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jaybug-jabbers · 4 years

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Pokemon Sword/Shield: A review of my experience

So, I’ve rung in the new year in style with a bad cold. Fortunately, I received a new Switch Lite for Christmas and a copy of Pokemon Sword, so at least I’ve had something to do while sitting about feeling miserble. I beat the game last night, and I figured I’d say a few words about what I thought of it. There are major spoilers ahead!

Graphics & Music

First of all, it looks absolutely beautiful. I’m used to using my 2DS, so the upgrade to the Switch Lite was quite the jump. When compared to previous Pokemon titles, the game is absolutely stunning to gaze upon. What’s more, the environments are varied, creative, colorful, and just lovely. They were such a delight that when I first started the game and had control of my character, the first thing I did was simply stand there for a solid five minutes just gazing on the dynamic, gorgeous countryside, butterfree flapping in the distance, Wooloo rolling around, people going about their day. It helps that I do love the UK and I’ve visited it in the past, and I have to say they did an excellent job evoking the feel of those landscapes. Exploring the towns and the environments was always a joy. Their layouts were natural, intuitive, and walking around or biking around was easy and fun. I was eager to explore every nook and cranny. Accompanying the environments was excellent music. All of the tracks were on-point. They set the feel of the location and they were all great to listen to.

UI & Battle Mechanics

Another thing you notice right away is the UI has been beautifully updated. It’s logically and appealingly organized, it’s very speedy, and there are a lot of quality-of-life tweaks and updates– such as accessing your pokemon PC from just about anywhere. (or easy access to Flying from the regular Map menu!) These tweaks have really helped smooth and streamline things and make for a better experience. It took some getting used to some of the tweaks, such as a forced Experience Share for the entire pokemon party. I’m still not sure what I think of that, but I kept reminding myself that full-party experience is standard in other RPGs, so it’s not so huge a jump for Pokemon to adopt it as well.

Characters

The game is also populated by many characters that I enjoyed. The character designs were well thought-out and appealing, and the characters themselves were fun. Hop may have a bit of a doofy haircut and be a bit of a dork, but he’s still an enjoyable rival. Professor Magnolia seems cool, as does her daughter Sonia. As we meet each of the gym leaders in turn, I generally liked them, as well. They did a good job adding little bits of personality to each of them. And yes, I even liked Leon, the over-the-top and bizarrely-dressed Champion. He was hammy and I think it worked well for him.

The Sport of Pokemon & Dynamaxing

Something else I found myself really enjoying was how much the game was emphasizing the sport aspect to Pokemon battling in the Galar region. This is something the game has always had to a certain extent, but never to the degree it has here. Pokemon battling was a huge spectacle here in Galar, done in massive statiums to huge, roaring crowds. This is a world of difference when compared to the solemn, trial-like, solitary experience of the Elite Four. It just brings and entirely different energy to the experience. And I found I really liked that. During the first few gym battles, I wasn’t entirely into it at first, largely because the first few gym fights were incredibly easy. But after they got a little harder, I started to get into the feel of things.

Naturally, the whole huge emphasis on the electric thrill of competition and of huge, bombastic spectacle was tied into the gimmick of this particular game: Dynamaxing. And as lukewarm as I was about Dynamaxing when I first heard it announced (I’m pretty tired of these gimmicks– Z-Moves, Mega Evolutions and the likes), I have to give credit where credit’s due: it was at least tied very thoroughly into the plot and into the fabric of the game. It didn’t feel tacked on, and I wasn’t resentful about actually using Dynamaxing. It may have been a silly gimmick, but it was still enjoyable to use, because it made sense to help entertain the crowds with oversized spectacle, and because there was a certain amount of enjoyment in the added strategy it required. I’m glad I was able to get into it.

I think the highest point for me about the gym challenge experience was when I was facing off Raihan. Here’s the chap they’ve been hyping for a while about facing up against, because he’s the last gym leader standing before you move onto the Semi Finals and the Finals. When you walk through the dark corridor out into the pitch, you can feel the electric atmosphere; you can hear people cheering your name as their new favorite trainer hopeful; and then, Raihan, the man who always acted so casual and smooth and cool, suddenly shows his intense side on the field of battle. He flings out two pokeballs and brags about mixing things up for you with a doubles format and with the weather, and dares you to step up for the challenge.

My two front pokemon come out– Snowdrop, my Frosmoth, and Bazz, my Grapploct. After all that weather bragging, I decide to show him, and have my Frosmoth flip his sandstorm weather over to Hail. Surprised, my opponent acknowledges that was a pretty nice move on my part. I then Blizzard and Superpower his first pair of pokemon out of the picture.

I’m feeling pretty good, and then he sends out his second pair of pokemon. I have no idea what the heck the Duraludon is supposed to be. Then he Dynamaxes it, which takes me a little off guard, as I had expected it later, but of course this is doubles so there is no later. I stall for a little bit, trying to decide what to hit the Duraludon with, and my first few pokemon go down, and the sandstorm kicks back in.

I decide to send out my Corviknight out for Dynamaxing. But I’m still floundering over the best tactic for this unfamiliar pokemon. I try Max Airstream to see how much it does, but it’s not a very impressive chunk. Then his Sandaconda gets a Glare off on my Corviknight, which is a pain. I waste one of my Dynamax turns getting paralyzed. I’ve fainted several other pokemon in the process of things. I start to think I’m toast and I’ll need to replay the match. Then I realize this stupid-looking Duraludon is, of course, a Steel type. I’d just recently put Body Press onto my Corviknight for some move variety. On my final Dynamax turn, I use it. It utterly destroys the Duraludon, which had just lost its Dynamax.

