0 The SEO Specialist: Your New Best Friend

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 06.09.2022

The SEO Specialist: Your New Best Friend When first learning about SEO, many enthusiastic website owners assume that they can do the work of optimization without the help of a trained specialist. This is an admirable pursuit, and to the extent that this is possible, we support website owners in their quest to optimize their websites. In fact, we write The Organic SEO blog not merely for our peers in the SEO community but for website owners who wish to learn more about natural website optimization.  If you are a website owner, especially a new website owner, we strongly urge you to browse our blog. Learn as much about organic SEO as possible! At The Organic SEO Blog, we also value specialization. For example, this blog is supported by Alex Stepman of SEO SPARTA. Alex is a gifted SEO specialist with vast experience. However, although Alex certainly provides inspiration and ideas for The Organic SEO Blog, he understands that writing is not exactly his strength. For this reason, Alex hires a small team of professional copywriters for this blog and all of his content-driven SEO work. Of course, to Alex, it just makes sense to focus on his strengths and outsource his weaknesses to others. Now, if you own your website and feel you have the time and patience to optimize your website's structure and content--well, more power to you! We share a democratic view of optimization: SEO is a talent anyone can understand and apply. What many website owners do not understand, though, is that the work of an SEO specialist is a full-time occupation. Most of this work is about keeping up-to-date with the changes in search engine algorithms--especially Google's algorithm. To maintain a website's first-page ranking (and any website that employs an SEO specialist should maintain the first-page ranking), an SEO specialist will use his specialized knowledge of search engines, algorithms, website structure, and content to make necessary changes to a website. Changes might be a daily requirement. If you're a website owner, you likely have other problems to worry about, like the quality of your product or offering or the productivity of your employees.   Stay up to date with the search engine algorithm requirements.  "Google's algorithm evolves over time. Over the years, we've seen a few entirely new algorithms and many 'updates.' However, even as Google's experience improves, the algorithm changes might not be apparent to most browsers. For the trained SEO specialist, though, even the slightest change should be apparent." For a view of how often Google updates its algorithm, check out the fascinating Google Algorithm Change History. The site notes, "Each year Google changes its algorithm around 500-600 times." Should an SEO specialist know and understand each one of these changes? You better believe it! Suppose you're a website owner considering performing your website's SEO work (or you're considering giving your "tech guy" the SEO work). In that case, we urge you to take a moment to browse the Google Algorithm Change History. Do you understand what you're reading? If not, you're not alone! Believe me, as a copywriter, I have no idea what I'm reading on this site. Here, for example, is the entry for July 19, 2013, in full: Knowledge Graph Expansion — July 19, 2013 Seemingly overnight, queries with Knowledge Graph (KG) entries expanded by more than half (+50.4%) across the MozCast data set, with more than a quarter of all searches showing some kind of KG entry. Say what? We write The Organic SEO blog intending to simplify SEO. However, we also believe that any website owner who wishes to achieve even moderate success should consult with a qualified SEO specialist. If you wish to learn more about organic SEO from a trained SEO specialist, we urge you to contact our sponsor, SEO SPARTA.

0 How to Outperform Your Online Competitors

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 02.27.2022

Creating an SEO-friendly website with relevant and quality content can transform a traditional brick-and-mortar business's earning power. Unfortunately, many business owners create websites that ignite earnings and quickly lose steam. Website owners might blame this misfortune on the changing economy, marketplace, or increased online competition. Of course, all of these factors can influence the earnings of an online business.  But why do certain websites in specific industries succeed while others fail? Many industry-specific websites, after all, look and feel similar. And many industry-specific websites have been optimized by SEO specialists to perform for a certain customer-base. If two optimized websites look and feel similar and sell similar products to similar customers, shouldn't both enjoy an equal share of the online marketplace? In theory, yes, both websites should perform equally well. But let's take a closer look at our two theoretical websites. Like snowflakes, no two websites are alike, and even the subtle differences can profoundly influence website performance. Now, to the trained eye, the reasons for success or failure are pretty evident. But for casual browsers, the difference might seem elusive. So what's going on? In the experience of Alex Stepman, an experienced organic SEO specialist, the number one reason optimized websites fail is that the website owner abandoned SEO after the website's launch. And websites that have abandoned SEO share a similar deficiency: over time, they have remained static while other websites in the same industry have evolved. This evolution can be subtle, but it is the benchmark of success. So what does this evolution look like? Well, the very definition of "evolution" is "the gradual development of something," and we're not talking about titanic shifts. Instead, it's the small changes that make a big difference. The best SEO specialists know this simple fact: a well-optimized website is a frequently-updated website. Search engine algorithms place precedence on new, relevant content. The consistent updating of a website's content is the most efficient way to maintain a competitive edge if you're competing in an industry-specific marketplace. If an SEO professional maintains your website, they will continually update your website's content. Keep in mind content is not limited to the written word; it can include graphics, like a new "About Me" tab or relevant product videos. Of course, though, relevant and well-written content is the cornerstone of a website's success. A good SEO specialist will ensure that your content is always fresh and relevant--and preferably written by a professional writer. So what do you do if you do not have an SEO specialist? Well, I think you can guess our first suggestion. Contact Alex Stepman of SEO SPARTA! Most business owners are too busy to perform the tedious work of organic SEO. Why not outsource this crucial aspect of your business? However, if you do not have the budget for an SEO specialist right now, do not despair. You might not know how to change the look and feel of your website (the graphics and navigability), but you might have the capability to make precisely the type of small changes that can keep a website relevant: you can write a daily blog! Today, most websites are equipped with an easy-to-use blog platform like WordPress (Blogger is often associated with stand-alone blogs). If you're a website owner, your daily blog might be the easiest and most cost-effective way to optimize your website with relevant content. All you need is a good idea and a good writer (if you don't have one on staff, you can certainly hire a professional copywriter for a reasonable fee). Your blog does not have to be lengthy--the point is to update daily with fresh content.

