For those of you who don’t know a whole lot (or anything) about backlinking, we’ve put together this beginner’s guide so that you’ll have an understanding of what this SEO practice is all about.

What is a backlink?

Backlinking is when someone posts a hyperlink on a site that leads to a page on your site. It’s also an important part of SEO for your website, as it can lead to your ranking on Google improving – which then leads to more traffic.

Basically, when Google finds a backlink to your page, it analyses it against certain factors that help determine whether the backlink is high quality or not – and therefore improves your ranking on Google.

What makes a backlink successful?

You can’t just go around dropping links to your site on any comment section you find; successful backlinking takes much more effort than this, but the reward is well worth it.

We mentioned high quality backlinks in the previous section, and it’s important to remember that this means that there are also low quality links as well. These lower quality backlinks don’t have anywhere near as much of an effect on your ranking as high quality ones. A site that is relatively unknown and has minimal domain authority linking to your page results in a low quality backlink, for example.

For a backlink to be high quality, it should be:

● On a relevant site
● On a trustworthy site
● As close as possible to the keywords you’re trying to rank for
● Within the content, and in a place of importance such as near the beginning
● Placed on a site that has other high quality backlinks – but not too many.

Want to know more about backlinking? Get in touch with MacZin Digital Marketing!

This is a very basic guide to backlinks, and if you’d like to learn more from a team of experts, or leave the backlinking process up to them, then we’re the ones to call!

MacZin Digital Marketing has years of experience in building high quality backlinks that improve search rankings and increase traffic. To help your business further utilise SEO for success, contact us today to find out more.

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The key to solving this dilemma is to achieve the perfect balance between SEO and amazing website design, and here’s how you can do just that.

Navigation

This is one of the more difficult parts of a site to balance, and is often overlooked or not used to its full potential. Visitors must be able to navigate your website with ease, but it should be optimised for search engines as well.

This means ensuring your products and/or service categories, for example, are broken down into subcategories that search engines will identify as relevant to a user’s search, while still allowing a visitor to find what they’re looking for directly through your website.

Minimising clutter

There’s such a thing as too much content; if it is full of keyword-stuffing, images with ridiculously large file sizes and no or irrelevant alt text, as well as other poor design elements, then you website needs to be de-cluttered.

Not only will this make it easy for search engines to search and ranking your page, it will make your site load faster, allow users to find the information they’re after quicker, and become much more appealing aesthetically.

Header tags

You want eye-catching, good looking headers on your website to draw users to your content and keep them on your site, and that’s understandable. However, if you’re not utilising your H1 tag, you’re missing out on grabbing crucial search engine attention.

The good news is that you can use web fonts within your H1 and other heading tags, for an amazing design element that’s also SEO-friendly.

Trust your search engine optimisation and web design to the experts

Finding the perfect balance between SEO and great website design isn’t as simple as this blog makes it sound. If you’re attempting to do it yourself, you’ll need to be an expert in both fields.

That’s why digital marketing agencies like MacZin Digital Marketing are the answer. We’ll create you the perfect website, with an appealing design and fully optimised for SEO to get your site ranking higher and bringing in more traffic.

Chat to us today about how we can help refresh your current site or build you one from scratch.

The post How You Can Achieve the Perfect Balance Between SEO and Amazing Website Design appeared first on MacZin - SEO Company Melbourne.

Tracking what happens after your session of spam fighting will help motivate you to keep going, as it can sometimes feel like what you’re doing isn’t having any effect. We promise you though, that this is a simple process and your business will reap the benefits in future Google searches. Here’s what to do to fight back spam.

Start with a search of the keyword you want to improve

You need to be performing this search in the actual location of your business. Then, press ‘more businesses’ under the results list to view the Local Finder. This expands on the results Google shows you for location, and you can see where your business ranks and who you need to get ahead of.

Make a spreadsheet to track the current rankings of each of your competitors above you, and put your listing in there as well. Note down the name, phone number and address, and their current position.

