The Nofollow attribute was first introduced by Google as a way to fight spam. Basically, what this attribute does is tell search engines’ spiders not to follow this specific link (more info on Nofollow: Google’s Search Console Help) and Google won’t transfer any link juice to it.

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  A bloggers guide to follow and nofollow links

However, the Nofollow attribute is surrounded by controversy. There are diverging opinions about it. One one side, those who support the use of nofollow on links to fight spammers back and share link juice with those sites that are really contributing to the web.

This is my position about it – while I can understand the reasons why people discourage the use of nofollow tags on links to help spread some link love around the web, I believe there are situations when using nofollow is mandatory. Some of those situations are:

Paid links: it’s a fact that all major search engines are penalizing those sites selling links. To avoid any impact, you should mark them with a nofollow tag. When linking to internal pages that don’t need “link juice”: pages like Contact, About, Privacy Policy, etc. don’t need link juice. Save your dofollow links to pages / links that actually provide value to your visitors.

Linking to questionable sites: this one is a no-brainer. Linking out to sites that provide questionable contents (warez, porn, racism, etc) will hurt your position in the SERP. Nofollow ’em or else…

Blog Comments: now, I’m quite sure that some of you won’t agree with me about this point – and that’s OK. As much as I’d like to reward you all with a dofollow link, there’s spam. And I’m not just talking about viagra, cialis and the like. I’m also referring to those who leave meaningless comments just to get a link back. Those are also spam comments. I prefer getting 7-8 quality comments over getting 100+ spammy ones anyday.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

The post When To Use a Nofollow Link: A Bloggers Guide To Nofollow Links appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Updated: May 2016

Don’t worry! Three years ago I was also in same situation, so to celebrate my blog anniversary, I’ve decided to sum up how to start a blog for beginners in this 3,000 word blogging guide.

There are lots of people who have compiled various posts on ‘how to start a blog uk’ and ‘steps to building a successful website‘, but unfortunately, a lot of it is outdated. I’ve put this together, so hopefully this can be your ‘one stop shop’ when creating a blog.

What we’ll cover in this blogging guide:

• Why you should start a blog
• Selecting a niche for your blog
• Deciding what blog platform to use
• Choosing a domain name
• How to choose your hosting provider
• Choosing a theme for your blog
• Installing Google Analytics
• Setting up social media accounts
• Brainstorming blog post ideas
• Optimising your website for SEO
• Useful resources for starting a blog

Why you should start a blog

If you’re here, you probably don’t need anymore convincing. Whether you want to flex your creative muscles, develop your writing skills or make money on your blog – starting a blog couldn’t be easier. The beauty of a blog is that you can maintain from any PC with internet, wherever you are in the world, or from your smartphone, which everyone has now. You need no knowledge of any specific software to create your blog and maintain it.

If you told me 3 years ago that my silly little blog would have taken me on the adventures it has and provided me with a wealth of opportunities, I’d never believe you! If you need any more reasons to start a blog, I’ve outlined why you should start a blog today:

Selecting a niche for your blog

Let’s get started… Picking a niche (the right niche) is, in my opinion, one of the hardest tasks when starting a blog. It defines the theme for your blog and what it is going to talk about. It’ll also define the type of audience your blog will attract and (more likely) the number of visits you’re going to get. So, investing time into choosing your blog’s topic is important.

Finding the right niche is a process that usually involves three stages: Brainstorming, selection and market research.

Spend a couple of days getting ideas for your blog. Start by creating a list of themes you resonate with; this will tell us what we know, what we enjoy talking about and what we enjoy reading. If you need a bit of inspiration, I recently put together a list of UK lifestyle blogs to look out for in 2016.

Once we have compiled a list of themes, we have to ask to ourselves: Am I knowledgeable in the niche I’m choosing? Am I passionate about it? If you have a negative answer to any of these questions, you will need to reconsider your selection. There tonnes to choose from (i.e. beauty, lifestyle, fitness).

Now that we have narrowed our list, there are a couple of more questions we need to ask ourselves: What is our competition like? Is our niche saturated? If there are too many competitors out there, chances are that we won’t be able to stand out from the crowd anytime soon since we don’t have (yet) what it takes to challenge them.

Deciding what blog platform to use

The very first step toward starting a blog is to choose a suitable platform out of so many available online. You might have heard about WordPress; this platform is most popular and beneficial for a new blogger where you can avail countless add-on options and plugins for designing your blog.

