0 How to Write Relevant Content

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 02.13.2021

Search engines prefer relevant content. Warning webmasters about "little or no original content," Google suggests "relevant keywords": "One of the most important steps in improving your site's ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content."Relevant content satisfies a browser's keyword search. Google's goal is to produce relevant results. Yet relevant content is more than keywords.To think of relevant content strictly in terms of keywords--as many SEO firms do--is to limit what the best content can do. Yes, relevant content should satisfy a browser's query, but the best content also inspires visitors to return for more. A website's design and development can be optimized with SEO. Content creation requires different ways of thinking. Perhaps for this reason, the term "content marketing" is often used to describe the "creative" work that online marketing firms historically attributed to SEO. As Jayson DeMers notes in his piece on content marketing:"Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing valuable pieces of content, whether they’re for information or entertainment value, for the purposes of growing an audience."For content marketing, repeat visitors is key. What Demers calls "valuable content" here is what we call "relevant content." In both cases, the best content satisfies a browser's query while also offering a sense of "value," and possibly a "surprise" that intrigues visitors, inspiring them to return for more. The SEO world offers many guides on creating "relevant content," and many suggest optimizing the technical aspects of your content, such as the meta tag, alt tag, and heading.  Keyword research is crucial. Before researching keywords, however, SEO guru Neil Patel suggests discovering your ideal user's intent: the user's goal when performing a query. This goal can be defined, Patel suggests, in three ways: Do something – commercial queries: “Buy a lawn mower online”  Know something – informational queries: “2015 gas lawnmower customer reviews”  Go somewhere – navigational queries: “Craftsman website” What does your ideal customer want to do? And how will you help them do it? When writing content, the goal for a good website is to produce content relevant to a specific audience. What is relevant for one brand's audience is irrelevant for another. Specificity is key.After discovering user intent, keyword research is a relatively straightforward process that begins with common sense and ends with strategic thinking.The point is to position your new content to compete against the current top ranking content. To do so, we suggest starting with a few working keywords, Googling the competition, using a keyword research tool, refining your keywords, and finally, Googling the competition for your new, refined keywords. Provide True Value It is important to match browsers with accurate queries--to give them what they're looking for. Unfortunately, most people in the SEO community are merely focused on satisfying a browser's query.The purpose of relevant content is to provide value. Valuable content speaks precisely to a brand's core audience, defining, explaining, or meeting the audience's needs and desires. Valuable content can also compel an action--ideally a conversion.To create valuable content think about the nature of the content: language, video, or pictures. Think about content that performs several functions at once. Excellent content might convey information about a product and make a connection to the reader.To create relevant content, make sure each and every piece of content serves multiple purposes. This is especially important for websites whose content is perceived as marketing fluff. Do not write marketing copy. Write real content for real people Strive to make a connection. The Element of Surprise Relevant content feels necessary--content that stays with the browser after the experience. While being timely, relevant content aims to make an impression. To stand out from a surplus of timely content, offer meaning. Content that stays with people will inspire them to return for more. However, to inspire repeat visitors, you must give the browser more than what they're looking for. Delight, like the best comedy, is a surprise. While satisfying and even delighting, great content can also transcend or even upend users' expectations. You can tick all the SEO boxes--the tags and headers and keywords--while also offering an element of surprise. But here's the thing: Surprise should not be some artificial gesture; surprise can come from the content itself. The key is to be one-of-a-kind. Offer a fresh take on a common theme. Say something new. Or, if you can, say it in a new way. This is the essence of content that will feel genuinely relevant and inspire people to return for more. Content Marketing with SEO Sparta Do you currently have a content strategy independent of SEO? Does your brand create relevant content? SEO Sparta optimizes website worldwide and local websites near our Bucks County, PA, offices for content. We can help you build a content marketing strategy.  SEO Sparta combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO, emphasizing natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns. Contact us today. Or call to learn more: 215-900-9398. [Photo Source]

