Understanding Searches Better Than Ever Before
Google is understanding natural language in searches better than ever before, so well, that it represents “the biggest leap forward in the past five years, and one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search …
Particularly for longer, more conversational queries, or searches where prepositions like “for” and “to” matter a lot to the meaning [1 in 10 searches], Search will be able to understand the context of the words in your query. You can search in a way that feels natural for you.”
Google Penguin Looks Mostly at Your Link Source, Says Google
When we asked Google’s Gary Illyes about Penguin, he said SEOs should focus on where their links come from for the most part, but they have less to worry about now that Penguin devalues those links, as opposed to demotes the site.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
The more things change…
As with any new Google algorithm release, there has been a lot of buzz about Penguin and what it means for search results. Once again, it’s been confirmed that quality is key. In the case of Penguin, Google is looking at the quality of the site that links to your site (the source site). Just further confirmation that slow, steady, thoughtful linkbuilding is the right way to do it.
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Google’s Natural Language Search Gets Smarter
Google is now smarter at understanding queries that include superlatives and times, as well as more complicated questions.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
If natural search traffic is important to you and you have not yet reevaluated your SEO strategy, this story makes it abundantly clear that now is the time to do so!
Why? Because you are shooting yourself in the foot if you’re still focusing on traditional keywords instead of semantics.
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How Much Time Does SEO Really Take?
Getting started [with seo] is relatively easy, but in order to be successful in an especially competitive environment, you need to dedicate yourself to the strategy. You’ll have to acquire new skills…
The common solution for this is to simply hire an in-house SEO expert who can handle all these tasks. If you can’t, it’s on you to handle them all yourself. Either way, the cost can be prohibitive, especially if you’re an emerging small business. Likewise, spending all those hours doing it yourself can tie you up, preventing you from pursuing more productive activities that can’t be outsourced.
Before you make a decision, you need to know one thing: how much time does SEO actually take?
Sales Renewal’s insight:
How do you look at SEO? Does it seem like a daunting process? A set-and-forget item to check off your list?
Many small business owners believe they can “do” SEO themselves. But before you make that decision, please read this article. You might just gain a new appreciation for those who do SEO full time.
Consider the (what may appear to be) straight-forward process setting up on-page optimization (10-40 hours) and monitoring and troubleshooting on an ongoing basis (3-12 hours/week). Then there is content development, which could be something you can get away with spending a couple hours a week. Or, it could turn into a nearly full-time job (3-50 hours/week).
Off-page optimization opens up an entirely new realm of responsibilities and processes, from dabbling in looking for linkbuilding opportunities to following a well-thought-out relationship building program (5-25 hours/week).
Then there’s the additional work related to SEO for local businesses, like customer reviews (up to 15 hours/week), and then measuring and analyzing all you do to be sure it’s effective (1-2 hours/week).
Putting it all together, the author’s bottom line is sobering:
“Even for the small range of organizations I examined here (small to mid-sized businesses), you can see the vast range of potential time spent on an SEO campaign. Added up, it amounts to anywhere between 12 and 104 hours per week. If you put in 12 hours a week, don’t expect to climb to a top position anytime soon. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want the best results as fast as possible, you may need to hire employees, contractors, or an agency.”
Given this cost (in time and opportunity), we believe that the most cost-effective way to “do” SEO is to work with a specialist. That’s why, whether you’re a JointSourcing or Marketing Essentials client, we will work with our SEO partners to be sure your business receives the SEO attention it deserves.
Learn more about Sales Renewal’s Search Engine Optimization services.
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How to Get Content into the Hands of Influencers Who Can Help Amplify It
This week we’re going to chat about a problem that many of you have mentioned .. to me and to other folks here at Moz when we talk about content marketing and specifically content amplification like, “Okay, I made some great content. But how do I actually get people to share it? In particular, how do I get content into the hands of the influencers who might amplify it?”
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Finding, following and most importantly getting influential people (aka, influencers) to quote, republish or link to your content seems like a natural way to build an audience, but it’s really quite hard. After all, by definition influencers are popular and therefore busy so getting their attention to make them aware of your content is challenging.
This MOZ Whiteboard Friday can help. Also check out Getting Started with Influencer Marketing.
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The 5 Types of Content That Attract the Most Backlinks
All content you produce should be with an end-goal in mind.
One of the most common and important goals of content is to attract links. Backlinks to a post not only help that specific post rank better in search engines but they also help all other posts on your site. Here is a guide to the 5 best types of content that can attract not only a good quantity of links, but also high quality links.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
As Neil Patel explains, backlinks are still important for SEO. And if you’re investing in creating content for your website, you might as well consider focusing on creating content that can help you generate links.
To summarize, here are the 5 types of content that are valuable for attracting backlinks:
- List Posts
- How To Guides
- Infographics
- Take the Advice of Influencers
- Provide Something of Value for Your Community
What do you think? Have you tried any of these approaches? Any results? The list is organizes from easiest to most time and labor intensive, so if you’re looking for somewhere to start, I’d say begin with a list post and take it from there.
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6 One-Time Tricks to Boost Your Small Business SEO Campaigns
Put these six tricks to good use in your SEO campaign, and watch your rankings climb. Back up your efforts with a strong content marketing and offsite backlink building campaign, and you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Some good advice – although the article makes it all sound a lot easier than it really is! – except for #4. I don’t think that’s the right route to take. What do you think?
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The Nifty Guide to Local Content Strategy and Marketing
Learn how to grow your target audience and improve your local SEO with a strong local content strategy.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
This article is a well-thought-out overview of how to think about local marketing. Even though it’s not “just” about the written word, if you’re a local business, the written word is a powerful tool for raising awareness of your business.
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