Episodios
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As a small business owner, we all understand the plight of too much to do, not enough hours in a day and how we can cover more ground in less time. So enter AI. As alluring as it is and as helpful as it can be, when it comes to a website design and SEO, it can be toxic to your sites overall health if its not leveraged properly. So, before you let an AI tool write your next blog post or launch your entire website, let’s take a moment to pause and ask: Is this actually helping your business—or hurting it?
I had the opporutnity to break it all down for business owenrs, explaining how AI can be a powerful ally in your digital marketing strategy—if you know how to use it wisely.
How to Use AI the Right Way in Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we approach digital marketing, but for many small business owners, it’s a confusing and often overwhelming space. With countless tools and conflicting advice, it’s easy to fall into traps that could actually harm your online presence rather than help it.
In the attached video, Beth Guide of Vertical Web offers some much-needed clarity. She provides small business owners with practical, experience-based strategies to integrate AI into their marketing efforts without losing authenticity, search visibility, or customer trust.
Here’s what you need to know about using AI effectively and ethically in your digital marketing strategy.
The Big Misunderstanding: Google and AI Content
One of the first misconceptions Beth addresses is that AI-generated content is a shortcut to better SEO. It’s not.
In fact, Google does not favor AI-written content—especially if it lacks originality. AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude scrape and summarize existing content across the internet. When you use these tools to create blog posts without adding your own voice or ideas, you’re essentially recycling what’s already out there. Google sees this as “thin content” that adds no value to users.
“Google wants content that makes the internet a better place,” Beth says. That means original, insightful, and experience-based material—something only you can provide.
You Are the Expert—AI is Just the Assistant
Beth emphasizes that small business owners need to recognize their own value. If you run a business, chances are you’re an expert in your industry. That expert knowledge is what sets your content apart.
AI should not be your ghostwriter—it should be your brainstorming partner. It can help organize your thoughts, generate ideas, or even identify topics you might not have considered. But the core ideas must come from you.
“Be the source that others quote,” Beth advises. “Don’t be the one quoting others.”
How Do You Effectively Use AI in Your Content Marketing Strategy
AI can be incredibly useful if you know how to use it correctly. We talked through how to be effective and some of the steps you can use to use AI to support your efforts but not replace you or your knowlegde. AI is about saving time, not just to repeat what someone else has said.
1. Start with Keyword Research
Use AI to generate a list of relevant keywords for your business. Tools like ChatGPT or Claude can help, but you must be specific in your prompts. For example, instead of asking “What are good HOA management keywords?”, ask “What are people searching when they want to hire a homeowners association management company?”
This level of specificity matters—vague prompts will lead to vague answers.
2. Generate Content Topics from Keywords
Once you have a list of keywords, ask the AI to generate blog topics based on them. This can help you build a content calendar and eliminate writer’s block.
3. Write Content Based on Your Expertise
Use your own experiences and unique perspective to flesh out each topic. You can ask AI to help organize sections, identify talking points, or summarize research—but you need to provide the core message and tone. -
As digital marketing continues to evolve, artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool for website development and SEO optimization. In today's video, we talk about how AI can streamline website creation, support SEO strategies, and save time on content generation.
WordPress: The Foundation for SEO Success
Before diving into AI applications, we need to establish a fundamental point: platform choice matters significantly for SEO success. While many businesses are tempted by the simplicity of platforms like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, or Shopify, these options often fall short of gaining solid SERPs.
"I'm very much about how we get traffic for people," Beth explained, highlighting that WordPress (specifically wordpress.org, not wordpress.com) remains the superior choice for businesses serious about their online presence. This is particularly important for e-commerce sites, where Beth recommends WooCommerce over Shopify for better SEO performance. And although Shopify can be mofidified to perform, it us usually cost prohibitive to do so.
AI-Assisted Website Development
One of the most impressive demonstrations showed how AI can dramatically accelerate the website creation process. Using WordPress with the Astra theme and Spectra page builder, Beth demonstrated a near-complete dentist website built in roughly 20 minutes.
The process followed these steps:
Install WordPress with the Astra theme
Add Spectra as the page builder
Use the AI Builder feature to define the business type (dentist)
Provide a business description (generated through Claude AI)
Select images and design preferences
Let the AI generate the website framework
This approach doesn't eliminate the need for customization but creates a solid foundation that would typically take hours to build manually. As Beth notes, this is particularly valuable for those who find WordPress intimidating but need a professional-looking site with good SEO potential.
Determining Website Structure with AI
Perhaps the most valuable application of AI demonstrated was using it to determine optimal website structure and content strategy. Beth showed how asking Claude AI targeted questions about specific business types yields comprehensive outlines of recommended pages and services.
For example, when asked what pages a dentist in Kingwood should include for SEO purposes, Claude generated a detailed list including:
Homepage
About Us
Services page (with specific dental services)
Patient information
Before and after gallery
Testimonials
Blog
Contact information and map
The AI didn't stop there - it provided a breakdown of specific services that should be featured, essentially creating a content roadmap for the entire site. This same approach worked for other business types, including commercial real estate and translation services, demonstrating its versatility.
The Critical Role of Keyword Validation
While Beth showcased AI's power, she repeatedly emphasized a crucial point: "AI is thought-provoking, not thought-replacing." This became particularly evident when examining keyword suggestions.
Using the "Keywords Everywhere" tool (a Chrome extension that shows monthly search volumes), Beth demonstrated how some AI-suggested terms have zero monthly searches, making them ineffective SEO targets. For instance, while Claude might suggest "property acquisition and sales" for a commercial real estate website, keyword research revealed that potential clients actually search for "buy commercial real estate" (10,000 monthly searches) or "sell commercial real estate" (1,600 monthly searches).
This validation process is essential for transforming AI suggestions into effective SEO strategy. As Beth explained, "I don't want to see you go down an AI road and just give the AI answer just because it's giving you the answer... It's not smarter than you are."
Creating Content Depth Through Page Hierarchy -
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Maximizing Website ROI with Google Analytics 4: Essential Insights for Business Owners
In today's digital landscape, having a website is the first step but should not be the last step. Understanding how that website performs and contributes to your business goals is what separates successful online ventures from those that struggle to gain traction. At Vertical Web, we frequently encounter business owners who have invested thousands in web design, SEO services, or SEM campaigns but have no idea whether that investment generates returns. This week's Internet Marketing Clinic focused on implementing Google Analytics 4 (GA4) correctly and using it to determine your website's true ROI.
The Foundation: Choosing the Right Platform
Before diving into analytics, we need to address a critical decision that affects everything else: your website platform. While builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify offer convenience, they often limit your ability to optimize for search engines and implement proper tracking.
WordPress remains our recommended solution for most businesses. Despite what some may perceive as a steeper learning curve, WordPress provides:
Superior customization options
Better search engine visibility
More robust analytics implementation
Greater control over your digital assets
As we often say at our clinics, "You can't fix what you can't measure," and many website builders simply don't allow for proper measurement.
Setting Up Google Analytics 4 Correctly
Google Analytics 4 represents a significant shift from previous versions, focusing more on user journeys and engagement rather than simple pageviews. Proper setup involves two critical components:
Google Analytics 4 code - This needs to be added to your website header
Google Tag Manager - No longer optional, this must be implemented alongside GA4
The Site Kit plugin, made by Google, significantly simplifies this process for WordPress users. However, it's essential to verify that both components are working correctly after installation. Many businesses we've worked with had Analytics installed but were missing Tag Manager, resulting in incomplete data collection.
