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Tag: SEO

  • 6 Powerful Ways Social Media Will Build Your SEO

    6 Powerful Ways Social Media Will Build Your SEO

    Because social media shares are not Google ranking factors, many companies ignore social media in their SEO efforts. That’s a mistake for two reasons.

    First, while social media shares have no direct impact on SEO rankings, shares can indirectly improve SEO in very meaningful ways.

    Second, other aspects of social media marketing aside from shares have a positive effect on SEO.

    Here are the top six ways social media builds SEO:

    1- Backlink Generation

    Backlinks are a tremendously important ranking factor — so much so that an SEO campaign may devote well over 50% of its budget to developing high-quality backlinks.

    Social media shares encourage backlinks — when your social media marketing activities are conducted with SEO in mind. What does that mean?

    First, it means your social network community is designed to attract followers with an enthusiastic interest in reading and sharing content about your company, products, services, and/or industry.

    For the most part, such followers will be customers, prospects, industry peers, suppliers, and people in related industries. These are the people who are interested in linking to your shared content on their blogs and websites. 

    Second, it means that your social media communication strategy includes and perhaps emphasizes scheduled sharing of on-site content strategically important to your SEO campaign. While having backlinks to any page of your website is helpful, links to those pages that you want to rank highly produce the best SEO results.

    Third, it means that the quality of your shared on-site content is high. Google’s algorithm evaluates content qualitatively. If your content is relevant, free of grammatical errors, useful, engaging, and authoritative, it will inspire people to link to it.

    Fourth, it means that you engage followers on social media to encourage or even request a backlink. This is best done personally and selectively–blanket social media messages asking for links are interpreted as overly self-promotional and will backfire.

    2- YouTube Optimization

    YouTube is the world’s largest social media platform and the world’s second largest search engine, exceeded only by its parent company, Google. Optimizing video on YouTube and connecting your YouTube videos to your website have tremendous SEO value.

    An optimized YouTube channel and keyword-optimized YouTube videos generate views on YouTube and then send relevant traffic to your website. If your videos do a great job of selling your products and services, that referred traffic will generate conversions, the overriding goal of any SEO campaign.

    Keep in mind that video is a search category for Google. Videos posted on your YouTube channel may rank very well for general searches on Google when properly optimized. If your business involves products or services that need to be seen to be sold, you cannot afford to overlook YouTube’s SEO potential.

    3- Instagram Optimization

    Everything about YouTube and SEO applies to Instagram and SEO.

    Instagram is an excellent platform for products and services that are visually interesting — which can be just about anything if you approach your marketing creatively.

    For instance, plumbing is not a particularly glamorous industry, but photos that depict the steps to install a shower head will be extremely useful and interesting to the Instagram community when the need arises.

    If you connect your Instagram photos to your SEO strategy, especially in terms of images containing your target keywords, you will improve your brand’s visibility for your most important products and services, as well as generate referred traffic from Instagram to your website when people are in the market for what you sell.

    4- High-ranking Social Profiles in Google SERPs

    Your social media profile pages may rank higher on Google SERPs (search engine results pages) than your website content. This can even hold true for branded searches: for instance, a company’s LinkedIn profile page often outranks its website’s home page.

    Facebook profile pages also tend to rank highly for branded searches, and branded search queries may generate a section for your company’s tweets on the SERP.

    Depending on what the Google user is looking for, links to your social media content on Google SERPs may attract a considerable number of clicks. If your social media content is well optimized, with links pointing to your website — including links to the home page and strategically important SEO pages — those clicks can ultimately result in conversions.

    With respect to Twitter, keep in mind your most recent tweets may appear in their entirety on Google SERPs. Make sure your tweets always reflect well on your brand and inspire clicks from your target prospects. 

    5- Boosting Conversions

    Facebook profile pages have an important feature: customer reviews. If you cultivate positive customer reviews on Facebook, you will not only improve your brand perception, but you will also give your SEO campaign a very large helping hand.

    That customer reviews strongly influence buying decisions is a well-known fact. For this reason, your Facebook page can help close sales after SEO has brought visitors directly from Google to your website. Why? Because these SEO visitors will want to check out your company’s Facebook reviews before they make a buying decision.

    Social media thus becomes a component of your SEO campaign’s conversion strategy. The path is: Google search  ̶  to website  ̶  to Facebook profile  ̶  to website  ̶  to inquiry form submission or online order. Complex … but common!

    While other social media sites don’t feature formal customer reviews, they do reveal what sort of communication you have with customers. Again, search engine traffic to your website will lead interested prospects to explore your social media pages to better understand how you engage with your customers and how being your customer would feel.

    What conclusions will they reach based on your social media customer interactions?

    6- Improving Website Ranking Factors

    As illustrated throughout this article, when visitors come to your website from social media sources, they are likely to be very interested in what you sell.

    This high level of interest is important from an SEO perspective because it encourages website activity that Google loves to see:

    ●  Long visits

    ●  Visits to multiple website pages

    ●  Repeat visits

    ●  Low bounce rates

    By improving the quantity and quality of your website’s traffic, social media thus helps improve your website’s overall authority and thus its rankings.

    Conclusion

    Social media is a powerful tool for building your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. By utilizing these six strategies, you can increase your online visibility and drive traffic to your website.

    Social media and SEO are interconnected, and by incorporating social media into your SEO strategy, you can establish a strong online presence, connect with your target audience, and ultimately improve your bottom line.

    So, whether you’re just starting or have been in the game for a while, make sure to take advantage of social media’s SEO benefits to grow your business and increase your online reach.

  • Getting the Most Out of Outsourcing SEO

    Getting the Most Out of Outsourcing SEO

    In the digital age, online visibility is more important than ever for businesses. That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) is an important tool for businesses that want to increase their online visibility and drive more traffic to their websites.  But SEO tasks are complex and time-consuming. That is the reason why outsourcing SEO tasks to experts can be a great option, especially when you use a reliable and experienced partner.

    What Kind of Digital Marketing Company Should You Choose

    You should decide on a digital marketing company that specializes in providing comprehensive services to help businesses achieve their goals. The company’s team has over several years of experience in SEO, social media, Email Marketing, Content Writing and more. They also offer web design and development services. With their holistic approach to digital marketing, they aim to help businesses increase their visibility and traffic, drive leads and sales conversions, and ultimately build a successful long-term strategy.

    Benefits of Outsourcing SEO Tasks

    Let’s take a look at five of the key benefits of using this company for your SEO needs.

    SEO Expertise

    Your team should have years of experience in SEO marketing services and digital marketing as a whole. They are familiar with the latest trends and techniques used by successful companies around the world, allowing them to provide tailored solutions for any type of business looking for improved visibility online. This expertise can be invaluable when trying to achieve success in search engines like Google and Bing, as well as other platforms such as social media sites and web directories. Moreover, by having access to experienced professionals on hand all the time, you won’t have to worry about letting any important details slip through the cracks or making costly mistakes that could hurt your rankings or waste valuable resources.

    Wide Range of Digital Marketing Services

    With your provider, you gain access to a wide range of services including keyword research & analysis, link building campaigns, content creation & optimization services as well as various other related activities such as competitor analysis & reporting etc. This versatility allows businesses to find the right solution for their needs without having to look elsewhere or invest in different providers offering specialized services individually.

    High-Quality Work

    Your provider is run by an experienced team who understand the ins and outs of search engine optimization. They draw from their knowledge to create tailor-made solutions that will help your business rank higher on Google and other search engines. Plus, they offer comprehensive reporting so you can track your progress over time. All these factors combine to make sure that you get the highest quality work from them every time.

    White Hat SEO 

    Your provider offers white hat SEO services that are specifically designed to help businesses get their websites ranking better in organic search results. The team creates a customized SEO strategy for each client, taking into account factors such as the target audience, industry standards, and competitive landscape. To ensure ethical SEO practices, they use only proven and compliant search engine optimization tactics that comply with Google’s guidelines. By implementing keyword optimization, link building, and content writing, they can help clients achieve long-term success in organic search rankings. This helps you rank higher in search engines without facing any penalties or problems. 

    Cost-Effectiveness

    The cost savings associated with outsourcing SEO tasks are one of the primary reasons why so many businesses choose to go this route. When you outsource your SEO tasks, it eliminates the need for hiring in-house staff or paying high wages for search engine optimization professionals. This means you can keep costs down while still getting access to quality services. The company offers competitive pricing and has various packages suitable for businesses of all sizes, budgets, and goals. Plus, you don’t need to worry about paying extra costs associated with onboarding new staff members or training them on their tasks.

    Time Savings

    Another major benefit of outsourcing SEO tasks is that it can save you a significant amount of time. Instead of having to manage your own SEO campaigns, you can let marketing experts handle it for you, freeing up more time for other aspects of your business. This frees up valuable resources which can then be utilized elsewhere in your organization. Plus, because these experts specialize in SEO, they should be able to complete tasks faster than someone who isn’t as knowledgeable on the subject.

    Conclusion

    Outsourcing SEO tasks offers many benefits for businesses looking for increased online visibility through organic search results ranking higher on Google and other search engines. From cost efficiency and expert guidance through high-quality work delivered quickly; there are plenty of reasons why working with this company is an excellent choice if you are looking for improved online presence through organic traffic increase due to better rankings on major search engines like Google or Bing. By taking advantage of these benefits and opting for an outsourced service, businesses will be able get better results from their campaigns without having to invest too heavily into them upfront or worrying about wasting valuable resources on ineffective tactics or strategies.

