Why is blog content important?

Content marketing is also content marketing – everything we publish on our website. Thanks to it, we can reach more recipients and provide users with interesting information.

We can write them in the form of blog posts, reports, guides, product descriptions or interviews. Here, we can only be limited by creativity (and the scope of our activity), because there may be many ideas for showing uniqueness and the way of presenting content.

Articles on the site are usually created by copywriters, but not only. Articles can also be written by owners or people working in other departments of the company. Thanks to this, we can write more specialized articles on a given topic and save money.

Why does content matter in SEO?

Uniqueness, timeliness and high quality are of great importance for a good ranking of our website. Before the implementation of the algorithms: Penguin, Panda or Koliber, it was possible to “spam” the text with key phrases – this was often enough to achieve high positions in Google. Fortunately, we have long since passed away.

New algorithms evalsuate the quality of our content, so we must ensure that it is of the highest level. The article not only has to meet the user’s requirements, but also has to be optimized for search engines such as Google or Bing.

SEO + Content are inextricably linked. Without content, we will not do internal linking well, we will not saturate the page with key phrases and we will not present the user with information about our company, product or values that we want to convey to him.

Content update – why is it important?

We already know that the content affects the position of our website and we should take care of it. So why are there articles that used to be 1st in Google, and then dropped? After all, we put a lot of time and work into them. There can be many factors that influence it. One of them may be that our content has become outdated.

Attention!
Of course, this is not the only ranking factor we should consider. Great content without any other SEO efforts may yield zero or very low results.

Over time, the information we post on the website loses its value.

Content that was created in 2017 may not be up to date this year.  Especially if in the article we referred to the legal provisions in force at that time (which were amended at that time), the prices that were in force at that time (during these 3 years the costs of products could change) or statistical data from that period.

Google tries to provide users with not only the highest quality content, but also tries to provide up-to-date information.

Content update – how to choose the ones that need to be changed?

A. Content that is no longer relevant
Over time, our content may become obsolete, and the things we wrote about no longer apply. We can then redirect them 301 to a similar entry or try to bite the topic differently if users are still looking for information on this topic.

Example:
A few years ago, we wrote an article about loans for own contribution. Currently, banks do not allow financing of own contribution from such a source.

However, they allow loans from developers for own contribution and some users are looking for information on this subject. We can rewrite the article from scratch in this regard to provide the user with the necessary and current news.

B. Articles with specific time periods
If we can – avoid giving dates in articles. If this is not possible, let’s make a spreadsheet in which we write down the content that has it and when we should update it. There are content that we can update annually, and there may be content that we should change every month.

C. Comments below the article that may expand it
Users often pay attention to things that the writer may not notice. The comments may contain interesting information or questions about which we can update our content. Not every user reads the comments posted under the articles (especially if there are many of them). Thanks to the expansion of the main content of the post, we can provide all readers with interesting information.

D. “Walls of text” without highlighter
We can try to make our content more attractive to the user to make it easier and more pleasant to read. Here we can use various types of sections, for example:
– highlighted examples,
– lists of bullets,
– quotes,
– graphical linking to other related articles,
– expert advice,
– summary,
– infographics.
Thanks to such measures, our content can be clearer for the reader.

E. General Content
It happens that we write an article that is very general or touches on many topics a little. We can expand it with new information or write new related articles, where we will explain all the issues to the user in detail.

Example:
We have a summary article about the most important Google algorithms. Each of them is briefly described to provide the most important information about them.

We can do 2 things with it:
– expand the article and describe each algorithm in detail. Thanks to this, we will have an article that is very extensive and comprehensive topic. When new algorithms are entered, we can add them to this article in an equally exhaustive way,
– we can write separate articles, where we will describe each algorithm in detail. From the base article about the most important algorithms, we can refer the user to separate articles on the topic that interested him by internal linking.

F. Duplication of content
It may happen that we have several hundred articles on the website and we forget that we have already written such an article. It turns out that our content cannibalize ourselves with keywords. Let’s check which article appears with a larger number of phrases and which users visit more often and combine it into one. Remember to redirect the article from which we resign to the content left on the website.

G. Is the article we wrote easy for the user or is it incomprehensible?
Remember that we do not write content only for Google – they are created primarily with the user in mind. It is he who will read the article and should understand everything from it. If it seems to us that the article we wrote is very specialized and we use heavy terms in it – let us read it to a person who is unfamiliar with this topic. If the reader does not understand a part – it is worth simplifying it, because another person may also have a problem with it.

