Some Seo Metrics & Performance Tracking

Performance Yardstick 

Your seo performance will not be determined by back-links alone. The ranking algorithms now include a large number of metrics. These are taken into account in case of ranking on SERPs especially during the  neck to neck duel. These changes are occurring primarily because of two reasons one is to provide the best response to the query on a stable and responsive platform and other is to prevent spam.  

These concerns are strongly related to user experience and a good one means loyalty to the company. Most seo professionals target Google since it is still very popular but on later days competition will creep in and then the metrics employed will lead to a complex effort in order to succeed. White hat seo means sticking to guidelines prescribed by the search companies...and this is the only way forward. Do not spam your success.  

There are lot of tools that help you determine the status of your website post optimization Google Analytic linked with the Search Console is one of them. There are many independent performers some with creditable tools in their bags online. The tools enable you to gauge performance and help you measure the success of your efforts with the metrics in place and the external links created.  The client is not considered as far your performance analysis is considered he wants to experience tangible success and fulfillment of goals. The analysis is for you to gauge performance and move on...on a corrective path.      

On Page Metrics & Web Core Vitals

Hence is it wise to use the analysis in bettering your performance and make the client happy. On page metric should be employed at the beginning of the campaign while fine tuning should be a constant process. The search companies lay stress on web core vitals that leads to better user experience. Mobile response is now a statutory necessity since a large proportion of search has moved to the smart phones and tablets. Page download speed, stable images and videos and sound link forwarding is definitely important for a successful user experience. Do not neglect these for instances has been noted of sites performing well even in absence of these metrics.     

Keep tab on bounce rate for individual pages and repeat visitors former should be less and the latter should be more. Read the funnel if the visitor makes it should be short and sweet and lead to the goal page.  

Keyword Ranking Lead to Research & Discoveries.  

Most of the clients demand a periodic ranking report carried out manually while some may be satisfied with reports forwarded through Google Analytic. I am of the opinion that manual ranking report is exhaustive as well as it assists you to sharpen keyword framework in the mind. Yes you will be better able to list search terms which will have a positive impact and this will lead to discovery of new terms especially the unconventional odd ones for user type many illogical terms that come to their mind for answers. 

Search words are often create an irrational chart with phonetic in-congruence and grammatical mismatches...most of the searches are illogically defined and ill structured hastily typed in anyway to seek relevant answer.  This happens more with long term search words now used in plenty.  This is not case with those not properly adapt to the the language used but even those who are well comfortable with the lingo.  

Title & Meta

Most important elements of the web page they should be informative with unique description and accurate. One of two keywords is enough here they should be inviting in order increase the click through rate and fulfill goal. 

Structured Data 

Implement structured data wherever possible using language preferred by the search engines. Although GMB is the best bet for local rankings but they point out the locality more profoundly the structured data helps in elaborating your offerings explicitly to the search engines.     

Content Engineering & Relevant Additions 

Search engines do not like thin or duplicate contents and those over done with keywords. Make the write up natural informative and easy to understand using semantics.  Provide additional information on an internal page properly linked using the right anchor whence reading comfort is being crossed over. Yes do not overdo contents.  

Authoritative Link Building For Seo & Referral 

Use directly like submission at local and niche directories or those which are definitely out of spam. In case of doubt use the disvow tool. Content Wrapped  Links from well known sites are the best bet. You can go for random or aggressive link building with "nofollow" attributes keeping in mind the guidelines set by the platforms...be they article sites, social media platforms,PR. or even relevant directories and forums but "nofollow" attribute is a must if you wish to avoid any form of penalization. Aggressive link building is good for creating referral but be careful.      

More on Seo & Link Building

New Page Addition 

If a need arise for meaningful addition to contents and attributes linked internally as two tier in the link architecture. No similar or duplicate content. 

Site Maps

Add and keep updating both XML and HTML sitemaps on every page.  

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Uday provides search engine optimization service for digital marketing. He provides website contents and content for authoritative links. 

