How to Protect Your Website from "Negative SEO"

 Step by step instructions to Protect Your Website from Negative SEO

Website design enhancement is a cutthroat industry, and in some cases, individuals go too far.

Is your site abruptly stacking gradually or continually crashing? Is your site getting guests from a wide range of surprising referrers? Is it true that you are getting besieged with terrible internet-based surveys? Has your site dropped a few spots in the pursuit rankings?

Provided that this is true, you may be a casualty of negative SEO.

What Is Negative SEO?

Negative SEO is the demonstration of utilizing dark cap SEO strategies to disrupt sites and sink their hunt rankings. On the off chance that you're new to SEO, you may likewise be new to the expression "dark cap SEO." This term incorporates forceful strategies intended to game Google and other web indexes.

Tragically, it's startlingly simple to make different locales look at fault for dark cap SEO - and put them solidly targeted by Google.

Sorts of Negative SEO Attacks

Negative SEO could include a solitary strategy used to tank your rankings, or your rival might utilize a mix of strategies. Here are the most widely recognized sorts of negative SEO assaults:

Hacking a site - This is clear as crystal! Hacks are most frequently the occupation of, all things considered, programmers who need to capture a set up site for nasty purposes, but on the other hand it's conceivable that a contender might host paid a third gathering to hack your site as a negative SEO strategy.

Building nasty connections back to a site - Comment spam, discussion spam, and other malicious strategies are regularly completed by bots, which makes them modest and difficult to-follow and that implies it's an assault that is ideally suited for negative SEO.

Taking a site's substance and making a copy of the site - Just like being hacked, assuming this happens to you, the most probable clarification is that somebody is attempting to make a fast buck through some sort of nasty plan, but on the other hand it's conceivable that it very well may be essential for a negative SEO crusade against your business.

Making counterfeit audits of a business - As surveys become more vital to nearby organizations, this is a strategy that is expanding in ubiquity. Your rivals (or somebody they pay) may fill Yelp, Google, and other survey destinations with counterfeit audits of your organization.

Eliminating your webpage's best backlinks - You've endeavored to construct backlinks for your site, however a contender can undoubtedly fix this work by reaching site proprietors acting like you and mentioning that your connections be taken out or changed.

How Real is the Danger?

Beyond a shadow of a doubt - negative SEO can annihilate weeks, long stretches of time of hard-acquired inquiry rankings. An authentic risk should be treated in a serious way. Albeit dark cap SEO strategies are progressively more hard to execute nowadays - and surprisingly however these strategies are broadly disregarded all through the expert universe of SEO - there will forever be computerized advertisers who'll turn to these techniques.

All things considered, the odds of experiencing a negative SEO assault are little.

Assuming your site is encountering execution abnormalities, there's presumably another clarification. All things considered, you ought to consistently go to precaution lengths to shield yourself from negative SEO, and you ought to consistently treat in a serious way the indications of a continuous assault. Beneath, we audit a few significant shields that can arm your site against negative SEO.

How Might You Protect Your Website from Negative SEO?

1. Use Google Analytics to Watch for Traffic Spikes

Spikes in site traffic may be brought about by a web-based deal, a snappy online media crusade or various other welcome things. Be that as it may, an enormous, surprising flood of guests is an exemplary admonition indication of negative SEO - and traffic spikes may be the most effectively recognizable warnings.

One negative SEO strategy is to spam sites, discussions and remark areas with bad quality connects to a designated site. The outcomes can be harming in light of the fact that Google will creep these connections and possibly punish the designated site for its abrupt nasty connection profile.

Here is the uplifting news: Google Analytics makes it simple to follow guests. Don't simply check out your general day by day visits; focus on how much traffic you get from references, SEO, paid publicizing, email, and the wide range of various channels you're utilizing. Search for changes that can't be clarified by your continuous promoting.

On the off chance that you truly do see uncommon traffic, run a Referrals report and see precisely where your guests are coming from to decide whether you're a survivor of remark spam.

2. Additionally Look for Traffic Slumps

Assuming you notice an unexpected drop in rush hour gridlock rather than a flood in rush hour gridlock, then, at that point, you want to dive into Google Analytics to track down the reason.

In the first place, check your SEO traffic patterns. Go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels and afterward click on Organic Search in the table. Change the date reach to show the past 6 a year to get a higher perspective of your SEO traffic patterns. Once more, on the off chance that you see an unexpected drop, you have an issue.

Then, check your rankings utilizing an instrument like RankRanger. Different elements make traffic and rankings vary, yet a sizable fall in the pursuit rankings should be cause for concern. Follow the means beneath to continue to delve in and decide the underlying driver.

3. Regularly Search for Duplicate Content

Quality substance is a sign of good SEO.

Sites that have remarkable, pertinent, and significant substance will generally rank better compared to locales that don't. On the flip side, Google dislikes sites with slim or copy content.

