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The Future of Blogging: Today’s Recipe for a Perfect Blog Post

April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Korilynn V.

A craveable, delicious, delightful blog post isn’t much different from a pastry. As long as you follow the recipe, steps included, you will create a post your readers are hungry to devour – and might even return for more. The good news is you won’t make a special trip to the grocery store to get started on the perfect blog post. Everything you need is in your virtual pantry – you just didn’t realize it. Writing a blog post, especially in today’s competitive market, is intimidating. Once you break it down and understand the ingredients, however, you can whip up these readable bits on the fly and stay up with the trends for the future of blogging in 2023. So, What Do You Need to Craft the Perfect Blog Post in 2023? The future of blogging has certainly changed. What worked last year doesn’t necessarily apply today. Therefore, staying up on the latest blogging and SEO trends is essential so that you know what Google expects – and, more importantly, what today’s reader wants. The Perfect Blog Recipe Before you start to type, you want to make sure you have the following essentials ready to add to the mixing bowl: 1 click-worthy title 1 attention-keeping introduction A pinch of creativity A few cups of informative, scannable subheaders A splash of succinct body copy A handful of authoritative research and your expertise 1 part formatting 1 delectable conclusion A dusting of enthusiasm for the topic A garnish of passion for your niche Putting it Altogether – How the Future of Blogging will Change How You Use These Ingredients As you can see, the ingredients haven’t changed, but how and when you use them has. We will break down each portion of this recipe so that you know how to mix it all in and get your readers to come back for more. Creating Your Title By far one of the most essential ingredients! Your title sets the stage for what the reader can expect, even determining if they ever get past the SERPs to read your blog. Spend time on this stage of your recipe. In fact, whatever you title it as your “working” title, be prepared to come back and rework it until it is just right later. Don’t hastily toss forth the first title you have in mind. Instead, let it sit and rest, and the flavors meld together. Think of title creation as a slow, steady simmer rather than a rapid boil. A good title mixes intrigue and information and is not too long. Yes, Google says there is no limit, and the length of your title will not influence your search engine results. Instead, it affects whether or not someone will click on it. The first 60 characters matter the most – so make those count even if you have a 100-character title. Whatever you do, don’t over-sprinkle in the keywords for your title – not only will it kill your readability factor and turn off any enthusiastic taster, but it will turn away Google too. Roll Out Your Introduction Your introduction supports your title. So perhaps you may not create it until you have solidified your intro – and that’s okay. An introduction requires time and patience. While you will mix up something short, sweet, and enticing, you will also want it to rest a few hours before you revisit and rework it again. While adding a keyword to the introduction is essential, ensure it is not the highlighting flavor. An introduction gives readers just a taste of what else is to come, but the full flavor doesn’t explode until the end. Of course, if your introduction isn’t tasty enough to keep reading, the end doesn’t matter much. So, take your time, rework it after the entire blog is done, and ask yourself, would I eat this up? Never Forget the Power of Creativity Too many recipes lack creativity. Think of those five-star restaurants – are they working with “vanilla” recipes used over and over again? Of course not. They are hashing out something unique that stays with their branding but still tantalizes the tastebuds. Never leave out a pinch of creativity in your content – all of your content. Creativity should be tossed in from the start; if you can’t taste it, add more. Start Rolling Out Subheaders Subheaders help your reader scan and understand what they are about to digest. They should go in an even flow, make sense, and inform. Ideally, subheaders are introduced every 300-500 words max (there’s nothing wrong with adding them in fewer words as long as the words in between pack a powerful punch). Subheaders are a great place for optimizing with secondary keywords but don’t overdo it. Time to Mix in Your Body’s Copy You have a working title, and you’ve rolled out the subheaders. Now comes the time to mix together your blog’s body. But before you add anything, do your research. You may be an expert in your niche, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need resources to back up what you say. Today, using authoritative, high-quality links is still a must-have for any recipe. Search Engine Journal states that every site needs credible, authoritative, and trustworthy content – and a reader can’t take you at your word without some citations. As you mix up that copy, make sure to spice it up enthusiastically. Nothing turns a reader away more than negativity. So, likewise, be as passionate about your niche as you want your reader to be as you create your blog – if you are not excited about it, why should they be? A few other things to keep in mind while you mix up your body’s copy: Optimize Gently. Optimizing your content is like working gluten. Too much, and it’s gotten too chewy, stiff, and undesirable. Yes, keywords matter in 2023, but how and where you use them has changed. Focus on Your Brand’s Authority. What Google praises more than keywords are brand … Read more

The 7 Do Not’s of SEO in 2019 and Beyond (Search Engine Journal Webinar Recap)

