Keyword research is a big job, and you need the right tools to do it successfully. There are plenty of keyword suggestions and research tools on the market — here are seven of them (in alphabetical order) you should be using to better meet your audience’s needs and rank better in search.

1. Answer The Public
2. Bing Webmaster Tools Keyword Research
3. Google Ads Keyword Planner 
4. Google Trends
5. Keyword Generator (Ahrefs)
6. Keyword Suggestions (SEOToolSet)
7. QuestionDB

FAQ: How can I leverage keyword research tools to enhance my content strategy and SEO efforts?

1. Answer The Public

Answer The Public serves questions and phrases related to your keyword by using autocomplete data from search engines.

Add the data to your keyword research list, then write content to address each relevant question or phrase. You can write a separate webpage for each question or phrase, or include a bunch of them within one article (you might even rank for a featured snippet if you do it the right way).

You can do a couple of searches for free each day, or upgrade to a paid subscription.

2. Bing Webmaster Tools Keyword Research

If you’re trying to compete in Bing, then you’ll want to use its Webmaster Tools keyword research tool to discover the keywords and phrases people are using on the Bing search engine.

Take your seed list of keywords and input them into the tool. The keyword tool will suggest matching or relevant keywords related to them, including search volume and trends. Keywords suggestions fall into the following three categories: related, questions, or newly discovered.

Plus, the tool also provides the top-ranked URLs for the root keywords and can also give data on the keywords that are already driving traffic to your website. There are all sorts of filters you can apply to the data to refine it as well.

Bing Webmaster Tools keyword research feature is free for those who have an account.

3. Google Ads Keyword Planner

The Google Ads Keyword Planner is not just for advertisers; it’s also a handy SEO keyword research tool for websites competing in Google.

Input your seed list and the keyword suggest tool will help you find the most relevant keywords. Or, you can enter your website and Google will look for keywords related to the content.

The Keyword Planner gives data on search volume and will provide bid estimates for advertisers (which can also help gauge how competitive a keyword in organic search will be). You can narrow down your search by using various filters as well.

Keyword Planner is free for anyone who has a Google Ads account.

4. Google Trends

Google Trends offers — you guessed it — trends on search queries. You can enter a given keyword and get various data points on it, including:

• Interest over time
• Interest by region
• Related topics
• Related queries

You can also apply filters like what type of search — web search, image search, news search, etc.

You can also check out the Trending Now page to see what’s currently trending around the world. This can be useful for writing on timely topics.

Google Trends is a free keyword research tool.

5. Keyword Generator (Ahrefs)

Ahrefs’ Keyword Generator is a keyword suggestion tool that lets you enter up to 10 words or phrases and generates keywords for the search engine of your choice (there are nine of them), including Google, Bing, YouTube, Amazon and more. Filter by country.

The data is offered up into six categories of keyword types, including: Phrase match, having the same terms as your seed list, keywords the top-competing pages also rank for, search suggestions via autocomplete, newly discovered keywords and question formats.

Get data like keyword difficulty scores and search volume for each keyword listed. You can use filters to find those keywords with good search volume and low competition (the sweet spot!).

Also, find out any SERP features associated with that keyword (a must when you are doing a whole-SERP SEO strategy). And, you can use this tool to find out SEO metrics on the top-ranked webpages for a term, too.

You can use the free version with limited functionality, or try a paid trial for a small fee. After that, if you upgrade to a subscription, the Lite version is $99 per month, and the Standard version is $199 per month at the time of writing.

6. Keyword Suggestions (SEOToolSet)

Of course, we have to mention our solution to keyword research, too, and that’s our Keyword Suggestions tool, which is part of our SEOToolSet®.

With the Keyword Suggestions tool, you can find terms that are semantically related to the keywords in your seed list. The tool can provide search activity for each keyword, three metrics to indicate competitiveness, categories, and a trending chart.

The SEOToolSet allows you to research keywords further by presenting more data, including keyword relative “activity” as a search query.

You can use the Keyword Suggestions tool for:

• SEO research
• Content planning
• Discovering word associations for video descriptions
• Finding keywords you might want to exclude from your PPC campaign, and more.

The SEOToolSet offers a free trial and then is $24.95 per month after that. The free version of the Keyword Suggestion tool will serve up five related words and phrases to your keyword (entered one at a time) pulled from search engine data.

7. QuestionDB

QuestionDB allows you to enter a broad keyword and find relevant questions related to it, pulled from its database of more than 32 million questions that “have been asked on various websites over time.”

The generated list will give you the relevant questions for keywords, plus volume and difficulty data from DataForSeo, an SEO data API provider. (“Keyword difficulty represents the median backlink profile strength of the top 10 webpages ranking for a specific keyword,” according to DataForSEO.) From here, you can view related topics and download the list of questions.

QuestionDB is free with limited functionality, offering 50 results per search. You can upgrade for deeper dives into the data and unlimited searches for $15 per month at the time of writing.

Keyword research is not a small feat, and the right tools can help you get the keywords most relevant to your audience and your business. For more on keyword research, check out:

• What Are Keywords?

Don’t have the time or resources to conduct thorough keyword research? Let our SEO experts do the work for you. Schedule a free 1:1 consultation to discuss how we can help.

FAQ: How can I leverage keyword research tools to enhance my content strategy and SEO efforts?

Navigating the complexities of content strategy and search engine optimization demands strategic precision. Keyword research tools are beacons of insight, guiding your content toward relevance and your SEO efforts toward success.

Engaging in a comprehensive content strategy necessitates more than just high-quality writing; it involves strategic keyword integration. Keyword research tools serve as the compass in this journey. By delving into these tools, you uncover trending keywords and gain insights into what your target audience seeks. This valuable understanding empowers you to curate content that resonates deeply with your readers.

Seamless integration of meticulously researched keywords directly influences your search engine rankings. Search engines thrive on relevancy, and these tools offer you the means to align your content with user intent. As you strategically pepper your articles with these keywords, you provide search engines with clear signals, ultimately enhancing your chances of climbing the results ladder.

One key advantage of leveraging keyword research tools lies in uncovering untapped niches. These tools illuminate the uncharted terrain of long-tail keywords, where competition might be less fierce and relevance is more attainable. Incorporating these hidden gems into your content enriches your strategy and helps you reach a more targeted audience.

Beyond keyword discovery, these tools facilitate monitoring and adaptation. Continuously tracking keyword performance offers insights into user behavior shifts. As search trends evolve, these tools empower you to adjust your strategy in real time, ensuring your content remains aligned with your audience’s evolving needs.

Keyword research tools transcend mere words; they are the compass, guide and beacon illuminating your path to successful content strategy and SEO. By harnessing their power, you position your content to resonate with audiences and increase search engine ranks.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How To Leverage Keyword Research Tools for Enhanced Content Strategy and SEO

1. Understand the significance of keyword research in content strategy and SEO.
2. Familiarize yourself with different keyword research tools available in the market.
3. Research your target audience’s preferences, interests and pain points.
4. Explore trending keywords related to your niche using keyword research tools.
5. Identify long-tail keywords that align with your content’s focus.
6. Analyze the search volume and competition level of selected keywords.
7. Prioritize keywords with a balance of search volume and competition.
8. Incorporate relevant keywords organically into your content.
9. Ensure that keywords match user intent and enhance the overall reader experience.
10. Monitor the performance of integrated keywords using tracking tools.
11. Adapt your content strategy based on emerging keyword trends.
12. Utilize keyword research tools to identify content gaps and potential niches.
13. Create content that addresses specific long-tail keywords and user queries.
14. Incorporate keywords in key areas such as headings, subheadings and meta descriptions.
15. Regularly update your content to reflect evolving keyword trends.
16. Engage in competitor analysis to identify keywords driving their success.
17. Leverage keyword research tools to refine and optimize paid advertising campaigns.
18. Collaborate with your SEO team to align keyword research with technical optimization.
19. Continuously educate yourself on emerging SEO and content trends.
20. Keep a pulse on your audience’s preferences to consistently refine your keyword strategy.

The post 7 Keyword Suggestion and Research Tools to Figure Out the Right Keywords for Your SEO Strategy appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

• Resolutions
• How to make sure the SEO work gets done
• Resolve to get SEO things done this year
• FAQ: How Do I Prioritize and Execute SEO Tasks for Maximum Impact?

Resolutions

SEO Resolutions are well-meaning, but 81% of people who make them fail to reach their goals.

Don’t make resolutions without an action plan.
The secret to success is right in your hands.

–J Allen Shaw, children’s book author

Search engine optimization can drive more visibility in the search results, more traffic, and more revenue. But like a New Year’s resolution, you must do it to see results.

