Timothy Carter

Site navigation seems like something you shouldn’t have to think about, but its importance to search engine optimization (SEO) is often underestimated. Your main goal is to present certain information to your customers, so it’s easy to get lost in thinking that it doesn’t matter how you structure that information. However, your site navigation plays a number of different roles in providing data to search engine crawlers and ensuring usability, therefore making it a crucial element for development in your SEO strategy. The term “site navigation” can actually refer to multiple components of a site. First, it usually refers to the main navigation bar on a given website, often found running across the top of the screen. It can also refer to the overall sitemap of the domain, including links not found in that header bar. Confusing things even further, “site navigation” can even refer to how easily a user can travel throughout your site and find the information s/he is seeking. To simplify things, in this article we’ll refer to site navigation as the overall structure and navigability of your website. The Importance of Sitemaps and Crawlers To understand the mechanics that dictate why site navigation links are important, we first have to understand crawlers. Google Search Console (GSC) can provide crawl stats on your site, letting you know areas that could use improvement. If you’ve been working in SEO for more than a month, you’re probably at least fleetingly aware that crawlers are automated indexing units that scour the web for structured data. Web crawlers, also called spiders, are bots that systematically scour the internet for content and download copies of web pages to add to a search engine’s index. How do search engine crawlers know where to find web pages? They start with a list of seed URLs, which can come from a variety of sources, including sitemaps. As each web page is crawled, the bot identifies all the hyperlinks on that page and adds them to the queue. Google, in particular, has several invisible crawlers constantly discovering new information on the Internet. Since crawlers consume resources on the systems they visit, some people block or limit their access. For example, people who don’t want their site crawled add special code to their robots.txt file to tell bots what they can and can’t index. Sometimes they block entire directories. However, blocking crawlers can prevent portions of your site from being indexed in Google. In order to generate the most relevant search results, search engines need to have a vast store of accurate, up-to-date information about the pages on the web. Crawlers ensure the legitimacy of this data, so if you stop crawlers from being able to do their job, you run the risk of having your pages left out of this massive store of information. On the other hand, if you can help crawlers do their job, you’ll maximize the number of pages they’re able to see on your site, and will thus maximize your presence in search engine indexes. To maximize crawler efficiency, first you need to make sure your website is free from Flash and JavaScript. These are old-style web formats that were once popular due to their flashy appearances, but their structure makes it almost impossible for crawlers to digest. It’s better to use more modern, crawlable schemes using XHTML and CSS. Building an XML sitemap is a must if you want crawlers to read your site in full. There are many free tools available that can help you build an XML sitemap, such as XML-Sitemaps.com, but it’s better if you put it in the hands of an experienced web developer. Once complete, you can upload your sitemap to Google Search Console (GSC) and place the file on your site, directly off the root. Having a properly formatted XML sitemap, in addition to maintaining a crawlable site, will ensure your pages are fully indexed. Site Depth The depth of your site is also an important factor for navigation. If you’re engaging in a content marketing strategy, “depth” might seem like a good thing. After all, the deeper your content goes, the more likely it is that you will be seen as an expert and that you’ll attract a wider audience as a result. However, “depth,” as it applies to websites, is actually a bad thing. The depth of a website is related to the complexity of links that lead to a certain point. For example, let’s say your website has 50 pages. The home page and nine other pages are immediately available on the top header. However, in order to access the remaining 40 pages, you need to click into one of those initial 10. The name of the game is K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Stick to “meat and potatoes” content. That’s why we only have two sitemaps, giving the crawlers less steps to get to the entirety of our site’s content. Some of those pages actually require a specific clicking order (such as Home > Products > Tables > Wooden Tables) in order to be reached. This is considered a “deep” site. Shallow sites, on the other hand, offer multiple pathways to each page. Instead of mandating a directional flow like the example above, a shallow site would have many pages pointing to each page in the hierarchy (Products, Wooden Tables, etc.). Shallow sites and a simple sitemap make it easier for users to find what they are looking for, and as a result, shallow sites get a small boost in domain authority. Restructuring your site to avoid unnecessary depth can give you more authority and more ranking power. You might be wondering if you should just link more pages in your main menu. Although this would certainly make your content easily accessible to crawlers, it will create a frustrating user experience. Your main menu should only give visitors the most important links. Having too many choices and multiple sub menus can make people bounce. Create a text sitemap for your visitors