Understanding Engagement Metrics vs. Vanity Metrics
One of the most powerful insights from GA4 is the distinction between engaged users and total users. In our clinic, we demonstrated this using Vertical Web's own analytics data:
According to our metrics, approximately half of our traffic consisted of engaged users—those who visited multiple pages during their session. This engagement metric has become increasingly important for two reasons:
Google's ranking algorithms now prioritize sites that keep users engaged
Engaged users are significantly more likely to convert into customers
When we analyze client websites, we often find they're focused on total traffic numbers (a vanity metric) rather than engagement metrics (actionable data). A website with 1,000 monthly visitors and a 5% engagement rate is performing worse than one with 500 visitors and a 20% engagement rate.
The Value of Search Console Insights
Another invaluable tool we demonstrated was Google Search Console, which reveals exactly which search queries bring visitors to your site. Using Vertical Web as an example, we analyzed search impressions and clicks for various keywords:
"Web development services" generated 7,000 impressions
"Unlimited web hosting" showed 3,879 impressions with click-throughs despite being ranked 30th
This data provides actionable intelligence about what potential customers are searching for and where you have opportunities to improve your visibility. It helps answer crucial questions like:
Which keywords are actually bringing in business?
Where are we visible but not getting clicks?
What content should we create to capture more relevant traffic?
Tracking Actual Conversions, Not Just Traffic
The most significant insight from our clinic was the impo... -
Navigating the Future of SEO: Key Trends and Strategies for 2025
The digital marketing landscape is perpetually evolving, with SEO at the forefront of this transformation. As we approach 2025, it becomes imperative for marketers and business owners to understand and adapt to the latest SEO trends to maintain and enhance their online visibility. This post delves into the significant shifts expected in the SEO realm, offering actionable strategies to help you stay ahead in a competitive digital world.
The Rising Impact of AI on SEO
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing how search engines operate and how content is ranked. AI-driven algorithms are becoming more sophisticated in understanding and processing user queries, making it crucial for SEO strategies to align with these advancements. AI doesn't just affect search outcomes; it's also reshaping how SEO should be approached. For instance, AI can analyze user behavior, predict trends, and personalize content, making it essential for businesses to leverage AI in optimizing their SEO practices.
Diversifying Your Marketing to Go Beyond Google
While Google remains the titan of search engines, new players like ChatGPT are emerging, challenging the status quo. These platforms are developing their own ecosystems and driving significant traffic to compliant websites. This shift underscores the necessity of optimizing content for multiple search platforms, not just Google. Ensuring that your SEO strategy is adaptable and broad enough to encompass these new platforms will be crucial in tapping into diverse traffic sources and expanding your digital footprint.
The Value of High-Quality Content - Content is STILL King
Content is king – a mantra that continues to hold true into 2025. The demand for high-quality, authoritative, and engaging content is higher than ever. Search engines are favoring content that provides real value to users, incorporating metrics that measure user engagement and satisfaction. This means businesses must focus on creating content that is not only informative and relevant but also tailored to meet the specific needs and interests of their target audience.
Link Building with a Focus on Quality
The significance of link building remains, but the focus has shifted towards the quality of links rather than sheer quantity. High-quality backlinks from reputable and relevant sources are critical in boosting a site's authority and ranking. Effective link-building strategies now require a more thoughtful approach, where links from industry leaders, chambers of commerce, and influential publications can dramatically enhance your SEO performance.
Adapting to New Verification Processes for Local SEO
Search engines are placing a greater emphasis on authenticity and verification. Google, for example, has introduced video verification for business locations to ensure that listed businesses are legitimate and accurately represented. This move is likely to affect local SEO significantly, making compliance with these verification processes a critical factor in maintaining or improving search rankings.
Preparing for Technical SEO Advances
As search algorithms become more complex, the technical aspects of SEO cannot be ignored. This includes site architecture, mobile optimization, page speed, and structured data. Websites that quickly adapt to technical SEO requirements will perform better in search rankings. Ensuring that your website is technically optimized for both desktop and mobile users is more crucial than ever.
Leveraging SEO for Voice Search and IoT
The proliferation of voice-activated devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) has introduced new SEO challenges and opportunities. Optimizing for voice search requires understanding natural language queries and focusing on long-tail keywords. Additionally, as more devices become interconnected, there will be new avenues for optimizing content across different platforms and devices, -
Whether you're a small business owner, entrepreneur, or digital marketer, understanding the fundamentals of SEO can help you gain visibility, attract leads, and grow your business.
What is SEO and Why is it Important?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of improving a website’s visibility on search engines like Google. The goal is to rank higher in search results, making it easier for potential customers to find your business.
Why SEO Matters for Businesses
Increases website traffic – Higher rankings lead to more clicks and visitors.
Generates quality leads – SEO attracts users actively searching for your products or services.
Builds credibility and trust – A well-optimized website enhances user experience and authority.
Cost-effective marketing – Unlike paid ads, organic SEO provides long-term benefits with sustained effort.
If you’re relying solely on social media or paid ads, you're missing out on a powerful organic traffic source that can continuously drive potential customers to your site. SEO has been around since the early 2000s. While the digital landscape has evolved, it fundamentally remains the same: helping search engines understand and rank websites based on relevance and quality.
How an Optimized Website Can Transform Your Business
A well-optimized website is more than just an online brochure—it’s your best salesperson, working 24/7 to attract new leads and customers.
Case Study: The Power of SEO
Beth Guide shared her personal experience with SEO:
Before SEO, her company received 7 orders per week.
After optimizing for search engines, that number jumped to 20-30 orders per day!
Today, her business reaches 10,000+ customers on average.
This is an example of how ranking higher on Google can dramatically increase traffic, sales, but most importantly, business growth.
Choosing the Right Website Platform: WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
Your website platform plays a crucial role in SEO success. Beth strongly recommends using WordPress.org over WordPress.com.
Why WordPress.org is Better for SEO
✅ Full Control – Unlike WordPress.com, which limits customization, WordPress.org allows complete website control.
✅ SEO-Friendly – Built-in tools and plugins (like Yoast SEO) make optimization easier.
✅ Scalability – Easily expand your website with new pages, features, and content.
✅ Better Performance – Faster loading speeds and better security for improved rankings.
Because you need maximum control, WordPress.org is the way to go. Vertical Web offers WordPress hosting plans that are prebuilt with the right tools that lead to SEO success.
The Importance of Content: Why Your Website Needs 100+ Pages
Many businesses fail to rank because they don’t provide enough quality content for Google to take them seriously.
How Content Affects SEO
Google prioritizes websites with substantial, high-quality content.
A well-structured blog and service pages help establish authority.
More pages mean more opportunities to rank for different keywords.
Common SEO Mistakes That Hurt Rankings
Many businesses struggle with SEO because they unknowingly make critical mistakes that prevent them from ranking higher.
Avoid These Costly SEO Mistakes
🚫 Poor Website Structure – Confusing navigation and lack of internal linking can harm rankings.
🚫 Low-Quality Content – Thin or AI-generated content lacks value and engagement.
🚫 Ignoring Title Tags & Meta Descriptions – Missing or generic metadata reduces click-through rates.
🚫 Not Using H1s & Subheadings Properly – Headings help Google understand page structure and relevance.