  • 7 Magento SEO Tips You Need to Know

    7 Magento SEO Tips You Need to Know

    Businesses all over the globe use Magento for their eCommerce platforms, which means ranking high in SERPs is tough when there is stiff competition from other eCommerce stores.

    In order to rank higher, you must address visitors’ search intent precisely. You can achieve this with Magento SEO. It might not be possible to maximize Magento Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) with default settings, despite the platform’s feature-packed nature.

    Ensure your website is easy to discover by following best SEO practices.

    Magento SEO – Why You Need It

    You’ve put in a lot of effort to get conversions, but SEO stands between you and your rewards. The rewards will come if you do your SEO right.

    What are the reasons why SEO is so important? By ranking higher in the SERP, SEO can help you increase your website’s visibility and traffic, which allows your website to be found by the right customers.

    SEO plays a critical role in your Magento store, as you’ve read above. Let’s look at Magento SEO best practices now that you know the “why”.

    These are the seven best practices for Magento 2 SEO

    1. Metadata definition

    SEO relies heavily on metadata. Meta descriptions and page titles are the most important parts of it. The Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and Ranking of the site are significantly affected by both.

    Titles should include the following:

    ●  Ensure that it is easy to read

    ●  Keywords should be included

    ●  CTAs should be included

    ●  Take a unique approach

    2. Optimize indexing for SEO

    You want your eCommerce store to appear high on search engine results for relevant search queries, right? Having your site crawled and indexed properly will allow you to accomplish this.

    Navigation by Facets

    With faceted navigation, users can easily find what they’re looking for by sorting by the characteristics of the website. A website’s sidebar usually includes these filters. Even though they sound helpful, they are the root cause of many SEO problems. Many issues, including duplicate content, arise due to their huge crawling requirements. This can be fixed, though.

    URLs that are canonical

    With canonical URLs, the search engine is able to crawl your primary page instead of its variants’ duplicate content if you set a parent URL.

    3. Make use of XML sitemaps

    Search engines crawl XML sitemaps only if they have URLs that you want them to crawl. Using this method, you won’t let the search engines crawl any unnecessary pages.

    XML sitemap submission can be made easier by following these tips:

    ●  Pages must be indexable in order to be submitted

    ●  It is not recommended to submit more than 50,000 URLs in one XML sitemap.

    ●  It is possible to include canonical URLs

    ●  It should not exceed 50 MB in size uncompressed

    ●  Sitemaps and website content should be updated regularly

    4. Short and simple URLs are best

    The URLs of your Magento store’s pages are the pathway that search engines take to reach your store’s pages, so you must structure them appropriately and optimise them. Both search engines and users benefit from a good URL structure. URLs should have the following structure:

    ●  Clearly written and easy to understand

    ●  Keywords that are relevant to long-tail searches are used in optimisation

    ●  A short and concise summary

    ●  Using lowercase letters

    ●  Maintaining consistency

    5. It is important to organize the content with appropriate headings

    The user-friendly content is organized and structured by headings on the page. Content cannot be navigated properly without proper heading organization.

    6. Enhance the performance and speed of your website

    To run efficiently, Magento requires specific server resources. To ensure Magento’s success, you need a solid hosting platform that is optimized for Magento. The hosting platform and Magento platform must also be configured correctly for better performance. Your hosting platform should meet the following requirements for the best performance:

    ●  Adaptable to CDNs

    ●  Nginx server running

    ●  Redis and Varnish supported

    ●  Magento-optimized

    ●  Caching features are also available to increase the site’s performance

    7. HTTPS should be enabled

    Building a successful and satisfied customer base requires serving your audience over a secure network. Due to the fact that eCommerce stores conduct transactions online, HTTPS is necessary.

    As Google Chrome users visit HTTPS websites 99% of the time, according to Serpwatch. There is no doubt that users prefer websites that are secure.

    Conclusion

    To reach the top rankings, high-ranking websites adhere to a number of best practices.

    There are many SEO factors you can tweak with Magento, including robots.txt, sitemaps, redirects, etc., that can help you get better results.

    Your current ranking may be improved if you follow the above best practices.

    Your website’s SEO performance may also be affected by other factors. An SEO company can help in this situation. As you analyze your website’s SEO performance, it identifies potential threats and suggests ways to improve them.

  • Latest SEO Trends You Need to Know About

    Latest SEO Trends You Need to Know About

    In the digital age, it’s becoming harder and harder to not only attract customers but get their attention in the first place. The truth is, as much as the consumer has more access to more options than ever before, they are also being bombarded with more and more advertisements. Because of this, consumers are developing better skills at understanding what an advertisement is which makes customer conversion even harder.

    For marketing and advertising departments, it’s not just about getting in front of a potential customer – it’s about convincing a potential customer that they should invest. This is where the power of effective SEO can come into play. There are two styles of SEO that companies can use, organic and paid SEO.

    SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it does exactly this. SEO focuses on optimizing the experience a customer has to interact by connecting to the particular brand through a search engine like Google. This in itself is a challenge when you look at the fact that average queries in Google’s search engine can have literally millions of results.

    The job of effective SEO is to present a brand to a potential customer by giving it a higher ranking in Google’s search engine. There are paid SEO schemes where brands can purchase a better ranking, and then there is organic SEO. Organic is typically seen as the more successful, however, it takes considerably more work.

    Organic SEO is a process by which a brand enriches its online presence raising its value in Google’s search algorithm. The more valuable that Google views brands the higher ranking that brand will receive in related search results.

    SEO Trends to be Aware of

    SEO is constantly changing and evolving because it is closely tied to the development of technology to allow greater access to consumers. As a consumer’s relationship to information evolves, so does SEO and its best practices. Here are some of the most important trends to be aware of in SEO.

    Always Create Relevant Content

    SEO revolves around the concept of what it takes to become valuable in Google’s algorithm, and this is part of what makes SEO such a profitable endeavor. To increase in value, there have to be a lot of factors in place. For example, on-page optimization connects keywords and phrases to the related engine searches for that particular market. Written content, like blogs, provides more content for potential customers to find when Googling questions that relate to a given service or good.

    The great thing about organic SEO done right is that it not only increases Google’s ranking, but it creates valuable content that customers appreciate. For example, a company that services beekeepers would benefit from SEO content that looked like several blog-style articles that related to common concerns beekeepers have. With the proper keywords and backlinks, these articles will be recognized by Google, but they will also help service a targeted audience.

    Cell Phone Compatibility

    Cell phone compatibility is becoming a very important part of having quality SEO. With more and more people using their cell phones to do everything from paying their bills to shopping for common household items, cell phone compatibility is no longer negotiable. The good news is that most website developers or even out-of-the-box options like Squarespace or Wix offer cell phone compatibility as a service.

    Long Content is Good

    Remember, SEO is about being recognized as quality by Google’s search engine, and one factor that Google observes is written content. Longer form content that is good quality will not only be appreciated by potential customers but also potentially shared. All of these interactions are recognized by Google’s algorithm and play an important role in SEO.

    Images and Video

    While SEO content can be a variety of different things from PR content to long form articles, to on-page optimization, video and images are beginning to play an important role. High-quality video and image content are an indicator of quality assurance for potential customers, and high-quality media that can help improve SEO.

    Video in general is becoming more and more popular as access to creating quality content is growing and expanding. Social media platforms like TikTok and massive video creation platforms like YouTube are proof that this market works. By adding high-quality images and videos to your SEO campaigns, you won’t just win over potential customers who recognize this as a sign of brand quality, but you will improve your ranking as well.

    Conclusion

    SEO is one of the most beneficial tools that a business can invest in when it comes to furthering its marketing and advertising. The good news is that you don’t have to do this alone if you lack the knowledge or expertise. Using a Google Ads agency to help you understand the differentiation between more traditional advertisements and the power of SEO can help to boost your company toward your goals.

  • SEO for Lawyers – What to Know

    SEO for Lawyers – What to Know

    In the legal field, there are many ways to stand out from your competitors. You can have a bigger office, more staff members, or even better marketing strategies than other lawyers in your area of practice. One crucial way to attract new clients is search engine optimization (SEO). 

    In this post, we will go over what search engine optimization for lawyers is and how you can use its tactics to help grow your client base and become more visible on the internet.

    What is SEO?

    Digital marketing techniques such as search engine optimization (SEO) involve using search engines, notably Google, to drive organic (non-payment) traffic to a website and other online profiles. Using SEO, law firms can bring targeted traffic to their websites, directories, or blogs over the long term.

    Due to the type of services they provide, lawyers frequently use SEO as their primary marketing strategy. Instead of searching on social media (though it’s important to also have a good social media plan), prospective clients most frequently use Google to search for lawyers in their region.

    As a result, SEO is recommended for legal firm advertising.

    It is already clear that the majority of people search online for legal assistance. Despite the value of social media and verbal, online search frequently dominates the research process.

    Search engine optimization is the only marketing strategy your law firm can use to yield cumulative long-term returns.

    For instance, content creation offers the following three opportunities:

    1. Possibility of increasing traffic and keyword rankings
    2. Excellent content to produce organic link-building opportunities enhances your capacity to rank higher in Search results even further.
    3. The capacity to persuade website visitors to put their trust in you and get in touch with you.

