The purpose of Hummingbird was to better understand the full context of queries (i.e., semantic search), rather than certain keywords, in order to provide better results. For certain queries, usually questions (i.e., who/what/where/when/why/how), Google sometimes shows a special block above the organic search results. This box contains a summary (in the form of paragraph, list, table, or video), as well as the publication date, page title, link to the webpage from which the answer originated, and URL. Links from .edu sites were considered ‘hard to get’ and thought to have more value for link building. As a result, link builders targeted .edu links until many of the lesser-known .edu sites became devalued by Google and any benefit of the link was ignored.

This length gives you enough room to communicate the page’s value while making sure your message stays intact on both desktop and mobile search results without being truncated. If you’re wondering how meta descriptions actually work, you’re not alone. Below, you’ll find real-world tips for crafting meta descriptions, plus examples showing what works and what doesn’t. Most CMS platforms like WordPress, Shopify, or Wix, along with SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, let you easily create and edit meta descriptions without touching any code. Most website owners — especially small business owners (fewer than 50 employees or making under $5 million a year) — don’t realize how much power they have over what users see in Google search results. Reach global audiences and boost visibility in local search results with multi-language landing pages.

• For example, when a person searches “how to grow tomatoes,” classic SEO prefers pages with that very phrase.
• For example, if you run a coffee blog, simple phrases such as “coffee beans”, “coffee machines” or “espresso” will work great.
• Keyword research will help you generate a list of potential keywords that will help drive leads to your business.
• On-page SEO is important because it helps improve your rankings in search engines.
• One of the best ways to improve your SEO ranking is by investing in content marketing and producing website content that is unique and substantial.

Every page that matters — your homepage, product pages, blog posts, or landing pages — should have its own unique meta description. Reusing the same one across multiple URLs confuses search engine bots and weakens your ability to target specific search intent. Unique descriptions help match each page with the right query — and that’s what drives qualified, high-intent traffic. It’s equally important to note that internal links are not just for navigation; they provide search engines with contextual signals. When linking pages, use descriptive anchor text that reflects semantic keywords rather than generic phrases.

Troubleshoot the performance drops

But the ‘how’ of implementing SEO practices into your website can feel confusing to many. Discover and grow your audience with the checklists in our free guide. This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

The primary goal of SEO is to drive organic (non-paid) traffic to a website by improving its relevance and authority in the eyes of search engines. Link building is an essential off-page SEO technique that aims to increase the number of high-quality inbound links to your website. These backlinks serve as endorsements from other reputable sites, boosting your website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines. Effective link-building strategies include guest blogging, influencer collaboration, and creating compelling content that naturally attracts links. By focusing on acquiring quality backlinks, you can improve your website’s search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic. Off-page SEO refers to optimization techniques that are done outside of your own website.

Another concept that should become familiar to you in order to understand what SEO is and its meaning is that of user experience or user experience. Not surprisingly, Google announced well in advance that user experience would become a ranking factor. It is important to note that there are actually two types of results that appear in SERPs.

Download our free marketing guides

These links are called backlinks, and they can help your SEO by signaling that your website is useful and trustworthy. Off-page SEO refers to actions you can take outside of your website to improve its search visibility. Search engines work by crawling, indexing, and ranking content on the internet. By optimizing your website and content according to these systems, you can gain more visibility.

Top AI Search, SEO & Content Trends To Prioritize In 2025

One of the best ways to improve your BHS Links SEO ranking is by investing in content marketing and producing website content that is unique and substantial. The higher your business ranks on the SERP for relevant keywords and phrases. You may have overheard other business owners or marketers talk about how important it is to digital marketing. …it is inevitable that the search engines will eventually figure out what you are doing and penalize your site. The more relevant and interesting your content is, the more likely others will be to link to your content and share it on social media. By giving your SEO meaning, you can catch the attention of more search engine users.

You can also simply search for the page on Google — the snippet that appears right under the page title usually pulls from the meta description. A good meta description starts by answering the user’s actual intent. Think about what problem they’re trying to solve, and frame your snippet around that.

