SEO Archives | Social Squids

16 ways to help search engines find your website

April 4, 2019April 4, 2019Holli Friedland

Google, Bing and other search engines use a variety of ways to rank websites. Knowing some of these methods, can help you ensure your website rises in the ranks and doesn’t remain stagnant or fall.

1. Word count

While lesser amounts are acceptable, 300 words or more is recommended on each page. You can boost the search engine optimization (SEO) by other methods, but 300 words is the sweet spot.

2. Original content

Use your own original words. Do not plagiarize! Plagiarizing has a negative effect on your ranking. You can quote another site or person, but be sure to credit them.

3. Site design

Simple, clean designs rank better than complicated and confusing sites. A site map can help people navigate if you have a lot of pages. Choose fonts that are easy to read without a busy background.

4. Keywords

Keywords are words or phrases that people might use when searching for your product or services. For example, a restaurant might use the words “Baltimore restaurant” or “Chinese food.” Don’t overdo it. In the past people were encouraged to overuse keywords which made reading a website horrible. Sometimes sentences didn’t make any sense because the keywords were used repeatedly. That is called keyword stuffing and it now counts against you by search engines.

5. Citations

A citation is a mention on another website, not necessarily a link to your page, but a mention with your business name, address, phone number or other pertinent information.

6. Backlinks

A backlink is when another site links back to your site. A few years back, it didn’t matter what websites linked back to you, it was all good. Search engines are more savvy now and backlinks that make sense are a plus.

7. Internal links

Linking to pages within your site is also encouraged. If you mention an older blog in your current blog, link back to the older one.

8. Time

The more time someone spends viewing your site, the better. Those internal links can help encourage people to spend more time with your website.

9. External links

Outgoing links are good too. If you mention a product you like in a blog, a link to where you can purchase that product is nice for the reader. Be sure that when you create an external link, it opens in a new window or tab so that the viewer still has your site open and they don’t lose their place when looking at the other page.

10. Keywords near links

Try to place keywords next to your outbound links. Don’t do it randomly. It needs to be a logical placement.

11. Working links

All of your links must work. Spend a few minutes every week or two and check the links on your site. Non-working links have a negative effect.

12. Page name

Use a keyword or phrase in the name of your page.

13. Location

More people use mobile devices than desktop computers these days. Your proximity to the person doing the search has become important. Make sure your location, at least the city if you don’t use an actual address, is listed in your keywords and on your pages.

14. Mobile ready

It is amazing how many businesses have sites that do not work correctly on a mobile device. Having a mobile ready site is essential to having your site indexed at all. When choosing a template for your website, be sure it’s mobile ready. Check it and make sure all menus work on cell phones and tablets.

15. Reviews

The more reviews you have, the better! Hopefully the reviews are good for other reasons, but for SEO it doesn’t matter. Reviews are a type of citation (#5 on the list).

16. Spread the word

Link your page to your social sites. If you have a guest blogger, ask them to promote it on their social media pages too. The more people who share your info, the more potential for new people to see it.

Bonus Tip: Your email signature

Put your website in your email signature. No one is going to click on your link if you don’t provide it.

If this list is making your head hurt, Social Squids is here to help.

If a website is there and no one looks at it…

April 24, 2018April 25, 2018Holli Friedland

… does it really exist?

Why don’t more people see my website?

You listen to everyone’s advice and you got a website, but no one is visiting. Why does it matter whether or not you have a site or not?

The truth is that you just never know when a prospect may look to see exactly what is on your website and what you do. Almost every business, big or small, has a website. It’s just something you need to do as part of your marketing in today’s world.

The mistake many people make is they think a stagnant website is enough. It’s not.

One of the things the search engines, like Google and bing, look for is activity on those pages and sites. The more active you are, the better.

Websites are ranked by a lot of factors, but one of them is activity – new pages and/or posts and the updating of existing pages and/or posts. If you have a blog and never put anything on it, that’s a negative. If you post regularly it’s a plus.

SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a method by which you can make changes on your website to have the search engines look more favorably at it. How do people search for you? What terms do they use? For example, in my case it is social media, Baltimore, Maryland, Social Squids, graphic design, writing, websites, etc. Those terms are called keywords.

