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  • What Is the difference between Click Fraud and Invalid Clicks?

    What Is the difference between Click Fraud and Invalid Clicks?

    The world of advertisement and marketing is a tricky one. The relationship between search engines and advertisers is based on trust. Nowadays, advertisers are often exploiting that trust by committing click fraud and abusing invalid clicks.  In this post, we shall share some detailed insights on click fraud and invalid clicks.

    What Are Invalid Clicks and Click Fraud? Advertisers pay a handsome sum of money to market their websites on different platforms. Most of the websites opt to choose a medium of advertisement that follows the pay-per-click (PPC) model. Here, the advertiser has to pay a certain amount to the host every time a customer clicks on the advertisement posted on the host’s website. 

    In this form of marketing, the website owners often have a budget cap on the amount of money they can spend on advertisement for a specific period. In recent years, these websites showed growing concern when they met their budget caps too quickly, without having any sort of impact on their reach. 

    This issue was a result of people committing click fraud and exploiting invalid clicks. In simple terms, people use these two mediums to cheat the paying advertisers by mounting illegitimate clicks on their published ads, which compels the advertisers to pay for clicks that aren’t doing any good for their business. 

    The Difference between Invalid Clicks and Click Fraud

    Over the years, people have been using the terms interchangeably. This is because both click fraud and invalid clicks have the same negative end product for a website owner. They both force the advertisers to pay the cost for illegitimate clicks that are not bringing any positive development for their websites. 

    Keeping all this in mind, it isn’t surprising that many people think both these terms have the same practical meaning. But in truth, they have a few different characteristics that you should be aware of. 

    The main purpose behind Click Fraud is to inflate the cost of your advertising campaign through illegitimate clicks on your ads. This is a technique that your competitors may use to sabotage your growth. People often use automated tools and bots to carry out Click Fraud. 

    It is important to note that people can commit click fraud on various levels. It can be a low-level attempt where only a single person clicks on your ads as many times as possible. It can also be a more complex attempt where your competitors pay third-party teams and systems to commit click fraud.

    Invalid clicks, on the other hand, can be purely accidental. Google AdWords is responsible for differentiating between valid and invalid clicks. It uses an algorithm to cherry-pick the clicks it deems genuine and throws out the clicks which it decides are irregular, extraneous, or inflated. Something as simple as an accidental double click on your advertisement will also qualify as an invalid click.

    The algorithm that Google AdWords uses to determine invalid clicks is still unclear to most of the experts. Google decided not to make the algorithm public to ensure that people don’t further exploit it for their gain. 

    The primary difference between the two, thus, lies in the intention of the users that commit either click fraud or invalid clicks. The sole purpose of click fraud is to destabilize one’s competition by sabotaging their advertising strategy. Invalid clicks, on the other hand, may be accidental. This, however, does not stop advertisers from being suspicious of people who could try to exploit invalid clicks for their gain. 

    Some in-built invalid click systems look to abuse Google AdWords’ algorithm to gain an edge over their competitors. However, website owners don’t have a lot to worry about as there are plenty of counter-measurements for such issues as well. 

    Whom to be Afraid of?

    Now that we know that there are ways to exploit both click fraud and invalid clicks to sabotage someone’s advertising campaign, we should be aware of the personal motivators behind such attacks. 

    For the most part, you should expect such attacks from your fiercest competitors. By ruining your marketing campaign, they get an invaluable edge over you in the market. Too many illegitimate clicks on your advertisements will mean that you suffer great losses in terms of revenue. 

    But what are the main motivations behind committing click fraud and exploiting invalid clicks? Let’s find out.

    • Sabotaging key competitors by inflating the amount of money they spend on PPC (pay per click) ad campaigns. 
    • Crippling competitors by forcing them to meet their budget cap early on, making their overall plans ineffective. 
    • Ad publishers themselves might commit such attacks to maximize the profits that they get out of the victims. 

    So, there you go: you need not only worry about your competitors but the platforms where you are hosting your ads as well! Just think about it, wouldn’t it be so easy for them to generate unbelievable revenue by using such malicious tricks? This is a call for you to start selecting your advertising partners after careful consideration. 

    Are the Prevention Methods Same for Click Fraud and Invalid Clicks?

    Now that we know everything there is to know about click fraud and invalid clicks, we must talk about the counter-measures we can take to avoid them. It is apparent that both of them are bad for business, and website owners should arm themselves with the necessary knowledge to fight them. 

    But do we have to follow similar steps to avoid both click fraud and invalid clicks? We iterated earlier that both of these terms are not entirely the same. There are a few defining differences between the two that we must keep in mind. 

    1.) How to Prevent Invalid Clicks:

    • Avoid clicking on your ads. Even if you want to test the ads out, use a third-party tool to run live tests. Clicking on your ads might lead to generating false impressions, which Google will flag as illegitimate. 
    • Stop encouraging your close friends, family, and other connections to click on your ads. Too many clicks from the same device will lead to Google flagging such engagement. 
    • Do not ask your supporters to click on your ads in exchange for other commodities. This will not work out in favour of your business. 
    • Make sure the layout of your advertisement will not lead to accidental and extraneous clicks. 
    • Choose your advertising partners carefully.

    2.) How to Prevent Click Fraud:

    • The primary suspect for click fraud should be your competitors. Keep a close watch on them. Once you identify your biggest competitors, you can use tools like AdWatcher to track the number of clicks that come from your competitors. 
    • Limit the scope of your advertisement. By this, we mean that you should only target audiences in specific regions. Many countries are on the top of the chart for committing click frauds on the internet, and you should be wary of them. 
    • This goes without saying – keep a steady eye on your ad campaigns. Using analytics tools like Google AdWords will help you monitor the details of your campaigns. This will help you identify if you are facing any fraudulent activities. 
    • Partner with high-end and popular websites. Do not let unknown websites host your advertisement banners at any cost. They are most likely to engage in fraudulent activities to get the better of you. 
    • Finally, if you are really apprehensive of such issues, you should invest in anti-fraud software. There are many available on the internet, and the best one for you will depend on your specific requirements. 

    Conclusion

    While click fraud and invalid clicks are terms that people use loosely, you should never confuse both of them as being the same. They are two different issues with separate prevention tactics. In recent years, both of them have caused significant damage to several website owners. Fortunately, fighting such fraudulent activities isn’t a Herculean task. There are many ways to manage and prevent click frauds and invalid clicks, as mentioned in this guide. 

  • How to Conduct Keyword Research for SEO and PPC?

