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The most common complaint I receive from audit clients and bloggers is the inability to know which SEO advice to follow.

Unlike search engines which can rank, re-rank, or penalize information or practices that are unethical or unscrupulous in nature, the same cant be achieved by the average blogger weeding through multiple courses, gurus or podcasts.

Unfortunately, 2022 has taken things to a whole new level.

The amount of emails and instant messages I received from bloggers asking, Is this true? or I was told to do this, what do you think? cannot be quantified other than to say, It was a lot.

Executing a correct and competent SEO strategy has never been more challenging, especially in light of the explosion of new websites launched during the pandemic.

As such, understanding what advice is worthwhile and which is complete and utter garbage has never been more important.

To that end, I present some of the worst pieces of SEO advice I was asked about in 2022, with the hope that the answers will help you decide what not to do.

The benefits of removing old content from an existing site have been known and practiced for years.

Think of your site as a garden. All the content generating traffic, links, and regular social signals are your flowers. Everything that is not? Those are your weeds. Just like in a real garden, you can kill your flowers if you dont pull those weeds.

Leaving expired, low-quality or thin content on your site can result in a myriad of bad SEO outcomes, including:

Its also been well-documented by Googles John Mueller that low-quality content on one part of a site can negatively impact the search rankings of the entire site.

If you can update and improve existing content, do that!

But if not, delete it, and move on. Think quality with your site content, not quantity.

It has been stated repeatedly that word count is not a ranking factor with Google. And yet, daily, I run into clients who have been directed to write a longer resource as their main method to recapture a lost ranking or improve existing visibility.

When asked about word count, Mueller said, just blindly adding content to a page will not make it (rank) better.

What does help a resource is adding content that is useful to the audience.

For example, nobody wants to read a 2,000-plus-word treatise on artichoke hearts. As such, understanding what your audience is seeking and what is considered useful can still be confusing to the average site owner.

A content update or rewrite has to have a clear purpose and an understanding of why your page isnt ranking in the first place.

These are just a few questions to answer before deciding just to write a longer resource for ranking consideration.

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During the good ol days of SEO, it was very common to optimize a page around a focus keyword by including the focus keyword in the title, the meta description, the URL, and every heading on the page.

For example, just a few years ago, a typical recipe post trying to rank for banana cream pie may have looked like this:

Unfortunately, following Google updates from November 2019, and later announced Core Updates in January and May 2020, a clear pattern emerged whereby bloggers who had been over-optimizing their headings (among other issues) suffered decimated ranking and traffic drops.

The pattern was incredibly easy to see in audits and online Facebook groups and was soon backed up by a Food Blogger Study by SEO firm Top Hat Rank published in February of 2020.

In the study, food blogs saw a 60% drop in direct Google search engine traffic to recipes and posts that had engaged in heading keyword over-optimization.

Fortunately, bloggers who went back through their site and started de-optimizing their headings ended up with recoveries by the May 2020 Core Update, or much later, when Google did their next announced update in December.

Any recommendation to stuff your headings with keywords is not only outdated advice but possibly dangerous for the average site in the current algorithmic climate.

Referencing your keyword naturally in the H1 and one or two other H2s seems fine. More than that, it will look spammy and should be avoided!

Alt text, or alternative text, is one of the most important and misunderstood topics in all of SEO and accessibility. Having good and correct alt text for images is not just a simple SEO best practice, but its essential for people with visual disabilities who visit the site.

Alt text exists first and foremost to describe the image to someone who cannot see it. The focus is on those accessing the site with screen readers who cannot see the image and, as such, must have the images read out to them for descriptive purposes.

Nothing annoys visually impaired users more than visiting a site and seeing every image read out as keyword keyword keyword.

And yet, even today, with as much literature that exists on the correct use of alt text, this still happens more than it should!

Ditch the keywords and describe what is in the photo to someone who cannot see it.

Dont say image of or photo of in your alt text. Be short but descriptive.

Finally, add a period at the end as a prompt for screen readers to know the alt text has completed.

Although the Semrush suite of tools is, by and large, a quality investment for users and SEOs alike, this is its biggest drawback. In its identification of toxic links, the tool fails!

I have yet to run a crawl for a client with Semrush and have the tool not spit out a huge Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! warning when reviewing a link profile.

Semrush identifies random links as toxic and then recommends that the user submit a disavow file. The problem with this recommendation is its unnecessary and completely arbitrary.

