SEO – Keep Up With The Web

SEO Resources Bloggers Can Use #FridayFinds

SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the most talked about topics that bloggers hear about. Whether we want to understand it or not, bloggers need to be aware of the basics of SEO. If we choose to ignore it, we’ll either miss the opportunity to get free organic search traffic or (even worse) risk being de-indexed by Google completely.

Today, in this episode of my #FridayFinds series, let’s take a look at some of the basics of SEO. My first find is chock full of SEO tips for publishing on LinkedIn and my second find recaps a roundup of eleven articles from bloggers including Dr. Peter J. Meyers (MOZ.com), Christopher Ratcliff (eConsultancy.com), David Shiffman (SEMRush.com), Garrett Moon (CoSchedule.com), Danny Sullivan (SearchEngineLand.com), Jayson DeMers (AudienceBloom.com) and Rizvan Ullah (Ranktactics.com).

You’ll also find some videos from Matt Cutts and John Mueller. Some of these posts are older but (I believe) they’re evergreen.

Continue reading “SEO Resources Bloggers Can Use #FridayFinds”

What Is Your Response to Google’s Mobile Friendly Update? #FridayFinds

We’re less than a week away from Google’s April 21^st date to have our sites mobile-friendly. Hopefully, by now, your site already passes Google’s test, you’re implementing a plan to meet the deadline, or you have come to the conclusion that you’ll be okay if your website is not returned in the SERPs (search engine result pages) that are performed from mobile devices. The decision is individual. What we don’t want to do is make rash decisions that could derail our overall business strategy. We need to take a common sense approach to this and not fall prey to the #Mobilegeddon hysteria.

Continue reading “What Is Your Response to Google’s Mobile Friendly Update? #FridayFinds”

Are You Ready for the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm?

Chances are, you’ve already heard that Google has announced a new algorithm update that will include “mobile friendliness” as a ranking factor. The expected “date” for this algorithm will be April 21, 2015. So what does that mean to you and me? Is the solution to use a responsive WordPress theme? Will a WordPress plugin meet your needs? If you don’t make your site friendly for mobile devices, will this Google algorithm update affect how your site ranks in the SERPs (Search Engine Result pages) for desktop computers as well?

Continue reading “Are You Ready for the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm?”

Does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Confuse You? #FridayFinds

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just write content for our blogs and websites and not worry about SEO? Is SEO even important in 2015? What if you don’t do anything special about optimizing your content for the search engines? What if you just write?

Sure, your content may or may not show up in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) but if you totally ignore meta-tags, descriptions and alternate text tags, would it matter?

If you don’t pay attention to backlinks (both to and from your site) are you putting yourself at risk of a Google penalty or a manual webspam action or being totally de-indexed by Google? Let’s take a step back today and look at the overall picture of SEO through a #FridayFinds round-up of some great articles that I found for you.

Continue reading “Does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Confuse You? #FridayFinds”

What SEO Tools Do You Use? #FridayFinds

SEO is one of my favorite topics to cover here in my #FridayFinds series. In the past, I’ve talked about how the Google Panda 4.1 update rewards quality content, how to optimize your sites for SEO, the differences between manual web spam actions and algorithm changes and the importance of Google semantic search to website owners. (Thanks to Jeannette Paladino for authoring that article..)

This week, let’s take a closer look at the SEO PowerSuite tools by Link-Assistant. Also, for those of you who have ever noticed a drop in your organic search traffic, I found a fun infographic that’s actually a flow chart that could help you figure out if you’ve fallen victim to a Panda or Penguin update (or possibly something else like a dreaded manual webspam action).

Continue reading “What SEO Tools Do You Use? #FridayFinds”

Did You Know Google Panda 4.1 Rewards Quality Content? #FridayFinds

Have you been keeping up with the latest Google algorithm changes? Do you know what Panda 4.1 is intended to do? Are you concerned that you could potentially lose significant organic search traffic or are you confident that the recent changes in SEO will reward you for quality content? This week, in my #FridayFinds series, we’re going to take an in-depth look at some of the latest news surrounding Google.

Continue reading “Did You Know Google Panda 4.1 Rewards Quality Content? #FridayFinds”

Are You Confused by Google Semantics? SEO Tips You Need.

Do you feel like I do, that search Engine Optimization (SEO) has always been a bit of a mystery? For years, we’ve been taught that keywords, quality backlinks and “great” content will drive traffic to your site.

But Google seems to be constantly changing the rules on us. Now we need to learn more about semantics. Semantic search isn’t new; it’s just become more important.

This is a complex topic, but in this post I’ll briefly define semantic search and its key elements: structured data markup and rich snippets. Continue reading “Are You Confused by Google Semantics? SEO Tips You Need.”

How Can You Get Started With SEO? #FridayFinds

Love it or hate it, organic search traffic is a very effective method of driving free traffic to your website. People search the Internet when they’re researching and buying. It’s a fact. So, what can you do to optimize your website to be search engine friendly while still writing quality content that your visitors will want to read? Last week, in my #FridayFinds series, I focused on new SEO tactics that you can use to help website visitors find your blog in Google’s SERPs (search engine results pages). One of the resources that I cited suggested that we limit the length of our post titles to 55 characters. In this week’s finds, you’ll learn SEO tips and tools to either get you started with SEO or help take you to the next level.

Continue reading “How Can You Get Started With SEO? #FridayFinds”

Google Manual Web Spam Action or Algorithm Change?

Last week, in light of the massive amount of manual web spam actions that Google enacted, I wrote an article that took a closer look at what was behind some of the actions. This week, let’s hear what Matt Cutts has to say about the differences between a Google algorithmic penalty and a Google manual web spam action. What does the Google web spam team consider an unnatural link and what can you do to recover from it? Continue reading “Google Manual Web Spam Action or Algorithm Change?”

3 Things You May Not Know About Google and SEO – #FridayFinds

Do you know how to exploit the landing pages search function of Google’s keyword planner tool? Did you know that using underscores in the URLs of your website pages (for example blog posts) could potentially be costing you search traffic? Interested in learning ways to drive traffic to your website that don’t involve SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Find the answers to these three questions in this week’s #FridayFinds.

Continue reading “3 Things You May Not Know About Google and SEO – #FridayFinds”