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Introduction to SEO
On‐Site SEO
Off‐Site SEO

Traffic & Lead Generation – Beyond SEO
Social Media
Mobile Optimization

Website Structure, Content Planning & Content Marketing
Navigation
Robots Text Files
File Names and Images
Content Planning and Creation
Important Factors for SEO‐Friendly Pages
Mobile Compatibility
Content Marketing

Summary & Getting Started Checklist
Helpful Tools & Plugins

Social Media Marketing
Setting Up Social Media & Integrating Them

Link Building
Guest Blogging
Press Releases
HARO

Local SEO
Local SEO Tactics

Using Images to Drive Traffic to Your Site
Image Search
Infographics

Staying Safe from Search Engine Algorithm Changes
Google Panda
Google Penguin
Google’s Freshness Update
Top Heavy (“Above the Fold”) Update

Conclusion

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Introduction to SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is important to every business
...
But what exactly
is it? SEO is simply the process of setting up and optimizing your site so that it's
easily found (and favored) by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing
...
Instead, they'll go online to search for it
...
Furthermore, users that find your website via organic search
tend to be highly targeted, making them more likely to convert to customers
...
Building an effective website that will provide a strong,
consistent flow of leads or sales requires marketing
...
Building a website without marketing it is akin to building a brick‐
and‐mortar store in the middle of the Sahara desert
...
Even people who need your products or
services can’t buy from you because they’ll never know about you
...
SEO is like transplanting your brick‐and‐mortar store
from the Sahara desert to a busy street in downtown New York
...

Take a moment to think about what someone might search for when looking for
your business
...
Does your business show up? If not, SEO is how
you get there
...
if you have a website and it's not showing up in
search results, it's just the same as having customers drive right by your business
while looking for what you offer, and not even know you're there
...
Sure, having a well‐
designed site is important
...

Let’s explore the other factors that affect your search engine rankings: on‐site and
off‐site SEO
...
What do 'on‐site' and 'off‐
site' mean? Read on
...
On‐site SEO consists of
the elements (such as text and meta data) that exist on your website, and in your
website’s HTML code, over which you have control
...
When building your website, ensure that
your web designer is knowledgeable in SEO best practices or works in conjunction
with an SEO professional
...
Messy
code will bring your website’s rankings down and result in slower load times for your
visitors
...
Don't cut corners
...

Content
This is what your customers will see; the front‐end text copy, images, and videos
that are on your website
...

Your content should be fresh and engaging
...

Content should target topics you want to rank for, but it needs to be natural and
fresh
...


Off‐Site SEO
Once your website is structured correctly and contains excellent content, it's time to
develop and execute a solid off‐site SEO strategy
...
Here's
a look at the main factors of off‐site SEO
...
A
link is simply a clickable word, phrase, image, or button that directs you to another
URL
...

But not all links are created equal
...

So, thousands of links aren’t the answer, contrary to what many untrustworthy
“SEO companies” and “SEO professionals” will often tell you
...
There are many ways this can be done,
but it takes time
...

Besides giving you 'votes' to help your site rank better, good inbound links will also
drive free, high‐quality traffic to your website
...
It
doesn't get any better than that
...
Google and other search engines
take into account (pretty highly) your social media influence
...

Google and Bing both look for what we call social media signals, which are simply
activities including Twitter tweets, Facebook likes, Google +1’s, social bookmarks,
and much more
...

Let’s take an example
...
If you tweet
a link to you it from your company Twitter account, and 100 of your followers
retweet it, then 100 of each of their followers retweet the link, you have a wave of
retweets that search engines notice
...
It’s “social proof” that your infographic is helpful and
useful, and search engines only want to display really great pages in their search
results
...

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Reviews
Reviews of your business will affect your search engine rankings, particularly
reviews on Google+
...
It’s important to note that reviews only affect
your rankings in local search results
...

There's more to marketing your business online than SEO, though
...


