Why having a blog is important for boosting your organic rankings

Blogging can be time-consuming and on other occasions it can be a significant financial investment but the rewards mean that it is certainly worthwhile as it will improve your search visibility.

Often, it is the case that a client wishes to rank higher for their keywords but doesn’t really know where to start or have the inclination. Budgets are invariably an issue and this can lead people to favour pay per click (PPC) campaigns for their perceived faster results – this is a short-term approach.

Earned rankings are a long-term investment so the earlier you start, the quicker you will start seeing the benefits. Posting blogs on your website is likely to reap dividends for years to come and not just at the time that they are posted.

Why do I need a blog?

Regardless of what industry you operate in, there will be a limited amount of appropriate keywords. This needs to be considered when you write your blog, it needs to be relevant to your industry, there is no point writing blog about the latest sports cars if you are in the plumbing industry – although there may be exceptions that we will consider later!

You should always aim for your website to be the ‘go to’ place when people are looking for information on a certain subject and being perceived as an expert will help you meet Google’s Search Quality Guidelines. However, with everyone striving to reach the same goal, you must start to use your imagination and think outside the box.

In Laymen’s terms, blogs give you the opportunity to gain more Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings as providing new, additional and relevant content means that you will be expanding your keywords. Using tools such as a keyword planner can help you to obtain the best ROI as you can devise a strategy to utilise all your keywords over the space of a few weeks.

So where does SEO fit in?

It seems common sense that the more often you rank in SERP, the higher your click-through rate will be. Equally, it is important to appreciate the role that this has on your SEO conversion funnel. The landing pages that your blogs direct browsers to should contain more general keywords as opposed to long-tail keywords. As a result, consumers are more likely to stay on your page and begin the buying process – perhaps without even realising it.

There are generally two types of browsers, those looking to compare prices and those looking to obtain information and perhaps solve a problem. Both groups are potential customers who will be looking to make a purchase – you just have to make them choose you. The impact of organic search campaigns will depend on how consumers interact with them and this is where SEO fits in as it will help these consumers locate the information and the products that they require.

Expanding your content

It is important to put yourself in the mind of consumers – what will they be asking prior to making a purchase? Returning to our plumber for one moment, a common question could be “What type of hot water heating system do I need?” As you can see, the browser is trying to obtain information and this may be down to sheer curiosity or they may be looking to make a purchase. Your role is to create a blog that provides them with useful information whilst also pushing yourself to the forefront of their mind when they wish to make a purchase.

In order to reach out to more potential clients you need to expand the depth and breadth of your content so consider semi-related topics as this will expand your keyword relevance. You could look at what your competitors are posting to obtain some ideas about topics you had previously not considered.

Although we mentioned earlier that there would be no point in posting about sports cars on a plumbers website there is perhaps some potential – if you can make it relevant. The key here is understanding what you potential customers deem to be “useful”. To do this you need to create a user persona that understands YOUR clients own lifestyle and behaviour.

For example, if you’re a plumber who installs top the range bathrooms your client based is likely to be more affluent. The chances are they are a family and they are looking to stay in the property for the foreseeable future. They are prepared to spend money on something that they view as an investment.

So, from these assumptions, perhaps posting about a sports car does match your potential clients’ aspirations. Your strategy therefore, is to get in front of these people as frequently as possible and this means appearing on more SERPs. The more frequently consumers see something the more likely they are to make a purchase. In 60% of consumers buy products from brands that they are consciously or unconsciously aware of. It therefore all about appearing on more SERPs.

Featured Snippets

Feature snippets are the larger boxes that people gain quick answers from – you don’t need to be ranked number one to get these either but you will rank at the top of the pile. Creating a blog on a specific subject increases your chances of doing this.

OK, snippets may be dependent on structured data markup but regardless, they are pulled from on-page, organic content. With this in mind, you should be looking to write a blog that answers a specific query so have a look which site currently achieves this objective. You now need to write something that is better and more relevant.

Finally

There is no way to get around it, blogs are a fantastic way the expand your brand’s presence in SERPs. They also create new content and this appeals to Google when it crawls and indexes sites, which, in turn, will lead to higher page rankings. In addition, it creates a greater amount of content for your site which makes it more aesthetically pleasing to browsers.