That is the reason another negative SEO strategy is to "scratch" content from sites and duplicate it onto scores of garbage areas. This can be particularly harmful with fresher substances. Assuming Google files the substance on garbage areas prior to ordering the beginning site, then, at that point, the starting site loses the SEO esteem.

This one is not difficult to distinguish. Utilize an apparatus like Copyscape to ensure your substance just exists on your site. Assuming you observe your substance on another person's website, email the webpage's website admin and demand that it be promptly eliminated. You can likewise finish up Google's Copyright Removal structure and adequately make a case for your substance property.

4. Review Your Site Links

Routinely evaluating your connection profile can likewise leave negative SEO speechless. It's typical for a connection profile to develop over the long haul as individuals find out with regards to your business. Be that as it may, interface profiles regularly develop at to some degree consistent speed. For there to be an unexpected leap in your backlink volume is a reason to worry.

You can review your backlinks utilizing instruments like Ahrefs and Moz's Link Explorer. On the off chance that you track down a lot of nasty backlinks, utilize Google's deny administration to cleanse those joins from your connection profile.

5. Watch Your Online Reviews

Hardly any things drive away clients like a whirlwind of terrible internet-based surveys. What's more with audits and evaluations frequently getting toward the top land on Google, they've likewise turned into an objective of negative SEO strategies.

Was your business barraged with a line of awful audits on Yelp, Google or another profile or index site? Assuming this is the case, you may be the objective of a contending business (or an incredibly disappointed client). Google and other audit destinations let you banner surveys that you believe are fake. Try not to stop for a second to utilize this element assuming you've been designated by counterfeit surveys.

6. Try not to Ignore Site Performance

Is your site running slower than expected? Is it much of the time crashing or stalling out? What's more, does your site appear to slack regardless of where you are or the way in which you're seeing it?

If so - and in the event that your site's presentation is outrageously awful - that could be the consequence of an assault on your site's server. Programmers some of the time send off strong slithering and DDoS assaults to adequately deliver sites unusable, bringing about high skip rates and baffled clients.

Technically knowledgeable advertisers can in some cases address site execution issues, however, your smartest option is to contact your website admin or facilitating supplier. Your host supplier can probably offer a fix with next to no extra work on your part.

The Bottom Line

Website design enhancement is a vigorous industry, and once in a while the opposition gets excessively warmed. Hence, you should be careful all the time against negative SEO.

Dark cap strategies aren't as successful these days at lifting sites in the rankings, yet they're more proficient than any other time when harm is the objective. The harm from negative SEO can be enormously relieved by identifying assaults early and making restorative moves.

How to Conduct an SEO Content Audit

Since August, we've joined forces with other promoting experts to exhibit our Master Your Marketing Webinar Series where we share noteworthy exhortation, tips, traps and contextual investigations intended to enable you to ace distinctive part of the advanced showcasing universe.

A month ago, SpyFu President and Founder Mike Roberts shared important lessons gained from their own one of a kind "down and filthy" SEO content review.

Read on for a recap of the greater part of the considerable tips he shared that will enable you to ace you content promoting and SEO.

What is a SEO Content Audit and Why Do It 

A SEO content review is an interest in your SEO future. It involves investigating the sum of your substance to decide SEO qualities, shortcomings, and how to enhance future substance creation. It's both a wellbeing checkup for your site and a chance to enhance existing substance.

Through the audit and consequent pruning of your substance, you're ready to evacuate dead weight which may have been overloading both UX and SEO quality. Google favors quality and freshness in content over amount. In other words, Google is pushing everybody to refresh or expel four year-old blog entries that don't (and shouldn't) get any activity.




Search engine optimization content reviews are for sites and organizations that have been reliably delivering content for no less than a year. They are intended to be a semi-yearly checkup and recalibration. In case you're quite recently beginning, you won't have anything to review and rather you ought to concentrate on working up a solid SEO establishment.

The most effective method to Conduct a SEO Content Audit 

In the first place, with a specific end goal to direct a SEO content review you should pick up a superior perspective of all your substance. This can be accomplished by bringing each blog entry, video, and article into a solitary spreadsheet to consider simple association, assessment and prioritization. Moderator Mike Roberts prescribes a particular strategy that includes a couple of SEO instruments and a Google spreadsheet.

Once your sheet is finished, search out and note clear specialized issues like 404s, missing titles, missing meta depictions, H1s, copy content, copy titles, and so forth. Distinguish blunders and stamp them in the sheet and get a feeling of regular slip-ups.

Next, arrange your substance into classes so you have a decent vantage point to take a gander at the connection between similarly invested content. Search out obsolete substance, more established substance that ought to be diverted to your new substance, content that is missing media that may have been made at a later date, excess substance, and so on. Generally, locate your substance opportunities.Ask target inquiries concerning each bit of substance:

• Is this piece obsolete?

