SEO - Express Writers - Page 3

What Are Google Core Web Vitals? A Content Creator’s Perspective

What Are Google Core Web Vitals? A Content Creator’s Perspective

Think it’s just good content that will land you at the top of Google? Think again. Google is always looking for ways to improve the results it delivers to searchers. So, to absolutely no one’s surprise, it’s rolling out yet another set of ranking signals that content creators and developers will need to heed. They’re called Core Web Vitals. This isn’t even really news. Back in November 2020, Google announced that Core Web Vitals would become ranking signals in May 2021. Since then, we’ve been slowly ticking down to the moment. ⏲️ In other words, if your page loads slowly or doesn’t respond to user actions, it’s now going to negatively affect your SERPs. That’s a pretty big deal for content creators as well as developers. Here’s a closer look at what Core Web Vitals are, how the evaluator guidelines are moving steadily toward an emphasis on the page experience, and what content creators can do to improve their Core Web Vitals rankings. Let’s go! What Are Core Web Vitals? Core Web Vitals are specific factors Google considers important when determining the quality of the overall user experience your page provides. They consist of three metrics related to loading, interactivity, and visual stability. You’ll see them respectively referred to with three different acronyms: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). The amount of time it takes to render the largest visible content block. In plain English, that means the time it takes for it to be obvious to your users that the page is loading. First Input Delay (FID). The amount of time between when a user interacts with an element on your page – like clicking a link – and when that element actually responds. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). The sum total of all layout that which occur unexpectedly over the lifespan of the page. Layout shifts occur when a visual element like an image or heading unexpectedly re-arranges the content around it – such as when you make a browser window larger or smaller. In other words, Google is now interested in knowing how long your site takes to load, how quickly it responds to a user’s actions, and how well it holds its layout together in the face of different browsers, devices, or screen sizes. Google then uses numerical measurements to rank each Core Web Vital as “good,” “needs improvement,” or “poor.” The specific thresholds are as follows: To see how your site is performing, you can now find the metrics tracked in Google Console. Under the Enhancements section, there will be a Web Vitals Report. The Rise of the Page Experience Ranking Signals This shift towards page experience represents just one more way in which the internet is pivoting towards an increased emphasis on user experience (UX). Not that users haven’t been demanding good design and good experiences for ages. In 2021, 75% of all users are basing their opinions on your brand by how easy it is for them to use your site. Some 80% of them won’t trust you if you deliver a bad one. They’ll run. ?‍♀️ The decision to include Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal is simply a reflection of where things have been headed for a while. But, I hear you ask, isn’t this an issue for developers? What does this have to do with us? Why do content creators need to care about Core Web Vitals? ? Good questions! [bctt tweet=”What are Google’s Core Web Vitals? What do they have to do with UX and page experience? ? Most of all… Why should you care as a #contentcreator? Get the lowdown on @ExpWriters ☑” username=””] What the Core Web Vitals Mean for Content Creators We’ve known for a while that written content can be optimized for maximum readability. Things like giant blocks of text, illegible fonts, and badly formatted headings can negate even the most eloquently written content. However, for a long time, those were overlooked elements with ranking. Google focused highly on content quality – i.e. the quality of the writing itself – and it used to be that those things had minimal impacts on your SERPs. You might have experienced: Higher bounce rates Lower time spent on site Slower page load speeds Google would notice those, and you’d slip down in rank. But, by and large, you could recover if your keyword usage was on point with the search intent, or if you had robust, authoritative citations. What the Core Web Vitals now mean is that Google is evaluating your site against a set of criteria before it even receives feedback via user behavior. In other words, you now must pay attention to the user experience you’re creating when your content is created. That means things like: Paying closer attention to how text flows Using headings correctly Properly formatting and coding images or embedded videos Thoughtfully selecting your font Putting more consideration into what your buttons say (and where they’re located!) Whether you insert CTAs onto your page Whether you use pop-ups to encourage newsletter signups Core Web Vitals are just one more way that Google is encouraging us to take a holistic view when crafting content for our audience. While they’re quick to point out that good design doesn’t override exceptional content, they do expect that your content and your design complement one another. In short, content creation is no longer about just the content itself. It’s now about the experience you’re creating with your content. ☝️ The Core Web Vitals are just one out of many signals Google uses to rank your page experience. You should be familiar with others, including mobile-friendliness and HTTPS! Source: Google How to Improve Your Core Web Vitals (as a Content Creator!) Google wants us to create exceptional content, but they also want it to be easy to access and use. Bringing the Core Web Vitals online as a ranking signal is expected to shake things up, so make sure you’re ready. A study in August 2020 suggested less than 15% … Read more