Well-meaning site owners pay agencies, consultants, or in-house SEO professionals to give SEO advice to help their businesses grow. Yet a significant percentage of those recommendations never get implemented.

This happens for many reasons. Most often, the company doesn’t see SEO as a strategic initiative. That trickles from the top down, and business silos make it nearly impossible to get things done.

So how do you succeed with having great SEO intentions and actually following through on them?

How to Make Sure the SEO Work Gets Done

Here are a handful of things to consider implementing to make sure SEO priorities get done:

1. Educate, educate, educate. And not just the immediate marketing teams, but other teams that need to get SEO things done need to be trained too.

We have upgraded what people know and love as “online training” with our membership-based SEOtraining.com, a comprehensive SEO training experience. The heart of it is the Bruce Clay SEO Training course.

Our new SEO course is online, but it is not a recording of a live class. It is green-screen recorded and quite professional in sound and presentation, with more than 15 hours of professionally produced video lessons. As with all videos, you can take the course at your own pace – start and stop as you like.

Members also have access to email support and regular live Q&A sessions to get their questions answered. Resources beyond the training course include in-depth mini-courses on key subjects, e-books, single-topic Ask-Us-Anything videos, and many more.

2. Prioritize recommendations. Work on the most impactful SEO tasks first — the ones with the most potential to move the needle.

For example, our SEO audits make it clear which tasks are most important to tackle first and how to prioritize everything else from short-term to long-term tasks.

3. Support recommendations with Google guidance. Show examples (help files, tweets, videos, etc.) of Google recommending what you are trying to accomplish. This is a great example from Google on why site performance matters.

Make sure to distill the “why” behind Google’s recommendation. Whether you’re talking to a client or your own internal team, you want to make it easy for your intended audience to understand and get on board. Also, think about your audience when you talk about results.

For instance, if you’re recommending a change that will improve site performance, the UX department will respond to user experience improvements, while the C-Suite will respond more to revenue growth.

For every half second decrease in homepage load speed, our customers see an average annual revenue increase of $376,789.

–Mobify

4. Get creative to move SEO changes forward. Technical fixes can be hard to implement. That’s because web developers and IT folks often focus on other things.

In a bit of good news: UK-based Zazzle found that 75 percent of marketers said SEO technical fixes were implemented within one month. But that leaves 25 percent of those surveyed waiting more than a month.

To help move technical SEO changes forward, speak the language of your audience. Instead of requesting enhancements to the site, put SEO technical fixes in as bug reports. Fixing bugs is typically KPIs developers care about and want to stay on top of.

(The key is not to put anything in the report you must defend. A bug is a bug; it’s not “losing traffic to competitors” or anything else.)

5. Think strategically. We must think and plan strategically to get things done. This article by a doctor at the Harvard Medical School blog gives tips on how to keep New Year’s resolutions by asking five important questions.

These same questions could be applied to communicating and getting buy-in for SEO initiatives so they get done:

1. Why do you want to make the change? Know and show the reasons behind the SEO recommendation.
2. Is your goal concrete and measurable? Support your recommendation with Google guidance and data, case studies for similar organizations, websites, or initiatives, and the KPIs you will track.
3. What is your plan? Detail the steps necessary to reach the goal.
4. Who can support you as you work toward change? Identify which colleagues, teams, or departments will need to be involved to get the recommendation done and how.
5. How will you celebrate your victories? Make sure that the small and big wins are in front of everyone all the time. This helps build trust and confidence in the SEO process.

McKinsey also has some great insights worth looking into on how to make a change within an organization, including motivating people.

Resolve to Get SEO Things Done This Year

If we want our SEO recommendations to be implemented, we must create a plan for how to get things done. Like the person who signs up for the gym in January but never attends, paying for SEO advice but not following it is wasted potential.

Remember, SEO is forever — there is no “end,” and it takes a commitment to see results. This core concept can help us think beyond the title tags that need to be changed this month or site speed that needs to be tackled the next so that we can accomplish more.

Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in two or three decades. #iamnotyourguru

— Tony Robbins (@TonyRobbins) October 25, 2016

If you need help with your SEO action plan, contact us for a free quote, and let’s talk.

FAQ: How Do I Prioritize and Execute SEO Tasks for Maximum Impact?

Executing SEO tasks with precision and purpose can significantly influence your website’s performance. Prioritizing these tasks to maximize their impact requires a well-defined strategy considering both short-term gains and long-term objectives.

To start, analyze your current SEO landscape. Identify keywords that drive the most traffic and conversions. This data-driven approach enables you to allocate resources to tasks that align with your business goals. Additionally, top priorities should be auditing your website for technical issues and optimizing on-page elements. These foundational tasks lay the groundwork for effective SEO.

Once the essentials are addressed, turn your attention to content optimization. Conduct thorough keyword research to uncover valuable opportunities. Craft compelling, user-focused content that addresses searcher intent. This enhances your website’s relevance and drives organic traffic growth.

In the realm of link building, prioritize quality over quantity. Seek authoritative websites within your niche for potential collaborations. Secure high-quality backlinks that boost your search rankings and establish your website as a trusted resource.

Regular performance monitoring is key to maintaining SEO success. Leverage analytics tools to track keyword rankings, organic traffic, and conversion rates. This data empowers you to refine your strategy and reallocate resources as needed.

By implementing these prioritization strategies, you’ll ensure that your SEO efforts yield maximum impact. Remember, success in SEO requires a holistic approach encompassing technical excellence, content optimization, link building, and continuous performance analysis.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Prioritize and Execute SEO Tasks for Maximum Impact

1. Keyword Analysis: Identify high-performing keywords that align with your business objectives.
2. Technical Audit: Conduct a comprehensive audit to address any technical issues hindering search engine crawlability and indexing.
3. On-Page Optimization: Optimize meta tags, headers, and content for target keywords to enhance on-page SEO.
4. Content Strategy: Develop a content plan based on keyword research, focusing on creating valuable, informative, and engaging content.
5. Keyword Mapping: Align target keywords with specific pages on your website for better content optimization.
6. User Experience Enhancement: Improve website navigation, page load speed, and mobile responsiveness to enhance user experience.
7. Link-Building Strategy: Identify authoritative websites for potential link-building partnerships.
8. Backlink Acquisition: Secure high-quality backlinks from reputable sources within your industry.
9. Local SEO: Optimize your website for local search by creating and verifying Google My Business listings.
10. Social Media Integration: Leverage social media platforms to promote and share your optimized content.
11. Performance Tracking: Implement analytics tools to monitor keyword rankings, organic traffic, and conversion rates.
12. Regular Audits: Schedule regular website audits to identify and address new technical issues and optimization opportunities.
13. Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitor SEO strategies to identify gaps and potential areas for improvement.
14. Algorithm Updates: Stay informed about search engine algorithm updates and adjust your strategy accordingly.
15. Voice Search Optimization: Optimize your content for voice search queries to accommodate changing search behavior.
16. Structured Data Implementation: Implement structured data markup to enhance the visibility of rich snippets in search results.
17. Local Citations: Build local citations to improve your website’s visibility in local search results.
18. Content Refresh: Regularly update and refresh existing content to ensure it remains relevant and valuable.
19. Conversion Rate Optimization: Optimize conversion rates by creating optimized landing pages and calls-to-action.
20. Continuing Learning: Stay abreast of the latest SEO practices and trends through webinars, conferences, industry publications, and other sources.

This step-by-step guide is designed to assist in efficiently prioritizing and implementing SEO tasks, with maximum impact, for maximum search engine visibility and site performance goals.

The post Don’t Be Surprised by the Traffic You Didn’t Get for the SEO Work You Didn’t Do appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Today, I’ll give a brief overview of internal links — what they are, why they are important to SEO, and how to do it.

• What are internal website links? 
• Why are internal links important to SEO?
• How do you do internal linking for SEO?
• Internal linking from day one and beyond
• FAQ: How can I optimize my website’s SEO using internal linking?

What Are Internal Website Links?

An internal website link is a link that points from one webpage on a website to another webpage on the same website.

Some examples of common internal links include:

• The main navigation at the top of a website
• The footer links at the bottom of a website
• Any contextual links embedded within the content on a webpage
• Those related-content links that suggest other content on the website
• Those links within a webpage (aka “fragment” or anchor links)

Why Are Internal Links Important to SEO?

