WordPress is by far the most popular open source CMS (content management system) – around 60% of all websites use WordPress and for good reason. In fact, over 10 million websites use WordPress, with 500 new ones added each day, according to the latest statistics.
In this blog article, we’ll go through the reasons why you should choose Wordpress over other CMS systems such as Shopify, Wix, Joomla or Drupal.
Best Free SEO Tools
There are hundreds if not thousands of Search Engine Optimization (Best Free SEO Tools) you can use. And they can get pretty pricey if you’re not careful so you need to be picky which ones you pay for and which ones you use a free version instead.
Thankfully there are tons of free ways you can check different SEO attributes and rankings which can save you both time and money. Here are some of our favourites at Rad websites.
1) Small SEO Tools (Free)
This site is one of the best Free SEO Tools out there because it has all types of free tools you can use in order to do keyword research, site analysis and even check your competition. A part from Google’s own tools, this is probably the best you can get without entering in your credit card information. While you can’t go as deep as some of the paid tools, Small SEO Tools is great for people who want to be able to fix some of the more common SEO issues without spending a ton of time and effort.
How To Use This Tool
Enter your website into any of the offered tools but I would recommend start with the SEO website checker, especially if you’re looking for some quick SEO wins. This tool will give you an idea of how you score and how you stack up against your competition. You can then dive deeper using some of the other tools.
2) Google Analytics (Free)
This is the tool you must definitely use on a weekly basis, even if you don’t really care about SEO. Google Analytics tracks all your traffic to your website and you can analysis which marketing channels are working and which aren’t. You can see what pages your clients are most gravitating towards and which ones need improvements.
How to Use This Tool
You need to sign in to your Analytics account to start using this tool. Once you have added your website, navigate to the Tracking code under the property column and copy the code. Paste the tracking code in your SEO plugin. We recommend either Yoast or All In One SEO.
You should get verification that you’ve done this correctly. It will take a little time to get used to navigating Google Analytics as there are so many different options and customizable features but once you do, you’ll see the power of it.
3) Google PageSpeed Insights (Free)
Google PageSpeed Insights is a tool that checks the speed of your site and provides suggestions to how to improve it. Page loading speed is one of the most important elements of a website. Better site speed leads to increased user satisfaction and higher rankings.
How to Use This Tool
Enter your website URL, click the “analyze” button, and the tool will automatically check the speed and overall user experience of your site and provide a score – for both desktop and mobile. You need to opt for a score above 90 to offer your users a better site experience and to increase your chances of ranking higher in the search results.
4) Google Search Console (Free)
Formally Google Webmaster, this is yet another Google tool that allows you to search for errors on your website that could potentially harm your SEO score. Primarily it allows you to check and submit a sitemap which is the overall architecture that Google views your site in.
How To Use This Tool
You’ll have to sign into your Google Search Console or create a new account if you don’t have one already. Once you are in you’re account you’ll have to attach it to your website. You can do this in a variety of ways including through domain access, your website code or a website plugin. Once you have hooked your website up, you’ll able to navigate with the bar on the left-hand site which will give you a variety of options.
5) Mobile-Friendly Test (Free)
Mobile-Friendly Test is a free tool that lets you check the responsiveness of your website on a mobile device. With Google’s emphasis on mobile-first search queries on mobile devices are at least 50% in your industry — and in many cases more. Therefore it’s important to optimize your site for mobile devices.
How to Use This Tool
Enter the URL of the site that you wish to test and then click the “run test” button. In just a few seconds, you will know if your website is mobile-friendly or not.
6) Ahrefs Backlink Checker (Freemium)
Ahrefs offers a free back-link checker that allows you to check the top 100 links pointing to any website. Back-links are important because they are one of the ways Google checks to see how popular your website is and whether the website provides useful information.
How to Use This Tool
Enter the URL that you want to analyze and the tool will not only show you your domain rating score.
7) Keyword.io (Free)
Keyword research is undoubtedly one of the most fundamental tasks that every SEO specialist needs to perform, but researching is a time-consuming process without access to the best tools. Keyword.io is an easy and free alternative to Google’s Keyword Planner and it offers lots of relevant keyword suggestions for every type of research.
How to Use This Tool
Enter your main keyword in the search box, click on the desired search engine or platform, and then select the targeted country from the drop-down list. Once you press search, a variety of options will appear.
8) Moz Local (Free)
Moz has a free tool called Moz Local which is great for local businesses that want to be found within a particular neighborhood. Moz Local offers a comprehensive view of a website’s profile and web presence. By analyzing the most popular online directory’s, it gives a score on how well you rank and where you can improve. A great thing about this tool is that you don’t need a paid Moz account in order to use it.
How to Use This Tool
Enter the company’s name and street address and click search. It will take up to 30 seconds to analyze and will display where that company is indexed and where you could add it for improved search results. It is particularly useful to create links from sites like Yelp, Facebook, and Foursquare which will increase your domain authority.
So, these are the best free SEO Tools, that you can use and get better website ranking on Search Engines. If you need our SEO Experts Help, Feel free to Contact Us.
4 SEO Myths Hurting Your Business
Search Engine Optimization is a fast-changing field that is constantly moving and shifting as Google keeps changing the rules about how they operate. Part of the problem is that Google doesn’t tell us exactly what those changes are as they protect their algorithms are top secret.
Because of this, there is a lot of misinformation surrounding SEO and how to best make it on the first page of Google. Here are a 4 of the most common myths that we’d like to dispel.
5 Old School SEO Tactics That Don’t Work Anymore
Search Engine Optimization is constantly changing like most things online. Google is getting smarter and as a result, marketers need to react accordingly that means some old tactics that marketers used in the past no longer boost your search results. Here are five tactics that used to work great but now actually demote your website.
