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.

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.

Different Types of Keywords

Words and phrases that have a considerable number of searches in a month qualify as keywords. There are several different types of keywords to consider: 

• Head Keywords – The main drivers of traffic to your site, that are popular among searchers and highly competitive. For example: marketing agency.
• Torso Keywords – Similar to head keywords, but with fewer clicks per keyword. For example: digital marketing agency.
• Long-Tail Keywords – More specific keywords, usually three words or longer. For example: SEO digital marketing agency.
• Geo-Targeted Long-Tail Keywords – Long-tail keywords with local search in mind. For example: SEO digital marketing agency in Fort Lauderdale.

Helpful Keyword Tools

Keyword research is an important step in finding the right keywords to use. There are several different keyword tools you can use to find the best keywords for your site. Many tools are available that can help you see and identify search trends, keyword popularity, keyword competitiveness, and much more.² These keywords research tools include, but are not limited to:

• Google AdWords
• Google Trends
• SpyFu
• SEMRush
• Moz
• Answer the Public
• Raven Tools

When it comes to optimizing the content on your site with keywords, it’s important to remember that relevant keywords are more valuable than the density of them in your writing. A common mistake amongst people who are new to SEO is keyword stuffing. However, in SEO, quality trumps quantity, for readers and search engine crawlers alike.

Sources

1. Chapter 8: An Introduction to Keywords – Joe Laratro – SEO Diet
2. Chapter 12: Tools to Help You Find the Best Keywords for Your Site – Joe Laratro – SEO Diet

The post The Importance of Keywords in SEO appeared first on The SEO Diet.

Best Practices for Writing Title Tags

• Title tags should be no longer than 70 characters.
• The priority of the keywords and branding should go in this order: Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword | Branding
• Write title tags for humans (as opposed to search engines).
• Every page should have a unique title tag – do not duplicate them.
• Title tags should not be keyword-stuffed.
• Make your title tag different than your header tag.
• They should be easy to read and should make sense.
• Avoid using too many stop words.

Writing good, optimized title tags is worth your time and effort when it comes to implementing SEO on your website. This part of meta data is the most obvious element in search results, and it plays a part in a potential visitor’s decision regarding whether or not they want to click on your site.

Examples of Good and Bad Title Tags

If a webpage is about adopting a dog from an adoption center called Pet Rescue USA, here are good and bad examples of title tags:

• Bad: Pet Rescue – Rescue and Adopt a Dog That Needs to Be Rescued – Pet Rescue USA
• Good: Rescue Your Pet – Adopt a Dog from Your Local Shelter | Pet Rescue USA
• Good: Rescue A Dog from A Shelter | Pet Rescue USA

If a webpage is about where you can find the best fishing rods from a brand called Fishing Forever, examples of title tags include:

• Bad: Fishing Rods – Find a Fishing Rod for Fishing | Fishing Forever
• Good: The Best Fishing Rods for Saltwater Fishing | Fishing Forever
• Good: The Best Fishing Rods for Bass Fishing | Fishing Forever
• Good: The Best Fishing Rods of 2019 | Fishing Forever

If the webpage is the home page for an air conditioning company called Stay Cool in Los Angeles, title tag examples include:

• Bad: Home – Stay Cool
• Good: AC Services, Installation, and Repair in Los Angeles | Stay Cool
• Good: Los Angeles HVAC Experts – AC Installation & Repair | Stay Cool
• Good: Air Conditioning Installation & Repair Services | Stay Cool

The proper placement of keywords within your titles and title tags will make a difference in the success of your SEO efforts, so it’s important to take advantage of the different SEO ranking factors. For more SEO secrets and examples of good SEO, dive into the SEO Diet by Joe Laratro.

The post How to Write Good Title Tags: A Checklist appeared first on The SEO Diet.

What Is an SSL Certificate?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. To find out if a website has an SSL certificate, look at the address bar and see if the website starts with HTTPS – the “S” means that the connection is secure. While that S should be in the URL of every website you come across, you should definitely ensure it is on any site that asks for personal data.

What Does an SSL Certificate Do?

SSL is the standard security technology used to establish an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain integral.¹ Not only does an SSL protect transactions being made on your site and keeps customer information private, but it also helps you build trust with your customers and search engines like Google.

Do SSL Certificates Affect SEO Rankings?

As talked about in Chapter 1 of the SEO Diet book, Google started giving a boost to the websites that purchased an SSL certificate and switched their site to HTTPS in 2017.² Thus, Google has made the push to encourage a safer internet. In July of 2018, Google’s Chrome browser began marking all websites that have not migrated to HTTPS as “not secure.”³ That being said, this encryption is counted as one of the hundreds of factors to boost search engine rankings of a website.

