0 Three SEO Concepts You’re Already Using in Real Life

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 05.13.2025

To understand SEO, many believe, one must first adapt to the language, which is replete with words often dismissed as technobabble. Keyword density. Title tags. Gateway pages. But for many, even the language, as obscure as it might seem, is not as inscrutable as SEO itself. Many website owners see SEO as technocentric, an enigmatic art practiced only by development experts. Certain parts of the SEO community affirm this perception. For those in the SEO community, Moz's "Whiteboard Friday" lessons are the most astute and legible SEO lessons available. However, for those outside the community, these lessons can seem esoteric. Taken at face value, we believe the "Whiteboard Friday" lessons are fairly straightforward. However, we often hear from website owners that lessons like these and others to be discouraging. "It's just too complicated," we've heard, again and again. We don't buy it. SEO is not complicated. We started the SEO Sparta blog to combat the perception that SEO is an inscrutable art practiced only by experts. As much as possible, we try to write for the laymen, the website owner who may not understand the meaning of terms that seem obvious to the SEO community. "SERP," for example, stands for "search engine results page." Yet this acronym is only obvious once you know it. Too many SEO articles assume prior knowledge of the relevant terms. We try to define each term in each and every post. Perhaps the SEO experts find this style tedious—we find it helps those who need it most: small to medium-sized website owners. Beyond the jargon, SEO is straightforward. To emphasize this point, we can draw three connections between common SEO practices and modern day-to-day life.   Optimization In SEO, the name of the game is "optimization," or "the action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource." Optimization should be familiar to anyone who has studied self-improvement of the type promoted by Timothy Ferris, the author of The Four-Hour Work Week, which shows readers "how to live more and work less." On the other hand, optimization will be familiar to anyone who has tried to find a better solution, say, to roasting potatoes or dressing well. Our world is obsessed with efficiency. We crave simple solutions—hacks, as they're now called—that can easily optimize our day-to-day routines. This article from NexRep, "7 Habits to Optimize your Mind and Body for a Productive Life," suggests things like writing to-do lists and getting a good night’s rest. This article from Time, "Optimize These Three Areas in Your Life for Highest Productivity," suggests optimizing your environment by clearing distractions and finding your flow time (the time you work best), optimizing your mind by taking breaks, meditating, and treating your body good, and optimizing your process, the way you plan and execute. Most of us have tried these techniques, to varying success. If you look, you will easily find ideas for optimizing each and every aspect of your life. The central idea of SEO, then, should be familiar to most people. In the SEO world, optimization is simply about looking at all aspects of a website, from the code to the content, with the goal of making the best or most effective use of the website. To do so, we write unique content, but we also make sure the content is easy to read, easy to find, and clearly tagged for appropriate keywords. By optimizing websites in this way, we satisfy a search engine's goal to deliver the most relevant results for any given search—which is also all about optimization.   Keywords Once the domain of Twitter and Instagram, the hashtag is now widespread, and nearly everyone understands how to use hashtags to optimize social media posts. In this way, many people practice SEO without even knowing it. A hashtag is a keyword, and it serves the same purpose on social media as it does for SEO: to attract a specific audience to a specific search. By using a hashtag like "Instababy" on Instagram, for example, you empower users to easily discover pictures of your baby. In fact, by studying how people use keywords to attract attention on social media networks, one learns the central SEO principle: Relevant keywords attract people to you, your product, and your service. In SEO, we attempt to optimize any given piece of content by carefully selecting the right keywords and placing them in strategic places, like in meta descriptions.   Change The Internet, like life, is "a dynamic space" populated by an ever-evolving community of people and information. Online, as in life, the only constant is change. To succeed in either realm, one most embrace and master change. To succeed online, SEO attempts to keep pace with the speedy nature of the Internet by offering fresh content and refreshed website designs. How often does your favorite website update its content? How often does your favorite website update its design or layout? The answer to both is likely "often." Beyond optimization, change is the key to a happy, successful life—and SEO. By maintaining fresh content and designs, a websites attracts new and returning visitors while impressing search engines. From a search engine's perspective, the goal is to deliver relevant results, and to make sure the user is 100% satisfied with these results. People's preferences change, so search engines tweak their algorithms to keep pace.   Master These SEO Concepts with SEO SPARTA To build an effective, fully-optimized website, you can either hire many experienced professionals to perform different tasks, or you can call one multifaceted company: SEO Sparta. Our digital marketing company offers a host of SEO and marketing services all in one place. Contact SEO Sparta today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.

