Archive for category Search Engine Optimization
Seattle SEO & The Long-Tail Keyword
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization on December 10, 2013
If you do anything with SEO or marketing, then you are sure to hear about the long-tail keyword. With new Google search algorithms, new search results, and more people using longer searches, it is now becoming increasingly important for Seattle businesses to utilize longer keywords in order to keep up.
What is the Long-Tail?
The long-tail keyword is essentially a short phrase or specific search term that someone would use to look for something specific. While many people do use short-tail keywords to look for items, the results are much more vague, and usually used by someone first looking into an industry. So, for example, someone who is just starting to look into SEO might search for ‘SEO’ which wold bring up the Wikipedia page.
On the other hand, once that person has looked at the Wikipedia page, they are going to move on, and probably start looking for SEO companies to hire. A long-tail search for ‘Seattle SEO Company” is much more specific and as a result typically offers slightly more specific results.
About the Search Process
Right now, Google’s Hummingbird algorithm offers priority to websites that have the same long-tail keywords as the consumers search. So, if someone looks for ‘Marketing company SEO and Social” then they are going to get results that have all of those words. However, most people don’t start out looking for a long-tail keyword.
For example, if you’re considering hiring a Seattle SEO company but don’t know anything about SEO, your first search is going to be for ‘SEO’ or a similar ‘beginners guide to SEO’ where you would then read the Wikipedia Page, or browse around on sites like SEOMoz or SearchEngineLand in an effort to understand the process. For most people, the first searches are ‘what is it’, ‘how does it work’, and ‘do I need it’. While these searches can generate a lot of traffic, very few of them generate any sales.
Next comes the decision making process. The searcher knows what they want and they know what it does, so they start looking for something to buy. This is where the long-tail keyword comes in. The search for ‘SEO’ turns into “SEO company’s in Seattle’ or ‘Seattle Marketing’, which turns into a sale for one of the results.
Applying Long-Tail Keywords to Your Marketing Campaign
Unfortunately you have to know what your long-tails are before you can use them. If you only service a small area, then your long-tail keywords are obviously your location, but you also have to consider other specifics such as your exact products. A local bakery could utilize area and food specific long-tail keywords like, “Kirkland Wedding Catering” or “Where to Get Chocolate Cupcakes on 12th Street.”
Any long-tail keyword runs the risk of being too specific, but this is where keyword research comes in. A keyword with an average of 30 searches per month offers less traffic, but also the potential for 30 sales each month, as those 30 people find exactly what they are looking for. Broader searches offer more competition, and less chance of a sale, but can still be useful as well.
Why Content Marketing is Set to Dominate Your Seattle SEO
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing on November 26, 2013
SEO has grown a lot in the pat few years, with most notable changes including that ‘search’ marketing is now more ‘integrated’ marketing than simple ‘SEO’. Anyone who does their own optimization can easily see that tactics, techniques, and algorithms are quickly changing and in big ways. But while content is no longer the only star of your search optimization, new data shows that content marketing should be. If you want to keep your localized Seattle SEO campaign up to date with Google, then content marketing is definitely for you.
Image-Centric Content is On the Rise
Do you like pictures? Studies show that your fan-base most likely loves pictures. Image-centric content is on the rise and popular across every form of advertising including your localized SEO. The most successful blog posts and websites now all have the same thing in common, which is that they use beautiful imagery throughout the post. You want to make sure your photos look professional, that they are shareable, and relevant to your topic. For restaurants and anyone selling a product, this means you can showcase your business for nothing more than the cost of a photographer and then use sites like your blog, Pinterest, Instagram, and even Facebook to share with the world. Because images, and content with more shares and links both come up in search, you can’t loose.
Off-Site Content is On the Rise Again
Off-Sit content marketing has had it’s ups and downs for the past few years but right now it’s back on the rise, providing you follow a few specific rules. Every post that you put out must be high quality, and every blog or site that you post on must be highly relevant to your site. Just a link doesn’t benefit your pages very much, but a targeted link, especially one that appeals to readers without directly ‘selling’ your content, will do a lot for you. Plus, new research shows that Google’s Hummingbird is actually picking the first four posts by the number of inbound links, so off-site content marketing is definitely something to keep in mind.
