White Hat SEO refers to Search Engine’s optimization strategies that are by the terms and conditions of the major search engines, like Google and Bing.
It is also known as Ethical SEO, which is, using only those techniques and strategies that search engines consider to be acceptable.
No doubt, Google algorithm incorporates multiple signals while determining where your web-page ranks for a search term (keyword).
Knowing the benefits of White Hat SEO that carry the most weight and optimizing accordingly can be the cause of either success or failure of your online business.
Generally, White Hat SEO refers to all those practices that improve your rankings on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) while preserving and maintaining the authority and integrity of your website and continuing with the search engines’ terms of service.
These strategies stay within the bounds as defined by Google.
There are no secrets, there is no magic wand that your online business will automatically rank your site first in Google (sorry!), but the good news is that there are strategies and practices outlined that will make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and understand your content.
Strategies of White Hat SEO include:
Offering Quality Content
Always offer high-quality content that meets your target audience needs. Use SEO keyword research tools to discover the most relevant keywords that your content should be optimized for.
Proper use of images and videos will entice the viewers’ attention and help them to understand it easily (better user experience).
Fast Site Loading Times and Mobile-Friendliness
Google is now focusing down on mobile. In other words, the Google index is getting mobile-friendly and if you don’t have a mobile-friendly page, then you are likely to suffer with low rankings in the SERPs.
Descriptive, Keyword-Rich Meta Tags
Meta tags are invisible tags that provide data about your page to search engines and website visitors. In short, they make it easier for search engines to determine what your content is about and thus are vital for SEO.
Some of the meta tags to keep in mind are: Title Tags, Description Tags, Robot.txt Tag, Alt Text, Canonical Tag, and Header Tag (H1, H2, H3)
Easy Website Navigation
Sites that are easy for users to get around tend to perform better in search results. You really don’t want your visitors to have to think about where they need to go and how to get there.
Make it easy for your targeted user to navigate. Follow the KISS rule. KISS: Keep It Simple, Sometimes- keep the structure of your navigation simple.
Quality Link Building
Links act as a ranking factor and allowed Google to measure the quality of a page based on the number of links pointing to your web-site.
Building a quality link is so effective because it is based upon the proposal that a link could be built only if your content’s quality is worth mentioning. Building quality links are necessary for organic rankings online business in an ethical way.
White Hat SEO strategies are important because failing to follow these strategies or trying to deceive them (which is known as Black Hat SEO, involves using unethical techniques such as hidden text, keyword stuffing, etc) can get your site banned from Google and other search engines.
Google is an unquestionably powerful source of free traffic to your website or blog, and being banned from Google means, it can result in a drastic drop in website traffic and even business (Don’t take the risk)
What’s even worse? Once you’re banned from Google, means maybe a lifetime ban from Google.
Should You Implement White Hat SEO Methods?
Definitely!
Implementing White Hat SEO practices is the best way to create an ethical, sustainably successful website and online business which search engines love and happy to send traffic by showing your website in top results.
Benefits From White Hat SEO Techniques
No doubt, “white hat” techniques can take a lot of time and hard work, but they can guarantee that you are safe against Google’s Spam team.
Here are some advantages of using White Hat SEO techniques:
1. Helps you to adhere to your website in the SERPS:
If you are following the quality guidelines set by the search engines, your website will be cemented in the SERPs for the right reasons.
You are free from the worries of getting caught or banned.
2. Free from Penalty
Black Hat and grey hat SEO people may give temporary results rapidly, till the time they get caught. Since you are abiding by the Google algorithm as well as its legal rules and regulations, then you don’t have to worry about getting penalized.
This is what makes a big difference between Black Hat and White Hat SEO.
3. Adds Value to Your Money
White Hat SEO needs no high-priced and computerized tools to help you with your ranking.
Since White Hat SEO is more focused on the long-term goals, it would take time to see the result.
You don’t need to spend much, but you need to have to work harder and have more patience while keeping quality in mind. You need to keep your audience in mind while producing content.
4. Is an Excellent Way to Build Stronger Relationships
By publishing high quality and original content, you can establish yourself as an industry leader in your niche and prove to be worth to your visitors, also you inspire your audience to build a good relationship and that they’ll keep coming back for more.
Along the way, you are building a relationship and trust with them and you would go a long way in promoting your long-term relationship.
5. Healthy Website Ranking
White Hat SEO can provide better results which can last longer.
“Slow and steady wins the race”
Abiding by the policies and rules set by the search engines, white hat SEO is less risky. You will notice that the result may be slower compared to black hat SEO, but you are also aware that it will grow steadily over time.
6. Will NEVER Tarnish your Reputation
With the use of White Hat SEO, your company’s reputation is safe and sound (believe me).
Google will notify how diligent you are respecting and following search engine guidelines; thus, will deem your website trustworthy enough.
7. White Hat Strategies Can be Shared
White Hat SEO strategies are transparent strategies that have got nothing to hide and which usually involve page rank improvement, branding, content and link building.
Since you are confident that you are not violating anything – no matter what – you can easily share these white hat SEO strategies to all of your employees. This will ensure longevity with your employees as well as clients.
Anything that you do with it will always come back to you. If you opt to do unethical things, then it will go back to hurting you.
However, if you opt to work hard and follow the guidelines, then all your hard work will repay you and future-proof your online business.
