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5 Best Popular Posts Widgets for Blogger
Posted by Manthan in: popular posts widgets at 07:54
If you're using Blogger as the platform for your personal or business blog, you're probably looking for ways to customize it and make it your own. This way, you'll make your webpages unique and eye-catching and ensure they'll stand out from the many other pages on the internet. You'll also grab the attention of your target market, encourage them to browse through your blog and become your loyal readers and followers.
Fortunately, there are lots of ways to personalize your Blogger blog, and one of these is to customize your Popular Posts widget. Haven't installed this yet? Don't worry since putting it in your blog easy.
Once you've followed these instructions, you'll get to see the basic version of the Popular Posts Widget for Blogger in your blog. You can stick with this if it matches your blog design but, if it sticks out like a sore thumb or doesn't suit your taste, there's no need to fret since you can personalize it. You can choose from the following styles - see the demo blog:
CSS code:
CSS code:
CSS code:
CSS code:
CSS code:
These next codes need to be pasted above the "</head>" or "</body>" tags, so check the instruction to know exactly where you need to put the code.
Important: If the Popular Posts widget is located in the footer of your blog, remove the .sidebar class found in the CSS code in order to make it work.
Please note that most of the styles are using the Oswald font which you need to add to your template's code as well.
So, search for this tag:
Once you have added all the codes in the right place, press the "Save template" button to save the changes.
That's it!
The five Popular Posts widgets for Blogger featured today are all great solutions for adding a popular post section to your blog. They all have different appearance for determining what makes a post popular, but the end result is the same: visitors are always one click away from your best content. Try some of these styles, find your favorite, and see how it impacts the performance of your blog.
Fortunately, there are lots of ways to personalize your Blogger blog, and one of these is to customize your Popular Posts widget. Haven't installed this yet? Don't worry since putting it in your blog easy.
Adding the Popular Posts Widget for Blogger
Just click on your blog title, access the Layout menu, click "Add Widget" and choose "Popular Posts". A window will appear asking you to configure the widget by choosing which posts you'll feature (e.g. those that were most viewed in the past 7 days or 30 days or from the beginning of your blog). You'll also be asked to choose how many posts you'll feature in your Popular Posts section and select if you'll show the post title only or along with the image thumbnail and/or the snippet. (Remember that each widget style has different requirements, so follow the instructions carefully to know if you'll need the snippet and image thumbnail or not).Once you've followed these instructions, you'll get to see the basic version of the Popular Posts Widget for Blogger in your blog. You can stick with this if it matches your blog design but, if it sticks out like a sore thumb or doesn't suit your taste, there's no need to fret since you can personalize it. You can choose from the following styles - see the demo blog:
Popular Posts Style 1 - Box within a box
This is an interesting widget style since it uses your snippet and image thumbnail in a unique way. Your snippet is written in opaque text and placed in a small transparent box. This, in turn, is placed in a bigger rectangular box, wherein your image thumbnail is used as a background. Choosing this Popular Posts Widget for Blogger can be a great option if you want to brighten up your blog and grab the attention of readers with your colorful photos.CSS code:
<style type='text/css'>
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li {
list-style: none !important;
padding: 0 !important;
margin-bottom: 10px;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail {
height: 190px;
margin: 0;
overflow: hidden;
width: 100%;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title {
position: relative;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts img {
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
object-fit: cover;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title a {
color: #FFFFFF;
font: 15px 'Oswald', sans-serif;
text-transform: uppercase;
font-size: 20px;
padding: 10px;
position: absolute;
right: 0;
left: 0px;
margin: 0px auto;
text-align: center;
text-decoration: none;
top: 40px;
width: 60%;
height: 26px;
overflow: hidden;
z-index: 2;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-snippet {
background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
border-top: 6px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
border-bottom: 6px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
color: #FFFFFF;
left: 0px;
right: 0px;
margin: 0px auto;
padding: 65px 10px 10px;
position: absolute;
font: 13px "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif;
text-align: center;
top: 35px;
width: 60%;
z-index: 1;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-content {
position: relative;
}
</style>
Popular Posts Style 2 - Large thumbnails with small post titles underneath
This uses the same code as the basic Blogger Popular Posts Widget with a few tweaks. Popularized by well-known blogs, this style is eye-catching because it focuses on pictures, which don't only summarize the posts' content but also add visual drama to the entire page. This is particularly useful for blogs that focus on clothes, makeup, art and other topics that highly depend on visual presentation to better express ideas.CSS code:
<style type='text/css'>
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul {
counter-reset: popularcount;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li {
width: 100%;
list-style: none !important;
padding: 0 !important;
margin-bottom: 20px;
position: relative;
border: 0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail a {
clip: auto;
display: block;
height: auto;
