It is the middle of the spring season and I have compiled my monthly roundup of the best articles in the SEO and internet marketing niche for the month of April 2016.
“Google AMP vs Instant Articles: The Most Important Differences You Need to Know” by Tamas Torok on Momentum blog. Mobile user experience is very important today and, if you want to be successful online, then you should have a mobile friendly website. It is not a big secret that most people today are searching from smartphones. These people will probably leave your site if it does not display well on mobile.
“Link Building Holy Grail: How to Build Links like the Pros” by Matt Banner on OnBlastblog. It is a very detailed infographic where you can find information like:
- What are Backlinks and Why Do They Matter?
- The Google Ranking Factors Associated with Backlinks
- The Most Effective Link Building Strategies in 2016
- The Ultimate Email Outreach Strategy
- How to Avoid Penalties From Google
- An On Blast Blog Case Study: How the Skyscraper Technique Worked for this Blog
“How to optimize your Google My Business listing: Expert Tips” by Graham Charlton on Search Engine Watch. A Google My Business listing is an essential for SEO. If you want to be successful in local SEO, then you must know some tips.
It is important to use an actual business name so people can easily find you. Ensure that information on your My Business listing is up-to-date. Opening hours and phone number must be double checked.
Positive reviews can bring you more clients. There are also some advanced tactics, which you can find in the original article by Graham.
“5 Reasons to Believe Penguin 4.0 is Just Around the Corner” by David Yarian on V9SEO blog. It is not a big secret that all webmasters are waiting for a Penguin 4.0 update. Some of us have given up trying to predict this. Google said that in the first quarter of 2016 they will probably release a new refresh. However, April has come and gone, yet we still do not know anything about Penguin 4.0.
All we know is that Penguin 4.0 is coming soon. So if you want to be safe, double-check your backlink profile. It is almost impossible to fully recover from this algorithm.
“How to Find and Connect with Local Influencers in Your Industry” by Aleh Barysevich on Moz blog. It is a very powerful instrument for your local business promotion if you can connect with local influencers in your industry.
You will find it highly beneficial to go to Aleh’s original article and find out all about the successful tactics that he is using.
“Ecommerce SEO: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Dean on Backlinko blog. It is fantastic work. In this post you can find every detail you need starting from Keywords research to On-Page SEO.
Brian added a lot of useful links to researches. As this guide is based on recent information, you can be sure that everything presented here actually works in 2016.
Here are the chapters from this post:
- Keyword Research
- Site Architecture
- On-page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Content Marketing For Ecommerce Sites
- Link Building for Ecommerce Websites
“37 Proven Methods To Increase Blog Traffic And Boost Engagement” by Nadya Khoja on Venngage blog. Such kind of posts usually get a lot of views and social activity. I mean “10 tips for…” or “21 proven techniques to…” It is very easy to read them because the information is structured. If you are aware of some of these methods, then you can just skip this part.
This post is not ready yet as Nadya will be updating it. So far she has completed the first 2 chapters:
- PART 1: Understanding Your Audience Personas
- PART 2: Optimizing Your Content for SEO
- PART 3: Outreach and Link Building [COMING SOON]
- PART 4: Repurposing Your Content [COMING SOON]
- PART 5: Social Media and Email Promotion [COMING SOON]
- PART 6: Increasing Audience Engagement [COMING SOON]
“Does Organic CTR Impact SEO Rankings? [New Data]” by Larry Kim on Moz blog. I think I’ve read so many different posts in the past years that all had the same answer: “No, organic CTR does not impact site rankings”.
Here is the key founding of this post:
“Whether or not RankBrain becomes the most important ranking signal (and I believe it will be someday), it’s smart to ensure your pages get as many organic search clicks as possible. It means more people are visiting your site and it sends important signals to Google that your page is relevant and awesome.
Our research also shows that achieving above-expected user engagement metrics result in better organic rankings, which results in even more clicks to your site.
Don’t settle for average CTRs. Be a unicorn among a sea of donkeys! Raise your organic CTRs and engagement rates! Get optimizing now! ”
“Growth Hacking for Ecommerce: 17 Tactics You Can Try Next Month” by William Harris on Sell Brite blog. I can’t say that I discovered something really new here, but it is a post where you can find everything you need for a quality ecommerce website:
- Reviews
- Thank you cards
- A/B testing to find our which page converts better
- Effectiveness of Popups
- Order confirmation share request
- Buy again email
- Etc
“33 Email Marketing Tips From Growth Experts That’ll Double Your Conversions” by Zach Grove on Get Drip blog.
If you have a very good email subscriber base, then you can expect the highest ROI from this section of potential buyers. Even today when some people think that email marketing is dead – it is not true.
According to a 2016 study by eConsultancy, companies say that email marketing is their #1 channel for ROI, with 73% of respondents reporting a “Good” or “Excellent” return on their money.
In this post by Zach, you can read the best tips from 33 experts.
There you have, in my opinion, the best posts for the month of April 2016! I hope you enjoyed them, too, as well as discovered some helpful information! Please share your comments below or contact me via this form or via my Twitter account.