I’m going to rapid-fire this, it’s a lot… a lot, a lot.

Prior Context

• It was discovered this year that 0% of websites that got hit with last year’s August 2023 Helpful Content Update have recovered. ZERO. NONE.

• Niche sites, affiliate sites, and even established brands with dedicated audiences saw decreases in traffic that led to businesses shutting down, or firing employees to stay afloat.

• People who run websites are growing frustrated with Google and Search as an industry because smaller publishers and websites are being snuffed out for larger sites, like Forbes — or are user-generated content websites, like forums

• Google announced a deal with Reddit to collect their user data and train their language models on the server content (this happened in February, but watch what happens next).

March

• March 2023 Core Update rolls out and it takes 45 days to complete, with Google saying it finished earlier than reported, they just didn’t do that this time, for some reason.

• This integrated the Helpful Content Update (now known as the Helpful Content System) into the Core Update Process

• In layman’s terms: there are no longer be two separate types of updates, they are now Fu....sion-HAAA!

I know I lost you, just hold on it gets worse.

April

• Hundreds of websites were deindexed

• Google claims to have reduced unhelpful content on the SERPs by 45%, although there was no metric to know this (outside of websites self-reporting decline or SEOs working with clients, we are forced to just take Google at it’s word that this is true)

May

• Site Reputation Abuse update released — which was aimed at websites that were doing what Forbes was doing (except Forbes wasn’t hit with a penalty [yet])

• Black Hat SEOs mourned the loss of their Indian backlink havens (RIP)

• May 15, Google launched AI Overviews, effecting 85% of queries

• Unable to understand sarcasm, it was reading Top Reddit SERPs that sometimes suggested people eat rocks as a treat, smoke while pregnant, or put glue in your cheese for pizza

• Also released was an image generator, which was providing results that were (at best) racist as fuck

• Google patches the image generator after about a week

June

• June 20-27: release of a Spam Update for Search

• Google reduces AI Overviews to 15% of queries

• Google expanded the AI Overview to be larger - taking up more space on the search results page.

• Between the force-fed AI features & Ads, Google was strangling Search.

• Google introduces new modals that would allow for zero-click purchases and interactions, futher removing traffic from websites that own the content

• July was a quiet month, no news, no controversy, just a breath before the shitstorm that was to follow…

August

• August 5: U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google has violated antitrust law with its search business, stating that Google has a monopoly and has acted to maintain its dominance.

• August 15: Google launched its second core algorithm update of 2024, aiming to promote high-quality content and demote low-value SEO content.

• Over 14,000 lines of Google's search algorithm code were leaked online.

• Reddit moved from the 78th to the 3rd most visible site in Google's U.S. search results, just behind Wikipedia & Amazon (remember that deal back in February, about 600 words ago?)

September

• September 3: The August 2024 Core Update completed its rollout.

• A search ranking bug was identified during the first four days of the update, to the dismay of websites owners everywhere, they were warned that any traffic anomalies (sudden increases) were to be ignored.

• September 12: The DOJ's case against Alphabet's search business formally opened, scrutinizing Google's advertising business and its alleged monopolistic practices.

• September 23: The DOJ sought an adverse inference and sanctions against Google, alleging that the company instructed employees to adopt cautious communication practices, potentially hiding or destroying relevant communications.

October

• Google's Gemini model, designed specifically for search, was introduced to power AI Overviews.

• SEO professionals may need to shift focus towards conversational search optimization and long-tail keywords to improve visibility in AI-generated summaries.

• October 8: The DOJ indicated that it was considering a possible breakup of Google as an antitrust remedy, following the monopoly ruling.

• October 9: The DOJ proposed a series of sanctions against Google to prevent it from monopolizing the search engine market, emphasizing the importance of liberating these markets and restoring competition.

An absolute shit show.

Google is getting worse by the day and it seems as though a breakup of Search, Ads, Chrome, & Android is possible.

Google’s making the argument that because much of its software is open-source, that it is not ant-competitive.

SEOs are stuck in the middle, among choppy waters of traffic volatility, search engine features & algorithm changes, Google’s impending business restructuring.

Senior Vice President & Head of Search, Prabhakar Raghavan (who prev. lead Engineering, then Ads & Commerce [which includes Search]), was just relieved of duty in place of Nick Fox (21 years VP of Product at Google), indicating Google knows that it has been destroying its original claim to dominance.

The future is unknown, there’s a lot happening in the LLM space.

Models are dropping what feels at a faster and faster pace.

I still find myself revolving around the same handful of tools for what I do.

Last week I went to a Technical SEO conference to find people giving talks on subjects & practices that I’ve been doing for the last few years, but didn’t have formal introduction to.

Needless to say, I feel like I’m at the top of

I had my head down because while all of this was happening with google, I was doing this for my clients:

Increases in Clicks & Views over 8 mo. period vs previous 8 mo. period from Google.

That’s it.

Just wanted to say Google is on some fuckshit but we out here anyway.

If you know someone who runs a business & invested in a website, but doesn’t get any love from Google, send them my way.

Until next time,

— Vic

I already know what you’re thinking: what the fuck is a CMS…?

It’s the content management system — the platform ‘underneath’ or ‘behind’ your website.

Let’s make it simple: the content on every website is held together by a database, like a spreadsheet.

All your pages content, all your blogs, your articles, even what you’re reading right now, is managed by this content system.

I should clarify — if you’re reading this in your email — that’s not the CMS. That’s email.

If you’re reading this on my website, which can only happen if you login, THAT is being handled by the CMS.

So this spreadsheet, it holds all your data.

Depending on your type of business, you’ll have different information populating the database...

Website Platforms Have Two Jobs

1. To edit the front-end design, or what the website user sees

2. To store content, whether articles, products, podcasts, whatever

That's it.

Everything else is how to the database is skinned to varying levels of customizability based on your skill level.

Easiest CMS Platforms to Use

• Wix — Best of the 3. Easy to solo. Hard to mess up. Built for scale.

• Squarespace — Avoid. Can be easy to mess up. Not built for scaled content.

• Shopify — Best for eCommerce. Not the easiest to build. You'll need a developer. And money.

I call these easy because they require the least amount of knowledge to set up.

Wix & Squarespace can be set up in a day if you have a few pages. Use Wix.

I've haven't seen many people that use Shopify build a successful website that wasn't a career marketer.

Protip: I don't care what TikTok told you, you're several years late for dropshipping.

Now, if you run a big boy / big girl business, you should not be considering none of the above platforms.

Best CMS Platforms for Professionals, B2C, & B2B

The primary concerns for business owners should be:
— can my website grow with me?
— can my website talk to the other programs that are running my business?
— can my website serve content in under 2 seconds from a mobile device?

Both of the following platforms have proven to me that they can work for any business model.

WordPress

Good news: it's tried & true, as an added bonus, you own the website.

If you're not well versed in domain registrars, hosting, PHP, cPanel, or don't understand the term "apply to root" — you may not want to build with WordPress.

You will need a dedicated Webmaster to ensure your website is up to date, the plugins aren't eating each other, and to keep from your hosting infrastructure from becoming outdated.

If you're a one-person show, WordPress is more trouble than its worth.

WordPress still runs the internet. But the cost is a meticulous balance between optimization and losing your mind.

Webflow

This is my favorite CMS, for a few reasons.

1. You don't need to maintain any hosting. It's all in-house on the platform.

2. You don't need to haggle plugins and updates, everything works as it should, all the time.

3. You don't need to be a website developer to edit your content or front-end visuals.

There are however, some drawbacks to consider:

1. You don't own the website, because it's stored on Webflow's servers.

If they failed tomorrow, you would lose your work. They're 10 years old now.... but still.

It's enough of a reason for website enthusiasts to avoid altogether.

2. They will charge you more money if your website gets a ton of traffic.

This isn't a huge concern unless you're a giant enterprise with brand awareness.

How Does Any Of This Unalive Your Business?

Let's consider the following tweet, and i'll give you some insight into how the innocuous decision of Content Management System can unalive your biz:

Go follow me on the X formerly known as Twitter, @SubtleBodhi

Why no Hubspot? Because it’s the worst half-baked CMS add-on that any email marketing company could have. Avoid.

Why no GoDaddy? Same reason as Hubspot. They are a domain registrar. Not a host. Not a website platform. You cannot add custom code at all. If you upgrade packages, you cannot take the build with you. You will have to start all over. Their business model is predatory to beginners. Avoid.

Why no Adobe? Any platform that asks for “Meta Keywords” was built before 2010 and doesn’t have flexibility from yesteryear’s SEO practices. Avoid.

Why no BigCommerce or Shopify? It’s just a pain in the ass to optimize, let alone build. Both are bad unless you are a direct-to-customer business with a product offering & don’t want to go the custom WordPress build route.

All in all, these are the dumpiest of CMS platforms that exist.

Alternative CMS Platforms To Consider

You’re not stuck to just the above choices. Here are some other ways to build a website you may have not considered:

Airtable + Glide

A content management system has two requirements: a database and a front-end, remember? That's exactly what this combo is.

Airtable is a database. Glide is the front-end editor.

