Best of Austin

Star Trek star and internet icon has stories and wisdom to share from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2HEuBxO via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2w8mFUn

City Manager Spencer Cronk to make announcement Monday from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2r9narn via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2Fuz3gz

Over the years we’ve seen the importance of the humble business listing change. While citations were once considered key link sources and their accuracy a contributing ranking factor for local search, today their impact has waned somewhat. However, as Moz’s most recent Local Search Ranking Factors survey found, NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) details in business listings and online directories are still considered fourth most important for ranking in the local pack and fifth most important in localized organic rankings. But not everything is about rankings: accurate citations are still a foundation tactic for any business, as they increase online visibility by placing businesses in the listings and directories in which potential customers are looking for them. That’s if they are accurate. What happens if they’re not? Recent research by BrightLocal, in the Local Citations Trust Report 2018 , sought to answer this question by polling 1000 US consumers on how they feel and behave ...

Google’s mobile-first index is here, causing fresh uncertainty about potential SEO impacts – but there are a number of proactive steps to take to manage risk and maximize ranking opportunities. Rather than passively wait to feel the impact of the shift to mobile-first indexation, we advise companies to take six specific actions to prepare for opportunities and protect site performance as the mobile-first index is rolled out throughout 2018. Brands that have been prioritizing mobile performance shouldn’t experience a negative impact from the mobile-first index, but an honest and systematic re-evaluation is required. Companies who have allowed the mobile and desktop experience to diverge over the years will likely experience change – rankings could be lost (or gained) as a result of the switch. Before diving in and making changes to prepare for the mobile-first index, we recommend running a full audit of current desktop and mobile rankings in all the regions your company does busine...

Weather’s lovely, isn’t it? Just right for going out into the city. from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2KfYDcY via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2HT0zcM

When pitching to new clients, business is rarely won based on the ability to tactically execute. It’s usually talking about how we will use data, or be able to deliver better than our competitors with whatever the latest thing might be. There is nothing wrong with that approach, as you would expect that any agency worth their salt would know best practices. However, all too often best practices are overlooked. The most effective change that can be made when taking over a new campaign–and even after managing for a while–is revisiting campaign structure. This might be the most basic detail of all, but it is critically important. Google rewards relevancy As you know, Google changed the game when it introduced Quality Score into the bidding equation, and this remains a huge factor today. If you consider that you can’t control the number of advertisers in the auction, and you can’t stop someone from having deeper pockets than you, then how can you beat them? Quality Score. Quality Score...

The High Cost of Austin Shutters Another Community Venue from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2HqU0Pr via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2HuJNNS

Preeminent Austin Music Awards winner teases new LP from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2FgaaVK via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2KbbvRo

In the run up to the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), new data shows that 86.5% of WordPress websites in the UK are vulnerable to known hackable exploits. With GDPR now only a month away, businesses across Europe are gearing up for what will potentially be one of the biggest shifts in data privacy laws since the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act. Businesses will face fines of up to €20 million if they do not comply with new legislation and processes, that ultimately put users in control of who, how, and where their personal data is stored. A key part of GDPR is the business’ responsibility to secure customer data and websites to prevent data breaches, phishing, and other forms of malicious online activity. Estimates show that WordPress is used by 25–40% of the internet, depending on which source you read, and given its widespread popularity and usage, it is a prime target for hackers. A recent research study conducted by cybersecurity monitoring platform CyberScanner , they scanne...

There is no denying that the existence of an appropriate website is justified primarily by its loading speed: the faster, the better. Forty-seven percent of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less, which is quite a task to accomplish as a new website owner. Interestingly, even a single second of delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions, and Google’s algorithms favour fast-loading websites in the form of search engine rankings. With so much at stake with regard to your website’s loading time, the pain is real. So, how does one make sure that WordPress websites are fast to load? Caching is an efficient solution Caching serves the purpose of creating and keeping a static version of your website and serving it to a requesting visitor when they access your website for the second time or more. It enhances your site’s user experience by swiftly presenting the static version without any delay. This delay, otherwise, is simply caused when a visit...

