Search engine optimization (SEO) makes it easier for customers to find your business by understanding and improving your website which is why SEO audits are indispensable for digital marketing. Without them, it’s harder to find out if you’re using tactics that no longer work or discover opportunities that will help your business grow. Learn more about SEO audits to see how they can improve your SEO strategy and benefit your overall digital marketing.
Why is an SEO Audit Important?
Performing an SEO audit is crucial for an effective strategy because it allows you to discover its strengths and weaknesses. You’ll be able to identify and overcome a variety of issues such as:
Algorithm updates
Webmaster guideline changes
Outdated content
Website errors
Low-quality links
Poor user experience
An SEO audit not only helps you find anything that’s negatively affecting your website’s optimization, but also other digital marketing strategies like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, content marketing, and email marketing.
Your website is critical to the success of your digital marketing because if the pages are ineffective with other types of traffic (e.g. paid, direct, referral), then you’re missing out on gaining and retaining more customers.
When Should You Do an SEO Audit?
A general rule of thumb is to do an SEO audit once a year, but some brands do it more often like twice a year or every quarter. A yearly SEO audit is typically enough for most businesses though. Make sure to keep records of everything you do so you can monitor progress year over year and streamline the process. Additionally, having documentation can help you make a stronger case for your company’s leaders to continue or increase investment in SEO.
How Long Do SEO Audits Take?
Depending on the size and number of your web properties, an SEO audit can take a couple of hours or several months. For example, an SEO audit for a small business that has a 10-page website will be a lot quicker than an SEO audit for a corporation that has multiple websites with hundreds of pages. Regardless of how long the audit takes, it should always include a thorough review, analysis, reporting, and strategic recommendations.
What’s in an SEO Audit?
In essence, an SEO audit reveals the website’s strengths and weaknesses and provides actionable recommendations based on real data. The audit begins by defining your strategic objectives, then conducting multiple analyses to get a holistic view of your SEO and create recommendations.
An SEO audit typically includes:
Keyword analysis
Competitor analysis
Technical analysis
Page-level analysis
Content analysis
User experience analysis
Link analysis
Citation analysis
Google Analytics and Search Console are invaluable services that can you perform these analyses, however, you may need to invest in paid tools to get deeper insights and save time.
Use SEO Audits to Enhance Digital Marketing
While SEO audits are crucial for improving your website’s rankings in search results, they also can be used to enhance your overall digital marketing. Improving your pages will both boost your rankings and conversions from PPC, email, and content marketing campaigns. In addition to doing regular SEO audits, you should also implement cutting-edge solutions that will make your web ad placements more accurate and protect copyrighted content to increase its ROI.
Check out SEO Ranker to see why brands are using our innovative, responsive products to get more out of their digital marketing.
While it is that having a business website improves or to business credibility, in 2020 over forty percent (40%) of small businesses were without an online face, then, the pandemic hits.
2020 and onward determines the new way of representing business is online be it e-commerce or otherwise. Having an online presence gives a way for your potential customers to find you and also a way to give information about what you do and who you are.
Let’s Talk Needs
There are multiple features to consider when building a website as you want to ensure that your online market is getting the best. This includes but is not limited to the design, development, and maintenance of your website. Here goes some information on the must-haves for your websites.
Domain
First, your domain is your name or website address, it is also the URL that will appear once a visitor is on your website, simply put this is what your customers will know you by. It is advised that once available use a domain with your company’s or brand’s name. For example, searching for Adretreaver will be adretreaver.com, Google will be google.com, Yahoo as yahoo.com and the list goes on. The extension (this will be .com or .org to the end of your domain) is dependent on the reason for your business, for example, organizations usually have .org, the educational institution uses .edu and the list goes on.
Once you have confirmed this you need to get your domain name registered, in getting a registered domain name last for a year, and then you will need to renew the registration, yes, this is done annually.
Where Can You Get Domain:
Here is a list of places or websites you can visit to get your domain set up kick start and they will take you through to the end. Note this is done in no specific order:
This can be easily considered the home of your website content. A web hosting service is that which provides a space on a server for website files on the internet clients. This is the space that allows the maintenance and visibility of your content on the world wide web.
It is indeed a fact that the company your domain is registered with does not have to be your hosting company. One should also take the time out to research the domain or hosting company to ensure it is cost-effective and has all that you need for them to cover. Here goes a listing of a few of your hosting choice again in no specific order of rating:
Your hosting selection can also be dependent on your business size. If small, medium, or large and low risk there are inexpensive ways to host and still have the perk/features of your own server space. Here is a list of ideas that you may want to consider:
Email Hosting:
The email web hosting service allows you to create email addresses using your domain name (eg., support@adretreaver.com or info@adretreaver.com ) the amount you create is dependent on your account type and size.