There are several reasons why internal links are important to a website’s SEO strategy. Here are a handful:

• Satisfy users: Internal links help your website visitors discover content while they are on your website. Besides providing related information that may be helpful, keeping visitors on your website longer is one goal of SEO.
• Reinforce relevance: Internal links help search engines figure out what your website is about. The way you organize your website’s content through its internal links can make you more relevant to show up on page one of the search results.
• Help search engines: Internal links help search engines discover more of your content. As search engine spiders crawl your website, links help them get from page to page to discover and index more pages.
• Distribute PageRank: Internal links can boost the authority of any given webpage. When one high-authority webpage links to another page on the same site, it passes some of its authority to the page it is linking to.
• Strengthen ranking pages: Internal links, especially breadcrumbs, pass PageRank upwards and define a clear expertise hierarchy (silo identification).

How Do You Do Internal Linking for SEO?

One of the best strategies for internal links is SEO siloing. SEO siloing is a concept we invented in the year 2000.

The goal of SEO siloing is to organize your website content through internal links so that:

• It is easy for website visitors to find and access your content, and
• It is easy for search engines to crawl and understand what your website is about.

This creates a better user experience. At the same time, siloing makes your website more relevant for certain search queries (aka the target keywords you are after).

SEO siloing involves two main activities:

1. 1. Create an internal site structure through the physical directory. Physical siloing is the practice of organizing webpages by the URL structure, using a hierarchical website directory. For example, one URL directory structure might look like this:
      1. herdingcats.com
         herdingcats.com/how-to-herd-cats
         herdingcats.com/how-to-herd-cats/equipment-needed
         herdingcats.com/how-to-herd-cats/pitfalls-to-avoid
   2. Create an internal link structure through a virtual directory. Virtual siloing is the practice of interlinking your similar-theme pages through contextual links. For example, using anchor text to link from one blog article to another blog article on the same website.

Depending on the website, changing the directory structure to implement physical siloing may not be possible. However, virtual siloing is more important and should be sufficient if you establish clear themes via links.

To learn more about how to do internal linking, see:

• A Jam-Packed Guide on Internal Linking for SEO
• SEO Siloing: How to build a website silo architecture

Internal Linking from Day One and Beyond

Internal linking for SEO takes a lot of thought, planning, and implementation. It’s best to build this strategy into every new website, and then take it into consideration every time you add a new webpage to the site.

Review your content, internal links, and silos on a regular basis. Ensure that the silos are organized well and that you take advantage of any internal link opportunities in your content. And check out our New Link Building Manifesto for more on how to tackle your linking strategy.

How can we help you with your SEO needs? If you’d like a free quote and consultation, contact us today.

FAQ: How can I optimize my website’s SEO using internal linking?

Optimizing your website’s SEO requires a multifaceted approach, and one crucial aspect often overlooked is internal linking. When done strategically, internal linking can significantly impact your website’s performance in search engine results pages. Let’s delve into the world of internal linking and discover how to harness its potential for optimal SEO outcomes.

The Power of Internal Links

Internal links are the navigational pathways that connect different pages within your website. They serve as signposts, guiding visitors through your content while aiding search engines in understanding your site’s structure. These links facilitate a seamless user experience, ensuring that users can easily explore related content that matters to them. From a search engine perspective, well-placed internal links highlight the hierarchy and relevance of your pages, which can boost your chances of ranking higher.

Crafting a Strategic Approach

To maximize the impact of internal linking on your website’s SEO, it’s essential to approach it strategically. Start by identifying cornerstone content—those core pages encompassing your site’s main topics. Embed links to these pages within your other articles or blog posts. Additionally, consider using descriptive anchor texts that provide context about the linked content. This not only helps users but also assists search engines in understanding the linked page’s relevance.

Establishing Content Silos

Content siloing, a powerful internal linking strategy, involves grouping related content under overarching themes or categories. Create a web by connecting articles of similar categories. This will demonstrate your expertise on a subject matter, helping users search for further details while sending an important signal about your knowledge base to search engines. Implementing this strategy fosters a clear content hierarchy that can enhance your website’s visibility for relevant search queries.

Balancing Quantity and Quality

While internal linking is valuable, overdoing it can lead to clarity and better user experience. The key is to balance the quantity and quality of internal links. Prioritize linking to content that genuinely enhances the reader’s understanding or provides additional value. As you create new content, incorporate links to existing relevant pages. This enriches the reader’s experience and ensures valuable pages receive the attention they deserve.

Transition smoothly between these paragraphs to offer a comprehensive view of optimizing website SEO through internal linking. Each section contributes a unique perspective, culminating in a holistic understanding of the topic.

Step-by-Step Procedure for Optimizing Website SEO through Internal Linking:

1. Identify cornerstone content to establish a foundation for internal linking.
2. Prioritize user experience by embedding relevant internal links within your content.
3. Choose anchor texts with clear context and relevance to linked pages.
4. Implement content silos to group related content under overarching themes.
5. Strategically interlink articles within the same silo to create a comprehensive web of knowledge.
6. Focus on content quality, linking to pages that genuinely enhance the reader’s understanding.
7. Avoid overloading content with excessive internal links that could confuse readers.
8. Create a balance between the quantity and quality of internal links for optimal results.
9. Incorporate internal links naturally within the flow of your content.
10. Regularly review and update your internal linking strategy as your content evolves.
11. Use descriptive anchor texts that give users a clear idea of the linked content’s purpose.
12. Monitor user behavior and engagement with internal links to gauge effectiveness.
13. Establish a clear content hierarchy that aids users and search engines.
14. Leverage internal links to guide users to valuable resources on your website.
15. Link to cornerstone content from relevant blog posts or articles.
16. Consider using breadcrumb navigation to enhance user experience further.
17. Analyze the performance of different internal linking approaches and adapt accordingly.
18. Experiment with variations of anchor texts to see which ones yield the best results.
19. Optimize internal links for mobile users to ensure a consistent experience across devices.
20. Stay informed about the latest SEO trends and best practices for internal linking.

The post Internal Links: What, Why, How appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

According to April 2021 data from Searchmetrics, sitelinks show up for 50% of keywords on desktop and 22% on mobile. Sistrix data showed that when sitelinks are present on the SERP, they yield an above-average click rate of 46.9%.

So how do you get sitelinks? I’ll explain that and more in today’s article:

• What are sitelinks
• How sitelinks help SEO
• Types of sitelinks
• What is the sitelinks search box
• Google sitelinks best practices
• FAQ: How can I optimize my website to benefit from sitelinks and enhance user experience?

What Are Sitelinks?

Sitelinks appear as part of a website’s search results listing and are links to other webpages within the website. Sitelinks usually appear for branded (aka “navigational”) search terms, like when a person just types the name of the brand. But they can appear on informational queries as well.

Here’s an example of sitelinks showing for a search for my company, Bruce Clay Inc.:

Clicking on any of those links above will bring you to their subsequent pages on our website. For example, the “blog” link takes you to our blog homepage.

Webmasters don’t have manual control over which sitelinks show up, and much of that has to do with Google’s algorithms. That can annoy some people. But there are some things you can do to influence them, which I’ll discuss later.

A Google help file explains that sitelinks won’t always show up:

We only show sitelinks for results when we think they’ll be useful to the user. If the structure of your site doesn’t allow our algorithms to find good sitelinks, or we don’t think that the sitelinks for your site are relevant for the user’s query, we won’t show them.

How Sitelinks Help SEO

In a nutshell: Sitelinks can improve the user experience, and that is almost always good for SEO. Here are a few ways sitelinks help SEO:

More SERP Real Estate

The more space your result takes up visually on a search engine results page (SERP), the better. Those sitelinks under your listing push the rest of the organic search results farther down the page, so searchers are presented with your navigational options, not someone else’s.

Improved Click-Through Rate

As mentioned in the introduction of this article, searches that produce SERPs with sitelinks mean more clicks.

When sitelinks are present on a SERP, Sistrix data shows the average click rate is 46.9% for the results with sitelinks. Position 2 only gets 14% of clicks.

Not only that, but when compared to the average click rate of a SERP without sitelinks, the first position with sitelinks garners 46.9% of clicks versus just 28.5% of clicks when it’s just 10 blue links.

It’s worth noting that while Google usually shows sitelinks for just the top result, some SERPs include sitelinks on several of the top results. For example, positions 1 to 3 have sitelinks in the results for the general information query “about seo”:

Drive People to Key Webpages

Hopefully, Google is able to discern the key webpages on your site and include those in your sitelinks. When Google doesn’t get it right, that may mean you can improve your internal SEO efforts.

Nevertheless, sitelinks can help your users discover more than just the homepage on your site right out of the gate. And that means more organic traffic going to various pages within your website, not just the homepage.