My own Corviknight falls back down into its normal state. There’s only one pokemon left on either one of our teams; his damned Sandaconda and my half-health Corviknight. The sand is still up, but my Corviknight didn’t mind that at all. It did, however, mind the paralysis and the Fire Fang the snake kept using. Fortunately, Corviknight is still a tanky beast, and I blasted away with Drill Pecks. It was tense, really down to the wire. Would Corviknight tank enough hits to make it? Would he get paralyzed at an inopportune moment?

Fortunately, he makes it, finishing off Sandaconda and taking the match. As I cheer at the victory, my pokemon cheers too, amongst all the swirling sand. The crowd roars, and I feel a genuine respect for my opponent’s skill. It was a good fight. Afterwards, when I returned to the lobby, people were congratulating me on my victory, and it felt truly nice.

Moments like these are not common in pokemon games. At least, they aren’t for me. I had felt everything during that match– the magnificent spectacle of the dynamaxing, the tricks my opponent pulled, his keen desire to win, the crowd’s thirst for a good match, my desire to pull through somehow. As it turned out, after that, I didn’t have battle quite as good. The Semi-Finals and the Finals were a cakewalk for me. Even the Raihan rematch was ridiculously easy. He changed up his team and made it much worse, so that he had different weather-setters for each poke, lacking any team synergey at all. It was a shame. Perhaps the only reason that match was so close was because I had been briefly intimidated over the doubles format and confused over the Duraludon, but I do wish those magical experiences happened more often.

Indeed, even my final battle with the Champion was a woeful disappointment. I got off one Dragon Dance with Dragapult and swept the whole team cleanly. That brings up another point, though: the difficulty level of this game. It is … well, not very high. It’s a shame. I realize it’s a tricky balance, since this game is aimed at a variety of age levels, and they don’t want it too difficult for the younger audience. Still, it would be nice for Pokemon to implement a ‘hard mode’ to help deal with this issue. Perhaps if they did, we could have more magical moments like the one I had with Raihan.

Character Development & Plot

The low difficulty wasn’t the only thing about Pokemon Sword/Shield that sometimes brought disappointment. At the end of the game, I also found the plot sort of ended up in a no-man’s land. Almost all of the plotlines felt unfinished. Marnie looked like a really cool character full of potential, but then nothing ever really happened with her character. Team Yell ended up being very different from all the other ‘teams’ of the pokemon universe, in that they were just very vocal and sometimes excessively involved fans of Marnie. I actually liked the idea of the ‘team’ not being a group of organized villians up to no good, but Team Yell’s plot ultimately petered out into nothing. The same could be said for other characters. Sonia was a cool-looking character design and again seemed to have a lot of potential as a character, but I never quite understood the point of her plot. She was … uninterested in research, maybe, but became interested? Or was overwhelemed with the work? Or … what, exactly? When she “earned” the lab coat, it didn’t feel like an accomplishment. There was no weight or clarity to her character arc in the slightest. She didn’t even ultimately contribute all that much, because she failed to even be the one to discover the Sword and Shield artifacts.

Again, we find this trend with others, such as Hop’s development. Hop is a cocky, confidant young lad who idolizes his older brother. Eventually he runs into a trainer who throws off his groove, gets into his head with some comments, claiming that he’s dragging his older brother’s name through the mud by being shite at pokemon battling. Then he starts to doubt and second-guess himself, reshuffle his team and his strategies endlessly, and so forth. Eventually, he seems to ‘get over it’ and gets his groove back, but we never are given a really firm reason as to why he gets his groove back. What brought about this change? We need to see why he’s learned and grown. And really, even when he does pull his shit together again, has he really learned much from the experience? I assumed his ultimate lesson would be to see his brother more as an equal, not as someone to idolize; as a human who can self-doubt and make mistakes just like him. But the writers passed up the opportunity to go that way with the plot. They just sort of … gave up halfway.

The most of a glimpse we get from that is something given to us from the animation itself, not the writers. Out on the pitch, during the final battle against Leon, when he’s just about to toss his pokemon out, there’s a moment when he pauses and taps both hands against his face. It’s a subtle little gesture, as if he’s trying to shake off any gnawing self-doubts and get his head into the game, and it echoes his younger brother, who we’ve seen do the same thing. It’s such a lovely little touch, such a human moment, and to me shows that both brothers have been vulnerable to self-doubt despite their swagger, but in the end can overcome it. I only wish the idea were explored further in the actual plot.

The ‘evil plot’ of this particular game also feels only half-baked and incomplete. The motivation behind Rose’s actions feels entirely absent to me, as does any logic whatsoever. What’s worse, the game leaves behind so many lingering questions. OK, so this slumbering Eternatus is the source of all Dynamax power, and he’s discovered the energy will run out in a thousand years or so. How is waking up Eternatus by feeding it Wishing Stars (which, as Magnolia later reports, are bits of Eternatus itself– so, what, feeding Eternatus pieces of itself?) going to help with that? Will it produce more energy once awake? So he planned on capturing it and … sending it out whenever they needed more energy? Or just keeping it around as a power-giving pet of some sort? But at the end of the game, the player keeps Eternatus for themselves, so doesn’t that mean Galar is sort of screwed now? How can the power plant continue to function (and Dynamaxing) if the source of that power is now inside my pokeball? Also, how exactly did Rose wake up Eternatus to begin with/bring about the Darkest Day? Just release all the energy he had at once? There’s so much that’s confusing and unclear. Basically, the plotline felt very half-baked. I had the sense the writing for this game was frankly very rushed.

