On-page SEO is one of the main components of SEO and can benefit your site in several ways.

In this article, we will introduce you to on-page SEO, tell you why it is essential, and teach you how to optimize your content for on-page SEO.

• What Is On-Page SEO?
• Why Is On-Page SEO Important?
• How to Optimize Your Content for On-Page SEO 
  • Use Keywords Early
  • Apply H1 and H2 Tags to Headings and Subheadings
  • Optimize Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
  • Use a Good URL Structure
  • Create Unique and Valuable Content
  • Pay Attention to Image SEO

What Is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the pages on your website for search engines and visitors in order to boost your rankings in search results and improve your user experience.

Also sometimes referred to as on-site SEO, it is the opposite of off-page SEO and is considered one of the four main pillars of SEO. 

Aspects of on-page SEO include:

• Meta descriptions
• Title tags
• Headings and subheadings
• HTML code
• Internal links
• On-page content
• URL optimization
• Images and virtual assets
• User experience
• Site speed

Why Is On-Page SEO Important? 

As one of the four key aspects of SEO, on-page SEO offers a plethora of benefits for your site.

That is because many of the essential signals Google uses to determine a page’s rank come from the different elements of on-page SEO. 

When done correctly, on-page SEO can help search engines better understand your site, which can improve your website’s search visibility and increase its traffic. 

On top of that, high-ranking sites often have better click-through rates (CTR), which can lead to an increase in sales and conversions. 

For these reasons, on-page SEO should be a vital part of your SEO strategy.

How to Optimize Your Content for On-Page SEO 

That you know what on-page SEO is and understand its significance, we will share some tips for how to optimize your content for on-page SEO.

For best results, these tips should be combined to get the most out of your on-page SEO. 

Use Keywords Early

Using valuable keywords in your content is an absolute must for SEO in general, but for on-page SEO, it’s also important that you use those same keywords early on in your content, preferably in the first paragraph.

Keywords give search engines a good idea of what your content is about, and when you use your target keywords in the first paragraph you make it clear to search engines and readers what the topic and purpose of the article are. 

When you optimize your content for on-page SEO, choose valuable keywords and try to use them in one of your first few sentences.

Apply H1 and H2 Tags to Headings and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings are used to organize your content and make it clear to search engines that your content has a hierarchy.

When you use H1 and H2 tags for your heading and subheadings, you give Google valuable insight into what the paragraphs following those headings and subheadings are about.

They serve as “titles” to inform readers and search engines about the sections of your content (for easy scanning), as well as how your content is structured within a page. 

Google pays a lot of attention to the user experience of a page, so the better job you do of using headers to make your content easy to read and understand for your readers, the higher Google will rank your page. 

Optimize Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Google considers title tags valuable search engine ranking factors, so like your content, you want to optimize them using the same keywords as your content. 

And while meta descriptions might not count as a ranking factor, they can have an impact on your user experience which is good for SEO. 

That is why it’s important to optimize both your title tags and meta descriptions for SEO by using the same keywords you used for your pages’ content. 

Use a Good URL Structure

Like your title tags and meta descriptions, your URL structure should tell visitors and search engines what your page is pertaining to. 

Try to keep your URLs short and to the point, and be sure to use your keywords so it is easy to tell what that page’s content will cover. 

Create Unique and Valuable Content

Another key component of on-page SEO is the value of a page’s content. The better you can satisfy searchers’ needs, the higher your page will rank. 

That means if you want your page to rank well, it should bring something unique or valuable to the table. 

If your page can answer searchers’ unanswered questions, or do a better job of answering them than other existing pages, it can provide a major boost to that page’s SEO. 

It’s important that you also try to avoid publishing duplicate content as it can lead to keyword cannibalization which can steal value from other pages. 

Pay Attention to Image SEO

Most of the on-page SEO factors we have covered have focused on written content, but it’s important not to forget about your images as well.

If possible, your content should have photos and those photos should be optimized for search engines as well. Not only are visitors much more likely to engage with a page with pictures over a page that is just a block of text, but well-optimized images can also serve as a positive ranking factor for search engines.

The goal should be to use images or graphics that add depth to your content and make it easier for readers and search engines to understand what your page is about. 

If you want to make your images stand out, check out these 11 Tips to Optimize Images for Search Engines.

On-page SEO is one of the most important components of SEO and it can have a big effect on your rankings, traffic, and user experience.

In fact, by not paying attention to your on-page SEO, you are missing out on a massive opportunity to make your content more appealing to your readers as well as search engines. 

Want to stay away from other costly SEO blunders? Check out 8 Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid.

Google search operators can help you narrow down your search results to find more specific information.

In this article, we will explain what Google search operators are and how they are used, as well as introduce you to some basic, advanced, and other search operators.

• What are Google Seach Operators?
• Basic Search Operators
• Advanced Search Operators
• Unreliable and Deprecated Operators
• Tips for Using Google Search Operators

What Are Google Search Operators?

Google Search Operators (also known as “advanced operators”) are a combination of special words and/or characters that can be added to a given search term in order to enable you to get more granular results.

They are used to narrow down and refine search results so they share more specific information that likely wouldn’t show up with a normal query, which makes Google search results more accurate and effective. 

These refined search queries can be used in almost any Google search box. 

Basic Google Search Operators

Below is a list of search operators that work with Google’s basic search functions. 

• “ ”: Putting any term or phrase inside quotation marks can force Google to only show exact matches for that term or phrase.
• OR: Tells Google to use OR instead of the default AND between search terms
• |: Pipe separators return the same results as OR.
• (): Can be used to group operators together as well as control the order in which operators are executed.
• –: Dashes or minus signs can be placed in front of any term to exclude that term from the search results.
• *: This is a commonly used wild card symbol that widens a search by finding words that start with the same letters.
• #..#: Using (..) with numbers on either side of it will match any integer within that given range of numbers.
• $: The dollar sign operator allows you to search for prices in dollars.
• €: The euro sign operator allows you to search for prices in euros.
• In: can be used to convert numbers between two equivalents.
• author: Can help you find results that include articles by the author you specify.
• define: Using the define search operator tells Google to only show definitions from pages on the web for the term that follows the operator in your search. 
• cache: Placing cache: before a URL will display Google’s cached version of a web page instead of the current version of the page.

