What Is the Truth Behind the Speculations About the Latest Google Updates?

From time to time, Google has been updating its algorithms in an attempt to offer the best services to their customers. The updates make a lot of SEO content-based businesses panic, but they should be happy instead as long as they adhere to quality content that is not spanned. With each update, a few businesses get a poor ranking, which translates to few visits and likes. If this continues for long, internet-dependent businesses can go out of business, and this is the real reason people panic and speculate.

The latest Google update that has not yet been confirmed by the company has already been named: Fred is the latest update. The name came from the previous comment made by Google’s Gary Illyes, saying that all the updates to come should be named Fred. The conclusions that Google has launched another algorithm update have been a draw due to the massive ranking changes that have happened to most business websites. There is too much volatility and unpredictable patterns that when they occur, there is a high likelihood that an algorithm update is effected. This is according to the numerous webmasters and SEO specialists who have been working very hard to determine what is causing the uncertainties.

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March 15, 2017 | stephane

Seo best practices

SEO best practices are a set of techniques and strategies considered to be ethical by search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

If your SEO consultant employs SEO best practices, then he is most likely doing white hat SEO. It’s important that your SEO consultant only uses ethical SEO tactics as this will help you to sustain your rankings on search engines.

Some professionals will promise to rank your site in three months. While this is a tempting offer, don’t fall for it. An SEO guru who tells you he can quickly boost your site’s rankings may be employing blackhat SEO.

This goes against SEO best practices and can potentially get your site penalized. This means that your site goes down in rankings and you would have to start all over again.

When looking for an SEO consultant, you want someone who is focused all the time about acquiring SEO leads. A client’s satisfaction should be more important to him. After all, a satisfied client means more than just a fully-paid invoice. It can also mean a referral to other businesses.

Your SEO consultant should have SEO tools at his arsenal. This can range from a website SEO checker to a link analysis tool. You may need to supplement your SEO consultant with other tools that make up for what his existing tools lack.

No matter how sophisticated a tool may be, one important thing to remember is that SEO best practices must be followed.

February 21, 2017 | stephane

Special web hosting for seo

When trying to rank your site with the help of an SEO consultant, you might wonder, what does web hosting have to do with how my site performs on search engines?

After all, if you’ve already performed actions such as SEO link building, SEO YouTube, and on-page SEO, then what else is there to do?

Aside from security, SEO backlinks, and keyword optimization, page speed is another factor that search engines look into when ranking your site.

This is where your hosting comes into play. If your web hosting service provider offers a function called “optimize website”, then by all means take advantage of it.

If your SEO consultant’s SEO training covers SEO web hosting, make sure to speak with them about this. They may be able to help you communicate your needs with your web hosting service provider or assist you in switching to another provider that allows optimizing a website.

The optimize website function automatically compresses all your site’s files before they are delivered to your audiences. This option is usually available in your cPanel.

If your web hosting cannot provide this, you may want to consider moving your site to another one. If you do, you want one that not only offers this option but whose server is also located in the same area as your target location. This allows search engines to rank your site base on the location you want to appear. If your site is being hosted in another country, there’s a chance that your site will rank lower in search results.

| stephane

What is a website seo checker ?

A website SEO checker may be one of the tools your SEO consultant may utilize in order to identify what aspects of your site need to be fixed.

There are various tools out there with their own special set of strengths. You want your SEO consultant to use one that will comprehensively check your site for everything including duplicate content, broken links, poorly optimized pages, missing sitemap, slow loading pages, etc.

This is so your SEO consultant can take all the appropriate steps that help make your site look good in the eyes of search engine crawlers.

These tasks are called SEO optimization and they often involve three important elements: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.

On-page SEO requires the use of an SEO keyword generator to identify keywords that help you to be found easily by search engines. Off-page SEO is the process of acquiring SEO backlinks from high-authority sites so your site in return gets a boost. Lastly, technical SEO involves working with a web developer to fix technical problems like code, broken links, and missing plug-ins. These problems hamper your site’s ability to be found by search engines, therefore it needs to be fixed.

A website SEO checker may not be able to provide all the answers so it’s important that your SEO consultant use supplemental tools that make up for what the website SEO checker lacks. You may have to pay for these additional tools yourself if you want to get the most out of the SEO campaign.

| stephane

WordPress and seo

WordPress SEO is the act of optimizing your site using the WordPress platform. Because WordPress’ system is already well-optimized, many business owners choose to set up their site using this CMS.

If you’re hiring a local SEO company to do your local SEO, they should at least know how to do it WordPress since it’s one of the most popular platforms out there.

One important thing you must do when doing WordPress SEO is to optimize your page titles. This is the first thing a user sees in the search results therefore it should contain informative but brief content describing what the page is all about.

Other items that you should optimize (place appropriate keywords on) include the following:

– meta description

– headers

– images

Once you’re done taking care of the content, it is now time to clean up your code. This is the act of making tweaks to your code to ensure that the site loads as fast as possible. The faster it loads, the better chances you have of retaining the user.

While performing WordPress SEO, your SEO consultant may need to utilize tools like an SEO keyword tool and an site analytics tool. This allows him to get insights on your users as well as gather keywords to be used on WordPress. Other additional steps may include social media such as SEO Facebook, SEO YouTube, and SEO Instagram. The type of channel your SEO consultant uses will depend on where your target users regularly hangout.

| stephane

Seo vs sem

Many people ask what the difference between SEO and SEM. Some even go as far as comparing the two with SEO vs SEM with longform articles. The truth is, there is no difference between the two. In fact, search engine optimization falls under the search engine marketing umbrella.

