#google's algorithms

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/five-tips-for-local-search-in-2020-202009/

Five Tips For Local Search In 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it so that most people are going out for exactly what they want and returning home without making any unnecessary stops. That is why it is critical for business owners to take advantage of local search engine optimization, or local SEO. Whether it’s to find the nearest Mexican food restaurant or a grocery store open past 10 PM, people are using search engines to meet these needs.

Since search engine algorithms change all the time, a business cannot depend on only one strategy to stay on top of local SEO results. Studies have shown that most people using Google will rarely look past page 1 to find an answer.

Here are some ways you can improve your local SEO results in 2020.

SEO Strategies for 2020

1. Develop Your Web Presence

Google’s update to the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) algorithm allows for the conversational understanding of the Google search bar. This means the search engine can understand longer and more complex search terms allowing it to use context to better understand the goal of the user.

A website that is full of pictures and lacks meaningful text will not score very well with the new algorithm. Therefore, it is important that a business understand what potential customers are looking for, how they are searching for it, and then present that answer in both informative text and images. A diverse method of marketing combined with consistent service will develop these users into returning customers.

Developing your web presence with the understanding of how your website interacts with the end-user will allow your local SEO results to stay near the top.

2. Rely on the Experience of Others

Customers do not all search for a topic the same way, and search engines understand that as well. It is important that businesses rely on the diverse background of their employees to help with the local SEO strategy. Diversifying your team, whether in-house or with an agency that specializes in local SEO, will help ensure your business reaches as far as possible.

3. Coordinated Marketing Campaigns

We all remember a commercial jingle we heard when we were young that we can still sing today, some including the telephone number of the business. That is why it is so important to use your non-digital marketing materials to support your digital platform. This dual strategy helps develop consistent search terms for your product and puts those terms in front of a potential customer eating in a restaurant, listening to the radio, or driving down the road. The use of guided search terms will have a positive impact on your local SEO success.

4. Manage Customer Reviews

One of the first places potential customers look when researching a business is the review section. If your local SEO team does not include a person dedicated to social media and responding to reviews, you might be losing potential sales. A positive digital presence is a key to making a good first impression for someone who has never been to your business.

Companies who ignore online reviews do so at their own peril. It is well-known that ignoring negative reviews, or hostile replies from the business will negatively impact sales/profit for that business. Ensure your team has a strategy for interacting with the public through all forms of social media, including reviews.

5. Succeeding in Uncertain Times

Unfortunately, no one knows how long the pandemic is going to last. Success requires flexibility and agility in a competitive marketplace. Now is the time to focus on your company’s specializations and capitalize on those strengths. Use your digital and offline marketing tools to ensure your brand is building trust and creating positive relationships with potential customers. This focus will allow you to fine-tune your digital platform and increase your local SEO ratings.

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/homebuilder-search-engine-optimization-a-potential-tool-to-reach-more-clients-202007/

Homebuilder Search Engine Optimization: A Potential Tool To Reach More Clients

Search Engine Optimization, when done properly, is better than any targeted advertisement campaign. That is because over 90% of internet searches go through Google and Google’s algorithms use keywords that people type in to help bring up pages that they might be interested in which could be yours.

Particularly in industries where you must see large volumes of people before making a sale, like the homebuilding industry, SEO can be an invaluable tool to help grow your business for free and better than your competitors. Obviously, you would want people just to search for your company’s name and they come to your page. This is what most of your competitors probably do and it is a huge mistake.

Why is that? Because people wanting to buy a custom home are probably going to do a whole bunch of searches before ever coming to your website. These potential customers might even be looking for products or services completely unrelated to custom homes but homebuilder SEO can help bring these people to your company before they see a competitor.

One of the best ways to guarantee that your website shoots to the top of Google searches is by creating consistent, quality content. The content should seek to answer common questions people might have which will eventually lead them to you when you provide them with a solution!

When creating this content, you should never lose focus that the goal is to sell someone a custom home. Because of that, do not write just generic content related to buying a home but material more focused toward your niche such as how to obtain financing to help build a custom home.

Below you will find some suggestions for creating relevant content that is engaging and will bring customers. Obviously, you do not have to do all of these, even though it would be great if you did, but doing at least some of these will surely make your homebuilder SEO much more effective.

Bringing Others onto Your Website

You would be foolish to think you have all the answers or know everything in your field. Since none of us could possibly know everything, try reaching out to other, knowledgeable people who can publish guest posts would bring some new flare. Additionally, instead of letting others write, you could even do interviews yourself and then publish your findings on your website.

By bringing on additional people, you have the added benefit of eliminating your own bias and bringing fresh, new ideas you might not have thought about otherwise. These industry experts will probably also have their own websites and blogs that they can broadcast your business, which would only make the efforts of your homebuilder SEO snowball.