Other than this you can think about Blogger and Tumblr which are on second and third number on best blogging platform list.

There are two ways to start a blog:

1. Free blog hosts. (Blogger, Tumblr & WordPress) Your website would be something.wordpress.com
2. Through your own web host with your own domain name. Your website would be YourDomain.com

WordPress, Tumblr as well as blogger offer various free blogs for beginners but they are useful only for some non-serious bloggers because here you don’t even get your own domain name and you have very limited access; whereas if you pick self hosted type blogging option then you will be owner of your domain and will be able to manage it in your own way.

I strongly suggest you go self hosted, if you want to build an audience and grow your blog. Next step should be picking a good domain name for our blog – one that is easy to remember and attractive for our audiences.

Choosing a domain name

Choosing a domain name can be really difficult. I went round in circles for months when I was starting my blog, until I realised, if I didn’t just get on with it and pick a name, I probably would never do it.

You’ll need to find a name you like, and that is relevant to your niche. It helps if you can include a keyword in there, that is going to be relevant to your posts, but hey – Zoella and Hannah Gale are doing alright, and they don’t have any keyphrases in their domains, right?

The most important thing, for me, was to find a name that would lend me to write about anything. I use my blog as a place to write about whatever is happening in my life, and sometimes it jumps around a lot. I didn’t want to just write about one thing, even if I do post about home decor and blogging tips often, I’m never limited.

Once you’ve got an idea of what you want to call your blog, head over to GoDaddy and type it into the search bar to see if it’s available. This might take longer than you think, because many of the names will already have been taken. Typically, you can find domains from £3 a year (I’m pretty sure I paid £5.99 for two years when I bought mine).

As for .com vs. .co.uk. I chose to go .co.uk because I’m based in the UK, so it’s better for those trying to find me over here. If I was more interested in having a worldwide presence, I would have gone .com, but this wasn’t my goal.

How to choose your hosting provider

So, you’ve got the name, now you just need to find some hosting. Web hosting is a space that is rented to keep your website. Again, I went to GoDaddy because it was easy to keep everything in one place, and they have brilliant customer support – they also offer easy installation if you aren’t technically inclined!

Just because I went with GoDaddy though, doesn’t mean you have to, as well! I’ve listed out some consideration you might want to think about before signing up for a years hosting package, so you can make an educated decision yourself (I told you blogging would teach you new things!).

• Need – The choice of choosing a web hosting company would naturally depend on your need. Understand the need why you run a website and need a hosting company. How long the hosting needed for your website? It is generally cheaper to buy more years upfront.
• Price – Cheap hosting options would be cost effective but these are only suitable for personal sites (in most cases, this is fine). But if your site is for an online business, you have to be ready to spend for a quality web hosting that will give you sufficient storage space, a 24/7 support and sufficient amount of gig transfer.
• Technical support – Some hosting providers have great offers in terms of storage space at a considerably reduced price; other well known web hosting companies would demand higher rates. More than the price, the service offered by the web hosting company should be considered. A staff of support technicians to help you with general service usage issues and other problems as they arise. As I’ve mentioned, this is why I went with GoDaddy.
• Storage space – The physical disk space on a server where your website data is stored.
• Bandwidth – The internet traffic and the networking infrastructure needed to deliver the traffic to users of your website.
• E-mail accounts – E-mail boxes where you can send and receive e-mail.
• Scripting support – The ability to run scripts (small programs that perform certain tasks) on the server.
• Backup services – A service that makes a copy of your website data in case of accidental deletion or other emergency situation.

There are so many options, but to be honest, beginners will be fine starting a blog with the basic package. Eventually you might have to upgrade, but don’t worry – your hosting provider will be more than happy to tell you when!

I’ve recently updated my hosting package because I have more than one website. If this is the case, then check out options for multiple sites, because it isn’t much more and so you’ll make huge savings even just running two sites.

Choosing a theme for your blog

Now for the creative task, where you have to design your blog, so that it can finally get your dream format. The design of your blog will reflect your personality and it will work as major factor to attract readers so be careful and give it a well-oriented look.

When you first start a blog there is a chance you will not have or want to risk the funds for professional website design, so many people turn to one of the thousands of free site templates found online. They are very user-friendly and easy to install. Just download the file and upload it to your website host – easy peasy!

