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Posts Tagged ‘seo’

Google’s Keeping it Fresh…What Does the New Google Update Mean for Your Business?

Friday, November 4th, 2011

 

 

 

Let me start off by saying, I sometimes feel a bit like a broken record answering SEO questions.

 

What is the biggest thing Google looks for when ranking my site?
Relevancy.

Why do I need a dynamic social media presence?
Relevancy.

Why can’t I just cram a bunch of keywords in my meta descriptions tag and do whatever I want on the rest of my site? 
I think you get the picture.

 

So it really shouldn’t come as too big a surprise to anyone that Google just announced that their rankings algorithm will take into account the “freshness”of your content, and serve up the most recent results associated with your search query.

This also comes on the heels of their official acknowledgement that they will indeed begin indexing Facebook comments in the SERPs.  Coincidence? I think not.

What do these two announcements have in common?  They both indicate that Google is looking more than ever at your site’s overall online presence.  Not just your meta tags. Not just your blog.  Your online everything.  And everyone else’s online everything.  And who’s gonna win the #1 spot for a search term?  The site whose “everything” Google finds the most relevant.

RELEVANCY! Oh snap.

So what does that mean for your business?  For one, it means that fresh, meaningful content is more important than ever.  It also means that how your consumers, clients, fans, friends, and followers interact with your content means just as much.  And really, if your content it topical and timely, your visitors will be that much more likely to engage with it now won’t they?

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Posted in SEO Strategies, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »

In SEO, One Size Fits None

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

My job is pretty amusing sometimes. Yesterday we got an organic lead from our website which had us all chuckling a bit. As a Tampa SEO company, we have tried to practice what we preach and, as a result, have established some kick-butt local rankings that serve to be a great source of leads (as well as a good showcase of our own competency – doesn’t get much more competitive in the SEO world than competing against other SEO’s). But sometimes, we get an inquiry that really makes us shake our heads. Yesterday’s was one of those: a gmail address as the only valid contact information, with the question: “how exactly would you optimize a website.”

Was this simply a case of spam? Maybe. Someone fishing for free tips? Probably. But frankly, it got me thinking…rather, stewing. How can it be that someone would think search engine optimization is achieved by a simple set of steps that we can just regurgitate without ANY information regarding the site, industry, business goals…anything? To me – someone who spends every day entrenched in SEO strategy – I was a bit incredulous, and maybe even a tad insulted, at first. But the thing is, as silly and spammy as this lead seemed, it’s not really that far off from a lot of people’s perception of the SEO process.

An effective SEO strategy is composed of many elements, both on and off site. And there is no good “one size fits all” strategy. While there are of course some basic common elements and best practices, a good SEO strategy will be based on many different factors that are unique to every individual client and website.

The problem is, there are too many “SEO companies” out there who take the one size fits all approach, most often to the detriment of their clients. That combined with the overwhelming amount of “how to” information available online can lead the average prospect to believe that there’s a quick formula that just needs to be applied and, poof! You’re at the top of Google.

There are so many factors that go into an effective SEO strategy, so make sure you keep this in mind when feeling out potential providers. If an SEO company offers up pricing or a package without taking the time to analyze your site, industry, competitive landscape, or really ask you about your ultimate business goals, move on.

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 3 Comments »

Google Cracks Down on Spam with New Algorithm Change

Monday, January 31st, 2011

A couple days ago Google rolled out a new algorithm update aimed at filtering out “spam” and duplicate content, and favoring original content. This comes in the wake of much criticism that Google was allowing spammy blogs and other sites who scrape content from other sources to rank, in many instances, higher for said content than the original sources.

Who will this change affect? Well, most directly, those sites that have been scraping content from others – sites without unique, original content should expect to see their rankings plummet, based on this new algorithm which will favor the original source of the content and “weed out” the duplicate. This will also obviously have positive affect on any reputable site that had once fallen victim to content theft, as they’ll now no longer have to fight for their rightful place on the SERP (search engine results page) amongst shifty competition.

To a certain extent, this is also just a good PR move for Google, who has been taking heat as of late for the vast number of spammy sites it’s been allowing in its top results – from searchers and site owners alike. I had one client who experienced this sort of “content jacking” first hand; to say that he was frustrated that another fly-by-night blog was getting credit for his hard work would be a serious understatement. Many authors like him will be glad to know that content theft is now not just a nuisance, but a sure recipe for landing on Google’s black list.

