As we approach 2023, it's important to start thinking about how to prepare your website for the new year. Updating your website to take advantage of recent adjustments and updates in the business world is crucial to staying competitive and on top of your game. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to get your website ready for 2023.
Take the time to analyze your competitors' websites and strategies from the past year. Look for pages that helped them gain organic traffic and analyze whether these strategies are relevant to your business. Don't just copy your competitors – adapt and apply what works for your own business.
Content creation often gets pushed to the back burner when things get busy, but it's crucial to plan it in advance. Take the time to review customer queries and pain points from the past year and use that information to create relevant and engaging content that addresses their needs.
Don't overlook technical SEO issues such as broken links, duplicate content, and missing alt text. These issues can harm your website's performance and should be addressed as soon as possible. Take the time to budget for technical SEO and fix any issues before moving on.
Running SEO is a free website SEO analyzer crucial to preparing your website for the new year. Use the latest SEO updates and strategies to gain more traffic and customers. Use Running SEO to optimize your website for success.
Preparing your website for the new year is essential to staying competitive and achieving success in 2023. Use this comprehensive guide to analyze your competitors, create relevant content, fix technical SEO issues, and optimize your website with Running SEO. With these steps, you'll be well on your way to a prosperous new year.
Effective search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for driving traffic and revenue to your website. There are a variety of SEO tools available to help you improve your website's ranking on search engines like Google.
In this article, we'll introduce you to the top 10 SEO tools that experts like myself actually use to drive growth. These tools include Google Search Console, which allows you to monitor your website's performance on Google, and Google PageSpeed Insights, which analyzes the speed and performance of your website. SEMRush is a comprehensive platform for keyword research and online ranking data, including metrics like search volume and cost per click. Answer The Public is a tool that provides insights into the questions and phrases people are searching for, while Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler is a powerful tool for identifying common SEO issues and analyzing page titles and meta data. SpyFu is a competitor keyword research tool that exposes the search marketing strategies of your competitors, while Keywords Everywhere is a browser add-on that provides search volume, CPC, and competition data for keywords. Rank Math is a popular SEO plugin for WordPress, and YoastSEO is a well-known plugin for optimizing your website's content for search engines. Combined, these top SEO tools can help you improve your website's search engine optimization and drive traffic and revenue.
Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google that allows website owners to monitor, maintain, and improve their website's presence in Google search results. It provides a variety of features, including the ability to submit sitemaps and individual URLs for crawling, view search traffic and performance data, and receive alerts when there are issues with your website. Google Search Console also provides insights on how Google crawls and indexes your website, as well as any security issues that may have been detected. By using Google Search Console, website owners can ensure that their website is optimized for search engines and provides a good user experience for visitors.
Google PageSpeed Insights is a tool used to measure the performance and user experience of a website. It uses lab data, which is determined in a controlled environment with predetermined network and device conditions, and field data, which is based on real user visits and reflects the actual devices, network conditions, and locations of users. Lab data is useful for debugging and testing features before deployment, but field data provides a more accurate representation of a website's performance in the real world. The tool uses Lighthouse to report lab data. Understanding both types of data is important for improving a page's performance and user experience.
SEMRush is a software platform that provides a range of tools and resources for search engine optimization professionals. It is considered one of the best tools for SEO because it offers a wide range of features that help users improve the ranking of their websites on search engines such as Google. These features include keyword research, online ranking data, and metrics such as search volume and cost per click. In addition to these core features, SEMRush also offers tools for social media marketing, content marketing, and website traffic analysis. Overall, SEMRush is a comprehensive platform that can help businesses and individuals improve their search engine ranking and drive more traffic to their websites.
Personally, I use it almost every day for my own websites and client websites alike to help gain organic growth, conduct competitor research, track positions, and post social media content on all my channels without having to pay for a service like Hootsuite or some other boring social media management software. I've even used it in the past to create a Looker Studio Dashboard (formerly Google Data Studio) to share near real-time information on their marketing campaign with a client.