0 Local SEO Best Practices: Three Simple Tips

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 01.15.2021

Are you a local business owner? Local business owners make up a majority of our readership. For that reason (and others), we tend to focus a great deal of content on local SEO. In this post, you'll find a host of tips and invaluable links for local SEO and local online marketing content. If you have any questions, please contact us.  In the summer of 2019, Search Engine Land's Greg Sterling reported on the results of two significant studies on local SEO--what Sterling refers to as "local marketing." Sterling's term is relevant to most local businesses' goal: To succeed online today, local businesses must create holistic marketing campaigns that utilize all possible venues. Considering the ease of using online venues, it's surprising that many local businesses fail at the basics. As Sterling notes, both of these studies revealed that "many multi-location brands and local marketers are not following basic local and SEO best practices." It's no wonder, then, that brands who do take advantage of the basics outperform the competition: "The study found that the top performers had sales growth 3x the average...Category leaders had 2x sales growth." So how do these brands do it? What are local SEO best practices"? Local SEO Best Practices Claim/Verify Online Business Listings By far, the easiest part of creating a local presence online is claiming/verifying all available online business listings, including listings on Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, and Yellow Pages. Surprisingly, not all businesses claim their listings. As Sterling notes: "One might have expected nearly 100 percent of locations for these brands to be claimed/verified across Google, Facebook, and Yelp. [One study] found, however, that on average, 78% of locations were claimed. Google had the highest percentage (85%), while Facebook had 74% and Yelp had 75%." Of course, these statistics represent a competitive advantage for local businesses. When you claim/verify your online business listings, you exercise greater control over your online presence--as well as your reputation (see below). You control the images and information on any given site and assure that all information is relevant, correct, and positive. Of the businesses who do claim their listings, these studies found that Facebook "featured the most local engagement, by far: Nearly 75% of franchise locations were posting content on Facebook." This emphasis on Facebook represents another great opportunity: Too many businesses ignore a veritable gold mine for SEO: Google My Business. To learn more about how we help Bucks County, PA area businesses grow their business by optimizing Google My Business, check out our Brand Reputation Management page.  Use Your Listings for Online Reputation Management (ORM) Of course, once you claim your listings, you can optimize them by using them. Too many business owners claim their listings and then let them lay dormant. That's a bad idea. As we noted above, most people understand the functionality of Facebook, but many people are surprised to learn what you can do with Google My Business. For more about creating "posts" or "special offers" on your Google My Business account, check out Google's advice: Read: "Make Great Business Posts" You can also use your listings as a tool for interacting with customers--especially by responding to reviews, both positive and negative. This is perhaps one of the best ways to improve your online reputation. The two local studies found relatively low response rates for reviews: On Facebook, only 48% of locations responded to consumer reviews; on Google, only 36%; and on Yelp, surprisingly, only 16%. This represents another competitive advantage for brands who do decide to respond. As Sterling notes: "Multiple studies show that consumers expect a response to their reviews (especially negative/critical reviews) within 24 hours and often much more quickly. This was a major area of weakness and potential improvement for these brands." For more on managing your ORM, check out a few posts from our blog: Read: "Do You Need ORM?" Read: "Effectively Manage Online Reputation and Customer Reviews" Take Advantage of Barnacle SEO Using these online properties is leveraging the massive SEO capabilities of major sites like Facebook and Google. This sort of SEO was termed "Barnacle SEO" by Moz: "When ranking for incredibly competitive keywords just isn't a possibility, you can make like a barnacle on a ship, attaching yourself to the big sites that are." In this way, you can optimize your online properties on these sites in much the same way you optimize your local website. Think about ranking factors for each specific venue and how you can optimize these factors for better results. As Sterling notes: "The study also found that better GMB reviews correlated with higher rankings on Google, which makes sense since reviews are a local ranking factor." But don't forget to utilize any online property that can give you visibility. For example, don't ignore Yelp: "Yelp appears in the top five search results for 92% of Google web queries that consist of a city and business category." As Sterling notes: Beyond its status as a consumer destination, it's an essential site for "barnacle SEO."  Google-Based Online Reputation Management with SEO Sparta Are you taking advantage of online marketing tools, like Google My Business? By taking advantage of the newest online marketing strategy, ORM, you can attract more customers to your local shop. Alex Stepman, of SEO Sparta, offers a Google-Based Online Reputation Management, which helps brands "leverage the influence of the key player in ORM." To learn more about how you can boost your ORM and SEO with Google My Business, call SEO Sparta today: 215-900-9398. Photo Source: "SEO Basics: What is Local SEO"  

