Category: SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to hold a place of critical importance for the Growth of companies. As a company grows the SEO agency vs. internal team question often arises: should we build an internal SEO team, or outsource to an agency? Having navigated SEO for 15 years now, I have gathered some insights that might be useful if you’re trying to navigate this question.

Some SEO Agencies Cons

SEO agencies bring to the table a vast repertoire of experience and a kaleidoscope of strategies honed across diverse industries. However, their alignment with your company’s deep-seated goals can sometimes be superficial.

Misaligned Interests

Agencies, while experts in their field, operate with a broader portfolio of clients, which can inadvertently place your company’s unique needs on the backburner. Their primary aim is to deliver strategies across a wide spectrum, not to dive deep into the nuanced ecosystem of a single client.

Lack of Execution Responsibility

Perhaps the most significant drawback of outsourcing SEO is the gap in accountability for implementation. Agencies specialize in crafting strategies and providing guidance but often remain a step removed from the actual execution phase. This separation can lead to a scenario where companies are left with a blueprint but no practical pathway to realization.

The Strategic Advantages of an Internal SEO Team

Building an internal SEO team is an investment in your company’s future digital landscape. Here are the compelling reasons why this approach not only makes sense but is essential for companies like Stripe.

Alignment with Company Goals

An internal team, immersed in the company’s culture and objectives, ensures that every SEO strategy is deeply aligned with long-term business goals. This alignment fosters a seamless integration of SEO with overall marketing strategies, enhancing the effectiveness of each campaign.

Proprietary Knowledge Accumulation

An in-house SEO team becomes a repository of proprietary knowledge—understanding the nuances of your business, the technical intricacies of your website, and the behaviors of your target audience. This knowledge is not transient but grows and evolves, becoming a formidable asset over time.

Enhanced Speed and Efficiency

Internal teams, with their intimate understanding of the company’s priorities and mechanisms, can execute strategies with unparalleled speed and precision. They are in the trenches, able to swiftly pivot and adapt strategies based on real-time insights and changes in the digital landscape.

Long-Term Cost Effectiveness

Although the initial setup costs of an internal team may seem daunting, the long-term benefits far outweigh these early investments. With an internal team, you’re not just building capacity; you’re fostering a strategic asset that will drive sustainable growth and innovation.

The Hybrid Approach: Leveraging External Expertise Wisely

Acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses inherent in both models, a hybrid approach emerges as a tactically sound strategy. This model advocates for a core, agile internal SEO team supplemented by strategic engagements with SEO agencies for specialized projects or audits.

Strategic Audits and Specialized Projects

SEO agencies can be invaluable for conducting deep-dive audits or tackling specialized projects that require a level of expertise or resources not available in-house. For example, an agency could be enlisted to perform a comprehensive technical SEO audit, identifying critical issues that the internal team can then prioritize and address.

The Implementation Imperative

The crux of successful SEO is not just in strategy development but in effective implementation. An internal team, empowered by a detailed understanding of the company’s infrastructure and strategic objectives, can translate insights into action with efficiency and precision.

Building for the Future

In the rapidly evolving digital arena, where search algorithms shift and consumer behaviors change, having an internal SEO team is not just a strategic advantage—it’s a necessity. This team’s deep-rooted understanding of the company’s vision, combined with their agility and commitment, positions the company to navigate the digital future confidently.

While SEO agencies offer broad expertise and can be instrumental for specific projects, the long-term strategic advantage lies in nurturing an internal SEO team. Such a team guarantees alignment with company goals, fosters the accumulation of proprietary knowledge, and ensures the swift and effective implementation of strategies. For companies aiming at lasting online success, building an internal SEO team is not just beneficial—it’s essential.

Finding and hiring top talent for your SEO team can be a challenging process. Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn and observe some key tactics and strategies that help immensely in the SEO hiring process. Here’s my SEO Hiring Guide ( or at least the most important bits ).

A SEO Super Star

Before I jump in, let’s take a quick look at what it takes to be a SEO super-star. A SEO super-star has to understand not only the technologies that render websites, but how a massively complicated and opaque search algorithm called Google interprets a website and the users it sees interacting with said website. On top of that they have to be creative enough to find new ways to gain the attention of people long enough that the aforementioned algorithm can “see it” and react positively. Then they must gather, collate and analyze data to make sure they’re positively impacting site traffic and explain this to the rest of the company. They are part engineer, part product manager, part marketer, part psychologist, part data analyst and against all odds part human.

It’s incredibly hard to find someone with this diverse a set of skills. Here’s how I go about it.

