Category Archives: Google

SEO Is Becoming A Full Time Job

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SEO Tips: SEO Is Becoming A Full Time JobIn the good old days, keyword stuffing, links, and spam were a great way to get your site listed in the search engines and the search engines loved these kinds of sites. It became an industry with all sorts of variations to a theme. Nowadays, however, those tactics aren’t the goldmine in SEO like they used to be.

Nowadays you’ve got to work for your rankings. You just can’t depend on backlinking or keywords anymore. You have to have your site mobile friendly, update quality content, have social media presence and interaction, email lists, advertising, proper design, page speed, accessibility, knowledge graph, local SEO, globalization and more.
You’ve got to incorporate all these options and it calls for lots of work and maintenance. Not like the old days where you could slap up a website with some bells and whistles, keywords and keyphrases, backlinking and let it ride.

Not any more.

Now you have to expand with promotion via social networking. Not just Facebook either but a presence on just about all the social networks and the small but growing ones. Of course Google wants you to use as many of their venues as possible and that helps your rankings as well, and they supply lots of free tools for webmasters and digital marketers.

Your site had better be mobile friendly as mobile computing is expanding at alarming speeds. So is voice search. Those two alone are the future of computer interaction as people are shying away from traditional laptops and desktops. All your data has to be properly structured as well. You have to make your site easy to access, load fast, easy to navigate, have lots of valid and relevant backlinks, copywriting that is nothing short of fluid and superb, videos and pictures well tagged and described and all of that with your location prominently mentioned in every post, email, ad, and whatever, especially with your social media marketing.

It’s becoming a 24 hour job to operate a website nowadays if you want to rise up to the top positions on Google. Professionals who do SEO are finding it much more frustrating and time consuming but only these professionals get the super top results. They have to do 5 times the amount of website analysis they did just a year ago and even then, Google’s updates and the rise of other trends can throw these experts off guard.

Yes You Do Need SEO

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Yes You Do Need SEO - SEO JacksonvilleIf you think you don’t need SEO for your online business promotions, products, and services, then you’re borderline delusional if not totally outside of reality.

Not meaning to be so harsh, but SEO is everything regarding your online presence. Getting in the top rankings of the search engines can mean the difference between success or failure across the board. If people don’t know who you are, or where to find you, then being online is totally useless. Search Engine Optimization is a combination of skills, technologies, and techniques by which the engineering of a website allows for the search engines to locate, list, and disseminate information about a website.

The jury is in regarding SEO and there’s no doubt about its effectiveness. It’s a matter of mandatory not optional. SEO makes sure your site is in the right niche, the right area on the web and that people can find it easily among the plethora of sites covering the same subject matter. It’s a brutal game however and calls for expertise. Sure you can do some simple things on your own to shore up your site and it will help, but in the final turn, you’ll need an SEO professional to fine tune things.

SEO is not an overnight success. It’s a long term strategy that calls for precise analysis of your site, your market, your goals and intentions. Your competition will be scrutinized to see how successful they are and what they did to get there. You’ll need traffic that is organic, meaning traffic that comes from surfers inputting the words and phrases they feel will find what they’re after. For example, if you have a landscaping business in your hometown area, you’ll want to rank high in the search results for landscaping in your area. That’s where SEO and local SEO come into play.

Your competitors aren’t going to rest on their laurels. They’re taking advantage of SEO and leaving you in the dust. The longer you wait, the further behind you’ll be.

This year alone has seen drastic changes in SEO. So much so that it’s almost a mad scramble for even the professionals to keep up with. New changes in the software Google and other search engines use to choose which sites get the top spots, advertising procedures, all combine to keep the search engine industry on its toes and if you’re not on top of the changes, to take advantage of them you’re cutting your own throat and losing sales, leads, traffic, and profit.

So the action here is don’t hesitate. He who hesitates is lost is an old saying and it totally applies here. Do your due diligence. Study what SEO is, ask questions of the various companies and don’t fall for companies that promise the Moon and super results. SEO takes time, money, and most of all patience.

It’s your responsibility to get your business going right. If there is a technique or technology that helps in this, then you owe it to yourself to do the best for your business and if that means getting SEO for your websites, then you had better get to it and do it now.