We appreciate that it make be time-consuming and a big commitment but just posting a few blogs a month will have a significant impact. You will be creating backlinks that will improve your Domain Authority and increase your online exposure. All this is likely to encourage your clients to engage with you, your company and your brand.

Organic SEO vs Googles AdWords: Which is best for my business?

We should all know the differences by now of what appears naturally in our searches as opposed to the paid for ads (AdWords). The question often asked is which is best? The short answer is neither. It completely depends on your situation, aims and market that you are in. It really helps to know your prospective clients and how they use the web, then you can strategise accordingly. This is important as to how each of these two strategies will perform.

Most medium sized businesses and marketing companies would say that a mixture of both is the best solution, taking us back to our first point that neither is better. The reality is that for many small businesses that simply isn’t an option due to budget restrictions or the amount of business they can provide compared to the cost (ROI). For example if you are a local business like a dentist, you probably already have some clients with only a limited amount of new business or customers you can handle. So the cost and time factors are obviously important so it’s not an option to pursue both.

The general consensus for most SMB’s is that SEO will long term give a better a better ROI. When done well, a well implemented SEO campaign will deliver more because the amount of clicks are not being paid for, and it will also normally work on other platforms like Bing and Yahoo etc, whereas AdWords is for Google only.

Key factors involved with their success

Another key element to consider when broadly determining what is the best option between SEO and PPC (pay per click like AdWords) is what type of site and business you have. By this I mean that if you have an eCommerce site then AdWords can be fantastic as Google gives an option for “Product Listing Ads” which dramatically improve click through rate. AdWords for services like Plumbers, Dentists etc need to have dedicated landing pages to boost click through. The problem being that when you are buying a bottle of Chanel No 5 you know what it is. It will be the same from whoever provided it, the only difference will be the price, stock and delivery time. If you are a dentist then it comes down to skill, reputation, reviews, distance, facilities etc etc. There is a lot of suspicion with AdWords regarding this key difference between shopping cart sites and services. As anyone can pay to appear does that necessarily make them good? Of course not, hence the lower click through for these types of small business. Generally you should ask yourself this: Do I click on AdWords?

With regards to SEO a lot of SMB’s tend to struggle to get started or get good results due to not getting their strategy right at the start. A local businessman with little competition for a high value and high profit service will likely do well with SEO, but someone with many services and competitors who is aiming at too many misunderstood markets will likely get little or no return. This is where the skill of a good marketing company comes in, to get the basics right at the start. Sadly a lot of businessmen do not take good advice, or worse, actually take bad advice. Arguing that you know better with a professional marketing company seems pointless when you are paying them to do what you obviously can’t. In the SEO, PPC and Social Media world it’s easy to think you know what to do or be burnt by unscrupulous companies meaning that the correct choice of what is best for your business often passes you by or is deemed bad.

In short, SEO drives 75% of search engine traffic averagely takes 15% of a marketing budget, whereas PPC gets less than 25% of all search traffic but yet gets 80% of marketing budgets. This is illogical until you consider the attraction of instant results, but with a massive bounce rate you can see why so much budget is just wasted. Businesses are ignoring the long term benefits of SEO driven traffic in favour of a short term instant win. And all those expensive paid per click mistakes goes straight into Googles wallet with absolutely no long term benefit to you or your site.

Simple Pros and Cons of AdWords

• Pros:
• Instant page 1 results and traffic
• Complete control over budget
• Agility to quickly switch your campaign or target market
• Remarketing to visitors who didn’t buy or connect
• Measurability with instant stats on whats working and whats not

• Cons:
• Cost – AdWords are deemed expensive especially if bounce rate is high
• Competitors can cost you by clicking on you from various devices
• Very complicated to do yourself with any success
• If your budget runs out you disappear completely
• Success also requires building of decent landing pages
• Limit on characters describing your products and services
• Can be outbid by competitors for Ads

Simple Pros and Cons of Organic SEO

• Pros:
• Infinite traffic with no extra cost
• Long lasting results even after stopping work
• Also rank for many non targeted key phrases
• Overall cost for an ROI is a lot lower
• SEO costs are variable
• You can help your own results
• You build trust and credibility to you brand
• You can capitalise on weak competition
• Your site will gain domain authority
• Your businesses worth will be increased

