Additionally, search engines direct 300% more traffic to content websites than social media channels. 

So if you want to increase your leads & sales while boosting your overall online visibility – SEO is the way to go. 

The catch?

Since SEO is so effective, it’s also extremely widespread – and many competitive industry rankings are practically set in stone. The companies that dominate the SERP rankings for their niches tend to have loads of high-quality content, flawless technical SEO, and impeccable backlink profiles. 

That means it’ll be incredibly tough to rank in top spots for keywords in competitive niches like finance, real estate, law, and others. 

This causes many small-to-medium-sized businesses to shy away from high-value keywords that have lots of competition. 

Instead, they focus on keywords that have decent search volume and don’t have too many competitors. 

But is this always the best approach to take?

Not always. 

The truth is there are plenty of ways to snag top spots on highly competitive SERP pages; you just need to get creative with your tactics. 

So instead of getting intimidated by high volume, high-difficulty keywords – stay tuned to learn how you can obtain competitive industry rankings without blowing your budget. 

How Can You Tell if a Niche/Keyword is Competitive?

First, you need to know how to identify which industries & keywords have high amounts of competition and which don’t. 

There are several ways to do so, the most common of which is to check a keyword’s difficulty score (KD score), which is a numerical score of 1 – 100 representing how hard it is to rank for a keyword, with 100 being the most difficult. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of what each score range means:

0 – 20 (very low). If the KD score is 20 or lower, there’s next to no competition for the keyword. While it’ll be easier to rank, the search volume for these keywords is also likely very low. 

20 – 35 (low). Keywords in this range are still considered low, but they tend to have higher search volume, making them ideal for smaller companies to target. 

36 – 50 (normal). This is the average difficulty range that most keywords fall under. 

50 – 65 (difficult). Here’s where things start to get interesting. At this difficulty range, you’ll need an airtight SEO strategy if you want to compete. This is also the range that we’ll be discussing in this article. 

66 – 80 (very difficult). Things start to become dicier at this range, but ranking is still doable with the right strategy and an impeccable backlink profile. 

81 – 100 (near impossible). This range is exclusively for mega websites like Amazon, Wikipedia, and eBay. 

Finding keyword difficulty scores 

Where can you find a keyword’s difficulty score?

Our keyword planner tool from The HOTH will display the KD score for any keyword you want, and it’s entirely free to use. 

All you need to do is enter a keyword related to your niche, and the tool will provide you with a long list of relevant keywords. 

Alongside each query, you’ll get to see its KD score. 

As an example, let’s do a basic search for a competitive industry keyword like ‘real estate.’ 

Here’s a glimpse of the results:

Alt tag: Competitive industry ranking for the keyword ‘real estate.’

As you can see, the KD score for each keyword is displayed under Difficulty. 

Also, note the exceptionally high difficulty scores for these keywords, a sign of the competitiveness of real estate SEO. 

Out of these keywords, ‘real estate social network’ (39) and ‘compass real estate’ (50) show the most promise as far as KD score & search volume goes. 

Should you avoid any keyword that has a KD score at or over 70?

Not necessarily.

While the KD score is an accurate assessment of how hard it is to rank for a query, it’s not infallible, and sometimes ranking for a keyword isn’t as difficult as you might think. 

If you have a creative SEO strategy to employ and you want to take advantage of high search volume, don’t let a higher KD score intimidate you. 

Other important competitive industry ranking metrics 

Besides difficulty, another essential metric to pay attention to is a keyword’s search trend. 

This is a line graph that represents the interest in a keyword over time. In particular, you should pay attention to the direction the line points at the end. If it’s pointing up, it’s a sign that the keyword is growing in popularity. If it’s pointing down, interest in the keyword is beginning to fade. 

Ultimately, keywords that have high search volume and are trending up are the ones you should target. 

Another metric that’ll help you gauge the competitiveness of a keyword is its CPC (cost-per-click). 

This lets you know the average cost of a keyword in the PPC (pay-per-click) market. 

Most of the time, the higher the CPC, the more competition there is to rank for a keyword – as it’s a case of supply and demand. 

So if you want to get the most realistic view of a keyword’s competition, pay attention to both its KD score and its CPC. 

If you notice that a keyword has a super high KD score but a very low CPC, one of the metrics may be unreliable – which may be a sign that the keyword isn’t as difficult to rank for as its KD score would imply. 

What are the Most Competitive Industries for SEO?

Some industries and sub-markets have more SEO competition than others, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the context. 

For instance, if a niche doesn’t have much competition online, it could be that A) it’s a newer industry that’s just starting to catch on, and you’re an early adopter (a good thing), or B) that there’s simply not much interest in the topic (a bad thing). 

However, there’s no denying that the industries with the most competition have no shortage of organic visitors to pass around. 

The problem lies in the fact that most of those organic visitors will go to the top few results on the SERPs, leaving everyone else hanging in the wind. 

Which industries are the most competitive on search engines?

To find out, let’s take a look at which industries spent the most on PPC campaigns. This is a good indicator of competition because most companies only use PPC whenever their organic efforts aren’t yielding results – which is usually a sign of steep competition. 

Besides that, PPC campaigns are popular for appearing above the organic SERP results, which is another sign that the industry is fiercely competitive. 

Here’s a list of the industries that spend the most on Google Ads:

• Finance and Insurance
• Retail Sales 
• Travel and Tourism
• Jobs and Education 

Other highly competitive industries for SEO include:

• Legal Services
• Construction Companies 
• Healthcare 
• Car Dealerships 

If your business falls into one of these industries, you’ll likely have no shortage of competitors trying to rank for the same keywords. 

How location affects online competitiveness 

Local businesses face an additional challenge when launching SEO campaigns – which is how geography can affect competition. 

What do we mean by that?

What’s popular in one area might not be as popular in another, which can work for or against you. 

Let’s say that you run a vegan sushi restaurant in Portland, OR. 

Well, the popularity of the keyword ‘vegan sushi’ is bound to be a lot higher in Portland than somewhere like Kansas or Oklahoma. 

If you’re running a vegan sushi spot in Kansas, the good news is that you won’t have much in the way of competition. 

Yet, if you are in Portland, OR, you’ll face tougher competition trying to rank for that keyword than you would somewhere else. 

When to Avoid Attempting to Rank for Competitive Keywords 

While this article is all about standing strong against competitive industry rankings, sometimes being brash isn’t the move to make. 

There are a few instances where you should skip over keywords entirely in favor of other queries, including the following:

• Big brands dominate the top 10. If the top results for a keyword are dominated by the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Wikipedia – your best bet is to fold your hand. In this situation, you’re better off targeting long-tail keywords with less competition. 
• The intent is wrong. Even if a keyword has outstanding metrics, if the search intent isn’t what you’re going for, it’s best to avoid it. For instance, if you thought the intent was commercial, but it’s actually navigational, you should target a keyword that is actually commercial instead. 
• It’s trending down. Remember to pay attention to a keyword’s search trend, either by using our keyword planner or checking Google Trends. If a keyword has high search volume & high competition but is trending down, it’s about to lose its popularity – and you’ll see fewer and fewer organic visitors from it. 
• There are tons of SERP features. Is the SERP for the keyword you’re targeting riddled with SERP features like a featured snippet, image carousels, and a knowledge bar? If so, then even the #1 organic spot is getting overshadowed by the SERP features in position zero, so steer your efforts elsewhere. 

If you notice any of these red flags, you should abandon ship and research other keywords instead. 

How to Rank in Competitive Industries 

So far, we’ve talked a lot about overcoming steep competition to rank higher online, but how do you actually do that?

It’s time to learn how to develop a rock-solid SEO strategy that will lead to higher rankings, even in competitive niches. 

In particular, you need to do the following:

• Closely analyze your top competitors to pinpoint why they’re so successful 
• Reverse engineer their success for your own benefit 
• Employ impeccable technical SEO 
• Create outstanding content that your audience wants to consume 
• Promote your business across multiple channels 
• Bolster your backlink profile 

These are all critical factors for your SEO success, so let’s take a closer look at each one. 

Conducting a competitor analysis 

Your first step should be to size up your top digital competitors. 

Note the word digital here, as your online competitors won’t always be the same as your physical competitors. 

For example, some of your top brick-and-mortar competitors may not even have an online presence, so they won’t cause you any trouble in your SEO pursuits. 

However, there will be other companies out there (that you’ve probably never heard of) that will have a stranglehold on your niche. 

These are the companies that you want to pinpoint and analyze. 

How do you find them?

It’s a long process, but it typically goes like this:

• Conduct searches on Google (and other search engines included in your campaign) for your target keywords (yes, all of them) 
• Write down the businesses that appear in the top 5 results
• Rinse and repeat for your next set of keywords 
• Take note of the domains that keep appearing, as they’ll be your top competitors

Once you’ve found your primary competitors, you’ll need to analyze their content to determine why they’re so successful. 

Do they consistently publish thought leader-level content for their audience? Do they have excellent technical SEO and keyword placement? Do they have an impressive backlink profile?

These are all essential questions to ask when analyzing competitor content. 

Also, don’t forget to use our SEO audit tool to deeply analyze your top competitors. Our backlink checker tool also comes in handy for viewing a domain’s backlinks (which you can attempt to poach). 

Reverse engineering competitor SEO strategies 

Once you know why a competitor is doing so well on the SERPs, there’s no law saying you can’t replicate their success. 

If they’re publishing high-quality content that audiences trust, try to identify ways that you can not only publish similar content but also outdo them. 

Tips for outdoing competitor content include:

• Creating detailed infographics for the topic 
• Adding original insights and tips that aren’t present in the original piece 
• Using more high-resolution images that directly relate to the topic 
• Shooting a helpful video that goes into more depth than the original post 

These are all ways that you can create fantastic content that outdoes your competition. 

Also, when taking a look at a competitor’s backlink profile, identify the links that have the most impact – i.e., the ones coming from domains with high authority. 

If you find backlinks that you know will boost your own profile, you can attempt to snag them for yourself. 

If you’ve already created a piece of content that outdoes the original piece they linked to, a webmaster is likely to link to your piece of content instead – as that will benefit their SEO, too. 

Master your technical SEO  

Technical SEO is important for any search engine campaign, but it’s doubly crucial when attempting to rank for competitive keywords. 

That’s because the increased competition will greatly reduce your margin for error.

If you want to reach the top of the SERPs for a competitive keyword, you can’t have any indexing errors, slow loading times, or a poorly structured website. 

To refresh your technical SEO chops, you can check out our extensive technical SEO checklist. 

Here’s the condensed version:

• Your website needs to pass the Core Web Vitals Test (page speed) 
• Google Search Console’s Indexing Report will help you resolve any crawling/indexing errors
• A flat site architecture works best (where every page is a few links away from the homepage) 
• Responsive website design works best as it can display on both desktops and mobile devices 
• Website security is a must (HTTPS and SSL certificates) 

Use a multi-channel approach 

Off-page SEO matters, too, so you shouldn’t neglect to promote your business through other channels. 

In particular, social signals affect SERP rankings, so you should have a presence on all the major social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.). 

That’s especially true when considering certain demographics, such as using TikTok to appeal to Gen Z and LinkedIn for Gen X and older crowds. 

Creating content for video-sharing websites like YouTube is another way you can build your online reputation and drum up traffic for your site. 

So, in addition to posting regular blog content, you should also post on social media sites, video-sharing platforms, and more. 

Acquire high-authority backlinks 

If your SEO campaign primarily revolves around Google, then link-building needs to comprise a large portion of your strategy. 

Backlinks don’t matter as much for search engines like Bing & Yahoo, but they will still boost your online visibility to a degree. 

You need to target websites that have high domain authority scores to get the most bang for your SEO buck. 

To master the art of link-building, you can check out our HOTH guide to getting backlinks. 

Here are some quick link-building tips and tactics:

• You can target link insertions by reaching out to webmasters to insert backlinks into their existing pieces of content. 
• Guest blog posting is a popular way to obtain backlinks.
• Replacing broken links online is a white-hat tactic for acquiring links. 
• Getting listed on directories like Yelp will generate backlinks. 

The stronger your link profile is, the stronger your chances are of ranking higher on Google. 

Final Thoughts: Competitive Industry Rankings 

Certain industries have more competitive SEO than others, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t reach the top of the SERPs. 

By analyzing, copying, and outdoing your competitors, you can claim your rightful spot in the top 5 results on search engines like Google and Bing. 

Improving your link profile and creating outstanding content will also help your chances. 

Does your business need help penetrating the top SERP results for your competitive industry?

Then don’t wait to check out our HOTH X, our SEO service customized for you. Our experts will help you gain a loyal following of brand evangelists, so don’t wait to get in touch today.        

The post Competitive Industry Ranking: SEO Tips for Crowded Markets appeared first on The HOTH.

Backlinks are an essential ranking factor for Google’s search algorithms, as they value websites that get lots of links from trusted, authoritative websites. 

Out of all the ways to obtain backlinks, there’s a lot of debate surrounding link insertions vs. guest posts. 

Both are methods that can land you backlinks, but which works better?

In particular, which method will generate the most authoritative backlinks for you at the lowest cost in terms of time and money?

These are the questions that we’re here to answer today.

Link-building is one of the most effective SEO tactics, as 67.5% of digital marketing experts agree that backlinks have a significant impact on SERP (search engine results pages) rankings. 

However, it’s also one of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects of SEO. 

In fact, 65% of marketers feel that link-building is the most difficult & challenging part of optimizing a site for search engines. 

Since link-building is so effective yet challenging, finding the best technique to build backlinks is crucial – which is where link insertions and guest posts come into play. 

Should you target existing posts to insert your backlinks, or is opting to create guest blogs the better option?

Both methods have unique advantages and disadvantages, so stay tuned as we compare and contrast link insertions vs. guest posts. 

What are Link Insertions?

Let’s start by defining link insertions, which you’ll see go by several different names online. 

Link insertions are also called contextual links, link placements, and niche edits. 

So what are they?

Regardless of the name, they all refer to the same thing – placing a backlink into an existing post on a relevant website. 

For instance, if you’re in the fitness niche, you could target other fitness blogs and websites for link placements. 

