SEO Tips

3 Things You Need to Know About How Potential Customers Search the Web

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 13:15:42 GMT

One of the most important aspects of having a strong SEO strategy is to understand how your potential customers search the web. When you can understand what your target market wants, you can effectively reach and engage with these users.

The goal is to ensure that your customers find value in your brand and services. Therefore, it is essential that digital marketers prioritize creating for users and not just for search engines. There are three types of search queries that people like to make:

“Go” Navigation Queries
“Know” Informational Queries
“Do” Transactional Queries

The primary goal of search engine is to answer questions and provide relevant results. When visitors types in a query into a search box, once they reach your brand’s site, will they find what they are looking for? It is essential for digital marketers to understand what their audience is looking for and ensure that your site provides it to them in multiple ways.

Let’s go in depth about what these three types of search queries are and how you can create website content that focuses on them.

#1 – Navigational Queries

A navigational query focuses on finding a certain website or webpage. This type of query is according to Google is a “GO” query. With this type of search query, users want to go to a particular place on the Internet such as the Disney website or homepage of the NBA. A user could enter “Facebook” into the Google search bar to find Facebook site instead of entering the URL into the navigation bar.

How can you create content for navigational queries?

The only way to target navigational queries is if you are the owner of the specific brand or website that the user is looking for. With navigational queries, the user has a specific site in mind and if your site isn’t what they are looking for then you will not be relevant.

Action Step:

Ensure that you own your brand’s navigational query. Your site should appear in both the top organic spot and top sponsored spot when searching for your brand name or company.

#2 – Informational Search Queries

Informational queries include a topic for which there could be thousands of relevant results. Information queries are “Know” queries in which a user is looking for information about a broad topic such as “cars” or “exercise”. With this search query, users are not looking for a specific site, product or service. Users simply want to learn more about how to do something or have a question answered.

How can you create content for informational queries?

One of the most effective ways to target informational queries is to create high quality content that provides value to user through relevant information. Wikipedia is excellent at providing relevant information on many topics which why it ranks first for about half of all informational queries. Here are some types of content that you can create to target informational queries that can increase traffic to your website:

Write a blog post full of relevant advice and tips that would be relevant to prospective customers-if you are a plumber, you could write a blog post on how to choose the best plumbing system for a home
Create a how-to video that connects to your products and services (create a video on how to make jewelry if you sell beads)
Write a how to guide that breaks down the step by step process for your business
Create an infographic that provides a visual illustration of a concept

Action Step

It is important to get creative with informational content. The goal is for your site to gain a reputation as a great source of information, not to force users to buy your products. Informational content is a great way to build awareness of your brand. If you can answer a searcher’s question, you’ll be top of mind when they are considering purchasing the type of products or services that you provide.

#3 – Transactional Search Queries

With transactional queries, the user seeks to make a purchase and are also known as “Do” queries. Transactional queries include brand and product names (iphone 6S) or non branded (ice cream maker) and include terms such as buy, purchase, or order. With this type of query, the user is thinking about making a purchase or will be making a purchase in the near future. Local searches such as “Toronto vegan restaurants” are also transactional queries.

How can you create content for informational queries?

With transactional search queries, it is recommended that you follow through with two essential aspects:

Organic Content which includes product pages and SEO strategies
Pay per click (PPC) or AdWords to target search terms for your product

These two work together well for transactional search queries because:

If a user is looking for a specific type of product or service that they want to purchase, a sponsored ad will be just as effective a piece of content that shows up in organic search to connect them to what they are looking for.
If you are looking for your brand to be seen on the top half of search engine results pages, you should consider PPC/Adwords. AdWords are a cost effective means to increase traffic, drive sales, and generate leads.
Google offers a variety of ads for products and services where you can include images and videos of your product or service. Options for organic results are less flexible and with less options available.

There are more informational queries than transactional so therefore for your best bet for increasing traffic is to create high value SEO content.

Webinar - Top 4 Tools for Landing Page Search Engine Optimization

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 19:23:18 GMT

How To Increase Your SEO Keyword Relevance, Authority, And Search Engine Ranking

Are you trying to improve your Landing Page rankings on search engines? Landing Page SEO is a vital step to improving your relevance, authority, and search engine ranking. Choose the most effective Keywords for each of your Landing Pages, optimize your Landing Page titles, headings, images and body text, and measure the effectiveness with Landing Page SEO Tools.

Why Use Green Lotus SEO Tools For Landing Page Optimization?