Airtable being used to manage Webflow CMS Content

I would recommend this for a startup or bootstrapped professional - as it' easy to manage scaled information, like products.

I've never built a website with Airtable, but I do know use Airtable to manage Webflow CMS.

This system can be set up in a day, if you have a database prepared.

Beehiiv

Beehiiv is a platform that combines newsletters & websites into a single hub. I like it. It's what I'm using to run this newsletter and website.

The opening dashboard of Beehiiv.

There are some limitations on the metadata side, I’ve made my concerns known to the support team & am hopeful they’ll add canonical and meta robots tags / head injection per post at some point in a future version.

That’s the SEO nitpick. It's built for writers. The editor is easy to adjust to.

Other benefits: in-house ad network, sponsorship opportunities, & you can get it running in under two hours. Four hours if you go crazy

Carrd

Carrd is meant for landing pages, useful for advertising campaigns for a service or digital product offer.

Do not use this builder if you intend on running a blog, or an ecom store. Landing pages alone.

Framer

Framer is similar to Webflow in that it's a visual builder. If you need a flexible platform and Webflow didn't 'click' with you, use Framer.

I don't have too much experience other than doodling on the platform once or twice.

Test it and see what you think.

Notion + Super

Notion user? If you are, this combo is the fastest way to launch a website, bar-none.

90% of the work is handled on Notion, where the content lives and is designed.

The last 10% is handled in Super, where your meta descriptions, crawl settings, and other stuff that your typical build will have.

It's not a super flexible platform (pun intended), but it should get the job done - goes double if you're already an avid Notion enjoyer.

Consider Your Business' Tech Stack, Build The Website Around It

Here's the part that can kill your business: you have technology that runs your business now.

A Customer Relationship Management software, Point of Sales software, Inventory Management software, unless you're still rocking a Rolodex - you are using software for your business.

That software can talk to other apps, so this opens up the possibility of automations taking place without your direct involvement.

When you choose the wrong Content Management System, you risk your crawlability, indexability, and a slew of other settings that could result in Google just turning off your traffic.

Source: trust me bro. I saved a client's site at the end of November...

From 2 leads a day over the summer, to 0. Because he switched CMS.

I put it back on the platform that was working.

Then this happened:

Lesson: when you find the one that works for your business. Keep it.

His business stopped on a dime.

Because the people that sold him on these alternate CMS platforms, weren’t privvy to modern digital marketing.

Ensure that the CMS you choose:

1. Allows Google to understand your content

2. Allows Users to have access to your content

3. Contributes to your existing business tech stack

That’s it.

Thanks for reading.

Until tomorrow,

— Vic

P.S. — If you need answers about your CMS, shortcut the process by working with me. An hour with me can solve years of headache.

Learn how to make AI work for you.

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Warning: This is gonna be a long one.

Everything is accelerating, technology is moving at a pace not seen since the Industrial Revolution.

Consider the implications of how the use of artificial intelligence will (or is) changing your industry and the way you do work.

It doesn't matter what you do or how you contribute to the economy, you're going to be affected by the incoming wave of language genies, helpdesk chats, AI assistants, and many more interfaces.

Riveting to think about, but the consequences will be far-reaching and extreme.

We've got the rest of this decade until these language and creativity emulators start having thoughts that are smarter than the collective human consciousness.

That's really something to think about.

I bring all this up because last night I was at a restaurant tasting for a new spot opening up here in Raleigh.

It's new. New new. Website isn't up and not found on Google Maps, new.

The food was amazing, the drinks were stellar, the conversations had were full of intrigue.

I sat next to a woman that had a skill for getting straight to the point. In what felt a few minutes (*in reality - it was over an hour*) she had me break down the following:

1. The story of how I got my name

2. What I do in life

3. What I do for work

2 & 3 are the same. The conversation unfolded from who named me, whether that has had an impact on my life (it has), what I do for work, what I do for fun, where I come from, how I got to Raleigh, what my goals are, and how I will get there.

It wasn't long before I was showing her my obsidian vault & how I've organized my life's work.

She was receptive at first, but her intrigue turned to disgust when she understood what I was seeking to accomplish.

"That's like the shape of your ideas... the shape of your brain!"

I hadn't explained it in those words. I was careful not to implant those ideas, I showed her the link view of my vault and that was her reaction.

"I feel as though... you are more easily controlled when you have all this information laid out for anyone to find."

Is she wrong? Not in the slightest.

But I'd thought this line down was before this conversation.

The hard fact no one can deny: the influence of your mind is happening whether or not you're aware of it. To frame any semblance of this understanding as 'dangerous' is outright ignoring the reality of how the world works.

So I told her this, and it was hard for her to refute.

I asked her what would the alternative be? How does a person go about documenting themselves in a way that doesn't get tracked? Notebooks? Hieroglyphs?

She admitted that she too uses writing to keep track of things. The conversation soon moved to, "You should be preparing this information for your future generations and descendants!"

I've learned in recent years the importance of not bursting bubbles. It isn't right. People have ideas all the time. So I've gone a long way to ensure that I don't diminish someone for coming to the natural conclusion that I had myself at an earlier time.

It's more important to discover that someone shares the idea with you, than it is to look like the guy that 'figured it out first'.

By this point, we're coming toward the end of our meal, and we begin to wind down for the night. It was a group of about 8 people - myself being the youngest one present. Everyone else was older. I did little talking to the wider group as this conversation was over dinner.

All of that to say, what?

She handed me her card, and she's an Honorary French Consulate.

I had spent the last hour spilling my guts on anarchist philosophy, the power of the individual, & mapping out your own mind.

Something must have convinced her, because her demeanor softened before she left, as though the ideas I shared stirred something within her.

"You know, you've got me thinking."

Good. That's the goal.

But what is that goal?

That depends on what you do for life.

I've seen this system work in different circumstances:

- For creatives and business types.

- For people that think in words and people that think in pictures.

- For those that are young (and those that are old).

I'll unfold this system for you as I move through more writing.

But this email is long, we'll talk tomorrow.

Thank you for reading.

— Vic.

P.S. — What's your map-worthy idea? Drop me a response and let me know. I respond to each one.

Think about this for a second.

Marketing works to define and segment the audience it is targeting, in order to better 'serve their needs' (this is arguable).

When you think about the best forms of marketing, the stuff that gets people to react to what they're looking at — it's specific, jolts an emotional response, and compels an action. Which for most people in today's day and age, that's making a purchase online.

So at what point did humans become okay with this innocuous micro-segregation?

Turns out, no one did.

Marketing in its current form, as it relates to using some form of measurement against effectiveness of the campaigns themselves, didn't exist before WWII.

There was marketing. Marketing has existed as long as markets have. I've argued in the past that communication is a basic form of marketing in my earlier 20s.

So World War II happens, what would you assume is the nearest living relative to marketing that would coincide with the deadliest conflict known to humanity?

Propaganda.

Bernays and his crafty crew of word-spinners created the world that we know live in today.

They say the Allied powers won, but how true can that be if we're living in a world designed by the losing side?

That doesn't make much sense to me.

The point of the matter is, without a clear distinction of who it is that needs to be purchasing from you, you're not going to reach them. Not in any way that matters.

If we're to take me as the example, my segmentation looks something like:

• Business Owner

• Executive Suite

• Upper Management

• Has a website

• Offers a service or product

• Has been in business longer than 5 years

• Has a website built before 2018, better if before 2010

• Understands the internet is important but has been lost to changing times

• Relies on traditional or alternative forms of marketing in order to reach their audience

• Is not leveraging their existing website in ways that are conducive to organic search

• This is where I come in

Someone who meets a handful of these bullets is someone I want to speak to.

You have to know your audience the same way.

I may end up writing about 'how' you go about doing that in a later edition.

Until then, you’ll have to deal with these non-segmented, non-edited, off-the-dome rants.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading.

Your Valentine,

Victor V.

P.S. — Reply to this email if long-form instructional video content (SEO, Systems, etc.) is something you want to see in the immediate future.

Leveraging Google Search Console for Improved SEO

Google Search Console is an invaluable free platform for publishers and marketers seeking to improve their website's presence within Google search results. This guide covers key benefits of using Search Console and provides instructions on getting started.

Getting Started with Initial Setup

Verifying site ownership is the first step towards accessing Search Console capabilities. Those with access to DNS records or server files can use HTML file or meta tag verification methods. Hosted sites often have specialized verification flows.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Below outlines the basic process for initial Search Console access:

1. Confirm prerequisites like existing site content and administrative access.

2. Create free Google account if you don't already have one.

3. Access Search Console welcome page and sign in.

4. Add site property through the guided "Add property" flow.

5. Verify ownership through DNS, meta tag, or other method.

6. Submit sitemap if available to improve crawling.

7. Check performance report for initial search analytics.

8. Inspect coverage to fix technical issues.

Core Site Health Features

Technical Troubleshooting

The coverage report in Search Console reveals specific URLs experiencing problems like 404 errors or restrictions blocking crawling and indexing. Tools like URL inspection help diagnose why pages may not be indexing properly. Fixing these technical problems improves site health and search visibility.