You can look in Google Search Console to see how many of your key pages are garnering clicks. Start from the Performance on Search Results report by Pages to see your top pages; then you can click each top URL and view the Queries report to see what terms attracted searchers.

Types of Sitelinks

Sitelinks can show up in the search results in a few different ways.

Vertical, Two-Column Sitelinks
These sitelinks show below the main listing for a website, and can include up to six sitelinks in a two-column, vertical format.

Horizontal Row of Sitelinks
These sitelinks show below the main listing for a website and can include up to four hyperlinks in a row. This can show up for both branded and informational queries.

For informational queries, sitelinks may point to sections within a webpage on a topic. This is especially true for lengthy articles, such as the following Wikipedia entry:

For branded queries, it can direct people to other pages on your website that are relevant to the query. Google shows the following sitelinks for a search for “bruce clay seo”:

Sitelinks Extensions (Paid)
Sitelinks extensions are specifically for paid search ads. While this article focuses on organic sitelinks, it’s worth mentioning ad sitelinks since the terms can be confused.

What Is the Sitelinks Search Box?

The sitelinks search box is another automated feature produced by Google in the search results. A search box shows up above your sitelinks so that users can search your site directly from the search results page.

The default for this search box is that it is powered by Google Search. But you can use specific markup language that will integrate your website’s internal site search instead.

Even by doing this, however, you’re not guaranteed that a sitelinks search box will show up. Google says:

Google doesn’t guarantee that a sitelinks search box will be shown in search results. Additionally, using the sitelinks search box markup doesn’t make it more likely that a sitelinks search box will be shown.

If you do not want the sitelinks search box to show up in SERPs, you have a little more control over this feature versus the regular sitelinks. You can add a specific meta tag to the homepage to prevent a sitelinks search box, per Google:

<meta name=”google” content=”nositelinkssearchbox” />

Google Sitelinks Best Practices

As I said, you cannot directly control what sitelinks the search engine chooses to display for your site. However, you can influence them with the following best practices.

Good Site Architecture

I believe that the best way to tell Google which pages are the most important on your website is to have a good site architecture that’s driven by best practices in SEO siloing. This includes how you set up your navigation and internal links.

In its help file on sitelinks, Google does mention a few things that can help them understand which pages to choose for sitelinks, and one of them is internal linking:

There are best practices you can follow, however, to improve the quality of your sitelinks. For example, for your site’s internal links, make sure you use anchor text and alt text that’s informative, compact, and avoids repetition.

For more on SEO siloing, see:

• SEO Siloing: What, Why, How
• SEO Silos: How to Build a Website Silo Architecture

Sitemap(s)

An XML sitemap does not directly influence sitelinks, but it can help search engines more easily discover key pages on your website. Similarly, an HTML sitemap helps search engines crawl your site and understand which of your pages are the most important.

To learn more about sitemaps, see:

• What Is an XML Sitemap and How Do I Make One?
• Sitemaps: How to Create a Sitemap

Structured Data Markup

The more you can tell search engines about your website and help clarify the information for them, the better. Structured data makeup does just that. For example, the SiteNavigationElement can help search engines better understand your site structure.

Good Title Tags

Make sure the title tag is unique and describes the webpage ― for every webpage on your website. This is a best practice, in general, to help search engines understand what the page is about.

Title tags may also show up as-is in the sitelinks menu in the search results. In that case, you want them to look good. So make sure your title tag style is consistent throughout the site. For example, don’t have some in all caps, some in title case and others in lowercase, etc.

For more, read:

• What Are Meta Tags?

Anchor Links within the Page

I believe that including anchor links to page fragments is a best practice, especially on an informational page. Include a table of contents or just a bulleted list near the top of the article linking down to the main section headers. Not only does this help readers understand the structure of your page and jump to what interests them, but also it helps search engines clarify what’s there and possibly pull sitelinks from your list.

As an example, Google gives sitelinks in the SERP result to our guide on image search ranking. These are pulled from anchor links to headings on that page:

Your Website or Company Name

This is something that you may or may not be able to change. But just know that when your website or company name is generic or somewhat ambiguous, Google will have a harder time determining that your website is indeed the website that should show up as No. 1 in the search results. Of course, it will not show sitelinks as a result.

Content Maintenance

This isn’t really a best practice for sitelinks, per se, but more of a best practice for ensuring a good user experience.

Once you know which sitelinks are showing for your website, you want to ensure the pages are maintained well and offer a good user experience.

Sitelinks: Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em

Some website publishers may not enjoy the sitelinks Google has generated for them. While you can’t disable sitelinks, you can rejoice in the fact that having them can actually be a good sign that Google sees your website and/or brand as reputable.

So your best bet to earn sitelinks or to influence them is to ensure you’re communicating the key pages on your website to Google through all the best practices mentioned above.

If you need assistance with your website SEO, please contact us today and let’s talk about it.

FAQ: How can I optimize my website to benefit from sitelinks and enhance user experience?

As an experienced authority in the realm of SEO and website optimization, I am excited to share my insights on optimizing your website to benefit from sitelinks and elevate user experience. The strategic utilization of sitelinks can significantly impact your website’s visibility in search engine results while providing users with streamlined navigation.

One of the key aspects of optimizing your website for sitelinks is establishing a clear and organized site architecture. Crafting a logical hierarchy of pages and sections not only aids search engines in understanding your content but also enhances user navigation. By categorizing your website’s content into relevant sections, you create a roadmap that directs both search engines and users to the most valuable information.

An often-overlooked factor in sitelinks optimization is the creation of compelling and concise title tags for each page. Craft title tags that accurately reflect the page’s content while being concise enough to capture users’ attention. Well-crafted title tags improve the chances of sitelinks appearing and entice users to explore further.

Engaging in effective internal linking is another vital strategy for sitelinks optimization. By interconnecting relevant pages within your website using descriptive anchor text, you guide users to discover related content. This practice enhances user experience by allowing seamless navigation and provides search engines with valuable information about the relationships between different pages.

One practical tip to enhance the user experience and encourage click-throughs on sitelinks is to update and maintain the linked pages regularly. Keep the content fresh, relevant, and valuable to ensure users find what they seek. Moreover, analyze the performance of sitelinks in Google Search Console to understand which pages garner the most clicks and adjust your optimization efforts accordingly.

Optimizing your website for sitelinks is a multidimensional approach that requires a combination of strategic site architecture, engaging title tags, smart internal linking, and consistent content updates. By integrating these expert strategies, you can elevate your website’s user experience, boost search engine visibility, and reap the benefits of enhanced click-through rates.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Optimizing Your Website for Sitelinks and Enhanced User Experience

1. Evaluate your current site architecture to identify areas for improvement.
2. Categorize your website’s content into logical sections and sub-sections.
3. Craft descriptive and concise title tags for each page, focusing on relevance.
4. Audit existing internal links and strategically interlink relevant pages using descriptive anchor text.
5. Create an XML sitemap to assist search engines in discovering and indexing your content.
6. Leverage structured data markup, such as SiteNavigationElement, to enhance search engine understanding.
7. Implement anchor links within longer pages to aid both user navigation and sitelinks selection.
8. Regularly analyze sitelinks performance in Google Search Console.
9. Identify top-performing sitelinks and ensure their linked pages are up-to-date and valuable.
10. Continuously update and optimize content to maintain relevancy and engagement.
11. Monitor user behavior and adjust internal linking strategies based on insights.
12. Ensure your website’s or company name is unique and distinguishable.
13. Implement clear navigation menus that guide users through important sections.
14. Utilize breadcrumb navigation to provide users with context and improve navigation.
15. Leverage high-quality images and descriptive alt text to enhance visual content.
16. Optimize site speed and mobile responsiveness for an improved user experience.
17. Regularly conduct user testing to gather feedback on navigation and usability.
18. Seek professional assistance to ensure optimal site architecture and SEO practices.
19. Stay updated with industry trends, and algorithm changes to adapt your optimization strategies.
20. Monitor and assess the impact of your optimization efforts on sitelinks appearance and user engagement.

The post What Are Sitelinks? Best Practices for Google Sitelinks appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

For some, this means making sure each food on the plate is separate and not touching. For worried parents, recent research sheds some light on this. No, your kids don’t have some strange obsession. They are simply trying to get a better understanding of what food is actually on their plates.

Annemarie Olsen, one of the researchers in a study by the University of Copenhagen, says it can be as simple as they “prefer to eat the different elements in a certain order or that the clear delineation just provides a better overview.”

This is not unlike how website users like to consume content and how Google likes to crawl and index it.