One Ring to Rule Them All
While content marketing has nothing to do with Lord of the Rings (unless you happen to be in the movie business) it does offer a one size fits all way to dominate your integrated marketing. Content is popular in SEO, SMM, and PPC (Search, Social, & Advertisement), essentially giving you a catch-all form of marketing that you can invest in to turn out really great results. Of course, you might be able to just throw up a random image or boring article and hope it succeeds, but ‘real content marketing’ involves creating a strategy that targets your Seattle audience, and then hitting them with planned, imagery and writing.
Content marketing is hugely important no matter where you happen to be marketing. With Google’s new Hummingbird algorithm, it is becoming more important than ever for a number of different reasons. If you haven’t integrated content marketing into your Seattle SEO campaign, consider starting right away.
Five New Seattle Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch Out For
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking on November 9, 2013
The world of marketing is always changing and unless you stay on top of the trends, you’re going to see a quick drop in your campaign success. No matter what it is you happen to be marketing, trends can make or break your campaign so you have to watch out for them. The following include a few local, and international, marketing trends that could affect your Seattle social media marketing campaign.
Twitter is Back
That’s right! Twitter is back and bigger than ever, especially if you’re in the right sectors. New data shows that Twitter is now doing just as well or better than Facebook for active users, and more importantly, it’s becoming harder to promote yourself on Facebook. While it’s important not to ignore either channel, Twitter gives you an opportunity to directly connect with your fans by answering questions, recommending your software, and creating an online buzz about your products, all without the huge amount of thought that goes into every Facebook post. While less people will click through on your links via Twitter, you do have the opportunity to get more exposure for your brand.
You Can No Longer Ignore Google +
If you don’t have a Google + then you need to run not walk to the computer and set up a page for your business. As we discussed in one of our previous posts, Google + is hugely influential across most fields of organic marketing including social and SEO. Google may be playing favorites, but with Google + offering all the benefits of Twitter and Facebook, and 540 million active users, you really can’t afford to ignore it any longer. Plus (pun intended) you can use Google’s Hangout function to directly engage with your fan base, answer questions, and earn loyal customers. Google’s ‘local’ functions are also invaluable to your marketing efforts so make sure you check them out.
Cross Marketing
Cross marketing, or working together with your competitors and other related businesses is quickly becoming the next big thing. By collaborating and offers cross marketing deals (such as a hotel stay and restaurant meal in one package) you gain more exposure to a wider fan-base. While not every business can benefit from this sort of cross marketing, most can. You can benefit by offering online coupons, giveaways or deals that encourage you to like/share your cross marketing companions, or even bundles and deals that benefit everyone involved.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is going, well, viral. It’s expected to be the biggest form of marketing in 2014, and is already making a huge splash in 2013. So what’s the big deal? Videos, pictures, blogs, and even infographics have all been going viral all year and when done right, will gain a massive amount of exposure and interest in your business.
Image Centric Social
One trend that has probably the largest impact is that image centric social sites like Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr are now more important than ever. These sites allow businesses to connect directly with customers via hashtags, image shares, and direct mentions, building brand image, product awareness, and interest. While a services site most likely cannot use these types of media marketing most types of businesses can.
Seattle’s social media marketing trends are rapidly changing and if you need help, there’s plenty of professional marketing managers out there to help. Want to know more? Contact our social media marketing team today to find out what we can do for you.
How to Get Started with Google Plus for Local Seattle Businesses
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing on November 5, 2013
If you pay any attention at all to the ‘hot topics’ in the world of search marketing and integration then you know that Google + is quickly becoming one of the most important things you can do for your online marketing efforts. With Google’s favoritism in full swing, Google + is more valuable to your search than Facebook and Twitter combined, and their +1 button has been proven by Search Engine Land and SEOMoz to affect search almost as much as your websites PR. With that in mind, any marketer who ignores their Google + is definitely missing out on a lot of social and search opportunities. While many businesses take this to mean international marketing, Google + can also be used for localized Seattle social media marketing and optimization. How? Keep reading to find out.
