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  • What Business Leaders Think About SEO

    What are business leaders really saying about SEO?

    Search engine optimization is all about making your site easy to find on Google, Bing and other search engines. Despite the large amount of SEO tools that are available on the web, many business owners are still neglecting their website’s search engine presence – but that’s soon going to change. More and more business leaders across the world are talking openly about the importance of SEO as a result of almost all industries shifting their outreach online.

    So, what are business leaders saying about SEO? Let’s find out!

    Sam McRoberts – CEO @ VUDU Marketing

    For years, there has been a discussion about whether SEO is dead or not. Years have gone by but SEO has remained as important as ever, and Sam McRoberts, the CEO of VUDU Marketing, has expressed his views on this precise issue.

    In an interview with on Forbes, McRoberts was asked the question “Is SEO dead?”. His answer was intriguing – he said that if by “SEO” the interviewer was referring to the practice of ranking undeserving sites higher than they should be, then yes, SEO is dead.

    McRoberts is referring to the actions of some SEO plugins that, unlike AIOSEO, are designed to rank undeserving sites higher than they should be. However, the CEO went on to explain that legitimate SEO – the process of accurately ranking a website and helping customers find their important services – is certainly not dead but alive and kicking. During the interview, he expanded on what SEO is all about:

    To be fair, SEO experts have always been split into two (often overlapping) camps; those who work to actually make sites better, and those who work to game the system to get crappy sites (that don’t deserve it) ranking better. And again, in all fairness, most SEOs do (or have done) a bit of both.

    So what does this mean? Well, McRoberts’ words only show us how important SEO still is. With our All in One SEO Pack plugin, you can improve your website and beat less-deserving websites in the search rankings. Without qualitative SEO, your website will face an uphill battle against countless undeserving sites.

    Paul Reilly – Founder of Media Skunk Works

    In a more recent interview, Paul Reilly, the founder of Media Skunk Works, echoed McRoberts’ sentiment. The business founder and media expert explained that Google “isn’t stupid” and that the old tactics of ranking undeserving sites no longer work all that well, making it more important than ever to embrace proper and effective SEO practices.

    Neural networks learn like a child, so they just iteratively learn new information… and by just layering and layering more and more data, it’s going to make the game tough. The good news is for the people who are kind of playing the game a bit, you don’t have to be, like, the best. You just have to be better than anyone else.

    Reilly also went on to advise website owners to consider the huge value of keywords, one of the most important elements of SEO. By incorporating effective keywords that are implemented naturally into your website and posts, Google will be able to allocate your site a better ranking on searches relating to your business and content.

    Patrick Suh – Director of Marketing @ ExpoMarketing

    Patrick Suh knows a thing or two about marketing. He’s the Director of Marketing for ExpoMarketing and understands the importance of utilizing good SEO practices. He discusses the importance of working with an SEO agency in a recent article, explaining that collaboration between marketing and SEO is a perfect combination for businesses.

    My favorite part about working with an SEO company is the ability to tap into a team of experts that can help execute on the marketing vision and strategy. Because we work with an SEO agency, our marketing team has the ability to concentrate on other aspects of the business in order to help us achieve growth at a faster rate. My team and I see the most value in  collaborative teamwork.

    Neil Patel – Co-founder QuickSprout & others

    Neil Patel is the co-founder of Hello Bar, QuickSprout and Crazy Egg. He understands that the world of SEO is always changing and in order to adapt to search algorithm updates, it’s essential to have a solid SEO framework in place that keeps your website readily available to search engine users.

    Patel accurately states in a piece at the Huffington Post that what could be considered cutting edge today could be antiquated tomorrow. Concluding his piece, Patel explains that websites need to consider all areas of SEO. This goes beyond just keywords.

    A digital marketer’s work is never done, and there are a few important aspects of SEO that you’ll want to address right away. In particular, you’ll want to ensure that your content is mobile-centric (responsive), you’re taking voice search into account and focusing on the user experience by peppering in at least some interactive content.

    Simon Dance – Head of Organic Acquisition @ LYST

     Simon Dance believes that you should ignore everything you’ve heard, or already know, about SEO. In his article at Campaign Live, the SEO specialist outlined some of the primary opportunities, as he sees them, for websites and companies intending to grow their SEO practice.

