SEO ROI –The Best Way To Boost Your Long-Term Revenue

A website is a great first step to attracting customers, but it’s not enough to guarantee online success. To attract and retain customers, your website needs SEO. SEO helps to optimize website content, structure, and layout to rank higher in SERPs. The higher a website’s ranking on SERPs, the more likely it is to receive organic traffic, leading to more potential customers and higher SEO ROI.

SEO ROI –The Best Way To Boost Your Long-Term Revenue

Businesses with a well-executed Search Engine Optimization strategy see an average ROI of 5:1. That’s a staggering 500% return on investment! Investing in SEO is key to increasing your long-term traffic, rankings, and revenue and staying ahead of the competition. 

Let’s take a closer look at how SEO ROI can help you achieve your business goals.

Long-Term Impact Of SEO On Your Business’s ROI

Long-Term Impact Of SEO On Your Business's ROI

Businesses that invest in SEO reap long-term benefits through increased revenue. 

BrightEdge found that the top result on Google’s organic search results page gets 31.7% of all clicks, resulting in an average ROI of 53.3%. This data means that for every dollar spent on SEO, businesses can expect to receive over five times their initial investment in revenue. 

So what long-term impact does an SEO has on your business’s ROI? 

A. Traffic, Traffic, and a lot of Traffic!

The long-term impact of SEO on a business’s ROI starts with increased traffic to its website. 

Traffic refers to the number of people visiting your website, which is crucial to your business’s online success. The more traffic your site attracts, the higher your chances of converting visitors into customers. 

According to Search Engine Journal, 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, meaning potential customers actively search for products or services like your business offers. 

With the help of SEO, your business can be at the top of the search results, where people can easily see and visit your website.

However, ranking on the first page of search engine results is not enough. Search results’ click-through rate (CTR) decreases as you move down the page. 

Traffic, Traffic, and a lot of Traffic!

It is extremely crucial to focus on ranking on the first page and compete for that coveted top spot.


Remember: Traffic = Visitors (↑) = Potential Customers = Customers (↑) = SEO ROI (↑)


Moreover, people finding your website via search are already interested in your products or services, making them 8X more likely to convert into customers. In this case, SEO helps nudge your customers to commit to you!

B. Reach the Right Audience

SEO helps businesses to reach the right audience. Using relevant keywords and phrases, optimizing website content, and creating a user-friendly interface can help you get the right audience. By targeting specific demographics, businesses can increase their brand’s visibility among potential customers actively looking for their products and services. 

For instance, a local coffee shop that appears on top of the search results for “coffee near me” will be more likely to attract foot traffic from people who want coffee in the area than a coffee shop that doesn’t come on the first page of the search. This targeted approach helps businesses increase their customer base and improve their conversion rate and ROI.

By consistently attracting the right visitors to your website, you can—

  • Build a loyal customer base,
  • Establish your brand as a trusted authority in your industry,
  • Repeat business, referrals, and
  • Overall customer lifetime value.

Remember: Right Audience + Right Message + Timing= SEO ROI (↑)


C. Improved User Experience

SEO strategies involve optimizing your website’s content, structure, and design to make it easier for search engines to crawl, index, and rank your pages. You can also navigate and interact with your site more easily.

When users land on your website, they expect to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. 

If they can’t find it, they’ll likely bounce back to the search results page and find a better alternative. 

With SEO, you can ensure your site is easy to use and navigate, with clear calls to action and relevant content that answers user queries. This improved user experience leads to better site engagement, higher conversion rates, and repeat visits. 


Remember: Positive User Experience = Bounce Rate (↓)+ Page Visits (↑) + Time Spent On Website (↑) = Website’s Relevance (↑) + Ranking (↑) = Traffic = Conversions = SEO ROI


If users find what they’re looking for and have a positive experience, they’re more likely to convert into customers and return for more. This conversion, in turn, drives up your revenue and ROI in the long run.

D. Decrease in Customer Churn

Churn, which refers to customers leaving a company, is a common problem many businesses face. High churn rates can hurt a business’s revenue and profitability, losing existing customers, who are more likely to purchase from the company again, and acquisition costs for new customers are high.

Decrease in Customer Churn

SEO can address churn by improving a business’s online visibility and increasing its ranking on search engines. 

Research has shown that the higher a business’s position on search engine result pages (SERPs), the more likely customers are to engage with their website, products, and services. This engagement can increase conversion rates, making the business more likely to retain customers.


Remember: High-Quality & Relevant Content + Website Structure Optimization = Customer Experience (↑) = Brand Loyalty = Customer Retention Rates (↑)


Optimizing a business’s online presence maintains its ranking and visibility, positively impacting customer retention rates.

SEO Is All About A Long-Term Commitment: Why Is SEO Worth It?

SEO isn’t instant. It doesn’t work today, tomorrow, or even quarter. It takes approximately 6 months to set up your website accurately for it to rank on Google. But is SEO worth it for a small business?

SEO Is All About A Long-Term Commitment: Why Is SEO Worth It?

SEO is not a one-time process but a long-term commitment that requires patience, diligence, and expertise

The key lies in understanding the metrics that truly matter for your business and setting achievable goals that align with your revenue targets. 

SEO is worth it because–

  • Organic traffic generated through SEO is cost-effective and high-quality. Because it targets users searching for specific keywords related to your product or service, organic traffic converts into leads and sales.
  • Unlike paid ads, which disappear once you stop paying them, SEO organically helps you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
  • SEO helps your business build brand credibility and authority. When your website appears on the top of SERPs, people perceive it as a trustworthy and authoritative source of information. This credibility helps you establish a positive brand image and attract more customers.
  • By investing in SEO, you can compete with bigger brands and reach a wider audience. 
  • While PPC (pay-per-click) advertising can be expensive, SEO is affordable. Once you have optimized your website for SEO, you won’t need to pay as much as you did initially to maintain your ranking, unlike other forms of digital marketing.

SEO Is All About A Long-Term Commitment: Why Is SEO Worth It?

Identifying True & False Signs Of SEO Success

True Signs of SEO Success–

  • Consistent increase in organic search traffic over time, accompanied by higher engagement rates and conversions

Organic traffic is visitors who land on your site through search engines without clicking on paid ads. If there is a consistent increase in organic traffic, it’s a true sign that your SEO strategies are paying off. 

This trend indicates that your SEO strategy effectively targets the right audiences and drives more qualified traffic to your site. 

  • Improved Rankings

If your website’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs) has improved significantly over time, it’s a good sign that your SEO strategies are working. However, tracking multiple keywords and phrases is crucial to understand overall performance accurately.

  • Increased Search Engine Visibility

SEO aims to improve a business’s visibility on search engines. If your web pages appear in more search results than before, it’s a positive indication.

  • Enhanced User Experience

SEO is not just about optimizing search engine content but also about delivering a better user experience. If your website’s design, navigation, and functionality have improved, it’s a good sign that SEO efforts are making a difference.

False Signs of SEO Success–

  • The sudden spike in website traffic

A sudden spike in website traffic doesn’t result in meaningful engagement or conversions. While increased traffic can be a positive indicator of SEO success, it’s essential to look closely at the traffic’s source and visitors’ actions once they reach your site. 

  • High Bounce Rates

A high bounce rate indicates visitors leave your website after viewing only one page. While analyzing the root cause of high bounce rates is essential, it’s not necessarily a negative SEO signal.

  • Fluctuating Rankings

Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and rankings can fluctuate. If your rankings show variations, it’s not necessarily a sign of SEO failure.

  • Social Media Metrics

SEO success indicators include social media signals such as likes, shares, and followers. While they may be beneficial for driving traffic, they sometimes translate to improved search rankings.

Measuring Your SEO Efforts and Return on Investment

SEO requires more than just investing. Measuring your SEO efforts to understand their impact and return on investment (ROI) is crucial. However, to accurately measure your SEO success, you need to consider several factors.

  • Analyzing Search Volume and Search Intent

Before optimizing your website, you should analyze your targeted keywords’ search volume and intent. This process will help you understand the types of content your target audience is searching for and the keywords they use. With this information, you can create relevant content that meets their needs and ranks higher in search results.

  • Calculating Conversion Rate and Organic Revenue

The conversion rate denotes the percentage of visitors who take the desired action, such as purchasing or filling out a form. Calculating your conversion rate and organic revenue will help you determine the effectiveness of your SEO strategy. Knowing the numbers, you can adjust your strategy to increase the conversion rate and earn more organic revenue.

