While advertising in Google Ads, marketers mostly meet ad disapprovals and the reasons will be extremely vague. To solve this concern, Google recently updated its policies for the Unavailable Videos Section of the Google Ads Technical Requirements Policy. The update explains additional reasons why a video ad may not serve and provides transparency for advertisers to understand what issues have arisen, why the ads aren’t showing, and how to resolve the issue.
Google has discussed four new examples of why a video ad may be disapproved.
Videos whose status is changed to “deleted” after submission
Videos whose status is changed to “private” after submission
Videos marked live premiere
Videos marked sponsors or members only
Google Ads allow marketers to create compelling video campaigns with a range of video ad formats such as – Skippable in-stream ads, Non-skippable in-stream ads, In-feed video ads, Bumper ads, Outstream ads, and Masthead ads. If video ads are not run properly, advertisers may lose revenue opportunities when ads aren’t running, it takes more time to dig deeper into potential ad disapproval reasons.
Unavailable videos update gives advertisers a clearer understanding of the disapproval reason and how to rectify the issue quickly.
Technical Requirements for Unavailable Videos
To help Google keep ads clear and functional, advertisers must meet certain technical requirements. Google has discussed what is not allowed, according to those requirements –
One website per ad group
It is not allowed to use more than one display URL domain in a single ad group
Unacceptable HTML5 ad
Advertisers are not allowed to use HTML5 ads that don’t function properly or appear blank
Account limits
The following is not allowed:
Exceeding account limits for ads and other content
Excessive submissions through multiple accounts
Campaign configuration that creates an undue burden on their systems
Until the excessive content is removed, advertisers may not be able to create any new campaigns, ads, or assets.
Unsupported language
Google won’t allow ad or destination content in an unsupported targeting language
Restricted Access Video
The following is not allowed:
Videos that are age-gated by YouTube
Videos subject to an IP claim initiated by YouTube or the content owner
Videos that are subject to YouTube content restrictions
Geo Restricted Video
Videos that are not available in a country that the ad targets are not allowed
Video Content Changed
Videos that changed after the ad unit was created are not allowed
Unacceptable video format
You can’t upload videos in a format that is not supported in Google Ads or YouTube
Unacceptable script
The following is not allowed:
Using Google Ads scripts to circumvent any restrictions or limits on usage of Google Ads, or using them for any other non-business-related purpose
Using unsupported methods to access the Google Ads scripts
Excessive or abusive use of scripts, including unreasonable request volumes
Scripts that modify, disrupt, or disable any features, performance, or functionality of the Google Ads platform
Failing to comply with best practices when using scripts to read data for more than 1 million entities(such as keywords or ads) or edit more than 100 thousand entities daily
Violation of Video Policies
To ensure a better and safe user experience, Google requires marketers to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in addition to the Google Ads policies. Google enforces policies and laws by –
disapproving ads until the policy violation is fixed and the ad is reviewed (Disapproval will be noted in the “Status” column)
suspending accounts without prior warning, if any violations of policies or the Terms and Conditions is noted
disabling remarketing lists that don’t follow the Personalized advertising policy
reviewing business for compliance with the Customer Match policy
Google has posted that “for repeat violations of a policy, we issue strikes to your Google ads account and penalties progressively increase with each subsequent strike leading up to account suspension.”
Google Ad Video Posting – Best Practices
Review the scripts for any abusive or excessive activity and edit them to comply with Google’s policies.
If videos can’t be converted to an accepted format, upload a different video that complies with the policy.
Once the video content has changed, consider recreating a new ad creative.
While posting, make sure that the video isn’t removed or marked private. If the video hosting service is down, consider uploading the video to YouTube.
To fix a disapproved ad, edit and re-submit your ad and check the appeal status
Concerned about creating error-free video ads? Take professional support from digital marketing outsourcing companies. At MedResponsive, we’re up to date with any Google updates including the unavailable videos policy. Talk to us at (800) 941-5527.
The website is the face of any business venture. Websites play an important part in the improvement of your business. However, sometimes your website may be able to serve only in a small region. If you want to expand your services internationally with the aim to gain international recognition to your business, you have to cross many hurdles. However, an experienced search engine optimization company can help you cross these hurdles via international SEO. Now, you might be thinking what international SEO is. Well, in short, international SEO is the process of optimizing your content for different countries. Now, let’s discuss international SEO in detail.