If you want to stay ahead in the race of the competition, make sure that you employ the White Hat SEO techniques in your website building and implementation.
If you have any queries related to White Hat SEO; we are here, happy to help you.
Banisoft always works to promote your website ethically. We judge our success by the success enjoyed by our clients, not by our financial gain.
If you want to work with an ethical marketing and promoting agency, feel free to contact us. We would be happy to provide a free 30-minute chat exclusively for your queries.
Who wouldn’t want their business to appear at the top of search results on Google and Bing?
But sitting and planning about the proper SEO approach every day is a waste of time unless you work on the right approach.
Without a well-planned strategy, a checklist of to-do’s, and missing website loopholes, it would be difficult to even think about ranking your website.
Below are the best-implemented principles the Banisoft SEO team follows to discover the missing loopholes and help fine-tune the SEO strategy.
It’s free and one of the most useful tools from Google, which helps you to monitor, analyze, and find problems within the website.
It is stuffed with quite a good number of beneficial attributes:
This tool tracks your site’s performance within Google, e.g., how Googlebot is crawling your website, how many pages your website has with 404 (not found) errors or if you require to take any manual actions etc.
It shows you the exact number of keywords for which your website ranks, CTR (click-through rate), the number of impressions and which position you rank for them in Google.
It helps you find all the technical issues holding your website to perform well on search engines.
Bing Webmaster Tools, on the flip side, serves as a similar medium specifically for the Bing search engine.
If you haven’t set these up already, we strongly encourage you to do so for an enhanced experience.
b. Add Google Analyticscode on your website
It’s the most powerful and popular free analytics tool by Google, which helps you to understand how people find and interact with your website and helps you to shape a successful strategy for your business.
Its unbeatable attributes are:
Find how many visitors come on each page of your website and what they are looking for after arriving on your website.
It allows you to create customized reports with a “drag and drop” interface which helps you to track goals and KPIs (key performance indicators).
It tells you your site’s Bounce rate, time on site, and page views with demographic information like age, gender, location etc.
Link your Google Analytics and Google Search Console Account to seekhelpful Console information in your Analytics Account.
c.Add YOAST SEO Plugin (only for WordPress websites)
It’s the most favored SEO plugin for WordPress, which makes it easy and hassle-free to improve the SEO of your website.
You may use it to add optimized meta titles, meta descriptions, and focus keywords for our posts, pages, and taxonomies (tag, category, etc).
Moreover, this assists you in managing technical SEO aspects, such as robots.txt, making it highly advisable.
d. Build a Sitemap
A sitemap directs search engines to efficiently discover, crawl, and index your website’s content.
It emphasizes the significance of specific pages and files while supplying crucial information.
With WordPress, a sitemap is generated automatically. However, if you aren’t using WordPress, you can easily create one with a sitemap generator tool.
e.Review Manual Actions
Manual Actions result from disregarding Google Webmaster Guidelines, such as structured data problems, unnatural links, etc.
If your site contains manual actions, it might not appear in Google search results.
So, checking for manual actions in the Google Search Console is smart.
2. Keyword Search Checklist
a. Identify Your Competitors’ Keywords:
Begin by finding your competitors’ keywords, as they aim to improve rankings and traffic. If those keywords succeed for others, they can also benefit you.
b. Find Primary Keywords:
Each blog post or web page needs one primary keyword. Avoid using the same keyword on various pages.
c. Search for Long-tail keywords Variations:
With Google Suggest, type keywords in Google without pressing the Enter button because different people will search for the same thing differently.
d. Using Google Autocomplete:
Type your keyword (e.g. SEO checklist), and you will get to know what people are searching for.
e. Utilize online communities:
Explore Reddit, Quora, forums, and similar platforms to discover valuable keywords.
You can read a step-by-step guide demonstrating how to uncover unused keywords in these online communities.
f. Google Keyword Planner:
Google keyword planner is Google’s formal keyword research tool. Designed technically for Google ads, it is still a superb help for SEO keyword research.
You have to enter your competitor’s keyword or website URL and explore the recommendations the tool sprinkles out.
g. Know Your Keyword Difficulty:
Keyword Difficulty indicates the challenge of ranking in Google’s top results for a specific keyword. A higher percentage means more incredible difficulty.
Therefore, when selecting your target keywords, know their difficulty level.
h. Keyword Optimization:
With a handful of keywords, it’s time to optimize your content. If the keyword is placed in the first hundred words, at the top of the page, or the start of your title tag, Google puts more weight.
i. Find “Question Keywords” with ATP:
A great blog starts with a thought-provoking question. Please explore the most searched questions on ATP (Answer The Public), and don’t forget to answer them in your content.
Always go for the low-competition keywords that Google can easily rank.
j. Understand Search Intent:
Search intent is the “why” of the search. Why did the viewer do this search? Do they want to “purchase” something or “learn” something?
3. ON-PAGE SEO Checklist
a. Short URLs with the Target Keyword
Short URLs help people understand what the Page is all about. So, keep it short with a 75 – 100-character limit. Also, the URL should have the targeted keyword.
This URL length may affect web page optimization because it helps with the successful processing of pages by search engine bots.
If my target keyword for this very Page is “SEO checklist”.
Try to place the target keyword first in the Title Tag like “SEO Checklist 2020”.