Scroll through their blog archive until you find a post that aligns with one of your target pages (i.e., the pages you want to acquire backlinks for). It could be that the post mentions a similar topic or one of your products could be a perfect fit for the content. 

To try and snag a link placement, you would then reach out to the webmaster to ask if you can place a link on the page you found. 

To sweeten the pot, you can offer a few ways to update the post and make it fresh again, such as adding new insights. 

That’ll increase your chances of securing the link insertion since it’ll be beneficial to the webmaster to update an aging piece of content – making it relevant & rankable again. 

Another way to convince webmasters to add your links is to offer money or another type of reward in exchange for the placement.

However, this is technically against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, hence why offering money for link placements is considered a ‘gray hat’ technique. 

How Do You Target Link Insertions?

There are a few ways to go about acquiring link insertions, and they don’t always involve bribing web admins with money – which is good news. 

The ‘white hat’ way to acquire link insertions is to offer value to the webmaster – either by updating their content or offering something else of value, like a guest post spot on your blog in return. 

These methods are far less likely to land you in hot water with Google, which is why they’re considered ‘white hat’ (the good guy way). 

However, targeting these types of link insertions tends to be the most time-consuming, which is why some site owners choose the gray hat route instead. 

Two other methods for targeting link insertions are finding broken links and unlinked brand mentions online. 

Broken link-building 

Link rot is a very real phenomenon that affects every website in existence, regardless of industry. 

It’s where links no longer point to their original destination, either because they’ve been relocated to a new address or aren’t available anymore. 

According to a link rot study by Ahrefs, approximately 66.5% of links placed in the last 9 years are now dead.

The good news?

Broken links are goldmines for link insertions, as you can find broken links on related websites and replace them with a link to your content instead. 

This is another mutually beneficial technique, as the webmaster gets to get rid of a broken link (which is notoriously bad for SEO), and you get a link insertion. 

Ahrefs has a broken link checker tool that you can use to uncover dead links on websites in your niche. 

You’ll want to find websites that have excellent metrics; otherwise, acquiring a backlink from them won’t do you any good. 

You can use our free backlink checker tool from The HOTH to gauge the quality of each domain. If the website has a strong domain authority score, it’s worth pursuing a link insertion. 

However, websites that have poor link profiles aren’t worth your time, so don’t target a link insertion until you find the right site to target. 

Unlinked brand mentions 

Even if your site isn’t a household name, there are likely instances where other websites mention your brand online but fail to link to you.

It could be that a blog mentioned your business or a website may have reviewed one of your products. 

They mention your brand, which is great, but they didn’t link back to your website. 

These are known as unlinked brand mentions, and they’re excellent targets for link insertions. 

After all, the website already mentioned your business, so why not take the extra step and add a link back to your site?

What’s great about these unlinked mentions is that you get to choose which page you want the link to point at, so it doesn’t have to be your homepage only. 

Ideally, you should try to build an adequate number of links for each page that you want to dominate the SERP rankings. So if you can find an unlinked brand mention, you should link to your pages that are in desperate need of link juice.

To find them, you can use advanced search modifiers on Google. 

By searching for ‘site:yourdomain.com,’ you can find instances where other websites mentioned you. 

There are other modifiers you can use, too, like the exact match modifier “query” or the similar query modifier ‘Query OR query.’

Besides searching for your brand name, you can also try searching for prominent employees, your products, and company phrases/slogans. 

The Advantages of Link Insertions 

Now that you know more about link insertions and how to target them, why should you bother? What are the upsides of using link placements over other link-building techniques?

Here’s a breakdown of all the benefits of using link insertions. 

Outreach is quick and easy

Conducting outreach for link insertions tends to be far less time-consuming than guest posts. 

Instead of pitching a brand-new piece of content, you’re simply asking to place a link in an existing piece. 

Since outreach is so simple, you’ll be able to reach out to twice as many websites as you would with guest posts. 

You can target any website in your niche 

Guest posts are limited in that you can only write for websites that accept guest posts. 

You don’t have that problem with link insertions, so any website that posts related content is fair game. 

The posts are already indexed

This benefit is a really significant one. Whenever you place links in existing posts, they’re already in Google’s index. 

That means you won’t have to wait long to see the backlink’s impact on your SERP rankings. 

Whenever you create a brand-new guest post, you have to wait for Google to index it – which can take weeks or even months. 

The Drawbacks of Link Insertions 

It’s not all peaches and roses with link insertions, as there are some noticeable downsides. 

For one, even white hat techniques can land you in hot water with Google at times, as, technically, any form of link-building violates their guidelines. 

Another drawback is it can be difficult to convince web admins to add links to their existing pieces, especially if you don’t have any ways to add further value to the post. 

What are Guest Posts?

Guest posting is a tried-and-true link-building tactic that’s been around for a while. 

It involves writing guest blog posts for other websites in your niche in exchange for a link that points back to your site. 

In addition to acquiring a backlink, guest posts also expose your content and brand to a new audience, which is a bonus. 

For a guest post to count toward your link profile, it needs to take place on a relevant website that directly relates to your content. 

That means you won’t be able to target just any website for a guest post, only related blogs in your industry.

If the guest posts you create truly add value to your target audience, they’ll help you build authority, generate more traffic, and convert users into customers. 

It’s common for two blogs to trade guest posts; that way, each website benefits from a backlink and exposure to a new audience. 

How long should a guest post be to see the best results?

In general, your guest posts should always be long-form and contain at least 2,000 – 3,000 words. 

Research has shown that users are more likely to share long-form content over shorter posts, as they tend to be more informative and educational. 

How Do You Target Guest Posts?

Targeting guest posts is a tad on the tricky side, as you can only target websites that accept guest posts – and not all do.

That’s why link insertions are easier to target than guest posts, as you aren’t limited to sites that accept outside posts. 

However, obtaining guest posts is by no means impossible; you just need to know where to look. 

Once again, advanced search operators on Google are here to save the day. 

The easiest way to use them is to copy this format: your niche keyword “guest post.”

Here’s an example for the fitness industry: fitness “guest post.”

Since ‘guest post’ is in quotations, Google will display exact matches for it, and you’ll get to see a list of fitness websites that accept guest posts. 

The Advantages of Guest Posts 

Why should you target guest posts instead of link insertions?

Well, there are a few benefits you’ll enjoy that you won’t if you only use link insertions. 

Here’s a look at the top perks of using guest posts to acquire backlinks. 

They help establish you as a thought leader 

Acquiring thought leadership status is a big part of the SEO/content marketing game, especially if you want to build a loyal following. 

An edge guest posts have over link insertions is the content you create will build your authority and reputation with your target audience. 

Guest posts can generate referral traffic 

If you produce high-quality content for your guest post, you’ll likely see referral traffic. That’s where avid readers of the other blog discover your website and start reading your blogs. 

That doesn’t really happen with older articles that only receive one of your links and not much else. 

The Downsides of Guest Posting 

While guest posting can be beneficial, it takes countless hours of outreach. 

In fact, you may go back and forth with several web admins and not even land a single guest spot. 

Besides that, writing guest posts takes a lot of time and money. 

That’s especially true when you consider that most guest posts need to be long-form, requiring even more effort than a standard blog post. 

Lastly, it takes a long time for new guest posts to appear in Google’s index. That means you’ll have to wait quite a while to see the impact of the backlink on your link profile. 

The Final Verdict: Link Insertions vs. Guest Posts 

By now, you’ve seen the advantages and disadvantages of both link insertions and guest posts. 

Which link-building technique won the battle?

For us, the best option is always to use a combination of link-building techniques, and there’s no rule that says you can’t use link insertions and guest posting in tandem. 

Do you need help developing a successful link-building strategy for your business?

Then don’t wait to check out our insanely effective link outreach services from The HOTH. Our link-building gurus will generate real results for your business, so don’t wait to get in touch now.     

The post Link Insertions vs. Guest Posts: Which Works Better for SEO? appeared first on The HOTH.

However, to achieve such impressive numbers, your content must be flawlessly optimized for maximum online visibility. 

That means conducting regular SEO audits to catch & resolve issues that could threaten your SERP rankings. 

You need to look out for indexing errors, outdated keywords, poor loading times, and duplicate content during your audits – as they can negatively affect your SEO. 

As a rule of thumb, it’s wise to conduct SEO audits two to four times a year to catch issues before they arise. 

Links rot over time, keywords trend down, and search engines like Google are constantly updating their algorithm, which is why you need to keep a keen eye trained on the health of your SEO profile. 

Another reason to conduct an audit is if you see sudden changes to your rankings. If you wake up one day and check Google Analytics to see that your organic traffic saw a steep drop off almost overnight, conducting a flash SEO audit should be your next step. 

Quite a bit should go into an SEO audit, and it can be pretty overwhelming if you don’t have a detailed checklist to follow. 

That’s why we’ve put together this extensive SEO audit checklist to help you ensure you’ve covered all the bases – so stay tuned to learn how to conduct a thorough SEO audit. 

What’s an SEO Audit, Anyway?

Even if you put together the perfect SEO strategy, time will always take its toll on your website’s content. 

It’s inevitable that technical, on-page, and link-related issues will arise over time, and they can wreak havoc on the strategy you worked so hard to put in place. 

The only way to fight back against this is to conduct thorough SEO audits several times a year. That will help you catch indexing errors and broken links before they have a chance to affect your search engine rankings. 

SEO audits involve making tweaks to your website (and off-page content) to improve your performance on search engines, most notably Google. 

Not only that, but the search habits of your target audience are subject to change over time. 

In other words, the keywords they were searching for when you did your keyword research 6 months ago probably aren’t the same ones they’re searching for now. 

Accordingly, you may need to update your target keywords to maintain your online visibility. If the keywords you optimized your content for are trending down, it’s worth conducting updated keyword research to find which queries are trending up. 

Besides keywords, you also need to keep an eye out for indexing errors that could potentially remove your website from the SERPs entirely. 

Broken links will also affect your SEO, as do backlinks from websites that took a hit to their domain authority. 

Given the wide variety of issues you need to watch out for, there are several different types of SEO audits. 

Types of SEO audits 

Sometimes you may only need to audit a particular aspect of your SEO strategy instead of auditing everything as a whole. 

For instance, if you’re only out to fix a few technical issues (such as switching from HTTP to HTTPS or improving page speed), you won’t need to engage in a complete SEO audit. 

Here’s a look at the most common types of SEO audits digital marketers conduct. 

Content audit

An in-depth content audit involves finding opportunities to improve the accuracy, relevancy, recency, and quality of your website’s content – including blogs, videos, infographics, podcasts, and more. 

For your content pieces that aren’t evergreen (content that doesn’t age and continues to generate traffic), you’ll need to periodically update them to stay relevant. 

That includes all your blogs that have years in the title (i.e., the best SEO strategy for 2022 needs to be updated to 2023) and that cover topics that may have become outdated (Google E-A-T blogs need to include the extra E now). 

Speaking of E-E-A-T, it’ll be your guide for optimizing your existing content. 

The acronym stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. 

Experience is the extra E that you need to update your content for if you haven’t already. Google now favors content that shows first-hand experience on topics, so be sure to share any real-world experience you have in your articles. 

For instance, if you’re writing a review about a product you’ve actually used before, mention that in the article – and do your best to include proof like pictures, videos, and experiences you had when using the product. 

Content audits also involve optimizing your content for SERP features like image carousels and featured snippets. 

A great tool to help out with this is Google’s Rich Results Testing Tool (more on this in a bit), as it will confirm that your content is able to generate rich results (SERP features) based on your structured data. 

On-page SEO audit 

An on-page SEO audit differs from a content audit in that your primary focus is on your keyword usage & metadata instead of the content itself. 

Keyword placement is the name of the game here, and you need to ensure that your keywords are in all the optimal spots, including the following:

• In your H1 and H2 tags 
• In the first 100 words of the article
• Organically throughout the body text 
• In the conclusion
• In the title tag and meta description
• In your image alt text & file names 

Besides checking your keyword placement, you also need to check the relevancy of your keywords. 

It could be that a keyword you targeted 6 months ago has fallen off in popularity, bringing any blogs you have optimized for it down with the ship. 

For these articles, you need to decide if it’s worth doing keyword research to target a new set of keywords or if you should simply create fresh content. 

Bear in mind that when you change target keywords, you’ll negatively affect your SEO for the original keyword while boosting it for your new one. As such, you need to make sure that your original keyword isn’t about to see a resurgence in popularity, as you’ll no longer be ranking for it. 

One of the best tools to uncover which keywords you should target is Google Trends. 

Not only will it show you the current search volume for each keyword, but you’ll also see a graph representing its trend (user interest in it). 

Technical SEO audit 

Technical SEO refers to tweaking all the technical aspects of your website that affect your SEO profile. 

In particular, the goal is to make your website as easy to crawl & index for search engines as possible. 

Google’s web bots can easily get confused if your site isn’t up to their standards, such as sites that have duplicate content, broken links, and 404 errors. 

These issues can affect your SEO in a big way, such as disappearing from the SERPs altogether due to an indexing error. 

Technical SEO audits, then, are how you gauge the effectiveness of the technical aspects of your website. 

Core components include your website’s loading speed, XML sitemap, site architecture, internal linking structure, and Schema markup. 

If you wake up one day and find that your website has vanished from Google’s result pages, your technical SEO is likely the culprit, and an audit should be your very next step. 

Mobile-friendliness is also key for technical SEO, primarily because Google practices mobile-first indexing. That means your website needs to either incorporate a responsive design or create a mobile version for your website if you want to appear in the SERPs. 

Security is another core aspect of technical SEO, as HTTPS & SSL certificates are preferred by search engines, especially for eCommerce stores & sites that contain user medical information. So if you haven’t made the switch for your website, a technical audit is the perfect time to do so. 

If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you with this, you can check out HOTH Technical SEO. 

Local SEO audit 

Do you run a local business?

If so, then local SEO will comprise the majority of your efforts, hence the need for a local SEO audit several times a year. 

Local SEO is a tad different from traditional SEO, as your Google My Business profile plays a large role in how successful you are with it. The more you can optimize your GMB profile, the more visibility you’ll enjoy on Google’s local results, such as the map pack & local pack. 