Signs of Excellence

I learned about Signs of Excellence from Luc Levesque, who has hired rockstar teams across multiple companies. When evaluating SEO candidates or any new hire, the first thing I look for are indicators that set them apart from others. These signs of excellence demonstrate grit, focus, determination, and the ability to see projects through. Here are some examples:

• Leadership experience – Have they spearheaded projects or teams? Former team captains, student government leaders, organizers of weekly meetups etc. The experience of leading brings knowledge and demonstrates initiative.
• Competitive achievements – First place wins in contests, highly ranked sports teams, debate club presidents, etc. show their competitive drive. You want someone that wants to win.
• Entrepreneurial ventures – Running a successful side business or website shows work ethic, technical skills and a sense of initiative. This demonstrates hustle, drive and has probably brought failure but also opportunity for resilience to shine through.
• Rehired by a former manager – If a former manager is willing to re-hire them into a new company, it shows a great amount of trust in that person’s abilities and skillset.
• Speaking engagements and published articles – Shows preparation, communication skills and diligence.

The right mix of these indicators shows an ability to set ambitious goals and work diligently to achieve them. These are transferable skills and enable top performers to continuously improve and excel.

Technical Capabilities

Technical skills are almost always undervalued in SEO. We tend to think of SEO as a hub role that brings multiple disciples together to get shit done. The most successful SEO teams are the ones that have the skill-stack to execute independently – this requires technical capabilities within the team.

• Coding skills – Are they familiar with scripting or coding? Do they have GitHub repositories you can review? Full-stack skills allow deeper diagnostics and understanding of what is possible and will make communication with Engineering much easier and efficient.
• SQL proficiency – There is no SEO team that doesn’t at some point depend on data. Crafting complex queries, identifying data issues, and analyzing results are a must.
• Statistical competence – SEO experimentation and reporting require statistical literacy and competency. The ability to think through confounding variables and search out alternate statistical interpretations to determine the validity of a test are essential to provide the raw material for strategic out-performance.
• API knowledge – Experience tying platforms together via APIs is essential now in SEO. Data sources are always fragmented and require consolidation. In the least understanding how these data sources work and can be accessed is vital.
• Tool and platform expertise – Familiarity with core platforms like Search Console, Analytics, Rank Tracking software, etc.

Technical competence enables analysts to accurately audit sites, gather and interpret data, identify issues, recommend solutions and even implement them. These hands-on skills and tool mastery separate true experts from theorists.

Hire Skill Sets, Not Roles

One of the biggest mistakes we make is hiring for a role instead of hiring for a skill set. When companies come upon hard times, they eliminate roles. True super-stars ( people with well adapted and developed skill sets ) are moved to new roles or create their own space in new landscapes.

Here are the main skillsets I look for:

• Core SEO – keyword research, on-page optimizations, content creation, site architecture analysis, crawl budget, indexation issues, page speed, outreach, etc.
• Technical – coding / scripting in any language, understanding of web technologies
• Data analysis – can collect, aggregate, analyze data, have run a/b tests and are familiar with the technologies to do this – BigQuery, SQL, pandas, a/b testing packages
• Project management – able to run a project from start to finish, can coordinate and organize people / tasks efficiently towards a goal
• Product development – understand product development, basics of UX, how to move conversion metrics for a product
• Communication / presentation skills – can they write clearly, create concise presentations, deliver them to various levels within the company?

Always look for candidates with versatile abilities or the capacity to develop them. Avoid pigeon-holing people into narrow roles – today’s SEO environment requires an ever-expanding skillset and prioritizing well-rounded individuals capable of growth, will return dividends.

Ask The Right Questions, the Right Way

How you ask questions in an interview is as crucial as what questions you ask. Well-crafted questions can reveal a deeper understanding of problem-solving abilities, thought processes, past experiences and red flags.

In my experience, open-ended questions for which there are specific answers, provide the best bang-for-the-buck. Allowing for flexible responses gives you more data to evaluate their approach, skillset and personality. Below I illustrate some examples of narrow-ended questions versus open-ended questions.

Narrow-ended questions:

• How would you 10x traffic to this site?
  • You’ve already pigeon-holed them to respond with high risk tactics. What about more conservative but novel ideas if you’re an established brand? Big risk isn’t always the right answer.
• How important are title tags for SEO?
  • Easy answer … they’re important but it doesn’t prompt more in-depth conversation
• What’s your favourite SEO Tool?
  • Again easy for someone to simply provide a list

Open-ended questions:

• What steps would you take to improve organic visibility for a new e-commerce site?
• How would you conduct technical SEO audits to identify optimization opportunities?
• How would you track and report on an ongoing link building campaign?

These questions all require a more detailed explanation of how they would solve the problem and their responses will demonstrate their level of strategic thinking, technical proficiency, and communication skills.

Another great tactic is to ask detailed questions about their specific SEO accomplishments ( if they don’t have any it’s an easy pass ). Past examples reveal analytical abilities, tools utilized, and how they approached roadblocks. Listen for concise summaries vs. vague generalities. These answers distinguish true hands-on experience from theoretical knowledge. Some examples:

• Walk me through how you achieved top 3 rankings for a competitive keyword.
• Tell me about a time you discovered and resolved a site indexing issue.
• What’s your most successful on-page optimization effort? How big was the win?