• Is it worth diverting to another piece?

• Do we require more than one article or video about this theme?

• Can this substance be joined with another piece to shape something more significant and new?

Next up is watchword explore.

Finish a huge amount of catchphrase look into on which terms you'd like your site and your substance to rank for. With your composed and assessed content, perceive how it lines up with your objective catchphrases.

Here are the objectives of your catchphrase inquire about:

• Make beyond any doubt each article really focuses on a particular watchword.

• Update or kill content which does not focus on a particular watchword.

• Gain viewpoint on what should be worked by looking over what you as of now have and its association with your objective catchphrases.

Since you've sorted out, assessed, increased, and increased point of view on your substance's association with your objective catchphrases you would now be able to start methodicallly pruning, settling, joining, altering and erasing your substance. Moreover, you can set objectives on sorts of key substance to chip away at for what's to come.

Last Tips, Tricks and Takeaways 

The following are a modest bunch of tips to help you with your review:

• If you can isolate up various parts of the review among your group, do it!

• Learning how to appropriately standardly label content is vital, don't skip it. Accepted labels go about as a bypass sign starting with one bit of substance then onto the next. They disclose to Google that while there are two comparative bit of substance, we propose this one over another. This constructs the case for a specific page to rank higher.

• Turn dusty related substance into greater new pieces.

• Use Google Search Console > Crawl > Sitemaps to take a gander at what number of pages you've submitted versus what number of they've listed. Work to pick up Google's trust by having no less than 99% of your submitted content listed.

4 Scary SEO Tactics That Will Forever Haunt Your SEO

Google What's more different scan engines need aid always tweaking their underlying code What's more structural engineering. This implies that SEO system is An moving target, and rankings would generally done flux. Also On fact, normal However former SEO methodologies which took focal point of Google’s absence of modernity could Right away frequent you Toward undermining Google’s trust from claiming your webpage.

That is in the soul from claiming Halloween, I'm setting off with stroll through 4 unnerving SEO strategies that will for eternity frequent your SEO. If you, your team, or somebody you procured in the previous utilized At whatever of the strategies below, then you'll battle until get your website positioning Previously, Google What's more you'll need to make steps will right them.





Frightening strategy #1: Pivotal word stuffing Webpages. 

In the exceptionally early days from claiming SEO, Google kept tabs vigorously on the recurrence What's more amount of keywords with respect to your site. An webpage that said An specific Pivotal word a greater amount every now and again over other webpages might tend on rank higher in the hunt effects. This prompted those act for “keyword stuffing,” forcing keywords unnaturally under your duplicate On trusts of positioning higher.

To An while, stuffing worked, however In those out about debasing ux Furthermore subjecting book lovers should awkwardly composed duplicate. Then, Likewise Google turned into that's only the tip of the iceberg skilled at identifying common dialect they started should punish Pivotal word stuffing and the act fast passed on out. Today you at present have to guarantee your webpage may be pertinent for your target keywords, Yet it’s significant should compose characteristically.


Unnerving strategy #2: different Webpages for comparable Keywords. 

The following unnerving strategy is something we at present view truly frequently all the when auditing sites. Again, this strategy might have been used to take advantage for how Google used to worth of effort.

Likewise you could imagine, clients quest to those same thing utilizing large portions distinctive Pivotal word varieties. For example, i might quest for “infant auto seat” same time you might quest to “newborn auto seat. ” you Also i think we’re searching for the same relic in any case for Google’s algorithm, it’s wasn't that straightforward.

That’s the reason in the previous it might have been An keen ticket on make separate pages to distinctive Pivotal word varieties. Those bring about shortages will be that many organizations Right away have sites with handfuls alternately much hundreds from claiming fundamentally the same webpages optimized to minute Pivotal word varieties.

Today, Google will be a great deal more skilled toward distinguishing the association the middle of synonyms Also comparable expressions. Furthermore, Google penalizes copy substance such as those comparative webpages When based around know slight Pivotal word varieties. The present best method is with verify should aggregation comparable Pivotal word expressions together Also streamline recently you quit offering on that one “master” webpage to every center keyword/topic.


Frightening strategy #3: unnatural Backlinks

Those third frightening strategy is unnatural backlinks. This strategy got a considerable measure from claiming consideration when Google discharged those notorious penguin overhaul once again On 2012. Many organizations lost their Google rankings then afterward this redesign Furthermore old unnatural joins bring been frequenting them Since the time that.

What’s an unnatural link? any backlink pointing should your website that Google determines might have been not Regularly made. For example, On you, your team, or somebody you procured made joins for sites that were based for those sole motivation behind linking on other sites (aka, connection networks), At that point you have unnatural backlinks pointing should your website.