Your website optimization helps search engines determine your authority and relevance to search terms, and your search engine ranking.
Landing Page Optimization Tools analyse your Landing Page for optimal use of specific keywords you have researched and identified.
Landing Page SEO Tools provide you with an overall optimization score, and pinpoints specific areas on the page where Keywords should be included.
The Tools can scale to meet your needs, analysing multiple Landing Pages and keywords.
Create ‘Events’ within Green Lotus SEO Tools to pinpoint when major changes are made to your Landing Page content, and analyse the effectiveness.
Access Green Lotus Tools from anywhere in the world! The Tools are cloud based and do not require any downloads or installations.

What is a SEO Landing Page?

Your homepage is not a great Landing Page, it contains a wealth of information and links to various parts of your website

A Landing Page should have a single message and Call-to-Action or point of conversion
Product and Service pages are great SEO Landing Pages. Example: If a user is searching online for ‘content writing services’ ideally they should land on your service page for ‘Content Writing’. Your Service pages should be optimized for 2-3 keywords relevant to your specific service.
Learn more with Top 5 Landing Page Design Best Practices

Quick SEO Tip: have a separate webpage for each of your products and services, and optimize these pages as Landing Pages, so they perform well and appear in relevant search results.

4 Essential Tools for Landing Page SEO

#1 – SEO Analysis Tool

Popular Pages – Identify your most popular pages, and start optimizing these pages for specific keywords, then start addressing your Service and Product pages. Each specific page should be optimized for its own individual set of keywords.

#2 – SEO Keyword Research Tools

Keyword Research (link to the Keyword Research article) is the first step in any SEO strategy! Once you have performed keyword research, it is recommended that you optimize each page for 2-3 keywords or keyword phrases, and include a ‘location’ keyword. Example: ‘Content Writing Toronto’

#3 – Landing Page Overview Tool

Select the most valuable pages of your site that you will optimize for the targeted keywords, and get an analysis of page performance, critical issues, broken links, total backlinks, social citations, search engine ranking, and more.

Select the specific Keywords you will use to optimize each Landing Page, each page can have a different set of Keywords that will be analysed.

#4 – Landing Page SEO Tool

Dig deeper into the optimization of each of your Landing Pages! Improve your optimization score and page quality with these tips

Keywords in Title Tag
– the Title Tag appears in search engine results, it is what the user will click on to reach your website. Having your primary Keyword in the Title Tag also confirms to the user that the website is relevant to their search terms.
Keywords in H1 Headings
– the most important Heading on your page is the H1, it is used by search engines to determine the relevance of your page to searched terms. Be clear and highlight your product/service or offer with Keywords in the Heading Tag.
Keywords in H2-H4 Headings
– H1-H4 are secondary Headings that are used by Search Engines to determine a pages’ relevance to searched terms.
Keywords in Description Tag
– create a unique page description for each page on your website, and include your most important keywords. The Description may appear under your Page Title in search engine results, providing users with a ‘snippet’ of your page.
Keywords Present in Body Text
– The Landing Page SEO Tool will show how many times your Keywords are included in the body of your text, the recommended amount depends on the length of your page
Keyword Density in Body Text
– the frequency of Keywords within the text of your Landing Page is important to avoid keyword stuffing penalties. There is no solid rule for Keyword Density but we recommend:
– 3 to 5 % for primary Keyword
– 1 to 3% for your secondary Keyword
– Less 1 % for any other Keywords
Keywords in URL
– having your primary Keyword in the URL helps search engines determine the relevance of a page to searched terms. URL best practices recommend using all lower case words, and dashes to separate words (not an underscore).
Keywords in Image ALT Tags and File Names
– images provide another opportunity to optimize for keywords and provide added information about a page’s relevance to search terms.
Keywords Linking Text
– another indication of relevance and authority is the linking text of any links going to your Landing Page. Link the authoritative pages of your site to relevant Landing Pages using phrases that include the specific keywords you have identified for your Landing Page optimization.

Quick SEO Tip: In the body text of your webpage include a section outlining the benefits of your product or service, and other vital information users would need to make a decision.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 19:15:08 GMT

Search Engine Basics

Search engines are designed to provide the most relevant and popular search results for a search query! Search results are ranked by the popularity and quality of the web page, and how useful and relevant it is to the user’s query.

In order for search engines generate relevant results, they rely on more than just the right words. Today, many factors influence how relevant a web page is for search engines. Search engines operate with the assumption that the more popular a site, page or document, the more value it provides users. This assumption has been critical for providing high quality search results.

