Incoming links, or backlinks, still matter for SEO. But they are becoming less important for Google. We know the latter to be true since Googlers have reiterated this for years.
In November, Duy Nguyen from Google’s search quality team expressed the same, while explaining why link building campaigns are a waste of time and money and indicating where to allocate your SEO spend instead:
“…you probably should not waste your money in spamming links. That money is much needed in creating a great website with great user experience and helpful content.”
However, I don’t think spending 100% of your SEO budget on UX and content alone is enough to drive organic search results. Just going after links won’t cut it in most markets either.
What you need is a balanced SEO budget. Achieving that balance is not always easy.
To determine the best possible SEO budget, you must put a premium on tasks that move the needle. Read on to learn how.
The ‘good old days’ of backlinks are (not yet) over
When I started practicing SEO in 2004, many empty sites ranked on Google. I soon discovered there were shady practitioners behind those projects.
“SEO spammers” have been using all kinds of tricks to build links to their otherwise useless sites. (In my opinion, you either do SEO or do spam. You can’t negatively optimize by definition. You either break or fix things.)
The only use of such “over-optimized” sites, as Google later diplomatically called them, was to make money for their owners – often SEOs themselves who would create them for affiliate revenue and passive income.
At the end of 2022, Google announced another link spam update dealing with:
- (Exact) match anchor text links.
- Irrelevant links.
- Foreign language links.
- Other unnatural links.
Google states that spammy links “are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links are lost.”
Thank God the days of common link spam are over!
To be clear, backlinks are still a ranking factor. But because of Google’s “robust ranking signals,” they can detect and remove sites with unnatural link profiles from the SERPs and “rank the most relevant and useful results for all queries” instead.
Google also updated the E-A-T concept in December to ensure that authors with proper first-hand “experience” end up higher in SERPs, hence the new acronym E-E-A-T.
Keep a significant chunk of the budget for linkable assets and outreach that will lead to links down the road.
Ideally, your content will be so exceptional that it will attract links naturally. You might be better off with a bigger content marketing spend than allocating dollars on link building.
Building links to empty sites or those with shallow content will be a waste of money. On the contrary, quality content may earn links automatically.
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UX as a Google ranking signal
User experience (UX) as a ranking factor is nothing new. When Google introduced UX ranking signals to its ranking algorithm years ago, it was a paradigm shift.
Before that, the ugliest websites with dismal interfaces ranked high with simple HTML pages. Nowadays, human quality raters and AI algorithms can spot which sites perform well with users and which are simply built to rank.
You have no choice. Actual visitors can no longer be ignored. Outdated SEO tactics won’t suffice. Everything will not magically fall into place just because you have website traffic.
Building findable and usable websites starts with writing descriptive and compelling titles and meta descriptions. There are numerous aspects of UX you have to take into account to meet searchers’ – and Google’s – expectations:
- Findability: Content users can’t find on-site is less likely to get crawled and indexed. Link important pages on top, not invisibly in the footer.
- Load times: It started a minor ranking signal and still hasn’t been taken into account by many sites despite being a major part of Google’s Core Web Vitals. I’ve seen website speed make or break sites. Consider reducing third-party scripts and image file sizes. (You can use WebP for large images.)
- Look and feel: A page that is overloaded with ads above the fold and has usability issues due to a cluttered interface will perform poorly on Google. Let your content breathe. Improve your text formatting and add as few website elements as possible.
- Readability: Do you use tiny, unreadable fonts and almost no white space throughout your content section? You’re not alone. Many sites still suck at readability. Google knows this and will not display them on top of search results anymore. Make your fonts bigger. Add white space. Stress important parts.
- Value proposition: What is your site about and what exactly does it offer its visitors? It’s still somewhat of a secret for many sites. The “x made simple” slogan is better than nothing, but ideally, your unique selling proposition is stated clearly and succinctly. Otherwise, Google may not know what your site is about, especially if it’s just about “viral content.”
These are just the UX best practices. Once you have those covered and the next budget is available, you can invest more.
One area that most sites still neglect is meeting the needs of people with disabilities, who make up about one in four people in the U.S.
Accessibility affects non-disabled individuals as well. Here are some less obvious examples:
- People with poor eyesight but are below the “vision impairment” status.
- Otherwise healthy individuals with recurring headaches or migraines who can’t focus or stare into glaring screens for a long period of time.
