SEO copywriting is a technique used to produce content that is highly valued by visitors and search engines. It focuses on producing valuable and interesting information for your readers by following certain search engine algorithm guidelines to appear higher in SERPs.
SEO copywriting is extremely important for online businesses that want to consistently increase their organic traffic. It does not require a large financial investment or a highly specialized skill set. As long as you are aware of what the process entails, you can start producing SEO-friendly content that will convert.
Table of contents hides Step one: research keywords Step two: decide on a specific search intent Step three: work out the structure of your article Step four: write the text with SEO in mind Step five: optimize the content Conclusion Step one: keyword research Before you begin the writing process, you should perform keyword research. This is how you will find out what keywords you should use to rank competitively on search engines.
These are some of the best tools for keyword research:
Google Keyword Planning Tool
Afrefs Keyword Explorer
Moz Keyword Explorer
SEMrush
SEOZoom
Use these tools to find out what keywords people enter into search engines to find the information they are looking for. Then, choose those that are relatively popular but have low competition.
Step Two: Decide on a specific search intent. Search intent refers to the specific type of information the user is trying to find on the search engine. For example, the search term “Hairdressers near me” will produce very different results than “What qualifications are needed to become a hairdresser.” Both search terms revolve around the topic of hairdressers, but the intent is very different.
To ensure that your content ranks well on search engines and provides valuable information to readers, decide the exact search intent you want to respond to. Enter the keywords you want to use in the search engine and observe what results tend to come up. Check what kinds of questions are asked most often and choose the one you can use as a guideline for your content.
Step three: work out the structure of your article. Once you have set your keywords and research intent, it is time to create a brief for your content. This will not only help you cover all the information you want to share with your readers, but it will also encourage search engines to rank it better.
Start with a header (H1), which will be the main title of your article, page or whatever type of content you are working on. Next, divide the content into logical sections and assign each one a subheading (H2) of its own.
Be sure not to include overly full paragraphs: 3 to 4 lines of text is sufficient. People prefer to skim through content rather than read it thoroughly, so you need to adjust if you want people to stay on your site.
Step Four: Write the text with SEO in mind. Steps one through three are for preparation. Once they are completed, you can start writing your content. However, be sure to keep SEO in mind at all times.
Set up a list of keywords that you need to include in your content and use search intent as the main goal of your text. To help you with this, you can use these tools:
Surfer SEO
Clearscope
Dashword
SEOZoom
The above tools are equipped to help your content respond to search intent and rank better on search engines. They all provide a clear list of keywords that should be included in the text and also specify how many times they should be repeated.
Although these tools are paid, this is a worthwhile investment that can make SEO copywriting a much easier process.
Step five: optimize the content This step involves optimizing all other aspects of the content along with the text. A tool such as Rank Math can be extremely useful at this point in the process, as it will clearly indicate what still needs to be improved .
Here are the aspects needed to fully optimize your content:
Key Phrase Focus . This key phrase indicates the intent of your content and can be used to see how well you respond.
Alternative text for images . Including alternative text for all your images is important for two reasons: it makes your content more user-friendly in terms of accessibility, and it also makes it easier for search engine crawlers to understand your content.
Meta description . A brief summary of what the page or article is about. This summary will show up in search results, just below the title and link to your website.
External and internal links . Include external links to high-level Web sites relevant to your content. Also, include links to other content on your Web site, as this will help search engine crawlers index your Web site faster and easier.
Conclusion SEO copywriting is easier than it sounds when you understand how it works and what you need to focus on. The process is also made much more accessible with a wide selection of tools that can help you.
Whether you are planning to write SEO-friendly content for your business website, your personal blog or an e-commerce site, this guide will help you make sure you attract both your visitors and search engines.
Webmaster tools offer various ways to improve search engine optimization (SEO) . They are available through platforms such as Google Search Console , Bing and Yandex . We recommend that you submit your sitemap to Yandex webmaster tools, if you have not already done so. This way you can optimize your website and gain worldwide visibility that you might not otherwise get.
The procedure can be done in 5 steps and in this post we will guide you through the whole process.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents hide Why submit your XML Sitemap to Yandex webmaster Tools How to submit your XML Sitemap to Yandex webmaster Tools (5 steps) Step 1: Install an SEO plugin to generate your sitemap Step 2: create a Yandex account Step 3: add your website to your Yandex account Step 4: enter the verification code into the WordPress SEO plugin Step 5: submit your XML sitemap Conclusion Why submit your XML Sitemap to Yandex webmaster Tools If you don’t know it yet, Yandex is a popular search engine and web portal based in Russia. Yandex webmaster tools offer various tools that can help you optimize your website and acquire new visitors. These tools include solutions to monitor traffic statistics , improve positions in SERPs, conduct search queries, and more.
Your XML sitemap is a file with all the important pages and files on your website. This essential document informs search engines about all your content. In turn, the search engines “scan” your various URLs using the sitemap as a guide, then index them in the search results pages.
Submitting your XML sitemap and connecting your Yandex webmaster tools can improve your website’s visibility in areas you may not currently target. In addition, you can find out how the search engine crawls your website. Then, you can make valuable improvements to further optimize your website for SEO purposes.
Overall, optimizing your website for SEO is essential for attracting new readers. More than 50 percent of users find websites through organic search. Therefore, increasing the visibility of your website is critical to its sustainability and growth . And while Google may be the default engine for many people, it is not the only important search engine. That’s why we want to help you integrate your site more fully with Yandex.
How to submit your XML Sitemap to Yandex webmaster Tools (5 steps) Now that you’re a little more familiar with what Yandex is and how its webmaster tools can help you, it’s time to go deeper and submit your sitemap to Yandex webmster tools. As we said, it’s easy and can be done in just five simple steps.
Step 1: Install an SEO plugin to generate your sitemap. The first step is to generate your XML siyemap. You can do this with almost any SEO plugin or sitemap . Two of the most popular ones are Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO . For this tutorial, we will use Rank Math. Anyway, the process will be essentially the same no matter what tool you are using.
If you haven’t already done so, install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site. Then, go to Rank Math > Sitemap Settings .
You can find the link to your XML sitemap at the top of the page. You can also change its settings to display a certain amount of links and images. When you are done, click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen.
Step 2: Create a Yandex account. The next step is to create and register an account with Yandex. To get started, go to the Yandex account registration form and fill in the necessary details.
When you are finished, select Register . Please note that you will be asked to provide a cell phone number to verify your identity and receive an SMS code. Once you enter the confirmation code, you can accept the terms of the agreement and complete the registration process.
Step 3: Add your website to your Yandex account. Once your account registration is complete, you will be automatically redirected to the Yandex webmaster tools landing page. Click the yellow Log in button.
The next step is to add the website for which you created the sitemap to your Yandex account. You can do this by clicking on Add site .
Alternatively, you can also click on the + icon at the top of the screen. In the Site Address field , enter the full domain name of your website , then select Add .
You will then be asked to verify the ownership of your website. We will explain this process in the next step.
Step 4: Enter the verification code into the WordPress SEO plugin. After adding your website URL, you should see the website verification screen.
Three options are available for this verification: HTML file , Meta tag or DNS record . The simplest method is Meta tag . (1) Click on the Meta tag tab , then (2) copy the code in quotes.