Popularity and relevance are not determined manually. Search engines use algorithms to determine which web pages are relevant and how to rank them by popularity. These algorithms contain many factors that are known as ranking factors, and change regularly.

Search Engine Verticals

Popular search engines, like Google and Bing, categorize search results into Verticals.

There are several search engine verticals that you can take advantage of, depending on their relevance to your business products and services. Producing content within these popular verticals can help you take over the 1st page of search results:

Paid search results
Image search results
Video search results
News search results
Maps search results
Shopping search results

How Long Will It Take To Boost Your Ranking?

There are 3 major factors that will determine how fast you can get on the 1st page of search engine results:

Where do you rank right now?
How strong are your competitors online?
Search engine algorithm changes that may penalize your website

Your SEO Strategy

The key to Search Engine Optimization is consistency – SEO is an ongoing process that general shows results within 2-3 months. Be consistent and patient, search engine spiders must crawl and re-index your web pages before you’ll see results.

There are SEO tasks that need to be done once to ensure your website is search engine friendly, these include:

Keyword research
Content optimization
Fixing technical issues
Site structure optimization

There are also ongoing SEO tasks that should be a part of any business SEO Strategy, these include:

Fresh content
Link building
Directory submissions
Press Releases

4 Things You Need to Know About How Search Engines Work

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 19:06:30 GMT

#1 – What is a search engine?

Search engines are answer providers. When you enter a query into a search box, search engines provide information by looking through billions of pages that have been stored on its servers. A search engine’s goal is to provide the most relevant and popular information for each query. Results are ranked by the popularity and quality of the website as well as how useful and relevant they are for the user’s query.

In this article, our focus will be on the Google search engine. According to Statista.com (an online statistics portal), Google is the most widely used online search engine worldwide with 1.17 Billion people using Google search while competitors such as Yahoo! and Microsoft fall short with less than 300 million.

#2 – How do search engines collect and store information on their servers?

With spiders!

To organize and find web pages online, search engines use automated robots called spiders. Spiders collect and build lists of words on websites to reach millions of websites on the web. The process of a spider building lists is called web crawling. When spiders are building lists of websites, they follow links on pages just like how you would if you were browsing content online.

The spider move from link to link, collect data, and bring the information they found back to Google’s servers.

Once the information is gathered during web crawling, Google creates an index so that the most relevant and popular information can be found for each search query. Just like the index in the back of a book, the Google index stores information about each website’s words, location and information.

Indexing stores information in a useful way so that Google knows where to find which most appropriate pages for each search result.

Everyday, Google will index hundreds of millions of pages and answers tens of millions of questions.

#3 – What do search engines look for on web pages?

If search engines only stored individual words and URLs, this would be ineffective because there would no way of telling:

whether the word was used in an important way on the page
whether the word was used once or many times
whether the page contained links to other pages containing the word

Without more detailed information, search engines would not know which pages were most useful and most relevant for user queries. In order to create useful results, in addition to words and URLs, Google looks for the following information on web pages:

The words within the page – on page information.
Where the words were located on the page.
Keywords
Number of times that a word appears on a page.
Assign weight to each entry, with increasing values assigned to words that appear near the top of the document, in subheadings, in links, in the meta tags or in the title of the page

#4 – How do search engines determine what is relevant?

In order for search engines generate relevant results, they rely on more than just the right words. Today, many factors influence how relevant a website is for search engines. Search engines operate with the assumption that the more popular a site, page or document, the more value it provides users. This assumption has been critical for providing high quality search results.

Popularity and relevance are not determined manually. Google uses mathematical algorithms to determine what sites are relevant and how to rank them by popularity. These algorithms contain many factors that are known as ranking factors.

Top 5 Reasons Why Search Engine Optimization Matters

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 18:51:23 GMT

1. We all Love Traffic

Well executed SEO can be the difference between getting 100,000 visitors a day and 500 per month. The higher your website is on the first page of Google the more traffic your website has access to.

The estimate is that 75% of internet searches are for the top five positions on Google for any given search query. A site that wants to rank for a certain word or phrase has to make sure that their site has an effective SEO strategy. The higher your website is on the first page of Google the more traffic your website will have.

2. Search engines matter

The majority of users use search engines to check online reviews before making a purchase. Organic search is an essential aspect of gathering information that will help users make a decision.

Without SEO in place, your potential users will have a difficult time finding you and will connect with your competition instead.

3. SEO has strong ROI

SEO has a strong ROI and is cost effective in comparison to other forms of online marketing which include PPC advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing.