• Cons:
• Relies on a good strategy and advice
• Takes time, normally 3 to 6 months minimum
• There is no guarantee
• Relies on content more than ever

There is no real answer to which is best as stated at the beginning, but hopefully it’s clear that knowing your market, and the type of site you have are key in deciding between the two strategies if like most businesses you are not in a position to do both. If one thing is an ever present it’s getting it right at the start. A flawed marketing strategy is doomed to fail from the start if the basic questions have been skipped, or a business owners own aims are overriding the advice of professionals. If you are armed with good information from the start, then you are likely to end up with a good strategy that will pay dividends, no matter whether it is SEO or AdWords.

Looking at the list though and the stats provided by Moz that the lure of instant results AdWords cripples the decision to aim for the long term benefits of natural organic SEO.

Different elements to Google’s algorithm and what they do

We all know that Googles algorithm (the code that dictates the way it works) is a closely guarded and complicated secret. Recently we also discovered that there were over 200 ranking factors contained within it and that some of these carry a lot more weight than others. Most of us will have also heard of animal names cropping up when talking about Google and SEO rankings and results, for instance Penguin and Panda and most SMB’s will probably think they have been adversely affected by one of these critters. There are actually quite a few of these animals and they all do different things and happened at different times as Google is a constantly evolving beast itself.

Imagine that Google is a car, then its algorithm would be its engine. The engine itself would have many different main elements that would need servicing (updating) and rebuilds (new elements) over time to keep it performing to its maximum (keeping its users happy).

So lets take a look at these different parts to Googles engine / algorithm to get a better understanding of what to work on that will help us gain better results and rankings which lead to more traffic which leads to more enquiries which leads to more business!

How many different parts to Googles algorithm are there?

In reality there have actually been very very many, but some of them are incredibly minor, don’t affect rankings or very niche, so we are going to look at the most important and recent ones that affect rankings for businesses chronologically. Let’s have a brief rundown first:

• Panda, 2011
• Penguin, 2012
• Hummingbird, 2013
• Pigeon, 2014
• Mobile, 2015
• Rank Brain, 2015
• Possum, 2016
• Fred, 2017

So as we can see, they are not all animals! Looking at the timeline you can also see how these major updates happen yearly and also each element given its own individual updates. Google is a very reactionary algorithm. A lot of what it does is forced by websites themselves, specifically spam, fraudulent, pornographic and illegal sites so Google is constantly combating that.

Some of what it does rewards sites and so tries to encourage good practices for business owners to rank. This is also reactionary. Google has no big agenda, it simply tries to constantly give it’s users relevant results, and the actual way those results are requested changes all the time. as does the internet itself and the people using it.

Technology has changed massively since Google was launched in 1997/1998 with computers speeds, internet speeds, mobile devices, social media, amount of websites and how they work let alone the way we behave as users all changing massively in that time so it’s understandable that all these updates happen.

Let’s look at the main animals / elements of the above list and what they do and how that affects SEO rankings for business owners online.

Panda – Content

Specifically targeting thin, duplicate, low quality content and also key word stuffing. This is a major element we have discussed previously when discussing content, so the flip side to these bad practices being pushed down in the rankings is that high quality content is rewarded. Bear in mind that this also goes for content on where your links are coming from offsite, and most site owners won’t know this, so this is a major ranking factor as it all content everywhere. Content writing and structure is a skill and has been discussed previously, and the sites that have utilised this rank better. Having none, stealing it will only push you down so while you cannot control the content off site, you can certainly improve your own.

Penguin – Back Links

This is another major ranking factor as it specifically targets links, which we all know are important. Irrelevant, spammy and over optimised anchor text (exact key phrase matching) will all be punishable as having many of these is seen as trying to manipulate Google. Since late 2016 this algorithm runs live so whereby building a good link will bump you up in the rankings in a short time, building a bad link will do the same. Pre 2016 being punished only happened yearly so you could build bad backlinks all year and then gain the benefits, but not any more. Sudden changes (large amounts) will also get you punished as this does not seem natural either.

