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Tag: backlinks

  • Is Your Website's Traffic Plummeting? Stop Making This Toxic SEO Mistake — And Do This Instead. | Entrepreneur

    Is Your Website's Traffic Plummeting? Stop Making This Toxic SEO Mistake — And Do This Instead. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Have you noticed your site’s organic traffic has plummeted over the past few years? This may have been caused by evidence of spammy link-building practices finding their way into your SEO work.

    Google’s link spam update was rolled out in December 2022, supported by the AI algorithm SpamBrain. This update is intended to combat spam and improve the browsing experience for anyone using the search engine. Successful marketers need to be aware of its effects to maintain a squeaky-clean backlink profile that helps, rather than hurts, their site’s organic visibility.

    In this post, I’ll take a closer look at what SpamBrain is, its effects on SEO and three of the most effective strategies for aligning your link-building strategy with this element of Google’s ranking algorithm.

    Related: How to Shake Up a Stale Link-Building Strategy

    What is SpamBrain?

    SpamBrain is an AI-based algorithm made by Google to identify poor-quality spam content and make it less visible in Google search results. Though it was first launched in 2018, Google only acknowledged it publicly as part of the company’s 2021 Webspam Report, suggesting that it’s become a larger part of Google’s ranking system over time.

    Google’s 2022 link spam update was rolled out to identify and neutralize backlinks that come from low-quality, spammy sources, preventing webmasters from artificially inflating their rankings.

    What does SpamBrain mean for SEO and marketers?

    The link spam roll-out caused a lot of websites’ rankings to plummet. These were websites with backlink profiles characterized by spammy link-building practices that Google has consistently warned against, including:

    • Buying links to artificially inflate a website’s rankings.
    • Excessive link exchanges between one website and another.
    • Using spammy, low-quality directories and “link farms” that provide no value to the end user.
    • Link building through forum comments with spammy, over-optimized anchor text.
    • Excessive distribution of links in widgets, footers, etc.
    • Using automation to generate links with no concern about relevance or context.

    If you noticed a drop in rankings or organic traffic following the December update, it’s possible this was caused by evidence of spammy link-building practices that have made it into your backlink profile.

    As Google’s algorithm updates become more focused on delivering the best possible user experience and more adept at identifying backlinks that go against its policies, it’s essential for SEOs and webmasters to consciously build links that avoid spammy practices and run a tight ship when reviewing the state of their link profiles.

    Related: 19 Sure-Fire Subject Line Formulas for Link-Building Emails

    Three link-building strategies to avoid being penalized by SpamBrain

    Now that you have an understanding of what SpamBrain is and its function in Google’s algorithm, here are three crucial link-building strategies you can use to maintain a healthy backlink profile, maximize the value of your link-building campaigns, and avoid getting penalized by Google’s link spam policies.

    1. Regularly audit your backlink profile

    It can be easy to let backlink profile audits fall by the wayside as part of your routine SEO work, especially if you’ve been investing in organic marketing for some time and your backlink profile is already large and diverse. However, this is an essential step towards ensuring your campaigns operate within Google’s policies and not putting your rankings at risk of penalization.

    Block off some regular time in your calendar to analyze your site’s backlinks, checking for any signs of poor-quality, spammy links that can be flagged for removal. This should include links with low-quality or irrelevant referring domains or those that use unnatural, over-optimized anchor texts. While using Google’s disavow tool will ensure that spammy referring domains won’t affect your rankings in the future, it’s important to exercise caution before entering a huge list of domains for disavowal.

    Occasionally, you might come across a link with spammy or irrelevant anchor text resulting from poor-quality past SEO work but it exists on a quality domain that could be a major asset to your SEO. In these cases, it’s better to disavow specific referring pages or ask webmasters to remove the links manually.

    2. Review link-building practices

    To ensure that you’re not going to be affected by link spam in the future, it’s a good idea to set clear link-building policies that you or your staff can follow when executing a link-building campaign. This will ensure new backlinks meet a certain quality threshold and don’t run the risk of creating a spammy backlink profile.

    Some of the things you might want to set policies about for a robust link-building SOP include:

    • Minimum domain authority.
    • Pointers for ensuring your content is relevant, high-quality, and authoritative in line with Google’s EEAT guidelines.
    • Approved anchor text.
    • Strategies and examples for framing backlinks in the content.

