Why You Should Hire An SEO Company For Your Website
Why Should You Hire An SEO Company For Your Website?
Most business owners know at least some of what is involved in Search Engine Optimization for their company website, but few know enough to build and maintain a site that is fully compliant with all of the things search engines (primarily Google) want to see in order to give a website the best possible Search Engine Result Page (SERP) ranking. There is a complex set of factors called ranking signals, which can cause Google to penalize or boost your site’s ranking, and those factors change from time to time. Overall, search engines want to direct their users to safe and functional websites with content that has value to them, because that’s who their advertisers are paying to reach. SEO practices go well beyond adding keywords to your content, and even with a simple technique like using keywords, it’s easy to get carried away and gets your site penalized for appearing “spammy” to the search engines.
Streamlined Design – One common penalty business websites suffer comes from slow pages loads. Sometimes, this happens when a site has been updated for too long and it has junk code fragments causing delays and legacy plug-ins competing for bandwidth. Sometimes, it’s because there are a lot of graphics all trying to load at once. There are a lot of possible reasons for slow page loads, but whatever the cause, in order to improve your site’s SERP rankings, you need to have your site’s performance streamlined for fastest possible page loading.
- SSL Implementation – Having a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate for your business website is important, because Google now uses SSL as a ranking signal, meaning that sites without SSL get penalized in the SERPs. In addition, if your site has SSL, Google will display a padlock icon next to your URL in the Chrome browser, and if it doesn’t have SSL, users will see an exclamation point next to your URL, implying that they should think twice about navigating to your site. Unfortunately, when you implement SSL on an existing site, there are plenty of ways to go wrong, and Google will also penalize your site for incorrect implementation. Though there are a lot of studies using various criteria, most agree that somewhere around 90 percent of business sites with SSL are missing some critical factor of implementation, and most of those have to do with re-directs from the unsecured (old version) site to the secured one.
- Original, Optimized Content – Websites with fresh content are rewarded in Google SERPs. Websites with stale content or content that triggers their spam alert, or content that is published elsewhere on the web all get penalized in SERPs. Keeping a continual stream of new content on your site is important, having that content be fully original is critical, and producing quality content that readers find useful and not spammy helps build your SERP ranking and your reputation as an authoritative source.
Invest In SEO Success
Working with an SEO company like Design & Promote, Chicago companies can ensure that they’re getting the best possible return on their investment for a business website. Contact us to request a free consultation and website audit, and learn more about how Design & Promote can help your website achieve top SERP rankings for the searches most relevant to your business.
Four Of The Top SEO Trends To Watch For In 2017
One of the most common difficulties in any industry is anticipating industry trends for the coming year. As the year 2017 approaches, we have spent a lot of time researching coming trends in search engine optimization in order to be on the forefront of any changes coming down the pipeline.
In the coming year, some of the most significant changes we will see in SEO are focused on user experience.
- Scannable Content
Relevant content is a phrase you hear repeatedly in SEO blogs. Providing relevant content means you are not stuffing your content full of SEO friendly phrases, but are actually providing content that your customers and prospects want to read. While this will continue to be an important tactic in SEO, creating scannable content is going to become critical.
While “TL/DR” is always going to be the case for some topics and for some readers, if you can convince your readers the content is worth reading after a quick scan, you’ll find not only are you getting additional hits on your page, but the amount of time readers are spending on the page will increase significantly.
- Mobile Friendly Content
Utilizing Accelerated Mobile Pages are imperative to creating SEO friendly web pages. As the use of mobile technology for web browsing rapidly replaces lap and desktops, creating content that loads quickly and can be read on a mobile device is the only way to stay at the top of the mobile search game.
Already, we are seeing search engines indicating AMPs for users in the search results, but it is only a matter of time before we see AMPs become the preferred sites for higher ranking on the mobile SERPs.
