seo enhancements
Oct 22 2024
How to write conversational content

People nowadays are uninterested in cold and business-like pieces of content. They want something authentic. They want conversations with people. That’s partly why Reddit is grabbing top spots in the search results because people know they’ll be reading something authentic. Hence why it’s smart to create more conversational content. But how do you do that? Read this blog to find out!

What is conversational content?

Plain and simple, it’s writing like you’re talking with someone. Not to someone. You’re not lecturing. You’re having a conversation with your audience. Though I’d suggest that you leave out the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ and multiple uses of ‘like’ or other filler words, because those can be a bit, uh, distracting or annoying in a text.

For language purists: That also means letting go of some of the more formal writing conventions, like never starting sentences with ‘and’ or ‘but’.

Why conversational content?

As mentioned in the intro, people don’t want to read cold and dry texts. You probably don’t want to read some textbook answer that goes: ‘Conversational content is the art of writing in the way one might talk to other humans’. You, and many others, want to feel like you’re reading something written by another person. And one way to achieve this feeling is to create conversational content.

Because when you write like you’re holding a conversation, chances are that your audience will want to talk back. Or in beautiful marketing terms: engage with your content.

How to start?

You now know the what and the why. Let’s look at how to start writing conversational content. Easiest way? Write a new blog post. Pick a topic that you’re interested in and that fits with your company or content strategy, then write like you’re talking with your audience! I know, I know, it’s not as easy as that. So here are some tips.

I’m writing this post…

Let’s get a quick tip out of the way: write in the first person. So, use I-sentences, like I’ve been doing so far. 

Speaking generally might come across as more professional, sure, but that’s not what you want. If you want to sound authentic, like a human, then you should let go of the generalized statements. No more “Our Product is Great and A Life Saver”. Instead, you can write: “I’ve used Our Product for my own small business, and this is how it’s helped me”. 

… And you’re reading it

Don’t forget to address the other side of the conversation. You. The reader. Address them like you would if you were having a conversation with someone. Don’t say “people” as much. Try to use “you” instead. 

For example, instead of writing “People want more connection”, write “You probably want more connection”. See? Way more personal when you’re getting addressed.

Ask questions

Do you like it when people ask you questions? Probably, right? As with any good conversation, it’s nice to ask questions. They make the other person feel heard and addressed. So use that in your content writing. Ask people questions, and you’ll see that they’ll feel more engaged already.

Don’t use difficult words

Unless! Ha, there’s always an unless. If you know your audience really well, and you’re sure they’ll understand this or that difficult word, then go ahead. Generally speaking, however, even experts like content that’s easy to understand. 

So, no difficult words. You will only equivocate your readers! Worse, some might see it as a diatribe, and accuse you of being dilatory (see how annoying it is when you don’t know half the words? If you do know them, kudos to you!). The short of it: if people lose focus or interest in your content, or simply don’t understand, there’s no way they’re going to engage with it.

Keep it short, okay?

Think about it: if you talk with someone, are you using sentences that are three paragraphs long? Probably not. Which means that as you write, you should keep your sentences short too. Plus, this will make your content easier to read, which is great for readability!

Pssht, if you have the Yoast SEO plugin, it will check if your sentences are too long. If they are, the plugin highlights them for you. This makes it easier to rewrite them!

Emphasize your words

With italics! It sounds almost like a slogan. But yes, it can help with making your writing sound more natural. Why? Because you emphasize words when you speak too. Sometimes it can even change the meaning of your sentence. 

For example (a very Dutch example, because if you live in the Netherlands, your bike will get stolen one day. It’s the circle of life): “I didn’t say he had stolen my bike,” means you really didn’t say that. But if you say, “I didn’t say he had stolen my bike,” you want to emphasize that it wasn’t him, but someone else.

Do not write ‘do not’

I’m a big fan of contractions. Grammar contractions, that is. They make a text sound so much more natural. Because let’s be honest, do you say “I do not want another coffee” or do you say “I don’t want another coffee?” Probably the second one, right?

Using don’t and I’m and you’re etc. will sound so much more natural to readers. Which means your content will sound more like a conversation too.

You’re a person, so write like one

Does that sound threatening? I do mean this in the nicest way possible! In order to write good conversational content, you have to ‘let go’ a little. The professional in you needs to take a step back and make space for your personality to shine through. Because if you can make your writing sound like you, it’ll sound so much more natural.

It all comes back to the “people don’t want impersonal and business-like content anymore”. They want to read content made by people. So let your own personality shine through. Make a little joke. Heck, use silly words like ‘delulu’ instead of delusional every once in a while (just make sure your text is still readable to everyone). Just be you.

Add examples and anecdotes

Another great way that will help you write like a person is to add examples. Personal examples, to be exact. It doesn’t have to be long. You don’t have to let us know every detail about your life, but sharing about your personal experiences can help make a piece of writing feel more personal. 

Keep the conversation going

Okay, you’ve written a post or piece of conversational content. People are engaging, maybe even commenting! Don’t let the conversation end there. Reply to them. Use their point of view, their insights and questions, and perhaps create another piece of content. Build on the conversation. Keep it going!

What kind of content works for conversational content?

Finally, before you pour your heart and soul (and personality) into your content, let’s look at what kind of content works. 

An easy one is opinionated pieces. Has something interesting happened in your area of expertise? Write content about it, and give your opinion. Add to the conversation with your voice. 

But really, any piece of content can become conversational if you write it like that—if you use your own voice and personality, and make it yours. Look at this post! Technically, it’s a how-to. Those can be very dry. You’re just giving information, after all. But I’ve used the conversational content tips to make it, well, interesting. I hope I did a good job. 

Let me know if I did 🙂 And good luck with writing!



Cindy Paul

Cindy is a content manager at Yoast. She writes and optimizes blog posts, and enjoys writing content that will help people create better content for their site and users.

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seo enhancements
Jul 25 2024
Elevating author and publisher entities in SEO

The SEO community has been buzzing following the release of internal Google documents, revealing more details about how author and publisher entities influence search rankings. These insights help you strategically optimize your author and publisher profiles. This article will explore these entities and give you some actionable strategies to incorporate their optimization into your existing SEO practices.

Table of contents

Tracking author and publisher entities

The leaked documents confirm that Google tracks and retains content authorship and publisher credibility data. These elements help the ranking algorithms. The rationale behind this is straightforward: credible and authoritative content is more likely to be accurate, reliable, and useful to users. Therefore, content attributed to recognized authors and reputable publishers is favored in search results.

Optimizing author and publisher entities

As interpreted by various sources, the Google document leak indicates that author and publisher entities play significant roles in search rankings. However, it does not clearly show whether one is inherently more important than the other. Instead, it highlights the complementary nature of these entities in establishing content credibility and authority.

Recently, Google’s Gary Illyes shed light on specific signals that are not considered beneficial for SEO. This emphasizes the importance of genuine user engagement and content quality rather than relying on easily manipulated elements. The following are signals Google deems less effective in contributing to your site’s search performance.

  1. Authorship markup: Google’s Gary Illyes mentioned that authorship markup, which is controlled by SEOs and site owners, is generally not considered a good signal for ranking purposes.
  2. Controlled markup: Any markup that can be easily manipulated by site owners or SEOs is not typically viewed as a reliable signal by Google.
  3. Quality signals: Google prefers signals that are harder to manipulate and more reflective of genuine user engagement and content quality.