The Small Business Local SEO Battle

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The Small Business Local SEO BattleYou’ve seen it before, and might have had to face it yourself, having a small budget but having big website traffic dreams. Not every small business can afford SEO but there are some things that a small business can do on their own.
First of all, you’ll need to check on your website to make sure it is worthy of recognition. If you have a website that is sloppy, without proper layout and programming, then you end up with a product that is just not up to par with the competition out there. It’s really that simple. You can’t have a website with all sorts of bells and whistles and looks great with lout music and video dancers, but if the site doesn’t convey what your business is about, where your business is, then you’ve failed from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Think simple at first. Keep the site to the point but don’t make it so bland that people won’t remembe4r it nor will it capture their imagination. They have to like what they see, but you also have to penetrate so that your site stands out in their mind. The same thing goes for search engines especially when you’re doing local SEO. Google is coming out with more new ways to examine and index a website so that their surfers get the best results they can. When Google does this, they look for every piece of data they feel is relevant. Your site has to have such data available easily, in your tags, descriptions, and more. You have to make absolutely sure that people can find your name, address, phone number, on down to your latitude and longitude coordinates.

Well, maybe not that detailed, but you get the point.

Once your site meets the standards of a well done website, you’ll need to expand. Things like link building may seem passe’ but in reality they can’t hurt if done right. An inbound link from a reputable source is worth its weight in gold. It shows Google that a site with authority, hopefully a Google news site or some other verified site by Google, will boost you up the search engine rankings and keep you there. Remember, petition to get these links as much as you can. If yo have a dog walking business in your hometown, you need links that help your small business local SEO right off the bat. Google will know if the links come from paid subscriptions and so on so don’t do that. Earn those inbound links and cherish them.

Get photos and videos and articles about your local area that tie into your business. You can take pics of the local landmarks and public events that are perennial headline grabbers and pop them on your site and blog. Make sure you have a blog and social media and mobile friendly options online. Again, let’s say you have a dog walking service. Take pics of you walking the dogs past famous monuments or popular landmarks. Even political campaigns, picnics, anything you can use to boast about and tie in your brand name with the event, location, and other data that will aid your small business SEO.

So the bottom line is not to fret. You can make some waves with small business SEO if you plan right and enjoy what you do.

Making A Marriage Of SEO And Content Creation

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Making A Marriage Of SEO And Content CreationThis is the combo right here. In the battle for search engine listing supremacy, having both a knowledge of content creation and SEO are paramount in today’s online marketing world.

Content marketing and SEO have to go hand in hand, but not compromising either. This calls for shrewd expertise and is not for the sloppy or uninitiated. Unfortunately, most companies can’t afford to find top quality content marketing pros and SEO experts. They can cost an arm and a a leg, however, it is money well worth investing because in the short and the long-term, you will win. You might not get the top keywords or keyphrases, but you’ll be way ahead of the pack. This isn’t a game anymore of just creating content specifically to take advantage of SEO tactics. Google is hip to that and is emphasizing the content that flows naturally, looks original, and isn’t full of spammy terms, keywords and so on. You’ll find that many content marketing groups still do the same old thing and with the changes in the game, it’s going to upset the apple cart of many an SEO company.

Actually, by emphasizing professionalism and honesty regarding the combination of content marketing and SEO will provide far more excellent results and the public will be well serviced. That’s what Google is looking for.

So how do you make this marriage last? First of all get your SEO fundamentals down pat. Same goes with creating your content. Your content has to be original, relevant, well written and engaging. It has to make the reader want to engage with your site and any links listed. Link building the professional and ethical way is a real winner.

Do your keyword and keyphrase research. Get the latest and dig a little deeper if you can. There are numerous free tools to do this and Google provides many of them.

Evergreen content is always a standard to live by. Picking topics that are always in circulation means you’ll get far more mileage. Fitness, health, beauty, pets, gardening, home improvement, are all niches that will go the distance and more.

Make an attempt to engage the reader to visit your social media pages. Engage in activities there. This will show up in the Google results and add more power to your pistons.

This is all about fine tuning, but not looking like you’re fine tuning. The best approach is just create content fluidly. Don’t even think about SEO. If the content is great, the SEO will take care of itself, which is what Google is looking for. It means from now on, companies will have to do the best they can, hire and compensate the best content creators from writers to videographers, to photographers. No more boiler room content farms from third world countries. Their use us grammar and metaphor is a dead giveaway.

So that’s the only way to win this game. Doing a professional job in both fields and let them meld together naturally.

How to Craft an Effective SEO Strategy

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SEO Strategy: How to Succeed Search engine optimization (SEO) can be quite a complicated machine. Not only that, but it is one that is constantly evolving and that has tons of moving parts. Thankfully, even if you do not have a large budget to outsource SEO services to someone else, there are a few basic principles that you can stick to in order to at least capture the low-hanging fruit when it comes to SEO and in turn to drive some traffic to your website.