Go back to your WordPress administration area. Navigate to Rank Math > General Settings> Webmaster Tools .
Scroll down until you locate the Yandex Verification ID field .
Paste the meta tag code into this field, then click the Save Changes button . Now you can go back to the Yandex webmaster dashboard and select the Verify button in the lower right corner.
If everything is successful, you should see a screen with your username. You are now ready to submit your sitemap to Yandex..
Step 5: Submit your XML Sitemap The last step is to submit your XML sitemap to Yandex webmaster tools so that the search engine can start crawling (and ranking) your website. It can take a few days for the Yandex dashboard to start generating and displaying useful data. But once there is enough to aggregate, you can get some meaningful information from these analyses.
Before that can happen, however, you need to add the sitemap so that Yandex can find your pages. From the left menu of the Yandex dashboard, go to (1) Indexing , (2) then Sitemap files . (3) Then enter the URL of your sitemap and click the Add button .
Remember that you can find the link to your sitemap from your SEO plugin. At this point, your sitemap will be placed in a processing queue. It may take a few days to complete, so take note and stop by later to check that everything is OK.
That’s it! In the meantime, you can explore some of the other Yandex webmaster tools, which are quite useful, especially if you haven’t tried them before.
Conclusion Submitting your sitemap to popular search engines other than Google can make it easier for users to find your site. This process is something you probably want to do (or have already done) with Google. Having your site and its content processed by as many search engines as possible, such as Yandex, will help you grow.
As we saw in this post, you can submit your XML sitemap to Yandex webmasters in five simple steps:
1.Use an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math SEO to generate your XML sitemap in WordPress. 2.Create a Yandex webmaster tools account. 3.Add the website URL to your Yandex account. 4.Verify that you are the owner of the WordPress website. 5.Submit the URL of your XML sitemap to Yandex webmaster tools.
The permalink structure you choose can affect the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website . WordPress allows you to select from multiple URL formats, but not all of them are SEO friendly or easy to use. Therefore, understanding how permalinks work in WordPress and their impact on SEO is essential. That’s why we’ll introduce you to permalinks and the options WordPress offers, then explain how permalinks and SEO go hand in hand.
Table of contents view What is a permalink? A permalink is a URL. When we talk about permalinks in WordPress , we are referring to the URL structure you use on your website. By default, new WordPress sites use a link format similar to the following for pages and posts :
tuositoweb.co.uk/?p=123
This is the structure of the “simple” permalink. The number at the end of the URL corresponds to a specific post or page ID , but until you click on that link, you can’t know where it leads.
In addition to that basic structure, WordPress offers many other options for permalinks, especially if you are using WooCommerce .
WordPress allows you to change your site’s permalink structure at any time. However, we usually recommend that you choose a URL format as early as possible in the life of your site and always stick to that. Changing permalinks becomes more messy as your website grows and develops a large library of content. Such growth means updating dozens or hundreds of URLs and having to wait for search engines to do the same. Also, when URLs change, you can lose important backlinks to your site , but links to them do not.
As a general rule, the best options for permalink structures are the name of the post or a custom layout that adds the category to the URL so that it looks like this:
tuositoweb.co.uk/category/post-name
In the following sections, we will discuss why these are your two best options. For now, let’s talk about the connection between URL structure and SEO.
How do permalinks affect SEO? There is a clear correlation between permalinks and SEO. Google considers your URLs as ranking factors . In short, the search engine uses permalinks to get information about your content and position it accordingly in its search engine results pages (SERPs).
URLs should provide some information about a page’s content something you cannot get with a link similar to tuositoweb.co.uk/?p=123.
If your permalinks are not related to your content, Google may not rank them high in relevant search results. In addition, you may turn away potential readers: if they see confusing links, users are less likely to click on them and read your articles.
.
How to set up your Permalinks for SEO in WordPress. Permalinks are fully customizable, and WordPress also offers a number of variables so you can set them up however you like. We will now explore some of the different options for your posts and pages.
Setting the Slug URL in a post or page WordPress automatically generates a URL for every page and post you publish. However, you can control the last part of the link, called the “slug” .
In the following URL, the slug is post-name :
tuositoweb.co.uk/post-name
When using the WordPress editor, you can update the slug of a page by opening the post settings in the Block Editor. The tab with the Post settings has a section called Permalink. Inside you will find a URL slug field . It contains the slug that WordPress generates from the title of the post or page.
When you set a title for a post or page, WordPress uses it to generate a slug. It includes each word in the title, separated by hyphens.
For short titles, you could leave the slug as is. TAny way, we generally recommend cutting off part of it to make the URL more concise.
Decide how many words the URL Slug should include. URL slugs should be relatively short and direct. In most cases, 2-6 words in length gives you enough room to include the main keyword of the article and reduce unnecessary parts of the title .
Take the title of this post, for example, which is “How do permalinks affect SEO?” Instead of keeping the entire title as the slug of the post, we have reduced it to: /permalink-seo
These two words are enough to let you know what you will read if you see the URL in SERPs. The link also provides information to Google about the topic of the post. Ideally, you will also include the keywords you wish to target in the URL slug. If this post was specifically about keywords in permalinks (as in the next section being the entire post), we might choose /permalinks-keywords-seo to better fit what Google and users would expect.
Using keywords in permalinks If you are targeting a specific keyword (or several) in your content, it should be part of the slug. Ideally, you will include the main keyword in both the title and the slug (and the meta description!). This way, everything will look natural once users read the title of the post.
Since you have to keep slugs relatively short, it may be difficult to include multiple keywords in less than five words. In most cases, you should focus on the main key phrase. This way, your slug will be concise and you will avoid keyword stuffing in your URLs.
Adding categories and tags in permalinks for SEO Many WordPress websites add categories and/or tags to their permalink structures. Putting the category in front of the slug of a blog post is like this example:
tuositoweb.co.uk/category/slug
Adding categories and tags to your slugs might be a good idea if you run a website with a lot of content and multiple categories. This way, you can avoid confusion among similar URLs. However, this approach generally works well only if you have short category names.
However, URLs can get out of hand quickly when you add multiple categories to a blog post or use tags with numerous words. Both users and search engines prefer short URLs that are more relevant and easy to understand.
If you decide to add categories to WordPress permalinks, be sure to assign one category per page or blog post. This way, you can keep URLs short. Also, don’t be afraid to update category names if your current taxonomy uses multiple words.
Conclusion When browsing a website, it can be easy to not pay attention to the URLs of the pages you are visiting. However, these links play a significant role in SEO. Search engines prefer short URLs. In addition, using permalink structures with descriptive slugs can improve your site’s ranking.
We recommend keeping URL slugs between two and five words for the best possible results. You can also benefit from including keywords. In most cases, the main keyword for each page or post will be an excellent slug URL. In addition, WordPress makes it easy to update your website’s permalink structure.
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), it can be difficult to know how well your site ranks and how it compares to sites similar to yours. “Domain Authority” (DA) is an SEO metric you can use to understand how your site is doing on search engine results pages (SERPs) and how it compares to competitor sites.
In this article, we will look at what domain authority is and why you need it. Then we will share five strategies for improving your DA.
Let’s start
What is domain authority (and why it matters) Domain Authority is an SEO ranking score developed by Moz , an SEO platform. It predicts how well a site will rank on SERPs by considering several indicators, including the number of backlinks to your site and the quality of the sites those backlinks are on.