Advanced Google Search Operators

Some search operators can only be used with a Google advanced search.

These operators include:

• intitle: restricts results to documents containing the term in the title.
• allintitle: limits results to only those containing all the query terms you specify in the title.
• inurl: results are limited to documents that contain that word in the URL.
• allinurl: only shows results that contain all the query terms you specify in the URL.
• intext: Only documents containing the term in the text are shown in the results.
• allintext: Like intext, but only shows results that contain all of the words you specified.
• insubject: restricts search results to articles that contain the terms you specify in the subject.
• filetype: Using the filetype operator will limit results to pages whose names end in your specified filetype suffix.
• location: Using this operator in a Google News search means that only articles from the specified location will be shown in results.
• related: This will return a list of web pages that are similar to the web page you specify.
• AROUND(X): The (X) stands for a number. This operator limits results to those where the two terms or phrases are within (X) words of each other.

Unreliable and Deprecated Operators

Not all search operators are reliable, and some have even been deprecated by Google altogether.

Below is a list of operators that may not work or return inconsistent results if used:

• ~: Returns results that include synonyms for the term you specify.
• +: This operator can be used to force exact matches for a single term or phrase.
• daterange: an inconsistent search operator that returns results published within the specified date range.   
• link: Tells Google to show pages that point to the specified URL.
• inanchor: Restricts results to pages containing the query term you specify in the anchor text or links to the page.
• allinanchor: This will tell Google to only show results to pages containing all the query terms you specify in the anchor text on links to the page.

Tips for Using Google Search Operators

Google search operators can be helpful when you need to find refined results.

Below we share some tips for how to use them effectively. 

Combine Search Operators 

Just about all basic and advanced Google search operators can be combined to further refine your search results. 

If using one search operator does not produce your desired results, sometimes adding one or more others can help you find the information you are seeking. 

Remove Spaces 

For best results, remove any unnecessary spaces between terms, phrases, and search operators.

The cleaner your search query, the better your results will be. 

Exclude Low-Value Terms or Phrases

If a term or phrase does not have high value, it might be best to leave it out of your searches. 

If you don’t want to leave a word out, you can also use a hyphen to separate words and avoid content that isn’t helpful.

Find Plagiarized Content

Plagiarism is unfortunate, but there is not really much you can do to prevent it from happening. 

The good news is you can use search operators to track down any plagiarized content.

A good way to do this is to use the “intext” operator to search for a phrase outside your own site.

If you want your search results to be more refined, or need to find very specific information, Google search operators can be a useful tool. 

Next time you need to narrow down your search results, find an operator you think applies to the information you are looking for, then try combining it with your search terms and phrases. 

Looking to expand your knowledge of how Google search works? Check out Search Intent and SEO.

Local citations are any mention or listing of your business on the internet and serve as a key ranking factor for local SEO.

In this article, we will introduce you to local citations, explain why they are important, and teach you how to get local citations. 

• What Are Local Citations?
• Types of Local Citations
• Why Do Local Citations Matter?
• Local Citation Factors
• How to Get Local Citations

What are Local Citations?

A local citation is any mention of your business on the internet that includes some or all of your business information such as name, address, phone number (also known as NAP), or website. 

These citations help search users find your business in local searches as they can also have an impact on where you show up in search results. 

Local citations are everywhere and are commonly found on things like business directories, social media sites, and aggregation websites. 

Types of Local Citations

There are two different types of local citations: structured and unstructured.

Let’s take a look at what makes the two different and some examples of each:

Structured

Any listing of your business on formal directories such as data platforms and major directories is considered to be a structured citation. 

These citations include information like your business name, address, and phone number and are listed on third-party websites or in relevant business directories such as Apple Maps, Google My Business, Nextdoor, or Yelp. 

Most structured citations are posted on popular websites that have pre-existing databases of business information and are deemed trustworthy by Google. 

Below are some different examples of structured citations:

• Search engines: Properties like Google, Bing, and Yandex.
• Social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
• Major directories or platforms: Yelp, Yellowpages, and the Better Business Bureau.
• Primary data aggregators: These are organizations such as Foursquare, Neustar Localeze, Factual, and Data Axle. 
• Industry-specific platforms: Platforms or websites that are more specific to your industry such as your local chamber of commerce website or professional associations that support your industry. 
• Your own website: Your website can and should be the most accurate and authoritative representation of your business on the web. NAP info is important, but your website should also include other accurate info-related items like your operating hours, description of your business, company logo, and a business email address that customers can use to get in touch with you.

Unstructured

Unstructured citations also include key information about your business, but what makes them different from structured citations is that the information is not grouped together in a formal business directory.

You can usually find these types of citations on reviews, wikis, government databases, blog posts, or online news articles that mention your business. 

While they are not purposefully structured for publication on local business listings, they do still serve as a reference to your business.

The best unstructured local citations you can get are ones that link to your business.

Why Do Local Citations Matter?

The short answer for why local citations are important is that they improve your local SEO, which gives you a better chance of getting your business in front of your customers when they perform local searches. 

As far as where local citations fit in with local SEO, there are four main perks:

Verification

The first benefit of citations is that they verify to Google and other search engines that your business exists and is legitimate.

When you have citations on multiple trusted online directories, it tells search engines that your business is trustworthy and has accurate NAP information. 

Local Rankings

On top of verifying your legitimacy to search engines, citations can also give you a better chance of showing up in local search results. 

Citations are believed to serve as a ranking factor for local search, so having credible citations can give you a boost when it comes to local search. 

The more trustworthy Google determines you are, the more likely it is to include you in search results. 

Page One Piggybacking 

If you search for the best type of cuisine in just about any city, TripAdvisor and Yelp are almost certain to be among the first few results. 

Having citations on trusted directories like that will give your site the best chance of potentially piggybacking off those first-page results. 

Help Customers Find You

You want it to be as easy as possible for your customers to find you, and that’s going to be hard to do if you don’t have local citations. 

A recent Bright Local survey found that 93% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year. 

When you have credible citations on the internet, you make sure your customers are able to find that information when they search locally.

