Website positioning

Ahrefs found that more than 57% of the traffic acquired by the analyzed sites on the web comes from organic search results. If your site ranks high for phrases related to your business, you can achieve traffic that will translate into site visits and increased revenue. However, in order to get the expected visibility of your site in search results, you need to position the site. Why is it worth it and what does it involve? What activities make up the positioning process?

Źródło: https://twitter.com/ahrefs/status/1397961681976844295

Positioning - what does it consist of?

Web positioning is a set of activities by which a website increases its visibility in search results for key phrases. This means striving to achieve the highest possible position for the queries sent by the Internet user, describing your business. To achieve such a result, you need to optimize your site for the requirements of Google's algorithm. Visibility is determined by many factors, including content refinement, link profile development and elimination of technical errors. A website will not achieve the expected visibility overnight. The time it takes to achieve high positions depends on the reputation of the domain, competition in the industry or the condition of the site.

Why opt for SEO? Because visibility on Google provides website traffic and customers. A survey conducted by HubSpot shows that for 60% of marketers, it is one of the most effective sources for acquiring quality leads.

Source: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3476323/State+of+Inbound+2018+Global+Results.pdf

Optimizing a site for Google's requirements is largely consistent with tailoring the site to users' expectations. Why are activities carried out under this search engine?

Positioning on Google - why exactly this search engine?

Google is the clear leader in the search market. According to Statcounter, it has more than 90% share. The second position is held by Bing with a score of more than 3%. There are few countries where Google does not lead. These include China, North and South Korea, as well as Russia.

Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share

In Poland, Google is the clear leader with a market share of more than 95%. More than 3% has Bing, while other search engines have less than 1%. It is the popularity of Google in Poland that makes SEO in our country focus on achieving high positions in this search engine.

https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/poland

What is the difference between SEO and positioning?

SEO, which is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, stands for search engine optimization of websites. Positioning, on the other hand, is a Polish term for activities leading to increased visibility in SERPs(Search Engine Results Page). In both cases, the goal is the same - to achieve a higher position on queries and increase traffic from Google. However, you may encounter different approaches to these terms. Some specialists believe that they can be used interchangeably, while others claim that SEO is only a part of the SEO process, which means only carrying out technical optimization of the site. What does this come from? From a literal interpretation of SEO. Search Engine Optimization is often treated solely as technical optimization within a website. Meanwhile, it is about more than that. Optimization refers to adjusting a site for all Google search engine ranking factors, and includes acquiring links leading to the site.

In the world, the terms SEO and Web Positioning are used as synonyms. The latter is rarely used. Note that the division into:

• On-site SEO - activities within the site, such as technical optimization,
• Off-site SEO - off-page activities, that is, primarily link building.

So it follows that SEO includes both activities. Nevertheless, in Poland, many specialists say that positioning is the totality of steps to achieve high positions, and SEO - technical optimization. Interestingly, the definition found in Wikipedia indicates that using these terms interchangeably is a mistake. The dispute over this issue has been going on for years. If you outsource SEO, you should be mainly interested in whether the offer includes all the activities necessary to optimize your site and develop its visibility in Google. Nomenclature does not play an important role.

Source: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optymalizacja_dla_wyszukiwarek_internetowych

What are the types of positioning on Google?

There are several types of SEO, depending on what phrases it covers, as well as who the target audience is. The activities that aim to achieve high positions in each case are similar, but differ in the scale of difficulty - the budget needed for the campaign to produce the desired results at all. What are the types of positioning and how do they differ?

Positioning nationwide

These are activities carried out for companies that target residents all over Poland. An excellent example is online stores. Mostly, nationwide positioning is difficult, because there are many companies with a similar profile and offer on the web. This does not mean that you have to target only nationwide phrases. These can be short phrases, consisting of one word, such as "washing machine", but also - "top-loading washing machine up to 2000 PLN". In the first case you are dealing with a very competitive phrase, where getting a high position is difficult, but can translate into a lot of traffic. On the other hand, such a query doesn't convey intent - it's hard to tell whether an Internet user wants to buy a washing machine, but is interested in a coloring book for a child, or perhaps a repair manual. On the other hand, in the case of the latter phrase, you can get much less traffic, but more effective - the Internet user is probably looking for the equipment he wants to buy.

International positioning

These efforts are aimed at gaining organic traffic from different countries. If you want to succeed in international SEO, you need to adapt to the cultural context of your target market and allow customers to transact in their currency and language.

Use the appropriate date and time format depending on where your audience is located. International positioning aims to create a good online experience for site users. In this case, it is necessary to analyze keywords for specific markets. Phrases translated verbatim will not always bring converting traffic for audiences in different countries.

Mostly it is about the positioning of an online store that has an offer aimed at foreign customers. Such activities are also carried out by companies that have foreign branches and perform services in different countries.

Local positioning

This type of positioning is aimed at companies that are looking for customers among the residents of a particular city, municipality or county. Take a peek at the chart below. According to BrightLocal, as many as 98% of Internet users search Google for local business information. This is the primary source for finding out about service providers and retail outlets.

Source: https://www.onthemap.com/blog/local-seo-stats/

Local positioning includes more than just the website. Note that in the search results for local queries, right below the ads from Google Ads, there is usually a so-called three-pack from Google Maps. It looks like this, as shown in the graphic below:

Your brand can be visible more than once in local results. However, in order for it to also appear in the three-pack, first set up a Company Profile on Google. Of course, it needs to be optimized and regularly updated so that your business card can be seen in a high position.

For local inquiries, there is usually much less competition than for general inquiries, but if you operate in a large city, it can still be difficult to beat.

Broad positioning

In this case, SEO efforts focus on phrases that consist of at least 3 words. You can choose to position your sites for up to thousands of such keywords. Achieving a top 10 Google position for them is usually not difficult, but you must be aware that the monthly number of searches is not high either. The fact that the query consists of several words makes the Internet user describe more accurately what he is looking for, and it is known at what stage of achieving a specific goal he is. Therefore, such queries have a high conversion rate. According to Backlinko's analysis, more than 90% of keywords searched on Google are long tail phrases. Take a peek at the chart below:

Source: https://backlinko.com/google-keyword-study

Long tail phrases are described in precise terms in the graphic below. Short queries, once they get high positions in Google, can get a lot of traffic, but they are also very competitive. Long tail phrases, on the other hand, are relatively easy in terms of gaining high positions, but also provide high conversions. Therefore, it is definitely worth betting on them. In many cases, it is possible that a relatively quick optimization of a website will be enough to get satisfactory visibility for a given query.

Source: https://profitworks.ca/blog/488-conversions-of-longtail-keywords-are-2-5x-higher-than-head-keywords

Of course, nothing prevents you from conducting general, local and broad positioning for a given site. Such a combination can bring excellent results.

Position in search results

The goal of SEO is to develop visibility for phrases in Google, and to get high positions for specific phrases. The higher a site is ranked for a given query, the greater the chance of a click. Achieving first position, however, does not mean that everyone who searches for a given keyword will end up on your site. Note that depending on the query, the results vary. The results include images, news, videos, results from Google Maps and more. According to Backlinko, a site that is in position 1, on average, achieves a CTR of 27.6%. This means that this result is clicked by roughly 28 out of 100 users who sent the query.

Source: https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats

A site that is in position 10 can expect 2-3 visits. That is why it is so important to achieve the highest possible position. In the case of unpopular phrases, any redirects from search results may occur only after reaching the top 3. In general, more than half of the traffic from organic results goes to sites that rank from 1 to 3. The chart below shows how the CTR changes after reaching a higher position.

Source: https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats

There is also a difference in CTR depending on what device the Internet user is using. Mostly it is different for computers and different when it comes to mobile devices. Remember that you can improve CTR not only by achieving a higher position. It's worth using structured data on the page, so that additional elements can appear in the search results that make your site stand out. For this, you can also test the use of colorful pictograms - emoticons. If Google displays them in the results, they too can help increase CTR.

Why invest in SEO on Google?

If you opt for search engine positioning, you can gain customers, reach new audiences for your offerings and optimize your site to meet the expectations of Google's search engine algorithm, as well as the user. The site will be modern and provide internet users with a positive experience. Take a closer look at what benefits you can gain if you perform SEO optimization. What are the benefits of effective SEO?

Increase the number of visitors to your website

According to SparkToro, 92.96% of global traffic comes from Google Search, Google Graphics and Google Maps. If you skip SEO, you're giving up a source of traffic that can provide plenty of visits to your site. As part of an effectively implemented campaign, the number of visits should increase regularly and your site should gain visibility for more and more phrases.

