SEO News

Think content

We rank well thanks to the content we produce. It’s the best way to make your site relevant to the terms people are searching for and to give people a reason to visit your site. 

This means making sure the content on every page works as hard as it can. 

Start a blog

It worked for us. It shouldn’t be done purely as an SEO play, as simply producing content to cram in keywords won’t work in the long term. 

Instead, write for your audience and produce a blog that brings people to the site again and again. That’s content marketing for you. 

It can be easier to write for some business types than others, but there’s generally an angle to be found. If dental clinics can find ideas for articles, so can you. 

The side effect of this blogging activity is that, over time, you’ll have relevant and frequently updated content for search engines to index. 

Put the customer or reader first

Don’t become obsessed with cramming every keyword you can into a blog post or product description, aim to produce relevant and interesting pages first and foremost. 

Don’t write for the search engines, write for your readers. 

Set up pages on social sites

Social media is a great way for small businesses to build their online presence full stop, and it’s well worth experimenting to find the sites that work best for your business. 

As a first step, set up profiles with accurate contact and web address details on the major social sites. 

Don’t trust agencies that promise guaranteed results

There are no easy shortcuts to rank organically. A good SEO agency will help you to rank as highly as your site can, but it simply isn’t possible to guarantee page one rankings. 

Agencies promising such nonsense are likely to do more harm than good in the long term, and help to give SEO a bad name. 

Also, you don’t necessarily need an agency to improve your SEO efforts. 

Keep an eye on your agency’s methods

Following on from the previous point, quick results have been achieved in the past by techniques such as aggressive link building. 

Even if this does work short-term, the methods used are likely to have repercussions further down the line, perhaps in the form of a Google penalty. 

Keep an eye out, and if you suddenly have hundreds of inbound links from Polish tractor forums, then it’s time to worry. 

Use a simple, clear URL structure

People should be able to guess the topic of a page by looking only at its URL.

Write content with a longer shelf life

This is content that doesn’t age too quickly. Unlike news-related posts, evergreen content should keep visitors coming to your site long-term. 

This is great for search too, as this kind of content is more likely to rank on a long-term basis. 

For example, this post on PPC landing pages was published in July 2013 but is still ranking highly for this competitive term. 

Look at your competitors 

Find out what the sites ranking on page one for your target keywords have done, on-site and off-site, to achieve this. 

Use Google’s Keyword Planner 

This is great for generating ideas for keywords and seeing how competitive they are. 

In this example, we’ve used our own blog as the ‘landing page’, but you could use URLs of competitors to find new phrases to consider writing about.

This is explained in more detail here, but basically the tool will extract a bunch of keyword suggestions based on the content found via the URL you submit. 

Have a strategy for internal linking

Smart use of internal linking can help you to rank for certain target keywords, as well as helping your visitors to find useful or related content. 

Careful with those keywords

Keyword stuffing is something Google will spot easily. It also looks bad for visitors and affects the quality of pages. 

Think of one or two keywords and phrases to target and use them naturally. Use semantically related words and phrases to avoid repetition. 

Use your site search data for target keywords

The terms that people enter into your site search box can help you to identify target keywords. 

This is because the keywords that people use to search within your website, for products or information, are very likely to be the same keywords they use on search engines. 

Set up a Google Local listing

This is free, and an easy way to increase your presence in local search results. 

Here, David Moth explains how to go about this. 

Encourage customers to leave reviews on Google listings

Good reviews will help to give your result more prominence on Google. 

Don’t expect quick results

SEO is a long-term strategy and may take time to produce results, especially in competitive sectors. 

If you’re doing the right things, it will work in the long term. 

Optimise for mobile 

Google is focusing heavily on mobile optimisation, adding text and labels to mobile search results to indicate those sites which are ‘mobile-friendly’. 

You need to provide the best mobile experience you can for users. 

Images

Ensure your images have alt tags on them and include keywords (naturally) in the filename.

Set up Google analytics

Make sure analytics tracking code is installed – the standard version is still free and unless you have a strong reason to opt for an alternate platform this is the one you should be using.

It’s very quick and easy to install regardless of platform so it shouldn’t cost you more than 30 minutes of their time. Here’s some more detail. 

Use Webmaster tools

Having a GWMT account means Google can tell you about any specific problems it’s having accessing your site.

Or if it believes your site has been hacked and delisted from the search results, view and query your links and traffic sources (according to Google), lets you submit sitemaps, tell Google how you want your site to appear in the SERPS and much more.

Use Schema markup

Schema markup is explained in more detail here, but basically it’s a way to help your site’s results stand out a little more. 

It’s the difference between this: 

and this…

Add useful information to you local pages

Create unique content for each physical location, but make sure it is relevant to the user. 

Opening times, contact details and store address should be there, but think of other ways to make these pages more useful, such as adding images, menus, facilities on offer and so on. 

Even better, create this content at a local level if possible, using store staff. 

Think about UX

Google is increasingly focusing on things which affect the user experience when ranking sites – mobile optimisation, site speed and so on. 

