Improve Your Local SEO via Content Marketing

Published on: 11 April 2017 Last Updated on: 04 September 2024

In 2016, a local business in Lethbridge, Alberta, won the viral lottery when a raving Facebook post drew in customers in flocks. Whitby’s Fish and Chips shop was struggling for months due to poor location and expensive marketing.

Owner John McMillan, who had been unable to pay himself a salary, shared his plight with a first-time customer Colin Ross. The meeting changed Whitbie’s destiny. Ross posted a Facebook review promoting the shop and urging the close-knit Canadian community to help out McMillan by trying the sumptuous items on Whitbie’s menu.

The post went viral and sent people lining up from opening to well past closing time. According to a local news report, about 400 people visited the shop the day after Ross’s post, and 500 more lined up the next day.

The power of digital marketing

The viral post about Whitbie’s is a dream come true for any business. Not only did it provide the local shop exposure in local and international news outlets, but most importantly, it brought in real customers. Whitbie’s social media success is one of the products of digital marketing.

Digital marketing is simply the promotion of products and services via digital technologies such as the Internet, mobile phones, and display advertising. One of the most popular digital marketing tools is social media where roughly a third of the global population actively interact.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of techniques that helps businesses and publishers maximize digital marketing in reaching out to their target audience. Essentially, its main goal is to rank high in search results pages.

Google uses 200 signals in ranking webpages including keywords, the freshness of content, and region. It’s the job of a digital marketing agency to apply effective and ethical SEO strategies to sustain a business’ top ranking in major search engines.

Local SEO and citation consistency

If SEO is macro, local SEO is micro. Local SEO “allows local businesses to promote their services to local customers at exactly the time they’re looking for your type of business.” This set of processes aims to target real customers in a geographical location. Aside from search engines, local SEO uses online directories such as Yelp, Qype, and TouchLocal.

The core of local SEO is information. Your citation or NAP (name, address and phone number) must be updated and consistent in all webpages and online directories. Inconsistency can adversely affect your ranking in organic search results.

Try searching for your business in search engines. You’ll see which webpages still reflect your previous address or old phones. “The citation consistency of your business across the web helps search engines decide where you are geographically relevant for various local search queries,” wrote Sinclaire Dickinson, content strategist at Wired SEO.

The 3-pack challenge

Recently, SEO experts received news that would make their jobs a little more challenging. Google updated its search results to show three local businesses instead of seven. The business listings were also redesigned to suit the mobile user interface.

According to Google, the update “provides people with more than relevant information, including photos, review, and prices, for searches that have multiple results for a given location.” The challenge lies in how to make into the first three results in the world’s most powerful search engine.

Content strategies for your business

Google’s ranking factors serve as a compass leading the best digital marketing tactics. Ross’ viral Facebook on Whitbie’s Fish and Chips shop has the formula every digital marketer aims to master: a unique content too appealing to influence action.

Ross’ own reputation as an influencer within his own circle was also key. Content is one of the most important signals Google use in ranking webpages. In creating an article or video for your business, use Google’s content-related ranking signals as your guide.

Your content must not only be original, but it should also provide value and unique insights. This increases demand for journalistic materials supported by data and written by experts. Create useful content for your target audience.

Food brands are making 30-second cooking videos sharing how their products can be incorporated in easy-to-make meals. Regularly update your webpages and social media pages as Google takes note of the recency of content updates especially for time-sensitive searches.

Don’ts in content marketing

Do you need to hire an SEO expert or a digital marketing agency? Google warns that choosing an SEO expert partner is critical for your business as it can either improve your site or risk damage to your site and reputation. “Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site.”

Some of the techniques that you or your SEO expert should avoid is producing duplicate materials on the same site, spinning words to create “new” content, and posting misleading information. Google advises to watch out for rogue SEOs that own shadow domains, place links to their other clients on doorway pages, and offer to sell keywords in the address bar.

Shadow domains direct users to the website through deceptive redirects. Attaining a number 1 ranking on Google is not guaranteed. If your SEO promises a top spot, it’s likely that it’s a scam.