Google is very clear that:

In fact, Google doesnt even have a concept of toxic domains, and blindly following a tool that says otherwise should always be avoided.

Unless you have a manual action, or you know you built in bad links yourself, a disavow file is a complete waste of time for the average site owner.

Ignore the tools and move on to something else that will actually help move your site.

Youve heard that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. As with any marathon, its all about training and preparation.

Dont derail your SEO marathon by succumbing to poor advice baked into a course, a podcast or a guru trying to sell you their latest tool.

Instead, use a little common sense and push back against advice that may seem questionable when given. The site you save may be your own. Good luck out there!

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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The WORST SEO advice I heard this year (and what you should do instead) - Search Engine Land

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is an essential feature used by most companies to improve their presence online. This crucial skill has become vital, especially with the rising competition among online businesses. Whether youre a business owner or team lead for marketing, youd understand the need for SEO skills.

According to Riordan SEO, the demand for teaching business owners and in-house marketing teams how to do SEO has increased by over 200% over the last 12 months.Riordan SEO who has offices for SEO in Cork and Dublin, provide 1-1 and group training sessions. The goal would be to provide a transfer of knowledge, so you dont need to rely on Agencies for your digital marketing efforts.

Search engines like Google, Bing, etc., are constantly used to search for businesses. Increasing your websites ranking is now more important than ever, and a marketing team with SEO skills is an added advantage.

While businesses are needed to make a profit, SEO techniques are needed to there are many resources for anyone to use and learn. The challenge remains in picking the right article for the training, especially as the industry is largely unregulated. Your team could be trained with unethical material, which may produce unproductive results.

The benefits are immense if your business has a standby marketing team, including an SEO expert. However, the need to constantly train them to meet the ever-evolving standards should be a regular procedure.

Getting an employee rooted in the rudiments of SEO starts from the moment such a person is being onboarded. The training can be included as part of the learning materials the worker can learn. A basic SEO training for your new worker shows you value them and points to them that they are relevant to your organisation.

Although most businesses are now training their staff on the latest SEO skills, they are still underutilising the huge potential available. Lets look at the reasons why training your staff to become SEO compliant is necessary.

For most employers, the business of hiring new talent to their marketing team is almost equal to nine months salary equivalent to retaining a current employee. Members of staff who feel they are relevant to the business are more likely to stay than back.

Continuous SEO training means you take personal development for your staff seriously. This is true in many cases since the algorithms for search engines are constantly changing daily. The demand for new and reminder training to sharpen knowledge to date are among the factors employees consider when determining career advancement.

One of the basic needs used by employees is the metrics of motivation used. A staff member will only be satisfied if they notice that their employer offers the correct type of motivation. SEO training is a big-time business and can boost the morale of any company.

Up-to-date training on SEO processes for your marketing team and entire staff can easily be classified as the much-needed desire to remain on the payroll. Include that with a regular salary increase and add-ons.

The key to attracting a high class of professionalism for SEO for members of your marketing team is the proper training. Here are some crucial tips on how business owners build training for their teams. Alternatively, many of them employ SEO trainers to give them the right kind of training.

Building on the relevance of SEO by training includes the proper training. This is important since you dont want to waste time for the team to quickly learn the evolving tips for online building a solid business presence.

To set goals, it is essential to consider the level of experience of your team. It is vital you understand if your team is well-versed in the art of SEO and requires advanced learning or start from the basics.

These daily goals can measure what they are learning and what you expect them to know. Should they learn how to optimise your YouTube content? Or learn how to increase traffic to your website?

Goals setting should be achievable and breaking them into daily pointers is essential if you want to leverage on getting them prepared to hit the ranks. They could lose their efficiency if you dont break them down into simple bits.

One of the best ways anyone can learn updated SEO tips is by using online materials. You can sign your team up for relevant training facilitated by different marketers online. The issue with online material is theres just too much out there. The best way to learn is 1-1 workshop training. One important benefit here is that your marketing staff can be trained on the best and most reliable tools to make them relevant in todays world.

The time needed to complete training varies. This depends on the level of commitment your staff put into the learning and the timeframe for the course. These courses can offer a training certificate at the end, and you can use it to know who completes the tasks.

One such way to help improve SEO team members is the art of content creation and keyword utilisation. The Google search engine can become efficient depending on the keywords used to implement your marketing plans.

