Guest blogging can create substantial direct Internet Traffic from backlinks.

Location! Location! Location! This concept is the easiest for everyone to understand. Getting more foot traffic can equal more customers and more customers can equal higher sales. Think of how the placement of a company in a busy mall can help sales. Hence the location of your business is critical when it comes to sales. In fact, when entrepreneurs locate a company in busy economic areas, they have a better chance to get sales.  Therefore placing a good blog post on a busy blog will get your company noticed.  And, if the post includes a link that sends quality traffic to your website that can be a huge bonus.

Links can give you PageRank. What is PageRank and why does it matter?

For those who are new to PageRank, it is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites. Google named PageRank after Larry Page, one of Google’s founders. PageRank is one way to measure the importance of website pages. Google counts the number and quality of links and citations to a page to determine the significance of a website. The assumption is that high-quality sites are likely to receive more links and excerpts from other websites.

Since Lawrence Page invented PageRank (PR) in 1998, millions have focused on getting it.  This obsession is especially real for publishers and retailers who have adopted the Internet as their sole method for getting sales. Therefore if your business depends on the Internet for sales, you had better pay attention to PageRank.

For this reason, link building has been the focus of SEO efforts. And guest blogging has been one of the more successful approaches to link building.

Getting backlinks from websites using guest blogging.

The basic idea of guest blogging is to enter into a mutually-beneficial agreement with another webmaster. You provide quality content in exchange for a link back to your website. This trade is the basic idea of guest blogging in a nutshell. However, it gets more complicated because not all links have the same value. Furthermore, Google has expressed disapproval with large-scale guest blogging strategies as you will see.

“Do follow” backlinks matter most.

Because it easy to create links, search engines came up with a way to stop people from manipulating search results. Google created a special “no follow” tag that needed to be part of the link when the link is a paid or non-editorial link. Google felt that only citation links or links that are part of the editorial content of a website matter for PageRank. Therefore the “no follow” tag told Google that the backlink had no authority and should not transfer PageRank.

Natural links pass PageRank.

Guest blogging links are typically not ordinary backlinks! We’re talking about a high-quality, “do follow” editorial backlink from an authority website. Bloggers can create backlinks that are an intricate part of the subject matter.   In fact, backlinks are best when they support sticking points, facts or logical reasoning in a helpful blog post. They should not be part of some unnatural link building scheme or link exchange.

The placement and intent of backlinks are essential.

Natural backlinks are typically part of the main content in the primary area of a blog post. They are not some sidebar or a footer link. As most  SEO experts will agree, backlinks placed somewhere towards the center of content are the best quality backlinks.  Furthermore thinks that are in the navigation or sidebar of a website are placed in the same position on every page of a website. The odds of it being an advertisement or a paid link or are high.

Websites with the most quality back-links have the most authority and pass the most PageRank value.

This SEO value of backlinks is especially helpful if the domain they’re coming from has a lot of authority with search engines. The total number and quality of links that point to that website make up its authority value. Websites transfer that power to other sites when they link to them.

Keyword anchor text sends both PageRank and meaning.

When webmasters place a link on a website, it usually includes a word in the description. Words like read more or click here are unhelpful. We are talking about the keywords that people search for to find your business. More often called a targeted keyword because we use them to describe or identify something. Therefore when webmasters or editors use keywords as the anchor, it tells search engines that the website to which you are linking is about that word.

Google has taken an active position against direct link exchange programs, and this can include Guest Blogging.

Guest blogging, if done correctly, can be one of the most effective SEO strategies. The wrong approach can lead to opposite results. In some cases, Google will even go so far as to take action against your website if it has reason to believe you are running a link building scheme. Therefore you need to be careful not to promote a link exchange as a benefit to guest blogging.

Google expressly prohibits large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.

Start by reading Google’s official position on guest blogging.  Does this mean that small-scale article marketing or guest post campaigns are ok? What about links without keyword-rich anchor text? At what scale do guest blog posts become a link scheme.  Google will not answer these questions because it will give too much information to spammers.   The take away here is that Google leaves open options for Guest blogging on a limited scale.  Therefore smart webmasters will want to take advantage of this opportunity.

Google’s algorithm can identify patterns of behavior that can make guest blogging qualify as a link building scheme.

Google is vigilant at identifying link schemes. If Google defines a pattern of behavior showing that you are exchanging links for something of value you will run into trouble. This situation will result in both your website and that of your guest bloggers will get penalized.

Why is Google against guest blogging?

Back in 2014, Google’s SEO Executive Matt Cutts made a considerable post encouraging webmasters to stop using guest blogging as a means of getting backlinks.

The real reason why Cutts started an anti guest blogging campaign is that there were just too many spammy, automated type of guest blogging requests that found their way into the webmasters’ inboxes. The problem with this is that these were mailed out on a massive scale without any personalization whatsoever.

The auto-approve types of websites are even worse in the big picture. They are willing to accept all kinds of content, regardless of its (lack of) quality, and the backlinks are often pointing towards spammy affiliate websites with zero added value to the visitor. Now, it’s probably much easier to see why Google wasn’t exactly fond of it.

If a guest post was detrimental to SEO, why are so many webmasters still doing it and why are established websites still accepting guest posts?

Simply put, Google isn’t against guest blogging per se, but they are against low-quality content and spamming. Some writers even tried to push this to the extreme by writing a single piece of material, then used various word spinners to mass produce variations of the same article that used different synonyms and trying to appear unique to the search engines. That way, they were able to game the system and only do the work once, gathering a ton of backlinks from their efforts. We strongly discourage this approach as it will lead to failure because Google is just too good at detecting these patterns of behavior.

Clean your house first before you start Guest blogging.

Before you consider starting a Guest blogging, it is important to have substantial quality content and an attractive website. Thus you will want to focus on getting your website up to date and in good working order. If you write an excellent article for a highly trafficked site, they may hesitate to give you a backlink. After all, they will be sending their customers your way and, who wants to visit a poorly designed website with old outdated content and broken links? Furthermore, bloggers are looking for high-quality sites to place content. If your website does not look promising, then the return regarding direct traffic might not be worth the time investment.

Can guest blogging help me without a backlink?

One way to prevent your website from getting into a link exchange penalty is to Guest blog in exchange for a company citation. Google is now using references to your NAP (Name Address and Phone Number) as part of its algorithm for ranking websites. While it is not as powerful as a link, the number of times your company name, address and phone number are listed online will have an impact on both organic and local SEO.

Furthermore, as a guest blogger, you are promoting a brand. By getting your name and company cited as the author at the end of your article, you are relating the content to you and your company. Furthermore writing great articles will help you build an excellent reputation for you and your business.

Thus, if you’ve managed to pique the readers’ interest, they’ll be naturally inclined to find your website to learn more about your business. Therefore, guest blogging has some immediate traffic benefits, with or without the link to your website. Furthermore, if you’re guest blogging on the right websites, it’s also going to consist of highly-targeted individuals.

Don’t just give your guest blogger a link, find relevant blog posts on their website that can enhance your user’s experience and cite them.

The way this can work is to have the blogger you are donating content to review your blog posts. If they find content that will enrich an article or inspire a new blog post, then they can use your website as a reference instead of making a direct link exchange. This approach shows Google that it was not a link exchange. Instead, your blogging partner reads an article on your website, and it helps inspire or provided facts needed for a topic they are covering.

The agreement can be, you will create content for a blogger. In return, they can spend some time reviewing content on your site. The goal of the review is to find articles to reference with an eye on improving the quality of both websites. Hence there is no direct link exchange or scheme involved in linking to your content. The purpose is to enhance the experience for visitors, and this is what Google wants webmasters to do most. Hence there is no clear profit motive for linking to your content.

Evaluate every guest blogging opportunity with the same vigor as you would if you were taking full-time employment.

Google’s guidelines are vague, but one thing is clear you need to go slow. Don’t jump into every guest blogging opportunity that comes around. If you do so, it could be part of an automated link scheme getting you in trouble. Learn more about your guest blog partner before you work with them. And only accept content from reputable sources. This reason is why the cleaning house step above needs to come first. If a website is worth your time investment, they should be doing the same evaluation of your site as you are theirs.

Start with the following tasks in evaluating possible guest blog opportunities:

– Review the content of sites you intend on being a guest blogger for and make sure they have nothing but quality content.
– Put their content through automated testing tools like Grammarly to see if there are excessive grammar or spelling issues
– Identify other backlinks to their content online and make sure they are on reputable websites.
– Make sure they are not stuffing content with too many redundant keywords

These procedures will prevent future problems with guest blogging.

The evaluation described above is not done once and forgotten. After you agree to guest blog, you have entered into a long-term partnership. Future changes to your partner’s website and approach can impact your website. Therefore both websites need to continue to follow similar guidelines:

– Take great care in the way both sites are linking
– Don’t overstuff articles with links.
– Keep links organic and use quality sources.
– Avoid repetitive keyword anchor text links.
– Include some links without keyword-rich anchor text
– Don’t guest blog with websites in which you are not familiar.
– Check spelling and grammar, if there are a lot of mistakes you may want to pass.
– Place links in different places, not always at the end of posts and not on the same blogs. Differentiate and mix it up.
– Only work with blog partners that are relevant to your industry and write articles covering topics that are related to your website

How much traffic and business can I expect from Guest Blogging?

Of course, the amount of traffic you’re going to get by piggybacking on other people’s websites depends on the daily amount of visitors they’re getting. If you’re going to be posting your articles on a relatively smaller niche blog, you can’t expect miraculous results. But it will undoubtedly help you in some way. Bear in mind that a small amount of high-quality traffic is always better than a heap-load of non-quality traffic.

Optimize your website for conversions

For your efforts to bear fruit, it’s important to optimize all of your landing pages for conversion. That way, you can ensure that the maximum number of visitors will decide to become your customers and set yourself up for the best chances of success.

On branding and getting authority

It’s probably not hard to guess that not every webmaster out there is going to be willing to accept your submission. This fact is especially true if you’re an unknown entity in your niche. Don’t let this discourage you from trying to get your articles published if you believe you’re genuinely doing your best to produce something worthy of reading.

More than anything else, it’s a numbers game. But don’t start spamming webmasters’ inboxes in hopes of getting a “yes.” It’s just not going to happen. Instead, you should take things slowly and message them one by one. Take the needed time to review their websites and structuring a coherent personalized proposal.

After a while, after your brand becomes recognized in the industry, you’re going to have an easier time getting approved. You may also see other people coming to you and asking you to be a guest blogger for them. Hence it’s easy to get things running after you’ve made a name for yourself in a given industry, although – admittedly – this can take quite a while to achieve.

How to find guest blogging opportunities

You can use specialized search engines built for that purpose, or simply use the one you probably know best: Google! Using a simple formula such as the ones we’re going to outline, you can quickly and easily identify guest blogging opportunities in the important niches:

“[keyword]” + “write for us”
“[keyword]” + “guest blogging”
“[keyword]” + “contribute”
“[keyword]” + “writing opportunities”

And so on. You get the idea.

Conclusion

So no, guest blogging isn’t dead, at least not if you’re trying to generate authentic, well-researched, and high-quality content. If anything, it’s a triple win: you get a backlink or citation from an authority website, the webmaster gets excellent free content, and the search engines can index another article that’s designed to answer the search queries of their users. By doing it right, everyone wins.