While search engine optimization focuses on ranking a site for search engines through meta keywords SEO, SEO keyword research, and on-page optimization, search engine optimization goes beyond that. There are other ways to market a site in search engines such as social media marketing, influencer marketing, PPC, mobile optimization, and more.

When working with an SEO consultant, he should be able to supplement an answer similar to this. If he is trying hard to distinguish the two as if they were two completely different things, then he may not have enough knowledge about SEO.

No matter how many SEO leads he has, if he believes that SEO and SEM are different from each other, then he may not be the best for your business. In fact, he might only deter your business’ progress and instead leave a negative SEO impact.

You want an SEO consultant with an extensive know-how of the industry, its terms, and best practices. With the industry always changing every month (Google Algorithm updates anyone?), it’s important that your SEO consultant is up to date with the new and old terminologies.

If not, he may need to undergo training before he can perform an SEO campaign for your site.

| stephane

Seo tools free

The SEO industry is a rich source of SEO tools free that many professionals can take advantage of.

Be careful to not use tools that encourage black hat SEO. Spinning tools that produce hundreds of content in just a few seconds is an example of a black hat SEO tool. No matter how efficient or helpful a tool may be, if it encourages practices that goes against search engine rules, you should not support it.

When working with an SEO consultant, he should have at least some of these SEO tools free at his arsenal:

  1. Analytics tools

Free analytics tools like Google Analytics and Open Web Analytics lets your SEO consultant have a look at your site’s performance whether it’s how a user behaves on your site or what keywords your visitors uses before arriving at your site.

  1. Keyword research tools

These tools give your SEO consultant insight on what the most used keywords are and how competitive they are. Some of the best free keyword research tools are Google AdWords Keyword Planner, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, and WordStream Keyword Tool.

  1. Link analysis tools

These tools let your SEO consultant analyze your link profile as well as help you locate sites that would be a great source to get links from. You can identify which sites are secure (https seo) and which ones aren’t. You also get a look at how well your competitors are doing and try to get links based on their backlink profile. Some reliable link analysis tools include Google Webmaster Central, Link Suggest Tool, and Xenu Link Sleuth and SEO hero.

| stephane

What is seo toolbar ?

An SEO toolbar is one of the most essential things your SEO consultant must have in his arsenal of software. It allows him to efficiently perform his task by showing all the information he needs to see in one toolbar.

Not all toolbars are the same. Some generate information as soon as you visit a webpage while others require manual data entry before it generates insights.

Whether it’s for SEO vs SEM or organic SEO, one thing is true, an SEO toolbar will make a world of a difference to your SEO consultant’s workflow.

Some of the more popular SEO toolbars shows data like PageRank, Page Authority, Domain Authority, links to domain, site age, monthly unique visitors, estimated traffic value, directory links, and more. This information is very valuable when it comes to SEO linkbuilding and competitor analysis.

If your SEO consultant has undergone SEO training, he should be able to utilize an SEO toolbar. If not, you may need to provide the training for him. Most tools provide their own course for how to use their tool. Some tools are also pretty self-explanatory and require no training at all.

Because each SEO toolbar serve a special purpose, it may not provide you data that is comprehensive enough for your needs. It is best to use at least 2-3 toolbars to supplement what one may be lacking. This gives you a better picture of your whole campaign and helps you make better informed decisions for your business.

| stephane

What is spider ?

An SEO spider refers to a tool that an SEO consultant would use when trying to crawl a site. Why it’s done could be for several purposes whether it’s discovering duplicate content, identifying broken links, analyzing page content, and more.

When trying to find an SEO consultant, “knows how to utilize SEO spider tool” should be in the SEO job description. It is one of the SEO best practices since it allows SEO professionals to make informed decisions about the campaign.

A popular spider tool used by many professionals is Screaming Frog. It’s a very comprehensive tool that lets you crawl a site extremely fast and show results in real time.

With a tool like Screaming Frog, your SEO consultant can generate XML site maps, review meta descriptions, find broken links, create a custom robots.txt, and more.

Once your SEO consultant has performed the basics of on-page SEO, he may move on to more sophisticated steps like Facebook SEO. This allows you to increase your presence on social media which is another ranking factor considered by search engines like Google.

Make sure to speak with your SEO consultant about the steps that he will take to help your site rank. Transparency is very important because it helps you understand why certain actions need to be performed. You also get to chime in based on your knowledge about your business. It is your business after all and no one knows it better than you do.

| stephane

What is seo software ?

Before you hire an SEO consultant who has met all the requirements in your SEO job description, it’s important to know first whether he has existing SEO software at his arsenal. These tools allows him to perform his job smartly and efficiently. Considering that SEO is all about strategy, your SEO consultant should be utilizing tools that are highly useful. Below are just some SEO software that are very handy:

  1. Screaming Frog SEO

This tool allows you to crawl website URLS and analyze a website. From meta keywords SEO to blocked URLS, Screaming Frog SEO will tell you what it is in your site that needs to be fixed so you are better seen on search engines.

  1. Copyscape

Since you will be employing SEO copywriting services during your SEO campaign, it is important to know whether the content you’re receiving is original. Copyscape lets you know whether a piece of content is duplicated from the internet. If it is, it will tell you the percentage amount of the content that was copied from the original text.  You want your SEO copywriting to not only be compelling but also 100% original so be sure that your potential SEO consultant has this tool.

  1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics lets you collect data that can be valuable for your business. Whether it’s the age and gender of your users or how they navigate your site. This is one of the basic most important tools your SEO consultant must have since it provides so much insightful data.

| stephane