Archives for 2018

Growth Hacks Top 10

December 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

	3 Growth Marketing Principles You Need to Create Your Unicorn “I believe in taking big risks, reaping epic rewards, and constantly adapting my strategies to increase conversions and engage customers.“ mobilemonkey.com

	Google’s mobile-first indexing now powers over half of Google’s search results “Google announced Wednesday that over half of the pages shown in search results globally are from Google indexing that content using mobile-first indexing procedure.” searchengineland.com

	Do Exact Match Domains Still Work Anymore? “If it was still 2012, it would be a no-brainer to buy an EMD. But what about now? Do exact match domains still work?” searchenginejournal.com

	Content marketing for Google SERPs in 2019 “What once seemed like a harmonious relationship, the bond between consumers and producers of content has become somewhat volatile, asking marketers to be agile in their approach to content.“ searchenginewatch.com

	Why Local Businesses Will Need Websites More than Ever in 2019 “As local brands and their marketers watch Google play Trojan horse, shifting from top benefactor to top competitor by replacing former “free” publicity with paid packs, Local Service Ads, zero-click SERPs, and related structures, it’s no surprise to see forum members asking, “Do I even need a website anymore?”” moz.com

	How Visual Search is Transforming the Retail Industry “Search providers solve these problems using AI-based neural networks and large repositories of images and tagged image libraries. The accuracy on these searches has hence over time, improved tremendously.” medium.com

	How to Recover From the Google Medic Update “As every SEO professional knows, Google will always find ways to optimize their services on a daily basis, and this means adding occasional minor updates and launching major updates that shake things up every now and then.“ seo-hacker.com

	Three Research-Driven Tactics For Overcoming Sales Objections “Rejections loom especially large at the beginning of sales cycles. In 2007, it took an average of 3.7 cold call attempts to reach a prospect, according to research by TeleNet and Ovation Sales Group.” forbes.com

	Life, the Universe (of Data) and Everything “The Web is a spectacular place, created out of words, links and entity relationships. The deeper we can look into how they work together, the richer the digital identities we weave will be.” searchnewscentral.com

	SEO Hacker 2018 Round-up “2018 was a big year for us here at SEO Hacker, from growing our team to establishing more business connections that brought in more opportunities for the future.” seo-hacker.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

December 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Why Sites in High-Growth Industries Have Terrible UX “If you generate a $200 million quarterly profit with an online product, your website’s user experience must be world class, right? Wrong.“ conversionxl.com

	The Hotjar story (part 3) – growing our team & product while going from €1 to €3 million ARR “When we founded Hotjar in 2014, we had an ambitious vision for our product, but we were also an unknown team of five with no external funding and little experience in the world of SaaS.” hotjar.com

	Facebook confirms years-old messages are randomly coming back to haunt users “Unless you actively delete the history between you and another user, Messenger retains the entirety of your back-and-forth conversations, stretching back years.” theverge.com

	A Step-by-Step Guide to Create Content That Attracts High-Quality Links “If you want to earn top-tier links, you can’t cut corners on the content you create. You have to do everything the right way.“ searchenginejournal.com

	What startups need to know about SEO and domain names “If you are a startup, you cannot simply ignore the crucial factors of your business i.e. the domain name of your website and its SEO strategy.” searchenginewatch.com

	Two Facebook engineers built a tool to cut down on meetings. Now it’s a $900 million company “There’s work, and then there’s the work that goes into doing your work. And a lot of workers spend more time on the latter.” qz.com

	SEO Hacker Tool Review Round-up for 2018 “Along with new technologies and strategies, new SEO tools have helped us step up our game and create more efficient processes.“ seo-hacker.com

	It’s Time to Get Serious About Regulating Tech “Although regulation is not a topic anyone wants to talk about, there comes a point at which it becomes necessary.” medium.com

	The Hidden Potential Of Augmented Reality “Such heavy investment in the technology indicates real potential beyond entertainment, and there are some people looking deeper into AR and how to combine it with other emerging technologies.” forbes.com