He also teaches digital marketing in his home town Jabalpur. He can be contacted at: 

pateluday90@hotmail.com

09755089323          

           

Ranking Algorithms and Their Mysterious Metrics

Search Engine Endeavours 

Like a librarian puts the best book forward on topic, search engines like to put the most matching answer to the query...and this is their bread and butter. But in case of search engines there is a catch they like to put forward the best answer in a smooth and efficient way. As a matter of fact they put forward more than one matching answer the second one and onward being a near miss.   

The first answer nearly always gets the most clicks by virtue of it being seemingly loaded with information the visitor is searching. The response to click on first link is universal and is attributed to human nature curious as always with firm belief in the leader.  The others get clicks more on the virtue of their title and meta description which show what the page promises. There are other information pieces on the SERPs nowadays but they are not the matter of discussion here. The browser landscape keeps on changing anyway. On one page the number of results shown is ten and users rarely cross this threshold.  

Like the best book creates reputation for the library most apt answer does so for the search engines. Thus there is a die hard quest among the engines to produce the best results and instantly. This is content driven for sure but whence there is competition among the peer plethora metrics come into the picture.   

The search companies are always analysing the results that their algorithms produce and keep on with efforts to produce relevancy by analysing intent since one query may be having a different quest hence knowing the intent behind takes the search companies loser to what is being sought. 

Algorithmic History

It was just keywords that ruled the SERPs but being easily manipulated the importance of meta information was diluted. The keywords were also manipulated in the website content which resulted in changing algorithms to punish content with keywords beyond normal. Now the stress is on LSI or semantic indexing in which case the relation between the words leads to better understanding of the topic. This also addresses write ups written purely for the engines. Now stress is on writing naturally keeping the visitor in the mind.    

The links ruled the roost for some time but soon they were quantified on basis of being genuine and of quality. Thus cheap links which use to pummel an undeserving site up on the ranks were ousted.  Use Google Disvow tool to remove bad links else they will diminish ranking.

Links are a valuable for ranking provided they are authoritative, natural or subject to editorial scrutiny. Nofollow links are not that important but of late they are said to deliver hints to the ranking algorithms. Repetition of anchor text is punishable now hence use natural or long tails anchor texts sparsely along with few matching phrases. Anchor text are very informative as keyword updates to algorithms and help draw an accurate picture about the page. Off page optimization thus becomes an imperative for better performance on SERPs and increase traffic. Content wrapped links also create referrals besides increase domain authority and push up ranking . 

Speed of download is very important and responsive sites follow this metric, one among the web core vitals the download time of major element is most to impact the sites performance. The other web core vitals are the stability of onsite elements and smooth interactivity besides proper coding, safe browsing without any hindrance especially from malicious elements and scripts.          

Features like bounce rate are dependant upon contents, download time, on page attributes like videos, images and info-graphs. But content dominates on page, and if it is a perfect answer to the visitors query low bounce rate will  result. Search engines like Google are said to have inculcated over two hundred ranking metrics many of which we will never come to know. Hence the best guesswork is add relevant content, build mobile friendly website for fast download and add attributes. 

Read Google Webmaster Guidelines on the company blog or published elsewhere for guidance. The major SE Company is quite vocal about quality buildup and page experience which encompass most of the metrics.       

Best way to compete on SERPs is to make your website or portal better and better. On page experience counts so fine tune the vital elements of your website. Do not spam or find short cuts to success. No black hat Seo Techniques should be used.   

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About Author

Uday provides affordable search engine optimization or SEO Services and Contents for Digital Marketing. 

He also teaches Internet Marketing in summers in Jabalpur in India his hometown. 

Uday is a freelance Naturalist and birder and mixes all vocations to make a living, 

He can be contacted at:

pateluday90@hotmail.com

9755089323

Understanding Core Web Vitals

User Experience 

User experience is vital to search engines and it begins with response to the query. SE's seek apt answer to the user's query since that is what the visitor desires the most. But there is much more to it as the search engines have begin to realize and so have the webmasters or seo.  

Though visitors seek answers on the web they usually have a short attention span. This means delivery becomes as important as the accuracy of the answer. No one wishes to wait for eternity for website to download or image to appear or video to play. All this has to be in a rapid succession of few milliseconds else your website will experience a high bounce rate and drop down from rankings.  

