Inbound Marketing and SEO: What’s the Relationship?

The worst part about being an SEO professional is the negative connotation that can come along with the label. The  multitude of “undesirables” in the industry have burned so many website owners over the years, that it’s led many white-hat agencies to shift from identifying themselves as SEOs.  These agencies (often hastily, and without a shift in strategy) rebrand themselves “inbound marketers.”  But SEO and inbound marketing are not the same. Anyone who engages in only SEO but ignores other marketing strategies is not truly an inbound marketer.

And this shift has led to confusion among those seeking SEO and inbound marketing services. Many times, website owners think that because they engage in optimization, that they can cross “inbound marekting” off of their digital to do lists. And others hire inbound marketing agencies, assuming that optimization will be part of the strategy, only to find out six months later that there was no optimization taking place at all.

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Search Experience Optimization: The New Definition Of SEO?

SEO used to be an industry of guarantees. With a little bit of link building and keyword manipulation, websites could instantly capture strong rankings. But the sun has long set on that strategy. Now, in order to be an effective SEO professional, you must be an effective marketer.  In the old days, when the system was very easy to game, it worked out well for everyone. Searchers had low expectations. And websites willing to put in the work raked in the profits. Now, users have high expectations. They want quick, high-quality results that match their precise need at the time of their query. This evolution has shifted the foundations of SEO and changed the way webmasters approach optimization. To reflect this shift in expectation and experience, could the new definition of SEO be “Search Experience Optimization?”

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SEO Red Flags: 8 Questions To Ask A Prospective SEO Company

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?

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2013 Google Algorithm Updates: A Walk Down Memory Lane

Well, here we are, wrapping up another year full of Google algorithm updates. This year has been full of ups and downs. Google’s 2013 changes have provided us with new challenges and caused us all to adjust our expectations. It might be a little early to do a retrospective of this year’s changes, but we’re assuming any future adjustments before the clock strikes 2014 won’t be nearly as momentous as the ones we’ve already experienced. Here’s hoping, anyway.

So in case you’ve somehow missed them, or if you just want to walk with us down memory lane, let’s take a look back at the year Google turned 15.

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How To Google-Proof Your Website for 2014

The world of SEO changes on a dime. Like the old saying goes, sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. If you’ve been the bug these last six weeks, or even over the last year or so, you might be ready to throw in the towel and drop your entire SEO strategy. But even if you’ve gotten dinged, there are things you can do to help Google-proof your site and avoid any future penalties or drops in rankings in 2014.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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