While Google may describe certain signals as “not good signals,” it’s important to note that they are still considered signals. This situation is reminiscent of the famous exchange in “Pirates of the Caribbean”:

  • “You’re the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of.”
  • “But you have heard of me.”

In other words, even if these signals aren’t the best, they still have some recognition in SEO.

Practical implications

Google’s comprehensive approach to assessing online content trustworthiness involves many signals and metrics. Publishers can enhance their trustworthiness by focusing on content freshness, originality, structured data, and robust anti-spam practices. Their history further aids in evaluating long-term credibility, encouraging them to maintain high-quality standards consistently.

The Google document leak highlights the importance of both author and publisher entities in SEO. A balanced approach that optimizes both can significantly enhance content credibility and authority. Focus on detailed and accurate author and publisher profiles, leverage structured data, and employ tools like Yoast SEO. SEOs can build a strong foundation for improving search engine rankings and driving organic traffic.

Establishing credible author profiles

Building up your author profile is essential today. But you shouldn’t just limit yourself to building your profile; you should also make sure to present it properly on your publisher’s website. That means you have to build great author pages as well.

But how do you create detailed bio pages? Authors should have a dedicated bio page with qualifications, expertise, and a professional headshot. This page should be linked to all articles written by the author. For example: If Jane Doe writes for your publication, create a page like yourwebsite.com/authors/jane-doe that includes her bio, credentials, and links to all her articles.

On that author page, you should also include social proof. Incorporate links to the author’s social media profiles, professional networks like LinkedIn, and any notable publications they have contributed to. For example, on Jane Doe’s bio page, link to her LinkedIn profile and any major publications where her work has appeared.

Your author pages should have a solid foundation built on structured data, so implement schema markup. Use structured data to tag author information on each article. This helps search engines recognize and index author details accurately.

For example, add JSON-LD markup to each article page, including the author’s name, bio, and profile URL.

Use the Yoast SEO plugin’s schema framework to add author markup seamlessly. Yoast’s adaptable schema structure ensures all necessary author and publisher information is included and properly formatted.

Enhancing publisher credibility

What works for authors also works for publishers — these things go together. Don’t focus on just your authors; make sure you also put your publication in the spotlight.

Start by making it easy to find information about your publisher. Like author bio pages, create a dedicated publisher page detailing the organization’s mission, history, and achievements. Include logos, awards, and other forms of social proof. For example, create a page like yourwebsite.com/about-us/ that includes your publication’s background, mission statement, and accolades.

It’s important to prove who you are and what you stand for. List editorial policies, team members, and contact information to ensure transparency. For example, on the “About Us” page, include a section detailing your editorial guidelines and a list of key editorial staff with their bios.

Then, like enhancing authors, roll out structured data for your publishing house. Use Organization markup as implement schema markup provides search engines with detailed information about you. This includes the name, logo, contact details, and social media profiles.

Here’s a very basic example: Add JSON-LD markup to your publisher page including your organization’s name, logo, and contact information.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Organization",
  "logo": "https://yourwebsite.com/logo.png",
  "url": "https://yourwebsite.com",
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "telephone": "+1-800-555-5555",
    "contactType": "Customer Service"
  }
}

Again, be sure to use Yoast SEO for your structured data needs. Its schema framework allows you to efficiently add and manage organization markup, ensuring consistency and accuracy.

Combining author and publisher strategies

As mentioned, it’s not one or the other strategy — combine your efforts to make the most of it. Only then can Google truly understand your authors and publications.

This means that you must unify your branding across all content. Ensure that all content consistently reflects the brand’s voice and values. This includes using uniform author bios and publisher information across different platforms. For example, ensure that every article Jane Doe writes includes a standardized author bio snippet linking to her full bio page.

In addition, you should always attribute content to verified authors and the publisher, reinforcing credibility. For example, at the end of each article, include a byline such as “Written by Jane Doe, Senior Editor at Your Organization.”

Focus on content quality, relevance, and topical expertise

You can highlight your publications and authors all you want, but you will never make it without your topical experts writing high-quality, relevant content. This should be at the top of everyone’s list.

Focus on producing high-quality, original content that adds value to readers. This enhances the reputation of both the author and the publisher. Conduct thorough research and provide in-depth analysis in your articles to establish expertise and authority.

Encourage authors to write within their areas of expertise to build authority in specific niches. For example, if Jane Doe specializes in SEO, make sure she writes predominantly on SEO-related topics.

Actionable SEO strategies

You can also use classic SEO tactics to build your authors and publishers’ reputations. For instance, you could encourage your authors to contribute to reputable external sites to get a link to their bio pages. This builds both author and publisher authority.

Also, try to build up your citations. Find ways and outlets to get your content cited or mentioned by authoritative sources. You could contact industry influencers to review and mention your content in their articles or social media posts.

Keep everything up to date

Regularly update bio and publisher pages with new achievements, publications, and credentials. For example, you could enhance Jane Doe’s bio page with her latest speaking engagements, citations, and published articles. Also, periodically update older content to keep it relevant and accurate, maintaining the credibility of both authors and the publisher.

Entity SEO and its importance for publishers

Entity SEO focuses on optimizing for entities—people, places, organizations, and things—rather than just keywords. Google’s algorithms leverage the Knowledge Graph to understand and rank entities based on their relationships and attributes. Publishers should also focus on entity SEO.

One of the foundations of entity SEO is helping Google recognize your entities. One way to do that is to implement structured data. This helps Google recognize and categorize entities accurately. This includes using schema markup for authors, publishers, and organizations. You can use schema markup to define relationships between authors, their articles, and the publisher.

Together with structured data, linking your entities is a staple of Entity SEO. Make sure that internal links connect related entities within your content. For example, link an author’s bio page to their articles and the publisher page.

Be consistent in your entities. Maintain consistent information about entities across various platforms and websites. Inconsistencies can confuse search engines and harm rankings.

Last but not least, try to improve your chances of being included in Google’s Knowledge Graph. Make sure that you provide comprehensive and accurate information. For example, submit your organization and key authors to Wikidata and ensure their information is accurate and up-to-date.

Leveraging structured data and Yoast SEO

Structured data is the backbone of effective SEO for author and publisher entities. It enables search engines to understand and index content more accurately, making attributing credibility to the proper sources easier. The Yoast SEO plugin offers a robust schema framework that simplifies the implementation of structured data.

Yoast SEO provides a comprehensive and adaptable schema framework that supports various schema types, including author and organization markup. This ensures all necessary information is included and formatted correctly, enhancing visibility in search results.

Use Yoast SEO to add structured data to all relevant pages, including author bio pages, publisher information, and individual articles. The plugin’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to manage and update schema markup as needed.

Conclusion

The recent Google document leak has highlighted the critical role of author and publisher entities in SEO. SEOs can significantly enhance a website’s authority and trustworthiness by adopting a structured approach to optimizing these entities.
Implementing detailed author and publisher pages, leveraging structured data, and utilizing tools like Yoast SEO can create a solid foundation for improved search engine rankings.

Integrating these insights into current SEO practices will help build a credible and authoritative online presence, ultimately driving more organic traffic and engagement.

Read more: What is E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)? »



Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

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seo enhancements
Jul 18 2024
What is Search Experience Optimization (SXO)?

Today, you have to think beyond simply ranking high on search engines. Users want more than just a simple website visit. Your visitors and customers are looking for an engaging experience. Search Experience Optimization (SXO) can help provide this. This merges SEO with user-centric design to help you attract visitors and keep them engaged. The goal, of course, is to convert them into loyal customers. We’ll explain the topic, how it differs from SEO, and why you could use it in your strategy.