Example:
One of our editors is a lawyer who uses many specialized terms or quotes from statutes. They may be incomprehensible to some users. By using examples where we realistically present a given situation, it may turn out that it will be a sufficient simplification of the content + we gain valuable content.

H. Short, low-quality content
If we have an article on the website on a topic that has a large number of searches – it is worth expanding it. Thanks to this, we can provide valuable information to the user and appear in the search engine for more searches. It is worth the article to be exhaustive and to convey everything possible.

Content update – minor changes

Let’s start with the content that is, for example, from this year and requires only minor updates. We don’t have to rewrite the whole article then (although it may turn out that a minor update will change the meaning of the whole article – then it is worth rewriting it) – we can only change a few small things in the article.

If we only make minor changes – it is worth adding the update date section in the article (we then show the user that the article is already on the website for a while, but is constantly updated).

Examples of what we can pay attention to with minor updates:

A. The prices given in the articles are no longer valid
If we are a comparison engine or we run an online store – the prices of our services or products may change dynamically. It is worth that the price offer that we present in the articles should coincide with the prices that we place in the product categories. This saves the user the trouble of figuring out which price is correct.

Attention!
This is especially important when we raise the price of a product. If we do this, and in the article the price we gave was lower and we did not mention the promotion there – the user may start looking for a product at this price on other websites and not come back to us.

B. The products we wrote about are no longer available for sale
If a product has been permanently withdrawn from sale, will the user want to read about it? What if the product has only been recalled with us? We can then expect 2 things:
– if the user is interested in this product – he can leave our store again and go to the competition, where he will get the product
– the user may waste time reading about a product that they will not get anyway. Here, too, negative emotions may arise because he will be disappointed with the inability to buy.

It is then worth updating the article and replacing this unavailable article with a product with similar parameters to the withdrawn one. Thanks to this, we will present the user with information about the products that he will surely get from us in the store.

Attention!
If the product has been temporarily withdrawn – it is worth mentioning with the product that it is a temporary shortage and we will give the user the opportunity to set a reminder when the product is available for sale again.
If the product has been permanently withdrawn – we can compare different versions of this product (if of course they are and we can compare them) or make a comparison with similar products. Then we can encourage the user to buy a new and improved model.

C. The links to which we referred the user have changed
Both external and internal links are important here. After all, we do not want to send the user to page 404, where he will not find the information he is interested in.
When updating your content, it’s also worth taking a look at because we may have missed some deleted link and not redirected it to the correct URL.

D. Title and meta description
If we change the content of the article – it is also worth updating the metadata. Thanks to this, we will show the user in the search engine that our content is up-to-date. If we change the whole and leave “2019 ranking” in Title -> the user can skip our entry and move to another, thinking that ours is not up to date enough.

E. Infographics
If we rely on infographics in our article, we must also remember about them. If we change the prices in the content and leave the old user in the infographic, he may get lost and not be sure which ones are up to date.

F. Legal regulations / sources we rely on
If we rely on legal provisions / statistical sources in our articles – remember that they may also change. When updating the content, let’s also take this into account so as not to unnecessarily mislead the user.

G. Structured data
More and more websites use the FAQ schema. It is worth checking whether the change of content on the website also causes a change in the structural data. It may turn out that the website is coded in such a way that IT sets this data. We must then remember this, because the schema should contain exactly the same information that appears on the website.

Attention!
If we update an article – remember to check the entire content. The update date indicates that it is up-to-date at the moment. If we update only part of it, the user will be misled by us because some of the information will be up-to-date and some not.

These are just a few examples that we can pay attention to – it is worth reviewing what we write about on our website and finding out for yourself which information, in our opinion, may be outdated for the user.

Examples of tools to help us update content

Google Analytics
We can check which content has a high bounce rate and a small number of hits. It may be the fault of the articles we published. Let’s find out what’s wrong with them and try to update them.

SERP
Let’s check TOP10 search results – thanks to this we will find out what is missing in our article. It is also worth using similar searches and Google hints.

Example:
We have an article on business activity. Thanks to Google’s hints, we can check what information users are looking for.

