saseb68865's Blog
Learn How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization
Keywords are not cannibals unless you make them be. Yes, the word sounds scary, and it does a lot of damage to your site’s performance unless you take corrective measures to rectify it.
Keyword cannibalization could well be the most misunderstood concept out there. Before going further into the topic, let us understand this fundamental question, ‘What is keyword cannibalization.’
Keyword cannibalization means having more than one web page on your site ranking for the same keyword or search query. It could be because you have optimized the content for the same keyword or the topic is quite similar. When you optimize the content for similar keywords, it will start reducing the ranking potential of each page, and it could also impact the organic performance of the site.
When you target the exact keywords, you send search engines unclear messages about which pages to rank. Worse still, the search engine could rank the wrong page for a particular keyword. Moreover, you are also diminishing the chances of ranking higher, reducing click-through rates, leads, conversion rates and page authority.
You are also not showing your visitors the depth of your knowledge or giving them unique information about your products or services.
What is Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization involves having several pages in your website optimized for the same or similar keywords, compelling those pages to impact SERPs negatively.
People think that the more pages you have that talk about your products or services using similar keywords, the more you will improve your rankings for that keyword. They believe the more pages target the same keyword, it will compel Google to pick those keywords and improve your rankings.
Well, that is not the case.
When it comes to keyword cannibalization, Google looks at the intent behind the keyword usage rather than its usage itself.
For example, when you type ‘Apple 7 Series Watch’ in Google, you are likely to find two pages from Apple that are trying to optimize this particular keyword. But why is Google not penalising the page?
It has to do with intent. The first page is a basic informational page talking about the features of Apple 7 Series watch, while the second page is transactional. They are at different places in the sales funnel.
When you have more pages appearing on top of the SERPs, you improve page visibility, leads and conversions. You should consider these points when targeting similar keywords,
- Offer unique content and different value to readers
- Offer high-quality content
- Give similar weightage
Why is Keyword Cannibalization bad for SEO?
With keyword cannibalization, one page of your website could be stealing the thunder of the other page. Let us take a look at the negative impact of keyword cannibalization on SEO,
- When you optimize two or more pages in your website for a specific keyword, you give Google confusing signals. It does not know which content should be ranked higher for that particular query.
- Keyword cannibalization can put a dent in your CTRs, loss of page value and weaken web reputation.
- Google might even rank the wrong pages – pages you are not intending to prioritise.
- Creates a bad user experience which could impact the dwell times and bounce rates.
- Your website traffic could also get affected, leading to fewer conversions.
But why does this matter?
- You are not prioritising the page you want to value. Essentially, diluting the CTR and dividing it among several average pages.
- Your anchor text is without a proper anchor. Instead of leading your visitors to a specific authoritative page, your anchor text and backlinks are going to several different pages.
- Prominent vendors or eCommerce stores might see a significant dent in their crawl budget.
- Finally, it could also impact your leads and conversions.
Impact of Keyword Cannibalization
One of the most difficult aspects of keyword cannibalization is that many are unaware that something is wrong. Some Web pages might rank fourth or fifth and so do not raise alarm. However, the website will do better if you have one authoritative page.
Keyword cannibalization can have many adverse effects on your Web page. These are:
-
Diluted backlinks
When you have two or more pages competing for the same keywords, then your internal links or external links are probably directing visitors to other pages with the same or similar information. Rather than creating pages that link to one authoritative page with great information, the information gets split across multiple pages, thus lowering the value of your Web pages.
-
Google might devalue the relevant page
Google tries to pick the ‘right’ page for the relevant information in its search results. Multiple pages with the same keywords confuse the algorithm with the result that a less relevant page may be ranked higher while devaluing others.
-
Low Rankings
One of the biggest effects of keyword cannibalization is the effect it has on page rankings. Multiple Web pages with the same keywords optimized for SEO will result in these pages ranking lower in search engine results.
-
Low conversion rate
Your aim with SEO should always be to optimize the one page that is the best source of information while providing links to other pages. Since this is spread across different pages, you could experience lower conversion rates since visitors will land on less relevant pages.
-
Diminishing the Authority of Your Page
Keywords tell Google what the content on the page is all about. If more pages have the same content, Google will not discern the value of the content provided on those pages.
What keyword cannibalization does is it manages to reduce your page authority. When you have two or more pages targeting the exact keywords, the Click-through-rate of the page gets distributed to various pages instead of heading towards a single authoritative page. It means that you are making one page in your website compete with the others for SERPs.
-
Scattering Your Crawl Budget
It is the number of times Google indexes and crawls your website within a particular time. So, when you have more pages optimised for the same keywords, you eventually have more pages than necessary. So, if more pages need to be crawled, you end up exceeding the crawl budget, leaving you with indexing issues. Without indexing, you cannot expect Google to rank your pages.
You do not have to waste your crawl budget if you take care of these issues,
- Do away with excessive redirects
- Have enough crawl budget to cater to the newly added pages
- When working on a large site, make sure you have enough buffer crawl budget to accommodate all pages.
How to check keyword cannibalization?
There are some simple steps you can take to ensure you do not end up with keyword cannibalization. The first step is to create a keyword grid with the most important URLs and their corresponding keywords. Ensure that the keywords do not overlap across multiple pages.
You can also use a keyword mapping tool that is freely available. These tools allow you to combine keyword research, relevancy, estimated search volume, and avoid keyword cannibalization. Do cross-check the meta data of your page and remove duplicate keywords.
How to fix or solve keyword cannibalization?
Once you identify that your website is suffering from keyword cannibalization, here are some improvements and organizational restructuring you can do to fix keyword cannibalization.
-
Restructure the website
One of the easiest solutions for keyword cannibalization is to establish one great authoritative page from which you can link to other relevant pages. For example, a super-page on architecture can provide links to variations on the types of architecture styles.
-
Create new landing pages
Do take a critical look at your website and determine if your website has a landing page that can consolidate all similar pages with related keywords. This will allow a larger set of visitors to determine which pages they want to explore further.
-
Consolidate the content
Audit your pages and combine pages that have similar keywords and content, particularly if they are underperforming. This will give the new page more authority and will rank higher in search results.
-
Find new keywords
Be sure that your keyword strategy is on point. There are several tools available to find a range of keywords that can be incorporated into your website. In most cases, all you require is a new keyword. However, you should make sure that your pages fit the keywords without seeming forced.
-
Use 301 redirects
Use this option sparingly as too many redirects could turn off visitors. Combine similar pages with the same keyword queries.
-
Combine Articles
When you have two or more articles that trumpet a specific keyword, combining these two into a single unique article is a good idea. You can include all the points provided in both the articles and write a lengthy value-laden article.
You can solve the problem of having two non-performing articles and turn them into a single great article. Also, make sure to maintain readability when drafting a single consolidated content. It will effectively solve the keyword cannibalization issue.
Once you have consolidated the content, you should not delete the unnecessary pages and rework the redirect properly.
-
Improve Internal Linking
Internal linking is very crucial to the success of your website. When you remove unnecessary pages, you should make it a point to create a robust internal linking structure. It is always a good idea to link the less significant pages to the most important pages. It will give Google a clear idea as your priority list.
Another point when working on internal linking is matching the proper anchor text to the correct content. Remember that the number of links leading to a page also has a lot of importance. Categorise and tag the pages effectively, in addition to adding unique content.
Keyword cannibalization and commerce websites
If you have an online shop, product pages with similar keywords are of concern. It is important to structure your site thoughtfully. You must consider internal linking from every product page to your category page. The category page should be the page you optimize to rank. Detect, delete, or fix old product pages that could cannibalize other pages that are more important.