You'll get customers

One of the biggest advantages of SEO is reaching Internet users who are interested in your offer. They send in a query, Google matches the result and they most likely get what they were looking for. Web positioning has a high conversion rate. The table below shows how much it is for B2C and B2B industries. For B2B, SEO scored the highest, and B2C scored one of the highest:

Source: https://firstpagesage.com/reports/digital-marketing-conversion-rate/

Site tailored to meet the expectations of Google's algorithm and users

As you know, the effect of SEO depends largely on optimizing your site for Google's search engine requirements. However, this does not mean that your website will be unattractive to the user. The expectations of Google's algorithm are largely consistent with the requirements of the Internet user. Here are selected elements that matter:

• Encrypted connection - Google has been encouraging its use for years, and it has hit its stride, as more than 80% of all sites now use SSL. This means that the connection between the site and the user is encrypted (i.e. secure). Data will not be intercepted or altered by unauthorized persons. The address of such a site starts with https://.

Source: https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/ce-httpsdefault

• Responsive website - the site should be adjusted to display on screens with different resolutions. This is important for Google and essential for the user, since it is very inconvenient to use a site that does not display properly. It is difficult to expect him to stay on the site in such a case, let alone order a product from it.
• Loading speed - Internet users expect the site to run expressly. The faster it loads, the better. This is one of the factors that affect a website's positions in Google. Even leaving this aside, it is worth having a fast site because of the impact on conversions. The chart below shows the results of a study that confirms that the higher the conversion rate, the higher the conversion.

Source: https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm

• Thoughtful site structure - the site should have a category tree designed in such a way that the user can easily find what he is looking for. Proper naming is important. Refined menus and proper layout affect the positioning of the site. First, the names must be consistent with the phrases that Internet users search in Google. A search engine robot should easily reach categories and product pages. Link every subpage on the site that contains content for the user and is to be indexed by Google from at least a few subpages.
• Internal linking - thanks to internal linking, Google takes into account individual content, i.e. the robot is able to reach it at all. As part of your SEO optimization, you should refine it, for example, by linking to individual products from blog posts, category descriptions, subcategories or subpages where you compare the items you offer. For each sub-page on the site, you are sure to find the right URLs from which to link.
• Use of structured data - this makes it easier for Google's search engine to determine what the content means. You can specify that a piece of information means price, stock or brand name. As a result, the information can appear in Google results. These are the elements that draw attention from the search result, are valuable to the user and can increase the chances of him visiting your site.

• Table of contents in articles - add in published blog posts such a table of contents with links with anchors leading to individual headings. This is a very convenient solution for Internet users who browse the site on mobile devices. This way they don't have to scroll to get to interesting content, they just click on a particular headline in the index and get to the content they want to read. You can also increase the chances of clicks from search results, as additional links can also appear below the result.

As you can see, optimizing for Google SEO is largely consistent with designing your site to meet your expectations.

SEO audit - before you start positioning your website

Before you start the SEO and optimization process, you need to check the state of your site. An SEO audit allows you to assess the fine-tuning of your site for search engines. You need to determine its strengths and weaknesses. It is crucial to identify errors that may prevent the site from achieving the expected visibility in search results. As part of this effort, the state of the competition should also be assessed, which will help determine how much time positioning the site on Google will require, as well as the investment involved. In order to get ahead of other sites, the site needs to be polished and generally better in terms of SEO. Typically, an SEO audit includes the site's architecture, code, indexing, optimization of content for keywords, internal linking, backlink profile and much more. As an SEO agency, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the site's condition, draw conclusions and develop an SEO strategy based on this. To what extent do we check the condition of your site?

Checking for indexing errors

They may be responsible for problems on the site. We have already dealt with client sites that were not indexed by Google at all due to the use of an indexing exclusion tag in the code. We will check how your site looks from this angle in Google Search Console, but we also use other tools such as Screaming Frog and Ahefs, among others. Based on this, we analyze what problems exist on the site. Common ones are 404 errors (linking to non-existent pages on the site), redirect loops or exclusions of indexing relevant pages on the site. These are the ones that can cause your site to be missing from Google searches. Eliminating these errors can quickly bring a dramatic improvement in your site's visibility.

Page redirects

For Google, the addresses http://onet.pl and http://www.onet.pl are different. Thus, the search engine's index may contain exactly the same content indexed several times. o in turn causes indexing and SEO problems - especially since Google will consider them duplicates. The problem may also be due to the fact that when introducing the encrypted version of the site (https://), the person in charge did not add a 301 redirect from the address with http://. Redirection loops are also a problem. It should not be that page A is redirected to B, B to C and C to D. You should directly redirect from A to D, otherwise you lose some of your SEO "power" along the way. Besides, with such a loop, Google's robot may have trouble reaching the target URL.

Check manual actions

If a site violates Google's spam policy, it may receive a manual penalty. This means that the site may disappear from high positions for keywords. Until Google reverses these actions, the situation will not begin to improve. Currently, the search engine does not often impose such penalties, but nada they do happen. The reasons can be keyword stuffing, the site contains only spam - there is no valuable content on it. Other reasons are low-quality links leading to it, or it is a site that is the result of AI-generated content automatically. If Google has not imposed a manual penalty, you will find a message like the one below in Google Search Console:

Basic Internet indicators

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that relate to a site's performance and speed. They have been a ranking factor for several years, i.e. they affect a site's visibility in Google. We will check whether your site meets the algorithm's requirements in this regard. From Google Search Console you can find out what problems your site has. Ideally, it doesn't need any improvement from this angle. You can also verify your site at pagespeed.web.dev/.

Encrypted version of the site

Your site should mandatorily use an SSL certificate, i.e. an encrypted connection. It is important that there are no errors. It happens that some links on the site do not have the correct substitutions for those that lead to the version from https://. This can also apply to links to images. In Google Search Console you can check the site for this as well. If there are errors, you need to eliminate them quickly.

Internal linking analysis

The structure of the site, the category tree in the menu and the sub-linking of the various pages on the site, have a huge impact on the visibility of your site. SEO and positioning require special attention to these elements. Any content you want to rank high in search results should be sub-linked from at least some other material on the site. You can include internal links on your site in blog articles, category descriptions, subcategories and even product content.

These are elements that affect not only the visibility of the site - thanks to them, an Internet user can more easily reach the content he or she is interested in, which in turn increases the chance of staying longer on the site and converting. Internal links help search engines index your site and direct so-called link juice to the most important pages. You can use various tools for internal linking, but however, manual work brings the best results. Besides, you don't run the risk that, for example, a plug-in failure will automatically make all such links on the site disappear.

Duplication of content

Google appreciates websites that provide unique, valuable content. It won't penalize your site for a single copy of content, but mass violations of this rule can end up in trouble for the domain. Two types of duplication are possible - internal and external. The former means that there is identical content on multiple pages of the site. This is usually due to errors on the site, such as incorrectly implemented redirects, by which the same sub-page is visible to the Google robot under different addresses, e.g. https://onet.pl and http://onet.pl, or the lack of implementation of proper canonical links, i.e. those that indicate at which URL the original content is located. This is especially true for category descriptions that display on multiple pagination subpages. If you want to check for internal duplication on your site, use the Siteliner tool, which is free to a limited extent. Optimizing your site for this is part of on-site SEO.

Source: https://www.siteliner.com/

External duplication, on the other hand, involves using the same content on different sites. This is often due to the use of product descriptions provided by the manufacturer. This is not a good idea. If you take a peek at Google's search results, you probably won't find sites that have copied descriptions in high positions.

Another common cause of external duplication is the use of content from your site in social media profiles, ads, auctions or in your Company Profile on Google (Google My Company). It's not worth doing this, as the consequence may be that, for a given phrase, a higher position is occupied by, for example, an auction on Allegro - your site will be on a lower position due to the domain reputation of this auction site. It does not matter here that you have previously managed to add this content on your website. It is worth monitoring the uniqueness of the content. It may happen that someone gouk steals from your site - uses it without permission. In that case, demand immediate removal, but you can also report the violation to Google at: support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?hl=en.

Analysis of backlinks leading to the site

Positioning sites on Google requires acquiring links leading to the site. One element of the audit is to analyze their profile. A link can either positively influence the visibility of the site or the opposite. The link profile requires careful analysis. There are cases in which a huge number of links leading to the site come from spam. In extreme cases, any action for the site may be unprofitable, as it will not bring any change.

