Reading Time: 2 min I wrote yesterday about how you should work hard not to confuse Google, and one of the things I mentioned in there was to “make sure your site isn’t doing something stupid“. While that could mean a variety of things, there is one thing that rises above pretty much all of the others, and it’s […]
SEO
Just don’t confuse Google
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve written about Search Engine Optimization on here quite a few times over the years, as there’s a lot of details involved in it. From a high level, though, there’s really just three things: Make sure your site isn’t doing something stupid. Produce great content. Don’t confuse Google. I’ve talked a lot about the first […]
Too many internal links can be a problem
Reading Time: < 1 min When adding content to your website, linking from one of your pages to another can be a great thing! As I’ve mentioned before (and a great example of an internal link), Google ranks individual pages, not full sites. Internal links help Google move around your site and get a better feel for the structure of […]
Empathy is key for SEO
Reading Time: < 1 min If you want to write content that ranks well in Google, empathy is a huge part of helping with those efforts. It’s not that empathetic writing is more SEO-friendly style, but really understanding your customers will help you target the right keywords. It doesn’t matter what you think people should be searching for, but it’s […]
Google isn’t looking for tricks
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve said for years that Google doesn’t really change the rules too often. Certainly we’ve seen a few major shifts in the last 20 years (SSL matters more, mobile functionality is huge, etc), but most of what Google looks for has been exactly the same — high quality content that your users find valuable. That’s […]
Google launches “Search Console Insights”, and it’s excellent
Reading Time: < 1 min If you have a website, Google has long offered two great (free!) tools to help you understand the visitors on your site. Google Analytics: Shows you information about the people on your site; how they got there, a bit about them, and what they looked at. Google Search Console: This is the view of your […]
Own your shortcomings
Reading Time: 2 min A few years ago I was car shopping and was looking at perhaps getting a Nissan as my next car. As I researched further, though, I found out that they didn’t yet support Android Auto (which was on the list of features I was looking for). When I Googled for “why doesn’t Nissan support Android […]
It’s not about ranking first, it’s about ranking first for the right keyword
Reading Time: < 1 min Many people make it a goal to rank first in Google, and it’s not a bad plan. The problem is what you’re trying to rank first for. This is a common tactic that spammers use — they can promise you a #1 ranking as long as they don’t promise exactly what you’d be ranking #1 […]
Google ranks pages, not sites
Reading Time: 2 min When you’re working to improve your rankings in Google, it’s easy to slip into the idea of trying to improve the rankings for your entire website at once. While there is a bit of benefit to that, generally speaking Google looks more closely at individual pages than they do at entire sites. In fact, most […]
There is no magic bullet for your business
Reading Time: < 1 min As much as we want there to be one, there is no magic bullet for your business to make it succeed. The desire for one is what leads to all of the MLMs and online marketing sages that can give you “the secret” for just $299. A great example of that is this video from […]