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Protecting Your SEO While Updating Your Website
Protecting Your SEO While Updating Your Website
In our experience at Developing Designs, it’s always best to include an SEO expert during the website update. Otherwise, there’s a strong likelihood that you’re new “and improved” web design will wreak havoc with your SEO. It is possible, of course, to update your website without harming your SEO, and we can tell you how.
First Things First
The SEO experts at Developing Designs find that it’s essential to begin the protection process with an SEO crawl of the existing site. This provides us with a detailed roadmap of the site. At some point, we’ll want to make sure this roadmap of important data matches the new site. Before we get excited about the updates ahead with a brand new website, we continue to work with the old site. We perform a detailed audit to find out about any problems with the SEO. We definitely don’t want to carry these problems over into the improved website.
The Test Site
When working with the test site for a client’s new design, we make sure it’s not indexed with Google. This is a draft, after all, and we don’t want Google looking at it at this stage. Then we crawl the test site just as we did with the original site. This allows us to compare data and make sure that all the essential data matches up the way we want it to. Analyzing the data is where our SEO specialists shine. It’s not an easy task, but it’s the only way to thoroughly protect your SEO. In fact, it’s so important, that we repeat the analyzing process.
Before going live, there are many other tasks and checks that need to occur to make sure your SEO is protected. Naturally, we also need to optimize any new website pages and features in the improved design before we invite Google to index the new site. In the end, your new website launch will be poised to increase traffic and business just as you hope it will, with SEO driving those numbers and doing the job you want it to.
Let us help you with your next website update or move. Contact us today.
Top 3 Tricks for Keyword Optimization on Pinterest
Keyword Optimization on Pinterest
At its heart, Pinterest is a search engine, much like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. When users arrive at the Pinterest site, they use keywords to find what they are looking for. If you use Pinterest for your business, you need to optimize your keywords and make it easy for visitors to find your site and explore your products.
Keyword Optimization on Pinterest and similar sites is more important than ever. Users are growing more sophisticated, and that has made them much more demanding. The techniques that worked a few years ago are no longer sufficient, and if you fail to make the necessary changes, your business risks being left behind.
One of the things modern web users are looking for is rich visual content delivered in an attractive manner, and that is what makes Pinterest such a compelling choice. Pinterest is a valuable tool for any business seeking to grow its traffic, build its brand and draw in new customers.
Pinterest is a Search Engine
Understanding how Pinterest works is key to optimizing your keywords and making sure your pins get the attention they deserve. When users come to Pinterest, they can filter the content they see by entering relevant keywords. Optimizing your pins for popular keywords is one of the best ways to boost exposure, so choose your keywords with care.
The value of keyword optimization on Pinterest content goes far beyond that site. Quality Pinterest content and popular pins can improve your organic search rankings in Google as well. As for the Pinterest ranking mechanism, it is still something of a mystery. The site recently introduced Guided Search and VisualGraph, which helped transform Pinterest from a pure search engine to a tool for content discovery.
Even though the exact Pinterest ranking mechanism is only partially understood, testing has revealed a number of keyword optimization techniques that you can use right now. These search techniques can be quite effective at improving not only Pinterest results but organic search results with Google as well. Here are three tricks that you can use to optimize your keywords on Pinterest and beyond.
3 Ways to Optimize Keywords on Pinterest
#1. Add Descriptive Keywords to your Pin Descriptions
Creating the right pin description. You should treat your pin descriptions as you would the title of a web page. Descriptive keywords are key here. The goal is to accurately represent the pin and help end users find what they are looking for.
Pinterest places great importance on pin descriptions, weighting those descriptions in much the same way Google weights web page titles. If you want your content to end up in the first row of Pinterest search results, it is important to optimize the descriptions with popular and relevant keywords. Place the most relevant keywords earlier in the text; doing so will improve your pins’ rankings.
Don’t Forget About Alt Image Tags
Pay close attention to alternate descriptions when pinning images from your website. By default, Pinterest pulls the description from the alt text on your image. Take the time to examine that alt text and make changes if necessary.