June 19, 2024April 24, 2019 by Adam Oakley

SEO to content is like paleo chocolate frosting to a paleo chocolate cake. (Ever had one of those? They’re decadent, AND good for you. ) It seriously is that important–and impactful–in content marketing. SEO-focused content marketing has powered our own organic marketing at Express Writers for years. Without good SEO practices, your content will miss out on the possibilities of earning traffic and leads through organic user searches. The opposite, bad SEO, will make readers and Google look a little like Steve Carrell in this scene in the 2014 movie, Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Not good. That’s why, this April, I presented a webinar for Search Engine Journal on the top seven bad SEO tactics to abandon forever – ones that are dragging down your search rankings, confusing users (see above photo), and leaving your content in the dust. We had an amazing turnout for this webinar. Over 300 people tuned in live! Here are the slides from my webinar, and here’s the YouTube replay. For those who missed it, or those who want the highlights, keep reading – I’m recapping the major points, here, too. ✔ Before we get into the bad SEO tactics and practices people are still using, we need to answer one question… [bctt tweet=”Get your own content marketing all geared up for the ROI you’ve been waiting for with the help of good SEO. Watch @JuliaEMcCoy’s @sejournal webinar about the 7 Do Not’s of #SEO in 2019″ username=”ExpWriters”] Why Does SEO and Google Matter? Two reasons: 1. Most Internet Users Rely on Google About half of the world’s population uses the internet. That’s no joke. Of those internet-users, about 60% begin their browsing with a Google search. Over 3.5 billion Google searches happen in a day. Plus, Google dominates the market. Almost 60% of all web traffic begins with a Google search, according to the data from SparkToro and Jumpshot. Image: Backlinko 2. Google is All About the User Most web traffic comes from Google, and Google is all about that end-user. From their Search Engine Evaluator Guidelines to their Webmaster Central Blog, the user experience takes center stage. When your SEO and website experience tick off human users, you tick off Google, simultaneously. Therefore, good SEO practices are all about keeping users and Google happy. The better you do, the more highly you will be ranked in search (and loved by users!). With that out of the way, let’s get into the bad SEO tactics that will make your two most important audience members (humans and Google) confused, annoyed, and fed-up. [bctt tweet=”SEO-focused content marketing has powered our own organic marketing at Express Writers for years. Know why SEO matters with @JuliaEMcCoy’s @sejournal webinar about the 7 Do Not’s of #SEO in 2019″ username=”ExpWriters”] 7 Just-Plain-BAD SEO Tactics You Shouldn’t Be Using Anymore 1. Using Your Target Keyword the Wrong Way An outdated SEO practice we need to do away with is targeting one keyword per page – especially similar or semantically related keywords. Instead, it’s better to target both focus keywords and secondary, related keywords in the same piece of content. This will align your SEO strategy with modern semantic search, which is what Google is focusing on moving into the future. Semantic search looks at a page’s overarching topic vs. individual keywords to determine whether it’s relevant to a user’s search query. On the right side of this diagram, each keyword is targeted individually. A better SEO practice is to target related terms like these within the same piece (left). Using a focus keyword + variations, related terms, and synonyms all within the same high-quality content piece signals to Google AND users that the page is topically relevant to the search query. 2. Developing Thin Content That Doesn’t Go the Distance Short, thin content pieces are not SEO-worthy. If you want a page to rank, you need longer, in-depth content. How do we know? Look at the data: From BuzzSumo’s analysis of over 100 million articles, long-form content (over 3,000 words) was most-shared. A Backlinko study came to the same conclusion – long-form content = higher search rankings. To write longer content, focus on answering the user’s question(s) thoroughly and deep-dive into your topic. 3. Posting Content Whenever You Feel Like It You can’t post content erratically if you want to rank higher in search. Many studies have shown that consistently publishing high-quality content leads to more ranking opportunities. For one example, a HubSpot benchmark study found that companies that posted over 16x/month earned the most traffic and leads. That doesn’t mean you need to start blogging like a madman (or madperson), though. If you push out tons of posts but your quality sucks, you still won’t get anywhere. That leads us to bad SEO tactic #4… 4. Focusing on Quantity Vs. Quality Pushing out blog posts just to get them on the web is never a good idea for SEO. Quality matters more than quantity for rankings and readership. If you can’t feasibly publish fantastic blog posts on a consistent basis (say, 2-3x/week), cut back. One amazing post per week or month is better than 3 mediocre or crappy ones. Tip: Check out the top 5 search results for your focus keyword in Google. Try to create a post that’s better than anything in that top 5. 5. Publishing Duplicate Content According to SEMrush, a study of over 100,000 articles showed the most common SEO error is something we can all easily avoid: duplicate content. Nearly 66% of the articles in the study suffered from this problem. It happens when multiple pages appear very similar or match 100%. Usually, this is unintentional, but some people do plagiarize content. Either way, you will be penalized. Luckily, this mistake is easy to avoid. Do it by running all of your content through Copyscape before publishing. Rewrite any pages that have a percentage match. 6. Using Shady Tactics like Link Buying If you really want to get on the wrong side of Google, link schemes and link … Read more

