SEO Best Practices for Ranking

To make your page more secure encryption is important. And that encryption is provided by HTTPS which is a secure protocol that transmits a secure hence moving away from HTTP the older version.

Assure fast downloading of pages.

Visitors do not wait for pages to download forever they expect quick downloads. Page speed is one of the ranking factors as mentioned again and again by Google in Core Web Vital. Many other factors following core web vital will make your pages steady and download fast.

Some of these issues can be complicated, so your best bet is to ask a developer (or technical SEO expert) to fix them.

Here are some general tips for keeping your pages fast:

General Tips

Take the help of technical SEOs, developers, and programmers.

Use a CDN. For some visitors, data has to travel long distances before it is fetched to the browser. This is slow. CDNs solve this by copying critical resources like images to a network of servers around the globe so that resources are always loaded locally.

You must compress the large images that make the loading slow. Compressing large images decreases the file size, and loading becomes fast. You have to be careful enough to balance the quality.

Use lazy loading it prevents the loading of offscreen elements until you need them. Thus the browser does not have to load all the images at once.

The coding should be perfect and you should use a well-optimized theme. 

Optimize content on the best search intent. You should be focused on providing the right solution based on the topic and your content.

Use long-term and secondary keywords to optimize to avoid competition. Avoid tough competition at the initial stage of your SEO Campaign.  

Use target keywords in the title, H1 Tag, and the first line in the content. Use semantic terms naturally in your content and please write for the readers and not for the search engines. Write naturally and do not stray away from the topic. Your content should not be saturated with targeted keywords or it will get penalized.  

Use descriptive URL it should be short and not dynamic in nature.

Add internal links for other important pages.

In the end, try to get authoritative backlinks. Good content and good link architecture draw links naturally. These are the salient points an online marketing agency should follow to get good results.

Right Approach to Search Engine Optimization

 Search Engine Optimization also known by its abbreviation SEO is one of the key activities that can highlight your website on the SERPs. Now with continuous scrolling brought in by Google finding a website on SERP or search engine, result pages have become a great possibility even if it ranks deeper. But the buck does not stop here webmaster's pursuit remains the same. To bring high traffic to the website top rankings are a must as usual.

Search engine optimization is an exercise to rank websites on the top of the first page. Easier said than done, the exercise remains complex and is constantly changing as Google with a 97 % share of the search market keeps evolving. There is a constant update or rather a slew of updates each year which impact ranking and indexing, two vital aspects of SEO Campaigns. 

Webmasters have to keep updated on changes in Google Algorithms so that they can mold their approach the right way. This is a continuous process as algorithms evolve to check spam and bring the best site forward.

Basics About SEO

On-page optimization has become as important as off-page optimization. Hence both should be worked upon diligently. Another factor that matters a lot is relevancy. Your website content should be accurately pointing to the objective or the purpose of the website. Hence not only does the topic matter which anyway should be clearly defined it is the intent also that matters most. Are you simply highlighting a product for awareness or do you wish to sell the product? Hence intent should be specified using the content headlines, subheadlines, and all. Even the inner pages should be relevant. It is not wise to make a site on both coffee and tea you will only end up confusing the search engines if the link architecture and directory structure do not define each clearly by creating well-defined SILOs.

Off-Page Optimization

Off-Page optimization differs from On-Page Optimization as it is carried out on external platforms. This activity's main focus is on link building. Over the number of year link building has changed drastically and relies on sound platforms and not on link farms or advertisement sites. 

Links have to be built naturally due to the usefulness of the website. Other techniques involved are external or inbound links from blogs, internet publishing sites, and article sites. Links on authority sites also matter immensely.  Acceptable links are those that are contextual and carry useful relevant information in form of short-form or long-form write-ups. The old strategy of building links using SEO directories and cheap article sites does not work anymore on the contrary it invites a penalty. 

Conclusion   

Search Engine Optimization is a constantly changing process, hence webmasters should keep in touch with the latest trends. The techniques keep on changing as well as the strategies adopted.  By following the right approach a Professional SEO Firm can reap a lot of business. SEO is an exercise that requires experience and expertise. The campaigns work best when a sincere approach is adopted.      

Poorly Designed Website and Online Marketing (SEO)

 Website design and development plays a major role in online marketing or SEO to be specific. If the design is failing or poor, it will not conform to the search engine guidelines hence your search engine optimization campaign will fail. Website design and development play a major role in search engine optimization. A bad design will never score up to the metrics that search companies employ, and the site will never rank high.

Hence the first step in SEO Campaign is Site Audit. Using site audit you can discover whether it is mobile friendly or not, whether it is properly hosted, and whether its download speed is optimum. The website is not only responsible for ranking high on the SERPs on chosen search terms. The website is also responsible to attract, engage and convert the target audience to a goal specified in the vision statement. 

The UX Factor

Another factor that plays a major role in successful outcomes is the UX factor or how user-friendly the website is.  Thus, the developers should pay special attention to onsite factors like web core vitals, site architecture, on-page content, and visual elements and coding.  Owners should see that the on-page content is unique, relevant, and engages the target audience. There should be a call for action or CTA line at appropriate places to encourage the visitor to head for action. Whether a property is meant to sell or promote services the CTA button will make a major impact.

Site Audit

Site audit also reveals technical snags like blocking scripts, heavy images, and the number of server queries that are being generated. A large number of server queries will result in a late response from the server and downloading will be affected. This calls for fast efficient hosting with no downtime at all. Thus, owners should opt for dedicated servers that are equipped with the latest technology.  

The website should be complete when launched, no portion or page should be left incomplete. All dynamic functions should be working in perfect order. No function should be under repair or development. An underdeveloped website makes a bad impression on visitors, and this will impact engagement and increase the bounce rate. 

Design & Aesthetic

The design and aesthetics also play an important role hence they should be apt. A good website development team is a must for making a good site, portal, or eCommerce website.   The site architecture should be well-defined, and the link should be intact, and one click away from desired information. Boken links, complex forms, and unstable elements will make sure that you do not get repeat visitors apart from a high bounce rate.  