🚫 Neglecting Local SEO – If you're a local business, optimizing for local searches is crucial.
If you're investing in SEO, make sure you're doing it the right way to see actual results.
The Truth About AI & SEO
With the rise of AI-generated content, many wonder: Is AI good for SEO?
Google’s Stance on AI Content -
Keywords have been at the core of search engine optimization (SEO) since the early days of the Internet. Despite evolving algorithms, they remain crucial for ranking on Google. This guide explores the history, best practices, and strategies for using keywords effectively in 2024.
The Evolution of Keywords in SEO
Early Search Engines and Keyword Usage
In the late 1990s, search engines like Lycos, AltaVista, and AOL used simple Boolean searches. Web pages were ranked based on keyword frequency, leading to the rise of keyword stuffing. Websites repeated targeted phrases excessively, sometimes even hiding them in the background by matching the text color to the page's background. These manipulative tactics initially worked but soon led to poor search results.
Google's Algorithm Changes
As search engines evolved, Google implemented more intelligent algorithms that penalized keyword stuffing and rewarded content with natural language and contextual relevance. Instead of focusing on exact matches, Google now looks for keyword variations and related terms to determine page relevance. Updates such as Google Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird refined how keywords were evaluated, emphasizing content quality over manipulation.
Understanding Modern Keyword Optimization
The Role of Keywords Today
Despite algorithm changes, keywords remain essential. However, they must be used strategically with supporting context. Simply repeating a phrase like "Houston movers" is not enough—Google expects additional context, such as "packing services" or "moving company reviews." Using a natural language approach that aligns with user intent is now the key to effective keyword optimization.
Finding the Right Keywords for Your Website
One of the most crucial steps in SEO is identifying the right keywords for your content. A good exercise is to create a list of 50 relevant words related to your business and organize them into groups. This helps structure content efficiently and target multiple search queries.
Essential Keyword Research Tools
Keywords Everywhere
This browser extension helps users keyword search volume, competition, and variations. It also helps them discover which terms are most valuable for ranking in search results. The tool provides real-time data, making keyword research accessible and efficient.
Google Keyword Planner
Google's free keyword tool offers insights into search volume, competition, and related search terms. It allows businesses to refine their keyword strategy based on search trends and user behavior.
Using Excel for Keyword Management
Organizing keywords in an Excel spreadsheet allows for better analysis and strategy development. Keywords should be grouped logically to improve content structuring. Website owners can tailor content by categorizing terms based on intent—informational, navigational, or transactional—accordingly.
On-Page Optimization for Keywords
Keyword Placement and Density
Google’s algorithm considers more than just keyword frequency. Proper header placement (H1 to H6), meta descriptions, and body text are critical. The ideal page length for ranking well is around 1,700 words, ensuring the content is comprehensive and informative.
The Importance of Related Terms
Google assesses content using an interrelation of words. Instead of focusing solely on a single keyword, including related terms helps improve page relevance and search visibility. For example, a page targeting “home health care services” should also incorporate phrases like “senior home care,” “skilled nursing,” and “in-home medical care.”
Using Header Tags Effectively
Header tags (H1, H2, H3) should logically contain keywords and structure content. Breaking content into readable sections improves user experience and search engine crawling. Google prioritizes well-structured content with precise topic segmentation.
Standard SEO Mistakes to Avoid
Lack of Contact Information
Websites without a phone number, address, -
Unexpectedly, the SEO community was gifted a leak. Just as everyone was wringing their hands and lamenting SEO is dead (it’s not), here came a blueprint for SEOs.
I have just begun soaking in all the information contained in this document. By way of background, Rand Fiskin, founder of MOZ, was contacted about the Google API being accidentally uploaded. But as I read through this, in many ways, it's not telling me things I didn’t already know, but I feel very vindicated because it backs a lot of what I think but could never prove.
From the Desk of an SEO Expert – A Look Back
So why should you trust my insights as an SEO Expert? The Google leak, in many ways, validates things I’ve been saying for years. I've always maintained that Google lies and misleads SEO companies, and this leak seems to confirm that. But let me define why I am an SEO expert so you can evaluate the podcast, video, and this post. I have 28 years of experience in SEO. My company was formed seven months before Google. Since my very first client, I have been navigating the ever-changing landscape of SERPs.
Back in those days, it was easy. How much keyword stuffing is needed? How many pop culture references can I add to my title tag? Or, best of all, I could type in the same color of the background and feed the search engine but not making apparent to the visitor. There were a lot of these ‘tricks’ back in the day. Do them now and do so at your peril. This is not a thing anymore and hasn’t been for many years.
Our SEO journey began when the search was still rudimentary before there were 14,000 data points. As the industry evolved, we adapted and built our knowledge. In a nutshell, we have been a part of every change Google has ever made, giving us a unique skill set and vantage point. While there are others like me, we are few and far between. Some, like Danny Sullivan, have even gone to work for Google. But others, like myself or Bill Hartzer, continue to fight the good (Google) fight in the trenches.
It’s all about the Algorithm. So What is the Google Algorithm Anyway?
It all starts with the algorithm and the quest to understand it. The Google algorithm has always been as complex as it is simple. For those who don’t know for sure what an algorithm is, let me define it for you. An algorithm is a set of mathematical computations that solve a problem. In the case of Google, it’s the equivalent of a scoring system ‘grades’ web pages (and websites) and then putting them in numerical order, with the best page being listed in the first position. For years, I said there were 29,000 ‘things’ we had to know to get a page to work/rank within the Google algorithm. The number is 14,040. But what’s a few thousand data points between friends?
What we don’t know is the value of each of the items we are going to discuss below. What is the amount each item adds or subtracts from the score? Some may argue that predicting the outcome without those values is hard. But this is where the SEO expert part comes in. I believe I can tell with pretty good accuracy what is more important than other things. It is probably a companion piece I need to write that puts them in order and assigns the BG (Beth Guide) scale of Google Values to them.
So, what IS the Google Algorithm based on?
What have we learned from this Google data leak? Learned is subjective in this application. Me, I haven’t learned much. It’s all the stuff I already knew. For me, I used the word validated and vindicated. The first thing I’ve long said is that it is my opinion that Google lies to and tries to mislead SEO companies. I mean, why would they tell everyone how to game their system? It makes perfect sense. I have to say that I laugh when people tell me about the Google raters guidelines as if they are gospel. I have long said follow it to the letter and see how far you get.
Google Misdirection #1 – Page Rank
It's 2024, and I’m about to type the word Page Rank for those of you who have not been... -
SEO Hacks: Ways to win at SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a crucial aspect of digital marketing, and understanding how to navigate it can significantly impact the online visibility of your business. In this class we will explore the basics of SEO so that you can compete in this world and understand the do’s and don’ts and if you’re paying someone you can understand that they’re doing what they need to do.
Google and SEO: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Google’s relationship with SEO is constant and ever-changing so it’s important to stay on top of their updates and requirements as they roll out. Since September of 2023 Google started the “Helpful Content Update” and has been aggressively rolling out new fixes in an attempt to combat the use of AI for content creation. In March of 2024, the latest roll out will alleviate 40% of the content that is currently sitting on the internet, because google reads it as written with AI. This is also designed to go after marketers using tactics to gain Google’s System.
