This is the #1 question from new clients at The HOTH. 

The only problem is it’s an impossible question, as there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for how many backlinks a website needs. 

In fact, asking this question is on par with other impossible questions like, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?” and, “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

When most SEOs get this question, they all say the same thing:

“It depends.”

We think that’s pretty lame, and we’re sick of hearing it. 

That’s why we’re going to do the impossible and attempt to answer this borderline rhetorical question. 

Along the way, you’ll learn more about the current state of backlinks as a ranking factor and some up-to-date techniques for generating high-quality links that point to your homepage and content.

Do Links Still Matter? Addressing Google’s Recent Comments

In September 2023, Google Analyst Gary Illyes downplayed the importance of backlinks, saying links were no longer a top 3 ranking factor. 

This led some digital marketers to believe backlinks no longer move the SEO needle, which isn’t true.

Illyes acknowledged the importance of backlinks but disagreed with their top-tier status. His words should be taken with caution, as Google is notoriously secretive about its ranking algorithms to prevent manipulation.

Google aims to deliver the best search results, meaning they only want to rank trustworthy and authoritative sites. For this reason, they have a bit of a love/hate relationship with SEO. 

They know that it’s necessary for businesses to improve their visibility on their engine, but their SEO advice seldom gets deeper than ‘make better content.’

Proof Backlinks Are Still The Real Deal 

Take it from us: backlinks still matter in a very big way, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. 

Perfect technical SEO (loading speed, mobile friendliness, URL structure, etc.) and flawless on-page factors (keyword usage, metadata optimization, high-quality content, etc.) will only get you so far.

Whenever we have a client that can’t outrank its competitors, links are almost always the reason why.

Since the websites occupying the top-ranking spots have more high-quality links than our clients’ sites, outranking them with basic SEO tactics is next to impossible. 

As a result, we spend the most time ‘closing the competitive gap’ by building enough relevant links for our clients to level the playing field with their top competitors. 

The fact remains that more backlinks equal better SERP rankings AND more organic traffic, which is why high-value links are so powerful (they’re literally working double duty for you).

To put our money where our mouth is, here’s hard evidence from one of our clients that backlinks and traffic go hand-in-hand:

As you can see by the line graphs, as the client’s backlinks started to increase, their organic traffic followed suit. 

How Many Backlinks Do I Need to Rank?

As you can see, backlinks are crucial to ranking your content in the SERPS. So, what’s the magic number of backlinks you should aim for?  

A well-established website typically has around 40-50 backlinks to its homepage, with individual pages varying from 0-100.  

Too few backlinks and Google might not consider your site as relevant. However, too many can raise red flags about potentially manipulative practices. 

The key is to focus on earning high-quality backlinks from reputable websites that have either topical or contextual relevance to your content.

In the section below, we’ll explore the factors affecting your ideal backlink count. 

What Factors Determine How Many Backlinks I Need to Rank?

While links are still extremely important for Google SEO, they’re not the only ranking factor. 

As we said before, building more links bridges the competitive gap for our clients. However, without strong technical and on-page factors, reaching the top of the SERPs is impossible.

Google’s algorithm looks at technical factors like loading speed and interactivity, URL structure, broken links, and indexing errors. 

On-page SEO factors, like keyword placement, content formatting, readability, and metadata optimization are also integral for high search rankings. 

Here’s a look at the top SERP ranking factors:

Content quality

Let’s be clear: the #1 most important ranking factor is the quality and relevance of your content. 

If you aren’t producing high-quality content that satisfies users’ search intent, your dreams of becoming the SEO GOAT will never come to fruition. 

Moreover, the quality and relevance of your content are also extremely important to your target audience, and you should always produce content for them first and search engines second. 

How does Google judge the quality of website content?

They use a team of human quality raters equipped with their Quality Rater Guidelines, which are represented by the acronym E-E-A-T – which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. 

Therefore, if you want Google to view your content as high-quality, you need to share first-hand experiences that demonstrate your expertise on a topic. An example would be citing a real-life case where you helped a client with your vast knowledge of your business’s area of expertise. 

As far as content goes, you only have to worry about the first two E’s (experience and expertise). 

Authoritativeness isn’t something you can build through content directly, as it has to do with the quality and relevance of the backlinks that point to your web pages. 

Lastly, trustworthiness is accrued by consistently demonstrating experience, expertise, and authoritativeness in your content.  

Content length 

The length of your content is also a ranking factor, and there’s a sweet spot that you need to hit. 

First, Google views web pages that contain less than approximately 1,000 words as thin content, and it doesn’t like to rank thin content because it’s viewed as unhelpful. 

As a rule of thumb, try to include at least 700 – 1,000 words on each web page to ensure they aren’t flagged as thin content. However, you need to make sure that the words still provide valuable information, as just writing nonsense to inflate the word count won’t work.   

If there are web pages that you just can’t add any more words to, try to merge them with a related page. 

Since Google doesn’t like thin content, some SEOs have falsely assumed that more words are always better, which isn’t the case.

Google’s algorithms can identify when a page contains useless or irrelevant information. For example, a how-to guide on stringing guitars doesn’t need to include a 400-word section on the history of the guitar. 

Sticking to the 1,000 – 2,000 word range for blogs is a good range to stick with for most topics. That’s not to say that you can’t write longer guides, just that every piece of information must be relevant and valuable. 

SSL certificate 

Security is a priority for Google, as they don’t want to direct users to unsecure websites where they might have sensitive personal or financial information stolen. 

That’s why they only rank websites that contain SSL certificates, which provide a secure web browsing experience through HTTPS. All communications are encrypted using the SSL/TLS protocol, making things like e-commerce transactions safe. 

The good news is it’s extremely easy to get an SSL certificate for free. 

Passing the Core Web Vitals test

Internet users have no patience for websites that don’t load within a fraction of a second. Google is aware of this, which is why they developed the Core Web Vitals test. 

It examines a website’s speed for not only loading but also interactivity. 

To learn more, you can check out our guide on passing the Core Web Vitals test. 

Keyword usage 

At the most basic level, search engines match user queries (keywords) with websites that contain exact matches and related keywords. 

An example would be Google ranking a piece of content called ‘How to String Guitars’ in the #1 spot for the query ‘how to string guitars.’

Make sense?

Despite all the advancements in the SEO world, proper keyword placement still matters. Here’s where to place your target keywords:

• In your title tag and H1 header 
• In the first 100 words of the content 
• In image alt tags 
• Organically, throughout the piece 
• In the metadata 

You can use our free keyword planner tool to uncover popular keywords related to your business, which is the best way to find topic ideas. 

URL and page architecture 

If Google’s algorithm can make heads or tails out of your site structure, your content likely won’t rank very well. 

Google prefers sites that use logical, ‘flat’ designs for their site architecture, where every page is only one or two clicks away from the homepage. 

Deep site architecture uses long link chains that lead to inner pages (which are hard for both Google and users to find). 

Whenever you’re designing your site and URL structure, follow the K.I.S.S. method and keep it super simple. 

Internal and external links 

Whenever you make a claim in your content, you should always back it up with evidence via an external link. 

The websites you choose matter here, too, as you want to link out to reputable sources. 

TLDs (top-level domains) ending in .gov, .edu, and .org are always safe best, as are academic journals and studies. 

Also, don’t forget to include internal links in your content. This serves a dual purpose, as it makes your content easier for Google to index – and internal links provide resources for further reading that will keep users engaged in your content loop (and will boost your dwell times). 

Drop anchor! Achieving the proper anchor text ratio 

Besides the links themselves, the anchor text you choose for each link is also incredibly important.

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text within a hyperlink. It typically appears in a different color (often blue, but we prefer red) and is underlined, signaling to users that it’s a link.

Here are the most important things you need to know about anchor text: 

Relevance: The anchor text should accurately describe what the linked page is about. This aligns with user expectations and helps search engines understand the target page’s content.

Balanced anchor text ratio: Aim for 2-5 words in your anchor text. Briefer phrases are more readable and less likely to appear spammy.

Natural language: Avoid overly optimized, keyword-stuffed anchor text. Use conversational language that flows organically within the text.

Variety: Change up your anchor text types to create a more natural backlink profile (more on that below).

Anchor text types

There are a few different types of anchor text that you can use, and it’s imperative to use a mix of them all. 

Google doesn’t like to see lots of exact-match anchors, which contain the keyword you’re targeting and nothing else. To Google, this is an attempt on the site owner’s part to manipulate the search rankings, which is why the need for an anchor text ratio arose in the first place. 

Competition in your niche 

Remember, you won’t be the only one optimizing your site for better performance on Google’s SERPs. Your competitors will also engage in SEO, so you always need to keep an eye on your top competitors. 

In particular, regularly analyzing their content and backlink profiles can provide valuable insights to boost your own strategies. 

You can use our free SEO audit and backlink checker tools to analyze your competitors. Pay attention to the keywords they use, where they get their backlinks from, and how much traffic/engagement they’re getting. 

The Classic Debate: Quantity vs. Quality 

SEOs are always fiercely debating whether backlink quality or quantity matters most. 

Some swear that only the most reputable, highest-quality backlinks are worth pursuing, while others claim to find success by building as many links as possible. 

Which side of the issue is true?

We hate to be boring, but the truth is that both quantity and quality are equally important to your link profile. 

Let’s clarify that a bit further. 

When quantity matters 

In terms of quantity, it’s NEVER worth pursuing low-grade backlinks from garbage websites that provide no value to users. 

These links scream spam to Google, and they’ll only hurt your SERP rankings. 

However, when you’re trying to bridge a significant link gap between you and a competitor (where you have dozens of links and they have hundreds or thousands), sometimes links with average domain authority (scores 40 to 50) are exactly what you need. 

These average links are still from real websites that provide services to users, so there’s no worry about them getting flagged as spam. 

Moreover, they’ll provide you with the volume of links you need to catch up to the competition. 

In other words, beggars can’t be choosers when you’re far behind in the backlink race. 

When quality matters

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t shoot for the stars and target high-value backlinks (DA scores 60 and above) at the same time, as you definitely should. 

Conversely, if you’re practically on par with the number of links a competitor has, then going for high-quality links is the name of the game. 

Ultimately, it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re far behind, quantity can beat quality – but if you’re neck-and-neck, quality reigns supreme.

These factors are all imperative for SEO success, so you shouldn’t neglect any of them during your search campaign.

How Do You Get Backlinks?

By now, you should have a specific number of backlinks you need to build. To reiterate what we’ve covered so far:

Analyze your competitor’s backlinks to gauge the gap between your link profiles.  If the gap is significant, initially focus on building a larger number of links, even if some are of lower quality.

This helps establish a baseline. As you gain more links, shift your strategy to acquiring high-value links.

For brand-new websites, aim for 50 links to your homepage and around 100 for your most important pages.

Now that we’ve addressed the core question let’s explore another important aspect:

How do you build links that point back to your content?

Here’s a look at some of the most effective ways to acquire backlinks. 

Targeted link outreach 

Conducting outreach is necessary for just about any backlink technique, and it’s become more nuanced in recent years. 

In the past, SEOs found success using generic outreach templates that contained simple requests for guest articles, link insertions, and fixing broken links. 

The only problem is this technique worked a little too well. 

Once it caught on, it became the norm (and still is) for website owners to receive hundreds of generic outreach emails every day. 

Currently, the link outreach game is about standing out from the crowd while developing long-lasting relationships that lead to multiple links down the line. 

It’s crucial to shift your mindset from targeting one link at a time to forging long-term link partnerships with related websites in your field. 

Also, divorce the link outreach process from one particular tactic, such as guest posting. 

When done properly, your outreach can lead to a lot more than guest blogs (although those are pretty sweet, too). 

An outreach example

As an example scenario, let’s say that your website sells fitness products. 

In that case, you’d benefit from forming link partnerships with noncompetitors in your field – meaning you share a target audience but don’t compete for the same business. 

Examples include fitness news websites, fitness forums, and nutrition blogs – just to name a few. 

Instead of sending one-and-done outreach emails, you start interacting with these sites in a far more personal way. Your goal is to form a relationship instead of securing one measly link placement, so you should interact with their social media, ask interesting questions, and share their content. 

If you play your cards right, you’ll form a partnership that leads to guest posts, link insertions, and article syndications.

Article syndication 

Speaking of syndication, you can start publishing your articles on other websites to gain more exposure and accrue links. 

Relationship building is a key component here, too, as you’ll need an existing network of relevant websites to publish your articles. 

If you don’t have any connections yet, try searching on Google for things like:

• “Originally published on” (niche keyword)
• “Syndicated from” (niche keyword)
• “Originally appeared on” (niche keyword)

These search operators will help you find websites in your field that syndicate posts and it’s worth trying to build relationships with them. 

You can also use our free backlink checker tool to analyze your competitor’s links to see if they’re syndicated anywhere that you aren’t. 

Press releases 

Press releases (as long as they don’t mention time-sensitive events) are another great way to get the word out about your brand and obtain links. 

This is where it pays off to have relationships with news outlets in your niche, as you’ll be able to circulate your press releases to them for some easy links. 

Why can’t you mention time-sensitive events?

You shouldn’t because this type of press release exists to provide backlinks to your site. If you mention a time-sensitive event (like an upcoming conference), you’ll have to remove the press release as soon as it happens. 

That’s why you should stick to things like launching new products, hiring new executives, and interesting developments in your business (like adding a new department). 

Here’s an example of a press release we created and distributed through Cision for backlinks and better online visibility:

To further your education, here are some more reliable ways to build backlinks from relevant websites.

Broken backlinks 

Link rot is a real struggle that every website faces. 

It’s the tendency for hyperlinks to no longer point to their original web page or server after long periods of time. There are numerous causes for this, the most common of which is when a site migrates to a new CMS or changes its link structure. 

As a result, virtually every website will have broken links, and they present a unique link-building opportunity. 

Say that you come across a broken link on a website that covers a topic you already have a blog post about. 

In that case, you could reach out to the site owner, notify them of the broken link, and offer your content as a quick replacement. 

Since broken links hurt a website’s user experience, site owners have a very real incentive to fix them by adding your link. 

How do you find broken backlinks to target?

One of the easiest and most reliable ways is to use Ahrefs, but you can also use web crawlers like Screaming Frog. 

If you have an Ahrefs account, navigate to the Site Explorer tool. From there, enter the URL of the website that you want to check for broken links.

Under Backlink profile, select the Broken Backlinks report.

Voila, you now have a complete list of the website’s broken links that you can analyze for backlink opportunities. Try to find broken links that relate to your business’s content. If you don’t already have a viable replacement piece, you can always create one.

Start Building the Right Number of Links Today 

Well, wasn’t that a much better answer than simply saying, “It depends?”

Now, you have an accurate approximation of how many links you need to build to achieve your ranking goals, and you know the best ways to build them. 

This is only the first step in your journey to becoming the SERP master, so stay tuned to our blog for more practical advice. 

If you need help building the right number of links for your website, don’t wait to check out our Link Outreach and Link Insertion services.     

The post How Many Backlinks Does it Take to Rule Your Niche’s SERPs? appeared first on The HOTH.

The good news is that in the SEO world, it’s perfectly acceptable to cheat off a classmate’s test. 

What we mean by that is you can analyze your competitors’ websites to find new SEO opportunities and improve the performance of your own site. 

One of the best ways to pull this off is to learn how to do a competitor analysis in Semrush, which offers a suite of SEO tools perfect for peeking under the hood of competing websites. 