How to SEO Optimize Your Blog Posts in WordPress: 8 Easy Steps You Can Follow

How to SEO optimize blog post in Wordpress

SEO optimizing your blog posts in WordPress is a must-do for earning rankings, wooing targeted traffic, and nabbing blog ROI. After all, if you spend all that time producing a wonderful piece of content, you need to give it legs to stand on. Without SEO, you’ll put that blog at a disadvantage from the start. On the other hand, optimize correctly, and Big Things are more likely to happen. (See our case study below of ranking for a super-hot keyword in 30 days.) If your blog is set up in WordPress, SEO optimizing a blog post before publishing is incredibly easy to do. You just need to know what to do. Here are the 8 steps to use every single time you publish a post to thoroughly hit all those “SEO check marks.” As you’ll see, you can optimize every single element of your blog — from top to bottom – and get more out of every blog you publish. (Note: While this how-to applies to WordPress, specifically the classic editor, you can take these general steps and use them with whatever publishing platform you please.) How to SEO Optimize Blog Posts in WordPress: 8 Steps 1. Edit and Proofread Your Blog Post 2. Add Relevant Images to Your Blog 3. Format Blog Content for Readability and SEO 4. Add Easy One-Click Social Sharing Codes 5. Check Your Links 6. Include a CTA 7. Optimize and Add Meta Title and Description with Yoast 8. Optimize Your Blog for Social Sharing with Yoast (Yes, Yoast Does That!) [bctt tweet=”Get more traffic and pull in more customers by ranking at Google’s top. This checklist ? will help you go that extra mile — 8 steps on how to SEO optimize every blog post in @WordPress, via @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Why SEO Optimize Your Blogs in WordPress? A Case Study Why take all the trouble to search engine optimize your blogs? Like we referenced earlier, Big Things Will Happen. Case in point. We have over 1,300+ blogs published on the Express Writers’ Write Blog across ten years, which have earned over 21,000 keyword positions in Google (case study here). 90% of the blogs I write and publish here start with a keyword search. If I can map the keyword to ROI, we take it into the blog creation stages. Here’s a specific blog post example. We have earned a #1 organic ranking and featured snippet for the keyword “how to build a digital content strategy.” (Even our custom-designed images for the blog are ranking in Google Images!) One key player for this blog’s ranking power is the work we did on optimization before publishing. From the title to the copy to the subheaders to the images, CTAs, links, metas, and more, everything is optimized for search engines. Search success is a big deal, but I don’t need to tell you. Over and over, brands that edge into top positions on SERPs get the lion’s share of the spoils, including higher click-through rates and more traffic. Need great content to fuel your blogging presence? We offer packaged blogging plans. See pricing here. According to Advanced Web Ranking, the CTR for organic position 1 on Google is 38.02%. Meanwhile, the CTR for position 10 is 1.13%. Google alone processes over 40,000 search queries every second. If your brand isn’t present on the search landscape, you’re missing out on a huge piece of the traffic pie. [bctt tweet=”.@Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second. If your brand isn’t present on the search landscape, you’re missing out on a huge piece of the traffic pie. ?” username=”ExpWriters”] So, that begs the question: Are you covering all your SEO bases? Are you optimizing everything you can optimize to give your blogs their best chance? How to SEO Optimize Blog Posts in WordPress: The “How-To” of Each of Our 8 Steps 1. Edit and Proofread Your Blog Post First up: Make sure your blog is edited and proofread for typos. You want a clean, error-free blog post for obvious reasons. (Google says the quality of your content directly impacts your rankings. More on their E-A-T, or Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness factors.) A quick scan with your two eyeballs will usually suffice, but if you’re not the best editor, hand this task off to a trusted second party. Or, install the Grammarly Chrome extension to check your grammar and spelling right inside the WordPress editor. [bctt tweet=”‘First up: Make sure your blog is edited and proofread for typos. ✔️ You want a clean, error-free page for obvious reasons.’ – @JuliaEMcCoy on how to SEO optimize blog posts” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Add Relevant Images to Your Blog After editing, it’s time to add and optimize relevant images. If you’re working from a draft, you should be able to add them into WordPress without a problem. Just place your cursor where you want the image to go, then drag it straight into the editor. Once you’ve got pictures placed within your post, optimizing them goes like this: Make sure they’re inserted correctly. Don’t place images so they mess with your paragraph formatting, and keep your image placement consistent (e.g. centered, in-between paragraphs). Images should be original size to ensure they’re clear and crisp. Only size down if they’re huge or the file size is bloated (anything over 4-5 MB usually can be scaled back without sacrificing quality). Add alternate text to every image. This is important for rankings! Alternate text is a descriptive text that provides context for people who are visually impaired or need to use a screen reader to browse the web. Alternate text (or “alt text”) describes your images to search engines, as well, so they’ll potentially show up in image searches. This is exactly what we saw with our own blog post from the aforementioned case study we talked about. To add alt text to an image in the WordPress editor, click the image. A toolbar will pop up – click the “Edit” icon (the pencil) to add image … Read more

How to Update Old Content: Your Ultimate Guide to More ROI From Every Old Piece

How to Create Massive Content ROI: Your 4-Step Guide on How to Update Old Content

You’ve done it! You have a great site, and you’ve had a ton of traffic. …But lately, your viewership has begun to slip. The anxiety starts to sink in as you rack your brain for fresh, new content. And you wonder, “What do I do now?” No need to panic! It turns out, you’re in luck. If you need time to get those creative juices flowing before you start on that awesome new piece, there’s a solution you might have overlooked. What is it? Your own, already-published content. That old content sitting in your archives! ? That’s right. There’s a gold mine right beneath your feet — you’re sitting on old content that could be incredible with a little glow-up and some tweaking. You might ask, “But how do I update old content?” Fear not. It’s easier than it sounds. In today’s blog I’ll show you, step by step, the best ways to update your old content to create massive ROI. Ready? Let’s get into it. How to Update Old Content and Create Massive ROI Why Update Old Content? How to Update Old Content: 6 Essential Steps Find the Right Content to Update (Audit Your Content) Edit and Update Inaccuracies, Typos, & Wording Check for Broken Links & Outdated Research Craft a New Headline Update the Images and Copy in Your Content Finesse the Meta Content & CTAs Republishing: How to Show Off Your Updated Content How to Republish Content in WordPress Should You Change the URL? Updated Content is New Content Make Your Old Content Sparkle [bctt tweet=”It pays to focus on creating irresistible new content. But never forget – your old content deserves some extra love, too! @JuliaEMcCoy lays out 6 steps to a flawless old content makeover. ✨” username=”ExpWriters”] Why Update Old Content? You might be thinking here — “But, my content is already perfect and I’ve had a ton of views. Why should I change it?” The truth is, if you’re not updating your old blogs, you’re missing out on more traffic to those posts and more potential new readers and leads. Returning to those killer posts you’ve already spent time and money on is an essential part of improving the ROI and the quality of your site. For our own Write Blog, we’ve updated old content transparently and achieved serious ROI from doing so, like with this gargantuan SEO guide: We earned nine new backlinks and more than 20 new comments on this piece alone after we updated it. As you can see, revitalizing your old content helps keep your site up-to-date, on-trend, and in plain sight of Google’s site crawlers. But what about your loyal readers? Trust me, they will thank you for being a reliable resource for the latest and greatest content. Blogs are now the 5th most trusted source for online information. By staying up to date on the latest information and revamping your old content, readers know they can count on you to keep them in the loop. Besides, you’ve already invested the time and effort to create them, why not make them all that they can be? Source: Andrea La-Rosa Think of it this way… You know that hairstyle your dad or your uncle rocked for years? Well… It’s not quite on-trend anymore. Blog posts are a similar situation. You can still love them, but times have changed and so has the information online. It’s likely that, no matter the topic, there exists new and potentially better information about that subject you so diligently researched. So, stay on trend! Schedule in the time for researching and updating, and see what else has surfaced since you posted. How to Update Old Content: 6 Essential Steps Okay, I’ve convinced you. You’ve decided to refresh your old blog posts. But should you start now? And if not now, when? Everyone asks me this question! The answer is, if you have two or more years worth of content, and you haven’t updated anything within that time frame, you’re missing out on valuable leads that could become conversions. Make it a priority to schedule time to update your blogs every quarter. I recommend updating at least 5-10 pieces per quarter for optimal results. This adds up to some serious ROI if you make the commitment. If you’ve decided the time is now, get your editing pickaxe in hand. ⛏️ Let’s take a look at your previous masterpieces to see what’s worth updating. 1. Find the Right Content to Update (Audit Your Content) A great place to begin a content audit is Google Analytics. There you can find metrics like bounce rate, social shares, and time-on-page. These will help you determine which previous posts are the best-performing, and thus worth updating. To start, open your Google Analytics account. On the left-hand side, go to Behavior. Then, click the Overview button. Next, navigate to the bottom right of the page and click view full report in the bottom right-hand corner. On the next screen, there will only be 10 posts by default. You can change this by going to the bottom of the page and editing the Show rows option to any number you like: 100, or even 5,000. Then, return to the top of the page and click Export. Boom! You now have a perfectly organized list of your posts. From here, look closely to determine which posts have the highest conversion rates, the largest amount of traffic, and the lowest bounce rate. These are your golden nuggets that keep visitors engaged. But what if you don’t use Google Analytics, or what if all your posts have similar stats? Not a problem — there are other ways to determine which posts you should focus on. One way is looking at which of your posts are evergreen. Evergreen content is content that will provide unique value for your visitors, generate traffic, and result in conversions for the foreseeable future. If you’re unsure what falls into that category, think about the pieces that took you some time to craft. Examples … Read more

