5 Lessons I Learned from My Master’s at Queen’s University (MMIE)

5 Lessons I Learned from My Master’s at Smith School of Business

Master’s in Management Innovation and Entrepreneurship Life Lessons

Fourteen months back, I got accepted into Queens’ school of business as part of the 2021 cohort at Smith’s School of Business. The master’s I was accepted in was the Master’s in Management Innovation and Entrepreneurship, aka MMIE.

My intention was simple, I work in a mishmash of corporate and entrepreneurial environments, and I wanted to ensure that I was aligned with the actual best practices.

And at the end of the day, I wanted to bring value to myself and in turn bring value to my clients, my company, and my job.

Here are the 5 lessons I learned from my master’s at Queens

 

  1. If it worked, it doesn’t mean that is the right way.

As a university instructor and marketer with 12 years of experience, with a proven record, I rarely get the ‘I don’t agree with you’, or ‘I don’t think this is going to work’.

Most of the time, I am in control of the situation I am in and rarely enter any room unprepared or without a plan. Partly out of habit and partly that I don’t want to be caught off guard.

I wish that was the case when you are a student. I was in that case in my masters. I got to learn very early on a very important message, if it works for me that doesn’t make it right.

The way I structure my time for example, for the longest time ever, I assumed that I was exceptional at it. Entering MMIE, I realized that I am missing out on a wide array of best practices, and after applying these learnings to my life and business, I was able to have more time for more projects and for myself.

Another example is teamwork, which I will discuss in my second point.

  1. Team contracts and team structure are very important.

Early on in my master’s, I met my first team. I must admit I felt I was losing control over my grade and my time. The reason I say this is because I was concerned that my grade would be impacted by other people in the team, and I was also worried that my time would not be respected the way I respect it.

That said, one of the exceptional directors of the program came in with a team contract, and that was the first time I had ever seen one.

If you have never seen one, a team contract specifies early on the terms and conditions under which the teams will work, specifying the roles, responsibilities, timing, process, meetings and much more.

Jaw drop, this exists. After going through the process of setting it up, the team and I were able to go through a smooth semester, working over 3 projects across 3 different courses and getting A’s.

That said, even with a team contract, I was feeling a bit lost, a bit like I was still losing control.

This leads me to my third learning.

  1. What I bring to the table is not my skill. It is who I am.

I still felt that I was not fully in control even with the team contract, so I knew that it had nothing to do with other team members, it had to do with me. I knew that I needed to work on myself.

So I went with that question, that fear, that insecurity in my life to my spiritual coach, Eden. I briefed her on what I was going through and she said, ‘I understand’! Here is what I want you to do for our next session.

I want you to come back to me with a list of things that you bring to the team. Directly in the back of my three-dimensional brain, I thought of course, I have a lot of these. LOL.

I came back a week later with a list and it went like this:

  • Analytics and data
  • Marketing and SEO
  • Digital marketing
  • Content writing
  • Analytical thinking
  • Strategy
  • Education
  • Communication

Eden looked at the list and asked, “yeah, but what do you bring to the table?”.

And me being me, I said, “I just told you.”

She said, “these points belong on your LinkedIn, not in here”.

What you bring to the table as Tarek is beyond the set of skills that you have learned, and she listed a few personal values, soft values along the lines of honesty, respect, reciprocity, fairness, etc.…

Honestly, it was a tough pill to swallow, as most of my life, I associated my self-worth with what I can do, rather than who I am as a human being.

So again, no matter who you are, your true value is who you are underneath and not your job title or your LinkedIn endorsements.

  1. Balance & tough choices

Life is full of tough decisions. I am not going to lie, a year with a master’s, consulting, and lecturing at three universities is no walk in the park.

I always believed that I could take on any challenge and still do. But sometimes we must remind ourselves that we are humans, and as important as work and education might be, our health comes first.