SEO is an essential part of online presence and enables your brand to be found by potential users that are looking for the types of services or products that you offer.

4. Be the Solution

Being able to find whatever information you are looking for within the click of a button has changed our society. When a user types in a search query, they have a problem and they are looking for a solution. Most of the time the solution is found on the first page of Google or by using another keyword.

SEO can enable your brand to be the SOLUTION to any problem that a user is seeking to solve. By using SEO, your brand is more likely to be viewed by people who are searching for it online. How can your brand use SEO to be the solution to your potential customers challenges?

5. Stay on course with competition

Just because your business may not have an SEO strategy doesn’t mean that your competition won’t. SEO is an extremely valuable and it is essential to stay on course with your competition by integrating this tool into your business. By not integrating SEO into your business, you could be missing out.

Top 5 Myths About Search Engine Optimization

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 18:37:15 GMT

1. All You Have to do is Change Your Meta tags

In the past, meta tags were an essential part of SEO. You would write in the keywords you want to be ranked for in the meta tags and your page would be in the relevant query.

This process became a source of spam and search engines dropped it as a major ranking factor. Currently, search engines ignore or put in little value with meta tags. Meta tags are no longer a central part of SEO and instead Tags such as title tags and meta crucial for quality SEO.

2. Guaranteeing Positions

Ethical SEO professionals should never guarantee future results with position or length of time. When these types of promises are made, they are most likely not playing by the rules and using spamming or cloaking which can lead to huge search engine penalties.

Creating an SEO strategy is not just about ranking. An SEO strategy should be driven by the goal of increasing traffic, engaging, and conversions. These goals cannot be achieved by only focusing on ranking. Being #1 in rank can increase traffic but the goal is not just to gain the #1 position. Creating high value SEO content that is useful and relevant for users can lead to more traffic which can make a higher ranking more effective.

3. Keyword Stuffing

A consistent myth with SEO is that the number of words on a page divided by the number of times a keyword is mentioned is used to create relevancy for search engine rankings.

It is more important to use keywords intelligently and create content that benefits your users. The value from mentioning a keyword 15 times is less than earning a strong link from a high authority source. Keywords an essential part of SEO but the focus is more on creating relevant content and user experience than the number of times an exact keyword is mentioned.

4. Search Engine Spam

Spamming, the practice of creating pages to artificially increase rankings, has been around since the 1990s. Search engines spend a lot of time, effort, and resources on fighting again spam. While spam can work in the short-term than producing high quality SEO content, the long term don’t exist.

Google's Panda update introduced updates to combat spam and the consequences of spamming can include your sites being penalized, banned, or flagged. For more information about spamming, see Google's Webmaster Guidelines for info!

5. Link Building is a waste of time

The process of link building is about creating links with the goal of increasing a site’s traffic and authority. Link building strategies require time and consistency. The quality of your links is an important SEO ranking factor. An important factor with building links is connect with sites that have something in common with your brand or focus on your target audience.

Meet the new Green Lotus SEO Tools interface

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 13:57:34 GMT

The best white label SEO tools have just become even better!

Time flies and evolution happens. Changes are implemented every day, be it a simple system update or a large-scale improvement that is seen by everyone.

People want better features and they want them to surf the modern waves of technology. The Green Lotus SEO Tools interface is the main thing we care about and that’s understandable as we are constantly working on it.

Green Lotus SEO Tools have evolved.

We are here to announce the retirement of the old version of Green Lotus SEO Tools and welcome its totally new appearance! Let’s take a glimpse at changes you’ll be able to enjoy soon

LEFT SIDEBAR MENU

SMARTER NAVIGATION – EASIER OPTIMIZATION

What you’ll see:

a new menu location;
the list of tools has become more comfortable and in tune with what has become the industry standard;
left-side access to “Reports”, “SEO Leads”, “Tasks” and “Alerts”.

Webinar - 3 Steps to Dominate the 1st Page of Google with SEO

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:40:02 GMT

Would you be surprised to learn than more than 90% of consumers start their search for any new product or services on search engines like Google, Bing and YouTube?

3 out of 4 searchers don't go past the first page of Google because we believe that if a vendor is not on the first page he's not good enough!

Join Canadian entrepreneur of the year award winner, Bassem Ghali, to learn how to dominate the first page of Google without breaking the bank, and get the latest information and strategies you need to manage a successful online marketing strategy.