Scores range from 1 to 100, with sites such as Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipedia ranking above 80 and above. However, DA is meant to be used as a comparative tool , so the goal is to score better than sites similar to yours, rather than to score high.
ASIf, for example, you have an e-commerce site that sells motorcycle accessories, comparing your Domain Authority with Facebook’s would not be an effective measure of your site’s ranking. Instead, you should research the DA scores of other online shops that sell motorcycle accessories and look for ways to raise your score above theirs.
Improving DA so that you can outrank your competitors will help your site appear before theirs within the SERPs. This means greater visibility and more organic traffic for your site. The wider the gap between your DA and your competitors, the more successful your site will be.
Building and maintaining your DA can be complicated, since changes in search engine algorithms and Internet updates can change the way Moz calculates scores. This means that your domain authority could rise or fall without any effort on your part or that of your competitors.
How to build domain authority (5 strategies) As mentioned earlier, there are several factors that contribute to domain authority, many of which relate to the quality of your ” backlink profile.” The following tips will help you improve your profile and, consequently, your DA.
Perform a backlink audit to find and remove unwanted links Backlinks are simply links to your site from other sites. Your “backlink profile” is a summary of all the backlinks on your site, and a backlink audit is the process by which you evaluate your backlink profile. When you conduct an audit, you want to examine the quality of sites that link to your site.
Links posted in spam comments, on shady sites, and in some link directories are considered low quality. Google’s algorithm penalizes sites for these types of links by lowering their rankings. Low-quality links will also reduce your DA, so it is best to remove or disavow them after conducting a backlink audit .
To do this, you must first access your backlink profile through Google Search Console or another backlink analysis resource such as SEMRush.. Your profile will include a list of all your backlinks, as well as information such as the domains linking to your site and the anchor text of your backlinks.
Some red flags include links from untrustworthy or illegal sites and anchor text that does not match the content of the link. Although time-consuming, following each link to make sure it works and is not spam ,is worth it. You can use an automated backlink analysis tool, but they are not always accurate.
Once you have a list of your invalid backlinks, contact the sites where they are located and ask them to remove the links. If they do not respond or refuse to do so, you can disavow the links so that search engines will ignore them when determining rankings.
Create quality backlinks to direct users to your site The reverse of removing your toxic backlinks is to build good ones. Just as having low-quality backlinks can reduce your rankings in SERPs, high-quality backlinks from sites with better DA than yours can improve them.
There are several strategies for link building, but not all of them create high-quality backlinks. Buying and selling links or including them in low-quality directories will only lower SEO and DA , so be sure to spend time on good link building.
Internal linking, or linking to your own content, is an easy way to build your link profile. Guest blogging on other sites and reaching out to influencers to review your products or services are also good link building strategies.
Another factor to consider when building links is the difference between dofollow and nofollow links . Dofollow links will be considered by search engines when determining rankings, but nofollow links , such as disavowed links, will not.
When working with another site to build backlinks through guest blogging or collaborating with influencers, make sure they are using dofollow links to your site. Otherwise, all your hard work will be wasted, as nofollow links cannot improve your SEO or domain authority.
Create engaging content to encourage natural link building The best way to build a good backlink profile is through natural link building. This occurs when other sites link to yours without any effort on your part. Someone simply likes your content and decides to link to it of their own free will.
For this to happen, you must create high-quality content that people want to link to, either as a reference or to share with others. High-quality content is a broad category, as tastes vary, but there are certain characteristics that tend to produce more linkable content.
First, consider creating long-form content such as blog posts on topics relevant to your core audience. Other bloggers may use well-written posts and articles as references, or readers may share them for their informational or entertainment value.
Including images in your posts breaks up large blocks of text and provides visual interest for visitors to your site. Optimizing image files by compressing them and adding “alt” text ensures that they do not slow down your site and that it will be accessible to anyone who visits.
An engaging call to action (CTA) can draw visitors into your content and encourage them to do more on your site, such as posting comments, making purchases or signing up for your e-mail list. The simpler you make the process, the more likely users are to follow through.
Finally, don’t forget the importance of on-page SEO . It may not seem like much in the face of all the SEO work you have to do, but factors such as keyword usage and page slugs still play a role in improving your rankings
Make sure your pages are accessible to avoid losing new users Sometimes backlinks break, meaning that when a user clicks on the link they are instead directed to a 404 error page . This can occur for a number of reasons, including changes to the page name or URL or if the page has been moved or deleted.
Broken links are bad news for your site. They are a missed opportunity to drive traffic to you, so it is critical to find any broken links and replace them with working ones. This can quickly improve your backlink and Domain Authority profile, and is usually easier than building new, high-quality links.
You can find broken external links to your site by conducting a backlink audit just as we indicated in the first strategy. Google Search Console and most other link analysis tools will notice any broken links to your site. Also consider checking your site’s internal links and updating those that are not working.
After you have collected a list of all your broken links, contact the sites where they are located and ask them to replace them with working ones that you provide. If you have changed a URL, you can simply submit the new one.
Alternatively, you can redirect the broken links. This way you will send anyone who clicks on a broken link to the correct page.
Promote your brand on social media to increase your site’s visibility and domain authority Having a strong social media presence is not a ranking factor, so it cannot directly impact your SEO. Simply having a Facebook page, Instagram profile or Twitter handle will not increase your rankings or DA. However, social media can improve your SEO in other ways.
Social media offers opportunities for link building, brand promotion, and audience expansion. You can link back to your site in the About section of your profile, include relevant links in posts, and collaborate with influencers to get links to your site on their profiles.
With a larger online presence, you have more opportunities to promote your brand. Not only can you do this work yourself, but loyal visitors to your site will often do it for you. Interacting with your users on social media improves your chances of attracting new visitors.
Increased traffic to your site means more natural links as new users share your content with others. Natural backlinks are almost always of high quality and improve your SEO. They will also refine your backlink profile, as well as your domain authority.
The easiest way to manage a social media presence is to schedule your posts. Some platforms, including Facebook, allow you to do this from within your posts. Others require a social media management platform, such as Hootsuite or Later , to schedule posts.
Conclusion Balancing all the components to optimize SEO can be tricky. Monitoring your DA-and working to improve it-makes sure your website is at its peak when it comes to SERP ranking. Using DA as a comparative tool to track how your site compares to your competitors can show you areas where your site has room for improvement.
In this article, we looked at what DA is and why it is useful. Then we explored five strategies for improving your site’s domain authority:
1.Perform a backlink audit and remove unwanted links. 2.Create quality backlinks to direct users to your site. 3.Create engaging content to encourage natural link building. 4.Make sure your pages are accessible to avoid losing new users. 5.Promote your brand on social media to improve your site’s visibility.
When we talk about search engine optimization (SEO) , we usually focus on Google. However, pouring all your energy into that one search engine may result in losing other sources of traffic. Although the Yahoo! search engine has fewer users, it is still worth optimizing your content for this platform as well. Let’s take a look at Yahoo and what makes it different from other search engines. Let’s then look at six tips for effective SEO on Yahoo.
Let’s get started.
