SEO Salman's Blog

Last month, Google dramatically expanded indented results in organic SERPs. A recent study by Moz of 10,000 competitive keywords showed that up to 40% of SERPs displayed indented results on page one. Here’s just one example: Google has determined that both pages are relevant to this search (for “how many algorithm updates per year”), but that the specific blog post is more relevant. Indented results are of particular interest to SEOs because not only can you double-dip, but the indented listing(s) can, in some cases, get pulled from lower positions and effectively get a ranking boost. I’m happy to report that our STAT Product team has been hard at work implementing indented results in rank tracking and they are now available in SERP feature tracking. Here’s a quick walk-through of how to put indented results data to work. Step 1: The SERP Features tab You can quickly get an overview of indented results for your site by clicking on the “SERP Features” tab. You’ll see the indented

Before you start reading, I'll forewarn you that this article will start with a tweet and end with a challenge. Sound good? From one of my favorite SEO role models, and founder of Women in Tech SEO, Areej AbuAli :  So, before getting lost in the sauce in the various metrics, it’s important you understand that your business goals are unique to you, so the way you measure your goals should reflect that. From there, the next steps are to get a better grasp of what quality traffic means for your website, and then evaluate how users engage with your content.  To get a better understanding of what’s considered “quality traffic”, we’ll look into various Google Analytics metrics that will help you create a rock solid SEO strategy.  Why does quality of traffic matter for SEO success? At the end of the day, quality traffic is what accelerates business success, especially for post-publishing optimization.  For example, let’s assume your blog has 200 visitors per month with a conversio

I like email. Data says almost all of us do. Email breathes easier than the social noise pollution of customers and brands trying to shout at each other through a disjointed deluge of disaster and dog photos. Ever notice how your brain feels switching from the overstimulation of Twitter to the one-on-one hush of a list of emails which you can either choose to open or delete? Do you experience a difference? Stats indicate that our private email inboxes are a sort of refuge we’ve come to count on, a quieter corner where people can experience satisfying customer service when done right. When Moz and SMB email marketing software provider iContact    joined hands this past summer, I began looking for an opportunity to explore our shared goals of facilitating brand discovery and brand-consumer communication. Like you, I’ve absorbed years of steady statistics about the outstanding ROI of email marketing amid louder social media hype, but this was my first chance to sit down with an expert

Every website relies on Google to some extent. It’s simple: your pages get indexed by Google, which makes it possible for people to find you. That’s the way things should go. However, that’s not always the case. Many pages never get indexed by Google . If you work with a website, especially a large one, you’ve probably noticed that not every page on your website gets indexed, and many pages wait for weeks before Google picks them up. Various factors contribute to this issue, and many of them are the same factors that are mentioned with regard to ranking — content quality and links are two examples. Sometimes, these factors are also very complex and technical. Modern websites that rely heavily on new web technologies have notoriously suffered from indexing issues in the past , and some still do. Many SEOs still believe that it’s the very technical things that prevent Google from indexing content, but this is a myth. While it’s true that Google might not index your pages if you don’

Software dashboards are supposed to feel clean and quiet, organized so that everything you need to do good work is right at hand, like this: Seeing the rebrand of Google My Business to Google Business Profile include the news that single location businesses will no longer enjoy the dignity of a room of one’s own because nice dashboards will be the sole province of more fortunate, large enterprises, it feels like SMBs are now being told (with indifference) to manage their listings here: In Google’s own words : “Moving forward, we recommend small businesses manage their profiles directly on Search or Maps. To keep things simple, ‘Google My Business’ is being renamed ‘Google Business Profile.’...The existing Google My Business web experience will transition to primarily support larger businesses with multiple locations, and will be renamed ‘Business Profile Manager.’” To wit, big businesses will be granted some version of the former Google My Business dashboard, with its helpful nav

Content marketing expert Amanda Milligan is back with three more ways to make your content more newsworthy. If you haven't seen part one, be sure to check it out !  Click on the whiteboard image above to open a larger version in a new tab! Video Transcription Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. My name is Amanda Milligan, and I am back with a part two for how to make newsworthy content. So when I made part one , I was working at Fractl, and I talked about three things. Let's see I remember them. It was data, emotion, and impact as three elements you need to be considering when creating newsworthy content. Those are still important. If you haven't seen that Whiteboard Friday, check it out after this one. It doesn't need to be in any particular order.  Now I work at Stacker. stacker.com is a publication, but it's also a newswire. So like the AP for breaking news or Reuters for financial news, Stacker is a newswire for data journa

What is “share of voice”? Share of voice (SOV) in marketing originated as advertising terminology, defining the percentage of media spend by a company compared to the total spend in the market. In essence, it’s meant to gauge visibility of a brand compared to its competition. In the SEO world, it measures organic visibility compared to the rest of the search landscape. Share of voice has been used in the SEO industry for years, but recently more SEO tools have begun incorporating it as an additional measurement alternative to simple rank tracking. Rank tracking is extremely valuable, but when it comes to reporting and speaking with stakeholders unfamiliar with the minutiae of SEO, rank tracking can get people confused and caught up on a specific rank for one term at one point in time. Not to mention that search engines are extremely sophisticated now, and many factors can influence why a brand may rank position #1 in one location and position #8 in another. Share of voice is an alt