Guest blogging, if done right, is as strong as ever. Why not start your own guest blogging efforts to get quality backlinks for your website.   After all, quality guest bloggers are a positive force in the search engine ecosystem, and there’s no reason why this would change.

If you don’t have a blog yet or need some help getting started contact one of our marketing consultants at 978-851-9077.  We are happy to help.  You might also want to read this blogging guide: How to make a successful blog – 8 helpful Tips for first time bloggers

The post Is guest blogging dead or alive? SEO benefits, backlinks, Google PageRank and More! appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

There is a strong business case for accessibility in web design.  In fact, it is becoming one of our favorite SEO strategies.

Our SEO team recently wrote an article on Google’s latest web development tool Lighthouse and its accessibility audit features. The main point of the article was that Google’s Lighthouse accessibility audit tool offered a boost for online accessibility.

Writing this article made us wonder if accessibility in web design could translate into more significant SEO benefits.  As a result, we discovered some SEO secrets we will share with you today.

The Accessibility & SEO Myth

Our first discovery was a post called The Accessibility & SEO Myths written by a well-known accessibility blogger named Karl Groves.  The blogger’s post argued that there is no business case for accessibility web design to be SEO friendly.   He explained that there is only a small number of areas where SEO and accessibility in web design overlap.  Our SEO experts recognize that he makes a valid point, but we disagree with his conclusion. The overlap may be small, but it is significant and a growing trend.  Hence accessibility in web development is becoming more and more compatible with basic SEO principals. Here is why.

Video captions have enormous SEO value and are critical for online accessibility.

According to a recent study by Facebook:

• 450 million videos were viewed on Facebook throughout the five-day shopping period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, November 23-27, 2017.
• Among people surveyed by Facebook in the US, 30% of mobile shoppers said videos are the best medium for discovering new products.
• Facebook confirms that when feed-based mobile video ads play loudly when people aren’t expecting it, 80% react negatively, both toward the platform and the advertiser
• Facebook research disclosed that 47% of the value in a video campaign was delivered in the first three seconds, while up to 74% of the value was produced in the first ten.
• According to a recent digiday.com study, 85 percent of Facebook videos are watched without sound

It is not surprising that people don’t disturb others and keep the sound off when watching videos.  The statistics above prove that videos have great potential for marketing online.  Furthermore, the captioning of a video is critical to get a users attention when it is needed most in the first three to ten seconds.   Hence, captioning is a big part of the online content experience for everyone, not just people with disabilities.

Captioning videos help everyone today, not just those with disabilities.

In summary, this is why captioning videos help both accessibilities in web design and SEO.

• The popularity and effectiveness of using videos for online marketing are increasing.
• Good quality videos keep people engaged, hanging out and coming back to your website and social media pages.
• Captions are required to capture the attention of viewers in the critical first three seconds
• Videos with captions are 85% more likely to be watched in full by people on Facebook and social media.
• Captions improve an advertisers chances of getting the full message across in a positive way.

The economic benefit and business case for accessibility in video captioning is compelling. This argument is valid for both social media marketing and SEO.

Make sure you read and edit the results when using automated tools to create captions.

There are SEO benefits to captioning videos. However, the impact will not be the same if those keywords are messed up by the auto-caption tool.  Furthermore, individuals with disabilities are not the only ones using captions. Therefore issues with poorly captioned videos will impact the experience of a much broader audience.

Transcribe audio podcasts for accessibility in web design and SEO.

Creating audio content with text alternatives is an underutilized SEO strategy. It is time to reevaluate your approach if you are still building web pages with 100 words with a link to a 1-hour audio file. Why not transcribe the audio clip into a page that is rich with SEO friendly content.   This method will make your message SEO friendly and accessible to millions that cannot hear your podcast.

Online SEO tools encourage substantial word counts for content on a page.

One of the more popular SEO tools is Yoast SEO. This software is an SEO plugin for WordPress that scores the SEO value of a page or post. Millions use the plugin. The plugin analyzes your content and recommends no less than 300 words on a page.  Therefore transcribing audio and video is one way to boost your word count without a lot of extra work.

Image alt and title attributes are helpful for SEO and accessibility in web design.

Unlike text, pixels make up digital photos and graphics. Unfortunately, pixels are not readable using today’s standard web browsers and assistive software. For this reason, assistive technology can’t help disabled users to know whats in a picture.  Alt Image and title text attributes are an alternative description of an image. These tags make it possible for both search engines and accessibility software to see the picture. Therefore Image alt attributes facilitate both SEO and readability for those who have blindness or impaired vision. Having images can make your content more attractive.  SEO standards recommend having at least one on every page of your website.

Image captioning provides visual detail about images for SEO and accessibility.

Captions are typically displayed underneath a photo visible and used for everyone, not just the visually impaired.  Both web and graphic design use captions for pictures. Sometimes a photo requires more information for the reader. The most common is a group photo where the caption tells the reader who is in the picture.  We recommend image captioning for SEO and meeting WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines. Hence, having a picture with a descriptive caption not only looks good from a design perspective it has both SEO and accessibility benefits.

SEO and accessibility in web design both require header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)

The benefits of Header tags have documented going back to the beginning of the web design. Header tags organize the content of a page and need to have a logical order with H1 being the primary topic of a document. There can be only one H1 tag, and other headers follow in a nested hierarchy. It is important not to skip a header level. For example, going from H1 to H4 is confusing and undesirable.

In other words, header tags tell the reader what that topic is about like the name of a chapter in a book.   Sub-headers (h2, h3, h4, etc.) describe subtopics.

Link anchor text is critical for navigation and meaning in both accessibility and SEO.

For people to be able to navigate using a keyboard, a link anchor text is required. Disabled users navigate with the keyboard and do not use a mouse. For navigation to work screen readers need to read the link anchor text, so users know where the link will take them. The tab key allows users to go from link to link and the enter key performs the function of clicking on the link. Users with disabilities cannot navigate correctly without a precise and accurate link anchor text.

Anchor link text sends both page rank and a signal of meaning to search engines. The page that is linked to can get SEO benefits if the anchor link text includes essential keywords and phrases. Thus SEO and accessibility share the interests of good anchor link text. Where they differ is in the goal of their usage.

A good sitemap is an SEO and accessibility in web design benefit, especially for the large and complex website.

On-site sitemaps and breadcrumbs have SEO benefits by helping search engines index your content, while they assist visual and non-visual users with navigating. For sitemaps to be useful, they should be well organized and contain links to all content areas of your website.

The contrast, color, and size of text are essential for SEO and users who are visually impaired.

There are many levels of disability including those who have limited vision. When the text size, color, and contrast make it difficult to read these users with low vision can’t see or understand your website.

When it comes to SEO, search engines blacklist websites that use hidden text.   This black hat SEO technique what webmasters would use in the past to rank for keywords. Google states in its webmaster guidelines that the deceptive practices like hidden links and text will increase chances of your website getting delisted in a manual action.

Will accessibility in web design continue to improve SEO?

A better question is will Google Lighthouse make accessibility an integral part of SEO?   Lighthouse is Google’s latest dev tools for progressive application development that also contains a design audit test for accessibility.

Automated accessibility tools are not unique to the web.  However, Lighthouse is the only one included in Google’s new Flagship dev tool and Chrome.  It is where most developers are already testing there websites and applications. These same dev tools have testing audits for other well-known SEO ranking factors including mobile and page speed.

With all the benefits that SEO and accessibility in web design share, there is one thing holding back a complete match.

Google must make accessibility a ranking factor for accessibility in web design to succeed. Only then will SEO practitioners have a clear profit motive for making the web accessible to everyone. Google Lighthouse accessibility audit has the most potential to get us closer to this goal.

There may be a light, or Lighthouse, at the end of the tunnel for accessibility in web design.   For more on this topic read our article: Will the Lighthouse accessibility audit tool help make the web more accessible?

Contact one of our web design, SEO, and accessibility consultants if you need help making your website both SEO and WCAG 2.0 friendly.   Call 978-851-9077

Below are links to two WCAG 2.0 friendly websites that our team recently created:

• Pennichuck Corporation
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company

The post SEO Secret of the day: Accessibility in web design can help SEO appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

Google’s Lighthouse accessibility audit tool has the potential to make billions of websites more accessible without legislation.

History tells us unless Google makes accessibility a ranking factor, we will continue to see slow progress.

Why does Google want the web accessible?

The answer is simple.  Google wants everyone to be delighted with their online experience.  This goal goes beyond the use of its products.   Just read these excerpts from Google’s accessibility statement for proof. [1]

• “Everyone should be able to access and enjoy the web. We’re committed to making that a reality.”
• “Google’s support of accessibility extends beyond products to include research, education, and design efforts.”

While most would agree that Google products make lives better, one question remains unanswered. Will Google provide an economic incentive to designers to use its new Lighthouse accessibility audit tool?    Improving the way we create websites as a result.   All while making lives better for millions of people with disabilities.

The History of ADA regulations and web accessibility

In 1990, legislators passed the American Disabilities Act (ADA) with no explicit reference to websites. This fact is not a surprise since the web was just starting to evolve in the early 90s.  In 1998, Congress changed the ADA to include Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.  Section 508 required federal e-government websites to be accessible to persons with disabilities, but it left the majority of websites unregulated.

However, since 1996, the Department of Justice has stated that the ADA applies to all websites since they are a “public accommodation.” The Supreme Court has not taken up the issue yet, but many lower courts have held that the ADA applies to websites.

Therefore, with no legal requirement make sites accessible, it seems like progress on web accessibility has continued at a snail’s pace.

Today’s Accessibility Laws and Regulations

Fast forward to 2017 and see that website accessibility lawsuit filings are still going strong, but current legislative action has been absent. Most court decisions have taken the position that meaningful access the Internet is a civil right. Court settlements forced many websites to be remediated to follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.   However, the Trump administration delivered a setback for accessibility advocates when it moved web accessibility regulation to its “Inactive List.” [2]   As a result legislative progress in the area of online accessibility is going nowhere fast.

42% of Federal Government websites fail accessibility tests

In March of 2017, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released a study on accessibility of federal sites. [3] The findings show that 42 percent failed accessibility tests. The government websites that failed the accessibility test include the Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov) and the International Trade Administration (trade.gov). Therefore how can the federal government regulate accessibility standards when it can’t even keep its websites up to standard?

Google takes up the gauntlet for web accessibility

Google released Lighthouse at it’s I/O 2017 event. The focus of the product is to help the developer community improve progressive application development. Lighthouse also included an accessibility auditing feature. The accessibility audit feature is a positive sign for millions of people living with disabilities. Hence, with Lighthouse Google can fill the void where government regulators have failed to act.

Will the Google Lighthouse accessibility audit tool make millions of websites accessible?

It is hard to tell what impact Google’s decision will have on improving the accessibility of websites.   Lighthouse is one of the several automated tools for testing accessibility of a web page. Without Google providing an incentive for people to start using it, we may never see its full potential.  In fact, Google’s Lighthouse audit uses Deque Systems, Inc. aXe-core rules engine which has been around on GitHub since 2015. [4] The software is an open source JavaScript library that executes automated accessibility testing rules for web projects.

It seems like Google is just packaging an existing accessibility testing tool into its Lighthouse product. In fact, there are numerous free online tools for accessibility testing.  Many have been around for years.  You can try out 25 website accessibility testing tools by visiting Dynomapper.com.  Therefore if developers are not using these tools why should one expect Google’s dev tool for accessibility to be any different?

