Digital Marketing Mastery: Insights, Strategies, and Tactics for Success

SEO strategy

How to Predict Results from SEO

Successful SEO
Successful SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) employs a wide variety of strategies that are designed to improve a site’s ranking in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Over the years,  there has been a lot of manipulation of search results and the search engines have responded by upgrading their algorithms. These updates are designed to penalize those who abuse the system and use black hat or spammy methods to obtain a higher ranking in the SERPs. Some strategies like buying links, cloaking and keyword stuffing were commonplace and in many cases did help improve a site’s ranking. But these types of practices are considered black hat now and can get a site penalized so badly that they fall off the result pages altogether. By using SEO best practices and ethical strategies a site can obtain a ranking near the top of the SERPs. But since it’s not an exact science, is there any way to predict the results?

What is Over Optimizing for SEO?

SEO
HTML

Having a solid SEO strategy is very important to getting a website in the top rankings in search engine result pages. An adept SEO specialist has many tools to use in order to accomplish this task effectively. In his repertoire there are on-page strategies as well as off-page strategies that can all work together to help a site be more visible to the search engines. While these can be effective, the old saying “too much of a good thing” is a possibility. Over optimizing a site can have an adverse effect on its ranking. Actually, when a site is over optimized it is very likely that it will trigger penalties and these can cause the site to drop significantly in rank, or be totally eliminated. It’s important to find the right balance in using SEO strategies without overdoing it.

Why do SEO Campaigns Fail?

It can be frustrating to realize the SEO campaign you’ve been working on is simply not meeting its objectives. Failed SEO campaigns are not just limited to unknowing individuals who are trying to save a buck and run their own campaign. There are companies and knowledgeable people who set out to design an SEO campaign for clients only to find out that it did not achieve what it was designed to do. An SEO campaign requires a lot of research in a lot of areas over a long period of time. There are three very basic reasons behind failed SEO campaigns. Addressing these three areas specifically can improve the success rates of future SEO campaigns.

Trends in SEO

No one but the SEO company understands how rapidly the world of search is changing. There are even some who are trying to say that SEO is dead and done. But this is simply not true. The most recent changes to Google have left many scratching their heads as to how SEO best practices will look in the future. We know the face of SEO is changing, but what can we expect in 2014? Perhaps we can answer this question by looking at some of the most recent Google updates. Here are some of the emerging SEO trends that we see for the coming year.

How do I know if My SEO Strategy was a Success?

Local SEO professionals
Local SEO strategy

When it comes to determining if an SEO campaign is successful it’s all about measurement. There are several metrics that can help the SEO professional know more about their strategies and how they may need to be tweaked. Page rankings, links and referrals are some of the key measurements SEO specialists may consider when determining how successful the campaign is.  Measuring an SEO campaign can take many different forms and this can become complicated since the web is in a constant state of change. In order to stay ahead in this climate and ensure that a website remains competitive it’s essential to dedicate some time to the evaluation process. But what are we supposed to look at or measure when determining if a campaign is successful or not?

Engagement

Even if an SEO campaign successfully drives traffic to a site it does not mean the campaign was a success. When traffic arrives at the site only to leave without visiting another page it counts in the metrics as a bounce. Search engines note when traffic to your site bounces out at a high rate and it can potentially lower the site’s ranking in the SERPs. It’s important to properly analyze engagement factors like bounce rate and how long visitors spend on a page. If there are some specific keywords which lead to poor engagement compared to some of the other keywords you may want to target new keywords. Use engaging content and keywords in order to improve the quality of traffic to the site through SEO campaigns. It’s essential that users be engaged.

Blogging for Business

Fresh Fruit
Fresh Content Basket

The various social media platforms can be exceptional tools for marketing, this includes the blog. Maintaining a business blog can yield many different benefits for the business if it is handled correctly. Blogging can keep the website from going stale as well as provide a platform to interact with consumers. Content creation is one of the main components of blogging and it must be done regularly in order to have an impact on a search engine optimization campaign. Blogging can be used in conjunction with a website, or it can be maintained off site. Either way, maintaining a blog can help establish the company name across the internet. A business blog can provide a small business a chance to share their expertise in their own niche or industry.