5 Essential SEO Trends for 2019 You Can Put into Practice Immediately

March 24, 2022November 6, 2018 by Adam Oakley

As the final months of 2018 loom ahead, it’s time to start thinking about our strategies for next year. It’s that time of year to already start asking our marketing selves… How can we begin 2019 with a pop, sizzle, or a bang? Better yet, what can we do right now to ensure we get nothing but positively sparkling results (like the fizz in champagne) as we think about a new calendar year? Achieve the ROI we’ve been looking for? Make sure our online content hits the mark? How about finally earn more killer organic Top Three spots in Google we’ve been hankering for, for months? Today, I’m sharing with you five key SEO trends for 2019 that I think will be big. In fact, I think they’ll play a major role in content ranking success (or failure). Follow along and let’s see what tactics, strategies, and more will help you have a banner year, including SEO tips from today that are still relevant. [bctt tweet=”1. Be Mobile-Ready for Mobile-First Indexing 2. Featured Snippets Rankings Will Go Up in Value …these & 3 other top #SEO #trends for 2019 by @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] 5 Must-Do SEO Trends for 2019 to Follow Today Unsurprisingly, SEO trends in 2019 are all about keeping up with technology, staying on top of Google’s latest developments, and reinforcing your commitment to content. Let’s get right to it. 1. Be Mobile-Ready for Mobile-First Indexing Our first trend is one that’s continuing from recent SEO trends in 2018. Back on March 26, 2018, Google announced they were rolling out mobile-first indexing on their Webmaster Central Blog. Previously, Google web crawlers looked at the desktop version of your pages and content to populate the SERPs. However, with the switch to mobile-first, this means that Google will be looking at the mobile version of your pages for indexing and ranking. So, what if you don’t have a mobile version of your website? (Oh, the horror.) What happens? Google will still look at your desktop site version to rank your pages. HOWEVER: Your pages probably won’t display properly for users on mobile devices (or they’ll be difficult to navigate, read, and use). THUS: Your page rankings will most likely suffer (if they haven’t already). In other words, why haven’t you updated your website for mobile browsing yet? [bctt tweet=”Top #SEO trends for 2019? @JuliaEMcCoy got you covered in this information-packed, ROI-focused blog. #contentmarketing ” username=”ExpWriters”] To be as mobile-friendly as possible for all shapes, sizes, and types of devices, Google first and foremost recommends using responsive design. However, if you have two versions of your website (a desktop version and a mobile version), the search engine has some best practices you can follow for good results (via the Google Developers guide): These best practices include: Making sure your mobile and desktop sites have exactly the same primary content Including metadata like titles and descriptions on both site versions Including structured data for both site versions For best results, ensure you have all of the above items checked for your site. What worked for technical SEO in 2018 will roll over to 2019. Lastly, consider updating your site design so it’s responsive – it’s a better practice for the overall mobile user experience (UX). 2. Featured Snippets Rankings Will Go Up in Value Overwhelmingly, featured snippets are taking over the top spot in Google rankings for lots of keywords. This is a big deal – users see these results at the top of the page, where the #1 ranked piece of content used to appear. In other words, that prime real estate is no longer guaranteed. Many marketers are thus calling this highly desirable snippet spot “position zero.” Naturally, you should want key pieces of your content to shoot to top placements in featured snippets – but how? A. Create Content that Ranks on Page 1 Before you can even think about getting your content in featured snippets, first, you need it to rank on its own. According to Ahrefs, most featured snippets come from content that ranks in the top 10 results, or on the first page. In particular, the majority (90.1% of featured snippets) tend to get pulled from content pieces that rank in the top 5 positions. It’s all about choosing the right keywords, writing great content for your audience, and providing value. (See trend #4). B. Focus on Answers to Questions According to a SEMrush/Ghergich & Co. study of 6.9 million featured snippets and 80 million keywords, only around 7% of generic keywords include featured snippets in the results. In comparison, 41.59% of keywords with questions include featured snippets in the results – a 480% increase! In particular, question keywords almost always include paragraph featured snippets. These types of snippets include a chunk of text that answers the question the user searched for (according to the study, these average out to about 46-84 words in length with a maximum of 370 characters). You can thus earn your ranking content a featured snippet by framing short, succinct paragraphs of text as authoritative answers. For example, when I type the question/keyword “how many counties are in Iowa” into Google, the results show this featured snippet that directly answers that question AND provides supporting details: Question/keyword: How many counties are in Iowa? Answer/featured snippet: “There are 99 counties in the U.S. state of Iowa.” C. Use Numbered and Bulleted Lists, Especially for Subheaders To get your content in list-style featured snippets, always make sure you use properly formatted subheaders (H2s and H3s) to break up and organize your text. Google often uses subheader information to populate list-style snippets, like this result for “what countries are the Disney princesses from”: 3. Create the Highest-Quality Content In August 2018, Google confirmed a major core algorithmic update that took a full week to roll out. According to SEOers like Barry Schwartz and Glen Gabe, this update was all about quality. It particularly affected sites that had low E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness). Barry Schwartz studied over 300 affected … Read more

