Proliferation

Jun 20
0

Finding Keywords That Fit

By | SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

Keywords are the driving force behind effective SEO. In order to increase your rankings online — and in turn increase your business’s success — you must first select relevant keywords. These keywords, when properly selected, have the potential to propel the rest of your SEO strategy to the top.

With the help of a widely experienced professional SEO firm and time spent performing extensive research, your company has the potential to take its SEO strategy to the next level.

Start With What You Know

When you begin the process of selecting keywords, it is important to gather a team and start brainstorming. Scooby Doo and Shaggy didn’t solve a single mystery without the rest of their team — and neither will you.

By allowing members from multiple facets of your company to join in on your SEO brainstorming session, you set your company up for success. The first part of brainstorming requires you to start where you are and with what you know. Make a list of words that are relevantly associated with your company. If you sell shoes in Utah, maybe the keywords “shoes” and “Utah” will show up on your initial list.

From your initial list, fine-tune the possible keyword options. Once you and your team have assembled a list of relevant topics and possible keywords, the true research begins.

Research Brings the Best Results

The easiest way to start your research process is to head to Google. Google some of your possible topics and see what comes up. If you Google the phrase “Utah Shoes” and companies with a vastly different image than your own appear, consider tweaking your keywords.

Perhaps through your research you discover that the phrase “Utah Sandals” pulls up sites similar to your own. Through trial and error, you have discovered a possible keyword.

Your research continues as you experiment with variations on possible keywords. As part of research, select a few competitors and study the keywords used by those companies. This exercise will give you a good idea of what works for keywords and what does not.

Though this phase can be long and difficult, the research pays off when you select keywords that greatly increase SEO — and ipso facto, business.

Polish Up

After you finish research, whittle down your potential keyword list. It is important that you focus on increasing SEO through only a few keywords. Focusing on too many keywords at once decreases the quality and the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.

Consult a SEO firm for a little extra help in selecting the final keywords. Once the keywords have been selected, get to work on creating great content.

Jun 16
0

When Link Spam Hurts SEO

By | Google, SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

In an effort to increase SEO, companies often make simple link spam mistakes. Link spam consists of links setup between specific pages that are put in place to capitalize on Googles link-centric algorithms. Though several types of link spam are helpful for SEO, there are just as many types that can hurt.

Knowing the difference between helpful and harmful link spam can save a company’s SEO. Though it can be difficult to discern, professional SEO agencies have the expertise required to help a company get the most out of their link spam.

Blogging Blunders

There several benefits offered by the blogging world, and though SEO specialist often explore the boundaries, individuals must exercise caution. Google has a low tolerance for fake blogs on which anyone can pay for a spot. These guest posts are often low quality and are generally flagged by Google.

If you are featured on one of these sites, make sure your posts are high quality and that you do not over-link. When considering where to place your articles, search out several options. Sites with a low reputation have the potential to damage your SEO.

The Directory Downfall

Google is fairly vocal about how low it ranks links from online directories. Since Google controls your rankings, it is smart to avoid the low-quality directories it so ardently warns against.

Link spam is often placed in directories — and while some of these directories are helpful, others can be detrimental. Make sure your company takes the time to evaluate each directory its links are listed in. This tactic will improve positive SEO and help individuals avoid negative repercussions of poorly placed link spam.

Keyword Catastrophe

Keywords are great way to increase SEO — but when used wrong, keywords can be harmful.

Using unrelated keywords to draw readers in is a dangerous trap, even though it may be tempting to try and increase your readership. If you run a small Utah coffee shop, use “Utah” or “coffee” as a keyword – not smoothies or Washington. Using “Utah” keeps your keywords relevant and your readers happy. Similarly, do not use the keyword “Utah” a million times throughout your article. Keyword stuffing is bad for SEO and incredibly annoying.

Google’s algorithms look for keyword discrepancies — and if you improperly use keywords, your SEO will greatly suffer.

Jun 09
0

What UX Means for Your SEO Strategy

By | Google, SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

There’s a problem with the way many companies are approaching SEO. We’re not talking about a problem at a few agencies in Utah. We’re talking about an industry-wide issue, and the issue is this: In an industry where SEO rules supreme, professionals are starting to treat SEO as war for keywords — when in reality SEO is a war for the consumer. You win that war through UX.

What Is UX?

UX is the standard abbreviation for “user experience.” Let’s be frank — it doesn’t matter how many customers end up on your website if they don’t stay. You could effectively use keywords all day long and have the worst UX on the World Wide Web — if your UX stinks, say goodbye to your customers.