As with most important things, the first step in creating a successful strategy is to create a plan- namely to set goals on what you would like to achieve. Remember to keep them SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based) though as dreams are not the same as goals! From there, it will be much easier to see results as you aim for your defined goals.

When it comes to implementation, it is important to stay focused on current strategies and not the past. Things like an over-emphasis on keywords are really a thing of the past and may even harm you in today’s climate. Keyphrases or long-tail terms are really a better way to think about things as those are what people are searching for. They also often appear a lot more naturally in content and sound better to visitors too. It is important not to focus on these too much too and to keep content are genuine and real as possible, but keeping keyphrases in the back of your mind certainly won’t hurt.

As you develop your content, always keep the end user in mind and you will already place yourself a couple of steps ahead of the game when it comes to doing well with Google and other search engines. Aside from killer content, do your research on everything relevant to your website as possible. This includes keyphrases that people are actually searching for and competition analysis. Incorporate this into your SMART goals and subsequently into your plans to achieve those goals and you will realize some synergies in your strategy.

In addition to on-site changes, it is important to stay on Google’s good side and to provide it with certain information that may help you. Keeping profiles on relevant Google websites (such as Hangouts and if you are a local business filling out local listing details and claiming your business) as well as notable social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter is important as Google derives a lot of information from these sources and growingly is placing more emphasis on them in generating search results.

Once you have a solid social network presence built around a site that has strong content and has some sort of online presence via backlinks (tread lightly and keep the links believable and relevant to avoid getting dinged), it is time to do some research on your competitors and to really see what is working in your niche and what isn’t. From there, see how you can incorporate these ideas into your website strategy in order to improve SEO and drive rankings higher.

If you follow the information in this post, you will have a solid foundation on which to build your search engine strategy. Good luck!

If you have any questions in regards to the SEO optimization for your website please contact us for a free consultation.

Image credit: Robert Churchill

‘Mobile-friendly’ compliancy standards in place for Google Search Engine

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‘Mobile-friendly’ compliancy standards in place for Google Search EngineIn advance of one of the largest SEO based conferences–the Ungagged London (16-18 May)–businesses, corporates and entrepreneurs alike are collecting data and sharing strategies for the upcoming changes to the Google search results system, and how their website or business is ranked.

With it’s new change, unlike Panda or Penguin, this new modification to Google’s search engine is defined to provide businesses with a new prospect for engaging and drawing in potential business and consumer viewing. Unlike the past aforementioned changes, this is arguably less about website compliancy per Google’s regulations, and more so about modernization and application of new marketing strategies with an entirely new, more customized and supportive approach for it’s consumer audience.

Personal businesses will face—at least initially—the many benefits of the Google mobile-friendly changes and platform as it sets the SEO pretext for merchants and (larger) businesses alike to optimize how their consumers may not only view their websites or information, but also how it’s found. That is, because smaller businesses and entrepreneurs have more flexibility and the ability to presumably act faster, within their development and IT teams, to service or meet new business module expectations or service opportunities for its customers. Per the new rating guidelines, Google is looking to have all, if not as many as possible merchants on board to modify their websites to a mobile-friendly status with the ‘incentive’ of making it to, or holding its place in top Google search results—something that could previously only be achieved through SEO expertise, arrangement, and application of keywords.

Consumers and viewers alike will ideally be granted the ability to now access information on the web more easily; from merchants, to businesses, all the way to academic institutions through a new ‘mobile friendly’ option in which is verifiably obtained through the ‘crawling’ of Google data systems or ‘spiders’.

Google Webspam team speaker and former senior member Kaspar Szymanski pointed out the dynamics of how not having a mobile-friendly website or business inconveniences customers, leaving much room for fellow competition. Additionally, in doing so, providing an increased reputation in accessibility for the Internet as technology continues to evolve into the next generation. Patterns of previous and future performance, willingness to adapt their platforms, and allocate additional funding are all factors that business owners must take into consideration and determine whether or not the financial justification is applicable for them and their businesses future.

Mr. Szymanski, a fellow SerchBrothers.com co-founder pointed out that smaller business owners and entrepreneurs shouldn’t be intimidated. He explained how merchants and business owners should take into consideration the value and purpose of their business, and budget permitting, to just work with what they have in efforts to rein in and maintain success.

Take into consideration the expectations of your customers and readers that explore your business on a daily basis. While meeting the ‘mobile-friendly’ required, or expectations per Google’s impending changes to gain higher of or new ranking—it’s important to not lose sight of pleasing the customer firs. On top of this, let’s not forget that you, the business or website owner are also a customer of Google. With that being said, it will behoove Google to tread lightly with precision, support, and practicality in the changes it makes to further develop or enhance website modules and service features in the future for customers and business owners alike. Likewise, the significance in which these changes play through developing already prestigious businesses such as Fortune 500 enterprises are of comparable, if not greater value. These businesses too will benefit in revenue increase through the enhanced accessibility for its consumer’s beyond the impartial previous SEO based tactics or approach in which we perhaps have otherwise become too comfortable with.