Keep your website updated in all respect and check its completion using site audit tools. A good website conforming to search engine guidelines is a must for success.  Pay special attention to website development for online success. Neglect will lead to a heavy cost and failure.   

SEO & Digital Marketing The Chicken & Egg Story

 Search Engine Optimization - The Beginning 

If I remember well SEO started some time way back in the late 90s after the advent of the Internet. It was hard getting connected to the Net those days when I had built my first site on Yahoo GeoCities. The free site built using Yahoo GeoCities tools and space was titled "The Tiger Heavens of India".  

The site was responsible for my entry into the murky world of SEO or search engine optimization and content writing. At that time-on-page factors meant a lot, psssssst they still do. But then a simple insertion of the right terms in profusion in the content and meta worked wonders. The search engines had not yet woken up about spam since the Net was small as compared to the explosion taking place now. 

The Search Market

Before we proceed further let us take a peek at the search market. Google alone commands an impressive share of 87 % in the USA. The other players are insignificant with a share of:

• Bing 6.6%
• Yahoo 3.24%
• Duckduck Go 2.49%    

This comparison should explain the focus on Google of all those in the online marketing business.

End of Black Hat SEO Tactics

Content writing (mine were perfectly written) with the inclusion of semantics,  keywords, and grammar simply meant following the rules without losing the focus on the search terms and reader engagement. It was after the filters like Panda that sudden expediency in proper content writing as science came into the picture. All the spam blogs proliferating WWW became an overnight failure and lost ranking on the SERPs. This was a sensational beginning of the end of spam online. No more keyword or content spam!

Next to follow was link building which brought about an end to factories churning out backlinks helter-skelter. Yes, that was what the SEO agencies were doing and were successful. That too came to an end with Penguin. The black hat link building still exists today but is drastically reduced now. 

Links though remain important have become contextual, naturalized, and effective in smaller numbers. Thus, authoritative link building came into existence as the algorithms evolved. External and internal links still matter but should be built wisely in association with relevant and engaging content on-page and off-page.

Then it was the turn of SEO Directory submission that became irrelevant somewhat as they struck the dead end. Instead content wrapped links on diverse platforms including some authoritative article sites with editorial scrutiny gained ascendency and contributed to higher ranking and authority on the SERPs. 

Well to cut the story short, the search engine algorithms have begun to fight spam with greater efficiency as they evolve. With each and every update the indexing and ranking criteria are changing fast and the indolent webmasters are finding it difficult to keep pace. 

Contemporary SEO and Digital Marketing 

While SEO has become a mix of science, technology, and art, digital marketing encompasses all but is specific platform-dependent.  SEO is considered a larger subset of digital or online marketing. 

SEO is an important subset and contributes to more than 55  % of audience reach on the Internet. It is a gateway to free visibility and audience reach. For the eCommerce industry SEO delivers 65% of web traffic and is a vital component. If conducted properly the optimization campaign yield substantial traffic for portals and blogs on SERPs. This traffic is free, and whence the campaign includes paid Ads, and content strategies on Digital Platforms like Email, Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook to name a few, the whole exercise becomes explosive and leads to potential results.     

Some technical aspects of SEO that call for larger employment of skill sets or a team are becoming as important as gaining an authoritative position. For example site speed is the number one metric that requires technical adjustment along with other features that make the website competitive and fit for the mobile world. Other issues that fall under the scope of technical SEO are crawling issues, canonical or duplicate content issues, language-based targeting, and website coding.

We must understand that all algorithmic processes, Internet-based platforms that enable content writing along with attributes like video, image, and infographics become intertwined as they evolve in cyberspace.  Thus digital marketing is becoming more and more complex with each platform being unique, and involvement has become a much-in-demand skill set.  Paid ads using dynamic and smart technologies have increased the complexities faced during the SEM Campaigns and require an understanding of the interplay of various Ad options that search engines are bringing forth to gain accuracy and increase the subscribers' return on investment - the much-touted buzzword ROI.  

Data Analysis & Trends     

Complexities are not limited to SEO or SEM, the whole digital marketing exercise is becoming embroiled in a tangible result-oriented campaign stressed by the employing digital enterprises to beat the cutthroat competition online. In the contemporary era, webmasters, and content writers are living in a stressed environment. They have to beat the heat with tangible success online.

Data analysis provided by analytical tools and search engine consoles, online reports, and statistics is becoming more and more important with the passing of time. Data and understanding of the latest technologies and trends help in shaping productive content strategies and digital campaigns that lead to the goal conversion.   

SERPs & Complex Features

It is no more the 10 site links anymore the search engines result pages are inundated with Ads, free product listings from eCommerce sites by Google, knowledge panel, people ask, carousal, site links, snippets, videos, and images to name a few.  The SERPs can show nearly 2000 feature elements based on search intent but thankfully not at once. 

Though there are been a negative outlook related to inundating the SERP with these features the company assures higher traffic due to their inclusion. The negative reviews the features receive arise from visitors ignoring the ranking sites as answers are available without any clicks. The inclusion of free product listings and this Google Shopping is a free source of web traffic for many companies and so are the presence on local listings (GMB) and Maps. 

Please note to qualify for free product listing the company should be on the Google Merchant Center and follow the prescribed guidelines. 

Constant Updates & SEO 

With the induction of RankBrain (2015), Google has successfully integrated AI with its indexing and ranking process making search optimization more difficult. Will these changes lead to the end of SEO? Well, most unlikely but increased importance to monetization is certainly having an impact that has to be skillfully maneuvered. The stress should be on accurate information on board provided by the search engine specialists. You should aim to be found out on targeted terms by the visitors and with the right optimization, AI will certainly come to your help! 

Artificial intelligence together with the inclusion of machine learning methodology casts greater challenges on webmasters. Now it has become difficult to grasp what actually the search company derives from the search query or the content with the inclusion of these technologies.  

By the year Google made 5000 changes to search with the help of over 800,000 experiments in order to refine the search results and thus keep its market share intact as a leader. 

