What are keywords and link building, and how do they affect publisher's income? When is it not worth using SEO? We talked about this and more with Kosta Bankovski - Product Marketing Manager at Netpeak Software, who focuses his activities on creating tools for SEO specialists, marketing managers and publishers.
Why is SEO so important? Is it really possible to generate traffic for the website for free?
The main advantage of SEO is that after you flawlessly optimized your site, you will get traffic for a while without doing anything with it, without spending a penny from the budget.
SEO, however, will not deliver immediate results right after the effort or budget has been used. It is a long-term work on the website, its content, and improvement of the user experience.
What is a keyword?
It is a word, a request that corresponds to the user's intention to receive the necessary information from the search results.
Commercial and non-commercial key phrases, what's the difference?
Non-commercial queries are requests that an individual uses to obtain information without making a purchase or order. An example of such a request: "how to properly make pancakes". Commercial one is a request to make a commercial transaction, such as "buy a pancake pan."
How do I find the right keywords? What are the major mistakes of beginners in SEO?
It is necessary to collect as many user queries as possible, for example from SEO services (eg Serpstat, Semrush, Ahrefs, Key Collector), determine their frequency and find popular word forms. Then filter and combine similar queries into clusters, outline the structure of your website by the collected keywords: set the right queries, the level of their difficulty, what budget are able to spend to spend on SEO.
Basically, it all comes down to how relevant your site is to the search queries you want to be ranked for. However, the content should not be stuffed with just keywords, it is important to make it useful and readable for the visitors, otherwise it will not work to achieve high positions in the SERP.
How is a search results page generated? Can you influence it?
Search engines take data from their index and sort it according to a huge variety of criteria: what is this website, how old is it, how authoritative it is, how is it optimized, what content it creates, etc. There are commercial, linking, technical, content, behavioral factors, and more. You can make regular improvements to your site within budget in priority areas to make your influence on the SERPs you want to be shown on.
Could non-commercial landing pages or websites be among the first to respond?
Here you first need to answer the question "what is a non-commercial landing page?" Usually, landing pages are all created in order to get something from the end user (filling any form, purchase, sign up and others). It is difficult to imagine a non-commercial landing in the traditional sense of the word. But if we consider it simply as an entry page, the probability does not decrease whether it is commercial or not. Of course, non-commercial sites and pages may appear and be at the top of search results.
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What is the difference between Yandex and Google? How to make the query go to a specific search engine?
Yandex and Google are not the same entity in different places. This means that Yandex in Russia has a lot of services. Yandex in Ukraine is a much smaller ecosystem. It's the same with Google. Often, where Yandex is popular with users, the content is not very promoted on Google, which means that the advisability of promoting the purchase of home appliances in America on Yandex leaves doubts.
You don't need to bother about reaching a specific search engine, but there may be nuances of getting into the TOP of different search engines for specific queries.
How to convert a commercial page into an informational page so that the search engine will treat this content as useful? Is it enough to write a text for this or is it worth thinking about creating a blog?
First of all, it is worth asking yourself why you should do this and whether this transformation is worth doing it. If this is a deliberate action due to the fact that commercial inquiries on this topic are very competitive and informational not so much (which happens very rarely), then it can actually be done with adding a large amount of content (for example, creating a blog instead).
Are commercial queries or informational ones easier to promote?
If you have a commercial site, there are more requirements for it. People come with money and since you want to take it the search engine has to show the user the best pages. This is determined, among others, by commercial factors: delivery and payment methods, availability in Google My Business, Yandex.Directory, number of offices, pick-up locations. This means that in addition to working on the website itself, you also need to think about the business component, so it is more operationally complicated.
Information queries also have their problems, you need to build trust, you need to ensure that everything is regularly published, and the topics are properly addressed, so that the texts are unique and useful. It seems like informative queries will be a little easier to promote, but not always.
What is link building?
The more links directed to your website, the more the search engine thinks it's a good, authoritative website. For a search engine, this is a sign that everything is fine and it may raise this page in search results. It used to be quite easy to do - spam links were bought on specially dedicated websites, and pages were easier to get to the top. Now this process is more controlled and there is a lot of work on ‘white’ link building methods: links are obtained naturally through partnerships, guest posts, mentions, etc. While all others have not been canceled, it has become more expensive and more difficult.
How many links do you need to build to generate good conversions?
Now I would like to say “there is a secret formula. Make...". Unfortunately, there is no such thing. Often, it is not the number of links that matters, but their quality. This means that you can put even 1,000 links to dating sites from cooking blogs, but most likely nobody needs them there. But on the other hand, you can put ten "dating" links on specific sites about that topic, and it will be relevant there. Therefore, think about where and what links you choose.
