<p>As always, phenomenal content, with outstanding delivery!  I am looking forward to the next section to optimize by searcher intent<br /><br /></p>

<p>I am absolutely thrilled about this series.  After a few years doing SEM in depth, I am looking forward to polishing my SEO skills back again! </p>

<p>David, Whoa! This is an amazing checklist covering every SEO aspect + much more. Thank you for sharing all vital points at one place.</p> <p>My favorite comment: " ... next time a Junior SEO asks a designer or developer to change something, they will empathize with how hard the work can be. The empathy works wonders." </p> <p>I agree full-heartedly, nothing like walking in someone else's shoes.</p>

<p>Awesome Post, Larry! </p> <p>My favorite: "<b>Your offer needs to be massively different and more valuable from what your competitors are offering.</b></p> <p>It doesn't matter how pretty your fonts and images are. Making small changes to your current bad offer won't move the needle. It will just result in small changes to your conversion rate". </p> <p>So true.</p> <p><br /></p>

<p>Holy smokes! I am late to this party ... I just came across this little jewel of information. Thank you for the detailed information. I am currently working with a group of interns, explaining the benefits and use of GA (in a basic level) and this post just made my life much easier :) - Thank you!</p>

<p>Hi Rand,</p> <p>Thanks for the great tips/insights. This illustrates a common problem with people working on these pages, both in B2C and B2B: Instead of asking why the desired pages aren't ranking, the key is to take a very long, very hard look at why the other pages *ARE* ranking. Thanks again for a providing a great road map to tackle the issue.</p>

<p>Awesome info as always Larry. </p> <p>I became aware of the importance of dwell time back in 2014, with a great blog post from Wordstream ;) <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/06/10/dwell-time" rel="nofollow">http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/06/10/dwell...</a>.</p> <p>I appreciate your ongoing efforts to keep us informed by sharing great information.</p> <p>Cheers!</p>

<p>Thank you for the continuous testing Dr Pete, much appreciated! :)</p>

<p>Rand, I am constantly amazed how you manage to provide high quality, clear, well-researched whiteboards on an ongoing basis. Always on target!</p> <p>Maybe you can have a WBF about how the team gathers ideas and handles the planning, research/creation process for these fabulous sessions? ;)</p> <p>~Barbara</p>

<p>Brilliant Post Dr. Pete! Definitely not your "old-fashion" Keyword Research - Your insights are always welcome! :)</p>

<p>Yes! Keywords – The heart of SEO. Thanks Rand for the great WBF. I agree this is a fabulous, logical and structured way to determining content creation needs. I'd find this extremely useful for Paid Search too!</p> <p>From the Paid Search side, it is also important to point out that all these tools are great ways for finding negatives terms which, in many ways, are as important as their positive counterparts.</p> <p>Great job!</p>

<p>This post was sooooo needed!! It is amazing how many websites, videos and tutorials are out there still preaching these old strategies and techniques that are not only obsolete but are detrimental to websites. Kudos Rand! Thanks you for keeping up the great work!</p>

<p>It makes so much sense, Rand! Your WBFs are always insightful. Thank you!</p>

<p>This is so timely! I am wrestling with these issues on the Paid Search side. I agree that a hybrid solution can be a winner if it is backed up by good content and research. Thank you.</p>

<p>Rand, I love how you put this information into context, it provides much more clear insights on how to create processes that are sustainable, scalable and have the best opportunity for sucess.</p>

<p>Brilliant, as usual Cyrus! You will be missed. Thank you and the very best wishes to you in your future endeavors.</p>

<p>Awesome recap. Thanks Dr. Pete!</p>

<p>Nice!! Great WBF video. Thank you for the insights.</p>

<p>This is a very, very good article! The information is comprehensive yet presented clearly and in simple terms. It is a great incentive to get the book ;)</p>

<p>My favorite: "Tip #5: Make it a worthwhile conversation". </p> <p>So many marketing channels forget this simple principle. Worthy content means researching and getting inside the customer’s head. Finding out the areas they are interested in and addressing the questions that need answers.</p> <p>Content that provides in-depth answers is a useful, powerful drawcard.</p>

<p>"SEO is not PPC." ... Ain't That The Truth :) -- Thank you for the the list of verticals, as always, fantastic post!</p>

<p>Ok. I am a huge fan of WBFs and this one is off the charts. </p> <p>First, Rand's transparency is always so refreshing. In a web-sphere full of expert and sometimes contradictory opinions it is great to see revisions backed-up by data. Kudos to Moz for trying hard to keep the data straight-up.</p> <p>On the topic, with social channels continually expanding and launching every year: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Vine … and on and on. We must ask ourselves, how much time do we want to spend creating, posting, sharing, tweeting, commenting, pinning, and following? It’s exhausting.</p> <p>Instead, I think a better way is to fully understand which channels are dominant and a must-have for our business/industry and products. We need to spend our focus, our time, and money on optimizing against the competition in those targeted channels.</p> <p>IMHO, it’s about quality, not quantity. Social media can be a great appetizer, but not to be confused with the main course :)</p> <p>Keep these fabulous posts coming!</p>