Personally, I use Avada, and for my freelance website, Float Digital, I use Divi. Free website templates have problems however, although there may be thousands to choose from, the best ones seem to surface again and again. It is hard to stand out and be unique.

It is even worse if you use one of the stock themes given with Blogger or WordPress (or whatever content management system you choose to use). When an experienced internet user comes to your site, they will recognise the standard free template, especially if you leave the “Just another WordPress site” subtitle on it.

Tip!: Turn a free theme into a unique design
If hiring a designer to create a custom template for you is out of the question, you can tweak an existing one enough with a modicum of design knowledge and any graphics software program. Before you begin, check the licensing and terms of use for the free website to make sure you can make modifications without paying.

Some templates or themes have options you can choose once you install it on your website. You can use these to change the size of the header comic, the number of sidebars or which side they are on. Widgets give a lot of flexibility for design and there are even add-ons or plugins that can help people who do not know HTML and CSS change the design of their site.

If you do know some basic website design code, you can delve into it and switch alignments, measurements for structural values and move elements around the page. If you do change the style sheets, always save a copy of the original first – I’ve learnt this the hard way!

After you are done changing a free web template into a more unique style, remember to edit the titles, menu and all the content on the website. This is an easy way to create a custom site without web design knowledge.

Installing Google Analytics

Often an area overlooked when starting a blog. If you don’t know yet, Google Analytic is a tool that help you to track your visitors stats, number of page views and source of traffic (whether is direct, referral or organic visitors). Snorreeee, I KNOW! But believe me, it get’s interesting, and it’s free – so you have no reason not to.

It can create statistic report on posts that generate the most traffic, and which post have the lowest bounce rate, and so on. Using this tool will help you to know what kind of quality content that people like to read – perfect for planning future blog posts and driving relevant traffic to your website.

All you have to do is to sign up, copy the script code, put it in your blog template and verify it – taada! You can read more about setting up Google Analytics here, I’ve also put together everything a blogger needs to know about Google Analytics, too.

Setting up social media accounts

You’ll undoubtedly want to promote your blog using social media, so go ahead and set up your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+ and Pinterest before your name gets snatched up!

I’ve done a lot of experimenting over the past few years on all the platforms, and personally I decided to focus a lot of my time on Twitter and Facebook. I’ve also found that it’s better to do a couple of channels right, rather than lots of channels badly.

It’s easy to schedule social media posts using tools like Buffer or Hootsuite! I always make sure all my blog posts automatically post to Google+ as well!

You can set up automatic posting through the Jetpack plugin on WordPress. GO GO GOO!

Brainstorming blog post ideas

Once you have done all these setting up tasks, now it is time to post your stuff so that readers can go through it. It is important to judge expectations of your readers and organise your posts accordingly so that people can enjoy reading them. Keep learning from your mistakes and try to improve at every step!

I found myself constantly reading articles about what makes a successful blog, and I’ve got news for you – there’s no secret recipe. Marketing? Great layout? Link building? Yeah, those can help a lot but they’re not the solution or the key to success: they’re just tools to make your blogging journey easier.

That said, there are some things that I’ve noticed significantly increase my traffic and engagement, so here are a few things I wish I knew before I started a blog:

• Write about what you’re passionate about – If you love pets then blog about pets. If you love skydiving then post about it. The Muse will be with you all the time! Why? You’ll be writing about stuff that you truly like. It’s not hard to talk about something when you’re in love with it, is it?
• Be honest – Let your readers know what you really think. Don’t try to scam your visitors by trying to sell them an idea/product you wouldn’t buy or trust. People can sense that and will stop coming to read what you write. Let your mind be like a book that anyone can read. Your readers will trust in you and you’ll feel a lot better about yourself.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t try to scam your visitors by trying to sell them an idea/product you wouldn’t buy or trust. People can sense that and will stop coming to read what you write” username=”SamCharlesUK”]

• Give something in return – Your readers will continue to visit your site to get quality content. So give them what they want In exchange you’ll get a lot of traffic, meaningful comments and quality discussions about what you wrote. Reward them with your best writing skills. Don’t post for the sake of posting. Post because you feel like sharing a deep thought with them. They will appreciate it!
• Tolerance and understanding – Sometimes you’ll get negative feedback – sometimes people just won’t like your post. This can be very disappointing, I know. However, that gives you an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and improve your blog posts. Perhaps there is a certain time that your posts get more attention when you schedule your articles to go live at a particular time? I always find that my posts perform better at about lunch time on a Thursday – so I always schedule blog posts for then.