Answer The Public is a SEO tool that helps businesses understand the search queries and questions that their potential customers are asking. It provides instant, raw search insights directly from the minds of the customer by collecting autocomplete data from search engines like Google. With over 3 billion Google searches happening every day, 20% of which are unique, Answer The Public allows businesses to tap into this vast pool of data and discover the specific needs and wants of their target audience. This can help businesses craft content and marketing strategies that more effectively address the needs of their customers and improve their ranking on search engines.
Screaming Frog is a tool that helps website owners improve their on-site SEO. It does this by crawling the website and extracting data that can be used to identify common SEO issues. It has features like finding broken links, analyzing page titles and meta data, discovering duplicate content, reviewing robots and directives, and integrating with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights. It can also visualize the site's architecture, compare crawls and staging, schedule audits, crawl JavaScript websites, generate XML sitemaps, and more. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and users can crawl 500 URLs for free or buy a license to access advanced features and remove the crawl limit.
Personally, I use this to audit websites ahead of a redesign, and to visually map out a current state sitemap, as I plan for a future state sitemap. It is super helpful with uncovering undiscovered pages and has assisted with tremendous SEO growth for both my websites and for my clients. It costs $209 per year for a license. But don't worry, they have a free version as well!
SpyFu is a competitor keyword research tool for Google Ads and SEO professionals. It allows users to spot new SEO and PPC opportunities, find the search marketing strategies of competitors, and boost SEO and PPC profits. It offers features such as keyword and domain research, competitor analysis, backlink building, rank tracking, and SERP analysis. SpyFu also provides data on over 109 million domains and 7 billion results, allowing users to see the top strategies used by industry leaders and smaller competitors. It helps users increase website traffic and track keyword rankings, and provides reliable contact information for building partnerships or generating leads.
Personally, I use it for keyword research on top of SEMRush as a secondary tool. It's more affordable than most other tools — starting at $8 per month for the limited time offers they usually run, all the way up to $58/mo if paid annyally for the Professional plan.
Keywords Everywhere is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that provides keyword research tools for SEO and Google Ads professionals. It shows monthly search volume, cost per click, and competition data for keywords on multiple websites, as well as trend data and "people also search for" suggestions. It also allows users to view traffic metrics and keywords for specific web pages or websites, and download lists of keywords in various file formats. Keywords Everywhere works by appending search volume, cost per click, and competition data to the interface of popular keyword research tools, allowing users to see relevant data in real time while using Google Search, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, Bing, YouTube, Amazon, eBay, Answer The Public, and more. In addition, users can download lists of keywords and their metrics in Excel, CSV, or PDF formats. Keywords Everywhere aims to streamline the keyword research process by providing accurate data directly on the user's browser, saving time and effort.
Personally, I use this regularly in my day-to-day browsing and work alike. It's intriguing and super helpful for me to see all the metrics right there, and I use it at the start of keyword research, and for monitoring specific targeted, high-value keywords. It costs $10 to fill up credits, which I use up approximately every 6 months.
Rank Math is a WordPress plugin that helps users optimize their website for search engines through built-in suggestions based on best practices. It offers various tools including keyword tracking, SEO analysis, and support for various schema types to help users improve their search engine rankings. It also integrates with platforms such as Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Rank Math has both a free and paid version available.
Personally, I switched from YoastSEO to Rank Math due to pricing only. They featured more bang for the buck and often run promotions, such as $159 or $199 for the first year, and I am locked in at $239/yr now for up to 200 websites. While they are based in India, they do have good support.
YoastSEO is a popular WordPress plugin that helps users optimize their website for search engines. It provides a range of features to improve the SEO of a website, including tools for analyzing and improving the readability of content, managing and generating meta titles and descriptions, and creating and managing XML sitemaps. YoastSEO also includes a feature called Focus Keyword, which helps users identify the primary keyword they want to rank for in search results and ensures that this keyword is properly incorporated into the content of the page. In addition, YoastSEO offers integration with social media platforms, allowing users to easily add social media tags to their website to improve its visibility on these platforms. Overall, YoastSEO is a powerful tool for improving the SEO of a WordPress website and increasing its visibility in search results. While they are a Netherlands-based company, I have never had an issue with their support.