- Parents who are multitasking (e.g., a parent only having one arm available due to holding their baby.)
Complying with WCAG and ARIA standards for website accessibility also simplifies the crawling and indexing process.
Why? Google is still the proverbial “blind five-year-old” to a large extent. The bots read the code and do not see the websites as humans do.
Content’s ever-growing importance
This should be obvious for people who have followed the evolution of the web and Google search in particular. More than ever, Google prefers content that is:
- Evergreen.
- Fresh.
- High quality.
- Helpful.
With content’s significance, can’t we just slash the SEO department and replace the geeks with writers and photographers?
Well, not so fast.
To an extent, editorial links (those given by actual writers, editors and publishers) influence the ranking of a webpage on Google search results.
Content still has to attract links or it will be largely invisible. There is too much mediocre and low-quality content out there. Most competitive queries have dozens or hundreds of sites fighting for attention by offering similar content. The only way to find out which one of those articles is truly helpful is by looking at who recommends them throughout the web.
Sure, when investing in SEO, content is a must. But avoid spending money on cookie-cutter, regurgitated content merely written for Google bots to digest. That era is nearly over.
With the helpful content system in place, Google not only takes content quality into account. They’re looking to reward helpful content for human beings in search of answers, solutions and inspiration.
In the past, I often heard the line “let’s add some SEO content in the footer for Google.”
This so-called “SEO content” strategy should not be a part of your SEO budget for 2023. That’s like throwing dollar bills in the trash.
Alternatively, focus on linkable assets or, even better, link magnets. What’s the difference?
The first type is linkable but still rather requires PR or outreach, the second one is truly stellar content that attracts links like a magnet.
How to allocate your SEO funds in 2023 and beyond
With SEO being a multidisciplinary approach, you can’t just build links and forget the rest. You must set priorities for your website and online presence as a whole. (Think social media!)
The SEO budget is not just meant to be spent on technical SEO, like crawling and indexing. You have to make SEO a holistic endeavor or fail at it.
SEO encompasses more than search engines, it is also linked to social and content.
Avoid thinking in ‘strictly SEO’ terms
Whenever I suggest improving UX or writing content for SEO, a common client objection I hear is…
“Yeah, but that’s not SEO. I just want you for SEO services.”
Well, this “strictly SEO” approach is futile in 2023.
Embrace a holistic website optimization philosophy. SEO is not about “feeding the bots” but meeting searchers’ needs. Google gets closer to being a mirror of human expectations every year and I expect 2023 to be a giant leap in that direction. It has been in the making for many years and now the time is ripe.
In the best case, you don’t pay for an SEO audit upfront before doing hands-on work but get a holistic website or web presence audit (including social media accounts).
Assign SEO importance to actual tasks
Look at the list below. Do you think the following are needed for SEO?
- Information architecture
- User experience design
- Web development
- Content creation and distribution
- Public relations and outreach
If your answer is “no,” you still adhere to a “strictly SEO” mindset.
The tasks above have their place, even in traditional SEO strategies.
Internal architecture relates to internal linking which can influence a site’s crawling and indexing.
Well-done user experience design ensures findability, readability, fast load times, and a welcoming look and feel that is easy on the eyes.
Divide the budget by departments
Do you have a company with several departments (i.e., technology, content, marketing, sales, etc.)? Or are you outsourcing various tasks to freelancers?
Even if you’re doing everything on your own (which is not advisable), you should allocate your “time” resources appropriately.
As we have seen above, SEO tasks differ in nature. Some are technical, others are content-related or involve PR and outreach to journalists and influencers. Ultimately, SEO must drive results – specifically, revenue.
So given this example, could you simply divide the budget by quarters? It’s not that simple.
A well-established website with all the technical SEO basics does not require 25% of the SEO budget anymore. Once a foundation is set, you can focus on the actual building.
Is your site almost empty with no content besides self-promotional copy and product or service descriptions? Then invest heavily in the content department.
You might even have to set up one in the first place. Most companies will have employees responsible for technology, marketing and sales, but not all of them assign someone to content yet.
Let SEO people help ‘other’ teams
Most companies are not big enough to be able to afford a dedicated SEO team. If you’re lucky, you will have an SEO specialist in the marketing department. But many rely on external agencies or independent consultants instead of paying for an in-house SEO. I myself have been working as a “hands-on” freelance SEO and consultant for many years.