Successful SEO is based on high-quality links. Among other things, we evaluate the link profile in terms of the diversity of anchors, i.e. link titles. If a site is mostly linked to with anchors like the phrases being positioned (exact match), it can very negatively affect its visibility. We take care to diversify the profile, but especially the quality of the referrers. When it comes to off-site positioning, links are a key element. The goal should not be to acquire them in the greatest number, but quality. It is worth betting on links from sites that are thematically related, developed, updated and contain valuable content. This can positively affect visibility. We analyze links in the Ahrefs tool, among others, but also check links in Google Search Console and other tools such as Majestic SEO. Are links really that important? Ahrefs' analysis shows that sub-pages with more links are visible for more keywords in search results.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-traffic-study/

Keywords and their use

The SEO specialist pays a lot of attention to the analysis of the content on the site. They may be the cause of visibility problems in Google. The SEO strategy should include keyword analysis for each content on the site. A list of keywords should be prepared for all of them, which should then be used appropriately in the individual content. Optimizing content for SEO alone can make a dramatic difference in visibility.

When creating content, it's a good idea to use tools such as Contadu, Surfer SEO or Neuron Writer. They suggest what phrases the content should contain, suggest headlines, article length and more - all based on analysis of high ranking content. SEO copywriting should also include keyword analysis in other tools, such as Senuto or Semstorm, which can give you additional headline ideas to include in your content. Check what content appears in the More Questions position on Google for queries that are relevant to you. Complete the article with answers to these questions. In fact, the work of optimizing content never ends, as there are still new queries to answer or keywords to add in the content. This allows you to keep developing the article's visibility.

Website positioning vs. types of keywords

Inherent in SEO is optimization for keywords. However, phrases are used not only in the content on the page, but also as anchor links leading to the site. In practice, you can use different types of keywords.

Short tail keyword phrases

Here we are talking about phrases that consist of up to two words. They are very vague, for example, shoes, loans, cash loans, dresses, skis. It is not clear what the intentions of the user who searches such a query are. Mostly Internet users who are determined to make a purchase do not use them. In practice, it is difficult to predict what their intentions are. Someone who types in the query loans may not be thinking about taking out such a commitment at all, but is looking for a definition of this banking product. However, if it was a query "online cash loan up to 10 thousand", it is already more about finding a specific product. When deciding on the positioning of such phrases, keep in mind that they are very competitive. They may require a very high budget, but once they reach a position in the top 10, they will bring relatively high traffic. The problem, however, is that the conversion rate for them may be low.

Long tail keyword phrases

We have already mentioned these queries. In this case, these are phrases that consist of at least 3 words. If you're looking for effective SEO that will start to bring a return on your website's SEO investment as soon as possible, bet on these phrases from the beginning of your efforts. While you may have to wait a long time for high rankings for short-tail queries, the effects of long-tail can be seen expressly. Admittedly, such key phrases have a low search volume, but you can bring your site to visibility for hundreds or thousands of queries, which will translate into a lot of traffic. Importantly, phrases consisting of multiple words better describe user expectations, which increases the chances of conversion. Therefore, it is worth betting on such queries from the very beginning of your operations.

Branded keywords

Internet users often search for a specific brand or combine a brand name with a keyword. In such cases, a large proportion of site visits may end up in conversions, as the user searches for a specific brand's offer. Typically, achieving visibility for such phrases is a positive side effect of SEO. If you develop a site, build its link profile, it will most likely quickly rank high for branded keywords. Often, even the brand name does not have to appear in the page title (title tag), while of course it is natural that it is there.

Local keywords

In this case, it's all about location-specific phrases. They are applicable for companies that target residents of a specific city, district, county or municipality. If you want to reach customers from different cities, create a separate landing page for each of these localities, and then optimize the content for local queries. Use keywords in conjunction with the location. The big advantage of positioning your site for such keywords is that there is relatively little competition. If you have a site that has good visibility in Google, positioning your site for phrases related to other cities should be relatively easy. In many cases, adding an optimized sub-page, internal sub-linking is enough to achieve the expected results. Another big advantage of such phrases is high conversion. If someone searches for a query that consists of a product/service name linked to a location, they are likely to want to buy it.

How much does positioning cost?

It is impossible to give a definite answer to the question of how much optimization and SEO costs. A study on this topic was conducted by Ahrefs. It turns out that most companies paying a monthly fee for SEO spend between $500 and $1,500. For those billing an hourly rate, $75-100 is the standard. For one-off SEO projects, the most common is $2501 to $5000. There are some companies that invest more than $25,000 a month in search engine visibility. A large percentage of respondents allocate between $2,500 and $5,000 per month.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/

So how much does effective search engine positioning of a website cost? The monthly expense depends on many factors. The key factor is competition. For the most profitable industries, such as financial or insurance, you need to prepare for a higher expense. If you want to invest in effective search engine positioning in such businesses, you need to be patient and have a high SEO budget. Competition is so fierce in these industries that even long-tail phrases can sometimes be highly challenging, but achieving high positions can bring a significant return on investment.

A big influence on the price for SEO is the reputation of your domain and the expected extent of modifications. If it has a terrible link profile, it is very likely that it will be completely unprofitable to continue investing in it. In such a situation, a better choice may be to set up a completely new site, where you fine-tune all the elements that affect SEO from the beginning. The site may have low-quality content and will need to change everything.

The difference also comes from what type of positioning it is. Global? Local? Or is it solely about Google Maps positioning?

Another factor that affects the cost of activities is the form of billing. The most popular model nowadays is subscription, which means that you pay a fixed amount per month and receive a certain scope of work in return. Another form is payment for effect, that is, you incur a cost when the site ranks in the top 10 for a specific keyword. You establish a list of phrases and pay only when it ranks high on those queries. Some outsourcers choose to pay for positioning of their own site for each hour of services performed. They buy only specific implementations and bill for them. Often contracts assume additional fees for the effects of positioning pages. You can set such, such as for specific traffic from Google or for achieving the expected visibility in search results.

Before you even get down to looking for a deal in the SEO industry, learn more about the various forms of billing. Comprehensive SEO requires a customized approach, as well as an individually tailored form of billing.

What forms of billing do SEO agencies offer?

You already know what SEO is and that you can pay for it on different terms. Learn about the different billing models so you know the advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as which form may be optimal for your business.

Positioning of websites in Google billed on a subscription basis

This is by far the most widely used model today. In this case, you agree with the SEO contractor what scope of work he will perform and for how much. Mostly you pay a fixed amount, or you can agree that the contractor will receive a bonus if he achieves a given result. The SEO company takes actions that affect the positioning of the site. The contract usually includes: technical optimization, monitoring the status of the site, regular content development and link building. The scope of work can be tailored individually to a given project. On the other hand, it should include all the activities that are needed to achieve the expected visibility in search results. Most often, the contract is concluded for an indefinite period with a short notice period. This is a safe solution, as you can observe whether the activities are having an effect and, based on this, decide whether you want to continue them. Or is it worth increasing the budget to achieve even better results? If you contract with this form of billing, the SEO company regularly reports the details of the activities. This includes statistics from Google Analytics, data from Google Search Console or from visibility analysis tools such as Senuto or Semstorm. In addition, it can send data on changes in the site's position for selected phrases. Activities are geared towards getting traffic from search results, but you can also set phrases you particularly care about.

Positioning in this model is popular and most often chosen. Therefore, if you outsource such work, definitely consider this form of billing.

Positioning of your website in the model for the effect

Years ago, this form of billing was definitely dominant, but it has become very unpopular for a number of reasons. Typically, according to the contract, the SEO company was supposed to strive for high positions for certain phrases. It was only paid if the phrase managed to get to certain positions, usually to the top 10 of Google search results. The higher the phrase, the mostly higher the remuneration. This means that the SEO agency received any remuneration only after bringing the site to high positions. This, of course, does not mean that this form of cooperation was ideal for the client.

First, accepting such terms meant entering into a contract for at least a year, and even longer without the possibility of early termination. You don't take the risk of paying for the lack of any results, but if there are none, you lose time. Besides, the SEO company could take actions that are risky to get high rankings quickly, resulting in Google imposing a filter. In that case, the domain would lose its reputation, making it very difficult to get high positions.

In addition, there is the issue of choosing phrases. It happened that dishonest companies chose a certain number of phrases, and among them very demanding and very easy. They dealt only with the latter, which they quickly positioned and received a fee. The problem, however, was that these were phrases that did not bring traffic, much less customers.