With their tools, you’ll be able to:

• Discover your competitor’s top traffic sources
• Analyze a competitor’s backlink profile to find new opportunities 
• Find any user experience enhancements that your site lacks (i.e., faster loading speed, responsive design, easy to navigate, etc.)
• Determine the effectiveness of their landing pages 

As you can see, analyzing your SEO competitors will yield many valuable insights for your own strategy, which is why learning how to do a competitor analysis in Semrush is worth your time – so stick around to learn more. 

What’s a Competitor Analysis in SEO?

SEO is a fiercely competitive space, as websites are constantly outranking and outperforming one another on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). 

In particular, websites fight for the coveted #1 organically ranked result, as well as landing SERP features like knowledge bars and the ‘local pack’ (a grouping of three local businesses complete with their address and location on Google Maps). 

Even when a website achieves stellar rankings for their most important keywords, they have to fight to maintain their positions – as there are always competitors out there eager to dethrone you at a moment’s notice. 

That means continuing to put out excellent content that’s optimized for search engines, which can be difficult to maintain after a while. 

That’s why so many SEOs look to their competitors for inspiration, especially for new content ideas and fresh link opportunities. 

Platforms like Semrush provide detailed data about virtually any website’s SEO and marketing activities, and taking a peek can provide invaluable insights. 

Therefore, you shouldn’t hesitate to analyze your competitor’s SEO profiles, as they’re likely doing the same to you. 

During a competitor analysis, you should pay attention to things like:

• Their total organic traffic
• Whether their audience is growing or declining
• The channels that drive the most traffic 
• Their backlink profiles (especially where they’re getting their links from) 

Analyzing your competitors isn’t something you can only do just once, either. You can and should make a regular habit of auditing your top competitor’s websites. 

How Do You Identify Your SEO Competitors?

Before you can analyze your competitors, you need to know who they are – which isn’t always straightforward. 

Sure, you can search on Google for the keywords you’re targeting and see who shows up, but that won’t give you a comprehensive overview of your top competitors. 

That’s where Semrush comes in handy. 

Its Organic Research tool will take all the mystery out of identifying your competitors. Simply enter your URL in the search bar, and then navigate to the Competitors tab. 

Voila, you now have a complete list of the websites competing for the same traffic, keywords, and target audience. 

You’ll also get to view key metrics like how many keywords they rank for, their total organic traffic, any keywords that you share (common keywords), and more. 

Semrush’s Traffic Analytics Tool 

Once you know who your top competitors are, you can do head-to-head comparisons between their site and yours using Semrush’s Traffic Analytics tool. 

First, enter a competitor’s URL into the tool to see a breakdown of their traffic, bounce rate, dwell time, market share, and other important metrics. 

This will give you a detailed overview of the competitor’s current SEO performance. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll find a graph displaying the same metrics as above but over a period of time. 

The graph is useful for spotting competitor trends, such as certain times of the year when they experience dips in traffic (like during the holidays). 

Besides analyzing a competitor’s metrics by themselves, you can also plug in your URL to do a direct comparison between SEO metrics and user experience. 

Under Root Domain, you’ll see four blank competitor slots. Add your URL into one of them, and hit the Compare button. 

This is extremely effective for visualizing the gap (if there is one) between you and a competitor. In the example provided, you can see that Vrbo trails behind AirBnB in nearly every category except for Pages per visit and bounce rate. 

That could mean that while AirBnB is generating more traffic, users are interacting more with Vrbo’s site. Since the bounce rate is lower and the pages per visit metric is higher, it’s a sign that users are continuing on to other pages on Vrbo’s website instead of ending their session after visiting one page. 

If you were AirBnB, it would be worth looking into Vrbo’s content and internal linking structure to see what’s engaging users so much. 

Analyzing a Competitor’s Backlink Profile 

Once you’ve done an in-depth analysis of a competitor’s content and traffic sources, it’s time to look at their backlink profile. 

You should never complete a competitor analysis without looking at their backlinks, as they often provide the most valuable insights and opportunities. 

Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool is perfect for checking out a competing site’s top backlink sources. 

Enter a competitor’s URL into the tool, and you’ll be able to see an overview of their backlink profile, including their total number of referring domains and backlinks. 

Under the Backlinks tab, you can view a competitor’s complete backlink profile, which will help you uncover new link opportunities to pursue. In particular, pay attention to their source pages. 

Are they getting links from directories you don’t know about? Or are they using websites in your niche that accept guest posts? Either way, you could be a few outreach emails away from lots of new backlinks. 

Claim an Exclusive 14-Day Trial of Semrush Pro Today 

Analyzing competitors is one of the best ways to mix up your SEO strategy – especially if you’ve been a bit stagnant lately. 

If you’re fresh out of engaging content ideas and can’t seem to move the SEO needle anymore, your competitor’s websites should be your first stop. 

Are you ready to enjoy all the powerful SEO tools that Semrush offers?

Then, don’t wait to take advantage of our exclusive extended 14-day trial of Semrush Pro. The standard trial only lasts 7 days, so don’t forget to use our special link to snag an extra week for free!    

The post How to Do a Competitor Analysis in Semrush to Find SEO Ideas appeared first on The HOTH.

Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for Google’s search algorithm, so you’ll need to take part in link-building if you want to reach the #1 position. 

The only problem is building links is a time-consuming process that can be downright confusing. 

However, if you use Semrush for link-building, you’ll have access to a fleet of tools that contain features for:

• Uncovering top-tier backlink opportunities in your field 
• Auditing your current link profile to ensure it’s in tip-top shape
• Identifying the exact number of links you need to close the gap with competitors 
• Conduct, automate, and monitor link-building outreach campaigns 

In other words, these tools will transform you into a link-building extraordinaire.

According to research, the #1 search result contains an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2 – #10, which is a testament to the ranking power backlinks provide. 

That’s why it’s worth learning how to use Semrush’s tools for link-building, and that’s exactly what we’re going to teach you in this article, so stay tuned. 

An Overview Of Semrush’s Link-Building Tools 

Here’s a glimpse at all the link-building tools you gain access to with a subscription to Semrush:

• Backlink Analytics. This tool provides a general overview of your backlink profile, including any new or lost links. The Analytics tool features the largest and fastest link database on the market and provides extremely accurate competitor data.  

• Backlink Audit. With the Audit tool, you’ll be able to avoid Google penalties by getting rid of any harmful links. It’s also a useful tool for ensuring the quality of your link placements. 

• Backlink Gap. How many links do you need to build to bridge the gap between you and a competitor? That’s the central question this tool answers. 

• Bulk Backlink Analysis. One of the most annoying aspects of link-building is how time-consuming it is. This tool eliminates that problem by analyzing competitor websites and new link opportunities in bulk.  

• Link-Building Tool. Conducting outreach is cumbersome, and it’s easy to lose track of if you’re not using a central tool like Semrush. The link-building tool serves as your central hub for your link-building campaigns, as you can manage and automate your outreach efforts. 

Now that you’ve taken a peek inside the toolbox, let’s learn some of the best ways to use Semrush to improve your link-building campaigns. 

Checking What’s New With Your Link Profile (Backlink Analytics) 

It’s crucial to keep an eye on your website’s backlink profile, as it’s subject to change quite often. Try to check it at least once per week, especially if you’re actively trying to build more links. 

The Backlinks Analytics Report is what you want to use to check on your link profile, including any new developments. 

You’ll be able to see if your outreach efforts paid off by selecting New and Follow (to only show dofollow links) from the filters list. 

Yet, if you’ve been building press links, you’ll also want to include Nofollow links to see if you picked up anything new. 

Other important metrics in this report are:

• Your authority score 
• Total number of referring domains and backlinks 
• Monthly visits 
• Organic traffic

Further down the page, you’ll find insightful features like your TLD (top-level domain) distribution, top countries, backlink types, and link attributes. 

Find and Recover Lost Backlinks 

Not all backlinks last forever, which is an unfortunate fact of life. However, Semrush keeps track of all the links you lost via the Lost backlinks filter on the Analytics Report. 

There are a number of reasons why you may lose a backlink. 

It could be that the site owner moved the page containing the link but forgot to add a redirect, resulting in a 404 Not Found. 

Or it might be that a competitor convinced them to use one of their links instead. 

Whatever the case may be, you can use the Lost Backlinks filter to quickly identify your lost backlinks. Not only that, but the report will even tell you what the issue is, such as a broken domain, page redirect, or if the site owner removed the link manually. 

Once you know which links you lost, you can reach out to the site owners and hopefully convince them to resurrect your backlink. 

Audit Your Anchor Text Profile 

The anchor text (the text masking the URL) you use matters to Google, and it’s important to have a balanced anchor text profile. 

In particular, you want to avoid using ‘exact match’ anchor text too often. 

That’s where your anchor text consists of a keyword important to your business and nothing else. This screams spam to Google, so it’s best to use exact match anchor text sparingly. 

A better bet is to use ‘partial match’ anchor text, where you combine keywords with other phrases. Branded anchor text and naked URLs should also be thrown into the mix. 

Semrush makes managing your anchor text effortless with the Anchors report in its Backlink Analytics tool. 

Here, you’ll be able to view a breakdown of the different types of anchor text your backlinks have, which will help you determine if you’re using too much of one type. 

Set up Automated Notifications for Your Backlinks 

Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool features an extremely handy notification feature. 

It will notify you via email any time there’s a change to your link profile, including:

• Acquiring a new backlink 
• Losing a backlink 
• Broken domains 

Turning on notifications will ensure that you’re fast to act on lost backlinks and broken domains, which is essential for maintaining a healthy link profile. 

Find Valuable Content Ideas from Competitors 

One of the best ways to build links without going nuts conducting outreach is to create outstanding content that naturally attracts links from other websites. 

Yet, that’s often easier said than done, as it can be tricky to know which type of content to create. 

Semrush’s Indexed Pages report is your secret weapon for uncovering content ideas that generate links. 

This time, you’ll want to enter a competitor’s URL into the tool instead of your own. Once that’s done, navigate to the Indexed Pages report to see the web pages that have generated the most backlinks for them. 

From there, take notes on which content types attracted the most links, and then create similar content for your brand. 

Try Out Semrush With an Exclusive 14-Day Free Trial 

Those are only a few ways you can use Semrush’s tools to improve your link-building campaigns. 

The platform contains a comprehensive suite of SEO tools, and we’ve only scratched the surface. 

If you’re ready to see what Semrush can do for your business, don’t wait to take advantage of our exclusive offer – an extended 14-day trial of Semrush Pro. The standard trial only lasts 7 days, so don’t forget to use our special link!  

The post How to Use Semrush for Link-Building: Tools and Strategies appeared first on The HOTH.

But what if you could use AI to help with your link-building?

And… what if the links AI helped you build weren’t some watered-down version of a backlink, the same way so much AI content seems to be? What if they were better, more high-quality links?

If you’re unsure how this could work, read on. We’ve figured out a way to make SEO success with link building simpler than ever—and we’re using AI to do it. 

Introducing HOTH AI Link Select

Our Link Outreach services are still considered some of the best in the market. The HOTH’s focus on quality, scalability, and ease of use has allowed us to continue to grow long after many of our competitors have exited the market. 

And getting white-hat links isn’t easy (ask anybody who’s ever had to build them). Even agencies with incredibly experienced teams and a vast network of sites and publications put a ton of work into outreach. 

AI Link Select is going to change all that. 

What is HOTH AI Link Select?

Picture a software that allows you to plug in your target URL and any filters like DA, DR, and site traffic you’re looking for. 

Imagine that software can “read” your site to determine its content. You or a team member need not provide further context, and no more research is required.

That software takes your site and your filters and goes through thousands of sites that have been hand-selected for quality that can link back to yours. They meet all the metrics you’re searching for.

And beyond that, they’re relevant links. They’re in your industry or niche, making these links even more authoritative.

You see a list of sites that fit your metrics with descriptions of their content. Next to each link option, you see a price. You pick the links you want and expect delivery in 30 days or less (usually much sooner).

It’s as simple as that. 

Your Personalized Path to Page 1 

While AI takes the outreach wheel, you’re more in the driver’s seat because you have more control over which links you get to your site than ever before. 

While some links may be more expensive than our Link Outreach packages, others may be cheaper depending on the metrics you’re looking for. It’s an AI-powered white hat backlink marketplace. 

We can’t wait for you to try it. Click on the AI Link Select Product Page for faster, better, more relevant links– and experience the future of link building.

The post Using AI To Scale Your SEO With AI Link Select appeared first on The HOTH.

The company declared it would wipe out 40% of the spam currently in its index, which reinforces Google’s confidence in its spam-fighting systems. 

Among the new policies was the ‘site reputation abuse’ policy. 

Its goal is to crack down on websites that post low-quality, third-party pages in an attempt to manipulate search rankings. 

However, the policy doesn’t become official until May 5th. 

The reason for the delay?

Google wanted to give site owners a fair warning on this one, which is why they announced the policy update months in advance. Theoretically, this should give site owners enough time to remove any spammy third-party pages on their sites (more on this in a bit). 

They also confirmed that they plan on fighting site reputation spam with both manual actions (delivered by humans) and search algorithms (handled by machines). 

Manual actions are serious business, and may cause your content to disappear from the SERPs entirely. Algorithm enforcement is a bit less harsh (they devalue the ranking power of the web pages instead of de-indexing them), but can still be devastating to your rankings. 

Will the site reputation abuse policy affect your website?

Read on to learn everything you need to know, including how to prepare for the new policy. 

What is Site Reputation Abuse?

Here’s how Google explains what they deem to be site reputation abuse:

“Sometimes websites that have their own great content may also host low-quality content provided by third parties with the goal of capitalizing on the hosting site’s reputation.”

They also provide an example of a third-party publishing payday loan reviews on an educational website.

Since the educational website is already trusted by Google and regularly receives high rankings for virtually all its content, the low-quality third party pages will get to tag along for the ride. 

SEOs (search engine optimizers) have long had a term for this practice: parasite SEO.

You can think of these spammy third party web pages as Remoras, the tiny fish that attach themselves to large sharks in order to feed on their leftovers. 

These third-party pages act in the same manner, except they mooch off the hosting website’s traffic and search rankings. 

Google despises this practice because it floods its search results with spammy, garbage content that provides no value to users (which has been a massive problem for them lately). 

The site reputation abuse policy applies to all third-party content on websites, including sponsored, advertising, and partnered content. 

Do you need to get rid of all third party content on your site?

Does this mean that all third-party content is bad?

Not at all. 

Google clarifies that site reputation abuse only occurs when “third-party pages are published with little or no first-party oversight or involvement, where the purpose is to manipulate Search rankings by taking advantage of the first-party site’s ranking signals.”

So, if you have some high-quality sponsored or partnered content on your site that you directly oversaw (and is relevant to the rest of your website), you won’t have much to worry about. 

Google is only concerned with low-quality third-party content that provides no value to users and is completely unrelated to the first-party website’s purpose. 

That means you won’t have to panic and delete all the guest posts on your blog (as long as they’re relevant) or all the sponsored posts from influencers. 

Remember, Google will have a team of humans and machines reviewing each website, and its algorithm has become quite adept at identifying spam. If your third-party content truly is relevant and valuable, you shouldn’t need to delete it. 

Real-World Examples of Site Reputation Abuse 

What type of content does Google deem as site reputation abuse?

