Category Archives: SEO Training

10 Steps to Better SEO

Your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts may need a review. The way that Google handles SEO has changed and the other search engines have followed. The following are 10 steps to employ for better SEO

Write unique and high value content

Never take a press release and simply post that to your site. You can use a press release as a foundation for an article, but it should never define what your site is about. Always strive for unique, interesting and informative articles. If you cover the same story as others do, then find a way to present your original take on it.

Strengthen your keywords

Your site should rank for certain key words and phrases. You should also use variations of your top words and include them within your articles. Make use of Google’s Keyword Planner to find new keyword ideas.

Make your site user friendly

You have a lot of good information on your site. Trouble is, your readers may have difficulty finding it. Make it easy for people to find what they want by building a sensible and usable navigation bar, including bread crumbs to help them follow their way around; remove clutter that only distracts or misleads.

Go dense, but not too much

When using keywords, make sure that you use them frequently throughout your article. Be natural, but also be useful — one to no more than two words per every 100 words written is good practice. You can use variations of the keyword and similar words in your website too.

Ask for links and reciprocate

People should no longer paste links to the sidebar and consider that effort okay. You want others to link to your site, but those links should appear naturally within articles. Ask people to reference you — the best way is for you to consent to an interview. Don’t worry about receiving a “no follow” link as PageRank does not have the weight it once did. Do likewise for others that request a link from you. Understand how local citations work too.

Refresh your old content

As much as possible you want to create evergreen content, what stands the test of time. For everything else, your articles can grow stale, but may still be entirely useful. Older content should be cleaned up, updated and reposted. Include links to newer information on your site and check that outbound links still work.

Check your site map

You do have a site map, right? An XML site map should be created, shared with the search engines and automatically updated each time you make a change to your site. Make it search engine friendly and you’ll help your SEO efforts.

Do you know? What are the Necessary Skills to be required for becoming better SEO?

Examine your outbound linking strategies

Don’t get too crazy by linking to a lot of different sites. The sites you select should be respected, informative and clean, just like your site. Provide one or two outbound links for each article, as appropriate.

Do you know? - How to use content syndication for increasing referral traffic?

Snap up old or expired domains

Domains that are no longer used and are similar to yours can help your site. Buy them and point the base URL to your base URL. Check with Web Archives to find if there is old information that is useful and can be repurposed to your site.

Change your web host

When was the last time you changed your web host? If you are still with your original shared hosting site, consider a new one, especially if your current host accepts a lot of spammy sites. You are known by the company your keep — your IP address may have become blacklisted all because your hosting company is not vigilant in keeping spammers out.

Do you know? How to Use Amazon S3 for Hosting Your Website

SEO Considerations

Always keep on top of your SEO efforts as the base practices remain the same, but some of the extraneous activities have changed. Manage your site diligently and you’ll benefit from a stronger customer base and the sales that go with it.

For practical training and guaranteed job enrollment – join SEO training institute

Necessary Skills Required to Be An SEO Expert; No Institute will Tell You!

Be it business owners, budding marketers or SEO career enthusiasts, knowing and understanding SEO in an era of internet and digital marketing is of utmost importance.

If there is any amount of resentment with relates to SEO, then that’s because of the huge number of spam agencies that have taken business owners for a ride. Marketers now have to face the brunt by having to face a tough time making businesses realize the significance of SEO. Hence, both business owners and marketers need to know SEO to save their grounds.

As for individuals seeking a career in SEO, here are some of the required skill sets that can help your career take off as an SEO pro. Read on to know.

Required Skills

Knowing the functioning of Internet: To facilitate easy grasping of SEO, knowing the basics of how the internet works is important. While basic surfing skills help a lot, have a sound knowledge of the internet fundamentals like IP addresses, HTTP coding and how they can work with a web browser and a server is necessary.
Being internet savvy helps: What we learn out of our own interest lingers longer in our minds than what is forced upon. Its never enough to be a book worm, you have to have the urge to learn more than what’s served. Only then do you flourish.
Sound HTML knowledge is required: Knowing HTML coding well, is a weapon that will help you fight throughout your SEO career. Without sound knowledge of the language, you’ll find yourself heading nowhere.
Communication (Writing and Oral): It’s never enough to emphasize on how important it is to be strong in communication, written and oral. A lot of individuals perceive that SEOs do not have to face the customer’s upfront. But that’s a misconception. You’re the person working on the client’s website, so its ideally you who he/ she would want to contact incase of any issues. Besides you may be called up for inputs and guidance to trainee SEOs. For all this and more, you need to be strong with your communication.
MS Excel Skills: Proficiency in MS Excel is an advantage for every individual but for SEOs it’s a prerequisite to keeping themselves organized and on their toes so as to pull out and analyze data as and when required.
Fundamentals of Blogging: Blogging basics like creating WP accounts, adding and editing posts, installing plugins, Authorship installations etc should be known to an aspiring SEO.
Elementary knowledge of Social Media: Knowing the platforms and how they function, understanding the features like paid ads, sponsored stories, how to integrate them into a website, etc.
Google Analytics: Google analytics is a vital tool for monitoring on-page and off-page performance and measuring the results thereof. Understanding its functionality and being able to use it is therefore very important for an SEO aspirant.