Another case of unnatural joins is over-optimized family content. Family quick may be basically those expressions that need aid hyperlinked (ex. “click here” may be the family quick in this link: click here). Whether practically from claiming your website’s backlinks would utilizing the same keyword-focused family text, At that point that’s a warning that recounts Google you’re probable making unnatural joins in an endeavor with support your rankings.

With Audit your website’s links, try will Moz’s nothing open webpage voyager device What's more quest for your space name. This device around will show you alternate sites linking with your website, alongside the family quick In this way you could check whether unnatural joins need aid probable frequenting your SEO endeavors. An sign about common family quick is that the greater part of it is your brand name, Also An sign from claiming unnatural family quick is Hosting An helter skelter rate of keyword-based family quick.


Frightening strategy #4: utilizing Farmed content

Content cultivating will be those act for making Furthermore offering exact Shabby and poorly generated SEO optimized substance. These need aid organizations or people who pay independent journalists to rapidly make blog posts, articles, features What's more other networking around An provided for situated for keywords. Then, organizations taking a gander with enhance their rankings through substance promoting purchase all the this content In bedrock costs.

Its never worth it. Shabby farmed substance will be frequently all the stacked for errors, composed clinched alongside An nonexclusive or unnatural style, habitually duplicated, What's more main serves to undermine those trust for both Google and your possibility clients. Furthermore, Similarly as Google gets additional successful at distinguishing common dialect this style of substance camwood prompt SEO penalizations.


Determination. 
Each organization that captivates done SEO ought further bolstering keep a close eye on the strategies utilized by your cooperation or your ever-enduring. SEO systems which take advantage from claiming Google’s shortcomings would frequently short existed Furthermore rapidly punished. Furthermore, punished domains make a long time should acquire again Google’s trust. Don’t a chance to be frequented by secret word SEO mistakes!.

How to Use Press Releases to Boost Local Google Rankings

Local SEO Case Study:
The Power of Press Releases

Until July 2013, public statements were an incredible strategy for building great connects to your site.

What's more, the procedure was basic. Compose a public statement that incorporates connects to your site, pay an official statement circulation benefit like PRWeb, and after that watch your internet searcher rankings enhance as an ever increasing number of honest to goodness sites posted the official statement with connections to your website.

Obviously, that all changed in July 2013 when Google declared the passing of public statements for site improvement (SEO).

Yet, would it say it was truly the finish of public statements as a SEO strategy? No, and for this situation examine I'll demonstrate there is still a great deal of energy in official statements (in the event that you know how to utilize them effectively).



What Changed in July 2013?

In July 2013, Google declared they would now consider interfaces in public statements as "paid connections" and urged dissemination administrations to utilize "nofollow" interfaces in the discharges. This change bodes well since organizations were paying public statement appropriation locales keeping in mind the end goal to get excellent connects to their sites.

In the event that you're not mindful, Google does not tally paid connections or "no take after" connections in their positioning calculation. Those sorts of connections are disregarded by the calculation. That implies the greater part of the connections you get from the public statement would not specifically enhance your web search tool rankings.

Thus, the reverberating cry that official statements were dead for SEO.

While it's actual the connections don't straightforwardly enhance your rankings, there is another effective SEO advantage of official statements.

The Key Benefit is Citations

A reference is a specify of your NAP (business Name, Address, and Phone number) on another site. For instance, if your business is recorded in Yelp, at that point your profile on Yelp is a reference since it records your NAP.

When drafting an official statement, on the off chance that you incorporate your business NAP in the byline of the discharge, at that point when your discharge is distributed over the web, each distributed page is another reference for your business. You can see a case beneath:



That implies you could issue one official statements and inside a day or two have handfuls or even several new references.

That sounds awesome, yet why are references critical?

References Are Critical For Local Rankings

One of the greatest considers positioning high in the neighborhood "outline" is the amount and nature of your references. Of course, you can make accounts on professional references and develop a decent establishment of references, however so can your rivals.

To pick up an upper hand, you can utilize public statements to rank higher in the nearby outcomes. To demonstrate this works, we should take a gander at a contextual analysis...

How Our Client Jumped from #20 to #1

One of our dental specialist customers was stuck around #20 in the neighborhood "delineate."

We had effectively finished our site tune-up and set up all the important professional resources, yet the rankings would not enhance past #20 for his top need catchphrase, "Savannah dental practitioner." At this point we knew we needed to take it to the following level to surpass the contenders positioning on the principal page of Google.

This is what we did...

Over a 4-month time frame, we issued 4 official statements for our customer. Obviously, in the public statement we included connects to our customer's site, yet as you most likely are aware those connections were "nofollow" so they didn't specifically help for SEO. The power was in the references, or the notices of our customer's business name, address, and telephone number.

As an ever increasing number of sites distributed the public statements, our customer started to hop up in the Google neighborhood rankings. In the end he was #1 on the principal page of Google in the nearby outcomes for his essential watchword.