    SEO’s Benefits for Law Firms

    For law firms, SEO is essential for the following reasons.

    1. Find clients in your area looking for the service your law firm offers. 
    2. Get a weekly, monthly, or yearly flow of organic traffic to your website. 
    3. Amplify the brand awareness of your law firm. 
    4. Obtain backlinks that will increase authority. 
    5. A better and more engaging website experience

    Why Do I Need an SEO- and Conversion-optimized Website for My Law Firm?

    Since search engines like Google are the primary source for people to find businesses to hire, attorneys must have a search-engine-optimized website.

    All of your efforts to develop and market your company and position yourself in front of your ideal target market should be founded on SEO.

    Your website’s design is crucial as well. Having a high-ranking site with a poor design will reduce lead generation. It should be developed to increase understanding, promote trust, and motivate action.

    How SEO Compares to Other Legal Marketing Channels 

    Legal SEO versus Google Ads and PPC

    If your marketing visibility is primarily from pay-per-click and sponsored ads, it vanishes once you stop paying for it. SEO for law firms is an investment. 

    Your content and backlinks have a long-lasting, evergreen effect; in other words, their rankings continue to pay off for years. Conversely, good SEO tells Google that your law firm is the authority of your specific practice areas.

    Social media marketing versus SEO

    On desktop, search traffic converts ten times better than social networking traffic.

    Search engines, especially Google, are increasingly used on the internet to filter out the noise because they have gotten better at deciphering the meaning of the words we type into them.

    Given the prevalence of search, it only makes sense for lawyers who market themselves online to make sure their sites are designed and set up to be simple to use.

    Conclusion 

    SEO is a powerful tool to help lawyers stand out in search engine results. To get more clients, you should focus on generating quality content for your website and using SEO strategies to drive traffic back there. This will help you connect with people who may one day need legal representation.

  • Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Digital marketing entrepreneur Eric Siu, asks an interesting question, “Is TikTok the NEW Google?” The idea is that younger people are starting to search immersive social apps like TikTok and Instagram directly instead of searching Google.

    “Is TikTok going to replace Google? 40% of 18-24-year-olds report that they are using apps like TikTok to search for things like lunch. The engagement on Google Maps is also starting to grow down. In addition, people are now using fewer keywords to discover. They prefer immersive experiences instead.”

    “Now, things are changing quite a bit because Google is actually starting to index Instagram posts and TikTok posts. If you use Google as much as I do for my business or you do any search marketing at all, stay tuned.”

  • How to Gain SEO Traction in a Saturated Market

    How to Gain SEO Traction in a Saturated Market

    We live in an era of content shock. Quite simply, there’s a lot of good content out there and it’s difficult to stick out in saturated markets. Whether you’re facing saturation in the “real world” or online, the more competitors you have, the more work you need to put in. Fortunately, with the right tricks and tips, you can succeed even in saturated markets.

    So let’s look at how Search Engine Optimization works and why it’s important. We’ll also cover how you can use SEO to stand out even in saturated markets.

    Understanding The Importance of Search Engine Optimization

    Many people now use their laptops, smartphones, and other devices to conduct research before purchasing a product or service. Whether someone is looking for “the best criminal defense lawyer in Atlanta” or the “top air fryer in 2022,” there’s a good chance they will start by searching around on the web.

    Search Engine Optimization can be a big help. With SEO, you make your website and content more attractive to search engines such as Google or Bing. How? It helps to understand what search engines are trying to accomplish. Simply put, search engines want to present users with the best content available related to their search inquiries.

    So, if a user types in “best DUI defense lawyer in Boston,” Google will scan various web pages, rank them, and then present them. In this case, Google will likely present a variety of law firm and attorney websites for people and practices located around Boston. The search engine may also present aggregate websites, like Findlaw.com, expertise.com, and others. These websites typically list lawyers and may provide client reviews as well.

    By the way, while we’re focusing on law firms right now, the same remains true for other areas of business. If a user is searching for the “best burger in Chicago,” he or she will get presented with a list of local restaurants, review sites like Yelp, and content from eatery magazines.

    Fortunately, if you’re a localized business operating in a specific town, county, or wherever else, you can often cut through the noise more quickly with a strong SEO strategy. Meanwhile, national search terms, say the “best business laptop”, are typically more difficult to rank for.

    How to Stand Out With The Right Keywords

    These days, there’s so much content available online that you might think that Search Engine Optimization is a waste of time and resources. Writing content can feel like shouting into a hurricane and no matter how hard you scream, you won’t make yourself heard above the storm.

    Fortunately, in some ways, SEO now arguably favors smaller businesses. If you sell toothpaste at grocery stores across the country, you’ll struggle to beat out the other big dental supply companies publishing content. Large organizations (e.g. Colgate) often have big marketing teams that produce a lot of SEO content.

    That said, if you run a dental practice or law office in Ames, Iowa, you’ll mostly be competing with other small businesses in that market. These companies likely won’t be producing as much content as a huge company like Colgate. Knowing how to adjust general SEO strategies to dentistry in particular is a great way to drive more traffic to your practice.  

    Looping back to our law firm example from earlier, localized niche Search Engine Optimization strategies, such as those laid out in Law Firm SEO, often present the best opportunities. This specific reference is just one example of many resources you can use to your advantage in your niche marketing plan. 

    By crafting keyword-rich, relevant, and high-quality content, you can start to build up an audience, and over time, you can drive conversions. Great content tends to draw in organic traffic, which is of especially high value. With organic traffic, people are in need of your specific products or services and thus are more likely to convert.

    You’ll want to start by finding keywords that are relevant to your business and your customers or clients. Fortunately, you can use Google Ads to generate keyword ideas. Using Google Ads Keyword Planner for “Criminal Defense Attorney” in Miami generated the following list:

    • criminal lawyer
    • defense attorney
    • criminal lawyers near me
    • criminal defense lawyer
    • DUI attorney
    • criminal attorney
    • DUI attorney near me
    • criminal defense attorney near me

    These keywords offer a great starting point. To go further, a criminal defense lawyer specializing in certain things, say fighting DUIs or representing children, can also focus on related terms to the specialization.

    Crafting High-Quality Keyword Rich SEO Content That Stands Out

    By peppering the above keywords (DUI lawyer, criminal defense attorney near me, etc.) into your content, you can begin to attract search engines. You’ll also want to use basic SEO guidelines, such as:

    • Keyword-rich headers
    • Images and corresponding keyword-rich alt-text
    • No grammatical errors
    • A fast, responsive, and mobile-friendly website

    Google also pays attention to length and generally seems to rank longer content higher (~1,800 words). Google values “backlinks”, which are links on other websites that lead to your website. Let’s say you’re an attorney and digitally publish an article in the local newspaper. If that article links to your site, Google will notice the backlink and take it into account when determining your authority.

    Backlinks from highly reputable websites are very valuable and could greatly increase your ranking. It’s wise to build a backlinking strategy and to start reaching out to other websites to see if you can publish content and also place links back to your website. You may also consider hiring a professional who specializes in building backlinks.

    Is SEO Right For My Company?

    SEO is an effective strategy even in saturated markets. That said, not all SEO campaigns will perform equally. In some instances, localized niche companies such as local attorney practices, veterinarians, and other geographically confined businesses will enjoy better results. Even then, the difference between a well-thought-out SEO strategy and an amateurish effort can be dramatic.

    If you are going to use SEO to grow your business, you should either study content marketing and Search Engine Optimization or work with someone who knows the industry. Quite simply, it’s easier to stand out in saturated markets if you have the right skills and assets.

  • Small Business SEO: Land More Leads with Long-Tail Keywords

    Small Business SEO: Land More Leads with Long-Tail Keywords

    Have you ever traveled off the beaten path? Didn’t you enjoy escaping those crowds of noisy tourists, finding entire beaches all to yourself? If you’re interested in SEO, sometimes it’s also better to walk the lesser-used paths to reach your goals. This means exploring the surprisingly lucrative land of long-tail keywords.

    According to Compare Camp, 50% of all organic search phrases are composed of four or more words. These longer keywords are known as the long-tails. They tend to be very specific terms, easy to create content for, and also far easier to rank for. So why do so few small businesses target them?

    Are You Following the Herd?

    When a small-business owner first learns of SEO, their eyes usually go straight to the primary keywords of their industry. They see tens of thousands of monthly searches and start salivating, imagining the copious floods of traffic, if only they can make it to page one.

    If your market was Persian rugs, for example, the primary keyword would likely be ‘Persian rugs,’ and a few similar rug-related words.

    The thing to remember, however, is that every other rug dealer in the country is looking at that same keyword. They’re all competing for it. And the companies that have already battled their way to page one have enormous SEO budgets, well-established national brands, aged domains, and backlinks galore.

    It would cost you an arm and a leg to get anywhere near page one for ‘Persian rugs,’ or whatever the primary keywords of your market are. Most likely, you’d never make it. But don’t worry. There is another way.

    A Shift in Your SEO Mindset

    Rather than trying to be a small fish in a big ocean, become the big fish in a small pond. Or rather, become a big fish in many, many small ponds. Our intrepid rug merchant would be better served to create content that targets dozens of phrases like these:

    ‘Best Persian rug for a small room’

    ‘Traditional Persian rug with tassels’

    ‘How to clean stains in a Persian rug’

    These are his market’s long-tail keywords. Each phrase may only get 10 or 50 or 100 searches each month, but they’re easy to rank for. If he followed the five tips below, then over time he’d certainly gain his floods of targeted traffic and leads, all from long-tails.