Using Local SEO And Multiple Locations

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Using Local SEO And Multiple LocationsLocal SEO is tough enough but when you’re a company or agency that services multiple locations, then fine tuning your local SEO calls for a more precise strategy.

To handle multiple location SEO it calls for following the same basic strategy for regular local SEO but expanding on it smartly and logically.  First of all, the ore locations you have, the more ammo you have for getting traffic and conversions to your site.  Your site should have its basic information, the blog, the quality content and pertinent links.  The se applies for multiple locations.  You’ll need to have pictures, videos, and copy that specifically targets those locations.

All pics, videos, copy, should have links and tags with the name of that particular location.  As with local SEO, using landmarks, known events, sports teams, even celebrities.  Be prudent here and don’t overdo it, however taking advantage of such venues adds to the spice and authority of your site and blog which is what Google and the other search engines are looking for.

Use only one url for all your sites.  If you have a service in New York but have outlets in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, then you’ll need pages with the names in the urls and each should interlink with one another under the same url.  This will build up power toward you and let surfers know there’s an outlet near them. Include all contact info and make sure the data is all spelled correctly.

Adding social media to this helps also.  Put up a Facebook page or Twitter account for each of your locations with the emails all under their names.  Something like support@brooklynjoesautobody.com or support@queensautobody.com and your main site’s email support@joesautobody.com.  There are variations on a theme but you get the picture.

All videos and pics should have your location in the tags like, “photos, Joe’s auto body Queens” or “videos, Joe’s auto body Brooklyn.  Keep fresh content rolling on occasion and Tweet whenever things change like sales or discounts.  Post them on your Facebook accounts and Reddit and other social media too for each location. This will get your posts and Tweets listed in the Google search results and your chances of success will improve greatly.

It won’t happen overnight but you should see results soon.  SEO is a long term project that needs constant attention and maintenance.

You’ll have to do some detective work regarding citations.  Look for your site on sites like Yelp and others that list websites and offer reviews.  Make sure their information about you is correct and updated.  Contact them with the new information or correct information so that people can find you appropriately.  The same goes for the review sites.  If you have customers who’ve left reviews you’ll need to contact the sites where these reviews are and make sure the info is correct.

Same goes for pics that might be listed in Google images and videos.  If you have a YouTube channel you need to add that info and don’t just do one video of your main store, but do videos of each location including even funny or human interest moments and post those.  Embed your links in the videos and make sure each location video has links to the others.  Push for subscriptions and on your Facebook pages push for shares and likes.  Intermix your social media and citations and you’ll have a network of information that builds up.

Keep it up and you’ll see the kind of results you can be proud of.

The Aftermath Of Google’s Pigeon Updates And Local SEO

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The Aftermath Of Google's Pigeon Updates And Local SEOWhen Google finally released its Pigeon update, it hit the SEO industry by storm. Experts were scrambling to and fro to see what effects it had on their sites and client’s sites. The results were nothing short of astronomical and the good points far outweigh the negative.

No one was prepared for what would happen next, so when the final results came in, they made the SEO pros have to change their game plans quickly.

First of all, Pigeon’s local SEO algorithm launched in July 2014. It affected mostly Google Maps search and their web search. This brings about a better combination of factors leading to far more efficient local search engine results. I took people by surprise and some say it was a hindrance more than a boon, but the final tally says otherwise for several reasons.

It’s not that alien to what people see in the standard Google search results, the problem is that no one expected the drastic changes in rankings that occurred in the aftermath.

Mind you, the entire SEO game has changed over the past year, not just with Pigeon. There are multiple factors at work here and digging deeper into what’s been changed and how things work today gives a better insight as to how not only Pigeon works but what’s required by local SEO pros to adapt to it.

Traditional points such as misspellings, synonyms, etc. are taken into account more sharply. Errors can throw off one’s rankings but that calls for webmasters to go back to the drawing board and make sure their sites are up to specs or they could end up at the bottom of the pile. Add to all that, Google had to resolve their battle with Yelp whom Google had disassociated themselves of and got accused by Yelp of pushing Google’s reviews over those of Yelp’s. This issue has been resolved and things are all cozy again in Googleland.