0 Is Website Ranking Important?

• SEO Algorithms
• by Seth Pollins
• 12.11.2020

The term "website ranking" is a popular way to define website performance. Unfortunately, most business owners do not understand how a website's ranking affects a website's performance. And digital marketing firms often promote website ranking services for specific keywords without detailing the advantages (or possible disadvantages). The presumed "value" of a high website ranking is taken at face value. By promising a high website ranking, a digital marketing firm may make a good impression--but the promise is often empty. For website owners, empty promises translate to wasted money. The situation is confused because website ranking is often not clearly defined by digital marketing firms. Alex Stepman, the founder of SEO Sparta, notes that many people confuse website ranking with PageRank.  So what's the deal? What is website ranking? And what is PageRank? Website Ranking & PageRank In the SEO community, website ranking is often correlated with (or confused with) PageRank--Google's first dedicated algorithm for sorting and ranking web pages. When it was introduced, PageRank worked on the premise of links: "PageRank work[ed] by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is. The underlying assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites" (Source). In the past, SEOs emphasized links to achieve high placement on the SERP (search engine results page). During this time, PageRank was logically linked with "website ranking." The higher your PageRank, the higher your website ranking. At the time, PageRank was easily identified in the Google Toolbar. Website owners could see the "value" of their website based on a simple, numerical system. The most popular websites enjoyed a PageRank of 10. The least popular had a PageRank of 0." When PageRank was the only ranking factor, a 10 was a good indication of popularity. Today, however, Google uses more than 200 ranking factors, and PageRank's importance has diminished. When a user performs a Google search, Google delivers the most relevant results, but even on the first page results, not all websites enjoy a high PageRank. Even without a high PageRank, many websites appear on the first SERP. These sites have optimized for other factors, including quality content. Recently, when speaking to a few Philadelphia-are clients of SEO Sparta's SEO services, Alex said: "Do not confuse the issue. A PageRank score is not the same as a website ranking. Your website ranking is the spot your site holds on the SERP, which can be revealed by a simple Google search or by trying any number of tools." Is Website Ranking Important? A few years ago, Search Engine Land asked, "Do organic keyword rankings matter anymore?" "With the evolution of paid advertising and expansion of universal search," wrote Julia Connors, "as well as Google's continuous efforts to provide consumers with content that resolves their demands...the opportunities attached to traditional keyword rankings are diminishing at an alarming rate." Still, a high ranking is not without value. Industry studies about website ranking often reveal similar results: The first SERP attracts most of the traffic (some estimates say up to 90%).  However, a high website ranking alone does not necessarily equate to profits. First, you must attract a click--and then a conversion. And this is why equating website performance with website ranking is misleading. As Connors notes for Search Engine Land: "One of the problems with keyword rankings is that any consumer can click through to a website and immediately leave because the title tag and meta description didn't align with the content of its associated landing page. Ranking first on Google does not mean that every visitor is going to turn into a paying customer because of how limited keywords are for understanding granular details associated with online consumers." So website ranking matters, but not as much as a click and a conversion. Beyond Website Ranking: Website Optimization with SEO Sparta Alex Stepman founded SEO Sparta to help small to medium-sized businesses build and promote websites that inspire clicks and conversions. For more information, call Alex at SEO Sparta today: 215-900-9398. Photo Source: "What is in PageRank? A Historical and Conceptual Investigation of a Recursive Status Index"

0 SEO 101: Domain Age & Website Updates

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 11.06.2020

Does your older website enjoy a high ranking? Perhaps your website is a beneficiary of domain age--the age of an active and accessible website.  We know domain age influences ranking--usually in a positive way, unless the data is "stale," as Matt Cutts, Google's old Webmaster, notes in this vintage SEO video (which is still relevant). In this video, Cutts answers the question: "How does Google determine domain age, and is it important for ranking?" "The difference between a domain that's six-months-old versus one year old is not that big at all," Cutts says. Of course, this is not the same as saying the difference between a domain that's six-months-old and six-years-old is not that big at all. In terms of SEO, the latter, older domain will have had more time to build page and domain "authority" and backlinks. Yet, even beyond SEO optimization, many SEO experts believe domain age is essential. In his list of 200 Google Ranking Factors, Brian Dean of Backlinko cites domain age first, yet he adds the Cutts quote above, and notes, "In other words, they do use domain age…but it's not very important." Neil Patel, on the other hand, cites domain age as one of the top reasons sites rank high on Google when they are not optimized: "Most of the sites that rank high are at least a few years old. Sure, most of these older sites have more backlinks and content as they have been around for longer, but not all of them. What I've noticed is that if you take a brand new website, build tons of relevant links, and add high-quality content, you still won't get as much search traffic as older sites will." Based on our observations at SEO Sparta, we agree with Patel's assessment: older sites often rank high, with or without good SEO. We've noticed this trend is especially true for our local SEO clients in the Philadelphia area: Like your good old neighborhood store, age explains a great deal of a business's popularity. So, even without ongoing SEO optimization, a site can maintain a high ranking in industries with little competition. Of course, it is best not to rest on your laurels. A previous optimization campaign might've boosted you to the first page. Without change, though, your website will appear "stale" to Google. In fact, without change, you essentially create an opening for a new, optimized website to take your place--and perhaps your profits. How to Update Your Website Age matters--but age is not enough. If you enjoy a high ranking in a highly competitive industry, you must evolve to face new competition. In the end, content is much more important than age. In this way, it is possible for a new site to beat a site that has benefited from domain age. For websites old and new, the goal is clear: To maintain a high ranking, you must create dynamic content.  Read: "How to Build an Optimized Website: Content" In practice, however, change is not merely about creating dynamic content. Change can also be about refreshing old content and updating your website's data. Refreshing Old Content  Even older websites with good traffic, which rank high with a variety of links, can suffer from a decrease in the factors that had once inspired a high ranking--like great content. As Erin Everhart notes at Search Engine Land: "That old content is probably still ranking well, but it's outdated — technology has changed, new information has been presented, or there's a better way to accomplish the same task." The key for any website is to find pages that rank well, or once ranked well, and refresh the content in a way that increases the page's current relevance. To do so, we suggest optimizing for new keywords and re-promoting.  Updating Your Website's Data As Matt Cutts says, a "finished" website is a "stale" website. A fast, appealing site is a great beginning. However, too many small businesses stop at the beginning. Over time, a website that does not update its website data risks losing traffic and rankings. To meet the demands of today's browser, you must improve your content and your website's underlying structure. A static site will falter. A dynamic site will maintain rankings and increase traffic. An SEO Company That Understands The Importance of Change: SEO Sparta To build a useful, fully-optimized website, you need a web development company that understands SEO. SEO Sparta is a rare company that offers a host of SEO and marketing professionals to optimize your website. Call today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.  (Cover Photo Credit)