Personally, I used to use the free and premium version on over a dozen websites. I still use the free version on just a few websites. It's a great tool for beginners and SEO gurus alike who are looking to optimize SEO for their WordPress website. If you want premium functionality, like redirection and more, it costs $99/yr for just 1 website.
In conclusion, the Top 10 SEO tools experts use for growth are Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, SEMRush, Answer The Public, Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler, SpyFu, Keywords Everywhere, Rank Math, and YoastSEO. These SEO tools offer a variety of features and benefits for SEO professionals, including keyword research, website crawling, competitor analysis, traffic tracking, and structured data integration. If you are looking to improve your website's SEO and grow your online presence, it is essential to utilize these tools in your strategy. However, implementing and maintaining an effective SEO strategy can be overwhelming, especially if you are new to the field. If you need expert help, be sure to connect with Key Medium for a free website consultation. Our team of SEO and digital marketing experts can guide you through the process and help you achieve your online growth goals.
The world of search engine optimization (SEO) is constantly evolving, with new trends and techniques emerging all the time. To stay ahead of the game, it is important for website owners and SEO professionals to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices. In this article, we will discuss the top 21 SEO trends to consider in 2023. From personalization and helpful user-generated content, to e-commerce optimization and AI-powered tools, these trends will help you optimize your website and improve your ranking on Google. Whether you are new to SEO or an experienced professional, these SEO trends are worth keeping on your radar as you plan your SEO strategy for the coming year.
In conclusion, these 21 SEO trends are worth considering in 2023 to stay ahead of the competition and improve your website's ranking on search engines. From personalization and user-generated content, to e-commerce optimization and AI-powered tools, there are many strategies to choose from.
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Are you looking to set a search marketing budget for 2023? In this article, we provide tips on how to allocate your budget based on your business's needs and goals, industry benchmarks, and overall marketing vision. We also explain how to use math and research data to determine a competitive budget and how to make adjustments based on changing data.
As a business owner, you know that success in marketing is crucial for driving growth and reaching your goals. One way to effectively reach potential customers is through paid search marketing campaigns, which allow you to advertise on search engines like Google and pay for each click on your ad. In this article, we will cover how to set and allocate a budget for your search marketing campaigns in 2023 in order to maximize your return on investment.
Before you start planning for your search marketing budget in 2023, it's important to review the success or lack of success of your previous marketing campaigns. Look at reports and data from campaigns you have run in the past and consider factors such as whether they helped you reach your goals, increased sales, or improved brand awareness. If you have had successful campaigns in the past and the budget you used for them, you can use that as a starting point for your 2023 budget. On the other hand, if your past campaigns have been less successful, you may want to develop a new plan and budget to achieve your desired results.
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In addition to looking at your own past campaigns, it's also helpful to have an understanding of what your competition is spending on paid search marketing. Research industry benchmark data to see what other businesses in your field are allocating for their search marketing efforts. This will give you a sense of the cost of paid search marketing and help you determine a budget that is competitive but also fits within your overall marketing plan and goals.
You may want to consider an SEO tool like SpyFu or SEMRush to help find your competitor's secrets.
Before setting your search marketing budget, it's important to think about your overall marketing vision. What are you hoping to achieve through your marketing efforts? Do you want to increase website visitors, sales, brand awareness, or something else? Your marketing plan should be tailored to your specific vision, and your budget should be allocated accordingly. For example, if your main focus is on increasing website traffic, you may want to allocate more of your budget to search marketing than to other tactics like social media or email marketing.