Flying from this cue, Google now also gives a boost to local review sites over their own. This is like fine tuning to the utmost degree and allows for queries to laser target their searches and get the relevant content listed instead of spam.
Other pluses and minuses have come about due to the release and updates of Pigeon. It will take time for Google to fine tune what they have as they’re constantly looking for more efficient ways to do things. Feedback, statistics, trial and error, call come into play here and by the end of 2015, By that time, SEO experts should have a better handle on how to optimize their sites and direct their clients.

There’s no telling really, of what Google has in store for the near future. Any breakthrough in SE technology and tactics could change the game even further. It calls upon SEO pros dealing with local SEO to stay on their toes. Keep in mind that quality content, clearly defined and designed websites, getting good reviews, using social networking to an advantage, are all part and parcel to ensure that the chances of getting a good SE ranking are better.

Google Gives Out a Warning: Why Your Non-Mobile Sites Are No Good

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Google Gives Out a Warning: Why Your Non-Mobile Sites Are No GoodIt’s a known fact that we’re a mobile society these days, you don’t see people without their phones in hand on the train or bus. There’s a very good reason for this feat, and that’s because technology has given us the best possible options we could ever ask for (at this point in time, anyways). Google has always been looking out for those whom dedicate their work to a specific site, and when you’ve been building up a site to work on mobile for a year or two that’s got to feel food. Google definitely rewards webmasters who are willing to work harder than the rest, but just how much do you need to do in order to get good rankings? Obviously a mobile-optimized site is going to bring in a lot more traffic, but why would it? Not only that, but why do you need to make use of it so badly? The internet is a very serious business, especially when there is the exchanging of money at hand. Nobody wants to feel like they’re throwing away their hard earned cash at a site nobody even visits, which is why you need optimal rankings. Google is always going to keep you in the loop when it comes to your webmaster needs and wants, especially if your site has the potential to become much more than it already is.

Mobile Optimization

There is actually a process that you can put your website through in order to see if its capable of handling mobile operations or not, but Google isn’t going to put you through it by themselves (even though they essentially help out the entire time). When you’ve put your site through Google’s Webmaster Tools it’ll decide whether or not it can be used on a mobile basis, and if it can’t they’ll send you an alert. This is something that you as the webmaster will need to accomplish, as mobile SEO isn’t going to be implemented by the company who’s paying you (obviously). Make use of Webmaster Tools and you’ll be able to identify whether your site is friendly for mobile users or not, which should be a top priority if you’re serious about your work. Being an efficient site is key, but being a site that has the perfect mobile SEO tactic in place is even better. For some reason it feels like the world of mobile marketing is growing faster and faster, and that’s probably because people are constantly getting phones.

Google will automatically e-mail you if your website falls under the “alert” category, but mobile SEO should always be keeping you alert. The e-mail will go over which pages were actually found as being negatively beneficially when it comes to your web page, as well as how you can go about fixing the problem. This is where Google really shines with it’s business solutions, because they’re very smart about this entire process.

Why Local SEO Important To an Entrepreneur

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Why Local SEO Important To an EntrepreneurThere’s a pretty large difference between being somebody who simply aspires to be a successful business owner and somebody who actually owns a successful business, and it’s nice to know that most of the people at the top had to start from the very bottom.  You’ll need as many helpful tips and tricks that you can get when it comes to being a successful entrepreneur, and today we’re going to focus on something called local SEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something that tons of webmasters and online marketers alike rely on when it comes to being competitive with one another. The better your search engine rankings, the more money you’re going to make because there are so many people taking a look at your product. Local SEO is something that your business needs to focus on when it comes to promotion and marketing, especially since most people tend to completely forget about local SEO. You need to understand that being prominent in your local search results can be just as important as having a high rank in the regular results, and all you’ll need to do in order to cover both areas is a little bit of local SEO optimization.

The best thing about local SEO is that it can applied to most mobile means as well, and since we live in the days of modern technology being so mobile that’s a very good thing. You always want to have a website that’s able to be reached through the use of a mobile device, just think about how many times you’ve taken it upon yourself to Google a problem! Not only is this going to be something that you’ll get used to over time, but it’s great because of the fact that many different players will be needed as time progresses. You’re probably wondering as to why you really need to make use of local SEO, and that’s what this article is looking to focus on. When you’re dealing with other people on the road you’ve got to be patient, and that’s something that you’ll need to focus on if you aren’t sure how your local SEO techniques should be operating. When you blend local SEO alongside a strong marketing campaign you’re going to be making a lot of cash, and that’s why we believe that every single person should have faith in their local SEO process.

Please contact Local SEO Jacksonville Company at 904.425.9679 if you need local SEO for your business.