What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the ranking of a website on search engines. The higher the ranking, the more likely people are to find the site. Many techniques can be used to improve a site’s ranking. One is to use keywords that people are likely to search for. Another is to make sure the site’s code is clean and free of errors.

SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, and it is important to stay up-to-date on the latest developments.

Google’s Core Beliefs About Search Engines

​Google’s three core beliefs about search engines are that they should be:
#1 Fast
#2 Comprehensive
#3 Easy to use

Let’s take a more in-depth look at each of these core beliefs.

#1 Fast
Google believes that search engines should be fast. This means that when you type in a query, you should get results back almost immediately. Google’s search engine is incredibly fast, and it’s one of the things that sets it apart from other search engines.

#2 Comprehensive
Google also believes that search engines should be comprehensive. This means that they should be able to index all of the content on the web, not just a small portion of it. Google’s search engine can index billions of pages, which is a major reason why it’s so popular.

#3 Easy to use
Finally, Google believes that search engines should be easy to use. This means that they should be designed in a way that makes it easy for users to find what they’re looking for. Google’s search engine is very user-friendly, and it’s one of the reasons why so many people use it daily.

These are Google’s three core beliefs about search engines, and they’re the reasons why Google’s search engine is so successful. If you’re looking for a fast, comprehensive, and easy-to-use search engine, then Google is the way to go.

How Search Engines Determine Rankings

​Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the practice of improving the ranking of a website on search engines. The higher the ranking, the more likely people are to find the site.

Several factors go into determining how high a website will rank on a search engine. The algorithms used by search engines are constantly changing, so what may have worked to improve ranking last year may not work this year. In general, however, there are a few key things that will always be important.

  1. Content. Search engines want to see well-written, informative content that is relevant to the keywords being searched. The days of keyword stuffing are long gone – now, it’s all about quality.
  2. The number of links pointing to the site. Search engines see links as votes of confidence – the more links a site has, the better. However, it’s not just about the quantity of links, but also the quality. Links from high-quality, relevant websites are worth more than links from low-quality or irrelevant websites.
  3. Site’s history. Older sites are usually seen as more trustworthy than newer ones and therefore may be given a boost in the rankings. This is why it’s important to build up a site over time, rather than try to launch a fully-fledged site all at once.
  4. Website design. A well-designed, user-friendly site is more likely to rank higher than a site that is difficult to navigate or that doesn’t look good. This is because search engines want to provide their users with the best possible experience, and a good design is a big part of that.

These are just a few of the things that go into search engine rankings. By keeping these factors in mind, you can help your site rank higher and attract more visitors.

How to Get Better Rankings in Search Engines

​Search engine optimization is one of the most effective ways to improve your website’s ranking in search engines. By optimizing your site for better search engine rankings, you can improve your visibility and attract more visitors.

Many factors contribute to your website’s ranking in search engines. Some of these factors are within your control, while others are out of your hands. However, there are a few things you can do to improve your ranking.

One of the most important factors in search engine optimization is your site’s content. Your content must be relevant to your target audience and keywords. In addition, your content must be well-written and informative. Search engines favor websites with high-quality content, so it’s important to focus on creating content that is both relevant and informative.

Another important factor in search engine optimization is your site’s structure. Your website’s structure should be easy for search engines to crawl and index. This means your website should have a clear hierarchy and easy-to-follow navigation. In addition, your website’s code should be clean and well-organized.

In addition to content and structure, another important factor in search engine optimization is your site’s backlink profile. Your backlink profile is the number and quality of links pointing to your website. Search engines use your backlink profile to determine your website’s importance and relevance.

There are several things you can do to improve your backlink profile. One way is to reach out to other websites in your industry and request links. Another way is to create high-quality content that other websites will want to link to. And finally, you can use social media to build links to your website.

If you want to improve your website’s ranking in search engines, it’s important to focus on search engine optimization. By improving your site’s content, structure, and backlink profile, you can attract more visitors and improve your visibility online.

Step 1: Understand Google’s Ranking Algorithm

​If you want your website to rank high on Google, you need to understand how the Google ranking algorithm works. Google’s ranking algorithm is a complex beast, but there are four key factors that you need to focus on if you want to rank high on the search engine:

1. Relevancy
2. Authority
3. Freshness
4. User experience

Relevancy is all about how well your website content matches the search terms that people are using. If you want to rank for the term “dog food”, then you need to make sure that your website is about dog food and not about cats, for example.

Authority is all about how well your website is trusted by Google. If you have a lot of high-quality backlinks from other websites, then Google will view your site as being more authoritative than a site with fewer backlinks.

Freshness is all about how often your website is updated with new content. Google loves fresh content, so if you can regularly add new and relevant information to your site, you’ll see a boost in your rankings.

User experience is all about how easy it is for people to use your website. If your site is easy to navigate and people can find what they’re looking for quickly, then you’ll have a better chance of ranking high on Google.

Keep these four factors in mind as you work on optimizing your website for Google’s search engine algorithm, and you’ll be well on your way to achieving a high ranking.

Step 2: Create Great Content With Keywords

​Are you ready to take your content to the next level and start seeing some serious traffic? If you want your content to rank high in the search engines, you need to start thinking about search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of optimizing your content to rank higher in the search engines.

There are a few key things you need to do to make your content SEO-friendly:

1. Use keyword-rich titles
2. Use keywords throughout your content
3. Optimize your images
4. Promote your content

Step 3: Take Advantage of Structured metadata

​When it comes to SEO, many people focus on optimizing their website’s content and on-page elements. However, there is another important factor that should not be overlooked – structured metadata.

Structured metadata is code that helps search engines understand the content of your website and determine how to properly index and rank your site. This code is typically in the form of HTML tags, which are used to provide information about a page’s title, description, and other important elements.

One of the most important HTML tags for SEO is the <title> tag. This tag specifies the title of a page, which is displayed on the search engine results page (SERP). The title is one of the first things that people see when they perform a search, so it’s important to make sure it’s catchy and relevant to what your website is about.

In addition to the <title> tag, there are a few other important HTML tags that you should take advantage of:

  • The <meta> tag – This tag provides information about a page, such as its author, description, keywords, and other important details.
  • The <h1> tag – This tag specifies the main heading of a page. It’s important to use keywords in your <h1> tag to help search engines understand what your page is about.
  • The <alt> tag – This tag is used to specify an alternative text for images. This is important because search engines can’t index images, so they rely on the alt text to understand what an image is about.

By taking advantage of these HTML tags, you can help search engines better understand your website and improve your chances of ranking high in the SERPs.

Need help? Let our team at Pop Creative, a reliable digital marketing agency in Miami, help you with search engine optimization. Start outranking your competitors today! Reach out to us via email or by calling 786-477-6760.

POP TEAMWhat Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
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The Power of Backlinks: Why They Matter for SEO

So you’ve built a great website, filled it with high-quality content, and now you’re wondering why you’re still not ranking well in search engines. The missing ingredient is likely backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites that point back to your site. They are one of the most important ranking factors for search engines like Google because they demonstrate your authority and credibility. The more high-quality backlinks you have from authoritative sites in your industry, the higher you’ll rank in the search results.