Nowadays, positioning for effect is rare, but for low-competitive phrases, especially local ones, this billing model is possible. This, however, needs to be evaluated individually. If you are considering such a contract, check the terms carefully. Also count with the fact that you will usually have to conclude it for at least a year without the possibility of early termination.

Hourly billing

In this case, you pay only for the implementation of specific work. This is largely a solution for those who want to bet on independent positioning. You can do some of the work on your own, and others - outsource to a specialist in the field. Then you pay only for a specific range of activities. You set a rate for a specific implementation or per hour of work. On the other hand, these are not comprehensive activities, which means that in practice you need to have knowledge of SEO if you want to see results. Positioning is a process in which the result depends on many factors. An expert can perform certain tasks, but that doesn't mean it's enough to increase your site's visibility. It's very likely that you won't see any improvement through errors you don't see. Of course, you can also simply have your site optimized for SEO so that the expert covers all the elements that affect visibility.

This form of contract has many advantages. You do not take much financial risk. You pay only for certain activities, but also, on the other hand, you are not sure whether all this work done by different specialists will have an effect.

Billing for traffic or sales

This type is a form of billing for effect, but less risky than payment for achieved positions. An option is to pay for traffic acquired from organic results. Then you are sure that you will not pay for only high positions that do not translate into visits from users who are interested in your offer. In the case of billing for sales, you incur a cost only if you gain a customer through SEO. Agencies, however, agree to such terms only in selected cases, as orders depend on many factors. Specialists can bring a site to high positions, but your company's pricing policy does not depend on them. An uncompetitive price can be the reason for low sales. It can also be due to bad reviews of the product or its poor performance. Therefore, such a model is possible only in exceptional cases. If a company agrees to invest in your site and get paid only after results are achieved, it is more likely to expect a long term contract, as it has a high financial risk.

Search engine positioning in such a model can be very profitable, but such conditions are difficult to obtain.

Optimizing a website for Google - by an agency or on your own?

Some site owners attempt to build visibility in Google on their own. However, the fact that you know what SEO is is not enough to achieve the desired results. Theory is only the beginning of the journey. You need at least a couple of years of practice to gain enough knowledge to carry out SEO activities, and even then a lot can surprise you. Above all, focus on your business, and leave the marketing activities to the specialists. It only takes one misstep to destroy your domain's reputation and make it difficult, or in extreme cases even impossible, to achieve a satisfactory result.

Google's algorithm continues to change

Below you can see a list of the search engine's big algorithm updates. Google is constantly changing things. Achieving high positions in search results does not mean that your site will get them permanently. Google makes changes - it adds new ranking factors, changes requirements for sites, rates them differently. An SEO agency runs a lot of campaigns and, based on this, can quickly draw conclusions about what exactly will be changed and what needs to be done to bring your site in line with the algorithm's new requirements. If you only position one site, it will be difficult for you to draw any conclusions based on this. You have to wait until there are public analyses prepared by authors of various tools or SEO specialists. This will take time. An agency, on the other hand, can quickly draw conclusions and implement solutions to bring your site in line with Google's expectations.

Source: https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history

The agency has its facilities

Usually, an SEO company has websites where it can quickly place links leading to your site. Link building is one of the important factors in SEO. Of course, you can buy links on your own, but you won't get access to the SEO agency's facilities that way, thus it will be difficult for you to strongly diversify your link profile. You have access to buy links on sites where your competitors can do so. Meanwhile, an SEO agency gives you more options. Besides, it usually buys a very large number of links and thus has access to them on much better terms than a single link orderer. Ahrefs reports that on average a link costs more than $80, and about 75% of all those who build a link profile take advantage of the opportunity to buy them. That's the cost of just one link, and your competitors could have thousands of them.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/

The agency uses the best tools on the market

It is difficult to implement an effective campaign without the use of modern tools, which are even essential for operations. Using them is associated with high costs. The agency carries out activities for many sites and divides the costs between them. Buying them all on one's own would be very expensive and unprofitable. It would significantly reduce the level of possible return on investment. A lot of work can be done with free solutions, but it's the paid ones that offer much more possibilities.

Many specialists on hand

The agency usually employs a number of experts. These are people who specialize in technical SEO, link building, content marketing or other activities. It's not as if everyone is perfectly versed in every element that matters in SEO. Successful SEO requires drawing on the knowledge of various specialists who are able to quickly determine what actions to take, what needs to be done to make the campaign successful. Together they develop a strategy. The SEO agency works with or employs programmers, so they are able to expressly implement any changes to your site, fix errors or introduce optimization measures. As a result, the necessary work is carried out expressly.

The agency is testing solutions all the time

Something that some time ago had an effect on SEO, nowadays does not necessarily. A link acquired from a site that looks good at first glance may not only not have a positive effect on your site's visibility, but may even cause drops. This means that you could spend several hundred zlotys on a link that has no value. SEO agencies regularly test link sources and their effectiveness in order to bet only on those that are beneficial. That's why they don't waste time on methods that were effective, but long ago. It will be difficult for you to make such conclusions based on the positioning of a single phrase. Testing takes time, and it takes time to conduct such a study under the right conditions.

For all these reasons, it is better to decide to outsource the work to a specialist. If you try to position the site on your own, you may lose time and money. It is better to focus on providing the highest quality service.

How long does effective SEO take?

There is no clear answer to this question. In fact, positioning never ends. If you manage to get position 1 for your site's key query, it doesn't mean you can settle on your laurels. The sub-site still needs to be optimized. You should analyze searches in Google Search Console to adjust your content accordingly. Perhaps there are phrases for which the site shows up on the second or third page of results, and adding content, such as introducing a new headline, will quickly get the site to a high position for the phrase and attract traffic.

When it comes to positioning a specific phrase, the turnaround time depends primarily on the scale of its difficulty, as well as the state of your site. The site may require drastic changes to catch up with competitors' sites and meet Google's algorithm requirements. Or it may be in good condition in terms of SEO and minor adjustments will suffice.

The positioning of general, one-word queries usually takes much longer than long tail. However, even if you get to the first position for a phrase, it doesn't mean you can stop further work. Search engine optimization requires continuous efforts, otherwise your competitors may overtake you. It can invest in higher quality links, develop content, work on speed and other elements that matter in SEO. If a keyword converts effectively, many of your competitors are working on getting a high position for it.

How to monitor the effects of SEO?

If you outsource the implementation of a campaign to an external company, the SEO agency should send you regular reports on the work in progress and its results. Most often these go to clients once a month, but you can also monitor progress on your own and at no cost to you. How can you check the results of the campaign?

Google My Business card statistics

If your campaign includes a Company Profile on Google, then log on to business.google.com and see the benefits of your actions. You can check the number of phone calls from the profile, website redirects or messages sent, and even the phrases that caused your profile to appear in search results. For a local business, your Google Company Profile can become a key source of customers. These statistics are worth looking into regularly.

Google Search Console data

With this report, you can periodically check how much traffic you have managed to get from free search results. Google Search Console will provide plenty of data - you just need to verify your site in this tool. You'll find out what the average position was for a given query, how many times the site was displayed in search results, as well as which phrases resulted in the highest number of visits. Remember, however, that organic traffic from Google does not grow in an instant. What days it is highest depends on the subject matter. For example, business topics are more likely to be covered during the week, and those related to tourism or relaxation - on slow days. In addition, there is the issue of seasonality, for example, the greatest interest in garden furniture is seen from April to August, and little in autumn. Therefore, the activities carried out do not always bring more viewers from month to month. Seasonality matters.

Data from Ahrefs

It's one of the most popular tools in the industry and, unfortunately, very expensive. However, for your own use, you can use it for free - you just need to verify the site, i.e. confirm that you manage it. Then you get access to a lot of data. Ahrefs is mainly known as a link profile analysis tool, and indeed you can monitor in it what links the agency is acquiring for you (but not all of them). One feature displays links acquired, for example, in the last 30 days. However, now Ahrefs is no longer just about links, but also about many other options. You will learn how your site's visibility in search results is changing. You can monitor what errors are occurring on the site. It is definitely worth looking into Ahrefs from time to time - it provides a lot of data.

Source: https://app.ahrefs.com/

Visibility analysis in Semstorm

This is a Polish, popular tool that allows you to check how visible your site is in Google search results. It is paid, but you can check the basic data within your free account. This will determine what the trend is for your site. Is its visibility increasing, but on the contrary, is it decreasing? Keep in mind that rarely does a site only steadily improve it. There are different periods, and visibility can drop for various reasons, if only due to Google algorithm updates. It is enough if you check your site in this tool once or twice a month.