Additionally, visitors have an option for localized or personalized results. Though this does not complicate things, there is greater stress on search engine optimization specialists and writers. The content creation should take care of the right user (semantic) intent that has to be fulfilled. SEOs should anticipate queries that would be generated by the target audience and gauge the site metrics' ability to solve or provide solutions. This is imperative for loyal followings and to attract new user traffic.  This is in order to reach the right target audience.   

The SEO best practices include:

• Keyword Research
• Unique Relevant Content 
• Natural Backlink Acquisition 
• Constant Analysis 
• Authoritative External Link Building
• Internal Linking

These practices remain relevant after all that has evolved in the case of algorithms that track, index, and rank a website. The search engine optimization service providers should also keep in mind the way content and site attributes are structured. 

With the increasing popularity of structured data, a technical SEO element search engines now offer schema for a variety of topics. This should be made use of to be included in rich results for higher traffic. Please note structured data will not enhance ranking but will certainly increase CTR due to being included in the dynamic rich results. 

Digital Marketing  

Much has been written about this popular mechanism. A comprehensive understanding of the main platforms including some fantastic eBook sites is necessary if you wish to conduct campaigns online. How FB, Linked, or Instagram work?   How you can create an online reputation and brand awareness? How you can increase your popularity as a subscriber? How you can benefit from intense relevant blogging? 

These are the questions you must answer before framing a content marketing strategy on social media and networking sites. Email marketing is yet another marketing tool that you should be familiar with. In case your employers choose paid advertisements on social media you should be able to adapt if not already familiar.  

Digital marketing is a fast-growing and constantly evolving field though SEO came first both are now included in marketing strategies be prepared.

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Uday provides a search engine optimization service for digital marketing. He provides website content and content for authoritative links. He also works as SEO Content Writer for digital companies on a remote WFH basis.

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

pateluday90@hotmail.com

09755089323          

White Hat Seo for Ecommerce Sites: Must Read

 eCommerce Portal Optimization

eCommerce sites or portals are usually large, they sell long list of products online. These are intensely designed and are capable of according a three dimension view of the products being sold. The portals maybe dedicated to one company or may be marketing hundreds of products as in case of Amazon or Flipkart to name a few.  Secure online payment systems facilitates instant payment which is the mainstay of purchase on the Internet. Online payment is a boon for both B2B or B2C business since instant purchase becomes possibly. For the eCommerce company secure online payment systems or electronic fund transfers attract a large number of customers and the instant purchases help in augmenting the turnover.       

Coding

In the back drop or back office a large number of programs facilitate display and transactions like the content management systems (CMS) and inventory management platforms but these are not subject of search engine optimization their function depends upon the technical service providers which keep the systems running.   

Taking into account a mid sized eCommerce website the search engine optimization needs intense involvement by webmasters not only because they are large but the complexity of site design needs thorough understanding of the platform.

During website promotion most of the optimizing techniques applied are the same as in case of smaller websites but here the work load quantum becomes four fold. Though the basics remain the same a major impediment can occur during indexing if the robot.txt file is improper hence regular check on the search console is mandatory. Any instruction regarding indexing and caching should be carried out expertly. The search console facilitates in discovering as to how many pages are being indexed and this has to be followed using the corrective path. Most of the time the scripts on boards are the cause of this malady and removal usually helps in indexing.   

Use of  response codes 301 and 404 should also be kept into consideration as there may be structural changes in the portal time to time especially if the product list is long. One should avoid using absolute link pathways since they make the pages vulnerable to infectious elements. Using a relative path is much safer. 

Google Tools   

In eCommerce site the website architecture need follow a smooth path or create a funnel which takes the visitors in such a manner  that he encounters desired products without too many clicks. You can check this in Google Analytic. This Google tool becomes imperative in case of eCommerce portals not only to realign the architecture but also to understand many dimensions of product pages that influences the buyers. Demographic details in the tool will help in gauging the characteristics of the audience which is very crucial in understanding the demands and thus the trending. Understanding market dynamics using this analytical tool leads to better grasp of audience profile and desires and thus higher sales.         

The analytical tool is also of immense help when an Adwords program is on going the analysis of market dynamics makes better uses of implementing the terms being selected and placed for bids. This tool is indispensable for running PPC Ads. If used expertly primary and secondary dimensions along with many variables facilitate accurate picture of  demographic factors in play. Using various sections we can also discover indexed pages and their popularity. Poorly developed pages can lead to low ranking on the SERPs hence this tool is vital to gauge the characteristics of a page.     

Website Aesthetics & Essentials  

The pages have to comply with search engine guidelines in order rank high on SERPs. The page essentials are unique descriptive contents. Please note anomaly may arise whence we use CMS and lot of pages will turn up with similar product descriptions, titles and meta tags. This has to be rectified by the web designers upon instruction from the webmasters. Unfortunately some website owners do not understand basic of search engine optimization and the SE guidelines. Even page contents often carry similar paragraphs which dilutes their authority and can get them penalized by search companies. These are actually on page factors which should be rectified before the off line campaign begins. Contents should be descriptive as well as persuasive in order to make the visitor spend time on the site and eventually make a purchase.    

Image optimization in case of eCommerce sites is very important since they have to download fast and without a hitch. Compression works fine but it does take off the sheen from the image hence light weight images should be obtained right from the start of product photography. The quality should excellent and the pictures should be true to real life - no cutouts will work mind you. These factors play an important role in conversions while the visitor is onsite.  In an eCommerce site there are no quality concessions be it in design and development or optimization usually designers and webmasters or seo consultants charge higher. There are no cheap solutions online.   

Site Search & Ranking Metrics

Implement product search through a box on each and every page. This facilitates quick access to product line. Remember visitors are impatient online and like to skip through whatever arrives belatedly or does not appear to be of standard or quality. Fast escape from web pages will lead to higher bounce rates and spoil your ranking on SERPs. 

Web Core Vitals 

Take assistance of the known web developer in order to make the site responsive since product search on smart phones is the norm these days. All vitals should be taken care of so as not to mar the user friendliness or UX. Heavy images, hindering scripts all impact website download or stable experience for visitors. Remember bounce rate is one of the important metrics used by search engines for ranking thus higher the bounce lower the rankings.     