If you work long enough in marketing or related fields, such as web development, you will run into demanding clients. These clients can subject your company to unreasonable demands, low pay, overwork, and even verbal abuse. A few might not pay on time, as well. The good news is these types of other clients are relatively rare, and there are strategies you can implement to avoid them that we outline below. Charge A Higher Rate For Difficult Clients Many digital firms fire the most challenging and toxic clients. But another same way to handle it is to upcharge clients that make unreasonable demand. Check that your contracts and billing policies have contingencies in place for the extra workload that some clients can cause. You may want to consider charging rush fees if they want you to drop your entire client load and work only on their project. Or, itemize how much time you spent doing rework that was done according to spec. You also can write in the contract that you will charge more when you have to handle an excessive amount of phone calls or emails. Also, when you have a demanding client, you can insert provisions in the contract that will get you paid more quickly. Meet On Your Home Turf If you physically meet with clients, it can help to meet in your office, not theirs. If that won’t work, you can schedule meetings with your software. This way, discussions happen with your culture in the background, not theirs. It also means they are your guest, which can make them behave better. Check The Client’s Background Don’t sign a contract just because the content marketing client offers excellent pay. This is an easily avoidable rookie mistake. Check their references and see how they have worked with other contractors in the past. Send Difficult Client’s To Your Competitors Sometimes a client is so challenging that the company will tell them that they can no long run with them. If a client is too demanding, rude, even condescending, it may be time to send them to your competition. However, it’s a good fit idea to give the SEO companies you send the client to that they may have trouble heading their way. After all, what comes around, goes around; someone could send toxic clients to you someday without warning! Write Clear Contracts It can be more challenging for companies to bully you and demand too much if you make everything clear in the contract. A well-written contract can cover you by giving you an advantage if you ever need to file a suit to get paid. Sometimes, just referring the first client to the contract can get them to cool down and back off. On the other hand, a contract template you pull off the Internet might not give you the protection you need. In the worst case, it could even cause you problems. ‘Free’ isn’t always the best idea when it comes to writing contracts for your company. Before you sign up with a client, it’s a good idea to check the business’s credit to see if they have a strong payment history. A low score may alert you to a company with cash flow problems. Say No When you have a paying client, even a difficult one, it can be all the hard work to say no. But some people will take advantage of that and drive you harder and harder until you have to do something. There are clients out there that can insist that you work on a marketing campaign over Christmas and New Year’s. If you have a large staff, that could mean ruining everyone’s holidays. In a situation like that, you have to learn just to say no. If All Else Fails, Fire Them The idea of firing a client sounds straightforward, but things are delicate when you’re working in the corporate world. Firing a client can have consequences, especially if you make the wrong decisions or a company with influence. Some of the factors to review when considering to fire a toxic clients are: Regularly shows a negative attitude towards your work no matter how hard you try. Making unreasonable demands beyond your company’s ability regularly. Shows signs of endorsing mental or physical abuse. This might include making threats, displaying rude etiquette to you or your employees, and even sexual harassment. The client isn’t honest and unprofessional when working with you, leading to a lack of trust and uncertainty. The client shows you a lack of respect. How To Fire A Toxic Client In most cases, you can’t just yell at the client, ‘you’re fired!’ as much as you might prefer! It would feel great, but it may come back to haunt you. Here are some steps to follow to let a toxic client go the right way: Come up with good, concrete reasons for your actions: You might simply loathe their pessimistic attitude, but that’s not enough. Make a list of unprofessional and unreasonable things about the client and present them professionally. Be adamant: The key to firing a toxic client properly comes down to tone. You know you can’t continue the business owner relationship further, so maintain an adamant and confident approach. A toxic client will makes sense weakness if you are uncertain and may take advantage. Don’t blame them: The idea is to end the business relationship professionally. To do this, you may need to divert some of the blame to yourself to avoid riling them with accusations. This lets the client approach the matter more practically. No means no: Some clients will try to develop a counteroffer to keep you on board. If you’ve made up your mind, make clear that the matter is settled, and you want to move on. While most clients are reasonable and easy to work with, human nature being what it is, sometimes you’ll run into a toxic situation. It’s ok; it happens to most businesses eventually. If you follow the guidelines