    This is how small business owners are successfully competing in SEO today. And you can do the same. Here are five important strategies when seeking to dominate the long-tail keywords of your industry.

    1. Target Large Quantities of Long-Tails

    You can use keywords tools such as Ahrefs, SEMRush, and KWFinder to find hundreds of suitable long-tails in your niche. When you really start researching and digging down to uncover these gems, you’ll be surprised at how many excellent long-tails there are.

    Go after the best of them, one by one. Treat this as a long-term project. Keep pumping out high-quality content, week after week, where each new post targets one particular long-tail keyword. Aim to slowly take over your market in this way, keyword by keyword.  So, don’t just myopically chase trophy keywords and ignore the long-tail ones.  

    Accidental Ranking

    What you’ll find is that a single page will suddenly start ranking well for a few other, similar long-tails that you hadn’t thought of. So even though your main targeted keyword may only have 40 monthly searches, you’ll gain extra traffic from other keywords as well. This can really add up.

    With patience, as you keep publishing and publishing, and the traffic starts flowing, Google will begin to recognize you as a reputable brand and site. Once this happens, you’ll find it easier to rank for even tougher, higher-volume keywords.

    2. Go After the Very Least Competitive Keywords First

    Even among long-tails, there are more competitive keywords and less competitive keywords. When you’re just starting out, go for the very lowest hanging fruit. These are the keywords no one else is paying any attention to.

    Ahrefs provides a keyword difficulty (KD) rating for keywords. Go for phrases with under five KD. Other tools provide similar metrics to guide you. Many of these lengthy keyword phrases are under-served by Google, and so over time, you can often get to page one even without any backlinks.

    3. Provide Top-Notch Quality

    This long-tail strategy is not a case of quantity over quality. Rather, you need to have both quantity and quality. For every piece of content you create, analyze the content that already exists on page one for the targeted keyword. Think of how you can do better than the competition.

    Write posts that are ‘complete guides’ to the topic. Make sure your posts are 10 to 50 percent longer than your competitors. Include images, links to extra resources, tables of content. Give your readers a great experience and they’ll stay to explore more of your site. Google will see this and reward you with a higher ranking.

    Backlinking is a powerful part of any SEO strategy, even with long-tails. You’ll find, however, that you need far fewer backlinks to rank with these low-volume phrases. Better yet, if you’re creating truly high-quality posts on these rare topics, then people will start to share them and your backlinks will grow organically.

    4. Try a Different Seed Keyword

    Searching for long-tails is like digging for gold. It’s often best to take your spade to a slightly different location from all the other miners.

    With keywords, this means considering your seed keyword. This is the keyword you type into Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to see what comes up.

    Most other business owners and SEO experts aware of this long-tail strategy are inputting the same seed keywords (like ‘Persian rugs’) into Ahrefs, and then seeing what long-tails they can find in the results provided.

    Append Extra Words and Phrases

    Instead of doing the same as everyone else, change your seed keywords by appending common words onto them, at the beginning or the end. For example, you might search for ‘best Persian rugs’ or ‘best Persian rugs for.’

    The simple use of ‘best’ and ‘for’ will likely uncover many interesting long-tails in your niche. For example, you might come across:

    ‘Best glue for broken watch strap’

    ‘Best case for Kindle reader’

    ‘Best travel insurance for elderly couple’

    ‘Best Halloween costumes for plus-sized people’

    There are endless other extra words to append, which vary depending on your niche. If your niche is ‘plumber,’ then your appendage words might include, ’emergency, in my area, DIY, qualified, for leaky pipes, to check boiler, etc.’

    As you begin searching, you’ll come across many ideas for appendage words as you see what people are really searching for. Collect these extra words and use them to dive deeper and deeper into your goldmine.

    5. Borrow Keywords From Your Competition

    The final tip is to study your competition. Use Ahrefs or SEMRush to find which long-tails they are already ranking for. Take a good look at those keywords, and see how good their content is. If you think you can beat it in length and quality, then go for it.

    Another twist to this technique is to find competitors in your niche with a lower domain authority website. This means their website isn’t yet old or established, and doesn’t have many backlinks. See which long-tail keywords these weaker websites are already gaining traffic from.

    Those keywords are almost guaranteed to be easy to rank for. You can then create better content and swoop in to steal their lunch. It’s a rather sneaky tactic, granted. But all’s fair in love and SEO.

    In Conclusion

    Put these five strategies into action, and you’ll soon be laying claim to the long-tails of your industry. Your website will be popping up everywhere. Best of all, your competition will have no idea how you’re doing it.

  • How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO

    How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO

    A lot has changed in the realm of search engine optimization, and there are countless SEO suggestions to follow. With so many SEO Packages available, it’s nearly impossible to know which ones to use and which to avoid. Certain core principles, however, remain constant.

    Here are some of the top techniques to get the most out of your SEO.

    Page Speed is Vital

    Once upon a time, you could get by with a slow-loading website. Everyone can probably recall an instance of having to wait more than five minutes for a website to fully load.

    That is never a pleasant experience, but it is the kiss of death in today’s market.

    A laggy page frustrates viewers and, as a result, discourages them from purchasing your product or revisiting your site.

    According to Strange Loop data, a one-second delay in loading time can result in a stunning 7% loss in conversions.

    Make Your Content Easy to Use

    People are always at the heart of SEO.

    The majority of search engine updates prioritize user-friendly content.

    In addition to the technical aspects of SEO, you should be learning about personas, human behaviors, and user trends.

    Enhance Your Backlink Profile

    You’re most likely aware of the significance of your backlink profile in search engine rankings. When authoritative sites link back to you, it says a lot about the legitimacy of your site and information.

    When search engines notice that you have a lot of links from high-authority sites, they will assume that those sites are endorsing you. As a result, they will presume that your website provides trustworthy content that viewers will find valuable.  This can progressively increase the rank of any webpage that receives a large number of high-quality backlinks, making link building highly important.

    Similarly, links from questionable or spammy websites will dramatically reduce your site’s authority. As a result, one of the most important things to do is to disavow or delete bad backlinks while attempting to gain new quality backlinks.

    Create Unique Meta Descriptions for Each Page

    A well-written meta description is one of the most critical SEO strategies that most people overlook. When Google offers up your page to search users, the meta description is the first thing they view.

    In general, search engines dislike duplication. Yes, there are instances when you need to reference a paragraph or phrase from another site (and link back to the source), but if releasing duplicate content becomes a habit, it will be virtually impossible to become a long-term success.

    Improve Your Anchor Text

    The anchor text you use to link to other pages has an impact on the SEO of your website. They assist search engines in recognizing the purpose of the page to which you are connecting. This also aids them in determining the quality of your material and its relevance to specific search queries. One of the most successful SEO tactics is to optimize your anchor text.

    All of your anchor text should add value to the readers’ experience. Your anchor text should help visitors know what pages you’re linking to so they know what to expect when they click on it. To optimize your content, use a combination of exact match, partial match, branding, and LSI keywords in your anchor text.

    Promote Your Website Vigorously

    Of course, you need to make your web content as visible as possible if you want it to draw in more traffic and rank better in search engine results. That is why content promotion is such an essential component of the SEO process. In addition to organic social media promotion, you might want to pay to advertise your content to a new and relevant demographic. Newsletters and email updates are two of the most popular methods of content promotion.

    Create Page Authority

    Page authority is one of the main factors used by search engines to determine rank. For example, if you have an experienced blog with a reputation as a go-to expert in the field, your page would most likely rank higher than those on a newer site.

    Given this, it is critical to establish your brand and authority within your field. Regular blogging, social media posting, guest writing on other sites, and simply staying active in your business are all effective strategies to establish your reputation.

    Furthermore, you should write about subjects that your consumers are interested in, which will assist you with supplying them with the most relevant information while also indicating to search engines that you write extensively about your industry.

  • Stop Making These 7 Online Marketing Mistakes and You Will Crush It, Says Neil Patel

    Stop Making These 7 Online Marketing Mistakes and You Will Crush It, Says Neil Patel

    If you avoid these seven online marketing mistakes and you follow these tips you’re going to generate more sales, says popular digital marketing expert Neil Patel. A common theme of Neil’s tips is creating a brand. “Google doesn’t want to rank sites that aren’t brands,” he says. “There’s an issue out there called fake news and that’s why they’re pushing brands over anything else.” Patel says that if you follow these tips you’re going to crush it!”

    Neil Patel, digital marketing expert and founder of Neil Patel Digital, discusses the seven online marketing mistakes in his latest video release:

    Stop Making These 7 Online Marketing Mistakes

    I’m going to break down seven online marketing mistakes that you need to stop. You’re probably wondering you’re doing all these things but why aren’t you seeing results? Even if you’re doing the right things, if you’re also doing the wrong things at the same time it’s going to hurt you and it’s going avoid you from getting the results that you deserve.

    Mistake 1: Not Collecting Emails

    The first mistake you are making is not collecting emails. It doesn’t matter how good you are with SEO or marketing only a very small percentage of your visitors are ever going to convert into customers. By collecting emails not only can you get people to come back to your site but you can convince them to convert over emails.