The Google Lighthouse accessibility audit tool makes accessibility programming easy for developers.

Why does Lighthouse make accessibility programming easy for developers?  Google packaged the accessibility audit in Lighthouse with the tools that developers will use to create progressive web apps. As a result, Google helped advance accessibility in three ways.

• First, it endorsed accessibility programming as something that must be part of the web development process. The decision to include an accessibility audit in Lighthouse is a bold statement which could give credibility to plans for future SEO benefits of having an accessible website.
• Second, a familiar Chrome developer toolbox displays the accessibility test results. Web designers can see the code and test results side by side. Hence developers can identify and fix issues quickly.
• Third, programmers can run experiments and see the results without lots of extra work.  As a result, this change brings down the cost of development for everyone.

Watch this video to see how programmers can leverage Lighthouse to improve accessibility:

Does the Google endorsement make website owners want to fix accessibility issues?

It is too early to know if developers will start using the accessibility test to make the web more accessible. To see the possibilities, we can look at Google’s products and how developers have used them over time.  Let’s consider Google’s products for improving website development.  Google has created popular search and development tools to improve the Internet.  These products include mobile-friendly tests, search console, structured data testing, Google My Business, PageSpeed Insights and now Lighthouse for progressive app development.

Here is why it could happen sooner than you think.

Google has a history of rewarding those who use its products.  Most noteworthy Google has publicly recognized that performance is a ranking factor.  This change has given a push to mobile-friendly sites and those that have a fast download speed. Hence web designers that use Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Mobile Friendly Tests can improve a website’s rank in search results.  Maybe we will see the same happening with the accessibility audit tool.

Will Google advance the Lighthouse accessibility audit tool by changing it’s search algorithm to favor websites that use it?

Google’s search algorithm can be changed to improve the web for everyone, including those with disabilities.  Here’s how.  The automated tool creates data points and a score.  Google can use these data points as criteria for evaluating websites. Hence Google could rank a site based on how well it scores on Lighthouse.

As of today, it is difficult to measure the exact impact of using these tools on search engine placement. Quality content is still the #1 driving force for search engine ranking, and as a result, we do not see this changing in the near term.  The vast majority of people use the Internet because they are looking for quality content.  Therefore Google needs to be the best at helping people find what they are seeking.

The approach many SEO experts are taking is this; if Google says something will improve search engine results for a website, then it may be worth doing.  As a result, it is difficult to justify making a significant investment.  Business decisions tend to focus on today’s ROI rather than what might happen in the future.

The future of web accessibility and the Lighthouse accessibility audit tool

In conclusion, it is not clear if Lighthouse will result in a considerable upgrade to millions of websites.  Google says it makes accessibility a priority, yet the vast majority of sites need improvements to allow access for people with disabilities. Maybe not right away.  Unless Google’s changes its search algorithm, the Lighthouse accessibility audit tool will only offer a minimal reprieve.  This outlook is because there is a limited financial incentive for website owners to take action.  Therefore a handful of webmasters may make the jump and start initiating changes, but this will do little in the long-term.

Google must show the world it takes accessibility seriously by making it a publicly recognized ranking factor. If not, websites will continue to fail for people with disabilities.  Maybe if everyone takes the time to ask Google to make the change, it will happen sooner or later.    If you agree, take a moment to use the get in touch feature and let Google know how you feel.

If you like this article, try reading why there is a strong business case for accessibility in web design.

Structured data is another underutilized resource waiting for a boost from Google.  Learn why by reading: “Hey Google: advance structured data.”

References

1. Google’s Accessibility Statement
2. President Trump Moved the Web Accessibility Regulation to Inactive List  
3. 92Percent of Most Popular Federal Government Websites Fail to Meet Basic Standards for Security, Speed, Mobile Friendliness, or Accessibility, New ITIF Study Finds
4. Google selects Deques aXe for Chrome dev tools

Contact one of our Boston accessibility web designers to discuss your project.  Call 978-851-9077

The post Will the Lighthouse accessibility audit tool help make the web more accessible? appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

If you own a law firm and are looking for SEO consultants, this article will give you a broad overview of SEO strategy and implementation. To make it an easy read we have outlined ten points including advice on search engine optimization (SEO), blogging and reputation management to squash or mute those negative reviews.

If you keep on reading, we’re going to share an SEO strategy with you that doesn’t take too long to implement but has the power of increasing your click-through rates by 30%!

Here is what the best SEO Consultants for Lawyers should know to improve your online presence:

1. Good SEO consultants always start with keyword research.

Do you know which keywords your customers are using to find you? For lawyers, this sounds like an easy task, but the English language with all its nomenclatures can make things complicated. Let’s start with the name of your profession. Are you a lawyer or attorney? How many people use them interchangeably? Don’t forget barristers, solicitors, advocates, and counselors all are used to describe the legal profession, but most people in the US will use either lawyer or attorney to find you, but which one should you use when writing content? Fortunately, most modern search engines like Google have already made adjustments for this, so if your SEO consultants are worried about the difference, they have not been paying much attention to search engine marketing trends.

Relevant keywords are now conversational.

Google updated its algorithm with Hummingbird in 2013 to take the guesswork out of the meaning of a user’s search, so you don’t have to worry about stuffing keywords anymore. However, you will need to consider more conversational queries—specifically those used in voice search. SEO Consultants should start targeting phrases that begin with “Who, How, Why and Where” as these will prove beneficial towards SEO. For example: “How do I know if my SEO consultants are doing their job?” We hope this article will help answer that question.

2. What is local SEO and why is it necessary for lawyers.

Most attorneys are specialized, whether it be in the field of insurance claims, business law, injury settlements or divorces. Your website’s content probably already reflects your specialized services. Hence you have already started the process of narrowing the focus of your message for search engines.

Consider also that you are licensed to do business in a particular region. For this reason, you will need to focus your efforts on local SEO. If you are too busy to take this on, it may make sense to hire local SEO Consultants. Read this article on Local SEO before you decide on which direction to take.

Here’s why you need to focus on local SEO.

First, an example of a global keyword: “lawyer with affordable rates.”

While this keyword may get a lot of searches, it may not be the most cost-effective. Millions of lawyers target broad keywords and end up wasting a lot of money in the process.

With this approach, you’re optimizing your website for search terms that are too broad, and this is not the most efficient use of your time and marketing resources. Furthermore, customers would be contacting you from areas in which you are not licensed to work anyway. Unless you have a network of lawyers globally, this will end up costing you money without adding to your bottom line.

Take a look at this highly targeted local keyword instead:

“divorce lawyer in Boston.”

Immediately, the difference is apparent. This type of keyword may get less monthly searches, but for Boston area lawyers it is a more realistic target. Also, those who search for this term are more accessible. You can meet with them quickly, and they can be easier to convert into customers. Your customers or friends may know them, and it will be easier to make a personal connection. Furthermore, you’re offering the service they need in the area they reside.

3. Local directories and customer reviews

While location-based keywords are essential for your website’s organic rank, these Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) will usually get pushed down by local results including local directories, maps, and customer reviews.

While there are thousands of local directories out there, only a handful are driving all the traffic. We recommend focusing on these websites for Local Search and Reviews:

• Yelp
• Google My Business
• Avvo
• Lawyers.com
• Bing Places for Business
• Apple Maps

Update your local listing and keep them accurate.

Getting your business listed in local directories is easy but ranking well in local results requires a commitment of time and resources. You will want to make sure your listings are consistent, accurate and as complete as possible. Variations in your company name, phone number and or address can make a difference in how search engines perceive and rank you in local search results.

Don’t just set it and forget it!

Keep your listings regularly updated with photos, posts and quality content and you will see the best results. Lawyers benefit from having an updated profile in major local directories like Google My Business and Yelp because they dominate the traffic for most online local searches.

4. Good SEO consultants should help identify and implement structured data (using Schema.org)

Search engines love structured data because it helps them deliver answers to many search queries without users needing to click through and visit a website. Did you know that by implementing structured data, your click-through rates in the search engines get increased by around 30%?

Your website will be rewarded with higher click-through rates because you took the extra effort to make your content more accessible by making it structured. But before you can do this you need to identify the structured data on your website.

Identifying structured data for lawyers

Structured data may improve your local search results.

The most apparent structured data on almost every Lawyer’s website is the physical location of your firm. Search engines will know exactly who and where you are if you identify the name, address and phone number of your business as structured data. (for example, in the ‘contact us’ section, you can ask your programmer to highlight your office locations as structured data).

By using structured data to combine your company name with your contact information, it creates an additional location based signal for search engines. Although it is not official, Google will likely announce schema as a ranking factor for its local search algorithm.

Structured data for seminars and networking events

Face to face marketing is one of the most effective ways to win new clients. Many lawyers recognize this and hold educational workshops or networking events for local chambers or business associations. Your website can use structured data to highlight the “event” with a “date,” “cost,” and “venue,” and this helps search engines to answer specific questions about that event when people are searching for it.

Use structured data from government websites.

Government organizations have no incentive to add structured data to a website because there is no profit motive. For those who depend on search traffic to grow their business, this is a welcome opportunity.

If there are dates that new state or local laws are going to take effect, they are a meaningful event about which people will be searching. Your site could rank well if you use schema to identify the event details including when the change will happen.

For example, if you are a Massachusetts lawyer you should follow the Official Massachusetts Trial Court Law Updates Blog. This blog is an excellent resource for current changes to Massachusetts law. We tested the blog’s content with Google’s Structured data testing tool and did not find any structured data. However, the content on the blog is full of unstructured data that can be tagged, structured and reformatted for your website. Thus this can be a good strategy when coupled with good advice and tips on accommodating the change.

Legal articles and publications

Most Lawyers have already written educational articles and publications, so this structured data opportunity should be an easy win. Many lawyers don’t know is that the content they have already written is rich with Structured data. Therefore you will want to let Google know your page contains legal articles or news publications by identifying the headline, image, publisher, author name, date of publication that help inform searchers.

More Structured data for lawyers

Additional structured data opportunities include social media profiles and reviews. For more information on implementing structured data, please read our article: “All you need to know about Structured Data, Schema, SERPs, Rich Knowledge Boxes, Snippets and more.”

5. Quality content, blogging, and social media

Every good legal website needs a blog. By blogging about changes in the law, especially those that are currently in the news, you’re going to attract visitors to your website. People will be searching for these topics in Google, and if your SEO consultants have done their job, they’re going to be using the search terms in the content of your article.

By having relevant, optimized, quality content posted on your website, you’re accomplishing two things: you’re feeding the search engines the type of material they’re hungry for while positioning yourself as an expert in the niche.  For more on blogging read “How to make a successful blog – 8 helpful Tips for first-time bloggers.”

To get the most out of the articles you post, consider using a revised version for traditional media like the local newspapers and don’t forget to get the word out on social media.

6. The importance of optimized meta tags, performance, mobile compatibility and quality backlinks

SEO rankings are something that needs to be planned, achieved and maintained, and to do this you need to follow some basic SEO principles. For starters, your keywords need to be present in the following areas of your website:

• Meta description
• H1, H2, and H3 (header) tags
• URL
• Title

To fully optimize your site several additional technical elements need attention including:

• Keyword density
• Optimized graphics and use of alt image tags
• Videos with captions or a transcribed version

Introducing Google Lighthouse a tool for testing technical performance

Google has been on a performance binge lately where it has created a variety of tools that make it possible for developers and non-technical users to audit the performance of a website. You can bet if Google invested in tools to improve your site it is also going to reward you for using them, and that is what it has been doing.

