How To Set Up A Google Search Console

If you aim to gain traffic through organic search on Google, you need to set up a Google Search Console. This process is fairly straightforward and doesn’t require any technical ability. Here’s a brief but helpful guide on how to go through the setup process:

1. Set Up Analytics First

It is always a good idea to set up Google Analytics first. This platform provides in-depth information on your website traffic. You can see how many people visit, the number of unique visits, session times, the origin of those visits, etc.

2. Sign In With Your Google Account

If you already have an Analytics account, use the account name and credentials to sign in to the Google Search Console. If you don’t have Analytics or a Google Account, create a new one connected to your business. Make sure you use the right account for this process.

3. Add A Property

After you have logged in, you can see an “Add a property” button on the homepage. It is located at the top of the page and is clearly visible. Click on that button.

4. Add Website

Add the URL of the website you want to track into the bar. Make sure the URL is accurate and use the homepage address for tracking the entire website. You can then click the “Continue” button.

5. Verify the Website

Google will ask you to verify your site in four days and there are several ways to do that. Here’s a look at your options:

·      You can copy the HTML code they provide and upload it to your website code if you have root access.

·      You can verify through the Google Tag Manager if you have access to it.

·      Verification can also be done through the hosting provider.

·      Claim ownership of the website through Google Analytics Tracking ID.

Google Analytics makes the verification process very easy. You can also set up the search console for Bing with a similar process. 

How to Optimise Your Website Images

People like visual content, which is why most websites have beautiful images and pictures that relate to the brand. However, images are a double-edged sword; they can enhance the beauty of your website, but can also compromise its performance.

Pages with heavy HD images often take longer to load. As a recent survey by Google indicates, websites that take more than 2-3 seconds to load have a high abandonment rate. Here are some tips on how to optimise your images to avoid slow load times:

1. Choose a Good File Name

The file name and connected alt-text is a great way to ensure your images are SEO-friendly. Google can’t read images to identify its content, but it can read the file name or alt-text. This gives the search engine a clear idea of what kind of content is on the page and that can help improve rankings.

2. Choose the Right Format

Images come in different formats and file sizes and these formats are designed for different purposes. If you have a larger image or illustration, choose the JPEG file of the image. If the image needs to be transparent, choose the PNG format. WebP is ideal if you want to reduce file size but preserve image quality. SVG integrates well with JavaScript and CSS, which makes it a good choice for logos and brand imagery.

3. Scale the Image

Large file sizes take longer to load, which is why it is important to ensure the image is of a good size. An 1850x900 pixel image will look smaller and cropped when it is displayed in a 250x150 space, but it will still need to upload completely. It is better to scale down the image size according to the page requirements and then upload it to your website.

It is also a good idea to make an image responsive. Responsive images will adjust to the screen size and still look good. If you own a WordPress website, this is done automatically. You will need to add a line of code to make an image responsive on other platforms.

How To Optimise Each Page On Your Website

Almost every business has a website today and all of them are competing for attention online. This means business owners can’t afford to compromise on the quality of their platform and must make sure every page is of good quality.

If all the pages are optimised, you’ll see a significant improvement in the user experience as well as your search engine rankings. There are several factors involved in web page optimisation such as:

1. Mobile-Friendly Pages

Mobile search traffic has far surpassed desktop search traffic, which means a majority of your visitors come from a mobile platform. You need to make sure your website is mobile-friendly and this can be done by using a responsive website. Make sure every page is light-weight and loads quickly. All the links and menus should be easy to access on the smaller screen to ensure the best results. Google provides an accurate tool to help you test the mobile-friendliness of your site.

2. Fix All Broken Links

Many website owners find it too tedious to browse through their website links and find broken links. However, ignoring broken links can have two big consequences; it can compromise a search bot’s ability to crawl your website and it can hamper user experience. Both of these factors will have an impact on your website’s search engine ranking. Make sure all broken links on the page are fixed or add redirects if needed.

3. Fix Duplicate Meta Tags

Duplicate meta tags can send the wrong signals to the search engine algorithm, which can have an impact on the ranking. Google requires all Meta tags and page titles to be as unique as possible. It is important to identify any duplicate Meta tag connected to your page and replace it. There are several tools available online to help you fix the issue, including Yoast SEO.

4. Security

 

Google considers SSL certification a ranking factor and will rank HTTPS websites higher than regular sites. Websites without this certification are marked as not secure in Chrome, which can have an impact on your reputation.

These small optimisations can improve the website’s performance and ensure visitors have a good overall experience with it.

How to Install Yoast SEO (WordPress Users Only)

SEO is one of the most important modern marketing strategies available today. It can help your website rank high on search engine results pages. Yoast SEO is the most popular SEO plugin on the WordPress platform and can help your website shine. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to install it on Wordpress.

