The SEO Checklist to Look Out for in 2018

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We all know that being placed in the first page of Google can’t be done in one night; in fact, one must burn in the midnight oil if they wish to achieve that result in a short period of time. Besides, there are a wide variety of detailed subjects that any SEO services should handle. Therefore, in order to make it easier to remember things that you’ve got to cross off to rank in the year, we have collected 8 hints that any SEO analyst should take a look of.

  1. Crawl-able, Accessible URL in which content Google can easily crawl and parse.

When we use SEO services, we surely want the Googlebot spiders to visit our pages and understand the content that’s in there, whether it is a text, images, video, or embeds or anything else. In fact, this is actually one of the crucial things that matters.

  1. Keyword Research

Another element that is as important as the previous one is keyword research. Most business owners want to know what kind of words and phrases that searchers are actually using. By knowing the primary keyword and a set of related secondary keywords, business owners can discover the searcher’s intention while the SEO engineer can discover and apply the right optimization efforts.

  1. Investigate the SERP

The next thing to do is SERP investigation, in which you will perform a search query in Google and see what comes back to you. Then, analyze what Google believes to be relevant to the keywords searches. Some of SEO specialists think that content will answer this searcher’s query. In fact, you can easily take over that ranking position when you find questions but no one is serving this and many people are actually looking for the answer.

  1. Have the most credible, amplifiable person to Create Content that’s going to serve the searcher’s goal and solve their task better than anyone else on page one

By having a credible person to create the content, you will make amplification, link building, as well as social sharing way more likely to happen. As a result, your content becomes more credible, both in the eyes of searchers and visitors as well as in Google’s eyes too.

After that, you have to try to serve the searcher’s goal and solve their tasks way better than anyone else does  on page one. This will show how you have optimized a lot of these other things and reduce the possibility of visitors to rank on those other people higher.

  1. Craft a compelling title, meta description

Some of us think that Google does not use the Meta description quite often, if you think the same, you are in the same boat. However, the fact is, there’s a high percent of the time when an actual Meta description from the page is used even higher than the title is actually used. In fact, the snippet is something that is crucial to your SEO efforts as it determines how your business is displayed in search result. It will determine whether people want to click on your listing or they prefer to click on someone else’s site. Actually, it is your opportunity to promote your page and generate clicks. Therefore, in order to win, you have to know the kind of words and phrases  people want.

  1. Employ those primary secondary, and Related Keywords

Even though now people prefer to see visuals content, such as video or some other embeddable format, Google can’t necessarily and easily parse out, so they might not count it as content on the page. As a solution, you have to prove to Google that you have the relevant keywords on the page.

  1. Use Rich Snippets and Schema Mark up to Enhance the Visibility

You don’t always need rich snippets and schema mark up, but if you want to get into Google news or you have a featured snippet opportunity and you can get the visual for that featured snippet along with that credit, or in the case where you can get rich snippets around travel or around flights, other verticals that schema is supporting right now, you actually need rich snippets and schema mark up.

  1. Make Sure the Page Load Fast and Look Great

The last but not the least, you also have to pay attention on your website look as your website look is still important, so make sure it looks great from a visual, UI perspective and UX perspective, such as, does your page accomplish their tasks in an easy, fulfilling way on every device, at every speed, and make it secure? You can try many ways to ensure the safety of your web-pages, but HTTPS is one of the things that will continue to be a focus for Google in 2018.

Have you checked the  list above? Make sure you keep them as a part of your efforts. We are sure if you perform all the efforts above, you can achieve a better result in this year!

The Latest Research Reveals Only 7% of People Actually Trust Google’s Featured Snippets

Only 7% of People Actually Trust Google's Featured Snippets_YWF

The word “snippet” surely carries a number of meanings, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition you’ll find is, “a small part, piece or thing; especially: a brief quotable passage.” So, what does that mean in the context of marketing?

In marketing, it could be an excerpt from a larger piece of content in the form of a blog post. Moreover, it could also be a fragment from an e-book used as marketing copy or it could pertain to search engine results. Regarding the search result, you surely want to have a featured snippet that works well in search engine results. In the following explanation, we are going to discuss about what people think of the featured snippet; what is it, and can it be trusted? If you are working in an SEO service agency or if you are one of the people who are curious to find out more about featured snippet, you can keep reading this article.

What Is a Featured Snippet?

In general, a featured snippet is a summarized response to a search engine query that appears on top of results. The text is taken from a page’s content that Google believes will be the best answer to your question, and is displayed with the page title and URL.

For example, you are looking for an answer on Google; you will see the page  used for the featured snippet usually shows up as the top-ranked one in the search engine result page (SERP) for this query. However, in some cases, that isn’t always the case; in fact, Search Engine Land recently reported that Google is testing the option to remove featured snippet pages from the following results altogether.

