Keeping up on the latest Google Algorithm changes sometimes seems like a full-time job. Like most business owners, just running the day-to-day operations of your business is challenging. Google is continuously updating its algorithm to deliver the highest quality content to its customer. What does this mean for your business? We’ll start by showing you a few SEO best practices to ensure your website is on the right path for higher search visibility:
1. Think Live and Local
One of the lowest hanging fruits for your local SEO strategy resides with directory listings. Why do they matter? Google is putting increased emphasis on local rankings which all started with the Pigeon search algorithm update. When it comes to creating directory listings, definitely think quality over quantity. Make sure all of your contact information is streamlined and accurate on your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) page, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local listings. When checking your listings, pay attention to detail. For example, if your business is on a street, make sure all of your listings use a consistent moniker across all portals. It doesn’t matter if you use “St.” or “Street” necessarily. Just make sure you are consistent in your approach. If your listings are not uniform, Google is likely to lower your rankings.
2. Write Precise Title Tags
We can’t emphasize this enough: write precise and keyword-targeted page titles. Title tags tell Google exactly what your page is about, so make sure your tags match the page content as accurately as possible. The first step to success is performing keyword research. Google Trends and Google’s Keyword Planner tool provide great insight to your audience’s searches and location. Once you’ve determined your page’s targeted keywords, it’s necessary to incorporate those keywords into your title tag. If you have a WordPress site, we recommend the Yoast plugin to manage title tags for each of your pages and posts. Yoast is a user-friendly plug-in and keeps your SEO strategy in check by incorporating Google’s best practices within the tool.
3. Get Social
In recent years, Google has started placing more emphasis on your social activities when determining page rank and relevancy. If you aren’t currently active on social media, it’s time to get out there and engage your audience on all your social media channels. Did you know that your Tweets are now indexable by Google? Google+, Facebook, and other popular social channels are equally important for gaining a grip on potential customers and clients. We won’t get into exactly what to post on each channel in this post, but encourage you to understand the importance of linking to your social profiles on your website and getting in front of your audience. Social links are commonly placed in either the header or footer of your site and create a network of touch points for search engines and patrons alike.
4. Blog, Blog, Blog
We cannot emphasize this enough: your website needs a blog. Google loves rich, timely, and accurate content on your site. Blogging is one of the best ways to improve your performance when trying to rank for target keywords. Blogging more frequently increases the opportunities for your business to be found by Google – especially if you are doing a good job of generating high-quality and focused content.
There is no “right” frequency for posting to your blog but the more often you post (without suffering a drop in quality) the better. As a business owner, it can sometimes be difficult to find time to blog, but shoot for twice a month to start. You can blog about new products, events in your community, industry news, and other fun topics. Recognize that in order for people to find your blog, make it accessible via the top navigation bar on every page on your site.
Implementing these strategies can be challenging and time consuming. The good news is, we specialize in helping businesses deliver great content to their customers.
At the end of the day it’s about using your website to help connect your business with qualified leads and drive traffic to your business. Feel free and contact us, we’d love to help. If you need help with planning your content calendar, check out this opportunity.
