SEO - Express Writers

Will Google Use TV As A Web Content Ranking Signal?

December 31, 2020September 29, 2014 by Adam Oakley

No one can deny that our relationship with Google has been a love / hate one, sometimes bordering on a total hate / hate rapport—because sometimes it feels as if Google is testing our patience right alongside our ability to adapt! It can be downright frustrating, especially for those of us running online businesses, trying our best to do all of the right things in a concentrated effort to land our brand smack in the middle of the top results on those coveted search engine results pages. Therefore, it is not too surprising to hear about Google testing new ranking signals, but the latest news is a little unexpected: Google wants to use what’s on TV as a ranking signal. Google’s New Patent According to a recent report by Matt Southern of Search Engine Journal, Google has landed a patent indicating that they’re actively working on a method to leverage what’s airing on TV in your local area as a ranking signal. Say what? How is that supposed to work? It sounds a little crazy, but if you think about it, so did mobile devices about 10 years ago! So, instead of frowning and thinking it’s just another piece of science fiction, let’s take a more educated look at the idea itself. The Idea Behind the Idea In a recent article by Search Engine Land, the consensus is that Google is attempting to provide relevant search results by detecting the TV shows you’re viewing. Farfetched? Not really. The article goes on to state that Google is gearing up to use a “variety of signals” to govern how to rank search results. The “variety” is said to include: Linking patterns on the Web The user’s geographic location, search history, etc. And it looks like what you’re watching on TV is about to become the next big local factor. Now, this doesn’t mean Google is turning into Big Brother, watching your every move in a huge invasion of privacy, and then handing you the most relevant search results based on a load of personal information. On the contrary, they are taking advantage of pure human nature. The Psychology behind the Ranking Signal When’s the last time you grabbed your Smartphone or device while watching television and looked something up related to the content you were watching? I got to thinking about this, and it occurred to me that I do this a lot more than I realize. I am so accustomed to having my Smartphone right beside me that I don’t even stop to think about how many times I grab it and search for something based on a television show, movie, or commercial that’s playing on my television. If I had to guess, I probably do this at least twice during prime time. What about you? Here’s something else I contemplated: How often I conduct an Internet search based on what I’m watching and hit a brick wall. For example, back when I used to watch Shark Tank on a regular basis, it wasn’t uncommon for me to search the Internet for what I saw on the entrepreneur-geared show that intrigued me. I would see a company or product that I wanted to learn some more about. I’d grab my phone, Google it, and stare at the results wondering what on earth I was looking at. In this particular instance, it would have been nice to have been greeted by relevant results. Sometimes the business I was trying to find wasn’t all that well placed on my search results simply because their SEO wasn’t super intense. Regardless of exactly why they didn’t pop on a search result, it would have been incredible if this patent had been active and Google had been using television viewing as a search signal. It just might have made my search for more information a little more productive, not to mention accurate. And I’m sure other businesses who wanted to buy a product they saw on the show would have appreciated a quick means of searching what they were watching and getting an accurate (not to mention relevant) return on their search engine results. According to WebPro News, Google filed the patent in 2011. Although it was just granted this week, it is a fair assumption that Google’s been dabbling with implementation ideas surrounding this concept for a while. WebPro News provided the following breakdown of how this signal might work: What Does This Mean To You? That’s the big question, isn’t it? Whenever Google starts moving towards the application of a new ranking signal, we all want to know what it means for us, and we want to know as soon as humanly possible so we can prepare before implementation goes live. According to WebPro News, Google has already been “listening in” to your TV from your mobile device via the “Listen to TV” feature, which was launched in 2013. It is certainly possible that TV viewing could become a rather significant factor of how Google delivers results to users for certain types of queries. The technology titan is already capable of monitoring user’s TV viewing preferences through Google TV, an application that can be seamlessly integrated with your current television. Google TV provides quick and easy access to your favorites on Google Play, YouTube, and Chrome. However, it’s also noteworthy to keep in mind that just because Google currently holds the patent, it does not mean that they will actually use the process for search rankings. It’s too early to tell exactly what the approval of this patent will mean for the future of search engine results. But one thing is for sure: It makes you stop and think about what the future of SEO could hold. The Effect on Content Content is quickly becoming the future of search engine optimization, which for most of us isn’t incredibly surprising. High quality, relevant, and engaging content has been at the heart of awesome websites since the dawn of the Internet. It’s been the tested … Read more

