All posts tagged SEO
Google Now: Upping the Mobile Search Ante
We’ve known for some time that mobile search is a crucial part of strengthening any web presence, but with the introduction of Google Now businesses will see their mobile search efforts interjected in even more exciting (and beneficial) ways than ever before.
Page Suggestions
It’s no surprise that Google is refining its data intelligence on yet another level; Google Now (using “Google cards”) shows web page suggestions based on the user’s previous searches.
This feature will no doubt take its queues from traditional search queries, but will also be enhanced by mobile search considerations such as time and location.
Geo-Targeting on the Go
In addition to page suggestions, Google Now offers a concierge-like service that delivers local traffic, hotels, restaurants and shopping tailored to your exact location.
Google Now card uses mobile search data to find nearby restaurants.
So if you leave New York City and arrive in Austin, you will have real-time data at your fingertips including reviews, events, transit, and tourist information.
This presents a huge opportunity for businesses targeting local customers, whether residents or visitors.
With Google Now, businesses should be thinking about how they want to appear on mobile search with regards to reviews, directions, business information, and accessibility (phone number, email address, instant chat).
Get Strategic
In order for businesses to take advantage of Google Now, which is already available on Android and iOS devices, a strategic approach is needed for effective mobile search marketing.
As this service develops more features in the future, businesses will need to have a firm grasp on users’ search intent in order to get the clicks they want and the conversions they need to survive in an increasingly on-the-go environment.
Google Penguin Update: Your Link Strategy
Photo Credit: xrayspx, Creative Commons
Google Penguins of Our Past
As you may or may not recall, previous Google Penguin updates also looked at how links were acquired. In fact, you could even go as far as to say that Google Penguin has always been a filter for link quality, eliminating websites that were manipulating search engine rankings through link schemes.
The Pending Penguin
In the new Google Penguin update due out this year, we can be sure that links will still be a main focus and possibly even more so than before.
That’s why these two areas should become your main focus right now:
Rate of Links: The frequency at which your website acquires links over time.
and
Link Trust: The proximity of a website to what Google deems “good” and “bad” neighborhoods.
Understanding the Rate of Links
How many links does your website acquire on a daily basis? Does it spike during certain times or does it maintain a regular pattern? As Google becomes more intelligent at spotting those sites which earn links consistently, it could decide to reward those that stay “regular” in this next Google Penguin update.
Knowing Your Link Trust Metric
Do your links come from high authority sites like Yahoo.com or from non-reputable sites like Yournextdoorneighbor.net? Are there more that come from “good” neighborhoods than “bad”? Google could be taking their analysis of link quality to the next level by measuring a metric of trust, which shows how close your website is to sites of authority.
How to Improve Link Strategy before the Google Penguin Update
There are a number of online tools and resources that can give you a do-it-yourself approach to link strategy. For the most accurate representation of your website’s link profile, consult with a search engine optimization specialist who can help you prepare for the next Google Penguin update.
SEO: Don’t Forget Your Alt Tags
What are Alt Tags?
Alt tags, or alt text, are the alternative text that text browsers or web agents will use to describe an image they are unable to read. For this reason, it’s always important that your alt tags contain information about the actual image.
Here’s an example:
As you can see, this image contains two apples and a banana, so you would definitely want to include the types of fruit in your alt tag. That being said, it’s equally important that you include some SEO text, usually one of your keywords. In this example, we used the alt tag: apples-bananas-alt-tag-example, with “alt tag” being a main keyword.
By setting it up this way, our alt tag uses “alt tag” in a way that makes sense for this web page and the image. You can think of it as being similar to writing content for your page – you want it to flow naturally.
Follow the K.I.S.S. Rule for Alt Tags
Rather than keyword stuffing your alt tag (something that could actually hurt your SEO), just choose one keyword that best fits the image.
Length is also a key factor when creating alt tags, and it’s best to keep yours between 5 and 15 words. Any longer than that and text browsers could have trouble reading your text.
