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**Conquering 404 Errors: The Ultimate Guide to SEO and User Delight**

Chris Porteous | 22 August 2024

Table of Contents

We all know the feeling – that little knot of frustration in your stomach when you click a link, expecting to be taken to a wealth of valuable information, but instead… BAM. You’re hit with that dreaded message: “404 Error: Page Not Found.”

It’s not just annoying for us users, 404 errors can also spell trouble for your website’s SEO performance. A site’s ability to rank well in search engine results depends heavily on a healthy backlink profile, which 404 errors can seriously mess up. Luckily, SearchEye steps in with powerful tools to help you avoid the SEO headaches these errors can cause.

Table of Contents:

Why You Should Care about 404 Errors

404 errors indicate a broken link, meaning the requested web page can’t be found on the server. Several reasons cause this. Sometimes the content has been moved or deleted, and the link wasn’t updated. Perhaps a typo crept into the URL address, leading to a non-existent page.

While a few stray 404s here and there aren’t cause for major panic, ignoring them completely can negatively impact your website. Maintaining a website takes time, but catching potential issues can help maintain a website’s rankings in the long run.

Impact on User Experience

Nobody likes being sent on a wild goose chase. Landing on a 404 page breaks the flow of a user’s journey on your website. Instead of finding the content they expected, they’re left frustrated.

This negative experience can cause them to bounce right off your site, lowering your overall engagement and potentially driving potential customers away. An increase in bounce rate is something website owners want to avoid.

Impact on SEO

This is where the issue really hits home for website owners. Search engines, especially Google Search, consider 404 errors as indicators of a poorly maintained website. A site with broken links comes across as unprofessional, outdated, and unreliable.

Search engine crawlers, whose job it is to assess the quality of your site, will note these errors. They may ding your website’s ranking as a result. Another crucial aspect of SEO is backlinks – links from other websites pointing to your own. Backlinks are like votes of confidence for search engines. They tell Google that your website is worth linking to and therefore valuable.

When a backlink points to a 404 page, that valuable link juice goes down the drain. This makes it more difficult for Google to find and index the rest of your site. Web hosting is something every online business owner must think through, as it directly affects the website user experience.

This issue becomes especially problematic if these pages are not meant to be removed. Google can sometimes still crawl pages despite 404s. However, this diminishes over time until they cease doing so. To keep your website running in optimal condition, check for 404s frequently. You can review your Google Search Console’s Page Indexing report to pinpoint the specific pages responsible for triggering 404 errors.

Damaged Reputation

Frequent 404s can erode your website’s credibility. After all, wouldn’t you question a company’s legitimacy if every other link on their site led to an error page? These errors signal to users that your site is neglected, reducing trust in your brand.

404 errors can also make it harder to convert visitors into customers. This is why it is so important to ensure your website is free of errors. You want to put your best foot forward to make a great first impression.

SearchEye Helps Combat 404 Errors

SearchEye shines when addressing 404 issues. It plays a crucial role in SEO maintenance, providing valuable features to identify broken links on your site and suggest solutions. Here’s a breakdown of how this works:

    1. Deep Website Crawl

SearchEye explores your entire website’s architecture to pinpoint any pages returning 404 status codes. Think of this feature like a private investigator hunting down every last errant link lurking on your site. SearchEye combs through every page, ensuring nothing slips by.

    1. Link Analysis and Insights

SearchEye goes beyond just spotting 404s. It examines the backlinks pointing to your broken pages. This gives you an in-depth understanding of which links lead users astray.

Links that direct traffic to 404 error pages, frequently referred to as broken or dead links, are susceptible to a process known as link rot.

    1. Actionable Recommendations

Here’s the best part – SearchEye gives you clear and concise advice on how to resolve each broken link issue it finds. Need to update a link or set up a 301 redirect? SearchEye walks you through the process. You’ll be able to quickly fix the errors, so your website visitors won’t even know they were there in the first place.

    1. Continuous Monitoring

Think of SearchEye as your website’s constant guardian. This tool runs periodic audits to detect new 404 errors. This ensures that your site remains clean, healthy, and user-friendly in the long run.

SearchEye acts as a vigilant watchdog, keeping a close eye on your website. By constantly checking your site and alerting you to issues, it eliminates time-consuming manual checks. It allows you to focus on other critical SEO tasks.

How 404 Pages Affect Users

As users move from page to page, their engagement is driven by their intention. When encountering a 404 error page, there are distinct types of intent you need to understand to keep them moving through your site or guide them in a better direction. They could be arriving for different reasons:

Perhaps a user wanted to reach a specific URL, maybe a blog post or a product listing, but mistyped the URL. Maybe a link from another website or platform, such as social media, led them astray. Regardless of the reason, these errors interrupt a user’s flow. They can hinder their intended path on your site.

Informational

Some users arrive at 404 error pages because the link was outdated, like content no longer on the website, perhaps deleted due to its obsolescence. The user may be interested in learning why they landed on a 404 error page or the original context surrounding the now-broken link.

Transactional

If a 404 pops up when someone’s trying to buy something or complete another online action, that’s a recipe for disaster. Just imagine adding items to your cart and excitedly clicking to the checkout page, only to be slammed with a 404 – that would leave you frustrated, wouldn’t it?

This frustration often causes a user to abandon their shopping cart or stop using a website’s core functionality altogether. This leads to a major missed opportunity for business owners. MDN contributors help clarify more detailed issues that may be found online. To mitigate the negative effects of a transactional error like this, website owners need to understand 404 errors and what may contribute to them.

Custom 404 Pages: The Key to a Graceful Recovery

Instead of throwing a generic and bland “404 Not Found” error message in users’ faces, consider this: Customizing your 404 page. Why settle for basic and uninformative 404 error pages when you can inject a bit of helpfulness and personality? Custom error pages offer a golden opportunity to alleviate user frustration.

