Matt Barker

Your Quick Checklist for an E-commerce SEO Audit - Check for broken links. - Review site speed and performance. - Analyse keyword targeting and rankings. - Inspect mobile-friendliness. - Evaluate internal linking structure. Do these 5 things, and then do it again every quarter.

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Great content gives your internal links purpose beyond just SEO value. I am on a site right now and I'm reading a fantastic article. Their internal linking is really good, so they're certainly getting the SEO value there. But I also have 4 other tabs open, all from internal links within the article. I'm getting so much value from the original piece that when they link off to a related topic, I know I'll get value there, too. I feel like I *have* to read more or I'm missing out on something that could improve my life. I now trust the brand. I'll go back to them for information on more topics. And I'll be very likely to convert on a relevant offer. Look at content creation and internal linking as more than just SEO tactics. Make them purposeful actions - put hard work into them up front and they'll work hard for you later on. #contentmarketing

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If you're a Marketing Manager or Business Owner & feel Google Ads leads are getting worse, it's probably a result of a change that Google made. When Google Ads launched, it was simple & effective. You target people searching using specific keywords & show them your ad. For example, if you owned a web design company based in Glasgow, you could target the exact phrase [website design Glasgow] and be sure that your ad would show to people searching for that. If you target that today, you can't predict what you'll show for. That's because Google introduced close variant targeting. Here's an example of what might happen if you target the keyword [website design Glasgow] today: You could show when people search for: Wix website builder Graphic designers Glasgow I have no money & want to build a website +whatever else helps Google hit its quarterly sales target You can see why a website design company may not want to pay for traffic from people searching for "I have no money & want to build a website." Here's the worst part... People searching for products or services that your business doesn't offer still generate leads. That's because people have been trained over the past 20+ years to assume that the search results they see are relevant. Often people click the first link they see, hurry through a website, and make an enquiry. That means you may think a specific campaign is performing well when you look at your Google Ads report. However, the leads are awful because Google has ploughed cheap, irrelevant traffic to your website. If you run campaigns using a bidding strategy such as Max Conversions, the problem can get worse over time. That's because Google's algorithm thinks it's doing a good job when, in fact, the traffic is wasting your time & money. How do you fix this? The person managing your Google Ads campaigns must have a good understanding of your business. They need to be able to spot when a search term generates traffic & leads that aren't right for your business. They can do this by analysing the search term report. This isn't a one-off job. You'll be locked into a constant battle with Google until the end of time unless they reverse the change... As this is such a time-consuming, tedious task, we have been forced to write & deploy scripts on several accounts to automate this process. Here are the 3 steps you need to take to combat the problem: -Get a Google Ads professional to analyse your search term report. - Discuss whether the traffic you are generating could be sending you horrendous leads. -Put a process in place to combat the issue. You may notice that I used the word "combat" rather than "fix." That's because only Google can fix this. Until they do (and they probably won't), you'll need to take the steps I mentioned to stop them from rinsing your bank account. To put this into context, nearly every new business enquiry I've had this month relates to this issue.