There are a few real-world examples we can point to, and it even seems as if Google was hinting at them with some of its comments. 

For example, Google provides this example, “A sports site hosting a page written by a third-party about “workout supplements reviews,” where the sports site’s editorial staff had little to no involvement in the content and the main purpose of hosting the page is to manipulate search rankings.”

This almost certainly refers to the AI-generated scandal Sports Illustrated found itself in in November of last year.

Technology news website Futurism found AI-generated product reviews with fake authors on Sports Illustrated’s website. 

Here’s one of the deep faked author profiles:

Yep, that’s a completely fake person. 

The bogus reviews and author profiles were provided by a third party called AdVon, which runs E-commerce product reviews for Sports Illustrated. 

When pressed, the team at The Arena Group (which owns the publishing rights to SI) claimed they had no idea that AdVon was using AI-generated content. 

Remember that part in Google’s policy about wanting to remove spammy third-party content that has no first-party oversight or involvement? This is the exact type of scenario they were talking about. 

Coupons, gambling, and reviews 

9 times out of 10, problematic third-party content has to do with coupon codes, gambling sites, and spammy product reviews (like the kind from Sports Illustrated). 

Google has this to say about news sites featuring coupons:

“A news site hosting coupons provided by a third-party with little to no oversight or involvement from the hosting site, and where the main purpose is to manipulate search rankings.”

For instance, the major news website USA Today has a subdomain containing an intricate coupon network, which may land the site in hot water with Google come May 5th. 

How to Prepare for the Site Reputation Abuse Policy 

Okay, now that you know what the site reputation abuse policy is all about, what should you do about it?

First, remember these two key qualifying factors:

1. For third-party content to qualify as spam, there has to be little to no oversight or involvement from the first-party website.
2. The content must provide no value to users and must be completely unrelated to the first-party website. 

If your sponsored, advertising, or partnered content doesn’t contain these factors, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. 

However, if you do have questionable third-party content that’s piggybacking off your established trust with Google, you’ll have to either:

• De-index the offending pages to avoid manual actions. 
• End partnerships with questionable third parties. 

As long as you do both before May 5th, you should be in the clear. 

Wrapping Up: Google’s New Spam Policy Coming Soon 

To summarize, Google’s site reputation abuse policy becomes official on May 5th, and the company will use a combination of manual actions and anti-spam algorithms to enforce it. 

Google wants to remove low-quality third-party content that only exists to manipulate search rankings and line the pockets of first-party websites with good reputations. 

If you directly oversee your sponsored content, this policy shouldn’t affect you. 

Do you need help getting your SEO strategy in order?

Our managed SEO service, HOTH X, will pair you with a dedicated campaign manager who will ensure you comply with all of Google’s new spam policies.   

The post Google’s Site Reputation Abuse Policy Begins on May 5th appeared first on The HOTH.

If you want your website to rank well on search engines like Google, you’ll need an SEO-friendly website with keyword-rich content, optimized metadata, and high-authority backlinks. 

But if you want anyone to actually use your website, let alone buy anything, it also has to be user-friendly and provide a pleasant experience. 

That means creating relevant content that answers pressing questions, solves user problems, and hopefully entertains along the way (after all, you don’t want your prospects to fall asleep before they get to the call to action). 

You also need a responsive web design (meaning it works on both desktops and mobile devices), lightning-fast loading speed, and effortless site navigation. 

An effective SEO strategy can provide an ROI of 12.2x your marketing spend, and the ROI on UX investments is 9,900%, so it’s worth having them both working for you.

To make things easier, we’ve put together this guide to help you strike the perfect balance between SEO and UX with your website design to achieve a sky-high ROI.

What Is SEO Web Design?

SEO web design marries the best practices of designing and developing websites with the principles of search engine optimization. 

Put simply, it’s about building a high-quality website that ranks well on search engines like Google and Bing. 

Besides ranking in position #1 for important keywords, your website will also provide an excellent user experience for its visitors, improving the chances that they’ll make a purchase or leave their contact information. 

The key goals of SEO web design are:

• Better online visibility. Since you put so much hard work into designing your website, the SEO side of web design exists to ensure your target audience actually gets to see it by boosting your visibility on search engines. 

• More organic traffic. It’s not so much about generating traffic per se but the right traffic. SEO web design helps you attract qualified prospects from your target audience. 

• A better user experience. The web design-side of SEO exists to provide a pleasant experience for anyone that visits your website. 

• Boosted brand authority. With a stellar website and a plethora of helpful content, SEO web design will help you achieve thought leader status in your field. 

Why does it matter?

SEO and web design have a symbiotic relationship, meaning their bond is mutually beneficial. The SEO side generates a ton of traffic via Google search, and the UX side generates leads and conversions. 

Tactics like placing keywords in alt tags will catch the attention of Google’s crawlers and help you rise through the search engine rankings. 

If you ignore SEO, you’ll have next-to-no visibility on search engines, making it extremely difficult to find new prospects and grow your business.

After all, 63% of all shopping experiences begin on a search engine, even if the purchase is ultimately made in a physical store. 

At the same time, user experience, such as easy site navigation, a pleasant layout, and clear CTA buttons, will help you keep users on your website once they arrive and increase the chances of them making a purchase or providing their contact information. 

Essential metrics related to your user experience include dwell time and bounce rate. If your dwell time is low, users aren’t impressed with your website or are too confused to find what they need.

The same is true with a high bounce rate, meaning users leave your site before taking further action (such as viewing a product page). 

For these reasons, it’s important to pay equal attention to SEO and web design when creating a new website.

How To Optimize Your Site for Users and Search Engines

Now that you know why SEO and web design are equally important, let’s learn how to optimize your website for both. 

The good news is, when done right, they’ll flow together so seamlessly that your users won’t even notice what you’ve done. 

Much like video editing, you know you’ve done it right when you don’t notice the transitions. 

Here are the top factors to consider when making your website appealing to users and search engines.

Make it mobile-friendly 

Since 2017, Google has practiced mobile-first indexing, which means it crawls, indexes, and ranks the mobile version of websites first. So, if your website doesn’t have a mobile version, you’ll have difficulty ranking high on SERPs. 

SEO experts are well aware of this, which is why mobile friendliness is always near the top of their priority list when working on new websites. 

Rather than using 2 separate versions of your website, it’s a good idea to adopt a responsive web design. This means you only have 1 version of your website, but the dimensions and images adapt to the user’s device. 

Once this is done, your website will load on mobile devices and will have a higher likelihood of appearing on Google’s SERPs in a top spot. 

Mobile friendliness is also crucial for UX and web design because most users browse the internet with mobile devices instead of PCs. So, if your website doesn’t display correctly on tablets or smartphones, your users will click back to the SERPs to find one that does.

Create relevant content with target keywords 

Content is a crucial resource for users and search engines, so most digital marketing strategies involve creating some kind of content. 

However, you should avoid creating content strictly for search engines. 

Instead, strive to create high-quality content that’s directly relevant to your target audience. Your content should answer questions, solve problems, and provide entertainment. 

At the same time, to gain visibility on search engines, you’ll need to uncover desirable keywords and place them in the right spots, including:

• Meta descriptions 
• Title tags 
• Headers
• First 100 words of text 
• Conclusion 
• Alt text 

UX-wise, you’ll need to ensure your content is easy to read; otherwise, most users won’t bother consuming an entire post (and reading your product/service pitch at the end). 

Use short sentences and even shorter paragraphs (most blogs use one-sentence paragraphs). 

Break up the text with plenty of images, bulleted lists, infographics, and call-out boxes.

Also, you should follow Google’s E-E-A-T Quality Rater Guidelines when creating content.

What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T is an acronym used by Google to guide its team of human quality raters when they assess website content. It stands for:

Expertise: Is the content creator an expert on the topic? Do they have relevant credentials, knowledge, or experience to provide authoritative information?

Experience: Does the creator demonstrate firsthand experience with the subject matter? This adds a layer of credibility that theoretical knowledge alone can’t fully establish. Wherever possible, share experiences from your past that demonstrate your expertise and familiarity with a topic. 

Authoritativeness: Is the website and content creator considered an authoritative source of information in their field? This is built over time through reputation, recognition, and backlinks from other established sources.

Trustworthiness: Is the website and its content credible, accurate, and reliable? Do users feel safe on the site and trust the information provided?

Why does this goofy acronym matter?

This framework helps Google determine which websites are informative, helpful, and reliable. As a result, websites that embody each letter of the acronym are far more likely to rank in the #1 position on Google’s SERPs. 

How to create content good enough to E-E-A-T 

• Focus on quality: Create informative, well-researched content that contains original insights and first-hand experiences.
• Showcase credentials: Highlight author biographies wherever possible. If the content is from field experts, clarify their experience.
• Build backlinks: Do your best to build backlinks from reputable websites in your niche, as these act as ‘votes of confidence’ for the quality of your content. 
• Maintain accuracy: Ensure all information provided is accurate and up-to-date.
• Build trust: Make your website secure with an SSL certificate, and consider including things like contact information, privacy policies, or positive user reviews.

Use headers to create a hierarchy within website content

Without proper use of header tags, a 5,000-word guide would devolve into an unreadable wall of text, and readers wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails out of it. 

A header tag is the HTML equivalent of a chapter title or a subheading in a book. 

They break up long pieces of text into smaller pieces, which makes them easier to read and comprehend. Headers also make your content scannable for readers, which is a big deal.

Why is that?

It’s because a vast majority of readers (79%, according to the Nielsen Norman Group) scan articles before deciding if it’s worth their time to consume the entire thing. 

Only 16% of readers in the NNG study read content word-by-word, which is why you need to make your content scannable to ensure as many users read it as possible. As a bonus, scannable articles can lead to longer visits to your site, increasing dwell times (which Google likes to see). 

Understanding header tag sizes 

Header tags come in several different sizes, which include:

• H1 tags are the largest and most prominent header tags and should only be used once as the title of the piece. It’s crucial to include your primary keyword in the H1 tag because it’s one of the first places Google’s crawler bots will look. 

• H2 tags are slightly smaller than H1 tags, and they introduce the various subtopics that encompass the main topic. Try to include primary and secondary keywords in your H2 tags without overdoing it. 

• H3 tags are subheadings that add further context to H2 tags. It’s important to only use an H3 tag if it’s related to the previous H2 tag. If it’s a brand-new concept or subtopic, use an H2 tag instead. 

• H4 tags are subheadings for H3 tags, and so on (there are six header tags in total). 

Proper use of header tags offers several SEO benefits:

Headers help search engines understand your content structure, making your pages easier to crawl and index.

Including relevant keywords in headings tells search engines what your content is about, improving its ranking for those terms.

Well-organized content with clear headings increases your chances of getting featured snippets in search results, which are great for boosting online visibility and brand awareness.

How to use header tags  

Imagine you have an article titled “The Ultimate Guide to Baking the Perfect Cake.” In that case, you’d want to use your H1 tag like this:

H1: The Ultimate Guide to Baking the Perfect Cake

This H1 clearly tells search engines and users the page’s main topic.

Here are some example H2s you could use for the post:

• Essential Ingredients for Delicious Cakes
• Mixing Techniques for the Perfect Batter
• Baking Tips for a Fluffy Cake
• Frosting and Decorating Your Masterpiece

These H2s break down the main topic into key sub-topics. 

Let’s continue the trend and throw in some H3s (Let’s say under the “Essential Ingredients…” H2):

• The Role of Flour
• Sugar: Not Just For Sweetness
• Eggs: The Binding Agent

These H3s provide greater detail for a specific section, and these headings will be neatly categorized underneath the H2.

Why does this matter?

The headers signal to search engines the organization of your content, helping them ‘understand’ the different topics and subtopics addressed on the page. 

They also help with user experience. Readers can easily scan the headers to find the information they need, improving their experience on the page. When similar subtopics are grouped together in a linkable table of contents, it makes it especially easy for users to go straight to the part they want to read the most.

Speed things up 

Your page speed is a significant factor that affects both SEO and user experience since slow load times will ruin your SEO profile and turn users away. 

Google uses the Core Web Vitals test to determine every website’s page speed and load times. If a site fails the test, it won’t appear on Google’s search results pages. 

Poor loading times on your website are also a surefire way to increase your bounce rate. Today’s users expect lightning-fast speeds, so if your site takes more than a few seconds to load, they’ll likely click away and look elsewhere. 

Here are some tips for improving loading speed:

• • Minimize CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Excessive lines of code will slow things down on your site, so minimize it wherever possible by parsing it, compressing it, and getting the output. This post outlines how to do it.  

• Compress your images and videos. Keep an eye on the file sizes for any images and videos stored on each web page. If they aren’t compressed, they could start to slow down your website. Handbrake is an effective tool for compressing content without sacrificing quality. 

• Use a content delivery network. A content delivery network (CDN) is a group of servers that stores data near end users. This means that connected websites can deliver content cheaply, quickly, and reliably. Here’s a list of the best CDNs to use in 2024. 
• Cut down on the number of plugins you use. Too many plugins will start to hinder your website’s performance, so try to limit the amount you use at once.  

Check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to learn how fast your website loads.

Follow accessibility guidelines 

While search engines may not have direct accessibility ranking factors, these practices significantly impact user experience – a crucial factor that search engines DO measure – so it’s worth making your site as accessible as possible. 

A website that’s easy to navigate and understand signals a pleasant user experience to Google, which can positively influence your search engine rankings. 

While Google doesn’t use accessibility as a ranking factor, they do have a series of accessibility guidelines for website owners, which are as follows:

• Leveraging image alternative text: Alternative text (known as an alt tag) describes the image for screen readers and users with slow connections. This gives them the chance to understand what an image represents (and its overall role in the content). 
• Using high-contrast colors: High color contrast enhances readability for everyone, especially those with visual impairments. Avoid color schemes that are hard to read, such as bright red text on a yellow background. 
• Ensuring font legibility: A minimum font size of 16px and left alignment support easy reading.

Other accessibility features to consider when creating an SEO-friendly website:

• Clear headings and structure: Use descriptive headings (H1, H2, etc.) for content sections.
• Keyboard accessibility: Ensure that visitors can navigate your website without the use of a mouse.

Not sure if your website is accessible?

These free tools will let you know:

• W3C Validation: Use the W3C Markup Validation Service (https://validator.w3.org/ ) to check your code for compliance with web accessibility standards. 
• Google’s Lighthouse Browser Extension will provide insights into your website’s performance, including accessibility. 

Fill out your website’s metadata

Website metadata is information that describes the content and purpose of a web page, but it’s not directly visible to users when they visit your site. It’s embedded in the website’s HTML code. 

Think of it as the “information about the information” on your site. It’s also the information Google draws from when listing your content on its results pages. 

Crafting clear and informative metadata in your CMS will improve your website’s search engine visibility. While Google may sometimes adjust it, your descriptions provide the foundation for attracting potential visitors.

Here’s a breakdown of the primary types of website metadata and their importance:

• Title Tags are arguably the most important metadata element. They are the clickable headlines users see on search engine result pages (SERPs). The title tag should clearly and accurately describe the page’s content and should contain your primary keyword.
• Meta Descriptions are brief summaries that appear below the title tag in SERPs. They expand on the title tag and compel users to click through to your site.
• Image Alt Text is descriptive text for images that assists with accessibility for screen readers and helps search engines understand image content.

