Digital Marketing Mastery: Insights, Strategies, and Tactics for Success

Tag: best practices in SEO

What Are Google’s Quality Guidelines?

If you own or manage a website, you know that getting to the top of a search engine’s page rankings is very important. Without a high ranking, your page can get lost among the other hundred million pages out there. But how do you know how a search engine like Google rates your page? How does Google classify types of content, and what does it consider quality content? Is there anything you can do to get to the top and stay there? And what are the things that Google finds so egregious that will make them take action against your website? The good news is that Google does have specific guidelines they use to rate your page and rank your site. And following their guidelines can aid Google in locating, indexing, and ranking your website.

Basic principles

Google’s quality guidelines contain some pretty basic principles that ensure search engines are providing users with the most diverse information and the best quality possible. Here are Google’s basic principles to follow when building a website and creating content for it:

SEO Today

SEO Rank
SEO elements

We are all aware that the only thing about SEO that is constant is that it is continuously changing. This is due to the fact that Google and the other major search engines are always changing and tweaking the search algorithm in an attempt to improve search results for users. Of course this means that updates like Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird have the SEO specialists running to keep up. But for those who observe SEO best practices there is still a lot of consistency with maybe a few tactical changes here and there. SEO practices that worked before the release of the Hummingbird update still work. That means that we should all continue pursuing strong strategies like:

  • Creating engaging and original content
  • Legitimate and relevant backlinks that are earned and not purchased
  • Using keywords to enhance content without overdoing it

The biggest change we may notice is the way that Google uses the new algorithm to interpret and deliver search results.

How Does Defensive SEO Work?

Defend Against Negative SEO
Defend Against Negative SEO

Over the last two or three years the entire SEO world has gone through what most would call a major transformation. This has caused digital marketing experts and SEO specialists to have to rethink and change a variety of strategies. It is true that it is now more difficult to rank high in the SERPs than what it used to be. Many think that many of the negative SEO campaigns that have begun emerging are a result of black hat SEO tactics that no longer work. Negative SEO campaigns attack competitor’s sites and cause damage to their site ranking and in many cases can cause a site to fall off the first few pages of the SERPs altogether. The good news is that there are some strategies that can help you prevent the negative effects of such an attack, and there are ways to protect your site from coming under attack in the first place.

How to Predict Results from SEO

Successful SEO
Successful SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) employs a wide variety of strategies that are designed to improve a site’s ranking in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Over the years,  there has been a lot of manipulation of search results and the search engines have responded by upgrading their algorithms. These updates are designed to penalize those who abuse the system and use black hat or spammy methods to obtain a higher ranking in the SERPs. Some strategies like buying links, cloaking and keyword stuffing were commonplace and in many cases did help improve a site’s ranking. But these types of practices are considered black hat now and can get a site penalized so badly that they fall off the result pages altogether. By using SEO best practices and ethical strategies a site can obtain a ranking near the top of the SERPs. But since it’s not an exact science, is there any way to predict the results?

Paid Links and Other Outdated SEO Practices

The web is saturated with all sorts of SEO advice and covers many topics which are both white hat and black hat practices. Search engines are updating their algorithms constantly and changes can range from minor, barely noticeable changes to major industry overhauling changes. It’s very important for the SEO specialist to keep up with the most recent changes and make adaptations to keep from being penalized. The updates are really geared towards combating black hat SEO practices but unfortunately sometimes well meaning websites receive penalties. In many cases this is due to using outdated SEO strategies which were effective at one time but are now outdated. There are several SEO practices that are outdated and are now considered to be black hat or bad practices. It’s best to avoid these outdated SEO practices.

Branding

Branding Tips and Trends

Whether you are talking digital marketing or traditional marketing there is a basic concept that should shape marketing efforts. This concept is basically that you go where your audience can see you. For instance, if you are selling something like custom hunting bows you are not likely to advertise in Vogue magazine. Even the novice can recognize that the audience you want to reach with information about bows is not likely to purchase a Vogue magazine; or definitely would not be looking for information about a bow in Vogue or Good Housekeeping. A marketing platform is selected based on the primary audience it entertains in traditional marketing, and likewise the process for choosing social media platforms and online channels should be focused on where the target audience is likely to spend their time online. While Facebook is the largest social platform, sheer number of users is not necessarily an indication that any marketing efforts would be successful. A business is much more likely to convert on sites where the audience is more engaged with the brand. Instead of focusing solely on the size of the community, it is important to consider the demographics of the users of an online platform and target the communities where conversions are most likely to occur.

SEO Best Practices for Ecommerce Websites

Over the last few years consumers have become increasingly secure about shopping through online resources. As they have become safer, there are more online purchases occurring than ever before. This offers the ecommerce site an opportunity to be taken advantage of, as long as they know how to stay competitive. This is of course the catch since ecommerce has become more difficult. Google acts like they want to be the only affiliate on the internet and with Amazon being the giant it is, it can be difficult to get notice as a valid alternative. Search engines also tend to remove commercial sites from their results and replace them with their own sets of ads or shopping programs. Search engines also tend to lean toward ranking results for content but not so much for products. There are several strategies and SEO best practices that can help improve an ecommerce site’s ranking in SERPs.