10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools

You know the expression, "What you see is what you get"?

Well, when it comes to email marketing campaigns, that might not always be the case.

Since everyone uses different email providers such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, emails can appear differently for various subscribers.

Sometimes images are blocked, alt text is missing, or fonts won't render. If this happens, you could damage your credibility and lose subscribers. That's why it's important to test your emails before you send them.

In this post, we'll discuss the best free and paid email testing, previewing, and rendering tools you can use to make sure your emails are ready for the eyes of your leads and customers.

Before we get started let's take a moment to review HTML versus plain text emails and previews.

There are benefits to both HTML and plain text emails and specific use cases in which it's wise to use one option over the other.

No matter which email type you choose, you should preview your emails to make sure they're ready for your audience. This is especially important if you go with an HTML email since it inherently includes multimedia elements, colors, fonts, branded elements, images, and more.

HTML Email Preview

As your HTML emails become more sophisticated and as your email list grows, it's important to preview and test your emails prior to them being sent to recipients. By previewing your messages, you'll ensure your emails are professional, error-free, easy-to-read, and ready for your leads and customers.

An HTML preview allows you to adjust anything necessary prior to the final version being sent to your audience. That way, you can send your messages to the people who matter most — your customers — with complete confidence.

Free Email Testing Tools

It's important to note that the following free email preview tools are also free email testing tools. Meaning, they have the ability to assist with email previews and email testing.

1. HubSpot Email Marketing Tool

With HubSpot's Email Marketing Tools, you can create, personalize, and optimize all of your marketing emails without the need for any code or help from designers.

Since this tool is part of your all-in-one HubSpot CRM platform, you'll know the data that you're using to customize your emails is accurate. For instance, personalize emails by referring to the recipient's lifecycle stage, membership status — then schedule your campaign so your customized emails are sent automatically.

Pre-made and customizable email templates as well as the tool's drag-and-drop editor allow you to quickly create and send beautiful and professional emails to your recipient list. Lastly, A/B test different elements of your emails — such as subject lines or the time that you send your emails — to determine what works best for your audience.

2. SubjectLine.com

Testing the visual design of your emails is important. However, don't forget to preview your actual content as well.

With SubjectLine.com, you can test your subject lines and receive a free rating out of 100. The tool considers the total length, word length, urgency, and more.

Word choice matters in your subject lines and this tool will help you come up with more clickable subjects so your readers are more likely to open.

3. MailNinja Email Previewer

MailNinja is a free, easy-to-use, uncluttered email preview tool. With this tool, you can see instant previews of your HTML emails. Additionally, you can double-check your alt text, send test emails, and see how your email will look on different devices.

If you don't trust or want to use a different preview tool than your email marketing software, this is a simple, free option.

4. Inbox Analyzer

Inbox Analyzer, another free email preview tool, helps take the pain out of inbox and spam testing your emails.

Send your emails to the most popular inbox providers to see how they appear and if they deliver — this tool will let you know if your email hits the inbox, spam folder, or is undelivered.

Additionally, you'll receive instant reports on your sender scores, reputation alerts, and even blacklists. With this tool, you'll be able to find issues and learn how to resolve them.

5. PutsMail

PutsMail is a free email testing tool by Litmus. With PutsMail, you can see how your email will look across 50+ different platforms and devices. This is a great tool if you're just looking for a quick and easy way to preview your emails.

1. Get Response

Price: $15/mo (Basic), $49/mo (Plus), $99/mo (Professional), request custom pricing (Max)

Get Response is an email marketing software that can help you create content, boost sales, and increase traffic to your site. Preview your emails in more than 25 popular email clients, and determine if and when multimedia elements like images are blocked.

2. Litmus

Price: $99/mo (Litmus Basic), $199/mo (Litmus Plus), request custom pricing (Litmus Enterprise)

Litmus is a tool for testing and developing email campaigns. With a paid account, you'll gain access to an email preview testing tool that allows you to see screenshots of your emails across 90+ different apps and devices.

If you have a Litmus account, you can add a Chrome extension to your browser and test your emails without ever leaving your email service provider. With the extension, you can validate your links, images, and tracking. Plus, the extension will instantly run a new checklist with every edit.

3. Stripo

Price: Free, $12.50/mo (Business), $40/mo (Agency)

Stripo is an email builder with email testing and a variety of available email service provider (ESP) integrations (including HubSpot, Gmail, Outlook, and Mailchimp). There's a library of custom modules so you can use them across various campaigns.

All of the emails you design with Stripo's HTML editor are responsive so you'll never have to worry about how they render for recipients across different devices. Additionally, after building dynamic AMP emails with Stripo, the tool's code validator checks the email for errors for you.

4. Preview My Email

Price: $25/mo (Standard), $45/mo (Business), $160/mo (Professional), $399/mo (Enterprise)

Preview My Email is another email testing solution that can help you improve your performance. With it, you'll get real screenshots of your email across all the popular email providers in one click. Additionally, this tool offers email analytics that can help you understand your email audience better.

5. Email on Acid

Price: $73/mo (The Basics), $112/mo (Premium), $424/mo (Professional), request custom pricing (Enterprise)

Email on Acid is an email preview tool designed to help you display emails properly, across all clients. The email previews are live clients, so you'll see exactly what your subscribers see.