Check out KonMari’s beautifully crafted 404 page. Rather than letting a 404 be a dead end, they turn it into a doorway. They guide users toward relevant content or back on track to the website parts they intended to visit. They even inject humor to lighten the mood.

Let’s break down the essential elements of a well-designed, user-friendly 404 error page:

Clear and Simple Language

Start by explicitly stating what happened. Tell users that the page they requested can’t be found clearly and understandably. Avoid using technical jargon or convoluted explanations – keeping things straightforward.

A good way to write these statements is to lead into things positively. This can help soften the blow for the user, as coming across an error message is never fun.

Genuine Apology

Acknowledging the inconvenience a 404 error causes is important. A simple, heartfelt “Sorry.” shows empathy, reassuring the user that they haven’t fallen into some black hole of internet brokenness.

Let them know this is a common occurrence that the website owners have made allowances for. This can help the user feel like they are being heard, even if it’s just an error message.

Helpful Navigation

A well-crafted 404 error page provides helpful navigation so visitors can find the content they seek. Links to important pages, such as your homepage, contact information, or sitemap, will guide you to a more appropriate landing point instead of letting a user bounce because of the interruption in service.

Search Bar Integration

What better way to find missing information than with a search bar right on the 404 error page? Search engines have trained users to expect search to find what they want. Give them what they want and are accustomed to – put it right on the error page.

Implementing a search bar makes things more interactive. Visitors can enter keywords and discover content related to what they initially sought.

Creative Design

This is where you can let your brand shine. Customize the design of your 404 page to match your website’s visual identity and add an engaging image.

You not only soften the blow of the error but also create a fun and memorable experience. You might use subtle branding, inject humor with funny visuals, or have quirky messages – making this a touchpoint to reinforce brand personality and user engagement. Some people and website owners love these 404 error landing pages; however, other visitors may see these as too flippant.

The best solution allows visitors to choose their path to continuing their exploration of your site. Regardless of your website theme and design choices, treat the 404 error page as you would any other aspect of your website’s user interface. HTTP Semantics # status.404 dictates this standard error code. The 404 Not Found HTTP code communicates the problem.

Remember that website owners need to view 404 error messages through their website needs. They need to consider their business type and overall customer demographics.

Errors Similar to 404 Error

The 404 error is the one we all seem to run into most often, but other similar errors share characteristics that also point to website hiccups. Keep these errors on your radar too:

Error Code Meaning
400 Bad Request This tells you that the request sent to the server had something wrong with it – a syntactical mistake or a broken request element. This is often due to a user error, but it can also be caused by a server-side problem.
401 Unauthorized This pops up when proper authorization is needed to access the requested resource. It is typically caused by failed login attempts or a lack of proper authentication credentials.
403 Forbidden Access denied. This message means the server knows your request but refuses to honor it because of explicit permissions blocking you.
408 Request Timeout This means the server timed out while waiting for a request from the client. This can happen when a client takes too long to send a request to the server or when a server is too busy to respond to a request promptly.

Aside from client-side error issues, keep an eye out for those pesky server-side HTTP status codes. These occur because of a web server issue, unlike 404s. The 500 Internal Server Error, while cryptic, signals that something went amiss on the server-side. It will often provide fewer helpful clues for you as the site owner.

To maintain your site effectively, regularly check for errors of all types. You can utilize browser cache clearing and app store updates. This is not always a fix, but sometimes these quick fixes are all you need to do. Online resources are an essential aid in monitoring any website’s condition.

Conclusion

404 Errors can wreak havoc on your site’s SEO and drive users away – a double whammy you want to avoid. Monitoring, resolving these, and using thoughtfully crafted custom 404 pages prevents lost opportunities and strengthens user engagement.

It enhances your online presence’s quality and makes navigating your site a breeze. To make managing broken links simple, harness the power of SearchEye.

Frequently
Asked Questions

The "Error 404 Not Found" message you see on a web page indicates the server cannot find the requested URL. The requested webpage could be unavailable for various reasons, like being permanently removed, the URL could be typed wrong, the page could have been temporarily moved, or the webserver might be having an issue.

The most common cause is entering a URL incorrectly - that dreaded typo we're all prone to making. Broken links also contribute. This occurs when a link directs to a non-existent webpage, either because the page has been deleted, moved without a redirect, or a website link is incorrect.

When a server fails to locate the resource indicated by the requested URL, it sends back a "404 reason error." Think of this message as the server's way of politely telling you "Nope, can't find it."

As long as the internet exists, you can bet 404s will persist. They're like a universal signal for a page not being found. Understanding how these work and setting up your site to address them well is part of maintaining a robust online presence.

Chris Porteous | 26 May 2023

H1 Tag Optimization
Table of Contents

H1 Tag Optimization is a crucial aspect of on-page SEO that often goes overlooked. In this guide, we’ll explore how to leverage H1 tags for improved SEO performance, from keyword placement to user engagement, and beyond. With SearchEye.io, you can take these strategies to the next level with our link-building and Digital PR platform.

From enhancing user engagement to strategically placing target keywords, you’ll learn how to optimize your content for both search engines and readers alike. As Chris Porteous once said, “Optimization and user engagement go hand in hand. Each one influences the other in ways that directly impact your site’s visibility.” We will also discuss best practices for organizing content with header tags and effective whitespace utilization – all tools at your disposal with SearchEye.io.

This guide covers essential aspects like meta descriptions, title tags, and image optimization using alt attributes, and common H1 tag mistakes to avoid – such as duplicate or excessive use of H1s. Ensuring your website remains mobile-responsive, an added benefit of using SearchEye.io, is equally crucial.

By mastering these techniques in H1 Tag Optimization, you can boost your SEO success while providing an exceptional user experience for your audience. Let’s get started!

SEO Performance and H1 Tags: The Unsung Heroes of SEO

Let’s talk about the unsung heroes of SEO – H1 tags. As Chris Porteous once said, ‘Mastering H1 tags isn’t just about SEO, it’s about creating a better user experience.