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Helpful Content Analysis Summary 1. Helpful content was not always a "site wide" devaluation or suppression of content - this was more notable on domains that had different content topics in different sub folders - HCU would often hit specific content types and not everything 2. Sites that were "single topic" often saw the greatest hits because of how HCU worked - it would look at overall engagement & performance factors post brand assessment before supressing content 3. It APPEARS as if a threshold would be met if a larger portion of content didn't yield expected behaviour - if the probability of a "poor session" went up too high than the overall impact would be almost DOMAIN wide 4. In-page ads and UX appeared to play a part in helpful content evaluation - I noticed trends in auditing where shorter engagement page profiles (because of UX and ad stuffing) lead to shorter and lesser engagement - often these sites had ads nearly SITEWIDE which would drag down GLOBAL metrics - rendering MORE of the domain less helpful & more likely to suffer wider suppression 5. Interaction to content availability LOOKED to be a factor - this is my own speculation. But if pages had thousands of words of content that never saw interaction - it would be an indicator that: > the content may not have been helping users to achieve what they set out to do > The content may have been written for SEO > Poor / disorganised or cluttered content layouts would put users off from engaging or scrolling For example - I noted a huge amount of casino affiliate sites that jammed far too much content into comparison pages saw significant decline because no one would consume a full article and less than 10% of users even got half way through scrolling 6. HCU could be SKIPPED if other thesholds were met - if a page/overarching brand was strong enough, Google could use other factors outside of HCU for evaluation - thus some sites would just sail through HCU as if nothing happened 7. UGC likely won not just because of REDDIT + GOOGLE in bed, but because UGC tends to have a negative more real world bias which subsequently tends to draw more engagement than content that has a bias behind it (to get you to buy a product i.e. affiliate) Other things to note: 1. Once HCU suppression was in place - little could be done to have any effect - I don't say this lightly, suppressions are WORSE than penalties/manual actions which can be recovered from more quickly (generally) 2. HCU suppression IS transferable - however there appears to be SIGNAL TRANSFER lag - which may explain why some site owners who changed the domain saw a burst of traffic before seeing everything bottom out again 3. HCU escape MAY be possible with a change of domain and migration of content without using Google search console COA - but how sustainable this is - I don't know - Google has a hard time attributing content to original sources #seo #seotips

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I've faced over 50 rejections in July for my SEO services: ✅5 no’s from clients who didn’t see the value of SEO ✅15 no’s from companies looking for other services ✅10 no’s from clients who couldn't afford our services ✅20 no’s from proposals that went unanswered So what changed? ❌ Those rejections pushed me to sharpen my skills and expand my knowledge in SEO. 🚀 Being overlooked made me refine my strategies and understand what truly drives results. Each "no" fueled my determination to innovate and adapt my approach, leading to better client outcomes. Rejection isn’t a dead end; it’s a stepping stone to becoming a better SEO expert and more resilient professional. . . . . #rejection #results #seoexpert #seoguy #seoconsultant

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96% of content online gets ZERO clicks - a study from ahrefs which analysed 14 BILLION pages online Which is UP from 90% a few years ago Time and time again i see masses of content being produced for seo which either doesnt get clicks OR get clicks for the wrong reason A huge part of the SEO industry is mugging you off. And I say this lightly. It happens in every industry for sure, but we have a problem with lack of understanding of organic and earned media as a channel.

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One of the most commonly sought-after links from clients is from a Lad Bible publication. Publishers rely on traffic for revenue. Look at this job advert I spotted yesterday: basic SEO knowledge is a requirement. They want stories that will get traffic. So, if you want to land a link on their sites for your clients, you need to send them stories that will HELP THEM GET TRAFFIC. Don't just think about your client; think of a story that your target publications will want to cover too.

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I'm going to help you sell more with SEO.... ...and I'm going to do it by telling you a story....fetch🍿 This is the story how Adidas got their customers to sell their products for them. 📢 NB: You can probably do this too. Social Proof. In a recent study by the Baymard Institute, it was found 67% of e-commerce platforms do not incorporate social media visuals on the product page. Of those, many use generic social media visuals and don't add strictly contextualised images. What does this mean? It means they sometimes just add a social media feed for their brand. What exactly is Social Proof? 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 "𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴" ...and it is considered to be the PRINCIPLE buying trigger for 66% of shoppers. 66% Two thirds of the visitors to your product pages right now, including all those who don't buy, are principally driven by social proof in its 3 forms: 💚: Compliance - Is that this summer's look - that looks on-trend? 💚: Belonging - Are you my tribe? Think Cruises/Tours pages ;) 💚: Belief - Shoppers believe other shoppers more than they believe you Adding social media images with strict context to the product page enables shoppers or buyers to determine who wears/buys/uses this product, how it looks when worn by a real person not a 0.1% model, and says there is a genuine market or demand for this product. And that works for so many cases. 💣Study courses, 💣Football boots, 💣Weightlifting shoes, 💣Home gym equipment, 💣Protein powder, 💣Backpacker travel accommodation - eg: Hostelworld Group 💣Day out activities - eg: GetYourGuide So, before you start spending hours on meta descriptions, hiring an agency to write hundreds of pages of content, tweak meta titles, chasing a 100 Semrush score, or adding 37 different payment options at checkout, just prioritise this. 66% of your visitors will thank you for it. Here's a little way to remember it all #retailers #ecommerce

