SEO

  • Event Tracking Button Shortcode

    Version `2.18.0` and above of the Q4 Framework includes a shortcode for creating buttons tied to Google Analytics event tracking. Usage The shortcode [eventtrackingbutton] accepts the following attributes: text – The display text of the generated button. link – The href value for the button / the URL that the button will go to. target … Continued

  • Best Practices for H1s & Internal Linking

    Determining an H1: Ensure it pertains to the customer’s location and their business, as opposed to including the customer’s branded name. Example: North Lake Tahoe Vacation Rentals (Tahoe Moon) Example: Luxury Nashville Vacation Rentals (Playlist Properties) Example: The Best Big Sky Lodging (The Wilson Hotel). Reference the targetted keywords in WebCEO Navigate to the customer project … Continued

  • How to Conduct the Initial SEO R&R Call

    The Initial SEO Report & Recommendations (R&R) is an external report sent to a new client during onboarding. It contains an overview of the client’s current SEO status as well as recommendations for improvement. The Initial R&R is discussed with a client via phone (the “Initial SEO R&R Call”) and then delivered in a follow-up … Continued

  • Creating & Updating Landing Pages – The Q4Launch Guide

    Before You Begin: What Is a Landing Page? A Landing Page is defined as any page on a website that a user can “land” on—whether they follow a direct link, find the page from organic search, or type in the URL. A Landing Page can inform, persuade, entertain, or do a little of all three. … Continued

  • Ubersuggest Keyword Tool

    For the time being, Ubersuggest is “more free” and can be used to generate relevant keywords lists & keyword data. Here’s how to pull a keyword list. Start by typing in a general keyword to Ubersuggest.  Unless you are already logged in, you should see a pop-up in the top right to “sign in with … Continued

  • The Q4Launch Guide to Google Search Console

    Google Search Console Information in Data Studio The PIR includes a section with data pulled from Google Search Console. It looks something like this: Below is a general description of each of the metrics above. This data is super high-level so I recommend digging deeper into Google Search Console to interpret what you’re seeing. Average … Continued

  • How to Optimize for Featured Snippets, PAA Boxes, & Voice Search

    Back in the olden days of Google, search results pages used to be fairly boring with a standard format of a few paid ad results followed by ten organic blue links. Nowadays, the search results page is as predictable as Charleston weather in January. If you haven’t already, you can read all about the crazy … Continued

  • Q4Launch SEO Strategy Overview

    The goal of the Q4 SEO strategy is to help our clients’ websites achieve the highest possible organic rankings and provide the best user experience to ultimately drive bookings. The Q4 SEO strategy involves two main processes: Onboarding (the same for all new clients, regardless of package level) Ongoing Work (differs based on the client’s package … Continued

  • How to Monitor and Address Broken Links

    Currently, our SEO team has a plan to continue monitoring and addressing broken links for all marketing clients each month through WebCEO. This is part of our ongoing SEO work. Other customers can use free broken link checking tools provided online. All CSMs should have access to their clients’ Google Search Console accounts where broken … Continued

  • How to Conduct the Content Strategy Call

    The Content Strategy Call takes place with a new client during onboarding. It’s lead by the CSM and Content Creator assigned to the account.  Its purpose is to explain to a new client the connection between content creation and SEO and provide a clear timeline of what we’ll be doing in terms of content.  Deliverables … Continued

  • Marketing Strategy Calendar Tips

    Below are some tips regarding how to successfully deliver a Marketing Strategy Calendar to a client. Please add anything you see fit! General Tips Prior to the call, review the calendar and make note of any questions you have for the customer regarding a specific keyword topic, event, etc. Ask these questions during the call.  … Continued

  • How to Build Citations (Through Whitespark)

    As part of all SEO packages, we provide our clients with citation building services. This is done through Whitespark. Citation Building Package Inclusions: Basic SEO Package: 10 citations/month Enhanced SEO Package: 15 citations/month  Aggressive SEO Package: 20 citations/month  Note: Each client will eventually max out in the number of citations they can build through Whitespark. … Continued

  • Multiple H1 Tags Per Page

    The “one H1 tag per page” rule was was true when websites were built with HTML4. And back then, years ago, Google used the H1 tag as a ranking factor. But with the release of HTML5 multiple header 1 tags can be just as, or even more, semantic as using only one tag. Our sites … Continued

  • Hospitality SEO

    This is not the ultimate guide on everything you need to know about SEO (try Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO). Why not? Because those already exist. Also, they can be overwhelming. You have a simple question about meta descriptions and end up on an HTML guide for developers. No one has time for that!  So … Continued

  • SEO FAQ

    Here’s a list of frequently asked questions about SEO! This list will be updated often so be sure to check back. If you’re searching for an answer on your own, it can helpful to know which sources are reliable. Anything by Moz, Backlinko, Neil Patel, SparkToro, and Search Engine Journal can be trusted! Frequently Asked … Continued

  • Dev Site Indexed By Google

    I recommend all CEMs check their accounts for Dev sites that were indexed by Google. This happens when the dev site’s Dashboard > Settings > Reading > Search Engine Visibility is unchecked – for whatever reason. You can easily identify this with a Google Site search: site:devdomainname.q4-host.com If you identify a dev site that was … Continued

  • How can you tell if a website is legitimate or shady?