As should be obvious from the screenshot over, the references helped our customer rank in the neighborhood "outline" on the main page of Google. At the point when Google decides the searcher is searching for a nearby business, at that point frequently Google shows a guide with neighborhood organizations recorded underneath.

To rank high in these nearby indexed lists, you should have references, and that is one reason you ought to consider utilizing official statements as a major aspect of your Local SEO technique.

Answers to 5 Common Local SEO Questions

In today’s article, get answers to 5 common questions about Local Search Engine Optimization (Local SEO).

5 Local SEO FAQs You Never Knew
You Needed Answered

Undertaking Local Search Engine Optimization today is extremely important for all businesses trying to build a solid local online presence -- just read our latest blog post on why Local SEO may be the best investment you ever make.

Today we’ve decided to summarize 5 local SEO FAQs you didn't know you needed answered… or maybe you did, and that’s why you’re here? Either way, we’ve got you covered.

#1. Does my business require a website for local SEO to be most effective?

The top rankings in local search are given to businesses that Google can trust. Getting into the top positions of the Google ‘Local Pack’ requires some website SEO – so yes, it is important to have a website!

Google correlates the address information on a website with the information provided on Google My Business, and then further validates this with the information about your business that is listed across the Internet.

A primary trust factor with local search is having a website that includes relevant content to your business categories with Google My Business, as well as having accurate NAP information (Name, Address, Phone Number).

Google will attempt to match up your services in your business listing with what you show on your website. If there’s a match then the trust-factor, and overall effectiveness of local SEO, will increase.

#2. So, what makes a perfect local search listing?

There are three core components which together will ensure that your local search-listing stands head and shoulders above the rest.

1. Accuracy and Consistency: Your business information across all directories, websites and local search listings has to be accurate and consistent. Particular attention to detail should be applied to your NAP and website URL.

2. A complete listing: Every field in your local listing should be fully completed. This includes photos, opening times and a detailed description with your business keywords incorporated. Completing all sections of your listing, not only provides more information for the search engines to deliver better results, but it gives the searcher more information about your business

3. Up to date information: Keep all information up to date across all of your listings. This includes incorporating any special offers and updating your opening times if necessary. It’s important to also manage and respond to any comments or questions. Visit your Google My Business dashboard to check on reviews and update your information.

#3. Do I need to build links to my Google My Business page and directory listings such as Yelp, or is link building primarily targeted to the website itself?

Most people are linking to websites that they find are of high quality, or relevant to their own business, hobbies or interests. At least that's what they should do anyway, so links to directory pages or a Google My Business page don't make much sense. This also doesn’t represent a reason to rank a business higher than another business, as most of these links would be built by the business owner and not earned.Generally, the type of links that help your listing rank higher are ones that point at your website.

#4. I’ve heard that submitting to directories can now cause ranking punishments by Google. How can I avoid this but still build the required citation links?

If the business listings are spammy and incorrect, then yes, Google may punish you. And it is correct that building links from low quality directories to gain links has been considered spammy for a long time now. Even with high quality directories, a spam factor that Google would look for is a business name with search keywords stuffed in it, or categories with location keywords being used.

So, as long as you are creating/claiming local listings with high quality directories, such as Yelp and other top directory websites, and you keep your NAP information accurate and consistent, then you don’t need to worry about any kind of ranking punishment.

Tip: Use the local testing tool my Moz to see what local SEO score they give you and to test the accuracy of your listings throughout the top quality directories.

#5. What if my business is relocating?

Relocating your business is challenging in the real world, and unfortunately in the online world it can be very challenging as well.

This process of change is not easy, and it is vital that all citations and business information is amended quickly and efficiently. Depending on your specific circumstances, various strategies can be implemented to keep your online presence visible during the transition. Unless your team has experience, then it's highly recommended to work with local SEO professionals to re-establish your new location online.

Why Local SEO Might Be the Best Investment You Ever Make

Remember the days that you had to Google a place for lunch before you left the house earlier that day? Or, take it even further back and think about a time that you opened up the phone book to find the closest hardware store.

The growth of mobile technology has made it possible for us to search for nearby businesses literally at the exact moment we need them. If you decide you have a craving for ice cream while walking around downtown, you can take out your phone and simply type in “ice cream shops near me” and be given a list of local spots to indulge in your favorite sundae.

These local search results are an amazing opportunity for businesses to generate traffic and prospective clients in the geographic area they serve, making them ideal prospects. That’s why local SEO is such an important part of any small business’ digital marketing strategy.

Moz recently released their 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors Report that details the elements that affect local SEO. With the updates to this report and the growing importance of local SEO, I figured it would be a good idea to get our SEO analysts to weigh in on ways to improve local SEO. Read on below to find out their top 6 tips for improving your rankings in search results. 