0 SEO 101: Rich Snippets & Structured Data

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 10.23.2020

What is a rich snippet? What is structured data? Both of these terms, which refer to the what and how, respectively, of search results, should be self evident to SEOs and digital marketers. However, when researching the topic, beginners often confront complex definitions. One of the top results for the search "what is structured data SEO", a Moz article by Bridget Randolph, admits its own complexity five paragraphs in, urging readers to click to a cheat sheet. When researching SEO terms, it's important to discover the best explanation for your knowledge level. Most top results refer to articles written for SEOs. This is certainly the case when Moz appears on the SERP. We think Moz is a wonderful resource. However, beginners may need to look elsewhere. So here is our latest SEO 101, a streamlined definition of rich snippets and structured data. What is a Rich Snippet?  A "snippet" is the part of a search result that describes the content of a page. A snippet often includes the basic facts: On Google, the "title" of the web page is blue and the "page address" is green. The snippet is the date and simple description.  A snippet is old school search--it is not an example of a rich snippet.  A "rich snippet" is an enhanced search engine result. A rich snippet provides more information or context than a simple snippet. Rich snippets are common for e-commerce sites, and the "enhanced" features may include product ratings and extra text. The advantage of these "enhanced" features is obvious. On a SERP (search engine results page), rich snippets stand out from regular snippets, and may attract more clicks. So how do you make sure your website's pages reveal "rich snippets"? You must "mark up" your site with "structured data." What is Structured Data? Structured data is a type of code applied to your website that enables search engines to provide a richer representation of your content in search results. Structured Data refers "to any data that resides in a fixed field within a record or file" (Source). The purpose of  this universal "structured data" is to simplify the process of coding: "Structured data has the advantage of being easily entered, stored, queried and analyzed" (Source). "When you use structured data to mark up content," Google says, "you help Google better understand its context for display in Search, and you achieve better distribution of your content to users from Search." The "mark up" Google refers to here is a standardized code "vocabulary" developed by the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing, to enable a website to add structured data to its pages. All of the structured data vocabulary supported by the major search engines can be found on a joint project called Schema.org. What is Schema.org? Schema.org is often referred to as "the future of SEO" for a simple reason: It offers a structured set of codes that, when used appropriately, enable the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing, to offer a richer portrait of your content in search results. This Google-led initiative is yet another example of how Google tries to partner with website owners and content producers. The "schema" on Schema.org simplify the work of producing content for the search engines, which helps both the search engines and you. The benefit of this project is the variety of "content types" supported by the vocabulary. For each type, a webmaster uses a specific mark up to enhance  search results. As Google notes: "A variety of content types qualify to appear in rich results. CreativeWork is a schema.org type definition that applies to qualifying content produced for reading, viewing, listening or other consumption, such as news articles, recipes, and videos. Other content types, such as products and local business listings, belong to the commerce category, which is a custom category we use to describe schema.org types generally intended for retail purposes." The operative word in Google's above quote is "rich." Creating a structured data markup for any of the above content categories will help your own web pages qualify to appear as "rich snippets."  Right now, structured data is available to mark up twelve different types of content on Google's Structured Data Markup Helper, including: Articles  Events Movies Software Applications Book Reviews  Job Postings  Products TV Episodes Datasets Question & Answer Page Local Businesses Restaurants  Understand the Complexities of SEO with SEO Sparta SEO Sparta, a Philadelphia-area SEO firm, combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective digital marketing campaigns. Our SEOs understand how to use structured data to benefit your specific content type. For more information, call today: 215-900-9398. (Cover photo source)