Also known as ranking metrics search engines measure the performance of the website along with content to place it higher on the SERPS. These performance gradients are vital for online success and the ones that matter the most are termed as core web vitals. These comprise of important elements on site and the performance. These performance attributes can be measured using tools and Google Search Console.  

In simply terms contents and attributes that add to content matter the most. Delivery now becomes as important. This is the new facet of search engine optimization and those webmasters sticking to link building and on site basics have to understand site performance and how to tune it for the better. This also means that technical seo is being integrated at a fast pace and calls for team work a collaboration between, content writers, content and technical webmasters and coders. A combined delivery can yield better results in the future as newer metrics are inculcated. 

Some basics that we all understand are:

Fast Website

Mobile Friendliness

Unique Content

But core web vitals move a shade deeper and look into micro performance yardsticks better. There is an inclination amongst site owners and webmasters to keep a matters small this as we say in Hindi "Chalta Hai" is not going to work. 

The core web vitals become extremely important as the website or portal becomes larger. They are easily  manageable in case of small websites using the Seo skills and technical help from the web designers associated with the property.            

Introduction to Core Web Vitals & Seo

John Mueller         

First of the CWV mentioned here is regards to loading. 

LCP or Largest Content Paintful   (Loading)

For best performance LCP should occur withing 2.5 sec as soon as the page starts loading. This means how quickly the web attributes load and are visible to the users. This primarily refers to content on page but also to videos, images and infographic the quicker they load the better. This would also reduce bounce rate as measured by Google and other search engines.      

Unlike the previous speed index or first content paintful LCP looks at the largest and perhaps the heaviest element on the page and measures how fast it is downloaded. 

FID or First Input Delay (Interactivity) 

Deals with interactivity that means all action buttons, links and script activators should respond instantly. Unresponsive pages are found as disgusting to users who will abandon the forever perhaps. Links not working is one such example. The first interaction is like a first impression and hence very important. The  speed of downloading (FCP) and design aesthetics arr important as first impression but interactivity is like the last nail in the coffin.   

The time taken during the processing of interactive element and event handler should be in less than 100 milliseconds. Complete failure means abject frustration and you not what that means. This can happen due to faulty coding or something like a large Java Script that keeps the browser busy neglecting all other tasks. In this case the browser thread fails to activate the event listener. Only the delay in event processing is taken into account here and the the time taken to complete the process.   

CLS or Cumulative Layout Shift (Stability) 

Definitely you would wish to come across a site with unstable shifting elements. Good user experience accrues whence a site maintains a CLS of less than 0.1. Anything that moves suddenly just when you are going through the page or interacting leads to lot of disappointment if that happens time and again to leave the site. Hence the CLS score should be less than 0.1 for good experience.      

When a visible element changes its position from one rendered frame to next it is known as a layout shift.  

For More Reading Core Web Vitals 

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About Author

Uday provides affordable search engine optimization or SEO Services and Contents for Digital Marketing. 

He also teaches Internet Marketing in summers in Jabalpur in India his hometown. 

Uday is a freelance Naturalist and birder and mixes all vocations to make a living, 

He can be contacted at:

pateluday90@hotmail.com

9755089323

SEO: Ranking Factors & Rationale

SEO: Ranking 

Bounce rate, speed and link architecture also determine your success on the SERP. Gone are the days when big concerns could hire a large team of web buzzers and make links using articles and directory submissions. Forums were also in this game but there the admins were more strict so the former two gamed the algorithms no end.  

I worked in an IT concern which was much into gaming the system using my articles they could make cheap copies and get massive links...it worked. But before leaving I told them it will not work in future and it did not. Similarly with directories I could write title and description which was than manipulated by the team and submitted to thousands of directories. Then this too stopped working as I had warned...but they would not listen and the site was sent to the gallows. Anchor repetition also failed. 

Link building still works, directory submission still work, forums still work but in all the cases aesthetics have changed. No spam is tolerated by any search engines. Moreover a large number of metrics have come into picture to index and rank a website on a keyword. 