Examples of Google website optimization tools include:

• Mobile-Friendly Test
• PageSpeed Insights
• Structured data testing tool
• Structured Data Highlighter

Recently Google introduced Lighthouse for developers.  This combined several of these website optimization tools into one comprehensive resource for testing web applications and websites. This Google tool is one that your web developer should be using and one about which your SEO Consultants should know.

Offsite SEO consultants and link building

Moving on to the offsite SEO, this mostly has to do with gaining backlinks to your website from relevant, quality sources. Again, we’re also just briefly touching upon it, since this topic requires a separate article to be appropriately covered (or even a whole book).

Just a final word on blackhat SEO consultants: don’t even think about using them. While they may look appealing, because they promise quick results, the cold hard truth is that the effects are usually not long-lasting, and in the long term, this type of SEO methodology will do you more harm than good.

7. Having social media presence is a great way to get in touch with your potential clients

Social media presence goes beyond gaining quality backlinks to your website (but they are indeed a part of the package). In essence, social media pages are an opportunity for you to establish a deeper, more personal connection with your audience. Through which potential customers can also come to you with questions you can answer. By making this connection and being responsive, you are going to gain their trust, which may very well be enough to tip the scales of them doing business with you.

Also, every time you post something new on your blog, you can even let your customers and followers know about it by posting it on your social media channels. Not only does it act as a high-quality social backlink to your website, but it also brings the content closer to the eyes of your readers.

8. Excellent design and professionalism go hand and hand

Never settle for a cheap-looking website. As a lawyer, you need to be a living and breathing example of professionalism; someone your clients can trust. Therefore, caring about your professional image must be at the forefront of your overall marketing strategy.

Not only does your website need to have a good design, but it also needs to be easy to navigate. In reality, you just have a couple of seconds to convince the visitors that they’ve come to the right place, and you cannot afford to lose a moment of their attention. Often, they’re not even going to read the content, merely skim over it, and decide on a whim whether you’re trustworthy or not. So you need to make the few seconds of their attention count.

9. Conversion optimization is the name of the game

No matter what you’re doing and how much you’re trying to appeal to the search engines, the end goal of your website should be to convert the visitors into customers. After all, your site is the most critical sales representative you have, and it’s working for you 24/7, winning you clients even while you sleep.

To this end, you should make sure that you have an industry professional write the sales copy. After all, the content must serve the end goal of bringing in new customers. If you don’t get new business, then you are just paying to host a website without the rewards that should come with it.

10. Good SEO consultants can help with online reputation management

Getting great reviews on Yelp and Google My Business is crucial, since customers may check the online reviews before doing business with you. Furthermore, search engines are looking for ways to improve the customer experience, and online reviews are one measurement for separating good lawyers from bad. Online reviews have been a ranking factor in the algorithm of most major search engines. Therefore your placement in search results will depend, in part, on your reputation and online reviews.

The three most visible review platforms are Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp. Since both Google and Facebook allow you to ask customers for reviews and Facebook lets you turn the review feature off altogether, the most challenging out of the three appears to be Yelp. We will focus on Yelp.

Dealing with bad reviews on Yelp

If someone has given you a bad review on Yelp, do not engage in a fight with that person. Instead, use your legal skills and your knowledge of Yelp’s policies to see if there are other, more efficient ways of getting bad reviews removed.

For example, when the person leaving the review violates Yelp’s terms of service, including comments that include the following:

• defamation of character
• racist, discriminatory, personal insults, etc.
• intolerance to religion or beliefs
• and similar

You can message the website’s administrators and report it. If the review contains any of the above, it’s usually pretty simple to get it removed. But even if that is not the case, there is still plenty of hope. For example, if you have enough information to identify them, you may want to consider contacting the reviewer offline and convince them to remove the bad review. After all, being a lawyer, this should be right up your alley.

How to get positive reviews on Yelp

Even though Yelp isn’t fond of business owners asking for reviews, you can still do it if you’re smart enough to fly under the radar. Although Yelp discourages the practice, the most straightforward way of getting good reviews is just asking the customers you know you’ve provided an excellent service for, to leave you a good review. If nothing else, they’ll be more inclined to do it as a way to express their gratitude. And besides, Yelp has no way of knowing you asked for these reviews.

As you can see, the best way of getting high reviews for your Yelp listing is to provide an excellent service. Admittedly, this is harder to do at the beginning where you’re starting from scratch, but it gets easier after you get the ball rolling.

What won’t help you get good reviews on Yelp

But no matter what you do, you should not mass email your email list, asking them for reviews. Yelp engineered its algorithms to easily spot this, and consequently disregard these reviews entirely, rendering your efforts meaningless.

The final tip we’re going to share is that you need to respond to both good and bad reviews. We’ve already gone over why you just cannot remain passive when it comes to dealing with bad reviews (they can do your business some serious harm), but responding to the positive ones may not be an obvious path to take.

But if you take the time to respond kindly to everyone who has taken their time to leave you a great review, you’re coming across as someone who’s kind and compassionate and genuinely wants what’s best for the customer. Also, this is a free opportunity for you to turn the review into an educational moment. Whether you are letting customers and the world know about a new service offering or benefit of working with your firm, take this opportunity as a win-win.

Hire SEO Consultants that follow the best practices outlined in this article

When you hire SEO consultants, you need to know how to evaluate their performance against standard industry practices. This article will guide you in making the decision and managing that relationship. You need to know about many things to be a good lawyer, and the same goes for running a successful legal practice. SEO and online marketing are one of those areas that are critical to success.

Feel free to contact our Boston SEO Consultants for a free website review.  Call 978-851-9077

The post 10 Tips on Hiring SEO Consultants for Your Law Firm appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

The road to the future

For Google’s search engine to extend its reach to the conversational, the Internet must have a more formal structure. After all, when you are having a conversation, there is no time to wait or search for an answer. For Google, answers must come quickly and without pause. Therefore, if Google was going to become genuinely conversational, the Internet must be super-fast.  It also needs to be structured in a way that produces answers that are clear, accurate and precise.

Introducing Speed as a ranking factor

With this vision, Google launched PageSpeed Insights allowing webmasters to measure how quickly their web pages load. It also provides tips to help programmers and webmasters improve the load time for their pages. Google embraced AMP and in 2010 in announced that the load time of a web page was a ranking factor in its algorithm. It followed that up recently with a ranking factor announcement specifically for mobile websites. On January 17th Google said that it was planning to use page speed in mobile search ranking.   Speed has become a buzzword, and some website owners have been scrambling to improve their PageSpeed Insights score so they can rank high in Google’s SERPs (search engine result pages).

Big media websites fail PageSpeed Insights

Even with all the buzz, it is difficult to tell how much the ranking of a website gets improved in Google based on their PageSpeed Insights score. For many sites, work that is done to improve speed may never appear in the actual SERPs because there are too many other factors at play in ranking websites. Furthermore, after testing a few top-ranked sites using Google PageSpeed insights it is easy to conclude that PageSpeed is a waste of time and money.

On October 17, 2017, the following websites received ratings of poor or needs improvement:

[supsystic-tables id=’1′]

Speed and performance are only one ranking factor, but it seems for many websites, Google is not giving enough incentive to make optimization a priority.

The beginning of structured data

To become an ideal search engine that better serves our needs, Google needs websites to be rich in structured data.  Google’s focus on structured data started in 2009 with rich snippets, and then joined forces with Yahoo and Bing in 2011 to create schema.org and a universal standard for structured data.  ^[2]

Google helps others by helping itself

In 2012, Google launched its solution to help non-technical professionals add structured data to their website with the “Structured Data Markup Helper.” ^[3] For Google, it was a useful tool giving website owners the ability to markup their website with structured data without hiring a web developer.  Google promoted this tool as a great advancement for structured data.  However further discovery unveils that as of right now, Google is the only search engine that can read and interpret the structured data created by the “Structured Data Markup Helper.”  No other search engine or website could use the structured data created with the “Structured Data Markup Helper.”  The rest of the Internet would just need to wait for people to add structured data to their website.

Slow rates of adoption

While I don’t begrudge Google for keeping the structured data to itself, Schema.org has been around for over eight years now yet it seems that the number of sites that are using structured data is minuscule. In 2014 a study of 50 million domains by Searchmetrics showed that only 0.3% used structured data by schema.org on their web pages.^[4]  According to Schema.org, there are over 10 million websites that use structured data to markup their web pages and email messages, and according to InternetLiveStats.com, there are 1.2 Billion websites online.  ^[5]  According to these statistics, the number of websites using schema is still less than 1 percent of all sites online.  Therefore, we can surmise from these figures that structured data is progressing at a snail’s pace.

Google is falling short of reaching it’s goals for structured data mostly because structured data and speed optimization are happening at a slow pace.  Most website owners have no overwhelming motive to optimize for speed or add structured data to their website, and as a result, they see no direct benefit.

Enhanced SERPs

Adding Structured data as a ranking factor might help, but instead, Google decided to focus on displaying its results in an enhanced way. Google started using schema.org structured data to deliver knowledge boxes, cards, and carousels.  Enhanced search results may lead to a higher click-through, and conversion rates, and search traffic.  Watch this video on Rich Snippets to learn more about how this is done in practice.

According to Searchengineland, adding structured data to your site will increase your CTR by 30%, ^[6] which is a fantastic way to get more visitors to your site without really doing much work.  This change had some impact on website design as many could see the potential for improved click-through rates.  But what about SERPs?

The problem is that structured data is not being used as much by the webmaster community.   Google has rewarded some websites for implementing structured data with improved SERPs, but they stopped short of announcing that structured data was a ranking factor.

Who is holding back structured data at Google?

Many in the SEO community have speculated that Google will eventually modify its search algorithms to favor websites that use structured markup.  This argument has been passed around in SEO circles since the beginning of Schema.org. Just watch this video by Google Spokesperson Matt Cuts in 2012 as he downplays the idea of Google using Structured data as a ranking factor, but he does not rule out this from happening in the future.

Google Introduces SEO tools in Lighthouse with SEO tools that test structured data

Although Google did not announce that structure data was a ranking factor, it did include structured data as part of an official SEO Audit.  This is seen when a website is tested in Chrome using the Lighthouse Developer Audit tool.   If a website is successful with a passing score it produces the following message for structured data in SEO.   “Structured data is valid.  Run the Structured Data Testing Tool and the Structured Data Linter to validate structured data. Learn more.”  Hence Google is stating that structured data should be considered for improving SEO but it does not make structured data an official ranking factor in search results.   The question remains, should it?  We feel it should.

What are the stakes?

Structured data is not just about the webmasters; it is about achieving a better search engine experience.  By rewarding webmasters who use structured markup with significant improvement to PageRank, everyone wins; webmasters who comply (see more traffic), search engines (help more people), and the users (get help faster).

The goal of Schema.org was to make the Internet better by delivering answers and relevant content to users without them having to visit a website. Most would agree that structured data has produced real benefits for Google.  After all, getting instant answers without having to click through to the website results in real time savings for everyone.