• The best way to architect a site
• Create an organized website
• Elevate website authority 
• Make your website enticing to consume
• FAQ: How can I optimize content architecture in SEO for better website authority?

The Best Way to Architect a Site

SEO siloing is an age-old technique that we have been implementing at Bruce Clay Inc. for over 18 years (we invented it in 2002). It implements the advice that cutting-edge SEOs give on content today. It supports relevancy, quality, hierarchy, and much more.

And did you also know that this technique supports what Google has been recommending from the start?

Siloing structures a website’s content by grouping related webpages together in categories. These categories support both desired keywords/search terms and the expertise of a website.

• It’s siloing that creates proper content architecture that helps both users and search engines.
• It’s siloing that creates relevant content for people to find in the search results and to spend more time on a site.
• It’s siloing that demonstrates authority when it comes to being a subject matter expert on a topic.

Content architecture in SEO is as important as ever. As search engine algorithms refine quality results, websites must work harder to be relevant.

Siloing is the foundation for creating an expert website that drives more visibility in the search results and more traffic to your site.

Your content needs to be a part of the whole answer for searchers.

Remember: Google looks at the whole of the website to determine if it’s relevant.

The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the webmaster thinks is important. Although Google’s search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site.

– Google, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide

Your goal with content architecture? Ensure that your users don’t have to go anywhere else for more information on the topic. Plain and simple.

Providing the whole answer is especially key when you consider how RankBrain can take into account user engagement with the search results.

Create an Organized Website

Moving about a website has to be easy for both users and search engine bots. So, organize your content in a clear and deliberate hierarchy based on how people search.

For example, a power tools website might organize its content into silos as follows:

Content should be interlinked in a way that shows users how they can get around to find more of what they are looking for and communicates to search engines what the topical theme is.

Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure. Make sure all of the pages on your site are reachable through links, and that they don’t require an internal “search” functionality to be found. Link to related pages, where appropriate, to allow users to discover similar content.

– Google, Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

This hierarchy creates depth on a subject and, naturally, relevance to search engines and users.

Elevate Website Authority

The content that populates your website silos also needs to provide tremendous value, not just weight.

Google uses things like its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines as part of a feedback loop for how it constructs its algorithms. One of the ways Google assesses the quality of page content is to determine how authoritative it is.

Just some of its guidelines for expert content include:

• “Written or produced in a professional style and should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.”
• “Contain factually accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a better understanding of events.”
• “Represent well-established scientific consensus on issues where such consensus exists.”
• “Come from ‘expert’ or experienced sources that users can trust.”

When you have organized content that provides the whole answer to users, you are providing a good experience and elevating the website’s authority.

Make Your Website Enticing to Consume

With everything we know about how Google defines quality, how it crawls and understands a website, and how its algorithms determine which results are best, we know that intentional content is king. Its golden crown is content architecture.

So, we must work to be that attentive “parent” of our website by understanding what users and search engines want in our presentation of content. And it’s not a one-pot meal.

For more information on this topic, see our in-depth article on SEO siloing.

Do you want more revenue from your website? Fill out a request or call us to discuss how we can help you.

FAQ: How can I optimize content architecture in SEO for better website authority?

SEO remains a cornerstone for online success. The effectiveness of your SEO strategy depends greatly on your content architecture. Let’s dissect the nuances of content architecture optimization and provide valuable tips to establish your website as an authoritative source in your niche.

The Foundation of Content Architecture

Your website’s content architecture serves as the backbone of SEO. It’s not merely about arranging pages; it’s about creating a logical and user-friendly structure that search engines and visitors can navigate effortlessly. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the primary topics relevant to your audience. These keywords will serve as the foundation upon which your content architecture will be built.

Siloing for Relevance

One key strategy in content architecture optimization is siloing. Siloing involves grouping related content under a specific topic or keyword theme. This practice enhances the relevance of your pages and helps search engines understand the hierarchy of information on your site. For instance, if you run a fitness blog, create silos for topics like “nutrition,” “workouts,” and “wellness.” Ensure that subtopics naturally flow from the main theme.

Internal Linking for Authority

Internal linking plays a pivotal role in content architecture. It not only aids navigation but also distributes link equity across your site. Ensure that your content is interconnected logically, with anchor text that is both descriptive and keyword-rich. This practice encourages visitors to explore more of your content, improving user experience and search engine rankings.

Mobile Responsiveness and Speed

In the era of mobile-first indexing, mobile responsiveness is non-negotiable. A well-optimized content architecture must cater to mobile users, ensuring your website is user-friendly on all devices. Additionally, site speed is a critical factor in SEO. Compress images, leverage browser caching, and minimize HTTP requests to enhance your website’s loading time.

Regular Audits and Adaptation

Finally, the optimization of content architecture is an ongoing process. Regularly audit your site’s structure, keeping an eye on outdated content, broken links, and changing search engine algorithms. Adapt your architecture to evolving SEO best practices to maintain and improve your website’s authority.

Content architecture optimization is the cornerstone of a robust SEO strategy. Creating a logical structure, implementing siloing, utilizing internal linking, optimizing for mobile, and staying vigilant through regular audits can bolster your website’s authority and achieve higher search engine rankings.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Optimizing Content Architecture for Enhanced Website Authority

1. Begin with comprehensive keyword research to identify relevant topics.
2. Group related content into silos based on keyword themes.
3. Develop a logical and user-friendly website structure.
4. Implement internal linking with descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text.
5. Ensure mobile responsiveness for all devices.
6. Optimize site speed through various techniques.
7. Conduct regular content audits to identify and update outdated content.
8. Fix broken links and ensure a smooth user experience.
9. Stay informed about changing SEO best practices and adapt your architecture accordingly.
10. Continuously monitor your website’s authority and search engine rankings.
11. Engage with your audience and encourage user-generated content.
12. Leverage schema markup to enhance search engine understanding of your content.
13. Optimize images for both speed and user experience.
14. Implement breadcrumb navigation to improve website structure.
15. Utilize XML sitemaps to help search engines index your pages efficiently.
16. Consider using a content management system (CMS) that supports SEO-friendly architecture.
17. Experiment with structured data to enhance your search engine presence.
18. Prioritize user experience and ensure a seamless journey through your site.
19. Regularly analyze your website’s performance through analytics tools.
20. Seek professional guidance or SEO experts to fine-tune your content architecture for maximum authority and visibility.

The post SEO Done Right Cares about Content Architecture appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

What is SEO? Why should you do SEO? And how do you do SEO?

These are burning questions for businesses, brands, and site owners just beginning to think about how to improve their websites so they can better compete online.

Here, I’ll give the what, why, and how of SEO. Then, you can build a better foundation knowing what SEO is and how to approach it. In this post:

• What is SEO
• Why do SEO
• How to do SEO
• FAQ: Why is SEO essential for improving website performance and generating revenue?

What Is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, aims to improve a website so that it performs better in the search engine results pages, generates earned traffic, and makes more money for the site owner or brand.

SEO works to support search engine guidelines. Ultimately, good SEO helps search engines do their jobs better as they look for quality websites to rank in the search engine results.

To some, SEO seems like Black Magic. Having worked with Google Search for over a decade, what I’ve learned is that first, it’s not Black Magic, and second, if you want long-term success there aren’t any quick magical tricks that an SEO will provide so that your site ranks number one.

–Maile Ohye, Former Googler, YouTube 2017

Of course, there are a great many approaches to SEO. Ultimately, you want your website to prove your expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, as outlined in Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.

Site owners can achieve this via several SEO vehicles, many of which are listed in Bruce Clay Inc.’s SEO guide.

Why Should I Do SEO?

Website owners do SEO so they can be competitive in the search results, drive more targeted traffic to their websites and businesses, and ultimately create more revenue.

Google handles trillions of searches per year and growing, so it’s inevitable that what you’re in the business of is something people are searching for every day.

But take into consideration that there are nearly 6 billion pages indexed on the web — that’s a lot for search engines like Google to sift through to find the best results.

And we know that Page 1 of the search results is really all that matters. (Someone once said the best place to hide a dead body was on Page 2 of the search results.)

Image source: Backlinko

To have a chance on Page 1, you need to have a quality website that is built for both users and search engines.

If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing.

-Guy Kawasaki

And then there are the results of SEO. Given that the organic search channel drives more than 50 percent of traffic to a website on average and up to 64 percent for B2Bs and is also responsible for up to 59 percent of revenue over other channels, it’s not hard to see why you should do SEO.

Analytics chart showing organic traffic gains on a Bruce Clay Inc. client’s website

Yet many brands aren’t prioritizing it today. In fact, less than 7 percent of the marketing budget in 2019 went to SEO. That presents a huge opportunity for site owners to beat the competition in search.