    Dance accurately explains that SEO should be just one channel given that Google always changes page layouts which can result in your ranking changing. This is absolutely true, but also shows just how important it is to have all the most relevant SEO services at hand. With Google algorithms always changing, our plugin keeps you up to date.

    The Organic Acquisition expert also explained how important it is to “ship early and often”.

    Ship early and often. Any change that you make to your website will need to be crawled by the search engine robots, your pages re-indexed and then ranked within the search results – so ship early and often. The more focused changes you can make (backed by data), the more exponential the growth.

    In a Nutshell

    Business leaders all over the world, of all generations and from all industries understand just how important SEO is. Whether a local dog grooming business or an international marketing firm wants to increase and maintain growth: SEO is essential for reaching new customers and attracting organic traffic to your site.

  • Important update to All in One SEO Pack Pro – version 2.3.6.2

    In conjunction with many other plugin developers, we have released an update to All in One SEO Pack Pro today which patches a security vulnerability within our plugin.  This vulnerability affects only users who have activated the File Editor module in All in One SEO Pack Pro.  Our standard guidance is to leave this module deactivated and only activate it as and when you need to make changes to your .htaccess and robots.txt files.

    You can read more information regarding this Cross-site Scripting (XSS) and the plugins affected on the Sucuri blog here.

    In addition to patching this vulnerability, this release also includes changes the plugin for Taxonomy Term Splitting so that the plugin is compatible with WordPress version 4.2 which is due out very soon.

    We strongly urge all users to update to the latest version of All in One SEO Pack Pro (version 2.3.6.2).  Make sure you update ALL other affected plugins.

    Our thanks go to Joost de Valk for identifying this vulnerability.

  • Time to Prepare for Upcoming Google Mobile-Friendly Algorithm Change

    Google posted an announcement on their Webmaster Central Blog on February 26th about an upcoming change to their ranking algorithm for mobile-friendly search results.  Yesterday it was reported that Zineb Ait Bahajji from Google’s Webmaster Trends team was quoted at SMX Munich as saying that this algoritm change will have more of an impact on Google’s search results than the Panda and Penguin updates did.

    What is this change?

    The algorithm change by Google will expand on the use of mobile-friendliness as a signal for ranking websites.  Websites that are mobile-friendly will rank higher and consequently, sites that are not mobile-friendly may see their ranking drop.  This change will go into effect on April 21st, 2015.

    Why is this change important?

    Mobile-friendly tag in Google search resultsGoogle has been saying for some time now that mobile search is increasing in prevalence and that as much as 50% of searches are now performed from a mobile device.  They’ve been displaying the helpful Mobile-friendly text in search results since November 2014 to help us to identify sites that are mobile-friendly when we search from our mobile devices.

    This announcement in February by Google provides website owners a warning to make their websites mobile-friendly as a priority in preparation for this algorithm change.

    If this change is as significant as Google says, and to quote their announcement this change “will have a significant impact in our search results”, then website owners should prepare now by testing their site and ensuring it is mobile-friendly. Failure to do so “may” result in a negative change in rankings come April.

    You may also have received, or may well receive, an email from Google with a mobile usability report. An example is shown below.

    Mobile usability email from Google

    What should I do?

    The first thing you can do is test your website to make sure it is mobile-friendly.  Google provides two free tools for this:

    • If you want to test a few pages, you can use the Mobile-Friendly Test.
    • If you want to test an entire website, you can use your Google Webmaster Tools account to get a full list of mobile usability issues across your entire site using the Mobile Usability Report.  You will find this in Google Webmaster Tools by going to Search Traffic, Mobile Usability.

    Google also provides a guide to mobile-friendly sites.

    If the result from this testing shows mobile usability issues that need to be fixed then contact us for assistance and we can discuss what is involved with fixing these issues.

    It is important to take action now and be prepared for the release of this algorithm change on April 21st.  It’s impossible to predict what the impact on your site’s ranking will be but if the indications from Google are anything to go by, this will have a significant impact for sites that are not mobile-friendly.

    Contact us for more information and for assistance with testing and fixing mobile usability issues.

  • 20 Million downloads and counting!