However, as of right now, Google isn’t doing enough to encourage the web designers to implement schema. The private sector has some motivation because traffic and sales are needed for any business to survive. The public sector and small non-profits can do without structured data since there is no pressure driving sales. Therefore, a substantial percentage of webmasters just have no incentive to implement structured markup at all.

So, what can Google do to encourage structured data?

Bottom feeders to the rescue

A controversial way to approach the implementation of schema-driven search would be to work with what is already available. Content aggregators have been around for a long time. Typically, Google pushes them to the bottom of the search results because they are full of duplicate content, frowned upon by many as bottom crawlers of the web.

What if Google adjusts its algorithms to reward aggregators that use structured markup with better search engine rankings?  Wait, why should webmasters be listed first in search results for publishing someone else’s content? Because the primary objective of the search engine is to show the most relevant, high-quality search results. Content aggregators that use structured markup are contributing to this goal, thus benefiting the overall search economy.

In fact, one can easily argue that although controversial, this is at least a logical approach to creating a more structured Internet because businesses would not want their content hijacked by scrapers and aggregators.   A decision like this would prompt webmasters to implement structured data as soon as possible.

Crowdsourcing can help

A less controversial method is to use crowdsourcing.   Currently, Google’s “Structured Data Markup Helper” tool requires a verified search console account before someone can identify structured data.   Why is this ownership verification process even needed?  Besides, the Structured Data Highlighter does not modify the content of the website.

Google already has a large volunteer community in its Google Top Contributor program.  By allowing Google’s volunteer community to participate in tagging, we will have a fully structured Internet in no time.   All Google would need to do is create a structured data expert group.  Then give them encouragement to start tagging.

To facilitate this, Google could include the ”Structured Data Highlighter Helper” tool as a free Chrome browser extension.  This feature could also make it so anyone can tag data.  Google top contributors could moderate volunteers to make sure the results are high quality.   Wikipedia is proof that volunteers can create a fantastic resource.   Google should do the same to make the Internet a more structured information resource for everyone.

It’s time for a structured data revolution

“Hey Google” if you are listening, it’s time to focus on getting everyone to use structured data.   This effort is not just for you, but for the entire Internet.   What would it be like if searchers never had to click through to a website to get help?  Everyone could have the information requested neatly displayed in the search results.  What if we no longer hear Google Home say, “Sorry I don’t know how to help with that.  I am learning more each day?”  One thing is sure, having more structured data markup will produce more answers at the tip of our fingers.

Structured data is the way of the future. More and more Artificial Intelligence solutions are using it to provide answers to the users’ questions.  The success of Google depends on structured data and enhanced search results.  Therefore, Google needs to push more structured data.  What we see right now is just not enough, and this technology is too beneficial for everyone to remain underutilized.

[1] Jessica Lee (May 16, 2013). “OK Google: ‘The End of Search as We Know It'”. Search Engine Watch. Incisive Interactive Marketing LLC. Retrieved May 20,2013.

[2] Introducing schema.org: Search engines come together for a richer web, Google blog, 2 June 2011.

[3] Introducing Data Highlighter for event data, Google blog, 12 December 2012.

[4] Over a third of Google search results incorporate Rich Snippets supported by Schema, Searchmetrics 2 April, 2014.

[5] Total Number of websites, Internet Live Stats, 05, November 2017

[6] How To Get A 30% Increase In CTR With Structured Markup, Paul Bruemmer, 29 December 2011

The post Hey Google: advance structured data appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

Today, we provide 12 restaurant marketing tips and advice to help seize the top spots in search engines and customer review websites.

If you’re interested in learning how to put an end to unjust negative reviews on Yelp (as well as the best practices on gaining as many positive ones as possible), make sure not to miss the final section of the article where we discuss these points in detail.

1. Leverage the power of customer review platforms and local directories

If there’s one thing you want to take away from this article, it’s how use restaurant marketing strategies to leverage the power of customer review platforms like Yelp and Google My Business.  Having a good presence with these websites will bring you a good chunk of traffic. Review platforms are high sources of traffic for desktop and mobile traffic, and the official Yelp app has a lot to do with this phenomenon.

After that, you should focus your efforts on Facebook, Bing, and Apple Maps. Local directories are important as well, but not more than the social media and search giants outlined above.

At any rate, listing your restaurant in the local business directories won’t cost you anything. Most of these are free, but even if you stumble upon a high ranking website with quality content that requires a listing fee, it may very well be worth it, since this can be an excellent source of leads.

Restaurant owners should focus on getting a business listing with the following websites:

Allmenus, Bing Places for Business, CitySearch, CitySquares, DexKnows, Facebook, Foursquare, Google My Business, Local.com, MapQuest, LocalStack, OpenTable, Superpages.com, TripAdvisor, Zomato, White Pages, Yahoo! Local Listing, YP, Yelp, 8coupons
(source: deluxe)

To succeed, do keep in mind that you need to actively manage and update these listings by adding specials, photos, and announcements. If this sounds like too much work, you may want to seek help from of our restaurant marketing and Local SEO consultants. Contact us for a free estimate.

2.Restaurant marketing includes using location keywords correctly in your website content

Using keywords such as “best restaurant in [your location]” do not produce results as they did ten years ago when Local SEO was about links and keywords, and your website’s meta tags had more influence. The reason for this stems from the fact that Google and other major local search platforms control most of the traffic and now focus on a customer experience more than keywords. In other words, search engine results now place a higher value on reviews which is why websites like Yelp are finding success.

In fact, search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and the one in Apple’s iPhone use Yelp’s database and extensive reviews to power their search results for local restaurant searches. Simply put, if you don’t have any presence there, using keywords such as the ones we’ve mentioned won’t help very much for bringing business to your door.

However using keywords like your town and city in content are still important because they send location signals which can help you rank in local search results. Just don’t expect massive results if you add “the best restaurant in [your location].”

3. Good restaurant marketing focuses on your community

Your website should have content that focuses on your community and things that are of interest to your customers. For example, if you are hosting a fundraiser for a local sports team or senior center make sure you promote it on your website. Don’t forget to include details about other local events your business is not involved with directly. This information can be helpful especially if potential event visitors need to find a place to eat before or after the game.

In fact, some local events may have websites that are low quality or have none at all because volunteers run them. So if your site includes detailed information people are searching for, it will be the one search engines display when people are searching. Hence adding featured content about local events and fundraisers will help get the word out about the attraction while boosting quality traffic and potential sales both before and after local events.

In summary, focus most of your efforts on making sure your website has quality content and is regularly updated. Local directory results use the quality of your site as a ranking factor, so updating it often with high-quality photos of your restaurant, event information, menus and specials will be a massive help to your raking in Local Directories like Google My Business.

2. Recognize and taking advantage of structured data opportunities

Using structured data is a great way to get an edge over your competition. Just by implementing it, your click-through rate may increase as much as 30% (source: search engine land ). But to do it efficiently, the first step is to identify the structured data opportunities on your website.

The restaurant location is the obvious one, but there’s a whole lot more you can do. For example, you can use structured data to tag the details (name, location, time, date, admission costs, etc.) of special events such as Darts Nights, Karaoke Night, Superbowl Sunday. If you have a venue and host events and activities, you have a perfect opportunity to get additional exposure to the restaurant if you know how to mark it up correctly using structured data.

5. Fast page loading times affect customer experience

In this day and age, we business owners are always fighting for the attention of our customers. Having an unresponsive website not only makes you look unprofessional, but it will also drive away the potential customers who will quickly lose interest and move on to another service provider. Google has also announced that they are using the loading time of your website as a ranking factor. It is hard to tell how much benefit it will give you but it is worth doing because it’s easy to measure using Google’s PageSpeed Insights and every advantage you can get is one step closer to getting to the top of search results.  First test your pages to see if you get a passing grade.  If you get a poor score you will want to reach out to reach out to a seasoned SEO consultant.   Contact us for an estimate if you don’t have someone you can trust to get the job done.

6. Stick to the whitehat plan when doing SEO for restaurants

SEO is part of every good restaurant marketing strategy.   However, it’s easy to fall into the lure of using blackhat SEO practices since they promise quick results. But in reality, even if you’re able to get some short-term success with them, it’s unlikely to last long, since your website stands a good chance to get penalized by the search engines as soon as they detect any optimization practices that are against the terms of service.

With whitehat SEO, on the other hand, the high search engine rankings are likely to stay with you long into the future, even if it takes a bit longer to reach your ranking goals. Hence it is best that you and your marketing team should read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

7. Restaurant marketing plans include creating a professional looking website

The design appeal of your website is especially important for restaurant owners since, in this line of business, the presentation is everything. Apart from professionalism having a unique design will also contribute to better search engine rankings. So make sure your designer does not take shortcuts by designing your website with the same cookie cutter template they used for your competition.

8. Don’t forget about on-site optimization

While you’re in the midst of the process of acquiring natural backlinks, it’s easy to forget that on-page optimization is an essential part of SEO and every good restaurant marketing plan. Do keyword research, so you know the words and phrases your customers are using in their searches.  If you are using Google Adwords you already have access to a key word planner.  If not you will want to create an account since it is free and you have no obligation to advertise.  Review and update your meta tags as they are still a significant factor in search engine optimization. Do this by creating unique quality meta description, headers, titles for each page, but it doesn’t end there. It’s also important to think about having a proper keyword density percentage, fill in the alt tags for the images, include multimedia to make the content more lively.

9. Duplicate content is a no-no

If there is too much duplicate content on your website, search engines will mark it as low quality, and it will eventually get filtered out of search results. You can use professional-grade tools to check if your website contains duplicate content (like Copyscape or Duplichecker). Even though it may seem hard to come up with unique content for a restaurant, you need to have at least some of it. And if you’re just unable to get your creative juices flowing, there’s always the option of hiring one of our professional content writers to do it for you. Don’t worry our ghostwriters are 100% invisible and don’t need credit for the work.

10. Conversion optimization is what ultimately drives your sales

In the end, real people will be visiting your website, which means you need to think about how you’re going to convert them into customers (in other words, get them to visit your restaurant and spend their money). You need to motivate them by demonstrating how great your place is, showcase the menus available, lure them in with exclusive discounts, and other types of sales and marketing techniques.

11. Presentation is important in restaurant marketing

In today’s wave of rising demands, listing the menus on your website is just not enough. After all, this is what everyone else seems to be doing, and you always need to be on the lookout for ways in which you’re going to stand out from the crowd.

So here’s what to do instead: for every meal listed on the menu, have a top-quality photo accompany it, taken by a professional photographer and embellished by the best Photoshop expert you know. That way, you’ll make sure that the picture triggers an emotional response in your potential prospects, which will make them more likely to stop by your restaurant for a bite to eat.

12. Online reputation management

You’re probably going to have to think about adding reputation management to your restaurant marketing strategy sooner or later. Today, a large percentage of people will check the online reviews before deciding to do business with you. Reviews and customers testimonials act as a social proof (people are inclined to copy the behavior of others, in an attempt to reflect correct behavior) that should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. That’s the reality, and you’re going to need to develop a plan on how to execute it.

Don’t just wait for reviews to happen!

While many customers are willing to leave a review on their own, waiting for it to happen is like standing in the middle of the desert and hoping for the rain to fall. Therefore, taking the proactive approach is the better strategy. Unfortunately, it gets a little bit more complicated than that, since angry customers are more likely to leave a review than those who were satisfied by your services, which already creates a problematic situation for restaurant owners.