    By going into each link-building campaign with a set of firm anti-spam policies, you’ll eliminate the risk of spammy practices being flagged by Google as you build your backlink profile.

    Related: How To Maximize the Number of Linkable Assets on Your Website

    3. Commit to high-quality content

    Remember that the ultimate aim of SpamBrain and every Google algorithm update is to improve the experience for anyone who uses Google. They want to keep their users loyal, which means serving up the content that’s most relevant to their search queries.

    One of the most effective things you can do to ensure your link-building stays on the right side of Google’s spam policies is to keep an ironclad commitment to high-quality content. This is important for your linkable assets and the content that will serve as referring URLs in your campaigns.

    This means creating content that provides tangible value to its target audience, demonstrates a high level of expertise in the subject matter, and is written for a human audience rather than in a style that’s intended to artificially “game” a search algorithm.

    Though it’s not always easy, maintaining a high content standard in all aspects of your link building will prevent spammy practices from seeping into your backlink profile and will set you up for future success with Google’s user-focused algorithms.

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    Jeff Peroutka

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  • 10 Powerful Link-Building Tactics for Boosting Your Website's SEO | Entrepreneur

    10 Powerful Link-Building Tactics for Boosting Your Website's SEO | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Link building is an essential cornerstone of any solid SEO strategy, and with Google’s continued trend towards machine learning in its algorithms and rewarding sites that display relevance, quality, and authority, building a healthy link profile is harder than ever.

    In this post, we’ll look at 10 of the most powerful link-building tactics you can use to build a quality backlink profile and start climbing your target SERPs.

    Related: Why Is Link Building So Controversial?

    Guest blogging

    Guest blogging is the classic go-to for link-building tactics for one simple reason: it works!

    This tactic involves contacting blogs and online news sources in your niche and pitching the site owners’ content outlines. If they accept and like your content, you can link back to your target website either as part of an author bio or within the body of the content.

    There are a few better ways to ensure your backlink’s referring page has the kind of topical relevance that Google loves to see. It’s also a great way of demonstrating your expertise to your target audience in the process. Just be sure to cast a wide net with your blog outreach, and don’t just stick to sites that explicitly call for submissions.

    Leverage your existing network

    Leveraging your existing network is one of the easiest link-building tactics out there, yet it’s unfortunately neglected by many SEOs.

    If you’ve spent a long time in your industry, you’ve likely built a rich network of ex-colleagues, partners or other contacts. These people may be able to authorize organic dofollow backlinks on their site and will already be familiar with your level of expertise in a particular topic.

    Ask around and see if your network can throw some relevant links your way.

    Register on business directories

    Directories are a controversial subject in the modern SEO community. However, considering how cheap and easy it is to acquire these kinds of links, there’s very little downside to finding directories with a clear relation to your niche and getting listed with a link to your site.

    If you choose your referring domains wisely and look for a high degree of relevance for both the directory site as a whole and the businesses that are listed on it, you’ll be able to build a high volume of valuable links in a very short space of time.

    This can be a particularly useful link-building tactic for local brick-and-mortar businesses looking to optimize for localized keywords, such as “florists in Honolulu.”

    Related: 19 Sure-Fire Subject Line Formulas for Link-Building Emails

    Broken link building

    Another big one among low-cost, low-effort link-building tactics, broken link building is a great way to build links at scale for those embarking on a new SEO campaign.

    This tactic involves finding broken links (pointing to a dead page) on websites that have a topical relationship to your business and reaching out to webmasters, suggesting that they amend the link to point to one of your resources.

    The referring webmasters get to improve their user experience, and you get a powerful new link!

    Unlinked mentions

    Link-building through unlinked mentions is one of the more attractive link-building tactics because it doesn’t involve creating fresh external content to act as a referring page.

    In this strategy, you simply find mentions of your brand name on external sites, then reach out to the webmasters and ask them to link their mention of your business. As they’re already familiar with you and are happy to mention you as an authority in your industry, you’re likely to have a high success rate.

    Competitor link building

    Competitor link building involves analyzing your competitors’ backlink profiles to determine which kind of content is most likely to garner high-quality links within your topic focus.

    Using a backlinks analytics tool, you’ll be able to see whether your competitors get the lion’s share of their links to infographics, ultimate guides, tutorials or other kinds of content, and also discover the actual focus of the content.

    You can use this research to inform your own content calendar and maximize the chances of attracting quality, organic links from similar referring domains.

