It can be difficult for the average website owner to know what to look for in an SEO company. And unfortunately, there are thousands of companies online willing to take your money without providing you any real SEO benefit whatsoever. And in many cases, these companies can end up getting your site banned from search engines. So how do you know what to ask prospective companies before you sign a contract?
seo basics
Is Video Optimization Part of Your SEO Strategy?
A successful SEO campaign has to be diverse in order to be successful. As “SEO” is becoming more and more synonymous with “content marketing,” many businesses are slowly beginning to catch on. But they are typically putting out text-based content like e-books and white papers. There is nothing wrong with these forms of content marketing, but if you scan the websites and blogs of your industry, you’ll probably find the same information rehashed over and over again. In a saturated marketplace, you have to come up with new ways to capture attention.
One of the most effective ways to differentiate yourself is through video optimization. Agencies have responded to calls to diversify by pushing image marketing with infographics and other types of pictures. Video optimization, despite tons of research on its effectiveness, isn’t usually in someone’s bag of marketing tricks. And that’s understandable. Words and pictures are far more economical to create. Video takes time, energy, and money. But adopting a solid video optimization strategy now can put you leaps and bounds ahead of your competitors.
Mapping Keywords to Your Website: A Quick Guide For Beginners
When you’re trying to manage SEO yourself, figuring out how to map keywords to your web pages can be a bit of a chore. This is especially true if you’ve recently decided to overhaul your target keywords, or if you’ve only just begun paying attention to keywords. Once you’ve figured out your main targets, mapping keywords is important to give your website a sense of structure and purpose, in addition to helping you rank in search engines.
Are Multiple Domain Names a Good SEO Strategy?
Multiple domain names as an SEO strategy has always gotten mixed reviews. At one time, it was a decent plan of attack. Buy up several domain names that match up to the services of your business. A typical domain portfolio for Vandelay House Painting in Pittsburgh might have been: vandelaypainting.com, pittsburghhousepainers.com, pittsburghpainting.com, pghpaitningcontractor.com. Seems to make sense, right? These guys are targeting some of their keywords in their domain names, which would theoretically allow them to pick up lots of traffic. And for a time, tactic could yield good results.
This strategy is still relatively prevalent, especially among local companies like our Vandelay Painting. But is it wise?
Shady SEO Techniques Sure To Get You Banned From Google (And How To Avoid Them)
SEO is a constantly changing landscape. A technique that was solid for building rankings one day can get you banned the next. But most shady SEO techniques that will get you banned fall under the old “black hat” category, meaning they were strategies that were designed to trick search engines in order to boost rankings. They were (and still are) typically employed by agencies who were only interested in collecting big fees for fast results. These agencies take advantage of the fact that the average person doesn’t know much about search marketing and their goal is to fill their own purse, not to create a solid SEO campaign that will yield long-term results.
The first step to understanding whether or not your site is in danger is to learn what these shady SEO techniques are so that you can avoid them at all costs.
SEO Basics for YouTube Videos
People are often surprised to learn that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. We typically think of it as a place to watch cats doing adorable things or people doing incredibly stupid things, but a majority of users are searching this video site for useful information. There is an entire segment of internet users who prefer to consume information through video rather than through text. For that reason, the videos you post should be optimized for search.
Is Keyword Obsession Ruining Your SEO Strategy?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years, you probably know that the foundation of any Search Engine Optimization plan involves choosing the right keywords. Keywords are critical to an internet marketing strategy, it’s true. But there is a difference between being mindful of keywords and becoming keyword obsessed. Keyword rankings can help you track your SEO performance, but if you fail to venture out beyond that, your entire campaign will likely suffer.
How Does Internet Marketing Work?
So just how does internet marketing work after all? All this talk about links and SEO and content strategy, it can be very confusing! Well help is here. This article explores the basics of how internet marketing works. It provides a 30,000 foot aerial view of the process so you can decide if it’s the right choice for you.