Local Citation Factors

When Google and other search engines use citations to assess your local search value, there are four key factors taken into consideration:

• Accuracy: How accurate is your key information?. If your basic contact information is not the same across most or all of your citations, it will hurt your chances of being included in local search results.
• Distribution: How many citations you have also plays a part in local search. It is important to have at least a few citations in trusted online directories so Google can verify your info.
• Quality: It is good to have several citations, but it’s also important to make sure they are quality citations as well. Quality is determined by the authority of the online directories and other platforms that list your citations.
• Relevance: Citations on popular platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook are great places to start, but it can also be helpful to be listed on industry-specific sites relevant to your business. 

How to Optimize Local Citations

To squeeze the most value out of local citations, here are some tips on how to optimize them for search engines.

• Consistent NAP Information: The most important element of citations is to have accurate information. If you don’t have consistent NAP information across your citations, you’re sending Google mixed signals and hurting your shot at being ranked. 
• Descriptions: Your business description should be used to help search engines better understand your business. One way you can do that is by including your most relevant keywords in your description. 
• Photos: Nearly 28% of all Google search traffic goes to the images indexed by Google Images, so having photos for your business might give you an edge when in local search results. Learn how to optimize your photos for search engines. 

How to Get Local Citations

There are a few different ways to go about getting your business listed on the internet. 

Below are four suggestions that can help you get local citations:

Submit Your NAP to High-Value Sites

One of the first things you should do when pursuing citations is to go ahead and get your business listed on all of the key business directories and platforms. 

We already know that quality is a factor with citations, so start with the major players like Facebook, Apple Maps, Yelp, and Yellowpages. 

Just having a few credible citations listed on the platforms mentioned above can go a long way for your local SEO.

Data Aggregators

Individually submitting your NAP information to different directories and platforms is a surefire way to get your business listed, but it can be rather time-consuming to tackle on your own.

Thankfully, there are companies known as data aggregators that collect your NAP and other information and then distribute it to large groups of online directories and websites. 

To make your business accessible to those groups, check out aggregators like FourSquare, Data Axle, and Neustar Localeze. 

Don’t Ignore Local and Industry-Specific Platforms

Data aggregators can be helpful in casting a wide net, but sometimes you can see better results by getting your business listed on local and industry-specific websites.

A lot of people look to their local chamber of commerce for recommendations or turn to an industry association to find out what businesses are popular for a certain type of business.

Though these platforms might not have as wide of a reach, they do have a target audience who may be looking for your business based on industry or location. 

Pursue Unstructured Citations

Unstructured citations might not present as much value as fully structured citations, but they can definitely still be beneficial.

The biggest downfall about them is that unstructured citations are definitely harder to get than structured citations because you will need someone to care about your business enough that they are willing to write about it.

However, things like product reviews, press mentions, and blog articles about your business all have value, and many even link directly to your website.

If you have built up a good share of structured citations but are looking for more, unstructured citations can be worth your time if you are willing to put in the work to secure them. 

Local citations help verify your business online, improve your local search rankings, and make it easier for your customers to find you and your key information.

Before you dive into pursuing citations, make sure you have all your NAP and other important business information updated so that any new citations will have all the accurate and consistent details about your business. 

If you have exhausted all your avenues for local citations and want to learn how to take your company global, check out these International SEO Best Practices.

Duplicate content can confuse users and search engines, and eventually lead to lower rankings in search results if not handled properly. 

In this article, we will explain what exactly duplicate content is, teach you why it can be a problem for SEO, and share some tips for how to handle and avoid duplicate content issues on your website. 

• What is Duplicate Content?
• Why Duplicate Content is an Issue for SEO
• How to Fix Duplicate Content Issues

What is Duplicate Content?

Duplicate content is content that appears in multiple locations within or across more than one domain on the internet.

Any content that appears on more than one URL runs the risk of being deemed duplicate content. 

Whether it is a direct copy of an entire page or content that features substantive blocks of similar or identical text that exists on another URL, it is most likely duplicate content. 

Types of Duplicate Content

There are two types of duplicate content that website owners have to deal with:

Onsite: Having the same content duplicated on multiple URLs on your own site. This is something you can fix internally.

Offsite: When the content of your page is the exact same as the content that has been published by one or more other websites. While you can’t prevent this from happening, fixing it requires working with the owners of the offending websites to get the duplicate content removed. 

If you find that another website has copied your content, the first thing you can do is visit that site’s contact page to find an email address, then send them an email requesting to have duplicate content removed. To make your email more persuasive, inform them that you will be filing a DMCA complaint against them if the content is not taken down quickly. 

Hopefully, that works, but if not, you can use Digital.com’s Hosting Checker Tool to find out who is hosting the offending website. 

Once you have that info, contact the web host with proof that you are the original author of the stolen content and ask that they take it down. 

Many web hosts such as InMotion Hosting even have an automated Trademark Notice From in place so you can submit stolen content for an official review to have it removed. 

How Duplicate Content Can Hinder SEO Efforts

According to Google, having duplicate content on your site will not negatively affect your rankings: 

“Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. If your site suffers from duplicate content issues, and you don’t follow the advice listed in this document, we do a good job of choosing a version of the content to show in our search results.”

However, while duplicate content does not directly impact you in the search results as a ranking factor, what it does do is make it more difficult for Google and other search engines to determine which page to suggest to search users. 

Those same guidelines tell us that Google tries hard to index and show pages with distinct information. That means Google is looking for pages with unique content.

When you publish duplicate content on your site, the individual pages that feature that duplicate content lose their value of being unique, and Google will note that when crawling and indexing your site.

Google does a decent job at picking which page to show to users, but sometimes it gets it wrong. If that’s the case, you run the risk of your target audience not seeing or engaging with your content, which will hurt your user experience and eventually cause those individual pages to rank lower.

How to Fix Duplicate Content Issues

The good news is that if you do have duplicate content there are some steps you can take to make sure Google shows visitors the content you want them to see. 

Below are some tips you can use to control the content Google shows:

Canonical Tags

The best available solution for duplicate content if you have multiple pages with largely identical content on your website is to tell Google which URL you want it to show in search results.

This can be done using canonical tags. These tags tell Google and other search engines which URL is the master copy of a page and should be the canonical URL. 

Unless you specify a canonical URL to Google, Google will make that decision for you. And the URL it chooses might not be the one you want to send traffic to. 