20 Tips For Becoming An SEO Writing Superstar

June 19, 2024September 22, 2014 by Adam Oakley

They say that SEO writing is hard. They say there’s too much to learn. That, unless you really dedicate yourself, you’ll never make it. Plus, Google changes their algorithms so often that you’ll have to relearn everything anyhow, right? The truth is, the fundamentals of good SEO writing do not change. What it takes to write engaging copy that reaches your real readers and SEO rankings is completely learnable. And, while you’ll certainly need to put in the time and work to succeed, becoming an SEO writing superstar isn’t out of reach, especially if you’re already some kind of writing-slash-tech nerd. We’ve put together a list of 20 tips to help. 1. Keep Your Content Audience-Centric This is something that I talk about over and over again throughout my blog posts. And for good reason. Because if you’re not creating audience-centric content, it will be near impossible to become an SEO writing superstar. But, what exactly is audience-centric content? This visual provides a solid representation of what it is and isn’t: Image Source Hopefully you already have a pretty good idea of who your target audience is and what type of content they want. If you don’t, I strongly encourage you to develop a target persona so you can better identify and reach your audience. Takeaway: Identify your audience and ALWAYS create audience-centric content catered to what they want to hear about. 2. Target Long Tail Keywords Keywords obviously play a pivotal role in SEO success. But, as more and more content is being created, it’s becoming almost impossible to rank for common, one-word keywords. Fortunately, as long as you’re creating great content, there are still plenty of long-tail keywords that you can target and rank for. Want to know the best part? Long-tail keywords significantly outperform other keywords when it comes to conversion rates. As you begin performing keyword research for content, work to identify long-tail keywords that support the topics that your audience wants to hear about. While there are dozens of strategies you can use to find them, the below resources should give you a solid head start: Our Guide – Your Nutshell Guide: How to Find Killer SEO Keywords for Your Online Content Brian Dean – How to Find Long Tail Keywords Shout Me Loud – 6 Awesome Tools to Find Long-Tail Keywords in Any Niche Takeaway: Build your content around long-tail keywords that offer less competition and higher conversion rates. 3. Stick With Long Form In the world of SEO writing, quality trumps quantity. For this reason, it’s highly recommended that you stick with long form for most, if not all, of the articles you produce for your blog. Why? Well, the statistics show us why. Take a look at this study from serpIQ outlining the average content length of top ten results in Google: As you can see, the longer the content is, the better it performs in SERPs. And while we are recommending long form content, that doesn’t mean that you can just stuff your articles with fluff and expect strong results. You still need to create great content that’s well researched, well written, and that follows SEO best practices. In the end, when you’re making the decision to commit to long form, you’re also making the decision to commit to quality throughout. Takeaway: For best results in search engines, commit to producing well-researched long form articles. 4. Make a Plan As Benjamin Franklin once said: “By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.” And while Franklin probably wasn’t talking about SEO writing when he said this, it certainly holds true with content creation. Planning in content creation essentially comes down to doing proper research and putting together a strong outline. And while that may sound time consuming, it doesn’t have to be. For a great resource on how to do this, check out CoSchedule’s post outlining the 10-Minute, 10-Step Solution for the Best Blog Outline. Not only does their article lay out everything you need to create an outline, but it also shows you how to do it in the most efficient way possible. Takeaway: Develop an efficient process for creating strong outlines. 5. Get Good at Research To become truly great at SEO writing, you need to get good at research. Gary Bencivenga, a legendary copywriter with over 40 years experience, said that understanding the importance of research changed his career. As he went on to say: “It took me a while to realize that the best writers are the most tenacious researchers. Like miners, they dig, drill, dynamite, and chip until they have carloads of valuable ore. John Caples advised me once to gather seven times more interesting information than I could possibly use.” While I’m not advising that you spend ten hours researching for your next blog post, gathering as much information as possible is going to put you in the optimal position to create the best available content on your topic. And, if you’re looking to become an SEO writing superstar, that should be your goal. While searching via Google has made research a fairly fast and pain-free process, here’s a few other resources that could help: Google Scholar Books on the Topic Expert Interviews Industry Specific Magazines Takeaway: Commit to consistently developing your research skills and understand that research is key to any great piece of content. 6. Study the Competition As I mentioned in the last section, if you want to become an SEO writing superstar, your goal should be to create the best piece of content available on the topic you’re writing about. To do that, you have study the competition and find out what’s already out there. Fortunately, Google makes this process easy. Let’s say, for example, that I wanted to create a blog post about ‘how to create an about page’. When I type that into Google, the results look like this: From here, I’ll sift through and take notes on each article on the first page of the rankings to … Read more