0 Three Timeless Marketing Strategies for Organic SEO Success

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 05.06.2025

Webmasters have practiced some form of SEO (search engine optimization) since the mid-1990s, when the first search engines cataloged the web. Since then, the web has changed the world, escorting society into a Brave New World of inventiveness and social transformation. SEO has evolved, too, to help websites market to a global audience. Today, SEO is often associated with cutting edge digital marketing, but it's important to remember: SEO is based on timeless marketing strategies. From the beginning of commerce, marketing has been about communication. Below we discuss three means of effective communication and how they apply to today's SEO—or more specifically, today's "organic" SEO.   Strategy #1: Specificity   SEO essentially governs the keywords and website design elements you employ to market your business online. If you can identify your potential visitors, or if you want to build a website for a specific visitor, you must include specific words and design details that will appeal to your audience. This idea, like most marketing principles, is self-evident, yet too many designers build websites for a general, unspecific audience. For online marketing success, specificity is key.   Strategy #2: Accessibility  Remember, no one understands your product like you do. You are the expert. Your challenge is to convey your expertise in a way that inspires confidence in search engines and browsers. When you use jargon that may not be familiar to your customer, he or she may lose interest—and just like that, you’ve lost a sale! If you understand your customer, adapt your text and design elements to suit his or her needs and avoid jargon! Unfortunately, the SEO industry itself is plagued by jargon; and the industry could do a much better job making the essential tenants of SEO accessible to more people. Do not let the jargon, or any other obscure SEO association, discourage you from learning more.   Strategy #3: Intrigue  Relevant content may attract browsers, but a website should strive to not merely attract browsers, but to also sustain a browser's interest. The marketing goal is to cultivate informed and involved browsers who convert to actual customers. A precise and accessible description of your offering is necessary. But you must do more than describe your product, however precisely. You must intrigue browser to purchase your product. One of the best ways to create intrigue online is to teach your customer something new and possibly include him or her in the learning process. Dr. Mercola has built a successful online business by making his supplements feel like necessary by-products of his health tutelage. To read Mercola's article on astaxanthin, for example, is to want to purchase his astaxanthin: "Right before the turn of the 21st century, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University confirmed an important trait of what may be the most significant antioxidant ever discovered—astaxanthin,” he announces. “Up to 6,000 times the quenching power of other well-known antioxidants." Among Mercola's many intriguing claims here is that "many antioxidants—even some of the more potent ones—are unable to cross both your blood-brain and blood-retinal barriers to reach your brain, nervous system and eyes. However, a breakthrough study reveals astaxanthin’s astonishingly rare ability to do just that.” Mercola creates intrigue by inspiring emotional connections to his products. You can do the same.   Digital Marketing with SEO Sparta If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote emotionally accessible websites with specific keywords and intriguing content, contact SEO Sparta at 215-900-9398. Our Bucks County, PA digital marketing firm will unlock your website’s true potential.