Table of contents hide What is Yahoo Search? How is SEO for Yahoo SEO different? 6 best practices for optimizing your content for Yahoo
Use keywords skillfully
Format your images correctly
Focus on links
Submit your sitemap to Bing
Make your JavaScript accessible
Work on your social media strategy Conclusion What is Yahoo Search? Yahoo is a platform that includes email functionality, news hub, and search engine. The home page looks pretty full, but you can use Yahoo Search by typing your query in the top bar, then pressing Enter or clicking on the magnifying glass icon:
Yahoo was first launched in 1995 and initially used its own web crawling and data housing services to power its results. However, since 2009, its results have been powered by Bing . Although this search engine is not as popular as Google, it has a worldwide market share of about 2.7 percent . Yahoo is also significantly more popular in Japan and Mexico than elsewhere, with 55% and 30% of users accessing the platform regularly, respectively.
Therefore, SEO for Yahoo can be essential if you plan to target audiences in those countries. Optimizing for this search engine could also be useful if you want to attract web traffic from as many sources as possible.
How is SEO for Yahoo SEO different? Yahoo faces strong global competition from other search engines, including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex . However, Yahoo has an advantage with one particular demographic group: users of Mozilla Firefox .
Firefox set Yahoo as the default search engine in the United States from 2014 to 2017. Although the browser has since switched back to Google, many of its users are now accustomed to using the Yahoo search engine. Considering that about 6.7 percent of Americans use Firefox , this market is not insignificant.
In addition, optimizing your content for Yahoo SEO is probably easier than with other popular search engines. This platform does not use frequently updated algorithms like Google does. In fact, it has very simple guidelines for sites that want to rank in the top positions.
It is also important to reiterate that Yahoo is powered by Bing:
Therefore, if you plan to focus on SEO for Yahoo, we recommend that you also optimize your content for Bing and pay attention to its ranking algorithm .
Finally, Yahoo has less competition for SERPs than the most popular search engines and places more value on domain authority. If you have a well-established site and make an effort to carefully optimize your content, you may rank faster in Yahoo’s results.
6 best practices for optimizing your content for Yahoo Regardless of which search engine you wish to rank for, we recommend following some basic SEO best practices . These techniques can help your content rank better and stand out from the competition. However, if you are interested in Yahoo SEO specifically, here are the six most important steps you can take.
Use keywords skillfully Keywords are essential to your Yahoo SEO strategy. These phrases allow interested users to find your content in SERPs. We recommend that you use keywords frequently to rank well in relevant Yahoo results pages. In particular, we recommend that you add these phrases to your meta descriptions , page titles and alternative text in all your posts.
However, be careful not to overdo it , as most search engines and readers despise this practice called keyword stuffing. Instead, try writing your content first for readers and then for search engines.
You can find relevant keywords for Yahoo SEO by using the search engine’s Search Assist tool. When you start typing a phrase into the search box, you will see recommended terms that other users are searching for:
You can also take advantage of Yahoo! Native . This paid advertising platform allows you to market your content on the search engine and access keyword analysis tools.
Format your images correctly Yahoo’s guidelines also address best practices for SEO of images . You should avoid including text in your images. Embedded text can prevent the search engine from properly indexing your content. Instead, you should consider keeping your text and URLs in HTML format so that Yahoo can display them properly.
As with other search engines, it is also essential to include alternate text for your images:
This is another excellent opportunity to include your keywords. Alternative text is also essential to make your content accessible to more users.
Focus on links Yahoo places more importance on backlinks than Google. Backlinks are the URLs of external websites that point to your content. Receiving backlinks from authority websites and leaders in your industry can boost your content’s rankings. In addition, these URLs can attract more traffic to your site.
Therefore, we recommend taking an active approach to requesting backlinks.
Submit your sitemap to Bing A sitemap lists all the URLs on your website that you wish to have crawled and indexed by search engines. It also provides information about how the pages on your site are related, as well as additional details for each page (such as how often it changes and when it was last updated).
For SEO purposes for Yahoo, we recommend that you submit your sitemap to Bing. Since Bing feeds Yahoo results, this step can improve Bing and Yahoo rankings simultaneously, and you will be sure that both platforms have all the information they need. Fortunately, the process of submitting your sitemap to Bing is relatively simple. (If you’re already using Google Search Console, Bing also has a basic data import process for your site, so there’s no reason not to do it.)
Make your JavaScript accessible. JavaScript is a handy scripting language for WordPress websites. It is used to power different kinds of dynamic processes on your site, such as displaying animations, updating content in real time, and other interactive features.
However, Yahoo expressly discourages providing certain elements only via JavaScript. Some search engine crawlers (or bots) may not be able to properly understand and index content in this scripting language. Instead, you should also use “noscript” HTML elements to make your content accessible to all users and search engines.
Work on your social media strategy. Finally, as with Bing, social media can have a significant impact on Yahoo’s SEO. Unlike Google, both of these search engines highly consider your presence on online networks. If you have a large number of followers, for example, your content is more likely to rank better. The same principle applies if people frequently share your posts online.
Therefore, we recommend that you invest time in your social media strategy. You will probably want to focus your efforts on the main platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
That said, we recommend that you use the platforms best suited to the unique interests and demographics of your audience. For example, Instagram may be most effective if your readers are between the ages of 18 and 34 . You can easily find this data by examining your demographic metrics in Google Analytics .
You will also need to develop a consistent approach to your social media marketing so that you can maintain your strategy over time. To do this, consider creating a content calendar and automating key activities with social media plugins .
Conclusion Using proven SEO techniques is essential if you want to attract organic traffic to your site. However, focusing solely on Google could mean losing a significant number of potential visitors. It is still worth considering smaller sources such as Yahoo , especially if you are looking at international traffic (from Mexico and Japan especially).
To recap, you can optimize your content for Yahoo SEO by following these tips:
1.Include keywords in the titles, tags and content of your pages. 2.Format your images with alternative text . 3.Focus on your backlink strategy. 4.Submit your sitemap to Bing . 5.Make sure your JavaScript content is also available to HTML users. 6.Work on your social media strategy .
When users see your pages in search engine results pages (SERPs) , they see only a brief description of their content. Therefore, readers must decide which results to click on based on post titles, website names, and meta description. In particular, meta descriptions are essential for ‘search engine optimization (SEO) . Without compelling meta text, your content may not get the attention it deserves. From users or search engines, so we’re here to explain what meta descriptions are and how to write the perfect one for SEO purposes.
Let’s start
Table of contents view What is a meta description? Meta descriptions are short snippets of up to 155 characters that you see below post and page titles in SERPs. They inform you what you will find if you click on a particular result.
It is important to note that meta descriptions are not Google ranking factors . Adding this custom text does not directly increase rankings. However , a great meta description can convince users to click on your pages instead of the other options on the results pages. Even if your page is not ranked #1.
A good meta description gives the searcher enough information to decide whether or not to visit a page or post. If you don’t add this text manually, search engines generate one directly from the first few lines of the article. Usually, this means that you will end up with meta descriptions that do not provide enough information, are completely out of context, or simply do not make sense in snippet form.
You may also encounter meta descriptions that provide information without clarifying what the content as a whole will include.
Overall, however, most users choose search results based on locations. In fact, the first result on a search page gets almost 30 percent of all clicks . As you scroll down the list, results get fewer and fewer clicks. It’s sad, but that’s how it is!
