Don’t worry, though. We’ve got some easy ways you can boost your visibility. With consistency and a little bit of knowledge about key factors affecting rankings, you’ll be attracting more customers in no time!

Key Factors Affecting Google My Business Rankings

Understanding the key factors that influence your Google My Business ranking is essential to optimize your online presence and attract more local customers. These elements play a crucial role in how your business appears in search results, directly impacting your visibility and engagement.

Business Relevance, Proximity, and User Experience

You’ll find that the relevance of your business, its proximity to customers, and the overall user experience all significantly affect your Google My Business ranking. User feedback plays a crucial role in determining this relevance. Customers’ reviews and ratings reflect on your business reputation.

Ensure your website is mobile-friendly because most searches are done on handheld devices these days.

Advanced geo-targeting helps position your business closer to potential customers by targeting specific locations. Incorporate relevant keywords into your profile for better visibility in local searches.

Lastly, forge local partnerships with neighboring businesses or community organizations; they can boost your credibility and enhance customer trust.

Review Quality, Quantity, and Engagement

Review quality, quantity, and engagement are crucial for enhancing online reputation. Your review solicitation strategy should aim at both volume and authenticity.

Quantity significance lies in the fact that a higher number of reviews can boost your visibility and trustworthiness. But don’t overlook quality control; strive for positive, detailed feedback over generic praise.

Engagement tactics involve acknowledging all reviews, whether positive or negative. Responding shows commitment to customer satisfaction and can help mitigate any potential damage from less-than-stellar ratings.

Negative Local Search Ranking Factors

It’s important to understand that inconsistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) details, poor reviews, and inaccurate business category are among the negative local search ranking factors that can harm your online visibility. This is further aggravated by duplicate listings on different platforms. Incorrect citations only add fuel to the fire.

Spammy behavior, such as stuffing your Google My Business profile with irrelevant keywords, can lead people to distrust your brand. You also need to ensure your business hours are accurate; misinformation can lead customers astray and cause them to leave negative reviews.

Enhancing Your Google My Business Listing

In enhancing your Google My Business listing, there are several key aspects you’ll need to focus on.

Firstly, it’s crucial to claim, verify, and ensure the accuracy of your business information.

Secondly, you must carefully choose the right category and attributes that best represent your business. Additionally, crafting a compelling description of your services or products is important.

Lastly, consider adding quality photos and videos to entice potential customers. It is also essential to manage customer reviews by responding promptly and professionally.

Claiming, Verifying, and Ensuring Accurate Information

You’ll notice a significant improvement in your Google My Business ranking once you’ve claimed, verified, and ensured all information is accurate. The verification process plays a crucial role in legitimizing your business online. It’s vital to regularly perform information updates; this not only enhances accuracy but also bolsters customer trust.

Be wary of duplicate listings, as they can confuse potential customers and dilute your visibility on the platform. The importance of accuracy cannot be overstated; it directly impacts how customers perceive your business.

Lastly, don’t forget about beneficial attributes – features that make your business stand out, like free WiFi or accessible parking.

Choosing the Right Category and Attributes

Choosing the right category and attributes for your listing isn’t just about ticking boxes. It’s about understanding what potential customers are looking for and ensuring they find it with you. Category Importance cannot be overstated in this process. It’s crucial to accurately classify your business under a category that best describes what you do. This is where Business Classification comes into play.

On the other hand, Attribute Selection provides specific details about your business that can set you apart from competitors. Don’t overlook Attribute Relevance when choosing these details – they should directly relate to your business and its offerings.

Crafting a compelling business description and showcasing services/products

Having chosen the right category and attributes for your business, let’s now focus on crafting a compelling business description and showcasing your services or products.

Your description should be rich in keywords that accurately represent your business. These are your ‘Description Keywords.’ They play an important role in improving your Google My Business ranking.

Equally crucial is identifying and articulating your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This highlights what sets you apart from competitors.

Understand the Importance of Branding – it helps customers identify with you. So, create Customer focused Content that resonates with their needs and expectations.

Adding Quality Photos and Videos to Entice Potential Customers

Let’s not forget that adding quality photos and videos is a crucial step in enticing potential customers. Photo optimization and video marketing are key strategies to enhance your visual appeal, ensuring multimedia engagement. You’re speaking volumes about your business through effective imagery.

It’s not just about having images but ensuring they’re optimized for SEO – tagged correctly, sized appropriately, and visually appealing.

Invest time in creating high-quality visuals and using video marketing techniques to effectively promote your offerings. Remember, the goal is to engage viewers while accurately representing your brand.

Managing and Responding to Customer Reviews

Managing and responding to customer reviews isn’t just about damage control. It’s an opportunity to engage with your audience and show them you’re invested in their experience. Review platforms like Google My Business are crucial for feedback solicitation.

Negative feedback management is integral too. Don’t shy away from criticism; address it head-on and use it as a chance for improvement. Show that you value all input by promptly responding with solutions or explanations.

Boosting Google My Business Activity

Boosting activity on your Google My Business profile is pivotal for maintaining a dynamic and engaging online presence. Regular updates and interactions enhance your visibility and foster trust and loyalty among potential customers.

Sharing Updates, Promotions, and Events

Sharing updates, promotions, and events on your Google My Business profile will keep your customers informed and improve your ranking. Integrating social media into this strategy can multiply its effectiveness.

When you post these updates, encourage user-generated content by inviting feedback or reviews. These SEO strategies are vital not only for global reach but also for local partnerships.

Being in tune with the community isn’t merely about goodwill—it’s about boosting visibility too. Collaborate locally and mention these partnerships in your posts to further optimize your profile.

Lastly, ensure all elements of your profile are mobile-optimized so smartphone users have no trouble accessing information. Remember, a well-managed Google My Business account is an accessible one.

Leveraging Insights and Analytics for Continuous Optimization

Leveraging insights and analytics for continuous optimization is crucial in understanding customer behavior and enhancing your overall strategy. You can discern patterns that may influence your SEO strategies by analyzing customer behavior. This is where utilizing predictive analytics comes into play. It can help foresee trends, allowing you to align your marketing efforts effectively.

Monitoring traffic sources will give you an idea of which platforms drive the most engagement, enabling you to tailor your approach. Once this is done, employ A/B testing to compare different versions of a single variable like ad visuals or headlines—to see which performs better.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, climbing the Google My Business ladder isn’t rocket science. Just spruce up your listing, keep your online presence consistent and vibrant, and stay active on Google My Business.

These simple steps will pave the way to top rankings, boosting your visibility like never before. So don’t miss out – start polishing that profile today!

The post Easy Ways to Improve Your Google My Business Ranking appeared first on SiteProNews.

Indexing your website is important because it helps in the success of your SEO strategy and include that your website pages will appear on the search result on Google. A quicker indexing procedure guarantees that readers will see your material more quickly, boosting the possibility of engagement and bringing more prospective consumers to your website.

But before you understand how you can index the website faster; it is important to know what indexing is and then how it helps in indexing the website faster on Google. So, let’s begin.

What is Google’s Index?

All the online pages that Google has crawled and is aware of are listed in its index. It won’t show up in search results if Google doesn’t index your website.

Nobody would be able to find your website, which would be bad for business. Hopefully, you now understand the significance of indexing for Google ranking.When users input queries into the search field, Google can swiftly gather and display pertinent search results because of this digital library of data on websites and their pages.

Ways to Improve Google’s Indexing of Your Website

For your content to be seen by more people and to increase traffic to your website, it is crucial that Google indexes your website rapidly.

1. Check Settings for Search Engine Visibility

The first thing you should consider is to make sure that search engines can see your WordPress site is the first step. By visiting the settings and then clicking on the Reading page and scrolling down to the Search Engine Visibility option, you can quickly verify this.

To allow search engines to index and crawl your website, make sure the checkmark is removed from this option.

2. Submit Website to Search Console on Google

All website owners can use Google Search Console, formerly known as “Google Webmaster Tools,” for free. To ensure that the proper people are seeing your website, it demonstrates how Google indexes and includes your website in Google search results.

Using the best SEO plugin for WordPress, you can effortlessly submit your website to Google Search Console and see if your web pages are indexed.

3. Remove Nofollow Link

Googlebot notifies Google to remove nofollow links from its index when it encounters them. Therefore, you must ensure that nofollow internal links are removed.

Simply search for and delete the rel=”nofollow” link tag. You can either accomplish this directly from the HTML code or by using the block editor in WordPress.

4. Build High-quality Backlinks

Search engines can tell that your material is useful and deserving of being indexed when you receive high-quality backlinks from trusted websites. To hasten the indexing procedure, use ethical link-building techniques like guest posting and working with influencers.

5. Social Media Promotion

To make your content more visible, share it on social media sites. Search engines may take notice of and index your material more quickly as a result of social signals. To increase the reach of your content, encourage users to share and interact with it.

6. Regularly Update Content

Search engines favor recent, fresh content. To maintain your existing information current and educational, regularly update and add to it. Request re-indexing using Google Search Console if you make significant updates.

7. Create an XML Sitemap

A sitemap makes it simple for search engines to navigate your website’s information. It provides them with a comprehensive inventory of your material in a machine-readable format.

Additionally, it lets search engines know how frequently you update your website and which links on your website are more crucial than others.

When you first start a blog or develop a new website, sitemaps are quite helpful because the majority of new websites don’t yet have many internal links or backlinks. Therefore, by generating an XML sitemap, you can ensure that all of your key articles and pages, including new content, are indexed by search engines.

The next step is to walk you through creating an XML sitemap using the AIOSEO WordPress plugin, which is the simplest method. The best part is that it alerts search engines immediately whenever you add, edit, or remove information from your website.

8. Submit Sitemap to Google Search Consoles

The next thing that you need to do is submit the XML Site map to the Google Search Console, you need to simply log in to Google Search Console.

Now, you can go to the sitemaps which are on the screen’s left side, and add the last part of the sitemap URL which is under the section Add new sitemap and click on the Submit button. You will start receiving reports in the search console once Google has crawled and indexed your website.

9. Optimize Your Robots.txt File

Since it serves as a website map for robots that crawl websites for search engines, a robots.txt file is an effective SEO strategy. Your robots.txt must grant Google permission to crawl the website, as you would have predicted.

However, as wp-admin pages are neither beneficial to your visitors nor necessary for Google to crawl, it is typical to forbid them. Search engine rankings can be improved and page speed can be increased by instructing Google not to crawl unused sites.