0 Like Attracts Like: Leveraging Emotion to Boost SEO

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 04.28.2025

Like attracts like. This is the mantra of the Law of Attraction, a theory that equates thoughts and feelings with real world results. According to the Law of Attraction, positive thoughts engender positive results and negative results engender negative results. Or in the words of Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you are right." If you Google "Law of Attraction," you will discover, beyond the Wikipedia pages, The Law of Attraction, which promotes tools and affirmations to help you "start living and thinking in a more optimistic way that is specifically designed to attract even more positive events and experiences." You will also discover a wikiHow, "How to Use the Law of Attraction,” which promotes the idea with pictures and simple instructions like "visualize your dreams coming true" and "try out meditation." The way The Law of Attraction is presented, online and elsewhere, is bound to draw pessimism from science-minded folk. The Wikipedia page offers a popular criticism: "Critics have asserted that the evidence provided is usually anecdotal and that, because of the self-selecting nature of the positive reports, as well as the subjective nature of any results, these reports are susceptible to confirmation bias and selection bias." On the other hand, adherents suggest that the Law of Attraction can be explained with reference to quantum physics. Whatever your view of The Law of Attraction, the real world effects of thinking, positive or negative, cannot be disputed. (Here's what The Mayo Clinic has to say about positive thinking). And we all know quite clearly from experience and science: emotion compels attraction.   The Law of Attraction and SEO "Like attracts like" is also a good definition for organic SEO, which aims to attract a specific audience with specialized content aimed to ignite emotions. This definition is contrary to the popular technocentric view of SEO, which too often regulates the practice to the realm of coding. For example, Search Engine Watch published a post asking "How well do you know these 25 SEO abbreviations?" "SEO, SEM, PPC, CTR, HTML, HTTP, IP… even for the most seasoned digital marketing professionals, the world of SEO can be a daunting, jargon-filled place," Christopher Ratcliff writes. "But all you need is a little time, some practice, a small amount of revising, and before you know it you’ll be firing off terms like CSS, SSL and CPC with absolute confidence." Of course, an understanding of SEO terminology is invaluable for navigating the community and learning the best of what the community can offer. Yet, for an online marketer understanding the jargon, and the practices behind the jargon, is secondary to the work of creating emotional connections to human beings. Writing for The Harvard Business Review, Kelsey Libert and Kristin Tynski reviewed 30 of the top 100 images from imgur.com "to understand the best emotional drivers" of viral content: Negative emotions were less commonly found in highly viral content than positive emotions, but viral success was still possible when negative emotion also evoked anticipation and surprise. Certain specific emotions were extremely common in highly viral content: curiosity, amazement, interest, astonishment, uncertainty. The emotion of admiration was very commonly found in highly shared content. When thinking about your brand's SEO, follow the advice of Libert and Tynski: "Think carefully about how your company, product, or service is related to a topic or topics that taps into deep-seated human emotions within your target demographic." Ask yourself: Who am I trying to attract? What sort of emotion do I want my customers to feel when thinking about my brand? Likely, your answer will be "a positive emotion," though you could also shoot for curiosity, amazement, interest, or astonishment. The key is to make sure that your content embodies those emotions. Make your target audience feel good—or amazed, or whatever—and your target audience will return the favor.   Impactful Content Marketing with SEO Sparta If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote emotionally powerful content, we suggest contacting SEO Sparta in Bucks County, PA. You can call us at 215-900-9398 or reach out online for a free website audit.  

