Why is Duplicate Content Bad for SEO?

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If only we could have a dollar for each website presented to us without duplicated content marketing on the website, we would be quid in!

Duplicated content marketing, in short, is like trying to drive a car with the handbrake still on!

Duplication causes problems and hampers your organic search engine optimisation moving forward. It can even result in some companies being slapped with a Google penalty.

For example, Google Panda businesses that engage in spam, such as copied content marketing, are baked into Google’s algorithm and can receive a penalty.

And just like that, your website could vanish from Google’s index!
Just like the handbrake needs to be released to go anywhere, you must eradicate duplicate content marketing for this business’s organic SEO to improve.

What is Duplicate Content?

 

Duplicated content is text, such as blog posts, articles, or main pages, with the exact text duplicated across two different URLs.
Duplication can be internal or external.

Whether the content marketing has been copied from another website internally or externally, it can damage the business’s search engine optimisation. Too much of it can actually result in a Google penalty, as we mentioned earlier. (However, we cannot stress this point enough:

You don’t, and we repeat, don’t want to incur a big fat Google penalty!)

If not duplication, what does Google want?

Google does not want duplicate content marketing. Google wants to provide a quality answer, so businesses of all sizes need to offer a high-quality and helpful answer to a question.

Google has gone to incredible lengths to stress the point that they want content marketing to be high-quality. Here are some of the points they have made to establish this point:

– Google E-EAT: the written work must be of high quality
– Google Webmaster Guidelines: your written work should adhere to this
– White hat, you should follow these rules.
– Google’s countless updates which reward high-quality content marketing, such as Google Helpful Content Update

New website

At the start of this article, you might note that we said if we had a dollar for every website presented to us without plagiarised copied content, our agency would be massively quids-in!

Well, that’s because many web designers take the lazy approach of using plagiarised or “content thin” content marketing—both of which Google hates!

It’s like entering a race, and you have a hiking rucksack filled with sand on your back.
As most know, duplicating text internally or externally gets the website off to a terrible start regarding its SEO.

Therefore, content marketing must be unique to improve your SEO.

So, before you hand over your hard-earned money to your web designers, make sure they don’t litter your website with duplicated garbage text!

 

Internally duplicated content marketing

Internal duplication is when you copy the text from one page and place it on another internally on a different page but on the same website (the same domain name). This doesn’t need to be the complete page; sometimes, it has just been extracted from text duplicated across the site.

This can trigger duplicate content problems and lower the page quality.

For example, we might write a paragraph that basically sums up the company. Yet if this is then duplicated across the entire website—well, you guessed it, that handbrake is back on!

Externally duplicated content marketing involves copying content from another website, which damages your organic SEO. To improve your business, the text must be unique, original, and thorough.

 

Placeholder text

Many businesses, especially when web designers have just designed them, will have placeholder text all over them. Ideally, you don’t want this to be indexed by Googlebot because this text is often written in Latin and is frequently used as placeholder text.

Again, this means that Googlebot will initially crawl and index the page and think it is spam.

Placeholder text is simply text that allows the web designer to get a sense of what the page looks like before it is fully designed. The text has no purpose but to populate the page and take up space.

Often, this provides a rough word count handed over to the client to ask them to write the original text.

A problem arises when the Google bot then indexes this placeholder text. The page next is deemed low quality and has duplicated text because it’s unfinished.

Therefore, placeholder text, again, causes a lot of duplication issues.

Google Penalties

It is worth mentioning again regarding Google Penalties because if the website has duplicated text, it is open to incurring algorithmic or manual Google Penalties.

In a worst-case scenario, a website with a Google penalty should be removed entirely from the search results (de-indexed by Google). 

Therefore, this doesn’t hamper your search engine optimisation efforts; it means the business will entirely be removed from the search results if you incur a Google penalty.

As any good SEO company will know, any Google penalty can take a long time to recover. Talk to some U.K. agencies, and they will tell you that businesses that specific Google penalties have hit can sometimes take years to recover once they rank on Google.

Plagiarism detection

You can use tools such as Copyscape or Siteliner to help spot plagiarism issues.

Won’t rewriting the text takes a considerable amount of time?

Yes, replacing duplicated text with high-quality, real-written text will take considerable time and effort.
However, without doing so, going through the effort of rewriting duplicated text, if this problem is not fixed, your organic search engine optimisation will never be improved.

How can we help you climb to the top of Google?

Climbing to the top of all Google search results is hard work; there are no two ways to do it.
Yet, talk to the company directors who have reached the top of Google and managed to gain that number one spot; it can be a game changer for some businesses.

This is why the first-page results of all Google search results are so competitive in West England.

In the fantastic city of Bath and other vibrant and amazing places like Bristol, it’s extremely hard for most businesses to get onto the first page of Google, and that’s for good reason. Being ranked at the top of Google is a massive competitive advantage for any business.

Often, it boils down to this: the business is ranked at the top of Google SERPs, and this can usually make the difference between the business thriving and struggling to survive. On the other hand, companies on page 2 of Google could be struggling to survive.