Set up a Page
While you can work with a Google + profile, you should really have a page for any sort of business. To do this, simply go to Google.com/+/business, sign in, and then click ‘Create a Google + Page’. From there you can easily add your business data, location, opening hours, and branding to Google Plus. Because Google + has gained more than 100 million users in the last year alone, exposure to this audience is definitely in your favor.
Google Places
Google Places listings show businesses on the map in response to keyword lookups for localized business and if you are in the top three, you’re highly likely to get a great deal of traffic from it. To do this, just add your local Seattle address into Google Places, and go from there. You can choose to use free features, or pay for options like Adwords integration and Google Offers to hand out free deals and coupons to people who find you in search.
Google Local
Google Local is very similar to Google Places but make sure that you have all of your information handy before you sign up. The process involves verifying that you own your business, verifying the location, and creating a page for your business. This allows you to show up in Google’s search results as a local business, which can do wonders for your search results. Because your reviews and recommendations also show up in these search results, quality business practices can turn into a lot of extra clicks and views.
Getting Reviews and Recommendation
Studies have proven that Google + Reviews and Recommendations can increase traffic and clicks by as much as 23%, and a high number of quality reviews can also increase your ranking on Google Local, meaning that you show up higher on the list. While this only works if you have Google Local, it is a great way to increase your ranking for search and help new customers with making a decision. Your ‘review this page’ box is located just under the page as well as next to the cover photo. Users have to be signed in with a confirmed Google + account in order to leave reviews, and any review they post will have their name on it. For the most part, you can gain reviews by simply asking your customers to leave a review on your page. Because the majority of them might not already have a Google +, it may also be beneficial to offer an incentive, as well as instructions on how to set up a Google + page, when you ask. Incentives, should of course, not be for offering a ‘good review’ but rather for an honest opinion.
A Google + Page can do wonders for your Seattle search engine optimization but it can take a while to get everything set up.
Remember that in addition to creating your page, you also have to keep it active with quality content and interaction. Otherwise, it’s just one more useless page that does nothing for your site.
What Google’s Hummingbird Algorithm Means for Your Seattle SEO
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization on October 9, 2013
Google’s latest update, Hummingbird, was announced on the 26th of September after already running for a few months. Hummingbird is a new search algorithm and is expected to affect some 90% of search, much of which has already happened. Unlike previous search algorithms Panda and Penguin which were updates to Google’s algorithm, Hummingbird is actually a completely new algorithm, making it Google’s biggest change in 3 years.
What is Hummingbird?
Hummingbird is quite simply the newest search algorithm from Google and is quite similar to the previous algorithm but with a few major changes. The biggest change is that most keywords are now geared towards semantic long tail search, meaning that questions and phrases now matter more than single word keywords. Google will also be paying attention to other statics like traffic, bounce rate, and time spent on the page rather than just your keywords. Essentially, Google is getting smarter, and Hummingbird is their smartest algorithm yet. Hummingbird is mobile optimized and designed to turn up the highest quality results as quickly as possible.
• Uses semantic or ‘speaking’ keywords
• Uses PR (Page Rank)
• Less Emphasis on Individual Keywords
• More Emphasis on Social Signals and Activity
• More Emphasis on Quality
• All Search is Now Secure
Earlier this month we talked about Google’s vanishing keyword data, which was actually the first sign of Hummingbird. Secure search means no more keyword data in Google Analytics, which also means changes.
Because most users are looking for answers to questions, Hummingbird is also moving towards an ‘answers’ rather than ‘results’ type search. As a result, titles with “How, why, and whom’ could be slightly more prioritized for future search. Website owners can also expect to see niche sites rising in the SERPS as they tend to have more specialized content on specific topics.
How it Affects your Seattle SEO
The Hummingbird algorithm affects your site in two different ways depending on whether or not you already had good SEO policies. If your SEO is good and you’re still ranking well then you can most likely just keep up what you’re doing, make sure all of your keywords are semantic, and if necessary update any articles or pages that aren’t semantic. Most of the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) have already changed so you can already see where you are. If you’re losing traffic, your domain authority dropped, or your ranking pages are showing up lower then you can blame Hummingbird.