These are SERP features that highlight local businesses whenever users search for key local SEO phrases like ‘near me’ or ‘in the neighborhood.’ 

Whenever you’re conducting a local SEO audit, you need to ensure that you’re using a local keyword strategy that contains your location or phrases like ‘in my town.’ 

However, keyword usage and placement remain the same as any other SEO strategy. You want to make sure that your keywords appear in strategic locations, like your meta title and H1 tag. 

Directories also play a big role in local SEO, as you’ll want to ensure you’re still listed on sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, Yahoo Places, and Manta.

Additionally, local SEO audits still require technical tweaks like improving site speed, using HTTPS & SSL certificates, and utilizing a flat site architecture. 

It’s crucial not to forget to optimize these technical factors when conducting a local SEO audit; otherwise, indexing errors & page speed issues could hold your SEO back in a big way. 

Essential SEO Audit Tools 

It’s practically impossible to conduct SEO audits without using at least a few tools to help you. That’s because there’s no way to manually view crucial SEO metrics like dwell time, bounce rate, keyword rankings, and page load times. 

You’ll want to leverage as many free tools as you can, like all the fantastic offerings from Google. 

Other tools, like our SEO Audit Tool from The HOTH, will provide detailed reports that’ll provide detailed insights into the strength of your SEO profile. 

Then there are web crawlers like Screaming Frog that will help you uncover essential technical SEO issues like broken links, duplicate content, and 404 errors. 

Here’s a look at some of the most effective tools you can use for your SEO audits. 

Google Search Console (GSC)

First, let’s take a look at arguably the most important SEO tool for marketers, Google Search Console. 

It’s a free offering from Google that allows you to view how Google sees your website, which is invaluable for SEOs. 

For instance, you’ll get to view your organic traffic numbers, SERP rankings, referring domains (backlinks), and if there are any indexing errors. 

If Google isn’t able to successfully crawl & index your website, you won’t appear in the SERPs, rendering all your SEO efforts useless. 

That’s why adding your site to GSC is such a necessity, as you’ll be able to see if Google is able to index all your pages. If there are any errors, the Page Indexing Report will let you know exactly what went wrong (and provide suggestions for how to fix them). 

Another essential step is to create an XML sitemap and upload it to Google Search Console to ensure its bots have full visibility of all your web pages. Without a sitemap, Google’s crawlers may miss certain pages on your site that you want to be indexed, such as blog posts or videos. 

You’ll need a Google account to access GSC, so you’ll need to create one if you don’t have one already. From there, go to the GSC website and select your property type. You can choose from a domain or a URL prefix. If you have a domain, you’ll need to include all URLs across your subdomains. 

Also, if your website supports both HTTP & HTTPS, you’ll have to enter each separately. 

Google PageSpeed Insights 

Your website’s loading speed is a huge deal for your SEO profile, especially because of Google’s Core Web Vitals Test.

Google wants to provide the best experience it can for its users, and it doesn’t want to frustrate them by ranking websites that take forever to load in top spots. 

That’s why every web page Google crawls is subject to the Core Web Vitals Test, which runs a series of tests on your site’s loading speed. Besides loading the page in the blink of an eye, the test also checks how quickly users can begin interacting with the site.

If the thought of the test has you sweating bullets, fear not – as Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is your ticket to a passing grade. 

It’ll grade your overall website speed on a scale of 1 – 100, and it provides detailed breakdowns of essential speed metrics such as:

• First Input Delay (FID)
• First Contentful Paint (FCP)
• Time to Interactive (TTI)
• First Meaningful Paint (FMP)
• Speed index 

Another perk of the tool is that it provides a complete breakdown of all the issues holding back your speed, as well as recommendations for how to fix them. 

Its suggestions for improving speed include the following:

• Minify Javascript & CSS
• Encode images efficiently 
• Enabling text compression

Yet, one significant drawback is that Google PageSpeed Insights only uses approximated data, not your actual speeds. It’s for this reason that it’s best to use more than one tool to check your website’s loading speed, such as GTMetrix. 

Google Rich Results Testing Tool 

If you want your content to appear in featured snippets, the knowledge bar, and the ‘People Also Ask’ sections on Google, you must have properly formatted structured data markup. 

Otherwise, Google won’t be able to generate rich results from your content, nullifying all your efforts. 

The Google Rich Results Testing Tool is perfect for ensuring that your Schema markup is capable of generating rich results. All you have to do is enter your URL and hit the Test URL button for the tool to work its magic. 

If you see a large green check mark, your structured data is well-optimized, and Google will be able to generate rich results. In fact, the tool lets you know which rich results you qualify for, and you have the ability to preview what they’d look like. 

Rich results (also called SERP features) allow you to obtain position zero on Google, which appears above both paid ads and organic search results. It’s a powerful position to have, as it’s basically a guarantee that you’ll see a ton of traffic from it. 

If there are any errors with your Schema markup, you’ll see a red exclamation point along with explanations of what went wrong. 

That’ll make troubleshooting structured data issues a breeze, as you won’t have to play a guessing game & will know exactly where the problems lie. 

You also have the option of selecting which user agent (a standard Googlebot vs. Googlebot for smartphones) to crawl your web page. That gives you the ability to preview how rich results will look on mobile devices like smartphones & tablets, which will help you reach a larger audience. 

Google Analytics 

Yet another essential free offering from Google is Google Analytics, a tool that helps you gain insights into your target audience & primary sources of organic traffic. 

Not only is it a must-have tool for monitoring the progress of your SEO strategy, but it’s also invaluable for SEO audits. 

The Acquisition and Channel Grouping Reports are excellent for determining your highest-performing web pages and pieces of content. You’ll be able to find out the following:

• Which keywords are driving the most traffic
• Your highest-performing landing pages
• Which channels drive the most traffic 

GA will also provide essential metrics like your bounce rate, dwell time, average session length, and more. 

That’s not to mention all the insights you can gain about your target audience from it. GA contains detailed information about your customer’s buying habits, online behaviors, and demographics. 

You can use this data to help create detailed customer avatars (if you haven’t already). Not only that, but accessing the Audience Dashboard will provide plenty of insights for your SEO audit. For instance, if you need to rethink your content strategy, the customer information on GA can help you rethink how you speak to your target audience. 

Last but not least, the Conversion Dashboard should be your go-to for finding out how effective your content is at generating sales. You also have the ability to set goals that the tool tracks for you, making it easier to improve your conversion rates and earn more revenue. 

Google Analytics also integrates with GSC, so it’s worth connecting the two to get the most value out of each tool for your SEO audits. 

Screaming Frog 

An integral part of any SEO audit is uncovering duplicate content and broken links, and Screaming Frog excels at both. 

It’s a website crawler that can perform tons of tasks to help your SEO audit & technical SEO, including:

• Checking response codes
• Checking your URL structures
• Examining your site architecture
• Optimizing images
• Testing SERP snippets
• Correcting page titles
• Analyzing meta descriptions
• Generating XML sitemaps

As you can see, Screaming Frog is a highly versatile tool for site audits. 

It’s particularly useful for learning more about your site architecture, which can help you improve it. To keep web bots happy, you need a logical structure for all your internal links. That’ll also help you avoid orphan pages (which you can also uncover using Screaming Frog). 

If you don’t have an XML sitemap for your website yet, you can use Screaming Frog to create one. From there, you can submit it to GSC for improved indexing of your web pages. 

Your URL structure also needs to remain consistent to help with indexing, and you can use Screaming Frog to get an overview of your URLs. That’ll make it easy to identify any URLs that deviate from your formula, which you can then correct.

Lastly, the tool makes it a breeze to optimize the images on your site for improved page speed. 

You should try to keep your images under 100kb for the sake of your loading times, and Screaming Frog makes it easy to get an overview of all images over 100kb, both with and without alt text. 

HOTH SEO Audit Tool 

Our free SEO Audit Tool from The HOTH will provide you with a comprehensive breakdown of your SEO profile. 

It’s your one-stop shop for gathering all the data you need to improve your website’s SEO. 

You receive an overall grade for the strength of your SEO, as well as individual scores for the following:

• On-page SEO 
• Links
• Usability 
• Performance 
• Social 

You’ll get to see our top recommendations for improving your SEO, such as removing duplicate H1 tags, shortening meta descriptions to the recommended length (between 70 and 160 characters), and adding alt text to images – just to name a few. 

Our tool also provides recommendations for keyword placement to boost your online SEO, and you’ll get to see a breakdown of your backlink profile. 

In addition, there’s a helpful technical SEO checklist to ensure everything is up to par behind the scenes, such as the presence of a robots.txt file and an SSL certificate. 

The Essential SEO Audit Checklist 

You’ve got your tools ready, and you know the basics of what an SEO audit entails, so now it’s time to get down to business. 

Here’s the definitive audit checklist you need to follow to improve your website’s SEO and keep your content up-to-date. 

Ensure your site is mobile friendly 

Google began rolling out its mobile-first algorithm in 2018, and mobile-friendliness has been a necessity for SEO ever since. 

What’s mobile-first indexing?

Essentially, it means that Google prioritizes indexing mobile sites before desktop sites. 

They made this decision because a whopping amount of searches come from mobile devices (60%), and desktop sites with no mobile version provide a poor user experience (stretched dimensions, disappearing menus, etc.). 

It also means that the mobile version of your website will appear for both mobile AND desktop searches. 

So if you only have a desktop version of your website, your SEO profile will be in serious trouble. 

Mobile sites are cumbersome to maintain and outdated, as the main way to ensure mobile-friendliness is to use a responsive website design. That’s where your website is able to display correctly on both mobile devices and desktops, so you’ll still appear in the SERPs – even with mobile-first indexing. 

How do you determine whether your website is optimized for mobile devices or not?

You can use Google’s Mobile Friendly Testing Tool to find out in no time. Enter your URL into the tool, hit Run Test, and you’ll get to see if your site runs properly on mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, the tool will tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it. 

Conversely, you can also check the Mobile Usability Report found within Google Search Console, as it performs the same function. 

Audit your site architecture & URL structure 

What does your site architecture look like?

If you aren’t sure, you can use a web crawler like Screaming Frog to find out. 

Ideally, you want to use a flat site architecture, where each page is only a few clicks away from the homepage. 

If your site architecture is messy and unorganized, it could lead to orphan pages – which have no internal links pointing at them. That means it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be indexed by web bots, and it’ll be practically impossible for your users to find them. 

Let’s say that you spend quite a bit of time and money on producing a helpful video tutorial for your target audience. Well, if you have a poor site structure and the page gets orphaned, all your hard work is for nothing – and you won’t generate any organic traffic with your video. 

That’s why it’s imperative to get your site architecture in shape, as your SEO and user experience will both benefit as a result. 

Whenever you create a new web page, make sure that you have an internal link pointing to it. 

Also, Screaming Frog can help you get a basic understanding of your site architecture, but the tool isn’t very visual. A tool like PowerMapper will display your website’s architecture in a visual format that’s easy to digest, which can make it easier to fix. 

Your URL structure also matters, as it needs to remain consistent to avoid confusing web crawlers. Once you develop a desirable URL structure, stick to it like glue. Screaming Frog will help you quickly find any URLs that don’t follow your structure during your audit. 

Check for indexing errors

Next, you need to check Google Search Console to see if any of your web pages have run into indexing errors. 

The Page Index Report provides an overview of the indexing status of all your web pages. You’ll get to see how many pages are indexed vs. aren’t, and there’s a visual representation of how your pages have been indexed over time. 

Underneath this is the Why Pages Aren’t Indexed section, which is where you’ll address any and all indexing errors. 

It’s crucial to go through this list one by one, as all it takes is one indexing error to remove one of your highest-performing pages from the SERPs. 

Also, don’t panic if not all your web pages are indexed, as it’s perfectly normal not to index every page on your website. In fact, you shouldn’t try to index every page, as doing so will eat up your crawl budget. 

Pages that you shouldn’t bother indexing include:

• Product pages that have canonical tags (i.e., different colors & sizes of products) 
• Admin pages 
• Log-in pages
• Thank you pages
• Author archives

In short, any web page that you don’t need to generate organic traffic should receive a noindex tag. You’ll also be able to view all your non-indexed pages on GSC to ensure that none of your essential marketing content received a noindex tag by mistake. 

Common indexing errors include soft 404s, 404 errors, broken links, and unauthorized requests (401). In most cases, you can solve most 404 errors by using a 301 redirect to a different page with similar content. 

Look for duplicate versions of your website 

You need to ensure that Google is only indexing one version of your website, as duplicates can cause serious problems. 

There are various versions of a URL that your site could sit on, such as whether it uses HTTPS or a WWW or not. 

For example, these could all be versions of the same website:

• http://www.mysite.com
• http://mysite.com
• https:///www.mysite.com
• https://mysite.com

That makes four variations of the same URL that could lead to your website. 

Yet, you need to make sure that Google only indexes one of these; otherwise, it will cause all kinds of trouble in crawling, indexing, and ranking your web pages. That’s because Google will see each other version of your site as a duplicate, which it views as spam. 

In some cases, this can even dilute your link equity, negatively affecting your SERP rankings. That means your backlinks (and links from your site) will carry less clout in the eyes of Google, which isn’t good. 

How do you fix this problem?

It’s actually pretty simple. 

Enter each variation into the same web browser, and see which version it redirects to. If one of your URLs isn’t redirecting properly, use a 301 redirect to your preferred version. 

As long as all the variations redirect to your preferred version, you won’t run into any crawling, indexing, or ranking errors. 

Find and get rid of duplicate content 

Besides duplicated versions of your website, you’ll also want to get rid of any duplicate content hanging around your website. 

Google penalizes duplicate content, so it’s definitely not something you want to do on purpose. 

In the past, black hat SEOs used to create duplicate pages (or pages that were nearly identical except for a few things) to artificially boost the amount of content they could generate in the hopes of generating more traffic. 

In today’s age, duplicate content is usually the result of a mistake or not using canonical tags. 

eCommerce stores run into issues with duplicate content all the time, as they usually have product pages that are almost identical except for one key detail (i.e., different product pages for the various colors & sizes of a product). 

