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Backlinking Strategies that Work in 2016

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Backlinking strategies are obviously important, and can go a long way in helping to get your website (i.e. business or product) noticed. So, that being said, can you define backlinking? Not only do you need to know how to define it, but you should also be able to list specific methods that work.
Backlinks (or inbound links) are links to your website page(s) that are left on other high quality sites.

Backlinking Strategies Rank Higher

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a major key in growing a successful company. Think of it this way: If you own a bookstore, and someone Googles “Best Bookstores Near Me,” you want your site to populate, correct? Of course, you do! Well, in order for this to happen, you need to become knowledgeable in SEO and all of its components, including backlinks.

Simply put, high quality backlinks are vital for ranking high in search engines. After you’ve gotten your site up and running, and then added unique content, it will be time to work on backlinks. Need some effective tips on backlinking strategies that work?

1 – Social Media Websites – Social media is huge for businesses and online marketing. Specifically, Facebook is one of the best tools for Internet marketing, but don’t forget that Tumblr, Twitter, and LinkedIn are also available and helpful. Create an account, add your bio, and place your website link in said bio.

2 – Press Releases – There’s no such thing as bad press, right? Use a press release to get your information out to the public (i.e. your social media platforms, as well as your website address).

3 – Comment – You want people to get to know you, or at least notice you. Therefore, post comments on blogs. However, only posts on blogs that are relevant to your brand or business.

4 – Be a Guest – Blogging is important. And while you will need to host your own blog (and update it weekly), consider blogging for another site. This is called “guest blogging.” Again, only blog for another company or business that is relevant to yours.

5 – Find a Relevant Forum – Quite similar to guest blogging, make a list of successful forums related to your site, sign up for them, and then start a thread. Ask questions, and create discussions.

6 – Q&A – More questions, and more answers . . . get involved in sites that host Q&As. Show people that you know stuff by answering questions. But also, don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s important to show that you’re curious, too.

7 – Local Directories – There are no longer a ton of local directories that are overly effective. However, the following are useful: BOTW, DMOZ, and Yahoo! Post on these three for backlinks.

8 – Articles – Much like blogging and releasing press releases, writing articles is a great way to get your site in front of the masses. Yes, you’ll want to write quality articles that pertain to your company or product. Once you’ve done so, find a quality article directory, and submit your work.

9 – Videos – You read suggestion 8, correct? Well, replace “article” with “video,” and you’ve got step 9! It’s true, video marketing is highly effective these days . . . maybe even more effective than content writing. Make some videos, find some relevant channels, and post away!

10 – Keywords Are Key – Are you familiar with the keywords that represent your company? You need to make a list of keywords or target keywords that fall in line with your business, and then use them when writing blogs, articles, and press releases. Don’t forget to include them in your marketing video, too.

11 – Planning – Above all else, you need to form a plan. Doesn’t seem like a tip? Well, this could actually be the most important one. Creating successful backlinking strategies takes time. Also, you want to complete this task in a way that will be most effective. Therefore, do your research and homework, and build backlinks steadily and gradually. Have a plan of attack, and follow through.

Stay Relevant

If you want your business to grow based on SEO, then inbound marketing is key. Creating SEO-friendly pages and crafting backlinking strategies at the same time may seem daunting, but it’s a process that can be learned and perfected. Don’t give up. And, most important, keep looking for new ways to spread the word about your company or product.

It’s All in the Local SEO

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If you want your business to become successful, which you most likely do, then you should consider getting getting educated on local SEO. SEO, or search engine optimization, can help your company rank on the Internet when potential clients or customers go searching for a specific product . . . a product that you have to offer.

Take pizza, for example. Everyone loves pizza! Let’s say you have a new pizza shop opening downtown. When someone uses their computer or smartphone to search for new pizza restaurants in the area, you want your business to not only rank (or populate), but rank high. Local ranking can really help increase revenue and awareness. To accomplish this goal, you’ll need to become knowledgeable on SEO. Are you ready?