The reach is virtually unlimited, and your content is available around the clock. Compared to SEO, social media is more immediate and dynamic, requiring constant effort to stay relevant. Content posted on social media is quickly overshadowed by new posts, making it necessary to maintain a continual stream of updates to keep your audience engaged.

Always aim to leave the reader with immediately actionable next steps such as calls-to-action or links to resources. In the first part of your website audit, I’d focus on how users navigate your website — from your homepage to blog posts, to landing pages, and any related content in between. Creating a website audit report that clearly communicates the site issues found (and what to do about them) is an easy job when you have the right tools. Website audits usually evaluate a site for its content and technical performance. For example, Google’s primary goal is to serve the best and most trustworthy content to users from reputable sources. Sites that comply with data privacy requirements will most likely be viewed as more authoritative than those that don’t have these essential legal policies.

If you’re not sure where to start, follow the list of issues and fixes PageSpeed Insights suggests. Look for broken links, missing pages, and complex site structures. In this guide, I’ll walk you through five essential steps to maximize your site’s performance. As search engine algorithms and Google Search Essentials continually change, we’ll ensure your website meets the latest requirements and standards. A “push-the-easy-button audit” is simply not going to get you top-three rankings. Do not be surprised by the results you did not get for the work you did not do.

Improve Your Website Speed

But I recommend a quick check to make sure that Google’s reported number of indexed pages is “about” right. Indexation problems are one of the big technical issues that SEO audits can uncover. SEOs and webmasters use audits to get a clear picture of a website and uncover the most important improvement points, helping them develop their SEO strategy and prioritize tasks.

• It’s more important to focus on earning high-quality backlinks.
• Make sure your address, phone number, business hours, and categories are accurate and consistent across all online listings.
• In some cases, such as when technical issues are fixed, results can be seen much faster.
• There should only be 1 per page, and it should describe as accurately as possible the main topic for the page.
• Content-related issues are a broad topic which often benefits from manual analysis alongside tool-based reports.

B) Update any redirected links

There are a number of choices available, and HubSpot’s Website Grader is one of the most user-friendly. It quickly and automatically generates a report after entering the web address you want to have crawled along with an email address. An audit also helps me evaluate website content such as blogs, landing pages, product/service pages, among others. Now that I’ve covered a few different audits you can conduct to improve your website, let’s discuss the perks of an audit. It‘s possible to conduct an SEO audit on your own, but you’ll likely get more thorough answers in less time by employing an agency.

These AI-generated summaries now appear at the top of many search results, making it even more important to optimize your content to be included as a source. Select the ones that are relevant to your website and click the “Start outreach” button in the top-right corner. The list will likely reveal some hidden keyword opportunities you may not have considered. Authority score has the strongest correlation with ranking ability. So pay special attention to this metric when comparing your site with competitors.

Instagram Marketing

Low engagement rates can hurt your results, as users might stop visiting your site. You can use the Performance Report in BHS Links Search Console to see which pages and queries drive the most clicks and impressions. This will also highlight low CTR pages — ranking well but failing to attract searchers. Then, check the Page Indexing Report for crawl errors, warnings, or blocked pages and review the Core Web Vitals Report to find pages failing on speed or usability metrics. Remember that you don’t have to fix everything, but prioritize the most important issues you feel will have the most impact. Identify, prioritize, and fix 170+ technical and on-page SEO issues.

Understanding how to do keyword research is one of the most crucial aspects of on-page SEO. It primarily involves optimizing various aspects of a website according to Google best practices and known or suspected factors Google finds important or valuable. Loading performance is measured by the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric, which tracks the time it takes for the page’s most visible content element to render fully. While the search statistics from top SEO software programs are helpful, stats alone are insufficient. When evaluating SEO service providers, make them explain how they add value to your SEO efforts beyond what you could do for yourself via off-the-shelf SEO software. Before purchasing SEO services, it’s wise to get a handle on the different types of SEO available.

