Darrell Mordecai

When looking at Google Search Console search queries, you might see something interesting.

When you scroll through the queries, you’ll sometimes notice that your content is ranking for queries that don’t actually appear in your content or your metadata.

Ever wonder why?

The answer is semantic search.

In this article, I’ll be sharing a simple Google Search Console SEO strategy that can easily be implemented to improve your topical relevance and scale your ranking potential. 

Read Entry

When starting your journey into semantic SEO, there are many concepts that you need to understand before getting started.

But, many of the resources online are painfully difficult to understand. 

So, to help you out, I decided to create content that spells everything out in simple English.

Also…

I generally try to give practical tips and strategies in my blog posts. But, since I was confused, I assume others are too. This is my attempt at giving you a clear understanding of some important concepts.

And, that brings us to the subject of this post.

If you were wondering what a Google entity really is, this post is for you.

In it, I hope to clarify:

• What an entity is
• What the various component parts are
• What the Topic Layer is

Once you understand these points, you’ll have both the knowledge and vocabulary to research the topic on your own. And since semantic SEO is not just a few tactics and best practices, having a real understanding can really help you get more traffic.



Read Entry

As Google and other search engines progress, SEO is constantly evolving.

One of the biggest evolutions is semantic SEO.

Semantic SEO is a branch of SEO that seems to have flown under the radar for many. What’s interesting is that semantic search is here to stay as Google is doubling down on semantic search with many of its algorithms.

For instance:

• Hummingbird
• Rank Brain
• Bert
• Mum

This means understanding how Google structures entities in its Knowledge Graph and incorporating that knowledge into your site structure is becoming more important every day.

In this post, I’ll cover what a topical map is and how you can use it to structure your content so that your site content can be easily understood by both users and search engines.

Read Entry

Topical authority is a semantic SEO strategy that could bring massive traffic to your site.

To achieve topical authority, you must create authoritative content that covers an entire topic. However, to be successful it really pays to first understand what entities exist in Google’s Knowledge Graph and how they are structured.

In my previous post, I covered how to research entities in Google's Knowledge Graph. 

The point of this analysis is to give you the information to figure out not only what content assets to make but also how to create a structure that not only makes sense to your readers but also to Google.

I explained that you are looking for:

• Related Entities
• Related Topics
• Related Queries

In this post, I want to clarify the difference between related entities and related queries and why the difference makes a difference to how you do SEO.

Read Entry

There is a basic semantic SEO strategy that can help your site gain massive traffic.

That strategy is called topical authority.

This SEO paradigm shift is a result of search engines attempting to understand the meaning of search queries to bring the best results for those queries.

This has changed SEO as we know it. Instead of optimizing content around keywords, we should now focus on optimizing content around entire topics.

When we do that successfully we achieve topical authority.

But…

How do you actually research your chosen topic?

In this post, I’ll show you some clear actions you can take to easily understand how Google organizes entities in its Knowledge Graph so that you can design a semantic SEO strategy that could position you as the authority in your chosen topic.

Read Entry

Okay, so you’re getting into semantic SEO. Great idea.

In my last blog post, I explained what semantic search is. It’s now time to understand how to build a semantic SEO strategy.

In this post, I’ll get into the difference between keywords and topics and explain why focusing on topics could revolutionize your SEO and potentially bring you way more traffic. 

I don’t intend this post to be my final word on covering topics. It’s intended to be a general overview that will give you a solid understanding that you'll need to build content silos that get massive traffic.

Read Entry

We all feel it.

SEO has changed dramatically.

What used to work when I started out (when the world was still in black and white), is not working like it used to.

And, as the search engines evolve we SEOs have to evolve with it.

When trying to find answers, I discovered semantic SEO. 

I discovered that semantic search influences all of the SEO basics, including:

• Keyword research
• Search intent
• Content creation
• Site architecture
• Internal linking
• And more

In this blog post, I’ll be giving you an overview of semantic search. My goal is to give you a solid foundation to work with so that when you learn semantic SEO strategies you’ll understand why they work.




Read Entry

After chasing after content, this month’s SEO trends roundup is finally here.

While compiling this roundup, I was really happy to discover some big-picture strategies that can help you integrate your SEO into an overall marketing strategy and some out-of-the-box thinking that can exponentially increase the value of your site, all while dispelling a myth or two.

