Table of Contents. 3 SEO: The ultimate balancing act. 4 How to implement a more meaningful keyword strategy

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2 Table of Contents 3 SEO: The ultimate balancing act 4 How to implement a more meaningful keyword strategy 7 Common mistakes with product pages (and how to fix them) 12 Content marketing The benefits of local SEO 21 Go mobile or go home 24 Ready to put what you ve learned into action? 2

3 SEO: The ultimate balancing act Are you feeling overwhelmed by the deluge of SEO information? You ve got the basics down, but every day there s something new more content spewing from the blogosphere, speculating about what Google will do next and how SEO is changing. This constant rush of information can cause anxiety and uncertainty among marketing teams that just want to gain more exposure and revenue. When you start to feel buried, just remember that all of these changes are minor adjustments to the direction Google has been heading in for years. So what does Google want from your website? It wants great communication. It wants fresh, unique information that s easy to find and valuable. It wants crawlers to easily understand your content and how it fits with user intent. It wants hints in the code that help crawlers prioritize the pages on your site. SEO is changing only in that users and search engines are getting better at communicating with each other. By understanding a few concepts, you can make your website a better communicator and become a highly-ranked, go-to destination. 3

4 How to implement a more meaningful keyword strategy On-page SEO is not dramatically different than it was five years ago. You still need keyword-focused page titles, meta descriptions, headers and content, and they still need to communicate meaning to search engines. What has changed is Google s expanded ability to understand what people want when they search, and semantic search is a big part of that. Semantic search is the ongoing effort by Google, Yahoo and Bing to improve SERPs through better understanding of the contextual meanings behind user queries. Spurred by Google s Hummingbird algorithm update in 2013, semantic search helps search engines focus on individual words in a query and how they are arranged to convey meaning. Making sure your content communicates meaning is more important than ever. So what should you do differently? Find associated words It s no longer enough to pick through Google Keyword Planner and choose keywords with the highest search volume. You need to gather related terms that people think of when they search for core keywords. Brainstorm and write down as many word associations as you can 4

5 Look at competitor sites and see what related topics they re writing about Follow influencers on social media, and keep an eye on hashtag feeds Look up industry terms on search engines and see their related searches Research topics in your industry forums Use keyword tools like SEMRush, Word Tracker and Ubersuggest Sort by relevancy Now that you have a broader list of keywords, you need to sift through them and find the gems that will help you convert customers. Focus on quality rather than just search volume. A good, niche long-tail keyword is often more valuable than several root keywords, especially the ones that signal commercial intent. Someone who searches get an interior painting quote is likely in the market to buy, and a local painting company might want to optimize a page for that person. Build your pages for smarter search engines As we explained, search engines are getting better at understanding context and user intent. So, how can you make content that communicates with a smarter search engine? Use long-tail keywords: These keywords are specific. Often phrased in the form of questions, they offer more context than other keywords and are more likely to convert. Use synonyms and related topics: Include words that often appear alongside your keywords online. It will add more meaning to your content, 5

6 which search engines may recognize. Use schema markup: Schematic markup allows you to insert microdata into your HTML code, helping search engines get a deeper understanding of your content. These values let you isolate information on your page and tell search engines what your content means instead of just what it says. If you re operating in a competitive marketplace, it can be extremely difficult to reach top organic search rankings. However, you can grow your website by focusing on niche keywords that have a high commercial benefit and low difficulty score. Then you can craft your content so that it speaks to search engines more effectively than your competitors. 6

7 Common mistakes with product pages Product pages are the most important part of an ecommerce website. They re also usually where the most mistakes are made. Businesses with deep websites and many products will have a harder time seeing results. Here are some of the biggest offenses ecommerce sites are guilty of making, and how to fix them: 1. Worrying about Google more than the user User experience should be your first priority. Always. If customers can t quickly find what they re looking for, all of your marketing is a waste. Create an intuitive site architecture that uses categories and parent-children pages that shoppers will find easy to navigate. Google will appreciate that as much as your users will. 2. Ignoring the value of unique descriptions Write unique descriptions for every product, and don t just include the price. Focus on details that will entice users to buy. Also, you should never copy descriptions from your product manufacturers. When your descriptions match those found on other sites across the internet, your pages will look like they have nothing unique to offer the user. Search engines will probably ignore your site or worse, Google may decide to not even index the page. 7

8 3. Forgetting to use HTML values When your products share similar features and descriptions across a series of pages, you can get dinged for duplicate content. Google offers two solutions to avoid these issues. You can add a view-all page where every product is listed, or you can use rel=next and rel=prev values to tell Google the sequential order of your pages. Additionally, when you have a single product with multiple variations (due to color, size, etc.), you can use a rel=canonical tag to tell search engines which is the preferred version. 4. Not including reviews Review pages are often near the top of search engine results for one good reason: People want them. Up to 70% of buyers will look for reviews before buying an item online. If your website doesn t include reviews, not only are you missing an opportunity to show up in organic search, but you re ignoring an essential tool that people use before buying. 8

9 Content marketing: The engine that drives SEO Content marketing persuades people to buy or convert by offering them articles, images or videos that benefit them in some way. By educating the customer with information they re searching for online, you will win their trust. The better your content is, the more likely that other authoritative websites will want to link to it. Getting natural inbound links is one of the most important aspects of SEO. Below, we ve outlined several components to creating a solid content strategy. Define your personas No online business can succeed without knowing its target audience. You need to research the characteristics and behaviors of each persona who is likely to buy your products. Once you have a clear picture of the personas you want to market to, make sure your content addresses their challenges, aspirations and needs. Write your copy using the tone and jargon they use, and you stand a better chance of connecting with them. Plan a content calendar Research the pain points of your personas by visiting forums, checking the autosuggest feature in Google search and by simply talking to them and noting the 9