If the only difference between two product pages is the color of a hat, Google will flag it as duplicate content. 

The solution?

Designating the vanilla version of the product as ‘canon’ via a canonical tag will solve this issue. All the variations of the canon page won’t get indexed by Google, and you won’t have to deal with duplicate content. 

Another cause for duplicate content is if your CMS system generates new pages that look similar but haven’t been properly canonicalized in GSC. WordPress has been known to do this with archive pages, so keep an eye on the content your CMS creates to avoid getting hit with a penalty for duplicate content. 

Uncover and fix thin content 

Google doesn’t like to see thin content just as much as it doesn’t want to see duplicate content. 

What’s thin content?

Content qualifies as ‘thin’ whenever it contains little to no value to the user. It also tends to see pages that have less than 700 words as thin, especially if they’re blog posts. 

Google has been on the lookout for thin content ever since the Panda update in 2011, so you’ll need to beef up any thin web pages you have on your site (or delete them). 

Non-original pages are also viewed as thin, so copying & pasting a ton of words from other websites won’t cut it. For content to be deemed valuable, it has to contain original insights and valuable information. Whenever beefing up thin content, remember Google’s E-E-A-T algorithm. 

Your content should exhibit first-hand experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness – and you won’t be able to do that with a 200-word blog post that contains no original thoughts. 

When looking for thin content, first look at your highest-performing pages, as they’ll matter most for your SERP rankings. Ensure that they all have a sufficient word count (at least 1,000 or 2,000 words) and contain original insights that are valuable to your target audience.

After that’s done, you can take a look at the rest of your website. 

If you have older blogs that are thin and aren’t very useful to your audience, it’s best to delete them instead of spending time trying to beef them up. 

Improve your on-page SEO 

Now it’s time to take a look at crucial on-page SEO elements for your web pages – the biggest of which is keyword placement. 

You need to place your target keywords in all the right spots, including in your metadata & HTML title tags. 

You also need to seek out missing meta tags, images with no alt text, missing internal links (at least 5 per page), and missing external links (at least 5 per page). 

You also need to closely analyze the keywords you’re currently ranking for to determine if there’s any room for improvement. 

Additionally, it’s not necessary to optimize every single page on your website. 

That process would take countless hours for larger websites, and thankfully, you only need to optimize a handful of your most important pages. 

Identify your top 5 pages that target crucial keywords, have fallen off in traffic, and have the potential to crack the top 10 Google results. 

Speed up your website 

The final item on the checklist is to check and improve (if necessary) your website’s loading speed. 

Loading times are a confirmed Google ranking factor, and internet users can’t stand websites that load slowly – so you have every incentive to improve your website’s speed. 

PageSpeed Insights is the tool to use here, and you should use it on more than just your homepage. You also need to test the loading times for your blogs, videos, and service pages. 

Large images (over 100kb) are notorious for slowing down websites, so you should compress all your images that exceed that size (remember, you can use Screaming Frog to find them). 

Other techniques for speeding up your site include minimizing Javascript, upgrading your web hosting, and reducing the number of plugins you have. 

Final Takeaways: SEO Audits 

SEO rankings aren’t permanent, and websites go through many unseen changes every day – hence the need for regular SEO audits. 

Following this checklist will ensure your website is fully optimized to perform as best as it can on search engines, leading to more traffic, leads, and sales. 

Do you need help developing a winning SEO strategy for your business?

Then you need to check out our fantastic managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our digital marketing gurus will revolutionize your SEO strategy – and we know how to conduct comprehensive SEO audits to keep you on the top of the mountain. 

We also provide in-depth technical SEO services, so don’t wait to check them out now.     

The post The Most Comprehensive SEO Audit Checklist for 2023 & Beyond appeared first on The HOTH.

As more and more patients turn to online search engines for information about doctors, medical professionals need an SEO-friendly website optimized for search engine visibility. 

In this article, we’ll discuss SEO for doctors and how to increase your reach and drive more clients through your door.

Introduction to SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of strategies and best practices used to help websites appear higher in search engine rankings. 

It involves ensuring website content is optimized for the keywords that potential customers are searching for, improving the website’s speed, and ensuring that all technical aspects work as they should. 

The goal of SEO is to increase the visibility of a website to potential customers, leading to more traffic and, potentially more conversions. SEO requires ongoing optimization efforts, as search engine algorithms are constantly changing and evolving. 

By focusing on optimizing pages for specific keywords, ensuring technical aspects of the webpage work correctly, and creating high-quality content that users actually want to read, medical practices can gain an edge in search engine rankings and drive more targeted traffic to their site.

Keyword Research & Optimization

The first step to improving your medical practice’s SEO is understanding how potential patients search for doctors and businesses like yours. 

This process is called keyword research, which involves understanding what terms people use to find the types of services you offer. Once you know which keywords to target, you can then optimize your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for those queries.

Not sure where to start with keyword research? Check out our blog post on the topic for some tips and tricks.

Once you’ve identified the right keywords to target, it’s time to start optimizing your website and content for them. Here are a few things you can do:

• Use keywords throughout your website, including in your page title tags and meta descriptions.
• Create blog posts and other types of content that focus on the keywords you’re targeting.
• Promote your content through social media and other online channels.
• Build links from high-quality websites back to your own.

By taking these steps, you can improve your medical practice’s SEO and attract more patients looking for your services.

On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization is one of the most important aspects of SEO for doctors. 

It refers to the process of optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in search engine results and drive more traffic to your website. There are several different factors that go into on-page optimization, including the use of keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, and more.

When it comes to keywords, it’s important to choose ones that are relevant to your medical practice and will be searched for by potential patients. 

You can use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer to find out which keywords are most popular in your industry. 

Once you’ve chosen your keywords, make sure to integrate them throughout your website content, including in the title tags and meta descriptions of each page.

Title tags are one of the most important on-page optimization elements, as they help tell search engines what your web page is about. Make sure your title tags are unique and descriptive and include your target keyword. 

Meta descriptions are another important on-page element, as they appear below your title tag in search engine results pages (SERPs). These brief descriptions give searchers an overview of your page, so make sure to include your target keyword here as well.

In addition to using keywords throughout your website content, you should also focus on creating high-quality content that is informative and engaging.

Off-Page Optimization

Off-page optimization is about improving your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). 

This can be done through a variety of ways, such as building links to your website from high-quality websites, optimizing your social media profiles, and creating informative and keyword-rich content.

Building links to your website is one of the most important things you can do to improve your website’s visibility in SERPs. However, it’s important to build links from high-quality websites that are relevant to your niche. For example, if you’re a doctor specializing in orthopedics, it would be beneficial to build links from websites about orthopedics, sports medicine, or health in general.

Social media can also be a great way to improve your website’s visibility in SERPs. Make sure you optimize your social media profiles for SEO and include links back to your website. Also, create informative and keyword-rich content that people will want to share on social media.

If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to boosting your medical practice with SEO.

Local SEO Strategies for Doctors

As a doctor, you understand the importance of being visible to your patients and in your community. Local SEO for doctors can help you achieve this while also bringing new patients into your practice. Here are some local SEO strategies for doctors that you can use to boost your medical practice:

Claim and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing 

Your Google My Business listing is one of the most important assets for your medical practice when it comes to local SEO. Make sure that you claim and verify your listing, and then take the time to optimize it with accurate and up-to-date information about your practice. Include photos, hours of operation, service offerings, etc.

Get Listed in Online Directories 

In addition to claiming your Google My Business listing, make sure that your medical practice is listed in other online directories such as Healthgrades, ZocDoc, WebMD, etc. These listings can help improve your visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract new patients to your practice.

Optimize Your Website for Local Search 

Make sure that your website is optimized for local search by including relevant keywords, location information, contact information, etc. on each page. You should also consider creating location-specific pages that focus on the areas served by your medical practice.

Invest in Paid Search Ads 

Paid search ads can be a great way to boost your visibility in SERPs for locally-targeted searches. You

Social Media Marketing for Doctors

As a doctor, you know that social media can be a great way to connect with current and potential patients. But what are the best ways to use social media for your medical practice?

Here are some tips for social media marketing for doctors:

Use social media to build relationships

Ensure you respond to comments and questions from patients and potential patients. Show that you care about your online community, and they will appreciate it.

Use social media to share useful information

Your patients and potential patients are looking to you as a source of information. Share blog posts, articles, infographics, and other types of content to help them learn more about their health conditions and how to treat them.

Use social media to drive traffic to your website

Make sure your website is optimized for SEO and that your social media links lead back to your site. This will help you get more website visitors, which can lead to more appointments booked.

Analyzing & Tracking Your Results

You need to track and analyze your results to determine whether your SEO efforts are successful. Several ways to do this include using web analytics tools and tracking your search engine rankings.

Web analytics tools can give you a lot of detailed information about your website visitors, including how they found your site, what pages they viewed, and how long they spent on each page. This information can be very helpful in determining which SEO tactics are working and which ones need to be tweaked.

Tracking your search engine rankings is also important. You should regularly check where your site ranks for key terms related to your business. If you see a consistent decline in rankings, it could be an indication that something is wrong with your SEO strategy.

Final Thoughts: SEO for Doctors is a Must

SEO can be a great way to increase the visibility of your medical practice online. By following the above tips and strategies on SEO for doctors, you will have taken the steps necessary to ensure that your website is properly optimized for search engines and that it stands out from the competition. 

Furthermore, by utilizing SEO tactics such as keyword research and content optimization, you’ll be able to significantly boost your organic traffic levels over time. With these tools at your disposal, there’s no limit to how much success you can achieve with SEO.

Ready to take the first step in boosting your medical practice’s SEO? We’re here to help. Contact us today to book a free SEO consultation. 

The post SEO for Doctors: How To Leverage SEO To Boost Your Medical Practice appeared first on The HOTH.

If so, you likely need a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in place, something that’s essential for any business in the modern age, regardless of industry. 

For the real estate industry, consider that 97% of home buyers searched the internet for property in 2021. 

That means realtors must have a robust online presence, including visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). 

You need to tweak your website and overall marketing strategy to dominate the search engine rankings. 

That includes conducting keyword research, improving your site’s loading speed, building backlinks, and regularly releasing quality content for your target audience. 

Real estate SEO is also unique from traditional SEO in more than a few ways, including its reliance on local search. 

As such, there’s a lot you need to know to get your real estate business ranking in the top spots on Google. 

That can be a lot to take in, especially if you’re a newbie to SEO strategies in general. 

After all, real estate agents often have packed schedules, so you probably only have a little time to study digital marketing techniques like local SEO and link-building. 

That’s why we’ve put together this extensive yet concise guide to mastering real estate SEO. 

After a short read, you’ll know how to create a winning real estate SEO strategy from scratch, so don’t wait to get started. 

What Makes Real Estate SEO Different?

Most industries’ SEO processes are practically identical, which is why most general SEO techniques and guides work.

Yet, specific industries require some unique approaches, such as B2B companies, e-commerce websites, SaaS providers, and, you guessed it – real estate. 

What makes it different?

Online searches for real estate are unique in how hyperlocal they are, usually focusing on a few neighborhoods or a single city. 

Instead of searching across the entire internet for results, users are only interested in local listings of homes and properties. As such, real estate SEO and local SEO go hand-in-hand. 

There are two types of search results that appear from real estate search terms. They are:

• Google My Business profile. For queries such as ‘realtors near me,’ your Google My Business (GMB) profile will display in the results (if you’ve optimized it properly). That’s why claiming your GMB profile is a big step in real estate SEO (more on this in a bit). 
• Local listings. For keywords like ‘(city name) homes for sale,’ Google will display your web pages that contain local listings and directories. 

These are the two types of queries that you want your website to show up for, which will take some optimization. For instance, you’ll need to create or claim a GMB listing if you haven’t already and create detailed listing pages containing targeted keywords. 

So if you optimize your website content for the long-tail keyword ‘Memphis homes for sale,’ your local listings will display for anyone that searches for it (your ranking will depend on how well you optimized your content/outdid your competitors). 

Why does SEO matter for real estate?

As stated before, more and more customers are using internet searches to find new homes and properties. 

That’s especially true for the younger generations, as 99% of younger millennials and 98% of Gen Z’ers exclusively use the internet for their home searches. 

Beyond that, real estate websites are the most popular marketing channel for new home buyers, with 90.7% of consumers using them. Blog content came in at a close second, with 89.2% of home buyers using articles as their marketing channel of choice. 

Both your website and blog content are vital components of real estate SEO, so if you neglect them, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of your audience. 

Also, SEO is a gift that keeps on giving. 

While it takes an average of 6 – 12 months to start seeing a consistent ROI, once you’ve got everything set up and optimized, you can take your foot off the gas while still enjoying a steady flow of traffic, leads, and sales. 

Superior audience targeting than other marketing channels 

SEO is also crucial for real estate marketing because it will place your content in front of the right people – which is a great way to get the most out of your budget. 

Focusing on specific keywords only interested home buyers search for increases the chances that most of your organic visitors will be prospects needing your exact services. 

That will save you from wasting marketing dollars on ads that wind up targeting the wrong audience. 

For instance, if you use billboards and signs, the chances that each person viewing them needs to buy a home is pretty low. 

The same is true if you’re using paid Google ads or pop-ups without any keyword strategies in place. SEO is so valuable because it’s a form of inbound marketing that brings vetted prospects to you. 

Even video ads on YouTube are less targeted than SEO and content marketing, as these ads are often seen as intrusive (and get skipped a majority of the time). 

The proof?

Compared to other forms of digital advertising, SEO can reduce the cost of customer acquisition by an average of 87.41%.

Not only that, but SEO can provide an ROI that’s up to 12.2x your marketing spend. 

So if you want increased brand awareness, cost-effective lead generation, and a sky-high ROI – you need to embrace real estate SEO. 

How Search Engines Rank Content in 2022 (Ranking Factors)

Now that you know SEO efforts are well worth your time, you need to learn more about how Google and other search engines crawl, index, and rank website content. 

After all, you will only be able to crack the SEO code if you know how search engine algorithms work. 

In particular, Google has over 200 ranking factors that it uses when crawling and indexing web pages. 