SEO, SXO, OSO?

You might think, “Another acronym? SEOs sure love their acronyms!”. Of course, you are correct — we even wrote about another interesting acronym just last week: OSO (Organic Search Optimization). SXO, however, is one you’ll want to remember. It focuses on merging search engine visibility and user experience.

What is Search Experience Optimization?

Search Experience Optimization (SXO) enhances SEO with user experience design. One of SEO’s main goals is to improve your site’s visibility in the SERPs. SXO, however, goes a step further to ensure visitors have a positive experience that meets their needs and helps them reach their goals.

While modern-day SEO inches ever closer to SXO, it initially emerged as a natural evolution from SEO. It understands that ranking high in Google is just the first step. The challenge lies in keeping visitors and turning them into customers. Combining SEO techniques with UX best practices, SXO creates websites that are easy to find and enjoyable to use.

SXO is about optimizing for both humans and search engines. It takes the entire user journey into account. It sets a path from when someone types a query into a search engine to where they complete an action on your site. This holistic SEO approach gets your website traffic. Once there, you’ll provide a fantastic experience that engages and converts.

The main components of SXO

Search Experience Optimization merges traditional SEO with UX. Combining these components helps create a site that is both search engine-friendly and user-friendly.

SEO basics

SEO is the foundation of SXO. You’ll still do the same stuff, like conducting keyword research to identify the terms your target audience is searching for. Once you have these keywords, you should use them in your content like you are used to. On-page SEO helps search engines understand your site properly. As a result, it can correctly index your content, which helps improve your search rankings.

User experience

User experience is at the heart of SXO. The goal is to keep visitors engaged. For this, you must prioritize ease of navigation, build an intuitive design, focus on accessibility, and make your content readable with great typography. You’ll build a well-structured website with clear menus, hierarchy, and navigation to help users find what they need quickly. An appealing design with high-quality visuals can make your site more engaging. And, of course, there’s also a bigger focus on conversion optimization.

Engagement metrics

To offer a great experience, you need to monitor user behavior. Engagement metrics provide valuable insights into how users interact with your site. For instance, a high bounce rate might indicate that people can’t find what they need. On the other hand, a longer average time on page might suggest that they engage with your content. Analyzing these metrics finds many things to improve and gives you data-driven decisions to enhance the UX.

Content quality

As we know, content quality is essential in both SEO and UX. Your content should be helpful and relevant to your audience’s needs. Use clear and concise language. Aim for excellent readability. High-quality content helps with search engine rankings, keeps users engaged, and encourages them to explore your site.

How SXO differs from SEO

Search Experience Optimization is SEO with an extra focus on user experience. SEO aims to increase visibility in the SERPs and attract organic traffic by optimizing content and technical aspects. SXO, on the other hand, aims to attract visitors and retain and convert them. While SEO brings users to your site, SXO helps them have a great experience once they arrive.

Technical vs. holistic approach

While content forms a big part of SEO, it is often more technical, focusing on structured data, meta tags, backlinks, and site speed. These elements help improve your rankings. SXO has a more holistic approach and combines this with user-centric design principles. It aims to improve the overall user journey, from the initial search query to the final conversion. It focuses on ease of navigation, usability, and content relevance.

Metric differences

Measuring success in SEO and SXO has quite some overlap, while SEO metrics are a bit more search engine-centric. They include rankings, organic traffic, and click-through rates (CTR). These metrics tell you how well your site is performing in search results. SXO metrics are also more user-centric. They include engagement metrics and conversion rates. These metrics provide insights into how users interact with your site and how effectively it meets their needs.

An example of SEO vs. SXO

Let’s look at a short example that hopefully makes the differences even more insightful:

SEO approach

An e-commerce website that sells running shoes focuses on optimizing for high-quality keywords. They begin by conducting extensive keyword research to identify popular search terms like “buy running shoes,” “best running shoes,” and “affordable running shoes.” Once they have identified these keywords, they optimize their product pages by incorporating these in the content. Additionally, they ensure that images are optimized with relevant alt text.

To enhance their technical SEO, they improve site speed and mobile-friendliness, both of which are crucial for better search engine rankings. They also create an XML sitemap and submit it to search engines to improve site indexing. The content creation strategy involves publishing blog posts and articles targeting specific keywords, such as “Top Running Shoes for Marathon Training” and “How to Choose the Right Running Shoes.” To further boost their SEO efforts, they build backlinks by contacting fitness blogs, influencers, and online publications, increasing their authority.

SXO approach

In addition to the above SEO tactics, the e-commerce website also focuses on the user experience to better meet user intent. They start by analyzing search queries to understand the underlying intent, such as whether users are looking for buying guides, reviews, or specific product features. With these insights, they create comprehensive buying guides that explain how to choose running shoes based on different factors like foot type, running style, and terrain. They also offer interactive tools like quizzes to help users determine the best shoe for their needs.

The website has a clean, intuitive layout that ensures easy navigation. This way, users find what they’re looking for quickly. Clear, prominent calls-to-action (CTAs) like “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” and “Take the Quiz” guide users through the purchase process. To increase engagement and build trust, they incorporate user reviews and ratings on product pages, videos, and 360-degree views of the products to give users a better understanding of the shoes.

Personalization plays a key role in their SXO strategy. They use data from previous interactions to personalize recommendations, showing users products that match their preferences and past behavior. For conversion optimization, they streamline the checkout process to reduce friction, offering multiple payment options and guest checkout. Additionally, they implement retargeting strategies, such as email reminders for abandoned carts, to encourage users to complete their purchases.

Uniting SXO and SEO

The online store integrates SEO and SXO approaches. This attracts a high volume of visitors through search engines and provides a superior user experience. Combined, this leads to higher engagement, increased user satisfaction, and better conversion rates.

For instance, a user searching for “best running shoes for flat feet” might land on a detailed guide that explains what features to look for, showcases top-rated products, and offers an interactive quiz. This comprehensive approach answers their query and guides them toward purchasing, enhancing both the SEO and the user experience.

What is Search Experience Optimization?

Search Experience Optimization combines SEO and user experience. With SXO, you don’t just aim to attract visitors through improved search engine rankings; you want them to have a great experience. This experience should be so good that it encourages them to stay, explore, and convert.

If you want to integrate SXO into your strategy, you need a holistic approach. This focus on experience and rankings builds a great online presence, ultimately driving long-term success.



Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

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Jun 27 2024
Is OSO, organic search optimization, the new SEO?

There’s a new kid in town, and it’s one you want to be friends with: OSO. It stands for organic search optimization, and with the Search Generative Experience rolling out, this acronym is one you should pay attention to. It’s not here to replace our good old SEO. But it does want to change your thinking and the platforms you’re focusing on.

OSO is a relatively new acronym that adds a layer to SEO as we know it. Although I’ve seen different explanations of the acronym (optimized search optimization, organic search optimization), they all boil down to the same concept: multi-channel search optimization.

SEO vs. OSO: what’s the difference?

Where SEO is traditionally focused on getting your web pages high in the search results, the focus is shifting towards being present on different platforms, not just in the SERPs. Now, we have a good acronym for this new mindset: OSO. Naturally, you can continue working on getting your site traffic up, but you also need to think about the performance of your content in other places. Your website is no longer the only focus point; it’s one of (hopefully many) places where you can be found and contacted. Sure, you want to beat your competition and claim that first search result, but you also need to focus on overall branding online.

