SEO Ranking Factors In 2019

Wow, 3 years have passed since I've wrote here. Been crazy business, a "good" thing. Every where I turn, I'm being asked how to recover my SEO rankings. Yeah, tricky. 2018 SEO updates were insane to say the least.

If your rankings have dropped, you're doing something wrong. Period. Change it up, only "you" know what you're doing.

Too many of you focus on the SEO versus focusing on your users, that's the big SEO secret. Let me give you an example.

If someone is searching for keyword A, what are they looking for? That's the key, understanding why someone is looking for that particular keyword. What type of content would suffice that search query?

Content and backlinks are always important, but user metrics matter. Look at CTR, it's a major SEO ranking factor now. User engagement metrics are important.

Is your content worthy of the first page?

2019 SEO scoring has changed, but the core principles are always there. Think about your user versus a particular keyword.

*Content - A "true" first page worthy piece of content
*User - Content that accomplishes the goal of the user
*CTR - An interesting, click worthy description
*On-Site - Technical SEO superstar, one keyword, one page
*Backlinks - Authentic backlinks earned for high quality content

Check out the video below, it'll help you rank a lot higher!

SEO Guide For Beginners

Search Engine Optimization For Beginners

 

Learning SEO can be a challenge, especially for those who don't know much about the internet and SEO terminology. Search engine optimization is crucial to all websites that want to be successful. Without SEO, you'll get lost in between millions of websites on the world wide web. Where do you start though? For beginners, you can start learning SEO from the guide below. Just follow the link and learn search engine optimization and begin to increase your rankings today.

 

Search Engine Optimization Guide For Beginners

Every SEO Needs Software And Tools

The Right SEO Software And Tools

Every webmaster needs to know aspects of SEO in now and beyond. If you don't know SEO or you don't have a SEO working for you, it's going to be tough to take your business or website where it needs to be. Having the right tools and software makes a huge difference in performance. If you can't track and analyze your data, you won't know where to focus your effort. On top of that, you'll be shooting in the dark.

 

Above, you'll see the SEO software that we use, WebMeUp. Not only do we operate WebMeUp, we also use Google Webmaster Tools, Hrefs and Moz. Trust me, you can't never have enough tools. I know how tough it is to afford your software, I was in those shoes before. However, you have to invest in tools. Google Webmaster and Google Analytics are great but they only get you so far. If you're not aware of these tools, their both free. If you don't have the money to invest, Webmaster and Analytics will certainly get you going. You can track SEO related data and user behavior data, both very important.

 

Again, if you don't have the right tools, how can you get the job done right? Think about that for a moment. Can you take an engine out of your truck without the right tools? Absolutely not. You may be able to get so far but you can't complete he job. If you have SEO clients, you obviously want to offer them the best services possible, right? Your clients deserve that, invest in the tools and resources you need. It's going to make your life as a SEO easier also.

 

Let's talk about WebMeUp. I'm not an affiliate with WebMeUp, they don't even have an affiliate program. It's just great software for SEO, including link building. I've been doing SEO for 7 years and I know SEO software can be expensive. On top of that, you have very little options with added features and prices. With WebMeUp, you do have options and quite a few. Basic options start at only $19.99 a month. You can customize your software features to your needs.

 

Below, you'll find my review on WebMeUp and exactly why I'm so enthusiastic about their software.

 

 



SEO Tips When Dealing With Broken Links

DEALING WITH BROKEN LINKS

Broken links can be a big nightmare for webmasters if the situation gets out of control. The good news, there's a ton of great link checking tools to help you find broken links. If you operate on Wordpress, there's several different plugins that you can use. Google Webmaster also has apps for checking broken links. Dealing with broken links can be a hassle, especially if your making changes.

We recently did some work for an old client and he told us that he went from 0 broken links to 9,000 broken links overnight. Big red flag, right? "What did you do," I asked him. "Nothing." You don't go from 0 broken links to 9K broken links overnight unless something big changed. When I finally went into our software and checked the backlinks, every link was a 404.