Site Maps

Use both HTML and XML site maps, the latter is for search engines while the former is for humans. The sitemaps have  to be frequently updated visitors also use them for accessing pages or products they like to seek. The maps should be placed on each page. 

Add Structured Data 

This is one aspect that all search engines like Yahoo, Google and Bing are able to factor well using their algorithms. Sometime content is not able to elaborate properly the details of company or establishment this is where structured data place in the <head> section helps for better.   

Off Page Optimization 

This can be a laborious exercise. Place your site on GMB and local directories as well as create quality back link for each and every page. Please use quality content to create links since many will have to pass editorial scrutiny before being accepted by search engines. 

Although content wrapped links are the best but nothing like the site accumulating natural links. This will depend upon the website contents besides other attributes and finally the site usefulness or utility on SERPs. Links are useful as referrals as well and for this you should set up a campaign.Create Pages on FB and LinkedIn and promote them actively. 

Promotional Techniques and Social Media Participation  

Do not submit to directories or resort blog comments. If you come across niche directories use them rationally. Forums can create authority as well within the scope of guidelines else you will be banned from the site. Social Media Profile links will not offer off page seo benefits but SM participation will yield riches by increasing popularity of the site and reputation.  Regular blog inputs and visual contenting will be of immense help. Remember duplicates and copy cats are no no. If there is a company blog relevant to offerings it should be linked to the eCommerce Portal. 

Hosting        

Stable hosting with advance security features is a must. Frequent outages is a characteristics of poor hosting.  Gauge  the portals space requirement and the good enough bandwidth before finalizing a package. The bandwidth for high traffic websites has to be frequently enhanced.  

======================================================

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          

SEO: Creating Topic Clusters

Search engine optimisation is aimed at increase ranking on SERPs, and you have to make happy many metrics before you can reach your goal. A webmaster or seo content writer has to create topic clusters from top down order or from a pillar page.    

Search engines respects and understand relations on Net be it creating silos in the directory structure or clusters in content. This accords greater relevancy to the topic a website is targeting and thus this strategy leads to fortification on relational search terms or keywords.        

In this methodology related or rather highly relevant content is clustered around a pillar page be that on a website of a blog.  The relationship is brought to live by internal linking. From the pillar page related secondary pages are linked using internal linking. 

Relevancy is a broad term, it is shaped by intent besides the relationships between or within a topic. Hence study the object that is the website or a blog and then do intense keyword research. Analysis plays a major role in website promotion and keeping the client and the engines happy.     

Besides increasing search visibility this content marketing strategy also increases ROI. In case of content marketing how you organize contents matters a lot and clustering in one way to enhance your efforts. 

For search engine optimization content creation is a must if you are not a writer you can move towards technical seo which is more of a smooth delivery mechanism than a winning strategy. Well is does help in ranking on SERPs for example dealing efficiently with web core vitals and making a responsive site.    

External linking also helps using the pillar page on strictly topic related platforms using articles, blogs and visual contenting. This is one way of fortifying the pillar page and building authority in the cluster. You can accord a character to not only the pillar page but to secondary internally linked pages as well.

Topic Cluster On Website 

In a website the main page is the home which  carries a holistic definition of the topic. In most of the cases the pillar page would be the home page if it precisely defines the offering or the topic. But remember website itself is a cluster of internal pages. These are pages which are connected and under the scope of the pillar page topic. But within this too there could be a variance the pages could be sub related.

For Example take example of a Tea  Portal. The first or index page is usually an introduction and what is being offered. Then the architecture proceeds and the main or home page is linked to sub topics like:

• Organic  Leaf Tea
• Green Leaf Tea
• Black Leaf Tea
• Green Tea Bags 
• Organic Tea Bags

All these links would be on the main page  usually in the header. These pages are then further linked to sub pages:

Example Organic Leaf :

• Organic green leaf tea
• Organic black leaf tea   

Thus a well defined and three tier structure is emerging. This helps in fortifying the Home Page or in other instances an internal page with authority. This is a fine way of spreading targeted terms on different pages rather than bombarding home page with a huge load of terms.    

During external link building carefully choose to promote on content platforms using category which are closely related. This is the essence of link building. 

Clusters for Blogs

Unlike a a horizontal structure in website the blog is more on lines of a scroll down. Hence link closely related entries internally. This again will create authority pages and focus on relevant terms during promotion. Choose authority pages and promote them as you would a website using external linking.  

Link your blog to your website only if the content is well matched else leave it alone. Authority blogs are fantastic platforms for link building and promoting products and profession. If you use external linking on the blogs quite often they turn into spam blogs do not do it, use it sparsely. However interlinking of blog entries has no limits but than the entries linked in this manner should be highly relevant.     

Creating topic clusters is one of the preferred methodology in search engine optimization during a SEO Campaign. All your actions have to be justified within framework of white hat techniques, the search engines are evolving an no quick fire methodology will work.        

More on Topic Clusters for Seo

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          

Content Marketing: Does A Long List of Keywords For Seo Matter?

Contents & Algorithms

Constantly evolving and at times faltering, algorithms (algos) for ranking, indexing and providing answers on SERPs are at the center of search engine optimization. Also known as SEO, it is indispensable part of  Digital Marketing. Webmasters or Seo consultants are always on their toes to keep abreast of changes made by search engines to their algos some of which are subtly disclosed while many need smart exercise to decipher. 

Metrics involved in ranking and indexing are never disclosed. Following the guidelines - often elaborated - regarding optimizing a website is not an option rather it is a must. But we know that internal and external links and contents matter. Contents on website are as important as those associated with the links during off page promotion. This is what marketing focus is on at present. 

Content on a website is most important, and they should be well written, properly formatted, informative and unique. Remember the write up is to provide an answer to a users query. They are certainly not to test the readers attention span and entertain without purpose. If you are providing the most suited answer to the users query than for that term you will rank without much efforts. If a lot many sites are doing the same than metrics come into play. 

Generally very long write ups are a turn off until unless they are expanding the relevance or adding to related information. Attributes like videos, images and graphics add to increase the readers interest hence the attention span. This could also reduce the bounce rate. 