  • Using Google Analytics to Track Organic Searches, Visits, and Potential Customers

Google Analytics is an excellent tool for tracking organic search visits, conversions, and potential customers. By analyzing the data, you can: identify trends, understand user behavior, improve user experience, and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

  • Evaluating the Cost vs. Benefit of an SEO Investment

It’s essential to evaluate the cost vs. benefit of an SEO investment. While SEO takes time and effort, you should see a positive ROI within a reasonable time frame. Identify the cost of your SEO investment, including internal costs such as–

  • Labor or outsourcing costs for hiring an expert, 
  • Agency fees, 
  • Tools, and 
  • Resources. 

Understanding the total SEO investment will give you an idea of the cost-benefit ratio and help you decide if a particular strategy is worth investing in.

Final Thoughts

SEO is not just a strategy to boost rankings but a long-term investment that can lead to lucrative returns. When done right, it can bring in steady traffic and qualified leads that convert into customers, resulting in increased revenue for your business. 

By tracking your SEO ROI, you can gauge the effectiveness of your efforts and adjust your strategy accordingly, ultimately leading to even higher returns over time. 

SEO is necessary for businesses that want to maximize online presence and achieve sustainable, long-term growth. 

About Outpace

Measuring your SEO ROI can be complex and challenging, especially for those new to the SEO world. So, it’s essential to partner with an experienced and reputable SEO agency that can provide powerful insights into your SEO ROI and help optimize your long-term revenue.

We, Outpace SEO, an Oklahoma-based SEO agency, look at factors such as the following that can impact your SEO ROI–

Google has 200 metrics that help in ranking to generate traffic and revenue. And our expertise lies in playing by the book!

Remember: Your business is not seasonality prone in terms of traffic; every business has to face it. It’s not your fault or your SEO agency or even Google’s! 

Moreover, the focus of every business should be to make the most out of the remaining time, and we are here to help with actionable plans and achievable goals & targets.

Don’t be part of the 96% of lower-ranking websites with almost zero SEO ROI

Take advantage of the power of organic search results and watch your online presence soar with Outpace.

Book a Free Consultation.

SEO Strategies for Recruitment, HR, & Payroll

The world of Human Resources, Payroll, and Recruiting has moved online. As these services become increasingly digitized, businesses must find ways to make their digital presence felt. If you’re in HR, Payroll, & Recruitment, you know that having a strong online presence is essential to your success. After all, what’s the point of being a recruitment company if potential candidates can’t find you when they’re searching for open positions? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key to driving traffic and increasing visibility on the web. So, how can HR, Payroll, and Recruitment companies use SEO to improve their online presence? Here’s Outpace’s comprehensive guide to applying SEO strategies for recruitment, hr, & payroll so that you’ll know what to do to rank your website higher and reach more candidates!

Why is SEO Important for HR, Payroll & Recruitment Companies?

SEO is crucial in helping companies attract top talent because most job seekers use search engines to find open positions. SEO can help HR, Payroll, and Recruitment Companies build a strong online presence by optimizing their website for search engines like Google. 

Website optimization includes optimizing content such as titles and descriptions and other technical aspects such as page speed and mobile optimization. 

Optimizing in this order improves the website’s opportunity to surpass other competitors’ rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). This rank allows potential customers to find you more easily when they type relevant terms into the search bar.

In addition to improving visibility and reaching potential customers on SERPs, SEO advantages HR, Payroll & Recruitment Companies in the following ways:

  • Through keyword research and analysis, they can identify which words prospective customers are typing into the search bar most often – then tailor their content accordingly so that it appears at the top of SERP listings.
  • SEO further helps in customer segmentation. By looking at organic traffic data from analytics tools like Google Analytics or Search Console, HR & Recruiting companies can gain insight into which demographics are finding them online and what kind of content resonates with these visitors.
  • Lastly, companies can use the information to refine targeting strategies further and create more effective campaigns tailored toward specific audiences.

Ultimately, SEO helps HR & Recruiting Companies build trust with potential customers by demonstrating expertise in the field through optimized content that answers customer queries quickly and accurately. It also helps them stay ahead of the competition by assisting them to rank higher than competitors on SERPs – thus allowing them to capture a larger share of organic search traffic than possible without SEO implementation strategies.

Basic SEO Strategies for HR, Payroll & Recruitment Companies

Employing the right search engine optimization (SEO) strategies can be a valuable asset for HR, payroll, and recruitment companies. SEO will help improve your online presence and visibility, allowing you to attract more clients and bring in more business.

Before starting, it is crucial to understand the key terms of SEO. 

Break it down into five parts: 

On-Page Optimization

Refers to the optimization activities on a website – creating meta tags, including keywords in headlines & URLs, optimizing images for search engines, etc. 

Off-Page Optimization

Refers to activities outside a website – such as link building & content distribution. 

Keyword research/optimization

Refers to researching and selecting keywords to focus on to drive more traffic to a website.

Link building/earning backlinks

Refers to creating links from other websites to your own.

Technical SEO

Refers to optimizing website structure and code to improve search engine rankings.

A. Keyword Research:

For HR, Payroll & Recruitment companies, the overarching goal should be to optimize their websites for keywords related to their services – so that when potential customers search for services in that area, your website shows up at the top of the list. Doing this requires a multi-faceted approach, including on-page and off-page activities

To start with on-page SEO, 

  • Optimize website pages with relevant keywords in titles & descriptions.

Tip: The best way to determine which keywords are most relevant to your business is to do keyword research. Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to see how often people search those terms. Once you have a list of high-volume keywords, you can start incorporating them into your website content.

  • It is also important to include these keywords strategically using appropriate keyword density rates – but overstuffing the content with too many keywords can hurt your ranking rather than help. 
  • In addition to using relevant keywords throughout the body of each blog post or article, make sure to also include them in places like The headline/title, The first sentence Subheadings 
  • Anchor text (text that’s hyperlinked to another page). 

Tip: Use Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords throughout your content. LSI keywords are related terms that search engines use better to understand the context of each piece of content. For example, if you’re writing an article about “SEO tips,” some LSI keywords might be “Google ranking,” “search engine optimization,” or “SERP.” Using LSI keywords helps search engines better understand what each piece of content is about—which can, in turn, help improve your ranking. 

B. Link Building

Off-page SEO is just as important as optimizing any website and needs an effective link-building strategy. This strategy means utilizing backlinks from high-quality sites such as the following:

  • News outlets or other related websites;
  • Social bookmarking;
  • Submitting press releases
  • Directory submissions, etc., all helping to build exposure for your company’s website & services!

The goal behind link building is to have as many quality sites linking back to your website as possible. This helps search engine algorithms recognize your website as an authority and improves your visibility online. Additionally, it helps improve SEO rankings over time by increasing the amount of organic traffic to your website.

C. Website Optimization for Mobile Devices

A website optimized for mobile devices is also key to successful SEO optimization for HR companies. 

Did you know that more than 60% of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices? 

There’s a chance that you could miss out on a lot of potential customers. So it is necessary to optimize your website for mobile devices.

As many people now access websites via their smartphones or tablets instead of desktop computers, 

  • It is essential to look good and function properly across all screen sizes and device types if it hopes to attract visitors who may become customers.
  • Additionally, your website should have responsive design principles to work equally well regardless of screen size while still looking professional and offering a good user experience overall.

D. Social Media Marketing

Another great way to improve SEO rankings for HR, Payroll, & Recruitment companies is through social media marketing. For instance, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow users to share information quickly with others—including potential customers—making them powerful tools for reaching new audiences who wouldn’t otherwise find out about your services through traditional methods alone. 

Creating social media profiles on relevant channels with regular updates about news related to HR services can help the following:

  • Increase brand awareness as engaging in social media marketing and running targeted advertising campaigns can help get your company’s name out there, further increasing brand recognition & awareness.
  • Provide additional opportunities for gaining backlinks from other sources online.
  • Useful customer feedback about your company’s offerings.

Tip: Make sure you use appropriate messaging & branding – so potential customers know what you offer!  

E. Local search optimization

Optimizing your site for local search is important if you want your company to be visible to those searching for HR, Payroll, & Recruitment related services in your area. This optimization means claiming and verifying your Google My Business listing and ensuring that your NAP (name, address, phone number) information is consistent across all your online listings (including directories like Yelp and Angie’s List). 

Tip: You can effectively use Google My Business (GMB) for local branding efforts. GMB allows businesses like yours to showcase their products and services within SERPs based on location-based queries from potential customers searching in their area. 