Make sure your website is indexed

Search engines like Google build their massive database of websites by ‘crawling’ the web. If your website isn’t indexed, that means it hasn’t been crawled and won’t appear in search results. 

You can’t get an SEO campaign off the ground if you aren’t indexed, so this is a crucial step.

Here are the essential steps you need to take to ensure your website is indexed correctly by search engines: 

• Avoid Blocking Search Engines:

• Check your robots.txt file to make sure it’s not accidentally blocking crawlers.
• Ensure there are no “noindex” meta tags on important pages, as this tag will cause Google’s crawlers to ignore them. 
• If your site is under development, make sure any logins/password protection are removed once you’re ready to launch.

• Create and Submit a Sitemap:

• An XML sitemap is a file that lists your essential pages in order. Uploading your sitemap to Google Search Console will help the search engine better understand your site architecture (and decrease the chances of pages not appearing in Google’s index). 
• Many website builders can generate sitemaps automatically, so it’s not a complicated process.
• Submit the sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

• Leverage Google Search Console:

• Create an account and verify ownership of your website. 
• Use the URL Inspection tool to directly request indexing for your homepage and other key pages.

Additional Tips to Speed Up Indexing

• Internal Linking: Create clear links between related pages on your site. This helps search engine crawlers discover and index more content. Web pages with no internal links pointing at them are called orphan pages, and they aren’t good for your SEO. 
• Backlinks: Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable, relevant websites. These act like votes of confidence, signaling to search engines that your website is worthy of indexing.
• Social Media: Promote your content on social platforms. While social media links don’t always directly influence indexing, they can drive visibility and potentially encourage natural backlinks.
• Update Content Regularly: Fresh content shows search engines your site is active and maintained.

Important note: Indexing can take time, from a few days to several weeks or even months. Be patient, especially with new websites.

Ensure your website has a good structure 

Another important aspect of SEO-friendly web design is ensuring your website is easy to navigate. 

A clear site structure improves crawlability for search engine bots and intuitively guides users, which is what you want. 

After all, you could have the most convincing landing pages in the world, but if nobody can navigate to them, it’s all for naught. 

Here are some ways to achieve a logical site structure:

• User research: Conduct user research to gain an understanding of how your site can satisfy various user personas and their common behaviors.
• Clear Navigation Design: Ensure that users can quickly and easily find the information they need no matter where they start navigating your website (i.e., have an ever-present navigation bar that guides users where they want to go). 
• Hierarchy and Categories: You shouldn’t randomly link to your web pages haphazardly. Instead, group related products and services into appropriate categories to keep things organized. 
• Breadcrumbs: Implement breadcrumbs to show users their location within the site. An example looks like this: 

Home > Products > Guitar Accessories > Strings

• Internal Linking: Create natural links within your content to guide users and search engines to related pages on your site.
• User Testing: Now it’s time to put your website to the test. Have some prospects navigate your site and provide feedback on what they thought worked and what didn’t – and then adjust accordingly. 

An example that embodies all these traits is Walmart’s website. 

They’re a giant retail operation containing thousands of products and categories, so it’s crucial that their web design and navigation are on point. 

They have a search bar and navigation bar that’s present at all times. 

Walmart’s site also makes excellent use of hierarchy, categories, and breadcrumbs to make navigating their products a breeze. 

Final Thoughts: SEO and Web Design 

When building a new website, prioritizing SEO and web design will help keep users and search engines happy, leading to more organic traffic, leads, and conversions. 

When done correctly, SEO and web design work together so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. 

Do you need expert help with SEO and web design at your company? 

Contact us to learn about HOTH X, our state-of-the-art managed SEO services for websites. 

Whether you need help with an eCommerce site or want more exposure for your brick-and-mortar, our experts can do it all—so don’t wait to get in touch. 

The post 7 Important Considerations For Web Design And SEO appeared first on The HOTH.

Then you need to implement a medical SEO strategy to rank your practice’s website higher on search engines like Google and Bing. 

After all, 82.8% of patients use search engines to find healthcare providers, so if you aren’t ranked in a top spot (or in the local 3-pack that appears in position zero), you’re missing out on tons of potential patients. 

Yet, before the introduction of local search, SEO for doctors was a lot more difficult. 

That’s because to rank in the top 5 on a search engine like Google, it took lots of clout from high-authority backlinks, loads of organic visitors each day, and a flawless reputation. As a result, the top-ranking healthcare practices were extremely dominant and difficult to outrank. 

That all changed with Google’s local 3-pack and the prominence of local SEO. 

Now it’s entirely possible for a smaller practice to appear at the very top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) for localized keywords (i.e., ‘best doctor in Round Rock’). 

That’s why we’ve put together this extensive healthcare SEO guide to help your practice reach the first page of Google. Read on to discover how you can develop a winning SEO campaign to attract tons of prospective patients to your medical website. 

Local SEO and Google’s 3-Pack 

If you’re relatively new to the world of search engine optimization, you may be wondering how local SEO differs from standard SEO. 

In a nutshell, local SEO helps you rank for search queries that are location-specific. So if a query or keyword contains a city, neighborhood, state, or other location – it’s a local search. 

Conversely, if a keyword does not contain a location, it’s a general search and involves the entirety of the internet. 

Also, sometimes users include ‘near me’ in their search, such as ‘dentists near me.’ In that case, the search engine will use their IP address to determine their location, so it still counts as a local search. 

Then there’s the Google 3-Pack, also known as the Google Local Pack, which displays the top 3 local businesses for a local search. 

For instance, if a user searches for ‘best doctor in Round Rock,’ the top 3 physician’s offices are optimized for that keyword and have a Google Business Profile listing. A Google Map will appear with pins placed on each physician’s office, enabling potential patients to see which offices are closest to them. 

Along with the name and link to each doctor’s office, the 3-pack also displays the following:

• A rating out of five stars
• The address 
• If the office is currently closed or open  
• A quote from a local review 

As you can see, the offices that appear in Google’s Local Pack feature more information than those in the organic search. Not only that, but they show up in position zero, which is higher up on the page than the #1 ranked organic search result. 

Why does local SEO matter for healthcare websites?

As stated before, ranking your physician’s office in a top spot for general SEO terms like ‘best doctor’ is quite difficult due to the fierce competition. 

For example, the #1 organic search result on Google for ‘best doctor’ is bestdoctors.com, a nationwide telemedicine service that connects users with over 50,000 world-renowned specialists. 

It’s a massive operation that’s clearly put a ton of effort and resources into obtaining its top-ranking spot on Google search. 

How do we know this?

By running the domain through a backlink checker tool, we discovered that it has a domain rating of 74 (for reference, any rating over 60 is considered excellent) and has over 38,000 backlinks, 94% of which were dofollow links (which matter for SEO). 

That’s a rock-solid backlink profile that any local physician’s office wouldn’t stand a chance of competing with, let alone surpassing. 

Let’s compare their astronomical backlink profile with the top result from the Google 3-Pack for the keyword ‘best doctor Round Rock.’ Since we’ve added a location to the keyword, the 3-Pack now shows up in position zero. 

The top-ranking result is Brushy Creek Family Physicians. 

Taking a peek at their backlink profile, they have a domain rating of 1.4 and only have 2,600 backlinks, 48% of which are dofollow links.

That’s a pretty measly rating in comparison (although it’s perfectly acceptable for a local physician’s office), but they were able to climb to the top of Google’s 3-Pack anyway. That’s a true testament to the power of local SEO for doctors, so you definitely don’t want to ignore it. 

Local SEO Strategies for Medical Practices 

Since you know local SEO is the way to go for your physician’s office, let’s learn how to master the basics so you can start attracting lots of new patients. 

Local SEO is very much its own thing and differs heavily from traditional SEO. You’ll want to build local backlinks and look for local keywords instead of general queries. Beyond that, creating and optimizing a Google Business Profile is an absolute must for local SEO. 

Staying consistent with your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is another crucial local SEO factor, as inconsistent information will confuse both Google and your patients. 

Also, local business directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages will help you further extend the online presence of your practice. There’s a lot to know, so let’s dive right in. 

Build a user-friendly website 

First and foremost, you need to optimize the web design and user experience of your website. 

Why is that?

It’s because a cluttered website that’s difficult to navigate will confuse and discourage your users, which will likely lead to them leaving your website to fill their needs elsewhere. 

To avoid this, you’ll want to build a website that’s effortless to navigate and gets straight to the point. 

In today’s age, the average person has to contend with more ‘noise’ than ever before. By noise, we mean ads, emails, social media posts, pop-up ads, instant messages, phone calls, and tons more. 

As a result, the average internet user only has so many calories they’re willing to spend to figure out a website before clicking away. 

If your healthcare website greets users with a photo of your building and a five-paragraph-long story about how you graduated medical school and opened your practice, you’re drowning your audience in noise. 

Instead, you should clearly communicate what it is you do and how you can help your patients. 

For instance, something like “Award-winning physicians in (city) that place the needs of their patients first” instantly lets your visitors know what you’re all about and how you can help them. Also, place a button on the top of the page that says, “Book an appointment now,” so your potential patients immediately know how to contact you. 

For your navigation, make sure it’s easy to navigate to any page on your website by grouping your pages together into related categories. 

Create multiple types of content 

Next, you’ll want to establish your practice as a thought leader in your field – and there’s no better way to do that than with high-quality content. 

Regularly releasing content will help you rise through the search engine rankings while educating and informing your audience, so it’s well worth the investment. 

To get the best results, you should strive to release a mix of a few types of content, such as:

• Informative blog posts on health and wellness topics  
• Detailed infographics containing medical facts and statistics
• Symptom checklists for various conditions 
• Healthcare podcasts 
• eBooks 

These types of content are staples for digital marketing and content marketing, and it’s because they get results. 

For instance, creating colorful infographics containing relevant statistics is a great way to obtain lots of quality backlinks – and videos are effective at attracting new prospective patients (especially if you upload them to platforms like YouTube). 

Blogging should be a regular thing for your practice, either by designating someone in-house to write them or hiring freelancers – as 80% of companies report that blogs drive organic traffic. 

To find the most success with your blog posts, you need to cover relevant topics that your audience wants to see. That means you’ll need to truly understand your target audience (reading Reddit posts and joining related social media groups will help you generate ideas). 

The more quality content you release, the more your audience will view you as a thought leader, and your online reputation will grow. That means the next time they have a pressing healthcare question or issue, you’ll be the first resource they check. 

Create a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) 

You won’t get very far with local SEO if you don’t have a Google Business Profile (GBP). 

That’s because GBP is where Google draws the data from for its 3-Pack. Google’s crawlers will reference your Google Business Profile to uncover your:

• Name 
• Address 
• Reviews and rating
• Hours of operation 
• Location on Google Maps 

So if you don’t have a GBP, you stand no chance of appearing in the 3-Pack, so it’s imperative that you create one. 

Google will automatically create a GBP listing for some businesses and medical practices. As such, you may discover that there’s already a GBP listing for your office, in which case you’d need to claim it. 

How do you find out if you already have a listing?

Simply go to Google search and enter the name of your medical practice along with your city and state. 

If you have a Google Business Profile, your business will appear in a knowledge panel or Google Maps. If you haven’t claimed the listing yet, you’ll see a link at the bottom that says, “Own this business?”

Click the link and enter your business name. Next, Google will need you to verify that you own the practice. The most common way is to verify your business by postcard. 

It works like this – Google mails your office a postcard containing a verification code. Once you receive it, you log into your GBP profile and enter the code to verify that you’re the owner. 

Adding your business to Google 

If your medical practice does not have a GBP listing, you’ll need to create one from scratch. The good news is that it’s a straightforward process that won’t take you much time at all. 

Start by hitting the Manage Now button on the GBP homepage. Enter your business name, and hit Continue. 

Next, Google will ask what type of business you run, and the options are:

• Online retail 
• Local store 
• Service business 

You have the ability to check more than one option, so be sure to select all that apply. 

Most physician’s offices will need to select Local store, as your patients visit your office to receive care. Yet, if you also sell products online, you’ll need to choose Online retail as well. If you make house calls for your patients, then your practice would also qualify as a Service business. 

The next step is to select a business category for your practice. 

What’s that?

GBP uses business categories to classify the businesses it lists, such as real estate agencies, toy stores, dentists, and, you guessed it – doctor’s offices. 

This step will directly affect your performance in the local search, so it’s crucial not to rush it. That’s because GBP’s signals play a huge role in Google’s local search algorithm, so nailing your category will give you a much-needed boost. 

GBP allows you to select one primary category and up to nine secondary categories. So if you’re a physician’s office that also offers psychiatry or sells products online, you’ll want to include them as secondary categories. 

After that, all that’s left is to enter your business address, phone number, and website. You’ll also need to verify your business via postcard, but then you’ll be all set. 

Optimizing your Google Business Profile 

If you want to become a rockstar in the local search rankings, simply creating a GBP listing isn’t enough. Instead, you’ll need to optimize your listing to make it as accurate and complete as possible. 

Log in to your GBP profile by signing in on the homepage. 

Your first step should be to fill out all the information Google requests from you.

In particular, you’ll want to ensure that your NAP is accurate and current. If you’ve recently changed locations, make sure to update your address so you won’t confuse Google or your new patients. 

Also, use relevant keywords throughout your GBP description to bolster your SEO profile. However, it’s essential to remain conversational, so don’t spam or overstuff keywords, as that won’t help you.

You should also strive to include information that distinguishes you from the competition in your description. Do you offer anything unique to your patients that they can’t find anywhere else? Are your skills and expertise unlike any other physicians in the area? If so, don’t be shy about mentioning it. 

Next, it’s time to fill out your profile with a ton of content that will help you get noticed online, such as:

• Profile picture
• Cover photo 
• Hours of operation 
• The areas you serve
• When you founded your practice 
• Phone number 
• Videos 
• Pictures
• A link to your website 

Last but not least, add the appointment booking link to your GBP profile listing, as it will enable prospective patients to book an appointment with you without having to redirect to your website first. 

Add health and safety attributes to your listing 

This SEO tip is particularly important for medical practices, especially post-pandemic. 

That’s because ever since the COVID-19 outbreak, people have wanted to know what health and safety measures establishments have in place before visiting them. 

As such, Google has recently added health and safety attributes to GBP listings. 

What are those?

They include safety measures such as:

• Temperature checks 
• Mandatory masks 
• Staff precautions (hand washing, etc.) 
• Waiting room policy (if patients must wait in their car or not) 
• Whether you accept walk-ins 

Including these attributes on your GBP listing will let your patients know what to expect when visiting your practice. They’ll provide peace of mind for patients, as they’ll have faith that your offices are clean and safe. 

Which doctor’s office would you rather visit?

Office A has no health and safety attributes on its listing and only includes its NAP. 

Office B states that all staff wear masks, walk-ins are accepted, and they do temperature checks. 

As you can see, including this information will make your practice appear more professional and caring toward patients. 

Use Google Posts 

Another tool that makes SEO for doctors easier is Google Posts. 

What’s that?

It’s a free tool that allows you to display 10 of your most recent posts, and they’ll stay live for up to 7 days. 

That means you can feature your most recent blog posts, announcements, offers, promotions, and other types of content. 

Not only that, but Google Posts lets you use text and images in your posts, and you can include CTAs that link to your landing pages. 

These posts are great because they provide quick information for prospective patients and they encourage them to take action. 

