AMA: SEO

[lludwig]

How would you go about setting up individual local networks, based on 1 site with duplicate content?

Ex:

main-site,com (contains the original content)
main-site,com/texas
main-site,com/california

The states are self contained "mini-sites" and don't connect to one another, or main.

The mini-sites copy the content from the main site.

Both main, and mini sites need to rank. But local sites should only rank locally.

Ideally, each section/site should have unique content. Doesn't matter if they are not connected. In fact I think you are missing out if you don't connect them all as that's how people search.

If you are trying to really make them separate sites either do a subdomain for each state, or different domains.

Otherwise, they should be connected and not just doorway pages. Google doesn't like doorway pages for SEO.

 

[lludwig]

Client restrictions on keeping them separate, but I'm pushing for unique content from them.

Not really meant as doorway pages as Google defines them (if I understand it correctly). User is supposed to land on the page, and get the information then and there. Then fill out a lead form. No funneling up or to some generic landing page.

Google is able to identify each location with proper keywords and rich snippets, so we're not getting multiple results in the SERPs.

The unique content part bugs me, b/c it's clear Google knows what's up. So they're not ranking well against local competitors.

Wish I could do multiple domains. To charge them separately for each one...

If the pages are missing navigation and other ways to navigate the site, Google considers them doorway pages and in almost all cases will not rank well.

It sounds from the way you mention it too transactional and the same content. All not good signs and sounds like you need to tell the client this.

 

[lludwig]

Even if those mini sites have 20-30 pages each, with their own nav and self contained internal links?

If they have this no that should be fine.

 

[lludwig]

In that case, what source do you recommend?. I have been working in my sites, but I want to get better.

I have a course See my sig.

I think SEO Signals Lab on FB is the best forum bar none (I'm in of course)

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[lludwig]

If you are doing SEO for "best x" type keywords for affiliates and you have a facebook pixel, would you ever recommend targeting your users for a product even though its affiliate and may have a lower return like 30%

Great question.

You mean remarketing correct?

If the merchant is doing remarketing you may not have great success. If they aren't I would try it.

I'm all for establishing a strong relationship with your audience. Remarketing is definitely a great way to do this.

I would do upon outbound click to the merchant's site and that, of course, means you need a pixel on their site for any conversions.


FB, unfortunately, is hard since they don't support offline conversions that well compared to Google Ads and Bing. So with FB you are flying blind can't get a full feedback loop for Facebook to fully optimize.

 

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[puckman]

I'm of the opinion for social you have to pay to play to get any decent results for most posts. Though there are always some that go viral organically.

I've seen the viral work extremely well. The biggest and best-performing pages on FB tend to be legit, organically grown from knowing the algorithms extremely well. Facebook doesn't like this, they want you to pay, but it's possible with good content and knowing the algorithm.

I like your advice to diversify platforms and optimize for each.

 

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[lludwig]

I have not gotten to page 1 yet for any keyword so I cant realy optimize CTR. But again I'm only working for 1 month on this.

There's your answer then, you haven't given it enough time. Keep focus with on-page issues first. Then think about backlinks next.

 

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[lludwig]

How do you get backlinks to your blog? I wouldnt like to use any blackhat method but it is getting difficult to get backlinks organically.

All SEO agencies I came across are using unreliable ways to get backlinks which may cause serious issues.


Regards,
AJSS

I believe I answered this already.

If you are speaking to SEO agencies that are recommending blackhat, you are looking at the wrong agencies.

 

[lludwig]

Wix vs WordPress?

If let's say paid traffic, which one is the best ROI in your experience for your bang for the buck.

I'm a beginner wanted to learn traffic generation, any resources that you would recommend?

Short term you'll do better with Wix because of the less tech requirements. I prefer WordPress because of all of the options available and many people who can work on it. So my long term solution would be WordPress without question.

 

[lludwig]

Thanks for the AMA sir, may I know is it better to skip the learning curve at SEO, and just dive straight to Paid Traffic?

In my Full-Time Blogger course, I talked about this. 55% to 80% of all traffic is from organic search still. So if you focus on paid you can do well, but missing a big audience. My suggestion is the multi-prong approach.

 

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[lludwig]

My issue is that in the top results of the lucrative keywords only big stores who feature multiple brands rank with their category pages.
I only have 1-2 products for each category (like other brands).
Since google ranks shops with a selection of different brands and products, is it safe to say that it is not possible for a product page or category page with 1 product to rank?
How would your SEO strategy for such a brand look like?