    The moment someone gives you their email address think of that as a micro-commitment. They’re much more likely to convert into a customer because they committed, they already gave you something. That’s why you want to collect emails. You can do this through sliders or exit pop-ups. You can do this for free using tools like Hello Bar.

    Mistake 2: Not Collecting Subscribers Through Push Notifications

    The second mistake you’re making is you’re not collecting subscribers through push notifications. There are free tools like Subscribers.com that’ll make it easy. Just add in a JavaScript or a WordPress plug-in and then when people come to your website they will automatically subscribe through the browser. Then anytime you have new content or products or services that you want to sell then you can notify them through Subscribers.

    Mistake 3: Not Building a Brand

    The reason tip number one on collecting emails and tip number two on getting more push notifications subscribers are really important is because you need to build a brand. This gets you into the third mistake. Google doesn’t want to rank sites that aren’t brands. Why is this? There’s an issue out there called fake news and that’s why they’re pushing brands over anything else. It’s not just going to be Facebook and in Google. Eventually, it’s going to be Twitter and LinkedIn and all the sites out there.

    When you get people back to your site seven times you’re much more likely to build a brand. It’s called the Rule of Seven in marketing. So with your site, you want to provide an amazing user experience. When you provide an amazing user experience, create a great product, create a great service, it’ll help you build a great brand over time.

    Mistake 4: Not Interlinking

    The fourth mistake you’re making is not interlinking. You may notice on Google I’m ranking for terms like online marketing on page one. You’re probably wondering how do I do this? A lot of it comes out to interlinking. In my sidebar, I link to my most popular pages of content. When I write blog posts related to online marketing I link back to the online marketing guide that talks about what online marketing is. By having all these links it helps me rank higher.

    Mistake 5: Just Focusing On Text-Based Content

    The fifth mistake I have for you is just focusing on text-based content. The future of digital marketing is moving to video. It doesn’t mean you should stop doing text but it means you should also be doing video. When you do video you’re going to get more traffic because everyone’s lacking it. LinkedIn wants it right now. YouTube wants more of it. Facebook wants it. Instagram even wants it.

    Why is this? They want to crush the television networks. You look at things like the Oscars or traditional movie theaters and they’re not doing as well. You look at traditional TV and they’re going to get crushed. Why? It’s because of Facebook. It’s because of Google. It’s because of Netflix. If you’re there creating that video content you can be part of it and you’re going to get extra traffic. They want as much help as possible to crush these big old-school companies.

    Mistake 6: Sticking To Just a Few Marketing Channels

    The sixth mistake that you’re making is you’re really sticking to just a few marketing channels. Marketing is competitive. People raise venture capital hundreds of millions of dollars just so they can compete in marketing and sales. You need to do more than one or two or three marketing channels. The more you do the better off you’re going to be.

    Mistake 7: Not Asking For the Sale

    The seventh mistake I have for you is not asking for the sale. Whether it’s a lead or whether it’s getting people to buy your product, there’s nothing wrong with asking people to buy from you. If you don’t you’re not going to generate any sales. Everyone’s like I get all this traffic through my online marketing but no one’s converting. Why? Because you’re not asking for a sale.

    Stop Making These 7 Online Marketing Mistakes and You Will Crush It, Says Neil Patel


  • How to Get Consistent Growth in SEO

    How to Get Consistent Growth in SEO

    As more businesses are coming online, it has become important to pay more attention to SEO. You need to focus on the consistent growth of your website through SEO services.  If you are new to SEO and wondering how to constantly improve SEO and get higher growth, then we have got you covered.

    This article will be helpful in your pursuit to grow your SEO. Have a look at the below tips that you can follow to outperform your competitors.

    Consistent Content Creation

    First of all, you need fresh content to get traffic. If you are looking at the long-term perspective of organic growth, then it is very much necessary to write quality content on a regular basis within your niche. You should focus on keyword research and know what your customers want through tools like Google Consumer Surveys or Big-Data Market Research Tool.

    You should put more emphasis on customer intent while creating content for better ROI. Along with consistent content creation, make sure that you are updating old posts too for higher search engine visibility. It’s important to update older posts because when people search using certain keywords or phrases they may also look for related terms.

    Leverage Social Media Traffic

    The use of social media can also help you generate huge traffic for free. If properly analyzed, the data on various social media sites can give you a better insight into your digital presence and SEO rankings. It helps you to identify the quality of content being shared by your audience so that it is easy to have a better engagement with them.

    You should focus more on generating high-quality links through online communities rather than focusing on daily/weekly link-building strategies because strong backlinks are more helpful in improving the search engine rankings of your website.

    Quality Link Building

    Link building is one of the most important factors which play an essential part in your site’s SEO rankings. You should focus more on generating high-quality links through various quality websites rather than focusing on the number of links. When you are developing content for link-building purposes, then it is better to put your primary focus on the user intent of keywords related to your niche instead of just using anchor text. It helps in improving people’s engagement with your website.

    You can also participate in different guest blogging programs to improve the search engine rankings of your website because it offers a good opportunity to expand your target audience for free. You can also try email outreach or citation building but make sure that you are not violating any Google guidelines while doing so. Besides this, make use of Google webmaster tools and social media insights offered by various social media sites to understand your website’s visibility on the web.

    Pay Attention to Competitors’ SEO Strategy

    You should also focus on monitoring the changes being made by your competitors in their SEO strategies so that you can broaden your horizon about what works for them and what doesn’t. You can use tools like Moz or SEMrush, analyze your competitor’s backlink profile to find out their link-building strategies which are working best for them. This will help you to build a strong brand image through constant customer engagement.

    Monitor at least the top 10 competitors of your niche to understand their ways to improve SEO. You will get many creative ideas that you can follow to accelerate your SEO growth.

    Use Ads for Promotions

    You can also use pay-per-click (PPC) programs for better promotion of your website, but make sure that you are not violating any PPC guidelines. You can use Adwords or Facebook ads to grow SEO traffic through paid promotions.

    However, it is very important to analyze the cost involved with each promotion method because it helps in making the right business decisions. Figure out your ROI through the paid ads so that your investments are optimized.

    Keep Track of the Latest Trends and Changes

    It is also very important to keep track of various latest SEO trends and changes taking place on the search engine front. You need to have good knowledge about how search engines rank websites so that you can easily understand what properties are responsible for better rankings. This helps in making people aware of your website through different sources. It is also very helpful for small-business owners because they don’t have much time to stay updated with all the recent changes being made by Google or other search engines.

    The more you are involved with things happening around you, the better it will be for your business growth in terms of higher search engine rankings. Nowadays, most people turn towards the internet while looking out for it.

    Wrapping Up

    Follow these above tips to thrive online with consistent growth in SEO. Even if you are new to SEO, keep these aspects in mind to get the best ROI for your efforts.

  • Is SEO Important for Every Business?

    Is SEO Important for Every Business?

    Search engine optimization is not just for big companies. If you want an online business that is going to succeed, then you need search engine optimization. With the different ways of improving your website and being an integral part of marketing, SEO is something that most any business should invest in. Even if you have a small startup company or a local three-person shop, it’s important to know about search engine optimization and how it works for businesses.

    There are many benefits to investing in these techniques when increasing traffic to your site through organic searches from Google.

    Benefits of SEO

    There are three main benefits for any business to seriously consider investing in search engine optimization. These include boosted traffic, increased search engine rankings, and better brand exposure. All of these benefits add up to more visitors to your website or place of business, more sales, and more revenue.

    The fact is that anyone who wants their website to be seen should invest in these techniques because it’s not very difficult and can have a dramatic effect on your website’s traffic. Furthermore, it is the best way to increase organic traffic, leading to more sales or whatever other benefits you are looking for from your site.

    SEO Expert Witness

    SEO is such a popular method for businesses to gain more visibility in the search engines that an SEO expert witness can provide technical analysis in courts to give an opinion on the subject.

    If you’re on a small budget but want to reach more customers, then there’s no need to worry because SEO has your back. The five techniques that will help you get started with increasing traffic and helping your site rank higher include content writing, link building, social media exposure, keyword research, and onsite optimization.

    These techniques come before any publication or posting ads should always be the first step when trying to improve your site’s rank. Next, with the content you write, you want to ensure that it matches what people search for when using their favorite search engine. Then with link building, you need to create inbound links from other websites for your website to be exposed more organically. Social media is extremely important for any form of marketing online today and will help in multiple ways when it comes to SEO, especially in improving rankings.

    Keyword research is how experts determine what kind of content needs to be written so that you can build a strong base from which your entire campaign will work. Finally, onsite optimization means making changes within your own site so that Google knows exactly what each page represents and understands its intent.

    How Much Does SEO Cost?

    You may wonder, how much does it cost? The truth is that it depends on the type of company or industry you are in, as well as the existing ranking of your own site. If your site’s rankings are poor compared to your competition, then you will need more work done than someone who already has good rankings for their particular niche.

    Many variables go into this, which is why estimates can’t really be given because each business website needs individualized attention to get the best results. 

    SEO is not something you should ignore because it’s so effective in bringing more traffic to your website. For most businesses, it can generate results quickly and is often cheaper than other forms of marketing such as radio ads or newspaper print advertisements. It also has better long-term effects than these marketing methods, which is why more people are turning to SEO every day to help them with their online presence.

    If you’re thinking about starting an online business or having a successful local business, search engine optimization is certainly something that needs to be on your radar.