This might sound quite dramatic, but search engine optimisation can sometimes be the sole way that some businesses secure new business. 

This is why this agency is in such high demand in England. We have proven experience placing companies at the top of Google’s results.
Partnering with the right agency is therefore crucial. Because we have over a decade of experience, we are the SEO company in high demand across the South-West of England.

Whether technical SEO needs improvement or the on-page and off-page, we are here to assist you with affordable monthly packages. Prices start at a thousand pounds per calendar month.

 

Contact us for further information:

 

How to carry an SEO competitor analysis in 2025

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The name of the game when it comes to improving a business’s SEO is to overtake your direct competitors. To do this, you will need to know which keywords you’re optimising the website for, then set about working on improving both on-page and off-page search engine optimisation.

However, this is not that straightforward, as your direct competitors, well, they may have been forking out to a local SEO agency for, say, 10 years solid! So, you do have to have a marketing plan of action, but before that, we recommend that you carry out a competitor analysis.

Written by: Ryan Walsh
Date: 30/01/2025

17-minute read

Proactive competitor analysis uncovers actionable insights that can give you a significant edge. By dissecting your rivals’ tactics, you’ll identify opportunities they’ve missed and weaknesses you can exploit.

Undertaking a competitor SEO analysis is a bit like planning a big hike. You have to be mindful of your ability and time. For example, it often wouldn’t be recommended that somebody who’s very unfit start climbing Everest as their first hike.
Everyone likes a challenge, but that’s taking it too far.

The same applies when you’re undertaking competitor research. A direct competitor or many of them have very high domain authority scores. Yet your website might have no DA score, so unless you have deep pockets to employ a marketing agency, you might be setting the plan up to fail.

So it’s a balance—planning yet realistic about what can be achieved. Now, that might sound defeatist, but it’s not, as some companies, let’s say in the city of Bristol, might have forked out hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing already.

 

What exactly is an SEO competitor analysis?

A competitive analysis is simply gaining an idea of how strong your competitors are. How good are their backlinks? How good is their content marketing? What’s their DA score?

 

Keywords

How competitive is that keyword? Is it super competitive or a walk in the park?

 

How good is the direct competitors’ content marketing?

What’s the Google E-EAT score for your direct competitors? Is there work top quality or content thin?

Links?

How many backlinks do they have, and what’s the quality like? How many good do-follow backlinks do they have?

Good design?

What’s the site architecture like? How well-designed are the competitor’s websites? Do they have a good page layout? Do they offer a good user experience?

Identify your competitors

So, this might sound straightforward, right?

Well, sometimes it’s not that straightforward; here’s why:

You may sell a broad range of products or services; now, each will have different keywords.

So, depending on the keyword, there there will be different competitors. For example, let’s say you run a family law practice. Well, depending on the service you are optimising the website for, whether mediation or collaborative law, you will have different competitors.

So, work out which keywords you are optimising the website for and which competitors you want to look at to understand why their SEO is so strong.

 

Backlinks are often crucial.

We recommend using Moz Pro for this task. Once you have a list of direct competitors, you should look at their backlink profiles.
Moz Pro makes looking at your competitors’ backlinks very simple. Now, you might be presented with 4,000+ links. Yet, don’t be detected. You should work with a link-building expert to pick out the right links, the links that your business might want to build.

Then, you can improve and enhance your business’s backlink profile. In a nutshell, a stronger link profile can give your business a substantial SEO advantage.

Large agencies spend heaps of time building links because backlinks are still a very important ranking factor.

 

Site structure

It’s crucial that if you want to optimise your website for, say, “diamond-encrusted dog collars,” you have a section or a page for this.
A one-page website can offer a nightmare situation to any SEO agency, as how do you optimise all of the different services and products if they’re mentioned on just one page?

So, take the time to obtain a well-designed and well-thought-out website with good site artwork. This is important, so don’t rush it. Again, use your competitors’ websites for some inspiration on page layout.

DA scores

Contrary to what some might say, DA score, or “domain authority,” is not baked into Google’s algorithm.

Nope. Some of the aspects, the components, if you like, are part of Google’s ranking factors, such as backlinks.

However, Google does not use DA as a ranking factor. Instead, it was first developed by Moz.

Now, for those not in the know, Moz is a very good SEO tool. It’s the bee’s knees, and we actively use it at this marketing agency.

And what is DA used for?

Well, you can paste in competitors’ URLs—we recommend using the homepage for this—and then gain a good idea of the DA score. This gives you a good idea of how strong or weak that business’s search engine optimisation is.

So, you can weigh your competitors’ strengths in the blink of an eye.

Now, why is this important?

Well, if you’re about to start selling luxury watches, and your direct competitors all have DA scores of over 70, you have a small mountain to climb. It could take over a year to catch up with such strong competitors.

However, if you’re about to start a new hotel, you should take a gander at your direct competitors’ DA scores; they come in at 11—well, a good SEO consultant should find overtaking them a walk in the park. Well, it’s not easy, but do you understand?