Ahrefs
Ahrefs provides a “Content GAP” feature, so we can compare our article with articles on the same competition. Here, we will also receive information on which phrases our article does not appear in the search engine.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is slowly becoming a very popular concept and more and more people are looking for detailed information on this topic. It is a specific logistics model used for online sales. It consists in transferring the responsibility for the entire shipping process to the supplier. This means that the online store does not have its own goods and its own warehouses, but only cooperates with an external company that carries out orders transferred to it. Some of the benefits of such a solution are obvious – no storage costs and no need to invest in goods (which may or may not sell), so much lower financial risk. In addition, the transfer of logistics to an external entity makes running a business much easier. Of course, that doesn’t mean dropshipping has only advantages.

Advantages of dropshipping

It cannot be concealed – dropshipping is a very tempting solution that greatly simplifies the process of running an online store and allows you to start earning money on your own account very quickly. You can list many advantages of the system. What kind?

Own business without a lot of capital
Setting up a company usually requires some investments, and in the case of a store they are significant – you need the entire infrastructure to handle orders, as well as the goods and the idea for an online store. Meanwhile, dropshipping allows you to “cut” most of the costs of the project. The only expenses you have to bear at the beginning are those related to the operation of the store’s website and shipping. This means that basically anyone can afford such a business. Moreover, the lack of significant expenses means you can quickly see a return on your investment and start enjoying your profits.

Running your business from anywhere
An online store run in a standard way gives the owner a lot of freedom, but not entirely. It is necessary, among others having a stationary warehouse where goods are stored and where orders are completed and prepared for shipment. Dropshipping is a model that offers much more freedom. You don’t have to have a warehouse that requires inspection at least from time to time. This means you can just work from home and earn money without leaving your home. A trip to another city or even a country is not a problem either. You just need a good internet connection to control your business all the time.

Less responsibilities, less responsibility
By running your own online store in the dropshipping model, you are mainly responsible for collecting orders, acquiring customers and maintaining relationships with them. If the e-shop is integrated with a wholesaler, the inventory and prices are updated automatically. Many companies also offer after-sales service (i.e. primarily returns and complaints). Therefore, the scope of your duties and responsibilities is limited. This means more private life and less stress.

A simple way to do business
The traditional model of running a store also requires much broader knowledge, for example about the logistics process. In addition, it is usually necessary to hire workers, which can also be a challenge. People without experience often find it difficult to enter this world without help. Meanwhile, dropshipping, taking off the most onerous duties from the store owner, means that almost everyone can set up an e-store.

Offer flexibility
If you invest in a commodity, not only do you freeze a large amount of cash, but you also run the risk of it not selling. In the dropshipping model, you can quickly change the assortment if the current one is not popular enough. This flexibility also allows you to adapt to current trends and thus maximize sales. Currently, wholesalers offering cooperation on the basis of dropshipping offer a very wide selection of products from various departments. This in turn increases your options for action.

Fast service = satisfied customer
Reputable dropshipping wholesalers work very efficiently, preparing the order immediately after receiving it. This allows you to offer your customers fast delivery and thus increase their satisfaction!

The disadvantages of dropshipping and the risks associated with operating in this model

As mentioned at the beginning, however, dropshipping also has some downsides like any other business model. However, it is worth knowing that some of them can be minimized or even eliminated. What problems can owners of e-shops operating on the basis of dropshipping face?

Less control over the business
By delegating much of your duties and responsibilities to an external party, you also lose some control over the business. It is the wholesaler who decides how your goods will be packed, shipped and delivered, and you have no right to question it. Therefore, before choosing a partner, you should always carefully check these issues and the rules of customer service (including the return or complaint policy). These are factors that significantly affect the image of the store. If you care about good customer relations (and this is the basis for satisfactory sales results), you cannot ignore it.

Big competition
The numerous advantages of dropshipping and the low entry threshold mean that there are more and more stores operated in this model. Wholesalers also have a limited (though diverse) range. So it’s almost certain that no matter what you choose to sell, someone is already doing it. This in turn means that in order to grab some of the market for yourself, you will have to differentiate yourself. Don’t forget – even a seemingly simple business, such as an e-shop based on dropshipping, requires inventiveness and an entrepreneur’s instinct.