How to Optimize for Search Intent and Make Sure the Right Readers Find You

How to Optimize for Search Intent and Make Sure the Right Readers Find You

Did you know there are nearly 6 billion – a whopping 5.8 billion Google searches – every day? That’s 70,000 searches per second, or two trillion per year. (This number doubled over the lockdown, originally at 3.5B at the beginning of 2020.) We rely on Google for the answers to almost every question we have, whether it’s a word searched out of mere curiosity or in consultation before making a big life decision. Google gets it. With several core updates occurring each year, plus hundreds of tiny ones, it’s constantly tweaking its algorithms to provide more authoritative, relevant, helpful content to readers. Over the past several years, Google’s updates have sought to refine the way its algorithms understand what we mean when we type queries into its search box. In 2020, optimizing your content for search intent is the best way to stay relevant and at the top of the SERPs. Here’s what that means, plus my best pro-tip on how to optimize for search intent. Let’s go! Did you know? Our content writing team adheres to Google’s search intent algorithm rules, and we even conduct SEO and content strategy research to find the perfect keywords to write your content around. Go Content Shopping. [bctt tweet=”In 2020, optimizing your content for search intent is the best way to stay relevant and at the top of the SERPs. Here’s what that means, plus @JuliaEMcCoy’s best pro-tips on how to do it, now on the Write Blog.” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Optimize for User Intent and SEO Once upon a time, it used to be super easy to figure out what keywords you needed to shove into a webpage to get it to the top of Google. And to nobody’s surprise, that’s exactly what people did. Remember the era of spam content that flooded every search query, sending you leapfrogging down the results list to find something readable? Yeah, Google wasn’t impressed, either. The changes they made to the search algorithms forever redefined the way we write and publish content. To get in Google’s good graces and rank highly, your content must now be expert-level, authoritative, and trustworthy. Google’s evaluator guidelines call this E-A-Ting, and they expect content creators to serve up something good! However, E-A-Ting is only part of the story. If we look at Google’s mission statement, the first thing mentioned isn’t stunning, well-researched content from high-quality domains, but something else entirely. Google, first and foremost, wants to: Users want to E-A-T only what’s relevant to them. Source: Google. Well, that’s interesting. Let’s break down what that means. What Is Relevance According to Google? If you’ve ever written and published an amazing article full of high-quality citations and unique, witty tips only to watch it coast along smoothly at position number 6 for the chosen keyword, you know the frustration that Google’s algorithms can inspire. Seriously, you did everything right. So, what gives? ‍♂️ Here’s where you went wrong. Google wants to make sure that users get served only the most expertly written, authoritative, trustworthy content but the search engine isn’t optimizing its algorithms for quality. It’s optimizing them for user experience. That means it only wants what users are actually looking for to rank in the top results for a query. We refer to that as search intent, or “what the user meant when they typed that question into the search bar.” As it turns out, user intent in SEO is huge. For example, if we search for a guide to eating kimchi, we get results that look like this: If we’re looking for a guide to eating kimchi, we probably want to know how to eat it, not necessarily recipes for preparing or cooking with it. Source: Google. It seems to follow a pattern, doesn’t it? ️ If we scroll through the results, however, we start to see articles on other topics that technically rank for the keyword: How to pair different types of kimchi with various dishes The benefits of eating kimchi at different times of the day A schedule for eating kimchi to cure your digestive problems How to identify kimchi that’s spoiled These are all ostensibly “guides to eating kimchi” yet they appear on the second, third, even fourth pages of Google. Why? They don’t contain the information that people are looking for when they query Google with those keywords. Google can tell via metrics when a page isn’t relevant to a user’s query. Specifically, they pay attention to whether people seem to be clicking on a link, scanning its contents, then hitting the back button and clicking on the next link. Backlinko refers to that as “pogo-sticking” and if Google catches that happening a lot, it’ll drop the page’s SERP. What can we take away from all of this? [bctt tweet=”It’s possible to have expertly written, authoritative, and trustworthy content that’s irrelevant to the person searching the keywords for which you optimized. In 2020, that’s almost as bad as junk content.” username=”ExpWriters”] 4 Types of Search Intent In general, people search on Google for four different reasons. There’s a lot already written on search intent around the web, so I’ll summarize. The most basic type of Google search involves queries for more information about a topic. According to research by Penn State, about 80 percent of all Google searches fall under this category. Informational searches become commercial searches when people have enough information on the solution they’re seeking, and now wish to compare solutions that already exist. It’s the difference between “what is kimchi” and “best kimchi brands.” Once someone’s ready to buy something, they’ll use transactional searches. That “best kimchi brands” search will become “buy Amazing Kimchi Brand online.” People do navigational searches when they want to find something on a specific site. So… “Express Writers login” would reflect a navigational search intent, as would “return policy site:AmazingKimchiBrand.com.” A solid content strategy addresses all four types of search intentions in your content and your web pages. We’ll look more closely at how to … Read more

Understanding Keyword Traffic Volume: 10 Ideal Clients or 10,000 Visitors Who Never Buy?