As part of the programs, I saw some of my brave classmates quit their full-time jobs and commit fully to the program, and if I can quote some of these excellent people; Shehzad, told me: ‘Tarek, I can’t be in 2 places at the same time, I paid to be here, I chose to be here, and if I fail to give this degree the time it deserves, then I will fail to experience it for what it is.’

That hit home for me. A week later he quit his job and I saw him grow to become one of the most involved students in the program, and eventually graduated with flying colours.

We all are meant to make a decision, a tough one once in a while and from what I learned in this master’s, the best decision you can make is the one that feels right for you, and the one that will bring the best you forward.

  1. A failure resume.

At the end of the master’s program, we were asked to write a failure resume. If you don’t know what it is, well it is a resume where you address what you failed to do or what you failed at. It was an exercise to give us perspective on our growth and our wins.

As I didn’t run out of things to write about when it came to my failures, and what I could have improved, I realized that failure is the best thing that could have happened to us. The idea of accepting failure is the best way to actually succeeding.

And while writing all these down, I was surprised to realize that this path of different failures led us to the final project that we had to deliver, which in my case was starting my own online University runiversity.ca.

 Our failures list looked something like this:

  • Promoting too early
  • Choosing the wrong platform
  • Not understanding our niche
  • Spending too much time on the product rather than on the research

Result: An online university with hundreds of students.

Truth is that failure prepares us. If we give up before our success, then we are not ready anyway. And that is just fine.

I am grateful I got to give up my instructor seat to stand as a student, and I will be doing it again in 2022. I will be going back for another master’s.

I was lucky to have great professors, good coaches, humbling struggles, and brilliant partners.

As I look into whatever the next step life might bring forward, I will use what brought me here and be open to what I will be learning to bring me to where I need to be in the future.

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What You Need to Know Before Using Google Analytics

An Introduction to Google Analytics

Analytics matters, what it can do for you, why it’s critical for business success, etc. Now it’s time to get critical.

What exactly is Google Analytics and how do you get all that amazing data out of it?

Let’s dive in.

To start, here are 3 acronyms to remember:

  • GA = Google Analytics
  • SEO = Search Engine Optimization
  • SEM/Paid Search = Search Engine Marketing

Before I go any further, I’ll include a side note for anyone who’s reading this book to learn how to stalk or otherwise mine personal data: Google Analytics doesn’t track personal information. What it gathers is known as non-PII data, which stands for non personally identifiable information. So, when I say that GA can tell you where your visitors live, what that means is that it can give you the breakdown of geographical information. For example, it can tell you that in July, 17% of your website traffic originated from the New York City area. It cannot tell you the names, addresses or any other potentially identifiable information about your visitors.

So, what is Google Analytics?

It is a free website analytics service created by Google, following the acquisition of a company called Urchin in November 2005. It gives insight into how users find and use your website, as well as non-PII demographic information.

As of this writing, GA is the most used web analytics tool in the world.  With GA, you can track ROI for your online marketing and gather intel to effectively boost the ROI of future campaigns. The building blocks of GA reports are dimensions and metrics. Dimensions are the attributes of your data and metrics are the quantitative measurements for those dimensions. The main reason that Google Analytics is so popular is because it is a state-of-the-art tool. It is also, as of this writing, absolutely free, and when it comes to functionality, it can track almost anything that is connected to the internet, from eCommerce platforms, to mobile apps, to POS systems and beyond. It is also incredibly user-friendly and compatible with multiple other Google tools.

What You Need to Know Before Using Google Analytics

Like nearly everything else in life, GA requires you to have a Google Gmail account (which is also free). So make sure that you have that before you start.

Once you’ve got your Gmail account and have created your GA account, note that GA will only be able to track pages that have the GA tracking code embedded in them. If you want to track your whole website, every single page will need to have the code embedded. This is very easy to do and there are many tutorials to be found online. If you have a website administrator, it’s something they should be able to do within minutes. It should also be set up so that anytime a new page is created (a new blog post or landing page, for example), the GA code is automatically embedded in that new page. This, too, is very simple to do, and we’ll get to the how-to shortly.