    Related: 6 Elements Your Link-Building Campaign Must Include

    Repurposing content

    Think about your site’s MVP — that one piece of content that gets a huge proportion of all the traffic and shares and has kept on proving its value long after it was first published.

    If it’s done well in its current format, it will likely see the same success in other formats, such as a video or infographic.

    Though it’s one of the higher-effort link-building tactics on this list, repurposing content can pay dividends by building on your stock of evergreen content and offering plenty of long-term value.

    Redirect links pointing to inferior content

    During your research for SEO drives, you’ve probably come across pieces of competitor content that have a ton of quality backlinks despite the content being fairly mediocre.

    If you’ve got a page on your site that you know blows a certain competitor out of the water, then you may be able to acquire new, powerful backlinks by reaching out to the referring domain authors and suggesting they link to your content instead.

    Considered one of the “gray hat” link-building tactics, redirecting competitor backlinks will not only help your visibility but could decrease your competitors’ in your target SERPs.

    Forum link building

    Forums and similar sites are often associated with spammy, low-quality link-building tactics. However, they can be fantastic referring domains for links to content and resources that are relevant to the conversation and useful to the site users participating in these communities.

    One of the best link-building tactics for sites with a rich library of authoritative content, this strategy involves looking for discussions about your business niche on sites like Reddit or Quora, offering some useful input, and linking to your content as a reference.

    Social media link building

    Social media can be a hugely effective tool in your link-building arsenal, enabling you to become a more visible authority and develop a strong network of content creators who are likely to cite you as an authority.

    Some of the most effective social media link-building tactics include using popular hashtags when sharing content to get your online assets in front of journalists and bloggers, following journalists in your niche to look for interview and citation opportunities, and actively participating in industry discussions to get your brand in front of potential linkers.

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    Jeff Peroutka

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  • How to Reclaim Lost Links — and Why It’s Crucial for Your Website’s SEO | Entrepreneur

    How to Reclaim Lost Links — and Why It’s Crucial for Your Website’s SEO | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Reclaiming lost links — such an interesting phrase that tends to be ignored by people who should actually give it a chance. It’s possible that broken links are to blame for the drop in search rankings your website has experienced recently. It is possible for lost links to have a detrimental influence on the search engine optimization of your website; however, there is a strategy that can be used to reclaim lost links and boost your search rankings.

    This article will help show you a new aspect of link exchange strategies that will broaden your knowledge horizons, especially regarding the lost link crisis that businesses tend to neglect.

    In this comprehensive guide, we will take you through a method that has been shown to be effective in reclaiming lost links and increasing the exposure of your website.

    Related: What Are Backlinks and Why Do You Need Them for Your SEO?

    Understand the importance of lost links

    Your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) and overall exposure can suffer significantly as a result of broken links. It is possible for you to suffer a loss of valuable backlinks if a website that had previously connected to yours decides to remove or alter the link.

    Backlinks are extremely important for a website’s search engine rankings since they show other websites and search engines that your website can be trusted and is an authority in its field. Once you have full knowledge of the significance of lost links, you will be able to take the actions required to retrieve them and enhance the search rankings of your website.

    Identifying broken internal links: The step before the lost link strategy

    The process of fixing broken internal links is the first step in the process of link reclamation and is an essential step toward improving the usability of your website. You have the choice of using commercial tools such as Ahrefs Site Explorer and DeepCrawl in order to detect broken links on your own website, or you can make use of free tools such as Google Analytics and Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider. Both of these options are available to you. With the free version of the SEO Spider, you can crawl up to 500 URLs; if you have a more significant website to crawl, you will need to pay to upgrade.

    Fixing broken links

    The next thing you should do is fix any broken links! Visit every page on your website that contains broken links, and either update or replace the URLs on those pages.

    It is important to keep in mind that you may be required to completely remove a link if you discover an outdated link that cannot be restored or if you discover a link that was neglected during the redesign of your website.

    Related: Top 8 Backlink Strategies to Boost Your Traffic

    Time to identify a lost link

    Finding a lost external backlink may sound complicated. However, it is really not that hard to do. But hey! That’s why I’m here, so allow me to walk you through it all.

    Finding lost or broken backlinks is the next step you should take after you have finished cleaning up the broken links on your own website.

    It may be more difficult to regain lost backlinks than it is to mend internal connections since you do not have access to external links; the other site’s owner decides whether or not you can reclaim lost backlinks. Fixing internal links is easier.

