[AMA] SEO and Digital Marketing in 2016

[edward222]

To be completely blunt & honest, none of the mentioned strategies are currently effective for SEO. Some can be beneficial in their own ways, but if we are talking about ranking your website on a search engine, then these are not the strategies you want to use.

Social Bookmarking - Using websites like Redit to direct traffic to your website do not directly effect your ranking. At best, they give you an extra boost of traffic, although that traffic comes with a bounce rate of 90%+. This means that the extra traffic is essentially just raising your bounce rate significant without much of a return.

Press Release - Unless you've found a cure for cancer, press releases tend to be very insignificant. It can be effective to promote awareness and gain traffic if what you have to release is game-changing, but it's something that I completely avoid & I know other marketers do as well.

RSS - This has no impact on ranking whatsoever. The only time I suggest using RSS is if you update your website content on a daily basis. An RSS feed allows Google to index your new content in seconds. This is definitely an advantage to get new content crawled immediately, but doesn't help with ranking.

Blog Commenting - I would avoid this. Blog commenting is regarded as spam if you are trying to link back to your website. There is software out there that posts these comments for you - do not use them. These links are generally no-follow (meaning they don't give you "link juice"), or they hurt your website's credibility.

I hate to be so blunt, but these simply don't work like they used to.

As far as tactics that do work in 2016, check out my earlier posts! And let me know if you have any other questions.

Cool!
Thanks for the reply

 

[edward222]

hhhhmmmmm
If you were to use only 5 link building techniques that you know will work..
What would it be and why?

 

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[edward222]

Exactly! Just as it should be.



It ultimately depends on the type of website. An e-commerce website is going to go about building backlinks differently than a wedding planner. So I change my strategy to fit with the particular business. But in general, here are some techniques that have worked for me:

1) Link Exchange - This is a great way to build links, but you have to do it the right way. So many people are doing the "mass e-mail" approach by sending a link request e-mail to thousands of unrated websites. Even if you end up exchanging links, these tend to be sub-par links that may even hurt your website credibility. This can be incredible if your business is partnered with another business, or you sell products to another store, etc. I mentioned a bit more about this in a previous post:



2) Product Review


3) Guest Blogging


4) Directory Listings - If you have a local business, then this is a great technique. By listing your business details (Address, phone number, website, etc.) on 100s of online directories, you create credibility in your local area. As long as the information is consistent among the directory listings, you can help improve ranking on Google Maps and Google Local packs. Here is a great resource that lists the "top 50" directory or citation websites in each country: https://www.whitespark.ca/top-local-citation-sources-by-country

5) Create Amazing Content - This one is a given. If you create awesome content, then you will start to get links organically. This is why so many websites have blogs these days. It actually works.

Great answer. Thanks!

 

[Daniel A]

Hey JDawg!

I have another question.

What are the tools you use for SEO / your favorites (keyword research and discovery, backlinks, competitors, etc)?

Also, if you know, what about the tools the "Paid Advertising Specialist" and "Content Writers" use? If you could find out their favorites I'd appreciate it so much!

Cheers bro.

 

[thef0x]

So, to be clear, you think that the emphasis on Social should be:

1) Your account should have a lot of followers
2) Your account should be active
3) Your account should post both your content and other content

Questions about these:

1) Can the followers be fake?
2a) Once a week work? (e.g. something we can batch schedule)
2b) Do we have to reply to tweets etc?
2c) Our niche is so so so B2B and private that this really doesn't make a lot of sense, so wondering if it applies to all niches
3) Does the content need to be directly about our niche?
4) Assuming we should have a facebook, twitter, and instagram -- could we cut one of these? What's most important?

Thanks so much!
-f0x

////

Edit w/ another Q:

For the business directory backlinks, love the idea, thanks for the link, the excel spreadsheet you can download from that page makes it really easy.

My question:

Will I mess up our "national search viability" by associating our business with a physical location? I know it'll help us tremendously for local search but I don't want to do so at the penalty of being excluded from searches for our major term outside of our state. We provide our services nationally.

Thanks so much man!

 

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[JDawg]

Hey JDawg!

I have another question.

What are the tools you use for SEO / your favorites (keyword research and discovery, backlinks, competitors, etc)?