What does this mean for business owners? For business owners and content writers, this update means that they will have to ensure that no content used is created with any AI tool. Content must be written by a human, as organically as possible, and with as much helpful information as possible. If you’re not being helpful, they’re not ranking your website.
No mixed signals with SEO
Getting fancy with your words has its uses in marketing, but when it comes to your website and its content the messaging must be clear and concise. Google operates on a set of signals that help it understand the content and relevance of web pages. These signals are crucial for ensuring that your website ranks well in search results. One important aspect to note is that Google is literal and specific, how you communicate information on your website needs to align with how Google interprets it. Using the right keywords and structuring your content effectively are essential for signaling to Google what your website is about. A reoccurring issue with some websites and their signals, is that a website will change, which causes the signal to break.
The Role of Keywords for Great SEO
Keywords play a pivotal role in SEO as they help Google identify the relevance of your content to user queries. It is significant to understand your business's keywords and how to find them and use them effectively. Using plug in tools like Keywords Everywhere can provide valuable insights into search volume, competition, and the potential value of specific keywords. The search volume of a keyword is how many people are looking up this or adjacent terms. The competition is how many other people are attempting to rank using that same keyword. Remember, higher competition keywords may be harder to rank for, so it's essential to prioritize and strategize accordingly. The potential value of the term is how much it would be for you to purchase specific search terms, but this won’t be necessary to start.
Local SEO and the "Near Me" Trend
An interesting trend highlighted is the growing importance of local SEO, especially with terms like "near me." Google's algorithms are increasingly favoring localized search results, making it crucial for businesses to optimize their online presence for local searches. Incorporating location-specific keywords and ensuring consistency across online directories and platforms can greatly improve your visibility to local customers.
In some instances, your business name can be a keyword, but often the business name is a more abstract concept than what your business does, so it’s good to ensure your support keywords are strong enough. For example, if your business name is “TreeCutting.com”, Tree Cutting would be a keyword because it would be something someone googles. But if you’re business name is something abstract like “Jose’sCutters.com” you would then have to set up a good amount of keywords in your website like “tree cutter... -
Fall is upon us, which means the holidays are soon to follow. For business owners, this time of the year is filled with opportunity - opportunities to develop your brand and capture a new wave of customers in the process.
Of course, the competition is fierce during the holidays, especially as we near Black Friday and Christmas. That means SMB owners and online retailers must be ready to optimize their web presence to the extent they can. By strengthening your website, ad marketing, e-mail marketing and social media marketing channels, you’ll give your business a fighting chance to rise above the holiday noise this year.
Here, we’ll address how to do just that.
First, start by optimizing your Google Business Profile and integrating analytics
Whether your business operates globally or locally, optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a strong - and simple - first step. For local SMBs, it’s unavoidable - your company needs a locally optimized GBP to garner traction with Google.
Start by making sure your company’s name and address are accurate. Put up a photo of your company’s building. Fill out as much of your profile as you can - posts, reviews, events - all of these signals add up to let Google know where your business is located. And ensuring your business is properly geolocated by Google is a must-do to achieve any degree of local SEO success. Use geo-specific keywords in your company’s description and posts. Publish photos and videos (that you or someone within the company has taken) regularly. Just make sure that the company’s profile is active and frequently updated.
Take a few minutes and integrate Google Analytics (widely termed GA4) into the website, too. It’s quick and easy to do so, and it provides valuable insight into how your site is performing from a traffic and lead-capturing standpoint. Users, sessions, page views, conversions, bounce rate, engagement time - there’s a lot of data here, but you don’t need to be a digital marketing expert to extract value out of it.
Create more customer touch points through e-mail and social media
As the holiday season approaches, consumers start gearing up to buy. That means it’s time to get your brand in front of them. With so much online noise competing for our attention these days, consistent (but not obnoxious) touch points are needed to drive leads to your company.
A proven way to do this is with e-mail marketing - Mailchimp is our preferred tech for automating many e-mail marketing functions, but you’ll need to provide the content.
Ideally, this content will provide valuable information that’s designed to “hook” the user toward your website. At the least, taking a spot in their inbox will bring your brand to the front of their mind - the first step toward making a conversion.
Don’t be afraid to regularly send out these e-mail blasts - a couple times a week is considered optimal - and make an effort to capture user e-mails when they visit your site or make a purchase through your business. It’s easier to sell to current customers than new ones, and that means you’ll need an updated e-mail list.
E-mail marketing can also be used to pick up additional customer reviews
Customer reviews are weighted heavily by Google for SEO purposes. They are, therefore, a high-value target for brands. E-mail marketing can also support this goal by (politely) reminding users to leave a review. Many buyers have no problem doing this, they just need to be asked.
Don’t overthink it. A week after a customer buys something from your site, automate your e-mail marketing platform to send out a review request/reminder. It’s a no-risk, high-reward approach to building your brand’s reputation.
The Google Display Network provides a brand awareness boost for pennies on the dollar
Chances are, you’ve seen plenty of small ads served through Google’s Display Network (GDN). The GDN is one of Google’s many, and often confusing, -
Auditing Website Basics: The Rules Every Business Website Should Follow
Developing a business website is difficult work. To be frank, it’s a job that most small business owners aren’t prepared to handle on their own. The job is only getting tougher, too, as Google is constantly raising the bar on what constitutes a high quality, trustworthy site. And every business owner should want a website that Google considers trustworthy because those are the sites that secure top ranking spots.
If your site isn’t performing as well as it should, the problem (or problems) may be basic. With so many elements to optimize on modern websites, it’s practically impossible for small business owners to catch everything. That’s why we’ve put together this quick guide to business site basics. Follow these rules, and your site will be off to a good start.
First, a word of caution about website builder platforms
Before diving into those rules, though, we need to address a question that comes up all the time:
“Can I build a business site with Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, etc.?”
The answer is yes, you could, but business owners should avoid doing so at all costs. Site builder platforms are easy to use and inexpensive, but the website they crank out are impossible to market and optimize. That’s a deal breaker for any business owner that plans on using their site as a lead and sales generator.
Websites build on one of the above platforms are essentially invisible to Google. They spit out bloated code that Google has trouble recognizing and interpreting. They give site owners insufficient latitude to make major technical changes. They do not allow site owners to choose their own host and you’re trapped inside the platform’s ecosystem. If the platform goes under, so does your website, permanently.
Given all of this, we cannot in good conscious recommend site builders. What we do recommend is WordPress - the standalone version, not WP’s own platform and hosting service. WordPress remains the gold standard for marketability, customizability and performance, so every business owner’s first choice should be WordPress.
That out of the way, on to the rules:
Rule 1 - Make sure your title tag and headers are formatted properly
Every page should be paired with a title tag - it’s the single most important element in helping Google understand what the page’s content is about. This title is identified using a title tag - something you may hear referred to as an H1. H1 (or H2, H3, H4 and so on) tags are designated in the page’s HTML code and are used to identify a title or header. Titles and header are important for Google and users, and generally for the same reason - they help the reader understand what the page’s content is about. This is obviously important for users, as their decision to consume the content or move on has to do with the content’s title.
It’s also crucial for SEO purposes because Google isn’t going to rank a page that it doesn’t understand or isn’t properly titled. Properly-formatted and written headers help Google with this. Proper format means using the right H tag - only one title tag (H1) per page, and headers should be organized in a hierarchical format. That means using an H1 with the top header, H2s for content section headers, H3s for subheads inside those content sections and so on down the line.