This tool gives you screenshots so you have no questions about what your email will look like on 90 clients and devices. It also tests for poor formatting, broken links, and code problems.

Email on Acid also offers the ability to comment, edit, and review email previews directly in the software for a faster and more efficient testing process.

Start Previewing, Testing, and Rendering Your Emails

Previewing your emails is an important part of email marketing. If people can't see your emails or your credibility is ruined, those emails haven't done their job. Use an email previewing and testing tool to ensure they're perfect for recipients. 

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

10 Best Email Previewing, Testing, & Rendering Tools was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

How to Use VLOOKUP Function in Microsoft Excel [+ Video Tutorial]

Coordinating a massive amount of data in Microsoft Excel is a time-consuming headache. That headache can be made even worse when you need to compare data across multiple spreadsheets. The last thing you want to do is manually transfer cells using copy and paste. Thankfully, you don't have to. The VLOOKUP function can help you automate this task and save you tons of time.

I know, "VLOOKUP function" sounds like the geekiest, most complicated thing ever. But by the time you finish reading this article, you'll wonder how you ever survived in Excel without it.

Microsoft Excel's VLOOKUP function is easier to use than you think. What's more, it is incredibly powerful, and is definitely something you want to have in your arsenal of analytical weapons.What does VLOOKUP do, exactly? Here's the simple explanation: The VLOOKUP function searches for a specific value in your data, and once it identifies that value, it can find -- and display -- some other piece of information that's associated with that value.

How does VLOOKUP work?

VLOOKUP stands for "vertical lookup." In Excel, this means the act of looking up data vertically across a spreadsheet, using the spreadsheet's columns -- and a unique identifier within those columns -- as the basis of your search. When you look up your data, it must be listed vertically wherever that data is located.

The formula always searches to the right.

When conducting a VLOOKUP in Excel, you're essentially looking for new data in a different spreadsheet that is associated with old data in your current one. When VLOOKUP runs this search, it always looks for the new data to the right of your current data.

For instance, if one spreadsheet has a vertical list of names, and another spreadsheet has an unorganized list of those names and their email addresses, you can use VLOOKUP to retrieve those email addresses in the order you have them in your first spreadsheet. Those email addresses must be listed in the column to the right of the names in the second spreadsheet, or Excel won't be able to find them. (Go figure ... )

The formula needs a unique identifier to retrieve data.

The secret to how VLOOKUP works? Unique identifiers.

A unique identifier is a piece of information that both of your data sources share, and -- as its name implies -- it is unique (i.e. the identifier is only associated with one record in your database). Unique identifiers include product codes, stock-keeping units (SKUs), and customer contacts.

Alright, enough explanation: let's see another example of the VLOOKUP in action!

VLOOKUP Example

In the video below, we'll show an example in action, using the VLOOKUP function to match email addresses (from a second data source) to their corresponding data in a separate sheet. 

Author's note: There are many different versions of Excel, so what you see in the video above might not always match up exactly with what you'll see in your version. That's why we encourage you to follow along with the written instructions below.

For your reference, here's what a VLOOKUP function looks like:

VLOOKUP(lookup_value , table_array , col_index_num , range_lookup)

In the steps below, we'll assign the right value to each of these components, using customer names as our unique identifier to find the MRR of each customer.

1. Identify a column of cells you'd like to fill with new data.

Remember, you're looking to retrieve data from another sheet and deposit it into this one. With that in mind, label a column next to the cells you want more information on with a proper title in the top cell, such as "MRR," for monthly recurring revenue. This new column is where the data you're fetching will go.

2. Select 'Function' (Fx) > VLOOKUP and insert this formula into your highlighted cell.

To the left of the text bar above your spreadsheet, you'll see a small function icon that looks like a script: Fx. Click on the first empty cell beneath your column title and then click this function icon. A box titled Formula Builder or Insert Function will appear to the right of your screen (depending on which version of Excel you have).

Search for and select "VLOOKUP" from the list of options included in the Formula Builder. Then, select OK or Insert Function to start building your VLOOKUP. The cell you currently have highlighted in your spreadsheet should now look like this: "=VLOOKUP()"

You can also enter this formula into a call manually by entering the bold text above exactly into your desired cell.

With the =VLOOKUP text entered into your first cell, it's time to fill the formula with four different criteria. These criteria will help Excel narrow down exactly where the data you want is located and what to look for.

3. Enter the lookup value for which you want to retrieve new data.

The first criteria is your lookup value -- this is the value of your spreadsheet that has data associated with it, which you want Excel to find and return for you. To enter it, click on the cell that carries a value you're trying to find a match for. In our example, shown above, it's in cell A2. You'll start migrating your new data into D2, since this cell represents the MRR of the customer name listed in A2.

Keep in mind your lookup value can be anything: text, numbers, website links, you name it. As long as the value you're looking up matches the value in the referring spreadsheet -- which we'll talk about that in the next step -- this function will return the data you want.