On top of specifying your chosen URL to Google, canonical tags have a couple of other benefits:

• Consolidate link signals for duplicate content
• Simplify teaching for duplicate pages
• Manage syndicated content
• Make the most of your crawl budget

If you haven’t implemented canonical tags and want to know which URL Google considers the canonical URL for duplicate pages on your site, you can find that information using Google’s URL inspection tool. 

301 Redirects

301 redirects can be helpful if you have restructured your site.

Also known as “RedirectPermanent”, 301 redirects inform search engines that an old link has been replaced by a new one. They can be used in your .htaccess file to redirect users, Googlebot, and other crawling spiders to the correct URL. 

Learn How to Set Up a 301 Redirect in .htaccess.

Be Consistent

Once you have decided which URL you want to use as the primary one for internal linking purposes, be consistent about only linking to that primary URL. 

As an example, you do not want to link to http://www.example.com/page/, http://www.example.com/page, and http://www.example.com/page/index.htm when all three pages contain the same info. 

Choose one and stick to it. 

Use TLDs

International SEO can provide a big boost for your business in the search results, but if you use different URLs to serve up country-specific content, it is important to use the correct URL structure to tell Google which version of a page to serve up.

For instance, Google’s guidelines tell us that it is more likely to know that http://www.example.de contains Germany-focused content than http://www.example.com/de or http://de.example.com.

Syndicate Carefully

Content syndication can be a great way to reach an audience, but it’s important to know that Google will always show the version it believes to be the most appropriate for users in each given search, and that may or may not be the version of that content you would prefer.

As a standard best practice for syndication, make sure each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article.

If you have a good relationship with the sites that syndicate your content, you can also ask them to use the noindex tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of your content.

Minimize Boilerplate Repetition 

Boilerplates can be a great opportunity to give an overview of your company but there is no need to include a large paragraph about your company at the bottom of every page. 

Instead of having your boilerplate on all your pages, include a very brief description and use it to link to a URL that has the full details about your company. 

Don’t Publish Stubs

Building empty pages can be helpful as placeholders when you are building a site, but “stubs” —  or “empty pages” — don’t go over well with users. 

Google suggests that you don’t publish a page that isn’t finished or doesn’t have real content.

If you do need to publish a page as a placeholder, use the noindex tag to block your unfinished pages from being indexed.

Understand Your CMS

Whether you use WordPress or another content management system (CMS), make sure you have a good understanding of how content is displayed on your website.

Things such as blogs, internet forums, and other similar systems often show the same versions of content in multiple formats. 

If your CMS is using multiple formats as the same content, all those formats are competing for the same traffic.  

Minimize Similar Content

As we covered above, it should be your goal to have unique content on each page of your website.

If you find that you have several pages with similar content, consider expanding that content to make it more specifically targeted for each page, or consolidating all that content into a single page that can serve as a valuable resource for traffic. 

Duplicate content itself is not a terrible issue, but it can become a problem if you don’t handle it correctly. 

If you do have duplicate content on your website, it’s important to go through the necessary steps to make sure Google and other search engines know which version of that content you want to draw traffic. 

Otherwise, you run the risk of confusing users and search engines, which can lead to a drop in your rankings. 

Did you know that duplicate content is one of the most common SEO mistakes website owners make? Check out some other tips to keep you out of trouble with 8 Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid.

SEO takes a lot of time and effort, but just because you put in the work, does not guarantee you will see results. 

In fact, many companies spend a lot of their mental bandwidth on optimizing their website for SEO, but they may actually be doing more harm than good by making some common SEO mistakes. 

In this article, we will introduce you to several of the most commonly-made SEO mistakes and teach you how you can correct or avoid them altogether.

• Using the Wrong Keywords
• Sleeping on Speed
• Forgetting About Local Search
• Failing to Use Unique Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
• Not Using Analytics
• Creating Poor-Quality Content
• Not Making Mobile SEO a Priority 
• Duplicate Content 

Common SEO Mistakes

From local small businesses to large corporate companies, here are the SEO mistakes that happen most often:

Using the Wrong Keywords

Creating content around targeted keywords is standard SEO best practice and something you should definitely be doing, but it’s important to ensure you are targeting the right keywords. 

One of the most common SEO mistakes is trying to rank for the wrong keywords. Just because a keyword has a high search volume doesn’t mean you should target it.

If you want your content to rank, you have to optimize it for the right keywords.

Below are some examples of keywords you want to avoid targeting:

• Global keywords: Keywords that target a multitude of regions worldwide when you only offer your services locally. 
• Generic keywords: Keywords used to bring people to your site who are not your target audience or customer base. 
• Low-value keywords: Keywords that attract visitors in search of free information but not potential customers who actually want to make a purchase.
• Board keywords: High-competition keywords that will be extremely hard to rank for 

Instead of aiming for the keyword examples above, focus on coming up with keywords that are more specific. The longer and more specific your keywords are, the better chance you have of ranking for those keywords. 

Sleeping on Speed

Everyone loves a fast website, especially Google. The faster your site, the more likely Google is to show it some love. The slower your site, the more likely it is to fall in the rankings.

If you know your website has speed issues, doing what you can to make it faster should be one of your top SEO priorities. 

This also applies to WordPress installations. If you are the owner of a WordPress website, it’s a good idea to take a look at which plugins you have activated. 

Are you using all of your activated plugins? If not, they could be slowing down your website. 

Review all your activated plugins to see if any can be removed. If there are none that can be removed, maybe some of your plugins could be replaced with a single plugin that combines several of those functions. 

If you are not sure how fast your site is, check out the free and useful Google PageSpeed Insights tool. 

All you have to do is enter a URL, and Google will give you an overview of what elements you can improve on to enhance the speed of a given page.

Make the changes Google suggests, and you should see an improvement in your site speed and eventually in your rankings. 

Looking for a quick way to speed up your website? Learn how image SEO can give your website speed a boost. 

Forgetting About Local Search

When you optimize your content, it’s important to remember to optimize it for local SEO as well.

If you have a business that focuses on customers who live within a specific city or region, knowing how to optimize your content for local search is an absolute must. 

This includes using region-specific keywords in your content, title tags, and meta descriptions, as well as including your local address and phone number on your pages. 