Rule 2 - Feature your services and products in high-importance navigation elements
If Google doesn’t know what your business sells, it will probably not rank the page. At best, your site will be improperly categorized in the wrong product or service area. The result of this? Users ending up on your site after searching for something completely unrelated to your business. That’s exactly the kind of traffic business owners don’t want.
To ensure Google places your site in the right category and serves it to the right users, reinforce what your company does in the site’s most important navigation elements. -
Wordpress is one of the internet's most powerful engines, as something like 40 percent of all sites run on WP. Millions of those sites are professional or e-commerce in nature, and from the get-go, they must be configured properly to succeed.
That means integrating the right tools into Wordpress during and following the initial WP install. If you're partnered with a reputable web hosting company, these tools may be included with your install package - a major convenience for site owners who don't know where to begin.
Here, we've got a list of every important tool to consider for site owners just getting started with WordPress, along with some helpful information about WP management fundamentals.
For SEO purposes, it's Wordpress or bust - stay away from site building platforms
If you haven't launched a site yet, build it in WordPress. If you've already launched a site that's not in WordPress, prepare to move it to WP. And if you've already launched a WordPress site, congratulations - you're on the right track.
The truth is, there's no good reason whatsoever for business owners to pick anything other than Wordpress for their online presence. WP is the gold standard for several reasons, including:
Google prefers WordPress websites (better SEO) - The downside with site builder platforms is that they're built using bloated code that search engines cannot interpret well. Wix, Weebly, Squarespace and other drag-and-drop builders may be easy to use, but that simplicity means sloppy code on the backend. If you're serious about ranking on Google, this bloated code is a fatal problem.
WP is well-supported by an active, open source community - WP is an open-source engine, so anyone can access the codebase and contribute to it. The benefit of an open source engine is that it's constantly being improved upon by the community, so WordPress users are always coming up with new and better tools.
There are hundreds of thousands of plugins that can expand WP's functionality - Speaking of tools, there's an endless list of additional features and plugins to choose from. Each one adds to the site's capabilities, so if there's something that your site needs to do, but currently can't, there's a good chance that a solution already exists. It just needs to be installed on the site.
Wordpress allows people to maintain ownership of their domain and assets - If the site is created through a standalone installation (Wordpress.org), you'll have complete ownership over all the site's assets and domain. With site builders like Wix and others, the site is contained inside the builder's ecosystem. That means if the platform goes down, so does your site. Further, if you want to move or make major changes to the site, that may be impossible if it's hosted on a platform.
In short, WP's feature-rich, SEO-compatible code makes it the undisputed leader among site creation engines.
Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org? Here's the difference
The first hurdle business owners may run into when getting started with WordPress is whether to publish through Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org. We strongly recommend going with Wordpress.org, but here's a quick guide to both:
com - Wordpress.com is WP's version of the site builder. While it utilizes the same WP dashboard and publishing process, the site itself is hosted on WP's own servers and is therefore functionally identical to sticking the site on another self-contained platform. Further, by opting for WP's own platform, site owners may be responsible for additional fees related to "premium plugins" and other features.
org - Wordpress.org is the standalone version of WP that we recommend. With wordpress.org, site owners have access to all of the software's base files and user-friendly dashboard. In addition, owners have complete freedom to host the site with the hosting company of their choosing, and may make any changes they wish without interference. -
How to Write a Better Blog
Blogging, it’s not why most people get into business, but written communication remains an important part of customer acquisition. And online, that means writing high quality blogs, articles and landing page content to help send the signals to Google that will equal long term SEO success.
With today’s tech-based, always-online economy, the value of good writing may not be obvious. That’s where we’ll start before addressing how to write a more effective piece of website content.
A 24/7 Salesman: The value of an expert blog
Without a website, companies are passing up on 30 percent of their potential business. Even when no one is at the office or manning the phones, the company’s website is there representing the brand. In this way, an effective website is like a salesman who never takes a break. Publishing high quality content is like giving that salesman the best possible sales pitch - with it, they’ll represent your company well and earn more customers as a result.
In the end, as the company’s owner and resident expert, you have complete control over your brand’s messaging through the power of blogging.
Every business owner is an expert, so put that expertise to good use
The first hurdle for business owners to get over is a psychological one. “I can’t write,” said just about every business owner ever, but as an expert in your industry, your insight has value to Google and to users. That’s true even if you can’t write like Shakespeare.
If you’re willing to practice writing and get better, you’ll eventually develop your spoken voice into an effective written voice. For many niche subjects, all that’s needed is clear, direct writing with some expert insight or examples sprinkled in.
One easy way to come up with blog topics - listen to the customer
Looking for a good blog angle? Pay attention to what customers are concerned about. These could be your customers or a competitor’s customers, wherever they provide feedback. This could be a question asked in an e-mail, a comment in a product review or a complaint on social media. Whatever it is, there’s probably a blog angle in there somewhere, as long as you’re looking for it.
Google wants original, expert ideas, so be careful with AI writers like ChatGPT
Although some of the ChatGPT mania has died down, there is still plenty of conversation regarding what it, and other AI writers, can do for website owners.
ChatGPT can help with some writing-related tasks, but it cannot replace the expertise needed for the content writing itself. It’s not a cut-and-paste job. You’ll have to do some extra work to get the page to a publishable level.
Google is on the record saying that it’s okay with some AI content as long as it meets the search engine’s quality standards. Unfortunately, AI content doesn’t. When AI “writes,” it’s actually scraping content from tons of existing pages, pulling out information and reordering it to create the semblance of an original article.
But nothing in the AI page is original - just an amalgamation of the pages it pulled from. Google doesn’t like that because users don’t like that. Users don’t want an internet full of same-sounding, no-value junk, and so Google doesn’t want to fill its SERPs with same-sounding, no-value junk.
As such, search engines will penalize sites that rely too much on AI for their blogging and website content. And yes, Google can easily detect AI writing.
There’s room for AI to fill a role, though, so here’s how to use it
To summarize so far - don’t take what the AI writer gives you, then turn around and publish it on your website. That’s a no-can-do, but what can you do with ChatGPT and similar AI generators?
Generate a pool of subject-relevant keywords - Every blog should be optimized with high-value, subject-relevant keywords. These provide Google with the signals it needs to understand the page’s content and properly categorize it for its search results pages. -
If you’ve just launched a business website - or are about to launch one - your work is just beginning as the site’s owner. With millions of e-commerce and professional sites already online, it’s a real fight to get new websites noticed. In fact, it’s impossible to gain traction online without an effective SEO plan in place. That’s because search engines are picky when determining which pages to rank - those with better SEO fundamentals are much more likely to snag those coveted top spots.
https://youtu.be/w7Bdz9JOqVg
But that only raises another question - how can business owners get started with effective SEO? That’s what we’re addressing this time. With these following tips, any business owner in any industry can get a competitive start with SEO and build a steady stream of traffic.
The right engine means everything when starting a website, and that means WordPress
If you already have a website, it is hopefully built in WordPress. If it’s not, we’ve got some bad news - you’ll likely need to migrate it to WP. That includes sites built in Squarespace, Wix, Weebly and other stripped-down website builders. If you haven’t built a site yet, WordPress is the engine of choice.