What Are Backlinks and Why Are They Important?

Backlinks are links from other websites that point back to your site. They’re one of the most important factors in search engine optimization (SEO) because search engines like Google use them to determine how authoritative and trustworthy your site is.

Why do backlinks matter?

Backlinks have a huge influence on your search rankings. The more high-quality backlinks you have from authoritative sites, the higher you’ll rank in search results.

  • Backlinks act as “votes” for your site. The more votes you get from influential sites, the more search engines will trust you.
  • Backlinks also help search engines discover your content. The crawlers that index the web follow links between sites, so more backlinks mean more opportunities for the crawlers to find your site.

How do I build high-quality backlinks?

The key is earning backlinks naturally through great content and outreach. Here are some tips:

  1. Create link-worthy content. Publish content that provides value to your readers and that other sites would want to link to. Things like in-depth guides, data studies, and resources are good options.
  2. Do outreach to high-authority sites. Contact influencers and media publications in your industry and pitch them to link to your content. But only do this with extremely high-value content.
  3. Build relationships. Comment on other blogs, participate in forums and make genuine connections with people who may be interested in linking to your site. Don’t just ask for links right away.
  4. Use tools to find link opportunities. Tools like Buzzstream, Ahrefs, and Majestic SEO can help you find relevant high-authority sites to reach out to. They also help you monitor your existing backlinks.

By creating great content, building relationships, and consistent outreach, you’ll develop a strong backlink profile and see significant improvements in your search rankings. The effort is well worth it!

How to Build High-Quality Backlinks

Building high-quality backlinks to your site is key for ranking well in search engines like Google. How do you go about getting good backlinks? Here are some tips:

Focus on relevance

Look for sites that are relevant and authoritative in your industry or niche. Backlinks from these sites carry more weight. Do some research to find influencers, popular blogs, news sites, and resources in your field. Pitch them to earn a backlink.

Provide value

The best way to get a site to link back to you is by giving them something of value. This could be an interesting guest post, an insightful infographic, a useful tool or resource, or data from an original study. Make it easy for them to link back by including an author bio with a link to your site.

Build relationships

Don’t just drop an email out of the blue asking for a backlink. Build real relationships with other site owners and influencers. Engage with them on social media, comment on their blog posts, and link to their content. When the time is right, you can reach out about a backlink. But do it in a genuine, mutually beneficial way.

Diversify anchor text

Use a mix of your target keyword, brand name, and generic terms like “click here” for your backlink anchor text. Having too many backlinks with the exact same anchor text can look unnatural to search engines.

Monitor and maintain

Keep track of all your backlinks to make sure they remain live and point to the correct page. Check referral traffic in your analytics to see which backlinks are sending the most traffic. Reach out and build stronger relationships with those sites. Keep earning new high-quality backlinks over time to maintain and improve your search ranking.

Best Backlink Building Strategies for 2023

Building high-quality backlinks to your website is one of the best ways to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and rankings in 2023. Here are some of the top backlink-building strategies to focus on:

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging on other websites is an easy way to earn backlinks. Look for websites in your industry that accept guest posts and pitch them your content ideas. When they publish your post, they’ll include a link back to your site. Aim for guest blogging on authoritative sites with a high domain authority and page authority.

Broken Link Building

Find broken links on other websites and pitch them your content as a replacement. Explain that you have a relevant, high-quality resource they could link to instead. This is an easy way to pick up high-value backlinks from authoritative sites.

Resource Page Link Building

Build relationships with other websites and ask them to include your content on their resource or “best of” pages. Having a link on an authoritative site’s resource page passes tremendous SEO value. Offer to include their content on your resource pages as well.

Digital PR

Pitch journalists, bloggers, and influencers to help spread the word about new content, tools, data, or resources on your website. Let them know you’re available as an expert source for future stories as well. The backlinks and brand exposure gained through digital PR are very powerful for SEO.

Competitor Backlink Analysis

Analyze the backlinks pointing to your competitor’s websites and reach out to the sites linking to them. Explain that you have similar or better content and resources they may want to consider linking to as well. This allows you to gain backlinks from authoritative sites that your competitors already have links from.

Building a diverse range of high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites is the key to dominating search rankings in 2023 and beyond. Focus on the strategies above and make backlink building a priority in your SEO efforts for the best results.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the power of backlinks and why they’re so critical for search engine optimization and ranking highly in Google. Build high-quality, relevant links to your website and you’ll reap the rewards with increased organic traffic and visibility. While it can take time to build a strong backlink profile, the effort is well worth it. Keep working at it each week, month after month, creating and earning more links from authoritative sites in your niche. Before you know it, you’ll have built a powerful network of backlinks that will propel your site to the top of the SERPs. The power of backlinks is real, so get out there and start link-building today. Your search rankings and traffic will thank you for it.

Looking for a reliable digital marketing agency to help you optimize your business’s searchability? Pop Creative is one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies in South Florida that drives results. Call 786-477-6760 or request a FREE quote today.

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Google My Business: Your Key to Local Search Dominance

Ever wondered how some businesses seem to dominate the local search results in Google Maps and search? The answer is simple: Google My Business. As a business owner, claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing should be one of your top priorities. It’s your key to appearing prominently in the local search results for your target customers.

When people search for businesses like yours, you want your name and information to appear at the top of the list. Google My Business makes that possible. It’s a free tool that allows you to input all the details about your business so you can rank higher in Google’s local algorithm. You can add your business name, address, phone number, website, photos, videos, and more. The more complete and optimized your listing is, the better your chances of ranking well and driving new local customers and sales. If you’re not taking advantage of this powerful free resource, you’re missing out on connecting with potential new customers that are actively searching for businesses like yours. Make claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing a priority this week. Your business success could depend on it.

What is Google My Business and Why it Matters

Google My Business is Google’s free tool for local businesses to manage their online presence across Google Search and Maps. It’s your key to showing up prominently in local search results and getting discovered by customers.

Why it Matters

As a local business owner, ranking highly in local search results is critical to your success. Over 50% of searches on Google have local intent, meaning people are looking for nearby businesses, stores, or services. If you’re not optimizing your Google My Business listing, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

Here are a few of the major benefits of Google My Business:

  1. Appear in the Local Pack. The top 3 businesses that show up prominently in local search results, with info like your address, hours, and photos. This prime real estate gets a lot of clicks.
  2. Improve your local SEO. By fully optimizing your listing with relevant details, you can rank higher in local search and drive more traffic to your website or store. Use important keywords in your business name, description, and categories.
  3. Build trust and credibility. A complete and verified Google My Business listing establishes your business as legitimate and reputable in the eyes of customers. It’s a chance to share authentic photos, positive reviews, and helpful information about your company.
  4. Insights to improve your marketing. Google My Business provides data on how people interact with your listing like how many views, searches, clicks, calls, or directions requests you’re getting. Use these insights to better reach potential customers.

Google My Business is the foundation for local search success. Put in the effort to optimize your listing and you’ll reap the rewards through increased visibility, traffic, and ultimately, revenue. It’s worth the investment for any local business.