These bad boys play a crucial role in search engine optimization, serving as prominent titles that describe the main topic of web content.

H1 tags contribute to improving user experience and readability, while assisting search engines in understanding the headline or title of a page through HTML markup.

Semantic Meaning for Search Engines

H1 tags help provide semantic meaning for search engines by clearly indicating what your content is all about.

This allows crawlers to better understand and index your pages, leading to improved visibility on SERPs (search engine results pages).

Enhancing User Engagement

A well-crafted H1 tag can also boost user engagement by capturing attention and enticing visitors to read further into your content.

In fact, Backlinko’s study on Google ranking factors reveals that higher click-through rates are associated with better rankings.

When optimizing your H1 tags, it’s important to remember a few key points:

  • Use only one H1 tag per page to avoid confusion for search engines and users. Multiple H1 tags or duplicate H1 tags can negatively impact your SEO success.
  • Make sure your H1 tag includes your main keyword and accurately reflects the content on the page.
  • Use heading types (H2, H3, etc.) to organize your content and provide hierarchy for both users and search engines.
  • Don’t forget about the importance of title tags, which also play a role in on-page SEO. Your H1 tag and title tag should complement each other and accurately describe the content on the page.

By following these best practices for H1 tag optimization, you can improve your web design and SEO practices, leading to better keyword density and ultimately, higher rankings on SERPs (the pages that show up when you search something on a search engine like Google). So go ahead, make your main header the star of your blog post or webpage – just remember to keep it friendly, witty, and most importantly, optimized.

Keyword Optimization with H1 Tags: Unlocking SEO Potential

Let’s dive in and explore the power of on-page SEO by discussing the strategic placement of keywords within your H1 tags. This tactic of utilizing H1 tags can produce great results in terms of SERP visibility for your website.

Want to unlock your SEO potential even more? Check out our link-building and Digital PR platform at Searcheye.

Semantically Placing Target Keywords

First and foremost, identify relevant keywords that resonate with your audience and align with your content. You can use tools like Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer or Google Ads Keyword Planner for this purpose. Select primary and secondary keywords based on search volume, competition level, and relevance to your topic.

Avoiding Keyword Stuffing: Less is More.

Incorporate these chosen words naturally into your H1 tag without overdoing it – remember that quality trumps quantity here. Aim for a keyword density of around 0.5% to 2.5%, as excessive repetition may lead to penalties from search engines like Google.

Bonus Tip:

Add variations or synonyms of the main keyword throughout other headings (H2-H6) in order to not only maintain consistency but also improve overall readability and user experience too.

Now that you’re equipped with the knowledge to optimize your H1 tags effectively, it’s time to put these strategies into action and watch your website climb up those SERPs. Remember, keyword optimization is just one piece of the puzzle – don’t forget about other crucial factors like meta descriptions, alt attributes, and user experience.

Accurate Representation of Content

Let’s face it, nobody likes clickbait. Ensuring that your H1 tag accurately represents the main topic or purpose of each web page is crucial for user satisfaction and SEO performance.

But how can you achieve this?

Matching Reader Expectations

The H1 tag should succinctly summarize the page’s content, providing readers with a clear understanding of what they’ll find. Crafting engaging headlines that match reader expectations will not only improve user experience but also increase organic traffic from search engines.

Reducing Bounce Rate

A high bounce rate could indicate that visitors aren’t finding what they’re looking for on your website, which might hurt your rankings in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). To reduce bounce rates, make sure your H1 tags are relevant and accurate representations of the content within each webpage.

Using multiple H1 tags or duplicate H1 tags can confuse search engines and hurt your SEO success. Stick to using one main H1 tag, also known as the main header, for each webpage. This HTML tag is an important tag for on-page SEO and should contain your main keyword.

Other heading types, such as H2, H3, and H4, can be used to organize your content and improve readability. However, be careful not to overuse them, as keyword stuffing and excessive use of header tags can also hurt your SEO performance.

Remember to also optimize your title tags, which are different from H1 tags but equally important for SEO. Title tags should be concise, contain your main keyword, and accurately represent the content on the page.

By following these HTML header tags and title tag best practices, you can improve your web design and SEO practices, ultimately leading to higher organic traffic and better user experience.

Get accurate content representation with the help of Searcheye’s Digital PR platform.

Best Practices for Organizing Content with H1 Tags

Let’s dive in. As a modern-day blog editor experienced with SEO, I know that creating a logical and user-friendly structure using H1 tags is essential for search engine optimization and overall success. To achieve this, it’s important to follow some best practices.

First up: subheadings. Proper use of semantic subheadings (H2-H6) is crucial for organizing your content effectively. This not only improves readability but also helps search engines understand the hierarchy of information on your page. Learn more about heading tags here.

Next, let’s talk about whitespace – an often overlooked design element that can make or break your content presentation. Utilizing whitespace effectively ensures that your webpage looks clean, uncluttered, and easy-to-read by providing visual breaks between different sections or elements within the text.

  • Create paragraphs to break up long blocks of text into smaller chunks. This makes it easier for readers to digest the information at their own pace without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Add bullet points or numbered lists when presenting multiple ideas or steps in a process. Lists are visually appealing and help users quickly grasp key takeaways from your content.
  • Incorporate tables or charts when comparing data sets or showcasing complex concepts. These visual aids can simplify complicated topics while adding variety to your overall content layout.

To create a compelling user experience, it is essential to arrange your content in an organized and engaging manner. Want more tips on organizing your content effectively? Check out this comprehensive guide.

To sum it up: proper use of H1 tags, subheadings, whitespace, and other formatting elements will help you present information clearly and concisely while maintaining an organized layout throughout your webpage. Avoid using multiple H1 tags or duplicate H1 tags, as this can confuse search engines and hurt your SEO. Instead, use H1 tags for your main header and incorporate other heading types (H2-H6) for subheadings. Additionally, make sure to include important tags such as title tags and meta descriptions in your HTML code. By following these on-page SEO practices, you can improve your website’s visibility and attract more traffic to your blog post or web design project.

