Tag: search engine optimization

Ultimate Guide to LSI Keywords: Improve Google Ranking Using LSI Keywords
When it comes to ranking on Google, understanding how LSI keywords work will make your site rank higher on Google. What you will get in this article is the complete guide to LSI keywords.

What is LSI Keywords?

Latente Semantic Indexing or LSI in short, is an effective but least-known method to improve your on-page optimization.

If you have not heard about LSI keywords or don’t know much about the term, this Complete Guide to LSI Keywords will help you improve your knowledge and ultimately, help you improve Google ranking.

The relationship between LSI keywords and keyword density

It is surprising that a lot of people confuse with this matter. Keyword density is the number of times a word (or a string of words) appears in your text. For your information, Keyword Density (also known as “KD”) is measured in percentage.

The bigger the percentage of the keyword density, the better the chances for you to rank on Google for your selected keyword.

But this was those good old days.

Before Google Panda and Hummingbird update, keyword density and the right amount of keyword stuffing will rank your page easily. Google understands that this leads to inaccurate, low quality content which affects the user’s experience when using Google. Thus, new algorithms are created and launched to ensure that only the best content is visible on the first few pages of Google.

What is keyword stuffing?

Keyword stuffing is a process where you place the keywords multiple time on a web page to trick search engine into ranking the page higher than it otherwise might.

Keyword stuffing is often practice without considering the impact of readability and user’s experience.

But keyword stuffing worked for years

In order to boost your site’s rank, all you have to do was to include the primary keyword in the page titles, META descriptions, META keywords and overuse it all over your content.

After several Google updates such as Google Panda and Google Hummingbird in recent years, keyword stuffings doesn’t work anymore. While it does carry some weight in ranking, more factors are taken into consideration as well.

Complete Guide to LSI Keywords keyword density recommendation: Keyword density should be anywhere between 2 to 3% at most.

So, does keyword density still matters today?

If you want a short answer, it is “Yes.”

Even though keyword stuffing is considered obsolete, keyword density still matters and here’s why.

The table below is taken from a search query using the Free Keyword Density Analyzer Tool from SeoBooks.com.

I got to agree that the report certainly looks ugly. But the data collected from it is pretty amazing.

Here are some important takeaway from the report above:

1

Most used keywords

How the usage of LSI, keyword, keywords, search, SEO, Google and 10 other keywords impacts the top 10 highest ranking web pages?

2

Average keyword density

Taking important notes on the average keyword density for each keyword of the top 10 ranking web pages

3

Number of times each keywords are mentioned

This is pretty straight forward. The table shows the number of times each keywords are mentioned and you can see the impact of it on the top ranking pages.

4

Average content length

The importance of having detailed content is critical for ranking. If you want to rank higher on Google, start writing lengthy content!

When it comes to ranking and search engine optimization, always remember that SEO is all about finding the right patterns, analyzing them thoroughly, and obtaining actionable data. All of these will help you rank faster and higher on Google.

WORTH READING: The Ultimate KWFinder Review (Is KWFinder really that powerful?

Complete Guide to LSI Keywords — Getting Started

LSI keywords may sound complicated but trust me, it isn’t. LSI keywords are keyword phrases that are similar in meaning when compared to the primary keywords.

LSI keywords are not limited to synonyms and these are keywords that are commonly found together (keywords people often searched for).

For easier understanding on what LSI keywords are, I’m taking “bikes” as the primary keyword. Here are some LSI keywords that come along with that keyword:
- Comfort bikes
- Hybrid bikes
- Mountain bikes
- info-circleTop bicycle brands
- info-circleBike size calculator
As you can see, you don’t have to write about “bikes” only and the usage of LSI keywords allow you to write about other relevant and highly related topics.

Of course, this brings us to a very interesting topic.

How do search engine algorithms know which topic you are writing about?

The answer is using sufficient LSI keywords within your article. When Google bot or other search engine crawlers crawl your site, they will look not only for the primary keywords but keywords which are related to it. In this case, having multiple LSI keywords is going to send the right signal to the crawlers on the content you are writing.

Ultimately, search engines will understand your site better and send the right audience to your content.

LSI keywords can be complicated and messy business as there are many terms related to Latent Semantic Indexing. Here’s a list for you to start with:
- checkLatent Semantic Analysis
- checkNatural Language Processing
- checkPhrase-Based Indexing and Retrieval
- checkTerm Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency
- checkLatent Dirichlet Allocation
- checkProbabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis
- checkHidden Topic Markov Model
- checkLatent Dirichlet Allocation
Yes, I know that “What the hell” feeling. LSI keywords can be really complicated. Well, it is understandable since SEO is forever changing, right?

If you are feeling adventurous and want to dive deeper into Latent Semantic Indexing, here are additional SEO resources that you can take a look at:
How to find LSI keywords?

Here comes the juicy part to find LSI keywords. There are four quick ways to find for LSI keywords which are:
- checkGoogle Autocomplete/Google Instant Search
- checkResults from the ”Searches related to”
- checkResults from the bold words in SERP results
- checkOther keyword research tools
Find LSI keywords using Google Autocomplete/Instant Search

Google autocomplete or instant search is a great way to find for LSI keywords.

