Bruce Clay's Blog, page 27

Interview with Bing’s Duane Forrester: Looking Into the Future of Search & Tech

Interview with Bing’s Duane Forrester: Looking Into the Future of Search & Tech was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Bing’s head of search Duane Forrester being crowned Search Personality of the Year at the U.S. Search Awards. Photo by Search Engine Journal | CC by 2.0

Anyone who knows Duane Forrester, Bing’s head of search, knows he’s a got a ton of SEO knowledge to share, plus personality to go with it (he is, after all, the U.S. Search Awards reigning Search Personality of the Year). Duane joined Bruce Clay in the studio for a special episode of digital marketing podcast SEM Synergy.

The podcast episode is 30 minutes filled with future-forward perspective on a lot of the search engine optimization industry’s favorite topics — from how and when wearable tech will really take off to the emergence of digital assistants like Cortana and Siri.

Listen to the full interview here:

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Read on for highlights from this exclusive interview with Duane Forrester. You don’t want to miss it when he sounds off on:

Why Google Glass actually matters
What users really want from mobile search
The growth of mobile-specific algorithms
How Duane uses technology to overcome human flaws
Bing’s approach to SEO wish lists
Why search engines are as transparent as they’d like to be

Duane Forrester on Why Google Glass Matters

Everyone saw Google Glass come and go. I had Glass. I still have Glass. I still don’t use it. It didn’t meet my expectations but in some ways it exceeded my expectations because it was a first generation object moving us in a direction (towards wearables and augmented reality).

“What #GoogleGlass does is expose society to the coming change.” — @DuaneForrester
Click To Tweet

The biggest thing that something like Glass does is expose society to the coming change. Now you start to see things like Hollow Lens and you see all of these ideas that are natural low growths. Let’s be clear, all of these things were under development at the same time. You don’t bring something to market just after something else goes off the market because it took you a month to develop it. These are years in development and the time you roll out is generally decided by a number of factors, the least of which would be a competitors product.

Virtual reality, augmented reality, I personally can’t wait for these things. I’ve already told my wife to clear the credit card because whenever ones comes from market, doesn’t matter what the price is it’s coming home and that will be it. This is where Google Glass was pivotal for us. It’s that first iteration. It’s that gen one of a product. That gen one taught us that being able to talk to our technology, as goofy as it felt the first few times, actually had tangible benefits for me. Now we have things like Cortana on my phone. I’m constantly talking to my phone now. What’s entertaining and intriguing about it is that she talks back to me. I can carry an ongoing conversation across multiple points of reference just like I would with a human being and the system understands that what I mean is a continuation of the conversation, not individual, individual, individual each time but a continuation. Things have really progressed.

What Users Really Want on Mobile

Someone doesn’t necessarily want the latest, beautiful 3D movie playing in the background on their handheld device because they’re walking down the street trying to get to a location because they want dinner at this restaurant. The first thing in their mind is I want to go to dinner, not what does this experience look like and how do I feel about this place. It’s “get me to my location.” It’s “give me the object I want right now.”

Users don’t necessarily want the latest, beautiful 3D movie playing on #mobile — @DuaneForrester
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The Growth of Mobile-Specific Algorithms

If you don’t render a good experience on mobile then you lose the affinity of the people. They generally becoming dissatisfied with you and they kind of move away. We face that same wall as everyone else does except the problem that we have is we also have the added hassle of we have to return the result and it has to nail it every time or people are disappointed with us.

If you don’t render a good experience on #mobile then you lose the affinity of the people.
Click To Tweet

People aren’t disappointed with the website that’s poorly designed and doesn’t render well — they’re disappointed with the search engine because we didn’t give them a good result. To avoid that, you see this growth of the mobile-specific algorithms happening. There’s a very good reason for it because it makes it a lot easier to be able to go into that environment and assure that that user, when they are on a mobile device, is getting the best possible mobile experience …

The natural growth is you will see that algorithms develop specifically for the mobile environment. You’ll see things like tags that are mobile friendly so that the searcher then has some indication.

That’s a step for us to help the searcher understand but it is a very long road to walk down because it doesn’t matter how much you actually put that out there, the general population of users will take a long time to adapt to that change and say, “Oh, hang on a second. I get it, so if it’s tagged as mobile friendly I have a better experience when I go there.” It is something that we feel is an important step to alert people to.

How Duane Uses Technology to Overcome Human Flaws

I was going out the other day and I promised my wife I would pick up the mail on the way home. I am probably the worst human being on the planet for making these innocuous commitments and then totally spacing out on them and just not …

Walking in the house happy that I’m home and hoping everyone’s happy to see me and being genuinely baffled when I’m asked where’s the mail and seeing the disappointment because I had previously promised I would get it. I grab my phone and I said set a reminder and it said what. I said get the mail. When? When I am near home again. That’s the when.

These digital assistants understand proximity to a location. They understand location because it tracks my time there over a period of time. Over about a three-week period of time my assistant looked at my pattern of whether I was in the office, whether I was at home and it determined that home was where I was when I was there for a long period of time overnight.

Bing’s Approach to SEO Wish Lists

There’s no sense being coy about this — there’s absolutely a wish list of items that comes to me. I never don’t get wish list items. That is a consistent inflow. What’s remarkable to me is how much overlap there often is. There’s a lot of chatter that happens in the industry and comes up. You’ll have different versions of the same concept basically. Then from there we have to look at it and understand what the business implications are for Bing.

Obviously if we will invest our resources, there has to be some return on that for Bing. Sometimes the return can simply be if you build a better website, the better the quality the search results are, the better it is for Bing. Other times the resources, the return on that resource investment has to be much more direct. A lot of ideas are great ideas but then the resourcing behind them, it may be a two and a half million dollar a month cost to us to actually enable that at the level it’s desired. I can tell you right now, right? Webmaster tools is not a cost center. We don’t make money.

Why Search Engines Aren’t as Transparent as They’d Like

If there were no such thing as black hat tactics, I think you’d see (Webmaster Tools) being even more transparent and even more helpful. Ultimately, if I want you to paint your barn blue it would be probably good if I called you, talked to you and sent you an email asking you to paint your barn blue …

The problem right now is that if I go around telling everybody they need more blue barns then suddenly all these fake blue barns start popping up and it becomes really difficult to separate an actual blue barn from a fake blue barn. This will always be a challenge. This is why you see this gap that exists, right? We, otherwise, wish there was no gap and it never existed.

To listen to more free SEM Synergy podcasts, check us out on iTunes . New shows air every Wednesday at 3 p.m. PT on WebmasterRadio.fm. Join Bruce Clay, Virginia Nussey, Mindy Weinstein, Robert Ramirez and me for lively discussion on digital marketing hot topics every week!

19 Fresh Thoughts on Link Building & Disavow Shared by Top SEO Minds from John Mueller to Neil Patel

19 Fresh Thoughts on Link Building & Disavow Shared by Top SEO Minds from John Mueller to Neil Patel was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Among search engine optimization folks there are a couple questions that continually spur on conversation, and one of them is: Link building — Is it black hat?

The last few weeks have seen a surge of articles and online chats on the topic of link building and its proper place in search engine optimization. Unlike black-hat forum discussions of past years, these recent discussions about links bring to light the battle-worn wisdom of knowledgeable, go-to search engine optimization minds, like John Mueller and Neil Patel, whose advice has been indispensable in the two years since we first were introduced to Google’s Penguin algorithm update.

These latest conversations exposed unknowns and some new fears, along with newly released tools and solutions to the problems of links, good and bad. Here we’ve harvested highlights from the articles and online conversations on the following topics that may surprise and wisen SEOs and webmasters of all experience levels:

Link building today — its current definition and role
Natural vs. unnatural links — staying in Penguin’s good graces
Disavow files — tools and techniques for backlink cleanup

When we started listing all the thought-provoking insights from SEO thought leaders, we found that there have been so many fresh thoughts lately that we decided to number them in a list here. Enjoy these 19 fresh thoughts on link building, link cleanup and disavowal.

1. Google Portugal: “Do not buy, sell, exchange or ask for links that may violate our linking webmaster guidelines.”

The latest wave of link building talk was spurred in part by a statement on the Google Portuguese webmaster blog that, translated into English, gave this bold advice to webmasters: “Do not buy, sell, exchange or ask for links.” Period.

If you, like many, read that and grew concerned that just asking for links might cause site penalties, you were not alone. Google soon calmed everyone down by revising the Portuguese blog post to be less alarming: “Do not buy, sell, exchange or ask for links that may violate our linking webmaster guidelines.”