Finally, a major benefit of keeping it simple is that your page will load faster. When pages load slowly, it can hurt the ranking in search engines.
Alt tags are an easy way to enhance your SEO efforts behind the scenes, and help readers understand images along the way. Start working in alt tags with your images and measure the page ranking reports afterward to see if your additions are making an impact.
3 Inspiring Approaches for Better On-Page Optimization
Photo Credit: Ramiro Ramirez (Creative Commons)
In fact, even with the huge changes that Google made with Panda and Penguin in 2012, pages that demonstrated an honest-to-goodness approach to on-page optimization were the ones that shot up in rankings.
While the exact details on what search engines are looking for will always be locked away in the dungeons of Google and Bing, we do know that being creative and individual in the approach seems to score points.
Ideas for Better On-Page Optimization:
- Be Tolerant with the Title – Yes, it is important that your title contains your keywords, but it doesn’t mean that it has to be totally black and white. Give yourself the freedom to expand on the keywords in a way that is more inviting and inclusive:
Arizona Vacations for Couples | Desert Escapes to Arizona | ABC
- Be Brilliant with the Breadcrumbs – These handy reference tools have long been used to help visitors navigate sites more easily, but they are also prime real estate for keywords. Shore up these on-page elements for optimization magic:
Home >> Products >> Bicycles >> Women’s Beach Cruisers
- Be Creative with the Copy – Aside from the creative freedom you will inevitably exercise within the copy, it’s equally important to think in a less structured manner to benefit from your on-page optimization efforts.
Instead of repeating your keywords verbatim every time, try varying the way you use them:
High-heeled shoes are one of the most popular accessories for women, and it is amazing how some people can even walk in them. Is there a high-heeled, yet comfortable, shoe in existence?
In Closing
The title, breadcrumbs and copy are just pieces to a bigger SEO pie, but they do contribute to better on-page optimization and – the ultimate goal – better search engine rankings. (Not to mention, it’s more fun this way.) Take the time soon to be inspired and work on updating these on-page elements for optimization purposes, and see how well the new and improved pages perform.
New YouTube Associated Website Annotations Improve SEO
Improving your SEO through YouTube just got a whole lot easier with the latest enhancement to the video network: YouTube Associated Website Annotations. The best part is, it only takes a little tweak to your settings.
YouTube Associated Website Link Annotations
It used to be that annotations could only link internally on YouTube, and not to an outside source such as a business website or e-commerce storefront. Today, those that have joined YouTube’s partner program can add an annotation that links out to their own associated website.
The biggest pluses to this enhancement are the ability to increase social signals and drive even more traffic to the desired websites.
Easy Setup, Effective SEO
If you are not yet part of the (free) YouTube partner program, you’ll want to sign up and verify that your “channel” is an official representation of your brand on YouTube.
Here is how Nike’s channel appears on YouTube:
Once you have become a partner, there are just a few steps to enable associated website link annotations in your videos:
First, go to your Settings in YouTube and click on “Associated website” under channel settings.
Next, go to “Video Manager,” click the arrow next to the Edit button on the video you are looking to change, and select annotation options. (You will need to enable external annotations first if you have never used them before. You should see a banner at the top of the menu that reads, “Enable your account for external annotation links.” Click “Enable” to accept the terms and conditions.)
If you are creating a new annotation, click “Add annotation.” If using an existing annotation, just select it. To add a retail URL, select the “Link” checkbox and select the category labeled “Associated Website.”
Once you see that the website link is attached, select “Save” and/or “Publish.”
The YouTube associated website annotations is a valuable addition to the social media network, helping businesses leverage their YouTube traffic to improve SEO and drive website traffic.
Happy linking!
How Social Signals Affect SEO in 2013
Participating in social media is no longer an option for businesses that want to succeed online; in 2013, it is an essential component to increasing website traffic and, ultimately, revenue. That’s because social signals are affecting SEO right now.
