Have you ever wondered, why Google, Yahoo, and Bing choose certain sites for the top results? Have you ever wondered what the secret sauce is to get there? Great News, you are in the right place. Today I will demystify SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.
What does it take to come out on top of Google? First, let's take a look at how a search engine knows what is on our site. You the business owner begin by either creating your own website or hiring a web designer like me to assist. This page is filled with content relevant to the products and services you provide. Let's say Google, wants to rank you on their page. They need to determine if your page is relevant to what the user is searching for. It does this by using “bots.” These bots “crawl” the web page website, and look for “keywords”. It then shoots these keywords through its super brain, better known as Google’s Algorithm ranking factors, or First Page Sage.
I bet you are thinking, “That’s easy, I will just create a page on my site, and pack it full of every keyword possible and the search engines will pick it up." While this tactic, called keyword stuffing, may have worked in the past, as of 2003, Google made its first update, named Florida. They named it this because users would search for a vacation in Florida, and find themselves the unsuspecting recipient of a Viagra ad.
As of 2023 the bots are looking for factors like regular and consistent publication of engaging content, keywords in meta tags and titles, backlinks to other websites like LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube, your expertise, how long a user stays on each page in your site, if your site is deemed trustworthy if your site operates seamlessly on a mobile platform, page navigation, and internal links, page load speed, and the site security certificate or SSL. These are just the top 10 factors, Click here, if you are interested to see a more complete list.
That’s a lot to keep up with. Most people create their web pages and do not update them again until something changes in their business. However, if you want to rank on the first page of Google. It is recommended that you have a minimum of 4-7 new articles per week with keywords relating to your business. Is your content interesting? This will not only determine how long a user stays on your page but whether they come back for more on another day.
This brings me to a blog or a newsletter. The number one reason every site needs a blog or a newsletter is it increases the site's ranking on search engines. Google favors websites that put out content regularly with relevant keywords. If there is no blog, the keywords that live on the site will dwindle and fall to the end of the search results. This also allows you, the business owner to cast a wider net of keywords for your grasp by creating a content calendar that touches on a large variety of keywords. Now you hit search results organically for a number of topics.
Another reason is having a blog drastically improves your relevance and expertise level in the eyes of your visitors. This makes you appear to be the authority in your space, by looking like an authority you gain trust, which is one of the top 10 things Google is ranking you on. This obviously will encourage readership, which gives customers a good reason to opt in for emails, and increased page views. Having this email marketing list of potentially interested customers is priceless, but I have heard others say the ROI is about $1 per lead. This will lead to signed-up visitors coming back to your site, perhaps reminding them to pay or order a birthday present. Who doesn’t like repeat visitors? A blog will also turn readers into customers which increases your ROI. Blogs or newsletters have a low unsubscribe rate, which means you have a reason to appear in your customer in box, as often as you would like.
The thing I like most about blogs is it acts as a form of educational content marketing. In my opinion, this is the best kind of marketing. I like it because it builds trust helps people to get to know your business, costs less, and it converts at a high rate to paying customers, and it directs the customers right to me. The downside of educational marketing is it is the BBQ of sales tactics, low and slow works the best.
So now you have written this blog 1000 words (roughly the length of the blog you are reading), or 2 space-free pages, but what do you do with it now? My first suggestion is to add it to your domain, request comments, and have it boost your Search Engine Rankings. My next suggestion is to reuse and recycle it. Copy and paste it to your LinkedIn feed, or drip it out like a well-planned drip campaign. Perhaps the photos and captions are good for Instagram, or maybe all your keyword research doubles as hashtags on X. Maybe the topic is good for a YouTube series or Spotify podcast. All these recycled uses of the same content create backlinks to your site, and your written work, which in turn feeds that algorithm and pushes your site up in rankings. That is a lot of places to reuse 1 blog, and just think, if you were smart, you have a content calendar planned and are putting out 5 a week.
What is your investment you ask? Well, the choice is simple, all the steps needed to keep you on the top page can be done with manpower and hours. So, I turn the question back around; What is your time worth?
If you are interested in learning more about blogs or SEO please feel free to email me and we can set up a free consultation. We will discuss the needs and goals for your business, and create a customized content calendar with keywords researched to maximize the effectiveness of your campaign and drive your site right to the top of Google.
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