It doesn’t stop there. Oleana, the whole thing with Bede, and other characters are left with tons of lingering questions and unfinished plotthreads as well. I suspect the devs simply ran out of time. It’s a huge shame, because I enjoyed all of these characters and felt there was so much potential there, but that potential was never really realized.

Pokemon

This generation has a relatively low number of new pokemon, and you do feel that a little bit as you’re going along. The older pokemon that are mixed in were chosen well, in that they blend naturally with the environments they were placed in, and they’re spaced out nicely, so you encounter a mix of new and old at a nice clip, so they have that going for themselves. But even still, yes, you do start to wish there were a few more surprising faces. Still, there’s definitely fun to be had with new pokemon, especially for some of the cooler Galar regional variants. (I fully support regional variants and am happy they made a comeback in this generation.)

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, there’s also only a very limited set of old pokemon this game has access to. Any species not listed in the Galar dex simply cannot be transferred over. This has upset many people, but when I played the game, it did not feel lacking for that reason. The sheer number of pokemon in the overall franchise is now staggering. It makes complete sense to not include every species in every game now. They intend to include old pokemon on rotation in future games, and that seems like a fair compromise to me. Am I bummed that my favorite Parasect can’t be transferred to Galar? Of course. But I’m not too worked up over the fact. He’ll see another region someday.

To finish this section off, I’m going to do a rapid-fire list of my top 5 and bottom 5 of the new pokemon.

Top 5

Corviknight: An absolutely gorgeous design and easily the MPV of my team.

Wooloo/Dubwool: It’s an adorable ball sheep/ram. You simply can’t go wrong with that. One of the first to be revealed of the new pokes, but I can never get bored with it.

Dragapult: A very creative, lizardy Dragon/Ghost creature that adorably shoots its own babies as ammo. I love it.

Grappaloct: So beautiful. Love its design, its stance, the way one tentacle is a belt, love its colors and pattern, its eyes, its cry, everything. Such a badass and I love octopi in general, so a real winner. This is the octopus we’ve needed for a while.

Snom/Frosmoth: I mean, in some ways its design isn’t revolutionary, since we already have many moth pokemon. However, Snom is still adorable and Frosmoth is still beautiful, something you cannot deny. And it’s been long overdue to get an Ice/Bug. What’s more, Snom is based off real caterpillars (jewel caterpillars), which is wonderful.

Bottom 5

Inteleon: A very distinctive design style that doesn’t look like it belongs anywhere near a Pokemon game. Just feels very mismatched to me.

Alcremie: I hate sentient food. A massive pet peeve of mine.

Applin: See above.

Duraludon: Sorry, but I still think its design is ugly. I can’t get used to it.

Mr. Mime (Galar Variant): No. Mr. Mime is always horrible. Stay away from me. Keep your creepy variant, too.

The Wilds Area

Of course, a review of the game would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the Wild Area. This section of the game was really very lovely. I enjoyed exploring what was essentially Breath of the Wild: Pokemon, and I think it’s a wonderful direction for the game to take. Wandering around, finding goodies, rare pokemon, Dynamax dens and all the rest is very entertaining and it’s just beautiful. Really makes you feel like you’re out in nature exploring, and really encountering pokemon in their natural environment. I’ve read people predicting that Game Freak is using the Wild Area in this game as a test, and something they will probably expand upon in later games. If that’s what they are indeed doing, then I welcome the change. I can’t say I am super interested in fighting wild Dynamax pokemon with my friends, but I did enjoy everything else.

Summary

So, would I recommend this game to others? It would depend on who you are. If you’re a big pokemon fan, then yes, of course. You’ll enjoy the beautiful locations to explore, the new pokemon, and the excitement of the Galar sports arenas, as well as some colorful characters. However, you are going to find some flaws. The plot and character arcs are going to eventually end up a little lacking, and you’ll find there’s not as much new content as you’d have preferred. While some aspects of this game are very well polished and complete, others feel rushed. Overall, it’s going to be a mixed experience, but I think that if you like pokemon, you will still enjoy it.

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 1, 2020.

#pokemon #game review #mycontent #pokemon reviews

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cstesttaken · 7 years

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18 SEO Tactics That Take Only 30 Minutes Each – The Blog Box

I feel SEO has a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking.

And perhaps that’s true to a certain extent.

The initial phases of an SEO campaign can, in fact, be grueling.

There’s on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and—everyone’s favorite—technical SEO.

So, yeah, it can be kind of a pain.

But here’s the thing.

There is a multitude of “quick fix” SEO tactics that take hardly any time.

Many can be completed within 30 minutes.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that any specific technique will bring about massive results on its own.

But when done in conjunction with one another, they can have a significant impact and give your overall SEO campaign a nice boost.

So let’s get right down to it.

Here are 18 SEO tactics that will take you no longer than 30 minutes each.