Past performance isn’t always indicative of future performance, but it’s one of the best evaluation tools you have.

Personality Assessment

Understanding people’s personality type affords you a wealth of knowledge on how well they will fit into your team and how best to approach working with them and providing work for them. I have found the Enneagram personality test the best one out there for this purpose.

The Enneagram is a personality typing system that categorizes people into nine core types based on their motivations, fears, and patterns of behaviour. Understanding someone’s Enneagram type provides insights into their inherent strengths, weaknesses, leadership capabilities, and communication styles. Using Enneagram test results in the hiring process enables recruiters to look beyond just skills and experience to uncover candidates’ deeper personality traits. This additional layer of assessment allows for more informed hiring decisions, ensuring selected candidates are a strong cultural and team fit.

Incorporating Enneagram profiles into talent acquisition provides numerous advantages. It improves candidate selection by revealing compatibility with company values and environment. Enneagram types indicate how prospective hires will collaborate with colleagues, react to workplace stressors, and grow into leadership roles. This aids in predicting job performance and satisfaction. Furthermore, Enneagram test results help customize onboarding and development plans based on personality, playing a key role in long-term retention and progress.

The Enneagram like any other personality profile isn’t perfect and should only be part of your decision – if it’s available to you.

Red Flags

During the interview keep an eye out for behaviours that can signal a poor fit, here are some top ones I keep handy:

• Dominating the conversation indicates potential communication challenges.
• Inability to articulate concise answers to fundamental SEO questions, shows potential knowledge gaps.
• Vague, general responses to questions about past projects raises doubt about hands-on abilities.
• Unable to backup claims with concrete evidence.
• Overemphasis on a single skill area.
• Excessive job-hopping may indicate issues with professionalism, teamwork, or motivation and is worth checking with references.

Of course, some flags can be mitigated with training and mentorship. But several together should give pause about overall aptitude and work ethic.

SEO Hiring Final Word

Hiring someone to an SEO team is incredibly important and finding top SEO talent takes an observant eye, revealing questions, and understanding key capabilities. Look for past achievements, versatile skill sets, and technical strengths. Watch for red flags around competence and collaboration.

Here are some sample interview questions I ask to help me get a true feeling for whether or not someone is an SEO super-star. Feel free to reach out if you’d like my entire SEO Hiring Template.

• Have you created / run your own website? Tell me about it? How much traffic does it get?
• Have you ever pulled search volume data from Google Ads API? Google search console data from the the GSC API? Run queries to pull internal site metrics, like number of sessions? Have you ever tied all this data together to get a holistic view of search demand and conversion?
• Have you ever run an A/B test? If so what was you largest win and how did you measure it? What was the stat sig of the test?
• What are the most important SEO Factors for ranking a webpage?
• Give me an example of how you crushed a tight deadline in your past? How did you do it?
• Give me an example of how you used automation or tools to make your work faster or better?

In a my article on SEO Areas of Focus I highlighted SEO User metrics as one of the key factors to focus on. Search engines generally want to connect users with relevant, satisfying websites. Optimizing SEO user metrics can significantly improve rankings and help you maintain consistent ranks. Let’s dive into top user metrics and tips to optimize each.

1. Click Through Rate

What is it?

Click-through rate is the ratio of clicks to impressions for your search result listings. It measures how often searchers click your result for a given query.

How it impacts search rankings

Higher CTRs indicate your result listing is relevant and enticing to searchers for that keyword. Google aims to show results with the best CTRs.

How to optimize

• Include keywords naturally in titles and descriptions.
• Include numbers, special ascii characters and punctuation in your titles.
• Write compelling, benefit-driven titles and descriptions.
• Ensure page content directly answers the searcher’s query.
• Include or create content for long-tail variations of the keyword.
• Leverage sitelinks to guide visitors – you can get these by adding # links from a table of contents in your article to sections below
• Add FAQ, Review, Product schema to your page if applicable

2. Bounce Rate

What is it?

Bounce rate measures single-page sessions – the percentage of visitors that leave your site after viewing only one page. Google in it’s patent filing for Systems and Methods for Promoting Search Results introduces a good click – when a user clicks through and lingers for a time ( up to 20 seconds ) on a webpage.

How it impacts search rankings

High bounce rates indicate content mismatch. The visitor’s query expectations weren’t met, so they immediately left. This signals poor relevance. Lower bounce rates tend to improve rankings.

A note here, in my experience bounce rate is a relative measure. The real metric is relative bounce rate – how your bounce rate compares to other relevant webpages for your target keyword.