Also, if you know, what about the tools the "Paid Advertising Specialist" and "Content Writers" use? If you could find out their favorites I'd appreciate it so much!

Cheers bro.

A few of my favorite SEO tools:

• SEO Power Suite - This is what I primarily use for SEO. There are 4 different programs within SEO Power Suite, and they are all great. The Rank Tracker software is my favorite, as it allows you to check keyword rankings on every search engine and in any geographical location. The Website Auditor software gives you a detailed look at on-page optimization and areas that can be improved. SEO Spyglass lets you look at your own website's backlinks and the backlinks of competitors, and Link Assistant helps generate potential link partners. This is the best all around tool I have ever used with SEO.

• Google Adwords Keyword Planner - This is used to research keyword lists and keyword search volume.

• WooRank - Another great way to analyze on-page SEO.

• Google Analytics

• Yoast SEO - My go to Wordpress plugin for SEO.

As far as PPC & Content Writing goes - I honestly can't recommend any specific tools/resources, as I haven't used them personally.

 

[JDawg]

So, to be clear, you think that the emphasis on Social should be:

1) Your account should have a lot of followers
2) Your account should be active
3) Your account should post both your content and other content

Engagement > Number of Followers

Ultimately, it comes down to engagement. Although, more followers generally results in higher engagement. This is why it's important to be active on all social media accounts, and post content that generates engagement.

If all posts are focused on selling your product or service, then people may be less likely to follow or engage with you. That's why I think it's important to post additional content that encourages engagement - give your followers a reason to "like" or "share" your post. You could offer promotions or giveaways, or post content that provides information or humor.

Higher social media engagement can definitely help with ranking on Google.

1) Can the followers be fake?

Fake followers = No engagement

It may look great to have 10,000 followers, but as soon as someone scrolls down and sees that your posts get 1 like, your credibility gets crushed. Plus, it won't give you an advantage in SEO if there is no engagement.

2a) Once a week work? (e.g. something we can batch schedule)
2b) Do we have to reply to tweets etc?
2c) Our niche is so so so B2B and private that this really doesn't make a lot of sense, so wondering if it applies to all niches
3) Does the content need to be directly about our niche?

Be as active as possible & engage as much as possible.

Many businesses post hourly or daily on social media, as it maximizes the amount of engagement.

4) Assuming we should have a facebook, twitter, and instagram -- could we cut one of these? What's most important?

I wouldn't say that one is most important, as it really depends on the specific business. You wan to go where your potential customer/client is. That could be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google +, LinkedIn, etc.

If you don't have the time/ability to manage a half dozen social media accounts, then try to focus on what you can manage, and build up the engagement there as best as possible.

Will I mess up our "national search viability" by associating our business with a physical location?

I have never had an issue with local business addresses effecting ranking on a national level. I've worked with countless clients on "national campaigns", and they have all been associated with a business address.

 

[JDawg]

Final question: when you say "engagement" do you mean --> you post a URL to your website and ppl are clicking through to it, also liking it, sharing it?

Or do you mean that people are simply retweeting your post, liking it, etc, and it might not be a URL that you own.

I can see how the former scenario makes sense for a lot of platforms but if it's instagram or pintrest, wouldn't it make sense that engagement simply means liking the photo?

You do want to post links or URLs to your webiste/product/service to get people over to your website. It gives you traffic, and Google likes seeing traffic coming from those social media platforms, as it means that people are talking about your business on social media. This can be even more valuable to your website when those likes or tweets turn into shares, blog posts, and backlinks.

The reason why I suggest posting additional content, is to keep users engaged on social media. If someone follows your account because they enjoy your posts, they may be a lot more likely to check out a link to you website at another time or share your business with their friends, etc. You want to keep people coming back and reading & sharing your content on social media.

So yes, posting inspirational quotes or relevant resources would be an awesome way to keep up the engagement.

For our business, LinkedIn might be the best strategy for sharing our blog post URLs and twitter for sharing URLs of other professionals in our field (the people we serve, not competitors), whereas I bet we could get a whole bunch of "likes" on instagram by posting up motivational text images.