height: 120px;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail {
width: 100%;
position: relative;
margin-bottom: 15px;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail::before {
background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) none repeat scroll 0 0;
border-bottom: 29px solid #fff;
border-left: 29px solid transparent;
border-right: 29px solid transparent;
bottom: 0px;
content: "";
height: 0;
width: 0px;
left: 0px;
right: 0px;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
position: absolute;
z-index: 3;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail:after {
color: #000;
content: counter(popularcount, decimal);
counter-increment: popularcount;
font: 13px "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif;
list-style-type: none;
position: absolute;
bottom: 0;
text-align: center;
margin: 0px auto;
left: 0px;
right: 0px;
z-index: 4;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail img {
position: relative;
width: 100%;
height: 120px;
object-fit: cover;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title {
font: 15px 'Oswald', sans-serif;
text-transform: uppercase;
text-align: center;
margin: 0px auto;
padding-bottom: 10px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #000;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title a {
color: #000;
text-decoration: none;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-snippet {
padding: 10px 15px;
font: 13px "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
Popular Posts Style 3 - Colorful boxes
If your blog needs a pop of color, this is the right choice for you. This widget style presents your Popular Posts in several boxes that feature a thumbnail image and have bright, eye-catching shades like light green, ocher yellow and vivid orange. Each box has a different color, and you can add up to four boxes.CSS code:
<style type='text/css'>
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail a {
clip: auto;
display: block;
height: auto;
overflow: hidden;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail {
width: 130px;
height: 130px;
border-right: 5px solid #fff;
margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px !important;
position: relative;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail img {
position: relative;
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
object-fit: cover;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li {
float: left;
margin-bottom: 5px;
max-height: 130px;
min-width: 250px;
overflow: hidden;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:first-child {
background: #D9EDF7;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:first-child + li{
background: #F2DEDE;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:first-child + li + li {
background: #DFF0D8;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:first-child + li + li + li {
background: #FFEEBC;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:first-child + li + li + li + li{
background: #E0E0E0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title {
font: 13px 'Oswald', sans-serif;
text-transform: uppercase;
padding: 10px 5px 10px;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title a {
color: #000;
text-decoration: none;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-snippet {
font: 13px "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif;
padding-right: 5px;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .widget-content ul li {
padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px!important;
}
</style>
Popular Posts Style 4 - Grid layout
Just like the large-picture widget style, the grid layout is an excellent option if you want to showcase your pictures or if your blog depends on visual information. However, the title of your posts won't be included in the layout, so readers will have to hover their mouses on the images to read the titles.CSS code:
<style type='text/css'>
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul {
padding: 0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:first-child{
width: 100%;
max-height: 100%;
opacity: 0.9;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:nth-child(even){
margin-right: 2%;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li {
box-sizing: border-box;
position: relative;
padding: 0px !important;
width: 49%;
max-height: 120px;
opacity: 0.4;
overflow:hidden;
float: left;
margin-bottom: 2%;
-webkit-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-moz-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-ms-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-o-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li:hover {
opacity: 1;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail {
margin: 0;
width: 100%;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li img {
box-sizing: border-box;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
object-fit: cover;
padding:0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-content:hover .item-title a,
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail-only:hover .item-title a {
visibility: visible;
opacity: 1;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title a {
color: #fff;
background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.93) 100%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85) 100%);
text-decoration: none;
position: absolute;
text-align: center;
font: 13px 'Oswald', sans-serif;
left: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0%;
padding: 100px 10px 10px;
opacity: 0;
visibility: hidden;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-snippet {
display: none;
}
</style>
Popular Posts Style 5 - Numbered posts
If you love numbered lists, or if you'd like to make your blog more organized, this can be the perfect option. By using the code for this widget style, your Popular Posts will be automatically numbered and will feature clean, minimalistic boxes that include your snippet and image thumbnail.CSS code:
<style type='text/css'>These are just some of the widget styles you can choose from. When you've picked a style you want, make sure to copy its CSS code. Once you do so, go to your blog, click "Template" on the left side and select "Edit HTML" under the template preview.