Upshot: Google really doesn’t want you to be soliciting links, but link requests are okay as long as they adhere to Google webmaster guidelines, specifically those regarding link schemes.

2. “There simply is no sustainability in trying to manipulate the algorithm.” –Linkarati writer Andrew Dennis

Let’s first state the obvious: Links still count in the search engine algorithms as one factor among many that influence search results ranking. But the old days in which unethical marketers could buy a thousand links and get a rise in search engine placement are long gone, squashed by the Google Penguin algorithm update as well as a savvier Internet user base. Columnist Andrew Dennis said it well in a July 7 post on Search Engine Land: “There simply is no sustainability in trying to manipulate the algorithm.”

3. “(O)nly focusing on links is probably going to cause more problems for your website than actually helps.” –John Mueller, Google webmaster trends analyst

Is there any good in trying to build links today? Google representative John Mueller answered the question in a February hangout. He said:

In general, I’d try to avoid that (link building) … only focusing on links is probably going to cause more problems for your website than actually helps.

4. “Is linkbuilding dead? Nope. Apparently not. Not only does daily practice affirm its existence, but the industry moguls do, too.” –Neil Patel

Experienced SEOs still practice some form of link building. Patel published a Forbes article wherein he explains why links are still necessary for SEO: “Though oft maligned and long abandoned, linkbuilding is one of the most effective ways to make your website rank higher.”

Is Link Building Black Hat?

5. “The term ‘linkbuilding’ has some baggage, but it is not inherently black hat. Still prefer ‘link earning’. All about intent.” –Bruce Clay, Inc. SEO Manager Rob Ramirez

Last week we got to host #SEOChat, a Twitter chat that addresses SEO issues, and we chose to discuss link building. In the chat, our SEO manager shared this gem:

A2) The term “linkbuilding” has some baggage, but it is not inherently black hat. Still prefer “link earning”. All about intent. #seochat — Robert Ramirez (@ramirez_robert) July 16, 2015

6. “We don’t know what to call it, so we might as well call it linkbuilding […] Link earning? That describes the practice better, but it just doesn’t have the same sonorous and electrifying quality.” –Neil Patel

As a counterpoint to Ramirez’s thoughts, Neil Patel’s take on his preferred term for link building/earning shows the power words hold. It’s reminiscent of the debate over whether or not SEO is dead. SEO is not dead, but evolved, and link building/earning with it.  

Natural vs. Unnatural Links

7. What is an unnatural link? “Well any link which is built is, by definition unnatural.” –Alastair Kane during #SEMRushChat

Obtaining links naturally is every web marketer’s goal. You want to have content that attracts people so that they like and then link to it. A strategy of earning links is far safer in today’s world than going after them with any link-building campaign. A participant in the July 15 #SEMRushChat (yes, two industry Twitter chats devoted to the same subject last week shows how topical this is!) put it this way:

@semrush Well any link which is built is, by definition unnatural. Natural links come from great content – or so they say! #semrushchat — Alastair Kane (@Alastair_SIC) July 15, 2015

8. Link earning isn’t a passive activity. “Actively seek out websites that are relevant to your website and audience, and promote yourself.” –Andrew Dennis

The columnist argues that a user-first approach is needed to earn links. But Dennis doesn’t think you have to just wait for them:

While it’s possible to earn these links passively, in order to take full advantage of your opportunities you need to manually promote your value. Actively seek out websites that are relevant to your website and audience, and promote yourself.

His article goes on to detail many approaches to doing this.

9. Behind every real link is a real person. “Remember that your goal here is more than just a link—it’s a relationship, which could be mutually beneficial to both of you.” –Ruth Burr Reedy

In a June 25 post on the Moz blog, Ruth Burr Reedy wrote: “The kinds of links that Google wants you to build are the kinds of links that you get when a real live person decides to share or link to your content.” She goes on to explain how you can attract links in person — at trade shows, conferences, meetups and trade associations — as well as how to assess these relationship-based links.

10. “Linkbuilding, if you want to call it that, is risky business. (…) Content marketing is the safest and most effective method of building links.” –Neil Patel

Patel calls link building “a high-risk activity” because of the danger of Penguin penalties. One thing is certain: Websites have to be careful how they get links.

He simplifies the process a bit by recommending that content marketing is the most effective way to earn links naturally. He concludes:

Thus, content marketing is the superhighway to links. Instead of creating artificial and spammy links, marketers are churning out real and high-quality content that warrants legitimate and relevant links.

Patel’s article gives three ways to (more-or-less) safely come right out and ask for links when sharing your content.

11. “As of now guidelines are pretty clear: You cannot reimburse links in any way. Let’s stick with that!” –Ann Smarty and Jim Boykin

Last week’s Jim & Ann Show discussed how one could go about asking for links in order to stay within Google’s guidelines. They covered lots of specific scenarios such as, “What if I sent free stuff but didn’t ask for a link? Should I be worried if that person links?” (They answered yes.)

12. “(M)ake it possible for other people of course to link to your content. Make it easy …” –John Mueller

When you’re sure you have high-quality content worth linking to, Mueller suggests two ways you can make it easier for people to link to your pages:

Put a little widget on your page that helps someone link to it.
Make sure URLs are easy to copy and paste.

13. “Go through your entire backlink profile MANUALLY. Any that look remotely suspicious, investigate (& where necessary remove)” –Dan Smith

During the #SEMRushChat Twitter chat, the other part of link management, dealing with unwanted backlinks to your site, was addressed. Here are a few nuggets of wisdom on the need for link pruning to avoid or recover from a Penguin penalty:

A4: Go through your entire backlink profile MANUALLY. Any that look remotely suspicious, investigate (& where necessary remove) #semrushchat — Dan Smith (@itsdansmith) July 15, 2015

Backlink Disavowal

14. Should every site submit a Google disavow file? “Depends on the penalty situation. If not penalized, no disavow. Pruning for sure though, in all cases. Everyone’s got skeletons” –Matthew Young, senior SEO strategist at Adobe

The link pruning process starts with monitoring your site’s backlinks to try to identify your weakest (least trustworthy and relevant) links. Most SEOs today agree that watching your backlinks is essential. Once identified, those low-quality links should be removed — which means going through the painstaking process of contacting the linking site and requesting they take down your link. When that doesn’t work, webmasters have a last resort: They can disavow the links they cannot remove.

One of the #SEOChat questions asked: Do you always recommend a site submit a Google disavow file? The answers were mixed:

A7. Depends on the penalty situation. If not penalized, no disavow. Pruning for sure though, in all cases. Everyone’s got skeletons #seochat — Matthew Young (@MatthewAYoung) July 16, 2015

A7: No. We only go disavow route if we suspect a penalty is in place #seochat — Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) July 16, 2015

Tools for Backlink Research and Cleanup

15. “We believe there has been, up to this point, a critical imbalance in disavow link data. (…) We decided that instead of letting Google and Bing keep the data themselves, there is a way to have more intelligence about our backlinks and disavow files if we crowdsource the data.”  –Bruce Clay

In June we released DisavowFiles, a free tool that started as a dream of Bruce Clay’s to have greater visibility into Google’s black box of disavowed link data. During the weekly digital marketing podcast SEM Synergy on June 10, which was one week after launching the tool, Bruce explained the genesis of DisavowFiles:

We give all this (disavow link data) to Google in bulk. All of us give it to Google because we don’t want the penalty, but we have no way of seeing that data ourselves. They keep it from us. We decided that instead of letting Google and Bing keep the data themselves, there is a way to have more intelligence about our backlinks and disavow files if we crowdsource the data. Everybody gets to give us their disavow files, and with our new service, DisavowFiles.com, this is what it does — it collects the data and allows us to query and get answers to these questions.

16. “Very TAGFEE: (…) DisavowFiles – upload file & can see whether others have disavowed links that point to you” –Rand Fishkin

Because DisavowFiles is a crowdsourced database and we’ve shared it among the SEO community, Wizard of Moz Rand Fishkin called DisavowFiles “very TAGFEE.” Since its June launch, the tool has more than 1,200 members signed up and hundreds of Google disavow files uploaded so far.