For instance, if you’re offering discounted flu shots or COVID-19 vaccines, you should include this information as a Google Post. That way, your prospective patients will see this information front and center whenever they view your GBP listing. 

Yet, it’s crucial to regularly update your Google Posts, as you don’t want to include any outdated information, as that can tarnish your reputation. So as soon as a promotional offer ends, make sure to update your Google Posts. 

Pro tip: You’ll need to be extremely concise with the copy for your Google Posts, as there’s a 1500-character limit. That’s because these posts appear ‘above the fold’ on your GBP listing, which refers to the top half of a web page where there isn’t room for more than a few words. 

It’s completely free to use Google Posts as long as you have an existing GBP listing, so don’t forget to leverage this powerful tool. 

Conduct local keyword research 

Keyword research is just as vital to local SEO as it is too general SEO, albeit with a few tweaks. In particular, local SEO involves using lots of long-tail keywords or keywords that contain more than two phrases. 

You can use our free keyword planner tool to uncover desirable local keywords. 

Remember to include location-specific phrases like ‘near me’ or ‘best doctor in (city).’ 

How do you know which keywords to choose?

Our keyword planner tool provides all the information you need to know. In particular, the two metrics that matter the most for keywords are search volume and keyword difficulty. 

Search volume refers to how many users are actively searching for the keyword. If the search volume is high (over a few thousand), it stands a good chance of generating lots of organic traffic for you. 

Yet, you also need to pay attention to the keyword difficulty score, or KD for short. 

That refers to how difficult it will be to outrank the existing websites in the top 5. As stated before, established websites that have incredible backlink profiles can be next to impossible to outrank. As such, keywords that have high KD scores (above 50) will pose serious challenges. 

Therefore, the most desirable keywords will have a high search volume and low keyword difficulty score. 

Build local backlinks 

For local SEO for doctors, you need to engage in local link-building. That means you’ll want to acquire high-authority backlinks from local websites. 

How do you do that?

There are a few ways. First, you can write guest posts for other local doctors and acquire backlinks that way. Or you can sponsor a local scholarship or school team and get backlinks that way. 

There are also local business directories and newspapers that can provide backlinks. For newspapers, you can create PR content or medical advice in exchange for a backlink.

Concluding Thoughts: SEO for Doctors 

With the advent of the local search and 3-Pack, it’s now possible for small doctor’s offices to dominate the local search engine rankings. 

By researching local keywords, acquiring local backlinks, and claiming a GBP listing, you stand a much better chance of securing a top spot on the SERPs. 

Do you not have enough time to focus on an SEO campaign at your medical practice?

If so, don’t wait to check out our five-star managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our experts will work around the clock to formulate a winning SEO campaign for your practice, so get in touch with us today.     

The post SEO for Doctors: How to Drive More Clients Through Your Door appeared first on The HOTH.

Besides content from your brand, your audience gets flooded with countless emails, blogs, videos, and podcasts from others. 

Yet, there’s still one surefire way to grab your audience’s attention, and that’s with visual content. 

Humans are largely visual creatures, as we retain 65% of the information we see, compared to only 10% of what we hear. 

Accordingly, content like videos and infographics generates 650% more engagement than static content that contains only text. 

If you want your content to generate lots of backlinks without having to conduct outreach, infographics are even more important. 

That’s because blogs containing infographics produce 178% more backlinks than ones that do not. 

So, if you haven’t been producing infographics for your SEO content, you’re missing out on lots of traffic, social shares, and backlinks. 

The good news is infographics are an incredibly diverse content medium, so they can apply to virtually any industry or niche. They’re simply visual representations of a data set or piece of information, and they’re excellent for conveying complex concepts in easily digestible, eye-catching ways. 

In this article, we’ll teach you how to harness the SEO power of infographics for greater online visibility, so stick around. 

What are Infographics?

The word infographic is short for information graphic and is a way of conveying data or information visually. Infographics use a combination of charts, graphs, images, and minimal text to present complex topics in visually engaging ways. 

For instance, you could write a 1,000-word blog post explaining how to operate a hedge trimmer, or you could greatly simplify things by creating a detailed infographic breaking down each step. 

Infographics are extremely powerful communication tools for this reason, as they help audiences quickly grasp concepts through the aid of compelling visuals. 

Here are a few examples of common elements found in infographics:

• Images
• Icons
• Text
• Charts
• Graphs
• Diagrams 
• Maps 
• Graphics (people, places, things, etc.) 

Here are the top characteristics of engaging infographics:

Clarity: The message should be clear and easy to understand.

Engagement: The design should be aesthetically pleasing and hold the viewer’s interest.

Accuracy: The information must be correct, reliable, and up to date.

Simplicity: Use visuals to break up complex data in a way that’s easy to grasp.

Visual Appeal: Color, layout, and typography should enhance understanding and retention.

Different types of infographics

As stated before, infographics are an incredibly diverse type of content that can take on many different forms. 

You can use infographics to break down statistics, cover a timeline, map out directions, and provide step-by-step guides on how to do something – just to name a few. 

Here’s a look at the most popular types of infographics. 

Statistical infographics

A statistical infographic visualizes sets of data with charts, graphs, and numbers to provide clear, easy-to-digest insights. 

Statistical infographics are one of the most reliable ways to generate backlinks since bloggers and digital marketers are always on the hunt for relevant stats to use in their content. 

Therefore, if you can centralize a bunch of relevant industry statistics into one visually pleasing infographic, you can bet that writers and marketers will link to it like gangbusters. 

Nearly every industry has important statistics that readers and marketers need to know, from the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns to following OSHA guidelines and beyond. 

Informational infographics 

Sometimes, the purpose of an infographic is purely to educate your audience. Defining key terms, outlining complicated concepts, and explaining industries are all ways you can use informational infographics. 

For example, the digital marketing world is filled to the brim with confusing jargon and acronyms, which are perfect candidates for informational infographics. 

You could create a visual aid breaking down acronyms like SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click), and other digital marketing terms. 

Just remember to include as many visual elements as possible to ensure the infographic isn’t too text-heavy. 

Timeline infographics 

Do you want to educate your viewers on the history of the desktop computer?

If so, a timeline infographic is the perfect type of content to make it happen. These types of infographics map out historical events, trends, or milestones in a visually appealing format. 

Once again, be sure to include as many visual elements as possible to cut down on the amount of text. 

Map infographics 

Maps make excellent templates for infographics, even if the information you want to convey isn’t geographical. 

For instance, you could use a visual map of the United States to double as a timeline of sorts, highlighting different historical events in different areas around the country. 

Of course, you can also use map infographics to highlight routes, locations, and other geographical points of interest. 

Comparison infographics 

These types of infographics compare two sets of data, most commonly comparing two products, services, or concepts. 

A comparison infographic is the perfect type of content for commercial intent keywords, which are search terms that represent commercial intent (i.e., the user is doing research to make a purchase). 

Instead of having to sit down to read a 5,000-word blog post comparing your service with another, why not create a simplified infographic that does the same thing?

Comparison infographics provide users with quick, easily digestible ways to compare products and services. 

How-to infographics 

Lastly, you can use infographics to teach your audience how to do something in a step-by-step format. 

The sky’s the limit here, as you can create a how-to infographic for just about anything. From learning how to tie your shoes to breaking down how to file taxes, how-to infographics are extremely versatile and effective. 

Just like statistical infographics, how-to’s are great for generating lots of backlinks and shares on social media. 

If your goal is to generate backlinks and build brand awareness, how-to infographics, and statistical infographics will be your best friends.

Why Are Infographics Important for SEO? 

Play your cards right, and infographics will be your ticket to higher search engine rankings, better brand awareness, and loads of organically generated backlinks (which are the best kind, by the way). 

If you want your infographic to stick in your audience’s minds, demand their attention, and persuade them to take a certain action, you must make proper use of:

• Color
• Negative space
• Graphics 
• Copy (short and to the point) 
• Fonts 
• Structure (a beginning, middle, and end) 

It’s crucial for your infographic to have some sort of conclusion; otherwise, it will feel incomplete. 

You can use infographics to:

• Increase social shares
• Boost website traffic
• Raise brand awareness
• Assist with link-building efforts
• Show up in Google Images search
• Help you establish yourself as an industry expert or thought leader 

In fact, infographics are the #1 way digital marketers can present data or information in a graphic, visual manner. 

In terms of SEO, infographics provide some very specific benefits, especially for brands that have trouble standing out from the competition.  

Specifically, these benefits are:

• Boosted organic traffic
• Improved link-building 
• Achieving thought leader status 
• Relevancy
• Versatility 

You should tailor each infographic to the specific wants, needs, and desires of your target audience. If it catches on, it’ll work wonders for your brand’s online visibility. 

According to Search Engine Journal, the two most important ranking factors for Google are the quality of your content and link-building efforts. 

However, that doesn’t stop link-building from being one of the most challenging aspects of SEO. Building high-quality links takes countless hours of conducting research, writing guest posts, and finding broken links – just to name a few tactics. 

The good news?

Infographics are a great way to simplify the link-building process. 

Bloggers, marketers, and influencers are constantly on the lookout for relevant content to share, link to, or retweet. If you’re able to tap into the minds of your audience and produce an infographic that touches on the topics they’re writing about, you’ll start generating backlinks left and right. 

The best part is you won’t have to conduct any email outreach to build these links. Instead, online users will start linking to your content due to its pure merit and quality (which is the way Google wants you to build links). 

The best infographics have some real staying power, too, as they can circulate on the internet for years. 

Try to think of unique angles for approaching common topics in your niche. The more original your infographics are, the more likely it is that they’ll catch on and continue generating links for quite some time. 

Also, with a clever content marketing strategy, you can repurpose one infographic into many different pieces of content (i.e., a blog post and video covering the same topic). 

Here are some other benefits of using infographics in your content:

• Highly shareable on social media
• Reduces bounce rate
• Increases SERPs rank
• Easy to understand
• Better outreach opportunities
• Boosts brand awareness
• Shows your expertise
• Strengthens your SEO

Are you still not sure if you should invest time and money into creating infographics?

If so, then you should take a look at the following reasons why infographics are integral for modern SEO campaigns. 

Increased traffic and engagement

Infographics use color, design, and negative space to present information in a memorable and visually appealing way. 

This leads to increased social shares, higher website traffic, and better user engagement.

Backlinks and authority  

High-quality infographics are likely to be shared and linked to from other websites. 

These backlinks signal to search engines that your content is valuable and credible, making it more likely for your content to rank higher (considering the rest of your SEO is on point). 

Improved link building

One of the most challenging aspects of SEO is building quality backlinks. 

When you create compelling infographics, people are more likely to share them and link back to your website as the original source – meaning you’ll generate links without having to lift a finger.

Search engine visibility

Infographics will help you show up in Google Images search results, offering another avenue for people to discover your content.

Content versatility

A single, well-designed infographic can be repurposed across your digital marketing strategy.  Use it in blog posts, break it into smaller social media visuals, or include it in presentations.

Establish thought leadership

Infographics help you present complex topics in an easily understandable format. 

This positions you as an industry expert and a reliable source of information, causing your audience to trust you as an authority figure in your field.

If that wasn’t enough, here are some more benefits of infographics for SEO:

Reduced bounce rate and better dwell time: Engaging visuals keep visitors on your site longer, reducing bounce rates and extending dwell times.

Better outreach opportunities: Infographics make compelling content to pitch to websites or bloggers for guest posts, further expanding your backlinks.

How Do I Create an Infographic for SEO?

Let’s use David McCandless as an example here. He’s the author and creator of Information is Beautiful and has done a good job of using visuals to explain what an effective infographic or data visualization looks like. 

With that said, he incorporated four elements into his project. 

Here are the four best practices for infographic and data visualization:

1. Display: A good infographic needs valuable, accurate information.
2. Story: Think of your infographic as a mini-narrative that contains a clear beginning, middle, and end. 
3. Goal: Besides the presentation of information, what is the reason you want to create an infographic? Make sure your visuals match the goals of your brand.
4. Visual form: Is your infographic easy on the eyes, or does it burn your retinas? Use color theory and other graphic design tips to make your visual data appealing to look at.

8 Steps to Create SEO-Friendly Infographics

Here are some actionable steps for creating an infographic design from scratch:

Step 1: Begin with your goal

What do you ultimately want to achieve from creating an infographic? Do you want to generate lots of backlinks, or is establishing your brand as a thought leader more important?

Your goal will inform the style of infographic you create (such as creating statistical infographics to generate lots of links), which is why you need to define it first. 

Step 2: Choose a topic your audience cares about

Pick a topic that your target audience is passionate about; otherwise, interest in your infographics will fizzle out before you know it. 

Research your audience by building a buyer persona (if you haven’t already) that encompasses your audience’s pain points, desires, habits, and demographics. 

Step 3: Choose the best keywords and titles

Your keywords are how you appear in relevant user searches, so you should conduct thorough keyword research for your infographics. 

Try to find keywords that relate to each topic that feature high search volume yet low competition. You can use our free keyword planner tool to help you identify the best keywords to use. 

Step 4: Create your infographic based on that keyword and topic

Once you know which keywords to use, structure your entire infographic around it and the topic it relates to. 

Yet, it’s important not to spam your keywords, as that’s never a good idea (and it ruins the user experience for your infographic), so use them sparingly. 

Step 5: Optimize for SEO (use alt-text, metadata, etc.)

Don’t forget to add crucial SEO tweaks like using your keywords in the metadata. Also, you should write a few lines of alt text for the infographic. 

What’s that?

Alt text serves two purposes, as it helps the visually impaired, and it lets Google’s bots know what your image displays (the bots lack computer vision). 

As such, don’t forget to include your target keyword in the alt text. 

Step 6: Collect your data and consider your colors

Next, collect all the data that you’ll use for the infographic (statistics, facts, images, graphics, etc.) and store it in one location for convenience. 

Also, decide on the color scheme that you’ll use. Ideally, your color scheme should be visually appealing and align with your brand’s colors. 

Step 7: Create a copy outline

Create a brief outline that describes the infographic. This is the copy that you’ll use to supplement the visuals. 

Remember that less is more for text copy in infographics. It’s a visual medium, so do your best to show, not tell. 

Step 8: Select a good layout template

There are plenty of infographic templates out there, so do your best to choose one that suits the topic. 

Here are some free infographic templates you can use from Canva. 

Follow best infographic design practices

There are more than a few best practices you should follow when designing your infographics, some more intuitive than others.

Here’s an overview of the top infographic best design practices to consider. 

Content and planning 

• Clear focus. Make sure you know your topic and have a clear message ready for it. Don’t overload your infographic with information, as that defeats the point. 
• Target audience. Consider the needs of your target audience, especially in terms of tone, color scheme, and the infographic’s visual layout. 
• Accurate data. Double-check that all the stats and figures you include are accurate and up to date. 
• Storytelling. Follow a narrative structure (beginning, middle, and end) for your infographic. 
• Outline. Before you get started, create a simple outline to ensure the infographic has all the necessary elements and a logical flow. 

Visual Design 

• Visual hierarchy. Structure the infographic so that the viewer’s eye catches all your most important points. 

• Readable fonts. Go with fonts that are easy to read, and use visually pleasing color schemes (i.e., don’t use bright colors). 

• Color palette. Speaking of color, ensure the infographic’s color scheme aligns with your brand and complements the topic. 

• Charts and graphs. Choose appropriate visualizations to represent your data, such as charts, graphs, and timelines. 