Fortunately, a great title coupled with a good, informative meta description can prompt undecided users to choose your page over others. In addition, WordPress makes it easy to add metatext to your content, thanks to SEO plugins .
How to write the perfect meta description There are no definitive rules for writing the perfect meta description . However, you might consider following some of these best practices:
1.Keep the description under 155 characters. Longer text may prevent users from seeing the entire meta description. 2.Explain what users will find. The goal of a meta description is to provide information about the page. You want to be direct about the true nature of the content, instead of taking a “clickbait” approach. 3.Mention the benefits of the content. An excellent meta description lets readers know how they can benefit from the article they are about to read. 4.Include your target keywords. If possible, we recommend that you include your target keyword in the meta description. Either way, the keyword phrase should not seem forced (just as it should not be in your content).
Achieving all these goals in 155 characters or less might seem difficult. However, writing great meta descriptions for SEO is a skill you will quickly learn if you publish a lot of content.
Consider the meta description in this post as an example:
Learning how to write meta description for SEO can help your pages stand out in SERPs. Here are some of the best tips!
This meta description has 139 characters, which means it has ancona some free space. It mentions the essential elements of the post and explains what the searcher can find by reading it. It also includes an effective Call to Action (CTA) .
155 characters can be restrictive. Even Twitter raised its limit to 280 characters from 140 because it was too limiting. If you are working with in-depth posts that cover many topics, you may have difficulty mentioning them all in a meta description. Ultimately, you will have to decide what information is most important to include.
We recommend using this tip to make your descriptions actionable: force readers to check out your pages and posts using phrases like “let’s talk about” or “find out how.” These simple, action-based terms can entice readers to click on your content.
Frequently asked questions about SEO meta descriptions Now that you know how to write the perfect meta description, you can start working on SEO for your website. In this section, we try to answer the most common questions about SEO meta descriptions, but if you have any after reading through everything, leave a comment so we can try to help!
Where do I put the meta description? If you use an SEO plug-in like Yoast SEO or Rank Math , you will see a widget within the editor that allows you to set a meta description for each page. Here’s what this feature looks like in Yoast SEO:
Should I include more keywords in the meta description? As a general rule, we recommend including only one or two keywords in a meta description. Remember that you only have up to 155 characters, so there is not much wiggle room. If you use multiple key phrases, you run the risk of writing descriptions that won’t engage searchers and will look like spam to search engines.
What happens if I leave the meta description blank? If you don’t add a meta description manually, search engines will generate one by going to the page and taking text from it. Usually you will see the first few sentences of an article. This format often results in confusing descriptions that do not accurately reflect the content.
Can a meta description be too long? A meta description should be less than 155 characters long so that users can read complete sentences. If you exceed that limit, the rest of the meta description will be cut off. This can create confusion about the content and purpose of the page.
What is the difference between an excerpt and a meta description in WordPress? WordPress allows you to set up a blog page that displays your most recently published posts. Each post can display an excerpt (or excerpt), which is a short snippet of the first few lines of the article. Here’s a quick look at Creativemotions’ blog, which displays multiple posts and their excerpts:
These are not meta descriptions. Meta descriptions are for search engines. They are not displayed on WordPress blog pages. Often you can simply copy/paste the same text into both fields, but having one set does not set the other. WordPress simply extracts the beginning of your post, which gives anywhere an excerpted post on your site that same out-of-context and incomplete feeling we talked about earlier.
Conclusion Meta descriptions are some of the most important elements for SEO even if they do not directly affect your position in SERPs Each of your pages and posts should have a unique summary that is no longer than 155 characters. This is not a lot of space, but it is more than enough to give users a preview of what they will read in the article.
You can use meta descriptions primarily to get more clicks in SERPs. Fortunately, writing effective meta descriptions is a skill you can acquire relatively easily. You just need to keep them relatively short, clearly describe your content and its benefits, and include relevant keywords.
Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a key role in generating traffic to your site. However, using underhanded and shady methods (known as black hat SEO tactics) to boost your rankings can result in search engine penalties. Therefore, it is essential to understand which practices are considered unethical and to be avoided. In this post, we will take a closer look at black hat SEO and how it can damage your website, rankings, and reputation. We will then discuss some of the most common bad practices and show you how to avoid them.
Let’s get started!
Table of contents displays What is SEO Black Hat? Black Hat SEO is a term that describes underhanded or unethical practices used to improve a website’s search engine rankings. It is the opposite of White Hat SEO, which includes techniques approved and recommended by search engines.
Google and other search engines have webmaster guidelines that site owners and web developers must follow when optimizing their content. Any deviation from these rules can result in a penalty.
There are several harmful practices that can penalize your site, regardless of whether you consciously use them or not. One of the most common Black Hat SEO tactics is keyword stuffing. Users stuff their content with the same keywords to get top spots on search engine results pages (SERPs). This practice makes content difficult to read and reduces its usefulness to readers, often to the point of gibberish..
As you probably already know, search engines such as Google use algorithms to deliver relevant content to users based on their search queries. These search algorithms are constantly updating and improving. This means that they also improve in detecting black hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing and other spam behaviors.
A Google penalty normally leads to a significant drop in your rankings. Alternatively, the search engine may even remove your website completely from search results. This scenario typically occurs when an algorithm update identifies bad SEO practices on your site.
Although it is possible to get back into Google’s good graces, it takes a lot of work to recover from a penalty. It is best to never get into this situation. Therefore, it is best to learn about black hat practices so you know how to avoid them altogether.
Black Hat SEO: 10 techniques to avoid As we have just seen, using sneaky tactics to get on top of Google rankings can result in penalization. Even if you use them inadvertently, bad SEO practices can hurt your rankings and reduce the chances of users discovering your website. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most common black hat SEO techniques and how to avoid them!
Keyword stuffing As mentioned earlier, keyword stuffing involves filling a page with the phrase you wish to rank for. While keywords help search engines understand what your content is about, overuse can get you into trouble.
Search engines are very good at detecting keyword stuffing and penalize offenders by not showing their content. Therefore, we advise you to use keywords moderately and naturally. We recommend using a plugin such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math to monitor keyword usage:
In addition to making suggestions for optimizing your website, Yoast also tells you if you are overdoing it with SEO. For example, it measures the density of keywords in a post. It also warns you if you have already used the same search term on another page .
Buying backlinks Search engines also use backlinks to rank content. If Google sees that there are many external websites with URLs to your posts and pages, it will consider you an authoritative and reliable source . This can help improve your positions in SERPs. Some users take advantage of this ranking signal by selling link placements on their sites. In this setup, other site owners may pay to have a site owner place a backlink to their content.
However, if someone sells these links to many users, search engines may mark the site as spam. In addition, buying links goes against Google’s Webmaster Instructions and you may receive a penalty for doing so.
Fortunately, there are better ways to build backlinks to your site. For example, you could write guest posts for other websites and include a relevant URL to one of your posts. You can also work with other bloggers on collaborative articles, contact you if you notice a broken link on a site to suggest your own as a replacement, and so on.
Article spinning Another thing to watch out for is article spinning. Similar to plagiarism, this practice involves copying posts published on other websites. Spinning means reusing the same ideas and rephrasing entire paragraphs. Some writers may even use artificial intelligence-based paraphrasing tools to write articles for their blogs.