How To Easily Do An SEO Audit
In this blog post, we’re going to show you how to do an SEO audit.
If you’re like a lot of businesses out there, you’re probably not getting the traction to your website that you want. You have a great-looking website, you have a great product or service yet you aren’t getting enough sales. What went wrong?
Well the first thing you need to do perform an SEO audit to see where you stand and what improvements need to be made.
What Is An SEO Audit?
As a business owner, you should know what a SEO Audit is, and why it is crucial for your online presence. You need to identify issues that could and would prevent your website from being ranked on any search engines.
SEO Audits gives you a precise and detailed perception that gives you an overview of your site’s online presence. Ignoring these identifying issues, and your efforts will be in vain.
In other words, your hard work will be paid off once you regularly audit your site. Also, this will make sure it’s properly crawled and indexed.
Pro tip: To make your content stand out, discerning content-related issues, indexing, proper use of backlink analysis, learning site architecture, and social media engagement are important factors to use in your internet marketing.
These components when understood and practiced will be important in helping you to identify strengths, weaknesses, and your website’s potential in gaining traction online.
Keep in mind that when you lose out all on the traffic, your possible sales will go down the drain. Quite the opposite when you regularly audit your website.
SEO Tool List
So how does SEO Audit procedure go? Here are tools you need to know:
- Moz Site Audit Tool
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Google Page Speed Insight
Starting The SEO Audit
The Crawl: This procedure is so important that you need to run it first before you do the other steps. Why is this important? Because this is where you identify your website’s problems, i.e., duplicate contents, low word count, unlinked pagination pages, excess redirects.
Moz Site Audit Tool
- Go to the tool and open application.
- On the top right of the screen, click new site audit.
- Create new project.
- Then enter your domain name followed by your project name.
With the exception of the limited checked pages, there is no need to edit any settings. However, if the need arises, remove URL parameters, bypass restrictions, or allow or disallow some URLs.
- On Page SEO Score.
- Organic Monthly Traffic.
- Organic Keywords.
- Backlinks.
As you scroll down the page, ‘Top SEO Issues’ will appear. Click on any of the URL for more information on your website’s issues. This way, you can review the pages; decide whether you need additional content. It’s crucial that you’ll have an insight on how Googlebot is crawling your site. You’ll know when your site is ranking well by manually searching your site.
Other Aspects To Check
When looking for relevant search results, how many of your pages pop up after? Do they come up first in the list when searching your site? Do you see your site in the list of end results when giving assessments?
Keep in mind though that despite your page’s not being at the top rank, it doesn’t mean that your page is uncrawlable, it only suggests that you need to realize the problem and what needs to be done.
You need to do this procedure in order to know if your page’s variation is in the right arrangement, in combination with duplicates. How do you do this? Go to Google and run a “site:domain.com.”
This will list indexed URLs for your domain. If you have mix site versions, then you potentially need to addressed to it. It’s important to run site search in order to have a preview of any used subdomains.
Checking your site’s indexed URLs is another procedure, it’s like running the same procedure as the above. You’ll be surprised to see a few pages Google has indexed after doing this.
Are these the results that you expect after a search? Then if not, there’s an issue that needs to be fixed. (The main culprit is usually the faceted navigation needs to be indexed). However, if it’s less than what you expected, your site then is being crawled or indexed.
How To Use Search Console
Seeing a drop in your site’s ranking or failing to rank high as it should be is anticipated once your site has violated Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines; this is where Manual Penalty comes in. If your brand does not rank then your site will be deindexed.
You can avoid this by checking in to see whether a manual action has been issued against your site by using the Search Console; look for:
- “Security and Manual Actions” tab down the left-hand side of the menu;
- Look for the manual actions link.
- Click, then you will be directed to your status.
You can relax if you see the result with a green check. On the other hand, if an issue appears in a list, then you need a Manual Actions Report.
It has been an important factor for Mobile Ranking for a long time. Remember that User Experience is prevalent in SEO success so site speed is important.
In fact, data shows that if there’s a significant bouncing from a user, this increases a slower page load. The faster the page loads, the better result from SEO and UX perspectives. Use SEMrush Site Audit report to see load time statistics and list of highlighted errors.
SEO Audits and SSL Certificates
Implementing an SSL certificate is important if your site runs on HTTP. Once you run https://www.domain.com in your browser and see that your site remains on the HTTP protocol you can relax and head on to the next step. On the other hand, you need to address this issue if you are redirected to an HTTP version.
Make sure to keep up with the trend of having a mobile-friendly site. UX is a must if you expect to reach the top. You can check this on Search Console, look for Enhancements tab in the Mobile Usability section for any issues.
SEO Audits and Indexation Issues
How to analyze and resolve indexation issues? You will see valid pages or ones that have warning, plus, excluded pages as well as coverage errors, if you go to the index tab of the Coverage page in Google Search Console.
Prevention of site from being crawled and indexed is expected if there are underlying issues. Address this ASAP! Underlying common errors include:
- Pages that have a noindex attribute and that are submitted in a sitemap.
- Pages blocked from being crawled in your robots.txt file but that are included in a sitemap.
- 404 pages submitted in a sitemap.
Excluded URLs are pages that are not currently in Google’s index. This includes:
- Pages excluded with a noindex attribute
- Pages that redirect
- Crawl anomalies
- Canonicalization issues
- Pages that are crawled but not indexed
- Not found (404) errors
- Pages blocked by your robots.txt file
Deeply analyze the report and only clean the areas of concern. Of course, these reports don’t need to always be cleaned up. Usually, there are specific reasons these exclusions happen, i.e., due to site migrations. Those are the best moment to clean those reports.