0 What Does Organic SEO Really Mean?

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 04.16.2025

An "organic search result" appears on a search engine results page (SERP) because it is relevant to a browser's query. The search engine industry uses this term to make a distinction between results that satisfy the search engine's algorithm and paid results. Google calls an organic result a "free listing," whereas non-organic search results are called “paid advertisements." This is the standard definition you will find, say, on the Wikipedia page for "organic search." However, in the world of search engine optimization (SEO), the meaning of "organic" is more nuanced.   Why "Organic"? For most people the word "organic" conjures images of the bountiful fruit and vegetable displays at Whole Foods Market. For a select few, "organic" conjures a discipline in chemistry. Few people, however, are familiar with the word "organic" as it applies to search engine results and search engine optimization (SEO). For all of these examples, one definition of "organic" is relevant. According to Merriam-Webster, organic means “of, relating to, or derived from living organisms.” For the first two examples—produce and chemistry—the relation to "living organisms" is obvious. Of course, a search engine's results cannot be classified as living, carbon-based organisms. Nevertheless, search is alive. Six Pixels of Separation explains Twitter and Facebook's "living" nature quite eloquently: Twitter and Facebook are "living organisms that change, evolve and adapt based on who is putting what into it and how the content is being collaborated on and extrapolated." The same explanation can be applied to search engines results. Just like living organisms, search engine results "change, evolve, and adapt based on who is putting what into it and how the content is being collaborated on and extrapolated."   What is Organic SEO? To appear on the first page of search engine results, a website has two options: organic SEO or paid advertising. Organic SEO describes the use of certain strategies or tools to elevate a website's content in the "free" search results. Many websites use a mix of organic SEO and paid advertising to ensure placement on the first SERP. Organic SEO can be the most cost-effective solution for online marketing, yet SEO can take time to produce a first page result.  The goal of organic SEO is to maintain a high placement on the "free" search results. To do so, organic SEO as a discipline studies the search engine's ever-changing algorithms to keep up with the evolution of organic search. This work can be tedious and time-consuming.  As Wikipedia's helpful article on SEO notes: "According to Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, in 2010, Google made over 500 algorithm changes – almost 1.5 per day." Google's goal is to increase the quality of organic results. Organic SEO, then, works with the search engine algorithms to produce quality content that satisfies the algorithm. Even then, the guiding principle of organic SEO is to "write for users, not search engines." Although organic SEO and search engine algorithms often focus on technical aspects of search, the goal for both, in the end, is to promote quality content to users.    Improve Your Site's Performance with Organic SEO If you're looking for an SEO professional who can enhance your website using organic SEO, look no further than SEO Sparta. You can contact our Bucks County, PA marketing agency at 215-900-9398.  

0 Boost Sales and Cut Costs with Organic SEO

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 04.06.2025

Even in today’s tech-obsessed business world, digital marketing is often discounted as a mere additional expense. Conventional wisdom tells businesses to limit costs, and many business owners see digital marketing as a risky investment—an expense that may or may not increase sales. When faced with the decision to invest in digital marketing, these same business owners inevitably choose to limit costs. In reality, you don't have to choose. Here is a secret that all successful online businesses know: Digital marketing—specifically organic SEO—can increase sales while reducing costs.   Digital Marketing: Quality > Quantity  Obviously, different digital marketing firms employ different techniques with varying results. For instance, some firms use traditional marketing techniques such as banner or website ads. These types of display ads reach many people, but the click-through rate for these ads have been plummeting for years. Of course, display ads can be targeted to specific demographics but demographics alone do not define a unique customer base. For most people, the Internet is inescapable, integrating, informing, and often defining daily lives. Display ads act as intrusions. Inevitably, we confront display ads in the wrong place at the wrong time, and often in the wrong state of mind. We use the Internet to be more efficient and to accomplish specific goals, so when we confront an unwanted ad, we click away. Are all advertisements ineffective? Alice Truong, writing for Quartz, notes a distinction between display ads and native ads: "Display advertisements on websites—the kind that stand apart from the content and invite you to click through for more information—are widely seen as ineffective and annoying. That perception is confirmed in a new study that found native ads, which blend into a website’s design and sometimes even offer related content, more engaging than traditional display ads." The study Truong references in her article also reveals that native ads are consumed in the same way as original content, and that consumers look at both native ads and original content for roughly the same amount of time. The distinction this study reveals between traditional ads and native ads speaks to an elemental point: Banner or website ads rely on quantity—reaching as many people as possible without concern about the consumer’s tastes or preferences. This is also called spam. Digital marketing, instead, endorses quality. Native advertising seamlessly blends into a website's existing content—content that a browser is already looking for. Why else would the browser click to the website in the first place? However, the challenge of attracting visitors to the website still remains. The Internet empowers businesses small or large, local or global, to profit from direct and immediate access to targeted customers. However, no company will realize this singular benefit merely by creating a website. Most websites, even newly-developed websites, are not effectively marketed. In fact, most websites amount to little more than a high-priced digital business card. The key is finding a digital marketing strategy that makes sense for your business. If your concern is cost, the best possible solution is organic SEO. Organic SEO is not a technology, it’s not a tool, and it’s not special equipment. It is a strategy applied to a website’s content, and partially to technical development aspects, that empowers the site to be easily “crawled” by Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines. Search engines like Google are always hungry for new, exciting, and informative content. You never know what a visitor has in mind when browsing your site. You can only hope your content, including text, images, and video, will transform your visitor into a customer—a conversion. Likewise, your website should offer the best experience for visitors. Speed and reliability matter. If your website loads quickly, visitors will easily navigate between pages, and will be less likely to visit other websites for the same product or service. In working with the search engine algorithms, organic SEO practices targeted marketing. Banner ads may or may not reach your intended customer. Organic SEO, on the other hand, helps your intended customers find your website with ease. Unlike advertising—both traditional and native—organic SEO is not tied to any specific cost. You can perform your own search engine optimization by using the tips and tricks detailed on this blog.   Let Our Professionals Enhance Your Site with Organic SEO If you're a website owner in need of SEO, we suggest calling SEO Sparta today at 215-900-9398 because organic SEO is our specialty. If you're hesitant to try SEO, or don’t know where to start, we can provide you with a free website audit that shows you all the areas where your site has room to improve.