Source: https://app.semstorm.com/

Google Analytisc

This most popular analytics system provides information on site visits. You will find out how much traffic comes from search results. You will check how much time users spend on average on individual subpages. The tool will help you make valuable conclusions, for example, which URLs need to be rebuilt, as users leave the site very quickly - they do not check the details of the offer. Besides, Google Analytics allows you to measure conversions. This will help you assess whether the traffic you get from Google is meeting your goals, e.g. leads to ordering products or using the contact form.

Source: https://analytics.google.com

You can also use many other SEO tools. Remember, however, that time is of paramount importance in SEO. The effects of the activities largely depend on the industry and the state of the site. It's a good idea to set goals to be achieved for a given period with your SEO agency, so you know what you can realistically expect.

Positioning of online stores

Regardless of the site's subject matter or type of business, SEO involves very similar steps. The differences may be based on the state of the site, i.e. how many optimization changes the site needs, but not only that. If you want to SEO a small business site, it will probably require much less work and a smaller budget than an online store with a large number of products. In its case, the type of software the site uses is of great importance. All developers of popular CMS systems invest in optimization, but unfortunately it is not the case that the solutions are polished. They require more or less customization to meet Google's requirements. It happens that the basic version of the system does not provide even the basic functions that are important from the point of view of SEO. Therefore, the store may require drastic changes. What software is most commonly used in Polish e-commerce? This is presented in the graphic below.

Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/shop/country/Poland

The clear leader in Poland is WooCommerce. The next positions are occupied by: PrestaShop, Shoper, Wix Stores, Shopify and IdoSell. What is worth knowing about each script? Are they hit solutions when it comes to SEO?

WooCommerce store positioning

WooCommerce is a plugin for the most popular CMS, namely WordPress. If you run a WP-based site and want to add a store to it, all you need to do is use this plugin and then configure it. While the system is not perfect in terms of SEO, you will find many free plugins to optimize your site. Plug-ins such as Yoast SEO or All in One SEO are available in a paid version, but great capabilities are already provided even within the free variant. If you need a solution to other SEO problems, you're also likely to find the right ones without problems.

PrestaShop store positioning

Not so long ago, this system was the most popular in Poland when it comes to e-commerce software. Nowadays, it's losing interest, but our country's Internet users are still eager to use it. This system is not as SEO-optimized as WooCommerce, while it also provides plenty of plugins, except that most of the robust solutions are paid. On the other hand, you'll find add-ons that will allow you to implement the necessary solutions without any problems, including adding unique meta data, generating a sitemap, friendly links and more.

Shoper store positioning

Shoper software is increasingly popular. Setting up a store based on this system does not require specialized knowledge, and besides, it provides a lot of solutions to adapt your site to the requirements of Google's algorithm. After logging into the administration panel, you can, among other things, add individual meta tags for individual subpages, edit the robots.txt file, add a sitemap, alt attribute to images, manage redirects.

Wix store positioning

Wix is well-liked by those running Web stores for its simplicity of setting them up. When it comes to optimizing for SEO, it provides features to help you optimize your site without any problems. The editor allows you to set unique meta tags for each subpage. You can add alt attributes to images. Wix has also prepared an SEO Wizard guide to help you optimize your site for SEO. This system is not ideal when it comes to optimizing for Google's requirements, but it has other advantages including lots of customization options.

Shopify store positioning

Another software with which you can easily set up a store. It provides many features that are important for SEO. You can edit the robots.txt file to specify which resources are accessible to which robots. The system generates a sitemap that you just need to submit to Google Search Console. Shopify allows you to add unique meta data, alt tag for images. The system provides all the necessary solutions you may need to optimize your site.

IdoSell store positioning

IdoSell is a system that should not give you much trouble in terms of optimization. You will add unique meta data without any problems. For individual category and subcategory pages, you will easily enter their descriptions. You will add H1-H6 headers in the content, without complications you will also add structural data, thanks to which the search result from your site can be enriched with additional elements, such as stars, product price or stock information.

Local positioning - what activities to focus on?

Are you targeting the residents of a particular city, county or municipality? With local positioning, you can reach the vast majority of your potential audience. 46% of Google searches come from users who are specifically looking for local businesses. If customers are in urgent need of some service, such as towing, they are likely to contact the company whose site ranks first in the search results.

As we mentioned, your listing can be visible in more than one position in search results. All thanks to the positioning of your Google My Business card and website. In both cases, you need to perform other actions to achieve the desired effect. Which ones?

Company Profile Positioning on Google

As a first step, you must first create a profile. It is free of charge. All you have to do is go to google.com/intl/en_en/business/ and enter the required data. Then you must go through verification. Only after this step will your business card show up in search results. Customers can reach it in standard results and through Google Maps.

The visibility of your Company Profile on Google depends on many factors. Here are the important elements on which the positions occupied by your business card on keywords depend:

• Company name - this is not the place to stuff keywords. If it consists solely of them, the profile will be blocked. Besides, in such a case the Internet user has no idea what brand he is dealing with. The optimal solution is to combine a relevant keyword with the brand name, but naturally, such as Top-Auto Car Buying.
• Company description - you have 750 zzs to use, of which the first 250 zzs are the most important. It is in this more often that you should naturally try to include the most important keywords for your site.
• Choose the right category - check the search results for the phrase that is most important to you and determine which categories are assigned to the business cards that rank highest. Choose the dominant one. You will find this name in the list of Google Maps search results under the asterisks.

• Fill out a business card - add all the data that pertains to your business and keep it updated. Especially important are the opening hours. It should not be the case that according to the data on the profile the company is open, but on the spot it turns out that, however, it is not. Pay attention to whether the listed hours are correct. Google displays in higher positions those companies that are currently open. This doesn't mean that you should set 24-hour availability. Enter the hours truthfully.
• Solicit reviews - encourage customers to give reviews. Ideally, they should appear regularly, consist of a few sentences and contain keywords. If someone gives a review, necessarily respond to it - it doesn't matter if it's positive or negative. Do not add the same response every time. It can be short, but it is best if it is unique.
• Put a Google map on the site with the location indicated - this is useful for the user, but also important for the search engine algorithm, as it links the site to the Company Profile on Google.
• Acquiring business cards NAP - is an acronym for Name, Address, Phone Number, a company's business card on the Internet. In practice, it takes the form of directory entries that include the brand name, its description, contact information, and usually the website address. If you acquire such profiles, remember to be consistent. Use the same data as in your business card or website.
• Actively maintain a profile - publish photos, add posts. This can be an additional channel of communication with customers, where you inform about promotions. Add products and services. In many cases, the content of your profile will determine whether an Internet user will call or visit, for example, your restaurant.

In addition, you need to be patient. If you take good care of your business card, you stand a good chance of getting the visibility you want.

Positioning of a local company's website on Google

Achieving high positions in the local results by a Web site requires taking other measures. These are similar to those to be carried out for other sites, but there are some differences in this regard. If you want to achieve visibility for local phrases, take the following steps:

• Determine keywords - analyze what search phrases Internet users who are looking for what you offer. Use a few different tools and choose the best keywords based on that;
• Optimize the site for keywords - once you have a list of phrases, put them in the content on the page. The most important keyword phrase should be in the SEO title of the page (title tag), the title of the sub-page (H1 heading) and the rest of the headings, as long as it fits there (H2-H6), and naturally in the rest of the content. Besides, use the phrase in the names of image files and in their description (alt tag).
• Prepare a landing page for specific cities, districts or municipalities - if you are targeting residents of different cities or selected neighborhoods, develop unique content for each and optimize it for keywords related to the location.
• Create content for the blog - add advice on a particular product, its use, capabilities and how to deal with defects. In the content, add internal links to the landing page describing the services offered. Besides, use the content to post pictures of the product and tutorials showing the implementation of the service to encourage Internet users to click through;
• Technical optimization - includes many actions, such as fixing indexing errors, adding an encrypted connection (SSL), managing redirects, adding friendly links and more.
• Introduce internal linking - every relevant page on the site should be linked from at least a few other pages.
• Acquire links leading to your site - bet primarily on thematically related links, e.g. from other local sites (news sites, forums or regional directories). Besides, reach for links on sites related to your industry. Such an approach means that a link can not only help improve your site's visibility in Google, but also increase organic traffic.