<p>David, your local ranking surveys never disappoint. I've been such a fan since the Getlisted.org days. Local Search is such a unique beast and it moves at such different pace. Sometimes it can be confusing. </p> <p>Your research is always through and informative and I appreciate the depth and breath of opinions by great minds.</p> <p>I am excited to share the new findings with my fellow SEO's. Keep up the great work!</p>

<p>This has been a favorite topic for me since I took a Data Journalism course that introduced me to several helpful tools. I am a tools junkie, so here is a quick list of tools that you may want to check-out.</p> <ul><li>OutWit Hub - <a href="http://www.outwit.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.outwit.com/</a> (my favorite)</li><li>Import.io - <a href="https://import.io/" rel="nofollow">https://import.io/</a></li><li>Convextra - <a href="http://convextra.com/" rel="nofollow">http://convextra.com/</a></li><li>Chrome extension Scraper - <a href="http://goo.gl/cAOee" rel="nofollow">http://goo.gl/cAOee</a></li><li>Scraperwiki - <a href="https://scraperwiki.com/" rel="nofollow">https://scraperwiki.com/</a></li><li>Kimono - <a href="http://www.kimonolabs.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.kimonolabs.com</a></li></ul> <p>The course is free and they seem to open the registration periodically. I highly recommend it for data lovers (<a href="http://datajournalismcourse.net/index.php" rel="nofollow">http://datajournalismcourse.net/index.php</a>)</p> <p>Cheers,</p> <p><br /></p>

<p>Simplemente Fabuloso! Muchas gracias por el articulo y los detalles :) - Ciao.</p>

<p>Whoa! Another great Whiteboard Friday. I get to play with new tools :)</p>

<p>This post is phenomenal! Doing research for an upcoming project and I found this jewel :) - Thank you Kristi</p>

<p>Now, this is awesome content: Succinct, valuable, unique and insightful. Definetely sharing :)</p>

<p>As always, fantastic! Thank you for continuing to share such great information.</p>

<p>Just came across this one.</p> <p>Great post Aleyda, as always! The flow-chart/visual guide is a great way to show all the phases in a cohesive and easy to comprehend manner.  Thank you!</p>

<p>Great post Aleyda!  Thank you for the in-depth, yet easy to understand step-by-step Infographic and the great tools. I was not familiar with <a href="http://www.merlinox.com/suggest/index-en.php" rel="nofollow">SuggestMtrx</a>.  I like it.  It's going to be part of my tool-set.</p>

<p>Crazy awesome post Cyrus! I am very thankful for your continuous helpful and informative posts. I love the triple format framework.  </p> <p>Aside from the Google Structured Data Highlighter, I've found Google's Structured Data Markup Helper site (http://goo.gl/ndQZh) easy to use.</p>

<p>Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing these videos Erika!  MozCon is in my dream-wish list ... unfortunately not this year, but I'm shooting for 2015! :)</p>

<p>Nice article Nicole!</p> <p>I agree. Getting branding exposure &amp; awareness (even with no-follow links) is important, specially if they are coming from authoritative pages. The Search Engines may not get to pass link equity but the information is still available to the readers for their consumption. </p> <p><br />Afterall, there’s no point in having a business website if nobody knows about it ;)</p>

<p>Thank you for this post Shelli! -  The information is structured perfectly. Just what I was looking for.</p>

<p>Thanks for the update!  Testing it now ...</p>

<p>Great WBF Cyrus! and thank you for the reminder to proceed with caution and awareness of what matters in the end. Clearly, SEO is an art as well as a science, and one that needs to be constantly honed.</p>

<p>Great detailed post Matthew!  </p> <p>I'm currently taking a Data Journalism course and data scrapping is a pretty big topic for journalists to gather information and come up with good stories.  Here is a list of tools discussed:</p> <ul><li>OutWit Hub - <a href="http://www.outwit.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.outwit.com/</a> &lt;= Easy and awesome!</li><li> Import.io - <a href="https://import.io/" rel="nofollow">https://import.io/</a></li><li> Convextra - <a href="http://convextra.com/" rel="nofollow">http://convextra.com/</a></li><li> Chrome extension Scraper - <a href="http://goo.gl/cAOee" rel="nofollow">http://goo.gl/cAOee</a></li><li> Scraperwiki - <a href="https://scraperwiki.com/" rel="nofollow">https://scraperwiki.com/</a></li><li> Kimono - I have not used it, but I've heard really great comments - <a href="http://www.kimonolabs.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.kimonolabs.com</a></li></ul> <p>~Barbara</p>