 

17. “It also made sense in a lot of ways to share data, especially when you’re dealing with the same types of link farms, the same types of sites that scrape and are showing up in a lot of our clients’ backlink profiles.” –Rob Ramirez

In the announcement podcast, SEO Manager Ramirez chimed in with another reason that DisavowFiles.com is such a helpful tool for speeding up the link cleanup process:

Like all good ideas, (DisavowFiles) was born out of necessity. We had a very real need to simplify and speed up the process of doing link audits. It also made sense in a lot of ways to share data, especially when you’re dealing with the same types of link farms, the same types of sites that scrape and are showing up in a lot of our clients’ backlink profiles. Simplifying that process, being able to share the data across our clients, was something that was a very real need that we had.

 

18. “Tried (DisavowFiles) again today and it worked — found ~1,000 more domains and URLs to add to our file.” –Daniel Thomason of Online Performance Marketing in Dallas, Texas

The primary purpose of DisavowFiles is to show webmasters which of their own backlinks have been disavowed by others in the database. This kind of insight gives them more confidence in disavowing links. Here’s what one told us:

Hey everyone,

Tried [DisavowFiles] again today and it worked — found ~1,000 more domains and URLs to add to our file.

Thanks for innovating with a tool like this.

–Daniel Thomason

19. Would you want to know if your website has been disavowed by others? “Yes, I would like to know. There’s no reason to be oblivious in this respect imo” –Jesse Stoler during #SEOChat

There’s a side benefit for DisavowFiles.com participants, and that’s being alerted whenever someone else disavows one of your own website’s pages. Google has stated that being listed in a disavow file does not affect your site negatively. Nevertheless, knowing that people consider your web pages worthy of disavowal can cause you to take a good hard look at your site. #SEOChat participants were asked whether they would want to know if their pages are disavowed. This question would have been unthinkable before this tool because search engines don’t share this kind of intel. The SEOs balanced their answers between common sense and confidence in their own website ethics:

A8: Yes, I would like to know. There’s no reason to be oblivious in this respect imo #seochat — Jesse Stoler (@JesseStoler) July 16, 2015

A8: No. If you know what a disavow is, you should be comfortable w/ your own site. Feeling “alarmed” is not a productive state. #seochat — Eric Lander (@EricLanderSEO) July 16, 2015

A8. Yes, especially in cases where you suspect negative SEO. I would want to be notified immediately. #seochat — Matthew Young (@MatthewAYoung) July 16, 2015

Off-Page SEO Evolves

So is link building black hat? Is SEO dead? No! The role of search engine optimization continues to evolve, and as long as Google’s webmaster guidelines change and its search engine ranking algorithms along with them, so will the definition and target of link building. Off-page SEO once was defined primarily by link building. Today, link assessment, cleanup and disavows are off-page optimization tasks that require careful attention by search engine marketers. Take pride in staying up on the debate and the journey, and enjoy the ever-changing practice that is SEO.

Link Building in the Penguin Age: SEOs on Earning, Pruning and Disavowing Links

Link Building in the Penguin Age: SEOs on Earning, Pruning and Disavowing Links was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Link building is a matter of hot debate among search engine optimization analysts because quality links are vital for top rankings while spam links can land a site with a serious search engine penalty. In the age of Penguin, attention must be paid not only to the links themselves but how they are earned. Even asking for links the wrong way can violate webmaster guidelines, according to a Google blog post from earlier this month. (Here’s the original Google post in Portuguese.)

As moderators of last Thursday’s SEO-focused Twitter chat, #SEOchat, we wanted to hear what top SEOs were feeling about the current state of link building, link removal and disavowing links. The debate was lively and at times surprising. We asked questions like:

Here are a few of the thought-provoking and controversial points of view shared:

Do you think link building is a black-hat technique?

The term “linkbuilding” has some baggage, but it is not inherently black hat. Still prefer “link earning.” All about intent. (@ramirez_robert)

Do you always recommend a site submit a Google disavow file?

Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t walk up to a cop and say “hey, someone left these drugs in my pocket.” (@tonyxrandall)

To remove weak links for Google Penguin recovery, how much time do you spend pruning links vs. disavowing links?

Very sensitive issue to be handled per site. Many sites don’t require disavows – and when used – I fear a red flag is raised. (@EricLanderSEO)

Would you want to know if any site has disavowed you? How many disavowals would it take before you were alarmed?

Yes, especially in cases where you suspect negative SEO. I would want to be notified immediately. (@MatthewAYoung)

Yes, I would like to know. There’s no reason to be oblivious in this respect IMO. (@JesseStoler)

Yes, especially it were part of a pattern. Might be bad SEO, maybe my baby is ugly. But getting disavowed is a call to action. (@CallMeLouzander)

Read on to find out what SEOs had to say during Thursday’s #SEOChat on Twitter!

Has the Penguin update simplified the link building process for you or made it harder to tread?

Eric Lander: My clients tend to view content quality and social engagement as triggers for quality links. So in short, it’s beneficial for me.

Netvantage Marketing: Depends on a website to website basis. Need to pay close attention to sites that dabbled in bad link building in the past.

Creative California: Definitely more difficult. I now have to scrutinize every site before I look to get a link on it.

Matthew Young: Neither hard nor easy. By having a content-forward link earning strategy, nothing has really changed.

Do you think link building is a black-hat technique?

Robert Ramirez: The term “linkbuilding” has some baggage, but it is not inherently black hat. Still prefer “link earning.” All about intent.

Dragon Search: It can be either, depending on how you go about it. A little strategic PR goes a long way.

Brian Baker: Difficult question. It’s all about the intent behind the link building.

John Alexander: I’ve always been suspicious of link building campaigns, TBH. Find relevant directories, sure. But how systematic can you be?

Kristi Kellogg: Personally, I feel time is better spent investing in creating quality content and promoting it than link building. My logic being that if you build something amazing, links will be a byproduct naturally.

Eric Lander: No, and it never has been. People push envelopes across marketing initiatives — link building is essential, but far from black. To be clear, aspects of SEO can be pushed in gray/black areas. It’s up to us to ethically provide quality services and results.

Netvantage Marketing: Providing value to users = white hat. Only trying to manipulate rankings = black hat.

Creative California: Not at all. Most link-building we do is local directories, media quotes, social. If we don’t pursue these, they’ll never happen. In other words, you can’t naturally get links if you don’t promote yourself.

Matthew Young: Depends on who you ask. Google says ‘Don’t build links,’ but the irony is that the algo is built on them.

Do you think it’s acceptable to ask for links? When and how?

Brian Baker: Of course it’s acceptable, just don’t be pushy!

Eric Lander: Yes, asking when relevancy is clear and there’s a visitor value added to the host site. All require direct, quality conversations.

Netvantage Marketing: Absolutely. When you can provide value to their users — by asking in a personable way.

DragonSearch: I like to barter. Provide something in exchange then ask for a link in return.

Matthew Young: It’s acceptable under the right circumstances.

If you could offer one piece of advice for link building in a Penguin world, what would it be? Go!

Kristi Kellogg: Be aware of who’s linking to you at all times. It’s your responsibility.

Brian Baker: Focus on existing relationships, link reclamation, and natural links. Go after low-hanging fruit for max effect.

Eric Lander: Stop emulating what others are or have been doing. Developing a unique approach in your space has explosive opportunities.

Netvantage Marketing: If you have to question if a site is a good link prospect, the answer is probably no.

DragonSearch: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck …

A4. Patience, my young SEO. Quality and relevant links take time. #seochat pic.twitter.com/4tBEmCyKrY

— Matthew Young (@MatthewAYoung) July 16, 2015

To remove weak links for Google Penguin recovery, how much time do you spend pruning links vs. disavowing links?

Robert Ramirez: Actually removing bad links from the internet > disavowing links. Google rewards cleaning links sooner than relying on disavow.

Brian Baker: Penalties and the disavow process are a nightmare. Talking about it further will put me in a tailspin.

Netvantage Marketing: Depends on the penalty and size of backlink profile. We outreach to sites at least once when we see a link we don’t like.

Eric Lander: Very sensitive issue to be handled per site. Many sites don’t require disavows – and when used – I fear a red flag is raised.

Matthew Young: The pruning takes way longer than the disavowing. Plus you have to account for the time a site remains penalized before the next Penguin refresh. So, yes, a long time.

What link pruning tools do you rely on? How do you identify weakest links?

Brian Baker: I’m loving @Moz’s spam analysis tool – GREAT starting spot + Manual Ahrefs review.

Eric Lander: My go to tool is @ahrefs for link quality, research and competitive/shared reviews. Then Excel. And logic.

Matthew Young: I use a combination of Majestic, @ahrefs and Google Search Console. Can’t forget Excel either.