 

How good are the other pages?

The website, that is, your direct competitor, might have been blogging for many years.

So, do have a good gander at their blog posts.

How well-written are they?

How many inbound links do they have?

What’s the Google E-EAT score?

When reading through them, is it as clear as day that they have put tremendous effort into writing them?
Is it likely that because of the Google Helpful Content Update, Google’s algorithm will find this work helpful, placing it high in Google’s SERPs?

Basically? How well-written is the work? Is it clear an expert writes it?

 

Is the website fast?

Technical SEO improvements are essential; part of this is ensuring that your company website is a lean, mean fighting machine.

Now, what do we mean by that?

Well, a company website must be fast.

It must be fast. Today’s shoppers are impatient, and if they are held up just for a few seconds, the bounce rate will increase.

Google will spot a high bounce rate and then move the business down Google’s SERP’s.

So, how fast are your competitor’s websites?

We recommend using GTmetrix for this task.

 

How long have they been at it?

Businesses often want an SEO company to wave a magic wand and move them up Google’s SERPs.

However, if done right, SEO needs to be high quality and slowly implemented.

And why is that so?

Well, link velocity is one good reason.

Build a ton of links in a week or in a short window of time, and Google will suspect you of implementing spam.
Or, you can blog and add content marketing as if you have had 100 espressos and your hands are on fire typing, and again, this is likely to look spammy.

You need to build trust and improve your Google E-EAT score over a long period.

So, how long have your competitors been at it?

That’s improving their search engine optimisation?

Have they been at it for 5 years, 7 years or longer improving their SEO?

In that case, be realistic about how fast you can catch up. Don’t get us wrong; we have overtaken companies with over a decade of experience, sometimes within a year, but it’s not easy and straightforward. So, be realistic with your timescales on what can be achieved if the competition is intense.

Helpful?

Just as some people are more naturally helpful and nice than others, the same is true for businesses.
Google likes a helpful website that goes the extra mile to help customers.

For example, FAQ sections, good product descriptions, and staff explaining the benefits of a product in YouTube videos.

If you go the extra mile to help your customers and offer helpful and valuable advice, Google will spot this. Googlebot will ensure that you provide helpful and useful advice to your customers, which will help you move up Google’s ranks. Couple that with high dwell time and a low bounce rate, and you’re on to a winner.

 

Come to the best

We represent construction companies, solicitors, and online retailers with warehouses crammed full of goods.

If done right, search engine optimisation can be a game changer for some businesses. Yet, it does involve hard work. Any companies that cut corners, thinking they can cheat Google’s algorithm, will often get hit by Google’s algorithmic penalties, and the website vanishes off Google.

So, pick your SEO agency wisely and talk to one of the best in the business—speak to us.

What does Google E-E-A-T mean?

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What are the E-E-A-T Guidelines?

Working out how Google’s algorithm works is like solving a Rubix cube.

There are literally so many elements that must line up perfectly for you to get a business on page one of Google. What makes our job harder, or more of a challenge depending on how you look at it, is that Google is constantly improving its algorithm.

However, from time to time, Google and its quality evaluators give us important nuggets of advice. For example, they tell us how to write our content marketing or how to build links.

One of the most significant pieces of advice in recent years is the Google E-EAT guidelines. These guidelines basically tell us that in a business’s content marketing, Google wants us to demonstrate expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in what we are writing about.

So, no marketing waffle, no vague articles crammed with keywords. It doesn’t work. To get onto the first page on Google, whether you’re in

Bristol, the fine city of Bath, or beyond, you must show that you’re the expert on what you’re talking about.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about how to fix a dripping tap or how to send a rocket into orbit—to get onto page one of Google, you must show that you have a high Google E-EAT score.

 

What are Search Quality Rater Guidelines?

When we think of Google, we often think of massive data centres, AI, and mathematical formulas, which is correct.

Yet occasionally, Google uses search quality raters to manually determine if a set of business websites is good quality.

So let’s say they look at 1,000 plus websites, look at what’s good, and basically work out a criteria, a tick-box set of guidelines. Then, they place the feedback into Google’s core algorithm.

So, in essence, yes, it is complicated mathematical formulas that power Google, but first, quality raters are used to design those mathematical formulas and give guidelines for them to follow.

 

Tell us more about Google E-E-A-T Guidelines.

So, E-E-A-T is an acronym that stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Despite what some SEO agencies will tell you, it isn’t a ranking factor; instead, it’s more critical guidance.
So, businesses that want to use white hat methods don’t want to cut corners, and they want to use the techniques of SEO, which Google approves. They will need to brush up on your Google E-EAT guidance.

Why is E-E-A-T Important For SEO?

So, it all boils down to customer satisfaction.

Google wants to provide good-quality answers to a question.

Businesses that care about offering good customer service want to provide valuable and helpful advice.

So, the two line up perfectly. On the other hand, you have businesses that use spam or black hat SEO and just want to get on page one of

Google by exerting the minimum amount of effort. These businesses don’t offer helpful advice, so Google wants to weed these businesses out.