The goal is to provide visitors with consistent and accurate information about your business and making it easy to find. Doing this will give you a good chance of showing up in local search results.

Failing to Use Unique Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

If you are one of the companies that use your company or website name for the title of all of your web pages, you are missing a massive opportunity to optimize those pages for search engines. 

Every page on your website should have its own unique title that should describe what the purpose of that page is. 

Why? Because your title tags are used as the text for bookmarks when someone bookmarks your page, and those titles are often when your article is shared on social media. 

If you want to consistently include your company or website name in your page titles, that’s fine, but do it at the end of the title after you’ve already used the specific keyword that page is targeting. 

It is also important to not forget about your meta descriptions.

Meta descriptions are your chance to pitch your webpage to search users. You have 160 characters to tell users why your page is worth clicking on. Those 160 characters should include your target keywords and make users want to click on your link in the search results.

Not Using Analytics

No matter how much time and effort you pour into optimizing your website, it can all be wasted if you are not utilizing analytics. 

The only way you can measure success is by tracking it. 

Using free tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console, you can track your optimization efforts to see which strategies work and which ones do not. 

Once you have that information, it will be much easier to optimize your content and know what you are doing is producing results.

Creating Poor-Quality Content

When it comes to SEO, content is king. No matter what SEO best practices or standards you incorporate, they won’t go very far for you if you don’t have high-quality content. 

Below are some of the most common mistakes people make when forgetting to create good content. 

• Too short: Content needs to be at least 300 words to give Google enough copy to determine what a page is about. If you write less than 300 words, you are more or less telling Google your page isn’t a good match for the search query. 
• Prioritizing search engines over website visitors: It’s important to always keep your audience in mind. 
• Unoriginal content: If your content is not original and brings nothing of real value to the table, it will get lost in the shuffle. 
• Keyword stuffing: Keyword stuffing used to be an SEO tactic, but now it can actually get you dinged by Google. If you are focusing on cramming in keywords instead of making the text easy to read and consume for your visitors, your content won’t shine.

It’s a great idea to have the content on your site optimized, but if neglect to think about the impression your content will have on your visitors, all that optimization can be for naught. 

To earn your visitors’ trust, focus on producing high-quality, original content that is both unique and valuable, then you can turn your attention to optimizing your pages for SEO. 

Not Making Mobile SEO a Priority 

Much like local SEO, mobile SEO can have a huge impact on how your content is ranked. 

Google switched to mobile-first indexing on July 1, 2019. What that means is that Google now predominantly uses the mobile version of your content for indexing and ranking, and uses that version to figure out how high your content should rank. 

That means if you spend all your time making a beautiful desktop version of your website but neglect the mobile experience, your rankings will reflect that. Google recommends that your content be the same on both mobile and desktop versions of your website. 

Google also says that you should make sure that the descriptive title and meta description are equivalent across both versions of your site.

If you want to check and see how mobile-friendly your site is to use, you can do so with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, which tells you how easy it is for visitors to access and use your site on mobile devices. 

If you find that your site isn’t meeting your mobile expectations, you can audit your site by browsing it on a mobile device. Spend some time on the mobile version of your site, visit all your pages, click on all your links, buttons, and images, and see how your site responds. 

Mobile usage is here to stay and it’s becoming more important every day. If you take the time to optimize your site for mobile, you should notice an improvement in your rankings. 

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can kill your SEO. 

Not only can it lead to keyword cannibalization, but it can also cause Google to harshly penalize your site. 

Some SEOs deliberately duplicate content on their site in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or draw more traffic, but when they do this, Google makes appropriate adjustments in how it indexes and ranks those sites.

This can hurt you big time in the rankings, but even worse, it can also lead to Google removing your site from the Google index altogether. 

If that happens, you will need to make changes to your site, then submit it to Google for reconsideration.

Even then, there is no guarantee your site will be added back to the rankings. 

It is not worth the risk. To be safe, avoid creating duplicate content. 

Optimizing your website for SEO is a great idea, but like many things, you want to make sure you are doing it the right way.

Otherwise, you risk making common SEO mistakes that plague poorly-optimized sites, which can actually hurt your standings in search results. 

On the other hand, if you focus on SEO and avoid the mistakes we covered, you should be well on your way to giving your site a boost in the SERPs. 

Not sure where you stand in the rankings? Learn how to find your SEO ranking online. 

International SEO is the process of optimizing your website for different countries and languages.

It can improve your website’s organic presence in international markets and help you get your products, content, and services in front of a global audience.

In this article, we will introduce you to international SEO, explain its impact on your website, and outline some international SEO best practices to help you take your company global. 

• What is International SEO?
• Why is International SEO Important?
• Types of International Websites
• International SEO Best Practices

What is International SEO?

International SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that Google and other search engines know precisely what countries you want to target and which languages are used for your business.

It incorporates many standard SEO best practices but focuses on targeting different audiences across diverse geographic regions.

The goal of international SEO is to create a better experience for all of your international visitors by making sure they see content that is relevant to them and in their native language. 

Why is International SEO Important?

Not all websites need to be optimized for international audiences.

However, if you know that a decent amount of your visitors are coming from different countries, then international SEO can do a lot to improve your reach. 

When it comes to SEO, one of the most important parts is being able to match user search intent. Google automatically interprets search intent and shows users the search results that align with their intent, with locality being built into those results.

If you are working with an international audience or customer base, your website can be much more effective when it is optimized for your users’ specific languages and the countries they come from.

Types of International Websites

When it comes to international websites, there are two primary kinds of websites: multilingual and multi-regional.

Let’s take a look at what differentiates the two types of websites:

• Multilingual: Any website that offers content in more than one language. As an example, we will use a Canadian business that has both English and French versions of its site. In this case, Google Search will attempt to find only pages that match the language of the searcher.
• Multi-regional: Any website that explicitly targets users in different countries. For example, say there is a product manufacturer that ships to both Mexico and the United States. For instances like this, Google Search will aim to find the right local page for the searcher.

Of note, It is possible for some sites to be both multi-regional and multilingual. An example of this could be a site that might have different versions for the USA and for Canada and both French and English versions of the Canadian content.

International SEO Best Practices

Now that you know what international SEO is and how it can impact your business, let’s take a look at some international SEO best practices.