How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

To get the most out of your Google My Business listing, you’ll want to optimize it. Here are some tips to improve your ranking and visibility:

Choose a memorable business name and profile photo. Having an eye-catching name and photo helps you stand out from the competition. Make sure your business name, address, and phone number are up-to-date and accurate.

Fill out your business description. This is your chance to tell potential customers about your business. Mention your products, services, hours of operation, and anything else that makes you unique. Aim for 2-3 short paragraphs.

Post photos of your business. Images help bring your listing to life. Add photos of your storefront, products, staff, and customers. Post at least 5-10 high-quality photos.

Respond to reviews. Reply to both positive and negative reviews in a professional, polite manner. Thank happy customers and address any concerns. Responding to reviews builds trust and shows you value feedback.

Add a business website and social media links. Provide links to your official website, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media profiles. This makes you look more credible and gives customers more ways to connect with your business.

Continuously update your listing. Update details like your hours of operation, products, services, photos, and videos regularly. An outdated listing won’t rank as highly and won’t provide an optimal customer experience. Stay on top of it!

Following these best practices will help boost your visibility in local search results. An optimized Google My Business listing is a key part of any effective local SEO strategy. Put in the work now and reap the rewards through increased foot traffic and revenue!

Advanced Google My Business Tactics to Boost Local Rankings

Once you’ve claimed and optimized your Google My Business listing, it’s time to take it to the next level. Here are some advanced tactics to improve your local search rankings and visibility.

Encourage customer reviews

Customer reviews are social proof that builds trust in your business. Politely ask happy customers to leave you a review on your Google My Business listing. Respond to both positive and negative reviews promptly and professionally. Keep a positive attitude in your responses to negative reviews.

Post regular updates

Post updates, events, news, and photos to your Google My Business account twice per month or more. Updates keep your listing active in Google’s eyes and give customers a reason to check in on your profile. Share details on sales, new products, awards, or community involvement.

Build your Q&A

The Q&A feature allows customers to ask questions about your business, products, or services and get answers from you directly. Provide prompt, thorough, and helpful responses to questions to build your credibility and authority. Check your Q&A regularly and reply to new questions within 24 hours.

Add high-quality photos

Photos bring your listing to life and help you rank higher in image searches. Post at least 5-10 high-resolution photos of your business, staff, products, services, and events. Photos should be well-lit, in focus, and showcase the best your business has to offer. Update your photos every few months to keep things fresh.

Create blog content

Start a business blog and link to posts from your Google My Business account. Fresh, high-quality content that mentions your business name, location, and products or services will give Google more reasons to rank your listing prominently in local search results. Blog about your industry, community involvement, staff highlights, new products, or behind-the-scenes stories.

Using these advanced techniques will strengthen your online presence, build a loyal customer base and achieve local search dominance. Consistency and active engagement are key, so commit to optimizing your Google My Business listing over the long run.

Conclusion

You’ve learned about the power of Google My Business and how it can transform your local search presence. Now it’s time to take action. Connect your business and start optimizing your listing. Choose eye-catching photos, craft an enticing description, and engage with customer reviews and Q&A. The more you put into your Google My Business profile, the more you’ll get out of it. People will start to find you when searching for businesses like yours in your area. Your phone will ring more often. Foot traffic will increase. And before you know it, you’ll be dominating the local search results and bringing in new customers every single day through the power of Google. What are you waiting for? Start boosting your local search rankings now. The rewards are huge for those who make the effort.

Looking for a reliable digital marketing agency to help you create and optimize your Google My Business Profile? Pop Creative is one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies in South Florida that drives results. Call 786-477-6760 or request a FREE quote today.

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Keyword Research for SEO: The Beginner’s Guide

You’ve heard that keywords are the key to search engine optimization (SEO) and that keyword research is essential if you want your website to rank higher in Google. But where do you start? Keyword research can seem overwhelming, especially if you’re new to SEO. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of keyword research and show you how to find the best keywords to target for your website. By the end, you’ll be conducting keyword research like a pro and optimizing your content to rank at the top of the search results.

What is Keyword Research and Why is it Crucial for SEO?

Keyword research is the foundation of any good SEO strategy. It’s how you find the search terms people actually use to find your business or content online. By identifying the right keywords to target, you’ll drive more organic traffic through search engines like Google.

Why do keywords matter?

Keywords are the words or phrases people enter into search engines to find information on a topic. The more relevant traffic you can drive through keywords, the better your SEO will be. Some key reasons keyword research is so important:

  1. It helps determine high-volume, low-competition keywords. You want to find search terms that lots of people search for, but that, not too many other websites are optimized for.
  2. It ensures you’re creating content around terms people actually search for. No point in writing blog posts or optimizing pages for keywords no one uses!
  3. It allows you to optimize your page content, page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and page URLs for the keywords that will drive the most traffic.
  4. It gives you insight into search intent so you can better serve users. Do people search that term to learn something, buy a product, find company information, etc.?
  5. It helps you stay ahead of search trends so you can optimize for rising keywords. Some tools allow you to see fast-rising search terms.

In summary, keyword research is the process of discovering the most valuable keywords for your business so you can then optimize your SEO around them. By knowing the search terms people use, you’ll attract more visitors, increase traffic, and ultimately boost your search rankings.

How to Do Effective Keyword Research: Tips and Tools

To rank high in search engines, you need to do effective keyword research. Here are some tips and tools to help:

Use Free Keyword Research Tools

There are many free tools to help find popular keywords. Try Google’s Keyword Planner, Moz’s Keyword Explorer, or Ubersuggest. Enter a broad term and these tools will suggest related keywords, search volume, and difficulty. Look for keywords with high volume and low difficulty.

Do Competitor Analysis

See what keywords your competitors are ranking for. Use a tool like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or SpyFu to find keywords that send traffic to competitor sites. Then optimize your content to rank for those keywords.

Include Long-Tail Keywords

Don’t just target single keywords. Aim for long-tail keywords – phrases of 3 to 5 words – as well. They are less competitive but still drive traffic. For example, instead of just ” Keyword research”, also target “step-by-step keyword research” or “beginner’s guide to keyword research”.

Use Keyword Variations

Include synonyms, plural/singular forms, and related phrases. For example, use “keyword research” as well as “keyword analysis”, “keyword generation” or “finding keywords”. This helps you rank for a wider range of searches.

Place Keywords Strategically

Use keywords in your page title, URL, headers, and content. Mention the keyword 3-5 times in the first 100 words, and 1-2 times in each following 100-word block. Don’t overoptimize, as this can hurt your ranking. Place keywords naturally in your content.

With the right tools and techniques, you’ll be finding valuable keywords to help your content rank high in search results. Now get out there and do some effective keyword research!

Optimizing Your Content With Keyword Research Data

Keyword research helps you optimize your content for search engines like Google. By analyzing search trends and volumes, you can determine which keywords and phrases to target in your content.

Choosing the Right Keywords

Focus on keywords that are:

  • Relevant to your content topic and audience
  • Frequently searched (at least 500-1,000 searches per month)
  • Have low competition (easier to rank for)

A good tool for researching keywords is Google’s Keyword Planner. Enter some keywords related to your topic and it will suggest many more, along with search volume and competition data.