Is Keyword Tool or Ahrefs effective for article description or Youtube video? If so, what other tools can you recommend?
At Netpeak Software, we have our own YouTube channel, where keywords are only in descriptions, and there is also a special field - tags. In this case, the VidiQ service helped me. Ahrefs also has a YouTube module, maybe Semrush. Of course, it is not as easy there as in search engines, there is little data. Don't forget to include relevant keywords in your video text to rank them in the main search results. Some of our videos are very good at getting views from regular organic search results, not only YouTube.
Does SEO apply to any niche, even adult offerings and online casinos? Which one is easier and which is more difficult? Does GEO depend on it?
No, SEO doesn't apply to every niche. There are things that do not match such a long service life. This means that in SEO you first need to collect the existing keywords, then create your website, the search engines will index it, get behavioral factors compared to other competitors - it's all a long procedure. Well, in some niches, people don't go to Google or another search engine to find information about goods and services, but buy directly from Instagram, TikTok, etc. Then the site will be nothing more than a payment pickup point.
It will be more difficult in a niche where there is more money: adult, finance, and so on. The task of any specialist is to find a niche where you can still get maximum profit with minimal effort.
What content gets the most? Various lists like TOP 10, rankings and so on?
The simpler the better. What is affiliate marketing, TOP 10 channels on Telegram for freelancers, how to create a website ... It collects a lot of traffic. Does it bring conversions? Not really. Better to do something clearly targeted. Above all, the content must be easy to read. To do this, you have to break the text into small pieces, get rid of unnecessarily complicated phrases, add video and some interactivity.
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In which case should you use a landing page, and when a full website will be a better idea?
A landing page should be used for a simple product/service, if there is one, and if there are several, specifications can be given. In fact, it will be a spec page as there are, for example, five landmarks. It's not very complex though, so it can't be called a full-fledged site just yet.
When the proposition is more complex: some kind of technique or service with several variations, then filters and other sections are needed. Panels, accounts, specs, reviews, evidence, customers - that's when you need a website.
How to analyze a website with SEO analytics? Can you do it yourself?
The coolest tool is Google Analytics, also rank-trackers can be found in many tools, for example Serpstat or Semrush. Many services have approximately the same functionality, the only difference is the database size and UI/UX solutions. Here is a list of the most popular of them: Serpstat, Semrush, Ahrefs. We also have the Netpeak Spider tool which is an SEO crawler that browses the site, collects data, shows errors and creates reports to track results or fix problems. You can also analyze the server logs to see where the search crawler enters, where it does not go and, depending on this, manage the structure of the website and links.
Is it worth using relevant services or the help of one SEO specialist is enough?
Depends on who's asking. If they are webmasters who do everything on their own and reach a scale of 10+ websites, they need an assistant: an SEO specialist, or a team. At the same time, both webmasters and SEO specialists will benefit from the SEO services. If the budget is very limited, the webmaster often uses the service and does everything himself. Everyone wants to find some shareware services, use trial versions, use minimal kits to at least get started, but eventually everyone comes to the same thing. Because you need a search engine optimization team and of course services for their job. Therefore, you need to allocate a budget for the software and help of SEO specialists.
How often do you need to analyze your website?
Depends on the number of changes made to the site and the number of pages. From a technical point of view - once a week on average, and if the changes are small - once a month. Google Analytics should be checked daily, at least once a week. If you have purchased links, you can still check if they have been removed once every few months or quarter.
Voice search is gaining popularity. How do I optimize my content for this system?
I like voice search because it actually pushes webmasters, projects, and content in a direction they should have gone themselves. The site must contain a lot of information in an accessible form. There should also be an FAQ microdata. Because when someone asks Alexa, Cortana, or Siri for something, they have to dictate a clear answer to any users’ questions. So the text should be written in a colloquial style, because when we ask for something, we speak in a simple way. Voice search often comes from mobile devices, so optimization for mobile devices has top priority here.
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What is the future of affiliate marketing? What do you think will be popular and what will lose its usefulness?
I think everything will come to the point that you have to be up to date with all technologies, what's new and try to adapt it to affiliate marketing as much as possible. The future belongs to new traffic channels.
Now you know why you should focus on SEO - an important element of advertising campaigns, articles and website building. You have the option to promote campaigns from various categories on MyLead. Register for free, use this knowledge and generate traffic with even more profit.