Dmitry Dragilev says, “It’s no secret that SEO is changing fast. So fast, in fact, that many small business owners have trouble keeping tabs on what is (and isn’t) important in the world of SEO. Back in the early days, things were simpler. SEO was all about title tags, keywords, and backlinks. Today, a successful SEO campaign needs to take into consideration branding, user experience, semantic search, and much more. Not to mention that Google continues to move the goalposts on a daily basis. In fact, Google has confirmed that on average it makes two change to the algorithm every... [...]

Barry Levine says, “A few months ago, the Content Marketing Manager at a client’s organization reached out to me, asking if we could provide his copywriting team with an SEO training session. I was floored! We had been optimizing the majority of their content for years, but they had never shown any interest in doing it on their own. Why the sudden change? A new VP of marketing had come on board with search experience and wanted to make SEO a priority across the entire marketing department. After years of trying to get them engaged, all it took was a new person to come in and make it happen.... [...]

Angela Petteys says, “Setting up and using Yoast SEO When you’re working with a self-hosted WordPress site, the Yoast SEO plugin is one of the most valuable tools you can have. Yoast SEO is one of the most widely popular WordPress plugins around and it’s easy to understand why. Whether you’re running a personal blog or you’re a SEO professional managing a website for a client, Yoast is a powerful tool that can help you make your site as search engine-friendly as possible. Yoast SEO can be installed on any self-hosted WordPress site. (Sorry, free WordPress.com bloggers.) It’s easily... [...]

Winston Burton says, “I recently attended a search conference and had the opportunity to converse with attendees from a wide range of fields, with varying SEO backgrounds and experiences. After many interesting and engaging conversations, a common takeaway stood out to me: People are hung up on technical SEO metrics. I remember multiple questions like, “What’s your minimum threshold for Trust Flow?” or, “Okay, you get relevant links, but what is the average Domain Authority?” I shared my observation with our sales team when I returned, and they confirmed this was a common theme... [...]

Winston Burton says, “Many SEOs these days are focused on content marketing. This involves building out high-quality content optimized for searcher intent, then amplifying that content through social to capture end users in their moment of need. But what are the right steps to prioritize and amplify content? Read on. SEO content prioritization & creation At one point in SEO, all we talked about was being “relevant” in order to rank. However, modern SEO is about being both relevant and useful; content that achieves this is exactly what Google is looking for. You can prioritize based... [...]

Christian Sculthorp says, “Did you know that only one-seventh of the world’s population speaks English? And only about 340 million speak it as their first language (source: Ethnologue). That leaves more than six billion people who won’t get the message if you have the English-only mindset. If you sell a product or service that’s available worldwide, localizing your content online can be a massive opportunity, especially if your website is close to maxing out its current SEO potential. SaaS is a good example of an industry that can benefit from this; they can serve customers around the... [...]

Neil Patel says, “The exact details of Google’s search algorithms aren’t public knowledge, making it somewhat difficult to know exactly what it is the search giant is looking for in quality websites. One of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of these quality rankings is the importance of “white-hat” link-building as part of a solid SEO strategy. The term refers to the desire to create a good product or a service that people will want to link to (the “white-hat” reference) and that over time may increase your search ranking. The confusion over white hat was... [...]

Jim Yu says, “By 2019, it is predicted that content marketing will become a $300 billion industry. However, this content will have limited value unless it is actually found by the right audience, optimized to achieve maximum impact and measured in relation to business results. Ensuring your content is search-engine-friendly and optimized across the buyer’s journey is critical to the success of both content and SEO teams. Major search algorithm updates, such as Google’s Panda and Penguin, are focused on delivering users the highest-quality results and the most relevant content. Brands... [...]

Dan Shure says, “Marketers: Add podcast promotion to your skill set Sure. This post is for podcasters. Hi Podcasters. You may find the below interesting, perhaps educational — and I hope you leave your insights for the Moz Community in the comments below (I’ll be reading and replying to all of them). But even if you never plan on having your own podcast, this post is for you, too! I see the marketing of podcasts will being an important addition to any marketer’s skill set in 2016 and beyond. So below, we’ll examine iTunes ranking factors, lay out promotional strategies... [...]

Eric Siu says, “Increasing your marketing return on investment (ROI) happens when you increase your returns, decrease your costs or both. Both, of course, is what most marketers aspire to, but it’s admittedly difficult to achieve. One of the easiest leverage points in the equation is to reduce costs, and that’s where free content comes in. No, I’m not talking about the older content models, where writers distributed content in exchange for backlinks. Those sites served a useful purpose at the time, but are no longer as appealing to marketers, thanks to changes in Google’s algorithm.... [...]