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In a word, we can say that international SEO provides global recognition to your website. It is the process of optimizing a website or blog that helps the search engine to identify the language you want to use in your website as well as the country you are targeting with a view to expand your business. It can otherwise be considered as the geolocation of SEO that optimizes websites to grab traffic by breaking the barriers of countries and languages.
However, when you are thinking about expanding your business on an international platform, always remember that each country has a unique SEO strategy for satisfying the needs of their audience. It helps your business to mark its presence in the global market.
Necessity of Going International
International SEO helps your website to gain international recognition. If you optimize websites on an international platform, it would help to improve website traffic as well as the visibility of the product. However, this is not an easy task. It involves risks, uncertainties and costs. In other words, if you consider international SEO as geotargeting, instead of optimizing your website to improve traffic from your country, it helps to optimize for different countries and languages.
For instance, Google is one of the giant software companies today with their headquarters located in the United States. However, it drives almost 92.96 percent of the global traffic from every nook and corner of this world.
Thus, international SEO satisfies the most important aspect of SEO, i.e. matching user intent. There are three factors you should consider when planning to internationalize your website. These include:
Country targeting or specifying the country you are planning to target in the international friendly URL structure.
Language targeting or establish specific language you want to use in your website using language tags
Create and maintain content in the language of your target users.
Principles of International SEO
Principles of international SEO are otherwise referred to as fundamental aspects of international SEO. The principles you need to know before going ahead with international SEO are as follows.
1) Regional Keywords
Each country has its own specific Google domain. Thus, if you select a keyword and conduct keyword research in two different domains, very often it would rank differently in those two places. This is because every region has its own language structure, expressions, vocabulary as well as information. As a result, the content design for a particular group of people might not be appealing to certain other groups. Thus, if your website wants to speak another language, create content in such a way as to satisfy the taste of the audience in that region.
Another factor to consider is that, the searching pattern would differ from region to region not only in terms of medium but also in terms of searching pattern.
2) Quality and Originality of the Content
Though we are talking about international SEO, maintaining the quality as well as originality of the content is mandatory as that of regular SEO. Always stay updated with local strategies that help you to identify the needs of your target users as well as factors that decide the quality of the content.
You can even use tools like Google Trends to finalize the topics for the content that are relevant to the present scenario. In addition, track the competition trending in the market, identify weak points as well as the possible opportunities for the growth of your brand.
These factors are common for both regular SEO and international SEO. Image Source:
3) Closely Watch Your Results
Like in every digital marketing strategy, the end results of your international SEO efforts should also be closely monitored and measured. It is a critical process for the growth of the business. Unlike ordinary SEO, international SEO needs a close analysis. Any event anywhere in the world would affect the results.
4) Mobile-friendly website
A mobile-friendly website is vital for the better performance and increased usability of the site.
5) Don’t Skip Hreflang Attribute
This factor makes international SEO stand out from the crowd. Hreflang are attributes that allow Google to identify the URL based on their language and geographic location. When you enter into the website, this feature allows you to reach the correct page.
How to Implement International SEO
Must have an understanding about the target market
Knowing the market you need to target is crucial. The criteria that determines the target market are not based on SEO factors. Understanding of the potential market would help to take your business to the next level.
Plan your technical approach
Before conducting keyword research, you must plan what technical approach you want to follow. A solid technical foundation is vital for the success of implementing international SEO. Here, in this step you need to consider certain factors. The factors include:
Each market requires a unique URL: In order to target a particular market effectively, you need to provide separate content for each landing page having a unique URL for each language. Google recommends using a dedicated URL as it allows crawling easily to discover, read as well as to index different versions of your content on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP).
Plan the structure of the URL: There are several options for you to consider when you are planning URL structure. These include ccTLD, subfolder, subdomain, parameterized URL and so on.
Creating content in multiple languages: For this, you should know the first language of the users of the country you are targeting. Thus, it is necessary to consider creating the same content in multiple languages to satisfy the users of different countries.
Install Content Delivery Network or CDN: If you start serving users for multiple countries, it’s crucial to implement Content Delivery Network. If users from abroad experience slow loading speed, it would result in poor rankings of your website. CDN helps to analyze the performance of your website, corrects areas where they perform poorly, and improves user experience.
