right tactics for digital marketing and provides useful information for every aspect.

If SEO feels out of your hands, call on SEO professionals who can take care of the work for you. When hiring an SEO company, make sure that their promises don’t sound too good to be true and be sure to check verified reviews of the company.

The post Banish Junk Food – Bad SEO Practices to Avoid appeared first on The SEO Diet.