What I have learned is that SEO experts often get treated like aliens from outer space when confronted with an already-established business hierarchy.
Website audit advice often ends up being implemented half-heartedly, if not at all. Many things get lost or misunderstood in the process of dealing with many different stakeholders.
At times, freelance SEOs are treated at the lowest level in the hierarchy and SEO best practices as a mere afterthought. In some cases, they are not even in contact with those in charge of implementing the changes.
In reality, SEO experts are like angels spreading wealth throughout the different teams and should be treated with regard.
Assign a specific SEO budget, even if you don’t have an SEO on the team. Then let the SEO practitioner “spend it” on the other teams.
If your technical SEO foundation is sound, then assign the funds to the content and PR/outreach tasks.
Or, if your website content is excellent and has earned many incoming links but nobody can find you – your technical SEO might be the culprit.
Is your site dead slow, your content not in the index or barely readable? Then the tech team gets the bigger funds again. Just don’t view the SEO as someone who competes for funds, attention and status against other teams and their members.
SEO is not the lowest or the highest in the hierarchy. SEO experts help every other team in one way or the other.
Balance SEO spend based on results
Where to place your bet on SEO often depends on the current technology, content and relationships which all change over time.
Once you have established a solid content marketing plan, goals and KPIs, you can review the success of particular SEO efforts.
- Did the content work out for the ideal audiences? Did it attract links?
- Did the influencers spread the word about and link to you after the outreach?
- Did the infrastructure changes result in higher website speed and faster indexing?
Key performance indicators like that can always be measured and inform you what works and doesn’t.
The post Where should you spend your SEO budget? appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Original source: https://searchengineland.com/where-spend-seo-budget-392257
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라이징 슬롯
Fang Jifan은 Zhu Houzhao를 찾을 수 없었기 때문에 그가 아마도 10명 중 9명일 것이라는 것을 알고 다시 첫 번째 작업장에 갔다.
문 프린세스 100
실험실은 Xishan의 다양한 연구 기관 건물 중 하나입니다.
토토 캔 배당 분석
아버지는 황진주로 가셨지만 언제 다시 만날지 알 수 없었다.
슬롯 메이저
또 다른 기사가 있습니다. Dean Zhu는 Shangao 황제가 멀리 떨어져 있다고 말했습니다 …
A big thank you for your blog postReally looking forward to read more Keep writing
슬롯 무료
오늘은 Fang Xiaofan 덕분에 말문이 막혔습니다.
온라인 슬롯 머신
“오.” 주후조는 머뭇거리더니 순순히 빠져나갔다.
슬롯 보증 사이트
Zhu Houzhao는 눈살을 찌푸리며 “무슨 일이야?”라고 말했습니다.
에그슬롯
새 옷으로 갈아입었지만 홍치제는 이 사람이 심한 고문을 당했다는 것을 알고 있었다.
沖ドキ! 25
毎回、このブログから多くを学びます。感謝しています。
Reactoonz
素晴らしい内容と素敵な書き方で、非常に楽しめました。
geinoutime.com
“이게 또 Fang Qing의 아이디어입니까?” Hongzhi 황제는 미소를 지었다.
k8 パチンコ
いつも素晴らしい情報を提供してくれてありがとうございます。
geinoutime.com
이제 모든 사람은 이것을 걱정하는 Xishan으로 날아갈 날개가 부족합니다 …
k8 ギャンブル
この記事から多くを学びました。非常に感謝しています。
k8 カジノ ログイン
とても役立つ情報が満載で、実践的なアドバイスがありがたいです。
geinoutime.com
“진짜 사나이… 이 말이 진심이냐?” 황태후는 충격에 얼굴이 창백해졌다.
k8 カジノ 一花
読んでいてとても勉強になりました。素晴らしい内容です!
geinoutime.com
일을 하고 싶은 사람들은 즐겁게 이야기하지만, 도시에 들어온 마을 사람들 중 일부는 불안해합니다.
thewiin.com
그는 또한 Qi Guogong이 마지막 사람임에 틀림없다고 생각했습니다.