Once you’ve selected 5-10 good keywords, use them in your:

  • Page titles and URLs
  • Headings (H2 and H3 tags)
  • First 100 words of content
  • Image file names and alt text
  • Meta description (the snippet under the page title in search results)

Using Synonyms and Related Terms

Don’t just repeat the exact keywords over and over. Include synonyms, plural/singular forms, and related phrases as well. For example, if your keyword is “content marketing”, also use:

  • Content marketing strategy
  • Content strategic plan
  • Content campaign
  • Content promotion
  • Content distribution

Using these related terms helps search engines better understand your content topic and can improve your rankings.

Tracking Your Rankings and Optimizing

Check where your content ranks for each target keyword in Google. If it’s not on the first page yet, you may need to:

  • Improve page load speed
  • Build more high-quality backlinks
  • Increase engagement (shares, comments, time on page)
  • Refine keyword usage and content

Keep optimizing and tracking your rankings over time. With consistent effort, you can improve your search visibility and traffic.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a quick crash course in keyword research for beginners. While it may seem complicated, keyword research is the foundation for any successful SEO campaign. Take the time to do it right, choose keywords that you’re genuinely interested in, and optimize your content around them. Your readers and search rankings will thank you. Remember, start broad then narrow down, look for search volume and difficulty, organize into themes, and keep testing and improving. The more you practice, the easier it will get. Now get out there and start optimizing your content – you’ve got this! With the right keywords and optimized content, you’ll be ranking in no time.

Looking for a reliable digital marketing agency? Pop Creative is one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies in South Florida that drives results. Call 786-477-6760 or request a FREE quote today.

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Crack the Code: 5 Insider Tips for Google Search Optimization

Top 5 Tips on Google Search Optimization

 

Ever wondered how some websites always rank at the top of Google search results? There’s an art and science to Google search optimization, and the pros have unlocked the insider secrets. But don’t worry, we’ve cracked the code and are sharing the top tips to boost your Google rankings and send more traffic to your website.

You’ve spent hours crafting great content, designing an awesome site, and building your online brand. Now it’s time to make sure people can actually find you. With over 3.5 billion searches per day, getting on the first page of Google results is the holy grail. These insider tips will have you outranking the competition in no time and claim your spot at the top. Whether you’re a blogging pro or just getting started, our search optimization tricks will uncover the mysteries of Google and have you master your rankings. Ready to go from zero to hero? It’s time to crack the code.

1. Keyword Research – Selecting the Right Keywords for Google Search Optimization

To rank well in Google, you need to choose keywords that people actually search for.

Do thorough research

Check tools like Google Trends and Keyword Planner to see search volume and competition for keywords. Look for phrases with over 1,000 searches a month and low-medium difficulty.

Include synonyms and related terms

Include synonyms, related phrases, and semantically similar terms for your main keywords throughout your content. For example, use “digital marketing” as well as “internet marketing,” “online marketing,” and “web marketing.”

Place keywords strategically

Include your target keywords in headings, subheadings, the first and last paragraphs, and 2-3 times in the body content. Don’t overdo it, or Google may penalize you!

Provide value

Write content that provides real value to readers. Focus on being helpful, not just ranking in search results. High-quality, in-depth content will keep people on your page longer, which signals to Google that your content is useful.

Mobile-friendly design

With more people searching on mobile devices, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. If not, you’ll miss out on valuable search traffic and rankings. Responsive web design and accelerated mobile pages (AMP) can help.

Following these tips will put you well on your way to ranking higher in Google and gaining more search traffic. But remember, search optimization is an ongoing process. Keep refining and improving your content and website over time.

2. Optimize Title Tags and Meta Descriptions for Each Page

Want to rank higher on Google? Optimizing your title tags and meta descriptions is key.

Focus on your page titles first. These appear at the top of the browser and are critical for search ranking and click-through rates. Aim for 55-60 characters and include your target keyword. For example, “Crack the Code: 5 Insider Tips for Google Search Optimization”.

Then craft compelling meta descriptions of 150-160 characters. This snippet under the title is your sales pitch to get people to click. Mention your keyword, highlight the benefits, and end with a call to action like “Learn more”.

Use latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords in your titles and descriptions. These are related words and phrases that help Google understand your content. For SEO, include terms like “improve search ranking”, “increase traffic”, or “top search results”.

Finally, make titles and descriptions unique for each page. Don’t just copy and paste the same one across your site. Customize them to match the specific content and keywords on that page.

With optimized title tags and meta descriptions, your pages will have a better chance of ranking higher in search results. And that means more targeted traffic and better visibility for your awesome content!

3. Create Quality Content That Answers User Intent

To rank well in Google search results, you need to create content that provides real value to users. Focus on addressing the intent behind the search query by:

Providing comprehensive, in-depth content

Google favors content that thoroughly covers the topic the user is searching for. Aim for authoritative content that establishes you as an expert. Include related terms and synonyms to capture a range of search queries.

For example, if writing about Google search optimization, discuss both SEO and SEM, organic and paid strategies, backlinks and anchor text, meta titles, and descriptions, page speed, etc. The more quality information you provide, the better. Just be sure to keep your content scannable and easy to read.

Answering common questions

Think about the types of questions users may have on the topic and directly address them in your content. Provide clear steps, examples, data, images, or video as needed to fully answer each question. Meeting the needs of your readers will keep them engaged and ranking your content higher.

Using an engaging yet professional tone

Adopt a friendly, conversational tone to connect with readers, but avoid being too casual. Your content should sound professional while still being accessible and easy to understand. Focus on educating and empowering your audience.

Keeping content up-to-date

With changes in search engine algorithms, your industry, and trends, content can become outdated quickly. Revisit older content and update as needed to ensure all information is current. Make updating existing content part of your optimization strategy. Fresh, relevant content ranks higher and provides more value to users.

4. Improving Site Speed is Crucial to Google Search Optimization

To rank higher in Google search results, improving your site speed is key. According to Google, 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

There are a few ways to enhance your site’s speed:

  • Minimize the number of HTTP requests. The more files your page loads (images, CSS, JS, etc.), the slower it will be. Remove any unnecessary files and combine multiple CSS and JS files when possible.
  • Compress images. Images make up most of the data on web pages. Compress your images to reduce their file size without sacrificing quality. You can use a tool like TinyPNG or Kraken.io.
  • Enable browser caching. Caching stores website data in the user’s browser so it doesn’t have to reload it on subsequent visits. Set appropriate cache times for your images, CSS, and JS files.
  • Minify CSS and JS. Minifying removes unnecessary spaces and line breaks, reducing the file size. Use a minifier tool on your CSS and JS files.
  • Choose a fast, reliable web host. Your hosting provider and server setup have a huge impact on site speed. Choose a host known for speed and reliability, and make sure your WordPress install is optimized.

Improving your site speed is worth the effort. Faster sites lead to better user experience, higher rankings, and more traffic and revenue. Follow these tips and your site will be speeding to the top of Google search results in no time.

5. Create a Mobile-Friendly Website

A mobile-friendly website is crucial for ranking well in Google search results these days. Nearly half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices, so if your site isn’t optimized for smartphones and tablets, you’re missing out on a huge number of potential visitors.

