SEO Strategy

We all know how to optimize title tags, right?

Add your target keyword and make sure your title doesn’t exceed 60 characters.

Then, move on to something else.

Well, guess what.

There are ways to optimize your title tag to get you more targeted clicks.

How?

In this post, I’ll show you a title tag strategy I discovered using the Rank Ranger rank tracker and how you can use the strategy to increase traffic and sales.

There comes a time when a website owner wonders when it’s time to start running paid ads.

There is no question that paid ads can really move the needle for your business. Ads not only get your offers to the top of Google almost instantly but they can also help move traffic from one stage of a sales funnel to another.

The big question is:

How do you effectively run ads without wasting your hard-earned money?

In this post, I’ll be sharing some strategic thinking to help you get your paid traffic off the ground in the most cost-effective way. If you’re already getting organic traffic and you want to get started with paid ads, this post is for you.

What is brand identity? Where does it come from? How do you build it? 

There's a lot that has been said about building brand identity. Unfortunately, a lot of it is just plain wrong. 

Here's my personal take on where real brand identity comes from and how the average company can build it in a lasting way. 

No matter how many times Google denies it, we keep coming back to the idea that the search engine's broad core algorithm updates are targeting Your Money Your Life (YMYL) sites with a vengeance. It's a conversation that just won't die. With each new broad core algorithm update, we're left to wonder... is Google targeting YMYL sites? Is it not targeting YMYL sites? And if Google isn't targeting YMYL sites then why does it seem like it is?

And the reason for all of this is....

Technical content and the how-to queries that bring this content to the SERP is the bread and butter of SERP features such as Featured Snippets, Related Questions, and Video Carousels. As a result, technical content creators should be very concerned about search, and in particular SERP features.

More than being concerned, they should know what SERP features to focus on and how to hone in on them!

Let's have at it then!

How do we relate to search?

It's really a simple question: What preconceived and latent notions do we hold in regards to search? Of course, how we answer this question will also determine how we view the searcher and what we conceive they are doing when they search for something on Google. Now you can see why this little, perhaps out of place question, has far-reaching consequences.

And away we go.

Google's job listing search engine, Google for Jobs, has been around for a nice while at this point. Though, despite having spread to markets such as India and Japan, not much is known about how vast of a resource Google's job compilation database is. For job sites such as CareerBuilder, how big a traffic determent is Google's job SERP feature? For job seekers, how deep does this canyon of job listings go? Is the job depository growing or is it stagnant? Simply, what is the state of Google for Jobs?

Care to find out?

As time has gone on, how we measure effective Google rankings has evolved. We're at one of those moments in time (again) where the ranking paradigm is changing/has changed. As you'll see, ranking above the fold is more important than ever. It's why we created a tool as part of our Beta Blitz SEO reporting initiative that tells you just that: Are you ranking above the fold or can no one see your site despite it ranking so well?

So then, why is ranking above the fold so important and how do you get there? The experts weigh in.

Back in 2016, AMP, Google's open source project to make a speedier mobile web , was all the rage. AMP was going to be the next big thing. Fast forward three or so years into the future and AMP, while still significant, is not the dominant force we thought it would be. AMP seems to have lost a bit of steam. Though still very much a part of the search marketing dialogue, AMP has faced some pretty significant obstacles that have downgraded its "SEO prestige."

Here's why I think AMP has hit a wall.

Google took its 20th anniversary as an opportunity to hang a pinata of search updates that have already begun to rain down on us. From "topic layers" in what is an all but transcendental Knowledge Panel, to Google pulling site content to create its own version of AMP Stories, the updates announced at Google's 20th birthday bash event are set to change the way users interact with search.

Here's what I think the common denominator between the changes is, what it means for search, and what you might want to do about it!

Dealing with feature heavy SERPs is a big problem for a lot of folks. I went around and asked some pretty smart people what they thought the best way is to handle ranking amidst Google's SERP features. The idea was to combine the different pieces of the puzzle into one resource.

To be blunt, this is not another roundup so that a bunch of people can walk away with links where nobody really says much of anything. These are the best thoughts these fantastic folks have on how to deal with a SERP where Google is a formidable competitor.

In the not too distant past, I wrote a piece highlighting how machine learning has impacted rank volatility (in that rank is considerably more volatile). At the time, we touched on what machine learning means for understanding how ranking works and how the process directly influences rank. Here, we'll get into the nitty-gritty of it all by analyzing the holy of holies of optimization information, ranking factor studies, particularly niche ranking studies by asking one very simple question .... Do ranking factors studies still apply in a world where machine learning and intent reign supreme, and if so, to what extent?