Making Unrelated Content Related to You

As mentioned earlier, people are probably not looking for you so that means you will have to write about things to make them want to come to your website. Here are some common topics you can use homebuilder SEO to make people more enticed to use your services:

Moving

Writing about moving is a great way to utilize homebuilder SEO to generate views to your website because people move every day and they need to go to a new home. Why not one of yours?

There is a lot that goes into a move from picking the right movers, to the insurance, to how to pack and account for property, and countless other things that people have questions about all the time. You could then throw in suggestions like how your company would let them use your custom homes as storage while work is still being done or something to that effect.

Financing

Most homeowners are not going to be able to afford to pay for a home out of pocket and need some sort of financing. The good news here is there are literally limitless topics to write about for custom homes and utilizing homebuilder SEO. It does not matter what you write about as long as you can tie in the end result or talk specifics about a custom home in the end.

Local Amenities

Maybe your business operates near some high profile retirement communities or large schools. Maybe there is a lot of businesses that bring outside workers who may not like the style of homes traditionally being built in the area. Maybe you build homes close to a downtown area. The options here are endless. As long as you use good homebuilder SEO you are sure to interest some people who are simply doing some research about the area.

Conclusion

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/seo-trends-for-2020-201912/

SEO Trends For 2020

There are many articles about Google “SEO trends” but all of them say basically the same thing: Things will continue to change. This is why it’s so difficult to find a definitive list. Nevertheless, here are some trends for 2020 that have been seen starting to form throughout 2019.

Google is Highly Focused on Intent

Based on how people conduct searches, Google has gotten really good at reading intent and providing different content based on whether it thinks you want to buy something or have a question answered. You should remember this when you’re creating content for your website. SEO services must tailor their customers’ content’s language and structure accordingly.

Page Speed is Frequently Overlooked

Google is so concerned with page speed that they’ve publicly stated that figures into how their algorithm ranks a website. Unfortunately, some SEO services still overlook this factor, which is a critical mistake not only for SEO but also for the end user. It really does pay off to take the time to optimize images, utilize caching, and cut down on the number of redirects your site uses.

While Paid Search is Important, Organic Search is Even More Important

Many businesses need to improve upon their organic search. While paid search is oftentimes easier and faster, over 50% of website traffic comes from organic search today. Unfortunately, it can be very challenging to tap into this though since a comprehensive, sustainable strategy is necessary. Don’t get caught up in publishing a lot of content though. Instead, focus on producing as much well-structured, authoritative content as possible.

The No-Click Search Results era has Arrived

Although this probably sounds counterintuitive, it’s important to understand that most search results never get clicked on. While it’s possible that this is because people are searching for things and not finding what they need, but more than likely it’s because Google’s rich-featured results give them all the information they need so they don’t need to click through to your website. This is something that we’ll see happening even more as Google works to improve its snippets, knowledge graphs, and local business listings. The information that’s found herein is quick and easy to digest so people get everything they need without ever clicking through to a website.

Content is Still King Just in a New, Urgent Way

Today’s search algorithms are pickier than ever. They strongly prefer content that’s well organized, highly optimized, authoritative and valuable all at the same time. So, while word count and keyword density are helpful, they’re not as important if your content isn’t on par. This is why content mills and black hat SEO are quickly becoming things of the past.

Today, the information’s quality and relevance are just as important as making sure that everything on the page is structured and optimized properly – not only for the page itself, but also for the website. All these things work together to provide Google with the signals its algorithm needs to use to decide where to place you in the SERPs. This is why site audits (a full inventory of your sitemap) are so important anymore.

Conclusion

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/understanding-forensic-seo-201910/

Understanding Forensic SEO

Forensic SEO is one of the main areas in which SEO has truly evolved over the past 10 years. Now it seems like everyone knows about this practice. Unfortunately, there’s still some confusion about it though.

Understanding the Basics

Although nobody knows where the term started, this form of SEO is about dealing with a website that’s lost its visibility whether it’s because of a manual action, the dampening effect (e.g. Penguin, Panda), on-site issues, or a combination of these things. This is why it’s so important to cover all the bases here, including data assessment, SEO changes to the website, changes to the website’s development or the host itself, external factors (e.g. link building), changes to Google’s algorithms, an evolving market, negative SEO, or the site’s integrity. The one thing all these things have in common is your website will lose visibility.

