Category: SEO

Providing the best guides and tips related to search engine optimization, content writing, backlinks, link building and SEO tools to help increase blog ranking.

Copywriting & Local SEO Techniques for US- Based Small Businesses

Are you a small business that invests a lot in advertising and website content? But they still don’t seem to bear impressive results, do they? Try using a local SEO strategy.

Many small and medium brick-and-mortar companies or those operating online ignore the fact that their primary audience lives in the same area where the business is based. Thus, all their copywriting and SEO efforts target someone imaginary rather than a real client.

Elizabeth Price, the head of marketing at https://essaypro.com/, agrees that copywriting and SEO strategies targeted at attracting local customers do not receive enough attention. Thus, their company has already started its local expansion by using local subdomains and geolocalization of contextual advertising. It usually requires a greater eye for detail because even the spelling you use can make a difference.

Here are several factors Elizabeth advises to pay attention to when it comes to local SEO.

Local Keywords

Finding the right keyword is already a challenge. But finding the right local keyword is art. It is much harder because certain cities may have their own names and jokes. Try to research well looking for word combinations applicable to your brand or product.

Moreover, if somebody is visiting your city or town, let’s say it is Colorado Springs, they are likely to type something like “coffee shop in Colorado Springs” rather than just “coffee shop.” Localization of keywords can bring surprising results because more and more people would notice your business.

No More Generic Title Tags

Small and medium-sized businesses are often short-sighted when they use generic title tags. Buttons like “Home,” “Our Services,” or “About Us” are too generic to attract local customers. Google also does not support such generalization. The more creative you are, the larger your audience will be.

The recommendation is to replace tags like “Products” with the following scheme: Primary keyword – Secondary keyword | Brand name. Thus, your tag will definitely win if it looks similar to Floristic Services – Sacramento | Polly Flowers.

Testimonials from Locals and Regulars

It is essential for your business to have satisfied clients among locals. Their reviews and feedback can be used to impact the purchasing behavior of the local population. Once they see a testimonial left by someone they know, you can easily convert them into customers.

SEO is about making people talk about your brand online. Testimonials from happy customers, especially from locals, will undoubtedly boost your sales. Therefore, do not ever hesitate to ask regulars to leave their feedback on your Facebook page, your site, as well as on Yelp or Google My Business.

Voice Search

By the end of 2020, more people are expected to use their smartphones for voice search. No one is going to type the request; everybody will just pronounce it. Therefore, your local business needs to make sure that Siri, Alexa, and other virtual assistants are able to find it using voice search.

People who do voice search use questions. This is the main difference between voice search and typed requests. Such questions often include the name of the service or brand and the local element, such as the name of the city. Keep this factor in mind while optimizing your SEO.

Local Content

If you are going to expand your local clientele, change in your content is a must. Those new blog posts that you create should relate to local news, activities, or events. Such proximity will ensure that your business has a stronger and more reliable connection with locals and regulars.

Given modern technologies, if you really want to go local, your website can have several versions. You can create a child theme with separate content that would open only for local people based on geolocalization.

Mobile-Friendly Interface

Regardless of whether you plan on gaining local clientele or not, a mobile-friendly interface is a must for your business. The thing is that most people use their smartphones to search for information. If your website loads too long or makes it impossible to read information from mobile devices, you are likely to lose to the competitors.

Make it easier and more convenient for your customers to access your page, and it will definitely pay off. Do not ignore what most people expect today.

Backlinks and Online Business Directories

Use online business directories with your brand’s name, address, and other contact information to improve your visibility online. Such a technique will definitely boost your local SEO success.

Also, focus on backlinking that can help you get localized search results. Your content must be of high-quality to make others interested in link building. Link building with other local businesses can boost your local SEO as well.

Final Words

SEO and copywriting techniques adjust to the needs of the market. Since many companies in the U.S. start paying attention to their local clientele, local SEO turns into an opportunity. At the same time, technologies develop, demanding businesses to reflect current trends such as voice search.

To make the most of local customers, businesses need to create a new marketing product for them. Generalized content will no longer suffice.

October 16, 2024
Astounding Qualities an SEO Agency Should Have

SEO agencies can be a dime a dozen these days. The popularity of search engine optimized sites is growing and that means an increase in the agencies and services that are providing the work to make these sites work. Although there is a lot of competition out there, there are many ways to set yourself apart.