1. Get set up on Google My Business

Local SEO is important, especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.

If you’ve been skimping on this aspect of SEO, you’ll want to spend a few minutes setting up an account on Google My Business.

This allows you to edit the info on your business, verify contact info, add images, monitor reviews, and more.

This can give you a huge advantage over competitors who fail to capitalize on this powerful resource.

2. Optimize your profile

Already have a profile on Google My Business?

Why not spend some time sprucing it up and making sure that everything is “just right?”

Here are a few specific things you can do:

Make sure all your business info is up-to-date

Add additional info such as hours, parking location, menu details, etc.

Choose specific categories (e.g., “fresh organic grocery store” instead of just “grocery store”)

Replace any amateurish looking images with newer, more professional ones

Encourage loyal customers to leave reviews

3. Get set up on Google Search Console

I love Google Search Console!

If you’re not using it, you’re leaving money on the table and not getting the most from your SEO campaign.

Here’s a screenshot explaining exactly what Google Search Console is:

Although there is a wide array of features, here are some specific things you can do to improve your SEO:

Check who’s linking to your site

Check index status

Monitor crawl errors

Manually submit new content to be crawled

I recommend reading this post from Quick Sprout to learn how to use Google Search Console like a boss.

4. Check your site’s speed

I’m sure you know just how critical site speed is.

Even a one-second delay can have an adverse impact.

If you’re not sure what your website’s speed is, you can check it with Pingdom’s Website Speed Test.

It only takes a few seconds, and it will provide you with details on what you can do to speed it up.

Here’s the info I got when I did a speed test for Quick Sprout:

5. Check your site’s mobile-friendliness

I think it’s safe to say that smartphones aren’t just a fad.

In fact, many experts labeled 2016 as “the tipping point” for mobile search, when it finally eclipsed desktop search.

Research found that the average American spent 87 hours browsing on their smartphone in August 2016.

If you haven’t done so already, take the time to run a mobile-friendly test.

This will let you know what shape your site is in and what steps you need to take (if any) to resolve any issues.

6. Improve URL structure

Here’s the scenario.

You’ve been blogging for awhile, maybe several years.

Back in the day, you didn’t pay all that much attention to the URL structure of your blog posts.

As a result, they look something like this:

It’s fair to say this isn’t going to do your SEO any favors, and it’s going to make it unnecessarily difficult for search engine robots to decipher the meaning of your content.

To make your site more SEO-friendly, go back and improve these URLs so they look more like this:

7. Improve mediocre titles

I’ll be honest.

Coming up with epic titles for blog posts can be a little tricky at times.

Maybe in the past, you ended up settling for less than stellar titles.

A good way to make use of 30 minutes is to look over your posts to identify any titles that could use improvement.

One helpful resource for streamlining this process is Title-Generator.com.

Simply enter your main keywords, and it will generate 700 potential titles with one click.

Here’s what happened when I entered “content marketing:”

8. Study AdWords ads to optimize titles and tags

Here’s a little hack I learned from Brian Dean of Backlinko.

It’s simple but genius.

Enter a keyword in Google, and check out the ads that pop up.

Then look for awesome copy that you could potentially use for titles or tags.

Here’s the example Brian uses.

He searches for “glass water bottles” and comes up with these ads:

From there, he comes up with these phrases:

BPA-free

Keep you hydrated

Durable

Reusable

So, why is this so smart? Just think about it.

The phrases used in ads like these are the result of extensive A/B testing, so you know they get clicks and conversions.

You can save yourself an immense amount of time and energy by incorporating the phrases you find in ads.

9. Find dead links

Dead or broken links can be a real buzzkill.

Not only can they be disruptive to your website’s visitors, but they also won’t do your SEO any favors.

But you can quickly identify any of these links with the Online Broken Link Checker:

Just type in your site’s URL, and it’ll do the work for you in seconds.

Then go back, and make any necessary repairs.

10. Do some internal linking

In an article on NeilPatel.com, I mention that I wrote a blog post every day for five years and amassed hundreds of posts.

But I made one major mistake. I never linked to any of my relevant articles!

Fortunately, I eventually figured out that I could greatly improve my SEO by simply linking new articles to relevant older ones.

If you made the same mistake with your older content that I did with mine, I highly recommend taking a bit of time to set up some internal links.

Even a 30-minute session should leave your SEO in much better shape than before.

You can learn more about this process by reading this article.

11. Find link opportunities on Alltop

If you’re unfamiliar with Alltop, it’s basically a blog directory where you can find some of the world’s best content in one convenient location.

Here’s what pops up when I enter “content marketing:”

Not bad, huh?

What you want to do is spend some time looking for potential link prospects.

Search for relevant blogs in your industry to see if there are any bloggers with whom you could build relationships.

12. Find link opportunities on BuzzSumo

You can use the same process with BuzzSumo.

Just enter your search phrase, and you’ll get a list of results.

Here’s what I get with “content marketing:”

From there, click on “View Sharers” on any articles that interest you.

You’ll then see a list of people who shared that article.

These can all be potential people with whom you may want to form relationships, which could eventually translate into link-building/guest-blogging opportunities.

13. Give your lower-ranking pages a boost

I’m sure you know that having content ranking below the first page of SERPs is essentially worthless.