If you have lost traffic because of Hummingbird, your best bet is to rework your content with quality and work on making your keywords more semantic. This means natural, flowing keywords that make sense when spoken aloud. Typically if your content is mostly aimed towards quality rather than SEO, then you don’t’ really have to worry about it too much.
Essentially Hummingbird integrates natural spoken search to make room for new search methods such as mobile and voice command search. If you want to learn more about it, consider contacting your local Seattle SEO expert to talk about your specific site or problem.
What Google’s Vanishing Keyword Data Means for Seattle SEO
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization on September 24, 2013
Many business owners and SEOs have begun to notice a shift in Google’s analytics keyword reporting, but unfortunately, it’s only just beginning. Many keywords are beginning to show as ‘not available’ due to Google’s secure search blocking the bots that collect the data. Keyword data, or the exact keyword that shows how a visitor found your site, is used by many people for optimizing and finding keywords that work, and even for turning the best keywords into PPC campaigns. Unfortunately for marketers and business owners everywhere, that is about to change, because Google isn’t planning on integrating any other options. How does Google’s vanishing keyword data affect your Seattle SEO? Keep reading to find out.
Vanishing Data
Over the past year, most people who use Google Analytics have noticed that more and more keywords were vanishing. These keywords typically show up as ‘not available’ rather than listing the searched keyword, meaning that users cannot turn the data into campaigns or optimized pages. While Matt Cutts claimed that the new secure search would not affect more than ‘single digits’ of search results in 2011,studies now show that some niches are affected a great deal more. In fact, BrightEdge recently released a study on Search Engine Watch detailing that the highest affected industry (Technology) was affected 56%. Essentially, more than half of the keywords in that sector show up as not available.
One website we used to test this theory received 3,125 search hits during the test period. Of those hits, 1,900 of them were ‘keyword not provided’. Another website, in the SEO sector, literally did not have any keyword data, with every hit showing up as ‘not provided’. The last website tested received a modest 500, with 62% via search, but 199 of those keywords are ‘unavailable’ meaning that some 60% of searched keywords aren’t showing up.
What it Means for Seattle SEO
While not seeing your keyword data is going to have some impact on your campaigns, you can minimize the effect by paying attention to your URL hits and what keywords you utilized for those URL’s. The biggest impact that the vanishing keyword data has on small businesses is that Google is no longer a reliable tool for finding your star keywords. While there are ways around anonymous search data, you should probably start thinking around your keywords, not trying to dig them back up. SEO experts around the globe agree that keywords are becoming less and less important for most SEO, although it still holds a big placeholder in PPC and other marketing campaigns.
Adjusting your campaigns to focus on business impact including revenue, conversion, and traffic, is more likely to hold as a stable long term marketing campaign for Google’s future policies. While keywords aren’t dead, they are playing a much smaller part in future SEO.
While secure search is reducing the amount of keyword data available, it is also forcing more business owners to think in terms of long term results, rather than the short term of optimizing a page for keywords. All in all, it’s a big change, but it could be a good one for the future of Seattle SEO.
Seattle Web Development: Why Your Website Might Not Be Converting Your Traffic
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization, Web Design and Development on September 17, 2013
As a Seattle business owner, your website can expose your products and services to any of the 1.97 million people in King County. Unfortunately for you, if your website isn’t optimized for search, for conversion, and for sales, you won’t be making any money off of it. Even if you have a relatively large number of hits each month, you still might not be making any money. Why? Because your website doesn’t convert.
While there are millions of websites competing with yours, the majority of them are less than optimal. You however can take the steps, or hire a Seattle web development team, to help you create a high performance website that converts your traffic into sales. Here are a few of the reasons your website might not be converting your traffic into sales.
Incorrect Optimization
One of the main reasons that your website might be getting traffic and not converting is that you’re using the wrong keywords. Take a look at your keyword optimization and consider the following questions:
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Are these uniquely related to my business
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What Else would someone be searching for with these keywords
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Would someone looking for my products/services look for these keywords?
While not precisely a web development issue, incorrectly optimizing your website can mean that you get a great deal of traffic that isn’t necessarily looking for your business. Remember that a large number of visitors who leave your site immediately raises your bounce rate, and websites with a very high bounce rate are usually dropped to the bottom of Google search.