However, when it comes to indexing, you must ensure that your pages are crawlable and that no significant URLs have been blocked. Instead, you can instruct Google bots to give specific URLs priority when crawling them.

10 . Create Internal Links on the Website

Internal linking is one of the most efficient techniques to promote crawling and improve website indexation. Links help to build the crawling spiders’ routes through the web. The spider follows a link from one page to another when there is one.

Therefore, concentrate on building links to and from all of your most crucial pages. This notifies Google about your fresh and significant material, as well as the visitors to your website. You can utilize AIOSEO’s robust Link Assistant tool to make internal linking simple.

Click on the Links Report under Link Assistant in the All-in-One SEO menu. This report can help you find new opportunities for connecting as well as orphan posts—posts without any internal links at all.

There’s no need to manually modify every single post. Without leaving the page, you can quickly create both outgoing and inbound internal links using the Link Assistant.

Conclusion

The rate at which Google indexes your website can be considerably increased by implementing these tactics. Because it takes time for search engine algorithms to evaluate and rank fresh material, patience is essential. You may effectively increase your website’s exposure and online presence by constantly producing worthwhile, optimized content and making use of these strategies.

The post 10 Ways to Index Your Website Faster on Google appeared first on SiteProNews.

In this article, we will look more closely at these five tactics and their associated benefits and techniques so that you can effectively use them to achieve organic search domination. We will also discuss the importance of building high-quality backlinks and the benefits of organic search domination. By the end, you will better understand the strategies and tactics you can use to create high-quality backlinks and achieve organic search domination.

5 New Tactics To Building High-quality Backlinks

1. Incorporate Strategic Guest Posting

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving field; one of the most critical elements is building high-quality backlinks. Organic search domination is achievable when a website can produce and acquire backlinks from authoritative sites. Strategic guest posting is one of the most effective ways to achieve that.

Guest posting involves contributing content to external websites to create backlinks to your website. This tactic can be highly effective if done correctly, as it allows you to increase brand visibility and reach a wider audience. It also helps to build relationships with other website owners and industry thought leaders.

When finding relevant guest posting opportunities, it’s essential to do your research. Start by looking for websites in the same industry as you and look for any open calls for guest posts. You can also use search engine optimization tools to help you find websites and blogs that accept guest posts.

When crafting compelling guest posts, the most important factor is quality. Make sure to create content that is both engaging and useful to the readers. Be sure to include relevant keywords to help the post rank higher in search engine results. Additionally, ensure the post is optimized for readability, as this will help you achieve organic guest posts backlinks to stand out from the competition.

Finally, make sure to always include a link back to your website in the content. This will help to drive more traffic to your website and build authority. It’s also a good idea to include a call to action in the post, such as inviting readers to subscribe to your newsletter or follow you on social media. By creating a successful guest post, you’ll be well on your way to achieving organic search domination.

2. Creating Content that Is Worthy of Backlinks

When it comes to achieving organic search domination, creating content that is worthy of backlinks is one of the most important tactics. Content marketing is essential in SEO as it is critical to building quality backlinks. Content that is highly valuable to the user and easy to navigate will likely acquire more links.

The content should be well-researched and factual and provide valuable information for users. It should also be written in a way that is easy to understand and interesting enough to engage readers. It should also be engaging and contain images, videos, and other relevant media. Additionally, the content should be optimized for search engines using relevant keywords, as this will increase its visibility.

Publishing well-written content regularly can also be beneficial in building backlinks. Relevant sources may link to the content if they find it valuable and useful. Additionally, link-building should be incorporated into the content. If the content includes other relevant sources, it can help build links.

Using content marketing for link building can be especially effective with other link-building tactics. Off-site content marketing, such as guest posts and digital PR, can help promote the content and attract more backlinks. Additionally, link reclamation can be used to reclaim broken or lost links to the content, as this can help increase its visibility.

Creating content worthy of backlinks is essential for achieving organic search domination. When done correctly, content marketing can help build high-quality backlinks to the content, which can significantly improve organic search results.

3. Utilize Digital PR

When achieving organic search dominance, digital PR is an effective tactic to acquire high-quality backlinks. Digital PR involves the use of traditional PR practices for the development of digital brand awareness. It’s a form of public relations used to reach an online audience to raise brand awareness, drive website traffic, and build backlinks.

To successfully implement digital PR, you must understand the target audience and the most effective platforms for reaching them. This includes researching the potential media outlets, influencers, and bloggers you plan to target and understanding the type of content each audience prefers. You should also identify what topics and areas of interest your company can provide to these outlets.

Once you understand the target audience, you can develop an effective digital PR strategy. This should include the creation of a comprehensive press release, which will be distributed through different channels to raise brand awareness and drive website traffic. Additionally, you should create a plan for how to reach out to influencers and bloggers in your industry. You can do this by building relationships, providing helpful content and insights, and offering them opportunities to collaborate.

Once you have established relationships with influential people in your industry, you can begin to reach out to them to ask for backlinks. This could involve creating custom content for them to link to or providing exclusive data or access to something unique. Additionally, you can offer to be featured in their blog or website, which can benefit you and the influencer.

4. Prioritize Link Reclamation

Regarding achieving organic search domination, link reclamation should be a top priority. Link reclamation is identifying and claiming backlinks that have been established but have since been overlooked or neglected. In other words, it involves finding broken or ‘orphaned’ links directed towards your website and repairing them.

When done correctly, link reclamation can be highly effective in improving your organic search rankings. It can help boost the quality of your backlink profile and increase the number of links pointing back to your website. That means more visibility, more traffic, and better organic search rankings.

There are a few different ways to go about link reclamation. The most common approach is to review your backlink profile and identify any broken links manually. This involves analyzing your link profile (or the link profile of your competitors) to find links that aren’t functioning as intended. It’s also important to watch for irrelevant links or seasonally inactive links.

Once you’ve identified any broken or inactive links, it’s time to contact web admins to ask them to update the links. If possible, offer them suggestions for better, more relevant links or even provide them with new content you’ve created to replace the old links.

In addition to manually reviewing your backlink profile, you can use link reclamation tools to automate the process and find broken links that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. These tools are more effective than manual link reviews at locating hard-to-find broken links and can help you identify dozens of backlinks that need to be fixed.

Reclaiming broken links is essential to your link-building strategy if you want to achieve organic search domination. It’s an easy and cost-effective way to boost your backlink profile and improve your organic search rankings. With a few simple steps, you can improve your backlink profile and increase your chances of achieving organic search domination.

5. Repurpose & Distribute Content

In today’s digital age, content is king, and savvy businesses know they must leverage content to achieve organic search domination. Repurposing and distributing content is an effective way to build high-quality backlinks, increase visibility, and increase your search engine ranking.

When creating content, it’s essential to focus on creating quality content. Quality content is likely to be shared and create more backlinks. Once the content has been produced, the next step is to repurpose and distribute the content.

Repurposing content is a great way to leverage existing content and maximize its potential to generate backlinks. Content can be repurposed in various formats, such as videos, infographics, slideshows, podcasts, and webinars.

Distributing content is essential to get the word out and ensure that as many people see it as possible. Distributing content can be done in several ways, including publishing it on social media channels, submitting it to relevant blogs and directories, emailing influencers and bloggers, and using paid ads.

In addition to distributing content to get the word out, ensuring your content is easy to share and find is also essential. Creating a great headline, optimizing the content for SEO, and creating share buttons can help increase the likelihood that your content will be found and shared.

Finally, it is vital to measure the success of your content. Keeping track of metrics such as clicks, page views, and social media shares can help you understand what content is working and needs improvements.

By repurposing and distributing content, businesses can create high-quality backlinks, increase visibility, and increase their search engine ranking. Leveraging quality content and utilizing effective distribution and promotion tactics are essential for achieving organic search domination.

Conclusion

Organic search domination is vital for achieving success in digital marketing, and building high-quality backlinks is a crucial part of that. Backlinks are essential for SEO because they link a website to other sites and, through this, create more visibility for the site. This increases the likelihood of the website ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). Higher SERP rankings are essential for boosting organic search traffic and expanding the website’s reach to new potential customers.

Overall, using these 5 tactics, you can build high-quality backlinks to achieve organic search domination. Not only will this help to improve your search engine ranking, but it will also help to build relationships, increase your web presence, and generate more traffic to your website.

The post Achieving Organic Search Domination: 5 New Tactics to Building High-quality Backlinks appeared first on SiteProNews.

Understanding SERP and its complications is crucial for digital marketers aiming to optimize their online presence because more than 92% of the consumer traffic comes to the website from the first search engine results page.

Are you on ranking position on SERP? As SERP is highly competitive since the users are more likely to click on the results at the top and with the launch of Schema, it has become much more complex to predict the user’s needs.

So let’s have a look at how search engines work and what can they do to maximize their online visibility.

SERP- What They Are and How Do They Work

SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) are online pages served to searchers, like Google or any other search engine when they explore something online. The Searchers enter their keywords or search query, which the search engine provides them with on the SERP.

Each SERP result is unique; even if the search queries are performed simultaneously, the search results are not the same even if you use the same keyword. 

This is because the search engine virtually customized the user experience by presenting results based on various factors beyond search terms (keyword), such as physical location, social setting, browsing history, and much more. 

You will often see Two SERPs appears as identical same, but will often feature subtitles differently. This appearance of the SERP constantly fluctuates due to experiments done by Google, Bing, and other search engines to provide users more intuitive and responsive experience according to their interests and requirement.

With combined emerging technologies and development in the search space,” Google” SERP today differs significantly from its predecessors in appearance and other factors. 

The fact that numerous aspects remain significant for SEO(Search Engine Optimization) is crucial to remember; nevertheless, they should only be considered one part of a comprehensive approach. 

Search engines now consider several additional characteristics, such as the quality of a website’s content, the user experience, the speed of the site, its mobile-friendliness, and other factors. 

Focusing on producing top-notch content and developing a user-value-oriented website is essential.

Number of Backlinks 

The number of backlinks does impact the SERP ranking, but it is just one of the factors that the search engine considers.

The number of external links of the webpages to one specific page significantly determines the SERP ranking. Numerous backlinks to the webpage indicate that the page is authorized on the subject and trustworthy.

Number of Relevant Keywords

Using a comprehensive set of keywords relevant to the subject positively affects the ranking. 

While you shouldn’t be confused with Keyword Stuffing, as search engines don’t like it, Google reacts and shares the information on the keywords and phrases that have been searched over time.