1. Verify and Optimize Your Google My Business Profile Page

It’s important to ensure your Google My Business Profile is set up correctly and maintained for accuracy. Local search results feature the most relevant results for each search. If your business information is complete and accurate, then it’s much easier and more likely that Google will match you to the right searches.

Make sure that you have entered all of the correctly business information into Google My Business. You should select the profile category that most accurately describes your business and verify your location(s). Make sure that when someone looks at your profile they know what you do, where you are, and when they can visit you. List your updated hours, phone number, and any other relevant contact information in your profile.

And it’s important to keep this information up to date. For example, if you’re closed for a holiday, you should make sure that’s in your profile so it says you are closed at that time. Or, if your phone number or location changes, this needs to be updated as well.

2. Get Your "NAP" in Order

If you want your business to rank at the top of the local maps results, it's critical that you keep your "NAP" consistent. NAP refers to your business Name, Address, and Phone number.

You'll want to keep your NAP consistent anywhere you can, including:

• Your website - make sure to include your NAP on the footer of your website so it's on every page
  
  
• Business profiles and directory listings - you can use MozLocal to check for any errors

And if you've ever changed business names or addresses or phone numbers, then you'll want to search for instances of old/outdated info and get it updated.

3. Get LOTS of Citations

"Citations" are mentions of your NAP across different websites and listings. Here are the steps we recommend for getting lots of citations.

1. Submit to the major data aggregators. You can do this via several companies including MozLocal or YEXT or BrightLocal or AdviceLocal. The best deal we've found is BrightLocal which is $55/year.
   
   
2. Get listed in lots of directories. Focus on local, national and industry-specific directories.
   
   
3. Publish press releases. By including your NAP in the byline of your release, you can get dozens or even hundreds of citations when your press release is republished online. You can read about this approach in this case study here.

4. Get Reviews and Respond to Them

Whether customers are finding your business on social media or simply searching in Google, one of the first things they see is your business reviews. This can instantly put a good or bad taste in their mouth, depending on what those reviews say.

From eating at a new restaurant to buying new clothes or choosing a doctor, people are reading reviews. Positive reviews on social media and Google My Business can show your potential customers that your past clients trust you and believe in the product and services you have to offer. By asking your past customers for reviews, you will not only be helping your local SEO, but you will also be helping attract more people to your business.

You can add another layer to this by making sure to respond to reviews. If someone leaves you a positive review, thank them. If for some reason someone leaves a negative review, make sure to promptly provide a response that is nice, professional, and explains why you feel that’s not correct. By connecting with your customers, it shows that you care about their opinions.

5. Optimize Your Website for Service + Geographic Keywords

One way to improve the likelihood of ranking in Local Search Results is to make sure that the pages on your site are optimized.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is having one “Services” page on their website that lists all of the different products or services you have available.

It is much more SEO-friendly to have separate service area pages for each of the services your business offers. That way, when people are looking for a specific service of yours, that specific page can rank in Google. In addition, if you operate in multiple towns, then you may want to add "service area" pages focused on each of the 5-10 primary towns within your service area.

It’s also extremely important that the title tags and meta descriptions on your site are optimized.

Think of the title tags and meta descriptions on your site as key real estate to promote and describe your business. Title tags can have geographical keywords in them to promote your site to the areas you want to rank in. Meta descriptions can be a little longer and have more descriptive keywords to relay the message your title tags are already saying.

Ultimately, both title tags and meta descriptions can serve as perfect billboards in search results that illustrate your business’ services and improve your SEO presence.

6. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

There has been a long standing belief (mainly through black-hat SEOs) that adding multiple cities or ZIP code keywords into the footer of your website helps boost the ranking of a website for different location-based search queries. At one time this actually worked.

However, Google is smarter than that. They have since released algorithm updates which have penalized sites who try to manipulate the search engine with this frowned-upon technique. Therefore, if you stuff keywords into your site it can actually hurt your rankings rather than help them.

[SEO Case Study] 3X More Traffic and 6X More Leads

One of the things I hear from business owners is that they feel like SEO won’t help them because their rankings are too low or their website has been around for too long. Today’s article is a case study about how we used SEO to generate three times more traffic and six times more leads, proving that it’s never too late to get started.

Do you think it's too late to start working on search engine optimization (SEO)? Do you think you're rankings are just so bad that it's not even worth trying at this point? If you just nodded your head yes, then you need to read this case study because it's never too late!