One common method for determining an overall marketing budget is to base it on a percentage of your revenue. Many businesses allocate between 2-15% of their revenue for marketing. Once you have considered your past campaigns, industry benchmarks, and marketing vision, you can use this range as a starting point and adjust up or down based on your specific needs and goals. If your vision requires a strong focus on search marketing, you may want to allocate a larger portion of your budget to PPC campaigns. It's also important to keep in mind that your budget may need to be adjusted as you gather more data and see how your campaigns are performing.
Setting and allocating a budget for your search marketing campaigns in 2023 is an important step in ensuring the success of your marketing efforts. By considering your past campaigns, industry benchmarks, marketing vision, and basic math and research data, you can develop a plan that will give you the best return on your investment. If you want help developing a search marketing budget or have questions about other aspects of your online marketing strategy, Key Medium offers free website consultations. Book a time with us to get personalized recommendations and guidance on how to optimize your online presence. By working with a team of experts, you can be confident that your marketing budget is being used effectively to reach your goals and drive growth for your business.
Reference: SmartInsights
Are you looking to boost the SEO growth of your website and get it on the first page of Google? Look no further! In this post, we'll cover 20 of the best ways to get your website ranking higher on Google, from conducting keyword research to optimizing your loading speed. Search engine optimization is essential for any website wanting to get traffic. After all, most users don’t go beyond the first page of Google when searching for something. That’s why it’s so important to get your website on that coveted first page.
Keep reading to learn all the tips and tricks you need to know to get your website on the first page with these 20 time-tested and proven ways.
These keywords should be included in your title tags, meta descriptions, and throughout your content to improve your ranking on Google. You may also consider using them if you run Google Ad campaigns, or to conduct competitor and market research. For even more on this, see this guide on keyword research including identifying keyword intent.
These elements should accurately and compellingly describe your content and include the targeted keywords to improve your ranking on Google. It is important to note that Google programmatically pulls in the title and description based on a user's search, so it is crucial to optimize these elements to ensure that your website appears prominently in the search results. By taking the time to carefully craft your title tags and meta descriptions, you can improve your website's visibility and attract more users to your site.
Use these keywords in your headings, subheadings, and body text to signal to search engines the relevance of your content to users' search queries. It is important to be mindful of the keyword density, or the number of times a keyword appears in relation to the total number of words on the page, when incorporating keywords into your content. Keyword stuffing, or the practice of excessively using keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings, is not only ineffective, but it can also harm your website's ranking and user experience. Instead, aim to create helpful, informative, and easy-to-read content that naturally incorporates your targeted keywords. By focusing on creating high-quality content that provides value to users, you can improve your ranking on Google and attract more visitors to your website.
It is important to provide value to users and address their needs and interests through your content to keep them engaged and interested in your site. Good content can also help to improve your ranking on Google. Search engines want to provide the best possible results to users, so they will rank websites with high-quality, relevant content higher in the search results. By consistently producing unique and valuable content, you can establish your website as an authority in your industry and improve your ranking on Google. Additionally, good content can help to attract links and social shares, which can also contribute to your ranking on the search engine. Overall, investing in high-quality, unique, and engaging content is a crucial element of a successful SEO strategy.
By linking related pages on your site, you can improve your ranking on Google. This is because you build "link juice" internally, and point users to even more helpful content that they may be interested in that is relevant.
By linking to reputable sources, you can show search engines the value of your content and improve your ranking on Google. Not just that, but in SEO, "followed" links are considered more valuable because they are the default behavior for links. "No-followed" links were introduced to combat spam, but they can cause problems if used too frequently. To encourage websites to link to other sites, Google rewards websites that use followed links. Pro tip: It is important to carefully manage your use of external links by creating a whitelist or blacklist of trusted or untrusted domains, rather than no-following every external link.
Use descriptive and keyword-rich file names and alt text for your media to signal to search engines the relevance of these elements to your content. Alternative (alt) text is also important for user experience overall, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) mandate using it to help folks who may have temporary or permanent disAbilities.
By actively using social media, you can indirectly improve your ranking on Google. This is because Google has shown to pull in popular Twitter posts in the past. Not just that, but it achieves a social viral coefficient greater than 1, meaning it is leveraging network effects, helping to share and even create user generated content (UGC).
