March 5, 2018 / Path Digital
First, what is rel=canonical used for? The rel=canonical tag is a piece of HTML code inserted in the <head> to indicate to search engines the “master copy,” or canonical, URL to index where the same or very similar content exists across URL versions. It’s useful in cases like these: 1) When filters and other parameters […]
read full articleJanuary 14, 2018 / Path Digital
I’ve just launched a new consultancy website, Path Digital Services, as of February 2018. This post explores on-the-job learnings in the past few years of SEO for agencies and small business clients alike. After a year and change as an independent digital consultant based in Chicago, a few years prior to that as a hired […]
read full articleJune 25, 2017 / Path Digital
There’s a reason why quality content — Optimized, Fresh, Factual (or trusted/authoritative), Engaging, and Relevant content — comes up as an SEO recommendation consistently in my own work as an SEO consultant as well as across the web, including sources like Search Engine Land and Kissmetrics. O.F.F.E.R., for short. Yes, that might be a made-up acronym 🙂 But it’s not arbitrary: as hard as it is to quantitatively […]
read full articleApril 28, 2017 / Path Digital
Let’s look at an SEO topic that’s gotten increased coverage in the last six months due to a Google update in how Chrome displays the address bar: the HTTP to HTTPS site migration. If you’re in the digital world at all yourself, this isn’t new — but I’ve found surprisingly little in the way of a clear, […]
read full articleApril 10, 2017 / Path Digital
With today’s web filled with non-optimized sites and short-sighted design, all you have to do is click around, or tap on your smartphone, to find examples of sites that don’t load optimally and aren’t designed for a great user experience. But users (your existing and future customers) still demand a LOT. It’s the Internet’s fault. We want instant gratification […]
read full articleFebruary 7, 2016 / Path Digital
While the direct significance of keywords to SEO has dwindled in comparison to other signals that stress user experience thanks to the 2013 Google Hummingbird update, keyword research is still such a critical step 1 for just about any on-page, site architecture, or marketing SEO project. Sure, keywords aren’t as sexy as newer SEO topics. […]
read full articleNovember 18, 2015 / Path Digital
When you consider social media adding a “dimension” to traditional branding & promotional mediums, people and companies today have more power to not just inform and market themselves – but interact in ways we didn’t have power to before. It’s obvious, right? As an American consumer, you can’t escape the hashtag onslaught across digital and T.V. (About every other ad was #tagging during […]
read full articleSeptember 19, 2015 / Path Digital
Today I wanted to take a look at how social media trends influence SEO…and vice versa. (Given the fluidity that typifies the digital space, we wouldn’t want it any other way.) When I pull up a preliminary “SEO social media” search on Google, the first thing I notice isn’t the relevance of the results – or the results themselves. It’s that […]
read full articleAugust 19, 2015 / Path Digital
Ok, so if you got to this point, you’re maybe interested in interaction design and what it’s all about for converting users and customers. What does interaction design mean, then? Well… here’s pretty much the easiest way for me as a user to find out: Interaction design at work — 3 (easy) steps 1) I go to […]
read full articleAugust 2, 2015 / Path Digital
What makes a perfect ad? In a 2013 post on the psychology behind ad and digital copywriting, I elaborated on a fundamentally different appeal that traditional ads (print, radio, TV) make to “captive” audiences, versus content & copy for digital experiences – where by nature we participate in the medium rather than being subject to it. On […]
read full articleJuly 5, 2015 / Path Digital
Ah, to open a link in a new tab or not… that is the question. Sure, might not be the type of critical life question you find yourself faced with regularly (fortunately) but it’s a good one for us in the digital space to examine – whether you’re a UX or an SEO person, content strategist/manager, […]
read full articleJune 9, 2015 / Path Digital
Why you should know the rules, and then break them. (Sometimes.) Despite the overwhelming ubiquity in digital copywriting – everyone wants good SEO – there’s no magic formula to original, share-worthy content. The numbered-list format, for example, only works if you understand WHY your audience is drawn to click: a promise of usefulness in the post/article itself. What I want to […]
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