- Voice-Powered Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, and everyone is getting on board. “Digital assistants” are rapidly growing to be more sophisticated and artificial intelligence is designed to select the “best answer” based on a number of characteristics. Siri, Google Now, Alexa, Soundhound, Cortana, and Ozlo are just a few of the AI based, voice-powered virtual assistants already available to consumers, and more are coming to the market this year. Even Facebook is developing its own AI called “M” that will be a text-based assistant within their popular messenger app.
So what does this mean for SEO? When you ask Alexa a question, she will reply with, “According to [Source].” Becoming that source is the next big thing for SEO. To be referenced here as the answer is the key to becoming a major player in artificial intelligence based search.
- App Favoritism In Search Results
Could apps replace web pages? Possibly. In the coming year, we may see a move towards heavier reliance on apps and a favoritism in the major search engine results towards mobile apps that offer streaming without requiring users to download. This change could affect how users choose to view content online and that may result in a complete change in SEO as we know it.
Design & Promote Keeps Your Naperville Business’s SEO Tactics Current
Need help getting your business on the forefront of changes in the SEO world? Design & Promote is a web design and SEO company that works to ensure your business stands out amongst the rest.
Contact us at 630.995.7109 to discuss your SEO strategy for 2017.
How A Search Engine Optimization Company Can Improve Your Online Presence
Having an active online presence is hands-down the fastest way to get your business exposed to a new customer base. From a potential customer’s point of view, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to find information on a local business and the most you can find when searching Google or Facebook are a handful of “check-ins” and a pin on a map.
Working with a search engine optimization company whose entire focus will be to manage your online presence so that your business reaches the most potential customers, is one simple way to see a major surge in new customer outreach.
Why An Online Presence Is Important For Your Business
Regardless of the size of your business or the product or service you are offering, having an active online presence is important. If your website shows outdated information or your social media profiles haven’t been updated in months, it can lead potential new customers to believe your business is also not active or thriving.
Of course, having the initial online content is important, but maintaining that online presence and providing healthy, organic, and fresh online content regularly is equally as important to the continued growth of your business.
However, this can take a big time investment, and when you’re also busy running a business, investing in professional SEO services is almost always a worthwhile investment. They can put in the time generating the content that will help your business maintain an active presence, while you focus on providing your best service or product.
Providing Your Customers Accessible Online Content
While having up to date online content is important, working with a company specializing in search engine optimization is more effective than simply posting regular updates or blog posts on your feed. An SEO company can not only help you plan and generate relevant content, but more importantly, help you get that content in front of intended audience.
The final step of SEO is to then turn that online content into tangible results by connecting your business with the people in your area looking for the service or product you provide.
Sound simple? That’s because it is! But when done correctly, it is also targeted, open-ended, and time consuming. For this reason, it’s smart to partner with a search engine optimization company to manage the fluid nature of the work.
Search Engine Optimization – Not Just For New Customers
It is also important to realize that generating relevant, current content for your online presence isn’t only important for reaching new customers. Your existing customers also want to feel connected and engaged with your business, and that includes being connected and engaged with you online.
Having a healthy online presence not only helps get the word out to your existing customer base about any new products, services, promotions or upcoming events, but also serves as a reminder to your customers that you are an active part of their community – in person, online, or both.
Seeing relevant online content from you acts as a reminder of the value your business provides to them, and generating that content and getting it to those customers is a major focus of an SEO strategy.
Design & Promote, A Search Engine Optimization Company For Chicago Area Businesses
A targeted SEO strategy will successfully get your business connected with the potential customers in your area who are in need of the services or products you provide. Working with a search engine optimization company to develop and maintain a relevant online presence will get your business information in front of the people who are looking for it.
If your Chicago area business is looking for help to manage your online presence, contact Design & Promote at 630.995.7109. We work to get your business connected with your specific customer base.
How Google Featured Snippets Improves Your SEO
In 2014, Google rolled out its “featured snippet” feature, providing searchers with answers to common questions right on the SERP. Also called a “direct answer” or “rich answer,” the snippet box also contains a link to the source website. And while Wikipedia and related sites DO tend to command a large corner of the snippets market, many other brands are surprised to find their content there as well.
For brands that make the cut, they have enjoyed an increase in website traffic and rankings and improved SEO. Why? Because if Google sees your content as relevant enough to feature, then users are more likely to trust the authority of it as well, and organic results are perceived as more trustworthy than ads.
So just how to you get your content featured in a direct answer?
Answer Common Questions With Relevant, Useful Content
While you should always be writing relevant and useful content, if you want to be considered for a featured snippet, you need to do some planning.
First, conduct longtail keyword research to find some common search phrases in your industry. Likely, you will naturally uncover some common questions that you are qualified to answer. For example, if you’re a salon that specializes in extensions, you could provide a step-by-step guide answering “How to care for hair extensions at home?” Or, you could provide a definition to the question, “What is Remy hair?”
“How to,” “What is,” and “Why do” questions are popular queries for returning a featured snippet, and if you have the best answer, then you get the coveted spot.
Write The Best Answer
Create a piece of content for your website where you answer the question you selected. You can also answer related questions within the topic that you anticipate users having, adding more value to your content and preventing searchers from abandoning your site and searching for related questions.
The key to Google picking your content for a direct answer is not only in the relevance and usefulness, but in the language itself. The definition or instructions should be simple, clear and direct. Perform a few test queries and notice the size of the snippet box. Somewhere in your content, you need a summary of the “answer” that physically fits in that box and that provides the most concise and helpful information.
Share Your Content
Share, share, share! On your social sites, in your email marketing, and make it easy to find on your site’s navigation and accessible to Google bots. Remember that just as with all SEO, social currency has a significant impact on your rankings and how Google perceives your site’s authority and the relevance of your content.
Featured Snippets In Voice Searches
When a user conducts a voice search on their mobile device, Google will often read the direct answer, beginning the dialogue with “According to…” When a searcher hears your name, not only do you get a free branding bonus, but the user instantly assumes you’re a credible source since Google selected yours as the best answer to their question.
Design & Promote Can Help Your Chicago Business Boost Its SEO With Featured Snippets
While there’s no magic bullet for creating content that will be selected for a featured snippet, SEO best practices that include creating useful, relevant content, sharing it, and organically boosting your rankings, all serve to improve your site’s authority and make Google more likely to pick your content for a direct answer.
Design and Promote offers comprehensive SEO services to Chicago area businesses. Contact us at 630.995.7109 to learn how we can help improve your brand’s online presence.
Building SEO Websites That Grab Local Customers And Leads
As you’re designing or re-designing your business website, one critical question to ask is what, exactly, you need that site to do for you. How will it support your particular ways of doing business? If your business is conducted entirely online, you’ll employ search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) tactics to build web traffic and engagement, and generate leads without considering the location of those prospects. If your business requires attracting customers to a physical location, your SEO and SEM strategy needs to include some more precisely targeted techniques to grab the attention of local customers.
Understanding How Customers Use The Web To Find Local Businesses
Search engine users’ expectations have changed significantly as SERP algorithms have become more sophisticated, and as users become more reliant on smart phones to give them instant access to information relevant to their current location. Google conducted a study of consumers’ local search behaviors, and the results provide insights that local business should be making full use of, both in building their websites, and in planning advertising expenditures.
- 80 Percent Search For Local Information – Among the users in Google’s study, 4 out of 5 used Google to search for local businesses, using search terms like “near me,” using a city name, or by ZIP code. Every page on your website should include your address, directions, phone, and hours.
- Same-Day Visits And Sales – Half of smartphone users and a third of computer and tablet users who search for a local business visit a store from their search results that same day. It’s critical that your website SEO includes not only your address but also keywords that point to your regional location: City or town, and district, neighborhood, or suburb, if applicable.
- Cater To Smartphone Users – Smartphone users can be a valuable pool of customers, but their behaviors are quite specific, and websites that don’t cater to them lose out. Google and other search engines penalize websites that are not fully mobile-responsive, and which do not load promptly. Mobile users further penalize websites that don’t load quickly by abandoning their attempt to access the sites: About 20 percent will abandon their attempt after 5 seconds of less of wait time, and additional 30 percent will abandon a site if the page hasn’t loaded in 10 seconds. Be certain that your site features optimized display for mobile browsers, and streamlined page-load protocols.
- Digital Ads – Digital advertising using services like Facebook Ads and Google AdWords can be extremely effective means to getting more local customers, if you use them to best advantage. Before paying for digital ads, you need a website that is fine-tuned to grab customers by the hand on the landing page and walk them into a carefully crafted sales funnel. There should be lead magnets like bonus content, to help you generate local leads, and, of course, every page should include buttons to help customers find and call you easily. Once you’ve got a solid support system built into your site, using digital advertising tools like buyer demographics, radius bidding and location bid adjustment can help you get the best return on your ad investment by serving your ads to the most likely buyers.
SEO Website Design & Marketing For Local Business And Long Reach
Whether your business is looking for local customers in Naperville, regional customers around Chicago, or a broad-reaching website for nation-wide and international sales, Design and Promote can help. With everything from branding and website design to custom SEO and SEM campaign-planning services, our consultants can help your business make more effective use of the tools you already have. We’ll work with you to fine-tune your website, social media presence, and digital ad campaigns, to ensure that you’re getting the highest possible return on those investments. Request a complimentary website audit, and we’ll prepare a report showing areas where your website could be working harder to achieve your goals.
High rankings in the search engines will make any website owner proud. As a leading SEO company in Chicago, we know firsthand the many benefits and advantages offered by a search engine optimization campaign. We also know the limitations on SEO. Work an SEO strategy just right and businesses of every size and scope, even a startup, can stand out from the online competition. However, there might be a time where an SEO professional tells you that SEO is NOT the solution.
Design & Promote: Working With a Leading Chicago SEO Firm
Once our clients understand SEO, they often collaborate with us on ways to effectively include this method into their current web strategy. While SEO in Chicago is one of our core services, we don’t always recommend moving forward with a search engine optimization plan. Our reluctance to work with a client on SEO may initially come to a surprise. But we don’t shut the door on SEO without explaining why. We will sit down with our partners to discuss why, or why not, they should consider a specific marketing approach.
Not sure if you should team up with our Chicago SEO firm? Here are some of the most common reasons why SEO in Chicago may not make sense for your organization:
Industry Saturation (A.K.A. Too Much Competition): Type in a few common industry keywords; how many results return from your search? If you find yourself weeding through an endless list of competitors, a general SEO campaign may not prove enough to help you stand out from the opposition. At Design & Promote, we suggest pinpointing a few distinctive specialties to really separate your company from everyone else operating in your industry.
New Product Provider: Maybe too much competition isn’t the issue; perhaps you’re a business bringing a new product/service to market with no current competitors. Emerging product lines often struggle with a SEO strategy because customers simply don’t know how to search for your company. The team at our Chicago SEO company can help you create a plan that showcases your business in various search results based on solving problems for your consumer sect, rather than relying just on industry keywords.
Wanting Complete Site Control: As a business owner, it’s understandable to want some control over your website. However, an effective SEO plan often means strategically reworking your current content. If you are ready to give up some of your creative control, this type of marketing may not be right for you.
Not Ready To Commit To The Process: A plan for SEO in Chicago can yield impressive results; however, achieving sustainable marketing momentum requires time and patience. If you’re looking for a quick fix, this strategy probably isn’t the right option for you.
Keeping The ROI Bar Too High: Finally, many business owners come into the SEO process wanting maximum results, without having the appropriate type of budget to achieve it. Our team can work with you to ensure you have reasonable expectations on results. We can partner with you to take management steps forward to build sustainable momentum for long-term ROI.
Rest assured, if it turns out that SEO is not the right solution for you, it’s important to work with an agency who gives you some other options. There are other things you can do to craft your best online presence, i.e. redesigning your website or pumping up your social media marketing. It’s important to discuss your options with a search engine optimization professional.
Want to get in touch with a Chicago SEO firm? Contact the team at Design & Promote today!