To learn more about Google Analytics and Web Analytics.

Get your copy of https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Capitalizing-Analytics-Approach-Beginners-ebook/dp/B07QKPY4K3

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Top 5 Digital Marketing Books For Beginners

5 Must-Read Digital Marketing Books for Beginners

We are currently experiencing technology moving faster than it ever has before and with this current phenomenon comes some changes. The technological change applies to almost every field possible. One field, in particular, that is seeing some big changes in the marketing department. More specifically, In the sense that companies are starting to notice the importance of having a strong digital marketing team. The power of analytics, social media, SEO (search engine optimization)  and SEM (search engine marketing), for example, is something that companies cannot simply ignore anymore. Digital marketing is an up and coming profession and now is your chance to get ahead of the crowd and start to gain some knowledge on the field. Below we will list our five favourite digital marketing books you can get today to start you off. These books are all from people with experience in the field, focusing on different things to make a successful digital marketer, so you are in good hands. Whether you are a newcomer or an experienced professional looking to digitally upscale yourselves, look no further and help yourself get informed with these 5 great books.

 

  1. The SEO Way: A beginners guide to search engine optimization by Tarek Riman

Tarek has a plethora of experience within the digital marketing world and has worked with many different businesses varying from small companies to fortune 500’s. His book is meant for you to be able to actually understand SEO and be able to apply it to the situations you are faced with on an average day. The SEO Way is thoughtfully designed to help a majority of people, whether you are a student, a startup, beginner or even a marketing professional. The book highlights the power of SEO and how to wield it and use it correctly. It is an essential manual for anyone looking to grow their SEO prowess and more importantly how to maintain it.  The book offers authentic and unique first-hand experiences and practices that are currently being done out there in the real world, which makes it a truly authentic read.

Get it at https://www.amazon.ca/SEO-Way-Beginners-Search-Optimization/dp/1073695166/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+seo+way&qid=1586997147&sr=8-1

  1. Digital Marketing for Beginners 2020 by Chandler Miller & Donald Preace

As stated in the title of the book, Oliver provides a great all-around introduction to Digital Marketing. It offers an entry-level overview experience for those who are looking to get into digital marketing but don’t know where to start. It really highlights what exactly a digital marketer does and how you have to think to be a successful one. The book also includes tips and tricks to effectively grow a personal or business brand digitally. They also go over different platforms you can/should use to maximize your chances of success which should give beginners a good grasp on how to start your journey on the digital marketing path.

Get it at:https://www.amazon.ca/DIGITAL-MARKETING-BEGINNERS-2020-ANALYTICS/dp/1086530403/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1586997168&sr=8-1

 

  1. Faster, Smarter, Louder by Aaron Agius & Gián Clancey

Faster, Smarter, Louder really stresses the importance of a marriage between a strong business and an equally strong presence on social media. This duo has seen some big success in their lives and are leaders in the digital marketing world. Like Tarek’s book, this book really likes to emphasize that as much as you can put efforts into Adwords and SEO for example that you really need to provide your clients with a human approach to provide them a unique, valuable and effective product. This way of business really takes it back to the roots of the business and explains how having a strong reputation and credibility really drives in online traffic. Just like most users trust Google as our main search engines, Aaron and Gián believe that an audience works psychologically and uses what is practical for them. They truly believe that being authentic is the key to success. This is a smart book to pick up to really tune in on what your customers are looking for when it comes to choosing a product.

Get it at https://www.amazon.ca/Faster-Smarter-Louder-Attention-Digital/dp/154451185X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1586997192&sr=8-1

  1. Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers by Jay Baer

As social media is an integral part of the whole digital marketing blueprint it naturally comes with its fair share of negative comments. It doesn’t matter how good your service or product may be, there will always be people who complain for a various amount of reasons. The book describes how to best deal with the complaints using real-life case studies and Jay’s personal experiences. Jay keeps his book entertaining and truly educational to those looking to improve their social media game. The books meat and potatoes are really on how to use these negative complaints to your advantage and to not just ignore them just because they are negative. Especially with the world we live in where we can receive negative complaints anywhere and anytime, it is an important book to have in your library because of impactful negative comments can be to any business, and being able to deal with them correctly is half the battle.