How High Do You Rank on Local SEO?

If you haven’t faced facts already, it’s time: We live in a world where technology is king. This is both a good and bad thing. Sure, a high number of people may be glued to their cell phones, but, we can also find just about any sort of information we want at the drop of a hat.

Is technology good or bad? Or, perhaps it falls somewhere in the middle–in that gray region.

Nevertheless, if you currently run a business, and you want that business to prosper, then it’s high time to think about technology and local ranking. In order for your business or company to rank, you need to improve your local SEO, and you can do that by:

  • Claim your “Google My Business” page
  • Add a long and unique description regarding your business
  • Upload as many photos as possible, and do be afraid to get creative
  • Include a local phone number with your business listing
  • Add an address for your business, and make sure it’s the same as the one listed on your website (consistency is key)
  • Upload a clear and flattering profile image and cover photo
  • If available, add your hours of business (i.e. when you open and close)
  • As soon as possible, get real reviews from real customers

Do any of these steps seem unclear, or too difficult to perform? This may immediately feel like a lot of tasks to complete in order to get local ranking for your business. However, this should be an important goal of yours. And, besides, once you get started, you’ll quickly discover that there’s nothing to the process.

One of the most challenging (and significant) steps listed above is the very last one: get real reviews from real customers. This step should only happen once the others have been successfully finished, but it’s still the one with the most collateral, as it will help attract new clients or consumers. Not only that, but local reviews have a direct impact on local ranking. And while your first priority should be Google reviews, don’t forget about creating and shaping a Yelp page–reviews there are important, too.

The best way to tackle reviews in hopes of improving (or establishing) local SEO, is to start with your current customer base. Whether you’re selling a product, offering a service of some sort, or providing the community with information, you have clientele. Now, you need to ask that clientele to leave reviews on your various pages (but, specifically, your Google page). Don’t be nervous or feel unprofessional asking for this assistance. If your customers are satisfied, then they’ll most likely want to do their part to see you succeed even further.

Information Is Key

In order to rank, meaning, in order for someone to find you with a simple Google search, you need to provide information–the right information. You’ll definitely want to start with the tips above, but then it’s imperative to include the proper content on your site. When it comes to local SEO, learning which keywords rank for your type of business are crucial.

Back to the pizza example. If you own a pizza shop, then the goal is to get potential clients to find your business when they Google “pizza places near me.” Often times, they will type in the city in which they live in. Therefore, when producing the content for your page, try to connect your location or city with your product. Yes, this tactic can work for all products or items.

Don’t Give Up

It may take some time to rank, so don’t give up. You may not rank overnight, but if you stick with the process, and keep trying to perfect your site, you should find your local SEO improving. And what does that mean, exactly? Your local ranking will also improve, and you’ll find more awareness surrounding your company. This is how your business can become successful . . . so get to work!

10 Tips To Optimize Mobile Site Speed

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Will you lose customers while your mobile pages slowly load, or will you gain loyal followers as you optimize mobile site speed? The choice is yours, but Google plans to add mobile website speed to SERP ranking, so wise businesses are moving to optimize mobile site speed now. The majority of consumers are mobile and they expect mobile sites to be quickly accessible, some experts say within one second. Follow these steps to appease the need for speed (and overall responsive web design).

Minimize to optimize mobile site speed

1. Minimize image size

Images take longer to load than text, so make sure your image size matches the available space. Reduce the image resolution as much as you can without sacrificing quality. Crop images for a perfect fit, and compress them with a jpeg type file.

2. Minify resources

To minify, you delete or compress unneeded resources while maintaining processing efficiency. This refers to code and formatting in the form of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Google Developers recommend a range of tools and server modules to address minification and help you optimize mobile site speed.

3. Reduce blocking JavaScript and CSS

The initial render should only use JavaScript and CSS files necessary for loading above the fold content, and defer the ones that block or reroute content. This allows viewers to immediately see the top part of your page while the rest of your page loads. Avoid or inline external files that send requests out to the network, as they eat up valuable time.