Ranking for competitive, high-volume keywords is the holy grail of SEO. Wikipedia has nailed the strategy perfectly: Create timeless, evergreen content worthy of attention Regularly update and improve your old content Recalibrate and reformat your content for specific niches and industries Promote your content It is not as easy as we make it sound, however. Here’s our internal process for targeting and ranking for competitive, high-volume keywords in Google search: 1. Identify the competitive keywords This should be the foundation of your content marketing strategy. One simple way to do it is to do deep keyword research yourself. The keywords must be relevant, have a high potential to funnel traffic, and must be intent-driven. But the search volume should also be substantial. The purpose is to maximize your returns not just on the money but also on the effort you put into your campaign. So, how many do you think is the ideal number of keyword variations? Five? 20? Nope. Try 1,000. But do not forget your competitor as well since you will benchmark your SEO strategy with theirs. For example, which of their keywords are most successful? Apps like SpyFu are valuable tools to spy on your competitors. Then you can reverse engineer the process to develop your own. In the same vein, you can also spot gaps in their campaign where you can take advantage, understanding that sometimes the advantage to you may be targeting no or low-volume searches. 2. Map the landscape Now that you have an idea of the competitive keywords in your field, the next step is to look at the big picture. Conduct a more exhaustive audit of the competitive keywords in your specific industry. You need to identify the reasons why some websites rank for high volume keywords and find some common grounds that you can build on. You can ask yourself the following questions: What are the competitive keywords they are using? What are they using for their title tags? Why are these effective? How did they produce their content? Which content is getting the most engagement? How can you implement best practices to your SEO campaign? 3. Internally link to your blog posts But not just any blog post. Remember the three elements of a good content post stated above? Using analytics, audit your content and determine which ones resonate with your audience better. However, make it relevant to your new content thematically and not just link for the sake of rankings. In this way, you can ramp up the activity on your website. You can also get some of that juju from your most successful blog and into your new post. If you’re in need of someone to help, our link building services should be a good match. 4. Optimize for voice Voice is going to be the future of online search. More than three billion people today own a device equipped with a voice smart assistant. About 5 in 10 people are using online voice searches. You can expect the figure to rise since voice search is faster and more convenient. Unlike with text, voice search is characterized by several elements: The long-tailed keywords are longer, perhaps five or more words The tone is more conversational, like you would talk to someone in front of you More geared toward local listings The keywords are simple and direct to the point Designed for question-type keywords They tend to include filler words It is not to say that you should focus your resources on targeting voice search. For now, text search is still the standard. But it is nice to have this strategy in your back pocket that you can pull out during emergencies. 5. Focus on Industry terms Your homepage should generally target a broad spectrum within your specific industry. However, you have to hone in on your target market with surgical precision. To do this, you need to create sub-categories containing products, articles, infographics, videos, or images. The main goal is to address the pain points of your audience. In this way, you can create contextual links to each post–both internal and external links–whenever necessary. Once they rank for the keywords they want, your life becomes easier since they will naturally attract organic links like bees to honey or raccoons to trash. 6. Content as a blank canvass Think of your blog post as a blank canvass and you, the crazy and struggling artist. Once you have finished the template–a well-researched article that addresses the pain point, it is now time to do the analytics. You have to audit your work to gauge its success. Auditing your work will also enable you to tweak the content to make it better. You can scale up and scale down, depending on the need. But you must be deliberate with your actions. You continue to open your ears to listen for content demand so that you can immediately deliver the desired content. Using your brush, you can then add more colors, wash away some of the tints, perhaps add some more birds if that is what your audience wants? Updating your content is necessary because some new information might have surfaced that makes your assumptions obsolete. The goal is to make your post the best available resource on the topic to force Google to sit up and take notice. Believe us; there is a method to this madness. 7. Proper Keyword Placement In the early days of SEO, marketers found a hack to outrank in the SERPs. They simply flooded their content with keywords, and the result was a heap of nonsense. Thankfully, we have come a long way since then. Google constantly updates its algorithms to make sure that the results would be most relevant to the search. Google constantly moves the goalpost, so marketers are always playing catchup.  It is the primary reason why it is difficult to rank these days. Now, Google does not want you to pepper your blogs with relevant keywords. In fact, that is the