It comes down to seeing your website as part of the equation rather than the result. OSO wants you to be more. It wants you to become the best information source on all the channels where your audience can be found. It’s all-encompassing and ties all your marketing efforts together instead of being one part of it.

Where does this shift come from?

Online search continuously changes, and people are no longer just visiting your website. There are so many different places where you come into contact with them. Or want to come into contact with them. And when you do, you want to ensure their experience with you is pleasant and consistent. So your content needs to be high-quality and make purchases (or other actions you want them to take) possible in different places. Make sure to align your content and communication and be where your audience is. Don’t forget, that nowadays, even social media platforms act as search engines.

SGE and other AI-powered tools

Other good reasons to take organic search optimization (or OSO) seriously are the Search Generative Experience and Google AI Overviews, and the overall use of AI in search engines. This is an AI-powered search tool (by Google) that pulls from different places to generate an answer to an online query. SGE uses different sources to generate its results: online pages, customer reviews, social media posts, YouTube videos, etc. So, it’s not just focused on your website content. These AI tools will look at your content across platforms and use them to generate personalized results. Another reason why it pays to be present on multiple platforms and spend enough time on the content you’re sharing there.

Example of how Google’s Generative Search Experience works.

So, do you need to make any changes?

Well, are you mainly focused on your website content? Or is your brand also represented on other online platforms? Either way, I suggest researching where your audience can be found. Which online platforms are they using, and with what intent? You need to be there and catch their eye. As written by Andrew Holland in this article on OSO by Search Engine Land:

Your job is to build nets… giant nets.

We need to go back to the drawing board and alter our priorities. Naturally, website content will remain high on the list. But you need to add more stuff to the list. Come together with your social media team and align your content, strategize with your email team, consider creating videos or podcasts, and even look at offline events you should attend. And if you are doing everything independently, set the right priorities. Spend enough time on your website, but also think of ways to broadcast your expertise in your field.

What would that look like?

To give you an idea of what that would look like, I would like to use Yoast as an example. We have the SEO blog you’re reading, which we’ve been using to reach our audience since the company’s launch. Of course, our newsletter and social media followed quickly after that. But we also speak at (and attend) SEO, development, WordPress, and marketing events. We host different types of webinars and create videos and podcasts. This strengthens our brand and shows our expertise in different places where our audience can be found.

It sounds like even more work…

This shift might cause you some worries regarding time management, but it also means that you can spend less time diving into data as this is becoming less important. So save time by obsessing a bit less over the numbers and invest that time in researching your audience and creating new (and fun) ways to reach them. This allows you to think more outside the box, which can also be exciting! And don’t forget that you’re also involving other team members, so you’ll have more people involved in your SEO (or OSO) efforts. Use their expertise, work on the content together, and find out what works for your team.

It comes down to building your brand

To recap what we talked about today, OSO is not that different from SEO. This new acronym reminds you to think beyond your pages and Google’s search results page. SEO is still here and going strong; it just continues evolving. And that means that you and your SEO efforts should, too. Good luck!



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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seo enhancements
Jun 13 2024
The Google Leak: insights and implications for SEO best practices

In the SEO universe, paradigm shifting insights can suddenly appear out of nowhere, like a decloaking warbird a little too close to the neutral zone, catching even the most seasoned captains by surprise. The recent Google API leak has sent such a shockwave through the SEO quadrant, igniting intense discussions and debates within the community. We’ve laid in a course to navigate the nebula of this new information, examining the implications of the leak and how it correlates with Yoast’s established SEO protocols, providing clear guidance amidst these cosmic shifts.

Yoast’s perspective on understanding The Leak:

The contents of the leaked documents do not contain the secret recipe for the algorithm. They are lists of API calls that can retrieve specific bits of information from the data that Google is tracking and storing. When reading through the API documentation, remember that presence or existence is not definite confirmation of current use. Please do not confuse existence with use, or mistake any of the data points included in the leak as “proof” that “Google’s been lying to us!” The existence or presence of certain data points in Google’s API documentation does not mean those data points are actively being used as ranking factors in the algorithm. The only thing confirmed is that the data is collected and stored for potential use, but the existence of the data itself does not prove it is actively used in the ranking algorithm.

Personally, I like to think of the information collected as ingredients in the pantry. I can assemble them in a number of different ways and in different amounts to make a variety of recipes. They’re useful to have handy; however, the fact that they’re in the pantry doesn’t mean I am definitely using them in the recipe I am cooking right now. However, it is possible I will use some of those ingredients to make dinner tomorrow — or maybe next week. The point is, I keep them on hand so I have options, and that is why Google is collecting the data, to have options when testing or modifying the algorithm.

At Yoast, we believe in equipping our users with tools and knowledge that stand the test of time and tide. The recent leak does not change our core philosophy; rather, it reinforces our commitment to adhering to SEO best practices.

Clarifying the Leak’s contents:

  1. API documentation vs. algorithmic use: The leaked documents reveal API calls to a data warehouse, not direct insights into the algorithm’s operational mechanics. Because the data is being tracked and stored, does not mean it is actively used for ranking, but it also doesn’t mean it isn’t.
  2. Long-term data storage: The data points revealed confirm that Google maintains a kind of ‘permanent record’ of a site’s performance and usage data (if you went to public school in the US, you’ll know what a permanent record is). This underscores the importance of maintaining consistent, quality SEO practices over the life of a domain.
  3. Potential data utilization:
    • Usage data and performance metrics: Data from sources like Chrome, tracking speed, and user interaction, highlight the breadth of Google’s data collection, which could influence or be used in future algorithm updates.
    • Non-link mentions and click data: The storage of click data and non-link mentions suggests a broader scope of interest in metrics that many believed were not being tracked or used in the algorithm. Any or all of these could be tested or integrated into ranking factors at any point, or could be used currently.

Key takeaways and recommendations:

  • Transparency and behavior: Everything is potentially recorded, so engage in SEO practices with the awareness that any ‘cheaty’ behavior not only risks penalties but may also impact your site’s long-term reputation and performance.
  • Comprehensive optimization: Optimize all aspects of your site’s performance, from speed to user engagement, not just for current benefits but for future-proofing against potential algorithm updates that might use some of the other data being recorded and stored.

Conclusion

The Google Leak, while certainly not a nothing-burger, isn’t quite the massive disturbance in the subspace continuum we originally thought. It is absolutely interesting and the potential uses of some of the data points are fascinating to contemplate, but ultimately, this is a reminder of the complex, evolving/mutating nature of SEO. It’s also a reminder that it is not enough to just adapt to immediate changes, but to consistently practice a holistic, ethical approach to SEO. At Yoast, we continue to support our community by providing tools that guide you through these uncharted galaxies with integrity and foresight.

Carolyn Shelby

Carolyn Shelby is a seasoned SEO expert with a knack for making complex digital strategies accessible to everyone. She specializes in technical SEO, she excels at optimizing web architectures and crafting strategies that enhance visibility and drive growth. Carolyn views SEO as a powerful tool to narrate a brand’s journey, aligning content with core values to engage and convert audiences. Her approach is data-driven yet distinctly human. She uses straightforward, innovative methods to engage audiences and see real results.

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seo enhancements
May 14 2024
What is off-page SEO?

