The Importance of Keywords in SEO A Beginner’s Guide

The Importance of Keywords in SEO A Beginner’s Guide

Use the proper keyword and you will get more search engine traffic…Optimize your website/blog keywords and you will rank faster…How many times have you gotten such pieces of advice when you were starting to learn about SEO?Probably a lot.That’s because keywords are the first things you should learn about when you start to optimize your blog for SEO.This guide is written for a beginner like you to understand the most fundamental concept of SEO – keywords.Let’s start with the basics…If you have been blogging for a while, you probably know that 95% of your traffic is coming from 5% of your posts. In other words, you are probably getting a maximum amount of search engine traffic from a few hand-picked posts.Have you ever questioned why these posts are getting so much traffic? Well, the answer is you must have done something right.Right?The reason is, some of your posts got ranked on the first page of a search engine for keywords that are highly searched for by users.So here’s the main question to think about:

Who is the one ranking your content?At the end of the day, it’s a machine (algorithm) which looks for certain signals in order to rank the content appropriately.When I say “ranking” of the content, what do I mean? In this context, ranking is the order that pages appear in a search engine’s results page (SERP).You can go to the  SEMrush  site and type in your website’s address to see which keyword(s) you are ranking for.Here is an example from one of my popular blogs:Keyword position in GoogleLet’s try to understand what’s happening in this image. (Even if you don’t understand 100%, don’t worry as this is normal for a beginner.)
Keyword: This is the specific phrase which is driving traffic to a specific URL. When doing SEO, this is the phrase that we “target”, so we often call it the “target keyword”.
Pos.: This is the ranking of the keyword in Google Search (i.e. position). For instance, if it’s number 1, it’s the first result that Google shows. If it’s number 4, it’s the fourth. And so on… Your target should be to rank on the first page of Google for your target keyword (Pos. 1-10).
Volume: This tells you roughly how many people are searching for that particular keyword in a given month. This is a very important thing because even if you think a search term will be popular, Google’s data will tell you otherwise. In the above example, you can see two similar keywords which have a considerable difference in monthly search volume:
Free professional email address: 110 searches/month
Free professional email: 70 searches/month
While we’re defining things, let’s look at two more important terms:
Short Tail Keywords: Short keywords that are 1-3 words.
Make money online, Professional email, Lose weight
Long Tail Keywords: More specific keywords that are usually three words or longer.
How to make money blogging, How to get professional email from Google, How to lose belly fat in 6 weeks
Note: All words and phrases qualify as “keywords” when they have a considerable amount of searches (volume) in a month.Long tail keywords are more profitable, as you will drive more targeted traffic and your chances of ranking on the first page are higher. For more on this,  check out this post .For now, try and understand all the terms mentioned so far.What is the importance of keywords from an SEO perspective?Now that you understand the basic concept of keywords, let’s dive into it a little deeper.When we “SEO-optimize” a blog post or a web page, we have the option to define our target keywords. This kind of keyword is known as a Meta_keyword.In 2012, it was important to specify meta keywords, but in 2017, it’s not of any use. The search engine algorithms have become much smarter; they now auto-detect keywords and rank pages automatically.Google has already made it clear that they do not consider meta keywords when selecting keywords, and this makes sense because it wouldn’t be good for anyone.For example, for this post, some meta keywords could be: “keyword tips, SEO, keyword research”, and so on.Now, anyone looking for “keyword tips” would land on this page, not see anything of use, and leave, thus increasing my bounce rate. It’s not good for me and it’s not good for the user.So remember that anytime someone tells you meta keywords matter, be sure to ignore them.How To Start with Keyword ResearchKeyword research is the process of finding the right keyword for your post. This step is important if you wish to grow your blog/website in a short span of time and ultimately make money. There are various ways by which you can find keywords and do keyword research.Find Keywords with  SEMrush :This is an online tool that lets you find keywords, see which keywords your site is ranking for, and allows you to spy on your competitors.A good idea is to start picking the top blogs in your niche and add them into  SEMrush  to see which keywords those sites are ranking for. From here, you just need to start  building unique and high-quality content  around those keywords.This is a paid tool, but you can get a 15-day free trial (worth $150)  using this link .For more on how to use SEMrush, check out:
SEMrush Review: A SEM Tool to Research Competitors’ Keywords
A Practical Guide For Growing Blog Traffic Using SEMrush
Find Keywords with Google Search:You can also use Google Search to find target keywords.Google will auto-suggest a search query when you start to type anything. You can create a list of keywords using this technique and use SEMrush or Google’s Keyword Planner to check the search volume for all these keywords.
Other Keyword Tools:
Keyword Planner : Official Google tool. Free, but not as powerful as SEMrush.
Ahrefs : This is an alternative to SEMrush which is also popular among SEO users.
LongTailPro : Great tool to use to find long tail keywords in any niche.
Once you have found profitable keywords, your task is to write an SEO-optimized article for your target keywords. You can  follow this guide  to understand how to target keywords on a particular post.Keyword Density and Keyword PlacementKeyword density is a complex topic.This  Wiki article  will give you a fair idea of how keyword density is calculated. Depending on your target keywords, (long tail or short tail), you should try to maintain a general percentage of keyword density. When bots crawl your page, they can determine which particular keywords a page should rank for from the keyword density.Keyword targeting is important, but stay away from “keyword stuffing”. This is the overuse of keywords on any particular page. This will ultimately be harmful to your ranking.Different SEO ninjas have different ideas about keyword density, but your main keyword should ideally not be more than 2% of the article. I try to keep it between 1-1.5%.Along with the main keyword, you should also throw in some related terms, known as  LSI keywords. You can learn about LSI keywords  here , and  here is a free LSI keyword finder tool .Do remember, you can target more than one keyword on a blog post or a page. But I would suggest you keep it less than three because if your post is high-quality, you will also indirectly rank for related long tail keywords.So be careful not to “stuff” keywords.What does keyword stuffing do?Overusing keywords alerts Google bots to the fact that you are “spamming” your post by stuffing it with unnecessary keywords. Google will think you are trying to trick the system. Google penalizes for this action.So be wise when you select the number of keywords you are using for SEO. Particularly since the Google Panda update (2011), any SEO actions that do not appear to be natural are bad for your site. If you are not sure about your SEO practices,  use our free blogger’s forum to ask a question .Meta titles, meta descriptions, and headings:Now that you have a perfect keyword to target, and you are writing a great post around it, try to also use that keyword as part of the title of the post. By default, this title will also be the title shown in search engines (i.e. the “meta title”).You can also write a description for users to see when they look at your site in a search engine (i.e. the “meta description”). Adding in a relevant meta description will also give more insight about your page/post to search engine bots. I suggest you use your keyword in the meta description as well.Note: You can write meta titles and meta descriptions using an SEO plugin like  Yoast SEO .Also, try to write more SEO-friendly articles by using H2 and H3  tags  (your title is H1 by default in WordPress). However, don’t overuse heading tags, as keyword stuffed headings and too many heading tags can lead to a negative ranking.Random SEO tip: Don’t use numbers in your permalink (e.g. yourdomain.com/4-ways-to-rank-higher-in-google) because in the future, if you want to extend the article by adding an additional point (e.g. 5 ways to rank higher in Google), that permalink will no longer be accurate. For more on writing SEO-optimized posts, go  here .What to do now?Now that you are aware that keywords play an important role in SEO, your first task is to find 5-6 profitable keywords for your next post.You can use the Google Keyword Planner,  SEMrush , or some other tool. Here is the  updated list of the best keyword research tools .Write out a post based on your target keyword, and use any of  these Google keywords rank tracker sites  to keep track of your keyword positions.So that’s it. Keep refining, learning, and trying!When you rank on the first page, let me know about it in the comments!
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How To Generate A Disavow File Using Ahrefs SEO Suite

