When you run and operate a website, you should strive to keep it in order and under control. When doing so, clients and potential ones will check out your site and enjoy your content. Otherwise, if you have a lot of issues with your Web pages, you will cost yourself some business. Furthermore, Google takes this into consideration when looking at website rankings and where to place your site in the organic rankings. With this in mind, Google now looks at secure websites and gives them an extra boost. Here are a few reasons why Google values safe websites.

Legitimacy

Above all else, when determining SEO rankings, Google will want to discover and reward sites that are real. Now, this may sound funny, but in the past, plenty of site owners would make fake websites full of spam or targeted offers. This was not good for visitors as they would not enjoy any true value from the website. When discovering a spam or fake site, Google will knock it out of oblivion and the site owner will not see any traffic.

For this reason, it is obviously important that you show Google and the other search endings that you mean business. When seeing a secure site, Google will know that you have a real website with a legitimate product or service. In reality, a spammer or someone who wants to make a cheap AdSense site will not take much time to use SSL or other methods to secure a site. For this reason alone, if you want to do well in the organic rankings, you must set up your site with https ability. When doing so, you will go a long way in maintaining stable rankings.

Long-term

If you have SSL on your site, it is obvious to most people that you plan to stick around for the long-term. This is important to Google as they want to give their customers value. You must realize, when looking for something important, people will trust Google and will want to land on a website offering true value to its users. Otherwise, in the long run, Google will suffer as the leading search engine wants clients to find what they seek.

So, when you think about it, you will understand why Google would want to place an SSL site on the first pages for many keywords. In the long run, even if you do not have a login system or credit card payment setup, you should consider an SSL certificate as you will go a long way in showing Google and other search engines you are serious about your online ventures and value the long-term strategy you have laid out. Otherwise, your site will look like any other and you will struggle to get on the first page of Google.

Quality

As mentioned, Google has, and always will, value a quality Web page. Meaning, when looking at a page with a lot of great information and plenty of happy customers, you will likely encounter a website with https security.

Think about it for a minute. When you land on a great site such as your email provider, bank or even a local restaurant, it probably has an SSL certificate. Without this, many will leave the site as they will not want to leave it up to chance. As people use other devices and become more aware of the situation, they are likely to convert to this way of thinking. When this happens, not only will you get more traffic, but current clients are likely to stay on your site. For this reason, if you want to do well in the organic search rankings and see your site thrive, you must have an up-to-date SSL certificate. Simply put, if you are truly in it for the long-term, you need to invest a small amount of cash in getting your site secure for every user.

Luckily, with a bit of cash and a couple of hours of your time, you can do so with ease. Then, in the short and long run, you will see your site thrive as people from all over will enjoy a site of high quality with all the necessary safety precautions

Throw up fewer errors

One metric Google takes a look at is the errors on your page. When using old and outdated code, you are likely to cause browser errors to your visitors. While this may not seem like a big deal on your end, it can cause a visitor to grow frustrated. Other times, people with older or outdated computers will struggle to load your website. For this reason, you should take the time to buy and install an SSL certificate. With this ten-minute job, you will see your pages load without any errors. Furthermore, people will take notice and feel more secure about going to your website.

If you have any sort of errors, whether with your SSL certificate or code, you need to fix them quickly as your site will never recover in the rankings and you will have a hard time impressing customers. Remember, with one or two errors, you can see an otherwise perfect site suffer in the organic search rankings.

So, if you can fix it up and make sure it is secure, you will have an upper hand against your competition. This is true even if they have an older page with more content as small errors will kill their SEO strategy.

Visitors

Now when looking at your site, Google will take notice when you have a lot of people come and stay for a long time. On the other hand, when you have a high bounce rate, you will see your site suffer. A bounce rate is the rate in which a person comes to your site and leaves without clicking another link on your site. When a potential client lands on your site, they will want to see a secure page. When they do not, they are likely to leave your site never to return.

On the other hand, if you have a secure site and let customers know this, you will rise in the rankings as Google values a site where people stay for a long time. This is a smart reason for you to rush out and install an SSL certificate. While this is true, you must make sure to do it right as one error can cause you to waste your time and money. Without a doubt, once you test it and make sure it works well, you should advertise this fact and let clients know your site is fully secured.

If you run a website, you must think of the future. While it is easy to make one on the cheap, you must invest in a few things. For starters, you should build a great site that people enjoy. Not only that, you must offer relevant, interesting and unique content that will set your site ahead of the competition. Finally, you must install an SSL certificate as customers will take notice. Furthermore, with https, Google and the leading search engines will value your site and you will see it zoom to the top for many organic search terms.

If you are a small business owner or if you have an innovative product idea that is ready for the market, the most effective way of acquiring customers and drawing attention to what you have to offer is by utilizing the internet. Creating a website is one of the most effective ways of advertising your product, but opening a website alone does not guarantee foot traffic. There are different methods a business owner can use to increase website traffic, but the most successful way is by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO consists of various formulas and keywords that ensure a website appears on the top of someone’s search results.

In order to attract visitors to their websites, many business owners are turning to SEO service Companies to increase customers without having to go through the trouble of dealing with SEOs on their own. These companies not only offer website design options, but they also ensure your website appears higher in search engine results – thus attracting more foot traffic to your site. The following are ten things businesses look for in a SEO company in order to make their business more successful.

Fees

SEO companies charge various amounts of fees for their services, but some companies’ pricing is more competitive than others’ pricing. The amount of money a business owner is willing to pay for SEO services depends on his or her needs and what the company offers. For example, many small business owners look for SEO service providers who offer a nominal, one-time fee and who charge an affordable amount to maintain the SEO service as long as the website is up and running.

Small business owners typically prefer SEO providers who do not charge a monthly fee that exceeds thousands of dollars; SEO charges should be equivalent to the services provided. In other words, do not pay for services that are not applicable, and do not pay for a company who does not deliver.

Location

When beginning the search for the right SEO company for the company, business owners should search SEO providers with respect to their own geographic location. If the SEO company is local, business owners can speak with their provider in person rather than having to rely on internet or telephone communication.

Furthermore, SEO firms that are in close proximity with local business owners are more apt to handle small businesses and the type of SEO required to boost internet traffic for their respective sites. While business owners are not required to limit their SEO company to a local firm, many choose their SEO based on its location due to their product knowledge and community reputation.

Reputation

Even if your chosen SEO provider’s website does not appear in the top ten search results, it is not necessarily because the company is incompetent or insufficient. Savvy business owners know to check Ripoff Report or the Better Business Bureau to make sure the company they’ve chosen is not merely running a scam. Furthermore, business owners will research SEO companies’ reviews.

A thorough investigation into testimonials will help determine just how successful an SEO company is at bringing in internet traffic.