So, in essence, if you truly care about good customer service and offer unique, high-quality advice, you should be on the right side of Google

E-EAT. Yet, if in doubt, do give your SEO agency a shout before making any changes to your website.

In the background are Google’s quality evaluators, who determine which business websites are of good quality and which offer helpful advice.

Then, they work out a framework, a set of rules that can be fed back into Google’s algorithm; this then causes what is known as a Google Core

Update. Now, businesses that have been implementing SEO the right way move up, and websites that may have used more spammy methods of SEO move down.

 

Google Helpful Content Update

We think the Google Helpful Content update and Google E-EAT are closely related.

That’s because if you are writing and publishing content that’s massively helpful to your customers, this work should also have a high Google E-EAT score.

Think of it this way: If content marketing is helpful, has a very high dwell time, and has a very low bounce rate, it often offers helpful advice.

 

What are your top tips for improving a business’s Google E-EAT score?

NAP

Add your business’s NAP information to improve its Google E-EAT score.

For those who do not know, NAP stands for the business’s name, address and phone number. Add this to the contact page, and in the footer, make sure that Googlebot can read it so it can get indexed.

 

Content marketing

When writing content marketing, make sure it’s original and free of duplication. Also, aim to produce high-quality work that your visitors will find helpful.

 

White hat agency

Make sure that whatever marketing agency you hire, all of the work, including search engine optimisation, is always white hat.

 

Would you like a free quote?

If you run a business in the Southwest, we can help your company get onto page one of Google. We have SEO experts with over 10 years of experience. We can, therefore, offer to create content marketing, improve technical SEO, and build backlinks.

 

For a free quote, why not call us?

 

Do you need the help of an SEO expert?

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Is your website getting enough organic traffic?

Just think about this for a second: whether you need a plumber or a brand-new pair of shiny shoes, you often turn to Google to help you find products or services. This is why many businesses hire SEO to help get their companies higher on Google. This doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a tremendous amount of work, and you must partner with an agency for a long time to start seeing SEO results.

Suppose you log into your business’s Google Analytics account and have low organic traffic. In that case, it simply means you are not getting many visitors to your company website. So, one of the primary purposes of hiring an organic SEO consultant is to help the business obtain more organic visitors. As we come on later, you also need exemplary organic visitors who will likely want to purchase your items or services.

So, it is perfectly feasible for an SEO consultant to bring in over 1 million organic visitors per month to your website. But if none of those people have an intention of buying products or services, then what use is this organic traffic to the company website? For example, you could write a long blog post about, let’s say, a celebrity divorce. Sure, it might get a huge amount of visitors, but it might not help you sell anything.

So, you want to attract organic visitors who will likely purchase from your business.

 

 

On-site SEO

one of the reasons why an  SEO expert is often hired is to improve the on-site SEO. This often means using tools such as Moz Pro. This is an absolutely brilliant SEO tool for those who do not know. It can be used for everything from checking your competitors’ backlinks to keyword research. Therefore, one of the reasons why an SEO expert is often hired is to improve the on-site SEO. Often, many marketing agencies also use split testing to see if they can improve the website design, such as reducing the company’s bounce rate.

 

How much does it cost to hire an SEO specialist?

Costs do vary massively; for example, it often depends on whether you are hiring a freelancer or whether you are hiring an agency. You could spend a fortune on an agency, but sometimes, this doesn’t guarantee results. Equally, you can have some brilliant freelancers and some that are not good. Whether you are hiring a freelancer or an agency, they must use white hat methods; don’t ever hire a company that uses black hat methods.

 

How do you even go about finding an SEO expert?

You might be wondering how I could even find an SEO expert. We would say a good place to start is to look on Google. For example, search Google for local SEO companies and determine which ones rank right at the top. Then, schedule a meeting with them and meet the SEO consultants; you want to understand whether they understand your business and whether you can work with that individual or that marketing company over the long run.

 

Just make sure that all of the work is white hat, so it is all well, and it is good to hire a super cheap company that advertises meager prices. What can happen is that you have your hands burnt.

Not only could an SEO company potentially damage your search engine optimisation in the short run, but they could also potentially damage it in the long run if you were to receive, let’s say, an algorithmic penalty. So, when you hire a freelancer or an agency to improve your business SEO, you must hire an expert. For example, if you hire somebody with, say, ten years of experience, they should understand how Google’s algorithms work; therefore, you want somebody highly experienced.

 

Call us today

We are one of the most highly experienced SEO agencies in Bristol. We also offer brilliant prices, with our monthly prices starting from just £500 per month. Therefore, if you want to hire an SEO expert, why not contact our agency today?

 

 

 

How the numerous Google algorithm updates have changed search engine optimisation (SEO)

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      Written by: Ryan Walsh Date: 8/03/2024   Google handles billions of searches every single day, and it’s absolutely brilliant at doing this by offering good-quality answers to questions. To offer an accurate answer to a question, Google had to crawl and index billions of websites and then organise them so the best […]

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How to re-purpose and also rewrite your rewrite your content marketing in order to improve it

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You might have content marketing on your website that could do with a bit of improving- it might be in need of a bit of revamp?
Well updating and rewriting some parts of say an old blog post will help to ensure that your offering your customers the best possible advice. Marketing agencies often refer to this as “re-purposing” content marketing.