This also underscores the need to make sure your site is not committing any of the “duplicte content sins.” Now would be a good time to fix broken links, get rid of duplicate content across multiple platforms, and make sure your domain uses solid 301 redirects to ensure you continue to get full credit for all your on and off-site SEO efforts. (Shameless plug: you can contact Webhead if you want us to do a free audit of your site…just saying…)

While this tweak is welcome news to most, it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who practices above-the-board SEO and has been even mildly paying attention to the super power search engine over the years. Ultimately, this algorithm change is just another step Google is taking to combat “cheaters” in the vastly evolving and over-saturated online landscape. As long as Google has been the dominant search engine, there have always been those who try to circumvent the hard work and investment that it can take to get natural, long term top rankings. Remember keyword stuffing? Or link farms? There’s not a reputable SEO on the planet today that would recommend either of those strategies, but they were at one point widely used “tricks” to getting top rankings.

What’s the big lesson here: in good SEO, there really is no way around good, original content, and hard work over time. Always be wary of any company or individual who promises top organic rankings in an unrealistic time frame or for a too-low-to-be-true price point. If you put in the time and effort it takes to work your way up the ranks in a natural and above-the-board way, ultimately, Google will reward you.

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 4 Comments »

It’s Official – Your Website’s Rankings are Affected by Social Media

Monday, December 13th, 2010

If there are still companies out there who have yet to jump on the “Social Media Bandwagon,” I suggest you hop aboard and quickly! Social Media has transformed the way people interact with each other, it has revolutionized the way companies connect with their customers, and now it only makes sense that the next logical step is for Social Media to have a say in the search engine results.

SEOs have suspected the Social Media influence on the SERPs (search engine results page) for quite some time now and it has finally been confirmed that they do, if fact, affect the algorithm used to determine rankings on the SERP’s. Who would have thought a few years ago that all that tweeting and re-tweeting was actually benefiting a website and positively influencing their organic rankings? But the big question remains, how big of an influence does social media have? And how is it determined which tweets and Posts actually count towards something beneficial? While the size of Social Media’s influence has yet to be specifically determined, one thing is clear: relevance is key. Google and Bing have confirmed that they are taking notice as to “how important is this person,” “how many fans/followers”, “how relevant are these fans/followers,” and “are these postings relevant, insightful and useful?”

From my understanding, both Google and Bing have a sort of “Social Rank” tool they are using that acts much like a “Page Rank” that will rank the relevance of a Page, Post, or Fan page. So it is crucial that companies make sure that their Social Media pages are as relevant, up to date, exciting, and useful as possible. There will be heavy weight on how many “likes”/Followers you have but also how significant these people are and why they are following you. It has become more vital than ever to develop your social media pages and hold the attention of you Fans/Followers.

Every day we see new applications and tools on Facebook, and Twitter is constantly changing the way one “tweets.” Recently I noticed that there is a way to merge your Facebook business listing with your Facebook Places account. This allows users to interact as usual with your Business listing, but now your map is also available right there on your business page. This is something that we will be putting into play for all our local clients. There is also speculation that, this too, will begin to make headway in the “Maps” sections of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).

So while we may not be able to measure the full affect of social media on organic search engine rankings yet, it’s safe to say that it’s a rapidly growing piece of the rankings puzzle. As a business, if you haven’t begun to develop your social media presence as part of your online strategy, ask yourself –what are you waiting for?”

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Posted in Blogging | 2 Comments »

Google’s “new” Keyword Tool Comes Out of Beta & SEOs Couldn’t Be Less Satisfied

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

A few weeks ago, I jumped into the Google Keyword Tool to do a new keyword search and was frustrated to see that the “previous interface” button was no longer an option.  Now, I have seen the Keyword Tool  for months now but have been successfully avoiding it and going straight to the old tool each and every time.  Now forced to try out the new tool, I found myself immediately discouraged.  While it is no secret that the keyword tool is not meant to enhance SEO, but rather promote Google’s tools, it is still an essential part of SEO.  This new tool lacks several fundamental functions that were essential for both PPC (Google Adwords) and SEO.