It’s Official: The Death Of Google Authorship

December 31, 2020September 15, 2014 by Adam Oakley

We’ve really had the run-around on Authorship, thanks to Google’s ever-changing brain. Just when we thought all that hype was only that, we hear that Google has killed it. Completely. In terms of Authorship, this should be your thought now: nada. I can hear the sound of flags being lowered to half-mast across the globe. Perhaps writers are stirring their lattes sadly, with a teary expression on their face. At times like this, it’s right to spend a moment in reflection. Right, reflection time is over. Let’s have a look at the death of Google Authorship, its causes, and the implication it has for content writers. Was Google Authorship A Step Too Far? When Google announced its Authorship plans, it sounded too good to be true. Writers, through the use of rel=author tags, could use their articles, blogs and general brilliance to make themselves more visible, and increase their rankings on search engines. All the writer had to do was to mark up their content on their Google+ account, and leave the search engine wizards to do the rest. That’s easy, huh? Well, for many it wasn’t easy enough, and that’s why Authorship was doomed to fail. The fact is that many writers are happiest when they’re tapping away at their computer keyboards, letting their fiendish brains take them on flights of fancy, sharing their wisdom with a waiting world. They want to complete their work, put it out there in cyberspace, and then forget about it. Anything that seems too ‘techy’ can see them run screaming to the hills. The Google+ mark up scheme was simple to implement, but it was still too involved for some authors. As reported in Search Engine Land, a recent study by Stone Temple Consulting found that a remarkable 70% of authors made no attempt to mark their authorship on the content they were producing, and that many of them complained that the rel=author mark up system was too complex or time-consuming. Why Did Google Create Authorship? Believe it or not, there’s nothing that Google loves more than connecting its users with the content they want. They don’t spend their days trying to find new ways to move their parameters, or looking for new ways to make things more difficult for bloggers and writers. That’s just a by-product. Google has said time and again that they want to promote high quality content, and they saw the Authorship scheme as a way to do this. If a writer consistently produces exciting and informative content, and had a track record of writing blogs and articles for leading sources, then it’s only right that they should be connected with the public. Google Authorship would reward writers who consistently created content that people wanted to read. That reward came in the form of enhanced search visibility, rather than a maxi-sized blueberry muffin, but it was still good. Is that the only reason that Authorship was created, or was there another underlying cause? Some cynics may imagine that Google wanted to find another way to add value to its Google+ channel. Since its launch in 2011, Google+ has failed to slay the giant that is Facebook. If authors could increase their search rankings by using G+ more fully, then surely they’d interact with it more often, right? What do they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? That cheese has well and truly moved. The Death of Google Authorship The announcement was made to a less than shocked world on August 28th, when John Mueller of Google Webmaster Tools announced that Google Authorship was no more, it had ceased to be. It was an ex-scheme. So why did they carry out this technological infanticide? Put simply, it wasn’t providing the advantage to searchers or writers that Google had hoped, because of the low take up. Google had attempted to address the problem by auto-attributing work, but this in itself caused problems when work was incorrectly attributed. Famously, they attributed a work to Truman Capote that was written nearly three decades after his death. Capote wouldn’t mind, he did, after all, often claim authorship of his friend Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, but it was symptomatic of the problems besetting Google Authorship. The Importance of Blogging, Post-Authorship It’s a fact that Authorship wasn’t used as much as it should have been, but to those who did use it, it was very helpful indeed. It was like getting a free popsicle from Google at the end of every day, and now they’ve snatched it away. So what can writers do to ensure that their content is still getting the attention it deserves on the SERP merry-go-round? We all know that it’s impossible to second guess Google, or decipher their ever elusive algorithms. What we can, and must do, however, is to listen to what they’ve been sating to us over and over again. They want high quality content, not content that consists of meaningless backlinks with a few words to flesh them out. We’ve lost the magic trick that was the Google Authorship program, but by concentrating on turning out informative and content rich blogs and articles, we can still maintain our content authority and reach a wide audience. Rest In Peace, Google Authorship, you’ll be sadly missed. But only by 30% of writers.

Did Exact-Match Keywords Get Replaced By Close Variant Keywords In Google Adwords?