How Can You Avoid Cannibalization Issues in the Future?
Although sprucing up your website of keyword cannibalization issues is essential, it is never straightforward. It is a highly time-consuming activity. It is true especially in the case of a large website that has built up multiple pages targeting the exact keywords over time. Of course, the best way to avoid keyword cannibalization is to prevent it from happening again.
You can avoid keyword cannibalization by creating a proper content marketing strategy that is drafted keeping your particular website needs in mind.
When you consolidate content, make sure you keep in mind the intent behind each page. Think about the value it provides your readers. Try any keyword research tool to bring you relevant keywords, including long-tail keywords. Using Google, collect a list of your web pages that have content relevant to those keywords. Approach these pages with an intent analysis mindset.
Scrutinise the content for intent, purpose, and value and match it with the content you intend to create. In case you find more than one page with the same intent and keywords, you can try updating the content or adding relevant points rather than running into cannibalization issues.
To Summarize It All
Keyword cannibalization is becoming widespread. Content developers intend to optimize their site, but do not fully understand Google’s language. Fortunately, solutions for the problem are not difficult, and the damage isn’t permanent. The right tools can give your website a much-needed boost. SEO and search engines will continue to evolve with time and you must be in a position to utilize these changes effectively. Understanding keyword cannibalization and its intricacies will help you adapt quickly and more efficiently in the future.
Episode 1 – Create Growth Via SEO
How to Write a Compelling Meta Description
Have you ever paid attention to the meta description of your page? It is a 120-160 character description giving those who visit your webpage a quick insight into what you have to offer. Getting the meta description right is a sure shot way to attract visitors to your page or website.
What is a Meta Description?
Meta description is a short HTML element that summarises the contents of your page and your offerings in one or two sentences. This 20-160 characters description lets visitors assess if the content on your page is relevant to them. It appears right below the title tag and URL (website link) and gives users a brief gist of the content lying beyond the link. The meta description length is short, so it has to be concise yet catchy.
Importance of Meta Description
Most content writers or marketers believe that only the title tag of their page is important. But if a title tag is what grabs attention, a meta description is what sustains it. A study by Ahrefs shows that Google Search Engine Results Pages or SERPs show meta descriptions approximately 37% in their original form and rewrite the remaining 63%. So if you are not paying attention to your meta description, Google will take on the job and extract meta tags by itself. Social media platforms like Twitter also pull off the first few lines of your content if you don’t include a title tag.
Even though a meta description is not a direct ranking factor on search engines, it’s among the first few lines users come across. Thus, they work as an indirect ranking factor. A well-written meta description stands out from competitors but is relevant to visitors. It drives organic growth and the click-through rate by prompting users to click on your web link. Even if you have gold-standard content on your webpage but a thoughtlessly written meta description, the chances are that most users might skip through. So, you should pay attention to how you are phrasing your meta description.
How to Write Meta Descriptions?
Earlier, meta descriptions used to be all about the keywords. But due to excessive keyword stuffing and spamming, Google rewired its algorithm and reduced the importance of meta descriptions. However, they still hold relevance, but the focus is now on writing quality and unique content. If you are struggling with how to write a compelling meta description, this step-by-step guide will help you out:
-
Use Keywords Concisely
As mentioned above, the focus from keywords being the only factor in deciding the relevancy of a meta description shifted to quality content back in the early 2010s. Since you will mostly add keywords in your title tag, you can shift your focus from them while phrasing the meta description and put on your thinking caps to reflect what your content is all about.
-
Write a Readable Meta Description
Your meta description should be written in a way that is easily readable. Do not use fancy words or technical language and think about what your audience would want. Shift your focus from trying to sound like an expert and frame the meta description in a way that suggests you have taken the time to step into the user’s shoes.
-
Keep it Short
Your meta description length should be around 120 characters for smartphones and around 160 characters for desktops. Anything longer than the set character range appears as dots (…..) to readers, which can be off-putting. You can take inspiration for good meta description examples from web pages such as Shopify, HealthLine, Nordstrom, and any other competitors in the same league.
-
Write Compelling and Relevant Meta Descriptions
It is vital that every word of your meta description is compelling and serves a purpose. A good way to come up with an attractive meta description is to try and step into the minds of your audience. Search for the why, what, when, and where behind every search query, and you will see a common theme in your users’ search intent.
-
Don’t Duplicate
Duplicating an already existing meta description is a big no-no. Plagiarized or rewritten content in the meta description can leave a bad first impression and dent the trust users place in you. This has even more of a negative impact if your meta description is ripped off from a popular and well-established competitor as people tend to trust numbers and the ones leading the race more often.
-
It Should be Actionable
Your meta description should motivate users to act and click on your webpage link. For instance, writing your meta description in the active voice gives much better results than writing it in the passive voice. The active voice makes the searcher the main focus of a sentence, making them feel a direct involvement. As it fuels action, it becomes more relevant to the user than a passive and abstract tone.
-
Consider Adding a CTA to the Meta Description
A CTA or call-to-action is a direct and clickable link that leads users to your page in exchange for giving them something valuable in return. For instance, a meta description that ends with ‘free trial’ or ‘sign up for free’ or ‘take a free test’, and so on are likely to get more clicks as they offer something valuable to the user. Adding a CTA to your meta description can boost your click-through rates.
-
It Should Match Your Content
People tend to skim through web search results if the content displayed doesn’t grab their attention within a few seconds. If your meta description is completely different from your web content and title tag, it can leave users confused. Your meta description should complement your inner content and upper title tag to enhance your viewership.
What is Title Tag & Best Practices of Writing Title Tags
Have you ever thought about what motivates users to click on a link and explore your brand offerings? It is something known as a title tag. A title tag is the literal title of a page that gives visitors a brief gist of the page in a few words, helping them assess whether it is relevant to their needs.
What is a Title Tag?
A title tag – also known as an HTML title tag – is the title of a web page. It gives users and search engines a brief idea about the content of the page. Title tags are around 60 characters long and appear on search engines as the first thing searchers can see on the search results page. Title tags play a crucial role in search engine optimization as they make the first impression on users. They are the fine line between users clicking or skipping your page.
Importance of Title Tags in SEO
Title tags play a very important role in SEO. Being the first thing users set their eyes on, they become the first-ever impression made on a prospective customer. They are also the first thing search engine result pages (SERPs) analyze to see if the content you are publishing is relevant to the title. If your title tag has no relation to the main content published on the page, the chances are that SERPs will push down its ranking. This gives title tags the power to decide the click-through rates of your webpage and its ranking on SERPs.
What is the Difference Between Title Tags and Page Heading?
It can be easy to confuse a title tag with a page heading. A page heading is a headline that appears once users click on your webpage. On the other hand, title tags are what appear on SERPs. However, over 90% of webpage owners/ publishers keep the same title tag and page heading. Keeping the two identical makes no impact on the search results ranking and is a widespread practice because of being the default options available on most website and content management tools. However, there is no hard and fast rule suggesting that the title tag and page heading has to be the same. As long as both of them are unique (not plagiarized or sneakily modified) from competitor websites, there is no harm. Moreover, even if you publish the same page heading and title tag, you can revisit them and carry out a page or title tag optimization at any time.
Best Practices of Writing Title Tags
-
Title Length
The title length in SEO is around 60 characters. Anything more than that appears as ‘…..’ to the viewer, which can be off-putting and divert the user’s attention to the next title on the SERP. The entire process of title tag optimization is to ensure that the title fits the character limit but is yet eye-catching. This is because most searchers spend only a few seconds to read the title tag and decide whether it is relevant. People tend to skip through the main content if the title tag doesn’t appeal to them.