Get it at: https://www.amazon.ca/Hug-Your-Haters-Complaints-Customers/dp/1101980672/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1586997222&sr=8-1

  1. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

Continuing on the focus of social media and general content this book follows a simple boxing technique that you should use when creating and putting out content for your audience. In this context Jab Jab Jab right hook basically means to drip out easily readable small content so people stay engaged (jabs) and then deliver with a big post (the right hook) to tie it all together with ideally your customer completing a sale. The book tries to steer people who view social media as a way of distribution instead of the ability to create a story that creates better engagement and conversations with consumers. The book adheres to the saying that “less is more” which is especially true when it comes to social media. As every business’s goal is to make a profit Gary smartly helps you out in advising you in the importance of creating engaging content that is different and more relevant than your competition. This book is an accessible tool that can help any digital marketer out when it comes to how to organize effective social media posts that will outclass your competition.

Get it at https://www.amazon.ca/Jab-Right-Hook-Story-Social/dp/006227306X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1586997235&sr=8-1

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10 rules to having a successful website

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What makes a quality website? What brings quality results?

Whenever I start working with a client, I can almost guarantee that the biggest hurdle standing between them and the results they want, is the quality of their website.

The conversation usually starts by “Tarek, we did SEO and it didn’t work, We did SEM and it didn’t work, we did social media and that didn’t work, can you help?”

My answer is almost always, I need to have a bigger picture, I need to understand what you have done, audit your campaigns, your site, user behaviour, speed, performance. After I do so 90% of the time I come back with an action plan, and almost always on the top of the list is the website.

I start the conversation, by saying that we can’t fix an issue by throwing money on it, we need to address it heads on, and this is what I usually do.

As a web developer and a marketer myself, I am able to link the marketing with development aspects of websites, which tends to be very helpful for the client, in phases of redesign, development, etc…

After running into this situation with multiple clients, I realized that it is best to put together 10 points that clients should remember when building a site, migrating a site, or redesigning one.

  1. Speed and performance matter, they matter not only from a user experience standpoint but also from an SEO standpoint.
  2. User flow is extremely important, a website should be easy to navigate and easy to flow through. Make sure that you are interlinking properly on the site, make sure that all the pages that you want your visitors to see are one click away.
  3. Content is very important, avoid having weak and thin content pages. You are here to make an impression and show value and the best way you can do so is by providing an abundant amount of content. Fact: the number of words on the highest-ranking pages on Google is 2000+.
  4. Websites are like cars, and are like our bodies, if we don’t constantly maintain them they will get broken, and eventually out of service. Always maintain your site. I tend to update and fix my client’s websites on a biweekly basis.
  5. Constantly update the content, having fresh content is valuable for users and search engines. The fresher your content the higher your chance of ranking and converting.
  6. Time on site is very important, when you are building your site always ask yourself if you would read the page you are creating, ask yourself if you would stay on the site for more than 2 minutes if you saw it for the first time.
  7. Value, always think value. If you are not answering a client’s question or bringing them value, then why would they trust you. I insist on embedding Q&As and FAQs on almost every page of my client’s site, which allows them to should up on top of search results.
  8. Get a good server, all my client’s sites are on dedicated servers. The advantages are massive, from speed to security to performance and peace of mind.
  9. Security matters more than ever, always watch your site’s security and performance, always update your site. This is important now more than ever. I tend to run security updates every week for all the sites I manage.
  10. Think holistic, never think that social media alone works or SEO alone works. Marketing is holistic, make sure that you are doing your best and driving traffic from all fronts.

I hope this list will help you in updating our site and improving its performance on all fronts.