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changing default google account How is changing your default google account not an existing feature? I have no idea what the tech behind anything IT looks like, but surely this should be such an easy thing to implement requiring next to no effort for the QOL it would add. I have a school account and a secondary entertainment/trashmail one and the headache of my browser constantly switching back to the secondary gmail for no apparent reason is insufferable. After having changed my default account to the school one multiple times by logging out of all accounts and into the one I want as my default account first, it still keeps switching it back. #google #instagram #facebook #seo #android #youtube #digitalmarketing #marketing #technology #googlepixel #apple #instagood #tech #love #india #pixel #business #samsung #socialmedia #photography #follow #like #twitter #a #googleads #amazon #socialmediamarketing #pro #website #iphone

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9 red flags to look out for when booking a discovery call Discovery calls can often go when even when it's a free discovery call. when this happens it can make you lose: 👉lose Confidence 👉waste time 👉lose opportunity .......and lots more Few things to look out for to avoid this: 1. Missing Details: If someone doesn't give you enough information about who they are. 2. Can't Find Them Online: If you can't find anything about them or their business on the internet. 3. Wrong Business: If they work in a business that's not the kind you usually help. 4. Bad Comments: If there are a lot of bad things said about them or their business online. 5. No Replies: If they don't answer your messages or emails. 6. Not Sure Why They Want to Talk: If it's not clear what they want from you. 7. They Need Different Help: If they need help with something you don't do. 8. Trouble Communicating: If they don't talk or write clearly, or if they seem unfriendly. 9. Mixed-Up Information: If what they tell you about themselves doesn't add up or keep changing. Discovering these red flags will help you lessen the amount of time you waste on unproductive events and focus on other things. Have you ever had a bad experience booking a discovery call? Good morning and happy new week. If this is your first time seeing me, I share content to empower solopreneurs for business growth. I help healthcare brands, course creators and coaches build a high-converting marketing funnel and optimize their customer touch point to maximize revenue by 4x. Am open to connection and collaboration. #discoverycall #conversionrate #marketingfunnel #businessgrowth #healthcare #coaches

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Why isn't content SEO a priority? This has been popping up in recent conversations. I mean, if you're invisible on the web, with no new traffic to your site and no useful content, what's the point of having a website? Your website should be another route to market delivering relevant visitors at the earliest possible stage. I've had several conversations recently where I've been told that SEO isn't a company priority. What do you think? Is content SEO a necessary priority for your company? Share your thoughts in the comments below. #contentseo #content #SEO #WPSEOAI

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I’ve audited thousands of websites for SEO, and sometimes the problems you find on some of the biggest websites are staggering. Here are some common issues I come across... Poor Site Speed: • Unoptimised images 🚫 • Excessive plugin usage (WordPress sites) 📛 • Lack of browser caching 🔄 • Unminified CSS and JavaScript 💻 Inadequate Mobile Optimisation: • Non-responsive design 📱❌ • Poor mobile user experience 🌐 • Slow loading times on mobile devices 🐌 On-Page SEO Issues: • Missing or poorly optimised title tags and meta descriptions 📜 • Lack of header structure (H1, H2, etc.) 🏷️ • Thin or duplicate content 📄 • Keyword cannibalization (multiple pages targeting the same keyword) 🔪 Technical SEO Problems: • Broken links and 404 errors 🚷 • Lack of XML sitemap 🗺️ • Poor internal linking structure 🔗 • Improper use of canonicalisation 🛠️ • Missed HTTPS implementation 🔒 Content-Related Issues: • Lack of quality, in-depth content 📝 • Outdated information 🔄 • Fragmented Content Hierarchy • Hard to read content (walls of text) • Lack of visual content (images, videos, infographics) 🎨 Backlink Profile Problems: • Low-quality or spammy backlinks 🚫 • Lack of diverse anchor text 📌 • Not enough high-authority backlinks 🏆 Local SEO Oversights: • Unclaimed or inconsistent Google My Business listings 📍 • Lack of local-specific content 🌍 • Missing or inconsistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone No.) Structured Data Omissions: • Lack of schema markup for products, reviews, events, etc. 🔖 • Incorrect implementation of existing structured data ❗ Indexation Issues: • Important pages blocked by robots.txt 🛑 • Noindex tags on critical pages 🚫 • Duplicate content due to URL parameters User Experience (UX) Problems: • High bounce rates due to poor site design 🚷 • Confusing navigation 🧭 • Lack of clear calls-to-action (CTAs) 📢 Core Web Vitals Issues: • Poor Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) scores 🐢 • High First Input Delay (FID) ⏳ • Significant Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) 📉 Of course, this is a gross generalisation, as the size and age of the site are big factors, but it just goes to show, that there are always improvements you can make to optimise your website to get more traffic, engagement, and sales. Most days I record mini-audits over video for businesses who reach out; DM me if a video audit would help you out too. #SEO #DigitalMarketing #SEOTips #SiteOptimisation