-
Write a Unique & Readable Title
Apart from maintaining the title length in SEO, title tags must be unique to fare well on SERPs. Anything plagiarized or unrelated to the main content of your webpage gets pushed down by search engines. A unique title is a key to capturing the attention of the searcher. Your title tag should also be readable and understandable at first glance. If it is full of fancy or hard-to-interpret words, the chances are that the users might skip through entirely.
-
Use of the Primary Keyword
Primary keywords are words that are most associated with what your web page or post is about. It gives users an idea about what you have to offer and is the central focus of a webpage. Primary keywords have high search volumes and, if used correctly, are responsible for pushing your rankings above on SERPs. You should include your primary keyword in the title tag and even the meta title tag of your webpage. This gives both users and search engines a clear insight into what your page entails.
-
Do not Overuse SEO Keywords
Overusing your target primary and secondary keywords can make SERPs detect your webpage and its content as spam. This is to curb those who tweak their title, Meta description, URL, backlinks, or any other visible content to trick the SERPs algorithm to push up their web page’s rank. This practice led to a lot of unfair advantages and spam content online. However, search engines and readers both realize the manipulation due to the overuse of the same keyword which tends to put them off from visiting that page.
-
Use Your Brand Keywords Wisely
A brand keyword is a keyword including your webpage’s or domain’s name as it is. These include the original brand name and any variations of it and are associated with your products, services, or offerings. To use a brand keyword, you must know when to do so and where to place it. Brand keywords are excellent attention grabbers if they are a well-known and popular brand among people. In this case, you can put the brand keyword at the start of title tags or Meta tags. However, if you are an up-and-coming brand or a brand with mid-level recognition, it is best to use brand keywords in the latter half of your title or meta title tag.
Mistakes to Avoid While Writing a Title Tag
-
Writing Long Title Tags
While you can exceed the title tag character limit, doing so can break a searcher’s attention and leave it trailing off. As most users want quick answers and solutions, they might move on to the next search result instead of clicking on a half-visible title tag.
-
Keyword Stuffing
As mentioned above, keyword stuffing is a manipulative practice intended to increase page rankings on SERPs. However, with better algorithms in place, most search engines can spot the repetitive pattern of keyword stuffing and lower your web page ranking, making this practice counterproductive to increasing your reach.
-
Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization is the practice of using the same keywords across different sections or pages of your website to gain visibility on SERPs. However, this leads search engines to weigh which of your pages are most relevant to the keyword simultaneously pushing down the rank of others. This makes you compete with your pages instead of competitor pages and destroys the quality of content published as users and search engines will come across multiple pages with the same keywords and end up having to weigh which one is most relevant to their query.
Example of Title Tags in SEO
To understand what is a SEO title tag and how to write a catchy one, here are title tag examples you can consider:
- Lose weight fast with these science-backed weight-loss tips.
- Write for only three hours and make money online.
- The beginner’s guide to SEO optimization for elite rankings.
- Complete your KYC process at home in 3 easy steps.
- A proven way to build good and productive habits.
- Get all your home essentials at half-price and discounted rates.
End Note
First impressions matter and title tags are that for search engines and users. However, your sole focus should not be to please search engines and push your rankings to the top but should be more on what the user wants and how you stand out from competitors. Ultimately, you should be able to tug on a user’s heartstrings or spark their curiosity through your title tag.
Optimize Your Website Speed using 10 Best Practices & Tools
As digital era continues to disrupt our behavior, the website acts as an entry point for any kind of sales and conversion for your business. The speed of the website determines how likely a user is to perform the desired action on the webpage. Hence, understanding the importance of how to optimize website speed is extremely important as it can lead to poor user experience. Google PageSpeed update considers website speed as one of the ranking factors.
Through this article, we aim to discuss some of the best tools & techniques on how to optimize website speed that can be implemented by the SEO professionals.
What is website speed?
Site speed refers to how fast your website responds when a user clicks on the URL that redirects them to your site. As per Google PageSpeed standards, site speed is an essential metric for the quick access to the products, information, and services by the users.
How to check website speed?
Site speed can be tested using various free online tools such as GTMetrix, Google Pagespeed Insights, WebPageTest, Test my Site by Think with Google, etc. Let’s explore each tool in detail.
-
GT Metrix
It is one of the most reliable tools to test and improve the website load time. It provides a detailed analysis of all the factors that are affecting the load time.
I prefer using this tool as it provides actionable data. When you scroll down, there’s an entire report on how to leverage various technical parameters to improve page load time.
-
Pagespeed Insights
If you are interested in knowing how a particular webpage performs in regards to the load time, then Google’s page speed insights is the best option. Pagespeed Insights provides details on how one can improve page load time.
The best part of using this tool is that it is Google’s open-source tool through which one can get access to all the supporting documents provided by Google which will help in identifying and resolving errors to improve site speed as per Google’s best practices.
-
WebPage Test
WebPage Test tool provides an in-depth analysis of how you can improve the performance of your website. It includes recommendations on how to optimize website speed even at the network level, considering users network capacity, connectivity as well as locality. It also provides an option of selecting the location of the server from where you want to test your website’s performance.
-
Test My Site: Think with Google
If you are looking for a tool that is specifically designed to measure mobile site speed, then test my site is the best option.
It has the option to download the report to perform detailed analysis. Test My Site is the most reliable tool to optimize the speed and perform analysis. Just enter the website URL in the search box, and press enter, your website performance report is generated in seconds.
-
Gift of Speed
Gift of Speed is one of my favourite tools to measure website speed performance. Along with the speed measurement metrics, this tool also provides website speed optimization services.
This tool also provides an option to test website speed using various geographical locations across the world.
How to improve website loading speed?
Now that we have covered various tools to measure the site speed, let us look at the best techniques on how to optimize website speed.
1. Optimize images
Compressing the image while uploading it on the server is the ideal approach. In the case of e-commerce, website images are a vital part. Images on the product page improve user engagement. Images over 100 kb in size take a lot of time to load; as a result, overall page speed is affected. Consider using the gzip compression technique to reduce image size. Gzip compression reduces the size of the image by 70%. For more information on optimization, you can check our 7 Image optimization tips.
2. Use CDN
Content Delivery Network is a distributed system of network servers where multiple copies of the websites are stored at various geographical locations. CDN helps deliver content requests to the users from their nearest server location; as a result, server load time is reduced considerably.
3. Remove unused CSS
CSS is used to beautify your website. According to UnusedCSS.com 35% of the CSS implemented on the website is unused. Identifying unused CSS files and removing them would be a great option to improve website speed. This tool can be used to find out unused CSS files and compress them.
4. Minify JS and CSS files
JavaScript is an interactive element for designing a website. The more the number of JavaScript files, the higher is the number of https requests to the server. Minifying JS and CSS files reduce blank spaces, trims unwanted comments. It also helps in shortening the function name and classes. Using minification techniques helps in reducing code byte size, and as a result, less data needs to be downloaded, which in turn reduces website load time.
Best minification tools :
- To minify HTML, try HTML Minifier
- To minify CSS, try CSSNano and CSS.
- To minify JavaScript, try Uglify.
5. Make proper use of Web fonts
Typography is a vital aspect while considering a website design, readability, and accessibility. Using proper Webfont ensures that you follow the above-mentioned Google’s best practice. Each font is considered to be an additional resource that needs to be loaded. Sometimes improper use of fonts leads to website rendering blockage leading to increased load time.