    You can use paid tools like Majestic or the Ahrefs Site Explorer in addition to SEO Review Tools’ free Backlink Checker to find broken backlinks pointing to your website.

    Regaining lost backlinks from external sources

    In summary, here are some of the most necessary steps that you should follow in order to regain a lost link from an external source:

    • Contact the website that linked to you: If the website that linked to you made a mistake and removed the backlink, get in touch with them and politely request that they reinstate the link. Give them access to any information or resources that they might require in order to help them through the process.

    • Repair any broken links: If the backlink was lost because of a broken link on your website, repair the link as quickly as you can. You may find and repair any broken links on your website by using a program that checks for and reports on broken links.

    • Create new content: If the reason you lost backlinks was because the content on your website was out of date or irrelevant, make new content that is both important and interesting. This will encourage other websites to link back to you.

    • Create new backlinks: As a last step, you should give some thought to creating new backlinks to your website by means of guest articles, outreach and various other link-building tactics. It is possible that doing this will increase the overall authority and exposure of your website, increasing the likelihood that other websites will link back to you in the future.

    Related: The Secret to Super Successful SEO

    Pro tip: Offer value in exchange for the lost link

    When reaching out to website owners to reclaim lost links, it’s important to offer something of value in exchange. This could be additional content, a guest blog post or a collaboration opportunity. By providing something valuable, you increase the chances of the website owner reinstating the link.

    Make sure to highlight the benefits they will receive by linking back to your website, such as increased traffic or access to your audience. Remember to personalize your offer and tailor it to the specific website and its audience. Offering value in exchange for the lost link can help strengthen your relationship with the website owner and improve your chances of success in reclaiming the link.

    Now that you’ve reached the end of this article, I’ll assume that you have a basic (maybe even a detailed) overview of the whole process of lost link reclaiming. Most businesses that aim for better rankings largely ignore broken links. They tend to focus more on SEO strategies that are proven to work effectively. For that reason, and because people are not giving lost links the attention they deserve, we created this quick guide for you.

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    Omar El Bahr

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  • The Top 12 Myths of Affiliate Marketing | Entrepreneur

    The Top 12 Myths of Affiliate Marketing | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Affiliate marketing is a popular strategy businesses use to drive sales and grow their brand. Although it’s one of the most popular marketing tools in the booming creator economy, some misconceptions about using affiliate links can prevent bloggers from benefiting from them.

    1. Affiliate marketing is dead

    Statista shows that from 2010-2022, U.S. affiliate marketing spending has steadily increased, reaching $8.2 billion in 2022. Clearly, this channel is not only not dead but also thriving. These days, over 80% of brands run affiliate programs, with 16% of online orders attributed to affiliate marketing.

    Affiliate marketing drives sales and is used by anyone from media companies, such as Business Insider and The New York Times, to smaller startups and brands that use it through referral programs.

    2. It’s too much work

    Modern tools make creating an affiliate link easy. Bloggers can start posting affiliate links and earn money from them on day one.

    Popular programs include Amazon Associates, ShareASale and Commission Junction. The idea is to connect customers with brands through relevant content and tools by posting affiliate links that generate sales.

    Related: How to Start Your First Affiliate Marketing Campaign

    3. It’s passive, low-effort income

    While some believe affiliate marketing is too much work, others mistakenly believe it takes virtually no work. Although implementing these links is indeed easy, bloggers need to work on their content, presence, and credibility and attract followers to generate sales and make money with affiliate marketing.

    Influencers must be mindful of conversions since they are paid by actions. This means that more active calls-to-action, more selling content and more creative product presentation will be needed.

    4. Size matters

    A common misconception is that only influencers with a big audience can benefit from affiliate marketing. The truth is that conversions play a bigger role than audience size.

    Not only do micro-influencers (those with 1,000-100,000 followers) perform at least 90% of successful influencer marketing, 90% of brands actively want to work with them through affiliate strategies. Because of their smaller followings and high engagement rates, micro-influencers are often seen as a cost-effective way for brands to reach targeted audiences and drive sales.

    5. Affiliate marketing blocks other income streams

    Earning through affiliate programs does not prevent bloggers from entering into direct contracts with brands, but it does help them attract the attention of companies they’d want to work with.