Optimising your website for SEO

This is super important! Why do bloggers need to know about SEO? My professional career revolves around search engine optimisation, so I’m probably slight bias – but what’s the point in creating all this wonderful content, which you’ll spend hours making (trust me, I don’t even want to think about how many hours I’ve put into this post, alone!), if no one can find it?

Sure, people will find your website through social media channels, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get found through other peoples websites when you start naturally gaining links – but why forget about search engines? Google processes 54,485 searches in 1 second EVERY SINGLE DAY. It’s absolutely ludicrous!

[bctt tweet=”Google processes 54,485 searches in 1 second EVERY SINGLE DAY. It’s absolutely ludicrous!” username=”SamCharlesUK”]

It might just be me, but it’s also really exciting watching your content climb the ranks. This isn’t easy, but there are some tips and tricks you can pick up that will increase your visibility in search engines, and send traffic to your website.

Even after working in the industry for years, it’s always changing, I’m still learning. It’s good to stay up to date with all the latest information, from when to use follow and nofollow links, through to following best practice for SEO! If you struggle to keep up to date with all the trends, you can always hire an SEO agency.

Useful resources for starting a blog

Various people come to blogging sites with different experiences and goals, but all these steps are useful for starting a blog as a beginner. Go ahead with best efforts, all you need is a bit of determination!

Other resources on my blog:

• 46 tips to boost your blog traffic and keep it there
• Blogging tools to increase your traffic
• Tips on how to grow your lifestyle blog in 3 weeks
• 6 reasons your blog isn’t making money

If you want to learn more, you can browse my other blog tip posts, or you’re interested in blog coaching then drop me an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

The post How To Start a Blog For Beginners – The Ultimate Blogging Guide appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Through this endeavour, I exercise my analytical knowledge, flex my creative muscles. I’ve developed relationships with SEO, PR and content agency, as well as the likes of Nike, New Look, John Lewis, L’Oreal & Debenhams.

I never dreamed that my hobby would take me on the adventures that it has. It’s enabled me to go on an all-expenses cruise on the biggest ship in the world with Royal Caribbean, practically furnish my entire home, and quit my job to pursue a career as a full-time blogger.

Do you want to grow your following, increase your engagement and yield more traffic?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had an abundance of messages about my recent article about ‘How I quit my job and went freelance’, and I’ve been inundated with inquiries about if I’ve considered being a blog coach or if I could offer some blog mentoring.

I’m now offering blogger coaching and training sessions. Whether you’re looking for a one-off coaching session or an ongoing blogging mentor relationship, I’ll tailor something for you.

What a typical training plan looks like:

• Getting started: Beginners introduction
• Search engine optimisation
• Keyphrase planning
• Content ideas generation
• Increasing engagement
• Optimising content
• Scheduling for success
• Social media management
• Monetizing your blog
• Declaring your earnings
• Tips for productivity
• Dealing with PR and brands

Why choose me?

UK Search Awards Young Professional nominee, BrightonSEO speaker and featured in the Verge ‘Women in Search’ showcase; I’m a passionate and innovative GAIQ SEO expert and mentor with 5+ years experience. Complimenting my evolving knowledge of search trends and algorithms, I’m an established blogger and content writer, published in high-end magazines such as Vogue.

Collaborating with clients in a variety of sectors, both locally and internationally, I’ve developed a range of skills managing, prioritising and delivering long-term successful cross-channel marketing campaigns. My extensive client portfolio includes working with 100+ B2C and B2B companies in-house and in an agency environment with brands such as Argos, Thorntons, Accor and Emirates.

I obtained my Higher National Diploma and Bachelors degree (with honours) in Business Management and Marketing from Anglia Ruskin University, Lord Ashcroft School of Business, Cambridge. Prior to successful completion of my undergraduate program; I attended Griffith University in Australia, ranked in the top 3% of universities in the world, to study consumer psychology & behaviour. I have also achieved both a Higher Education Certificate and National Diploma in Advertising and Art & Design, respectively.

Armed with experience and drive, I quit my job and launched my own business in 2016. Float Digital supports brands on their journey to the top of Google search results. I’m also an approved supplier for the Cornwall Business Start-up and Coaching for Growth programmes by Oxford Innovation in partnership with Unlocking Potential (managed by Cornwall College). Providing coaching and assistance to young companies and entrepreneurs in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Money back guarantee

My guarantee to you is that every time we work together, whether it’s a one-off session or part of a 3-month intensive training package, you will learn something and you will get closer to achieving your goals. Otherwise, I’ll refund your money 100%, no questions asked!