Conduct Keyword Research
After setting the perfect foundation for the technical side, now it’s time to conduct keyword research. This step is recommended even if you roll out your website internationally in a single language. This is because the terminologies would vary from country to country even though you follow the same language. This would make an impact on potential customers who are searching for the services you are offering.
The search volume of keywords would differ from country to country. The factors affecting search volume include population and search demand.
Localizing and Optimizing Each Landing Page
Including a native person in your team would benefit you in localizing the content on your website. They can help to create local nuances and terminology that will create a positive impression on users. This is not only crucial for user experience but also for Google. This helps Google to choose content that is relevant to both the country and the language of the users to display on the SERP.
There are certain other factors like currencies, time zone, phone numbers and office address on the home page in addition to on-page copy and metadata.
Get Correct Internal Link
One of the common mistakes while rolling out international content is internally linking to the wrong version. This would lead the users to land on the wrong version as well as send conflicting signals to Google. Thus, you can provide the right navigation to switch back to the correct version that helps to retain your potential customers.
Assist Google to Identify the Correct Version
Google provides results on your search based on on-page signals. However, sometimes Google would be confused in understanding which page to serve for a particular market. You can implement hreflang and avoid geo-redirection to circumvent this issue.
Create Backlink Profile
Whether your website has a strong digital presence in the home market or not, it is necessary to create a backlink profile in the authoritative site not only within the home market but also in the target market. The backlink from highly authoritative sites differ from country to country. Thus, this final step helps your website to create its own identity in the international market.
Unique Considerations for International SEO
Unlike traditional SEO, international SEO has unique considerations. Let’s check one by one.
Target country
What do I want to focus on, country or language? It is a common question that pops up in the minds of many when they decide to go international. Well, Google favors targeting countries over language. If you go to Google webmaster tool, you have to designate your geographic target in the settings. However, many are unaware of the fact that you can create subfolders separately in the webmaster tool where you can designate different geographic targets. Mostly, you must register subdomains separately for a webmaster tool to recognize them.
However, if you use subfolders instead of ccTLDs and have many clients from different countries, then the tool recognizes language over country to avoid duplicate content issues.
ccTLD and Subfolder
ccTLD is considered as the best option for international SEO as each ccTLD is capable of building competitive links. However, if you just go internationally, a subfolder strategy is suitable for you as each language and country needs separate links and content. In the course of time, you have the choice to shift to ccTLD.
Include Local Content
Include local address as well as contact information. It is preferable to include them in machine-readable format. You can even add local stories, case studies, local clients and so on in this part of your website. You can customize content based on the taste of the native users that makes it more relevant, increases opportunities of local link building, and decreases the chance for content duplication. Image Source:
Language
Language plays an important role in the success of international content. From keywords to grammar, it makes a huge impact on the success of SEO. However, it is not recommended translating the content from one language to another to put in the ccTLD site, but it is recommended to perform language keyword research for targeting the best words and phrases.
If you are planning to introduce your business into the international market, approach an experienced provider outsourcing SEO services to upgrade your website to international standards.
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Regarded as a strong pillar of search engine optimization (SEO), keywords play a major role in targeting the audience or potential customers. Keywords are still very much part of the on-page optimization and content creation strategies and also help understand what users are searching for and optimize for those searches.
However, with the growing competition around core keywords that every SEO practitioner wants to target, Standalone broad keyword strategies belong to the past.In fact, Google’s growing focus on user experience and intent, alongside the rise of conversational search and applications such as voice search has made long tail SEO strategies more crucial than ever. Long tail keywords have been used by experts offering organic SEO services for a while now, and it still works. When used correctly, it can be a compelling way to take advantage of high-intent search traffic.
Earlier, searching for long tail keywords with low search volume was considered a complex and time-consuming task. However, according to ThinkwithGoogle- “The long tail could provide an untapped opportunity to connect with potential customers. Investing in these areas will help volumes grow.” In short, having a long-tail SEO strategy will help stay ahead of the competition.
What Are Long tail Keywords?
