List Of Important Factors That Affect The SEO Ranking

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Update 15th June 2020: Some changes are being made to the blog ready for a new publishing schedule. Stay tuned for details. Take care and stay safe folks during this difficult time! Want to guest post on the blog? Visit the "Write For Us" page above for more details. Serious enquiries only please.

A big "THANK YOU" goes out to all the amazing NHS staff and care workers, and to all those wonderful people who are keeping things running during this dreadful crisis. Thank you also to my valued readers, followers and others for your patience and understanding and for the continued support during my unscheduled absences due to ill health. If you have enquired about guest posting or advertising on the blog but have not received a response, please get back in touch.

Coming soon: With so many sellers shamefully profiteering (price gouging) from the current pandemic and providing inadequate customer support, I will be publishing a post entitled "eBay Sellers: The Name and Shame List" which will be based on my recent experiences on eBay. Share your experiences by sending me an email.

Amazon Customer Services: The Worst By Far - Thinking of purchasing an Amazon product such as the Echo Dot for example, then think again. It could take weeks to get your issue resolved. Read more about my experience here.

With more than 200 signals or components, Google algorithm is no joke! Yes, this list is no doubt impressive, but it can turn out to be rather daunting for a human to spend only 24 hours a day for this process. However, SEO can prove to be rather helpful in this regard. It is more like getting everything right and also to set forth your priorities accordingly. But, you need to be extra careful while working on the best ranking factors, which can affect SEO to a great extent. Once you get a glimpse of it, there is no chance of making a mistake.


1. Let's start with backlinks:

Even in this year 2018, backlink seems to hold a strong position in your SEO Ranking. It happens to be the strongest indication of Google's authority, even now! Before you head for the backlink, you are cordially invited to break things down a bit.

• You may be wondering how Google can turn the vague concept of backlink into promising ranking signal. In multiple patents, it has been addressed that calculation of link score takes place. This score is followed by quality score individually of the incoming links along with link numbers to the site.
  
  
• On the other hand, anchor text relevant is yet another part of the back linking source. Anchors are designed to inform Google about your page more and what rank it deserves. But before you head for this norm, you need to remember a bit about Penguin. That will help you to keep anchors diversified and even quite natural.

2. Quality of the content:

Google has done well in improving its algorithm lately, mostly after the Hummingbird update. It now clearly understands your content structure. There are some useful articles available to offer rewards value for better rankings. All the poorly made affiliated options might find it hard to get the right ranking. Robust websites are much more in vogue these days, known to publish detailed guides and tutorials. For higher ranking, your articles need to be worth reading by potential customers or online browsers.


3. Mobile-based first user experience:

It was in the year 2016, when Google turned its working notion towards mobile first indexing. It shows that Google's index is now crawling much more towards website's mobile versions.

• So, mobile optimization happens to be a promising ranking factor for sure. Most of the top 10- visible domains are known to be mobile friendly in nature, as per the statistics from SearchMetrics.
  
  
• Your content needs to be absolutely responsive on various mobile platforms. To top it all, it needs to be identical to desktop's content. You even need to bother a bit about URLs SEO friendly to hike up your present ranking to an all-new level.
  
  
• Recent studies clearly state that around 85% of the website are focusing towards mobile-friendly versions to make way for their presence in front of Google. So, the time has come to start improving your website now!

4. Make way for technical SEO:

The technical sector of your site is rather crucial to be honest. It comes with two major factors, which deal with the ranking source well.

• It all starts with the page speed. According to Google, your page should load within a speed of 2 seconds or even less. This speed leads to the best-ranking signal. Speed can also lead to huge impacts on UX with slower pages having more bounce with lower conversion rates.
  
  
• The next stop got to be mobile-friendliness. If you don't have mobile versions of your page, it will lead to no value from the mobile users at all. As half of the queries are generated from mobile users, therefore; you need to put up with this notion in years to come. So, without wasting time, it is time for mobile-first indexing, right away!

5. Content updates are there to help:

Google makes it a point to check on your updating frequency. If you have an old content for too long, then you are practically murdering your rank with your own hands.

• It uses metrics for determining if your website is still up and running.
  
  
• Your site will definitely deserve a lot of credit while publishing articles frequently.
  
  
• Google will start highlighting dates for the searches where dates play a pivotal role.

6. Check out the encryptions:

SearchMetrics recently confirmed that around 45% of leading websites are currently using HTTPs encryption, which has been up by 12% since 2015. Even Backlinks can find a positive connection between first ranking websites in Google and HTTPs websites. In the year 2014, Google clearly confirmed that websites with higher HTTPs will have a better ranking in the future.

So, if you really want your business to reach for the sky, you have to follow these points. Once you have settled for the best rankings in major search engines like Google, there is no looking back from there on!


About The Author: Brandon Graves is a WordPress developer at HireWPGeeks in the USA and manages the services for html to wordpress conversion. He also shares his articles with tech savvy peoples to help them in the form of tips and tutorials. Follow him on Facebook to get instant updates.

Did you find this article helpful? Please let Brandon and myself know by leaving us your valued comments in the comments section below.

Would you like to guest post on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing/Optimisation (SMO), Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Related articles:
How Facebook Can Help Your Website SEO
The Recent Google Update: What This Means For You
How Twitter Can Help Your SEO
Mobile-Friendly Site Designing: Things You Shouldn't Be Doing

For a full list of helpful articles on SEO, use the following links:
https://www.derekjones.co/search/label/SEO
https://www.derekjones.co/search/label/SEO%20Tips


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar on the left-side of the screen or by using the "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow on Facebook and Google+, via Email or by subscribing to our blog feed.

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
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https://www.google.com/+DerekJonesUK

Until my next post, best of luck with your SEO efforts!

© 2018. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.

Minerals-Water Limited: How NOT To Treat Your Customers

I've been blocked by a seller on eBay for simply enquiring as to why I had not received the replacement product they promised. Yes, you read that right - a seller trading as Minerals-Water Limited has blocked me on eBay for simply enquiring about a replacement product. What kind of seller treats its customers in this way!

Minerals-Water Limited (Update: Now trading as Clear Minerals Limited) is a UK company based in Purfleet, Essex who supply food additives, health and beauty, weight loss and detox products, sport supplements, water filtration systems, chemicals and packaging. As well as having a website (minerals-water,co.uk), they also have storefronts on eBay and Amazon where they sell their products.

It all started late last year when I ordered 500ml bottles of pharmaceutical grade Propylene Glycol (PG) and Vegetable Glycerine/Glycol (VG) from Minerals-Water for doing my own e-liquid mixes. As a smoker for more than 30 years, I now use vaping as a substitute for smoking which I've been doing for the past two years since giving up the cigarettes.

When I received the two items a few days later, I noticed that the VG had a very short shelf-life of just 6 months compared to the PG which had a normal 12 months shelf-life. Having a 6-month shelf-life is very unusual as these products from other sellers usually have a shelf-life of 12-18 months. Having a long shelf-life on these products is very important as anyone who mixes their own e-liquids will tell you.

When I contacted Minerals-Water on eBay to ask why the VG had a short shelf-life, they blamed it on the supplier. I asked if the VG stock was old stock given the difference between the shelf-life of both products, but they assured me that it wasn't. It was agreed that before I do another purchase, I would send them a message to find out the shelf-life of their current stock. In their response, they offered me a replacement which I thought was very decent of them considering I never asked for one. Fast forward to 2018 and no replacement has been received.

With it being a low-cost item and with being unwell recently, I actually forgot about the replacement. It was only when I was going through some of my old emails at the beginning of the year that I remembered. Although it was a low-cost item, I decided to contact Minerals-Water on eBay anyway to enquire as to why no replacement had been received as they did promise one. You can guess their response! Apparently, they checked their archives and said a replacement was posted. When I pointed out to them that all items that I order online (and I do order a lot) are delivered successfully and could they possibly send another replacement as the first one had not been received, no response (or replacement) was received.

I actually discovered the blocking last month on eBay when I decided to do another purchase because my current stock of VG is running very low due to the previous supplied bottle now being out of date. When I tried to add an item from the Minerals-Water store to my basket, the following error message appeared: "This seller won't sell to buyers that do not meet their requirements". Given my suspicions that I may be blocked, I decided to contact eBay.

After being passed to a customer support manager, my suspicions were confirmed; I had indeed been blocked by Minerals-Water. This is where it gets really interesting from a buyers point of view. When speaking with the manager, my messages with the seller were viewed and it was agreed that I had done nothing wrong to warrant the blocking. However, eBay were limited on what they could do to resolve the issue. The only option open to them was to send Minerals-Water an email in the hope that they would remove the block. A few weeks later and the block has not been removed, hence the reason for this post.

During my conversation with the manager, it was discovered that eBay give full control to sellers on who they can block. While this may be fine when dealing with buyers who are abusive or frequently return items for no good reason, it doesn't protect the innocent buyer from being wrongfully blocked. Given that sellers are using the eBay system to sell their products, why would eBay have no control over the blocking system? This seems rather odd and quite frankly unacceptable from a buyer's point of view. What's stopping a seller from blocking you simply because you enquired about a replacement or refund? It happened to me! I did suggest to eBay that they should include information in the Terms and Conditions to protect the buyer from such actions. They said that they would but I'm not convinced that these changes will be made.

Given my experiences with this seller, my advice is simple: Be careful if you decide to do business with Minerals-Water on eBay (and Amazon), more so via their website where you will have less protection. Remember, if you're wrongfully blocked by this (or any other) seller, eBay are powerless in what they can do in removing the block. The same could also be true with Amazon. Whether you're a vaper or not, be warned if you're thinking of buying your VG, PG or any other time-sensitive products from this seller as the items you receive may have a short shelf-life. You may also not receive a replacement even though they may have promise you one. Given the way this seller treats its customers, I would recommend shopping elsewhere!

As some of you will know, it's very rare that I do a negative post on a business, but I feel it's justified given the unwarranted actions of this company. Although they're a top-rated seller and have an impressive positive feedback percentage on eBay, this means nothing if they're treating customers unfairly when it comes to product replacements. Making sales is one thing, but you must also provide good customer service; anything less is just not acceptable. I did send them an email prior to this post being published, but again they failed to respond. Maybe this post will grab their attention and force them to act - we can only hope! :)


Did you find this article helpful? Have you had any problems with this seller? Please let me know by leaving me your valued comments in the comments section below.

Related reviews:
Amazon Customer Services: The Worst By Far - Thinking of purchasing an Amazon product such as the Echo Dot for example, then think again. It could take weeks to get your issue resolved. Read more about my experience here.


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar on the left-side of the screen or by using the "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow on Facebook and Google+, via Email or by subscribing to our blog feed.

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://www.google.com/+DerekJonesUK

Until my next post in a week's time on important factors that affect the SEO ranking, have a wonderful week ahead. Be vigilant when shopping on eBay!

© 2018. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.

Top 5 Must-Have Skills For Project Managers

For every $1 billion invested, companies in the US lose $122 million due to bad management. Here's the thing: building a plan from scratch and taking it to an end, while respecting both the deadlines and the original budget, isn't for everybody.

Thanks to the new technologies, projects have more chances to a happy end. But, software alone isn't enough to put things on the right track. You need to be a killer project manager to keep up with challenges -- to deliver high-quality results, fast, and without spending more than your clients or your company can afford.

Whether you get your PMP certification in San Diego or any other part of the country, you need more than passing the exam to become a great project manager. Here are five skills you must develop as a PM to turn every new project into a success.


Effective Communication

Communication is vital for a successful project. That's why, as a project manager, you should know how to talk to your colleagues, clients, and superiors. Better yet, when your team communicates efficiently, it's easier for everybody to finish their tasks in time and to make the right decisions inside the group.

However, effective communication goes beyond sending explicit emails and organizing efficient reunions. You need to master a wide range of abilities in this field:

• Learn to listen. A good project manager asks for feedback and looks to all team members.
  
  
• Ask the right questions. You can avoid a lot of delays and communication errors when you take the time to understand what's happening inside the team.
  
  
• Update the team on a regular basis. As a project manager, you must know everything about progress and new milestones. By informing all the team, you get to gain more trust, motivate your staff, and increase productivity.
  
  
• Encourage efficiency. When you communicate with your team, you should always stress the importance of doing things the right way -- instead of rushing them to finish faster.

Time Management

Time management is the key to increased productivity and efficiency. That's why your job as a project manager is to organize and plan all the activities to make sure that your team delivers on time.

To develop killer time management skills, you need to focus on these three elements:

• Planning. For every project large or small, preparation is everything. Project managers who take the time to define all activities and to estimate durations are more likely to respect deadlines and bring the project to an end.
  
  
• Setting reasonable, clear goals. 37 percent of projects fail because they lack clear objectives. You need more than a guideline to make things right. Set measurable goals, with realistic deadlines. Getting ISO certified, for example, can take months. If you're hurrying your staff, you risk losing more time fixing errors in the long run.
  
  
• Prioritizing. It's fundamental when you need to avoid distractions and focus on the critical things. Not all tasks are equally necessary to the success of the project. Make sure you don't keep all the team blocked just because one member is behind schedule.

Problem Solving

The most important skill of a PM is the ability to come up with solutions to a crisis. Machines and complex AI software can improve workflows and increase productivity, but they can't make decisions for unpredicted problems -- and as long as you work in this business, there's always going to be something to solve.

You must learn to get to the bottom of any problem, identify the causes and come up with innovative solutions. The faster, the better.

Your problem-solving skills can keep a project going even in the hardest times. Plus, your ability to analyze and evaluate the situation (and to take action) can save your client significant resources.


Risk Management

In 2017, the US government lost $32 billion due to failed IT projects. Whether you're working with small or large companies, there's always a risk for things to go wrong.

That's why your risk management skills are essential for any project. You must learn how to identify opportunities and how to make the most of every challenge during the project.

In many situations, you can identify risks early in the project. Discuss scenarios with your team members and learn to read between the lines, when watching numbers. This way, you can see possible risks right from the beginning and counter them effectively.

Opportunities always come with risks. It's your job as a project manager to evaluate and decide if the reward is worth the risk. And, what measures can help you reduce it to minimize the damage.


Leadership

As a PM, you must inspire, motivate and communicate on a permanent basis. All eyes are on you, expecting guidelines and solutions.

Besides self-confidence and self-esteem, you need solid knowledge and experience to be a good leader. From stakeholders to clients and team members, everybody expects you to make decisions and implement them.

You must be the person who works hard, listens to everyone, and has an accurate answer to any question. Everything less than that and your peers will stop following you. The success of any project depends on how you use your leadership skills for the best.

Being a good leader means having all other skills -- competent, excellent communicator, empathy, problem-solving, team builder, to mention some. Plus, you must know how to use these skills to improve your team's results. Because a good leader always works with an efficient team!


Did you find this article helpful? Are you a project manager? Please let me know by leaving me your valued comments in the comments section below.

Related articles:
Top Personal Skills That Will Stand You In Good Stead In Business
5 Ways To Make Your Small Business More Efficient
How To Best Increase Efficiency And Profitability In Your Business

For more business tips, use this link:
https://www.derekjones.co/search/label/Business%20Tips


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar on the left-side of the screen or by using the "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow on Facebook and Google+, via Email or by subscribing to our blog feed.

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://www.google.com/+DerekJonesUK

Until my next post in 7 days on why you should be careful when doing business with Minerals-Water Limited on eBay, have a great and productive week ahead. See you back here on Monday 21st May!

© 2018. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.

STUDY: Will The New Twitter Character-Limit Affect Your Digital Marketing Efforts?

When it comes to marketing your products online, social media is a key player in generating awareness of your brand and connecting you with your target audience. Different social channels are geared towards different demographics, which allows you to focus in on your target audience. Social platforms work in various ways, and their different functions allow you to express your brand's message in different ways.

Facebook has always been the place for long, compelling posts about what your business does and how you do it. LinkedIn is where professionals can network in a more formal online setting. Instagram is the visual channel, where you sell your products through engaging images. Twitter is the platform where busy users scan concise posts for important information.

Over the years, marketers have grown accustomed to the way that each of these social channels works, creating strategic posts that get the most out of the network in question. That was until Twitter decided to change its character-limit from 140 to 280.

This got us thinking whether we should be doing things differently for our clients as a result of this, and whether businesses should change the way that they communicate with their audiences on this platform. So, we got in touch with our friends at Manchester Metropolitan University and arranged to carry out a study about how users engage with different tweet-lengths.


Our hypothesis

Our initial thoughts were that having the ability to write twice as much in a Twitter post would be valuable to us marketers, because this gives us the opportunity to cram in plenty of information about our brands and what we do. But, Twitter users are used to the short and snappy bursts of information.

There are two elements to our hypothesis that we had to prove:

• Twitter users don't consume 280-character tweets in equal measure to 140-character tweets.
  
  
• Tweets with media will receive greater attention, regardless of character-length.

The experiment

We headed down to the MMU usability lab and used its eye-tracking software to monitor how a group of Twitter users reacted to tweets of different lengths.


Methodology

We decided to make this research qualitative, and asked our 10 volunteers for their Twitter handles. This allowed us to create test accounts that would feature accounts that were similar to the ones they followed on their own personal accounts. We then hooked the volunteers up to eye-tracking software and instructed them to browse their Twitter feeds as they normally would. We split users into mobile and desktop in order to establish any differences that may occur between devices.


Our findings

On average, users engaged more with tweets that were longer than 140 characters across mobile and desktop.

• Users who read less than 140 characters focused on each tweet for an average of 1.7 seconds.
  
  
• Users who read more than 140 characters focused on each tweet for an average of 2.2 seconds.

These findings prove that users don't skim over longer tweets; in fact, they take the time to read them. Although half a second doesn't seem like a big difference, it is in terms of social media engagement.


What does this mean for you?

Our findings demonstrate that marketers should take advantage of the longer character-count on Twitter, because users take the time to read longer tweets whether they contain images or not. If you feel that you need to utilise the full 280 characters to express your brand's message, then by all means do.


About The Author: Danny Sefton is a Content Marketing Executive at theEword, a digital marketing agency based in the heart of Manchester.

Did you find this study helpful? What do you think of the increase in character-limit on Twitter? Please let Danny and myself know by leaving us your valued comments below.

Would you like to guest post on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing/Optimisation (SMO), Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Related resources:
Twitter Study Infographic

For helpful articles on marketing your business on social media, use this link:
https://www.derekjones.co/search/label/Social%20Media%20Marketing


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar on the left-side of the screen or by using the "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow on Facebook and Google+, via Email or by subscribing to our blog feed.

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://www.google.com/+DerekJonesUK

Until my next post in a week's time on top 5 must-have skills for project managers, have a great week ahead and thank you for all the support during my absence. See you back here next Monday!

© 2018. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.