	SEO Strategies and Trends That Will be Big in 2019 “Speaking of the near future, 2019 is coming in very soon, and like every other year, new trends, tools, and strategies abound. “ seo-hacker.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

October 22, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Google did not disclose security bug because it feared regulation, says report “It’s been a rocky summer for big tech: In the past year, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other technology companies have all testified before various House and Senate committees about their data and privacy practices, the risk of election meddling, and their possible conservative bias, among other topics.“ cnbc.com

	Content Strategy Vs. Content Marketing: What’s The Difference? “As an industry, we are great at talking about the work — we’re fabulous about sharing technical knowledge and new developments in search. But we’re not so great at talking about how we talk about the work.” forbes.com

	The SEO Cyborg: How to Resonate with Users & Make Sense to Search Bots “SEO is about understanding how search bots and users react to an online experience. As search professionals, we’re required to bridge gaps between online experiences, search engine bots, and users.” moz.com

	Google+ Shutting Down: What You Need To Know To Save Your Data “While it may not have been as successful as its competitors, Google+ still has a dedicated following through the communities that have been established.“ seo-hacker.com

	The Japanese philosophy of Kaizen can reinvent your daily routine “They discovered a humanizing philosophy driving the manufacturer’s innovation, one that intrinsically motivated workers to change process, procedures, and themselves for the better.” flipboard.com

	The high-risk, high-reward world of selling stuff on Amazon “Amazon’s scale and open platform have drawn legions of vendors like Kazmi looking to turn cheap goods into a decent living. Amazon doesn’t disclose how many sellers operate on its platform beyond saying “millions,” but chief executive Jeff Bezos wrote in his most recent letter to shareholders that the company added 300,000 in 2017 alone.” edition.cnn.com

	Does Author Authority Matter for Your Content and SEO? “To many of us, it makes sense that Google would value the “EAT” (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) of content creators in its quest to judge the quality of content. After all, wouldn’t you rather get medical advice from a properly credentialed M.D. than from some blogger who keeps WebMD open in a browser tab?“ stonetemple.com

	The Powerhouses of the Internet Are Turning Hostile to Websites “In a system that encourages monopolies, and demands those monopolies increase growth rate and extract ever more revenue (sans caveats or exceptions), we probably shouldn’t be surprised. But, we should be prepared.” sparktoro.com

	6 Great Examples of Brands Using Twitter Effectively “With 46 percent of its American users accessing the app daily and 74 percent of them using the app to get news and information, it remains one of the quickest ways to reach and engage your target audience in real time.” searchenginejournal.com

	5 ways ignoring SEO could affect your bottom line “There’s a common misconception that the financial benefits of SEO are not as clear as say, social media or PPC. But anyone familiar with SEO knows that it is highly measurable and in most cases even better value for money than both social media and PPC..” searchengineland.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

August 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

	How to Use Google Keyword Planner in 2018 (and Beyond) “Do you want more traffic from Google? You first need to do keyword research to understand what people are actually searching for.“ ahrefs.com

	Your Red-Tape Toolkit: 7 Ways to Earn Trust and Get Your Search Work Implemented “As an industry, we are great at talking about the work — we’re fabulous about sharing technical knowledge and new developments in search. But we’re not so great at talking about how we talk about the work.” moz.com

	Google Ads arrives. So long, AdWords “AdWords launched as a platform for running text ads on Google Search. It has since evolved to include advertising across Search; Google Display Network, which includes apps and websites; Gmail; and YouTube. The new Google Ads brand reflects the broader offering.” searchengineland.com

	Annelieke’s Analytics: 16 months of Google Search Console data “Since the beginning of this year, more and more users have gotten the pleasure of the new functionalities in Google Search Console. After you get used to the totally new interface, you see all the cool stuff it has to offer.“ yoast.com

	Six mistakes emerging brands make that affect their SEO “The internet is a cut-throat place for marketers. It’s never been easier to float a business and yet never been harder to market it.” searchenginewatch.com