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Traffic and Lead Generation – Beyond SEO
Now that you have a better understanding of what SEO is and why it should be a
priority in your online marketing strategy, let's touch on some other things that your
marketing plan should include
...


Social Media
To many businesses, this is the equivalent of a four‐letter word
...

As a business owner in today’s social‐media‐centric world, you can't overlook the
power, influence, and necessity of social media when it comes to your online
marketing strategy
...
Each one has a different feel,
different kinds of users, and different demographics
...


Did you know that 80% of social media users prefer to follow
brands they like on a particular social media platform? Do you
know which one? Facebook!
Are you using Facebook? Are you allowing customers to interact with you? Are you
being personable and posting helpful, informative information or special offers? This
is all important for a robust social media strategy
...


33% of tweets to or about a business relate to a very specific
problem
...
They’re reaching out
...

Use this to your advantage by assigning a staff member to a Twitter help desk and
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give prompt, helpful replies
...
Chances are, if they need your services or
products in the future, they'll turn to you
...

This is because people are busy and they want to know things 'now'
...
If they can find your website and see you
stock those sneakers, then you've probably just made a new sale
...

If you own an Italian restaurant and that shopper decides they want to get Italian
food after they finish shopping, they may search for “Italian restaurants” on their
mobile device to find one that’s rated highly
...


From October 2011 to October 2012, mobile search
increased from 4% to 12% on smartphones, and from 4%
1
to 14% for tablets
...
BizReport reported that almost
25% of paid search clicks are coming from mobile search
...
In March 2012, Google said that they had seen mobile search grow by
5 times in just two years
...


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Website Structure, Content Planning &
Content Marketing
We touched on the topic of website structure when we discussed on‐site SEO
factors
...
It might seem like
there's a lot to learn here, and there is, but it’s easier than you think
...
Here's an example of very basic
navigation
...
Then each of those sections
are linked to even deeper pages that go into more detail
...
However your website's navigation is designed, it should
provide a clear and easy path for the search engines and your visitors to follow
...
With well‐designed
navigation, search engine crawlers and your customers will be able to find pages on
your website easily
...
It’s important for
customers because if they can't find the page they're looking for, then you’re more
likely to lose the sale
...
By creating the right content that flows well into
other sections, it creates a smooth interface for visitors to use
...

In summary, just remember that your website navigation helps determine:
How long visitors stay on your website
Whether visitors convert (buy, read, sign up
...
This creates a hierarchy
which is a signal to search engines of the importance to assign to each page on your
domain
...

Without a proper internal linking structure, your product or pages may never be
indexed, which severely reduce the number of visitors to those pages, along with
the number of leads and sales
...
Link to the most important pages from your main page, then narrow it
down from there
...
Think about what
other published information would supplement the information the user is currently
reading
...
This
is called external linking, but it also plays a role in establishing trust with search
engines
...

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The most important element of each link is what’s called the anchor text, which is
simply the clickable portion of a link
...
If you see a link that says “Buy it here” then
“Buy it here” is the anchor text
...

Strategically using anchor text is one of the arts of proper SEO, as over‐using a
certain anchor text may risk your website being flagged for attempting to game the
algorithm
...

Historically, the practice of using keyword‐rich anchor text was popular and
widespread in the SEO community, as it worked very well
...
So
instead of seeing “Click here”, it was common to see “Buy these blue cowboy boots
here” where the website owner was trying to get their page ranked well for the
keyword “blue cowboy boots
...
Provide helpful
value rather than attempting to manipulate the algorithm
...