0 Crafting Effective Calls to Action: Three Simple Tips

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 09.09.2020

Do you associate the phrase "call to action" with political activism or military readiness? The phrase  likely evolved from "call to arms," which was first recorded in the mid 19th century. Today, however, "call to action" is also commonly understood as a marketing term. In digital marketing, specifically, a "call to action" is any on-page element--like a button or link--that solicits a desired action.This definition is related to the digital marketing concept of "conversion," when a visitor actually performs a desired action--like clicking that link or button, or signing up for a newsletter.To attract conversions, a website must offer effective calls to action--enticements that make the "action" both simple and desirable.So how do you create an effective call to action on your most important pages? Below we offer three simple tips. Design: Make Your Call to Action Stand Out The famous Uncle Sam poster is a perfect example of an effective call to action. As TIME notes, this image, which was designed during the first world war as a recruitment poster for the US army, is still "one of the most memorable images in American history." It also illustrates the most important element of creating an effective call to action: Your call to action must be front and center, as easy to identify as any other element on the page--and, perhaps, easier to identify. Too many websites fail to perform this one simple task. Too often calls to action are hidden at the bottom of a page, or elsewhere--even visitors who may want to click can be discouraged by too much scrolling. You do not need to bludgeon your visitors with your call to action. Instead, create an actionable button or link THAT STANDS OUT from the rest of your content. Many websites use pop-ups or overlays--but beware, you need to be careful about your use and placement of these elements, lest you alienate your visitors.As the SEO expert, Rand Fishkin, of Moz, notes: "I would strongly urge you to avoid elements that are significantly harming [user experience]."A better option: Blend your call to action buttons or links seamlessly into your content. Content: Short and Sweet Calls to action are necessarily made of content--most often words. So the best calls-to-action include short and sweet words, phrases, or sentences. Simple declarative language catches the eye and simplifies the message. HubSpot collected 39 Call-to-Action Examples You Can't Help But Click." From Evernote's "remember everything" to Netflix's "cancel anytime," which appears above the "Join Free for a Month" button, the most prominent connection between each is simple, declarative phrases:So when writing a call to action leave passive voice behind--and strive for active voice with active verbs. Along with a precise location (Bucks County, PA) and other on-page SEO elements, SEO Sparta tries to attract visitors with a simple call to action front and center on our home page: Contact Us.  Content Conversion: What's the Payoff for Your Visitor? Your call to action must offer your visitor a sense of worth. Many brands ask visitors to sign up for newsletters; the most effective brands, however, include the enticement of savings: 15% OFF. Examples of other incentives may include free e-books, a free product sample, or a free trial of your product--like Netflix offers above. In its article about calls to action, HubSpot speaks about the potential effectiveness of an "exit CTA," which "detect your users' behavior and only appear when it seems as though they're about to leave your site."Hubspot uses the example of a clothing brand, Ugmonk, which offers an exit call to action with an incentive: 15% OFF.  "By intervening in a timely way," HubSpot notes, "these pop-ups serve as a fantastic way of getting your reader’s attention while offering them a reason to stay Actionable Content Marketing with SEO SpartaIf you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with actionable content that converts visitors, contact SEO Sparta today. We combine traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns.

0 The Omnishopper: How to Attract Today's Consumers

• Online Reputation Management
• by Seth Pollins
• 08.15.2020

In recent years, the marketing world coined a new term to describe the type of consumer who browses and buys services and products across multiple platforms, both online and offline: the "omnishopper." The term initially referred to consumers who researched products online before shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, but recently the meaning has evolved. As the name implies, an omnishopper is an omnivorous shopper, who uses any resource, online or offline, to make an informed decision. No matter the form or venue, the omnishopper is motivated by data: Most omnishoppers research products and services assiduously before making a purchase. The goal, of course, is to buy the best product or service at the best price.  Content writers oblige this goal every day by writing top-ten lists. Sites like the Wirecutter offer buying advice for seemingly everything--from choosing the best cloth for your mask to starting an urban garden. And Reddit communities, like Buy it For Life and Frugal Male Fashion, cater to the omnishoppers' insatiable desire to discover the most durable or fashionable item at the best price. What unites all of these diverse queries is an emphasis on reviews--preferably star reviews, with detailed content. In this way, the modern omnishopper is simply the modern shopper. Most browsers browse products and research reviews before making any purchasing decision, online or offline. The website Retail Dive, which performed a consumer survey on the "psyche of the American consumer," presents the modern shopper's experience as a conundrum for businesses: "The pre-purchase shopping routine today takes many twists and turns as consumers move from clicks to bricks with relative ease to browse and buy. While convenient for shoppers, it's becoming harder for retailers to know exactly where and when the shopper journey actually begins." The marketing firm Criteo believes retailers need more data on shoppers: "Data is required on a mass scale and it needs to be granular—not just what shoppers purchased, but what they viewed, on what device, on what day, during what season, how they arrived on that page and where they went next." Criteo's "data" may help retailers answer the challenge of Retail Dive: "To know exactly when and where the shopping journey actually begins." Obviously, in the time of Covid-19, the retail journey is increasingly online. For retailers online and offline, however, the fundamental challenge is the same: How do you attract a browser's attention? And how do you assure, after initial discovery, your product is viewed favorably? To discover the answers to these questions, we view the browser's experience as a two-step decision-making process, and qualify how each step is influenced by different digital marketing techniques: SEO (search engine optimization) and ORM (online reputation management). Influence the Experience: SEO & ORM The omnishopper's buying behavior can be viewed as a two-decision process. 1. The first decision governs the initial search: what product or service to buy. 2. The second decision governs the second search: what website or company to buy from. To influence the first decision, a website must assure that its product is available on the results page--preferably in the first, second, or third spot. This is the goal of SEO: to make your website, or your content, more visible to browsers looking for your type of product or service. With special reference to your industry/niche business, your core products and services, and your location, SEO uses keywords to rank your site on the first SERP (search engine results) page. If successful, your SEO campaign will yield a variety of top results for different keywords. For example, if a browser searches for "raw denim jeans" (another popular Reddit community), he/she will confront a variety of informative websites as well as a few buying decisions. If your company sells raw denim jeans, SEO will help your product appear on the first page of the search results. I recently purchased a pair of raw denim in Philadelphia by doing precisely this: My search for "raw denim Philadelphia" uncovered a local store, Franklin and Poe, which had exactly what I was looking for.  Once a browser discovers your product, however, he/she will likely want more information--and possibly information from a third-party about your product. How often have you discovered a product and then immediately Googled reviews for the product? To influence this second decision, which may lead ultimately to a conversion, a business must assure that its product reviews are uniformly positive. This is the goal of ORM: to monitor and improve (or repair, when needed) the reputation of businesses, products, and services online. The Difference Between SEO & ORM SEO governs on-site optimization (although off-site optimization is also a viable SEO practice that mirrors certain functions of ORM). ORM governs the work across the Internet, influencing the image of your brand. ORM often uses SEO (as well as other digital marketing tools) as part of a comprehensive campaign to improve your online image.  To succeed online (and offline), you need both SEO and ORM. At SEO Sparta, we use a Google-centric approach to attracting favorable online reviews. This is less expensive then many other options for ORM, which may include third-party tools or plug-ins. Whatever the tools, we believe a combination of SEO and ORM is the best way to attract today's ominshopper. 

