What is a backlink? What is 404 error? What’s the difference between 301 & 302 redirect?… If you are a business that delegated the SEO activities to an SEO agency, then you have definitely asked about, or maybe checked on Google, the meaning of some of these terms. Well, as an SEO company, we were approached by several of our clients in order to clarify some of the “technical” words used in our reports and recommendations.
For this, we decided to make it easier on everyone by creating a not-so-technical guide for 9 SEO terms everyone should know about.
Let’s start..
301 vs 302 redirect: 301 redirect is a permanent redirect of a page, stating that it no longer exists and that it has been moved to another location, to another URL. A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect, which informs search engines that the page, for a reason or another, does not currently exist but will be back later on. Asking yourself what is the difference in terms of impact? Well, we advise you to always use the 301 redirect for a simple reason: it is more SEO friendly than the 302 redirect.
404 not found error: When you or your website’s visitors see this error, it means that the page no longer exists, and hasn’t been transferred to another page either. In another term, neither a 301 nor a 302 redirect has been used. If the page removed doesn’t have another related page to redirect to, use one of these solutions: 1) create a 301 redirect to the homepage, 2) build a creative 404 page giving the option for the visitors to choose where to go.
Alt text: It’s a description of an image allowing visitors facing visual issues to understand what the picture is about. While this seems not really important, it is advised that every image on a site has an alt text, not only for visitors, but for search engines also. It helps them know what the image is about in order to show it in search queries.
Anchor text: It’s the text used on a page that links to another page. Generally, an anchor text is recognizable by being dark blue and underlined. It helps both search engines and visitors understand the destination page once clicking on the anchor text.
Canonical URL: It’s a tag that tells search engines which is the original URL of the page, in case of duplicate content. Normally, having duplicate content harms SEO, however, in some cases, it’s not really an issue. For example, in an ecommerce website, the same product can be accessed through different URLs, so here comes the role of the canonical URL to set things straight and point out the original one.
Backlinks: These are links present on other websites that lead to yours. This is one of the most important SEO practices and is part of the off-page optimization of a website. The number of backlinks to your website reveals its popularity. However, be careful, as backlinks acquired in an unethical way can actually harm your website ranking instead of benefiting it.
Google Panda: It seems that Google loves animals for naming their algorithm updates accordingly. Panda is an update launched in 2011 that favors high-quality content over low-quality content. In other terms, websites with high-quality content have a better chance to appear before websites with low-quality content on search results.
Google Penguin: Even though penguins are cute and harmless animals, Google Penguin can hurt your website badly. It’s also a Google algorithm update, introduced a year after the Panda update, that has the role to punish websites with unnatural backlinks.
Google Hummingbird: Not sure if Google is still a search engine or it turned into a zoo. Google Hummingbird is another algorithm update introduced in 2013, that focuses on understanding the real purpose and the exact information needed behind a search query.
These 9 terms give you a better understanding of SEO jargon and can help you improve your website’s results. However, this is only a basic guide, and, as you know by now, SEO is way more than just that. Let us know whenever you encounter a recurrent term that isn’t in this list, and if found appropriate, we will add it.
In today’s time, we live in the world where everything depends on the technology. However, there are so many people still afraid to be the part of this digitalization and they always try to stand away from it, which never let them, to be the part of the competition. Similarly, if you really want to get success in the market, so, you have to meet your steps with the digital world that demands an SEO-friendly website. So, instead of making excuses you should consult a reliable SEO Company around you and take benefits from their experience. Here are some silly excuses people actually make to avoid SEO that they should stop for now.
I Am Too Late To Be The Part Of The Strategy: Seriously, how can you even think like that. Haven’t you heard the idiom, it’s better to be late than never? If yes, so, you should stop making such silly excuse and take SEO Services from any of the reliable company.
I Am Out Of Budget: Most of the small organizations always tried to avoid SEO by making an excuse of a budget. However, they have to understand that if they need some benefit, so, they have to pay something for it. If you are looking for long-term benefits without investing a single penny, so, probably you are losing more than you even think. SEO is not an expense but an investment that gives you a long-lasting result for your business, so, you should never take it for granted.
I Don’t Know From Where To Begin: “If there is a will there’s a way”, for sure you heard this idiom million of time. And once you have decided to make some efforts for the growth of your business, so, you will definitely get the way to begin. After all, there are so many SEO Companies in all over the world, you can consult any of the reputed company, take their suggestions, tell your requirements and when you convinced, so, you can take their services.
I Won’t Be Able To Keep Up With All The Changes: No doubt, it’s true that keeping up with the latest trends of SEO is quite hard but not impossible anyways. If you want to come in the limelight so making excuses should not be on your list. You have to take every challenge and win that like a pro. SEO is not as harder as you think, so, relax and invest your time, money and efforts in this strategy to get better results for your business.
Facebook is one of the most visited social media sites on the internet. Everybody loves Facebook. Since Facebook allows you to have several pages, why not build a page for your business and promote it. You have a lot of potential prospects to gain interest in your business.