Producing High Quality Content

One of the most important aspects of blogging is that the company gets to produce their own voice. It can be an essential part of developing trust between the business and the client. However, it is very important to note that the content on a blog needs to be high quality and informative. One way to develop this is to make the blog into an education center in order to answer all the questions that your clients may have about your products or services. Although blogging is a marketing tactic, the language should be more informative rather than sales pitchy. Maintain an archive so that readers have plenty more articles to look at for examples and always give a call to action by inviting the readers to learn more. These strategies will help keep them engaged with the site, the blog and ultimately the business.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

If you were to call up 50 SEO advisors and ask them to define search engine optimization, you are likely to get nearly 50 different interpretations of an SEO definition. This is because many people who state that they are an “SEO specialist” just offer two or three aspects of SEO strategies. They found a couple of things that work to help site rankings and use them. But there are not very many SEO specialists who really offer a comprehensive approach to search engine optimization. It is well worth the expense to hire an SEO specialist who knows what they are doing and can effectively launch an SEO campaign that will incorporate a broad range of strategies into a customized campaign for each client.

What is SEO?

In simple terms, search engine optimization is the use of a wide variety of strategies and methods which will ensure that a website will rank high in the search engine result pages (SERP). By using several proven SEO strategies a website can achieve higher rankings in the major SERPs when a user enters certain keywords or phrases into the search field. To offer an example, think about your own last internet search. When you, or someone else, are looking for a product or information it is likely that they entered a search in a search engine because it is one of the fastest and easiest ways to obtain the information. Once you enter a query and the results are displayed, it is likely that you never went past the first page because they were more relevant to the search. This is the goal of SEO. A website is optimized so that when a related query is entered the site will rank as high as possible. The end goal is to obtain more traffic to the site which of course leads to more conversions or sales. When an SEO campaign is carried out properly it will place a site at the top of the rankings so that it will gain instant credibility with the audience you are trying to reach.

Blogging for SEO

One of the first questions an SEO specialist is likely to ask a potential or future client is if they have a blog or not. Content writing is one of the most intrinsic components of developing an SEO campaign today and many are finding that maintaining a blog is one of the best methods to generate fresh content and generic links for their site. The search engines will rank every web page and each post on a blog is an extra web page that can be indexed. This gives even more opportunities to target the main keywords as well as using some of the coveted long tail keyword variations. Not only does a blog help provide content which can be indexed by search engines, it can also help establish you as a knowledgeable authority in your industry. Blogs can be a major component of a social media campaign. This proves that content can be and should be promoted using social media platforms. But then of course it is important to note that not all blogs are created equal. What should a blog have to be a huge contributor to an SEO campaign?

A Professional Look

Of course SEO is more about the written content that a blog contains than about the appearance of the page. But remember that your goal in maintaining a blog is not simply to please the search engines; you do have human readers after all. When designing the blog it is important to remember that the reader will evaluate the blog by what they see when they land on the page quicker than what they will read. Actually, it the page is disorganized and the layout is difficult to navigate it is likely that they will not read the blog at all. Using a free template will create a better appearance for the blog but it is far better to have a professional design it and customize it for your brand.

What is a Short Tail Keyword?

SEO Rank
SEO elements

Keywords are an essential part of search engine optimization but it is very important to know how to use them effectively. One of the responsibilities of the SEO specialist is to conduct comprehensive research to determine which relevant keywords they should use for web marketing campaigns. Once the keywords are revealed they will be used in a wide variety of marketing strategies including content, blogs, ads, titles, and other forms of marketing media. Keywords can be a critical part of obtaining a high ranking in the search engine result pages. Each SEO campaign must start with extensive keyword search along with analysis to identify the most relevant and effective keywords to be incorporated into the campaign. During this research, the SEO professional will find two types of keywords: short tail keywords and long tail keywords. Each of these plays a different role and can have a major impact on an SEO campaign.