Jim Yu says, “From algorithmic changes to evolving consumer behavior, the SEO market is synonymous with change. Each year, marketers must revise their strategies as they keep up with the latest developments in best practices. Customer expectations are also changing, as they begin to seek more from brands online, including personalized experiences. Over the past two years alone, we have seen enormous changes. For example, the Mobile Updatein April 2015 took the marketing world by storm. We have also seen the introduction of RankBrain,changes in ad placement on Google’s search engine results... [...]

Aaron Agius says, “Ignore search-engine optimization (SEO) and focus on content. Worst. Advice. Ever. SEO still is kicking. The rules have changed and some of the starting lineup were in the minors a few years ago, but you need a plan. Look at just a few recent stats: 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine 75 percent of users never scroll past the first page of search results 70 to 80 percent of search users ignore paid ads Is SEO necessary? Yes, it is. SEO simply “translates” your website into language that’s easily understood by search engines... [...]

Ben Davis says, “We all know that Google Places listings are important because we use them in our everyday lives all the time. 50% of those using local search will visit the store within a day (and those are Google’s 2014 figures). So what can businesses do, very simply, to improve local search? David Whatley of MiShop.local talked at BrightonSEO about Google local listings as the join between retail and search. Those with healthy local listings are those that likely have organisation integration between retail and digital. Let’s contrast a great Google Places experience with... [...]

Ronell Smith says, “Steve Rayson’s latest BuzzSumo article is provocative, interesting and well-written. But I do hope he’s wrong when he says the future will be about more content, not less. He shares why he thinks content marketing brands will begin producing more content in the days ahead, and how they’ll likely be successful by doing so. Upon reading the piece, I did a facepalm. I was reminded of a conversation I had a few years back, when I walked into the break room of the agency I was working for, and almost bumped into the content specialist on my team. After we... [...]

Ian Bowden says, “Enterprise SEO platforms such as Searchmetrics, Linkdex and BrightEdge are used by a large number of brands and agencies. As the landscape and industry has evolved, are these tools still worth investing in? Recently, I’ve noticed clients challenging whether these enterprise platforms are truly necessary. Could the budget being spent on them be diverted elsewhere to drive greater performance gains? Most of the platforms’ capabilities can broadly be broken down into the following categories: Performance and insights Technical optimization Forecasting Content marketing Campaign... [...]

Zac Johnson says, “The goal for every business and brand on the internet today is to rank at the top of Google for their most treasured keywords. However, this is extremely unlikely. There are currently over a billion active sites on the Internet today, and Google is only listing around ten organic listings on each page of their search results. Throw the importance of ranking only on the first page of Google into consideration, and you might find the concept of ranking a local business even harder. The good news is, with a little bit of work, hard effort and focus. The good news is, with... [...]

Dr. Peter J. Meyers says, “As many of you know, Moz recently went through a major reorganization, which included the loss of 28% of our staff. Our Community team was heavily impacted, which has understandably led to speculation about the future of the Moz Community. I want to specifically address those concerns, project by project. The Moz Community is an essential part of our past and future, and while we can’t ignore the reality and difficulty of our recent losses, we believe strongly in our Community and are doing our best to chart a path forward. A personal note I asked to write this... [...]

Joy Hawikns says, “It seems very apparent that Google has a filter for local that weeds through all the listings that should appear in the 3-pack on Google and in the Local Finder (when you click “More Places”), then filters some based on their spam score. Bill Slawski wrote about this in July and referenced the patent that was granted June 21, 2016, about it. To quote the patent: A spam score is assigned to a business listing when the listing is received at a search entity. A noise function is added to the spam score such that the spam score is varied. In the event that the spam score... [...]

Larry Kim says, “Quality and relevance are different things, yet we often discuss them as if they were the same. SEOs have been optimizing for relevance all this time, but are now being asked to optimize for quality. This post will discuss what that means and how to do it, with a focus on what I believe to be the single most effective and scaleable tactic for improving your site’s overall level of quality in most situations. It doesn’t matter how relevant the page is. The only way to get that page to rank these days would be to buy a lot of links, but then you’re dealing with... [...]

Brian Hughes says, “Need help with SEO? Picking a reputable digital marketing strategist can be a challenge, especially for small businesses that are vulnerable to being exploited by less than scrupulous, fly-by-night organizations. With tight marketing budgets, it’s all too easy to fall prey to big promises offered by SEO firms: “We guarantee you’ll get on the front page of Google results in one month!” “You’ll rank in the top of local search results.” “More traffic than you know what to do with!” Yikes. Those three statements are huge red flags. Why? SEO takes time. Period.... [...]