    Additionally, affiliate marketing often becomes a stepping stone to working more closely with the brand. Active blogger partners always have an advantage when selecting brands for the partnership since they have the results and audience data to back up their “influencer” status.

    Related: How To Start Affiliate Marketing with No Money in 2023

    6. “My audience is too niche”

    Believe it or not, a niche is often good for affiliate marketing.

    Remember, you can’t be successful if you’re trying to appeal to everybody. Having a specific niche is good because it gives you a clearly defined audience with reliable preferences, tastes and buying habits. Brands know these things, so if your niche has gained interest from fans, it can earn interest from brands, too.

    7. Brands only care about sales

    Sales are no longer the only available form of brand partnership. Brands are willing to collaborate with other targeted actions that generate awareness and credibility, such as starting a trial period, installing a mobile app or requesting a free consultation.

    These alternative forms of action are suitable even for bloggers who are particularly sensitive about maintaining their audience’s trust and wish to foster a relaxed atmosphere.

    8. It’s not a viable long-term plan

    Long-term partnerships are common in affiliate marketing because both parties benefit from sustained collaboration: You get to know the audience better, so your offerings are more relevant, and the audience builds trust in you and the brand.

    Cultivating a relationship with the audience and building trust allows marketing expansion to include content like online courses, software and other digital products.

    9. It’s too late to get started

    The misconception is that there is too much competition in affiliate marketing. However, with new companies emerging each year, the range of advertisers to promote is constantly expanding. Blogs that provide value will always stand out and have access to profitable brand partnerships.

    Related: 8 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Affiliate Marketing

    10. It’s just advertising

    When Forbes surveyed millennials, 84% said they hate advertising, so equating affiliate marketing to advertising can make it seem unappealing.

    However, as an affiliate, you only recommend products you have personally tried and liked while providing valuable content to your audience. Your readers will appreciate your tips and personal experience because they don’t want to spend their time and money experimenting. Affiliate marketing provides a more authentic and unique approach to promoting products.

    11. You need a blog to be an affiliate

    To sign up for affiliate marketing programs, you just need a following somewhere that will see and click your custom links. Having a community is much more important than being on a specific platform.

    For example, beauty influencers often promote brands through sponsored content on their social media platforms by creating makeup tutorials and including affiliate links to their websites in the description box of their videos.

    12. Affiliate marketing is expensive

    Affiliate marketing is the least costly way to monetize a blog on any social media platform. You can create a website for free and maintain a following using tools that social networks provide. For example, banners, plugins and CPA tools are usually accessible for free within affiliate marketing platforms.

    While it is true that you will need to invest time and potentially some money to market your blog, it is no more expensive than monetizing through any other available tool on the market if you plan to make it a full-time job and earn a substantial income.

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    Ksana Liapkova

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  • Off-Page SEO Checklist: Here Are 7 Tactics to Rank Higher | Entrepreneur

    Off-Page SEO Checklist: Here Are 7 Tactics to Rank Higher | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Most SEO experts will say that off-page SEO is the most challenging aspect of SEO and content marketing as a whole. But why? Why are websites struggling so much with off-page SEO?

    The answer to these questions lies in the very name — off-page SEO. Essentially, off-page SEO is a list of practices employed to boost your SERPs rankings that are done outside the scope of your own website.

    This means that, more often than not, you don’t have a whole lot of direct influence on the success of those practices. Often, the most you can hope for is to put the best practice into place and let it run its course, hoping it will result in favorable results.

    Related: 5 Essential SEO Strategies For Entrepreneurs to Boost Their Traffic

    However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try off-page SEO at all. On the contrary, off-page SEO can be an incredibly powerful tool, but only if you pay attention and implement these seven tactics to rank higher in SERPs.

    1. Evaluate your backlink profile

    One of the key elements of having an authoritative website is having plenty of high-quality backlinks. Backlinks are links on other websites leading to a relevant piece of content of your own.

    Related: What Are Backlinks and Why Do You Need Them for Your SEO?

    With that said, evaluating the quality and quantity of backlinks leading to your website is the first step toward getting ranked higher in SERPs. Using tools like Google Search Console, Moz Link Explorer, or Ahrefs Backlink Checker, you can quickly assess the quality of your links.

    Some of the most useful pieces of information about your backlinks are the number of links leading to your website, the number of domains doing the same, the number of pages that have the most links (meaning, this is your most relevant content), and the anchor text used for those backlinks.