How to optimize

• Match page content closely to keyword searches.
• Format content for easy skimming on all devices.
• Improve page load speed.
• Add clear navigation to related content.
• Test changes to measure effects on bounce rate.

3. Time on Site

What is it?

Time on site is the total time visitors actively engage with your pages during a session.

How it impacts search rankings

More time on site implies visitors are finding your content useful and satisfying. Google wants to surface pages that fulfill search intent.

As with bounce rate this metric is relative, a high time on site for some keywords may be 2 minutes others it may be 10 seconds.

How to optimize

• Create in-depth, valuable content that engages visitors.
• Include interactive elements like quizzes, calculators, assessments.
• Format content for easy digestion.
• Optimize pages to load quickly on all devices.
• Make navigation intuitive to encourage exploration.
• Promote email list signups to build loyal readership.

4. Navigation Depth

What is it?

Navigation depth tracks how many pages a visitor views during their site visit.

How it impacts search rankings

Deeper navigation shows pages are relevant to the user’s initial search. Visitors continue engaging because you have related and useful content.

How to optimize

• Structure your information architecture intuitively.
• Link to related topics from content pages.
• Create compelling headlines and preview summaries.
• Provide visible site menus and sitemaps.
• Analyze click patterns to inform site changes.
• Make sure pages load quickly as users click deeper.

5. Pogo-Sticking

What is it?

Pogo-sticking refers to users bouncing between search and your site—clicking results, quickly returning to search, and clicking again to another site.

How it impacts search rankings

Excess pogo-sticking indicates difficulty finding relevant information on your site. It signals poor user experience.

How to optimize

• Ensure page titles, headings, and URL names match intent of keyword
• Promote internal site search.
• Add clear site navigation and linking.

6. Social Sharing

What is it?

Social share rate tracks how often visitors share your content on social media platforms.

How it impacts search rankings

Higher social shares imply your content resonates and provides value. Shared content gets broader visibility with search engines.

How to optimize

• Promote sharing by adding social media buttons.
• Create “shareable” content designed for social posts.
• Distribute shareable images, clips, quotes.
• Promote hashtags and campaign tags to organize shares.
• Analyze shares to inform content strategy.

7. Sessions Per User

What is it?

Sessions per user calculates the average number of visits users have over time.

How it impacts search rankings

More sessions show your site encourages loyalty and retention. Engaged visitors are less likely to bounce.

How to optimize

• Foster community with discussion forums or commenting.
• Send email newsletters and content alerts.
• Offer members-only premium content.
• Develop free tools and resources.
• Reward return visits with loyalty program.

I hope you have founds this article useful on how to improve SEO User Metrics. Best of luck and feel free to reach out.

In a my article on SEO Areas of Focus I highlighted the most critical aspects of SEO, on-page factors. After 20+ years in the biz this one area of focus is again and again the most important to focus on. Google’s algorithm analyzes several on-page SEO factors to determine where a page should rank in search results. By optimizing these elements, you can improve your site’s ability to rank for important keywords. Here are detailed tips on optimizing the most important on-page factors:

On-Page SEO Elements

1. Quality Page Content
2. Page Titles
3. Page Headers
4. Meta Description
5. Image Alt-text
6. Structured Markup
7. Page URLs
8. Internal Linking
9. Mobile Responsiveness
10. Site Speed

What Makes an Effective Page Title for SEO?

Your page title is the main on-page SEO factor. It show’s up as the clickable main headline in search listings. Craft titles that encourage searchers to click, while accurately conveying what the page is about. Specific tips:

• Keep titles under 60 characters so they don’t get cut off
• Include your most important, relevant keywords near the beginning
• Ask a compelling question or make a bold statement to build curiosity
• Have titles use sentence case capitalization for readability

How Should I Write Meta Descriptions for Each Page?

The meta description gives searchers a short summary of what the page is about. Follow these best practices:

• Keep descriptions between 150-160 characters so Google can show most of the text
• Include keywords naturally in the description, but don’t over-optimize
• Make the description interesting and highlight the unique value the page offers
• Add a call to action so searchers are persuaded to click and visit your page

What’s the Right Amount of Topic Coverage for SEO?

Google wants to see pages that thoroughly cover a specific topic. Here’s how to optimize content:

• Focus your page around a single target keyword, and use it prominently throughout
• Include related keywords and synonyms naturally to expand topic coverage
• Have at least 500-1000 words of content focused on the main topic for ideal depth
• Break content up with subheadings using keywords to improve scannability

Should I Incorporate Multiple Types of Media?

Using relevant images, graphics, videos and other media improves user experience. It also signals Google that your page offers rich, useful information. Tips for optimizing media:

• Include images with descriptive alt text and file names containing keywords
• Embed relevant YouTube videos and infographics when appropriate
• Add data visualizations, graphs, or charts when they enhance content
• Ensure media loads quickly and is optimized for both desktop and mobile

What Readability Level is Best for SEO?