However, it is important to note that Google penalizes duplicate or copied content. In addition, some publishers may take legal action against users who plagiarize their content because they are literally stealing copyrighted material.
Of course, it is almost impossible to write about topics that no one else has yet addressed. Whether you’re writing a post on the best SEO techniques or the must-see attractions in Rome there are probably already dozens of articles with the same tips.
Therefore, we recommend that you write articles yourself . You can also improve your existing posts by providing additional ideas and using original photos. Reworking your own content and updating it can get you better SERP positions than stealing someone else’s.
Misuse of schema markup Schema markup allows search engines to better understand what your content is about. When you add this code to your site, you get rich snippets of your pages in SERPs:
Rich snippets are search results that contain additional information, such as product ratings and prices. These snippets tend to have higher click-through rates (CTR) than standard links. Therefore, adding schema markup to your pages can help increase organic traffic and conversions.
However, don’t overdo it. Trying to cram a lot of keywords into schema markup can get you penalized. Also, some website owners may try to mislead users by providing inaccurate information. For example, a seller might post fake product reviews and add structured data to display positive reviews.
This kind of data misuse can hurt your positions. Therefore, we recommend that you follow Google’s rich snippet guidelines when optimizing your content.
Webrings or private blog networks Webrings, or private blog networks (PBNs), are groups of websites that link together. They are designed to create domain authority and increase each site’s ranking on Google.
You might, for example, create five travel blogs, each focused on a specific niche or topic. Then, you can regularly add links to and from these sites when you write posts.
This method may seem like an easy way to create backlinks. And it was! However, PBNs violate Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines and can result in ranking penalties. A few years ago, Google took direct action against PBNs, and if the search engine thinks your content is part of them, ayou will be in big trouble.
Of course it’s fine to link to your content from other sites you own. But be warned that it is not a huge group of similar websites just funneling traffic between them.
As mentioned earlier, there are more ethical ways to get links to your site . For example, you can contribute original posts to third-party websites. Also, if you have many high-quality articles on your site, other bloggers will gladly link to your posts within their content because they provide value.
Junk mail on blog comments If you run a blog you may already be familiar with comment spam. Sometimes, users post comments that contain lonks to their pages. The goal is to create free backlinks from different sites:
Although this technique can be effective, some website owners may simply mark your input as spam and ban you from posting. Therefore, we recommend that you avoid commenting on an article just to link to your site.
Instead, make sure your input is meaningful. You might, for example, share a tip or advice, then link to a relevant post that users might find useful. Some blogs even keep comments marked as nofollow to avoid this, discouraging people from leaving these types of comments because the site owner has asked search engines to ignore them.
Spam comments on your website can also hurt your blog. They make your site look unprofessional, which can damage your reputation. You may want to set up a comment moderation system to filter out spam content. Akismet is a basic plugin to start with if you are a WordPress user.
Hiding content Perhaps one of the sneakiest black hat SEO tactics is hiding content on your pages. This practice involves hiding certain text and links by making them the same color as the background so users can’t see it, but search engines will.
Here are some other common tactics for hiding content:
Placing it behind an image
Using a font size of 0 px
Adding a class name to an element on your page and setting it to “hidden” in your CSS stylesheet
People generally use this technique to fill a page with keywork and increase positions by hiding the content from users. However, just because a person cannot see this content, this does not mean that robots cannot. Search engine algorithms are not easily fooled. Your website could be penalized for cloaking elements and filling pages with irrelevant content.
And even if the hidden content is relevant to the post, you can be knocked out of the game for trying to insert keywords.
Sponsored pages and posts If you are a blogger or content creator, you may have been approached by brands or websites offering a gift or monetary compensation in exchange for a link. Sometimes, they might even ask you to put an entire post on your blog that contains a URL pointing to their site.
However, Google considers these link schemes to be bad practices. Therefore, it is critical to disclose any sponsored links on your site. You can do this by using the ‘nofollow or sponsored attribute:
These attributes tell search engines to ignore those links when they rank your page. This way, Google will not associate your site with the linked page and will not crawl from your website. Your readers still get the value of sponsored content, the buyer gets brand awareness, but you are not penalized by Google and other search engines for having what might be shady business practices.
This is very similar to buying backlinks, as mentioned earlier, but it goes deeper because they’re not just buying a single link, they’re getting the attention of the entire audience.
Cloaking You may have already heard of cloaking. This technique can take different forms and is very different from hiding content on a particular page. In SEO, it refers to displaying different content for users and search engines.
One of the most common cloaking methods is to provide a page of HTML text to search engine crawlers while showing a page of images to users. Another example is to provide users with JavaScript-enabled browsers with a different version of the page than people who have JavaScript disabled.
This bait is a black hat SEO tactic because users will visit a site expecting X content and arrive there to potentially be bombarded with ads, irrelevant content, malware, unsafe site issues, and anything else. Google and other search engines have protections in place to warn site users that could harm them, their data, or their devices, but cloaking circumvents this and allows practitioners to provide users with unfiltered (and likely unwanted) content.
Google offers several tips for making your content accessible without cloaking. Following these guidelines will help you avoid violating the rules on cloaking and accessibility.
Doorway pages Doorways are websites or pages created to place similar keywords and direct users to the same content. For example, a website owner may publish multiple pages targeting specific regions that direct all users to the same landing page.
With this configuration, users searching for a particular search query may see several similar pages in the results. When they click on one of these options, they will be redirected to a different (and often unrelated) page. This is different from cloaking because it does not rely on baiting and switching, but instead leverages indexed content and true SEO tactics to funnel users to something unrelated and unwanted.
As you can probably see, this practice goes against Google’s guidelines and could have harmful consequences for your website. There is no white hat alternative to using doorway pages, so you should avoid this practice at all costs.
Conclusion SEO is critical to the growth and success of your site. However, over-optimizing your content or using “shady” practices can lead to a significant drop in your rankings. In addition, search engines such as Google may ban and completely remove your site as it is involved in black hat SEO.
Black hat SEO practices include keyword stuffing, backlink buying and article spinning Google could also penalize you for cloaking content on your pages or manipulating structured data to increase your rankings. Therefore, whenever possible, we recommend that you instead use white hat SEO techniques and get your positions in SERPs the right way.
If you want potential customers to find your website, it is essential to prioritize search engine optimization (SEO) . However, to prevent your site from being penalized or even banned from search results, you must adhere to what are known as white hat SEO practices. This post will explain white hat SEO and which tactics are considered good versus black hat tactics that are bad. Then, we will provide you with a list of the best white hat SEO techniques and discuss why they work and how to implement them. Let’s get inside!
Table of Contents hides What is white hat SEO? 6 best white hat SEO techniques
Familiarize yourself with webmaster guidelines
Publish unique, relevant and quality content
Use Keyword Tools and position strategically and organically
Consider user intent
Provide a positive user experience (UX)
Optimize your links Conclusion What is White Hat SEO? White Hat SEO encompasses approved best practices for increasing a website’s ranking in search engine results (SERPs). This term refers to sites that rank in organic results rather than through sponsored links and paid ads.
White Hat SEO techniques follow the terms set by major search engines such as Google , Bing and Yahoo . Contrast this with Black Hat SEO , which is based on deceptive and unethical methods. Some examples of black hat SEO include keyword stuffing , link cloaking and link buying.