• This guide will help you become more data-driven in your SEO efforts.
• And Google SEO is focused on doing that in Google search results.
• Focusing on SEO is a great way to increase organic traffic to your website.
• The dashboard I saw includes a combination of data you’d get from Google Analytics, Ahrefs and other tools that monitor SEO and advertising campaigns.
• If your site structure is clear and content is regularly refreshed, crawlers are more likely to find all your pages.

What is Local SEO?

Stand out with our SEO services and watch as we elevate your brand’s position above competitors in the ever-evolving digital landscape. SEO is a good investment for small businesses that depend on prospective customers finding them online. You want your website content to appear higher in search results than other sites vying for the same attention. To do this, you need a solid grasp on who your main search competitors are, what they’re doing, where they’re outperforming you and what keywords they rank for that you don’t. A strong SEO agency should deliver exceptional competitive analyses while developing effective SEO strategies so your website can outrank competitors. A keyword is a single word or string of related words that people enter into the search bar when conducting a web search.

These listings are prime real estate for local businesses, often leading to higher click-through rates and conversions. There are many people today that agree that optimizing for an AI search engine is fundamentally the same as optimizing for a traditional search engine. There’s little case for a new name when even an AI search engine like Perplexity uses a version of Google’s PageRank algorithm for ranking authoritative websites. SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is just another way of saying search marketing.

If you run a WordPress website, there’s an official AMP plugin to help you with implementation. One of the most common “mistakes” I see is that people don’t make their headlines clickable, especially when it BHS Links comes to blogs. If it contains the focus keyword, you let Google know what the page you’re linking to is about.

By producing high-quality content and addressing the search intent behind each query, you increase the likelihood of winning these prime spots in organic search traffic. This mutual dependence creates a dynamic ecosystem where websites compete for visibility, and search engines constantly refine their algorithms to deliver more accurate and helpful results. The concept of SEO dates back to the mid-1990s, when the first search engines like AltaVista, Yahoo!

How to Improve SEO: 15 Tactics to Boost Your Rankings & Traffic (That Don’t Require New Content)

This time, I made sure to publish something that someone searching for “SEO campaign” would love. So I just kind of ignored the problem and hoped it would go away. First, they identified a topic that bloggers and journalists tend to write about. Well, my Google Search Console guide isn’t that easy for someone to link to.

Many website platforms (like WordPress and Wix) generate an XML sitemap automatically. If you don’t use a platform that does this, you can use a sitemap generator tool. Typically, you can apply headings by highlighting the text in your word processor or website editor and choosing the appropriate style from the list. You may need to hire someone or outsource to freelancers or an agency. Backlinks (or inbound links, incoming links) are links from a page on one website to another. The reason why this is happening is that Google interprets the motive behind the query and shows the results the user wants to see.

Implement structured data markup to provide additional context to search engines. Employ strategies like guest posting and influencer outreach to earn high-quality backlinks. Keep your content fresh and relevant, signaling to search engines that your site is active and valuable. Adding them to your page can help you rank higher for long-tail keywords and potentially improve your Google rankings. This opens up the Content Gap report, where you’ll see the common keyword rankings among these pages.

You get links to your crucial money and most linked pages; you give links from posts that are not important to you and that have no internal and external backlinks pointing to them. Be sure not to contact any competitors—guest posting should be used to complement and build on top of your existing SEO strategy, not replace it. I mean you need to create a spreadsheet of influencers in your niche along with their blogs and Twitter handles. And then you need to set up a system (using some social automation software) to share their content every few days and by persistently tagging them. Blog commenting is a simple strategy that bloggers and marketers use to drive traffic to their own sites.

• A link from an old and reputable source such as Backlinko is infinitely more valuable than a link from a small startup that just went online a few months ago.
• Off-page SEO involves strategies beyond your website that build credibility, improve rankings, and drive traffic.
• Influencers and bloggers in the travel niche can share your infographic with a link back to your site.
• Basically, you’d write the content, and another site would publish it for you, providing a link back to you.
• It is the process of acquiring inbound backlinks from relevant, authoritative sources.