But the sooner you get in on the game, the better. It’s only a matter of time before more and more businesses begin to optimize their websites. The longer you wait, the harder it is to catch up.

How Do You Do SEO?

There are a great many ways to do SEO. But first, you must consider your overall approach, such as a do-it-yourself approach, taking formal SEO training, hiring a consultant or employee, or outsourcing to an agency of experts.

I won’t go into all the mechanics of search engine optimization in this article. Rather, I’m going to talk about the approach to getting SEO done and the various outcomes.

DIY SEO

A do-it-yourself SEO approach could involve self-education from many resources on the web. For example, one might take an online training course, subscribe to publications like Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal, follow various forums and blogs, and so on.

Of course, there are a lot of free “guides” available, and our SEO Guide is a good starting place. Many of them are similar in that they offer straightforward 101-level instructions on how you can do SEO.

Keep in mind that while a great many articles are written out, there can be educational, each website is different when it comes to SEO. While many optimization techniques can be applied to all websites, many SEO strategies are not one-size-fits-all.

The pros of a DIY education is that you can learn at your leisure. The cons? SEO is a full-time job.

So unless you have no other job (like running a business or a marketing department), then it can be truly difficult to get a handle on SEO and apply what you’ve learned to a website when going the DIY route.

Formal SEO Training

SEO classroom training in many ways helps students understand SEO better than an online format can. That’s because in-person training is highly interactive, and students can ask questions related to their own businesses and websites, and receive personalized answers from SEO experts.

So what about online training? We took our classroom training, brought it online, and significantly enhanced it at SEOtraining.com, a full SEO training environment available as a membership site. Really, up-to-date training – and much more – check it out! Or try our Bruce Clay Inc. SEO guide.

Depending on the venue, in-person training is often limited to a number of students for a richer experience. Students can interact and network with one another on their journey to learning SEO.

The cons? This type of training does take time away from work, but it usually pays dividends when attendees go back to the office to apply what they’ve learned.

Hiring an SEO Consultant or Employee

One of the best things a site owner or brand can do to advance a website is to hire an SEO professional, whether that’s in-house or a consultant. On the other hand, one of the worst things you can do is hire the wrong SEO professional.

For example, hiring someone with a couple of years of experience means they likely haven’t had enough time in the game to be an expert.

(Even though some say the 10,000 hours to become an expert idea is not valid, you at least need to have enough experience with enough websites to know how search works on different websites, keywords, and so on.)

And even if the experience is there, you have to ensure that they are not giving bad SEO advice. In these cases, it may be less productive to hire an inexperienced employee or consultant than an agency where everybody has 10-plus years of experience.

For sage advice on hiring an SEO, see what Google has to say. Their “strongest advice” includes that the hiring business, brand or site owner request that SEOs support their recommendations with a documented statement from Google.

Outsourcing to an SEO Agency

Hiring an SEO agency is a great way to get access to a pool of experts. They can bring decades of experience working with many kinds of businesses or websites (or niche businesses and websites for that matter).

SEO agencies typically have their finger on the pulse of search. With specialized experts in every area of SEO and digital marketing, these professionals can come together to offer a holistic view of SEO and marketing online.

I’ve talked before about how reputation, expertise, and authority are all important things to evaluate when hiring a trustworthy SEO company. (These, by the way, happen to be the things that Google cares about in a website).

These characteristics are especially important when SEO practices can help or hurt an entire enterprise, not just a website.

If going the SEO agency route, it’s important to ask a specific set of questions, which I outlined in the article linked in this section.

SEO: The Bottom Line

In sum, SEO aims to improve a website so it performs better in the search engine results pages and generates earned traffic to the website so that the site owner or brand makes more money.

Thus, website owners do SEO so they can be competitive in the search results, drive more targeted traffic, and, ultimately, more revenue.

There are many ways to do SEO. You can choose a DIY approach, hire a consultant or employee, or outsource to an agency. Each of those options will produce unique outcomes for your SEO strategy.

If you’d like to discuss how we can help you increase your organic traffic and revenue, contact us for a no-obligation quote.

FAQ: Why is SEO essential for improving website performance and generating revenue?

Leveraging Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become more than just a trend; it’s necessary. SEO is the strategic cornerstone that can significantly impact your website’s performance and, in turn, drive revenue. Here, we’ll delve into why SEO is indispensable and provide invaluable insights into harnessing its potential for your online success.

1. Enhancing Visibility and Ranking

SEO helps your website rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs). When your website appears at the top of relevant search results, it gains more visibility and attracts organic traffic. This increases the chances of converting visitors into customers and establishes your website’s authority.

2. Targeted Traffic and Quality Leads

By optimizing your website with specific keyword phrases, you can ensure that visitors are interested in your services or products – the group most likely to convert into customers and subscribers for greater returns on investment (ROI).

3. User Experience Matters

User experience is a crucial component of SEO. Websites that load quickly, are mobile-friendly and offer a seamless browsing experience rank higher. Improved user experience not only boosts SEO but also keeps visitors engaged, reducing bounce rates and increasing the chances of conversion.

4. Content is King

High-quality, relevant content is the lifeblood of SEO. Regularly publishing informative and engaging content keeps your audience coming back and positions your website as an industry authority. This, in turn, leads to more backlinks and further enhances your SEO efforts.

5. Measurable Results and Adaptability

Measurability is one of the key advantages of SEO. Utilizing various analytics tools, you can measure your efforts and adapt your strategy based on this data-driven strategy, ensuring your site continues to optimize for optimum results.

SEO goes far beyond improving website performance – it forms the backbone of an effective web presence and contributes directly towards revenue generation.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Begin with conducting thorough keyword research.
2. Utilize keywords to optimize title tags, meta descriptions and headers.
3. Craft engaging content tailored specifically for your target audience.
4. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
5. Link building is an effective way of creating backlinks.
6. Google Analytics and Search Console can provide invaluable insight into the performance of your website.
7. Stay ahead of the competition by regularly revising and updating your content.
8. Stay abreast of SEO trends, algorithm updates, and changes, adjusting your strategy accordingly.
9. Engage with your audience on social media and promote your content.
10. Consider investing in paid advertising campaigns to complement your SEO efforts.
11. Continuously analyze your website’s performance and make data-driven adjustments to your SEO strategy.
12. Focus on building a strong online reputation through positive reviews and customer feedback.
13. Collaborate with influencers and industry experts to increase your website’s authority.
14. Implement schema markup to enhance your website’s visibility in search results.
15. Conduct regular SEO audits to identify and fix any technical issues on your website.
16. Monitor and manage your website’s backlink profile to ensure it remains healthy.
17. Prioritize local SEO if your business serves a specific geographic area.
18. Develop a content calendar to maintain a consistent publishing schedule.
19. Consider hiring an experienced SEO professional or agency to optimize your website effectively.
20. Stay patient and persistent; SEO results may take time, but the long-term benefits are well worth the effort.

The post SEO: What, Why, How appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

• Delivery interview
• SEO site review
• Preliminary findings report
• SEO audit report
• Search engine ranking monitoring 
• SEO training services
• SEO consulting services
• FAQ: How can I use an SEO Site Audit to improve my website’s search engine ranking and performance?

A Bruce Clay SEO Site Audit is a detailed analysis with specific instructions of how to fix issues that produces a large detailed report. Produced by expert analysts and delivered as part of an approximately 160-hour service package, this is not an “easy button” report since it includes website architecture changes. The Site Audit enables a business to quickly adjust the factors that search engines deem important when ranking their website.

Our Bruce Clay consulting team continues to give us outstanding guidance and support for our SEO. We first hired BCI after experiencing some significant traffic loss from Google. In a site audit, they revealed many opportunities to make improvements, and gave us clear priorities on what we needed to fix. This allowed us to implement changes quickly and we started to see growth. Since then, we continue to rely on BCI’s technical SEO know-how. In fact, we’ve been able to get 97.5% of our URLs passing Core Web Vitals metrics, and we’re excited to be well positioned to benefit from Google’s coming page experience rollout. Overall, we’re very pleased with the expertise, professionalism and results delivered by Bruce Clay.” – Josh Lohse, Webmaster, BCBH Technology Services, LLC

Our SEO Site Audit is a detailed report that identifies major organic search engine ranking factors that are not being properly implemented on your website. The size of the report is based upon the complexity and scope of the site, so each will vary in size. Typically, our Site Audit reports range from 80 to 100 pages.