0 SEO User Experience: Key Data Points

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 07.22.2020

After the long quarantine, more and more businesses have returned to brick-and-mortar operations in the Philadelphia-area and nationwide. However, the recent shutdowns have taught many business owners a simple truth: the indispensable value of a strong online presence.  To optimize your online presence you must first understand your online data--the rich analytical statistics that detail the performance of a website. This data is available to all websites for free from Google Analytics or for a fee from enterprise SEO platforms. Unfortunately, most website owners do not use (or understand) this data. Most ignore it in favor of intuition and guile. An intuitive understanding of your audience is crucial to your website's success, but the combination of intuition and analytical knowledge is the surest path to online success--especially now, in these strange pandemic days.  Website data can tell you precisely how people discover and interact with your website. With the help of this data, you can tweak your content to focus more specifically on the browsers who truly want or need your service. More importantly, you can perfect your "user experience," a term used in the SEO world to describe the experience of browsing your site. Is your content easily discovered and shared? Do your pages load quickly? Is your website structure seamless? If so, your site will be viewed favorably by search engines and browsers.  As Moz notes in its Beginner's Guide to SEO: "Usability and user experience are second order influences on search engine ranking success. They provide an indirect but measurable benefit to a site's external popularity, which the engines can then interpret as a signal of higher quality." Improve User Experience--and SEO--By Optimizing These Data Points  Click-Through Rate Click-through rate (CTR) is a term used in AdWords to describe the difference between the number of people who see your ad and the number who actually click through. Yet SERP CTR can be a helpful metric, too. SERP (search engine results page) CTR is the difference between how many people see your results in the rankings and how many people actually click-through to your page. In either case, a higher CTR means that your website intrigues browsers by name and/or description alone. A lower CTR means that you're not successfully marketing your brand on the most basic level--you're not creating, as SEO guru Neil Patel says, "a sizzling title or an appealing meta description." Even then, CTR viewed by itself can be misleading. Once a browser clicks through, you want to make sure your content convinces him/her to stick around. Optimize Click Through Rate: "13 Ways to Improve Your Organic Click-Through Rate" Dwell Time "Dwell time" is a bit of SEO jargon coined by Bing's former webmaster, Duane Forrester, to describe how long a user dwells on your site before returning to the SERP. As defined by Moz, dwell time is "an amalgam of bounce rate and time-on-site metrics." When viewed in combination with SERP CTR dwell time can be a stupendous technique for evaluating your site. Bounce rate  Bounce rate is a Google term for the percentage of your visitors who only visit your site for a brief time before navigating away. Unfortunately, Google's definition of bounce rate "time" is somewhat vague: "Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page)." Since Google's definition of bounce rate is vague, some in the SEO world combine bounce rate with time-on-site to create the seemingly more accurate "dwell time." Time-on-site (AKA: session duration) is a measurement of the total time a browser spends on your site.To Google, bounce rate is a signal that the SERP did not adequately fulfill your needs--after all, you clicked on a result, then clicked away. A certain result might rank high on a given SERP, but if the bounce rate is high the site will inevitably decrease in the rankings. Neil Patel combines dwell time with CTR to create an even more durable representation of website performance. His description is easy to understand: If a user is spending time on a site, interacting with it, not bouncing, and going deeper within the content, it’s evident there is something of value on the site for that particular user. As this happens, SEO improves. SERP CTR and dwell time converge in the nexus of SEO for this reason. A CTR is not alone an accurate presentation of user behavior. High CTRs can merely reflect a sizzling title or an appealing meta description. CTR is not an indication of the quality of the content on the page itself. That’s where dwell time comes in. If dwell time is low, then the high SERP CTR is discounted in the algorithm’s calculation. If, on the other hand, the dwell time is high, then the CTR receives its due value. Website Audits Many SEO firms offer SEO audits that target these data points. If your website is under-performing, an audit will clarify the exact elements of your website that require improvement. As apart of the audit, you will likely receive a detailed report showing you how many people have visited your website for a specific period of time, how many of those visitors are unique, the time visitors spent on your website, and other information that will help you convert visitors into potential customers. With this information and more, you learn your website visitors in depth. However, the key is using this data to improve your online offering.  SEO Sparta: Use Your Data in the Right Way SEO Sparta helps clients in the Philadelphia-area and worldwide to use the rich analytical data provided by Google and other enterprises to create customized marketing strategies. We know how to improve user experience. To learn more about our offerings, please browse our main site today: SEO Sparta. Cover Photo Source: "How to use SEO Data in Your Social Media Strategy"