Search engines frequently change their algorithms in order to fight against people trying to cheat the system. The algorithms are getting smarter so people are forced to be more legitimate in how they put words on their sites. That old, tricky tactics made for some terrible writing on websites.

If you use WordPress for your website, there is a handy plugin called Yoast SEO. It works really well by giving you pointers on how to add or subtract things to your site in order to make the SEO better and thereby help your search engine ranking. It focuses on keywords, outbound links, images and other components that will improve the flow and look of your website while helping the search engines find you and send people your way. Yoast uses a red, amber, green light system like traffic lights. The idea is to get all of the pages on your site to be green in the SEO category. There is also a “readability” category that gets a score.

Whether you use Yoast or other software, amping up your site for search engines is important if you want to stay competitive. Social Squids is here if you need us with help for SEO or writing for your site.

Website promotion tips

May 31, 2016November 15, 2018Holli Friedland

Entrepreneurs of all industries have websites, but many business owners have no idea how to draw attention to them. While certain marketing like SEO (search engine optimization) is best left to professionals, you can do some things on your own to help put your website on the map.

Some of these suggestions may seem like no-brainers, however business owners are not always well versed in the ways of self promotion. It doesn’t take a computer wiz to do some simple things that will significantly increase your website page views.

Website self promotion

Doing these basic tasks can help gain momentum for your web page and ultimately boost your sales.

Increased sales is what we all want.

Make sure the search engines have your site indexed. The search engine bots (automated software) regularly reach out to websites, but adding them yourself lets you know for sure Google and Bing know about you.
Post new blogs, pages or updates to your personal social media pages. Even if you have someone who posts for you, add some yourself.
Email your friends about your website.
Set up a Yelp page for your business and encourage your best clients to post on it. Your clients can also post reviews on your Facebook business page.
Add link to your site in the signature of your email.
Make sure your site and social media pages are on your business card, brochure and any other printed materials. This may seem obvious, but people who do not live and breathe digital technology often forget to include their website on marketing materials.
On your personal Facebook page, add your website in the settings section.
Write an article about your business for someone else’s website. Guest blogging gives your business a new audience.
Participate in online forums (using your web address in your signature). This also helps lend credibility and shows you are an expert in your field.
Yahoo has a section where people answer questions. You get points when people like your answers. Become a well-known expert in your field by answering questions in the topic that best relates to your business (add your website under your name in your credentials).
Create a magnet for your vehicle with the website in large letters.
Many local businesses have neighborhood bulletin boards, add your card or flyer (with website on it).
Bonus tip: Many blogs and sites recommend creating controversy on your social media pages to bring attention to yourself and your website. I disagree. Yes, people take notice, but you also take the risk of alienating people who are fans now. Upbeat posts are best.

Go through the list and do the things you feel comfortable doing. If you have questions or need help, please contact Social Squids. We can assist with marketing, printed materials, websites and social media.

SEO insights

April 20, 2016November 15, 2018Holli Friedland

SEO (search engine optimization) remains a mystery to many entrepreneurs and website owners. In truth, it’s rather simple. Search engine optimization is a way to help Google, Bing Yahoo and others find and classify your website.

By improving your SEO, your website can rise in the rankings. Without paying attention to it, your site may sink like a rock.

Using social media

You can help your SEO by adding a link to your site in your social media posts, e-zines, emails and newsletters. Make your social media content searchable by using hashtags and keywords in your posts.

Add your location and/or a map on your social media pages to let people know where you are. This is especially important for companies that have a local target audience.

SEO on your website

Make use of an SEO plugin for wordpress sites, or the the SEO feature on your web builder. Follow the guidelines the software suggests and your site will start to make positive moves.

Be sure to use your location in the keywords. Google and other search engines are used more by mobile devices than desktop computers now. Having your location will make you show up in the search when someone is nearby.

Make your blogs at least 300 words. It might sound like a lot, but search engines don’t bother much with pages that have little content. If the blog is really long, cut it in half and make it either two blogs or continue it on another page. If someone is interested in reading more, they will click to see the next page.

Use google analytics or some other tracking software to see where your page visitors originate. Do they come from your emailed newsletter? Social media? Searches? Or did they just type in the name when you gave someone your card? Once you know this information, you can make adjustments.

Blogs

Adding subheadings for your blog and pages is good for SEO.