Because of this, Google thinks that these are your most important pages
...
in
your main navigation
...
Only include
the biggest, most important pages in your main navigation
...
If you aren't sure what you're doing and you try to
create it or tinker with it yourself, you could end up blocking all search engines from
ever finding some or all of your website
...
It's commonly good practice
to do so for things like your cgi‐bin
...
But it's important that you know about it, so you can
bring the topic up with your designers, coders and SEO professional
...
Whenever
you place a file or image on your site, it should directly correlate with what the
image is and what that page is about
...
jpg
...
If an image
depicts a lion at the zoo, then an optimized image filename would be “lion‐at‐
zoo
...
” This is helpful because search engines aren’t able to “see” images and
figure out what they are, so they rely on other signals for help
...
You may have
seen URLs that look something like this:
http://www
...
com/news/20xy1304fk
The story might be about the hottest new restaurant in town
...
Google, as well as other
search engines, will favor the page if it's named insightfully
...
website
...
When this happens, browsers fill in the empty space with “%20” which makes
filenames look ugly and confusing
...
In most cases, the title or headline of the page will make for an acceptable
URL
...
But how do you know where to start? How do you create and publish
content that will result in positive ROI?
To start, you need to have a good understanding of who your target market is, what
they like, and what they tend to share
...

Begin by taking some time to look at what's working for your competitors
...
What gets
the most tweets, likes, and shares within your industry? Is it breaking news? How‐to
guides? Industry expertise? Simple little tips?
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There are many tools that can help you come up with new ideas for your content
planning
...
By simply inputting one
keyword, you’ll get variations of it that are being searched for across a number of
other websites
...
There are many
different types of content that you can create, depending on what your goal is
...
3
Best for entertainment:
Quizzes
Games
Branded videos
Best used to educate:
Press releases
Infographics
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Trend reports
Best to inspire your audience:
Reviews
Celebrity endorsements
Community forums
Best used to convince your audience of something:
Case studies
Interactive demo's
Webinars
Checklists
Product features
Data sheets and price guides
Good for both convincing and inspiring:
Special events
Ratings
Good for both entertainment & education:
Ebooks
Articles
Good for both convincing and education:
Demo videos
White papers
As you can see, there are many types of content – blog posts are not the only option
...
Aim to become the go‐to resource for
your industry and your brand, along with your audience, will bloom
...
Plan when you’re going to publish blog posts, videos, and white
papers, and adhere to the schedule
...
Just
search for “editorial calendar” on the 'add new' plugin page
...
org/extend/plugins/editorial‐calendar
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If you aren't using Wordpress, then simply use a calendar or a spreadsheet
...
It can
be entertaining or informational, but it must fulfill a need
...
So, focus on identifying and solving a need first
...
It looks like this:

It's important that your title tag contain the main keyword on which you’re focusing
for that page
...

The title tag is arguably the most important single element of on‐site SEO, and is also
usually the clickable text in search engine results pages
...
It should be unique, and
limited to 160 characters
...
Don’t let
this happen, as it’s a missed (and rare) opportunity to have some control over how
your website is displayed in search engines
...
Use keywords but don't over‐do it
...
”>
Image Alt Text
You should always include images and video when possible
...
When you use images, always use image alt text
...
jpg” alt=”Man changing a tire”>
Search engine crawlers can't see or 'read' your image
...
In addition, alt
tags help visually‐impaired people using audible browsers, and are an important part
of keeping your code clean
...
Not only do they
make content easier to read, they also let search engines know about different,
related search terms for which your content should rank
...

Example:
If, for example, your page is a guide on how to change a tire, sub‐sections may cover
areas such as “tools needed”, “safety tips,” and “helpful kits and supplies
...
Here’s
how it should look:

How to Change a Tire

Your content here
...

Safety Tips

Your content here
...


Mobile Compatibility
Earlier, we discussed why it's important to have your website accessible to people
using mobile devices
...

Sub‐directory
One option is to create a sub‐directory that has a mobile version of your website
...

Responsive Design
Responsive design will display your content dynamically, meaning that it will adjust
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itself depending on what device is being used to browse the web
...