Here’s what I mean:

If a post is ranked say #42, it might as well be ranked #20,000,000.

Here is how to improve that.

Identify a few of your posts ranked on the second or third pages of Google.

These have obviously gained some level of traction but need a little boost to get onto page one.

To get that boost, set up some internal links pointing to them.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get them “over the hump” and onto prime search engine real estate.

14. Target two leading industry blogs

This might be an old school tactic, but it can still prove to be quite fruitful.

It involves finding two A+ industry blogs you were previously unaware of.

Once you find them, leave a couple of awesome comments with a link pointing back to your site.

On top of this, I recommend subscribing and following some of their best writers on Twitter with the hopes of eventually building relationships.

15. Claim your Bing listing

I feel a lot of marketers totally discount Bing.

And I get it.

It’s like comparing David to Goliath in terms of search engine market share.

But pump the brakes.

Bing still receives a decent percent of overall searches.

In fact, a 2016 article from Search Engine Journal reported:

Bing’s share of the search market grew more than Google’s this past April. To be exact, Bing’s market share rose by 0.2 percent while Google’s dropped by 0.2 percent.

Google’s total share of the US desktop search market has dipped below its previous 64 percent to 63.8 percent. Microsoft’s share of desktop search is now sitting at 21.6 percent.

Will Bing be overthrowing Google any time soon? Probably not.

But there’s still SEO juice to be had by claiming your Bing listing.

This can be especially helpful if you’re a local brick-and-mortar business.

16. Write comprehensive descriptions for videos

Do you post any videos on your website?

If so, you may be missing out on a golden opportunity.

What I mean is that you’re probably failing to extract all the SEO potential from your videos.

And this all boils down to descriptions.

Rather than writing a brief description like this:

Brian Dean recommends leaving a 200+ word description like this:

Not only will this help you improve your ranking in YouTube, but it can also improve your ranking in SERPs.

And it really doesn’t take that long.

17. Turn a standard post into a long-form post

I’m not going to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious fact that long-form content ranks better than, say, a typical 500-word post.

You already know that.

But here’s a nice little trick you can do with thin content.

Look for a shorter post, under 1,000 words, that’s pretty good but never lived up to its full potential.

Then spend 30 minutes “beefing it up” by adding more content, charts, graphs, visuals, etc. until it’s bona fide long-form content.

For more on this, check out this post from NeilPatel.com.

18. Spy on competitors

Finally, it’s time to tap into your inner James Bond.

By this, I mean “spying” on a few of your key competitors.

Just go to SEMrush and type in their URL.

Within seconds, you can find info on their:

Top organic keywords

Organic position distribution

Backlinks

Top anchors

Indexed pages

This will provide you with valuable intel that can guide your SEO campaign and enable you to be more effective.

Conclusion

SEO doesn’t have to be back-breaking, mind-numbing work.

In fact, there is a plethora of smaller SEO tasks you can easily complete in 30 minutes.

The ones I’ve outlined in this article will help you step up your SEO without an insane amount of effort.

And when you do several (five or more), it can potentially lead to a major breakthrough.

Do you have any other quick and easy SEO tactics up your sleeve?