Be sure to prevent the following:
– Repeating title tags
– Lengthy title tags (keep under about 60 characters)
– Absent title tags
b. “Sprinkle” the Target or Primary Keyword in the First 100 Words
Google scrutinizes the Page very well, but it puts more weight on the First 100 words. Try placing your keyword at least ONCE in the first 100 to 150 words.
It would be best to sprinkle the keywords throughout your content wherever they make sense. Just don’t exaggerate the keywords where they don’t belong—make it a point to make the readability of your content always the priority.
The H1 tag is the largest and one of the most important tags on a web page. It may not directly impact SEO, but it helps to improve user experience, which helps to get higher rankings in search engines.
The two most crucial reasons for including the keyword right here are:
Scannability – Keeping your keyword in the H1 encourages the visitor that they are in the right place. Further, it shows that your content complements the search well; they possibly Googled before coming to your page.
Link framing – It increases the chances of getting links to your page using the title. Incorporating your keyword in the H1 will further increase your likelihood of receiving links.
d. Optimize Images
Image optimization is essential because it improves the webpage speed, enhances user experience, and helps to rank well in SEO. Well, optimize image high rank in Google image searches.
Although Google is good at scrutinizing images, they are important because they speak a lot about the content.
You need to optimize images with proper titles and alt text, which helps the search engine and user understand the vision. Try to keep the size of the image below 100 KB.
Use different Alternate text to help Google acknowledge the image entirely.
e. Use LSI keywords and synonyms
Google is getting smarter day by day. It doesn’t permit you to pack your blog with keywords anymore.
Using the same keyword 1000 times doesn’t make sense; alternatively, use Synonyms and LSI Keywords.
Lsigraph.com helps optimize the on-page content for a specified search query by ensuring that other naturally occurring words are also found around that specific search query.z
Let’s see an example if you want a Keyword for the “SEO Checklist.”
f. Use External links
Also known as outbound links, add good authority sites in your article worth reading if you want to have an authority website.
They are links that take visitors to another website across the internet when clicked on.
The two types of external links are dofollow and nofollow.
Internal links point to the other web pages of your website and give search engines an idea of the structure of your website. It also helps Google find and index all your web pages.
By implementing it properly, you may get an SEO boost by internally sending page authority to essential pages, increasing the Page on time of a visitor and reducing the bounce rate.
Remember to link 2-5 other website pages in your new blog.
h. Meta Title and Meta Description
The meta title is a crucial HTML element for users and search engines, which tells what they will get by visiting a web page.
A well-written title tag increases your click-through rate (CTR), sending more traffic because it’s the first thing a targeted visitor will notice when searching on Google. It also helps to leverage brands.
Like the Title Tag, the target keyword must be placed in the meta description tag. We suggest thinking of meta description less from an SEO point of view but from click thoughts.
Meta Description has to be written for each Page with less than 160 characters, including spaces. The content must be helpful for the user, summarize web page content, and may contain the target keyword.
Top social media networks use descriptions when you share them.
i. Review Your Website’s Current Content
A content audit involves reviewing your content to uncover ways to enhance it.
Conducting an audit is crucial for understanding how to boost your website’s SEO performance. Use tools like Google Analytics to evaluate your content.
j. Fix Orphan Pages
An orphan page has no internal links directing to it.
These pages offer minimal value since search engines can only locate them through the sitemap file or backlinks.
Therefore, every page on your website should be linked to at least one other page.
4. Content Checklist
a. Divide your Content into Chunks
Nobody likes to read giant pillars like the content. ALWAYS divide the content into chunks that would be easy to read.
Dividing the content into paragraphs helps to keep the bounce rate low and engages the readers.
As the grade of the child increases, they tend to read less. So keep the content in chunks to entice them.
Hemingway is an excellent browser tool that simplifies and streamlines your content.
It tells you precisely the grade level of your content and recommends improvements.
It’s structured data, or a code that helps search engines understand your content better. With the help of it, search engines can display relevant results to users based on search queries.
Schema microdata is placed between the webpage’s content; you do not need to learn coding to add it.
A user is likely to click when your listing is informative and engaging. It also helps local businesses tell search engines what their business is about, what they sell, and how to connect with them.
Using multimedia helps you rank better on Google. Use tons of relevant images, charts, infographics, visual content, videos, interactive polls and quizzes because it increases page time; it may also help with strong branding; with changing trends, people like to watch the video over reading the text content.
d. Use the “Skyscraper Technique.”
Follow these three simple steps for this technique:
Updating old content is an easy way to achieve better SEO results.
If your page has outdated information or needs a fresh perspective, it’s worth your time to update it.
Outdated content doesn’t provide the best user experience, so Google may only rank it if updated.
Use the Content Audit tool and check the “Need to update” section to find outdated content.
5. Technical SEO Checklist
Technical SEO issues can keep your website from ranking as high as it deserves.
a. Discover and Fix Crawl Errors
Crawling is the process where Google Bot (a software program) visits every page of your website to store in its database (also known as indexing). Crawl errors mean that Google is having problems reading your web pages’ content. Simply, if Google can’t view the content, it won’t rank it. 2 types of crawler errors are Site and URL errors.
Site error: errors that block search engine bots from accessing your site.
URL error: when search engines are not able to find the URL also known as 404 errors
Fix them as you can identify these crawl errors in Google Search Console > Coverage.
b. Make Sure your Site Loads FAST
Faster pages are more efficient and also affect the conversion rate. It’s quite frustrating to wait for the website to load. People dislike having to wait a long time for it to load. They just hit the “BACK” button.