    How to Conduct Keyword Research for SEO and PPC?

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) occupy the central position in digital marketing. Marketers across the globe use SEO and PPC to drive relevant customers into their conversion pages. 

    However, your SEO and PPC efforts can be successful only if you opt for a well-planned strategy. A key element of that strategy is keyword research. It’s the foremost step in setting up your marketing roadmap. This blog will talk about the most important things to keep in mind while conducting keyword research for SEO and PPC. 

    SEO and PPC – How Are They Different?

    The primary difference between SEO and PPC is that the traffic your website generates through SEO is free, whereas the traffic from PPC is paid, and advertisers need to pay a specific sum for each click. 

    Both SEO and PPC are essential for success. Thus, they work best when there is a strategic integration of both in a business’s marketing strategy. An SEM company in UAE can perfectly implement the blend of two to help your business stay ahead of the curve. 

    The Foolproof Guide to Conducting Keyword Research

    In the previous section, we mentioned that SEO and PPC are a different game altogether. Thus, it would make no sense if we adopt the same keyword researching strategy for both either. Adapts Media – one of the premier media agencies in UAE will help you step up your game by listing the most relevant keywords for your business and setting up the entire campaign. 

    Keyword Research for SEO:

    Researching keywords for Search Engine Optimization requires strategy. Here’s what you can do:

    1. Choose ‘Seed’ Keywords:

    Seed keywords form the base of the keyword research process. It’ll help you identify the niche of the content and help you strategize the content. When you’re using any keyword research tool, it will ask you to input a seed keyword. The tool will then use the seed keyword to generate a list of popular keywords related to the seed keyword. 

    To give you an example, imagine that you own a company that sells computers and other electronic devices. Here is a list of potential seed keywords for your niche:

    • Desktop
    • Electronics 
    • Smartphones 
    • Laptops 

    Seed keywords need not be the center of your marketing strategy. You only need to use them ‘seeds’ to generate more keywords related to your specific niche. After determining the seed keywords, you may move on to the next step. 

    2. Look Out for your Competitors:

    To become relevant, you need to outrank your competition. One way to do this is to track the keywords that your competitors are using. This will give you two major insights: 

    • The keywords that are giving your competitors the most traffic. 
    • The keywords that you should avoid using. 

    Finding your competition on the internet is easy enough. Here’s what you need to do:

    1. Retrieve the list of keywords that you got from the first step. 
    2. Enter one of those keywords on Google and check out the top results.  
    3. If you feel that none of the top results have the same niche as you, try using the ‘autosuggest’ queries to broaden the scope of your search. For example, if you are selling electronics, then the keyword phrase ‘Laptops under $1000’ would be more relevant to your business than just ‘Laptops.’ 

    Once you narrow down the competitors, you can input these websites on competitive intelligence tracking tools. There are plenty of free tools available on the internet. You can use their report to gauge your competition’s search traffic, their top keyword, and much more. 

    3. Get Keyword Research Tools:

    Generating relevant keywords is a crucial step. You should have an idea about the keywords that your competitors aren’t using. Using keywords that your competition is using will provide you with an edge over your competition in the market. This is where you need to use keyword research tools. There are a number of them available on the internet for free. 

    You need to feed a seed keyword into these tools to get started. Keyword result tools operate on three bases:

    • Phrase Matches: This involves using keywords that contain seed keywords as it is. For example, if your seed keyword is ‘laptops,’ then you might get ‘cheap laptops’ as a potential keyword. 
    • Term Matches: Here, you will find keywords containing all the separate terms from your seed keyword. For example, if your seed keyword is ‘blue laptop,’ you might get the keyword ‘blue cover for laptop.’ 
    • Questions: You might get keyword ideas that contain the seed word and any of the question words. For example, if the seed word is ‘blue laptops,’ you might get the keyword ‘where can I buy blue laptops.’ 

    4. Analyze your Niche:

    By now, you must have understood that

     the best ways to find proper keywords. But all that would mean nothing if you can’t select the appropriate keywords for your content. You need to study your niche to check what’s trending there and push out the content accordingly. 

    Here’s what you can do to make this possible:

    • Browse through forums, interactive websites, and Q&As.  
    • Read different reviews on your niche. Pick out the common product that people are talking about.
    • Look for the trendies topic on your niche and create content based on that.
    • If you can, get in touch with your customers and gather insights from them.

    Keyword Research for PPC:

    There is a slight difference in researching for keywords when it comes to PPC. Here’s what you need to do:

    1. Review your Digital Presence:

    When it comes to PPC, you should have a clear insight into your website’s analytics. You can use Google Analytics and Google Ads to determine your most successful pages.

     Once you are satisfied with the results of a particular page, you’ll need to comb through the content to get primary, secondary, and tertiary keywords from there. This step is only applicable if the keywords in your existing content are relevant to the new content that you will be publishing. 

    2. Make a List of Root Keywords:

    To select root keywords, you need to have an idea about what’s popular in your niche. For example, if your business deals with crypto-currency, then ‘Bitcoin Trading’ could be a root keyword. A root keyword can be anything that your business is trying to promote through its PPC campaigns. 

    These keywords should fall under the following four categories:

    • Branded: These keywords will include the name of your business/organization. Branded keywords are a must in any PPC campaign. 
    • Competitive: These keywords include the names of your competitors. 
    • Product/Service: These keywords will talk about the solution and the services that your company offers. 
    • Peripheral: These keywords don’t relate to your brand itself but are popular among the industry and niche. Using these is an excellent way to target a broader audience. 

    3. Gather Long-Tail Keywords:

    The next step would be to use these root keywords to obtain long-tail keywords. These keywords are phrases and are longer than an average keyword. Long-tail keywords are more effective when it comes to PPC because they cover broader areas. 

    The most effective way to search for long-tail keywords is to use a keyword research tool, be it free or professional. 

    4. Block Negative Keywords: 

    Negative keywords are the terms that you can blacklist so that your ads won’t appear for those specific keywords. Negative keywords are essential because they help filter out the situations in which the ads may appear for search terms that are not relevant to your niche. Accidental clicks because of negative keywords can lead to many unnecessary expenses. 

    Conclusion

    PPC and SEO are at opposite ends of the same spectrum (SEM). When business owners use them as an integrated whole, they can get productive results. Keyword Researching is the first and the most important step when it comes to developing a strategy for PPC and SEO. 

    While they might sound similar, conducting proper keyword research for PPC and SEO requires slightly different methods. The steps involved are not complicated, and with the use of the right tools, you can considerably boost your marketing efforts. 