Increase in Ranking

One of the more obvious aspects business owners look for in an SEO company is their ability to increase their websites’ ranking in search engine results. Business owners will look to testimonials and reviews for these rankings, but they will also check with the firm itself as well as conduct their own research. Knowing what sites an SEO company is responsible for enables small business owners to perform their own searches and see whether or not those sites show up high on an internet search.

If those sites do not show up, or if the sites show up on Bing! But not Google, business owners must take these factors into consideration before choosing that SEO company to provide services for their websites.

Link Building

Business owners who are interested in SEO services are aware of the fact that links play a large role in the algorithm that determines which sites are displayed prominently and which sites are not when one conducts a search on an internet search engine.

Business owners are more likely to choose an SEO company that ensures link freshness, links with trustworthy sites, and anchor texts and keywords that trigger search engines. Before choosing an SEO provider, savvy business owners will be sure to inquire about the company’s link building services.

Retargeting

Another SEO service business owners are interested in is retargeting. Retargeting is a cookie-based technology that strategically places ads for your business on other sites visited by customers who have viewed your website. SEO companies who provide this service must ensure their retargeting services are ethical and effective, as spam is a consequence many business owners would prefer to avoid. This option is sought after most by established businesses.

PPC Management

PPC Management, or the management of Pay-Per-Click advertisements is an SEO service many new business owners are interested in. SEO services that provide PPC charge a small fee every time an advertisement is clicked on by a potential customer, and the fee ranges depending on the placement of the ad (whether on a linked website or a search engine). It is important to compare competitors’ prices, as this service is largely dependent upon what business owner is trying to accomplish.

Ongoing Services

Experienced business owners know that SEO companies who promise instant results without any ongoing maintenance sound too good to be true – because they are too good to be true. Business owners look for SEO providers that offer consultations and continued support as the business grows. If your SEO company does not provide more than a one-time service, it might be time to find a new provider.

Reputation Management

Many business owners are aware of the horror stories. One bad review leads to a dozen bad reviews, and if you have a spiteful competitor who is willing to cross ethical lines in order to tarnish your reputation, you will lose business.

Reputation management keeps the negativity in check and ensures your website and company will establish and then maintain raving reviews and a high ranking in comparison with other sites and in search engine results. SEO companies provide reputation management services that vary depending on the desires of the business owner, so be sure to ask about specific services provided.

Content Marketing

In order for any online business to be profitable, business owners must maintain excellent content marketing. Without content marketing, search engines will not pick up your website, and consumers will breeze past it as if it were not there at all. Content marketing encompasses aspects of online businesses such as leads, brand awareness, customer service, and customer retention.

Many business owners are too busy to run their business and take care of their online content marketing. Efficient content marketing is the foundation upon which most successful online businesses are built.

Today, most consumers make their purchases through an online format. For business owners who want to make the most of their companies, hiring an SEO company to increase internet traffic will increase sales and improve their companies’ reputation.

There are many Internet search engines available for people to use. However, it is the Google search engine that revolutionized the way that we search for things online. It is also the search engine that websites and businesses live and die with. Being among the top of the Google search ranking for a given subject or keyword can mean an extraordinary amount of unique visitors for a particular website. On the other hand, being buried on the 20th page of search results can result in the failing of a website or business. In the Internet age we are living in, Google is just that important.

Traditional SEO

Getting to the top of the search results and staying there takes a lot of work. Google wants to be certain that the websites it presents in its search results are legitimate and do not represent a problem to the public. They also try to steer away from websites that have business practices that Google believes to be shady. This leads us to the subject of spam.

We hear about spam every day we are online. Our email accounts even have special spam folders to capture and dispose of all the spam emails that we receive. Needless to say, spam remains a huge problem all over the Internet. Google is not taking the issue of spam lying down. In fact, they have made it a mission to punish websites who engage in spamming on a regular basis. Perhaps you run a website and you have received a Google Webmaster email that says your website has been issued a “manual spam penalty for having “pure spam.” Google considers pure spam sites to be the ones they believe have performed the spam infractions that are the most egregious.

Making Google’s S#!% List

So what exactly is pure spam and does Google give any clear definition as to what it considers to be spam? After all, there is no way you can try to fix the problem and comply with Google unless you know what exactly the problem is. If Google sends you a Webmaster email regarding a “manual action” being implied to your site, you need to carefully read the email. There are specific words that they use in their emails. It is important to know exactly what they mean so you can take steps to fix the problem that Google has with your site.

It is hard to recover from Google penalties of any kind, especially a severe penalty such as the removal of your homepage. If you run a website that has been engaged in spamming for a long period of time, and you are currently trying to change your practices and get Google to accept your site again, you have a difficult road ahead of you. You will certainly have more trouble than a site that is guilty of only a few spamming infractions. Sites that have a long history of spamming will not be able to get back into the search results for Google very easily.

Google has been forced to get tough with a lot of sites that continue to spam despite being penalized by Google in the past. In certain cases, the standard method of removing the site’s links has not been an effective enough deterrent to get a website to stop its spamming practices. Enough websites were not slowing their spamming that it made Google realize that it had to up the ante as far as penalizing these sites is concerned. Google has defined the targeted sites as “those sites that display a long-standing practice of delivering mass and deliberate spam.”

Recovery

These sites naturally want to know if there is a possibility of ever getting this huge penalty lifted. While it is possible, if a site has been spamming long enough and in a high enough volume, undoing that amount of spam could be a tough task. In many cases, certain sites have created such a horrible reputation for themselves, and have become so deeply entrenched into the world of spam that it is virtually impossible to get themselves back to respectability and to get Google to lift their penalty.

In some cases, a site has a reputation that is so tarnished and beyond repair that the best thing to do is to shut down the site and start again with a new website that does not have all of the spam baggage associated with it. While it is never a decision that any website owner should make lightly, this is occasionally the best move for all parties involved. It is just a matter of determining if the damage that has already been done can be corrected enough to the point where Google is willing to forgive you and lift the penalty.

Bad Neighbors

Even with Google laying down the law and severely penalizing websites that have been spammed for a long time, you can be sure that sites will continue to do it, knowing full well the risk they are taking. The reason for this is because these sites believe that spamming is what they need to do in order for their site to rank in the search results. Sites that peddle gambling, prescription drugs and payday loans have been at the focal point of spamming for many years. None of these industries shows any signs of curtailing their spamming activities.