• Icons and images. Too much text is boring, so include fun graphics, icons, and images to break it up. 

• White space. A cluttered design will overwhelm viewers, even if your infographic is sparse in text. Provide plenty of ‘breathing room’ around visual elements to avoid clutter.

Technical considerations 

• File format. For the clearest visuals, choose a high-resolution file format like PNG, JPG, or SVG. 

• File size. Compress your infographic so that the file size is as small as possible without losing quality. File sizes that are too large can cause your website to load slowly, which is bad news for your user experience. 

• Accessibility. Don’t forget to include things like image alt text and transcripts to provide accessibility for all internet users. 

Additional Tips 

• Branding. Include your brand elements without overdoing them (using your logo and branded colors is enough). 

• Call to action. You likely want users to complete a specific action after viewing your infographic, so spell it out for them with a clear CTA (call to action). 

• Promotion. If you’re going to spend time and resources creating an infographic, you need a way to promote it to ensure it gets seen. Spend time strategizing how you’ll share your new infographic, such as posting it on your social media accounts. 

Excellent infographic examples 

Here are a few examples of infographics around the web that we find particularly appealing and effective (and they can help get your creative juices flowing):

The Design Roadmap 

This infographic’s simplicity is also its greatest strength. It makes excellent use of a timeline and uses simple graphics to drive the point home. 

True Colors: What Brand Colors Say About Your Business

This infographic is equal parts colorful and informative, and it never overstays its welcome by being too wordy or visually cluttered (don’t forget to take notes). 

The Daily Routines of Famous Creative People

Have you ever wondered how someone like Benjamin Franklin spent a typical day? This infographic answers that question by making clever use of colored line charts.

How to Optimize Infographics for Better SEO Results  

Just as you would optimize a web page to rank better on search engines like Google, you also need to optimize your infographics. 

An optimized infographic has a much better chance of generating backlinks, getting shared on social media, and ranking high on Google image searches. 

Here are some helpful tips for optimizing your infographics. 

Tip #1: Use the right keywords 

Thorough keyword research is the name of the game here. Identify relevant, high-volume search terms related to your infographic’s topic. From there, weave your target keyword(s) strategically into the infographic’s:

• File name (e.g., ‘social-media-marketing-trends-2023.jpg’). Use a descriptive filename incorporating your keyword (avoid special characters).
• Alt text (a concise image description).
• Surrounding text (the accompanying blog post or article).
• Header tags and meta descriptions for the page where the infographic is featured.

Metadata Matters

Alt text: Accurately describe the infographic in a few sentences, incorporating your keywords. This is essential for screen readers (ensuring accessibility) and helps search engines understand the image’s content.

Title tags: Consider adding a title tag to your infographic image for further context. While less impactful than alt text, it can still provide additional information for search engines.

Why is this important?

Metadata, like alt text and title tags, helps Google and other search engines index and crawl your website.

In addition to boosting SEO, it enhances user experience by making your visuals accessible to those with visual impairments and helps convey your message clearly to all users.

Tips for Effective Metadata:

Be descriptive: Clearly explain what’s depicted in the image.

Keyword integration: Include relevant keywords naturally within your descriptions.

Keep it concise: Aim for alt text under 125 characters.

Avoid redundancy: Don’t start your alt text with “picture of” or “image of.”

Tip #2: Focus on User Experience

Optimize your infographic’s file size for fast loading times. Tools like TinyPNG or image compression plugins can help. Also, design your infographic to display well across all devices, including smartphones and tablets.

Tip #3: Optimize the Surrounding Content

To achieve the best results, optimize your infographic like you’d optimize any blog post or image. This helps Google understand what the infographic represents since it can’t actually see the images. Include:

Word count

Include a decent amount of text (consider 300+ words) on the page where your infographic lives. This gives search engines more context.

Header Tags

Use H1, H2, and H3 tags with relevant keywords to structure your content.Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) offer a preview of your content for both your audience and search engines such as Google. 

They help organize your page, making it easier to scan and provide context about the information within each section.  It’s best practice to incorporate your target keywords naturally into your header tags in a way that doesn’t feel forced or spammy.

Tips for Effective Header Tags:

One H1: Use only a single H1 tag per page to define your main topic.

Logical hierarchy: Use a combination of H2, H3, and H4 tags to create a clear outline.

Keyword-rich: Aim to include target keywords where they fit naturally.

Be descriptive: Clearly summarize the content of each section.

Tip #4: Create a meta-description

A meta description is a short summary of your webpage’s content designed to entice searchers to click on your link.  

It’s the brief bit of text that appears underneath the blue hyperlink to your content on search engine results pages. 

Think of it as your advertisement in search results.  While Google may not always use your exact meta description (sometimes they use auto-generated descriptions even if you wrote one), it’s still important to craft compelling ones for the users who see them. 

Also, Google’s crawler bots won’t always pay attention to your meta description, so it’s typically only for the benefit of your readers. For this reason, it’s wise to always include a CTA in your meta descriptions to convince users to click on your result over others.  

Tips for Creating Effective Meta Descriptions:

Target your audience: What pain point does your content address? What will the reader gain?

Be unique and helpful: Stand out from the other search results.

Optimal length: Aim for 155-160 characters to avoid being cut off.

Include a CTA: Guide the reader (“Learn more,” “Sign up,” etc.).

Naturally use keywords: If you have room, include your target keyword where it makes sense.

Here’s an example:

Blog Post on Infographic Design

Target Keyword: “Infographic design tips”

Meta Description: “Learn proven infographic design tips to make your data visually stunning. Get actionable advice on layout, color, and storytelling.”

Tip #5: Optimize your URLs

URLs are the addresses of your web pages that play a role in how search engines like Google understand and rank your content.  Keywords included in your URLs signal relevance to search queries. 

Short and descriptive URLs are also easier to share and improve the overall user experience.

Best practices for URL optimization:

Data-driven decisions: Analyze your existing site data and conduct thorough keyword research to identify the most relevant terms to include in your URLs.

On-Page and Off-page SEO: Optimize your URLs to work in conjunction with your greater SEO strategy, including the use of keywords in content and external links.

Mobile matters: Ensure URLs function properly and display correctly on mobile devices.

Descriptive and concise: Use keywords to describe the page’s content clearly, but keep the URL as short as possible for better readability.

Hyphens are your friend: Use hyphens to clarify words within your URLs.

Here’s an example of what we mean:

Instead of a long, parameter-filled URL like:

https://www.example.com/page?id=578&category=blog 

An optimized URL would be:

https://www.example.com/blog/infographic-design-tips 

Tip #6: More tips for optimizing your infographics 

Include social sharing buttons: Make your infographic easy to share on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter (X) by including social share buttons.

Call to Action (CTA): Guide your readers with a clear CTA that matches their search intent. Examples include subscribing to your email list, visiting a product page, or sharing the infographic on social media. 

Best tools for SEO infographic creation

Visme

Visme is a cloud-based design platform that helps users to create various types of visual content, including presentations, reports, social media graphics, and more. 

For infographics, it offers a user-friendly interface and extensive customization options.

Key Features for SEO Infographic Creation

An extensive template library: Visme provides a wide variety of pre-designed infographic templates, giving you a great starting point and saving design time.

Design elements: Visme includes a rich collection of icons, illustrations, charts, graphs, data widgets, and maps to visually represent your data.

Customization: You have control over colors, fonts, layouts, and can upload your own images or brand assets.

Integration with data sources: Link to Google Sheets or other data sources to keep your infographics up-to-date.

Embed options: Generate embed codes to easily place your infographics within blog posts or web pages.

Collaboration: Visme’s real-time collaboration features are useful if you’re working in a team.

Pros	Cons
User-friendly: Visme has a drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible for non-designers. Versatility: You can create various visual content formats beyond infographics. Design quality: Templates and graphics are professionally designed. Affordability: It offers a free plan with basic features and affordable paid plans.	Limited customization in the free plan: Some design elements and features might be locked behind paid tiers. Occasional performance issues: Some users report slowdowns when working with complex designs. Learning curve: While intuitive, maximizing all of Visme’s features might take some exploration.

Venngage

Venngage infographics creator tool offers a ton of template charts, maps, and icons. This data visualization tool offers website owners three steps to help them create an infographic design. 

With this tool, you can:

• Drag and drop library pictures 
• Create custom icons 
• Font customization

The tool allows you to save your infographics as images or PDFs. It’s also easy to share your infographics on social media platforms, websites, and blogs.

Key features for Venngage

Intuitive collaboration tools: Venngage integrates flawlessly with popular programs like Asana, Trello, Teamwork, and Basecamp. 

Plenty of options for data visualization: Whether you want to incorporate charts, graphs, or other types of visualizations – you’ll find them all here. 

Comprehensive image editing: Venngage contains a comprehensive image editor complete with tools for cropping, resizing, rotating, and opacity.  

Handy image search feature: Need a quick stock photo to use for an infographic? Venngage’s image search bar makes it effortless.  

Pros	Cons
User-friendly: Venngage makes it easy to export and view your infographics at any stage of the process, and in your preferred format. Versatility: No matter your industry or brand, you can use Venngage to design any type of graphic.	Not enough color options: It would be nice to see more comprehensive color options such as fading and ombre. Lack of customizability for templates: There are elements in Venngage’s pre-made templates that you cannot delete, which will be frustrating for designers eager to expand on existing infographic templates.

Canva

Canva is an amazing graphic design tool that allows you to design infographics, presentations, resumes, business cards, logos, and so much more. 

You can even animate videos and some irons. Canva offers versatility in design creation, whether you’re trying to make personal or business designs. 

This awesome tool has everything you need to create some of the best-looking visual content. 

Key features for Canva 

Tons of infographic templates: There are countless templates you can use and edit with Canva’s drag-and-drop editor.  

Drag-and-drop editor: You won’t run into any confusion with Canva’s editor, as it’s one of the easiest to use in the business.  

Background remover: Are there details in your infographic or a stock photo that you don’t like? Canva’s background remover makes it easy to get rid of them. 

Tons of stock elements to use: Canva has an extensive library of stock images, graphics, and templates. 

Pros	Cons
User-friendly: Canva is one of the easiest design programs to learn, and there’s no shortage of educational materials to help you get the hang of it.  Free to use: While Canva Pro is an option (and can definitely be worth it), a regular Canva account is completely free.	Occasional slow down: Since Canva is an SaaS (software-as-a-service), you’re dependent on their servers. Whenever things slow down (which can be quite common), there’s nothing you can do about it. Not every font or template is free: Certain fonts and templates are blocked behind paywalls, which is unfortunate.

Infographics and Your SEO strategy

Infographics, when done right, offer all kinds of SEO benefits. 

Their visual nature and easy-to-digest format make them highly shareable, increasing the potential for going viral and attracting valuable backlinks. 

Studies even suggest that content featuring images or infographics receives 94% more views, so they’re definitely worth your time.

Tips for Integrating Infographics into Your SEO Efforts

1. Strategic Planning: Define clear goals for your infographics (brand awareness, traffic, etc.). Ensure your infographics target your audience, and then select the best platforms for sharing them.
2. Design with Purpose: Create high-quality infographics that make sense of compelling data. Optimize them with relevant keywords and hashtags (for social media platforms like Instagram and X).
3. Promote Widely: Develop a multi-channel promotion plan. This includes social media, link-building outreach to relevant blogs/influencers, and repurposing the infographic’s data into other formats.
4. Never Neglect SEO: Treat your infographic like any other piece of content. Optimize file names, alt-text, surrounding text, etc.
5. Track and Adapt: Analyze results to see what works best. Are certain topics or visual styles more popular? Use this data to refine your future infographics.

Let’s Wrap it Up

Infographics are an extremely powerful tool for boosting your website’s visibility, engagement, and overall user experience. 

Following the strategies outlined in this guide will transform complex information into breathtaking visuals that drive results for your digital marketing campaign.

Ready to take your SEO to the next level with infographics? Here’s how to get started:

Explore our resources: We offer free SEO tools and resources to help you get started on the right foot. Sign up for free today! 

Need Expert Guidance? Book a call with one of our SEO experts to develop a custom infographic strategy tailored to your business.

Enhance Your existing plan: If you’re already on a HOTH X managed SEO plan, inquire about adding custom infographic creation to take your content marketing to new heights.

Remember: Infographics are an investment in your brand’s online success. Don’t miss out on their massive potential!   

The post Infographics for SEO: Boost Traffic, Shares, and Engagement appeared first on The HOTH.

That’s why conducting regular eCommerce SEO audits is a must for maintaining (and exceeding) your current search engine rankings. 

How does SEO change?

Google updates happen (like the recent update to their Quality Rater Guidelines), competitors pick up steam, and trending keywords begin to lose their popularity. 

Not only that, but technical issues can also affect your SEO profile, like broken links, indexing errors, and page speed issues. 

If you don’t periodically audit, optimize, update, and refresh your page content, your web pages may disappear from the SERPs (search engine results pages) entirely. 

Yet, if you stay on top of your SEO audits, you will maintain your rankings as your content will remain relevant & optimized. 

The benefits don’t stop there, though. 

eCommerce SEO audits will help you identify opportunities for quick wins (traffic & revenue boosts that happen within a week or two), avoid duplicate content, boost your conversion rates, and generate more organic traffic overall. 

Quite a bit of work goes into an SEO audit, but it’s worth it in the long run. 

To make auditing your online store easier, we’ve prepared this extensive checklist containing everything you need to do to conduct a successful audit – so read on to learn how. 

How are eCommerce SEO Audits Unique?

While most SEO audits follow the same formula, there are a few factors that make eCommerce audits unique from the rest. 

For one, traditional SEO audits involve analyzing blog posts, infographics, videos, and other forms of content for proper keyword placement and other SEO best practices. 

eCommerce stores are a tad different in that they primarily feature product descriptions, category pages, and product pages as their main form of content. 

Some eCommerce sites have blogs, but for the most part, you’ll be dealing with product pages and category pages. 

You’ll need to optimize them for your target keywords, as well as uncover your top-performing pages with the strongest conversion rates. 

If your store features blogs and other types of online content (videos, infographics, etc.), you’ll need to audit those, too. 

Besides that, you also need to focus heavily on technical SEO factors like page speed, site security (SSL certificates are a MUST for eCommerce stores), and mobile friendliness. 

Page speed is a vital SEO factor for any website, but it’s doubly important for online stores. 

Modern internet users aren’t known for their patience, so they won’t stick around if your product pages don’t load at the drop of a hat. 

60% of modern consumers prefer to shop on their mobile devices, which is why mobile optimization is so crucial.

Lastly, another unique challenge facing eCommerce SEO is the prevalence of duplicate content. Since online stores tend to sell multiple sizes and colors for products, that leads to nearly identical product pages – which confuses search engines. 

As such, eCommerce stores deal with duplicate content issues far more often than other types of businesses (more on how to remedy them in a bit). 

Product pages 

In traditional SEO strategies, blog posts tend to be your main focus when conducting a content audit. 

eCommerce websites are different in that you need to focus on optimizing your product pages and category pages the most, even if you also have a blog. 

That’s because your ultimate goal is to drive the most traffic to pages where potential customers can convert and try out your products. 

While blog posts are handy for attracting prospects at the top of your sales funnel, most of your revenue will come from commercial and transactional queries. 

To see the best results, you need to optimize your product pages for both search engines and your customers. 