Keyword density should be 5-7% for your page to be optimal. A construction company’s page might have “construction” or “building” as a keyword. Using a keyword in the first sentence and a few times on the page will make search engines happy.

Links, links and more links!

Get backlinks from relevant sites. For example, for your construction company, get your suppliers or clients to link back to your site. Search engines love backlinks.

Link within your site in your blogs and pages. If you mention a topic covered on a previous blog, link to it. If you want people to get in touch for more information, add a link to your contact page.

Link to other websites. If you are talking about making donations to a charity, provide a link.

Images

Use alt tags for your images. If you use wordpress, go to the media library, click on an image and you can see where to add this tag. People looking at your website can’t see the alt tag, but it is in the code. If you have a photo on your site called Img_2005.jpg, search engines have no idea if that image even relates to your site. Adding an alt tag that says, “Baltimore area construction,” is more descriptive and helps SEO.

You can change the name of the image. Using Img_2005.jpg is not as good as new_construction.jpg. Add a description of your photo that is seen by the search engines and a caption that is visible on the site. You can do all of those things, but use different wording in each place.

Looking for a good SEO plugin for your WordPress site? I recommend Yoast SEO. If this has gone completely over your head or beyond your abilities, you can contact me for additional information or a consultation.

Create content that gets attention

August 12, 2013April 24, 2018Holli Friedland

One way to attract people to your business is to create great content on your social media sites. Whether it is a silly meme or a serious article, you need to do things that bring awareness to your brand. The difficulty lies in making statements that get you noticed by your target audience.

Is it funny? People love looking at funny pictures and anecdotes. There is plenty of funny material out there, just make sure that you use something that is not copyright protected. There is nothing funny about taking someone else’s work and using it as your own. Silly situations that are highly unlikely or even impossible, make the viewer smile, which helps them to like you.

Inspire your target market. Sometimes the post can be a statement or blog that gives your audience something to ponder. Inspirational quotes are popular ways to get attention. Maybe the quote hits home with someone you know and want as a client.

Does your status update have the wow factor? If you post information that some people find unbelievable, but yet is true, you can attract a lot of attention. People, some of whom are potential clients, like to make comments on and forward posts that contain impressive information.

Other posts pull at your heartstrings. Sad puppies than need homes, veterans who are out of work or homeless people are issues that bring up emotions in most people. Those deep feelings bring attention to your post.

If your comments are not politically correct, you may end up with the wrong kind of attention. You want to make people smile or think, not incite a riot. Stay away from religion, politics and current events that are highly polarized. You can certainly post that information on your personal pages, but you do not want to alienate any group on your business pages.

All in all, people respond to content that pertains to them. If it is interesting, funny or emotional to your friends, connections, followers or people who like you, the relationship is there. Try to correspond with your audience as often as possible, daily if you can manage it.

Great content gets great results

January 14, 2013April 24, 2018Holli Friedland

Most websites are full of words, but how good is that content? Some sites have SEO (search engine optimization) articles that, while they have all the necessary keywords, the articles either do not make sense or the keywords are over used. The articles seem wordy and walk around the subject, never actually getting to the point.

Conversely, sites with interesting, interactive or unique content will grab the attention of the reader and urge them to read more. People return to those sites over and over again.

One of the easiest ways to grab attention is to change the information on the site. Of course, that is how blogs work. Hopefully, you update your blog often to keep people coming back. Giving high value content entices people to the site.

Content does not have to be words. Everyone loves a good photo or piece of artwork. Add graphics, photos or infographics to your pages, follow up by using Instagram and Pinterest to promote them. You will see more activity on your page.

By using Google Analytics, you can see what social media works for you and what does not. Just add the code to your website and you can start using this tool free of charge. If you use Blogger for your blog, there is a built-in Blogger version of Analytics that is already in use. You can find it in the “overview” section and it is called “stats.” If you use social media, you really need to make sure it is working and if not, change what you are doing.

Eight ways to attract viewers to your blog

November 20, 2012April 24, 2018Holli Friedland

Here is a list of eight ways to raise your popularity. In the comments section, feel free to add any ideas of your own.

Post as often as possible. Make your blog entries become a permanent fixture in your readers’ lives. There is something be said for consistency.

Add links to some of the old blogs within a new blog. Invariably, you will write about a similar subject to one you wrote about in the past. Connect your older blog with your new one and you will certainly add page views.