I have recently used Sam’s services, she is friendly, professional and has a wealth of knowledge about blogging. Sam helped me to understand the importance of SEO and the power it has on google. She also gave me great advice about how to source information, work and photographs. True to her word she has supported me and answered any questions and queries I had. Sam is a very inspiring lady and I would recommend her services. My blog has gone from strength to strength since our first meeting.

The post Blog Coaching – How I Made My First £10K, And You Can Too! appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

Whеn tаlkіng аbоut mуths, mоst оf thеm аrе nо lоngеr vаlіd thаnks tо thе lаtеst uрdаtеs thаt Gооglе hаs brоught fоrwаrd іn іts аlgоrіthms, but hоw mаnу реорlе аrе аwаrе аbоut іt? Νоt mаnу, sо hеrе іs а lіst оf sоmе оf thе fаmоus ЅЕО mуths thаt аrе іmроrtаnt fоr ЅЕО guуs tо knоw аbоut аnd fоrgеt аbоut:

Νumbеr 1 rаnk іs mоst іmроrtаnt

Gеttіng tо thе numbеr оnе роsіtіоn іn thе ЅЕRРs іs thе ‘bе аll аnd еnd аll’ оf аll ЅЕО fіrms. Іt іs tіmе fоr а rеаlіtу сhесk аnd rеаlіzе thаt bаggіng thе numbеr оnе slоt іs рrасtісаllу іmроssіblе fоr hіgh соmреtіtіvе kеуwоrds. Іt іs аlsо іmроrtаnt tо undеrstаnd thаt grаbbіng fіrst роsіtіоn іs nоt thаt іmроrtаnt аnу lоngеr.

Тhе rеlеvаnсе оf kеуwоrds іs gоnе

Тhіs mуth hаs bесоmе vеrу рорulаr sресіаllу аmоng thе nеw іntеrnеt mаrkеtіng аgеnсіеs.

Тhіs mуth hаs соmе frоm thе fасt thаt kеуwоrd dеnsіtу іs соnsіdеrеd tо bе ‘іllеgаl’ bу Gооglе’s аlgоrіthms. Ѕо lеt us nоw brеаk thіs mуth dоwn аnd undеrstаnd thаt nо mаttеr hоw sорhіstісаtеd Gооglе’s аlgоrіthm hаvе bесоmе, tоdау іt stіll gіvеs а lоt оf іmроrtаnсе tо kеуwоrds аnd thе rеlеvаnсе оf kеуwоrds іn соntеnt stіll соmmаnds аttеntіоn.

То sum uр thіs роіnt, brеаk аwау frоm thе mуth аnd undеrstаnd thаt kеуwоrd rеlеvаnсе іs stіll сruсіаl іmрlуіng thаt dоіng kеуwоrd rеsеаrсh іs а must. Техts аnd kеуwоrds рlау а strоng rоlе еvеn tоdау іn guіdіng usеrs thrоugh thе sеаrсh еngіnе rеsults fоr thе mоst rеlіаblе rеsults.

Κеуwоrds must hаvе аn ехасt mаtсh

Yеt аnоthеr соmmоn ЅЕО mуth. Lеt’s hаvе а сlоsеr lооk аt whаt іs асtuаllу truе hеrе.

Κеуwоrds аrе bеttеr соnsіdеrеd аs а сlustеr оf соnсерts thаt аrе rеlаtеd tо оnе аnоthеr аs аgаіnst thе dіsсrеtе kеуwоrds. Іt іs рrасtісаllу іmроssіblе tо mаtсh ехасt kеуwоrds аnd іn thе аttеmрt tо dо thіs thе wеb іs сluttеrеd wіth hоrrіblе аrtісlеs bаsеd оn ЅЕО, whісh dоеs nоt hаvе аnу substаnсе аnd оffеr nо vаluе tо usеrs. Неnсе, іt іs іmроrtаnt tо wrіtе kеуwоrd bаsеd аrtісlеs but ‘rеlаtеd kеуwоrds’ аnd nоt аn ехасt mаtсh’.