"If you use keywords properly you can answer the query in a short passage. Thus if you wish to focus a page on few more terms write short passages on a page...relevant to each other and the main topic of the page."    

Keywords

Though we always emphasize on inclusion of keywords they are not necessary if the writing is apt. But inadvertently keywords creep in. If they are in limits of natural expression it works wonders but if you saturate and repeat them in the write up excessively your page could be penalized or ignored?  

But is is a good exercise to find search terms that elaborate the topic on a web page. They could be included on the title and tags naturally. They are useful whence you wish to state what the page is all about in the title and tags. This applies to the anchor text as well in the external and interlinks. 

Remember naturally obtained links are most powerful, full of juice and effective in placing the site on the top whence searched using relevant terms. This is possible if the visitors find your site very useful.   

For page contents semantic indexing is more important since it informs the search engines as well as the visitors about the search intent i.e is what the page means. Natural inclusion of related phrases or words describing the topic is very important hence you should be writing for the reader and not for search engines.          

When you are shaping a campaign for optimization the first step is keyword analysis and research. This comes about first by understanding the topic regarding its focus. Since a topic may be subdivided into many related matters it is a must to sit down with the client and find out the exact topic for each page. 

This is if the contents have not been written and the project is on a white board stage. If they are already on board then you should straightaway start with analysis and research. This will help you give a closer feel of the topic and what is being talked about. 

Why are we talking about contents in relation with accumulating keywords for  web page? 

Well both are strongly interrelated keywords, are more like a synopsis of content. In short/long phrase or even in single word they will help your visitor and search engines understand the topic. Seo is topic relevant without relevancy in content marketing your campaign will fail.      

Actually if you are creating a list of keywords than you should discover those strictly relevant to the contents initially. Unlike earlier times you could us a tool and amass a long list of high traffic terms for your campaign.This would not work anymore. 

Response to first page keyword placement for a website is strictly dependent upon the write up. Both should be semantically related. If you do not understand this you will be wasting your time on promoting terms which are not closely related to the write up but appear to be related anyway. Hence you should focus on very strongly related words and phrases which not only respond well to your Seo campaign but also clear the intent. Hence initial exercise should land you with closely matching terms with a higher or lesser degree of competition on SERPs. 

(Read article on Google Bombing to understand why distantly related terms may not work anymore.)

Thus apt content writing becomes important whence you focus on chosen terms. Go though your page well or repeatedly in order to list keywords you can rank on quickly. More distantly related terms should be worked on gradually as the campaign proceeds. Thus simply put accumulating terms for targeting a web page is a gradual process and not one day exercise. As you visit competitor pages, score the SERPS on topic and visit many social media platforms the picture of you own web page will come sharply on focus and help you avoid unproductive terms.  

If you wish to increase the range of responsive terms you have to look at the page and additional write up may be required. If the addition is relevant search engines too would look favorably at your page/website.         

================

Uday teaches Internet Marketing in Jabalpur
He provides website contents in English
He provides Internet Marketing Service 
Contact: pateluday90@hotmail.com
9755089323

Is SEO A Dark Matter in An Unfathomable Universe?

For Laymen SEO or Search Engine Optimization

This exercise simply helps your website or blog rank better on SERPs or Search Engine Result Pages which you get when you type a search term in the browser search box.

Better ranking means better response to your website and hence goal conversion - greater online business, enquiries, brand promotion, information dissemination or whatever.   

For Webmasters 

SEO is difficult, time consuming and needs perseverance to achieve results. But  in spite of all the literature, tips and advice, SE guidelines available on the Net, it is not everybody's cup of tea. Besides understanding how search engine index and rank a website including the plethora of metrics that they have recently inculcated into their algos things still do not work out for many. 

In competitive environment and rapidly changing algorithms experience or long term association pays but this does not mean that newbies will not be able to perform.  You need commitment and good guidance remember.  

I will tell you a little secret here!

You need to master content writing...gone are the days whence you could work on the directories and forums to get links and rank. No more does multiple article posting and spam blogs work.

I was  nearly hired to write blog entries without substance long time back, and that did work in those days - before Panda and Penguin came into picture. Somehow the hesitation on my countenance was palpable and I was fired before I could be hired and had to pay for the coffee as well. 

You need to write well as near to grammar as possible, and as anecdotal or informative as possible. You need not write like prize winning authors do, that is  a tall order. But You Should Strive!

As a writer you will be active on many platforms or sites do not be overawed by writers there with super success or be intimidated by stringent editors. Keep writing as best as you can. 

No Silver Pen in Hand!

Well from beginning, I was writing articles for free, and would publish them on sites which had some reckoning. This art refines itself in a scalable manner until unless you are born with a silver pen in the hand. 

So you write and write, which I am still doing, and develop into a better writer. This will reduce forays into directory submissions and forums...albeit relevant forum participation with etiquette is productive. But no spam works remember!

In SEO, writing better counts, and that is what fetches quality links. This will also help you manage blogs to provide links for referral to your clients and juice as webmasters prefer to call authoritative links.

As a side tip add attributes to your work like videos, infographics or images to make the content more appealing and interactive.

Regularly written quality blogs are essential for website promotion and they are also good enough for creating a reputation by espounding your art, services, profession, highlighting brands and companies. This is a platform where you can demonstrate unique products, niche skills and processes.

Why Not All This in Website? 

Well unlike websites, well maintained blogs are not static...if the websites are not regularly updated they remain static for long. Well this is why inter linking a blog to your website is important for it acts a mouthpiece with fresh contents pouring in. Keep in mind that it is topic relevant.

Content is King!    

That said and done content is the king. But then you have to learn to use content for users as well as the search engines preferably for the former. The search engines are less demanding and they understand write ups much better especially with semantic inputs. You need not add keywords in your write ups deliberately and not in wild profusion. Let them be natural.    

Another important step is to be relevant when you write on a website, blog or article. This is of utmost importance and by relevancy I am not just writing about topic I am referring to sub topics or niche that diversify a topic. And this is how you can direct your website to targeted keywords. And this where art comes in. Well! Understand this in depth to avoid the dark matter.