Written by: Ryan Walsh

06 February 2024

 

Content marketing

Writing content marketing takes up a lot of time. There’s the initial writing and research to ensure you offer the best possible advice to your customers. But there’s also ongoing monitoring using Google Search Console and Google Analytics, as well as various other SEO tools to see how much organic traffic the content marketing receives.

The good news is that you can improve an old blog post rather easily, perhaps by embedding a video, you can also add an infographic or simply rewrite some of the text.

Often, this can give the piece of content marketing an uplift in terms of organic traffic it receives.

You might also want to create many social media platforms to promote your business’s content marketing, helping to drive more shoppers to that piece of work.

So for example, why not set up a Instagram, Facebook and X (formally Twitter) account for your business?

So, what exactly is content marketing re-purposing?

Helping to breathe new life into old work

Let’s say that you have several blog posts that don’t have much organic traffic. In your businesses Google Analytics it says that some blog posts only have a few visitors, and a very high bounce rate.

Well you could hire a presenter to take out the main points of that content marketing, and use it to create a script when your business is creating YouTube videos. That youtube video could then be embedded into the blog post, which allows the shopper two methods of finding an answer, either by reading the text, or watching the video, where a presenter, might be explaining the benefits of owning that product.

 

Why should you repurpose your business’s content marketing?

The main purpose is to get more shoppers (organic traffic) onto your website. It could be something as simple as taking the page titles of each blog post and then putting them into an Instagram or Facebook post. This can help to bring in more shoppers from your companies social media accounts.

This could potentially bring more shoppers to your website.

Which pieces of content marketing should you repurpose?

We would recommend repurposing content marketing if it falls at either end of the following scale.
Content marketing that is receiving a lot of organic traffic

Now, you might be wondering why we would want to re-purpose a piece of content marketing that is already potentially bringing in thousands of organic visitors every single month?

Well, as car manufacturers don’t stop refining and improving their cars, neither should you with your content marketing. You could adapt the content marketing to improve it, constantly looking at ways that you can bring in more organic traffic.

Your SEO company could therefore:

– Use A/B testing to improve the work
– Add a Youtube video to explain the product / service
– Rewrite the text
– Work out what’s causing a high bounce rate on that page

 

So, you could add a YouTube video and embed it into each blog post or main page. You could hire a graphic designer to create an infographic and some more up-to-date statistics.

You can keep improving the work and doing split testing (also known as A/B testing) to see if it’s bringing in even more organic traffic.

Pages which aren’t getting any organic traffic at all

You might have noticed earlier that we mentioned that we usually repurpose content marketing, which falls on either end of the scale.

That’s to say, it’s either top-performing content marketing you want to keep top of the game, and ranking high in Google’s organic results. This content marketing may bring in a huge amount of shoppers. On the other end of the scale, it could be content marketing that’s not getting any organic traffic.

The work could be deemed by Google’s algorithms as “content-thin”; it could be a blog post written seven years ago that doesn’t offer much information, and therefore doesn’t get much organic traffic.

When you add more detail, your improving the blog post. You could make word count longer, you start to promote the content marketing on social media as well to see if you can get more people reading the work.

 

Turn the page titles of old blog posts into social media posts as well

You can create a Facebook or Instagram account for your business,

You can take the page titles of your blog post and add some hashtags as well. Then, you could shorten the URL and add a link to your company website.

You are then promoting your business’s content marketing on say Facebook, to attract more shoppers to your website. T

 

Embed a YouTube video

This is another effective marketing strategy; as often shoppers often don’t want to read 1000 words and might not have the time to read a long blog post.

So instead , you might be explaining the benefits of owning a particular product in a short video.

So, a presenter might want to give a quick overview of the product. So, for example, if you sell electrical goods, why not create a video explaining the benefits of each product? This can help to improve your business’s search engine optimisation. Because somebody who wants to buy, let’s say, a new washing machine might like the fact that you’ve got a presenter explaining the benefits of each product.

 

Infographics

Sometimes, you might have a wordy and long blog post. It might be advising on something quite complicated, let’s say, how to improve your fitness by doing specific warmup exercises.

Some might not want to read a rather wordy and long piece of content marketing, but they might want to take advice from infographics.

A well-designed infographic can convey a lot of information easily. For example, it might teach people how to warm up so they are less prone to injury while exercising. This could reduce your business blog post.

 

How our agency can help by creating high-quality content marketing.

As any good SEO company will tell you, content marketing is always needed to improve a business’s SEO. If its well written, it can help to decrease the website’s bounce rate, increase the time on site, and help promote and sell products for that business.

You must also build backlinks and prove to Google that your business has a high Google E-EAT score.
Our agency is very good at writing high-quality content marketing; we work with several well-known brands in Bristol. If you would like to improve your business SEO, then why not contact our agency today?