When applying such measures, ensure that the team is trained on understanding search intent and how to build topic clusters around content marketing plans. The professionalism and dedication of your website to solve customers issues become more visible with the right keywords for search optimisation.

This particular feature is one of the most important aspects of learning SEO and building on it to improve rankings for customers is necessary.

More than ever, SEO has become an instrument of advantage for business owners. Here are a few reasons why SEO is needed by your business.

In todays world, customers now use the internet to locate the nearest business for their needs. A majority of these customers are inclined to take suggestions from the top 5 results of their search. A good SEO technique can place your business within such a range.

With a good SEO technique in your hand, you can improve the daily operations of your website. SEO can increase the organic traffic to your website. Organic traffic is a reliable method of building credibility online for customers to use.

Theres never been a better time to leverage SEO and build the ideal marketing team for your company. As the world progresses, you need to stay ahead of the curve, and the right tools can place you in the right position to take advantage. Training your staff on SEO has increased benefits, improving them career-wise, and helping your business grow.

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Demand for in-house SEO training is now booming - The Avondhu Press

Library makerspaces offer community members the opportunity to tinker, design, experiment, and create with a range of technology in an informal learning space. However, because current makerspaces and maker tools are highly vision oriented, blind and visually impaired (BVI) people have limited access to these learning opportunities. A new project being led by JooYoung Seo, assistant professor in the School of Information Sciences (iSchool) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Kyungwon Koh, associate professor in the iSchool and director of the CU Community Fab Lab, seeks to address this problem by creating accessible maker programs for BVI learners and developing training materials for librarians and maker professionals on accessible making. The researchers were recently awarded a three-year $498,638 National Leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS grant LG-252360-OLS-22) for their project, Promoting Computational Thinking Skills for Blind and Visually Impaired Teens Through Accessible Library Makerspaces.

For the project, the iSchool and CU Community Fab Lab will partner with the American Printing House for the Blind, Young Adult Library Services Association, and Reaching Across Illinois Library System Makerspace Networking Group. The research also has received support from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) and Information Accessibility Design and Policy (IADP) program at the University of Illinois. Activities will include training maker professionals and conducting an accessibility status assessment, hosting a summer camp with BVI teens to co-design accessible maker curriculum, testing the developed accessible maker programs in four Illinois library makerspaces, and training library users who will benefit from a more inclusive and accessible makerspace.

Just as curb cuts help more than a person who uses a wheelchair, accessibility features added to maker tools and learning materials can make the system more usable by everyone, said Seo. The tangible making activities and integrated curricula in our project will bring the current maker movement a new insight into how we can broaden the participation of maker and STEM learning for underserved populations of diverse abilities.

The goal of the makerspace project is to not only enhance BVI learners computational thinking skills and STEM interests but also help librarians and maker professionals become more confident and capable when working with BVI populations.

This is one of the very few research projects conducted by, with, and for BVI learners, where their nonvisual approaches and sensory abilities, such as touching, hearing, smelling, and some remaining low vision, are utilized as a central asset in realizing the full potential of multi-modal maker learning, said Koh.

Kohs areas of expertise include digital youth, the maker movement, learning and community engagement through libraries, human information behavior, and competencies for information professionals. She holds an MS and PhD in library and information studies from Florida State University.

Seos research focuses on how to make computational literacy more accessible to people with dis/abilities using multimodal data representation. He is an RStudio double-certified data science instructor and accessibility expert who is certified by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). Seo earned his PhD from the Learning, Design, and Technology Program at Pennsylvania State University.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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New project to explore the use of conversational AI in libraries - EurekAlert

You spent years training to become a dentist. After graduation, you probably worked for a dental clinic before opening your own practice. You spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on state-of-the-art equipmentnot to mention the nice reception area furnishingsand renting an office in a prime location. Then came the challenge of building your base of loyal patients. The skills that it takes to be an amazing dentist are quite different than the skills needed to be a great marketer or salesperson.

What can dental practice owners do to increase their profiles and attract new patients? Theres no single magic bullet, but it all comes down to one thing: branding. Unless they have a specific need, when people look for a new dentist, its challenging for them to differentiate between all the Google search results for local dentist.

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Of course, there are vast differences between practices, but its almost impossible to convey this to the public in the few minutes they spend online to search for a new dentist. The good news is that you dont need an MBA, nor do you need to break the bank, to become a proficient marketer and stand out in a crowded market.