In this post you’ll find:

• How Customer Journey mapping can effectively help you understand the "conversation your prospects have with Google” so that you can easily see what intents you have overlooked
• A profound paradigm shift that’ll help you avoid sudden traffic losses when Google updates its algorithms by treating your site as its own search engine
• What Google updating their Quality Raters Guide means to your SEO, what you should do about it and what myths you should avoid

Read Entry

When creating content, understanding user intent is key.

Now as an SEO myself, I have been analyzing user intent for a while.

The more time I spend trying to understand it the more I realize that the search intent Google presents is multi-layered. In other words, search intent is far more complex than looking for informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional intent.

With that in mind…

In this post, I’ll show you how to easily spot some of the various user intents that appear on a Google SERP so that you can generate more traffic by targeting more users.


Read Entry

Google’s latest page title update has caused a storm in the SEO community. I’ve seen SEOs claim that the changes to their titles have dramatically impacted their client’s click-through rates.

This means knowing what exact changes are happening to your titles in search is crucial to your success as an SEO.

In this post, I’ll explain what Google changed with this update. I’ll also show you how your keyword rank tracking software can show you:

• All the changes Google is making to your page titles and descriptions
• How to see if title changes affect your CTRs
• If there is any impact on your rankings

Read Entry

What’s the main benefit of SEO?

Simply put, SEO turns your website into an entity. This entity could eventually become your biggest business asset bringing in high-quality traffic to your business.

That said, let’s address the elephant in the room. SEO is not only competitive, but it’s also slow.

What’s more, the days of content farm and keyword stuffing are never coming back (thankfully).

So, how do you speed up your content marketing execution?

One of your best options is social media content promotion.

In this post, I’ll get into an easy four-step social media strategy that will help support your SEO content so that your content marketing can quickly get results.

Read Entry

This month’s episode of the SEO Trends for 2021 roundup covers some big topics. All of which could make a fundamental shift in how you do SEO.

Yes, times are changing. SEO is maturing and as SEOs, we must mature with it.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• Why covering all aspects of a topic will help your site deal with competitive and volatile SERPs
• What topical relevance is and why it’s one of the most important ranking factors today
• How semantic SEO will change the way we do SEO (forever!)

Read Entry

There is no question, search engines are becoming more and more intelligent with every passing day.

This means optimizing content needs an intelligent approach.

Today, when you do keyword research, you have to do much more than find a keyword with some search volume. You have to also go through a thorough analysis to understand how to rank your content.

How do you do that?

SERP analysis.

In this post, I’ll show you how to easily find big insights just by eyeballing the SERPs. I’ll also show you how your rank tracking software can take your SERP analysis to a new level.

Read Entry

In this month’s SEO Trends for 2021, we take a look at one of the most important elements in SEO. In fact, this factor might be more important than all the others.

And that factor is quality.

The reason quality is so important is that quality content is the lifeblood of any search engine. Without it, our user experience would be terrible.

And if the user experience isn’t good, the search engine won’t attract any users.

What’s more, we’ll also discover that site speed and how users interact with your site is rapidly becoming an important part of SEO in general.

In this post you’ll find:

• How focusing on serving Google users will help you create content that search engines love (rather than chasing after the latest Google updates)
• Why improving your page authority will give you an edge over your competitors in the crowded SEO market
• How even though Core Web Vitals metrics are important, they should always be balanced by a good user experience

Read Entry

SEO vs SEM. Which is better and why.

Now, before we let them fight it out, perhaps I should mention that SEM and SEO can and in many cases should work together in harmony.

In reality, they are two different sides to the search engine marketing coin but the implementation of each one is completely different.

In this post, I’ll get into:

• What’s the difference between SEO and SEM?
• What are the benefits of each?
• What are the best applications for each?

Read Entry

There is a point in every SEO's development where you graduate from Google Search Console to a paid Rank Tracking tool.

That point usually comes when you realize that rank trackers don’t just offer you an accurate picture of your rankings, but also give you a host of analytics tools you can use to get a deeper understanding of your rankings.

And who doesn’t love gleaning actionable insights from data?

However, one of the difficulties you might find when making the transition is that Search Console picks keywords for you. Rank Trackers, on the other hand, only give you data based on the keywords you choose.

This leaves you with the difficulty of deciding which keywords to track.

In this post, I’ll show you a tried and tested method of finding laser-focused keywords (so that you don’t waste your time tracking low-impact keywords).