Source

http://theblogbox.me/18-seo-tactics-that-take-only-30-minutes-each/

0 notes

likefusion · 7 years

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18 SEO Tactics That Take Only 30 Minutes Each: I feel SEO has a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking. And perhaps that's true to a certain extent. The initial phases of an SEO campaign can, in fact, be grueling. There's on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and—everyone's favorite—technical SEO. So, yeah, it can be kind of a pain. But here's the thing. There is a multitude of “quick fix” SEO tactics that take hardly any time. Many can be completed within 30 minutes. Now, I'm not going to tell you that any specific technique will bring about massive results on its own. But when done in conjunction with one another, they can have a significant impact and give your overall SEO campaign a nice boost. So let's get right down to it. Here are 18 SEO tactics that will take you no longer than 30 minutes each. 1. Get set up on Google My Business Local SEO is important, especially if you're a brick-and-mortar business. If you've been skimping on this aspect of SEO, you'll want to spend a few minutes setting up an account on Google My Business. This allows you to edit the info on your business, verify contact info, add images, monitor reviews, and more. This can give you a huge advantage over competitors who fail to capitalize on this powerful resource. 2. Optimize your profile Already have a profile on Google My Business? Why not spend some time sprucing it up and making sure that everything is “just right?” Here are a few specific things you can do: Make sure all your business info is up-to-date Add additional info such as hours, parking location, menu details, etc. Choose specific categories (e.g., “fresh organic grocery store” instead of just “grocery store”) Replace any amateurish looking images with newer, more professional ones Encourage loyal customers to leave reviews 3. Get set up on Google Search Console I love Google Search Console! If you're not using it, you're leaving money on the table and not getting the most from your SEO campaign. Here's a screenshot explaining exactly what Google Search Console is: Although there is a wide array of features, here are some specific things you can do to improve your SEO: Check who's linking to your site Check index status Monitor crawl errors Manually submit new content to be crawled I recommend reading this post from Quick Sprout to learn how to use Google Search Console like a boss. 4. Check your site's speed I'm sure you know just how critical site speed is. Even a one-second delay can have an adverse impact. If you're not sure what your website's speed is, you can check it with Pingdom's Website Speed Test. It only takes a few seconds, and it will provide you with details on what you can do to speed it up. Here's the info I got when I did a speed test for Quick Sprout: 5. Check your site's mobile-friendliness I think it's safe to say that smartphones aren't just a fad. In fact, many experts labeled 2016 as “the tipping point” for mobile search, when it finally eclipsed desktop search. Research found that the average American spent 87 hours browsing on their smartphone in August 2016. If you haven't done so already, take the time to run a mobile-friendly test. This will let you know what shape your site is in and what steps you need to take (if any) to resolve any issues. 6. Improve URL structure Here's the scenario. You've been blogging for awhile, maybe several years. Back in the day, you didn't pay all that much attention to the URL structure of your blog posts. As a result, they look something like this: www.yoursite.com/blog/348303203204834 It's fair to say this isn't going to do your SEO any favors, and it's going to make it unnecessarily difficult for search engine robots to decipher the meaning of your content. To make your site more SEO-friendly, go back and improve these URLs so they look more like this: www.yoursite.com/blog/content-marketing-101 7. Improve mediocre titles I'll be honest. Coming up with epic titles for blog posts can be a little tricky at times. Maybe in the past, you ended up settling for less than stellar titles. A good way to make use of 30 minutes is to look over your posts to identify any titles that could use improvement. One helpful resource for streamlining this process is Title-Generator.com. Simply enter your main keywords, and it will generate 700 potential titles with one click. Here's what happened when I entered “content marketing:” 8. Study AdWords ads to optimize titles and tags Here's a little hack I learned from Brian Dean of Backlinko. It's simple but genius. Enter a keyword in Google, and check out the ads that pop up. Then look for awesome copy that you could potentially use for titles or tags. Here's the example Brian uses. He searches for “glass water bottles” and comes up with these ads: From there, he comes up with these phrases: BPA-free Keep you hydrated Durable Reusable So, why is this so smart? Just think about it. The phrases used in ads like these are the result of extensive A/B testing, so you know they get clicks and conversions. You can save yourself an immense amount of time and energy by incorporating the phrases you find in ads. 9. Find dead links Dead or broken links can be a real buzzkill. Not only can they be disruptive to your website's visitors, but they also won't do your SEO any favors. But you can quickly identify any of these links with the Online Broken Link Checker: Just type in your site's URL, and it'll do the work for you in seconds. Then go back, and make any necessary repairs. 10. Do some internal linking In an article on NeilPatel.com, I mention that I wrote a blog post every day for five years and amassed hundreds of posts. But I made one major mistake. I never linked to any of my relevant articles! Fortunately, I eventually figured out that I could greatly improve my SEO by simply linking new articles to relevant older ones. If you made the same mistake with your older content that I did with mine, I highly recommend taking a bit of time to set up some internal links. Even a 30-minute session should leave your SEO in much better shape than before. You can learn more about this process by reading this article. 11. Find link opportunities on Alltop If you're unfamiliar with Alltop, it's basically a blog directory where you can find some of the world's best content in one convenient location. Here's what pops up when I enter “content marketing:” Not bad, huh? What you want to do is spend some time looking for potential link prospects. Search for relevant blogs in your industry to see if there are any bloggers with whom you could build relationships. 12. Find link opportunities on BuzzSumo You can use the same process with BuzzSumo. Just enter your search phrase, and you'll get a list of results. Here's what I get with “content marketing:” From there, click on “View Sharers” on any articles that interest you. You'll then see a list of people who shared that article. These can all be potential people with whom you may want to form relationships, which could eventually translate into link-building/guest-blogging opportunities. 13. Give your lower-ranking pages a boost I'm sure you know that having content ranking below the first page of SERPs is essentially worthless. Here's what I mean: If a post is ranked say #42, it might as well be ranked #20,000,000. Here is how to improve that. Identify a few of your posts ranked on the second or third pages of Google. These have obviously gained some level of traction but need a little boost to get onto page one. To get that boost, set up some internal links pointing to them. Sometimes, that's all it takes to get them “over the hump” and onto prime search engine real estate. 14. Target two leading industry blogs This might be an old school tactic, but it can still prove to be quite fruitful. It involves finding two A+ industry blogs you were previously unaware of. Once you find them, leave a couple of awesome comments with a link pointing back to your site. On top of this, I recommend subscribing and following some of their best writers on Twitter with the hopes of eventually building relationships. 15. Claim your Bing listing I feel a lot of marketers totally discount Bing. And I get it. It's like comparing David to Goliath in terms of search engine market share. But pump the brakes. Bing still receives a decent percent of overall searches. In fact, a 2016 article from Search Engine Journal reported: Bing's share of the search market grew more than Google's this past April. To be exact, Bing's market share rose by 0.2 percent while Google's dropped by 0.2 percent. Google's total share of the US desktop search market has dipped below its previous 64 percent to 63.8 percent. Microsoft's share of desktop search is now sitting at 21.6 percent. Will Bing be overthrowing Google any time soon? Probably not. But there's still SEO juice to be had by claiming your Bing listing. Sign up for Bing Places to claim, complete, and verify your listing. This can be especially helpful if you're a local brick-and-mortar business. 16. Write comprehensive descriptions for videos Do you post any videos on your website? If so, you may be missing out on a golden opportunity. What I mean is that you're probably failing to extract all the SEO potential from your videos. And this all boils down to descriptions. Rather than writing a brief description like this: Brian Dean recommends leaving a 200+ word description like this: Not only will this help you improve your ranking in YouTube, but it can also improve your ranking in SERPs. And it really doesn't take that long. 17. Turn a standard post into a long-form post I'm not going to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious fact that long-form content ranks better than, say, a typical 500-word post. You already know that. But here's a nice little trick you can do with thin content. Look for a shorter post, under 1,000 words, that's pretty good but never lived up to its full potential. Then spend 30 minutes “beefing it up” by adding more content, charts, graphs, visuals, etc. until it's bona fide long-form content. For more on this, check out this post from NeilPatel.com. 18. Spy on competitors Finally, it's time to tap into your inner James Bond. By this, I mean “spying” on a few of your key competitors. Just go to SEMrush and type in their URL. Within seconds, you can find info on their: Top organic keywords Organic position distribution Backlinks Top anchors Indexed pages This will provide you with valuable intel that can guide your SEO campaign and enable you to be more effective. Conclusion SEO doesn't have to be back-breaking, mind-numbing work. In fact, there is a plethora of smaller SEO tasks you can easily complete in 30 minutes. The ones I've outlined in this article will help you step up your SEO without an insane amount of effort. And when you do several (five or more), it can potentially lead to a major breakthrough. Do you have any other quick and easy SEO tactics up your sleeve? http://bit.ly/2oFqVFT