  • SEO 2018 is All About Branded Search Queries

    SEO 2018 is All About Branded Search Queries

    SEO pioneer and Moz co-founder Rand Fishkin was recently asked about the future of SEO and how SEO agencies and marketers should adjust to these changes. Rands says that SEO has changed to the point that the traditional SEO focus on generic related keywords for your products and services is becoming obsolete because of how Google now displays search results.

    See below for highlights from Rand’s thoughts on the changing SEO landscape:

    There is definitely this problem in the SEO space where the amount of opportunity in SEO (is lessened), because of Google entering all these business sectors and taking away of a lot of the clicks and trying to solve the searchers’ query before they ever click.

    This means that you just don’t have as much opportunity to earn search clicks from this search engine anymore.

    Branded Search Queries

    How can we overcome that? I think the answer in SEO is pretty clear, which is the one thing that Google is not taking away from us, branded search queries. If somebody searches for StatBid or they search for Moz or they search for the North Face, that is a searcher telling Google to take me to this companies website. That’s a very very powerful undeniable signal that they want to reach your site. You’re getting 90% plus click-through rates on those.

    If you can increase the number of people searching for your brand instead of drawing a smaller and smaller percentage of the people who search for outdoor jackets, because Google’s placing all these ads above the fold and trying to say these are the best outdoor jackets and having an instant answer and a featured snippet and all this type of stuff, yeah that’s that’s a big win.

    Combining Classic SEO with New Stuff

    I think for CMO’s and for marketing departments it’s going to be a combination of classic skill sets in SEO. First, how do we rank? How do we make sure that our site is technically optimized? How do we make sure that we’re doing good keyword research and keyword targeting? How do we create good content around all these things and solve searchers problems?

    Then I think it’s also going to be some new forms of marketing that SEO’s are not generally familiar with, at least not historically. Those are things like creative that draws attention and eyeballs and interest. I think it’s a lot of storytelling. Great brands are built on the back of great storytelling and that is traditionally a big weak spot for SEO.

    SEO Teams Need to Get Retooled

    So yeah, I think there’s going to be a combination of new and old. That could mean that some (SEO & marketing) teams need to get retooled or new people need to be added. It could mean that agencies will have to upgrade those practices and I’ve already seen some agencies in the SEO world start to do that. I think serving existing demand is going to long-term not be as exciting as creating more demand.

  • Stop Making These 5 Deadly SEO Mistakes, Says Neil Patel

    Stop Making These 5 Deadly SEO Mistakes, Says Neil Patel

    After you stop making these 5 deadly SEO mistakes your google traffic is going to increase, says digital marketing expert Neil Patel. Sometimes just making a simple change can dramatically increase your traffic. For instance, Patel says that the moment he took out the dates from his URL his search traffic shot up 58 percent in just 30 days.

    Neil Patel, digital marketing expert and founder of Neil Patel Digital, discusses the five beginner SEO mistakes in his latest video release:

    Mistake 1: Putting Dates in URLs

    The first mistake is putting dates in your URL. I used to do this with NeilPatel.com. What a huge mistake. My URL structure used to be NeilPatel.com/year/month/TitleofmyBlogPost. The moment I took out the dates from my URL guess what happened to my search traffic? Within 30 days it went up by 58 percent. I’m not talking about taking my search traffic from a 1,000 visitors to you 1,580 visitors. I had hundreds and thousands of visitors from Google already each month with dates in my URL. The moment I removed them I saw an additional 58 percent increase in my search traffic.

    So whatever URL structure you have just make sure it does not have dates. Reason being is when you have a date in your URL, Google thinks of your site as being relevant to that date. You write a blog post and they’re like oh, this blog post must be related to January 12, 2025, or whatever the date is today. If you want your content to continually rank as evergreen content you can’t put dates in your URL.

    Mistake 2: Thinking of Your Site as a Silo

    The second mistake that you’re making is you’re thinking of your site as a silo. It doesn’t matter how many different sections you have or categories, it’s still one site. It’s on one domain name. For example, my blog is about marketing, so when I create content I link to all the other marketing posts (on my site) that are relevant to the posts that I just released.

    You should consider thinking of your website as one big site versus different silos so when you write content you should link to other pieces of content that are relevant. That way all of your pages are going to be interconnected and they’re going to rank higher.

    Mistake 3: Thinking of SEO as Just SEO

    The third mistake that you’re making is you’re thinking of SEO as just SEO. It’s not just about on page code. It’s not just about building links. It’s not even just about getting social shares. It’s about building a brand. Eric Schmidt, the ex-CEO of Google, once said that brands are the solution. What he’s talking about is that when Google was trying to figure out what sites to rank higher than others he decided as well as ton of other people in Google that if you have a brand you should rank higher.

    Why is that? You’ve heard of this thing called fake news. It’s a great way to combat that. It’s not just Facebook who’s concerned about fake news. It’s also Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, and all of the major platforms out there. Building a brand does wonders for you especially when it comes to SEO. You can do things like collecting emails to get people to keep coming back to your site. You can use tools like HelloBar to do that for free. You can use tools like Subscribers to do push notifications so that when people come to your website within one click they can subscribe. Getting all of those people to keep coming back will help reinforce your brand to them. That’ll help you climb in the rankings in the long run.

    Mistake 4: Just Writing Content

    The fourth mistake is just writing content. I know you’re that content is king, how is that a mistake? Writing content isn’t a mistake. It’s writing content and then not updating it, and that’s what most people do. They just write content and they write more new content then after that they write more content and guess what they do after that they write more new content. If you update your content Google’s going to see it as fresh, hip, new, and still relevant, and rank it higher.

    With over a billion blogs out there Google likes picking brand new updated content versus old outdated content. This doesn’t mean you have to rewrite the whole article. It could just be paragraph or two or a few lines. It could just be reviewing an article and making sure it’s still up to date where you make no modifications because it’s still good to go.

    Mistake 5: Not Thinking About the User

    The last mistake you’re making is not thinking about the user. Google looks at something called user metrics. Whether it’s the browser or the toolbar Google wants to make sure people have an amazing experience. They’re using all those platforms to track how and when people come to your website and how they perceive it.

    They can’t talk to them by serving them or anything like that. What they can see is when someone performs a Google search, clicks on the listing landing on your site and within a second they are they clicking the back button. If they are it tells Google your website or that web page isn’t relevant. By putting the user first instead of putting SEO first it’ll help you climb to the top.


  • The Future of Google and SEO is AI

    The Future of Google and SEO is AI

    The future of Google and of SEO is AI says world-renowned SEO expert Stephan Spencer. “If you’re relying just on backlinks, then you aren’t recognizing that the future of Google and of SEO is AI, it’s artificial intelligence,” noted Spencer in another informative interview by James Schramko of SuperFastBusiness.

    Stephan Spencer, SEO expert, speaker, and author recently discussed the impact of AI on Google Search and SEO with James Schramko of SuperFastBusiness: (Listen to the full podcast below)

    The Future of Google and SEO is AI

    If you’re relying just on backlinks, then you aren’t recognizing that the future of Google and of SEO is AI, it’s artificial intelligence. What’s the best way, or the really the only way, to outsmart an AI? I would challenge that the only way to outsmart an AI is with another AI. So really, AI is the future.

    AI and nanotechnology and all the cool technologies that are advancing, like VR, AR, etc., they’re happening faster and faster. And we need to be more nimble than we’ve ever been in order to keep up. So that’s kind of the game that we have to play.

    SEO is Not Just About Machine Learning and AI

    But right now, SEO is not just about having machine learning on your side to try and outsmart Google. It’s about having a search-engine-friendly website. It’s about identifying keywords that are relevant and popular and that are attainable for you in the Google search results. And it’s about achieving buzz and link equity by having people mention you and link to you. So those things still work, they’re still important to the Google algorithm. But on top of that, you’ve got to be willing to explore machine learning and be nimble about the future.

    I’m personally excited about the future. I think it’s an amazing time to be alive. The kinds of advances that we’re about to experience in our lifetimes are going to be mind-blowing.

  • How to Stand Out in Multi-Location Local Landing Pages

    How to Stand Out in Multi-Location Local Landing Pages

    During the pandemic, 57% of consumers purchased from a local business for the first time.  A major motivating factor in their decision was the availability of pandemic-friendly services like curbside pickup.  How did customers figure out which of their local businesses had what they needed?  They searched locally on Google. Multi-location local landing pages are more important than ever.

    Google’s Local Pack is key for local businesses to be found online.  Displayed above organic search results, Google’s Local Pack is highly visual in its inclusion of map location, star ratings, and more.  For information about businesses in a local area, Google draws on Google My Business (GMB) listings.  According to MOZ, GMB listing detail is the most important factor in determining local pack rankings.  If a business wants to appear on the top of a search, they need to make sure their GMB profile is top-notch.

    Optimizing Your Business

    Optimizing a business’s GMB listing is simple.  There are 3 easy steps.  The first is to claim a business profile.  Once that has been done, complete every section of the profile thoroughly.  Include the business’s name, address, phone number, website, hours, category and attributes, and more.  The more detail in the profile, the more the search engine has to latch onto.  Finally, keep the listing updated.  Make it clear the business remains open and thriving with weekly posts, responses to reviews, or answers to questions from the public.  