Make your site responsive

The most important thing you can do is make your website responsive. This means it dynamically adapts to whatever device it’s being viewed on. Images, text, and videos resize to fit the screen. Buttons and links are still easy to tap. Responsive design is Google’s strong preference and a must for ranking well.

You have a few options for building a responsive site:

  • Use a responsive theme if you have a WordPress site. Many are free or low-cost.
  • Redesign your current site to be responsive. This may require help from a web designer.
  • Build a separate mobile version of your site. But keep the content the same to avoid duplicate content penalties.
  • Use a page builder tool like Wix or Squarespace that creates responsive sites by default.

Going responsive is the #1 thing you can do to improve your search rankings and gain more mobile traffic. Once your site displays perfectly on any device, you’ll be in a great position for Google to send more mobile searchers your way.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Five tried-and-true ways to boost your search rankings and get your website in front of more eyeballs. The search optimization game is an ongoing process, but follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to cracking the code. Stay up-to-date with the latest algorithm changes, focus on creating high-quality content, build internal links, earn external backlinks, and keep your page speed fast. Do that, and you’ll have Google on your side, which means more traffic, more visibility, and more success for your business. Now go forth and optimize! The top spots in the SERPs await.

Need help with Google search optimization? Pop Creative is one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies in South Florida that drives results. Call 786-477-6760 or request a FREE quote today.

POP TEAMCrack the Code: 5 Insider Tips for Google Search Optimization
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Why Local SEO Matters: Effective Digital Marketing for Any Business

The Importance of Local SEO and How it Works

 

You’ve got a great new business up and running and an awesome website to match. But in today’s highly digital world, simply having an online presence isn’t enough. You need to actually drive traffic to your site and get found by potential customers searching for businesses like yours. This is where local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in. Local search engine optimization helps boost your visibility in the search results for location-based queries on platforms like Google, Bing, and Yelp. When people search for businesses in your area of expertise, you want your company to be at the top of the list. Implementing effective local SEO strategies is key to connecting with customers and growing your business. It’s one of the most powerful forms of digital marketing for any local business.

What is Local SEO and Why it Matters for Your Business

Local SEO is optimizing your website and online presence to rank higher in local search results. This means people searching for businesses like yours in your city will find you first. Why does this matter?

Increased Visibility

Being on the first page of local search results increases your visibility to potential new customers. People rarely look past the first few results, so ranking high is key.

More Foot Traffic

Local SEO helps drive more local traffic to your brick-and-mortar business. The easier you are to find online, the more people will visit you in person.

Higher Conversion Rates

Customers searching locally are more likely to actually become paying customers. Since they’re looking for a business conveniently located near them, they have the intention to buy from someone in their neighborhood.

Builds Trust

A good local ranking signals to searchers that your business is reputable and trustworthy. It shows you’re engaged with and care about your local community. People prefer to support companies that support them.

The bottom line is local SEO should be an essential part of any smart digital marketing strategy. Optimizing for local search is well worth the investment and can have a huge payoff for businesses with a physical location. The more you focus on ranking locally, the more visible, traffic, and sales your company will gain. Local SEO matters.

How to Optimize Your Website for Local Search Engine Optimization

Optimizing your website for local SEO is key to improving your visibility and rankings in local search results. Here are some tips to get started:

Optimize page titles and meta descriptions

Choose page titles and meta descriptions that include your location or city name, especially on pages like your Contact Us, About Us, and Services pages. For example, “Dog Grooming in Austin, TX | About Us” or “Best Pizza in New York | Joe’s Pizza”.

Include your address and contact info

Make your address, phone number, and other contact details very easy to find on your website, ideally in the header and footer of all pages. Local search engines look for this info to determine your location and rankings.

Focus on local keywords

Use keywords and phrases that include your city or state name. For a florist in San Diego, focus on terms like “flower delivery San Diego” or “San Diego florists”. Use these keywords in your page titles, headings, content, image alt text, and page URLs.

Build location-based backlinks

Earn high-quality backlinks from other local sites like neighborhood associations, chamber of commerce sites, local publications, etc. These backlinks signal to Google that your business is established and reputable within your local community.

Encourage customer reviews

Positive online reviews from real customers are social proof that builds trust and credibility for local search rankings. Make it easy for happy customers to review your business on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp. Respond to all reviews and mention your location in your responses.

With an optimized website and solid local SEO strategy, your business will rank higher in local search results and gain more visibility and customers from your community. The extra effort will pay off!

Additional Local Search Engine Optimization Tactics for Maximum Visibility

To maximize your local visibility, implement these additional search engine optimization tactics:

Optimized Online Profiles

Claim and optimize your profiles on sites like Yelp, Facebook, and Google My Business. Fill out all sections with current info and photos. Engage with reviewers and respond promptly to all posts. An active social presence builds trust and ranks you higher in local search results.

High-Quality Reviews

Ask happy customers to leave positive reviews on your profiles and website. Respond to all reviews in a professional, helpful manner. Reviews are a key local SEO ranking factor, so aim for at least 10-15 across major sites. Offer incentives like discounts or free products in exchange for reviews to speed up the process.

Internal Linking

Link to your local business profiles and contact page from relevant content on your website. Also link to pages highlighting products, services, or locations that would interest local customers. Internal links pass “link juice” and authority to your local pages, signaling to search engines that they are important.

Localized Page Content

Ensure your website has a dedicated local business page with your full address, hours of operation, contact info, and a Google Map. Use location-specific keywords and phrases throughout your content. Mention the city and state your business operates in, especially on your home page and local business page. Localized content helps search engines determine your service area and rank you for searches within that area.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Local SEO is critical for any small business looking to boost their online presence and get found by customers searching in their area. By focusing your efforts on optimizing for local search, you’ll drive more targeted traffic to your website and increase the chances of scoring new customers. The best part is local SEO doesn’t require a huge budget or extensive technical skills to implement. With some time and effort optimizing your local listings, building location-based content, and earning good reviews, you’ll be well on your way to dominating local search results and achieving marketing success. What are you waiting for? Start boosting your local SEO today and reap the rewards. Your business and bottom line will thank you.

Need help in creating and implementing your Local SEO strategy? Pop Creative is one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies in South Florida that drives results. Call 786-477-6760 today.

POP TEAMWhy Local SEO Matters: Effective Digital Marketing for Any Business
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Benefits of SEO for Small Businesses

SEO stands for search engine optimization. When optimizing a website for search engines, there’s a focus on attracting relevant traffic. But what does SEO entail and what are the benefits of SEO for small businesses? A lot of business owners mistakenly believe that SEO is irrelevant to their marketing. However, a well-optimized website can deliver excellent results for businesses.

Can SEO Help Your Business?

The short answer is yes, definitely.

SEO is all about helping your website rank on search engines like Google. So, if your website is optimized for search, it will show up on the first pages of search engines whenever people search for your product or service.

There are various SEO tactics that digital marketing companies use to help improve website SEO, these include:

  • The use of relevant keywords throughout your website copy
  • Relevant link building tactics to improve your website’s domain authority
  • Skilled SEO web development
  • Regularly updating your website with new content

If your website is properly optimized for SEO, you’ll be able to attract traffic from relevant internet searches.