0 Content Marketing 101: The Power of Differentiation

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 02.08.2022

What is the Internet? Of the infinitely possible definitions, one that speaks to connectivity and sharing rings true: The Internet is a conversation. Within this conversation, relationships blossom between people and between people and businesses. The best online businesses understand that relationships matter. Build a relationship with your customer, and you will have a customer for life. The online men's clothing company Bonobos understands this simple fact. Bonobos' pioneering approach to engagement transformed the company from a scrappy startup to an incredible asset for Walmart, which purchased Bonobos in 2017 for $310 million. Writing about this purchase for Forbes, Pamela Danziger described the acquisition as "paradigm-shifting," and not simply for the value of the brand itself. With Bonobos, Walmart also acquired significant "human capital" in Andy Dunn, Bonobos' CEO. Danziger quotes Dave Knox, the author of The High Stakes Game of Business Between Startups and Blue Chips, the "guidebook for navigating the changing business landscape," who calls Dunn "a prominent thought leader in the next generation of retail." Read: "Why Walmart-Bonobos Is A Bigger Deal Than Amazon-Whole Foods" Dunn himself described his brand as a DNVB--a digitally native vertical brand founded on the Internet and "aimed squarely at millennials and digital natives." Many DNVB brands exist--and fail. "Here is what most DNVB entrepreneurs get wrong," Dunn writes. "The world doesn't care about your DNVB if you aren't delivering a better product and service bundle than traditional competition. The world doesn't need your DNVB — unless your product as foundation is differentiated." Read: "The Book of DNVB" Dunn's story of carefully-executed differentiation should be instructive for all brands. Beyond its great-fitting pants, Bonobos has created a steady market for its clothing by selling its own unique and often quirky brand. Content Marketing 101: The Power of Differentiation Most online businesses fail at differentiation. Some businesses sell genuinely unique products but fail to market the product's uniqueness. Many businesses, of course, sell similar products but fail at differentiating other vital factors, like cost or service. A failure of differentiation is a failure of communication. If the Internet is a conversation, the businesses that fail are like boring people who avoid conversation, or worse, people who drone incessantly about "the seven things you're not supposed to talk about," like how you've slept or your day-to-day health. Ho-hum! If you own an online business and you're trying hard to create a market for your product, you might begin by asking yourself a simple question: What am I adding to the conversation? The answer to this question might be the make or break factor for your business. If you're not adding something new to the conversation, after all, why are you talking? Differentiation and SEO: Duplicate Content  In the world of SEO, one of the most egregious conversation failures is duplicate content--"substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar," according to Google. Of course, many sites necessarily use duplicate content as a business matter. In 2013, Google's head of webspam, Matt Cutts (now retired), explained that a lot of duplicate content is benign: "We do understand that lots of different places across the web do need to have various disclaimers, legal information, terms and conditions, that sort of stuff, and so it's the sort of thing where if we were to not rank that stuff well, then that would probably hurt our overall search quality..." So not all duplicate content is harmful. The problem, as Google notes, is "multiple pages [on your own site] with largely identical content," or worse, content copied and pasted from other websites. Copied content is everywhere. Many sites sell the same products with the same product descriptions without offering any additional helpful information that might inspire a sale. In these cases, differentiation is vital--especially if you're an affiliate. As Cutts explained: "Hopefully you've got a different page from all the other affiliates in the world, and hopefully you have some original content – something that distinguishes you from the fly-by-night sites that just say, 'Okay, here's a product. I got the feed and I'm gonna put these two paragraphs of text that everybody else has.' If that's the only value add you have then you should ask yourself, 'Why should my site rank higher than all these hundreds of other sites when they have the exact same content as well?'" In the end, duplicate content will harm your business. As Search Engine Land noted in its article on duplicate content and machine intelligence, the dangers of duplicate content include loss of ranking for unique pages that unintentionally compete for the same keywords; inability to rank pages in a cluster because Google chose one page as a canonical; and loss of site authority for large quantities of thin content.  In a way, then, the danger of duplicate content equates to Dunn's notion of what most entrepreneurs (and, by extension, online businesses) get wrong: a failure to differentiate. Content Marketing with SEO Sparta  If you're looking for an SEO company company that understands how to promote websites with relevant content, contact SEO Sparta in our local offices in Bucks County, PA. SEO Sparta combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--emphasizing natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns.  (Cover Photo Source: Merriam Webster)

