LinkNow Media Blog Tag: search engine optimization

Why Does It Take So Long to Start Ranking for New Keywords?

The short answer—and this is one that nobody likes to hear—is that it takes time for Google to index your site in their database. Google works in mysterious ways. But not as mysterious as you might think. By the end of this post we’re confident you’ll have a much clearer understanding of the ranking process, what’s in your control, and what isn’t. What is Google’s Indexing Period? If you’ve ever had assistance with your SEO in the past, you’ve probably heard people mention the “Indexing Period.” The process of “Indexing” refers to the process of adding your website into the Google search engine. In a perfect world, submitting your page to the Google Index would be enough to get your page to the top of the Google results. But things don’t work that way. After your page is submitted to Google, it enters the “Indexing Period”. During this period, […]

What Was the Google Indexing Bug?

Last Friday, the SEO world was sent into a frenzy. Webpages from all over the globe, of every type, from every industry, were suddenly and mysteriously de-indexed by Google. They had simply vanished from the search engine. In some cases, it was whole sites. In others, it was a page or two. On forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and all around the LinkNow Media office, we all cried out in unison: WHAT HAPPENED? Who Was Affected by the Indexing Bug? From all our current information, websites of all type and from every corner of the globe were affected. There doesn’t appear to have been any reason behind it. There was speculation that it affected sites which had been helped by the March core update. But no one could confirm this. As far as we can tell, it was random. Moreover, according to Google, there’s no way to accurately […]

9 SEO Tricks that Will Improve Your Ranking on Google

Here at LinkNow Media, SEO is what we do best. We’ve studied the Google Quality Raters’ Guideline. We keep up with all the most recent debates. And we’re constantly A/B testing to sort out the facts from fiction. We spend a lot of time figuring out what works and what doesn’t for SEO. Over the past while, I’ve worked closely with our organic SEO and local SEO teams to come up with an SEO strategy that works. And although it’s in our best interest to keep it a secret, we’ve decided to share it with you! Use these SEO tricks and get the leads you need to take your business to the next level. If you’re looking for tips on improving your local SEO, make sure to check out our article on how Google’s E-A-T relates to local marketing. If you want to find out how to get your […]

Is Your SEO Strategy Harmful or Helpful?

When we were first introduced to the Internet, we were baffled by how quickly we could get the information we wanted. With no more than a few keystrokes and clicks, we’d be scrolling through pages and pages of helpful information or hilarious entertainment. As time went on, those minor lags and wait-times even disappeared. Soon, we had instant access not only to information but to products. With those second-nature keystrokes and clicks, we could find whatever product we wanted and have it arrive on our doorstep by the end of the following week. In the last few years, even the real world has picked up with the rapid-fire pace of technology. Gone are the days of waiting weeks for orders to arrive. Often it only takes days. The instant gratification the Internet has rewarded us with has set the bar quite high for all services. We expect instantaneous results, no […]

What Is and Isn’t a Useful Metric for Improving Your Website

Everyone working in SEO knows that the golden rule for content is that it should be useful and relevant to searchers. Google has been saying this for years. And it’s a rule that we at LinkNow Media take advantage of. So it seems like a terrible irony that it’s so hard to find useful and relevant information about ranking metrics themselves. You’ll find one group of bloggers claiming that X metric is complete garbage. Then you’ll find another group who say it’s the most important. This is especially true when it comes metrics like bounce rate, pages per visit, and time-on-site. You have your for and against—and each side seems to suggest the other is behind the times. But maybe the problem isn’t so much that these are either good or bad. Maybe it’s that these metrics can be good in some contexts and not in others? Join us as […]

Trust Issues: What Was Behind the September 27th and October 2018 Algorithm Updates?

Whether you’re managing your own website or someone else’s, the last thing you want is to see your SERP ranking suddenly drop. As SEOs, we work hard for our Google rankings! We expect that with great content, great backlinks, and careful keyword research, we’ll get the rankings we deserve. And normally it’s true. But if one there’s one thing that every SEO knows, it’s that, aside from Google’s own engineers, no one knows how their search algorithm works. Which is why, every time Google updates their algorithm, the internet goes a bit nuts for a while. Some people’s rankings suddenly soar. Others plummet. And everyone’s asking themselves: what the heck happened?! The September 27th and October follow-up updates were no different. People panicked. Tweets were retweeted. Replies were written. Articles were posted. Comment threads exploded. Here at the LinkNow Media office though, everything was calm. Why you ask? We understand […]

Has Your Site Traffic Dropped? Check These 5 Issues First!

The fact is, SEO is all about trial and error. No matter how much time you put into optimizing your web design and content, there’s always a chance that suddenly, out of the blue, your traffic could drop. And it sucks. It really sucks. But it’s not the end of the world. Once you’ve gotten over the initial shock of it all, it’s time to get down to business and figure out what went wrong. The first thing you should do is check your Google Anaylitcs: do you notice any patterns in your web traffic that might explain it? For example, if it’s winter and you’re a landscaper, it could be that your content is optimized for lawn care at the expense of snow removal. Or maybe it’s a holiday and no one’s currently looking to have their well water tanks replaced? Second, double check that your code is updated […]

How to Take Advantage of User Intent for SEO

For a lot of small business owners, the world of SEO can seem overwhelming. If understanding the mysterious ranking systems that Google uses is hard enough, keeping up with the constant changes can feel downright impossible. Over the years, SEO experts have developed a few metrics that can help businesses to understand how searchable their pages are. These metrics give us hard facts about what works and what doesn’t. For SEO professionals like us, these numbers help explain to clients how well their pages are doing. The most important ones are: keyword and search engine rankings organic web traffic backlinks volume of searches conversion rates The problem is, Google often changes the things they prioritize. Which explains why user intent has become something of a game changer. User intent allows marketers and small business owners to determine a constant element in SEO. An element that Google puts before everything else. […]

You Can Now Add ‘Services’ to Your Google My Business Page

If you’re not a search engine optimization geek then you may not have noticed, but Google now allows businesses to add lists of services to their Google My Business (GMB) pages. The rollout appears to be happening quietly but also pretty quickly. We’ve tested a few GMB listings for our clients and it seems like about half of them have the option to add service menus. If this change sticks around, expect it to reach most of the North American GMB community in a few days. The change was reported on by various search engine marketing industry blogs over the last week. At LinkNow Media we’re always trying to find new ways to improve our clients’ local search rankings and we expect this will be a great tool moving into the future. What’s Changed? Have you ever performed a search for a laundromat near you? Go ahead and do it […]

White-Hat SEO: How Playing by the Rules Can Help You Win

If you want to make sure that your website ranks well on Google without facing any potential penalties that could end up hurting your brand, then you need to look take a close look at white-hat SEO. If you are unsure about what white-hat SEO really is and want more information about how this approach can help take your business to the next level, then don’t worry because we at LinkNow Media are here to help explain everything you need to know. The first thing that you need to understand about white-hat SEO techniques is that they are the most legitimate means of increasing your business’s visibility, and any dividend that you obtain from this endeavour will enhance your site’s online ranking capabilities without the risk of any penalties being incurred. One of the biggest concerns that many business owners have about adopting white-hat SEO techniques is that if they […]