This webinar is designed for is designed for business owners and marketing managers who want the knowledge, skills and ability to implement and manage a search engine optimization strategy, and track results!

Webinar - How to Choose the Most Effective Keywords for Your Site!

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:36:14 GMT

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Don’t miss this advanced SEO training, tactics and tools, prepared by Green Lotus Founder Bassem Ghali! It’s never easy to preform keyword research and understand all the relevant metrics. During this webinar you will learn the 3 steps and tools to help select the most effective keywords for your products, services, and website content.

Key Takeaways:

1- How to find your current keywords with Google Webmasters Tools?

2- How to use the most advanced Keyword Research Tools?

3- How to spy on your top competitors and the keywords they use?

Webinar - How to Use SEO to Build Your Brand Authority

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:33:22 GMT

You are your brand! All entrepreneurs and business owners are representatives of their brand, online and offline.

Building a strong brand authority online is the first step to generating leads; in the eyes of consumers a high search engine ranking equals high quality.

Key Takeaways:

1- How to optimize your website and rank higher on search engines for both your brand and name

2- What is the importance of social factors in the Google ranking algorithm

3- How to outrank your competitors with Local SEO and citations

4- What is the future of online branding and advertising

Speaker: Bassem Ghali

Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner & CEO at Green Lotus Inc.

Bassem is a search engine marketing strategist and speaker with more than 12 years of experience managing online marketing strategies for some of Canadian & International corporations including Canadian Tire, VistaPrint, Egypt Air, Xplornet, Direct Energy and Toronto Star.

Demonstrated success in online marketing has led to speaking engagements at marketing events around the world, and the honour winning the 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year Award, presented by the Canadian Association of Marketing Professionals!

Webinar - How to Optimize your Web Pages & Increase Google Ranking?

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:30:46 GMT

How to Optimize Your Landing Pages for SEO?

Join us for a hands-on SEO webinar and learn how to select your top landing pages, identify vital on-page optimization factors, learn how to use them to gain top rankings and measure ranking results on Google, Bing and 300+ search engines.

Key Takeaways:

How to choose the best Landing Pages for your Products and Services?
What are the important on-page optimization factors? and how to use them to your advantage.
How to check the impact of on-page optimization on search engine ranking?

Webinar - How to Build Quality Backlinks & Rank on Google's 1st Page

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:27:46 GMT

Google is a competitive online marketplace where success is based on authority and marketing strategies. One factor that can significantly boost search engine rankings is Backlinks!

What is a backlink? and why is it so important to get quality backlinks pointing to your website? Part of your search engine ranking and online authority is driven by backlinks, but not all links are created equally. In this session you will learn how to identify quality backlinks worth pursuing to boost your search engine ranking, and the toxic links to avoid.

Speaker: Bassem Ghali

Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner & CEO at Green Lotus

Bassem is a search engine marketing strategist and speaker with more than 10 years of experience managing online marketing strategies for some of Canadian & International corporations including Canadian Tire, VistaPrint, Egypt Air, Xplornet, Direct Energy and Toronto Star.

Bassem is the driving force behind Green Lotus and has an knack for creating innovative online marketing strategies & tools for medium, large businesses and non-profits. In addition to providing digital marketing services, Green Lotus places emphasis on education and training; empowering entrepreneurs, business owners and marketing professional with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today's competitive online marketplace.

Webinar -5 Steps to How to Outrank Your Competitors With No Google Ads

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:23:45 GMT

Search engine optimization is a necessity for any online marketing strategy. This SEO BootCamp is designed for business owners and marketing specialists who want the knowledge, skills and ability to implement and manage a search engine optimization strategy, and track results!

Using Green Lotus SEO Tools business owners and marketing manager will be able to plan an SEO strategy, boost search engine rankings, organic traffic and ultimately sales!

How To Identify & Fix Your Site SEO Issues!

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 23:20:59 GMT

SEO Audit Tools

What are there any On-Page SEO Factors affecting your search engine ranking and how to fix them?

Title Tags – are the Title Tags on your web pages relevent to their contents? optimized with the correct Keywords? Every page of your website needs to have a unique and relevant Title Tag
Meta Descriptions – although not a ranking factor, Meta Descriptions are sometimes displayed in search engine results, and the 1st thing a potential customer reads about your business! Every page of your website should have a unique Description that can capture a searchers attention.
Headings – search engines use Headings to understand and index a webpage. For this reason every Heading on your web pages should be descriptive and include your top Keywords.
Image ALT Tags – search engines can’t read images, and use Image ALT Tags to determine the relevance of an image to a search query! Every image on your website should have a unique, keyword optimized ALT Tag, especially if you are in the Lifestyle, Decor, or Beauty industry.