If you have questions or are interested in learning more, let’s have a chat. t@rimanagency.com

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Best SEO books for 2021

Top Search Engine Optimization Books for 2021

The internet is such a competitive space, and it continuously keeps on growing and changing at an unprecedented rate. One of the best ways to remain competitive and relevant online is to have your site or web property optimized so that they can show up on the front page of Google for potential visitors to engage with.

A mistake that so many big companies, small businesses and individuals make is not putting importance on their SEO efforts. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is crucial to a site’s performance, ultimately a significant deciding factor in any website’s success.

Without further ado, let’s leave it to the industry experts to lead you on the right path to the power and importance of SEO. Our ten recommendations were selected to help any individual get your website to the front page of Google using all the latest tools and tricks to help you on your journey.

1. The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization by Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer and Jessie Stricchiola

Dubbed as the SEO Bible, The Art of SEO provides a complete roadmap for you to plan and execute your SEO strategy. Led by three SEO pros, the book includes the latest updates on SEO tools, tactics and different ranking methods that have been implemented in the SEO landscape. If you’re new to SEO, this book provides an A to Z experience, while experts will be able to use the book if they need references for their day-to-day operations.

Check it out here!

2. SEO for Growth by John Jantsch and Phil Singleton

SEO for growth takes you on a journey explaining the overview of SEO and how different aspects such as algorithms and design changes impact your SEO. The book’s goal is to help you think the way Google does in order to put you in the most optimal mindset for you to really understand how it operates so that you can optimize your SEO strategies.

The book also  teaches you the best strategies and techniques you can use at every stage of the business providing you with an excellent link between your customers and your business to best serve everyone involved. As the name would suggest, the book wants to use SEO for growth, whether it is trying to gain new clients or even how to retain them once they are past the purchase phase.

The book truly excels in providing great value if you are a small business looking to transition to the digital age or a digital marketer looking how to provide expert advice to your online clients.

Check it out here!

3. The SEO Way: Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization by Tarek Riman

Tarek Riman designed The SEO way to help better equip start-ups, students, companies, beinggers, marketers and entrepreneurs to get a better grasp as to how to use SEO to help grow their businesses and bring irreplaceable value to any of their customers in the future.

The SEO Way provides a collection of the latest strategies, tactics and best practices that are being used by some of the biggest and best companies out there in an ingestible way that anybody can apply to their own business.

The book stresses the importance of making a meaningful impact on every part of your website because if you dont you will get left behind, not only from an SEO point of view but also by your customers.

Which is why the book is there to make sure you don’t fall short. It provides users with the industry standard tools and know-how to be successful and impactful. Ranging from technical details to the overall approach, you will learn how to get the nuts and bolts of your web properties in top shape, and how to create marketing and business strategies that continually grow your SEO strength for long term results.

Check it out here!

4. SEO For Dummies by Peter Kent

The For Dummies series is always a low effort, impactful introduction to various topics, and this SEO edition is no exception. Like many of its predecessors, the book aims to teach you the extreme basics in a friendly and easily understandable way.

SEO for Dummies is designed with website owners, developers and digital marketers in mind. It provides the ability to create websites that rank at the top of search engines, providing a high volume of traffic.

It provides value to its readers by teaching them how to fully use SEO to its fullest all the while being with you every step of the way in how to not only effectively use your SEO but other steps that sometimes get missed by other books such as registering your site to directories and indexes for example.

The book is an excellent introduction to SEO and is there for people with no previous knowledge, and provides you with a strong foundation for you to move further in your SEO expeditions.

Check it out here!

 

5. How To Get To The Top Of Google in 2021 by Tim Cameron Kitchen

If you’re looking to make an impact online, this is the book for you. Tim has updated his book to provide his readers with the latest tools, tips and tricks to get to the front page of Google. He promotes his book as a no-nonsense guide to SEO for newcomers and seasoned professionals alike. He aims to provide straightforward and to-the-point advice using various techniques and strategies to maximize your efforts.