Some content marketing tips from experts

Today, consumers would check online reviews, blogs, and other online information before making a purchase. One tip to boost your local SEO is to submit guest posts on local websites. This will expose your business and offerings, and earn you valuable backlinks. Backlinks are ranking factors.

You should also make use of relevant local keywords. An SEO expert can help you determine the right keywords that will attract local searchers.

Produce content relevant to your local audience. One of the most popular blog posts is how-to’s or “Top 10” lists related to a certain industry. Adding high-quality photos can also help.

A viral post can only come once in a lifetime. Instead of aspiring for something that will be shared everywhere, work for content that will place you on top of search engines and attract real customers within your region of operation. Maximize local SEO. Create useful and appealing content. Reach out to people who will bring value to your business.

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Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

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3 Major SEO Predictions for 2020

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving concept because digital technology is always succeeding in finding new ways to elevate the user experience. With each algorithm formula change, it gets more difficult to rank because the bar of excellence is being raised continuously by search engines like Google and Bing. Search engine algorithms are calculated to make optimization user-friendly but, at the same time, it makes it challenging for companies to stay ahead of digital marketing ranking factors. Here are three major SEO predictions for 2020. 1. Screenless Voice Queries: Data collected by Gartner finds that by 2020, a third to half of search engine queries will be screenless voice queries. This isn’t such a problematic prediction because the technology had been slowly shifting to the dominance of voice-activated technology because of the popularity of Siri and Alexa. More than 77 million Americans also use voice-assistance applications when driving, which has encouraged hands-free voice technology as the preferred method when shopping or searching for credible data. PCs and mobile phones will come ready to use with standard screenless voice query apps. Instead of returning results in a ranked list of indexed content, businesses need to prepare now for search engines returning the top-rated content, much like the formula for Google Maps. The queries will take into consideration consumer engagement, referrals and brand recognition. This is a primary concern, so SEO companies like San Jose SEO Smart Street Media are helping clients now prepare for voice query keywords. 2. Social Media, Content Indexing & SEO: SEO will still be dependent on searches, but social media platforms will become a significant factor in organic ranking in 2020. Historically, indexing focused on targeted keywords and long-tail phrases but, soon, the content will be ranked on branding, engagement, and keyword strong points. Unless your business focuses more on content that drives social media engagement, you’ll be missing out on essential ranking criteria. Social media marketing will become more credible and creative as well. As most of the world check social media at least once daily, companies will need the expertise of SEO companies or social media managers to ensure that their local SEO and national SEO strategy includes engagement, likes, shares, and comments. Another similar prediction is that as referrals will increase ranking, trends like backlinks will become less influential. 3. PC or Mobile-first Indexing SERP: Consumers have heard about mobile-first indexing since 2018 because desktop searches were continuously declining as smartphone usage increased. Google took the initiative to prepare for the future with its mobile-first index. In 2020, digital marketers will encourage businesses to offer dual website designs for PC and mobile phone users since search engines will soon answer user queries with either a PC or mobile-first indexing answer. With the mobile-first indexing, Google won’t want to index switchboard tags and will return the search engine results page (SERP) recommendations based on how a user requests information. Ultimately, each of these predictions will depend mainly on SEO-qualifying content that is indexed based on the targeted user’s device and will drive traffic to sites that ultimately deliver. Read Also: Improve Your Domain Using These SEO Tips What You Need To Know When Outsourcing SEO 8 Reasons Your SEO Campaigns Aren’t Showing The Desired Results