Find the results that are clearly spam

Getting the obvious results out of the way first is the easiest way to spend your first spam fighting session. What you should do first is use Google Streetview to see what appears for each business’s listing. If it’s anything other than what matches the actual listing, which is common for spam listings, you need to note this on your spreadsheet. You should also jot down those competitors that use the same phone number or address. Another thing to note is any businesses that have names that are similar, or seem to be keywords instead of actual names of businesses.

Now that you’ve identified some businesses as being possible spam, you need to call them and see if the number is still connected, as well as whether it’s actually the number of the business. Then ask them where they’re located, to see if it matches the Google results. If any numbers aren’t connected, or the location they tell you doesn’t match their listing, note it on your spreadsheet.

For the business listings that still seem to be spam after these investigations, you should visit their websites. If the site seems dodgy or the name doesn’t match the listing, make a note of it.

Report the spam listing to Google

Now that you’ve done the above two steps, you should have identified the duplicate and spam listings on Google. We recommend highlighting these so that you can report them easier.

Go to the first listing you want to eliminate, and click ‘suggest an edit’. Choose the most applicable option for the spam listing, whether it’s to remove the place altogether or suggest a name change, then submit your changes.

Make a note on the spreadsheet of what you did for each listing, so that you can keep track of your actions.

Document the outcome of each report

Google is usually pretty quick to assess reports and accept or reject them. You’ll get an email for each listing that they’ve taken action on, so record the outcome on your spreadsheet. This is important, so that you can accurately see what your reports have done to the rankings of the competing businesses, and therefore your own. Note these results down as well, so you can see how your spam fighting session went.v

MacZin Digital Marketing will help improve your local rankings

While this is a simple process, we understand that sometimes you don’t have the time to spare, or would rather leave everything to do with rankings to the experts. Luckily, that’s what MacZin Digital Marketing does best!v

Get in touch with our digital marketing professionals today to see how we can help you rise above your competitors in the local rankings.

The post How You Can Fight Back Spam And Easily Earn Local Rankings appeared first on MacZin - SEO Company Melbourne.

SEO is an ongoing process, and here’s why you should keep up with it.

The ever-changing market

As the market changes, which it is doing at an incredible rate, so too does the wants and needs of the market and the language involved in searches. As more options and choices appear for products and services, people have to be specific in their language to get their desired result.

Things that affect your business can change from one day to the next, and you need to stay up to date with your target market so that you can meet their demands and use language that resonates with them in their searches.

Competitors’ offerings change constantly

If you’re one of a few businesses to offer something, chances are that that won’t be the case for long – and then you have to compete with more and more brands to get noticed. If you’re not tracking your competition and their offerings or SEO strategies, you won’t know when they change and pose a threat to your success. If you don’t know what your competitors are doing, you can’t do it better.

Search engines change their rules daily

This is one of the most important reasons why you need to always be working on your SEO. The algorithms Google uses change once a day, if not more, affecting rankings instantly. They do this because they are continuously working to improve the results that users get because it’s not a one-off task either.

When any update Google pushes through could dramatically affect your rankings, you can’t afford not to work on your SEO regularly.

Don’t have the time to keep up with the constant changes in SEO? Call MacZin Digital Marketing

If you treat SEO as a ‘set and forget’ task, you’re doing your business a disservice. The market, search engine rules and your competitors are always changing and evolving, and you should as well.

Many businesses outsource their SEO requirements to the professionals to ensure they’re doing everything possible to make their business successful. To do the same for your company, talk to the team at MacZin Digital Marketing. We do the work in keeping up with the changing demands of the SEO world so that you don’t have to.

The post Why SEO is an Ongoing Process and Not a One-Off Task appeared first on MacZin - SEO Company Melbourne.

Website marketing is doing just this, and using creative strategies is key to helping you beat the competition and sell more of your services or products. Here are five creative strategies for your website marketing that you should implement if you haven’t already.

1. Develop a lead magnet

Any marketer worth their salt wants to get people to volunteer their contact details so that they can send relevant marketing material and grow their pool of prospective customers. The trouble is, many people do not want to willingly give these details for marketing purposes, so it’s crucial to get creative.