How To Generate A Disavow File Using Ahrefs SEO Suite

How To Generate A Disavow File Using Ahrefs SEO Suite  Negative SEO  is a real thing.Many marketers are trying to manipulate the system by sending spam backlinks to their competitor’s website.To handle such spam links coming to your site, you have multiple options. The two most popular (which both go hand in hand) are:
Generating a disavow file for bad links and submitting it to Google.
Building more high-quality links to your website .
Generating a Google disavow file will ensure that Google nullifies the effect of links coming from spammy websites to your site.You can use tools like  Ahrefs ,  SEMrush , and others to generate a disavow link file.In this tutorial, I will show you how to do this using the Ahrefs SEO tool.How To Use Ahrefs For Generating Disavow File & Link DetoxingNote: You should use this method with caution and only when you understand completely what you are doing. If by mistake you end up disavowing important backlinks, it might affect your ranking. Another thing you need to keep in mind is that most spammers drip feed such spam links. You need to make sure you keep monitoring new backlinks as they come in. I like using Ahrefs  to get this done because their database is extensive and they crawl new links faster than most of the  backlink  checker tools out there.Also, once you have added a domain to the disavow file generator in Ahrefs, that domain will not appear again in the backlink profile. This way, all you need to do is monitor your new backlinks and keep adding new spammy links to the disavow file.I also like using Ahrefs because you can easily monitor new backlinks, which is important for maintaining a site’s SEO.Here is the outline of the process:
Create an account on Ahrefs .
Submit your domain to the Site Explorer.
Add existing spam links to the disavow file.
Submit the disavow file to Google’s Search Console.
Monitor new links coming in.
If you are losing your ranking due to spam backlinks that were either generated by you (yeah!  sometimes people buy crappy backlinks  thinking this will help) or by a competitor, follow this process.