1. Log Into Your WordPress Website

The first step is to log onto your WordPress website with administrator access. This will work best if you have the most up-to-date version of the site because the plugin is updated regularly as well.

2. Search for the Yoast SEO Plugin

When you log in, you'll be taken to the website dashboard. There should be a Plugins menu on the left-hand side of the screen and there’s an Add New button on it. Click on the button and type in Yoast SEO in the Add Plugins dialogue box.

3. Install the Plugin

The first result should be the official Yoast SEO plugin. Click on the Install Now button on that plugin and let it download fully. Once the download is complete, the software will prompt you to activate the plugin. Once activated, Yoast SEO is ready for use.

4. Configure

To get the best results from Yoast SEO, you need to properly configure it. The plugin is on the global settings and isn’t personalised to your website. On the left side of the page, you will find a menu under “SEO.” It is important to adjust all of the settings mentioned in the menu according to your requirements.

You will have SEO General, Search Appearance, SEO Social, Tools, and Search Console settings. Connect Yoast to Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmasters Tools to utilise its full potential.

If you like Yoast and want to explore all of its features, try out the premium plugin. It can be downloaded from the download section on My Yoast. This is a feature-rich plugin that can be a great marketing investment.

How to Set Up Bing Webmaster Tools

Google might enjoy enduring dominance in the search engine field, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore other search platforms. Placing all your eggs in one basket is never a good business strategy. That’s why many business owners are encouraged to set up their website in Bing as well. Here’s a brief look at how you can do that:

1. Create a Microsoft Account

Just like you need a Google account to use Google Analytics, you need a Microsoft account to use Bing Webmaster Tools. The registration won’t take much time but it is a good idea to make sure the account is related to your business and is not personal.

2. Add Your Site

Once you have logged in, you’ll find the ‘Add a Site’ button on the page. Copy and paste your website URL to the field. Make sure the site URL is accurate because you might have to repeat the entire process.

3. Enter the Sitemap

If you have never connected your website to Bing and don’t know much about its user data, just choose the default option and upload the sitemap to the page. If you have data regarding the highest traffic times on your platform, enter that information into the form. You can click add to submit all of the data to Webmasters Tools

4. Verify Ownership

Once you have uploaded the information, Bing needs you to verify ownership of the website before it can start tracking it. This can be done in three ways; you can download and upload the BingSiteAuth.xml file, you can add a meta tag with authentication code into your website’s default page, or add the CNAME record to your DNS file.

5. Submit URLs for Indexing

This is a slightly time-consuming process but it is a good idea to get it done as soon as possible. Bing only allows 10 URL submissions a day and 50 per month so if you have more than 50 pages on your website, this can take time.

Once this is done, your Bing Webmasters tools are up and running. You can then set up deep links or use Yoast SEO to improve rankings on the Bing SERP.

How To Create An SEO Blog

So, everyone is talking about it, but you still have no idea what an SEO blog actually is? SEO is still one of the most effective digital marketing techniques. Creating an SEO-focused blog can be quite challenging because it requires going beyond the content. Here are some tips that can help you with the process:

Make Sure Your Website is Optimised

Your website structure should be optimised to ensure it is search engine friendly. This lays down a good foundation for your future marketing campaigns. Website optimisation involves several steps, including:

Mobile-Friendly Websites

Websites need to be mobile-friendly in order to rank high. Google switched to the Mobile-first index last year and ranks websites based on their mobile performance. If your site performs well on this platform, it is more SEO-friendly. You can test your website’s mobile friendliness and make decisions based on that.

Loading Speed

Modern consumers are impatient and favour websites that load quickly on all platforms. In fact, a Google survey shows that they are prone to abandoning websites that take more than 3 seconds to load. That’s why checking site speed and optimising it is important.

Technical Optimisation

Technical optimisation includes things like fixing broken links, identifying and fixing duplicate Meta tags, and identifying crawl errors. You also need to make sure the website is secure with HTTPS. Websites without them are clearly marked as ‘not secure’ by Google in Chrome.

A well-optimised website will help you reach your audience and rank high on the search engine results pages.

Optimising Content

SEO Content

Make sure you have long-form content with more than 1,000 words. Google requires at least 300 words per page to properly index a website. If the piece is short and doesn’t provide any real value, Google will look at it as thin content.

SEO Images

You also need to optimise your images to ensure they look great on all platforms and don’t hamper website performance. It is possible to reduce file size without cropping the picture and compromising its quality.

A great SEO blog can help bring in organic traffic and establish a good reputation in your industry for your brand.