0 The SEO Writer: Five Key Skills

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 11.15.2021

What is the difference between a good copywriter and a good SEO writer? A good copywriter has writing talent and marketing expertise. A good copywriter creates succinct, error-free content that broadcasts a specific message to a general audience. A good SEO writer also has writing talent and marketing expertise. Yet, the SEO writer's marketing expertise includes knowledge of search engine algorithms. A good SEO writer creates succinct, error-free content that broadcasts a specific message to a specific online audience. Specificity is critical.  The distinction is like the distinction between traditional and digital marketing. Both aim to attract a specific audience. Traditional marketing broadcasts to a general audience, casting a wide net to amplify a message. Think billboards, radio ads, or newspaper circulars. Success is defined in several ways: by increasing brand awareness, improving brand image, or attracting a percentage of viewers to a product, service, or promotion. Apple's famous "Think Different" campaign, which some credit for saving the company from financial ruin, is a perfect example of how traditional marketing, when performed correctly, can make a brand "deeply recognizably." Traditional marketing focuses on macro-audiences (although the goal may be to engage only a percentage of that audience). Digital marketing, on the other hand, focuses on micro-audiences. The success of any digital marketing campaign is contingent on defining the best keywords and creating relevant, engaging content for that audience. More on keywords: How to Perform Keyword Research  Of course, the distinctions between traditional marketing and digital marketing is unimportant. The term "digital content" is a misnomer: The best content--in traditional and digital marketing--is defined by the quality of the writing itself. However, successful online writing requires a distinctive set of knowledge and skills. A copywriter may or may not understand how to effectively attract an online audience. To attract an audience online, you need an SEO writer. The SEO Writer: Five Key Skills  Researching & Effectively Using Keywords A good SEO writer can help you research and choose the best keywords for your product or service. If you are unsure how to define your product or service, keyword research can help you clarify your offering: Imagine you are Googling your product or service. What keywords would you type? A good SEO writer can use these keywords resourcefully to attract attention to your site--attention that will lead to conversions. A copywriter may overlook the details that make a piece of content work for a search engine. An SEO writer, however, writes with a keen eye on attracting an online audience. By nature, this sort of work is concise. Writing URLs and Meta Tags A page's URL (uniform resource locator) is its web address. A fully-optimized web page will include a coherent, simple URL that humans and search engines can quickly identify. Crafting a relevant URL is a deceptively simple practice perfected by SEO writers. A title tag is displayed in search results as the title of a web page. Once you click on the page, the title tag may or may not be displayed at the top of the browser (Firefox does; Chrome does not). Title tags should be hyper-specific and relevant, yet not spammy--keywords must be used judiciously. Meta tags are inserted into your web pages' "head" area and used by search engines to list your site in their indexes accurately. Every page of your website must have unique meta tags. A good SEO writer optimizes your meta tags to describe the content of your page accurately. Creating an Effective Structure Many writers are enamored with their work--to the detriment of the writing. First, a good SEO writer is a great writer, but they also understand that SEO requires structure. Good SEO writers get picky about details that other writers overlook--details that might supersede the writer's natural inclinations. A good SEO writer, for example, understands the importance of the appropriate number of words, keywords, and links as well as paragraph and article length. To view the picky side of SEO writing, read Neil Patel's article How Long Should Each Blog Post Be? A Data-Driven Answer.  Composing Effective Links The link above (for Neil Patel's article) precisely describes the nature of the link. Many copywriters create articles with arbitrary links ("click here") that have little to do with the actual content of the link. To optimize a link, a good SEO writer creates a precise description of the link's contents. Like URLs, title tags, and meta tags, this detailed description allows the search engine to understand and "index" the link. Again, an adequate link description is a deceptively simple task, yet the best SEO writers have learned the value of outbound links and how to maximize this value effectively. Choosing Images and Composing Effective Image Tags  By now, you might have noticed several themes. First, every aspect of a page needs to be optimized, from the text to the tags. Second, SEO writers are not simply adept at writing--the best SEO writers perfect writing and the technical and design aspects of SEO, including keyword research, URL and tag composition, and structure. Choosing the perfect image for your content requires an eye for design; writing the perfect description requires SEO knowledge and writing chops. In a way, image optimization synthesizes the skills of a good SEO writer. Content Marketing with SEO Sparta  SEO Sparta is an SEO company in Bucks County, PA. We understand how to promote websites with good content. To learn more about how we combine traditional marketing methods and organic SEO to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns, call 215-900-9398.