    This week we reached another big milestone with All in One SEO Pack – the plugin reached 20 Million downloads.  We’re in a very exclusive club given that we’re only one of three plugins out of 33,000 plugins in the WordPress plugin repository to reach this milestone.

    To give you an idea of how quickly we reached this milestone I read back through our archives and found a blog post from January 2009 where we announced that we’d hit One Million downloads.  I then found a post from February 2012 where we announced that we had hit 10 Million downloads.

    Not bad when you think that All in One SEO Pack was first released in 2007, within 2 years we’d hit One Million, 3 years later we hit 10 Million and 2 years after that we hit 20 Million. Looking at the statistics we’re averaging around One Million downloads every 3 months.

    So what have you done lately…

    As is traditional when you reach a major milestone, I thought I’d reflect on what has happened in the last 2 years. So here’s a list of some of the things we’ve achieved whilst on our way from 10 Million to 20 Million:

    • We completely redesigned the user interface making it easier to use and better looking on any screen size
    • We’ve added feature modules so that we could easily extend the functionality of the plugin and give you total control over what features you want to activate
    • We added an XML Sitemap Generator and a Video XML Sitemap Generator
    • We added complete control over Open Graph social meta
    • We’ve updated the plugin 21 times and increased our release cycle, with new functionality and features in every new release
    • We’ve improved our support with much faster response times and we’ve reaffirmed our commitment to provide support to users of the free plugin via the WordPress.org support forums
    • We’ve released 6 new feature modules and we’ve got 6 more in development
    • We now provide full documentation both inline within the plugin and on this website and we’ve added video screencasts available to users of All in One SEO Pack Pro
    • We’ve increased the turnaround time for bug fixes to a matter of a day or two and in some cases hours

    With just a few exceptions, all of this is still available for FREE to anyone with a WordPress site and we are fully committed to continuing to develop the best SEO plugin available, for free, with great support, and full documentation.

    I look forward to reviewing what we’ve achieved when we hit 30 Million downloads!

  • All in One SEO Pack Pro v2.3 now available

    We are pleased to announce that the latest release of All in One SEO Pack Pro is now available to members with a valid Support and Updates subscription.  If you want to take advantage of these new features then you can purchase All in One SEO Pack Pro here.

    What’s New – Taxonomy Support

    All in One SEO Pack Pro now includes support for categories, tags and custom taxonomies.  What this means is that you can now set the Title tag, Meta Description and Meta Keywords on each individual category, tag or custom taxonomy as well as set tags such as NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW, NOODP and NOYDIR.

    When you edit a category, tag or custom taxonomy you will see the All in One SEO Pack box with these fields.  If you have any plugins that create custom posts types which have custom taxonomies you’ll be able to manage these setting on those taxonomies as well.  For example, if you’re running any of the popular e-commerce plugins and have products and product categories and tags then you can now manage the SEO for those individual product categories and tags.

    Edit Category screen showing All in One SEO Pack box
    Edit Category screen showing All in One SEO Pack box

     

    What’s New – Video XML Sitemap module

    All in One SEO Pack Pro also includes a new Video XML Sitemap module for creating and managing XML sitemaps for videos.  You can enable this new module in Feature Manager and manage the configuration and generate your XML sitemap under the new Video Sitemap sub menu.

    The new Video XML Sitemap will scan for and recognize any videos embedded using the built in WordPress oEmbed feature. This feature lets you paste in the URL for a video and converts it into the actual video instead of displaying the URL.  Visit the WordPress Codex here for a full list of videos that are supported.

    The new Video XML Sitemap will also scan for and recognize videos embedded using the iFrame or Object embed code provided by the video hosting providers.  The following videos embedded using iFrame or Object embed code are currently supported:

    • YouTube iFrame embed code
    • Vimeo iFrame embed code
    • Dailymotion iFrame embed code
    • Blip  iFrame embed code

    We will add support for more video hosting providers in future updates to the plugin.

    Video XML Sitemap module in All in One SEO Pack Pro
    Video XML Sitemap module in All in One SEO Pack Pro

     

    New SEO Video Tutorials and Beginners Guides

    In addition to these new features in All in One SEO Pack Pro, we have also published new documentation for members with a current Support and Updates subscription.  These include:

    All of our documentation can be found at http://aioseomarketingsite.local/documentation/.  We will be adding new documentation and screencasts for members and all visitors very soon.

