SEO is an ever-changing game. Only a year ago, Google’s
search results looked drastically different. Before, a search would greet you
with a list of normal websites. Now when you search, you’ll get the most recent
news, maps, reviews, Google places, videos, social cues, and more.
If you’re relying on these search results to get your
business out there, you need to use new techniques. Here are some things to
consider from Mashable’s “6 Best Practices for Modern SEO”.
Local SEO
Many things you search for today will have related local
businesses and organizations. These places will show up in Google searches, and
people are looking at them. An eye-tracking study proves this.
So what should you keep in mind if you want to grab that
spot on Google Places? First of all, Consistency is important. Make sure your
business information is presented the same exact way in every place online. If
you write your phone number (555) 555-5555 on your website, don’t write it
555.555.5555 somewhere else.
Next, remember your Google Places pages needs to be
optimized just as your website does. Direct your Places page to a city-specific
landing page if possible and include matching categories.
Finally, the more (positive) reviews, the better! Even
though Google only shows Google reviews, having reviews on sites like Yelp or
Superpages will boost your ranking.
Social Cues
Social cues heavily influence search results. You need to
have a social side to your business to compete in the online market. Tweets,
Facebook likes, and other social bookmarks allow Google to provide personalized
search results for each individual based on what they like.
People-friendly
Keywords
People are making searches, not robots. Make sure to use
keywords and content that have the answers people are looking for. Try not to
think of a keyword as just another bit of data, but think of what the person
behind the screen might be searching for.
Great Content
Some companies may be tempted to generate spam or paid links
to get traffic. Google will recognize these for what they are right away. The
best long-term SEO strategy is always to keep the content on your sites
relevant, useful, and fresh.
Back-end Work
Rich snippets allow you to let Google know what information
to include along with your search results. This could be things like a short
description, recipe cooking time, items for sale, reviews, etc. With that,
people get more information to base their click off of.
Google, Yahoo, and Bing have also built Schema.org to makes it easier for search engines to know what your site it about, so they
can index it correctly.
Data
It’s critical to see the results you’re getting. Keyword
ranking is useful, but with Google’s private searching, it’s impossible to get
a spot-on picture. Key performance indicators (or KPIs) such as how many
landing pages and keywords bringing users to your site you have, can provide a
more accurate description of your site’s success. Google Analytics provides all this information for you.
Here at Itzetta, we offer four different SEO packages to meet your company’s needs. We see how SEO standards change, and keep up to
date on those changes so we can provide you with the best services possible.
Thanks again to Mashable for their post on this subject.
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