Welcome to Anthony Leaton’s SEO blog. Here you will find guides, news and updates affecting SEO professionals. Any personal updates include my certifications, training or case studies. Please do leave a comment.
AI in SEO: Maximising Your Online Visibility
AI in SEO is no longer a niche experiment. It is the operating system for modern search. From smarter keyword clustering to AI powered content briefs and technical audits, artificial intelligence in SEO helps teams find gaps faster, produce better answers, and keep sites healthy at scale. Done thoughtfully, it drives visibility people can feel, not just numbers on a dashboard. AI in SEO means using machine learning and generative models to plan, create, optimise, and govern search performance. Think faster research, intent led content, precision technical fixes, and continuous quality checks. Start small. Map intent, cluster topics, build credible...
Read More
Effective SEO Reindexing Techniques: A Guide
Search visibility shifts when pages are discovered, understood, and refreshed in the index. The fastest wins often come from smart SEO reindexing techniques that help search engines revisit and update your content more quickly. Think of reindexing as nudging crawlers with clear signals, then tracking that momentum through coverage reports and server logs. SEO reindexing focuses on getting search engines to revisit and refresh already indexed pages. Key actions. Request indexing in Search Console, resubmit updated XML sitemaps, fix crawl and directive issues, strengthen internal links, handle redirects cleanly, and monitor coverage. These methods reduce lag between edits and rankings...
Read More
Local SEO Course Passed
Today I got certified with 'A Beginner's Guide to Local SEO' from Bright Local. Quite an interesting course and re-learned a lot of things I've forgotten. It's worth taking it as it's byte sized and fun with Greg Gifford, plus it gives you some food for thought about making your own SEO training courses a lot more streamlined.
Read More
What You Will Learn With Google Campaign Manager 360 Certification
You will cover how to set up and manage digital advertising campaigns + integrate analytics, SEO and GTM
Read More
Google Updates SiteMap Documentation For Last Modified
Google updated its sitemap documentation in June 2024 to clarify the usage of the lastmod date field.
Read More
Top Takeaways from Google Ranking API Leak
The Google API leak answered many questions, there were significant factors unanswered.
Read More
What Should You Do If You Lose A Lot Of Organic Traffic
This guide serves as your SEO emergency response plan.
Read More
How To Do A Technical SEO Audit Of A Website
A Comprehensive Overview of How To Do a Technical SEO Audit of a Website
Read More
Communicating the Value of SEO
Communicating the Value of SEO To Stakeholders Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a critical component of any successful digital marketing strategy. However, communicating its value of SEO to stakeholders, especially those unfamiliar with the intricacies of SEO, can be a daunting task. This quick guide aims to equip SEO professionals with the tools and insights necessary to effectively convey the significance of their work and secure buy-in from decision-makers. The key points covered in this guide include: Emphasising the user-centric nature of SEO Demystifying SEO jargon for non-technical audiences Quantifying the impact of SEO efforts through data-driven insights Aligning SEO...
Read More
The Strategic Approach to Keyword Selection: Beyond Search Volume
The Strategic Approach to Keyword Selection: Beyond Search Competitiveness and Volume As an SEO professional, you navigate a vast ocean of keywords, each promising a path to website traffic. But simply picking terms with high search volume is like steering by the stars – a pretty, unreliable method. The key lies in a strategic approach, one that uses data to forge a course aligned with your business goals. Here's how to move beyond search volume and select keywords that drive real conversions! Building on Existing Strengths: Leveraging What Already Works Sure, search volume and competitiveness is a helpful metric, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. Prioritising...
Read More
Why is Search Engine Optimisation So Mysterious
Why is SEO So Mysterious? First, nothing is written in stone for practicing SEO. Techniques used in search engine optimisation are partially verifiable. Search Engines sometimes publish guidelines e.g. Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. There are a lot of grey areas in the community as to ‘what is best’. The writer believes an unpublished guideline may be answered with a high degree of accuracy, ‘if I was Google what would they think is right’. SEO stands as a crucial element for online visibility and success. However, despite its significance, SEO remains shrouded in mystery for many. The Moving Goalposts: Search Engine Guidelines Search...
Read More
What is Off-Page SEO Optimisation?
Off-page optimisation takes into account external factors that impact your website's visibility, authority, and credibility.
Read More
What Are The Key Aspects Of SEO On Page Optimisation?
What Are The Key Aspects Of SEO On Page Optimisation? On-page optimisation focuses on optimising elements visible and invisible to the user on a webpage to improve their search engine rankings. This involves optimising meta tags, headings, content, URL structure, and internal linking. By adhering to best practices, such as incorporating relevant keywords and ensuring a seamless user experience, on-page optimisation enhances a webpage's visibility to search engines. On-page SEO is important because it helps search engines understand the website's content and relevance to a user's query. It also contributes to the overall user experience and can drive more organic...
Read More
HubSpot SEO II Course Certification
HubSpot's SEO II course dives deeper into advanced SEO and technical SEO, giving you the tools to optimise your game.
Read More
Google Gemini For Workplace Certification
Completing Google Gemini For Workplace Certification offers SEO's a New Toolset To Their Arsenal Today I completed the "Gemini for Google Workspace" course offered valuable insights into how Gemini as a Large Language Model (LLM) can further refine my approach with SEO. Here are the key learnings that you can learn from it, and streamline your SEO practice and generic workflows. How To Create Effective Prompts In LLMS and Gemini First they give give a framework called PARTS - Persona, Aim, Recipient, Tone and Structure to make prompts. An effective prompt should encompass the following five key elements: 1. Establish...
Read More
Certification For Google Ads, Google Analytics & Google Marketing Platform Closed For 48 Hours
Google, has announced that its certification programs for Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Marketing Platform will be temporarily closed for 48 hours on the 29th and 30th of May, 2024.
Read More
Hubspot Email Marketing Certification Update
Hubspot Email Marketing Certification Email marketing has been a cornerstone of my digital marketing career, and I have had the privilege of spearheading successful campaigns across various industries and markets. From managing large-scale, multilingual initiatives to driving tangible results in lead generation and engagement, my expertise in this domain has been honed through years of hands-on experience. Today, I obtained the HubSpot Email Marketing Certification, further solidifying my expertise in this field. This certification not only validates my knowledge of email marketing best practices but also reflects my commitment to continuous learning and staying ahead of the curve. Whether it...
Read More
How Profiles, Engagement, and Clicks Build Brand Authority Online
Explores how social media profiles, social citations, & click-throughs play a vital role in brand authority.
Read More
How To Use ChatGPT for SEO Content Creation
How To Use ChatGPT for SEO Content Creation: A Comprehensive Guide ChatGPT, is a large language model (LLM) application with the potential to significantly enhance your SEO efforts. The world of SEO is a dynamic one, constantly evolving alongside user behaviour, search engine algorithms, and more AI generated online content. To stay afloat in this competitive sea, SEOs must be adaptable and resourceful and learn how to scale content effectively while retaining uniqueness, relevance and fitting the client profile. I have to say ChatGPT isn't a magic bullet for SEO success. Right now it can be a powerful brainstorming partner,...
Read More
What Are The Top 36 Black Hat SEO Tactics?
The Top 36 Black Hat SEO Tactics & Some You Used, or Likely Using Black hat SEO tactics manipulate search engine algorithms for quick wins, but they can severely damage your website in the long run. Here's a long blog on 36 examples and explanations. Here I am proving a point. The list is far greater and there's lots of forums with how to's. I have created a list to show I am aware of what is black hat SEO and also how to spot it. In the long list, there are five tactics you might unknowingly be using, or...
Read More