4. Enter the table array of the spreadsheet where your desired data is located.

Next to the "table array" field, enter the range of cells you'd like to search and the sheet where these cells are located, using the format shown in the screenshot above. The entry above means the data we're looking for is in a spreadsheet titled "Pages" and can be found anywhere between column B and column K.

The sheet where your data is located must be within your current Excel file. This means your data can either be in a different table of cells somewhere in your current spreadsheet, or in a different spreadsheet linked at the bottom of your workbook, as shown below.

For example, if your data is located in "Sheet2" between cells C7 and L18, your table array entry will be "Sheet2!C7:L18."

5. Enter the column number of the data you want Excel to return.

Beneath the table array field, you'll enter the "column index number" of the table array you're searching through. For example, if you're focusing on columns B through K (notated "B:K" when entered in the "table array" field), but the specific values you want are in column K, you'll enter "10" in the "column index number" field, since column K is the 10th column from the left.

6. Enter your range lookup to find an exact or approximate match of your lookup value.

In situations like ours, which concerns monthly revenue, you want to find exact matches from the table you're searching through. To do this, enter "FALSE" in the "range lookup" field. This tells Excel you want to find only the exact revenue associated with each sales contact.

To answer your burning question: Yes, you can allow Excel to look for an approximate match instead of an exact match. To do so, simply enter TRUE instead of FALSE in the fourth field shown above.

When VLOOKUP is set for an approximate match, it's looking for data that most closely resembles your lookup value, rather than data that is identical to that value. If you're looking up data associated with a list of website links, for example, and some of your links have "https://" at the beginning, it might behoove you to find an approximate match just in case there are links that do not have this "https://" tag. This way, the rest of the link can match without this initial text tag causing your VLOOKUP formula to return an error if Excel can't find it.

7. Click 'Done' (or 'Enter') and fill your new column.

In order to officially bring in the values you want into your new column from Step 1, click "Done" (or "Enter," depending on your version of Excel) after filling the "range lookup" field. This will populate your first cell. You might take this opportunity to look in the other spreadsheet to make sure this was the correct value.

If so, populate the rest of the new column with each subsequent value by clicking the first filled cell, then clicking the tiny square that appears on the bottom-right corner of this cell. Done! All your values should appear.

VLOOKUP Not Working?

If you've followed the above steps and your VLOOKUP is still not working, it will either be an issue with your:

• Syntax (i.e. how you've structured the formula)
• Values (i.e. whether the data it's looking up is good and formatted correctly)

Troubleshooting VLOOKUP Syntax

Start with looking at the VLOOKUP formula that you have written in the designated cell.

• Is it referring to the right lookup value for its key identifier?
• Does it specify the correct table array range for the values it needs to retrieve
• Does it specify the correct sheet for the range?
• Is that sheet spelled correctly?
• Is it using the correct syntax to refer to the sheet? (e.g. Pages!B:K or 'Sheet 1'!B:K)
• Has the correct column number been specified? (e.g. A is 1, B is 2, and so on)
• Is True or False the correct route for how your sheet is set up?

Troubleshooting VLOOKUP Values

If the syntax is not the problem, how you may have an issue with the values you're trying to receive themselves. This often manifests as an #N/A error where the VLOOKUP cannot find a referenced value.

• Are the values formatted vertically and from right to left?
• Do the values match how you refer to them?

For example, if you're looking up URL data, each URL must be a row with its corresponding data to the left of it in the same row. If you have the URLs as column headers with the data moving vertically, the VLOOKUP will not work.

Keeping with this example, the URLs must match in format in both sheets. If you have one sheet including the "https://" in the value while the other sheet omits the "https://", the VLOOKUP will not be able to match the values.

VLOOKUPs as a Powerful Marketing Tool

Marketers have to analyze data from a variety of sources to get a complete picture of lead generation (and more). Microsoft Excel is the perfect tool to do this accurately and at scale, especially with the VLOOKUP function.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

How to Use VLOOKUP Function in Microsoft Excel [+ Video Tutorial] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

How to Make a Chart or Graph in Excel [With Video Tutorial]

Building charts and graphs is one of the best ways to visualize data in a clear, easy-to-understand way. (Check out this guide for making better charts to learn more.)However, it's no surprise that some people get a little intimidated by the prospect of poking around in Microsoft Excel. (I admittedly adore Excel, but I work in Marketing Operations, so it's pretty much a requirement that I like the tool).

I thought I'd share a helpful video tutorial as well as some step-by-step instructions for anyone out there who cringes at the thought of organizing a spreadsheet full of data into a chart that actually, you know, means something.

Here are the simple steps you need to build a chart or graph in Excel.

 

Keep in mind there are many different versions of Excel, so what you see in the video above might not always match up exactly with what you'll see in your version. In the video, I used Excel 2021 version 16.49 for Max OS X.

To get the most updated instructions, I encourage you to follow the written instructions below (or download them as PDFs). Most of the buttons and functions you'll see and read are very similar across all versions of Excel.

Download Demo Data | Download Instructions (Mac) | Download Instructions (PC)

1. Enter your data into Excel.

First, you need to input your data into Excel. You might have exported the data from elsewhere, like a piece of marketing software or a survey tool. Or maybe you're inputting it manually.