While some black hat SEO techniques might actually improve search engine visibility, they usually have only temporary benefits. Eventually, Google will recognize these harmful practices and penalize sites that use them.
Therefore, following white hat SEO techniques is critical to maintaining your position in SERPs and preventing search engines from penalizing your website. If your site is penalized, it can negatively affect your traffic, reputation, and sales. And if your site gets blacklisted, well, that’s a tough problem to solve.
6 Best White Hat SEO Techniques Now that we know more about white hat SEO and why it is important, let’s take a look at its use. Listed below are the six best white hat SEO techniques you can implement on your website.
Familiarize yourself with webmaster guidelines. To ensure that you adhere to white hat SEO tactics and do not enter the “gray” area of black hat SEO, we recommend that you read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines .
These guidelines detail how Google finds, indexes, and ranks your site. Knowing them can help you better understand what methods to use to optimize your site in a safe and approved manner. The guidelines also outline illegal practices that can lead to your website being blacklisted or permanently banned.
You might also consider conducting an SEO audit of your website . This process can help you better understand the effectiveness of your current SEO strategy and give you a baseline.
Google is not the only site that publishes these guidelines. Be sure to also check Bing’s list (which also applies to other engines such as Yandex and Ecosia) so that you can stay in the top ranks there as well.
Publish unique, relevant and quality content A staple of white hat SEO is the consistent production of high-quality content. However, it is essential that your articles be original and match the search intent . In contrast, Black Hatmsi SEO often focuses on duplicate, low-quality content that is only intended to draw attention to the page for ads (or even attempted malware installation).
When creating your content, the best thing you can do is to solve a problem for your users. What questions and concerns do they have and what content and services can you help them with? They are looking for something, so you need to be the one to provide them with the answers….
We also suggest that you consider your word count when writing a post. Although Google does not recommend a specific length, the search engine prefers long content over shorter posts. As a rule of thumb, it is best to aim for at least 1,000 words for blog posts.
Also, to simplify the optimization of your website content, consider installing plugins such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math.
These plugins provide suggestions to better adhere to Google’s SEO guidelines. For example, they evaluate keyword density, determine whether your content is readable, and provide tips for optimizing images and links.
In addition, they can identify when you are abusing your keyword. As such, it can help you avoid black hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing.
Use Keyword Tools and position strategically and organically Keywords are fundamental to SEO. However, it is essential to use these phrases strategically. Tools for doing keyword research such as Google’s Keyword Planning Tool can help you in this process:
Conducting keyword analysis can help you stay away from overly competitive keywords. Research can also identify both long-tail and short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords tend to be more specific. This specificity can make it easier to match user intent (which we will discuss later in this post).
You can also brainstorm long-tail keywords using Google Suggest:
Start typing the words for which you want to place a post and note the phrases suggested by Google. These keywords tend to be less competitive. Also, because Google produces them, you know that users are actively searching for these phrases.
It is also important to use your keywords on your page organically. It is advisable to use them in page titles , meta descriptions and image alt text . Also, remember that you do not have to use the exact match keyword in your content .
If your long-tail keyword is “fruitless vegan dessert recipes,” you will find it difficult to have a natural and authentic phrase with that syntax. If your phrase reads something like “these are the best recipes for fruitless vegan desserts I’ve ever tried,” then Google and other search engines will recognize it.
To avoid black hat SEO tactics such as keyword stuffing, we advise you to avoid abusing your keywords. While adding these phrases in your titles, headings and metadata can help SEO, if you overdo it, it can also do worse. It is best to integrate them naturally and not force their placement. Again, the SEO plugins mentioned earlier can help you with appropriate keyword volume.
Consider user intent Conducting keyword research can help you create a list of phrases to optimize your site. However, it is important to choose keywords and create content that meets user intent.
User intent refers to the user’s goal when typing a specific word or phrase into a search engine. For example, if someone searches for “vegan fruitless desserts,” they are likely to expect to find a list of vegan recipes, not sets of tableware decorated with vegan desserts.
You can use a variety of strategies to meet the user’s intent. One is to make your page titles accurately reflect your content. SEO page titles can help Google index your site, understand its content and display it in relevant search results.
It also helps make your content scannable by breaking it down into smaller, more direct sections. You can, for example, format your articles using subtitles , white space, videos and images:
This approach can make your pages more engaging and easy to digest. It can increase the value of your content and, in turn, your SEO. If your content is easier for a person to read, it is also easier for a search engine crawler to navigate.
Provide a positive user experience (UX). The user experience of your website is one of Google’s ranking factors. Part of providing a positive UX is ensuring a fast site . Slow loading times can increase bounce rates and cause negative impressions of your site and your business.
You can evaluate the current page speed and performance of your WordPress site using a tool such as Google PageSpeed Insights .
After entering your URL, the tool will analyze your site and give it a score on a scale of 1 to 100. It will also provide a list of specific recommendations for improvement.
To really leverage speed and user experience for SEO, you will need to pay close attention to Google’s Core web Vitals, which are specific ranking factors provided by Google that affect SEO with regard to UX and usability.
Another aspect of a solid UX is making sure your site is easy to navigate. Visitors should be able to quickly and easily find what they are looking for and easily move around your website. Having simple top-level navigation menus can go a long way toward this, as can having sidebar widgets that show your most popular content.
Optimize your links Link building is another cfundamental aspect of white hat SEO. Generating high-quality backlinks , optimizing your permalinks and using keyword-rich anchor text can boost your rankings. Some link building services can help you create and manage URLs for your site. However, it is important to choose a reliable and credible service. You should avoid any platform that consists of selling links or link farms, which are black hat SEO tactics.
A link farm uses a collection of interconnected web pages to increase the ranking of each page. Although these farms may seem harmless, search engines that detect linking patterns will flag them, as well as any pages they link to.
In contrast, some recommended white hat SEO strategies can optimize your external URLs. For example, to help build backlinks , you might consider guest posting. This method can help you develop professional relationships and expand your audience while linking organically to your website. Google values relevant and contextual backlinks, which is why link farms and directories are considered low quality and even black hat SEO.
We also advise against leaving a link to your website in the comments sections of other blogs. The only exception to this rule is if your contribution is very relevant to the content of the post.
It is also a good idea to monitor your site regularly for broken links , as they can hurt UX and, in turn, SEO. To make things easier, you can use a plugin like Broken Link Checker.
Finally, to create backlinks we suggest you use the Skyscraper technique. In a nutshell, this method involves searching for link-worthy content and creating a more informative and in-depth post on the same topic. Then, you can contact other websites and ask them to link to your article.
Conclusion SEO is essential for gaining search engine visibility and high rankings in SERPs. However, we advise you to utlize white hat SEO tactics to prevent your site from being blacklisted. Using approved optimization methods ensures the integrity of your website and can increase your ranking in organic search engine results.
As we dvised in this post, here are six white hat SEO techniques you can implement on your website:
1.Become familiar with Google’s Webmaster Instructions . 2.Consistently publish original, relevant, high-quality content. 3.Use keyword tools such as Google’s Keyword Planning Tool . 4.Consider user intent. 5.Provide a positive UX. 6.Optimize your links.