Search Engine Optimization Diversity

In current situation search engine optimization is not limited to quality link building anymore many other metrics have made inroads...all those that make user experience better and relevant to the query.

If you regularly use search console and analytics you will get a hint as to what other factors are dominant for better indexing and ranking of SERPs. Also you need to be active on Social Media to better your traffic.

Social Media or Digital Marketing participation is instrumental in getting good traffic through referral but this does help in ranking somewhat. If you are into Adwords nothing better for as you become a professional you would greater understanding of the search terms.

Technical SEO     

Do understand technical aspect of Seo and UX as well. Search engine optimization is complex so do not hesitate in taking help from other faculties.  The link architecture, user friendliness, speed, mobile friendliness, browser compatibility etc need to be looked into. Eventual aim of a portal or website is to deliver results or goal fulfillment it is not a showpiece as some companies like to project.

The Search 

Yes like a good library, search engines want to furnish the best answer to the visitors query. Would you like to waste time in a library where you search for hours to get the book you want or perhaps never get one at all. This applies to SEs they wish to present the best and most relevant. And Yes! In most efficient and appealing manner.    

If you understand what I am pointing to you will not be running after the dark matter in an unfathomable Universe!
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Uday provides SEO Service and Website Contents

He also teaches Internet Marketing in Jabalpur during Summer.

He loves to blog on many topics as a writer. 

Contact: pateluday90@hotmail.com

09755089323

Content Marketing Going Digital

Content Marketing 

The interplay of words, phrases and quotes has become the buzz in content marketing. This creativity was earlier limited in website promotion on SERPs using SEO techniques, this has much expanded with the advent of digital platforms. 

Blogs, Social Networking Sites, Forums, UGC Sites all now promote websites using finely written, appealing and unique information rich contents. In the past for webmasters extensive write ups were indispensable and they have become a greater imperative now but with a difference. The stress is more on creativity. For instance the purpose may be to create a strong backlink, it may be to augur a brand reputation or conversion. Hence the sales funnel and graph have become as important as ranking. Simultaneously ranking factors have become diverse as well which the written words can influence. You can create captivating contents to minimize bounce rate but this can be achieved by adding attributes as well.  Now both go hand in hand changing the whole paradigm that affects ranking. In fact SEO has become more comprehensive but the written words still rule.     

Earlier contents were published on articles sites and blogs for winning on the SERPs. Now the interplay of words fortfies websites on many metrics that search engines use to index and rank. But just not this, contents in varied forms are used online on many platforms to promote brands and create a reputation besides SEO. 

It is not only articles any more, hence the collection of words as quotes, captions, phrases and logos all are part of digital marketing along with infographics, videos and images. The glib counts very much.  

In short it is content that drives the message through the attributes mentioned above...the better you are the greater is the result. 

New Content Creators

The writers are gearing up for creating diverse set of contents suitable on equally diverse social platforms. For example you will not impress with a wordy article on twitter, the two liners should deliver the desired message in order to grab attention, and hence create a repute for future conversions. 

The blogs should express authentic information, knowledge and deliver product description or professional inputs in anecdotal form. This to create a following and impress visitors online in a niche community that you have managed to assemble. Without hard labour conversions will not occur...you have to write for a purpose and really well. Now I hope the meaning on mind boggling becomes evident.    

It is important now to understand content creation from the search engine point of view as well as  understanding them for your readers. The hardest part for newcomers is amalgamation of both the aspects during content creation.  This is essential for search engine optimization and digital marketing. 

Although SEO is part of digital marketing separation in write ups (here) imparts greater explanation. SEO can be delivered with minimal digital marketing as well as a stand alone entity. But integration is unavoidable. You have to be good in both.

Although technical aspect of optimization cannot be neglected, it still constitutes a small fraction of the campaign. Hence greater attention should be paid to developing the art of writing in various formats by newcomers...than the technical aspects which anyway can be executed by coders or programmer in the team. Same applies for responsive website and UX but you should know the basics.

You can develop ability and gain direction by participating on UGC platform and articles sites with editorial scrutiny and constantly gauge your performance. This is an uphill task but indispensable.   

Another important issue for digital marketer is understanding each and every platform in depth. Virtual mastery is required and this is time bound. How best to utilize a platform is essential step to win the digital game.   

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Uday provides SEO Service and Website Contents

He also teaches Internet Marketing in Jabalpur during Summer.

He loves to blog on many topics as a writer. 

Contact: pateluday90@hotmail.com

09755089323

SEO: Web Saturation & Popularity

While most of young seo entrants are busy with emerging terms and definition of digital marketing they do not realise that most of the terms refer to the same activity. But is sounds impressive does not it?

That's why I take back the students to basic. Back to basic and one activity that defines age old approach to search engine optimisation is web saturation. Remember SEO is part of digital marketing and important one at that. Web saturation is not just to maximise indexing of your pages it is also making use of the popularity of the web by constant engagement and link building. Hence popularity will arise if your website is widespread on Net at the right places.  

Web saturation simply is to place the client's website link all over the place in linkable platforms. This is easier said than done. Earlier before the advent of Panda and Penguin etc throwing your link helter skelter just anywhere any instance a thousand times....it worked. To achieve this seo agencies employed hundreds of cheap link builders and let it go.   

But now the situation has changed and if you are not careful whence throwing your link around you will be penalised. Remember all links carry contents, videos, infographics and images. If the assemblage is not pertaining to good quality you are doomed. 

Link building today is an expert job done by content writer with deep understanding of SEO. And links are built on chosen platforms with high domain authority or editorial scrutiny. Search engines can make out cheap sites from authoritative ones. Good news is there are plenty of the latter. 

Another good news is you can submit to directories and article sites as long as they conform to guidelines set by the search engines. This means no paddle pushing with cheap articles on cheap article sites and certainly no fooling around with cheap made for ads directories you have to be very discerning.  

Hence explore authoritative platforms for publishing contents with link and constantly increase social engagements. Creating a reputation as professional seo or digital marketer is important hence regular engagements using content creation, social networking and bookmarking is a must. Blogging is essential as well create blogs and with regular inputs make them authoritative. Guest blogging carefully will also be fruitful. 