Why? Compared to site building platforms, WP’s backend is far more compatible with Google’s site discovery and indexing process. In other words, Google understands WordPress sites better than others, so it’s more likely to fully crawl, index and properly categorize a website. In general, the more confused Google’s spiders are when crawling a website, the less likely that site will rank. WP ensures minimal confusion between the website and Google.
Make your title tag count - with high impact keywords
Every page on your website has to explain itself to Google, and title tags and headers are an important part of that mission. Each page gets one title tag (an H1), and you should treat it like a proper title - it should explain the content’s primary focus. And for Google, every title tag should also include relevant keywords that send the right content signals to search engines. These keywords are essentially clues that tell Google how to judge, locate and categorize the content.
It is extremely important to locate the most relevant keywords (i.e., the product you’re selling) as high up on each page as possible. This will maximize the chances that Google’s spiders will find them.
Additional headers are used with content subsections, and they act just like title tags. Each section header should describe what’s in the following section while including high-relevance keywords for Google.
Localize your headers, copy and images for your business’s service area
Most small businesses have a tight service area that’s near their operating facilities. It’s this area that your SEO should be targeted toward.
Local SEO is the branch of digital marketing focused on targeting users in a particular service area, and it’s a slightly different game than general, national SEO. When users punch in a local search query (“Houston Mexican restaurants,” for example), Google returns a local SERP in response. This local SERP includes additional high-value spots like the map pack, so engaging local SEO comes with additional rewards.
But local SEO also takes a slightly different approach. One part of this approach is to localize the content on your site’s pages, so Google understands where your business is located and what areas it serves.
In practice, that means mentioning where the company is located in titles, headers and inside the body copy. The city it’s located in, the neighborhoods or regions it services, the names of nearby landmarks and major roads - these are all useful clues for Google.
It goes further than that, too. Every image published on your website has metadata associated with it. This metadata includes where the photo was taken, so consider taking your own photos and publishing them with that metadata intact. -
For anyone who has been around the Internet Marketing Clinic for a while, knows we always try to stay ahead of where the road goes. AI tools have turned 2023 on its ear, and it is not even March. In this episode of the IMCH, we are taking an in-depth look at how to balance AI tools like ChatGPT and your website, content or SEO efforts. There is a lot of very dangerous misguided implementations ideas so we wanted try and stay ahead of it and let you know what we think you should be doing and how to used this very powerful tool, but do it in a manner that you don't blow yourself up.
Do not copy AI-generated content and paste it into a website
Before you run off to ChatGPT and generate your entire website from scratch - stop. In our practice, we’ve already seen business owners attempt this with disastrous results. And that is what I keep seeing and hearing. It feels like, right or wrong everyone things they found the secret to creating mass pages to place on their website and that is just not true.
Google has upped the useful content penalty possibly taking aim at cut-and-paste AI-generated content, and the search engine is getting better and better at detecting it. There are hundreds of AI writers out there, but it’s unlikely that any of them could evade Google’s AI detection for long.
Why is Google seeking and destroying AI-generated pages? Because AI can’t produce a page that’s as well-written, organized and detailed as a human expert-created page. At least for now, human experts provide more value with their writing than ChatGPT or other AI tools.
This is because AI content generators work by scraping and distilling what’s already on the internet. Google doesn’t want a web full of copycat content - it wants originality. And it wants original thinking because that’s what users want. From Google’s perspective, AI content generators have the potential to pollute the internet with identical pages and damage the user experience.
On the other hand Google also is okay with AI content if they add to the web. If there is solid new information it more than likely won't get dinged. But you have to committed to making sure the information is not just spun and put out on the website.
There are a few more problems with AI content generation, that you need to be aware of to avoid a penalty.
Superficial reasoning and knowledgebase - ChatGPT and AI writers can spit out tons of information with every prompt, but because this information is sourced from thousands of sites - many of them low quality - the information tends to be superficial. This problem is more pronounced for niche topics and industries, where there are fewer inputs for AI to work with.
Confusing conceptual linking and writing flow - AI also has trouble determining which pieces of information link together and how they should link together. Us humans do this naturally when we speak, because our communication is predicated on exchanging and responding to information provided by other people.That’s why AI writers tend to go off-track with topics or repeat themselves throughout an article. You won’t find an AI linking an insightful first-hand experience with the topic at hand. That kind of web-like conceptual thinking is still beyond the reach of AI.
Difficulty with proper punctuation and grammar - Curiously, AI writers also seem to have the occasional issue with word order, sentence structure or punctuation. The longer the content, the more likely these mistakes are to emerge in a piece of AI content.
It may not be long before these kinks are hammered out, but for now, the above should give business owners pause before they go all-in on AI. Doing so could wipe out your traffic now or in the future, when Google retroactively applies penalties for AI content-generation methods.
All of this is subject to change as Google implements GoogleBard, its own AI Tool
Everything in this article could become obsolete overnight - thus is the nature... -
Buckle up 2023 is going to be one for the ages. Every year brings a new set of challenges for the digital marketing industry, but 2023 may bring more upheaval than normal. Multiple content-related updates in late 2022 appear to be targeted at identifying and deranking pages with low quality (potentially AI) content. Google has also made recent updates to its Search Rater Quality Guidelines - with added emphasis on communicating expertise and experience in content.
Additionally both Google and Bing are rolling out chat modules for search that have the potential to upend digital marketing, especially for small businesses. Over this year as this rolls out we will address and work to find strategies that will work inside that framework. It may be a big deal. It may be a fad, no one knows yet. It's in part why I have been running these classes since 2007.
Google is clearly raising the bar on what constitutes a high-ranking website. Quality content, quality performance, quality navigation and linking - there’s no more cutting corners for business website owners.
That’s why we’re focusing on cleanup this week. The little things matter more than ever for digital marketing, and so we’re addressing some of the little things you can do to improve your standing on Google.
Optimize your online presence with the right platform, plugins and patches
First, if your site isn’t on WordPress, move it to the WP ecosystem. More than 40 percent of the internet is built on WordPress, so Google thoroughly understands it - and prefers it. If your site is built on any other platform - Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, etc. - then you’re at a major SEO disadvantage from the start.
Assuming your site is built on WP, there is a plenty of plugin available. Many of these are useful for optimization purposes, whether performance or search engine optimization.
A favorite of ours is Rank Math. Rank Math is an SEO plugin for WordPress that provides broad functionality. It offers deep insights, like tracking your position history for a particular keyword. It also integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics 4 and offers centralized control over many SEO functions, like configuring headers or metadata.
And if you’re wondering just how entangled Google and WordPress are - Google has an official WP plugin called Google Site Kit. With Site Kit, your Google Analytics are available through your WP backend and through a single dashboard.
Verify that your business is properly listed online
Google uses your company’s location for local SEO purposes, which can be a problem if your actual location doesn’t match Google’s own data. It’s a problem that a lot of businesses have.
If your company’s address or phone number have ever changed, there’s a good chance that your older addresses or numbers are listed somewhere on the internet. If there are many such outdated NAP citations out there, Google may place your business in a different market.
The goal is to monitor your NAP citations and correct any that are inaccurate. Our clients have a tool to make these easy - one available through Yext. With Yext’s Optimize Location tool, business owners can get a status update on all of their NAP citations scattered around the web. This includes Google itself, along with Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Bing, Yelp and a score of directory sites. If there are any NAP inaccuracies, it’s made obvious here, so website owners can correct the citation.