Not only does this affect you losing out on visitors, but it’ll also wreak havoc on engagement metrics such as “time on page” and “dwell time”.
“Site speed” has always been in the top 5 priorities by Google to rank the web pages using its algorithm. A slower page could put a negative impact on the indexation because the Search Engine has to crawl slower than its allocated crawl budget.
Employ GTMetrix to notice how speedily your web page loads.
c. Fix all Broken Links
Broken links give an awful user experience. Google likes fewer broken links. These links are the ones on your website that point to non-existent resources, and these could be internal or external links. Trust us; they are straightforward to fix.
d. Make Sure your Site is Mobile-Friendly
Mobile devices support much of the work that can be done on laptops or desktops.
So having a mobile-friendly website is more of a priority than ever.
November 2016 was a big hit when Google declared that “it would crawl the mobile version of the website first, then the desktop version.”
Mobile usability is also one of the topmost critical ranking factors.
Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead. ~McKinsey & Company
Duplicate content is copied content from other websites or occurs when two or more identical pages exist on your website.
This can baffle Google which page should be ranked and which not. Google wants (and rewards) original content – it’s a great way to push up the cost of SEO and create a better user experience simultaneously.
Check this video on how Google handles duplicate content:
f. Examine Your Page Through Google’s Eyes
Users can sometimes access your entire page, but Google might not.
If Google can’t view all the content on your page, your ranking may be influenced.
Use the “Inspect URL” feature in Google Search Console to see your page from Google’s perspective.
g. Secure Your Website with HTTPS
HTTPS has been a ranking facet since 2014.
Check if your site uses HTTPS by looking at the URL bar in your browser.
A padlock icon to the left of the URL indicates HTTPS is active. If not, consider moving your site to HTTPS for better security.
h. Fix Redirect Chain Issues
A redirect chain transpires when a webpage on your site redirects to another redirected page.
Redirects should always go from one page to another directly. So make sure to resolve any redirect chain problems.
6. Link Building or Backlinks
To rank on top of search engines and get organic traffic, you need quality inbound links, known as backlinks. It’s one of the top 3 ranking factors revealed by Google.
It’s about quality and not about quantity.
a. Competitor Backlink Analysis
At the start and every quarter, make sure that you pull the backlink data for 3 – 5 of your top competitors. Then analyze the backlink or inbound data and build a list of high-quality sites that would be good for your website.
b. Plan Email Outreach
It depends greatly on how big a website is, but we suggest sending your pitch email to at least 20 new sites monthly. You may find many email templates that work best online by searching on Google.
c. Guest Blogging
It’s a part of content marketing and off-page SEO where you write the content and publish it in the form of a blog, infographic etc., on third-party websites to promote your brand and get a backlink.
Writing high-quality guest blog posts is one of the best ways to earn good-quality links. Try to build an ongoing content relationship with web admins and editors to maintain a monthly increase in backlinks from guest blogging.
d. Broken Link Building
Also known as dead link building is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get a backlink from a third-party website by replacing links to 404 pages with highly relevant and working links. You can build a lot of high-quality backlinks with this method.
e. Links from Local Business Websites or Local Press
Find a list of websites that are local business directories from your area. Getting links from a local high-quality guide sends a strong signal regarding Google’s local business listing.
f. On a Quarterly basis Review your Link Profile
Removing bad backlinks is very important. Remember to look at bad backlinks when you focus on building links because wrong links can get you in trouble. Take action when necessary.
g. Natural Link Building
This is something that Google loves a lot and does make a plan of action to get them to make a considerable difference to gain high rankings on Google and other search engines.
Guest posts content worth reading on sites that will send you the targeted traffic relevant to your niche.
h. Convert Unlinked Mentions to Links
An unlinked mention implies that a website refers to your business without a link.
Since they’ve already cited you, they might be willing to add a link upon request.
Use Prowly’s News Alerts to find unlinked mentions and contact the respective site owners for backlinks.
Final Thoughts
Steering the ever-changing world of SEO can be overwhelming.
However, tackling the above critical points will help elevate your rankings and rise above your competitors.
You want your website to rank on top of Google. And there’s no doubt that SEO is the best approach to it. You can get there with SEO test strategies. If you have a higher position on the SERP, you will have to get more clicks.
You must experiment and grow website traffic. There are multiple SEO testing options available out there. You just need to find the right ones.
So let’s get started… First, let’s understand
What is an SEO Test?
SEO testing evaluates the best ways to optimize your pages for the search engine results pages (SERPs). This is highly suggested for new companies, startups, and small businesses who want to experiment and find out how to improve their SEO strategy and gain results.
A popular method here is Split or A/B testing. It is suggested to weigh the possibilities for your SEO strategy. One can do this by dividing traffic into two different versions of the same page. When visitors interact with the different pages, data is collected. Based on the stats and conversions, you can decide which page is more effective.
There are 6 parts to any reliable SEO testing:
Ask a question that you want an answer to.
Make a hypothesis to understand what’s going to happen.
Remove variables and run the experiment.
Collect data.
Analyze the data.
Report on your results.