In the example below, in Column A, I have a list of responses to the question, “Did inbound marketing demonstrate ROI?”, and in Columns B, C, and D, I have the responses to the question, “Does your company have a formal sales-marketing agreement?” For example, Column C, Row 2 illustrates that 49% of people who have an SLA (service level agreement) also say that inbound marketing demonstrated ROI.

2. Choose from the graph and chart options.

In Excel, your options for charts and graphs include column (or bar) graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, scatter plots, and more. See how Excel identifies each one in the top navigation bar, as depicted below:

To find the chart and graph options, select Insert.

(For help figuring out which type of chart/graph is best for visualizing your data, check out our free ebook, How to Use Data Visualization to Win Over Your Audience.)

3. Highlight your data and insert your desired graph into the spreadsheet.

In this example, I’ll use a bar graph to visually present the data. To make a bar graph, highlight the data and include the titles of the X and Y-axis. Then, go to the Insert tab, and in the charts section, click the column icon. Choose the graph you wish from the dropdown window that appears.

In this example, I picked the first 2-dimensional column option — just because I prefer the flat bar graphic over the 3-D look. See the resulting bar graph below.

4. Switch the data on each axis, if necessary.

If you want to switch what appears on the X and Y axis, right-click on the bar graph, click Select Data, and click Switch Row/Column. This will rearrange which axes carry which pieces of data in the list shown below. When you're finished, click OK at the bottom.

The resulting graph would look like this:

5. Adjust your data's layout and colors.

To change the layout of the labeling and legend, click on the bar graph, then click the Chart Design tab. Here, you can choose which layout you prefer for the chart title, axis titles, and legend. In my example shown below, I clicked on the option that displayed softer bar colors and legends below the chart.

To further format the legend, click on it to reveal the Format Legend Entry sidebar, as shown below. Here, you can change the fill color of the legend, which will in turn change the color of the columns themselves. To format other parts of your chart, click on them individually to reveal a corresponding Format window.

6. Change the size of your chart's legend and axis labels.

When you first make a graph in Excel, the size of your axis and legend labels might be a bit small, depending on the type of graph or chart you choose (bar, pie, line, etc.) Once you've created your chart, you'll want to beef up those labels so they're legible.

To increase the size of your graph's labels, click on them individually and, instead of revealing a new Format window, click back into the Home tab in the top navigation bar of Excel. Then, use the font type and size dropdown fields to expand or shrink your chart's legend and axis labels to your liking.

7. Change the Y-axis measurement options, if desired.

To change the type of measurement shown on the Y axis, click on the Y-axis percentages in your chart to reveal the Format Axis window. Here, you can decide if you want to display units located on the Axis Options tab, or if you want to change whether the Y-axis shows percentages to 2 decimal places or to 0 decimal places.

Because my graph automatically sets the Y axis's maximum percentage to 60%, I might want to change it manually to 100% to represent my data on a more universal scale. To do so, I can select the Maximum option — two fields down under Bounds in the Format Axis window — and change the value from 0.6 to 1.

The resulting graph would be changed to look like the one below (I increased the font size of the Y-axis via the Home tab, so you can see the difference):

8. Reorder your data, if desired.

To sort the data so the respondents' answers appear in reverse order, right-click on your graph and click Select Data to reveal the same options window you called up in Step 3 above. This time, click the up and down arrows, as shown below, to reverse the order of your data on the chart.

If you have more than two lines of data to adjust, you can also rearrange them in ascending or descending order. To do this, highlight all of your data in the cells above your chart, click Data and select Sort, as shown below. You can choose to sort based on smallest to largest or largest to smallest, depending on your preference.

The resulting graph would look like this:

9. Title your graph.

Now comes the fun and easy part: naming your graph. By now, you might have already figured out how to do this. Here's a simple clarifier.

Right after making your chart, the title that appears will likely be "Chart Title," or something similar depending on the version of Excel you're using. To change this label, click on "Chart Title" to reveal a typing cursor. You can then freely customize your chart's title.

When you have a title you like, click Home on the top navigation bar, and use the font formatting options to give your title the emphasis it deserves. See these options and my final graph below:

10. Export your graph or chart.

Once your chart or graph is exactly the way you want it, you can save it as an image without screenshotting it in the spreadsheet. This method will give you a clean image of your chart that can be inserted into a PowerPoint presentation, Canva document, or any other visual template.

To save your excel graph as a photo, right-click on the graph and select Save as Picture….

In the dialogue box, name the photo of your graph, choose where to save it to on your computer, and choose the file type you’d like to save it as. In this example, I’m saving it as a JPEG to my desktop folder. Finally, click Save.

You’ll have a clear photo of your graph or chart that you can add to any visual design.

Visualize Data Like A Pro

That was pretty easy, right? With this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll be able to quickly create charts and graphs that visualize the most complicated data. Try using this same tutorial with different graph types like a pie chart or line graph to see what format tells the story of your data best. You can even practice customizing more data-heavy graphs and charts using the free excel templates for marketers below.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

How to Make a Chart or Graph in Excel [With Video Tutorial] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The What, Why, and How of Canonical Tags & URLs

"That's canon!" 

You might've heard this phrase used to describe a creative piece that stays true to an original piece of work or fictional universe.