How to Set Up Keyword Research Checklist

Keywords are the bait that draws the search engine’s attention and helps bring in traffic. Business owners and marketers need to regularly upgrade their keywords list and ensure they’re using the right phrases in their campaigns.

It helps to have a consistent process to ensure you always get good-quality keywords. Instead of just looking at tools like Google Keyword Planner, investigate further and try to reach user intent. Here’s a checklist to help you find the best options:

1. Don’t Discard The Keyword Planner Entirely

The Google Keyword Planner isn’t the most comprehensive tool but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. It provides a list of words that is directly related to your search phrase and provides data on these keywords. You can collect the words and use them sparingly in your content; just keep in mind that these keywords need to be relevant to your interests.

2. Buyer Personas

User intent is the most important factor during keyword research these days. That’s because Google has switched to Machine Learning and AI search algorithms. The search engine no longer matches the search phrases exactly with the keywords in website content; it looks much deeper.

If you want to reach user intent, you need to understand your buyers and that can be done by creating buyer personas. List down the gender, age, location, hobbies and interests, income, pain points, and other such important characteristics of your ideal buyer to create a persona.

3. Look at Forums

Your industry’s forums are a great source of information and keywords. Just type the primary keyword and forums in your Google search bar to find a treasure trove of niche topics and related keywords. This is likely to draw a large number of audiences to your website because people are actively interested in it.

4. Social Media

Question and answer platforms like Reddit and Quora are also a great place to find niche topics and related keywords. You can find the questions your target audiences are actively interested in and create a keyword list accordingly.

After you do that, it is all a matter of finding long-tail and specific keywords to ensure you get the right traffic. 

How to Identify Crawl Errors and Improve Your SEO

All web pages need to be indexed in order to show up on the search engine results pages. Their position on the SERP is determined by their quality, which is decided by search engine crawlers. These crawlers move through your website and analyse its structure, linking, speed, content, and other such factors. If the bots can’t crawl your website effectively, they won’t be able to rank it. Google will send an HTTP code error to users if their bots aren’t successful. Here’s a look at how you can identify crawl errors:

1. Look at The Reports

There are two kinds of reports to look into in order to find all the crawl errors in the website. The site error report shows errors that occurred in the past 90 days that prevent Google’s bot from accessing the whole website. The URL error report indicates specific errors that prevented Google bots from trying to crawl specific pages on the desktop or mobile versions of your website.

2. Different Types of Site Errors

If your website is functioning well, the Site Error page shouldn’t show any errors. The report will have three error types; DNS, Server Connectivity, and robots.txt. If all is well, they will have green checkmarks. If there are errors, you need to click on the errors to get a more in-depth report. High error rates of 100% in any category shows that there’s something fundamentally wrong with your website. An error rate of less than 100% is an indication of temporary errors or overloads.

3. Different Types of URL Errors

URL error reports don’t often need urgent attention. Some errors mentioned can be ignored but be sure to keep an eye on the page. Google will rank the most important concerns at the top of the page for your immediate concern. The types of errors include Not Found errors, old URLs in the Sitemap, and long redirect sequences.

Once you have resolved the errors, you need to mark them as finished to ensure they disappear from the list. This can help you manage the errors better and help Google crawl better as well.

How to Find Solid Keywords in Google Keyword Planner

Keyword research is an important aspect of running any marketing campaign. It requires time, focus, experience, and knowledge of how SEO works. There are several tools available online to help marketers find the best keywords, but many of them have become obsolete. This is largely because search engines have evolved considerably and no longer match exact keywords to find the optimal results.

However, tools like Google Keyword Planner are still quite useful and can help you find the best keywords for your requirements. Here are some tips on how to find solid and attractive phrases for your campaigns:

1. Use The Most Relevant Primary Keyword

Most people don’t realize just how much of an impact primary keywords have on the results in the Keyword Planner. Make sure you use the most relevant and reliable keyword to search for other keywords in the tool. Precise keywords will lead to the most accurate results and some of these results might even touch on niche topics, which can help you focus on user intent.

2. Browse Through The List of Keywords

The primary phrase will generate a long list of related words and phrases in the Keyword Planner. Browse through all of these keywords and make a note of the ones that are most relevant to your business. This list isn’t final, but it can act as a starting point to your keyword research.

3. Look at the Data

Look deeper into every keyword and browse through the data provided by the Keyword Planner. You can see the number of impressions, clicks, popularity, big amount, and other such factors whenever you click on a particular keyword. The tool also provides information on bid amount and competition for the phrase. All of this information can help you find the most effective keywords to incorporate into campaigns.

Google Keyword Planner is a versatile tool that can be very helpful despite the focus on user intent. You just need to learn how to use the platform effectively to get the best results.