LinkedIn can be an awesome platform for B2B services. I just read a fantastic article about LinkedIn on Moz.com the other day. Definitely check out this article:

https://moz.com/blog/3-unusual-hacks-dramatically-up-your-linkedin-game

 

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[JDawg]

Omg machines SEO course

Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk

Ah, gotcha. I have never used the course, nor have I met anyone who has.

I'm sure that OMG offers some awesome info and training... but for $8,000.

If you do your research and due diligence, you can find all of that info for free.

 

[JDawg]

I was thinking of actually doing some blog commenting. Not with software, as you say, that is real spammy. But actually reading the site post and giving value in the post...all done manually.

Sure, I don't see a problem with manually commenting on blog posts - especially if you are contributing to content. While those backlinks won't give your website much "link juice", if any, it could be a good place to start if you have a new website with no backlinks.

That being said, if you have extra time and can write well, look into guest blogging. It takes quite a bit more effort to connect with a relevant website and write a blog post, but you can end up with solid backlink.

Your SEO company, what is the pricing structure? Do you charge a one-off fee, or do you charge a recurring fee every month ongoing (on the proviso the clients keywords rank well)?

While I can't share the exact pricing my company offers, I can say that we charge on a monthly basis. There are no contracts, and a client can cancel anytime. Most of our clients understand that SEO is a long-term play, and stick around for quite some time once they see the results.

Like others have said, I think you would 'kill it' if you started solo

Thanks!

 

[healthstatus]

I have several pages that rank just outside the top 3 or top of page 2 for some really competitive terms in health/fitness (on a website with 3500+ pages and 18 year old domain). When I look at my link profiles at those above me, it appears I am doing better than the competitors. What kind of things on site can I do to nudge those pages up a few notches, beyond the meta/title tag stuff you mentioned previously?

 

[MattCour]

I have several pages that rank just outside the top 3 or top of page 2 for some really competitive terms in health/fitness (on a website with 3500+ pages and 18 year old domain). When I look at my link profiles at those above me, it appears I am doing better than the competitors. What kind of things on site can I do to nudge those pages up a few notches, beyond the meta/title tag stuff you mentioned previously?

Did you use Moz Bar to check the competitors social activity? FB and Google + likes and plus 1s help as Jdawg mentioned earlier.

 

[Tomekmeister]

Hello there!
I really consider studying marketing and learning as much as I can about it. I know studies are more of a general knowledge, but I'm interested in it. Everybody around me (for example parents) are telling me that it's a horrible idea, because there's way more marketing guys than jobs for them. I know it doesn't mean that much, because I can be better than all of them if I commit to it. What would you tell those people if you were in my place?

The thing is, my main goal is not to work in a company, but to use all the knowledge to help developing my own. Is marketing my thing then?

And of course I'd like to earn some money first. Is working for example as a marketing manager a good solution? Or maybe I should learn some other abilities?

 

[Tomekmeister]

This is a question you need to answer for yourself. You may love it, you may not. You may be great at it, you may not. But you won't know until you give it a shot. Experiment, work on some of your own projects, and I think you'll have a good idea if it's something that you want to do.



There is definitely a need for good marketers. But it's the same with all fields of work - if you set yourself a part from everyone else, you'll get a good job. Work hard, always be learning, and be aggressive. If you want a job at a marketing agency, find some local agencies, find a time to meet, and tell them you will be graduating in X amount of time and you are looking for a job when you graduate. This is what one of my co-workers did, and he had offers from just about every local agency. The worst you can get is a "no".



I've learned so much working for an agency - what works & what doesn't, mistakes and failures, and a boss that has mentored me. I took the job with the intent to only stay for 2 years in order to experience and learn first hand from a successful businessman.

Regardless if I start a marketing agency of my own or pursue other business ventures, the experience of my marketing job has been invaluable.

So if you are thinking about pursuing marketing, working for an agency for a short period of time before starting your own company may help you in the long-run.

Thank you for help. This is exactly what I wanted to hear

 

[lifter123]

Hey
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions!

Regarding forum links:
Should we avoid linking to our site in the signature to avoid a penalty? (or is there simply no boost in rankings)
I don't link to my site from forum links for seo benefits but rather just to get some traffic. Do I need to stop?

Regarding Guest Posting:
How do you determine what is and isn't a "quality blog"? (SEO Moz?)