Page user experience is the main goal in Google’s future objectives. A combination of Core Web Vitals signals with Google’s for a better Search ranking which gives better metrics for page user experience is a feat.
Other Tips to Improve your SEO Audits
Be a social media butterfly. Use social media as your tool for your SEO efforts. Let the dynamics of this platform be a conduit for consistent backlinks and engagement. It has the power to increase the number of your backlinks.
Those who follow your content might be more likely to link to it. This increases your brand awareness through queries about your brand. Also, let us not forget the “mentions” and “tags” that social media can offer to your brand.
As we take everything into account, we have touched on some techniques on how to do SEO Audit. We have given tools and procedures on how to fix issues and deal with it to keep your site up to its rank.
Final Thoughts
Always bear in mind that search engine algorithms, best practices, market trends, and most especially your competitors are always keeping track. So make it a habit to keep your site up to date; address issues immediately after audit. Eliminate duplicates. Monitor your site analytics, and make sure you’re engaging in any social media platforms.
The more your presence you have in social media, the further you’ll push your relevant search terms. Be consistent, and your SEO ranking will soon reach the peak of success.
How To Build Quality Backlinks with Infographs
It’s no secret that in the age of social media infographics are popular. Chances are you see at least a dozen a week, more if you’re spending significant time on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
Many popular websites use infographics to quickly get information across to their readers and they often go viral on social media. More importantly, a good infographic can help you build quality backlinks and enhance your website’s SEO.
Google My Business: How To Use GMB To Improve Your SEO
Most businesses, even ones that sell only online should be leveraging a location-based strategy. To do that the first step is creating a Google My Business listing.
Google My Business is free tool from Google that helps business owners manage their online presence across the search engine and its growing portfolio of utilities.
Signs You Need To Invest In Your SEO
As a business owner, you’re juggling a hundred different balls in the air. You’re managing suppliers, customers, staff – the last thing you want to think about is your search engine optimization. After all, it’s difficult, time-consuming, and technical. However, there are probably some signs in your business that you may want to invest some money into search engine optimization.
How To Perform an SEO Audit: Complete Guide
How to Perform an SEO Audit
An SEO audit may not ring a bell for someone who does not consider himself a web design expert, but it is a task that anyone with basic SEO knowledge can perform. Ask anyone who knows a thing or two about how business websites should perform to succeed, and you will realize how critical a regular audit is.
A business or brand that is trying to achieve relevance through digital marketing must learn to embrace the competition. The only way to keep up is to create and run a website that brings in traffic and conversions. This is where the concept of search engine optimization comes in.
You may be able to build a website and apply an SEO strategy for it, but you do not expect your site to run on autopilot. In other words, you must have a clear understanding of how your website is performing based on the SEO strategies you are using. Hence, the sole purpose of an SEO audit is to figure out how well is your business website performing.
The audit will check the health of your website with an emphasis on the presence of spam. Doing SEO audits regularly makes sense because Google has this habit of altering its algorithms in ranking websites. Simply put, you are doing it to keep up with what is new.
SEO Audit Coverage
An SEO audit is likened to that of multiple-point car inspection. It examines your website to see how it functions and performs compared to the rest of the market. The audit essentially covers the following:
- Keyword Use – You must know if the way you are using your keywords is on point. The keywords must bee optimized for them to help in directing traffic to your site.
- LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) – LSI defined as the context of a search. It still has something to do with keywords, specifically long tail and secondary keywords.
- Competition – You also would want to know how you perform against the competition, especially in the aspects of links, meta tags, keywords, and overall SEO ranking.
- Organic Search Rank – Companies that need to keep the costs down may have to reconsider their PPC strategy. If you decide to focus on your website’s organic search rankings, you need to perform an SEO audit to see your chances.
Enough of the introduction, here are the components of a comprehensive SEO audit:
1 – Site Crawl
A site crawl is the most efficient method of assessing the state of your website in its current form. It also gives you a preview of the issues that may need to be resolved sooner than later. Site crawling essentially creates an outline for the entire SEO audit.
The site crawl will cover areas like the structure of your URL, content, meta descriptions, images, links, and the structure of your website. You ask questions like how well your content is formatted and if it is fresh. Do you have a unique meta description per page? Does your website have enough links per page and do all of them work?
Furthermore, site crawling should also include the analysis of your landing page and its relationship with the inner pages. The landing page is where your site builds an initial impression, so it needs to be user-friendly and intuitive.
2 – Page Speed Analysis
Page load speed plays a critical role in keeping your site visitors motivated in browsing your site further. 60% of users will find their way out of a website when it takes more than three seconds to load. So, if your website takes too long to load pages, it will have a negative impact on conversions and will increase bounce rates. In performing an SEO audit with an emphasis on page speed, you can use a handful of free tools, including Google’s Page Speed Insights and YSlow. It is crucial to learn about your page load speed since that is the only way to figure out if there is a need to fix some elements in the design.
3 – Site Architecture Assessment
Your website needs a solid structure for it to rank high in Google. It is merely about using the right keywords and relevant content. One aspect that you should focus on is user experience, and for you to ensure that prospective clients end up liking your site, you must improve its architecture.
So, how do you improve site architecture? As you have guessed it already, you must perform an SEO audit. The audit examines things like the sitemap and URL structure. The result of the audit will also tell you if your main webpages are listed and positioned correctly and if site visitors will not have a hard time navigating through the inner pages and links.
4 – Content
Content plays an indispensable role in the effectiveness and success of your website. The failure to refresh or update content will hurt your site’s rank, so it is not merely about inserting unique and relevant information. Even if on-page content is unique and relevant, it still needs to be updated regularly since Google looks at it with a critical eye. Hence, your SEO audit should include an examination of your content.