These are just some of the steps you need to take to increase your site's visibility in local search results. In addition to this, constantly develop the site, keep it fast and responsive.

On-site SEO - what activities does it include?

We have already mentioned that SEO is divided into on-site, i.e. activities within the website, and off-site, i.e. steps outside the website i.e. you don't need access to the website's administration panel or its codes to conduct them. The graphic below shows what actions are performed within these groups. Let's take a closer look at what steps are taken in both cases.

Source: https://www.semrush.com/blog/on-page-seo/

When it comes to on-site SEO, the amount of work to be done depends mainly on the state of your site.

Meta data optimization

This step includes the SEO title of the page, the title tag, as well as the description, the description tag. The key element is the title, which has a big impact on the visibility of the content in Google. You may encounter information that it should occupy 60 or 70 characters with spaces. In practice, it is supposed to be no more than 600 px. If you will optimize the content in tools such as Contadu, for example, when creating the title you will immediately find out whether it meets the requirements in this regard. The most important keyword should be at the beginning. Don't stuff phrases in it. If you do otherwise, Google may ignore your suggestion and display in the search results a title that, according to the algorithm, better fits the query and the content of the page. According to an analysis by Ahrefs, Google changes the titles of more than 1/3 of the analyzed pages.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/title-tags-study/

As for the meta description, or description, it is not an element that affects the visibility of the page, while it is the content that can show up in search results, so it affects the CTR (click-through rate). It's best to add the most important keyword and call to action there, such as click and learn.... According to Ahrefs, Google uses meta descriptions other than those added by the webmaster in 62.78% of cases.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/meta-description-study/

Appropriate distribution of headlines

Their proper use makes the text more visually appealing, but also more visible in Google search results. The content uses headings from H1 to H6. With the most important being H1. Mostly it is the title of a given sub-page, such as the name of a category, a product or the title of a blog post. This headline should contain the most important keyword. It does not have to be short - it can even consist of 2-3 sentences.

In the content of the other headings, put relevant keywords - those for which you want to position the content. At the same time, remember that it's not about stuffing phrases. When creating content, think about the audience. Don't build content solely for Google's algorithm. Under each headline, answer the question or problem posed.

Image optimization

Photographs, on the one hand, should be of high quality, but on the other hand, they must not take up a lot of space so that they do not delay the loading of the site. Therefore, any graphics that go to the server should be optimized for this. For popular CMS systems, you will find ready-made plug-ins that automatically change the file size. However, before you upload graphics to the server, remember to name them properly. Let the name consist of the most important keyword for the content, such as red-dress-diana.jpg. Don't use capital letters, and put a hyphen sign - not an underscore - between words.

Another important action for images is to add an alt tag, also known as alt attribute and alternative description. Popular CMS systems give you the ability to add this tag seamlessly. The alt should contain a description of what is on the page. In this case, also use the keyword, but not exclusively. Why do it? By adding this content you increase the chance of your site's visibility in Google Graphics, which in many industries, such as fashion, is crucial. Remember that even such details are considered ranking factors.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/site-audit-study/

Internal linking

It plays a very important role not only because of optimization for SEO. With links leading to individual subpages, the user can get where you want him to go. By adding links on subpages, you direct his path. Suppose he arrives at your site after searching for a post like "how to buy a certain product?". He learns from the content what to look for and how to use the solution, and then immediately goes to a subpage where he can place an order.

Internal linking consists of many elements. One of the key ones is the main menu. Develop a category tree so that an Internet user can easily find what he or she is looking for. Use nomenclature that is obvious, but also use keywords most often searched by Internet users.

The footer menu is also an element of internal linking. It usually contains links to selected subpages on the site such as About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy or Terms and Conditions.

Also include links in category descriptions and blog posts. For stores, it's definitely worth implementing a crumb menu that includes a path to a particular material on the site. This means that you can easily move to a specific category page. An example of a crumb menu can be found in the graphic below:

Source: https://www.mediaexpert.pl/smartfony-i-zegarki_smartfony/smartfon-apple-iphone-15-pro-256gb-5g-6-1-120hz-tytan-czarny

Friendly links

This is about such links, from which it is clear what you can find on the site. They do not consist of a string of random characters. Take a peek below:

• https://www.mediaexpert.pl/smartfony-i-zegarki_smartfony/smartfon-apple-iphone-15-pro-256gb-5g-6-1-120hz-tytan-czarny – ten URL jasno wskazuje, co znajdzie internauta.
• https://www.mediaexpert.pl/HKLGHLLFGHjdwd – w tym przypadku to jest zagadką.

Mostly CMS systems have automatically enabled friendly links. Sometimes this may require the use of a plugin, but implementing it should not be a problem.

Site speed

The page should load as fast as possible. Every second of waiting discourages an Internet user from using the offer. What matters, however, is not only this, but also the results of Core Web Vitals indicators, which describe the performance of the site. The result depends on a number of factors, and the site may require dramatic changes to achieve the desired effect. The server on which it is located - the technologies available on it - also matters. You can check the score of the sites at pagespeed.web.dev.

Source: https://pagespeed.web.dev/

Responsiveness of the website

The website should work without problems on various devices regardless of screen size. If it doesn't, it can not only negatively affect visibility on Google, but also result in a high rejection rate. If a user has trouble performing basic operations on the site, they are unlikely to continue using it. Therefore, it is necessary not only to implement a responsive site, but also to monitor for errors.

Structural data

By using them on the site, Google's robot can more easily understand what the content means. I.e. it will know that it is, for example, a price, stock information or rating. Importantly, it can display this data in search results, and this contributes to an increase in click-through rate. Additional elements draw the attention of Internet users, so it is definitely worth implementing structured data on the site.

Implementing an encrypted connection

Google has been promoting web security for years, which has resulted in the addition of a new ranking factor in the form of an encrypted connection. As a result, more than 80% of sites already use an SSL certificate, which, by the way, does not require any cost - unless you choose a commercial one. With an encrypted connection, the data sent between the site and the user's device is safe - it won't be altered or intercepted by online crooks. The address of a site that uses an encrypted connection starts with https://. The Google Chrome search engine flags sites that do not use this solution as unsecured, which can negatively affect conversions.

Source: https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/ce-httpsdefault

Appropriate redirects on the site

For the Google search engine, the addresses onet.pl and www.onet.pl are different. Without proper redirects, your site may be indexed several times with the same content under different URLs, negatively affecting its visibility in search results. One of the basic steps in on-site optimization is to add a 301 redirect to a single address. If you're implementing a version of your site with https, you'll need to set up a redirect with http. You may also need 301 to eliminate various indexing issues. If Google Search Console indicates a 404, then you can redirect to the existing one. Do you have two similar articles on your site? If so, combine them into one and redirect the one with worse visibility to the one with better visibility.

Also remember that if you add a redirect, it's from a particular page to the destination site. Don't add a loop of redirects i.e. A to B, B to C, C to D. Google's robot may get confused and not index the target content. Besides, every redirect means loss of SEO power. In the case described, redirect pages A, B and C directly to D.

Internal duplication of content

Individual sub-pages on the site should contain unique content. However, it often happens that in the eyes of Google this is not the case and you do not even realize it, and the reasons are due to technical errors. Perhaps you happened to add the same content twice. Such a case, however, is not a major problem - remove one of them and set up a 301 redirect to the text left behind. However, the causes of internal duplication are many. Often the problem is due to the failure to redirect all URLs on the site to the encrypted version from https://. Another is the lack of an established single address, with the result that Google may index the same content at different addresses. An example of a tool that makes it easier to find duplicates on a site is Siteliner. However, the free version imposes many limitations, and besides, the issue of duplication requires the use of different solutions for analysis.

Off-site SEO - what activities does it include?

The activities carried out off-site are fewer, but you can't skip them if you want to develop your site's visibility in Google results. Different specialists interpret off-site SEO differently. Some include only links among these activities. Meanwhile, you can distinguish more of them.

Link building

It is about acquiring external links that lead to the positioned site. Without investing in quality links, the site has no chance of ranking high on competitive phrases. Link building is a complicated issue that requires attention to many elements. It is not the case that every link acquired will positively affect visibility. What's more - it is possible that for one site the effect will be positive, while for another it will be negative or none at all. What matters is your site's current link profile, anchor distribution and more.