0 Content Marketing 101: How to Discover Your Niche

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 10.16.2021

Several years ago, Rand Fishkin posted a video that called for a new wave of content--10x content, as he called it: "Content that is 10 times better than the best...search results for a given keyword phrase or topic." The video, "Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die," was part of Fishkin's WhiteBoard Friday series, a sort of weekly digest for SEO professionals. Since the publication of the video, the term 10x content has become a buzzword for trendy SEO-types, what Sujan Patel, writing for Forbes, calls "a staple term used to define stand-out content within a certain industry or vertical." Creating "good, unique content" is not enough to rank. For new or smaller to medium-sized websites to rank, Fishkin believes, content writers must study the current top results. "What questions are being asked and answered by these search results?" Fishkin asks. "What sort of user experience is provided?" Fishkin's video is helpful but not necessarily prescriptive. Answering these questions will give you an idea of why a piece of content is successful (or not), but it might not help you create great content. Patel spends a great deal of space on "identifying 10x content" as well as rehashing Fishkin's "criteria for 10x content," but when he turns to actually "building" 10x content, he admits, "This is the time to start reinventing the wheel." If that sounds daunting to you, you're not alone. Content is the hardest part of SEO. It's important to note, though, that both Fishkin's and Patel's advice is not necessarily creative but technical. When Patel writes, "with so many businesses taking on the role of publisher, you need to expand into something more akin to an artist," it's clear he's not speaking from experience. "That means incorporating more visuals with your data," he writes, "more interaction, and more engagement." So more visuals with your data? Is that really what it means to reinvent the wheel--to be an artist? Discover Your Niche Is creating excellent, outstanding, 10x, or whatever you want to call it, content enough for a new or small or medium-sized website to compete in the rankings? This is the question Adam Stetzer asked on Search Engine Watch several years ago, and his answer was definitive: "The Google mantra: 'Create great content and it will earn links,' works for big business, but not for small ones." Read: "Come on, Google. Let the Little Guy Earn a Link" Stetzer focuses his discussion on high-quality, relevant links, which work as editorial votes, and are supposed to boost a website's ranking. The problem, Stetzer asserts, is that "small businesses are not going to get links just by virtue of having good content." This assertion is in contrast to Fishkin's claim about 10x content: "If you use this process or a process like this and you do this type of content auditing and you achieve this level of content quality, you have a real shot at rankings." Not really, Stetzer believes: "Google policies are seemingly oblivious to this reality: without links, small businesses get no traffic and without traffic, they get no links." In our view, both are right (and wrong). We happen to agree with Fishkin's assertion that outstanding content can boost rankings and attract traffic. But Fishkin himself makes a critical point that Stetzer overlooks: "Really, where I want folks to go is..10 times better than anything I can find in the search results today. If I don't think I can do that, then I'm not going to try and rank for those keywords. I'm just not going to pursue it. I'm going to pursue content in areas where I believe I can create something 10 times better than the best result out there." And this is a reality of a small business, which by nature is not trying to compete with a large business. A small bookseller, for example, will not try to compete head-to-head with, say, Amazon, the behemoth of online book sales. But a smaller bookseller, like Powell's Books, which originated as a neighborhood bookseller in Portland, Oregon, can undoubtedly discover success. Powell's ingenious way of marketing itself is "The World's Neighborhood Bookseller." If you Google "buy books," Powell's is not even on the first page. Yet Powell's has earned a durable success with unique branding--and, ironically, by selling its books on Amazon. Like many of the best small online businesses, Powell's success reveals an essential truth of online marketing: to compete, you must discover your niche. Stetzer's assertion then is not entirely true. He seems to imply that a smaller bookstore like Powell's should be able to compete with Amazon. He begins with an ideal scenario: "Some would say that the Internet is the great equalizer, that every business, large and small, has an equal shot at page one rankings and with that, web traffic, leads, sales, and growth." But this is not true. And that's OK. Another truth of online marketing: to compete, you must evolve. For a new or smaller business, this means answering the questions that have not yet been answered. Two Questions to Discover Your Niche It's hard to create genuinely inventive content. It's hard even to begin writing. We simplify the process to two questions. Before beginning a piece of content, ask yourself: 1. "What question am I answering?" 2. "What am I adding to the conversation?" Be unique--and specific about your offering. By paying attention to the unique specificity of your product or service, you can dramatically improve your visibility on Google. What question(s) does your product or service answer? Once you've answered these questions (for yourself), compose your answers, ideally adding something new to the conversation. Content Marketing with SEO Sparta If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to compete with inventive content, call SEO Sparta at our Bucks County, PA, offices: 215-900-9398. SEO Sparta combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective marketing campaigns.