December 31, 2020September 8, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Image Source: thenextweb.com Bring out your Google notebook again; Google is making another major change and this time it is to Google AdWords. Just when we all start to get used to things, Google makes another a major game-changing announcement. This announcement is that the exact-match keywords you use are no longer going to rank for, well, exact-matches but for close variant keywords. Wait, what? What exactly does that mean? This blog is going to break everything down for you, to help you understand the changes that are happening as well as how these changes might impact your business. What Is An Exact-Match And Close Variant Keyword? First thing first, we need to define what these two phrases mean. Some of you might know, but a little refresher course never hurt anyone. An exact-match keyword is pretty straightforward. Its definition is simply that it is a keyword that someone searches for exactly and is given results that exactly match the keyword. For example, if you were searching for “bicycle repair tips” an exact-match keyword would bring up results with the exact keyword of “bicycle repair tips.” Simple, huh? A close variant keyword is a keyword that is close to the search query, but not exactly what the searcher looked for. This can be helpful if someone is searching for “bicycle repair tips” but searches for either “bike repair tips” or “bycycle repair tips.” Yep, that’s right. If someone misspells their search query, the result will come up with what they are looking for. This is handy for those who aren’t strong spellers and for those of us who rely on our smartphones, which like to make strange spelling suggestions constantly. Why Is Google Making A Change In Favor Of Close Variant Keywords? As we mentioned earlier, Google is making a change that favors close variant keywords instead of exact-match. Their main reasons are straightforward and easy to understand. The biggest reason they are changing to favor close variant keywords is because about 7 percent of search queries are misspelled; yes 7 percent. While that might not seem very substantial, that is 7 percent of people using Google, who might not come to your site. This could actually be quite detrimental for you, so this change is a good thing for many PPC advertisers. This change did take place awhile back, yet marketers were allowed to opt out, and many did. Now, you will not be able to opt out, it will just be part of the Google algorithm. Another reason Google is making this change is because exact-match keywords do not bring in as many clicks and views as a close variant keyword, which they know to be detrimental to you, your ranks, and revenue. Google AdWords wants to help you out by making this change, which is quite nice of them! You never know exactly how someone is going to search for “bicycle repair tips” no matter how straightforward it seems. All you have to do is go to Google Poetics to see the various, strange things people search for. People will come up with any variation of your specific keyword, which can actually keep them far away from your site, whereas a close variant keyword might just be what brings them to you. What Does This Mean For Your Content? According to Search Engine Watch, a great thing about this change is that your content isn’t going to see that drastic of an impact from this change. You will find that your content is hardly impacted, if at all. In fact, Google said that they believe only about 3 percent of advertisers on AdWords will see an impact, but even that will be small. Also, this has really been happening for a while now. Variants of your keywords should be appearing naturally all throughout your content. It’s pretty hard NOT to do that. The rule of thumb is to be sure that you (or your writers) are writing naturally—not for the SERPs, and not around a keyword—but for the reader. Are There Any Benefits For Close Variant Keywords? The main benefit researchers are seeing is that your advertisements are more likely to come up for searchers now than before. When you were focusing on exact-match keywords, you actually were missing a huge chunk of searchers simply because, as mentioned earlier, they misspelled a word or did not type the exact keyword you used. With a close variant keyword, you have the higher likelihood of getting more clicks and results. An example given in the article referenced above by Search Engine Watch shows just how this will positively impact your results. For instance, there could be about 10 million different matches for your chosen keyword. However, with the exact-match keyword, you were only able to reach about 1 million of those search terms, missing out on 9 million results. With a close variant keyword, you stand a higher chance of getting results for all 10 million variations. Now, not all keywords have that many variations, but you get the idea. Your chosen keyword will have a significant amount of possible variations, but with exact-match, you will always miss out. Basically, with a close variant keyword, you are able to expand who all you reach, potentially expanding your client base to a more diverse one. This is something that you will greatly enjoy as time progresses! Are There Any Cons With This Change? The most significant change people are expecting is that you will see more clicks on your site than before. While this is a great thing, you need to know that this could also mean higher costs for your PPC budget. You will need to rethink that PPC budget and take some time to learn just how much more you are going to need to spend. This change is going to be implemented in September, which does not give anyone much time to prepare for it. This is troublesome for a lot of small businesses because you … Read more

Do Authorship Images Live On? Search Engine Land Says Yes, Now Google Say No

January 1, 2021August 20, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Image Source: searchengineland.com Google is the ultimate everything on the Internet, from search engine to social media, they seem to have something for everything. It was no surprise that Google Authorship was a huge hit when first introduced. It held the promise of handing overdue credit to every business or individual who authored a piece of content on the web. It became the way to build credibility and authority while also impacting search engine optimization in a positive way. And then…it changed. Google made a major change to Authorship. In a nutshell, one of the most coveted features of Authorship went away: the Authorship picture that displayed in search engine results. In a massive update, Google removed this feature, leaving the lowly grey clickable name feature to stand-alone. A lot of us were disappointed, and quite a few of us were out for blood. Authorship Is Alive In a battery of stormy outrage, something got lost in the translation and people started to believe Authorship had bit the dust. On the contrary, Authorship was still very much alive and kicking. The real change was that only credible and real authors would be able to acquire it going forward. Simply put, it became a pedestal to strive for, something not within everyone’s grasp. In yet another effort to provide the best possible content in response to user searches, Google made is necessary for authors to publish well-researched, well-written content on an ongoing basis. Authorship Images Live On Say what?!? I know, it’s hard to believe. I had to take a second to calm my nerves as I read the latest update by Aaron Friedman of Search Engine Land. But the image connected to Google’s Authorship did, indeed, stay! Yes, Google did remove these images, but only from external sites. What exactly does this mean? It means the social network so often referred to as a ghost town is now super important! Loyal users have been claiming that G+ is no ghost town, and if you didn’t believe it before, you better believe it now. Google Plus just got a lot more important! Learn To Love Google Plus This revelation is huge because it means that Google Plus is here to stay, and it’s a social media outlet you simply must learn to love. G+ posts sporting author images are still appearing regularly within search results for logged-in users. Now, even Friedman observes that no one knows if this is intentional, something Google missed, or a clever way of drawing attention to and encouraging more G+ use. Regardless of the why, the what is obvious. In our quest to bring the most amount of exposure to ourselves and our clients, Google Plus is becoming more and more useful and worthwhile. If you Google Plus your blog posts, your authorship image will show! If not, no image. At the end of the day, whether logged in to G+ or not, Google profiles are ranking well on search engine result pages. Therefore, if you aren’t already using Google, it’s time to start. Not another Profile! Oh, yes! It’s yet another profile primed for the reception of awesome content. At this point in social media marketing, you might be feeling just a tad overwhelmed. I mean, you’re already coming up with content for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and that’s just naming the popular social networks. Then you’ve got platforms like Medium springing up. It’s like a never-ending attack of spawning platforms! Solution? Hire the best defense with an offensive mindset: a social media manager. Now, whether you have a social media manager right now or are out to find one, it’s your responsibility to ensure that they are including G+ in all activities. If you post across multiple platforms, get Hootsuite—it’ll simplify the process and make this entire media muddle a lot less muddy. But don’t forget to make sure G+ is included! The ‘Ghost Town’ Isn’t Filled With Tumbleweeds Anymore We can’t deny the negativity that has surrounded Google’s social network. Even Marketing Land referred to it as a “social referral graveyard.” Regardless of whether you’ve held to the opinion of G+ being a tumbleweed infested ghost town or a graveyard, there’s no doubt that G+ is becoming a staple of social media and Internet marketing. You just can’t afford not to use it and use it actively. While it’s too early to tell exactly what factors are ranking posts on Google’s network, it’s not too early to see that Google+ just became a lot more important to content and social marketing campaigns. It is now in your best interests to build a strong presence on Google’s social network. If you’re looking for ranking assets, then it’s time to start posting on G+ and share it publicly with your network of connections.