Your readers and search engines will be appreciative of the organization you’ve provided on your webpage through proper use of H1 tags, subheadings, whitespace, and other formatting elements. Remember Chris Porteous’s words: ‘SEO is not an overnight process. It’s the consistent application of proven techniques like proper H1 tag usage that yield results.’

Key Takeaway: 

Proper use of H1 tags, subheadings, whitespace and other formatting elements is essential for presenting information clearly and concisely while maintaining an organized layout throughout your webpage. Incorporating visual aids such as bullet points or numbered lists can simplify complicated topics while adding variety to your overall content layout. Remember to avoid using multiple H1 tags or duplicate H1 tags as this can confuse search engines and hurt your SEO.

SEO Considerations Beyond Keywords: The Bigger Picture

While keyword optimization is crucial for H1 tags, there are other essential SEO factors to consider when crafting your content. Let me walk you through them.

#1: Meta descriptions and title tags

A well-written meta description can improve click-through rates by enticing users with a concise summary of your page’s content. Similarly, an optimized title tag helps search engines understand the topic while boosting user engagement.

#2: Image optimization with alt attributes

Incorporating relevant images enhances user experience but don’t forget to optimize them. Adding descriptive alt attributes, compressing file sizes, and using appropriate formats like JPEG or PNG will ensure faster loading times and better accessibility for all users.

Additional Tips for Comprehensive SEO Strategy

  1. Internal linking: Connecting related pages within your site helps distribute link equity effectively while guiding visitors towards valuable content. Learn more about internal linking strategies here.
  2. Mobile responsiveness: Ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices to provide a seamless user experience and maintain high search engine rankings. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help you identify areas for improvement.
  3. Page speed optimization: A fast-loading site not only improves user satisfaction but also contributes to better SEO performance. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze and optimize your site’s loading time.

Incorporating these strategies into your overall approach will ensure that you’re covering all bases, leading to improved visibility on SERPs and an enhanced user experience.

Ready? Let’s tackle those H1 tag mistakes next.

H1 Tag Mistakes to Avoid

Let’s talk about some common H1 tag blunders. Avoiding missteps with your H1 tags will make sure that your content is organized correctly and optimized for search engines as well as readers. Are you ready? Let’s dive in.

Good H1 Tag Usage Bad H1 Tag Usage
“Ultimate Guide to Gardening” “Home Page”
“10 Best SEO Practices in 2023” “Post #12”

Duplicate or Excessive Use of H1 Tags

First up: don’t overdo it with the H1 tags. Having multiple semantically similar headings can confuse search engines and hinder user experience. Stick to one primary heading per page, folks.

Overlooking Mobile Responsiveness

Ensuring your website is optimized for mobile use is essential in the modern era, as Google rewards sites that are user-friendly on all devices with higher rankings. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in its rankings, so make sure your H1 tags are responsive across all devices.

Additional Tips:

  • Maintain consistency: Keep font sizes, styles, and colors consistent throughout your headings. Maintain a clear structure to make it simpler for readers to comprehend the sequence of facts on your website.
  • Avoid keyword stuffing: While including relevant keywords in your H1 tags is essential, avoid cramming too many into a single heading. Search engines may view this as spammy behavior which could negatively impact rankings. Balance is key here.
  • User-centric approach: Always prioritize your users’ needs and preferences when crafting H1 tags. A well-optimized heading that doesn’t resonate with your target audience is a missed opportunity.

Want more tips on optimizing your content for search engines?

Check out our comprehensive guide on H1 tag best practices here.

Now go forth, optimize those headings, and watch as both user engagement and search engine rankings soar.

Conclusion

In conclusion, optimizing H1 tags is crucial for both search engines and user engagement. By strategically placing target keywords and accurately representing content, you can improve your website’s visibility and reduce bounce rates. Properly organizing content with subheadings and considering SEO factors beyond just keywords are also important best practices to follow.

However, it’s important to avoid common mistakes such as duplicate or excessive use of H1 tags and overlooking mobile responsiveness. Remember that meta descriptions, title tags, image optimization with alt attributes, and whitespace utilization all play a role in effective H1 tag optimization.

To optimize your website’s H1 tags effectively today, visit Searcheye.

Frequently
Asked Questions

Chris Porteous | 1 February 2022

Table of Contents

If you’re looking to get higher search rankings for your business website, then Ahrefs can be of great use. It is one of the preferred tools for strategizing and executing website SEO along with content marketing.

What is Ahrefs Used for?

A robust SEO tool, Ahrefs helps you with keyword research, exploring backlink opportunities, competitive ranking analysis, tracking search rankings, managing site audits, analyzing content gaps, and managing alerts related to search rankings and brand mentions. 

The tool helps marketers to level up their SEO and content marketing campaigns. The end-to-end SEO solution is the go-to software for small business owners, content marketing professionals, affiliate marketers, and SEO agencies. 

This guide will explore the powerful SEO tool so you can utilize it for higher search rankings and growing website traffic.

Chapter 1

Keyword Research

It’s quite apparent that keyword research is the foremost aspect of a strong SEO strategy. 

How can Ahrefs help with keyword research?

The Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer tool offers you many features for in-depth and comprehensive keyword research.

[info_box id=”646″]

Type your seed keywords to find millions of keyword ideas along with necessary information like search volume, keyword difficulty, competition, and CPC.

Scroll down, and you’ll see a list of related keywords with search volume.

The tool offers ‘Click’ data along with search volume, so you know what percentage of searches got clicks on them. The ‘Click’ data helps understand whether a keyword is worth your time and effort.

Besides that, the ‘Click’ data shows you the percentage of clicks on paid and organic search results, respectively. When targeting a keyword through organic strategies, you need to look at organic clicks. 