Use images. Whenever you can, add images, videos, infographics – anything that will attract the eyes of people scanning through pages of information. The image will grab them, and great writing will keep them.

Answer all comments people post on your blog. Also, comment on other blogs. This increases your credibility.

Give timely and useful information. A blog that says nothing has no reason to be read. Relate big news items like the election, hurricanes, sports victories or other popular trending topics to your blog.

Write a great headline. Sometimes the headline is an afterthought. Make sure your headline is as engaging as the rest of the blog.

You have a sense of humor – use it! Even if you are writing about a serious topic, being clever and witty will keep people reading.

Don’t forget other social media! This probably should have been the first thing on the list. Spread your wealth of information all over the internet. Use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and all of the bookmarking sites to get as many viewers as possible.

SEO made simple

August 7, 2012April 24, 2018Holli Friedland

The first thing you need to understand is how Google, and the other search engines, rank websites. With Google specifically, they have paid advertising on top of the page and if there is a local connection, there is a map with various businesses marked with a “pin” on the right.

The paid list is just that. People pay to be in that spot. They have a PPC, or pay per click, price where businesses can be listed. Every time someone searches and then clicks on the link, the business is charge a small fee. Those little fees can add up quickly, so the businesses have a limit as to how much they will spend each month.

On the map section, things work a little differently. Google has many criteria for ranking businesses in the map section. The ideal position, of course, is to be at the top of the list. The biggest reasons for being ranked on the map include how many times the site has been visited and the location of the business — if you are not located within 50 miles of where the person is, you will not show up on the map. This is very important for mobile phone users. Citations are another big factor. They are basically reviews written by customers.

The bottom part of the search, called organic search, is where you hope you will be listed near the top (known as above the fold). In order to get in that first position, or at least on the first page, is to have a lot of words that people use in their search on your site. Keywords, or words people use to search, are crucial to your site popping when someone searches.

SEO (search engine optimization) marketing is writing good clean content for your site that has perfectly chosen keywords on the page. For example, if you searching for a dog trainer, you might search the words, “dog training” and your city name. Or, you might search, “train my dog.” Maybe you want a class, so you search “dog training classes.” Other terms include: housebreaking, destructive behavior, dog lessons, dog behaviorist, obedience, obedience training, etc. All of those phrases should be in the content of a dog trainer’s web page. The bots, the programs searching the internet and categorizing everything, are looking for those keyword terms. If you do not have keywords on your page, you are missing out on lots of business. Let’s change that!

On the dog trainer’s site, there should be some content that discusses how the training helps with housebreaking problems. Using that keyword about 4-5 times within that page is helpful. Using the terms naturally and without forcing them can be difficult.

One of my writing clients works in the field carpet cleaning. I had to use the term “carpet cleaning Michigan” in the body of the text I wrote for him. It had to be used a minimum of two times. While “carpet cleaning in Michigan” would have been easy, that was not the keyword phrase he wanted me to use. I ended up saying, “When carpet cleaning Michigan style, you…” Maybe that wasn’t the best way to use the phrase, but the client was happy and I got his keywords into the text. It was a challenge!

There are places where you can find lists of keywords for various topics. There is no punctuation in a keyword phrase, so in the example above, I could not have used the phrase, “If you are looking for carpet cleaning, Michigan has some great companies.” You would have to make it into a run-on sentence and not include the comma.

Adding an “s” to the word will make it into a different keyword as well. In the dog training example, you would want to both “dog trainer” and “dog trainers” in the text of the page.

I have even been asked to misspell words in SEO articles. They were words that are commonly misspelled and people search the misspelled words almost as often as they do the correctly spelled version.

Clear as mud, right? If you are having problems finding online keywords or lists of keywords, you can simply search for a known keyword. If you use Google, towards the bottom of the page, you will find a list of related terms.

I searched “obedience training” and this is what Google suggested:

Searches related to obedience training

obedience training for dogs

obedience training classes

petsmart obedience training

obedience training cost

obedience training tips

dog obedience training schools

german shepherd obedience training

obedience training for puppies

These keyword phrases are commonly used in searches. Therefore, they would be great for a dog trainer to use in his web content.

Do your homework and figure out what SEO keyword phrases work best for your business. Add lots of content to your site. The more information you give your customers, the better you look.