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2024/03/15 2024/03/15

A beginner’s guide as to how to carry out an SEO audit

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Written by: Ryan Christopher Walsh
Date: 15th/03/2024

 

Just as you wouldn’t embark upon a major construction project without first creating some architect plans, neither should you start to improve your business search engine optimisation without first carrying out an SEO audit.

Thankfully there are many SEO tools, such as Moz Pro, Ahrefs and Google Search Console that make this work a piece of cake. The hard part is then finding a highly experienced SEO consultant to interpret the information and come up with a plan of action as to how they plan on improving your company website.

 

For example, depending on what the SEO audit report says, they may recommend:

– Removing duplicated content marketing
– If there are toxic backlinks the marketing consultant may recommend disavowing them
– If the content marketing is “content thin” then improvements will need to be made to this work
– If there are indexation issues, these will also need to be rectified, such as “no-index” code left on pages for example
– And there are thousands of other areas which could also be improved as well

You’ve come to the right place to find out how carrying out an SEO audit could help your business, as we have been helping businesses now for more than ten years to improve their search engine optimisation in Wales.
So, before we do start any SEO work, one of the first places we start to carry out an SEO audit.

 

Off-Page SEO, On-Page SEO, Technical SEO

Just as a car’s engine can go into “limp home mode”, drastically reducing the car’s performance, something similar could happen to your company’s website if it were to incur let’s say a manual action penalty, imposed by Google.

It’s also perfectly possible that a technical issue, stopping the pages from being crawled and indexed, such as robots.txt full of “no-index” code, could be holding your business’s search engine optimisation back. Therefore, these technical issues, as well as other on-site issues and web design issues, need to be fixed to get some businesses onto page one of Google.co.uk.

Indexation issues start with these, because if these are not fixed then the business won’t appear on Google
In a nutshell, if the pages can’t be indexed by Googlebot, that is, if they can’t be crawled and indexed by Googlebot on a regular basis, this means that those pages will blog post and have no chance of ever appearing in Google’s results. So, one of the first things an SEO consultant must do is see if there are any indexation issues. You can often use the Google Search Console to do this, as this tool should tell you if there are any indexation issues.

 

Toxic backlinks

The business might have a website, but it’s not even ranking on the first ten pages of Google and sometimes this is because of “toxic backlinks”. The business owners might think, well we’ve sacked our previous SEO company, we’ve got rid of them, and that’s the end. However, if the previous company has completed low-quality work, for example, if they’ve built low-quality toxic backlinks, this can have a lasting effect on the website.

The business can, therefore, incur a Google Penguin penalty- a business incurs this if it has a lot of low-quality spam links. The effect of such a penalty can be long-lasting, a business can rank much lower in Google’s organic SERPs after this penalty, and it can sometimes take some businesses years to recover from such a penalty.

So often, the SEO consultant needs to see if there are any significant problems, such as duplicated content causing an algorithmic penalty or perhaps, as we mentioned earlier if there are any toxic backlinks.

Toxic backlinks can be disavowed, however, this work should be carried out by an SEO expert.

 

Why do we need an SEO audit?

The long and short of the matter is, sure there are millions of companies which offer free SEO audit reports.
But as the old saying goes, nothing comes for free in life.

So, often instead of just an SEO report that’s offered for free, you need a comprehensive report, which is then interpreted by a highly experienced SEO consultant who sits down and digests the report to see which areas need to be improved.

So, is it worth paying for an SEO audit report?

Well, we would say most definitely, however, an SEO report is only useful if the person interpreting the data is highly experienced, highly knowledgeable and understands what areas need to then be improved.

Therefore after reading say the Moz Pro report, the SEO consultant should then be able to come back with a series of recommendations on how they would like to improve your business’s organic search engine optimisation.

 

How frequently should you carry out a website audit?

Well, you should most definitely be carried out when the company changes SEO company that’s for sure. However, the frequency of how often you should carry out an audit does depend on the size of the website, for example, a multi-million-pound business, that owns an e-commerce website is obviously going to be carrying out SEO reports more regularly than a sole trader, with a 7-page website.