The Unofficial Official Google Pigeon Update

January 1, 2021August 10, 2014 by Adam Oakley

In recent news, it appears that the people have given Google’s Panda 4.0 algorithm a loving nickname: Pigeon. What do a pigeon and a panda have in common? They both have a healthy dislike of low quality web content and not so stellar websites, and they aren’t afraid of cleaning up the local search engine results scene. In July, Marketing Land’s Barry Schwartz published an article in which a major Panda-based local search algorithm update pushed out by Google was officially named the Pigeon update. The update was pushed to U.S. and English-based search results. It reportedly impacted SEOs, webmasters, and local business owners in the areas of Google Web Search and organic local listings within Google Map Search. The July 24th Update According to Schwartz’s coverage of the July 24th update via Search Engine Land, the core changes set into motion by Google Pigeon are behind the scenes. However, their impact is visible on local search results rankings. Local businesses saw either an increase or decrease in their web site referrals, leads, and business. Google reportedly stated that the update improved their distance and location ranking parameters. In July, it was rolling out for US English results. The ultimate goal of the update was to provide more useful and relevant results for users conducting local searches. On the local front, Search Engine Round Table stated that the update was felt by SEOs and Webmasters, who saw a significant change in rankings on the local search level. On a positive note, Matt McGee reported via Search Engine Land that the lovingly nicknamed Pigeon update fixed a Yelp problem with Google. An Unconfirmed Google Pigeon Update Breaking news in the SEO world hit earlier this week as reports of an update to Pigeon spread across the net. Schwartz reported “Pigeon fluctuations” via Marketing Land on Monday, August 2nd. The fluctuations, discussed in greater detail by savvy search marketers including Andrew Shotland, seem to indicate some fine-tuning is now transpiring behind the scenes. Google’s July update followed the norm meaning it wasn’t without hiccups. For example, it was a tad embarrassing for Google to announce their update to improve the fundamentals of local search results only to be greeted by: Expedia certainly isn’t a local result and shouldn’t hold this spot in a local-based search. Accidents happen, and it appears that Google tinkered until the issue was fixed: When asked if a small update went live, Google refused to confirm or deny the change. However, Marketing Land’s coverage noted that Google did say they “don’t have a specific update to announce here” and that they “probably won’t detail all the changes to local search algorithms as [they] go.” It’s likely the notorious Google elves are working tirelessly in the background, but chances are we won’t hear much about it. Optimizing For Pigeon According to Andrew Shotland, some good has come from Google Pigeon. In a recent tweet, he said, “Client just hit page 1 for “Chicago” + {Main Keyword}. Starting to like this Pigeon thing.” But what we really want to zero in on is how to optimize or tweak our content to achieve or maintain the best possible SERPs post-Pigeon. Shotland had this to say via Twitter: Client just hit page 1 for "Chicago" + {Main Keyword}. Starting to like this Pigeon thing — Andrew Shotland (@localseoguide) August 5, 2014 "There Is Really No Way To Optimize For This Algorithm Because The Results Are Random And Make No Sense…": http://t.co/CxqNaGETlr — Andrew Shotland (@localseoguide) August 5, 2014 Shotland makes an observation that speaks volumes. In his article published at LocalSEOGuide.com, he says, “Google is in control…they do everything for users!” This observation is especially interesting, as Google has been pushing the need for high quality content and websites since before the start of 2014. SEO trends have strongly focused on the need for a sound content marketing plan. Content marketers have stressed the need for high quality content that speaks to the user and delivers relevant information. The main idea (or strategy) is to know one’s target audience and keep them firmly in focus, crafting content that is informative, relevant, and engaging—the very definition of shareworthy. In turn, Google and its array of beastly algorithms are on the hunt for websites that produce high quality, relevant content that will hand search engine users the best possible experience. Based on the available information, there is no credible or reliable How to Optimize for Pigeon Guide. However, the evidence does support that the best action is to continually work on all of that good old best practice stuff, just as you always have. Google is working out the kinks to their local search parameters. If you continually uphold best practices and work to craft content your audience finds useful, relevant, and engaging, then you’ll weather updates well in the long run. This is not to say that an update won’t suddenly decrease your ranking due to unexpected and “must fix” errors on Google’s part. What’s Our Best Rule? The Ground One: Quality Content Optimization for Google Pigeon isn’t a viable option at this point. The results are random, and according to Shotland currently “make no sense.” Therefore, the best defense is to keep focusing on quality content, and chances are Google will smooth the rest out on their timetable.

