So, let’s dive in and answer the question, “How can I improve my website rankings through SEO?”

• Why SEO?
• Understanding search engine algorithms and E-E-A-T
• Importance of keyword research
• On-page optimization techniques
• Technical SEO tactics
• The power of content marketing
• Link earning for SEO success
• Dominating the local market with local SEO
• Monitoring performance and analytics
• FAQ: How can I optimize my website for better search engine rankings using SEO?

Why SEO?

SEO is the key to unlocking the potential of your website. By optimizing your web pages and content, you help search engines understand your website’s relevance to user queries.

This translates to higher rankings on search engine result pages to reach your target audience and drive more organic search traffic.

Studies show that the majority of traffic goes to sites that rank in the first three positions in the search results.

Understanding Search Engine Algorithms and E-E-A-T

Understanding how search engine algorithms work is essential for effective SEO.

For example, knowing how Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines work as a feedback loop for the algorithm is helpful.

These guidelines outline principles such as E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust), which help guide a sustainable and successful SEO strategy.

At the end of the day, no matter what SEO strategies you apply, ethical SEO practices are critical for long-term success.

By working within the guidelines of the search engines and focusing on the end user, you build trust with your target audience and the search engines. This results in becoming more relevant for a searcher’s query and ranking higher in the search results.

Read more: The Complete Guide to the Basics of E-E-A-T

Importance of Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the first steps in a successful SEO strategy.

By identifying and analyzing the keywords your target audience is using, you lay a strong foundation for your content strategy so that you deliver the right content the moment your customers are looking for it.

Advanced AI tools can even predict future keyword relevance, giving you a competitive edge in the digital landscape.

Read more: What Are Keywords? Why Are Keywords Important to SEO? And How Do You Do Keyword Research?

On-Page Optimization Techniques

There are countless variables in Google’s ranking algorithm, and those variables change based on the page that Google is evaluating.

So investing in the on-page techniques that matter to your website (driven by factors like the top-ranked competition and best practices) can significantly boost your rankings.

Read more: The Always Up-to-Date SEO Checklist

Technical SEO Tactics

Technical SEO works to make sure the website runs smoothly behind the scenes for both users and search engines.

This includes things like mobile optimization, page speed and performance, robots.txt, XML sitemaps, content architecture through SEO siloing and more. This step cannot be overlooked to compete in the search results.

Read more: Technical SEO vs. On-Page SEO – The Differences

The Power of Content Marketing

Every good SEO strategy has a powerful content program behind it. With high-quality, relevant content, you can attract and engage your target audience.

And, when combined with effective SEO, it can propel your website to new heights. Search engines will recognize those sites that put effort into their content.

Read more: 5 Steps To Help Writers Create Expert Content for SEO

Link Earning for SEO Success

Though links play less of a role today than they once did, earning links through quality content and other acceptable methods can help boost your website’s authority.

What matters is quality over quantity. Sites with fewer but higher quality links can outpace their competition in the search results.

Read more: The New Link Building Manifesto: A Complete Guide to Earning Links That Count

Dominating the Local Market with Local SEO

Ninety-eight percent (98%) of consumers used the Internet to find information about local businesses in 2023. (That number is likely to remain unchanged in 2024.) If you’re a local business looking to attract more customers, local SEO is your solution.

Read more: Checklist for Local SEO

Monitoring Performance and Analytics

Keeping track of your website’s performance is vital as you implement SEO strategies.

Monitoring your rankings and organic traffic, understanding SEO performance through analytics and keeping an eye on your competitors will help you refine your strategies and stay ahead.

Read more: The Top SEO Software That Experts Use Every Day

If you’re struggling to improve your website rankings, our SEO experts can help. Schedule a free consultation today to talk about how we can get you more qualified traffic, higher search ranking and increased revenue.

FAQ: How can I optimize my website for better search engine rankings using SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) plays an essential role in driving organic traffic to your website. By implementing effective SEO strategies, you can enhance your website’s visibility on search engine result pages (SERPs) and attract more potential customers.

Here are some key insights and tips to help you optimize your website for better search engine rankings using SEO:

Understand the Importance of Keywords: Keywords act as the foundation of SEO. Research and identify relevant keywords that align with your website’s content and target audience. Utilize keyword tools to determine search volume and competition, aiming for a balance between highly searched terms and reasonable competition levels.

On-Page Optimization Techniques: Implementing on-page SEO techniques will improve your website’s visibility to search engines. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, headers and URL structures with relevant keywords. Ensure your content is compelling, informative and unique to engage both users and search engines.

Create High-Quality and Engaging Content: Publishing high-quality content is vital for SEO success. Write informative articles, blog posts and other valuable content that answers user queries and addresses their pain points. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally within your content and strive for a balance between readability and keyword optimization.

Build a Solid Backlink Profile: Backlinks from authoritative websites significantly impact search engine rankings. Develop a comprehensive link-building strategy to acquire high-quality backlinks. Reach out to relevant industry influencers or websites for guest blogging opportunities or collaborations. Producing exceptional content will naturally attract backlinks.

Enhance Website Speed and Mobile Responsiveness: Website performance is a crucial aspect of SEO. Optimize your website speed by minimizing file sizes, leveraging browser caching and utilizing content delivery networks (CDNs). Additionally, ensure your website is mobile-friendly, as mobile optimization is essential for ranking well on search engines.

Utilize Local SEO Techniques: For businesses targeting a specific geographic area, local SEO is vital. Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing, ensuring accurate business information, customer reviews and consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) details across all platforms.

Leverage Social Media: Social media engagement indirectly impacts SEO. Promote your content on popular social media platforms to attract a wider audience and encourage social signals (likes, shares, comments) that can positively influence search engine rankings.

Monitor Performance and Adapt: SEO efforts are not a one-time task; ongoing monitoring and adjustments are necessary for optimal results. Regularly analyze your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console. Continuously monitor keyword rankings, traffic sources and user behavior to identify improvement areas.

Remember, SEO is an ever-evolving field, so stay informed about recent trends and algorithm updates to maintain your website’s search visibility.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Perform comprehensive keyword research using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SEOToolSet®.
2. Analyze competitor keywords and identify opportunities for optimization.
3. Develop a content strategy based on target keywords and user intent.
4. Optimize meta tags, headers and URLs with relevant keywords.
5. Implement schema markup to enhance search engine visibility.
6. Monitor website performance using Google Analytics and Search Console.
7. Identify and fix technical SEO issues such as broken links and redirects.
8. Utilize local SEO tactics if targeting a specific geographic location.
9. Create high-quality, shareable content to attract natural backlinks.
10. Engage with your audience through social media and encourage user-generated content.
11. Regularly audit and update your SEO strategy to adapt to algorithm changes.
12. Implement structured data markup for rich snippet appearance in search results.
13. Collaborate with influencers or industry experts for content promotion.
14. Conduct A/B testing to optimize website conversion rates.
15. Implement HTTPS security protocol to build trust with users and search engines.
16. Monitor and analyze SEO performance metrics to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
17. Implement advanced link building tactics such as guest posting and resource link building.
18. Optimize images and multimedia elements for faster loading times.
19. Utilize Google My Business for local SEO optimization and increased visibility.
20. Generate and submit an XML sitemap to search engines for better crawling and indexing.
21. Implement responsive web design for seamless user experience across devices.
22. Use alt tags for images to improve accessibility and keyword relevancy.
23. Integrate social share buttons to encourage content sharing and enhance visibility.
24. Stay updated on the latest SEO trends and algorithm updates to maintain a competitive edge.

Follow these steps to fully optimize your website for better search engine rankings, drive more organic traffic and attract potential customers to your online presence.

The post How Can I Improve My Website Rankings Through SEO? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Having a website listed and ranked on search engines is an accomplishment in the highly competitive digital landscape. However, it can be disheartening when these sites fail to attract the expected traffic.

Understanding why this occurs is vital for website owners looking to expand their visibility and engage directly with their target audience.

In this article, we’ll look into why websites struggle with traffic issues despite their best efforts and explore strategies to overcome such obstacles.

• Keywords, Keywords, Keywords
• Technical SEO Issues
• Fresh Content
• User Experience Impact on Traffic
• FAQ: How can a website maximize its organic traffic through improved search engine rankings?

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords

Failure to optimize keywords is an integral factor that prevents brands from ranking highly in search results. Search engines rely on keywords to understand the relevance of a website to specific search queries.

Target keywords must be effectively integrated into the website’s content, titles, headings and meta tags to increase its chances of ranking higher in search results and driving organic traffic.

Another critical aspect is the quality and relevance of the website’s content. Search engines prioritize high-quality and informative content that aligns with user intent. Content that does not demonstrate E-E-A-T — experience, expertise, authority and trust — risks being penalized in search engine results.

One of the best ways to start your keyword research for your brand is to begin with a topic cluster. Start by creating your pillar content. This content should be the main focus of your blog or site. For example, with Bruce Clay, our pillar content is focused on SEO. SEO is what we do, and it’s at the heart of our brand.

From here, you can focus on creating cluster content. Cluster content is content that can be hyperlinked from your pillar content.

For example, we have SEO as our pillar content and have a variety of cluster content, such as online SEO training, search engine marketing, pay-per-click marketing, content development and social media advertising.

All of these clusters are secondary to our pillar pieces, but they also all tie back to our pillar pieces. You can create multiple topic clusters for your site.

The point of creating cluster content is that you can create a web of hyperlinks between all the content within a single cluster. It all feeds back into one another.

This is a broad overview; we take it a step further by creating additional clusters for each, such as a cluster for content development where the pillar piece is the content development page, and the cluster pages are all subtopics of pay-per-click marketing.

Keywords are essential with cluster content because each piece of the topic cluster (both pillar content and cluster content) should have its own keyword focus.

Start with the high-level topic keyword for the pillar content, then move into the keyword focus for each subtopic or cluster content topic. Internally link between each page and all of the other pages.

Technical SEO Issues

Left unaddressed, technical SEO issues can damage a website’s search engine rankings.

Factors such as slow loading times, broken links, poor website structure and improper use of headers and tags can negatively affect user experience.

It’s a good habit to regularly audit your site to identify and optimize these technical aspects. Doing so will improve its performance, enhance user experience and ultimately increase organic traffic.

Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions is another important element in driving organic traffic. These elements play a significant role in conveying the relevance and value of a webpage to search engine users.

Poorly crafted or uninformative title tags and meta descriptions may lead users to overlook the website in search results. Optimizing these elements with compelling and relevant information, including target keywords, can increase click-through rates.

SERPStat ran a study where they audited 288 million pages across thousands of websites. They found the greatest technical SEO issues were mark-up-related issues at 29.56%, and meta tags at 26.62%. When it came to mark-up-related issues, a missing Twitter/X card, missing open graph and missing schema.org were the top issues.

Make sure that these are all in working order on your site. As far as meta tags are concerned, the most common issues they found were the extra-long title and the length of the meta tag description.