SEO can be explained as any effort you make to improve your website. But did you know there’s an important distinction between on-page and off-page SEO? Optimizing your website is called on-page SEO and includes things like site structure, content and speed optimization. Off-page SEO entails, among other things, link building, social media, and local SEO. In other words, generating traffic to your site and making your business appear like the real deal it is. In this post, we answer the question: What is off-page SEO?

Exposure, trust and brand awareness

When focusing on on-page SEO, you’re doing everything in your power to create a good website. You write great content, build a solid site structure, make your website mobile-friendly and work on improving page speed. All is well in the world and you’ve done all you can. Right? Well, there’s another part we can’t forget: off-page SEO. This helps you to bring in those hordes of visitors and potential customers. Both are important pieces of the puzzle.

By writing quality content you can rank in search engines, but by getting a few great, relevant sites to link to that content, you’re increasing the chance that you’ll end up ranking a lot higher. The same goes for building your brand and creating trust. This doesn’t just happen on your site, but mostly off-site. Take reviews, for instance, these can make or break your company. You need them, but they most often appear on external sites. These are all factors that contribute to your rankings.

It’s not only important to rank high for your search term, but also to create trust and a sense of authority. You must appear to be the best search result, not just in a technical and content sense, but also in reality. Popularity, quality, and relevance are everything. Especially now that E-E-A-T (which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) has become a core concept in how Google rates your online content.

Links are the threads that keep our web together. Search engines use links to determine how valuable a piece of content or a particular site is. Getting quality links will always be a great tactic if you’re serious about SEO. And who isn’t? In the past, there have been debates on the relevance of links. We firmly believe in the importance of links. That being said, you need the good ones. Don’t buy stuff, and keep a close eye on where and how you’re being linked to. We’ve written several guides on how to get quality links for your site and what you shouldn’t do when link building.

By itself, social media is not essential for ranking well in search engines. It is however growing in popularity, and more and more people are using these platforms for their online searches as well. It’s also a great way to reach more people and grow your brand as a whole.

At the end of the day, SEO is about being found online. By being active on social media, you will be deemed more trustworthy, be more easily found and have a great way to showcase your brand more. People will probably expect to find you there and you don’t want them to end up empty-handed or stumble across your competition. It also gives you a great opportunity to interact with your audience in a fun and approachable way. So make sure to invest in social media to reach your audience.

Local SEO is also off-page SEO

Local SEO is essential if your business is locally oriented. But what is it? Where normally, you would focus your efforts on reaching as many people as possible, wherever they are, local SEO focuses on reaching people in a certain area. So, for example, when you’re a bike repair shop or real estate agent.

For local businesses, part of the off-page SEO is in-person SEO. Word-of-mouth marketing plays a big role in getting people to your business. Not just that, happy customers can leave reviews online that Google – and other potential customers – can use to see how well you are doing. The experiences that people have with your business, should be similar and positive, whether they’re offline or online.

Don’t forget to showcase yourself

Coming back to the importance of showing your expertise or authority on a topic, you need to make sure this isn’t just being said on your website. Make appearances to talk about your field or expertise or service/product with others. By blogging for another website in your field, doing interviews, being a guest on podcasts, or going to events to do a talk or workshop. Share your knowledge and be active to let people know that you’re the go-to person (or website) when it comes to that specific topic.

Off-page SEO is an integral part of your SEO strategy

As we’ve shown, off-page SEO supplements on-page SEO. They go hand in hand. You need to focus on what’s going on outside your website as well. Work on proper link building, branding and your social media efforts to make the most of your SEO. You can optimize your site all you want, but if it isn’t perceived as a quality destination for people, it will be difficult to get people to your website at all.

Read more: The ultimate guide to content SEO »



Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Mar 27 2024
Can holistic SEO and trending content coexist?

A new day, a new trend. For businesses and content creators, it sure feels that way sometimes. If you’re not on top of trends, it might be difficult to engage your audience. So, what should you do? Is it still possible to create and maintain a holistic SEO strategy, while keeping your users entertained? 

What is holistic SEO?

To keep it short: if you fulfill your users’ needs on every level, you’re practicing holistic SEO. This means your site is easy and safe to use, and provides the right information at the right time.

Holistic SEO is not just doing keyword research and writing content that people are looking for. It’s also user experience, technical SEO, and making sure your website is secure. 

What is trending content?

When a topic or joke is trending, it has high visibility on social media platforms. This means people are talking and making content about this topic. And they’re also searching for it!

Depending on the topic that’s trending, people might search for more information on social media platforms or search engines. Sometimes even both! Which is why it can be useful for your business’s visibility to also create content about a trending topic. 

Trending content might be necessary

How people search online is changing. In fact, many SEO experts predict that we’ll get less traffic from search engines. So, where will traffic come from? A large part will probably come from social media like TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram – especially now that more people use them as search engines.

Examples of TikTok used as a search engine

And how do you become more visible on social media? By posting trending content.

Trending or quality content?

As we just discussed, a large part of holistic SEO is writing quality content. But how can you create quality content when you only have a day or two before the world moves on to the next trend? 

Cookie company joining in on the Taylor Swift’s Eras tour hype

Take TikTok, for example. Generally, by the time you notice something is a trend, you’re already too late. The ship has sailed, and people are moving on to the next thing. With this in mind, it can feel like you have to choose between staying relevant or creating quality content.

Company using a meme to promote their linen sheets

What does your audience appreciate? 

It’s good to know that the answer to how much trending content you should create also largely depends on your audience. If your audience consists of older people, then chances are you don’t need to follow social media trends as vigorously. On the contrary, you might even scare them away! 

If your audience is younger, however, you might need to come up with a certified ‘trend strategy’. Because you can’t join them all. And if you try to stay relevant by jumping on every trend, you’ll look like you’re trying too hard. Plus, you’ll probably have to compromise on quality.

A trend strategy

As we said, you shouldn’t want to join in on every trend. So what should you do instead? We suggest you create your own ‘trend strategy’. Here’s a few things you should consider:

  • Which trends are you going to engage with?
    • Will you only engage with trends within your area of expertise, or will you branch out? 
    • Will you only join in on funny trends, or will you create content for more serious trends too?
    • Will you only join trends that your audience is interested in? Or will you introduce your audience to new trends that could be interesting to them as well?
  • Will you drop everything to create content related to a new trend?
  • Does it need to be a blog post, or is a social media post better? Or both?
  • How often will you post ‘trendy’ content? Keep in mind that if you join in often, your brand image will change. Your business will probably feel younger, which might alienate part of your audience.

You’re still working on your holistic SEO

With a trend strategy, you should be able to make better decisions about when to post trendy content. Which will hopefully help you to keep creating quality content – one of the pillars of holistic SEO. 

What’s more, if you follow trends that your audience likes, you’ll be adhering to another holistic SEO pillar: creating content for your audience! After all, they’re the ones reading (and hopefully engaging with) your content. 

Keep an eye on brand image

Just don’t forget that your brand image could change, depending on the type of trending content you post online. If you engage with and participate in a lot of meme-y  content and trends (a meme can be a funny video, image, or piece of text that’s rapidly copied and spread online – usually, with slight variations), your brand might come across as more playful and less serious. 

However, never posting meme-y content also sends a clear message. Your business will come across as serious, and perhaps a little impersonal. It’s fine if that’s what you’re going for, but it’s also good to keep in mind that authentic content (so more personal content) does really well online. 