The Challenge Our client is a leading manufacturer and distributor of a natural resources product. When this client came to us for help, their website was not optimized for search engines so their website was not appearing at the top of Google for relevant search terms. In fact, when we began our work, the client had zero first-page Google rankings for any of their priority keywords. For their #1 top-priority keyword, our client was ranking 63 in Google (that's page 7). In other words, they were nowhere to be found in Google! If this sounds familiar, then you may be feeling overwhelmed or even helpless by how far you have to climb to get to the first page of Google. It's at times like this when it's important to remember the famous Chinese proverb, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I guarantee if you do nothing, then you'll never reach the coveted first page of Google. But if you take action, even the smallest action, then you'll start to pick up the necessary momentum to propel you forward. Let's take a look at some of the small steps we took with our client that got them moving in the right direction... The 5 Small Steps We Took The first small step was a website audit. We audited the website to identify all of the specific issues that were preventing the website from ranking high in the search engines. Based on that audit, we created a custom search engine optimization plan... The second step was keyword research. We conducted research to identify the specific terms that prospective customers would use to find our client’s products when searching in Google. The third step was to edit the website based on our keyword research. For example, we documented edits to the page Titles, Headers, Meta Descriptions, and some of the page copy to make it more relevant to the target keywords. Then, since our client had its own web development team, our client’s web developers implemented the website edits that we had documented. The fourth step was to get some inbound links (links from other website pointing to your website). Inbound links are a major factor in search engine rankings so we dedicated a lot of resources towards building new links to the website. We submitted the client to relevant business directories, and we conducted research and outreach to request links from relevant websites. As a result, the client attracted new links to their website, and this helped improve rankings. Finally, the fifth step was to create more pages on the website to increase the chances that our client would rank for relevant keywords. We researched topics for informational articles that would form a “Knowledge Center” on the client’s website. We then drafted the articles for the client’s approval, and the client’s web developers added the articles to the client’s website. As you can see, this was fairly straight forward and none of the steps are too daunting. Now for the best part... Let's look at the results... The Results As I mentioned above, when we began our work, the client had zero first-page Google Rankings for any of the priority keywords that we were tracking. For the top-priority keyword, the client’s ranking was #63 in Google. Today, the client has 10 first-page Google Rankings for priority keywords. For their top-priority keyword, the client’s website currently ranks #2 in Google! Below is a graph of our client's Organic Search Traffic (SEO Traffic) and conversions from July 2015 to March 2017. As you can see, they had 231 visits from search engines in July 2015. Then in March 2017, they had 843, which is an increase of 265%! Conversions (visitors contacting our client about their products) increased as well from only about 3-4 per month to now 10-18 per month.

Now let's compare a longer time period to really highlight the improvement here... Below is a table that compares the periods from July 2015 through January 2016 versus July 2016 through January 2017.

How would your business change if you had a 3x increase in traffic and a 6x increase in sales leads? Remember, it all starts with a small step!

[SEO Case Study] 317% ROI for Asphalt Paving Company

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important area to focus on in your marketing, and it's important to make sure your efforts are paying off. In today's article we’re sharing a case study about how we helped one of our clients generate a strong return on investment (ROI). SEO Case Study About Return On Investment (ROI) Are you wondering if SEO can really generate ROI for your business? Today I’m going to walk through an SEO case study for one of my clients that will answer this important question.

Background In early 2014 our client, an asphalt paving company, contacted us and expressed frustration that his competitors were ranking high in Google and he was nowhere to be found. He knew he was missing out on new business every year simply because prospective customers were choosing his competitors that ranked on the first page of Google. Prospective customers are searching “paving contractors”, “asphalt paving”, and “asphalt crack repair” every single day and my client was losing that business. The problem was clear. The solution was not so obvious… What We Did The first step we took was to complete what we call the SEO Tune-Up. The SEO Tune-Up includes the following: Keyword and competitor research to identify the best search opportunities Edits to core pages of the website Creation of new core pages to target additional “buying-intent” keywords Creation of new informational pages to target “research-intent” keywords Fix all technical issues like site speed, mobile optimized pages, broken links, missing schema, duplicate pages Set up and verify Google My Business profile Set up Google Analytics and Search Console to track performance In other words, we cleaned up the on-page SEO. On-page SEO is everything on your website that affects your rankings. Since you’re in full control over your on-page SEO, this is usually your biggest leverage point. Next, we switched our focus from on-page SEO over to off-page SEO. Off-page SEO is everything off of your website that affects your rankings. For example, you’ve probably already heard that citations and links on other websites can boost your search engine rankings. Those are both examples of off-page SEO factors. Since our client was focused on local customers, we focused a lot of our efforts initially on building relevant citations, or mentions of our client’s name, address and phone number online. We did this by creating accounts on all the relevant industry and geographic business directories we could find. Plus, we also launched a 2-pronged content marketing strategy: We created content on our client’s website targeting research-intent keywords with the goal of ranking in Google. We created content and posted on other people’s websites that could rank in Google and also provide a link back to our client (aka guest posts). Was all this worth it? Let’s look at the results… The Results Below is a Google Analytics report showing the website traffic, as well as the leads generated directly from SEO. A goal completion for this client is a quote request form submission on the website.