<p>Very Cool.  I had to think pretty hard on a couple of questions and I learned from others!  Thank you!</p>

<p>Really Nice! Thank you very much for the valuable information &amp; resource</p>

<p>Love it! Awesome WBF Jennita! Socially, we are such visual creatures – especially when it comes to engagement &amp; communities within social networks. The use of images, charts can help tremendously in prompting people to link back to sites and/or share the information with others.</p>

<p>Whoa! I just found this little Gem.  Outstanding. Thank you!</p>

<p> Outstanding and timely post. Thank you Dr. Pete. </p>

<p> Great list, Miriam! Thank You. </p> <p> I really like Whitesparks, I have used it for several campaigns with great results. </p>

<p> Crazy awesome! Congratulations :) </p>

<p> Whoa!! The new office space looks awesome - Congratulations! :) </p>

<p> Just came across this post after last Tuesday's phenomenal workshop! What a terrific visual representation. </p> <p> Thank you! </p>

<p> Wow! As always, transparent and insightful! Thank you for sharing this information Sarah. </p> <p> Cheers for a wildly successful 2014! :) </p>

<p> Thanks Dr. Pete </p> <p> As always, outstanding! It was a true pleasure listening to your talk last Friday. </p>

<p> As always, great information Annie! :) </p>

<p> Nice post! Thank you so much for the guide and the great samples :) </p>

<p> Whoa!! This is outstanding :). Thank you Cyrus! Bookmarking . . . </p>

<p> Great post Casey! Thank you very much for the tips :-) ~Barbara </p>

<p>Absolutely Outstanding!  What a phenomenal post Cyrus.  Thank you so much for taking the time to put together such a well-written and well-illustrated Master Blueprint. </p>

<p>I am so psyched! I am doing some testing right now, but with the amazing support of the community, I have no doubts that this will be a killer tool in no time!  :)</p>

<p>This is a really great piece Stephanie. I like the way you have used pictures to show great examples.  The strategy framework is awesome!  Thanks much for sharing this info :-) </p>

<p>Welcome to the community Brooke!  What a great post.  I appreciated the transparency of your message and your candor.  I look forward to reading your future (awesome) posts.  All the best :)</p>

<p>Srsly!  Brilliant :-) - Happy April Fools Day Mozzers!</p>

<p>Thanks Lauren! -  A very helpful and practical WBF.  Its not easy to stay across all these changes as well as everything else in the space!</p>

<p>Whoo hoo! Outstanding news! Thanks so much for providing such awesome tools :)</p>

<p>Great Post Derric! Thanks for explaining the origin of such beloved Mascot!  Roger #Rocks</p>

<p>Outstanding Post Will. As always, very clearly broken down - Thanks!</p>

<p>Outstanding post Daniel!   Translating content is not only about translating words but being able to convey the right message to the right culture (which can differ vastly even among countries that speak the same language i.e Spanish). Thanks much for sharing your thoughts.  Great job!</p>

<p>What an outstanding post!  Data visualization is so powerful.  Thank you so much for sharing these great resources.<br />Here is a cool article showing other impressive infographics and their benefits: http://goo.gl/7jI8b</p>

<p>You've  done a phenomenal job. Indeed, huge achievements.  Way to go! All the hard work paid off. Congratulations!</p>

<p>Outstanding post!  A basic file that is so flexible and powerful.  Thanks so much for sharing great info and examples.</p>

<p>Whoa!  This list is Gold.  Thanks much Ashley for collecting all this data and special thanks to all SEOMoz contributors for sharing their awesome knowledge.   Cheers!  </p>

<p>Done. Wow super simple!  Great job.  I'm sharing it with students and colleagues ... </p>

<p>Excellent Post and comments.  One thing I would add ...<br />I believe a good SEO must have the ability to talk both marketing and technical languages fluently - or at least,  with a good understanding.<br />A lot of SEO roadbloacks and set-backs come from the lack of communication between teams and differences in how they see a problem ... and as we all know, one of the best qualities of being a good communicator,  is being a good listener ;)<br />Cheers!<br /></p>

<p>What a terrific Post!   Good Clear Comunication + Good Listening Skills = A Dream Manager/Team Leader.<br />Thx!</p>

<p>Exciting News!  Congratulations to the MozTeam and David.  I am so looking forward to seeing what this awesome partnership will bring.<br /><br /></p>

<p>Wow!  Awesome entries - Congrats to the winners, specially the little ones -- great talent in the making!</p>

<p>I must ask my son to try this ... it looks like so much fun! - What an awesome idea!</p>

<p>Excellent Post!  Jam-packed w/ information and tips.  Thanks much for the rich resource.</p>