Google has also recently confirmed a key piece of information that a large number of webmasters, especially those who spam on a regular basis, have suspected for a very long time. Google stated that a website known for spamming has the ability to contaminate various sites that contain the identical company information and address. Along with this, Google looks into other less known factors to figure out the validity of various sites that are known to be on the shady side. Google is on the lookout for multiple businesses that operate from the identical address. This does not necessarily mean that shady activities are going on, but Google considers it a red flag that causes them to investigate the site further. It could also be one of the reasons that Google eventually decides to penalize a specific site. Payday loan sites are directly in Google’s crosshairs because of their long history of spamming and unethical business practices.

Minimizing Risks

There are some important things that webmasters can do to minimize the penalties and headaches they may face as a result of being targeted by Google. For example, if a webmaster is having problems with spam warnings relating to a specific site, they should immediately separate any other sites they own that are related to the site that is having the problems. This should include such items as WHOIS information, contact information and any affiliate codes that happen to match. This will eliminate any possible “guilt by association” scenarios.

If you submit a request to Google to have your penalty reconsidered and you either get a negative reply or none at all, you should not give up. Consider hiring a professional who has experience with this sort of issue to help you determine what exactly the problem is. If you keep submitting your request to Google without fixing the problem, they may eventually start to ignore you. This is a situation you want to avoid at all costs.

Thanks to the nearly universal prevalence of the Internet, it seems like everyone and their cousin has a blog, website, or other foothold in cyberspace. Some people use their websites and blogs for fun, others sell stuff, while a rare few actually use their blogs, websites, YouTube channels, and so on to actively influence the world around them. Whatever form or incarnation a person’s web presence might take or the motivation behind its maintenance, though, traffic is the one thing everyone has in common. Everyone needs it, everyone wants it, and in most cases, the majority of users can carve out their own little group of visitors and fans. Here’s the thing about traffic, though: Getting people to visit a website isn’t the hard part. Anyone with enough time and/or money can get some web traffic to their blog, YouTube channel, or what have you. No, the hard part is keeping the traffic once it’s there. The denizens of the Internet are a fickle, flighty lot, and anyone who wishes to attract and retain their allegiance must first gain their attention. Fail in that regard, and there’s only one outcome: The dreaded “bounce”.

Read on to learn what the bounce / bounce rate is, and more importantly, a simple little trick anyone can use to decrease this most unwelcome of analytical metrics.

Bounce Rates: What’s it All About, Anyway?

Before going any further, it’s imperative to understand what the phenomenon commonly known as “the bounce” actually is, as well as what a website’s bounce rate indicates. On the Internet or off of it, knowledge is power, and only those admins and site runners with a firm grasp of these metrics and their consequences can hope to better their situations.

Quite simply, “bounces” are single-serving visitors to a website. They show up, view a single page or piece of content, and then vanish, often forever and without a trace. If you take the total traffic to a website and you parse out this element, that’s your bounce rate. Put another way, if 100 people visit your site, and eighty of them look at more than one page / one thing while five of them bounce according to the above definition, then you, which is to say, your website, have a twenty percent bounce rate.

As you might imagine, the longer a person stays on a particular site, the more interested, engaged, and invested they are in that site. The inverse is also true; a higher bounce rate can mean your site is broken, confusing, or simply boring. Of course, traffic quality can also play a part in a site’s overall bounce rate, as can a variety of other factors. Whatever the reason or problem, the most important question isn’t how to cure the symptom, but how to cure the disease.

How does one lower an unacceptable bounce rate? Simple – withdraw your visitors’ ability to ever bounce in the first place!

Setting Blank Targets, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Share My Traffic

There are plenty of methods to reduce one’s overall bounce rate, and a wise site owner / admin will use as many of them as he or she can. Make sure your website’s design and interface are pleasing and user-friendly. Make sure you have interesting content. Keep your traffic targeted to the purpose/theme of your website, and if you market to them, do it at a whisper, not through a megaphone. All of those things take time and skill to implement, at least to some degree. One of the easiest bounce-reducers, however, is the setting of blank targets. All it takes is a snippet of HTML code (the techie language that makes the whole Internet run), and voilà – watch your bounce rate drop like a stone.

Here’s how it works:

Setting a blank target is simply an instruction to your computer, or more specifically, to your Internet browser, to open external links – that is, links which point to sites or web pages that aren’t your own – in new windows. This will show your visitors the content they’ve requested, but unlike those who don’t set blank targets, it will also keep your own site open. This greatly increases the likelihood that these users will come back and visit your site after they’re done with whatever the other content is. Not only that, but blank targets mean you’re sharing your traffic with other sites instead of simply handing it over without a fight.

The setting of blank external targets is especially useful in the blogging community, which tends to be tight-knit and familial. If you share your traffic by linking to someone else’s interesting, funny, or otherwise worthwhile content, the chances are good that the favor will be returned. Setting blank targets for your external links is, in other words, a win-win situation for everyone. Your users are happy because they get to see the content they enjoy, the individual site owner – that’s you, dear reader! – are happy because their site(s) remain(s) open and available for further viewing (leading to reductions in the overall bounce rate), and one’s fellow site-runners are happy because the traffic everyone wants and needs is being shared rather than hoarded. Put another way, external targeting is a tide which raises all boats, as the old saying goes.

Dude, Where’s My Code?

Here’s the only code anyone needs to set external blank targets. The part that actually opens the new window is in ALL CAPS, but this is for illustrative purposes, not out of necessity. At any rate, the code is below:

<a href=”#” target=”_blank”>Link</a>

This code will, as previously stated, open the linked URL / Web address in a new window while keeping one’s own site open for visitors to come back to later. On that note, it’s time to discuss what not to do with this code.

Blank Targets: How Not to Misfire

If there’s one thing you should never do with this sort of link structure, it is to use it on the internal pages of a website you actually own or run. Why? Because no one likes pop-ups. If a visitor to a certain site gets bombarded with a new window or tab each time they click a link, they will quickly grow angry and resentful. Such feelings will almost certainly cause them to leave soon thereafter. Improper use of external targeting isn’t just a recipe for a significant drop in traffic and the site’s overall reputation, though – it’s also a surefire way to shoot a site’s bounce rate through the roof.

Fortunately, the solution to this grim scenario is an easy one: Keep blank targets set to external links only!

Conclusion

The prudent management of website traffic is a crucial skill for anyone who hopes to make a lasting impression on the Internet. Happily, this guide is the ideal tool for anyone, be they novice or veteran, who wishes to sharply reduce their overall bounces / bounce rate, increase their visitors’ satisfaction levels, and generally enhance the quality of their web properties and the value of their web presence. Happy coding!

There is nothing more jarring than finding out that your website has been banned by Facebook. This often occurs with no warning because the algorithms that run to protect users from spam and malicious websites are completely automatic. This article will discuss why a website URL might be banned from Facebook and the steps that can be taken to resolve the matter.

Why Was the Website URL Banned from Facebook?

Facebook cares about its users and, as a result, has very strict rules about what is allowed on Facebook and what is not. Unfortunately, some of those rules are not actually written anywhere that can be accessed by the common user. There are several reason why a person or website might be banned, but the most common is if a user does the same action “too many times.” The number of times an action can be performed is unknown by most people, but doing it more than that number will have your account labeled as potentially malicious. Actions that cannot be performed too many times include friending people, messaging people, joining too many groups, and sending too many identical emails. The most common reason why a website URL might be banned is it was posted too many times in a promotional manner by the same person.

Another reason why Facebook might block a URL is if it on a list from another website, such as a security company. These companies can have problems with their watch lists, just like Facebook can.

Why is it Important to Not Be Blocked?

It is critical to ensure that a URL for a business is not blocked because, should customers encounter a link that is labeled “possibly malicious,” they are much less likely to actually continue to the site and will distrust the company. This will result in a smaller audience, a greatly reduced amount of web traffic, and falling revenue. As a result, being blocked from Facebook is a problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

How Can I Fix This Problem?

There are a few different methods that can be used to stop a website from being banned on Facebook.

Contact Facebook

One of the most reliable ways that can be used to get a website unblocked from Facebook is to contact them. There are two ways that this can be done. If there is no message that is alerting the person who manages the page that the website has been blocked, then that person will need to go through the contact forms located on the “Help” page. If there is a message that alerts users to the fact that a website has been banned, then the first thing that needs to be done is to click on the “Let Us Know” link that is located at the bottom of the message. This button will lead to a form that can be used to contact Facebook and inform them of the precise problem, as well as alert them to the fact that the URL is not spam. The reply times differ from person to person, but this is definitely the first step that anyone can try.

Contact the Company that Might Have You on a List

One common culprit is McAfee’s advisory listing. McAfee is a highly respected web security company that has a list of websites that potentially pose threats to the common user. The algorithms that they use to determine if a site is potentially dangerous can create false positives from time to time. Facebook’s algorithms take these advisory listings seriously, so the fastest way to get back onto Facebook is to get off the advisory listing. Simply contacting the company and explaining the situation will solve the problem in many cases.

Appeal to Friends, Family, and Customers

If it seems as though Facebook is not taking notice of the fact that the website has been blocked, then it might be time to contact friends, family, and customers and ask them to also contact the company on your behalf. This will result in a greater number of messages being sent to Facebook about the problem, which will force a greater amount of attention to be paid to the problem. This does not produce immediate results, but will usually cause Facebook to work more quickly to unblock the URL.

Appeal Directly to Facebook Security and Developers

There are many different Facebook officials that have their own pages, including the security network, the developers, marketing, and Facebook in general. One way to get more attention paid to the problem is to like all of the official pages and then, when any of them posts content, make a comment. At the end of that comment, be sure to mention the problem. One great way is to start a forum thread on Facebook Help about the problem and then link that forum question to the comment. This will repeatedly draw attention the problem and hopefully get it resolved within as short a time as possible.

Use a URL Shortener

Another option for addressing having a blocked URL on Facebook is to use a URL shortener. Facebook blocks most URLs that have been run through programs such as these, but there are a few that have had some degree of success with regards to getting past the ban. The main one that is used is the Google Shortener, which can be found here. When attempting this method, it is best to be careful about the number of times a shortened URL is posted because, in many cases, posting a URL an excessive number of times is what caused the URL to be banned in the first place. Posting a limited number times and seeing if the URL is still blocked is advisable.

Change Your Domain Name

This method of action if a URL is blocked on Facebook may seem to be slightly extreme, but it is the most effective way of resolving the issue if Facebook has done nothing. Before using this method, it is best to give Facebook at least a month to act. If you have not received a message from Facebook regarding the matter, or if the URL has not been unblocked within this time, other options should be sought. It is possible for you to purchase a new domain name. Transfer all of the content from your site so that it is under the new domain name. Once this has been completed, all of the links that used to be directed to the original URL can now be redirected to the new URL.

Having a URL blocked on Facebook is often simply a waiting game. It is up to Facebook to determine whether or not the URL is worth reinstating and sometimes that decision-making process takes an extended period of time. Because there are not a lot of reliable ways to bypass the block, it is best to appeal to Facebook and draw as much attention to the problem as possible. In extreme cases, purchasing a new URL and having it be the redirect to all of the old links might be the best option.

Now, when you run a website, you should strive to have a serious and well-thought-out SEO strategy. With this, you can bring more customers to your website. Not only that, with organic clicks, a visitor is more likely to convert into a customer. Simply put, with SEO your business can thrive; without it, you will l have to spend a lot of cash getting people to your site. With this in mind, you must understand how to have the right mindset in regards to your onsite SEO. Here is the ultimate checklist for your onsite search engine performance.

Keyword density

In the past, a writer could write a lot of content and ignore the rules. For example, when selling shoes, some site owners would use the phrase “Nike shoes” dozens of times in a short 500 word article. However, when using it too often (more than 2 percent) you will end up angering Google as they will assume the content is nothing but spam. To combat this, you should go through all your Web pages and make sure your content is not too heavily relying on one or two main keywords.

At the same time, you should change the wording to similar keywords. In this example, a site owner should change “Nike shoes” to “Nike footwear” and so on. With this, you will not end up with a problem as Google will assume your content is legitimate, and not a simple attempt to drive traffic to your site. This is probably the number one reason many site owners saw their pages fall off the first page of Google. Simply put, when you try to game the system and trick Google, you will not succeed in the long run. No, with naturally written content, you will have a better chance at landing on the first page. At the same time, your customers will enjoy reading pages not stuffed of keywords.

Duplicate content

Without a doubt, if you have any duplicate content, you are going to struggle to gain in the rankings. In fact, if you do this, you may not have any traffic from search results. To test this out, you should head to Google and search some of the phrases in your content. If other websites show up, you will have a problem. Of course, if you have the money, you can also use Copyscape. With this, you can run your content through the system and make sure it is 100 percent unique. If it is not, you should change a few words and try to make it readable and interesting. Remember, Google came down hard on people who did this, and you must avoid duplicate content. The only exception is when you want to write a product description as it is often hard to avoid the same keywords. Either way, with a quick search, you should uncover your worst fears or confirm you do not have any duplicate content.

Speed

Believe it or not, if your pages load slowly, you will kill your SEO results. To check this out, you should head to one of the many online portals which allow you to test your site speed. Now, with this information, you will have to make changes. To do this, you should resize any large photos which hog bandwidth. Also, you should make sure your videos do not load automatically. Just as importantly, you need to check out your code and find any errors in it. With bad code, your site will load poorly, and you will have other issues. Fortunately, when fixing this, your customers will enjoy faster loading pages and your site will do well in SEO. Without a doubt, this is an often overlooked step. This is a serious mistake as you can catch your competition by surprise when you have a faster loading site than they do.

Titles

One overlooked aspect of SEO is the page title. At the top of every page, you should have a unique title related to your content. This is less important for the contact us page or other essential parts of your site. On the other hand, for product description pages or others, you will want to ensure your title works for the situation. For example, if you give music lessons, your page title should have words related to music lessons in it. Then, when doing this, Google will take notice and likely understand what your content is about. When done in the right way, you will have an easier time going up in the ranks as this is a huge metric google keeps in mind when valuing a website.

Links

Believe it or not, you can hurt your cause with a dead link or two. For this reason, you should go around your site and make sure all the internal links work. Luckily, there are online solutions; these allow you to check your site links in seconds. To take matters further, at least to make your clients happy, you should check out your external links and make sure it still goes to a live page. Often, it will not, especially if you link to a news article or some source that may change over time. Either way, when checking links, you can help your SEO outcome and please your customers who will grow frustrated when a link does not work.

Length

Sadly, if you have too little amount of content, you may not register much on Google’s radar. To change this, you should fill up your website with plenty of great content. To do this, you must try to have a lot of pages full of interesting information. Furthermore, make sure to keep your page length long. While it is okay to have a short page for product descriptions, you should keep other pages longer. If possible, most of your pages should have more than 500 words. With this, Google can accurately determine what your site is about and you can answer your customer’s questions.

Keywords early

If you want to gain the attention of a search engine, you should have the right keywords. Just as importantly, if not more, you should have your keywords in the top part of the content. By putting them in the first few paragraphs, you can show Google and Bing what you are trying to sell. Otherwise, if you put it way down at the bottom, you will have a problem as the bots crawling your site will not know how to value the content.

With this short guide, you will have an easier time improving your site and landing on the first page. While this is important, you must also understand how to track your results. For starters, you should know which keywords you are aiming for. Then, you should know where you are on Google. After a week or two, you should check your results and see if you have moved up or down. If nothing happened, do not worry, you may have to wait another month or so. Then, to take things further, you should make sure to track visitors as this will tell you what search terms they used and how they landed on your site. Without a doubt, when following this guide to the fullest, you will have great success on Google.

Many small business owners have built a website, and a large percentage of them have a blog on their website. However, a lot of business owners want to know how often they should be posting to their blog.

There are several reasons why business owners might want to know the answer to this question. One reason to keep a blog fresh is because the major search engines reward fresh content.

Another reason why a business owner might want to know how often to update their blog is because they want to keep new and existing customers satisfied. Fortunately, the answer to this question can be quite vague.

Posting one time per week

A lot of businesses are posting to their blog once every week. Every week, they create a new blog post and add it to their website blog. Small businesses have been doing this for quite some time, and for most of them, it appears to be working quite well.

Why post once per week?

There are several reasons why once per week seems to be the magic solution. One of the main reasons why this works very well is because it’s beneficial for maintaining customer relationships. It’s useful to view a blog as a courtesy call, and this call is sent to all of your profitable, important customers.

When a business owner releases a new blog post, he or she makes sure that the customer is thinking about their business. By posting a new blog post every week, business owners are actually strengthening their relationship with their customers.

Aside from strengthening existing relationships, a weekly blog post will also create a rhythm for the relationship that exists between customers and business owners. In many cases, it almost becomes a ritual. Customers will start to look forward to the weekly blog post, so they will check back at least once per week.

By creating a weekly blog post, the website owner is able to provide useful updates and information to his or her readers. Although this article is primarily for business owners, any website owner can benefit from a weekly posting schedule.

Get a feel for content

By posting at least once every week, website owners create a useful skill. When business owners force themselves to post every week, they’re building a valuable skill, and this skill enables them to constantly think about how they can provide more value to their customers. The new skill gives business owners a competitive advantage.

What weekly blog posts do

There are many benefits of doing weekly blog posts. Such a post can be used to set specific buying criteria. Website and business owners can use a weekly blog post to establish true credibility and authority. They can use weekly posts to explain why customer service is so important.

For search engines

Website and business owners want to keep the search engines happy. A lot of blogs receive the bulk of their traffic from the major search engines, so it only makes sense to want to keep the search engines happy.

It’s nearly impossible to find any conclusive studies that show a specific posting frequency significantly impacts search engine rankings. However, that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to start posting once per month. Search engines love fresh content, which is why they encourage website owners to update their blog frequently.

However, many people find it interesting that search engines look more closely at writing style than posting frequency. It couldn’t hurt to add new blog posts frequently. From an SEO perspective, there are several benefits to frequently updating a blog. Google absolutely loves fresh content.

By posting at least once per week, website and business owners can keep the search engine spiders coming back frequently. If the search engine spiders are frequently visiting your blog, then they will quickly index your new content.

It’s pretty obvious that content is what drives search engine traffic, so by posting to their blog regularly, website and business owners can increase their search engine traffic. Currently, many people have an infrequent posting schedule.

They might add one post to their blog and wait several weeks before adding more content. Even if you only post one new blog post per week, it’s best to maintain a consistent schedule because it will keep the search engines happy.

It’s great for sharing

There is something that webmasters can learn from the NBA. Basketball has a handful of top scorers, and there is a specific reason why these individuals score more often than most other players.

Put simply, it’s the players who take the most shots who score more than the rest of the players. This is also true for baseball players. Statistics show that the top-scoring baseball players also have the highest number of strikeouts.

Every new blog post gives webmasters the ability to score more points, but in the case of websites, points would be considered traffic. By posting a new blog post every week, website and business owners create more opportunities for their content to be shared, which increases online visibility.

What about every other week?

Many webmasters would like to post once every other week. Although they can post as often as they want, it’s almost pointless to post less than once per week.

A small group of individuals say they do just fine posting once per month, and while it might be working for them, posting once per week seems to be much more effective. If you imagine the main blogs that you visit, then you will probably realize that these blogs are updated every week. There are several other reasons why it’s important to avoid posting less than once per week.

Frequent blogging helps grow business

When you blog often, you’re effectively growing your business. Many studies show that frequent blogging has a significant impact on business growth. Frequent blogging attracts more leads and traffic, and there is plenty of data to back this up.

On average, updating a blog once per week provides double the amount of traffic than blogging less frequently. Studies also show that companies that blog more than 15 times every month can have as much as five times more traffic than companies that don’t.

Small business owners have the most to gain from blogging regularly. By posting at least eight times a month, companies can significantly increase their sales.

What is most important

Some people cannot post more than once every two weeks. What is really important is creating a posting schedule and sticking to it. Consistency is extremely important. At the end of the day, there is no magical posting frequency.

Since every situation is unique, the answer to this question is different for everyone. However, it’s best to post at least once per week. This is the frequency that seems to produce the best results for webmasters and business owners.

If it’s possible for you to post more often than once per week, then you should strive to do so, but it’s crucial to maintain a consistent level of quality. It makes no sense to post once per week if all of the posts provide almost no value.

Social media and search engine optimization services are rapidly changing the way that people use the Internet. Therefore, for it should come as no surprise to find out that there are conferences around the country that are dedicated to presenting the latest and greatest into these industries. Average people and businesses both can head to these conferences to find out what is new in social media, how to maximize SEO, meet likeminded people and much more. Here is a look at a list of social media and SEO conference for 2014.

SXSW Interactive

South by Southwest, better known as SXSW, is one of the more popular options to attend. 2014 will mark the 21st annual gathering for the SXSW festival and it seems to get more impressive each year. SXSW takes a look at older technologies like Facebook and Twitter, but it’s also a great place for new tech companies to mingle with others to try and get there name out there. SXSW is more than just your typical conference, as it offers guest speakers, comedy routines, music and so much more. SXSW runs from March 7th to March 11th in 2014.

Social Fresh

Twice in 2014, Social Fresh will bring together innovative leaders in the social media industry. But while some conferences are about the glitz and glam of packing a ton of stuff into the show, Social Fresh attempts to slow things down with presentations from just a single person at a time. This allows for much more detailed presentations that also makes it easier for the audience to get involved. Social Fresh East is in the spring of 2014 and Social Fresh West will be in the fall.

MozCon

Originally MozCon started as a SEO conference that has recently converted to focus on social media and other types of digital marketing as well. In 2014, MozCon will take place from July 14-16 in Seattle, Washington. During these three days, you can expect to get a better view into how social media and SEO intertwines with mobile platforms and customer optimization. MozCon is more geared towards being a fun and wild event, rather than your typical sit and listen to presentations scene.

Inbound

In 2013, the Inbound conference had speakers like Ariana Huffington and Seth Godin. Those high-profile names made it one of the more successful conferences of the year and it’s hoping to hit 2014 with a line-up that will be more impressive. This year, the event will take place in Boston, Massachusetts from September 15th to the 18th.

Demand Success

Vocus is a company that provides cloud-marketing software for its customers. And in June of each year, they offer Demand Success as their conference to help social media, SEO and digital marketing companies to come together. While at Demand Success, attendees can meet with other likeminded individuals and learn how to build their brand. In 2014, the lineup for Demand Success includes Judy Smith, Avinash Kaushik, Adrian Greier and many more. The event is held in Washington, D.C. from June 5th to the 6th.

Content Marketing World

Considering that the content is what brings your audience in, it’s no surprise that Content Marketing World is one of the top SEO conferences of the year. While attending, guests can find out more about how to market their company to its customers, including what to look for in potential clients and the best way to attract them. Content Marketing World also offers presentations that are specific to industries, which can be helpful for attendees to get a better idea what might work specifically better for them.

SearchLove

It’s all about action at the SearchLove Conference in California. This conference looks to help attendees learn to better funnel customers into their site, while helping them construct better search methods through SEO results. The conference offers a variety of lessons, most of which are applicable from everyone from the SEO beginner to the more advanced. You may walk into SearchLove as a novice, but you’ll certainly come out ready to take your company to the next level, and next page, of customer interaction

Conversion Conference

What good is showing up in search engines if your customers aren’t converting? Well with Conversion Conference, attendees will find out exactly just how to maximize their efforts while attempting to get conversions from customers. The bottom line is that Conversion Conference does more than just present ways of how to show up higher in search engines. Instead, you can learn how to maximize numbers and help grow your business in a multitude of different ways. What’s even better about Conversion Conference is that there are multiple conferences held throughout the US and Europe.

SMX

One of the best conferences for advanced SEO techniques, SMX skips the basics and jumps right into the hardcore information available in the industry. Throughout the entire multi-day conference, the schedule moves quickly and attendees are invited to maximize as much as they can possible learn during the event. Luckily, they also won’t be forced to sit through boring sessions of what exactly SEO is. Instead, you’ll get hardcore answers from the leading innovators in the industry, which will help you maximize your SEO results once you get back home to your business.

BlogHer

Primarily aimed at women, BlogHer is a conference for female entrepreneurs and Internet experts to come together. BlogHer is not only a conference, but also a website dedicated to helping women find their niche online and market it to their customers. Therefore, the conference will have plenty of information that comes from the techniques that their site uses, which allows them to stay atop search engines and increase in popularity. Furthermore, the conference also offers customized keynote speakers in areas like food, fitness and much more. No matter what your site is about, if you want to learn from other women and be surrounded by equally motivated females, BlogHer is the place to be.

PubCon

Last, but certainly not least, PubCon offers great options for marketing professionals and social media enthusiasts. The event usually has as many as 200 speakers during the four-day conference, making it a place where you can find everything for newbies, intermediates and experts. This event happens later in the year, which means you can hit up a few other conferences on this list and then round out your techniques by heading to Vegas for PubCon. Don’t miss out on PubCon for one of the most diverse conferences for social media and SEO services.

There is no denying the importance and impact that social media and SEO has on the Internet. But no matter how much you think you already know, there is always more to learn and involve yourself with. And with the conferences on this list, you can meet other likeminded people, spruce up on your skills and learn about some of the latest and greatest technology coming to the net. Don’t miss out, especially if you are looking to maximize your efforts by marketing your company online.

Ah, link building. It’s the quintessential trademark of SEO, especially recently, and while links are still important, how you obtain them has changed quite dramatically in the last year. Before, it was perfectly acceptable to create inbound links by including them as “authoritative sources” in guest blog posts, on other sites, or as part of blog comments. Now, however, natural and organic link earning is the name of the game.

So where does link earning turn into a link scheme? The line between the two is very fine, but staying on the right side of that line is crucial to your online reputation and success as a website and business owner. Below is a description and examples of link earning and link schemes, as well as best practices to help avoid falling on the wrong side of the line.

An Inbound Marketing Primer

First, you should be clear on the importance of inbound links, what inbound marketing is and does, and why you should care. Inbound links are links to pages on your site that are located in areas of the web that are not on your website. So, for instance, if someone blogs about the insurance industry and thinks your website article about protecting your home from a fire was outstanding, they’ll include a link to your article when they write about home insurance. This is an example of an inbound link and acts as inbound marketing for your website. In other words, you don’t have to do any active marketing to get the traffic, it simply flows into your site from other areas of the web.

These high quality links that you’ve earned by offering high value content on your website are exactly what you want. The links are included on sites by the site owner, not by you, and link back to your site or an article/page on your site as being an authoritative source. When people follow that link, you get traffic, and if you offer something they need or want, you’ll likely get business, as well.

Inbound marketing is extremely important to your business, but earning links is the key. Now that you know what link earning is, what inbound marketing is, and why it’s important, you should learn about the difference between link earning and link schemes and how to stay on the right side of that fine line.

Link Earning

Earning links is like earning money – if you do a good job and you provide something of value, you’ll earn links by default. The best ways to improve your chances of earning inbound links from others are below.

• • Provide informative content.
• • Offer content that is helpful and assists your readers in solving a problem.
• • Include content on your site that is written authoritatively and confidently.
• • Link to authoritative sources in your content to validate that what you are saying is true.
• • Do not write “sales pitch” content; content marketing and link earning is about establishing authority and providing information, not hard selling.

You should add content to your site that is geared towards what you sell, but not written like a sales presentation. If you own a law firm, for instance, you could write an article about what to do in a certain legal situation. Obviously you and those at your firm can help with that, but the content is not directly geared towards selling.

How does this type of content help you earn links? Because just like you should add authoritative links to your web copy and content, other people need to do the same thing. If your site is well written, has high quality content, and provides valuable information, others will find it and link to it as they create their content. This is the natural, organic method of earning inbound links to your website. It’s content marketing and link earning combined into one simple admonition: create and publish the best quality content you can – and lots of it.

Link Schemes

The evil twin of link earning is link scheming. Link schemes are essentially a less than honest way of trying to increase the number of inbound links that exist for your site. If link earning is the farmer who plants a seed, waters it, cultivates it, and grows a harvest, then link scheming is taking already grown plants, putting them in the ground on a field, and saying you grew them. Both people have plants, but only one of them truly earned the harvest.

Essentially, link schemes are “marketing” plans that include adding links to a home page or other on-site page in as many places on the web as possible. If you’ve ever gone to a blog to see a few honest comments, and then one strange comment with a link in it, the comment with a link in it was likely part of a link scheme.

Link schemes appear in many different places and link scheming is done in many ways, but below are the most common link scheming tactics you’re likely to see.

• • Adding links to a blog comment without contributing anything to the conversation.
• • Guest posting on other blogs and including links to your own site as an authoritative link.
• • Posting on YouTube videos, Facebook posts, etc. and linking to your site when it has nothing to do with the subject matter at hand.

If you have a link to your website in your signature and you are honestly contributing to a conversation on a blog that you’ve been a part of for awhile and have a genuine interest in, that’s completely different and is not link scheming. But many people will go from blog to blog posting a link to their site when they have no prior history with the blog or its community, the post adds nothing of value to the conversation, and they have no interest in the subject matter other than to obtain links for their site.

As with any unethical or less than honest practice, many people still get away with these forms of link “building”. But the search engine algorithms are a lot smarter than they once were, they know to look for these schemes, and they’re getting quite proficient at finding them. Case in point: be cautious, and earn your links naturally.

How to Avoid Link Scheming

Many people worry that they will inadvertently contribute to a link scheme without meaning to. However, “accidentally” link scheming is quite difficult to do. Most people know when they go and post a random link to their site on a YouTube video (particularly if it has nothing to do with the video) what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But if you’re truly concerned, here are some best practices to follow.

• • Don’t include a link to your site in a blog (or other) comment if it doesn’t have to do with the subject matter.
• • Including a link to your site in your signature is fine, but only use that signature in online communities with which you are already affiliated and have a relationship.
• • Unless it’s requested, don’t link to your site on other people’s social media pages.
• • Do link to other areas of your site within articles and posts you create; this is called interlinking and is very helpful to SEO.
• • Focus on improving the content of your site instead of promoting your site elsewhere by linking to it.

Following these best practices can help ensure you earn your links, engage in high quality on-site SEO, and grow your business organically.

In the past, people would try everything they could to land on the first pages of Google. While many techniques used to work, some are not effective and may end up hurting the site owner. At the very least, when trying old and useless methods, a site owner will waste his or her time and resources. For this reason, you should know that article directories are basically useless. Here are eight reasons why this is the case and what happened to cause this.

Low quality

First and foremost, most article directory sites do not offer a lot of high quality articles. No, instead, these web ties provide a place for people to spam their information and articles full of links and overused keywords. While Google liked this in the past, the search engine giant has caught on and now punishes people who use article directories. Think about it, when you land on a directory site, you will see dozens of categories and thousands of uninteresting and spun articles that nobody reads. For this reason, most search engines devalue that content and do not take this into account when coming up with organic search rankings.

Too easy to manipulate

Since most article directories do not require a person to offer much, they are not too valuable to anyone. In reality, when going to an article site, all you need to do is upload your content. Other times, some will charge a small fee. Either way, since this is an easy method for people to manipulate the search rankings, Google has mostly realized that the articles are unoriginal and will not value them highly. However, if you go to a high PR website, you can upload articles and still get something out of the experience. Of course, this will largely depend on your quality of writing.

Content quality

Now, more than ever, people think they can write and put it all over the Internet. It seems almost everyone has a blog where they spew their opinions and talk about their interests. In reality, to most people, this is not interesting. Furthermore, since most people are not good writers, this causes problems when trying to take advantage of article directories. To understand this, you only need to head to an article directory site. Then, if you read two or three pieces, you will understand most people do not know how to create something that people enjoy. In some cases, the piece was actually written by a machine. Either way, when understanding that the content is of low quality, you should have no trouble understanding why article sites are a waste of time.

Too many links

Now, when making an article, some writers will do it wisely and put in one or two high quality links to relevant sources. On the other hand, many use article directory sites as a way to list multiple links in their story. While it is okay to offer one or two links, the writer should keep it simple and avoid sounding unprofessional by offering a dozen or more links. Since Google will not take kindly to this, you must understand how to provide the right amount of links to your website. When you do this, you can write an article that both your readers and the search engines will love.

Hundreds of sites

At first, there were not a lot of article directory sites on the Internet. Now, with the explosion of information and the need to land on the first page of Google, many sites sprang up. While this was god for some people, it has had a detrimental effect on the quality of these websites. Think about it, there are now thousands of websites where you can upload your article. This is not good as so many of these places are just a thinly veiled attempt at cheating the system. Of course, if you choose a good site to upload your articles to, you have a good chance to get something out of the experience as some sites still offer value.

Other metrics are now more important: Now, when looking at SEO, you will notice that people always change their minds about what works. There is a reason for this as Google will make updates where they devalue some things and add value to others. For this reason, if you are relying on article content marketing to get to the top, you are in for a rude awakening. Now, you must have a flawless site with plenty of useful content. Not only that, you should have relatively few links. Of course, when getting links, you should only concentrate on high quality as this is what matters. Finally, with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, you can gain in the rankings and see your site do well. For this reason, article directories are largely ignored by people who want to rise to the top. Simply put, there are other more effective ways to gain in the organic search rankings.

Everyone trying

In all truth, you should try to stay head of the SEO game. This is harder than most people realize. However, if two years ago you started concentrating on quality content and great links, you would sit on the first page of Google for many search terms. Sadly, most follow the overall trends and they end up on the back pages of Google. For this reason, it is obvious that article directories are largely inefficient since most people use them in their day-to-day SEO strategies. Instead, by concentrating on quality and value, a site owner can rise in the ranks without having to resort to ineffective methods that are largely harmful.

Filled up

Think about it, most possibilities have already been discovered. Meaning, when writing an article, it is nearly impossible to write it from an original standpoint. For this reason, you will not get much out of article marketing unless you are an incredible writer who speaks about subjects people want to understand. You must understand that most sites are full of the same articles and ideas. Nothing is going to change, and you are not likely to go above and beyond the other writers. Not only that, when looking at older articles, you will have an uphill battle as they enjoy plenty of SEO link juice since they have been around so much longer. Simply put, the battle has been waged, and unless you can knock off the person on top, you should largely ignore article directories.

When looking to SEO, you must understand what works and what fails to get results. Sadly, some people are stuck in the past and think about what used to work. This is a serious error in judgment as many of the old methods are simply a waste of time. Sadly, many perpetuate this myth and wonder why their site was hit by the latest update. Rather than fix the underlying issue and find out what no longer works, many opt for the same approach and hope things improve. This is foolish, and if you want to regain your rankings, you must understand that things like article directories are largely irrelevant. Instead, you should look to the future.

It should be obvious that link building has its place. However, the SEO landscape is constantly evolving, but over the years, quality content has remained a constant.

A lot of webmasters are making the mistake of focusing solely on link building, and in many situations, this decision has produced catastrophic consequences. There is a long list of reasons why you should be focusing most of your time on creating quality content.

Insulation from the Algorithms

To combat the never-ending army of web spam, search engines have been forced to release several different algorithms. Since Google controls the largest market share, it has been the search engine that has released all of the different algorithm updates.

Many of these updates were specifically created to target websites that manipulate search engine rankings. There is a laundry list of practices that these algorithms target, but as of late, the major target for Google is link building.

Penguin is an algorithm that was created to target aggressive link building, and it caused a monumental shift in the way webmasters build links. It would be silly to think that Google is going to stop with the Penguin algorithm. In fact, it’s very likely that Google will continue to create and roll out new algorithms, which are aimed at combating link building.

Anyone who understands SEO knows that it’s nearly impossible to gain 100 percent protection from existing and future algorithm updates, but by focusing on content more than link building, webmasters will gain a layer of insulation against future updates. Over the long-term, placing more emphasis on content than link building is the better option.

Results from Content Are Measurable

It’s extremely difficult to directly measure the value of a link. However, it’s fairly easy to measure the value of a piece of content. Even if a certain links boosts traffic and keyword rankings, it’s still very hard to measure the value of that link.

The problem is that measuring the value of a link requires the consideration of several different factors. On the flipside, it’s easy to see how many links a particular piece of content has garnered. It’s also easy to see how many referrals and social shares generated by a piece of content.

The number of organic search visitors that a piece of content has attracted is also measurable. With the right software, it’s even possible to see exactly how much revenue a piece of content has generated. If a webmaster wants to see how much money an article made them, they won’t have much trouble getting this information.

Content Is Cheaper Than Link Building

It’s much cheaper to hire someone to produce content than it is to hire someone to build links. It can cost a lot of money to find good link builders, and this money can generate more revenue when spent on content.

Although it’s not too hard to find a decent SEO company, it’s especially hard to find quality link builders. There are endless places to find high-quality copywriters, and these individuals will provide their services for an affordable price. At the end of the day, it’s almost always cheaper to buy content than links.

It’s Completely Natural

One of the reasons why you should be focusing more on content than link building is because it’s natural. It’s true that building links is mandatory. However, focusing primarily on content is much more natural. The major search engines tell webmasters that they shouldn’t be building links.

What many webmasters don’t understand is that creating content and building links don’t have to be separated. Quality content is capable of garnering natural links. Although it might not work very well in some industries, it can pay off handsomely in many industries.

Content can generate social shares and links, but it needs to be good. Not every piece of content that you write is going to be good. In fact, there is a good chance that a lot of it might suck.

However, if you focus more time on building content, then you give yourself a better chance to create content that will go viral and generate plenty of links.

The Scalability

An excellent reason to focus on content more than link building is because it’s scalable. An enormous amount of resources is required to build a large team of SEOs.

When building such a team, there are several ways to fail. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing your own content or hiring a team of content writers; content is much easier to scale than link building.

If you’re building a team, it’s much easier to find copywriters than link builders, and if you need to replace someone, copywriters are easily replaced while link builders are much harder to replace. Even if you’re a one-man show, content is easier to scale than link building.

It’s Enjoyable

Link building can be a very tedious process. It requires great attention to detail, and at the end of the day, it’s really not very fun. When you focus more on content, you can actually have fun.

Sifting through endless rows of data in an excel sheet is not something you might consider fun. Producing quality content can be a lot more fun, and it can be even more rewarding to connect to people and share the content that you’ve produced.

Why Content Is So Important

It’s not hard to find someone on the Internet talking about quality content. However, despite how often this phrase is brought up, many webmasters choose to ignore it. People have actually heard the phrase so many times that they’re starting to block it out when they hear it.

To get the most out of SEO, producing content is crucial. Even if you go out and build enough links, you still need quality content. Many people say content is king, and although it can get irritating, it’s completely true.

Even if Google dominates search, there is something that all search engines have in common; they want to supply their users with quality content. After all, people use search engines because they crave content. If you’re focusing all of your time on building links, then you’re not really helping the search engines.

Ultimately, the people who use search engines demand quality content, and if you give them this content, the search engines are doing everything they can to reward you. It’s true that building links is important. Every website needs a handful of quality backlinks to gain traction, but after you’ve got some traction, focusing on content can be far more lucrative than focusing most of your time on link building.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a one-man army or an agency. The positive effects of quality content can be measured, and while it’s certainly possible to put a value on a link, significantly more effort is required to put a value on a link. At the end of the day, everyone is looking for a ROI.

There is no doubt that link building produces a measurable ROI, but by putting a greater emphasis on your content, you can almost always achieve a much higher ROI. Both webmasters and business owners can benefit greatly by choosing to allocate most of their available resources to content production and not link building.