Performance Analytics

Beyond diagnostics, Search Console also tracks real-world visibility through its performance report. Metrics like clicks, impressions, CTR, and rankings paint a picture of how site content resonates with search users. Filters reveal traffic driven by specific queries, pages, locations, and more.

Official Google Communications

For major site-wide issues, Search Console acts as Google's official communication channel. Notifications of algorithmic penalties, hacking vulnerabilities, quality concerns, and other events are reported in Search Console. By taking suggested actions, publishers can resolve problems and regain good standing.

Unlocking Full SEO Potential

When used to its full potential over time, Search Console provides invaluable diagnostics and insights that directly fuel search optimization efforts. It consolidates website health data not available anywhere else for free. That's why learning and leveraging Search Console is considered essential for managing SEO campaigns.

Crawling and Indexing Controls for Search Engine Visibility

Why website owners should be concerned with crawlability & indexability

I don’t think it makes sense to only focus on on-page optimization without understanding how search engine crawlers work. There are many myths around crawling and indexing that lead to issues with search visibility.

In order to prevent these issues from occurring, it helps to have knowledge regarding the basics of how crawlers operate. This article aims to provide guidance by outlining key aspects of the crawling and indexing process.

Table of Contents

• Crawling and Indexing Controls for Search Engine V …

  • Why website owners should be concerned with crawla …

• The Crawling and Indexing Process

  • Crawling

  • Indexing

• Crawling Budgets and Indexation Controls

• Common Crawl Setting Issues

• Key Takeaways

The Crawling and Indexing Process

Crawling

Search engine bots, also referred to as crawlers, traverse the web by pursuing links to uncover new webpages. Crawlers may also obtain new URLs from additional sources such as browser data. Each website is designated a crawling budget which dictates the frequency and depth to which it will be crawled.

Crawling is an essential first step in the process that enables pages to be discovered by search engines. Without proper crawling, pages cannot be indexed for search visibility.

Indexing

Indexing transpires over two primary phases:

Phase One

In the first phase, the HTML code is analyzed and supplemented into the search index. The analyzed version serves as what is indexed initially. This phase focuses on parsing the code itself to enable quick indexing.

Phase Two

Subsequently, in the second phase, the already indexed pages are rendered to replicate what users witness in a browser. This phase creates an indexed version that matches the user experience.

Indexing in two phases enables efficient processing of pages for inclusion in search indexes. Both phases play an important role in how pages are indexed.

Crawling Budgets and Indexation Controls

Websites with extensive scale (10,000+ pages) typically undergo no obstacles being fully crawled. Less capacious sites may not be crawled as profoundly or as regularly. Mechanisms such as robots.txt and sitemaps can be leveraged to signify pages you desire indexed. Appropriate application of these controls enables search engines to maximize pages indexed.

Crawling budgets impact how deeply sites are crawled. By properly configuring indexation controls, website owners can improve crawling coverage and efficiency. This directly translates into higher indexation rates.

Common Crawl Setting Issues

Problem: Improper Crawl Settings

A prevalent issue is that numerous sites employ default crawl configurations without grasping the impact on visibility. Using default settings often limits how search bots crawl and index pages. This leads to suboptimal visibility in search engine results.

Solution: Careful Configuration

Crawl settings including robots.txt and sitemaps should be adapted to cater to the explicit requirements of each website. Carefully tailoring configurations based on site-specific needs allows for optimal crawl coverage.

Carelessness with crawl settings causes many visibility issues. But problems can be avoided by careful configuration of parameters like robots.txt and sitemaps.

Key Takeaways

Having knowledge of how search engine bots crawl and index websites is vital. Website owners should capitalize on controls such as robots.txt and sitemaps to optimize indexed pages. Furthermore, common pitfalls like obstructing integral pages from indexing should be avoided. Configuring crawl parameters accurately permits full search visibility.

Let's clear any confusion at the beginning: Technical SEO is anything not having to do with your content (on-page SEO) or backlinks (off-page SEO).

This means that Crawling, Ranking, Indexing, Page Experience, Design, User Experience, User Interface, (among others) are all aspects of Technical SEO.

Technical SEO is the result of collaboration between different sectors of marketing: your SEOs and your Website Developers & Designers.

When these teams are working in tandem with one another, there are great results in your typical SEO KPIs, such as: website traffic, keyword attribution, & time-on-page.

Table of Contents

• What is Technical SEO?

• Crawling and Indexing for Search Engine Visibility

• How To Upload Your Sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools

• What is a Robots.txt file?

• Canonicalization

• Indexing controls (noindex, etc)

• Crafting a Search-Friendly Site Architecture

• Advanced Technical Factors for SEO Wins

What is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO refers to the parameters of your website that define the user's experience & the search engine spider's ability crawl and index.

The easiest way to think about it is: this is the part of SEO where a forgotten checkbox is the usual culprit.

Some of the most important functions of a website determine the ability for it to be recognized by search engines. Instructions for these processes are often overlooked by CMS providers & are hard to notice for the average marketing professional to catch.

Make it & Break it: When Developers Effect Technical SEO

The website parameters that effect technical SEO can greatly impact a website's performance in search engines.

If pages are inaccessible to search engines, they won't appear in results regardless of the value of the content.

This leads to lost traffic and potential revenue.

Situations that are typical for development intiatives (like setting a page collection to 'noindex' while it is being built out), often become the exact reason why a collection of pages is no longer receiving traffic after a content migration or website redesign.

Mobile Considerations for B2B & Enterprise

Page speed and mobile-friendliness are confirmed Google ranking factors. Mobile-first indexing has been the standard for many years at this point. We will cover more of these mobile-friendliness standards later in this guide.

To keep short: B2B & Enterprise websites that don't get with the times are known to be hit with penalties in their keywords and traffic.

The trouble with being online for so many years is becoming complacent to what search engine standards used to be.

The internet is changing from underneath your website (and subsequently, your business). SEO is one of the most dynamic fields of marketing that exist.

Stop catering to desktop-only users. Their experience of your website is not considered.

Slow pages frustrate users who may leave the site, signaling poor user experience to Google.

Crawling and Indexing for Search Engine Visibility

There are different functions present within a website that are intended to instruct crawlers with information regarding which parts of your website to:

• Crawl, or not crawl

• Index, but not index

• Other nuanced situations we won't get into in this section.

The generic name for Google's crawlers is 'Googlebot'. There is one for desktop, one for mobile, and other versions that support features such as their experimental Search-integrated large language model, Bard.

Ignoring these bots could leave critical content unseen by Google or other search engines.

Worse yet, it could put on public display pages that are intended for targeted traffic, such as PPC or other landing pages.

The functions we cover in this section:

These tools at your disposal help to inform crawlers of their instructions and get your website in agreement with Google & other search engines.

What is a Sitemap.xml file?

A sitemap is an XML file that contains a list of the important pages on your website.

The purpose of a sitemap is to help search engines like Google and Bing discover new and updated content on your site.

Having a sitemap is especially useful for sites that have a large number of pages, dynamically generated content, or poor internal linking between pages.

In these cases, a sitemap acts as a roadmap for search engine crawlers to efficiently crawl your site.

A standard XML sitemap includes:

• A list of all your website's pages that you want indexed

• The date each page was last updated

• How frequently each page is updated (always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, never)

• The priority of each page (0.0 to 1.0)

You can break down your sitemap by page type as well.

For example: having separate sitemaps for blog posts, categories, tags, static pages, etc.

The sitemap file is typically located at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml or yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml.

How To Upload Your Sitemap to Google Search Console

Once you've created a sitemap, you need to submit it to Google Search Console. This tells Google where to find your sitemap file. To submit:

1. Go to Google Search Console

2. Click on "Indexing" in the left menu

3. Select "Sitemaps"

4. Click "Add/Test Sitemap"

5. Enter the path to your sitemap and hit submit

After processing your sitemap, Google will provide info on the number of pages submitted, indexed, and any errors. Check this report periodically to ensure your new content is being indexed properly.

There are also sitemap generator tools that can create and update XML sitemaps automatically as your site changes. Using a generator is recommended to save time compared to manually maintaining a sitemap.

How To Upload Your Sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools allows you to submit your XML sitemap so Bing can more efficiently crawl and index the pages on your site. Here are the steps to upload your sitemap to Bing:

1. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and either sign in or register for an account.

2. Click "Add site" and verify ownership of your website.

3. Once your site is added, go to the Sitemaps section under Site Configuration.

4. Click "Add/Edit Sitemap" and enter the full URL path to your sitemap (e.g. https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml).

5. Click Submit to add your sitemap.

6. Bing will crawl your sitemap and provide details on the number of pages submitted, indexed, and any errors.

7. You can add multiple sitemaps here, like separate ones for blog posts, products, categories etc.

8. Check back periodically to re-submit updated sitemaps and confirm new pages are being indexed.

9. Use the Sitemap Status tool to see indexing stats per URL and identify any crawling issues.

Submitting your XML sitemap is crucial for Bing visibility. It ensures your important pages are discovered, crawled, and indexed efficiently. Keep your sitemaps updated as your site grows.