By providing opportunities for users to comment, share, and interact with your content, you can improve the user experience on your website and signal to search engines the value of your content. This can ultimately help to improve your ranking on Google. There are several ways to increase user engagement on your website, including:
These keywords are often more descriptive and contain more than one or two words, making them more closely aligned with the way users typically search for information. By incorporating long-tail keywords into your content, you can increase the chances of ranking for those keywords and improve your overall ranking on Google. By targeting a specific audience with long-tail keywords, you can also attract more qualified traffic to your website and potentially generate more leads or sales. It is important to note that while long-tail keywords may have lower search volume, they can still drive valuable traffic to your website and should be a key part of your overall SEO strategy.
A slow-loading website can be frustrating for users and may lead them to leave your site before they have a chance to engage with your content. According to Google research, "a one-second delay in mobile load times can impact conversion rates by up to 20%." On the other hand, a fast-loading website with a seamless user experience can keep users on your site longer and encourage them to explore more of your content. This can ultimately improve your ranking on Google, as search engines consider loading speed and user experience as ranking factors. There are several ways to optimize your website's loading speed and user experience, including optimizing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript, using a content delivery network (CDN), and reducing the number of redirects and external requests. By taking the time to optimize these elements, you can improve your website's performance and ranking on Google.
By incorporating local keywords and optimizing your website for local search, you can improve your visibility and ranking in the search results. For example, a Pennsylvania-based marketing firm may want to include the regions served, such as "Pennsylvania SEO Agency" on the homepage of your site.
By providing accurate and relevant information about your business, you can improve your ranking on Google. You can see how many views your listing gets, and even post updates and respond to positive or negative reviews for reputation management.
It is a type of code that is added to the HTML of your website and helps search engines understand the meaning and structure of your content. By using schema markup, you can help search engines understand the content on your website and improve your ranking on Google. There are several types of schema markup, including product, event, recipe, and article schema. By using the appropriate schema markup for your content, you can help search engines understand the relevance and context of your content to users' search queries. This can improve the chances of your website appearing in rich results, such as rich snippets or featured snippets, which can increase its visibility and improve its ranking on Google. In addition to improving your ranking, schema markup can also help to increase the click-through rate (CTR) of your website by providing users with more information about your content in the search results.
A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages, posts, and other content on your website, along with their respective URLs. By providing a comprehensive and up-to-date sitemap, you can improve your ranking on Google. When search engines crawl your website, they use the sitemap as a roadmap to discover and index your content. This can help ensure that all of your pages and posts are being properly indexed and considered for ranking. It is important to note that sitemaps are not a ranking factor in and of themselves, but they can help search engines discover and index your content more efficiently, which can ultimately improve your ranking. In addition to creating a sitemap, you should also regularly update it to reflect any changes or additions to your website. This will help ensure that search engines have the most current and accurate information about your website.
These types of issues can create a poor user experience and make it more difficult for search engines to crawl and index your website, which can ultimately harm your ranking. By regularly monitoring and addressing any such issues, you can improve your ranking on the search engine. There are several tools and resources available to help you monitor and address technical errors and issues on your website, including Google Search Console and SEO audit tools. By using these tools to identify and fix issues, you can ensure that your website is running smoothly and performing optimally. In addition to monitoring and addressing technical errors and issues, it is also important to regularly update and maintain your website to prevent such issues from occurring in the first place. By taking proactive measures to maintain your website, you can improve your ranking on Google and provide a better user experience for your visitors.