 

[JDawg]

Regarding forum links:
Should we avoid linking to our site in the signature to avoid a penalty? (or is there simply no boost in rankings)
I don't link to my site from forum links for seo benefits but rather just to get some traffic. Do I need to stop?

Personally, I avoid using forum backlinks for SEO altogether. For the most part, you should be safe including a link in your profile or signature on a forum, but it really depends on the credibility of that forum. It may give you a small amount of extra traffic, but it won't help your website much at all in regards to SEO. I avoid it, because there are much more effective ways to build backlinks to your website.

Regarding Guest Posting:
How do you determine what is and isn't a "quality blog"? (SEO Moz?)

I wrote up a quick guide on the forum today on guest blogging: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ease-website-traffic-quality-backlinks.66150/

This should answer your question and give you some insight into how I effectively guest blog from start to finish.

 

[whitworld]

I wrote up a quick guide on the forum today on guest blogging: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ease-website-traffic-quality-backlinks.66150/

Excellent post

 

[Daniel A]

Have you gotten any emails in the past about SEO Powersuite being on sale? I've had my eye on it ever since you mentioned it, but I'm always looking for a deal. If you know of a time when they have a sale I'd really like to know.

Also, I've read that there are additional costs on top of the license. Can you tell me a little more about those, please?

And last question about the tool haha. Also, the only difference between the professional and enterprise edition is the ability to export data for clients? I just don't want to regret not buying the full shebang, but it's a $400 difference just for that!

p.s. In Brian Dean's list of favorite tools, it's not listed.

 

[JDawg]

Have you gotten any emails in the past about SEO Powersuite being on sale?

Ah, yes! They definitely have sales - just not too often. Anywhere from 50-75% OFF too (I KNOW, crazy! ). From what I remember, SEO Powersuite had at least two sales last year. One in the summer and one during Christmas/New Years. But the sales were only a day or two long, so you would want to sign up for e-mail notifications for sure.

If you are willing to wait a few months, you could save quite a bit of $$$ by waiting until the summer for a big sale.

Also, I've read that there are additional costs on top of the license. Can you tell me a little more about those, please?

I've used the suite for over a year now, and I have never come across any extra fees/costs. So that shouldn't be an issue at all.

And last question about the tool haha. Also, the only difference between the professional and enterprise edition is the ability to export data for clients?

As far as the different editions go - It depends on if you are actually going to use the white labeled reports. I use the enterprise edition, but I do all of my reporting outside of the Powersuite, so I really have no need for it. If you think that you'd use the reports, then go for it! But if you are going to do your own custom reporting, then you should be fine with the professional edition.

 

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[Georgy]

Excellent AMA. Digital Marketing, now you're talking my language . This is probably one of the most important AMA's someone with no seo experience can read because it's essential to your digital success.

Questions:

1). For those of us who don't follow the seo bible, I know it's simple to just type in "Google Algorithm Update". But is there a website you go to in order to get the latest news with Googles algorithm updates? It seems Google doesn't flat-out create a blog post saying "We updated today!". Do they post these type of updates on their twitter account? For example when I typed in "Google Algorithm Update" in Google, I found this article: http://searchengineland.com/google-...ing-algorithm-update-this-past-weekend-240067. So I didn't see any "google" site listed on the first page talking about any recent updates. Maybe I don't understand the logic behind this? I'm also on Google.ca website.

2). In regards to "Mobile SEO". I know most variables you listed apply to "Mobile SEO", but I know things like having a responsive website is crucial in the way your website is found via the Google mobile search. Any other variables you would say factor in for Mobile SEO apart from having a responsive website?

3). "Organic Traffic" is all good since it's quality and most importantly free! But are there any other techniques, methods you personally use to drive traffic to one of your properties without using Google AdWords, Facebook Ads or paying substantially for web/mobile traffic? Doing a guest post on a blog site is something most of us don't have the luxury to do since we have no "in" to these authoritative websites, and sites that offer guest blogging don't add a "do-follow" tag to your site. If they do, they quickly remove it from my experience. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated, without compromising your secret sauce .