Low margins
Strong competition often also means low margins. Thus, generating a reasonable profit requires obtaining good sales results. However, it is worth knowing that the amount of the margin largely depends on the type of goods offered. There are industries where it is quite high.

Problems with order fulfillment
It happens that cooperation with a wholesaler is not as smooth as you might want and expect. Sometimes the system fails and the goods shown in the store as available are in fact out of stock. Other times, the order fulfillment time may be longer due to the order queue. However, you can partially protect yourself against this by concluding an appropriate contract with the supplier.

Unclear return and complaint policy
If the company and warehouse data are different, this may mislead customers who want to make a complaint or legally return the goods. Therefore, you need to remember to put transparent information on the store’s website about where the unwanted product can be sent to. The problem can also be solved by adding ready-made returns forms to the packages.

Insufficient knowledge of the goods
The dropshipping model allows you to sell any goods. Which means that sometimes you can start operating in an industry that you don’t know well. This, in turn, can become a problem when you start getting detailed questions about specific goods or their parameters. Customers also often expect professional advice on the selection of a product from the store. The solution is to limit yourself to operating in the industry you know or to carefully read the elements of the offer, e.g. by ordering samples from the supplier.

Duplicate content
When running a dropshipping store, you can often become a victim of duplicate content, i.e. duplicate content, which results in a lower position of the store in Google search results. Therefore, never rely on copied product descriptions! Prepare your own and it will pay off for sure.

Dropshipping – how to start?

Nowadays, starting a business in the dropshipping model is quite easy, because there are many wholesalers serving customers in this way in the global market. First, however, you need to create your own trading platform. There are many solutions available that operate on a variety of principles. They differ primarily in the possibilities and costs of setting up and running a store. That is why it is worth carefully analyzing the available options to choose the right one right away.

You can create the store yourself, which is very easy, especially in the case of some platforms, or you can commission it to an external company. Note that the latter will usually produce a more professional effect, but will be more expensive. In each case, attention should be paid to the possibility and method of integrating the platform with solutions for dropshipping.

Choosing wholesalers for dropshipping

Subsequently, you can choose a key partner for your dropshipping business, i.e. wholesalers. There are currently many possibilities in this regard. However, be careful as not every wholesaler offers the same conditions to its partners. What to pay attention to? What to ask? The most important issues that should interest you are:

– shipping costs,
– available forms of delivery,
– the possibility of linking product categories between the wholesaler and the store,
– automatic updating of inventory and availability,
– additional fees for providing photos or product descriptions,
– method of packing goods for shipment,
– the ability to attach personalized extras to shipments – e.g. advertising materials, discount codes, gifts,
– minimum order amount,
– the company’s return and complaint policy (including the cost of returning the goods by the customer),
– first orders must be paid in advance (some wholesalers have to do so).

It’s a good idea to check the reviews of the company before deciding on their services or, if possible, try the advice of other shop owners on dropshipping. It is especially worth checking forums, blogs and groups on Facebook, where you can often find a lot of useful information.

When signing a contract with a wholesaler, make sure that all the previously discussed issues are included in it. If you use a special platform, read its terms and conditions. This is because creating an account means its acceptance.

Dropshipping – is it worth it?

Summarizing: is it worth “playing” in dropshipping? The answer, of course, is not clear cut. However, you should bear in mind that, contrary to what you may read in some articles or websites, this is certainly not a “golden deal” that will help you get rich effortlessly. Running a store is always a job that requires time, knowledge and often sacrifice. It should be remembered that due to the nature of the dropshipping model, obtaining high earnings is possible only if you achieve very good sales results. This, in turn, most often means the need to actively acquire customers, conduct advanced marketing activities and care for the highest level of service, including communication with consumers. You will probably need to invest in positioning (so that customers can reach your store at all), marketing or creating an attractive and functional website. It all takes resources.

It is worth noting, however, that dropshipping is an opportunity to create a business from almost nothing and helps to significantly minimize the risk of starting a store. The model also allows you to easily examine the demand for specific products. If used properly, it can turn out to be very effective, as proven by numerous stores operating in this way. Is this a solution for you? You have to judge for yourself!

When should you position the page yourself?