User Experience 

Content rankings on SERPs consider UX elements, including website loading times, security, and usability.

Trust Indicators

Additionally, search engines consider accumulative information, such as a website’s safety, authority, traffic, and backlinks over time.

People most likely to ask

1. What are the parts of SERP?

Basically, SERP consists of three major types of search engine results: Organic Results, sponsored results, “Paid Results,” and Search Queries results with different features like Images, Videos, reviews, ratings, knowledge panels, etc.

2. How does the Search engine display results?

When your website is optimized for the key search term, Google will crawl it to establish its relevance for the search term in terms of content, structure, linking, and other factors. This will increase your website’s ranking, traffic, and conversation.

3. How does Google know What to show on SERP?

Google search works in three stages, and not all pages make it through each and every stage;

• Crawling

Google download and go through all texts, images, and videos from the page it is found on the internet with an automated program.

• Indexing

Google analyzes the text, image, and video files of the website page and stores the information in the index of Google, an extensive database.

• Serving search results

Whenever the user searches for anything on Google, Google returns the relevant information to the search query.

Types of Search Queries

The SERP displayed after the search depends on the type of search queries entered. Search queries fall into 1 of 3 categories.

Navigational Queries

Navigational queries occur when someone hopes to find a particular website through a search, the individual searching for the specific website, through a URL or any other maritime objective. 

But If I don’t search the site with the full URL, it would be challenging to find the search site on the first page of the result. So, take advantage of these queries for your site, and find the correct website.

Informational Queries

It is done when the user wants to learn something, like facts about any particular topic or how to perform specific tasks. 

The searcher doesn’t usually look to shop or purchase. Still, the majority of users or searchers use such an informational result, so create the most relevant content that serves your audience’s wants, needs and interests.

Transactional Queries

 Individuals create transactional queries when searching for product information or buying something from the board category. Transactional queries have the most revenue potential, so keywords are a must to bid or pay-per-click spots.

The searchers most relevantly see the paid results. Paid Ads are most popular among businesses as they are the most effective.  According to research analysis, nearly 70% of clicks on transactional SERP are done on Paid Ads.

TIP: Find the best Keyword and relevant content to fulfil the user’s wants, needs, and interests and better ranking.

Paid Results vs. Organic Results

SERPs typically contain two types of content as their results: Organic Results and Paid Results. Both formats are necessary and equally important to capture customers’ attention and increase traffic, particularly at the beginning of the customer journey.

Paid Ads Listing Results

Paid results are those that have been paid to be displayed on the top by the advertiser. In the past, the paid results were exclusively limited to test-based ones displayed on the right of the organic results. 

Nowadays, Google has placed paid ads at the top of the search engine results page (usually displaying 4 ads on the desktop and 3 on Mobile). More than four businesses are competing for the same search keyword.

And paid search results have a little green box with the word “Ad” while listing the company. 

For example, the large-text-based ads at the top of the SERP are typically PPC Ads. Of the three, the lower two are Ad extensions and allow future customers to navigate to the specific page on their websites.

The image-based ads on the right of the screen are Shopping Ads, a unique feature offered by the Google Ad platform that allows e-commerce businesses to display alongside other results on SERP.

But to make a decision, Google considers several factors: the bid amount, the quality of the ad itself, and applicability to the search of the users. If Google figures that your site is more suitable than the competition, you will appear top of the page.

Organic Listing Results

Organic Listing earns their place through SEO(Search Engine Optimization), an ever-changing technique used to rank at the top of search engine results or SERP. Organic search results are ones that a search engine’s algorithm and ranking signal favour. 

Organic results are ranked at the top based on how well they manage a search algorithm through SEO(Search Engine Optimization).

There is no way you can pay for an organic ranking higher than others. Digital marketing techniques and strategies like SEO and PPC are implemented to improve organic search results.

But besides boosting traffic, show the search engine that your site is trustworthy and authoritative, as there are many benefits of organic listing; it costs money, like paid results, and offers a more substantial ROI.

Ranking Signal and Search/Google Algorithm

The ranking signal is the factor that search engines use to decide the site’s relevance, quality, and authority. These signals help the ranking in search engines and display the most relevant content to the top users based on their search queries. 

And as Google is the most popular search engine, with millions of users and sites and pages, it has the most complex algorithm that considers numerous factors of ranking signals to deliver the best possible results. 

Some crucial factors for ranking signals which are widely recognized and confirmed by Google include. 

Search Engine Optimization(SEO)

Most of the time, users only look at the search engine result’s first four to five pages. 

So digital marketers, web designers, content managers, and site owners try SEO strategies in their practice to make their sites/pages appear at the top of SERP.

SEO is used to optimize the facts and information to organically rank on the top page of SERP by limiting the available knowledge about the search engine algorithm and ranking signals.

SERP combines multiple pieces of content, websites/webpages, links, images, etc., and the search algorithm frequently changes, so a strong and Strategic SEO Practice must be determined from them.

The SEO techniques include the following:

On page SEO

Refers to the best practice for content managers to create the best content that is unique, informative, and user-friendly. This includes placement of the most relevant keywords in headings and web page bodies, informative meta descriptions, and optimized User Interface Experience and links. You can even use Content management system tools to manage the content of your website/on-page content.

Off-page SEO

It generally generates links and traffic to your website to boost trust and authoritativeness. Create backlinks via Social Media campaigns, collaborations, partnerships, and much more.

Technical SEO

This includes features such as sitemap, HTTP, and XML schema, all of which provides Google insight and information about site page and content with security.
Covering SEO comprehensively here is impossible; all we need to know is that SEO is the primary factor in achieving rank from organic search perspectives. If you want to understand and learn more about SEO, go through our blog.

The post SERP – Understand All About Search Engine Result Pages appeared first on SiteProNews.

Latest updates are moving toward on-page, technical supremacy and the visitors’ experience.

The added E in E-E-A-T stands for experience, Core Web Vitals is known as user page experience. Google is clearly telling us that they are putting the visitor, and the user in the centre of their updates.

Writing for the benefit of the Google crawler, keyword stuffing, AI generated content… we are all guilty of some of the classic SEO crimes one way or another.

So, let’s decode the recently announced E-E-A-T!

The best way to do that would be to review E-A-T first.

E-A-T in SEO stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.

It is very important to learn that Google confirmed E-A-T is rated for every query that is searched in 2022. And that is a massive change for what is shown in top positions in SERPs and how it should optimise our pages.

E-A-T is all about quality, factual writing on a high quality, recognised and safe website:

E as Expertise stands for the expertise on the subject of the writer, aka you should seek a specialist on the subject of the page, not just a random freelancer that might get the facts wrong. Imagine buying face cream online and you are giving wrong advice, an unqualified or incompetent writer simply does not mention (for example) potential allergic reactions and you could end up with ruined skin.

A as Authoritativeness goes beyond just the voice of authority and supremacy of the individual page but speaks about the power, quality and recognition of the website as whole. Is your website seen as a good source of information on the web? Are you linking to other sources and are you being quoted as a place of useful and forceful information?

And lastly, T for Trustworthiness – once again refers to the website, not just the page quality. Is the website safe for you to use your credit card? – is a first question you should ask yourself when trying to validate if the website can be trusted by others. Do you have good Trustpilot and Google reviews? Are you using an SSL certificate? Does your website have a strong brand awareness? Are you present on social media?

E-A-T changed the SERPs and the growing importance of this quality measurement keeps changing the landscape of the SERPs.

Google always tries to serve the most relevant, best and fastest answer, but with E-A-T they are simply making sure that the results provided are keeping the users safe. Absolutely the correct approach as we all tend to shop more online for everything – travel, clothes, cosmetics… you name it.

E-A-T is not a ranking signal like speed, meta title or backlinks. But it impacts the rank of your content which is a ranking signal.

E-A-T is a Google quality guideline that is used to determine if the content is high quality and should be ranked higher or not compared to your competitors.

As Google saw a positive change in SERPs with E-A-T, they are taking it one step further to provide an even better experience to the users by creating E-E-A-T.

This is a change to Google content quality guidelines. The new E stands for Experience!

What Does that Mean and How Do SEOs Need to Work with this Latest Change?

Experience, in this context, refers to the first hand experience of the author and the website with the topic in question.

For example, if you are on a medical blog, is the article written by a doctor, or a real expert on the topic?

If it is a financial blog, is the article full of useful info written by someone from the financial sector? Is the information true? Is it understandable, even if an expert has explained it?

Is the article published on a relevant website or is it just a one time article of a completely unrelated topic to the whole website?

Also, Google is giving us more explanations on some vital concepts such as:

• Is the website harmful or safe?
• Is the content harmful or safe ?
• What is the reputation of the website and its contributors?

This is why an author’s profile is important, credentials, links to their professional profiles such as LinkedIn, or other places that can verify the true identity and qualification of the writer.

The job of SEO’s is to prove to Google that you have got the most relevant and best, trustworthy solution for the query.

To provide a good additional E to E-A-T, watch out for and provide:

Content: Original, well researched content that demonstrates a direct, ‘first hand’ experience’ with the topic.

Author: Is an expert on the topic in question, has verifiable credentials.

Publisher: Has a history and it is a recognised authority on the topic. Aka an SEO post on a website that is on marketing and SEO.

On top of all that, Google has confirmed that the most important and central piece of the E-E-A-T is trust, and it was named the most important ‘member of the trust family’.

Naturally, Google and their Quality raters will apply the principles of E-E-A-T differently to different verticals and niches. As this is a quality update for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) websites – medical, financial, news, governmental information… naturally these will see the biggest impact of this change. Having said that, Google wants to provide the best and most relevant and correct answer to all queries, so in the end, there will be impact on most of the niches out there, maybe not as significant as on YMYL.

In conclusion, if your website was already optimised for E-A-T, this should be just a small change and adjustment for you.

If your website does not respect E-A-T guidelines, E-E-A-T will cost you places in the SERPs.

Make sure to re-optimise your website and content that Google is asking you to and make sure to work with verifiable experts in their field.

In the end, we all want to feel safe online.

The post E-E-A-T: How E-A-T Changed and What It Means for SEOs appeared first on SiteProNews.

The shifting landscape of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and its’ many ranking factors can make it hard to determine what you need to focus on to grow your website’s organic traffic. 

Fortunately, there are a few core elements of SEO that stay mostly the same. In this article, I will break down 5 key aspects of SEO so you know exactly where you need to put your effort.

1. Consistent Publication of Great Content

Content is the lifeblood of the internet and is essential for SEO. Great content is what users are looking for, and as a result, so are search engines. 

What is great content?

Defining great content isn’t that easy because what “great” is depends on the purpose of the content and its audience. But as a general rule, great content is any content that provides valuable and relevant information to the consumer.

Great content can come in a number of formats (video, blogs, graphics) as long as the content is tailored to meet consumers’ needs. 

When attempting to create great content for your website, focus on your users. If you make answering their questions your primary goal, you will be on the right track.

From there, you just need to make the content easy to engage with. Make sure your content is easy to read and formatted appropriately. Add visuals that help to explain your content and make the content easy to navigate.

2. On-page SEO

On-page SEO involves the more technical aspects of SEO optimization. Making sure your website is healthy from an SEO perspective is one of the core building blocks of SEO. 

Many site owners overlook the basics of on page SEO because it seems unimportant and tedious. But not doing the basics of SEO will negatively impact your SEO results.

A site with many “minor” SEO issues is a major red flag to search engines. Make sure you cover the basics if you want to see your site traffic and rankings grow. 

To optimize your website’s on page SEO, you should do the following:

• Optimize your title tags 
• Optimize your meta descriptions
• Optimize your URL Structure
• Optimize page load speeds
• Add image Alt text
• Add structured data markup
• Eliminate 404s 
• Ensure your website is crawlable
• Optimize your website structure

On-page SEO isn’t glamorous, but it’s necessary. 

3. Mobile Optimization

Google made mobile friendliness a ranking factor in 2015 and started using mobile first indexing in 2018. These two algorithm updates mean your website’s mobile version significantly impacts your website’s performance in search. 

Your website must be optimized for mobile to see the best returns for your SEO efforts. 

A website that is optimized for mobile:

• Uses responsive design to change appearance to fit any screen size dynamically
• Prioritizes website load speeds so pages load quickly over any connection type (cellular data, wifi etc.)
• Keeps design elements simple to retain visual clarity on a small screen
• Uses large font sizes, so the text is readable on any screen size
• Provides information in a concise and accurate manner

4. Great User Experience

Making sure your website users have an awesome experience is another essential aspect of SEO. 

If you want to build a base of users who keep coming back to your site, you need to ensure they enjoy using it. 

We have all had negative experiences with websites. When a website is poorly organized, doesn’t answer our questions, or is difficult to use, we rarely become repeat visitors. This behavior is true of almost all users.

No matter the reason, people rarely return to a website that is hard to use or doesn’t provide information in an easy-to-consume format. 

Having great content on your website will only help you grow if visitors to your site can they can easily find and engage with it. 

This is where having a great user experience comes in. 

User experience falls into various categories, from page load speeds to site navigation to content organization. But the main goal of user experience is ensuring visitors to your site can find and access the content they are looking for as quickly and painlessly as possible. 

Slow load speeds, poorly formatted content, confusing navigation bars, and intrusive pop-ups make your website harder to use and result in a bad user experience. If users routinely have a bad experience on your site, they will stop coming back, preventing you from building a loyal base of users. 

5. Backlinks from High-quality Websites

The last key element of SEO is backlinks from authoritative websites. Links act as a kind of “vote” for your website. The more of these votes you have the better for your website.

When a site has links from other websites that search engines already consider credible, it boosts the credibility of the linked site. 

If you want to build your website’s authority, backlinks are vital. 

So how do you go about building links? 

Create “great content” and then make sure people know about it. 

When you execute on tip one, “consistent publication of great content,” you will organically gain links to your site as people reference and share your content. This is Google’s preferred method of link building and is also one of the most effective.

While organic link building is the preferred method for building links to your site, it’s not a replacement for outreach. 

Make sure you post your content on other platforms. Reach out to site owners in your niche and share your content with them. A well-written email can do wonders for building links to your site. 

If you invest in these 5 core elements of SEO, you will be well on your way to building your website’s authority and traffic. 

SEO isn’t nearly as complicated as it seems. Consistently invest in the basics, and you will see results.

The post SEO Essentials: 5 Key Factors for Improving SERP Rankings appeared first on SiteProNews.

One of the most common questions asked by SEO experts and business owners who want to rank better in search engines like Google is what do you have to do to have backlinks count as one of the ranking factors? If you are asking yourself this question, then let me explain first what backlinks are and why they are considered one of the ranking factors in SEO in the first place. Then I will tell you some effective ways to outweigh backlinks in SEO.

Google Algorithm Updates

Many people believe that Google has updated its algorithm and it doesn’t weigh backlinks heavily anymore. However, that isn’t the case, there are many ways you can outreach and link build your way to some high-quality, organic backlink growth. Plus, it never hurts to take a page out of everyone’s book who is good at link building (or guest posting) and do it for yourself. Link outreach might be something you have never done before but with some research and patience, anyone can succeed.

Linking Root Domains

In an ideal world, you could trust that backlinks alone would always be enough to help your site rank. That being said, we live in the age of link building, and there are too many people trying to game the system. The best way you can have high-quality backlinks is by utilizing outreach and working on quality link building with guest posts and other forms of content marketing. This way you can have links coming from your domains which will weigh more than any outreach or guest post.

Number of Links from Different Domains

Google uses backlinks from other websites to assess how valuable your website is. They track how many links point back to your page and make an estimate of how many quality backlinks you have based on the popularity of the site that is linked to you. While you can’t manually track this, there are ways for you to get more backlinks, which Google will then take into account when ranking your site higher. One thing that is essential for achieving better rankings is building up link equity. Link equity refers to the number of quality links pointing at a site as well as factors like reputation, popularity, and relevance. Essentially it’s just a numerical estimate of how popular or important someone thinks your website might be so they link it in hopes that others will come by and see it too.

Strength of Links from Different Domains

Ideally, you want backlinks from higher domain trust networks. For example, the New York Times or Harvard University will not be of the same value as a blog post on Tumblr. Generally speaking, if you want links from authoritative domains, it is best to create high-quality content that attracts them organically. Links are also weighted by how recently they were published; there is more value for a new link on your site than an old one.

Link Volume Data

Recently, there have been some studies done on the importance of backlinks. This led us to ask: just how important are they? If you have 2 backlinks and I have 10, will your site rank higher than mine? Will I get more traffic?

Domain Age and Trust Flow

You have likely heard that backlinks are still one of the top-ranking factors. For example, Domain Age and Trust Flow are both ranked as moderately important ranking factors. These measures will help you improve your site’s trustworthiness. This is one of the main reasons that backlink building should still be included in your SEO campaign. However, you don’t want to forget about other techniques like targeting long-tail keywords or writing blog posts on topics related to your niche– they’ll also help get your website discovered by people searching for specific things online.

Page Authority

A major component of Page Authority is linked domain authority (LDA), which essentially quantifies the power that a page wields on linking websites. Linked domain authority is a measure of how powerful an individual page is, or how much weight it has on other websites. The higher the DA, the more important the content is and should be treated with higher respect by other sites and by Google. 

The final element of Page Authority considered for ranking purposes is link quantity and quality. Each time another site links to your content, their DA rating is divided among any sites linking out; this number will decrease as more links are made from it, providing a baseline for how much weight that particular backlink brings with it.

7 Surefire Ways to Get High-Quality Backlinks

As search engine algorithms continue to evolve, content marketers are tasked with staying one step ahead of the game to remain competitive and relevant in their niche market. Many of the long-standing traditional methods used to obtain backlinks are no longer guaranteed to boost your rankings, and savvy content marketers are on the lookout for new ways to get high-quality backlinks that will help their sites rank well in search engines. Here are seven effective strategies you can use to get high-quality backlinks in 2020 and beyond.

1. Focus on Quality

It’s become all too easy for sites that don’t deserve the high rankings they hold, to climb the Google ladder and gain authority. If you’re just starting, you may have seen articles about something called SEO guest posting but never thought it would be an option for your business.

Backlinks are an important part of any search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. They are links from other websites that Google considers to be votes of confidence that your site is high-quality and user-friendly.

2. Focus on Long-tail Keywords

It’s now more important than ever before to get high-quality backlinks. The way you go about doing this might be a little different now that Google has put so much weight on user experience and relevance. One of the most effective ways is to create content that provides longtail keywords with information that they can’t find elsewhere, then contact them directly with your piece as an offering. You can also offer other people’s content if it offers any value or ties in with your topic of expertise.

3. Increase Your Chances by Using Influencers

Utilizing influencers is one of the easiest ways to get high-quality backlinks. An influencer can provide a new angle for your blog post and make it much more interesting or applicable to their audience. However, it’s important not just for you but also for them as well. If you want people on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter to share your link then offer them a shootout in return.

4. Guest Blogging has Gotten Harder

Guest blogging was the easiest way for a business to grow backlinks when search engines were first created. Until now, most businesses use guest blogging as a way to generate links that allow their content or site more visibility on the web. However, Google has been cracking down hard on this strategy over the past couple of years and penalizing sites that have abused this strategy. That’s why if you’re looking for ways to start earning backlinks, it’s better that you focus on quality rather than quantity.

5. Link Building Doesn’t Stop 

This decade is just getting started and this means that 2022 isn’t going to be the same as 2018, either. With a new year comes new technologies, trends, and opportunities for internet marketers who are ready for change.

For external backlinks, various sources will help to gain some link juice and relevancy.

• Forum Profile Links
• Guest Posts
• Wiki Links

6. Track Your Results

• Use Medium – Create an account and publish quality content relevant to your target audience.
• Ask Influencers for a Link – Connect with influencers by sending them a quick message or Tweet, you could ask them for a link. Influencers are more likely to engage with you if you send a note of introduction and share some of your work first. 
• Guest Post on Other Sites – Reach out and submit articles as guest posts on other sites that are related or have an overlapping audience. 

7. Google Authorship is Dead, but Social Media Posts Can Do Well

Marketers all know that links are key to a good SEO strategy. To do well on Google, links need to be credible and from reputable sites. But there’s also an old technique of adding links with keyword phrases just for the sake of getting some words on the page and hoping for a backlink—and it can work in the short term. The reality is, however, that search engines are cracking down on these types of posts.

The post How to Rank Well in Search Engines Using Backlinks appeared first on SiteProNews.

Every year, Google, the most popular search engine, modifies the way its algorithms interpret data and rank websites that they find the most useful for consumers. It’s important for a business that wants to stay in the competition and make the most of its SEO investments year after year, to become acquainted with the new norms as soon as possible. Having foreknowledge regarding future updates and factors that can influence SEO and rankings is crucial for businesses to stay on top of the ranking game. If you are a proactive business looking to prepare for the future, you are at the right place.

In this article, we will discuss 8 SEO ranking factors that can influence your website’s ranking in 2023 and beyond. Read along to discover what will work in terms of SEO in the coming times and start implementing these factors in your SEO campaign to reap lucrative, long-term benefits. 

1. Mobile Optimization

While you may think mobile phone optimization is an outdated ranking factor, it isn’t. Google is still favorable to mobile-friendly websites and in fact, has introduced a mobile-first indexing factor where the algorithms will first crawl the mobile version of your website to index and rank it on SERPs. It’s important to keep optimizing your website for mobile devices to ensure all the pages are ideally loading for the users. Since most users are going to access your website from their mobile devices, if it appears unorganized and cluttered, they may immediately leave it for your competitor’s better-optimized one which will decrease its CTR. A high CTR contributes to a website’s ranking which is why mobile optimization becomes even more important. You can leverage mobile usability metrics to gauge your website’s usability on mobile devices. 

2. User Experience

Google’s latest update focuses on the overall experience a website provides to users. As part of this update, the algorithms will analyze numerous UX factors of the website to determine its ranking on search results. These factors include a web page’s accessibility, the number of redirects it has, the amount of high-quality pictures and videos it contains, the way dynamic content like pop-ups load on it, and the length of the page among other usability factors. If you want your website to rank in 2022 and beyond, you should ensure it provides a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience to users. Try to make it as basic as possible enabling users to easily interface with it and quickly navigate to their desired content. Make sure it isn’t plagued by advertisements or has irrelevant content that can harm your rankings. 

3. Schema Markup

You can use schema to markup the content on your website, enabling Google’s algorithms to accurately interpret it and display it more frequently and precisely for relevant search queries. Marking up your content using schema will make your website more structured, enabling web crawlers to ideally index it and portray rich snippets under its link on SERPs. By adding microdata to the HTML script of your website using the schema vocabulary, you can control how Google portrays the meta description of your website. Rich snippets under your website’s link can make it stand out in the search results, significantly increasing its click-through rate. You can generate more organic traffic to your website using schema which has always been a ranking factor and is going to be so for times to come. 

4. BERT Algorithm

Google has recently introduced a new algorithm called BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) which leverages machine learning capabilities to deduce the intent behind a user’s search input. This algorithm helps the search engine to match users with the exact results that they intend to find when they put in a search query. In the coming times, with machine learning and natural language processing technologies evolving, websites that offer content best matching the user’s intent will be promoted up the rankings. If you want to rank in 2022, 2023 and beyond, you will have to include more content that matches your ideal customer’s search intent. 

5. Keyword Research

Keywords are indispensable when it comes to SEO and they are only going to become more important as SERPs keep getting advanced. With Google’s algorithms getting smarter and showcasing content from all around the web at the top of search results in the form of business listings, contact information, profiles and featured snippets, users end up not clicking any website at all for their search queries. They get all the information they need in an organized fashion at the top of search results thanks to Google’s high-performance algorithms. That’s why to get the clicks on your website despite this advancement in the algorithms, you will have to perform meticulous keyword research to unearth keywords that will constitute most search queries. 

6. Passage Indexing

Passage indexing is another of Google’s algorithms that leverages high standards of natural language processing capability to understand and index particular passages from long-form content on websites. These passages are then directly displayed on SERPs for relevant queries thereby helping users gain easy access to the precise answers they are looking for on the web. To make the most of this algorithm, you should publish more long-form, holistic content that covers every aspect of a topic. This can help you rank higher on SERPs for relevant search queries, now and in the future.

7. Voice Search Optimization

With the rising popularity of voice search assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, voice searches are at an all-time high. Users can conveniently speak out their search queries without taking the pains to type. According to Google, 27% of the global population uses voice search on mobile. Furthermore, ComScore has reported that more than half of all smartphone users used voice search capabilities in 2020. Since spoken queries are much more conversational, long-tail, and unconventional, you need to optimize your content accordingly for your website to rank on SERPs. Try to use conversational keywords that resemble what users might speak out on voice search. Voice search is here to stay and so, optimizing your content for it is definitely going to help you rank in 2023. 

8. Video SEO

As an online business, you must already be aware of the benefits of video marketing. Google’s algorithms prefer informative and engaging videos and rank websites with embedded videos higher on SERPs. Video key moments is a search feature on Google that shows selected key moments from full-length, embedded videos on SERPs related to the search input. If you perform video SEO, you can now get additional benefits from it by helping Google identify key moments from your videos. All you have to do is use the seek-to-action markup to provide the web crawlers the URL structure to jump to a specific portion of the video. Google’s algorithms will automatically identify key moments using artificial intelligence capability. 

Conclusion

These are the 8 ranking factors that you need to be aware of this year and in 2023 to be in a pole position on search rankings. If the entire SEO technicalities don’t seem like your cup of tea, or you are a small-scale SEO agency looking to scale up cost-effectively and achieve real ranking results for your clients, white label SEO services should be at the top of your consideration.

The post The Top 8 SEO Ranking Factors You Need to Know in 2023 appeared first on SiteProNews.

Google is the world leader in terms of Internet search and digital advertising revenue. Every day, more than 3 billion Google searches are conducted worldwide and over 100 billion web pages are indexed by the search engine giant. What makes Google so popular? Its algorithm that guarantees better results for any keyword entered by users has had a major role to play in the success of Google. In addition, internet users today are increasingly using mobile devices for search and Google is keeping up with that trend too.

Google’s continuous research on how to provide relevant web pages from different sites lets you see more clearly what you’re looking for. On this note, let’s look at the latest SERP feature trends:

Priority to Voice-optimized Content

The latest SERP feature trends show that content on mobile devices will be more voice-activated and conversational. Google’s voice search is growing 3 times faster than the text version and accounts for 20% of all mobile queries. Mobile web pages with 2 to 4 sentences in the description area perform better than those with a longer description or several short descriptions.

More Knowledge Graph Cards

Cards are the latest SERP feature trends in Google, which display detailed information about specific topics in separate sections within search results. This allows searchers to find answers quickly without having to click on another web page, thereby increasing user satisfaction for Google users. You can also improve your strategy by using Schema.org structured data to spread your content across multiple Google knowledge graph cards.

Integration of Local Search With Images

Google’s latest SERP feature trends show a strong push towards integrating local business information into SERPs, especially for mobile users. If you have a physical store or an office in a certain location, make sure that this information is visible to Google.

Bookmarking Service for Mobile Devices

Google’s latest SERP feature trends indicate that users are increasingly turning to their mobiles to find bookmarked content. If your content has been shared thousands of times on the web, you can consider it as a high-quality bookmark and monetize it with Adsense ads or other affiliate ads.

High-quality Featured Snippets

The latest SERP feature trends show that Google is increasingly using featured snippets to display high-quality content with extensive information in separate boxes at the top of SERP. It’s a great opportunity for you to grab traffic from users who like to get all their answers right on one page and don’t go through other sites.

The Rich Cards

Google’s latest SERP feature trends show that the search engine giant is increasingly using rich cards to display information and media together in one featured snippet or box on SERP. The results include headlines, images, and buttons with snippets of relevant content and hyperlinks for users searching for related topics. This is a great opportunity for you to direct users to your own website.

The Use of Location Modifiers

The latest SERP feature trends show that Google is increasingly using location modifiers to display local-specific results based on user search queries. This is an important tool in the SEO strategy because it helps companies improve their online presence by displaying relevant information for their target location.

Highlighting Special Offers

If you have a list of weekly or monthly deals and discounts, Google’s latest SERP feature trends indicate that highlighting these offers in the description area affects the user experience and helps increase conversions for your business. It also makes it easier to rank higher than other e-commerce sites offering similar products.

Tips for Better SEO Strategy

Fret not if you are new to SEO as we’ve got you covered with the best tips to improve your SEO strategy to gain a competitive edge:

• Analyze data trends over the past few years to understand how search engine algorithms have evolved.
• Create a regular SEO calendar with updates on your site’s security, content writing, and link-building activities.
• Use engagement signals like click-through rate, time spent on a page, bounce rate, etc. to monitor the quality of traffic coming through search engine optimization.
• Focus on the latest SERP feature trends such as featured snippets, knowledge graph cards, location modifiers, and rich cards to get ahead of competitors.
• Use Schema.org structured data to make your content easily discoverable by Google’s bots.
• Be active on social media networks like Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Facebook because these channels can help you brand your business online.

Wrapping Up!

With the latest SERP feature trends, it is time to take your SEO strategies up a notch. Now that you know what Google is looking for, make sure you include these changes in your strategy for better search engine rankings and improved conversions.

Google’s latest SERP feature trends show a strong push towards integrating local business information into SERPs, which means companies should be actively monitoring their online presence across local business listings, review sites, social media channels, blogs, etc. By following these SEO strategies, you can come up with a stronger SEO strategy that will help improve your search engine rankings.

The post SERP Feature Trends and Tips For a Better SEO Strategy appeared first on SiteProNews.

Whether you own a thriving online business, work as a digital marketing manager for someone else, or are an SEO specialist at an agency, you’ll have to manage, monetize and promote online content through Google.

Search engine optimization may look like small modifications to a website. However, the combined impact of these minor changes on your website’s performance and user experience is massive.

The secret behind creating a high-ranking website resides in your ability to satisfy the users by offering them an above-par experience on your platform. One of these users is a search engine, which helps you reach other users with your website. Let’s look at some effective ways you can improve your Google ranking.

1. Understand the Google Algorithm

Whether it’s John Mueller or Gary Illyes, every successful Google executive states that Google frequently changes its algorithm and a majority of these changes are not announced publically. According to Moz, there are about 500-600 Google algorithm changes every year.

The primary purpose behind keeping these changes is to prevent black hat SEO strategies and shortcuts to maintain the authenticity of websites.

However, some notable algorithm updates you may want to know include page experience updates, core updates (related to the content quality), and mobile-first updates.

You can keep yourself updated with these changes by regularly keeping a check on Google Webmaster Central.

2. Strategize your Work

Targeting a single keyword across different pages of your website is certainly a bad idea! Instead, you need to rank for a maximum number of keywords, with the same amount of work and effort.