This is what I recommend, as does Google
...
Content
marketing accomplishes several things:
Attracts inbound links to your website, strengthening your domain authority
and improving your search engine rankings
Adds to the wealth of content on your website, effectively dropping another
“hook in the water” every time you publish a new page of content, which
increases the likelihood of being found by potential customers in the search
engines
Establishes your brand as a thought‐leader and industry authority, building
trust with your readers and resulting in increased conversion rates, leads, and
sales
Every link pointing to your website does more than just improve your search engine
rankings; they can also become a free, long‐term, passive source of highly targeted
referral traffic– the best kind
...
Here are a few things to
ask yourself when beginning your content marketing strategy:
Do you have true thought leaders that have original insights or opinions?
Do you have unique research on new industry trends you can share?
Do you have services or products unique to your industry?
Who are you trying to reach through content marketing?
What challenges are they trying to overcome?
Frequency and Volume
How dedicated are you going to be to content marketing? Some companies prefer
to do a few in‐depth, industry‐leading white papers each year and focus all their
efforts on them
...
The more the
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merrier, so long as the quality of the content doesn’t suffer
...

If you'd like to focus your effort on videos, do you have professional recording
equipment or someone who can create professional animations?
If not, please realize that sub‐par content will do you no good
...

The 3 C's of Content Marketing
There are three big factors that you need to keep in mind while creating your
content marketing plan
...
Be creative and leave room for flexibility
...
One of my favorite ways to be creative is to tie in popular holiday themes
with content when those holidays are near
...
Whether you maintain 4 blog posts per month or 4
blog posts per week, stay consistent so customers and followers learn what they
can expect
...
'Capturing' simply refers to measuring and understanding
information with regard to how well your content is performing
...
As you start to narrow down the best‐performing content
types, then you'll know where to focus for future content to achieve the best ROI
...
One is the medium through which the
content is published (ie, text, video, image, audio, etc
...
Here are a few examples:
Content can:

Think about what emotion you evoke in every piece of content that you create,
along with what you want the reader to feel, and what action you want the reader
to take
...


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Summary & Getting Started Checklist
Basic Site Setup
Ensure there's a blog section for your site (if it isn't a blog)
Offer a mobile‐optimized site or version of your site
Ensure your website designer is knowledgeable in SEO or bring in a
professional they'll work with
Advanced Site Setup Details
Determine keywords you want to use for your website
Develop an editorial calendar or equivalent
Ensure each page/post links to other relevant pages
Ensure each file name (URL) is short, relevant and keyword‐rich
Ensure images use descriptive alt tags and file names
Ensure each page is given a unique, short, descriptive title and description
Use h2 tags for sub‐headlines
Don't Put Content Marketing on the Backburner
Create a content marketing plan & calendar

Helpful Tools & Plugins
WordPress Plugins:
Wordpress SEO by Yoast – All in one SEO plugin
Twitter Facebook Social Share – Social network sharing buttons
Editorial Calendar Easily integrate calendar into the admin area
–
SEO Friendly Images – Helps you set up your images for SEO
Google XML Sitemaps – Builds your sitemap so Google can read your website easier
Broken Links – Helps avoid broken links
SEO Smart Links – Helps you set up internal links
Inbound Writer ‐ Helps you find potential topics and keywords that revolve around
what's being searched for right now
WP Robots Txt – Allows you to edit your robots
...
com– Get ideas for keywords and content
Ubersuggest
...
For
instance, they'll usually give you a warning or caution (or suggestion) if you aren't
using h1, h2 and h3 tags
...
Ask an SEO professional if your website
needs a full, professional audit
...

There are many social media sites, including the ones you likely already know about:
Facebook, Twitter, and Google+
...

For example, consider Pinterest, on which the demographics are mostly women
...
If your business is in tailor‐made tuxedos and sports jackets,
Pinterest probably doesn’t contain the right demographic for you
...

Women might fall all over your amazing threads and order for their husbands, sons,
dads, brothers and friends
...