0 SEO 101: Consumer Email Guide

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 06.19.2020

How do you connect with your customers? Social media? Content marketing? E-newsletters? A successful digital marketing campaign attempts to connect with customers across multiple platforms--ideally with unique content for each. Throughout the current pandemic, brands small and large have struggled to maintain connections with their customers. However, as many regions of the country ease quarantine restrictions--the Philadelphia region is set to enter the "green phase"--the struggle will amplify. How will businesses, especially local businesses, convince shoppers to return to brick-and-mortar locations?  Both social media and content marketing attempt to accomplish the timeless goal of all marketing campaigns: to attract and engage a targeted audience. Happily, many brands, especially local brands, already have an audience. Call it what you will, audience, target list, or followers, a succinctly defined (and refined) audience is marketing gold. Consumer Emails: One of 121 The trick to leveraging your audience is the same as attracting new customers: unique and effective content. Unfortunately, quality content creation is a shortcoming for many established businesses. Many businesses, in fact, own impressive contact lists to absolutely no avail.These businesses send mass emails and newsletters without a great deal of intention--let alone editing or revision, the hallmarks of good writing. For some reason, these businesses expect sub-par content to work like magic: to inspire a conversion, like a click through. The average office worker receives 121 emails each day. An impressive targeted list can not change this simple fact: Your email is one 121. So how do you stand out from the crowd? How do you inspire a click through? Great content is a must. If you're writing emails or e-newsletters to your target list, however, you can improve your conversions by following three simple tips. Write a Captivating Title Obviously, you want your recipients to open your emails. Considering the deluge each person receives each day, you must attract attention from the get-go. Without a captivating title, that speaks specifically to your target audience's needs or desires, your email will likely never see the light of day. Writing for HubSpot, Ginny Mineo collected 31 of the Best Email Subject Lines You've Ever Read, from Barack Obama's "Hey" to this humdinger from Thrillist: "DO NOT Commit These Instagram Atrocities." "I always ask myself one question before opening an email," writes Mineo. "Will opening this email be a waste of time? Typically, the answer to this question is based entirely on the effectiveness of the subject line." Mineo's article offers helpful insight on how to craft an effective, captivating title. As Obama's "Hey" proves, it's not all about surprising your audience. The key is enticement. When writing a title, you have one goal--to inspire a click. Design a Successful Template Many businesses spend hours creating consumer email content only to waste the content on a poorly-designed layout. The way your email looks is important. Chunky blocks of text repel readers. Some experts even advise abandoning paragraphs altogether for lists or bullets. Remember, even when your email is opened, your readers are likely pressed for time. Pay attention to font, font size, and paragraph length. Attract readership with a clean, simple presentation. Salesforce's Pardot, which offers B2B marketing automation, collected 7 Examples of Succesful Email Templates with some helpful tips: "Research has shown that people scan emails in an “F” shaped pattern," Jenn Hannington writes for Pardot. "Keep this in mind when creating your templates. Important information should be at the top, including your company logo, your call to action, and any key points that you’d like readers to take away from your email." Beyond the necessity of designing a good template, however, remember: Your actual content is the most important element of a consumer email. We especially like this tip from Hannington, which speaks to a core organic SEO practice: "If you know your readers’ interests, send them content that’s specifically related to those interests. Add value by including additional content that your recipients might find useful." Optimize for Mobile Remember, most of your consumer will be reading emails on mobile devices. As with websites, no one wants to read an email that is not optimized for a mobile device. Make sure your template translates well to email, lest your consumers suffer the indignity of pinching and zooming. Writing for Marketing Land, Chad White created an insightful guide for optimizing consumer emails for the mobile experience: The Five Levels of Mobile-Friendly Emails. "What’s certain is that with the majority of B2C brands using mobile-friendly email design," Write writes, "consumer expectations are rising. Increasingly, they’ll be expecting an email and Web experience that works on smartphones and tablets. That also means that if you’re not being mobile-friendly, the risks to your brand image and to subscriber engagement are rising, too." The word "risk" here is apropos: By neglecting the quality of your consumer emails you do your customers and your brand a disservice. In reality, you may do more harm than good. Content Marketing with SEO Sparta If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with stellar content, call SEO Sparta: 215-900-9398. We combine traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns. *** Note: The blog cover image, from an article entitled "Please Unsubscribe Me: How Many Emails Are Too Many?", makes a strong case for testing the frequency of your emails. Yet most brands face a more elemental question: How do you craft a single effective email?