For instance, if your business is in the construction industry, your website SEO will be focused on attracting traffic from search queries related to building and construction. Better yet, your SEO can focus on attracting traffic from search queries from people looking for construction in your area.

This is the basic principle of how SEO can help your business. But there’s more to SEO than meets the eye. Aside from increased search engine traffic, an SEO website can offer more advantages.

Benefits of SEO for Small Business

Many small business owners view SEO as an advanced marketing technique that requires a big budget. But SEO isn’t a marketing strategy that’s reserved for fortune 500 companies. Small businesses can also benefit from relevant SEO marketing. These some of the benefits of SEO for small businesses.

Increase Organic Website Traffic

If someone visits your website by clicking a non-sponsored listing directly from their search engine, this person is supplying organic traffic to your website. In other words, your website can get organic traffic for free if it’s optimized for search.

Other forms of traffic to your website can include:

  • Paid traffic: This is when someone visits your website by clicking a sponsored listing on Google, or an ad on social media. Basically, any traffic you get through paid online advertising is paid traffic.
  • Social traffic: If you promote your website on social media (i.e. your Facebook page, business Twitter account or Pinterest) and people click your social links to arrive at your website, this is called social traffic.
  • Referral traffic: This is traffic from sources that aren’t search engines or social media sites. If your business is on local business directory and people click a link to your website from the directory, that’s a source of referral traffic.
  • Email traffic: If your business has an email marketing newsletter with links that refer people to your website, that’s a source of email traffic.

Some other traffic sources to your site can also be direct (where people paste your website URL directly into their browsers) or unknown.

Of all the different kinds of web traffic you can get, organic traffic is the best. That’s because organic traffic is free and you won’t need to constantly promote your website on social media or in email newsletters to keep a consistent amount of traffic coming in.

SEO is the only way to improve your website’s indexability in search engines.

User-friendly Websites

An important aspect of a website that’s optimized for search is that it must be user friendly. Search engine crawlers look at critical data such as website loading times when selecting what websites to display in top search results.

A website that’s too slow to load will turn many people off, so it’s important that your business website is optimized for quick loading times.

Another thing to consider is how responsive your website is. Nowadays, so many people are using mobile devices like phones and tablets to browse the internet. Search engines try to give users the best possible experience by only listing websites that display well across all different devices.

Getting a user-friendly website that’s developed specially for search engines is one area where getting professional SEO help is most necessary. Your website’s functionality is at the core of all your other SEO efforts.

SEO Can Be Local or Global

Your website SEO can be focused around attracting traffic from your local area. So if your business operates locally, your SEO can focus on attracting local people who are potential customers to your website.

There are some great options available, like Google My Business and Bing Local to help local businesses even more in attracting customers that are situated in the area.

On the other hand, many businesses can benefit from attracting traffic from all over the world. Hotels, travel companies and software providers don’t need to stick to local SEO because their customers could be anywhere in the world. In such an instance, these businesses can benefit from an SEO strategy that’s will attract relevant traffic from all over the world.

SEO Builds Trust

Any business can have a website or Facebook page, but not any business can rank on the first pages of search engines for industry-specific searches.

This is one of the major benefits of SEO for small businesses. Even small businesses can rank high for popular search terms. Once your website becomes a known source of information for your industry, customers will trust your brand.

SEO Only Gets Better

As mentioned, a lot of marketing tactics to attract website traffic are temporary. You might see a spike in web traffic after sending out a marketing email, or publishing a Facebook post, but the results won’t last.

Long-term SEO strategies such as content marketing, deliver results for longer. In many cases, the traffic you get to your best blog posts will only grow over time, not diminish. The great thing about this is that you still only pay once, but can reap the benefits of a good content piece for years to come.

Similarly, a website that’s designed with SEO and user-friendliness in mind, won’t stop delivering results right after it goes live. On the contrary, your business website should grow over time as a marketing asset for your company.

SEO Is Affordable

Of all the benefits of SEO for small business, this is one you might not have expected. But SEO is a cheaper form of marketing compared to many alternatives.

When you take into consideration that your business can keep enjoying the benefits of SEO long after your first investment, your initial input costs become so much less.

If you compare SEO to placing advertisements in local newspapers, or running ad campaigns on radio or television, SEO delivers a much better ROI.

Another benefit is that an SEO website opens up more marketing opportunities. You can use your website as a hub to direct your social media followers to your sales pages, or to get email subscribers and grow your marketing reach.

How to Do SEO for Your Business

When starting out with SEO for your business, having a website that’s well-optimized should be your first priority. There are various ways to go about getting a website. Some businesses opt for a website builder such as Squarespace. However, building your own website on this kind of platform usually isn’t a good long-term choice.

The best, most reliable platform to build a website is a self-hosted WordPress site. The good thing about WordPress is that it’s reasonably easy to use, even for beginners. There are some premium themes available that allow business owners to build their own websites quite easily at a low cost.

The problem is that even on an easy-to-use website builder, it takes skill to craft a great SEO website. You want your website to look good and be highly functional. Doing everything yourself will require a lot of skills such as graphics design, web design and more.

The easiest way to get a great SEO website is to hire an experienced web design company to handle the project for you.

The great thing about WordPress is that you can start off with a budget website you built yourself, and save for a more sophisticated SEO site while you already have your website up. You won’t need to migrate your website from one platform to another once you’re ready to invest in web development services.

Rozanne WildsBenefits of SEO for Small Businesses
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Local SEO vs Organic SEO: How to Choose?

It’s no secret that the internet has drastically transformed society. From social media changing the way we stay in touch with friends, to email reforming our business communication. Local marketing is no exception. In the past, phonebook listings and local adverts were some of the best ways to market businesses locally. These days, people are far more likely to search for local businesses online. This means the best way to advertise a local business is to make sure people can find it in online searches.

Search engine optimization (or SEO for short) has helped countless businesses attract clients. However, not all practices are the same. When looking at SEO, there’s a distinct difference between local SEO vs organic SEO. What your business needs most will depend on several factors, but a lot of businesses can benefit most from a combination local and organic SEO techniques.

What Is SEO for Businesses?

Before distinguishing between local and organic SEO, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what SEO entails. As the term “search engine optimization” suggests, SEO is the practice of improving a website with the goal of helping search engines list it.

Some common strategies to help a business website list in relevant searches include:

  • Adding enough relevant keywords in the website content
  • Establishing and managing a business social media presence
  • Optimizing the company website to offer a user-friendly experience
  • Listing a company in relevant business directories

This is only a short summary of what SEO entails. Entire books can be written on each one of the above-mentioned points. Search engine algorithms are always changing, and so SEO practices must also adapt to accommodate new criteria set by search engines for indexability.

Regardless, there are certain facets of SEO that remain stable. For instance, the inclusion of keywords in website content is always advantageous. Search engines scan website texts in order to find phrases and words relevant to searches. Although the use of relevant keywords isn’t the only thing search engines look at when choosing the most relevant search results, it will always remain an important part of SEO.

Local SEO vs Organic SEO: What’s the Difference?