To start finding LSI keywords, search for a specific keyword on Google search and a list of related keywords will be show up.

This is what I mean:

Google Instant Search will give you a list of related keywords (LSI keywords) that you can use

It is important to note that you should perform additional keyword research to remove unrelated keywords.

BONUS TIP: How to use KWFinder to determine the profitability and competitiveness of a LSI keyword?

Find LSI keywords using the “searches related to” feature

Google provides related keywords at the bottom of the search page. Typically, you will find up to 8 additional keyword suggestions that you can add into your LSI keyword research.

Google provides a list of related :LSI keywords on the bottom of the search results page

Find LSI keywords using bolded words on Google search result pages (SERP)

Do you notice several words are bolded when you perform searches on Google?

Pay attention to the words that are bolded on Google SERP

As you can see, searching for the primary keyword “laptop repair” leads to additional LSI keywords such as notebook, computer and repair term in general.

Find LSI keywords using SEO tools

In the SEO industry, there are hundreds of SEO tools that you can use to find LSI keywords. I’m only going to share with you the tools that I personally use to find LSI keywords.

1. Google Adwords and Google Keyword Planner

Google Adwords is pretty straightforward and easy to use — even if you are not using Google Ads.

When you use Google Adwords, navigate to Google Keyword Planner to start doing your keyword research. There are two features you should put serious consideration on:
- Ad group ideas
- Keyword ideas
This is what ad group ideas look like:

While it is entirely fine to use Google Adwords and Google Keyword Planner to find for LSI keywords, I got to agree that the display isn’t world class. In most cases, it can be really confusing and complicated for beginners.

Carry on below to find more alternatives and SEO tools that I use (and recommend).

2. Keyword ideas

Another very simple way to find for LSI keywords is by using Google Keyword Planner’s keyword ideas.

3. LSIGraph

LSIGraph or LSI keyword generator is a popular tool to use. It doesn’t only gives you a long list of LSI keywords, it is also free to use!

Generate a list of LSI keywords based on your primary keyword

4. SEOPressor SEO plugin

SEOPressor is an on-page SEO plugin that helps you optimize your site in just a few clicks. This is a premium SEO plugin that starts at $5 per month and leverages the power of LSI keywords (minus the hassle).

Besides finding for LSI keywords, SEOPressor also helps you to perform multiple keyword analysis, over-optimization check, social SEO integration and structure data support.

Want to rebounce bounce rate?

Most website owners are suffering from high bounce rate (as high as 80%) and one of the best way is to create strong internal linking on your site. This helps to reduce bounce rate and at the same time, pass ranking/authority flow to your articles within your site. SEOPressor comes with smart linking feature and you can put backlinking on automation!

More information on SEOPressor

5. KWFinder

I love KWFinder because it is by far the best keyword research tool I’ve used. Seriously.

KWFinder is not only an affordable keyword research tool, it helps you to generate a full list of LSI keywords in just a few seconds. You can read my full review on KWFinder here.

Using KWFinder, I’m able to search up to 700 related keywords (or LSI keywords) along with other data such as keyword competitiveness and number of searches in a month.

If KWFinder isn’t right for you (for whatever reasons, here are 7 KWFinder alternatives you can use to find long tail keywords and optimize on-page SEO to improve Google ranking.

6. SEMrush

SEMrush is often considered a great SEO tool (and KWFinder alternative). SEMrush doesn’t only offer keyword research and link monitoring, you can also use SEMrush to find for related keywords.

Using SEMrush, you can easily find related and LSI keywords in just a few clicks. Plus, SEMrush comes with relevancy score (in percentage) and other metrics which could be very important for your SEO campaign.

At the same time, SEMrush also provides keywords density (marked as “KD”) and it ranged from 0 to 100 (100 being the hardest to rank).

Create a free SEMrush account worth $99 now!

Is LSI keywords synonyms?

The answer is yes and no.

LSI keywords are and are not synonyms at the same time. As a matter of fact, they can be closely related and relevant terms to the primary keyword.

Imagine you write an article about LSI keywords (like this post) and you want to know which terms you should include in order to rank higher on Google SERPs.

Let’s run the sentence “Onpage SEO” using Keys4Up.

As you can see, LSI keywords generated from Keys4Up is decent and very limited. Of course, you can toggle between 1 word, 2 words or 3 words using Keys4Up.

Now, let’s take a second look at the results generated from SEMrush related keywords search.

Now, this is what it looks like on KWFinder.

Do you notice that SEMrush and KWFinder provide more detailed and longer keywords (a.k.a. long tail keywords)?

Important note from the editor

Using the primary keyword of “onpage SEO,” SEMrush generated 612 LSI keywords and KWFinder generated 700 LSI keywords. Based on value for money, KWFinder is a much better keyword research tool as it is more affordable and has a low learning curve. Click here to try SEMrush or KWFinder for free.

Complete guide to LSI keywords recommendations: Using the right keyword research tools such as SEMrush and KWFinder, we are able see a detailed list of keywords which are highly related and at the same time, providing keywords that give us different vantage points.

Summary: Complete Guide to LSI Keywords

Using LSI keywords is an important step in ensuring that our site ranks well on Google SERP.