10 questions they ask. Every customer question is an opportunity to share information that will earn their trust and eventually their money. Use this information to create an ongoing calendar that outlines your plan of action for targeting customers with useful content. Create and market your content Remember the benefits of long-tail keywords? They convert leads at a higher rate and often come in the form of a question the user is using to search for answers. These questions make great titles for the content you produce. Blog posts Blogging is one of the most common ways to create content. Writing helpful articles is a great way to engage customers and get more love from search engines. Article types that generate high interest from users include how to tutorials, compare and contrast reviews, and best of posts that express your opinions. White papers and downloadable PDFs White papers are comprehensive guides that offer more depth on a particular subject. These content pieces are longer in format, but you should strive to make them as concise as possible. Most marketers offer them for free, requiring only an address to download. 10

11 newsletters Unlike social media, is a direct line of communication you can own and control. Use it to alert subscribers when new content is posted on your website. Sales messages should be included strategically and sparingly, based on your subscribers interests. Sending frequent sales offers can annoy readers and prompt them to unsubscribe, but if you provide valuable content interrupted by the occasional sales message, you ll see better results. Videos The appetite for video is greater than ever before. Short, succinct videos can personalize your brand, demo products and even link back to a landing page on your website using YouTube annotations. Fewer companies are producing videos than blogs, which means you can gain a competitive edge by staking a claim to video marketing. Social media Social media platforms offer an outlet to distribute content to your fans and followers. You might create microcontent designed to engage them on your channel, or you can link to content on your website. Using social media to spread your content is a key way to boost visibility. For example, brands with active Google Plus accounts often benefit from having more specific information show up in 11

12 their SERPs, such as the number of followers they have and links to recent posts. Google also recently reached an agreement with Twitter that gives it access to fully index the steady stream of tweets coming out of the social media platform (3). That means you can now optimize the content you post on Twitter and start targeting potential customers looking for more timely information through searches. Link building Getting other websites to link to your content is one of the most challenging and important aspects of SEO. Be very careful about how you go about this. Most companies find success by networking with other influential websites in their industries, offering content that will benefit their users. Manipulative link building practices like blog comments, buying links and sometimes even guest posting can result in getting your website penalized or banned by Google. Proceed with caution, and remember that any activity done strictly for SEO purposes is usually a bad idea. If it benefits the user first and search engines second, you are probably safe. 12

13 Local SEO: Results are right around the corner Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence for a specific location so it shows up in local listings like Google Maps as well as in organic search results. This is important for several reasons: A user s location helps search engines determine what results to display, especially since mobile searches have skyrocketed in recent years People often include a geographic reference when they search Many consumers trust local businesses over large brands In July 2014, Google released an algorithm update called Pigeon, refining distance parameters, giving more visibility to review sites and integrating local results more closely with traditional website ranking signals. Here some ways to optimize your business for local search. Make sure your business location is optimized on your site Include your city and state or other geographic region in relevant places on your site like page titles, meta descriptions, headers and body copy. Google references these signals along with your other listings and checks them for consistency. 13

14 Verify your listing on Google My Business Google My Business allows you to create and update a profile on Google Search, Maps and Google Plus from one place. Complete your profile with pictures, hours of operation and a description of services. A few additional tips: Present your business the same way you would in an offline directory Don t try to stuff keywords or attempt any other manipulative SEO tactics Ensure that your name, address and phone number are accurate Make your business citations accurate and widespread Use online services like Yext, Bright Local and Whitespark to help you manage your business citations across the web and find new places to get listed. Get reviews Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google business listing. The more positive reviews you have, the better your business looks to search engines. Make sure the reviews are legitimate and honest, though. A business that has nothing but glowing reviews looks suspect to search engines, which can hurt your SEO efforts. 14

15 Go mobile or go home The importance of offering a great experience for mobile users cannot be overstated. Experts anticipate that mobile searches will surpass desktop in In addition, Google has announced that, starting in April 2015, mobile friendliness of websites will factor into mobile search results. Any business that does not offer a good mobile experience will likely experience declines in mobile search visibility. Plan your website with mobile users in mind Examine how your navigation and design can best serve mobile users. Snippets of common information like store location, phone number and business hours need to be clearly visible and allow for fast navigation. Sometimes the informational needs of mobile users may be completely different than desktop, requiring a separate mobile site rather than a responsive design. Regardless of the approach, you must offer device-specific content and test your shopping cart to make sure the experience is flawless. Put your mobile friendliness to the test Google offers mobile-friendly guidelines and a test tool to measure how well your website scores. If your website meets the guidelines, it will be labeled mobilefriendly in Google search results. 15

16 Optimize your business for local search The rise of mobile search has made local SEO more important than ever. Make sure your website and business citations all communicate where you are located if you don t want to miss out on local search traffic. Measure your conversions Compare your mobile conversions to desktop in Google Analytics and gain insights into how users are responding to your mobile design. Watch the data and make adjustments to your content, design and functionality as needed. What are your next steps? Embracing the principles of clear communication and understanding how search engines view your website are the first steps toward achieving lasting results with SEO. Making continuous adjustments while providing unique informative content will put you on the path to prosperity. 16

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