4. Slash and delay above the fold content

As mentioned above, initial content will load faster when there is less data involved. Consider saving images and other time grabbers for below the fold positions. Structure your website to load main content before widgets and sidebars to optimize mobile site speed.

5. Compress files

Smaller files mean faster network transfers, which will speed up loading times. Gzip can be enabled in the web server configuration, and accounts for up to 90% file size reduction. This leads to a quicker first render, and your viewers will use less data too.

6. Trim or omit video

Videos take up the most room on a website, and are the biggest culprits when pages load slowly. If video is not integral to your site, eliminate it completely. Other options include loading it in the background, or only running it on your desktop site. Some mobile sites use a call to action button that either links to a video hosting site like YouTube, or routes the video file to the user’s email address.

7. Remove redirects

Redirects require extra processing and delay page loading. An example is when a mobile viewer is sent to your desktop landing page and then redirected to your mobile landing page. Hosting your mobile and desktop sites in the same location is one way to address this. Many websites prefer using a responsive design that responds and changes to any size device screen to optimize mobile site speed.

Modification for optimization

8. Choose plugins wisely

Plugins can cause your mobile site to lag or crash, as well as induce security concerns. Not all plugins are well conceived, so select carefully. Take time to research and make sure the plugins you pick are up-to-date, have a lot of positive customer reviews, and have a high number of downloads (thousands are better than hundreds). Run tests to determine if a plugin affects your site speed, and weigh the pros and cons.

9. Enhance browser caching

Mobile caches cannot hold large amounts of content, and this slows down mobile site loading speed. All resources for your site should have a caching policy in place. This allows reusing of previous responses whenever possible, cutting down on retrieval time to optimize mobile site speed.

10. Utilize a CDN

A content delivery network (CDN) disperses the weight of your website across a network of servers around the world. Users receive your content from the server that is located closest to them. The shorter the distance between user and server, the faster your content loads.

Put your mobile site to the test

In addition to these steps, Google’s TestMySite online tool checks the mobile-friendliness, mobile speed and desktop speed of any website. The results include a number grade up to 100 for each of the three categories, and a list of fixes to optimize mobile site speed in that specific area. You can also request to receive the report via email.

Optimize Mobile Site Speed

Mobitest is another online tool for finding the speed of your site, and tests strictly for mobile. You can choose between several devices to test on: iPhone 5s, Galaxy S5 or iPad Air. Load time, page size, waterfall chart and screenshot are displayed on the results page.

GTMetrix tests the speed of your site on either Firefox (desktop) or a Galaxy Nexus (mobile). After registering, you can generate a performance report with percentages and letter grades for pagespeed score and YSlow score, as well as results for page load time and number of requests. GTMetrix also breaks down your performance scores into subcategories with suggestions for correcting low scores.

The average person uses a mobile device more than 150 times a day, and as mobile’s popularity continues to grow, so does the need to optimize mobile site speed. Reducing or eliminating some features, changing others, and periodically testing and updating your mobile site will keep it optimized. More than a “mobile friendly” site, you’ll have a mobile site built for speed.

5 WordPress Website Themes To Use In 2016

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Finding a needle in a haystack might seem easier than choosing from the staggering collection of available WordPress website themes. That job becomes a lot easier with careful consideration of your website’s purpose and priorities. Use this rundown of features in five important WordPress website themes to determine what’s best for your site.

5 important WordPress website themes

While WordPress website themes come in free and premium editions, those listed here are all premium. Due to their price point, there is a glut of websites using free themes, while a premium theme offers more features and customization to set your site apart. Customer support is multifaceted for premium themes, including email, chat and public forums. Premium themes are updated more often, usually periodically, so security issues are identified and patched.