The Other Sitemap: A Page On Your Website

Sometimes, it is the choice of developers to include a version of the sitemap that is designed to the same standard as every other page.

This is meant to be used for visitors of the website that are looking for a quick index (we used to refer to these as 'Glossaries' back when Phone Books were still a thing), in order to find the category and page being sought after.

While these pages do serve up internal linking opportunities, they are not conducive for search engine crawlers, just the users of the website themselves.

What is a Robots.txt file?

The robots.txt file gives instructions to search engine crawlers about which pages or folders on your site they should not access. This file needs to be handled carefully, as any mistakes can inadvertently block entire sections of your site from being indexed.

The robots.txt file goes in the root directory of your website and can contain the following directives:

• User-agent - Specifies which crawlers should follow the rules, often "User-agent: *" to target all crawlers

• Disallow - Tells crawlers not to access the specified paths

• Allow - Undoes a Disallow rule for a specific path

• Sitemap - Indicates the location of your XML sitemap

For example:

User-agent: * 
Disallow: /thank-you/
Disallow: /members/
Allow: /members/login/

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap_index.xml

This would block all crawlers from the /thank-you/ folder and the /members/ folder except for the /members/login/ page.

When determining what to block, avoid removing key pages like product, category, tag, author, etc. pages. Generally only block:

• Thank you / order received pages

• Account or checkout pages

• Pages with duplicate content

• Pages with thin content

• Pages still under development

To test your robots.txt, you can use tools like the Google Robots Testing Tool which shows you what Googlebot can and cannot crawl on your site based on your directives.

It's recommended to use the robots.txt sparingly and with caution. The preferred approach is to use meta robots noindex tags on specific pages you want to remove rather than blocking entire site sections.

Canonicalization

Canonical tags are a way to solve duplicate content issues by specifying the "canonical" or preferred URL that should represent a page.

Duplicate content occurs when the same or very similar content exists on multiple URLs on your site. This confuses search engines about which page to index and rank.

Some common causes of duplicate content include:

• HTTP vs HTTPS pages

• www vs non-www versions

• Parameter URLs like ?sort=price vs ?sort=popular

• Pagination pages

• Category, tag, author archives

To deal with duplicate content, you need to choose the one canonical URL and add a rel="canonical" link tag to the head section of the other pages pointing back to original.

For example:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/product-page">

This would be added to duplicate product pages such as:

• http://example.com/product-page

• https://example.com/product-page

• https://www.example.com/product-page?sort=price

The canonical tag tells search engines to index and rank the URL specified in the href attribute rather than the current page's URL.

Things to note about canonical tags:

• The canonical URL should point to the page you want to prioritize for SEO

• Use self-referencing canonicals on all pages pointing to themselves

• Only use noindex on pages you want removed entirely, not canonical tags

• Check for proper implementation with Google Search Console

Adding canonical tags is crucial for preventing duplicate content from diluting rankings. This technical SEO tactic should be implemented on any site with multiple similar URLs.

Indexing controls (noindex, etc)

Noindex and other indexing control meta tags allow you to selectively exclude pages from being indexed and shown in search engine results.

The most common indexing control meta tag is noindex, which looks like this:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

When search engine crawlers come across this tag in the head section of a page, they will exclude that page from their index. This prevents it from ranking in results.

Some common use cases for noindex include:

• Thank you pages after form submissions

• Login and account pages

• Duplicate content pages

• Pages with thin, low-value content

• Pages under development or maintenance

Other indexing control meta tag options:

• nofollow - Prevents crawling links on a page

• noarchive - Prevents caching in search engine archives

• nosnippet - Blocks description snippet in search results

Noindexing pages is preferable to using robots.txt to block pages, as it only removes specific pages rather than full sections of a site.

To verify your noindex tags are working properly, do a "site:" search for the URL in Google, or inspect the page in Google Search Console for the "Indexed, not submitted in sitemap" status.

Things to note:

• Add noindex tags to the live page, not a 410/404 redirect

• Use self-referencing canonicals if you want a page indexed

• Google can take time to drop pages from the index after finding a noindex tag

Noindex and other indexing control tags are useful for cleaning up specific issues pages that you don't want cluttering up search results and distracting from more important pages. Use judiciously.

Crafting a Search-Friendly Site Architecture

URL structure

The structure of URLs on a website can have an impact on both user experience as well as SEO. Well-structured URLs make it easier for visitors to understand where they are on your site. They also help search engines properly crawl and index your pages.

Here are some best practices for creating SEO-friendly URL structures:

• Use descriptive keywords - Include relevant keywords in a natural, readable order. For example, "blue-suede-shoes" rather than just numbers and special characters.

• Keep URLs short and simple - Concise URLs with 60 characters or less are preferred. Avoid overly long, complex parameter-heavy URLs.

• Create logical hierarchy - Organize URLs into a sensible folder structure. For example, "domain.com/category/subcategory/page"

• Consistency - Use consistent URL patterns and naming conventions across your site. Don't mix things like underscores vs hyphens or singular vs plural words.

• Lowercase - Use only lowercase letters in URLs. Avoid uppercase, as some servers treat uppercase and lowercase URLs differently.

• Static not dynamic - Choose static URLs over dynamic URLs whenever possible, as static pages tend to rank better.

• 301 redirect old URLs - When restructuring URLs or moving content, use 301 redirects to pass link equity to new URLs.

• Avoid stop words - Don't include stop words like "a", "the", "and" in URLs.

Properly structured URLs enhance user experience, improve click-through rates, and support technical SEO efforts. Auditing your site's URLs periodically helps spot any issues. Tools like Screaming Frog can crawl your site and identify non-SEO friendly URLs.

Site speed

Site speed refers to how fast your web pages load. It's a very important ranking factor and website performance metric. Faster sites tend to rank higher and provide better user experience than slow loading sites.

There are a few key reasons why site speed matters for SEO:

• Direct ranking factor - Google has explicitly stated faster sites will be favored in rankings. Improving speed can directly boost rankings.

• User engagement - Faster pages encourage more engagement like lower bounce rates and higher pages per session. Better engagement signals lead to higher rankings.

• Mobile friendliness - Slow pages frustrate mobile users who will quickly leave. Google factors mobile friendliness into rankings, so improving speed improves mobile experience.

There are many factors that influence page load times including:

• Server location and performance

• Code optimization and weight - HTML, CSS, JavaScript

• Image compression

• Caching and CDNs to distribute content

• Limited redirects

• Minimized plugins/trackers/analytics

Tools to measure current site speed:

• PageSpeed Insights - Shows desktop and mobile speed scores.

• WebPageTest - Provides detailed speed optimization recommendations.

• Pingdom - Easy to use from multiple geographic locations.

Some ways to improve site speed:

• Optimize images - Compress and resize, utilize newer formats like WebP.

• Minify CSS/JS - Remove unnecessary code characters to reduce file size.

• Use a CDN - Distribute static assets globally.

• Upgrade hosting - More resources (CPU, memory) and better technology.

• Cache dynamic content - Store cached versions to serve faster.

• Lazy load media - Images/videos load only when visible on the page.

Site speed should be regularly monitored and optimized. Aim for a PageSpeed score of at least 90 on mobile and desktop. Fast sites equal happy users, lower bounce rates, and higher conversions, revenue, and rankings.

Mobile-friendliness

With more and more searches happening on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is essential for SEO in today's landscape.

Google has stated that mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor for mobile searches. So optimizing your site for mobile can directly improve visibility and traffic.

Some key elements of a mobile-friendly site include:

• Responsive design - Content adapts and responds to fit any screen size. Text and images resize as needed.

• Tap targets - Buttons and links are spaced appropriately so they are easy to tap on a touchscreen.

• Readability - Font sizes and spacing make text readable without zooming. Short paragraphs are used.

• Page speed - Site loads fast on mobile networks and devices. Caching, compression, and other speed optimizations.

• Minimal horizontal scrolling - Page content fits screen width without too much sideways scrolling.

• Avoid interstitials - Interstitial popups or full page overlays that block content are prohibited.

• Structured data - Markup helps search engines understand page content. Can enable rich result formatting.

To test your site, use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. It will analyze each page and identify any issues that should be fixed.

For WordPress sites, plugins like WPTouch can help convert sites to be mobile-ready. Responsive design, proper sizing of elements, and fast loading times are key.

Prioritizing the mobile experience pays dividends in higher mobile rankings, lower bounce rates, and increased conversions. Users expect sites to work flawlessly on mobile.

Duplicate content elimination

Duplicate content refers to identical or very similar content that exists on multiple pages on a website. This causes issues with search engine indexing, as engines can't determine which page to show in results.

Some common causes of duplicate content include:

• Same content published across multiple URLs

• Similar category, tag, author archive pages

• Pagination creating multiple similar URLs

• Print and mobile versions of pages

• Scraped or copied content

Consequences of duplicate content include:

• Dilution of page authority and link equity between duplicates

• Landing pages ranking instead of main pages

• Lower visibility as duplicates compete against each other

There are two main ways to fix duplicate content:

1. Canonical tags

Canonical tags specify the one preferred or canonical URL that search engines should index and rank:

html

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/page">

The canonical tag goes on all duplicate pages pointing back to original.