Making your site easy to use is not only good for your customers (and sales) but also helps with your SEO efforts

Optimise local pages for target local keywords 

The page’s title tag should include the brand name, the keyword being targeted and the location. You should also think about this with the meta description of the page.

This should be possible to achieve without making either page or meta description come across as unnatural, as the objective remains to optimise for both users and search engines.

Find out who is linking to you

You can do this on Webmaster Tools under the ‘search traffic’ menu, as below: 

Finding out who is linking, and the pages they’re linking to can help you to find out which content is working for you. 

Ensure that citations, NAP listings and on-page address references are consistent

NAP (name, address, phone number) citations are a key ranking factor in local SEO and Google looks at them in a similar way to how they look at links in conventional SEO. NAP citations from relevant and authoritative websites provide more value, just like with links.

Google also recognises partial citations, so references of business name + address or address + phone number.

Write your own product descriptions

Quite often retailers are caught up with ‘samey’ product copy and certainly for branded items which are sold through various websites it can be difficult to differentiate your product copy.

I would recommend, where it is feasible, to write specific copy for each item. This is great for your own conversion rates, and also gives Google more unique content to crawl.

It doesn’t have to be quite as florid as J Peterman’s copy, but it should speak to your customers. 

Track your keywords 

Tracking target keywords can help you to see how your SEO efforts are working out.

If you make some changes on site or produce some content, what effect does this have on rankings? 

There are plenty of paid tools to track large numbers of keywords, but at the most basic level you could track them manually with the help of a spreadsheet. 

Don’t obsess over rankings

Without wishing to contradict the previous point, it’s important to remember that search rankings are fluid and can change according to the searcher’s location, device, search history and so on.

Look for general up and down trends rather than worrying about moving every term up one or two places. 

Search rankings are fluid, and can vary according to the searcher’s location, device and so on. 

User reviews

It good to encourage user reviews, first and foremost to improve conversions, but also because they can help for SEO. 

Keep an eye on SEO trends

Google’s algorithm changes regularly, and SEO tactics that may work now could become obsolete in the near future, just as guest blogging for links has become a no-no. 

Keep an eye on Google’s Webmaster Central blog, and sites like Moz and Search Engine Land are great for keeping up with SEO trends. 

Don’t rely on search traffic

Yes, you should try and rank as highly as possible, but SEO shoudn’t be chased as the expense of other channels. 

Imagine what would happen if Google removed all your results – would you still have enough traffic from other sources to keep going? 

We value search traffic, but we work hard on other channels too. If Google banned us from its results it would hurt, but we’d still have plenty of visits from email and social. 

Being too reliant on search makes your business vulnerable to the whims of Google’s algorithm changes. 

We value search traffic, but we work hard on other channels too. If Google banned us from its results it would hurt, but…

For more detail on SEO, see the comprehensive, 400 page behemoth that is the Search Engine Optimisation Best Practice Guide 

Posted by RuthBurrReedy

SEO is a seller’s market. The supply of people with SEO experience is currently no match for the demand for search engine marketing services, as anyone who has spent months searching for the right SEO candidate can tell you. Even in a big city with a booming tech scene (like Seattle, LA, New York, or Austin), experienced SEOs are thin on the ground. In a local market where the economy is less tech-driven (like, say, Oklahoma City, where I work), finding an experienced SEO (even one with just a year or two of experience) is like finding a unicorn.

You’re hired. (Photo via 
Pixabay)

If you’re looking for an in-house SEO or someone to run your whole program, you may have no choice but to hold out for a hero (and think about relocating someone). If you’re an SEO trying to grow a team of digital marketers at an agency or to expand a large in-house team, sometimes your best bet is to hire someone with no digital marketing experience but a lot of potential and train them. 

However, you can’t plug just anyone into an SEO role, train them up right and have them be fantastic (or enjoy their job); there are definite skills, talents and personality traits that contribute to success in digital marketing.

Most advice on hiring SEOs is geared toward making sure they know their stuff and aren’t spammers. That’s not really applicable to hiring at the trainee level, though. So how can you tell whether someone is right for a job they’ve never done? At BigWing, we’ve had a lot of success hiring smart young people and turning them into digital marketers, and there are a few things we look for in a candidate.

Are they an aggressive, independent learner?

Successful SEOs spend a ton of time on continued learning—reading blogs, attending conferences and webinars, discussing and testing new techniques—and a lot of that learning happens outside of normal work hours. The right candidate should be someone who loves learning and has the ability to independently drive their ongoing education.

Ask job candidates about another situation where they’ve had to quickly pick up a new skill. What did they do to learn it? How did that go? If it’s never come up for them, ask what they might do in that situation.

Interview prep is something I always look for in a candidate, since it shows they’re actually interested in the job. Ask what they’ve done to prep for the interview. Did they take a look at your company website? Maybe do some Googling to find other informational resources on what digital marketing entails? What did they learn? Where did they learn it? How did they find it?

Give your candidates some homework before the interview. Have them read the 
Beginner’s Guide to SEO, maybe Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, or the demo modules at Distilled U. How much of it did they retain? More importantly, what did they learn? Which brings us to:

Do they have a small understanding of what SEO is and why we do it?

