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Please note: there is a more up-to-date version of this post available here: 26 best free SEO tools. Google’s official position on webmaster best practices really hasn’t changed much over the years. What has changed is the search engine’s ability to enforce these guidelines through improved algorithms. The implementation of Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird has had a profound impact on the SEO landscape. Google’s Matt Cutts has remarked that no one should be surprised when a website that hasn’t followed the guidelines is penalized. What Cutts overlooks or chooses to ignore is something that I have dubbed the “Google Paradox“. I suspect the Google paradox is the root cause for one black hat forum member expressing his desire to “punch Matt Cutts in the face” (per Cutts’ Pubcon 2013 keynote). In order to reach the top of the SERPs and stay there in 2013 and beyond, your website must deserve to be there. It needs to be the best in … [Read more...] about 21 Best FREE SEO Tools for On-Page Optimization

Monitoring SEO health is vital to maintaining a successful search program. Slips in performance can happen at the drop of a dime, and waiting until the next monthly report to come out before discovering poor performance can be devastating to your program. There are several SEO health metrics you should be monitoring daily or weekly to be more proactive about tackling issues that will hurt performance. Although these metrics usually won’t point to the specific problem, they will give you a starting point for investigating the cause of performance decreases. The alert methods, frequency and conditions mentioned in this article are recommended for a vast majority of sites, but will need to be adjusted for sites with special needs or highly aggressive SEO programs. 1. Organic Traffic Changes Organic traffic is one of the biggest goals of SEO programs, and changes in your website’s organic traffic are heavily influenced by your SEO strategy. If organic traffic decreases: … [Read more...] about 21 Metrics For Monitoring SEO Health

Global paid search investment continued its rise through the first half of 2014, according to Covario’s latest quarterly analysis of search spend. Overall spend among the firm’s clients rose 21 percent in the second quarter year-over-year, and 2 percent over the first quarter of 2014. Mobile search spend nearly doubled, rising 98 percent year-over-year and 6 percent quarter-over-quarter even as cost-per-click prices fell. Overall impressions dropped off 15 percent year-over-year, which Alex Funk, Covario’s director of global paid media strategy and author of the study, says is largely due to a decline in desktop impressions and larger ad units. Those ad units, loaded up with extensions as well as Product Listing Ads (PLAs), however, drove overall click-through rates (CTRs) up 39 percent year-over-year and click volume up 18 percent compared to Q1. Cost-per-click (CPC) prices rose 12 percent year-over-year and ticked up 2.4 percent over the previous quarter. The … [Read more...] about Paid Search Spend Rose 21 Percent YoY In Q2, With Mobile Up 98 Percent [Covario]

We know from multiple data sources that more than 90 percent of smartphone owners use maps and local search. We also know from Google that up to 50 percent of mobile search carries a local intent. Now, a new local search study from YP and Street Fight takes a closer look at local search behavior and tries to segment the audience based on the intensity of local search frequency and usage. Got Mobile Devices? You’re Likely An “Avid” Local Searcher Based on a survey of 1,100 US adults, the study found that 40 percent of survey respondents used local search daily and that 70 percent of smartphone owners use location-aware mobile apps. It also discovered that consumers who own smartphones, tablets and PCs are (not surprisingly) the most “avid” users of local search. By contrast, those who own only PCs and feature phones do many fewer local searches. Here’s the correlation the report makes between device ownership and local search frequency: PC Only: … [Read more...] about Consumers Who Own Smartphones And Tablets Do Average Of 21 Local Searches Per Week

Businesses are growing more aware of the need to understand and implement at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). But if you read a variety of blogs and websites, you’ll quickly see that there’s a lot of uncertainty over what makes up “the basics.” Without access to high-level consulting and without a lot of experience knowing what SEO resources can be trusted, there’s also a lot of misinformation about SEO strategies and tactics. 1. Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the tactics that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment. 2. Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online. 3. Ask a lot of questions when hiring an SEO company. It’s your job to know what kind of tactics … [Read more...] about 21 Essential SEO Tips & Techniques