2. Noindex tags

Noindex prevents duplicate pages from being indexed. This removes them from competing with the original:

html

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

Noindex is best for removing pages entirely vs just consolidating authority.

Check for duplicate title and meta descriptions as well. Use Google Search Console to identify duplication issues. Eliminate and consolidate around a single URL version whenever possible.

Advanced Technical Factors for SEO Wins

Structured data enhancement

Adding structured data markup to your website helps search engines better understand your content. This can result in your pages appearing in rich search results like featured snippets, knowledge panels, or enhanced product listings.

Relevant schema markup should be implemented based on your site and content types. Ecommerce sites can markup product pages with Product schema, for example. Article schema is useful for blog posts and news articles. Event schema can highlight key event details like dates, location, and registration.

Search engines recommend JSON-LD format for structured data. There are many types of schema available from Schema.org to choose from. Proper implementation requires valid markup according to the schema specifications. Test your structured data using Google's Structured Data Testing Tool.

Focus on high-value pages first when adding markup. Product category pages, individual product pages, homepage, contact page, and blog posts offer good opportunities for rich results. Just be sure to use markup judiciously - don't overload pages with irrelevant schema. Monitor search appearance to see which markup is triggering rich results.

Some common schema types to consider:

• Product schema for ecommerce product pages

• Article schema for blog posts and news articles

• FAQ schema for FAQ and Q&A pages

• Event schema for events pages

• Breadcrumb schema for site navigation

• Review schema for product/service reviews

• Site navigation schema for menus and footers

Prioritize pages that answer common user questions and searches. Adding the right schema can help searchers quickly find the information they need in rich results.

Core web vitals optimization

Google's Core Web Vitals measure key aspects of user experience and page speed. Optimizing for these metrics can improve your site's search ranking and performance.

The three Core Web Vitals are:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - measures loading speed and marks when main content appears. Aim for LCP under 2.5 seconds.

• First Input Delay (FID) - measures responsiveness and quantifies delay when users click or tap. Target FID under 100 milliseconds.

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - measures visual stability and sums unexpected layout shifts. Strive for 0.1 or lower CLS.

There are various ways to optimize for these metrics:

• Minify HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images to improve page load speed. This directly improves LCP.

• Lazy load non-critical resources like images below the fold. Also boosts LCP.

• Reduce render-blocking resources by deferring non-critical CSS/JS. Helps LCP.

• Preconnect to third-party origins like APIs and CDNs. Also improves LCP.

• Code efficiently and size JavaScript bundles appropriately to prevent FID issues.

• Avoid cumbersome layout shifts, like ads or images loading in later. Fixes CLS problems.

Tools like PageSpeed Insights, Search Console, and Lighthouse provide Core Vitals reports to help diagnose optimization opportunities. Aim to have most pages scoring in the green for all three Core Vitals.

Hreflang implementation

Hreflang tags specify the target language and regional URLs for a page. Implementing hreflang helps search engines serve users the most relevant localized content for their location.

The basic format for a hreflang tag in HTML is:

html

<link rel="alternate" href="URL" hreflang="language_code">

The key components are:

• rel="alternate" indicates it is an alternate URL for the same content

• href is the target localized URL

• hreflang is the language/region code like "en-US"

Some tips for proper implementation:

• Add a hreflang tag in the HTML head for each translated version of a URL

• Use the correct ISO language/region codes

• Point to the equivalent localized URL in each hreflang href

• Make sure hreflang URLs actually exist, otherwise they are useless

• Include a self-referential tag pointing back to the current URL

Test your hreflang tags using Google's Rich Results Test to validate proper syntax and configuration. Monitor search appearance and analytics to confirm you are serving visitors appropriate localized content.

Boosting security with HTTPS

HTTPS encrypts data transferred between a website and visitors' browsers. It is increasingly becoming an important ranking factor as Google pushes for an all-HTTPS web.

To implement HTTPS:

• Obtain an SSL certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority like Let's Encrypt.

• Install the SSL certificate on your web server. This enables encryption and activates HTTPS.

• Redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS using server directives or a plugin. This ensures all traffic is secure.

• Update sitemaps and canonical tags to use HTTPS URLs.

• Replace all hardcoded HTTP links and resources with protocol-relative or HTTPS versions.

With HTTPS enabled, verify that:

• Browsers show a padlock icon and https:// in the URL bar. No security warnings should display.

• Pages load without any mixed content errors for insecure resources.

• Site speed is not negatively impacted by SSL overhead.

Migrating to HTTPS demonstrates to Google and visitors that security is a priority. It also unlocks SEO benefits like higher rankings, more clicks, and increased user trust.

Table of Contents

• Setting Goals and Key Performance Indicators

• Focus on Human-Centered Content

• Understanding Your Audience

  • Human-Written Content

• Conducting Keyword Research

  • Topic Alignment

• Creating an Editorial Content Calendar

  • Purposeful and Informative Content

• Promoting and Analyzing Performance

  • Original and High-Quality Content

• Topic Ideation Techniques

  • Expertise for Credibility

  • Well-Presented Content

  • Comparator and Context

• Distribution Channels

• Performance Tracking

• Content Maintenance

• Content Promotion

• Community Building

• In Conclusion

Setting Goals and Key Performance Indicators

Clearly define your blog’s goals and ideal outcomes. Common goals include increasing brand awareness, generating traffic, capturing leads, and establishing thought leadership.

Focus on Human-Centered Content

The primary goal is to create valuable content that caters to users' needs and interests. Develop content that provides solutions to audience questions and helps them achieve their goals. Build an understanding of user pain points through research and feedback.

Research your target audience

Conduct user interviews and surveys to gain insights into audience demographics, interests, and pain points. Analyze web traffic analytics and online community discussions to identify user questions and problems.

Read user comments and feedback

Regularly read through comments, forums, reviews, and social media related to your content topics. Note specific issues raised and suggestions provided for areas of improvement.

Discover search intent

Use keyword research tools to analyze search volume and trends for terms related to your topics. This reveals content gaps your audience is seeking answers for.

For each goal, determine specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress over time. Example KPIs: traffic, lead conversions, social shares, etc. Set targets for each KPI to benchmark success.

Understanding Your Audience

Develop detailed buyer personas representing your target blog readers. Outline demographic and psychographic details, along with their challenges, pain points, and questions. Refer back to these regularly when creating content.

Human-Written Content

While automation tools may speed up content creation, they often lack nuance and relevance. Human-written content by those knowledgeable in the subject matter ensures higher quality and value to users.

Involve subject matter experts

Have writers who possess deep expertise in the topic create content or oversee article creation by other authors. Their insight and perspectives result in valuable analysis and conclusions.

Limit automation

Strictly limit or avoid using automated content generation tools. While AI writing assistance has its place, it should only be used to supplement human-written drafts. The core substance should come from a person skilled in the subject.

Research your audience’s content preferences and formats they most engage with. Tailor and diversify your content accordingly rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Produce a variety of articles, videos, podcasts, and visual formats.

Conducting Keyword Research

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to research relevant keywords and long-tail keyword phrases, prioritizing those with moderate traffic and low competition. Organize researched keywords by priority to guide content creation around terms your audience is searching for.

Topic Alignment

The content created must tightly align with and directly speak to your site's primary user base and intended target audience.

Create content guidelines

Create detailed content guidelines listing the core topics and specific themes most relevant to your users. Refer to these guidelines to confirm any created content fits within your site's scope.

Brainstorm ideas

Brainstorm expansive lists of potential topic ideas centered around addressing the needs, interests, and curiosity of your specific audience base. Identify questions they have and problems you can provide solutions for.

Creating an Editorial Content Calendar

Map target keywords and high-potential topics to related content pillars and clusters. Coordinate across teams by compiling article titles, publish dates, and authors into an organized editorial calendar.

Purposeful and Informative Content

Providing substantive, informative content and delivering on the promises made in headlines and titles is crucial for user satisfaction. Thin content erodes trust over time.

Accurate titles

Design article titles and headlines that accurately and clearly reflect the core focus of the content. Don't exaggerate claims or take a sensationalized view just to attract clicks.

Honest titles

Ensure titles are enticing enough to spark reader interest, yet remain honest and avoid misleading readers just to serve the content. Find the right balance between intrigue and transparency.

Outline answers

Create a detailed content outline for each piece that ensures the information provided answers the questions or goals put forth in the title and introductory paragraphs. Answer what you promised.

Promoting and Analyzing Performance

Execute your promotion strategy across social media, email newsletters, influencer outreach and other channels. Continuously analyze performance data around traffic, engagement metrics, conversions, and ROI to refine your strategy.

Original and High-Quality Content

Creating unique, high-quality content sets you apart from competitors and enhances user experience by providing value readers can’t find elsewhere.

Fact check

Always thoroughly fact check statements made and cite credible third party sources to back up claims or support key ideas put forth in your content. Build reader trust.