The Future of SEO: Topics Instead of Keywords

December 31, 2020August 8, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Recently, there’s been a big push in the SEO community toward “topics rather than terms.” While the SEO of yesteryear was obsessively focused on keyword research and inclusion, today’s SEO has expanded to be more natural, conversational, and user-focused. Over the last several years, we’ve seen significant shifts in optimization, including Google’s massive push for high-quality, well-written content and the introduction of ranking tools like RankBrain, to name a few. While keywords can be valuable, and they’ve gained their important position in SEO for a good reason, they’re not the most natural strategy for modern SEO, and many site owners and users alike have found them stale, stuffy, and unproductive. This has created the ultimate opportunity for a new approach to take over. Why “Topics Over Terms” Takes the Cake If you’ve worked in the content marketing industry for years, you know exactly how many changes this industry has seen. From Panda to Penguin, Google has shifted its ranking algorithms regularly, and marketers have changed their approach to developing content, in turn. This has caused a dramatic change in the way people discover content, and the way search engines rank it. While Google and other search engines used to deliver content based on its adherence to standards, like keyword saturation, those rules have ceased to be useful or relevant, and today’s focus is more nuanced. Today, value and relevance take the cake, while spammy, SEO-obsessed content falls by the wayside. This is where the push toward topics rather than terms enters the picture. Today, people are using dozens of different methods to search for the content they love, from mobile platforms to voice searches, and Google has had to adapt as a result. This has led to a push for authoritative content that delivers a positive user experience. We’re staring down the barrel of a new key focus: today, the only way to the top is to understand your target audience and produce the kind of quality content they want. When you do this correctly and take the current SEO environment into account in the process, you can establish yourself as an authority in the industry and enjoy a wider reach than ever before. The Variability of Modern Search Engines In recent years, the way search engines process and obtain information has shifted dramatically. Historically, marketers have paid careful attention to keyword rankings within search engine results. Even though keyword rankings change depending on where you are, how you search, and which terms you use, and thus have thousands of different arrangements at any moment, people have historically looked to them as trustworthy ranking mechanisms. Unfortunately, they’re not. Further adding to the instability of traditional methods of determining ranking is the shift of search engines toward featured snippets, which platforms like Google now roll out more and more to cater to users and offer value. Google, specifically, has also begun to lean toward machine learning, most notably with its RankBrain algorithm, which helps Google process its millions of daily searches and understand the user intent behind them. Thanks to developments like RankBrain, Google now knows that someone searching for “Fitness studios in NYC” is likely also interested in a yoga or Pilates studio, even though they never explicitly used these keywords. This is called semantic search, and it’s at the center of the “topics rather than terms” revolution. Your Target Audience Is Everything For years, there’s been a rallying cry throughout the world of content marketing: know your target audience. And that holds just as true in the age of topics over terms as it did in years prior. After all, your target audience is your ultimate consideration. Since they’re who you’re creating content for, it pays to get it right and ensure that they’re receiving it as well as you’d like them to. This isn’t a new realization. In recent years, sources like Moz (in a Whiteboard Friday) have explained how targeting specific kinds of people (your target audience) and the topics they’re interested in could be one of the most efficient traffic-driving strategies, blowing keyword-based ranking out of the water. While a general keyword strategy can help your target audience find your content, it won’t ultimately help them engage with it. The reason is simple: an excessively strict keyword creates restrictions. Readers want relevant, informative, and engaging content. They want to learn something new, and it’s hard to do that with content that’s only focused on achieving a 3% keyword density. Now that rates of voice and mobile search have skyrocketed, and Google’s Hummingbird algorithm update, which helps the search engine process natural language queries, has launched, it’s more important than it’s ever been to identify the topics your target audience is interested in. If you were to focus only on keyword inclusion, you’d be hemmed into 10 or 20 keyword phrases. Expand that to a “topic” focus, though, and you’ll quickly find that there are dozens of long-tail variations within each given topics. According to Fishkin’s whiteboard, creating landing pages with each key term or phrase can create unnecessary words, overlapping information, and user confusion. With search engines determined to bring the best possible experience to the user, it’s a sure bet that confusing content won’t make it high in ranking. How to Focus on Topics over Terms in Your Content The benefits of focusing on topics over keywords are undeniable. The question now is where do you start? Here’s your five-step breakdown. 1. Research Your Product(s) and Service(s) Mike Small from SiteProNews recommend using the Google Keyword Planner tool (it’s free) via a Google AdWords account to research and select your keyword themes. You can also stick to the most notable “core keywords” you have already identified to choose your keyword theme, and then move to step two. Keep in mind that long-tail keywords count, and these keywords are invaluable for placing in local searches and building out your topic strategy. Once you’ve found a few keywords you want to target, work on building out topics that complement and enhance them. 2. Get Creative When you rank content with keywords, … Read more