    For a local business with a single location, optimizing the GMB listing and linking it to their website is all that’s necessary for a good search result.  When it comes to multi-location businesses, however, local landing pages (LLPs) should also be utilized.   An LLP is a standalone page on the web created for a specific business location.  Having one allows business owners to link each landing page to a separate listing on GMB for even better search results.  In terms of content, LLPs should include all their important information in the first 2 screenfuls, as that is where customers spend 74% of their time.  Links should be used strategically for a short sales funnel, and trust elements like security seals and company awards ought to be prominently displayed. 

    For an LLP headline, clarity, conciseness, and keyword use is as important here as it is for other websites.  Behind the scenes, geolocation meta tags matching NAP and GMB can confirm the business is where it claims to be.  Other features that improve local search rankings include: hyperlocal content, location photos, and location specific social media profiles.

    Localization is an Asset

    When you’re dealing with multiple locations in different languages, on-demand localization platform is a key asset.

    “Working with Fortune 500 companies, we know that Voice Localization is an essential ingredient for their global growth, and they can’t blend locally without it. Now, we’re even better poised to serve the increasing demand for video and audio localization, with the best technology and the most professional voice-over artists available. We look forward to serving GM Voices’ long-term customers and leading LSPs at the highest industry standard. This acquisition is the first of many that will help us fulfill all of our customers’ localization needs.”
    – Yair Tal, CEO of BLEND.

    Mobile is Key

    For all business websites, mobile features are gaining in importance.  84% of local searches are made on mobile devices.  As a result, a website unfriendly to mobile users is likely to frustrate customers.  Features that would improve a website’s mobile presence include floating call to action buttons, click-to-call phone numbers, and mobile-friendly coupons.  

    Specifically in the pandemic, communicating safety procedures is more important than ever.  On both GMB and LLPs, listings should be updated to include what pandemic-friendly services are available when, with easy communication for customers.

    Anatomy of a Local Landing Page
  • Tips For Optimizing Your Email Marketing Strategies

    Tips For Optimizing Your Email Marketing Strategies

    Only 2.62% of recipients click links for “more information” in marketing emails; however, we will send a collective of 361 billion emails per day by 2024. More along, 90% of marketing professionals say email engagement is the number one metric that can help them measure content performance. Similarly, 87% of marketing professionals say email is one of their top free, and organic, channels for content distribution, and 81% say email newsletters are their most used form of content marketing. 

    Email newsletters can lend a great deal of help in client retention, communication, and revenue-building. Many newsletters provide readers with coupons, exclusive offers and products, as well as membership perks and discounts. As a result, experts have found shoppers to spend nearly 137% more with a business after receiving email offers. To the benefit of the brand, a $45 return is seen for every $1 spent on email marketing.

    In other words, the key to successful email marketing is getting your content seen and engaged with without getting flagged as spam. Luckily, this is achievable in various ways.

    One of the easiest things you can do to raise your email open rates is to replace any irrelevant text or uninteresting subject lines. When crafting an email, be personal. Feel free to use the recipient’s name or location as a conversation-builder. Continuing on, be brief. As a general rule of thumb, keep email subject lines under 10 words – and/or 60 characters. However, remember to keep your subject line friendly, as this personable method also increases email open rates. With this, be sure to use no more than 3 punctuation marks and 1 emoji.

    Of course, there are many methods to messaging targeted recipients. A/B comparison methods can assist as they allow for testing across various subject lines. With its results, you can learn which outreach variant your customers prefer.

    You can also categorize your contacts into interest groups and geolocation to ensure content is relevant to all receivers. Geolocations can be as specific as time zones or regions.

    On the other hand, you can increase your click-through rates using hacks just as easy. For example, change your hyperlink’s text, and avoid using “click here.” Remember: not many email recipients click for more. Instead, take the opportunity to embed multiple links to the same content, and create descriptive and concise link text when doing so. You can also use A/B style testing here to test out content blocks.

    When conducting outreach, one of the most important keys to remember is not getting marked as spam. Recipients rarely flag marketing emails as spam; but when they do, it’s because they’ve grown stale of the marketer’s content, their contact information has been purchased, they have been contacted without permission, or something else along these lines.

    As a human courtesy, ask customers to opt-in to receiving your emails before auto-blasting them with content. In fact, take the time to explain the benefits such as coupons or other exclusive offers when asking them to op-tin. Regardless of what you, never purchase email addresses. Similarly, never hide the unsubscribe link from your emails. It’s always important to keep emails and campaigns professional – so stick to any email frequency expectations you have set for your team.

    Overall, all marketers want consumers to engage with their content. The best way in doing so may be through email marketing. Do you know the best tactics for engaging with the public?

  • View Velocity Is The Secret To Ranking On YouTube

    View Velocity Is The Secret To Ranking On YouTube

    “To determine rankings on their platform, YouTube uses a metric called the View Velocity,” says HubSpot SEO expert Braden Becker. “The View Velocity metric measures the number of subscribers who watch your video right after it’s been published. The higher your videos view velocity the higher your videos will rank. YouTube also accounts for the number of active subscribers you have when they rank your videos.”

    Braden Becker, Senior SEO Strategist at HubSpot, reveals the secrets of YouTube’s Ranking Algorithm in his latest video:

    The Secrets of YouTube’s Ranking Algorithm

    Since marketers are at the mercy of algorithms on nearly every publishing channel, knowing how each of these unique algorithms work is crucial to attracting and maintaining an audience. Luckily, while some channels are rather reserved about the secrets of their algorithms, YouTube has been remarkably transparent. To figure out which videos and channels that users are most likely to enjoy watching, YouTube follows their audience. This means they pay attention to which videos each user watches, what they don’t watch, how much time they spend watching each video, their likes, their dislikes, and “they’re not interested in” feedback. 

    What YouTube Pays The Most Attention To

    Ranking High In YouTube Search Results

    YouTube’s algorithm also uses different signals and metrics to rank and recommend videos on each section of their platform. With this in mind, let’s go over how the algorithm decides to serve content to its users on their search results, homepage, suggested videos, trending, and subscription sections. First, are the search results. The two biggest factors that affect your video search rankings are its keywords and relevance. When ranking videos in search, YouTube will consider how well your titles, descriptions, and content, match each user’s queries. They’ll also consider how many videos users have watched from your channel and the last time they watched other videos surrounding the same topic as your video.

    Positive Engagement With Your Videos Is Key

    Next is the home page and suggested videos. No two users will have the same experience on YouTube. They want to serve the most relevant personalized recommendations to each of their viewers. To do this they first analyze user’s activity history and find hundreds of videos that could be relevant to them. Then they rank these videos by how well each video has engaged and satisfied similar users, how often each viewer watches videos from a particular channel or topic, and how many times YouTube has already shown each video to its users. 

    Ranking On The Trending Page

    Next is trending. The trending page is a feast of new and popular videos in a user’s specific country. YouTube wants to balance popularity with novelty when they rank videos in this section, so they heavily consider view count and rate of view growth for each video they rank. 

    High “View Velocity” = High Ranking

    Last is subscriptions. YouTube has a subscriptions page where users can view all the recently uploaded videos from the channels they subscribe to. But this page isn’t the only benefit that channels get when they acquire a ton of subscribers. To determine rankings on their platform, YouTube uses a metric called the View Velocity, which measures the number of subscribers who watch your video right after it’s been published. The higher your videos view velocity the higher your videos will rank. YouTube also accounts for the number of active subscribers you have when they rank your videos.

    The Secrets of YouTube’s Ranking Algorithm with HubSpot SEO expert Braden Becker
  • Neil Patel’s Content Marketing Strategies for 2019

    Neil Patel’s Content Marketing Strategies for 2019

    In 2019, you need to think differently about your content marketing strategies. Google has so much content on the same topics that it’s difficult for average content to rank. You need to constantly create new fresh content that is unique. More importantly, according to Neil Patel, you need to aggressively promote your content. He says you should use the 80/20 rule, 20 percent of the time writing, 80 percent promoting.

    Neil Patel, one of the original internet marketing influencers, released a new video (below) that offers tips on how to successfully do content marketing in 2019:

    Content Marketing Strategies for 2019

    In 2019 content won’t rank as well as it used to. Yes, they say content is king, but we already know there are over a billion blogs. Google isn’t just picking from, hey what content do we want to rank because we lack content. They’re like, we have content on everything under the sun and the same thing a hundred other times. So now they’re just not picking what content do we want to rank. They’re looking at authority and user metrics and their even looking at when the content was created.

    Tip 1 – Create New Fresh Content

    Why would they want to rank content that’s two years old when they can rank something that’s less than one week old? When it comes to content marketing in 2019 you need to make sure that your content is also being up-to-date. If you don’t update your old content you’re not going to get as much love as people who are continuing to put out new fresh content.

    Tip 2 – Don’t Regurgitate the Same Information

    The second tip I have for you is don’t regurgitate the same information over and over again. People are tired of reading 12 SEO Tips That Will Double Your Traffic. You can Google it. There are probably different variations of that number but there are probably hundreds of articles on that subject. Write something new and fresh that hasn’t been seen before and you’re more likely to get traffic rankings and even social shares.

    Tip 3 – Create Video and Audio Content

    I know you’re not gonna like this third tip, but the third tip is to create video and audio based content. Text is overrated. It doesn’t help you connect with people as much as video. I still love text and I still crank out text, but the future is video. It’s much more personal and people get to know your personality and your company better. Create video-based content, upload it to YouTube, LinkedIn, and you can even do Twitter and Instagram if it’s short enough, and of course Facebook.