The SEO Site Audit enables clients to learn what the search engines consider important when ranking websites and where improvements are needed. Our SEO analyst will analyze and then detail barriers to organic ranking and critical issues that are hindering the entire SEO marketing project. In complex projects, this analysis is often the first step of many. It identifies the issues that should be repaired as soon as possible. This report takes approximately eight to ten weeks to research, write and produce. You also receive updates during this time, as noted below.

Here is a summary of the search marketing services you receive:

Discovery Interview

The Audit begins with a Discovery Interview. We speak with you to familiarize ourselves with your business model, target audience, business goals, and objectives. We conduct the interview during a conference call between you and a Bruce Clay Inc. SEO analyst.

SEO Site Review

Following the Discovery Interview, a site review takes place. Your SEO analyst reviews and evaluates your site from an organic search engine optimization perspective. The purpose is to break down the site, do preliminary keyword research and competitive analysis, identify potential areas of concern, and provide recommendations on how to correct issues that are hindering the site’s visibility in organic search. The review and evaluation will incorporate topics such as site architecture, page construction, web server configuration, and link popularity.

​Preliminary Findings Report

In performing this research, we generally uncover many issues impacting your site’s SEO performance that may be simple to repair or possibly urgent. So at approximately four weeks, we produce a short engineering report citing the items that you can start repairing. We see no need to wait until the final audit is delivered to get you going on SEO. Since you’ve already hired us, we look for ways that we can quickly start working together on a few obvious items that need repairing.

SEO Audit Report

Following our detailed research, we construct an SEO Site Audit report. The audit discusses issues that need to be resolved in order to improve your search engine rankings. It also gives suggestions and instructions on how to fix issues. This report diagnoses symptoms to pinpoint problems, then details each problem, why it matters, its severity, and a recommended solution. The audit concludes with a list of our recommendations prioritized as short-term or long-term. This report often “thuds” when it hits your desk.

This is NOT just an audit! An audit commonly lists issues and may link to resources, but a typical site audit seldom gives a comprehensive and detailed solution. In fact, we find audits to often be superficial and offer vague solutions. Our research covers hundreds of tests and review topics and has met with great success. Many clients have received a Bruce Clay SEO Audit and then ordered more for their other properties. An SEO audit should be what moves the needle. Please do not be confused — you want results, and an audit is a great first step.

Search Engine Ranking Monitoring

As part of your SEO Site Audit services, you will be given a subscription to the SEOToolSet^® to help you monitor your site’s search engine rankings for its targeted keywords. During the monitoring phase of your evaluation, you will be privy to proprietary Search Engine Ranking Reports showing your site’s unbiased (non-personalized) ranking in each of the watched engines. We believe this is invaluable information for any company serious about SEO.

SEO Training Services

Because we want you to be fully involved in the success of your site, your SEO Site Audit comes with a free membership to SEOtraining.com. There you can take the renowned Bruce Clay SEO Training, an online course taught by Bruce Clay himself that you can complete at your own pace. This is the gold standard in search engine optimization training, teaching you fundamental organic SEO concepts and effective methods. Membership includes interactive opportunities and in-depth resources as well to keep you up-to-date on the latest industry news and trends.

SEO Consulting Services

Every SEO Site Audit also allows you to experience our search engine optimization consultation services. You will be allotted time for follow-up consulting to discuss your site with a trained SEO analyst in order to cover the items in the audit.

Your analyst will work with you and give you verbal and written recommendations to understand and apply what we meant and potential additional ways to improve your site.

For more information about our SEO Site Audit and our other search engine marketing services, please complete the SEO proposal request form or call us at (866) 517-1900.

We also offer the following search engine optimization service programs:
SEO Consulting Services
Professional Full-Service SEO Program
SEO Training Program
SEO Tools and Software

Read SEO case studies highlighting our work.

FAQ: How can I use an SEO Site Audit to improve my website’s search engine ranking and performance?

Every website owner seeks to secure a prominent position in search engine results. An SEO Site Audit, a comprehensive evaluation of your website’s strengths and weaknesses, serves as a powerful tool in achieving this goal. This audit entails a meticulous examination of various factors influencing your site’s visibility, providing you with valuable insights to propel your online presence forward.

At the heart of an effective SEO Site Audit lies a thorough analysis of your website’s architecture. This encompasses the structure of your URLs, the navigation flow, and the organization of your content. Ensuring that your site is logically organized and easy to navigate not only enhances user experience but also facilitates search engine crawlers in indexing your pages effectively. When conducting the audit, pay attention to any broken links, duplicate content issues, and URL structures that could be optimized.

Content often hailed as king in the digital realm, plays a pivotal role in determining your search engine ranking. During the audit, critically assess your content’s quality, relevance, and uniqueness. Are your articles informative and engaging? Do they provide real value to your audience? Integrating relevant keywords naturally into your content can further boost your site’s visibility, but avoid keyword stuffing which can harm your ranking. Remember, search engines reward authoritative, original content that addresses users’ needs.

The technical intricacies of your website exert a significant influence on its search engine performance. Load times, mobile responsiveness, and secure connections are just a few factors that influence user satisfaction and, consequently, search engine ranking. As part of the audit, evaluate your site’s speed, responsiveness across devices, and security protocols. A faster, mobile-friendly, and secure website not only pleases users but also aligns with search engine algorithms.

Beyond the initial audit, consistent monitoring and adaptation are essential. Search engine algorithms evolve, user preferences shift, and technological advancements reshape the digital landscape. Regularly revisit your audit findings and fine-tune your strategies accordingly. Engage with analytics tools to track your progress, gaining insights into which areas require further improvement. Stay attuned to the ever-changing SEO practices to maintain and enhance your website’s search engine ranking over time.

Transition smoothly between these subtopics to create a coherent narrative that guides readers through the process of leveraging an SEO Site Audit to optimize their website’s search engine ranking and performance.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Use an SEO Site Audit for Improved Website Performance:

1. Define Objectives: Clearly outline the goals you wish to achieve through the audit – whether it’s improving ranking, enhancing user experience, or fixing technical issues.
2. Select an Audit Tool: Choose a reliable SEO audit tool like SEMrush, Moz, or Ahrefs to conduct a comprehensive analysis.
3. Evaluate Site Structure: Analyze your website’s architecture, ensuring intuitive navigation and well-organized URLs.
4. Assess Content Quality: Review the relevance, originality, and value of your content, optimizing it for both users and search engines.
5. Keyword Analysis: Research and integrate relevant keywords naturally into your content to enhance search engine visibility.
6. Technical Health Check: Examine site speed, mobile responsiveness, SSL certification, and other technical aspects that impact user experience and ranking.
7. Check for Duplicate Content: Identify and rectify any instances of duplicate content that could adversely affect your ranking.
8. Fix Broken Links: Locate and correct broken links to ensure a seamless browsing experience for visitors and search engine crawlers.
9. XML Sitemap Examination: Ensure your XML sitemap is up-to-date and accurately reflects your site’s structure for efficient indexing.
10. Robots.txt Analysis: Review and optimize your robots.txt file to guide search engine crawlers to the right pages while excluding irrelevant content.
11. Monitor Analytics: Integrate Google Analytics to track user behavior and gauge the effectiveness of your audit-driven improvements.
12. Backlink Profile Assessment: Analyze your website’s backlinks for quality and relevance, disavowing any harmful links that could affect ranking.
13. Local SEO Optimization: If applicable, optimize your site for local search by updating NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information and leveraging local keywords.
14. Mobile-Friendliness Testing: Ensure your website offers a seamless experience across various devices by conducting thorough mobile compatibility tests.
15. Content Update Strategy: Develop a content calendar to consistently create fresh, valuable, and relevant content that resonates with your target audience.
16. Regular Check-ins: Periodically conduct smaller audits to track progress, address emerging issues, and adapt to evolving search engine algorithms.
17. Stay Informed: Stay updated on industry trends, algorithm changes, and best practices to refine your SEO strategies continuously.
18. User Experience Enhancement: Regularly seek feedback from users to identify areas for improvement regarding usability and content relevance.
19. Competitor Analysis: Study your competitors’ strategies and learn from their successes and failures to fine-tune your own approach.
20. Iterative Improvement: Understand that SEO is an ongoing process. Continuously iterate and refine your strategies based on performance insights.

Incorporating these steps into your SEO Site Audit strategy will empower you to comprehensively enhance your website’s search engine ranking and overall performance. By combining technical optimization, content excellence, and consistent monitoring, you’ll establish a strong online presence that withstands the test of time.

The post SEO Site Audit Service appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Pay Per Click (PPC) is a potent strategy, leveraging paid advertisements to elevate businesses within search engine results.