Website positioning is not an easy task. It requires constant monitoring and analysis of conducted activities, as well as adaptation to changing Google algorithms. The difficulty of this task means that many companies (even those micro) decide to cooperate with SEO agencies. However, there are also some daredevils who want to position their website on their own. This can be tempted when:

– you have a lot of free time – positioning requires not only knowledge but also large resources of free time; this is often a full-time job, so if you want to combine it with acquiring and servicing clients, marketing and accounting, then you have to focus on failure;
– you have a limited SEO budget – the salary of a good SEO specialist may be too high for many companies (especially those entering the market); so if you don’t have the right budget, you can implement the first SEO activities yourself; this will reduce the cost of doing business while not losing visibility in the search engine;
– you are passionate about SEO and want to develop your knowledge and test in practice; in this situation, working on SEO of your own site is a great idea;
– you can afford to use the trial and error method – without extensive knowledge of SEO, and yet wanting to position the site yourself, you need to prepare for mishaps (including financial); often part of the budget is lost on independent positioning; errors can also lead to a decrease in the position of the page in the search engine, a decrease in website traffic, and thus a decrease in sales.

Where to start positioning the page?

Positioning is a complex process. That is why you should do an SEO audit of your site before you join it. Its task is to check which activities are carried out correctly and which ones should be improved or implemented additionally. The SEO audit is also intended to show whether the technical background allows smooth implementation of optimization changes.

It is worth remembering that when auditing the page, pay attention not only to technical issues, but also to the functionality of the site, visual attractiveness and other factors that can reduce the conversion rate. What should definitely be checked during the audit is:

– Website indexing – positioning cannot be discussed if the website will not be displayed in the search engine; the first step is to verify your site’s indexing; this can be done by typing in the search engine: site: domain name.com – all subpages and pages indexed in Google will appear in the results; if your site is not appearing, please send a request to have it crawled by Google Search Console; it is worth returning the indexing request if something has changed on the page;
– Metadata on the page – they determine the content of a given subpage; they are important to both Google robots and users; metadata should be on every page of the site; you should ensure that they are prepared in accordance with the guidelines, i.e. have the appropriate length and content of keywords.
– Headlines in published content – they are of key importance in positioning; headlines H1 and H2 have the greatest weight, but it is recommended to use these H3-H6.
– Page loading speed – this parameter affects not only SEO, but also the convenience of using the website; a page that is loading too long will cause the Internet user to leave it before it opens; the loading speed of the website can be checked using the free Page Speed ​​Insights tool provided by Google; if the loading speed is not satisfactory, then corrective actions, e.g. image compression, will be necessary.
– Adaptation to mobiles devices – website responsiveness is one of the basic factors affecting SEO; whether the website is responsive can be checked by performing mobiles optimization tests;
– Optimized URL – links to individual subpages should be friendly to Google’s algorithm and users; it must be unique, legible and provide information about what is actually on the site.
– Website structure – it is important that it is legible and intuitive; it should have a simple navigation system; this will help in positioning and avoid high bounce rate.
– SSL certificate – it ensures that all data sent by the website is protected; lack of encryption protocol will mean low security, worse conversions, as well as poor website credibility; certificate ownership can be checked using SSL verification tools.
– Inbound links – high quality inbound links currently count in SEO; they should not be placed on suspicious sites that may be negatively evalsuated by Google’s algorithms; the quality of incoming links can be checked through free tools available on the Internet.

What after the audit?

The next step after the audit is to prepare an SEO strategy. It is extremely important when positioning yourself. It will allow you to implement subsequent optimization changes in turn. The SEO strategy should cover the most important issues such as: keyword list, website content, link building. It’s a good idea to check how competitors that find high positions in the search engine, present their content, products, services, competition.

5 tasks that you need to do when positioning on-site

Independent positioning of the site, it is worth starting with the activities carried out on the site, i.e. on-site. Internal positioning is based on several important issues.

Keywords in positioning

The first is keywords. A lot depends on their proper selection. When choosing them, check among others do they really match the website theme, are they useful, what is their competitiveness. The selected keywords should be grouped so that they coincide with subsequent stages of the sales funnel. Thanks to this it will be possible to reach customers at every stage of purchase.

Many people positioning the site independently, choose keywords based on experience in the industry. This is a good solution if you want to create a wide list of phrases. Searching for keywords is good if you pay attention to long-tail phrases, those related to keywords (creating the so-called thematic contexts), informational key phrases (answering the users question), commercial key phrases (containing the brand name).