If you are writing about SEO, make sure that your contenthas both primary and LSI keywords in it. In this case, LSI keywords can be onpage SEO, SEO marketing, Google SEO, SEO analysis and website ranking.

By using LSI keys sparingly in your content, you are sending the right signals to web crawlers on your content.

BONUS: How to use LSI keywords in writing?

When it comes to implementing LSI keywords, you need to remember that the right usage of LSI keywords is going to improve your on-page SEO and organic ranking.

Here are some of the main focus areas where you should be using your LSI keywords:
- Page title
- H1 and H2 tags (H3 is fine too)
- URL address
- bullseyeMETA tags
- bullseyeImages alt-text
- bullseyeFirst paragraph of the article (along with your primary keyword)
- bullseyeWithin the content body
- bullseyeLinks anchor texts
- bullseyeLast paragraph of the article
How to use LSI keywords to improve onpage SEO?

The right step is to sprinkle LSI keywords only after you have completed your article writing. By doing so, your writing will be more readable and focused towards your website visitors.

Lastly, the keyword density for LSI keywords should not be more than your primary keyword.
April 19, 2024
How To Increase Google Ranking: Step By Step Guide
Getting your website to the top of Google is the ultimate SEO goal for any business. In today’s article, you will find how to increase Google ranking without going deep into black hat SEO. On top of that, you will discover my personal Google SEO guidelines for 2018.

If you are searching for “how to get on the first page of google in 24 hours“, you will not find the answer here because it takes resourcefulness, dedication, persistence, and creativity to rank on the top page of SERP. This is especially true because of the constantly-changing nature of Google’s algorithm.

Here’s what I can Guarantee

Not many writers will tell you this, but I’m going to tell you that if you follow these steps, you are going to increase SEO ranking for free and at the same time, improve Google search skills.

As search engine optimization is an evergrowing and ever changing business, you need to improve your SEO skills in order to beat your competitors.

How to increase Google ranking the right way?

In this article, you are going to discover the following:
- Understand the Google ranking algorithm
- Track and target the right metrics
- Ensure your website is mobile friendly
- check-circle-oImprove the average dwell time
- check-circle-oDo keyword research
- check-circle-oDo on-page SEO
- check-circle-oUse LSI keywords
Understanding Google Ranking Algorithm
- checkWhat is Google ranking algorithm
- checkWhat are the key metrics and algorithm you need to focus on
- checkHow to rank higher on SERP using Google ranking algorithm
Do you know what is Google ranking algorithm? In 2016, Backlinko published 200 major factors that affects the Google algorithm. And if you think those are the gems, you are wrong!

There are way more factors that affects how a website rank on Google.

So, how can I rank my website on Google and not getting crazy?

The answer is simple. Focus on the right Google ranking factors and you will well on your way to increase the ranking of your website.

Of course, it is easier said than done. It is hard work and takes a lot of time to get it right.

Carry on reading the below to learn more on how you can increase your website on Google’s SERP.

Important metrics for better search ranking

I get this question a lot of time and I will share with you the major ones that are going to help you skyrocket your site to the first page of Google.

1. Keywords

Keywords — meta keywords, focus keywords and related keywords are all important if you want to rank your website.

A detailed description of each type of keywords are as follow.

Focus Keyword

Focus keyword is your primary keyword in your blog post. Each blog post should only have one focus keyword to avoid ‘confusing’ the search engine cralwers.

Meta Keyword

Meta Keywords are a specific type of meta tag that appear in the HTML code of a Web page and help tell search engines what the topic of the page is all about. The best way to use meta keyword is to eansure that each keyword used accurately describe your content.

Related Keyword

Related keywords are keywords that are not the exact match to the primary keyword. However, these keywords are alternative keywords that provide similar meaning to the primary keyword. Using related keywords in your blog post will help the post rank higher on Google.

2. Keywords ratio

This is very complicated and I do not recommend you to follow to the ‘T’. However, I usually go with:
- < 3% exact keyword
- < 2% long tail keywords
- < 5% related keywords
3. Bounce rate

This is pretty much a no-brainer. Lower bounce rate is always better. Get it under 50% and you will see a nice jump in Google search ranking.

The dwell time that Google is looking for is the magnificent 3 minutes and 30 seconds mark.

So, how do you make your website visitors stay for that long? It’s really simple and highly doable.

Here are some methods that you can use to reduce the bounce rate:
- Embedding videos within the blog post
- Giving a summary of the content upfront
- Offer a bonus once they finish the article (giveaway, cheatsheet etc.)
4. Website loading speed

If your site takes more than 2 seconds to load, you are in trouble. When it comes to website loading speed, aim to be below the 1.5 seconds mark as it is going to help you rank higher on Google.

Responsive andMobile Friendly
- checkWhat is a responsive or mobile friendly website
- checkHow mobile responsiveness affects Google ranking
- checkWhat is AMP and how to use it
Do you know how many website users are using mobile to visit your site?

For my site, it is approximately 30% on a monthly basis. A non-responsive or mobile friendly website doesn’t display the content properly to the website visitors who use mobile devices.

If your website doesn’t have a responsive design, it is time to consider this seriously. Take a look at the stats below.

What is a responsive design?