Focusing on long-tail keywords is a great SEO tactic. Long tail keywords are phrases that users only search a few times per month. In other words, they include all the terms that live in the extended section of the keyword graph. In simple terms, long-tail keywords are keywords or key phrases that are more specific (focused on a niche) and usually longer (three or more words long).
Typically, these keywords have low search volume, low competition, and high conversion rates. In fact, these keywords are called long tail because if you were to plot the keywords by their search volumes, these would be on the “long tail” end of the search demand curve, which means few people will be searching for these terms each month. They gradually bring in more traffic to a website and are found by new and motivated audiences.
This is because long tail keywords communicate a clear customer need that can be solved- means they are intent-driven. Upon understanding the search intent clearly, it is possible to create content that specifically addresses queries and converts. For instance, if a company sell kids’ sneakers, their primary keyword would be “kids’ sneakers.” However, there will be other relevant phrases that they can effectively target here. Even though these phrases may have lower search volume, rest assured that search intent will be clearer.
According to Backlinko’s analysis of 306 million keywords, about 91.8 percent of all search queries are long tail keywords. Here discussed are some key points that show the significance of long-tail keywords-
Low Competition-As long tail keywords are more specific to a business and their niche area, search volume is low and therefore they are much easier to rank. In addition, they account for almost 70 percent of all web searches. So, if they are not correctly focused as part of the SEO strategy, you could miss out massive opportunities to drive quality traffic.
Higher Conversion Rate– Long tail keywords attract higher conversions as people who use them know more about what they want. For instance, when a person searches for “kids’ sneakers online,” that person is more likely to purchase immediately as opposed to a person who searches for “kids’ sneakers.” Therefore, a little long tail keyword sleuthing will help discover the search intent. Upon identifying the search intent, you can identify the queries and other additional information that indicate the buyer’s intent. This knowledge can be used to usher highly qualified leads into the sales funnel and thereby complement the content marketing efforts.
Increases Content Visibility– When a user searches for long tail keywords, the results of modern Google searches are far more personalized. The search result may vary according to their location, age, sex, interests etc. This means two different users entering the same search term may see different results. Long tail keywords can help optimize a website for different categories of searchers as they are more specific.
Helps Optimize for Semantic, Conversational and Voice Search-Long tail keywords are an important part of optimizing for semantic search. Presently, more and more people tend to voice search daily. When these users query these platforms, they use long tail keyword phrases in a question pattern and command modes with a clear intent.They try to predict the intent behind naturally spoken and voice search questions so that answers about the business and services can be provided thereby targeting these long tail keyword phrases in a better manner. However, if high-converting long tail keywords are targeted even when search density is low, these keywords can still be incredibly valuable for a business.
SEO Benefits of Using Long Tail Keywords
Even though searchers rarely use specific long tail keywords, they can still play a role in the SEO strategy. Individually, low volume keyword variations don’t drive much traffic. However, collectively they can make a difference. Here listed are some of the top benefits of using long tail keywords for SEO-
HelpsRank for Short-tail Keywords– Often, long tail keywords already include the short keywords you likely want to rank for. This makes it easier to boost website ranking for both main keywords as well as the specific, targeted ones.
Optimizes Blog Strategy – One of the easiest ways for your website to start ranking is to create a blog. If you have no idea on how to start, long tail keywords can help as they can provide insights into what the audiences are searching for. This allows you to create valuable content that can address some of their pain points while utilizing said key phrases.
Personalizes Content – Long tail keywords comprise three or more words and usually contain descriptive words like gender, nationality, or geographical location. This can be used by creating different pieces of content that can support the various categories and services that the company offers. This helps to remain morefocused with the content strategy and reap the benefits of contextual marketing.
Get Ideas from Google Analytics – Keyword research for long tail terms is not so complicated as it is possible to get some ideas from web analytics service like Google Analytics. Combined with Google Search Console, it is possible to see the performance of chosen long tail keywords, such as search volume and conversion rates, which enables choosing the best ones for the defined SEO strategy.
Provide Additional Context for Google -In some cases, search terms are incredibly broad, especially those with definitional search intent. For instance, take a short-tail keyword like “content strategy,”. If someone searches that query, they may just want a simple definition. Or perhaps they want a more in-depth overview of the concept or want to learn how to develop a content strategy. The fact is that if you need to rank for a competitive term like that, then it is important to create very comprehensive content. Furthermore, adding more specific keywords into your copy gives search engines more context than if you repeat the same broad term throughout the page.