Strive for easily digestible content optimized for the average reader. Best practices include:

• Use short sentences, paragraphs, and sections for better scannability
• Target a grade level of 7-8 on the Flesch-Kincaid readability score
• Format content with bulleted or numbered lists and bolded subheadings
• Maintain a friendly, conversational tone throughout the content

How Should I Format My URLs for SEO?

Include your target keywords in URLs, and make them short, descriptive and easy to understand. Separate words with hyphens instead of underscores or camelcase.

Do Internal Links Help with SEO?

Yes, linking to other relevant pages on your site has multiple SEO benefits:

• The anchor text used in internal links provides semantic context around what each page is about.
• More internal links signals to Google which pages are most important to focus on ranking.
• Well-structured internal linking helps visitors navigate and explore your site, improving user experience.

What Are Tips to Make My Page Faster?

Faster page speed improves user experience and can boost rankings. Try optimizing images, eliminating render-blocking JavaScript, minimizing HTTP requests, and more. Use a tool like PageSpeed Insights to identify issues.

Does a Faster Page Increase My Ranking Chances?

Yes, page speed is a small ranking factor according to Google. Optimizing to load pages in under 3 seconds on mobile can help improve visibility. Faster pages also retain visitors better.

What Schema Markup Will Increase My SERP CTR?

FAQ schema markup helps feature your FAQs directly in search results, which can increase click-through rate by over 10%. Ensure you implement schema.org/FAQPage markup properly for maximum impact.

By focusing on optimizing these key SEO on-page factors, you can improve your pages’ ability to rank well and gain more organic search traffic. Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional questions!

In May 2023, Google introduced its new Generative Search Experience (SGE) feature, integrating AI-generated responses into certain search results. Powered by advances in large language models, SGE aims to provide quick overviews and multiple perspectives summarized from across the web. But how exactly does this new addition to Google Search work and what are the implications? This comprehensive FAQ examines SGE in-depth.

What is the Google Generative Search Experience and how was it launched?

The Generative Search Experience (SGE) is a new experimental search feature that Google unveiled publicly on May 26, 2023 during its Search On 22 event. For select searches, SGE displays a snippet of text summarizing key information above the traditional list of search results.

These AI-generated responses aim to provide an overview of important factors to consider, different viewpoints from across the web, and potential next steps or follow-up questions to explore a topic more deeply. SGE uses the latest advances in generative AI, including large language models, to synthesize these responses on the fly.

Initially, SGE is launching in a limited beta through Google’s Search Labs program. It is currently enabled for a small portion of English searches in the United States on desktop and mobile. Access requires signing up through Search Labs and will be expanding gradually over time based on testing and feedback.

How are the SGE snippets and summaries generated?

The AI-written text displayed in SGE snippets is created by leveraging Google’s existing Knowledge Graph, Featured Snippets, and structured data from websites relevant to the search query. This allows Google’s algorithms to identify key concepts, entities, and perspectives to cover in the summary.

The information from across the web is then combined and run through a proprietary large language model developed by Google researchers specifically for summarization of search results. Fine-tuning the model on Google’s search data enables it to generate natural sounding overviews reflecting diverse sources while upholding high quality standards.

What triggers the SGE features to appear for a search?

So far, Google has enabled SGE for broad, complex informational queries where summarizing key details and trade-offs can aid decision-making. For example, queries like “best stroller for city living” or “difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes”.

SGE is also appearing for some comparative shopping queries to summarize product options, reviews, and factors to consider. Google seems to be selectively surfacing SGE where it has enough structured data to generate a useful overview from multiple perspectives.

How are sources and websites credited within SGE?

As part of its summarization, the SGE snippet cites and links out to the third-party webpages used as sources for the generated text. On desktop, clicking the citation shows a preview of the content highlighted.

The order of citations corresponds to the length of unique text referenced from each site. This provides attribution proportional to the amount of content contributed. Even if one site has the most relevant data, SGE diversifies citations – likely as part of Google’s effort to continue driving traffic to sources.

How is the citation rank decided?

The ranking of the citations is determined by the total number of characters from each website that get cited within the SGE snippet. Sites that contribute more unique text tend to be ranked higher in the list of citations.

How is the image for each cited web page chosen?

For the thumbnail images representing each cited website, Google will primarily select the top inline image from the referenced page. If no inline image is available, it may use a lower image or fall back to the Open Graph meta image for the page. The selected image is then cropped to maintain a consistent 1.45:1 aspect ratio.

What are some of the potential impacts – both positive and negative – of SGE?

For sites producing unique high-quality content, being referenced in SGE could drive more traffic and links. However, if AI summaries fully satisfy informational queries, it could reduce visits to other explanatory content. The impact on branded search terms remains uncertain.