0 How Does Google Do SEO?

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 08.11.2021

Google owns and manages over 7,000 websites worldwide, and according to Google's Sean O'Keefe, each of these websites "receive the same treatment as any other site on the web." According to O'Keefe, Google must optimize Google websites for SEO to perform well on the Google search engine. So how does Google optimize for...Google? O'Keefe shared Google's own "cohesive SEO strategy" on Google's blog devoted to the digital marketing community, Think With Google. Beyond the strategy details, the post is intriguing for several reasons. First, this post puts to rest the misinformed notion that Google and SEO are somehow at odds. Critics cite Google's frequent algorithm changes, which inevitably harm some websites' rankings, the search engines' apparent "silence" about algorithm changes, or the rare (but notable) cases of de-indexing when Google wipes a site or sites from its search engine results. In reality, the algorithm changes promote good content, and any incidental loss in rankings is usually recovered quickly--that is if your site is relevant for its industry/keywords and optimized with good SEO. The only sites that lose rankings, or suffer de-indexing, are spam sites. Second, the post implies that Google is an impartial judge of content--after all, its sites do not receive preferential treatment. Of course, Google's impartiality is impossible to confirm, and Google's previous actions, which European anti-trust regulators have fined, seem to undermine this implication. But the very nature of organic search, which defines Google's success, reveals the best content for any given search, so the search engine has an incentive to be as impartial as possible. Just like Google knows no browser wants a results page full of AdWords, the search engine also knows: To satisfy users, it must provide unbiased organic listings. Finally, this post confirms the viability of SEO. AS O'Keefe writes, "When done well, SEO can provide an important — and cost-effective — strategy for organic growth." This is not an SEO firm saying this--it's Google! So, yes, SEO is "important" and, more importantly, "cost-effective." So how does Google optimize its sites for SEO? We discuss O'Keefe's three main points below... Read Sean O'Keefe's Article: "Inside Google Marketing: 3 ways we think about SEO" Start Small O'Keefe's first bit of advice, to focus on small, "incremental changes," speaks precisely to what Alex Stepman, of SEO Sparta, calls the "X-Factor" of good SEO: small tweaks. "Most of our new clients want to start big, with splashy content marketing or aggressive AdWords campaigns," Stepman says. "But the best strategy is to focus on the small SEO tweaks. For Local SEO sites, especially, small tweaks can make a big difference." For Stepman and Google, these tweaks can be described as "best practices." Google reveals its own best practices on what it calls an "opinionated reference for building amazing web experiences," the Web Fundamentals page. By following these practices, O'Keefe notes, several of Google's sites have seen "strong organic growth." However, before attending to the fundamentals, O'Keefe (and Stepman) recommend the Search Console's URL Inspection Tool for recognizing potential problems with your site. Evolve With the Algorithms Search evolves. To compete, you must evolve with search. As O'Keefe notes: "It can be easy to get overwhelmed by...changes, but internally we've found that the more we embrace them and experiment with them, the better our SEO results." In his post, O'Keefe refers to several recent developments in search, including structured data, AMP, and featured snippets, to illustrate how Google applied fixes to sites to increase impression on its sites by up to 200%. (This is not marketing fluff; it's Google reporting its SEO results). So how do you evolve with search? In our estimation, the easiest way to keep pace is to read SEO blogs and journals, like the SEO Sparta Blog.  Read: "SEO 101: Rich Snippets and Structured Data" Consolidate  O'Keefe's final bit of advice, to consolidate web properties (when possible), also speaks to the oft-repeated SEO mantra to create "unique content"--or "10x content." As O'Keefe notes, "It can be tempting to create multiple websites, each containing very similar content, to target different customer profiles or geographic regions." But this strategy, O'Keefe notes, is akin to duplicate content, "substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar," according to Google. A known SEO no-no for years, duplicate content can confuse users and search engines. One great site is better than multiple smaller sites--just as one great page is better than multiple similar pages. Instead of duplicating properties, focus on differentiation. Organic SEO with SEO Sparta Are you looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with content optimized for web, voice, and mobile? Contact SEO Sparta of Bucks County, PA.   We combine traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--emphasizing natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns. [Cover Image Source]