So, what did I find out? My client operates an e-commerce website and they did an upgrade. They added a new "shop" feature within Wordpress and it added "shop" to every URL. It caused the entire URL structure of the website to change and caused everyone of his links to bring up 404 codes. Although this wasn't my client's fault, his rankings did fall. If the change was overnight, he probably wouldn't have dropped traffic and rankings so much. Since it took him a month to call, he lost most of his linking domains and dropped 3K indexed pages on Google.

CHANGING YOUR URL? BETTER BE PREPARED

 

If you plan to change your URL anytime soon, you better prepare to make the appropriate link changes. This can cause a whirlwind of events that can plummet your SEO rankings, not to mention your user experience. In the case above, my client's entire website was down from broken links. All the major links that we acquired in the previous year was erased during the 3.5 week process. We saw a traffic loss of 76 percent and it took a full month to recover from the traffic. The rankings still haven't recovered.

 

Although my client wasn't at fault, it shows you what can happen when you have that many broken links. This is the same reason most webmasters never change their URL. You should always be sure to use the right URL before you start building your website. As you can see with this case, you never when something can happen. In this case, his e-commerce provider was at fault. I won't mention any names but I know the website has went down (2) more times since.

 

BROKEN LINKS AND SEO

 

Broken links are not good for SEO or user experience. If your website has broken links, they need to be fixed. Yes, your SEO rankings can be affected but your also missing out on traffic. If you continue to have broken links and your website strength falls, you may also lose valuable link partners and associations. Not to mention losing valuable traffic that can hurt your bottom line.

 

Be careful who you choose to do your SEO also. We've had a few different clients that had SEO services done and they went in and changed permalinks. Without thinking or perhaps lacking real SEO skills, they made a big mess that we had to clean up. Before you make any changes to your link structures, you may want to consider the consequences of doing so. 

SEO Tips And Techniques-Relative Associations

Learning Search Engine Optimization

 

Learning search engine optimization is crucial to all webmasters. Having a basic understanding of SEO and SEO techniques will help you build a successful website. At Hale Associations, we enjoy helping others by providing SEO tips and techniques. Today, we're going to be discussing relative associations. We always appreciate your feedback and time, don't forget to leave us a comment.

 

RELATIVE ASSOCIATIONS FOR SEO

 

Let's talk about relative associations and how it can increase your SEO rankings. Do you know why we're discussing relative associations rather then just associations? This is due to recent changes with Google. One SEO told me that relativity is the new PR. I thought about it for a few minutes and it actually inspired me to write this post. When your building links or associations for your business or website, you have to make sure it's relative and related. Hale Associations is in the SEO niche. Yes, we can play around with keywords such as social media marketing, do follow links and many other terms related to SEO. However, if I'm building links, I don't want to build links to unrelated or unassociated niches.

 

As of March 2014 and looking forward, you want your link building efforts to go to related associations. Joining business associations related to your niche is a great way to build website authority and strength. If I take my SEO business and I'm wanting to build links, I want to build links in business associations for SEO. If you have a real estate website and you're trying to build links or built your authority, linking to credible business association list and directories in real estate is a great way to so it.

 

STAY WITHIN YOUR NICHE

 

I know it can be tempting when your running your link building campaign and you come across a PR7 website that is unrelated to your business or website. You look up the link and it's a do follow link. Of course, this will not hurt your website but don't make it habit. So many webmasters fall in this trap. They go for all the high PR non-related associations and directories. Your website is not worth the risk, you keep this up an you're going to get penalized.

 

Business association links are great for your website and great for building trust. You just need to make sure their related. Don't get yourself in trouble. I don't care if they have categories or not. A good quality niche directory listing can do a lot of for your rankings. Stay within your niche and you're going to be fine.

