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

Tag: SEO

these posts are about Search Engine Optimization

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.

What are the Elements of a Successful SEO Campaign?

Successful SEO
Successful SEO

Good Search Engine Optimization is hard time consuming work. Building a successful campaign is like building a solid structure that is going to stand the test of time. An SEO campaign is successful when it has a foundation that is solid enough to be able to endure many challenges posed by competitors and changes that occur in the search engine ranking algorithms. There are many different aspects and elements included in SEO best practices and SEO itself is constantly in a state of flux. The elements of successful SEO campaigns can be brought down to three essential parts which will work together to support each other and the entire campaign: content, links and social media.  Working with a reputable SEO firm can help ensure that you utilize the latest in SEO best practices on your site.

High Quality Content

It’s just logical that great content is an essential part of SEO strategies. Your website should act as a hub and contain good content as part of the on-site strategies. It is noteworthy to mention that the site itself must be high quality as successful SEO simply cannot exist with a poor website. Every piece of content on a site should be high quality and purposeful. For an SEO campaign to be successful there are no shortcuts. Remember that articles or blog posts are indexed by the web crawlers but should be developed for the readers not the search engines. Blogs and websites should be regularly updated with fresh, unique and valuable content. There is also some content that is seen only by browsers and crawlers – Meta content. URLs, Meta titles, Meta descriptions, and Meta keywords are all considered to be “content” and must accurately use SEO best practices.

What is Google Penguin?

Keeping up with a blog or a website can keep a person very busy. Developing high quality content and following all the SEO best practices are just part of the worry that an individual has to bear, not to mention how to get it ranked high in the search engine result pages (SERP). It’s important to maintain a blog or site for an established audience; but it is equally important to get it listed in the top slots of the SERPs so that more people can find it. That’s just good business. There trouble is that just about the time it is all up and running Google releases a new update like Penguin and it’s back to the drawing board.

What is Google Penguin?

Having an online presence is essential for the successful business of today. Google Penguin is really a process used to penalize black hatters who abuse the system in order to gain the advantage and manipulate the search engines into ranking their sites higher in the SERPs. Penguin is really an attempt by Google to clean up the search algorithm and reduce spam as well as site rankings that are from “questionable” sites or irrelevant because they manipulated the system to get located in the coveted 3 slots. It really aims at penalizing those who use “black hat” SEO methods like keyword stuffing, link building schemes, spamdexing, or duplicate content as well as the multitude of techniques used by some SEO companies in order to help clients gain exposure on line.

What is Viral Marketing?

Viral campaign
Go Viral Button

Just a few years ago the internet was like a one-way street where a person got online simply to get information. There was no interaction, and there was no such thing as a share or a like. But as the internet evolved into the Web 2.0 world we know today interaction became the primary element. It is now a super highway running both ways with all sorts of social interactions. This is basically what drives viral marketing. The main idea behind a viral marketing campaign is to initiate social sharing of your message for you. Some experts suggest that a viral campaign will have between 500 and a 1000 times more impact than a campaign that is not viral.

Why is it called “Viral” Marketing?

When we think of a virus, we generally think of flu season. But viral marketing is a strategy which helps pass information on from person to person simulating how a virus is passed until an enormous amount of people have been in contact with it. A viral marketing message has the potential of exponential growth in terms of how many people it is exposed to or how many individuals are influenced by the message. Just like a virus, this strategy will require taking advantage of very rapid multiplication in order for the message to explode out to thousands or millions of individuals.

What are the Best Social Media Sites for SEO?

LinkedIn Logo
Logo for LinkedIn

Just a few years ago SEO and social media simply coexisted. But over the last few years the line between the two began to blur. Now more than ever the major search engines use social signals as part of their ranking algorithms. In web marketing today an effective SEO strategy will be incomplete without incorporating into it the social aspect of the Web 2.0 which is built around the social element to begin with. And on the other hand, an effective social media strategy will be contributory to the SEO initiative. It is important for the two to work together in order to achieve higher rankings in the SERPs, increase site traffic and of course increase the ROI for a business. Over the last few years there have been several giants in the world of social media; but recently there have been some changing of the guard. Here three top social media platforms that should be part of any social media strategy used in an SEO campaign.

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 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.