Ahrefs - Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #69

Hey there,

We’re hiring!

We have quite a number of open positions on the marketing team. So if you’re interested, feel free to check them out.

All right, moving on to what we’ve published this week:

✍️ New on our blog

HTTP Status Codes: The Complete List by Patrick Stox

As an SEO or marketer, you’re likely familiar with HTTP status codes like 200 OK, 301 Moved Permanently, 302 Moved Temporarily, and 404 Not Found. But there are other status codes too. Even if you only encounter them occasionally, it’s important to know what they stand for, how Google handles them, and how to troubleshoot them.

Here’s a brief primer that explains what the general categories stand for:

1xxs – The server has received the request, and the processing will continue.
2xxs – A client request has been received, understood, and accepted.
3xxs – The client still needs to do something before the request can be successful.
4xxs – The client has an error.
5xxs – The server has an error, and it knows it can’t carry out the request.

Most of these status codes or errors can be identified using our Site Audit tool (available for free in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools).

5 Powerful Marketing Activities: Lessons From Successful Brands by Mateusz Makosiewicz

Marketing activities are actions an individual or organization undertakes to achieve specific marketing outcomes.

There are probably infinite variations of such marketing activities. That being said, there are some activities that seem to stand out from the rest by bringing great results for many companies and standing the test of time.

Mateusz has identified five of them. They are as follows:

Finding product-market fit
Influencing word of mouth
Developing a content marketing machine
Building a community
Conducting market research

Short-Form vs. Long-Form Content: Which Is Better for SEO? by Joshua Hardwick

We define short-form content as anything under 1,000 words and long-form content as anything above 1,000 words. But no matter how you define content length, the actual question you’re probably asking is, “Do I need to write thousands of words to rank for this keyword?”

In that case, asking whether you should create short-form or long-form content is the wrong question. Instead, ask yourself, “How much do I need to write to satisfy searchers?”

Here’s the five-step framework to answer this question:

Look at what’s ranking
Pick a content format
Create a search-focused outline
Start writing
Trim the fluff

B2B Marketing: The Beginner’s Guide by Si Quan Ong

Search for B2B marketing on Google, and you’ll find lists of “strategies” you can use. But those are not strategies. They’re tactics.

You can’t throw every B2B marketing tactic on the wall and hope one sticks. It’s inefficient and a waste of time and resources. Instead, you first need a strategy—this will determine the tactics you’ll use.

Here’s how to create a B2B marketing strategy:

Decide on the customers you’ll target
Position your product or service
Set strategic objectives for the year ahead
Decide on the tactics you want to use

Introducing the Ahrefs WP Plugin by Rebekah Bek

Did you know that we have a WordPress plugin? With our plugin, you’ll be able to automate content audits and grow organic traffic to your WordPress website.

This post will show you how to install the plugin and run your first audit, as well as break down the components of your final report.

📚 What we’re reading

I'm Kevin Gibbons, Founder & CEO at Re:signal (SEO Agency) [Reddit AMA]

This is a fantastic AMA by Kevin Gibbons, who is the founder and CEO of SEO agency Re:signal. He answers questions such as:

How to start, grow, and scale an agency.
How to learn SEO.
His biggest SEO mistakes.
Issues that keep him up at night.

And more.

Till next time. ;)

Cheers,
Si Quan
Content Marketing @ Ahrefs

P.S. We’re experimenting with adding more content to our newsletter. What do you think? What should we improve? What should we add? Let me know by replying to this email.

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Ahrefs - Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #69

✍️ New on our blog

📚 What we’re reading

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