0 How SEO and Customer Service Go Hand-in-Hand

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 04.01.2025

SEO is not commonly paired with customer service. We tend to think of SEO (or marketing, in general) as the work that attracts customers. We tend to think about customer service as the work that retains customers. Yet the two practices should not be viewed as independent. Good SEO is good customer service—and vice versa. To attract and retain customers, you must practice both in equal measure.   Save Customers Time with Good SEO One difference between traditional marketing and SEO is that traditional marketing often tries to convince a customer that they need something new, while SEO, on the other hand, simply helps customers find what they're already looking for.  The great misconception about SEO is that website optimization is somehow similar to spam. The opposite is true. Spam works by quantity. By blasting emails, for example, spammers play the numbers game, hoping for minimum conversions: 1% or less. Spam is so annoying because it applies a blanket approach to marketing: emailing everyone, regardless of the recipient's preferences. SEO is, by nature, targeted marketing. Good SEO saves a customer time by promoting the most relevant, quality results for any given search. In fact, in this way, SEO works in tandem with search engines, which aim to streamline search, yielding only the best results. Instead of clicking pages deep, today's browser expects quality on the first page. By saving customers the hassle of browsing multiple pages, SEO and search engines promote good customer service Internet-wide.   Good SEO Creates a Pleasurable Customer Experience A well-optimized site is not merely easy to find, it is also easy-to-use. We know that the better a site's structure, the better the user experience. We also know that ease-of-use is a crucial determiner of a website's ranking. As Nomensa explains: "A positive UX (user experience) enhances user engagement, as users are more likely to spend time on a user-friendly and visually appealing website that provides relevant information. This increased engagement often leads to users sharing the website with others, resulting in more traffic and improved search rankings.” By nature, then, the top-ranked sites (with good SEO) provide a pleasurable customer experience. Imagine your favorite grocery store. You likely enjoy the store for its navigability—you find the foods you want easily, the aisles are wide, and the shelves are stocked. To replicate this positive shopping experience online, optimize your website structure. Each page should provide easy-to-find links and each page should itself be easy to identify and discover.   Good Customer Support Amplifies SEO This is a no-brainer. If you offer easily-accessible customer support—via chat, responsive email, or a quality call center—your website will likely convert many potential customers. The more customers you convert, the more customers will return to buy more. The more returns, in turn, will improve SEO, creating a positive cycle of clicks and conversions. The key here is to maintain a consistent level of quality. According to Neil Patel, "71% of consumers have ended their relationship with a company due to poor customer service." Poor customer service will lead to decreased visits—negatively influencing SEO. To succeed in business, you must follow the wisdom of this Mo Hardy quote: "Customer service is an attitude, not a department.   An SEO Company That Understands Customer Service: SEO Sparta To build an effective customer service campaign, you need a web development company that also understands SEO. SEO Sparta is the rare company that understands the value of customer service. Contact SEO Sparta in Bucks County, PA today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.

