Jordan Kasteler says, “You might disagree, but I see Search Engine Optimization as both an art and a science. You need to be creative in your approaches to please search engines and outsmart competitors while also applying solid research and analytics-based strategies. To do this, you need to employ a variety of techniques and tools. Unfortunately, however, most people tend to stick to what they know. That can be dangerous in the rapidly evolving SEO space, as the search engines continually adjust what they’re looking for and how they display results. Following, some of the significant... [...]

MOZ team says, “Net neutrality is a hot-button issue lately, and whether it’s upheld or not could have real ramifications for the online marketing industry. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers the potential consequences and fallout of losing net neutrality. Be sure to join the ensuing discussion in the comments!”. Why Net Neutrality Matters for SEO and Web Marketing MOZ  [...]

Serge Stefoglo says, “If you work on an enterprise site — particularly in e-commerce or listings (such as a job board site) — you probably use some sort of faceted navigation structure. Why wouldn’t you? It helps users filter down to their desired set of results fairly painlessly. While helpful to users, it’s no secret that faceted navigation can be a nightmare for SEO. At Distilled, it’s not uncommon for us to get a client that has tens of millions of URLs that are live and indexable when they shouldn’t be. More often than not, this is due to their faceted nav setup. There are... [...]

Marcus Miller says, “Your website is the center of your digital marketing world — the place that all digital rivers run toward. And of course, the largest of its traffic sources is generally organic search. Yet all too often, businesses don’t think about SEO until after having a website designed (or redesigned), and these sites are often sadly lacking on the SEO and digital marketing front. They may look shiny, but if the marketing smarts are not cooked in at design time, then you will be running the marketing race with a wooden leg. Or at the very least, faced with going back to the... [...]

Ronald Dod says, “As a small business, your website is your greatest marketing tool and asset. You need to leverage it as such. It is the first thing that your customers are going to see. It can also be a strong customer acquisition tool to acquire customers through search engines, social media, etc. Regardless of your size, it is always a good idea to redo your website and its design. My small business redesigns our website every year and a half. It is such a long process that, basically, once we finish the design, we start working on the next one. The reason for this? We see how much value... [...]

Jodi Harris says, “One of the greatest benefits of content marketing is its ability to play matchmaker: to help eligible businesses find and engage with its most desirable consumers – i.e., those who might have an active interest in what they have to offer. And because it is such a powerful driver of awareness, search is one of the main contributing factors to how successful your content will be at attracting those qualified leads. While it’s not always fully transparent how or when Google’s search bots will crawl and index your content – let alone exactly how its search algorithm... [...]

Dmitry Dragilev says, “It’s tough out there for SEOs and content marketers. With the sheer amount of quality content being produced, it has become nearly impossible to stand out in most industries. Recently we were running content marketing for Pipedrive, a sales CRM. We created a content strategy that used educational sales content to educate and build trust with our target audience. This was a great idea, in theory — we’d educate readers, establish trust, and turn some of our readers into customers. The problem is that there are already countless others producing similar sales-focused... [...]

Miriam Ellis says, “Google’s widely publicized concept of micro-moments has been questioned by some local SEOs for its possible oversimplification of consumer behavior. Nevertheless, I think it serves as a good, basic model for understanding how a variety of human needs (I want to do, know, buy something, or go somewhere) leads people onto the web. When a local business manages to become a visible solution to any of these needs, the rewards can include: Online traffic In-store traffic Transactions Reviews/testimonials Clicks-for-directions Clicks-to-call Clicks-to-website Social sharing”. The... [...]

Janet Driscoll says, “Like any marketing channel, SEO is an investment. Whether you’re using in-house resources or hiring an agency to do the work, SEO isn’t free. To make the most of your SEO time (and perhaps direct financial) investment, it’s helpful to have an SEO strategy established to be your road map for execution. However, one of the bigger challenges to creating an SEO strategy is that the search engines (primarily Google) are shifting ranking factors and introducing new updates fairly regularly. Therefore, an SEO strategy has to be a living document, allowing for regular modifications... [...]

MOZ team says, “Hovering your finger over the big red “launch” button for your new website? Hold off for just a second (or 660 of them, rather). There may be SEO considerations you haven’t accounted for yet, from a keyword-to-URL content map to sweeping for crawl errors to setting up proper tracking. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers five big boxes you need to check off before finally setting that site live”. Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist MOZ  [...]