An astounding SEO agency should focus on more than just bringing traffic to your site. They should prioritize your needs, and help you meet your goals. If you are running an SEO agency or work for one, or if you just need to look for some outsourcing work for your site, check out these qualities that a great SEO agency has.

1. Reputation

Any good SEO agency will have a reputation behind their name. Search their agency name and see what kind of results you get in terms of reviews or work, and you can judge them on whether they are reputable or not. One of the main reasons why people often use name brand or trusted services is because there is an expectation of results in that name. Name value goes a long way in the business world, and looking for trusted SEO agencies works the same. Ensuring that you are able to receive the best possible work depends on who you are working with, so keep in mind what kind of reputation they have.

2. Work Portfolio

If an SEO agency wants to set themselves apart as an astounding example above the competition, there should be a readily available portfolio of their work. Comprehensive portfolios that showcase the level of talent for SEO based sites or work they have done is a good way to see what quality this agency wants to provide. Any good online agency will have a page dedicated to their past work. If you are looking for an SEO agency to work on your site or business, or if you are an SEO agency looking to improve, ensure that there is a portfolio to view the work. Reputation is important, and reputation usually means the ability to view a gallery of work to see if it matches your expectations.

3. Flexibility

Flexibility is a crucial difference between a great SEO agency and an average SEO agency. An astoundingly competent agency will be able to work on any kind of branding, authority linking, or web page design. The ability to be flexible with projects is a sign that the agency is very reliable. As mentioned previously, examples of their past work in the form of a portfolio will allow you to view the range of their abilities. Construction sites to SEO optimized contractor sites, Hook Agency is a good reference point for what flexibility in terms of a good SEO agency looks like. Flexible agencies can work on a wide range of work, this allows them to expand their operations and take on a wider range of clients. Flexibility in the world SEO work means being able to build a stronger reputation and bigger work portfolio.

4. Open Communication

Great SEO agencies will always maintain an open line of communication with their clients. Being reliable and responsible as an SEO agency means that they are constantly able to relay information to and from their client to achieve the desired results. Making sure that the needs are being met to the clients liking is important for satisfaction and results in an improved relationship, reviews, and reputation. Word of mouth has always been a great way to increase visibility in terms of marketing. The internet has not changed that method, it has only increased it. One good recommendation from a satisfied client can open more opportunities.

SEO agencies may be easier to find now than ever before, but that does not mean that it is easier to find truly great ones. There are certain qualities that every SEO agency should have. Like the ability to improve site traffic, and true SEO no PPC (pay-per-click) ads, but there are also many qualities that can elevate an agency into astounding territory.

Reputation is huge, and it can put your foot in the door for a site or business before you even do any work. Having a solid work portfolio to showcase your talents and past success is another quality of great SEO agencies. Flexibility to complete a wide range of projects, no matter the content, is also highly valuable. Lastly, maintaining good lines of communication to ensure your client gets what they need is sought after in great SEO agencies.

October 16, 2024
What Is Search Volume in SEO?

October 16, 2024
SEO Expert Recommends Lawyers Check Out Top Online Website Optimization Courses

Any business starting out in this day and age needs search engine optimization, and most do practice it, one way or another. It is basically how a company ensures its content can reach the target audience, by ranking higher on search engines and gaining the needed exposure. It doesn’t matter if you’re a carpenter or an online store; every business needs SEO. It is lawyers, though, who seems to be a bit behind when it comes to adhering to SEO practices, despite the fact that most people look for lawyers online now, rather than check the yellow pages or something. Here is why lawyers really need to check out online optimization courses.

Generating more leads

Regardless of what you think of the internet and SEO, you can rest assured that your competition is using it. Studies show that the average person will pick up their phone, open Google, and type divorce, car accidents, or any other kind of lawyer they’re looking for. This means that if you don’t have a powerful presence online, those people will not find you. The thing about search engine optimization is the fact that it generates traffic to your website, and traffic means more leads. This is how you establish a name for yourself and go toe-to-toe against the best in the business.

A targeted approach

SEO experts recommend that lawyers always use optimization practices in their business for many reasons, one of the most important of which is how targeted the approach is going to be when you use SEO. When you insert certain keywords into your website’s content, you make it clear to the search engine what your specialty is, and just how you can help people. The last thing you want is to get random clicks on your website, but rather targeted clicks by people who you know are going to be needing your services. The more optimized your content is, showing your niche and just what separates you from other lawyers, the more targeted reach and potential leads you’re going to get.