Yet regardless of the size of the business, the SEO consultant should always be looking at whether there are any toxic links, or duplicated content marketing, and even if there a lot of content marketing generated by AI, then this could damage the businesses organic SEO.

 

How long does it take to undertake an SEO audit?

Well, there are various SEO tools that are extremely good, we recommend MOZ Pro, it’s brilliant tool that can be used on any company website.

Moz Pro can then generate a report often in the blink of an eye, however as you would expect, this data needs to be interpreted by an expert.

Otherwise, if you don’t hire an SEO company to interpret the data, well you’re just having, let’s say, a 25-page document that doesn’t mean anything to the business owner. However, a highly experienced agency will be able to interpret all of the information outlined in the SEO report quickly and then recommend which areas need improving.

 

Which SEO tools would you recommend using?

Well, there are some that require a monthly subscription, and we would highly recommend Moz Pro, we think this is a really good SEO tool. We think it’s absolutely fantastic, and in our 10 years of experience, we think it’s one of the best tools out there.
Then, you also have a Google Search Console our SEO agency uses Google Search Console on a daily basis for our clients. This, again, is a fabulous tool and it’s free, so all businesses should have it.

It’s brilliant because it’s made by Google (Alphabet), so the information it provides is reliable and also very up-to-date. You can check things like website backlinks and see if there are indexation issues and see if any manual actions may hold your website back.

 

With Google Search Console you can find the following information relating to your business SEO:

 

Are there any Google Manual Actions in place?

 

You can use Google Search Console to see if any manual actions could hold a website back.

If there are any Google Manual Actions, then do consult with an SEO expert on how you can get these issues fixed.

 

Does your website have any indexation issues?

 

You can use the Google Search Console, as well as many other SEO tools, to check for possible indexation issues that may hold your business’s search engine optimisation back. For example, a “no-index” tab being left on the homepage, will mean that the homepage will never ever appear within Google’s SERP’s.

So, if you want a page or blog post to appear in Google’s SERPs, you need to make sure the page can get indexed by Googlebot.

 

Keywords

You can also track where your businesses keywords are ranking, using Google Search Console- simply click “Performance” button and then select “Average Position” you will then instantly see where your business ranks in Google’s SERP’s.

 

Duplicated content and why it needs to be removed

There are various tools that you can use as plagiarism checkers, to see if there is an duplicated content marketing on your website. And our SEO agency would urge you to use them because if there is duplicated blog posts, this could mean the business gets a Google Penalty, which can sometimes mean the whole website is removed from Google.

We recommend using Copyscape to see if there are any duplicated pages or blog posts on your website.

 

Add a sitemap and a robot.txt file

We highly recommend having both a Robot.txt and also adding your company’s site map to Google Search Console, this will help Googlebot to find all of the pages and blog posts on your company website.

It’s a bit like giving someone trying to find a location a sat-nav unit, obviously, then they will find their destination much easier.

This is the same as when you give Googlebot a sitemap, you are giving Google a list of all the pages, and blog posts on your website, so they can be much more easily indexed.

 

You can use “Screaming Frog” or “Moz Pro” to find  any 404-page errors on your website

You can use various SEO tools, such as Screaming Frog, to look for 404-page errors.

You do need to rectify and fix any 404-page errors, because having 404-page errors, causes a bad user experience for your customers. It’s a bit like, going to a shop, that should be open, yet the shutters are down, you will be disappointed because you wanted to buy something.

This is a bit the same, when someone clicks on your business in Google’s SERPs, and then they instead of seeing the product they wanted, lets say it was a Bosch dishwasher, instead, they see a 404-page error instead. Most likely what will happen, is they leave your website, causing the bounce rate to increase, which is not good for your business’s search engine optimisation.

 

Mobile Responsiveness- Does your website work on a smartphone?