Satisfy More Diverse Search Queries – One of the benefits of long tail keywords is they match how consumers search across other mediums. In most cases, people use Google when they want answers. However, there are many different ways to search, including voice search, image search, text search, and Google’s Multi Search. Therefore, it is important to know how users search for information when you create your content. For instance, if they use voice search more often, then they probably use more long-tail keywords.
How to Find or Get Started Using Long tail Keywords
Identifying long tail keywords requires extensive keyword research. Here discussed are some key ways on how to get started using long tail keywords –
Prepare a List of Seed Keywords – Use a keyword planning tool to generate a list of seed keywords. However, try not to use Google AdWords. While this free tool is excellent for developing a list of commercial terms to target, it intentionally directs away from long tail terms with lower search volume, making it not very useful for SEO purposes.
Look at Google’s Autocomplete Suggestions – When we type keywords in the search bar, Google automatically suggests certain other keywords which users are likely to enter, based on the popularity of the query. Following the above example for “kids’ sneakers,” here’s an example of what Google’s suggestions look like-
Type each seed keyword into Google and write down its autocomplete suggestions.
Check Related Searches at the Bottom of the Page – Google suggests related searches at the end of the first page. A wide range of long tail keywords can be found at the bottom of the page and this helps to further understand what people are searching for. Here’s an example of related searches to “kids sneakers online.”
Add Potential Long-tail Keywords to the Target list – Group all the terms and get started to prepare the final list of keywords. In fact, several advancements in SEO technology have made this entire research step easy. The best programs will even sort through multiple search engines, and they may discover long tail keywords that have been overlooked. Certain other programs intuitively discover and sort through long tail keywords. Once a comprehensive list of all potential keywords is finalized, it is time to begin pruning the list. Clear out any terms that don’t clearly communicate user intent. After preparing the final list down to the strongest candidates, you can start optimizing pages and adding them to the content.
Be Careful about Keyword Cannibalism
One of the biggest mistakes you may make when using long tail keywords is creating separate pages for similar keyword variations that all have the same intent. In fact, this was the manner in which Google worked decades ago. However, now that approach will significantly affect rankings.
Grouping keywords can help avoid cannibalizing the page rankings and wasting time and resources on creating redundant content. Manually grouping keywords will not bring any efficient results. There are many SEO tools that automate the process. For instance, if two keywords return very similar URLs on the first page of Google, then group them into one piece of content. If they have different search intent, then create separate pages for each of those keywords.
The success of an SEO campaign is completely based on keyword selection.Using trending, long-tail keywords that resonate well with the target audiences help attract better search rankings, more qualified search traffic and remain par with the competition. So, investing in content writing services offered by digital marketing experts will provide guidance to select the keywords cautiously. It may take a significant amount of time to target the exact ones, but with patience, it is possible to reap big benefits.
Want to create content that can rank high in search engines for long tail keywords?We choose the right keywords your customers are searching online and those that are appropriate for your site.
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Businesses invest a lot of time, money, and resources in starting a new entrepreneurial venture with the expectation of a higher lead-to-buyer conversion rate to ensure the success of the business. Businesses need to master the art of turning window shoppers into consumers. With ecommerce marketing solutions that you can integrate into your company, you must create an appropriate strategy if you want to turn more window shoppers into potential customers.
“Window shopping” is acquiring a new meaning as the internet world seizes control of the retail experience in a significant way. Online window shoppers show some curiosity in the company or item but are not yet prepared to make a purchase. They might, however, intend to purchase in the future.
Understanding today’s window shopper requires marketers to understand the psychology of the consumers:
The variety of possibilities seriously detract them and they are prone to decision fatigue as a result.
Window shoppers go for shopping to compare merchandise with other companies.
Unlike when one is in a real store, a customer can be deterred from making a purchase by something as simple as the buzzer used to switch the laundry.
When considering problems with turning window shoppers into purchasers, online shopping cart abandonment is a great metric to consider. The average percentage of shopping cart abandonment in March 2021 alone was around 80%.
Brand standing: A consumer’s decision to purchase from a new brand is most strongly influenced by their level of brand trust, which is second only to price and accessibility. Reading negative reviews about a company or something as simple as a lack of brand recognition can turn a buyer off.
