SEND ME REGULAR NEWS UPDATES

Does Error 404 Affect Your Rankings?

By SEOPartner

Source: http://www.searchengineguide.com/jayson-demers/can-404-errors-hurt-your-seo-rankings.php

Most probably, you have already encountered an error 404 at least once. Not only when visiting other websites, maybe even on your own site. A webpage that returns error 404 means that the specific page does not exist or otherwise, cannot be accessed.

Other websites have a default 404 error page which informs visitors that the domain is live, however, the requested page does not exist. While some webmasters let these catch-all pages handle everything, some also spend effort in eliminating 404 errors.

Error 404's Effect On Rankings

Error 404’s Effect On Rankings

Is SEO rankings really affected by 404 errors?

Error 404 occurs when you:

  • Forgot to update your sitemap or external links when deleting or renaming a page.
  • Changed your page’s URL without updating your sitemap or external links.
  • A user/visitor mistyped a live page resulting to error 404.

Impact in Rankings:

Actually, error 404 impacting your SEO rankings is nothing but a myth. There is nothing to worry about, because there is no inherent penalty from Google for having returned a 404 error for a page on your website. It has nothing to do with the way Google sees the other pages of your website nor does it incur any type of penalty if too many 404 errors exist.

Then what effects does it have?

Although it does not directly affect your rankings, it doesn’t mean you can ignore them, and this is because of the overall user experience. They can detract from your overall user experience, thus gaining negative effect on your SEO goals.

It can also leave an impression on users and prevent them from returning especially when they are expecting a page of content when clicking a link or visiting from a bookmark. So if a specific page is important to your business, and it returns a 404 error, it may drop in rank, hence it is important to correct 404 errors to improve user experience, and therefore, increase your traffic and visibility.

Fixing 404 errors

  • Revert the URL back to its original form as if nothing happened (in case you removed or renamed the page)
  • Applying 301 redirects
  • Ensure that your sitemap, redirects and pages are all up-to-date

Generally, 404 errors won’t directly harm your rankings but aren’t healthy for your users or your overall marketing strategy. It is recommended that you check your site for page errors and perform the necessary changes to keep it up-to-date.

Get Professional SEO Assistance Here

5 Mistakes You Possibly Make On Your Links And Content

By SEOPartner

Source: http://searchengineland.com/5-mistakes-seos-still-make-links-content-231878

How many of the listed mistakes below are you making with your links and content? These could be costing you traffic. Do something about these SEO mistakes now.

1. Building Too Many Home Page Links

  • It is a bad strategy to build all links to your home page.
  • Link deep into your site instead of saturating links to the home page of your site.
  • Spread links across your site.

2. Stopping Your SEO Efforts After Hitting The First Page

  • You will run out of traffic if you stop.
  • It is your job to keep up with the constantly changing SEO world.
  • Keep building links and focus on change.

3. Viewing Blog As Low Value

  • Your site is just sitting there dormant without a blog.
  • Blogging is one strategy you can use to update the content of site.
  • Add more pages and content to keep your site active.

4. Creating Content For The Sake Of SEO

  • Never ignore content relevance.
  • Search engines are smart to know trustworthy content.
  • Create content that fits the topic of your site and adds value to your readers.

5. Overlooking Branded Anchor Text

  • Branded anchor text can make big difference in your rankings.
  • Take the opportunity to link on your brand name, name, and URL.

Get SEO help HERE

Five Effective SEO Strategies Of The Past That You Should Get Away From Today

By SEOPartner

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-killer-seo-tactics-yesterday-will-get-killed-today/139546/

As SEO experts, you know how SEO evolved from 5-10 years back. There were SEO tactics that really made websites reach for the top of the search results. But since most of everything has changed, you should understand that not all these strategies will still work today. Below are some of the effective SEO tactics of a decade or so ago that you cannot use today.

– Pages that are keyword-stuffed and keyword-concentrated. Today, Google focuses on topics/ideas as a good bearing instead of keywords. So whenever you create content, make sure that the value concentrates on the whole idea rather than on words.

– Paid links. In the past, backlinking is one of the most effective SEO strategies in order to make your site supreme. Today, paying for links is considered as a manipulation and thus Google sees this as a violation. Build links with relevant sites and pages that are under your niche. You can pay for links but use it in advertising purposes only.

– Optimizing anchor text in the content. Adding keyphrases as anchor texts was a good idea back in the day. However, longtail keyphrases with call to action terms are far more recommended in SEO today. Prevent using specific keywords as anchor text to avoid penalties.

– Using the “No Follow” tag in links. Before, if you had ten outgoing links on a page, and you nofollowed all except one of them, the “dofollow” page would receive 100% of the outgoing link value. Today, it has been proven that this tactic never really worked. When you “no follow a link, make sure you use it for outgoing links only and never in your internal links.

– Low Quality Content. Always create quality content that people will look for. Include your target keywords without sounding too spammy. Make sure that people would love to read your content and it is share-worthy.

Top SEO Help HERE

Black Hat Or White Hat SEO: The Story Of A Google Spammer

By SEOPartner

Source: http://inbound.org/post/view/confessions-of-a-google-spammer

What made Jeff Deutsch, a goggle spammer making millions of dollars using black hat SEO finally accept white hat SEO and stubbornly support the use of inbound marketing?

black-hat-or-white-hat

Black hat or white hat SEO

Black Hat SEO To Get Traffic

  • It may have worked well before.
  • Very profitable for spammers back in 2012
  • Users were ranking high for big affiliate keywords

The Historic Tweet

  • Google calls out Authority Link Network (ALN)
  • Business offering this service hastened its demise. ALN was getting deindexed.
  • Google’s deindexing, plus Panda and Penguin, were just too much of a challenge for them.

Embracing Inbound Marketing

  • Way for you to really go legit
  • Variety of outreach methods – permission emails, sponsored posts, social media
  • Content is king.
  • Content will take all targeted audiences to sites that are only meant to give them value.

Get Quality Search Engine Optimization Service HERE

Four Silly SEO Mistakes

By SEOPartner

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2412821/are-you-making-these-4-additional-silly-seo-mistakes

There’s a myriad of SEO strategies you can gather online and of course there are techniques you can create through thorough research however, you need to be sure you look for and only use effective strategies and of course never neglect even a single element when optimizing your website.

Below are some of the common SEO mistakes that you should avoid.

1. Neglecting the Title Element
– The title element should be unique for each page, and not keyword stuffed. Use a tool that will provide you with an overview of the title elements of all your site’s pages

2. Not Recognizing Duplicate Content
– Having duplicate content is considered by search engines as being sloppy, and splits your link equity. To avoid these, review your landing pages. Make sure that no piece of content is found on multiple URLs.

3. Internal Linking Not Done Properly
– How you link across your site is just as important as making sure that your inbound links are not solely directed to your homepage. This gives search engines an idea on what pages you consider to be the most important.

Check the Internal Links and Crawl Errors sections in your GWT to find out what your most linked page is and to address any broken links.

4. Ignoring Open Graph Tagging
– Open Graph tags are used to give proper representation to your site on different social sites. To take advantage of this, use tools that will give you a quick view on how your page will look when shared socially.

Get Quality Search Engine Optimization Service HERE

4 Mistakes To Avoid When Updating Your Website

By SEOPartner

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2395379/updating-your-website-avoid-these-4-common-seo-landmines

Updating your website is very important for your business’ development. In doing so, make sure to avoid the following mistakes.

Properly update your website

Properly update your website

1. URL structure is inconsistent
– When the URLs of your pages changes and no proper redirection is applied, the links you’ve built will no longer benefit your site. This can greatly lower your traffic and hurt your rankings.
– Apply 301 redirects on your existing URL structure to preserve the links you have built to your site

2. Site design is not SEO friendly
– The most visually appealing design is not always SEO friendly.
– Work together with your designer to come up with a balance between aesthetics and SEO.

3. CMS platform is not suited for the site
– Do the research when you plan to update your CMS. Seek out reviews from actual business owners who have used the CMS before deciding on anything.

4. Strategy is not constantly updated
– Do regular audit on your SEO structure to identify areas that are working and are harming your site.

Get SEO help HERE