Customer communication is one of the most important aspects of your business. Your customers will dictate the success of your enterprise—keep them happy and informed, and they’ll keep coming back to you for all their needs, telling their friends about the pleasant experience. Make a misstep, however, and you could permanently lose a potentially lifelong follower. Communication is the key to retaining this level of satisfaction. No matter how perfectly constructed your business is, something is eventually going to go wrong—you’ll miss a shipment, you’ll send out a defective product, or your service won’t go as anticipated. When those things inevitably do go wrong, communicating quickly, politely, and accurately is the only way to remedy the issue. We’re entering a new era of customer communication, and adequately preparing for the transition can position your company for success. The Old Model of Customer Communication For decades, most businesses have worked to turn their customer communication strategy into gigantic funnels, one for inbound communications and one for outbound communications. At the mouth of the inbound funnel, the entirety of the customer base would be ushered into one channel for further service. For example, a company would have a single “customer service” phone number that would accept all requests, no matter their intentions. This number would be listed on product packaging, promotional materials, emails, catalogs, ads, and would be given out to anybody who inquired using a different channel. Similarly, the majority of outbound communications would occur in a concentrated medium. For example, a company would work to ensure that every customer was signed up to receive email blasts, and then rely on the power of those emails to reach the entirety (or majority) of its customer base. The advantages of this model are clear; by concentrating all your effort into one channel, you save time and money and produce a much more efficient system. You can invest exclusively in your inbound customer hotline, making new hires and establishing new processes, and eventually, your team will become masters at handling inquires. But there are also disadvantages to this system. Because there is no redundancy, a failure in this line of communication is an instant and non-rectifiable failure across the board. Because you can never be sure that you’ve made this channel available to the entirety of your customer base, you’ll have a few stragglers that never realize its benefits. Why the Funnel No Longer Works Today, the disadvantages to the funnel-based marketing system have outnumbered the advantages. Too much has changed, both from a communications technology and from a customer needs perspective, to allow this approach to continue. Take, for example, the sheer number of communication channels available. In a world once exclusively dominated by in-person visits, direct mail, and phone calls, a funneled approach could be feasible. However, once you consider the following channels, that once-narrow path becomes much wider: emails online directories instant messages phone chats live chat chatbots video chats and about a thousand different social media platforms, Ostensibly, these channels are so diverse in function, advantages, and disadvantages, that it would be inefficient to forward each one to a singular final destination. Along with this, consider the fact that each individual customer has different communication preferences. A high school student might only use apps like Snapchat and Instagram to communicate with his/her peers. A young adult might rely mostly on emails, but jump on Facebook from time to time. A senior might prefer more traditional means of communication, or direct human contact. Each demographic and each individual will have unique preferences, so funneling them all to one communication channel will instantly alienate the majority of them. The sheer availability of technology has also created more problems for the funnel approach. The majority of modern users have a smartphone in their pocket at all times, capable of using multiple forms of communication instantly and reliably. This has created a generation of users that demands instant answers to common inquiries. If they are forced to go through multiple steps, or are forwarded to different communications channels, they may become impatient and abandon the process altogether. The Multi-Channel Approach The best approach for the modern era is to capitalize on the number of channels that are available. It’ll take some extra work up front, and in some cases, more managerial expenses, but the flip side is that you’ll be able to please a larger percentage of your audience a larger percentage of the time. At the end of the day, your customers’ happiness is all that matters. If you’re looking for a checklist of channels to make available, this one can get you started—but be sure to add your own preferred mediums to the mix: Printed how-to guides and troubleshooting documents Online troubleshooting and searchable FAQ sections Customer forums (with official moderation) Blogs and video tutorials Email (both inbound and outbound) Customer ticket logging Phone lines Instant messaging onsite or through Skype (or a similar program) Video chatting Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) Begin your strategy by offering as many mediums as possible, but DO monitor their progress over time. You’ll likely find that some of your channels perform better than others, and some are flat-out duds. Feel free to eliminate the duds in favor of routing those expenses to your more popular channels. Having a multi-channel approach doesn’t mean you have to invest in all those channels equally—it just means you have to make those channels available. Typically in online communication, we provide our expert link building services to both SEO agencies–typically by white labeling link building–and direct clients who want to increase their brand’s exposure online. Contact us for more information!