All this means you should have the ability to write, if not then polish your writing by regular exercise.  Web saturation would fetch best results in terms of domain authority, high quality link profile and referrals. Yes all links need not be "dofollow" the benefit of creating extensive links on "nofollow" links will fetch you lot of direct hits or referrals. You can create "nofollow" links on all platforms but make sure of the status. For most sites if you check the page code you will discover the status.  

Note Google does not treat"nofollow" link with complete neglect now and does accord some value to them. Hence do not dare to spam. Yes! Search engine optimization is not by spamming it is by white hat methods.  

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Uday is a blogger and provides Digital Marketing & SEO Services. He creates quality links. He also provides website contents in English. He has ten years of experience in this trade. 

Uday Teaches Digital Marketing in his home town Jabalpur. 

Uday is also a freelance naturalist/birder and loves to blog on wildlife.

He can be contacted at : pateluday90@hotmail.com

Mobile: 9755089323

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Search Engine Optimisation A Common Sense Approach

It is a never ending ball play search engine optimisation is an exercise to rank websites on SERPs on first page. Day by day as search engines and their algorithms evolve the going goes harder or often obfuscated.    

Webmaster seek quickfire solution to rank their client website and get impressive traffic. The going is not easy anymore since the algorithms have become more cryptic so to say. In order to decipher them and be in tandem with guidelines set by the search engines is becoming a riddle and a task difficult. 

In earlier times spamming was easy and one could get away with easily. Not all webmasters where spammers but activities were more effective especially with link building in mass. With the induction of Panda and Penguin a paradigm shift has taken place. It is no longer easy to spam the search engines with content farms and ineffective link building. 

Though link building is still effective a word has been added to the whole process and that is authoritative. Making large scale authoritative links those with strict editorial scrutiny is good but it is no more the panacea for viral results. Nowadays even brand mentions, online reputation and community participation can make the site popular hence one should utilise social media effectively.    

In recent times plethora of metrics have been put into calculation for indexing and ranking. On page factors, technical seo inputs and sound link architecture along with unique contents and snippets have come into prominence. Page speed is slowly gaining importance as mobile search volume increases along with voice search. 

User Query & Intent 

Most of the principle of search engine optimisation remain in place albeit diluted to a varying degree. It is now a sum total of all. But the buck does not stop here as websites are ranked primarily on basis of user query relevancy. Until unless there are gross anomalies or spamming websites with answer to user query will always surface on top. The rest of the metrics will come into picture to decide between competitors answering the query as desired.    

The evolution of algorithms has been carried out keeping user satisfaction in mind. A product with high demand is placed in a prominent eye catching position in a department store. So is the website that seems most suitable to provide an answer to the query is placed high on the SERPs. 

Determination of user intent has come out by implementing methods to measure click through and bounce rate. This is the way to analyse user preference time and over a clear picture is emerging as to what online visitors seek. User intent is now gauged effectively hence if you type "Amazon" out pops links to the eCommerce company and not to the river in South America. Visitors overwhelmingly are seeking this company all over the Globe.         

Hence all factors being equal it is important to understand user intent before optimising a website. For example say you are optimising a website on a hotel. Whence a visitor types "hotels in Jabalpur" he will find well known portals offering details of various hotels in the town. The websites of individual hotels will be ranked well below. This is often misconstrued as brand preference favoured by the search engines. Well it is the user intent and search volume measured over the years that is in play. 

Search engines will always match  sites that seem to answer the user query effectively. Those which do not receive impressive click through and maintain a high bounce rate will be pushed back in spite of various metrics that are efficiently entrenched.        

Hence while creating a website write contents that satisfy queries within the topic that are most often typed on the SERPs.  Try to figure out how you will beat the contenders on page one. Make the site mobile friendly and offer good user experience and yes quality hosting with minimum outages will also help. Add preferred elements like videos, optimised graphics, photos and internal/outgoing links that could further the information. Add a company blog which is essential to keep the contents pouring in. 

Add effective titles, meta and snippets to help search engines come to a correct conclusion what your site is all about. Keep building links as well but maintain quality else your site could be penalised.     

         

Search Engine Optimization: Site Stabbers?

Elements or Acts That Kill The Site Traffic

One of my client website was ranking well on top search terms with traffic touching half a million every month. Then whence the success knocked his doors downfall followed. He placed an Ad above the fold. What this means is an advertisement above the main content. 

In spite of repeated efforts to address the malady there was no pliant and eventually the search engines discovered it and brought the site down. This happened with another adamant client. Put just a couple of topic related Ads on your web pages if you plan to earn from them and that to much below the fold. Search Engines can find out that the website is built for Advertisement purpose with little or no useful information for the visitors.   

Content scraping or duplicating contents have been discussed earlier.

Some More Errors      

It is very difficult to work with clients/designers with little knowledge of Seo. Why H1 Tag is not used? Why no internal linking? Would like to target our Mumbai based site to America put USA in the title.       

A site should be composed of natural elements and related contents. Websites with shallow contents rarely do well on competitive search terms. Bad architecture is another downfall. Create user friendly URLs with well defined hierarchy and create silos if possible.

Restructuring sites would invite changes in the URL structure of internal pages which the search engines would not accredit it to older URLs. Hence one remedy is placing 301 redirects and making sure that they remain that way. Changing from http: to more secure https: would also lead to changed URL. 

Bugs can introduce <nofollow/noindex> to meta of pages you wish  the search engines to crawl. Hence keep a sharp eye on these activities. Or this can unknowingly happen whence minor tweaks of edits are being made by the web designer.       

Keep analyzing the webmaster tools so as to discover any anomaly in the process and the website. Define the preferred URL and the target country. This tool will also point out duplicate titles and meta which can harm your site traffic...terribly if it concerns the home page or the main pages of your website. Likewise keep a lookout on broken links or the stagnant one callously left by the designer whence of no use.    

Accidental removal or breaking of (rel=canonical) Can also drastically bring down the traffic. 