    There’s no denying that using the right keywords for PPC and SEO can make all the difference for your business. You can seek the consultation of an SEM company in UAE to narrow down the most suitable keywords for your SEO or PPC campaign. 

  • How To Fix Common Indexing Errors

    How To Fix Common Indexing Errors

    Indexing of the website is crucial for SEO success. It ensures that the site or a page within that website appears on the search engine results. As a digital marketing agency in UAE, we believe that website indexation is the first step to creating and generating search traffic on your website. But, what’s it anyway? 

    What is Website Indexation?

    Website indexing is a procedure through which search engines determine the status and functionality of the pages on a website. It plays a vital role in delivering your content to the appropriate audience. 

    The procedure, although manual, needs assistance from website developers to ensure that the search engine can index all their pages. There are specific rules or factors that all website owners need to keep in mind to ensure that search engines have no problems while carrying out the indexation process. Otherwise, you can consult a digital marketing agency in UAE. 

    Here are a few key points that all the indexed websites have in common:

    • The content aligns with popular and trending searches. 
    • All their pages are easy to navigate from the website’s homepage. 
    • The website is heavily linked to various off-domain locations. 

    It is important to note that even if a website is indexed, it is not necessary that all its pages would be indexed. There might be some errors causing this problem, and we’ll tell you how to fix them later. 

    How to tell if your Website is indexed?

    The best and the simplest way to check if Google has indexed your website is through an Index Coverage Report.

    When to use this report: You would only need to use this report if you don’t have more than 500 pages on your website. Otherwise, all you need to do is enter the following on Google:  site:your_site, where “your_site” is the URL of your website. Make sure you don’t use “http://” or “https://” as the prefix. 

    For example, the code would look something like this – site:search.com. The results that appear on your screen will indicate whether or not Google knows about your website or a specific page within that website. You can search for specific pages on your website by entering the URL of the page — for example, site:search.com/animals. 

    Understanding Index Coverage Report

    If your website is massive and contains more than 500 pages, you’ll need to consult an index coverage report. The report displays the Google index state of all the pages and URLs within your website. It has two sections:

    1. First is the top-level summary page. On this page, the report will show the index state of all the pages in your websites grouped based on status. There are four kinds of statuses – error, warning, excluded, and valid. The summary page will also show the possible reasons for different statuses. 
    2. Then comes the details page. You can access the information on this page by clicking on a table row on the summary page. The detail page shows a much more in-depth situation of the URLs with the same index statuses. 

    Summary Page

    As mentioned earlier, the top-level summary page shows the index status report of all the pages that Google has crawled on your website. It groups the results based on status and reason. 

    Google uses two crawlers – primary or secondary crawler – depending upon the default user agent type. A primary crawler could be a desktop device, with the secondary crawler being a mobile device or the other way around. 

    What to look for on a summary page?

    In an ideal situation, you would expect your website to produce the following results:

    • Your website should have an increasing number of indexed pages as it grows bigger.
    • Google should index the canonical versions of all your web pages. 
    • Google should not index the ‘duplicate’ or ‘alternate’ versions of the canonical page. 
    • Your report should have a healthy amount of pages marked as ‘duplicate’. This will ensure that Google has found the canonical page and indexed it.

    What not to look for in a summary page?

    If you have the following results on your summary page, you need to start troubleshooting:

    • Google should not have all your pages indexed, but only the canonical versions. 
    • Don’t look for fresh content on your summary page. Google takes a while before it can index content that you have published not long ago. 

    What do different statuses mean?

    As we have mentioned earlier, the summary page will display different statuses for different web pages. These are – error, warning, excluded, and valid. Here’s what they mean:

    1.) Error: The error status indicates that Google has not indexed the web page. 

    2.) Warning: This indicates that Google has indexed your page, but there are some issue that you should know about 

    3.) Excluded: This occurs when Google does not index your page because it believes that was your intention. For example, users might prevent indexing by using a non-index directive. 

    4.) Valid: This straightforward status indicates that Google has indexed your page. 

    Details Page:

    If you click on any of the rows on the summary page, you’ll get access to the details page. It contains the status and reason headings for all the web pages. There is a ‘learn more’ option at the top of the page that lets you get more information about the issue that you choose. 

    There is a graph on this page that displays the count of affected pages relative to time. The table groups different web pages based on the status/reason combination. You can check the primary crawler that Google used on your website by checking the source value on the details page (Smartphone or Desktop). 

    How to Fix Common Indexing Errors:

    Now that we know whether your site is being indexed, we can move on to the main part – errors. Website developers face tons of errors while trying to index their web pages. Here’s a list of some common problems, along with the solutions that might help fix them. You can always avail the services of a digital marketing agency in Emirates if you face trouble implementing these. 

    1. Redirect Errors:

    Redirect errors occur when Google cannot index your page because it redirects to an invalid URL or a non-existing page. Another possible issue for this could be redirect loops or redirect chains which make it difficult for Google to navigate through a website. 

    The most effective resolution for this is using the URL inspection tool:

    1. Access the URL inspection tool from Google support. 
    2. Enter the URL of your web page. 
    3. Get the necessary details about the error.
    4. Click on ‘Test Live URL’ 
    5. When the process is complete, select ‘Request Indexing’ and then ‘Validate Fix’.

    You can even use other tools like SSL Server Test or Redirect Checker Tool to get rid of issues like redirect loops.

    2.) The submitted URL seems to be a soft 404:

    This error occurs when the page has little to no (empty content). The simplest way to get rid of this issue is to redirect the URL to the new page or remove it from your sitemap itself. In case the page is invalid, you may create a custom 404 (not found) page or resolve it by flushing your DNS. 

    3.) Blocked by Robots.txt:

    A clause in your robots.txt file might instruct Google to not index a specific web page. The simple fix is to access your robots.txt file and edit it to remove the clause. In some cases, you might not get direct access to your robots.txt file, in which case you can use third-party applications like the Yoast SEO plugin. 

    4.) Submitted URL Returns Unauthorized Request (401):

    This error indicates that the web page is available in your sitemap, but Google can’t index the page. The primary reason could be that the page is password protected. 

    • Exclude the password-protected webpage from the sitemap. 
    • In the page header, you need to add a “noindex” directive. 
    • At last, you need to edit your robots.txt file to block the protected areas. 