Check out the SEO Diet for more information on SSL, ranking factors, or other SEO secrets.

Sources

1. ServerGuy – Why Google is Forcing You to Have SSL Certificates on Your Websites
2. Chapter 1: Website Design Choices and Their Impact on Traffic – Joe Laratro – SEO Diet  
3. Chromium Blog – A secure web is here to stay

Updated on April 2, 2020

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As Google says themselves, “You want the answer, not billions of webpages, so Google ranking systems sort through the hundreds of billions of webpages in our Search Index to give you useful and relevant results in a fraction of a second.”¹ Search engine algorithms are the who, what, where, when, and why of search engine rankings.

To put it simply, a search engine algorithm is a set of rules that the search engine uses to determine the significance of webpage. By significance, we mean whether or not the page provides useful information in regards to the relevancy of the searcher’s query.

There are two major search engines: Google and Bing. While there are many other smaller and more specialized search engines, there are a few things that all search engines have in common: relevancy. Search engines want to show users the most relevant content possible.

How Does Google’s Algorithm Work?

Google uses several different factors in determining whether or not a webpage is useful for your query:¹

• Analyzing your words
• Matching your search
• Ranking useful pages
• Considering context
• Returning the best results

Google favors informative sites. Their algorithm consists of finding websites that read naturally and also convey useful information. When it comes to SEO and ranking strategies, you may think that if you use a keyword plenty of times that Google will find your page and include it in the SERPs. However, this tactic could backfire. Overusing a keyword or phrase can signal to Google that you’re trying to manipulate the algorithm, rather than provide good content.²

Google uses hundreds of different factors to return the best content on the web from your fingertips to your search results, so their algorithms avoids returning sites that provide poor user experience or may identify as spam.

How You Can Get Better Rankings on Google

While there is no one-strategy-fits-all approach, you can always keep some things in mind to help you speak to Google’s algorithms and get better rankings.

1. Make pages for users, not for search engines.
2. Make a site that’s easy to navigate.
3. Create useful content, such as pages that are clear and accurate.
4. Use meta data such as title tags, header tags, meta descriptions, and alt tags.
5. Continue to produce fresh quality content.

For more information regarding search engine optimization and how to obtain organic results, check out the #1 SEO book, SEO Diet, written by Joe Laratro. Learn how to shape up your business online by one of the leading experts in the search engine marketing industry today.

Sources

1. Google – How Search Algorithms Work
2. Introduction – Joe Laratro – SEO Diet

The post About Search Engine Algorithms appeared first on The SEO Diet.

Alt Text – A description of an image in your website’s HTML, which allows the search engine crawlers to understand the images (because they cannot see the images like humans do).

Backlinks – A link placed on someone else’s website that points back to your site. Obtaining reputable backlinks will improve your search engine rankings.

Black Hat SEO – The name for the SEO practices that are known for being manipulative or unethical, which can hurt a website’s rankings.

Conversion – An achievement of a quantifiable goal on a website. Add clicks, sign ups, and sales are examples of conversions.

Crawler – Also known as a bot or a spider. A program that search engines use to crawl websites and collect information to add to a search engine’s index.

Directory – A list of websites usually separated by related categories that uses human reviewers. Major directories include Superpages, Infogroup, Yellow Pages, Citysearch, Hotfrog, Yelp, and more. Directories are valuable SEO tools for improving listings and backlinks.

Engagement Metrics – Methods used to measure how users interact with your webpages and content, such as click-through rate, conversion rate, bounce rate, time on page, new vs. returning visitors, dwell time, and more. Metrics can help assess the success of your SEO strategy.

Heading – H1-H6 heading tags that should incorporate your target keywords and be used naturally to separate your content into sections based on importance. These tags visually break up a page and help search engine crawlers better understand your content.

Link Building – The process of obtaining backlinks to your page/website.

Meta Description – A short description of a blog, page, or post, used by search engines. The description is not displayed on the page, but in the search results.

SEO- That’s the reason we’re here! SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is a digital marketing technique that’s used to optimize websites for better standings in search engines.

SERP – Search Engine Results Pages, which refers to the pages that are displayed when you enter a query on Google.

Title Tag – How search engines find out what the page is about. This is visible to humans in the browser’s title bar. Every page has a title tag.

White Hat SEO – The name for all SEO practices that search engines encourage you to use, which will boost your rankings, your reputation, and your credibility.

While we simply cannot cover every technical term, you can better understand SEO when you have a grasp on the most basic concepts. Joe Laratro goes more in depth in his SEO book, SEO Diet, providing readers with SEO secrets and how to do SEO to improve your organic search rankings. Get the SEO Diet book today to learn how to shape up your business online!

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