It is a free service provided by Google that allows you to monitor and maintain your website's presence in search results. By using Search Console, you can identify areas for improvement and optimize your website to improve your ranking on the search engine. Some of the key features and benefits of Search Console include:
By regularly monitoring and responding to these reviews, you can improve your reputation and ranking on the search engine. This is especially true with the latest Google algorithm update released in August 2022 called the Helpful Content Update. With this update, Google is prioritizing websites that provide helpful and relevant information to users, as well as those with high-quality and engaging content. By responding to user reviews and ratings, you can demonstrate to Google that your website is valuable and useful to users. This can help improve your reputation and ranking on the search engine. It is important to note that it is not just the number of reviews and ratings that matters, but also the quality and relevance of those reviews, as well as any response from you. By actively encouraging users to leave reviews and ratings and responding to them in a timely and helpful manner, you can improve your reputation and ranking on Google.
On-page strategies involve optimizing the content and structure of your own website, such as using targeted keywords in your content and optimizing your website's loading speed. Off-page strategies involve building links and citations from external websites, such as by promoting your content on social media or getting mentioned in news articles. By using a combination of both types of strategies, you can improve your overall ranking on Google. On-page and off-page SEO strategies work together to help search engines understand the relevance and value of your website to users. By optimizing both the content and structure of your website and building links and citations from external sources, you can demonstrate to search engines that your website is a valuable and useful resource for users. This can help improve your ranking on Google and increase the visibility and traffic to your website.
Google frequently updates its algorithms to improve the quality and relevance of the search results it delivers to users. By staying informed about these updates and how they may affect your website's ranking, you can make the necessary changes to optimize your website and improve your ranking on Google. There are several resources available to help you stay up-to-date with the latest algorithms and ranking factors, such as industry blogs, newsletters, and webinars. It is also important to regularly update and optimize your website to align with these factors. This may include creating high-quality and engaging content, optimizing your website's structure and navigation, and building links and citations from external sources. By regularly updating and optimizing your website, you can improve your ranking on Google and stay ahead of the competition.
To improve your website's ranking on Google, it is important to follow these proven 20 SEO strategies and tips listed. These strategies will help you increase your website's visibility and attract more users. Some of these strategies mentioned above include conducting keyword research, optimizing your website's title tags and meta descriptions, creating high-quality and engaging content, using internal and external linking, optimizing images and videos, promoting your content on social media, encouraging user engagement, optimizing for local search, claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing, using schema markup, creating and submitting a sitemap, monitoring and addressing technical errors, using Google Search Console, responding to user reviews, using a combination of on-page and off-page SEO strategies, and staying up-to-date with the latest ranking factors.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to take your website and SEO to the next level! Key Medium is here to help you achieve your online growth goals with expert SEO support. Don't just take our word for it, see for yourself with a free website and SEO consultation or check out our SEO service packages.
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Pillar content, also known as cornerstone content, is an important part of any website's content strategy. It is a long-form, in-depth piece of content that covers a broad topic in great detail and serves as the foundation for a website's content strategy. The purpose of pillar content is to establish the website as a reliable and authoritative source of information on that topic, and to provide a structure for organizing and linking to other related content on the website.
Pillar content is typically between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length and is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of a particular topic. It is often used to attract and retain visitors to a website, as well as to improve the website's ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
One of the key benefits of pillar content is that it provides a foundation for a website's content strategy. By creating a long-form, in-depth piece of content on a particular topic, a website can establish itself as a go-to source of information on that topic. This can be especially useful for websites that cover a specific niche or industry, as it allows them to differentiate themselves from other websites and establish themselves as experts in their field.
Pillar content can also help to improve a website's visibility in search engine results. By creating high-quality, comprehensive and helpful content on a particular topic, a website can attract a larger number of visitors who are searching for information on that topic. This can lead to increased traffic and potentially higher search engine rankings, as search engines tend to favor websites that offer valuable, relevant content to their users.
Creating effective pillar content is not always easy. Here are some tips for creating helpful pillar content for your website:
By following these tips, you can create high-quality, comprehensive pillar content that will be useful and valuable to your audience, and that will help to improve your website's visibility and credibility.
Need help with creating your content strategy and associated pillar content? Well, you are in luck! Key Medium are SEO and website design experts and can help you come up with content marketing that will work for your business. Get in touch today or explore SEO services here.