    5.) Server Error:

    Server errors occur when Google is unable to get access to your URL. This happens when the website is busy or timed out. You can use the host availability in the Crawl Stats Report in the URL inspection section to verify this. You can fix these issues by:

    • Consulting with the hosting company of the website to check if they know anything about the server’s performance. 
    • Fixing issues related to DNS configuration.
    • Reducing the excessive page loading. 

    6.) Submitted URL Blocked Due to Other 4XX issues:

    This occurs when Google bots receive a 4xx response code when they try to access your webpage. Complete the following steps to troubleshoot this error:

    • Check the root of the problem through the URL inspection tool. 
    • Get rid of your browser’s cookies and all the cache. 
    • Refresh the page several times. 

    Conclusion

    Indexing errors must be fixed without much delay. The above guide will surely help you narrow down the error(s) preventing your site from getting indexed and implement an appropriate solution. You can also seek help from a professional digital marketing agency in UAE if you want a detailed analysis of the error report and a comprehensive solution for each. Best of luck in your SEO endeavors! 

  • The Best Google Analytics Tool Alternatives

    The Best Google Analytics Tool Alternatives

    As we continue to embrace digital, data is becoming an integral part of our life.  Huge chunks of data are being generated every day with the use of digital technologies. Analyzing these raw data can throw open several opportunities waiting to be explored. Analytics tools are thus gaining worldwide popularity.

    If you’re someone who runs a personal or business website, you might know the importance of data analysis. You might already be using the famous Google analytics tool. But, hardly do anyone knows that there are other options available as well. In this post, we shall discuss some popular alternatives to Google analytics. But first, let’s discuss what an analytics tool is and what does it do.

    What Role Does a Data Analytics Tool Play? 

    Suppose you run a coffee shop. Now being the shop owner, you might feel the need to check some factors of your business like the average number of customers coming to the shop daily, most ordered product, etc., to your business and plan accordingly. And how will you do that? You’ll most probably want to monitor the daily sales records to see the figures. 

    The same is the case with a website. You’ll get a complete overview of the audience visiting your website.  Using the web analytics tools, you can keep track of every movement on your website, like the number of visitors, their activities on the site, how long they stay, etc. 

    What Are Some Alternatives to Google Analytics? 

    Google Analytics is almost considered to be the industry standard. And why should it not be? After all, it has a strong background boasting of its caliber. But, with the passing time, even the best has to give away its seat to the new ones. The same is the case with Google analytics; despite being the industry’s go-to tool, every day, new tools are coming up, offering more facilities necessary to be updated with the ever-changing times. 

    Some of them are even capable of doing what Google Analytics failed to do all these years. So if you’re someone who needs web analytics tools other than Google, here are some of the best alternatives you can give a try:

    • Leadfeeder – Leadfeeder has managed to carve a portion of the market for itself and has come to become one of the popular alternatives of Google Analytics. The uniqueness of Leadfeeder lies in the fact that it can track visitors, especially businesses coming to your website, even without them filling up any details or even signing up.

    This is mainly a sales generation tool that converts the visitors into potential leads by analyzing their behavior and choices. It provides a free plan as well as a paid subscription. You can also avail a 14 days trial for the paid plan.

    • Piwik Pro Analytics Suite – Privacy is a big deal for everyone, and if you’re someone who can go to extreme lengths if needed to keep your data private, this is the best tool for you. Piwik is considered to be the best privacy-friendly alternative. For organizations that work with confidential customer data like finance, healthcare, or even the government, this toll will be the best investment.

    You don’t even need to have high technical skills to use it as the interface is easy and simple to work. The company also provides facilities like training and consulting to its customers in times of need.

    • Smartlook – What if we say there’s a tool that can not only track visitors on websites but also mobile apps or video games? Crazy right? Smartlook takes traffic analysis to the next level by enabling the user to work on multiple mediums like games and mobile apps, along with websites. 

    Not only that, in the recent update, they have also added services like REST API and multi-user workspace. Another great quality of this tool is that you can track a high volume of visits due to its toolkit comprising of both qualitative and quantitative analytics.

    • Woopra – Woopra uses touchpoints such as the interaction of the visitors with the chatbot or their behavior after onboarding emails to provide website analytics. In simple words, Woopra lets you chalk out the visitor’s journey on the particular website using data-driven analytics.
    • GoSquared – Imagine being able to track your visitors’ information like which page they are on currently, how long they have been on the site, etc., in real-time. GoSquared lets you do exactly that, along with providing other tools to do the sales process with ease like live chats, built-in CRM, team inbox, etc.
    • MixPanel – MixPanel, allows the sales and marketing team to conduct the A/B series without any hassle to improve the sales funnel, record user behavior, and event tracking. You can also integrate MixPanel with the marketing stack very easily due to its rich API library.
    • Heap – Not everyone is a marketing or sales genius and has unbeatable skills, and for those less tech-savvy people, Heap is nothing short of a boon. Using Heap, anyone can keep track of the analytics of the mobile app, website, cloud services, etc. All one needs to do is install it and let it do all the work on its own.
    • Statcounter – Small businesses, freelancers, and individuals who own not so high-end websites don’t need advanced analytics. Basic information like page views,  website visitors, Old and new visitors, etc., does the trick for them. All these services are provided for free in Statcounter’s dashboard. You can also avail advanced features like paid traffic, conversion rate, bounce rate, etc., by opting for the paid subscription plan.
    • Clicky – Clicky is another good option if you want an application to track real-time analytics. The tool in its free version provides all the basic features like site visitors and referrers. Clicky also has advanced tools like heat mapping, uptime monitoring, etc., if you opt for the paid subscription.
    • SEMrush  – One of the most popular names in the SEO tools industry, SEMrush boasts of a bigger brand monitoring platform and comes with built-in options like advertising research. This feature is essential to research and analyze the marketing strategies and ad budgets of your competitors.

    SEMrush, however, has paid monthly plans only. 

    • Adobe Analytics – Adobe is now a household name. Though most famous for graphic and visual solutions, Adobe also provides a complete marketing suite under Adobe Analytics as a part of their Experience Cloud suite. While you can use Adobe Analytics to map out the visitors’ movement and behavior on websites, mobile apps, brand channels, etc., in real time, the other tools of the suite can be used to develop personal sites or campaign-level experience through landing pages product recommendations, etc.

    Though the list of analytics tools available today is way huge to be collected in a blog, our team has found the above-mentioned options to be the best so far during their research. We hope these will serve your purpose.

  • Do you know your IP address? What makes it so important?

    Do you know your IP address? What makes it so important?