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul {
counter-reset: popularcount;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts ul li {
float: left;
max-height: 130px;
min-width: 250px;
position: relative;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail::after {
color: rgba(255,255,255, 0.63);
content: counter(popularcount, decimal);
counter-increment: popularcount;
font: 70px 'Oswald', sans-serif;
list-style-type: none;
position: absolute;
left: 5px;
top: -5px;
z-index: 4;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail::before {
background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
bottom: 0px;
content: "";
height: 100px;
width: 100px;
left: 0px;
right: 0px;
margin: 0px auto;
position: absolute;
z-index: 3;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail a {
clip: auto;
display: block;
height: auto;
overflow: hidden;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px !important;
position: relative;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail:hover:before {
display: none;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-thumbnail img {
position: relative;
padding-right: 0px !important;
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
object-fit: cover;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title {
font: 13px 'Oswald', sans-serif;
text-transform: uppercase;
padding: 0px 5px 10px;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-title a {
color: #000;
text-decoration: none;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-snippet {
font: 13px "Times New Roman",Times,FreeSerif,serif;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .widget-content ul li {
padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important;
}
.sidebar .PopularPosts .item-content {
padding: 5px 0px;
border-bottom: 1px dotted #dedede;
overflow: hidden;
height: 100px;
position: relative;
}
</style>
These next codes need to be pasted above the "</head>" or "</body>" tags, so check the instruction to know exactly where you need to put the code.
Adding the CSS
When the template editor has opened, click anywhere inside the code area and hit CTRL + F or Command F to search the following tag:</head>Just ABOVE the </head> tag, copy-paste the CSS code of one of the styles above.
Important: If the Popular Posts widget is located in the footer of your blog, remove the .sidebar class found in the CSS code in order to make it work.
Please note that most of the styles are using the Oswald font which you need to add to your template's code as well.
So, search for this tag:
<head>Just BELOW it, add this line:
<link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Oswald:400,700' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
Adding the JavaScript
These styles also require JavaScript codes in order to resize the popular posts image / thumbnail and trim the post snippet and title. To add the JavaScript, search the </body> tag and paste the following script just above it:<script src='//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js'/>Note: if you have already the jQuery library in your template, remove the line in red.
<script type='text/javascript'>
$('.popular-posts img').attr('src', function(e, t) {
return t.replace('/s72-c/', '/s350-c/')
});
$('.popular-posts ul li .item-snippet').each(function(){
var txt=$(this).text().substr(0,60);
var j=txt.lastIndexOf(' ');
if(j>10)
$(this).text(txt.substr(0,j).replace(/[?,!\.-:;]*$/,'...'));
});
$('.popular-posts ul li .item-content a').each(function(){
var txt=$(this).text().substr(0,60);
var j=txt.lastIndexOf(' ');
if(j>=6)
$(this).text(txt.substr(0,j).replace(/[?,!\.-:;]*$/,'...'));
});
</script>
Once you have added all the codes in the right place, press the "Save template" button to save the changes.
That's it!
The five Popular Posts widgets for Blogger featured today are all great solutions for adding a popular post section to your blog. They all have different appearance for determining what makes a post popular, but the end result is the same: visitors are always one click away from your best content. Try some of these styles, find your favorite, and see how it impacts the performance of your blog.
Keyword Difficulty Analysis: How to Choose the right SEO keywords
Posted by Manthan in: SEO at 07:54
A successful SEO campaign almost always relies on the keywords used. As elements that search strings are matched against, they can propel a website forward, helping it rank on search engines. The significance of individual keywords, however, is slowly dwindling, and keyword-based search engine optimization is losing its strength. Blame it on black hat practices that, even when they're being cracked down, have left lasting effects. This is because there are now factors that are far more important than keyword presence:
• Keyword placement matters more than usage frequency. That is, using keywords in the title tag and header has more weight than using them five times in the content.
• Using synonyms is more than acceptable. Now that Google is more sophisticated in interpreting data of a website, keyword specificity is fading. So even if different key phrases are used, as long as they have similar context, Google can place them in the exact same category, theoretically.
• Semantic search is making a huge difference on user searches. In the past, Google dissects search queries by words. A search query about "running shoes Utah", for example, would return anything that may be related with running, shoes and even events in Utah. But with search semantics, Google interprets the meaning of the whole search query rather than just the individual words.
Along with these changes is the need to take a different approach to keyword research. Keywords still matter, but they need to be perfect to be really effective. So whatever process you have been following for as long as you can remember, you should completely forget. Even if you did rank, it turns out that you have been doing keyword research all wrong. Rather than research for high volume, low competition and good CPC keyword, or effective latent semantic index keywords, you should use keyword difficulty analysis instead.
Keyword difficulty is defined as a factor that helps determine how easy or difficult it is for a website to rank based on a particular keyword. So it's no longer about short-tail or long-tail, and high or low, because other factors now come into play, such as the following:
- The number of pages currently ranking for a specific keyword
- The number of pages bidding on a keyword in paid search campaigns
- The volume and cost per click of a keyword for a particular month
If you want to go down to specifics, you also need to look into queries that you must compete for based on three elements:
1. Your competition or the number of indexed pages for a particular query
2. The authority or ranking strength of a website based on the quantity and quality of incoming links
3. The relevance of well-ranking websites in terms of how they match certain search queries with consideration to factors, such as on-page ranking and off-page signals.
Difficulty analysis also entails estimating keyword difficulty. The easiest way to do this is to check out strong and weak search results based on a keyword or key phrase that is widely used. Between "running shoes Utah" and "Nike running shoes", the latter is harder to rank with, especially for normal and less-popular blogs. There is no way you can compete with high authority blogs.
A search query on "Pebble Time review" would return the following results:
All of these make up the top 10 strong results, which is clearly hard to outrank by less authoritative websites.
But if you use long-tail keywords, there is a possibility that the results will include forums, non-relevant sites, YouTube videos, Yahoo Answers and other websites that will be easier to outrank or those that make up weak results. So, what you want is a keyword that will return weak search results.
But because there are no hard-and-fast rules in difficulty analysis, you need to use tools at your disposal. A keyword difficulty tool can come in many shapes and sizes, so to speak. It's not just a specific type of software, but a set of procedures that lets you identify keyword difficulty.
You can further narrow down your search by looking into the number of pages being indexed that use the same search terms on the title. To do this, use one of Google's advanced search operator "allintitle", which will display websites where the keywords appear in the title.
Now that you know your competitors, it is important that you don’t make any decisions based solely on the data that you collected. Just use them as an indicator, since there are plenty of other elements that will keep you off the first page.
• Keyword in title tag
• Length of the title tag
• Keyword in H1
• Keyword in image alt text
• Keyword in domain or URL
• Keyword representation in anchor text or external links
• Content quality
• Optimization level (over optimized or not)
• Use of questionable SEO practices
• Internal linking architecture of a website
You can also keep your evaluation simple by just ranking each page's optimization as none, minimal, over, fair, decent or good, and excellent. Regardless of which step you take, however, this process takes a lot of work. If you want to cut down on the amount of effort and time you spend, you should filter your keyword list to a manageable size.
As already mentioned, allintitle returns results that contain your search terms on the title. allinurl, on the other hand display results with the keyword included in the URLs, and allintext returns search results with the keyword appearing within the content.
How do you use them to your advantage? Using the keywords "nike running shoes", for example, run a keyword difficulty analysis in Chrome. Don't forget to search in incognito mode to keep results organic and non-personalized. Take note of the total results and those that returned using Google's advanced search tools. The data you collect will look similar to the one below:
Keyword: nike running shoes
Results with allintext: nike running shoes
Results with allinurl: nike running shoes
Results with allintitle: nike running shoes
What do the figures tell you?
• If the total results are equal or close to 1,000,000, you have higher chances of ranking on the first page.
• If the results with allintext are just 50% more than the total results, keyword difficulty is very high.
• If the results with allinurl and results with allintitle is less or close to 1,000, the chances of ranking on the first page is high provided that certain criteria are met:
o 2000+ words in-depth blog post
o Proper image optimization
o High Flesch Reading Score
o Quick Load Spee
o Good Social Shares
o Efficient Inter Linking
o Several high DA, PA Backlinks
o Perform difficulty analysis using specialized checker
What is great about using Google search operators is that you will know your competitors during your research. But you can always take a shortcut through a keyword difficulty tool.
Keyword Inspector
This is a free tool that you can use to analyze how difficult it is to rank a specific keyword. Every search term is ranked as Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult and Very Difficult.
To start using it, you must first create an account. Once that is done, you can then run an analysis by typing in the keyword on the input box, choosing a country and then hit "Submit". You will get a tabulated result, with the keyword difficulty analysis indicated at the last column. It is highly recommended that you use search terms that is ranked moderate or less difficult.
Take note, however, that search results may vary from one country to the next. So don't make decisions based on them alone. Instead, combine it with other keyword difficulty tool.
MOZ Keyword difficulty tool
This tool is more comprehensive and comes with other useful features, making it an ideal choice. It may not be free, but it does give good value for your money. You can run 20 reports at one time, and a standard subscription has a daily limit of 400 reports.
To run a difficulty analysis, simply type in one or more keywords on the input box. You can separate the terms using a comma, tab or by typing it on a new line. Choose a search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) and country, and then hit "Check Difficulty" button. You will then get a report with the difficulty score and ranking factor indicated. The score is between 1% and 100%, with 1% as being easy and 100% as being very competitive.
What is great about this difficulty analysis tool is that you have the option to export the report as CSV, in case you want to run you own analysis. There is also a "Compare" button that will give you an idea which keyword has the lowest difficult score, yet has the most search volume - an excellent combination. Simply check on the keywords you want to compare, two or more at a time, and then hit Compare.
Take note that the data of search volume will always be for Bing even if you choose Google as your search engine. Don't worry though, since this would not affect the results in any way.
SEMrush
Originally a professional SEO tool designed for digital marketers, SEMrush has recently introduced a tool for keyword difficulty analysis where you can bulk check ranking of multiple keywords. It is not free, but you do get a 14-day free trial period. Look for the keyword difficulty analyzer under Tools, type in your keywords and then search for their difficulty score. You can put in a maximum of 100 search terms per line.
The great thing about this tool is that you get more in one go. That is, you not only learn about Keyword difficulty, but also Keyword Research, Competitors Analysis, and even Backlink Opportunities.
There are just a few examples of keyword difficulty tools that you can use. Among the three options, SEMrush is considered the simplest to use and is highly recommended for affiliate marketers and bloggers.
Keyword difficulty analysis can be done for app store optimization as well. Check out the result count to determine the number of apps targeting a particular keyword. Simply type in the search terms on the app store and both Apple and Google will show which apps use certain keywords. Another factor is volatility that provides a good indicator of how difficult it is to rank for a particular search term. Because finding volatility manually is hard, look for tools that you can use.
Once you have a list of keywords, sort and filter them out into different categories, such as immediate and short-term keyword targets, medium-term keyword targets that need to be groomed and grown, and long-term keyword targets that can be obtained through sustained effort.
Keyword difficulty analysis may seem like a new concept, but it is the new way of ranking in search engine results, which is why it is worth implementing in your SEO campaign.
• Keyword placement matters more than usage frequency. That is, using keywords in the title tag and header has more weight than using them five times in the content.
• Using synonyms is more than acceptable. Now that Google is more sophisticated in interpreting data of a website, keyword specificity is fading. So even if different key phrases are used, as long as they have similar context, Google can place them in the exact same category, theoretically.
• Semantic search is making a huge difference on user searches. In the past, Google dissects search queries by words. A search query about "running shoes Utah", for example, would return anything that may be related with running, shoes and even events in Utah. But with search semantics, Google interprets the meaning of the whole search query rather than just the individual words.
Along with these changes is the need to take a different approach to keyword research. Keywords still matter, but they need to be perfect to be really effective. So whatever process you have been following for as long as you can remember, you should completely forget. Even if you did rank, it turns out that you have been doing keyword research all wrong. Rather than research for high volume, low competition and good CPC keyword, or effective latent semantic index keywords, you should use keyword difficulty analysis instead.
What does Keyword Difficulty Analysis mean?
Keyword difficulty is defined as a factor that helps determine how easy or difficult it is for a website to rank based on a particular keyword. So it's no longer about short-tail or long-tail, and high or low, because other factors now come into play, such as the following:
- The number of pages currently ranking for a specific keyword
- The number of pages bidding on a keyword in paid search campaigns
- The volume and cost per click of a keyword for a particular month
If you want to go down to specifics, you also need to look into queries that you must compete for based on three elements:
1. Your competition or the number of indexed pages for a particular query
2. The authority or ranking strength of a website based on the quantity and quality of incoming links
3. The relevance of well-ranking websites in terms of how they match certain search queries with consideration to factors, such as on-page ranking and off-page signals.
Difficulty analysis also entails estimating keyword difficulty. The easiest way to do this is to check out strong and weak search results based on a keyword or key phrase that is widely used. Between "running shoes Utah" and "Nike running shoes", the latter is harder to rank with, especially for normal and less-popular blogs. There is no way you can compete with high authority blogs.
A search query on "Pebble Time review" would return the following results:
All of these make up the top 10 strong results, which is clearly hard to outrank by less authoritative websites.
But if you use long-tail keywords, there is a possibility that the results will include forums, non-relevant sites, YouTube videos, Yahoo Answers and other websites that will be easier to outrank or those that make up weak results. So, what you want is a keyword that will return weak search results.
But because there are no hard-and-fast rules in difficulty analysis, you need to use tools at your disposal. A keyword difficulty tool can come in many shapes and sizes, so to speak. It's not just a specific type of software, but a set of procedures that lets you identify keyword difficulty.
Perform difficulty analysis based on several principles
Competing Pages
Find out who your competitions are for a particular keyword or phrase. Simply type in the search terms you want to use on a search engine and check out the results. As a blog or a business, your competitors are other blogs or companies that are providing the same products or services, and using the same set of keywords. The top ten is your strongest competition.You can further narrow down your search by looking into the number of pages being indexed that use the same search terms on the title. To do this, use one of Google's advanced search operator "allintitle", which will display websites where the keywords appear in the title.
Now that you know your competitors, it is important that you don’t make any decisions based solely on the data that you collected. Just use them as an indicator, since there are plenty of other elements that will keep you off the first page.
Top 10 Search Results
If you want to determine the metrics involved in keyword difficulty, determine the top ranking sites related to the terms you intend to use. Getting results is easy. It is making the searches non-personalized that is challenging, although not impossible. You just need to use the right tools to de-personalize your search and get the results that matter more. Using Chrome browser in incognito mode is one good example. What this does is to remove results returned based on search data and preferences, such as ads, news, images and YouTube videos.Number of Links
Top-ranking pages are likely to have a significant number of external and domains pointing links based on certain key terms. If you use the same keywords, you would definitely have a hard time ranking. But if there is a top-ranking website with just a few direct links, you have a door of opportunity. Using Open Site Explorer or Majestic SEO, you can acquire a number of linking domains a website has. But know that a site with few high quality links can have the same authority as one with plenty of low quality links, which is why further analysis is necessary.Off-Page Optimization
How strong a competitor website's off-page optimization is reflected on the number, authority and type of links it has, including the backlinks. Keyword difficulty analysis will look into page authority, domain authority, keyword in anchor text and the diversity of unique linking root domain.On-Page Optimization
Now that you know who your competitors are, find out how well optimized they are. Think like a search engine and look for different signals that will help your keywords rank easily and effectively.• Keyword in title tag
• Length of the title tag
• Keyword in H1
• Keyword in image alt text
• Keyword in domain or URL
• Keyword representation in anchor text or external links
• Content quality
• Optimization level (over optimized or not)
• Use of questionable SEO practices
• Internal linking architecture of a website
You can also keep your evaluation simple by just ranking each page's optimization as none, minimal, over, fair, decent or good, and excellent. Regardless of which step you take, however, this process takes a lot of work. If you want to cut down on the amount of effort and time you spend, you should filter your keyword list to a manageable size.
Perform difficult analysis using Google search operators
Google can be your best friend in difficulty analysis, and not just in knowing your competitions or the keywords they use. To maximize Google, however, you must use three of its special operators.As already mentioned, allintitle returns results that contain your search terms on the title. allinurl, on the other hand display results with the keyword included in the URLs, and allintext returns search results with the keyword appearing within the content.
How do you use them to your advantage? Using the keywords "nike running shoes", for example, run a keyword difficulty analysis in Chrome. Don't forget to search in incognito mode to keep results organic and non-personalized. Take note of the total results and those that returned using Google's advanced search tools. The data you collect will look similar to the one below:
Keyword: nike running shoes
Results with allintext: nike running shoes
Results with allinurl: nike running shoes
Results with allintitle: nike running shoes
What do the figures tell you?
• If the total results are equal or close to 1,000,000, you have higher chances of ranking on the first page.
• If the results with allintext are just 50% more than the total results, keyword difficulty is very high.
• If the results with allinurl and results with allintitle is less or close to 1,000, the chances of ranking on the first page is high provided that certain criteria are met:
o 2000+ words in-depth blog post
o Proper image optimization
o High Flesch Reading Score
o Quick Load Spee
o Good Social Shares
o Efficient Inter Linking
o Several high DA, PA Backlinks
o Perform difficulty analysis using specialized checker
What is great about using Google search operators is that you will know your competitors during your research. But you can always take a shortcut through a keyword difficulty tool.
Perform keyword difficulty analysis using difficulty tools
Keyword Inspector
This is a free tool that you can use to analyze how difficult it is to rank a specific keyword. Every search term is ranked as Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult and Very Difficult.
To start using it, you must first create an account. Once that is done, you can then run an analysis by typing in the keyword on the input box, choosing a country and then hit "Submit". You will get a tabulated result, with the keyword difficulty analysis indicated at the last column. It is highly recommended that you use search terms that is ranked moderate or less difficult.
Take note, however, that search results may vary from one country to the next. So don't make decisions based on them alone. Instead, combine it with other keyword difficulty tool.
MOZ Keyword difficulty tool
This tool is more comprehensive and comes with other useful features, making it an ideal choice. It may not be free, but it does give good value for your money. You can run 20 reports at one time, and a standard subscription has a daily limit of 400 reports.
To run a difficulty analysis, simply type in one or more keywords on the input box. You can separate the terms using a comma, tab or by typing it on a new line. Choose a search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) and country, and then hit "Check Difficulty" button. You will then get a report with the difficulty score and ranking factor indicated. The score is between 1% and 100%, with 1% as being easy and 100% as being very competitive.