If you're familiar with canon, you are well on your way to understanding canonicalization and how it impacts web pages.

Here, let's explore what canonicalization is, why it matters for SEO, and how to add the tag to your own website.

What is canonicalization?

Canonicalization declares an original or preferred web page, which helps consolidate duplicate pages for crawling.

Without naming a canonical URL, web crawlers could crawl and index multiple versions of your web page. Google indicates that it will crawl non-canonical pages less frequently to reduce the crawl load on your website.

Less frequent crawling of low-quality, duplicate pages means more important pages can be prioritized for crawling, instead.

Okay, but why would we purposely have duplicate content? Well … ever post your content on your website and also on Medium? Or, perhaps after guest posting you place a version of the blog post on your website, as well.

To do so, you should reference the original version as the canonical URL. Canonical URLs can reference different domains — meaning the canonical can be on another website.

Even if you aren't actively creating duplicate pages for cross-channel promotion, duplication happens naturally due to the different parts of a web address. Does your website use a secure protocol, like HTTPS? Then you may have an HTTP and HTTPS version of your webpage.

The same goes with www vs. non-www. Does your website use trailing slashes, or not? If your website doesn't always redirect to the preferred version of your page (secure or not, www or not, and trailing slash or not), duplication can occur.

Even if you are forcing the preferred version through a redirect, query parameters used for tracking visits or filtering views on a page can also look like separate URLs to crawlers. Declaring a canonical URL indicates to web crawlers to ignore query parameters or other versions of the URL.

What is a canonical URL?

The external resource <link> element defines relationships between the current page and other resources. A "rel" attribute is used on the <link> tag to indicate the type of relationship. Some common link types include "prev" and "next" for pagination, "stylesheet," and, of course, "canonical."

The <link> tag uses the "rel=" noopener" target="_blank" href" attribute to set the URL that serves as the canonical to the active page. Although these are intended to be external resource links, the canonical URL can be "self-referring," meaning it is the exact version of the current page. Using self-referring canonicals helps to reduce the unnecessary crawling of non-preferred versions of your page, as long as you are always using the absolute URL as the "rel=" noopener" target="_blank" href" value.

In Google Search Console, you can use the Inspect URL tool to understand what Google considers the canonical URL, even if you have not set one. Even when you have declared a canonical URL, Google will sometimes still pick a different URL, listed as the "Google-selected canonical." Because of that, canonicalization is not a guarantee that Google will select your preferred version or that other versions will not be indexed.

How to Add a Canonical Tag

Add a Canonical Tag in an HTML Document

As mentioned, you can use the <link > element to set your canonical URL. Link elements are self-closing tags. The "rel" and "rel=" noopener" target="_blank" href" attributes are required.

To add a canonical link to an HTML document add the <link> element within the <head> element. Ensure the "rel" attribute value is set to "canonical." Remember to put the absolute URL of your preferred web address as the value of the "rel=" noopener" target="_blank" href" attribute.

<head>

<link rel="canonical" rel=" noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mypreferredwebaddress.com/canonical-url">

</head>

Add a Canonical Tag in HubSpot

In HubSpot, you can set your canonical URL in the individual page or post settings under Advanced Options. Read more about canonical URL settings options.

Add a Canonical Tag in WordPress

Common WordPress SEO plugins, including Yoast and RankMath, simplifies setting up canonical URLs, especially for several pages. If you are a little more advanced and don't want to add another plugin, it is possible to update the canonical URL using WordPress Hooks too.

1. Using the get_canonical_url Hook.

A filter WordPress hook allows you to modify data as WordPress is executing. The add_filter() function accepts at least two parameters, a tag and a callback function. The tag would be the hook, which in this case is get_canonical_url.  

The callback function parameter would be the name of a function you create that returns the canonical URL. The callback function could use conditional statements to match to specific posts. Refer to this Stack Exchange answer example.

In the example, the "wpse_302620_canonical_url" callback function uses an if statement to return a new canonical when the post ID, which is passed as an argument on the function, matches a specific post. With that in mind, this solution seems like a fix for a few posts or post types but may not scale well. To apply to several pages, using a plugin would probably be the best option.

2. Using the Yoast Plugin.

If you are using Yoast, you can apply canonical URLs to posts, pages, and taxonomies. Select the type of content you want to edit from the left-hand menu, then "edit" the individual piece of content. In the Yoast SEO meta box, toggle the "Advanced" section. Add your preferred web address in the "Canonical URL" field and save. Learn more about Yoast's canonical URL settings.

3. Using the Rank Math Plugin.

While editing your specific page or post, select the "Advanced" tab on Rank Math. Add your preferred web address in the "Canonical URL" field and save. Learn more about setting canonical URLs in Rank Math.

The What, Why, and How of Canonical Tags &amp; URLs was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Your Cheat Sheet to Google's 200 (Known) Ranking Factors

If you're an SEO, I know you can relate to the following scenario.

You do thorough keyword research and create super awesome content that ends up performing well — score!

You are riding the waves of growth in SERPs and feel like you're on top of the world.

And the next day, there's an algorithm update that comes along ... and just like that, your rankings have tanked.