TL:DR A responsive design allows the website layout to automatically accommodate to the resolution, size and scripting abilities to provide the best user experience to the web visitors.

According to Smashing Magazine, a responsive web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.

The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and an intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from their laptop to iPad, the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. In other words, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences. This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market.

How mobile responsiveness affects Google ranking?

The first and most important reason is mobile responsiveness will improve the site usability. If web visitors are not having an easy time navigating your site, they are not going to stay!

After all, good usability scores lead to repeat visitors and increased conversions. As noted above, Google is in the business of satisfying user queries.

Besides that, page speed is critical. A mobile responsive design will always loads faster than normal design. If you want to improve ranking on Google (and a speed freak like me), mobile responsiveness is the fastest way to get higher ranking on search results.

How to implement responsive web design?

You are convinced that responsive web design is an important factor to get better Google ranking.

Good for you … but what’s next? How do you actually go from not responsive web design to mobile responsive web design?

There are two ways you can choose:
- checkCheap solution: Get a mobile responsive theme
- checkExpensive solution: Hire a web developer
If you are looking for cheap and affordable solution, you can easily do so by changing your WordPress theme.

Here are some of the best mobile responsive WordPress themes in the market today:
And if you really can’t decide, don’t worry. This article is going to solve your problems once and for all.

What is Google AMP and how AMP can increase your site’s Google ranking?

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, a Google-backed project designed as an open standard for any publisher to have pages load quickly on mobile devices. On Feb. 24, 2016, Google officially integrated AMP listings into its mobile search results.

If you are NOT on AMP yet, you should! Google released a statement recently (in 2017) on mobile first. This means that content found on mobile devices (view) will be given top priority instead of the desktop version.

How to enable AMP on WordPress?

This is fairly simple (aren’t you happy to be a WordPress user?).

Install Google AMP plugin (here’s the link) and it will automatically do the needed to enable your site for AMP.

Note: While you may customize the way the AMP display looks like, this is highly optional and AMP for WordPress works automatically once it is installed.

KeywordResearch
- checkWhat is keyword research
- checkThe best keyword research strategy
- checkBest tools for keyword research
Keyword research.

Every blogger in the world reads about it but only a handful does it correctly.

Keyword research is important if you want to improve Google ranking but it comes with a cost — keyword research is time consuming.

The best keyword research strategy

I love to believe that my keyword research strategy is the best in the world (please don’t hate me for that).

I don’t mean to be disrespectful but keyword research is really very straightforward. You can improve Google ranking fast if you follow these steps.

1

Determine the seed keyword (general keyword) you want to target

Start your keyword research by determine the general topic or keyword you want to target. It don’t have to super specific, but it is able to give you a good idea of what you want to target.

For example:
- checkStart a blog
- checkWordPress drag and drop editor
- checkCheap WordPress hosting
- checkMake money online
2

Find low competitive keywords

The next step involves finding low competitive keywords and long tail keywords. I use KWFinder but you are free to use Long Tail Pro or any other tools that fit your needs.

Examples of low competitive and long tail keywords are:
- checkLonger than 3 letters
- checkHas more than 500 searches in a month
- checkTop 10 results are low in Page Authority and Domain Authority (use Moz Open Explorer to check)
- checkThin or not up to date informations on the result pages
3

Find LSI keywords

Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI in short, these are keywords that are semantically related to your primary keyword. They are not just synonym or keywords that are similar in meaning. They are keywords that Google considers them to be similar to your primary keyword.

How to find LSI keywords?
- checkUse LSIgraph
- checkInput the primary keyword
- checkUse the generated LSI keywords sparingly within your content
4

Craft and publish content

You have all the advantages now because you did your homework. You know exactly what keyword you want to rank and you are only one step away from beating your competitors — crafting the best content ever.

How to do so?
- checkInstall WordPress SEO plugin (either Yoast SEO or All In One SEO pack)
- checkOptimize your article for SEO
- checkOptimize your entire site for SEO (seriously!)
- checkUse a drag and drop website builder to improve engagement with your audience (I recommend using this WordPress editor)
- checkEmbeded videos, images, quiz and lead in boxes to keep your audience occupied and stay longer on your site
- checkAsk them to leave a comment and share their opinion (you can get way better engagement using advance commenting moderation and control with Thrive Comments)
Summary: How do you increase Google ranking?

I hope you like this guide on how to increase Google ranking.

Do you have any specific tips to rank on Google? Leave a comment below and tell me all about it!

By the way, click here if you are looking for the best plagiarism checker in the market today?
April 19, 2024
Top 5 SEO Trends To Follow In 2014

SEO i.e. Search engine optimization it’s a term which has people crying and many a webmasters losing their hair as they lose all of their traffic overnight. The future of SEO is something which can’t be predicted just by looking at the major search engines or the people who are ranking well these days. With lots of non predictive algorithms in place we can’t even tell which strategy might work well in the long run. With the recent Hummingbird algorithm update by Google things have become more unusual than ever. People who were on the top of their game have lost significant traffic.

Players who were nowhere to be seen are on visible everywhere now. But one thing is for sure these days, what’s most necessary is to have a coherent strategy. Everything has to be taken into account from the ground up. Once you have a proper strategy in place things might become a little easier. So what are the top seo trends to follow for 2014, let’s discuss them in detail.