How Does UX Work With SEO?

UX and SEO may seem like awkward stepsiblings at first, each on one end of the spectrum professionals have created in their minds of what makes up a successful Web approach. That’s simply not true. UX and SEO actually together work in beautiful harmony.

Think about it. The whole point of SEO is to get visitors onto your website and turn them into customers. In order to do that, you need to create an experience that attracts people, grabs hold of their interest and helps them accomplish what they came to do. It doesn’t matter if they came to book a trip to Moab, Utah or to buy a new DVD player as long as your website helps them do that in the easiest way possible.

Is UX Really That Important?

Don’t sacrifice UX to try and satisfy a Google algorithm. Amazing UX will naturally create an increase as happy customers share and distribute information about their experiences. Sally in Utah will be more than happy to tell her friend Peggy a thousand miles away about the awesome website she just found. She’ll probably tell all her blog followers too.

Keywords will always be important, but they’re a baseline that Google assumes you are already doing. UX is the new frontier of SEO, and as Google’s algorithms become more sophisticated, you can bet that UX will have a dramatic impact on rankings.

Jun 06
0

How Google and SEO Changed the Marketing Workforce

By | Google, SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

If not for Google, we wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading it. Thanks to Google, the increased need for digital content gave rise to a whole new workforce from Utah to the East Coast — and it all started as part of the genesis of online search.

Early in the internet days, search engines like Google made it possible to find information more easily online. To be found in a search, websites had to be relevant, which in the earlier days of the internet (just as now) meant your site had to be associated with certain keywords. This gave rise to what we now call search engine optimization, or SEO.

Initially, some companies would try to game the search algorithms and increase relevance by stuffing their pages full of keywords just to appear more relevant than they actually were. Meanwhile, more forward-thinking SEO firms in Utah were already focused on content and the user experience.

Luckily, Google had higher standards for what a website should be, and a cluttered mess of poorly placed keywords didn’t cut it. To respond to low-quality sites, Google continued to update its algorithms to reward sites that produce content relevant to their markets and keywords, while punishing those with poor content and shady SEO strategies.

This need for relevant — and most importantly — high-quality content changed the way companies approach marketing, and thus gave birth to what we know as content marketing today. Consumers in Utah and elsewhere suddenly had all the information they needed at their fingertips, so it was up to brands to be a part of the conversation by publishing their own content. If brands weren’t providing potential customers information they needed, customers could easily find it somewhere else.

Content became king because it allowed brands to improve SEO in Utah and nationwide, but more importantly, it started connecting consumers with brands they can trust.

This need for content caused a massive shift in how businesses approach marketing. Suddenly videographers, writers and designers were more in demand than ever. Digital marketing agencies popped up to provide these services, and artists of all media types had the opportunity to make an impact in the business world by developing content for brands in need. We thank Google for having the foresight to promote high quality content and give so many people the opportunity to enter the workforce doing what they love.

May 24
0

Small Businesses: Your SEO Future Is Bright

By | SEO, Utah SEO | No Comments

Those of us who live in the world of SEO know we bow to the SEO gods — otherwise known as Google. Google dictates what we say, how we say it and whether or not we ever say it again. Most of the time, we’re pretty cool with it. If you’re the owner of a small business, or even a marketing company in Utah with small business clients, the SEO gods are smiling upon your future.

When you examine current trends and speculate on Google’s reasoning in the next several years, it’s easy to see why small businesses will be favored.

Social Media Results

Google is looking towards incorporating social media-based results onto the search engine results pages. More and more social media users are relying on their favorite platform for online content. It wouldn’t be surprising to see content on search engine pages based on the interests of the consumer’s social media contacts. Small businesses benefit here because they can create closer relationships with local groups and consumers than national brands.

Long-Tail Keywords

Voice-to-text technologies create more conversational searches. People speak in long-tail keywords, not broad generalizations. More users are searching for a larger group of specialized phrases. Instead of searching “Utah lawyer,” consumers are searching, “Where can I find a dog bite lawyer near Farmington, Utah?”

Long-tail keywords give small businesses a chance to optimize SEO and gain better search visibility, versus before when larger companies used big SEO budgets to bury smaller competitors.

Searching Local

Google has been perfecting the local search algorithm for quite some time. It’s just going to get better over time, and consumers love it. What tourist in St. George, Utah hasn’t searched, “Best hamburger near me?” Most local businesses are small businesses, so local searches should inevitably boost responses for these groups.