Conclusion

There’s no telling what the future will bring, but it’s clear that trends won’t go away. Plus, they’re constantly changing! That’s why it might be helpful to create a trend strategy, so you can provide your audience with content they’re currently interested in. Without having to skimp on quality and your holistic SEO strategy. Good luck! 

Read more: Is conversational commerce really the future? »



Cindy Paul

Cindy is a content manager at Yoast. She writes and optimizes blog posts, and enjoys writing content that will help people create better content for their site and users.

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 26 2024
How to rekindle the love for your website through SEO

Have you not thought about your website in a while? Or are you just not sure where to start when it comes to optimizing your pages? No worries. We are here to help you revive your website through the power of SEO! And make you fall in love with your website all over again. Because attracting people to your website and business becomes so much easier when you’re having fun. So let’s give your website some well-deserved SEO love and grow your number of visitors!

As you might already know, SEO helps you get more people to your website and grow your business. Having Yoast SEO on your website is a great start, because it takes care of a lot of things for you. However, to really drive some traffic to your website, you need to put in some work on a regular basis. We realize that this isn’t always easy, especially when you’re doing a lot of it yourself. That’s why we have a plan to get your website back on track.

4 phases to get your website back in shape

To get your website into tiptop shape, we’ll go through four phases. In the first phase, we’ll take some time to think about your audience and easy fixes to revive your website. The second phase is all about maintenance and cleaning up. After that, the third and fourth phase will help you make SEO part of your routine.

Phase 1: Thinking

Evaluate what you know about your audience

Before we get to optimizing and writing, let’s take a step back. Take some time to figure out who your audience is. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you need to analyze your audience to get to know them. Don’t base your decisions on assumptions. So find out who your current audience is, who else you want to attract to your website and what they have in common. Don’t just think about your audience in general terms (age, location, interests). Try to understand what drives them to your site. What does your audience want to read, do or buy on your site? Is your content focused on the right people? Has your business or audience changed since you last worked on your website?

Asking these questions will help you get insight into your audience and focus on the important things. Are you creating the right content? Are your call-to-actions aligned with what your audience expects? Are you still targeting the right people? Collect the right information to make these decisions and make it way easier for yourself to improve your site.

Identify your quick wins

Before making any big changes, it’s always wise to look at your Analytics and Google Search Console. Especially if you haven’t done this in a while, it’s a good place to get an idea of how your website is doing. And it will probably give you lots of input for possible improvements. Check out what pages are performing well and think of how you can improve them. Or if there are pages that performed well in the past, but not so much right now, it’s time to give those some extra love.

Use Google Search Console to get an idea of how your pages are doing in the search results. Are your most important pages ranking high enough and for the right keywords? If not, give those pages a proper refresh and focus them on the right keywords. With the Wincher integration in Yoast SEO, you can easily track which keywords are performing well. You can also see how your page has been doing over time. That’ll give you valuable information on which pages can use an update.

Make a list of pages and posts that seem to be easy fixes. By simply updating the content, adding the right internal links and tweaking what else needs to be fixed, you can already start driving more traffic to these pages.

Renew your keyword research

When it’s been a while since you last conducted keyword research or when you have never had the time to properly do this, there’s no time like the present! It’s possible that the search behavior of your audience has changed, or that there are new trends in your field that you should cover. Either way, take some time to do keyword research to find out what words your audience is using. The Semrush integration in Yoast SEO can help you get a quick overview of high-performing keywords in your field.

Phase 2: Maintenance

Do some technical maintenance

Although it might not be your favorite pastime, it’s important not to ignore the technical side of your website. If you haven’t looked at your website in a while, make sure to do these checks first:

Get your site speed up to par

First of all, check how your site’s speed is doing. Because if there’s something site visitors (and search engines) dislike, it’s a page that takes ages to load. You’ll lose them before they even enter your website. Luckily there are tools that can help you figure out whether your pages are loading fast enough. Read all about how to measure site speed and how to get your site to load faster in our blog post on site speed!

Check and fix those 404s

A 404 page is an error page that is shown to site visitors when the page they’re trying to visit doesn’t exist. When your website has been around for a while, chances are that some of your older links don’t work anymore. Although having a few 404s doesn’t hurt your overall rankings, it can become a problem for your SEO if it becomes too much. So make sure to check whether you have any broken links on your website and use a tool like the redirect manager in Yoast SEO to redirect people to another page.

Do some content maintenance

If SEO wasn’t your top priority lately, there’s a big chance that your internal linking needs some love as well. In Yoast SEO Premium, you can find two practical workouts that’ll help you get your internal linking structure back in shape. You can click through these workouts and solve some major problems with just a bit of your time.

With the cornerstone content workout, you’ll be able to choose which articles are your most important ones. The ones you want to rank with. After that, the workout helps you to make sure that your internal linking structure is helping you to rank with exactly those articles. The orphaned content workout will help you detect all your articles that do not have any internal links going to them. Perhaps you can add a few links to that page to make it findable? Or perhaps these should be removed (and redirected) from your site? The workout will help you decide and even suggest a few relevant internal links, to help you solve all of your orphaned content problems. After you’ve cleaned up, there’s room to create new content and improve your existing content!

Phase 3: Planning

The first two phases have probably given you loads of ideas on what to work on. Hopefully, it also got you excited to get started again. But to make sure your newfound love for your website doesn’t burn out too quickly, let’s make a plan. A plan that’s doable.

Figure out how much time you have, per week or month, to spend on SEO. Then plan your SEO tasks for the next couple of months. Be specific on what you’re going to work on, so you don’t have to figure that out at that moment. To stay motivated and quickly make some progress, I would suggest starting with the quick wins you listed during phase 1. Also, try to alternate fun SEO tasks with tasks that are ‘less fun’ for you, so you don’t leave all the boring stuff to the end and eventually forget about it.

Phase 4: Back to your routine

This bring us to the last phase, a phase that will never really end. Because it’s essentially the phase in which you make sure to make SEO part of your routine. It’s an ongoing thing and requires you to check in and optimize regularly. The good news is that all the SEO work that you’re doing is beneficial to your audience and helps you grow your business. So think of it as a necessary investment of your time. The following tasks should become part of your routine:

Checking and tracking

  • checking your 404s
  • assessing your site speed
  • checking your internal linking structure
  • doing keyword research
  • analyzing your performance in Analytics and Google Search Console

Executing

  • updating old content
  • writing new content
  • internal linking
  • improving site speed

We’ve created a monthly workout schedule (PDF) that you can use to stay on top of your SEO. Of course, it’s just a guideline so feel free to spend more or less time on the tasks mentioned. But it can help you stay motivated by checking off what you’ve done so far!

Love your site and keep doing SEO

We often joke and say that SEO stands for Seriously Effortful Optimization. And that isn’t untrue. At Yoast, we try our best to build a plugin that automatically takes care of a lot for you. But to really stand out in the search engines, you need to put in the work. And if you do it regularly, it’s not that much of a hassle. But starting over after you’ve neglected your SEO for a while, takes a bit of hard work at first. Just remember that whatever love you put into your site, will result in happy site visitors and search engines! 

Read more: How to measure the success of your content SEO strategy »



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

SEO love series

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 9 2024
A successful link building strategy in 6 steps

SEO is all about creating a great experience for people visiting your website, or seeing your snippet in the search results. That’s why a lot of your SEO efforts will likely be focused on things like content, UX and pagespeed. Efforts that help you optimize your page or website overall. As they should be! They help you become the best search result for search engines and people alike. However, there are also a few things outside of your website that you should not forget about. An important one being link building. In this post, we’ll discuss the 6 steps to create a successful link building strategy for any business.