QTechnically, if you want your SEO strategy to improve, SEO Testing is the way to go. It is not that complicated, and you can learn how to do the SEO test. Some simple tools that can help you with the same are:
BuzzStream
Google Search Console
SEO Spider
SEMrush SEO Toolkit
However, every business is different, and so how to do the SEO test also varies. So you need to pick testing that works best for your business or service.
There are two kinds of SEO tests:
On-page SEO – This inspects what your site or the page is about
Off-page SEO – This inspects how authoritative, and popular your site is
The on-page SEO checklist includes:
Write effective title tags
Put targeted keywords in the title tag
Limit tags to 55-60 characters (with spaces)
Push keyword closer to title naturally
Don’t stuff your keywords
Include the brand at the title tag end, using a pipe bar to separate
Off-page SEO checklist includes:
Creating awesome content
Backlink where possible
Maximize social media shares
Outreach emails to influencers
Allow guest blogging
Why do On-page and Off-page SEO matter?
Off-page SEO adds tremendous value to your website. It compels the search engines to believe that your website is important to others. The links you receive, in turn, are an endorsement from another source — assuring the quality of your website.
On-page SEO is the optimization of whatever content is there on your website. This includes keyword optimization and internal linking.
Remember that on-page SEO is within your control, but off-page is not. So off-page SEO must measure your page’s credibility.
Why should you conduct SEO testing?
With SEO testing, you can uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your SEO strategy. These SEO test strategies help you understand how and if you are missing out on valuable site traffic and qualified leads.
What is the best time to improve SEO testing?
Ideally, this should be done at the beginning of the campaign. Conduct an SEO test before implementing an SEO campaign. Doing so will give you a baseline for where you started.
If you think you are getting a sub-par SEO grade when you will have time to fix the same.
Why is regular SEO testing suggested?
One should run periodic SEO tests to ensure that your campaign is working properly. It also gives insight into the methods that are working and what areas still require improvement.
How to test and implement better SEO Strategies?
As discussed above, there are many SEO Testing Strategies. But what you should aim for is using them in tandem with your existing strategies.
1. Interlink the Target Page with Requisite Content Using the Keyword in the Anchor Text
If you want to improve SEO testing, you need to acquire a better keyword ranking. This helps Google understand the topic better. For example, in your existing strategy, add more LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords.
Internal anchor text is another strategy you can try. It helps Google understand critical keywords for your pages.
2. Enhance Meta Tags
Meta tags, including title tags and meta descriptions, send out a solid relevancy signal to get better rankings on the SERP. However, search behavior is constantly changing. Higher click-through SEO strategies alone won’t suffice.
That’s where you need to improve SEO testing to check the organic result in lieu of content that delivers what you require.
3. Introduce Semantic Keywords For Comprehensively Covering A Topic
Semantic keywords are related to keywords or phrases. Using them gives the visitor the ability to understand the subject in a practical way. Also, incorporating semantic keywords gives the content more authority.
For example, if you are looking for a vegetarian burger, you may get results similar to it like vegetarian sliders, vegetarian hot dogs, or even subs.
If you haven’t already, try this in your SEO test strategies to ensure that you have covered a subject in its entirety.
4. Structure Content
Content is king for any SEO test strategies. Make sure it is structured and easy to read.
Remove bold tags — they did matter for SERP but not anymore Improve mobile visibility — most people read on phones now
5. Update Content That Other Pages Lack
Check out competitors and see what content you are missing. For example, are you starting your first line of the article so that it also becomes a good META description? You can search “Google Snippet Rankings” to write short Q&A in your blogs, which helps you rank for snippets.
6. Add Schema to Your Content
Schema lets a visitor, and also the search engines get a better understanding of your website or page. Doing so helps it match the page to the appropriate queries.
As a result, you boost search visibility and CTR.
7. Add Backlinks
Backlinks boost search visibility, increase your prominence on the search engine, and indicate that other web pages find your site valuable.
#Tip: Monitor the status of your backlink to show backlink growth, top domains, and new and lost backlinks for nearly any domain globally. This is a great SEO test strategy.
8. Do Include Multimedia & Images
Images, infographics, and multimedia like videos, animated visuals, etc. retain visitors longer.
To boost ranking, include an ALT text on the captions of the images. Infographics are another great tool.
If you have infographics, you will notice that visitors prefer SEO Testing.
According to Forbes, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual according to the report, and visuals are known to improve learning and retention by 400%. You can see evident changes in your SERP when doing SEO Testing.
It’s simple. Just add more visuals, videos, and infographics to your existing content!
9. Remove Dates From URL
Don’t give dates in permalinks because it would result in 404 errors when you change it later. In particular, dates also make the visitor question your authenticity.
Would you read a 2019-2020 blog or a 2008 one on SEO testing? The new one, right? Especially since the algorithms have changed so much.
10. Prune Your Site
Do more pages mean more traffic? Nope
Consider the case of pruning that Everett Sizemore makes. Proactively remove stuff that doesn’t enhance quality. The less junk on the site, the higher the overall quality signal of your site.
Do SEO testing for:
No organic search traffic
Ranking > 50
No backlinks
No social shares
11. Optimize Answer Box
To rank on top of the SERP, optimize for the Answer Box/Featured Snippet. By securing the Answer Box for a query, you can be assured that your URL is seen. Quick adjustments in your content can help you win the Answer Box.
Do answer the who, what, why, when, and how of a question relevant to the topic.
How frequently should you conduct SEO Tests?