Why link building is still important

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When you read various blog posts, about link building, some say that link building won’t even have an effect on your business’s seo. However, we don’t believe that is true, some backlinks, really good quality links, that are built using 100% white hat SEO, well will these can still have a dramatic and positive affect on businesses’ seo.

However, as we will explain more of later on in this article, what is apparent, is good quality links can take your website to new heights.

However low-quality backlinks, they can do huge amounts of damage your business’s seo. Low-quality backlinks, that have been bought all built incorrectly, (using black hat methods) can massively damage your business’s seo. So you have to use the right link-building techniques, you have to avoid purchasing backlinks full stop.

 

Link Building, Off-Page SEO

Building backlinks, is something that a lot of companies find extremely confusing and it’s something that they don’t know how to do. Sometimes the company might think that they need a specialist link-building company, and this might be true sometimes be true. However, most white-hat marketing agencies understand how to build good-quality backlinks. And it would be best to avoid the seo agencies that build low-quality links. Otherwise, your business can get a link penalty.

Ever since Google was founded, they have used backlinks as a way of deciphering where businesses should ranked by in Google’s SERP’s. And ever since PageRank we don’t think that’s changed until the present day in 2024. We still believe backlinks are still essential.

A brief history of why backlinks are important

To fully comprehend why backlinks are still important, you have to go back to recent history to understand why backlinks are such a crucial part of Google’s algorithm.

In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google, and they named their original algorithm, which was simply brilliant at the time, “Page Rank”. This algorithm has improved a lot since then; it’s a lot more complex and intricate than back then.

However, you have to understand this concept, that is the backlinks are like a vote of confidence in your website; if another brand or company links to your business, and they are good quality companies which are relevant to your business, these links can positively affect your business rankings.

So, although there are thought to be over 200 various different ranking factors that Google now uses as part of their algorithm, backlinks are still a ranking factor, just like when Larry Page and Sergey Brin first developed their algorithm- however Googles algorithm was a lot simpler back then.

In 2009, Google removed PageRank

Back in 2009, and Google got rid of the Page Rank metric, which are shown in “Google’s Webmaster Tools”.
this was an indication that they would start to move away from backlinks as one of the main ranking factors; and now there are many other ranking factors which are used by the search engine to decipher where a business should rank in Google’s serps.

 

The more votes, the better

Here’s where things get a little bit complicated for some businesses to grasp; sometimes, they think more backlinks the better. When it comes to backlinks, however, the more quality links you have, sure, the better.

When you start to have a mix of low-quality and spam links, , this can damage your business’s seo, so more of these links is not better; it can result in a penalty.

Don’t overly focus on just backlinks

Some businesses think that the only way to improve their seo, is to solely concentrate on building backlinks. However, this is a flawed seo strategy right from the outset. The main reason is simple: many other ranking factors must be enhanced at the sametime. A good agency, or a seo consultant today, must keep many plates spinning simultaneously. What we mean by that is, therefore, to optimise as many ranking factors as possible. If your business focuses solely on just building backlinks, then often wont improve the company’s seo.

Link Penalty (Google Penguin)

Whether your playing a game of Monopoly or trying to improve your business search engine optimisation, there will always be people and companies that will always try to cut corners. Therefore they will try to cheat.

However, when it comes to SEO, well, there are no shortcuts; it is hard work, and it takes tremendous effort to get any business onto page one of Google. Therefore, you must take a long-term view and only use white hat methods.

Does my business still need no-follow-backlinks?

Yes, a business most certainly does; for backlinks to be built correctly in a 100% white hat way, you need a combination of both no-follow and do-follow backlinks. If, for example, you have 10,000 backlinks, and all of these are do-follow, it looks like the links have been bought. And you don’t want the links to look as if you purchased them.

You shouldn’t purchase backlinks at all; you should have bloggers and business owners who want to link to your work voluntarily. By doing so, they are likely to use a mixture of do-follow and no-follow backlinks.

 

Create very high-quality and also helpful content marketing

If you want your business needs search engine optimisation to be a roaring success. Your business needs high-quality and well-written content marketing.

Make sure that you fix any low-quality backlinks. You may have a website that has many low-quality backlinks.
If your website has low quality / spam links, this needs to be resolved; you need to hire a link-building specialist or an agency specialising in penalty recovery. For example, having a website with many low-quality backlinks is like trying to put a car into a race; while the car’s boot is filled with lead, you are at a massive disadvantage from the outset.

So, just like any good race car driver, would shed weight from their car. To ensure they are more competitive and therefore can win the race, you should eliminate your low-quality backlinks.

For example, you may need to hire a link-building specialist, and there are many marketing agencies within the United Kingdom that specialise in fixing link penalties.

 

Disavow any toxic links

There are many ways to fix the problem of having low-quality links pointing at your website. One way is to contact the website directly and explain you want the links removed: their links are causing a problem with your business seo, and you want them removed.