And if you’re not facing this issue now, keep this post handy as it will become very useful when this inevitably happens to your site.Step 1. Create an account and add your site to the Ahrefs dashboard. Create an account on Ahrefs , and confirm your account by clicking the confirmation link on the email. Once you are logged in to the dashboard, submit your site to the Ahrefs Site Explorer tool.Ahrefs dashboardClick on Add a website.On the next page, set the protocol you wish to track. You should track http + https for the best results.Also, give a meaningful name to the project (like your website’s name).Add a websiteOn the next page, you can input a URL (either yours or your competitor’s) to set up keyword position tracking and mention monitoring. This is outside the scope of this tutorial, so I’m skipping it; however, you should set these things up to get the most out of Ahrefs.  One thing that I find very exciting about Ahrefs is that you will get the website report literally within seconds.Website reportNow, it’s time to click on Referring domains, and start adding spammy domains to our disavow file.Step 2. Start adding spammy backlinks to the disavow file.This is where the real game starts.You need to identify the spammy domains that you want to add to your disavow file list. This is an extensive process for a first-timer, but after the first time, it gets easier.Also note that once you have disavowed all spammy domains, you need to monitor new backlinks (this is easy to do on Ahrefs).Here are a few methods that you can follow to quickly find spammy backlinks:
Find Spammy Anchor Text
This is the easiest method as all you need to do is browse backlinks and find obviously spammy links.Here’s what you need to do:
Click on Ahrefs Site Explorer.
Enter your domain name.
Click on Anchors in the left column.
Find the spammy/non-relevant anchor text.
AnchorsNow, click on Backlinks  > New on the left column and make sure you select the Live Index.In the search column, type the spam anchor text and you will see all the domains which are pointing to you with that anchor text. (See the below screenshot for better understanding.)BacklinksYou should also select One link per domain. This filter will show you only one backlink for each referring domain and will show you the backlink with highest UR (URL Rank).Once you have selected the domains you want to disavow, click on Disavow URLs.You also need to pay attention to the option at the top right that says “Hide disavowed links”. This will ensure those domains will not appear in your backlink profile of Ahrefs.Hide disavowed linksEasy, isn’t it?Now, let’s have a look at the 2nd method.
Find The Most Linked-To Pages
If you are getting spam backlinks to a few specific pages, you can select Pages > Best by links to find these links.Here you should also click the Broken option that shows the backlinks you’re getting to your  404 error  pages.Best by linksSimply copy the URL and enter it into the Ahrefs URL field to find all backlinks pointing to that page.I have yet to find any direct way to add those links to the disavow file, and I have notified the Ahrefs team about adding this feature.
Find Backlinks By Language
This way will let you find links to your website based on the language of anchor text/webpage.For example, here you can see how I used the language filter on Ahrefs to find Chinese language anchor text backlinks:Find Backlinks By Language
Find Links Manually
After going through the rest of the methods outlined above, you should finally go through each backlink manually and pick out the spammy ones.Again, make sure you select the option that says One link per domain. This saves a lot of time.While browsing these links, look for patterns so that you can learn what spammy backlinks look like. For example, I found the following patterns generated a lot of spam backlinks on my site:
“Powered by ph*wind”
“Powered by Di**uz!”
“Jer*eys”
“Gu**tbook”
BacklinksI then used the search bar to find all such links and manually reviewed them before adding them to the disavow file.Depending upon how big your site is, you need to spend at least a few hours adding in these spam links to your disavow file. For me, the fastest way is the anchor text way (the first one), but all of these methods should be used to make sure your entire backlink profile is free of spam.So depending on  how many backlinks your website got , this process could take a few hours or even a few days.Do remember, this is an on going process, so you should always be adding new links to your disavow file.Step 3. Download Disavow File From Ahrefs + Submit It To GoogleThis is the final step where we tell Google not to let these spammy links affect our site’s ranking.Here is what you need to do:
Go to your Ahrefs dashboard .
Click on Disavow links. (Refer to screenshot.)
Disavow linksThis will take you to the Disavow Tool for your site on Ahrefs.Here you can see a list of all the sites that you have added.You can also add in more links manually.Once you are satisfied, download the file by clicking on Export.ExportThis will export all links in a .txt format.Now you need to upload this disavow file to the  Google disavow link page here .If this is your first time, you should  read this tutorial on how to use the Google disavow tool .Conclusion: Using Ahrefs As Disavow File GeneratorAhrefs is indeed one of the top tools for monitoring your backlinks, and their disavow file feature is also extensive. For a huge website, it might be time-consuming to add in all these spam links, but the features to “hide added links to disavowed file” and “browse new links” will help you save time as you move ahead.It would be great to see Ahrefs add in more ways to find toxic backlinks and quickly add them to the disavow file. But for now, it works pretty well and will definitely get the job done. Create trial account on Ahrefs  (2-week free trial; $99/month after trial period)In the coming days, I will explore more SEO tools that will help us to  tackle negative SEO . For now, if you wish to suggest any more tricks or a new tool to generate disavow files, feel free to let me know in the comments section below.

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Long Form Content SEO Ranking Strategy: 11 Must Follow Tips to Rank

Long Form Content SEO Ranking Strategy: 11 Must Follow Tips to Rank

Have you ever written a piece of long form content or eBook of 4000 words and above before?If you haven’t, you probably don’t know the benefits and think that it’s just a lot of pointless work. But if you have, you already know that while it is indeed a lot of work, the result of that work can mean a great difference in search engine rankings. Earlier I wrote about  two important things to make your long form content rank  & many readers asked for more detailed guide on this and here we are.Now, let’s say that you want to set up your own business. You lie awake every night terrified that your business might end up being a failure.Then, one day, you see an A-Z guide for starting any business, and fortunately, this guide clears all your doubts and helps you to get started. This guide is loaded with all the information you need, and after devouring it, you begin to trust the people that created it.So the next time you need to get anything for your business, like project management software, or advice on how to  manage your work-life balance , you now have a trusted source to go to.That is the benefit of creating informative, in-depth, long form content.To put it succinctly, long form content will get you more of what you want from your blog – more visibility, improved engagement and social shares, more  backlinks  (which means higher ranking in SERPs), and most of all, it will make your audience start seeing you as the ultimate authority in your industry.However, this post is not about the importance of long form content.Instead, I’m here to share with you:11 SEO Hacks For Creating & Ranking Long Form Content1. Start With Keyword ResearchBefore writing your long form post,  take the time to search for the best focus keyword  on the topic, and also consider targeting a lower competition keyword.Just ensure you carry out this step correctly because it will ultimately determine the success of your content in search engines.There are many amazing tools on the internet that will make your keyword research task effortless.