SEO testing frequency should depend on the kind of business you are. To improve SEO testing, an SEO audit should be done 2-3 times a year. For smaller businesses, once in 6 months also works.
Step-by-Step Guide For SEO Testing on Your Site
If you want to improve SERP — then this Step by Step Guide For SEO Testing is the roadmap for you:
1. Do an SEO audit
SEO testing or audit improves your SEO. This SEO test will give you an update on what’s working well and where you can improve. This audit is an evaluation of your website to check your ability to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs)
2. Analyze test results
Once the audit is done, take a close look at your test results. Now is the time to personalize your SEO test strategies. Check what recommendations can make a significant impact.
Evaluate the SEO patterns and pinpoint the pain areas that need more wide-scale changes.
3. Redefine SEO strategy
Now that you have an update, your SEO strategy based on your test results redefines the same.
For this, you need to:
Identify your target audience
Conduct keyword research
Analyze your competitors:
Create your plan
Set up monitoring
4. Implement a new strategy
It is time to implement your new strategy. This should include your plans for improving, monitoring and measuring your SEO. Keep track of the same so that you can track and measure SEO testing results accurately.
5. Make changes when required
This is now a recurring process. You have to keep analyzing your SEO test strategies time and again so that you can constantly be at the top of your game. So, continue monitoring and do more SEO tests or audits.
Various Components of SEO Testing
Now that you are aware of the step-by-step guide for SEO testing, you must know the critical components of SEO Testing. These should not be missed out.
1. Test the impact of no-follow links
No-follow links may help increase website ranking along with traffic. One can try and use the Chrome extension, NoFollow, for the same.
2. Test social signals impact
Social media is powerful dynamite to boost traffic and reach new audiences. Can it also help your SEO?
Social signals impact SEO rankings. With consistent social signals, you can get higher rankings.
3. Test keyword intent
Some keywords perform better than others. While others get no traffic, pay attention to the intent behind the keywords. Focus on high-value and low-value together.
4. Test an AMP for your website
Google came out with AMP or accelerated mobile page websites. You can use the same to optimize your website, and mobile users. If possible, have both normal and mobile versions of the website — with testing, you can know which version works!
5. Test load speed impact
When did you last check the website loading? It will directly impact how Google will rank your website.
Good speed means a lower bounce rate, which is a great SEO strategy.
6. Test compelling title tags and meta descriptions
As mentioned earlier, this is a critical component of your SEO testing strategy. A compelling one with the right title tags and meta descriptions can help you get quicker and faster results.
At the end of the day, higher rankings for SEO mean more clicks. With SEO testing, you can get the right results. Sure there will be a few trials, but it will help you achieve goals and grow your business exponentially.
But this can happen only when you get your SEO right and run tests… So don’t miss that!
Have a digital magazine and website and want to do SEO for it? Search engine optimization for a new website can be intimidating because of the amount of information out there. Without experienced in-house SEO or consultant, this gets worse. So how to do SEO for a magazine website?
What is SEO?
Simply defined, SEO is the process of getting more readers through news or evergreen content. The intention is to boost the click-through rate on organic search engine results.
SEQ is the abbreviation of Search engine optimization, which is a strategy for improving online visibility in a web search engine’s unpaid results. It is also referred to or frequently addressed as “natural”, “organic”, or “earned” results. The higher you rank on top of the search engine page, the more likely you are to be viewed!
Step By Step Guide For Doing SEO For A Magazine
These are some critical but pivotal steps to do SEO for a magazine website and boost it in the simplest way possible:
1. Put the Keywords Aside
For bigger publication websites that may have 500+ to 10,000+ pages, forget about keywords. What you should do is ensure that the search engines can find every one of those pages. This results in higher page views because folks searching for specific items find and remember you. Do focus on key phrases like election news or hurricane alert.
2. Stand Out in Search Results
When we need an answer to our queries, we usually type it into a search engine. Research shows that almost 93% of online experiences begin that way. Then is the next step of clicking on one more or many of them. Opt for specific techniques that help get a high position in SERPs and high CTR at the same time.
3. Open Up your Website
Too many hands spoil the broth… You must have heard of this phase! Similarly, a website asking for too much means the user would avoid it accessing it. Here’s what can be done:
Avoid the option of registration. More prominent publications worldwide are avoiding it because they know people don’t want to pay and get the same news through other sources. Search engines cannot get past a registration form — by using one, and you are merely cutting off all of the content behind that form.
Whey keeps an archive to move old articles to a different address. If you do so, then the search engines will lose track of the old content. And there is a good chance that the older content was getting you a high ranking. It’s best to retain even the older articles on your site and move them to a separate page instead.
Don’t redirect your home page elsewhere because every link you get at one address is potentially a vote lost at the other. Avoid redirecting and use the ‘www’ address. It helps in brand recall, and you’ll get more of those votes pointed at a single address.
4. Restructure the Website
Keep the structure neat and user-friendly. Do have categories, but don’t make it so complicated that visitors won’t find a thing. Remember that Google reads and understands the internet, aim for at least 250 words per page. Have separate pages to target every one of your main keywords, services, or topics.
Also, backlink articles to the hub page. Doing so increases the relevance of that page for the subjects discussed in the articles.
Do have a search tool on your site to record searches performed. Use this tab as a benchmark to record visitor actions. Make sure the phrases that comprise the top 10% of searches are linked from the home page. Search engines work on structured strategies, and hence linking to this content from the home page will boost its relative importance.