Top seo trends to follow in 2014: The points to keep in mind.

1.) Social media integration with content: What once was an optional point for people while doing SEO is now one of the pillar points in SEO.

The emphasis now is on shareable content. People want to read stuff that hasn’t been written anywhere else already. They are not interested in the news rather they are interested in what a particular writer thinks about something. That’s the trend these days. The social media strategy for any website should be in alignment with the content strategy. Posts should be shared on different platforms according to the platform relevance. Job specific posts and career related opportunities and professional updates should be front lined for networks like LinkedIn. Real time content which is relevant only for one or two days should be promoted only on Twitter and other real time update platforms. Engaging content which can draw out user response should be shared on Facebook and Google+. Gear up your site for easy pinning on Pinterest and social sharing should be included for easy sharing options. Don’t make them stand out too much or don’t go other way and make them too bland. The right social buttons are those which are easily accessible and fit in with the user interface (UI) but still entice the user enough for clicking on them.

2.) Making really awesome content: The whole of 2013 passed with people screaming on the top of their voices that ‘Content is the king’ . This statement has carried itself forward in 2014. Content marketing is still the dominant strategy for getting lots of promotion in a limited time. Awesome content also helps in building a unique brand profile for your own. Awesome content can include anything from Infographics, interview series posts of experts, simple memes about any topic to analytical content which includes surveys and questionnaires.

3.) Focus on building your own brand: Building your own brand requires time and patience. You have to make sure you are visible everywhere and on every platform. A single branding strategy should be in place. What kind of brand image do you want to convey? Is your website a self help website with focus on helping the user, then your brand should inculcate qualities like supportive, easy to access, user friendly etc. By clearly defining what you offer you can stay in the user’s mind for a long time and decrease your reliance on search only traffic. Creating a cool brand image requires you to be active on mediums people use for various activities. You can use Instagram to upload cool photos so as to build your brand identity.

4.) Ensure you update old content: What is visible these days is that people time and again focus on the new and forget the old. You must update your old content weekly in order to make sure your old posts get that edge in SERPS. Google loves fresh content and so does everyone else. By regularly updating your old content you gain over the people who had posted articles on the same topics a year or two ago and haven’t updated it since ages.

5.) Clean your design: What’s the use of having a website loaded to the brim with UX elements and features if the user doesn’t like it. Minimalism and flat design are trends that are here to stay. What is needed should be used on the site, and the whole site should have a coherent design. There should be proper call to action buttons like sign up for our newsletter, download our eBook, buy our product and other stuff like that! The typography plays an important part in the whole user experience. Make sure your design is well structured on the inside and outside.

Related: Find out why StudioPress themes are used by over 112,000 website owners around the world today. Read more here.

On the inside you can check the layout of your site by adding missing schema components, you can add DC i.e. Dublin core code and apple touch icon to improve your site’s seo score.

These are some of the top SEO trends to follow in 2014. To read more about great SEO tips and money making tutorials, keep visiting ReginaldChan.net

This post was contributed by Aditya Nath Jha and sponsored by MyRefers.com, a unique peer to peer referral based job search platform.

February 19, 2024
115 Bite Size SEO Tips and Resources
Looking for the best SEO tips and resources guide? Well, you don’t have to look any further.

In this article, I’ll be sharing 115 SEO tips and resources that you can instantly use for any SEO campaigns.

And these are not your average tool to be honest. I use each and everyone of them at least once a month.

So, yes! Rest assured that these are the real deal!

I hope you enjoy reading these bit size SEO tips and tell me what you think using the comment form at the end of this article.