    Don’t share the same video over and over again like sharing your YouTube video on Facebook. You’ve got to take that video all over again and re-upload it into Facebook. With LinkedIn, for example, you have got to re-upload the video all over again versus sharing the link to that Facebook video or that YouTube video.

    With audio, you want to create a podcast. It’s easy. You can just bust out your phone, create an audio file, upload it to iTunes or Libsyn, and you’re off into the races. Same with video. You don’t actually have to go into a studio like I am and shoot all these fancy videos and pay money. You can just bust out your phone. I would even say most of the times from all the tests we’ve run that the videos that you end up running on your iPhone convert better if you’re selling a product or service. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. Just look at Tai Lopez. He’s known for just busting out his phone and recording videos and it does very well for him.

    Tip 4 – Spend More Time Promoting than Creating

    The fourth tip I have for you is promoting your content. In 2019, you’ve got to spend more time promoting than writing. Again, I can’t emphasize this enough. There’s too much content on the web. It doesn’t matter how good of a content piece you write it’s not going to be seen unless you promote it. so spend more time promoting than writing. Use the 80/20 rule, 20 percent of the time writing, 80 percent promoting.

    One way to promote content is to email all the people who link to your competitors content and ask them for a link. You can use tools like BuzzSumo. Just type in a keyword related to your space and see all the other popular articles within your space. You then take that and put that URL into Ahrefs. It shows you all the people who link to that URL. Then you hit up all those people who link to it contact them asking for a link also.

    Tip 5 – Get Social Shares

    You also need to get social shares. Getting backlinks isn’t enough. Facebook, Twitter, all these social sites drive a lot of traffic. You then want to go to BuzzSumo and click on the view shares button and it will show you every single person who shared those articles. That simple thing will help you get more social traffic.

    You Can’t Just Do the Old Stuff That Worked Before

    In 2019, if you don’t leverage these tactics you’re not going to do well. A lot of people have the old mentality of, hey, I’m just going to keep creating new content and just crank out ten posts a day. If you do that you’re probably going to regurgitate content and you’re not going to get rankings. Google already has more authoritative sites to choose from. You can’t just do the old stuff that worked in 2018 and 2017. You have to leverage these tactics.

    Even the video stuff I described, I know a lot of you’re like, I don’t want to create video it’s too much work. But you know what, with YouTube SEO I get over a hundred thousand visitors a month just from YouTube SEO. It’s amazing. It’s a channel you have to leverage. Best of all, unlike Google SEO, with YouTube SEO you can get results in less than a week. I kid you not. I created a video on SEO and I started ranking for the term SEO on YouTube in less than one week.

    Neil Patel’s Content Marketing Strategies for 2019


  • How To Promote Your Content When You Don’t Have Money – Neil Patel

    How To Promote Your Content When You Don’t Have Money – Neil Patel

    “You know you need more traffic to your blog posts but you don’t have the money to spend to get those eyeballs,” says online marketing strategist Neil Patel. “What should you do? Today I’m going to teach you five ways to promote your content when you don’t have any money. Have you tried all the basic stuff that most of these marketers, including me, are talking about, and find that you’re not getting any results?”

    Neil Patel, online marketing strategist and founder of Neil Patel Digital, discusses how to promote your content when you don’t have money in his latest YouTube video:

    Tip 1 – Answer Quora Questions

    The first tip I have for you is to answer Quora questions. Quora is such a popular site, one of the most popular sites in the world. There are questions around everything; What is it like to be an Olympic gold medalist? How do you get traffic to a blog? Who is Neil Patel? There are questions on every topic under the sun.

    If you go on Quora, and you start answering all these questions, and you even link out to your blog whenever it’s relevant, you’ll find that you’re going to start getting more and more traffic. Why is this? Well, these Quora posts rank for everything in Google. It’s one of the simplest and easiest ways to get more traffic to your site.

    Who is Neil Patel? - Quora Result on Google Search
    Quora posts rank for everything in Google, Says Neil Patel

    Tip 2 – Go Live On Social Media

    The second tip I have for you is to go live on social media. Even if you don’t have the biggest social following, live videos are super engaging and all these socialites show it to almost all of your subscribers because they want to compete with all the television networks. If you look at people like Tai Lopez, some people may hate on him, but he’s a really smart marketer. When he goes live, he can generate hundreds and hundreds and thousands of dollars in sales, just from his live videos. It’s a smart tactic. Not only is he getting people to go wherever he wants but he’s also generating real revenue from it because a live audience is very captive.

    Tip 3 – Do Video Teasers

    The third tip I have for you is video teasers. If you just bust out your phone and you do a video teaser, talking about what you’re going to release, or this content, or what is new, and why they should check it out, or why they should be patient and wait for the next week, they’re more likely to come the next week and actually read that blog post. You know, Apple, whenever they launch new products, they do this whole event. They create all this mystery. They’re doing videos and conferences, breaking down what they’re going to release in the future. These teasers are a great way to build up the pent up demand for the product right when they launch it, and you can do the same with your content. You just have to create videos that tease people to let them know what’s coming out in the future.

    Tip 4 – Answer Questions On Social Media

    The fourth tip I have for you is to answer questions on social media. Whether it’s Facebook, whether it’s Twitter, people are tweeting, asking questions. Whether it’s groups, it doesn’t matter where it is. If you go there and you respond and help people out, they’re more likely to follow you. Not just on the social web, but they’re also going to follow you on your website. And the beautiful part about this, especially when you do it on sites that are your competitors, you’re going to get more link clicks because when you leave a comment, you can typically link back to your site. When you do this on the social web, you’ll find that you’re getting more followers and that way when you release more content, you’ll get more views. But it’s a very effective strategy, especially when you do it to competitors because they have your ideal audience.

    Tip 5 – Do Direct Outreach

    And last but not least, direct outreach. When you link out to people, let them know that you linked out to them. Just email asking to share your content. You know how many emails I get of people saying, hey Neil, I linked out to you. I love your content. If you like the post, feel free and share it. I don’t share all the time but I do it some of the time. It works, it even works with me. That’s just showing you that outreach, if you take the time, you can get extra shares. Sure, not 100% of the people are going to share your content or link back out to you, but if you do it in quantity, you will get extra traffic from it.

    How To Promote Your Content When You Don’t Have Money – Neil Patel
  • How to Use Video to Boost Traffic and Sales Faster Than SEO

    How to Use Video to Boost Traffic and Sales Faster Than SEO

    Marketing innovator Neil Patel says that video is better than most marketing channels out there for getting traffic fast. In his latest video Patel explains how anybody can drive traffic to their website, and more importantly, drive sales of products and services. Taking the video plunge should be on every entrepreneur’s priority list.

    Neil Patel, explains how video may be the best marketing channel for instant results:

    Tip 1 – Leverage Ubersuggest

    The cool thing about video is you can see results faster than traditional SEO or most marketing channels out there. Let’s go in order on what you need to do to get more sales and traffic from videos. The first thing you need to do is leverage Ubersuggest. Ubersuggest is a free tool that’ll show you what keywords are popular. If you don’t know what keywords and topics are popular within your space you will be creating video content that no one wants to watch or hear about.

    Tip 2 – Record Into Your Phone

    The second thing you need to do is just bust out your phone and start recording into it. Make sure you’re looking at the video. You don’t want to just do audio. You want to break down whatever topic is popular based on what you learn from Ubersuggest. When you’re doing the video, ask questions within your video. Make sure it’s engaging, be fun, laugh, and always smile. I always forget that one but that’s very important. My cameraman always tells me that one but that’s very important.

    In addition to that, at the very end, you want to have a call to action that drives people back to your website. For example, at the end of my videos, I tell people to check out my ad agency. When you do that you’ll at least start generating sales. If you don’t have that call to action that you say at the very end, I kid you not, it’s going to be very hard to get sales from that video.

    Tip 3 – Go to Rev.com and Get an SRT File

    Then I want you to go to Rev.com and get an SRT file. What this does is they’ll do a transcription of the video content after you recorded it and give you an SRT file that you can upload. You will then want to take the video and the SRT file and upload it to each and every single social network out there. You want to do Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, at the bare minimum.

    By uploading the SRT file, what you’ll find is a lot of the social sites autoplay the videos and people often don’t have their speakers on, especially when they’re at work. Then they can read the text and follow along. It’ll help boost the engagement.

    Tip 4 – Include the Right Keywords

    Now that you’ve uploaded this video, at the same time before you hit the publish button, you want to include the right keywords. So you already use Ubersuggest and they gave you ideas. By integrating these keywords within the copy, description, and title, it’ll help you get more traffic.

    Tip 5 – Promote the Video

    Then you want to promote the video. Go take your email list and send out an email blast and push it out to your list within the first hour. This will help you videos get more traction and make them go more viral. If you have a push notification list, through tools like Subscribers, send out a push about the video and push everyone to it within the first hour. Again, this will help the videos get more views and help them go more viral.

    Tip 6 – Respond to All Comments

    Last but not least, respond to all comments. The biggest thing when it comes to videos and getting more engagement and getting more sales is you need to engage with the community. When someone leaves a comment, you need to respond to it. By doing that they’re going to build a better connection with you. Then when you sell them products and services they’re more likely to buy.