Pricing: Since price is the primary determinant of purchase decisions, buyers are likely to shop elsewhere when discounts and other financial incentives aren’t offered.
Shipping: Shipping must adhere to the two-day shipping standard. Transparency and honesty go a long way, and majority of brands lack the resources necessary to fulfil this standard. It is simple for a consumer to bounce if a delay policy cannot be found.
Life distractions: As we’ve already discussed, internet shoppers are prone to getting sidetracked by the items they’d like to research online or by their surroundings.
Payment problems: When a consumer reaches the payment page, bouncing can occur with anything as simple as entering their credit card information. For this reason, many businesses have resolved to use faster checkout processes like PayPal.
Five Ways to Turn Your Window Shoppers to Customers
Create micro-conversions.
Customers open themselves up to the brand when they respond “yes” to one step, which may be like:
A CTA that requests an email address or phone number in exchange for a discount on a product
Watching a marketing film may result in obtaining contact information, it is also helpful for introducing the buyer to the brand story.
Once you receive a “yes,” whether it be for an offering or entertainment, the chain is then opened up for additional yeses as the buyer experience develops.
There are several reasons why a buyer doesn’t convert, as we’ve already explained. You can take action in a number of ways by obtaining information about buyer complaints, including:
Retargeting on social media to reach a more precise audience to distribute the product
Using email or SMS to contact the customer and tailoring the message to their needs
Supplying consumers with beneficial material, like a blog post, to increase their interest in the brand
By sharing the brand’s history, you can invite customers to join the brand’s community.
Make it simple for people to use
Customers should be able to navigate your purchasing procedure as effortlessly as they would in a physical store. This entails designing your website so that customers can navigate it as easily as possible.
Website: From finding product information to completing the payment process without any problems
Customer service: Many companies fail to offer quick access to automated or human-assisted customer help.
Customers want the actual experience of testing items out, much like they can in physical shops, despite the fact that e-commerce is a virtual buying experience. Larger companies provide clients the chance to try on clothing for a predetermined amount of time, like Nike and Amazon. Customers are more likely to choose your brand over a rival that doesn’t offer this benefit if you have the resources to give them this option.
Don’t sell right away
These days, everyone is aware when they are being sold to, therefore your technique should focus on something amusing or instructive. A blog strategy or video series can be helpful in this situation.
Conversion and ROI creation are the ultimate objectives of every e-commerce website. It might be challenging for an online store, though. Offline merchants provide customers with a physical experience that, in some circumstances, can operate as a compelling factor. Online window shoppers frequent websites out of interest or instinct. You can use the above-mentioned strategies to turn window shoppers into devoted customers. To create an engaging approach that converts passersby into consumers, you can also get in touch with a reputable provider of ecommerce marketing solutions.
Are you looking for innovative strategies on how to rank your website on the top position in Google? While doing search engine optimization (SEO), there are several factors that may affect the ranking of a website and domain authority (DA) is one important factor. Domain Authority (DA) is a number (metric) that indicates the authority of a website.
In other words, the higher your domain authority, the greater will be the chances of ranking higher in search engine result pages (SERPs), attracting more quality referral traffic and boosting organic rankings. Even though it may be a time-intensive process, a solid and actionable strategy to increase domain authority is one of the best ways to achieve SEO success. Availing organic SEO services from a professional and experienced team can help increase domain authority.
What Is Domain Authority (DA)?
In simple terms, domain authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A DA score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank. DA score is calculated by analyzing multiple factors like linking root domains and the number of total links into a single domain authority score. However, it is important to note that domain authority predicts success, it doesn’t necessarily represent success.
The metric is not used by Google and boosting DA won’t automatically make a website rank higher in Google search results. In short, a website’s domain authority score will help determine the competitiveness in their niche area. This in turn will help choose keywords strategically.
For instance, let’s consider that a website’s DA score is 56. If a website is competing for a specific keyword against other websites with domain authorities between 39 and 47, a well-written blog post or a web page has a good chance of ranking. However, if you are competing against websites with domain authorities in the 80s range, it is important to target a different keyword.