No Content Layout
If your content is a jumbled mess then your visitors might be confused. Consider whether or not you can land on a page and then clearly and easily navigate your way to where you can purchase what you’re looking for. No? Then your customers can’t either. Content planning is an important part of web design and if you haven’t carefully mapped out where your content is on your site, then you need to think again.
No or Poor Landing Pages
One of the best ways to sell products or services is to create a landing page. If you don’t know what this is, then it is essentially a web page designed specifically to introduce your visitors to your product and then make a sale. The whole point is to make a sale, without being spammy or overly salesy. Your landing pages should be properly keyword optimized and should include links
Your Site is Too Slow
While you do want plenty of information and content on your site, you don’t want to add so much information that it slows your site down. The average person will actually leave a website if it takes longer than 4 seconds to load, so you have to make sure your site loads quickly. Seattle web developers suggest that your optimal load time is at 1.5 or less seconds.
If you want your website to convert your traffic into sales then you have to carefully plan your content. Social media should be easily accessible so that visitors can check out your pages for more information, landing pages should easily point to sales pages and pages to get more information. The worst thing you can do for your sales is to write a convincing argument and then make it difficult for your customers to make a purchase.
Want to learn more? Contact our team of professional Seattle web developers today to find out what we can do for your site.
How to Choose a Seattle SEO Company
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization on August 15, 2013
If you’re in need of SEO help then you’ve probably noticed the literally dozens of SEO companies in the area. Choosing just one Seattle SEO company might be difficult, but there are a lot of factors that you can consider to narrow your selection. Here are a couple of factors that go into a great SEO company.
A Portfolio
First, your Seattle SEO company needs a portfolio. Looking for a portfolio is probably the easiest way to root through the weeds to come up with the good companies. Companies with portfolios have experience, have had success in the past, and have work that they are proud enough of to show off. Of course, you could also invest your time and money in a company with no portfolio, but with nothing to show; you don’t really have any guarantee of success.
Multi-Dimensional Services
There are three basic types of SEO including on-site, technical, and off-site. You want any SEO company or specialist that works with you to understand and work with all three. On-site SEO is usually your web content, the keywords on your pages, and your content structure. Technical includes any website issues that affect how bots crawl your pages. Off-site SEO is link and reputation building that can affect traffic to your site. Your SEO should understand all three of these concepts, and likely social media as well. Essentially, you want a well-rounded company that really knows what they are doing.
Communication Skills
You cannot do business with someone who does not communicate. Hiring a local Seattle SEO company can help with this, especially if you are able to meet in person. If you choose to work online, they should still be able to communicate effectively with you. Without communication you likely won’t get progress updates, and you might even find out that what they are working on isn’t quite your strategy. Make sure you find a company that can talk to and understand you in order to meet your needs and goals.
Results
Does the SEO company offer results? While SEO, like marketing, offers no 100% guaranteed results, you can look for past success to see if they offer results. Look up ‘Seattle SEO Company’ or similar to see if they rank somewhere within the first few pages. If not, who really wants to hire an SEO company that doesn’t rank? You can also look at studies, statistics, and look up former or current clients of the company to see what they have done with other clients.
Complementing Services
It might not sound important but SEO is becoming one of a group of services. SEO and social media are very close together in importance, so you might want to consider looking for a company that offers both services. Hiring an SEO who understands social allows you to create content directed to social. You can also consider that an SEO who understands web design is more likely to be able to work with any technical issues with your SEO.
There are plenty of Seattle SEO companies, but only a few of the best. Do your research and find a company that offers great services!
Social Media and SEO – Your Two Greatest Marketing Assets
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization on August 1, 2013
If you pay attention to marketing news then you can probably see that ‘SEO vs. Social Media’ is a pretty hot topic. A lot of people want to compare the two to see which offers more ROI, but the truth is that both are pretty much indispensable when used correctly. A social media professional can leverage your social to covert your fans into customers, and a quality SEO can convert thousands of visitors onto your website. Both offer results, but the best results are found when you combine the two.