Understanding Keyword Traffic Volume: 10 Ideal Clients or 10,000 Visitors Who Never Buy?

Most marketers are obsessed with keyword traffic volume (also called keyword search volume). The higher the better. Or, at least, that’s the common M.O. you’ll encounter. People think higher traffic volume = more people searching for the keyword = more traffic coming to their pages optimized and ranking for that keyword. But, what if bigger, higher, and more aren’t what you should be looking for in keyword traffic volume? ❗❓ What if high traffic volume doesn’t mean what you think it does? What if it’s just a vanity metric?! If at this point you’re thinking “Julia has lost her mind!” – stay with me. I’m here to make a case for those keywords on the low end of traffic volume. I’ll also dive into what keyword traffic volume means, how to find GREAT keywords for your niche and audience, and recommend some amazing tools that will help get the job done. Still skeptical about how low traffic volume can be desirable for keywords? Let me explain… What Is Keyword Traffic Volume? What Does It Mean? Keyword traffic volume, or keyword search volume, is a metric that reports the average number of people entering a given keyword into a search engine over a specific period. For example, if you look up the keyword “SEO content writing” in a tool like SEMrush, you’ll see immediately the keyword traffic volume is 1K. Note the database is set to the United States – this means, on average, 1,000 people in the U.S. searched this keyword on Google in one month (in this case, February 2020). Why does this information matter? Because targeting a keyword with X search volume means you have the potential to draw X number of people to a page optimized for that keyword. Let’s say you optimize and publish a comprehensive blog targeting the keyword “SEO content writing.” If you rank in the top 5 results, there’s a good chance of earning a click from at least a few of those 1K searchers typing that keyword into Google. Now that you understand what keyword traffic volume means, let’s look at the difference between two keywords, one with high traffic volume and one with low traffic volume. [bctt tweet=”What if high keyword traffic volume is just a vanity metric?! If you’re currently thinking ‘@JuliaEMcCoy has lost her mind!’ – just one minute. She’s here to make a case for those keywords on the low end of traffic volume. ” username=”ExpWriters”] We’ll also discuss why high traffic volume is often just a vanity metric. A lot of the time, targeting high volume keywords will do nothing for your ROI or bottom-line. [bctt tweet=”#Truthbomb – high keyword traffic volume is often just a vanity metric. A lot of the time, targeting high volume keywords will do nothing for your ROI or bottom-line. Learn more here ” username=”ExpWriters”] 1. High vs. Low Keyword Traffic Volume: How They Map to Search Intent (and Why It Matters) There’s a reason why keywords with exploding search volume are so popular for SEO. Example: “SEO”. This keyword has a traffic volume of 135K. Why? It’s a general, informational type of search. That means the people looking up that keyword have little-to-zero buying intent. Instead, they just need information – and in some cases, the SERP itself has enough information to satisfy that need. To drive my point home, let’s look at the click data for this keyword on Ahrefs: Sure, people search this keyword at least 135,000 times in one month. BUT, only 34% of those searches ended in a person clicking on one of the results. Why might this be true? Guess #1: People looking up “SEO” just need a simple definition. They might not know what the acronym stands for. Luckily, Google pulled a definition from Wikipedia and featured it on the SERP in a Knowledge Panel. Boom. There’s the answer. No clicking required. Guess #2: There are multiple guides on “what is SEO” on the SERP for this keyword (see below). When people DO click, they’re clicking on a few results to find the best answer to that question. Now, let’s look at a narrower keyword with lower traffic volume: “local SEO for small business”. According to SEMrush, it has a traffic volume of 210. This keyword is long-tail, which means it has more than 3 words in a phrase. It’s also narrower in scope because it gets more specific: not just SEO but local SEO – not for everyone, but for a small business. “Local SEO for small business” is so low-competition, there isn’t enough data to populate the click trends in Ahrefs: However, we can see that the top result for this keyword is getting 23 visitors/month from this SERP. Those 23 visitors have higher buying intent (or commercial intent) behind their search. Generally, the more specific the search term, the higher the buyer intent and interest. Those people could turn into a sale. In contrast, most of the 135-165K searching “SEO” have very low buying intent, if any at all. Which keyword makes more sense to target to you – especially if you’re a small brand focused on growth? 2. Why High Search Volume Keywords Aren’t Necessarily Better High volume keywords aren’t always better for targeting. Even if you could rank for a broad keyword with high volume like “SEO”, and even if a majority of that traffic filtered to your page, that would still mean 100,000 useless visitors with no real interest in your brand or intent to buy. They would come and go with nary a profitable action in sight. Now, consider this: Wouldn’t it make MORE sense to target a narrower keyword with far less traffic volume, but with real buying intent behind it? It’s the difference between 100,000 uninterested visitors vs. 10 clients ready to whip out their wallets. And, yes, I’m saying you should target keywords with a traffic volume of 10. If those keywords are specific enough, only people with a distinct interest in what you … Read more

Categories SEO

What to Do if My Content Doesn’t Rank: 13 Reasons Your Site Is Dead in the Rankings, and How to Fix It 

What to Do if My Content Doesn't Rank: 13 Reasons Your Site Is Dead in the Rankings, and How to Fix It 