Меtа tаgs аrе соnsіdеrеd іmроrtаnt – Wіth thе suddеn sорhіstісаtіоn іn Gооglе’s аlgоrіthms thеу sееm tо bе lеss dереndеnt оn thе сluеs thе wеbmаstеrs рrоvіdе. Ноwеvеr, іt іs tіmе tо dо аwау wіth mеtа tаgs bесаusе Gооglе nо lоngеr dереnds оn thеm, аnd іt іs tіmе nоt tо fосus sо muсh tіmе оn іt аnd gіvе аll уоur аttеntіоn tо wrіtіng grеаt соntеnt thаt mаkе fоr а gооd rеаd.

Моrе thе lіnks, lеssеr thе соntеnt

Тhеrе wаs а tіmе whеn thе ЅЕО реорlе gаvе а lоt оf іmроrtаnсе tо lіnks еvеn іf thе соntеnt wаs uttеr trаsh. Вut tіmеs hаvе сhаngеd bесаusе Gооglе hаs bесоmе smаrtеr іn tеrms оf uрdаtіng іtsеlf.

Ѕо уеs еvеn іf thеrе іs оnе gооd bасklіnk but thе соntеnt іs hіgh vаluе іt sееms tо dо wоndеrs nоw. Gооglе іmmеdіаtеlу shооts уоu uр rіght аt thе tор slоt оf thе ЅЕRРs. Ѕо аs Віll Gаtеs sауs, “соntеnt іs kіng” sо fоllоw thаt. Вut dоеs thаt mеаn lіnk buіldіng іs nо lоngеr іmроrtаnt? Оbvіоuslу nоt, іt іs stіll оnе оf thе рrіmаrу соnсерts оf ЅЕО, but nоt аt thе соst оf nеglесtіng gооd соntеnt. Ѕо іt dоеs nоt mаttеr іf уоu hаvе јust оnе lіnk іn уоur аrtісlе аs lоng аs уоur аrtісlе іs grеаt.

ЅЕО аnd sосіаl mеdіа аrе unrеlаtеd

Аmоngst аll ЅЕО mуths, thіs оnе nееds tо bе brоkеn аlmоst іmmеdіаtеlу, bесаusе іf thіs mуth соntіnuеs thеn wе аrе lоsіng оut оn а lоt іn tеrms оf рrоmоtіng оur wеbsіtе аnd lеttіng реорlе knоw аbоut us.

Gооglе hаs fіnаllу rеаlіzеd thе роwеr thаt іs tарреd іntо sосіаl mеdіа, аnd sіnсе thеn еvеn Gооglе іs trуіng tо рrоmоtе thе рlаtfоrm thаt sосіаl mеdіа hаs сrеаtеd fоr us аll. Ѕосіаl mеdіа іs оnе оf thе bіggеst sсоре tоdау thаt hеlрs trеmеndоuslу іn thе fіеld оf ЅЕО.

The post 6 SEO Myths Every Blogger Needs To Know appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

What exactly does this mean? Well, here’s a little lesson on SEO… Google determines who should rank #1 in the search results by using algorithms that use more than 200 ranking signals. One of the most important ranking factors is links.

Starting to make sense, why you receive all those emails asking if you to review a product and link to their website? The link acts like a little endorsement. Google figures, if someone is linking to them, they should gain a bit of authority. Obviously, some websites have more to give more ‘link juice’, ‘equity’, whatever you want to call it.

What an easy way to manipulate search engines! Just send a load of products to all the bloggers you can find, and you’ll rank at the top. Once again, putting those with the biggest budgets at the top of the results, with likely bias ‘paid’ review. Surely Google wouldn’t be cool with this?

What is a nofollow link?

Google introduced the rel=”nofollow” tag back in 2005 to fight against spammy blog comments that were attempting to trick their ranking. Nofollow is a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of an HTML a element to instruct some search engines that the hyperlink should not influence the ranking of the link’s target in the search engine’s index.

A no follow link is created with the nofollow link HTML tag, which looks like this:

<a href=”http://www.website.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Link Text</a>

What does that mean?

Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behaviour that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.

The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results:

• Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
• Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking
• Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links
• Using automated programs or services to create links to your site

Additionally, creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines.

If you are caught violating Google guidelines, they can penalise your website for spammy activity and push you down in the Google results, or worse – kick you off completely!

When do I nofollow and declare posts?