Discovering What’s Wrong with Your Website

When you want to start working on forensic SEO, you must start with a website SEO audit. Make sure you take a close look at manual actions here and dig through all the aforementioned points. Take time to isolate each of these areas and make notes about anything important you discover. Some of the key elements you’ll want to look at here include:

Data: Here you must dig into the past as far as possible to see what you may have otherwise overlooked that’s negatively affecting your SEO. Oftentimes you won’t have many records to look back at though. This is because you may not have things like developer changelogs, SEO activity records and dates, or annotated analytics available to you. When this happens you’ll find yourself dependent upon your own instincts.

Knee Jerk Reactions: Many times, you’ll find you’ve panicked and implemented a fix without considering its effects. You must make sure you address these things now separately from your original issue.

Working on Recovery

As you work your way backwards, you’ll eventually arrive at some solid leads regarding the issues. However, your website SEO audit isn’t the end because now you must work on recovery. Fortunately, when you’re dealing with manual actions things are rather straightforward since you know what the issues are, and you can now address them appropriately. This doesn’t make them any less scary, but at least you now have a starting point. You can use the data and information you must now cover as much ground as possible. Of course, you must maintain focus as you do so and implement one fix at a time and watch what happens when you do so. This could either have a positive effect or a negative one.

If you’re working on a website SEO audit for a client, it can be quite challenging to get them on board here. However, it’s vital for you to focus on your website’s health and listen to what information you have at hand. This is where the basics of forensic SEO lie. In all honesty, it’s a tough job but somebody needs to do it and if it’s your “job” you’re in for quite a roller coaster ride.

Conclusion

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/john-muellers-answers-to-negative-seo-attacks-201906/

John Mueller's Answers to Negative SEO Attacks

John Mueller from Google recently answered a question about a suspected negative SEO attack. This question was based on a website’s owner’s belief that they were getting a lot of spammy links because their competition was attempting to lower their rankings. The website owner wanted to know whether they should continue to disavow these links every week. Mueller replied that Google’s algorithm is programmed to ignore spammy links altogether. This seems to work rather well since there doesn’t seem to be many issues.

Normal Spam Links vs Negative SEO

Mueller also said there’s a difference here. He says that Google sees a lot of normal spam links. They just happen naturally all the time since the very beginning of the search engine. He acknowledges that this often happens because spammers believe that if they link to a high-ranking website, they can make Google believe that they’re more of an authority than they actually are. These websites do this in hopes that they’re spammy links will be overlooked – something that doesn’t work. This is an outdated SEO myth, dating back to 1998. Mueller advises website owners not to worry too much about these links saying that Google will usually figure this out on its own.

Using the Disavow Tool

Google’s disavow tool is available to those who are still concerned that spammy links will lower their standing in the SERPs. While Mueller says that this tool is unnecessary, he admits that developers have left it here as a way to help calm webmasters’ nerves. Instead of losing sleep over these links you can use this tool to make sure that Google handles them correctly. Mueller says it’s perfectly fine to do so since you’re not admitting that you’re guilty or anything. Instead, you’re simply telling Google that these links shouldn’t be taken into account for your website. There are many reasons why you may want this to happen so Google’s algorithm doesn’t even try to figure out your reasoning here.

Google’s Disavow Tool

Another tool that Google has made available to webmasters is the domain detective tool. This tool makes it easy for you to handle spammy links by placing them in a disavow file, which is great if you have extreme cases of your website being spammed. Otherwise you shouldn’t use this tool much. In fact, Mueller recommends that you only use it in very rare occasions. This means that most websites should never have a need to use this tool, which is why Google has placed it away from the search console where you won’t be as tempted to use it.

Google and Negative SEO

The bottom line is Google is able to handle any of the normal spammy links that may come your website’s way. This is because since the very beginning their algorithm is set up to do so, allowing you not to worry too much about them. You can tell simply by looking at their business model that they want to get rid of as much of the irrelevant nonsense that exists online today as they possibly can. As such, they’ll always ignore any links that are located outside of the “normal” neighborhood. Instead, Google will concentrate on ranking websites with great content, that get rave reviews from visitors without any regard to the spammy links it may also receive.

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/whats-old-seo-sometimes-still-good-201708/

What's Old In SEO Is Sometimes Still Good

SEO is an ever changing landscape. In the past 20 plus years, webmasters have seen search engines coming up with more and more ways of leveling the playing field to support professionalism and honesty in websites. Gone are the days of spam and manipulation, and the focus now is on several factors and tactics that you had better adopt and follow or you’ll be left in the dust. Here, we’ll take a look at what works still and what to avoid.

First of all, using sloppy or unprofessional layout and structure will get you creamed by the search engines. If your site looks like it was built by a chimpanzee on crack, you will soon find your SERP listing somewhere so low it would take a surfer years to find it. Google’s bots will have to not only see your site but will have to be able to send in data that fits Google’s standards. Google is sick and tired of worthless websites that deliver nothing near to the value of what its surfers desire and need. If surfers run into sites that are nothing more than spam traps, the surfers will go elsewhere and Google loses revenue and traffic. This is like poison to Google and any search engine, so it’s best you go pro or suffer the consequences.