 

CHOOSING THE RIGHT KEYWORDS

 

You need to make sure you're choosing the right keywords when you start going through Google searching for niche business associations and directory listings. You can use a lot of different SEO techniques when your link building or searching for quality directories. I believe the most important SEO tip I can give you is choosing the right keywords. You want to choose your best keywords, the keywords that have a good high score and plenty of traffic. I recently brought on a new SEO client and his main keyword is IT Consultants. I've been doing SEO for 7 years now and I know IT Consultants, IT Consulting are great keywords. I went to Google search, searched for "IT Consultant Business Associations." Plenty of great results, quality IT associations and many of them were free. I signed him up to around 10 or so, all were do follow and we seen good results in a few weeks. Remember, some links can take weeks to post.

 

Point taken, you can find quality associations in your niche, do follow links for your link building efforts and they can increase your website authority. This can be extremely beneficial if you have a new website or struggle with rankings. Choosing the right keywords is important, so make sure you're choosing the right set of keywords or phrases.

 

BUILDING LOCAL LINKS IS EFFECTIVE

 

Building local links within local business association listings and directories can be a great idea for your website. In terms of SEO, you really can't go wrong going local. Of course, the bigger your city, the better your results but it doesn't hurt to build local for your SEO. You always have local citations you can do also. If you do live in a small city or community, think about building it under the closest city to your business. Hale Associations offers freelance SEO services to the world. Even through I do, I still promote locally. It doesn't hurt. I'm located in a city with a few thousand people. There's not many people searching for SEO services in Logan, West Virginia. Although this is true, we still offer services here and we're a local business. That has value in terms of SEO and a justified business decision.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

Association list and directories, local or niche related, it is an effective SEO technique. Remember, stay within your niche. Targeting less PR website is ok. If you have all links from PR4-7, Google will get you. Your linking profile, including anchor links, it should be diverse with a bunch of N/A and PR0 website and less higher PR websites. You don't have to pay for great quality business association links, it just takes some extra time searching and doing all that SEO type of work. Nothing wrong with building local, it has more value then a link or article.

 

As always, thanks for visiting my blog. If you have any questions, want to add to this article or you want to throw me under the bus, leave a comment! Hale Associations provides freelance SEO and web development services. If you're in need of our services, give us a call or send us an email. If you enjoyed my article, please take the time to share it. I enjoy helping others with SEO and web development solutions. I hope you've found this article useful and thanks for your time. 

Search Engine Optimization Techniques For 2014

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION IN 2014


Search Engine Optimization or (SEO), we all need it so you should take this opportunity to learn it. Search engine optimization techniques are used to rank your website higher on Google and other major search engines. We use SEO techniques to bring in more organic traffic and to rank for keywords. Web development has to include SEO, right? In 2013, Google handed down algorithm updates that changed the landscape of SEO forever. The biggest adjustments were focused on links, which is one of the biggest ranking factors. In the same year, thin content was weeded out making the demand for high quality content even more important. Knowing what we know now, how do we plan to use search engine optimization in 2014?


Writing Quality Lengthy Content

Content has always been important in terms of SEO and ranking. There hasn't always been a need to write lengthy content. A high quality article with a few hundred words and a good link could rank high in early 2013. Now, content needs to have both quality and length. I ran my own personal experiment in late 2013 with content over 1,000 words and content below 1,000 words. I never published any articles below 700 words. Keep in mind, all of the content was associated, within the same subject. I equally used keywords in all 10 articles. I gave each article 6 months to perform, this gave them plenty of time in searches. I used the same valued links on all 10 articles.

Every article with lengthy high quality content performed better. This including higher rankings and high traffic. Without a doubt, my content with 1,000 words or more performed better then my articles below 1,000. All 5 articles below 1,000 were aimed around 800 words. You wouldn't think 200 words would make a difference but it did. The 5 articles above 1,000 words ranged from 1,050-1,350 words. There's no possible way to run a test like this and get 100% validation due to outside forces I have no control over, but I believe I reached 80% to say the least.

Writing quality content is and will remain one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. Don't get lazy on your content, on yourself. Don't publish content to keep your blog updated. Don't throw in filler content to get to 1,000 words. You don't need every article to be 1,000 words, this is impossible. However, you do want to write as many words as you can without making your article boring. You still need to apply your keywords to each article, including your title, headings, descriptions and Metadata. Be unique with your content and make it useful to others. If you're just starting out with a website or blog, content is going to help you rank and develop your website. If I had to say a cut-off, you should strive for 500-600 words to be safe, but never below 400.