	A Look Into the Latest Google Algorithm Update (July 2018) “This past month, Google has once again launched a new set of algorithm updates that continue to optimize search.” seo-hacker.com

	Google Redefines What is Considered Low Quality “It’s important to know that quality raters cannot personally change how a page is ranked. Rather, they pass the feedback onto those who write Google’s algorithms.“ searchenginejournal.com

	Growing Emphasis on Accessibility and Inclusiveness “Perhaps it’s to increase conversions, or create an ethical brand, but whatever the driving force behind the increase in accessibility testing and need for specialists, in the United States, there remains resistance.” searchnewscentral.com

	E.U. Fines Google $5.1 Billion in Android Antitrust Case “The penalty’s size highlighted Europe’s increasingly bold stance against the power of American tech firms, even as officials in the United States have taken a largely hands-off approach to the companies.” nytimes.com

	How We Turned Our Boring Warranty into a Lead Gen Tool and Brought 600 Leads in 3 Weeks “Warranties are the thing you sign on the way to get the cool thing you want. Few of us read them. Fewer still understand their finer points and implications, but if actively leveraged, warranties can play a significant role in marketing.” semrush.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

July 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

	How to Use Google Analytics for Social Media: A Beginner’s Guide “But here’s one brutal truth about social media marketing: a large number of brands are unable to effectively measure the impact of their social media marketing efforts.” hackernoon.com

	The Best Mentors Ask These 8 Questions “It’s hard to deny that good mentors are important. The best workplaces have formal programs to develop mentoring relationships. LinkedIn has even launched a feature to help you find one. And how to be a good mentor is a topic of perennial interest.” www.fastcompany.com

	Man Was Fired By His Company’s AI System Due To Human Error, As Managers ‘Stood Powerless’ “On the day that Diallo was technically fired, he got to work as usual and attempted to use his key card to gain entry to his work. The key card would not work, however, and Diallo also found out that he was locked out of his computer and applications. Later in the day, his recruiter said that they’d received an email notifying them that Diallo’s contract had been terminated. ” inquisitr.com

	Why Your SEO Focus Should Be Brand Building “Never get the benefit of the doubt. Need to earn twice as many links. And never resurface. Ever.“ searchenginejournal.com

	SEO Hacker 2018 Midyear Roundup “As we prepare ourselves for the rest of the year, let us take a look back at some of these news, reviews, and guides that have shaped up the first half of the year.” seo-hacker.com

	A guide to HTML and meta tags in 2018 “The difference between the two tag types is largely arbitrary, with the syntax for an HTML meta tag meaning it’ll contain the word meta within it, whereas a tag defined as a meta tag doesn’t necessarily have to.” searchenginewatch.com

	Build High Converting Landing Pages with These 36 Tactics “Sure, we can benchmark our current conversion rates with how a specific landing page performed in the past. These types of time-based comparisons are helpful, but they’re never apples-to-apples.“ databox.com

	An 8-Point Checklist for Debugging Strange Technical SEO Problems “The very nature of these situations defies a checklist, but it’s useful to have one for the same reason we have them on planes: even the best of us can and will forget things, and a checklist will provvide you with places to dig.” moz.com

	Brand SERPs You Really Should Be Tracking (and Improving) “What they see when they search your brand name is vital. Their perception of your brand when that first page displays is a factor that could very well tip the balance in the decision they are making about doing or continuing to do business with you. “ semrush.com

	How Google Optimizes the 2018 FIFA World Cup “With this in mind, Google has launched new search features for the event itself, to provide users with some of the latest news, game scores, and top players of the World Cup. Here’s a quick look at how Google has optimized their services for the World Cup.” seo-hacker.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

May 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Proven Link Building Tactics for 2018 “It goes without saying, then, that anyone who wants to boost their website’s visibility in Google (and by extension, other search engines) needs to be investing in link building.“ sujanpatel.com