Pigeon – Location

This is closely linked to the main Google algorithm in that optimisation and content are important, but the context is the users search location. Now that the vast majority of searches are done on mobile and many of the searches for services are localised, Google now places more importance on how your site tells people where you are. For localised businesses like restaurants, garages, dentists etc etc, being in directories, having decent on page optimisation like relevant location based content and name, address and phone number (NAP) consistent across the web will be rewarded. Localised relevant links will instantly rank you higher too.

Possum – Local Search

Virtually the same as pigeon except that it’s even more localised. If that doesn’t make sense then it’s only really important if there is a lot of competition for the same phrase, for example “best restaurant in Pattaya” will be even more focused on the users location if there are many sites that could rank for that term. If one of the sites was far from you but should rank higher, that restaurant is deemed less relevant to you by Google. So if there is a site that would rank lower for “best restaurant Pattaya” but it is closer to you then that is far more likely to appear in the SERP. This is only relevant if there is a lot of competition but as a business owner you hopefully should be aware of this.

All in all it should be quite easy to pick out from this list exactly what you want to rank for and how to improve it. Get a decent marketing or SEO company that specialises in this to help and you will see the difference.

Googles “Mobile First Index” update and how this will affect SEO rankings

Google is perhaps rolling out the most important update for years with its very recently announced “Mobile First Index”. For a long time now Google has been encouraging web masters and site owners to make their sites responsive and mobile friendly. This is perhaps old news, but there were many changes and actions made by Google over the last few years that affected site owners financially due to lost traffic from not having a mobile friendly site and losing money from that sudden decrease in users.

The reason Google decided to make changes in this area is that search queries have been steadily increasing for mobile searches over desktop and in about 2015 they announced that 10 of the worlds leading countries had finally gone past 50%. So what is the new update about? Well the clue is in the name, for the first time Google will be generating its index (rankings) from the mobile version of your site first, rather than the traditional crawl of your desktop site. So what I hear some of you say? Well this could make a potentially big difference to rankings. It’s unlikely that this update will be a world wide instant roll out as it will cause too much fluctuation and user experience loss to its users so instead it will slowly be rolled out worldwide throughout 2018.

Google said:

“To make our results more useful, we’ve begun experiments to make our index mobile-first. Although our search index will continue to be a single index of websites and apps, our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from those pages in our results. Of course, while our index will be built from mobile documents, we’re going to continue to build a great search experience for all users, whether they come from mobile or desktop devices.”

What if you don’t have a mobile site? Well then Google will simply use your desktop version, but bear in mind Google gave warning in the SERP (search engine results page) in the past warning users that sites were not mobile friendly and so heavily influencing people to click on sites that were. There will soon not be any mobile mobile friendly adjustment, with all results coming from the mobile index meaning your desktop results will obviously be affected too as there will only be one unified index, with mobile being the basis due to it’s higher percentage of users. Google is simply following where users are heading by providing results based on their needs so it seems crazy not take notice of this as mobile searches will not go back down and suddenly be overtaken by desktop again.

How much will my Google rankings change with this Google update?

The main reason this should be a worry for a lot of business owners is that their mobile versions (whether a dedicated or responsive version) may have significantly large portions of its content hidden, blocked or pages removed completely. This has traditionally been done for a number of obvious reasons that affect the overall user experience including, page load times, large headers and banners just forcing more scrolling, images that affect screen space etc etc etc

Two Google representatives have stated that they only want minimal change based around this update, but this is not only vague but massively contradictory. If there was going to be little to no difference in the rankings and Google would simply use your desktop version to rank you, then why did they punish sites in the past and why bother with this update at all if it wont affect the SERP? It obviously really means that they don’t want there to be mass confusion and negative publicity from site owners who feel penalised so there will obviously be quite a lot of shifts in the rankings and the index, but Google will simply slowly roll the out gradually to minimise that backlash.

Will Mobile First Index actually benefit already mobile-friendly sites?

This is hard to say, but it seems that content that has already been made expandable (accordion boxes, hidden tabs and expandable tabs etc) could carry more weight on mobile as they are designed to enhance the mobile experience, whereas on the desktop version they don’t, so its entirely possible that sites already well designed an optimised for mobile could get a boost in the rankings. This will be further amplified by their competitors dropping down so you can easily see that this can make a big difference to your business.