0 Keyword Research for Beginners: The Basics

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 05.20.2020

In recent weeks, more and more brick-and-mortar business owners have seen the necessity of moving at least a portion of operations online. In the new "normal" of COVID-19, now and tomorrow, these same business owners see the online world as both an opportunity and an incredible challenge.  Where to begin? How do you compete? SEO Sparta has a series of posts outlining the steps to building a fully-optimized website, including Website Design, Website Development, Content Creation, and Conversions.  However, perhaps the most simple way to begin thinking about moving online is keyword research. By researching your market's successful keywords, you can learn how to brand your business and how to compete against the current top ranking sites. Successful keyword research can also give you valuable insights into your potential customers. Also, at SEO Sparta, we've found that for our SEO clients no activity offers a higher ROI than keyword research. For a new online business, in fact, keyword research is the most important part of an online marketing campaign. More to the point, ranking for the right keyword often means the difference between success and failure. You want to attract traffic to your site; far more important than traffic, however, is conversions--when a visitor performs an action on your site, like buying your product, sharing your content, or signing up for your newsletter. As the popular SEO website, Moz, says in its helpful guide to keyword research, "It's not always about getting visitors to your site, but about getting the right kind of visitors"--in other words, conversions. So how do you attract the right type of visitor?  Start With a "Working Keyword" Most online keyword research guides urge webmasters to begin with a keyword research tool. Before you use any of the available tools, however, clarify your business offering in a general sense.  Just don't be too general. Do you sell watches? Well, "watches" will likely not be the most effective keyword for your site. Instead, identify the keywords you believe to be most relevant to your unique site's content. Perhaps you're a Philadelphia-area purveyor of Swiss watches. You might begin with the working keyword "Philadelphia Swiss Watches." Google the Competition Once you have identified your "working keyword," Google the word or phrase. This is the best way to quickly and easily identify your core competition. Browse your competitor's sites. Try to identify why and how they rank for your working keyword; just as important, take note of any other potentially useful product descriptions that might inform your own keyword research. Find a Suitable Keyword Research Tool  You have a working knowledge of your own keywords and your competition's keywords. Now you can use a keyword research tool. You will find many available tools online--most will ask you to begin with a working keyword; many work on a similar premise to Google AdWord's Keyword Planner: "You can search for keyword and ad group ideas, get historical statistics, see how a list of keywords might perform, and even create a new keyword list by multiplying several lists of keywords together." Other good keyword research tools include Moz's Keyword Explorer and WordStream's Free Keyword Tool. The purpose of these tools is simple. As WordStream writes in its guide to finding "niche keywords," a good keyword research tool "will help you identify a wide range of potential keyword opportunities including less obvious terms that could potentially drive traffic and sales." Pay close attention: the "less obvious" keywords could be the perfect avenue for a new site to rank quickly. Most likely the most effective keywords for your site, especially a local site, will be long-tail keywords that incorporate locations. Refine Your Keyword List  The research tools will give you many options. Your next task is to refine your list. The tools should give you the ability to refine as well. Your goal, to begin, is to find a minimum of 10 keywords that speak most precisely to your offering. Google the Competition Part II Again, many keyword research tools will enable you to select keywords based on relevance and competition. However, as before, you can Google each keyword and research the competition on your own. Writtent has a nifty DIY formula for analyzing the relative competitiveness of any keyword.  In general, however, the advice of Backlinko is quite sound: "If you see a page littered with authoritative, big brand results, you might be better off moving to the next keyword on your list. But if you take the time to evaluate keyword competition, you can usually find keywords that get great search volume AND have little to no competition." Some business owners might want to try to rank for the most competitive keywords. However, using a mix of highly competitive and moderately competitive keywords is often the best option. *** Once you have selected a sound list of keywords, you must create relevant, engaging content based on the keywords. For help writing the best content, learn "How to Create Shareable Content." And remember: Keyword research is an on-going process. You might refine or change your strategy depending on your initial results. As WordStream writes: "It's important to remember that just because a keyword tool returns a keyword doesn't mean you'll be able to rank for it, or that the traffic it sends from search engines will end up converting. Make continual keyword management a priority and be vigilant about analyzing and acting on keyword research to improve your results." *** Content Marketing with SEO Sparta If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with carefully researched keywords, contact SEO Sparta. We combine traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns. image source