Can I remove negative reviews?

In fact, “can I remove negative reviews” is probably a popular search term used by many restaurant owners. For example, poor quality reviews of your business on Yelp affect your search rankings as well. Reviews have a smaller impact on franchise owners of big corporations like McDonald’s because they have a corporate brand to protect them. Small business owners, however, experience reviews as something that can make or break them.

There are many review sites out there, including Amazon, Google My Business, Yahoo user listings, Facebook, Twitter, etc., all of which have unique terms of service and each demanding a custom-tailored approach when it comes to online reputation management. But since covering all of this is way beyond the scope of this article, we’re going to be focusing on the most challenging customer review website of them all: Yelp.

How to deal with bad reviews on Yelp?

Before Yelp dealing with bad online reviews was not a critical part of restaurant marketing.  Well, unfortunately, it is now, and your first instinct may be to tackle the negative reviews head-on, explaining why the person who wrote the review is wrong. This approach should be your last resort if used at all because replying to negative reviews will make them less likely to get removed. Worse yet, by doing this, you risk having the discussion escalate to a flame-war, which certainly won’t do your online reputation any favors.

Get bad reviews removed

When dealing with bad reviews, the first thing to do is check if they’re violating Yelp’s terms of service in any way. If they are, removing them is rather simple. If the review contains any derogatory remarks, is insulting or a personal attack on an employee, if it’s ethnically or religiously intolerant, you can file a complaint to Yelp directly, outlining the TOS violations. The same is true if the bad review is an ex-employee retaliation, or merely a four-word nonsense with no substance or meaning other than trying to cast a bad light on you and your business. Yelp is very cooperative when the person who left the review violated its terms of service.

Ask your customer to remove them

If you’ve tried everything we’ve mentioned without any success, you can always try to contact the lousy reviewer off the site and convince him to delete or edit the review. Afterwards, tell them you understand their frustration, displaying care and empathy in your tone of writing. Tell them that people who work there have families to feed and bad reviews may cause them to lose their jobs.

Convince them they are doing a good deed by editing or removing the review, and offer them a free meal or drink if nothing else works while making it known you’ve taken the critique to heart and are willing to make the necessary changes and ensure that it never happens again.

Always leave a positive reply for both good and bad reviews

If you can’t get the review removed, you can at least leave a positive reply. In fact, don’t let any comment on your business go unanswered, good or bad. Be professional and state the facts in your response. Have you been wrongly accused of not using all-natural and fat-free ingredients, for example? Remain calm and list your supplier sources. Ask unsatisfied customers to try your restaurant again and take this as an opportunity to promote the strengths of your business. Turn lemons into lemonade. It’s as simple as that.

Good restaurant marketing includes gaining more Yelp reviews

Hopefully, you’ve dealt with the negative reviews, so now we can finally focus on getting you some positive ones. First, a word of caution: Yelp, unlike Google My Business, discourages asking for reviews and has many filters in place for preventing fake ones.

Here are three things you should not do to get reviews on Yelp.

1. Never mass email your list of customers, asking for a Yelp review. If you do this, Yelp’s algorithms are smart enough to pick it up and discount the reviewer’s comments entirely. Reviews posted on the same day are going to raise all kinds of red flags.
2. Don’t ask people who are not already active Yelp users. Yelp’s system makes it difficult for new users to leave reviews that count as recommended. Therefore, if you ask someone that never used Yelp before, chances are it won’t become a recommended review, and that won’t improve the rating score for your business.
3. Never print business cards to hand out with a link to your Yelp page. It sounds like a good idea on its face, after all, how is Yelp going to know you handed out a business card imprinted with a link to your business profile. The direct link approaches have a high likelihood of failure. Yelp can recognize direct URL entries as untrusted reviews. Furthermore, a card with your Yelp link on it makes no sense because active Yelp users are likely to have a smartphone with the Yelp App installed. If Yelp users want to leave a review for you, all they would need to do is open the Yelp App and make their comments known before they depart your restaurant. In fact, they probably used the Yelp App to find your restaurant that same day while driving home from work on a Friday afternoon.

Getting more Yelp reviews without asking.

One option that could work is to ask a Yelp customer, who just received excellent service at your restaurant if they have ever left a positive review on Yelp. Active Yelp users might see this as a gentle reminder and leave you a good review. This approach does not violate the Yelp business guidelines because you are not asking for a review, but it might improve your chances for a positive review.

All in all, providing an excellent service should be the core of your restaurant marketing strategy. That way, you’ll stand a good chance of getting a hefty portion of good reviews the organic way, and when you do discretely ask active yelp users if they give reviews on Yelp, you stand a good chance of getting one.

The post Restaurant marketing Ideas, Reviews and 12 Tips to guide your SEM campaign appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

If you are wondering how to make a successful blog this is the right place to start. There are a lot of blogs on the Internet. When we create a piece of content, we’re competing for readers with a half dozen other sources, whether we’re writing news articles, blog tips, or creating product reviews.

On top of that, not all blog posts are created equal. Your blog writing style will affect how readers perceive you and whether they stick around, but so will your use of images and the way your articles are structured.

The good news is that if you get it right, you’ll reap the rewards regarding the search engine traffic that it brings in and the conversions it creates. After all, helpful blog posts are always SEO friendly because they develop backlinks and lead to engaged website visitors.  Nothing pleases Google more than content that is helpful. Blog posts are especially useful if they use structured data, which allows Google to display answers without users having to click through and visit your website. Websites that publish quality structured data like recipes, reviews and events are quickly becoming trendsetters.

Creating a successful blog can also have a significant impact on your bottom line if you get your call-to-action right. But how do you write a helpful blog post in the first place? It’s time to find out.

1. Pick a subject you’re passionate about

If you are uncertain where to start, you might want to think about your interests. As a blog owner, you will be the one who needs to keep creating content and promoting your blog. Therefore, you won’t put in the necessary effort required to make your blog a success unless you have a keen interest in the subject matter.  If your goal is to make money, you might want to consider creating a coupon blog.  People like saving money. Helping people save, is one of those things that will keep them coming back.

2. Make it evergreen

How to make a successful blog starts with evergreen content.  Evergreen content remains relevant over time, and this means that you’re likely to continue to see returns from it in the months and years to come. From a traditional publishing point of view, evergreen content tends to take the form of interviews, opinion pieces and features rather than breaking news stories. The good news is that if you’re trying to be helpful by creating tutorials and other how-to content, it’s likely to be evergreen by default.

3. List actionable tips

The most helpful blog posts have clear headings that list actionable tips, like this one. That allows readers to skim read articles if needed and it also provides them with a checklist of sorts against which they can check their progress. Actionable tips work great whether you’re giving instructions on building a DIY project or talking about something less tangible, such as offering marketing advice.

4. Include images

Images are useful for breaking up big chunks of text and for illustrating complex topics, so it’s a good idea to use them where possible to bring your blogs to life. Images are particularly relevant if your subject is tricky to explain in words, but you can describe the process through an image, a GIF or a video. Imagine explaining to someone how to tie their shoelaces, for example. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier actually to show them? When you’re using images correctly, they become such a fundamental part of your blog posts that your content has little impact without them.  Check out this article for “A Brief Guide to Creating Viral-Ready Images.”

5. Check analytics

Make sure that you have software like Google Analytics installed on your website so that you can see what visitors are doing. Keep an eye on which posts are being visited most often, as well as how long people are spending on the page and what action they’re taking next.  You can then start to identify common themes amongst the top performers. You can then choose this and apply it to new articles to increase their chances of success.

6. Solicit feedback

One way to find out what people find helpful is to ask them. If you have an active audience then why not consider deploying a survey or posting updates on your social media profiles to ask people what they want? By getting an overall idea of what people are looking for, you can increase the likelihood of them finding your blog posts useful. After all, the best way to cater to your audience is to give them exactly what they want.

7. Always iterate

No matter how good you believe you are, you’ll never stop learning and improving. That’s why you should go out of your way to continually try new things to see how your audience responds. An iterate approach involves using different content types such as audio and video on top of your written content, and it also means testing out new formats such as interviews and Q&As as well as reviews and guest posts.

8. Don’t forget SEO

An article on how to make a successful blog would not be complete without white hat SEO strategies.  It is one thing to create helpful blog posts, and it is another to have them found. Unless your website already has a reputation for producing helpful blog posts and has a ton of links from other sites sending it traffic, you’ll need to consider “white hat” SEO strategies.

First, make sure you have written your post with the right keywords in all the right places.  Use Google’s keyword planning tool as a guide.  Next, you need to work on improving the rank of your page.  Improving PageRank means getting websites that publish quality content to cite your company and link to your post. Getting high-quality, relevant backlinks from sites that have a reputation for quality content and are on topic is not an easy task, but you can achieve it by employing white hat SEO strategies or hiring an SEO consultant. Finally, make sure your content follows Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Read our article to learn how guest blogging strategies can help: Is guest blogging dead or alive? SEO benefits, backlinks, Google PageRank and More!

How to make a successful blog – conclusion

Writing a helpful blog post doesn’t have to be difficult. If you manage to get the balance right then, you’ll continue to reap the rewards for the months and years to come. Blog posts are particularly helpful when they are evergreen and don’t become outdated over time.  But even with the time-sensitive material, you can always go back in and update it at a later date if it becomes super popular.

Following our tips on how to make a successful blog is a good start if you want to be as helpful as possible, but ultimately it’s your readers who have the final say. Pay attention to their feedback and make changes to your approach if necessary to give them what they want. Don’t forget to plan out your white hat SEO strategy for each post and you’ll be bringing in the traffic in no time. Good luck.

The post How to make a successful blog – 8 helpful Tips for first time bloggers appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

The term ‘structured data’ has gained a lot of traction recently. This article will give you the basics of structured data, what it is, who is behind it.  Why it is essential for SEO.  You will have the knowledge needed to enhance and improve your SERPs that impact search engine marketing results.

What is structured data and how does it affect my website?

Structured data is the standard vocabulary needed for search engines to capture and communicate essential facts and meaning from websites. This data makes it possible for search engines to display answers to user queries quickly without users visiting your site. The webmasters who use structured data don’t merely feed the search engines with content; they also tell them what that content means. Search engines show this information as enhanced results (SERPs) (rich knowledge boxes, snippets, cards, carousels, etc.).

Who created structured data and why?

Yahoo, Google, and Bing partnered to create a universal standard for structured data. The goal was to make the Internet better by delivering answers and content to users before they visit a website. The potential economic benefits are tremendous since people will spend less time searching and more time being productive workers. Happy search engine users equal delighted and more profitable search engines. As a result of the partnership, Schema.org was born, and so were the universal standards for structured data.

Who benefits from Structured data?

By using structured data, everyone is a winner.  Search engines can display more meaningful search results, and your website gets additional exposure by looking more exciting and professional. If you’re familiar with rich snippets, you’ll quickly understand what structured data is and how to use it. Search engines give rich snippets priority when ranking pages in search results because they are helpful.

What content qualifies as structured data?

Thanks to the Schema markup, almost anything can be structured. However, most search engines have focused on those items that appeal to a broad audience and are most helpful. This list includes articles, creative works, movies, events, products, restaurants, reviews, TV episodes, local businesses, and more. In fact, there are hundreds of structured data categories from which to choose.  By taking the time to look through them all, you’re almost certainly going to find options for your website.