Still Spending Money On Links? Why You Should Buy Content Instead

January 1, 2021July 28, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Back in the “pre-historic” days of Google, just before the first major Pandas rolled out in all their glory, there was such a thing as links. Through the use of links, from the use of a “linkwheel” to the worst of the negative, black-hat SEO link structures, webmasters were able to gain almost overnight rankings. This dramatically changed in 2011 when the first major Panda update from Google cracked down on thousands upon thousands of websites. These websites lost first-place ranking and huge revenue streams overnight. The outcry was awful. However, in time, the terror changed to a realization the Internet was getting better. Instead of links and spam-filled, over optimized content, it was time to invest in real, readable blogs, web pages, and content that were written by qualified people and optimized for the reader. Today, in 2014, exactly how do links still factor in? Do they factor in at all, or offer any use for us? Let’s take a look! Are Links Still Important? The biggest thing many people have forgotten is that link building is very different from content marketing. You need to make sure you have a strong content marketing outlined first before considering your links. Here’s the thing, links and SEO are all about getting you to show up in the search results. Once you’re there, you’ll probably start doing the samba and feeling pretty great about yourself, but if your content is crummy, you’ll lose any visitors you get. Unfortunately, people aren’t seeing this and are still shelling out lots of dough for links in their content instead of buying great, valuable content. According to a survey held by Moz, about 40% of people they polled said that their businesses were focusing 51 – 75% of their SEO budget on link building. This leads one to the assumption that only a small portion of SEO budgets are aimed at getting great, quality content for their sites. This can really come back to bite you in the tush if you aren’t careful. 7 BIG Reasons Why You Should Start Investing In Great Content As the majority of blogs out there are pointing out that quality content is becoming more and more the name of the Google game. You either have great content or you start to lose. It is a harsh statement, but quite true. Let’s take a look at why content marketing is something you should be investing in: 1. Quality Content Keeps Visitors On Your Site Longer. Once you get people to your site via search results and ranks, you are going to want to keep them on your site. If you don’t invest in content, you will not keep those customers. While seemingly unfair, many people are going to skim over your content to see if it is worth their time to read; if they feel that it isn’t, then they will click right over to your competitors. Keeping people on your site opens up the opportunity to become more than just visitors, but clients as well. Basically, investing in content keeps people on your site and converts them into leads. Sounds like something worthwhile, doesn’t it? 2. Those Links and SEO Keywords Don’t Create Your Brand. Sure, links and SEO can help you rank as we have established, but the thing to remember is that it doesn’t build or create your brand. Only you can do that, and do it successfully. You know what you want out of your brand, what you want people to see, and, most likely, have an idea of how you will craft and achieve it. This is why it is important to invest in great content and content writers. You can easily give them the information you want to share, the voice you want them to use, and let them have at it. This gives your brand a personal touch that is completely lost if you are spending a significant sum of money on links. 3. You Can Save Money By Focusing On Content. Content is a great investment that you will see great returns on over time. You will realize that as you focus a great chunk of your budget on content that you are making more than you thought you would. The more you write and produce great content, the better your revenue will be. For example, if you spent time and money to optimize a product that helps people get to sleep without harsh additives, but not on quality content, you might not get as many purchases as you thought you would. With great content, you will turn that browsing individual into someone who wants to try your product. Like we’ve said time and time again, it isn’t just about getting a visitor to your site, it’s also about converting them into clients. Your quality content will do just that. Eventually, you may notice that you are able to invest more money in your budget for content creation, links, and SEO, but you’ll only get there if you make a content investment. 4. Content Ensures You Are The Expert In Your Field. When you are selling items online, you always want to make sure you come across as an expert or authority in your field. When you purchase items online, you most likely double-check to make sure the person whom you are buying from really knows what they are doing and understands what they are selling. The same goes for when people make purchases from you. A great way to establish yourself as an expert is through, well, content! Ah content, the magic term. Content is going to set you apart as a leader in the industry because you will have webpages, product descriptions, and blogs detailing information surrounding your products, services, and industry news. This is another great reason to move away from spending a large amount of your budget on links and SEO and move towards investing in content marketing. 5. You Will Generate More Client Interaction. Engagement is a big part of any company, and … Read more