In-depth information

Craft content that provides truly in-depth information and deeper analysis of topics rather than just surface-level information readers could easily find on their own with a quick search. Offer insights they can’t get elsewhere.

Avoid copying

Never simply rewrite or copy content from other sources without adding your own original commentary and analysis. Synthesizing information is fine but do not duplicate full sections word-for-word without additional input.

Topic Ideation Techniques

Use techniques like internal brainstorming sessions, keyword research for questions, competitor content analysis, monitoring industry news sites and publications, and social listening to generate fresh content ideas.

Focus on addressing known audience questions and pain points through your content. Maintain organized systems and use creative workflows for ongoing topic research, content mapping, creation guidelines, and performance analysis.

Expertise for Credibility

Establish credibility by ensuring your content visibly demonstrates expertise in the subject matter. Amateurish content is dismissed.

Demonstrate expertise

Write content that reflects a truly deep understanding of the topics covered. Demonstrate your competence to readers through informed analysis and conclusions.

Share credentials

Display detailed author bios highlighting relevant backgrounds, education, experience, accomplishments, and other credentials that establish authority.

Stay updated

Continuously remain on top of current events, news, research, and developments related to your topics in order to keep content up-to-date, accurate, and relevant over time. Outdated information destroys credibility.

Well-Presented Content

Well-structured and effectively-presented content enhances readability and keeps user attention focused on key information you want to convey.

Readability

Use ample paragraph spacing, appropriate font sizes, and easy-to-read fonts that allow users to smoothly process your content without strain or distraction.

Scannability

Break up dense sections of long paragraphs with descriptive headings, useful subheadings, and bulleted or numbered lists when applicable to ease skimming.

Multimedia

Weave in complementary visual elements like charts, images, illustrations, videos, and infographics that support key sections of text and improve engagement.

Proofread

Carefully proofread final drafts for any spelling errors, grammar issues, punctuation problems, and inconsistencies in style or formatting that undermine professionalism.

Comparator and Context

Provide content that stands out as more valuable, insightful, or useful than competing content that already exists on the same subject. Tailor it to genuinely address the interests of your readers.

Competitor analysis

Perform ongoing competitor analysis to closely monitor strengths and weaknesses of related content and sites. Identify gaps or areas needing improvement.

Regular review

Regularly review existing past content on your own site with a critical eye, identifying any outdated, underperforming, or irrelevant pages ready for updates, refreshers, or consolidation.

User feedback

Actively encourage and monitor user feedback through surveys, interviews, or reviews. Listen to suggestions and issues raised around existing content and leverage insights to shape future content.

With this training guide, beginners can confidently create SEO-focused, high-quality, and user-centered content that drives engagement and establishes a strong online presence. Practice these principles and tips to provide relevant content that both users and search engines appreciate while appropriately addressing Google's Helpful Content System questions.

Distribution Channels

Execute a distribution strategy to reach target audiences across social platforms, email lists, partner promotions and other online channels that align with your buyer personas.

Performance Tracking

Implement analytics tracking across website, social media and other channels. Continuously monitor performance data around traffic sources, user engagement metrics, conversions, and ROI.

Content Maintenance

Perform ongoing maintenance of existing content through activities like link building, optimizing pages for search visibility, monitoring for outdated information, consolidating weak performing pages, and refreshing old material.

Content Promotion

Develop an ongoing content promotion strategy utilizing social posting cadences, email newsletters, influencer partnerships, and paid promotion when warranted. Promote new and updated evergreen content.

Community Building

Engage audiences by enabling user generated content through reviews, comments, forums and social media. Respond to feedback and foster a community centered around your content and topics.

In Conclusion

By following this comprehensive guide, content creators can develop an effective and sustainable long-term blogging strategy.

With clear goals established, detailed research conducted, optimized production processes in place, and rigorous promotion and performance tracking implemented, your blog will provide ongoing value.

Stay nimble, understand your audiences, and keep content fresh and engaging. Consistently deliver helpful material aligned to user needs, and your community will continue growing. Forge lasting reader relationships through excellent content and responsive interactions.

Performing a Basic Website Audit

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will guide you through the process of performing a basic website audit, focusing on SEO aspects.

Introduction

A website audit is essential to identify SEO and performance-related issues that can impact user experience and search engine rankings. The following process will help you diagnose possible issues on a website.

Recommended SEO Extensions

Install the following SEO extensions for your browser to assist in the website audit process:

1. SEO Pro Extension

2. Redirect Path

3. Lighthouse Mobile Test

4. Keywords Everywhere

Website Audit Process

Step 1: Visit the Website

Open the website you want to audit in your browser.

Step 2: Check Metadata with SEO Pro Extension

Click the SEO Pro Extension (maple leaf icon) and evaluate the following:

• Is metadata present or missing?

• Is the canonical tag matching?

• Are Web Vitals good or bad?

• Is the language tag present?

Step 3: Assess Website's Headings

Click the 'Headings' tab in the Detailed SEO Extension and assess:

• Are headings present?

• Do they make sense structurally?

• Are any heading levels duplicates, skipped, or out of order?

Step 4: Analyze Website's Status and Redirects

Click the 'Status' tab in the SEO Pro Extension OR use the Redirect Path extension:

• 404 code indicates the website is not online

• A single 301/302 redirect is fine

• Multiple redirects in a row should be addressed

Step 5: Examine Schema

Click the 'Schema' tab in the SEO Pro Extension:

• Is structured data present?

• If there's content, it's a positive sign

• If no content is present, it's an issue

Step 6: Conduct Lighthouse Test

Open an incognito window (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N), right-click anywhere on the page, and access Lighthouse via Inspect > Overflow Menu > Lighthouse:

• Run a Mobile Lighthouse Test

• Screenshot the results for reporting purposes

Step 7: Analyze Performance with GTmetrix

Go to GTmetrix.com:

• Run a test on the website

• Compare the results against the Lighthouse Test

• Use the 'Waterfall' tab to pinpoint slow-loading files

• Screenshot the results for reporting purposes

Step 8: Document Findings

Compile and organize the findings to create a comprehensive report of the website audit.

Step 9: Implement Suggestions and Monitor Results

Work with the client or web developer to implement the recommended changes and monitor the website's performance to measure the impact.

There’s an issue with the way websites are understood.

I fear few people have a grasp on how the internet works.

The average person doesn’t have a second thought of understanding a medium they use every day.

A wealth of information made available to them, the greatest library in human history, a mere footnote in the world of social media and targeted content intended to make you spend money.

That's how they like it.

The largest companies; the ones that run the illusion of choice in our modern economy.

Family-owned businesses are few and far between, not due to their own decision-making.

Pandemics, corporate consolidation, and the purposeful exclusion of local business from the internet.

Not by Google, though. By every other company that is working to stamp out your organic reach on the internet.

What becomes of the local business owner or self-employed entrepreneur to stand against the mountains of noise in their field?

A website that presents unique, useful information, from the frame of a professional with experience, in a format that is a pleasure to use.

That's it.

And it may sound like a pipe dream to go up against some of the largest companies in your industry.

But I can guarantee you, that it is within the realm of reason.

This reasoning is true for B2B as it is for Brick and Mortar. There is not a situation that exists where a website (built to specification) does not aid a business.

The caveat is that specification though.

You have to know the specifications of the website as it relates to your business.

I'll leave you with this as I've got other content to write...

Here are some common website types:

1. Ecommerce — A transaction is intended within the website, tied to the business tech stack.

2. Lead Generation — You have service and sales team seeking MQL cultivation

3. SaaS — You run a software users need to be educated about.

There are other nuanced situations based on your profession or industry, we'll get into those another time.

Next time you're on a website, think about the intended function. As the user, think about the actions you're taking on the site, why you're there, and what it's doing for you.

Those are the basic tenets of SEO.

If you run a business and have a website, drop me a line.

Remember, you're on websites for reasons. So have reasons for your website.

— Vic

The type of curiosity is dependent upon your purpose of studying SEO.

If it's for you as a professional, you'll need to be 'in the know' in every aspect of subject matter relating to your industry.

If it's so you can be an SEO for others, you'll need to learn how to be 'in the know', in multiple aspects of subject matter relating to your client's industry, over and over.

If you're the type to give up after a short amount of time. 

If you've quit because the first two attempts didn't go your way.

SEO will not be an easy practice.

The entire point of the website is to beat out the competition and own a website that is authoritative for your industry & business model.

SEO is the type of subject that forces you to update your mindset.

There are many reasons to keep this behavior at the front of your mind. Google has hundreds of ranking algorithms for different sub-services of search that amalgamate into the 'Google' that you think of when I say "Google".

Most of what exists as far as organic search engine results, do so because of a myriad of ranking factors that are disclosed and undisclosed.

Some of them are measured with explicit means, as in Core Web Vitals.

Some of them are a measure that are implicit, as in E-E-A-T.

As a professional wading their way into the organic traffic competition, there are a few tools that will be of most use:

1. Beginner's Mindset: Move with the intent that your website will evolve, your writing style will change, the way you learn to communicate your expertise will grow — all as your website does.