Common Off-Page SEO Factors

Off-Page SEO Factors can not only affect your search engine ranking, but also the user experience of visitors to your website. Focus on the most popular factors:

Site Speed – slow websites will loose visitors very quickly! Your site speed should be a #1 priority as it affects user experience, conversion rates, and ultimately sales.
Mobile Optimization – with the rise of smart phones, the world is moving to mobile search for products and services. It is vital to have a mobile-friendly website so you can capture those searchers on-the-go!
Broken Links – no one likes clicking on a link and getting a 404 Error Page, and search engines don’t either!

Are you sure your website is optimized for search engines? Start with the Technical Audit Tool to analyse your entire website for any outstanding problems with response time, server issues, and pages not found. Use the SEO Analysis Tools to do a completed audit of your website to ensure your title tags, description tags, headings, and alt attributes are of the correct length, and unique to each page. Examine all internal links of your website and ensure they are optimized for search engines with the Internal Links Optimization Tool.

Why Use Green Lotus SEO Tools For Your SEO Audit?

Before you start your SEO strategy make sure your website is free of any technical issues, and optimized for search engines!
Your on-site optimization helps search engines determine your authority and relevance to search terms, and your search engine ranking.
The Technical Audit Tool examines your site for any technical problems that may affect your user experience, and search engine ranking!
SEO Analysis Tools perform a complete SEO audit of your site and pinpoints specific areas to improve.
Internal Link Optimization Tools examine the linking structure of your site, anchor text and image links for any errors and opportunities to optimize.
Create ‘Events’ within Green Lotus SEO Tools to pinpoint when major changes are made to your website, and analyse effectiveness over time.
Access Green Lotus Tools from anywhere in the world! The Tools are cloud based and do not require any downloads or installations.

3 Premium Website Technical Audit & SEO Audit Tools:

#1 – Technical Audit Tools

start off with a technical audit of your site to identify any technical issues that might affect website performance and search engine ranking. The Technical Audit Tool looks at aspects of your site that are important to search engines, and identifies where errors occur, including:

Slow Response Time
- visitors to your sites, and search engines, don’t have the patience for slow site speed. The faster the better!
Broken Links
- Anchor Text and Images – search engines view links, anchors and images as factors of website quality.
Server Issues
- errors in coding can cause slow response time and server issues which affects your overall quality.

#2 – Website SEO Analysis Tools

once all technical issues are addressed proceed to doing an SEO Audit of your website

On-site SEO Issues Overview Tool
- examine on-site issues that are relevant to search engine robots, website quality and rankings!
XML Sitemap and Robots.txt
- create an XML sitemap and Robots.txt file for your site and tell search engines how to navigate and index your content!
302 Redirects
- a temporary redirect, where an old URL is redirected to a new one, is confusing for search engines, if you must redirect traffic to a new site make it SEO friendly with a permanent 301 redirect.
URL Structure
- if using dynamic URLs be sure they are search engine friendly and as simple as possible (using clear words instead of characters), and in a organized structure, such as www.example.com/category/sub-category/specific-service.com
Title Tags
- it is important to have a unique Title Tag (50-60 characters long) for every page on your website. Search engines display the Title Tag in search results, it is what users will click on to reach your site, so make it count!
Description Tags
- search engines may display the Description Tag (150-160 characters) underneath the Title Tag in search results, it is also the snippet of text that automatically appears when the URL is shared on Social Media! As with Title Tags, your Description Tags should be unique to each page.
One H1 Heading On Page
- the H1 Heading is the most important Heading on your page, and is used by search engines to determine the relevance of your page to searched terms. Be sure to have only one H1 on each of your webpages, any subsequent Headings should be H2-H4.
Outgoing Links
- each webpage should have some outgoing links to other high ranking pages, depending on the amount of content on a page keep the number of links under 100.
Alt Attributes
- image ALT Attributes enrich website usability and allows images themselves to rank in search engine results!
Page Speed Tool
- check out the page speed and load time of your site! Sites with low page speed are not user-friendly and may be disregarded by search engines.
Mobile Optimization Tool
use a mobile friendly or ‘responsive web design’ to ensure that your site looks and performs well on all types of devices! Search engines will also identify your site as mobile friendly when you rank on mobile search results. The Mobile Optimization Tool will identify specific aspects of your site that might affect performance on mobile devices.