Read Entry

A few months ago I was looking at our Twitter mentions and I saw a Tweet by Christopher Hoffman.

Christopher made three bold points:

• Rank tracking tools should be tracking pixels and not just rank
• Rank trackers should also be tracking SERP features
• As digital marketers, we should adapt our SERP strategy based on what’s ranking on the SERPs

The points he brings up are all crucial for SEO as it stands.

In other words, not understanding this could mean you’re missing out on some obvious opportunities, or worse being left behind by focusing on outdated metrics.

To help you out… In this post, I’ll explain why you must implement pixel tracking and target SERP features in your SEO strategy. I’ll also show you some case studies using Rank Ranger’s pixel tracking secret weapon.

Read Entry

In this month’s SEO Trends for 2021, we take a deep dive into the human side of SEO.

Yes, as SEOs we all love optimizing pages, applying canonical tags, and trying to figure out the latest algorithms. But, we should never lose sight of the fact that SEO is a form of marketing.

And…

As marketers, we are marketing to people.


People buy your products. People use your services.

So, to help you out...

In this post you will find:

• Three sound strategies to help you keep control of your organic traffic as Google becomes more competitive
• How listening to your audience can substantially boost your SEO results
• How focusing too much on Google algorithms might hurt your SEO in the long run

Read Entry

I have a question for you.

If you were hired to do SEO for a big brand like Cisco Systems or Sony, how would you approach it?

Would you do anything different to any other SEO project?

I mean, the search engines don’t differentiate between small sites and big sites. So would you do anything differently?

In this post I’ll answer:

• What is enterprise SEO?
• What is an enterprise SEO strategy?
• What enterprise SEO tools should you know about?

Read Entry

Core Web Vitals.

Just the sound of it strikes fear into the hearts of SEOs.

This is most likely because it’s probably the most hyped Google algorithm update so far.

The question is, should you be worried about it?

How do you know if your site is ready for Core Web Vitals?

In this post, I’ll be explaining what Core Web Vitals are, how you can analyze your site, and how you can easily optimize for it.

Read Entry

When looking for an opportunity to win a Featured Snippet, should you swim upstream like a salmon, or should you just go with the flow?

Well, I’m always a fan of the second option.

I love it when I get a push from the outside.

How this relates to Featured Snippets is, when trying to win a Featured Snippet, you should always look for a snippet that Google isn’t ‘happy’ with.

In other words, look for cases where Google is looking for a better alternative and then show up with that perfect solution.

An easy way to do this is to look for a volatile Featured Snippet. One where Google is consistently changing URLs.

In this post, I’ll show you two different types of Featured Snippet volatility through the lens of the Rank Ranger SERP Features Monitor and how you can deal with it.

Read Entry

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” - Jimmy Dean

There is no question that Jimmy’s words are true for every successful SEO. Due to the ever-changing nature of the Google SERPs, an SEO has to constantly adjust their sails.

So...

In the interest of helping you adjust your SEO sails this year, here is this month’s episode of SEO Trends for 2021.

This month’s SEO trends post features some stellar content that you can take action on.

In this post you will find:

• How to understand user intent by doing manual searches and looking as SERP feature data
• Why you should be leveraging video content in your business
• How to quickly identify the best quality sites for your link building campaigns
• Why you need to do SERP feature and SERP competitor analysis to win on today’s

Read Entry

Backlinks.

One of the foundations of any SEO strategy.

However, just running out and trying to build links will leave you spinning your wheels and going nowhere, fast.

To see your site traffic growing month after month, you must be strategic about your link building. Your strategy must be built on sound research.

In this post, I’ll be showing you how to create a well-thought-through link-building strategy.

Also, I want to use this post to announce our new Link Explorer. Using the link explorer together with our link tracker will give you everything you need to run a successful link-building campaign.

Read Entry

If you are new to SEO then most likely you’ve heard how important backlinks are.

But…

Before running out to earn links or worse yet, buy them on Fiverr, you must have a good understanding of:

• What backlinks are and how they improve your SEO
• How to create an actionable SEO strategy that skyrockets your site
• How to build high-quality links
• Which links you should go after and which ones you should avoid like the plague

I’ll cover it all in this post.

Read Entry

About a month ago, I reached out to some highly successful SEOs to find out what SEO trends to keep an eye on in 2021. I was specifically interested in publishing trends that you the reader could turn into actionable insights.