Why Keyword Search Volume Doesn’t Matter When You Choose Your Keywords (& What Does Matter)

January 1, 2021July 18, 2017 by Adam Oakley

If I asked for a show of hands to see who researches their keywords by highest search volume, I’d see a pretty unanimous answer. If you’re a true nerd / geek / SEO’er, you might have even had dreams of climbing the search results to #1 by optimizing for those keywords. (Kind of like a new pop artist who hopes to crack the Billboard Top 100 with their first single.) When you pick a keyword, what do you go by? Are you using the best metrics? Every business wants to show up at the top of the SERPs (search engine result pages). But knowing how… that’s a skill that involves, at the core fundamental, knowing how to pick out a great keyword. And not everyone has that skill. Keep reading for an in-depth guide on what matters most when you’re choosing best opportunity, high-ROI keywords. (The answer, surprisingly, is decidedly not keyword search volume.) Keyword Search Volume: The Skinny Everyone wants that coveted top organic #1, #2, or #3 hit in Google. However, what you may not realize is top brands have already cornered those keywords. This includes multi-million-dollar corporations. These are brands you are not going to be able to compete with, especially if you’re a small business. What do those top-ranking keywords look like? Nine times out of 10, they’re broad keywords – short phrases that aren’t specific. For example: “cake,” “baking,” and “baking cakes.” If you’re a small-town baker and you try to rank for these terms, you’ll be out of luck. Instead, you may find yourself competing with the likes of Cooking Light, Food Network, and Epicurious. Let’s face it – you’re never going to win, here. So, what can you do, instead? What’s the smarter strategy? For good results for your particular business, you don’t need high traffic from high search volume keywords. Instead, you need the right traffic. Forget Search Volume – Get the Right Traffic with High-Converting Keywords Throw search volume out the window for now. Yes, it was once the be-all, end-all of keywords, but nothing in this world is static, right? I’m not saying search volume is completely irrelevant. But, I am urging you to look at other avenues for driving people to your site. Let’s start by defining what we mean when we talk about the “right” traffic. You’ll have an easier time converting customers if they’re in an ideal state of the buying process. This is the “right” traffic – the people who are looking for you, but don’t yet realize you exist. If they knew you existed, they would be ready to jump on board and fish for their wallets. Broad keywords do not drive this kind of traffic to your site. What will? Long tail keywords! Long tail Keywords: Specificity and Relevancy for Search Long tail keywords are just that: longer, more specific, and relevant to the customer’s needs. For instance, a person who needs a specific type of cake will not search for “cake.” Instead, they might search for “wedding cake chocolate swirl Rhode Island.” Or, “birthday cake yellow with sprinkles.” A search string that is becoming even more common might look like this: “Where can I get a yellow birthday cake with chocolate frosting in Rhode Island?” All of these have a few things in common, though they vary in subject matter. The people searching know what type of cake they want and where they want to get it. If you’re a baker and you optimize your site for long tail keywords like this, you’ll strike gold. Why? Because long tail keywords have less competition than their broad counterparts. You have a far better chance of ranking for “wedding cake chocolate swirl Rhode Island” than “cake.” Plus, customers use long tail keywords like this when they have a higher buying intent. They know what they’re looking for, what they need, or what they want. If you have it, there’s a very good chance you’ll close the deal. Basically, these keywords fall right into your sweet spot for driving traffic. Take a look at the brands who have successfully ranked for the above long tail keyword example. There’s only one multi-million-dollar corporation on this list (Ben & Jerry’s). The rest are small bakeries or boutique shops. That’s the power of the long tail keyword in action. How Do You Choose the Right Long Tail Keywords? According to Search Engine Journal (SEJ), one of the keys to driving conversions from search results is to engage people at the perfect time. It’s a two-way street. Their intent needs to match up with the keyword, and the keyword needs to be relative to their intent. This is that sweet spot we mentioned earlier. Hit it, and you’ll see ROI. Here are some other keys for choosing the best long tail keywords for you. They have to do with relevancy and uniqueness. 1. Relevancy, Relevancy, Relevancy When a keyword is relevant to you, it ties back to your particular brand. This includes what you do, who you are, where you’re located, or what you sell. The relevance of your keywords is the brunt of what makes long tail types work. If you’re not using relevant long tails, you won’t be taking advantage of their conversion power. 2. Use What Makes You Stand Out (Your Differentiation Factor) A highly unique keyword could net you a buyer every time someone searches for it. Wow! That’s a BIG deal. At the same time, that particular keyword could have next to no search volume because of its uniqueness. Fact: this is common for keywords with good opportunities. In other words, it’s not a problem because the conversion value is so high. The more unique your keyword, the more you’re targeting a specific buyer – the one looking to pull the trigger and make the purchase! These types of keywords don’t work well for everyone – but they work great for you. The opportunity is personal, and that’s a big bonus. Why Broad, Short Tail Keywords Are on the Way Out Short tail … Read more