As you can see, the traffic has increased from a steady 90-100 visitors per month in 2014 to a new high of 279 in May 2016 (179% increase). More importantly, the leads from SEO increased from a high of 6 in October 2014 to a new high of 20 in April 2016 (233% increase). (Two Important Notes: 1. This is a very seasonal industry because you do not pave driveways in the winter where our client is located. That’s why there is a decline in traffic and leads between November to February each year. 2. The graph above does not include phone calls generated from SEO) OK, this sounds nice, but what’s the ROI? To get to that number let’s look at the monthly change in leads from 2014 to 2016: 30 leads from SEO in 2014 122 leads from SEO in 2015 92 more leads from SEO year over year (307% increase) Next, we need to know the average fee per sale and the lead to sale conversion rate. With a little research, you’ll find that the average fee for paving a driveway is around $5,000. It obviously depends on the size of the driveway and the complexity of the job, but on average it’s about $5,000. SEO lead to sale conversion rates is a bit harder to research. If we assume a modest 5% conversion rate, then the 92 additional leads would generate about 5 more customers, or $25,000. Lastly, we need to compare sales to the cost of the SEO work. This particular client was investing in a custom SEO package for $500/month so the ROI calculation looks like this: ($25,000 – $6,000) / $6,000 = 317% ROI. Again, it’s important to note that this calculation does not take into account the phone call leads and sales so the ROI number is a low estimate. But the ROI between 2014 to 2015 is not what’s most impressive here. If you look at the graph above you can see that 2016 outperformed 2015. That brings us to the big takeaway from this case study… SEO Is a Growing Asset When done right, SEO is a growing asset that will generate a better and better ROI each year. That’s the beauty of this marketing investment. Rather than renting ad space that disappears as soon as you stop paying the ad network, you’re building an asset that will grow over time!

Local SEO Case Study: The Power of Press Releases

Until July 2013, press releases were a great tactic for building high quality links to your website.

And the process was simple.  Write a press release that includes links to your website, pay a press release distribution service like PRWeb, and then watch your search engine rankings improve as more and more legitimate websites posted the press release with links to your site.

Of course, that all changed in July 2013 when Google announced the death of press releases for search engine optimization (SEO).

But was it really the end of press releases as an SEO tactic?  No, and in this case study I'll prove there is still a lot of power in press releases (if you know how to use them correctly).

What Changed in July 2013?

In July 2013, Google announced they would now consider links in press releases as "paid links" and encouraged distribution services to use "nofollow" links in the releases.  This change makes sense since businesses were paying press release distribution sites in order to get high quality links to their websites.

In case you're not aware, Google does not count paid links or "no follow" links in their ranking algorithm.  Those types of links are ignored by the algorithm.  That means all of the links you get from the press release would not directly improve your search engine rankings.

Hence, the resounding cry that press releases were dead for SEO.

While it's true the links do not directly improve your rankings, there is another powerful SEO benefit of press releases.

The Key Benefit is Citations

A citation is a mention of your NAP (business Name, Address, and Phone number) on another website.  For example, if your business is listed in Yelp, then your profile on Yelp is a citation because it lists your NAP.

When drafting a press release, if you include your business NAP in the byline of the release, then when your release is published across the internet, each published page is a new citation for your business. You can see an example below: 

That means you could issue one press releases and within a day or two have dozens or even hundreds of new citations.

That sounds great, but why are citations important?

Citations Are Critical For Local Rankings

One of the biggest factors in ranking high in the local "map" results is the quantity and quality of your citations.  Sure, you can create accounts on business directories and build up a nice foundation of citations, but so can your competitors.

To gain a competitive advantage, you can use press releases to rank higher in the local results.  To prove this works, let's look at a case study...

How Our Client Jumped from #20 to #2

One of our dentist clients was stuck around #20 in the local "map" results.

We had already completed our website tune-up and set up all the relevant business directories, but the rankings would not improve beyond #20 for his top priority keywords, "Savannah dentist," "dentist Savannah," and "dentist in Savannah."  At this point we knew we had to take it to the next level to overtake the competitors ranking on the first page of Google.

Here's what we did...

Over a 4-month period, we issued 4 press releases for our client.  Of course, in the press release we included links to our client's website, but as you know those links were "nofollow" so they did not directly help for SEO.  The power was in the citations, or the mentions of our client's business name, address, and phone number.

As more and more websites published the press releases, our client began to jump up in the Google local rankings.  Eventually he was #2 on the first page of Google in the local results for his primary keywords.

As you can see from the screenshots above, the citations helped our client rank in the local "map" results on the first page of Google.  When Google determines the searcher is looking for a local business, then often Google displays a map with local businesses listed below.

To rank high in these local search results, you must have citations, and that's one of the reasons you should consider using press releases as part of your Local SEO strategy.