 

Before you agree with your web designers that the website is finished and you are happy with the website they have made for you, you must ensure it works perfectly on smartphones and tablets.

Does the website work well on say an Android smartphone? Does the website work well, on an iPhone?

You need to check to see if everything works correctly. If things don’t work efficiently for the customer, it will likely cause a high bounce rate- which will negatively impact your business’s search engine optimisation.

As any good marketing agency will tell you, they need to work hard to reduce the company’s bounce rate as far as possible.

 

 

We have over ten years of experience helping businesses to improve their SEO

Many marketing agencies come and go. However, ours has stood the test of time. We’ve worked with some fantastic businesses in the Cardiff area to help ramp up their sales. While we are not the cheapest marketing agency by a country mile, we can guarantee that every aspect of our work is white hat, and top quality.

 

If you would like a free quote, why not call us?

 

 

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2024/02/27 2024/02/27

How to write a good quality blog post

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Content marketing

In the realm of digital marketing, the axiom “content is king” has never wavered in its truth.
However, it’s not just any content marketing that reigns supreme—it’s the meticulously crafted, engaging, and informative kind that does.

With the evolution of SEO practices, the emphasis has shifted towards creating content marketing that doesn’t just appeal to search engines, such as Google but also provides a superior user experience (UX).

John Mueller of Google once highlighted “awesomeness” as a critical factor for ranking success, underlining the importance of content quality.

 

What should we be writing about?

Before penning down your next masterpiece, it’s crucial to engage in thorough research to pinpoint topics that resonate with your audience.
The goal is to find subjects that not only spark interest but are questions thousands of shoppers are likely to be asking.
A pro tip is to use quality SEO tools, such as Moz Pro to help you with this.

 

Keywords

Before you let your creativity flow, take a moment to step into the shoes of your potential readers.
Understanding user intent is paramount.

Ask yourself: What information are they seeking before they buy a product?

What solutions do they need?

Keyword research, including the use of Google Suggest, will further refine your focus, allowing you to select primary and secondary keywords that enhance your organic SEO without compromising the natural flow of your article.

 

Structure

The structure of your blog post plays a pivotal role in keeping your audience engaged and reducing bounce rates—a signal to Google of your content’s quality. So do add page titles.

Also do incorporate various elements like images, videos, and infographics can significantly enhance readability and engagement.
Ensuring your headings are properly tagged and your content marketing is well-organised will make your post more accessible and appealing to both readers and search engines.

 

Page titles

The title of your blog post is your first opportunity to captivate potential readers.
It should be directly aligned with the search queries your audience is using, incorporating your primary keyword in a way that also that answers the shoppers question. Emotive and powerful words, along with clear indicators of the content’s value (such as “ultimate guide” or “5 simple steps”), can significantly increase click-through rates.

 

How many words should we be writing for each blog post?

In the realm of SEO, longer content (evergreen content marketing) often translates to higher rankings.
Aim for posts that are at least 1000 words, as they tend to provide more value, covering topics in-depth.
This not only benefits your SEO efforts but also establishes your blog as an authoritative source of information.

 

Social media

Promote your work on X, Facebook and Instagram.

In conclusion, crafting an SEO-optimised blog post that ranks well on Google and captivates readers requires a blend of well-written pages, user intent understanding, keyword optimisation, and innovative structuring.

By focusing on creating quality content marketing that is not only informative but also engaging and white hat you can achieve a prominent position on Google’s first page.
Remember, in the dynamic world of SEO, the combination of quality content and strategic optimisation is your key to success.

Facts and statistics are integral to reinforcing the credibility of your content marketing. For instance, according to HubSpot’s “State of Marketing Report 2021,” content marketing is used by 82% of marketers, reflecting its critical role in digital marketing strategies. Furthermore, a study by Backlinko found that the average Google first page result contains 1,447 words, highlighting the importance of comprehensive content in SEO efforts.

For further reading and statistics, consider exploring resources such as the HubSpot State of Marketing Report (https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing) and the Backlinko SEO Statistics (https://backlinko.com/seo-stats). These sources provide valuable insights into the current trends and data supporting effective content marketing and SEO strategies.