Cloud Hosting:
This is unlike your usual server hosting as it affords greater flexibility through cloud resources, using a cluster of different serves to host a website or application. What this means is that once your initial server is experiencing downtime another from the cluster steps in and continue.
VPS Hosting:
Virtual Private Server (VPS), is awesome for websites with mid to high traffic levels. This gives high performance in that it isolates a portion of your server giving a private environment along with the dedicated environs.
Shared Hosting:
For this hosting type, multiple websites can be hosted on the same server. It is low in cost since many users shared resources hence, the cost is dived among users. This is usually recommended to users who a looking to establish an online presence and is easy to upgrade.
WordPress Hosting:
This is particularly geared towards optimizing WordPress websites in that it facilitates bringing the best forward from optimizing the environment, website speed, and security in hosting.
SSL Certificate
A Secure Socket Layer usually just SSL for short is designed to provide security over a computer network, it is a cryptographic protocol. This certificate authenticates your websites and enables connection by allowing the switch from HTTP to HTTPS to protect you from the exchange of valuable data.
How does it work?
Your SSL certificate works by using its algorithms to scramble data such as personal and sensitive data, preventing the easy to read or fetch by hackers. It ensures the data passing from user to websites or systems to systems remain unreadable to the eyes they don’t belong.
Process includes:
Request connection is sent to browser or system
Browser or system identity is requested
The hosting server sends a reply by sending a copy of the certificate
Checks are done to see if this is a trusted signal is then sent to the webserver
If trusted a digital signature is sent to an encrypted session can begin
Template/Theme
Feature and functionality are two (2) of the main highlights that should fuel your newly built website and this is whether you are using a template or a theme. Though clean and simple should be the order of the day one should ensure to select a solid theme that displays all the best parts of their business or a template that affords all the best parts too.
These two terms I have seen confuse newbie website creators of owners so let us tell the difference and additional information. A theme gives the pre-created canvas to work with (theme gives color, space, layout, and the feel) of what you want to build. Templates can be classified as the child of the theme as the changes in your template are done through editing the CSS and HTML codes in your theme.
Content
Your content includes videos, text, or pictures that are shared on your page for the user to interact with. It is advised that you have all content together before starting the process of build or before contacting the developer.
This is advised as developers and designers usually charge for their time (the longer the time frame the more it cost), and for a new company with what to use all penny wisely.
Do not do an overload or try to get everything in for the first launch you will always have time to add more content. For the initial launch aim to get all that is the must know to your prospective customers.
Motivate your visitors by ensuring your content is consistent with your business and your social media pages if there are any. Your web page also should aid in the decision your visitor takes to ensure your call to action and the most vital information is strategically placed on the website.
Marketing
Now you are satisfied with the finished product and you have launched your website, the real work begins and this is to get as many eyes as possible to your website and also that they are organic and using.
There are many avenues to have your marketing done from social media ranking and marketing to search engine optimization (SEO). Another route is once you are knowledgeable of the field you are in and what people are looking for you can go with incorporating the correct keywords and this will drive more organic visitors to your site.
We do know as new website owners you are looking to have your website on the top pages of your favorite search engine or the most popular search engine but remember that takes time. There is, however, an easier way than perfect keywords and it is called pay-per-click. While it is that this may be adding cost to one’s budget pay-per-click advertisement guarantees your website begin in the competition for the keywords you want to use.
Conclusion
Now you have all the tools and information needed to make a professional website always remember it takes time to build your marketing audience so be patient.
Things To Have Before Approaching Your Web Design Team
This article will cover a few areas for our readers who are not interested in a do-it-yourself (DIY) project.
For our article titled Building a Website on a Budget, we covered the areas in building an easy simple website that will cover all the areas of your digital needs. In that, some vital areas may be missed and were not covered as you were focusing on too much as the architect.
While you are trying to hire a web designing team it can be a bit tricky as you may need to check on some specific areas to ensure they fit your niche.
In this we will be covering:
Budget
Template
Custom
Plan
Goals
Purpose
History of Designer Team
Visuals
Revision Process
Involvement Need
Budget
In all planning, we always make a financial mapping of where we want to be. With this, you know where you are going and the cost to get there.