A better option might be to find a social network that fits your demographic
...
This might be a much better social network
on which to focus your image content marketing efforts
...
Almost all businesses
should have a Facebook and Twitter account, but don’t forget about Google+,
Youtube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn (especially if you’re a B2B business)
...
Don't overdo it,
either; you should have the resources in place to manage the accounts
...

If you truly don't have the time or budget for some solid demographic research,
then at least try to get feedback from your current customers as to which social
media sites they often use
...

If it's more geared towards men, then maybe Reddit or Quora are better suited for you
(The last ones on the list are more towards computer and internet themes)
...
Take your time and use this information to
select the most appropriate ones to begin with
...
One of the first things you should do is go to Knowem
...
Ideally, this should be your brand
or company name
...
Why is this important?
Well, you don't want to become known as StevesAutoRepair on several sites, only
to have to use AutoRepairBySteve on others
...

Get Social on Your Website
The goal should be for your readers, fans and customers to be able to easily share
your content, and interact with you in social media
...
Ideally,
these icons should be displayed on every page of your website, and they are
commonly found in the upper right sidebar or header
...

Create a Brand Strategy and ERT (Emergency Response Team)
No company is 100% safe from being attacked in social media channels, so prepare
for it before it happens
...
Who will be
the voice for your company? Make sure they understand how to handle such
situations professionally
...

Industry Research
Before interacting in social media, do your homework
...
Who
are the influencers in your industry? Who has the most reach? Who are the thought
leaders?
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Here are a few free tools to help you figure out the answers to these questions:
WeFollow
...
By monitoring what they do, when
they do it, and what gets the most response or attention, you’ll be able to model
some of your social media action plan after their example
...
For example, every time a
tweet contains a link to your website, that’s an inbound link and also a social signal
...

Take a break
...
When you're ready, let's take a closer look at the
most important single element in your website’s search engine rankings: Inbound
links, and how to get them
...
It was pretty easy
for online marketers to rank websites by building thousands of links to them,
regardless of their quality or relevance
...
SEO strategies
basically boiled down to building as many links as possible with the anchor text for
the keywords for which webmasters wanted to rank
...
Around that time, many marketers and webmasters were hit over the
head with a variety of algorithm updates designed by Google to stop the
manipulation of its search results by spammy, scalable link building tactics
...
Even with the fallout of the Penguin
algorithm update, inbound links are still the single most important factor in the
algorithm in determining search engine rankings
...
While tactics and strategies vary, all
you need to know is that you should aim for achieving links from relevant, quality
websites
...

These are often viewed as link farms
...
)
What you do want?
Links from lots of completely different websites on different IP addresses
Links that are slowly built up, naturally, as your content deserves
Links from websites relevant or vertical to your industry
Links from large, authority websites full of quality content
Links with a wide range of anchor text
Contextual, in‐content links
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The trick is to balance everything above
...


Guest Blogging
Guest blogging has been one of the best forms of link building for years
...

Mass producing low‐quality articles that are published on mediocre blogs created
solely for the purpose of providing links? Yes, Google probably will put an end to the
effectiveness of this
...

True guest blogging is not only beneficial for both the publisher and the author, but
the readers too
...
You’ll also earn passive, targeted, free
website referral traffic for years to come
...
First, you need to find blogs and publishers that have an audience and
following that would be interested in your product/service
...
Sure, websites related to lawn mowers
would be great
...

A homeowners’ blog might be a good fit; wouldn't homeowners be interested
in purchasing a lawn mower? Your guest blog post could be “6 Reasons Your
Lawn Looks Like Crap” – gasp
...
It gets your attention, right? Most
homeowners are very proud of their land and their lawn
...

Home & Garden, Home Improvement, and even Real Estate might be good fits
...

Step 2
...

You could try searching for “home improvement blog” as a good starting
point
...
Visit all of these and make a list
of the ones you think would be most appropriate
...
Find the contact information for each blog
...
To perform a “Whois”
lookup, simply visit Google and search for “whois lookup” and you’ll find
plenty of websites that will facilitate the process for you
...
Contact each blog owner and politely introduce yourself, explain why
you’re reaching out, and request the opportunity to contribute to their blog as
a guest contributor
...