One of my biggest concerns is the lack of relevant keyword variations within the search results.  You have to basically export the data and sift through all 800 options before finding a handful of relevant terms.  The old keyword tool would list results in groups, listing the closest related keywords to your search query first, then follow it with a grouping of other closely related ideas.  Adding insult to injury is the added frustration of the filters that seem to “filter” out every single result once you uncheck a box.  I watched my search results go from 800 to 20 simply by unclicking one box.  After testing out the results with each box checked and then unchecked, I decided that the filters are so sporadic that it was best to just export and start manually filtering. 

Another common problem seems to be the apparent glitch in selecting match forms.  Half the time when I change the results from exact match, to phrase match, to broad match I lose a good chunk of the search results. Not to mention, the “negative match” option seems to be a thing of the past.  For a Google’s Adwords account manager, the loss of the negative match option is a substantial shortfall.  Like most others who have been complaining for the last month about the new Google Keyword tool, I haven’t the slightest idea what is causing these issues but I, for one, hope that Google fixes these problems ASAP.   

My colleague and I recently decided to try Google’s “search based keyword tool” in hopes that it would offer better and/or more relevant results.  Noticing the complete lack of consistency in data between the beta tool and the search based tool, we went searching for answers from Google. 

“You may also notice that some of the data (like such as the monthly search volume) may vary slightly between the two tools, which is due to different methods of calculation at this time.”

Um…well, thank you for that clarification Google, that makes much more sense now.  So far this seems to be the theme in looking for answers and/or explanations to the shortfalls of this new Keyword Tool.  So, for now, I will continue to search for answers and hope that these bugs will work themselves out. Most importantly, I have to hope that Google is hearing these major concerns for their new tool from the SEO experts that are stuck using it and are counting on its results each and every day.

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 3 Comments »

Why I’m Not Panicking Over Google Instant

Friday, September 24th, 2010

It’s been nearly three weeks since Google officially launched its new platform Google Instant (http://www.google.com/instant/), and you would think the sky was falling for many search engine marketers. How will this affect SEO? Are we going to lose all our rankings? I even had someone ask me if this would be the “death of longtail.” From all the buzz in the SEO world, you’d think this was the first time Google made a major change. Will it mix things up a bit in terms of rankings for many sites? Probably some. But then again, so has Google’s other fairly regular algorithm changes. So why is Google Instant giving so many SEO professionals such a headache? And why am I am not all that concerned?

First of all for those of you not familiar with Google Instant, the new platform shows you results as you type a search phrase, while also showing you suggested search phrases earlier in the search query process. Google claims this will make life easier by saving the searcher precious seconds between when they search and when they are presented with relevant results (don’t miss their super-melodramatic intro video, “I don’t even have to scroll! It’s RIGHT THERE!”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElubRNRIUg4).

So why all the stink in SEO land? Google Instant basically “changes the game” in two ways:

1. There is less “fixed real estate” on the SERP, as the “instant” results that show as you type take up about half the results page.

2. There is some argument/speculation/panic that the quicker suggestions of search phrases will narrow the number of keywords that are searched, “doing away” with the need for long tail optimization and forcing entire industries to compete for the same small handful of Google-suggested search terms. (Is anyone else having flashbacks to those annoying “What has search done to us” Bing commercials here??)

Here is my take: Regarding the panic on reduced “real estate” on Google’s first page, it has ALWAYS been important to be in that magical “top 5” of Google’s SERP. This just reinforces the need for truly effective SEO, and also for a keen awareness and understanding of your top online competitors. It also reinforces the need to be honest with yourself in terms of your ability to compete for certain terms. If you know you realistically can’t commit the resources to compete with the sites in the top 5 for a given term, you should probably switch your focus.

Regarding the speculations that all of search will be reduced to a narrow list of terms and that traffic from long tails will fall by the wayside, I say, no way. Long tail optimization is more important than ever, as it’s truly going to be those sites that are optimized for the full breadth of their keyword theme (i.e. naturally optimized) that will survive this Google change, and future algorithm and platform changes. Side note: not to toot my own horn here, but none of our clients have seen dramatic dips in search traffic since Instant took affect – and in most cases, our clients’ traffic has actually increased.

Just think, if Google never changed, we’d still be able to stuff lists of keywords in “hidden text” and forgo time-intensive quality link building strategies in lieu of spammy link farms managed in India. SEO could be an afterthought as opposed to a full time job. But I happen to like my full time job, and so I say to Google Instant: bring it on! We’re ready for you.