What Attracts Readers to Your Content? 7 Facts You Need to Know About the Intent Behind User Search

January 1, 2021June 6, 2017 by Adam Oakley

How do we rank at the top of search engines? And then, when we do that, how do we get people to actually read our content and share it with the world? And then, after we’ve achieved all that, how do we get the people that love our content to actually convert? Whew. Loaded questions… to say the least. Entire books have been written that attempt to answer these questions. Yet still, there are no universal answers about how to check all the boxes. But, at the end of the day, every part of the process, from ranking in search engines to converting users, comes down to focusing on people first. And fortunately for us, people are predictable. Their intent when they search follows a familiar path that, when understood, can be used to inspire our future content. Let’s discuss! 7 Facts You Need to Know Right Now About the Intent Behind People Searching for Your Content Let’s dive in and take a look at a few facts about user intent when utilizing search engines. 1. Users Follow Similar Principles When They Interact With Search Engines Understanding how the majority of people interact with search engines is absolutely vital to your success in content marketing. Moz outlines this perfectly in their detailed beginner’s guide to SEO. Creating great content that gets results can seem like an insurmountable challenge. As Moz shows, most people follow similar principles when they use a search engine. First and foremost, they’re there to find an answer, solution, or piece of information. They then formulate that need into a string of words (keywords) and type it into the search engine. Knowing these principles alone should serve as a guideline for every piece of content that you create. If your content isn’t answering a question, offering a solution, or providing useful information, it serves very little purpose to users. But you can’t just provide bland and unsubstantiated answers, solutions, and information. As you can see with the 7th principle, users will return to the search results if they’re unsatisfied with their initial results. Knowing this, your focus should be on identifying why users are finding your content and ensuring that you satisfy their needs when they get there. 2. How Users Search is Based on Their Stage of Awareness We’ve already identified that, when a user performs a search, they’re generally attempting to find an answer, solution, or piece of information. The one they search for is almost always determined by their current stage of awareness. For this reason, when you’re writing content, it’s always a good idea to think like a copywriter. You want to focus your efforts on determining the user’s current stage of awareness and use your content to walk them through to the next stage. Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz laid out the five levels of awareness like this: Let’s use the example of a 40-year-old man who lacks motivation. He understands that this is affecting his life and is currently in the problem aware stage. He decides to go to Google and find a solution, so he types in how to get motivated. The results look like this: He sees a few solid options, but the article about How to Get Motivated When You Don’t Feel Like It sticks out. He clicks on it and sees this: As he reads through the article, he begins to see that he isn’t alone in his lack of motivation and that there are solutions to his problem. So he’s now in the solution aware stage. The author understands this and, once the reader has finished the article, offers up an email opt-in that promises to help the unmotivated user even more. The man enters his email, receives the ebooks, and is now in the product aware stage as he knows that the author has also published books that he can purchase to help him even further. Since the initial content, and the ebooks, provided the solution he was looking for, he doesn’t return to Google to check out other potential solutions. The author begins sending content through emails that slowly works him into the most aware stage where he is ready to make a purchase. This example shows the power of understanding how users interact with search engines based on their stage of awareness. Use it to your advantage and optimize your content to work users to the most aware stage. 3. Your Users Want Landing Pages We know that users search based on their stage of awareness. But, if this is the case, why isn’t all of the content we create based on walking visitors through to the next stage of awareness? This is a great question, and one that many content marketers can’t answer. To solve this problem, Search Engine Land puts it in the most simple terms possible: businesses need to look at every page as a landing page. They advise that you ask yourself three questions when creating content. These are: As you answer these questions, you arm yourself with the necessary information to create content that gets visitors to say, “This is exactly what I need right now!” By doing this, your content doubles as a landing page and can directly contribute to conversions for your business. And isn’t the goal of content marketing to serve as an avenue to generate revenue? [clickToTweet tweet=”Wondering what attracts readers to your content? @ExpWriters is sharing seven facts on user intent you should know!” quote=”Wondering what attracts readers to your content? @ExpWriters is sharing seven facts on user intent you should know!”] 4. Long-Tail Keywords are Used in Searches More Often The data shows that about 70% of search traffic is through long-tail keywords. And, if you’ve been following along so far, this makes sense. After all, if a user is typically looking for an answer, solution, or information when they use a search engine, they’re generally not going to find what they’re looking for by using a single word. Let’s go back to … Read more