Your articles on [insert existing post from their website #1, insert existing post from
their website #2, and insert existing post from their website #3] are great, but I
think you can tie it all together by blogging on [insert guest blog post topic]
...
;) How about I write it for you? Don’t worry, I’m
a great blogger and have had my posts featured on [insert previous guest post URL
#1] and [insert previous guest post URL #2]
...
;)
Look forward to hearing from you,
[insert your name]

Pro Tip: When sending out these emails, I highly recommend you download
and install Boomerang for Gmail, which is a handy plugin that allows you to
automatically schedule follow‐up reminders if you don’t hear back from
someone
...

Step 5
...
When you do, start writing a super‐awesome, insightful, helpful article
...

Depending on the publisher, they will allow you to include a link to your
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website in your author bio (sometimes called a resource box) either at the end
or beginning of the article
...

Link Building that Makes the World a Better Place
This process results in publishers getting enticing, helpful content for their readers
that engages them and grabs their curiosity
...
Readers learn something new
and find a helpful resource for more information
...
In fact, Google and Bing have
specifically stated this is an acceptable form of link building
...
If the
authority site finds your content valuable enough to publish, that’s [what we
look for]
...

Years
ago, press releases had the power to improve rankings quickly and easily
...

Matt Cutts recently commented in a forum discussion that people shouldn't expect
links from press releases to help with rankings
...
In
the end, it just doesn’t really matter whether he’s right or not; press releases yield
benefits in many ways other than just inbound links
...
If interesting enough, it could even get picked up by mainstream
media and news publishers
...

Unfortunately, writing a great press release requires talent and skill
...
a new product, a new employee, a new breakroom, a special
offer you're running)
It needs to grab the reader's attention and inspire them to take an action
...
What's the main purpose
of your PR?
Be up to date with current news and try to put a local spin on something
that's in the headlines
Don't blatantly promote
...

Remember you get what you give
...

After creating an account, you will receive (as per your preferences) email alerts
when there’s a need for a source or interviewee in a particular field or industry
...
If you see an opportunity that fits your
business, experience, or expertise, you can reach out to the reporter
...
This results in inbound links, media exposure, referral
traffic, and brand awareness
...
reporterconnection
...
mediakitty
...
prnewswire
...
sourcebottle
...
au

33

Local SEO
If your business services a local area with a physical (brick and mortar) address, then
you’ll need to understand local SEO and how it’s unique from national SEO
...
Here's a
screen shot of regular search results, followed by one that shows local search
results
...
There are also links to either their website or their
Google+ page
...

Local search results are usually triggered when a geographic region is included in the
search query
...


Local SEO Tactics
With local SEO, there are a few more ranking factors that are taken into
consideration as compared to national SEO
...

Start with on‐site SEO
To get your website ranking well for local search results, start by ensuring that all
the basics of proper on‐site SEO are implemented
...
Ensure your local region is present in the title tag and meta description
tag of your website’s header code
...
Even if you've never created one, there is
probably one already one half empty, dead, waiting to be claimed and making
potential customers turn the other way when they see it
...
google
...
Search for your business name and see if you can find it
...
”
If you can’t find it, then you’ll need to create your listing from scratch
...
com/places and follow the instructions
...
Robust, complete listings will receive preference in local
search results
...
Yelp is the most popular, so let’s take a look at a great example of a completed
Yelp profile:

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Well‐done Yelp business listing
For an up‐to‐date list of all the other directories on which you should claim your local
business listing, visit http://www
...
com/products
...

While you’re at it, I highly recommend the Yext service
...


37

Get Citations, Lots of Them
Citations are mentions of your business NAP (name, address, phone number) on
other websites
...
For maximum effect, a citation should be an exact match for
how everything is listed on your Google+ Local page
...