1. Avada

Avada

Avada by Theme Fusion is one of the best-selling WordPress website themes, known for excellent customer support. The visual page builder allows for fast and easy customizing with no coding necessary. Avada offers full responsiveness, optimized speed, auto theme updates and 2D/3D layered sliders. It has five custom headers, a built in SEO plug-in, and is optimized for speed.

2. X Theme

X by Themeco is one of the most customizable WordPress website themes available due to its stacks, which are four exclusive designs in one, rather than a few standard layouts. Drag and drop page builders make everything customizable without coding, including logo, font, color, menus, sidebars and headers. The live previewer ends the need to constantly refresh, granting intuitive front-end editing. Along with SEO readiness, X also brings custom extensions, Responsive Visibility, and optimized speed.

3. Enfold

Enfold

Enfold by Kriesi has been called one of the most user friendly WordPress website themes out there, with 18 predefined skins for non-coders to insert their own information. The drag and drop templates support customizing layouts, typography and color, with options for audio and video. Enfold is optimized for SEO, high resolution, and 2D/3D layers. It is responsive for any size screen and optimized for speed.

4. Jupiter

Jupiter by Artbees is known as a one size fits all WordPress website theme. Now on version 5, Jupiter’s modular composition, reduced file size and total number of files have improved the loading times. Users find numerous drag and drop variations for customizing layouts, headers, post types and content importers as well as a background customiser using color gradients. Features include SEO readiness, Edge Slideshow, adaptable responsiveness, and 50 templates.

5. Salient

Salient

Salient by ThemeNectar is one of the most innovative WordPress website themes, giving websites a creative edge. The visually enhanced features include video backgrounds, sliders, and a custom homepage that lays out all parts of the website in an array. SEO compatible and speed optimized, Salient contains 350 icons and eight page layouts formatted for any size screen.

How to choose?

With so many features available in these WordPress website themes, pinpointing priorities can be difficult. Website speed should be near the top of your list; if your site takes too long to load, viewers will give up and Google will assign a low rating. Sluggish themes are characterized by an overload of features and too many large files. Focus on the features that best characterize your business, whether flashy background videos and sliders or simple customized colors and headers, and choose a theme that specializes in those particular components.

User experience goes hand-in-hand with speed, since the purpose of having a website is to attract users. Ease of use can make or break your site, so limit complicated features. Smashing Magazine suggests experimenting with demos to get a feel for each theme: “Do you get a headache looking at it? Does it excite you?” First impressions are important, and your first impression should be a positive one.

Just like looking at a model home, however, a theme demo can distract you with a beautiful set-up that has nothing to do with your needs. Look for demo features that will fit your purpose and content. Make sure positions and sizing of logos, headers and text blocks fit your requirements. A live preview admin area will allow you to test-drive the demo for a better idea of how it meets your specifications.

All of these WordPress website themes demonstrate SEO compatibility, responsiveness, optimized speed, customizable design and easy-to-use drag and drop options to various degrees. Your priorities and personal impressions will determine the best fit for your website (your needle in the haystack).

Google AdWords Changes : truth and myth

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On February 18th, 2016, Google AdWords changes took the digital marketing industry by surprise. The removal of right side ads on desktop results page created panic and much heated debate. While discussions are still going strong on the topic, most agree a month later that Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Armageddon will have to wait. Again.

What the Google AdWords changes mean for advertisers

The major change Google implemented on the search results was removing the ads from the right side, and balancing the deletion by adding a 4th paid position on the top of the page. The intent, in the interest of fairness, is mostly geared towards products and services, and high-commercial value search keywords (as in, competitive markets).
If you search for something generic that doesn’t necessarily involve commerce, the result page is still mostly free of ads.

For example, on the query “cashmere”, one ad comes up (LL Bean… but they probably bid on every type of wool, fabric or garment). The query “origins of cashmere” yields purely organic results.

But the result page on query “cashmere sweater” displays both ads and product listing ads.Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 12.15.28 PM

What do Google AdWords changes mean for advertisers is still left to guessing, although a month of data (as per WordStream) puts some speculation to rest.