For example, 

If someone were searching “payroll services near me,” they might come across your GMB profile, leading them directly back to your website – thus increasing visibility and generating leads! 

By taking care of these details, you can help ensure that potential customers in your area will be able to find—and choose—your company when they’re ready to do business.

Advanced integration of SEO Strategies For HR, Payroll & Recruitment Companies

A. Job posting

It is essential to HR, payroll, and recruitment companies’ search engine optimization (SEO) plans. Advanced job posting strategies are necessary for these businesses to reach a broad audience of job seekers and pull in job search engines. 

A successful job posting strategy for HR, payroll and recruitment companies should include the following:

  • Listing job openings on job search websites,
  • Optimizing job postings so they contain the right keywords to target job seekers as well as job search engines,
  • Crafting unique descriptions for different job postings to increase SEO value,
  • Use SEO components such as meta tags and headers to attract job search engines’ attention.

Advanced job posting efforts should be wide-reaching and effective to ensure quality job listings for all involved.

B. Employer Aggregate Rating

EAR provides a critical innovation for HR, Payroll & Recruitment Companies regarding advanced SEO strategies. Employer Aggregate Ratings focus on collecting data from multiple reliable sources and utilizing that data to create potential job postings. 

Through EAR, HR, Payroll & Recruitment companies can improve the following: 

  • The visibility of the postings on the web by targeting specific keyword phrases to reach the right audience.
  • Allow companies to tap into targeted job market segments, enabling them to strengthen their digital presence and establish rapport with potential employees.

Employer Aggregate Rating is a powerful tool for those seeking to get ahead in today’s dynamic recruitment landscape.

C. Salary Range Pages

Salary ranges are a crucial part of business strategies. They are particularly important for HR, payroll, and recruitment companies that must stay competitive and attract the right applicants. 

The role of salary ranges is to give a good idea of what to expect regarding compensation when applying for jobs. 

For this, companies must:

  • Utilize tactics such as keyword research, content optimization, and link-building campaigns to bring more attention to Salary Ranges pages and promote the reach of job listings.
  • Additionally, online networks and web directories can also serve as helpful resources in exposing Salary Ranges to broader audiences. Companies looking to make their mark should invest in advanced SEO strategies for Salary Range pages to maximize their performance potential.

D. Training Programs

Job Training Programs are essential for HR, Payroll & Recruitment Companies to recruit and retain skilled employees. 

  • By investing in Job Training Programs, businesses can increase employee engagement, performance, and productivity.
  • To optimize Job Training Strategies and make them more accessible,
  • Companies should create a search engine-friendly website
  • Use effective social media marketing techniques
  • Regularly update content and optimize on-page SEO features such as title tags and meta descriptions. 

Job Training Program websites should also link to third-party career advice and review sites to improve their rankings in SERPS. 

Lastly, developing Job Training Programs related to the company’s niche can help it get higher rankings on search results pages. By knowing and utilizing the right SEO strategies for Job Training Program websites, businesses can better attract potential talent while increasing their ROI over time.

E. FAQs

Question & Answer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies provide a great way for HR, payroll, and recruitment companies to reach potential customers. Through FAQs, businesses can advertise their services and help educate consumers in the industry. By answering frequently asked questions related to HR, payroll, and recruitment within online forums or on their website or blog, these businesses can make their presence known to those searching for answers. 

  • This type of content marketing allows businesses to become an authority in their niche by providing value-driven content that ultimately increases the visibility of their brand and products. 

FAQs present a great opportunity for HR, payroll, and recruitment companies to develop relationships with potential clients while increasing organic search engine traffic.

Overall, HR, Payroll & Recruitment companies must invest in proper SEO if they want to remain competitive & visible online. Implementing a comprehensive strategy combining both on-off page tactics is necessary if you wish for long-term success!

About Outpace SEO

Generating results across the US for over ten years

  • Ranked #1 among 142 SEO companies in Oklahoma
  • Current clients range from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies
  • Providing business growth insights to executives across Forbes & Entrepreneur

At Outpace, we push to optimize your website for both sides of the coin, human viewers and algorithms. Quality SEO can be one of the best investments in your business. We are here to help you with clear and efficient site design with better navigation, social proof through meaningful reviews and backlinks, & laser-focused content with keywords that your audience is already searching to help you rank higher and engage your customers more powerfully. 

Book your free consultation today!

Understanding How Search Engines Work: Crawling And Indexing Pages

When it comes to SEO, there is a lot of talk about “crawling” and “indexing pages.” But what does that mean? 

Here’s a simple explanation, crawling is the process by which search engines discover new content on the web. Indexing, on the other hand, is the process of adding new content to the search engine’s database. In other words, crawling is like going on a treasure hunt, while indexing is like adding treasure to your hoard. 

This blog post will take a more in-depth look at how search engines crawling and indexing pages works. By understanding how this process works, you can optimize your website for crawlers and improve your chances of ranking high in search results.

An elementary understanding of Search Engine

Search engines are programs that search the internet for websites that match the keywords entered into the search bar. Search engines work by indexing, or cataloging, all of the websites on the internet. When a user enters a keyword into the search bar, the search engine uses its index to find websites that contain that keyword. Search engines are essential for finding information on the internet. Without them, users would have to manually browse through every website to find what they were looking for. 


Did you know?

  • The most popular search engine, Google, handles over 3.5 billion daily searches.

Except for google, other popular search engines include Bing and Yahoo. Search engines are constantly evolving, with new features frequently added. For example, Google now has results from news articles and maps in its search results. As the internet continues to grow, so do the capabilities of search engines.

Main parts of Search Engine: Web crawler, Search Index, & Search Algorithm(s)

Search engines are one of the most commonly used tools on the internet, but how do they work? 

The main parts of a search engine are the web crawler, search index, and search algorithm

  • The web crawler explores new and updated websites and adds them to the search index. 
  • The search index is a database of all websites and pages the web crawler finds.
  •  The search algorithm then uses this index to match websites with user queries, considering factors like relevancy and popularity.

Extensively explaining, search engines maintain a database known as a search index containing billions of documents across the web. The search engine uses a complex algorithm to scour its index and return relevant results when you perform a search. 

The search algorithm considers factors like:

  • The location of the document’s search terms.
  • How many other websites link to that document? 

At their core, search engines rely on these three main components.

How does Search Engine Ranking work?

Search engine ranking is how search engines like Google order search results. It’s a complicated process. Google considers more than 200 factors to determine which websites to show on the first page of search results and which to deliver on later pages.  

Some of the factors that search engines look at when ranking websites include:

  • The quality and quantity of the site’s content, 
  • The number of other websites linking to it, and 
  • The speed and usability of the site. 

Search engine ranking is an important factor in determining how much traffic a website receives, and it can have a big impact on a business’s bottom line. That’s why many companies invest heavily in search engine optimization, or SEO, improving a website’s search engine ranking.  

Introduction to the functions of Search engines

A. URLs

The URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is the starting point for all search engine queries. The URL is the first thing the search engine checks when you enter a question into a search engine. If the URL matches the query, the search engine will return results from that website. If not, the search engine will search other websites until it finds a match. The URL is thus essential for finding the right results in a search engine query. 

How does Google discover URLs?

Google uses a variety of methods to discover URLs. 

One common method:

When Google crawls the web, it follows links from one site to another.  As it does so, it discovers new URLs that it can add to its index. 

Google can also discover URLs:

  • By crawling XML sitemaps that website owners submit. 

These sitemaps help Google find pages that might not be easily discoverable through traditional link crawling. 

Note: Google also offers a URL submission tool that allows website owners to manually submit their URLs for inclusion in the search index. 

URL submission tool is often used for new websites or for pages that have been recently updated and still need to get indexed through other methods. 

By combining these different methods, Google can keep its search index up-to-date with all the latest URL discoveries.

B. Crawling

It all starts with spiders

When you enter a search query into a search engine, it scours its index of websites to find the best possible matches for your question. The search engine uses special software called web crawlers, or spiders, to crawl and index web pages.

Spiders start at a list of known good pages (typically provided by the search engine operator) and then visit each page. As they visit each page, they read the content and follow any links. They then add those new pages to their list of available pages, and the cycle continues. The more pages a spider crawls, the larger the search engine’s index. And the larger the search engine’s index, the more accurate its results will be when you search.