4). Have you tried Google's Double Click? If so, do you find that it's only suitable for large enterprises due to the cost of using their DC? If your agency does us DC, does the agency see a real benefit to use this for their clients (even if the clients are small time) compared to using it for brands?

Thanks Jdawg. Not looking for a response right away so no rush on my end, whenever you have some spare time and it's convenient for you.

 

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[Andy Black]

@Andy Black

I get where you are coming from. Treat people as people, and not as "pageviews/visitors/clicks". I can understand how thinking along those lines would result in me being able to deliver better content, which would actually help people.

My purpose for creating the website was to help people, but the more and more I researched, the deeper I went into the rabbit hole of SEO, and my view point started shifting.

I am going through the links you have posted and realize that I need to recalibrate my mindset. Thanks for the push in that direction.

Good for you @DoctorNotADoctor

 

[JDawg]

How do you think one should use social media when building a consumer product brand?

Am anticipating your reply !

Good to hear from you again HyperFocus!

Social Media is extremely important when building a product brand. While a strong social media presence impacts your website authority and search engine rankings, it is also important for other reasons.

- It gives you the opportunity to connect directly with your customers & potential customers. Use social media to engage with those individuals. Don't only post information about your product/business, but focus on posts that engage your users & demand a response! Post content that encourages them to share photos, comment, like, and share. This could be awesome quotes, photos, etc.

- You want to get your customers to follow you. Give them an incentive to follow your social media such as exclusive content, promotions, giveaways, etc. It's important to have a strong following, because it directly effects your brand credibility and sales.

I read a study that showed that 80% of users visit a website's social media account before making a purchasing decision. You want your social media account to affirm your credibility and encourage a purchasing decision. If you have 6 followers on Facebook, there's a good chance you've lost your potential customer.

 

[thef0x]

Final question: when you say "engagement" do you mean --> you post a URL to your website and ppl are clicking through to it, also liking it, sharing it?

Or do you mean that people are simply retweeting your post, liking it, etc, and it might not be a URL that you own.

I can see how the former scenario makes sense for a lot of platforms but if it's instagram or pintrest, wouldn't it make sense that engagement simply means liking the photo?

For our business, LinkedIn might be the best strategy for sharing our blog post URLs and twitter for sharing URLs of other professionals in our field (the people we serve, not competitors), whereas I bet we could get a whole bunch of "likes" on instagram by posting up motivational text images.

Thanks a bunch for your advice man. Repped

 

[Deleted20833]

What's your thoughts on OMG?

 

[JDawg]

What's your thoughts on OMG?

OMG.. Meaning?

 

[Deleted20833]

OMG.. Meaning?

Omg machines SEO course

Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk

 

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[whitworld]

Solid tips JDawg. Great thread

Blog Commenting - I would avoid this. Blog commenting is regarded as spam if you are trying to link back to your website. There is software out there that posts these comments for you - do not use them. These links are generally no-follow (meaning they don't give you "link juice"), or they hurt your website's credibility.

I was thinking of actually doing some blog commenting. Not with software, as you say, that is real spammy. But actually reading the site post and giving value in the post...all done manually.

What about commenting in authority sites within related niches, say 4 or 5 sites a day (maybe 100 - 200 sites in total, so say over a month or two). I have heard Google might like this as it makes you backlinking profile look a little more natural? I know the vast majority of blog comments are 'no follow' but they do give a very ever-so-slightly boost in link juice too?

The links back to your site would be in your name/user only. I guess every now and again you could actually link back to your site within the actual blog comment?

Thoughts?

 

[JDawg]

I have several pages that rank just outside the top 3 or top of page 2 for some really competitive terms in health/fitness (on a website with 3500+ pages and 18 year old domain). When I look at my link profiles at those above me, it appears I am doing better than the competitors. What kind of things on site can I do to nudge those pages up a few notches, beyond the meta/title tag stuff you mentioned previously?

PM me your domain name, and I'll take a look!

 

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[edward222]

What are your best practices in Growth Hacking?

 

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[Daniel A]

I use the enterprise edition, but I do all of my reporting outside of the Powersuite, so I really have no need for it. If you think that you'd use the reports, then go for it! But if you are going to do your own custom reporting, then you should be fine with the professional edition.

If you don't mind me asking. How do you do your reporting outside of Powersuite?