Two of my favorites are:
SEMrush
Ahrefs
Keyword-research-for-long-form-contentCheck out this post of the  best tools for keyword research .If you still don’t know how to carry out effective keyword research, check out the tutorials below:
A Comprehensive Guide To Keyword Research By Juggernaut Method
Keyword Forensics: Taking Your Keyword Research to the Next Level
The Importance of Keywords in SEO: A Beginner’s Guide
2. Target Long Tail KeywordsNow, you already know that you should have a focus keyword while writing your long form blog post. But what a lot of people don’t know is that they should be targeting long tail keywords.These are the type of keywords that get super specific on any topic. Long tail keywords are usually much easier to rank and drive in highly targeted traffic.Below is an example of long tail keywords which I got from the popular  keywordtool.io tool:Target Long Tail KeywordsYou can also use the same tool to gather as many long tail keywords as possible. But, if you’re having trouble coming up with more of such keywords,  another good place to look at is the “related searches” section in Google :Searches related to long form contentFor more on long tail keywords, check out these guides:
Why Long Tail Keywords Is More Important Than Exact Match Keywords
6 Awesome Tools to Find Long-Tail Keywords In Any Niche
Free LSI Keyword Research Tool To Rank Higher In Searches
3. Optimize and Clean Your URLIt’s been confirmed that cleaner and shorter URLs help search engines better understand what your post is talking about, and they also provide a better user experience.Also, you want to ensure your URL contains your target keyword; this will enable it to rank better.Optimize and Clean Your URLShort and concise is best.Check out the guides below for a better understanding of URL structure:
15 SEO Best Practices for Structuring URLs
10 Useful Tips for Structuring URLs For Higher Ranking [Infographic]
4. Use A Proper H1  Tag Your H1 tag will always be the first thing people see when they arrive at your blog posts.Typically, your H1 tag is usually your blog post title.Use A Proper H1 TagA good H1 tag can significantly impact your search engine ranking.The chart below shows the search engine ranking result gotten from a local car parts store in Houston, Texas  after they changed some of their page titles and H1 tags :H1 tag impact search engine rankingA well optimized H1 tag will enable the search engines to better index your content.Ideally, your H1 tags should:
Be short and to the point.
Provide a clear idea of what the blog post is about.
Have a long tail keyword (your target keyword).
Once your headings have these qualities, you’re good to go.For more on H1 tags and titles, check out:
7 Free Blog Post Title Generators & Analyzers for More Traffic
3 Easy To Use Tips for Writing Post Title For High Traffic
5. Add Good Subheadings In an article  posted on LinkedIn Pulse,  Keren Lerner  stated that “Your headlines may be catchy. Your writing may be amazing. You may have well-crafted words, punchy sentences, and incredible insight into the minds of your reader. But if your blog [post] is longer than 150 words, you need to add sub-headings – or build them in as you go!”According to her, this is because, “big block of texts can feel like a chore to read.”In case you don’t know, subheadings are the h2, h3, and h4 tags usually contained in a blog post.Use subheadings to break up your content into easy to follow chunks. This will help your readers navigate and skim your content better.For more on sub-headings, check out:
Heading Tags SEO: Tips for Using H1 to H6 Right Way
6. Add Inbound LinksInternal/inbound links refer to any links from one page on a website that points to another page on the same site. It’s one of the methods smart bloggers and content marketers use to tell Google and website visitors that a particular page of content is relevant.There are many benefits associated with  internal linking , some of which include:
It helps to boost your ranking for certain keywords.
It helps search engines easily crawl your site.
It can help you to promote some paid services.
It gives your audience further reading options.
For more on internal linking:
3 Best Solutions For Blog Posts Interlinking in WordPress
What Are The Top Benefits of Interlinking Your Blog Posts?
7. Add Outbound LinksJust like inbound links, linking out to related pages in your niche tells Google that your page is of higher quality; it also helps search engines figure out your exact topic.According to Brian from  Backlinko , “Not linking out might be the #1 on-page SEO mistake that I see people make. I try to use 2-4x outbound links per 1000 words. That’s a good rule of thumb for most sites.”Brian's takeFor more on outbound links:
How Outbound Links Improve Your Blog Authority & Ranking
How Effective Are Outbound Links?
8. Optimize Your Title TagTitle tags are incredibly essential; a properly optimized title tag will drastically enhance your page’s visibility in SERPs. They’re usually the very first thing people see when your content shows up in the search results.For the sake of clarity, a title tag is the title of each result that comes up.Here’s an example:Optimize Your Title TagWhile writing your page’s title tag, ensure it contains your focus keyword and also describes the benefits the page offers.For more on optimizing title tags, check out:
How To Use WordPress Post Permalink & Post Title Combination for SEO
WordPress Tags – What You Are Doing Wrong & How To Fix It
9. Optimize Your Meta Description For SEOA meta description is a 160 character snippet that summarizes a page’s content.Optimize Your Meta Description For SEOJust like the title tag, your page’s meta description will enable your post to stand out in the search engine result pages.A properly optimized meta description should:
Include a focus keyword.
Be brief (about 160 characters).
Be crystal clear and descriptive.
Contain a call-to-action (CTA).
Be enchanting and entice the visitor to read the entire page.
For more on optimizing meta descriptions, check out:
How To Write Meta Descriptions For SEO (with good and bad examples)
How To Create The Right Meta Description
10. Include MultimediaYou already know that content marketing is not about just text. Text alone can only take you so far. Entertaining videos, images, screenshots, diagram, and charts can take you a lot further.They will:
Boost the time spent on your site.
Reduce your bounce rate.
These are the two important user-interaction ranking factors that Google has been using to judge web pages recently.You must have noticed that I often use a lot of images, charts, and screenshots on my blog posts; this is simply because  I know the benefits  they add to my content. Apart from boosting time on site and reducing bounce rate, they will also enhance the perceived value of the page, which will equally increase the likelihood of people linking to it.Therefore, while writing your long form content, try and add as many relevant multimedia as possible.For more on enhancing your page with multimedia, take a look at:
How To Embed YouTube Videos in WordPress
20 Awesome Tools for Creating Engaging Visuals for Your Blog & Social Media
10 Absolutely Free Websites to Download Stock Images
11. Add Your Target Keyword And Related Keywords It is important to include your focus keyword in the body of your blog post. However, you should not overdo things – just ensure it’s in there a few times.This will make Google understand that your focus keyword is important while crawling your content.Also, sprinkle in some related, low competition keywords throughout the content to enable you rank for even more focused long tail keywords.Finally, it’s also advisable to mention your keyword toward the last paragraph of your article, and also in some of your subheadings. However, always remember to tread with caution and don’t over do it.For more on adding in keywords, check out:
What Is The Optimum Keyword Density for Better Ranking?
Shattering The Myth About The Keyword Density Formula
Performing Proper SEO Of Long Form ContentLong form content is truly effective in positioning you as an authority on your topic, and also effective for enhancing your search engine ranking. However, this can only be achieved with solid SEO practices – like these 11 points.Remember that this is not a complete list of everything needed to have a great SEO. These are merely the basics that will help you craft the best long form content on any topic.Like you already know, search engine optimization is a long term strategy and not something you should expect seeing results in immediately.In order for it to really have the best effect possible, you need patience.Implement these techniques, and then watch, with patience, as your rankings skyrocket.Do you have any more SEO ranking tips for long form content you’d like to share with us? Which one of these ranking tips do you often forget to implement? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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5 Mobile SEO Mistakes That Are Sabotaging Your Mobile Marketing Efforts

5 Mobile SEO Mistakes That Are Sabotaging Your Mobile Marketing Efforts

SEO remains one of the most popular topics on the internet. Why?Because webmasters are always fighting to get search traffic – the better your pages are optimized for search engines, the more chances you have to rank your content, and the more traffic you’ll drive to your site.That’s not all; it equally means that you’ll be making a lot of money (provided your site is  optimized for conversions ).It doesn’t matter whether you are in blogging, content marketing,  affiliate marketing , social media, or e-commerce, the challenge is the same……Every website owner is searching for the right skills required to make their sites perform better in SERPs (search engine result pages).However, while implementing SEO strategies, one area most people often fail to give adequate attention to is mobile SEO.In today’s marketing era, mobile marketing is becoming increasingly popular. Any marketer who’s not yet paying attention to mobile traffic is not doing SEO correctly.As more and more people are starting to use mobile devices for every task that used to be only possible on desktop, one thing has become apparent:

The mobile web is gradually taking over the internet.

And, I’m not talking about just surfing the net. I’m talking about everything from browsing social networking sites, checking emails, collaborating with teams, and making purchases.According to  statcounter.com , mobile browsers enjoy 53.03% of the total number of people who access the internet, while desktops have 42.19% and tablets have 4.78%.Furthermore, in an article on the Hallaminternet blog,  Jonathan Ellins  stated that:“In 2016, we saw an increasing number of people using tablets and mobile devices instead of desktop computers to browse the internet. On average, the combined number of mobile and tablet users finally surpassed the number of desktop users globally and the upwards trend is continuing.”

Therefore, it’s important for site owners and internet marketers to pay more attention to the mobile version of their sites so that they will benefit more from these mobile users.However, just like desktop marketing, mobile marketing requires the right SEO tactics to get you a significant position in SERPs.Sadly, a lot of marketers still make huge mobile SEO mistakes that end up robbing them of a considerable chunk of internet traffic – thereby leaving a lot of money on the table.What Are These Mobile SEO Mistakes?1. You’re Not Using A Responsive DesignWhat exactly is a responsive web design, and why does it matter?According to HuffingtonPost:“A responsive design simply means a website that has been constructed so that all of the content, images and structure of the site remains the same on any device. For example, when a user accesses a site on their desktop, they are getting the full view of the site. But when that same user goes to visit the site from their smartphone or tablet, the site will retract to fit on the smaller screen.”Responsive Design Example(Source: Freshparks)In 2015, Google started taking a website’s mobile presence as one of its ranking factors – this alone can justify why using a responsive design is essential.Typically, one of the reasons why responsive blogs perform better in search rankings is because they provide a better user-experience over websites that are not mobile-friendly.Additionally, Google likes the fact that responsive sites use a single URL as opposed to using different URLs for separate versions of a website.With a responsive site, you no longer have to worry about creating different websites for different devices; your website will run perfectly across all devices.Apart from all these obvious facts, there are also other vital reasons why you should instantly switch to a responsive design right now.Responsive sites:

Enable you to reach more clients and customers on smaller devices (smartphones and tablets).

Decrease labor and costs as you no longer have to run separate websites for various devices.

Track and report analytics from one place.

Increase customer satisfaction, which will eventually lead to higher sales and conversions.

Stay ahead of the competition as over  44 percent of fortune 500 companies not yet mobile ready .

Finally, if your site is not responsive, you will lose out on mobile traffic as a lot of mobile users who try to access your site will quickly hit the back button and leave.Further reading:

How To Make A User-Friendly Blog For More Conversions 

Find Out How Responsive Web Design Equals To SEO benefits 

How To Radically Increase The Overall Performance Of Your Responsive Website? 

2. Your Mobile Pages Load SlowlyJust as people who access your site on desktop computers hate slow loading pages, so do mobile users.According to  Think With Google :“Slow loading sites frustrate users and negatively impact publishers. While there are several factors that impact revenue, our model projects that publishers whose mobile sites load in 5 seconds earn up to 2x more mobile ad revenue than those whose sites load in 19 seconds.Mobile Pages Load SlowlyThe same study also observed 25% higher ad viewability and 70% longer average sessions for sites that loaded in 5 seconds vs. 19 seconds.If your site takes too long to load, visitors might leave before they’ve even seen anything.Apart from annoying visitors, Google also punishes slow loading pages and ranks them very low in SERPs. In a blog post on the Appticles blog , Alexandra Anghel stated that, “when your mobile website or app is clumsy or slow, 29% of smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs (that is, they can’t find information or it’s too slow).”Below are the basic things you can do to boost your mobile page speed:

Reduce server response time.

