Ann Smarty

Articles by: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty is the brand and community manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas and the founder of Viral Content Bee. Ann's search engine optimization career began in 2010. She is the former editor-in-chief of Search Engine Journal and contributor to prominent search and social blogs, including Small Business Trends and Mashable.

Ann is also a frequent speaker at Pubcon and host of the Twitter chat #vcbuzz.

Email Ann.

Keyword Research
How Keyword Clustering Powers SEO

May 19, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Keyword lists for SEO are often cluttered and seemingly endless. "Clustering" can help by grouping keywords by a common modifier.
SEO Tools
3 Keyword Tools for Search Intent

May 12, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Optimizing content for organic rankings requires knowing how Google will interpret searchers' intent — informational, commercial, or navigational.
SEO Tools
Free SEO Tools for Do-it-yourself Analysis

May 5, 2022 • Ann Smarty

The ability to fix basic SEO glitches can save time and money. Here are five free tools to help.
Link Building
3 Tools to Connect with Journalists

April 28, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Generating inbound links remains a cornerstone of search engine optimization. But link-building is difficult and becoming more so. Developing relationships with journalists can help.
SEO Tools
SEO: How to Super Search with Advanced Operators

April 21, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Specialized search queries can help identify missing keywords, specific content, competitors, and much more. Here are 18 essential "operators" with examples.
SEO Tools
SEO: Using Wayback Machine, Google Cache

April 14, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Wayback Machine and Google's cache have important SEO benefits. The former helps monitor changes to competitors' pages. The latter confirms Google's assessment of a page. We explain.
SEO
SEO Impact of Google’s ‘Deduplicate’ Algorithm

April 7, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Google's policy to not duplicate URLs on page one of search results is likely bad news for publishers. Here's our primer on "deduplication" and tactics (if any) to overcome.
SEO
10 Do-it-yourself SEO Tips to Save Money

March 31, 2022 • Ann Smarty

A basic understanding of search engine optimization is essential for online merchants. These 10 DIY tips address keyword research, internal links, educational resources, more.
SEO
Keyword Gaps Are SEO Opportunities

March 24, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Keyword gap analysis can identify search queries to target for organic rankings. Contributor Ann Smarty explains the concept and two tools that make the analysis easy.
SEO
How to Diagnose Organic Traffic Losses Using Search Console

March 17, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Diagnosing a loss in organic search traffic starts with identifying the affected queries and pages. Search Console can do that and more. We explain in this terrific tutorial.
SEO
What Bounce Rates Mean for SEO

March 10, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Bounce rates only indirectly impact organic rankings. High bounces could indicate slow page loads, poor content, and other flaws — all of which do affect SEO.
SEO Tools
How Google Trends Improves SEO

March 3, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Google Trends and autocomplete both use data from actual searches. But unlike autocomplete, Trends is not personalized or filtered. It's a valuable source of keyword optimization opportunities.
SEO
How Domain Names Impact SEO

February 24, 2022 • Ann Smarty

SEO myths surrounding domain names include age, registration length, embedded keywords, and more. Contributor Ann Smarty debunks those while addressing a name's importance in this helpful piece.
SEO Tools
SEO Tools from Google and Bing

February 17, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Many independent tools emulate the behavior of search engine crawlers. But the best tools come from the search engines themselves: Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Link Building
Stop Using Domain Authority for SEO Backlinks

February 10, 2022 • Ann Smarty

SEOs have devised metrics, such as "domain authority," to assess a site for backlink solicitations. Those metrics have nothing to do with Google, however. That's the problem.
SEO Tools
My Favorite SEO Keyword Tools

February 3, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Keyword research is knowing what consumers are searching for and their words to describe those items. Contributor Ann Smarty lists her go-to tools, with explanations.
SEO
How to Use Google Autocomplete for SEO

January 27, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Google autocomplete is a staple for identifying keywords to optimize organic rankings. The tool's functionality has expanded to include refinements and entities.
SEO
SEO: 6 Critical Search Console Reports

January 20, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Google Search Console provides essential tools to improve traffic from organic search. The data comes from the source: Google itself. Here are six reports to monitor frequently.
SEO
SEO for Google’s ‘People also ask’

January 12, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Google's "People also ask" section is a treasure trove of questions from potential customers. It's an optimization opportunity — for rankings in Google as well as conversions on an ecommerce site.
On-page SEO
SEO: How to Optimize Title Tags for Ecommerce

January 6, 2022 • Ann Smarty

Google once relied heavily on title tags to match search queries to web pages. That's no longer the case, as Google can discern a searcher's intent and deliver results accordingly. Nonetheless, titles remain important, as contributor Ann Smarty explains.
SEO
How HTML Headings Help SEO

December 30, 2021 • Ann Smarty

HTML headings are phrases or short sentences introducing a new section of content. Google has confirmed that headings help communicate the content's purpose. But search engine optimizers often debate how, exactly, Google uses those headings.
SEO
SEO: Drive Clicks with Video Rich Snippets

December 23, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Video rich snippets are enriched organic search results in Google. They're an opportunity to generate more clicks, especially on mobile. Publishers often mistake video rich snippets with video carousels.
SEO
SEO for Brand-name Queries

December 16, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Organic search results on brand-name queries can influence the buying journey. Brand-driven search results on Google appear in multiple sections, although brands have limited control over their appearance and ranking.
SEO
SEO: Updating Content for Higher Click-throughs

December 8, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Google claims that it shows dates in organic search snippets when its algorithm determines they would be relevant and helpful. In reality, dates are extremely common and have a big impact on click-throughs. Google offers clear guidelines as to how to communicate dates to its algorithm.
SEO
How to Generate Traffic from Google Discover

December 2, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Google is not just a search engine. It's also a discovery engine. The difference is huge. Searchers have an idea of what they are looking for. They know what they need. But the discovery engine attempts to discern the interests of searchers regardless of their queries. In a sense, Google Discover informs searchers of what they need before they realize it.
SEO
3 Ways Google’s Search Console Improves Organic Clicks

November 25, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Google's Search Console is one of the most helpful search-engine-optimization tools. Moreover, Search Console provides data straight from the source: Google. It is also free. Here are three ways to use Search Console to generate more clicks from your organic listings.
SEO
SEO: Google’s Video Carousels Are a Big Opportunity

November 18, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Google's search result pages have greatly changed over the past decade. In addition to clickable listings, we now see highly visible, often interactive results in diverse formats. One of the newer sections is video carousels.
SEO
Structured Snippets: The Low-hanging Fruit of SEO

November 11, 2021 • Ann Smarty

I addressed rich snippets last week, explaining how they can enhance organic search listings for ecommerce product pages. Structured snippets are similar in concept, but they don't receive as much attention in the context of organic search. I'll address structured snippets in this post.
SEO
Using Rich Snippets for Ecommerce Product Pages

November 4, 2021 • Ann Smarty

Rich snippets are additional details in organic listings that stand out in search results. Ratings, prices, FAQs, videos — all are examples of rich snippets. "Structured markup" is programming code that creates rich snippets. Any website can contain structured markup — Schema.org is the most popular type.