2. Ask Questions: Learning how to ask yourself the questions that both users and search engines are seeking to have answered, will guide you in being creative in your content creation, and can ensure that the subjects you intend to cover are done with a methodology.

3. Avoid Complacency: This is the easiest trap to fall into as a professional with a website. Those who were 'ahead of the curve' in this regard are the most at-fault for not keeping up with the shifting needs of organic search. Your website will never stop being improved.

There are many ways to distinguish your website among your competition, but the basics break down as follows:

- Have Better Writing — Self-explanatory.

- Have Better Design — Fast-loading, easy-to-browse website.

- Have Better Links — Internal, External, & Back

SEO is a discipline that requires a beginner's mindset, the ability to question, test, & record your own methods, and asks that you do all of this in a way that makes it easy to read for your audience.

Easy, right?

Tomorrow we’ll discuss what happens before writing… research.

SEO is not a fixed practice, like PPC. It's fluid.

Interest over time changes. Writing style changes. Information density changes.

Knowing what works for current SEO standards happens in two places: in your mind and on search engines.

The first comes down to knowing about the brain and how it organizes information.

This breaks down further into semantics, linguistics, and etymology.

I will not be explaining those concepts in this writing but is an overarching theme to everything you'll be reading / I'll be writing about.

The Internet Is A Reflection Of How Information Is Stored In The Brain

Mental associations of subject matter is the primary function of a search engine.

It's form to thought.

The structure of an idea lies within the connections that can be drawn between them.

That's how's the 'search' part is built.

Here are some examples of this framework in action, with two different endgoals.

This example is a 3D structure of the concepts in your website, as interpreted by a search engine crawler (otherwise known as a spider).

The sitemap of one of my client’s sites, worked on the last few years.

This example is a node map of all the subjects I have studied since I was 18, as described by thousands of hours worth of study and writing.

A screengrab of my obsidian vault.

Both of these examples are visualization of how information relates to itself.

It's a reflection of humanity's understanding presented from the framework of seeking an answer without knowing it.

• The internet is the brain.

• The website; individual brain cells.

• The search engine; connection between them.

• The search query; sensory input.

• The search result; you get the idea.

You have to keep asking the question. You have to dig.

Learn how to ask good questions. Inquisitive questions. Investigate. Find new ways to ask. Refine. Repeat.

You don't get paid to answer the basic shit, you get paid for the result.

That's the point of the website: to answer that basic shit and get the traffic to convert and interact with you, after they've sold themselves, because of your content.

Protip — How many of your competitors provide your level of service? What objections do you encounter during the sales process? These are the angles you need to be exploring in your website.

It becomes a sales team that runs 24 hours a day.

See how that works?

P.S. — If your business needs SEO figured out immediately, drop me a line and we’ll see if we’re a good fit.

Earlier today I came to the realization:

It has to do with the ethics of marketing yourself in this world online.

And I think I can finally explain how doing this aligns with your intentions if you properly utilize the channels and think about what is actually being asked of you here in this digital sphere.

It's relatively easy if you think about the similarities between marketing yourself online as a brand to inspire and connect with others...

and you know... using social media, search engines, communicative platforms, etc. 'normally'.

Here's a relevant point to my example, this whole revision of Europe's privacy policy, I haven't read it and I don't care. There is no privacy on the internet.

Between your search engine results, buying habits, posting habits, profiles, cookies, traffic history, download history, streaming, gaming, or even telephony communications since 2001:

ALL of this information is collected and stored on a file in a server somewhere with your name, my name, their name, everyone ever even so much as taken a breath on a payphone, especially born after 9/11, you've been recorded.

With this information, advertising affiliates and data conglomerates have a more accurate psychological profile than any therapist would be able to ascertain for you.

(This is not something marketers disclose, the proof is out there, do your own research.)

Getting back to the point: why should you care about marketing yourself?

It's simple.

You control the contribution, you're selective with the energy shared, and you engage in meaningful networking; building relationships which add value to your life or those around you.

Surround yourself with those you want to emulate.

There's an example I can tie back to my experience as a musician

When you play with those better than you, with more experience, you find yourself having enhanced sight reading (ability to read + play music on 1st pass), tonal production (those around you have better timbre), or suddenly you just 'get it' and the music flows from you.

Moments like this are truly magic, to be surrounding with masters of their craft, it's inspiring and invigoration.

Take some time and think about it, you've already offered all of this information...

Might as well learn a skill that the layman doesn't care to know or even understand.

It's a whole digital jungle out here.

Digital communication is only going to become more immersive, more demanding of attention, more scattered, as the saturation of information increases to the point where humanity's history is lost in the digital archives of selfies and self-denial.

Alas, I am being too speculative. I digress.

Be true to yourself today.

Connect. Build. Grow.

We have a very real opportunity, and chances are, if you're reading this or are interested in my thoughts.

You and I just might be able to create a reality for the greater good.

Wherever you are.

I hope you are well.

This subject is one that’s of normal challenge because Humans are taught from a very young age to act a certain way in order to recieve love from two (much larger) humans when we are children.

I mean, let’s think about it logically:

We spend the first 5 years of our lives as curious children.

We are completely and utterly dependent on our parents (or some sort of guardian) in order to feed us, bathe us, clothe us, and teach us the mannerisms which are appealing to these adults, personally.

This doesn’t really serve as a problem, everyone needs someone to learn from.

Few humans make it on their own from birth if they’re abandoned.

How many children have you heard of that were actually raised by wolves that weren’t a fairy tale of some sort?

Not many.

Although these first few years of life are pinnacle in our development, they also set the tone for the type of children we become.

This is, at least, until we get into public schooling, and are taught to operate by what another set of adults deems as “appropriate”.

So, by the time we hit 18, we’ve made it through 5 years of exclusive parental guidance, and another 13 of public schooling.

We’ve picked up a LOT of habits that do not necessarily serve our highest good.

We’ve developed patterns in order to receive love / praise.

More often than not, these patterns are completely and utterly useless.

I’ll use myself as an example (because what other perspective could I possibly provide?)

I’ve dealt with trying to be “all things to all people” because in my eyes, there’s nothing that I can’t accomplish.

Although this isn’t a bad trait to have within the real world, there were some situations that would cause more problems than solutions.

It mainly had to do with my last two relationships: the last 8 years of my life.

I had the tendency to try and fix other people, before ever really getting to know who I was, or what my personal needs were for growth.

Relationship #1: 16-20 years old, with my high school sweetheart.

1. Developed codepency with someone who (was) socially anxious

2. Held internal resentment + blamed them for my lack of internal awareness and growth

3. Knew I wanted out of the relationship before the 2 year mark, but stayed anyway

I was nowhere near as self-aware as I am now. 

But after many, many mistakes, and realizing my role as an emotional and mental abuser, I ended it.

However, like many lessons, it repeated. Because I hadn’t truly learned to be alone with self.

I found myself infatuated with another woman within a week.

In fact, it was because of #2 that I broke it off with #1.

See the problem?

Relationship #2: 20-24 years old, with a woman 3 years my elder.

1. Literal repetition of problems with my previous relationship.

2. Narcissist / Empath dichotomy. 

3. We were both abusers, and victims.

Boy, was this one a ride.

From learning non-possessive love, dealing with physical abuse (her to me), both of us switching the abuser role multiple times per day (at it’s worst), and once again, I tried to fix problems with not just her.

But her immediate family as well.

Needless to say, it ended in disaster.

We were great friends, but terrible lovers.

It took, once again, me walking away from a relationship I knew was toxic.

This was harder than before because there was no amount of leaving that would prevent this person from pursuing me.

But, both relationships served a greater purpose.

I became a better communicator: both to self and to others (especially women).

I learned empathy (a trait I didn’t really have in my first relationship [I thought I was sociopathic like that])

I learned how to reinforce my personal boundaries, hell i learned HOW to HAVE boundaries.

I learned that there’s no amount of my influence that will change another person outside of myself.

But the greatest lesson of all, I learned how to be a blank slate, stay neutral, in the face of adversity, abuse.

There are no problems in this world that cannot be solved with a perspective of love.

Not in a demeaning way, or a condescending way, but in a way that holds the space for another person.

I, too willingly, allow myself to play ‘therapist’ for those around me.

I’m a great listener.

But only recently, have I learned not to speak.

We pick up patterns from our parents, our teachers, our friends, our experiences, hardships, upbringing, all of it.

The issue comes with still identifying by those patterns when they no longer serve us.

Once you’ve learned a lesson, there’s no longer a reason to subscribe to that version of yourself.

You’re free to be, that child in your youth.

Except now you know the rules of the game.

You know how to play.

You know how to defend yourself.

But that doesn’t mean you always have to.

And the trick to healing that inner-child, is to remind them (yourself) that you’re safe.

You’ve made it up until now.

You’re ready to create, to build, to invent, to discover, to LOVE.

Take a breathe.

Your next life is ready to begin.

If you’re ready to release the one that got you here.

Thank you for reading.

Anonymity throughout history meant nothing more than simply not sharing your name, or wearing a mask.

The sharing of ideas in public forums, both in ancient times and the modern era, have done nothing but serve the forward-moving mentalities which are the cause of moral development, cultural appreciation, and lively debate.