Then the chances of you ranking for it are low. You don't have the domain authority or amount of backlinks to the article.

I would go a different route. Either go for longer tailed keywords for that product like: specific version/model/color/attribute

OR

Go solution based keyword searches - 'best widget to solve X' or 'Alternatives to Y'

Also, the content should be unique, not some generic from the manufacture that every one uses. Add value where no one is doing. Can you create a tool, can you compare against other products, can you create how-to videos to help? Can you bundle products that are purchased together.. etc...

 

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[RisingStars]

Thank you!

 

[lludwig]

What advice would you suggest in the following situation?

I’ve launched a new store into a reasonably new market reselling other brands products. For the sake of this example, let’s say it’s vegan products and I sell a range of dairy alternatives from a mix of new and established brands.

I’m currently paying for most of my traffic and that’s not a sustainable long term plan so I want to improve my SEO. I’m currently no where on Google for popular phrases like "vegan cheeses”.

So far, I’ve tried to improve my on page SEO by improving product descriptions, added images with alt text, shortened urls, added page headings, added a blog (but posting every 2-3 weeks).

I’m struggling to see how to get people to link to me. Should I be targeting longer tail keyword and posting blogs like “5 best vegan friendly cheeses” and asking people to link to that.

I’m currently trying a bit of everything and don’t feel I’m making any progress. Any suggestions or guidance in which direction you’d put your effort in would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Well I think there's multiple questions you have to ask yourself, some you've already asked.

- Why would someone link to your product pages?
- What content can you create better or different than others?
- Can you create recipes on how to cook the various 'vegan cheeses'
- Can you create comparisons of other products in your store?

Some of them have no relation to SEO and more of a business strategy. Basically what value are you creating for others?

"Should I be targeting longer tail keyword and posting blogs like “5 best vegan friendly cheeses” and asking people to link to that."

Yes if there's mid-high level competing sites already for the shorter tailed keywords. With SEO you are trying to create clear signals you are the authority in said topics. What can you do to increase your E-A-T with Google and more importantly possible customers?

 

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[lludwig]

Great, thanks. I'll put my efforts into producing some new content to link to.

Do you have any tips on:

• how to find sites that will give backlinks?
• how to approach those sites and ask for the link?

I've always focused on the content first since you have control over this. This includes UX/UI issues.

Only then do I approach backlinks. Getting those backlinks isn't so easy. That's a topic into itself. What I can say create content and research that helps others so they would want to share. If it's just a product page, no one will care.

There are a few articles out there on possible ways. None of them are easy and none are assured. Unless you do blackhat SEO techniques (ie paid backlinks) which I don't recommend.

 

[lludwig]

Hi Larry,
Thanks a lot for this AMA.

What' s your approach with keyword research?
Do you only use transactional kw?

No I make sure I'm covering all aspects of search, from top of funnel to further down closer to the sale. Your content should then reflect this.

The example I always use is the difference between "what is a mortgage" and "best mortgage rate" the intent is much different. The content should reflect this. Meaning "What is a mortgage" should not be as transactional as "best mortgage rate".

Do you believe in Keyword Difficulty blindly ( Ahrefs) or are there other factors that you take into consideration that are not included in the KD score?

I use as guidelines. Keep in mind it is backwards looking. One way to get an edge is plan for an increase in keywords. Great example is with this recent pandemic. Keywords like "N95 mask" took off. If you just looked at the previous history in ahrefs or Google Trends it wouldn't tell you this.

Whats your opinion on the Keyword Golden Ratio method?

Today? Garbage. The Burt update from the data I've seen made that useless. Though question how effective it was previous. I never followed it and did fine.

This is more of a personal question but since it seems that in SEO content is the name of the game ¿ Do you think that Digital Marketing as a profession is just about writing and writing?

If anything no far from it.. I consider content a commodity. You need to add value via other ways. There is only so many ways to discuss a said topic. You need to add value via apps, widgets, and functionality. You need good content, yes, but that is easily replicated. Website functionality is much harder to replicate.

And last, how would you drive traffic to a new website in the shortest amount of time? Since SEO takes a bit of time ( Besides paid ).

Paid, hands down gives you the quickest results to know if you are hanging your ladder on the right wall. You can then pursue SEO for that same keyword if it makes sense.

Your options are kinda of limited for instant results.

 

[AnMSo]

Thanks a lot for your very helpful and complete comment Larry !

I just have one last question. When you do your kw research and niche selection:¿Do you do it based on the affiliate program you are trying to promote/sell or based on the level of competition? Would you do it this way:

product/affiliate program<---- Kw research<--etc...