I’ve seen a lot of people get excited about learning SEO, do OK for a year or two, and then crash and burn. The number one cause of SEO flame-out or burn-out, in my experience, is an inability to pivot from old tactics to new ones. This failure often stems from a fundamental lack of understanding of what SEO is (marketing, connecting websites that have stuff with people who want that stuff) and what it is not (any single SEO tactic).

It can be frustrating when the methods you originally learned on, or that used to work so well, dry up and blow away (I’m looking at you, siloing and PageRank sculpting). If you’re focused on what tricks and tactics can get you ranking #1, instead of on how you’re using digital techniques to market to and connect with potential customers, sooner or later the rug’s going to get pulled out from under you.

Ask your candidates: what did they retain from their research? Are they totally focused on the search engine, or have they thought about how visits can turn into revenue? Do they seem more interested in being a hacker, or a marketer? Some people really fall in love with the idea that they could manipulate search engines to do what they want; I look for people who are more in love with the idea of using the Internet as a tool to connect businesses with their customers, since ultimately your SEO client is going to want revenue, not just rankings.

Another trait I look for in the interview process is empathy. Can they articulate why a business might want to invest in search? Ask them to imagine some fears or concerns a small business owner might have when starting up an Internet marketing program. This is especially important for agency work, where communicating success requires an understanding of your client’s goals and concerns.

Can they write?

Photo via 
Pixabay

Even if you’re looking to grow someone into a technical SEO, not a content creator, SEO involves writing well. You’re going to have to be able to create on-page elements that not only communicate topical relevance to search engines but also appeal to users.

This should go without saying, but in my experience definitely doesn’t: their resume should be free of typos and grammatical errors. Not only is this an indicator of their ability to write while unsupervised, it’s also an indicator of their attention to detail and how seriously they’re taking the position.

Any kind of writing experience is a major plus for me when looking at a resume, but isn’t necessarily a requirement. It’s helpful to get some idea of what they’re capable of, though. Ask for a writing sample, and better yet, look for a writing sample in the wild online. Have they blogged before?
You’ll almost certainly be exchanging emails with a candidate before an interview—pay attention to how they communicate via email. Is it hard to tell what they’re talking about? Good writing isn’t just about grammar; it’s about communicating ideas.

I like to give candidates a scenario like “A client saw traffic to their website decline because of an error we failed to detect. We found and corrected the error, but their traffic numbers are still down for the month,” and have them compose a pretend email to the client about what happened. This is a great way to test both their written communication skills and their empathy for the client. Are you going to have to proofread their client emails before they go out? That sounds tedious.

How are their critical thinking and data analysis skills?

A brand-new digital marketer probably won’t have any experience with analytics tools like Google Analytics, and that’s OK—you can teach them how to use those. What’s harder to teach is an ability to think critically and to use data to make decisions.

Have your candidates ever been in a situation where they needed to use data to figure out what to do next? What about tell a story, back up a claim or change someone’s mind? Recent college grads should all have recent experience with this, regardless of their major—critical thinking and data analysis are what college is all about.
How comfortable are they in Microsoft Excel? They don’t have to love it, but if they absolutely loathe it, SEO probably isn’t for them. Would it make them miserable to spend most of a day in a spreadsheet (not every day, but fairly regularly)?

Are they a citizen of the web?

Even if they’ve never heard of SEO, a new employee is going to have an easier time learning it if they’re already pretty net savvy. An active web presence also indicates a general interest in the the Internet, which is one indicator of whether they’ll have long-term interest in digital marketing as a field. Do some recon: are they active on social media? Have they ever blogged? What comes up when you Google them?

Prior experience

Different applicants will have different backgrounds, and you’ll have the best idea of what skills someone will need to bring to the table to fill the role you need. When I’m reading a resume, I take experience in any of these areas as a good sign:

• Marketing 
• Advertising 
• Public relations 
• APIs (using them, creating apps with them, what have you) 
• Web development or coding of any kind 
• Web design 
• Copywriting

Your mileage may vary

Photo via 
Knowyourmeme

Very few candidates are going to excel in all of the areas outlined above, and everyone you talk to is going to be stronger in some areas than others. Since digital marketing can include a wide variety of different tasks, keep in mind the things you’d actually like the person to do on the job; for example, written communication becomes somewhat less important in a non-client-facing role. At the very least, look for a smart, driven person who is excited about digital marketing as a career opportunity (not just as a next paycheck).

Hiring inexperienced people has its risks: the person you hire may not actually turn out to be any good at SEO. They may have more trouble learning it than you anticipated, and once they start doing it, they may decide that SEO just isn’t what they want to do long-term.

On the other hand, hiring and training someone who’s a great fit for your company culture and who is excited about learning often results in a better employee than hiring someone with experience who doesn’t really mesh well with your team. Plus, teaching someone SEO is a great way to make sure they don’t have any bad habits that could put your clients at risk. Best of all, you have the opportunity to unlock a whole career for someone and watch them grow into a world-class marketer—and that’s a great feeling.

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