オンカジ k8
この記事を読んで、たくさんの新しいことを学びました。
veganchoicecbd.com
물론 전제는 제어 가능한 범위 내에 있고 그렇지 않으면 실행이 모두 종료됩니다.
bmipas.com
素晴らしい記事で、心から感動しました。共有せずにはいられません。
geinoutime.com
Wang Zuo는 얼굴에 미소를 지으며 “왜 제공이 오지 않았습니까?”
ilogidis.com
특별히 급한 상황이 아니라면 날아다니는 비둘기를 이용해 편지를 전달하는 것은 불가능하다.
usareallservice.com
読んでいてとても勉強になりました。素晴らしい内容です!
onair2tv.com
“세상에는 지식이 너무 많아서 위아래로 찾아봤지만 뭐가 뭔지 모르겠어.”
qiyezp.com
Liu Jian은 서기관의 말을 들었지만 그의 얼굴은 무표정했고 중립적으로 “오”라고 말했습니다.
fpparisshop.com
読む価値のある素晴らしい記事でした。
animehangover.com
밖에는 이미 서기관들이 기다리고 있었고, 유공의 명령을 듣고 서둘러 팡지판을 찾았다.
qiyezp.com
Xie Qian은 완전히 어안이 벙벙한 채 Fangliang을 똑바로 응시했습니다.Xie Qian은 깊은 걱정에 눈살을 찌푸렸습니다.
toasterovensplus.com
いつも新しい知識を得られる、本当に素敵なブログです。
veganchoicecbd.com
“얘야…그는 죽어 마땅해!” 서기관의 목소리는 겁에 질려 있었다.
tintucnamdinh24h.com
Hongzhi 황제는 감정적으로 말했습니다. “자, 얼굴을 들어 보자.”
fpparisshop.com
素晴らしい記事!共有せずにはいられません。
sandyterrace.com
그의 몸이 눌려 움직일 수 없게 되자 강한 자 몇 사람이 그를 결박하기 시작했습니다.
fpparisshop.com
素晴らしい洞察力と情報の提供、本当にありがとうございます。
donmhomes.com
このブログのファンになりました!素晴らしい情報源です。
qiyezp.com
그 결과 말을 탄 황실 근위병들은 거침없이 질주했다.
sandyterrace.com
장 황후는 “그 아이 Fang Jifan은 정말 유능합니다. “라고 말했습니다.
ihrfuehrerschein.com
그래서 소식을 들은 철도국의 첫 반응은 고개를 저었다.
cougarsbkjersey.com
この記事はとても心に響きました。素晴らしい内容です。
qiyezp.com
이때 북동쪽에서 말의 무리가 천천히 왔다.
onair2tv.com
달아날 때 그는 “황실 사절이 누군가를 죽였고 Xiaoling이 누군가를 죽였습니다! “라고 외치는 것을 잊지 않았습니다.
qiyezp.com
북한에서 온 배가 이곳에 도착했습니다.
toasterovensplus.com
この記事は日常生活で非常に役立ちます。大感謝です!
exprimegranada.com
このブログの記事はいつも心に強く響きます。素晴らしいです。
exprimegranada.com
このブログは本当に私の心に響きます。いつもありがとうございます。
qiyezp.com
“내가 아니야, 내가 아니야.” 어떤 사람들은 자신을 변호하기 위해 열심이었습니다.”120만 냥이 아닙니까?” 홍지황제가 살짝 눈살을 찌푸렸다.
qiyezp.com
눈이 토끼처럼 피가 조금 붉어지는 것뿐입니다.
cougarsbkjersey.com
この記事は実に実用的で、大変役に立ちました!
sandyterrace.com
왕 부시의 눈은 피로 가득 차 있었고 “세상의 쓰레기”라는 단어는 특히 가혹했습니다.
ttbslot.com
이러한 사고 방식의 변화는 실제로 매우 이해할 수 있습니다.
qiyezp.com
Hongzhi 황제는 놀라서 눈을 들어 “오, 내 임무는 어디입니까? “라고 놀랐습니다.
ttbslot.com
“내 생각이 뭐지?” Xie Qian은 자신의 본능을 사용하여 논쟁하기 시작했습니다.
ttbslot.com
Hongzhi 황제는 기운을 북돋우고 불친절한 얼굴로 모든 클랜원을 바라 보았습니다.
yangsfitness.com
곰곰이 생각해보면 동공의 모든 행동은 홍치제의 눈 아래 있었다.
madridnortehoy.com
이때 Chen Yan은 눈에 빛을 비추고 멀리 있는 팀을 바라보았습니다.
sm-casino1.com
그는 너무 많은 목회자들의 마음을 상하게 하면 예측할 수 없는 결과를 초래할 것임을 자연스럽게 알고 있었습니다.