The book is divided into 4 sections: The Foundations, Your Website, Promoting Your Website and Designing your SEO Strategy. Each chapter clearly outlines what you will be learning and delivers the info clearly and concisely, making it an approachable entry for anyone who doesn’t want to be bogged down by additional fluff and get into the meat of things.

Check it out here!

6. SEO Fitness Workbook: Search Engine Optimization Success in Seven Steps by Jason McDonald

Jason McDonald is an SEO expert who teaches at Stanford, repurposing his digital marketing course content into an easy-to-understand workbook. Updated for 2021, the goal of his book is to teach you SEO Step by Step while you use the worksheets he provides to guide you through any ambiguity in the SEO world.

Learn the basics of optimizing your website, learning how to link build, effectively use Google Analytics, and various other tools at your disposal.

Check it out here!

7. SEO 2021: Learn Search Engine Optimization with Smart Internet Marketing Strategies by Adam Clarke

A very informative book written in plain English so even the uninformed can quickly grasp the information reported. This book will help you learn SEO whether you are a beginner or are a pro in the field.

The book teaches you to optimize your SEO based on how some of the most prominent websites do. Want to know how to be like a pro? Learn to be like one! Designed in a step-by-step way, the book focuses on getting your site to the top of Google and how to get customers to click your site.

The book also provides tons of resources and unique tricks to keep note of and use whenever you need to. It helps you become more confident in your SEO efforts, especially as you read further into the book. It leads to many ‘A Ha’ moments that you will find yourself learning at every turn of the page.

Check it out here!

8. The SEO Blueprint: How to Get More Organic Traffic Right Now  by David Krevitt and Ryan Stewart

The SEO Blueprint is an efficient and hands-on book that delivers a top-tier overview of the SEO landscape. Ryan provides an impressive amount of information on how to improve your website according to Google’s standards and how to run a profitable SEO agency which is a unique insight that people will find a high amount of value in.

While maybe not the best book for just the basics, it goes above and beyond in teaching you the ins and outs of the business.  The book is dubbed as a blueprint, and Ryan isn’t using the term lightly. He is highly knowledgeable and passionate about SEO, and his step-by-step no-nonsense approach shows you how to do SEO from the ground up with no additional fluff.

Check it out here!

9. Search Engine Marketing for E-commerce Business by Joe Balestrino

This book was designed to help optimize Shopify sites or other eCommerce platforms. It provides real-life examples which were specifically designed with the book in mind. This helps put real problems that thousands of people have encountered so that you don’t have to.

While SEO may not be the focal point, it provides enough of the basics for it to qualify as an SEO book. This book is on the list because it does a great job in marrying your SEO and SEM efforts together. Thus, maximizing Google Analytics and Search Console to achieve a grander vision in the digital marketing landscape.

Check it out here!

10.   3 Months to No.1: The “No-Nonsense” SEO Playbook for Getting Your Website Found on Google by Will Coombe

Will Coombe runs a successful SEO Agency in London and has brought together resources that helped him get to his point. He offers a no-nonsense approach and caters to those looking to buckle down and put in the work. 3 Months to become number 1 doesn’t get done by not working hard. The book is designed almost like a course he would teach and provides you with a walkthrough complemented by extensive and informative videos to help you progress.

All this is for your to see your results quickly and feel a sense of accomplishment after 3 months. Seeing your progress week by week does wonders and helps you gain confidence very quickly.

The book will help you

  • Discover SEO’s greatest secret – that it isn’t rocket science!
  • Save thousands by doing SEO yourself or with your in-house team
  • Filter profitable traffic to your site
  • Learn what on earth to do with your social media
  • Effectively direct and monitor people doing SEO for you
  • Gain the industry knowledge to call out anyone full of ‘BS’

Check it out here!

We hope these 10 books can lead you in the right direction to bolster your SEO efforts. We found the latest SEO books we could find in order to help you gain the latest tools and techniques moving forward. Whether you are a beginner or a more seasoned individual, there is something here for everybody. Remember to always optimize with the user in mind!