0 What Defines Website Success?

• SEO
• by Seth Pollins
• 07.27.2021

In the SEO world, "website ranking" is often touted as the most critical metric of success. It's no secret that top results receive a majority of Google's traffic. According to a study from Chitika in 2013, a top-ranking result receives 33% of all traffic. After that, the drop-off is steep. The second result receives about 18% of all traffic. The third result receives 11%. If you're not on the first page, you're missing 92% of all traffic. These numbers from Chitika may or may not match Google traffic in 2021, but SEO firms continue to propagate the idea that ranking is all-important.  We asked Alex Stepman of SEO Sparta why many SEO firms market "first page rankings" as the ultimate SEO goal. He pointed to the oldest of marketing tropes: emotional appeal. "There's just something so appealing about a number one ranking," he said. "It's a visible, immediate proof of the success of an optimization campaign." But is it the most important metric of success? "Not necessarily," Stepman says. "A top-ranking only tells part of the story--and often, a top-ranking is not as meaningful as other metrics." So how do you determine the value of a top-ranking for your website?  Ranking for the Right Keywords Is your website the top result for a specific keyword? If so, what is the value of that top result to your business? To estimate the value, ask yourself, "Is my website driving profits?" If not, you might want to think about ranking for other, potentially more profitable keywords.  Unfortunately, many websites achieve top rankings for keywords that do not necessarily attract profits. This is especially the case for local SEO clients who may have much competition (see below). Read: "5 Steps to Finding the Most Profitable Keyword" When Is a Top Ranking Bad? When is a top ranking for a keyword not beneficial? Stepman related the story of a Philadelphia purveyor of handmade vegan products. When Stepman met the purveyor, he had been in business for seven years and was happy to report that his site ranked first for a Philadelphia-specific search for a specific vegan food. However, the vegan entrepreneur lamented, his website had not increased his profitability. He was performing well in the Philadelphia area, yet he wanted to expand his reach to other metro areas in the Mid-Atlantic region. He also wanted his customers to order directly from his website. Upon reviewing the website, Stepman learned the interface was outdated, the content weak, and the functionality serviceable at best. The top ranking for the Philadelphia-specific search was primarily due to the company's physical presence in the area as the only local purveyor of vegan food. As currently constructed, the website of this local purveyor of handmade vegan products was terrible. Stepman wondered whether the current traffic he received might be hurting his business. To truly expand his business, Stepman told the vegan entrepreneur, he needed to improve his website in every way. Only then should he try to rank for more keywords. The Top SEO Metric of Success: Profits  We talk so much about the value of a top-ranking, we often neglect the value of a specific ranking. Do you have a top ranking? If so, its value may be variable. And it is certainly not as simple as stating, "A top-ranking receives 33% of all traffic." The key, of course, is the profitability of any specific top ranking. As Josh Steimle writes for Forbes: "Rankings, backlinks, traffic, and even conversions don't matter, unless they lead to increased profits." Read: "SEO: Focus On The Only Metric That Matters" Steimle relates the story of a decline in his own firm's ranking. Closer analysis revealed that, although rankings had suffered, his firm's "bounce rate had been cut by more than half, visitors were visiting more pages on our site, staying longer on our site, and conversions were up 11%." Much like the vegan entrepreneur, Steimle discovered his firm had been attracting the wrong type of traffic. Still, some studious SEO had shifted the dynamic: "What that tells me is that less of the traffic we don't want is ending up on our site, while at the same time we are attracting more of the traffic we do want." In the end, profits are about attracting attention, but the correct type of attention is crucial. A top-ranking is only essential if it's profitable.  Profit-Driven SEO with SEO Sparta of Bucks County  If you're looking for an SEO firm that understands how to promote websites with profit-driven content that converts visitors effectively, call SEO Sparta: 215-900-9398.  SEO Sparta combines traditional marketing methods and organic website optimization to design, develop, and optimize thoughtful, inspiring, and useful websites that drive profits.  (Cover Image)