Here is a list of web fonts format that can be used depending on the browser compatibility
- Serve WOFF 2.0 variant to browsers that support it.
- Serve WOFF variant to the majority of browsers.
- Serve TTF variant to old Android (below 4.4) browsers.
- Serve EOT variant to old IE (below IE9) browsers.
6. Use Prefetching techniques :
As the name suggests, in this technique, resources are preloaded or rendered before user demand; as a result, time to load the resources is saved. For e.g. When a user clicks on a link and visits the website, some content and links are already preloaded. To use this technique, we need to anticipate a user’s behavior and accordingly plan the actions on our website. Here is a list of Prefetching techniques that are widely used:
7. DNS – Prefetching
In this technique, the domain name is resolved in advance before the user performs any action. For instance, domains like Google analytics, Google fonts, Google maps, CDN, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. can be prefetched.
8. Link Prefetching
This technique is used on a website where the user journey is stable. For, e.g., in an e-commerce website, users navigate from the product page to the shopping cart page.
Note: To implement these techniques, it is important to do a detailed user behavior analysis on the website before making assumptions.
9. Reduce excessive DOM Size
DOM, also known as the document object model, is an independent interface for HTML and xml documents. Sometimes due to inefficient coding techniques, unnecessary large DOM trees are created, which hampers the website’s speed performance.
According to Google developers guide, the optimal DOM size has
- Total nodes less than 1500.
- maximum depth of 32 nodes.
- Parent node with more than 60 child nodes.
Lighthouse tool is an excellent option to check whether your website is having excessive DOM size issue. This is how lighthouse report flags excessive DOM size issue
10. Implement lazy loading
Lazy loading is a formidable technique to reduce the website load time. In this website speed optimization technique, only the requested component of the website is loaded, and the rest is kept as it is until the user requests for that component.
For instance: A user is using a mobile web application. When the user scrolls down the image or a component visible on the screen is loaded, and the rest of the sections of the website are deferred; as a result, website load time may reduce drastically.
According to the study published by macmetrics, after implementing lazy loading, they observed a drastic reduction in the page load time.
Conclusion
Website speed optimization is a very challenging task. Attaining the ideal website speed is every business’s desire. According to Google, a user expects that the web page should load within 3 seconds. To achieve the expectation, we as SEO professionals should make sure that a thorough analysis is performed to identify key action points; otherwise, chances are there that we might lose organic traffic and revenue.
Techniques mentioned in this article on how to optimize website speed will help you achieve desired page speed, but we need to take into consideration the turnaround time required for the website developer to implement the recommendations.
We must also analyze the reports generated by using website speed optimization tools and identify key impactful metrics affecting the website load time. Focusing on these impactful factors and trying to resolve them should be our priority.
According to the reports published by WPO Stats, by implementing the above-mentioned website speed optimization technique if the site speed improves by even a second, then the efforts are worth it.
According to another report, “BBC has seen that they lose an additional 10% of users for every additional second it takes for their site to load”.
What is SEO – A Complete SEO Guide for Beginners
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing your website’s visibility when people search for products or services online.
SEO is important because searching online on Google or Bing is the most widely used way for people to find what they are looking for. They look for quality and trust in search engine suggestions by going to the websites displayed at the top of search results.
What is SEO?
SEO includes improving the organic traffic of your website and your ranking on search engines results page. It requires the creation of high-quality content and monitoring the technical health of your website. SEO persuades search engines to recommend your content to users as the best solution for their searches.
Results in search engines are presented in an order where the higher you rank, the more traffic your site receives. Search engines like Google use algorithms to determine which pages to display on which rank for any query searched online. These complex algorithms take into account hundreds of factors. The optimization of your website based on these factors is called SEO and since it builds upon itself, SEO grows stronger over time fetching you long-term and long-lasting results.
It is important to note here that SEO deals with only organic or unpaid search results and sometimes on the sides of the organic search results section on a SERP and has nothing to do with the paid ads that you see below.
Think of SEO this way: Google and other search engines have access to all the information on the internet and work hard to organize or index it in an efficient manner. This is so that they can offer a user, relevant and useful search results whenever they have a search query. While Google’s search algorithm is highly classified, SEO experts have been observing certain trends and patterns in the way it goes about fetching the correct information for users. Add to this the various patents filed by the world’s top search engine and the announcements it has made about numerous updates to its search algorithm, and we have a pretty legitimate way of saying what will get your web pages to rank better.
Why is SEO Important in Digital Marketing?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the life force of websites across the globe. It is the practice of refining the technical elements of your website, along with conducting off-page activities, to help websites rank better on search engines.
SEO includes a plethora of activities, each holding its own relevance in the eyes of search engine algorithms. Some common tasks that go into SEO are keyword optimization, creating authoritative or high-quality content, building backlinks, and website audits.
SEO holds unparalleled importance for businesses online, as it is the main factor that affects your site’s rankings organically on search engines. Now that you know what is SEO, let us dive deep into what it entails and how it works.
Check out this video on what is SEO, you can also listen to our podcast to know more about how to create growth via SEO
Since now that you know what is SEO, this SEO guide for beginners will help you understand the following topics:
- How do Search Engines works?
- How SEO Works
- Why does your website require SEO?
- Types of SEO
- Important factors of SEO
- SEO Strategies
- SEO Periodic Table
- Organic Vs Paid Results
- Basics of SEO
- How to Optimise Your Website
- How to Track & Measure SEO Results
- Evolving SEO Trends in 2022
- FAQ’S
How Does Search Engines Work?
Search engines are essentially modernized versions of libraries, only digital. Instead of being a place for books and magazines, they store copies of webpages and trillions of bytes of data that comes within them.
Whenever a user types in a search query, search engines process their collection of webpages (called the index) and try to provide you with results that seem most fitting. This work is done by search engine algorithms. While there is no text that explains how search engine algorithms work exactly, Google has provided some clues as to how they work.
In Google’s words, their search engine algorithms assess a multitude of factors, including words in a search query, the relevance of web pages, the authority of webpages, location, personalized settings, and much more. How much each factor affects the decision to display web pages on search engine result pages (SERPs) varies based on the search query and other factors. For instance, if you search for current news, the freshness of the content is considered a major factor in determining if it shows up on SERPs.
While there are many other search engines apart from Google, the algorithms from the search engine giant are considered to be the strongest.
Check out this video of Google’s Matt Cutts to understand more about how does search work:
How SEO Works?
SEO is a process that works towards building up your website and content in the eyes of search engines. It demonstrates to search engines like Google that your content is relevant, authoritative, and the best match for search queries to rank high on SERPs.
Each search engine has its own ranking factors and algorithms, so we will focus on the most popular search engine in this section – Google.
Google has one goal with its search engine – providing the most suitable and best results to the users based on their search queries. To rank high on SERPs and gain organic traffic, you need to cater to the ranking factors of Google’s algorithm.
Google uses over 200 ranking factors in its algorithms but only some of these factors are known. Additionally, Google ranks web pages, not websites. To understand how SEO works, it is imperative to know about Google’s ranking factors. Some of these factors include:
- Crawlability
- Mobile-Friendliness
- Page Speed
- Search Intent
- Backlinks
- Content Quality
- Authority
Your SEO Team or your SEO Service provider should always follow SEO best practices if they need your website to rank higher on SERPs. Search engine optimization takes care of your on-page SEO elements such as adding relevant content, title & meta description, URLs and various other factors. SEO also takes care of off-page activities such as building links from related and high-quality domains. Both these methods when combined with a proper SEO strategy, helps Google to understand your webpage which ultimately leads to a higher ranking on SERPs
Why Does Your Website Need SEO?