What is great about this difficulty analysis tool is that you have the option to export the report as CSV, in case you want to run you own analysis. There is also a "Compare" button that will give you an idea which keyword has the lowest difficult score, yet has the most search volume - an excellent combination. Simply check on the keywords you want to compare, two or more at a time, and then hit Compare.
Take note that the data of search volume will always be for Bing even if you choose Google as your search engine. Don't worry though, since this would not affect the results in any way.
SEMrush
Originally a professional SEO tool designed for digital marketers, SEMrush has recently introduced a tool for keyword difficulty analysis where you can bulk check ranking of multiple keywords. It is not free, but you do get a 14-day free trial period. Look for the keyword difficulty analyzer under Tools, type in your keywords and then search for their difficulty score. You can put in a maximum of 100 search terms per line.
The great thing about this tool is that you get more in one go. That is, you not only learn about Keyword difficulty, but also Keyword Research, Competitors Analysis, and even Backlink Opportunities.
There are just a few examples of keyword difficulty tools that you can use. Among the three options, SEMrush is considered the simplest to use and is highly recommended for affiliate marketers and bloggers.
Keyword difficulty analysis can be done for app store optimization as well. Check out the result count to determine the number of apps targeting a particular keyword. Simply type in the search terms on the app store and both Apple and Google will show which apps use certain keywords. Another factor is volatility that provides a good indicator of how difficult it is to rank for a particular search term. Because finding volatility manually is hard, look for tools that you can use.
Once you have a list of keywords, sort and filter them out into different categories, such as immediate and short-term keyword targets, medium-term keyword targets that need to be groomed and grown, and long-term keyword targets that can be obtained through sustained effort.
Keyword difficulty analysis may seem like a new concept, but it is the new way of ranking in search engine results, which is why it is worth implementing in your SEO campaign.
7 Search Engine Optimization Tips for Bloggers
Posted by Manthan in: backlinks How to SEO at 07:54
SEO, as you might have already know, is an acronym for search engine optimization. In the simplest of words, it's the way search engines like Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com and others present your page in users' search results on their sites.
Cool, how do they that?
Well, they do that via sophisticated software tools, called spiders. Consider the whole internet as an empty room, with air particles as websites. Now sneak a spider into that room. Each tiny step that this spider would take now is essentially crawling a website (as the room is dark and full of websites). This is how search engines crawl through the web picking up site after site, studying them and ranking them. This ranking is important, really important. A higher ranked website by Google will always be on the first page of Google's search results for a related query compared to a lower ranked one.
So, in order to get ranked higher, you and I need SEO. SEO is like black pepper without which fried egg might not taste 'that' tastier. In simple words, in order for search engines to find your site and rank it higher than others in your field, you need to optimize it. Let's see how with these 7 simple tips.
Also, don't forget to include keywords in your title and keep it under 70 characters (or search engines would crop it before looking).
So, write original, use keywords in scenarios instead of straying them around (like I didn't use SEO here, SEO there in every next line), use images where they suffice and make sure you name them properly to appear in image search results, i.e. an image with the "img009.jpg" name would never appear in the image search results but "tips_to_success.jpg" would. The best would be to use text content and wrap them proper in HTML tags like <H2></H2> etc. (search engines likes content this way). Also, make sure your blog post's length is somewhere between 300-500 words - crossing over is fine but lesser isn't.
Ideal is that once you have chosen your title (and included your keyword in it, as I have added keyword SEO in title above), use it in page URL, in your starting and ending paragraphs, as well as in article body where required without sounding awkward. Additionally, you may link it using anchor text to relevant resources in and out of site.
Nevertheless, it's important that you use your keywords in your meta-data. Some themes already do that for you, if they don't (you can check that using page source or using view source code from browser), don't sweat. You can use 3rd party plugins like All in One SEO Pack and Scribe.
Guest posting is another good approach for that. Comment on other sites, make friends with bloggers (best in business) and make them comment at yours. These tiny little things do matter a lot, resulting in enhanced SEO of your site.
Link out to other sites, networks and posts, or even to your previous posts (also called inbound or backlinks) using anchor element with keyword.
Or even better, make others to link in to you, via sharing your content on their sites or social media networks.
As stated above, an even outstanding strategy for building links is guest posting.
Are we done then? Well, trust me - your sites rating is in your hands, not in Google or Yahoo. SEO is just about doing things neatly and in a sophisticated manner. Walk your site these 7 steps for a quality SEO and you will witness the difference yourself at Google, if no place else.
Remember, code clean, write original, socialize... this is what SEO is all about!