While aiming to summarize neutrally, limitations in current AI could lead to incorrect, biased, or offensive generated text. Google says it has guardrails in place during training, but issues will still occur. Allowing users to view sources provides transparency around where the information is coming from.

As this major new search feature expands, Google will need to take a thoughtful approach accounting for all stakeholders – searchers, publishers, and businesses alike. The technology shows promise, but also disruptive potential as AI takes on a greater curation role.

To remove a site or a specific URL from Google’s index using Google Search Console, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Select the website for which you want to remove the URL or site from the index.
3. Click on “Removals” in the left-hand menu.
4. Click on “New Request” and select either “Temporary removal” or “Outdated content” depending on your situation.
5. For temporary removal, select “Remove URLs” and enter the URL(s) you want to remove. For site removal, select “Clear cache” or “Clear URL”.
6. If you want to remove all urls with the prefix you entered ( i.e. URLs that start with the URL you entered ) select that
7. Click “Submit Request” and confirm your request.

It’s important to note that removal requests are not immediate and can take several days to process. Additionally, this process only removes URLs from Google’s index, not from the internet altogether.

In my previous article on areas of focus for SEO I outlined Authority as important. Understanding and improving website authority is critical for SEO. In this article, we’ll explore the concept of website authority and its relation to EAT (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness). We’ll also provide practical strategies for increasing website authority.

What is website SEO authority?

Website authority refers to a website’s credibility, trustworthiness, and reputation in the eyes of search engines and users. Factors such as content quality, backlinks, website age, history, and social signals are key in its determination.

Why is SEO authority important?

High website authority boosts SEO, as search engines use it to assess relevance and credibility. This results in better rankings, leading to increased traffic, visibility, and conversions. EAT is also becoming an increasingly important factor in determining website authority. Google’s algorithm now places greater emphasis on websites that demonstrate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness in their niche.

Here are some tips for improving website SEO authority.

Create high-quality, informative content

One of the most effective ways to increase SEO website authority and demonstrate expertise is to create high-quality, informative content that provides value to users. Ensure that the content is well-written, unique, and provides a unique perspective on the topic. Google rewards websites that add value to users and ranks them higher in search results.

Build high-quality backlinks

Backlinks are a crucial factor in building website authority and demonstrating trustworthiness. They help search engines determine the credibility and relevance of your website.

Here are some specific ways to get backlinks to your website:

1. Guest blogging: Guest blogging is an effective way to acquire high-quality backlinks and demonstrate expertise. Identify reputable websites in your niche that accept guest posts, and reach out to them with your pitch. Ensure that the content you create is high-quality, informative, and relevant to the website’s audience.
2. Broken link building: Broken link building is another effective strategy for acquiring backlinks and demonstrating trustworthiness. Identify broken links on reputable websites in your niche, and reach out to the website owner with a suggestion for a replacement link on your website. Ensure that the replacement link is high-quality, informative, and relevant to the website’s audience.
3. Infographics: Infographics are highly shareable and can be an effective way to acquire backlinks and demonstrate expertise. Create a high-quality infographic on a topic relevant to your niche, and reach out to websites that publish infographics in your niche. Offer to provide the infographic for free in exchange for a backlink to your website.

For more ideas check out this YouTube video from ahrefs on how to build backlinks.

Optimize your website for mobile

Optimizing your website for mobile devices is essential for establishing authority because more and more people are using mobile devices to browse the internet. In fact, mobile devices now account for more than half of all internet traffic, so having a mobile-friendly website is no longer optional – it’s a necessity.

Here are some specific tips for optimizing your website for mobile:

1. Use a responsive design: A responsive design ensures that your website will adapt to the screen size of any device. This means that your website will look great and be easy to use on both desktop and mobile devices.
2. Keep it simple: Mobile users don’t have the same amount of screen real estate as desktop users, so it’s important to keep your website simple and easy to navigate. Use a clear and simple layout, with large buttons and easy-to-read text.
3. Optimize images and videos: Large images and videos can slow down your website’s load times, which is particularly problematic on mobile devices. Optimize your images and videos to reduce their file sizes and improve your website’s load times.
4. Use mobile-friendly fonts: Not all fonts are created equal when it comes to mobile devices. Some fonts may be difficult to read on smaller screens, so it’s important to use fonts that are mobile-friendly.
5. Test your website on multiple devices: Make sure to test your website on multiple devices and across multiple platforms to ensure that it looks and functions correctly. This will help you identify any issues and ensure that your website is optimized for all devices.

Improve website speed

Improving website speed is crucial for establishing authority because it affects both user experience and search engine rankings. Slow-loading websites can frustrate users, leading to higher bounce rates and lower engagement. In addition, search engines prioritize websites that load quickly because they want to provide their users with the best possible experience.