To do that, you’ll need access to the account associated with the citing website. Businesses are in a constant state of flux, so it’s common for brands to lose control of certain accounts as employees are turned over and changes are made. If you do lose access to a citing account, you may able to correct the citation by submitting your company’s information to a major data aggregator like Acxiom or Localeze.
Set up Google Analytics 4 so there’s no interruption in data tracking
Google is overhauling its analytics platform and relea... -
Google has always prioritized content in its rankings, but in the second half of 2022 and into 2023, the search engine giant has gone all-in on content updates. In the past several months, Google has pushed over at least three significant content updates, and its latest includes major work to its search engine content guidelines.
We’ll take a closer look at this latest update and what website owners will need to do in response.
A few notable changes in Google’s newest content update
The bulk of the newest update concerns Google’s E-E-A-T (formerly E-A-T) standard. Before we dive into that, though, here’s a couple other notable changes from the update:
Google is placing additional emphasis on the content’s author - One of the changes was to Section 2.5, a section that concerns the website’s operator and content creator. This change is actually an addition - a guide that helps quality raters determine a web page’s author. Why is this important to website owners? Because Google is clearly factoring in the content creator’s credibility for ranking purposes. That means business owners will need to invest in building this credibility. That’s where quality content and other page elements - like an author box and bio - come into play.
YMYL pages are going to get scrutinized extra hard - Google has also added to Section 3.0, a section dedicated to defining quality content. One of the additions asks quality raters to assess whether a page concerns a Your-Money-or-Your-Life (YMYL) subject. YMYL subjects include medical, legal and accounting - subjects where wrong information or advice could do a great deal of harm to the reader. The content quality standards on these pages are higher, given the stakes involved. If you operate in a YMYL industry, it’s extra important that you develop expert-level content that conveys your expertise. It’s also important to remain on top and avoid introducing any topics outside of your field.
Many more changes to the content quality guidelines were made, but the above are of relevance to business website owners. And another major update to be aware of is E-E-A-T, which we’ll address next.
Meet E-E-A-T, Google’s guidelines for creating expert content
While the above changes are noteworthy, it’s the E-A-T rework that’s getting the most attention. E-A-T has been around for years as a guide for quality content, and there’s an extra E to account for now. What was E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness and trust) is now E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust).
Google developed E-E-A-T to define what end users (the page’s visitors) are looking for when assessing content. As it turns out, users prioritize experience, expertise and authoritativeness when consuming content.
As the website’s owner, it’s your job to ensure your experience, expertise and authoritativeness come through in your site’s content. This is what generates the most important letter in the E-E-A-T acronym - trust.
How can site owners do that? Here’s how Google defines each part of the E-E-A-T formula:
Experience: Does the content creator have direct experience with the subject?
Experience is the new addition to E-A-T, and at first glance, it’s unclear where the line between experience and expertise exists.
Regarding experience, Google wants to know if the content’s author has first-hand experience with what they’re writing about. For many topics, first-hand experience is the most valuable thing the writer bring to the page. Here are some examples:
A restaurant review: Did the writer eat at the restaurant they’re reviewing?
Comparing laptops: Did the writer try out both laptops they’re comparing?
Offering travel advice: Did the writer travel to the place they’re talking about?
As you can see, there isn’t expertise involved here - these are subjects anyone could write on without special knowledge. What’s important is experience.
Expertise: Does the content creator have educat... -
Looking back at 2022 - a year of major Google updates
Another year, another slate of algorithm updates from the world’s leading search engine. Google making changes to its ranking algorithm is nothing new - it’s always going on, actually - but 2022 saw a couple of impactful changes that website owners should be aware of. Ideally, you will have already made some of the necessary adjustments, but if not, we’ve got a quick recap here you can use to get up to speed.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmW9-W3fbp0
Technical Performance
While Google’s 2022 updates would eventually target content guidelines, the search engine started the year by making technical performance the focus. In a way, this was a continuation of Google’s Core Vitals update, which was pushed over during the summer of 2021.
Specifically, Google wants websites to run faster and more reliably than ever. It’s easy to understand why. A site’s user experience (UX) remains a primary consideration for Google, because search engines don’t exist to promote businesses. They exist to connect users (the people entering queries into Google search) with the best possible answer to their search.
A website’s UX describes how user-friendly the experience is on a particular page. If users are leaving the page before it loads or as soon as it loads, that lets Google know that the page is offering a poor UX. Search engines will always send traffic to a site with good UX metrics if given the opportunity. That means your site should also be optimized for UX.
A major part of UX is a page’s technical performance. Does it load important content quickly? Does it respond to user interaction quickly? Does it remain visually stable while loading? These are critical performance metrics roped into Google’s Core Vitals update.
The search engine is still raising the bar in terms of technical performance, so slow, unreliable sites are having added trouble in ranking well.
Stay away from “cookie cutter” website builders
If you’re building a website, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Shopify and others offer convenience. They don’t offer anything else, though, including technical performance or improved conversion rates.
In today’s world of digital marketing, nothing beats Wordpress. With unmatched Google integration, unmatched versatility and unmatched support, Wordpress websites are far easier to rank on Google and other search engines. If you’re building a new site, start with Wordpress. If you have a website in a site-builder like Shopify, consider your options in moving the site to Wordpress.
Content was always important, but helpful, expert content is now necessary
Content has always been a top ranking factor for Google and other search engines, but what exactly that content should look like has changed over the years. And this year, Google made one of its most meaningful content updates in its history.
Termed the helpful content update, Google is now prioritizing high quality, expert level content that provides value to the user. But what does value mean when it comes to an online blog?
Users go to Google to answer questions. Google returns the best possible answer to their questions. As a site owner, your job is to get Google to pick your answer first. That means you’ll need to generate content that offers the following:
Expertise -
Google places a lot of weight on expertise. It does not want to rank a non-expert highly on any of its SERPs, as this reflects poorly on its own ability to spot valuable information. This is especially true if the question has to do with an expert industry like medicine, legal or accounting.
Expert content answers a relevant query fully, from every angle possible. It may take 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 words to provide a complete answer, but Google prefers longer, more thorough content that short content that offers nothing new.
Authority - -
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the primary components of digital marketing and is foundational to a successful website. Proper SEO gives your website the best possible chance at securing favorable search engine listings, and those top listings are valuable. In fact, the top 3 organic listings in Google gets an estimated 80 percent of all the clicks on a particular search engine results page (SERP).
As your site moves up the rankings, its ability to attract traffic will also improve. That means more potential customers and, if your website’s effective at converting, more business.
SEO is important, so we’re going back to the basics this week and covering search engine optimization 101.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkfFB9p8E-w
Understanding Google's Algorithm
At its core, Google is an index, a directory. Google is a list of millions upon millions of websites that users reference when they need to answer a question. That query could be for a piece of information, for product reviews or for a business, but it always starts with a query.
Google’s job as a search engine is to match the best answer to each query. To do this, Google utilizes a mathematical formula - an algorithm - to assess every website and page it comes across. This algorithm weighs hundreds of factors to determine whether a particular page is worth showing for a particular query.
SEO is designed to make a website or page as attractive as possible to Google’s ranking algorithm. This means optimizing many ranking signals that tell Google that “hey, this website is worth considering for that question.”
Organic vs. Paid Listings
Organic listings are listings that have earned their spot through effective SEO practices. Websites that land a top organic listing have earned the favor of Google’s algorithm by optimizing factors like content, link building, page speeds, user experience and many others. SEO services provide the work needed to optimize those signals.