    Who hasn’t heard the term ‘IP Address’? It is one of the most commonly used terms related to the internet and can be heard quite frequently. Remember, some apps were banned from the Google Play Store, and others were classified as malware – one thing that we heard in common is that they are hacking your IP address. 

    So what is this IP Address, and what makes it so critical that people go gaga over it and its security? 

    In this blog, we’ll look into the various aspects of this technical term and break it into simple information.

    Let us begin by addressing the million-dollar question, what is an IP address?

    What Is an IP Address?  

    Internet Protocol address, commonly known as IP address, technically is an identifier used to send or receive data information over two or more devices connected over the internet.  The IP address can be considered as the postal address of every device on the internet in layman’s terms. It‘s a string of numbers that are separated by a period. Each IP address consists of 4 sets of numbers in a single string. 

    Looking at the string, you might think that it’s just a bunch of random numbers. As a matter of fact, the IP address is not just another set of random numbers. Each IP address is produced mathematically and allocated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – a subdivision of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or ICANN. The four sets of numbers can have any number from 0 to 255.

    How Does the IP Address Work?

    As we have a brief idea about what IP address means, let us discuss how it works and why it is so important to pay attention to your IP address.

    Technically speaking, the Internet Protocol is a set of guidelines in a language that can be understood and followed by every device on the internet. All the functions like sending, receiving, finding data information by the devices are done following these set guidelines in the background. 

    Here’s a brief explanation of the backend process:

    • Any device indirectly connects to the internet on a network provided to it by a particular authority that grants the necessary permission.
    • Depending on the place where you’re using the internet, the network will by default be your own Internet Service Provider or the one used by the place.
    • Now, as all the data movement is happening through the ISP, they provide each device with an IP address that is singular in nature. No two devices can have the same IP address.
    • One thing to remember is that every time you connect to the internet, your device gets a new IP address. 

    Types of IP Addresses

    Based on their function and nature, IP addresses can be classified into different categories, and even the categories can be furthermore divided into more types.

    1. Consumer IP Address

    Consumer IP addresses are owned by individuals, but mostly Companies. For example, when the individual or company buys a service plan from an ISP, one personal IP address and a public IP is provided to be used inside and outside the network.

    1. Private IP Address

    All the devices connected to your internet, like smartphone, laptops, computers, etc., have a private address. Even the recent Bluetooth and Internet Of Things enabled devices will have a separate IP address.

    1. Public IP Address

    Though all the active devices on your network have their separate addresses, the whole network has an IP address of its own. That is known as the Public IP address. It connects your router to the ISP’s network. And all the other devices not connected to your network will need this IP address to locate a device. Again, public IP address is classified into the following:

    1. Dynamic IP address

    A dynamic IP address is the most commonly used type of IP address. It is used by both individuals and companies. An ISP buys a bulk of addresses and assigns them to its clients automatically. At times, they also reshuffle the lot and allot the old, unused addresses to new customers.

    1. Static IP address

    Static addresses are rarely used. However, if someone plans to host a server of their own, it needs to have a static address as the devices connected to it will not be able to locate it over dynamic addresses. The Static IP address makes sure that the connected devices are in constant contact without any loss of data.

    Why Are IPs Considered Crucial? 

    No, why do we consider IP addresses to be so necessary?

    As you’ve understood by now, an IP address is a gateway to your device as long as it’s connected to the internet. This makes IP addresses vulnerable to outside attacks from hackers and other cybercriminals.

    Some of the most common ways that they can hamper you by attacking your IP address are as follows:

    • Online Stalking

    One of the most common forms of cyber attack is online stalking. Hackers using particular tools can easily track all your movements as well as collect your personal information by stalking your online activities. For example, we often end up giving away our IP address through several video games, websites, online chatting platforms, etc. Hackers can collect the IP address and track the real-time location and other information about the user.

    • Illegal Downloads

    Downloading illegal contents using your address is also another popular form of cyber attack. After getting your IP address, the cybercriminals will use it to download illegal content, making you responsible for the crime.

    • Causing Harm in Real Life

    As attackers can track your location and get a complete idea about your residential address, you’ll be vulnerable to threats like burglary.

    • Hacking and Controlling Your Device

    Hacking is not only limited to taking over your IP address but rather much more than that. For example, using your IP address, the hacker can access your device and steal all your private information stored on it, like bank details, passwords, etc. They can also install malware on your device.

    What Measures Can You Take?  

    All these factors make IP address a key component in our digital lives. And so necessary steps need to be taken to protect it from any sort of unwanted threat. Here are some things you can do to keep your IP address safe from falling into the wrong hands.

    1. Using a Proxy server

     A proxy server is an intermediary server between your network and the internet. All the traffic is circulated through the proxy network, leaving your original network safe.

    1. Using VPN

    s

    Virtual Private Network or VPN creates a connection between your device and the internet through an encrypted virtual tunnel that acts as a safety net. Using VPN will hide your real location and bounce the data from several other places over the world.

    1. Using a unique password

    Creating a unique password is one of the simple things you can do to prevent any such attacks. All you need is to make it as difficult as possible. Remember not to use easy information like your name, birthday, etc., as they can be broken very easily by criminals.

    We hope you have a better idea of the IP address and its importance now. Following the instructions mentioned above will ensure your safety in the digital space and keep cybersecurity threats at bay.

  • 5 Common Issues That Prevent Google From Indexing Your Webpages

    5 Common Issues That Prevent Google From Indexing Your Webpages

    Google has repeatedly stated that it doesn’t index every page that it finds on a website. Google search console will tell you the pages on your website that are not indexed by Google. It also provides vital information about the issue that is preventing the search engine from indexing a particular page. 

    These include but are not limited to server errors, 404s, and hints that the page may have thin or duplicate content. But have you ever come across any concrete research or data which shows the most issues across the whole web? 

    Well, in this blog, we have thrown light on the most popular indexing issues that are preventing your pages from appearing in SERP. 

    Let’s discuss in detail! 

    What’s Indexing?

    Indexing is similar to building a library for Google to crawl the websites. If you want your pages to appear in the SERP, it’s essential to make sure that the pages are getting indexed. In layman’s terms, Google mus be able to find and save them. This will help Google properly analyse the content and decide for which queries the pages would be relevant. 

    There’s no denying that getting indexed is a prerequisite for driving organic traffic from Google. As more and more pages of your site get indexed, you have higher chances of getting ranked on Google. That’s why you must know whether Google can properly index your site. 