Netvantage Marketing: A machete and beast mode — bit.ly/1J0rbm5.  

John Alexander: Majestic makes my life so much easier, including their browser plugins.

Bruce Clay, Inc.: Who’s tried DisavowFiles.com? It’s a free crowdsourced tool that lets users compare disavow files to their backlink profiles.

Do you always recommend a site submit a Google disavow file?

Eric Lander: No. Rarely. I need to see a direct correlation of a Penguin release date and traffic and/or rankings loss to even consider it.

Matthew Young: Depends on the penalty situation. If not penalized, no disavow. Pruning for sure, though, in all cases. Everyone’s got skeletons.

Netvantage Marketing: No. We only go disavow route if we suspect a penalty is in place.

Tony Randall: Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t walk up to a cop and say “hey, someone left these drugs in my pocket.”

Would you want to know if any site has disavowed you? How many disavowals would it take before you were alarmed?

Eric Lander: No. If you know what a disavow is, you should be comfortable with your own site (being disavowed). Feeling “alarmed” is not a productive state.

Matthew Young: Yes, especially in cases where you suspect negative SEO. I would want to be notified immediately.

Creative California: I think I’d see many other signs that my sign was spammy long before I noticed disavows.

Jesse Stoler: Yes, I would like to know. There’s no reason to be oblivious in this respect IMO.

John Alexander: Yes, especially it were part of a pattern. Might be bad SEO, maybe my baby is ugly. But getting disavowed is a call to action.

Google has stated that data from disavow files is NOT part of the quality algorithm. Do you believe it? Could that change?

Eric Lander: Change is inevitable. So too are algorithm hypotheses. As an SEO, you focus on what you can control – and stay the course. Don’t mean to suggest that you don’t innovate your approach, but you cannot obsess on what you don’t know and be successful.

DragonSearch: Pretend your client somehow gets added to the list of low-quality disavow sites. Imagine trying to get out of THAT penalty.

Matthew Young: Anything could change. It’s Google. You can’t see me, but I’m wildly shrugging right now.

John Alexander: I haven’t seen direct correlation. But as part of online reputation, I’m sure it can come later to bite you in the … server logs.

Want to join the search engine optimization conversation? #SEOchat takes place every Thursday at 10 a.m./1 p.m. PT. Meet up with your fellow digital marketers for a tactic-packed hour of SEO goodness.

FAQs on How to Use Google Search Console

FAQs on How to Use Google Search Console was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Bruce Clay’s blog and SEO Newsletter wouldn’t be alive without you readers. We read your comments and questions and write step-by-step SEO articles based on your feedback. The article How to Set Up Google Search Console – Free Search Engine Optimization & Webmaster Tools for Your Website, received great comments and questions about how to use this essential SEO software.

Whether you’re new to Google Search Console (formerly called Google Webmaster Tools) or have been using it for years, you might have a question or two about its functionality and capabilities. In this article we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Google Search Console from our readers as well as some additional ones that we hope will make using the tools easier for you.

Q. How do I get the most out of Google Search Console?

A. Take advantage of new, richer data. This includes average position and referring data for more landing pages.

There are two enhanced sets of traffic data in Google Search Console that you should be analyzing and using, according to Robert Ramirez, SEO Manager at Bruce Clay, Inc.

Enhanced Data #1: Average Position

Up until recently, Google Search Console showed limited information about the position of your queries. But with the roll out of the new Search Analytics report, you can now see the daily average position of the highest-ranking result for your queries presented in a new format that makes it easier to read and understand.

Although average position was featured in the old Search Queries report, the new version adds it as a fourth metric that you can check and view, right next to Clicks, Impressions, and CRT.

The new version also changes how the information is displayed. You can now automatically see the average positions of your top 50 queries presented as a trendline in the main Search Analytics report. 

This information is valuable for when you want to see and analyze ranking fluctuations. It is also an easy way to spot any changes that might have occurred due to algorithm updates.

Here are step-by-step SEO instructions to observe average position data in Google Search Console.

1. Sign in to Google Search Console and navigate to:

“Search Traffic” > “Search Analytics.”

2. In Search Analytics, select “Position.”

Here you will see the average position of the top 50 queries used to reach your site.

3) Narrow the results by:

a. Selecting a query. The default time span of the chart is four weeks, and you can increase the time span up to 90 days.

b. Hovering over the chart and stopping on the date of your choice to see data for a specific day.

c. Using the Dates filter to checkmark the time span you wish you view.

4. Scroll down to the see the average position to see data for each day within that time frame.

Enhanced Data #2: Referring data for more landing pages

Along with enhancing data for the average position of queries, Google Search Console now offers referring keyword information on more landing pages. Google’s software used to dish out keyword data for only the top three to five landing pages – a limited look at how people reach your website in Google search. Now, Google Search Console provides a thorough Search Analytics Report for your top 1,000 landing pages – that’s a lot more traffic data you can analyze and use to improve your rankings.

To see referring data for your landing pages in Google Search Console:

1. Select “Search Traffic” > “Search Analytics.”

2. Click on “Pages.” Scroll down to see all the landing pages.

3. Select the landing page you want.

4. Then select “Queries” again to see referring data for that landing page.

Q. How do I get Google to recrawl my site faster?

A. Submit your URL to Google manually.

Even without a manual invitation, search engine spiders will ultimately reach and crawl your site’s landing pages if you have linked to them from other pages on your site and your XML sitemap. But there’s a way to send an official invitation that will get them to your site faster than the automatic route: you can submit a URL manually.

Whether you have a new website or recently updated a page, you can manually submit a URL to Google for faster recrawling. How? You will have to use the Fetch as Google tool in Google Search Console. The tool is located under the Crawl tab and looks like this:

You can also do this for Bing. Here’s a search engine optimization tutorial on how to manually submit a site to Google and Bing: http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/submit-website.htm.

Q. Can I see data for Top Pages and Search Queries for the past year?

A. No, Google Search Console provides data for only the last 90 days.

While Google Analytics shows a longer history, it doesn’t show search queries. This is why many SEOs and site owners download their data on a monthly basis and create their own reports to monitor the information long-term.

One solution is to track your site’s rankings for all your keywords using our SEOToolSet Pro, which runs scheduled ranking monitors. Learn more about how to monitor your search engine rankings using SEOToolSet Pro here: http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/seotoolset-features/.

Q. How do I set a date range for the Crawl Error reports? Specifically, how do I get the data for Desktop, Smartphone, and Feature phone together for the last 10 days?

A. You can’t.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to set a data range for the Crawl Error reports in Google. However, you can download the data into a spreadsheet and manipulate it according to the date range you need.

To access data for Desktop, Smartphone, and Feature phone, you will need to click on each tab in the report and download the data manually.

For more hands-on, step-by-step SEO tips, lead yourself through the 18-step SEO Tutorial. Perform search engine optimization with Bruce Clay, Inc. methodology, from keyword research to competitive analysis to monitoring rankings, with free embedded tools along the way.

#Winning at Twitter Chats

#Winning at Twitter Chats was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Twitter chats are a crazy-effective way to skyrocket Twitter engagement. The following is a guide that teaches you how to leverage Twitter chats to amplify your brand voice. You’ll learn how to identify Twitter chats that make sense for your niche, engage in them effectively and turbo charge your social media marketing efforts. Fair warning: further reading may result in excess Twitter engagement. Proceed with caution — your Twitter’s about to blow up.

What’s a Twitter Chat? What Twitter Chats are Right for My Brand?

What is a Twitter chat? A Twitter chat (also referred to as a Tweet chat) is real-time conversation conducted via tweets – each Twitter chat has its own hashtag which bands the conversation together.

Investing in a Twitter chat as a part of your ongoing social media marketing strategy can lead to myriad benefits:

Relationships. With real people. With real needs. That you can help them with.
Thought Leadership. Regularly use Twitter chats as a platform to authentically share your one-of-a-kind knowledge and people will begin to turn to you as a thought leader.
Staying Top of Mind. To stay top-of-mind in potential consumers’ minds, you have to find ways to meet consumers where they are – and one of those places is Twitter. Chatting. It takes massive effort across multiple platforms to stay top-of-mind. Twitter chats are one piece of the puzzle that can keep you there.