Content in positioning

The content posted on the site is very important. When preparing those to help in SEO, you should pay attention to both their attractiveness, as well as editing and appearance. The texts published on the website must be interesting, practical, written in a simple and friendly language, and above all unique – Google does not like duplication of content. The whole should be divided into logical paragraphs separated by headings H1-H6 and also have at least 3000 characters including spaces. A good recommendation is also putting on content in the material, without ornaments, not saturated with adjectives and keywords.

Graphics in positioning

The properly used multimedia will also help in positioning the website. Graphics or video are a natural complement to the texts. They visualize the described issue, they can present a product or service. However, for photos / videos to improve SEO, they need to be properly optimized. Most important is the alt attribute read by Google.

Internal linking – a must have for every website

When running a small website with services, internal linking must be carried out. To this end, while building a blog, we construct content to include keywords for which particular services are positioned. Under these keywords on the blog we put internal (intertext) links that direct to services. As a result, Google “raises” internally linked landing page positions.

Readability and intuitiveness of website in positioning

The readability and intuitiveness of the site is UX – user experience. This concept conceals the impressions and feelings of users who reach the site. The more friendly the navigation and layout are, the higher the conversions. If you want to take care of UX, positioning the page yourself, you should take care of: the structure of the website, usability, adaptation to mobiles devices, valuable content, voice search. Friendly UX, however, consists of many more factors: appearance, feelings, usability, website goals, content transparency, language used, color used.

2 tasks that you need to perform when off-site positioning

When positioning the website yourself, you cannot neglect external activities. They mainly focus on obtaining links from valuable websites and eliminating those on low-rank websites. Link building, however, is not the only task in off-side positioning.

Link Building in positioning

Link Building is one of the most important positioning pillars. The lack of incoming links is the main reason for the lack of high position in Google. Link Building in positioning is a very broad topic. The most important thing in independent positioning, however, is to place links to valuable websites. These are primarily considered to be those related to some degree to a positioned website, as well as those of high authority. It is also desirable to get dofollow links.

Linking is also important for SEO. There are several possibilities here. A link to positioning the page can be placed by linking the key phrase (exact mach) or its altered version, or a semantic keyword (partial mach). Often, zero macht linking is used, i.e. the key phrase is linked, but the word here is. You can also link the company name or paste the exact URL into the text.

Google My Business

This is a business card that largely translates into improved SEO. You have to create your business card yourself. The entire process of establishing it is 5 steps and includes providing the most important information about the company. The business card is created after data verification by Google. It is worth focusing to provide accurate data on working hours, address, products, type of business, website address. It is also advisable to place photos and opinions, i.e. social evidence.

Summary

Independent positioning of the website is a time-consuming process, difficult for many people, but possible. Using the check list above, you will perform the most important actions that will allow your website or online store to achieve a high position in Google. It is worth remembering, however, to look at each of these steps thoroughly and deepen knowledge in the field of individual elements affecting positioning. It should be realized that there is no universal recipe for website positioning. Different activities work in every situation. This is why, in many cases, achieving high positions in search engines is the result of a combination of creative approach, knowledge of the industry and experience in SEO.

Meta description – what is that?

Description is part of the meta tags that are located in the source code of the page in the <head> section.

<meta name = “description” content = “Short description of the page.” />
Meta description on the home page and subpages, you can also easily and quickly edit on most content management systems (CMS).
The <description> tag together with <title> is the first contact for the user with the page to which the phrase entered in the search engine leads.

It is the meta tags that often influence the final decision of a user whether he considers a given site worth clicking. The title and short description of the page should therefore answer the questions that are searched for using the keywords entered in Google.

Impact of meta description on positioning

Some time ago, the meta description tag had an impact on website positioning in search engines. Unfortunately, it did not fully fulfill its function, because instead of a neat description of the content of the page, there were – often after the decimal point – keywords related to given issues contained in the content of the site. The multiplication of phrases – yes – was beneficial for the site, which – from the current perspective – a spammy procedure, climbed up. This phenomenon began to be aptly called keyword stuffing. These practices, however, involved so-called Black Hat SEO, so in 2009 Google decided to change the algorithm, as a result of which the meta tag description was excluded from direct impact on positioning. Currently, meta description does not affect the position of the page, but it is important for the click rate.