Today on the Write Blog, we’re answering this question: Why isn’t my content ranking? For today’s topic, I’ve featured the original insights and stories of three experts in SEO, marketing, and web development. Currently, the ROA on ads is as bad as .6x (average!), and ad accounts are being closed down or locked up. Organic SEO content rankings are of massive value to the smart marketer of today. Featured in today’s blog is Jessica Campos, J.D., a local influencer here in Austin that I’ve mentored. She shared her tremendous success story with website content. I also interviewed Jeremy Knauff​ of Spartan Media,​ and Jill Caren of 2DogsMedia​ on what they see that stops content from ranking. This blog is full of PRACTICAL advice you won’t find really anywhere online. There’s even a FREE downloadable checklist. We put so much time into this topic because I see this question in our sales chat and email more times than I can count: …What to do if my content doesn’t rank? You’ve already spent hours typing away at your keyboard. You’ve poured your heart and soul into your words. Or maybe you’ve even hired the perfect content team. What’s more, you’ve recently updated your editorial calendar. You’ve done topic research. You know you’ve done everything right. So, why isn’t your content ranking? Why are you seeing your piece on page five of Google, with a 0% success rate? If this is you, make sure to first give yourself a pat on the back. That’s it: congratulate yourself! Because you’re already halfway to your goal: content that drives a ton of traffic and converts like crazy. You’ve done things right so far. And you’ve come to this blog, where I’ll show you what you’re still doing wrong. Ready to turn things around for your own content? Let’s begin! Get the free checklist-style version of today’s blog here. In this post: What to Do if My Content Doesn’t Rank? 13 Issues that Prevent Content from Ranking (And How to Fix Them) A Story of Google Ranking Success: A Content Agency Built on Awesome Content 1. Google’s Web Crawlers Are Confused about Duplicate Content 2. You’re Trying to Rank for the Wrong Keywords 3. You Don’t Give Visitors a Clear Site Map 4. You Don’t Use Links in Your Content 5. Your Content Doesn’t Have any Backlinks 6. Your Website Isn’t Mobile Friendly 7. You’re Competing against Huge Brands 8. You Skipped Registering on Google My Business 9. You’re not Promoting Your Content 10. Your Site Is Too Slow 11. Your Site Is Too New 12. You’re Not Beating the Crap Out of Your Competitors 13. You Didn’t Submit a Site Map AND Add Schema Markup Why Isn’t My Website Ranking? Bonus Tips from Real-Life Web Developer & SEOs Why Am I Not Ranking in Google? A 3x Case Study: How Jessica Campos at Marketing for Greatness Turned Her Rankings Around How to Turn Things Around if Your Content Doesn’t Rank on Google [bctt tweet=”You’re halfway to your goal: You’ve created great content primed to drive traffic and convert. So why aren’t you ranking yet?! Let @JuliaEMcCoy show you what you’re still doing wrong in this ultra-helpful guide. ” username=”ExpWriters”] A Story of Google Ranking Success: A Content Agency Built on Awesome Content In 2011, I started my content agency Express Writers. I didn’t have a ton of capital, years of business experience, and I had little to ZERO knowledge on how to rank on Google. In fact, my situation back then was desperate. I was failing nursing school, and dropping out of college. On top of that, I had no parental support. I grew up inside of a cult (yes — think Handmaid’s Tale-style). I had no safety net, nowhere to go, no support system. All I did have: $75 in my pocket A passion for writing A determination to learn and grow (If these are all you have right now, too, be inspired—that’s all you need to start.) I started Express Writers from scratch. No thousand-dollar courses. No big names. No expensive tools. Did we make it? You bet! J Fast forward nine years later, and we’ve earned over $4 million in sales. In fact, Express Writers is growing every single year. Exciting stat: traffic to our site literally doubled this year! According to Google Analytics, we have over 106,000 unique site visitors per month. Our domain authority score is at 54. We’ve worked hard to earn this benchmark. Sites with a score of 50 and above are considered high authority. On Alexa, our site ranks 25,724 in global engagements. This is amazing, considering there are now 1,744,517,326 websites online today! If we paid for the kind of traffic we get, we’d spend over $200,000 per month. But the thing is, we don’t pay a single cent for the traffic we’re getting. We don’t have a backlink campaign. We’ve never participated in the trendy growth hacking strategies that explode and disappear every year. So, how did we do it? How did we go from a tiny $75 startup to a successful agency worth over $4 million? How did we get from nothing to ranking for 18,600 keywords on Google? The secret behind it all boils down to three words: consistent quality content. Consistent content. This is a rule we stuck to from the very beginning. We committed to posting at least one piece of content every single week. If you want your site to take off, you’ll have to do the same. Quality content. At the start, there were times when we clicked “publish” just to get a blog out there. But once we started incorporating quality (around 2016), our agency REALLY took off. Read the story of my content strategy framework. A commitment at all times to value first, over selling. We don’t just “sell” to our customers. In fact, we don’t hire a single commission salesperson! Instead, we treat our inbound leads with respect, and have a simple core commitment inside of … Read more

Categories SEO

January 2020 Core Update: All You Need to Know (Plus Tips on How to Survive It)

January 2020 Core Update: All You Need to Know (Plus Tips on How to Survive It)