Local SEO: How To Optimize & Rank With Well-Written Landing Pages

December 31, 2020July 21, 2014 by Adam Oakley

One way online content really wins the game for Internet marketers is through local keyword optimized landing pages. How so? Well, let’s put this in action. For example, if someone were to search for “Atlanta bathroom plumbing,” the written 800-word landing page for an Atlanta plumber’s website addressing bathroom plumbing would show up. Backlinks, domain authority, and other technical SEO elements, which are useful in other ways do not come close to the power of a locally optimized landing page for local SEO keyword searches. Now, just how exactly do you create them so they work that well? Let’s look at that. Long Tail Keywords Are Your Local Keywords These locally-focused keywords are also called long-tail keywords; as long-tail keywords, they are often easy to rank quickly for because of the low-competition amounts, if you utilize one of Google’s favorite ranking elements: an original, well-researched, 800-word-minimum landing page. Yes, yes, 800 words. It doesn’t seem like a landing page should have so many words, but it works out in your favor quite significantly! Examples In Action “In & Out Plumbing” has a great example of how to locally optimize and use a landing page. This is one we are quite proud of since our team wrote it up. Take a look at how this is written for a specific town in which this company offers services. This helps the company rank in local search results and also helps to keep them from being slapped with a ban or penalty from Google for duplicate content, which is something many websites suffered from the release of Google Panda 4.0. Let’s take a look at another example, but this time of one page that doesn’t utilize local search help. This is another plumbing company, but instead of having separate pages for the various areas they service, they have one. The landing page is approximately 100 words and the footer serves as what brings in the search results. This makes the content duplicate across different sites, which makes this website rank poorly and can eventually get them in trouble with Google. Do you see the difference? Which one speaks positively to you as a viewer? Now think about how these pages speak to the search engine. Site number one is going to get incredible results from utilizing multiple local pages without duplicate content, whereas site number two is going to feel the burn of low ranks and views. How To Write Locally Optimized Landing Pages – 5 steps Now that you’ve seen the outcome of how important local SEO is to websites let’s take a quick trip with five steps on just how to go about locally optimizing your site! 1. Include Location Facts. Talk about local landmarks, the area, and be relevant so the reader knows you truly know about their current location. This is best done in the middle of the page or the footer – you want to address what they’re looking for right away and then show them you know the location. If you hire an out-of-area copywriter to write your content for you, you can always include information about local landmarks so that he or she can adequately write up a local landing page for your business. 2. Correct Length & Keyword Density. Longer content is always better than shorter – a 2,200 word page, according to QuickSprout’s study, could make it to the top of your analytics. Consider investing in more than 800 words. And while keyword density seems to be something of the past, making sure it is still a decent number can be important. This can help you make sure you know just how many keywords you use in your content to make sure you don’t over optimize. This is yet another thing that can get you a penalty and eventual ban from Google – avoid it. Most people believe that a keyword density of about 3% is a great aim to have, just make sure you don’t go above it and remember that it is fine to be below 3%. 3. Optimize Your Meta Tags For Local Search. When you are writing up your meta tags, make sure to include the city and state. For example, if you are a business located in Kansas City, MO then use “Kansas City, MO” for one of your pages’ meta tags. If you service the areas around, such as Independence, MO, then make sure you have a separate page for that location with a meta to match. This includes your title tags, descriptions, URLs, and headings. 4. Give Tips For Customers. We all love a great DIY; these help us learn how to do awesome things around our homes or at our offices and are all incredibly useful. Sure, you want your customers to use your services, but a DIY is going to show that you really do want to help them. Start by giving useful DIYs that are easy to accomplish and then suggest that if they are finding it difficult to complete the task, your company is there to step in and help. Consider using words like “help” or “assist” instead of “take over.” Sometimes, the reader might interpret “taking over” as a negative statement about their abilities to accomplish something, but everyone at some point knows they will at least need help. 5. Double-check For Duplicates And Get Rid Of Them. Duplicates, as we’ve said, are dangerous for your company to have and you must avoid them as much as possible. Unfortunately, this can sometimes be difficult for businesses as they forget to change and delete information once they’ve moved locations or had a previous website that they have long stopped using. No matter how long ago the move was or the website has been vacant, Google will always remember. Make sure to search for your company and remove all duplicate results. Moz gives some great tips on doing your own investigations into the duplicate content, helping you find the best way to clear … Read more