Therefore, the meta description has an indirect impact on positioning, as it is a kind of showcase of the site. A brief description may interest a potential user, because the information and key phrases contained in it show that a given site will be a potential source of knowledge. Therefore, description must attract attention, contain words that will be important for a given page and subpage, and – what is important – this short description should have a certain number of characters that is visible in the search results. The meta tag description does not affect positioning, but has a positive effect on CTR, or click rate.

What should a good meta description look like?

Meta description should refer to the substantive values ​​of the page or subpage to which it was assigned. As with all content on the site, short descriptions for each tab should be unique so that the content does not duplicate and not duplicate. The description content itself is also very important, as it must answer the question asked by the user, so it cannot be general and devoid of substance. If you type “what is meta description” in the search engine, then both the title and description of the pages displayed in the SERP should lead to the answer. It is good when the meta description in its content will have a question you asked. However, it may not be general, referring to all content that a user can find on the site. It is good practice to include call-to-action in the description, which may encourage clicks. Always before creating the description, think about what information you would like to find in it and what would make you enter a given website.

The length of characters is very important for both title and meta description. In this case, more is not better – quite the opposite. A good headline of the page displayed in the search results should be between 55 and 60 characters, and description between 155 and 170 characters with spaces. How can you check it? The length is easily determined with almost any text editor, but in the case of title and description it is worth using the available tools.

In addition, the page view and meta descriptions can be seen in the page code using the CTRL + U keyboard shortcut.

To sum up, a good meta description is one that:
– is unique,
– answers user questions,
– is substantive and encouraging,
– has a key phrase,
– it is 170 characters including spaces,
– contains call to action.

No meta description – what happens then?

Even if you don’t create a description, this space is not left empty. Description downloaded by the search engine from the page content that best responds to the user’s query. This description is then far too long, and the information it contains is not necessarily substantive and valuable. Lack of meta descriptions can result in a high bounce rate.

The description mat, together with the title, is an important message for the user about what content he can find on the page. If the meta description is consistent, encouraging and contains relevant answers, then there is a high probability that the site will be attractive to him and decide to click on it. Description has no direct impact on positioning, but it can definitely affect the user’s decision to search for information on a given page, which will significantly increase its CTR.

PDF file – the most important information

PDF, or Portable Document Format, is a document format designed by Adobe. Established in 1992. Work on the PDF was ongoing as part of the Camelot project. The PDF format was primarily to be used to convert paper documents to digital. The creators of Portable Document Format have also set themselves the goal of ensuring that electronic versions of documents can be sent to anywhere, displayed and printed on any computer. Today we know that this goal has been achieved.

PDF has gained considerable popularity over the years and is used to create various content. The widespread use is due to the many advantages of PDF files. The most important are:
– easy to open PDF files on most computers,
– simple navigation within the document, which facilitates the efficient reading of even long texts,
– the ability to prepare materials in this format for printing,
– small size of documents,
– easy transfer of PDF files.

Google indexes PDF files?

PDF files have been used for years. For a very long time one of the myths was that PDFs could not be indexed by Google search engine. However, reports indicate that search engines with this file format have been doing very well since 2001, as long as they are not password protected or encrypted. The content of PDF files is analyzed by Google robots in the same way as the content contained in the page code. The case with links that are in the PDF document looks the same. Simply put, Google search treats links from PDF files in the same way as HTML links. The only difference is that for PDFs you cannot set nofollow attributes. All this shows that for Google search engine it doesn’t matter if the content is placed in a PDF or HTML document. For SEO, the most important thing is relevant content and its keyword saturation.

When it comes to indexing PDF files, it’s worth noting that search engines really like them. They are often much higher in search results than traditional HTML files. Despite this, many companies still do not use the potential of PDFs in positioning.

How to optimize PDF for search engine?

For PDF documents to have a positive impact on SEO, they must be properly optimized. This gives them a chance to display high in search engine results. It is worth remembering that in order for PDF to affect SEO, it should be text-based, which only gives bots the option of loading content. Therefore, if you want to use PDFs for SEO, you cannot place them as an image – the search engine will not load it and will not take it into account at all. How to further prepare the PDF file?