    Here the top 5 issues that affect Google indexing –

    1. Crawled  – currently not indexed (Quality issue).
    2. Duplicate content
    3. Discovered – currently not indexed.
    4. Soft 404
    5. Crawl issue

    Let’s now try to understand each issue in detail.

    Quality Issue 

    Quality issues include pages that have thin, misleading, or biased contents. If your page fails to provide unique, valuable content, it will become difficult for you to get all your sites indexed. 

    Duplicate Content 

    If your pages have duplicate content, the chances are that Google won’t index these. A common issue is canonical tags that are pointing to different pages. The net result? The original page won’t be indexed. 

    If you have duplicate contents, you can use the canonical tag attribute or a 301 redirect. This will ensure that the same pages on your site are not competing against each other for views, clicks, or links. 

    Crawl Budget 

    There are a range of factors that determine the frequency of Googlebots crawling your website. The bots only crawl a certain number of URLs on each website. This clearly states that optimisation is vital. So, you must take steps to ensure that it’s not wasted on pages that you think are of no significant importance. 

    Soft 404s

    404 errors imply that you have submitted either a deleted or a non-existent page for indexing. Soft 404s display “not found” information but don’t return HTTP 404 status code to the server. 

    Redirecting the pages that have been deleted or irrelevant is often a common mistake that website owners make. Multiple redirects can also show up as soft 404 errors. Ensure to shorten the redirect chains as much as you can. 

    Crawl Issues 

    Multiple redirects often show up as soft 404 errors. You must take the necessary steps to shorten the redirect chains as much as possible. 

    Key Takeaways 

    There’s one common issue that is preventing the pages from getting indexed. These are the orphan pages, that is those pages on your website that have no internal links leading to them. 

    If there is no path through which Googlebot can reach or find your page, it may not find it at all. To prevent this, you need to add links from related pages. You can fix this manually by adding orphan pages to your sitemap. 

    So, here were the 5 most common Google Indexing issues and their solutions. We hope you have developed a detailed understanding and would be able to solve the indexing issues. Let us know in the comment section if we have missed out on discussing any. Also, don’t forget to share your thoughts on this. 

  • BERT vs. SMITH: A Brief Summary to Help You Understand

    BERT vs. SMITH: A Brief Summary to Help You Understand

    Google released the BERT update in October 2019 and SMITH in November 2020.  Both these algorithm updates were based on Natural Language processing and are aimed at improving search results. 

    In this blog, we shall study about SMITH and how does it stack up against BERT. So, keep reading to find out! 

    Why were BERT and SMITH Released Anyway?

    Google released both the updates keeping NLP in mind. NLP assists in the transition from search engine understanding strings (keywords) to things (entities). There was a time when Google had no clue what is there on the page other than the content’s keywords and context. With the introduction of NLP, Google became more intelligent and now has the ability to understand the context of the words, and obviously, the tonality. 

    Many SEO gurus are of the view that BERT is the best operational NLP model. It successfully deciphers complex language structures and helps Google understand the content deeply. They further add that the biggest leap forward with BERT is the algorithm being Bidirectional. Besides understanding text from left-to-right, it can understand the context going the other way round. 

    Furthermore, the “under the hood” of BERT is exceptional and allows processing language effectively, consuming lower resources than previous models. There’s no denying that it’s an important consideration when the goal is to apply it to the entire search algorithm. 

    It doesn’t here; BERT reportedly has more than 30,000 tokens, where each represents a common word with some leftover for fragments and characters, in case the word appears to be outside than the 30,000 already provided. It is through this token processing and transformers, BERT successfully understands the sentences and the overall content. 

    What’s in SMITH?

    SMITH can handle 2,248 tokens. The documents can be up to 8x larger.

    BERT has 256 tokens per document, post which the computing cost becomes exceptionally high for it to be functional. BERT is unidirectional and, therefore, this increase in cost. To understand why computing costs increase, you must understand what it takes to decipher a sentence and a paragraph. 

    A sentence generally has few words and one core concept to decipher. This means there are only a few connections between words and ideas to retain in the memory. In the case of a paragraph, the complexity increases exponentially, and so the processing. It would require more speed and memory for Google to understand, basis the same model. 

    SMITH overcomes this by batching and doing a lot of the work offline. As a matter of fact, for SMITH to function, it relies heavily on BERT. At its core, SMITH takes a document through the following process – 

    1. It breaks the document into grouping sizes that it can handle, favouring sentences (this means the document would allocate 4.5 sentences to a block-based on length. It would then truncate that to four.
    2. Next, it processes each sentence block individually. 
    3. Finally, a transformer learns the contextual representations of each block and turns it into a document representation. To train BERT, Google’s engineers are taking a word out of a sentence and supply options.

    The better an algorithm is trained, the easier it will be for it to process the sentence blocks. The training method is similar in SMITH as well. Since all algorithms are trained for large documents, they also take passages and remove sentences. The better an algorithm is at recognizing the omitted sentences, the smarter it is. 

    So, Is SMITH Better? 

    So, do you think SMITH takes the lead? Just analyse how you use the internet. 

    Many user queries are not satisfied just with short answers but require limited and often uncomplicated data sets. SMITH is able to understand long and complex documents and also long and complex queries. This will include aggregating documents and topics to create your own answers. 

    This includes determining how content can be broken apart so that Google is able to filter the search results. This will help each one to better understand how the content pages are related to each other and how links are valued. 

    So, each has its purpose! 

    To summarise, SMITH paints the understandings of how things are. It’s more resource-intensive but is far less costly than BERT at doing the same job. BERT assists SMITH in understanding short queries and content chunks. We believe it will continue until both are replaced with a smarter algorithm inheriting the ability of both.

    So, we discussed both BERT and. SMITH in detail. We now believe you have a fair understanding of each and would be able to tweak your SEO endeavors to get the best results. If you believe we missed discussing something crucial, please feel free to let us know by commenting below. 

  • What are Dynamic QR Codes and How to Use them for your Business?

    What are Dynamic QR Codes and How to Use them for your Business?

    Quick Response Code, widely known as QR Codes, are becoming an integral part of our daily lives. Even if you’re not aware of what they are, you must’ve seen those square-shaped barcodes at random places in public.  

    QR codes are programmed to design a large amount of information and promote interaction and engagement. All you need to do to access this information is scan the code with an appropriate digital device. Businesses across industries and scales now use QR codes for marketing and advertising purposes. But before we throw light on that, let’s understand how many types of QR codes are there. 