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anseladams03 · 7 years

Text

18 SEO Tactics That Take Only 30 Minutes Each

I feel SEO has a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking.

And perhaps that’s true to a certain extent.

The initial phases of an SEO campaign can, in fact, be grueling.

There’s on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and—everyone’s favorite—technical SEO.

So, yeah, it can be kind of a pain.

But here’s the thing.

There is a multitude of “quick fix” SEO tactics that take hardly any time.

Many can be completed within 30 minutes.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that any specific technique will bring about massive results on its own.

But when done in conjunction with one another, they can have a significant impact and give your overall SEO campaign a nice boost.

So let’s get right down to it.

Here are 18 SEO tactics that will take you no longer than 30 minutes each.

1. Get set up on Google My Business

Local SEO is important, especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.

If you’ve been skimping on this aspect of SEO, you’ll want to spend a few minutes setting up an account on Google My Business.

This allows you to edit the info on your business, verify contact info, add images, monitor reviews, and more.

This can give you a huge advantage over competitors who fail to capitalize on this powerful resource.

2. Optimize your profile

Already have a profile on Google My Business?

Why not spend some time sprucing it up and making sure that everything is “just right?”

Here are a few specific things you can do:

Make sure all your business info is up-to-date

Add additional info such as hours, parking location, menu details, etc.

Choose specific categories (e.g., “fresh organic grocery store” instead of just “grocery store”)

Replace any amateurish looking images with newer, more professional ones

Encourage loyal customers to leave reviews

3. Get set up on Google Search Console

I love Google Search Console!

If you’re not using it, you’re leaving money on the table and not getting the most from your SEO campaign.

Here’s a screenshot explaining exactly what Google Search Console is:

Although there is a wide array of features, here are some specific things you can do to improve your SEO:

Check who’s linking to your site

Check index status

Monitor crawl errors

Manually submit new content to be crawled

I recommend reading this post from Quick Sprout to learn how to use Google Search Console like a boss.

4. Check your site’s speed

I’m sure you know just how critical site speed is.

Even a one-second delay can have an adverse impact.

If you’re not sure what your website’s speed is, you can check it with Pingdom’s Website Speed Test.

It only takes a few seconds, and it will provide you with details on what you can do to speed it up.

Here’s the info I got when I did a speed test for Quick Sprout:

5. Check your site’s mobile-friendliness

I think it’s safe to say that smartphones aren’t just a fad.

In fact, many experts labeled 2016 as “the tipping point” for mobile search, when it finally eclipsed desktop search.

Research found that the average American spent 87 hours browsing on their smartphone in August 2016.

If you haven’t done so already, take the time to run a mobile-friendly test.

This will let you know what shape your site is in and what steps you need to take (if any) to resolve any issues.

6. Improve URL structure

Here’s the scenario.

You’ve been blogging for awhile, maybe several years.

Back in the day, you didn’t pay all that much attention to the URL structure of your blog posts.

As a result, they look something like this:

http://ift.tt/2nLdHU1

It’s fair to say this isn’t going to do your SEO any favors, and it’s going to make it unnecessarily difficult for search engine robots to decipher the meaning of your content.

To make your site more SEO-friendly, go back and improve these URLs so they look more like this:

http://ift.tt/2oDX7ZX

7. Improve mediocre titles

I’ll be honest.

Coming up with epic titles for blog posts can be a little tricky at times.

Maybe in the past, you ended up settling for less than stellar titles.

A good way to make use of 30 minutes is to look over your posts to identify any titles that could use improvement.

One helpful resource for streamlining this process is Title-Generator.com.

Simply enter your main keywords, and it will generate 700 potential titles with one click.

Here’s what happened when I entered “content marketing:”

8. Study AdWords ads to optimize titles and tags

Here’s a little hack I learned from Brian Dean of Backlinko.

It’s simple but genius.

Enter a keyword in Google, and check out the ads that pop up.

Then look for awesome copy that you could potentially use for titles or tags.

Here’s the example Brian uses.