There are a variety of SEO tools that you can use with your site to check the length of both your meta tag title and description. Yoast SEO is a common choice for WordPress-based sites, or you can use this simple character count tool. The goal is 50–60 characters for your meta title and 150–160 characters for your meta description.

Fresh Content

Search engines value fresh and regularly updated content. A whopping 27% of all high-performing content is no more than a month old. New, ongoing content tells search engines that the site is active and hints that its content will be more relevant than sites that rarely offer new information.

So, develop a content strategy that includes generating new content and refreshing old content regularly to help attract search engine crawlers and boost rankings.

Fresh content goes beyond search engine traffic — it gives visitors to your site a reason to keep coming back. New content can keep readers interested and give them a reason to spend more time on your site.

Use your target audience avatar to determine your audience’s biggest pain points and work to create fresh content that addresses them weekly for the best results.

User Experience Impact on Traffic

User experience is essential in search engine rankings and organic traffic. When search engines determine the ranking of websites, they evaluate the site user’s experience. To do this, they look at real-time data: bounce rate, time spent on site, page load speed and whether the site is mobile-friendly.

A website with slow loading times, difficult navigation, or lack of mobile optimization may experience lower organic traffic. Optimizing the website for a smooth and seamless user experience across devices is vital.

If you’re failing to generate traffic to your website, it’s because you are not paying attention to the factors that influence search engine ranking — keyword optimization, technical SEO, content quality and user experience. Improve these areas and you will improve organic traffic, visibility, engagement and conversions.

Unhappy with your search engine ranking and traffic volume? Our SEO experts can help. Contact us for a free consultation today.

FAQ: How can a website maximize its organic traffic through improved search engine rankings?

Maximizing organic traffic through improved search engine rankings is a crucial goal for any website to increase its online visibility and reach a wider audience. Attaining this objective requires an integrated strategy combining on-page and offline strategies, technical optimizations and content enhancement.

Optimizing on-page SEO is crucial for optimal search engine ranking. To do this, high-quality and relevant content is required.

Utilizing relevant keywords naturally throughout the content, optimizing meta tags, headings and improving the overall user experience can significantly boost a website’s search engine ranking. Regularly updating and refreshing content keeps it current and engaging for visitors and search engine algorithms.

Off-page SEO plays a vital role in increasing organic traffic to websites. Search engines can verify that your website is reliable by building high-quality links from relevant and reputable websites while engaging with your audience.

Creating a solid presence on social media can indirectly affect search rankings, increasing brand recognition and driving more organic traffic to your website.

Additionally, technical SEO plays a crucial role in website optimization. Ensuring that the site’s structure is user-friendly and mobile-responsive is essential for ranking well in search engines.

Optimizing page load times, implementing secure HTTPS protocols and making XML sitemaps can enhance the overall user experience and positively impact search engine rankings.

Lastly, ongoing monitoring and analytics are essential. Regularly reviewing website performance through tools like Google Analytics and Search Console can provide valuable insights.

By analyzing which keywords drive traffic, understanding user behavior and adjusting your strategies accordingly, you can continually optimize your website to maximize organic traffic and improve search engine rankings.

Optimizing a website for better search engine rankings requires a holistic approach encompassing on-page, off-page, technical and analytical aspects. By creating high-quality content, acquiring authoritative backlinks, maintaining a technically sound website and using data-driven insights to make improvements, a website can maximize organic traffic and increase its visibility in search engine results.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Maximizing Organic Traffic for a Website with Search Engine Rankings

1. Keyword Optimization: Identify target keywords relevant to your website’s content and align with user search intent. Incorporate these keywords into your website’s content, titles, headings and meta tags.
2. Content Quality and Relevance: Create high-quality content that meets the needs of your target audience. Provide them with content that delivers value. Ensure that your content aligns with user search intent and addresses their queries effectively.
3. Technical Optimization: Regularly audit and optimize your website for technical SEO issues such as slow loading times, broken links and proper website structure. Ensure that headers and tags are used correctly to provide a clear and organized content structure.
4. Optimize Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Craft compelling and relevant title tags and meta descriptions for each webpage, incorporating target keywords and accurately reflecting the content. Ensure these tags provide enticing information and encourage users to click through to your website.
5. Regular Content Updates: Implement a content strategy that regularly updates existing pages and creates fresh content. Focus on providing valuable and up-to-date information to attract search engine crawlers and keep your website active and relevant.
6. User Experience Optimization: Optimize your website for a smooth and seamless user experience. Improve page load speed, simplify navigation and ensure mobile optimization for a user-friendly browsing experience.
7. Social Media Promotion: Leverage social media platforms to promote your website’s content and attract organic traffic. Share snippets of your content, engage with your audience and encourage social sharing to increase visibility.
8. Monitor and Analyze Performance: Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor your website’s performance. Analyze user behavior, traffic sources and engagement metrics to identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategies accordingly.
9. Stay Updated with SEO Trends: Stay informed about the latest SEO trends to adapt your optimization strategies. Follow reputable industry blogs, attend webinars and participate in forums to stay up-to-date with the evolving SEO landscape.

The post Why Do Sites Struggle with Traffic and What Can SEO Do About It? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

The bucket list is all the things you want to do before you die. I argue that every website needs a bucket list, too. This list prioritizes all the things that need to happen before the site becomes so irrelevant it “dies” in the search results.

There is a lot I could say here. To keep it short and sweet, though, I have categorized the SEO “bucket list” into three main buckets:

1. Get a strong foundation 
2. Create an SEO-friendly architecture
3. Write quality content 
4. FAQ: How can SEO Siloing improve my website’s subject and website authority?

1. Get a Strong Foundation

Search engines want to rank websites that provide a good user experience. That means: Get the technical stuff right.

This includes:

• An SEO-friendly content management system
• SEO-friendly web design (HTML Living Standard code and W3C compliance, for instance)
• A mobile-friendly website
• A fast website
• A modern design
• User-friendly webpages
• Technical SEO best practices

This list may seem small, but getting everything right in each of those bullet points is a huge undertaking. When you do get it right, though, your site can better compete in the search results.

2. Create an SEO-Friendly Architecture

How you organize the content on a website matters to both search engines and website visitors. This includes the navigation and internal linking of webpages.

SEO-friendly site architecture is created through SEO siloing. Siloing creates content categories/directories on a site based on the keywords you’ve selected through keyword research.

This SEO strategy helps to build subject and website authority and clearly tells the search engines what the content is about. In other words: It can make your website more relevant for a search.

For more on this, read:

• SEO Siloing: What, Why, How
• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Rankings

3. Write Quality Content

If you haven’t seen Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines, then it’s time to do some reading on how important it is that you get the “quality content” piece right.

Of course, those guidelines are not the end all be all, but they are useful to understand how Google thinks about quality. Ultimately, you have to decide what is quality content for your website, and Google agrees.

Giving your website visitors useful information written by experts on the matter is the goal. How you go about doing that is up to you.

In general, though, you will need things like:

• A webpage with a clear purpose that delivers on that purpose.
• Content that is created with a good amount of expertise on the subject matter.
• Information that is well-written and useful.
• An optimized webpage in keeping with SEO best practices.

Content is one of the most important ranking factors, and quality content can often trump other ranking signals all else equal.

For more on this, read:

• What Makes a Webpage Quality?
• The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T
• What Are Meta Tags?
• The Always-Up-to-Date SEO Checklist

This SEO bucket list helps ensure that your website is relevant for search queries and useful to your target audience. Don’t wait until your website dies before you prioritize doing all the important things that will keep your business alive online.

FAQ: How can SEO siloing improve my website’s subject and website authority?

SEO siloing is a powerful website structuring technique that significantly influences how search engines perceive and rank your website. By organizing your content into distinct categories or “silos” based on relevant keywords, you can create a logical and hierarchical structure that enhances your website’s subject relevance and authority.

When implementing SEO siloing, start by conducting comprehensive keyword research to identify primary topics related to your website’s niche. Group these keywords into relevant clusters, each representing a specific content category. For example, if you own a gardening website, you might have silos for “Vegetable Gardening,” “Flower Gardening,” and “Gardening Tools.”

Within each silo, create in-depth and valuable content that covers various aspects of the topic. Ensure that the content is interlinked through contextual internal links, guiding visitors and search engine crawlers to related articles within the same silo. This internal linking strategy reinforces the subject relevance and authority of each silo.

It is vital to keep each silo focused on its primary topic without mixing unrelated content. By doing so, you enhance the clarity and expertise of your website, establishing yourself as a trustworthy resource within your niche. Search engines recognize the organization and topical focus which can lead to improved rankings for your targeted keywords.

Another benefit of siloing is that it allows you to demonstrate expertise on specific subjects. When your content consistently delves deep into a particular topic, it signals to search engines that your website is a valuable and authoritative source on that subject. This can lead to higher rankings for related search queries and increased organic traffic.

Siloing enhances user experience by making it easier for visitors to navigate your website. The logical organization and clear interlinking guide users to relevant information, reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement. This positive user experience signals search engines that your website provides valuable content, contributing to improved rankings.

To make the most of siloing, regularly update and expand the content within each silo. As your website’s authority on specific subjects grows, you can explore broader or more specialized topics, further solidifying your website’s position as a go-to resource in your industry.

SEO Bucket List: How To Effectively SEO Silo Your Site

1. Perform comprehensive keyword research to identify primary topics and keywords related to your website’s niche.
2. Group similar keywords into content categories or silos, each representing a specific subject area.
3. Create high-quality and valuable content within each silo, covering various aspects of the topic.
4. Ensure contextual internal linking between articles within the same silo to reinforce subject relevance and authority.
5. Keep each silo focused on its primary topic and avoid mixing unrelated content to maintain clarity and expertise.
6. Regularly update and expand the content within each silo to demonstrate ongoing expertise and relevance.
7. Implement SEO best practices, including proper URL structures, meta tags and optimized headings within each silo.
8. Monitor and analyze the performance of each silo using web analytics tools to identify areas for improvement.
9. Engage in off-page SEO activities such as building quality backlinks and guest posting to further boost website authority.
10. Conduct competitor analysis to identify gaps and opportunities within your niche and adjust your siloing strategy accordingly.
11. Optimize website speed and performance to enhance user experience and reduce bounce rates.
12. Use responsive web design to ensure an optimal user experience across devices.
13. Audit your website regularly for broken links, duplicate content and any technical issues that could impede its SEO performance.
14. Monitor search engine algorithm updates and adjust your siloing strategy accordingly to stay competitive.
15. Pay attention to topics relevant to your audience and modify your content strategy using data-driven insights.
16. Utilize user-generated content like testimonials and reviews to establish trust among your target market.
17. Foster a community around your website by engaging with your audience through comments and discussions.
18. Stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and industry developments to maintain a competitive edge in your niche.

The post The SEO Bucket List: 3 Things To Do Before Your Site Dies appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

The way a website is built, designed and organized can either boost its performance in the search results or completely stop it.

SEO-ready website design makes SEO and conversions less expensive and more effective. The time and effort spent having to get a badly designed site SEO-ready is usually a bigger investment than building into the design and development from the start.