What Are Social Signals?
Any time one of your followers on Facebook or Twitter (or YouTube, LinkedIn or Google+, for that matter) likes, shares or retweets your content, it sends out a “social signal” to search engines. Because search engines view these social media signals as “recommendations,” they assign a higher value to them in their ranking algorithms, which impacts your SEO efforts by sending more and better qualified traffic to your brand’s website.
In June of 2012, Searchmetrics released this data on ranking factors for search in the U.S.:
As you can see, social media was already a big player in search engine rankings. In 2013, it will continue to grow in importance as more people use social media in their daily lives.
Boosting SEO through Social
Let’s say a member of your Facebook community shares your content with a friend on the same network. This actually performs a doubly good deed: it passes along your business information as a “word of mouth” referral and it boosts the credibility of your website in the eyes of search engines. The “share”, as shown in the graph above, is one of the most valuable social signals your company can receive.
Similar boosts to your SEO can happen through “likes”, “retweets”, “+1” and like-minded recommendations, which show consumer confidence, trust and loyalty. They also increase your inbound links (still one of the most important ranking factors).
What these social signals do for your SEO is profound. Not only will your website experience better conversion rates (recommendations from friends are far more valuable than recommendations from search engines), but it will also benefit from more time on the site and a decreased bounce rate.
All of these add up to more traffic and greater sales.
What to Do Right Now
In you haven’t already opened accounts for your business on social media networks, be sure to do so on the following:
- Google+
- YouTube
- Other relevant social media platforms
Then, publish content regularly on each. If you don’t have the time or staff to dedicate to these activities, then hire someone to do it for you. The objective here is relevant content on a regular basis. This will increase your brand’s visibility and awareness, which in turn will generate more likes, shares and comments (i.e. social signals) to help with SEO, and more visits to your website.
Next, set up a blog on your company’s website and publish to it at least once a week. Last year, Google shared that it was including Authorship in its algorithm, which recognized authors with quality content and passed more value to the outbound links within the content. You should consider publishing original content to your Google+ account as well to establish Authorship.
Finally, make it easy for your social media followers and blog readers to cross over. Whenever you publish a blog post, announce and link to it from your social media channels. On your blog, include share buttons so that your readers can like, retweet, bookmark and share your content, and include connect buttons so readers can also connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and your other social networks. In addition, be sure to include high quality images with all of your content so that Pinterest users can pin the photos.
Why Keyword Research is Important for SEO
If you were launching a new product, you wouldn’t do so without first researching your target audience. The same principles apply for search engine optimization (SEO) – you need to conduct keyword research in order to attract and engage the ideal audience.
Search engine optimization is the process of creating online content that attracts the right people. Who are the right people? They’re the ones that are most likely to find your content useful and, in the future, relevant enough to convert them into buyers.
How do they find this type of high-quality content? They type a word or phrase (both referred to as keywords) into a search engine such as Google or Bing. The results that are delivered are the ones that best match the word or phrase they typed in.
Here is an example for the keyword “holiday travel packages to costa rica”:
These are the top three results for “holiday travel packages to costa rica.” As you can see, the search engine returned these pages because they include some variation of this keyword, therefore making it relevant to the user’s search.
So if you want to get your web page content in front of the right people, you need to make sure that your content includes the right search terms, or keywords.
Keyword research is the only way to ensure that you’re using the best keywords to reach the right people who want to buy what you’re selling.
How Keyword Research Delivers Higher Quality Traffic
Think for a second about a travel agency that wants to promote holiday travel packages to Costa Rica on its website. Without doing any keyword research, the agency may choose to optimize for the keyword “travel packages,” thinking that this is the most obvious choice for the page. It could, in fact, achieve a high ranking in search engines for “travel packages” if the SEO is done correctly; however, this keyword is quite vague, and most likely won’t attract the kind of people that specifically want to purchase a holiday travel package to Costa Rica.