– Name it – the title of the PDF should reflect its content and contain keywords; this will allow Google robots to determine what is in the document; rules that should be followed: it is a title about 50 – 70 characters long, natural and encouraging to click on the link; the PDF title can be completed in the wizard; it allows not only to enter the title, but also the author, subject and keywords; it is best to complete all fields;

– Take care of the PDF file size – the smaller the document size, the faster the page loads; this is not only positive for SEO, but also provides comfort for web users; the easiest way to reduce the PDF file size is to choose medium or optimal quality instead of the highest when saving or exporting a document; it is worth noting here that smaller files are faster indexed by search engines;

– Choose a URL – the PDF should have a friendly URL; sometimes it is broadcast automatically by CMS; however, you must check whether it is too long; too long a link is not good for SEO and does not meet user-friendly rules; short addresses can not only be easier to remember by the user, but also look good in search results; the URL does not translate directly into SEO, but the keywords contained in it will be highlighted in the search engine and thus are more visible to the user;

– Add ALT attributes – in PDF files, apart from text, there may be photos / pictures; if they are listed, the ALT and title attributes should be completed; this data must be completed with each graphic; this will help robots read PDF better;

– Link internally – for PDF files to actually impact SEO, they must be internally linked; the content of the documents should include links to the internal subpages of the website and thus indicate relevant sections of the page to Google bots and Internet users;

– Optimize content and avoid duplicate content – the text that is contained in the PDF document must be prepared in accordance with the same rules as those per page; this means that you need to optimize your document; it includes content saturation with keywords, the use of subheadings, paragraphs, bullets, graphics, tables, italics, bold; the text in the PDF should also be valuable, useful and provide the necessary information to the reader; it cannot be copied from other files or websites – search engines will treat this as duplicate content.

– Adapt PDF to mobiles devices – UX issues are very important for SEO; are preparing an e-book or manuals in PDF, it is worth thinking about mobiles device users; In order for the document to be easily read on the phones or tablet, it is important to use the right font size, matching the file to the screen size, ensuring readability and visibility of the images.

PDF files – is it worth positioning them for SEO?

The use of PDF files for SEO has its undoubted advantages. Note, however, that in some cases you may encounter navigation problems between the PDF file and the rest of the site. You also lose full control over the length and organization of content – content placed in PDF cannot be placed via CRM. Speaking of disadvantages, you must also remember that PDF documents are not as flexible as HTML pages – they do not have code that can be modified in any way. Still, using PDFs for SEO is profitable and worthwhile. It is worth to bet above all when:

– There are many PDF documents that have already been created and they are of great substantive value to users;
– Developing a PDF document is more aesthetic and transparent in terms of UX than placing text on an HTML page;
– The content is specially prepared for printing or downloading, e.g. e-books, brochures, price lists, regulations, leaflets, etc.
– Creating separate subpages, i.e. converting PDF to HTML would be too expensive and time consuming.

The possibilities that you have in using PDF in SEO are many – we are limited only by imagination. In PDF form you can save all documents created by the company, both of practical and marketing significance. Saturating them with internal links and keywords will allow you to use PDFs as another tool to help your website rank in the search engine.

The PDF format is the universal one, easy to use and distribute. It is often used to create various documents, including those with a marketing tone. PDF files can contain substantive guides, useful ebooks, leaflets, brochures, quotes. They are also a great tool for creating user manuals or instructions, regulations, price lists, etc. From the point of view of SEO PDF is not an ideal format, but extremely useful. Its proper preparation will bring benefits in the form of an increase in the CTR index and an increase in the level of traffic to the website (including organic results), and will also translate into the website SEO results.

Summary

– PDF files can “wander like hamsters” so take care of all attributes in the file, especially the correct linking to services or products – thanks to which you will get extra traffic
– it is good to prepare a template on letterhead with an active link to the home page on the website
– file repositories are great at SEO – especially where you sell services (e.g. legal) or devices (e.g. user manuals)
– apart from PDF files, DOCs position well
– if you want to have traffic from Google Graphics save the PDF file as an image and optimize
– you can use UTMs to track traffic from PDF files
– do not duplicate content from a page in PDF
– a page with embedded PDF can be very strongly linked and popular, and then cross-canonical to another subpage simply does not work
– use PDF files as training materials – they index well and generate traffic
– if you have a lot of educational videos, prepare a transcription and upload it to a PDF file (if you do not have space on the page)
– if you use external issue service to embed directories – quit – build your own repository and keep the client at your place. Well, unless you don’t have an IT structure for it.