Another aspect of looking at domain authority is that it shows the relevance of a website with respect to a specific industry or topic. In fact, the strength or authority of a domain can be witnessed in terms of rankings. However, there is a slight difference between domain authority and page authority. Domain authority tells your entire domains’ (and subdomains’) ranking strength, while page authority looks at the ranking ability of individual pages.
What Is a Good Domain Authority Score?
As mentioned above, domain authority scores range from 1 to 100. Generally, every website starts with the score one and slowly begins to climb the score ladder as it gains quality back links and popularity. In fact, a good domain score depends on the domain authority scores of your direct competitors.
There are several factors that go into calculating domain authority. But to give a clear idea, websites like Google, Apple or Microsoft will have a high DA (between 95 and 100). On the other hand, if it is a new website, then the DA will be low (between 10 to 20). In order to categorize what a good domain authority is, it is important to consider the below mentioned ranges –
Below 30 – Poor
Between 30 to 40 – Below average
Between 40 to 50 – Average
Between 50 to 60 – Good
Between 60 to 70 – Very good
Above 80 – Excellent
As DA helps predict a website’s performance in search results, it is important to use it for comparison with other websites in SERPs and then try to increase DA to rank higher.
How Is DA Score Calculated?
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When it comes to calculating domain authority, there are several factors that need to be considered. According to Moz, they calculate Domain Authority by taking into account a number of signals (40 in total) including –
MozRank – This involves counting the number of websites linking to a web page. It also looks at the quality of these websites that provide a website an inbound link.
Link Profile – This includes the number of internal and external links from the web page including its quality and relevancy. For instance, if your post links to high authority websites and also gets linked back by other reputable sites, then you would get a good score.
Root Domains – The number of unique backlinks is another important factor to consider. For instance, a website has 100 links but from a single website. This will be considered as 1 root domain. So, it’s important to get backlinks from different websites.
Trustworthiness of Websites – Another factor is trustworthiness of websites linking to a webpage. For instance, if you get a link from a university webpage, governmental site, or a large organization site then chances are that you will get a high score.
Site Structure and User-friendliness – For achieving a high DA, it is important to make sure that website structure is easy for search engines like Google for crawling through pages. In addition, it is important to provide a great user experience to website visitors.
Social Signals – This involves considering the popularity of your domain in social media networks or platforms.
Increasing a Website’s Domain Authority – Top Factors to Consider
When it comes to boosting a website’s domain authority, it is always a long-term strategy that tends to work practically. Here discussed are some important steps or strategies on how to practically increase a website’s domain authority (DA) –
Get the Basics Right – One of the basic steps is to make sure whether a website is set up properly. This means, optimizing on-page content, making sure whether the website loads quickly, and building a mobile-friendly site that is quite easy to surf on a phone or tablet. Here are a few tips to get the basics right –
Never neglect internal links as they help search engines like Google crawl and index content. Just make sure that the anchor text matches the page to which they are linked.
Test whether a website is mobile-friendly. Mobile-optimized sites offer better user experiences and increase the chances that the content will secure backlinks.
Ensure the loading speed of a website with PageSpeed Insights. Slow sites have high bounce rates, which is a big red flag to Google and the other search engines.
Build High-quality Backlinks – When it comes to calculating domain authority, high-quality backlinks are one of the important factors. The greater number of backlinks a website has, the higher will be the DA score. A study by Ahrefs reported that 55.24 percent of websites don’t get any organic traffic since they don’t have any backlinks. Therefore, it is important that a website needs high-quality back links from authority websites. It is important to keep the following things in mind when building high quality back links –
Create great content – Authoritative websites will only link to your content if it’s extraordinary. So, take considerable amount of time and create in-depth and top-quality blogs, videos, etc. Create multiple content types such as articles, lengthy guides, videos, infographics, podcasts, slides, and more.
Promote content – Simply building great content is not enough. It is equally important to boost the content by promoting it to your email list and social media followings.
Implement a link building strategy – Take a more proactive approach to link building. To do this, contact authoritative sites and ask them to link to your website.
Guest blogging – Guest blogging for reputable sites is a great way to build backlinks. Firstly, it is important to link to your own website in the content written. Secondly, there are possibilities that people who read the guest post may like it and check out your website for similar content, and then link to some of your posts.
