What creators need to know about Google’s helpful content update
Google have announced they are cracking down on unsatisfying content with a new helpful content algorithm update that aims to improve its users experience online. This Google Search update, which began rolling out August 25th 2022, prioritises content that has been “written by people, for people”. Is it time to say goodbye to clickbait articles…
Google’s Title Update – what it means for your site
Back in August, marketers noticed something was going on with titles on the search engine results pages (SERPs). A month later, Google confirmed that they’d made some changes and introduced a new system for generating web page titles. Let’s take a look at what has changed since August 2021… What changes did Google make? Google…
Passage-based indexing – even more ranking updates from Google
Not too long ago I wrote a post about Google’s new ranking factor but it seems like they have a couple more updates coming our way this year. As we know, search is always evolving and changing. We have text search, visual search and voice search – we’ll soon even be able to hum a…
Should you be aiming for the Featured Snippet spot on Google?
Featured Snippets are selected search results that are featured on top of Google Search Result Page (SERP), with the aim to answer the user’s question right away. There’s three major types: paragraph, table and list. Here’s an example of paragraph snippet with images: As you can see the Featured Snippet take up more space than…
Google Page Experience and Core Web Vitals Explained
If you’ve read any of my SEO content or been to any of my SEO talks, then you’ve probably heard me talk about the importance of your audience and their experience on your site. Well, expect to hear about it more because Page Experience is set to become a new Google ranking factor… Google announce…
Getting started with SEO? Here’s how to increase traffic to your blog
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is about to increase website traffic. While there are many strategies, my answer for the majority of situations is usually SEO! An increase in traffic doesn’t and won’t happen overnight, it will take time and effort but utilising good SEO does pay off in the long…
Is keyword research really dead in SEO?
There’s been a lot of chatter in recent years about how keyword research is dead. But there was a particular interview that I shared in my recent newsletter, which sparked a lot of discussion! So, what’s the answer? In my opinion, keyword research isn’t dead. But it is changing! Search engines are becoming more powerful.…
What is Search Intent? Why does it matter for SEO?
I’ve talked before about how search engines work, and how Google’s aim is to provide users with the most relevant result for their query. Well the words people use in their search queries gives us information about their intent, and we can use this to our advantage when creating content. What is search intent? When…
Using Google’s new Nofollow, UGC and Sponsored Link Attributes (Guideline for bloggers and content creators)
Google announced changes to the NoFollow guidelines this week. This affects you as a blogger if you receive sponsored content opportunities. NoFollow links were introduced in 2005 to combat spam and improve the quality of the search engine result pages, but a lot has happened since then. As a result, these new guidelines fit better…
Knowing the search terms people are using to find your blog for SEO
Following on from my previous post about creating a sitemap on the different search consoles, today we’re going to focus on finding the keywords that people are searching for to land on your site. Knowing what keywords your site already ranks for can really help with your SEO strategy. If you’re ranking for the keywords that…
How to create a sitemap for your WordPress blog (and why you should!)
If you’ve ever read anything about SEO, you’ve probably come across the term sitemap. If that’s the case, then you have probably read that you should have one and that you should tell search engines about it. If you have no idea what they are, how to create one or why you should submit it…
Moz is updating Domain Authority, here’s what is changing…
Moz announced an update coming to DA on March 5. Here is all you need to know about Domain Authority 2.0
How to correctly use heading tags in blog posts for SEO
Do you use heading tags within your post content? Heading tags define which parts of your content are important. This helps search engines understand how your content is connected, but there’s no point throwing them into your post without applying strategy. The structure of your post is important! Do they also have SEO value? Well,…
7 SEO action steps for bloggers wanting to grow their traffic (modern techniques)
The start of a new year means new SEO predictions, so today’s post will give you a little insight into what you should be focusing on this year to gain some extra traffic to your blog. In case you’ve never heard of SEO before, it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is the activity of using different strategies/techniques…
Google to Penalise Sites with Pop-ups and Intrustive Advertisements
Bloggers might want to take note of Google’s latest update. Google announced this week that they are introducing a new penalty to demote mobile pages that have pop-ups and intrusive above-the-fold content. These include email sign-ups, opt-ins, advertisements and other intrusive interstitials. Pages that show intrusive interstitials provide a poorer experience to users than other…
How to SEO your blog posts on WordPress – video walkthrough with FREE checklist
This is the second post about how to SEO your blog posts, I previously showed you the steps to optimising your blog posts on Blogger for search engines but today I’ll be showing you how to do so on WordPress. I get asked all the time how to take the SEO tips I’ve previously shared…
How to find and remove broken links on your blog
A broken (or dead) link is one that directs visitors to a page, post or file that no longer exists. Instead of seeing the linked page they will typically see a 404 not-found page. Broken links are very common, and the longer you have your site the more broken links you’ll likely see – due…
Why did my Domain Authority (DA) go down and how do I improve it?
Before reading this post I recommend checking out Part 1 – What you need to know about Domain Authority. In that post I talk about what it is, how it’s calculated and how to check your score. It’s important to first understand how it all works, it will make it easier when trying to improve…
What you need to know about domain authority and how to check DA Score
Domain Authority is a rating/score on a scale of 1-100 developed by Moz that predicts how well a site will rank on search engines. The higher the DA of a site, the higher it’s ranking is likely to be. It’s based on a logarithmic scale, meaning that the difference between 40-50 DA is much greater…
How to make sure your site is mobile friendly to avoid dropping in search results
As we know from previous SEO posts, Googles algorithm takes a lot of things into account when it comes to ranking a site. They look at keywords, Pagerank, Domain Authority, social media sharing, backlinks and several other areas in order to display the most relevant and recommended results on their search page. They announced a…
Accept sponsored content? Understanding NoFollow Links
There’s always a lot of confusion around the subject of follow links vs. nofollow links. To understand it clearly, you need to understand how search engines work. How search engines work? What is a follow link? Search Engines like Google crawl your blog. As well as looking at your content, they also look at the…
How to reduce your blogs bounce rate
I’ve discussed how to monitor bounce rate in this Beginners Guide to Google Analytics but in this post I’ll talk about what it is, how to find your sites bounce rate and how to reduce it. What is bounce rate? Your blogs bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on one page of…
What is Good SEO? Fighting SEO Myths
There seems to be a lot of confusion about SEO these days, many people know the term but are unsure what it is or how to get involved. I’ve previously written all about how search engines, SEO and keywords work. Today I thought I’d do something different and cover some SEO Myths that you may…
Keyword Research: Step by step to finding keywords for more targeted traffic
Keywords are still a massive part of SEO, but aimlessly stuffing keywords into content will not give the best results. This is why we research keywords. Keyword Research is the search for keywords related to your site and the analysis of which keywords will bring highest traffic. This is the first step in optimising your blog…