CTRs (Click-thru rates) are up, CPCs (cost per click) are steady, impressions are down.
Companies that bid for brand, niche markets, displays and video-oriented content and mobile advertisers are not affected by this little revolution (mobile results were already on 4 ad slots).

What about those advertisers that got killed, you may wonder? It turns out the right hand side of the search results page was not very profitable. The bottom of the page may still display up to 3 AdWords slots, up for grabs. While the RHS (right hand side) advertisers feel they lose visibility, and companies positioned 5-11 are not happy to move below the fold, the users feel they get more relevant results with fewer commercial distractions.

Consequences of Google AdWords changes to SEO

The first wave of panic upon learning of the change was close to a tsunami in the SEO world.

The first call of action is to gather the troops to work harder on optimization (and maybe find better tools). Since most desktop screens display only above the fold, scrolling is required to find the first organic result.
To top it off, the bottom position moves to the second page (but it’s on top there, so that’s a positive…).

But did Google AdWords changes really make SEO the biggest loser?
“[…] organic has been losing ground to new ad formats and other SERP changes every year”. Here is exactly why SEO professionals recover from the news better than advertisers. So many changes over the years have forced them to adapt and shift their working methods, not their strategies. They have to be more precise, they have to analyze performance with more scrutiny so that keyword and that meta description will bump them back up.

In fact, one may be allowed to think that organic search could benefit from a less cluttered page, where the user can find a more direct access to what they queried for.

The query “origin of cashmere” yields purely organic results

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 12.14.57 PM

So, as users, if information and knowledge are what we’re looking for, we still get them with minimal distraction. And if we are in the business of selling cashmere sweaters, we should run those reports and make sure our content includes “origins of cashmere” or “cashmere origin” (70 queries per month), or buy the top ad slot for a few cents.

It can be argued that Google AdWords changes were mostly implemented to boost ad revenue and that users, small businesses and SEO professionals were collateral damage. As a company Google needs to make profit. As a search engine, it needs to cater to the user. It’s a fine balance. Ultimately, time will tell what, if anything, is affected by the move. So far, the sense of doom has faded, and business has resumed as usual.

“Tag, you’re it”: what heading tags are and how they impact SEO

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The importance and compared merits of heading tag in website pages and posts has been (and still is) generously commented and there seems to be little argument about it: heading tags are necessary to boost SEO and improve user experience.

Heading is code name for structure

Heading tags (or title tags) are designed to add two elements to content: hierarchy and rhythm, and one major component to search engine parsing: identity.
Imagine a block of text on any topic that would be presented in form of a big clump, possibly with paragraphs, but without visual effects to outline its essence.

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 2.48.13 PM

The result is a rather uninviting, uninteresting and inefficient post. Very few would be intrigued enough to read it. There is no clear display of what it is all about, the question it raises or the answer it provides.

The purpose of heading tags from a strictly redactional point of view is to be visually enticing and deliver a sort of summary of the content itself. In other words, they constitute the skeleton of web content from the spine (main heading) to limbs (subheadings) to fingers and toes (lower subheadings).

Heading tags respect the chain of command

Typically, the hierarchy in headers is <H1>, <H2>, <H3> with instances of <H4> to <H6>, though those are rarely used in blogging (more commonly found in web page design to create “sections”).
From 1 to 6, the heading tags wouldn’t dream of pretending to be what they are not.

Heading and subheadings are not designed to just format the text. In fact, they are not format elements per se. The font size, color and style are merely set to make them stand out and highlight their respective role. As a good practice, no tagging should be inserted in the body itself.

heading tags

“Tag, you’re it”: how heading tags impact SEO: <H1> – The main topic. What we will talk about, hence its prominence (that’s a boss).
Heading is code name for structure: <H2>

Subheading that announces we enter into the topic more specifically and develop the characteristics of H1 honcho (Heading Tags) to H2 (structure).