Remove Low-quality Backlinks – In order to boost the domain authority score, it is crucial to secure high-quality links and eliminate low-quality ones. A quality link is one that comes from a reputable site. For instance, a link from the New York Times would be considered high-quality because the publisher is known and respected. Links from unknown, spammy websites, on the other hand, would be considered low quality. And, in some cases, it can even lead to a penalty from Google.
One of the easiest ways to eliminate low-quality links is to use a tool like SEMrush, which will help identify backlinks that harm your domain authority score. Audit the website site for toxic links and remove them as quickly as possible. This can be done by using different SEO tools that help identify harmful links by going through a complete link profile of a website. On the other hand, if it’s not possible to remove those links, Google Search Console can be used to disavow or ignore those links. As a result, Google’s crawlers won’t take into account any unnatural or spammy backlinks when indexing.
Optimize Website Structure and User Experience – The structure of a website and its user -friendliness are important factors that help determine DA. A properly structured website can make it possible for search engines to easily crawl web pages and index them on search results. To help search engine crawlers, create a sitemap in WordPress – that contains all the important pages and assists search engines to navigate easily through the website.
When it comes to improving a website’s user experience, it is important to optimize it for mobile. Also, make sure whether your website is safe. This can be done by getting SSL certificates and moving your site to HTTPS. Using the best WordPress security plugins like Sucuri, that offers many features like a web application firewall is also important factor that determine the safety of a website.
Build a Mobile-friendly Website – Building a mobile-friendly website is no longer optional but mandatory. Reports suggest that mobile searches are now more than desktop (about 60 percent). In fact, most users start their search on mobile and then continue on Desktop.
Therefore, not having a mobile-friendly version of website (or responsive website), can negatively impact the overall Domain Authority Score. For instance, if your website is not mobile-friendly yet, the best way to start is to go to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and run the test for your domain. Google will give a clear and precise report with recommendations on how to make a website mobile-ready.
Improve Website Loading Speed – Improving the loading speed of a webpage will not only improve the overall rankings and domain authority but it will make the user experience better resulting in more sales, leads, and signups. As per reports, about 40 percent of shoppers will wait no more than three seconds before abandoning a retail or travel website. However, it is always not easy to tackle the page speed issue as there are several technical elements involved. In order to increase the loading speed of a website, it is important to consider the following elements –
Remove unnecessary plugins
Upgrade WordPress (and plugins) to their latest versions
Use a streaming service (like YouTube) for videos
Use a CDN (content delivery network) in case of big CSS files and many images
Use a caching plugin (such as wp-rocket)
Optimize the file size of images
Increase Social Signals – There is a clear correlation between pages that rank high on Google and social signals. Pages that are popular in Google tend to have many likes, shares, and tweets. In order to increase social signals and domain authority focus on certain aspects like –
Work on Facebook business page and try to increase the number of followers
Make sure to have an active social media presence in some of the social networks so that the content shared will get some traction (likes, tweets, etc.)
Check whether the content looks good when shared using the social sharing buttons
Focus on Technical SEO – If the technical SEO aspect of a website is not correct, then this can create a huge impact on the Domain authority and rankings. Here listed are some of the top SEO settings that need to be checked –
Register the website with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster tools
Create and optimize XML sitemap and submit it to Google
Have a properly defined breadcrumb menu on all pages
Consider migrating website to HTTPS
Check robots.txt settings and use Fetch as Google to ensure that Google and other search engine spiders can crawl through the website without problems.
Add structured data (schema) information to help search engines understand the context of the content published
Use hreflang (in case you have a multilingual website)
Domain authority is an important marketing metric as it can help build a strong SEO strategy that propels a website forward. However, never ever be too much obsessed about the domain authority score as it is just a number that shows how strong the domain is. A low DA score does not mean that a website won’t perform well on Google. On the other hand, a high DA score signifies that a website is on the right path, but it does not guarantee that it will get higher rankings or traffic; rather it’s just a prediction.
In short, increasing the domain authority of a website is not something that can be done overnight. Working systematically on improving Google rankings will also have a positive effect on the website domain authority score. As earning high DA score can improve a website’s ranking, it is important to partner with a search engine optimization company that follows an ethical approach and has competency in the relevant field. Reputable SEO service providers provide customized DA building strategies that help provide high-value SEO results in the long run.