Google is the source of more than 60% of all the search traffic in the world – if you combine this with the pulling power of other search engines like Bing and even Yahoo, this figure goes up to 70%. Another essential online search fact to consider is that if your website is ranking on the #1 position, there is a good 40% chance that the user will click on your website to solve its query. For example, if 100 users search for a specific query, there is a strong case that 40 users would land on your website if you are ranking on the #1 position. Imagine 40 users with an investment of almost zero rupees. This is why SEO is essential for your website/business. Although SEO takes time and effort, it is a gift that keeps on giving. Here are a few of the most significant benefits of SEO:
- SEO is the largest source of the site of traffic
- SEO helps in higher ROI (Return On Investment) and conversions
- SEO is a long term game. i.e. your investment on your website’s SEO would lead to better results in future
- SEO builds brand credibility and trust
- SEO improves your website’s user experience (UX)
- No need to spend on paid Ads
So if you are willing to increase your website’s organic traffic, build an SEO team in-house or onboard a professional SEO Company.
Types of SEO
SEO is broadly divided into 7 types. The below infographic is representing different Types of SEO.
Important factors of SEO: On-page SEO and Off-page SEO
On-Page and Off-Page SEO are two of the most important factors of SEO. Let us find out what each entails.
-
On-Page SEO
This aspect of SEO works on ensuring that Google’s algorithms can easily find and crawl through your webpages to be indexed and ranked on SERPs. It includes a multitude of factors like having useful content, having search phrases or keywords you want to rank for, authoritative content, and much more.
There are many ways in which you can optimize the on-page SEO for your web pages. For instance, you should use your target keywords in your title and meta tags. The structure of your content also plays a major role in this, where your target keywords or search phrases should be organically used across the body and headings or subheadings.
-
Off-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO, also referred to as link building, is another important aspect of SEO.
Getting mentions on other websites and signalling the algorithms that you have domain authority is an important aspect of SEO strategies. While all off-site links do not hold the same value, it is still an important practice.
To optimize your off-page SEO, you must ensure that you have link authority, get links from authoritative and relevant websites, and do not overstuff links from low-quality websites like directory websites.
Read More
- What is Technical SEO – 15 Major Technical SEO Checklist
- Negative SEO and Its Types: How to Stay Safe
SEO Strategies: White hat SEO vs Black hat SEO
In SEO, there are two types of approaches you can take in order to gain results – White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO.
Generating quick gains through sneaky tactics that can lead to being penalized by Google is called black hat SEO. People who use this approach employ various techniques to get past Google’s algorithms like link scraping and keyword stuffing to gain SERP rankings quickly. While this approach can get you fast results in terms of rankings and traffic, it is a poor approach for the long term. It might take the algorithms a while, but when they catch anyone using black hat SEO tactics, Google penalizes the website and can even blacklist it from ranking ever again.
White hat SEO, on the other hand, is the best approach to SEO. It uses techniques that are sustainable for businesses in the long run. The main focus of white hat SEO is to target and focus on the human audience, as opposed to sneaking around Google’s algorithms. Playing along with the rules and regulations of search engines while offering the best content to your audience can sustain your online business in the long run effectively.
Here are a few things that are considered black hat SEO, which you should avoid:
- Duplicating Content – To rank higher than competitors, some websites duplicate their content and stuff keywords in it.
- Invisible texts – Some websites use texts the same colour as the page’s background in order to hide text, which includes keywords at the bottom of their content. This can get you blacklisted by Google very quickly.
- Poor Link Building – Going to a supplier to purchase 1000 links for your website in 24 hours is one way of getting blacklisted. Make sure your link building involves relevant websites in your own niche.
White hat SEO is the best way to go for your online business. Employing black hat techniques is a very risky approach, which can gain you short-term results, but hurt your website in the long run.
Periodic Table for SEO Success
Like Chemistry, SEO to has its periodic table. This SEO Periodic Table would help you to understand the essential factors that Google considers before ranking a website higher on Google SERPs. Keep in mind the Toxins elements should not be implemented on your website. Implementation of toxins elements would result in a drop in rankings for your website.
Organic Vs Paid Results
The results displayed on SERPs are divided up into two sections – Paid results and Organic results.
SEO delves into generating organic results on the web. Organic search results, as their name suggests, occur naturally based on 100% SEO merit. Google cannot rank any organic result higher by receiving any payments.
PPC or Pay Per Click provides paid search results, which appear either on the top of organic results, or under them. These search results are ranked by how much the advertisers are willing to bid or pay for each click from a search result.
While both SEO and PPC have their merits, it is always a good approach to gain results organically, as it is much more fruitful for businesses in the long run.
Search results are broadly divided into two sections: organic (unpaid) and paid results. Below SERP screenshot shows the example of both organic and paid results
Many business owners these days use the combination of both SEO & PPC to attain more traffic on their website. Check our post on SEO vs PPC to understand the difference between both the channels and when to use them.
Basics of SEO?
Now that you know about what is SEO and how it works, let us look at the next step. SEO strategy and marketing are the two essential elements of taking your website to the next level. Both require effort, time, and action. Let us take a look at what actions you need to take to make the best SEO strategy for your website.
1. Content
The phrase “Content is King” has been propagated through the internet millions of times. And it is with a good reason. A user walks away happy when they find the most suitable content that suits their query in the best way possible.
For instance, if you search for “guide to SEO”, the search engine works hard in delivering the most suitable result that can answer your query. If you get the top results that are a guide to SEO and teach you the basics, you will walk away with what you were looking for and be satisfied with your journey. Google tries to give you exactly what you have searched. It does not throw out results on its SERPs which provide you the definition of SEO or some other thing related to it for this particular search term.
This makes content one of the most essential elements of SEO. For any SEO strategy to succeed, good quality content that ticks off all the boxes in Google’s eyes is crucial. So, what makes content good? Let us find out.
Important factors of content
-
Content Quality
Content online is far better than it used to be a decade ago. Coming up with good quality content is not an easy task, but it is necessary. The good news is that there are a colossal number of authoritative sources on the web that you can piggyback on for creating relevant and good-quality content.
If your content solves a problem and provides the users with a reliable solution to their query, then you have achieved this goal. If it is not able to achieve this milestone, chances are that the users will bounce away from your website and look elsewhere for the content they need. This tells Google’s algorithms that your content quality is not up to par with other websites, which reduces your SERP rankings.
-
Search Intent
User intent is something Google focuses on while determining the results, so it can offer the best possible matches for the user’s search term. For creating good content, it is imperative that you understand that your content serves the user’s intent.
For instance, you cannot create an article about “tennis shoes” and target the phrase “best shoes for men” as the primary keyword. If a user is searching for tennis shoes, they want exactly that. Showing them other types of shoes, and that too, for men, would not provide them with the results they are looking for. The search term “tennis shoes” is gender-neutral, and not very specific. The bottom line is, your content should complement the keywords you are targeting.
-
Freshness of content
According to a recent study by HubSpot, posting content regularly can help with your rankings. Posting new content is just one way in which you can signal to Google that your content is fresh. There are other ways in which you can send this signal too.
Going through your old content and refreshing it with new information, updating outdated facts, increasing content’s accuracy, and replacing old data with new data can also send a positive signal to Google. This shows Google that your old web pages are still relevant, and worthy of still being ranked on SERPs.
2. Keyword research
Keywords are the main ingredient of determining the intent, as well as the domain of your website. Keywords are used by SEO professionals to target a particular demographic or niche and gain organic traffic from the users in those demographics.