Here are some of the ways that helped me to get a lot of followers on Facebook:
YouTube Videos.
Use your YouTube videos to guide visitors to your Facebook page. You can post your link in the comment section or have a popup link appear on the video. This will increase traffic to your Facebook business page.
Writing Creative, valuable Content.
Creating valuable, eye-catching content is the key to your online business success. Getting people’s attention with content that can help them will draw people to follow you and like your page. More likes on your page, shows social proof that your business is real.
What About You?
Give a short bio of who you are. Keep it related to your business. Don’t babble too much about how your grew up or how long it took you to become successful in online marketing. Keep it informative but interesting. By your readers getting to know you will give you a stronger connection with them.
E-mail Signatures.
Add your Facebook URL into your email signature. If you have an email list or sending personal emails of any sort, have a link to your Facebook page under your signature so more people can visit your page.
Blog postings.
When writing your blog posts, the end of each post include a link to your Facebook page. You add a creative phrase as to why they need to visit the link.
Twitter.
Twitter is the next best thing to Facebook. In your daily tweets, mention your Facebook link. Or you just write a comment on why someone should visit your Facebook page.
Respond to Comments on Blogs.
Check your blogs daily and interact with the people who share their comments. This will show them that you are appreciative of them taking the time to visit your blog site. When posting your comment always include a link to your Facebook page.
Facebook Ads.
It costs a little bit of money to do Ads on Facebook. Your ad will get seen by millions of viewers in Facebook. If you produce a great advertisement, your business could make good profits from it.
Facebook Profile.
In your personal Facebook profile, include a link to your business page URL. Put your business URL in your contact information.
Facebook “Like” box.
Put a “Like” box on your page. Keep track of how many people are liking your page. Whether people are visiting your page for the first time or already following you, they can like your page. The more likes you have on your page when it’s being visited, it draw even more attention from others. This is a great way to get your page noticed.
Do a contest.
This is a great strategy in getting more traffic to your site. Do a contest with your friends on Facebook, do a post that says you are giving away something free for whom ever send you the most Fans to your business page. I do a lot of contests for my business page and it brings a lot of fans to my page who usually subscribe to my mailing list.
Comment on other’s posts.
Comment on other people’s posts on Facebook and include a link to your business page URL. This is the same strategy you can do when commenting on blog posts.
Ask followers to engage in conversations.
Ask people for their opinion or to start a topic on your wall. Post questions that will draw the attention of people visiting your page. This can help you get more traffic to your Facebook page, after all it is a sociable site!
Offline Marketing.
Mention your Facebook page URL in your offline advertisements. List it on your business cards, brochures, pamphlets, newspaper and magazine ads.
Webinars.
If you do a webinar, you should have the people who register, sign up to your Facebook business page. Usually they will sign up after watching your webinar. This is an easy strategy you can use to get people to visit your Facebook page.
These are some of the techniques I have done and all proven to be very successful outcomes for my business. Hope you find these techniques to be helpful in the success of your business.
Regardless of whether yours is a small or large business, Facebook is one online platform that you cannot afford to ignore when it comes to promoting our business. The modern trend is that most consumers search the web even for local businesses most of which happen to be on Facebook. In addition to its position as the largest social networking site due to its large number of registered users, the site puts at your disposal a good number of features that you can use to effectively promote your business.
Promoting your business on Facebook requires that you create a business home page, which will serve as your social networking site. Although similar to the traditional Facebook profile page, this one will specifically be for your business or brand. Because it is from the page where you will interact with potential customers, you need to create it in such a way that it reflects your business or brand.
Creating a Facebook business page is certainly not enough when you need to promote your business. You need to start off by connecting with Facebook users. Facebook provides you with the “Build Audience” tool located on your page’s Admin menu. The tool enables you to invite both your Facebook friends and email contacts that have the option of following your page. In addition to your friends and email contacts, you need to advertise your Facebook page’s URL through other means to get more following.
There is really no point in gaining following if you do not keep them engaged. You need to create relevant content that your followers will like, share and give comments on. Posting relevant content on a regular basis will have the positive effect of attracting more followers as the same are shared, which will in effect increase your chances of making sales. Engaging your followers is not limited to creation of relevant content. The Facebook Offer tool is a valuable tool you need to use to attract customers. The tool allows you to create redeemable coupons that your followers can use in your store.
One of the most effective ways to promote your business on Facebook is to create Facebook ad(s). Facebook actually provides you with the necessary ad creation tool complete with monitoring tool you can use to monitor performance of your ad(s). Although you pay for the same, the cost is very minimal. You actually indicate how much you are prepared to pay for your ad(s). Furthermore, Facebook gives you the opportunity to choose users you wish you ad(s) reaches and geographical location among other important factors.
This is in no doubt a simple and straightforward way to promote your business on Facebook. In doing so however, you need to remain alive to the fact that advertising on Facebook is all about relationship marketing. You therefore should not expect to start reaping benefits instantly. Your initial aim should be to gain significant following you can rely on for long-term business relationship.