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 1 Comment »

3 Tips for Building Your SEO Keyword List

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Keyword selection is the backbone of your search engine optimization strategy.  Your choice of keywords can be the biggest factor in the success of all your SEO efforts, but how do you make sure you’re choosing the “right” keywords for your business?  Here are 3 tips to keep in mind when building that initial list:

 

1. Focus

 

It can often be tempting to try and target as many terms as could potentially be relevant to your services or products.  But, unless you also have a massive amount of content and unlimited time (and budget), you must resist the urge.  While keyword variations are important (see number 3), you don’t want to spread yourself too thin by shooting for so many different terms that you lose your site’s keyword focus.  Ask yourself, what is the core “theme” (or “main keyword”) of my business.  Every other term you target should be within that theme, and should be naturally limited by your site’s content and your link building and SEO budget.

 

 

2. Know your limits.

 

Why are Super Bowl ads so expensive?  Easy, right?  Those are coveted spots and companies who can afford to do so will pay top dollar to feature their ad in front of millions of viewers, many of which might be anticipating the ads more than the actual game.  If a company is willing to pay millions of dollars for an ad spot, then obviously another advertiser couldn’t expect to come in with $5000 and compete for that spot. 

 

Although you are not “bidding” on organic listings on Google, the more coveted a keyword is, the more you need to “pay to play.”  Know who the top players are for the terms you want to target, and what they have done to get there.  If you are a small company or brand new site coming on the scene with a limited budget for marketing and link building, you are not going to be able to compete for terms that are dominated by massive sites with established brands and reputations – and budgets to match.  Be realistic about how much you have to invest, and how much your competitors are investing, or you’ll be spinning your wheels.

 

 

3. Don’t Ignore Long Tail Variations

 

If you focus all your efforts on a handful of “top searched” terms without incorporating long tail variations into your strategy, you are missing out on valuable potential traffic from these long tail terms.  Plus, you are way more likely to achieve rankings with staying power if you include some natural variations of the top terms you are targeting.  Optimizing for a keyword theme which includes more specific variations will look natural to the search engines, as well as enable your site to rank for many relevant phrases which you are not specifically tracking.  Plus, these long tail terms can often be the most qualified source of leads or sales, and often will indicate a potential client or customer that is further along in the buying cycle. 

 

 

There are of course many factors that go into any successful SEO strategy, but if you aren’t targeting the right terms for your business, you will be wasting your time and efforts with everything else you do.  Unsure whether or not your SEO company has been targeting the right terms?  Contact us for a free analysis.

 

 

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 2 Comments »

3 Tips for Surviving (and Thriving After) Google’s Algorithm Changes

Friday, May 28th, 2010

If your site is among the many that saw a major upset in your rankings with Google’s May Day update, you are no doubt wondering “what can I do?”  While fluctuations on the leading search engine are normal, and to a certain extent par for the course, there certainly are ways of structuring your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy so that you not only survive these major algorithm changes, but thrive as your competitors slip away:

 

1.  Vary your approach.

 

Are you relying on one type of link building?  Do you focus only on a handful of the top searched keywords but neglect variations or long tail terms?  If so, you’re bound to lose ground at some point.  The websites that I’ve seen do the best through major algorithm changes have been fully optimized for many variations within a keyword theme, and have built a strong foundation of quality back links from a variety of strong, contextually-relevant sources.

 

 

2.  Be dynamic. B-E dynamic.

 

As an SEO company, we are constantly asked things like – can’t we just do one month?  When will we be optimized and “done”??  Why can’t we stop once we are ranked #1??

 

Well, if you lost some ground over the last month and haven’t touched your site in awhile, there’s your answer!  If you want search engine rankings that stick around through the search engine changes, your website needs to stay dynamic in its content, and you need to keep building, building, building that web presence. 

 

 

3.  Pay attention!

 

In the past several years, I’ve seen dozens of major changes to Google’s algorithm.  Some have been major, some minor.  But almost always, Google’s given some clue prior to the shift of how things will be ranked, or what elements they will be putting more emphasis on. 

 

About 8 months back, for example, we started to see a big shift in local optimization toward domain names that included the location – something that had always helped but now seemed to be the main deciding factor in local ranking between otherwise similarly-optimized sites.  So we tested it with some of our own sites, and even had some locally-based clients switch to localized domains.  Sure enough, a week later, the SEO world was all a buzz with the new “upset”…and our clients who’d made the switch not only survived the algorithm change, but jumped to the top for new local terms.