sm-online-game.com
견습생과 손자는 주인의 머리가 아프다는 말을 듣고 많은 사람들이 살인자가되었습니다.외부인의 유입으로 인해 황진주에는 각종 질병이 유행하게 되었습니다.
smcasino-game.com
Hongzhi 황제는 최근 항상 배가 고팠고 매일 Wen Yansheng을 고대했습니다.
sm-online-game.com
이 발언이 나오자 주후조는 이상하게 팡지판을 바라보며 어리둥절했다.
andrejpos.com
Xiao Jing이 말했듯이 모든 금과 은이 뒤로 이동하는 것이 어떻게 가능합니까?
pragmatic-ko.com
예부 장관인 Zhang Sheng은 분명히 이에 대해 상당히 비판적입니다.
yangsfitness.com
그가 외부 세계에 강한 관심을 갖는 것은 이번이 처음이다.
dota2answers.com
Zhu Houzhao는 Fang Jifan의 소매 만 잡아 당기고 Fang Jifan의 소매를 반복해서 돌 렸습니다.
smcasino7.com
사람들은 이 학자들에게 친절해지기 시작했습니다.
smcasino-game.com
그리고 Mao Ji는 마차에서 내리자 고개를 들어 검은 남자를 바라봤습니다.
smcasino7.com
“아이가 나왔고, 전하가 아이를 품에 안고 나오더니, 누에방에서 나왔다.”
dota2answers.com
홍지황제는 무슨 말을 해야 할지 몰라 한숨을 쉬었다.
lfchungary.com
“아버지.” Zhu Zaimo는 다른 사람들이 그의 머리를 만지는 것을 좋아하지 않았습니다.
sm-casino1.com
“와… 형님도 여기 계시네요.”
baseballoutsider.com
Zhu Hou는 그것을 처리하고 마스크에서 “그가 이해할 수 있습니까? “라는 목소리를 냈습니다.
this-is-a-small-world.com
삼백 년에 한 번 오는 폭우가 이 두 달 안에 오기 마련이다.
homefronttoheartland.com
Shengjia를 환영하기 위해 이미 여러 곳에서 모은 공물이 제대로 준비되었습니다.
10yenharwichport.com
Fang Jifan은 서둘러 고개를 끄덕였습니다. “폐하 정말 친절합니다 …”
chasemusik.com
Li Yingxing의 얼굴 지방이 떨리고 그는 침묵했습니다.
socialmediatric.com
뉴스가 나오자 수많은 사람들이 다양한 채널을 통해 뉴스의 진위 여부를 문의하기 시작했다.
tsrrub.com
이번에는 Wang Wenyu의 예측이 실제로 … 완전히 일치했습니다!
socialmediatric.com
가재는 특히 장시와 같은 환경에서 먹이기 쉽습니다.
restaurant-lenvol.net
Liu Jian 세 사람은 눈을 곧게 펴고 어안이 벙벙한 채 서로를 응시하며 무슨 말을 해야 할지 몰랐습니다.
amruthaborewells.com
아버지는 아무 말도 하지 않고 묵묵히 듣기만 하셨다.
reggionotizie.com
Zhu Zaimo는 경의를 표하며 낮은 목소리로 “Sun Chen이 큰 아버지를 보았습니다. “라고 말했습니다.
https://www.comacem.com
그러나 Fang Jifan에게 이것은 기대가 아니라 분명히 압박입니다.
eggc
수십 걸음의 이 짧은 거리는 그에게 자연의 해자와 같다.
https://google.cg/url?q=https://www.tnlcompetition.com
Hongzhi 황제는 위의 거대한 47 호를 보았을 때 당황하지 않을 수 없었습니다.
프라그마틱 슬롯 무료
작업장에서는 교향곡 같은 조화로운 소리가 아주 빠르게 들렸다.
에그슬롯
하지만 항상 걱정하시는 분들도 적고, 금단증상도 있습니다.
프라그마틱 슬롯 사이트
“은퇴?” 왕부시는 우스꽝스러운 연극을 보는 듯 웃음을 자아냈다.
씨큐나인슬롯
사실 그런 터무니없는 일들이 점점 줄어들고 있습니다.
인터넷카지노
“…” Zhu Houzhao는 갑자기 아들이 점점 멀어지는 것을 느꼈습니다.