Regardless of whether an algorithm update rocks or destroys your world, they're an inevitable occurrence. So it's time to face the facts, and take the changes in stride.

As difficult as ranking in the coveted number one spot may seem, there is a list that'll help you get there: Google's 200 known ranking factors.

This list serves as our guide in a field that's constantly evolving.

In 2006, Google declared that it was using over 200 ranking factors. While that's certainly the most comprehensive perspective, I've pulled all the known ranking factors together in one post and shared my personal top 10 to make it a bit more tactical.

But before you jump in, understand that everything is arguable in SEO, and there have been some controversies concerning these "200 known ranking factors". SEO's often differ in their perspective on which ranking factors matter the most — or whether they're important at all.

Nevertheless, user experience is one thing Google continually improves for their users. If you want to create more helpful content for your ideal audience, it's worth referring to these ranking factors to improve both your SEO and your overall marketing strategy.

What is a ranking factor on Google?

Ranking factors are the criteria applied by Google (and other search engines) when evaluating pages to decide the best order of relevant results to return for a search query.

Understanding ranking factors is necessary for effective SEO. All marketers, content creators, and SEO strategists should be familiar with them — not because they're the end-all, be-all of SEO (they're not), but because they help create a better user experience, which ensures more leads and conversions for your business. So I would strongly recommend using these factors as a guide.

How many Google ranking factors are there?

There are over 200 ranking factors that are generally considered correct (but again, it's debatable). Since 2006, there have been thousands of algorithm updates.

With each update, SEOs test to see what's changed. So, some of these factors are proven, but others are just speculation.

All 200 (Known) Ranking Factors

I'll start with a rundown of all 200 ranking factors, then go in-depth into the top ten ranking factors that, based on my experience as an SEO consultant for B2B and B2C companies, have the most impact.

Here are the top categories:

• Domain Factors
• Page-Level Factors
• Site-Level Factors
• Backlink Factors
• User Interaction
• Special Google Algorithm Rules
• Brand Signals
• On-Site Webspam Factors
• Off-Site Webspam Factors

Domain Factors

Domain factors are all ranking factors that connect with your domain (the basic example.com version of your website), including:

1. Your domain age
2. Keyword in your domain
3. Keyword is the first word in your domain
4. Domain registration length
5. Keyword in subdomain
6. Domain history
7. Penalized Whois owner
8. Public WhoIs instead of private Whois

Page-Level Factors

Page-level factors are factors on each page that you can optimize, such as:

1. Presence of the keyword in the title tag
2. Having the keyword at the beginning of your title tag
3. Keyword in your meta description tag
4. Presence of the keyword in the H1 tag
5. Keyword is frequently used in the content
6. Content length
7. Word count rankings
8. Presence of a linked table of contents
9. Keyword density
10. Presence of semantically related keywords
11. Semantically related keyword in meta title and description
12. In-depth quality content
13. Useful content
14. Page loading speed via HTML
15. Page loading speed tested on Chrome
16. Core web vitals
17. No duplicate content on the same site
18. Image optimization through ALT, title, and  file name
19. Content recency (the newer, the better)
20. Page age
21. How many edits were made to the content during updates
22. Historical data on page updates
23. Proper use of rel=canonical
24. Presence of keyword in H2 and H3 tags
25. Presence of keyword in the first 100 words
26. Grammar and spelling
27. Originality of the page's content
28. Entity match
29. Number of outbound links
30. Mobile useability and optimization
31. Hidden content on mobile (may not be indexed)
32. Page optimized for mobile
33. Presence of multimedia, for example, images and videos
34. Number of outbound links
35. The quality of outbound links
36. Theme of outbound links
37. Presence of helpful supplementary content, like free tools and calculators
38. Content hidden behind tabs (it may not be indexed and wouldn't show up in search snippets)
39. Number of internal links pointing to the page
40. Quality of the internal links
41. Presence of too many broken links (could lower ranking capabilities)
42. The reading level of the page
43. Presence of many affiliate links
44. Presence of many HTML errors
45. Authority/trust-level of the domain
46. Authority/trust level of the page
47. PageRank
48. Length of URL
49. Closeness of URL to the homepage
50. Presence of keyword in URL
51. Opinion of human editors
52. Relevance of page's category to page
53. Content formatting for user-friendliness and readability
54. Priority of the page in the sitemap.xml
55. UX signal from pages ranking for the same keyword
56. Citing references and sources
57. Use of a user-friendly layout
58. URL string in Google search engine results
59. Internal link anchor text to the page
60. Use of structured data

Site-level factors

Site-level factors go above the page level and take a look at things on the entire site. They include:

1. Presence of a contact us page or appropriate amount of contact information
2. Content on site provides value or new insights
3. TrustRank (how close your site is to a known and trusted site in terms of linking)
4. Website updates for freshness factor
5. Site architecture
6. Presence of a sitemap
7. Long-term site downtime
8. Location of server
9. HTTPs / use of a valid SSL certificate
10. Presence of legal pages (terms and conditions and privacy policy)
11. Unique metadata
12. Use of breadcrumb markup
13. Site-wide mobile optimization
14. Site-wide user-friendliness (usability and interactiveness)
15. Bounce rate
16. Domain authority
17. User reviews
18. Site reputation