If they don’t remove the links after you have contacted them, or you can’t contact them, then you should proceed to disavow the links. However, disavowing links should only be undertaken by an expert because if you don’t know the difference between good-quality links and low-quality links, you could end up disavowing and cutting out the wrong links! This could end up damaging your seo.

This is why you need to hire an agency, which is really good at building links and disavowing low-quality links.

Why Businesses Should take to the time to improve old blog posts

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How to better optimise legacy content marketing  

 

When writing content marketing, the management of existing content assets plays a crucial role in maintaining a competitive edge. If your website for example has 40 copied blog posts, well, this will hamper your company’s SEO performance moving forward.

With vast numbers of content accumulated over the years, written by various staff members, it becomes imperative to strategically optimise these assets to enhance organic visibility and user experience.

Why its most definitely worth revisiting and better optimising older content marketing

 

Regularly assessing old content marketing is not just about keeping up with the Jones- meaning just  because a competitor is addng a blog post once a week you should too.

Yet, time should also be spent scrutinising content for outdated references, like articles titled “10 ways to improve your SEO in 2018- obviously someone landing on that page now, is going to view the advice as outdated.

So you should revisit old blog posts, see if they can be updated.

 or posts that have lost relevance due to changing trends. Even user-generated content on  

Make sure your chosen SEO company is adhering to to Google’s E-EAT Principles

 

 

Google’s E-EAT guidelines — focusing on Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — are pivotal in assessing content marketing. These include ensuring originality, providing insightful analysis, yet the work must be written by an expert. Or at least sit down, and have a cup of tea with an expert on the subject, to gain there input. This will generate an article that’s more helpful, useful and better for the reader.

 

This will result in the following:

  • Likely you will obtain more quality backlinks
  • Higher time on site
  • Lower bounce rate

  

 

Repurposing: Enhancing some of your old blog posts

 

Beyond removal, repurposing offer less risky alternatives. You need to take some advice from expert SEO consultants, but they may recommend sometimes consolidating blog posts and pages, which involves merging similar content into comprehensive resources, optimizing crawl budgets, and providing users and search engines with streamlined, quality content marketing.  

 

 

Monitor performance using Moz Pro SEO tools- they are very good

 

If your marketing agency is neglecting optimising legacy content is a missed opportunity.

Regular analysis and testing of existing content marketing for potential enhancements or repurposing can yield significant SEO rewards with relatively low effort. This proactive approach ensures that all content assets, new and old, contribute optimally to the brand’s online presence and SEO objectives.

 

 

How to repurpose content marketing to improve your business SEO

 

Repurposing isn’t just about updating just dates or facts; it’s about reimagining content to align with current trends and user needs. So, sometimes adding a substantial amount of text. 

 

 

Google Analytics and content marketing  

 

An in-depth analysis of user behaviour can help you to decide which blog posts need improving. If work has a high bounce rate, then these pages should get your most attention, in terms of improving them.

SEO tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console offer invaluable insights into how users interact with your content marketing. Understanding these patterns helps in identifying underperforming pages and blog posts and opportunities for improvement, thereby enabling a data-driven approach to content optimisation.

 

 

How to use Google Ads to gain more customers

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How Google Ads can be used to help you gain more customers

Welcome to the dynamic world of Google Ads. . As a well-known SEO company, we are here to guide you through the intricacies of setting up and optimising your Google Ads account. Its as easy as 1,2, 3 it really is.

 

How to set up a Google Ads account

Embarking on the Google Ads journey is more than just a technical step; it’s a strategic marketing decision that catapults your digital presence to new heights. So for example, your business may not have generated any customers online, just relying on word of mouth. Yet when you start paying for Google Ads, you will see that it can flood some businesses with customers.Let’s dive into the essential steps to establish your Google Ads account, designed to position your brand in the spotlight.

 

How to set up your Google Ads account

Your journey begins with two non-negotiable essentials: a valid email address, so if your still using say a Hotmail e-mail address that separate from your website, it’s time to change that. Ask your web design company, to set up an email account that has your domain name in the e-mail address.. While any email address works, a business-related or Gmail account streamlines the process.
Visit Google Ads, and select “Start Now.” Its then a simple step by step process to follow. Bypass the temptation of immediate campaign creation; focus on building a strong foundation first- and dedicate enough time to set up the Google AdWords account correctly, don’t rush it, as you may not be getting the best performance, if you miss key details. This is where your strategic prowess begins to shape your future campaigns.

Now its time to set preferences

Its now time to customise basic settings like billing country, time zone, and currency- this is easy to do. These small but significant details ensure your account aligns perfectly with your business operations.

Business profile

This step involves providing comprehensive business information- and do take some time to add much information about your business as possible.
Input your business details meticulously, ensuring accuracy in every field.

 

Finalising your account setup

Complete the setup by submitting your information- as you can see, its an absolute piece of cake to set up a Google Adwords account, it can normally be done, for most small businesses in less than one hour.
Sometimes it may take longer, it does depend on the services and products that you sell. Remember, setting up your Google Ads account is just the beginning. The real magic happens in campaign creation and management.
Remember you should keep managing and making changes to your account, making changes to make sure you getting the most out of your Adwords spend.