Link sensibly — you don’t want fashion connecting to sports and vice versa. Also, be very specific about naming them. Lack of clarity can keep both search engines and users guessing, which is a potential problem.
Add categories and title gags. Ensure that the article title and section are in the title tag. A descriptive one lets the search engine immediately see that the page is about a particular topic.
Headings should be in heading tags like H1, H2, H3, etc., and describe the page’s content. Sub-headings can be placed into lower-level heading tags so that the search engines can see the top-level ones.
Add paragraphs of text in paragraph elements. Using line breaks and tables instead of paragraph tags helps in boosting ranking.
5. Clean, Simple Code
This partis a bit technical but can be done when you want to know how to do SEO for a magazine website.
Getrid of the inline javascript to a separate js file. This helps to improve that ratio.
Reduce bandwidth usage so that visitors’ browsers will cache the js include file the first time they visit the page. For returning visitors, this won’t load the older file from your server. It is just a small saving that adds up fast.
6. No Duplication, Please
You must link consistently using the same address, all the time.
Avoid using query attributes for insite tracking. Many add things like ?homepage=rightside’ to indicate that a particular click came from the page’s right side. Rather go for tools like ClickTracks or ClickTale to track click locations instead.
For multi-page articles, most people put links at the bottom and top of the page. As a result, people jump from page 1 to 2 to 3, etc. But ensure that whenever they jump back, the page URL doesn’t have ?p=1″ or ‘p=0″ in it. If you are doing pagination, do ensure it doesn’t create duplication issues.
Arrange your cookies and avoiding query attributes for sorting, either similar reasons as above. One has the option dynamically inserting a ROBOTS meta tag set to ‘noindex’ whenever you have a sorting query attribute.
Consistently link to sections and don’t mix them — and this would create duplicate content. It’s recommended that you link back to the home page.
7. Your Blog and Content
Don’t dump press releases on your blog. If you feel you should have this on the website for compliance purposes — put it in a “Media” section. A rule of thumb for blogging is never to publish anything on your blog that you don’t think your target customers would want to read. While the visitors do have to pay to read your blog, they certainly don’t want to waste time on it right?
Here are a few other tips to keep in mind when you want to know how to do SEO for a magazine website, especially for a blog:
Only have high-quality 100% unique content on your site
Create pages based on priority
Don’t have annoying ads and pop-ups
Register with Google Search Console
Optimize the core web vitals
Go for a responsive, mobile-friendly design
Bonus Tips
While the above is good enough for your website SEQ, these bonus tips can give you a competitive edge. Let’s take a look:
Even if you don’t need it, add an RSS feed for your latest articles. Place the entirety of every item into the feed and ensure that they have at least one link to another article on your site. Often, others may use software to plagiarise your RSS feed and use it to put content on their sites. In that case, it creates links back to you.
Have an affiliate or reward program for others who link to you. For example, you can create a contest that encourages others to link to you. Keep in mind that links are votes and the more you get, the better shot at a high ranking for your various topics.
Writing unique description tags helps search engines use them as the snippet in their results pages. It eventually means more clickability for your website.
Do have a Google site map along with seeing a Google Webmaster Tools account. Ensure that they verify your site & use this data about crawl problems and links to improve your site further.
A magazine or an online publication can succeed when you focus on accessibility for your site along with SEO. The idea is that you should make it simpler and more comfortable for visitors to see exactly what each page is about — and that too in the shortest amount of time possible. When visitors find it easy to get from page to page, it automatically indicates that even the search engines are doing the same!
One should learn to focus on and create content around long-tail search phrases, which are based on SMM or social media marketing techniques rather than just giving importance to head keywords, which is social media. Link-building, in particular, is about quality and not quantity. And don’t forget about the shift from web pages to mobile-friendly websites!
If your website is outdated, then it won’t represent your brand well. So you have to ensure that you give your website a revamp or a redesign every 2-3 years to keep up with web standards and design trends. It is easily accomplished through a simple facelift or re-skin.
Though website migrations are common, they’re certainly not easy. And if you are planning on it, you surely need a website migration checklist SEO. If you are thinking of migrating to a new server, domain, or host, even that would require significant planning, time, and resources.
Small mistakes can also mess up a website’s migration. And this, in turn, could destroy your company’s traffic and revenue overnight. A poorly implemented site migration can wreak havoc on the years of handwork you had put in. So, though changing your domain name or implementing HTTPS would mean a good business move, you have to consider how search engines will react to this move. There is a bit of risk of hitting organic search traffic.
This helpful guide will give you a gist of everything you need to know about migrating websites. It will ensure that you cover all the SEO bases to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Understanding Site Migration
Site migration is not a digital marketing trend; instead, it is migrating a website from one domain to a completely different one. Migration of sites can go deeper than just changing the environment. It means switching servers, CMS platforms, and the creation or consolidation of branded subdomains. It may also refer to switching over of site domains.
But in most cases, migrating refers to shifting from the HTTP domain to the more secure HTTPS. However, it is regarded as one of the most “basic” types of migration. However, without the website migration checklist SEO, it does come with a series of threats, especially if you don’t have the right SEO platform and operational support.
Why is it Needed?