Google Webmaster Tool
1. Determine top landing pages and find ways to monetize them
2. Find current backlinks and check for any penalized sites
3. Using Fetch and Render features monthly to have a fresh crawl
4. Submit Sitemap to Google for post indexing
5. Crawl error provides issues on the website that could lead to 404 errors and page not found
6. Check for manual web spam penalization
7. Check for HTML improvement and recommendation from Google
8. Determine the top keywords and phrases for your website as indexed by Google
9. Using Data Highlighter to help Google understand the website layout
10. Unshow or disable sitelinks which are not relevant to search queries
11. Determine which is top performer in terms of keywords
12. Information on Click Through Rates (CTR) and adjust title to boost CTR rate
13. Getting specific keyword ranking on Google
14. Checking if the site is HTML ready and if structured data is enabled
15. Blocking URL which are not relevant or links that you do not Google to index
16. Setting up demographic features and targeted country (optional for bloggers but useful for eCommerce websites)
17. Setup website to redirect to www or non www to avoid duplicate contents
Google Analtics
1. Determine demographic traffic
2. Data of traffic source; referral, direct or search engines
3. Provide information of age and gender
4. Detailed information of visitors (new vs returning)
5. Learn the engagement level of visitors with the duration of the blog visitors
6. Provide information of the technology used to visit the blog (smartphones, tablet or desktop)
7. Understanding general flow of visitors (sales funnel)
8. Find the best keywords that provides the most clicks and traffic
9. Determine which page or post that are providing the most CTR and traffic
10. Insight of landing pages and indirectly, providing ways to improve conversion rate
11. Creating custom reporting to track traffic and conversion changes
Google Keyword Planner
1. Find keyword ideas based on seed keywords
2. Providing an estimated search volume per month
3. Providing historical search volume and trends
4. Determine the average number of competitions for Adword users
5. Provide an estimated value of Cost Per Click (CPC) for those who are bidding for keywords
6. Availability of keyword search based on geographical value or general
7. Find new keywords based on keywords, related phrases and even websites
8. Filtering keywords based on specific requirements
9. Get search volume using specific codes (example: [exact match keywords], “related keywords” and general keywords)
10. Free keyword suggestions by using keyword lists and suggestions
Google Places (Local SEO)
1. Extremely vital if you’re running an eCommerce website
2. Placing a map and even enable Google Places could boost local search
3. You can increase local SEO by using directories but it should not
SEO tips for homepage, posts and pages
1. Using heading tags of H1 to H4 for markup value
2. Focusing on keyword density (recommended below 3%)
3. Using keywords which has search value
4. Using Bold, Italic and Underline to boost readership
5. Providing valuable and relevant tags
6. Permalinks to be clean and readable
7. Make use of alt tags and image title
8. Using caption and description on images to create value
9. Focus in using one main keyword and several other related keywords per article
10. Providing short but quality meta description
11. Avoid keyword stuffing
12. Each post should have a balance internal and external backlinks
13. Avoid sharing external links which are low quality
14. Avoid link exchange
15. Use NoFollow tag for low quality or non related links
16. Articles should be at least 600 words
The importance of blog marketing for SEO
1. After publishing a blog post, market it around to get a faster indexation
2. Submit blog posts to content syndication sites
3. Build links to the blog posts but providing value (indirectly increases the chance of trackbacks)
4. Share the posts on social media and receive temporary traffic (and ranking) boost
Guest posting
1. A great way to get more backlinks but submit guest post with moderation
2. Only accept quality guest post
3. Avoid link drop at all cost
4. Only write for quality and authority sites
5. URL shared should only be your best articles
SEO tips that you need to do for your website
1. Use quality hosting for better loading speed
2. Domain name to be short and memorable
3. Avoid rude words on the domain name
4. Exact match domain isn’t compulsory but recommended
5. Focus on mobile SEO (mobile responsive themes, layouts etc)
Looking for backlinks tips? Here are 7 to get started with!
1. Focus in creating quality backlinks instead of numbers
2. Getting one backlink from authority sites values more than hundreds from spammy sites
3. Avoid black hat SEO unless you REALLY know what you’re doing
4. Use a mixture of exact mach anchor text with related and general ones
5. Focus in building a large ‘range’ of anchor texts
6. Avoid over optimizing specific keywords
7. Certain social media platform provides DoFollow backlinks
General SEO tips for beginners
1. If you’re just starting up, avoid the ‘try to dominate Google’ thinking
2. SEO is usually overrated; just enjoy the whole SEO process
3. Not doing SEO for a day won’t kill your traffic overnight
4. If you want to master SEO, you need to read … A-L-O-T
5. SEO results will not happen overnight; it takes time (months)
6. Follow as closely as possible with Google guidelines and you’ll be pretty safe from any penalization
7. Not all SEO tips works for everyone; just choose those which are relevant
8. Avoid sitewide URL (placing URLs on footer or sidebar for example)
9. Use robot.txt to ‘guide’ crawlers on your website
10. Avoid stuffing over 1,000 links or files in your sitemap (you can have more than one sitemap)
11. SEO plugins and tools like Yoast SEO, Raven Tool and Scribe SEO doesn’t guarantee good ranking; they just help to optimize your website by providing suggestions
12. There are over 200 ranking factors to consider according to Moz (read more)
Recommended free SEO plugins and tools to use in 2014
1. Google Keyword Planner (general keyword research)
2. Google Webmaster Tool (check for any crawl errors and keyword ranking)
3. Google Analytics (general data on keywords and geographical research)
4. Bing Webmaster Tool (alternative to Google Webmaster Tool)
5. WordPress SEO by Yoast (helps to provide simple SEO insight and analytics)
6. All In One SEO (alternative to WordPress SEO)
7. Google XML Sitemap plugin (good combination to All In One SEO)
8. Squirrly SEO plugin (freemium SEO plugin to help with advance SEO analytics)
9. Google Rich Snippet Testing Tool (test your website if it is HTML5 and markup Schema.org)
10. Google Trends (a great way to see what is trending and what’s not)
11. MozCast (my personal favorite when it comes to checking Google algorithm changes)
12. SEOquake (great FireFox plugin to check on on-page SEO)
13. MozBar (alternative to SEOquake and great on Chrome)
Best premium SEO plugins and tools (evergreen)
1. Long Tail Pro (my personal keyword research tool ~ Download it for free and get $20 off if you decide to buy)
2. Market Samurai (my second go-to tool for keyword research ~ Try it for free here)
3. Scribe SEO (the best SEO plugin that provides excellent analytics and keyword suggestions by CopyBlogger ~ Read more about it here)
4. SEOpressor (the best worth-for-money SEO plugin for beginners ~ Free trial)
5. SerpBook (easy to use keyword tracking which updates twice a day ~ Check it out here)
6. SEO PowerSuite (value for money and all-in-one SEO tool ~ Free download)
7. Genesis Framework and child themes (the only WordPress themes that comes with superb inbuilt SEO setting ~ See StudioPress themes gallery here)
8. AhRefs (this is my main backlink checker and probably the one that provides the most accurate data)
9. MajesticSEO (a good alternative to AhRefs)
10. Moz Pro (the pro version provides extremely detailed information and most of the time, comparable with Raven Tools)
11. Raven Tools (excellent competitor to Moz Pro and this is also a great all-in-one SEO tool for agencies)
12. SEMrush (a good alternative especially when you are need deep insight of your competitor and high CPC keywords ~ Try SEMrush here)
Is there really the best SEO tools?