On January 13, Google announced a core algorithm update called the January 2020 Core Update. Immediately, site owners took to social media to express their dismay on (yet another) major change that could affect the years of hard work they’d put into reaching a top spot on Google’s SERPs. Some posted despairing memes. Others begged Google “not to be cruel.” Yet others worried how their keyword rankings would be affected as the new update rolled in. pic.twitter.com/VhifzOau2o — Heba Said (@HebaSaidSEO) January 13, 2020 So, what is the January 2020 Core Update? Should you be worried about it? Most importantly, what changes should you make to your site so you don’t lose your Google rankings? Let’s explore this massive update in today’s brand new blog. [bctt tweet=”Should you be worried about @Google’s January Core Update? What should you do to maintain your rankings? Find out in this new guide by @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] January 2020 Core Update: All You Need to Know (Plus Tips on How to Survive It) – Table of Contents January 2020 Core Update, Explained Experts and Content Creators Speak Up about the January 2020 Core Update The Top Sites Impacted by the January 2020 Core Update How to Optimize Your Site to Survive the January 2020 Core Update 5 Aspects of Content That Ranks Well on Google 1. Originality 2. Comprehensiveness 3. Expertise 4. User-Friendly and Trustworthy Presentation 5. User Value 5 Tips to Update Your Content and Continue Ranking Well Despite Major Google Updates 1. Write Content You Can’t Find Elsewhere 2. Improve Content Found on High-Ranking Sites for Your Keyword 3. Proofread to Perfection 4. Step into Your Audience’s Shoes 5. Forget Keywords Moving Forward after the January 2020 Core Update January 2020 Core Update, Explained Google’s number one goal is to provide value to users. Because of this, it has made thousands of changes per year in recent years. However, not all of these changes are noticeable. Most of them are tiny tweaks. The January 2020 Core Update is different. According to Google, this update will have more noticeable and actionable effects for content producers and webmasters. source: Google Webmaster Central Blog [bctt tweet=”The January 2020 Core Update is different. According to Google, this update will have more noticeable and actionable effects for content producers and webmasters.” username=”ExpWriters”] What it boils down to is Google making a brand-new list of the top sites with the most value in 2020. If your site takes a hit and falls in the SERPs, it’s not because it’s a bad site. It’s simply because users are changing. There are a ton of new sites online. And there are sites which have been online for some time, but whose value was never fully discovered. Source: Search Engine Journal Overall, the January 2020 Core Update is going to shake up the SEO world. Let’s look at what webmasters and content creators have to say about it. Experts and Content Creators Speak Up about the January 2020 Core Update Users reacted differently when the news of the January 2020 Core Update was released. Some were dismayed. pic.twitter.com/cN9wSAXasi — Jon Tromans (@JonTromans) January 13, 2020 Others were confused. @JohnMu YOU PEOPLE HAVE ROBBED US OF OUR HARD WORK and Thousands of dollars spent on content. CONFUSED @Google @googlewmc — Kingsley Felix (@Iamkingsleyf) January 14, 2020 Still others decided to laugh it off. I miss the days when these updates had cool animal names — Da Schnitzi (@DaSchnitzi) January 13, 2020 Of course, top marketers and SEO experts had their own opinions. Rand Fishkin’s interest was on the bolded ads, favicons, and brand icons featured in the update. My theory on why this took so long to get to desktop: Google knows it obscures ads & thus increases ad CTR (according to @jumpshotinc data from 2019, the mobile change yielded ~15% more ad clicks), and wanted to wait until a quarter in which they needed to show that growth. https://t.co/5bMQoCLbS2 — Rand Fishkin (@randfish) January 13, 2020 SEMrush listed three prominent changes the update included. What’s new in #Google? January 2020 Core update Brand icons & black ad labels are live on desktop SERPs Brand new SERP features New options in the rich results test More fresh industry news in our first Google News Digest of 2020 https://t.co/7DyriMZo9A. — SEMrush (@semrush) January 20, 2020 A few days after the release of the update, Glenn Gabe tweeted his findings on the “volatile” splash it had made. The Jan 2020 core update volatility seems to be calming down, which makes sense. Danny announced on Thurs that the update completed, although we could see the effects for a week or two. But to me, major volatility should be done. Here are some of the trackers showing volatility: pic.twitter.com/b3nGzW8O31 — Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) January 18, 2020 Will this update affect you? According to Danny Sullivan, it will, no matter where you live. It’s a global update. It has (and does always unless we say otherwise) rolled out globally. — Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 16, 2020 The Top Sites Impacted by the January 2020 Core Update In the few days since the January 2020 Core Update rolled in, various sites in different sectors showed significant change in SERP rankings. Let’s look at the winners and losers (so far). 1. Sites with Improved Rankings Since the January 2020 Core Update According to data from Sistrix, sites in the health sector enjoyed gains since the update rolled in. OnHealth.com and verywellhealth.com saw a 37.7% and 34.72% change, respectively. Source: Sistrix.com Other sites with improved ranking include a football site, a movie tickets site, and two news sites. Could this have to do with trending news (the British Royal Family and the Holocaust) and entertainment content? 2. Sites with Lower Rankings Since the January 2020 Core Update The sites which took the biggest hits since the update are carmagazine.co.uk and boxofficemojo.com. Source: Sistrix.com The data shows car buyer and finance sites also taking hits since the update rolled in. Could … Read more

Worried About Google BERT? How to Make Sure You’re Ready in 5 Steps

Worried About Google BERT? How to Make Sure You’re Ready in 5 Steps

Google’s done it again. On October 25, 2019, Google BERT hit the scene. Boy, it has been a rollercoaster. Within the first few days of its release, many people saw sizable fluctuations in their keyword performance, page ranks, and site traffic. Others saw almost no change at all. Still others questioned whether Google BERT was actually that big of a deal. Yet, this rather innocent-sounding update is described by Google as “one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search.” It’s expected to affect one in 10 organic searches (yikes!). Google releases almost nine algorithm updates each day. So, what makes BERT so important? And what do marketers (and site owners) need to do to prepare or recover from the effects of this update on their site? Those are great questions! Let’s explore. Google BERT Explained, Plus 5 Ways to Make the Most of Google’s Latest Search Innovations What Is Google BERT and Why Is Everyone Freaking Out? Why You Saw Site Traffic and Keyword Fluctuations How to Make Sure Your Site Is Ready for Google BERT in 5 Steps 1. Optimize for Humans, not BERT 2. Keep Calm and Continue E-A-T-ing! 3. Revisit How Your Site Captures Informational Searches 4. Avoid the Keyword Superstitions That Are Currently Everywhere 5. Get Ready with Those Featured Snippets [bctt tweet=”Saw something weird happened in your current site rankings? Maybe it’s the latest Google BERT doing its job. @JuliaEMcCoy explains what happened and some easy tips to keep your site afloat. ‍♀️” username=”ExpWriters”] What Is Google BERT and Why Was Everyone Freaking Out? There’s been a lot already written on what BERT is and what it is not, but it’s worth revisiting exactly how Google BERT works. BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. This mouthful of neurolinguistic terminology basically means that it’s now easier for the search engine to understand the context of words in a search string. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), BERT helps the search engine understand the significance of words like “to” or “for” (transformer words) in the context of a search. These would have been previously ignored by the search engine, leading to frustrating goose chases while someone tried to find the right combination of words or phrases. For example, before BERT, Google results for “math practice books for adults” would have included hits that – while technically keyword matches – were irrelevant: Source: Google By emphasizing transformer words, the search engine can now understand that “for” is an important part of the sentence grammatically. Previously, it would have ignored the word, returning results involving math books for any demographic with adult in the term – such as young adults. Google BERT doesn’t change any rules for keywords and the update didn’t change any of the metrics the search engine uses for determining page rank. Nonetheless, it’s still going to have a pretty big impact on site traffic and page ranks. In fact, it already has. [bctt tweet=”What is Google BERT? BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. To simplify: BERT helps the search engine understand the significance of transformer words like ‘to’ and ‘for’ in the keywords used. ” username=”ExpWriters”] So, You Saw Something Spooky With Your Site Traffic? Here’s What Happened. Within 24 hours of Google BERT going live in English, people started reporting chaos in their analytics as the changes took place. Some people reported significant drops in their site traffic and page ranks, while others witnessed surges to the top. Nutrition and supplement review site Examine, for example, saw a return to normal traffic from the July update: Source: Twitter Other sites saw a significant drop in their traffic and page ranking, with some claiming they’d been de-ranked or had pages de-indexed altogether. Given the way BERT affects searches, a few reasons exist as to why this might have happened: You were getting a lot of traffic from keywords, but your information was irrelevant. For example, if you had a site selling young adult math textbooks, you would have previously gotten traffic from “math practice books for adults” because your keywords matched. That’s not happening anymore. You’ve been pushed down by a competitor with a stronger keyword game. This is proving to be especially true for local SEO, where searches rely more heavily on transformer words like “at” or “in.” You don’t have a lot of content that would turn up in informational searches. Informational searches – the type of Google query where a user is seeking specific information about something – are the most common type of Google search out there. They’re also what BERT primarily affected because they’re the types of searches most likely to use transformer words or include conversational wording. Your site is optimized for search engines, not people. Google has been pushing content quality for years now, but some sites have stubbornly clung to SEO oriented to the search engine rather than human readers. If you’re using outdated SEO techniques, you might have seen a plunge in traffic. If anything, BERT reveals just how important it is to stay up to date with Google’s major algorithm updates. Google can – and does – merrily overhaul the way search engines rank pages. (Remember Panda and its 2015 update? I sure do. Sheesh.) With the release of Google BERT, we’re going to see another one of those overhauls, albeit a less traumatic one. Those who have been lagging behind the times with their SEO strategy are the ones feeling the most negative effects. Fortunately, I know a few tricks to help correct any downturn you might have experienced and get the most from the release of BERT. [bctt tweet=”After the Google BERT update, there were significant drops in site traffic and page ranks. But don’t worry. If you have a content strategy in place, you’re more likely to be unaffected. You might even see better results! ” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Make Sure Your Site Is Ready for Google BERT in 5 Steps Wondering how to optimize … Read more