When you wield Twitter chats to achieve the above objectives, they naturally lead fan growth, which in turn leads to:

New Clients, Customers and Fans
Increased Following
Increased Engagement

Finding the Twitter Chats that Align with Your Brand

There are Twitter chats on every subject you can imagine, from business, marketing, SEO and LinkedIn to fashion, mommy blogging, food service and fitness. What Twitter chat aligns with your business or brand? This Twitter chat master calendar from TweetReports provides a comprehensive list of all Twitter chats on the Internet … and there’s a Twitter chat for literally every niche. Check out some of these unique and/or specific examples:

#YALitChat
#GreenRoofChat (“green roofing”)
#HayTalk (“a discussion on hay and forage issues”)
#SalonSpaChat
#CoffeeChat
#VLLChat (“celebrating Latina lifestyle bloggers”)
#ChinaChat (“business in China”)
#FundChat (“nonprofit fundraising and marketing”)

The above is proof positive that you’ll find a Twitter chat that aligns with your business/brand, no matter your industry. Take a look at how many Twitter chats there are for the digital marketing space alone!

#B2BChat
#AppChat
#BlogChat
#ContentChat
#TechTalk
#PPCChat
#JournChat
#AdChat
#BrandChat
#SEOChat

Twitter Chat Etiquette

Now that you’ve identified which Twitter chat(s) to participate in, you can use the following guidelines to maximize your participation on the social media platform!

Use TweetDeck. Add a column for the Twitter chat’s hashtag and then follow along. In my experience, TweetDeck is the simplest and most reliable platform for participating in a Twitter chat.

Remember the basics. Use the hashtag for all tweets. Also, most Twitter chats are made up of a moderator asking questions and guests, like your brand, answering. Don’t forget to include the number of the question you’re answering in the tweet (i.e. A1).

A6: GSP boost branding efforts. Target your competitors’ URLs and show GSPs to users who receive emails from your competitors. #PPCchat #PPC

— Bruce Clay, Inc. (@BruceClayInc) July 7, 2015

Listen. Favorite, retweet and engage with people’s tweets. You’re not in this just to be heard, but to listen. Prepare ideas ahead of time. Usually, the topic of a Twitter chat is announced beforehand. Take some time to study up on the topic. Find the latest statistics or news on the topic. You’ll also want to take stock of your brand’s blog or assets — if your brand, for example, has written an article or created an infographic on the subject at hand, that’s something you’re going to want to work into the Twitter chat naturally. Try to include images in a few of your tweets during the Twitter chat. Social Media Examiner reported a 150 percent increase in retweets when you include images. That’s important to remember for all Twitter activity, not just Twitter chats. Promote the chat on your social networks prior to the chat. Here, again, it’s important not to forget to use the chat’s unique hashtag. Don’t be afraid to be funny! A well-timed meme, joke or gif can liven a Twitter chat’s mood and gain lots of engagement. Please inject personality into your brand’s tweets (while still maintaining your brand voice, of course!). Mind your manners. Show up to the chat on time and introduce your brand when you join the chat (unless you are late — don’t interrupt an ongoing chat to announce your presence). Never forget to say thank you to the host. Don’t write a novel. It should take one tweet to answer a question – two AT MOST. In this case, the beginning of your tweet should indicate that it’s part of a sequence by utilizing 1/2 and 2/2:

(1/2) A1: When you’re talking thousands of pages, it makes more sense to hire top tier writers ($$$) for converting pages. #SEOchat

— Kristi Kellogg (@KristiKellogg) June 11, 2015

(2/2) Consider hiring cheaper for the lower priority pages. #SEOchat

— Kristi Kellogg (@KristiKellogg) June 11, 2015

What are You Waiting For? It’s Time to Get Started

The best way to get started with Twitter chats is to jump right in. Once you’ve identified a few chats your brand could benefit from being in, show up and tweet away! Most Twitter chats occur on a weekly basis — try to attend for a few weeks to give the Twitter chat a solid chance.

Twitter chats are a powerful social media marketing tool for stimulating buzz for your company or personal brand (not to mention their ability to drive traffic, generate leads, etc.). Twitter chats provide opportunity to network, gain quality followers and amp up engagement, all while positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Finding Twitter chats that work for your brand are a must-do if you are trying to enhance your SMM strategy!

If you’re looking to jump into a Twitter chat, join us for #SEOchat every Thursday at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. You’ll love the weekly opportunity to talk to fellow digital marketing enthusiasts like yourself, and you’ll get a feel for what Twitter chats can offer a business. It’s one hour a week where you can both socialize and sharpen your skills from the comfort of your own office. Follow the #SEOchat hashtag and we’ll see you Thursday!

Free SEO Tool Alert! On-Page Content Analyzer

Free SEO Tool Alert! On-Page Content Analyzer was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

You know about the brand new SEOToolSet 6 with the completely free SEOToolSet Lite ? Sign up for free to use the SEOToolSet Lite’s:

Content grader
Keyword usage analyzer
Crawl errors report
Internal link visualization
And server health assessment

Maybe you haven’t signed up for the free Lite tools suite because you’re not sure how these tools can help you improve your site’s rankings. For you, we offer 10 select SEO tools that aren’t behind a sign-in wall and can be run on a one-off, on-demand basis, for free. These 10 free tools don’t require a log in, credit card info, or software download. Use them as much as you like from the Free SEO Tools page on SEOToolSet.com.

To give you a chance to see in action how the data you get enhances your organic SEO efforts, this miniseries covers each of the 10 free SEO tools. ( See the whole miniseries here! ) In this post, you meet a lightweight version of our most frequently-used SEO tool, the Single Page Analyzer.

Today’s Free SEO Tool: Single Page Analyzer

Tool type: on-page content analysis, on-page optimization

What you’ll learn: When you submit a URL, the tool:

Grades the optimization of page components (meta data, other tags and body content)
Flags any SEO errors, and
Provides suggestions on how to improve your web page optimization.

Why this matters: Proper page analysis is key to improving your web page optimization. Review this data for your own pages and for top-ranking competitors to discover what makes a web page rank high in the search engines for your industry and keywords.

Run the Single Page Analyzer:    

Page URL:

SEOToolSet® Tag Information

Tag
Word Count
Stop Words
Used Words
Length
Contents

Text Metrics and Readability

Metric
Value
Description

Word Phrase Usage

Keyword
Title
Meta Desc
Meta Keywords
Headings
ALT Tags
First Words
Body Words
All Words

 

How to Use It

Enter a single URL and click Run Page Analyzer. You can enter your own web page or a competitor’s URL. The tool can analyze only one page at a time.
The Single Page Analyzer (SPA) produces data about various elements of a web page. This free version returns a report that’s separated into three sections:

The first category, Tag Information, examines the tags for a page.
The second category, Text Metrics and Readability, analyzes the content and scores the reading level of the text.
The final category, Word Phrase Usage, breaks down the most commonly used words and phrases used in various elements on the page.

How to get more from the SPA: The SPA tool featured here is a lightweight version of the tool, which means it’s not the full version. However, you can now access the complete version of this robust tool for FREE by signing up for the SEOToolSet Lite. By simply providing a username and password, you can use the full version of the Single Page Analyzer tool — an opportunity that was, until recently, only available with a paid SEOToolSet subscription.

5 Ways to Use This Data

The point of running the SPA is to spot any SEO-related issues with the content on a web page. This tool in particular will show you any major errors, weak areas, as well as any elements that are missing from the page. You can use this information to fix those errors, strengthen weaknesses, and add the missing elements that are vital to the optimization of that page.

Our SEO analysts usually run this tool over and over again to see how the changes they’ve made meet SEO best practices and to learn from their competitors. Before we get into the specifics of how to use the tool and decode the reports, this is what you get from the Single Page Analyzer’s data analysis.

Here are five valuable ways you can use this data to enhance your search engine optimization strategy for a web page:

1. Improve the optimization of your meta tags. Is your meta description too long or too short? Because it matters. Are your tags in the right order? That matters, too. There are basic dos and don’ts to writing meta tags. Use the Tag Information report provided by the SPA to fix or strengthen your tags according to SEO best practices. If you find errors in red, fix them. If you discover that you’re missing any tags, add them. Once you’ve made the changes and have added the missing elements, you can then run the tool a second time to examine the recent changes.

2. Adjust the reading level of your text. High-quality web content has many characteristics, and an appropriate reading level is one of them. Content that is too simple or too complicated can lose the attention of your target audience and fail to bring conversions. So how do you know if your content is written in the appropriate reading level? The SPA will tell you.

Using the Text Metrics and Readability section of the report (outlined below), find out the reading level of your text. If it’s too high, consider adjusting it by reducing the number of three-syllable words and shortening your sentences.