For example, if someone wanted a travel package for Siberia and they typed in the search term “travel packages,” they might find this page all about Costa Rica. This isn’t likely to convert into a sale. Even if the travel agency gets many visitors to the “travel packages” page, they need quality visitors (those that want to go to Costa Rica for the holidays) in order to convert and make a profit. This is why keyword research is so important for your SEO.
Let’s recap. With keyword research, you can ensure:
- More relevant content
- Better qualified website visitors
- Higher conversion rates
- Greater profits
The best place to start your keyword research? Check out your website’s keyword analytics to see which terms people are already using to find your site, and use that information as you go through the SEO process.
SEO Permalinks: Why They’re Important for Blogs
If you’re publishing new blog posts to your site without SEO permalinks, then you’re wasting your time writing the blog posts in the first place.
Why?
Because permalinks that are optimized for search engines are what keep your content indexed by Google and Bing, and what allow people to find your posts long after they’ve been written.
What is an SEO Permalink?
Permalink is short for “permanent link,” and it’s what appears in your browser’s location bar whenever you visit a page on the web.
An SEO permalink utilizes important keywords in an attempt to rank better in search engines. This type of URL will always point to a specific blog post, so that it can be found even after the post has passed from the front page to the archives.
As an added bonus, the URL is generally more readable for humans, so it helps them see that your post has the information they want and, therefore, increases the number of clickthroughs.
Let’s take a look at an example of an SEO permalink from the RSO blog:
As you can see, the permalink is clean, concise and clearly explains what kind of information the reader can expect to find in the blog post. Search engines will notice you and people will, too.
Writing an Effective SEO Permalink
There are several ways to construct a permalink, and a few different pieces of information that you can include. Some bloggers choose to put the date in their URL while others prefer to use the post number.
The problem with using a date is that over time it can signal to potential readers that your information is out-of-date, expired, stale…you get the picture. And, well, post numbers just don’t do much for encouraging clickthroughs either.
For the sake of ranking well in search engines and appealing to potential visitors, we recommend a simplified permalink structure that includes your blog post title and the most important keyword(s):
http://www.yourwebsite.com/blog-post-title
To see what this looks like, here is how the URL for the same RSO blog post appears in search engine results:
Not only does the SEO permalink contain keywords that Google could potentially rank for, but it also appears to human readers to have the information that they desire. (Click me! Click me!)
A Final Caveat
While using permalinks is a very smart way to promote new blog posts across the web, we do not recommend reassigning permalinks to posts that have already been published. Unless, of course, you consult an SEO professional that has a background and successful track record in handling such requests.
For one, it can affect your website performance, particularly if it’s already established or performing well in search engines.
Two, changing permalinks will reset all of your Facebook “likes”, Twitter retweets, and other social media markers.
For new blog posts, however, just apply the URL structure above and check your Google Analytics to see how you’re doing.
Addressing Client Expectations
How do smaller online marketing firms maintain the edge in their hyper-competitive industry? There are probably a thousand different answers to that question, and in reality, it is a combination of many factors. But while experience, knowledge, and a passion for delivering client success are important, customer-centricity remains one of, if not the biggest, factor.
One of the biggest trends sweeping online business today is for companies to focus an increasing amount of their attention and resources on customer service and customer experience. We see this both within our clients’ industries as well as our own, and the pace is only increasing. For this reason, we were happy with the results of our most recent client survey. Our clients’ feedback illustrated the fact that paying constant, close attention to their needs and desires, coupled with round-the-clock availability, is of the utmost importance.