Backlink factors

Backlink factors look at the sites that are linking to you to determine where to rank your page. Sites with better quality sites linking to them tend to be higher in rankings when they have quality content. The backlink factors are as follows:

1. Age of linking domain
2. Number of referring domains
3. Number of links from separate c-class IPs
4. Number of referring pages
5. Anchor text of backlinks
6. ALT tag of image links
7. Number of links from .edu and .gov domains
8. Trust factor of linking page
9. Trust factor of linking domain
10. Presence of links from competitors
11. Number of links from expected sites in your industry
12. Links from bad neighborhoods
13. Number of links that are not from ads
14. Country TLD of referring domains
15. Domain authority
16. Presence of some nofollow links
17. Diversity of link profile
18. Context of content the content of linking page
19. Presence of more follow links that sponsored or UGC
20. Lots of backlinks to URL with 301 redirects
21. The text that appears when you hover over a link
22. Link location on page
23. Location of link in content
24. Links from relevant domains
25. Links from relevant pages
26. Presence of your page's keyword in the title of the linking page
27. Natural rate of growth in number of links
28. Spiky and unnatural rate of growth in number of links
29. Links from top resources on a certain topic or hubs
30. Number of links from sites that are considered authority sites
31. Linked as a source in a Wikipedia article
32. Words around your backlinks
33. Backlink age
34. Links from real sites vs fake blogs
35. Natural link profile
36. Excessive reciprocal links
37. Links in real content vs. UGC
38. Backlinks from a page with a 301 redirect
39. TrustRank of linking site
40. Fewer outbound links on linking page
41. Links in real content vs links in forums
42. Word count of linking content
43. Quality of linking content
44. Sitewide links = one link

User Interaction

Google  always emphasizes in their update announcements how important it is to provide an excellent user experience to website visitors. These factors measure user interaction to rank your page accordingly, including:

1. Organic click through rate for exact keyword
2. Organic click through rates for all ranking keywords
3. Dwell time
4. Bounce rate
5. Measurement of how users interact on your site based on RankBrain
6. Total direct traffic
7. Percentage of repeat visitors
8. Blocked sites
9. Percentage of visitors that click on other pages on the SERP after clicking visiting your page
10. Page frequently bookmarked by Chrome users
11. Number of comments on page

Special Google Algorithm Rules

Some Google Algorithm rules are not directly connected to your page or domain. They include factors that look at personalizing search results for the user or better search results as a whole. Here are some of them:

1. Need for diversity in the SERP
2. Need for freshness in the SERP
3. Browsing history of user
4. Search history of user
5. Succinct answers, formatting, page authority and HTTPS for featured snippets
6. Geo-targeting
7. Adult content or curse words (excluded from safe search results)
8. High content quality standards for YMYL keywords
9. Legitimate DMCA complaints
10. Need for domain diversity in SERP
11. Transactional searches
12. Local search results
13. Presence of news stories related to keyword for Top Stories box
14. Search intent
15. Presence of big brands with relevant content (they are often ranked higher)
16. Presence of results optimized for Google Shopping
17. Image results
18. Branded search
19. Easter eggs and April Fools' Day jokes and hoaxes from Google (this one makes me laugh)
20. Spammy queries
21. Spammy sites

Brand Signals

How great is your branding strategy in terms of SEO? If you haven't taken care of your brand mentions and brand all over the internet, you need to start now. Because there are some serious ranking factors related to your brand:

1. Brand + keyword searches (for example, Hubspot SEO)
2. Branded anchor text
3. Twitter profile with followers
4. Official LinkedIn page
5. Facebook page with lots of likes
6. Branded searches
7. Known author or verified online profile
8. Real social media accounts
9. Top stories with brand mentions
10. Brand mentions without links
11. Physical location of offices

On-site Web

To rank high on search engine results, you need to ensure your site isn't spammy and doesn't look spammy - as with many things in life, looks play a role in how we're perceived. Here are some factors around that:

1. Low-quality content
2. Links to bad neighborhoods
3. Multiple and sneaky redirects
4. Flagged server IP address
5. Distracting ads and popups
6. Popups that are spammy and difficult to close
7. Over-optimizing the site
8. Gibberish content
9. Use of doorway pages
10. Lots of ads above the fold and not much content
11. Hiding affiliate links
12. Low-value content sites
13. Affiliate sites
14. Keyword stuffing in meta tags
15. Compute generated content
16. Nofollowing all outbound links

Off-site Webspam Factors

The Off-site webspam factors affect spam based on what's done outside your website that connects with your website. They include:

1. Unnatural and sudden increase in backlinks
2. Hacked site
3. Lots of low-quality backlinks
4. High percentage of links from unrelated websites
5. Low-quality directory links
6. Automatic links in widgets
7. Links from sites with the same server IP
8. Using “poison” in your anchor text
9. Ignored manual actions in search console
10. Selling links
11. Temporary link schemes

Phew, we made it! Even though this list might seem overwhelming, I've condensed it to my top 10 to make things a bit more palatable.

