Content Is King…

There are many things that have evolved through the years since the first website was ever published on the World Wide Web. However, one part of websites that have always been important, and that will most likely continue to be for years to come, is content. As they say, content is king, and when it comes to having a successful website that will probably never change. The trick however, is that your website shouldn’t contain lots of irrelevant information just to have words on each page. In other words, you cannot just have content, it has to be great content – stuff that makes people want to go to your website again and again. Search engines like good content, especially the kind that contains relevant keywords. Something else search engines really like is content that gets updated on a regular basis, and one great way to do this is to add a blog to your website. As you can see, this blog hasn’t been updated in a few months and it’s probably hurting our search engines ranking.

Metadata is a Must

Metadata is what gets used to describe each page of your website. This information is vital for search engines as this is what gets used to determine what each page is about. There are three components to metadata. These include: page title, Meta description, and keywords. The page title for your website is what gets displayed in the search engine results. It should include the name of your business and a keyword that describes it. The page title should contain between 50 to 60 characters as Google displays only the first 55 characters. The Meta description is exactly what it sounds like – a description of your page title. Using relevant keywords, the Meta description should describe what each web page is about. It should be between 150 and 160 characters long. Finally, keywords are the words that visitors to your website used in Google, or other search engines, to find out information. The keywords are not listed on the search engine results page, instead they can be found on the page source. In this day and age, keywords are almost not a factor and you’ll want to ensure that you’ve included your keywords in the page title, meta description and throughout your website. The goal is to ensure that they’re naturally placed and not stuffed everywhere as this could hurt you.

Don’t Forget Your High Quality Links

Something else search engines really like are links, which they use to find and “crawl” your website. While it is super important not to forget to link, that’s not all there is to it. To improve your SERP rankings, your website should contain high quality links. There are a couple of key ways to do this. First, don’t just use “click here” as your anchor text. This text should describe the page your visitor will go to when they click on the link. Equally important when it comes to linking, is making sure that the page your visitor gets taken to, is an authoritative one. That’s where all your hard work in writing great content comes in. Also be sure that you’re not getting links from spam sites or over using keywords in your anchor text. Again you want your link strategy to look natural for google and other websites typically use your business name or url.

One last note you’ll want to keep in mind as I wrap this post up. Be sure to link within your website to other relevant articles or service pages. Inner linking is a great way your readers and search engines can find other great content on your website. It can generate a sale or increase your rankings for those keywords! Contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss our SEO services! <– See what i did there

What Exactly Is SEO?

You’ve seen the letters and you’ve heard people talking about SEO around the water cooler, yet you’ve never taken the time to understand the importance of these three letters. Now that you have your own website however, you figured you better start paying attention. SEO stands for Strategic Engine Optimization. If it’s not making sense, yet, maybe the definition from dictionary.com will help: the methods used to boost the ranking or frequency of a website in results returned by a search engine, in an effort to maximize user traffic to the site.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you are looking for a company to make animated videos that will enable you to market your brand. You’re sitting at your computer and you type the words “animated videos for marketing.” Several results populate your screen. Of course, it makes sense to check out the ones at the top of the page, so you visit those websites first. You find that these sites have great content and are great matches for the keywords you typed. That my friend, is how SEO works.

What is Black Hat Versus White Hat SEO?

In your quest to learn about SEO and understand it better, you keep hearing about two types of SEO called black hat and white hat. Here’s what you need to know:

• Black Hat SEO: a way to increase search engine rankings by using practices that are not approved. Some of these unapproved methods include: using duplicate content and keyword stuffing.
• White Hat SEO: a way to increase search engine rankings by using practices that are approved. Some of these approved methods include: using relevant content and focuses on a human audience.

A good way to remember the difference is that the bad guys in the old westerns always wore the black hats, while the good guys usually wore the white ones. If you hope to be around for the long term instead of desiring to make a few quick bucks and then up closing shop, you’ll want to use white hat SEO methods.

The Differences Between On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO

There is a ton of information on this topic but let try to put it in a nutshell, since you’re just learning SEO. Basically on-page SEO entails the content on each individual website that Google uses to rank your website. Google also looks at HTML source codes, and the use of keywords. Off-page SEO refers to links, social presence, and other external factors that can influence the ranking of your website. Although different, both on-page SEO and off-page SEO are equally important when it comes to your website’s SEO ranking.

As you can guess, there is much more to learn about SEO, but hopefully this has given you a good place to start. If nothing else, you can now take part in the SEO discussion around the water cooler.

Responsive Design and Dynamic Serving

Responsive web design is essential to stay in favor with the new update. Responsive websites save Google’s bots time when crawling the site. Crawling is efficient, and Google’s bots can index content faster to keep the site fresh. Responsive website also help Google accurately assign indexing properties to each page of the website. With no redirection, load time is less for users. Additionally, users can easily share and link content with a single URL.

Utilize dynamic serving. This setup allows the server to respond with different HTML and CSS on the same URL. Use the vary HTTP header to signal changes. It will enable you to detect user-agent strings correctly.

Avoid Blocking Javascript, CSS and Images

To accomplish blocking Javascript, CSS and images, Google advises taking some basic steps. Check and test your robots.txt in the Webmaster Tools. Ensure that the Google bots can crawl Javascript, CSS and images by utilizing the “Fetch as Google” feature in the Google Webmaster Tools. Run a test for mobile compatibility through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. It’s an effective gauge. If you’re using separate URLs for mobile pages, test both the mobile URL and the desktop URL. This will confirm that the redirect is crawlable and recognizable.