This type of website copy is more likely to convert and more likely to be picked up by other websites. This is useful to visitors as this will ensure they find engaging information that speaks to their interests or needs. That will aid in extending dwell time, the time spent by a user viewing a page.

How Often Should I Use a Website SEO Checker?

A resource page is a curated webpage that lists valuable links, tools, or references on a specific topic to help users find relevant information. The resource pages are specifically designed to provide collections of valuable links, making them ideal targets for relevant backlink acquisition. The most important factors in an Off-Page SEO strategy are link building, guest posting, and social media marketing. Off page SEO forms the basis of a site’s reputation, pagerank, and search engine ranking, covering everything from link building to social media engagement. When you start getting brand mentions, you can track them with tools like Mention and Convosight. Such tools scour the web and social media platforms for any mentions of the provided keywords, so they can show you what others are saying about your brand.

powerful off-page SEO techniques

According to our SEO terms glossary, “NoFollow is an attribute webmasters can use when linking to a website that tells search engines to essentially ignore the link. Social networks are notorious for using NoFollow links when linking to external websites. Links without the NoFollow attribute are referred to as DoFollow”.

Alternatively you could work with a partner to co-create content that resonates with both of your audiences. As more people look for answers to their problems, social networks are increasingly being used as search engines. Although social media generates more traffic than organic traffic, SEO still has a place and serves a useful purpose. For local businesses, local SEO and citations are crucial, while e-commerce brands may focus more on content marketing and backlinks. JetRank focuses on local SEO strategies, including citation building, Google My Business optimization, and improving your presence in local directories. These efforts ensure businesses with physical locations gain higher visibility in their local markets, driving foot traffic, calls, and inquiries.

Get started with Moz Pro!

These tools use natural language processing (NLP) to understand your customers’ sentiments about your business and offerings. Participate in relevant forums and online communities by sharing your expertise and responding to other BHS Links users’ comments—doing so could lead to more visibility in search results. Plus, social media pages and posts can appear in search results. Which is especially useful if you syndicate content on platforms like LinkedIn. And because he promoted super valuable content to people who WANTED to cover it, Ash racked up tons of authority links from sites like Forbes, New York Times, Spotify, The Guardian, and more.

While there’s a link to StudioBinder’s YouTube video, it’s not forced or out of place. Take the same approach, and act as if you were posting from your personal account. If you own a business with a physical location, focusing on local SEO should be one of your top priorities. In other words, you need to create a Google Business Profile (GBP) page and make sure it accurately represents your business. When your page is live, Google’s algorithm can start pulling data from it, increasing your website’s authority and chances of getting a rich result. Providing expert advice—Offering unique insights, perspectives, and research can position you as an authority and encourage others to link to your pages as references.

You can also be penalized for submitting your links to link directories whose sole purpose is to increase your domain authority. Again, quality wins out over quantity when it comes to link building. There are several factors that influence your off-page SEO rankings. While each one is tackled with different strategies, they share an overarching goal of building the trust and reputation of your website from the outside.

This feature allows you to set up all the details with just a few clicks, eliminating the need for coding or manual efforts. The answer lies in these off-page elements’ direct impact on your online visibility. Publish the first review of a new product or service to attract links from others seeking information about it. An example of influencer marketing utilized by Electrolit — a sponsored video by a sports influencer Allie Bennett on Instagram. For instance, you can use the free Broken Links Checker by Ahrefs — it will also show you all broken inbound links. Or, you can find your unlinked mentions in the “Opportunities” section of the menu.

We tried to cover all possible aspects related to this particular approach taken by an SEO expert. Off-page SEO may be influenced by almost any marketing communications strategy, demonstrating that it is now just a result of effective marketing rather than a separate checklist of strategies. A successful PR campaign can also increase brand awareness and consequently brand searches. Encourage your target market to talk about you by bringing your business to their attention.