See to it that you are using the keywords in your content naturally. It also must be consistent since the objective is to prevent being labeled as spam.
Part of examining your content is taking a closer look at the tags. Check if title tags have two salient qualities – concise and descriptive. Be reminded that extra-long titles are never a good thing for search engines.
5 – Checking the Backlinks
You probably know by now that backlinks are a crucial element of SEO. Google will grade the quality of your website based on the quality of the sites that link to it. It was prevalent back in the day to exchange reciprocal links with other websites to improve SEO. It is no longer an effective practice today, but backlinks are still relevant. This time, backlinks are more about quality instead of quantity. Therefore, you should verify in your SEO audit if the websites that links to your site come from reputable domains.
Tools for SEO Audit
Like I said at the beginning of this post, SEO audit does not have to be an overwhelming task. You can do it with the help of a tool that is readily available online. All you must do is pick the right one based on your budget and specific needs.
The first and most sensible option is Google Analytics. As someone tasked to market your brand and optimize a website, this tool is a must-have. It does not only help you by providing critical indicators of SEO metrics but will also hand out a user-friendly guide in performing SEO.
Another option is Google Webmaster Tools. It is a platform that offers a handful of reasonably priced tools needed for an SEO audit. Its most notable advantage is that you can check your website’s SEO performance based on how Google sees it. Since you are hoping to have your site ranked on top of Google, then it makes sense to use this tool.
SSL Certificates & Website Safety
SSL Certificates & Website Safety (What You Might Not Know)
Following the release of Google Chrome, it became a dangerously common misconception that websites without an SSL certificate are unsafe, and should likely be avoided. Let’s read out below the importance of SSL Certificates & Website Safety.
And while this is true, we often struggle to communicate to our clients that even websites with an SSL certificate alone aren’t actually all that safe either.
SSL certificates fail to come in as a last line of defense for more complex security breaches. While your site certainly needs an SSL certificate- e-commerce or not- there are other safety protocols you have to consider if web safety is a top priority for you.
What is an SSL Certificate?
Secure sockets layer.
That’s what it stands for- a secure sockets layer.
Not a glamorous sounding addition to your website by any means, but these certificates play an important role in data encryption. They quickly became a best practice in website security, for good reason as well. SSL certificates establish an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.
If you don’t want the entire world knowing what you’re sending across the net, you sure do need an SSL certificate.
Where Did The “Not Secure” Warning Come From?
Google and Mozilla are pushing hard for webmasters and the like to adopt HTTPS.
(Don’t worry- we’ll cover HTTPS too.)
At the end of the day, the only way for these Internet mammoths to push HTTPS adoption is by flagging sites that don’t have SSL certificates.
Wait, Wait- HTTPS?
You’ll see the https extension in front of most websites these days.
The web can be a very unsafe place without proper safety protocols, and HTTPS offers the most robust combination of safety certifications to keep your website as secure as possible.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure was built off it’s older counterpart HTTP- Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
The difference between the two? HTTPS uses SSL certificates for data encryption. HTTPS makes online shopping and mobile banking possible- information passed over an HTTPS network is generally not compromised by outsiders.
HTTP speaks more to the way data is communicated between two parties over the Internet. It doesn’t necessarily address the safety of how that is done, just how it’s done in general.
HTTPS is the perfect combo of data communication and data encryption.
Google Will Flag Websites Without SSL Certificates
Rightfully so. Websites without SSL certificates aren’t secure.
Like we said, the world wide web isn’t a safe place these days and website security isn’t really optional anymore.
The proof is in the pudding. The cyber security industry is worth over 241 billion dollars and shows no sign of slowing down.
The “not secure warning” is totally legit.
But don’t assume that https websites are automatically safe- above SSL certificates, there are other security protocols your site really, really should have.
SSL certificates can’t protect a website from malware infections, viruses or the website than spreading that malware. Even the padlock in the address bar doesn’t necessarily indicate secure- it simply indicates that the info shared between that websites server and the browser is secure.
PSA- infected websites over an HTTPS network will actually continue to ensure the integrity of the malware or virus, all the way until it reaches the final victim- the websites visitors.
SSL Certificates and HTTPS Certificates STILL Don’t Equal Maximum Website Security
As easy as we would like to make this, there really is no “one size fits all” solution for website security.
Even if a website has had SSL & HTTPS forced upon it, it doesn’t actually mean the website is secure.
Without additional security measures, such as WAF (Website Application Firewall) or access controls, an HHTPS site can still be hacked and be dangerous to visitors. Data encryption is vital, yes, but it’s only piece of the web security puzzle.
You need to look at website security as a strategic, well planned conjunction of protection, detection, response and backups.
Our number one tip to get going, however?
Make sure you choose the right SSL certificate.
Domain Validated SSL Certificates
These SSL certificates show that a domain is registered, and that a site admin is running the URL.
It’s quite easy to obtain- this certificate authority can typically validate through email, DNS or HTTP.
It includes the owner proving they own and run the domain, and saving a text file in the public web root of their domain.
Organization Validated SSL Certificates
Building off domain validated SSL certificates, organization validated certificates not only prove ownership of a domain, but also proves the existence of an organization or company that stand behind the domain.
Your organization or company’s details are shown online, just like individual ownership ins domain validated SSL certificates.
Extended Validation SSL Certificates
Again, building on the above, extended certificates demand even more information and proof of ownership than domain or organization validation.
It signifies an even higher level of security and ownership, those these take longer to obtain.
Take a look at the domain bar when you look at PayPal; there is no doubt of the organization, ownership and their authenticity.