When it comes to sources of link acquisition, the greater the diversity, the better. You can go for links from different types of sites: news sites, site directories, portals, social networks, forums, comments under articles and more. It's worth betting on topic-specific links, from industry-specific sites, as this can translate not only into SEO power, but also site visits and customer acquisition. But surely more of them translates into improved visibility? It definitely does. A study by Ahrefs shows that more links translate into visibility for more key phrases.

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-traffic-study/

Content marketing

These are activities you can carry out both inside and outside the website. They involve creating content that not only interests your audience, but also activates them. This means that they will share the content on a social network, add a link to it on their blog, forum or in a comment. The effects of content marketing can contribute to building your site's link profile - acquiring valuable links that you can't get from other sources, even for a fee. Remember, however, that it involves more than just content creation. Content can be graphics, video, music, infographics and other materials. You may often encounter the interpretation that content marketing is simply sponsored texts. They can have that effect, as long as they are valuable, but they do not include only articles or guides. A study by Aira showed that content marketing is currently the most popular way for professionals to get links.

Social media

The discussion about the impact of social networking activity on a site's visibility in Google search results has been going on for years. It doesn't have a direct impact, but an indirect one definitely does. On the other hand, if you are active on social media, you can include links leading to your site. These will probably be nofollow links, but they are worth having nonetheless.

Through social networks, you can reach a very large audience with your material. Perhaps among them are those who will share it on the blog or otherwise inform their followers. If you want to maximize the potential, include buttons in your site materials that allow you to easily share your material on social networks. Authority Hacker's analysis shows that 61.7% of respondents used social media for link acquisition. This group gained 22% more links on average than those who did not use social media.

Source: https://www.authorityhacker.com/link-building-survey/

Influencer marketing

Working with well-known people who are popular online, have many social media followers and well-read blogs can not only increase awareness of your brand, lead to customers, but also improve visibility in Google search results. Information about your company can reach a huge audience, which increases the chances of online mentions. Usually the domains of well-known people have a very good reputation, are linked from a multitude of respected sites, so a link obtained from such a site can be valuable. The problem is that mostly advertising through an influencer is not cheap, so it requires a solid calculation. However, consider not only the value of the link, but also the sales and image potential.

How to build a website's link profile?

Link building is an issue that requires knowledge and experience. Otherwise, you may make costly mistakes - investing in links that will be counterproductive. When acquiring links, you need to remember important rules, understand how links from different sources differ, and more.

Link attributes

When you see some links on sites, they look identical. You click and are redirected to another site, which may open in the same or a different browser window. Meanwhile, the code of this link hides an important piece of information in the form of an attribute or rel tag. It may look like the following, for example:

<a href=”https://www.twojastrona.pl” rel=”nofollow”>kliknij</a>

Rel tags define the relationship between the source and target pages - you can use them to inform Google about the relationship with a particular site. The search engine recommends their use to make it easier for the algorithm to evaluate links:

• Follow - in fact, such a tag does not exist. If the link code does not contain a rel tag, then Google automatically interprets it as a follow, which means that it will follow it and pass the SEO "power" to the target page. Often such links are also called dofollow. It is these links that are the most valuable from an SEO perspective.
• Nofollow - according to Google, you are supposed to use such a rel tag if you do not want the robot to associate your site with the linked one. So such a link should not convey SEO power. Practice, however, shows otherwise.

• UGC - or User Generated Content. This tag applies to user-generated content. Google recommends using it where Internet users can add links to your site, such as in comments or forums. At the same time, it hints that you can remove the tag for users who create quality content.

• Sponsored - Google suggests using this attribute for paid links. So, according to the recommendations, if you invest in sponsored publications with links, they should have just rel="sponsored" added.

Link attributes are of great importance. It's not worth having only follow links - it's better to make the profile varied with different links. There is no point in giving a percentage here - just try to make the profile look fairly natural, include links with different attributes. The only ones you can let go of are the sponsored tag. The power of such links is zero. What about nofollow and UGC? Such links can positively affect visibility.

Anchors

An anchor is simply the content of a link, so-called anchors in the text, which is often highlighted in color, bold or underlined. Clicking on this anchor takes you to the linked web page. They play a very important role in positioning. Links whose anchor is the same as the phrase being positioned can have the greatest impact on position growth (in the big picture). In the past, indeed, all could have such anchors, called exact match. However, Google's Penguin update in 2014 turned the situation upside down. Nowadays, it is of great importance to diversify anchors. You may encounter different recommendations on how much the percentage of exact match links should be - mostly from 5 to 30%. In practice, it's worth drawing conclusions about this on the basis of competitive analysis, i.e. what it looks like for sites that rank highest in search results.

Importantly, exact match anchors should be varied - it is worth using at least a few for a given subpage. On the other hand, links in their natural form, i.e. in the form of a URL, should always dominate. Plus branded links, possibly those that can be used by Internet users, such as click here, check it out.

Sources of links

If you are building a link profile, don't get only one type of links, such as from sponsored publications. It's better to diversify them and bet on creativity. The basic sources of links are certainly forums, comments, guest posts, site directories and sponsored publications. On the other hand, you can acquire links in many different ways. Here are sample suggestions:

• source of data in Wikipedia entry;
• Sponsorship of a particular event, media patronage;
• competition organization;
• social media profiles;
• PRESS RELEASE;
• announcements.

These are just examples. The more creative the better, but the most important thing is to get the link on a quality page.

What sites to acquire links on?

The choice of sites on which you place links requires a lot of attention. A myriad of factors matter. If you don't pay attention to them, you may invest a large amount of money in a link that will not bring any benefit to your site. If you use a free way to get a link, you'd better put the link in the form of a URL, as this is the safest solution. On the other hand, when you invest in a referrer, it is worth taking a closer look at the page on which it is to be placed. What to pay attention to in the analysis, and what should not matter?

Link quality indicators

Popular link profile analysis tools, such as Ahrefs and Majestic SEO, have their own metrics by which they evaluate the quality of links. In the case of Ahrefs, it's Domain Rating, while in Majestic it's Trust Flow. In theory, the higher they are, the better. Indeed, they are worth taking into account, since a high score means that, according to the criteria considered by the service in question, you are dealing with a domain with very good performance in terms of SEO. This, however, does not suggest that this will be true in every case. If the index is high, check the link profile of the site in question. In case you see completely off-topic links from foreign sites there, it is very likely that there has been manipulation. The owner of the site artificially boosted the score to attract the attention of link buyers. In such cases, usually the metrics will even drop decisively in a few weeks. It is better to avoid such sites.

What will be the attribute of the link?

If you want to buy a link on a particular site, ask what the rel attribute will be. Sometimes sites offer different rates for follow, nofollow and sponsored. Some sites do not publish dofollow links at all. Be sure to find out what this looks like in your particular case. If a site offers only links with the sponsored tag, you'd better give up, as from an SEO point of view it's a worthless link. Ideally, it should be a follow. However, if it's a domain with very good performance, consider nofollow as well.

Where will the publication be added?

If a sponsored article goes to the home page of a valuable site, it can be indexed by Google even within minutes. Indexing is a prerequisite for the acquired link to affect the visibility of your site. It is common for sites to offer different options for adding a link, such as for a certain period of time on the homepage or only in a category. If it goes to a subcategory, it is possible that it will not index itself - it will require the addition of external links.

Sometimes sites have special categories that are not linked at all from the main menu, and they place publications there. The strength of such a link can be very low. Therefore, always check where it will be located on the site. Ideally, if the site allows internal linking of the article from other pages. Then the link is more valuable.

Does the site consist only of sponsored articles?

Some sites are created solely to make money for the owner from publications. The problem is that usually Google, over time, notices such sites, lowers their visibility, and the acquired links become worthless. Sponsored publications should be only a certain percentage of all content. Keep in mind that the owner of such a site will likely run it until revenue is generated. When there is zero interest, he may not renew the domain. It is better to publish on sites that have been around for a long time and are regularly updated. In this case, the link is likely to remain valuable even after a long period.

How long will the publication be visible?

Definitely consider those offers that include the addition of an article for life, that is, until the site is up and running. In many cases, the proposal involves only publishing for 12 months, and then the article disappears. If the renewal fee is small and the site is valuable, it is worth paying extra. In case the site gives you a choice of publication for a year or for a longer period, it is definitely better to choose the latter. It is likely to fare much better in terms of years.

Does spam appear on the subpages of the website?

If you acquire a link, pay attention to whether others can also easily add it on the same subpage. Suppose you buy a publication under which users without any moderation add comments - in addition, with dofollow links. This means that such links can appear there in hundreds, and the acquired link will not have any value, and even on the contrary - it will lower it.