That means simply placing a few keywords into your content and calling it a day won’t cut it. Instead, a winning SEO strategy aims to optimize every aspect of your online presence (not just your website, as off-page SEO is also a thing – like your social media presence) to rank as high as possible. 

Here’s a quick overview of some of the most crucial SEO ranking factors.

High-quality content

First and foremost, producing high-quality content that educates and solves common user problems is arguably the most important ranking factor. 

For real estate, this means creating content that’s relevant to home buyers in your area. 

How do you do that?

This is where keyword research and knowing your target audience comes into play. You can use our keyword research tool from the HOTH to find common queries California condo owners search for online (more on keyword research tips in a bit). 

You can also take to Facebook groups, Reddit, and Quora to discover what your audience is talking about and the problems they’re dealing with the most. 

Let’s say that you sell condos in coastal California. Some examples of helpful content topic ideas for your audience would be:

• How to get approved for a new California condo 
• The best California neighborhoods to buy a condo 
• An overview of California condo association regulations 
• How to repair water damage in your condo 

From there, you could determine which format each piece should take. You could turn a few into blog articles while saving other, more complicated topics for videos. If a topic is easy to visualize, you could create an infographic instead of a blog post. 

Lastly, if you have the resources to start a podcast, you could also cover the topics in an audio format. 

If you’re regularly producing stellar content, Google will take notice and rank you higher. 

Mobile-first indexing 

First announced in 2017, Google’s mobile-first indexing initiative finished rolling out in March 2021. 

What’s that?

It means that Google now indexes mobile sites first over desktop sites. 

So if you have a separate mobile site (which was the way most sites handled mobile browsing in the past), it will take precedence over the desktop version. 

That means your mobile site is now the most important version of your website, which can pose problems for some companies still using two separate websites. 

The solution?

Opt for a responsive design for your website – which means your site will dynamically change shape depending on the device the searcher is using. If they’re using a desktop, it will display the desktop format. If they’re on a mobile device, it will snap to the smaller dimensions. 

Google even recommends that you adopt this format, as it’s the easiest one to implement and maintain. Also, it’s easier for Google’s crawlers to index your page without having to check if there’s both a mobile and a desktop version. 

With a responsive website, your URL and HTML stay the same, regardless of what type of device searchers are using. That saves you the trouble of optimizing two websites (desktop and mobile). 

Page experience 

Another crucial ranking factor is your page experience, which refers to the strength of your user experience and user interface. 

There’s a difference between the two, so let’s elaborate. 

Your user interface (UI) refers to the navigational layout of your website. In other words, how easy is it to find your product pages, services, and other information? Are all your web pages included in your main navigation bar?

A poor user interface will hurt your SEO, as users won’t hang around if they can’t find what they need. 

In today’s age, the attention span of the average internet user is very short, so you need to make navigating your site as easy as possible. 

On the other hand, user experience (UX) is a bit more subjective. It refers to how customers feel when interacting with your site. If you provide a logical user interface with high-quality content and fast loading speeds, your user experience is likely very positive. 

Not only does Google pay attention to your UI and UX when ranking your site, but improving both will have positive effects on your bottom line. 

So when formulating your real estate SEO strategy, pay attention to your UI and UX. Do your best to ensure that your site has effortless navigation, stellar content, stand-out CTA buttons, and seamless loading times. 

Google’s Core Web Vitals test 

Google has a special test it runs on every website to check page speed, interactivity, and visual stability known as Core Web Vitals. 

Why does it run this test?

Google only wants to show its users the highest quality, most relevant results to ensure their satisfaction. Otherwise, they could lose their spot as the #1 search engine online. 

Since internet users can’t stand slow loading speeds, the Core Web Vitals test serves to weed out websites that are poorly optimized on the technical side of things. 

Even if your content is high-quality, contains authoritative backlinks, and has the right keywords, you won’t appear in the SERPs if you have terrible page speed and stability. 

That’s why you need to run a technical audit on your site to test how fast your pages load. Beyond that, you should check how long it takes to interact with your site, as well as how visually stable it is upon loading. 

For instance, some sites may load in a split second, but you can’t interact with them until after a few seconds, which can be frustrating for users. You’ve experienced this if you’ve ever loaded a page and tried to click on a form only for it to lag a few seconds before loading your cursor. 

Check out this official page from Google to learn how to measure your Core Web Vitals. 

Google prefers HTTPS for security 

One of the most crucial ranking factors for Google search is if your website uses HTTPS or not. In 2017, they even started flagging sites as unsafe that weren’t HTTPS on their Chrome browser, which accounts for 65% of the web browser market. 

What is HTTPS?

It stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, an extension of HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) – and it allows for secure communication and data sharing between a website and a user’s computer. 

Everything gets encrypted during transactions and interactions with HTTPS websites using Transport Layer Security. This prevents anyone from eavesdropping on communications or stealing user data during e-commerce transactions. 

That’s why Google favors HTTPS when it ranks sites, as the company wants to provide searchers with the safest results to prevent cyber attacks. 

80.5% of all websites use SSL/HTTPS, and they account for a majority of the top SERP rankings, so it’s definitely worth making the transition if you haven’t already. 

The only issue is that it can be very tricky to transition to HTTPS, as it can cause canonical issues with your website. So if you aren’t experienced with website building, we recommend you work with a professional to make the change. 

Check out this in-depth guide to learn more about obtaining an SSL certificate for your website. 

Internal linking structure 

You’ll want to have a flawless internal linking structure to make things easy on Google’s crawlers. 

If all your pages connect to each other in a way that makes sense (i.e., grouping related articles together), it’s easier for Google’s algorithm to find and index all your pages. 

Not only that, but it also helps users find what they need, and internal links in the right spot can improve your bounce rates and dwell time. 

You should also consider your sales funnel when constructing your internal links. 

In terms of real estate, you’ll want to guide users toward buying a home or consulting with you in person. As such, your blogs need to contain calls to action (CTAs) at the end to let users know what they should do next. 

Internal links in action 

Here’s an example of how internal links can lead to better conversion rates:

• A web user searches for condos in California on Google, and they find one of your blogs entitled ‘The Best Neighborhoods for Condos in California.’ 
• After reading to the end, they notice a CTA encouraging them to ‘click here to see our condo listings.’ They click through to your real estate listings page to find a condo in their preferred neighborhood from your article. 
• They browse the listings for a while until they come across a condo that catches their eye. Since you’ve provided high-resolution images and descriptions for it, they decide they want to learn more. Luckily, you included another internal link that says, ‘click here to book a consultation with me,‘ and they click on it. 
• That takes them to your contact form, where they schedule a call to visit the property in person, which eventually leads to a sale. 

If you didn’t have all these internal links in strategic locations, you would have missed out on the sale, as they could have lost interest and looked elsewhere. 

Your internal looks are a great way to guide readers down your funnel, so don’t forget to use them!

Authoritative backlinks 

Besides internal links, search engines also place a lot of clout on the backlinks a site has – both in number and in quality. 

That’s why link-building is a core aspect of SEO, as entire companies are dedicated to acquiring backlinks for websites. 

What’s a backlink?

It’s a link on an external website that ‘points back’ to your website, hence the name. 

Search engines like Google use backlinks to determine the quality and trustworthiness of websites. If a website has a ton of high-quality backlinks, Google will rank it higher than the ones that do not. 

It’s crucial to mention that not all backlinks are created equal. 

To Google, the backlinks that hold the most clout are from websites that have high domain authority. Oftentimes, these are websites that end in .org, .gov, and .edu (although .coms can also have high authority). 

There are many ways to build backlinks, such as:

• Guest blog posts 
• Replacing broken links online 
• Outdoing competitor content and poaching their links 

To learn more about ways to acquire backlinks, check out our extensive guide on the subject. 

Creating an SEO Strategy (Real Estate SEO Tips) 

Now it’s time to learn how to construct a robust SEO strategy for your real estate agency. Since you know which ranking factors Google values the most, you can optimize your content in accordance with them. 

Step #1: Start with an SEO audit 

The beginning point for any SEO strategy is a thorough audit of your existing website. Your content will likely require a lot of optimization, such as making technical tweaks and adding keywords to your blog articles. 

Instead of spending hours auditing your site by hand, you can use our free SEO audit tool from The HOTH. It will:

• Let you know how well each page ranks for a given keyword 
• Notifying you if the keyword appears in optimal spots (header, body, meta description, etc.) 
• Total number of backlinks 
• Domain authority score 
• Technical issue diagnosis 

This tool is a real lifesaver for realtors that want to conduct a self-audit but don’t have a ton of time. It breaks everything down in a way that’s easy to digest so that you can optimize your website accordingly. 

Look out for duplicate content, broken links, and images with missing alt text – as these are all notorious technical issues that affect search engine rankings. 

Before moving on to the next step, address and fix all the issues found in your audit. Otherwise, you may end up neglecting a serious issue that will bring your other SEO efforts to a screeching halt. 

Once everything is fixed, including transitioning to HTTPS, you can move on to the next steps. 

Step #2: Conduct keyword research 

You’ll need to find relevant real estate keywords that your target audience searches for regularly. 

Your keywords are the cornerstone of your SEO strategy, as they guide the content that you’ll eventually create. 

We have another tool that can help you out here, the keyword research tool we linked to before. Type in some words related to your industry (i.e., condos in California), and the tool will spit out some valid suggestions. 

Metrics to pay attention to are search volume and keyword difficulty (KD). 

A high search volume means lots of users are searching for the keyword each day, which is what you want. 

Conversely, you want the keyword difficulty score to be low. The difficulty represents how much competition there is for the term. If the KD is high, that’s a sign lots of websites are competing to rank for it. That will make it a lot more difficult to rank in one of the top spots, so it’s best to avoid high KD scores. 

The ideal keyword will have a high search volume yet low keyword difficulty. That way, you stand a better chance at ranking for it, and you know that it’s constantly showing up in the organic search results. 

Step #3: Set up Google My Business 

This step is crucial for real estate SEO, as a GMB account allows your site to show up in Google Maps results, which almost always show up for real estate searches. Not only that, but they appear above the organic search results – which means potential clients may click on the maps instead, even if you’re ranked #1. 

You’ll need to set up your GMB account by visiting this page and entering all your details. Beyond that, you’ll need to optimize your listing for the right SEO keywords. To learn how to do just that, check out our guide on Google My Business. 

Besides GMB, you need to add your website to other relevant local directories as well, including:

• Realtor.com
• Yelp 
• Yellow Pages 
• Local.com 
• Angie’s List
• Better Business Bureau 
• Home Snap 
• Zoocasa 

Adding your website to these directories will strengthen your local SEO visibility. 

Step #4: Create outstanding real estate content 

Content is still king, and it’s one of the most important ranking factors. As such, you’ll need to regularly release content that adds value to your target audience. 

To stay organized, create a content release calendar to keep everything on track. To see results, it’s recommended that you blog at least two to four times a week. 

In addition, users love video content, especially when it comes to real estate. 

For instance, video and virtual tours are extremely popular for potential home buyers, as it gives them a chance to preview the property in more detail than looking at photos. 

Step #5: Monitor and tweak accordingly

Once you’ve got everything set up, you need to track your results. Two great tools to use here are Google Search Console and Google Analytics. 

By keeping an eye on both, you’ll be able to view key metrics like:

• Website traffic (including the total number of visitors) 
• Impressions 
• Click-through rate 
• Bounce rate 
• Dwell time 
• Conversion rate 

If you notice that your efforts aren’t producing results after a few months, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. SEO can take some trial and error, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t rank in the #1 spot on your first attempt. 

Final Thoughts: Real Estate SEO 

SEO services are essential for any real estate agency in today’s age for a variety of reasons we’ve already covered. 

SEO needs to become a staple of your overall marketing strategy if you want to remain competitive and scale your business. 

By following this guide, you’ll be able to construct a winning SEO strategy from scratch, so don’t hesitate to bookmark this page as a reference. 

Do you not have the time to build an SEO strategy for your real estate business?

Then you need to check out our five-star managed SEO services at HOTH X as soon as you can. Our SEO gurus will construct an in-depth strategy for you, and we’re also available for consultations – so don’t wait to book a call today.   

The post How to Become a Real Estate SEO Expert appeared first on The HOTH.

Google search accounts for more than 79% of desktop traffic. Their top competitor, Bing, only accounts for 7.27% – so it’s clear that Google is where you should focus a majority of your efforts if you want to boost traffic. 

Yet, to get the most out of your keyword research, content creation, and other SEO efforts, you need top-tier analytical tools to measure your success and ensure you’re on the right track. 

Luckily, Google has a suite of free research tools you can use, including Google Search Console (GSC), Google Analytics (GA), and the focus of our article today – Google Trends (GT). 

Whereas GSC and GA give you insights into critical metrics like bounce rate, click-through rate, and CPC – Google Trends is all about presenting search trend data for a particular keyword or query over time. 

In other words, you’ll get to view the popularity of keywords over a set period of time on a graph. 

Google Trends data is a precious tool for SEO and content marketing if you know how to use it, so stay tuned to learn everything you need to know. 

What is Google Trends, and How Does it Work?

Google Trends first emerged in 2006, but it contains search volume data from 2004. Over the years, many iterations of Google Trends and related websites (such as Google Flu Trends in the early 2010s) have been used. 

The concept is to use the tool to discover trending searches and keywords that you can use for your SEO content. 

The primary feature of Google Trends is the search volume tool, which is very straightforward in its use. 

You type a search term into it, hit the button, and you’ll get to see a graph displaying the keywords’ trend over a specific time frame (the default is 12 months, but you can set it to go back further). 

It’s an excellent feature because you’ll see if the term’s search interest is gaining momentum or falling off. 

For example, if you type a term into GT and notice that its search volume is high but losing momentum, that’s a sign that interest in the keyword is waning, so you should avoid it. 

The same is true if you discover a keyword with low search volume but is on the rise. In this scenario, you would want to target the keyword for your content because the term is about to blow up. 

That’s an overview of the tool, but it also contains many other features – the ability to view YouTube data in addition to Google. 

Using Google Trends for SEO 

If you’re only using GSC and GA for your SEO strategy, you’re missing out on all the valuable insight that Google Trends can provide for your campaigns. 