0 What Sets Good Writing Apart from Good SEO Writing?

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 03.24.2025

What is the difference between good writing and good SEO writing? In a word, keywords. Unfortunately, many writers neglect this simple fact, especially so-called "serious" writers. Yet, the fact remains—to attract organic attention, a good piece of writing must include keywords. Not merely keywords, but the right keywords. I'm reminded of the famous quote from Raymond Carver: "That's all we have, finally, the words, and they had better be the right ones, with the punctuation in the right places so that they can best say what they are meant to say." Adapted for online content, this famous writing advice is the key to SEO. To attract organic attention, all you have, finally, are keywords, used judiciously, "in the right places so that they can best say what they're meant to say." Now, to writers of the MFA ilk, this appropriation of Carver might read as heresy. I've spoken to fellow graduates of my own MFA program about SEO and some call the practice, especially the use of keywords, "manipulative." Their reasoning, I gather, is that the use of keywords is, by nature, contrary to Carver's appeal to use "the right" words. What if, the reasoning goes, a keyword turns out to be the "wrong word" for the sentence? By the mandate of SEO, the keyword must be included. The keyword is then arbitrary—not at all the "right word." In practice, this thinking is nonsense. SEO writing is a "form" of writing—a form delimited by its emphasis on keywords. From poetry to sculpture, "form"—the more or less established structure, pattern, or scheme followed in shaping an artistic work—classifies art. Form structures the creative imagination. In art, form is necessary, especially for young artists. In his poem "First You Must," Dean Young writes: “First you must build a cathedral of toothpicks. Write nothing but sonnets for a year.” Young's implication is that art is learned, and sustained, through form. The tedium of a toothpick cathedral, a year of sonnets—this is art's apprenticeship and practice. The tedium of keywords—this is the practice of good SEO writing. What separates good writing from good SEO writing, then, is not an arbitrary emphasis on keywords. In fact, the pursuit of the "right keyword," however tedious, is a form of art. When researching the right keyword, you clarify your purpose. You ask yourself: "Who is my audience?" Good writing might attract an audience but good SEO writing will attract the right type of audience. As Moz writes in its keyword research guide: "It's not always about getting visitors to your site, but about getting the right kind of visitors." Now, Moz does continue from here to describe keyword research in explicitly market-driven terms: "The usefulness of this intelligence cannot be overstated; with keyword research you can predict shifts in demand, respond to changing market conditions, and produce the products, services, and content that web searchers are actively seeking. In the history of marketing, there has never been such a low barrier to entry in understanding the motivations of consumers in virtually any niche." This is the sort of SEO speak that turns many writers away from the enterprise. Yet, this turning away is a knee-jerk reaction that has little to do with the implicit goal of any writer: to be read, widely. Yes, no matter how "serious" a writer assumes himself to be, what he really craves is readership. After all, without readers what is the use of any piece of writing (beyond an exercise in solipsism)? However, keywords are only as effective as the writing that surrounds them. Without a backbone of good writing, no piece of content—no matter how it is optimized with keywords—will perform well in the rankings. Of course, once you have created a good piece of content, optimization can only help. The key; however, is to focus on the quality of your writing before you worry too much about optimization. This advice runs counter to Moz's advice to research keywords before writing.  However, we believe the initial act of writing can, and often should, be performed without any thought of keywords. In this way, you write to your point and not to your keywords. After you have written your first draft, then perform your keyword research. In revision, you can go back, clarify, and revise certain words or phrases to match your keyword research. You can create your form. In the end, the only implicit difference between good writing and good SEO is this extra bit of work. Are you willing to perform this extra work to reach more readers? If not, you're wasting the effort you put into your writing, no matter how good it may be.   SEO Writing Professionals You Can Depend On If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with carefully chosen keywords, we suggest contacting SEO Sparta of Bucks County, PA at 215-900-9398. We can provide a free website audit that targets all the areas where your site has room to improve.