How Topical Trust Flow & Alexa Ranking Has Replaced Page Rank

December 31, 2020January 1, 2017 by Adam Oakley

While PageRank was a huge thing in SEO for years, it’s recently been laid to rest. This happened in March of 2016, when Google killed off its Toolbar PageRank feature. While PageRank didn’t have a huge user base before it was axed, there were a small handful of marketers and SEOs still using it, and those people will now need to find something to fill its place. The good news is that the death of PageRank is just another indicator of Google’s ongoing commitment to a “quality over quantity” model, wherein amazing content is rewarded. The other piece of great news is that the post-PageRank world is anything but a desolate wasteland. Quite the opposite, in fact! While PageRank had its devotees, most experts agree that it was an outdated and inefficient tool that wasn’t keeping up with the trajectory of online content and user experience. As such, it’s actually a good thing that it’s fallen by the wayside and made room for newer, more intuitive tools to take its place. Alexa Ranking and Topical Trust Flow are two modern quality gauges that are the perfect candidates to restore reliable trust metrics and help both marketers and consumers interact with more reliable content. We’re here today to talk about both. Ready? The Slow Death of PageRank If you’re sad to hear about PageRank heading out, you’re not the only one. Google had been slowly killing the tool for years, though. Here’s a brief history: PageRank was developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the Founders of Google, at Stanford University in 1996. Originally, the tool was part of a larger research product relating to search and how it could be improved. At the time of its development, PageRank was revolutionary and heralded a whole new era, when web pages would be judged by the quality of their content rather than the concentration of their keywords. The service eventually launched, with Google as its only user. Over time, though, other search engines saw that PageRank was improving accuracy and authority, and they started adopting the system into their algorithms. The program was short-lived, though, and soon started to come under fire. Search Engine Roundtable reports that, in 2007, Google asked its webmasters to provide some feedback about the idea of axing PageRank. In 2009, Google stopped showing data from PageRank in its Webmaster Tools section. In 2013, Matt Cutts officially alluded to the death of PR: Credit MySiteAuditor By 2016, PageRank was on its way out, and SEOs and marketers everywhere were turning to the next reliable quality metric. Although some were sad about the end of PageRank, most people realized that, as good as PageRank had been, it had its drawbacks. Namely: quality could be faked, and even spammy web pages and websites could have PageRank if they knew how to game the system. These shortcomings set the stage perfectly for the next big thing, lurking just over the horizon. Topical Trust Flow: What You Need to Know The thing that first stepped up to take PageRank’s place is known as Topical Trust Flow, a tool created by Majestic SEO. Essentially, Topical Trust Flow determines how trustworthy and authoritative a URL or domain is within its niche while also determining what the topic of the content is all about. It does this by determining a site’s topical relevance based on the links it enjoys with other relevant sites. Unlike PageRank, the quality metrics within Trust Flow are difficult to fake, since it’s actually the content that links to a page that determines its Topical Trust Flow. Topical Trust Flow came at just the right time: with more than fifty million content shares every day, and 58% of consumers reporting they trust editorial content, (according to Nielsen), the web was in dire need of a more reliable trust metric than PageRank. How Does Trust Flow Work? Trust Flow is one of Majestic’s most useful tools for SEO practitioners. Flow is calculated using a set of authoritative seed websites as a base. The further away your domain lies from those seed sites, the lower the Trust Flow is. The set of authority sites measured link out to other great sites, which link out to yet more sites. The whole system works like an underground root system, relying on a complex network of connections and inbound messages to determine stability and reliability. Here’s a diagram from seoworx.net.au to demonstrate how it works: If you’re still struggling to understand Trust Flow, think of it like this: Topical Trust Flow measures the quality of inbound links based on the quality of the links pointing to the site your links come from. If every one of your inbound links come from sites that already have high Trust Flow, your domain is also going to have a high Trust Flow. This is because the sites your links come from are seen as reputable and reliable, thanks to the inbound links they’ve received. Trust Flow can be a tough metric to manipulate, making it almost impossible to fake or inflate. As such, it’s a much more reliable trust metric than PageRank, which relied on data that could easily be faked. 3 Facts to Know About Topical Trust Flow Here are three key truths about Trust Flow and how it operates in the complex online world: 1. Trust Flow Relies on Relevance A topically-matched trust flow that is high means the sites your links are coming from also have links that are topically relevant. 2. Trust Flow Rewards Trustworthy Links A high trust flow means your inbound links come from sites that have trustworthy links. 3. Trust Flow Looks for Topical Similarities A domain’s ability to rank increases when it has topically matched links that come from websites that have topically matched links, too. To help you further understand how these truths play out in the Trust Flow algorithm, here’s a diagram from Majestic SEO: How Trust Flow Supports 5 Crucial Foundations of SEO While it might be easy to write … Read more