How heading tags impact SEO

The notation <H> title/subtitle </H> acts like an ID tag for search engines when algorithms parse content and eventually decide how to rank the web page. Not that this aspect only decides whether your landing page will do well or not, but the correlation between heading tags and content is unmistakable.

Headers are unlikely to secure you the top position just because you use them. What they say (or don’t say) and how they are used throughout a site has its importance.
The consensus is there should be only one <H1> per page, and that it should mention your focus keyword. In the case of articles, SEO professionals recommend to place that same keyword in at least one <H2> (and of course, it will be dispersed in the text so a “match” will naturally happen between titles and content).

What they don’t recommend, however, is to replicate heading tags in a page or through the site. They should be unique. Nor should you hammer your keywords in the hope you’ll win the race (the opposite is likely to happen). Lastly, unless ranking is not your concern, keep the subject line short (heading tags should never become entire paragraphs), to the point and relevant.

In many instances, site owners have no idea of the importance of heading tags, but chances are their web developer knew a thing or two about it. For others, tools in web creation and blogging allow to select a line and make it a header without knowledge of coding. Even if Google and Yahoo and Bing allege they don’t require heading tags to be able to find your site and display it in results, the digital marketers think and know otherwise. And all SEO concerns aside, we have to admit that structured content looks good and reads better.

Best Keyword Research Tools for PPC and SEO

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Keyword research tools are to SEO professionals what a scalpel is to a surgeon. An extension of themselves, an obsession that wakes them up at night. What keyword will improve their website ranking, trigger the click on the ad attached to that word or group of words. Finding relevant keywords is crucial to online businesses, whether they need customers, subscribers or viewers. Time being, as we know, money, any tool that makes the research part easier is a must have.

The award for best of keyword research tools goes to SemRush

SemRush is an easy to use online resource for keyword research and analysis that provides  comprehensive features. In fact, this solution lets you do, know and see everything imaginable pertaining to keyword performance and relevancy.

The search tool on specific keywords produces a quick overview of volume of queries, result pages, CPC and competition. That only is very valuable to measure the pertinence of your keywords for SEO purposes and what to expect if you launch PPC campaigns.

Research ToolsYour content is only as good as how well it matches users queries. SemRush goes on to list search phrases associated to keywords. From an SEO point of view, the number of matches, the keyword difficulty (how hard it would be to rank well on that particular keyword) and how tough the competition is are essential information.
The feature Ads history is a powerful keyword search tool functionality.. You can see what your competition is doing on a given query from estimated amount spent to date specific data. Should you see a slot that seems crowded, you can refine or adjust your keyword strategy and optimize budget distribution.

But SemRush is not great just to stay ahead of your competition. In one place, you can manage all your domains and track the performance of your SEO and PPC strategy. It is the swiss army knife of keyword research tools.

First runner up: Moz

Research Tools
Moz is well know in the digital marketing world and with good reasons. They are all about the metrics. Their solution is fairly exhaustive in what SEO and PPC gurus need, especially when it comes to keyword research tool.

In a matter of seconds, Moz delivers insights on keyword rankings for you and your competitors with filtering options so you get only the info that matters to you: time frame, search engine, type, label and even how it performs on mobile.
The Analyze Keyword feature provides details on keyword difficulty and performance, again comparing you and your competition. Eventually, Moz keyword research tool presents an SERP basic report, suggesting what sites may be easier to compete with. And because productivity depends on staying organized, it offers the possibility to keep track of your keywords. With one click, you can access metrics about your list.
The Moz keyword research tool is user friendly and comprehensively covers what you need to know before you make a decision. Especially when you examine the data provided by the landing pages report. This feature is calculating an estimated volume of organic traffic for a keyword. A very handy trick to circumvent the “not provided” results from Google analytics.

Second runner up: Keyword Tool

As runner ups go, this keyword research tool does not wear a tiara but is sufficient if you don’t need to manage multiple sites. The concept is to provide long tail keywords based on actual user queries. Using the Google suggested autocomplete search frame, you can get a list of what users really key in.