 

 

 

 

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2024/02/15 2024/02/15

Has your websites rankings decreased since the Google Helpful Content Update?

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Many businesses have seen their SERPs decrease after the Google helpful content update.

Therefore, copywriters are scrabbling across the globe for ways to fix their content marketing so that the Google helpful content update approves it and their SEO improves.

Therefore, this article has been written to help you improve your business’s content marketing.

 

Written by: Ryan Walsh

Date: 15/02/ 2024

It can happen to many businesses that work hard and diligently to get their companies right to the top of Google.co.uk. They might not make any further changes to their organic SEO, yet after the Google helpful content update, their rankings have sometimes substantially decreased.

 

So, how exactly does Google’s helpful content update work?

What is essential to note is that this could be a sitewide penalty. meaning that all the pages / blog posts are ranking notably lower on Google. Often this is because of the following:

– A lot of content thin content
– Content marketing that has a low Google E-EAT score

All of your pages and blog posts could get dragged down if you have a lot of low-quality pages, such as content or thin pages on your website.

So this means that if you have a lot of low-quality content marketing, such as content-thin articles, or just pages that are not that useful, as they don’t offer much useful advice to a shopper, your businesses rankings could get dragged down the ranking after this update.

Today in 2024 your content marketing has to be very good.

 

When you consider that there have been numerous updates rolled out by Google

Google has gone through an enormous effort, rolling out the Google Panda update, the Google Rank brain artificial intelligence update, and the Google hummingbird update. These have been significant updates, which have changed enormously where some businesses rank on the Google and therefore alterted these businesses organic rankings.

Therefore, this latest update, the Google helpful content update is just another step in weeding out low-quality content marketing. For example, if over 50% say of the blog posts are content thin, then the whole website, including main product pages may start to rank lower on Google’s organic results.

So basically, the long and short of it is this: if you hire the wrong agency which creates lacklustre, not very well written content marketing, what this can hold your website back. You might have been doing well, ranking at the top of Google.co.uk, but after that Google update, your business may move down the ranks, because of all the blog posts that haven’t been well written.
It can take a long time to recover from a Google penalty

As with all sorts of Google algorithmic or manual penalties, it does take time to recover, so let’s say that you believe the Google helpful content update has impacted your website. Let’s say that you have noticed that your rankings have plummeted after the Google helpful content update was rolled out. Then you will want to set about improving your content marketing.

However, it’s worth noting that with all algorithmic and manual updates, it can take a considerable amount of time, sometimes even years, from our experience, to recover from such an update. Therefore, it’s not simply a matter of updating the content marketing, and then watching the rankings improve, it does take time.

To recover from Google algorithm penalties therefore, you have to be extremely patient. And be continuously working on trying to improve your business content marketing

 

Could there be a possible over-optimisation issue?

There could be a possible over-optimisation issue that the SEO consultant or business has implemented. This could be over optimising the content marketing for a particular keyword.

Let’s say that that keyword is a particular brand of “ladies’ handbags”.

The marketing agency may have over-optimised the page or number of pages for that particular handbag brand.
Therefore, the marketing agency needs to go back and ensure that they don’t over-optimise; for example, if keyword stuffing has been used on that page.

Keyword stuffing is simply over-optimising the page, which can severely damage the business’s SEO moving forward.

 

Write for real humans.

Now, this might have you somewhat confused, scratching your head thinking, well, obviously, when writing content marketing it will be for humans, we’re not writing; therefore, for extraterrestrials, are we?

However, a problem that many SEO agencies and businesses have fallen into, is that they try to write content marketing just purely to try and improve their SEO.

However, you have to turn this marketing strategy entirely on its head.

If you write super helpful content marketing that is very useful, well written and has a high Google E-EAT then this type of work will rank high on Google.

So, by offering helpful advice, you are actually improving your seo.

 

Write detailed articles

Try to make your content marketing as detailed and in-depth as possible.