    Types of QR Codes

    There are mainly two types of QR codes, each serving a different purpose. 

    Let’s dig deep! 

    1. Static QR Codes: In Static QR codes, the information within the code is fixed, and you cannot change it once it is functional. The code that displays the information in a Static QR code is embedded into the QR code itself. These codes are fit to contain permanent information. For example, you can use Static QR Codes to store personal information, one-time codes, etc. 
    1. Dynamic QR Codes: Contrary to Static QR codes, you can edit the content as many times as you need. These codes use a short URL to assist users to the desired page that contains relevant information. 

    Which is better – Dynamic or Static? 

    As an entrepreneur, you may want to leverage quick response codes to boost your marketing endeavours by improving communication with your users across all channels. Dynamic QR codes are now being extensively used by businesses owners across industries, while static codes are losing prominence. Let’s understand how Dynamic QR codes can be leveraged for taking a business to the next level. 

    Applications of Dynamic QR Codes:

    As we continue to embrace digital technologies, dynamic QR codes are becoming essential. They are extensively used in the following: 

    1. Touch-Less Services: 

    Nowadays, the use of touch-less food ordering and other services is gaining global popularity. With the help of these QR codes, people can carry out contactless transactions and order food with minimal physical interaction. This has not only made things more convenient for users but is also helping to promote hygiene. 

    1. Personalized Content

    What do you think happens when you scan a random QR code? Obviously, you will get access to the information stored in the core. But apart from that, the QR code has an algorithm that tracks time, location, and the device with which a user captured it. This helps businesses to generate relevant data and deliver personalized content to different people.  

    How to Create a Dynamic QR Code for your Business

    Now that you know the application of dynamic QR codes, let’s understand how you can create them. 

    Step 1: Find a QR code generating software. You can use the free tools available online. 

    Step 2: Choose the type of QR code. In this case, you need to choose a dynamic QR code. 

    Step 3: Add all the relevant information. This is the data that you want the users to see when they scan the code. 

    Step 4: Customize and style your code. Nowadays, dynamic QR codes need not only be black and white lines. You can style it to attract more customers. 

    Step 5: Finally, download the personalized QR code. You should try the QR code yourself before putting it up in any public place. 

    How to Use Dynamic QR Codes in your Business

    Dynamic QR codes serve a myriad of purposes. Let’s understand how these bar codes can help you in your growth trajectory. 

    Here’s what you can do to exploit the many benefits of a dynamic QR code:

    1.) Increase App/Website Traffic 

    If your business uses a mobile application or a website, you can use dynamic QR codes to garner customer attention. An eye-catchy QR code encourages customers to scan it, which eventually redirects them to your website or the download link of your application. Over time, this can generate a healthy amount of profits. 

    2.) Getting Reviews for your Services

    Several studies suggest that customers tend to be more open to the idea of availing services that have great reviews. But, getting honest, positive reviews can be tough! You cannot coax your customers into giving you a review, but you can surely make it more convenient for them. QR codes are easy to scan and saves them the trouble of navigating through their cell phones to give your business a review. A QR code will make their job easier and increase the chances of you getting honest customer feedback. 

    3.) Monitor Statistics

    A QR code is now an integral tool in marketing. It’s now particularly used in advertising. QR codes help businesses store relevant data in the form of statistics that they can use to drive customer engagement by using the data to devise engaging marketing campaigns. QR codes can also help you understand whether you are on the right track to meet your campaign goals. 

    Conclusion

    Dynamic QR code offers versatility and is now playing an integral role in marketing. As the digital ecosystem is gaining momentum, Dynamic QR codes are becoming the need of the hour for improving communication across all channels. They are now helping businesses of all scales take the next step in their marketing roadmap and maximize overall profitability. 

  • Top 7 Structured Testing and Execution Tools (Updated in 2021)

    Top 7 Structured Testing and Execution Tools (Updated in 2021)

    There’s no denying that creating and managing structured data is a challenging task. Any error on your JSON code can prevent validation in Google’s structured data tool. Structured data, widely referred to as Schema, helps Google better understand the content as it seeks to provide the best results to searchers based on their search intent. Structured data immensely help content stand out and capture more clicks and impressions. 

    There are several tools available that help in creating, managing, and keeping structured data up to date.  Here are the top 7 tools which we think can help you get the job done with ease! 

    1. Schema App

    Without any second thought, this is the most comprehensive tool. Schema App is the tool you would prefer if you want to execute, test, manage, and keep your structured data updated. 

    They have an exhaustive library that helps with identifying Schema. Org and connecting data, popular types, and properties. Out of the many features that the app has, you would love how it defines structured data with Wiki. 

    For example, if you are looking to optimize the product pages, the tool automatically finds the Wiki entry to define the structured data. The app also has recommended and required fields to show the attributes necessary to show up as rich results, good reporting, and data highlighter. 

    1. Merkle Structured Data Tool

    You can quickly generate basic structured data, such as an organization or FAQs. Additionally, you can generate Schema for breadcrumb, event, how-to, or job postings, to name a few. After it’s generated, you can test, copy, and add it to your site. The only drawback is that it only lists basic structure types and does not have comprehensive, structured data, vocabulary, and glossaries. 

    1. Hall Analysis 

    This tool is highly efficient in quickly generating structured data, but it’s only limited to local businesses, persons, products, events, organizations, and websites. Besides, you need to copy-paste the code into Google’s structured data tool and test for its validation.  

    1. The RankRanger Structured Data Tool

    RankRanger offers a wide range of structured data types to test. This also includes COVID-19 special announcements. The tool also allows the user to copy, reset, validate, and test the structured data. 

    1. Chrome Structured Data Plugin

    This tool is a must-have if you want to check whether structured data is present on the page as you browse the websites for auditing, research, or collecting any information. The plugin will allow you to test on Google and see if there are any errors or warnings. You can also copy the data in the table for further reference. 

    1. Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool

    You must not forget to check for structured data as a part of on-page SEO. In 2020, Google announced that its structured data tool was being deprecated. The structured data testing tool will help you get the job done with ease. 

    There is no doubt that it’s the best tool to test structured data and check what warnings and errors the tool has for a particular code. All you have to do is either enter a URL or copy-paste the code into it. You would simply love this tool because it helps check the syntax and ensures it’s validating the Schema.org standards. 

    1. Google’s Rich Results Tool

    This is another good tool to check whether a page will support rich results. You just need to enter the URL or code. 