That means using SEO best practices like keyword-rich product descriptions while not neglecting the quality of the copy (i.e., writing engaging descriptions that encourage users to convert). 

You also need to optimize your product images by compressing them to help with page speed – and adding alt text containing your target keyword for each product. 

Metadata is another crucial factor for your product page optimization. 

You need to write enticing meta descriptions that contain CTAs to encourage users to choose your content over your competitors on the SERPs. 

Including your target keyword in your title tags is also a must, as it helps search engine crawlers understand which keywords your content relates to. 

Category pages 

Equally as important as your product pages are your category pages, so you’ll need to optimize them for search engines and users too. 

Most of the product page optimizations also apply to category pages, including:

• Using keyword-rich meta descriptions and title tags.
• Optimize all images with compression (if necessary) and alt text containing keywords. 
• Include keywords in category page titles. 

Besides making these tweaks, you’ll also need to ensure the following:

• Your category pages need to follow a logical structure that’s easy for search engine crawlers to understand (i.e., categories, subcategories, and products). 
• You need to employ a user-friendly UI that’s effortless for customers to navigate. 
• Highlight your best product images on your category pages (without forgetting to include keyword-rich alt text). 

These optimizations will ensure that your category pages are easy for search engines to crawl & index and for customers to navigate and find the products they need. 

Optimize for humans first, search engines second 

Remember that your overall goal is to provide an outstanding user experience for your customers and that the SEO tweaks are simply a means to an end. 

Search engine crawler bots won’t be the ones placing orders for your products, so you shouldn’t place too much emphasis on catering to them. 

For instance, while it’s crucial to include your target keywords in your content, you should always do so in a way that doesn’t affect the quality of your copy. 

Not only that but getting too crazy with keywords can lead to keyword stuffing, which is very bad for your SEO. 

Let’s say that you’re selling customized dog bowls using the keyword ‘dog water dish.’ 

Here’s an example of how to write a product description containing the keyword in an organic manner that doesn’t diminish the quality of the copy:

“This premium dog water dish is large enough to quench any pup’s thirst. It’s fully customizable and comes in a wide variety of colors & designs to perfectly match your dog’s style.”

It’s concise, contains the keyword, and lets users know how the dog dish will benefit their lives. 

Conversely, here’s an example that puts search engines first instead of customers:

“Need a new dog water dish that you can customize? Our five-star dog water dishes are sure to satisfy, as they’re customizable dog water dishes that come in a variety of colors and designs.”

While it contains the target keyword three times, the sentences are clunky, awkward, and don’t provide enough value to users. 

What Can eCommerce Audits Do for Your Business?

If you’ve recently started an SEO strategy for your eCommerce store, you may be wondering why it’s necessary to conduct regular audits. 

After all, if your product pages are ranking where you want them to be, why try to fix what isn’t broken?

As stated in the intro, SEO is always changing and evolving – so if you want to maintain those rankings, you need to keep a close eye on your website’s content. 

That means conducting regular audits even if things are running smoothly. 

You never know when an indexing error or new Google update will rear its head, both of which can cause top-ranking content to vanish from the SERPs overnight. 

Consider Google’s recent Link Spam Update as an example of this. 

In December 2022, Google released an update that negated the impact of backlinks that had been purchased through third parties. 

Almost immediately, thousands of websites saw huge drops in their online visibility due to this single update. 

That’s why regular audits are a must, as you need to do everything you can to stay on top of new trends, changes, and algorithm updates. 

Besides preventing potential issues and ranking fall-offs, eCommerce SEO audits can provide numerous benefits for your business, so let’s take a look at them. 

Find ways to boost your organic traffic

The chances are high that some of your product pages & category pages aren’t performing as well as they could be online. 

There are plenty of reasons why, including targeting the wrong keywords, poor page speed, indexing errors, and a plethora of other SEO issues. 

The point is you won’t ever uncover these issues if you don’t conduct a site audit to analyze how well each page is performing. 

For instance, let’s say that you uncover a product page that’s lacking relevant keywords. As a result, it’s one of the lowest-performing pages on your entire website. 

By conducting some new keyword research to find more relevant search terms, you can boost the page’s online performance by a significant margin. That means the page will start to generate more organic traffic than before, granting you more opportunities to convert organic visitors. 

Or it could be that a page lacks authority due to a link deficit. 

Once again, the only way to identify these types of issues is to conduct thorough eCommerce SEO audits. 

Besides discovering your lowest-performing pages, you will also identify your most important pages. 

These are the product & category pages that are currently ranking the highest and generating the most organic traffic for your store. 

It’s crucial to identify these pages because you can pinpoint why they’re working so well and then copy their success to other pages. 

Increased conversion rates 

Site audits are also invaluable for finding ways to boost your conversions. 

Just like organic traffic, you can use tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to discover your highest-converting pages. 

What about these pages causes them to convert so well? Did you use any techniques that you aren’t using on your other pages? Is the CTA on your top converting page especially convincing?

These are all crucial questions to ask once you know which pages are seeing the most action from customers. 

From there, you can copy the techniques that worked so well on those pages for the rest of your products & categories. 

That’ll increase your conversions across the board, earning you more revenue as a result. 

Gain an edge over competitors 

eCommerce SEO audits can help you gain a serious competitive edge in your niche if you’re thorough enough with them.  

First, your goal should always be to outdo your competitors, as that’s the only way to reach and maintain the top spots on the SERPs. 

As such, the more in-depth you are with your audit, the greater the chances that you’ve outdone your competition. 

You should never leave it to a guessing game, though. 

There are plenty of tools out there that can help you gauge where your competitors are at, not only on the SERPs but also with their domain authority, backlink profile, and more. 

Of course, all it takes is a quick Google search of one of your target keywords to see who’s outranking you. 

But you can also use free tools like our backlink checker from The HOTH. 

With it, you can view the complete backlink profile of any website online, which is invaluable for gauging your competitors. 

Additionally, you can also use our free SEO audit tool to view crucial metrics for competitors’ websites instantly. You’ll get to view their keyword usage, current rankings, domain authority, and more. 

You can use these two tools to not only size up your competition but also identify ways to outdo competitors and copy their success with your own content during the audit. 

For example, you can use the backlink checker to find high-authority links that you can poach from your competitors through the skyscraper technique. You can also copy their keyword strategies, site structure, and structured data markup. 

Identify quick win opportunities 

A notorious drawback of SEO is how long it takes to start to see results. On average, it takes around 6 – 12 months to start to see an ROI from your SEO efforts. 

That’s a long time to wait while you’re constantly putting in work or paying a digital marketing agency. 

The good news?

There are ways to identify ‘quick win’ opportunities that can speed up the process and provide results within a few weeks instead of months. 

To find these golden opportunities, you need to conduct an SEO audit. 

How do you find quick wins?

You can start by identifying pages with keywords that are within ‘striking distance’ of ranking near the top 10 SERP results. 

These are pages that just need a little push to obtain a desirable ranking on search engines like Google. 

By implementing a few SEO best practices like proper keyword placement (in the first 100 words, title tag, meta description, alt text, etc.), you can push the web page over the edge and start generating more organic traffic in a week or two. 

Other quick-win opportunities include acquiring a few high-authority backlinks that don’t take too much time to build. 

For instance, a savvy SEO agency may find a few opportunities for link placements (also called niche edits), which can provide a quick boost to your link profile. 

The great thing about link placements is they occur in existing content that’s already in Google’s index, so you don’t have to wait long to see its impact on your rankings. 

Further, develop your eCommerce SEO strategy 

Lastly, a significant reason why you should conduct regular website audits is to keep evolving your SEO strategy. 

Running an online store is extremely demanding, so you won’t have much time to focus on developing your SEO during the day. 

eCommerce SEO audits are so essential because they give you the time to slow things down and focus on improving your tactics. You’ll be able to closely examine every aspect of your online presence, which will help you brainstorm ideas to take your SEO to the next level. 

For example, if you last conducted keyword research 2 years ago, it’s highly likely that those keywords have begun to lose popularity. 

While not every piece of content is evergreen (meaning it stays fresh forever), you can always update outdated posts with new information and fresh keywords.

Audits can also spark ideas for backlink opportunities, either by examining your own backlink profile or your competitors. 

Let’s say that you’re examining a competitor and find that they’ve been guest posting on sites you didn’t know about. 

Since they’re in your niche, you can also conduct outreach to the same websites in the hopes of obtaining guest posts. 

It’s crucial to keep your eyes open when auditing your eCommerce store, as you never know when you may uncover something new that’ll take your SEO strategy to new heights.  

An Extensive eCommerce SEO Audit Checklist 

Now that you know more about how comprehensive website audits benefit your business, it’s time to learn how to conduct one. 

Quite a bit goes into an eCommerce SEO audit, and it can easily get overwhelming if you don’t have a guide to follow. 

To make things easier to digest, we’ve broken down the audit into three main categories: on-page SEO, technical SEO, and off-page SEO. 

Auditing Your On-Page SEO 

Let’s start by looking at all the tasks that fall under the umbrella of on-page or on-site SEO. 

As the name implies, this type of SEO involves making tweaks that occur on your website – and are usually visible to both search engines and your users. 

That means optimizing visible on-site factors like adding keywords to product descriptions, writing enticing meta descriptions, and using stand-out images with keyword-rich alt text. 

It also involves making user experience optimizations, such as including pricing and all other essential product information on the top half of the page so the user doesn’t have to scroll down. 

Here’s a look at all the top on-page SEO factors you’ll need to consider when conducting your audit. 

Keyword research and placement 

Everything related to keyword optimization falls under on-page SEO, so now is the time to analyze every target keyword for your product & category pages. 

You can use our free keyword planner tool to check the validity and relevance of each search term. 

The tool will let you know if the keyword is currently trending up or down in popularity, which is useful information. If a keyword is trending down, it may be worth retargeting similar keywords that are gaining traction and have the same context. 

For the most part, you need to ensure that each page has a viable target keyword and that it’s placed in the following locations:

• The title tag and meta description 
• Your H1 tag 
• The first 100 words of the product description/category page
• Your URL (this matters most to search engines like Bing & Yahoo, but it’s still a good rule of thumb)
• Image alt text 
• Headings (H2, H3, H4, etc.) 
• FAQ pages 

As long as your target keywords appear organically in these key areas, you should be golden.

Pro tip: To get the most bang for your SEO buck, you should front-load your keywords in your headings, especially your H1 tag. That means placing the keyword at the very front of the headline so that it’s the very first thing that search crawlers (and your users) see. 

It’s best not to overthink or overuse keywords, as that can lead to keyword spam, which will harm your SEO instead of helping it. 

Optimize your metadata 

It’s imperative that every product and category page on your store has a title tag and meta description. 

It’s all too common for larger eCommerce stores to neglect or forget about their metadata entirely, which will cripple your SEO efforts. 

Why is metadata so essential for SEO?

It is because title tags and meta descriptions are what appear in the SERPs. So if you don’t have an optimized title tag and enticing meta description, search engine users will have little reason to click on your result instead of the others that DO have engaging descriptions. 

Your title tag shows up as the blue hyperlink on Google results pages, and the meta description is the brief sentence describing the web page that appears underneath. 

You should include your target keywords in both, but it’s doubly important for your title tag. 

That’s because search engine crawlers will look at your metadata BEFORE they crawl the content of the page, so your title tag will be the first instance of your keyword they come across. 

Meta descriptions are more for online users, but they’re equally as important for your business, especially for improving click-through rates (CTR). 

When auditing the metadata for your online store, you also need to ensure that your titles and descriptions fall within the character limit. 

Your title tag should be no more than 60 characters, and you need to keep meta descriptions within 160 characters. 

These character limits represent the dimensions of Google results, and exceeding them means your title or description may be too long to display in full. 

Refining product and category pages 

Remember, you’re not just here to cater to the needs of search engines. 

You should also focus on improving the user experience of your online store, especially when making on-page optimizations. 

In particular, you should refine the user interface (UI) of your product and category pages to ensure a pleasant experience for shoppers.

Here are the components you should strive to include on each page:

• Keyword-optimized product descriptions that hype the benefits customers will enjoy from purchasing your products (benefits over features)  
• Pricing and purchase options are included in the same window 
• All relevant information is listed at the top of the page, so there’s no need to scroll down 
• High-resolution product images that show off your products in great detail (multiple angles and focal lengths) 
• Add to cart options 
• A concise CTA that lets users know what you want them to do next 

These optimizations will make your eCommerce store effortless to use, which will increase your chances of landing conversions.

When writing product descriptions, remember to focus on benefits instead of features. 

What do we mean by that?

Features are static, and while they may be impressive, they don’t let customers know how the product will change their lives. 

While you shouldn’t completely ignore features, always include benefits to go along with them. 

For example, instead of just saying a pair of gardening shears has remarkable tensile strength, also include that it’ll tear through any stubborn bush with ease, which will improve their landscaping skills. These types of benefits will appeal to customers more than simply listing a product’s features.

URLs and site architecture 

Next, you need to optimize your URL & page structure to make your website easier to crawl and index. 

If you’re running SEO campaigns on Bing and Yahoo, then you’ll definitely want to add your target keywords to your URLs. 

That’s because keywords in URLs are a direct ranking factor for Bing and its related search engines. 

URL keywords used to hold the same clout on Google, but updates in recent years have changed that significantly. 

It’s still a good idea to use your target keywords in your URLs, but it will matter far less for your Google SEO. 

What matters equally to both Bing and Google is the architecture of your online store. 

In other words, every page on your website needs to follow a logical structure to make it easy for search engines and users to navigate. 

In general, it’s best to stick with a flat site architecture, where every page is only a few clicks away from the homepage. 

For eCommerce stores, this type of structure works best:

• Your homepage links to your primary category pages 
• From there, each category has a list of subcategories
• Lastly, the subcategories link to all your products 

This is the quickest and easiest way to organize an online store, and it’ll help you avoid orphan pages. 

A page is considered ‘orphaned’ whenever it doesn’t have an internal link pointing to it, making it difficult for search engines and users to navigate to it. 

Orphan pages often don’t appear in the SERPs at all, so use a site crawler like Screaming Frog to get your URL structure in order. 

Optimizing product images 

Rounding out the on-page SEO checklist is to optimize all your product images, both on your product pages and category pages. 

High-resolution images are a necessity for any online store, as your customers will want to get an in-depth preview of your products before making a purchase. 

Ideally, you should have multiple photos of each product from different angles and focal lengths. 

While you want your images to have flawless quality, it’s also essential to compress them as much as possible. 

Why is that?

Images can quickly start to accrue in size, especially if you’re using multiple images for each product. If the file sizes become too great, it can start to slow down your site speed. 

Poor loading times will tank your online visibility & conversion rates, so you should strive to compress each image as much as possible without sacrificing quality. 

Every image also needs a line of alt text containing the primary keyword for that product page. 

What’s alt text?

It’s a brief description of what an image displays and it serves two purposes. For one, it improves the accessibility of your site by enabling blind visitors to understand what your images show. Next, it helps search engine crawlers understand your images and how they relate to your target keyword. 

Since crawler bots are technically blind (they lack computer vision), they won’t be able to see any of your images – hence the need for alt text. 

If you don’t include alt text for your product images, Google & other search engines will have no way of knowing that you’ve included images in your content (which is a pretty important ranking factor when gauging the quality of a post or product page). 

Technical SEO Audit Checklist 

Now that your on-page optimizations are complete, it’s time to move on to technical SEO factors. 