When you’re receive emails left, right and centre from guest blogging services, it’s hard to know what ‘best practice’ is. It’s really easy. You should always declare to your readers when you’ve received something for free. It’s just courtesy – wouldn’t you like to know if someones views are bias? I see a lot of bloggers say that they always write an honest post, whether it was given to them or not and I completely understand that, but it doesn’t hurt to be transparent.

If you’ve been persuaded by any way to give a link, whether it’s money, vouchers or a free product, you should nofollow the link. The brand will still benefit from brand awareness when you share your post with all your followers, but it won’t manipulate Google, putting both your blog and their website at risk.

When people hear about nofollow links, they realise their blog is at risk and go a little crazy. They then start nofollowing every link on their website or worse, installing a plugin that nofollows EVERYTHING. Just stop – this isn’t necessary and will just make things worse.

Do not nofollow internal links. Internal linking is super important for increasing your visibility in search engines, and I won’t go into it too much right now, but to put it simply: you want to keep the ranking power of your pages flowing around your site.

How can I see if a link is nofollow?

Simply right-click on page element and select Inspect Element. (If you can’t see this, open the Chrome menu at the top-right of your browser window, then select Tools > Developer Tools and ensure you have enabled the feature). This will show you the source of the page, and you will be able to see if the nofollow attribute appears in the HTML.

You can download a Nofollow extension in Chrome which will outline links with rel=”nofollow” attribute and links on pages with nofollow or noindex robots meta tag with red ants.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

The post A Bloggers Guide To Follow And Nofollow Links appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

There are probably a few on here that you’ve forgotten about but need to be doing more of, and some of these you’ll be doing anyway, but at least you know that you’re on the right track! Hopefully you’ll learn something or it’ll spark some creativity. Please share your top tips in the comments below!

1. Write unique content – stealing sucks.

2. Tweet ALOT – I’ve seen my impressions increase 1,100% from posting more, and this has had a knock on effect on my social traffic to my blog as well!

3. Go self hosted – It’s not as difficult as you think and nowhere near as expensive either! Head over to GoDaddy and pick up a domain and hosting package, and they’ll even do it for you, if you don’t feel confident doing it yourself.

4. Comment on blogs – It’ll show your engaged in other peoples content, build nofollow backlinks and potentially drive more traffic to your blog.

5. Subscribe to other blogs – why wouldn’t you want to?! This leads me to my next tip…

6. Get on Bloglovin’ – Read, read and read! Research is so valuable. This is not only a hub of creativity, but it makes it super easy for anyone who wants to subscribe to your feed.

7. Pin pin pin – Pinning is such an easy way to make your content go viral, you can gain some great links and easily triple your traffic.

8. Send newsletters – I don’t like to do this TOO often, but depending on what kind of response you get, you can figure out what works for your audience. Remember, it’s super important that you gain these email addresses in an honest manner – no one likes a spammer.

9. Buy a DSLR – We’re visual creatures – get some engaging images on your blog and try to stay consistent. This is incredibly difficult for those that are deprived of time, but you’ll find your engagement and your returning visitors will increase when you put in the extra effort. This is right at the top of my list of things to improve.

10. Write what you love – This is obvious! Why wouldn’t you write what you love? It’ll show through your content, too.

11. Use basic HTML – Headings are so important, it’ll a) make your content digestible b) help Google understand what your content is about

12. Use hashtags religiously – I constantly scan and track hashtags to find new content that I think I’ll like on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Get involved, otherwise you’re likely to only be engaging with people that are already following you.

13. Do your research – What makes people tick? Do you know what keyphrases people are using to find your content? Do you know what content people spend reading the most?

14. Learn to use Google Analytics – it’s not as boring as it looks, I promise you! It’s actually pretty fun, and really exciting watching your blog flourish.

15. Remember keyphrases – How do you think Google knows what content to show in the search results? It scans your page and looks for keyphrases that are relevant to the users query. This is so important for the titles of your blog posts and in the body of the content. Give Google and your users a heads up of what they can expect.

16. Take part in a blog carnival – You can find heaps of these on communities..

17. Join blogging communities – Please don’t just seed your content through! Engage with the on forums and social media groups – learn about what people want to read about and what posts work for other people. It’s important to build relationships with other bloggers and to be active in the community.

18. Have a niche – This is the quickest and easiest way to build a loyal following. You know your audience will be engaged with your content if you consistently write about the same theme. I find this particularly hard since Strawberry Squeeze is a lifestyle blog, and I have so many different hobbies and interests – but I try and keep a theme where I can.