Get Rid of Unplayable Content

Unplayable content in a no-no with Google’s new mobile algorithm. Be sure to use video embedding that’s playable on all devices. Use HTML5 animations to provide the user with the best experience. Have a transcript of the video available. Google will reward you for making your site accessible to those using assertive browsing technologies.

Use Mobile-Only 404s

Some site content is visible to desktop users for a URL while it shows an error message to mobile users. If using dynamic serving, make sure the user-agent detection is correctly configured. And if a page doesn’t have a smartphone equivalent or show 404, keep users on the homepage rather than directing them to the smartphone’s homepage.

Mobile Site Design

When creating a mobile site design, don’t use flash. This plug-in may not be available on the user’s phone. If you want to create special effects, opt for HTML5 instead. And forget about those pop-ups. Not only are pop-ups frustrating for users, it will likely lead to a high bounce rate. Keep in mind that there is less screen space on a mobile phone. Be sure to concisely optimize titles and meta descriptions to show off great work on the SERPS. Use rich snippets to stand out.

Follow these tips, and your site will be mobile-friendly and ready for Google’s new algorithm roll-out on April 21^st.

Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?

To determine if your website is mobile friendly, test it out on Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test page. Although this test isn’t without a few flaws, it’s an effective gauge to determine whether or not your website is in Google’s good graces. Another method to test your website’s mobile performance is to do a search for it on a mobile device. If the SERP entry has the mobile-friendly label, then you’re good to go.

Take it a step further and run your website through Google’s Mobile Usability Report. You can find it in Google Webmaster Tools or https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/. With this report, recommendations are given to ramp up mobile use.

Notable Changes in the New Algorithm

The new algorithm will be analyzing mobile compatibility on a page-by-page basis. Google will be taking a look at the mobile-optimized pages and promoting only those that are optimized. At the same time, Google won’t be penalizing the entire website if there are some pages that aren’t optimized. Be sure that your website is well-designed and responsive.

Another feature of the new update will be real time. That’s really good news. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly by the April 21^st launch, you can optimize it any day, and the bots will crawl the page for a new score of mobile-friendliness.

App indexing is also a new feature for sites with associated Android apps. Its purpose is to tighten the connection between mobile application and mobile search. To enhance app indexing, Google recommends the following:

• Verify the app’s official website on Google Play Console
• Add deep links to reach specific content in the app
• Check for errors in Webmaster Tools and fix them
• Provide deep links for each web page with corresponding deep links on the website or in the sitemaps

What You Need to Do to Brace for the New Changes

When Google gives the command, it’s wise to follow. If you don’t, you’ll be left in the remaining dust. You’re going to have to adapt to the new mobile-centric world of marketing. Be sure that your website is responsive and address any mobile usability problems with Google’s Webmaster Tools. And if you have an Android app with your website, make sure it is deeply linked and indexed quickly. Lastly, monitor your website’s metrics after the roll out of the new algorithm on April 21^st. Keep testing and adapt. And may the Google gods be with you.

In October-November 2014, BrightLocal carried out their yearly SMB Internet Marketing Survey. This online survey questioned SMBs with 1 to 50 employees about their knowledge of and intentions to use mobile marketing, Internet marketing, and other marketing services. The survey received 736 complete survey responses, 95 percent of which came from North America.

The findings show that in the Internet of Things (IoT) era, a hard-wired, well planned Internet marketing strategy that integrates mobile optimization and social media is critical to driving customers to your business. Even for small, local businesses that rely solely on customers walking through their doors must have a plan. Consider these key facts:

• 32% found Internet marketing to be very effective at drawing in new clientele.
• 75% found Internet marketing to be effective or very effective to drawing in new clientele.
• 4% do not use any online marketing tools.

All of those percentages represent significant increases over the prior year, which means SMBs are increasingly becoming online marketing and social media savvy. Main Street can no longer disregard the power of mobile optimization and social media.

Yet, integrated Internet marketing plans that focus on SEO do not need to drain the bank account. In fact, sticking to best practices may be a very budget conscious way for a small business to outshine the competition.

Key Findings:

• 70% spend less than $500 on marketing every month, a decrease from 73% the year prior.
• 83% spend less than $1,000 on marketing every month, a decrease from 85% the year prior.
• 16% spend more than $1,000 on marketing every month, a decrease from 21% the year prior.

While these allocated dollars include every type of marketing effort, Internet activity continues to represent a small percentage of the total budget. SMB’s may consider social media tweets and posts to be ineffectual and not worthy of hiring a professional. For instance, a martial arts studio with only two storefronts may have no need to attract new clients outside of a minimal radius. Thus, the Internet effort stalls.

Key Findings:

• 34% allocate less than 10% of their marketing campaign to Internet marketing.
• 50% allocate less than 30% of their marketing campaign budget to Internet marketing.
• 29% allocate more than 70% of their marketing campaign to Internet marketing.

However, another angle points to opportunities for SMB’s to sprint ahead of the competition. With so few SEO and Internet marketing efforts made by geographically-bound businesses, a recently re-vamped strategy that includes coordinated, multi-pronged best practices can yield excellent results. Moreover, a local business may find that it suddenly has nationwide clients calling.

SMB’s rely on incremental business. Converting one or two loyal customers into promoters per month may have a crucial impact on the profitability and long-term viability of the company. Best practices need not overwhelm the budget, such as reviewing keyword usage, organic search phrases, and coordinating blog posts with Twitter tweets and Facebook posts. Thus, the New Year gives every SMB a perfect occasion to sit down with their SEO specialist and update the comprehensive plan.