Link Building Techniques

Link building has been a longtime search engine optimization technique and it's a very important one to say the least. As for SEO, link building techniques have seen some big changes over the years, none more then 2013. If you were a link builder in 2013, you either saw a bonus or you were fired. Google came down hard on links in 2013 and these algorithms have changed the landscape of link building forever. Very few webmasters saw their ranks stay steady. Many crumbled under the new linking laws, never to be heard of again. Others were more fortunate while some even saw increased rankings. It was a busy year for SEOs and link builders in 2013 and their importance in 2014 will only increase.

Most SEOs know that Google wants natural link building. Does this mean that I have to quit finding link partners? Absolutely not. Getting a high valued link is one of the quickest SEO techniques to increase your rankings. In fact, your encouraged to find linking partners. However, there's a few rules you need to follow. We'll say you have a blog about baking. You've been writing on your blog for a year and Google has rewarded you with a PR2. Even with the valued PR, you're still not ranking your keywords on page one. You decide that a little more link juice will put you over the top. You find a website that has a PR6 and you're in luck, their selling links! You check your bank account and you have enough money to buy one! Problem solved, right? In a few weeks, you're sure to get first page rankings.

After a few weeks past, you see your rankings drop. Why? Come to find out, that PR6 website is a link building website that has no association to baking. Get the point? If you're going to build links, what ever technique you may use, you have to keep them associated. If you have a SEO website, you don't want to be linking to websites that are not associated to search engine optimization. This no longer works. 2013 changed link building techniques forever. Link building is still very important. You also have to keep an eye on who is linking to you now. Don't go on in 2014 without checking your links.

Over the years, I've found that writing quality online content is the easiest way to build links. Make your content useful to others. Again, don't write about anything and everything. If you write high quality articles or post, others will link to it naturally. Everyone is an expert at something. It doesn't matter if you're writing about the weather or art, make sure your content is useful. When the time comes to build links, make sure their website and content is associated to yours. This also gives you the opportunity to meet new people, perhaps generating new business depending on what you do.



Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing? What are you talking about? Social media marketing or SMM is becoming an important search engine optimization technique. We saw this in 2013 as SMM is now a ranking factor in the search engine equation. I've been saying I for years, SEO and SMM play hand in hand. Why would SMM play more of a role in search engine optimization? SMM ranks trends, what's hot and what's not. Everyone uses some type of social platform. It could be Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube or LinkedIn. The point, social media channels are still growing. All the major social media platforms have search engines. With more and more authority figures moving toward social media, it's likely to see an increased value in 2014 and beyond.

Your social network will be an important search engine optimization technique. You need to make sure your social channels are active, useful and updated. Will we see this change in 2014? It's very likely. It may take longer but I'm quite sure that SMM will play a much larger role in the near future. Remember, all of these social platforms are relatively young. They've only been around for a few years and they just recently became part of the search engine equation. As they become more needing and valued, you're going to want to make sure you're are adding to your social authority and value.

Just like it always does, most search engine optimization techniques will stay the same or similar. Something is likely to come along and change during the new year, but SEO is alive and well. If you haven't took the time to learn SEO or your wet behind the ears, learn as much as you can. Every successful website and online business has to have SEO. As more and more content is published, everyday that passes, it gets tougher to rank your keywords. There's plenty of trusted content and videos on SEO and search engine optimization techniques. Read, watch and learn.

Richard Hale is CEO and founder of Hale Associations, providing freelance web development services such as SEO, SEM, SMM, SMO, and PPC.

SEO Tips And Techniques-Publishing Content Daily

SEO TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

PUBLISHING DAILY CONTENT

 

 

 

Did you know that there's value in a website that publishes daily content? People may be surprised by this fact, but it's true. If your website/blog is able to publish content daily, it will receive a boost in the search engines. Over a period of time, if you can continue to publish quality content, your search ranks will continue to increase. Richard Hale from Hale Associations conducted a recent experiment on two SEO campaigns that required continuous content. Based on our statistics, each website's search engine ranks increased nearly 50% after six months of continuous content.