Also, see the ‘Clicks Per Search’ (CPS) metric to know the percentage of searches that got clicks on them. The higher this figure, the more the number of clicks.

 

The tool helps take note of the Return Rate of a particular keyword. The metric lets you know about the repeat searches of a search phrase by the same searcher. The measure is great for learning the value of a keyword.

A search term with a high CPC tells you about the commercial nature of the keyphrase. It means you can create conversion-friendly content or pages for such keywords. Take a look at this example:

You can also check the metrics for seasonal keywords and see if you can create a piece that goes with the current trends and conversations. Here is a simple example:

Ahrefs’ keyword research tool provides a keyword database from 10 search engines, including Google, YouTube, Yandex, Amazon, Bing, Baidu, Daum & Naver, and Seznam.

You can use the dropdown to find a keyword’s data for any of the mentioned search engines. 

SERP Overview

Another useful way to understand the worth of a keyword is through the SERP overview tool. The feature gives you the list of pages that rank for a specific keyword. 

A remarkable thing about the SERP overview tool is that you can see valuable data related to each of the top ten results. These include URL Rating, Domain Rating, and Top Keywords. 

SERP Position History 

As you scroll down, you can see the change in keyword rankings over the last few years after 2016. A stable SERP position history means that it’s hard for a new content piece to compete with existing ranking pages. 

Take a look at the following data for the search term ‘lead generation strategies’ for the last 24 months:

On the other hand, a fluctuating report displays an opportunity to compete and get yourself a place on the search results’ first page. 

Do you notice the fluctuations in rankings of some of the URLs in the screenshot above?

The Top Keywords column will show you which keyword is fetching the most traffic for the said URL. It is interesting because it gives you an idea about the keyword you’re analyzing vis-a-vis similar keywords working well for some of the top competitors.

 

Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer helps you check the monthly traffic of the top-ranking pages.

How awesome is that?

Keyword Ideas 

Head over to keyword ideas on the left sidebar to view many keyword ideas with the respective data. Analyze and compare the metrics of multiple keywords in one go.

You can even track which domains that occupy the largest share of the search rankings for specific keywords. Look for the Traffic share option in the left sidebar.

Within Keyword Ideas, you can play around with numerous filters like Keyword Difficulty, Search Volume, Word Count, SERP Features Inclusion or Exclusion of specific words. Add your range to get detailed information.

  • The whole objective of keyword research is to boil down to the best keywords to target at a certain point in time. 
  • It gives an idea of how to create content that would best meet the needs of the audience. 

Ahrefs offers a detailed keyword research feature. The tool provides metrics beyond search volume and competition to make wise strategic keyword targeting decisions. 

Now that you know how to make your keyword research shine with Ahrefs let’s look at some critical definitions.

Commonly Used Terms 

Keyword Difficulty: This metric shows how tough it is to rank for a key phrase in Google’s search results. 

Traffic Potential: Shows the amount of traffic you can earn if your site ranks for a specific search term.

Parent Topic: The extensive topic that one or more keywords fall under.

Chapter 2

Analyze Backlinks and Find Link Prospects

One of the core tasks for creating a winning backlink acquisition strategy is to analyze backlinks. Study the link profile of your site and those of your competitors. Let’s see how Ahrefs can help you with quick and in-depth backlink analysis.

 

Check a domain’s backlink profile in Ahrefs’ ‘Site Explorer.’ The dashboard will show you the number of backlinks and the number of referring domains pointing at the website.

Check Growth in Referring Domains 

Scroll down, and you’ll see a graph that displays the growth of referring domains.

That’s relatively easy, isn’t it? Now let’s explore further:

Head over to the Backlinks option in the sidebar, and you’ll see the backlinks’ details.

Make a List of Do-Follow Links 

Use the dropdown to check the Do-follow backlinks. Considering that Do-Follow backlinks carry more value, it’s the metric that you want to check first.

Now use this tool to analyze competitor backlinks. 

I used this feature to find the backlinks of a top competitor of Salesforce. I used the filters to check for Do-Follow links from blogs only. In the platform filter, I selected ‘Blogs’.

I found that HubSpot has 32,395 Do-Follow links from unique domains, all from blog posts. 

It’s easy to export this list and explore potential link-building opportunities.

Link Intersect Tool

Use the ‘Link Intersect’ feature to generate a list of common links between two or more domains.

For generating a bunch of link opportunities, I included three competitors and excluded Salesforce from the report.

I found 45,509 new link prospects for Salesforce!

Best By Links

Now here’s the most exciting feature – ‘Best By Links.’ You can use it to learn which type of content is fetching your competitors the most links! 

How? 

The tool gives you a list of a domain’s most linked-to-pages. 

Cool, isn’t it? 

This way, you get to compare some of the top competitor content pieces to yours and see what you can do to create highly linkable content assets. 

Let’s understand this with the help of an example. Here’s HubSpot’s ‘Best By Links’ report.

If you observe closely, you’ll find that some of HubSpot’s highly linked pages are trend reports, free tools, and guides. 

As a business selling a CRM software, you can strive to produce better tools, guides, and research reports. These content assets might fetch you more links!

Analyze Internal Links

Getting higher search rankings may not be about external backlinks alone. You can use the ‘Best By Links’ report to get a list of site pages by the number of internal links. Use the ‘Internal’ tab to generate this report.

Click on the numbers to see the linking pages and the respective anchor texts. This way you can review internal links and make the necessary adjustments.

Explore New Links of Competitors

If you want to learn about the latest backlinks of a domain, you can use the ‘New Links’ tool to generate a quick report. Within the Backlinks profile, you need to select ‘New’ on the left sidebar.

Check out new links of competing domains, and know about publications and blogs interested in linking to sites like yours. 

Here’s HubSpot’s list of new Do-Follow backlinks from blogs.

The marketing tool got 1,087 new links in just seven days. 