#3 – Internal Links Optimization Tools

Link Text Analysis Tool

carefully optimize anchor text with specific keywords! Search engines look for keywords within anchor text to understand what a webpage is about, and how it should be indexed.

Link Text – the link texts found on your website, and the pages where they are located.
Linking Pages – the total number of pages that have the link text
Text Juice – the authority of link text when used as anchor text
Links to Blocked Pages – number of links to pages that are blocked for crawling by search engines (via a Robots.txt or Noindex tag).
Nofollow Links – links to pages that are listed as nofollow, and will not pass on ‘link juice’.
Sitewide Links – Sitewide links (links from a site’s navigation menu or a footer on every page, for example) are less valuable than links placed in the text and surrounded with thematically relevant words!

Page Authority Analysis Tool

Optimization of your site’s linking structure helps you spread PageRank, also known as ‘link juice’, to pages that need it, ie – remove the links to the less important pages on your site and place more links to the pages that you want to optimize.

Page Authority – providing the probability that the webpage will rank high in search results.
Inbound Links and Outbound Links – The valuable pages that you optimize should receive as many incoming links as possible and have a small amount of outgoing links to other high authority pages.

Landing Page Analysis

view link data for each of your Landing Pages including Page Authority, Total Inbound Internal Links, Number of Nofollow Links, and data on each page linking to the Landing Page including:

Page Authority – of the linking page
Link Text – the text used in the backlink
Link Juice Passed – the amount of ‘juice’ passed by the link
Link Status – identifies the link as sitewide, nofollow, or broken.

How to Kick Start Your Busines SEO Strategy!

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 23:15:21 GMT

Search Engine Basics

Search Engine Verticals

Popular search engines, like Google and Bing, categorize search results into Verticals.

Paid search results
Image search results
Video search results
News search results
Maps search results
Shopping search results

How Long Will It Take To Boost Your Ranking?

There are 3 major factors that will determine how fast you can get on the 1st page of search engine results:

Where do you rank right now?

How strong are your competitors online?

Search engine algorithm changes that may penalize your website

Your SEO Strategy

There are SEO tasks that need to be done once to ensure your website is search engine friendly, these include:

Keyword research
Content optimization
Fixing technical issues
Site structure optimization

There are also ongoing SEO tasks that should be a part of any business SEO Strategy, these include:

Fresh content
Link building
Directory submissions
Press Releases

How To Choose The Most Effective Keywords

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 23:12:26 GMT

Step #1 Make a List

When you start thinking about your top Keywords, make a list of all your product or service names, categories, benefits and features. Think like a searcher! You might be surprised with new Keywords you haven’t already thought of.

Step #2 Choose Keywords that Speak to Consumers in the Decision Making Phase

Now that you have your Keyword list, think in terms of the Consumer Purchase Cycle, and the types of Keywords they use in each phase.

Targeting someone at the Decision Making Phase is where you will make your sale because they are looking for exactly what you offer, and are ready to buy!

Phase #1 Consideration – Consumers start their search with general Keywords e.g. “new cars”
Phase #2 Comparing – Searches become more specific e.g. “new cars in Toronto”
Phase #3 Decision Making – Searches are very specific e.g. “new sports cars for sale in Toronto”

Step #3 Choose Your Keywords Based on Solid Data!

There are several metrics you can use to measure the effectiveness of Keywords including:

Bid Competition Level – how fierce is the competition for the Keyword?
Global Search Volume – what is the global search volume of the Keyword?
Local Search Volume – what is the local search volume of the Keyword?
Search Seasonality – are there seasonal spikes and dips for the Keyword?
A good Keyword has a HIGH search volume and LOW bid competition level.

Keyword Optimization Tips

Once you have found the optimal Keywords for each your products or services, start optimizing your content!

Keyword Optimization Best Practices:

Make sure your products and services each have their own web pages
Chose 1-2 Keywords for every product/service web page
Create Keyword-focused content for each web page

The same process applies to your Blog Articles – focus on 1-2 Keywords and write content that is naturally legible to humans. Search engines can analyze the Keyword Density of your webpages, and if a Keyword is too frequent, or the content illegible, you risk being penalized and flagged as SPAM.