	How to Earn Google Featured Snippets for Mobile: Large-scale Study “Featured snippets are a lens into how Google sees the future of mobile and voice search.” semrush.com

	The context of internal links “Google can read texts, so understanding of the context, synonyms, related words and concepts becomes critical.” yoast.com

	Google’s New Algorithm Creates Original Articles From Your Content “Whether you run a solo operation and personally handle every detail of a campaign for a small number of clients, or oversee a wide roster of projects as part of an agency, there are certain challenges that you will face in the course of your SEO career.” searchenginejournal.com

	The SEO Hacker Mobile Optimization Checklist “This shift into a mobile-first approach is highly evident, as Google has rolled out updates like Google Speed to optimize mobile rankings, the increased focus on voice search and video content, and the integration of AMP in multiple websites.” seo-hacker.com

	What Google’s GDPR Compliance Efforts Mean for Your Data: Two Urgent Actions “While most legal departments will be considering the direct impacts of the GDPR on their own operations, many might miss the impacts that other companies’ (namely, in this case, Google’s) compliance actions have on your data.” moz.com

	Why Google Won’t Give Specific Meta Description Lengths “The important thing to note is that Google has never given any specific character or word count for the meta description tags, even when they have increased the length in the past. So it isn’t surprising they are continuing the same.“ thesempost.com

	How to survive Google’s new local search world “There are a lot of cases where we cannot do anything because the reviews don’t break Google’s review guidelines, but there are also many scenarios where it is likely Google will remove the negative reviews.” searchengineland.com

	Google Sues SEO Company Threatening To Remove Businesses From Google “Google wrote “earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission brought action against Point Break Media, LLC (and related entities and individuals) for misleading small businesses with threats to remove their listings from Google Search and Maps and demands that they pay for unwanted search optimization services.” seroundtable.com

	The Growing Emphasis on Accessibility and Inclusive User Experience “Nearly every website usability audit or web design client I speak with places accessibility at the bottom of the pile of things to plan for. Educating them is part of every discussion. Like SEO, there is no shortage of myths.” searchnewscentral.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

April 30, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Meet the 29-Year-Old CEO Who Turned His Hobby Into a $1.5 Billion Business That’s Backed by Jay-Z “That revelation inspired the 29-year-old entrepreneur to launch JetSmarter – a start-up that allows people across the globe to book trips on a private jet using its mobile app.“ time.com

	Optimize Your Instagram Marketing with These Strategies “The impact and importance of Instagram as a marketing tool have been well-stated, and there are a good number of ways you can make it work with your brand.” seo-hacker.com

	12 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO “Many brands and businesses know (or think they know) that they need SEO for their digital properties, and the benefits they will get from that SEO work being implemented on their behalf.” searchenginejournal.com

	What Really Works for Content Promotion in 2018 “If you think you were great six months ago, the bar has already leveled up. Everything that you know “works” has to be re-evaluated.” sujanpatel.com

	Elements of a Viral Social Media Campaign “Creating a social media campaign that can get viral takes a lot of effort and the right timing, along with key elements that make it all work.” seo-hacker.com

	8 Common Website Mistakes Revealed Via Content Audits “Without the audit, you can’t create an effective strategy because you first need to know what types of content you’ve got, what content you’re missing, and what content you’ve got too much of.” moz.com

	Facebook & Cambridge Analytica: What we know, what they knew & where that leaves us “Whatever the reason, the Eye of Sauron has now been fixed upon Facebook, Google and other platforms that traffic in user data. We can expect that they will now face the kind of scrutiny that has previously been reserved for large global companies such as Microsoft, AT&T and others.“ searchengineland.com

	GDPR: ensuring your website is secure “With GDPR now only a month away, businesses across Europe are gearing up for what will potentially be one of the biggest shifts in data privacy laws since the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act.” searchenginewatch.com

	WordPress: What is Gutenberg? “It’s something many people often gloss over, but Gutenberg is not just a new editor for WordPress. It’s the start of something much bigger. .” yoast.com

