WordPress can be a great choice for your new website, but it's not search engine optimized right out of the box. Columnist Neil Patel explains how to lay the foundation for great SEO when choosing WordPress.
Columnist Neil Patel shares his tips and advice for analyzing the impact of Google's mobile-friendly algorithm update -- and getting your mobile presence on the right track.
In light of Google's update to its pirate algorithm in October 2014, columnist Neil Patel explores its impact thus far.
What is app indexing, and how is it relevant to you? Columnist Neil Patel explains.
Google's Pigeon algorithm update changed the way local SEOs do business -- or at least, it should have. Columnist Neil Patel discusses how we should be breaking old habits and refocusing our local search tactics.
In preparation for the release of Google's mobile-friendly algorithm update on April 21, columnist Neil Patel summarizes what we already know and what you should do to adapt.
Google and Twitter recently reached a deal that once again gave Google access to Twitter's firehose. Columnist Neil Patel summarizes what we know so far and offers predictions and advice for search marketers.
Link building is important, but it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Today, columnist Neil Patel shares his white hat link building tips.
Just how different are optimization techniques for DuckDuckGo versus Google or Bing? Columnist Neil Patel explores.
Columnist Neil Patel reminds us it's not the search query itself, but the intent behind it that is important to divine, if we marketers are to effectively drive conversions
Columnist Neil Patel provides a summary of what we know about Pigeon, Google's new local search ranking algorithm that was rolled out in July 2014.
In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, confusion abounds as to how -- and whether -- to employ JavaScript. Columnist Neil Patel argues that it can be done and discusses how JavaScript can be applied in safe, SEO-friendly ways.
Web pages may not be meant to last forever, but I think that most web pages can do a lot better. Many pages and articles published today lack evergreen qualities, which means that in a few months or years, they will be old and useless. They will join the billions of other pages littering the Internet […]
I feel sorry for meta descriptions. Google has long held that meta descriptions do not impact search engine rankings. From a 2007 post on the Google Webmaster Central Blog: [blockquote][I]t’s worth noting that while accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they won’t affect your ranking within search results.[/blockquote] Google reiterated this point yet again in […]
You did everything right when optimizing your site for search -- or so you thought. Contributor Neil Patel explains where you may have gone wrong.
What distinguishes a good search engine optimization practitioner from a not-so-good one? Columnist Neil Patel shares his thoughts.
Contributor Neil Patel tells the tale of a boutique hotel owner whose strategy for discouraging bad reviews backfired in a major way.
Overhauling your site? Without a 301 redirect map, you risk losing valuable search equity.
Tons of people have been using the Digg shout it feature lately. A shout is a message that can be sent between two or more users on Digg, making it a very powerful tool for getting many people to take notice of content, and potentially garnering lots of Diggs. Some Digg users consider the shout […]
Last week Chris Winfield did a great job reviewing the new Digg. Today, I want to discuss how the changes affect SEOs. We all want to get on the homepage of Digg because it can bring in thousands of links, but the recent changes made it both easier and harder to get stories promoted. Here’s […]
There are hundreds, if not thousands of social media sites. Because there are so many it can be difficult to figure out which ones to target. In an ideal world you would target them all but with limited time it’s important to prioritize. If you are wondering which social sites to target, wonder no more […]
Back in May, Facebook launched a platform that allowed developers to tap into the Facebook hub itself. The Facebook Platform is a set of resources and tools that enables rapid development of applications for Facebook users. It’s proven wildly popular, and companies are leveraging it to gain thousands if not millions of new visitors to […]
In the past few weeks I have been hearing more and more people saying that Twitter is useless. For those of you who are not too familiar with Twitter I recommend reading my write-up on the service or better yet creating an account on twitter.com and start diving in. For those of you feel that […]
Although many of you Search Engine Land readers are sophisticated when it comes to social media, the majority of the people out there are not. Most people aren’t too familiar with social sites like StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us or even Digg and they don’t know if their content is “worthy” of these websites or not. Here are […]
During the “Better Ways” panel last week at SMX someone in the audience asked for advice on convincing big corporations to embrace social media marketing. At the time my answer was that there would be a lot of education involved and you should also let them know that you’ll be actively monitoring their reputation to […]
Marketers generally create landing pages for pay-per-click campaigns or other advertising campaigns. So, why not create them for social media sites? Granted, it may seem impossible because it is hard to change the layout of your blog or website just for visitors from like Digg, Netscape, and StumbleUpon. However, you can make it so that […]
Netscape. You often hear it mentioned alongside Digg as a social media site, but how many of us actually use the service? Some say it is worthless, while others say it is very useful. From being on Netscape a dozen or so times, here’s what I’ve learned.
We all know that getting on the homepage of social media sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us and Netscape can drive tons of links and traffic, which is why we try and leverage these social sites on a regular basis. But are you leveraging them fully? Below, some tips not to overlook, such as the importance […]
Twitter is a new and hot social site that everyone seems to be talking about but very few people are leveraging. Twitter is still in its infancy, but it can still drive hundreds, if not thousands of visitors. Below, an introduction to Twitter and how you can tap into it as a marketing tool. Twitter […]
Six or so months ago, it used be easier to get on the homepage of Digg. Lately, sites have been having problems. Most of these troubled sites are usually about online marketing or other business-related topics. It seems that users are burying these stories for no apparent reason. A buried story dies with no chance […]
Placing social media buttons all over blogs and web sites has been a hot trend. Webmasters feel that adding these small buttons to their website will increase their social traffic. In some cases this is true, but in most it is not.
There are tons of tricks that people use to get stories on the homepage of Digg. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to get the visibility offered by Digg, most people are ignoring basic submission guidelines. Rather than concentrating on gaming Digg, if you submit stories using some common sense, your chances of hitting the homepage drastically […]
Last week Digg removed the “Top Diggers” list in order to help stop the manipulation and gaming of Digg, which resulted in a lot of commotion. Today, I wanted to take a fresh look to explain how the move may impact Digg’s “Friending” system and possibly allow more non-top Diggers to place stories with the […]
Many search marketers know their search engine alphabet, A for Ask.com; G for Google; M for Microsoft Live.com and Y for Yahoo. But how many know the important letters of the social media alphabet, D for Digg; N for Netscape; R for Reddit and S for StumbleUpon? Comfortable with AGMY but DNRS seems like another […]
Today, Kevin Rose announced the release of new Digg features. What most people covered in the release were all the cool additions, but no one really talked about the small changes that have drastically affected submitters. Before I dig into these small changes that affected submitters, here is a quick recap of the new features […]