Here are some specific tips for improving website speed:

1. Optimize images: Large images can significantly slow down your website, so it’s important to optimize them by reducing their file size. You can use image compression tools or plugins to accomplish this.
2. Minimize HTTP requests: Each element on your website (images, CSS files, scripts) requires a separate HTTP request, which can slow down your website. You can reduce the number of HTTP requests by combining CSS and JavaScript files, reducing the number of images, and using a content delivery network (CDN).
3. Use caching: Caching allows frequently-accessed pages to be stored locally on a user’s device, reducing the amount of time it takes for those pages to load. You can use plugins or enable caching through your web host.
4. Enable GZIP compression: GZIP compression reduces the size of your website’s files, allowing them to load faster. Most web servers and content management systems support GZIP compression.
5. Use a fast web host: The quality of your web host can significantly impact your website’s speed. Look for a host that uses fast servers and offers features like SSD storage and content delivery networks (CDNs).

Leverage social media to increase SEO authority

Leveraging social media is critical for establishing authority because it allows you to reach a wider audience and build relationships with your followers. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram have billions of active users, making them an excellent opportunity to increase your website traffic and establish your authority in your niche.

Here are some specific tips for leveraging social media:

1. Share high-quality content: Share valuable content that your followers will find interesting and informative. You can share your own blog posts, as well as curated content from other sources.
2. Engage with your followers: Respond to comments and messages promptly, and show genuine interest in your followers’ opinions and feedback.
3. Use hashtags: Hashtags can help your content reach a wider audience by categorizing it and making it easier to find.
4. Collaborate with influencers: Collaborating with influencers in your niche can help you reach a wider audience and establish your authority. You can collaborate with influencers by offering them guest posting opportunities, sponsoring their content, or working on a joint project.
5. Use social proof: Share testimonials, awards, and other forms of social proof to demonstrate your authority and expertise in your niche.
6. Offer exclusive content: Offering exclusive content to your social media followers, such as webinars, e-books, and guides, can help you build trust and establish your authority.
7. Analyze your social media metrics: Analyzing your social media metrics can help you identify what’s working and what’s not, so you can refine your social media strategy over time.

I hope this helps give you an outline of why SEO authority is important and a few ideas on how to increase it on your website. SEO is always changing and there are always new ideas. I’d love to hear what works for you. Drop me a line at shaun.mcquaker@gmail.com anytime!

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ever-changing field that requires website owners to stay on top of the latest trends and practices. In a my article on SEO Areas of Focus I highlighted one of the most critical aspects of SEO, indexability. After 20+ years in the biz I’m often surprised how often this is overlooked. In this article, I’ll provide a detailed overview of indexability and why it’s essential for SEO success. I’ll also offer best practices for improving your website’s indexability and explain the reports and dashboards you need to track your progress.

What is Indexability?

Indexability refers to the ability of search engine crawlers to find, crawl, and index the pages on your website. If your website is not easily indexable, your pages will not show up on search engine results pages (SERPs), which will lead to low visibility and traffic.

Why is Indexability Important for SEO?

Indexability is crucial for the success of any SEO strategy because it enables search engine crawlers to find and index your website’s pages. Without indexability, your website’s pages will not show up on SERPs, and your website will be virtually invisible to potential customers.

Best Practices for Improving Your Website’s Indexability

Optimize Your Website’s Structure

Your website’s structure should be easy to navigate, with clear menus and internal links that allow search engine crawlers to move from one page to another. This makes it easy for crawlers to index your website’s pages.

You should be able to click from your homepage to any page on your site within 4-5 clicks. For smaller sites that’s fairly easy, but for larger sites it get’s more complicated. One tip is to make create “hub pages” that link off to related pages. For instance if you have a car review site you could create hub pages for the make of each car and link off to the reviews for each type of car for that manufacturer. If it’s hard to create topical hubs timeline hubs work too. So group pages by month-year that they were published.

Create and Submit an XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website. Submitting this file to search engines helps them understand the structure of your website and index it more effectively.

A sitemap is a great way to verify in Google Search Console if all of your pages have been indexed. Below I have a breakout of one of my sites as you can see most of the pages are indexed but a few aren’t. Because I have as sitemap I can look into that.

Fix Broken / Redirecting Links

Broken links can prevent search engine crawlers from accessing your website’s pages, which can hurt your website’s indexability. Use a broken link checker to identify and fix any broken links on your site.

Redirecting links increase the crawl budget of bots as well as slow down the page experience for users. The rule of thumb is: any URL you have linked on your site should be to another URL which 200’s in your browser.

Use Descriptive Page Titles and Meta Descriptions

Page titles and meta descriptions should accurately describe the content on each page of your website. This helps search engines understand what your website is about and index it more accurately.