In a nutshell, link building is the act of getting other websites to link to your page. The reason why you should invest some time into this is because these links are important for SEO. They help your pages rank higher in the search results. But that’s not the only thing they do:

A good link, first and foremost, drives traffic to your site.

Other websites linking to your page will help in getting more (referral) traffic to your site. This grows your overall traffic and brings new people into contact with your website. To make sure these efforts aren’t in vain, it’s good to think about which websites would make sense in linking to your pages. You want people who are visiting that website to also enjoy yours when they’re being directed there, but we’ll go into that further one.

An important note is that link building should always be done from a holistic SEO perspective. Meaning that you should focus on getting quality backlinks that will actually generate traffic for your website. In addition, it means staying away from bad practices as these can hurt your rankings.

1. Really get to know your audience

To get an idea of what websites would ideally link to yours, you first need to have insights into who your audience is. You might have a hunch of who your audience is, but you’ll be surprised how often that doesn’t match with reality. Make sure to do some research and analyze your audience to get to know them. This can help you retain your current audience and perhaps even reach new audiences that might be interested in what you’re offering. All of this also gives you a better idea of other websites they might be interested in. If it feels natural, you can even ask them about other websites that they frequent.

To give you an example, say you run an online store with loads of craft materials. and blog about new craft ideas now and then. User research could give you the insight that a large part of your audience is parents looking for fun crafts to do with their kids. This could give you the idea to reach out to websites listing fun activities to do with kids. Something you wouldn’t have done if you did not know about that segment of your target audience. Or to give an example closer to home, at Yoast, we started with an audience that consisted mainly of WordPress developers. However, we wanted to broaden our audience to a more general group of WordPress users without losing our initial audience. So we created additional content that caters to our new audience and went to work to get links from other websites where these people can be found.

2. Create a list of sites that your audience visits

When you know more about your audience and, you can create a list of websites that will help you reach them. Use your research to find the websites that appeal to these people. Because links from these websites can help you reach your audience, especially if they don’t know about your website yet. Do pay attention whether there’s a logical connection to be made between you and a website on the list. This increases your chances of getting the link and is better for SEO as well. A link from a website that has absolutely nothing to do with your niche is not valuable when it comes to your position in the search results.

In addition, I want to note that a link from a spammy website is also not going to do you any good. These links can even backfire and hurt your rankings as Google is absolutely not a fan of bad link building practices. So stay away from spammy websites, paying for your links and other link building DON’Ts. Link building isn’t just a trick or something you can throw money at. Getting these links should feel like a normal marketing effort and part of a holistic SEO approach.

3. Write great content

To get other websites to link to your content, you need to have content that makes them want to link to your content. Which means that you need to create quality content. Content that appeals to your audience, is helpful and that showcases your unique point of view. If you sell products or services, don’t just write about why they’re awesome and why they should buy them. Write content that answers a question that your audience has or solves a problem they’re facing. Don’t center it around your product or service. Make your content genuinely helpful and show your expertise on the topic. This will not only build trust and authority, but you’ll also get more links to your page as other websites will see the value of your content.

To give an example: Let’s say you sell garden tools like lawnmowers. Instead of writing a blog post on why your lawnmower is the best one out there, write blog posts on topics like ‘How to get your garden ready for the summer’. Or if you sell furniture, write an article on the latest trends in interior design. This type of content is a lot more shareable for other people outside your company. Which will increase your chances of getting relevant links. If you need some guidance on creating quality content, we have lots of blog posts on content SEO and an SEO copywriting training course.

Guest blogging

When you’re a blogger or (aiming to be) an expert in your field, another option is guest blogging. This not only builds your authority, it’s a great way to get more links to your website. Often enough, blogs are looking for input from fellow bloggers and in return will let you link to your own content. This gets you a great link to your website and the opportunity to bring yourself into contact with their audience. Growing your reach.

Once again, be tactical in the websites you choose to partner up with. They should be trustworthy and relevant to your own website to get any real value out of it. Visit your favorite blogs, or blogs that are similar to yours, and check to see if they’re open to guest submissions. They’ll usually mention this on their contact or collaboration page.

4. Match content to the right website

When you’re happy with the content you’ve written, it’s time to dive into the list of websites you’ve made during the 2nd step. Which websites on there will be likely to link to which piece of content? You may be tempted to just send everything that you’ve created to everyone, but this will hurt your chances of anyone linking to your content. You will come across as spammy and you can’t ask those people to read 5 blog posts and decide which one they like.

Also good to know: if you have a long tail keyword approach (writing about small and niche subjects) the number of websites that are a good fit will be smaller. This isn’t a bad thing, as very specific content can mean that this smaller number of websites is more willing to link to your content. It can also mean that readers will appreciate your content even more, as there’s less of the same content out there and they’ll be eager to know more about your business.

5. Reach out in a personal way

After figuring out which content to send to whom, it’s time to reach out to them. You can always send an email, but social media like X/Twitter or LinkedIn are also a great way to contact people directly. To increase your chances of getting their attention, make sure to do your homework. Use your audience research and what you know about the website to personalize your message. Never send out automated emails or direct messages. Send them a polite message in which you tell them about your content, why you feel it would be of value for their audience and request them to place a link to your content. Please note that often, you will not get a reply at all.

To improve your chances, you need to explain why your content is unique. Trying to get a link for a very general blog post that could’ve been written by anyone, is less likely to succeed than unique content. Content that people can only find on your website. That being said, don’t make your message too long, as this will result in people not reading it at all. If you’re not sure where to start, you can also contact your business partners. They will probably be active in a field that’s related to yours and they’ll be more willing to link to your site (as you already know them personally). Just make sure that the backlink is relevant and doesn’t feel forced. Like I said before, link building should always feel natural.

6. Extend your reach through social media

Reaching out to specific people or websites is one way to get links to your content. Another option is to share your content on social media. This can also lead to other people sharing your content, which helps you extend your reach. And a wider reach gives you a higher chance of people linking to you on their websites as well. When people like, share and talk about your content on social media, you’re bound to reach new audiences and receive some more links as well.

A successful link building strategy should always be aimed at getting new people into contact them with your website. A (welcome) side effect of proper link building is a higher ranking in Google. As long as you consider link building as a way to reach out to other sites to get more visitors that will genuinely enjoy your content, you’re doing it right. Lots of luck!

Read more: Link building from a holistic SEO perspective »



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Dec 21 2023
SEO in 2024: Four insights from Yoast SEO experts

Step into 2024, where SEO is on the brink of transformation. This post offers a deep dive into the minds of four SEO experts at Yoast. Each expert sheds light on the impact of the changes they see happening. Explore their collective wisdom as they dissect the future of search, the evolving challenges of engagement, and the strategic shifts vital for success in a year where things are moving quickly.

Table of contents

Setting the stage

As 2024 nears, reflecting on the transformative year 2023 for the SEO industry is important. It was a year marked by significant algorithmic shifts and technological advancements. Plus, evolving user behavior redefined the strategies of digital marketers worldwide.

In 2023, the SEO community witnessed the full impact of Google’s helpful content update. This placed a premium on user-centric content, diminishing the effectiveness of keyword-stuffed articles. In return, it rewards content catered to user needs and intent. This update re-emphasized the critical importance of understanding the searchers’ journey and creating content that offered genuine value.