Initiative-taking Habits That Will Pay

Inclination to learn: It pays. SEO is ever changing and evolving and the best way to tame the horse is to stay updated with the latest tools and developments. These updates would however not be available to you in the theoretical books and handouts. Hence, inculcate the habit of reading industry updates to stay ahead in your league. Besides, having the latest update will have people approaching you for help and guidance.
Creativity in link building strategies: Undoubtedly link building is a very important aspect of SEO that helps in rankings but post the Penguin and Panda updates, link building requires being done creatively using a combination of blogging, guest blogging, press releases, etc. Finding creative ways to attain links will help you gain better authentic rankings for your clients.
SEO is dynamic: Accept the fact that SEO will no longer work in the traditional stereotype way. Getting rankings and visibility for the client is of utmost importance and to achieve results you have to be dynamic, adaptable and flexible to learning and change too.

If you’re looking at a career in SEO in an organization, you may also be tested for your team player skills, leadership skills and presentation skills too. This is mainly because an SEO expert’s KRA is not just limited to performing the mechanical on-page and off-page activities. You will have roles where your soft skills will be put to test and being able to deliver under such situations will validate and enhance you as being an expert.

The primary goal of SEO is to drive in traffic and leads into a website (your own or your client’s) followed by branding. Organizations mostly hire SEO specialists (individuals or firms) therefore leading to the huge demand of SEO professionals.

With more and more people having access to internet, digital marketing has become the preferred medium for businesses to market themselves. Moreover, SEO comprises of a considerable chunk of digital marketing and its here to stay. So, if you think you have what it takes to be in this profession, take the plunge without thinking too much as it’s one of the very rewarding careers one can opt for.

What are your thoughts and takes on SEO as a profession? Are you looking for SEO training? Post your comments below or visit our website for a comprehensive training program on SEO.

SEO Training – How to use Content Syndication successfully?

Module #1: Content Syndication

Content Syndication literally means sharing of content. However if we were to explain the concept of content syndication, it would essentially mean sharing your content in the form of sites, blogs or videos with other websites in the form of snippets, thumbnails, links or full articles.

Why is it required?

Content syndication is very beneficial for websites. Some of the reasons are:

Due to the fast growth of internet and providing relevant and quality content to consumers, through other related websites as well besides your own, can open doors to additional revenues.
The vast ocean of content that publishers possess can be a potential driver of additional revenue for websites
Advertisements back most commercial websites, which need content that is both interesting and informative, to be able to enable revenue streams.
For websites wanting to engage in content licensing agreements, this can be the most effective way.

Step-by-Step Process of Content Syndication

Step1: Analyze

You have a certain amount of content. What you need to find out is if there is a place (industry) where the content can fit in. Once the location is deciphered, pen down goals for the content sets like what purpose would the content be serving (leads or traffic).

Step2: Research

Make a list of all the sites which can use this content. The content that you will be providing needs to be relevant to the industry in question.

Step3: Judge your resources

The content you have needs to be worthy of being shared. For instance if the content is product description specific, it can be enhanced with animation, videos, audios, graphics etc. The need is to create the excitement in the mind of customers with the help of your content.

Step4: Create sets

You need to understand that if a website wants to publish content on another website, the content needs to be relevant. Different businesses specialize in different areas, which is why content sets need to be created so that relevant content is provided to the partner websites.

Step5: Chalk out a support plan

Separate content sets need to be created for separate clients so that there is clarity of vision and purpose. A support plan is vital during the nascent stages of the publication to understand if the endeavor is worth the while at all.

Step6: Refresh content

The reason behind this effort is that partners will require and prefer fresh and updated content. Use of analytic consoles and metrics to get an overview of the content’s performance should be practiced in a routine manner.

Note that the content being provided to the partner’s site needs to be helpful and beneficial for his/ her business. Putting yourself in the shoes of the partner is the best way to understand the requirements from the content. Formal discussions can also be carried out to understand their needs and wants. The essence of the whole process is generating profit for the publishing website (in cash or king i.e., through increasing revenue or traffic) along with benefiting the partner’s website.