5 SEO and Content Trends That Will Be Worth Your Time & Focus in 2020

5 SEO and Content Trends That Will Be Worth Your Time & Focus in 2020

2020 is coming at us, whether we like it or not. To stay ahead of the curve as knowledgeable marketers and website owners, what are the most important factors you need to know about content and SEO trends? As it turns out, a LOT.  ? As fast as technology changes, content marketing changes, too. What was relevant, best practice, or trendy last year may not hold water in 2020. Read my blog today on what I consider next year’s major SEO and content trends headed our way. ? Don’t let your content and SEO fall behind. 5 SEO and Content Trends That Will Be Worth Your Time & Focus in 2020 1. Amazing, Niche, Expert Content Which Meets or Exceeds Google’s E-A-T Standards 2. Content Optimized for Voice Search 3. More Long-Tail Keyword Searches and More Content Targeting Them 4. Richer, SEO-Ready Imagery in Content 5. Interactive Content [bctt tweet=”As content marketing continues to evolve, we find ways to keep our content relevant and ranking. ? So for 2020, why not go further and create better, unbeatable content? ? @JuliaEMcCoy reveals 5 upcoming SEO and content trends.” username=”ExpWriters”] [bctt tweet=”5 SEO content trends for 2020: ? 1. Niche Expert Content 2. Content Optimized for Voice Search 3. More Long-Tail Keyword Searches 4. Richer Imagery See all 5 from @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] 1. Amazing, Niche, Expert Content Which Meets or Exceeds Google’s E-A-T Standards Content continues to amaze and astound us on the regular. It can do SO much for small and large brands alike. It taps into the major traffic potential stemming from Google search (70.6% of ALL web traffic originates there, according to Backlinko/Sparktoro). Publishing strategic content generates 67% more leads than NOT publishing strategic content, says a HubSpot study. Meanwhile, 71% of B2B buyers read blog content during their buying journeys (3-5 blogs is the norm). If you’re on the receiving end of those stats, ready and waiting with amazing content, the rewards are huge. More people are getting wise to how well it works, and so we’ll see more content from more brands in 2020. The word to focus on, however, is “amazing.” Without that qualifier, you don’t have a chance. In 2020, it’s not just bad content that won’t cut it. Even mediocre pieces will fail to land, including “not bad” and “good enough” content that makes you shrug halfheartedly after reading the first paragraph. To rank with Google and readers, your content has to go far beyond “not bad” and inch into “exceptional,” “amazing,” and “wow” territory. The only caveat? The bar for amazing content keeps rising. Marketers who have been doing content forever know this beyond a doubt, so they’ll up their game in response. The result: Content in 2020 will be better than ever – especially from major players! How can you keep up to rank in 2020? The shortlist: Hit Google’s definition of quality. Over and over, in their Webmaster Guidelines, the search engine references helping the user, being useful, and including the words for which users are searching in your content. From Steps to a Google-friendly site From Webmaster Guidelines Prove you’re an expert in your industry/topic area. Google highlights the importance of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. Google itself called these guidelines a good indicator of how they define high-quality (and low-quality) content. That hint is from an article published in August 2019 on the Webmaster Central Blog. Create & publish amazing-quality content consistently. Inconsistency in content is a recipe for catastrophe. Failing to update your content regularly (whether that means tweaking older articles or pages or posting new ones), as well as failing to maintain your quality standards, will ultimately hurt your search visibility. At Express Writers, we consistently rank at the top of Google because of our commitment to consistency and quality in content. Case in point: For 8 years (yes, years), without missing a beat, we published one blog/week. We stuck to this rigorously, and it has paid off. Today we rank for over 23,000 keywords in Google, and 99% of our prospects come to us through organic search. Summing up, content isn’t going out of style. (Never.) Plenty of great content is going to come out of heightened knowledge and a better understanding of what it takes to rank in 2020. Need help learning how to write SEO content that meets the tried-and-true fundamentals of ranking in Google and earning your reader’s attention? Grab my free SEO cheat sheet below. ⬇️   [bctt tweet=”If you’ve been following Google’s E-A-T standards, good work focusing on useful content for online readers. If you’re not sure you’re updated with the latest guidelines, check out @JuliaEMcCoy’s quick 3-item checklist. ?” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Content Optimized for Voice Search Is anyone surprised this is a 2020 trend? Me neither. Voice search is continuing to grow, both in usage and popularity. According to the Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, 16% of Americans owned a smart speaker as of January 2018. One year later, that number shot up by 78%. Naturally, with more people owning and using smart speakers, it follows that more will be using voice search to ask their devices to find information. The data backs this up: eMarketer predicts by 2021, over one-third – 36.6% – of the entire U.S. population will use voice assistants. What this means for SEO and content is pretty big. Content optimized for voice search must be (and will be) on the agenda for most content marketers. What does this look like? Short answer: A bigger focus on long-tail, question-and-answer, and phrase keywords with natural language (that means weird, unnatural-sounding keywords are out) Careful formatting of these keywords within the content (bullets, short paragraphs, bolded text, and other signifiers that tell Google, “Hey, this is important”) More marketers optimizing their content for SERP features like Featured Snippets and People Also Ask – because voice search pulls from these spots! (Specifically, SEMrush found that 70% of answers returned from voice search … Read more