0 How to Check Your Website's Performance on Google

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 07.18.2021

Don't Be Fooled: How to Check Your Website's Performance on Google. Here at the Organic SEO Blog, we like to think that we're fighting the good fight. Too many Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies take advantage of customers. We're here to share as much information as possible. We believe knowledge is power: the more our readers understand organic SEO, the better we perform as a blog. Today we're going to teach you how to check your website's performance on Google. You might be surprised--this task is very simple. You might also be surprised to see that your website's performance can teach you important information about your website as well as the claims of your SEO professional. So before we begin, remember: knowledge is power! Do not let SEO companies manipulate you. Instead, learn your lessons. Simply reading this blog will save you time and money. As you might know, SEO is a time-consuming process. Sometimes SEO yields result in as little as two days; sometimes, results are not apparent for months. As a website owner, you might never understand how or why this process is working or not working. Most website owners live at the mercy of SEO professionals. Since website owners typically have very little SEO knowledge, they must trust that the SEO professional is genuinely performing the best work. In an ideal world, this is how the process should work. There is no need for a website owner to spend his time learning and performing SEO to hire a professional to do the work. Unfortunately, too many website owners have been burned by incompetent SEO professionals. A poorly optimized website can be presented to a website owner in a way that makes the website appear as if it were performing very well and even outperforming all other websites in its industry. SEO can be an affordable investment, but nobody wants to waste money on trickery and deceit. To perform this trick, a wayward SEO company or individual will discover at least one keyword that makes your website visible on the first page of search results. He will then tell you to search on your computer with this keyword--to see the outstanding results for yourself! If you own a marketing agency, for example, and the keyword that makes your website visible is "marketing services," you will type "marketing services" and see your website listed on Google's first page, outperforming so many other similar sites. You might even click the link to be sure that this is, indeed, your website. And inevitably, it will be your site. From Google's perspective, the goal is to deliver the most relevant results and ensure the user is 100% satisfied with these results. Whenever you click a link on Google, the link is "remembered" for your benefit. Why? From so many relevant results, you clicked this link and not any other. Google also understands that not every user can find the site they are looking for on the first search. Google expects most users to perform multiple searches with different sets of keywords--in this case, keywords relevant to the "marketing" industry. So let's say you try a different search for your marketing website, but instead of "marketing service," you type a similar keyword, like "digital marketing agency." Google will deliver a different set of websites, but your website will still be on the first page results. This does not necessarily mean that your website is well-optimized. Why? From your first search, Google "remembered" that you clicked your website, so it is offering you the choice once again. From this point forward, whenever you perform a similar search, your website will appear. And the more times you click your website or perform the exact search, the more Google will show you this same result. Don't be fooled. To see accurate and relevant Google results follow these steps: 1. Ensure you are not signed in to your Google account; if you are, sign out. 2. Delete your browser's cookies. 3. Close your browser and reopen it. 4. Perform the search. (This time, the keyword can be anything, even the first keyword--marketing services--that revealed your website to be on the first page results). If your website does not appear on the first page results after performing these simple steps--well, your SEO professional might be deceiving you about your website's performance. It is essential to check the work somebody performs for you. You want to hire a real professional who will not waste your time and money. If you want to speak to a reliable SEO professional, please consider the Organic SEO Blog's sponsor, SEO SPARTA. Just like this blog, the professional SEO specialists at SEO SPARTA strive to educate you about what we do and how we do it. After all, you should know exactly what to expect from your SEO professional's work. SEO SPARTA is a rare SEO company that will deliver positive results quickly while being very transparent about what to expect from the marketing campaign they perform for your business. They are conveniently located in Bucks County, PA, and serving customers all over the country.