So, it will be possible to get an answer from the featured snippet, which is in the #2 position. This shows that a featured snippet does not always equal a top rank in the SERP.

Do People Trust the Featured Snippet?

If you are planning to snippetize your content, you should keep in mind that the featured snippet isn’t perfect. In fact, a research which is conducted in Australia, the UK, and the U.S. shows that only 7% of respondents truly trust featured snippet results. This study compares that with the 21% who never trust them, and the 36% which are neutral about them.


Why Is this the Case?

To find out, let’s take an example, such as writing for a question on Google, “why are dogs so great?”

As the answer, Google will show you the results above, in which the featured snippet will serve you with some nice information about the history of dogs becoming domestication, but unfortunately it doesn’t explain anything, such as about what specifically makes them such great little creatures.

This thing also happens to other queries, for example, you are searching for, “How long does it take to make caramelized onion?”


In the featured snippet, it clearly reads, “about 5 minutes”. The text was actually pulled from an article, in which the writers indicate the time it takes to make caramelized onions. Unfortunately, the text quoted in the featured snippet was quoted from an unreliable source where a recipe pointed out for its incorrect cooking times.

Even though it is a low risk query since no adverse condition will happen once you undercook onions, it will surely upset the readers who try it out.

What if the inaccurate featured snippet results carry greater consequences, such as when a featured snippet explains totally wrong information about the history and the current events? It will surely cause a risk of widespread information, right? However, most of the examples featured in it have been corrected.

In other words, you still have a good reason why you need a featured snippet, especially as a marketer, you could invest some time into optimizing your pages for the snippet. Of course, a featured snippet that is meant here is a featured snippet that comes from the accurate and truthful information, since they’ve shown to beat out even the #1 ranking results in the SERP below them.

That’s what you need to know about featured snippets! Just like the other algorithms, Google will also improve many things related to the featured snippet front for a better performance in the future.

5 Ways to Build Better Online Reputation through SEO

 

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The main purpose of SEO service is to optimize any strategy to boost your website rank in the search results. One of the strategies that you can rely on is to show your “human” side of your business. This strategy will make your business seems more relatable and real. But, how can you show your human side through SEO? The answer is simply by collecting and displaying reviews. In fact, positive and negative reviews are used as a ranking factor. Negative reviews cause bad rank to your site while positive reviews will elevate your rank.

How Do I Take Advantage of Online Reviews and Improve my SEO?
Nowadays, customers wish to get better “transparency” from sellers. Transparency as a business means to open up to criticism and feedback. In detail, the action includes as:

  • Allowing employees to talk about your products and services publicly such as through an employee advocacy program.
  • Establishing 1-to-1 communication channel
  • Asking for feedback
  • Not hiding from criticism
  • Addressing criticism publicly

There will be some reviews that may destroy your reputation. Although, you can remove all the bad reviews but it is not a wise move. The best way is to turn the negative reviews to positive reviews through better customer service experience. Here are 7 tips that you can use to uplift your online reputation management:

  1. Monitor Your Reviews
    Apply social keywords when responding to social media messages directed at your brand. Set a Google Alert to notify you of any news posted about your brand. Therefore, by monitoring people’s reviews, you know what people really want and you can improve your product better.
  1. Friendly and Quick Respond
    Read your reviews daily. If you have more time, you can login to view and respond to social media messages multiple times a day. Make these daily routines as your habit, just like checking your email. In short, try to respond any reviews in less than 24 hours.
  1. Have Personality
    You can learn from many famous online businesses. Amazon is a good example. It always comes with a positive attitude and a willingness to help. Besides, it opens up a conversation in a witty style no matter what you have to say.
  1. Think of SEO as your Digital Business Card
    As it is stated above, good SEO strategies will help you boost your business. It works better than any business cards or flyers. In fact, business directory and profile sites help you accurately list your company online and monitor your reviews. Here are lists of business profile sites, that you can get started:
  • Amazon
  • Angie’s List
  • Better Business Bureau (BBB)
  • Bing Places
  • Citysearch
  • Consumer Reports
  • Demand Force (newer review site)
  • Dex Knows
  • com
  • com
  • Google+ Local/Google Places
  • Home Advisor
  • Insider Pages
  • Judy’s Book
  • MerchantCircle
  • Trip Advisor
  • Yahoo! Local
  • Yellow Pages
  • Yelp!

To gain and monitor your reviews, you can list your business on these sites.

  1. Pay Attention to Reviews on Social Media
    Remember that social media profiles are also part of digital reputation management. Therefore, sites like LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook are best for business as it has important information and people can post their reviews in these social media.