Keyword Cannibalization: What It Is & How to Avoid It Completely (Video)

Keyword Cannibalization: What It Is & How to Avoid It Completely (Video)

Does creating SEO content to build your brand online and grow your inbound traffic sometimes feel like a vortex of same old, same old? If you find yourself wondering, “Did I just create too much content on the same topic…?,” you’ll want to stick around for today’s video. In today’s new YouTube video, I explain keyword cannibalization: what it is (the good, bad AND ugly), how to avoid it, and three measures you can take to prevent it completely. Finally, which tool to use to see if you actually do have keyword cannibalization happening. Let’s get into it! Keyword Cannibalization: What It Is & How to Avoid It Completely (Video) My Fall Update This fall, I’m head-down working on the developmental edit stages for my third book, a narrative nonfiction memoir. Every single day, I’m going in my content hermit hole and writing! I’m super excited about this book, and cannot wait to share more updates with you. It’s the story of how I left my dad’s cult in the middle of the night at 21 years old and built a life I love — including several businesses! Bonus: We’re full blast at Express Writers, keeping our writers and team busy with tons of great content creation projects for our clients. We have several work-from-home positions open — a part-time editor and a part-time support specialist. Get in touch with us by emailing hr@expresswriters.com if you want to hear more about our opportunities. Thirdly, even though I said I’d take on less, I couldn’t resist the opportunity of an amazing invitation I received to co-write Ryan Stewart’s new book on SEO, this fall. Ryan Stewart is a friggin’ amazing expert I’ve been a fan of for years. He’s built and sold multiple businesses from scratched and consulted for leading businesses. He and I share the same growth-focused marketing mindset. Look for our updates on that new book coming soon! This made wonder if you’re wondering how I get all my writing done. ? Maybe that should be another video! Okay, let’s get into today’s topic. What is Keyword Cannibalization? Keyword cannibalization is when a site has more than one page with the exact same focus keyword — typically unintentionally. When this happens, you’re diluting your page authority and potentially eating your own ranking potential (oops). Thus the name for this issue: “keyword cannibalization.” Instead of you telling Google, “Hey, this is my single awesome killer page for this focus keyword,” you’re throwing a bunch of pages at Google hoping one of them sticks. And that doesn’t work. [bctt tweet=”Keyword cannibalization is when a site has more than one page on the exact same keyword. Watch @JuliaEMcCoy explain keyword cannibalization and measures you can take to prevent this from happening to you. ? #SEO” username=”ExpWriters”] Why Keyword Cannibalization Is Not Good for SEO Eric Enge, one of the lead writers of “The Art of SEO”, says that keyword cannibalization is like writing a really good book, but each chapter is on the exact same thing. That wouldn’t be a page-turner, would it? He has this illustration to show how keyword cannibalization kills site SEO, and what should be done instead: The only thing I would clarify on this concept is that when you create a bunch of pages on the same keyword — subconsciously or by accident — you’re not confusing Google. Google is pretty smart with how they rank content, so Google will make their best choice from your content based on the searcher’s intent. But what happens… When you create too many content pieces on the same topic you can cause an ICKY page to rank above an AWESOME page (i.e., the one you really want to rank). Take a look at this example from Ahrefs, in this blog by Joshua Hardwick on the topic of keyword cannibalization. If you Google the phrase “competitor backlink analysis, you’ll see two different blogs of theirs ranking in positions #6 and #7: The result in position #6 was published 4+ years ago, contains a ton of screenshots showing a very old Ahrefs UI, and is a short post compared to the mega-guides they publish nowadays. The post they wanted to rank highly, #7, is a better blog. It’s more up-to-date and offers better advice. But, because they’ve already written on this topic, they’re cannibalizing their position. When Keyword Cannibalization Isn’t An Issue There are a few instances when you don’t have to worry about keyword cannibalization. For example: if you rank in positions #1 and #2 for a very valuable keyword pulling in ideal traffic, and the content in those rankings are valuable, long-term positions for you, then you don’t need to worry about keyword cannibalization. Example: Bodybuilding.com currently holds the #1 and #2 spot for “back and bicep workout.” Look at the two content pieces. Each features a different workout, by a different expert. So if you’re an ideal audience for this site, and let’s say you’re seeking a back and biceps workout and you’re interested in one of these experts (you already know them by name and are excited they’ve put together a workout online), you’re going to click on the one you like the most. So, bodybuilding.com is not cannibalizing their own rankings because both of these rankings serve a purpose. Different workouts by different experts. The other example of keyword cannibalization not being an issue is when you have many pages around a central two-word phrase, but your rankings and focus keywords are long-tail versions of that two-word phrase. As long as you create a unique content piece to compete for a different long-tail phrase each time, the long-tail phrase itself can have the same word or couple of words repeated. Example: blogging statistics, best blogging service, blogging packages for law firms Three different keywords, three different content pieces, three different search originations… all containing the same core term, blogging. Not keyword cannibalization. How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization So, let’s say keyword cannibalization is happening to you. What do you do? Here are three measures you can take. … Read more