What you most definitely don’t want is for the content marketing to be deemed as “content-thin”.

So do work hard to make the content marketing detailed as possible. Perhaps you don’t want to publish a piece of content marketing every single week; instead, focus on writing superb and high-quality piece say perhaps just once a month. Use your time wisely; therefore, create quality content marketing, that’s instead of churning out low-quality content marketing.

 

Keep on point

This is a critical point that should be carefully considered.

Sometimes, some businesses start to talk about things within their company blog posts that are not directly related to the products or services they sell.

For example, a firm of solicitors might be talking about a rugby team they sponsor, so we recommend removing non-relevant content marketing if you have a lot of it. This can confuse search engines, such as Google as to what your business is offering.
For example Google’s algorithm may ask are you offering legal services, or are running a rugby team?

 

Fully understand Google E-EAT.

Google now wants content marketing to be written by an expert; it wants the writer to demonstrate expertise, on what they are writing about.

Google also wants the writer to to demonstrate real-life experience of what the person is writing about.

If any work on your website that doesn’t fully answer Google EEAT, then this work should be revisited and improved.
This might take a lot of time, but it needs to be done because this is a critical consideration in assessing whether the content marketing is deemed as high quality.

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2024/02/07 2024/02/07

Content freshness and why this is important when improving your business SEO (organic & local)

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Introduction

If you want your business to climb to the top of Google’s SERPs, you must regularly add content marketing, such as new blog posts to your company website.

This article will explain why it’s essential to periodically add new pages and blog posts and evergreen content marketing to your website.

Written by: Ryan Walsh
Date: 07/02/2024

What Is Fresh Content?

What does an SEO company mean when they are talking about adding fresh content marketing?

Fresh content refers to content marketing, which is content marketing has recently added to your company website. It could be a brand-new blog post that you just took over 10 hours to write.

It could be a more in-depth article, such as a piece of evergreen content marketing, or an embedded video such as YouTube video. You could even be a SoundCloud recording or lets say a podcast that you recently did. It can even be social media updates which are embedded into your website.

 

Helping to reduce bounce rates

When a shopper comes to your website for advice, and they want to read one of your blog posts, that shopper will undoubtedly want to obtain up-to-date advice. For example if they are searching on Google for “the best mobile phone handsets to buy in 2024”.

Well they wont want to read an article that was published in 2018.

So what the SEO company can do is keep updating that same page every year; this improves the freshness of the page offering the most up to date advice to the customer. This can help to reduce the bounce rate.

Why is fresh content important for SEO?

 

Is Content Freshness a Google Ranking Factor?

Yes, we would say it is; websites which stay stagnant in terms of not adding new content marketing they can start dropping down the ranks quickly. That’s to say, if your direct rivals are adding top-quality blog posts, which have good Google E-EAT score, well a business not adding new work might start to get left behind by the competition.

The Google Freshness Update back in 2011

This important Google update aims to provide users with much more up-to-date information as possible. So if someones looking for advice, they receive up to date advice.

So, whats the best selling running trainer, obviously implies to the current year. The shopper therefore wont want to read a blog post written in 2017- as the companies making the products, such as Nike may have stopped making that item. This is why the

Google Freshness Update aims to serve answers, that is businesses, which offer up to date advice.

The Google Caffeine update 2010

There was also the Google caffeine update back in 2010, which again improved the speed and accuracy of the Google bots’ crawling and indexing process. This basically means pages got indexed much faster. So, if you wrote say a new blog post, its likely to appear in the Serp’s a lot faster.

 

New hasn’t got to mean new

So what we mean by this is you haven’t got to constantly churn out new content marketing at a rapid pace.
The copywriters could return to older pieces of content marketing to update them, improve, and make them more helpful to your customers.

Be consistent

It’s essential to be consistent when publishing your content marketing. What you don’t want to do us write is a large amount of say long blog posts, then to publish them all at once and then not publish any for months after.