URL Structure for International Sites

When it comes to using a website to target particular countries, there are a few different URL structures that webmasters can utilize to accomplish that goal.

Google suggests that you consider using a URL structure that makes it easy to geotarget your site, or parts of it, to different regions.

Here is a breakdown of the options available for using locale-specific URLs:

• ccTLD: Country-code top-level domain names are two-letter domains that are tied to a specific country and provide a strong signal to both users and search engines that your site is explicitly intended for a certain country. Example: yourbusiness.us, yourbusiness.uk
• gTLD: Generic top-level domains are three or more letter domains that tell search engines not to restrict results based on a region, but they may result in a loss of traffic because many sites prefer ccTLDs. Example: yourbusiness.com
• Subdomain: Subdomains can be used in order to combine aspects of ccTLDs and gTLDs. Doing this can offer you the advantage of using a country code as a gTLD. Example: uk.yourbusiness.com
• Subdirectory: Subdirectories can also be used to change the location of the country code. Example: yourbusiness.com/uk
• gTLG with language parameters: This option uses a general TLD, but is targeted at speakers of a specific language by utilizing a URL parameter. Example: yourbusiness.com/?lang=en-us
• Different domain: Using a different domain means that your international content will be placed on its own separate root domain from your non-international site. Example: yourbusinessussite.com

URLs are interpreted differently depending on which search engine you use, and each of the above URL structures comes with its own pros and cons. Before you decide on a URL structure, it’s worth taking a closer look at each to see which one is best for your needs. 

Use Language-Targeting 

Another way to optimize your website for international SEO is to language target your website. 

You can do this by using a hreflang tag to show Google and other search engines which languages your website is designed to handle. 

These HTML attributes tell Google which geographic area to serve a webpage to and what language that page should be served in. 

For example, the following hreflang tag lets Google knows there’s an alternative page available in Italian, allowing Google to rank the correct page:

<link rel=”alternate” href=”http:/yourbusiness.com/it” hreflang=”it-it”/>

Translate Content Carefully

If you want to take international SEO seriously, try to avoid machine translations. While it may seem like a quick and easy option to translate a page, machine translations are still not accurate enough to live up to Google’s standards. 

That means you will want to take the time to go through all the elements of your website to ensure they are translated correctly. While this obviously applies to your content, it also applies to things like time zones, currency, and contact info such as addresses and phone numbers. 

When you make the effort to do this, you tell searchers that they are in the right place and increase the likelihood that they will have a positive experience on your site. 

Give Users Options

The whole point of international SEO is to serve up content that matches local user expectations, but that is not to say you should automatically make that decision for your users. 

While it might seem like a good idea to automatically redirect a user to a different language based on the location of their IP address, this can actually do more harm than good.

In fact, automatic redirections can actually prevent users (and search engines) from viewing all the versions of your site.

Not everyone speaks the same language that is associated with their location, so you should give your users the option to choose a different language version of a page instead of automatically redirecting them.

International SEO isn’t something that every business needs, but it can be beneficial for businesses with a large number of customers from another county or who speak another language.

If you know you have that type of market, then optimizing your site for your international customers can give you a boost in the global rankings. 

Want to keep learning? Check out Image SEO: 11 Tips to Optimize Images for Search Engines.

Image SEO is your opportunity to give the images on your website the best chance of ranking in Google search results. 

Not only does it make your website and content more helpful for visitors, but it can also give you a major boost in traffic.

In this article, we will introduce you to image SEO and explain why it matters so much for your website’s overall SEO.

We will also teach you how to fully optimize all of your images for search engines by sharing 11 helpful image SEO best practices that will give you the best chance of standing out in Google search results.

• What is Image SEO?
• Why is Image SEO Important?
• 11 Tips to Optimize Images for Search Engines

What is Image SEO?

Image SEO is the process of optimizing the images on your website on search engines.

Just like optimizing your content for SEO, image SEO makes your content more helpful for readers as well as easier to find in search engines.

By adding more context to the images on your website you make yourself more useful in search results, which can lead to an increase in the traffic to your site. 

Why is Image SEO Important?

As we covered above, image SEO is your chance to make yourself more appealing to both visitors and search engines like Google.

If you are not using images with your content or not optimizing your images for search engines, you are missing out on a massive chance to boost your site’s SEO.

Nearly 1 billion people use Google Images every day, and Google search stats show that around 28% of all Google search traffic goes to the images indexed by Google Images.

When Google crawls and indexes your site, it takes all the elements of your website into consideration, including your images. 

That means if you aren’t using images in your content you could be missing out on a potentially huge source of exposure and traffic. 

By following some image SEO best practices, you can aid in the discovery process by making sure that your images and your site are optimized for Google Images.

11 Tips to Optimize Images for Search Engines

Now that you understand what image SEO is and why it can be so valuable, we will cover some essential best practices to stick to when optimizing images for search engines.

By following these guidelines you will increase the likelihood that your images will appear in Google Images search results.

Always Use Images

The most basic image SEO tip of all that we have to be sure to cover first is to always use images with your content. 

As we highlighted above, more than a quarter of all Google searches happen on Google Images every day. 

Plus, images both make your content more appealing and help readers better understand your article. The better user experience readers have on your site, the higher your content will rank.

If for any reason you aren’t using images in your content yet, you should make that a major part of your current SEO goals list. 

Original Images > Stock Photos

If you want to make your photos stand out from the crowd, try to avoid using too many stock images. 

Filling your site with nothing but generic stock images can make it look bland and unoriginal.

Instead, opt for original, high-quality images when possible. The more original images on your site, the better your chances are of ranking on relevant searches.

Whatever image you choose to use, it should reflect the topic of your content or have illustrative purposes that add value to your article. 

Choose the Right Format

When it comes to images, there is no such thing as a perfect format. What format you use depends on the kind of image and what you intend to use it for. 

Below are the different formats and what we recommend using them for:

• PNG: Great for better quality images or if you want to preserve background transparency in an image, but it does come with a larger file size.
• JPEG: Doesn’t have as good quality as PNG, but has a relatively small file size.
• WebP: WebP offers much better compression than PNG or JPEG, but it is not as well supported as other formats. 
• SVG: The ideal format for things like elements, icons, and diagrams. 
• GIF: Format that supports simple images and animations

Choose the Right File Name

Just like choosing the right format for your images, you want to give each image the right file name.