At the validation level, extended validation SSL Certificates are the most secure. If applicable, look to extended validation certificates as part of your end security game.
Single Name & Wildcard SSL Certificates
Single-name SSL certificates protect one subdomain.
Great for forgotten subdomains, or site evolution, there is always a place for single name SSl certificates.
Just be aware, however, that a certificate for one subdomain will only apply to that exact, specific domain- not even the branches of it.
A certificate for www.website.com won’t apply to mail.website.com.
On the other hand, wildcard SSL certificates secure a number of subdomains for just one single domain.
Again, we would love to make this easy for you, but wildcard SSL certificates only protect the subdomains of one single domain.
They don’t protect multiple domains, even if they are all related.
That’s where multidomain SSL certificates come into play.
Multidomain SSL Certificates
These giants provide security for several different domains, through one extension.
This extension is the SAN extension. (As if you wanted anymore acronyms thrown your way, we know.)
SAN extension= subject alternative name.
With multi domain SSL certificates, you can combine multiple hostnames even if they’re not from the same domain.
Complex? Yes. Many sites don’t need to go as far as multidomain SSL certificates, but they are there- and for those that need them, you NEED them.
So, I hope you understand everything about SSL Certificates & Website Safety. feel free to Contact us for any Consultation about web design, SEO, Marketing.
2021 SEO Changes
In this comprehensive Local SEO guide, we’re going to show you how you can win at search ranking in 2021.
Small and medium-sized businesses rely on local search more than ever. Seven out of 10 consumers search Google to obtain local information. So, if your business website isn’t optimized for local search, you’re likely missing out on more than half of your prospective clients.
With so many changes every year, you feel a ton of pressure to update your SEO strategy. But it won’t matter if you’re not into local SEO.
You lost some ground last year, but this year is your chance for redemption. Build upon local SEO to keep your brand relevant, and this article serves as your comprehensive SEO guide.
Good Local SEO Practices
Start with Google My Business listing – If you haven’t done so, set up a Google My Business listing. It’s the digital equivalent of the Yellow Pages. If you intend to rank in the local search, a GMB listing makes perfect sense.
There’s no reason to skip this step – it carries weight in local SEO, plus setting it up takes minutes. See to it that you put all the details about your business.
This must include your products/services, the main business category, and the secondary business category. Filling out the subcategory is critical in your Google Maps rank.
List your business in online directories – GMB isn’t the only listing out there. List your business in other relevant online directories, but don’t overdo it.
The key term is “relevant” since all the others are trash and won’t do your business any good concerning local SEO. Focus your effort and time on these directories:
Review your NAP information – Be consistent with the business information you put on your listings, especially the name and place. Google wants the information to be accurate for it to trust your business.
Even an honest mistake on inputting the wrong phone number could become a red flag for Google, giving it a reason to stop displaying your listing. Even the smallest details must be consistent, like how you write abbreviations and company suffixes. If you prefer “inc.” instead of “incorporated,” do it in all your listings.
Focus on local keywords – Shift your attention to local keywords this year, but don’t ignore the value of long-tail keywords for your business, too. If you didn’t climb up to the SERPs last year, you might have undermined keyword research value.
This time see to it that you compare search volumes for a couple of almost similar search terms. You may feel like there’s no point in it, but there’s a significant difference in impact for “roof repair, Vancouver” versus “roof repair, VBC.”
Rethink your SEO strategy by using local keywords – Once you’ve figured out a new set of local keywords, the next step is to optimize your business website with them.
This isn’t a newfound strategy, yet it’s still as useful and indispensable this year as it was a decade ago. Optimizing your site is no cakewalk as it involves several components that are worthy of a separate discussion.
Anyhow, the fundamental rule is for your homepage and the product/service pages to showcase the local keywords, specifically in the following:
- Heading
- Meta description
- Title tags
- Body
- Footer
Gone were the days when you can insert keywords while ignoring the natural flow of content. Google hates keyword stuffing and unnatural placements, so see that you’re putting value to your content by flawlessly incorporating the local keywords.
Create local content – It only makes sense to fill your pages with local content since you’re shifting to local SEO this year. Unfortunately, your current content marketing strategy is all but local.
You’ve learned a while back that non-local content reaches a broader audience (and supposedly more web traffic), but you can’t take full advantage of it since you’re a local business. Maximizing your efforts in content marketing for an improved lead generation means creating local content.
Create a mobile-friendly website – You may skip this part if you’ve done this already, and we’d be surprised if you haven’t. You know how impactful a mobile-friendly website is for SEO in general, and it’s essential for local SEO, too.
Almost 40% of mobile searches are location focused. It means that almost half of consumers who stumble upon your site via a local search are using their mobile devices. Imagine the number of opportunities you’re missing out if your site isn’t mobile responsive. That’s scary.
Place value on inbound links – Inbound links boost local SEO when you know how to do it right. Put some effort in building those links this year but focus on the proven strategies.
Come up with a list of acquaintances who are in some way related to your business, i.e., wholesalers, contractors, business partners, and suppliers. Search for relevant pages on their respective websites where you’re allowed to place contextual links.
You’ll use this link to contact those businesses and then recommend the link placements. Aside from this strategy, you can also generate inbound links via guest posting. Offer to write content for related businesses with the condition that you place a link to your site.
Create location pages – If you happen to have branches of your business, then you must rank in local searches in those areas, too. The most convenient way to do this is by creating location pages.
Come up with a service page for each city instead of having just one service page for all your branches. You may optimize these pages for local search terms. But be sure that you use unique content for each page. The last thing you want is for Google to see it as duplicate content.
Final Thoughts
Though you’re setting your sights on local SEO for 2021, don’t turn your back on traditional SEO. Remember that Google factors in your website’s ranking in organic SERPs in local SEO.
The lack of implementation of some of the components of traditional SEO may even adversely affect local SEO.
Take this SEO guide and make the best of simple practices to make a profit of your website… but if you don´t have time, experience or any other related, then call us. Best SEO in Canada is here to help you out.
Why It’s Important To Keep SEO Momentum Going
It’s a great accomplishment when you reach the first page of Google. You probably have an influx of clients and a boost in revenue. All those blogs, white papers, website links, and digital marketing efforts are finally paying off. You’re successful enough that you don’t have time, or perhaps the will, to market yourself. After all you’re a success so that means you can take your foot off the pedal, right?
WRONG!
Keyword Stuffing Is an SEO Killer
Keyword Stuffing Is an SEO Killer (And Here’s Why)
Guys- keyword stuffing kills your SEO.
SEO and keywords go hand in hand. Arguably one of the most important aspects of sound SEO, keywords play an insanely vital role in your search engine placement.
They are the link between what your potential clients are searching for, and when/how thy view your business online.
Singular words, or phrases- keywords help connect search engine users to your online content. Keywords are found everywhere within your online strategy- social media, your website, PPC and even Youtube!
Too little, or the wrong keywords? You may as well be sleeping on the Internet.
With that being said, it would make sense to choose a few top performing keywords and use them everywhere and as much as possible. The more the merrier, right?
And the more anchors you have to your line content from each search, the more you will be seen.
Well, no. Not at all actually. The intelligence of search engines far surpasses shoddy practices like keyword stuffing- among others, like backlink farming, spam ads and duplicate content.
What Is Keyword Stuffing?
Funnily enough, keyword stuffing used to be considered a leading SEO practice.
Loading the same keywords into every area of your online content- both the front and back end – used to gain an unfair rank advantage in search engines. The top SEO experts would stuff the same few keywords in their meta tags, content, backlink anchor text, alt images etc. for simply better SERP rankings.
But even back in the days where it was acceptable, it was still spammy and annoying- but Google and other search engines found it downright devious in a world where transparency and genuineness is heavily demanded online.
You will 100% be penalized for keyword stuffing, but it doesn’t mean that content curators out there don’t do still do it for rankings until they are caught.
Why Does Keyword Stuffing Kill Your SEO?
The minute Google noticed the amount of keyword stuffing going on out there, they were quick to crack down and implement strict guidelines on how repetitive you could actually get when curating content.
Seriously, they wrote an article about it.
And why goes Google care so much about keyword stuffing? The answer to that lies in the user experience. Google wants to uphold themselves as the search engine that delivers valid and helpful answers- if they can’t, people will just use other sources.
To increase the quality of each searchers experience, Google updated their algorithm to scan and point out keyword stuffing. If you’re manipulating your SERP rankings, rather than earning it, your content will be penalized.
And really, it’s not all about Google and SERP rankings. Don’t forget, actual humans read your content- and it’s them that will be the true qualified leads and sales. Keyword stuffing can never sound natural, and it will never sound genuine. To the average human, it will read as robotic and repetitive and that’s bad online marketing all around.
How Do I Know If I’m Keyword Stuffing?
Of course, there is no easy answer to this question. It’s a total grey area.
Keyword stuffing vs. keyword optimization is a tricky thing for even SEO experts to master. The execution of just the right amount of keywords and strategic placement is an art in itself.
At the end of the day, you’re satisfying the need for transparent and genuine content for the user with the demands of a robotic search engine.
And that’s tough. But what you’re aiming to achieve is health keyword optimization, working natural and true content around a few keywords that accurately describe your business.
Healthy keyword optimization does not force content based on leading searches- it will mirror what your business offers and what your specific market is searching for.
Your content should also provide helpful, relevant content specific to your business as a primary goal, with strategic placement of relevant keywords as a second goal.
There’s a Formula To Avoid Keyword Stuffing
As with a lot of content creation, there isn’t a black and white rule to avoid keyword stuffing. At RAD, we do use a benchmark that helps us create natural, engaging content. Without the use of repeated keywords every two sentences.
We write with keyword density in mind.
Keyword Density =
(Number of words in copy) / (Number of times keyword appears in copy)
There are some companies (and sadly, agencies) that will try and by-pass this by putting text on the page that is the same color as it’s background. Readers can’t see it, but search engine crawlers can.
PSA- Google knows, and you’ll be penalized.
Others repeat keywords in comments, reviews, in the sites code and more to again, trick the search engine crawlers but not interrupt the user experience.
Again, Google is smarter than most of us and will catch it.
The best way to avoid keyword stuffing is by curating raw, real and smart content. That engages readers on a natural level. Your website will rank higher on the SERP engine- and stay there- by appeasing Google AND your readers. Yes, it will take longer- great SEO is gradual and requires consistent work. If your work is wholesome and true, your place on the SERP will be as well.
2020 SEO Trends – Why Backlinks Need To Comeback
Improve your SEO with Backlinks
As if there wasn’t enough to add to SEO best practices, we want to touch on backlinks.
Okay, no- we really want to dive into backlinks, because they are just that important.
As Kelowna’s leading premier WordPress marketing agency, we work around the clock to boost our clients search engine ranking. Our toolbox is full – website development, content creation, keyword research, social stacking- but backlink building is always directly on our radar.
We’re not going to lie to you; even as SEO professionals, backlink building is hard. Backlinks are a huge part of SEO best practices, but take time and knowledge to build.
What are backlinks?
Referred to as “online citations”, backlinks are simply links to your website, or web resource, from an external website, or web source. Web sources can mean articles, directories, online archives etc. They act as a vouch of confidence for your website and content, both to users and search engines.
Backlinks are typically the hyperlinks you see in articles (you know, the clickable text underlined in blue) but can also be image tags, social stacking or listings.
Rad- we’ve got the textbook definitions out the way.
Now let’s talk about how backlinks are super essential for your website- and why.
Do Backlinks Improve SEO?
Yes. 100% they do.
Good quality, reputable backlinks boost your SERP pretty aggressively and actively contribute to your overall online marketing.
That’s why prior to Google’s Penguin algorithm update, SEO professionals around the globe were doing anything they could to gain backlinks.
Take a wild guess how Google felt about that. Let’s back up a little.
The obsession with backlinks began in response to Larry Page’s algorithm contribution- PageRank. This particular algorithm basically determined the order of search results- so who would show up or not. PageRank was the first algorithm ever used by Google to index sites and use this index to determine websites rankings.
Guess what PageRank focused super, super heavily on?
Backlinks. Once the cat was out of the bag, the frenzy of every SEO professional around to get as many backlinks as possible to boost their SERP ranking began.
It was seriously like wildfire. Experts starting bypassing the natural requirements of the algorithm- clean, quality backlinks, and creating backlink farms (as we cover later.)
So, how do backlinks help your SEO?
They are a prime example of speaking both to the user and search engines.
Backlinks and Linkjuice
Backlinks indicate trust, relevancy and authority to search engine crawlers. By another reputable site linking to yours, they are vouching for your site and letting Google know that “hey, they’re great.” It accelerates your exposure to Google bots and get your site indexed faster. Good quality backlinks produce “linkjuice” which is credible equity from one site to another. The more juice you have given to you, the stronger your site will perform in search results.
Kind of like, Redbull giving you wings. Popeye and spinach. You get the idea.
Boost Referral Traffic with Backlinks
Backlinks provide you with referral traffic. And who doesn’t want extra traffic to their website? Better yet, the traffic coming from these high quality backlinks is going to be pretty targeted and relevant to you. Free traffic is pretty rad. Search engines think so too- the more quality traffic you drive to your site, the more they notice you and the more likely they are to index you with a little love.
Rank Higher for Keywords with Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks, our little blue text links (or anchor links) even help with your specific keyword ranking. Google crawlers go as far as to see how much “support’ you have for any given keyword on your website’s pages. If they find your keyword relevant to the rest of you, it will boost your exposure on that single key term as well.
Backlinks aren’t all for the search engine though. Remember- there’s a user on the other end of the computer.
Backlinks Help You Get Seen
Backlinks give you great brand recognition and exposure. They act as somewhat of a review- a link to your site from a credible site will not only promote your brand but also – again- vouch to the user that your website is A-Okay. Repeated mention of your website throughout credible sources just adds to brand recognition; people see your brand and begin to recognize it within their online experiences.
Don’t Resort to Backlink Farming
Backlink farming is the very reason Google’s Penguin update ever came into effect.
Like we mentioned earlier, SEO experts were desperate to get hundreds of backlinks for their site once the ball dropped on PageRank- Google’s first algorithm for ranking that focused lots on backlinks.
Of course, deceptions of this algorithm were pretty easy to brew up (likely why Google stays so hush-hush about their algorithms nowadays.) By creating networks of spam websites and directories with the sole purpose of all linking to each other, paying your way into hundreds of unearned backlinks became a widely used tactic in every level of SEO out there.
That’s where the ability for site crawlers to determine the quality of the links, not just the number of them, was born.
And it’s fair. Reputable backlinks are built on trust, relationship building and genuine online presence.
Backlink farming is still a grey area. While giant networks and rings are easy to define as backlink farms, there are operating businesses out there that offer backlinks in return for pay. Crowned “black hat SEO”, buying backlinks poses as “backlink strategy growth” and still remains…..questionable.
Buying backlinks might grab you some short term SERP rankings. You might even get away with it for a while and see a huge change in your website analytics and rankings. But once Google figures you out, you can kiss goodbye to your growth – buying backlinks is a direct violation of Google’s advertising code.
Listen, don’t shoot the messenger, ok? Buying backlinks is so much easier than organically building them and can seem like a great option for those wanting to really boost their site.
We get it, honestly we do. But it’s really not worth it.
Organically growing backlinks takes time and effort, but it will pay off.
How to Build Backlinks- Naturally
Now, we can’t let our own cat out of the bag and give away all the secrets.
But, here’s some practices you can undertake to start building an army of reputable backlinks:
Add links on all your social media profiles – (hey, social stacking!)
Monitor your best performing posts and pages, and expand them routinely.
Create content that is useful and exciting to a reader- content that helps them solve a problem and share it among their networks for the same reason
Off page, build relationships with influencers, industry leaders and bloggers to trade valuable backlinks. Believe it or not, you can also strategically work with your competitors to do the same thing!
Monitor your competitors backlinks, and look to see if you can also be placed within those sources as well.
COVID-19 Pandemic and The Internet
What the COVID-19 Pandemic Means for Online Businesses (And Tips to Adapt)
There is no shortage on fear, panic and anxiety surrounding COVID-19 and the halting affects this pandemic has had on our everyday communities. As the world dwindles down to ordered self isolation and essential services only, many business owners are left wondering how they can start planning ahead to survive post COVID-19.
The virus has either slowed or shut down almost every industry out there, leaving local businesses unsure of how to proceed in these times of major uncertainty. For many, the online space can provide relief by providing a platform in which they can continue operations.
See how this webmaster built a platform that allowed food truck owners to keep making money during COVID-19 Pandemic.
Many businesses are turning to the net- scrambling up advertising campaigns, websites, online stores etc. To help continue driving sales within communities that are practically in hiding. With critical emphasis on no human contact, the online space has become the only way to safely shop, communicate and keep up to date with the world.