For example, let’s say that you’re doing research for a new keyword that you plan to base a blog post on. 

You head over to Google Search Console to check out its search volume. It’s relatively high, and the keyword difficulty is low, so you decide to go all-in with it. 

If you had incorporated Google Trends into the mix, you would have noticed that the keyword is currently trending but is quickly losing popularity – and is about to see a significant drop-off. 

As a result, when you release your blog that’s perfectly optimized for the keyword, its search volume will have dissipated entirely. 

That’s why viewing search trend data for a keyword is invaluable and will help you avoid investing in keywords about to fall off. Conversely, viewing online search trend data can also help you pick up on keywords that are about to gain serious momentum. 

This is only one small example of how you can leverage Google Search data on Google Trends, so let’s look at some more. 

Breaking down the search trends feature 

GT’s flagship feature is the ability to view detailed search trend graphs for any keyword you type into it. 

It’s essential to note that GT does not provide a detailed number for search volume. Instead, it graphs it using a scale of 1 – 100, with 0 being the lowest point of popularity and 100 being the highest.

It’s also crucial to know that GT draws its data from various sources, not just Google Search. In fact, its search volume index consists of:

• General web search
• Google Image search
• Google News 
• Google Shopping
• YouTube 

As you can see, GT has a massive data index, which greatly improves its accuracy. 

Note: Web search is the only source that lets you view data from 2004. The other sources only provide data back to the year 2008. 

For each keyword, you’ll have the option of setting:

• The data source you want to use
• The time frame 
• The geographical areas you want to target (you can separate them by country/region/subregion)
• The category you want to see

These parameters allow you to get extremely detailed with your Google Trends searches. For instance, if you want to search for a keyword and only show results from the United Kingdom during 2022 from web search results in a niche category – you can easily do that. 

Keyword groups 

Whenever you type a term into Google Trends, it will present you with a few different ‘keyword groups’ for it. 

What are those?

They’re specific keyword categories that will alter the results that you get. As an example, if you type in ‘Dickey Betts’ into GT, you’ll have a few keyword groups to choose from:

• Dickey Betts (search term)
• Dickey Betts (Allman Brothers guitarist) 
• Dickey Betts (Solo musician)

As a search term, Dickey Betts would only include data for that keyword. 

As the Allman Brothers guitarist, Dickey Betts would also include related results, such as ‘Dickey Betts Allman Brothers songs,’ etc. 

The same is true for Dickey Betts as a solo musician – as there will be related queries for his solo records. 

The related queries table  

Whenever you enter a keyword into Google Trends, you’ll see a lot more than its search interest over time. 

If you scroll past the graph, you’ll see one of the handiest features of GT, the related queries table. 

Bear in mind that this is not yet another keyword suggestion tool. Instead, it recommends related search queries that are currently trending or about to trend. 

If you look to the right of each related query, you’ll see its search volume increase (the proof that it’s trending). For example, you might see something like ‘+2,900 %’ next to a related keyword. 

That means interest in the keyword has grown by a whopping 2,900%, which means it’s an excellent keyword to target. 

You also have the option to filter the results to show either top searches or rising searches. 

Again, this is so useful because these keywords use search trends data instead of going by raw search volume alone. 

As stated before, a high search volume for a keyword doesn’t mean that it will stay that way forever. Without looking at the trends, you’ll have no way of knowing if a keyword is losing or gaining momentum. 

Breakout keywords 

You may occasionally notice the word ‘Breakout’ next to a related query instead of a search volume increase percentage. 

What’s that mean?

It indicates that Google didn’t have enough search volume data to calculate a before and after percentage for the query. 

It also means that the query is growing in interest by more than 5,000% – as according to Google, any query over 5,000% automatically gets marked as a breakout keyword. 

These keywords can be extremely valuable, so it’s a good idea to target at least one or two of them when they show up. 

Why can they be valuable?

It has to do with the reason why they scored such a high search volume percentage increase – they are low-competition keywords. They’re generating a lot of user buzz, but few to no blogs or websites have picked up on them yet.

In fact, it’s normal for breakout keywords to have strong search interest and volume yet next to no keyword difficulty. So if you target a breakout keyword, you stand a strong chance of ranking on page one of Google. 

The bad news is that breakout keywords are sometimes fads. That means they’ll become super popular for a month or two but then fade into obscurity. Still, breakout keywords make excellent targets, and using Google Trends is the quickest and easiest way to discover them. 

Discovering Related Topics for Videos and Blogs 

Are you drawing a blank on what to write about in your next blog post?

If so, Google Trends can help you out with that. Besides gaining insight into search trends and uncovering related trending keywords – GT can also help you develop new content topic ideas. 

When you scroll down to view the ‘related queries’ table, you’ll notice a ‘related topics’ table next to it. 

The table works exactly the same way the related queries table does by showing you trending topic ideas that users in your niche are seeking out. 

Once again, this is extremely valuable because the topic ideas here are backed up by hard data in real-time. 

That will save you a ton of legwork when it comes to developing new topic ideas. Instead of scouring internet forums and Facebook groups for insight on what your audience is looking for, you can use the related topics table instead. 

Once you’ve found a topic that interests you, GT can also help you find specific trending keywords within that topic. 

Like the related queries table, each topic will have a search volume percentage next to it, including whether the topic is a ‘breakout’ or not. Breakout topics can help you get ahead of the competition with your next series of blogs, videos, or podcasts. 

You can also toggle the results to show top searches or rising searches. While top searches aren’t seeing rapid growth, they consistently generate lots of traffic. That makes them a safe choice if you don’t want to risk a rapidly growing keyword becoming a fad. 

Finding keywords for YouTube videos 

If you have a YouTube channel or focus primarily on YouTube as a content creator, you can still benefit from using Google Trends. 

Since Google owns YouTube, GT has all of YouTube’s data (it’s even one of its exclusive data sources). 

YouTube is a search engine in the same way that Google is, which is why YouTube SEO exists. To rank high on YouTube, you need to do keyword research like you do for Google or Bing. 

And if there’s one thing Google Trends excels at, it’s uncovering trending keywords to target for your SEO campaigns, and YouTube is no different. 

You need to remember one thing if you’re using GT for YouTube keyword research – to set the data source to YouTube. If you forget this crucial step, you’ll wind up with search trends data from the general web or Google. 

Interest by subregion (local SEO)

You’ll definitely want to use the ‘interest by subregion’ report on Google Trends if you have a local business.

It will show how a specific keyword trends in different cities, states, and subregions. For instance, if you enter the US, you’ll see how popular the keyword is in each state. 

As you can imagine, that’s powerful data to have if you run a restaurant or provide local services. If you find out that people search for ‘New York-style pizza’ in your area more than others, it could convince you to add it to your menu. 

Closing Thoughts: Google Trends for SEO and Content Marketing 

That’s an overview of how you can use Google Trends to boost your SEO and content marketing efforts. 

GT is a handy tool you should use along with Google Analytics and Search Console. 

Studying trends is necessary for any type of marketing, and SEO is no different. Knowing if a term is gaining or dropping off in popularity is something you can and should check for every keyword you research. 

If you lack the time or staff to implement a rock-solid SEO strategy on your own, we’d love to handle it for you at The HOTH. We offer fully managed SEO services at HOTH X, so don’t wait to try us out today.    

The post How to Use Google Trends to Supercharge Your SEO and Content Marketing appeared first on The HOTH.

Beyond that, 23.6% of all eCommerce orders begin with an organic search query – and B2B and technology companies see 2x more revenue from organic traffic than any other type of traffic. 

That’s only a fraction of the evidence out there supporting the effectiveness of attracting organic visitors through search engine optimization. 

The kicker?

For traffic to be organic, it must come from unpaid sources. That means it won’t cost you a dime – and if you’ve optimized your website for search engines like Google – you can continue generating organic traffic well into the future. 

Yet, you’ll need to develop a robust and informed SEO strategy to improve click-through rates and see more organic site traffic. 

That’s why we’ve compiled some candid SEO tactics to help you grow your organic traffic. Read on to discover how to leverage the power of the organic search for your digital marketing strategy. 

Why Is Organic Traffic Important?

If you’ve already invested heavily into PPC ads and social media traffic – you may wonder why it’s worth bothering with organic traffic. 

Well, it turns out that organic traffic is the most important type of traffic you can generate for your website. 

Why is that?

It’s because it’s a targeted form of traffic. 

It all comes down to the basic philosophy of what search engines do: matching search queries with the most relevant content. 

So when someone types a query in a search engine, they have a specific intent in mind. That intent could be to make a purchase, or it could be as simple as learning more information. 

Whenever you match that intent with the content on your website, you’re far more likely to gain a follower, newsletter subscriber, or customer. 

For example, let’s say that you’re interested in learning how to play the guitar. You start by searching ‘guitar basics’ on Google and then view the organic search results. The first result is a well-written blog with a video covering the basics of guitar playing. 

You click on it, read the content, and subscribe to their newsletter to receive the latest lessons. Before you know it, you buy your first guitar and amp from their website. 

That’s why organic traffic is so crucial for click-through rates and conversions. So if you aren’t currently using SEO to attract organic visitors, it’s never too late to start. 

Check out our learning hub to learn more about SEO and organic traffic. 

A sustainable, long-term approach

The great thing about an effective SEO strategy is that it keeps working for you well into the future. 

For example, if you rank #1 for specific long-tail keywords, you’ll keep growing organic traffic from it until a competitor outdoes you. You’ll enjoy a compounding effect once your SEO efforts start seeing results. 

Achieve thought leader status and build trust 

One of the best things you can do for your business is to build customer loyalty. 

Creating premium blog content that addresses pain points and answers questions is a great way to do that. That will lead prospects to view you as a thought leader in your field, which builds loyalty and trust. 

It’s cost-effective 

Generally speaking, you don’t have to spend any money to increase your organic traffic. Using some coveted on-page SEO tactics paired with content marketing will drive significant ROI without blowing your budget. 

It produces highly qualified leads 

Paid ads and traffic have their place, but the leads they produce aren’t always the best. Yet, leads that come from organic visitors are often highly qualified due to the targeted nature of SEO. 

Encourages customer engagement

Since you’re targeting an audience through keywords, they’re far more likely to engage with your content. In other words, your organic visitors will be more enthusiastic about viewing your website, products, and services. 

By rising through the organic search rankings, you’ll begin to attract targeted users from your niche, which is the ultimate goal of any digital marketing strategy. 

Understanding the Different Traffic Sources

There are different types of traffic that your website will receive. It’s crucial to understand them all so you can understand insights from a web traffic analytics tool. 

You see, tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console use algorithms and flow charts to classify traffic sources. So if you don’t know the difference between organic traffic and direct traffic, you’ll be a bit lost. 

Here’s a breakdown of each traffic source that will show up in your metrics (barring organic traffic). 

Direct traffic

Most consider direct traffic to be when someone types your URL directly into a browser (or clicks on a bookmarked link). 

While that’s part of it, it’s not the entire picture. 

A more accurate definition is that direct traffic refers to any visit that does not have a referring URL. Of course, that includes anyone typing your URL directly into a browser, as that would not have a referring URL. Yet, there are also other causes of direct traffic, including:

• Internal employees. Many platforms will count it as direct traffic if an internal employee visits your website. To avoid this, you must exempt all internal employee IPs from analytics reporting. 
• Customer portals. If your existing customers log in to a portal, it may appear under direct traffic. While you should still view this data, it’s best to filter it out from direct traffic. 
• Genuine direct traffic. These are all the visitors that typed your URL into their browser or clicked on a bookmarked link. That is the direct traffic that you want to leave alone. 
• Client emails. Sometimes clients clicking on your website from an email won’t have any referring information – so they’ll show up as direct traffic. To see if this is the culprit, check to see if you saw a rise in direct traffic when the email was sent out. 
• Mobile traffic. Analytical tools like GSC often struggle with classifying mobile visitors. More often than not, the visit will get listed under direct traffic. 
• Clicks from software or applications. If you’re in a Zoom call with a client and they click on the link to your website – the app may not pass along the referring information. Thus, the visit will count as direct traffic. 
• Secure to non-secure. If you visit a non-secure site from a secure one (HTTPS to HTTP), the referring information will not get passed on. As such, it will show up under direct traffic. 

As you can see, the waters get muddied a bit when it comes to direct traffic. Refer to this list if you notice a spike in your direct traffic and aren’t sure why.

Paid search 

This is the traffic you receive from PPC ads through platforms such as Google Ads. These ads show up at the top of the SERPs, even above the organic search results. 

When done correctly, PPC campaigns can produce significant ROIs. You can use our free PPC ROI calculator to streamline your budget. Also, check out HOTH PPC services to learn more. 

Email traffic

This category contains all the traffic you generate from your email marketing campaigns. You’ll want to tag these with an email parameter to ensure they show up correctly in your reporting. 

Referral traffic

Whenever someone clicks on a link to your site (such as a backlink), it appears under referral traffic. This category encompasses all links that don’t come from search engines. 

Social media traffic

Do you see a lot of visitors coming from Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? If so, they’ll show up under this category in GSC and Google Analytics – which is where you’ll see all the traffic you generate from social media platforms. 

Other

If the traffic doesn’t fit into any other category, it will appear under ‘Other.’ 

How to Grow Your Organic Traffic With SEO 

Now that you know organic traffic is worth your time, here are some ways to generate more of it for your website. 

Use keywords in the right places

The first step is to do thorough keyword research to discover the queries your audience is searching for the most. Don’t forget to use our free keyword research tool during this process.

It will help you identify keywords with high search volume and low competition. Those are the keywords you stand the most chance at ranking for – so go after those first. 

Once you have your keywords, you need to know how to use them. 

As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to include your target keywords in:

• Title tag
• Meta description
• 3 – 7 times organically in the body of the content

When a Googlebot crawls your website, some of the first things it will see are your title tag and meta description. That’s why you’ll want to include your target keyword in these crucial locations. Doing so can boost your rank and help you generate more organic visitors, especially if your web pages currently aren’t optimized. 