Quality link building or authoritative links means a great deal of success. if your site gathers natural links nothing like that...here people link your site because they find it useful information or action wise. If your award winning company website is linked with authoritative site offering the awards on that field you have made it. This is an example.

But this will not be the case all the time hence do build links not to game the system but to get referrals. If your site follows the SE guidelines it will not be penalized since referrals lead to web saturation that is essential for websites.  

Many of the metrics are not known by the webmasters and they may never know. But aesthetics will work...always...make the website that delivers good user experience, repeat visitors will stand as testimony.

Why would any one visit a website again and again using a keyword or set of phrases regularly until unless they are finding something useful. Even one time visitor if they stay for a reasonable time and there is an action then the website has scored a point to the search engines. One time visit with good enough time spent on it and or action is there...the purpose is solved in one go.  If you understand this you will also understand the role social media plays in ranking and building an online reputation or authority....that does count.   

By some mechanism search engines are able to make out reputation or authority of the site! Domain age is certainly one of them, hosting period and hosting stability also matters. Social media performance also matters. 

Speed is something which makes a user explore the website, a slow download is a turn off...nobody wants to wait for a site to load. A reasonable good downloading time hence is a must. It need not necessarily be the fastest.

A good architecture means a quick pathway to the targeted page without crazy maneuvers. Hence good link architecture means easy access to important pages and the action page. If you observe the funnel you will discover the pathway that a visitor or visitors take to reach a particular goal. For search engines this would also mean a good directory structure...make use of silos if necessary.  A good site map and well configured robot.txt file all are important.

Contents are foremost as far as good user experience is concerned. Hire a good content writer or be one yourself. Be it website contents, blog contents, article contents, content in user generated sites all matter...  

Contents with videos, infographics and relevant images enhance user experience tremendously. Forget about search engines if your website satisfies the user criteria it will always be the winner. There are many places on Earth that do not spend a penny in advertising but are yet successful, only because of their delivery ...news travels fast.   

A responsive website is mobile friendly which is important since quick search is most of the time taking place on smartphones. Browser compatibility, platform compatibility, content size, readability , optimized graphics and images, contrast between back ground and text, all matter. 

If you can guess all that would matter regarding the user satisfaction inculcate in your design and content without hesitation. If you can be a winner without getting into the mad race of the SERPs you have made it.     

Like reputed libraries which search for a great book by a great author search engines also seek a great website by a great owner.   

Last but least there are no cheap or quick solutions, if you are a cheapster and do not have patient... hang your portal!

Uday offers SEO Services and Website Contents in English. 

He also teaches Internet Marketing in Jabalpur.

Content: pateluday90@hotmail.com

Mobile: 9755089323

Web Saturation: Searching for Social Media

Web saturation is one of the key goals of search engine optimization. This has become an extensive horizontal effort after Panda and Penguin and now possibly Fred. Most of the methodology adopted earlier are now considered as spam.      

Multiple link creation on single domain or on weak platforms resulted in massive exercise by major Seo Companies. All this is passe, SEO has become more authoritative, and requires skills not muscle. Hence these companies have vanished or on the verge.    

Content creation or rather unique content creation remains the key for search engine optimization - an indispensable part of Internet Marketing.  Content and media are the main players on social platforms which have been included in the metrics used to derive ranking and domain authority. Popularity on social media will lead  to web saturation, this is good for ranking as well as ideal getting leads or referrals.

This is a massive exercise nonetheless if you include important internal pages into the campaign. The difference after the updates is that this has become a highly dedicated and skilled effort. Mere posting will not help, this is bad news for web buzzers or SEO beginners who found jobs for posting on articles sites, forums and directories. The links are still relevant but on much smaller scale and are effective only whence the content associated with them is unique and relevant to the anchor text or title as the case may.         

Search engines are impressed by a site present on many authoritative platforms. Well this is different from natural link aggregation which is equally important. Contents which are subject to editorial scrutiny are or should be highly respected by search engines, and the associated links should carry lot of juice. Hence searching for such new platforms becomes a regular exercise for those in SEO and Internet Marketing.