You need the help

It may be very tempting to try and go about search engine optimization yourself. After all, it’s only inserting random keywords here and there, right? Well, it’s far from being just that, and you do need help. There are many other angles that you’re going to have to cover if you want to be recognized by the search engines, and if you don’t acquaint yourself with those approaches through online courses and getting professional help, you simply won’t rank higher on search engines. Things might get even a bit more technical when it comes to lawyer SEO, considering how different from most other businesses this is; it needs a special approach and unique knowledge.

Building credibility

There are many important angles to applying SEO strategies to your business, perhaps the most important of which is building trust and credibility. It’s a fact that people trust the sites they see ranking higher on search engines. They just assume they are better and more competent, which is usually the case. Doug, the SEO expert behind lawfirmseo.com, also adds that SEO for attorney-related searches is one of the most competitive in the business, and if you don’t put effort into it, you could be easily overshadowed by the competition. Your goal is to get more leads at the end of the day, and for that to happen, people need to trust you before they even meet with you. Establishing this kind of trust happens when you work on your SEO strategies so you could rank higher on search engines.

Creating high-quality content

One of the biggest mistakes a lot of lawyer websites fall into when trying to work on SEO by themselves pertains to the quality of the content. Some add a ton of legal jargon that only attorneys would understand, which doesn’t make any sense as most people visiting your website will not be colleagues, but rather clients looking for legal help. This is why creating such nonsensical content is a big mistake, as it will simply drive people off. Nobody wants to spend time on a website that has a lot of complicated expressions and technical jargon. They’d just leave it and move on to another that doesn’t have this much nuisance.

Better conversion rates

Optimizing your content and creating an SEO-friendly website will ultimately lead to a higher conversion rate. The people who visit your website will no longer be random, but rather those who will become clients, and that means more money for your practice. When you start getting more conversions, your life will become much easier because you won’t have to worry all the time about marketing campaigns and trying to reach more people. This will eventually give you more time to work on your current clients and better helping them, as your optimized website takes care of itself, bringing in new leads all the time.

A better user experience

A lot of lawyers don’t pay too much attention to the user experience on their websites, which is a huge mistake. For starters, Google really cares about the user experience on websites, and if yours isn’t too good, it will significantly lower your search engine ranking. Moreover, you want people to stay long enough on your website to take action and eventually become paying clients. That means giving them a seamless navigation process where pages load quickly, and they can find what they’re looking for without suffering. It’s very important that you give users that much because this encourages them to stay a while longer and explore other options. And for that to happen, you’re going to need search engine optimization.

SEO Experts

It is all about getting more leads and making more money when you think about it, and nothing could help your law practice do so more than SEO. This is why experts always advise lawyers to acquaint themselves with the proper SEO practices and deal with professionals whenever possible, as it will take their practice to a whole new level. Your competition is definitely doing it, and if you want to keep up, you will have to do it too.

October 1, 2024
5 Things You Should Know About White Label SEO

October 1, 2024
Google BERT Update: Latest Google Algorithm Update October 2019
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Google BERT Update — Impacts On Search Results

When the announcement of Google BERT update took place, the entire SEO community was rocked … pretty bad. Shocked, most of the SEO practitioners call this the biggest SEO update in history.

This makes sense since Google BERT update is affected to affect 10% of the search results. According to the release, Google says that this is the latest Google algorithm update will affect 10% of queries, which means this is one of the biggest Google updates of the last 5 years!

In other words, 1 out of 10 websites is affected in one way or another, thanks to this Google update. If you are a website owner, I recommend you to read this post real close.

What is BERT and how will it impact SEO?

The BERT algorithm (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) is a deep learning algorithm related to natural language processing. It helps a machine to understand what words in a sentence mean, but with all the nuances of context.

What is The Google BERT Update?

The easiest way to describe Google BERT update is “interpreting the intent of search queries better.”

Do you know that one of the most common misunderstanding done by bloggers (including myself in the past) is that Google Search is a super duper smart AI system?

We used to talk a lot about finding long tail keywords and how it help us to rank faster on Google. While there is no denial that long tail keywords are powerful SEO method, this is often overrated.

Hard fact: Google still takes time to discover the true meaning of a specific search term.