For example,

Google uses a crawler called Googlebot to crawl the web and index pages. When Googlebot visits a site, it reads the page’s HTML code to identify links on the page. It then follows those links to discover new pages. Once it has uncovered new pages, it adds them to its list of pages to crawl in the future. In this way, crawling is essential for search engines like Google to keep their results up-to-date.

Types of crawling

  1. Depth-first crawling
  2. Breadth-first crawling

Depth-first crawling explores a website by starting at the home page and then going down through the links to find new pages. This crawling finds new content quickly.

On the other hand, Breadth-first crawling starts at the home page and then goes out to explore all of the links before moving on to the next page. This type of crawling is often used for websites with many pages, ensuring that all pages get crawled eventually. 

There are also hybrid methods that combine both depth-first and breadth-first approaches. Ultimately, the best method depends on the specific website and what type of information is being sought.

Can crawlers find all the content?

  • Crawlers are the unsung heroes of the internet- they help search engines index content so that we can find the information we need. 

But can crawlers find everything? 

  • The answer is yes and no. 

Crawlers are very good at finding static content that is updated frequently. This static content includes things like the following:

  • Product pages, 
  • Blog posts, and 
  • Articles 

However, they need help finding dynamic content, such as user-generated content or comments. This difficulty happens because this dynamic content is often created or updated in real-time, making it harder for crawlers to keep up. As a result, search engines do not index some ranges. 

Additionally, crawlers can sometimes have difficulty accessing certain types of content, such as Flash or JavaScript. So, website owners need to take measures to ensure that crawlers can easily find and index their content. 

Note: Self-indexing can involve using Crawler Instructions, which guide how to find and index specific types of content. 

These steps help website owners ensure that their site’s content is properly indexed and crawled.

The crawling errors when accessing URLs

When you try to access a URL and receive an error, it’s often due to the following:

  • 4xx Codes
  • 5xx Codes

4xx codes are client-side errors, which means there’s something wrong with the request you’re sending.

Common 4xx codes include:

  •  404 (not found) and 
  • 400 (bad request). 

5xx codes are server-side errors, which means the problem is on the website’s end.

Common 5xx codes include:

  • 500 (internal server error) and 
  • 502 (bad gateway)

While 4xx and 5xx errors can be frustrating, there are ways to troubleshoot and fix them. 

Note: 4xx errors are usually due to incorrect URLs or syntax issues, while 5xx errors happen due to overloaded servers or database issues.

If you encounter a 4xx or 5xx error when trying to access a URL, 

  • Check the address for typos, and make sure you’re using the correct syntax. 
  • If that doesn’t work, contact the website’s owner or administrator to report the issue. They should help you resolve the error so you can access the content you’re trying to reach.

C. Indexing

Indexing is a crucial process for optimizing the performance of databases. By indexing data, DBMSs can more quickly locate and retrieve specific records. There are several different indexes, each with its strengths and weaknesses. 

The most common index type is:

  • B-tree index (which organizes data in a hierarchical tree structure)

The B-tree index efficiently retrieves records based on their key values. 

Another popular index type is:

  • The hash index (which uses a hashing algorithm to map key values to specific records)

Hash indexes are particularly well suited for performing equality comparisons. 

Finally, there is:

  • The bitmap index (encodes data as an array of bits)

Bitmap indexes are very space efficient and can efficiently answer range queries. You can create indexes on almost any data type, including numerical data, text data, and images. Indexes can be made on one or more columns in a table and can even be created on expressions that combine multiple columns. 

Database administrators can create indexes manually, or the DBMS can automatically generate them. You must carefully choose indexes to strike the right balance between performance and space usage. Too many indexes can result in excessive disk usage, while creating too few indexes can degrade performance. Indexes are a powerful tool for optimizing database performance, but you must use them judiciously to achieve the best results.

Search engine interpretation and restoration of pages

Indexing is the process that search engines use to interpret and store your pages. 

  • To do this, they first need to understand what your pages are about. This is done by looking at the content on your pages and any metadata you may have included.
  • Once they understand your pages well, they can start indexing them.
  • Indexing involves storing your pages in a database to easily retrieve them when someone searches for a relevant term. However, indexing can also store other information, such as the popularity of your pages or the number of inbound links. This information can help determine how to rank your pages in the search results.

As you can see, indexing is a vital part of how search engines work, and it is important to ensure that your pages are properly indexed to ensure that they are visible in the search results.

However, sometimes these algorithms can misinterpret a page, or a website can change and no longer be about the same topic. In these cases, it’s important to submit a request to the search engine to have the page re-indexed so that it can be accurately represented in search results. This process is called “restoration.” 

By restoring pages that have not properly been indexed or are no longer relevant, search engines can provide more accurate and helpful results to users. As a result, restoration is essential to maintaining a healthy website.

How to tell search engines to index your site faster?

1.  Check Your Site’s Indexing Status

Before you can tell search engines to index your site, you must check its current indexing status. You can do this using a tool like Google Search Console. Enter your website’s URL into the tool, and Google will show you which pages are currently indexed.

2.  Submit a Sitemap

If you want search engines to index all of the pages on your site, you need to submit a sitemap. A sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the URLs on your website. This sitemap makes it easy for search engines to find and index your content.

3.  Use robots.txt

Another way to tell search engines which pages on your site to index are by using the robots.txt file. This file contains instructions for how search engine bots should crawl and index your website.

4.  Add Structured Data Markup

Structured data markup is code added to your website’s HTML code that helps search engines understand the meaning of your content. This data can tell search engines what type of content is on each page, such as articles, products, or events. Adding structured data markup to your website can improve search engines’ chances of indexing it.

5.  Promote Your Content

Once you’ve ensured that search engines properly index your website, you need to promote your content so people will see it in the search results. The best way to do this is by creating high-quality content that people are likely to search for. You can also promote your content through social media and other online channels.

How to index your content faster?

1. Use sitemaps

A sitemap is an XML file that contains a list of all the URLs on your website. By submitting a sitemap to the major search engines (Google, Bing, etc.), you’re giving them a road map of your site so they can easily find and index all your content. There are two types of sitemaps: XML and HTML sitemaps. XML sitemaps are meant for search engines, while HTML sitemaps are for human visitors to your site. Generally speaking, you should submit both sitemaps to the major search engines. That way, they can find and index all your content as quickly as possible.

2. Optimize your robots.txt file

Your robots.txt file is a text file that contains instructions for the search engine bots that visit your site. You can use it to tell the bots which areas of your site you do or don’t want them to crawl and index. 

For example, if you have pages on your site that are still under construction and not ready for public consumption, you would add those URLs to your robots.txt file so the bots wouldn’t try to index them (and they would eventually get an error message). 

You can also use wildcard characters in your robots.txt file, so you don’t have to list out each URL you want to block individually; block all URLs that match a certain pattern. 

3. Submit individual URLs directly to the search engines 

If you have new content on your site that you want to be indexed right away, one of the best things you can do is submit those URLs directly to the major search engines using their respective webmaster tools platforms: Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Once you submit a URL, you will add it to the queue of pages waiting to get crawled and indexed; generally speaking, it will be picked up and indexed within a day or two (sometimes even faster). 

4. Diversity is Key

One common mistake people make when trying to improve their SERP ranking is keyword stuffing—adding too many keywords into their content to game the system. However, this is unnecessary and will hurt your chances of being ranked well by the search engines because it creates a bad user experience (UX). Instead of stuffing keywords into every nook and cranny of your site, focus on ensuring each page has high-quality, keyword-rich content relevant to what people are searching for. In other words, focus on quality over quantity—the opposite of what most people think they need to do! 

Focus on making sure each page has high-quality, keyword-rich content that’s relevant.

5. Include images & videos 

In addition to text-based content, another great way to improve your SERP ranking is by including images and videos on your website wherever possible—especially if those images and videos get optimized with keywords! Not only will this help improve your ranking, but it will also help keep visitors engaged with your site longer (which is always a good thing). 

Indexing vs. Rendering

The two important steps in search engine optimization (SEO) are: 

Indexing: Adding web pages to a search engine’s database. This addition enables the pages to be found and displayed in search results. 

Rendering: The process of generating HTML code for a web page. This code displays the page in a web browser. 

Indexing is generally performed by bots or crawlers, while browsers perform rendering. Both processes are important for SEO, as they determine what content a search engine can find and how it will get displayed in search results to users. Google indexes first, followed by rendering, allowing the search engine to show users the most up-to-date web page version. 

How do searchers interact with your site from search results?

