I talked to an SEO expert the other day who made an interesting analogy. He said that Google’s search algorithm is like a stream. It uses the path of least resistance to get to it’s destination. That means it doesn’t want to work hard to have to find stuff about out a business. It moves through the web at hyperspeed gathering information. And if the information about your company is difficult to locate or confusing, your business will get left out. The algorithm ALWAYS seeks the path of least resistance.
Keep this analogy in mind as we move through this blog.
1) Produce content
Content is the new king of SEO. We all know this. Don’t believe us? Read our case study about how we wrote 300 blog posts in 100 days. Or listen to this webinar about content marketing.
The website with the most quality content, wins.
2) Optimize onsite SEO
This is like 1999 SEO reborn! Doing the ‘little’ things onsite make a big different. Make sure your metadata is updated. Make sure the site is clean and easy to navigate. I could go on and on.
Bottom line: read up on onsite SEO and fix it all.
3) Authorship
Google is striving to attach every piece of online content to the person who wrote it. That’s their goal. They want to do this to ensure that content isn’t spammy, spun, or crappy. Google says this allows them to create an ‘Authorship Rank’–actually ranking people who create content and creating a personal expertise metric that matters for rankings.
What does this mean for you?
It means that you need to start using Google + and then follow the directions about authorship here, here, and here.
4) Optimize Social Pages
Are your social pages optimized? Do they have pictures? Links back to your site? Content and useful information?
If they aren’t, Google has to work harder to find you.
5) Listings
Use Yext. Make sure your listings are updated. Make sure they’re accurate. And make sure, you know, they actually exist.
The vast majority of companies either don’t have online listings or they have online listings that are, in some way, inaccurate.
This is bad news.
6) Share useful things and make connections
Most businesses know they need to have a social media presence, but they don’t really know what to do. This is bad news for SEO. Social sharing is becoming an increasingly important element of SEO. +1s, Likes and Shares matter.
Share content that people will want to share and read. But, perhaps more importantly, make sure you’re actually connecting with real people. If you don’t, you’ll be creating content into a black of doom.
7) Be Patient…but not too patient
Every marketer would like to see immediate movement in organic search rankings. Sometimes that possbile…but most times it isn’t. In most cases you have to consistently improve over a period of weeks and maybe months.
But, how long is too long to wait for results?
We’ve asked this question before and we’ve posed it to several SEO experts. The answer isn’t simple. But, here’s a good rule of thumb: if you’ve gone 4 months or more without movement in your search rankings, change your strategy. That might mean hiring an agency, it might mean switching agencies, it might mean evaluating your entire tactical plan. Don’t just twiddle your thumbs and tell yourself that it ‘takes time.’ That’s a recipe for disaster.
Note: Call tracking does not hurt SEO. We partnered with some of the biggest experts in the local SEO space and produced this 30+ page White Paper to give you the FACTS about call tracking and SEO.