This is only possible if you come up with smart strategies. Start with keyword research and carefully choose your target keywords. Your targeted keywords directly impact your probability of success.

Here are a few important things to consider while selecting keywords:

• Choose the keywords specific to your particular domain only
• Choose less competitive keywords
• Make sure that your chosen keywords offer sufficient traffic
• Make sure your chosen keywords are relevant to your business
• Target multiple keywords simultaneously

People tend to search for the same things in a billion ways. Look for a keyword seed and then search a list of keywords that represent the same theme.

3. Discover a Seed Keyword

To grow your keyword theme, try to identify your seed keyword. Seed keywords are basically the most obvious keywords relevant to your topic.

If, for instance, you sell handmade jewelry, your seed keyword can be “buy handmade jewelry.”

To come up with good keyword seeds, you need to do some research and then brainstorm different ideas based on your services, business objectives, targeted audience, and keywords you want to rank for the ads you’re planning to purchase.

4. Turn Your Keyword Seed Into a Keyword Theme

Once you finalize your seed keyword, grow it into a theme by listing out all the related keywords. This approach will help you expand your opportunities and rank for multiple keywords at the same time.

Long-tail keywords can be a major help in this regard. The number of long-tail keywords used on a website is typically directly proportional to the amount of traffic directed to it by the search engines. You can use several paid or free keyword research tools like Semrush.

However, at this stage, you need to be mindful of your business goals and hence, keyword specificity. Make sure they’re not out of context or irrelevant to your industry.

5. Create Value

Your website content gives you an edge over your competitors; make sure it’s spectacular, relevant, and well-researched. Before you share any blog piece, infographic, or any other report on your website, make sure that it offers something more to your recipients than they’re already getting from other content, raking on the same keywords you’re using.

Google provides guidelines and some clues regarding its content evaluation strategy. Try to comprehend it and create your content accordingly.

By creating the best content on the internet, you can establish your business as a trusted brand, build more links, increase user engagement and protect your website from uninformed algorithmic changes.

So, Are You Ready to Take the Plunge?

If you’re here, chances are, you’ve already started taking your Google ranking seriously, and congratulations, that was your first step towards improving your rank.

Don’t worry if all the SEO technicalities make you feel overwhelmed, you’re not alone.

If you’re looking for reliable SEO optimization services for small businesses, feel free to check out Search Berg, an established platform offering content writing, lead generation, paid marketing services, and premium SEO packages for small businesses to their clients at affordable rates.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Ranking High on Google Using SEO appeared first on SiteProNews.

How Can My Website Increase Its Domain Authority?

You should try to get only high-quality backlinks from relevant websites. Remember that Google Search evaluates not only domain authority but also user experience when ranking web pages. So, in order to boost your traffic and increase brand awareness for people who are already reading content on your site, it’s best to work on improving its aesthetics and functionality before trying anything else.

However, if you feel that you don’t have the resources to do that, try increasing your domain authority with backlinks. The more quality links you get, the higher you’ll be in search result rankings.

How to increase domain authority score?

There are different ways you can improve your search engine ranking. People have been using backlink services to boost their domain authority, but that is not the right way to do it because Google penalizes websites that acquire links by using link services. The truth is, there are more organic ways of gaining high-quality backlinks without being detected by Google.

It’s best if you have a good plan on how to get these links so you don’t look fishy or spammy in the eyes of Google’s spider crawlers, which crawl the web looking for things they consider wrong with your website. If they think your efforts are focused on acquiring as many low-quality links as possible with no regard for quality content development, they will demote your site’s ranking.

If you’re not sure how to do it, then hire a reputable SEO agency that can help you with your website backlinking campaign. Look for an agency that has good reviews, credible testimonials, and solid experience in search engine marketing. They should be able to show you past projects they have done so you know the caliber of work they are capable of doing for your website.

Domain authority is an important component of Google Search rankings, so make sure your website gets high scores on this scale by getting only relevant backlinks from other websites online. If you find it hard to do this on your own, just let professional experts handle promoting your domain authority for you. They have the resources to get your site to the top of the first page by increasing its authority without getting detected.

Here’s how you can increase domain authority score in two ways:

1. On-page SEO

On-page SEO is another method of optimization. This deals with factors that revolve around the website content and design. It’s best to leave this to experts who know what they’re doing when it comes to SEO. However, you should make sure you understand the basics in order not to break Google’s rules and get your website penalized. Here’s how you can do it:

1) Get links from relevant websites that are also considered authoritative in their respective niches. Make sure the topic of the site is closely related to your own industry offerings, like technology for a site about cooking, or music for a news blog dedicated to graphic arts. If the topics don’t match, avoid these sites as they will cause more harm than good.

2) You can also employ guest blogging on other high-quality sites so you can establish authority in your industry for other web pages to reference. Publishers are always looking for strong contributors, especially those who write about topics related to their own niches. When you get published on other websites, make sure you link back to your site so people can see where the articles came from. Also, use high-quality images in your blog posts because these will be used by publishers when they post your articles online.

3) Optimize website conversions. Try A/B testing or multivariate testing to find out what elements of page design encourage more audience engagement with the site’s content. This way, you can discover what works best for boosting conversion rates and increasing brand awareness due to increased traffic flow through your website.

4) Get links from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. These sites get mentioned a lot in articles about increasing social signals which Google considers as authoritative ranking factors. If you’re not using these social media platforms, then register for new accounts and start sharing your content. You can also join popular conversations on certain topics and offer insightful comments that will boost authority and attract attention from high-traffic areas online.

5) Submit an XML sitemap to search engines like Google. You need to do this so Google can index the site faster for any user who wants to find information on it through their search engine’s search bar or directory pages. Google has an advanced algorithm called Caffeine which is responsible for crawling web pages at lightning speeds compared to its predecessor, dubbed PageRank (PR). It takes only 2 months for Google to process an average of two million pages. PR, meanwhile, could take over a year to index the same number.

Crawl errors need to be fixed in order for search engines to find your content when they crawl your site’s links. Search engine bots usually look at different areas of a website like sitemaps, templates, code repositories, and social media presence. All these elements are optimized for fast loading times, or else it can lead to patchy rankings due to slow crawling speeds even if you have great content on the site.

Bounce rates are one way of gauging how many people are leaving your website without finding what they want after visiting only one page. If there is something wrong with your website’s design and navigation, then fix it by adding a new site map or redesigning your site content to focus on the most relevant information.

You should also check out where your traffic is coming from by looking at various analytics tools like Alexa and Google Analytics. This way, you know what keywords people are searching for in order to find your website, as well as how they’re finding it through social media platforms or referrals from other websites with high authority.

2. Social signals

The way to increase domain authority is through sharing social signals through posts and official channels. You should also engage in social media conversations to demonstrate your site’s authority in the field. Providing useful information through these channels can make other relevant websites link back to your site. This is how you build strong relationships with other publishers in terms of web ranking and organic search engine optimization, or SEO.

You should also create quality content on your site regularly over time to keep readers interested in what you’re writing about. This can boost traffic flow to your websites and increase the number of linking root domains pointing back at your website. Link building is not just about quantity; it’s also about quality, so getting links from sites with high authority is important for SEO.

High-quality content is the best way to improve search engine rankings because this will make Google see your website as an authority on certain topics, which means people will trust what you say (even if they don’t know who you are) and visit often for more information.

If they find posts that are full of inaccuracies or factual errors, then their opinion of how reliable your site is will drop. So make sure to use relevant keywords but still write with an engaging style that keeps people entertained or educated about certain things without overselling your product or service.

Linking with the right people in related industries, guest blogging on other sites to expand your own fame, and getting proper backlinks through article directories are some of the best ways to increase your website’s authority score through links, which is also one of Google’s ranking factors.

You can also do private blog network (PBN) link building by creating new sites that pass off as legitimate publisher websites so you can get high-quality content for these networks without having to worry about getting banned from search engines like Google. Be creative when it comes to link building.

How to increase the DA of a website in 2021

DA can be increased by using 3 tactics: increase dwell time, use external linking, and remove toxic backlinks.

1. Increase dwell time

Dwell time is the average length of stay on a site. If your site has longer page loading times, then people will not be able to spend as much time on your website as they would with other sites that have faster loading speeds. Make sure to keep up with Google’s recommended speed guidelines at Search Engine Land. In addition, make it easy for your readers to navigate your website by making good use of natural linking. Read up on the topic of natural link building at Search Engine Journal.

2. Use external linking

You should try to get backlinks from high-authority websites because these links can increase your rank quicker than links from lower-ranking domains. You can also build relationships with influential bloggers and business owners in your target industry so you’ll have an easier time getting higher quality link-building strategies for free or at a reduced price compared to hiring an SEO agency. Don’t forget that blogging about topics related to the services or products you offer is one of the best ways to establish yourself as an authority, which can help you expand your business faster than before.

3. Remove toxic backlinks

When someone leaves a link pointing to your site on their personal blog or website, it could lead to potential customers visiting your pages and checking out what you’re selling. If the person just left random links without purpose then these are known as toxic backlinks. These types of links can actually hurt your site because they might be linking to spammy sites that contain malware or plagiarized content that Google sees as manipulative. You should avoid paying for anchor text-rich backlinks from link farms because these are low-quality links that can make search engines like Google lower your site’s page rank.

How important is domain authority for SEO?

Monitoring Domain Authority is important for SEO success. If your domain authority is high, then you have a better chance of getting more organic traffic. Having a high Domain Authority can help increase the number of backlinks pointing to your site because other people are more likely to link to trusted sources. For example, if you were looking for information on how to lose weight, then you would want to go to Pinterest or Shape because they are usually considered reliable sources for health-related topics.

So how important is it?

Domain Authority is one of many ranking factors that search engines like Google use in their algorithm when determining which websites should come up first for certain keywords that people type into the search box. It has been used by search engines since 2012 and it’s NOT the only factor that matters when determining page rank.

Thus, DA is important for SEO success because it can influence the amount of traffic that you get from search engines. If you have higher domain authority, then people are more likely to link to your site without being paid to do so. The factors that determine how much authority your website has is based on the age of your domain name, backlinks pointing to your website, and information pages with high keyword density for specific keywords.

How is Domain Authority Calculated?

You need to know how Domain Authority is calculated. Since 2012, the age of a domain name has been used to determine how much authority it has. It was initially used as a way for Google to look at how legitimate a website is. Sites that have been around longer might have more credibility than newer sites because they have had time to build up trust with their visitors and clients.