If you want customers to find your website, it is important to prioritize search engine optimization (SEO) . This extensive process involves several techniques, some of which occur off your site. Once you understand the concept of off-page SEO and know some best practices, you will be in a better position to optimize your site and increase its visibility.
In this post, we will explain what off-page SEO is and why it is important. Then we will provide you with a list of tips and best practices on how to conduct off-page SEO and discuss how it is different from on-page SEO.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents hides What is off-page SEO? How is off-page SEO different from on-page SEO? Why is off-page SEO important? How to do off-page SEO (7 tips).
Earn quality backlinks from high authority sites
Create and share unique and engaging content
Create a Google My Business account
Encourage customer reviews
Build a strong social media presence
Try Influencer Marketing
Monitor your brand signals and mentions Conclusion What is off-page SEO? Off-page SEO, also known as off-site SEO, consists of the actions you take from your website to increase your search engine rankings. When most people think about off-page SEO, they focus on backlinks. Although link building is an important part of off-page SEO, it is not the only aspect.
Much of off-page SEO involves improving the way your site is perceived in terms of quality, authority, popularity, etc. This includes, but is not limited to:
Social media
Content marketing
Brand mentions
Influencer marketing
The activities you perform outside of your website can affect how Google and other search engines perceive your content. If performed correctly, they can help your site appear more trustworthy and authoritative , which Google will reward.
How is off-page SEO different from on-page SEO? Although both processes can increase search engine visibility, there are some key differences between off-page SEO and on-page SEO. As you might expect, on-page SEO refers to the actions you take on your website to optimize it.
This includes:
Internal linking
Image optimization
Keyword usage
Title and metadata optimization
Another way in which off-page SEO is different from on-page SEO is that you have complete control over the latter. On-page SEO involves making changes directly to your website, which you can do at any time. Otherwise, off-page SEO involves actions such as contacting a third-party blog and asking them to share a link to your site.
Why is off-page SEO important? Off-page SEO is important because it can affect your site’s ranking in search engine results (SERPs). Google’s algorithm takes backlinks and other off-site signals into account when deciding how to show websites to searchers. These signals include:
Relevance and value of content (to what extent it matches user intentions)
Anchor text
Social signals
Brand mentions
Domain authority
Making off-page SEO part of your optimization strategy can drive traffic to your site and increase engagement and conversion rates. It can also help you build brand awareness and reach new audience segments.
How to do off-page SEO (7 tips) Now that you cknow what off-page SEO is and why it’s important, it’s time to look at how to get started. Below are seven tips and best practices you can follow to implement off-page SEO on your site.
Earn quality backlinks from high-authority sites. Link building is the heart of off-page SEO. If there are many credible websites linking to your site, this indicates to Google that you are providing relevant, quality content that people like.
In fact, research has shown that pages with many backlinks rank better than those without. On average, the top spot in Google results has almost four times as many backlinks as those below it.
In other words, backlinks are essentially a vote of confidence. If you want to check your site’s link authority score, you can use a tool such as Backlink Analytics from Semrush :
Of course, earning links from high-authority sites is easier said than done. The likelihood of earning them increases when you regularly create and publish valuable, quality content . If you do this, publishers and brands can organically mention and link to your content.
In any case, you can also take a more proactive approach to link building by contacting third-party sites and requesting link attribution or mention. For example, you could partner with influencers to get them to promote and link to your content. This is one form of influencer marketing, which we will discuss in more detail shortly.
When it comes to link building, we recommend focusing on quality rather than quantity. It is also important to make sure you are using white hat SEO tactics. It is best to avoid spam and black hat SEO practices, such as excessive linking to your own content in forums and comment sections.
Create and share unique and engaging content Content marketing is another key aspect of off-page SEO. As mentioned, publishing unique, interesting, and engaging content can help you naturally build link authority.
In addition to your on-page SEO content, such as your blog posts, you can also leverage other forms of content marketing. For example, you can write guest posts for external websites and include a text link to your site. This is also a great way to get your content and brand in front of a new audience.
Other types of resources you can create and share include:
Infographics
Case studies
White papers
eBooks
If you create informative, high-quality content, people will naturally want to link to it and share it. Long-form content, in particular, can be beneficial. One study found that long-form content gets 75% more backlinks than shorter pieces.
Also, we recommend incorporating data and statistics into your content. Research-supported content can help generate backlinks, as publishers might cite it as a source.
Create a Google My Business account. Google My Business is a free business profile account that you can create with Google:
These profiles appear in Google search results for local queries, for example, “idi seafood restaurant near me.” Creating and optimizing your Google My Business profile can help you improve your ranking in organic search results.
To get started, you can visit the Google My Business website and select Manage Now . After adding essential information, you can include a link to your website, photos and more.
Customers can also leave ratings and reviews on your profile. This can be another way to increase your off-page SEO over time.
Encourage customer reviews There are several benefits to generating reviews from customers . In addition to providing potential new customers with social proof and increasing trust, reviews can improve your off-page SEO:
This is why we recommend that you encourage your customers to leave reviews on sites like Trustpilot and Google My Business. You can incentivize them by giving them a reward, such as a coupon or discount.
Keep in mind that reviews must be genuine. Users can spot a fake review a mile away and can even report to Google that you are trying to fool the system if there are too many fake ones.
Build a strong social media presence When it comes to generating backlinks and brand mentions, both of which are excellent for off-page SEO, social media platforms can be incredibly helpful. Nowadays, many people use social media sites as smaller versions of search engines.
On these platforms, users can search for products or services they are interested in, find answers to questions, and so on. Of course, they are also popular platforms for sharing and linking to interesting content. Interacting with customers on social media sites can also serve as a channel for customer service and support.
We recommend that you share your content on social media frequently. This can help drive traffic to your website, as well as build brand awareness and authority.
Try Influencer Marketing Earlier, we mentioned that influencer marketing can help you generate backlinks. However, this is not the only reason to take a closer look at this technique.
Collaborating with influencers who have a large following can be an effective way to expand brand awareness and promote your content on a larger scale to reach new audiences. It can help establish credibility and strengthen your social media presence.
To get the most out of influencer marketing, we suggest reaching out to famous people in your niche or current customers who are already familiar with your brand. The more authentic their appreciation for your products or services, the easier it will be for them to create genuine, quality content that resonates with users.
To find potential influencers in your niche, you can use a platform like BuzzSumo :
Its Content Analyzer tool can help you find influencers who are most likely to share your content. You can search for keywords and topics related to your brand or campaign and then view the top shares of related posts.
Monitor your brand signals and mentions. Google uses brand signals to check whether or not you are a legitimate business. It also considers brand mentions (references to your company, products or services), both related and unrelated.
Therefore, we recommend that you check your brand signals to see how many people are currently searching for your business. You can find this information using the Google Search Console performance report . Simply go to Search Results, then select the Appearance tab in the search:
You can also set up brand monitoring using a platform such as Mention :
This tool allows you to track how many people are talking about your site on third-party platforms, such as news sites and social media channels. Using it consistently can help you identify trends over time and see what is generating the most interest and engagement.
Conclusion Optimizing your WordPress site can help you drive traffic and increase revenue. However, to improve your chances of ranking, it is critical to focus on both on-page and off-page SEO.
As we have seen in this post, there are uvarious methods you can use to implement off-page SEO ps on your website, including guest blogging, content marketing, creating your social media presence, and working with influencers.