How do you tell if Google is indexing your mobile pages? Well luckily Google has already provided web designers, SEO consultants and site owners the “Fetch and Render Tool” in their Search Console. This enables you to see a preview of what Google will see when viewing your site. If anything is missing it will give you a chance to rectify it. More importantly, if your site ranks well and gets the vast majority of its traffic from mobile devices, then it might be a good idea to make sue that the mobile version is optimised as good as it can be to be prepared for this latest change.

Google Plus (Maps) will help your SEO

Some businesses still aren’t set up on Google Plus (also known as Maps, Places and Google My Business) which is pretty much crazy. Often, even if they are set up, its not properly optimised, claimed or even accurate etc. Whilst its fair to say that Google never quite got this whole service right from the start as it’s very confusing, it does have the virtue of being free and can provide traffic and business all on its own. It has become very confusing due to the constant rebranding and it has had an almost never ending stream of changes, hence why so many listings are not optimised correctly. Many users are also confused between a personal page and a business page (like Facebook) except you don’t need a personal page for G+.

In fact, to benefit from maps you don’t even need a website. You can generate customers and business simply by being found in the map results of Google, their Apps and best of all, even in organic search queries that show map results. Quite why some high street businesses have not created a listing is almost baffling. The most obvious benefit if you have a site is that you can have 2 results on the first page if you are lucky, which can obviously double your chances of generating traffic and business.

Google Plus is also a social network, you can post to followers, it caters for groups, it also handles reviews and is connected to all their other services. It requires a simple verification process then you can complete your profile. The better optimised and the more info is in your listing the better your chances of appearing in the organic search.

How does Google Plus help your organic SEO?

There are many ways it can help. Posts on G+ generate their own URL’s and so increase the size of your relative index with Google. Regular posts with traffic, followers and comments can increase your organic rankings by about 15% which can make the difference between page 1 or not, let alone getting into the top 3 positions for the most traffic and highest conversion rates. In its simplest form its a verified business listing which is about as good a link as you can get, after all, its with Google themselves. Your opening hours, pictures and reviews are all easily accessible and so will be found for more search queries.
It’s really up to you how much time you use it and are active on it, but not having the basic listing is simply stupid, especially if you have a web site that ranks or is trying to rank.

How does Google Plus and Maps actually work?

G+ is essentially a business listing much like Yellow Pages etc, except that it works live and interacts with Googles own maps. Other directories have added more features and maps on their pages, but you have to be inside them to view locations. Having a G+ account means your directory is completely optimised and integrated into the maps section of the search engine results page, Googles Maps apps on mobile devices and most importantly, you may feature in the organic search results when Google chooses to display local listings. This last section varies a lot but is easily worth the most when it comes to gaining business.
When Google put map results at the top of the organic search, users can’t help but to be drawn to the top and the easy to understand graphic. We also subconsciously trust the organic results as they are not paid for and we know Google is trying to give us the highest relevancy to our search query.
Appearing here will depend on quite a lot of other factors, but it’s also possible to appear with an unclaimed and unoptimised listing.

Claimed and unclaimed makes a huge difference

To maximise your appearance in the organic search results will largely come down to how much competition there is and who got their first. Whilst you may now not have the luxury of controlling those two factors, you can help in many other ways.
Most Digital Marketing Companies are fully aware of the importance will normally include this as pert of their SEO or Social Media strategy. Google caters for admins in case you are worried about someone else using your account.

Many people can be present on G+ as someone has added their business to it so they see their pin when they look at their local area in maps or search their company name. Basically the general public can add a place of interest to maps, but this is an unverified and unoptimised listing that is often inaccurate. You must claim your listing or better still create your own account.

If you have been working on your SEO in any way then you will probably already be listed in other directories. If your name, address and phone number is consistent in these other directories (especially if they are old) then this will dramatically help your chances of increased exposure in the maps.
Completing your profile (by being verified) will also help, as will reviews, posts and any activity showing Google you are active and real. Not just a pin created by a tourist 3 years ago. Basically a verified listing that is active is a lot better, way more trustworthy and important to Google to one that isn’t. Maximising a free service is such a no brainer in todays marketing world, especially when it can benefit your SEO rankings.