Yext is the best and easiest way to get these citations initially
...
I
recommend the White Spark local citation finder tool for ongoing citation building
...
whitespark
...
The more
positive reviews you get, the better your local search results will be
...
That’s why it’s often
worth taking the time to optimize for image search traffic to your website
...

Optimization mostly consists of using strategic (ie, keyword‐themed) image file
names, alt text, and captions
...
There are two potential problems here, though
...
But they won't actually land on your page unless they click the link to
see the full website for that image (your page)
...

Dilemma #2
The second dilemma is that image searchers tend to be browsers; not buyers
...

But if you have a website that revolves around visuals, it could be well worth it
...
If you can present original findings, insights, or data in an easy‐to‐
understand way visually, it’s much more likely to be shared, referenced, and
discussed
...


39

Reasons to invest in infographics:
They are often quickly shared and spread across the internet
They spark social media sharing (social signals) and discussion
They generate brand awareness, referral traffic, and inbound links
Infographics allow you to reach more people and present your information in a
simple, effective way
...
The design, script, and
data representation of the infographic are the keys to its virality
...

With the rise and popularity of infographics, many websites have emerged that let
users design their own custom infographics
...
icharts
...
com
http://infogr
...
visual
...
easel
...
com

40

Staying Safe from Search Engine Algorithm
Changes
In the online marketing world, things change constantly
...

The past couple years have been a roller coaster ride for SEO professionals
...

Don't let that happen to you
...
Here's a glimpse into some of the recent changes
unleashed by Google over the course of 2011 and 2012
...

Business sites weren't exempt, either
...

Since Panda’s original launch in February of 2011, there have been numerous updates
th
to the algorithm
...
You can track
Google’s algorithm update history at SEOMoz here:
http://www
...
org/google‐algorithm‐change
How to Avoid the Panda Algorithm
Google doesn't give definite answers very often; as a result, much of what an SEO
professional does is research and testing
...

With that said, here are some tips that will help you stay out of Panda's way:
41

Avoid duplicate content (ie, textual content that is exactly the same on one
page of your website as another page on your website)
...

Include original, unique, valuable content on every page of your website
...

Don't unnaturally stuff keywords into your page content
...

Use attention‐grabbing, but truthful and succinct meta descriptions
Get lots of real social signals by engaging and interacting in social media
Get high quality inbound links from other websites

Google Penguin
While Panda focused more on on‐site factors and content, the Penguin algorithm
was designed to look for unnatural manipulation of search engine rankings
occurring off‐site
...
Remember earlier when I discussed how inbound links used
to play a much greater role in search engine rankings? This fact was abused and
manipulated to the point that Google had to figure out a way to fix it
...

How to Avoid the Penguin Algorithm:
Don't purchase links from other websites
...

Don't participate in link exchanges
...

Don't use social comments, blog comments and forum posts purely for linking
purposes
...
Simply use them
for what they're meant to be
...

Don’t hire an SEO company that promises to build hundreds or thousands of
inbound links
...
Any more than 2% of your inbound
links having the same anchor text, especially if that anchor text happens to be
a high‐value keyword, is a red flag to Google of unnatural anchor text
manipulation
...


Google’s Freshness Update
The freshness update was released in November of 2011
...
For example, if you were to search
Google for “flu type”, you probably don't want a history lesson published in 1986 on
the types of flu that we knew about
...
This is just one of the reasons that I always recommend
including a blog on your site, so you can easily update it and keep your site running
with fresh content
...
Also helps to establish authority and
expertise in the niche, further increasing conversion rate
...

Allows you to rank for more keywords relevant to your niche
...

Helps generate inbound links from other publishers looking for relevant
articles to cite, which improves your rankings, generates brand awareness,
and drives inbound leads
...
“Advertisements” included opt‐in boxes,
PPC ads, subscribe boxes, and other commercially‐oriented items that distracted
from the editorial content of the page
...
So, make sure your content is the primary
Thing users see on your site

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