    Here are some of the steps to follow: The MozBar gives you a quick glance at a site’s Domain Authority (DA). That’s a quality metric from 1-100 based on a whole bunch of factors. Typically anything that has a DA in the single digits can be tossed out immediately. I would say most of the sites … Continued

  • How to Review Your Customer’s Citations (and Citation Building)

    Citation building is one of the most important (and most boring) items to execute and keep track of in SEO. Even when a customer’s citations are fully up to date, things can change. Phone numbers, owners, email addresses – all seemingly minor things change regularly without everyone on the team knowing. So, to be proactive, … Continued

  • How to Measure Page Speed of A Customer’s Homepage

    The speed by which a page loads is very important in SEO. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your design, how well-written your content; you risk losing people that lose patience if the site doesn’t load as quickly as they’re expecting. To do test the speed by which the homepage of your customer loads, we use: gtmetrix.com … Continued

  • Schema, Structured Data & Local SEO

    Understanding StrUctured Data Structured data is content input into a specific format (a schema), written in such a way that search engines understand it — defined by Schema.org. Search engines work hard to understand the content of a page. Major search engines (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex) use structured data found on the web to … Continued

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    SOP FOR UPDATING STATIC PAGES

    Here is the procedure for updating a static page. Timeline Static page updates should be included in the marketing strategy calendar. If they are not, CC and CEM will work together on the desired deadline. Troubleshooting Especially if a page was already updated in the last few months, CEMs will check things like: design/layout, site … Continued

  • The Ultimate Q4Launch Guide to Reporting Results to Customers

    Reporting is a constant opportunity for continuous improvement for our team. We are constantly to maximize client insights and takeaways while minimizing time spent actually doing reporting. After all, time spent each month on reporting is less time we get to execute our strategies. With that being said, reporting at the end of or beginning … Continued

  • How to Do Keyword Research

    The ultimate Guide to Some of the Best Keyword Research Strategies “SEO is more about user optimization than it is about search engine optimization.” – Neil Patel “Keyword research is still important, but in a different way than has been practiced in the past.” – Search Engine Journal “Ask yourself… Is the keyword relevant to … Continued

  • Collaboration | Keyword Research Meeting SOP

    Pre-Keyword Research Meeting Please come to the meeting with your half of the keywords selected for the upcoming quarter. You can prepare these keywords directly on your Keyword Research spreadsheet, or use the following chart. Please have your keywords and reasoning ready to discuss during the meeting. Amount of Keywords/Topics to prepare for the meeting: … Continued

  • How to Use Google Search Console

  • Pagespeed “Scores” are for developers

    I often hear staff / customers say our sites have “Pagespeed Issues”. It instantly makes me tilt my head because “low scores” are not issues. In fact, they don’t even tell you anything is broken. Tests can reveal issues, but results are simply weighted suggestions for improvement. Suggestions for developers to scope alternate solutions beyond what … Continued

  • How To Disavow Spam Inbound Links

    When you discover that spammy domains are linking to your website, you will want to disavow these links so they don’t hurt your website’s ranking or domain authority. To look for spammy or toxic backlinks, use https://analytics.moz.com/pro/link-explorer/ and select the Spam Score tab. Look for links with a 70% or higher spam score. Go here: https://www.cuteseotools.net/disavow-file-generator and … Continued

  • Recent (Unnamed) Google Algorithm Update

    This update is related to content. It could mean that Google will give a ranking boost for content that is focused on solving problems instead of targeting specific keywords. Here’s a screenshot of Google Analytics for Q1 of 2018 for a website that’s responded well to the update (the last annotation is around the date … Continued

  • Creating and Verifying a Google My Business (GMB) Account

    Having a verified Google My Business (GMB) account for our customers is essential for increasing their site’s page rankings. Creating a Google My Business Account Go to google.com/business Click Start Now In the search bar, type the name of your business or the address of your business. Click on the Magnifying Glass button or press Enter If … Continued