19. Link your content together – This is so important for SEO, and it helps your readers find more content when reading your posts, increasing your page views and ultimately the average time people spend on your website.

20. Seed content on Reddit – Try not to loose yourself in streams of the /aww feed and seed your content on there! Don’t be spammy though.

21. Use Stumbleupon – Turns out this is a great way to drive people to your content. I didn’t know people still used it either, but it works!

22. Write a guest post – This is one of the best way to expand your reach. Ask one of your friends if you can write a guest post on their blog and get a link back to your website. This will drive traffic to your website through referrals and it’ll also boost your organic traffic!

23. Don’t compare yourself to others – I’ve written a post about comparing yourself to others generally, you can read it here. This is so important in the blogging industry – it seems like everybody is fighting to be heard, trampling over one another and we’re against each other. Stop comparing yourself, and instead invest your time in bettering your blog.

24. Retweet other blogs – share the love!

25. Respond to comments – This is so important! I know it can be difficult to shiv through thousands of spam comments, but install a captcha to reduce the amount of rubbish you have coming through, and use that time to respond to people that are engaging with your blog so they come back again.

26. Create a blogroll – see mine here.

27. Use Instagram – It’ll not only keep your creativity flowing, but it’ll also build up your reputation socially.

28. Optimise your images – See that little box that says ‘alt tag’ when you upload an image to WordPress? Type in exactly what the image is, and you’ll come up in Google search – easy!

29. Cover taboo topics – This is likely to spark a conversation or debate on social media, and even result in some shares.

30. Link to external websites – This is a good way to connect with other bloggers, associate yourself with other websites and get found!

31. Optimise your content – You’ve written your content to be read, so why not ensure that it’s optimised for search engines so people can actually find it!? It’s easy when you know how; read my post on SEO here.

32. Schedule blog posts – this means you can actually take some time off, too! Sometimes I like to just write all day and schedule lots for post for the coming weeks. I feel like I can get into the groove and get shit done. Then when I realize that my blog post has been

33. Be patient – Rome wasn’t built in a day – your traffic will grow!

34. Know your audience – This requires a bit of Google Analytics and some basic marketing knowledge – know who you are connecting with!

35. Text overlay in social pictures – This is something I’ve trying right now and it’s working a treat for my engagement and click metrics! Give it a whirl.

36. Hold a giveaway – This is a great way to initially drive traffic to your blog and gain social followers or subscribers. Be aware of competition trolls though! Your traffic will just drop off again if you run a competition and don’t attract the right type of readers.

37. Feature other blogs – I did this recently, click here to read my blog post ‘UK Lifestyle Bloggers to Watch in 2016‘. It’s a great way to connect with other bloggers and offer value to your readers.

38. Make your blog accessible – this includes your social channels as well – is it easy to subscribe? Can people find your Twitter account?

39. Schedule social posts – Unless you have time to just sit on all your social media channels all day (which no one does, and if you do, you’re not blogging to your full potential!), then you should really schedule some posts. This doesn’t mean you can’t post in real time anymore, but it does mean that you can crack on with a task and know that social is looking after itself for a little while. Hootsuite makes life SO much easier!

40. Tweet more than just your blog – Okay, I’ve subscribed to your blog, I don’t REALLY want to be constantly reminded that you posted a new article last week – I KNOW! There is a line between promoting your blog and then just being spammy. Your Twitter account shouldn’t just be an extension of your blog, but it should engage users in it’s own right; you can then drive traffic from your loyal social following.

41. Run a paid social campaign – Choose your content wisely, set a strict budget and create some goals. After your campaign has ended, review the results and then see how you can do better!

42. PLEASE use tags on your blog correctly! I’ll be writing a post about this soon, so stay tuned.

43. Promote old content – just because it’s an old post, doesn’t mean that you should just forget about it! This works particularly well for seasonal posts such as Christmas gift ideas or recipes. Again, don’t just spam your content all the time – make it relevant!

44. Join Twitter chats – This is a sure fire way to make blogging friends and gain more followers. Don’t know when they are? You can read a list of the top Twitter chats to join in on, in this post on Poppy Loves blog here.

45. Have a subscribe button – Make it easy for people to follow you, and if your content is good, they will.

46. Be personal – That’s the beauty of blogs, they have that personal tone. This is your chance to be YOU!

The post 46 Tips To Boost Your Blog Traffic And Keep It There appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.