A Holistic Approach: How SEO and Content Marketing Work Hand-in-Hand Today

September 5, 2022July 28, 2016 by Adam Oakley

Have you ever assembled a puzzle? Most of us have. There’s a deep sense of satisfaction watching the image slowly come together through tedious effort and clever tactics. But for some, putting the puzzle can be frustrating. There might be one piece, just ONE piece, that’s missing from a section, and it can drive you mad looking for it. Here’s the thing — content marketing can be a lot like a puzzle, with many pieces coming together to make something amazing. Unfortunately, content marketers often get fixated on a single piece, leaving the rest of the puzzle unassembled. That piece is, very often, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO).” SEO and content marketing are becoming two pieces to a puzzle in today’s friendly online marketing era. Yet, SEO as a separate piece has still earned more than its fair share of attention. Frankly, it’s not hard to understand why. Getting to the front page of a search engine like Google can seem like the make-or-break gauge of success for a piece of content. But there’s a lot more to what makes a fantastic SEO and content marketing strategy, where you win with both Google and readers; and ignoring it will simply leave you with an incomplete puzzle. A holistic approach to it all is what you need today in order to win. A Holistic Approach: How SEO and Content Marketing Fit Together Thankfully, there are definitive steps you can take to ensure a holistic approach to your SEO and content marketing strategy. Here’s how: 1. Learn the Difference Between Advertising and Marketing One major mistake marketers tend to make with their content is making it overly advertorial or salesy. Sure, potential customers might stumble across your blog through a referral, or a backlink, or a search engine. But if they’re looking for helpful information or a solution to their problem and all they find is an advertisement for your latest product or service, they’ll feel alienated right off the bat. In fact, 28% of Americans actively seek to avoid advertisements online, according to Hubspot. And advertisers are the second most hated group online, only falling behind criminals and hackers. Yup. If your content becomes perceived as a sneaky advertisement, you might quickly find your brand being seen in a light you never intended. It doesn’t matter how great your SEO is if you’re creating content that is entirely self-serving. Truly great content will help to inform and assist the reader, rather than cajole them into a conversion. The positive impression a reader engaging with your content will have a far greater impact than merely a sales pitch alone. Customers who feel serviced and satisfied will willfully engage with more of your content, explore your brand in greater depth, and even recommend you to others. And here’s the best part — all these efforts to ensure your content benefits a potential customer will pay dividends in SEO. It’s Not Just About Keywords Anymore It’s not just about keywords anymore. There’s a lot more to building a comprehensive SEO strategy. Among the most effective methods to increase search engine visibility is generating quality backlinks from other sites. And, simply put, no one is going to link back to an advertisement. People link back to valuable, easy-to-understand, hyper-relevant content. If you break out of the mindset of needing to convert every reader with a sales pitch tucked in every piece of content, you’ll find your SEO improving in tandem with your conversions. 2. Write Exceptional, Meaty, Evergreen Content for Your SEO and Content Marketing Campaigns How long does it take to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle? No matter how good you are, it’s a time consuming process — and effective content creation is no different. Anyone can whip up a stubby blog a couple hundred words long stuffed with the requisite keywords. As a matter of fact, many are already doing it. It’s a super bad habit, and a perfect example of a strategy focused purely on SEO and not on content. There’s evidence to back this up, too. Neil Patel of Quicksprout found that posts he made over 1500 words received 68% more tweets and 22% more Facebook likes than shorter posts. That’s a massive boost for a more thorough article. Even if you have good intentions about informing your audience, if it’s not well-researched and relevant, it won’t appeal to readers. In content marketing, it’s not the thought that counts — it’s the product. With that said, it’s important to dig deep into your subject matter to create content that’s so thorough, readers will frequently return to you for their information. Speaking of information, that’s the other thing you’re going to have to consider. What kind of information do you intend to share? It can seem daunting to break new ground, especially in fields that are written about with extreme frequency (here’s looking at you, content marketing.) Thus, it can be a bit tempting to jump on current events and tie your content to that. Trending hashtag? Next blog post. Viral challenge? Gotta upload a branded video. There’s just one problem — this type of content has a short shelf-life and won’t have the long-term impact it could. That’s why you need to build a foundation of “evergreen” content for your marketing strategy. Evergreen content involves creating pieces that are relevant for as long as possible (ideally forever, but things do change and need to be updated.) When you develop a marketing strategy, consider developing content that won’t become outdated anytime soon. This means it can continue to draw views, shares and backlinks well after its publication, giving you a long-term SEO boost as a consequence. In the long run, your dedication to creating long-lasting and meaningful content will result in a wealth of engaging and relevant material that will drive readership years after it is written. This doesn’t mean you have to completely ignore current events — quite the opposite. Making your content relevant to the experiences of your viewers is essential. … Read more