You can repeat for other competitors to make a list of the newest competitor links. 

Keep track of Lost Links

Sites often end up shuffling and removing some links. If you’re an SEO manager, then link removals can be painful. Tracking lost links manually could be even more stressful. The good news is that you can use Ahrefs to track all of your lost backlinks. 

Within the ‘Backlink Profile,’ go over to the ‘Lost’ option on the sidebar.

I chose to find all the lost ‘Do-Follow’ links from ‘Blogs’ by selecting the relevant filters’ in the above report. I also decided to look at the lost backlinks in the last 30 days. 

Salesforce’s lost backlink report showed a loss of 3,269 links.

You can export the list of domains that have chosen to remove your backlink. Write a personalized email to reclaim the removed backlink.

Here’s another useful tactic:

Check for your competitors’ lost backlinks, and you never know there could be many new opportunities to pitch your content assets. 

Here’s a look at HubSpot’s lost backlinks in the last 30 days:

I can see an evil grin on your face >:D

Ok, let’s go further. 

Links to Broken Pages

As a marketer, you put in lots of effort in building backlinks. What if some of these backlinks pointed to broken pages on your site. 

That would be awful, right? 

But don’t worry, you can track all of your broken backlinks using Ahrefs’ ‘Site Explorer.’

Use the following steps to find the broken links and fix them:

Site Explorer > enter your site > Best by links > add 404 filter

The best way is to repair the broken pages or redirect the users to the most relevant alternatives. 

Use the following steps to find broken backlinks of competing sites, and voila, you’ll have many new link-building opportunities!

Head over to Broken Links in the sidebar to enlist all of your competitor’s broken backlinks.

Analyze Anchor Text In Links

The anchor text of your backlinks plays a critical role in search rankings. You can generate a quick report to see a list of anchor texts used in backlinks.

Use the different tabs in this report to see anchors with two words, three words, and four words, respectively. Get a glimpse of anchors to steer your anchor text strategy in the right direction. 

Finding Link Opportunities with Ahrefs’ Alerts

You can use the Alerts feature to find a ton of valuable link prospects. 

Brand Mentions

Start by heading over to Alerts on the main menu.

Add your brand name.

As you can see, I have included two variations, including “Salesforce” and “Salesforce.com.”

You can include multiple variations separated by a search operator like OR in the upper case. 

In the filters, it’s preferable to choose Everywhere and All Languages. You can change the Mode to In Content, and that works too. 

It’s a terrific way to get email alerts for unlinked mentions of your brand. 

You can reach out to the relevant journalists and influencers, asking them for a link. The tactic will help you start a relationship with media outlets who’re already interested in your business. 

Competitor Mentions

Similarly, you can set up alerts for mentions of two or more competing brands. 

Remember to exclude your brand name from the results.

With the above query, you’ll be able to get alerts every time a website mentions either HubSpot or Pipedrive but not Salesforce. 

Put all these domains in your prospect list and find a way to reach out to them.

Track Competitor Reviews 

Here is another easy method to find influencers and bloggers talking about competitors. 

Set up an alert that fetches you any new competitor reviews as and when they’re published. Here’s how it looks:

Can you start talking to these bloggers and get them to publish reviews of your product?

Finding Link Opportunities in Content Explorer

Let’s now look at some cool ways to scout for link opportunities using Ahrefs’ Content Explorer. 

Look for Broken Pages with Lots of Backlinks

We will learn about how to research content in Content Explorer in an upcoming section. For now, let’s understand how to use it to find link prospects. 

Within Content Explorer, you can find a filter that shows you either live or broken content pieces on a specific topic.

Now here is the exciting part.

Finding a list of broken pages on a given topic paves the way for more link-building opportunities. How?

Suppose you found 100 broken pages on a given topic with more than a total of 500 referring domains.

It means that 500 sites are linking to pages that aren’t live anymore!

Make a list of these domains to pitch an alternative content piece and earn yourself a link. 

Here’s another intelligent way to look for link opportunities using Ahrefs’ Content Explorer.

Find Old Pages with Lots of Backlinks

  • Type your topic in Content Explorer.
  • Explore old content pieces with lots of backlinks. 
  • You can look for niche content pieces with more than 90 referring domains.
  • Make sure they’re old and published only once.

In the above example, I typed ‘content marketing’ in the search, and with all the filters, I found 278 pages with more than 90 referring domains. 

If I click on the referring domains, I see a list of domains linking to an old piece. I can create an updated, more meaty version of such a content piece and reach out to all the sites linking to it. 

That’s extremely smart, isn’t it?

Using Content Explorer to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities

Guest blogging is a popular link building technique. It’s also an excellent way to build an online reputation. 

But you’ve got to be persistent with your efforts. 

Ahrefs can help you browse through some worthy guest blogging sites.

Let’s learn how:

Head over to Content Explorer and type your topic as a phrase match.

Use the filter one article per domain. 

Now use the ‘Highlight unlinked domains’ filter. Within this option, add your domain. 

Now you’ll get many content pieces that have never been linked to your site.

The above result shows 122,430 unlinked domains to Salesforce. 

Another interesting way to find guest posting opportunities is to stalk famous guest bloggers in your niche.

Pop a guest blogger’s name in the Content Explorer, and you’ll see all of her published pieces. Remember to use the ‘author’ search operator while adding your query.

The report showed 15 unique domains where this author published guest articles. That could be 15 new guest posting opportunities!

You can repeat this for other niche authors to find more unique guest blogging sites. 

The idea behind creating backlinks is to build site authority. While you’re working hard to find opportunities and links to prominent sites, you also wish to track a site’s web pages’ authority level. That’s how you qualify from a big list and reach out to the most relevant and the best niche websites. 

Ahrefs breaks it down into some easy-to-understand metrics that you’ll see across the reports in this tool. Let’s briefly understand some of these terms:

URL Rating: This metric tells you about the authority of a web page. It’s based on the number and quality of backlinks that point to it.