While most web content should be simple to digest, certain industries or businesses require a higher reading level.

Tip: A good way to find out the appropriate reading level for your business or industry is to check out a competitor that is ranking high in the SERPs. Run the SPA on a competitor’s page and get a breakdown of their text. You can then emulate the same writing style and language accordingly.

3. Improve the keyword density on a page. As mentioned above, quality content has many features that set it apart from low-quality content. Does your text feature the keywords and phrases searchers use to find your products or services? Are these important words used in the right places and in the right frequency? The Single Page Analyzer can give you a great snapshot of the most commonly used words on the page and where they’re located. Find out whether you’re using the important words often enough and in the right locations and edit your content accordingly.

4. Locate opportunities. The reports provided by the SPA can help you spot opportunities you otherwise might not have noticed. The Tag Information section, for example, can help you pinpoint keywords that you’re not using in anchor text.

5. Research and learn from your competition. The Single Page Analyzer tool can be used to examine on-page elements of a competitor’s web page. You will want to choose a competitor who is ranking well in the search engines that is similar to your website (Wikipedia and Amazon are probably not the best competitors to examine). Submit a web page into the tool and get a report of everything they’re doing right or wrong. Both sets of information can help you improve your own SEO for a similar page. For example, if you notice that they don’t have any errors in the Tag Information tab, you can get an idea of properly crafted meta tags. On the other hand, if you spot any problems with the page, it could be a great opportunity to beat the competition by making sure your own web page is free of those errors.

How Not to Use this Data

Now that we’ve covered how to utilize the information in the Single Page Analyzer report to improve the optimization of a web page, here’s one way you shouldn’t use this data:

Without applying wisdom. Just because you see a red error message in the SPA report doesn’t mean you should fix it without thinking it through. For example, certain pages of BruceClay.com come up with red error messages when run through the SPA. However, these same pages may rank high in the search engines, so it’s always important to consider the bigger picture before making any changes to important elements on a web page.

How to Decode the Single Page Analyzer Report

Here’s a closer look at the data produced by this free SEO tool and how to read it.

Tag Information

This section is where you’ll find a breakdown of your tags and whether you’re crafting them according to SEO best practices. The Tag Information section examines the title, meta description, and keywords tags. For each tag, the report tells you the total word count (Word Count), Stop Words, Used Words (the number of stop words minus the Word Count), and the character length of the tag.

The Tag Information section also tells you if there are any issues with those tags. You will see any issues listed in red in the last column of the report (the Tag Contents column). In that same column you will also find suggestions on how to solve those problems to improve the SEO of the page. For example, if the SPA discovers that your meta description is too long, you will see two notes in the Tag Contents column: the first note will inform you that the tag is longer than desired, and the second note will tell you the preferred average length of the meta description according to SEO best practices.

Text Metrics and Readability

In the second section of the SPA report, you will see text-specific metrics that help examine the reading level of your content. Here you’ll find everything from how many sentences you have on each page to the average number of syllables per word in the body of the page. The first column shows the metrics, the second features the value, and the third provides a description of the value so that you can better understand the numbers you’re looking at.

Along with text statistics, the SPA produces reading scores based on three different formulas or readability tests. Each test has its own scoring system, so make sure to read the information in the Description column to find out where your content stands according to each test. (The three readability tests are the Fog Reading level, Flesch Reading Ease level, and Flesch-Kincaid Grade level, if you’re wondering.)

 

Word Phrase Usage

The SPA can help you examine the most commonly used words and phrases on the page and let you know whether you’re using them appropriately, in the right places and according to a frequency that’s common and natural for your industry.

In the Word Phrase Usage category of the SPA report you will see a list of the most commonly used keywords and phrases on that page, listed in order with the longest phrases first. This list is not necessarily your chosen keywords, but the phrases that are the most prominent on the page.

Next to each keyword you will find the number of times the word or phrase is used in various elements on the page, such as in the title, meta description, keywords tag, in the headings, and alt tags. The report also shows you how many times the words are used in the first 200 words of the page, in the body, and in all of the on-page elements combined.

So how do you read the errors? Pay attention to colors. Numbers in red mean that the keyword or phrase is not used often enough, while numbers in blue mean you’ve used them too often.

Note: A red zero appears when you have no instances of a keyword in an element; however, the red color means that it’s a best practice to include it there.  A dash also means there’s no keyword in the element, but you don’t have to add it. This happens often with alt image tags.

Discover More Free SEO Tools

Free and easy to use, the SPA is an advanced search engine optimization tool that provides a full page analysis of a web page. You can use it to identify broken areas and key places on a page that need improvement. It’s a tool you can use to take small but effective steps to improve the optimization of each page. Finally, it’s a testing tool you can keep going back to reassess the enhancements and additions to the page.

Take the free, external SPA for a spin, but remember that this isn’t all that the free SPA has to offer. Within the free SEOToolSet Lite, you get a more robust SPA and many other tools that will help you better optimize your website for both search engines and human beings.

Apps 101: Deep Linking, App Indexing and Why They Matter

Apps 101: Deep Linking, App Indexing and Why They Matter was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Apps are largely considered the new SEO frontier. Mobile app usage is growing at an incredible rate and shows no sign of slowing. Overall app usage grew by 76 percent in 2014, and lifestyle apps in particular saw 174 percent growth.

If you have an app or are developing an app, app indexation and deep linking are things you definitely need to be paying attention to. Basically, Google wants to treat your app like a website. It wants to crawl it and index it so that search results can return specific pages from an app in mobile searches. That ability to return specific pages within an app? That’s deep linking.

This article is for those just dipping their toes into app indexation. Read on for a breakdown of what app indexing and deep linking actually are, as well as helpful examples of deep linking in action. You’ll also learn basic requirements for Android and iOS setup.

First, Some Definitions: What are App Indexing and Deep Linking?

What is Deep Linking?

Deep linking, in a general sense, involves linking to specific content within a website or app, rather than to the homepage. Here we’re talking in particular about getting specific elements of an app to show up in search results on a mobile device, allowing users to open an app directly from a search results page. Note: Users will only see this prompt if they have the particular app installed.

What Is App Indexing?

App indexing is the result of getting your app in Google’s index to enable deep linking. By allowing Google to index pages within your app, features (or promotions) within the app can begin showing up in users’ mobile searches, driving visits (and hopefully conversions) to the app.

Deep Linking in Action

Let’s say you search for “Jurassic World” on a mobile device, and you’re offered IMDB’s Jurassic World page rather than the IMDB homepage — this is deep linking in action. You, as the user, have the IMDB app installed on your smartphone, so you’re pleased to find among the top results the page for “Jurassic World” in your app, as well as a listing on IMDB.com directly.

Let’s return to the previous example of Jurassic World. If you wanted to read some reviews for the movie, you might type in “Jurassic World reviews” in a mobile search.

This result doesn’t give you the option to open the reviews in the mobile app. This would be a great opportunity to drive you to the app rather than the website, but that option simply doesn’t exist. Now, what if IMDB’s reviews page wasn’t ranking on the first page? Using deep linking in this instance would be a great way for IMDB to keep driving people back to the IMDB app, since Google is giving favor to apps that users have installed.

Next Steps: Getting Your App Indexed

To begin with, there are general setup requirements for Android and iOS:

Android Setup Requirements

Must be developed with minSdkVersion 17 or lower.
Only available on searches using Google app version 2.8 or higher, and Chrome for Android 4.1 or higher.
Users must be signed in for deep linking to work.

iOS Setup Requirements

Developed on a base SDK of iOS8.
Only available on searches using Google app version 5.3 or higher, and Chrome for iOS.
Users must be signed in for deep linking to work.

From there, Google offers specific guides for setting up Android apps and iOS apps for indexing. It is a technical process, but investing the time and effort can drive more users into your app and increase your relevance and visibility.

Have a specific question about app indexing and deep linking or mobile seo in general? Ask us in the comments! We’re always here to help. And in the meantime, check out this liveblog from Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West 2015 on Deep Linking and Development .

Free SEO Tool Alert! Quick Backlink Snapshot from the Lightweight Link Analysis Report

Free SEO Tool Alert! Quick Backlink Snapshot from the Lightweight Link Analysis Report was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Along with the SEOToolSet Pro suite of diagnostic tools, Bruce Clay, Inc. offers free and free-standing versions of some of the same tools. There are 10 free SEO tools that anyone can use without logging in from the free SEO tools page of SEOToolSet.com. Though “lite,” they are powerful enough to give you valuable information that you can utilize to create and strengthen your SEO strategy.