Has Google Reinvented Meta Content? New Meta Title & Description Length

December 31, 2020May 27, 2016 by Adam Oakley

If you’re a writer, online publisher, or marketer, it’s likely that you know a thing or two about meta descriptions and titles. Used to improve SEO and help web pages earn more prominent Google rankings, meta titles and descriptions are short blurbs that help readers and search engines decide what content is about. While meta content may not be as exciting as Google algorithm updates or copywriting secrets, there’s been some big news in the world of meta content recently. Earlier this month, Google announced some major changes to their meta title and description standards, and these changes will influence how SEOs everywhere regard meta content. Read on to learn more. Google’s Changes to Meta Content Standards Google seldom releases news like this through loudspeakers and blow horns, so it’s not surprising that change was spotted on Twitter by a guy named Ross Hudgens. We heard about it through The SEM Post and Search Engine Journal, who reported on it later. Long title tags being tested again in the SERPs. Seeing 69 and 70 character results today. pic.twitter.com/esiKTctV96 — Ross Hudgens (@RossHudgens) May 6, 2016 As it stands right now, Google’s character limits for title tags had increased by about ten characters: from 50-60 characters to 70-71 characters, which allows for longer and more in-depth descriptions and the inclusion of additional keywords. What’s more, meta descriptions have increased to 100 characters per line and now allow for three lines in a description. Keep in mind, however, that this change is on a per-line basis and Google is still cutting off anything that runs over 160 characters, so it’s smart to stick to that limit for now. Title Tag Changes Currently, Google is allowing title tag lengths to be 70 characters. While it’s possible to push that limit to 71 characters by using small letters like “i,” Google generally truncates anything that runs over the limit. The new 70-character cap represents an increase of between 10-15 characters, which is huge news for savvy SEOs everywhere since the extra space can be used to include additional keywords or make a title tag more longer or more descriptive. While the specific length of this increase will vary depending upon the words used, many SEOs are managing to include 2-4 extra words in their title tags. While the desktop changes are big news, the mobile title tag increase is what’s causing most SEOs to do a happy dance. As you probably know, mobile search is exploding right now, and it’s clear that the mobile character limit increase is Google’s effort to make mobile search more relevant and detailed than ever. According to The SEM Post, Google bumped its mobile tag lengths up to 78 characters, which is a whopping 8 characters more than even the desktop limit. This longer mobile tag allows marketers to input additional keywords and reap the click-through benefits that the extended tag has to offer. What’s more, longer title tags on both mobile and desktop allow a search engine result to take up a larger space in the all-important SERPs, which makes it more visible and attractive to Google users. Meta Description Changes While many SEOs are jumping up and down at the prospect of longer descriptions (about 16-20 characters longer, to be exact, to a cap of 100 characters per line), it’s wise to remember that Google is still truncating descriptions after about two lines or 160 characters. Because of this, it’s wise to ensure that you’re sticking to the 16- character limit, at least until it becomes clear that these changes are here to stay. Should You Get Excited? Yes! This is big news for SEOs, copywriters, and marketers. Meta content has always been important, but it’s also always been tough to create. While we still aren’t entirely sure whether these changes are A/B testing that Google will reverse in the near-future or long-lasting improvements that are here to stay, the prospect of larger meta content character limits is exciting in a few different ways. Here are some of the main reasons we’re excited about the character limit increase: Meta content will be easier to write. Brevity is hard. Anyone who has ever tried to craft a super-insightful tweet knows that getting the point across in just over 100 characters is tough. While the character limit increases aren’t massive, they offer just enough room to provide additional value and meaning in meta content. Additional keyword inclusion. Right now, most SEOs are managing to add 2-4 words to title tags. This increase allows for additional keyword inclusion and more SEO-focused content. Just remember, never stuff your keywords in; a natural meta description is far better than a stuffed one, since you need a conversational, well-written meta in order to get more click-throughs on your piece from Google results. Increased visibility. Longer meta content means more targeted results and increased visibility for all online material. This is good for marketers, search engines, and Google users. What To Do Now Since nobody is quite sure whether or not the character limit is here to stay, SEO experts are recommending that marketers measure their click-through-rates (CTRs) beginning before May 4th (the day that the change to the meta lengths took place). While it’s risky to alter your SEO efforts to fit the increased character limits before we know that they’re permanent, searching for any recent positive or negative changes will give you an idea of how and if your site has been affected. In addition to monitoring your CTRs, you should also optimize your mobile and desktop title tags separately in order to ensure that they’re both adhering to their respective character limits. This helps ensure that your readers are getting the value they need from your content and that you’re getting the real estate you deserve in the SERPs. The Future of the New Meta Title & Description Length While there’s no telling whether or not Google will reverse the character limit increase, there’s also no doubt that this new change has the potential … Read more