Enroll here for more information about SEO Courses here.

Best Practices for On-Page SEO to Follow For 2014

The year 2013 has been quite eventful for online marketers. Google, with their aggressive introduction of algorithm updates has left SEO experts a little unsure about what the search giant will do next. Though, Google have managed to bring across the point very clear that they aim to stop the black hat tactics like link farming and keyword stuffing and want to put real effort into creating best content for a particular service or product.

With the several introductions of Google’s Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird update, SEO experts are not sure how they will be addressing On-Page SEO to ensure that all the ‘new rules’ are followed so that there is no harm caused to the ranking or credibility of the website. On-Page SEO strategies need to be focused on optimizing the pages for the users and not just the crawlers.

Here’s a quick guide on the best practices to follow for On Page SEO to ensure your campaign’s success in 2014.

Page Titles: They are critical when it comes to optimization of the website pages for search engine result page (SERP) performance. Users truly evaluate the page titles when deciding to click or not on a search result. It is suggested to use primary keywords at once in the title and preferably in the beginning.

Page Description: Like page titles, page descriptions are also a critical component of the page listing in the search engine ranking. A poor description doesn’t stand a chance against an appealing listing on the page. A good description must be crisp, contain researched keyword phrases and must not be more than 155 characters.
Body headlines: The main headline within the page copy acts as another criteria for the user after they click your site from the search engine ranking page. A study by Moz reveals that the H1 headline is closely associated with higher rankings making it necessary to use primary keywords.

Handy Tip: Never use the page title as your body headline!

Content: The content of the page is what really makes a page worthy as it is what the users are really interested in and thus valued most by search engines. The Hummingbird algorithm is designed to understand full (long-tail) search queries to provide the most relevant information.To give your audience what they’re looking for, you have to produce good content, and the good thing is that Google now gauges your credibility through unique content contributions. One way to add to your search engine ranking is by establishing your Google author profile where you’re able to take control of how the content is displayed in Google search results and stand out.
Page URL: The beauty of major blogging platforms and CMS is that the page URLs are auto-populated based on the page title or blog title, i.e. the URL is optimized for a specific keyword as that of the page title or blog title. This is an added advantage as page URLs are often used as link text. And undoubtedly, the link text with a keyword is better than without link text.
Images: It will not be wrong to say that website images are quite under-optimized SEO asset. The production of great visual content and images is an important avenue of the brand and site to be found in search. Search engines factor the optimization of images for search engine ranking. It is suggested to add the title either above or below the photo and surround the text as the caption.

It is very important to incorporate these on-page SEO techniques to make the most of your online presence. And if you’re interested in learning more, then contact us here at The SEO Institute. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Going Back to SEO Basics to Increase Conversions

Are you struggling to increase conversions and you’ve tried all the latest techniques? If nothings worked yet, have you thought about visiting the old SEO techniques? Yes, you read it right! Going back to SEO basics to increase conversions can actually help you gain traction by almost 50%. Each of the below mentioned SEO basics can be optimized to add to the conversion rate:

Meta Description: When was the last time you care to check the meta description? This is an important technique but often overlooked in today’s time. A good meta description should be around 150-160 characters so that it is visible. Your description will catch the attention of the readers only if it contains the keyword for which search is made, so make it keyword rich. Remember, to give each page a unique meta description for SEO purposes.
Calls to Action: Check if you have a call-to-action in your meta description. As a best practice, save at least 50 characters for your call to action. Some of the calls-to-action that instill trust and make potential customers click on the organic results are ‘Price Match Guarantee’, ‘Find Out More’, ‘No Hassle Exchanges’, ‘Download Now’ and ‘Read more about’. Improved call-to-action results in 20% increased conversions.
Reward: You cannot expect the visitors to follow the call to action and give away personal information like a name, phone number or email address until there is something lucrative in it for them. People like to be rewarded for their efforts and you can offer things like a free e-book, free e-course, webinars, newsletters, coupon codes, a trial version or free initial consultation. The reward must be something that will help the visitors move closer to conversion. The reward you offer must help you with establishing a personal relationship with the visitors and improve the chances of converting the prospects into actual customer.
Headline: As a best practice ensure that the headline of the landing page matches the great pitch used to induce the prospects click on the ad. Make the headline stand out on the page to reassure prospects that they have landed on the right page. Wording in an ad must be catchy and creative to get people to click on it and the headline should be simple and direct.
Minimal fields: Most website owners make a common mistake that they ask for a lot of information in the lead capture form. Most of the times, requesting their name and e-mail address is sufficient. Extra details is needed at times, but try to limit it. You wont want to miss out on good potentials because the lead capture form is too long.