    When analyzed, all these elements will tell you how useful the information on your website is to both the readers and the websites themselves wishing to educate their readers further.

    2. Check your competitor’s links

    Competition for the top five positions on SERPs is always fierce. That’s why evaluating your competitor’s backlink profiles is also highly encouraged.

    Related: SEM, SERPs and Other Online Marketing Terms Explained

    By evaluating their profiles, you will not only gain an insight into how you’re doing compared to your competition, but you’ll also gain an insight into which websites are the most trusted in your market/industry niche.

    From there, you can then concentrate your efforts on gaining backlinks on those websites, as they have the most authority – authority that will then rub off on your own website and boost your rankings.

    3. Engage in link building

    Now that you know which websites are the most impactful and the most useful for boosting your own, it’s time to start securing backlinks. This is what we call link building.

    Link building is not easy; in fact, it is one of the hardest aspects of SEO. It will often involve you reaching out to authoritative websites with your content, hoping they will find it useful enough to feature it with a backlink.

    Luckily, there are plenty of avenues you can explore when securing backlinks. You can try the most obvious outreach strategy, but you may also try paid advertising if you have the funds. Social sharing is one the most cost-effective ways of securing backlinks and promoting your content, while guest blogging is one of the most popular but time-consuming.

    Naturally, there are many more ways you can engage in link-building. If you’d like to learn more, you can always check out the top advertising agencies’ strategies. The important thing to know, however, is to not rely on a single strategy but to be open and engage with multiple to ensure you get the most out of them.

    4. Optimize your internal links

    Just like you’d like other people to promote your content, you should work on promoting your own content on your website.

    This is most often done with internal linking — the goal is to link relevant content on your website together so your visitors can have a constant stream of useful information that will educate them further and help push them further down your marketing funnel.

    Technically speaking, creating a network of internal links is on-page SEO, but it also has a massive impact on off-page SEO. Google’s web crawlers always scan websites, trying to index pages as best they can to present the most relevant results for any query. Creating a clean network of links will help Google better understand your content and rank it higher for particular queries.

    5. Fix 404s

    Broken links can be a major pain in a website’s butt when trying to rank high in SERPs. Though 404 pages can help redirect customers to more content and increase their engagement with your website, they’re also a target for your competition.

    You see, just like you’re using outreach as one of your link-building strategies, so are your competitors, and if you have a backlink that no longer has any content attached to it, your competitors can easily jump in and swoop that backlink from under you, and have it now redirect to their own website.

    Needless to say, this is organic traffic loss that you could have kept, making fixing 404s and broken links a necessity and even a priority.

    6. Update your local citation and directory profiles

    If you’re operating a business, your customer must know where to find you and how to contact you. This is even more important if you’ve got a brick-and-mortar location and you’re looking to nab even more local customers.

    One of the best ways is to use local citations and directories. Local citations are mentions of your business on other websites and can usually be found on directories, social media platforms, and review sites.

    In addition (and especially if you’ve got a brick-and-mortar location), you should also consider creating and optimizing your Google Business Profile, as it will contain the most pertinent information about your business, like your address, phone number, and working hours. Also, it will give you a massive boost when it comes to local SEO and local rankings.

    7. Leverage social media

    As mentioned, social media is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote content.

    Whether it’s in the form of Facebook posts, TikToks, Instagram Stories, or articles on LinkedIn, if you’re able to promote your content on any social media platform, you should definitely consider doing it. And, if you aren’t, you should start looking into ways to start a social media marketing campaign.

    You should leverage social media for reach, community, and branding. Social media platforms allow you to reach tens of thousands of people in a matter of days, and chances are, with good content direction, you’ll be reaching a lot of interested parties.

    From there, you will also spread your brand message, creating a unifying idea around your product and services that will make you unique and recognizable. And, around that brand, a community will form that will spread your content further, making it reach even further with all the likes and shares, and establishing it as the ultimate authority in your niche, thus massively boosting your rankings.

    Overall, off-page SEO is not easy to leverage, even for the most adept and experienced SEO professionals. However, with these few tactics, you will stand a much better chance of leveraging the many elements of the online environment to favor your content and your website, thus improving your rankings by a very large margin.

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    ReadWrite.com

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  • How to Improve Link Building to Rank Higher on Google | Entrepreneur

    How to Improve Link Building to Rank Higher on Google | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When it comes to getting your business to succeed online, SEO (search engine optimization) is everything — but link building can often fall through the cracks when it comes to website optimization. Adding hyperlinks to your website is one of the many ways to improve your Google rankings and ensure potential customers see your offerings.