This is why you might notice that some websites that offer fake “miracle” diets or bogus beauty products often use a .tk extension instead of a .com extension – because those types of websites are not seen as being as trustworthy as an established brand like Amazon or Shape.

When calculating domain authority, search engines like Google also look at the number of backlinks pointing to a site. In order for someone’s website to be considered an authority, they need to have other websites linking to them through their content.

Links from trusted or well-known sources are known as do-follow links while paid links that include anchor text might be called no-follow links because search engines won’t use those types of links when calculating domain authority.

Even though more recently added pages might not rank as highly as older pages, they still help build up your site’s overall page rank. This is why you often see web pages with thousands of keywords increasing in ranking over time because older articles with less targeted keywords might start getting less traffic after newer articles get published and indexed by a search engine.

When it comes to calculating domain authority, Google also uses metrics like keyword density in information pages. One of the best ways to increase the amount of traffic that you get from search engines is through targeted keywords because then people are more likely to find your site when they are searching for related terms.

If someone types in “how to lose weight” for example, they are probably looking for articles on Pinterest rather than an article at Shape about how many calories are found in cheese. This is why sites with high Domain Authority often have content covering popular topics that include lots of relevant keywords when describing what their article will discuss.

Conclusion

If you want your website to be considered as an authority, then you need it to have high domain authority. Domain Authority is one of many ranking factors that search engines like Google use when determining which websites should come up first for certain keywords that people type into the search box. It has been used by search engines since 2012 and it’s NOT the only factor that matters when determining page rank.

With that, it’s important to have a lot of backlinks pointing to your site along with targeted keywords for each page on your website.

The post How to Increase Your Website’s Domain Authority appeared first on SiteProNews.

When it happens, the only thing you need to worry about is finding out why and taking counteractive measures.  In this article, we will share why rankings fall and how they can be recovered. 

Reasons Why Websites Lose Ranking on Google

Website rankings are ruled by Google algorithms which change constantly. No one can pinpoint the exact reason for a drop in rankings every time. However, there are some ranking factors that SEO experts know will impact your rankings. Some common causes include the following:

Hacked website 

Your website being hacked can lower your rankings. However, it is one of the rarer causes. You can quickly identify whether your website has been hacked by going to your Google Search Console, expanding the Security and Manual Actions option, and clicking on security issues. A dialogue box will open:

• If it shows ‘no issues detected,’ then your rankings have not dropped due to hacking
• If it shows an issue, you need to fix the problem immediately.

Google Penalty 

Google penalties are another rare occurrence. However, they may happen if Google notices that your website violates webmaster quality guidelines, such as having duplicate content on your site. You can quickly identify whether you have been issued a penalty from the Google Search Console, just like you can identify security issues.

Change in content

Another primary reason for a drop in rankings can be the recent changes you made to your content. If your content changes are not optimized enough to meet search ranking requirements, your rankings fall.

Lost backlinks

Backlinks play a vital role in your search engine rankings because they help determine your site’s domain authority.  If you lose some of your high-authority backlinks, your rankings can drop significantly.

Deteriorating user experience

All search engines emphasize providing exceptional user experience and include page load speed and mobile-friendliness as ranking metrics. If your website’s user experience is diminished due to shortcomings in these areas, your rankings will drop.

Someone published better content

Every day thousands of articles are posted on the internet for a set of keywords. If an article is published with better content than yours, it will likely take your place, and your SERP standing will fall.

Pages tagged as Noindex

If your developers unintentionally leave Noindex tags on your web pages during the transition from the development to the production stage, search engine crawlers will read the tags and fail to index those pages.  Such pages can lower your rankings.

A disallow protocol in your Robots.txt File

Like the Noindex tag, the disallow protocol also tells search engines not to crawl specific pages on your website. Some disallow protocols, however, are added explicitly to some backend files. You should consult your developers to identify whether any of them were added incorrectly. If yes, then you need to remove them. 

Changes in algorithms 

Google algorithms are constantly changing, although most changes are not disclosed. However, once in a while, Google makes some massive changes, creating a tremendous shift in rankings. You can, however, get back on track quickly enough if you simply follow the new guidelines. 

Tips for recovering your lost rankings and enhancing them

Now that you know the most common reasons for a shift in rankings, you can fix any issues to get back into the top spot. Here are a few things you can do to improve your ranking:

Start with checking your Google Search Console

The Google Search Console is your ultimate tool to check what’s going on with your website. You can track your website traffic and performance there and see if there are any security issues or penalties. 

Fix security issues 

If your Google Search Console shows a security issue, you need to fix it. A hacker may have installed malicious software or malware on your site, and you need to remove it as quickly as possible.

Remove the Noindex tags and disallow protocols

If one of your developers inadvertently added the Noindex tag to your webpages, a quick fix is to remove those tags. 

The first step is to identify all noindex tags. You can use tools to identify non-indexed pages.  Or, you can simply go to the View Page Source option on your browser and search for noindex to find the pages that are not indexed.

Similarly, you need to check for any disallow protocols in the robot.txt file. Consult with your team and identify the disallow protocols your developers have left intentionally and leave those alone. 

Perform a site redirect

Often, you need to make a lot of changes to your website. It can be a simple migration to a new domain, a change in your site’s URL, or other structural changes. Whatever the reason, when these changes happen, search engine crawlers re-index your site, and you lose your old rankings.

To prevent that from happening, you need to perform a redirect every time you make such changes.  You can implement redirects on your site through various plugins available on your CMS. 

Generate more links

Another common reason for a drop in rankings is losing high-authority backlinks. In such cases, you need to generate more backlinks, internal links for multiple keywords to make up for the lost links. It is a time-consuming exercise, but the results are worth it. 

Create better content

One sure-shot way of increasing your rankings is to create valuable content for your website. Value-adding user content plays a vital role in enhancing the user experience. By reading relevant keywords, metatags, headings, descriptions, and backlinks to your content, you can make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your website.

Fix technical glitches

Any technical SEO factors such as page loading time, crawl anomalies, mobile-friendliness, and URL issues must also be taken care of to enhance your rankings.

Keep an eye on Google algorithm changes

Algorithm changes are constantly happening. Still, you need to be aware of the changes to stay ahead of the game. Some changes are too minor to make a difference, but some can turn the tables on you. To maintain your rankings, you need to regularly update your website to be in compliance with algorithm updates.

Don’t forget about SERP updates

It’s not just algorithms that are updated; Google updates SERP layouts as well. For example, snippets, ad positioning, etc., keep changing to enhance the user experience. Update your website to keep up with these SERP changes.

Summing up

In the end, the most important thing is not to panic when you see your rankings fall. There is always a solution. You just need to analyze the situation, find out what’s causing it and then fix it. Studying your website regularly and keeping track of ranking metrics and algorithms is the key to staying on top.

The post How to Recover from Lost Rankings on Google appeared first on SiteProNews.

However, optimizing your site for SEO will not always guarantee digital marketing success. In line with this, it is crucial that you have ways to assess if your SEO efforts are working or if it needs some tweaking.

Search engine optimization is not always as straightforward as it seems. Add to that the many fluctuations beyond your control, such as user behavior changes, website changes, competition changes, and Google changes.

If you are using search engine optimization in your online marketing efforts but are unsure if it’s working, below are telltale signs that will indicate you are on the right track:

Your site ranks high in the search engine results pages (SERPs)

One of the primary search engine optimization goals is ensuring you rank high on the search engine results pages or SERPs. If Google’s algorithm considers your pages highly relevant to a user’s intent and search query, your site has a massive chance of landing on the first page of the search results.

The higher your pages rank in the SERPs, the higher the chances of more people finding your site and generating more organic traffic. Consistent organic traffic will often translate to more leads for your business. If your site lands on the coveted first page, it’s a clear indication you are doing search engine optimization right.

People are spending more time on your website

Creating high-quality and helpful content is considered an integral component of any search engine optimization strategy. When you regularly post valuable and relevant content that answers your visitors’ questions, they are more likely to explore your site more. As a result, they will also stay on your site longer.

Using Google Analytics can give you an insight into the length of time the average visitor spends on your site. Compare current figures with the numbers the months before to gauge if there is an increase since you started optimizing your website. If people are spending more time on your site, that’s another sure sign your SEO strategy is working.

Your bounce rate is good

When people visit your site but leave immediately without exploring any of its pages, they will be added to your bounce rate. Many online marketers have the impression that a high bounce rate is bad news. However, that is not always the case.

If visitors see that your site has quality content, among other things, they are more likely to stay longer and check out the other pages. This can reduce your bounce rate. However, according to Google, a high bounce rate is expected in single-page sites like blogs.

If a site with more than one page has a high bounce rate, it should be a cause for concern. If anything, it indicates that your site is not providing the information online users are looking for. If Google Analytics shows your multi-page site has a low bounce rate, it’s another indication your SEO efforts are working.

Your conversion rate is higher

One of the primary goals of any SEO strategy is seeing an increase in conversions. Increased conversions can come in the form of increased signups for your service, more subscriptions to your newsletter, completed web forms, or more sales for the products or services you are offering.

It is important to remember that while high rankings are great, they won’t mean much if your conversion is low. Simply put, conversions are the percentage of visitors to your site that complete a desired action. You can have millions of visitors on your site, but it’s useless if they are not taking any action.

To optimize your site for conversion, start by creating headlines that highlight your value proposition and take it from there. Having a strong call-to-action (CTA) is also considered ideal. If you notice a significant increase in conversions, you can rest easy knowing your SEO efforts are paying off.

Final Thoughts

Pat yourself on the back if you notice many signs pointing to a working SEO strategy. However, even if your SEO efforts are on track, it pays to not rest on your laurels. It is important to remember that search engine optimization is a work in progress, and your competitors are constantly working on getting results that are better than yours.

That said, it would work to your advantage if you constantly assess if your SEO efforts are on the right track. Also, if you need help with your SEO strategy, don’t hesitate to invest in the services of experts. They can help guarantee you get the results you are looking for, and for you to stay ahead of the pack.

The post Telltale Signs Your SEO Is Actually Working appeared first on SiteProNews.

What is Google Analytics?

Google has provided its users with a vast array of tools to help them maintain their pages. One of them is Google Analytics – you can use it to monitor your website activity and check stats regarding session duration, source of traffic, bounce rate, etc. This tool is free – to some extent. Small businesses can use this tool free of charge. However, the more professional features come with a fee. To start using Google Analytics, make sure you enable it in your Google Admin console. 