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My 1st SEO Client was acquired from Fiverr and it went terribly.... It was for a keyword cannibalisation audit and so desperate was I for the review I did it for $20. Which means after their 20% cut, I'm landing about £12. The client, a fairly well established UK merchant loan broker wanted to understand why they weren't ranking well for a particular term. I spent 2 days on this 🤣 Partly because I procrastinated and partly because I had zero processes or systems down in how to deliver this type of work. (Don't worry I'm not selling a system) I delivered: - Keyword Cannibal Report - Video report (30-45mins) on how to experiment with consolidating some content - Identified items that they missed which the competitors hadn't. - Suggested some decent avenues to get niche edit link insertions that would have been relevant for his business. I then waited - cautiously optimistic. Nervous - yes, but imagining he was about to be blown away by what he got. Unwittingly aware that he caught a good operator early on a platform. 🚨....Dispute lodged. I couldn't believe it. What was up? What's caused this? "I just expected more is all." Sadly a short bit of browsing and it seems all too common that there are people who know that newbies on the platform underprice and over deliver and if you raise a dispute they often walk away from the order leaving you to get the work for free. It hit my confidence for a while. I felt absolutely violated. Fortunately I always ask clients for their Google business profile. 😈 Yes...yes I did. I reviewed him as a member of the public who had had a business experience with a senior representative of the company. Needless to say he accepted my offer, gave me a 5 star review and we moved on. Why am I writing this, as all my UX study tells me that 85% of you have shut the post down by now? Well, if you're starting your freelance journey and dealing with this type of nonsense, it won't be forever. Once you start dealing with real businesses and emphasis a quality service NOT a quantity service, those experiences all but disappear. Also, ask for the Google business profile. PS: I still over deliver - if you want to see what that looks like and are trying to improve revenue from your organic channels, my DMs are incredibly accommodating.

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It’s time to settle a debate: do blog posts actually improve your SEO performance? We’re exploring the relevance of blog posts in relation to SEO, plus some top blogging tips, in our latest article. Click below to read … https://lnkd.in/etdeU46B #seostrategy #blogposts #blogsforseo #bristolseoagency #bristolseo

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Worth a read. Using ChatGPT for SEO keyword research.. there’s some excellent advice in here and prompts you can use right away. 👇 https://lnkd.in/e6AQdGb7

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SEO will be more than ever geared towards Search Expectation Optimisation. It matters more than ever to positively impact your users' expectations in order to demonstrate all traits around website quality.

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Want to rank higher on Google? You NEED to be building links. But it's the hardest part of SEO! So how can you do this? It all boils down to an exchange of value 👇 You need to give value to that other website you want a link from. Something worthwhile for them to talk about. This can be: —  Market-leading content so they link to you as a source —  If you have a one-of-a-kind product (or a new feature) —  Unique industry data or insights you created —  Access to thought leaders on your team —  Case studies or unique success stories —  Co-hosting a webinar or event —  Being a podcast guest Without this value, you’ll struggle to build good links. And you’ll have to resort to paying a website for a link. Which, can work... But isn't sustainable in the long run. So give other websites something to talk about, something of value. And link building becomes a lot easier!

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