We prepare for it all, in sorting or budget planning you need to research on “rate for web designer”, this gives the added confidence needed to approach your prospect.
In some cases, you are head set on the individual or company you want to do business with, in that case, contact them directly or via the website to get a possible number.
It is always best to design on your spending size before approaching your designer.
Some companies or individuals will post their pricing categories on websites or varied digital marketing mediums. These may also be categorized by tools used or be it a template or custom website.
Template
In your daily browsing, you may come across quite a few templates like websites some recognizable others may not be so easy.
The modern website usually chooses this as it is an easier do-it-yourself (DIY) which result in an automatic lower cost.
With being templated you may not have much to offer a visitor that another website gives in visiting, this is so there is not much to change with a templated site so your first-time visitor may get the feeling as though I have seen or visited this space before,
Custom
Selecting your custom route may mean that your project will take a bit longer this is so as your website will be building from the ground to get to the awesome finished product.
This will also be a bit more on the costly side and as you were able with the templated version to have a DIY project, without a solid experience in the web designing field you may not be able to take this project on yourself.
While the look and feel can and may be the same as the template your designer will have much freedom to manipulate the design as seen fit and hence may give your audience a fresh taste when visiting.
Plan
Your plan includes it all, from the beginning which includes the budget to the color scheme, number of pages, the audience you will be targeting, and the platform to build on and launch.
This is the area where you decide based on the service you are providing you ask some of the most important questions.
How interactive my site should be?
What are some of the features my visitors will need? In this, you can think it up based on what you will need, and feel free to ask a friend or colleague’s opinion.
To ensure you have covered the above questions and you are on top of your planning (crossing all t’s and dotting the I’s), you can make a planning wish list or vision board.
Play blocks – WISH LIST – on a rough old blue background. Quite even focus.
In planning your marketing, you ask yourself, what are some of the more economical ways to market your website in its space? Some of those are:
Blogs
Emails
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Social media
The route that is a bit less economical is by contacting a company that uses click-through rate tools (CTR). In this, they simply handle the SEO parts for you.
Goals
Remember the wish list and vision board mentioned above? That will for sure have all the goals for your website on there if you are precise in all areas.
Your goal should be all you know your company or brand needs and with that know how to get there. Before approaching any designer, you need to know exactly what that is.
Most individuals, are designing a website to boast sales and improve brand awareness and in getting there they will need to generate leads, improve CTR (for existing site owners), and adequate to high CTR for new site owners.
While it is that a web designer can help you get there we advise you to do your research and while you may not have all questions answered you will have most. Having done your research helps as some designers or designing companies do charge for consultation and brainstorming your ideas.
Purpose
The purpose of your site drives the goal and this drive the design which affects areas such as the number of pages, the title of pages, and the content on such page. In the event you are uncertain about the pages or number of pages you want to have, start with the general expectation and then go from there:
Home
About Us
Services
Contact
In recent times a creator would have created a webpage for you and that is that but now, creators are conscious of the fact of ranker on the varied search engines and in this want to get the best of it over some time.
It also helps if you go ahead and research others’ work in the niche that you are creating the site for those pages will give you great ideas.
Your site will best serve its purpose if constantly updated and trending, so be sure to post fresh content as often as possible. This content should never be random but must be associated with what your site and product are about.
History of The Designer
There are a few questions that you need to answer before signing off on a designer. Note not all answers may be the ones you want but the designer should check the majority of the boxes. Here are three you can start with:
May I see the work you have done before?
Have you worked on projects similar to what I am requesting?
What is the possible timeline for delivery?
These questions are usually selected as a starter, if your designer cannot see your end goal and guide you along the correct path in the event you are a bit off, it would not be the correct one. The project would take twice as long if you and your selected design do not see the same finishing line.
Visuals
Visuals or images you will need to gather before closing in on your designer, these include, photographs, videos, logos, and animations. Some designers will indeed assist in the event you are using stock images. Stock photo is not the way to go for all as some website needs personal touch dependent on your products and the service you will be offering.
In obtaining all images for your website always remember the copyright and infringement act. What does this mean? This means your images need to be:
Photograph by you (or you being the owner of)
Created by you
Purchased from a professional site that has the authority to sell images
What level of involvement do you think you want to have in the design process of your project (website)?
You have done your vision board and all plans are clear after meeting with your designer but, you need to make clear what level of involvement you will have. This will also gauge the number of meetings and how often.
What if there are additional decisions that are to be made? Do you trust your designer enough to level it all up to them?