 

Most search engines value a website/blog that produces fresh content on a regular basis. Websites can grow naturally and gain rankings by publishing daily content. If you're able to publish a few articles a day, you can really see the benefits within the first six months. This may sound like a lot of work, but it can be done.

 

Another great SEO technique is sharing your content. Social media websites are now considered to be part of the vast SEO evaluation. There's no denying the power of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Google+. Sharing your content is a great SEO tip that can build major traffic in time. Not only that, you're also creating links with every post. Sharing through the social media has become a major link building technique.

 

Hale Associations provides freelance writing services to everyone. We can write in a variety of different styles, such as researched writing and SEO writing. In total, Hale Associations offers 30+ freelance services. If your interested in our freelance services, be sure to call 1-304-752-3433 or email haleassociations@gmail.com.  

 



SEO Tips And Techniques-Link Building Techniques 2013-2014

SEO TIPS AND TECHNIQUES-LINK BUILDING

Webmasters and SEO experts use a variety of different SEO techniques to increase a website's rankings, traffic, and SEO score. Today, we're going to look at the SEO technique of link building. What's link building? Link building is a process of search engine optimization that inserts links going to your website and links coming to your website. Links are very important to your website/blog because it improves your SEO score and adds value to your website.

One of the most common link building techniques is gaining high page ranking inbound links for your site. Inbound links, also known as backlinks, are incoming links to a website or webpage. The more backlinks you have, the better, right? Well, that's not the case no more. Backlinks are great to have but they need to be high page ranking and associated to your content. If not, your website/blog can be penalized.

A great way to get valuable backlinks is by sharing links with a high page ranking website. You want to create valuable incoming links to your website and link sharing is a great way to add such value. For example, if you have a medical website, you need to have links associated to this niche. You want to try and get high page ranking backlinks if possible. The higher the PageRank, the more value of the link. Once again, it has to be associated. You need to contact the webmaster and ask them if they'd be interested in trading links. Keep in mind, if you have a low PageRank, you may be told no. However, if you have a 2-3 PageRank, you're likely to get a 3-5 PageRank backlink.

A PageRank is a link analysis algorithm used by the Google search engine that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance. The PageRank scale is 0-10, with 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. If you don't know what your PageRank is, find out what it is for free here.

Another powerful link building technique is using the social media. Social media platforms continue to grow into major corporations. Facebook and LinkedIn now has IPO's and Twitter is seeking an IPO as we speak. Make sure your sharing links on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, and any other social media profile you have time for. Don't expect a slow down in 2014, we look for the social media market to grow for years to come. If you don't have a dozen social profiles, make it happen.

Guest posting and blog posting are still valuable link building techniques for 2013 and 2014. Each time you post a comment, a link is created on most websites/blogs. 2013 has been a rough year for link building because quality links now matter. Before the recent algorithm, value was given to websites that had numerous links. Today, the value of those links matter and many suffered from this change. Don't build links that are low quality, it's a waist of time and money. In order to grow, you need quality links in and quality links out.

As you build a website naturally, your incoming links will grow. However, you have to pay attention to who is linking to your website. If a low page ranking website/blog links to your website, it can hurt your rankings, traffic, and site value. The same can be said if you link your website to a penalized site. As of today, there's nothing easy when it comes to link building. With proper link building techniques, you can benefit from superior link building procedures. If you've recently seen a lost in rankings and traffic over the past year, your links may be the reason why. In order to fix this issue, you need to remove all unwanted links. You can do this within Google Webmasters Tools.

At Hale Associations, we offer freelance link building services within our SEO campaigns. If you're new to link building or you need affordable link building services, we can help. We offer a variety of freelance services, providing you with freelance experts that can increase the traffic, rankings, and value of your website/blog. Please feel free to contact us for a free consult and see how we can help you or your business grow.