 

So pay attention!  If you see your site drop, and others replace you, try to see the trend –it might be a sign that Google is moving toward a different way of ranking.  Want an expert opinion on how your site will fare long term?  Just shoot us an email!

 

 

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 2 Comments »

In SEO, Slow and Steady Truly Does Win the Race

Monday, March 29th, 2010

A little over a year ago, a local Tampa criminal law firm came to us for SEO help. They had been with another web marketing firm for over 9 months and had seen very little progress organically – while the firm kept advising them to funnel more and more money into pay per click advertising and other additional (and costly) services. Needless to say, the lawyers were pretty skeptical by the time they made their way to us.

Anyone who lives in Tampa, or likely anyone who’s even just driven through the area, knows from all the billboards, TV ads and radio spots that Tampa Criminal Law is an incredibly saturated market. This is also a uniquely competitive market online, as the top ranking sites in this industry for highly searched terms like “Tampa criminal lawyer” have been targeting these terms aggressively for years. If you’re going to be competitive in this market, we told the lawyers (who at the time were not ranking in the first 10 pages of Google for the term) it’s going to take a lot of work over time to get and keep you there.

See, Google likes to test you a bit I think. Ultimately, if you want top rankings for a very competitive search term, you can’t let up once you get there. After just a couple months of on-site overhaul and progressive, quality one-way link building, our Tampa criminal attorneys were making their way to Google’s first page for these very competitive terms. They went from “nowhere to be found” to teetering between #6 and #8 for “Tampa criminal lawyer” pretty quickly. But then, as quickly as they’d skyrocketed up 10 pages on the search engines, Google knocked them down a few pegs to the second page, where they stayed, much to our frustration, for several more months.

Now most people don’t like to hear that things are simply just going to take more time, especially when the financial health of their business hangs in the balance. The lawyers were no exception. But they hung with us. And we kept at it.

Now, after about a year of aggressive – but more importantly, consistent – work, Tampacriminaldefenders.com is #1 for “Tampa criminal lawyer”, and staying there. And they are solidly in the top 3 positions for other highly searched (and super competitive) terms like “Tampa criminal attorney.” This consistent top positioning over the past month has skyrocketed their website traffic. Oh, and their expensive pay-per-click account? We turned it off. That means they are getting record traffic, minus the thousands of dollars of monthly click spend in paid search.

Why bring this up? No, I’m not simply tooting my own SEO horn here. This truly is the perfect case-in-point of what can happen when you invest in quality SEO and link building. It is not an overnight solution, and you must keep at it. But if you do, the rewards can be big. Really, really big.

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Posted in SEO Strategies | 2 Comments »

Does your online marketing plan leverage social media?

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Recently I was approached by a friend asking for a few quick tips on how he could use social media for his brand. Rather than handing over a social media playbook I advised him to focus on the bigger picture of creating an online brand ecosystem. Your online brand presence should incorporate social media as just one touch point for your consumers’ experience with your brand. After all, your consumers’ interaction with your brand should be a journey and not a destination.

When speaking about brand experiences, I can’t seem to knock one major brand example out of my mind; Disney. Take for example a trip to a Disney park; from the moment you enter the park your Disney experience has been well planned for you, with each interaction reinforcing the “Disney Magic” theme. Throughout the day with every activity or brand touch point encountered, the Disney guest experiences the magic and fun behind the Disney brand. It is these small interactions throughout the day that make up the entire brand experience, thus reinforcing the Disney Brand with a strong emotional connection.

So, what does the Disney experience have to do with your online brand strategy? Let your online brand presence take a cue from the Disney park experience. I know this may seem like a lofty goal, however start with an integrated strategy, one that builds your online ecosystem without spreading your brand and budget too thin. Using social media as one of multiple online marketing outlets (Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, etc) shows your brand “guests”, also known as your consumers, you are relative, relatable and worthy of their time. Prove your brand over time in an organic matter, your customers will become loyal fans, your brand will continue to strengthen and involve and of course, your business will reap the benefits you sowed with your integrated online ecosystem.

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Posted in SEO Strategies, Social Media Marketing | 2 Comments »