Paid listings compete with organic listings for top SERP listings, but do so by paying Google instead of optimizing ranking signals. While traffic can be earned this way, it can be extremely expensive to manage and is considered less effective than winning organic traffic.
We have circled the paid ads on the page vs. the organic listings that are encircled.
How Does Google Find New Pages?
Google finds new pages by “spidering” the internet. Google’s spiders explore the internet by navigating from link to link. Those spiders may follow internal links from one part of a site to another, or they may hop on an outbound link to another website.
When spiders “crawl” new pages, they analyze it by looking at various signals and determining what it’s about. If the page is worth saving for future listing purposes, Google indexes the page, which means it stores it in a massive directory for possible future reference.
One of the primary ways Google locates new pages and content is through the use of a sitemap. Sitemaps are documents that provide Google’s spiders with all the information they need to efficiently crawl your website - specifically the URLs contained in your site. This helps spiders build a more complete picture of your site and ensure deeper crawling.
Submit Your Sitemap via Search Console
Sitemaps are XML feeds that are easily generated with an SEO plugin like RankMath and can be submitted directly to Google. They are generally regarded as a requirement you must complete for your website to be indexed properly in Google.
Fresh Content Always Performs Better
Content includes the most important ranking signals for any page. One of those signals is the “freshness” of your content, and Google has directly confirmed this.
The freshness of your content refers to its timeliness or how recently it has been updated. Content that’s written in relation to a current event, for example, -
If you’re running an e-commerce website, then you’ve got competition. At last count, there were more than 20 million e-commerce sites in operation around the globe. Every one of those websites has the same goal - stand out, attract traffic and pick up conversions in the process.
With millions of sites crowding the online picture, it’s never been more important to pursue best e-commerce practices when developing and marketing a website. That’s what we’re going to go over, along with some tips to help Google find and rank your e-commerce site.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luEGhS1R9ww
What is an e-commerce website?
We’re going to be talking about e-commerce websites here, so let’s get the definition straight. Fortunately, it’s an easy concept to understand. E-commerce sites are those focused on selling a product or service to clients (other businesses or consumers), using a set of tools that make the process as simple and efficient as possible.
An e-commerce website should provide the following functionality:
Allow users to select and add products to their shopping cart.
Securely process orders and payments.
Manage shipping and provide shipping details to the user.
Provide customer service to users.
There are additional functions that e-commerce sites can perform. For example, an e-commerce site may allow people to create a profile, save previous order details for one-click ordering or let buyers redeem discount codes.
In general, though, if your website sells a product or service, and it allows users to do this using a shopping cart and payment portal - you’ve got an e-commerce site.
To support a successful e-commerce site, you need the right platform
Now that we’ve defined e-commerce, what does an effective e-commerce site look like? It looks like one built on WordPress. Anything else will hold your site back.
There are tons of website creation platforms out there for business owners. Pretty much all of them make money by convincing business owners to use their platform. That means they’ll make big proclamations about how SEO “friendly” their site is or how easy it is to get started.
Here’s the problem: Almost every single site creation platform out there is poorly optimized for Google-centric SEO. If you’re using Shopify, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace or any other popular site creation platform, your site is already facing serious SEO headwinds.
WordPress sites now blanket more than a third of the internet, and it’s the leading platform for e-commerce websites, too. Because WordPress is so ubiquitous, Google works hard to understand how WordPress websites are built and designed. Google’s familiarity with WordPress gives WordPress sites a major crawling and indexing advantage, which means better overall ranking potential.
In summary, Google prefers WordPress sites because it can understand them better. If you’re using any other platform, you’re making it that much harder for Google to figure out what your business does and what it sells.
Choose organic when it comes to website traffic
So search engines understand and rank WordPress websites better. So what? Adwords work with Wix or Shopify sites and you can get traffic that way.
It’s true that Adwords can pull additional traffic toward sites built in most platforms, but you’re paying for that traffic. And if your site is operating in a competitive space with competitive keywords to fight for, your ad costs can be eye-popping. We’re talking thousands of dollars every month to sustain traffic flow to your site. Even worse, your pay-per-click (PPC) expenses can, and likely will, change from month to month depending on how your ads do. It’s difficult to budget for this.
That’s why digital marketing professionals prioritize organic search traffic for their clients.
What is organic traffic and why is it valuable? -
When I teach class, I always advise using WordPress because it gives small business a way to level the playing field. At Vertical Web we do a lot of things, but client advocacy is one of the biggest. We talk about why using a platform like Wix or Squarespace in my opinion does not allow websites to have the best chance to rank in Google and that should always be a priority.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqEg5ROZrIk
I know we often hear well I just need to have it for credibility from small business owners. What they mean is having a website is a necessary evil but it doesn't need to be more than a virtual business card. And although that is one approach, the reality is that with the right vehicle and some mentorship you too can gain some traction on your website. It is in part why we offer this clinic and have for going on 20 years. This should be a goal.
With this video and the use of starter templates, I think that creating a WordPress based website can be just as easy as creating a Squarespace website. Best of all this version will work much better to help bring clients to your become aware of your business through Google search.
I have always recognized that for a brand-new person that has no idea, a point-and-click solution may appear easier. But the long-term negative impact really makes it not as good of a deal. So what I did was take the build of WordPress we use and provide it to our clients. I also added the tools you would need to succeed in both search and in reaching business objectives including email distribution and social media scheduling. Basically, all the things we speak about in class are included.
What are the Most Essential WordPress Plugins
We view some plugins as essential and if you asked me that question, my go-to answer would be you need a backup plugin (BackupBuddy or WP-Staging). You also need a strong SEO plugin and we always recommend RankMath over Yoast now. You need a security plugin (We like Ithemes). Lastly, you need an optimization plugin for speed (we like WP Rocket).
Backup Software
It is critical to have backup software on your website. This can be handled in two ways, but that doesn’t mean it's mutually exclusive whereas doing both is recommended. Daily backups are a must, and we recommend keeping them offsite like Dropbox, One Drive or Amazon’s Glacier. Through Vertical Web we provide Amazon Glacier for backup included in our WordPress hosting plans. The secondary way, which is also optional is a staging site, meaning we are using a dev site and then when we are happy with the changes, they are pushed into the live site. This is always a safer way to make changes or try plugins. In the long run, this avoids problems before they affect a live site.
SEO Plugin
I’ve talked about the superiority of RankMath in the past and they continue to out-innovate Yoast in my opinion. They provide a full set of tools that help make sure your website is properly buttoned up for Google.
Speed Optimization Plugins (caching plugins)
There are several speed optimization plugins that help your website pass Core Vitals. There are a few ways to handle all this. But we recommend WP Rocket in most cases. We have used Nitro Pack but it seems to have some consistency issues that it does not always improve the site 24x7. I’ve been in touch with their support with very little assistance although they did answer each of my tickets. But, frankly, you cannot have a product that does not deliver its result consistently. Therefore we provide WP Rocket with our WordPress hosting plans.
Design Tools
As for the design tools we recommend Elementor for various reasons and it is what I opted to do the demo with for the attached video. WP Bakery has not upped its game for core vitals which makes it far more difficult to succeed in the Core Vitals requirements. Divi Builder has been around for years and although many devs like it, I find it cumbersome. - Mostrar más