When someone enters a query into a search engine, it scours its indexed pages to find the most relevant results. A complex algorithm determines the order in which these results get displayed. The search engine considers dozens of factors, such as: 

  • The quality of the content, 
  • The popularity of the site, and 
  • The user’s previous search history. 

However, even the most well-optimized site will not get many clicks if its listing isn’t eye-catching and informative. This is why it’s important to understand how searchers interact with your site from the search results page.

Types of searchers

There are different types of searchers, each using another method to find the information they are looking for.

Searcher #1: Navigational

One type of searcher is the navigational searcher. These users already have a specific website in mind that they want to visit. They use the search engine to find the correct URL. For example, if you wanted to visit Amazon, you might type “amazon.com” into the search bar.

Searcher #2: Informational

Another type of searcher is the informational searcher. These users are looking for specific information but need to have a particular website in mind. They use the search engine to find the best source of information for their needs. For example, if you wanted to learn about the history of pandas, you might type “panda history” into the search bar.

Searcher #3: Transactional

The last type of searcher is the transactional searcher. These users are looking to buy something online. They use the search engine to find websites where they can purchase. For example, if you want to buy a new pair of shoes, you might type “shoes” in the search bar.

Types of Queries

a. Keyword query

The most common search engine query type is a keyword query, which consists of one or more keywords that the user enters into the search engine.

b. Boolean query

Search engines rely on algorithms that match the keywords to relevant websites to interpret keyword queries. Another type of query is a Boolean query, which uses operators such as “AND” and “OR” to combine multiple keywords. Experienced users search these queries to narrow their search results. 

c. Natural language query

Finally, some users may enter a natural language query, a sentence or phrase describing what the user is looking for. Natural language queries are typically processed using artificial intelligence techniques. 

By understanding how different types of searchers interact with search engines, businesses can design their websites and content in a way that is more likely to be found by potential customers.

Relationship of queries and SERP Features

Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) feature snippets directly result from users’ search queries. The snippets are generated algorithmically by matching the user’s query with the content on web pages. 

The relationship between queries and SERP features is important for anyone who wants to optimize their website for search engine ranking. 

Note: When a user enters a query, the search engine looks at the SERP features to determine what information to return. 

The SERP features have two categories: 

  • Organic 
  • Paid

Organic SERP features are unpaid results displayed based on relevance to the user’s query. 

Paid SERP features are the results that are displayed because the website has paid for them to Google to show. The goal of SEO is to rank high in the organic results, as this will result in more traffic to the website. 


Did you know?
  • Google uses an artificial intelligence system that ranks 
    websites based on user engagement called RankBrain.

Several factors determine how well a website will rank for a particular query. Still, one of the most important is the relationship between the question and the SERP features. If a website can optimize its content and structure to align with the SERP features, it will likely see an increase in its search engine ranking.

This way, a searcher types the query and gets its required information through search engines.

[Bonus] How does Google adjust SERP order in response to searcher engagement?

Google is constantly tinkering with its search algorithms to provide the best possible user experience. 

  • A major factor in determining the order of results on a given search engine results page (SERP) is engagement

One of the most important factors that Google takes into account when ordering results is the–

  • Clicked-through rate (CTR). 

CTR measures how often searchers click on a particular result when it appears on the SERP. It stands to reason that Google would prefer those results that get clicks more often, as they are more relevant and useful to searchers. 

In addition to CTR, Google also looks at other engagement metrics, such as–

  • Dwell time 
  • Pogo-sticking

Dwell time is what a searcher spends on a particular website after clicking through from the SERP. 

Pogo-sticking refers to clicking back to the SERP after quickly realizing that the clicked-through result is irrelevant. Again, it makes sense that Google would prefer those results that keep searchers engaged once they click through. 

By taking into account a variety of engagement metrics, Google can deliver more relevant and useful results to its users.

However, engagement happens due to several factors, such as:

  • The relevance of the result to the user’s query
  • The title and description of the result
  • The overall reputation of the website. 

Google considers all of these factors when determining SERP order, and it is constantly tweaking its algorithms to provide the most relevant and engaging results for users. 

As a result, businesses that want to ensure their website appears prominently on SERPs must focus on creating relevant and engaging content for users.

About Outpace

Outpace is an SEO agency with calculated strategies, strengthening businesses with long-term vision. We are a team of computer scientists and business minds with an average experience of 10+ years. We leverage our understanding of search engine algorithms and your business objectives to focus on the metrics that matter the most. Our custom approach creates effective data-driven SEO strategies for businesses and helps deliver outstanding ROI at turbo speed.

Generating results across the US for over 10 years

  • Ranked #1 among 142 SEO companies in Oklahoma
  • Current clients range from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies
  • Providing business growth insights to executives across Forbes & Entrepreneur

Connect with us and get your first SEO consultation FREE!

 

What is Email Marketing?

What is email marketing? To start with, it is the most effective marketing channel out there. It performs better than social media, affiliate marketing, and even search engine optimization. 

Even though many people claim that email marketing is outdated and old, it has the highest return on investment. It is used by almost every big “business to business” and “business to consumer” company.  

So how does marketing through email continues to be one of the best places for digital marketers to invest their time and money? To answer that, we need to look at what email marketing is and what it has evolved over the years.

This article is just one of many from our email marketing series, which will help businesses understand the ins and outs of marketing with email and provide them with some tools and best strategies to help them succeed!

But before we get into the advanced practices and the best ways to automate your email marketing strategy, we need to know exactly what email marketing is.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is the process of sending commercial-based messages directly to email subscribers in mass quantities. It is a marketing strategy that leverages a person’s prior interest in a company’s products and services to nurture them into buying something. More precisely, email marketing is a message that includes advertisements, a business request, or soliciting sales.

Email marketing is one component of the broader topic of internet marketing which includes marketing lines such as search engine optimization, content marketing, social media, search engine marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. These marketing lines all add up to your overall website traffic.

Since marketing through email is a permission-based technique – a user has trusted a business with their email and is allowing the company to send promotional, commercial-based, and sales emails to them. Moreover, by sending these emails, marketers can quickly evaluate the performance of their email marketing campaigns. The marketers can then see the return on investment (ROI), monitor the campaign’s effectiveness in real-time, and gather feedback on the performance and effectiveness of a certain email.

A History of Emails

Emails have come a long way since their inception in 1971. The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer, and consisted of a string of numbers and letters. However, sending the first email was not enough for Ray, as he wanted to leave his mark on emails even more. Tomlinson also introduced the idea of using the ‘@’ symbol in email addresses.

Fast forward to May 1, 1978, when Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp, sent out the first mass email for marketing means. With a list of 400 subscribers, Gary proved how effective email marketing is in generating a great return on investment. Whereas, by sending out 400 marketing emails, Thuerk could generate $13 million in sales!

Well into the digital age, email has become available to everyone worldwide. With over 4 billion email users worldwide, it is estimated that 333.2 million emails are sent every day! However, improved direct communication mechanisms have resulted in the need for regulatory actions. Whereas marketers and automated email machines have generated billions of spam emails. This has provoked governments to take action and enforce spam laws such as the United States Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) and the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

That being said, spam laws should not detour businesses from engaging in email marketing. They should be careful, is all. A great way to avoid being considered spam is to send valuable information and do it periodically. Moreover, companies should avoid daily email blasts and only send transactional emails.

How Does Email Marketing Work?

Email marketing can be conducted by using different types of emails. Each type utilizes a different strategy to increase interest and nurture potential customers along their buying journey. Businesses will use customized and personalized messages to generate trust and credibility to facilitate this process. The two types of emails include:

1. Transactional emails: 

Transactional emails are typically triggered by a customer’s action. The email must have the primary purpose of facilitating, completing or confirming a sale. For example, a transactional email would be sent when a customer purchases a product on an e-commerce site. The email might include information such as confirmation of the purchase, shipping details and tracking information. 

In addition to sales-related transactions, transactional emails can also be used for password resets, account confirmation and other types of notifications. By definition, transactional emails are triggered by an action taken by the recipient. As such, they typically have high open and click-through rates. However, it is important to make sure that the content of the email is relevant and useful to the recipient, or else the message will be perceived as spam.

2. Direct emails: 

The email’s purpose is not to sell something to the receiver but to communicate with them to build trust, credibility, and brand awareness. In the world of business, relationships are key. Whether you’re trying to establish a new partnership or maintain an existing one, keeping the lines of communication open is essential. One way to do this is through direct emailing. By reaching out directly to your contact, you can keep them updated on your latest products or services, and remind them of your company’s existence. 

This keeps you top-of-mind, and increases the likelihood that they’ll think of you next time they need something in your area. Additionally, by taking the time to nurture your relationships, you show that you’re interested in more than just making a quick sale. This can help build trust and foster a lasting connection. So next time you’re looking to solidify a business relationship, don’t forget the power of a simple email.

Why is Email Marketing Important?

An email marketing strategy can be a cost-effective and easy way for businesses to engage with their existing customers and community. Targeted and personalized emails can foster interest and lead to future sales. One of the best reasons to use an email marketing campaign is to develop trust with the email subscribers. 

Email marketing is important because it allows businesses to reach their existing customers and community members cost-effectively. By sending targeted, personalized, and non spam emails, businesses can foster interest and develop trust with their subscribers. 

These email campaigns can lead to future sales and help businesses to build relationships with their customers. Additionally, email marketing can be a useful tool for customer retention. By regularly staying in touch with subscribers, businesses can keep them engaged and encourage them to continue doing business with the company. Email marketing is an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy.

How To Do Email Marketing?

Email marketing can seem like a challenging marketing channel to use if a business has never done it before. However, it can be a simple process if it is broken down into actionable steps. Below is a brief account of how to do email marketing. 

Step 1: Build an email list

To perform marketing with email, you need to have an email list. The easiest way to do this is by placing a banner on your website asking people to subscribe. Simply asking for it, will have a low conversion rate, however. Therefore, the best practice is to incentivize the transaction by providing something of value in return for the email. This could be an e-book, free audit, checklist, or template

By giving people something that they want or need, you increase the chances that they will give you their email address in exchange. Once you have a robust email list, you can begin planning your marketing campaigns. But remember, always get permission from people before adding them to your list, and always provide a way for them to opt out if they no longer wish to receive your emails.

Step 2: Provide great content

While sending emails, businesses need to provide their subscribers with valuable and unique content. Moreover, the content should meet the expectations of the email recipient, whereas if they expect timely updates and information, but the business misses this, trust and credibility will diminish.

Finally, make sure the emails are not all commercially and transactional based. If a company continues to spam its email list with ‘buy now’ and ‘buy this’ emails, it will quickly lose its subscribers. Focus on providing value and furthering the individual’s understanding of the topic.

Step 3: Email Marketing Analytics

After sending out emails to subscribers, it is important to monitor and evaluate the campaign’s performance. Using email analytics such as open and click-through rates can give valuable insights into how well the email strategy is working. 

If the open rates are low, it could be a sign that the subject line needs to be more appealing. If the click-through rates are low, it could be a sign that the call to action is not effective. By constantly monitoring and evaluating email analytics, a digital marketer can make necessary adjustments to improve the performance of future campaigns.

Key Takeaways 

Email marketing has evolved significantly since the first email of numbers and letters was sent in the early 1970s. Now, it is one of the best-performing marketing channels available to businesses. With a high return on investment, low-cost entry points, and easily scalable and automated, all companies should utilize email marketing.

Marketers and business owners can no longer claim to not know what email marketing is or to not understand why it is beneficial. 

It is a proven marketing mechanism that has produced tremendous monetary results, helped build substantial brand recognition, and generated new customers while increasing repeat customers. 

If you have a business and you’re not using email marketing, now is the best time to start! 

Best SEO Agency in Oklahoma City 2022

Outpace Ranked Oklahoma’s #1 SEO company

As we enter 2022, more business is being conducted online than ever before. It’s an exciting time for the internet, and search engine optimization (SEO) has never been more critical. People are actively searching for your products and services. If they aren’t seeing your business at the top of the search results, your competitors are the ones reaping the profits.

At Outpace, we connect you with these same people searching for a business just like yours. We do this through SEO, but our approach differs from most digital agencies. We approach SEO from an ROI perspective. We aren’t just interested in ranking our clients at the top of Google; we ensure their website visitors convert. We do this by focusing on a multitude of variables that other companies aren’t even considering. Our process has worked so well that we have achieved recognition across popular review platforms such as Clutch and Expertise.

We are excited to announce two of our latest awards. Clutch has ranked us Oklahoma’s #1 SEO company, and Expertise has ranked us as one of the top SEO companies in Oklahoma. Our team is incredibly proud of these achievements, and we look forward to the continued success of our clients across these platforms.

Top Rated SEO AgencyOutpace Ranked Oklahoma's #1 SEO company

Common SEO Mistakes That Could Sabotage Your SEO Strategy

If you want to make your website more powerful and attractive, you need to focus on SEO. It’s not enough to create a good-looking site; it needs to be optimized for search engines as well. This blog post will discuss some common mistakes that could sabotage an SEO strategy and how you can avoid them.

Having no strategy

Everyone wants more traffic for cheaper, but you have to work hard at SEO for it to pay off. It’s all about creating a solid foundation with clear goals that can be measured against specific milestones. All of this starts with an actionable attack plan, so every aspect is covered, from content marketing strategies to competitor research updates.

Not knowing your audience

Your audience dictates every aspect of your SEO strategy. From content creation to marketing and everything else in between, understanding your audience is crucial to creating a successful SEO strategy. Knowing your audience means knowing what they want, how to get their attention, and where they are. Failure to understand them can doom your efforts before you even get started.

Not using the right keywords

Including the wrong keywords in your website content or titles can hurt your SEO ranking instead of helping it. Make sure to use keyword research to determine which words and phrases are most relevant to your business and target audience.

Targeting too many keywords

Focusing on too many keywords can also harm your SEO efforts. Target a couple of high-traffic, low-competition keywords closely related to your business instead of trying to rank for a bunch at once.

Not tracking progress: You need to track your progress if you want to know whether or not your SEO strategy is working. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Moz Pro Open Site Explorer to track your website’s search engine ranking, organic traffic, and other vital metrics.

Ignoring link building

Link building is an essential part of any SEO strategy. Get in touch with other bloggers and websites in your industry to exchange links and build up your site’s backlink profile.

Failing To Make Use Of Analytics Data

Google analytics will give you the insights needed on who visits your site and why; however, if not used properly, it can lead marketers astray without them even realizing it until it’s too late! That said, make sure you’re using UTM parameters to properly track campaign data (source, medium, and term), so you can attribute conversions back to the channels that are driving them.

Using duplicate content

Don’t plagiarize your content. It’s not only unethical, but it can hurt the credibility of your website and business as well. Copyscape is a free tool that will tell you if other sites have copied any text on your site or blog post so that you can reach out to them for proper attribution.

Using outdated SEO tactics

Don’t rely on link-building tactics from five years ago just because they used to work back then! If Google gets wise to specific techniques being overused, they’ll put an end to them in no time flat, which could leave you with a severely compromised web presence until new strategies are found!

Not using meta tags correctly

Meta keywords should be around ten words long, while descriptions should be between 150-160 characters long. Make sure to use your most important keywords in these areas while avoiding over-optimization, which can lead to penalties for spammy behavior.

Using incorrect title tags

Title tags are the titles of web pages that show up on search engine results and should be less than sixty characters, so they don’t get cut off by Google. Use your brand name and a few of the top keywords you’re targeting in this area without stuffing them since it won’t help SEO at all!

Not having an editorial or content plan

Consistency is vital for blogging; however, more isn’t always better if it doesn’t make sense with what you’ve already published (or haven’t). Having some editorial or content plan will help you stay on track and ensure that all of your published content is high quality, relevant to your target audience, and helpful in terms of SEO.

Forgetting technical details

Although Google has said that they don’t factor in site speed as a ranking signal, it should still be noted that having a slow website will hurt your SEO efforts. Make sure to check your server response time and load times using WebpageTest or Pingdom Tools for desktop browsers, mobile devices, and tablets so you know how fast (or slow) yours is compared to others.

Creating and using the wrong content

This is a big one! So many people mistake creating and using content that isn’t original, relevant, or helpful. Not only will this hurt your SEO efforts, but it could also damage the credibility of your website and business as a whole.

Creating and using the wrong content can sabotage your SEO strategy. Make sure you’re aware of these common mistakes so you can avoid them at all costs! If you want a detailed SEO strategy, consider talking to an SEO professional.

8 SEO Best Practices for Developers: Tips to Increase Website Traffic

In the past few years, SEO has outgrown its traditional definition. Today, SEO is interlinked with many fields, including design and coding. SEO experts have created a whole new service just to target the design aspect of a website. Both designers and SEO experts need to have a basic idea of each other’s services. In this article, we will discuss the best SEO practices that designers can adopt to keep their SEO specialists happy.