Image SEO is all about creating descriptive, keyword-focused file names for all of your images. 

The goal of your file names is for Google to know what your images are about before it even looks at your photos.  

If you upload an image with a file name such as “IMG_451244” you are doing nothing to help Google understand what that image contains. 

Image file names alert Google as to what the subject matter of an image is, so if you are writing about “tortellini pasta salad” make sure you have “tortellini pasta salad” in your image file name. 

Write SEO-Friendly Alt Text and Captions

When it comes to your images, the text that accompanies them matters. 

Whether it’s your image alt text or captions, both should be descriptive and optimized for search engines. 

The alt text (or alt tag) is an element added to an image that ensures there will be descriptive text in place of the image if the image can not be displayed for any reason. Alt text exists to enhance the accessibility of your website. 

That means you want to use descriptive alt text that tells your visitors what the picture is showing. Your alt text should also include your keywords if they are appropriate to use with an image. 

However, you do now want to stuff keywords into your alt text. Only use them where it makes sense to do so and adds value for your readers. 

Additionally, not all images need alt text. If you are adding images strictly for aesthetics or purely decorative reasons, go ahead and skip the alt text as it does not add any value to your image. 

Similarly, you can use captions to improve image optimization for search engines. 

Like alt text, you do not need to use captions for all of your images, but if you are using an image strictly for SEO purposes, a caption can help readers figure out what a photo is about when they are scanning your content. 

A good rule of thumb for captions is to think about your visitors first and only add captions where it would make sense to them for one to be there.

Use Responsive Images

Another essential tip for image SEO is to use responsive images. According to Google, “Designing responsive web pages leads to better user experience since users use them across a plethora of device types.”

Luckily if you are using WordPress, this is done for you automatically after it was added by default in WordPress 4.4. 

If you are not using WordPress, you will need to make sure that all of your images have the <img srcset> attribute or <picture> element to designate them as responsive images. 

When you use responsive images, it allows you to specify different versions of the same image specifically for different screen sizes.

This is especially important for mobile devices. 

Reduce File Size by Compressing Images

Absolutely no one likes a slow-loading webpage and one of the things that slow websites down most is using too many photos or using photos that are too large. 

If you either use too many photos or upload a lot of photos, and you neglect to compress them, Google and other search engines will ding you for it.

Especially since you can easily compress your photos using a tool like TinyPNG or a WordPress plugin like Smush. 

It is important to note, that if you do use a WordPress plugin other than Smush, you will need to ensure it is one that compresses images externally on their servers that way it will reduce the load time on your website. 

Need to find out whether or not your images are slowing down your website’s load time? Check out Google’s handy PageSpeed Insights tool. 

Add Images to Sitemap 

Sitemaps are another way you can help boost your image SEO. 

When you add your images to a sitemap, it helps Google discover images that we might not otherwise find (such as images your site reaches with JavaScript code).

It doesn’t matter if you add your images to an existing sitemap or create a separate sitemap just for your images, just make sure you add your images to one or the other. 

If you need help adding images to your sitemaps, check out Google’s page on image sitemaps. 

Add Structured Data

Including structured data with your images can help users identify the type of content associated with each image. That is because when you include structured data with your images, Google is able to display your images as rich results, which include a prominent badge on image thumbnails. 

These badges provide users with relevant information about your page and can help drive better-targeted traffic to your site. 

Google Images currently supports structured data and badges for the following types of images:

• Product
• Video
• Recipe 

The image attribute is a required field to be eligible for badge and rich results in Google Images for each of these structured data types.

Google can not guarantee that badges will be shown, but adding the recommended structured data to your images in addition to the required fields might increase your chances of Google adding a badge to your image search results.

To ensure your structured data is eligible for a rich result display in Google Images, be sure to follow the general structured data guidelines. 

You can verify that your pages don’t have errors, and are eligible for the new Image Search badges using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. 

Beware of Copyright

The last thing you want to do is use an image that is going to get you in trouble. That is why before you use any image, you will need to make sure there is not a copyright conflict.

There are plenty of sites available that allow for the free use of their images, but if you use an image from sites like Getty, Shutterstock, or DepositFiles without obtaining a license, it can end up costing you big time. 

While suing someone is often the last line of defense, image owners and their content are protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If the owner of an image finds their image on your site, they have the ability to issue you a DMCA Takedown request which you have no choice but to comply with.

Optimize for SafeSearch

Google SafeSearch is a setting within Google user accounts that tells Google whether to block or show explicit images, videos, and websites in search results. 

When it comes to context, make sure Google understands the nature of your site so that it can apply SafeSearch filters to your site when appropriate.

SEO covers many facets of your website, and your images definitely fall under that umbrella. 

As we know, Google Images makes up for more than a fourth of all Google Search traffic, so it’s absolutely essential to use images with your content and optimize them for search engines.

It’s ok if you haven’t been optimizing your images for SEO yet. Now that you know what it is and why it matters, you should be able to give your website a boost in the search results just by incorporating the image SEO best practices we covered above. 

If you enjoyed learning about image SEO and want to add more helpful SEO tips and tricks to your toolbox, find out how to optimize your URL Structure for SEO as well. 

Most recently, the topic of ‘Growing your business through SEO’ has become widely popular in many blogs and articles. Putting all your marketing budget into SEO or any specific marketing field for that matter isn’t wise. No single marketing field is going to provide the growth that you are looking for.

In this article, we will cover a couple of different fields for you to focus on.

• Pay Per Click (PPC)
• Multi-media Marketing

The below list is far from exhaustive. For best results, spend time in several different fields. This is how you can have the most impact. The following fields are just a few that we recommend focusing on:

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click (PPC) and Paid Advertising: Just having a live website doesn’t mean that you will get traffic. In fact, with the amount of information that is published daily, it’s hard for your website and content to get attention organically. To get more traffic and customers, you will need to run PPC advertising. PPC along with SEO will increase the chance that you reach your intended audience. Advertising on social media is also a wise idea, but it’s very similar to the greater web ad market where you will need to pay for an advertisement to gain attention. These advertisements are based on the keywords associated with the content that is used to advertise.