He searches for “glass water bottles” and comes up with these ads:

From there, he comes up with these phrases:

BPA-free

Keep you hydrated

Durable

Reusable

So, why is this so smart? Just think about it.

The phrases used in ads like these are the result of extensive A/B testing, so you know they get clicks and conversions.

You can save yourself an immense amount of time and energy by incorporating the phrases you find in ads.

9. Find dead links

Dead or broken links can be a real buzzkill.

Not only can they be disruptive to your website’s visitors, but they also won’t do your SEO any favors.

But you can quickly identify any of these links with the Online Broken Link Checker:

Just type in your site’s URL, and it’ll do the work for you in seconds.

Then go back, and make any necessary repairs.

10. Do some internal linking

In an article on NeilPatel.com, I mention that I wrote a blog post every day for five years and amassed hundreds of posts.

But I made one major mistake. I never linked to any of my relevant articles!

Fortunately, I eventually figured out that I could greatly improve my SEO by simply linking new articles to relevant older ones.

If you made the same mistake with your older content that I did with mine, I highly recommend taking a bit of time to set up some internal links.

Even a 30-minute session should leave your SEO in much better shape than before.

You can learn more about this process by reading this article.

11. Find link opportunities on Alltop

If you’re unfamiliar with Alltop, it’s basically a blog directory where you can find some of the world’s best content in one convenient location.

Here’s what pops up when I enter “content marketing:”

Not bad, huh?

What you want to do is spend some time looking for potential link prospects.

Search for relevant blogs in your industry to see if there are any bloggers with whom you could build relationships.

12. Find link opportunities on BuzzSumo

You can use the same process with BuzzSumo.

Just enter your search phrase, and you’ll get a list of results.

Here’s what I get with “content marketing:”

From there, click on “View Sharers” on any articles that interest you.

You’ll then see a list of people who shared that article.

These can all be potential people with whom you may want to form relationships, which could eventually translate into link-building/guest-blogging opportunities.

13. Give your lower-ranking pages a boost

I’m sure you know that having content ranking below the first page of SERPs is essentially worthless.

Here’s what I mean:

If a post is ranked say #42, it might as well be ranked #20,000,000.

Here is how to improve that.

Identify a few of your posts ranked on the second or third pages of Google.

These have obviously gained some level of traction but need a little boost to get onto page one.

To get that boost, set up some internal links pointing to them.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get them “over the hump” and onto prime search engine real estate.

14. Target two leading industry blogs

This might be an old school tactic, but it can still prove to be quite fruitful.

It involves finding two A+ industry blogs you were previously unaware of.

Once you find them, leave a couple of awesome comments with a link pointing back to your site.

On top of this, I recommend subscribing and following some of their best writers on Twitter with the hopes of eventually building relationships.

15. Claim your Bing listing

I feel a lot of marketers totally discount Bing.

And I get it.

It’s like comparing David to Goliath in terms of search engine market share.

But pump the brakes.

Bing still receives a decent percent of overall searches.

In fact, a 2016 article from Search Engine Journal reported:

Bing’s share of the search market grew more than Google’s this past April. To be exact, Bing’s market share rose by 0.2 percent while Google’s dropped by 0.2 percent.

Google’s total share of the US desktop search market has dipped below its previous 64 percent to 63.8 percent. Microsoft’s share of desktop search is now sitting at 21.6 percent.

Will Bing be overthrowing Google any time soon? Probably not.

But there’s still SEO juice to be had by claiming your Bing listing.

This can be especially helpful if you’re a local brick-and-mortar business.

16. Write comprehensive descriptions for videos

Do you post any videos on your website?

If so, you may be missing out on a golden opportunity.

What I mean is that you’re probably failing to extract all the SEO potential from your videos.

And this all boils down to descriptions.

Rather than writing a brief description like this:

Brian Dean recommends leaving a 200+ word description like this:

Not only will this help you improve your ranking in YouTube, but it can also improve your ranking in SERPs.

And it really doesn’t take that long.

17. Turn a standard post into a long-form post

I’m not going to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious fact that long-form content ranks better than, say, a typical 500-word post.

You already know that.

But here’s a nice little trick you can do with thin content.

Look for a shorter post, under 1,000 words, that’s pretty good but never lived up to its full potential.

Then spend 30 minutes “beefing it up” by adding more content, charts, graphs, visuals, etc. until it’s bona fide long-form content.

For more on this, check out this post from NeilPatel.com.

18. Spy on competitors

Finally, it’s time to tap into your inner James Bond.

By this, I mean “spying” on a few of your key competitors.

Just go to SEMrush and type in their URL.

Within seconds, you can find info on their:

Top organic keywords

Organic position distribution

Backlinks

Top anchors

Indexed pages

This will provide you with valuable intel that can guide your SEO campaign and enable you to be more effective.

Conclusion

SEO doesn’t have to be back-breaking, mind-numbing work.

In fact, there is a plethora of smaller SEO tasks you can easily complete in 30 minutes.

The ones I’ve outlined in this article will help you step up your SEO without an insane amount of effort.

And when you do several (five or more), it can potentially lead to a major breakthrough.

Do you have any other quick and easy SEO tactics up your sleeve?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2nLbyaX from Blogger http://ift.tt/2obcsAT April 06, 2017 at 01:26AM

#Quick Sprout

0 notes