You should instead publish regularly, set aside time to do this, say once a week or once a month and be consistent in the spacing. So if you write an article once a week, try to stick to that.

Create an editorial calendar to plan which content marketing you are going to write about

What can sometimes happen is if you write content marketing off-the-cuff—the problem with this is you may end up writing about the same topics again and again. What you need is to write about a wide range of issues relating to your business.

So we would recommend creating an Excel spreadsheet, plan what your going to write about. This way you can tick it off, and your not writing about the same stuff all of the time.

So for example, our business writes about:

-Technical SEO
-On-page SEO
-Off-page SEO
-Link building
-Local SEO
-Organic SEO
-Google algorithm changes

Digital marketing agency

We have over ten years of experience working with many different companies here in Wales. We can offer you quality search engine optimisation (SEO), and we can improve your local or organic SEO. If your business needs help writing content marketing, then why not call our SEO agency today?

 

 

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2024/01/30 2024/01/30

How do writing blog posts help improve a company’s SEO?

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How important is content for SEO?

Content marketing, whether the writer is writing a blog post, a number of product descriptions or perhaps an evergreen piece of content marketing, if done right, can help to improve the business search engine optimisation.

However, the written work must be high-quality. For the work to be deemed as high quality it must meet the following quality standards:

– Google’s E-EAT
– Must be white hat
– Can’t be duplicated
– Can’t be “content thin”
– Must be helpful to the reader because of the Google Helpful Content update

So, in a nutshell, businesses can be improved by adding quality content marketing, but it can also go the other way, and it can be damaged if the business is adding low-quality or what might be deemed as spam content marketing.

Google is becoming much better, all of the time at spotting low-quality content marketing.

It used to be from businesses which were using what is called “spun content”, or using keyword stuffing methods, but now in 2024, and for a long time prior to that, these methods do not work now. They will result in the business incurring an algorithmic penalty, which will massively set your SEO back.

 

Improving organic traffic

So let’s say that you have a website and you might have been paying to have our website live for say the last seven years.
During that time, you receive no phone calls, no emails, it’s a bit like having a business card just languishing in your desk. Obviously, you will want that business card instead distributed to people who are interested in your business. And that’s a bit

like having a website, but not paying for SEO.

This is where the really good and talented SEO consultants come in.

Talented SEO consultants will make your website more visible; we do that by helping to drive more customers to your website and by helping your business obtain more organic traffic. One of the ways to do this is to write high-quality, unique, well-written content marketing.

 

Remove duplicated content marketing

You might have hired a particularly lazy SEO consultant in the past, and they might have been in-house or they might have been external.

You might have been busy copying and pasting other companies’ work onto your website; when it comes to search engine optimisation, this is a massive no-no.

If you use duplicated content marketing, this will trigger a Google penalty, which could massive

Offer helpful advice to shoppers (Google Helpful Content Update)

Here’s our best advice, most definitely write for humans first, that is your customers.

Then if the work is really good quality, then the bounce rate should be low, and the engagement should be high. This basically means shoppers are spending a long time reading the work, and this will help to improve your business’s organic search engine optimisation.

 

External and internal links

If the work is super high quality, then well-known brands and companies may choose to link to your website.

Let’s say for example that you manufacture quality paint here in Wales. An interior design magazine might decide to link to you, and mention your high-quality paint on their website. For example, in a magazine such as Period Living.

Therefore, this is our example of a good quality link because the magazine that’s linking to you is a well-known and respected company.

You also want to add many internal links, for example, an article talking about paint, you might want to take the reader to a page about wallpaper page on your website, this can help to improve your business’s seo as well.

 

Come to the experts

There are few search engine optimisation agencies here in Wales which have the level of experience we have.
Whether it’s writing content marketing, improving your business’s technical SEO, or perhaps link building we are the business call.

We work with well-known brands, that are well-known companies within Wales. We can offer you SEO advice, and offer to consult with your company as regularly as you would like. All we can offer monthly fixed-price packages, which can help start improving your business’s organic SEO.

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