Create a visual identity. Lets face it; many dentists logos and brochures are boring. But that doesnt mean yours should be! Rather than just having the name of your practice and a stock image on a white background, add elements that cut through the clutter. You can hire a professional graphic designer (I highly recommend this before you take a stab at Photoshop), or you can visit a site such as Fiverr and buy a range of logos quickly and inexpensively.

Get into the community. Just having an office in an area isnt enough to grow your roster of patients. Make sure that your brand is visible at local events such as farmers markets, fundraisers, churches, and networking groups like BNI.

Leverage your happy patients. More than 70% of online consumer decisions are guided by reviews and ratings. Make sure that you are incentivizing your patients to leave five-star reviews on sites like Yelp and Google.

Use stickers and signs to get your brand into the public consciousness. Even though so much of our time is spent online, theres no substitute for a physical connection. Along with the toothbrush, giving patients a memorable token like customized stickers from StickerYou that display your logo or image can drive brand recognition and value.

Double down on SEO. Because so many people search online for services, including dentistry, you need to ensure that your website and Google business pages are optimized for success. Make sure that you have the right keywords, hyperlinks, and other relevant information that will help guide people to your door. SEO experts can assist without you having to worry about Googles latest algorithm change.

Theres no single way to bolster your business. It takes time and patience to get people to choose you over other area practices. But by following some basic branding best practices, you can give yourself a clear advantage in even the most competitive marketplace. And because all the activities I listed here are relatively simple, you dont have to worry about losing focus on what matters most: keeping your patients healthy.

This article originally appeared inDE Weekend,the newsletter that willelevate your Sunday mornings with practical and innovative practice management and clinical content from experts across the field..Subscribe here.

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5 ways to enhance your brand and stand out in a crowd - DentistryIQ

When I first was outed at age 14, I realized I would have to learn how to navigate a world that didnt fully accept me. Part of that was figuring out how to access health care as a gay person and a minor at odds with his parents. Though my family knew of my sexuality, they didnt accept it.

Its especially hard for LGBTQ+ teens to receive adequate information about health care when their parents are often unable or unwilling to get them the support they may need. One study found that a third of the youth they sampled came out to their parents and were accepted, one third were rejected and the final third did not come out until their later teenage years and early 20s. Many teens delay coming out due to fears that their families wont accept them.

For health care providers to offer the best care they can, patients have to be open with them. This often includes being honest when talking about partners, the kinds of sex engaged in and what kind of protection was used. But, for this to happen, patients must also feel safe and comfortable in the presence of their doctor.

As a young gay man, I understood the importance of regular STI checks. In my search for a provider, I found myself in an office in rural South Carolina and waited hours for anyone to see me. Before the doctor made her way into my room, I heard her praying with the patient next door. It went on for about 15 minutes. And when she finally made it to me, she seemed uncomfortable at my honesty, confirming my worries that I didnt belong there.

Many LGBTQ+ youth continue to struggle to find safe and accepting health care providers while overcoming other barriers like a lack of insurance and transportation. The labor of finding safe spaces is placed entirely on the patient, with little accountability for providers that arent trained or prepared to work with them.

The stakes of getting this wrong are high. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2.6 million gay and bisexual students face significant disparities that put them at risk for negative health outcomes. LGTBQ+ youth are shown to have greater sexual health, physical safety and mental health risks compared to their straight and cisgender counterparts.

Health care providers must do better. Right now, the health care industry is foundationally unprepared to offer equitable health care to the LGBTQ+ community; the only way this reality will change is if providers invest in the necessary resources.

At the minimum, prospective patients should be able to easily see on a providers website, social media and office spaces that LGBTQ+ patients are welcome. It only takes five letters to make health care just a little more accessible. Providers must also work to ensure they have proper training. Resources from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are available to help educate providers about the needs of LGBTQ+ patients.

If other LGBTQ+ people find themselves in the same boat I used to be in, its important to be honest, ask questions and acknowledge that access to appropriate health care is a basic right. We all deserve to be treated fairly. If a health care provider isnt accepting of our identities, for any reason, then they are not the provider for us.

Andrew Baldino is a freelance content writer and SEO specialist. He lives in coastal South Carolina.

Read more from the original source:
LGBTQ+ youth need inclusive health care - Alton Telegraph