If you assist local marketers in their online marketing, this new software may be something you should include on the WordPress websites you build or maintain for them. Site Ranker Pro is being released at 10 am EST. Its job is to rank local businesses for hundreds of highly targeted longtail keywords with just minutes of work. These long-tail keywords can create real “foot traffic” for local businesses. You may be able to charge $1,000/month and up for this service, according to the software developer. The developers of Site Ranker Pro have been using it for years, and they report... [...]

Alexis Sanders says, “SEO specialists spend massive amounts of effort trying to get Google on our side — to see the brilliance of our content, the ingenuity of our meta elements, and the genius of our organic strategies. We spend so much time treating Google as a metaphorical friend that we sometimes we lose sight of the overarching picture: that Google’s (sometimes magical) results are built upon an algorithm seeking conversation. Algorithms can (and do) solve many problems, but having one match the conversational level of human beings presents an enormous challenge. Engineers at top... [...]

MOZ team says, “Longer, more thorough documents tend to do better in the search results. We know that’s true, but why? And is there a way we can use that knowledge to our advantage? In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains how Google may be weighting content comprehensiveness and outlines his three-step methodology for gaining an edge over your competitors when it comes to meeting searchers’ needs”. How to Beat Your Competitor’s Rankings with More *Comprehensive* Content MOZ  [...]

Dr. Peter J. Meyers says, “Google Home, Google’s latest digital assistant, is part of a broader market experiment in voice-only search. While the hardware is new, Google has been building toward this future for a while, and one of the clearest examples is the introduction of featured snippets to answer questions in search. For example, if I ask Google: “What is a moonshot in business?” I get this answer… In desktop search, Google also returns a set of traditional organic results, and, in some cases, ads, news results, Knowledge Panels, and other features. Featured... [...]

Ronell Smith says, “The young man at the back of the ballroom in the Santa Monica, Calif., Loews hotel has a question he’s been burning to ask, having held it for more than an hour as I delivered a presentation on why content marketing is invaluable for search. When the time comes for Q&A, he nearly leaps out of his chair before announcing that he’s asking a question for pretty much the entire room. “How do I know what content I should create?” he asks. “I work at a small company. We have a team of content people, but we’re typically told what to write... [...]

Russ Jones says, “Existential threats to SEO Rand called “Not Provided” the First Existential Threat to SEO in 2013. While 100% Not Providedwas certainly one of the largest and most egregious data grabs by Google, it was part of a long and continued history of Google pulling data sources which benefit search engine optimizers. I don’t intend to say that Google made any of these decisions specifically to harm SEOs, but that the decisions did harm SEO is inarguable. In our industry, like many others, data is power. Without access to SERP, keyword, and analytics data, our... [...]

MOZ team says, “It may seem like an impossible uphill battle to compete with big sites in the SERPs, but there are benefits to running a smaller site that can make a tremendous difference to your SEO. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains how small businesses and websites can target opportunities the big sites can’t, in spite of their natural advantages”. How Can Small Businesses/Websites Compete with Big Players in SEO? MOZ  [...]

Jo Cameron says, “Welcome to the sixth installment of our educational Next Level series! In our last episode, Jo took you on an adventure diving for treasure in the long tail of search. This time around we’re answering the call for help when you feel like you’ve done all you can, but you’re still not ranking. Read on and level up! You’ve optimized your pages, written delightful title tags, concocted a gorgeous description to entice clicks, used your target keyword in your copy with similar words, and your content is good, like really good. As far as you’re concerned... [...]

Carson Ward says, “Knowing how to find and effectively use keywords is probably the most important skill for an effective search marketer. Smart keyword planning and tracking should also heavily inform content planning and strategy. Unfortunately, most keyword research is done on the fly as a new page is created. Rather than helping marketers find new opportunities and plan strategically, keywords are usually found and applied to existing posts and in-flight projects. If you’re an SEO or content creator and don’t have a living, regularly referenced keyword map, this post is for you.... [...]

Larry Kim says, “Google’s Featured Snippets are amazingly powerful. We’re seeing more snippets than ever before for more search queries. You need them. We know this thanks to some brilliant articles and presentations from some super smart people in the industry, including Glenn Gabe (see: The Power of Google Featured Snippets in 2016 and a Google Featured Snippet Case Study – also, an extra big shout out to Glenn for helping me answer some important questions I had when writing this article!), Peter Meyers (see: Ranking #0: SEO for Answers), and Rob Bucci (see: How to Earn... [...]