These four SEO basics taught by the SEO Institute, amongst other insights are sure to result in improved conversions and winning the trust of the users. At the SEO Training Institute, trainers make sure that equal weightage is assigned to old school SEO practices with the latest ones to ensure sure-shot results.

Google’s Hummingbird Algorithm

Produced by : Techmagnate SEO Company India

5 Reasons Entrepreneurs Must Learn Online Marketing to Survive

According to business analysts, the Internet is the premier medium that consumers use to carry out price and product research. Many people also use the Internet to assess the reliability and credibility of choosing one particular business over the other. With such an increased dependence on the Internet, is it surprising that Internet marketing is one of the prolifically used methods by companies to reach the masses.

We are long past the time where we need to debate the benefits of the Internet to get a cutting edge over your competitors. Still, we often come across entrepreneurs who don’t calculate the impact of a strong web presence for their business plan, which in the current day and age, is quite surprising. It is highly recommended for entrepreneurs to learn online marketing to survive because of the following reasons:

1. Social Media: Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are not used to merely “keep in touch” or upload photos. Many people use social media sites to make consumer-related decisions. As a business owner, you can use this to your benefit by first acquiring some social media training. Then you can incorporate social networking technicalities into your own online marketing campaigns.

Social media allows you to reach out to the targeted audience on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+. As an entrepreneur you must remember that social media is not where people research about products or services; instead, it is a platform where people come to form and share their opinion. So, make sure you have active profiles and make relevant updates.

2. Personalization: As a business owner, you can decide how you want to boost traffic to your website. This will require you to take either PPC (Pay-Per-Click) or SEO (Search Engine Optimization) training. The former will enable you to generate traffic quickly to your website and perhaps increase revenue rather quickly. The only drawback is that PPC strategies require a larger budget. SEO is easier to implement on a small budget and the actual optimizing aspect involves editing the content, HTML coding, and indexing.

3. Reach: Marketing on the Internet enables you to overcome the barriers that distance creates. You can sell your merchandise all around world, without setting up local stores, thereby widening your market. Before you make your products available internationally, make sure your products comply with local business laws. Also, Internet marketing provides a platform to research about the opinion of the audience about the product.

4. Building Relationships: When a customer purchases a product from your online establishment, it gives you an opportunity to build positive relationships. For instance, you can send a follow-up email thanking them for their purchase, solicit feedback request about the product they purchased, and even a special gift or coupon for them to use on their next purchase. You can also request product reviews from your customers, which can be featured on your web site.

5. Here to stay: Internet marketing is not going to be outdated; on the contrary, it will continue to evolve and expand, and often times, simultaneously! This makes it important for entrepreneurs to learn online marketing to survive. There are many aspects of it and as an entrepreneur try to learn as much as possible.

Online marketing is one of the most influential ways of generating revenue and expanding your business. It may require some training, especially PPC training, Social Media training, or SEO training. But the fruits of your efforts will all be worthwhile!

Learn SEO and Beat Your Competitors with Your Own Website

If you’re still consider whether to go for SEO training or not,then you need to ask yourself if your site’s on the first page of results for your niche and industry’s major keywords? And if the answer to this question is NO, then you must ask yourself what you need to do about it, and the answer is pretty simple; enroll yourself for an SEO course. You can conveniently find SEO courses in metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and other major cities. They help you learn the techniques to boost traffic to your website.

After the revelation by Google that 95% of all online searchers hardly go past the first page, there are many SEO training institutes that have come up in India. For business owners, it is important to learn SEO to stay ahead of the competition, and here are some of the optimization basics we think you must implement:

Title tags: This is an effective on-site SEO strategy. The title tags rests on the top of the internet browser and tells the visitors and search engine, what to expect on the page. If you don’t have title tags in place, the chances of being ranked are quite low. As a best practice, place major keywords in the title tags. Also, each web page should have a unique title tag that relates to the content.
Meta Data: This information is embedded in your website code and is used by search engines to find the information about pages on your website. This SEO strategy is not as important as it used to be, but still should be added to each page. You should also add a meta-description, i.e. a description of the information that one is supposed to find on the corresponding web pages. As a best practice, don’t forget to add a call to action to your meta-description that contains major keywords.
Content: It is very important to keep your website up-to-date with fresh content. This is one sole thing that brings back the visitors. Get in the habit of updating the website weekly as it attracts more visitors and inadvertently, your website’s ranking. Also, search engines love content. As a best practice, write unique, informative and interactive content. The content must be keyword rich but not stuffed. You can even add images, videos, and infographics to attract visitors and gain ranking.

These are just few of the SEO strategies that can help you beat your competitors with your own website. To learn more effective ways, contact us today to see when you can enroll!