The rise of artificial intelligence also reached a tipping point in 2023. AI-powered search features and content tools are becoming more mainstream. Integrating AI into search algorithms brought about smarter, more contextual search results.

As we move into 2024, these trends and challenges form the backdrop against which we navigate the future of SEO. The industry is set for another year of rapid evolution. Adaptability, strategic planning, and a keen eye on user experience will be the hallmarks of successful SEO.

2023: The year AI didn’t take over

To kick things off, our principal SEO expert, Carolyn Shelby, about the impact of AI on SEO in 2024:

As 2022 drew to a close, there was a sense that AI was about to take over everything, not just SEO. It was going to steal our jobs and replace us (humans) in nearly every possible way. In SEO, there was a massive interest in detection processes to determine what content people created and what AI created. There were questions about how the search engines were going to treat content deemed to be non-human. Thankfully, 2023 is almost over, and we are all (mostly) still employed, and none of us have new robot overlords.

Instead of completely taking over, AI is embedded within and added to most of our technology — especially in SEO. It’s a helper rather than a replacement; we’re all learning to leverage this new assistance. Even Google changed its language on treating AI-generated content to remove the stigmatization of using AI to help write. AI isn’t ruling over us; it is making us more efficient and helping us do our work faster. It might make you even better — if you’re good with your prompts.

Looking ahead

Looking ahead to 2024, it’s clear that the integration of AI enhancements into everyday life will continue and probably accelerate. The most beneficial skills prized in the workplace will be language and logic skills that improve your prompts.

The search engines are furiously competing to enmesh the AI equivalent of Clippy into their overall experiences. That, in particular, concerns the SEO community because it raises questions about potential traffic loss. Especially when the SERP starts reading and summarizing your search results to answer questions without needing to click through. As a result, it prevents users from doing research. The lack of a need to do research raises concerns about bias in the algorithms and big tech possessing undue and unchecked influence over the masses.

So many ethical concerns, so few guardrails.

SEO will survive

Ultimately, SEO will survive this, as will websites. SEOs are still necessary, and we now have the luxury of offloading our tedious tasks to AI helpers. Our sites might lose some traffic to the AI in the SERPs, but quality content that provides valuable information will always be needed and should win out. We need to moderate some of our expectations regarding how we interpret our analytics, and our conversion metrics might start looking different. But to be fair, traffic now doesn’t look or convert the same as it did five or ten years ago. Things change, but SEO will adapt and evolve.

What do you E-E-A-T?

Now, our other resident SEO expert, Alex Moss. He has the following to share on the growing impact of E-E-A-T in 2024:

Authority within SEO isn’t a novel concept. For years, SEO experts have concentrated on page and site-level metrics. However, the rise of entities, recognized through schema markup and the Knowledge Graph, is now pivotal in enhancing a site’s or individual’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). In 2024, it’s crucial to implement the correct schema markup for a page or site. Plus, you should craft content that genuinely serves the end user.

Over the past year, Google has underscored the importance of E-E-A-T with several updates, including an additional “E” for experience. This reflects a shift towards valuing personal experience in creating helpful, user-centric content. Alongside this, Google has updated its schema documentation — most notably with the anticipated enhancements to the Organization schema. In addition, it also introduced new types, such as profiles for individuals, discussion forums, educational offerings, and vacation rental listings.

Google’s focus on E-E-A-T will intensify in 2024, with further expansions and refinements to schema types and entity recognition. This evolution promises to intertwine individuals’ Knowledge Graphs more closely with the entities they are associated with, thus amplifying the importance of E-E-A-T in SEO.

The shift in online search behavior

In 2024, content specialist Camille Cunningham sees more changes happening in the way people search for answers to their questions:

When we think of how people find us online, we often picture someone typing in a keyphrase in Google’s good old search bar, hitting enter, and getting a neat list of search results. But as online search behavior evolves, we see a noticeable shift to other devices and platforms.

The importance of mobile

It may not be news to you, but the popularity of mobile is continuously growing. According to Hubspot, a percentage of 54% of consumers primarily use their phones for online searches. In that same research, they found that 80% of Gen Z, 62% of millennials, and 66% of Gen X use their phones most often when searching online. The younger generations (and the ones still to come) expect a great mobile experience whenever they experience you online.

The importance of social media

Related to this, you need to think bigger than just appearing in Google. Another development that will continue well into 2024 is using social media as a search engine.

People are spending loads of time on social media and using it to (actively) find information. Especially for younger generations, this is where you can reach them and get them interested in your business. These people will not be reached through traditional SEO; you’ll need to figure out where they hang out online and be there. Build your brand there and earn their trust through content that resonates with them.

Keep investing in user research and stay flexible in your marketing to ensure you cater to your audience’s changing needs. Constantly evolve with your target audience because user behavior will continue to change.

Google’s Search Generative Experience rolling out

Yoast’s strategic content specialist Edwin Toonen talks about the impact the SGE will have:

In 2024, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) will change the game. Google will probably roll it out worldwide sometime next year. With SGE, users will get more options to shape their searches and the results they get. In general, they can do more on the SERPs. They will likely search differently, asking more complex questions rather than entering short keywords. We must prepare for this by creating content that answers these more detailed questions.

There’s been a lot of talk about zero-click results, and getting traffic to websites will definitely change. SGE will provide answers directly on the search page, which could mean fewer people clicking through to websites. This requires a new approach from all of us, as we must find fresh ways to engage users and measure success. Also, we need to assess how much site traffic the SGE can cost us and adjust our strategies accordingly.

Content accuracy is now more important than ever. To be used by SGE, content must be factually correct and highly relevant. Therefore, we must focus on quality to ensure SGE picks up our content. In addition, we must find new ways to align our content with what SGE seeks. While writing that unique content, use AI sparingly to ensure our original work stands out.

Underneath all that, structured data is the bedrock for everything. By embedding this standardized format, we can directly communicate the context of our website’s content to Google. This clarity allows SGE to parse accurately and present information in response to user queries.

To keep in mind

Amid these changes, Google’s ad business remains a focal point. It has a history of integrating new features with an eye on monetization. Any advancements, including SGE, will likely support and enhance their advertising model. As we work through these changes, we must remember that Google will prioritize features that tie back to revenue generation. This will influence how organic and paid content coexist on SERPs.

In short, SGE is a wake-up call. But, as with everything, there are opportunities. It’s an exciting time for SEO!

Conclusion to SEO in 2024

As we look ahead, it’s clear that four key drivers are reshaping SEO in 2024. First, artificial intelligence is not just on the horizon — it’s here, fundamentally altering how we approach search engine strategies. AI’s influence spans from content creation to search query processing, setting a new bar for what it means to optimize for search.

Simultaneously, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) makes its presence felt. Its immediate impact on user search habits and site traffic compels us to re-evaluate our tactics to stay ahead.

The emphasis on E-E-A-T and entity SEO is rising to new heights of importance. The confluence of user experience, demonstrated E-E-A-T, and a clear understanding of entities and their relationships will form effective SEO.

Lastly, a new wave of user and search behavior changes is upon us. These shifts demand our attention and adaptability as they redefine the avenues users seek and consume information.

In summary, SEO in 2024 is dynamic and challenging but also brings opportunities. Staying attuned to these four focal points — AI’s transformative role, the ripple effects of Google’s SGE, the cruciality of E-E-A-T and entity SEO, and the evolving patterns of user behavior — will be pivotal for anyone looking to navigate the future of SEO successfully.



Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

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