However, there is a looming threat: the gatekeepers of information are increasingly tightening their grip on people they deem ‘unworthy’ of having a voice.

Not only this, but the volatile nature of ‘cancel culture,’ when it comes to digital forums, threatens the livelihood of anyone that dares step outside the ‘status quo.’

This essay will defend the use of anonymity on the basis that healthy debate & discourse are the entire source of Culture and Ethics as we recognize (and bastardize) today.

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Using Pseudonyms

Notable thinkers we know by name throughout history, often took up the use of “Pen Names” in order to prevent excessive persecution for ideas deemed not publicly ‘palatable.’

Examples include:

• Benjamin Franklin (Richard Sanders / Mrs. Silence Dogood)

• Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)

• Charles Dickens (Boz)

These prolific writers understood the degree of danger they’d put themselves, and their families in, if their writing were to strike a frenzy in their society.

The argument could be made that without this degree of caution, there would be little incentive in putting such a target on the backs of your entire life simply to share a train of thought considered to be ‘counterculture.’

Even though these authors chose to separate their ideas from their identity, effectively relinquishing any possibility of associating those same “dangerous” thoughts with their personal lives, this would become a strategy used well into the future, for good reason.

The separation of ideas from identity can be argued as a net positive or negative for society.

On one hand, it prevents the threat of persecution for the simple action of sharing these ideas, on the other hand, many use anonymity as a tool for spreading hate speech, defamation, and threats of violence, because it is understood that they are not likely to be held responsible for their words in a public forum.

This is the double-edged sword in those who prefer to remain anonymous in modern culture.

Although there is little that can be done to prevent the spread of such messages and threats, the only solutions that come about from politicians and law-makers, or in countries like China, is to implement restrictions of communication based on how much information is provided prior to the use of the internet.

At which point, all online communication is ‘scored’ against a scale determined by the country’s government. As bad as being harassed online may seem, there is nothing worse than automatically revoking your privacy for the sake of security.

To the opposition who may claim that privacy is not important to them in their use of online communication, I offer a simple rebuttal: the modern strategy ubiquitously known as “Doxxing.”

Cancel Culture In Modernity

This means personally identifiable information including (but not limited to): Full Name, Address, Social Security Numbers, Birth Certificates, Occupation, Employer, or the information of their Family Members.

This action has become more popular in modern times due to the implementation of ‘cancel culture,’ which is the hive-mind, collective decision, to take any and all action possible in the degradation of one’s lifestyle.

This can mean not supporting their work, attempts to get them fired, or repeated actions of harassment online or in the real-world.

Couple this with ‘doxxing,’ and we’re reaching unprecedented danger for anyone who shares thoughts that others may take offense to, not want to recognize, or refuse to consider themselves part of a larger problem as a whole.

Entire lives have been ruined for the plain and simple fact that many do not consider their place in the world, automatically seething with rage at those who attempt to move society forward in a progressive manner. It is akin to blaming the mirror for the reflection seen within it.

This fallacious approach to recognition will only serve to degrade societal standards for discourse & debate, increasing exponentially in the coming years.

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Anonymity as a Digital Right to Defense

Anonymity has served a critical role in the development of ideas: intellectually, socially, & culturally. This importance is no less subdued in the modern day. Those who are considered radical are in danger of risking their entire livelihood for simply sharing ideas that may be against the modern ‘norm’ or status quo.

In light of this, many have decided to keep their identities as close-guarded secrets from prying eyes.

Although “Anons” are typically frowned upon, the severity by which herd mentality has infected the modern world serves only to destroy those they do not deem worthy of a public platform.

In lieu of this, many ideas and discourse, those of which have steered the course of history in innumerable ways, are being stifled for the sake of personal sensibilities.

With the looming threat of hyper-centralized information gate-keepers, those who are deemed “too dangerous” are simply swept under the rug. This sort of behavior does nothing but prevent the sharing of arguments, and debates, which homogenize popular culture into a form that is more easily controlled, easily regulated, and worst of all, easily revoked.

This is a dangerous precedent for the interactions which are the entire source of Culture, Ethics, Mythology, and Oratory; if such a threat is not managed, soon, we may all be stifled in our expression of self.

I am writing this because I was inspired to begin.

Now, what's so special about starting, you might ask?

To start, to begin, is to observe the canvas before the painting, tune into the silence before composing, to reach that deep part within yourself that says, "Hey let's do this thing, that'd be fun."

Now, I'm particularly good at starting things, this has never been an issue for me. The problems arrive with follow-through and proper utilization of time. These are not special to me, or anyone really.

But, I've been noticing a trend among my peers when it comes to starting a project, taking on a dream, or simply attempting to create the reality suited for your entity.

No one like starting: it requires attention, focus, and inertia.

Inertia is the an object's willingness to stay in one place, or continue it's momentum.

We've all heard this in one form or another.

Now, here's the something that's overlooked by many of us, still within our youth (and foolishly thinking 'time is on our side')

Life is a continual process of 'starts'. But it will slip you by. Don't wait, don't watch.

Get off your ass and do the damn thing.

Humans LOVE to get in their own way, some of us are better than others at creating excuses / reasons why our dreams are not important enough to begin.

This is a problem.

"I can't do ____, I won't make money"

"That seems too hard, I don't know where to begin"

"I really want to, but there's not enough time.

Bullshit.

All of it.

A simple remedy for standing in your own way is to pretend as though someone else told you, you weren't good enough. Would you take that?

Bet you'd fight them tooth and nail to prove yourself. But why is it that we can't prove ourselves TO ourselves?

Perhaps that is the true beginning. Discerning the difference between divine inspiration and LAZINESS.

I'll share a brief story that happened to me yesterday, which brought along this entire point:

I was working with a new partner on an all-inclusive dropshipping service, as their copywriter.

We start chatting about Google Ads for a sister-company that I'm currently employed under.

I mention that I don't want to handle that shit because I have no experience.

Dude says to me, "Don't be a pussy. Learn that shit. You're going to pass on FREE experience?"

That's all that I needed to hear.

It's the entire reason I've stayed at this job so long — to gain relevant experience for my current projects.

And now that I've "learned enough", I almost fell into the trap of complacency.

Comfort, in any form, is the enemy.

You need to stay on your toes, devising the next solution.

Ascertain the parts you need to create the reality you want for your life.

But it all begins: when you Be-G-In.

Unlock your Inner-G (ENERGY)

It's weird that it's one of a potent form of indoctrination.

Worse than that, it's the ultimate form of inheritance.

It's nepotism. This isn't a debated perspective to have. It's understood. That's the entire point.

This may be a surprise to you, but there are companies that exist which are as old as the silent generation. Older even.

Companies that are 75 years old, have gone numerous generations. Given the time frame, it's can be two or three, four in the more rare occasions. Five if the family is about it.

You get the picture.

Each generation of these companies has to adjust with the times most pressing for that time period.

Innumerable wars, recessions, global trade agreements, everything that has chipped that number of companies lower and lower.

There are areas where these inherited responsibilities of the livelihoods of hard-working, skilled labor, are about to be aged out.

It's gonna be hung up. The average age of those that are running these companies on the... later half in life.

It's a fact of nature.

Below them on the corporate ladder, are younger-yet high managers and those that have to do things like: keep up with the times.

They were the pioneers of the original Web and Web 2.0. These are those that prefer to get 'in the trenches'.

Geocities. AIM. Livejournal. IRC. All the other old shit I wasn't around for. Myspace. Wordpress. etc, etc.

These are the people who built those B2B websites back in 2008 or 2012 or whenever it was, but it was a while ago.

The internet has sifted underneath these websites that intend to be useful.

They intent to conduct sales. Or display the product. In some way or another have a purpose for customers or distributers.

That's the point.

Search crawlers weren't sophisticated beyond the amount of times a keyword or phrase occurred on the page.

But Google changed the game.

They became the best at matching people to the things they want to see.

91% of market share's worth (a number of this percentage was paid for) but still.

So people are getting the results (from Google) about business that is near their business (suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, transportation to move the product itself, the list goes on).

Google changes the game, what were at one time considered "good" websites are now not as prominent.

This is money that could be of some use in this economy.

Let's draw the thread:

Older people are running older companies, which are running older websites, which are not as prominent, all because of what?

Not due to a lack in expertise.

Not because they're not good at what they do.

Not because their sales teams don't know how to sell.

But because the website is not pulling its weight.

And why isn't the website pulling its weight?

Because Google has determined that websites which aren't organized in a fashion that is useful for users, shouldn't be shown.

But what can be done to combat this?

"Helpful" Content.

What's that?

That's what your sales team is using on the phone.

In their emails. On their lunches.

Whenever they're doing the sales.

It'd be fair to ask yourself: how, is SEO, the same as Sales?

There's an order of unfolding the information for your customers, that is your SEO.

The order of the content, how it looks, and the proof that the business is what it says it is.

Of the website.

(That's it.)

If you want to shortcut the gradual unfolding of how this relates to your business, respond or comment on this & I'll come back with the context your content needs for those that are looking for you.