Avoid Duplicate Content

Duplicate content on a website should be minimized to avoid confusion for search engines in determining which version of a page to rank for a query. While there is no duplicate content penalty in SEO, similar content can cause crawling inefficiencies, dilute PageRank, and suggest content that needs improvement. Though duplicate and similar content is natural, it can become problematic at scale. Preventing duplicate content allows you to control indexing and ranking, limit crawl budget waste, and consolidate indexing and link signals to improve ranking. Always ensure that each page on your website has unique content and URLs.

Reports and Dashboards

As part of a SEO Health Dashboard you should ensure the SEO KPI’s important to indexability are closely watched. Here are the main areas you need to have eyes on daily to ensure great SEO.

Indexed Pages

This metric shows the number of pages on your website that have been indexed by search engines. It’s important to track this metric regularly to ensure that all your website’s pages are being crawled and indexed.

Google Search Console is the best place to check your Indexed pages.

Crawled Pages

This metric shows the number of pages on your website that search engine crawlers have visited as well as the status codes returned to the bot when it is crawled. It’s important to monitor this metric to ensure that search engine crawlers can access all your website’s pages. If you see any 4xx / 5xx status codes in your logs or excessive 3xx you should dive deeper to address these problems.

The best place to track this is monitoring your own website log files. If you don't have access to your log files or you aren't saving them, you can use Google Search Console to get daily crawls.

Broken Links

This metric shows the number of broken links on your website, which can affect how search engines crawl and index your website. It’s important to fix any broken links to ensure that search engines can access and index all your website’s pages.

Screaming Frog can detect broken links across your site.

Duplicate Content

This metric shows the percentage of duplicate content on your website, which can confuse search engines and affect your website’s indexability. It’s important to ensure that all your website’s pages have unique content and URLs.

Screaming Frog is a great tool to find duplicate content.

Sitemap Errors

This metric shows the number of errors in your website’s XML sitemap file, which can also affect how search engines crawl and index your website. It’s important to fix any errors in your XML sitemap to ensure that search engines can easily find and index your website’s pages.

Audit your sitemap with Screaming Frog

Robots.txt Errors

This metric shows the number of errors in your website’s robots.txt file, which can affect how search engines crawl and index your website. It’s important to fix any errors in your robots.txt file to ensure that search engines can access and index your website’s pages.

Screaming Frog is a great way to find robots.txt errors.

Page Load Speed

This metric shows how quickly your website’s pages load, which can affect how search engines crawl and index your website. It’s important to ensure that your website’s pages load quickly to ensure that search engine crawlers can easily access and index your website’s pages.

Screaming Frog is a great tool to find duplicate content.

I’ve worked in the SEO industry for over 15 years now. In that time, I’ve done just about everything when it comes to Search Engine Optimization; coded a website from the ground up, run projects that have doubled traffic, built tools used to analyze vast amounts of data in seconds and lead SEO teams for large websites getting millions of views a day. Here I’ll lay out the areas of focus that actually matter when it comes to growing your SEO traffic.

The Top 4 SEO Areas of Focus

Below are the 4 main areas of focus for any SEO strategy whether you are a 200 person organization or you are starting your own website.

1. Indexability – “am I visible to Google?”
2. Authority – “am I worth ranking?”
3. On-page factors – “am I answering the question?”
4. User metrics – “am I valuable to people?”

Indexability

Indexability refers to the ability of search engines to crawl and index a website’s pages. If you don’t know what the Google crawler is, this is a great resource to read. When your website is indexable, search engines will be able to find and display its pages in search engine results pages (SERPs). If your webpage can’t be found by Google or you haven’t set it up to be properly indexed, this is your first area of focus to tackle.

Authority

Authority refers to the perceived credibility and trustworthiness of a website in the eyes of search engines. Websites with high authority are more likely to rank higher in SERPs. Authority is primarily determined by the quality and quantity of external links pointing to a website, as well as the relevance and authority of those linking websites. If no one is linking to your then Google may not view you as the most authoritative source on whatever you are writing about. Ensuring you have content that is worthy of a link from another website is key here.

On-page Factors

On-page factors refer to the various elements on a website’s pages that can affect its search engine ranking. These include the page title, meta description, headers, content, and URL structure. Optimizing these on-page factors with relevant content can help improve a website’s relevance and visibility in search engines. Ensuring content is well written, is useful to the user, is multi-modal ( text + graphics + video ), and is catchy are among the things you need to think about in this area.

User Metrics

Probably one of the most important and overlooked portions of SEO is user metrics. This area of focus is all about how users interact with your webpage. Do they find an answer to their question on your website? Do they engage further with the content on your website? Are they able to get to the information they need in a reasonable time? How the user interacts with your website is a strong and always on signal to Google on how to rank your webpage in a personalized way to users.

So what?

Alright these are very superficial introductions to important areas for SEO. What do you do next? I’ll explore each of these 4 areas in depth in upcoming blog posts.