 

Unveiling the power of Google Ads

Google Ads isn’t just another marketing tool; it’s your digital megaphone- it can help your business to generate a lot more sales. Its unparalleled reach via the Google Display Network means your message resonates across millions of screens (if you have enough of marketing budget to do this).

The platform empowers you with complete control over ad creation, targeting, and budgeting, allowing you to tailor every aspect of your campaign. The pay-per-click (PPC) model ensures you get value for every penny spent, making it a budget-friendly option.

 

Making Google Ads work for you

Campaign success lies in understanding the data Google Ads provides. Use its analytical tools to refine your marketing strategies, assess ad performance, and ensure maximum ROI. Remember, the data you analyse today shapes the successes of tomorrow.

How improving your websites UX could also improve your companies SEO

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Why U.X should be at the heart of web design

In the bustling world of SEO, the concept of user experience, fondly known as ‘UX’, should be an important factor you consider when improving your company’s organic seo. It’s all about creating a smooth sail for users across the digital sea- what we mean by this is, making it super easy for your customers, to find the products they want, ensuring their voyage through websites is as effortless and fulfilling as a stroll down the Thames!

 

U.X

Good user experience is like a well-brewed cuppa – comforting and almost unnoticeable in its perfection. In contrast, offering a negative user experience, such as a main menu that’s bloody annoying to use, well will make your company’s bounce rate skyrocket. Consider this: nearly half of the online shoppers will ditch a website with poor UX, while over a third would turn away due to a lacklustre layout. These numbers don’t lie – they shout the importance of knowing your audience and tailoring your website’s design to meet their preferences.

 

So, what exactly is user experience or U.X in web design?

So, what’s the buzz about user experience in web design? Well, for too long web designers focused on creating minimalistic, uncluttered websites, and some marketing agencies still do this. But SEO is the engine that drives business growth, if done right, so if you just focus on making everything minimalistic, well, often there’s no substance, to warrant your business ranking on page one of Google.co.uk

So, yoru website needs to look good sure, but it equally needs to be easy to use, plus, the SEO, well it must be good, sorry, let us reword that, it must be brillant if you want to get on the first page of Google. It’s more than just aesthetics; it’s about crafting a journey that meets user needs at every turn. A top-notch UX can be the golden ticket to elevating your online presence.

 

Web design and U.X

In the realm of web design, overlooking UX is like missing the last train home – not an option- if you don’t make your company website a piece of cake to use, with menus that are easy to use and easy to sort the items, well, if its not easy to use, your customers will leave your website, causing a higher bounce rate. Its purpose is simple yet vital: fulfill user needs efficiently. From boosting conversions to building a trustworthy brand image, the benefits of fine-tuning your website’s usability and user experience are important.

 

The Power of U.X design to drive conversions

A website that’s a joy to navigate is like owning a quality sat nav, guiding you to your destination easily. And that’s what a company website should do, help direct shoppers to the right products and services, quickly and easily. it leads visitors exactly where they want to go, often ending in them making a purchase or reaching out via a contact form. Simply put, ease of use equals more conversions.

 

Climbing the organic SEO ladder with through improving your company U.X

Websites with top-notch U.X (user experience) don’t just attract more organic shoppers; they tell the search engine algorithms, that your business has a low bounce rate, therefore because of this, your company may rank higher on Google. SEO, the art of making your site visible online, heavily Favors websites that offer a great user experience. A beautifully designed website that’s easy to use can be your secret weapon in climbing the organic SEO ranks.

So what is user experience in web design?

User experience or UX for short, in web design refers to the overall experience a person has when interacting with a website- for example, have you made it easy or hard for them to buy an item from you. It includes how easy or enjoyable the website is to navigate, the efficiency in finding information, and how satisfying the overall interaction is.

If you push the boat out to make your website easy to use, and offer information the customer will want to know, when buying an item, your SEO is likely to improve. For example, sure, it may take a lot of time, add a YouTube video of your staff explaining the benefits of owning that particular item, it might help the customer and also improve your seo.

The customer is likely to know more about the product, therefore, their questions may well be answered, leading to them buying the item. So more sales for your business, but also because the shopper has spent so long on each page, your company’s Google Analytics account will show longer dwell time, and lower bounce rates, which are all good for SEO.

 

Why is user experience important in web design?
User experience is crucial because it directly affects how users perceive and interact with a company’s website. A positive experience can lead to higher engagement, lower bounce rates, increased conversions, and customer loyalty.

A negative experience, on the other hand, can drive potential customers away, leading to higher bounce rates, and therefore negatively affecting your company’s SEO.

 

How does user experience affect SEO?

Good user experience is a key factor in organic SEO. Websites that are easy to navigate and provide a pleasant user experience are more likely to rank higher on Google’s search engine results.
This is because search engines like Google, Bing and Duck Duck Go prioritise sites that offer value to users.