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Launching a New Web Page Checklist

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12 things to do after launching a new page on your site.

Page Launch Checklist

New pages come with new errors. Every time you launch a new page there are some issues that you didn’t plan for before launch that might end up being costly by the time they are public.

As I have launched 1000s of pages in the past, I aggregated a list of steps that you should be taken after adding a page to a site. This list will help you save time, money and effort as it addresses every aspect of a page from design, to SEO, to analytics and social media.

  • Review page for UX/UI issues

    • visit your site from your tablet, PC and Mobile, navigate the page as a normal user and see if there is anything that is out of place.
    • Images, videos, and audio files are in the correct places, formatted and working on all devices.

  • Check page for responsiveness issues

    • You can do that by visiting the site on multiple devices.
    • or you can use a tool such as  https://responsivedesignchecker.com/ that will allow you to test the style & look and feel of your site across different devices and browsers.
    • Check if the page is mobile-friendly – https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly that will let you know if the page is loading properly on mobile devices and if there any design or code issues that you need to address.

  • Test the page out on Google Analytics, make sure that the tracking code has been added to the page.

    • You can either use view source and see if the code is added there.
    • You can also visit the page, and check real-time reports in Google Analytics to see if traffic is coming in.

  • Check page for loading performance issues – https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

    • This will allow you to see if your page is loading properly and fast enough across different devices, and it will provide you with different recommendations that will help improve the performance, some of the recommendations will be related to compressing code or images.

  • Double-Check Your Images

    • Check to see if they are loading properly across devices.
    • Check to see if you added the proper Title & Alt tags.

  • Double-Check Your Content is Optimized for SEO

    • Measure keyword density.
    • Check the content size.
    • Check if the content has high readability.
    • Check to see if you are using the right keywords.
    • Check to see if you are using an optimized title tag.
    • Check to see if you are using an optimized description tag.
    • Low Text-to-HTML Ratio
    • Make sure that the page has enough content (Avoid having a thin content page)

  • Double-check there are no technical SEO issues on the page

    • Make sure that the page is indexable.
    • Check the robot meta tag on the page.
    • Check to see if the page is added to the sitemap.
    • Check if the pages are using schema markup
    • Check to see if the page has the right rel=canonical
    • Make sure page is secure – running on HTTPS
    • Ensure that Open Graph and Twitter Card are debugging properly.
    • Make sure that you are using the proper language declaration – the proper hreflang.
    • Make sure that the page has no AMP errors.

  • Test form and links if any.

  • Test external links

    • Make sure external links are opening in a new window
    • Make sure external links are set to “Nofollow” if nessessary.
    • Check for broken links.

  • Test internal links

    • Click on each link and see if they are leading to the proper page they are meant to go to.
    • Ensure that you are using the right anchor text.
    • Check for broken links.

  • Make sure the text is accurate and error-free.

    • Check for spelling and grammar mistakes.
    • Make sure that you are using one language consistently.

  • Create a backup

 

Always remember that we can’t predict everything, and there are some items that are not on this list that you might run into.

That said, this is a great starting point to ensure that your new page will perform well across different devices, channels, and browsers for both users and search engines.

Learn more about how code can affect your SEO.

Learn about how digital marketing can expand your business in 2021.

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Code Best Practices for SEO

Most tools used to audit a site don’t audit every attribute of the site. That being said, at the end of the day the most important part of SEO is to leave no stone unturned and to capitalize on every opportunity and insight available to ensure your site code is up to par, as solid site code is a critical element of solid SEO.

There are a few ways to see if site code is hindering your site’s SEO potential.

Solid HTML

The first site code investigation method is to use HTML validator:  https://validator.w3.org/

This tool allows you to analyze the code on your site and see where you can improve it. In other words, it checks the markup validity, highlighting any errors in feeds, CSS styles, Mobile friendly content, broken code or links.

When you put your site URL into the W3 validator tool, you will be presented with a list of errors and warnings. See figure below:

Figure 31.1 – W3 Validator Tools Snapshot Example – https://validator.w3.org/

Most of the information in this list can be sent to the programmer or developer managing the site. He or she should take the lead on fixing these issues as any changes made without good knowledge of the programming language, the backend, the environment, etc. can have negative impacts on SEO, user experience and more.

 

Why is fixing these issues important?

Search engine bots and browsers view your site in the same way. They go through the backend of your code and analyze the code and text on the site.

As a search engine bot goes through your site, if it finds a lot of errors it will take that as a sign of an ill structured and unmaintained page or overall site. They’re looking for something useful and accessible. Ill structured and unmaintained don’t fit that bill.

Also, these errors can cause a lot of site loading delays or may cause a web page to render improperly. This will cause a bad user experience which is one of the most valued factors when it comes to rankings on SERPs by search engines.

 

SEO Code to Text Ratio

Another important factor that we have to pay attention to when it comes to SEO and code is the code-to-text ratio.

Although it isn’t as important as it was a few years ago, code to text ratio is a good best practice to keep an eye on.

In the past, SEO “experts” tended to add a lot of code to their site vs. actual visual text as a method of tricking search engines. As those engines got smarter, they started looking at this ratio to ensure that whatever was shown to search engines and bots in the code was reflected in the on-page text visible to users. That “expert trick” quickly became useless and most people stopped doing it.

Today, when a search engine or bot encounters a poor code to text ratio, it’s usually an indicator of one of two things:

  • Whoever is maintaining the site is trying to pull one over on the search engines by showing them one thing and visitors something else.
  • The page is not well maintained and has a lot of leftover or messy code that is not serving any purpose.

Neither of these things scream useful or accessible. So, as much as you might hear talk about this ratio not having a direct impact on site ranking, it definitely does have an indirect impact.  The most common indirect impact is loading delays due to that messy code. Loading delays = poor user experience = unhappy search engines.

Also, this ratio can be an indicator that we have thin content on the page, meaning there is not enough content to provide any real value. Based on SEMrush research from 2018, the number one pages on Google have 45% more content than the number 20 pages on Google SERPs. A healthy code-to-text ratio does matter.  https://www.semrush.com/

 

How do we check a web page’s code-to-text ratio?

To test the code-to-text ratio, check out this tool: https://smallseotools.com/code-to-text-ratio-checker/

This is a great tool by Small SEO Tools that allows you to get the percentage of code vs text you have on a page.

What do these percentages mean?

If the percentage is below 20%, such as the example above, you will need to make some changes.

If the percentage is above 20%, you are in the safe zone. That said, as a best practice, the more text you can add while keeping a page engaging, the better your chances of ranking well.

How can we fix the issue?

What if your ratio is below 20%? What should you be doing? There are 2 ways to fix this.

  • Add more content to your site or page. The more text you add, the higher your ratio. Just remember the golden rule of creating for the user first, not the search engines.
  • Clean up your code and remove anything that is not being used or is unnecessary.

The View Page Source Approach

For me, this is a favourite. Nothing beats looking at the actual code yourself and understanding the process of how the site loads.

To see the code of your page, all you have to do is right click, then click “view page source”.

When you see the code, it might be overwhelming at first. But, if you know what you’re looking for, you should be fine.

For me, I always look for unnecessary JavaScript.

Here’s what to do:

Go to Google Speed Text/Google Page Insights

If you see that there are notifications with regards to JavaScript, that is usually an opportunity to clean up some code.

For example, if you go to a site and see JavaScript code for a Facebook pixel, more for a LinkedIn Pixel, more for Google Analytics, then Crazy Egg, Google Search Console, Bing Ads, Bing Web Master Tools…

Instead of leaving all this code floating like that, I recommend creating a GTM account and adding all the tags in there, while only installing the GTM tag on the site. This way, you have code for just one tag instead of several. Depending on the number of tags on a site or page, this can potentially have a significant impact on the code-to-text ratio.

To learn more on SEO, check out The SEO WAY.

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