Take the time to review your site honestly and objectively. Make sure the spelling and grammar are the best you can do and make sure the tags are relevant and the navigation is easy. Don’t cram each page with redundant or irrelevant information. Honesty is the best policy and any deception will either be picked up by Google’s algorithms or by surfers who file complaints.

No Black Hat Techniques

Second, no ‘Black Hat’ techniques. There’s always some joker who thinks he can beat the system. In many cases, the smartest programmers and developers will indeed find an exploit to cheat the search engine systems. Not so much today as in the past, but it still happens now and then. Next thing you know, they’ve put out a course or tutorial to sell their tactics as legit, and other webmasters fall for it and find out later that their sites have been banned into oblivion by Google.

Again, honesty is the best policy here. Sure a black hat tactic might get you up in the SERPs, but that’s only temporary until you’re found out by the algorithms or by surfers, or worse, by your competition that will rat you out in a minute. When this happens your name and company and websites will be dirt and you may never recover from it. Not only that but if you’re building sites for others and they find out you’ve been dishonest, you’re looking at a lawsuit or even criminal charges.

Honorable Linking Is Best

Search engines gauge your site’s importance by the friends you keep. Linking or linkbuilding as it’s called is still effective. The issue here is that these links have to be from relevant, honorable, authoritative sites, not spammy sites that are out to deceive surfers. If you think the number of links you have inbound is going to get you over, you’re in for a big nasty surprise.

Don’t join webrings of links as it’s sure one or more in the group are crooks and Google will see this and ban you via ‘guilt by association’. Spend time nurturing link exchanges using social media and good conduct. This will show Google’s algorithms that you’re a real, active website and not some bot run zombie. Who You Gonna Call?

New Post has been published on https://www.localseotampa.com/whats-old-seo-sometimes-still-good-201708/

What's Old In SEO Is Sometimes Still Good

SEO is an ever changing landscape. In the past 20 plus years, webmasters have seen search engines coming up with more and more ways of leveling the playing field to support professionalism and honesty in websites. Gone are the days of spam and manipulation, and the focus now is on several factors and tactics that you had better adopt and follow or you’ll be left in the dust. Here, we’ll take a look at what works still and what to avoid.

First of all, using sloppy or unprofessional layout and structure will get you creamed by the search engines. If your site looks like it was built by a chimpanzee on crack, you will soon find your SERP listing somewhere so low it would take a surfer years to find it. Google’s bots will have to not only see your site but will have to be able to send in data that fits Google’s standards. Google is sick and tired of worthless websites that deliver nothing near to the value of what its surfers desire and need. If surfers run into sites that are nothing more than spam traps, the surfers will go elsewhere and Google loses revenue and traffic. This is like poison to Google and any search engine, so it’s best you go pro or suffer the consequences.

Take the time to review your site honestly and objectively. Make sure the spelling and grammar are the best you can do and make sure the tags are relevant and the navigation is easy. Don’t cram each page with redundant or irrelevant information. Honesty is the best policy and any deception will either be picked up by Google’s algorithms or by surfers who file complaints.

No Black Hat Techniques

Second, no ‘Black Hat’ techniques. There’s always some joker who thinks he can beat the system. In many cases, the smartest programmers and developers will indeed find an exploit to cheat the search engine systems. Not so much today as in the past, but it still happens now and then. Next thing you know, they’ve put out a course or tutorial to sell their tactics as legit, and other webmasters fall for it and find out later that their sites have been banned into oblivion by Google.

Again, honesty is the best policy here. Sure a black hat tactic might get you up in the SERPs, but that’s only temporary until you’re found out by the algorithms or by surfers, or worse, by your competition that will rat you out in a minute. When this happens your name and company and websites will be dirt and you may never recover from it. Not only that but if you’re building sites for others and they find out you’ve been dishonest, you’re looking at a lawsuit or even criminal charges.

Honorable Linking Is Best

Search engines gauge your site’s importance by the friends you keep. Linking or linkbuilding as it’s called is still effective. The issue here is that these links have to be from relevant, honorable, authoritative sites, not spammy sites that are out to deceive surfers. If you think the number of links you have inbound is going to get you over, you’re in for a big nasty surprise.

Don’t join webrings of links as it’s sure one or more in the group are crooks and Google will see this and ban you via ‘guilt by association’. Spend time nurturing link exchanges using social media and good conduct. This will show Google’s algorithms that you’re a real, active website and not some bot run zombie. Who You Gonna Call?