Will Structured Date improve my Search Engine ranking (SERPs)

Many SEO professionals share the opinion that schema markup has some benefit for attaining better search engines rankings. Including structured data on your website will improve chances of Google showing your web pages in enhanced search engine results.  Schema results in better click-through rates.  It does not always translate into higher search engine ranking.

In fact here is the video of Google spokesperson Matt Cutts where he clarified Google’s official position in 2012.  Note that he leaves the door open to the possibility of Schema influencing page rank.  With the slow adoption of Schema and the development of new technology like Google Home, one wonders if it will change.   We believe it will happen in a future Google algorithm change.  Evidence has not been seen to validate this is happening today.

How do I add structured data to my website?

In a technical context, structured data requires inserting unique schema markup code on a website.  Search engines use this to convey valuable information that users need to know from a web page.

There are three ways to apply structured data by modifying the code of your website.

The first most common method involves using Microdata markup. Microdata markup is open community HTML specifications that use nested structured data to define the structured data within your website’s HTML code. Web designers place this in the body or head of the HTML.

Alternatively, you can apply structured data using JSON-LD which allows you to do the same thing.  Instead of doing it inside the HTML code, you do so by using Javascript and placing the markup in the head of the page. Google promotes this as a recommended method because it can be easily read by the search engine and can be used by content management systems to generate content dynamically.

Lastly, web designers can use HTML5 extensions called RDFa which are tag attributes which name properties as structured data. Similar to Microdata, web designers include RDFa in the body or head sections of your HTML.

Hence the process can be learned even if you don’t know a thing about programming. But also if that sounds like biting more than you chew, some alternatives allow you to do the same thing without having to modify the code in any way manually.

Is there a non-technical approach to implementing structured data?

To help non-technical users implement a schema for their website Google created a Structured Data Highlighter Helper tool. We found this method to be the most user-friendly way to achieve structured data without programming.  If you are new to structured data, you may want to watch Google’s YouTube video below before you continue reading.

With the Structured Data Highlighter, you can highlight specific portions of your website and define what they mean without programming. For example, you are organizing an event and want to have it appear as structured data.  Just highlight the relevant portions of your website, like the name of the event, the exact date, etc.  The tool will automatically generate the correct markup for your site.

The following are instructions for using Google’s Structured Data Highlighter Helper tool:

• Step 1) Gain access to a verified Search Console account

  Make sure you have access to an authenticated Search Console account.   Google requires proof that you own the website before you can use the structured data highlighter helper tool. Your content management system (CMS) may also make this possible.  If not, you may need help from a web designer.  Proof of ownership typically involves uploading code to your website or adding a DNS record.  If you are using WordPress, numerous plugins can help with this task.  Once you verify ownership of your site, wait a day or so before you move on to the next step.  Are you still having problems? Feel free to contact us, and we can help.

• Step 2) Navigate to the “Search Appearance” section and determine whether there is already any structured data markup on the site.

  Google provides this information in the search console, so there is no need to contact a web designer. Just open up Google Search Console and navigate your way to the Structured Data Report. The report will indicate where the errors are present and list the reasons why they are occurring. You may want to have your web designer correct the errors before moving to the next step.

• Step 3) Identify the different types of your content and figuring out which ones can be marked up.

  Google provides an essential guide to help you with determining structured data opportunities in what it calls a Search Gallery.   Note that this is the information which Google is currently displaying with enhanced search results. However, Google will likely expand this to include additional categories of structured data so your best bet is to visit Schema.org where you can get the entire list of possibilities.

  • Review Top Level and Extensions: Schema.org identifies the top-level Core vocabulary starting with a ‘Thing,’ and drills down to lower levels consisting of the following topics: action, creative work, event, intangible, medical entity, organization, person, place, product.   Then narrow down the possible candidates by ruling out the ones that aren’t applicable. After finally identifying opportunities in the top-level plan, check out the ‘core plus all extensions’ list.  This list will make sure you’re not missing any options.
  • Ask Questions: You can make things easier by asking questions. For example: Is this page selling a product,  announcing an event or publishing a creative work? Chances are you’ll be able to identify the correct category using one of these methods. You can also use Google to search for this particular type and take a look at some usage examples. This process may give you the right idea faster than reading through each category’s description.

• Step 4) Now, you’re finally ready to highlight the structured data opportunities on your website.

  If your site organized into subfolders and you have data in the same place, it will be easy. Google asks you to identify structured data on a few pages and uses that to determine data throughout your website. Hence you won’t need to do this for every page. For less classified sites, Google will expect you identify the structured data one page at a time. You can do this by using your mouse and cursor to select text on your page. Once you choose the content, you are prompted to indicate the data type on the right of the screen. For example, if it is an article you will need to select the title, author, date published, image, category, and rating.

• Step 5) Submit your results to Google and monitor your website

  After you submit your results, Google will format your page’s structured data for it’s enhanced search results. The next time Google crawls your site, Google uses your markup to understand the data on your site.

Limitations and Problems with using Google’s Structured Data Highlighter Helper tool

The “mystery of the disappearing content, and URLs not found.”

When using Google’s Structured Data Highlighter, you may not see the page, or information may be missing. Incomplete or missing content are common problems. Google fails to warn users that you can only tag data that is already indexed by its crawler.  Wait until the material is indexed before tagging it as structured data with Google’s Structured Data Highlighter.   Furthermore, The Data Highlighter can only access public pages. If Google hasn’t crawled or can’t crawl pages, such as behind a login page, the Data Highlighter won’t work.

Why did Google stop recognizing structured data on my web pages?

Disappearing structured data is a problem for webmasters who are continually trying to improve the slug or URL.  This issue may happen if you are trying to make it more search engine friendly. By changing the URL webmasters brake the pattern used for structured data and Google can’t tag your pages properly anymore. The way the Google Data Highlighter works is as follows. You tag 4 or 5 pages, and Google records a pattern in the layout of your pages.  It then applies the same structured data logic to the other pages on your website. Google uses this model for all pages having all the same URL structure. Delete the original page sets if you make changes to the way your pages display information or change your URLs.  Then create a new page set to teach the Data Highlighter about the new structure of your site.

The Google’s Structured Data Highlighter Helper tool has limitations.

This tool is fantastic for small companies that cannot afford to pay a web designer.  Unfortunately, other search engines and websites will not be able to access Google’s markup to format their search results.  If you only use the Google Structured Data Highlighter helper tool, your website is at a disadvantage.  Facebook or other sites won’t be able to give priority to your structured data in the same way. Therefore you may want to invest in having a web designer implement schema.org markup to the pages on your site. You can use the work you already did with Markup Helper as an example to follow.

It is no surprise for Google to want to keep this information all to itself. Afterall Google wants to be the best search engine for delivering the top search results. For small businesses, the Google Structured Data Highlighter helper tool is all that’s needed. Those who want a more comprehensive approach will want to modify the pages of their website.  Doing this will keep it fresh and more modern for the entire Internet community to use and share.

How do I know if my programmer has implemented Structured data correctly?

There is an easy way you can test if the markup was applied correctly, and it’s called the Google Structured Data Testing Tool. You can access it through the Google Search Console. Errors may come up at a later date, so continue monitoring the Structured Data Report in the Search Console.

How can I help my content appear on the first page of Google as enhanced SERPs?

Here are a few guidelines for implementing structured data:

1. Make sure the way you format structured data is technically correct, standards compliant and does not contain duplicates.
2. Include only accurate information on your website. If Google shows the wrong information as enhanced results, millions may receive and make decisions on the false information.
3. Make sure your data is as complete as possible and includes the required values.
4. Don’t hide structured data when the user visits your website. Showing one thing in structured data and another, when someone visits the page, is a violation of Google’s rules.
5. Don’t display content that is misleading or not representative of the main content of the page.Refer to Google for a complete list.

If you are having difficulty with structured data in practice, you will want to refer to Google’s guide for using structured data.

Conclusion

As you can see, using structured data will benefit your website in many ways we’ve discussed above. There are user-friendly free tools to help you apply schema markup to your site without coding.

Don’t ignore doing this for your site as Schema is playing a significant roll in the development of new voice search technology and artificial intelligence. New hot products link Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri will use schema to power voice search results. Therefore with the popularity of voice search growing, Schema mark up is becoming increasingly essential over the next few years.

If you need help implementing structured data on your website, contact someone from our web design team, and we can help.

The post All you need to know about Structured Data, Schema, SERPs, Rich Knowledge Boxes, Snippets and more appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

Before we talk about hiring a local SEO Consultant, let’s cover the basics of local SEO.  What is it and what it can do for your business? In the simplest terms, Local SEO means helping customers find your local business through search engines. Local SEO is most important for companies with physical locations (like a retail store) or face-to-face services (like a plumber).  These companies need to reach customers in a geographical area.  Local SEO means giving your business the best possible chance of ranking high in local search results. Furthermore, it is most important to do this when someone in your local area is searching online for your product or service.

Why Do I Need Local SEO?

Your customers are increasingly going online to search for businesses to meet their needs.

According to HubSpot, 18% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day—these deals are going to happen, the only question is whether your business will be in the running.

Today’s customer is out and about, searching on their phone for a place to eat or shop, then going there immediately. Only a few results show on a mobile phone, and you want to be one of them.

Not to mention local search results are highly targeted and timely. Like I said, today’s customer is searching for a nearby business to use right now. If you are one of those top few results, the conversion rate is high. No other marketing strategy gets you in front of a customer who has already asked for your services and is nearby, ready to commit.

Lastly, today’s customers expect you to be available via local search. Say someone searches for “John’s Autoparts” based on a recommendation from a friend. The search engine will assume they want localized results and look for nearby places with this name. If you’re not optimized for local searches, the search engine may not find you. Now your potential customer is presented with alternative auto parts stores, and you have lost credibility for not being easy to find.

How Does Local SEO Work?

Local SEO comes into play in two basic scenarios. For one, when someone searches for something like “pizza,” most search engines automatically assume the user wants local results and will return local pizza places based on the person’s location. For two, when someone specifies a location in a search like, “best lawyer in Grand Rapids,” the search engine will return local results for Grand Rapids, Michigan based on the search terms.

But how does the search engine choose which businesses to return? With any SEO strategy, it’s important to remember that search engines want to show the best possible results to their customers. Search engines want to find you if you are a local business that offers a service customers need. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for them to find and validate your existence.

First, you will need to define your NAP: Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP). Consistency is essential as you grow your web presence because exact matches increase your business legitimacy. If your company is referred to as “John’s Auto Parts” in some places and “John’s Auto Parts & Repair” other places, these will seem like two different businesses to Google. Decide on one primary name, one standardized postal address, and one business phone number. Then use it everywhere. It’s best to have this information on every page of your website, often by including it in the footer.

Search Engines and Social Media

Search Engine local listings

If you haven’t done so already, you will need to claim or establish your Local Search Engine listings starting with Google My Business and Bing Places. It is essential to distinguish the difference that Google and Bing are powerful search engines or social media portals, not citations, and they require special care.

Social Media Business Pages

The same is true with Social Media websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google +, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. People are visiting these sites every day to communicate and stay in touch with those who are important to them. You will want to have a presence on social media to rank well in local search. Facebook alone has 2 billion monthly active users. Therefore having social media pages are critical weapons in your local marketing arsenal and you will want to keep them updated and accurate.