Tools for SEO Keyword Research

#1 – Keyword Suggestion Tool

get suggestions on the most common keywords for your industry, products, and services. Green Lotus SEO keyword research tools provide a wealth of information from multiple trusted Google data sources in a single, simple dashboard. When preforming SEO keyword research you will be able to choose your targeted SEO keyword with help of the following insights for each keyword:

Global Searches: shows how many times per month people request the keyword. More is better.
Bid Competition: shows how many advertisers are bidding for a given keyword. Less is better.
Search Trends: This metrics shows spikes in popularity of a given keyword over the past 12 months, demonstrating the seasonality of keywords.
Keyword Efficiency Index: shows an index coefficient of Global Search volume and Bid Competition level.

Quick SEO Tip: Your ideal keyword is one with a higher KEI (Keyword Efficiency Index) indicating a high Global Search volume and low Bid Competition level!

#2 – Spy on Competitor Keywords Tool

check out the keywords used by your competitors! The Spy on Competitor Keywords Tool will scan your competitors’ site content and provide you with a comprehensive list of the most frequently used keywords on your competitors’ site, and competitor ranking data from Google Keyword Planner, Google AdWords, and Google Trends.

#3 – Keywords From Google Search Console Tool

Improve your existing content with the Search Console Tool! Syncing with Google’s search console (previously known as Google Webmaster Tools), this report consists of a list of keywords your website pages rank for on Google search, including the number of impressions, clicks, CTR and the average position these keywords have.

#4 – Keyword Basket Tool

once you have researched your keywords, use the Keyword Basket Tool to analyze the effectiveness of each keyword so that you can narrow down your list, group your keywords with tags for easy reference during your site optimization.

How to Build Quality SEO Backlinks?

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 22:40:47 GMT

Backlink Building Tools

Link building is an important factor influencing your website ranking! Your Backlink Profile is used by search engines to determine your authority and relevance to a specific search query.

Link Juice

A link from a high quality website with online authority can actually pass on some of its’ authority to your website. This Link Juice can help you gain your own quality and authority online, and boost your search engine ranking!

Quality vs. Quantity

It is not the number of links to your website that matters, but the quality of those links! A good, quality link is a from a website that is relevant to your business, and has established authority online.

Beware of Toxic Links

A link from a low quality website with no online authority, and not related to your business products and service can be considered SPAM and actually cause you to be penalized by search engines!

Note – links from social media posts are ‘no-follow’ links that do not pass Link Juice.

Go Slow!

Your Link Building Strategy should be slow and steady! Gaining too many backlinks all at once could be a red-flag to search engines and trigger a serious penalty. Consider developing 2-3 quality backlinks a week from relevant high-quality websites and directories.

Develop Backlinks To Boost Your Authority And Ranking

Building quality backlinks on a regular basis will help you outrank your competitors, in a short amount of time!

Link Building in 4 Steps:

Submit your website to the popular search engines like Google and Bing!
Doing this confirms to search engines that you not only exist, but are active online.
Submit your website to relevant Local and Industry Directories.
More and more consumers are searching for products and services in their local area. Optimizing your business listings can help increase your visibility online, get you more leads and reviews!
Spy on your competitors.
Your top competitors are ranking on the 1st page of search engines for a reason. Perform a Competitive Analysis to understand what is working for them, and analyze their Backlink Profile, you might discover new backlink opportunities to develop!
Spread the word about your latest news, case studies and helpful tips.
Once you have created a great piece of content, share it with the world effectively. There are many affordable Press Release distribution services and Industry Directories online where you can publish your news.

How to Spy On Your Competitors SEO Strategy

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 22:40:30 GMT

SEO Spying Tools

Focus On Ranking For 3 Verticals

Start your SEO Strategy by producing keyword optimized content for the most popular Search Engine Verticals:

Vertical #1 Videos

Did you know that YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine? Producing video content is an opportunity to gain traffic online. Make sure to optimize video Descriptions and Titles with your top Keywords!

Vertical #2 Images

Images are often overlooked as ranking opportunities. Optimize all your image file Titles, Tags and Descriptions with your top Keywords.

Vertical #3 Maps

Close to 50% of online searches have a local intent! Claim ownership your business listing on popular search engines, local and industry directories online, and review websites.

Business NAP – it is very important to be consistent with your Business Name, Address, and Phone number online, so search engines can connect the dots!

When you optimize your website Content, Images, Videos and Business Listings you drastically improve your chance of ranking, and taking up as much real estate on the 1st page of search results!

Spy on your competitors is 3 easy steps:

Find out what Keywords they are using to optimize their website
Learn about who is linking to them (i.e. their Backlink Profile)
Understand how they rank on all 6 Verticals

Once you have a snap shot of your competitors online you can focus your SEO efforts to outrank them on each Vertical!