Wondering if anyone would reply, I waited...

After a few days, I was literally swamped with great content. So much so that I had to break it up into different parts. This is part two.

In part two you'll learn:

1. Google’s long term content goals and how that could affect your content strategy today
2. How Google uses machine learning to understand your content and how you can easily use this to your advantage
3. How to can easily use online reviews to scale your local business rankings
4. How to broaden your SEO strategy to include other tools and platforms 

Read Entry

Every good digital marketer loves data.

The reason is as a marketer, every decision you make should be backed up with data. Think of data as the instruments on your aircraft. Without instruments, on a foggy day, a pilot literally doesn’t know what direction they’re flying in.

The same is true of SEO.

With that said, there are many different ways to present data. Each presentation tells a different story. Each story gives you unique insights.

This means not every tool or data set will help a marketer find the insights they are looking for. You can’t build a cabinet with just a hammer.

This brings me to the subject of APIs for SEO.

There are times when the standard toolset just isn’t enough. Many marketers turn to APIs when they need their data presented in a specific way.

In this post, I’ll be covering what an API is and how you can use one to improve your SEO. I’ll also show you how you can get started using Rank Ranger’s API. 

Read Entry

It seems like just yesterday when 2021 rolled in. Although it’s already March, we decided to reach out to SEO experts to pick their brains.

We wanted to know what SEO trends to look at for the rest of 2021.

Now you might be wondering…

What’s the point in creating another expert roundup?

I wanted to create a resource that will help you the reader really scale up your SEO for 2021 by understanding the emerging trends. A resource that will help you turn knowledge into actionable insights.

Without further ado, here are the emerging SEO trends for 2021 part one.

Read Entry

Having worked in a small marketing agency, I’ve had the opportunity to work on many sites in many different industries. Seeing a site gaining traffic and eventually, organic conversions is a really rewarding experience.

However, there was one thing I never got to work on.

A brand new site.

When I finally got my hands on one I discovered…

It took ages to get any traction.

I discovered there are some concrete steps you can take that will set your site up for success.

Getting this right in the beginning, will substantially speed up your site’s progress and get you out of the sandbox as quickly as possible.

Read Entry

Google Search Console is a great rank tracking tool.

In fact...

Even though I use a paid rank tracker, I still start my rank tracking journey with Search Console.

The reason is...

Search Console gives me an inside scoop into how Google understands my blog posts (which is difficult to see when using a paid rank tracking tool.)

Using this data, I’ll make my first optimizations and then move over to my paid rank tracker for a more detailed analysis.

In this post, I’ll show you how to use Google Search Console to boost your rankings and improve your content strategy.

Read Entry

It’s no secret that video has a big ROI.

The question is…

Can you use video as an SEO strategy?

The answer is, absolutely.

In this post, I’ll be showing you how to make the most of video in SEO. I’ll be getting into how to research video topics that are designed to rank in both YouTube and Google. I’ll also get into some video optimization best practices.

Read Entry

There is no question, SEO has changed dramatically over the last few years.

Traditionally, for any given search Google would simply show ten blue links. This meant that where your link was positioned would influence how much traffic your page would get.

In that world, getting to the top of Google meant everything.

Fast forward a few years and Google Search is now filled with visually distracting SERP features that dilute the power of your blue links. Instead of moaning and lamenting about how things were once better, a good SEO needs to build out a strategy that now includes SERP features.

In this post, I’ll show you how to use your rank tracker to find insights that will help improve your site’s traffic potential.

Read Entry

As an SEO, it’s crucial to understand how your campaigns are bringing your site sales.

To understand this, you must set up reporting dashboards that not only show how your site is performing but also help you to create a strategy to improve your sales moving forward.

The question is...

What metrics should you track?

Start with general sales data, and then work your way into more specific data. This structure will give you solid foundations for understanding your overall SEO sales strategy.

To help you do this, I’ll show you how to set up a marketing dashboard using a combination of Google Analytics and Google Search Console data.

Read Entry

Important question. How many businesses have blogs and produce content?

Now, this follow-up question might be a little disturbing...

How many businesses actually track their content marketing success?

There is no question that effective tracking is crucial. I mean, would you run paid ads without knowing how effective your ads are? The same is true of your content marketing.

The problem is content marketing usually requires many steps before resulting in a sale. This makes it difficult to track. 

In this post, I'll show you some key Google Analytics reports that show you how well your content is doing. 