Top 10 Google Ranking Factors

Before we go into my top 10 Google ranking factors, keep this in mind: everything is debatable in SEO. While several SEO experts might accept these 10 factors as their top ranking factors as well, other SEOs might disagree. But for me, these are what I've found to be most important.

I chose my top 10 based on what I've seen improves the user experience, optimizes conversion rates, signals trustworthiness, ranks well, brings in high amounts of organic monthly traffic, and promotes customer retention and loyalty. Let's dive in.

1. Content that provides valuable and unique insights.

As mentioned above, Google has always emphasized quality content. Providing content that provides value and unique insights not found on every other website can improve your ranking simply because your audience enjoys it.

To do this:

• Ensure you are the subject expert in what you are writing about or that you understand that topic in-depth according to research.
• Hire subject experts to write your content.
• Provide factual information that informs your audience about the questions that are the most important to them.
• Don't write fluff.

2. Content that covers a topic in-depth.

Want to rank on the first page? Stop writing thin content. Research has proven time and time again that content that covers all areas, whether long or short form, tends to do better in search results. Here's what to do:

• Study your competitors' content and write about what they missed.
• Cover all relevant areas and answer all questions that readers might have.
• Make the text readable by adding elements like images, a clickable table of contents, jump links, and CTAs to relevant information.

3. Organic click-through rates.

Your organic click through rate helps Google understand whether people like your content or not. If more people are clicking on your post in the SERP, Google will believe your content is more relevant to that keyword and rank you higher for it.

You need to write a convincing meta title and description to improve your organic click-through rate. Here are tips for writing the best meta title and description:

• Use power words.
• Ensure your keyword is visible in the meta title.
• Keep your meta title under 62 characters.
• Keep your meta description at about 150 characters.
• Your meta description should be helpful to readers (use it to show them how they benefit from reading your content).

Note that to get to a point where you can improve organic click through rate, you should have all other SEO factors in place for higher rankings. I mean anyways, if you are in the 100th position, most people wouldn't see your page to begin with.

4. Keywords in H1.

The H1 is an indication of what your content is about. So, include your keyword in your H1. Be careful, though; some SEOs say that using the same sentence in your H1 and meta title is an indication that you are keyword stuffing. So, you might want to spice it up a bit while still ensuring that your keyword is present. Do this in combination with all on-page optimization (meta data, URL, other headings).

5. The content's length.

Content length is one thing that several people debate about when it comes to SEO. Some believe an upward of 2000 words should be the standard. However, that shouldn't always be the case. Sure, long-form content seems to get the most backlinks, but it's crucial that you write long-form only when you need that to cover the entire topic.

It's also a best practice to check what your competitors have because that can be an indicator of quality content. If all competitors have between 2000-4000 words and you write 200 words, you will likely not rank high for that term.

6. Website domain authority.

Domain Authority (DA) is not a ranking factor despite what many say, and the simple reason is: Google didn't create it. When asked if it is a signal, John Mueller replied, “...it's a tool by Moz”.

But from my perspective, it's good to keep in mind because Moz uses particular signals to create that score (and other tools like SEMrush and Arel=" noopener" target="_blank" hrefs) that are similar to Google's ranking factors.

When more trusted sites are linking to yours and you have content that ranks well, that is an indicator that you should be trusted, which in turn increases your rankings even further - all of which plays into DA. So in a nutshell, you might want to focus on growing your DA even if Google doesn't confirm it.

7. Total number of backlinks from relevant sources.

The total number of your backlinks and referring domains are important, but only when they are from relevant sources. In February 2021, John Mueller commented about the importance of link relevance and that you can build many backlinks, but Google will ignore them if they are not relevant.

Rather than focusing on building millions of backlinks, focus on more relevant and quality backlinks.

8. Page loading speed via HTML.

Last year, Google announced that core web vitals would become a ranking signal and it's planned to launch in mid-June. Core web vitals is a part of PageSpeed, and page speed affects user experience.

If your site is too slow to load or slow to interact with, Google is more likely to reduce your rankings, especially when your competitors have fast site speed and great content.

9. Mobile usability.

User experience is key for SEO success and users are increasingly accessing your website via mobile. That's why Google sends constant mobile-friendliness notifications in Search Console when it sees that your site isn't responsive.

If you want to score points with Google and, more importantly, your users, work on your mobile usability.

10. Over-optimization.

Don't overdo it — this serves as a reminder that you must prioritize optimizing for humans, not the algorithm. When you over-optimize your pages, Google sees that you're trying too hard and might believe you are trying to game the system. If that happens, you get penalized.

Here are other important ranking factors that didn't make the top 10 cut, but you should make sure to work on as well:

1. Quality of internal links pointing to page
2. Site architecture
3. Site usability
4. Contextual links
5. Outbound link quality
6. Dwell time
7. Branded searches
8. Image alt text

That's all, folks!

You've now gotten to know the 200 known ranking factors and my preferred top 10. Use this article as a guide, not as hard rules. I'm not Google and only Google can confirm what the exact ranking factors are. Most of this data is from what I have seen from working with several websites over the years.

Remember, user experience is key, so continually optimize for your target audience, and you will be duly rewarded.

Your Cheat Sheet to Google's 200 (Known) Ranking Factors was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns