5 search engine optimization trends for 2017

5 search engine optimization trends for 2017 by .  Available from <http://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/01/11/5-search-engine-optimization-trends-for-2017/> [Jan 12, 2017]

With every passing year, search engine portals develop new algorithms and rules with the hope of combating spam links and people trying to play the system.

These new rules set by Google, Bing etc. means that every webmaster must stay abreast to the ever changing SEO landscape in order to help clients meet their search based targets.

According to Jayson DeMers, the new year offers a great opportunity for everyone to adjust their SEO strategy and here are some tips on how it can be done.

1. Take advantage of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

The need for more responsive pages in a bid to reduce bounce rate has been a driving force in Google’s 2016 SEO strategy.

One of the most practical solutions they came up with is the integration of AMP by webmasters.

It’s important to note that AMPs are open-source protocols that allow pages load instantaneously on mobile browsers. AMP has become a phenomenon in the SEO community for it allows consumers load pages instantly at a reduced data rate. The average webpage uses eight times more data than an AMP when loading content.

In 2017, this trend is expected to develop further, and you can take advantage of it to provide more responsive pages for your users.

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes its presence known

Google search algorithms finally got a boost at the tail end of 2016. This boost came in the form of integrating machine learning into search algorithms with the aim of making them smarter.

The Google RankBrain concept is expected to make search more intelligent and provide only relevant information to users of its search engine. This means that to combat the rise of AI in search, webmasters and website owners must focus on adding a unique voice to the niche they operate in.

The possibility of conning the system with black hat SEO tricks will become even less effective in 2017. This means your new year content resolution should be to use taglines, write dense articles, and make a dent with the information you post.

3. User Experience optimization has emerged

The evolution of the World Wide Web – signified by the term Web 3.0 – is slowly becoming the standard for platforms that rely on the internet. In this new world order, user experience has begun to trump all other factors.

Websites now make more user friendly platforms and search engines are beginning to take note. Google as well as Bing have escalated the need for a better user experience by integrating these experiences into helping websites rank hire and webmaster most take advantage of this.

Since 2015 search engines have been partial to well-designed webpages that get people to spend more time viewing contents on them. This means the onus to increase both the user experience and the ease of access on your platform falls squarely on your shoulders.

To do this, you should design more user-friendly landing pages, integrate the use of infographics in your blog posts and simplify your website’s navigation process.

4. Personal branding is key

Carving out a niche in a crowded space is difficult everywhere including on the internet. And this has made Google focus on platforms creatively pushing their brands against all odds.

One of these techniques includes the use of branded URLs in carving out a unique perspective for your personal business on the web.

The advantages of personal branded URLs are diverse but the most important thing is that it helps your website score top marks with Google’s search algorithms which will greatly advance your SEO efforts.

5. Integrate short branded links

One of the most important KPIs that search engines take into consideration when ranking web pages is ‘iteration’.

Iteration in SEO means that the more a content is read and shared on the web, and the more unique and credible the information it contains. And the best way to get your content shared is via ‘short branded links.’

These new link format is currently been used by Fortune 500 companies — Pepsi (pep.si), NY Times (nyti.ms) etc — to push their agenda on the internet and it’s working. Research shows that using branded links increases CTR by 35 percent. Not to mention they’re crucial on social channels that limit post characters.

You’ll note that these five trends can be integrated interchangeably into your SEO strategy for the new year. So don’t get stuck trying to figure out which single one you’ll implement, but instead implement multiple techniques to ensure better visibility for your website.

This post is part of our contributor series. It is written and published independently of TNW.

5 search engine optimization trends for 2017 by .  Available from <http://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/01/11/5-search-engine-optimization-trends-for-2017/> [Jan 12, 2017]

5 Crispy SEO Tips for E-Commerce Websites

5 Crispy SEO Tips for E-Commerce Websites by Techniblogic.  Available from <http://techniblogic.com/5-crispy-seo-tips-for-e-commerce-websites/#> [Dec 29, 2016]

Overall, the rules of SEO are not different from one site to another, but here, an e-commerce site has specificities. Some are beneficial, others may be disabled. Let’s see some mistakes to avoid and actions to optimize the positioning of an online store.

  • An online store has a distinct advantage over many other types of sites, it will help generate many specific pages since in general, and there is one page per product sold. A boon to the referrer.
  • However, this advantage can turn into a nightmare for several reasons. The two large black spots being the risk of duplicate content with other sites, and the lack of optimized pages for generic terms.
Optimize its product detail pages

It is common to find online shops on which the content of pages of product detail is an exact recovery of the photo and text description provided by the manufacturer. Same punishment for the title product.

Why Google should he proposes on its first page of results 10 times the same content on 10 different sites? On the contrary, he does everything to avoid this scenario and does not place in this case AS sites whose pages are authoritative.

To overcome this problem, writing a unique title and a single description is almost indispensable. To go further and take no risk, you can even create a second description that will be transmitted only to shopping engines.

Optimize pages of headings

That contains the pages of entry in most e-commerce sites? A series of inserts which are excerpts products that allow visitors to choose the category presented. Not easy in terms of its position the site in Google’s results on the class titles.

Yet these more generic queries are often those typed by users!

An effective solution is to write an introduction optimized for each page of entries. It then offers a true Google optimized textual content with whom he will love and your page will be favored in comparison with those of your competitors.

Beware, if your pages Topics include a paging, do not post this textual THAT on the first page, to avoid the risk of duplicate content.

Create themed pages

Your traditional pages are perhaps not sufficient to position yourself in the general expressions. A good way to create space for you to develop an editorial that can be optimized for these expressions is to create a special section of tips, advice or assistance.

This section may contain multiple pages. Example for a bike shop: Choose an ATV How to choose a woman bike? The man bicycles and their uses, etc..

Each of these pages will allow you to write unique content and perfectly optimized. It just remains to incorporate links to your pages of entries for “push” them. Of course, these help pages will also benefit from an external net linking.

Design a FAQ

It’s crazy what people can turn to Google as a person. They ask him questions as they would with a friend. But Google is a big beta, when you ask him a question; he seeks the issue in the pages it has indexed, not the answer.

A FAQ so you can position yourself on these issues and to drain the corresponding traffic. A small example, type in Google “what is a hard link” you will see that the site does Axe net up not too bad.

Set up a blog

We mentioned already last year with concrete examples of blogs associated with e-commerce sites. This strategy is actually very profitable. The blog makes it very easy to position themselves on hundreds of requests for strategic activity of the shop.

It will however not too smart “blurrier” in terms of commercial items. The blog will be better received if he gives advice or relevant information about the universe, why not try to systematically sell something. He brings a kind of professional bail while to drain a portion of traffic to the store.

5 Crispy SEO Tips for E-Commerce Websites by Techniblogic.  Available from <http://techniblogic.com/5-crispy-seo-tips-for-e-commerce-websites/#> [Dec 29, 2016]

10 Small Business Tips for SEO, Content Marketing and More

10 Small Business Tips for SEO, Content Marketing and More by Annie Pilon.  Available from <https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/12/10-small-business-tips-seo-content-marketing.html> [Dec 03, 2016]

When it comes to marketing a small business, there are many different methods you can use. There’s SEO, content marketing, email lists and more. If you want to learn more about marketing your business using some of these methods in 2017, take a look at the tips from members of our small business community below.

Watch These Marketing Trends in 2017
If you want your marketing plan to work in 2017, you need to understand all the latest trends, tools and methods available. In this Midas Media post, Nat Rubyan-Ling shares some marketing trends you should know for 2017. And BizSugar members comment further on the post.

Get Better Insights About Your Audience
If you want to create content that resonates with your audience, then you first need to learn about them. There are some essential tools and methods you can use to get useful insights, as this post by Jenny Knizer on the Content Marketing Institute blog points out.

Find an Interesting and Profitable Niche for Your Online Venture
Whether you’re creating a blog, an ecommerce store, or any other type of online business, you need a niche. Since there are already so many different types of businesses online, you may need to get creative in order to find a niche that is both interesting and profitable. This MyBlogU post by Ann Smarty includes some tips.

Use These Customer Retention Strategies That Work for Small Businesses
Once you’ve executed your marketing plan and gained new customers, you still need to work hard to keep those customers coming back. Luckily, there are some tried and true customer retention strategies that can work for small businesses. You can see some of them in this Plousio post by Evan Tarver.

Learn What to Do After Creating Your Buyer Persona
If you want to market to specific customers, you first need to create a buyer persona so you understant who you’re marketing to. But even that isn’t enough. For more on what to do after you’ve created your buyer persona, check out this Magnificent post by David Reimherr. And then see what BizSugar members are saying about the post here.

Rank for Your Competitors’ Keywords
There are many different schools of thought when it comes to using your competition to gain search traffic. In this post, Neil Patel examines some of the pros and cons of this concept for different types of businesses.

Build a Marketing Budget for 2017
Before you really get started on your marketing efforts for the new year, you need to set some kind of budget so you don’t reach beyond your means. This Search Engine Journal post by Jacob Baadsgaard features some tips you can use to create a marketing budget for 2017.

Use Marketing Velocity to Increase Your Sales and Revenue
Marketing velocity is the speed at which your marketing efforts work to deliver results. So its an important concept for marketers to understand. In this crowdSPRING post, Ross Kimbarovsky details some ways you can use marketing velocity to increase sales and revenue. And the BizSugar community also shares thoughts on the post.

Help Your Ecommerce Store Recover From a Growth Setback
Running an ecommerce business isn’t easy. You’re likely to face setbacks at some point or another. So understanding how to recover from those setbacks is paramount. Shayla Price shares some tips for doing just that in a post on the Kissmetrics blog.

Get the Most Out of Your Holiday Emails
Email marketing can be an especially effective tactic during the holiday season. But in order to get the most out of it, you need to really understand your subscribers and what they’re looking for this holiday season. To see more tips about getting the most out of your holiday emails, check this Marketing Land post by Scott Heimes.

If you’d like to suggest your favorite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community roundup, please send your news tips to:  sbtips@gmail.com.

Typing Photo via Shutterstock through article source
10 Small Business Tips for SEO, Content Marketing and More by Annie Pilon. Available from <https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/12/10-small-business-tips-seo-content-marketing.html> [Dec 03, 2016]

Top 10 local search insights of 2016

Top 10 local search insights of 2016 by Wesley Land.  Available from <http://searchengineland.com/top-10-local-search-insights-2016-264163> [December 5, 2016 at 11:50 am]

Columnist Wesley Young of the Local Search Association looks back at 2016 to find the top 10 insights that local search marketers should remember in planning for the year ahead.

As 2016 comes to a close and we begin planning for next year’s goals and budgets in earnest, it is prudent to remember to take time for reflection. Learning from successes experienced and mistakes made helps you set goals that will move you forward and plan for ways to get there.

To help remind you of some of the most important lessons learned this past year, below are my Top 10 Insights from 2016. In full disclosure, it’s my Top 10 list and thus is largely derived from the articles I wrote this year and statistics cited therein, but at least you’ll know you won’t find this list anywhere else!  Here we go (in no particular order):

1. Sometimes simple is better than the best

My most-read article this year was “10 Ways to Simplify Your Local Search Marketing Strategy.” The space has gotten so crowded with marketing products, platforms and media that it is overwhelming even the experts. Think of what that means to the SMB. The attempt to understand, select and effectively utilize marketing media and technology is a struggle for most local business owners.

Sometimes, the best solution for an SMB (small to medium-sized business) isn’t what has the greatest potential for return. Rather it might be the one that they can work with most easily, manage within their time and budget and get a reasonable and secure return. There is value in simplicity and clarity.

2. Speed kills (like, totally slays it, dude)

Speed is a highly valued commodity. Consumers want it and bail when faced with slow sites. Google wants it to make sure consumers are happy and stay on the web instead of going to competitors’ app platforms. Google has even made it a ranking factor for its mobile search algorithm. So it was a huge surprise to learn that retail mobile sites are trending slower, with median load times of 4.33 seconds in 2013, to 4.8 seconds in 2014, to 5.5 seconds in 2015.

The slowdown is a result of heavier data load as a result of consumer appetite for content like graphics and video. But each second lost in load speed has detrimental effects on bounce rate, conversion rate and page views.

Local businesses need to be aware of and monitor how updating websites, adding content and taking other actions intended to improve the user experience may actually slow down the site and have the opposite effect. Fortunately, there are solutions for speeding up the consumer experience, and those who make the appropriate adjustments can zip ahead of the competition.

3. Changes in the traditional search model will challenge the status quo

For years, search has been dominated by the directory model — listings of businesses categorized by various filters and containing basic NAP data and perhaps some enhanced information such as reviews.

New changes are coming in the form of both media and model. In one year, voice search has gone from being a blip on the radar to a game-changer in search volume. The incredible growth is being fueled by better voice recognition to devices exclusively designed for voice interaction. The impact is significant, requiring a reexamination as to what keywords are used and how greater insight into intent may be derived.

The traditional model of “display” of results is also being challenged by creative thinkers. Search models, such as that of Thumbtack, which provides greater utility to consumers and higher-quality leads to local businesses, cannot be ignored.

Thumbtack seeks more details about what consumers need via a new customer intake questionnaire and passes that on to businesses who can identify the value of that lead and only pay for it when submitting a competing bid for the job. Personal note: I hired my first Thumbtack service provider during the writing of this article, and it worked out great.

These new media and models are potentially a threat to more traditional search and marketing providers who risk losing out if they don’t adjust.

4. Third-party listings are becoming de facto home pages

Company websites have consistently led the charts in ratings for media sources most likely to be relied upon when shopping for local goods and services. Yet as third-party listings make local business profiles more robust and rich with information, fewer consumers feel the need to click through. That makes managing these third-party listings ever more important — but businesses are not keeping up.

First, the majority of local businesses are not claiming the free profiles available on sites like Google My Business (56 percent have not claimed their listing), Yelp (66 percent) and Yahoo, YP.com, Bing and the BBB, all of which have unclaimed listings rates of around 80 percent or more. Even though these are tasks that the small business can do on their own, it behooves marketers to make sure to cover the basics when talking to both existing and prospective clients.

Second, those listings need to be actively managed, and one element often overlooked is profile images. Consumers respond to images at a rate that cannot be ignored. Ninety-three percent of the most engaging Facebook posts were photos, and content with images are shared three times more than those without.

Further, 46 percent of consumers felt website design was the top criterion for deciding whether a company is credible or not, and with these third-party listings being used like de facto home pages, profile images on those sites have a big impact on a local business’s reputation, brand and identity.

But on Google, you can’t just set it and forget it. Google bots unpredictably, and without any consistency, change profile images across devices and platform. Make sure you check back frequently to ensure your profile image reflects the identity you want to convey.

5. Traditional media is still relevant in the digital age

While digital media gets all the attention because of its growth, traditional media is hanging surprisingly tough. Many SMBs are loath to get rid of their print media marketing, in large part because it’s the way they’ve traditionally reached their established customers. And returning customers are valuable.

Google reports that it costs five to ten times more to attract a new customer than it does to retain an old one. Whether it be a local business trying to keep customers or a marketer retaining SMB advertisers, losing a customer to churn hurts.

And traditional marketing still delivers a meaningful volume of business. With the proliferation of media channels, platforms and devices, audience reach has been heavily diluted in all but a few dominant channels. So reaching your existing customers via traditional media remains important and cost-effective.

6. Non-local consumers are very valuable to local search

Local search and location-based marketing typically focus on the local audience, a strategy that seems completely logical. However, a significant portion of revenue for local businesses actually comes from non-local customers.

According to a case study I did on my hometown of Frisco, Texas (population 140,000), 33 percent of business to local storefronts comes from out-of-town visitors. Failing to account for this significant share of revenue could make the difference between thriving and flailing. And treating them the same as locals in your search marketing strategy is a mistake.

Non-local customers are more likely to use broad discovery search, so they will use different keywords from the ones local customers use. That will also impact the importance of some typical metrics used to measure the success of campaigns, such as page-one search ranking and CTR. So make sure to have a strategy to reach non-local customers.

7. Your largest clients may be at risk from co-op competitors

A lot of co-op funds are going unused: estimates range from $14 to $35 billion every year. That’s not particularly new news. But as a result, new players and new technologies are emerging to try to claim those funds. And they are attracting the attention of brands who see opportunities for new efficiencies and increased return over traditional methods, which in turn is leading to a change in the way brands are controlling payouts. These changes often favor the new players and technologies.

Traditional agency users of co-op with brand clients need to be aware of this threat — that they may soon not be competitive to some of their largest and best clients when compared to the new players.

These traditional players must understand how the market is changing and make adjustments that demonstrate their services provide value and quality and prove that they understand new co-op media such as search and display.

8. Short and fractured attention spans demand changes to the way we serve content

It’s tempting to find where your audience is spending time and try to meet them there. But the path to purchase has become so complex that you may end up chasing and never catching your customer. Consumers today reference many different media and information sources spread across various devices, often whenever they can find spare moments and gaps in busy schedules.

Google recorded an 18 percent decline in time spent per website this year. That likely translates across all media channels, as time spent is diluted across the increasing number of outlets and the way we access content changes. Google also reported that 91 percent look up information while in the middle of a task, and 82 percent consult phones while standing in a store.

Thus, content must be concise and to the point, convey key and relevant information and educate the user with information designed to make decisions. Failure to do so will quickly lose buyers, as 33 percent of mobile users switch to a competitor that does provide helpful information, and 43 percent ignore those who don’t.

9. Offline shopping experiences that don’t match your online one are problematic

Much of the change that is taking place in the marketplace is focused on the online experience, as new technologies, social media, graphics, video and slick user interfaces draw the attention of both audiences and advertisers. E-commerce also keeps humming along with upgrades to the payment systems that help with seamless online checkout processes and speedy mobile payments.

But offline purchases still rule. And unfortunately for many customers who buy in-store, there is a distinct disparity between the online experience getting you to a store and the offline in-store visit.

Online to offline isn’t just about attribution. The offline experience needs to be a continuum of previous online actions.  Ask questions, or if possible, pull up user accounts or tracked online activity to determine what has already been done by the customer. Pick up where the customer left off, or help identify areas of need that remain in order to make a decision. Use of technology in the store that is similar to that used by the consumer online can help bridge the gap.

Failing to upgrade your in-store experience to match that of your business’s online one risks frustrating your buyer. Make sure the two complement each other and that inventory, employee training and technology are not siloed into online/offline categories.

10. Reviews reflect your online reputation, whether you like it or not

I’ve defined “reputation” as follows:

Your reputation is not what people tell you they think of you; it’s what they say about you when you’re not around.

And consumers do that to local businesses every day, through numerous review outlets.

Reviews are now a fundamental part of the buying decision for many products and services. Whichever way you dice it, the numbers are significant. One study shows 91 percent of consumers rely on reviews regularly or at least occasionally to inform their purchase decisions. Another finds that reviews impact decisions for 67 percent of consumers.

Yet many small businesses are bitter about negative reviews. While the emotion is understandable, the above numbers reveal that ignoring review sites out of spite is a battle you won’t win and can’t practically do — reviews are now incorporated broadly across all forms of media.

Instead, reviews must be faced head-on, and there are some encouraging numbers there, too. Some say 70 percent of consumers will leave a review when asked, while others say 90 percent. Yet as few as seven percent are asked to do so. Thus there is a big opportunity to get positive reviews for your business across the web, not just on Yelp, but also on Google, TripAdvisor, Yellow Pages sites and other directory listings.

Conclusion

And there you have it — my top 10 insights for 2016. Some may not seem particularly revealing in terms of an eye-opening “wow” factor, but then again, it’s surprising how many times the obvious is overlooked, ignored or even deliberately countered. So I hope you’ve had a successful and rewarding 2016 and that you can use even a few of these tips for your planning in continuing that success in the year to come.

Top 10 local search insights of 2016 by Wesley Land.  Available from <http://searchengineland.com/top-10-local-search-insights-2016-264163> [December 5, 2016 at 11:50 am]

3 Things Every Website Needs for a Better SEO Ranking

3 Things Every Website Needs for a Better SEO Ranking by Black Enterprise.  Available from <http://www.blackenterprise.com/technology/technology-tips/3-things-website-better-seo-ranking/> [Posted: 

Some people understand SEO as managing a relationship with Google through Adwords, Search Console, and Analytics. Some understand it as the content you produce, as well as your ability to get other sites to link to that content. Others think SEO is some kind of black magic that only “SEO experts” can do.

In reality, SEO is a combination of content, technical fundamentals, user experience, and helping Google help you. When we help businesses and organizations with their SEO, we take a technical approach, helping them better implement fundamentals that Google and other major search engines recommend for a great user experience.

Consider these three technical fundamentals that your website needs for better search engine optimization:

Responsive Design

Every website we build now is responsive, meaning that the design and experience respond to the size of the user’s device. This provides an optimal layout for websites on mobile and tablet devices that may have otherwise shown up as the desktop version of a site.

In 2015, Google announced that it would use mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in search results, making it “easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for [users’] devices.”

Responsive design is the preferred way to develop a mobile website compared to a separate mobile site, as responsive design keeps your content at one URL, as opposed to mobile site URLs like “m.site.com.” If you’re building a new website, it needs to be responsive. If your current site is not mobile-friendly, you can retrofit responsiveness or install a mobile-friendly plugin. And, if you’re not sure your site is mobile-friendly, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to find out.

Security

Earlier this year, we added an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate to our site, making it completely secure. We don’t process transactions on our site or collect private user information, but switching to HTTPS still made a lot of sense. HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, uses SSL to encrypt information being sent and ensures that information travels securely.

Not only does having an SSL certificate bring more security to our users while they’re on our site, it actually helps with SEO. In 2014, Google announced that they would begin using HTTPS as a ranking signal when displaying search results.

It’s not a big factor, but it does act as a sort of tie-breaker when there’s a lot of competition for placement. If two sites are otherwise similar and one of them is secure, it’s more likely to come out on top in search results than the non-secure site. We didn’t switch to HTTPS just for the SEO boost, but it’s definitely a bonus, in addition to all of the other benefits the security provides.

3 Things Every Website Needs for a Better SEO Ranking by Black Enterprise.  Available from <http://www.blackenterprise.com/technology/technology-tips/3-things-website-better-seo-ranking/> [Posted: