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8 Experts Weigh in on the Past, Present, and Future Evolution of Link Building

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For over 20 years, SEOs and content marketers have built links across the web to get their content in front of their target audience. As Google grows smarter, so do these link-building SEOs – gone are the days of spammy link schemes and black hat SEO. Enter modern link builders who are focused on placing high quality, relevant links on sites guaranteed to drive the most important metrics: conversions and revenue. But how far have we really come, and are there any lessons we can take from the past to inform where we go from here? We asked eight link building experts their thoughts on this very question, as well as what our readers can do to stay ahead of the link building curve! For more link building tips, be sure to check out our recent update to The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building: Read the Guide! How important are links, really? Historically, links have been a sure-fire way to build authority and visibility for your business. However, as Google begins to focus on other tacti...

How to Get Results from Broken Link Building

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Broken link building is one of those link building tactics that is difficult to execute, as it’s time-consuming and the results can often be disappointing. If you ask link building experts about their experience with this strategy, their responses will vary. While some say that it’s a waste of time, others insist that it still works for them . This leads to comments such as these on public forums: Truth is, a broken link building campaign will be effective and get you great results if you approach it the right way. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting time and resources. In this post, I’ll show you the exact process you can use to get results with broken link building, including: How to find resource pages at scale How to get broken link building opportunities from resource pages How to analyze your competitors’ link profiles for broken links Best practices that help you succeed with broken link building What is broken link building? Broken link building is the pro...

How to Hire the Best Possible Local SEO Agency for Your Business

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Local search marketing is a very strenuous hike.  When you hire an agency to help with the varied tasks of local search engine optimization and offline-to-online marketing, you’re hoping to take an experienced guide along with you on the journey from trailhead, to setting up camp, to making the most of your company’s stay in your neck of the woods.  Top of mind for your local business will certainly be increasing revenue. You know you’ll need better or broader local and localized organic rankings for this, perhaps more reviews, more clicks-to-call, more form submissions, more qualified website traffic, or an improved conversion rate to get there. But, I want to encourage you to start the search for a local SEO agency with a long-term relationship as the goal , rather than swift wins on specific metrics.  The best agency for your local business will be the one that’s there for you when things go right and when they go wrong, for many years to come, because you’ve made ...

How to Configure Google Analytics for Local Businesses

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Google Analytics is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. When used properly, it generates important information that can help to make valuable business decisions in online marketing or SEO efforts.  In this week’s Whiteboard Friday, guest host Alex Ratynski goes through five important steps that local businesses can take to configure Google Analytics efficiently. Check it out below!  Click on the whiteboard image above to open a larger version in a new tab! Video Transcription Hey, Mozzers. My name is Alex, and I'm the founder of Ratynski Digital. We are a local SEO consultancy for small and medium-size businesses. Today what I want to talk about is how to configure Google Analytics for local businesses. Now Google Analytics is a super powerful and efficient tool when used properly and when configured accurately. This tells us important information about our website, our visitors, what pages are performing well, perhaps even what search queries we're coming ...

7 Tips to Get the Most Out of Online Conferences

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As we anxiously await the return to in-person conferences, with a little ingenuity and virtual elbow grease, we can still forge new professional relationships over an internet connection rather than a cocktail. Read on for tips on how to bring your best self to digital events, and for networking while remote! Speaking of online conferences, don’t forget to snag your ticket to MozCon Virtual 2021! Secure Your Seat 1. Set your intention To get the most out of your online event, you need to go in with an intention. That way you’ll be more likely to gain something from the experience. Ask yourself, what are you hoping to achieve? Some examples could be: Gain a business opportunity Learn more about how to recover from the latest algorithm update Find ways to increase efficiency within your SEO processes Feel more confident selling your services 2. Schedule accordingly Many events will provide you with schedules ahead of time — look at them! (Pssst...if you haven’t yet, ...

MozCon Virtual 2021 Interview Series: Joy Hawkins

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We're thrilled to welcome Joy Hawkins back to the MozCon Virtual stage! Local SEOs know Joy as a GMB expert, and for her work leading Local Search Forum, Local U, and the amazing team at Sterling Sky.  Ahead of the show, we talked with Joy about her research into Google Posts, what she loves most about her work in local SEO, and what she’s looking forward to at MozCon Virtual 2021. Check out the interview below! And don’t forget to grab your ticket to see Joy and our other incredible speakers at this year’s MozCon! Secure Your Seat Question: 2020 was quite a year, how did the Sterling Sky team adjust? What were some of your favorite projects? Joy: We were really fortunate. Because we have clients in so many industries, we didn't have a huge number of cancellations when COVID first hit last year. We had a couple of rough months, but most of our clients that did pause their services ended up unpausing after a few months. We actually saw a lot of growth in the secon...