Online Reviews and Specialty sites

Start with Yelp! Wait, isn’t Yelp just for finding good restaurants? Not anymore! Yelp has been branching out into almost all areas of the business including home improvement, so you won’t want to ignore them. The most important reason for Yelp is that they have an exclusive relationship with Apple and Bing to display business listings and reviews in local search results. For Apple, this means when over 700 million iPhone users ask Siri to find a restaurant near me, Yelp results are displayed. The same happens when you search using Bing to search for a restaurant except it depends on the type of business because Microsoft also uses its own local Bing Places directory so you will want to get listed there.

If you are in the Home Improvement Industry, you will want to read our article 13 Tips on SEO for home improvement businesses. Then set up an account, become familiar with, and publish your information on Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, Houzz and other specialty websites. These websites are similar to Yelp for the restaurant industry, and you have a better chance of being discovered for projects when multiple sites that display your information.

In summary, you will want to load up directory websites with as much accurate information as possible including your NAP. Upload high-resolution pictures, your hours of operation, and encourage customers to leave reviews. The more complete and robust your social media and search engine profiles, the more legit your business appears search algorithms. After that, you want to increase the number of references to your company throughout the web —these are called citations.

What Are Citations?

A citation is a reference to your business’s NAP on another website. You gain a vote of legitimacy each time your company is referenced accurately with the same NAP. Each entry validates your location and contact information.  Thus the more you have, the higher you will rank in local search engine results.

Citations fall into a few categories: online business directories, social media mentions, public records, and mentions on other business websites.  These citations include your suppliers or business partners sites. The most popular type is online business directories because there are hundreds available.  Local SEO involves contributing your information to each, and making corrections when it doesn’t match your NAP. Examples of online directories are Yelp, Yellow Pages, Angie’s List, and CitySearch. Local SEO Guide provides a comprehensive list of the top local directories.

Do you need to fix your citations?

Before you go any further, take a minute to check the status of your local business citations in over 60 popular online directories with our free Local SEO Scan.

How can you increase your citations?

Do it yourself

Entering your information into tons of directories is time-consuming and repetitive work. You may decide that your time is better spent elsewhere and outsource some of this job to a consulting firm. There are pros and cons to using an outside company and many from which to choose. Let’s first discuss the benefits of managing your citations vs. getting help.  Then we’ll cover what you need to know when selecting a Local SEO consultant.

Get help from a Local SEO Consultant

If you do your citations, you don’t have the added cost of paying a Local SEO consult. You can focus on your company and make sure to avoid or correct mistakes like duplicate listings or inaccurate information. You can also determine your list of directories based on your priority. Many directories require manual verification like a postcard, phone call, or text message. Even with an outside firm, you as the business owner have to be involved in these steps. If you’re on your own, these actions don’t require any coordination with another group.

Using a local SEO consultant or consulting firm will save you a lot of time and energy. These experts specialize in local SEO. Hence with a reputable consultant, you should expect them to improve your ranking.  They will be more efficient and reach a wider audience faster than you. Make sure that the local SEO consultant will focus on finding and correcting inaccurate or duplicate listings.  Incorrect data will work against your ranking in search results. Furthermore, citation building services have access to data aggregators that aid the process by helping distribute data.  Therefore you won’t have as a lone wolf. Overall, outsourcing this work will leave you to focus on your business.

Don’t just increase citations, update and enhance your listings

It’s not enough to get accurate NAP information into the local directories; because it’s is only half the battle. To rank above your competition in Local SEO, you need to update your listing regularly. Google reminds users every time they log into Google My Business.  Business owners who add a photo or update their listing increase the chances of people finding their business online. Therefore smart business owners follow Google’s advice, and you should follow it also.

How to hire the best Local SEO Consultant

When picking a local SEO consultant, the cost is not the only factor. Look at their track record and success with other customers.  Find out how long their services take and how easy it is to work with them. Like I mentioned above, you will have to be involved in the process no matter what.  Knowing the tools the company uses for building your local SEO presence is essential. Lastly, you need to know what they are doing so request monthly reports and read them. They are not doing their job if they are doing the data entry once and billing you for extra work. You are better off doing it yourself.

Tools of the Trade for a Local SEO Consultant:

Like tradespeople who need the right tools for home improvement, a local SEO consultant also requires the right tools. When there are so many online business directories and social media sites, it makes little sense to do everything manually. Chances are your local SEO consultant is working with online tools for citation building. Online services are the most efficient way to update your local citations to multiple websites. You will want to know how they plan to do the job and if they are using the best tools. So why not get to know what they plan to use for your business.

Three of the top online tools for Local SEO are Yext.com, BrightLocal.com, and Moz.com. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Because pricing can change, we won’t go into detail on pricing. You will have to visit their websites Yext, BrightLocal.com, and Moz.com or contact them for that. Here are some points we feel are important factors to help you decide which will work best for you:

Evaluating Top Citation building services: Which is better Yext.com, BrightLocal.com or Moz.com?

Most Local SEO consulting firms use citation building services to manage and get your company more visibility. You should know who the citation building service providers are and what they do.

When it comes to Local SEO all three online citation building services:

• • • Have online systems to report on progress and help you submit your listings.
    • Offer some aggregator service to send your data to numerous online directories.

Why would you go with Yext.com?

• • • Yext is the fastest and provides the most comprehensive local SEO
    • If you use Bright Local or Moz, you increase your chances of having a customer finding inaccurate information.
    • Yext locks down your listings with its direct connection to Local websites and services.  This lock means your citations are updated immediately.
    • Never worry about seeing the wrong phone number or address on popular directories.
    • Moz and Bright Local rely on aggregators or manual submissions to update your listing.  This approach can take a long time and could cause errors in your listings.   With Yext you have full control over all your listings in one place. Therefore changes and updates happen immediately.
    • If checked our Local SEO Diagnostic tool and see mistakes Yext is your best chance to fix your listings immediately.   Hence you won’t lose business from a wrong phone number or address.
    • Larger companies with many locations may want quick results and extensive reporting so we would use Yext.
    • Many directory services allow specials, events, and deals. If you go with Yext, they can update your deals, events, and other activities in the click of a button. If you need to get the word out quickly, you would be better with Yext.
    • Yext is the most expensive of the three, and we do not expect that to change.
    • If building good reviews are a focus I would suggest using Yext.  Yext makes linking directly to your review page easy.  You don’t want people to have to go out of their way to give you a review. It should take one click. Paying the extra money for excellent review management tools is worth considering.

Why would you go with Bright Local or Moz?

• • • Moz has a complete SEO solution all in one place with MozPro for Organic SEO.  Thus you don’t have to visit more than one website to do SEO.
    • BrightLocal and Moz are more affordable than Yext. If you are on a budget, you may want to look at them first
    • Updating directory information with BrightLocal and Moz can take months. Delays happen because online directories update in batches.  Yext has negotiated agreements for a direct API connection to many of them. If you don’t mind waiting several months to see results, you would be ok going with either BrightLocal or Moz.
    • BrightLocal handles both aggregators and manual submissions.
    • BrightLocal.com charges a small fee for each submission. The cost is reasonable, but you have a minimum quantity with each transaction.

Most Local SEO consultants will use just one service and won’t take the time to get to know your needs. The best SEO consultant will decide which factors are most important for a particular customer based on their needs. Thus as a Local SEO consultant, we use all three depending on the needs and budget of our client.

What Citation Building Services won’t do:

• • • None of them will change or update the information for you. You need to do that or hire a Local SEO consultant who knows what to do. Again regularly updating your listings is half the battle.
    • None of these companies will encourage your customers to leave reviews. You need to do that or hire a Local SEO consultant who can do this for you. Having good reviews and ratings are a big part of local SEO. Google makes this clear on its Google My Business page.
    • None of the service providers will respond to reviews. You will need to work with your consultant to do that.
    • One potential issue you might find is once you cancel your subscription you will lose control over the listings again. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this problem. You don’t want to visit hundreds of websites.
    • Many companies opt for a mix of both manual submissions and an automated approach. We do this for our customers.

A local SEO Consultant may use multiple citation building services because different providers cover various data aggregators and directory listings. Talk to other business owners, search for online reviews, and do your research. When you hire an SEO Consulting consultant, you are inviting them to take part in creating your online web presence.  Local SEO is a critical piece of your marketing strategy. Choose wisely.

Want a free consultation? Contact us for help with Local SEO

The post Should I hire a Local SEO Consultant or do it myself? appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.

Hummingbird and Fred are two of Google’s recent algorithmic updates.   This article was written by our top Boston SEO consultant and is designed to answer some of the most common questions about this massive change in the search results.

Undoubtedly, businesses are going to have to adapt to these changes if they want to retain their rankings in the future. So let’s dive into what these changes are and what they mean for your online assets:

What SEO consultants have learned about Google Hummingbird

Hummingbird completely changes the rules regarding how Google understands the search queries. Before, it was all about searching for the keywords found within the content, but now, the search engine knows the user intent of the search.  This change uses machine learning technology to take Google search beyond keywords.

Now, it doesn’t matter whether you enter “how to lose weight as a teenager” or “weight loss for teens,” since Google knows you’re looking for the same thing.

Moreover, Google now understands what stage searchers are in the buying process. For example, if you’re searching for “how to” type of keywords, it recognizes you are in the information-gathering phase. If you’re entering “product name + review,” it knows you’re ready to buy a product and are trying to find reviews.

This algorithmic change also helps Google understand voice queries with ease.  Moreover, there is no need to worry about keyword stuffing since Google Hummingbird already does the work for you.

What you need to know about Google Fred

Google Fred was designed to combat the websites using overly-aggressive monetization tactics. According to Google, these types of sites were providing a negative user experience. So in essence, this algorithmic change aimed to penalize the websites that prioritized monetization higher than excellent user experience.

Notably, the sites that were hit the hardest not only annoyingly placed their ads but also weren’t helpful regarding content, which was thin and full of fluff.

Another aspect of SEO targeted by Google Fred was the poor quality of backlinks. In concrete terms, we’re talking about broken links, links with poor domain authority and unnatural links.

How to adapt to these SEO changes?

Hummingbird: answer the needs of your visitors, not just provide them with facts. Don’t try to stash as many long tail keywords in the content. Write meaningful and helpful content.  Long tail keywords should appear in your content in a completely natural way without deliberate intent.

Fred: make sure that the content on your website is excellent, well-written, and meaningful.  Your backlinks should be relevant and of high quality.  Don’t get too greedy when it comes to monetization. Take an approach to marketing your website that does do not rely on excessive advertisements.   Make sure their placement is non-obtrusive.

Conclusion: Publish Quality Content

If you have been publishing quality content to help and inform your customers, you have nothing to worry.   Go ahead and keep up the excellent work.   However, if you have been keyword stuffing and other spam techniques you have a lot of work to do.   Adapting to Hummingbird and Fred is merely crucial for the longevity of your business, at least if you’re relying on organic SEO traffic to generate sales.  If you understand these changes and implement a robust strategy on how to adapt to them, you will make sure that your website receives a healthy amount of traffic.

Contact one of our NH Web Design SEO consultants for a free SEO audit.  We can help you get back on track.

The post Are you prepared for Fred and Hummingbird? appeared first on New Hampshire Web Design.