An error can also creep into XML and HTML site maps hence keep updating and checking them.  This can also happen with Robots.txt file This is purely used to keep low quality or pages with shallow contents out of purview of search engines. 

Technologies where CMS or content management systems are in use can sometimes deliver wrong contents to search engines. So one should keep check on what the spiders are being presented.  

With complicated technology in use many things can go wrong. Hence keep tab. One should also look out for updates in case of the automated or complex platforms on which websites are built.   

It is obvious that after recent changes to its algorithms and updates Google looks evenly at the on page factors hence more attention has to  be paid to the site. In earlier time rabid link building and keyword spam was tolerated even in case of badly built sites...no more. Hence follow guidelines set by the search engines if you wish to attain more traffic.

Common Search Engine Optimization Errors

As is mentioned in the previous blog entry duplicate contents lead to a big downfall on SERPs. A poor link architecture does as well. Your links should establish a perfect hierarchy with prime placement. Duplicate page titles not properly written or too short will also affect your rankings. 

Use the title tag to inform the visitors about the page content and the location. For location one should schema mark up.   Do not stuff keywords artificially and keep the length to 75 characters with space maximum. Your title should be effective in sending the right message and fetching an impression. 

Meta Descriptions though not very active in ranking are a must in all important pages. They should effectively add to the titles message and offer more details. Some add address and phone numbers to the tag as a portion is visible on the SERPs.  The description should be about 250 characters along with spaces. The message should be very clear regarding the offerings and hence compel the visitor to click.     

Write title & meta for all pages with right meaning and accurate description. This will also help whence Google exhibits sitelinks of your websites on the SERP. Add all meta element as relevant for example use index/follow or noindex/nofollow tag in all pages. 

Analytic code missing. You will not be able to gauge the performance of your site on SERPs and analyze for future action. Google analytic code is most popular it should be added in all pages before </body> tag. Keep checking for any errors that may creep in.       

Structured markup or rich snippets are required hence we will take this aspect separately.  The rich snippets carry ratings and reviews which can be effective as conversion tool for impressions. 

Do you forget to check for broken links and old unused codes? One should regularly check for these since in case of former site navigation is affected while the latter will slow down page download.   

Absence of site maps. Both html and XML site maps are needed. The former is for visitors and the latter is for search engines.         

Adwords or Seo Campaign

Internet marketing is the buzz in business today. Be it a major company, a small firm or an individual website owner all wish for online presence. There are many options to achieve presence on the Internet but search engine optimization and Adword are most preferred. 

For business owners and the well to do I would suggest use both. The search engine optimization is a time consuming process hence in the initial stages you should take help of paid campaigns. Once your site starts ranking well you can reduces your budget for paid ads. 

Website promotion exercise leads to positioning in SERPs on targeted keywords. This is also know as organic search and is visible on the center of the page. Google Adwords are placed at the beginning of the result page usually in a light pink background.      

Adwords is a well organized and effective marketing campaign. The system is totally automated and delvers your ads on targeted search term. Seo is part of Internet Marketing campaign and can be extensive. It is a cpc campaign and charge is to be paid per click. The per click charge depends upon your bidding and hence certain level of expertise is needed. By controlling your bidding you can control your ad cost.

Here is where search engine optimization plays a role. If your seo campaign has been successful and your portal ranks on many keywords that means traffic. Using Adword campaign effectively you can take greater benefit.. If your site ranks on a good search term on first page than you do not have to place your ad on that keyword on first page, hence bid lower. 

Search engine optimization generally costs but paid campaigns may cost more. Geo targeting is essential if you wish use your ads effectively. Exclude countries in your cpc campaign  that are not targeted for your business and services. This will stop waste age of precious resources. 

Secondly try to use keywords that are effective but your website does not rank well on them. This way you will be able to increase keyword range of your website. There are lots options for placing ads in specific areas and portals as well.   A good adwords campaign management is necessary in order to meet your target.       

Hire the best seo consultant to manage both campaigns. You could also get some discount perhaps. Both the service strive to increase traffic of your site in relevant search terms. This would mean new customers for your products and services.      

Understanding Canonicalization and its role in Seo

Though seo is content driven, it is useful to understand some technical tools and their uses in optimization especially in on page optimization.

Canonicalization deals with web content having multiple url issue. In search engine optimization an operator rel=”canonical”   is used to point out the real page and make other pages irrelevant. This normally happens with undefined www version and non www version of domain name causing lots of confusion.   

Example:

http://xyz.com

http://www.xyz.com
http://www.xyz.com/

The problem can also be caused if session ID is not blocked. This is called parameter handling. There is an option for this in webmaster tools use that. Best is to:

Set your preffered domain.

Specify canonical relationship :


This should be included in the section of the non camonical web page.

Preffered URLs can also be indicated to search engines using XML Site Map.

Specify Canonical in the http header.

Link: http://www.example.com/downloads/xyz.com; rel="canonical"

Adding 301 redirect is also a good idea to control the confusing factor and direct the search engine to the right page. Please do not remove the non www version using the removal tool  Check with your hosting service how this 301 can be set. In Apache .httaccess is used to execute this job for other servers check with the hosting service.

Title and Meta Tags - Onpage optimization

One of the major constitutents of on page optimization are the title and meta tags. There have been lot of assumptions as to the quantum of importance the search engines give to the above attributes. But this is uneccessary since these are vital elements and tell the search engines and users as to what the site is about.   

How much importance these elements deliver as far as ranking are concerned depend upon overall factors. By implementing proper title tag and meta tags you are helping the site attain good position on SERPs on targeted search terms. 

These tags do not deliver miraculous results, hence use them to inform the users and search engines about what content to should expect. The users read these tags and then decide to click on the site link hence write them very carefully. 

The overall rankings come from comprehensive exercise and not by these tags alone. Building a good site is a key to success and seo is a process used for indexing and positioning the site please remember.  

While implementing tags keep the character length of the title to a certain limit and do not stuff keywords. In later stages you can add the company name well. This will be a good brand building exercise. This applies to meta tags as well. Write decently keeping user in mind. Impress him for quick response and justify by what you deliver on the website.