Publish relevant content that answers questions and solves problems

Targeting users won’t matter much if you don’t have the high-quality content they need. It could be a blog post, YouTube video, or infographic – but you’ll need something for your users to consume once they click through to your page. 

This is where it pays to really know your target audience – their wants, needs, and concerns. 

That way, you’ll know which types of topics they’ll want to read about the most. That’s where extensive keyword research pays off, as well as doing general research on your niche. 

It can be as simple as heading over to Reddit to see what your potential customers are chatting about at the moment. If your niche is health and wellness, join several online forums and engage with your audience. That will go a long way in helping you come up with not only blog posts and videos but also product ideas. 

Always stay on the lookout for link-building opportunities

Link-building should be a core part of your SEO strategy if it isn’t already. While it’s common to pay for backlinks, there are also ways to generate them for free. 

Is there another blog in your niche that gets a lot of clicks and interest? 

If so, you can take advantage of that by reaching out to write a guest blog post for them. You can also offer them the opportunity to write a guest post on your blog as well. 

That way, you both get the chance to backlink to your blogs and hopefully entice some new prospects with your post. 

Another technique is the skyscraper method. It’s a bit more in-depth, but the results can be well worth it. 

It’s where you do a Google search in your industry and then take a look at the top results (the skyscrapers). Find a post with a desirable backlink profile – and then outdo it. 

How do you do that?

For one, you can buff the word count by going into more detail on the topic. If you can add a relevant video, that’s even better. Also, look for opportunities to add high-resolution images (as long as they relate to the subject) and infographics (preferably with statistics). 

Once you’ve got a 10x better post, reach out to their backlinks. Politely let them know that you have a more current, in-depth post than the original and that you’d like them to link to your article instead. If your content is indeed better, they’re likely to make the switch. 

Concluding Thoughts: Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is the most effective type of traffic you can generate, so it’s imperative not to ignore it. If you want to grow more organic traffic, you’ll need to bolster your SEO efforts. 

You can do so by ranking for the right keywords, using them in the best spots, and creating fantastic content for your audience. 

If you dream of higher conversions and a better CTR but don’t have the time, you can leverage our managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our experts will grow your organic traffic while you focus on running your business. Also, don’t hesitate to schedule a call with one of our consultants for elite-level advice and strategy.

The post Organic Traffic: Why It Matters and How to Generate It With SEO appeared first on The HOTH.

According to a 2021 study, 69% of marketers invested in SEO, and 75% said their SEO tactics were effective at helping them fulfill marketing goals.

But every marketer isn’t an SEO expert or even proficient in the field. Companies need to hire an SEO specialist who knows exactly what to do so their website and content rank on the first page of search engine result pages (SERPs) and bring in traffic.

This article explains the role of an SEO specialist in detail and lists the essential characteristics they must have to help companies get results.

What is an SEO Specialist?

In a sentence, an SEO specialist analyzes websites and optimizes them so that they rank higher on major search engine result pages. 

This individual is an expert in “organic search” — search results that aren’t ads, but that Google thinks are the best and most relevant content — and can create an SEO strategy that improves user experience while simultaneously appealing to the latest search engine algorithms.

Apart from a higher search ranking, an SEO expert can ensure your web pages appear for relevant search terms instead of random ones.

For example, if you search for “running shoes,” you get companies like Nike, which sells running shoes, and articles that list the best running shoes. Both of these results are driven by good SEO.

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A good SEO strategy can help companies, regardless of size, attract more users and generate high-quality leads. Consequently, conversions grow, and so does revenue.

While this sounds great, business owners often have surface-level SEO knowledge. They know it’s a marketing term but don’t understand the different components, such as on-page, off-page, and technical SEO, or how they impact search engine rankings.

They can also struggle to differentiate between SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing), which have the same goal — driving traffic and revenue from search engines — but varying components and tactics. This lack of understanding often leads to them making incorrect decisions regarding hiring and goal-setting in these areas. 

This is when SEO professionals are required. They can take charge of all the processes needed to boost your search rankings.

What Are the Job Responsibilities of an SEO specialist?

Every SEO consultant has a different set of responsibilities depending on the industry and company they’re working with. However, most SEO experts are proficient in the following:

Keyword research

A keyword typically corresponds with the main topic of the content on your page. It is a word, phrase, or question users search for to find specific web pages and content on the topic. It can be a single word such as “shoes” or a longer phrase such as “running shoes for women.”

An SEO specialist performs keyword research to determine which keywords each page on your website should target. They will then focus on how each of these pages can rank for their specific keyword(s).

Without keyword research, your content is a jumble of topics that you think your users might like. Unfortunately, most websites make this mistake, which is why a 2020 study found that 90% of them don’t get organic traffic from Google.

It’s the job of the SEO specialist to use keyword research to identify exactly what users are looking for and why. They then tailor your website’s content to match search intent.

On-page optimization

On-page optimization is a general term used to describe how an SEO expert cleans up all the elements that are on or behind your website. 

This includes meta titles and descriptions, header tags, using the right images, proper HTML structure, internal linking, and fast page load speeds (like always compressing images that go on your web pages).

Here the SEO specialist ensures every web page aims to show up for the correct search terms, provides a good user experience, and leads users towards conversion.

Optimization also requires testing varying versions of elements on the web page to see which one improves lead generation. For example, having a detailed call-to-action button can perform better than a basic “Click Here” button.

Mobile optimization

Mobile phone users accounted for more than 92% of global internet users at the end of 2021. Your website must be mobile-friendly, there’s just no way around it, both for general usage and SEO purposes. Every page on your website needs to be 100% visible and perfectly usable on mobile devices.

Search engines value mobile-friendliness in 2022. Google has implemented mobile-first indexing for years now, which means websites that are not mobile-friendly automatically get lower rankings. They even offer a free tool to test how mobile-friendly a web page is.

An SEO specialist must analyze how they can improve your mobile user experience and make your web pages easy for users to navigate, regardless of their device.

Link building & off-page optimization

Link building is a way to let Google know that your content or web page is valuable. It’s the process of getting links to your website from external websites to improve your authority.

The links could be someone referencing your blog post in their article or a reviewer adding a product link as part of a glowing review.

Building a web of links from multiple sources increases your website’s chances of gaining a higher ranking. A recent study showed that top search results had significantly more backlinks than lower-rated results.

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An SEO specialist will have a link-building strategy that develops backlinks via guest posts, content-based assets (infographics, statistics, etc.), and other methods. Some might consider buying links, but this is risky as it violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and you have to trust the seller to be honest and uphold their end of the bargain.

Link building has to be combined with every other SEO component to work. For example, you can have multiple backlinks to a page, but if the content on that page is poor, then your lead generation will take a hit.

Content marketing is an effective strategy for building your off-page online presence. If you invest time in building relationships with other bloggers in your niche, and creating stellar, valuable content, it’s only a matter of time before you earn several high-quality, relevant links.

Analytics

Every SEO expert has to know how to analyze the results driven by their campaigns, the different metrics to use, and what the numbers actually mean. Understanding this data is more complicated than it seems.

Sure, it’s easy to look at leads generated or web traffic and decide whether a campaign is successful or not. But, there are many smaller yet impactful metrics along the way. Each of which indicates how parts of your SEO campaign are working.

SEO specialists will analyze the correct metrics, gauge results, and make campaign decisions based on them. If a particular aspect fails, they will need to test new elements or implement process changes to get better results.

URL naming & titles

For accurate data collection and campaign tracking, SEO specialists need to use custom URLs. These URLs will let them know where the traffic is coming from, whether from a backlink, an ad, a social media post, or a marketing asset like a newsletter. 

Let’s say you hired an SEO expert to boost your traffic from search results. If there’s a sudden uptick in traffic, how do they know if it’s because they’re actually reaching the goal you set or if the increase in visitors is from other sources, like a social media contest?

Custom URLs are used to monitor data for different campaigns, assets, and sources.

The Characteristics of an Effective SEO Specialist

If you’re looking to become an SEO expert or hire one, here are six crucial characteristics you need:

#1. Understands the different levels of SEO 

There are three main SEO tiers — on-page, off-page, and technical — that every expert must deeply understand.

• On-page SEO is usually content-related but includes everything that goes into your web page. It’s the process of ensuring all the content on your website uses the right keywords, meta tags, title tags, and internal links. These elements let search engines know the topic you’re covering and why you’re a trusted resource on the subject.

SEO experts must know how to optimize content and form links between related web pages such that users are led from one page to the next, inching closer to completing the purchase.

• Technical SEO refers to optimizing components that are not content-based. It ensures that the foundation of the website is good.

Website speed, architecture, indexing, crawlability, and mobile-friendliness, are some technical factors that an SEO expert must analyze and improve.

Improving technical elements shows search engines that your website is well-built and provides a better user experience.

• Off-page SEO refers to activities outside your website that help improve search rankings. Backlinks are vital for off-page SEO as they act as social proof of your authority on a subject and let Google know that your web page is a trusted source.

Apart from backlinks, any external activity that can boost your search ranking is considered off-page SEO, including social media and traditional media marketing campaigns, brand mentions, and influencer marketing.

SEO specialists often work with marketing and PR teams to create external campaigns that will positively impact SERP rankings.

An SEO specialist is expected to be an expert in these core areas and know precisely how they affect your ranking. While they may not handle all of these factors personally, their knowledge will help them oversee other teams’ efforts.

#2. Stays current

Google constantly updates its search algorithm, and these changes can affect your rankings and domain authority. So how do SEOs stay up to speed? The SEO industry keeps evolving as experts discover new strategies or ideas to adjust to the latest developments.

An SEO expert must keep track of all these updates, trends, and methods to strategize effectively. Outdated tactics will often lead to poor results.

They must also be aware of the latest trends in the client’s industry so that they can create relevant content. For example, if everyone in the industry is focused on X, but all your blogs are about Y, the chances of gaining next-level traffic are minimal. So you want to capitalize on trends to capture user attention.

#3. Collaborates with other teams

Since so many factors go into SEO, a specialist rarely works alone. It’s more common that they work hand-in-hand with other teams, such as social media marketing, content marketing, and web development.

For successful campaigns, SEO experts must be excellent communicators and collaborators. They must communicate with clarity, so all team members understand why and how to accomplish campaign goals.

They also need to be persuasive. You often have to explain why changes are needed and how they benefit the website to people who don’t have any SEO knowledge, such as stakeholders or the web development team. You must be able to get these people on board.

#4. Has a marketing mindset 

Search engine optimization and marketing go hand-in-hand. Effective marketing campaigns lead to better search rankings.

SEO specialists need to have a marketing mindset, where they are focused on the target audience and know how content plays an overall role in achieving business goals.

Moreover, an SEO consultant will often work with a company’s internal marketing team. So, they need to be up-to-date on current marketing trends and strategies. The content you create must appeal to readers if it has a chance of rising up the rankings.

Additional knowledge in social media trends, consumer psychology, web development, and viral strategies enables SEO experts to create more compelling content and optimize websites to make the most impact on users.

#5. Able to define and track SEO goals 

SEO experts must be able to look at the bigger picture and set the right goals. Is the overall goal to build brand awareness, increase rankings, drive traffic, or boost conversions? These are interrelated, but understanding the main objective helps set smaller SEO-based milestones.

For example, if the goal is to drive traffic, you can set milestones based on the number of visits via organic search per month. A free website traffic checker can help with that.

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Knowing how to set goals, using the right metrics to measure them, and analyzing initial results to make changes or increase production are all expected of an SEO consultant.

#6. Adaptability 

You’ve created the perfect roadmap for getting the company website to the first page of SERPs, and then BAM! Google switches its search algorithm, or a new viral marketing trend takes over.

This is a common scenario for an SEO expert, and they must be able to adapt to it. 

SEO experts often work with multiple companies across industries. Adaptability is also essential here. You need to understand your client’s needs, their industry, and how you can take them to the top of search rankings for their specific keywords.

Where to Find SEO Specialists?

You can hire a freelance SEO specialist or consultant for one-time projects. These are experienced individuals that work with companies on a per-project, contract, or retainer basis. 

However, they may not be viable for many organizations as freelancers can be expensive, and there’s no guarantee of stability or results or productive, long-term relationships. Moreover, a single SEO specialist can help strategize, but they struggle with implementation, especially at a larger scale. 

The second option is to hire a full-time SEO specialist who works with your marketing teams to get results. But again, this can get expensive, and their skillset is often limited to one aspect of SEO.

This is why most companies opt for a digital marketing agency like The HOTH. Agencies have a group of experts at their disposal. They can also produce content faster, meaning you can scale your marketing efforts exponentially. 

To add to this, agencies can be cheaper and often have a subscription-based model where you only pay for what you need and can cancel at any time.

SEO Specialists Can Elevate Your Brand and Business

Every business that wants to succeed digitally needs SEO experts to guide them to the top of SERPs. SEO agencies can help you target the right users, create personalized content at scale, and boost traffic. 

Get industry-leading SEO specialists working on your website by using our HOTH X service. Our experts have spent years of their lives diving into the technical (and often tedious) world of SEO, so you don’t have to.

The post What is an SEO Specialist? Here’s What You Need to Know appeared first on The HOTH.

The good news is that can buy content for your website as long as you understand what you’re getting. 

Since only around 24% of small businesses are outsourcing, buying content will put you ahead of the game. 

Below you can find the answers to what you should know before buying content, what the benefits are, and everything else you need to know about outsourcing. 

Ready to succeed? Let’s jump in!

Is Buying Content Worth It?

The short answer is yes. Effective content helps you attract new customers, build trust with your  target audience, boost your authority with Google, and improve your overall search engine optimization. In fact, the number one reason for outsourcing is cost reduction.

Additionally, Gartner suggests that the number of companies outsourcing essential tasks in 2022 and beyond will increase significantly. Around 85% of logistics leaders were already expecting their outsourcing to increase. 

The biggest benefit of outsourcing is being able to focus more of your time on your business. In fact, a Deloitte survey suggests that 57% of businesses use outsourcing for this reason. 

Now that you know the benefits, here are a few factors to consider before outsourcing: 

• Cost
• Resources
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Minimal supervision
• Trust
• Agreement
• Communication

What is the Best Way to Buy Content?