And while we live in times where the Internet seems to rule the world, it isn’t until it’s our only option that things begin to change. In the case of COVID-19 Pandemic, the Internet is certainly not immune- and the digital space has shifted massively in the last few weeks.
The team here at RAD shares the five biggest impacts that COVID-19 Pandemic has had on the online space. And some suggestions on how to cope.
How COVID-19 Has Shifted the Digital Marketing Space
COVID-19 Has Dominated Google Search
Not surprisingly, the virus is a leading search term on Google. In fact, Google is calling it the biggest search term trend in searching history- and that’s a pretty big title to have.
Direct searches about the virus have increased an average of 4000% each day. But the influx of searches related to the virus has presented our team with a different set of data than we’re used to seeing.
Our PPC Queen, Alex, has seen a massive increase in searches not common to our everyday lives. The term “national emergency” has spiked 1950% in less than six hours, while there have been similar increases in terms like:
“what fast food restaurants are open ?”
“will grocery stores be open tomorrow?”
“is the housing market going to crash?”
“when are taxes due Canada 2020?”
What does this mean for businesses?
It means that people’s focus really isn’t on much else right now.
Rightfully so, the panic has shifted a huge chunk of daily searches to the virus and everything surrounding it. And the noise of the virus is drowning out a lot of businesses looking to thrive online.
Alex shares that there isn’t really a whole lot you can do in terms of redirecting focus. Rather, you should look at how you can direct your business into the line of focus. Monitor search term reports, actively add to your negative keyword list & adopt those long-tailed keywords in your campaigns!
Mobile Search Traffic Has Dropped 25% (h3)
It’s been a while since desktop searches have grown, but with everyone stuck at home, it seems the mobile phones have been put down.
Website Optimization:
For us, it means two things. Alex mentioned that the costs of PPC advertising may rise, as mobile traffic is generally cheaper than desktop.
However, the biggest concern lies in website optimization. And how a shift of what the user sees- will affect conversions during this time.
Because mobile has led the majority of web traffic for the past few years, mobile optimization has been a hot, hot topic. But websites have almost been over-optimized for mobile, leaving the desktop experience falling short in comparison.
AJ, our SEO & Web Development Boss, shares that a websites design and content should be reviewed and modified to ensure a positive desktop experience for the user.
Example? The CTA rich pop ups you banned from your site to improve mobile experience? Those could make a comeback as you revert back to different conversion paths.
What You’re Reading Everyday Has Changed
Centre content around leading search terms.
Sounds like the classic principle behind online content creation, right?
It is- but when the entire Internet has shifted their focus to something a little out of the ordinary. It can be difficult to align content with what’s popular at this moment.
But if you can, you should. Just as with more routine content marketing, don’t create completely irrelevant content in the hopes of joining the masses of similar content.
Our content expert, Joel, suggests incorporating the COVID-19 virus and it’s effects into your content if you can naturally do so, and
keeping the following in mind:
Use your content to keep people informed. The community expects a response from your business, during these times. They are seeking security and comfort, and that includes being kept in the loop by familiar faces- and brands. Use this time to try and instill well being into your customers, fostering and nurturing relationships with them as you remind them that you are beside them in these times as well. Provide relevant policy updates, proactive measures you’ve taken or hours of operation etc.
Don’t add to the panic! Be a credible, reliable and neutral source- even as a company. Avoid spreading anything but pure facts, and watch your language; it can be easy to talk in an alarmed or dramatic tone.
Convey empathy, compassion & humility. People will remember who and what helped them during these times- be a positive voice amongst the negativity when creating content at this time.
There is no level of tact that’s acceptable- at this time, anyway. “HOT COVID-19 Sales!” -Don’t do that.
Social Media Usage is Through the Roof Not surprising.
Scrolling the ‘gram really does help pass the time of quarantine boredom, but communities are also turning to social media for help, answers and- shopping?
Yep, that’s right- online shopping and particularly on social media, is up by 35%.
Call it impulse buying, boredom shopping or catching up on purchases they haven’t had time to make in store. Whatever it is, businesses are finding some relief in the increase in online shoppers.
With social media usage being sky high, it also gives you a great opportunity to keep your brand and business relevant. Use this platform to introduce reformed content (see Joel’s suggestions above) but to also stimulate conversions using organic or paid initiatives.
Remember though, content for social media differs. Having a sound social media strategy and lots of visuals will help drive engagement with an audience that’s listening more than ever.
Organic Web Traffic Has Decreased In Almost Every Industry (h3)
We’re talking like a decrease of 25% on average, over all industries- with only four seeing increases (healthcare, finance, food & media.)
The biggest? With a near 50% drop in organic traffic, the travel industry is suffering during this.
And let’s be real here- we can’t really counteract this. There’s going to be a drop in traffic, sales and business. These are scary times, and people rightfully are focusing on other certain things.
This won’t change for a while, but you can look at ways to drive as much traffic as you can during this time. Here’s what has worked for our clients lately:
Content!
Create content that supports people at this time. Create content that gently reminds users of your brand and your mission. Use this time to separate yourselves from the vultures of the net. Those that exploit and capitalize on the fear and panic of COVID-19.
Promotions and offers.
People are still shopping, just in a different format. To help drive conversions, consider promotions and offers to add. That further incentive shoppers may need- and to help generate a buzz.
Join in the Conversation.
Offer support, offer sympathies, share valid information and helpful content. Immerse yourself in the current conversation, instead of trying to create a new one.
2018 SEO Changes
Google is constantly changing their algorithms and it’s the job of SEO experts to stay on top of them so here are some of the major changes Google has made this year.