We always advise all clients and prospects that when we leave that meeting understanding your goal a mutually beneficial contract is drafted which set the base of our relationship going forward.
Your budgeted your finance for the project also budgets your time and ensures you invest in a design that respects that.
Revision
Ensure you review all that is needed for this project before approaching the designer, this gives the assurance that all that is needed for this meeting is there. Do not pressure it, it is just as simple as going to another meeting and you want to ensure all files are there when you are called on (only that you will be doing the calling).
Revision is also a must as, you and your designer of choice should also have an agreement on what this process will be (weekly, biweekly, …).
A full walk-thru of the project must be done prelaunch.
Now that you have all the vital parts all the best on your new creation or plan. I hope these pointers give you all you need for the new step.
Modern-day “scamming” as we so casually call it has been plaguing us for some time and have peaked in 2020 since the onset of Covid-19.
Have you ever wondered why or how your email, banking, or other private account gets tampered with? This article seeks to explain what it is, the possibility of how it is done, and how to avoid such in the future.
Definition
According to Webster’s dictionary, phishing is the practice of tricking internet users (as through the use of deceptive email, text messages, or websites) into revealing personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly.
How Do You Recognize Phishing?
It is usual for phishers (scammers) to contact and use trickery and in this, you will be tempted to hand over personal sensitive information (this includes but, is not limited to banking credentials, emails, and even social security numbers). These attacks are launched multiple times daily and in this, the success percentile is usually high.
Examples of messages:
In this listing, you will see a number of errors or simple messages that may be used in phishing. Some you may have seen multiple times others are not so commonly used.
This may take place in login into a bank account, email, or otherwise. The error message may be, “We’ve seen some suspicious activity and ask that you change your account password/login credentials.” never attempt if you believe otherwise.
Getting a coupon for something you’ve never entered (this in most cases may be prompted based on your browsing and sometimes gives you a notification with a link to click), became more popular during Covid-19.
How many times have you gotten an email or text message that said you are eligible for government funding or gifts?
For a claim, you need to confirm payment by entering your credit card information.
These are only a limited amount of messages you may see.
Types of Phishing:
There are varied types of phishing, however, we are going to make mention only four (4):
Spear Phishing: done through sent emails
Whaling: this type of attack is aimed at higher profile targets
Smishing: this usually gets done through SMS or text messages
Vishing: attack via voice calls better known as scamming via calls
Ways To Avoid Phishing:
1. Get antiviral software:
Why get this you may ask? In getting such software it aids in protecting you from possible viruses or spyware that can be downloaded from any virus that may be planted. Antivirus may be defined as application software that protects your devices from any possible viral attacks.
The antiviral software when installed can start the scan and rid your PC of the possible virus at the point of installation. There are other benefits to installing hence the reason most retailers sell computers with a trial period of the software.
Use of antivirus software
Some use of antiviral software are:
Identifying spyware
Find and delete viruses
Viral prevention
Scan for viruses and malware
2. Website Security Verification:
It is almost impossible to not share personal sensitive information online currently, this is so as most business places go e-commerce on their businesses. It is also natural if you must say that one can be a bit taken back from providing such sensitive information on any website as your information can be captured.
Being skeptical to submit your information online is quite understandable but, there are things that you can look out for to be on the safe side. Some of the items to look out for are:
Ensure “HTTPS” begins your URL
Look out for the closed lock icon near the address bar
Check site security certificate also known as secure socket layer (SSL)
Never open files/ download files from emails that you are not aware of or have done business with.
3. Use Firewalls:
Why use a firewall? Using a firewall serves the ultimate purpose of shield for you and your computer from malicious attacks and even unwanted visits from the outside world.
Types of firewalls:
Desktop firewall: these are usually software types firewall
Network firewall: this is a hardware-type firewall
Cloud or hosted firewalls
If these firewall types are used together, they then of malicious attacks on your systems.
4. Avoid Handing Out Personal Information:
This is to be the first rule in the book. Sharing personal sensitive information (PSI) in modern times is somewhat unavoidable, however, this should be closely monitored, if you have never done business with the company or website avoid sharing. As was stated earlier PSI includes but, is not limited to social security number (SSN), full name and identification (ID) number, debit or credit card information, and the list goes on.
In the event you are doubtful of the website that asks for this personal information, one of the best thing to do if the checks recommended in pointer two (2) fails, do adequate research on the company in general. In some cases, you will need to go through their social media pages and even contact information (leave no stone unturned).