0 Organic CTR and Online Marketing: What You Need to Know

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 06.19.2021

For several years now, the SEO community has noted a marked decrease in organic click-through rates (CTR). An analysis by Rand Fishkin on SparkToro revealed that from 2016 to 2018, organic CTR on Google declined on both desktop and mobile searches. The organic clicks, Fishkin noted, had been "siphoned away" to Google's properties (including paid ads) and the increasingly popular rich answers.  While the decline wasn't "massive" on desktop, the mobile decline had been significant in the US and the UK: down by nearly a third. During the same time, clicks on paid ads almost doubled. "This data paints a stark narrative," Fishkin wrote. "Google...uses its monopoly power to gain advantages...And while SEO...remains a powerful channel, organic search is being slowly cannibalized around the world, yielding more monetization and data-gathering value [to] Google." Fishkin's frankly terrible writing can be hard to decipher, though his message here (which we heavily edited) is clear: Organic SEO might not attract the attention your business deserves. Is Fishkin correct? If so, how can you adapt to meet the evolving challenges of today's online marketplace? What is a Click-Through Rate? Click-Through Tate (CTR) is Google's term to define the difference between the number of people who see your ad on the SERP (search engine results page) and the number who actually click through.Yet "organic" CTR is also a useful metric for analyzing a page's performance on the SERP. Organic CTR is the difference between how many people see a result in the organic rankings and how many people actually click-through to the result. CTR is a big metric in SEO Sparta's search engine optimization protocol, especially for our local SEO clients in the Philadelphia Area.  As noted, SEO believes this type of organic CTR has declined in favor of clicks to paid ads and "no-clicks"--when a browser clicks on nothing.A higher CTR naturally means that a specific page intrigues browsers by name and/or description alone. A lower CTR may mean you're not successfully marketing a given page with what Neil Patel calls "a sizzling title or an appealing meta description."CTR viewed by itself does not tell the whole story of a web page's success. Once a browser clicks through, your content should convince him/her to stick around--and/or "convert." Read About Website Conversions here.  How Important is Organic CTR? On Search Engine Land, Andy Taylor has made a convincing case that CTRs for paid ads kinda don't matter. However, organic CTRs certainly do matter, and Fishkin is correct to sound his note of warning.It's important to remember: Fishkin does note that organic SEO is still a "powerful channel." And really, the debate about the viability of organic SEO is as old as SEO itself.A few years ago, the popular SEO writer Barry Adams claimed in a tweet that when compared to paid ads organic SEO delivers more traffic, more engagement, and more conversions for "every website [he's] ever looked at." In response to Adam's tweet, Andy Taylor noted that "Google has been steadily making changes that directly harm organic search and help to keep paid search click growth strong."Fishkin's analysis certainly confirms Taylor's point. But is Adams entirely wrong? Not necessarily. The true picture is much more nuanced.For many brands a combination of different online marketing techniques, including both organic SEO and paid search, is the best approach. Yes, cost is a huge factor--especially for smaller local brands. So organic SEO will still play a major role in defining the success or failure of many online businesses. We have seen SEO continue to be a viable tool for our local clients. For these businesses, SEO Sparta's head SEO man, Alex Stepman, believes the key to success is a diversified approach that utilizes as many low-cost options as possible, including social media marketing, free Google options like Google My Business, and of course, organic SEO.In a post extolling the value of Google Posts for Google My Business accounts (despite Google's seeming diminishment of the tool), Adam Dorfman offered a prescient thought:"I suggest businesses calculate the lifetime value of each customer they attract against the cost in productivity required to keep the content fresh. Is the trade-off worth it? I suspect it will be."Yes, many of the less expensive online marketing options require costs in labor and productivity but they're still the best option for smaller, enterprising businesses. Online Marketing: Your Engine to Profits To navigate the complex challenges of online marketing, you might need to hire an online marketing firm like SEO Sparta.Do not let the changing search engine algorithms compromise your sales. You need the astute wisdom of a professional who can help you answer the question honestly: What online marketing strategies are best for your business?Contact Alex Stepman of SEO Sparta today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.

0 How SEO Can Help Your Clarify Your Business Offering

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 05.22.2021

At SEO SPARTA, we believe that natural website optimization is the essential marketing strategy for any new or established website. We've spent a great deal of time here explaining the benefits of a thoughtful organic website optimization campaign. Natural website optimization can increase your website's exposure and attract new customers to your product or service. In addition, your new website can appear on the first page of search engine results worldwide with a thoughtful SEO campaign. Quite simply: if you're a website owner, the benefits of SEO are immeasurable. For more about the benefits of SEO, please watch this short video. It explains how does SEO works. Today, however, we will talk about one benefit of SEO that is often overlooked. By participating in a thoughtful natural website optimization campaign, a website owner must clarify his/her business offering to his/herself. The reason this benefit is important is simple: most website owners do not specialize in marketing and do not understand how to sell their product appropriately! Believe it or not, marketing is a talent that is not available to everyone, especially those specializing in particular businesses. For example: If you are a tailor, you likely have a lot of experience cutting, sewing, and re-sizing clothes for appreciative clients. However, the more experience you have as a tailor, the less experience you have in other pursuits. Perhaps you apprenticed as a youth. Perhaps you spent a few years in Milan working for a famous fashion boutique. Whatever the case, if you are the best, then you've likely spent many hours learning and practicing! Digital marketing also must be learned. If you're building a website, however, then you must begin to learn about marketing. An experienced SEO professional can help you understand the process of SEO, but you must first help your SEO professional understand precisely what you do. You can clarify your offering first by performing keyword research. Imagine you are an Internet user searching for your product or service. What keywords would you use to search for your product or service? Think precisely about the exact keywords that best describe your product or service. For example, if you are an SEO company in Bucks County, PA, perhaps you might simply choose the following keywords: "SEO agency Bucks County, PA." But that cannot be your only option. You must think of many possibilities! The question is simple: how do you want people to find you? By answering this question, you can help your SEO professional perform a truly effective natural website optimization campaign. Additionally, this is a simple yet profound marketing exercise, one that some people might pay a hefty price to attain.