Understanding the concept of SEO helps to distinguish between local and organic SEO techniques. Although both forms of SEO focus on helping a website list in searches, the main difference is the audience local SEO will attract vs organic SEO.

What is Local SEO?

Quite simply, local SEO is focused around helping a business attract website traffic from local searches. Local searches in this context simply means that the searches are specific to a location. The exact location of the search could be as broad as a whole country, or as narrow as a specific town.

Examples of local searches could include the following:

  • Tourist attractions in the United States
  • Car insurance in South Carolina
  • Web design services in Miami, FL

The first example is a local search, but not a very specific one. Results will be relevant to the specific place mentioned in the search, but in this case the “place” in question is the whole US. As a result, listings could include geographic locations from any state or city. That’s not very helpful for someone looking to tour only a specific part of the country.

In the second example, the place mentioned in the search is the state of South Carolina. Getting listed for searches specific to a state is much more useful for most businesses. A lot of companies only operate in one state and are looking to attract customers from that region.

The third example focuses on both the state and the city in which the business operates. A lot of small to medium sized businesses only operate in one town or city. A local bakery, for instance, will target customers from the city where it operates. In such a case, there’s no use attracting potential customers that are too far out of the town where the business is located.

In practice, this means that local SEO aims to help local businesses attract clientele. Just how local the SEO will be, depends on the needs of a specific business.

What is Organic SEO?

Organic SEO is all about listing a website for specific keywords or phrases. Unlike with local SEO, the keywords you’re trying to list the website for might not be specific to a region.

Here are some examples of organic SEO keywords people might search for:

  • How to get more sleep
  • Best apple pie recipes
  • Happy songs to listen to

The important thing here is that none of these search phrases target a specific place. They’re all general searches. People from all over the world could search for these things. The content a search engine lists in the results can also originate from any country.

Theoretically, organic SEO searches have the potential to bring in far more website traffic, but website visitors can be from any place in the world – not just locally.

For businesses, listing in organic searches often means to list in industry-specific searches rather than location-specific ones. A plumber might have website content that shows up in a search for “how to fix a leaky tap?”, for instance.

The benefit of listing for general search terms isn’t necessarily attracting more customers directly. Instead, having content that lists for industry-related search queries can help you establish yourself as an expert in your industry. In turn, this will cause potential customers to see your company as a trustworthy business in your industry.

The Difference Between Local SEO and Organic SEO Listings

Till now, the main focus was to explain the difference between local and organic SEO in terms of local vs general enquiries. However, there’s another difference between local and organic search – Google’s listing format.

When searching for a term such as “car insurance in South Carolina” Google has a special section to list local businesses that suit the criteria of the search. After these local results, there are also some normal Google listings, which you can find underneath the first three results.

Local SEO listings on Google

Google has a local listing format which is integrated with Maps and other Google services.

The first three listings are local businesses and they have a physical address linking to Google Maps – these are local listings. All the subsequent listings are location-specific organic listings. This can seem confusing at first. After all, can’t all listings for location-specific searches just be local listings?

Organic listings

Google also has organic listings for location-specific searches. These listings will usually be relevant to a local search query, but they aren’t integrated with Maps.

To clear up the confusion, it’s important to understand that only Google has separate listing formats for local vs organic listings. Other search engines, such as DuckDuckGo and Bing only have the organic listings in their results.

Google’s “local listings” section is actually filled with results from a Google service called “Google My Business”. So actually “local listings” can also be called “Google My Business listings”. Essentially, the difference between local and organic listings is simply where Google gets them from.

Local listings are from Google My Business, specifically. When opened, a local listing will display a company’s Google My Business profile and its location on Google Maps.

Organic listings can be from all over the internet. Quite often, organic listings link directly to the websites of relevant local businesses. Organic listings can also link to social media profiles or online business directories.

More About Google My Business Listings

The Google My Business service is almost like Google’s own version of a business directory. It’s a service Google offers to help local businesses get found online. Google My Business is integrated with other Google services like Google Maps and Google Reviews. This allows customers to easily get a good overview of a local business. As an added benefit, a business can also link to their business website directly from the GMB listing.

The fact that Google My Business is integrated with Google Maps allows users to quickly search for local businesses. Google will then list results based on the location of the user in proximity to  relevant local business. Users can then use their GPS on Maps to travel to the location of the address listed on Google for a specific business

Local SEO vs Organic SEO: What Does Your Business Need?

Understanding the difference between local and organic SEO can help you decide what’s best for your business. Generally though, a combination of both local and organic SEO is best.

Seeing as most search engines only have the organic listing section, showing up in location-specific organic results can boost your business substantially. Getting your business website listed for searches that are specific to both your industry and location is still considered local SEO. You’re targeting a local audience with local searches. It’s simply a form of local SEO which aims at improving where your website lists in organic results.

On the other hand, listing for search terms that are related to your industry rather than location is also helpful. Listing in results for common queries customers might have establishes your business website as a trustworthy source of information for both search engines and potential customers.

If more of your business website content appears in searches, your website will become more indexable for future searches as well. As a result, your website can also be more likely to appear in location-specific searches. So, to conclude, local and organic SEO practices and techniques can and ideally should compliment each other to help your business attract customers online.

Rozanne WildsLocal SEO vs Organic SEO: How to Choose?
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How to Do Online Marketing for Your Business

Online marketing is fast becoming one of the most essential marketing channels. Every business of every size – whether it be a large corporate company or a family owned shop – can benefit from online marketing. But the world of online marketing is competitive and ever-changing. Search engines are always updating their algorithms and social sites are constantly add and remove features.

With so much change, it’s difficult to know how to do online marketing for your business. Perhaps you already have an online presence that you want to boost, or perhaps your business isn’t even online yet. Whichever way it goes, it’s never too late to establish an online presence for your company and reap the rewards of your marketing efforts.

The Basics of Online Marketing

Before diving into just how to do online marketing for your business, there are a few basics terms you must know. Knowing the terms below could help you gain a better understanding of online marketing concepts while doing research to improve your strategy.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a widely used term for a marketing strategy that involves attracting customers to your business via techniques that will help customers who already want your product or service find you. This is opposed to driving customers away with unwanted marketing material. Offering value to potential customers via your marketing materials is an important part of inbound marketing.

The opposite of inbound marketing is called interruption marketing. As the term suggests, interruption marketing techniques are unsolicited and completely unwelcomed by your audience. An example of interruption marketing a TV advert that shows during your favorite show, or a marketing phone call.

Online, interruption marketing could include ads that play while you’re trying to watch online videos, or the promotional content in your social media news feeds.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

As the name implies, search engine optimization is all about improving your website to help it rank in search results.

SERPs

This is a common abbreviation for search engine results pages. Ideally, you want your website to rank in the top SERPs, as most users never go further than the first results page.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is a broader term than SEO. It’s used to describe any marketing that’s intended to help your website show on Google – regardless if you’re paying for ads, or showing up in organic search results.