As for phishing via email for PSI, selecting a link from the email or file download aims to capture. Links will take you to a page to enter this information and the files usually attach malicious ware to your PC or device.
5. Online Accounts Check:
It is recommended to check online accounts on a regular basis, in avoid visits to online accounts which could hack and taken over by other users. The use of your account is then at the liberty of such users and malicious users’ acts are limitless.
For financial institutions, you will find them getting into the habit of prompting you to change passwords ever so often and if the user name is used rather than generated there will also be a prompt to update that as well. These are great practices to adopt for other online accounts that need to be protected based on the content that it holds or the purpose of the account.
Conclusion
Always remember to practice proper security to your online presence in doing so you will in turn naturally protect your sensitive information while being online. Also, a lack of protection can lead to full-on identity theft.
Have you ever wondered if the ads you see online are legitimate or if they’re just another scam? With the rise of digital advertising, it’s becoming increasingly important to ensure that the ads we see are authentic and trustworthy.
Digital advertising has revolutionized the way businesses reach their target audience, however, it comes with challenges and risks, such as ad fraud, that costs companies billions of dollars every year. This is where ad verification comes in.
Ad verification in digital advertising has become vital for preventing fraud and confirming that ads are displayed in brand-safe environments. Discover the advantages of ad verification and how using an advanced verification solution can improve ROI while safeguarding your business.
What is Ad Verification?
Ad verification is the process of ensuring that a digital ad has been served in an accurate, secure, and cost-efficient manner. It’s used to shield advertisers from fraud, false reporting, account hijacking, low-quality sites, bots (programs designed to replicate user behavior), as well as inappropriate content and location targeting.
Advanced ad verification solutions help assess whether ads have been correctly placed on high-quality sites as per a brand’s preferences. They also can give insight into the performance of campaigns in terms of frequency capping and TTL (time to live) to help control costs.
By verifying ad placements, brands can confidently run digital advertising campaigns and protect copyrighted content without worrying about wasted budgets or placement errors.
How Ad Verification Works
Ad verification works by deploying tags, or beacons, alongside ads to analyze the publisher’s page to make sure that all of the designated attributes for a served ad match the campaign criteria specified.
For example, Adretreaver’s auditing tool automatically reports back information like screen captures and placement performance data to the advertiser. From there, the advertiser validates whether or not their campaigns have been properly deployed.
Having a third-party ad verification helps create security and trust for both advertisers and publishers. It verifies placed ads are accurately matched to the advertiser’s campaigns and prevents suspicious ads from appearing on the publisher’s website.
Why Ad Verification in Digital Advertising is Important
Delivering the right ads to the right people, in the right places, at the right times is key for successful digital advertising. Without ad verification, however, it’s impossible to know for sure if that’s really happening. Here are the top reasons why you should verify ad placements:
Ad Fraud Prevention
Ad fraud occurs when fraudulent activities are carried out to manipulate ad metrics or generate fake clicks or impressions. Ad verification tools help identify and prevent fraud by detecting invalid traffic, bots, and other fraudulent activities.
Ad verification tools can also monitor ad placement to ensure that ads are displayed on legitimate websites and prevent ads from being shown on fake or malicious sites. Plus, they can confirm whether an ad was successfully shown to the desired audience.
Brand Safety
Another crucial aspect of digital advertising is brand safety. Ad verification tools can help guarantee that ads are displayed in a brand-safe environment. They can monitor ad placement and identify websites with inappropriate or harmful content. This helps prevent ads from being displayed on websites that could harm the brand’s reputation.
Campaign Optimization
Ad verification can help optimize campaigns by providing real-time feedback on ad performance. Seamlessly track metrics, such as viewability, engagement, and conversion rates, and gain valuable insights that can be used to optimize campaigns. Rather than flying blind, you can ensure campaigns are performing at their best and generating maximum ROI.
Compliance Management
Bolster your compliance strategy with ad verification technology. Audit tools can monitor ad placement and confirm that ads are displayed in compliance with industry standards and regulations, which helps protect your brand from legal or regulatory issues.
Ensure Accuracy and Authenticity in Your Digital Advertising
Ad verification in digital advertising offers a wide range of benefits, from advertisers and publishers to consumers. It helps prevent ad fraud, strengthen brand safety, and improve compliance with industry standards and regulations.
Furthermore, ad verification tools can provide valuable insights that can be used to optimize campaigns and generate maximum ROI. As digital advertising continues to grow, verifying ad placements is critical for ensuring that brands get the most out of their advertising efforts.