Here, I’ll outline the basic considerations of SEO-friendly web design if you are building a website from the ground up:

• What is SEO-friendly web design?
• User experience is at the heart of SEO web design
• Seven key principles of SEO-friendly web design
• FAQ: How does clean code impact a website’s SEO performance? 

What Is SEO-Friendly Web Design?

SEO-friendly web design is the process of designing and developing a website in a way that is good for both search engines and website visitors.

User Experience Is at the Heart of SEO Web Design

“Focus on the user, and all else will follow.” – Google

When website designers and developers think about the user experience, it is often different from the way we think about it in the SEO world. In other words: Don’t expect your designer to know how to create an SEO-friendly web design.

In SEO, we consider the experience that the website creates for both people and search engines.

We ask:

• Is the site easily accessible and crawlable for search engines?
• How fast is the website?
• Can people using all types of devices access the site with ease?
• How easy is it for people to navigate the content on the website?
• Are the webpages easy to interact with (links, buttons, pop-ups, etc.)?
• Is the content high quality and delivering on the website visitor’s expectations?
• Is the site secure?

Google’s ranking algorithm looks for websites that create a good user experience. If we get the things right that I outlined above, we have a chance to compete in the search results.

7 Key Principles of SEO-Friendly Web Design

Follow these seven principles of SEO-friendly web design and your website will be primed to compete in the search results:

1. Clean code
2. Speed
3. Mobile-Friendliness
4. Siloing
5. Core Web Vitals
6. No Annoying Pop-Ups
7. HTTPS

1. Clean Code

Code is what developers and designers use to build your site. It’s what search engine spiders use to “read” and “understand” what the site is about.

We want the code side to be user-friendly for search engines, and that means it needs to be clean and simple.

The goal: A high amount of page content with the least amount of markup. You want the search engines to be able to get to the most important code on the page right away – not get caught up in a bunch of code bloat.

As you think about how to achieve clean code, don’t forget that the content management system (CMS) you choose may play a role. Make sure the CMS allows you to control the HTML output of pages on your website.

For example, you may need the ability to move large blocks of HTML code down to the bottom of the page so that the spiders can get to the most important code first.

Other things to consider are the ability to use an external CSS file to control formatting and an external JS file to house JavaScript if that’s used on your site.

For the cleanest code, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops web standards and guidelines that you can try to follow.

The search engines do not require W3C compliance, but it’s not a bad idea because their standards align with SEO in many cases.

2. Speed

Fast websites are better for website visitors. And that is why Google cares about having fast websites in its search results.

Not to mention that a slow website can cause a website visitor to bounce from your site, and that means potential revenue lost.

Consider this Pinterest research that showed reducing wait time by 40% resulted in a 15% increase in SEO traffic and a 15% increase in conversion rate to sign-up.

To learn more, read:

• How Fast Should My Website Be and Why Should I Care?

3. Mobile-Friendliness

A good portion of your website visitors will be on their smartphones or tablets, and you want them to have a good experience that is different from desktop.

Search engines like Google care about this, too. As of Q4 2021, more than 60% of search engine users came from a mobile device. Being that the majority of Google users are mobile, Google fully launched its mobile-first indexing in 2021.

“Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user’s query. Since the majority of users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward.”

–Google, Mobile-first indexing best practices

To learn more, read:

• Page Experience Matters: The Mobile-Friendly Site

4. Siloing

SEO siloing is a way to organize the content on your website in an SEO-friendly way that is good for both search engines and website visitors.

In design, SEO siloing can outline the navigation of the website:

The goal of SEO siloing is to:

• Create enough content around a topic that gives the search engines what they need to understand what the site is about so they know it is relevant for a search query.
• Give website visitors enough quality information on a topic so they don’t have to go searching elsewhere for more.

Siloing can improve rankings and traffic. When you satisfy both the search engines and the user, you can reap the rewards.

Of course, it’s not just the organization of the content but the quality of it. You want to be sure that your website and its content exude experience, expertise, authority and trust – all quality indicators as defined by Google.

To learn more, read:

• SEO Siloing: What, Why, How
• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Search Engine Rankings

5. Core Web Vitals

Google invented the term “core web vitals” to represent a set of web page elements that enhance the user experience.

Core web vitals are built into Google’s “page experience” ranking update. Websites that pass core web vitals thresholds have a better chance of creating a good user experience and ranking high in the search results.

Core web vitals are comprised of three sets of criteria that measure:

• How fast the largest image or text block renders on the webpage
• How quickly a webpage loads and executes so that the user can interact with the page
• Unexpected layout shifts on a webpage (a button or link that moves on the webpage and causes a person to click on something other than what they wanted)

To learn more, read:

• Core Web Vitals for SEO: An Overview
• Google’s Page Experience Update: A Complete Guide [E-book]

6. No Annoying Pop-Ups

Web pop-ups can be a popular way to get someone’s attention when they are browsing your site. But they can also be annoying – especially when they get in the way of the content someone is trying to access.

Google recognized this marketing faux pas, and in 2017 it rolled out an intrusive interstitial penalty.

As you’re designing a website, make sure:

1. To use pop-up banners that don’t take up a lot of space
2. Users can easily dismiss the pop-up
3. To apply a delay before the pop-up renders
4. Segment your pop-ups by the audience to make the message more relevant to them
5. Pop-ups don’t continue to display or follow people around the website once they have closed them
6. The pop-up doesn’t slow your page load time

To learn more, read:

• Intrusive Interstitials and Why They Are Bad for SEO 

7. HTTPS

Making a website secure using HTTPS is an industry standard. HTTPS encrypts data to protect a website and its visitors from bad actors. In doing so, HTTPS creates a good user experience and helps instill trust in your website.

You also need HTTPS for new web platform features, including progressive web apps.

In 2014, Google announced that sites with HTTPS would receive a small ranking boost. Now, HTTPS is a part of Google’s page experience update that went live in mid-2021.

To learn more, read:

• Page Experience Matters: HTTPS for Users and Ranking

There you have it: Seven steps to ensure you are keeping SEO in mind as you design and develop your site. Follow these steps to get ahead of the competition in the search results starting on launch day.

Thinking about redesigning your website? Our SEO experts can help ensure it is a complete success. Fill out our form to get in touch before you begin. 

FAQ: How does clean code impact a website’s SEO performance?

Clean code serves as the backbone of a well-optimized website. Clean code refers to the practice of writing efficient, organized and minimalistic code that facilitates seamless communication between search engine spiders and website content. A website built on clean code enhances its visibility in search engine rankings and elevates the overall user experience.

Clean code greatly influences a website’s SEO performance through improved crawlability and indexability. Search engine crawlers navigate websites by following links and analyzing code structures. With clean code, developers ensure that these crawlers can efficiently access and interpret the website’s content, leading to more accurate indexing and better visibility in search results.

Moreover, clean code enhances website speed, a crucial factor in modern SEO. Search engines consider page loading speed as a significant ranking factor, as faster websites provide a better user experience. By reducing unnecessary code and optimizing resources, clean code significantly contributes to faster loading times, leading to higher rankings and decreased bounce rates.

By emphasizing clean code website development, website designers create more user-friendly sites. Clean code websites are more compatible with different devices and browsers for an improved user experience – an approach that aligns well with Google’s focus on user experience and increases chances of ranking high in search results.

Besides enhancing SEO performance, clean code simplifies website maintenance and future updates. Developers find it simpler to fix bugs and update the website to accommodate changing search engine algorithms when working with an organized codebase.

Website owners and developers can take full advantage of clean code by adhering to industry best practices and coding standards. A Content Management System that produces clean code will yield maximum benefits. Regular code audits and optimization efforts will keep the website in top shape, ensuring optimal SEO performance.

Clean code plays a vital role in shaping a website’s SEO performance. By optimizing the code structure, improving crawlability and prioritizing user experience, clean code creates a strong foundation for search engine optimization. Emphasizing clean code in website development enhances search engine rankings and establishes a trustworthy and authoritative online presence.

Simple Steps To Increase Your SEO Power: 

1. Conduct an in-depth analysis of your website’s existing codebase to identify areas that require optimization.
2. Remove any redundant, unused, or unnecessary code to streamline the website’s structure and improve loading times.
3. Ensure proper indentation, commenting and code organization to enhance readability and maintainability.
4. Optimize images and multimedia elements to reduce their file sizes without compromising quality.
5. Utilize external CSS and JavaScript files to keep the HTML code clean and concise.
6. Implement responsive design techniques to ensure your website performs well on various devices and screen sizes.
7. Use semantic HTML elements to improve accessibility and search engine understanding of your content.
8. Minimize HTTP requests by combining CSS and JavaScript files where possible.
9. Leverage browser caching to reduce load times for returning visitors.
10. Optimize database queries and reduce server response times to improve overall website performance.
11. Test your website’s loading speed and performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
12. Fix any issues or errors identified during the testing phase to achieve optimal performance.
13. Regularly update your website’s CMS and plugins to ensure compatibility and security.
14. Conduct periodic code audits to identify and rectify any coding inefficiencies or vulnerabilities.
15. Implement structured data markup to help search engines understand the content and context of your website.
16. Optimize meta tags and descriptions for each page to improve click-through rates in search results.
17. Encourage user engagement and reduce bounce rates by providing valuable and relevant content.
18. Monitor your website’s performance regularly and adjust as needed to maintain optimal SEO results.

The post What Is SEO-Friendly Web Design? 7 Steps To Follow When Building a Site appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

• Get the Right Kind of Buy-In
• Hire the Best People
• Get SEO Training
• Get Outside Expertise
• FAQ: How important is company-wide buy-in for successful in-house SEO improvement?

1. Get the Right Kind of Buy-In

This one seems like a no-brainer. If you’re already doing SEO, then that probably means you’ve had some buy-in. But the type I’m talking about is company-wide.

What does that mean, exactly? It means that every team knows that SEO is a strategic business initiative. There is a big difference between lip service buy-in for SEO and every team knowing that SEO is imperative.

Because different teams make updates to the website and because all teams make business decisions, everyone needs to be thinking about SEO – how will this website change impact SEO? How can this business goal be achieved by SEO?

One of our clients saw tremendous results when everyone was on board, and you can read more about that here.

For more on how to get company buy-in, see:

• 6 Practical Ways to Get Buy-In for SEO
• 6 Successful Ways to Get Company Buy-In for SEO [Webinar]

2. Hire the Best People

Hire an expert SEO, and you have the ability to change your business trajectory online; hire a mediocre one, and you will get average results.

The good news is that search engine optimization jobs are in-demand. Remote jobs especially are desirable right now and one of the reasons behind The Great Resignation. SEO is the perfect type of job to offer remotely.

With the right offer, you can attract the best talent. And remember that experience can trump college degrees in this field. However, in my opinion, too many companies are looking for SEO generalists.

In fact, according to research by Backlinko, only about 23% of SEO jobs required technical SEO skills. That is a mistake. You want strategists, but you also need technical analysts to be able to take your SEO to the next level.