If you’re not familiar with our complimentary tools, our Free SEO Tool Alert miniseries is a great way to discover them, see how to use them, and learn how to incorporate the data they provide into your organic search engine optimization strategy.

Today’s Free SEO Tool: Link Analysis Report

Tool type: link earning, backlink analysis, competitor research

What you’ll learn: Who is linking to your site and who is linking to your competitor’s site.

Why this matters: Helps you monitor the health of your backlinks, attract higher-quality links to your site, and earn better SEO rankings.

You can also aid your backlink analysis efforts with the free DisavowFiles service to help identify backlinks you might want to disavow.

This is the free Link Analysis Report. Enter a URL to get results.

Link Analysis Report
Your URL:

SEOToolSet® Link Analysis Report

Page URL















How to Use It

Submit any URL and select “Link Report.” Enter one URL at a time. You can submit a URL from your website, or you can submit a competitor’s web page to see their links.
The report unveils a list of inbound links for that URL. Results are provided for Google, Bing, and Yahoo

Screenshot of the Link Analysis Report tool

Note: With the free version of our SEO tool, you’ll receive 30 links from Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The paid, full version of the Link Analysis Report tool provides all inbound links from Majestic.

4 Ways to Use This Data

The Link Analysis Report is a fast and easy way to see some of your inbound links and the backlinks of your competitors.

Use the information provided by this report to:

1. Get a snapshot of your backlink profile. Backlinks have the power to improve or harm your website’s ability to rank. According to search engines, some are healthy, some are unnatural, and others are downright spammy. So before you can even evaluate the quality of your backlinks you have to know what they are. If you’re searching for a free tool to give you a start when locating your inbound links, the Link Analysis Report does the job. This free SEO tool gathers a page’s backlinks and gives you a taste of a page’s backlink profile.

2. Catch bad links that can harm your site. Identifying your backlinks with the Link Analysis Report is going to give you a raw list of links that you can analyze from there. You want to find unnatural or spammy links before Google does. A proactive approach, backlink analysis is the first step in the process of monitoring your website’s link profile. With a list of your backlinks in front of you, you can review and analyze each link and get rid of the ones you feel are harming your site.

3. Discover your competition’s backlinks: Do you have a competitor with high-ranking pages? By running a competitor’s top ranking web page through the Link Analysis Report, you can find any authority links that might be responsible for assisting their rankings.

This information can help you:

 Get a better understanding of a healthy link profile. You might know the basic qualities of a good backlink, but it’s not always  easy to sift the authority websites from the low-quality sites. How do you know if a website is truly an expert in your field? One way to find out is to research your competition’s backlinks. Even if the specific websites don’t apply to your business, at least you can get a clear picture of what a healthy link relationship looks like and which types of backlinks are honored by the search engines.


Create healthy link relationships. Who do you want to associate with? Once you have a better grasp of what a healthy link relationship looks like, you can start working towards making higher quality relationships with other websites in your industry. It’s very likely that the same good links pointing to your competitors can also improve your backlink profile.

With a list in front of you, you can research each link to ensure it fits your field or topic. Then, you can focus your efforts on earning high-quality links through link earning or link building strategies, such as making sure your site has expert content and taking the time to link to known authorities from within your own website.

4. Further your link pruning efforts with the free DisavowFiles service. In your quest to hunt for and take down low-quality backlinks,  use the Link Analysis Report in concert with the free DisavowFiles tool for a healthier, cleaner backlink profile.  DisavowFiles is a crowdsourced tool that lets you see whether others have also disavowed the links pointing to your site. DisavowFiles is a way to add a layer of validation to your backlink audit and inform the rest of the community of potentially shady linking sites. Read more about the free DisavowFiles service here.

Take Advantage of More Free SEO Tools

The free Link Analysis Report is a quick and simple way to discover backlinks for any URL. If you find it valuable, bookmark this page and take advantage of this free seo tool whenever you need it. As long as you enter one URL at a time, you can use this tool as often as you wish without paying a penny. This tool is also available in our SEO tutorial under Step 13: Link Building – How to Attract Quality Links.

The Links Analysis Report tool is just one of the 10 free SEO tools offered at Bruce Clay, Inc. To discover the other nine, stay tuned for the next Free SEO Tool Alert.

Guide to Mobile PPC Opportunities

Guide to Mobile PPC Opportunities was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Traffic comes to a website through many avenues, and mobile’s a major highway.  As digital marketers and business owners, it’s our job to ensure this road is the shortest, easiest route to our products or services; potential clients, current customers, and the search engines all expect this of us. If you haven’t embraced mobile search engine marketing, don’t worry. You can start now.

This comprehensive Guide to Mobile PPC Opportunities covers how to reach your mobile customers through one effective digital marketing avenue: pay per click advertising, or PPC.

Herein, you’ll learn everything from how to locate what part of your audience is mobile to tips on how to build mobile-friendly landing pages. Use this guide if you’re new to mobile PPC or if you’re searching for the most valuable ways you can optimize and advertise your mobile site for customers on the go.

Let’s start with how to see your mobile audience.

How to Gauge Your Mobile Audience

You’ve heard the news that mobile searchers have officially trumped desktop searches. It’s safe to assume that some of your customers are using on-the-go devices to reach your business. But do you know exactly how much of your audience is mobile? This is a good place to start your journey into mobile PPC.

You can get a clear picture of your mobile paid search audience using either Google AdWords or Bing Ads.  We’ll show you how to get this information using both platforms.

In Google AdWords:

1. On the “Campaign” tab, click “Settings” then “Devices.”

2. Choose “Mobile” to see the numbers for this specific device.

3. You can filter the results per campaign or see the numbers for the entire account.

(Click to Enlarge) Mobile Audience Screenshot in Google AdWords

Finding the numbers through Bing Ads is slightly different mainly because you have to run a report.

In Bing Ads:

1. Go to “Reports” and run either an “Account,” “Campaign,” “Keyword” or “Ad” report type.

2. Select the columns you wish to add.

3. Add the Device type column to the report.

4. Select “Download” to get the report in Excel.

Using either platform, you can see segmented mobile campaign data. You might learn that more people are clicking your PPC ads and visiting your site via mobile devices than you thought. Knowing this information can help you determine a proper budget for mobile marketing efforts as well as help you to create an effective SEM strategy.

But knowing your mobile audience is just the first step in creating a powerful SEM strategy. The second step is to monitor the data over the long-term; Google Analytics can help you do that.

How to Monitor Long-Term Mobile Traffic

Using Google Analytics, you can keep track of mobile traffic trends over time. Find out if your mobile audience continues to grow and why. Learn whether it’s worth your time and money to invest more funds in mobile advertising.  Here’s how:

Go to “Audience” select “Mobile” then “Overview.”
You will see examples of long date ranges such as “years” and “months.” Select the date range you wish to view.
Reduce daily changes by clicking “Week” or “Month” located at the top right of the graph.
Select the box for each device you wish to compare.
Select “Pot Rows” to see data for all sessions over time.
You can compare traffic levels by hovering the mouse over a specific data point.
You can also use Google Analytics to compare mobile traffic with non-mobile traffic. From the “Explorer” tab, choose the “Goal Set” to see the data in the table.

Tips on Keyword Research for Mobile

When it comes to mobile, every aspect of SEM changes and keyword research is no different. Customers who use mobile devices to search online use different phrases than those who use their laptops or desktops. So you can’t just copy and paste your keyword list. Instead, invest some time in proper keyword research for your mobile audience — just like you did for desktop searchers. But since the behaviors and habits of this audience is different than their desktop counterparts, you also have to approach the keyword research process a little differently.

Consider these tips for selecting high-performing mobile keywords:

User intent: One of the main differences in the behavior of mobile searchers and tethered searchers is the urgency or impetus for the search. Mobile users are usually on the hunt for specific company information such as locations, hours, and phone numbers. Understanding user intent can help you locate the keyword phrases that will get the most traffic to your site.

But you don’t have to stop there. Find these keywords and strengthen them by adding mobile centric keyword modifiers, such as “near me,” “call” or “hours.”

Monitor strong mobile performance keywords. A simple and easy way to select keyword phrases is to pick the ones that are already performing well with mobile searchers. You can find keywords by segmenting the data (keywords, ads, search queries) by device. Then, expand the high performing campaigns and keyword phrases.
Don’t start from scratch. Use the Keyword Planner in Google AdWords to learn about the search volume behind your desired keywords and discover similar terms used in the industry. You can easily segment the information via a visual graph that shows mobile trends and a breakdown by device.