Technical SEO refers to all the behind-the-scenes factors that affect your visibility on search engines. 

In particular, technical SEO efforts revolve around making your web pages as easy to crawl and index as possible. 

That means doing things like uploading your XML sitemap to Google Search Console (GSC), addressing any indexing errors, and using canonical tags to avoid duplicate content. 

Here’s a look at the top technical SEO factors you need to look at during your eCommerce audit. 

Addressing indexing and crawlability errors 

First, you need to set up Google Search Console for your eCommerce store if you haven’t already. 

That’ll grant you the ability to view the Page Indexing Report. 

It will let you know the indexing status of all the URLs on your website (that Google knows about, anyway). 

This is an invaluable tool because it lets you know how much of your website is visible to Google. 

Why aren’t some of your web pages showing up in Google’s index?

There could be a variety of reasons why, including the lack of internal links pointing to them and any number of indexing errors. 

The good news is you can view any indexing errors Google ran into straight from GSC via the Index Coverage Report. 

Here, you’ll get to see all your web pages that are valid, excluded, contain errors, or are valid but contain warnings. 

Besides that, you’ll get to view a full list of crawling & indexing errors that popped up on your site. 

Common errors include issues with redirects, soft 404s, pages blocked by your robots.txt file, and more. 

GSC will also provide recommendations for fixing these errors, which is a huge plus. Once you’ve addressed and fixed all your most pressing indexing errors, you can move on to the next step. 

Avoiding duplicate content with canonical tags 

As stated previously, eCommerce stores face many issues with duplicate content. 

Whenever two pages attempt to rank for the same keyword, it confuses Google as it doesn’t know which one to rank on the SERPs. 

The problem occurs whenever you sell products in multiple colors and sizes. That’s because you’ll have a couple of versions of the same product page that contain identical descriptions & target keywords. 

The most common solution to this problem is to use canonical tags to distinguish the version of the product you want to rank from its duplicates (other colors and sizes). 

The vanilla version of each product should receive a canonical tag, while similar pages need to receive a noindex tag. 

That’ll let Google and other search engines know which version of your product to rank on the SERPs and which to exclude – effectively avoiding all duplicate content on your online store, which will help your SEO profile in a big way. 

Improving page speed 

By now, you already know that your pages need to load fast in order to stop customers from clicking off your site and back to the SERPs (which is bad for your bounce rate). 

Moreover, your website needs to pass Google’s Core Web Vitals test if you want your content to appear in its search results.

It’s a test that checks your website’s loading speed and responsiveness. 

Luckily, you can check your page’s loading times by using Google’s PageSpeed Insights. It’ll also provide candid suggestions for speeding up your website, such as cleaning up your Javascript or compressing your images/videos. 

The faster your website loads, the better you’ll perform in the organic search. Not only that, but you’ll also see more conversions by improving your website’s performance. 

Website security (SSL certificates) 

eCommerce businesses need to place a strong emphasis on website security, as your customers will be entering their sensitive financial information to make purchases. 

That means you need to keep their data encrypted at all times, so HTTPS and SSL certificates are both necessities. 

If your site doesn’t feature ample security, you’ll have a hard time finding customers willing to enter their credit card numbers into your purchase forms. 

HTTPS will encrypt all user transactions that take place on your online store, so you need to make the switch if you haven’t already. Once your website is secure, don’t forget to advertise it! Your customers will appreciate knowing that their data will remain safe on your site, so don’t stay quiet about it. 

Off-Page SEO Checklist 

Lastly, you need to make a few off-page optimizations. 

Off-page SEO refers to all your promotional efforts that occur off your website, such as on social media platforms. 

Here are the off-page factors you’ll need to tweak during your eCommerce SEO audit. 

Backlinks 

Obtaining backlinks (outbound links that point to your website) is crucial for SEO, especially for campaigns on Google. 

Common link-building tactics include:

• Getting your website listed on directories related to your niche (Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc.) 
• Link placements and insertions (placing backlinks on existing pieces of content on related websites) 
• HARO links (getting backlinks through press mentions) 
• Posting links on related forums and social media groups 
• Guest posting on other eCommerce blogs 

If you aren’t sure how your backlink profile stacks up to competitors, you can use our free backlink checker tool that we linked previously. 

Social media posts 

You can and should promote your eCommerce products through social media profiles, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more. 

Which channels you select will depend on the preferences of your target demographics. 

For instance, if you primarily sell to Gen Z’ers, posting on TikTok is the most reliable way to reach them. 

If you’re after an older crowd, Facebook and LinkedIn are the ways to go. 

Ensure that your posts contain your target keywords and provide value to your audience, and you should be all set. 

Wrapping Up: Conducting an eCommerce SEO Audit 

eCommerce SEO faces some unique challenges, but it’s still the best way to boost your online visibility and acquire new customers. 

Conducting regular SEO audits is a necessity if you want to maintain the rankings that you worked so hard to obtain. 

Do you need help developing a winning eCommerce SEO strategy for your online store?

If so, then don’t wait to check out HOTH X, our managed SEO services. Our SEO gurus will help you take your eCommerce store to new heights, so don’t wait to get in touch now.     

The post The Ultimate eCommerce SEO Audit Guide for Better Rankings  appeared first on The HOTH.

It seems like no matter what you do, you can’t improve your rankings for your most important keywords. 

While you were able to outpace websites of a similar size and stature, the big boys have you shaking in your boots. 

These are competitor websites with impeccable link profiles, sky-high authority, and scores of loyal fans flocking to their web pages daily (think Amazon, Wikipedia, NY Times, etc.). 

How can you ever hope to compete with these juggernauts?

We’ll deliver the bad news first: you can’t.

However, that’s if you try to beat them at their own game by going after super-popular keywords. 

Now it’s time for the good news. 

If you rethink your strategy and target more obscure, long-tail keywords that don’t get much search volume, you’ll have a FAR easier time ranking in a #1 spot – possibly for multiple keywords at a time. 

Even better, these types of keywords boast higher conversion rates, and they bring in higher-quality traffic than ‘head’ keywords (which have high search volume). 

If you’re ready to corner your niche and start generating more qualified traffic, then long-tail SEO is perfect for you – so read on to learn more.

What the Heck are Long-Tail Keywords?

You may be wondering what long-tail keywords are in the first place. 

Who knew that keywords had ‘tails’ anyway? (What are they, lizards?)

Well, whenever a search term is highly specific (usually containing three or more words, but not always), it’s considered long-tail. 

The ‘tail’ terminology refers to where these keywords land on the search demand curve (more on this in a second). 

Shorter, more general keywords with high search volume are referred to as ‘short-tail keywords.’ They’re also called head keywords because they tend to pertain to entire categories. 

Here are a few examples of each:

• Short-tail keywords (head terms): SEO, gardening, digital marketing, home renovation, accounting, etc. 
• Long-tail keywords: ultimate SEO guide, DIY gardening aprons, digital marketing strategies for eCommerce, home renovation for basements, mobile accounting services, etc.

As you can see, long-tail keywords are more specific and provide more details than general head terms. 

Another key difference is that long-tail keywords have a much lower search volume than short-tail head terms. 

It’s for this reason that some SEOs falsely assume that long-tail keywords aren’t worth pursuing.

After all, why would you want to target keywords that don’t have high search volume?

The reason becomes crystal clear once you take a peek at where these keywords appear on the search demand curve.

How a keyword gets its tail 

While head terms are immensely popular, they only account for less than 20% of all search traffic. 

So, if you target head terms exclusively, you’re leaving more than 80% of total search traffic on the table. 

Take a peek at the search demand curve for this concept to make more sense. 

Short-tail keywords make up the ‘fat head,’ which are general, all-encompassing terms that have extremely high search volume. 

Around 11% comes from the ‘chunky middle,’ which contains terms that lie somewhere in between short-tail and long-tail. 

Last but certainly not least, long-tail keywords account for 70% of all search traffic. These are literally billions of search queries with only a small amount of monthly searches.

The true value of long-tail keywords shines through by crunching the numbers in this way. 

If you’re able to focus on highly specific long-tail keywords that relate to your products and services, you’ll begin to generate vetted, high-quality traffic that’s more likely to convert. 

Keyword length is irrelevant 

Now it’s time to dispel a common myth about short and long-tail keywords. 

At first glance, it seems logical to assume that the length of a keyword’s tail directly relates to the number of words contained in a search phrase, but this isn’t true.

As shown in the search demand curve, a keyword’s tail depends on the search volume it receives and little else. 

The proof?

There are plenty of one-word keywords that get less than 100 searches per month, which would make them long-tail. 

Conversely, the opposite is also true. There are keywords that contain five or more words that get hundreds of thousands of searches per month, making them short-tail. 

To summarize, go by a keyword’s search volume to determine if it’s short-tail or long-tail, not the number of words contained in the phrase. 

Understanding Supporting and Topical Long-Tail Keywords 

Now that you know the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords, your education isn’t over yet. 

Bummer, right?

Well, there are two distinct types of long-tail keywords, and it’s worth taking the time to know the difference. 

Supporting long-tail keywords are close variants of head terms, whereas topical long-tail keywords are distinct, standalone queries that bear little to no similarity to head keywords. 

Content-wise, you should include supporting long-tail keywords in existing posts focused on related head terms. 

Topical long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are unique enough to be the center of a brand-new piece of content. 

Make sense?

Probably not, so let’s look at a few examples to make the distinction more obvious.

Supporting and topical long-tail keyword examples 

Using our free keyword planner tool, we can see that the keyword digital marketing strategy has a search volume of 8,100. Since it’s in the thousands, it qualifies as a head term or short-tail keyword. 

Alt tag: A screenshot of keyword search results for the term digital marketing strategy. 

Heading over to Google, here’s what the top results for digital marketing strategy are at the time of writing this post:

Heading over to Google, here’s what the top results for digital marketing strategy are at the time of writing this post:

Going back to our keyword tool, we can see that the keyword ‘what is a digital marketing strategy’ only has a search volume of 260, so it’s a long-tail keyword.

However, since it’s so similar to the head term digital marketing strategy, it’s likely a supporting keyword. 

To confirm this, we can head back over to Google and type in what is a digital marketing strategy. If the results are practically the same, it’s confirmation that the top-ranking sites included it as a supporting keyword in their post focusing on the primary keyword ‘digital marketing strategy.’ 

Sure enough, the results are nearly identical to the head term:

Is it a supporting or topical keyword, though?

Let’s head back to Google to find out:

The results are completely different, making this one a topical long-tail keyword. 

In other words, you’d want to create a new piece of content centered around Ecommerce digital marketing strategies instead of including it as a supporting keyword for your piece on general digital marketing strategies. 

How to Find Long-Tail Keywords 

Okay, now that you’ve officially graduated keyword school, how can you find long-tail keywords to use in your content strategy?

While most articles online will tell you that using Google autocomplete is a fantastic way to find relevant long-tail keywords, this isn’t really true. 

Don’t get us wrong, we love Google autocomplete for uncovering short-tail keywords and head terms, but it’s not very effective for finding genuine long-tail keywords. 

Why is that?

It’s because the keywords that pop up in Google’s auto-suggest feature almost always have a high search volume. 

While this makes perfect sense from Google’s perspective (after all, suggesting obscure, highly specific terms wouldn’t be of much use), it effectively makes the feature long-tail proof. 

As you know, a long-tail keyword MUST have a low search volume; otherwise, it won’t appear on the ‘tail’ of the search demand curve. 

Here are some far more effective ways to find authentic long-tail keywords. 

HOTH keyword planner 

As demonstrated earlier, you can use our free keyword planner to uncover relevant long-tail keywords. 

Just pop a few general head terms related to your niche into the search bar, and wham! You’ll have a wide range of keyword options at your fingertips. 

Here are a few pointers on which metrics to look out for:

• Remember that true long-tail keywords receive low search volume, so look for keywords with a volume of 200 or less. 
• The trend graph on the side is extremely important, as it represents the level of interest a keyword has over time. If the line points up, the keyword is gaining popularity, which is what you want (avoid keywords that are trending down). 

When a long-tail keyword checks both these boxes, it’s worthy of making your list. From there, separate the supporting keywords from the topical ones into different columns. Trust us, taking this step will make content creation a lot easier down the line.

HOTH keyword extraction tool 

Besides researching keywords on your own, it’s also wise to check which long-tail keywords your competitors are using. 

This is beneficial for two reasons. 

For one, it can help you identify valuable long-tail keywords that you might not have found otherwise. 

For two, you can pinpoint which long-tail keywords to avoid by finding the ones top-ranked competitors are using (think the legacy websites we mentioned before that have impossibly high DA scores). 

By knowing what to target and what to avoid, you’ll enjoy an airtight keyword strategy. 

But how can you find long-tail keywords used by your competitors?

It’s effortless to do so using our completely free keyword extraction tool. Simply enter the URL of your competitors into the tool, and it’ll work its magic. In no time, you’ll have an organized list of all the head terms, short-tail keywords, and long-tail keywords a competitor is currently using. 

Your audience’s online hangouts 

Another way to find long-tail keywords is to check out the websites that your audience frequents the most. 

These are the places that your audience hangs out online, such as social media groups, forums, and sites like Reddit and Quora. 

This tactic will help you get inside the minds of your target customers, as you’ll get to read their thoughts, opinions, and most importantly … their questions and hassles. 

When browsing Reddit and Quora pages, pay close attention to common questions and pain points that keep popping up, as these are prime long-tail keyword/topic ideas. 

Using Long-Tail Keywords in Your Content Strategy 

Once you have a beautiful list of long-tail keywords that are sorted by supporting and topical queries, you’re ready to start creating content. 

The most CRUCIAL thing to consider when creating new pieces of content around topical long-tail keywords is to understand their search intent. 

To keep it short, search intent refers to the reason why a user conducted an online search in the first place. 

In general, search intent falls into one of these four categories:

• Informational. The intent behind these keywords is to learn something. ‘What is a digital marketing strategy’ is an example of an informational keyword. It’s clear the user wants to learn about digital marketing strategies, so a blog post breaking down the topic will satisfy their intent. 
• Navigational. These queries are meant solely to navigate to a certain website or web page. An example would be ‘Ahrefs login page.’ 
• Commercial. A keyword has commercial intent when it’s focused on researching a purchase. An example would be ‘Is ClickUp better than Trello?’ Product comparisons and buyer’s guides are perfect types of content for commercial keywords. 
• Transactional. Whenever a user is ready to make a purchase, they search for transactional keywords, such as ‘buy coffee mugs in bulk.’ Your product pages, landing pages, and paid ads should focus entirely on transactional keywords. 

You should carefully examine your list of keywords to determine the intent behind each one. As soon as that’s done, it’s time to start creating some stellar content that satisfies your users’ search intent.  

Diversify Your SEO Strategy with Long-Tail Keywords 

Remember that if you only target head terms, you’re leaving out a massive amount of search traffic that you can easily capitalize on with long-tail keywords. 

In fact, one of the best ways to dominate a niche is to use a calculated long-tail keyword strategy. 

Not only do they provide high-quality traffic that’s more likely to convert, but they’re also easier to target than their short-tail counterparts. 

If you need help devising a long-tail keyword strategy for your website, don’t wait to check out HOTH X, our managed SEO packages (featuring your own dedicated SEO guru).   

The post How to Drive More Traffic With Long-Tail Keywords appeared first on The HOTH.