    We hope you enjoy the new features and continue to support us in our efforts to develop the best and most comprehensive SEO plugin for WordPress.

  • All in One SEO Pack Pro version 2.2 – What’s New

    As 2013 was drawing to a close you may have noticed we released another new version of All in One SEO Pack Pro.  This latest version, All in One SEO Pack Pro v2.2, included two new modules that help power users manage the SEO for their sites.  Those new modules are:

    Robots.txt Generator/Validator

    This module is directed at power users who want to create and edit a robots.txt file from within All in One SEO Pack.  By default, WordPress will dynamically generate a simple robots.txt file that prevents search crawlers from accessing the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ directories on your server.  This is not a static file, it’s dynamically generated by WordPress whenever a search crawler visits the URL for your robots.txt file (usually http://domain.com/robots.txt).

    With our new module you can now create a static robots.txt file, validate it against the rules for the robots.txt protocol to ensure the file is correct and works, as well as add new custom rules to your robots.txt file.  This is another essential tool in managing how search engines interact with your site.

    File Editor

    This module is also directed at power users who want to edit their .htaccess file and robots.txt file without without having to resort to FTP.  The module is a front end interface for editing these two files.

    The release of version 2.2 brings to a close a year which started with the release of version 2.1 and saw a total of  7 releases and 4 new modules.  We’ve got more great new features and modules planned for release in 2014.  Stay tuned for news about new features coming soon!

  • Beware of spam emails regarding WordPress Customer Reward Program

    We are aware of a spam email that is going around regarding All in One SEO Pack. The email starts with “You have been chosen by WordPress to take part in our Customer Reward(ing) Program” and states that you have won a free copy of All in One SEO Pack Pro. The emails typically come from a WordPress.org email address and include a ZIP file that has been reported to include malware.

    This is a typical Phishing attack aimed at getting the recipient to open the attachment or in this case install the attached ZIP file on a WordPress site. Do not open emails from people you don’t know. Do not download, open or install any attachment unless you know for sure who it came from and what it contains.

    In this case these emails did not originate from WordPress.org, they are spam sent by unknown senders. The file attached to the email is not a copy of All in One SEO Pack Pro and neither WordPress.org nor Semper Fi Web Design would send unsolicited emails with attachments. Most spam filters should pick up these emails and mark them as spam. If your spam filter does not, then mark the email as spam and delete it.

    There are also numerous websites claiming to have a free copy of All in One SEO Pack Pro to download. The ONLY valid source to purchase and download All in One SEO Pack Pro is from our SemperPlugins.com store.

  • XML Sitemap generator coming to All in One SEO Pack

    We are getting ready to release a new version of All in One SEO Pack here and we are happy to announce that one of the most requested features we get is being included in this new release.  XML Sitemap generation is the most commonly requested feature we get.  Up until now you’ve had to install a separate plugin to generate and manage your XML Sitemaps.  However, the next release of both the free version and the Pro version of All in One SEO Pack will include an XML Sitemap generator.

    To celebrate this and as part of our 12 for 12: 12 months of SEO for 2012 campaign we are publishing a white paper that tells you everything you wanted to know about XML Sitemaps and explains how the new feature in All in One SEO Pack works.

    We welcome your feedback on this new feature and tell us what else you’d like to see included in All in One SEO Pack.  Use the form below to send us your feedback or leave a comment on this post.

    [gravityform id=”1″ name=”Contact” title=”false” description=”false”]

  • Semper Fi Web Design to Launch Semper Plugins

    Semper Fi Web Design is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of their new Premium WordPress Plugins store, Semper Plugins.  This store will provide access to some of the best plugins for WordPress from one of the best known plugin developers.  The Semper Fi team has been hard at work to bring you a series of great plugins which will be released only through Semper Plugins.  We’ll start with our most popular plugin to date, All in One SEO Pack which is about to reach a staggering 9 million downloads.  Let’s not forget that Semper Plugins offers access to Support Forums staffed by our support team and plugin developers so it’s the best place for premium plugin support.

    Stay tuned for more information – and we hope you enjoy the exciting new plugin releases that are coming soon!