The term “Microdata” can sound intimidating at first, I know. Fortunately, the term is really just techie speak for organization. Also known as microdata or rich snippets, this small bit of source code is used to organize content on the Web. You’ve seen the left-hand column in Google that gives…

You’re an author — so that means you’re a writer, right? Technically, yes. And being a writer means that you should be able to be your own SEO copywriter, right? Technically, no. The SEO Copywriter is a breed all its own. Just because you can write the great American novel…

Google is making yet another attempt to improve the quality of search results — this time in the local snack pack. It seems that when searchers query keyword phrases containing superlatives like best, great and awesome is triggering a filter that shows results with 4.0+ ratings. …

Until recently, Google has displayed links to information relative the search query — no matter how offensive the information may be. And they’ve taken serious backlash for it. For example, the search giant has been seen returning white supremacy sites in return for Holocaust queries. While I have no desire…

This article was originally posted on The SEM Post &the Beck Blog. In a Content Marketing Institute post, Moz founder Rand Fishkin discusses the inevitable search engine ranking factor changes on the horizon, one of which is relevant click-through rate (CTR). In the not-so-distant future, search engines will be able…

Happy Birthday Canada! We’re celebrating Canada’s 150th by offering a one-time FREE SEO Health review to 150 travel website owners! We’d love to give this away to everyone, but if we do more than 150, well, we’ll go broke, which means we won’t be able to help anyone ;-) Uncover the truth about your travel site’s performance now Your SEO Health Review delves deep into the crevices of your travel website to reveal what’s working and, more importantly, what’s not.

Think there’s a secret code that will help you land top ranking positions on google search? Think again. Algorithms are ever changing, making it difficult for IT-business owners to keep up. Heck, they change so often it can be tough for even the savviest of digital marketing pros to make…

Recently we read on Search Engine Roundtable that when you search Google for ‘top online marketers,’ Google will return a new type of featured snippet. They said: “First, it shows the source, so in this case it says ‘According to entrepreneur.com.’ Then it shows thumbnail images of the first 6…

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and Google officially announced on the Webmaster Central Blog that page load speed will become part of the mobile ranking algorithm effective July 2018. According to Webmaster Central, “People want to be able to find answers to their questions as fast as…

As a writer, I try very hard to mesh the way I write with the way I talk, so my writing reads naturally. But it’s not easy. I’m naturally drawn toward a different way of writing my thoughts than the way I might blurt it out in a conversation. Why…

Well if that’s not an argument to start using schema markup in your pages, I don’t know what is. According to Gary Vaynerchuk, “The next search engine is ‘voice’ … I’m completely convinced… This is your next opportunity.” …

It’s getting more and more difficult to truly understand what it is that Google wants. Knowing how to give the search giant what it needs in order to rank your web pages up top is becoming a veritable black box. Not so long ago, we were jumping through a barrage…

Hello, Friends… BIG news! I love helping businesses create content that actually gets found, read and shared. Story-telling is the most effective way to communicate with customers, whether it’s on your website, via email or across multiple social media channels. But finding a writer (I mean a real writer) isn’t…

I’ve said before and I’ll continue to say it as often as I need to — titles and meta descriptions are two SEO elements that can make or break the visibility of your web pages. …

“Content is King.” It’s been said a thousand times. And there’s a reason for that. It’s because, like so many other sayings, it’s true. Words have been selling products and services for, well, as long as the act of marketing has been around. When then Internet took hold of the…

After lengthening the character limit to upwards of 300 last December, Google has now shortened the meta description snippet length back down to about 160 characters, around where it was before the increase. According to Google’s Danny Sulllivan, “There is no fixed length for snippets. …

Marketing teams and dev teams — why aren’t they working together? Marketing teams are thinking about how the site will work in the wild to promote the brand. …

Yes and no. Part of your SEO strategy will most likely include content optimization. But one does not necessarily equal the other. Modern-day content optimization requires a whole extra level of planning and execution. That’s because engines like Google are getting smarter at understanding semantics and user intent. …

I’m happy to say that I’m one of the speakers in an incredible lineup together with Rand Fishkin (SparkToro), Peter Caputa (Databox), Larry Kim (MobileMonkey), Joy Hawkins (Sterling Sky), Eric Enge (Stone Temple Consulting), Marie Haynes (Marie Haynes Consulting) and many more sharing their #1 tactics on: Methods to strategically…

The way we search online has really changed over the past decade. Especially in the past 5 years. Google has completely taken over search to the point where you can’t mention their competitors without smirking a little. This has led to an evolution in SEO strategies, one example is the…