Domain Rating: Displays the authority of the domain.

Referring Domains: Tells you about the number of unique sites pointing at a web page or a website.

Anchors: Shows a list of anchor texts used in the links pointing at a site.

Ahrefs Rank: This is your site’s global ranking based on its link profile.

CLTDs Distribution: Showcases a list of a website’s link by top-level domain. 

So whether you’re analyzing backlinks or anchor texts, fixing broken ones, or hunting and qualifying new backlink opportunities, Ahrefs can make it all look like child’s play. 

Chapter 3

Track Search Rankings and Traffic

One of the things that’s a constant for SEO managers is to track search rankings of web pages. Ahrefs offers a simple dashboard to know how you fare in the SERP space. Start by heading over to Rank Tracker to start a new project.

 

 

The tool makes it easy to create a project to track search rankings for a domain. You need to add a domain and a list of keywords to create a rank tracking project.

 

Select the desired location from the dropdown.

 

You can also add competitor URLs to get an in-depth comparison of search rankings.

 

Filters

Check rankings on mobile devices and desktops respectively.

 

If you have set some keyword categories, then use the Tag Filter to see rankings for a specific class of keywords.

Generate a report that shows rankings for specific countries.

Use the positions filter to see results for keywords on specific positions or those that have improved or declined. You can use this feature to create a custom filter as well.

 

It is a fantastic feature to study content pieces that may have declined in rankings. Analyze such content pieces to learn if you can revise them and push them up the SERPs.

Graphs

This one here is a great feature to track a domain’s search rankings over time. The traffic metric shows the growth in people visiting your site from the keywords you added to the project.

Get an overview of how the site is doing in SERP features over this period. Next, get a glimpse of the breakdown of the SERP features.

 

Analyze your site’s rankings on mobile and desktop in a single chart.

It gives you an idea of whether the rankings are skewed towards mobile devices or desktops. 

The Competitors tab gives you a sneak peek into your site’s rankings vs. the rankings of your competitors.

See the competitive graph and get a quick understanding of the ranking fluctuations of competing domains.

 

You can use the Positions Tab to see each domain’s ranking history for all the keywords.

 

Use the remaining tabs to see comparative traffic and performance in SERP features.

Chapter 4

Organic Keywords and Organic Traffic

Use this nifty feature to see all the keywords that your site is ranking for in the SERPs. Within ‘Site Explorer’, you’ll find the Organic Keywords option in the left sidebar.

 

Get a current organic rankings state of your site. Also, analyze the traffic you’re getting from each of the keywords. Use the date filter to track the growth in keywords and traffic.

 

The tool has various custom filters such as Keyword Volume, Keyword Difficulty, CPC, and Traffic. Add the range for which you wish to see the results. You can also use the SERP features tab to see your site’s rankings in places like featured snippets and knowledge graphs.

Move over to ‘New’ in the sidebar within ‘Site Explorer’, and you’ll see a list of new keywords of a domain. It is a cool feature to generate a list of all the new keywords of a competitor. Take a look at the following example:

Similarly, you can review the daily changes in keyword rankings and traffic. It’s easy to export these results and see details about new keywords, lost keywords, along with keywords that have moved up or down. Click on ‘Movements’ in the left sidebar, and you’ll get a quick analysis. 

Take a look at the following report. 

This way, the tool allows you to keep a close watch on your domain’s organic performance and see how to compete better. 

Get Alerts on Keyword Ranking Improvements

This feature is quite straightforward. You can set up an Alert for some of your priority keywords based on search volume. 

Here’s is the process:

Alerts > New keywords > New alert > enter domain, subsection, or URL > choose settings and frequency

The feature helps you get regular updates on keyword rankings. 

Analyze a Domain’s Top Subfolders

The ‘Subfolders’ feature helps you analyze website traffic by different sections. It’s a useful feature to understand the performance of different content types on your website. Find this option on the left sidebar in ‘Site Explorer’.

You can use the location filter to know the global or regional traffic in these sections.

There are options to check the Top pages and Top Subdomains of your website. 

When it’s about understanding what content is working best for your competitors, the Subfolders feature comes in quite handy.

Chapter 5

Research Content with Content Explorer

Does researching for good content often make you go crazy?  You’re not alone. 

For creating unicorn content pieces, you need to do substantial research, which could take a lot of time and hard work. 

Thankfully, Ahrefs’ Content Explorer tool makes content research a breeze. 

Ready to hunt for those hidden gems in no time? 

Let’s understand the process:

Find Highly Shared Content

Type your topic and get a list of highly shared content pieces. The tool gives you a list of content URLs with Domain Rating and social shares.

 

You can use the social filter to sort the pieces by the number of shares on specific social media platforms.

Next, you have the option to see the traffic value of each of these content pieces. Sort them to see the ones with a higher traffic value first. 

Filter content pieces by recency: last 24 hours or previous thirty days, or last 90 days.

 

Track Republished Content

See which of the posts was republished.

Why would you want to know if a content piece was republished?

 

Because you want to see if it’s the revision that helped a content piece get more shares and traffic. You can also see the ‘first published’ date along with the day on which the post was updated.

Below the post URL, you can see the number of words and the shares on each of the three social media platforms.

Quick Fact: The latest version of the Ahrefs’ Content Explorer has a database of well over 1.1 billion web pages!

Find Recently Republished Content

Look for really old content pieces that have been recently re-published. If one of your competitors decided to republish an old post, that topic might be relevant today.

 

This neat feature helps you know about all such content pieces and see which ideas would best suit your content calendar. 

Compare Content Trends 

Use Content Explorer to find content trends in your niche. You can compare two or more topics to see which one is gaining more popularity.

 

Do you notice the difference in the merit of the above two topics? 

Track Competition Frequency 

Wouldn’t it be amazing if a tool helped look at the publisher’s publishing and republishing frequency?