Keywords can also determine how and where you conduct your link-building activities. For instance, anchor texts with keywords of relevance can be used to build links on off-pa
Sustainable SEO: How to Search Strategy for Sustainable SEO
Often, despite implementing all recommended practices for improving the search engine optimization (SEO) of a website, chances are that it will slide down the rankings. This is because such websites prioritize short-term goals over long-term ones. They choose to publish content on trending topics. As the trend draws to an end, the clicks dry up too. Furthermore, search algorithms are constantly evolving. Those who do not follow the latest updates are penalized by lower rankings.
What Is Sustainable SEO?
Search engines regularly update their ranking factors. You are mistaken if you believe that once you have achieved the top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs), you will never lose it. You will need a solid SEO strategy to maintain your top position on SERPs. This is where sustainable SEO comes in handy.
Sustainable SEO ensures that the content you publish is relevant and useful to your audience. In case your content fails to address the users’ concerns, publishing it online is pointless. Thus, sustainable SEO emphasises creating evergreen content, repurposing older content, improving the site structure, and assuring content compatible with all devices.
A Search Strategy for Sustainable SEO
-
Run a test on the Web.Dev Measure
The Web.Dev measure is essentially a Google Lighthouse test. It is a free tool with automated features ideal for improving the quality of various Web pages on the website. The Web.Dev tool is critical for long-term SEO because it tells you how Google perceives your website. What a waste it would be if everything in your SEO strategy is user centered but your website will never rank high enough on SERPs because Google does not like your website!
Web.Dev offers insights either in green or red colours. You can be confident about the quality of your site if the majority of the elements are displayed in green. However, if you see red, you should reconsider your SEO strategy. Always use this tool before creating a plan for your future SEO efforts.
-
Consider Your Users
You are not writing and posting content for yourself but for Internet users. Ensure that you spend some time researching the most popular search terms in your industry. Examine the search volume for each term to determine whether the search is from the geographical area where your target audience is located or from elsewhere. See how the search volume has changed over time.
Once you are aware of all of this, create awesome, well-researched, and data-backed content. See what sections you can add and check what frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be incorporated into your material.
After the content has been created, it should be promoted across various platforms. Identify which social media platform the majority of your users and subscribers use. Go to the comments section and engage with users to address their queries. Comments are vital for long-term SEO.
-
Evaluate your website
The next step is to evaluate your website. Start with the home page. Examine your website carefully to see what information it contains and what information it lacks. Check to see if your home page contains all of the product information necessary. When someone visits the product pillar page, it should begin with a product description, followed by its features, and then customer testimonials in video or text format. Following that, the page should include a buying option and related blogs.
A few other things to look for in your site is page speed. Your Web page will take a while to load if the images and videos on it are not optimized. Images need to be in the proper format. You also need to add alt text to it. Also, look for the devices that can access your website. If your website is not mobile-friendly and only works on a desktop, you risk losing half of your customers all at once.
-
Create a long-tail content map
Short keywords are considered to be extremely competitive. For example, in case you are a loan provider, ranking on the search term ‘personal loan’ is extremely difficult. The reason for this is that there are thousands, if not lakhs, of personal loan providers registered on search engines all over the world. However, if your target customer is in India, emphasising a keyword like “personal loan in India” may help you draw traffic.
The importance of long-tail keywords is evident in e-commerce sites because such websites are directly competing against established giants like Amazon. While preparing a strategy for sustainable SEO, prepare an extensive list of primary keywords, secondary keywords, branded keywords, and long-tail keywords. Choose primary keywords to better understand the industry trend and generate topic ideas. Incorporate long-tail keywords wherever they are a good fit. Find ways to include it in title tags such as H1, H2, and H3.
Tips for Sustainable SEO
1) Create amazing content
Create content that addresses the concerns of users related to your industry. For example, if you are a loan provider catering to rural areas, you can create content on the topic ‘Step-by-step guide to obtaining a loan in rural areas.’ This topic will inform readers about the minimum eligibility criteria, how to use funds, necessary documents, and so on.
2) Internal linking structure
Links are an effective way to inform search engines about the critical pages on your site. It makes it easier for search engine crawlers to locate specific content. When publishing a blog or creating a pillar page, pay attention to the links you provide on that particular Web page.
3) Research keywords regularly
Keywords that were once popular on search engines and drew a lot of traffic are now perhaps rarely searched. Therefore, you should regularly conduct keyword research to keep track of what’s trending. Utilise the new keywords in your existing blogs and pillar pages. You must further properly optimize them to drive traffic.
Pillars of sustainable SEO
1) Technical SEO
You might be good at writing content, but it will take you nowhere if you do not focus on the technicalities of SEO. The search engine considers various technical parameters to crawl through your site and complete the indexation job.
Since technical SEO is a complex task, you will need experts to execute the tasks. This type of SEO works towards improving page speed, indexing new content, resolving indexation issues, and improving rich snippets and meta tags. This type of SEO further dives into your existing keywords, URL structure, and information structure.
You may be aware that Google uses over two hundred factors—most of them related to technical SEO— to determine a site’s ranking. Working on technical SEO will help improve your site’s response time, usability, and other aspects. Eventually, traffic to your website will increase.
2) User Experience
A site that has valuable information but poor navigational structure is useless. Put yourself in the shoes of a site visitor. Will you continue to visit a site that takes several minutes to load a single page? Will you be patient while reading badly formatted content that is not broken down into bullets and paragraphs? Will you not grumble at a site where the video fails to load?
You can improve user experience by creating mobile-friendly responsive designs. The images and videos you include in your content must be relevant to the title. It should also be optimized such that it loads quickly. Also, if you notice that your target audience prefers visuals to textual content, include more visuals.
3) Social Media
Never underestimate the power of social media. It is one of the most effective ways to increase interaction with your target audience and raise brand awareness. Use social media platforms for marketing your content to achieve long-term SEO goals. Check your social media posts regularly to see what comments your followers have. As soon as you notice a question, respond to it. You should also monitor what others are saying about your brand. It will assist you in tracking down negative reviews and posts.
You could also seek the help of an influencer. It will increase the credibility of your brand.
4) Public Relations
Another method for achieving long-term SEO success is through public relations. However, if your public relations strategy is centred on offline media platforms, you may not be as successful. In recent years, online media has surpassed offline media. Entrepreneurs are taking the help of digital news platforms and online influencers to promote their brands and products.
Putting any news on an online media platform will help you draw more traffic and obtain quality backlinks. Such websites typically have a high domain score and can easily receive more clicks when a specific keyword is searched for on a search engine. However, when writing a PR article, make sure it is concise and contains only the most important information.
Conclusion
Sustainable SEO is crucial if you want to stay afloat on the Internet without compromising on your rank. It focuses on long-term goals that help in improving the company’s sales, revenue, and profit. The emphasis here is on evergreen content, internal link structure, and proper keyword usage.
What is a Permalink? Complete Guide
Search engines interpret the intent of the content on a website, index it, and rank it on search engine results pages (SERPs). Many people believe that this happens only in the title tags. However, URLs are equally important. The more optimized your URL, the easier it will be for search engine crawlers to identify what the page is about. This is where the permalink comes in. A permalink is an extension to your site domain briefing the search engine about the content title.
What is a Permalink?
Permalink is the detailed URL that appears for any Web page, blog, or product page. The permalink structure is made up of your company’s domain name and a two to three word brief known as the slug. Suppose you own a fintech company whose name is XYZ Ltd., and your domain is www.xyz.com. You publish some content titled “How to Avail of a Business Loan?”. In this case, your permalink will be https://www.xyz.com/apply-business-loan.
