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SEO Tools
3 Tools to Build, Validate Schema Markup
October 20, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Structured data markup from Schema.org is the de-facto industry standard — and increasingly important to Google. Here are tools for implementing, testing, and improving.
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SEO Tools
5 Tools to Extract Data from Google’s SERPs
October 13, 2022 • Ann Smarty
An analysis of Google's search results can offer insights as to why one page ranks above another. Here are handy tools for that task.
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On-page SEO
7 Steps to On-site Video SEO
October 6, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Videos appear in Google's search results in multiple sections. Here's how to optimize on-site videos for top organic rankings.
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On-page SEO
How Images Help Overall SEO
September 29, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Optimizing images for Google helps overall rankings, not just Image search. Here's how.
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Technical SEO
SEO for Sitelinks
September 22, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Organic sitelinks expand a listing's prominence in search results. But optimizing for sitelinks is frequently unclear. Here's what we know.
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On-page SEO
5 Browser Extensions for On-page SEO
September 14, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Broken links, nofollow attributes, anchor text, structured data — all impact organic search rankings. Here are five handy (and free) extensions to make monitoring quick and easy.
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Technical SEO
4 SEO Opportunities in Google Search Console
September 8, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Duplicate content, unknown keywords, poor click rates, and structured data errors — all represent opportunities to improve organic traffic.
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Technical SEO
FAQs for ‘Video pages’ in Search Console
August 29, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Google's new "Video pages" report in Search Console has generated many questions from users. Contributor Ann Smarty addresses four of those questions in this helpful post.
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Keyword Research
SEO: Keyword Research for a New Site
August 23, 2022 • Ann Smarty
A new site has no history of search queries that drive traffic and sales. But it can still research and optimize keywords. Here's how.
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Keyword Research
SEO: How to Assess Keyword Difficulty
August 18, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Optimizing for keywords can improve a page's organic rankings. But the competition for keywords varies. Here's how to tell which ones are worth the effort.
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Technical SEO
SEO for Animated GIFs
August 11, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Animated GIFs can provide unique, crawlable page content, boosting organic search rankings. But GIFs can also harm rankings if poorly executed. We explain.
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SEO Tools
6 Keyword Tools for Video SEO
August 4, 2022 • Ann Smarty
The intent of consumers searching for videos often differs from searches of other content types. Ecommerce merchants should optimize for both. We explain.
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Technical SEO
SEO for Featured Snippets
July 28, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Featured snippets appear at the top of Google's organic search results. Optimizing for snippets is different than for standard listings. Here's how.
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On-page SEO
SEO: 4 Ways to Surface Shopify Pages
July 21, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Product pages on ecommerce sites can get buried in the navigation, making them difficult for search engines to access. Here's how to surface deep pages on Shopify.
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SEO Tools
SEO: WordPress Plugins to Surface Older Posts
July 14, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Posts in an active blog fade into the archives. The result is no internal links from new content — and less visibility. Here's how WordPress owners can keep older content prominent.
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SEO Tools
5 Tools to Monitor Your SEO Competitors
July 7, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Looking to monitor your organic search competitors? Here are five handy (and affordable) tools to track rankings, content updates, links, and more.
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SEO Tools
7 Free Chrome Extensions for SEO
June 30, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Chrome extensions can streamline keyword research, analytics tracking, competitor analysis, and more. Contributor Ann Smarty lists her seven favorite Chrome extensions for SEO.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
SEO: Amazon Keyword Research Tools
June 23, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Consumers conduct more product searches on Amazon than on any other site, including Google. Hence understanding those search terms on Amazon informs merchants not just on that platform, but for Google optimization, too.
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SEO Tools
5 Rank Tracking Tools for Organic Search
June 16, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Monitoring rankings remains the best way to track organic search performance. In this piece, we list five helpful tools to track your site's positions and your competitors'.
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SEO Tools
My 5 Favorite SEO Newsletters
June 9, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Staying informed on the latest search engine optimization tactics doesn't have to take a lot of time. Here are five newsletters that will keep you updated quickly and succinctly.
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SEO Tools
Local SEO: 9 Free Tools
June 2, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Consumers increasingly use the internet to locate and scrutinize local businesses before visiting. Thus SEO for brick-and-mortar retailers is critical for walk-in traffic.
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Technical SEO
SEO: 2 Good Ways to Remove Duplicate Content, and 8 Bad Ones
May 26, 2022 • Ann Smarty
Duplicate content is not subject to a Google penalty, but it does split link equity and thus impact rankings. We explain in this all-new update to a 2019 post.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Keyword Research
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.