Once you have your candidates, make sure you are asking the right questions. You want to get a feel for their technical abilities as well as what sort of soft skills are required for a job like SEO.

These articles will help you in your search to find the right people:

• 35 SEO Interview Questions You Must Ask a Prospective SEO Analyst
• 5 Powerful Soft Skills That Every SEO Should Have

3. Get SEO Training

One of the ways you can get your many team members on the same page about SEO quickly is to offer SEO training.

This is especially important when you want to recalibrate how you should be doing SEO, to get C-Suite up to speed on it or when you are starting a company-wide SEO journey (this really comes in handy when you are asking IT to make technical changes to the website).

And even experienced SEO professionals need continuing education. Here at our company, for example, our SEO analysts spend countless hours staying updated on the latest SEO news and strategies.

So SEO training can be a great refresher for many, depending on the curriculum and resources offered by the training company.

For more, see:

• What Is SEO Training?
• It’s Time to Rethink Your SEO Training
• SEOtraining.com

4. Get Outside Expertise

When you’ve been knee-deep in your SEO program for a number of years, it can be challenging to think of new ideas. Also: There could be something going on with your website that is hindering your search engine rankings without even knowing it.

These types of scenarios are when outside expertise can really come in handy. I’m talking about hiring an outside SEO consultant or agency to take your in-house program to the next level.

There are different ways you can work with an SEO vendor:

• You can get an in-depth SEO audit to uncover any issues your site may be having and how to fix them.
• You can invest in expert consulting services that are tailored based on your needs.
• You can buy a block of hours for special projects that need an expert team (for example, you want to get your website in good shape for Google’s page experience update).

These are just some ideas, and, of course, every consultant or agency offers something unique. We have honed our process over years of difficult projects – perhaps a free short call to discuss your issue is reasonable?

It is quite common for in-house SEO teams to use outside SEO experts to give them a competitive advantage when the time is right. Just be sure to do your diligence when hiring to make sure you will get the best guidance and the best service fit.

Read more on getting outside expertise:

• The One and Only Thing You Need in an SEO Agency
• How to Evaluate an SEO Company
• Why SEO Packages Are Usually the Wrong Way to Go
• You Have an SEO Emergency – Who Do You Call?

If your results aren’t where they need to be, follow these tips to get your SEO program moving forward and set your business up for next-level success.

To discuss how our SEO services can meet your needs, please contact us at 1-866-517-1900 or complete our request form today.

FAQ: How important is company-wide buy-in for successful in-house SEO improvement?

The significance of company-wide buy-in must be considered when enhancing in-house SEO performance. This foundational element forms the bedrock upon which successful SEO improvement is built. In-house SEO efforts are not isolated tasks; they permeate every aspect of a company’s online presence, making collective understanding and support a linchpin for success.

Successful in-house SEO improvement hinges on aligning all teams, from marketing and content creation to IT and development. Every department plays a pivotal role in the execution of SEO strategies. A unified vision, where every team recognizes SEO as a strategic business initiative rather than an isolated task, fosters an environment conducive to holistic optimization.

Practical experience has shown that the synergy achieved through company-wide buy-in yields remarkable results. Consider a scenario where content creators weave targeted keywords seamlessly into their articles while the development team ensures the website’s technical aspects align with SEO best practices. This harmonious collaboration amplifies the impact of each strategy, resulting in improved organic traffic and search engine rankings.

Gaining company-wide buy-in involves more than paying lip service to SEO goals. It necessitates fostering a culture where everyone understands the pivotal role of SEO in achieving business objectives. Regular communication, workshops, and training sessions are instrumental in educating teams about SEO’s nuances and its direct impact on the company’s digital footprint.

Furthermore, in-house SEO improvement flourishes when teams share a common language. When marketing, IT, and content teams speak the same SEO language, it streamlines communication, minimizes misunderstandings, and accelerates the implementation of strategies. This shared understanding enables teams to collaborate proactively, fostering an environment where the sum is more significant than its parts.

Company-wide buy-in stands as a cornerstone of successful in-house SEO improvement. Its transformative power lies in its ability to unify teams, foster a shared vision, and maximize the impact of optimization strategies. Embracing company-wide buy-in elevates SEO results and propels the business toward digital success.

Step-by-Step Procedure for Achieving Company-Wide Buy-In for In-House SEO Improvement:

1. Understand the Landscape: Familiarize yourself with your organization’s current SEO awareness and understanding level.
2. Craft a Compelling Narrative: Develop a persuasive case highlighting the tangible benefits of SEO for the business.
3. Engage Leadership: Seek endorsement and support from senior leadership to emphasize the strategic importance of SEO.
4. Educational Workshops: Organize regular workshops to educate teams about SEO’s impact and relevance.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Facilitate cross-departmental discussions to encourage collaboration and integration of SEO into various functions.
6. Shared Goals: Align SEO objectives with broader business goals to emphasize the collective nature of the endeavor.
7. Communication Channels: Establish channels for regular communication and updates on SEO progress and milestones.
8. Demonstrate Results: Share success stories and data showcasing the positive outcomes of SEO efforts.
9. Metrics and Reporting: Implement a robust system for measuring and reporting SEO performance to maintain transparency.
10. Customized Training: Offer specialized training sessions tailored to the needs of different teams.
11. Empowerment: Provide teams with the autonomy and resources to implement SEO strategies effectively.
12. Feedback Loop: Create a mechanism for teams to provide feedback, share insights, and suggest improvements.
13. Continuous Learning: Foster a culture of continuous learning by staying updated on evolving SEO trends.
14. Recognition and Rewards: Recognize and reward teams that actively contribute to SEO success.
15. Collaborative Tools: Utilize digital tools and platforms to facilitate seamless collaboration and knowledge sharing.
16. Peer Learning: Encourage knowledge exchange among teams through peer-to-peer learning sessions.
17. Integrate SEO into Processes: Embed SEO considerations into existing workflows and processes.
18. Regular Assessments: Conduct periodic assessments to gauge the buy-in level and identify improvement areas.
19. Adapt and Evolve: Stay flexible and adapt your approach based on the changing dynamics within the organization.
20. Celebrate Milestones: Celebrate achievements and milestones to reinforce the value of company-wide buy-in for in-house SEO improvement.

The post 4 Smart Ways to Boost Your In-House SEO appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

In this article, I’ll outline five technical SEO best practices you should follow (and how to get started with them) to ensure you website is primed for both users and search engines:

• Hosting
• Server errors
• Sitemaps
• Website speed
• Mobile friendliness
• FAQ: How can I optimize my website’s technical aspects for improved search engine rankings and user experience? 

1. Hosting

Sometimes website owners choose a shared hosting plan versus a dedicated hosting plan to save on the costs of hosting a website. When this happens, you share an IP address with other websites. This can present SEO problems as both a speed issue (more sites per shared server means each may be slower) and a neighborhood issue.

Say you share your hosting with other websites that happen to be spammy websites. If a site is caught performing spam tactics, the entire IP block and all the sites that share that IP address could be put on a block list, also called an IP blacklist or IP blocklist. That means you’re in a bad neighborhood, so to speak. This significantly impacts email, but it can cause conversion issues if your emails are blocked … and poor conversion is a marketing fail.

While this “bad neighborhood” problem used to be much more prominent, and Google has also indicated that it would be hard to be SEO tainted by surrounding bad neighbors, I still would not take any chances.

IMO we do not KNOW that there is no TRUST impact on a bad neighborhood. And Google can say what they like — for a little effort, why take the chance? Still, blocked emails kill sales.

Probably a more obvious issue is the performance of your website when you share hosting. Being on a shared hosting plan may mean that your servers are not as efficient. You’re often fighting other sites for resources that could impact load time and, indirectly, your organic search rankings, to say nothing of conversion.

There are a couple of things you can do here to look into these potential problems:

Bad Neighborhood Issues

• Get your IP address at WhatIsMyIPAddress.com.
• Go to Blacklist Check at the same website to evaluate if your IP is in a bad neighborhood.
• If it’s associated with other bad websites, call the hosting provider and ask for a new, clean IP.
• Run a check on the new IP if you get it.
• If your hosting provider won’t comply, consider dedicated hosting or finding another hosting provider altogether.

Performance Issues

• Go to WebPageTest.org.
• Run a test for your home page URL.
• Look at the first byte time — this is an indication of the responsiveness of a server.
• Run the same test on your competition (you could use our SEOToolSet for competitive research or check out our article on how to do competitor research for SEO).
• If your first byte time is not as good as your competition, you might want to switch hosting providers or get a dedicated IP

Here are my thoughts on whether you should use a shared hosting plan:

2. Server Errors

Your web server runs your website. When a webpage is requested, the server receives that request and responds with the content of that page. When you have server issues, it can impact the user experience and search engine rankings.

There is much to consider when evaluating a server, from its type to how well it performs. In this section, though, we’ll focus on server errors.

Server status codes are a response by the server in response to a client request. You can find a full list of server status codes at W3.org here. Sometimes servers produce errors when a visitor or search engine spider tries to access something on your website.

Because certain status codes could impact your rankings, so you want to check server response codes and know what is happening with your website.

In particular, here are the following status codes that you want to pay special attention to and fix right away:

• 302: A 302 is a temporary redirect and is generally not SEO-friendly as it does not always transfer a page’s historical link signals to the redirected page. Yes, Google has indicated that it is often treated like a 301 permanent redirect, but I would rather use a 301 and not be concerned with the crawl budget.
• 400: There is a syntax error in the request. It is denied.
• 401: The header in your request did not contain the correct authorization codes. You don’t get to see what you requested.
• 403: You are forbidden to see the document you requested. It can also mean that the server doesn’t have the ability to show you what you want to see or your IP is blocked by the server.
• 404: Document not found – your requested URL does not exist.
• 410: The page used to be there, but now it’s gone. This essentially tells the search engine to purge the indexed entry now instead of waiting for a few 404 errors to cause deletion.
• 500: The server experienced an internal error that prevents it from serving the request.

Common server errors include a 302 and 404. Here’s a video I did on 302s that you can check out:

What To Do: Server Errors

• Use our SEOToolSet’s free Check Server Page tool.
• Identify any potential errors and fix them.
• Here is some information on addressing common 302 and 404 errors: How to Do a 301 Redirect and Design a 404 Error Page to Save a Sale.

3. Sitemaps

Both HTML sitemaps and XML sitemaps are important technical SEO steps. These sitemaps help their users (website visitors and search engines) navigate the site and discover content.

An HTML sitemap is a webpage on your website containing links to key webpages (first and second-level navigation pages) so both humans and search spiders can navigate your site. Google has said that the HTML site map is useful to search engines as it flags what are the most important pages for users (and Google), so the HTML sitemap should focus on top important pages.

Originally, HTML sitemaps were made just for website visitors to navigate a website. However, because search engine spiders use links to navigate from one page to another, HTML sitemaps can be a useful shortcut for search engines to find and index content on a website.