    However, it’s not just about the quantity of the links on your website, but the quality — i.e., the source you’re linking to, the link’s position on the page and more. Understanding the reasoning behind Google’s link ranking will help you optimize your website for increased traffic and awareness.

    Luckily, Google just released an updated guide on its best practices for link building. As a marketing expert and business leader, I’ve sorted through these new guidelines and shared my expertise on optimizing content and link-building best practices, so your online business can thrive.

    Related: 7 Ways to Use Google Trends for SEO

    Google’s latest release

    The Google Search best practices documentation has existed for several years, with tips and tricks on improving your SEO for Google Search. It gives straightforward advice on optimization for numerous categories, from SEO fundamentals to monitoring and debugging.

    In February 2023, Google updated the online document to reflect new best practices pertaining to link building. Whereas before, the information about links was only about how to build crawlable links, it now includes several essential tips on creating links that will help your website perform well in Google Search results.

    Related: 7 SEO Copywriting Tips to Get Your Business Ranking on Google

    Making your links crawlable

    Creating crawlable links was a vital component of the earlier version of this Google Search best practices document. It remains a crucial tip for ensuring that links on your website are top quality. Essentially, for Google’s algorithm to be able to crawl (automatically comb through your site), the links need to be written in readable code.

    Google gives specific examples of what types of code are crawlable and what types are not. Look at the examples and code recommendations and ensure that your website coding follows these suggestions so that Google can understand your links and rank your page.

    Related: Learning Google SEO Can Help You Grow Your Business on a Budget

    Placing anchor text correctly…

    What is anchor text? Anchor text is the visible text of a link or what you, as a user, would click on. Google provides several tips about anchor text (most importantly, make sure you use it!). It’s also good to note that in the case of images used as links, Google suggests adding descriptive alt text because this will be attributed as anchor text.

    Related: Five Red Flags That Can Destroy Your Google Ranking

    …and writing better anchor text

    Besides knowing where and how to place your anchor text, writing clear and descriptive anchor text is essential. Strong writing will help Google categorize the relevancy of your links and will also, of course, help users better understand what they’re about to click on.

    For instance, if you’re hyperlinking to another page on your site and use the anchor text “Learn More,” Google (and users!) won’t find this satisfactory. Where does this link lead? If you were to read just the anchor text out of context, it would not make much sense.

    Instead, write anchor text that would still make sense out of context from the rest of the sentence — without being too long. Updating the anchor text to “our company’s mission statement” would better serve your purpose and meet Google’s requirements.

    Google also reminds users not to overdo it. Adding too many keywords can be considered spam, and adding too many different links right next to each other can confuse readers. In short: Space out your links, make your anchor text clear and descriptive, and don’t keyword stuff.

    Related: 6 Elements Your Link-Building Campaign Must Include

    The correct ways to use internal and external links

    The final section of the best practices for SEO links pertains to internal and external links. What’s the difference? Internal links refer to links that drive to a page within the same web domain (i.e., you’re pointing the user to another part of your website). External links take the user to an entirely new domain.

    Google recommends paying particular attention to internal links, as this is an often-overlooked area. The search giant also recommends including at least one internal link on every page of your website, primarily to provide clarity to any given section. Unsure how to incorporate more internal links? Imagine a user’s journey on your site and how other pages on your domain could be useful to a specific section.

    When it comes to external links, don’t be afraid! Just ensure that you’re linking to valid, trustworthy sources. Established news sources can be a great way to provide context and statistics to your website and prove to Google that your website can also be trusted.

    Finally, Google provides code-specific advice for sponsored and user-generated content and a way to ensure Google doesn’t crawl certain external links. Read up on these tips as well since they pertain to specific situations you may encounter.

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    Adam Petrilli

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  • 5 Simple SEO Strategies to Improve Your Rankings

    5 Simple SEO Strategies to Improve Your Rankings

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Search engine optimization (SEO) affects your website’s visibility online. Good SEO means more page traffic and higher chances of selling your products and services to a broader audience. No matter how great your products are or how well-designed your website is, without an SEO strategy, your chances of ranking on Google or any other search engine are slim.

    How important is SEO?

    Sure, you’re already making other marketing efforts to lead your audience to your website. You’re spending on ads and perhaps partnering with content creators to post links to your page. But that’s not enough.

    If you’re getting traffic from other sources, that’s great! But did you know that organic search is five times more valuable than Google ads? This is because over 90% of website traffic comes from search engines.

    Users who land on your page from a search engine have higher chances of converting because they specifically searched for your brand, products, or services. On the flip side, someone who ended up on your page after coming across your ad may not have had any prior intentions to check out your website.

    Unlike organic search, that’s intentional, paid marketing efforts may disrupt someone’s experience. Besides, any website that’s too deep into the Google search page may lose its credibility.

    Related: 7 Reasons Why SEO Matters for Every Startup

    What is an SEO strategy?

    An SEO strategy improves your website’s search engine ranking to improve your organic traffic. A complete SEO strategy should tackle three types of SEO:

    • On-page SEO: Focuses on content that’s on your website and ensures that it addresses your specific search query. Some critical factors that affect on-site SEO are content quality and uniqueness.
    • Off-page SEO: Focuses on strategies done outside your website to improve its credibility and ranking. Link-building is the backbone of off-page SEO strategies.
    • Technical SEO: Technical SEO deals with the backend aspects of your website to help increase your ranking. Good technical SEO means your page load time is fast, all your pages work, and it has structured data.

    Related: This Is What Makes SEO Important For Every Business

    Easy SEO strategies to improve your ranking:

    1. Content is everything

    While Google has made significant changes in its algorithm in the past year, content has long been a priority. Consistent publication of engaging content is the number one factor that affects your ranking. This means your website shouldn’t just have a bunch of keywords, but you should also produce high-quality content that’s unique and provides value to your readers.

    Google looks at the quality of your copy — beyond any SEO technique. You have to go beyond regular calls to action and stand out from other similar pages.

    If you have an e-commerce business, creating a blog to supplement your main page can answer your audience’s questions and help you rank higher on search engines.

    One of the factors that Google looks at is whether your content is up to date. Updating your website with fresh content with a blog will be much simpler. Plus, a blog can help you reach a broader range of search queries and increase the average visit duration.

    There has been debate on the ideal length of a blog, but according to a HubSpot study from 2021, the ideal blog post length for SEO should be 2,100-2,400 words.

    2. Make a list of keywords

    Keywords are no longer the essence of an SEO strategy but are still essential in optimizing your page. Use a keyword search tool to help you find a list of keywords related to your niche.

    If you’re a new business, targeting low-competition keywords would be a good idea for a higher chance of ranking, and getting more organic traffic to your website would be a good idea. Of course, these keywords have to make sense for the type of content on your page.

    3. Know what your audience is searching for

    Many will make the mistake of creating content to increase page rankings — this technique will backfire. Ultimately, you’ll have a page filled with keywords that aren’t relevant to your business. Consider creating an accurate buyer persona to understand what your audience wants. After that, you’ll know what motivates your audience and what content can address their needs.

    4. Build high-quality links

    A backlink is when another website links to yours. It is one of the most significant factors that affect your ranking and is a great way to get organic page visits. This means you can’t rank with on-page efforts alone.

    Top websites may get backlinks organically, and building connections with reputable websites is essential. One of the best ways to get backlinks is by sending a genuine outreach email to websites you have linked to.

    Email blasts do work but are becoming less effective as many marketers have overused them. That said, there are plenty of resources on the web to get your creative juices flowing and develop creative ideas to set up an outreach campaign. Make sure that if you do conduct an outreach campaign, you are polite and genuine and always try to provide value first.

    5. Don’t upload large files to your page

    Images and videos undoubtedly add value to your content and can help attract more visitors to your page. However, these files can be large and, as a result, affect your page’s load time.

    Page load time is one of the factors that affect your page’s ranking, and it also affects your mobile friendliness. Look at these factors and what managers can do to stay on top of them.

    Many plugins and tools can help you reduce your file size without losing quality. Never upload high-resolution images. As a best practice, stay within 500 KB.

    Related: 10 Essential SEO Strategies For Entrepreneurs to Increase Their Traffic

    Summing up

    Like any business strategy, it will take time to see results. And instead of reaching for the stars, always make your SEO goals more specific to address your business needs. This way, it will be easier to track and measure your progress.

    Since the algorithm is constantly changing, you also have to stay up to date with the latest changes to ensure that you’re familiar with the best practices.

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    Nick Brogden

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