Keyword Rich Titles
You already know keywords are important, but how do you know which ones to use? There are a number of resources available to make your search for the perfect keywords easier.
You can start with the Pinterest autocomplete function. When you click the Search button in Pinterest, the search engine automatically suggests common combinations of words. Those common word combinations can become excellent long-tail keywords for the right pins.
Pinterest Guided Search is another powerful tool for choosing the right keywords. This new features is intended to help users categorize and filter search results. You can use these filters to find promising keywords and build them into your overall strategy.
Use Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest Analytics can be another great source of keyword research. You can analyze the performance of your profile by looking at the number of impressions for each pin. You will no doubt see some pins with lots of impressions and others with next to none. By analyzing the results, you can use keyword optimization to find results and build on that success in the future.
Don’t forget to make your titles unique too. There is nothing worse than finding a title that reads ‘SEO Keywords Pinterest.’ Although this title might work well for bots it doesn’t do much for your readers. If you need help with your title’s check out Portent’s Content Idea Generator. Just enter the subject of your Pin and the tool will generate new and unique titles for you!
#2. Rich Board Names
One of the best things about Pinterest boards is that they can appear in Google search results. That gives you an excellent opportunity to boost your organic search rankings and build traffic for your long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords
There are two very effective ways to make your boards rank high in Google search results. If a long-tail keyword contains the word Pinterest (think “Smart Pinterest marketing tips”), it is likely to rank well on Google. Niche-specific keywords that cover a narrow topic also tend to do well in Google rankings.
If you want to implement this strategy, the Google Keyword Planner is a great place to start. Just head over to the planner site and look for promising long-tail keywords you would like ranked. Then return to Pinterest to see if there are already boards ranked for that keyword in Google search results. If not, take the opportunity to create a new board.
Of course creating the board is just the beginning. You will also need to make the board relevant to your profile by building great content and keeping it updated. You will also want to choose the right description for your board; a description that includes the keywords you have chosen can improve your Pinterest search rankings.
Create a board based off of a current trend and try to relate that to your business. Use Google Trends to help you with this.
#3. Complete Pinterest Profile
The Pinterest profile is the key to success on the site, so take the time to make yours a great one. The profile is the foundation of performance for your pins and boards, and you ignore it at your peril. The first step is to make sure your domain link is part of your Pinterest profile. Properly verified accounts get better exposure in Pinterest search results, so this one step can have an enormous impact. Furthermore, the fact that the Pinterest link to your website is of the dofollow variety gives your site more authoritative link juice.
The next step is optimizing the description within your profile. Give special attention to the name of the profile, noting that people can use keywords to search for pins, boards and profiles. If you want your profile to be found for a specific keyword, you should try to naturally append it to your brand name.
Beyond Keyword Optimization on Pinterest
Get to know the habits of your Pinterest Users. Set up a view within Google Analytics so you can easily focus in on your Pinterest Traffic. Set up Event Tracking to see if Pinterest users convert higher than Twitter users. All social media traffic is going to be different. Learn which social media referrer is best for your business.
While the importance of keywords cannot be overstated, it is important to understand that Pinterest uses a number of other factors to evaluate content. Things like time lags can have a big impact on the ability of users to find your pins. Images have the greatest chance of being seen within the first hour after they are pinned. As time goes by, the images can drop in the rankings, so timing your postings properly is vital.
The search history and preferences of Pinterest users also plays a big role in the content they see. Pinterest wants to give each user the best experience possible, and that means looking at the things they have searched for, the pins they liked in the past and their own profiles. You may not be able to control other users’ profiles or search results, but you can optimize your own content for better results.
Do you have any tricks that you use for keyword optimization on Pinterest. If so, please leave a comment below!
Event Tracking Using Google Analytics or Tag Manager
Ever since Google Universal Analytics was released out of beta in early April, fans of the classic Google Analytics have been struggling to migrate to the new platform and take advantage of all its new features.