0 Why Text-Based Content is Essential for Website Optimization

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 03.18.2025

Today we want to focus on our favorite form of content: text. Of course, a great website should contain a mix of content, both images and text. However, in reality, search engines continue to favor text-heavy sites above all others. The advantages of a text-heavy site are clear.   Load Time & Page Speed  First, in the absence of bulky images, a text-heavy site will load quickly. The SEO world knows from experience that search engines favor sites with simple codes and speedy load times. Google has even developed a tool, PageSpeed, that helps webmasters "identify ways to make your site faster..." Although load time (or page speed, to use Google-talk) is only one of over 200 ranking factors, it tends to receive a lot of attention from SEO specialists. The reason is simple: page speed not only affects your page ranking; it also influences your browser's perceptions of your site. Years ago, KISSmetrics reported that 47% of all browsers expect a page to load in two seconds or less. No doubt, in the age of mobile SEO, this number has increased. Stripping your site of all the unnecessary frills, like excessive images, can dramatically improve your site’s load time. If you do use images, make sure you optimize each image for SEO. In the end; however, for browsers and search engines alike, the appeal of a text-heavy site is clear. Text is clean, simple, and fast.   Voice Search Compatibility As the value of keyword-based optimization diminished, search engines continued to prefer "long-tail keywords," three- or four-word phrases that more accurately specify the nature of a certain search. In the distant past, a browser looking for a gray sweatshirt might have typed "gray sweatshirt." Over time, most savvy browsers learned to be more specific: "slim-fit gray sweatshirt," for example. However, today voice search is changing SEO. A voice-based search has a different goal than a traditional search. Instead of "browsing," per say, most voice searches attempt to ask a question or state a problem. Instead of revealing sites based on keywords, today's search engines attempt to answer questions and solve problems. This is most easily seen in Google's semantic search, introduced around the time of the Hummingbird algorithm, which analyzes the spoken word to attempt to discover the intent behind any given search. Naturally, a text-heavy site will be more likely to meet the demands of voice search. An image will not necessarily answer a question or solve a problem. The key is to make sure your text counts. When thinking about your content, try to answer your ideal customer's questions; try to solve a crucial problem. Answers. Solutions. This is why you built a business in the first place, right?   Mobile Compatibility  A text-heavy site will also be easily compatible on all devices, including a desktop, tablet, and most importantly, a mobile phone. In the past we’ve reported on the necessity of optimizing for mobile. Today we can safely say: of all possible search venues, mobile is the most important. Since 2014, mobile search has exceeded desktop search. This is likely due to its convenience, a fact that can be observed on any pedestrian street, and, unsettlingly, on any highway in America. One only needs to glance aside to see another person looking down at his or her phone. If convenience is the name, you want to make sure you’re playing the right game. Simply put, a text-heavy site will be much easier to read on a mobile device. Of course, we're not advocating a total disavowal of images (and other forms of content). Even text itself can be made to look like an "image." Today's programming languages are so sophisticated that a knowledgeable web developer can transform text to look like an image with simple CSS styling rules. But it is important to remember that most browsers are looking for text-based information, and the clean presentation of text is often the quickest path to a high page ranking.   Need Mobile SEO Help? Call SEO Sparta We believe that ecommerce is now a mobile game! To navigate the rules of mobile SEO, you might need to hire an SEO specialist like SEO Sparta. If you sell a high-quality product that deserves customers, you also deserve a well-optimized mobile website. Do not let the changing search landscape compromise your sales. Now, more than ever, you need the astute wisdom of a professional search engine optimization professional. SEO Sparta currently offers a free website consultation. Contact SEO Sparta today to learn how you can improve your website's mobile performance: 215-900-9398.