Instead of looking at the user’s search query on a word by word basis, BERT allows Google to interpret the entire phrase better to give the searcher more accurate results.

Changing a word (or two), doing slight modifications or even adding/removing words in a search query can dramatically alter the search intent.

Google’s BERT Update improves how Google understands search queries. BERT analyzes search queries, not web pages.

Search Engine Journal

Tweet

All in all, this Google BERT update is focused in being better at interpreting what the users are truly looking for when they are doing online searching.

Here are some cool comparison shared by Google.

Example 1:

In this example, Google shows how the search results change when interpreting when a user is looking for information about traveling to the US vs. from the US.

Example 2:

Here’s another example by Google.

Google previously identified the word “stand” and matched it with “stand-alone” which was the incorrect version of the word for this query. Instead, the searcher is focused on the physical demands of the job, so with Google BERT, Google interprets the query more accurately.

With both the examples above, it is clear that Google BERT update is focused on better interpretation of what the searcher is actually looking for.

As a result, the searcher will receive higher accuracy search results.

What Does This Means For Your SEO?

As scary as it seems, there isn’t much work you can do right now—except to wait.

The biggest thing to look for is if there are any changes in your traffic in the next coming days and weeks.

Here’s the good side of this Google BERT Update. This update is not focused in penalizing anyone (directly) as it is geared towards better understanding the end user query and search intent.

On the other hand, the downside of this Google update is that there are some possibilities that you might lose some traffic.

The best way to counter this Google update is to ensure that your content has all the answers to the common questions commonly asked by your target audience.

I expect sites that have lots of good content in the form of well-written, long-form guides to be the winners of this Google BERT update.

What To Do if Your Traffic Is Dropping Due To Google BERT Update?

If you are seeing any traffic drop (within this week or last few days), I recommend you NOT to panic.

As a matter of fact, it is common to see traffic increases and decreases during the early days of any Google update rollouts.

With that said, if your website is dropping traffic, losing view counts in the weeks to come, there are a few things you can do:

1. Identify the queries or keywords that are causing the traffic drop

Here’s how it is done.

Head over to Search console > Performance > Search results > Date range > Compare > Last 7 days and run a comparison report (as seen below):

Use Google Search Console to check for website traffic impact

Do not that the image above is taken with Filters and not Compare tab.

Next, click on queries and look at which you had lost traffic for:

Is your website affected by Google BERT update

What you will see is a list of search queries you should investigate. Depending on your needs, you can tweak based on either Clicks or Impressions, or both.

Personally, I focus more on Impressions because the more impression I get, the better chances I get for the clicks.

This Google algorithm update is interesting because it focuses a lot in search intent and quality of the content (content that answers questions will rank higher).

Therefore, if your website is focused heavily in creating great content and solving problems for others, you will most likely see an increase in traffic, search ranking, clicks and impressions.

2. Determine what is ranking now

Personally, I somewhat find this SEO method useful with every Google update (not just Google BERT update).

Search the queries in Google and see what types of content are ranking now.

What you are looking for are hints such as:
- Is it a different content type that is ranking on the top spot?
- Is the content bringing up/offering different perspective?
- Is the content answering a slightly different question but yet, related?
This method requires you to think out of the box—after all, no idea is a bad idea.

3. Change, tweak and updating content

By doing any of the above would give you some ideas for your next SEO approach.

You can start by tweaking your content to match the content that is now ranking, or create new content that matches.

Always remember that Google is keen of showing what it wants—you just need to reverse engineer and you will start ranking on the top of Google.

What Are You Seeing After Google BERT Update?

As a recap, people in the SEO industry are saying that the new Google BERT update may be one of the biggest updates of the last 5 years of SEO.

As big as it sounds, I still believe that there is nothing to worry about. Google BERT update is not focused on any sort of penalization. Instead, it’s focused on understanding search intent better.

The next few days and weeks would be crucial as you need to start keeping an eye on your search results. If you see an increase in search traffic, you are pretty much on the right track.

If you are seeing a traffic drop, I highly recommend you to use the methods above to start improving your search results and SEO.

Here’s a little shamless pug: If you would like some help with your SEO, you can always contact me here!

Please share this article if it’s helpful to you!

About Me

Young at heart and a deep passion for entrepreneurial success, Reginald is devoted to share everything he had learned about online marketing with the public. Follow him for more awesome postings.

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October 1, 2024