    The most exciting part about this tool is that it offers the option to test with Google’s smartphone or Googlebot desktop. Post the test; it will tell you whether the webpage is eligible for rich results. 

    Google’s Rich Results Tool and Structured Data Tools must be used together to check whether the page is eligible for rich results and if the code has any errors in it. The biggest difference between the Google Structured Data Testing Tool and Rich Results is that the latter can only test approved classes of structured data that directly influence the appearance of search results. 

    How Can Structured Data Boost Your SEO Endeavours? 

    Structured data helps websites take the lead on SERP. It helps drive business results, improve visibility, optimize for voice search, and much more. However, the right tools are essential for creating clean codes that will be validated in Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool and Rich Results Test. These  7 tools will definitely give you the best results. 

    So, time to wrap up the discussion! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section. Also, do let us know if we have missed out on discussing something important that you want us to add. 

  • How to Conduct a Comprehensive SWOT Analysis for SEO in 2021

    How to Conduct a Comprehensive SWOT Analysis for SEO in 2021

    Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat analysis, widely known as SWOT analysis, is crucial in SEO for identifying areas of priority. This includes identifying keywords, content, technical aspects of the site, linking, and competitive perspectives. A comprehensive SWOT analysis for Search Engine Optimization provides a detailed idea about the roadmap and the tasks that need to be systematically handled. 

    1. Determining The SEO Strengths

    There’s no denying that one of the primary factors that search engines take into account while determining your position on SERP is the relative strength and authority of a topical group of keywords. Identifying these keywords for which you already have some authority is an excellent way to start with. 

    Here is how you can identify your existing strengths and leverage them to boost your organic traffic – 

    • The first step that you should take is, to look for opportunities to link out from or to your best content. We believe that besides providing more comprehensive answers to your target user’s queries, it also leverages the authority of the strong piece.  
    • The next thing that you should do is, perform in-depth keyword, technical, and link audits on all your existing web pages that are currently ranking between 5 and 20 to see where there is room for improvement. 
    • Finally, determine whether or not the pages are ranking for the keywords that you want them to be. Though it may be a great idea to get your homepage ranked, this is not always sufficient as searchers will likely have to spend more time to find the answerers to their queries. 

    Determine the pages that provide the best solution to your target audience and try to rank those pages currently held by the homepage. In the process, pay attention to the types and characteristics of your strongest content as it would provide you with an idea about the type of content you should create moving forward. 

    1. Identifying Search Weaknesses

    Let’s face it – we all have our weaknesses. In SEO, it’s essential to recognize and mend those so that you can save both your time and energy. 

    • Keywords & Content

    There are undoubtedly keywords that can do wonders for your business, but you must understand that it’s essential to let go of those that would require too much time and effort.

    A quick review of the search engine results will provide you with a brief overview of the keywords that are out of your reach, based on the competition, reputation, or quality of the content. In such a scenario, try searching for more specific long-tail keywords or alternatives. You can also opt for paid promotions to generate visibility, traffic, and conversions. 

    • Technical SEO

    Another area of weakness that you need to rectify is to improve the quality of your content from a technical/structural, keyword relevance perspective. You can begin the process by identifying the areas of weakness by conducting a detailed website audit. You can use a wide range of tools for this. 

    Google Lighthouse and Search Console are the best tools, especially for analyzing the core web vitals report and mobile-friendly test. Both tools will let you know the prioritized list of issues or errors that are there in your tags, links, code, keywords, and other mobile-friendly errors. 

    The best strategy is to start fixing any issue on authority pages based on SERP. After you are done with this, you can try fixing the issues of other priority web pages based on data provided by web analytics tools, Google Analytics for example, or pages of strategic importance. 

    • Backlinks 

    Relevant backlinks obtained organically, widely referred to as inbound links, tell search engines about the authenticity of the page. All major search engines still consider inbound links as an important factor while ranking pages. Similar to keywords, it’s essential to conduct a competitor analysis for backlinks. There are several third-party tools available that will tell you the sources of the backlinks of your competitors. 

    1. Leveraging the SEO Opportunities

    Here’s how you can look at and leverage the SEO opportunities. 

    • Keywords and Content 

    Several keyword research tools will help you discover keyword and content opportunities. All these tools provide a prioritized list of high-value keywords based on estimated monthly search volumes, organic traffic, and difficulty to rank on SERP. 

    The analysis must have the effort you would have to put in to obtain authority relative to the potential return on establishing organic visibility. 

    • Backlinks 

    While typically a manually intensive process, there is long-term value in seeking out these types of backlinks.

    Despite being an intensive process, it can yield great results. There are many ways through which you can start looking for inbound links – 

    • The search engine results for the keywords you want your site to rank for are the natural standing points as the websites found with the search term relevant to the search engines. You can try looking for non-competitive backlinking opportunities, such as directories, association listings, or articles and blogs that you may be able to contribute or comment on. 
    • The search console links report is a time-tested strategy for backlink research as it gives a detailed insight into what Google recognizes as the domains linking to your content. You can also validate the quality and accuracy of the links that you already have and determine if there are any other opportunities through which you can obtain additional links from these domains. 
    • You can use several third-party backlink tools to identify potential backlink sources and domains that have already linked to your competitors. There are tools that will even help you prioritize the potential of each source and help save a lot of your time. 
    1. Knowing Your Threats in Search 

    There are several factors that can threaten your organic authority. You should ensure to avoid those to overcome penalties. 

    • Content

    The most common content threat is duplicate content. This simply means republishing content on your website without citing proper attribution to the original source. To avoid getting penalized for writing the same content, you must include canonical tags referencing source content in the header tags of the pages having duplicate content. 

    • Backlinks 

    While relevant, high-quality backlinks help boost authority, irrelevant, low-quality links can do the exact opposite. This is particularly true for paid link schemes. 

    The damage caused can be long-lasting and can even earn you strict penalties, leading to reduced organic traffic and visibility. Ensure to review your Google Search Console Links report regularly to review the domains linking to your site. 

    • Competitors 

    Even if you have strong organic visibility and traffic, there’s always a probability that a new competitor will come up. Search engines always prefer fresh and relevant content. That’s why you must monitor the SERP at periodic intervals and notice if there are any new competitors that may challenge your authority and position in due course of time. Needless to mention, the best way to combat this type of threat is to publish new content and update the existing ones. 

    So, here was a detailed guide on how to conduct a SWOT analysis. Ensure to perform it quarterly for the best SEO results for your business. This way, you can track the SEO endeavors and the improvement in organic traffic and position on the result’s page.