Personalization

Personalization is the new frontier. The more personalized the user experience, the happier consumers seem to be. Digital assistants like Siri and Cortana are gaining popularity because they can gather large amounts of personal behavior information and create the ultimate personalized experience. An easy way to personalize is to use location and purchase history. Both of these elements favor businesses that are small and local.

SEO Is Easier

The more advanced search engines like Google become, the easier it is to enter the game. It sounds counterintuitive, but overall SEO is becoming less scary. Keywords are easier to use. This means instead of spending all your time trying to decipher the complexities of SEO, small businesses can spend more time building relationships with consumers.

Apr 25
0

The Key Components of Mobile SEO

By | SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

Google is always working to improve its user search experience — and the company’s latest target is mobile. Google has already made the pushed for app indexing, making it easier for Google users to find a company’s app among their desired search results. Now with SEO incorporating mobile more than ever, here are a few things businesses in Utah and elsewhere need to know about mobile SEO.

Focus on Rankings

Mobile SEO and traditional desktop SEO really aren’t really that different, but it’s important that businesses maintain a focus on rankings for core keywords. Mobile search is growing significantly faster than traditional search; if your company website isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s unlikely your site will rank at the top of the search rankings for your target keywords. As you can see, having a mobile-friendly website is easily the most important component of good mobile SEO.

Fix Any Mobile Errors

Mobile search experts in Utah and elsewhere have looked at various different website designs, from websites with a separate mobile design to sites with multi-modal desktop and mobile designs. According to the research, there isn’t a significant difference between websites that use mobile-specific designs and those that don’t — instead, webmasters should focus on fixing any errors. This will help increase traffic to your website, as the mobile user will feel more comfortable using it.

Get an App

App Store Optimization is another key component of mobile SEO. Making your app stand out in the App Store will not only help your SEO, but boost your app indexing as well. App indexing is basically like SEO for your app content; keeping all pages of the app indexed and incorporating relevant keywords will help increase downloads of your app.

Use AMP

Google has also recently incorporated AMPs (accelerated mobile pages). AMPs are pages that show up on the right side of a Google search, usually with a link to Wikipedia. On your mobile, AMPs are often at the top of search results. Unfortunately for companies in Utah and elsewhere, Google AMPs are currently for publishers only.

Mobile is the new frontier for companies everywhere — with these four key components, anyone can become a mobile SEO professional.

Apr 04
0

Three Ways to Make Mobile Marketing Work for You

By | Mobile marketing, SEO, Utah SEO, web development, website design | No Comments

It can be frustrating to open up a search engine and click on a link on your phone, only to have it freeze, crash — or worse — not be mobile friendly. People now search on their mobile device more than their computers, so making your SEO more search friendly and mobile friendly, is something that you can do and is something that search engine companies are working on.

Google AMP

Yes, Google is the source of all information these days, and Google’s new program called AMP can really boost viewership and help your SEO on mobile. AMP allows your website to run faster, boosts your SEO on a mobile device, and load quicker. Many people will quickly go back from your page and go to the next link hoping it’s going to be faster. So Google literally AMP’s your website up with this new program.

App SEO

Get an app and boost your SEO. According to a story by Criteo, people were more likely to use a mobile app to search for retail and places within the travel industry, rather than use a mobile website. Create an app that is user friendly, and easy to find. Join the new SEO, and get an app to build your business in Utah.

Google is also helping your SEO by making app searching more organic. This allows those searching for an app likes yours to appear on the list of useful apps.

Machine Learning

Machine learning is something you probably should learn about if you really want your SEO to improve for your company. Machine learning can actually help your advertising by analyzing algorithms and statistics. This will help you reach out to different people not only in Utah, but around the world so you can figure out what demographic your users belong too. This will better help you market and find out who you now need to market to so you can grow your business.

Mar 25
0

How Google App Indexing Can Help You

By | SEO | No Comments

Google announced a new way to get more users to apps on your cell phone, it’s a new thing called App indexing, similar to website indexing. So when a user is on their phone and they want to search for something, Google will link the phone apps to their Google search results. From there, Google lets the user use their apps to find what they’re searching for, if the app has the information. This new program is helping increase SEO by allowing customers to use their purchased apps from companies.

Along with the web search, Google users will also get results from their phone within an app. This new program will help SEO with knowing what the user wants to find with things they already have. For instance, let’s say you have an app for ESPN and you want to find the score of a game, Google search will use your app as a source to find the information.