So to recap: Having an HTML sitemap in the footer your website allows:

• A search engine spider can enter your site at any webpage and then quickly discover other webpages via the sitemap.
• A website visitor to view the HTML sitemap and use it to navigate your site.

An XML sitemap is a file that you put on your website to tell search engines about the webpages, images and videos that are on the site. An XML sitemap works like a content map, helping ensure search engines crawl and index more thoroughly.

A technical SEO best practice is to create an XML sitemap and ensure it’s always up to date so that search engines crawl and index all the important content on your site.

Google says that sites under 500 pages might not need an XML sitemap, so some people may think it’s not that important.

And while the search engines should be able to find all the content on your site by following links, most websites don’t have proper linking architecture. So it can be hard for search engines to discover the content.

What To Do: HTML Sitemaps

There are several important considerations when designing your HTML sitemap:

• All of the site’s important pages should be listed in the HTML sitemap(s) in a cohesive manner.
• Use keyword-rich anchor text when linking to the important internal pages, making sure it describes the page it is linking to (“the promise of the link”).
• Make sure the sitemap has a clear hierarchy for top landing pages, categories, subcategories and subpages.
• Pages, including the HTML sitemap(s), should include no more than 100 links.
• If there are over 100 links, the sitemap needs to be paginated or nested.
• The sitemap page design should match the overall site design.
• The sitemap should have fully qualified (or absolute) URLs, meaning http:// or https:// is used in the URL, and the entire URL is in the sitemap.

At one point, Google recommended having less than 100 links on each page (and then later dropped that recommendation). The numbers are arbitrary, just don’t be spammy.

I discuss how many links are too many for a page in this video:

What To Do: XML Sitemaps

Here’s what to keep in mind when you create your XML sitemap:

• Every site should have at least one XML sitemap.
• You can create it manually or use an XML sitemap generator.
• Create separate, special sitemaps for things like news, videos, and images.
• Large websites may need to break their list of URLs into many XML sitemaps.
• Once you have created the sitemap file, upload it to the root of your website (https://www.your-domain-name.com/sitemap.xml), then tell search engines to know about it using your robots.txt file.
• Some people prefer to submit the sitemaps manually due to timing; once you submit it, you can start the indexing process versus just waiting for the search engine to give you a turn.
  Submitting the sitemap can also help you identify errors through the Sitemaps report in Google Search Console.

For more, read: What Is an XML SItemap and How Do I Make One?

4. Website Speed

Search engines have a limited crawl budget for all sites. If a site is slow to load, the search engines cannot crawl all webpages within the crawl budget. This results in a site having fewer indexed pages, which decreases opportunities for rankings.

Page speed is a factor in search engine ranking algorithms. Fast performance is also a critical component of the user experience. If your website takes too long to load, users will abandon it in favor of a different website that does not take as long.

And with Google’s focus on Core Web Vitals and the emphasis on speed there, this is a critical factor for overall ranking. (For expert tips to improve your CWV, watch our on-demand webinar.)

Research has shown that faster performance results in improved KPIs for websites. For example, Pinterest reported that reducing wait time by 40% resulted in a 15% increase in SEO traffic and a 15% increase in conversion rate to sign up.

In 2021, Google rolled out the page experience algorithm update, which combines things like site speed and responsiveness when evaluating a website. So focusing on speed is more important than ever.

A site’s responsiveness and speed have a direct effect on a user’s willingness to use and return to a site.

What To Do: Website Speed

When you are assessing your page load speed, you want to be as fast or faster than your competition. In other words, your website does not need to be the fastest website in the world. The goal is to be least imperfect compared to your competitors.

That said, improving website speed can be time-consuming and expensive. When using tools to evaluate your webpage speed, make sure you have a professional review of the scores. You’ll want to make sure you focus on improving the right metrics. Improving certain metrics past a certain threshold may be difficult, and not worth the resources.

Here are some things that can slow webpage load time:

• Excessive HTML comments
• Excessive white space
• Failing to externalize Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Failing to externalize JavaScript
• Failing to specify image dimensions
• Landing page redirects
• No browser caching
• No compression
• No image optimization
• Render-blocking JavaScript
• Slow server response time

I talk more about some of these in one of our “Ask Us Anything” videos:

There are several tests you can run your webpages through. Here are a few:

• GTmetrix
• Google’s PageSpeed Insights
• WebPageTest.org

For more on website speed and page experience, check out the following resources:

• How Fast Should My Webpage Be and Why Should I Care?
• Documentation on PageSpeed Insights
• Google’s recommendations for fast load times
• Google’s Page Experience Update: A Complete Guide
• 3 Expert Tips to Improve Core Web Vitals [On-demand webinar]

5. Mobile Friendliness

The majority of web traffic today (about 55% as of Q1 2021) comes from a mobile device. A mobile-friendly website creates a good experience for people who visit a website from a smartphone or tablet. While that percentage certainly varies by industry and search mission, the fact is that being mobile-friendly is vital. Google indexes your content using a mobile version of the spider, so your designs must be friendly for mobile users.

A mobile-friendly website matters to your search engine rankings because Google wants websites on page one that offer great content through a good experience to mobile users.

In 2021, Google rolled out mobile-first indexing. Google’s announcement explains what that means:

Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user’s query. Since the majority of users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward.

This was yet another signal from Google that mobile-friendliness is critical.

What To Do: Mobile Friendliness

In an earlier article I wrote on mobile friendliness, I outlined four steps you can take to get your website in tip-top shape for mobile users:

1. Test your current site: Check out Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and the mobile usability report in Google Search Console.

2. Learn about mobile-friendly best practices. Check out Google’s guide here and our guide on mobile SEO and UX optimization, too.

3. Implement changes. Here, you may have to decide about things like website configuration (responsive is the current recommendation), website content, and website speed (covered in the last section of this article).

4. Watch for common mistakes. One major pitfall to avoid is sacrificing needed content for the sake of speed. I’ve written about that as well in: Why an Insanely Fast Site Is Your New Priority.

Technical SEO Is Never Done

This is just a sampling of the technical SEO best practices you can and should implement on your website. No aspect of SEO is “set it and forget it,” so there will always be more testing to do and more improvements to make.

The steps outlined in this article give a good starting point for a sound technical SEO foundation.

Our SEO experts can provide technical SEO services to ensure your website runs smoothly and outperforms your competition. Contact us today and let us know how we can help.

FAQ: How can I optimize my website’s technical aspects for improved search engine rankings and user experience?

Every website owner aspires to secure a prominent spot on search engine results pages while delivering a seamless experience to users. Achieving this delicate balance requires strategically optimizing your website’s technical aspects. Each element is crucial in determining your online success, from server performance to mobile responsiveness.

To begin, consider the hosting of your website. Shared hosting may seem cost-effective but can impact website speed and performance due to shared resources. Investing in dedicated hosting ensures a smoother user experience and minimizes downtime, contributing positively to both search rankings and user satisfaction.

Server errors can hinder the crawlability of your site, affecting its visibility on search engines. Regularly monitor server response codes to identify and rectify issues promptly. A well-maintained server enhances search engine indexing and ensures a seamless browsing experience for visitors.

Sitemaps, both HTML and XML, are powerful tools for aiding navigation and indexing. HTML sitemaps assist users in finding essential pages, while XML sitemaps guide search engine bots to relevant content. Regularly updating and optimizing these sitemaps provides clear paths for users and search engines to explore your website.

Website speed remains a critical factor for both search engines and users. Slow-loading pages can lead to high bounce rates and lower search rankings. Minimize image sizes, leverage browser caching, and optimize code to ensure swift page loading. Google’s Core Web Vitals emphasize the importance of fast-loading pages, making this optimization even more imperative.

Lastly, prioritize mobile friendliness. A responsive design is paramount with a significant portion of users accessing websites via mobile devices. Google’s mobile-first indexing underscores the importance of mobile compatibility for search rankings. Ensure your website displays seamlessly across various devices to provide a positive user experience.

Optimizing your website’s technical aspects is a multifaceted endeavor that directly impacts search engine rankings and user satisfaction. By focusing on hosting, server errors, sitemaps, website speed, and mobile friendliness, you can create a strong foundation for online success. Incorporating these insights and taking proactive steps will elevate your website’s performance and solidify your online presence.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Optimize Your Website’s Technical Aspects for Improved Search Engine Rankings and User Experience

1. Evaluate Your Hosting Options: Assess the pros and cons of shared vs. dedicated hosting, considering factors like speed and resource sharing.
2. Monitor Server Response Codes: Regularly check for server errors and address them promptly to ensure optimal crawlability.
3. Optimize Sitemaps: Update and maintain both HTML and XML sitemaps, ensuring they reflect your site’s structure and content.
4. Prioritize Website Speed: Optimize images, enable browser caching, and streamline code to enhance page loading times.
5. Embrace Mobile Friendliness: Adopt a responsive design that provides a seamless experience across various devices.
6. Implement Core Web Vitals: Familiarize yourself with Google’s Core Web Vitals and optimize your site accordingly.
7. Leverage PageSpeed Insights: Use Google’s tool to identify areas for improvement in your website’s speed performance.
8. Consider Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Explore CDNs to distribute content and reduce server load for faster page loading.
9. Use GZIP Compression: Enable GZIP compression to reduce the size of files transmitted between your server and visitors’ browsers.
10. Optimize CSS and JavaScript: Minify CSS and JavaScript files to reduce their size and improve website loading speed.
11. Enable Browser Caching: Configure your server to enable browser caching, reducing load times for returning visitors.
12. Optimize Images: Compress images without compromising quality to decrease page load times.
13. Implement Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): Consider using AMP to create lightweight and fast-loading versions of your webpages.
14. Monitor Mobile Usability: Regularly check Google Search Console for mobile usability issues and address them promptly.
15. Test Across Devices: Test your website’s appearance and functionality across various devices and screen sizes.
16. Ensure Clear Navigation: Simplify your website’s navigation to enhance user experience and search engine crawlability.
17. Regularly Audit and Update: Regularly audits your website’s technical aspects and make necessary updates.
18. Stay Updated on Industry Trends: Keep abreast of changes in search engine algorithms and best practices for technical SEO.
19. Utilize Professional Tools: Leverage SEO tools to analyze your website’s technical performance and identify areas for improvement.
20. Continuously Monitor and Refine: Technical optimization is ongoing; regularly monitor, analyze, and refine your strategies to maintain optimal performance.

By following these comprehensive steps, you can optimize your website’s technical aspects effectively, improving search engine rankings and a superior user experience.

The post 5 Unusual Technical SEO Best Practices appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

What is a Search Engine Results Page (SERP)?

SERP: A page produced by a search engine in response to a user query listing what is algorithmically the best results for that query.

SEO Ranking: the position of a website on the SERP for organic results as presented in response to a query. This ranking usually has a direct relationship to traffic, which is the purpose of SEO. This is limited to the specific query.

A Search Engine Ranking Report gives you a look into your organic search rankings for sets of keywords, not just one keyword. It takes the individual rankings from a set of search engine results pages and combines them into a single report for all monitored keywords.