0 Understanding the Elements of 'Good' SEO

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 03.11.2025

"Build for users, not search engines." This popular maxim has been a guiding SEO principle for many years, and for good reason. The goal of algorithm design is to improve the specificity of search results. The goal of a good SEO firm is to deliver an optimized website with content tailored to a specific audience. When the two disciplines come together, all stakeholders benefit: the search engine, the website, and the user. The maxim is true: Good SEO is built for users. This truth, in theory, should inspire more people to use SEO, especially any online business focused on customer service. Unfortunately, SEO is often viewed as counter to the user experience. Many view SEO as a manipulation of algorithm design—a way to trick the system. Those outside the SEO community often dismiss SEO talk—algorithms, alt text, anchor text, just to name a few—as simply technobabble. For many people, SEO is sheer manipulation of code. They flip the guiding principle on its head, thinking SEO is built for search engines, not users. In our experience, this misconception is the primary reason so many websites do not take advantage of SEO. As Alex Stepman of SEO Sparta says, "You would be surprised by how many website owners dismiss SEO as a manipulative practice. They view SEO as counter to the goals of the search engines." The problem, Stepman notes, is that too many people associate modern SEO with the black hat practices of the past, like unethical coding, spammy link-building schemes, and domain jacking. In fact, when asked, "What is black hat SEO?" Google offers a definition from Webopedia: "In search engine optimization (SEO) terminology, black hat SEO refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience." Black hat SEO builds for search engines, not users. This distinction is important—there is a difference between good and bad SEO.  Elsewhere, on its own page focused on SEO, Google discusses the difference between a good and bad SEO: "Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site." Many website owners take the wrong idea from this quote, viewing SEO as an either/or proposition—improve your site and save time vs. risk damage to your site and reputation. However, when practiced ethically, good SEO is not an either/or proposition. From Google's (and other search engine's) perspective, algorithms reward organic SEO efforts. At the same time, algorithms dissuade back hat SEO practices. What Google is advising is to perform your own research to find a good SEO company that understands the value of users (customers). Ask any potential SEO: What can you do for my customers? How can you attract my unique customers? What do you know about my customers? If an SEO cannot speak to the human side of online marketing and SEO, look elsewhere. Is SEO Worth Your Money? To navigate the complex world of SEO, you might need to hire an SEO specialist like SEO Sparta. Do not let the changing algorithms compromise your sales. You need the astute wisdom of a search engine optimization professional who can help you answer the question honestly: Is SEO worth your money? Contact SEO Sparta today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.

0 Why SEO Specialists Are Essential for Your Business

• SEO
• by Marissa
• 03.03.2025

If you need a haircut, you see a hairstylist. If you feel a pain in your chest, you see a doctor. But what if you need to embed EXIF in your website's images? What do you do? We see specialists because we trust others to perform the work we cannot perform. An unfortunate truth about SEO; however, is that website owners rarely trust specialists to perform the crucial, yet often tedious, work of website optimization. In many cases, website owners simply do not perform SEO at all, and their websites languish in the rankings. Or worse, website owners pay amateurs to perform SEO, and the amateurs actually harm their website rankings. We cite the examples of a stylist and doctor to prove a point. If you're like most people, you trust your beauty and health to professionals. So why not trust your website's rankings to a professional? We cite EXIF to prove a point, too. The work of website optimization is often tedious, and the associated terminology can sometimes seem downright arcane. In reality, EXIF is a relatively simple concept: “EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) files store important data about photographs. Almost all digital cameras create these data files each time you snap a new picture. An EXIF file holds all the information about the image itself — such as the exposure level, where you took the photo, and any settings you used."   SEO Specialists Unlock the Mystery of Website Optimization The world of an SEO specialist is replete with concepts like EXIF. Robot.txt? SERPs? Website crawlers? These are just a few of the more popular SEO terms. For the layman, these terms might seem complex and mysterious. However, for the SEO specialist, these terms are old hat. Fortunately, if you're a website owner with a quality product, and you truly want your website to attract the traffic it deserves, you do not need to suffer the confusion of learning SEO. You trust your hair to a hair stylist and your health to a doctor, so why not trust your website's performance to a professional SEO specialist? If you’re a website owner in need of SEO, we suggest contacting SEO Sparta today. You can contact our Bucks County, PA office at 215-900-9398. If you're hesitant to try SEO, or are not sure where to start, we suggest reading our series of articles for website owners: How SEO Can Help You Clarify Your Business Offering How to Build an Optimized Website: Website Development Why Updating Your Website is a Key SEO Strategy Content is King – SEO Content Marketing Strategies