Using mobile apps from Utah and around the globe will help the consumer use their apps more and in return, will help the business that created the app. This is a new phase in the SEO evolution, and now we wonder, what’s going to be the next step?

Becoming Mobile

Becoming mobile is a new way of marketing, and with the many people who are on their phones, the app or company can be on a person’s hip all the time. In a study done by Pew Research, the U.S. alone, cell phone ownership has increased from 65 percent – 91 percent between the years of 2004 and 2013. Cell phone usage in Utah isn’t known, but you could probably guess it’s a large number.

App indexing is a new way that SEO is growing, and definitely a phase in the evolution. SEO is expanding and reaching out to new technologies that are helping people in Utah find what they need faster.

Mar 23
0

Dodging the Dreaded SEO Slump

By | SEO, Utah SEO | No Comments

It happens to the best of us — one minute you’re riding high in the search rankings, bringing in more views and webpage clicks, and in the next moment everything seems to be tapering off.

Search engine optimization, known colloquially as SEO, by nature is more a long siege than a quick battle, but that doesn’t make SEO practices immune to stagnation. On the contrary — Google is always subtly changing its algorithm. So why shouldn’t search engine gurus also update their strategies once in a while?

For businesses from the East Coast to Utah, stagnant or slowly slipping rankings are bad news. If your SEO efforts aren’t delivering at the same rate as before, it may be time to broaden your perspective. If your usual niche market is approaching the saturation point, it may be time to expand your strategy to incorporate other keywords — even bigger and better ones.

Work to broaden your catalog of backlinks by giving links away. While this may initially seem like an unwise decision, promoting other industry influencers around your level will both boost your industry cred and encourage other authority figures to link back to you. Just don’t overdo it — you want your references to feel authentic.

If your SEO campaign is tied to content marketing, try mixing up the kinds of content you produce. If your website deals with current events in Utah, move beyond short blog posts and incorporate more long-form pieces. Integrate photos, graphics, videos, lists — you name it. Look to competitors or industry role models for inspiration, and give their techniques a try.

Give pay-per-click a try. SEO professionals like to look down on PPC, but PPC can be a good way to bring in instant traffic and get more potential customers interested in your brand. When your search rankings need a little pick-me-up, PPC can be the shot in the dark.

For companies in Utah and across the U.S., SEO is a long-term process. SEO stagnation can be frustrating, but don’t throw in the towel yet — with a little hard work and innovation, you too can stave off that SEO slump.

Mar 22
0

So You’ve Been Hit with a Google Penalty — Now What?

By | Google, SEO, Utah SEO | No Comments

Any search engine marketer from the East Coast to Utah knows the feeling of dread that sets in when traffic to your website suddenly takes an unexpected nosedive.

Lower traffic numbers aren’t necessarily a sign of a stiff penalty from the search engine giant, however if you’re experiencing significant drops in traffic on individual pages, for certain keywords or a number of your pages suddenly get de-indexed, it’s probably a good sign the SEO gods have come down to Utah to smite your website. In the world of search engine optimization, Zeus has got nothing on Google.

If you suspect you’ve been hit with a Google penalty, don’t panic. The first thing to do is to figure out if you have actually been hit with such a penalty, and if so, what kind. There are two types of SEO penalties — manual penalties and algorithmic penalties.

Manual Penalties

Manual penalties are pretty easy to figure out. Take a look at your Webmaster Tools — If Google’s Webspam team has assigned you a penalty, it will appear as a warning under Search Traffic/Manual Actions. Manual penalties are typically accompanied by lower search engine rankings or site de-indexation.

Manual penalties can be difficult to recover from, but the good news is Google rarely doles out manual penalties for your overage site for some small company in Utah; they’re really only reserved for truly sketchy websites.

Algorithmic Penalties

Algorithmic penalties are less straightforward to identify; however, they can actually be easier to fix. The penalty could be related to offsite factors (most likely due to Penguin) or onsite factors (Panda).

Determining exactly which update caused the penalty can be tough though, so dive into Google Analytics to figure out what went wrong. Fruition Google Penalty Checker offers a good visual representation of penalties across time, and how each update affected your website traffic.

Now What?

Nobody likes getting hit with a Google penalty, but it’s really not the end of the world unless you make it out to be. Review both your current and past SEO strategy, do some serious backlink analysis, get rid of useless or duplicate content and perform a full SEO audit.

With the proper time and dedication, anyone from the East Coast to Utah can recover from a Google search penalty.