PageRank is Google’s original algorithm for measuring the importance of web pages based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to them. It’s named after Google co-founder Larry Page (not “web page,” though that’s a happy coincidence). While Google stopped publicly updating the PageRank toolbar score in 2013 and officially retired the public metric…
A disavow file is a text document you submit to Google that lists backlinks you want Google to ignore when assessing your site’s ranking. It’s essentially telling Google “these links don’t represent my site’s true authority, please disregard them.” The disavow tool was introduced in 2012 after Google’s Penguin update hammered sites with manipulative link…
Indexing is the process by which search engines analyze, process, and store content in their database (index) so it can be retrieved and ranked in search results. If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search, no matter how good the content is. Think of Google’s index like a massive library catalog. Crawling is…
Toxic backlinks are low-quality, spammy, or manipulative links pointing to your site that can harm your search rankings or trigger a manual penalty from Google. They’re the opposite of the high-quality natural links you want building your authority. Most site owners don’t realize they have toxic backlinks until they see rankings drop or receive a…
I run SEO audits every week. For client sites, for competitors, and for my own properties. After auditing hundreds of websites over the past decade, I’ve learned this: most sites have the same 12-15 critical issues, and fixing them in the right order is what separates amateurs from pros. This guide is my exact audit…
Crawling is the process by which search engine bots (also called spiders or crawlers) systematically browse the web to discover and download content from websites. It’s the first step in getting your content indexed and ranked in search results. Without crawling, your content doesn’t exist to Google. Doesn’t matter how good your on-page SEO is…
I’ve implemented schema markup on over 200 pages across client sites in the last two years. Every single time, the question is the same: “Will this help my rankings?” And every single time, I give the same answer that frustrates people: “Schema isn’t a direct ranking factor, but it’s one of the highest-ROI technical SEO…
Broken link building is an off-page SEO strategy where you find dead links on other websites, recreate the missing content (or identify existing content on your site that matches), and reach out to the site owner suggesting they replace the broken link with a link to your resource. It’s one of the few link building…
Guest posting is the practice of writing and publishing content on someone else’s website or blog in exchange for exposure, backlinks, and authority building. It’s one of the most effective link building strategies when done right, and one of the fastest ways to get penalized when done wrong. I’ve been doing guest posting since 2014,…
I’ve optimized Core Web Vitals for 80+ websites over the past three years, and I’m going to be brutally honest: most sites fail these metrics because they’re doing obvious things wrong, not because there’s some secret Google doesn’t want you to know. Your LCP is slow because you’re loading a 4MB unoptimized JPEG as your…
I’ve written over 400 articles that ranked on page one. Some hit top three within two weeks. Others sat on page two for months until I figured out what was missing. The difference wasn’t writing quality. I can write. The difference was understanding that SEO content writing is a completely different discipline from regular writing….
What is a Meta Description? A meta description is an HTML attribute that provides a brief summary of a web page’s content. It appears as the snippet of text below your page title in search engine results pages (SERPs), typically between 150 and 160 characters. While Google has confirmed that meta descriptions are not a…
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