Google Analytics contains many of the features users have come to know and love, along with a bunch of new features designed to make the tool easier to use and more powerful.
As with earlier innovations, the changes inherent in Google Universal Analytics will take some time to get used to. You may need to do a bit of experimentation to get the most out of the new features, and there is a bit of a learning curve involved.
We can start our exploration of Google Analytics with one of the algorithms and some associated explanations. One of the things people worry about when migrating to the new platform is event tracking. Understanding the changes made in Google Universal Analytics is a good place to start.
Google Universal Analytics provides two ways to set up event tracking – via Tag Manager and without Tag Manager.
Google Tag Manager
Tag Manager is a handy tool for people who do not want to bother with a code. Thanks to the auto-event tracking in GTM, you may not need a code to collect the necessary information for much of your site. Let’s start with the basics of Tag Manager and then move on to the use of GTM.
Event Tracking with Universal Google Analytics
Event tracking lets you understand how users interact with the content on your site via clicks, downloads, audio and video.
In Universal Analytics, an event is defined as an interaction between the end user and the content on your site. If your site contains a button or a link to download a document, you can set up event tracking to analyze user behavior.
You can choose the event you need from a list of HTML events and select what you need based on type. For instance, you can choose mouse click, key click, form submission, etc.
Each specific event consists of four distinct components which are designed to categorize the items to be tracked.
How to Track Events
Category
A category is defined as the primary division of events you can track. You can name the categories yourself or choose a regular expression. For instance, if you track more than one PDF download or button click, you can set up separate categories and view them separately in your reports. You could name the categories PDF and Button or give them more descriptive names.
Action
An action describes what a user does within the selected category. Examples of actions include video play, download, internal link click, external link click, image enlarge, etc.
Label
A label is an optional component. You can use a label if you want to divide events and categorize them more accurately.
Value
A value is a numerical value you can set to track a specific number of actions.
Setting Up Event Tracking in Google Universal Analytics
If you want to send events to Google Analytics, you will first need to send a command to the GA function by using an event hit type. That means adding a piece of code to the element you track. If you want to track a click event from a form submission from your site, you will need to place a piece of analytic code inside the link on your webpage. That code will look something like this:
See the Pen dPMZQb by Joe Dooley (@joe-dooley) on CodePen.
If JavaScript isn’t your thing then check out the handy Event Tracking Tool from the Raven crew.
To continue, go to the Goals section in the Admin menu in Google Analytics, then click New Goal. Now highlight the last option ‘custom’ and then click ‘Next Step’ Now give enter a goal description, let’s call it Contact Form Submissions and then highlight the Events option and click Next Step
On the final step you will fill in the fields. The eventCategory will be Contact. The eventAction will be Submit and the eventLabel will be Contact Form. The eventValue is optional and should only be entered if you know the cost per lead for your website. Finally you can verify the goal before you click ‘Create Goal’ to ensure it is set up properly.
[GARD]
Event Tracking with Tag Manager
If you hate coding, this is the section for you. Many of the problems GA users encounter are related to code and scripts. Accurate GA tracking is impossible without accurate coding, and a mistake in coding can create irrelevant and misleading results. Google Tag Manager lets you get rid of all the code, replacing it with one container to hold all the necessary attributes. With Tag Manager, it is all automatic. The auto-event tracking within Tag Manager gives you everything you need with a single setup. Before we go any further, here are some terms you will need to know.
The Basics
Account – the account you use to work within Google Analytics Container – the main fragment of JavaScript code, and the only one you need to place on each page within your site. The container holds all the tags you design for tracking purposes, and it launches all other tags according to the rules you create. Macro – Macros contain two meanings – a name and value you specify to use within tags. You can use macros to add data about a user’s interaction with an element on your site. Rule – A rule is a condition that launches or blocks a tag. Tag – A tag is a piece of JavaScript like a GA code or a Google AdWords code. If you want to catch the actions of your users, you will need a combination of tags, each defined by its own rules, pre-determined events and macros in order to see it in Google Analytics. Events like clicks, downloads and form submissions would require an Event Listener tag that contains the event you wish to track, along with a rule dictating when the tag will activate. You would also need a Google Analytics tag to pass the resulting information to Google Analytics every time the Event Listener tag fires.