A permalink may also include information such as the date, product category, application page, and so on. Using well-structured perma links helps users understand what the Web page is all about. If you can add keywords to it, chances are that it will help with ranking as well.
Difference Between Permalink and URL?
An URL is a link or, more precisely, a Web address that, when clicked, directs you to a specific Web page or file. URLs can include brand names, domains, slugs, or paths.
On the other hand, a permalink is an extension to your domain URL. It specifies what the page is all about. It is designed in a manner that supports search engine optimization (SEO). Bloggers frequently use them to increase clicks. Remember, while every permanent link is a URL, not every URL is a permalink.
How does permalink affect SEO?
The permalink for your Web page is directly related to SEO. You may be aware that URLs are also important factors that influence your ranking on SERPs. If you are looking for an answer to this, keep reading. Such links give search engine crawlers an idea of what the Web page is about. If your permalink informs search engines that it contains information that your users are looking for, they will rank it accordingly after taking into account a few other factors.
On the contrary, if the permalink and the Web page are unrelated, securing a desirable rank on Google is difficult.
The Best Permalink Structures for SEO
Choosing the best permalink is a difficult task. The reason for this is the plethora of options. For example, if you are publishing content on health tips that includes information on various weight loss exercises and healthy foods, your slug could be best-health-tips, healthy-foods-for-weight-loss, and so on. You must first understand the reader’s preference and determine which search phrase generates the most traffic.
If you intend to include a date in your slug, make sure the content is about something that is currently popular. However, if the content is evergreen, including a date may not generate much traffic because it indicates to readers that the content is out of date.
Creating a Permalink
A strong permalink requires only a few special considerations. You must first determine the content category, select a slug, and select a path. Once you have decided on this, keep your permalink brief and include a high search keyword in it. You may also put long-tail keywords in your slug.
-
URL length
There are no search engine guidelines on ideal URL length. Furthermore, there is no official word from Google on whether it takes URL length into account or not. However, multiple studies have shown that shorter permalinks rank higher than longer ones. the chances of ranking higher increase if your URL is within 50 characters and relevant to the content.
-
Add your primary keywords
Keywords are vital ranking factors. They are an excellent method for making your content visible to Internet users. If your URL lacks a keyword (primary or secondary), the search engine crawler will struggle to understand the context of the Web page. As a result, your page may not be indexed and will not appear on SERPs.
-
Utilizing permalinks with WordPress
If you use WordPress and regularly post content, you may be aware that your URL structure is not optimized on its own. Your WordPress will create a URL based on the structure you set up for your previous blog. If you want to modify it, navigate to the WordPress settings and select permalinks.
Why are permalinks important in WordPress?
Permalinks in WordPress are essential for usability and SEO. In terms of usability, it will help your followers and other users get a sense of what is on specific pages or posts. People will click your URL if they find it relevant just by looking at it.
In the context of SEO, permalinks inform search engine crawlers about the page content. Depending on the permalink, the crawler will index the Web page and posts and determine their spot on the SERP. However, remember that permalinks will only help if they are properly structured and optimized.
The Issue with Permalinks in WordPress
One of the most serious problems with WordPress permalinks is the default setting. Avoid using WordPress’s default URL structure. They are not SEO-friendly, and getting clicks on them is difficult. This is because WordPress does not allow you to optimize permanent links. You cannot achieve your goal even if you are looking at Google for assistance. If you continue to publish your post without working on permalink, you are involved in poor SEO practice.
Let’s use an illustration to help with this.
Assume you are writing an article about “How personal loans can help you meet your financial needs.” In this case, your default WordPress permalink will be “www.xyz.com/how-personal-loans-can-help-you-meet-your-financial-needs. Now, if your target audience is familiar with finance, they will quickly recognise what is in the article. The URL should not completely reveal the content of the Web page. It should encourage people to click the link.
Steps To Change a Permalink in WordPress
Step 1: Open Settings and Select Permalinks
Go to Settings in the WordPress dashboard. There are several subheadings to choose from. After you click a subheading, a screen with different options is displayed. Then, depending on how you want your page to be searched or archived, you can select the option that best suits your needs.
Step 2: Choosing Permalink Structure
This stage requires you to choose a desirable permalink structure. You can choose the structure from different options. Some of them are day and name, post name, month and name, numeric, or default. Let’s understand what these different options entail.
1) Default
As previously discussed, WordPress comes with a default permalink structure. This type of structure is set up when you create your WordPress account. However, it is strongly advised not to use this structure because it is not optimised and is also not good from an SEO point of view.
2) Day and name
This is a kind of permalink in WordPress, which allows you to integrate the day in the slug. Seeing the URL, people will know when you have posted the article. Slugs with day and name are ideal if you post several pieces of content in a day. However, avoid using this for evergreen content.
3) Month and name
This type of permalink is comparable to the day and name. The only difference is that instead of mentioning the day, you mention the month, and your readers will understand when the content was published. You may choose this option if you have a folder for monthly content.
4) Numeric
You can also structure your slug in a numeric format. But this kind of format hardly passes any value in terms of SEO. You may choose this structure if you are archiving your content in numeric form.
5) Post name
If you find it tough to decide on your slug, make your post name your URL. Such permalinks are not very good for SEO because search engines prefer slugs that include a keyword for ranking purposes.
Step 3: Creating a custom structure
You can create custom permalinks using any of these two methods. The first one is changing the site’s overall URL structure. The second one is altering every post or page.
For overall site URL structure, go to Settings and select Permalinks. Then, select the Custom Structure option. Then, select the Structure tag. After you’ve finished these steps, click Save Changes.
For individual pages, go to the page editor and in the Classic Editor, navigate to the permalink below the title field. Click Edit to change the post URL.
Creating particular permalinks for posts or pages
After completing all the above steps, now, if you have your entire permalink structure in place, you can start focusing on individual pages and posts. Begin by tweaking each of them. You can do this by visiting the editing page for each page and post. You will notice a small section just above the title field.
Navigate to that section and click Edit to adjust the given permalink. After that, your screen will display the box. You can write a slug that is best suited for your SEO.
You now have the option of either using the standard title or its shorter version as your permalink. For example, if your content is about “How to File ITR with the Income Tax Department?” you can make your slug as “ITR-filing-process.”
Be careful while choosing permalinks for blogs or pages. Changing it later may make it difficult for users and search engines to find the content.
Modify a Permalink Without Affecting SEO
Changing a permalink requires careful consideration because any changes to it affect both internal and external links on your page. Don’t forget to use 301 redirects when making changes. This code notifies visitors and search engines that your page has moved to a new location. If you do so, the search engine monitors both new and old links and updates the new permalink accordingly.
If you don’t execute the 301 redirects, your site will have missing and broken URLs. These are considered bad SEO practices, and your page will be downgraded by the search engine on SERPs.
Conclusion
When creating permalinks in WordPress, first understand how it impacts your SEO. Structure it in such a way that the primary keyword can be integrated into it. Remember that the permalink structure is critical for page indexation and ranking. You can accomplish a lot if you do it correctly.
How to Improve Yahoo Rankings
All marketers want only one thing—that the product or service they are marketing should reach the maximum number of people. While the digital landscape has facilitated this to a great extent, there are still some blind spots. Marketers frequently think of Google as the vehicle to reach each and every customer. The assumption is that all other search engines do not have the kind of reach that Google has. This might be partially true, but nonetheless, it is a blind spot. Marketers often overlook the potential of other search engines like Yahoo. Though overshadowed by Google, it still holds a good percentage of the overall global search volume. Additionally, there are various countries where Yahoo is the search engine of choice; where it is equally or maybe even more popular. Here’s how you can use the Yahoo search engine to achieve the desired ranking.