How to diagnose traffic drops – take a deep breath and start

There are several steps you can take to get to the bottom of your problem. It’s essential to be realistic and objective and start this process slowly and in detail. Let’s see what things you can do to diagnose traffic drops. 

Drops can happen; just be sure to diagnose them fast and react accordingly. 

PPC traffic or Google organic traffic?

First, don’t jump to the conclusion that you have a problem with organic traffic. That is often not the case – sometimes, drops come from paid traffic. That’s why you should start this diagnostic process by checking– organic traffic or PPC traffic.  Also, don’t forget other traffic sources – direct visits, email, social, etc. Checking them all out may lead to the solution to your problem.

Locate the problematic pages 

If there are one or more pages that have experienced a drop in traffic, the first thing you should do is to find out which one it is. You can easily do that by using Google Analytics. 

Check out the ‘All Traffic’ section and click ‘Channels’. Under the ‘Organic’ section, select the period you want to check and compare it to the previous period. You should be able to see your landing pages and the way they have performed in the last week or month. Commonly, the drop is related to the most popular pages on your website. They should be at the top of the list. However, if the drop has affected all your website pages, it’s a sign of a bigger problem. Perhaps you received a Google Penalty, or you were unaware of a recent update. 

Make sure it’s not a seasonal thing 

Sometimes, some businesses are less popular at certain times of the year. For example, companies that sell Christmas lights or decorations will not get the same amount of traffic during summer. You can determine this based on your previous experience and industry knowledge, but also by using Google Analytics. Just be sure to compare the traffic of the exact weeks/months in two or more years. It will show you if you’re dealing with a seasonal drop or there’s another problem to look for. 

The way your website performs may be affected by trends and seasons. 

Check the users responsible for the drop

Another way to diagnose traffic drops is to take a look at users responsible for the traffic drop. There are two types of people visiting your website – new users and returning users. Let’s look at both: 

New users 

 If fewer new users are coming to the website, the problem is in the way they find it in search results. This is the time to check:

• your keywords –  these are an essential factor in ranking your pages on Google. Sometimes, it is necessary to pick a fresh set of keywords as the market and people visiting the pages change;
• updates – very often, Google comes up with an update that can affect your rankings because the old optimization methods don’t comply with the new update;
• penalties – if a penalty is applied to your website by Google, it will affect the way Google ranks your pages. 

Returning users 

If you notice returning users are not returning anymore, you need to take a closer look at your website user experience.  The most common problems are broken pages and slow loading speed. These may disappoint returning users, forcing them to leave the website and find an alternative destination. Be sure to check all of the factors that help improve the user experience and do your best to bring it to perfection.

Don’t disappoint old and new users – make your website flawless. 

Combine GA with Search Console for complete results 

When you need to diagnose traffic drops and take a closer look at your website, Google Analytics is a great option. However, you should complete this investigation by using some other great tools – one of them being Search Console. Only then can you be sure you have examined all the aspects of your problem to find a fast solution. Google Analytics will help you explore the user-oriented aspects of the traffic. On the other hand, Search Console is more focused on search-engine related issues. It can tell you more about your website’s visibility, SERP presence, keyword problems, etc. Combining two or more tools will give you an in-depth report on your website’s performance and lead you to the most effective solutions to get back on track and welcome many new visitors.

The post Using Google Analytics to diagnose Traffic Drops appeared first on SiteProNews.

Appear on the first page of Google, and you can claim a majority of all internet traffic. Get stuck on Page 2, and the odds are considerably stacked against you.

In your quest to gain visibility, you’ve likely heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is the process of setting up your website or web page to help it rank within the Search Engine Results Pages.

International SEO focuses on reaching a global audience while local SEO centres on amplifying your community presence. Which one should you prioritize and is one more important than the other? Read on to learn the right strategy to take as you direct your business forward.

What is International SEO?

Also known as global SEO, international SEO is the practice of expanding your digital reach as far as you possibly can. It means targeting traffic from all over the world, using keywords and phrases designed to put eyes on your content from a wide geographical range of internet users.

This strategy can be successful if you operate an e-commerce store that isn’t tied directly to your local community. 

However, it comes with a ton of behind-the-scenes work that can often negate any momentum you earn.

The main challenge is the incredible competition you’re up against daily. While it might be easy to outrank your local competition, it can be nearly impossible to best some of the global giants in your industry niche. Moreover, there’s the added work of translating your content into multiple languages to help it climb the SERP ranks.

Even then, you’re up against some fierce competition. Every website in the world is also targeting those same key-phrases. Unless you can offer content that’s heads above the rest in terms of quality and relevancy, restricting your efforts to international SEO alone can be a costly and challenging endeavour.

Why Go International?

Understanding the risks and work involved, why should anyone pursue an international SEO strategy?

The most logical reason is if you know for sure that a large portion of your web visitors come from a country outside of where you’re physically located. Or, your traffic data might show that most of your visitors speak different languages.

In either case, you can optimize your website to be as user-friendly as possible for your international audience. It helps to think of this process as geo-targeting, but with a twist.

Instead of designing your site to attract local traffic, you’re optimizing it to appeal to different countries and languages. As such, a wholly internationalized site is one that accommodates both a country and language that’s different from your own. To set one up, there are few strategies to employ.

• Create a URL structure that targets a particular country or region
• Use hreflang or language meta tags to indicate the language(s) of your content
• Create and tailor content for your target audience’s language and culture

The quickest and most effective URL structure to employ is a ccTLD. You’ll recognize these as the letters after the period in a given domain name. They’re a simple way to show web visitors and search engines alike in which country, state or territory your website is registered. 

For instance, a site targeting traffic from France would end in “.fr” as in “http://www.example.fr.”

The only drawback to ccTLDs? While they’re excellent at targeting countries and regions, they don’t target languages. This is where the other elements, including hreflang, language meta tags, subfolders, and subdomains, come into play.

What is Local SEO?

If international SEO is ultra-broad, consider local SEO as hyper-concentrated.

With this approach, you’re primarily interested in using your website to attract both virtual and foot traffic to your local store.

The main tactic you’ll employ with local SEO is to include a specific region in your targeted search phrase. This means instead of optimizing simply for “shoe repair,” you’ll try to rank for “shoe repair in Charleston, SC.” As expected, this method is best reserved for companies that operate physical stores in specific locations and aren’t as interested in attracting the attention of a global audience.

While the process can be reasonably straightforward for small businesses with a centralized footprint, it can become more complicated for enterprises that operate multiple satellite offices or regional franchises. For local SEO to be effective in these cases, web developers have to create separate web pages or content hubs for each location.

Why Optimize Locally?

To understand the benefit of pursuing local SEO, it helps to know the difference between a standard, international search and one with local intent.

Research shows that a majority of consumers shop at businesses located within 20 minutes or 20 miles of their home. While reports vary, most experts agree that between nearly half of all web searches are likewise local.

The reality is that any website in the world with a high enough Domain Authority (DA) and solid SEO practices can rank for a given search query such as “How to fix a broken HVAC.” However, a search query with real purchase intent often includes some element of localization. It might become “HVAC repair near me” or “best HVAC repair in (location).”

When users enter these types of keywords or key-phrases, search engines automatically understand that they’re looking for nearby businesses. Conversely, queries without local intent often deliver how-to instructions rather than links to targeted local providers.

The main goal, then, of local search is to appear as high as possible on local SERPs. Specifically, developers are striving to earn a spot in what’s known as the “Three Pack” or “Local Pack.” In short, these are the top three listings that appear right below the map in a Google search with local intent.

In addition to links to the sites themselves, Google will pull data from the top three companies’ online business profiles. Without clicking on the websites, users can see pertinent details, including user ratings, operating hours, addresses, phone numbers and more.

For this reason, any business owner hoping to climb the ranks in local SERPs must claim and consistently update their Google My Business (GMB) profile. It’s also wise to perform regular checks on your company’s NAPW (Name, Address, Phone Number, Website) citations floating around on the internet. Check all relevant online directories or business listings to ensure the information included is correct and make updates as required.

Ranking Well in Local Search

Understanding the logistics behind local SEO, how can you make sure you see the fruits of your labour? Below are a few ways to help your site rank as high as possible in local search results.

Localized Content

Localized content is material that naturally includes your city, county or region. This might consist of your web pages, blog, or landing pages.

When your website is localized, users can immediately tell which area you serve and how to reach you. As mentioned, companies with multiple locations will often create separate pages to distinguish between their different local presences.

Business Profile Optimization

Keeping your GMB profile, along with your NAPW citations, up-to-date is another critical element of SEO. Imagine the initial success if a user searches for “Best seafood restaurant in Cape Cod” and finds your restaurant.

Then, consider the subsequent confusion if your GMB (and “Three Pack” listing) displays one phone number while your website or another online citation gives an outdated number that you haven’t used for years. If the user decides to call the wrong number, it’s unlikely that they’ll keep trying.

Monitoring and Managing Reviews

Reviews also factor in local SEO. Not only are they displayed on your GMB profile, but Google bots also crawl them to check the credibility and trustworthiness of your company.

That means they can have a direct impact on how high you appear in local SERPs.

The following factors are all critical to your local search ranking:

• The number of reviews you receive
• The quality of those reviews
• The authority of the review sites

Keeping a close eye on what others are saying about you can help you take proactive action if any issues occur. It only takes one negative testimonial to derail your reputation, so this step cannot be overlooked.

Local, Quality Backlinks

Any time a local online newspaper, blogger or business association recognizes your company with a backlink to your site, you’re one step closer to optimizing Google’s local search algorithm.

The only caveats? 

These must be natural backlinks that you obtained organically. Moreover, the sites linking to your content should be high-authority to give you the boost you need.

International SEO vs Local SEO: Which One is Best?

As detailed, the differences between international SEO and local SEO can be vast. If you’re unsure where to focus your efforts, start by asking yourself one crucial question: Can your business feasibly deliver products and services outside of your operating area?

If the answer is “yes,” then an international SEO strategy can be beneficial. Yet, to stand out in such a global space, you’ll need the budget to compete with every other website out there.

If you can’t access those resources, it’s usually best to stick to a local SEO approach and focus on growing your regional presence before expanding outward. With a localized plan, your level of competition drops significantly. 

From there, you’re able to better capture the attention of your target audience, delivering the uptick in traffic you’re expecting and deserve.

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