Let’s delve into the intricacies of PPC campaigns, exploring campaign types tailored to diverse objectives, SEM/PPC methodologies and the vital role of PPC in heightening online visibility and driving sales.

• What is PPC? 
• What are the benefits of PPC?
• PPC campaign types to achieve your goals
• SEM/PPC methodology and opportunities
• FAQ: How can I leverage PPC campaigns to boost my business’s online visibility and drive sales?

What is PPC?

Pay Per Click (PPC) is a digital marketing strategy that utilizes paid advertisements to increase a business’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).

PPC advertising allows you to reach audiences across many channels quickly. Advertisers bid on keywords related to their products or services, allowing their ads to appear above organic search results for those keywords.

It is also known as search engine marketing (SEM), and it is a highly effective way to improve a website’s ranking on search engines and attract qualified traffic to a business’s website, ultimately leading to increased brand awareness and sales.

PPC ads can appear at the top position on a search engine results page (SERP). They may be labeled in various ways**. These paid ads are ranked on a SERP based on an auction model that determines which ads will display and in which positions.

The PPC Experts at Bruce Clay:

• Write ad copy that will appear at the top of the SERP’s.
• Control the search result pages where your ads appear.
• Manage your ads for optimal performance, so that you don’t have to.

Read more about our PPC services and PPC management prices.

What Are the Benefits of PPC?

Investing in PPC can benefit your business in several ways:

• Instant Visibility: Because PPC ads can appear at the top of the SERP and other online platforms, your business can become visible almost immediately. PPC is a valuable tool if you’re a new business or promoting something that is time-sensitive. And, even if users don’t click on your ads, your brand is still visible to them.
• Target the Right Audience: PPC advertising allows you to reach your target audience and demographics, increasing the chances of converting them into customers.
• Budget Control: PPC can be budget-friendly — you can set daily or monthly spending limits, and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This gives you the freedom to manage your marketing/advertising expenses and measure ROI.
• Flexible: As your business needs and goals change, you can adjust your PPC ad campaign accordingly.

PPC Campaign Types to Achieve Your Goals

Paid search has evolved quite a bit to support all business objectives and goals. These may include sales, leads, website traffic, product or brand awareness, and mobile app promotion.

Types of paid search ad campaigns include:

• Google Ads
• Microsoft Ads
• YouTube Ads
• Google Shopping Ads
• Retargeting
• Quora Ads

Since each business is unique, we can help you create different campaign types that can achieve those goals. These may include:

• Search Network
• Display Network
• Shopping Campaign
• Video Campaign
• App Campaign

PPC is not limited to search ads — it can also include paid social media advertising such as:

• Facebook Ads
• Instagram Ads
• LinkedIn Ads
• Twitter Ads

Other examples of PPC marketing that can be used are:

• Retargeting Banner Ads
• Mobile Click-to-Call-Only Ads
• Local Map Search Ads
• YouTube Sponsored Video Ads
• E-commerce Product Shopping Ads

Bruce Clay Inc. is able to support your PPC marketing strategy and add value to your company’s domain. We work with you to manage your PPC efforts and maximize your website’s potential search traffic, conversions, and ROI. Our blog talks about what is SEM.

SEM / PPC Methodology and Opportunities

You need well-researched goals and an understanding of what opportunities and blocks exist today.

Advanced keyword research strategies coupled with analytics are foundational elements of our methodology.

Bruce Clay’s SEM/PPC services are more than just a keyword bidding solution. We identify themes and areas of concern and/or weakness. We focus on generating more targeted, less costly, converting traffic.

We offer you a complete PPC campaign management program and …

• Focus on the major PPC network providers to achieve the greatest market share gains and return on ad spend.
• Develop an ongoing custom online marketing strategy that supports new traffic.
• Define where to show your keyword-targeted ads geographically.
• Improve PPC-related quality scores and solidify existing rankings.
• Conduct a thorough PPC audit to calibrate, clean up, modify and expand existing PPC campaigns.
• Monitor results and make changes on an ongoing basis to enhance account performance.
• Research new and emerging technologies, trends and opportunities for market share expansion.

The goal is conversion, and that means obtaining the right traffic in all forms.

From setup to optimization, our PPC management program offers full service to help you maximize your business ROI.

Our program offers aggressive support with email and phone contact. Our dedicated program management staff keeps you informed with scheduled phone calls and email responses.

Premier PPC Program Services

• Take advantage of our PPC knowledge, SEO product expertise, and access to our proprietary tools and Google technology to create high-performing campaigns.
• From setup to optimization, our PPC management program is full-service management that helps you maximize your business ROI.
• Via our PPCToolSet, we present regular detailed performance data that provides insights into how your PPC campaigns are performing.
• Our Premier PPC Program offers aggressive support with email and phone contact when you have questions or simply want to better understand your campaign results. Our dedicated staff will keep you informed with weekly phone calls, rapid email responses, and proactive reporting.
• This program is enhanced management offered at an increase of 2% of spend per month in additional to the base program fee.

For more information regarding search engine marketing and optimization, check out our related blog post on What is SEM?

*Also known as Pay Per Search, PPC Marketing, PPC, Pay For Performance, Paid Search, Cost-Per-Click (CPC), Search Advertising, Paid Search Marketing

**You may see paid ads labeled: Ads, Paid Listings, Sponsored Links, Sponsored Listings, or Featured Listings, but they all deliver paid search results.

FAQ: How can I leverage PPC campaigns to boost my business online visibility and drive sales?

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a powerful tool for businesses seeking to expand their online presence and increase revenue. To effectively leverage PPC campaigns, follow these expert insights.

Crafting compelling ad copy is paramount. Your text should resonate with your target audience, highlighting your unique value proposition. Conduct thorough keyword research to ensure you’re targeting relevant terms that potential customers are actively searching for.

Precise targeting is crucial. Define your audience based on demographics, interests and online behaviors. This approach ensures that your ads are shown to users who are most likely to engage and convert. You’ll make the most of your ad budget by narrowing your focus.

Continuously monitor and refine your campaigns. Analyze performance metrics such as click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate and cost per conversion to gain valuable insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of your campaigns and allow you to make data-driven adjustments.

Optimize your landing pages for conversions. A well-designed landing page with a clear call to action can significantly impact your campaign’s success. Ensure the landing page is relevant to the ad, easy to navigate and optimized for mobile devices.

Leverage retargeting to re-engage potential customers. People often need multiple touchpoints before making a purchase decision. By showing tailored ads to users who have previously visited your site, you can increase the likelihood of conversion.

The potential of PPC campaigns to elevate your online visibility and drive sales is undeniable. Craft compelling ad copy, target your audience precisely and monitor campaign performance closely. By optimizing landing pages and implementing retargeting strategies, you’ll create a holistic approach that maximizes your ROI and propels your business forward.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Leveraging PPC Campaigns for Business Growth

1. Define Goals: Clearly outline your objectives, whether it’s increasing sales, website traffic, or brand awareness.
2. Keyword Research: Use tools like SEOToolSet®, Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify relevant keywords.
3. Create Ad Groups: Organize keywords into themed ads for focused targeting.
4. Craft Compelling Ad Copy: Write engaging, concise ad copy highlighting benefits and a clear call to action.
5. Choose Landing Pages: Design landing pages that align with ad content and encourage conversions.
6. Set Budget: Allocate a budget that aligns with your goals and monitor spending closely.
7. Select Targeting Options: Define your target audience based on demographics, location, interests and behaviors.
8. Monitor Performance: Track key metrics such as CTR, conversion rate and quality score.
9. Adjust and Optimize: Regularly refine campaigns based on performance data.
10. Implement A/B Testing: Test different ad variations, keywords and landing pages to identify top-performing elements.
11. Utilize Ad Extensions: Enhance ads with extensions like site links, callouts and structured snippets.
12. Implement Retargeting: Set up retargeting campaigns to engage users who previously interacted with your site.
13. Analyze Conversion Paths: Understand the user journey and make improvements to enhance conversion rates.
14. Geo-Targeting: Use location targeting to reach audiences in specific regions.
15. Mobile Optimization: Ensure ads and landing pages are mobile-friendly for a seamless user experience.
16. Budget Reallocation: Adjust budgets based on the performance of different campaigns and ad groups.
17. Stay Updated: Stay informed about PPC trends and platform updates for continuous improvement.
18. Refine and Scale: Build upon successful campaigns, expand to new platforms and refine your strategy iteratively.

By following this comprehensive procedure, you’ll harness the full potential of PPC campaigns to amplify your business’s online visibility and drive substantial sales growth.

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