What is Yahoo Search?
Yahoo was established in 1995. Initially, it used its own data storage and Web crawling to deliver results. However, after 2009, Yahoo results were driven by another search engine—Bing.
The Yahoo home page contains a news portal, email, and other search engine capabilities. To use search, you will need to type the search phrase into the top bar. On clicking the magnifying glass icon on the screen, or hitting the Enter key on the keyboard, the search results will be displayed on the screen.
As a site owner, you must focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to build your site impression on Yahoo.
Why is Yahoo Important?
Yahoo holds a good share in search, especially in the United States of America. According to reports, as of April 2017, around 11.7% of the search queries by Americans were made on Yahoo. It means one out of every ten people relies on this Yahoo to resolve their queries.
Apart from this, in 2014, Mozilla Firefox, a Web browser, announced Yahoo as their default search option. Following this news, Yahoo saw a considerable rise in their overall market share.
So, regardless of whether your business is a small one or a large one, if you want to get some quality prospects, you cannot overlook the importance of Yahoo.
What do we need to know about Yahoo Search Engine?
1) Low competition
Yahoo does not face as much competition as Google. There’s also a chance that a keyword that’s hard to rank on Google will be much easier to rank on Yahoo. You can be on the first page of Yahoo search results with just a few basic SEO practices.
2) Yahoo is similar to Bing
Yahoo is distinct from Google but nearly identical to Bing. That is, if you optimize your site in accordance with Yahoo, you are automatically creating a possibility for yourself to rank on Bing without putting in much additional effort. The good news is that Bing is more popular in some countries.
3) Yahoo is not as complicated as Google
Google ranks your page based on over two hundred different factors. Its algorithm is so complex that ranking a single site requires a dedicated team. Yahoo, on the other hand, prioritises a few crucial parameters and is much easier to optimize for. This leaves you free to focus your energies on creating engaging content, using relevant keywords, and developing a link-building strategy.
4) Yahoo focuses on links
Yahoo SEO pays special attention to links. The more you concentrate on backlinks and inbound links, the better your chances of ranking high in this search engine. It is recommended you work on guest blogging, obtaining links from social media, and affiliate marketing strategy. Make sure the links you obtain are not from spam sites.
5) Website age plays an important role
One of the most vital factors in Yahoo’s ranking is age. The older your website, the more likely it is to rank. But what if you’ve just launched a website? How would you rank in this case? Simply concentrate on other important aspects and, if possible, avoid making changes to your website and content URLs.
How to optimize your website for Yahoo rankings?
1) Do keyword research
It is also critical to devote special attention to locating relevant keywords, just as it is necessary to research trending topics. Check for phrases that your peers are using to rank on Yahoo during the keyword research process. You should also look at the keywords they used on their landing pages, product pages, descriptions, and specific content. If you are unsure of how to proceed with this process, you can use various paid and free tools.
Tools will provide you with information on the search volume of specific phrases. You can also use them to find long-tail keywords and frequently asked questions (FAQs). Including them in the content increases the likelihood of ranking.
2) Add keywords
Keyword placement is critical if you want to rank higher on Yahoo. Include keywords in the title, slug, and meta tags. However, you must avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. Keyword stuffing is seen as a manipulation of rankings. Thus, make sure that the phrases you use in specific places make sense and are not irrelevant.
3) Create unique content
Regardless of the search engine you use, content is king. If your content does not provide readers with value, they will leave your website within a few seconds of scrolling, thereby increasing the bounce rate. Many users try to trick Yahoo by using headings with the highest search volume, but when users click the heading, the information it contains is completely different.
The best Yahoo strategy is to make an effort to find the trending topic. Conduct research to create informative content. If possible, include infographics. Make sure to divide the article into pointers and subheadings to make it easier for the user to understand.
4) Look at the news
Never assume that because Yahoo isn’t as complex as Google, it doesn’t release updates. Their ranking factors and algorithms are constantly changing. In case you do not follow it, your page will be at the bottom of the search results. Thus, as a site owner, regularly check the policies.
Is Yahoo SEO Worthwhile?
There are several parameters that you should consider when finding the answer to this question. The very first is to get the analytical data of your website that gives insight into your website performance, such as clicks, page sessions, and so on. Check to see which search engine brings you the most visitors. Once you have determined the number of visitors, look into where you are getting quality leads.
Many marketers overlook Yahoo’s ranking due to its low market share. However, sometimes the one with the lowest source of traffic delivers unexpected results. Furthermore, Yahoo is less complex than Google and is easier to rank.
Can You Rank for Anything on Yahoo Search?
Surely not. As stated already, Yahoo rank tracking uses various algorithms to promote your page on search results. If you believe that stuffing keywords and inserting irrelevant keywords will help you rank, you are mistaken. Furthermore, links play a significant role in determining your position in Yahoo search results. In fact, links are far more crucial than other factors. As a result, in case you have a habit of employing poor SEO practices, such as creating multiple Web pages to exchange links or acquiring links from low-domain sites, your page will stagnate. Therefore, the word of caution here is to focus on creating quality content and a good link-building strategy.
Conclusion
Yahoo SEO is crucial if you want to increase your reach and gain traffic. Since Yahoo algorithms are not as complex as the ones Google uses, ranking on it is much easier. Simply focus on keyword research, keyword placement, engaging content, and most importantly, good link-building strategies. Also, remember that using good Yahoo strategies will help you rank on Bing.
What is Google multisearch?
It is a well-known fact that Google has a monopoly over search.We turn to Google for help with everything—from finding our favorite brands to seeking solutions for serious problems. However, some things might require extra effort to find.
For example, suppose you are looking for an object whose image you have but whose name you don’t know, it will be difficult to search by simply typing a phrase in the search bar. This is where the multisearch, or, Google search by image feature comes in handy.
What is Google multisearch?
Google multisearch is a Google app feature that allows you to carry out searches by typing keywords into the search box, and by simultaneously searching through an image. You can use the multisearch feature to ask any question about any object. In order to use this feature, you need to combine the image and the search query.
How does Google multisearch work?
Google photo search employs advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to comprehend your query and deliver the desired result. Google is attempting to advance this feature by deploying Multitask Unified Model (MUM) technology. When you search for an object, the AI refines the query based on color, brand, and so on to provide more precise results.
How to use Google Multisearch?
- On the bottom left in the Google app, touch the ‘Discover’ (Android) or ‘Home’ (iPhone).
- Next, near the Google search bar, touch the camera icon to launch the smartphone camera.
- You can now take a picture of the object you want to search for. If the image is saved in your phone’s gallery, click the icon placed next to the shutter tap to upload it.
- If the images match the menu at the bottom of the device screen, swipe up to navigate further and then click on the ‘Add to your search button’ at the top.
- Try to be descriptive. Add more details like color, brand, and so on, before searching again.
Lastly, your screen will display the results that include both the image and textual content that you searched for.
How is Google multisearch helpful?
Google multisearch can assist you by removing irrelevant results and providing more precise results. For example, if you want to buy a center table to match your sofa set, you can upload a photo of your sofa set and type ‘center table’ into the search box. The screen will show the best matching combination as well as information such as price, brand, and so on.
Conclusion
Google multisearch can help you search for any content in a variety of ways. It produces more relevant and precise results than ever before. However, multisearch is still in its early stages and requires significant advancement from Google. Also, it is unlikely to replace standard text searches anytime soon. From a marketing standpoint, however, Google photo search opens up a plethora of new possibilities.