<p>Great suggestions Chris!  I’ve found out that pairing top main keyterms to geographical areas (your location, city, and state) can also yield to some great long-tailed terms that are much targeted, especially for local SEO.  Also, checking a website’s internal site search can provide some interesting ideas for terms/phrases that customers are already using.</p> <p>Congrats on your first post, looking forward to many more great ideas.</p> <p>@ <strong><a href="http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/41625" rel="nofollow">Catalyst Online</a></strong>, love the suggestion for Soovle – I had not heard of that tool, thanks for sharing J</p>

<p>Great info.  Thanks for sharing Joanna!  The Facebook Studio looks really interesting.</p>

<p>Todd, as always, your memes are awesome! J</p> <p>I am with you, I do not think EMD are inherently a bad thing and there are lots of advantages if used with good quality sites.  Also, I do not think Google is blatantly punishing all EMD sites.  I do feel they *want*  to target the “type” of sites that abuse the EMD ranking factor, as well as any or other on-page factors that can be easily manipulated.  Yet, we can’t deny the fact that lots of good sites are being penalized with this EMD penalty L.   </p> <p>I appreciate very much your insights.</p> <p>Thanks for a great post with tons of info!</p>

<p>Oustanding! &nbsp;Thank you so much for your time putting this together. &nbsp;A great resource.</p>

<p>... yet another reason why SEOMoz Pro is the Bomb!! &nbsp;Thank you!</p>

<p><em>"</em><em>In&nbsp;<strong>conversion-oriented SEO</strong>, content is still the king, but the usability is the queen!"</em> ... I like that! &nbsp;Thanks much for the excellent Post. &nbsp;Great Info!</p>

Outstaaaaanding post Laura! Your strategies are well-thought and well presented. Thank you so much for sharing your insights.

Awesome Post! <br />I am a huge fan of scorecards and the use of colors to represent the status of a website or any project for that matter. They provide such an easy visual way to communicate with people. <br /> <br />Thanks!

I concur. <br />Rhrea, I take my hat off to you, thank you! <br /> <br />

Yay!! Jen and Danny you did great :) Thanks so much for the tips and just like Jen says" Top Pages ROCK!!!

Hot Damn!! Rand, I truly enjoyed this post. Excellent content and presentation. Thanks much for sharing.

Wow! This tool looks awesome. Thanks much

Grazie! Grazie! - A fabulous post Rand!

I’ll chime in with my two cents … <br /> <br />I took the SEO Masters Certification with MarketMotive and I am very pleased with the course and the results. My goal for the course was not to impress a new company with my resume, although I proudly include the Certification as part of my resume ;) <br /> <br />My goal was to learn, to understand the intricacies and the fallacies of SEO. I wanted to learn from people who have done SEO for awhile, to learn what worked for them in their own experiences and to put to test their advice on my own small e-commerce website. <br /> <br />The course turned out to be a very good fit for me, I learn by doing. They gave me a comprehensive historical view on why things work the way the do, why certain techniques may work better than others and how to accommodate these techniques based on different environments. I got to learn their personal opinions about the SEO practices they liked and the ones they did not cared for. I even got to witness some outstanding debates among themselves. <br /> <br />Reading articles and blogs is great. Trust me, I spent a lot of time in SEOMoz validating and solidifying many of the concepts being taught by MarketMotive. In the end, being able to build a small site from scratch and put all the rules/regulations into practice gave me a completely different view of what makes a good SEO. In my opinion, SEO is not only knowing the rules and applying them. It comes down to discerning how and when to use them wisely to take their full advantage. More important, was to learn to slow down and evaluate when not to use some techniques or learning to use them in a limited fashion. <br /> <br />The course gave me an overall view of what it takes for Programmers/Developers, Copywriters, Usability Architects, UI Designers to get their work done. I gained respect for their jobs and a better understanding of how to be able to work with them. <br /> <br />The work is challenging, it takes time and it definitely takes commitment. There is lots of material that needs to be researched on your own if you truly want to get the best out of the course. No, they do not spoon feed all the SEO information. After all, part of being a competent SEO is to go out in the trenches, find out on your own what works and what doesn’t, to test, test, test and to keep up with ongoing changes and events. <br /> <br />To me, their value was providing me with a solid base of where SEO came from, how it has evolved and how to take advantage of it by using solid, proven techniques. They gave me the opportunity to put those techniques to work and I was able to discuss and debate the rationale for all my decisions. Overall, a very good learning experience. <br /> <br />It’s a good opportunity to pick the brains of people who have been there and done it and to learn from their successes and mistakes. In the end, people learn in different ways and this course may not be for everyone. I thought the least I could do was to share my own experience. <br /> <br />To anyone taking any of the upcoming courses, Cheers! <br />

<p>Thanks Filipe!</p><p>It&#39;s amazing to see how many websites forget to create and submit their sitemaps to Search Engines. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Great Quick list.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Thanks! </p>

Outstanding information!&nbsp; Thanks much for the revised update.