The Ahrefs’ content explorer gives you a quick monthly overview of the number of published and republished pieces of a particular domain.

 

Would you now be in a better position to know how much content is good enough?

You can also use Content Explorer to filter content pieces by website and author. If you click on the Author of a content piece from the content list, you can view all of the posts authored by her.

 

How cool is that?

Chapter 6

Site Audit

One of the essentials for any website to rank on SERPs is that it should offer the optimum user experience:

a. It should be fully functional and load quickly. 

b. It must be free from technical glitches. 

A simple audit can help SEO managers to know about any relevant issues.

1. The first step is to create a project by entering your domain.

Once you’ve created the project, the tool will audit the site and generate a report with relevant details:

The health score of your site shows the percentage of crawled URLs.

As you scroll down, you’ll find a list of all the error pages on the site.

 

You can go to Duplicate Content on the left sidebar to see pages with duplicate content.

Find and fix duplicacy issues in content as well as meta tags.

If you want to see issues of different subsections of the site, you can try the Structure Explorer in the left sidebar.

 

The feature works well if you have a big site and wish to analyze and solve issues, one site section at a time. 

The Ahrefs’ Site Auditing tool gives you complete details of the issues and instructions on fixing them. 

Chapter 7

Content Gap Analysis

A content gap analysis helps you closely observe the competition and take fruitful strategic content and keyword qualification decisions.

Here’s how you can use Ahrefs for finding content gaps in your industry:

Find keywords that the competition is already ranking for

Head over to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer tool and enter your blog’s URL.

Now click on the Content Gap option from the left sidebar.

You need to pop the blog URL of a prime competitor. 

You need to choose the Prefix mode in case the competitor’s content comes under the blog subfolder. Else you can simply select the Domain mode.

 

Exclude your blog URL from the results. 

You can also check the top 10 ranking checkbox to see a list of keywords that the competing URLs rank for in the first top 10 of the SERPs. 

Doing this will give you a list of all the keywords that are relevant to your business. You don’t rank for them yet, so there are some significant opportunities there.

 

The report will show you the domain that ranks for each keyword, the positions, and the keyword volumes.

If you click on the SERP drop down, you will see the top results from the specific keyphrase.

 

The Afrefs’ Content Gap tool allows you to add up to ten competitors and analyze a tall list of keywords you don’t rank for. 

Finding Sub-topics for Upgrading Content

It’s quite clear that upgrading existing content can help fetch higher search rankings. But how do you make the right changes to your existing content?

Here is the trick:

  • Search for content pieces that are ranking for your targeted keywords
  • Put them in the Content Gap tool. 
  • Exclude the content piece that you wish to upgrade from the results.

As you can see, I have added three ranking content pieces on the topic ‘customer retention strategies’ as targets in the Content Gap tool.

I excluded the Salesforce blog post to find a list of relevant subtopics.

And here you go,

I found a list of 45 keywords that the Salesforce blog post does not rank for, but at least one of the other three content pieces finds a place in the top ten. 

These keywords are the missing pieces of the puzzle. We can use these keywords’ context and intent to upgrade our content piece and make it more audience-centric. 

Content Consolidation

Have you created two blog posts on a topic, and now both compete with each other in Google’s search results?

You can fix this. Use the Content Gap tool to find which one is performing better. 

Pop both the URLs in the tool to see a list of keywords and positions for each. 

Figure out the better performing post. You can now merge the lesser performing post into this one and create a single post with more meat. The integrated post is likely to fetch better overall results. 

For instance, in the following example, I have used two ‘customer experience’ blog posts from HubSpot and included them as targets in the Content Gap tool:

 

The above report shows that the first blog post is ranking on many more keywords and is performing better than the second one. 

Chapter 8

Find Competitors

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

As a marketer, you must recognize that you’re at war. But don’t worry when you have Ahrefs to hunt all of your competitors. 

The Competing Domains report is an easy way to view a list of crucial organic search competitors.

 

You can use this list to do other things like find link opportunities or analyze backlinks or content gaps, etc. 

Chapter 9

Compare Domains

An excellent way to understand your domain’s strength is to see how it’s faring against some of the key competitors. The Ahrefs’ domain comparison tool helps see the metrics of up to five domains.

 

Some of the details you can track with this tool include Domain Rating, Referring Domains, Backlinks, Crawled Pages, Text, Do-Follow links, No-Follow links, Image links, and redirects.

 

Scroll down, and you’ll see some interesting graphs. You can check the percentage of Do-Follow and No-Follow links for all the domains.

 

You can also compare the growth of domains, new-lost referring pages, and total referring pages.

Chapter 10

Ahrefs Pricing

When billed annually, the single-user plan costs $82 a month. You can track 500 keywords in this plan.

Plus, get 10,000 crawl credits in the month. The plan includes almost all the features with monthly limits—a good opportunity for businesses who are beginning to scale up their SEO. As you upgrade to higher plans, you can manage more and bigger websites. If you spend more money, you get access to more data. 

Check out the details of all the plans here.

Is Ahrefs Worth the Money?

When it comes to tracking data for SEO and content marketing, Ahrefs is a powerhouse of useful information. If we talk about UI and UX, it makes things very comfortable once you know how to use this tool. The interface is easy-to-understand. You can get most of the reports with a single click. So, considering the features, the quality of data, and the simplicity of usage, Ahrefs is definitely worth its price.

Chapter 11

Final Thoughts

All-in-all Ahrefs is a fantastic tool for spearheading your SEO and Content Marketing strategy. It can help you research and boil down to the most relevant niche keywords.

You can check your site’s traffic and rankings growth by generating a few quick reports. The tool helps you check the health of your domain and that of your website. Also, keep track of competing domains and content. Ahrefs offers an incredible feature to find content gaps in your industry and build a winning content creation plan. A leading SEO tool, Ahrefs, can surely help you improve your search rankings and traffic. 

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