Pay per click (PPC)

Also called cost per click advertising, this is a form of paid online advertising where your advert is displayed in search engine results or on social media sites. As the name suggests, you pay every time an individual clicks your advert. PPC is the most widely used form of paid online advertising. The benefit of PPC is that you only pay for results, so you can get a much better return on your investment. Alternatively, you could pay for impressions, which means you pay for every person who sees your ad. This form on paid online advertising is called cost per impression, and it’s abbreviated as CPM (You might be wondering why it isn’t abbreviated as CP.

There’s still a lot of other online marketing terms that aren’t listed above, but the terms listed here should give you a good overall understanding of online marketing concepts going forward.

Why Inbound is the Best Form of Online Marketing

If you’re a small to medium sized business trying to get real leads from your online marketing, you’ll get a much better return on investment if you opt for inbound. That’s because inbound marketing is aimed at attracting people who already show interest in your product or service. Instead of annoying your audience with disruptive ads, your customers will discover you online by searching for you.

SEO is a good example of inbound marketing. By optimizing your website for search, you can help potential customers find your business on Google. However, even paid PPC listings in SERPs can be a form of inbound marketing if done properly.

Because inbound marketing is the best place to start when establishing an online presence for your business, this post will focus of different inbound marketing techniques.

How to Do Online Marketing: What You’ll Need

Before you can start doing online marketing for your business, there are some things you’ll need. Firstly, you’ll need your own company website. A website is one of the most essential parts of your online marketing strategy.

Secondly, you’ll need to create social media accounts for your business. Even if you aren’t planning to use social media yet, it’s wise to setup your profiles to reserve your username on each platform.

Lastly, you’ll need to have enough time to invest in online marketing. While the prospect of growing your company through online marketing seems exciting, it’s not always easy. After a while, you’ll likely find you aren’t getting response you hoped for from your marketing efforts.

Don’t let this discourage you, there are literally billions of websites competing for search engine rankings. It’s unlikely that yours will shoot to the top straight away. Over time, your collective efforts should start to pay off and you’ll start reaping rewards – it just takes more time and hard work than most people anticipate.

How to Improve Your SEO

One of the best ways to get results from online marketing is through SEO. If you’re website is listed at the top of Google’s search pages, a lot of people will be able to find your business online.

What Are Keywords?

The first SEO concept you must understand is keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that people often search for. For instance, the word “love” is searched for approximately 3 350 000 times a month, making it one of the most popular Google searches. Seeing as “love” is such a popular search term, you could get a lot of traffic if you ranked high when people search the internet for this word.

However, to attract leads, you must rank for keywords that your potential customers are looking for. A dental practice must rank for searches related to dentistry, whereas a florist needs to rank for searches related to flowers. Ideally, you also want your website to show up in local searches, such as “dentist near me” or “florist in Miami”.

The phrases that you’re trying to rank for are your keywords. Try to rank think of different ideas for what people might search to find a website like yours. Think of as many different keywords as you can. You don’t have to tailor all your website content to rank only for one popular search phrase.

To get your website to rank in SERPs, you must include your target keywords in your website content. A great way to start is by including keywords in the content of your main website pages, such as your Home, About and FAQ pages, for instance.

When writing content with keywords in mind, it’s important to have a balance. You want search engines to find your content, but you don’t want to include the keyword so much that your writing becomes repetitive. Repeatedly stuffing keywords into your writing can cause search engines to penalize your website and mark your content as spam.

Starting a Business Blog

The more keywords your website can rank for, the more traffic you’ll get. If your website consists only of your main website pages, you’ll be limited as to how many different search phrases you can rank for.

Blogging is an excellent way to broaden the range of search phrases your website can rank for. Every blog post can target a different set of key phrases. This will help more people find your business online through your blog.

When blogging, it’s important to write posts that are informative. Look for common questions people ask about your industry and try to write posts to answer them.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is a great platform to help people find your business online. People use social sites to interact with their favorite brands and connect with businesses. Networking is also a major part of social media, which means a social media presence could open up business opportunities you would otherwise miss out on.

A lot of people skip Google and head straight to social sites like Facebook when searching for products and services. In this case, a proper Facebook page is what would help you get found online. Another benefit of having a business Facebook page is that it’s like your own mini website and it’s easy to setup.

Of course, you can use your social media profiles to attract attention to your business. By posting about special offers at your company and other news, you can attract traffic to your business website and make more sales.

Pay Per Click Advertising

PPC can help your website show up in relevant Google searches under the “ads” section in the results. To run a PPC campaign, you need to choose keywords you want to rank for, as well as what products or services you want to advertise. You can set your campaigns with relevant keywords in Google Adwords.

You can also set negative keywords in Adwords to avoid showing your ad in certain results. So, if you have a business that sells jerseys, but you find that people who arrive at your website search for “jersey country”, you can set a negative keyword such as “country” to avoid getting traffic from searches that aren’t related to the clothing item you sell.

The information in this post barely scratches the surface of online marketing. Learning to do online marketing will take a lot of time. Whether it be keyword research, blogging, social media marketing or PPC campaigns, there’s so much more you can learn than is mentioned in this post.

To get good online marketing results from the start, you can hire a professional online marketing company to do your marketing. Find out more about what an online marketing company can do for your business.

Rozanne WildsHow to Do Online Marketing for Your Business
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Google Working to put Mobile First with New Index

Within the next couple of months, Google is planning to create a new mobile index that will become the primary index for responding to queries. While Google will maintain a separate index it will not be as up-to-date as this new mobile index.

This bit of news was released on October 13th during a Pubcon keynote address given by the Google webmaster trends analyst, Gary Illyes. Illyes did not release a timeline for the creation and release of this new index during his keynote speech; however, in a follow-up that he did with Search Engine Land, he did state that this would happen within the next few months. He did not clarify if it would occur before the end of 2016.

This is not the first that the public has heard of Google releasing a mobile index. In 2015, Google announced that it was putting time and energy into the concept of a mobile index during SMX East. Since that announcement, Google has clearly made the decision that such an index makes sense and has made movement forward in the creation of this product.

Throughout 2015/2016, Google has been prioritizing and streamlining their mobile abilities. In 2015, they tweaked their algorithm so that websites that have been optimized for mobile were receiving a higher priority. This year, they added Accelerated Mobile Pages to their search results so that users were able to select websites that have a quicker loading capacity while they were on their phones.

This new search index should enhance mobile user’s experiences with the Internet, but we aren’t sure how it will affect those who are still doing most of their work on their desktops. While desktop searches have become sparser as more of the population goes mobile, there are still many users who primarily access the Internet this way. We haven’t yet received more information regarding how this mobile index will work for the public, which has left us with plenty of questions.

For instance, seeing as the mobile index will take over as the primary search index for Google, will the public still be able to use it for any desktop queries that they may have? If so, will the mobile index only contain information that has mobile friendly context and will that information be out of date? Additionally, how out of date will the desktop search engine be once this new index is released and how will that affect desktop users?

The largest chance will most likely be that by creating a mobile index Google can begin to change the way that its algorithm is run. Currently, data is extracted from desktop content to help Google determine how pages should be ranked for mobile users. That means that the signals that mobile users are currently seeing, such as links and page speed, are being generated from a desktop algorithm. In short, you may not actually see these items on a smartphone when they are generated from a desktop algorithm.

Victor GonzalezGoogle Working to put Mobile First with New Index
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