Read Entry

Business owners often fight for every bit of Google traffic they can get. The problem is, with so many businesses going online, Google is becoming more competitive with each passing day.

However, there are two traffic sources that are all too often overlooked.

• Traffic from search engines other than Google
• Global traffic

What’s more, these traffic sources tend to be less competitive than the US Google traffic.

The question is should you take advantage of these traffic sources?

In this post, I’ll be looking at the global search engine market share to show you how much you could potentially expand your business. 

Read Entry

Marketing joins two worlds.

On the one hand, there is the creative side which connects with the end-user. Wedded to the creative side is the analytical side.

Analytics and data tell marketers if their creative efforts are paying off. 

Any online business that has a presence on multiple channels and platforms will have many sources of data all reporting on different aspects of the campaign.

Keeping track of all of these data sources is difficult. Making sense of it all is almost impossible.

To solve this problem, marketing dashboards were created.

In this post, I’ll be going through what marketing dashboards are, how they work, and why you need them.

Read Entry

There comes a time when a website owner wonders when it’s time to start running paid ads.

There is no question that paid ads can really move the needle for your business. Ads not only get your offers to the top of Google almost instantly but they can also help move traffic from one stage of a sales funnel to another.

The big question is:

How do you effectively run ads without wasting your hard-earned money?

In this post, I’ll be sharing some strategic thinking to help you get your paid traffic off the ground in the most cost-effective way. If you’re already getting organic traffic and you want to get started with paid ads, this post is for you.

Read Entry

How do you do keyword research when creating new blog content?

Do we look at the same old metrics, or has something changed? From my personal perspective, with every passing day, Google gets better at understanding the user. What this means is…

As content creators, we are no longer Search Engine Optimizers.

In this post, I share some strategies designed to truly understand the reader so that you can draw them toward your brand by offering helpful blog content.

Read Entry

You have your rank tracker all set up. You’re tracking your URLs. Now what?

If you’re wondering how exactly to use your rank tracking data to improve your rankings, this post is for you.

In this post, I’ll be sharing an SEO experiment I’m currently working on. I’ll be showing you where the experiment is currently at and what strategy ideas I’ve come up with to move the project forward.

I’ll be touching on:

• Google Search Console vs paid rank trackers
• How to choose which keywords to track
• Some strategy ideas based on the data

Read Entry

After hitting the top of Google for my client's top three keywords, I noticed something wasn't right.

Where was the huge jump in sales we were expecting?

After doing some analysis and research, I realized that there was something fundamental that was missing in our SEO strategy. Something small and obvious that would have gigantic ramifications.

In this post I'll be exploring what was missing and I’ll be sharing the one big picture strategy that could turn this failure into a colossal success.

This post is where SEO meets marketing. It’s about seeing your SEO efforts in the bigger picture of marketing and sales.




Read Entry

What do you do when your rank tracker is showing you unstable pages? Firstly...

Don't panic.

Yes, on the one hand, rank stability could be a sign that Google is thinking about demoting your page. However, did you know that rank volatility could also be an opportunity? That being said it is essential that you first diagnose the problem. Knowing what the cause is, will help you figure out the next steps.

In this post, join me in exploring three possible causes of rank volatility and strategies for dealing with each one.

Read Entry

Back in 2019, I was trying to please a difficult client. I’m sure you know what that’s like.

At some point, he threatened to fire us. He wanted better rankings. By next week.

Let’s just say he wasn’t the most reasonable person to deal with. Nothing we said could persuade him. Since his site was ranking on page one of Google for many terms, Featured Snippets seemed like a great option that could yield results within a week. After a stressful week of running tests and experiments on my own, I was able to get some impressive looking Featured Snippets for the next meeting. Crisis averted.

Having gone through that experience, I wanted to create a deep and comprehensive guide that could help you come up with strategies for winning Featured Snippets. This is part 2.

Read Entry

SEO is a long term game. No question about that. Although there generally are no shortcuts, Google has given us a unique opportunity.

Featured Snippets.

Not a magic bullet, Featured Snippets tend to attract more attention than regular organic rankings. This means they have potentially higher click through rates than even the top-ranking URLs.

This two-part guide is a thorough how-to manual to winning Featured Snippets. In part one of this guide, you'll learn why Google creates Featured Snippets in the first place and how to find Featured Snippet opportunities.

Read Entry