Get to Know Mobile Ads and Extensions

Mobile-specific ads are designed to influence your target audience while they’re browsing the web on the go. AdWords and Bing Ads offer various types of mobile ads and extensions, making it possible for you to reach your mobile searchers with words, images, and information they’re more likely to respond to. Here’s a look at the most commonly-used ads and extensions you will want to take advantage of.

Mobile text ads: These are nearly identical to regular desktop text ads, except they show only on mobile devices. This type of ad, available in both Google AdWords and Bing Ads, is a must for better data segmentation and control over your device-specific messages.

Mobile image ads: These AdWords ads are designed to be linked to your mobile website or to an app. Opt in to the Google Display Network to run these ads on mobile devices.

Interstitial images ads: These Google ads are featured when a user goes from one screen or page to another in an app. They are full screens with “higher click-through rates than banner ads, but may have a higher CPC.” You can find image sizes appropriate for mobile phones and tablets.

Banner image ads: This Google ad is the thin strip that appears at the top of an app page or screen. Your ads will automatically appear as banner ads and interstitials, so you will need to manually change the settings if you want to run only interstitials.

Call only: In February of this year Google announced call-only ads in AdWords. Created for devices that can make phone calls, the main purpose of the ad is to initiate a phone call to your business, although you can also include other information, such as your business name, two lines of text, and a display URL.

Call extensions: If you want a call-only ad but also want your customers to visit your website, you can use a call extension. Both AdWords and Bing offer call extensions to help you create ads that give mobile users the option to click through to your website or call you using the number in the ad.

How to Set Up Mobile Device Targeting for Text Ads

Now that you know the types of mobile ads and extensions available to you, it’s time to learn how to get your mobile-optimized ads to run on mobile devices.

By default, your regular ads will be shown to your mobile audience. However, the key is to make sure AdWords or Bing Ads know to run your mobile-preferred ads — the ones you’ve specifically tailored for this audience.

To do this, you simply select the checkbox next to “Mobile” when you create a new ad.  You can do this in AdWords and Bing Ads online and in the desktop editors for both platforms.

Here’s what it looks like in AdWords:

And in Bing Ads:

How to Adjust Your Mobile Bids
In AdWords:

In your campaigns settings, select a campaign.
Under settings, select the “Devices” sub tab.
Under “Devices,” you will see computers, tablets, and mobile.
Select “Mobile,” to adjust the mobile bid.

Power User Tip: How to adjust bids for multiple campaigns

Select “All Campaigns,” “Settings,” then “Devices.”
Click on “Multiple Campaigns,” and go to “Adjust Bids.”
There, use filters and segments to locate particular campaigns.

In Bing Ads:

Go to “Campaigns.”
Click on “Settings.”
Targeting Options
Select “Device,” to adjust the tablet bids.
Note: Unlike AdWords, Bind Ads also allows you to adjust bids for smartphones.

Attribution Reports and Cross-Device Conversion Tracking with SEM

You’ve created mobile-specific ads and learned how to run them on mobile devices. Now it’s time to see the journey behind the conversion. What do your mobile searchers do after they click on an ad? Do they call your store? Do they buy a product? You can find out by using the conversion tracking tool in AdWords.

But what if the conversion takes two devices? What if they started a search from one device and then purchase a product from a different device? This is called a cross-device conversion and it’s happening more than ever before. You can now get an idea of cross-device conversions through the Estimated Total Conversions column in AdWords.

Monitoring your cross-device conversions will help you understand the role and value that each device plays in getting those conversions. This relatively new column can give you the data you need to tighten and strengthen your campaigns and make better advertising decisions.

To access the Estimated Total Conversions column you will need to do two things: 1) Install AdWords conversion tracking on your website, and 2) Have enough conversions in your account. Google doesn’t tell you how many conversions are enough to meet its requirements; however, you will know when the data magically appears.

Get on Board with Mobile PPC

It’s no longer a question of whether a business should invest in mobile PPC; it’s now a matter of how much. The traditional search engine marketing tactics used to reach desktop searchers don’t cut it for the mobile audience. Use the instructions and tips above to learn the value of mobile to your business as well as how to implement mobile-specific SEM strategies that will help reach and satisfy your customers, bring conversions, and grow your business.

In-House SEO or SEO Agency: Which Is Right for Your Business?

In-House SEO or SEO Agency: Which Is Right for Your Business? was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Devising or revising an SEO strategy for your business and wondering whether or not to go with an in-house SEO or an SEO agency? It’s a common – and good – question to be asking. The answer depends on your budget and your goals.

Each option comes with its own benefits – and in a perfect world you would likely have both. Here’s Bruce Clay’s take on the issue: “It’s crucial to stay current with the latest SEO methodology – that’s very time-consuming, though. It requires several hours a day that a solo in-house SEO probably doesn’t have. A consultant can be a powerful ally, filling in the gaps by mentoring and guiding an in-house SEO.”

If it’s a matter of one or the other, however, it’s important to align the benefits of each and determine which is a better fit for your needs. Read on to find out more about the benefits of each option, with food for thought from our SEO Manager, Robert Ramirez.

SEO Agency Advantages

An SEO agency is basically a think tank of highly experienced, savvy analysts. Their experience and talent, coupled with carte blanche access to premiere tools and extensive data, is an invaluable resource for any business. And there’s no surprising a strong SEO agency — they are, after all, consumed with every aspect of SEO day-in and day-out.

“An SEO agency is entrenched in the industry,” said Ramirez. “They’re on top of all algorithm changes as they happen. Part of an agency’s job is to know everything about search engine optimization as it happens. Bruce Clay, for example, spends two to three hours a day reading.”

SEO agencies usually produce faster results because they have more experience. They’ve worked with hundreds (or thousands!) of clients in many industries. Search engine optimization agencies have a bird’s eye view of search.

“There’s less guesswork because — whatever the problem is — they’ve probably encountered it before,” Ramirez said.

Moreover, because SEO agencies work with multiple clients, they avoid the tunnel vision that an in-house SEO can be vulnerable to.

“Sometimes it can be hard for an in-house SEO to see a site’s issues because they’re looking at it too much. An SEO agency can offer a fresh perspective,” said Ramirez.

As far as cost is concerned, sometimes the hourly rate that an SEO agency charges can seem high. But with an SEO agency, you avoid the higher cost of maintaining an in-house SEO as an employee. An in-house SEO costs more than just salary alone — along with the salary, you are responsible for equipment, tools, education, benefits, etc. With an agency, those costs are not part of the package — you pay for the SEO agency’s expertise and time.

In-House SEO Advantages

An in-house SEO is thoroughly devoted to a business and focused on your brand 100 percent of the time. This SEO pro will have a robust knowledge of your industry, as well as your business’ unique needs. He or she is a go-to expert on search engine optimization and your business. Furthermore, the in-house SEO will have the advantage of working on-site with other team members.

“An in-house SEO is able to build relationships with other teams. They might have a stronger influence on IT or marketing, etc., since they’re in the building and have a day-to-day relationship with them,” said Ramirez. “On the other hand, an agency typically has the ability to escalate things to the C-Suite when teams are unresponsive. If an in-house’s words are falling on deaf ears, the agency can be the outside voice that their company will listen to. The agency can be key in making the higher-ups fall in line.”

For businesses who are in the process of building brand identity, an in-house SEO can make a lot of sense. An SEO working in-house is up to his elbows in your business’ message and methodology.

“They live and breathe your brand, which naturally makes them better equipped to represent the company’s message in marketing,” Ramirez said.

Which Is Right for You?

At the end of the day, it all boils down to your budget and needs. Whether you choose to work with an SEO agency or work with an in-house SEO, make sure you do your homework and find an experienced, ethical and effective agency or individual. When interviewing a prospective analyst, we recommend asking these “25 SEO Interview Questions” pulled straight from Bruce Clay, Inc. interviews.

If you’re looking to vet an agency, remember that a strong digital marketing firm should have an impressive track record of successful projects, longevity in the industry, seasoned SEO consultants on staff that are recognized leaders, and a reputation that speaks for itself.

In your experience, what combination of in-house and consultant works for getting search marketing initiatives done? Share in the comments! And for more talk on in-house vs. agency, check out this recent discussion from #SEMRushChat.