Load above the fold content before below the fold content.

Enable browser caching .

Optimize your images .

Minify JavaScript, CSS, and HTML

Activate Google AMP .

Further reading:

Check How Fast The Mobile Version Of Your Website Is Loading: Free Tools 

7 Smart Ways To Reduce Your WordPress Blog Loading Time 

How To Reduce WordPress Database Size To Improve Blog Performance 

3. You Have Blocked FilesInternet marketers understand how critical search engine indexing is to their website search experience. This is why they always do their best to help the search engines to properly crawl and index their sites, spending time and money in off-page and on-page optimization such as website structure, content, links, meta descriptions,  tags , image optimization, etc.But, while it’s obvious that high-quality website optimization is paramount to success in search, not paying attention enough to the technical aspect of SEO can be disastrous.If you’re not familiar with terms like robots.txt, XML sitemaps, microformats, and meta robots tags, you might be putting yourself in a lot of trouble.Let’s focus on one of those terms right now – robots.txt.Robots.txt is simply a text file whose function is to instruct search engine robots (also known as spider, bots, or crawlers) how to properly crawl and index web pages. Typically, the robots.txt file is placed in the top level directory of your site so that the bots can easily access its instructions.Unfortunately, in an attempt to optimize a site and rank higher, some site owners make a big SEO blunder by shutting out the Googlebot from indexing their files.How do they do that? They restrict Google’s access to their CSS, JavaScript, and image files.And if your robots.txt file disallows the Googlebot from accessing crucial elements of your site, your rankings will definitely drop.To prevent this potential disaster, always check your robots.txt files to see that no essential elements are disallowed. You can also  test your robots.txt files  on the Google Search Console to be sure that all is well.Further reading:

  How To Fix Googlebot Cannot Access CSS & JS Warning 

4. You Don’t Have Rich SnippetsLet me ask you a question:Have you ever noticed that when performing a search on Google, some listings often look more attractive and sexier than others? For example, check out the screenshot below:Rich Snippets exampleSee that extra information like the star rating? That’s a rich snippet.Rich snippets take relevant information from your blog and display them on your website’s listing in the search results, apart from the usual page title, URL, and meta description. This additional information can include star ratings, images, author information, etc.Rich snippets are often neglected in SEO strategies, and this is because they are more tedious to implement than traditional on-page SEO tactics. But if you can spend a little time practicing how to use them, it will be well worth it in the end.According to Search Engine Land,  adding this extra piece of information to your Google search listings  captures the eyes of viewers, and they can increase your click-through rates by 30 percent, even if you’re not occupying the first position. (source) Google loves websites or blogs that provide rich, accurate, and instant answers to queries. If you want to be the website that provides those instant answers, you should  use Schema.org on your site .Finally, using these kinds of rich snippets increases your CTR because it makes your site more attractive to users, and Google tends to reward these helpful additions.Further reading:

4 Best Rich Snippets Plugins for WordPress 

How To Use Rich Snippets, Structured Markup For High Powered SEO 

5. Your Multimedia Content Is Causing ProblemsAdding  videos and multimedia content  to your site is a great way to make your blog posts better and more engaging. However, you need to be sure that your site is able to play this content without any issues.In a situation where this multimedia slows down your site’s speed or isn’t playable, this could pose a great challenge to your mobile marketing efforts.Back in the day, all the videos you’ve ever watched on the internet were channeled via a 3rd party plugin such as RealPlayer, QuickTime, or Flash. With these great plugins integrated into the various available web browsers, almost invisibly, the viewer wasn’t concerned about how they were seeing the video.Nowadays, problems occur when the audience suddenly attempts to view a video on an unsupported platform. This is especially problematic for mobile users who may not be using a supported browser.One good way to overcome this problem is to  follow Google’s advice by using HTML5 , especially if you want to display animated content on your website.With an ever growing number of people viewing video content on mobile devices, ensuring video can be seen on any device and with any browser should be of great concern to every webmaster.Further reading:

How To Embed YouTube Videos In WordPress (It’s easier than you think) 

How to Fix Mixed Content Error in WordPress After Adding SSL Certificate 

Mobile SEO MistakesBecause the mobile internet is so ubiquitous, optimizing the mobile version of your website will not only improve traffic, it will also go a long a way in improving your income as well.Do not wait until you’ve lost your users before implementing changes on your site. People love sites that load fast, have responsive designs, and have obviously been optimized for their specific platform.And in doing this, Google will reward you.Implement the tips we have provided in this post, and you will surely notice some level of improvement in your SERPs.What things do you do to improve your mobile SEO? What tips can you add to this list? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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A Detailed Comparison of Best Position Trackers SEO Tools With Results

A Detailed Comparison of Best Position Trackers SEO Tools With Results

Let’s not beat around the bush here. Irrespective of what some professionals may claim, search engine rankings are still the best indicators of SEO progress.Sure, on their own, they’re nothing more than a means to an end – increasing online visibility, getting more sales or achieving any other outcome you want for your business.And it is not possible if your rankings aren’t up there.It is crucial that you can  properly track and monitor your domain’s positions  for relevant keywords. The thing is, given the plethora of choices, how do you choose the best keyword ranking tool?Well, that’s what I intended to find out. I decided to compare some of the popular rank trackers in the market – Moz,  RankRanger ,  SEMrush ,  SE Ranking , and  Ahrefs  – to establish which offers the best value.Without any further ado, here’s what I discovered. Comparison criteria:Here’s the functionality I took into consideration when comparing rank trackers.

How many search engines and devices does each tool track

How many keywords could I monitor

Can I track rankings by location (and how many locations could I specify)

Can I track rankings for my business name in local listings

Can I compare my rankings with the competition

Could the tool suggest additional competitors for me

Can I see which keywords trigger a featured snippet

How often do they update the data

Can a tool alert me of unusual ranking fluctuations

What sort of reports can I generate

I know there’s a lot to cover so let’s dive right in. Comparison Results#1. Search Engines and Devices Search EnginesIt goes without saying that we are all eager to know how our sites rank on Google.But depending on various factors, like your location or business type, for example, you might want to track the rankings on  other search engines  as well.

And as it turns out, rank trackers differ greatly when it comes to search engines they target. For example, Moz allows you to track rankings on Google, Google Mobile, Bing and Yahoo.Track ranking in Search Engines SEMrush  and Ahrefs, however, track only Google (and Google mobile) rankings.SE Rankings on the other hand, also tracks rankings in Yandex, Yandex mobile and YouTube.Serach-Engine-Tracking-by-SE-rankingAnd finally, RankRanger offers an impressive list of search engines, including Google, Google mobile, Yahoo, Yandex, Bing, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Play, iTunes, Google Jobs, Haosou, Sogou, Baidu, Seznam, Atlas, and others.Searcg-Engine-Tracking-by-RankrangerHowever, the problem is, RankRanger allows you to pick only two search engines from the list. And so, although you have a plethora of choice, you can’t avail the options in full. Verdict: If you look at the list of supported engines, RankRanger is miles ahead of the rest. Unfortunately, its restriction to two sources lands it in line with other tools.

Devices

All rank trackers allow monitoring rankings for desktop and mobile devices separately. However,  SEMrush  is the only one that splits mobile devices between smartphones and tablets, offering a more in-depth look at your mobile rankings. Verdict:  SEMrush  for offering a more detailed analysis of mobile rankings.#2. KeywordsDepending on the size of your site, and the business, you might want to track anything from a handful of keywords to thousands or more. And particularly, if you’re in the latter category, it is crucial that the rank tracker you choose will not force you to drop some of the data. Here’s how my selected rank trackers stack up regarding the number of keywords they allow you to track:(Note: I’m quoting official information from those companies here, covering various price plans these products offer)

SEMrush Moz Ahrefs SE Ranking RankRanger

From 500 to 5000 From 300 to 7500 From 300 to 10000 From 50 to 20000 From 350 to 2000

Verdict: A tricky choice as the best tool in this case largely depends on your business requirements. So, instead of offering a strict verdict, I thought I’d compare the cost per keyword for each tool (using their smallest paid plan).

Price per month Keywords Price per Keyword

MOZ 99 300 0.33

Ahrefs 99 300 0.33

SEMrush 99 500 0.20

SE Ranking 29 250 0.12

RankRanger 69 350 0.20

#3. Location TrackingIf you run a local business, it is crucial that you know  how your keywords perform in your immediate locale . And although it’s not a functionality I’d personally be interested in, I compared whether rank trackers from my list can deliver  local rankings . And I was pleasantly surprised to find out that every tool on the list allows tracking rankings by location.

SEMrush Moz Ahrefs SE Ranking RankRanger

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

However, they all offer a different number of location targets you could specify and track. What’s more, in some of the tools, the actual number also depends on a price plan you’ve selected. Here’s the breakdown of how many locations per website you can specify:

SEMrush Moz Ahrefs SE Ranking RankRanger

10 4 From 1 to unlimited, depending on a price plan 5 2

Verdict: Ahrefs beats everyone else with their unlimited package. #4. Tracking Business Name in Local ListingsSimilarly, if you run (or help promote) a local business, you should know how it ranks for its business name. Therefore, a rank tracker you choose should give you the ability to  monitor rankings for the business name . From the ones I’ve compared,  SEMrush , SE Ranking and RankRanger offer this functionality. RankRangerMonitor-Business-Name-rankingSE RankingSearch Engine SettingsSEMrushSEMRush Position Tracking SettingsMoz doesn’t include it in its PRO package. However, you can get it if you sign up for their Moz LOCAL tool. To use it, however, you need to buy a separate license. Ahrefs, however, doesn’t allow tracking a business name. Verdict: A tie between  SEMrush , SE Ranking and RankRanger.#5. Competitor RankingsSimilarly, I analyzed which rank tracker allows me to compare my rankings with the competition and build an image of my  competitive landscape . Ahrefs , SE Ranking and RankRanger allow to compare up to 5 competitors.SE RankingSE RankingAhrefsCompetitor-analysis-with-AhrefsRank RangerCompetitor-analysis-with-RankrangerSEMrush allows adding up to 20 competitors. You can also add specific competitors for each keyword, making the tool’s competitive report highly relevant.Competitor-analysis-with-SEMrushFinally, with Moz, you can track rankings of up to 3 competitors. However, you can also add them from the organic report.Competitor-analysis-with-MozVerdict: SEMrush. If you need to monitor ranking changes for a large group of competitors, the tool delivers the greatest opportunity. #6. Additional Competitor ResearchI believe most will agree with me on this: Companies you consider  immediate competitors  aren’t necessarily the ones you battle for the searcher’s attention. Additional websites might be ranking for your keywords, trying to steal your traffic and revenue. And so, it is crucial that you understand who your online competitors are (not just the market ones).And as it turns out, there are only two tools on the list that offer this functionality:SEMrushCompetitors-report-of-SEMrushSEMrush’s competitor report includes all domains that target the same keywords as you, not just the ones that battle for the same organic traffic. Plus, it provides a wealth of additional information about each domain that you could use to plan strategies to overcome them in rankings. SE RankingsCompetitor-report-of-SE-rankingSE Rankings offers a list of domains targeting similar keywords as you to choose from. Verdict: SEMrush and SE Ranking because of their holistic approach of looking at other sources than just organic to get the full picture of the competitive landscape. #7. Featured Snippets ReportFeatured snippets are one heck of a deal. After all, as some SEOs suggested, the featured snippet is now a rank zero, the ultimate ranking position you could strive for. (Hell, you could rank on top of organic search, and the Answer Box will still nick your traffic!)Unfortunately,  getting it isn’t easy . Or is it? Because, for one,  knowing which keywords already trigger the answer box  could help you improve your relevant pages, and take over the feature box. And so, as part of the comparison, I checked which rank trackers report on featured snippets in rankings. And this is where things get really tricky. Because all the tools show the featured snippet icon, denoting that a particular keyword fires off the Answer Box. Then some of them allow to dig deeper and filter results by this rank type.So to take it from the top, Moz,  Ahrefs , SEMrush and RankRanger denote featured snippet in ranking reports, allowing you to identify keywords that trigger the answer box.  The cool thing about SEMrush featured snippet report is that it is unique in the market. It significantly speeds up your workflow of getting into featured snippets in two ways: result analysis and opportunities search.Featured-Snippets-in-SEMrushFirst, based on your keyword list, you get the list of all your pages that got you to featured snippet for any location or device that you target.At the same time, in the other tab, you get all the keywords that you did not gain a featured snippet rank for, but your competitors did. In the table, you can see at once the keywords AND the specific URL from the snippet. This feature allows you to quickly analyze why a particular page gained on the FS ranking and therefore how to improve your own page. Also, by putting priorities to your pages that got to the top-20 SERP positions, it’s easy to strategically plan your work.RankRanger provides a dedicated featured snippet report as well, including the information about keywords, domains, and landing pages that trigger the answer box.     Featured-Snippets-in-RankrangerVerdict: A tie between RankRanger and SEMrush#8. Data Update FrequencyGiven how fast rankings can change, it is crucial that you have access to the most current data.Spotting unusual rankings fluctuation might help you identify and overcome a bigger issue if the problem was left unattended. For that reason alone, I prefer an instant data update, rather than a delayed one. And so, as part of the process, I checked the intervals at which I could have my data delivered by the rank trackers. But to my surprise, there are huge discrepancies with data update frequency between those products. SE Ranking, SEMrush and RankRanger provide daily rankings. From SEMrush’s website:SEMrush’s websiteRankRangerData-frequency-on-RankrangerMoz reports on your search positions only once a week.SE Ranking, on the other hand, allows you to specify your desired frequency, and choose to receive the data every day, once in 3 days or weekly. Note that the frequency you choose will affect your price, with daily reports costing you more, and weekly slashing your cost by as much as 40%.Data-frequency-on-SErankingFinally, Ahrefs ties frequency to price plans. The higher plan you choose, the faster you’ll receive your data.Data-frequency-on-AhrefsVerdict: RankRanger provides the best value for the money here. But it’s worth mentioning that SE Ranking allows to select the frequency on all plans, and customize it to your needs.  #9. AlertsIn case something unusual happens to the rankings one would like to know the cause behind it, identify the problem in detail and take adequate measures to eradicate the problem. Unfortunately, the only rank tracker that offers the ability to set up alerts, and receive emails when rankings change is SEMrush.Setting-up-Alerts-in-SEMrushThat said, I admit that this is hands down an incredible feature, allowing SEOs to become more proactive, rather than reactive to changes and potential issues with rankings. Verdict: SEMrush, undoubtedly. Note: This is a different functionality from weekly (or daily, monthly, etc.) ranking update reports that most tools offer. #10. ReportsIt doesn’t matter if you’re an in-house SEO or work for an agency, at some point you’ll have to  issue reports to prove your work . Although agency folk might do it more often, it’s a feature we all need. Most of the rank trackers I compared offer the ability to create PDF reports. The only exception in the list is Ahrefs. It does not offer any reporting functionality. With others, however, there are some differences regarding the type of reports you can create.SEMrush allows to create a standard PDF report that you can schedule to receive regularly.  Create-PDF-repost-in-SEMrushYou can also customize the look and content of the PDF, adding data from other SEMrush tools with a simple drag and drop interface.Add-custom-data-to-the-SEmrush-reportMany of those elements allow you to bring in custom data and reports created specifically for this report, making it an invaluable tool for marketers and agencies that need to provide more context for the ranking report.Moz offers custom reports too, and allows to schedule and annotate them.Create-PDF-report-in-MozSE Ranking includes a template builder, allowing you to create various templates for your reports, depending on your requirements.Create-PDF-report-in-SErankingFinally, RankRanger offers an option to create white-labelled reports, customize the cover page, and customize predefined PDF templates.Create-PDF-report-in-RankrangerClosing ThoughtsAs SEOs, we all have different objectives – increasing overall rankings, showing up in the Answer Box, boosting local presence among others. However, the rankings, like I said, are the best indicators of SEO progress. And we need to use a tool offering functionality that can help us achieve it. I hope this detailed comparison helps you identify the most effective tool to reach your own SEO goals.Disclaimers: First, I signed up for and used demo trials of each tool. As a result, there is a possibility that certain functionality I may highlight as lacking in a particular app was simply blocked in the trial version.Second, the results of this comparison are entirely subjective and based on my expectations for a rank tracker.

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