Charter a bus and hit the streets from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2HVpOsK via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2HUrIKc

  If you are doing paid search, paid social or SEO, and are not optimizing your conversions, you might be leaving money on the table. Here is a true story shared by Momoko Price , partner at Kantan Designs: a company was investing thousands of dollars a month into PPC campaigns but wasn’t optimizing or even tracking on-site conversions. The AdWords department was focusing on getting clicks without any insight into whether or not they were getting leads . Back-of-the-napkin calculations showed that the average cost per acquisition (CPA) was $1,100. The estimated customer lifetime value was $1200. You can do the math. This is an extreme case, but the truth is, if you don’t have a page that converts, you end up just paying for clicks instead of conversions. CRO can help you get more from your advertising dollars. How to get a higher return on paid search with CRO 1. Use CRO to improve the landing page experience and turn more visitors into customers When we make the landing pa...

Austin Reggae Festival, and more if you’re not too high from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2qTbEAr via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2qSCaL5

Everyone loves to eat out right? from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2Je3nyz via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2J8oHFi

In glorious addition to Fusebox and Moontower, of course from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2qLY968 via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2qNEX7W

The trouble with gun safety. (Pssst: It’s not much trouble at all.) from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2HFFCCo via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2vsuQdH

If you have launched a new website, updated a single page on your existing domain, or altered many pages and/or the structure of your site, you will likely want Google to display your latest content in its SERPs. Google’s crawlers are pretty good at their job. If you think of a new article on a big domain, for example, the search engine will crawl and index any changes pretty quickly thanks to the natural traffic and links from around the web which will alert its algorithms to this new content. For most sites, however, it is good practice to give Google a little assistance with its indexing job. Each of the following official Google tools can achieve this. And each are more or less suitable depending on whether you want Google to recrawl a single or page or more of your site. It is also important to note two things before we start: None of these tools can force Google to start indexing your site immediately. You do have to be patient Quicker and more comprehensive indexing of yo...

When expanding internationally, there is common misconception that SEO, and in particular technical SEO, should be done once the website has been built. However, by implementing any SEO recommendations after a website has been translated, there could be extensive rework which will delay a website launch and impact on budgets. There are also some aspects in a site’s infrastructure that are essential to optimize in advance to avoid extensive rework later. So, how do you go about building this into the translation process? The old approach to translation For a while now, companies have been aware of the need for a local language website when targeting new global markets. Back in 2014 a Common Sense Advisory report stated “75% [of web visitors] prefer to buy products in their native language. In addition, 60% rarely or never buy from English-only websites.” Competing in global markets with a non-translated website is no longer seen as a viable option if a company wants to compete again...

When and where you can give feedback on the land use code rewrite from The Austin Chronicle – Daily https://ift.tt/2vnAwpq via Austin Statesman from WordPress https://ift.tt/2JSlD1v

When taking a website international, one of the most important technical SEO elements to get right is the Hreflang tag. When you add into this process the unique challenges of managing an e-commerce website such as seasonal changes of products and stock availability this process can increase in complexity. At this month’s BrightonSEO I’ll be covering this in more detail but here’s a teaser of what I’ll be talking about. Why are Hreflang tags so important? Hreflang tags help search engines understand which version of your content to show to which audience. Google has been moving away from relying on ccTLDs as the main indicator of location. Instead it is making decisions on serving content, based on user settings of location and language, thus increasing the importance of the Hreflang tag. Anyone who has taken a well-established brand international will have tales of the original high authority site appearing in the search results in their new international market. What are the mos...

SEO mistakes can be easy to make, especially when you’re just starting out – either as a new SEO, or as a fledgling business. By being keenly aware of specific pitfalls that new businesses and SEO rookies can fall into when attempting to optimize their site and their content, you can steer clear of the most common mistakes and oversights, implement best practices, and fast track your search visibility success. Here are eight missteps you’ll want to avoid: 1) Not starting SEO sooner Businesses can (and too often do) invest years creating compelling content that is exactly what its target audience is looking for. However, even the best content won’t do much good if its intended audience can’t find it or doesn’t know it exists. Engaging in SEO to ensure that content is visible and prominent – not buried beneath other search results – can be as critical to success as the content itself. Smaller businesses in particular tend to prioritize content creation over SEO strategy, b...