Keep your code clean

Sometimes, designers like to complicate things. Sure, the code for an in-built screenshot tool that redirects people to an online image editor sounds insanely cool and impressive, but is it relevant? And more importantly, will it make it easier for consumers to access information? Given the ever-decreasing attention span of modern-day customers, the ability to deliver value is crucial. Anything that stops a business from providing value to its customers is not required. While it is okay for a developer to experiment with new technologies that can be integrated into the website, but never at the cost of usability.

Keep load times fast

Another mistake many designers make is using heavy images and animations in their designs. While there are numerous things you have to do before implementing your design on an actual webpage, one thing that must always remain constant across all websites, regardless of developers or marketers involved, is speed. Google has already started showing preference towards faster loading websites compared to those taking forever to start up due to high image size and other elements used by designers for creative purposes rather than increasing clarity.

Use correct redirects

The importance of having a proper redirect cannot be overstated. It helps improve the SEO of the website and ensures that all of your content is available to search engine crawlers. Google recommends changing URLs for a better user experience as well as SEO benefits. There are two types of redirects that affect SEO the most: 301 and 302 redirects. Understanding what each redirect does and when best to use them can ensure that all of your content is accessible to crawl bots and customers.

Add a sitemap

Using proper formatting techniques and naming conventions can help you create an effective Sitemap that will be liked by both users and developers alike. While it might take some time initially, it would add value to the business in the long term.

Make sure the site works on mobile devices

It doesn’t end there; designing sites with specific device compatibility is another important aspect that designers need to keep in mind while creating any new digital media platform or solution.

Check the robots.txt file

Robots is a program that crawls through web pages and collects data about them for indexing purposes on search engines. The information collected includes several links, page sizes, etc., but most importantly, it also helps determine if crawlers can access specific pages or not. As such, designers need to ensure that they know where developers have placed robots text files to avoid any issues in the future.

Ensure follow/no-follow Links are used appropriately

Once upon a time, no-follow links were considered spammy; as a result, Google started ignoring them completely, rendering their purpose useless. However, ever since Google released the Penguin updates to eliminate bad backlinks from websites, developers, and designers must identify which links should be turned into no-follow and which need to be followed.

Understand and implement Structured Data

This type of data helps Google understand what a web page is about without actually looking at its content. There are specific guidelines by which one needs to abide by for this process to work perfectly. And while it might sound complicated, having a firm grasp of SEO designing techniques will help with implementing structured data on your website. However, always keep in mind that over-implementing these methods can hurt the overall purpose behind having them implemented in the first place!

It’s not that a developer should never experiment with new technologies that can be integrated into the website, but it should never be at the cost of usability. Another mistake many designers make is using heavy images and animations in their designs. While there are numerous things you have to do before implementing your design on an actual webpage, one thing that must always remain constant across all websites, regardless of developers or marketers involved, is speed. Google has already started showing preference towards faster loading websites compared to those taking forever to start up due to high image size and other elements used by designers for creative purposes rather than increasing clarity.

Winning the Round: Benefits of Partnering SEO and Digital PR

What is the point of doing PR if nobody gets your message? The answer to this question lies in understanding how search engines and Digital PR work together. If you want your website to rank higher on Google and be shared more on Facebook, then partnering SEO and Digital PR might be the way to go. In this blog post, we will discuss some benefits of doing so and some tips for achieving success!

Your message goes viral:

One of the benefits of SEO is ensuring that your message reaches potential customers who are interested in your business and services. Collaborating Digital PR with SEO practices does the same. Your company is liable towards current customers and potential customers. Ensuring that your message reaches both these target groups is crucial in the long run. When your brand message shows up on the first page of Google searches, it shows that your message is highly relevant and trustworthy. And since it delivers value, people are more likely to share it. In the long run, your brand message goes viral.

Your PR becomes stronger:

By working together, SEO and Digital PR can help to improve each others’ success rates! For example, if a blogger is writing an article about your brand, it would be suitable for that blog post to rank high in search results. This way, there’s a greater chance that many will see what you’re all about before even clicking through to visit your site! Your website gets more traffic due to increased visibility online. Traffic means customers, which means profits! If this cycle continues consistently over time, it could lead to more prominent sales figures or word-of-mouth recommendations. This is the secret sauce that helps to build your business!

Journalists and Bloggers help create a larger buzz:

If you are in PR, getting media attention is crucial. But how do journalists and bloggers hear about what your company or product has to offer? The answer: Digital PR! This form of marketing helps by reaching out with press releases, pitching ideas for blog posts, sharing exciting information via social media profiles, etc. If these people think that they can create a compelling story around your brand, then it’s more likely that they’ll be interested when hearing from a Digital PR specialist on behalf of the company.

Relevant traffic from trusted sources helps to establish authority:

Another benefit of partnering SEO and Digital PR is that you’re able to reach a wider audience by targeting those who read your industry’s publications. For example, if someone works as a journalist for an online magazine, then they are likely very interested in the latest trends within their field! If this person happens to come across one of your articles or shares it on social media, then there’s a high chance that others will seek out what your company has to offer. This means more traffic which leads towards increased sales opportunities – sounds like a pretty sweet deal right?

Doing both together can drive even higher results:

It should be noted, though, that working with both types of marketing at once might not work for every business owner because sometimes too many cooks spoil the broth. But that doesn’t mean that combining Digital PR and SEO practices is not for your business. The bottom line is that integrating Digital PR and SEO practices can drive results; you only need a unique setup for your business. 

Your post gets more views:

SEO and Digital PR are two approaches towards achieving similar goals online. They can help by increasing your website’s traffic, generating leads, drawing in new customers, etc. If this cycle continues consistently over time, it could lead to larger sales figures or perhaps word-of-mouth recommendations. This is the secret sauce that helps to build brand awareness! Your message goes viral on social media channels which means free advertising opportunities. It just takes one person sharing information about your company/product/service before others might be interested in checking you out.

It helps to protect your brand:

No matter how good your brand is, there will always be negative reviews. Not everyone will be a fan, and sometimes the media can portray things in an unbalanced way. This doesn’t mean that you should stop doing your best at all times! However, when working with Digital PR specialists then it’s advisable to include some brand protection plan. For example; A crisis PR plan helps if there are any controversies or issues which need immediate attention.

The benefits of partnering with SEO and Digital PR are endless. It’s a good idea to work together to provide the best results for your company or product. Doing so will help with gaining more traffic, building brand awareness, and making sales opportunities while protecting the reputation of your business at all times!

What your SEO results are telling you: Signs it’s the right time to fire your SEO agency

Many people think that SEO is a one-time job and that it’s something they can do themselves. The truth, however, is that SEO needs to be done continuously and consistently for your site to rank as high as possible. When you hire someone to handle your SEO, you want them to stay with you for the long haul – not just until the next guy comes along who promises better results. That’s why now may be the time to fire your current company if their strategy isn’t working and find someone new!

Beware of Unrealistic Promises: A Red Flag in SEO

Some SEO companies like to promise great things right off the bat. No SEO company can promise you precise results without a proper SEO audit, and any company that does it is probably lying. If your SEO company makes promises that seem too good to be true, chances are they are only trying to lure you in.

There are many reasons why some businesses do better at search engine optimization than others. It doesn’t necessarily mean that one way of doing things is “better” than another – just different! However, if your business has tried all sorts of strategies and techniques without any real success in getting ranked higher on Google – it’s time to consider finding someone new who can help get those rankings up there where everyone wants them to be.

Adaptability: A Crucial Trait in SEO Teams

When you have a constantly changing industry like the one we’re talking about here, it’s essential that your SEO team stays on top of things and keeps up with all the latest changes taking place in search engine optimization. If they aren’t enthusiastic when discussing these topics or changes from Google – it’s time to look elsewhere! Any good SEO company needs to be staying well-informed when it comes to keeping their business at the top of results pages for competitive keywords. Boredom is a sure sign that this isn’t going to work out long term either, so consider finding someone new who can provide you with enthusiasm along with top rankings!

Countless businesses are offering SEO services for dirt cheap. The reason is simple: they’re not good at what they do and don’t want to charge an arm and a leg because it will be obvious when the rankings disappear! If you decide to go with someone new, make sure that their pricing isn’t too low. You need to know that your company has invested in quality work from top professionals who can bring results, not just lower prices which seem like a great deal but aren’t going to cut it long term! While focusing on costs seems like an excellent way to filter SEO companies, try comparing what each company offers at their price point. Make sure you choose a company that offers the best value for your money.