Helping leads feel comfortable with your brand and gaining their trust is a big part of successfully converting potential new customers. Although there is a plethora of ways to do this, strategically placing testimonials from previous customers is one highly effective way to do this. Many times, this is all a potential customer needs to get over the buying hump and actually make a purchase. But there are many more reasons why testimonials are important now and growing in importance in the online marketing strategy realm. Let’s discuss the other advantages of testimonials and how to utilize them in your marketing companies. Increases Credibility and Authority In a world where most industries have countless businesses competing for a piece of the pie, almost anyone can say that they’re an expert in their field. When prospective customers have little information to go on, they don’t really know who is authentic and who is merely a charlatan. That’s where digital marketing testimonials come in. By placing a quote from an actual customer who has direct experience with a business, it verifies the claim and lends an aire of credibility. It’s a simple and straightforward way to validate a business and can diminish skepticism substantially. When compared to a competitor without client testimonials, this can give your new business a sizable advantage. Explains Specific Benefits When potential customer is contemplating whether or not to buy a product or service, they’re wondering how it will solve a problem or benefit them. Many times, they will be swayed to make a purchase by simply seeing the package or photos of the product or service in action. Other times, they need a bit more convincing in order to take action. Digital marketing Testimonials are helpful because they provide an opportunity to state specific benefits from others who have experience with the product or service. If a business sells a product that relieves arthritis, it might include a testimonial from a customer stating “this product eliminated my arthritis within one week.” This would tell prospective customers about how the product improved their life in a highly specific manner. If they had any questions beforehand pertaining to the details, a testimonial would address them while providing direct proof that the product’s claims are legitimate. Offers Unbiased Evidence It’s only natural that a company will want to portray itself and its products/services in a positive light. As a result, consumers may be wary of a bias, which can lead to apprehension or distrust. One of the best ways to alleviate consumer doubts is to provide tangible evidence from an outside party who is unaffiliated with the marketing agency. Incorporating a statement from someone who has nothing to gain, but simply wants to provide their input stemming from a positive experience, it can be a powerful motivator that gets others to buy. Increases Conversion Rates When you combine all of these previous advantages, it results in the biggest advantage of all… more conversions. According to Visual Website Optimizer, a case study by WikiJob proved that A/B testing customer testimonials increased their sales by 34 percent. While it’s unlikely that all businesses will experience this high of a sales increase, it shows that testimonials have an undeniable impact on consumers. Now that we know that advantages of this tactic, here are three ways to obtain testimonials: Create a submission form -This is perhaps the easiest way and can be done by placing a form somewhere on your business’s website. Typically, this will be located underneath the header or on the sidebar so anyone with a positive experience can conveniently offer their feedback. Send an autoresponder – Every time someone makes a purchase, you can follow up via an autoresponder that asks for their input. This will automatically send consumers an email that gives them the opportunity to explain their experience. Picking a few of the top comments can provide you with some valuable testimonials. Contact repeat customers – If you notice that a particular customer has bought from your business multiple times, you can send them an email to thank them for their purchases and also ask for a brief testimonial. Obviously, they must have a relatively positive experience if they are a repeat customer, so they can be the perfect person to approach. Here are some tips for implementing testimonials into your digital advertising: Be Compliant with the Law First, you want to ensure that you’re acting within the law and not doing anything that could be considered unethical. Checking out this post from the Hubspot will provide guidance and keep your testimonials on the up and up. Some things they mention include getting written permission, the following the truth in advertising guidelines, and not misleading consumers. Never, for any reason, create your own testimonials or alter their content. If it doesn’t summarize all of the information you want to convey, it’s best to use another testimonial instead. Get Plenty of Information Whenever someone agrees to provide a testimonial, you should extract additional information to go along with it. It’s helpful to get a professional-looking picture of the person who gave the testimonial, as this helps establish its legitimacy. While a basic text quote is still helpful, including an image is ideal. Also, listing a person’s geographic location and/or company name and position is smart. According to Entrepreneur, A good testimonial is from someone your audience can relate to. You want your visitors to see that your product helped someone just like them. Make sure your testimonials come from someone with whom your target market can identify. Specificity As mentioned before, it’s important to be specific. Whenever using a testimonial, never be vague or leave any of the consumer’s questions unanswered. If you receive a comment that’s somewhat ambiguous, go ahead and ask the person to clarify so consumers will understand exactly how they will benefit from buying your product or service.   Placement Once you have obtained a few quality testimonials, it’s important to put them in the right