I’ll talk more about why it’s important and what it can do for you as we discuss:

• What search engine rankings tell you (and don’t tell you)
• What does a search engine ranking report do
• A search engine ranking report is a useful tool in your SEO toolbox
• FAQ: How can I effectively monitor my website’s search engine rankings to improve my SEO strategy?

What Search Engine Rankings Tell You (and Don’t Tell You)

Rankings are not the be all, end all of SEO. In fact, any SEO professional or company that only promises rankings as the end result of SEO is not doing their entire job. What rankings are, though, is a possible leading indicator of organic traffic.

For example, your website can rank for keywords, but does that mean anyone is searching for them? Will they click on the result? And if they do, is it valuable traffic? None of these are givens.

To that point, you definitely want to rank. But you want to rank for the right terms targeting the right audience that will generate traffic.

Also, you want to rank on Page 1 of the search results. There’s a famous saying in the SEO community that Page 2 is the best place to hide a dead body. And I am fond of pointing out that the only people going to Page 3 of search results are SEOs looking for their own websites.

I am fond of pointing out that the only people going to Page 3 of search results are SEOs looking for their own websites.
- Bruce Clay

The data shows time and time again that all the eyeballs are on the first page.

So analyzing your search rankings is important if you want to:

• Get your webpages on Page 1.
• See trends that hopefully show ranking progress. What a user sees will vary, but a consistent ranking monitor report showing keyword-by-keyword rankings over time is valuable.
• Monitor any sudden ranking changes so that you can then figure out if it was something Google changed, for example, or something on your website that caused it.

Some things search engine rankings won’t do. A search engine ranking report won’t tell you if you are:

• Targeting the right keywords
• Driving traffic
• Driving quality traffic
• Getting conversions
• Making revenue from SEO

Keep in mind that rankings fluctuate, and they vary from user to user, morning to night, region to region, or even what you see on your desk minute to minute. Five users in the same city may see different results even at the same time based upon their prior search history. So do not compare the reports to browser searches.

What Does a Search Engine Ranking Report Do?

A search engine ranking report gives you a view of your webpages’ rankings in the search results that’s as unbiased as possible. These reports are vital for monitoring trends over time compared to prior results.

As mentioned above, unbiased is important because search engines like Google personalize your search results based on things like being signed into Google, prior search history, location, and more.

So manually checking your search results rankings by going to the search results and typing in a query can give you a false reading.

There are many companies offering search engine ranking reports. I’ll use ours from the SEOToolSet® as an example of the data you can get. Ours happens to be one of the fastest real-time search engine ranking monitors on the market.

With a search engine ranking report from our Ranking Monitor, you can:

• Get your webpages’ unbiased rankings across Google and Bing search engines.
• See which keywords your site is ranking for and which pages are ranking for them.
• Run the report on demand, or schedule it to run at regular intervals automatically so you can track how rankings fluctuate over time.
• Specify locations worldwide so you can monitor rankings across the globe if you are doing international SEO.
• Run reports to show rankings over time with comparison data across timeframes.
• Gather competition rankings for your keywords at the same time.
• See how your other websites also perform for your keywords as aliases.

Our search engine ranking report gives you details like:

• The highest ranking your site has had for the keyword across search engines/countries.
• The estimated amount of monthly search activity for the associated keyword. Use this to gauge the popularity of a keyword.
• The estimated number of search results for the associated keyword so you can gauge the competitiveness of a keyword; more pages equals more competitors to beat out for a high ranking.
• The estimated average cost per click for the associated keyword. Use this to gauge the competitiveness of a keyword; higher CPC generally means more people bidding and driving the price higher.

Search engine ranking reports are also useful for tracking your competitors’ rankings. This gives you the same unbiased information and shows you how your website stacks up to your competitors.

Our Competitor Ranking tool in the SEOToolSet lets you add a market competitor to track their rankings and lets you compare by keyword, by competitor, or even across markets. This report tells you where your competitors rank for the keywords you care about.

Using this report, you can see if a competitor ranks better than you for your keywords. If they are, then it’s worth your time to review their site and see what they’re doing to get a better ranking.

The SEO analysis of a competitor is outside the scope of this report, but you can check the site for the amount of relevant content, inbound links, etc. to see where they are outperforming your site. (Here’s more on competitor research for SEO.)

A Search Engine Ranking Report Is a Useful Tool in Your SEO Toolbox

Understanding your website’s (and your competitors’) search rankings is one way to monitor your SEO progress. And doing it manually without any tools can lead to bad data because of personalization in the search results.

As a result, a search engine ranking report is an important tool in your SEO toolbox that will lead you to ask better questions as you are trying to build a good SEO strategy.

Is your SEO performing as well as you need it to? If your current rankings aren’t bringing you the traffic you need, contact us for a free quote and consultation. Our expert SEO services could help your website turn a corner.

FAQ: How can I effectively monitor my website’s search engine rankings to improve my SEO strategy?

Search engine ranking monitoring is a pivotal aspect of a successful SEO strategy. By effectively tracking and analyzing your website’s position in search engine results pages (SERPs), you can uncover valuable insights to refine your approach and drive better organic traffic. This article delves into key strategies that will empower you to stay at the forefront of search results and optimize your SEO efforts.

To embark on this journey, utilizing reliable ranking monitoring tools is imperative. Platforms like SEMrush and Moz offer comprehensive reports that reveal your site’s performance across various keywords. Such tools provide your ranking and insights into your competitors’ positions, allowing you to benchmark your performance against industry leaders.

Keyword selection is a cornerstone of effective ranking monitoring. Focusing on the right keywords that align with your target audience’s search intent is paramount. Regularly assess which keywords drive the most traffic and conversions and adjust your strategy accordingly. A dynamic keyword optimization approach ensures you continuously align your content with user expectations.

Regularity in monitoring cannot be stressed enough. Search engine rankings are dynamic and can change rapidly due to algorithm updates or shifts in user behavior. Establish a consistent schedule for tracking your rankings. This practice enables you to identify trends and anomalies over time, allowing you to respond promptly to any sudden changes.

The art of effective ranking monitoring extends beyond analyzing numbers; it requires insightful interpretation. Scrutinize your data to identify patterns and correlations. For instance, if a drop in ranking coincides with a change in your website’s structure, this insight could point toward optimization opportunities. Marrying data with context uncovers hidden gems for refining your SEO strategy.

Mastering search engine ranking monitoring involves a blend of powerful tools, strategic keyword optimization, regularity, and insightful interpretation. Embrace the iterative nature of SEO by constantly refining your strategy based on the insights you gain. The search landscape is ever-evolving, and staying vigilant in your ranking monitoring endeavors will position you for SEO success.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Effectively Monitor Search Engine Rankings for Enhanced SEO Strategy

1. Choose a Reliable Ranking Monitoring Tool: Select a reputable tool like SEMrush or Moz for comprehensive ranking reports.
2. Focus on Relevant Keywords: Optimize keywords that align with your target audience’s search intent.
3. Regular Monitoring Schedule: Establish a consistent schedule to track rankings and identify trends.
4. Interpret Data Insightfully: Analyze data for patterns and correlations to inform strategic decisions.

The post What Is a SEO Ranking Report? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

That’s why this article (No. 2 in our page experience series) will discuss mobile-friendliness as a way to help your webpages earn a ranking boost from Google’s page experience ranking update, which went live in mid-2021. (Be sure to see all our other articles in this series at the end of this one).

• What is a mobile-friendly website? 
• Why does a mobile-friendly website matter? 
• How do you make a site mobile-friendly? 
• FAQ: How can I create a mobile-friendly website to improve user experience and search engine rankings?

What Is a Mobile-Friendly Website?

A mobile-friendly website creates a good experience for people who visit a website from a smartphone or tablet.

There’s a lot that goes into having a mobile-friendly website. Some of the factors include:

• Using mobile-compatible plugins
• Ensuring the webpage fits different screen sizes
• Configuring the size of the text for mobile viewing
• Making sure that it’s easy for mobile users to click on buttons and links
• Having fast-loading webpages (Although this is not talked about much in Google’s mobile-friendly guide, it counts toward the page experience ranking signals and is a best practice for mobile anyway.)

Why Does a Mobile-Friendly Website Matter?

A mobile-friendly website also matters to your search engine rankings because Google wants to include websites in its search results that offer a good experience to mobile users.

After all, about 63 percent of visits to Google’s search engine on average in 2019 were from mobile users.

You can confirm how many mobile users are coming to your own site through your Google Analytics account. (Go to: Audience > Mobile > Overview)

Recognizing the growing trend in mobile web browsing, in 2016, Google started testing a mobile-first index. In March 2020, Google announced it would be “switching to mobile-first indexing for all websites starting September 2020” but then pushed the full rollout back to the end of March 2021.

Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user’s query. Since the majority of users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward.

–Google, “Mobile-first indexing best practices”

When Google announced the upcoming page experience ranking update, it affirmed that the existing mobile friendliness signal would be a part of it. This is another confirmation that having a website set up for mobile users is key if you want to compete in Google’s search results.

How Do You Make a Site Mobile-Friendly?

You can make a website mobile-friendly by following best practices outlined by Google and a seasoned SEO expert. One size does not fit all when it comes to a mobile strategy.

If you’re ready to make your site more friendly to mobile users, you need to follow four basic steps:

1. Test your current site.
2. Learn about mobile-friendly best practices.
3. Implement changes.
4. Watch for common mistakes.

1. Test Your Current Site

One of the first things Google recommends is to run pages through its mobile-friendly test. You can also use the mobile usability report in Search Console.

Depending on what stage you’re at in your mobile journey, the next steps will vary. The goal is to address the main issues uncovered in the testing phase.

2. Learn About Mobile-Friendly Best Practices

Addressing the issues will require learning more about mobile-friendly best practices. You can do so by reviewing Google’s guide here and our guide on mobile SEO and UX optimization as well for more information.

Again, an experienced SEO professional can help you make good choices here.

3. Implement Changes

Of course, implementing mobile-friendly updates is the next step.

Website Configurations

One big decision you may be facing is what type of website configuration you should have to support mobile users.

Google supports three types of mobile website configurations: responsive web design, dynamic serving and separate mobile URLs. (Check out this cheat sheet on mobile design.)

In general, a responsive website is going to be the easiest to create and maintain. A responsive website uses the same URL and HTML code no matter what device the visitor has (versus a separate mobile site). But it serves up the content in a slightly different format depending on the screen size — so it’s friendly for mobile users.

Be sure to check out these seven mobile navigation best practices for more.

Website Content

Remember that a responsive website does not automatically mean a mobile-friendly website. How you serve the content is one thing. But what you actually prioritize in the content is another.

You see, people using mobile phones tend to search differently than those on a desktop. User intent is different, and that means that the information you want to serve may be different.

You can learn more about this concept in my article on understanding Google’s mobile-first index. And read the mobile SEO checklist for ideas on mobile content and more.