Social Media
Social Media has a huge advantage when it comes to conversions. In fact, a study in 2012 showed that social has a 100% higher lead to close rate than outbound marketing conversion rate. Does that mean that every person on your social will become a customer? Far from it, but statistics show that you can increase your leads from social by more than 25% by offering a simple discount on your social. Social Media is popular because it is the easiest way to connect to fans, and is the fastest way to convert traffic. If you have people on your page, then you can talk to them instantly, which greatly increases your sale conversion rate. Facebook is used more often for researching brands via their pages, while Twitter is more popular for asking brand questions, or asking about brands. You can use both to get in touch with your client base and make new fans. If you ask any Seattle social media expert they will definitely be able to make sales from your social when given the time to create a fanbase.
SEO
SEO is quite possibly the most widely misunderstood marketing tactic ever, but mostly because it has changed so much since its start. The key to SEO is keeping up with changes and remembering that traffic is the most important goal. A good Seattle SEO strategy consists of technical website details that affect search, on-site content that draws traffic, and off-site SEO that sends traffic to the site. While there are other factors involved, these are usually the most important. Your Seattle SEO plan should cover your link building, technical specifications, and keyword optimization on your site so that you draw traffic.
SEO & SMM
One important thing to remember is that no matter how much traffic your website draws, it might not convert. Most people prefer to research a site as thoroughly as possible before making a purchase or investment, and your business is probably no different. Your landing pages can either attempt to convince visitors to make a purchase, or can be used to get visitors to stick around, become fans, and maybe make a purchase later. Whether you do this by offering a purchase incentive, or by simply directing them to your social page for more info, social plays a huge role in long term retention of traffic and therefore of increasing your ROI.
Both SEO and social media play a large part in your Seattle marketing, but usually you need both to see the best results. While there are some exceptions to the rule, the two are mostly inseparable.
Do You Really Need an SEO Specialist?
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization on July 16, 2013
If you’re considering hiring an SEO specialist then you should think about it carefully before you do. An SEO Specialist can do a lot for your site including increasing page rank, getting your site higher on SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages), and of course, getting you more traffic. All of this is of course a benefit, but you do have to carefully consider what you are paying for and whether or not you need it. After all, SEO is a marketing service, and you wouldn’t jump right into buying a billboard on the side of a road without thinking it through first.
The Pros
SEO is one of the most affordable means of marketing known to man. Unlike PPC and traditional advertising, it offers fast, flexible results that can continue to grow over time, even after you are no longer paying an SEO specialist or company. You can double, triple, or even quadruple your traffic with SEO, and traffic likely means customers. If you have something to sell then this could mean money in your pocket. Most importantly, SEO does not charge you for what you get. If you get 1 million hits then you pay the same as if you get 1,000 hits.
The Cons
Many of the cons of SEO are simply the reverse of the pros. An SEO company can get your website to the top of search engines, but they can’t sell your products for you. If you don’t have a great website that is going to sell, then traffic could be just traffic. You have to make sure that your website is ready before you hire an SEO specialist to help you get that traffic. What else? SEO isn’t magic, it takes time, and nothing happens overnight. SEO is a complicated process that involves a lot of different factors, so if you’re looking for overnight increases in traffic and sales, you might want to go another route, like PPC. Like that billboard mentioned above, SEO doesn’t really guarantee sales or traffic, it just guarantees exposure. Unless you make your ‘ad’ on the SERPS exactly what people are looking for, it won’t do anything.
Do You Need an SEO Specialist?
So, do you need an SEO specialist? Chances are that if you have a great website that can handle traffic, a good call to action, a product to sell that people want, and a budget high enough to accommodate an good SEO company, then yes you do. On the other hand if you are looking into getting instant traffic, instant sales, and a pay-as-you-go philosophy, traditional marketing and PPC may be the way to go.
SEO has its pros and cons but for anyone looking for long term results, it’s usually an important consideration. Why, because over time it can do more for your website than PPC will, but for less money. In addition, most people actually click on natural SERPS provided by SEO rather than by advertisements. Interested? Why not check out our Search Engine Optimization page to see what we do for the Seattle area.
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