No Shortcuts in SEO: Long-Term Efforts Bring Lasting Results

Let’s face it – we all love shortcuts, especially when we get tired of doing things the hard way over and over again. However, there aren’t any “shortcuts” when it comes to SEO. The process will always be long and arduous, but the results are worth every minute spent on your website! If you spot signs that your company is looking for shortcuts – like looking at shady black hat tactics or claiming they can “blast you up in Google overnight,” then it’s time to look elsewhere. This shortcut mentality will disappear once users stop coming back due to low rankings, which means it’s not a valid option anyway!

Avoiding Misaligned Goals: Ensuring Promises Align with Results

Many businesses want search engine optimization done well, but many don’t understand how much goes into this type of work before anything happens, so they aren’t fully prepared when things start happening too quickly. If your company isn’t keeping their promises about the work they are doing, it’s probably time to find someone new who is willing to work with you in achieving the results you want instead of pushing for something different than what was promised.

Many things can come into play when your company isn’t seeing the type of SEO results you were hoping for – including user experience issues and even content strategy! However, if everything else seems OK but still no signs on Google’s front page – there might not be much left to do other than fire them and find somebody new! There aren’t any “do-overs” here, so make sure this option won’t leave you disappointed before considering making a change.

Results-Driven Approach: Holding SEO Companies Accountable

When it comes down to it, many businesses may not realize what they are getting from SEO. Many companies will promise the world and not deliver in a way that works for you long term – leaving many businesses feeling disappointed. There’s always plenty of room for mistakes like this, but if your company is making too many or focusing on something other than results, It might be time to find someone new who can provide the type of work you want over and over again!

How to find a reputable enterprise SEO agency?

As it is, SEO has developed to a point where if you aren’t keeping tabs on the latest developments, you will be left behind. When search engines evolve, SEO keeps pace. And when you add in the complexity of an enterprise to SEO, things get slightly more complicated. Since not keeping up with enterprise SEO just because it’s difficult is not an option, you need an SEO agency that can help you get the rankings you want. But in a sea of SEO agencies, where each one claims to be the best, how do you go about finding the best SEO agency? Here are a few tips: 

1. Recommendations

What’s the first thing you do when you need to buy something? Probably ask around with your friends and family for recommendations. So that’s what you do. Good enterprise SEO agencies are numbered, and the best ones have a way of making themselves known around town. Talk to people you know, check online reviews, and ask for customer references from companies you want to work with; the end goal is to get an idea of the company’s real-world performance and whether it delivers on its promises.

2. Knowledge

While it can be hard to gauge the knowledge of an enterprise SEO agency based on a few interactions, keep an eye out for case studies, podcasts, or online properties that reflect the expertise of the people involved with the company. Prestigious enterprise SEO agencies keep up with the latest trends in the industry and are constantly trying to figure out changes that might arrive in the future.  

3. Transparency

Just because someone else is handling your enterprise SEO strategy doesn’t mean you should be kept in the dark. Good enterprise SEO agencies will bring you in on the loop from day one. They try to understand your goals, objectives, and your current position. They are also good at communicating what they want to do and how they will achieve these goals in a way that you and your team can understand. You probably don’t want to work with a company that comes up with a bunch of technical jargon every time you ask them about SEO. While knowledge is essential in enterprise SEO, ensuring that you understand everything going on is equally crucial.  

4. Realistic

Any SEO company that promises you results from day one or a quick fix for all your SEO problems is probably lying. SEO is a long process, and enterprise SEO takes even more time. It might be months before you start seeing any tangible results. So, instead of looking for agencies that promise unachievable goals, you want an SEO agency that understands where you are and lays out a detailed plan to get you where you want to be. The first thing any good enterprise SEO agency will do is an SEO audit. This allows both parties to understand your current status. From there on, it’s all about implementing strategies and tracking and interpreting analytics to get you that number-one ranking. 

5. Scalability

Enterprise SEO is too big of a task to fit in a couple of sessions. You need dedication, patience, and, above all, an agency that knows how to scale things. Failure to scale things properly leads to improper indexing, legacy, and crawlability problems. In short, you can end up worse off than when you started. Experienced enterprise SEO firms use automation to implement new changes and ensure efficiency.  

But for all the tips to find a reputable enterprise SEO agency, one tops all. That is to ask questions. Ask questions about the agency, its working procedures, its strategies, and about every single thing that you don’t understand. And any reputable SEO agency will find a way to answer all of them. So, ask away all your enterprise SEO woes.

SEO Budgeting Best Practices: Mapping Out an SEO Spending Plan

When it comes to SEO spending, there are a lot of options to choose from. This can be overwhelming for business owners who are not in the know about what an SEO budget should look like. This blog post will help you map out your SEO budget by outlining some best practices when finalizing your plan.

Perform an SEO audit:

You need to know what you’re dealing with before finalizing an SEO budget. A full-scale audit can unearth a treasure trove of information that will later help your SEO strategy and execution. This will also help you understand your website’s current state and help you understand your goals.

Build a strategy:

There is no point in spending money on SEO if you don’t have a solid and actionable plan. Before finalizing your budget, figure out what it would take to achieve those goals and how much you want to spend on each campaign. As with any marketing strategy, this should be tested before actual implementation so that the results are positive for all stakeholders involved.

Create content assets:

Content plays an integral role in building links that will help drive organic traffic back to your website or blog posts via search engine result pages (SERPs). This not only helps increase brand awareness but also establishes your company as a thought leader within its industry by delivering quality information through blogs, videos, etc. Investing a part of the SEO budget in creating content assets is always a good idea.

Do not limit your SEO budget:

A common mistake that many business owners make is to allocate a fixed percentage of the marketing budget toward SEO spending. This will not be an effective strategy since different channels require varying levels of investment, and these investments might change over time. For instance, in the beginning, when you are trying to build your base with social media or content marketing, it would make sense for you to invest more heavily in these channels as opposed to later down the line. Since your SEO efforts compile over time, your organic search later down the line should become relatively more robust from increased brand awareness.

Have clearly defined goals:

SEO does not exist in a vacuum; it needs support from other areas such as sales and product development if there has got to be any real ROI on your efforts spent on this channel. This is why it’s essential to have clearly defined goals that you want to achieve by the end of your campaign so everyone in the team knows what they are working towards.

Ensure all areas are covered:

Keywords, links, and content need to be given due importance when mapping out an SEO budget. Similar to how no single channel can do everything for you, there also cannot exist a single strategy or tactic that helps you cover all three aspects mentioned above. For instance, creating great quality content takes time. This means that if your plan involves producing new blog posts every week, then perhaps investing more heavily on link-building might not make much sense since there would barely be any time left for outreach campaigns! As such, it is essential that different strategies complement each other to achieve a successful SEO campaign.

Keep an eye on the competition:

This point is significant for businesses that are not established or have limited traction in their respective markets. It would be difficult to gain any organic rankings without having at least some degree of brand awareness and authority when you’re just starting. In such cases, identifying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses could help you plan your attack better to avoid spending too much time going up against a tough competitor with no chance of success. For instance, if you notice that your competitor’s content marketing strategy looks stronger than yours, investing more heavily in link building might make sense. Trying to take them head-on from day one might prove futile since you would be fighting an uphill battle.

Consider your marketing objectives:

The role of SEO changes in different stages of the sales funnel. This is why it’s essential to identify your goals at each stage so you can allocate resources accordingly. For instance, if improving brand awareness and driving traffic to your site was more important than conversions for an early-stage startup, investing heavily in social media could be a better option than optimizing pages. 

Analyze your data:

There is a lot of information available on the web about how to go about mapping out an SEO budget, but none of it will be helpful if you are unable to analyze the results correctly after all this hard work! Make sure that each channel has its own set goals for success and does not overlap with another channel’s objectives which might lead to confusion later down the line.

Review regularly:

Finally, make sure that you review your progress regularly to ensure that everything is going according to plan or needs improving somehow. Perhaps one tactic isn’t working as well as expected; in such cases, it makes sense to either reallocate funds towards other channels or try something different from the same group.

Creating a budget for your company’s SEO strategy is one of the most important steps to ensure that you invest enough time and money to see results. The point of an SEO plan is to create visibility for your website, but this can’t happen without proper planning.