SEO (search engine optimization) is a big world, stretching across multiple online marketing strategies to become unified in a single, focused campaign. From on-page SEO and ongoing content to social media activity and off-site link-building services, (off-page SEO) the most successful companies are the ones that pay attention to every facet of SEO. There are a thousand “wrong” ways to do SEO, including spamming backlinks or writing fluff content stuffed with relevant keywords, but what many people don’t know is that there are actually several “right” ways to do it. Even as you do your best to follow best practices in every SEO-related vertical, there are three possible SEO approaches you can take for your campaign. Keep in mind, this blog post is not: An exhaustive beginner’s guide to SEO strategies  A guide that includes all strategies for gaining backlinks It’s a very basic overview that represents more of your own personal or business mission statement for how you want your company to approach SEO for your own website(s) or web pages. Let’s dive in! The Aggressive SEO Approach The aggressive SEO approach is generally used by companies looking to rank high in search engines and as quickly as possible. Sometimes, this is a startup doing SEO looking to make a big impact with a low budget, and other times this is a well-established company looking to break into the world of digital marketing for the first time. No matter the case, this company is either new to the scene or otherwise desperately motivated to get more online attention. The aggressive approach is all about rapid expansion. It involves the creation of multiple onsite posts—usually at least one per day—high-volume social media activity, and a sharply scaling offsite link-building process. The key benefit of this is the rapid build of rank and domain authority; taking all these actions quickly and uniformly over the course of as little as two months can have a substantial impact on your long-term rank. However, you must keep in mind that domain history plays a part in its authority—if you’ve just purchased your domain, don’t expect to build a great authority in your first year. There are two major downsides to the aggressive SEO approach. First, it costs money. Unless you plan on doing everything yourself, you’ll need to pay for all those high-quality blog posts and all the time that must be spent vetting external link sources. Second, it’s risky. Even if you prioritize the quality of your production, the fact that you’re working quickly leaves you vulnerable to errors and quality slips. If you choose the aggressive approach, take extra caution. The Competitive SEO Approach The competitive approach may sound similar to the aggressive approach, but it’s possible to perform work based on your competition without becoming aggressive. Usually, this company isn’t sure about their SEO efforts. They may not have specific goals, they may be wary of SEO’s effectiveness, or they may have no idea what they’re doing. In any case, they’re mostly interested in SEO only to gain an edge over their competition or stay afloat in the competitive digital landscape. Because of this, the competitive approach is all about using your competitors and gaining ground on them wherever possible. It involves looking at your competitors’ blogs and finding inspiration for topics of your own. It involves researching your competitors’ backlink profiles and mirroring those profiles the best you can. It also involves performing highly detailed long tail keywords and finding the target keyword valuable to your company that your competitors haven’t yet touched. It’s a way of analyzing your competition, mirroring their strengths and taking advantage of their weaknesses. In many respects, this approach is the most efficient. It doesn’t require the budget that an aggressive approach would, and it has a surgical focus intended to get you one rank higher in organic search results than your biggest competitors. However, this focus on beating the competition also has some drawbacks. First, positioning yourself in line with a competitor could damage public perception of your brand by making you indistinguishable. Second, you’ll be spending less time developing your infrastructure, which makes you poised more for short-term gains than long-term sustainability, thus reducing the total eventual value of your SEO campaign. The User-Focused SEO Approach Finally, the user-focused approach can be implemented without any prior knowledge of SEO strategy. You’ll still have to make some onsite tweaks, such as ensuring your meta titles and descriptions (meta tags) are in order, but for the most part, this approach can be implemented by anybody. It’s usually reserved for companies interested in gaining higher ranks in search engines, but aren’t concerned with meeting specific traffic numbers in the short-term, and aren’t too worried about the competition. Instead, they want a steady, long-term path for growth with minimal risk and a minimal budget. The user-focused approach is simple. Make moves and produce content that is going to make your users happy. Design your website so a visitor enjoys the experience. Write an SEO content strategy that is truly valuable for your users. Post on social media in a way that’s funny or entertaining. Dedicate yourself to making your users as happy as possible. Happy users will share your content, post links to you, and generally behave in a way that will naturally increase your domain authority—and you’ll never have to worry about getting penalized for sneaky or unnatural practices. This strategy’s biggest drawback is the fact that it takes time and commitment to execute properly. You won’t see the immediate pragmatic results of the competitive approach or the quick scalability of the aggressive approach, but you’ll also pave a risk-free road to steady long-term growth in the process. Which Approach to SEO is Best? The best approach is the one that does the best job of meeting your goals. If you have some extra money to spend and you’re looking to rise quickly, go aggressive. If you’re only interested in SEO to get a quick