Website Speed

Mobile friendliness and fast webpage loading go hand in hand.

Mobile users do not want to wait around for content to load. Google once found that 53% of mobile site visits were abandoned when webpages took more than three seconds to load.

You can test page speed on your key pages through Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

You can also view data in your Google Analytics on site speed (go to: Behavior > Site Speed). And the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console is going to give data on load times, as well.

Read more about the need for speed in Google’s mobile-first index.

4. Watch for Common Mistakes

One pitfall to avoid is sacrificing necessary content for the sake of speed. Reducing content to improve page speed could impact rankings in a mobile-first world as I’ve written about in the past:

What is currently being served as your mobile site is what Google would consider for indexing and ranking in its mobile-first index. If the mobile version of your site only displays a portion of all available content, then Google will only consider that part in its ranking calculations (and not any additional resources available in the desktop version of a site).

If a site has a responsive design configuration, as Google recommends, everything on both the desktop version and the mobile version should be accounted for by Google, right?

Not exactly. In responsive design, you tell the site not to display blocks of text or certain images in a mobile device.

Traditionally, Google would index the desktop version of your site. Whatever the desktop image was, that’s what Google would index and use to rank. Then, when a person loaded that page on a mobile device, at that point, you could control what was displayed. However, the index was based on the full desktop version of the content. Responsive design just decided what was displayed or not for a mobile or tablet device.

Now Google is moving to a mobile-first index. Whereas the desktop version of the site used to matter most for search engine optimization, now it’s the mobile UX that counts. If the mobile version of your site is not displaying certain content or images, Google will no longer consider them in ranking and indexing.

For example, on your desktop site in your footer, you might have 50 links. But in the mobile version, you don’t want to clutter it up so you only display 10. When Googlebot crawls your page, it’s not going to count 50 links, it’ll only consider the 10.

Because there are so many variables when creating a mobile-friendly site, it’s important to have an expert SEO working with your developers to make important decisions about mobile configuration.

For more details on the update, read our entire page experience series:

1. What’s the Page Experience Update?
2. How to Make a Mobile-Friendly Site
3. Intrusive Interstitials & Why They’re Bad for SEO
4. HTTPS for Users and Ranking
5. Core Web Vitals Overview
6. Core Web Vitals: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
7. Core Web Vitals: FID (First Input Delay)
8. Core Web Vitals: CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

If you’d like to talk to us about your SEO needs, contact us today for a consultation.

FAQ: How can I create a mobile-friendly website to improve user experience and search engine rankings?

As it becomes increasingly important for businesses and websites to remain accessible across all devices, mobile-friendly sites become even more essential in serving a growing mobile user population and improving search engine rankings. This article discusses how you can create an appealing mobile-friendly website that appeals to both users and search engine algorithms alike.

To begin, consider responsive web design as your foundation. Responsive design enables your website to adapt automatically to different screen sizes, providing users with an uninterrupted user experience across devices and reducing maintenance burden by eliminating your site’s separate desktop and mobile versions.

Next, prioritize content optimization for mobile users. Understand that mobile search behavior differs from desktop searches. Craft concise and engaging content that addresses user intent quickly. Prioritize crucial information, enhancing readability and engagement.

Website speed is critical to user satisfaction and search engine rankings. Mobile users demand swift loading times, and Google rewards fast-loading pages. Regularly assess and optimize your website’s speed using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights.

Additionally, mobile-friendliness extends to navigation. Simplify menus and ensure buttons are easily clickable on smaller screens. Optimize images for mobile consumption to minimize load times without compromising quality.

Lastly, leverage Google’s mobile-friendly test and mobile usability report in Search Console to identify and rectify any issues. Regularly monitor mobile performance metrics to stay proactive in improving the user experience.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Create a Mobile-Friendly Website

1. Choose a responsive web design framework.
2. Optimize your website’s content for mobile users’ needs and preferences.
3. Craft concise and engaging headlines and content.
4. Prioritize essential information to capture user attention quickly.
5. Implement a mobile-first approach to design and user experience.
6. Simplify navigation menus for easier mobile browsing.
7. Ensure buttons and links are easily clickable on smaller screens.
8. Optimize images for mobile devices to reduce load times.
9. Evaluate website speed using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
10. Implement speed optimization techniques, including browser caching and image compression.
11. Leverage mobile usability reports in Google Search Console to identify issues.
12. Test your website using Google’s mobile-friendly test tool.
13. Regularly monitor mobile performance metrics, including load times and bounce rates.
14. Address any issues identified through testing and monitoring.
15. Continuously update and refine your mobile-friendly strategy based on user feedback and industry trends.
16. Stay informed about Google’s algorithm updates and mobile-friendliness guidelines.
17. Collaborate with experienced SEO professionals to ensure optimal results.
18. Consider user behavior and intent when crafting mobile content.
19. Regularly assess and improve website speed to maintain a competitive edge.
20. Prioritize user experience in all mobile website design and optimization aspects.

The post Page Experience Matters: The Mobile-Friendly Site appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

In this article, let’s explore:

• When duplicate content is deceptive
• When your own site duplicates content
• What’s considered duplicate content?
• FAQ: How does duplicate content affect my website’s search engine rankings?

To start, it’s important to understand there are two types of duplicate content:

1. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site only
2. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site and other sites

When Duplicate Content is Deceptive

Let’s start with the deceptive type of duplicate content.

If you have content on your site that is duplicated on other sites, it lowers the quality of your website. That’s true even if you didn’t intend to deceive the search engines. Why would your pages rank if they’re pretty much the same as hundreds of other pages?

Worse, copied content could be seen as deceptive. That definitely can harm your search engine rankings. While Google does not have a “duplicate content penalty” per se, the search engine reserves the right to remove your pages from its index altogether.

In a help file, Google states:

Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. … if our review indicated that you engaged in deceptive practices and your site has been removed from our search results, review your site carefully.

This usually happens when a website has scraped content. Some examples of scraped content, per Google, include:

• Sites that copy and republish content from other sites without adding any original content or value
• Sites that copy content from other sites, modify it slightly (for example, by substituting synonyms or using automated techniques), and republish it
• Sites that reproduce content feeds from other sites without providing some type of unique organization or benefit to the user

When Your Own Site Duplicates Content

Now let’s turn to a common problem for many: duplicate content within the website. If you have duplicate content within your site, it is not considered deceptive. And your site won’t suffer a Google penalty or be in danger of removal.

To support that, let’s go back to the Google help file referenced earlier, which says:

Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results.

Google’s John Mueller discusses duplicate content in this video, saying it’s not a negative ranking factor:

However, duplicate content on your site can still impact rankings. When you have duplicate content on your website, Google may filter out some of your webpages from the search results. Filtered means they won’t rank.

Here’s how that works: When Google is presented with two webpages that appear to be too similar in content, Google picks the page it believes to be the best for that query and leaves the other page out of the results.

And the page that Google picks may or may not be the page that you want showing up in the search results for a particular keyword.

In the video above, Mueller confirms:

“With that kind of duplicate content it’s not so much that there’s a negative score associated with it. It’s more that, if we find exactly the same information on multiple pages on the web, and someone searches specifically for that piece of information, then we’ll try to find the best matching page.

So if you have the same content on multiple pages then we won’t show all of these pages. We’ll try to pick one of them and show that. So it’s not that there’s any negative signal associated with that. In a lot of cases that’s kind of normal that you have some amount of shared content across some of the pages.”

Another way duplicate content can impact your site is by lowering the overall quality of the site. Having 1 million faceted search pages certainly lowers rankings. Is it a penalty if an algorithm determines you are low quality? I would argue yes.

So, What’s Considered Duplicate Content?

Google defines duplicate content as:

Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.

Reputable sites are not engaged in scraping, so most website publishers create duplicate content inadvertently. A long list of issues could result in duplicate content, so it’s worth understanding.

Duplicate content can be a result of common issues such as:

• Two site versions
• A separate mobile site
• Trailing slashes on URLs
• CMS problems
• Meta information duplication
• Similar content
• Boilerplate content
• Parameterized pages
• Product descriptions
• Content syndication

To learn more, read our in-depth duplicate content article to understand how to handle each of these root causes.

So, to sum up: Is duplicate content bad for search engine rankings? In most cases, yes. If you care about having better control over which webpages rank in Google, then you’ll want to ensure that the content on your website is original.

Our team of experts provides content services and SEO consulting to help improve your search rankings. Reach out to us today for a free estimate.

FAQ: How does duplicate content affect my website’s search engine rankings?

Duplicate content—the presence of identical or substantially similar content across multiple website pages—can significantly influence how search engines evaluate and rank your web pages. This issue stems from search engines’ commitment to delivering diverse and relevant user results. When search engines detect identical content, they grapple with deciding which version to show in search results, often leading to unfavorable outcomes for your rankings.

Google and other search engines prioritize unique, high-quality content that provides value to users. Duplicate content, however, dilutes this commitment by fragmenting the relevance and originality of your content across various pages. Consequently, search engines might choose to rank a single version of your content, relegating duplicates to lower positions or excluding them altogether. This dilution can thwart your efforts to secure prominent search engine rankings and reduce the visibility of your website.

Beyond these direct ranking concerns, duplicate content can also lead to missed opportunities for link consolidation. Inbound links are vital for SEO, as they signify the authority and credibility of your website. When identical content exists on multiple pages, these valuable links might get dispersed among various versions rather than accumulating to bolster the authority of a single, consolidated page. This decentralized link equity can hinder your overall SEO strategy and hinder your website’s ability to compete effectively in search results.

To address these issues, consider implementing these expert insights. First, conduct regular content audits to identify and consolidate duplicate content. Utilize canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page to search engines. Additionally, focus on crafting compelling, original content that provides unique value to your audience. Investing in creating engaging and informative material can mitigate the risks of duplicate content and strengthen your website’s search engine rankings.

Duplicate content poses a substantial threat to your website’s search engine rankings. By understanding the intricacies of this issue and adopting strategic measures, you can enhance your website’s visibility, authority, and overall performance in search engine results.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Address Duplicate Content for Improved Search Engine Rankings

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Content Audit: Identify duplicate content on your website using specialized tools or manual analysis.
2. Prioritize Quality Content Creation: Focus on generating original, valuable content that caters to your target audience’s needs.
3. Implement Canonical Tags: Use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page, helping search engines understand your content hierarchy.
4. Consolidate Similar Pages: Merge pages with duplicate content into a single authoritative page to concentrate link equity and improve rankings.
5. Use 301 Redirects: If necessary, set up 301 redirects to guide users and search engines to the preferred page version.
6. Utilize URL Parameters: Leverage URL parameters to ensure dynamic content variations are not mistaken for duplicates.
7. Employ Noindex Tags: For non-essential duplicate pages, use noindex tags to prevent search engines from indexing them.
8. Syndicate Carefully: If syndicating content, use canonical tags or noindex tags to specify the original content source.
9. Optimize Product Descriptions: E-commerce websites should craft unique product descriptions to evade common duplicate content issues.
10. Create Authoritative Backlinks: Earn high-quality backlinks to the preferred version of your content to bolster its authority.
11. Regularly Monitor Indexing: Keep tabs on how search engines index your pages and make necessary adjustments.
12. Leverage Google Search Console: Utilize this tool to identify and rectify duplicate content issues Google encounters.
13. Prioritize User Experience: Design your website intuitively, ensuring users can easily navigate to the desired content.
14. Utilize 404 and 410 Status Codes: Properly handle pages that are no longer relevant by using appropriate status codes.
15. Educate Your Team: If you have content contributors, educate them about duplicate content risks and prevention techniques.
16. Stay Updated: Keep abreast of search engine algorithm changes to adapt your strategy accordingly.
17. Engage in Guest Posting Carefully: If guest posting, ensure the content is exclusive and not duplicated across multiple websites.
18. Regularly Review Syndication Partners: If you syndicate content, verify that your partners follow best practices to avoid duplication.
19. Utilize Webmaster Guidelines: Follow search engine guidelines for best practices to maintain healthy SEO practices.
20. Monitor and Adjust: Continuously monitor your website’s performance, rankings, and duplicate content issues, adjusting your strategy as needed.