Tracking E-Commerce Transactions via Google Tag Manager
The algorithm needed for e-commerce is quite simple, but the details depend on a number of factors, including the structure of your online store and which pages include the GTM container. You may choose to include the GTM container on the final “Thank you” page in your sales funnel, on a button or on any other type of page. We will use the “Thank you” page as an example. To create this we will: Add the required e-commerce transaction information using the data layer above the Google Tag Manager container.
- Create a Google Analytics GTM tag with a transaction
- Set the rules that cause it to fire
- Check your e-commerce settings in Google Analytics
- Check your reports
To view purchase data in Google Tag Manager, you would use a data layer along with a specific order of data transmission based on the GTM Data Layer instructions. It is a good idea to use optional parameters as well as required ones. Adding optional parameters will make your finished reports more useful and allow you to more precisely segment your data and analyze your sales. The data layer elements must be initialized on the page by placing the following code snippet either in the head section or any place above the GTM container code: This tag must be placed before the Google Tag Manager script on your website See the Pen jEqaQa by Joe Dooley (@joe-dooley) on CodePen.
The GTM container is simply an empty object which is filled with the information you need to pass to GTM. This data is used to indicate the data variables, subcategories, product types, etc. Setting up this container is optional, but it will be very helpful when analyzing your reports.
An example of code that could be placed on one of your ‘thank-you’ pages might be:
This tag must be placed before the Google Tag Manager script on your website
See the Pen myPqaV by Joe Dooley (@joe-dooley) on CodePen.
The next step is to create the Google Analytics tag. Just go to Google Tag Manager and create a new Universal Analytics Tag or Classic depending on your Analytics version and select the Transaction Track type:
Now we will create a rule so the Transaction tag fires only on your ‘Thank You’ page. Click on Rules on the left and then click create new rule.
Under Rule Name give your rule a name and then enter the url of your thank you page and set it up like the image below.
If you want the GTM tag to fire based on something else check out the Google Tag Manager developer guide.
Recap
Google Tag Manager uses all aspects of website tracking, and developers are constantly discovering and rediscovering its new features and benefits. If you want to make money online, you need to carefully track as much data as you can. That means tracking unique visitors, users, pages visited, clicks and views. The tools used to track that vital data are constantly changing and evolving, and you need to keep adapting to those changes as they come.
If you are interested in Event Tracking and would like to have it set up on your own website let me know.
Allowing Search Engines to Find Your WordPress Site – Part Two DIY SEO
In part two of our DIY SEO guide I will explain how to set up your WordPress site in which you are allowing search engines to find your WordPress Site.
Allowing search engines to find your WordPress site can be accomplished in 4 easy steps. These 4 steps are essential to the success of your website and should always be one of the first things you do before launching a new website. Once you have completed these steps you can start blogging without having to worry about writing great articles that the search engines are not able to find.
We will be going over:
- Generating a Sitemap for your Website
- Submitting a sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools
- Creating and adding a list of websites to Ping
- Testing your website to make sure bots can access all of your content
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How to Index Your WordPress Site – Part One of DIY SEO
Every client I have ever built a WordPress website for has always asked me the same question at one point in time or another. It’s the question that all developers see coming a mile away. And no. It’s not can you do this for free this time? (I’ll save that topic for future article) The million dollar question is…
What do I have to do to get search engines to find my new website?
This is such an easy question to answer but the person you’re giving the answer to never likes to hear the words that are about to come out of your mouth. You have brought this topic up at least ten times throughout the website build and it has gotten to the point where your client lies to you when you ask them how their content is coming along. Don’t lie to your developer! We’re only trying to do everything we can within your budget to ensure that your website is successful and that we have done everything we can to empower you with the knowledge so we can sleep easy at night after taking your money.
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