Importance of Web Push Notifications in Search Engine Optimization

If you are concerned about getting your website ranked high up in search engine results, you will need to pay special attention towards the web push notifications. It has been identified as one of the proven methods available for you to secure higher positions in the search engine rankings. Why search engines pay attention to web push notifications as a ranking parameter? First of all, you must understand why all the leading search engines such as Google and Yahoo have started paying attention to web push notifications as a ranking parameter. Every single business that exists out there in the world is equipped with their loyal customer bases. Your business will have such a customer base as well. Those customers will visit your website on a regular basis to see what you have got for sale. Those customers are concerned about what your brand has got to offer. This ensures repeated traffic to your website. When you are having a bigger customer base, you will be able to end up with better conversions as well. You can allow web push notifications to provide the latest updates to your customer base. Then you can increase their chances of coming to your website. This can be considered as the main reason why search engines tend to pay special attention to web push notifications. Below mentioned are a few examples, which indicate how web push notifications are capable of providing tremendous assistance to you with increasing your rankings on search engines. 1. They can assist you to create a marketing list: If you are looking for a convenient method to create a marketing list, web push notifications will be one of the greatest options available to consider. It is an extremely easy task for the people to sign up to receive web push notifications. They just need to allow or block, once they are prompted with the notification. As a result, any business owner can instantly transform a visitor into a subscriber of the website. The web push notifications are effective and impressive when compared to landing pages and marketing emails. People in today’s world rarely tend to go ahead and complete the lead generation forms on the landing pages and emails that they receive. By taking a look at the conversion rates, you will be able to get a better understanding of the above-mentioned fact. However, it is possible to engage in an effective and efficient marketing campaign. This has impressed the search engines as well. 2. They can help you to drive repetitive traffic: Another obvious benefit associated with web push notifications is that they are in a position to drive repetitive traffic towards your website. You just need to send out a push notification when there is an update. Then your loyal customer base would come to your website in order to see what the update is all about. With this, you can easily increase the traffic that you are getting on the website. The best thing about web push notifications is that it can help you to drive relevant traffic towards the website. Therefore, every single visitor that comes into your website will be in a position to contribute towards your business at the end of the day. This can be considered as another great reason available for the search engines to provide more attention towards your website when determining the search engine rankings. 3. They can increase your chances of growth in the future: If your business becomes successful in creating a loyal customer base, you will be able to increase your chances of growth in the future as well. That’s because the loyal customers come back to your website on a regular basis and purchase the products or services that you offer. This can add tremendous value to your SEO strategy as well. When your web traffic is increasing, many other important parameters that define your SEO strategy will be impacted. Pageviews, average session duration and bounce rates are perfect examples of such parameters. From one of the recently conducted experiments, it has been identified that the push notifications are linked to the highest click-through rates. In other words, the click-through rates associated with web push notifications is in between 12% and 21% on average. This is obviously better than email marketing campaigns, where the click-through rates are below 5%. Due to this reason, search engines tend to pay special attention to the availability of web push notifications on your website. 4. They appear directly on any device: When you go ahead with a traditional email marketing campaign, your customers will need to open their mailboxes to see what you have sent. Due to this reason, you will be able to get the results of your email marketing campaigns after a couple of days of sending out the emails. This hassle can be eliminated effectively with the assistance of web push notifications. That’s because the web push notifications that you send out will be displayed instantly on any device. For example, the Chrome push notification is displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of the computer display. They are instantly displayed on mobile devices as well. Hence, your chances of getting quick results from the web push notifications are extremely high. Due to this reason, search engines tend to give more priority towards the push notifications. 5. They can reach a wider audience: You must also keep in mind that the web push notifications are in a position to reach a wider audience. All the major browsers that you can find out there on the internet, such as Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome support push notifications. Therefore, you will find it as an easy task to spread your message to a bigger audience with minimum effort. Search engines have identified this as a powerful factor and give more priority towards your web rankings. Read Also: Things to consider while doing SEO. Why SEO is still the digital channel with the highest ROI.

The Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Right SEO Agency

We are now in the digital era. A strong online presence is key to achieving success in any business. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a significant role in elevating your online visibility and driving organic traffic to your website. However, mastering SEO techniques and staying updated with the ever-changing algorithms of search engines can be a daunting task. This is where the search engine optimization agencies have their own role to play. But how do you choose the right one for your business? This guide will examine the crucial factors to consider when opting for an SEO agency that connects with aspirations and vision. Guidelines To Follow When Selecting The Right SEO Agency In this section, we discuss some of the key elements to consider while selecting the SEO agency that can deliver solutions to your problems. Understanding Your Seo Needs Before you start searching for an SEO agency toronto, it's vital to have a clear understanding of your SEO needs and objectives. Are you looking to enhance the ranking of your website, increase organic traffic, or revamp your entire online presence? Identifying your goals will help you narrow down your options and find an agency that specializes in the specific services you require. Assessing Industry Experience One of the first things to look for in an SEO agency is their industry experience. How long have they been in the business, and do they have quite a strong track record of success? An agency with a solid history of helping businesses in your industry is more likely to understand your unique challenges and opportunities. Portfolio And Case Studies An SEO agency of high repute must have an impressive portfolio of past and current clients. Review their case studies to see the results they have achieved for businesses similar to yours. This will give you valuable insights into their capabilities and the types of projects they excel in. Comprehensive SEO Services Ensure that the SEO agency offers a wide range of services that cater to your needs. This may include on-page optimization, off-page optimization, content creation, keyword research, and technical SEO. A holistic approach to SEO is essential for long-term success. Transparent Communication Communication is an important element that becomes a factor in a successful partnership with an SEO agency. They should be able to explain their strategies and give frequent regular updates on the progress of your campaigns. Transparency ensures that you are always aware of how your investment is performing. Customized Strategies Every business is unique, and so should be your SEO strategy. A good SEO agency will tailor their approach to match your specific goals and target audience. Avoid the agencies that provide a common solution to all problems. White-Hat SEO Practices Beware of service providers that provide the assurance of quick results through unethical practices. A reputable SEO agency follows white-hat SEO techniques that are compliant with search engine guidelines. This ensures long-term success without the risk of penalties. Reporting And Analytics An excellent SEO agency should provide detailed reports and analytics to track the progress of your campaigns. Regular analysis of data allows for adjustments and optimizations to achieve the best results. Budget And Pricing Consider your budget when choosing an SEO agency. While it's essential to invest in quality SEO services, you should also ensure that the agency's pricing aligns with your financial capabilities. Compare quotes from multiple agencies to find the best value. Client Testimonials Reading client testimonials and reviews can offer valuable insights into the reputation and customer satisfaction of an SEO agency. Look for agencies with positive feedback and happy clients. Industry Recognition Has the SEO agency received any industry awards or recognition? These accolades can be a sign of their expertise and dedication to excellence in the field. Scalability And Flexibility As your business grows, your SEO needs may evolve. Choose an agency that can scale their services to accommodate your changing requirements. Flexibility is crucial for long-term partnerships. Lastly, Measuring ROI Ultimately, the success of your SEO investment should be measured in terms of ROI (Return on Investment). Discuss how the agency plans to track and demonstrate the value they bring to your business. Selecting the most convenient SEO agency is a critical decision that can significantly impact your online presence and business success. By considering the factors mentioned in this guide, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your goals and sets you on the path to SEO success. By considering the factors mentioned in this guide, you can make an informed choice that connects with your goals and sets you on the path to SEO success. Read Also: The Best WordPress Plugins For Marketers Why Is An SEO Services Company Better Than Others? Utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Boosting Web Traffic

Improve Your Local SEO via Content Marketing

The power of digital marketing

Local SEO and citation consistency

The 3-pack challenge

Content strategies for your business

Don’ts in content marketing

Some content marketing tips from experts

Avoid these 5 Mistakes before Starting an SEO

Should You Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

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3 Major SEO Predictions for 2020

Importance of Web Push Notifications in Search Engine Optimization

The Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Right SEO Agency

Improve Your Local SEO via Content Marketing

The power of digital marketing

Local SEO and citation consistency

The 3-pack challenge

Content strategies for your business

Don’ts in content marketing

Some content marketing tips from experts

Share this Article

Avoid these 5 Mistakes before Starting an SEO

Should You Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

Related