Research Tools

The Pro Plus version ($88/month) gives you access to the basic and relevant information you need, such as search volume, CPC on Adwords, competition along with twice as many results.

While it doesn’t let you execute and manage SEO and PPC campaigns all in one place, Keyword Tool is interesting because it’s fast, it puts focus on long tail keywords (that are often difficult to use but efficient) and it is accurate.

Rumor has it that Google Keyword Planner hides keywords to favor advertisers, this keyword research tool solves the problem and saves you a lot of time.
Keyword research tools that are effective for SEO and PPC professional marketers, or for online business owners are dime a dozen. Not all are created equal, not all provide useful information (though most do) but the 3 presented here cover your tracks. Finding the best keyword research tool is only possible by testing several and pick the one(s) that best fit your objectives and needs.

How to boost SEO with Google Adwords?

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The question whether one can boost SEO with Google Adwords has been asked many times and is much debated. Most digital marketers tend to keep them separate in the campaign strategies, yet the goals are the same: traffic and conversion.

The main objective of SEO is to increase an online business’ visibility and place well on the search results (ideally, on the first page). A lot of SEO professionals point out that Google Adwords performance doesn’t matter in ranking. While that may be true, the data provided by analyzing paid campaigns offer valuable insights on what and what doesn’t work (keywords, copy and visuals, segments, impressions,…). Drawing conclusions from those reports can greatly help refine (or redefine) the SEO tactics.

While paying puts a site on top of a search page, SEO aims at putting it in the #1 position organically. Ultimately, what incites visitors to click the ad (and down the road, convert) is a clue SEO pros can pick up and use to benefit natural ranking.

Use keyword Data to boost SEO with Google Adwords

Keywords search volume1

Google Adwords has a lot to say about keywords. As it happens, keywords are the focal point of the SEO world.
Even before you have to spend budget on a campaign, Google Adwords gives you the opportunity to refine your target and improve your results with the keyword planner. That’s close enough to SEO principles. It can even be used to complement the use of other keyword tools you may use.
Keywords and groups of keywords also tell you how to target an audience more precisely. “SEO” for example, is popular but so broad it doesn’t tell you what the user was searching (or hoping to find). “SEO Tips”, on the other hand, puts you on the map with an answer to a specific query, if SEO tips are what you provide.
The number of impressions (how often your ad is shown) is another goldmine of information that can boost your SEO. Any ad that generated a high number of displays can potentially tell you what specific query term is responsible and how to transform it into a keyword in your content, especially if the Google Adwords display generated a lot of clicks (and conversions). In case the conversions were low compared to the number of impressions, you learned that something is not working. The search did not result in an action because your content did not provide a solution. You can then get your SEO toolbox out and fix it.

Measure your Adwords campaigns performances

It is never said enough, analytics are the most powerful tools to continually improve. As an online business, chances are you work on SEO but also run Adwords campaigns, at least until the efforts you put into Search Engine Optimization pay off.

If you spend some time studying the connection between click-through-rates and keywords (in fact, search term that can become your weapon keyword), examine the conversion values and understand what terms landed a visitor on a page, you will discover how you can boost SEO with Google Adwords.
For any campaign that performs well, don’t neglect to observe the connection between visual and content. Headlines, copy and layout may be indicators of what makes a browser click. Those deductions can easily be implemented in your SEO.

Boost SEO by running a Google Adwords campaign

Your everyday concern in SEO is to choose the right keywords (among many other aspects), those that not only get traffic to your website, but also convert. You cannot rely on what you think they may be. Naturally, you have SEO tools to help measure the strength of a keyword or a group.

But getting the validation from the audience itself is not only saving you time, it is ultimately saving you money.

Rather than spend months testing content and decoding response (or lack thereof), constantly checking if you moved up a rank and adjusting if you didn’t, set aside an SEO Adwords budget. It sounds counterintuitive, but it makes perfect sense, especially if you feel that certain themes may work for you, but aren’t quite perfect yet.

