The Gray Dot Company Blog

What's in an SEO-friendly URL? Best Practices for URLs

The way that a search engines robot or crawler reads your URL can be different than how a human reads it.

A Short Guide to Digital Marketing Acronyms & Abbreviations

Digital marketers tend to throw a lot of acronyms around, and sometimes we forget that everyone else doesn't necessarily know (or care!) what they mean.

How to Handle Permanently and Temporarily Out-of-Stock Products for eCommerce SEO & UX

While Out-of-Stock items, or inventory stockouts, are a common conundrum for all eCommerce websites, it’s how they’re addressed that makes all the difference, particularly in maintaining a site’s SEO health and overall usability. Here's how to do it - the right way.

Free SEO Templates, Checklists, and Guides to Kickoff & Improve SEO Work

In the vast spectrum of SEO, templates are especially useful in guiding processes that can oftentimes be very detail-oriented and multifaceted, such as reporting, auditing, planning, and maintenance. Here's our list of favorite templates for you to download today!

Creating SEO Content: A Guide for SEO Content Planning From Start to Finish

We’ve created this SEO content guide for beginners which outlines the steps you need to take to optimize your strategy and set yourself up for long term success.

50+ of the Best SEO Resources - Tools, Educational Resources and More

We’ve compiled this definitive list of SEO resources, tools, and skills along with our own expert and highly actionable tips you can use to DIY your SEO strategy.

How to Make a 404 Page for SEO, Usability (404 FAQs & More)

Here's an in-depth Q&A of the most commonly asked questions we get from clients about 404 Pages, things that commonly go wrong, and advice for how to set up & monitor 404 errors properly.

Best Practices for Faceted Navigation & SEO: eCommerce Facets, Filters, and Sort Order

Learn all about eCommerce facets and filters and their impact on eComm SEO.

How to Deindex "Stuff" from Google Quickly & Effectively

Removing content from Google can be a tricky process. There are important questions to be answered, different use cases, and a variety of methods to resolve the issue (which vary by content type, scale, speed requirements, etc.

Is My Website ADA Compliant? How to Make Sure Your Site is Accessible

What is website accessibility, and why is it important? Is it legally required? Here are some answers and recommendations for making your site ADA compliant.

How To Properly Serve Up 404s on Single Page Application (SPA) Pages for SEO

Out of the box, 404 error pages in SPAs don’t work properly, creating problems for SEO. Here we’ll review the pros and cons of the various workarounds, including the ones we recommend.

SEO Internationalization Best Practices & QA Checklist

When adding different languages and targeting different countries on your website, it's critical to keep in mind that not only are you addressing international markets and audiences in a language that likely isn’t your own.

Google Search Console Errors: A Guide to Finding & Fixing the Most Common GSC Errors

How exactly do you use the Google Search Console (GSC), and the error reports you might see coming into your inbox after you set it up? Here’s our guide to just that.

Developing An Effective SEO Migration Strategy

It’s far too easy to make positive changes that improve some marketing goals, while accidentally decreasing SEO/organic traffic.

UX and SEO: How UX Design Can Help With SEO Concerns

Too often, SEOs ignore what Google has determined to be equally essential to your page experience: user experience web design (UX). Let’s take a look at how SEO and UX design can work together.

What Exactly is a B2B Digital Marketing & SEO Strategy Framework?

Only 64% of marketers actively invest in SEO despite the fact that it is one of the largest contributing factors for visibility, search engine rankings, web traffic, domain authority, and sales growth.

Website Traffic Down? Here's How You Investigate It To Determine the Cause

Your data investigation process should be thoughtful, methodical, and consider all of the many critical data points, in order to best help you craft a successful recovery plan.

How to Recover Traffic If a Migration Goes Wrong

Have you noticed traffic loss after a recent website migration? You’re not alone. Regardless of the type of migration you performed, a few key factors could be contributing to the drop.

The Art of Keyword Selection for SEO Ranking and Conversions

Here’s a step by step guide for how to effectively research, select, and implement keywords that will actually help grow your business. 

FAQs & Common Issues for Crawling & Indexing Websites: Using Robots.txt, Robots Meta, and Canonical Tags Correctly & Effectively

One of the most frequent technical SEO issues we get from clients goes something like this: “Google is indexing pages I blocked in my Robots.txt file! What the heck?!”

Perspective: What exactly does "Strategy" mean, and what should one contain?

Whether we're talking about Digital Marketing Strategy or SEO Strategy, here's some insight into how we approach these strategic planning projects.

Should I Choose a Multiple Domain SEO Strategy? The Why, What, When

We’re going to explore what a multiple domain SEO strategy is, when and why you should consider a multiple domain strategy, and when it is a big no-no-no for search engine algorithms.

How Marketers and Engineers Can Truly Get Along and Do Better Work Together

Today we’re going to focus specifically on a few of the most common language and personality gaps that have plagued marketing teams and software developers at technology companies for years, and how best to bridge them.

International SEO Technical Specs (+ Business Decision Insights)

High-quality technical documentation is critical to ensuring solid web software.

How To Evaluate & Improve SEO Content Optimization on Existing Pages

We’ll explain what key terms like content optimization really mean. This way, you'll maximize the return on your existing content strategy.

How to Build a Foundation of Strategic Content For Your B2B Digital Marketing & SEO Strategy

Once you know exactly what that is and nail down the basics, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of your unique content creation plan.

Defining Your Website's SEO Quality Assurance Suite: QA for SEO

"Move fast and break things" does, in fact, mean broken software.

Duplicate Content & International SEO/Hreflang

One very common issue - or concern - for International SEO is duplicate content. Does it happen? (Yes!) How do you fix it? Learn more here.

The Quick & Dirty Guide to Remote Working (Tips, Tricks, Tools & Norms)

At the risk of jumping on the bandwagon, here’s my guide (including tips, tricks, tools of the trade & recommended norms) on how to work from home successfully.

SEO Consultant, Agency, or In-House Specialists: Which to Hire & What to Consider When Hiring

For most companies, succeeding at search engine optimization (SEO) means working with an expert. But which one will be the best choice to help you reach your business goals?