Category: SEO News and Information

  • SEO: Don’t underestimate the basic practices

    SEO: Don’t underestimate the basic practices

    Over the years SEO tactics have evolved to try to keep up with the changes in how Google ‘enforces’ what it considers to be quality websites and content. As we engage with new clients we see that many of the problems are related to ignoring the basics in favor of chasing the latest tactics. It is not that we should put aside these tactics, but they should be employed judiciously and only when the basics are covered. It is what we refer to as good SEO hygiene. Keeping your site clean helps avoid surprises and saves time in the long run. While SEOs can argue over priority, here are the areas we usually address first either because of their volume or their importance.

    Image alt elements are a lost opportunity for most sites

    The base intent of the “alt” elements(alternative text) is for a better user experience for the visually impaired users, as the alt text is used to say what is in the image. Search engines also use this information to identify the image content, as well as affirm the connection to the content on the page itself. Additionally, should the image not load in the browser, the alt text will appear in its place.

    Key to good alt text is an accurate description of the image content. Without spamming the text, it should provide the subject description and setting of the image. Chances are, if the alt text is one or two words, it is not enough to provide useful information for the users or the search engines. Keep the description focused and thorough to give the search engine enough to connect the image content clearly with the page content. (google on image optimization)

    H1 tags: none or too many

    H1 Tags (and subsequent H tags) are your way to indicate the primary subject area of the page. It should be a few words covering the broadest scope of the page content, using lower Hn tags to indicate sub-content. Generally, the more focused you can make your content subject matter while providing useful information, the better.

    We tend to see one of two errors. First, no H1 tags. This is a relatively simple fix provided you’ve done the keyword research to identify the best way to identify the content.

    The second issue is too many H1 tags. We see this when developers / designers decide to take a shortcut and use H1 tags because of their styling. Take the time to create a css style that will be used for paragraph or content area titles instead of using the H1 tags.

    Duplicate content on… everything

    From page titles and meta descriptions to page content duplication, we see this a lot. The culprit is typically a CMS that was not configured or implemented properly. The CMS may use categories and tags that create folders. If you apply more than one tag or category to a page, there will be more than one url leading to the page. There are other causes, but these tend to be among the most frequently seen.

    Duplicate content is not good, but engines have a tolerance for it when it’s on your own site. However, the issue is that the inbound links to your site on a given topic are diluted if they are spread among duplicate pages of the same content. By directing the inbound and internal links to a single source page, you increase the juice or PageRank of that page relative to the topic.

    Take the time to understand the CMS implementation and plan your categories, tags or other content organizational standards, and prioritize or eliminate components (use 301s if you eliminate). If you cannot eliminate duplicate content, select a primary page source and use canonical ref of all other pages to it, so the search engines know which page to give the ‘juice’ to.

    Broken Links lead to 404s and empty images

    SEO broken links chain demonstration
    Companies have to move fast nowadays and sometimes that means never looking back. But, when this happens we often see things break, but prospective clients didn’t notice. You’re giving up historical benefits and potential content validations when links break. Perusing your site, if it is not too big, or using SEO audit tools can help keep you on top of broken links.

    Counting for, not against

    We have seen some SEOs dismiss issues like this on the basis that the engines can be forgiving as long as the ‘important’ content is clean. However, overall site quality will eventually be affected, which will impact your rankings as user experience deteriorates. On the other side, you are foregoing the benefits derived from juice flowing freely through your site. While the algorithms change and the weight given to anyone aspect of SEO alters, keeping your basic site hygiene up will decrease the impact of any algorithm changes.

  • Content Marketing Over the Long Haul

    Content marketing is a cornerstone of many digital strategies. As we expand SEO and social, content marketing plans become essential in establishing a brand’s position with customers, prospects and their own employees.

    A study of content marketers in Australia saw in interesting change in the landscape ( I think this has implication in the U.S. as well.) While more companies were developing content marketing plans and felt confident that they are on the right path, with 46% having a documented content marketing plan vs 37% last year, those that felt they had an effective content strategy dropped from 29% to 28%.

    It appears that it is a case of the more you know the more you realize how far you have to go. Estimates for content marketing plans to be fully effective range up to a year and a half. As companies truly build out their plans, the reality sets in that, like anything worthwhile, this is not an easy fix. Content marketing takes work and time, with the effects being cumulative. Building up momentum requires persistence and a concerted effort to stay focused over time.

    Starting with a strong foundation means knowing what your value / solution is, which is the focus of the content plan. The Content Marketing Institute has a great piece on creating the content marketing plan; what you need to answer in the process. Like most business plans, the questions are thought provoking and, if you are honest with yourself, not necessarily easy to answer. Ultimately, you need to build a business case for content marketing that helps keep the plan focused.

    Content marketing can be fun, it must be creative, and absolutely needs to provide value over time to the intended audiences. It is not about an infographic, or a blog, or a video. It is about information and finding the best ways to share that information over diverse channels. Before you dive into content marketing ( I mean really dive into it) be ready to commit the time and resources for a 12+ month period before you expect to see tangible results.

  • The Google Panda Smack Down

    Content is king. Google has always been clear in this. Too many SEOs have sought to trick google, Bing & Yahoo into thinking bad content was good content. Panda has been aggressively distinguishing between the two.

    Producing good content is not easy. In the short term, some have instead tried to trick the engines into ranking poor content. Those who played the long game were less affected by the Panda hits. This becomes almost amusing as we see the response from some SEOs to Google’s continued guidance that good content is key.

    One strategy for addressing a google panda smack down is to remove the poor content. Short term, this is easy, fast and a feel good action. But, it ultimately defeats the purpose. Google is not seeking the removal of content, but the improved quality of content.

    When you are addressing the issues related to Panda, ask yourself a simple question, “why did we put the content there in the first place?”

    If your answer is along the lines of “we’re trying to get rankings,” then remove it. It doesn’t help you, the users or the engines. Yes, rankings are part of the equation. But, the driver is end user benefit so your company has value and can enhance your relationship with customers or prospects.

    The more likely answer (I hope) is that you are trying to provide useful information to the user. Google’s point (correct or not) is that the content is too thin to be useful. It is something to keep, but improve upon, and that takes work. The process may start with keyword research, but more likely, you need to go back a bit further and ask some basic question about your customers.

    Knowing how they shop, your company’s role in the purchase process and how customers want to interact with you is important in content development. With this understanding, you can review the current content issues, determine their priority and then start to rebuild your pages with better, more complete information for the customers, keeping basic SEO development practices in mind.

    If you’ve been hit by Google Panda, take the long view, prioritize and thoughtfully address the core issues. Resist the temptation to ‘pull it down’ or create smoke-and-mirrors to try to get around doing the right thing. SEO is a long view game; treat it accordingly and there will be fewer surprises when Google updates come out.

    Feature panda image – tee shirt I thought was funny.