The post Is Duplicate Content Bad for Search Engine Rankings? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Building SEO into a website from the ground up — even before you launch — sets your website up for success right out of the gate. And yet, SEO is often an afterthought, even for large companies with big budgets. “We launch next week so let’s check the SEO” is certain death.

This Gartner data on percentage of marketing budget invested per channel baffles me. Below, you can see that most of the budget goes to things like the website, digital commerce and mobile marketing. But all the way down the line is SEO — as if it has nothing to do with any of those top priorities.

So, let’s look closer at how you can incorporate SEO throughout the whole design process and launch your website with higher success.

The 4 Stages of a Website Launch with SEO

When launching a website, there are four stages to consider, each with its own tasks and milestones. In each of the following phases, the person in charge of SEO should cooperate with other teams (design, development, UX, strategy, and others):

1. 1. Strategy and planning
   2. Build the website
   3. Launch the website
   4. Promote the website

FAQ: How can I effectively incorporate SEO strategies into every stage of building and launching a website?

Stage 1: Strategy and Planning

A web launch’s strategy and planning stage is fundamental for its success. This is when you lay the foundation.

In terms of SEO, the most important steps in this stage are keyword research and content architecture. Before the web design team gets to work on concepts, the person in charge of SEO needs to provide the keyword and architecture strategy. That’s because this SEO guidance will help shape how designers and developers build the site.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most important steps in an SEO project. As a website publisher, you need to understand who your target audience is and what search queries they use to find your products and services. Then, this information serves as the foundation for your website in terms of how you architect it and the content you create for it. More on that next.

Read more:

• What Are Keywords? Why Are Keywords Important to SEO?
• Keyword Research: How to Select Keywords

Content Architecture

Once keyword research is done, the person in charge of SEO can begin to theme the website. This involves mapping out the website structure based on the top keywords that are important to a website. A site map mockup will show what pages to create, including the top navigation and the subnavigation.

This is what we refer to here at Bruce Clay Inc. as SEO siloing. SEO siloing can make or break a website’s perceived expertise by Google, its rankings, and even the user experience.

Read more:

• SEO Siloing: What Why How
• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Search Engine Rankings
• SEO Siloing: How to Build a Website Silo Architecture

Stage 2: Develop and Build

The build stage is usually the longest stage of a website project. During this stage, the designers and developers build the site. But from an SEO perspective, there are two key tasks: creating content and working with developers on the technical side.

Content Creation

Each silo or navigational category needs to be filled with quality content. That means creating quality content that is built with an understanding of Google’s quality standards. It also means creating webpages driven by real-time SEO data based on the top-ranked competitors for those target keywords.

You’ll want to get this data before you create the pages. That way the content meets or exceeds what your competitors are doing on the first page of the search results.

And anyone can get this data through the right tools, one of which is our WordPress SEO plugin. You can read more about that below.

Read more:

• WordPress SEO Plugins: Why Real-Time and Customized Data Matters
• Want Customized SEO Advice per Keyword? There’s a Plugin for That!
• How a WordPress SEO Plugin Can Help You Optimize Your Content with Keywords
• E-E-A-T and SEO: You Can’t Have One Without the Other

Technical Strategy

SEO is not a core strength of many website designers and developers. So they often inadvertently build a site that hinders the search engines from doing their job: crawling, indexing and understanding a website and its content. For example, Flash and JavaScript implementations sometimes create obstacles for search engines.

But that’s just one example of what can go wrong and what needs to be optimized during the build for SEO. As Google tunes its algorithms to reward sites that provide a good user experience, performance issues also become concerns for SEO.

Read more:

• SEO Guide: Technical SEO Tips
• The Always-Up-to-Date SEO Checklist

Stage 3: Prelaunch and Launch

Before you launch the site and during launch, the person in charge of SEO needs to be involved in overseeing some critical things. This stage should be fairly smooth if the previous stages were conducted well. But you still need to ensure everything is in order.

Prelaunch

Crawlability and Accessibility

The website should be crawled using an SEO tool to see if there are any errors. You can use a site crawler like Screaming Frog or our tools in the SEOToolSet^® for this. As part of this task, you’ll want to see that the number of pages that are created and crawled is the same. If there is a difference, the next step is to find out what is causing the issue and fix it.

Google Analytics and Google Search Console

It’s important to have basic SEO analytics set up before launch. It will help you watch the website and get access to valuable data from the moment the site is published. Without this data, it is impossible to improve website performance through data-driven decisions.

Read more: 7 Google SEO Tools Every Website Publisher Should Use

Technical Items

At this stage, things like the XML sitemap, HTML sitemap and robots.txt file should be properly set up. But you’ll want to test them. In some cases, web developers or others can forget to remove the Disallow: / directive from the robots.txt file (used to keep pages from being indexed during the build and testing phases).

Read more:

• What Is an XML Sitemap and How Do I Make One?
• SEO Guide: How to Create a Sitemap
• SEO Guide: How to Submit a Website to Search Engines

Launch

SEO to-dos in the launch stage involve a lot of monitoring. In particular, you’re watching for errors and indexation.

Errors

Using SEO tools including Google Search Console, check and fix any technical errors that might pop up. Common issues include 404 errors that stop users from accessing a webpage or other problems.

Indexation

Depending on the size of the website, it might take a few days or weeks for search engines to index a site fully. If it seems that there are some areas that are not indexed, investigate and fix the issues. Is there adequate internal linking to ensure maximum indexation?

Stage 4: Post Launch

The work does not stop once the website is successfully launched. SEO is an ongoing process — there are always things to test and optimize.

Content

Add new content to the site regularly. Build more supporting content for your silo structure and interlink pages appropriately.

Also, update the existing content to keep it fresh.

Links

Maintain your link profile. You want to ensure you have high-quality, relevant links over other types.

Read more:

• SEO Is Done When Google Stops Changing Things and All Your Competition Dies
• The 13-Step Web Content Audit to Boost Visibility in the Search Results
• 50 Ways to Get Quality, “White Hat” Backlinks
• What Is a Whole-SERP Strategy?

Performance

Once the site goes live, check the performance of the homepage and other important pages you want to rank regularly. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse help with this. You can earn a ranking boost for providing a measurably good page experience.

Read more:

• How Fast Should My Webpage Be and Why Should I Care?
• What CMOs Need to Know about Google’s Page Experience Update

Takeaways

SEO is critical to building a website that is not only functional, but also able to compete in the search results. If you’re part of a website launch team, remember these principles:

• Involve SEO in the web launch from the beginning.
• Ensure that SEO strategy and planning are a part of each step.
• Make sure the website is built in an SEO-friendly way.
• Continue with a strategic SEO plan after launch.

We’ve helped many clients through web migrations and new site launches. If you’d like guidance to ensure your strategy succeeds, contact us today for a free quote and consultation.

FAQ: How can I effectively incorporate SEO strategies into every stage of building and launching a website?

The journey of building and launching a website encompasses several pivotal stages that can significantly enhance a site’s visibility and reach when approached with SEO in mind. By seamlessly blending search engine optimization techniques into each phase, you can lay a strong foundation for your website’s online success.

Planning and Research

Before diving into website development, thorough planning and research are essential. Identify relevant keywords and key phrases that resonate with your target audience. Conduct competitive analysis to gain insights into what’s working in your industry. This groundwork will set the stage for strategic content creation and optimization.

Design and UX

Prioritize user experience (UX), and make sure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. Site speed, intuitive navigation, and engaging visuals contribute to user satisfaction and search engine rankings. Integrate keywords naturally into your design elements and metadata.

Content Creation and Optimization

Compelling, relevant, and well-optimized content is the backbone of SEO. Create valuable content that addresses user intent and incorporates your identified keywords. Regularly update your blog with fresh content to showcase your expertise and keep users returning. Use descriptive titles, headers, and meta descriptions to enhance search visibility.

Technical SEO Implementation

Underneath the surface, technical SEO plays a crucial role. Optimize your website’s structure for search engine crawlers by creating a logical URL structure, using XML sitemaps, and implementing schema markup. Ensure your website is secure with HTTPS, fix broken links, and optimize images for faster loading times.

Pre-launch and Post-launch Optimization

Before launching, conduct a comprehensive SEO audit to address any issues. Check for duplicate content, ensure proper 301 redirects, and verify metadata accuracy. After launching, monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools. Track keyword rankings, organic traffic, and user engagement to make data-driven refinements.

Weaving SEO strategies throughout every stage of website development is essential for achieving long-term online success. A holistic approach will enable you to develop a website that attracts both search engines and users alike. SEO is an ongoing process; therefore, keeping up with industry trends and algorithm changes is vital for keeping your site competitively priced.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Incorporating SEO Strategies in Website Development

1. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant terms and phrases.
2. Analyze competitors’ websites to gain insights into effective strategies.
3. Prioritize mobile-friendly and responsive design for optimal user experience.
4. Integrate keywords naturally into design elements and metadata.
5. Develop valuable, keyword-rich content that addresses user intent.
6. Maintain a consistent content creation schedule to showcase expertise.
7. Create descriptive titles, headers, and meta descriptions for each page.
8. Optimize website structure with logical URLs and XML sitemaps.
9. Implement schema markup to enhance search engine understanding.
10. Ensure website security with HTTPS and fix broken links.
11. Optimize images for faster loading times and better user experience.
12. Conduct a pre-launch SEO audit to address any optimization issues.
13. Implement 301 redirects and ensure accurate metadata before launch.
14. Monitor keyword rankings, organic traffic, and user engagement post-launch.
15. Utilize analytics tools to gather data for informed decision-making.
16. Regularly update content to reflect industry changes and user needs.
17. Stay informed about SEO trends and algorithm updates.
18. Continuously refine and improve the website based on performance data.
19. Adapt strategies to evolving search engine guidelines.
20. Engage in ongoing learning to stay ahead in the dynamic field of SEO.

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