Cool, how do they that?
Well, they do that via sophisticated software tools, called spiders. Consider the whole internet as an empty room, with air particles as websites. Now sneak a spider into that room. Each tiny step that this spider would take now is essentially crawling a website (as the room is dark and full of websites). This is how search engines crawl through the web picking up site after site, studying them and ranking them. This ranking is important, really important. A higher ranked website by Google will always be on the first page of Google's search results for a related query compared to a lower ranked one.
So, in order to get ranked higher, you and I need SEO. SEO is like black pepper without which fried egg might not taste 'that' tastier. In simple words, in order for search engines to find your site and rank it higher than others in your field, you need to optimize it. Let's see how with these 7 simple tips.
Ways to SEO Optimize your Blog
Before starting with our 7 simple tips for a quality SEO, it's important to broadly classify those tips into two basic areas, on the basis of origin:On-page Optimization
Refers to optimization of your actual web content including your HTML code, your text, as well as graphic content.Off-page optimization
Off-page optimization, however, deals with things like backlinks (hyperlinks pointing to you site from other websites, apps and networks).1. Create SEO Friendly Blog Post Titles
Post titles are important for SEO. They really are since they are deal makers or breakers. Whenever you write something, make sure you give proper attention to the post's title. Make your titles simple, intriguing, descriptive and gullible so that people may know what is this all about and what to expect. An even better approach is to wear searchers shoes while giving a title and think how would you Google it if you were looking for content like this.Also, don't forget to include keywords in your title and keep it under 70 characters (or search engines would crop it before looking).
2. Improve the quality of your content
If you think 'content' isn't important for SEO, think again! Your content is the most important part of your site. While writing, don't copy-paste from elsewhere, don't stuff it with keywords alone, don't bombard it with images and multimedia files and don't write any lesser than 300 words. These all would affect your ratings quite poorly.So, write original, use keywords in scenarios instead of straying them around (like I didn't use SEO here, SEO there in every next line), use images where they suffice and make sure you name them properly to appear in image search results, i.e. an image with the "img009.jpg" name would never appear in the image search results but "tips_to_success.jpg" would. The best would be to use text content and wrap them proper in HTML tags like <H2></H2> etc. (search engines likes content this way). Also, make sure your blog post's length is somewhere between 300-500 words - crossing over is fine but lesser isn't.
3. Keywords are keys
Keywords are terms that others may use to search for your content. While keywords are important for SEO, don't go on and stuff your site with keywords. This would make your content appear like a spam to spiders, who would neglect it henceforth.Ideal is that once you have chosen your title (and included your keyword in it, as I have added keyword SEO in title above), use it in page URL, in your starting and ending paragraphs, as well as in article body where required without sounding awkward. Additionally, you may link it using anchor text to relevant resources in and out of site.
Adding keyword in the post URL using Custom Permalink |
4. Meta-tags are important, but not 'that' much
If we had been living in early part of 21st century, meta tags might have done all the SEO for your site. Unluckily, we aren't. Google and other search engines have long left using meta-tags for finding site information. Hence, if someone tells you meta-tagging is all you need for your sites SEO, tell them it isn't.Nevertheless, it's important that you use your keywords in your meta-data. Some themes already do that for you, if they don't (you can check that using page source or using view source code from browser), don't sweat. You can use 3rd party plugins like All in One SEO Pack and Scribe.
5. Socialize!
Make others talk about your site and share your content on social media sites or their blogs. It gets even better if somehow sites with high ratings link back to your site. This makes spiders think that you are someone important that everyone these days is talking about, resulting in enhancing your ratings dramatically.Guest posting is another good approach for that. Comment on other sites, make friends with bloggers (best in business) and make them comment at yours. These tiny little things do matter a lot, resulting in enhanced SEO of your site.
6. Link in and Link-Out
Hyperlinks or Links are important from SEO perspective. You can use them to:Link out to other sites, networks and posts, or even to your previous posts (also called inbound or backlinks) using anchor element with keyword.
Or even better, make others to link in to you, via sharing your content on their sites or social media networks.
As stated above, an even outstanding strategy for building links is guest posting.
7. Write Often
Sites with new content every day, or twice thrice a week have still far better ratings than those who post every fortnight. A better incoming content frequency makes spider come to your site regularly, resulting in better ratings and enhanced SEO.Are we done then? Well, trust me - your sites rating is in your hands, not in Google or Yahoo. SEO is just about doing things neatly and in a sophisticated manner. Walk your site these 7 steps for a quality SEO and you will witness the difference yourself at Google, if no place else.
Remember, code clean, write original, socialize... this is what SEO is all about!