An incredibly effective strategy is offering what’s called a lead magnet, which is a freebie that your target audience will find value in. You ask for their information, such as their name and email address, in exchange for the freebie – which could be a discount voucher code, an ebook, a how-to guide, etc.

2. Make sure your website has an informative FAQ page

You may not have thought of it this way, but a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page can be considered a service that you’re offering visitors to your site. People respond well to the transparency that an informative FAQ page provides, building their trust in your brand.

You can use the answers to questions on your FAQ page as opportunities for putting in links to your own blogs, and to other resources that may be useful to your visitors. FAQs are a way to quickly give prospects the answers to their questions, ensuring they further explore your site and improve your chances of converting them to a customer.

3. Create appealing videos

It’s not enough to just make a video of you reading out a blog post without making it engaging or offering more value; you need to get creative to appeal to your target market.

Short, informative videos that are also interesting and give your audience value are best for drawing in more visitors and can be used across your social media as well. Videos can be hosted on a number of platforms and then embedded directly onto your site.

4. Ensure your written content is consistently great

Churning out content regularly is only going to benefit your website if you ensure that it’s actually what’s going to appeal to your target market and keep them engaged. Written content needs to provide value, hold their interest and encourage them to stay on your website to buy a product or service. Get their attention with an intriguing heading, then keep them interested with valuable content.

5. Use Facebook groups

There are groups on Facebook for practically anything, which means that you’re likely to find a group (or many) that your target market interacts in. Joining these groups can provide you with incredible insight into your target market, learning details that you can’t capture through other forms of marketing. You will likely get chances to answer questions that are related to your business, and therefore promote it by directing people to the relevant page on your website.

Of course, to do this you first need to ensure you have a business profile, or that your personal profile is ‘private’ so that your request to join these groups are approved. Some groups have very strict rules about business profiles and advertising, so be sure to read them before posting so that you don’t get banned.

Start your entrepreneurial journey on the best foot with MacZin Digital Marketing

If you’re a budding entrepreneur who wants their website marketing handled by the best in the business, from developing strategies to implementing them and tracking the results, then call MacZin Digital Marketing.

We’ll take your business to the next level with proven strategies tailor-made to suit your needs, putting your brand in front of more people than ever before. Get in touch with us today to find out more.

The post 5 Creative Website Marketing Strategies for Budding Entrepreneurs appeared first on MacZin - SEO Company Melbourne.

Here are five of our excellent SEO tips that will improve your web design.

Optimise your URL design

URLs should contain relevant keywords and clearly explain what the page is about, in order to be search engine friendly. You shouldn’t keyword-stuff, or make the URL too long.

Use proper structure for your content so search engine crawlers can read it

These crawlers are also called spiders, and they crawl through a site reading its content to determine what it’s about and then how to rank it. Without content, or content that isn’t structured correctly, your website will be passed over and won’t achieve a good ranking. Use headings, links to previous content, and set out your content in easy to read paragraphs to make it easy for the spiders to read.

Use heading tags correctly

While it’s good practice to use heading tags, as they are another important aspect that search engines look at when searching, you need to make sure you’re using them properly. The

tag should include your keyword and denotes a page’s main topic. Using the other heading tags throughout your content not only helps the search engines but also makes it easier for visitors to read.

Search engines must be able to crawl your website’s navigation

Crawlers find it tricky to go over a site that uses Flash but hasn’t made it accessible to them. If you know how to do this, then you’re free to continue, but keep in mind that JavaScript and CSS offer almost as many options without affecting your rankings by search engines.

Don’t forget image alt attributes

It’s important to remember that you should make sure you include accurate alt attributes for your images, or you’ll actually be harming your search engine rankings. Search engines look at these to see if the page is relevant to a search query, and it’s said that it’s possibly used for ranking in the search engines that are image-based, such as Google Images.

MacZin Digital Marketing are the experts in web design

If you want to give your business the best advantage, you need a website that is SEO-friendly in content and design. MacZin Digital Marketing will get your site where it needs to be, covering all bases and ensuring you have an edge over your competitors.

To find out more about what we can do for your business, contact us now.

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