I suppose it's better to find something that has low comp plus an affiliate program along.

Thank you again.

 

[lludwig]

Thanks a lot for your very helpful and complete comment Larry !

I just have one last question. When you do your kw research and niche selection:¿Do you do it based on the affiliate program you are trying to promote/sell or based on the level of competition? Would you do it this way:

product/affiliate program<---- Kw research<--etc...

I suppose it's better to find something that has low comp plus an affiliate program along.

Thank you again.

I would say a combination of making sure we cover all aspects of the topic in question. Regardless of if they are transactional or not. Second then also make sure you have the "money" pages that are transactional as well.

 

[VTK]

You are saying one physical location?



That's very unusual to see this happen. Usually, a home page lacks the content needed to rank for a keyword like this, but don't know specifics with your page content and the competing pages. Obviously, the home page lacks a CTA so people buy the product which stinks IMHO.



Yes all of this could happen, but not sure how easy it is to rank for that location and keyword combo. Most cases it isn't that high competing that you couldn't do what you describe and make a new subpage rank for the keyword and location.




This is an easy answer. things like /tag/ /blog/ /category/ in the URL (not the tag or category names itself ie. /category/ not /web-hosting/ ) serve no value. So they should be removed.



For something like this bite the bullet and make the change. Of course, make sure you do 301 redirects so sites pointing to these pages are redirected. Plus make sure all internal links point to the new pages. you should avoid redirections since you control your own pages.

Hey thanks a lot for that and yeah our current website (and business) is optimised all around one city so far but we're looking at opening in new cities.

 

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[seriousleisure]

ahrefs.com has some good content.
detailed.com
SEO Signals Lab

The last is more filled with SEO professionals though.

Thanks for this info! These sites are very informative.
I have a physical product site in a very competitive niche and will be rebuilding my website as well as doing SEO.

 

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[puckman]

First of all, well done. It looks like you're indeed a Seo specialist. I have only basic knowledge in this but I really like this area and somehow I always find my self learning something new about this. Can you share more of your techniques and methods and how do you reach 300,000 visitors per month? As for me, this is more than great but it also looks hard to obtain, so I would like to know more about that. Also, it's surprising to me that you could earn $6M from selling your affiliate blog. Looking forward to your recommendations for a beginner that is open to learning more.

One traffic trick I like to do is write about experts or journalists. An article on your site like "The Top Experts in Remote Working", or "The top experts reporting on personal finance", etc. After you write the article and post it, tweet the article and tag the experts on Twitter. Most will love the free attention and retweet it or reply on Twitter. If the experts/journalists have big audiences, it can drive new visits. Its not necessarily evergreen SEO, but it shows you how a well written article can generate traffic.

 

[lludwig]

I am looking for the best SEO course in 2020 for ranking on first page in Google by main keywords. Do you have any recommendation?
Thank you

I'm somewhat biased and will say my own course.

Learn to Write Google-Ranking Content

Taught by a 20+ year expert in an easy-to-understand format that demystifies the

welcome.larryludwig.com

 

[lludwig]

From my basic knowledge of SEO, I understand that backlinks are important, but I find getting these can be quite hard.

If I'm in the market for selling widgets and notice that blue widgets are going to be the next best thing so want to be top of the rankings. However, Googling "Blue Widgets" brings up low quality pages for people looking to buy.

What would be your tips for getting to the top of "Blue Widgets" or buyer intent pages like "Best Blue Widgets"?

Would hiring a number of bloggers and sending them samples to write reviews on my blue widgets (with backlinks) be a strategy you'd recommend?

You should always focus on what you can control. You can't control if some site will link to you (other than paid backlinks which I'm not a fan of doing blackhat SEO) but you can control the quality of your content.

You can control the UI/UX experience. You can control your menu structure. You can control links within your content to other articles on your site. You can control adding schema markup to your pages.

All of these are factors that determine ranking. It not just backlinks. In fact if you are an authority on a topic, it's possible to rank for a keyword at low to moderately competitive with ZERO backlinks.

Let me repeat this again. For keywords that have little competition, you can rank for that keyword. But only if you improve the things above. I've proven this many times in my tests.

Backlinks are like two job applicants when you are looking to hire one. If both are equally qualified (ie content, UI/UX, menu, content links, schema, etc..) the one with better grades and college (backlinks) will get the job.