For a short period of time, you can run Google Adwords with your actual keywords (not search terms over which you have no control) and analyze the results. Within a few days, you are able to determine if it’s worth keeping with an SEO course of action or not. If, for example, you are in the business of selling red cashmere sweaters, “cashmere sweaters” in all your content takes you nowhere. “Red sweaters”, or “red cashmere sweaters”, however, will definitely target an audience searching for that product. You can try different combinations for weeks, or effortlessly run an ad that will validate your focus, and provide customers specifics at the same time.
There is a myriad ways you can boost SEO with Google Adwords, contrary to popular belief. While this is not the best (and not always the most cost effective) way to approach organic SEO, leveraging the data and metrics provided by ads is a tool worth adding to your SEO belt.

Do higher conversion rates depend on both SEO and CRO

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Do higher conversion rates depend on SEO and CRO working hand in hand? Many digital marketers will focus on search engine optimization and let another team take care of what happens after a visitor landed on a page. Does it make sense? Are conversion rates not intimately related to SEO? Is CRO not depending on how well SEO professionals do their job?

Once upon a time, a CMO analyzed SEO results, while wondering if CRO was getting enough attention… Beyond the humor (and the alphabet soup that makes the marketing industry sound like government agencies), SEO and CRO should both equally take credit for higher conversion rates.

What do SEO and CRO share that can lead to higher conversion rates?

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the art of better ranking your pages on search engine results page (SERP).

CRO, Conversion Rate Optimization, is the art of transforming a visitor into a customer.

The 2 fields already have ⅓ in common: Optimization.

Both strategies work towards the same goal, albeit possibly not consciously. What would the benefit of ranking first (due to stellar SEO work) if once the visitors land on the page, they don’t purchase, subscribe, watch your video (whichever your conversion goal is)?

On the other hand, CRO done well means your site is a model of user experience, call to action is irresistible, products are efficiently displayed and testing is ongoing so you can constantly improve, yet the conversions don’t happen because nobody can find you.
Here is a perfect example of SEO/CRO collaboration gone awry.SEO and CRO

The search yielded a few results and the San Diego Tribune was ranked 4th. Not a bad performance, good enough that we’d want to check the content.

SEO done right. There was focus on keywords, meta description was good, the source reputable enough that we’d think they could provide useful information.

Obviously, all SEO factors were reunited so Google deemed it worthy to rank well.
Sadly, the content is gone. We won’t even spend time talking about the format, layout and uninviting navigation. Any visitor landing on such page feels cheated. And conversion is unlikely to happen (mainly because nothing happened that could convert anyone, be it merely to subscribe to a newsletter).
Higher conversion rates happen when SEO and CRO know what the other is doing. And let’s not forget that CRO can help SEO in more ways than we realize: acquiring customers, followers, viewers and subscribers, generating positive reviews and shares and traveling across social media will put a site on the SERP map.

Where do SEO and CRO meet?

Search Engine Optimization focuses on allowing access.SEO and CRO

Conversion Rate Optimization focuses on convincing to act.
The objective once a visitor finds a page is to give him the information he was searching in the first place. Both areas can find a compromise in good practices (why would you not want to insert the focus keyword that got you a prospect in your page content?).

Ultimately, SEO work is not over simply because CRO has to take over. Both fields have the user intent in mind. A site that doesn’t log satisfying conversions loses its purpose and SEO becomes a moot point.Let’s not forget that Google Analytics also measure engagement (such as time spent on a given landing page). That metric alone is proof that CRO is complementary to SEO. If the time spent is insignificant, a lot of hard work is lost.
Higher conversion rates do indeed depend on a collaboration between SEO and CRO. Visibility is one step towards conversion. Conversion is one step towards loyalty. By integrating practices and sharing credit, SEO and CRO focus on keeping customers to achieve what they both aim for: Optimization.