	Switching to AMP Won’t Negate Other SEO & Google Algo Issues on a Site “The use of AMP is an interesting one. For many site owners, using AMP can result in a lift in traffic, but this is because AMP gets priority placement, such as the carousel placements. But it doesn’t specifically get an additional ranking boost outside of the regular mobile friendly one.” sempost.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

March 26, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Top 3 Viral Marketing Campaigns to Take Inspiration From “Just like a biological virus, a viral marketing campaign spreads from one person to another, resulting in a large number of views, substantial amount of social shares and remarkable brand awareness.“ semrush.com

	Going the Distance – Content Doesn’t Always Mean Instant “Content marketing promises a lineup of exciting profits, but to see them we have to wait. Adverts, newsletters and other marketing tools get to the client immediately with specific offers, while content marketing works in the background. It’s a constant process that should be implemented into our overall strategy.” elephate.com

	As Facebook’s Algorithm Changes, SEO Becomes Crucial “It’s hard to say precisely to what extent a drop in organic reach for brands and businesses already took place. It seems like a drop in referrals to media-sites did happen. Media sites seem to get more traffic from Google now than from Facebook.” yoast.com

	11 Big SEO Challenges You’ll Face in Your Career “Whether you run a solo operation and personally handle every detail of a campaign for a small number of clients, or oversee a wide roster of projects as part of an agency, there are certain challenges that you will face in the course of your SEO career.” searchenginejournal.com

	Woorank: The SEO Hacker Review “With features like advanced website reviews, competitive analysis, marketing checklist, keyword tool, and site crawl analysis, Woorank aims to bring in more versatility to our diverse variety of SEO tools.” seo-hacker.com

	Zero-Result SERPs: Welcome to the Future We Should’ve Known Was Coming “Over the past couple of years, I’ve talked a lot about how SERPs have expanded well beyond 10 blue links. What we talk about less is the flip-side, that SERPs are also shrinking. Adding SERP features is, in some cases, a zero-sum game, at the cost of organic results.” moz.com

	SEO Is a Long Game — So Focus On Evergreen Content “There are tons of articles out there promising SEO “hacks” and sure-fire ways to game the system. But short of buying search engine prominence through sponsored listings, the truth is that SEO takes time.“ business2community.com

	8 types of negative reviews Google will remove “There are a lot of cases where we cannot do anything because the reviews don’t break Google’s review guidelines, but there are also many scenarios where it is likely Google will remove the negative reviews.” searchengineland.com

	Google Drops Zero Search Results Experiment “The experiment, which began last week, was to serve searchers the answer up to half a second faster, especially since most searchers didn’t actually click through to any search results, as the answer box showed the answer most wanted.” thesempost.com

	IWD 2018: Eight SEO ladies give their advice on being a woman in search “Even without the numbers, it’s fairly obvious to anyone who works within SEO that it’s a majority male industry – from the speaker line-ups at events, to the rosters at companies, to the bylines on industry blogs. This isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of hugely successful and brilliant women working in SEO, because there are. But there are still comparatively fewer of them.” searchenginewatch.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

February 27, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Thought Leaders Say Why HTTPS and Voice Search Will Rule the Roost in 2018 “Digital marketing and stock markets share the same trait: they are constantly changing. What used to be the norm is obsolete only a few months later.” growmap.com

	Keep the Pace: Preparing for the Google Speed Update “It has been proven numerous times that fast loading speeds help users stay longer in a website, ensuring that you have steady traffic and a lower bounce rate.” seo-hacker.com

	Blockchain: A Very Short History Of Ethereum Everyone Should Read “Even though Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency, it’s Ethereum’s aggressive growth that has many speculating it will soon overtake Bitcoin in usage.” forbes.com

	9 Emotional Hooks That Will Make Your Content 10x Better “If your content hasn’t been converting the way you want it to, injecting some emotion could make all the difference.” searchenginejournal.com