The answer is no. Each SEO tool or plugin works in a very different way. For example, I uses Scribe SEO for serious SEO analysis but it has lesser usage for beginners or leisure bloggers.

In the end of the day, it all depends on what you really need and from there on, choosing the best SEO technique to fit your style is the best way out.

Do you have any favorite SEO tools you would like to share? Tell me using the comment form below.
February 19, 2024
Google Panda Update 4.0: What is it and How it affects you?
A new update has been rolled out by Google 17 hours ago duped as Google Panda Update 4.0 and it is said to be a very delicate update.

Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Webspam, announced the release of Panda 4.0 update via the all-time-famous channel of his, Twitter.

Google is rolling out our Panda 4.0 update starting today.

‘” Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 20, 2014

And almost instantly, it took the whole search engine world by storm (as expected). Various authority sites reported both improvement and reduction in search visibility.

@MarketingLand Google updates “Panda” filter, impacts 7.5% of search results. Source.

It was quoted from Google that “Panda 4.0 affects different languages to different degrees” and “In English for example, the impact is ~7.5% of queries that are affected to a degree that a regular user might notice.”

History showed that this is possible the biggest Google Panda update since Panda 6 on 11th April 2011 (impacted 6 – 9% of search queries internationally).

Even Moz weather sees an extremely high temperature during that day.

Winners and losers of Google Panda 4.0

Data were collected by Search Metrics to determine the effect of Google Panda 4.0. Here are some of the initial stats.

Top sites which are suspected being affected by Panda 4.0:

Top sites who benefit from Panda 4.0:

Google Panda 4.0 is said to be ‘softer’ and and ‘delicate’

Let’s face the fact.

Not every Google update is beneficial for us. Sometime, we get affected by Google updates even when we are doing nothing wrong.

This particular update is meant to be a basis for future adjustments to the Google algorithm. Or least, that’s what Google wants us to believe in.

Until Google releases a new announcement (which is highly unlikely), we are left in the dark and playing the guessing game.

Preliminary analysis of Google Panda 4.0 Update

What have we learned from Panda 4.0?

One of the biggest analysis I personally seen is sites with lesser content loses visibility and search ranking.

Read more on how to increase search ranking here.

This means that sites need originality and tons of quality articles (for starters).

For example, majority of the sites listed in the ‘affected lists’ are mainly ranked with information from external sources.

But again, bear in mind that Google Panda 4.0 has just been rolled out and would easily take weeks to see the real results in the SERPs.

Personally, Google Panda 4.0 could be a good update with the assumption that it is learning from previous update mistakes.

How to be safe from Google Panda 4.0 Update?

There isn’t any visible or proven techniques yet but it is definitely safe to say that you should avoid using:
1. Syndicated content
2. Duplicate content
3. Low quality content
4. Spam contents
We all know that Google loves quality content and planning your blogging strategy is extremely important from now onwards.

Personally, staying safe and playing with Google rules is probably the best way for this short period to avoid Google penalization.

What do you think about Google Panda Update 4.0? Does it affect you in anyway? Fire up what you have in mind using the comment form below.
February 19, 2024
How To Avoid Google Penalization And Manual Web Spam With Guest Blogging?
Google did that again; unleashing web spam and search ranking penalization to not one but two major websites.

When I saw that news on Twitter, I knew that the search engine world is changing and damn, it is changing rapidly.

Matt Cutt’s said previously that we should be careful and not abusing guest blogging. While many took that seriously, there are still some who continue doing it.

But hey, they aren’t wrong and they are probably doing everything by the book.

As usual, Google is known for breaking things that works and penalized two sites from the face of search engine (literally). MyBlogGuest was nowhere to be found on Google front row pages and Portent Inc. who went from page 1 of Google to page 60.

Words from Ann Smarty on Twitter:

[Official] Even though #myblogguest has been against paying for links (unlike other platforms), @mattcutts team decided to penalize us…

‘” Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 19, 2014

And Ian Lurie from Portent Inc.:

Update on #portentgate – it looks like we have 2-3 posts we did using a service that just got penalized. Could that have done it?…

‘” Ian Lurie (@portentint) March 20, 2014

So, what the @#$% is wrong with them or Google?

At the moment, the only confirmed updates are MyBlogGuest is a huge guest blogging sphere while Portent Inc. is a popular marketing agency. And the only linking between both Portent Inc. and MyBlogGuest is that they (Portent Inc.) have several guest posts published on MyBlogGuest.

Words on the street are that MyBlogGuest’s database is affected but until this get verified, it will remain as a mystery, shall we?

We all know MyBlogGuest and it is managed by the popular Ann Smarty. For me, MyBlogGuest is a great place for knowledge and for many, it is a huge filled with knowledge.

Another question that comes to this is that does link building is more important that content quality, length and another dozen reasons more we have always been doing?

Yes, go figure and tell me what you think using the comment form below.

What do you think about guest blogging?

So, what is guest blogging all about?

Guest blogging is a ‘feature’ where webmasters of certain domains would allow other bloggers to submit or publish their posts on the site. This is a win-win situation where webmasters would be able to maintain the freshness of the site while the guest bloggers would get at least one backlink to their own blogs.

Personally, this is one of the greatest link building technique where you are able to get quality links and building your authority at the same time.

While this is close to a completely white hat link building technique, many bloggers are (indirectly) abusing the link building cycle. This means that you can literally gain as many backlinks as possible even if your website is below par … as long as you are constantly submitting guest posts.

Therefore, excessive guest blogging would lead to many Google penalization and as well as manual web spam.

Ultimately, this leads to the next question.

Question: Should you continue to submit or accept guest blogging?

Do it if you wish ‘¦ but do it with moderation.

Guest bloggings are meant to be quality and probably one of your best article creations with hours of hard work put in it.

Don’t just submit your article to a dozen websites but instead, submit just a handful of articles to the right and related websites.

1. Before submitting guest blogging (checklist and tutorial)

If you want to submit articles to websites, make sure you are providing quality articles. Most of the time, majority of the blogger would say that they are submitting top notch quality and a simple read through will know that those are really bad.

If you are putting a high bar and expectation on your own guest blogging, you need to raise it even higher now.

Search engine is changing and it is getting tougher!

2. Before accepting guest blogging

If you happen to accept guest blogging, don’t panic. Here are things you need to do in sequence:
- Check each articles for dead links and low quality posts
- Contact the guest blogger and ask if he or she would like to update the post(s)
- Repeat and rinse these steps on a monthly basis
While this is extremely time consuming, the effort taken would benefit you in a long run; avoiding yourself from being penalized by Google.

What to do if you found manual web spam notification on Webmaster Tool?

If your blog is PageRank 2 and below … plus, guest blogging isn’t your main backlink method, then you should be just fine.

However, let’s say Google really hates you and you get a manual web spam notification. On average, it would take place immediately in terms of ranking effects but I usually see them in action between 3 to 7 days.

So, this means that you have 72 hours (minus the sleep) to rectify it immediately. It doesn’t take you long but here are the steps you need to do:
- Use backlink checker tools such as AhRefs, MajesticSEO or SEO PowerSuite to get a list of all your backlinks
- Export them into an excel form or format
- Check each link that is linking back to your website and do it with cautions (this means that even a single backlink to your site should be ‘˜flagged’)
- Copy those domains into another excel tab and check for their PageRank, Domain Authority, Page Authority and anchor texts linking to those domains
- Separate them into three lists such as Safe, Moderate and Dangerous (if you notice any domain is at risk of being penalized, place them in the Dangerous list)
- Contact each of the webmasters in the Dangerous list and ask for amendment in guest post or remove the links
- You should keep an eye on those domains in the Moderate list and if there any change in ranking (weekly basis), you can decide to move them to Safe or Dangerous list respectively
Help! I am lazy and I don’t have the time, but I don’t want Google to penalize my blog

Okay, the above 7 steps are not one-time jobs. Instead, those are your daily to-do lists to be honest.

Guess what? Among us, there would be those who have thought about going shortcut.

Example: How about I send the full list of Dangerous to Google Disavow directly. Would that be faster?

Honestly speaking, that would be not faster but lighting fast.

But wait! There’s a downside of this and a huge one to be honest.

Imagine you send the list of domains on a weekly or monthly basis to Google for disavowing. Have you ever wonder what Google will think about you?
1. You are plain lazy
2. You are doing black hat SEO and in a rush to clear all your bad links
3. Trying to come clean when you are not (or even if you are)
I would always go against using Google Disavow tool unless you have really tried to contact the webmaster of the site simply because it doesn’t matter how much white hat SEO you do, Google will still try to find your mistake (here’s my case study).

And in most cases, Google will consider you guilty until proven otherwise. Ouch!

Okay guys. We need a contingency plan to counter attack Google … NOW! ~ President Obama

So, what’s the new SEO strategy you should be using now? Some Q’s & A’s:

Should I be submitting my guest blogging? ~ If you are doing it heavily, cut it down or reduce the numbers.

As I have over 100 guest posts, do I need to be worried? ~ Yes if you are submitting to random sites. No if you are selecting guest posting sites like choosing your husband or wife.

What should I do if my blog has a lot of guest posts? ~ Start checking all your blog posts and the links in them. Remove which ever are low in quality.

What do you think the future of guest blogging?

While I would say this event has changed everything we know about guest blogging, there is still no reason why we should doubt the ability of guest blogging.

The problem would lies in us where we tend to abuse the search engine ecosystem and indirectly, creating a huge loophole for unnatural link building.

Do you have any thoughts about guest blogging? Tell me what you think using the comment form below.
February 4, 2024