Yes getting backlinks isn't easy, but not impossible and there are methods to get them, but first you need the content and the reason WHY some would want to link to your content organically. If it's crappy content, no one will link to it.

Though it can be said I would recommend going with long-tailed keywords. I've recommended using the Golden Keyword Ratio as a technique that you or any blogger just starting out. It's a great way to start from nothing IMHO.

Read up on it here: Keyword Golden Ratio: Learn How to Rank in 48 Hours

 

[Kal-El1998]

It depends upon the niche. SEO is a long game. You need to spend 6-12 months if just starting out to start seeing any results. If you want instant results to look at paid traffic instead. It's very rare today to go from 0 to say 100,000k/month of traffic in under a year.

Yeah 100k traffic a month is insane! IMO even sites with 15k+ a month are damn good!

 

[EdKirby]

For "what is a mortgage" they are at a much higher level of the sales funnel. Pushing them with mortgage rate tables isn't the best experience. They are expecting to learn more about mortgages than to find a bank with the best mortgage rate. You can have content that's too transactional when the visitor is expecting more informational.

Good point! This is an important distinction.

When designing a website, depending on that the goal is, what are some of the best practices for today's search engine environment?

I remember the concept of "silos" used to be big. What's are some of the architectures used today?

 

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[lludwig]

Im doing some local seo but Need to get into ecommerce/niche site seo as well.

Im pretty fast with picking things up from scratch. I just dont know any reliable Source on this and I dont Trust Most Blogs as they only want me to get them their bluehost of sem rush comission.

Do you have and advice on Where to find ecommerce seo advise ?

ahrefs.com has some good content.
detailed.com
SEO Signals Lab

The last is more filled with SEO professionals though.

 

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[Menery]

ahrefs.com has some good content.
detailed.com
SEO Signals Lab

The last is more filled with SEO professionals though.

Thank you, yea I already use ahrefs and im in seo Signals lab. Will Check out the Other one.

What would your seo strategy look like for a super boring niche product with Little competition?

Opinión on content marketing for niche sites?

 

[lludwig]

What would be a strategy that a physical products brand doing 7 figures/year could implement for SEO?

We get hardly any organic traffic and going into 2020 I want to build our blog and content marketing side of the business.

Is it about hiring writers, trying to get links, and volume? Any tips for getting links?

All of this depends upon your vertical/niche so I can't really speak on general advice.

 

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[lludwig]

Thanks for this great thread.

What can I do to stay ahead of competitors with better domain authority? I run a single microniche business and depend 99% on organic traffic. This traffic comes from a single blog article explaining procedures for this service and then offering the service.

For a long time I ranked 1 or 2 and even enjoyed the vantage Google knowledgegraph position. But a couple of new competitors (plus algo changes) came on board and knocked me off, and now I'm struggling to stay in the first page.

1. Is there a way to boost my own website's domain authority to regain top spot?

2. If boosting my own website's domain authority is difficult how best can I piggyback on a high domain authority site to get my blog post back in number 1 or 2? (I tried Quora and Medium, but still isn't getting the coveted top spot).

Well, your first issue relying on 99% for SEO. One of the first rules in @MJ DeMarco books.

I would change that ASAP. Try to at least get it to your industry average. It can be as low as 45% to as high as 87%. See this report:

Top Website Traffic Sources: Study of 3.25 Billion Site Visits

Marketing study of online traffic sources, broken down by industry and based on 3.25 billion website visits.

growthbadger.com

At least be in line with your sector. In my previous sector I was in personal finance (investing) and was above the 67%. I get it it's hard but you must keep working at it.

Get an email list, SEM, YouTube Videos (another form of SEO) don't rely on SEO since you have no control over algo changes with Google.

To answer the original question:
- If you've done everything on-page and improved your user experience: which is content, navigation, and functionality. If not fix this first.
- Then it becomes simply the competing sites have more backlinks. Confirm this with a tool like ahrefs.com

 

[Luke12321]

My site has been stuck on page two for months now. I did get it on the bottom of page one for a few fleeting moments but it went back to page 2 shortly.

I feel like my content is superior that anything else in the market. At this point, is it all about getting more quality backlinks?

I have been playing it safe, all links from solid sources, varied the anchor text, while some competitors have some really low quality, spammy links but they are still ahead of my currently.

I need to be more consistent with my link building efforts though, I have slacked off after getting stuck on page 2.

Thinking about pushing YouTube more next year as the quality on it seems pretty low quality overall.

 

[Menery]

How to you outrank directories (yelp, yellowpages etc) for local searches like Service + city ?