Is paying for advertising worth it? In a report from Google, they found that “businesses generally make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on AdWords.” We’d agree, gain traffic and grow your business through purchasing advertising.

Multi-media Marketing

Focus on marketing with multimedia, such as videos, Facebook live, infographics, print flyers, and blog posts. The focus is to drive your audience to respond to a call to action. Multimedia marketing doesn’t have to be done on all your company channels, but also on others. Work to form relationships with others who are in the same field of work and organize a guest blog or social media content swap. This is a great way for those not familiar with your organization to learn more.

Another multimedia marketing method is to create an ebook or downloadable material which will further your customer’s knowledge of your products or services.

Relying solely on SEO or any marketing field to bring proper growth to your company is not wise. Focus on several different marketing fields to get in front of your target audience. PPC and social media advertising allow you to reach a greater audience. Mixing up the type of content and focusing on multimedia marketing can allow those who have never heard of your organization to learn more.

Need more SEO advice? Check out The SEO Checklist Every Small Business Needs.

SEO is not a big mysterious phenomenon, it’s a road map. That’s why we put together a checklist of nine essential things you need to do to get a handle on your business’s SEO.

Building Your SEO Roadmap

Build content that’s relevant to your business and customers.

Update your Google My Business Page. Google My Business is a free service offered by Google that lets you claim and update your business information at any time. Google My Business is slightly different from Apple Maps Connect and review sites like Yelp in that it allows you to upload photos and videos to enhance your listing. This gives you coverage in regular searches, photos, and videos for all search engines, further enhancing your business ranking. Make sure your content, address, phone number, business hours, and business website link are all accurate.

Your customers can even ask you questions from the search engine. Keep on top of that so you can get answers to them as they need them.

Get optimized through local businesses, blogs, organizations, and events. Choose places that fall in line with your brand. Local newspapers or media outlets may run a local piece on your place. Local bloggers with a small following primarily from your area are another option. You can get local event pages to host your information, local charities that you sponsor, and even other local businesses that are open to having a local partners page or “businesses we love” page. The point is to get the locals interested in your business.

Internal links are key to building a solid foundation. For example, you’re writing an article entitled “Five Tips to Stop Procrastinating.” In your back content, you have a video from your site showing the use of the Pomodoro Technique. Link or embed the page or article with the video to create a more solid connection.

Catch customer attention using compelling title tags and meta descriptions. Make sure your content doesn’t have truncated links. You want titles so those keywords can make a difference.

Keyword research is something that has to be done on a regular basis. How do people find you? Through keyword searches. Know your keywords and make sure they’re regularly used. Streamline the process by generating a list of primary and secondary keywords and give it to everyone who makes content for your site.

Image optimization is the next step. You want to make sure every image on your site is indexed with tags and keywords that show its relevance. If you have an image of your amazing product, but no description, how will people be able to find you through the photo search?

Use H2 tags in your content. These are called subheadings. They break your content down into easily scanned blocks. There are also H3s and H4s, but these should only be used hierarchically by number. For example, an H3 should only ever fall under an H2, and so forth.

Optimize your video content to make it relevant. It should be emotionally compelling or educational to effectively reach most of your audience. It should have a short engaging title (like your content mentioned above), with a target keyword, and a full description that explains the topic of your video and what your audience should expect.

Want to continue expanding your SEO skillset? Check out What is Local SEO?

When it comes to SEO, keywords have always been (and still are) the gold standard – and keyword research is one of the most valuable things you can do for your business. Ranking for the right keywords will help you draw in quality visitors and, in turn, increase conversions and sales.

In this article, we will teach you how to choose valuable keywords.

• Keyword 101
• Why Do Keyword Research?
• How To Do Keyword Research
• How to Determine the Value of a Keyword

So how can you be sure you’re using the right words? It’s pretty simple, actually. Here’s what you need to know:

Keyword 101

Before we get into determining the value of a keyword, we’re going to go over the basics – like, what exactly is a keyword?

A keyword is a word or phrase used to identify what people are searching for or to describe the topic that you’re writing about. Ideally, the two align and the terms people enter into search engines lead them to your web page.

Why Do Keyword Research?

It isn’t enough to just make a list of words related to your business and assume that’s what people are searching for (although, that’s a great place to start). It’s important to research those words and phrases so you can find the topics your audience is actually searching for. Often, that means just a slight tweak to the word or phrase you were initially using – but even if it’s just a tiny change, it can make a world of difference when it comes to search results.

Why? Google uses keywords as an SEO ranking factor when deciding where to place your content in search results. Using the right keywords will help them understand what your content is about and ensure that they show it to the right people. On the other hand, if you don’t use keywords and Google can’t really tell what you do, they’re not going to show your content to anyone.

How To Do Keyword Research

The first step in keyword research is to think about your mission. Who are you? What is your website about? What makes you special? Who are you trying to reach?

From there, make a list of words you think your ideal client might be searching for. What are the terms you want to be found for? Many people choose to use Google AdWords Planner at this point to find related terms and phrases. While not really useful in actually telling you what your audience is searching for, it does help come up with additional ideas.

If you have a WordPress website, we like to recommend the Yoast SEO plugin. It’s easy to use and great for beginners, and it offers a slew of SEO benefits – including keyword optimization. Not only will it analyze your text for keyword usage, but it will also suggest synonyms and related phrases.

If you don’t use WordPress, you can always use the Yoast Suggest website (which is useful but doesn’t offer as many features as the plugin).

How to Determine the Value of a Keyword

During your brainstorming session and your subsequent research, you’re likely to come up with hundreds of related keywords and phrases. How do you know which ones to use and which to scrap? For example, if you create crafts for kids, are people more likely to search for “fun crafts for kids” or “easy crafts for kids?”

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. No tools exist which allow you to see directly how any given keyword relates to the traffic that arrives at your site.

To truly understand the value of a keyword, you first have to understand your own website and the audience you’re trying to attract.

In the above example, for instance, you’d have to consider your niche. Do you want to be thought of as someone who makes crafting easy for kids? Or someone who offers, fun, unique projects? If you use “easy crafts” as a keyword phrase, but your visitors can’t actually find anything “easy” on your website, do you think they’re going to stick around?

Now that you know how to choose valuable keywords, learn how to manage keyword density.