There are two main options businesses have when buying content:

Hire freelancers from a content marketplace

A content marketplace connects individuals that need content-article writers that can meet those needs. This includes freelance marketplaces like FreeUp that pre-vet their freelancers to make sure you have the best experience possible. 

FreeUp also offers you the opportunity to compare multiple freelancers at the same time. That way you can make an informed decision.

Agencies can help you as well. Think of them as the opposite side of the spectrum to freelancers. They can be more expensive, but can typically guarantee the work. 

Outsource to a content writing agency

Content writing agencies usually have a team of writers on staff who can handle your content writing needs. 

Our content writing service, HOTH Blogger, was created to help clients develop great content.

The HOTH goes through a very strict hiring process for writers. We only take the top 1% of all writers who apply and then put them through a rigorous training program. What you’re getting is the best of the best.

And because we’re an SEO-focused business, we take all the work out of your hands. We handle the research and make optimized content for your business. 

How Much Content Do I Need and How Long Should It Be?

The truth is every business has different needs and questions that need to be answered.

Whatever you decide for content, the most important thing is consistency. 

Aiming for once a week is great but you never want to leave things hanging for longer than a month.

Blogging 3-4 times a week is usually considered a sweet spot. However, blog posting once per day is a good maximum. 

Most websites begin to experience decreasing marginal returns after 30 posts per month. 

And, without good blog scheduling, you may even create keyword cannibalization issues if done incorrectly. 

Another question that often gets brought up, is how many questions a piece of content should answer.

Here is a basic formula for questions you need to answer for your customers: 

Number of personas x number of buying stages x number of questions in each stage = the number of questions your content should answer

Here are two different types of content: 

• Long-form content
• Short-form content

Long-form content usually describes written content that is between 1,000 and 7,500 words. You may want to read long-form content to get a deep understanding of a complex topic. The main purpose of long-form content is to provide valuable information to the reader. 

Short-form content is typically a written copy that is 1,000 words or less. Content like this is usually posted on social media platforms, some blog posts, event posts, and emails can also be considered good examples of short-form content.

Choose whatever form you think is best for your niche, but one thing we can guarantee is that having more quality blog posts on your website will go a long way for your business.

Best Practices for Outsourcing Content Creation

Outsourcing SEO services and other various content marketing strategies like content creation aren’t uncommon among small marketing teams. When you only have so many team members, you have to prioritize strategies and look to outsourcing for any remaining tasks. 

With that said, here are a few questions to ask yourself before buying content:

• Would you be comfortable outsourcing a remote worker with little oversight?
• How does outsourcing fit into your content strategy?
• Is the outsourcer you’ve found qualified to help you?
• Are you targeting the right phase of the sales funnel or buyer’s journey? 

Once you have answered these questions, you need to figure out what you actually need from outsourcing. 

Here are some great practices for outsourcing content: 

• Consider your budget
• Create a content brief
• Create a style guide
• Start small 

Here are a few steps to help you figure out your content needs:

• Use your Analytics
• Perform an SEO audit
• Ask your audience what content they want to see
• Learn from your competitors
• Use a keyword research tool
• Create marketing personas
• Follow social trends

If you’re having trouble finding keywords to base your content creation on, you can always use our free Google ranking tool to measure traffic before and after you post new content.

62% of respondents in a case study by BCG said they plan on renegotiating their outsourcing contracts. So, as a business owner, you need to have a process for vetting and negotiating a new writer. 

Let’s Wrap it Up!

The bottom line is, your business should consider outsourcing your content. It’s affordable, effective, and will free up your time to expand your operation.

There are a couple of things to remember about content. You have to do it consistently. Articles need to be the right length. And the purpose of the content is to drive traffic to your site.

This is the reason why HOTHBlogger is so popular. It’s client-friendly and it works.

Do you want to know more about your options for buying blog content at The HOTH? We can take a look at your site, discuss your goals, and map out a plan to take you where you want to go.

Simply book a call with us to get started! Also, don’t forget about all of our free SEO tools and resources! 

The post What You Should Know Before Buying Content appeared first on The HOTH.

That’s the main reason why it’s so important to display information in a combination of visuals and words in an easy-to-read, consumable way. 

With that said, let’s explore infographics for SEO and everything you need to know about them.

Ready to create a successful infographic? 

What are Infographics?

An infographic is an example of a visual representation of information. Infographics are used as a powerful tool to help an audience understand information through the use of visual data, charts, and statistics.    

Infographics help convey information at first glance, examples include a variety of elements, such as:

• Images
• Icons
• Text 
• Charts
• Graphs,
• Diagrams

Although visual content can be valuable, you first need to have your audience’s attention span in mind. 

Studies have shown an 82% increase in readers’ attention spans and recall through the use of colors in visuals. 

Infographics, when used correctly can offer higher rankings in search engines, a boost in brand awareness, and an increase in backlinks. 

They also make complex topics easier to understand and more enjoyable to look at. 

Importance of Infographics in search engine optimization

With the proper use of color, negative space, and other elements, information can be memorable, attention-grabbing, and even persuasive. 

Use infographics to:

• Increase social shares
• Boost website traffic
• Raise brand awareness
• Assist with link-building efforts
• Show up in google images search
• Help you establish yourself as an industry expert or thought leader 

In fact, infographics are the most effective strategy in digital marketing to present data or information in graphic visual form. 

Let’s use David McCandless as an example here. He is the author and creator of Information is Beautiful and has done a good job in using a visual to explain what an effective infographic or data visualization looks like. 

With that said, he incorporated four elements into his project. 

Here are the four best practices for infographic and data visualization:

• Display: a good infographic needs valuable information, always consider the accuracy of your data
• Story: your infographic should tell a story by presenting information in order to make a valid point
• Goal: besides the presentation of information, what is the reason you want to create an infographic? Make sure your visuals match the goals of your brand
• Visual form: is your infographic easy on the eyes? Use color theory and other graphic design tips to make your visual data appealing to look at

When SEO is involved, infographics provide very specific benefits, especially online where standing out can be difficult for some brands. 

These specific benefits are:

• Increased traffic
• Better link building
• Relevancy
• Versatility

An infographic made for a specific group of people is a great way to increase your organic traffic. If it’s interesting and relevant, it has the ability to be more valuable.

According to Search Engine Journal, content and link building are two of the most important ranking factors. 

Link building can be one of the most challenging aspects that infographics can help solve.

People are always looking for content to share or retweet, so when you create a solid infographic, it can pique the interest of a specific group of people. 

They may want to share the information you’ve provided and link back to you. 

An interesting infographic can circulate on the internet for years. 

Depending on your thought-leadership status, you can approach different topics from unique angles. In doing so, you gain the chance of popularity years after a post has been published. 

User experience and the visual nature of infographics make them more useful and helpful to your target audience. 

With a divisible content marketing strategy, you can flip one infographic into many different pieces of content. 

Here are some other benefits of using infographics in your content:

• Socially shareable
• Reduces bounce rate
• Increases SERPs rank
• Easy to understand
• Better outreach opportunities
• Boosts brand awareness
• Shows your expertise
• Strengthens your SEO

How Do I Create an Infographic for SEO?

Here are some actionable steps for creating an infographic design:

Step 1: Begin with your goal

Step 2: Choose a topic your audience cares about

Step 3: Choose the best keywords and titles

Step 4: Create your infographic based on that keyword and topic

Step 5: Optimize for SEO (use alt-text, metadata, etc.)

Step 6: Collect your data and consider your colors

Step 7: Create a copy outline

Step 8: Select a good layout template

Step 9: Follow best infographic design practices 

By following these steps, you can create effective infographics:

• Stick with only a couple of different, readable fonts
• Choose your colors wisely (the right contrasting colors, use vibrant colors, but not too many, consider researching color theory)
• Optimize your infographics for mobile and desktop 

Choose a topic that best meets the needs of your target audience. 

For example, Hubspot is a leading expert in the field of SEO, they post statistics using charts, graphics, and other visuals to increase their backlinks, traffic, and much more. 

Keyword research is such an important aspect of SEO, it is also useful when creating infographics. 

Target keywords in the same way you would use them in your other pieces of content, such as blog posts. 

For additional help, try out HOTH Google Keyword Planner. 

It would be best to optimize your infographic in a similar way you would optimize a blog post and any other images you use. This will help Google’s crawlers understand your image. 

For example, here are some tips for infographic optimization:

• Find your targeted keyword
• Optimize your infographic for SEO
• Include a decent word count
• Watch your load times
• Optimize your social sharing buttons
• Have visible CTAs

Additionally, create a copy of your data and what you want to put inside of your infographic. Select the best layout template and begin designing! 

What should I include in an infographic for SEO?

You should include your collection of data, sources, and relevant information you gathered in your copy. 

Infographics are images, therefore Google’s crawlers can’t read them like regular text-based content. 

There are several ways to get around this to make sure your web pages where your infographic is displayed is optimized for search engines as well as your target audience. 

Here are a few things you should include in your infographic:

Optimize your filename and use commonly supported file types

When it comes to optimizing images for Google, experts recommend using descriptive file names for the pictures you decide to use. 

Infographics can be optimized for SEO in the same way. 

A filename is exactly what you would expect, it’s the name of the image file that you save onto your computer before you upload it. 

A good practice would be to reduce the file size of your image, use commonly supported file types, and supply an image sitemap file. 

Naming your images for SEO can improve your search engine rankings and organic traffic, this tip is easy and only takes a couple of seconds to complete.

With that said, here are some tips for optimizing your filename:

• Use clear and descriptive file names
• Use keyword-rich alt text
• Reduce the file size of your images

A couple of ways to reduce your file size are:

• Crop your images to the correct size of your page width
• Show a smaller image
• Reduce the color depth

Additionally, it is recommended to use JPEG as the first choice for a file extension, and PNG as a second choice. It’s also a common practice to have the extension of your filename match the file type. 

Add your alt-text and metadata

The reason that alt tags and meta tags are important for images is that it helps Google index and crawl your website.

In addition to crawlers, it also helps your content grab your audience’s attention and convey whatever message you are trying to send. 

Here are a few tips for adding alt-text and metadata: 

• Describe the image
• Add context that relates to your topic
• Keep your alt text less than 125 characters
• Don’t start an alt text with “picture of”
• Use your keywords 

Additionally, keep an eye on page speed and load times. 

In fact, Google’s research showed that the chance of a bounce increased by 32% when a page load time went from one to three seconds.

Optimize your header tags

Header tags are useful for your audience and search engines not only because it offers a preview of the content that they’re about to read, but because Google’s algorithm can help provide context on what your page is all about. 

This also helps provide hierarchy. 

Header tags help describe what your content will be about. It is also a good practice to use your target keywords in your H1 header, H2, and H3. 

Here is some advice on crafting your header tags:

• Use only one H1 tag per webpage
• Your titles should have a logical sequence 
• Include your main keyword in your titles
• Clearly state the subject of your section

Furthermore, optimizing your HTML and URL is important because keywords in the URL are a ranking factor for Google. Short and descriptive URLs can help with link-building and user engagement. 

Best practices for HTML and URL optimization are:

• Analyze your site data
• conduct thorough keyword research
• Optimize for on and off-page SEO
• Test your website for mobile-friendliness

Write out your meta description

A meta description should include a summary of what your webpage is all about for someone who may click on your link. 

It should clearly tell them what they may gain by viewing it. 

Meta descriptions should include a target keyword to help search engines rank and index your content. 

A study finds Google ignores meta descriptions over 70% of the time for pages on the first page of search results.

With that said, here are some tips for creating your meta descriptions:

• Consider your audience
• Make it unique and helpful
• Keep it at an optimal length (155-160 characters)
• Use a CTA
• Use your targeted keywords
• Try to avoid using meta description generators

Best tools for SEO infographic creation

Here are some tools to help get you started:

Visme

Visme is an infographic creation tool. It helps you create different visuals for your websites such as infographics, web banners, professional resumes, and even interactive presentations. 

They offer a pretty large selection of icons and graphics. Visme is simple and flexible for beginner use. 

It’s a great tool for anyone who doesn’t have much experience with graphic design. 

You can choose a template or begin to create it on a blank canvas. It’s free with a premium version. 

Venngage

Venngage infographics creator tool offers a ton of template charts, maps, and icons. This data visualization tool offers website owners three steps to help them create an infographic design. 

With this tool you can:

• Drag and drop library pictures 
• Create custom icons 
• Font customization

The tool allows you to save your infographics as images, PDF format, or for easy sharing on social media platforms, websites, and blogs. 

Canva

Canva is an amazing graphic design tool that allows you to design infographics, presentations, resumes, business cards, logos, and so much more. 

You can even animate videos and some irons. Canva offers versatility in design creation whether you’re trying to make personal or business designs. 

This awesome tool has everything you need to create some of the best-looking visual content. 

Infographics and Your SEO strategy

Infographics and other visual elements can enhance your SEO efforts. 

Infographics run a higher chance of becoming viral and viral content is shared frequently across a huge range of platforms. 

With that said, infographics can reach huge audiences whereas a blog post may not. 

In fact, studies have shown that content that contains infographics or images can actually generate 94% more views compared to content without.

Here are some helpful tips for adding infographics to your content strategy:

• Create your infographic strategy plan
• Set your goals
• Choose your social media channels for posting
• Design your infographic and create your posts with relevant keywords and hashtags
• Analyze results and adjust accordingly

If you include links inside of your infographics, you can bring even more visitors back to your website with link building. 

Here are a few ways you can promote your infographic:

• Create a social media plan to post your infographics
• Pitch to popular blogs and influencers discussing your data design
• Optimize your infographics for SEO (this part is vital)
• Repurpose your infographics into other forms of content
• Promote your infographics both on and offline (word of mouth, printables, etc)

Let’s Wrap it Up

Infographics are a fantastic way to boost traffic, brand awareness, and user experience. 

You can use infographics to grab your audience’s attention and keep it on your website for much longer than regular text-based content. 

You also have the option to add infographics if you’re on our HOTH X managed SEO plan. 

If you aren’t sure where to start, consider booking a call with one of our experts today!

Also, you can sign up for free and take full advantage of our free SEO tools.

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