Respected online marketer and blogger, Nick Stamoulis’ recent post on setting expectations for potential clients brings up a few good points as well. Once you start working with a client, their needs, obviously, take precedence, and part of delivering premier customer care is taking whatever time is necessary to make that happen. But before the contact is signed and a potential client is inquiring about your services, you can’t sacrifice too much of your precious time (and at a small online marketing firm, time is very precious) answering questions and giving advice. He outlines three general rules that are good for businesses seeking online consulting services to remember during the initial stages:
1) Don’t go looking for free advice This may seem self-evident, but it can be surprisingly common. Of course, this doesn’t mean that online marketers should be dismissive or rude, but rather that we can’t properly do our jobs without access to a client’s analytics, AdWords accounts, and other pertinent data. So it’s best for both parties to wait until the contract is signed before consulting.
2) Don’t expect me to drop everything to call you back This can be tricky, but when forging a relationship with a client, you want to show that you’re willing to go the extra mile for them, but without neglecting your current clients. Stamoulis has had prospects call several times a day, and expect their voicemails and emails to be answered within the hour – and that just isn’t realistic.
3) Don’t second guess your instinct This roughly translates to not wasting your time and the marketing firm’s time by unnecessarily drawing out the vetting process. Be decisive, if your gut tells you that this firm is a good fit for your company, then go for it. Besides, the sooner you get started with your new SEO, PPC, and SMO campaigns, the sooner you’ll start to reap the benefits.
SOPA vs SEM
Amid widespread and passionate outcry, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nevada) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R, Texas), who was the chief sponsor for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), decided to drop the controversial bill from being considered by the House Judiciary Committee last Friday. While the decision has been met with a collective sigh of relief from all corners of the globe, it is likely more of a temporary reprieve than an outright victory for web users and sites.
Both SOPA and its sister bill in the Senate, PIPA (Protect IP Act) were proposed as wide-ranging, anti-piracy legislation that would seek to block any sites that are in any way connected to the sharing of pirated, copyright-protected material online. The problems with these bills are manifold and have been debated ad nauseum for the past few weeks and months. Aside from their rather blatant attempt to censor the free expression of ideas and speech, the bills would enact a quasi-police state on the web, making all websites responsible for every link and every sentence that appears in their content. The implications for SEM businesses would be potentially disastrous:
- When generating new content, it would become necessary to verify every single source that you link to is not also violating SOPA in some way. This extends to articles, videos, images and any type of online content. Not only would this will be a huge waste of resources and time each time you post content, it would also substantially decrease interlinking between sites and greatly affect SEO.
- Google indexing would become more difficult and time-consuming as they would also need to adjust to the new rules and regulations. Google would have to verify that every site they are indexing did not violate any copyright laws.
- New back-linking methods might emerge such as “no-follow” or “no-right”. The SEO industry would adapt to SOPA and PIPA by linking to sources with much more caution. While that sounds nice in theory, it would mean that interlinking will happen but with specific codes such as “no-right-follow” which would mean that the linked site’s information has not been verified.
In a reasoned rebuttal to Rep. Smith, the members of SEMPO (non-profit advocacy group for search and digital marketers) wrote the following, which has largely been echoed throughout the industry:
“Our members are intimately aware of the value of intellectual property. The mantra of most search marketers substantiates this: “Content is king.” Our members spend their days creating unique content for their clients so that consumers can better find and understand the clients’ products and services – and therefore be more likely to purchase them. We don’t like it when our content is duplicated or plagiarized either. It undermines our effectiveness. However, we find that we have all the laws and legal resources we need to fight IP theft right now. What SOPA seeks is not to target the perpetrators of IP theft or piracy, rather to impose upon innocent companies – companies that compose the Internet as a medium – a mandate to become policemen and lawyers, enforced with sanctions or jail time.”
In the wake of the bill’s abrupt death last week, millions have lauded its defeat as a major victory for online protests – one which saw the likes of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon etc. joining forces with grassroots campaigns from ordinary citizens. And perhaps most ironically, the defeat of SOPA and PIPA has showcased yet again – after a year of historic examples in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt – the growing power of the web to galvanize people and affect change.