	Budget Friendly Google Chrome Extensions For Your SEO Needs “A good SEO strategy is even more effective through the use of a diverse selection of tools that get the job well done.” seo-hacker.com

	The Biggest Mistake Digital Marketers Ever Made: Claiming to Measure Everything “Unfortunately, while we were geeking out about attribution models and cross-device tracking, we were accidentally triggering a common human cognitive bias that kept us anchored on small amounts, leaving buckets of money on the table and fundamentally reducing our impact and access to the C-suite.” moz.com

	Experts Share Best WordPress SEO Tips to [Boost Rankings] in 2018 “While the response to my SEO checklist blog post was tremendous, the one question that I was frequently asked was ‘how to SEO optimized a WordPress website?’“ capsicummediaworks.com

	Health start-up Medopad raises $28 million after striking over $140 million in China deals “The London-based company sells an app that connects patients with health-care professionals. It uses machine learning to analyze a patient’s data and detect life-threatening medical conditions.” cnbc.com

	Are keywords still relevant to SEO in 2018? “Anyone worth their salt in the SEO industry knows that a blinkered focus on keywords in 2018 is a recipe for disaster.” searchenginewatch.com

	How to Steal Links from Your Lazy Competitors “You need to step outside of what everyone else is doing so that you can earn links that they don’t have, giving you a unique advantage in your organic search campaign.” searchenginejournal.com

Growth Hacks Top 10

January 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

	Daring SEO Strategies You Must Try This 2018 “Speaking of SEO strategies, it pays to be daring and risk-taking every once in a while.” seo-hacker.com

	What to Do When a New Potential SEO Client Contacts You “If you’re an agency owner or solo consultant, you’re probably constantly thinking about getting new clients. And we’re inundated in this industry with too much advice around new marketing funnels, new marketing ideas, and “one weird tricks to 10x your traffic overnight.” moz.com

	83 Experts Share the Best Ecommerce Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies for 2018 “The competition in the ecommerce industry is huge. Especially with bigger players like Amazon and Walmart, it takes a lot of effort to build credibility. However, not many people know that a few key changes to your website can boost your conversion rate considerably.” shanebarker.com

	6 Effective SEO Strategies for 2018 [With Case Studies] “SEO strategies come in different forms, as the focus of approach will always vary depending on what the site/business actually needs to address to be able to compete.” kaiserthesage.com

	What we learned about “Long Tail” by analyzing 1.4 Billion keywords “I’m sure you’ve heard it many times that short keywords tend to get tons of searches per month, while the long ones are never popular.” ahrefs.com

	Top SEO Service Industry Experts Local Search Tips for 2018 “While the local online marketing industry is consistently changing, it is also continually reminding online marketers that hard-work, white hat methods, and a focus on proven iron-clad approaches are a path to success.” seoexpertbrad.com

	The State of Search Engine Marketing in China “I remember wiring advertising funds for a major brand to our colleague in China and they physically would cash the money out of the bank, put it the equivalent of $10,000 in their backpack, and ride their bicycle over to Baidu’s office to make the advertising deposit.“ searchenginejournal.com

	Why You’re Not Ranking Where You Should Be (And How to Fix It) “Because here’s the thing: marketers make a lot of mistakes when it comes to SEO, and those mistakes kill their rankings.” neilpatel.com

	Website Mistakes That Can Sabotage Your SEO and How To Fix Them “With so much competition on the web these days, it’s important to know SEO when you get started. But, if your website is built on or around any of the mistakes in this list, you’re inadvertently sabotaging your own efforts.” www.business2community.com

	13 SEO Myths That Are Probably Killing Your Ranks “As we are often being asked about many misconceptions from the SEO world, we’ve decided to gather and share with you the most important SEO myths that tend to keep you from improving your ranks and traffic. And of course, clarify them once and for all.” cognitiveseo.com

Archives for 2018

A Step-by-Step Guide to Create Content That Attracts High-Quality Links