Website migration is needed if you wish to:
Shift & upgrade your site structure, navigation/design
Switch or go for a new content management system (CMS)
Transition the existing website from HTTP to HTTPS
Shift to a new server
Move to a different domain name
Pitfalls to Consider
When migrating from one domain to another, there are critical aspects that you should take into consideration.
No Planning
Most businesses opt for site migration with zero intentions to create a website migration plan. All they want to do is get a new CMS. They move to a new CMS without researching best practices for the move.
Bad Strategy
It would help if you created a website migration plan. If not, you will fail to invest enough time in developing their strategy. The lacklustre strategy can put your site migration at risk.
Not Paying Attention to SEO
When undergoing website migration, you have to pay attention to SEO. For this, you should connect with an SEO consultant, agency, or in-house SEO team. Getting their suggestion when it comes to a site migration helps create a website migration checklist SEO. As a result, you won’t lose traffic, leads, or revenue long-term.
IncompleteResources
Ensure that you set the necessary resources to plan a successful website migration. It could take care of the funding for hiring an SEO consultant or web design agency specializing in SEO.
Not Testing Enough
Not having a good website migration plan usually means forgetting to test and follow up on their work. If you don’t find bugs within new navigation or site design, it implies havoc for your website.
You can counteract the above problems by:
Setting up a timeline
Estimating the resources needed
Brainstorming strategies
Noting potential challenges
Establishing a budget
Website Migration Affect & SEO
URL redirection during website migration is done to ensure that all the links work on your new domain. This particularly holds for your website’s main pages because they have inbound links (referral traffic coming from another website). Not changing these pages based on content can make things stagnant and boring. Experts are suggesting trying the 301 redirects, which is also called the permanent redirect. It simply lets the search engines like Google know that your page has moved permanently. Do consider the link equity too because it may be a big chunk.
People often migrate if two organizations are amalgamating. In such cases, it is best to retain the higher ranking of the two domains, considering more users. Also, it is easier to redirect links from the lesser-performing domain. To maximize SEO, ensure that URLs are redirected only to highly relevant pages.
Six Steps to Migrating Your Website
Here is a gist of six steps to help you successfully migrate your website:
Step One: Develop a Migration Plan
Create a concrete website migration plan, along with a website migration checklist SEO. This will help you in establishing the scope and timeline of your migration. It additionally helps to determine who will lead and support the migration. Try and have a checklist for each task.
Setting up a budget comes next. Your migration plan won’t happen in a day. In the same way, you should work out a budget to communicate with numerous team members.
Step Two: Coordinate with the Design & Development Team
Make sure you don’t miss coordinating because you have to move forward with your website updates. In terms of redesigning, it can include reviewing wireframes, providing feedback, etc. If more than design is needed, then the development team can work independently too. The developers could work on improving the overall speed of your sites.
Step Three: Prepping Technical SEO for the Migration
Post finalizing the website’s designs or development, a dedicated SEO specialist will outline and prepare the technical SEO specifications. Some of these include:
HTML sitemap
XML Sitemap
URL structure
Redirects
Internal linking
You should also:
Crawl your existing website
Benchmark your existing website’s performance
Export your existing website’s Google Search Console
Have a document outlining planned redirects
Step Four: Launch and Test
As per the digital marketing trends, you should launch & test your website. The process of testing your site commences once your development team starts building it. Ensure that during the test, it’s not accessible to search engines. Else they will crawl and index this website when you haven’t migrated your old site and content to it. This can be done by limiting its access to specific IP addresses.
Test & review site architecture
Check the site’s usability
Mobile-friendliness
Check the site’s internal linking
Read your site’s title tags, meta descriptions, etc.
Ensure your site functions
Go over your text file, XML sitemap, etc
Step Five: Migrating your Website
Before the business reaches the website migration plan, it can take a few weeks or months. But do remember that speed is essential. In some cases, the migration does require the website to go offline. For instance, it may be possible that you want to avoid extensive downtime. On completing the initial migration, complete the following:
Check & confirm robots.txt file is not blocking search engines
Check if the redirects work for your pages
Upload your XML sitemap to your Google Search Console account
All of the above actions will help your business spot critical errors fast. They will additionally boost your SEO and help your migration process become seamless.
Step Six: Following Up
Though you may have completed your website migration checklist, there is still a need to monitor your site. Make sure that your site migration is monitored to watch your rankings and traffic. Doing so can help alert your business to issues with your website migration. You can use Google Analytics to monitor your traffic and Google Search Console to track your rankings. Of course, there are paid tools too like Ahrefs or SEMrush that you can use.
Also, ensure that you check for duplication once the multiple versions of a URL are published. This will result in duplicate content. You have the option of self-canonicalization to take care of the issue. Additionally do check that links are consistent to avoid redirects from internal links. All the IP addresses should further redirect to URLs.
Watch out for folders that take you to content, especially “default” folders.
Verify that only HTTPS or HTTP is used
Ensure the www or non-www version of the site is accessible
Everything else should be redirected to the site
If your site has a search function, the search result pages should be non-indexed.
This should be in place to avoid duplicate content created by URL query strings.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the website migration process can be lengthy. However, with the right preparation, you can successfully migrate, optimizing your existing SEO efforts.
You should get a website migration plan because that is more critical than building a checklist. If you successfully follow through on that checklist, the entire ordeal can help in seamless integration. As a business owner, it is relatively easy to get caught up in daily challenges and new projects but ensure these simple measures for successful website migration!