Visibility of the site in Google search results

The site you want to acquire a link to should be solidly sub-linked, but that's not all. Check its visibility in Google search results. You can do this for free, such as in the Semstorm tool. If this visibility has been regularly decreasing for a long time, as in the chart below, there is a risk that the acquired link will be worthless. What about sites that are not visible in Google at all? Such a link may positively affect your site's visibility, but it doesn't have to. It's safer to choose sites that have satisfactory visibility.

Source: https://app.semstorm.com/

Linking a particular subpage

This is of great importance if you are buying links on existing subpages. Such links can be very valuable - especially if you choose a URL that has good visibility in Google, is internally and externally linked. Buying this link can be a much better decision than a new publication. When choosing a sub-page to buy a link on, it's a good idea to use SEO tools to choose the best-linked sub-pages with the highest visibility. Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Senuto or Semstorm, among others, can help with this.

Thematic link

Is a link from a site that covers the same topic as your site more valuable? Discussions on this topic have been going on for years. We advise you to approach it in a different way - a thematic link results in a link acquisition that can bring not only SEO power, but also translate into link clicks and customer acquisition. However, it is difficult to base link profile building solely on thematically related sites, but it is definitely worth it to have as many of them as possible among the links leading to the site.

Price per link

It has no trouble getting links on the most popular sites in Poland. The trouble, however, is that its purchase may be completely unprofitable. Of course, each case requires an individual approach, but usually the purchase of a link for several thousand zlotys will not be beneficial. In this budget you can buy even dozens of valuable links and get a far better result than with this one link. Only in selected cases does it make sense to invest very big money in one link.

Based on all this information, can you already buy links with confidence that you will achieve an effect? Unfortunately, but no verification gives a 100% guarantee. As an SEO agency, we regularly check the effectiveness of the links we use in the campaigns we implement for clients, so we ultimately rely only on those where we have a confirmed effect. Besides, the large scale of orders means that we benefit from attractive discounts and can make optimal use of the link building budget. Is it worth paying for links at all? According to Authority Hacker, nearly 75% of those building a link profile do so. Therefore, bypassing such a source of their acquisition, you may not have a chance to deal with the competition.

Source: https://www.authorityhacker.com/link-building-survey/

The importance of domain reputation in SEO

The effect of positioning, the speed of obtaining the expected, depends on the reputation of your domain. We are approached by clients whose sites were promoted through spam. They bought huge amounts of low-quality links, added worthless content, stuffed keywords, hid content on the page. By violating Google's guidelines, their domains lost authority and now it may require a very large investment to get back on track. Authority is affected by many factors, such as:

• Domain age - addresses with a long history tend to have more authority and credibility than newer ones.
• Number and quality of inbound links - links from high-quality sites signal to search engines that the linked site is also valuable.
• Quality site content - high quality, informative and well-written content helps build a site's reputation.
• Historical data related to the domain - if the domain has been used for spamming or other malicious activities in the past, it is more difficult to build a positive reputation.

Therefore, it is worth investing only in ethical activities, do not use the domain for spamming, because in the long run it will always bring negative consequences Meanwhile, having a good reputation and a well positioned site, you can mainly focus on adding valuable content to regularly increase the visibility of the site.

Also keep in mind that building a domain reputation takes time. Above all, that's why it's difficult to rank high for competitive phrases if your site has been around for a short time. Only over time, when Google trusts the domain, does it become easier to develop the site's visibility. This is why it is very common to reach for domains that have not been renewed by existing subscribers for some reason. It is about such addresses that have a very good link profile and reputation.

How to use expired domains?

They can be of great value in SEO. What makes expired domains worth using? The mere fact that it has expired, of course, does not give you anything except that it becomes seizable. It is valuable when:

• It has a high-quality link profile.
• It has not been used for spamming before.

Various applications are used to find such domains, but the most popular way is to use the Aftermarket service. The problem, however, is that acquiring a valuable domain is very difficult due to the high competition. If successful, it is rather certain that there will be more takers than one and there will be a bidding war, i.e. the domain will be taken over by the one who pays more. Here are examples of the use of such domains:

• Set up a back-end blog - these are often called PBNs. This can be a site from which you will link to the positioned site. What's more, a valuable domain, once you add articles, can quickly start ranking and gaining traffic, and that means monetization potential. However, count on the fact that using a domain as a PBN may end up resetting its reputation over time, i.e. links from it will not carry SEO power.
• Take over the links of this domain - determine which links lead to the site in question. Prepare high-quality content on the issue that was described on this site under the linked URLs. You can use the Way Back Machine tool, which has copies of sites from different periods, to determine this content. Then contact the owners of the linked sites. Inform them that the links lead to a non-existent resource and ask them to sublink the material on your site.
• 301 redirect - redirect the domain to the page you are positioning. This method doesn't work as well as it did years ago, but it can still positively affect your site's visibility in Google results.
• Setting up the site - as we mentioned, a new domain has yet to build up its authority with Google, but there is a way to skip this step. Of course, the idea is to use an expired domain that has a good reputation and a solid link profile. However, this does not mean that in every case using such a domain is a guarantee of success. The effect depends on a number of factors, including the length of time the site has been down. It's also worth rebuilding the site's previous structure - especially when it comes to those materials that were most heavily linked.

In our campaigns we use expired domains in different ways. In each case, we tailor the actions taken to the project in question. Thanks to domains with high reputation, we are able to quickly provide clients with traffic from Google. We use personalized tools that make it easy for us to capture valuable addresses.

How to choose an agency that will position the site?

It is worth taking the time to analyze the offers and think about who you want to cooperate with. Don't make a decision hastily, give yourself time to analyze. What to ask and what should matter when choosing?

• Experience of the agency - bet on proven specialists who have been in the industry for years and you can easily verify this. Such a company, first of all, should have numerous case studies that it can present as confirmation of the quality of the services provided. You may also encounter answers that the SEO agency does not have the right to provide such data due to contracts concluded with clients. However, you will certainly find some that will present you with the results achieved in past campaigns. If you are interested in our offer, we will show you our sample implementations.
• Company reviews - if you can't find them, it's a signal that it's better not to risk it. An SEO company should have, among other things, a Company Profile on Google or profiles on social networks. Don't expect all reviews to be positive. If you come across negative ones, pay attention to how the agency wrote back to them. However, in case the percentage of such comments is high, it is better not to consider working with such a company.
• Contract duration - protect yourself and choose a contract with a short notice period. Entering into a contract of several years is very risky, it can expose you to costs and the simultaneous lack of expected results of positioning the site. Sometimes companies offer several months of services for free, but at the same time require a long contract. Such a choice can be very risky.
• What does the report cover and how often will you receive it? Mostly the client receives it after the end of the next billing month, and such frequency is sufficient. As for the content of the report, it should include information about the work carried out in a given month, the change in visibility in Google, acquired links or optimization activities. An SEO agency should not hide where it has published links, and this unfortunately often happens. Companies make excuses for not wanting to give out the addresses of their backend. Therefore, before concluding a contract, ask whether you will receive a list of acquired links.
• What the actions include - it should be technical optimization, content development and link building. These are key elements in SEO. It also happens that the agency performs only part of the work and the outsourcer undertakes the rest. In such cases, however, it requires close cooperation and excellent communication to achieve success.
• Will there be an individual campaign supervisor at your disposal? It must not be the case that you will be waiting for days for any questions about activities. You must be able to contact them by phone and other channels.
• After what time can you expect results? Sometimes companies promise results that are unrealistic to achieve in a given case. If an agency claims that your new website will rank high for a competitive keyword after a month of cooperation, something is wrong here. Take a closer look at the offer. Perhaps the company is trying to get you into a long-term contract.
• What form of billing? Most often it's a fixed subscription with a possible bonus for achieving a given goal. The option of billing for effect is rarely practiced and may make sense only for selected projects - mainly companies that have an offer aimed at a local audience.
• Can you get an initial analysis of your site? A professional agency will have no problem with a basic and free SEO analysis of your site.
• Price - you certainly have a certain budget for activities. Adjust it reasonably. There are no problems to increase it if the campaign will have an effect. On the other hand, set it at such a level that you can easily cope with this expense. Certainly do not choose a proposal on the basis of the lowest price. If a proposal deviates from the others, it may mean that it is suspicious.

This approach to choosing an SEO agency minimizes the risk of making wrong decisions. It is worth conducting a detailed analysis of the offer, and even more so, do not hastily conclude a long-term contract.