BlogMonday, December 03 2018
 Why Online Reviews are Essential for Insurance Agents (and How to Get More)In our new digital world, the research is clear, online reviews have become essential for today's insurance agent. More and more clients begin their search for insurance products online. In a hyper-competitive market, even those who are referred by current customers are likely to check out your online reputation before even committing to a conversation. What do consumers see when they look for you online? Are they viewing multiple, current, five-star reviews with helpful comments? If not, keep reading. Wednesday, June 13 2018
 It's perhaps maybe not that long ago that using an insurance web site was considered to be a cost of doing business, however, perhaps not fundamentally a means to create leads. Today though, with the new generation of consumers and even a huge block of "traditional" consumers who consider themselves to be "with the times" in terms of doing business online, you must have an active, current, web presence that doesn't just sit there, it must add value. Brochure websites are really a thing of the past. Tuesday, February 20 2018
 Google has rolled out the beta version of the new and improved search console and SEO’s are more than happy, to say the least. The most promising new feature is the access to 16-month-old historical data. It enables year over year comparison which is great from every aspect. Google has built the new search console from the scratch and not all features are available yet. They are still working on it, and they will keep on adding useful features from the old search console to the new. So as of now, most of the tools you will click on will have a coming soon message. However, you do have access to the performance tool which is easy to understand with filtering options like: By device, country, impressions, CTR and more. The Index coverage report is the perfect blend of old index status & crawl reports errors. It enables you to see how well Google is indexing your site as well to identify and fix any issues.
As of now, the above-mentioned tools and features are the biggest highlights of the new search console. But it’s still in the beta mode and many tools and features are yet to come, so stay tuned.
Sunday, February 18 2018
 • The Dynamic search ads allow you to target the entire website or domain name so that you can target a broad audience. However, Google has made some significant changes to it and the changes will go live soon. To know exactly how it will affect you, click. • Google allowed the advertiser to spend as much as twice the daily budget simply to get more money from their pocket. But how advertisers are responding to it and does it really changed anything within AdWords … find out. • Google and Facebook get biggest slice of advertising cake. A recent study revealed that 1/4 (61%) of the global advertising spend goes to Google and Facebook. However, the number may drop soon as people are starting to allocate their ad budget to different platforms. • Google officially removed the Adwords Review extension and all the performance data will be deleted by Feb 2018. • Last year we saw shocking reports that YouTube ads were running alongside some inappropriate videos. It scared the advertiser because it would cause more harm than good. Addressing the issue, YouTube has now made it mandatory for the YouTubers to have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000h watch time if they want to monetize their content. • Re-marketing is one of the best marketing weapons in your arsenal. Here’s a great tutorial on how to utilize it to the fullest. • What is Doubleclick adoptive re-marketing and how does it work. Find out. • Manually selecting placements to run display ads may seem like a good option, but it is not the right solution to click frauds. Also, it makes you miss the flexibility of automated placements. • Re-marketing is good but only if done in a balanced manner. Many advertisers overdo it and as a result, annoy the users. Although Google can’t tell advertisers to stop targeting a particular user, they may give the power to the users to block re-marketing ads coming from a specific advertiser. Saturday, February 10 2018
 Google was testing a new video feature in early January that allowed business owners and customers to add videos, related to the business. Allyson Wright from Google My Business advertiser community announced that they have fully rolled out the video feature and now all the business owners can add videos to their listing. These videos will be visible on Google Maps and local search results. Some important points to consider: • Videos up to 30 seconds in length are supported. The process to add videos is same as photos. Go to your GMB dashboard, click photos on the left and instead of adding photos, add the link to the videos.
Monday, February 05 2018
 It’s 2018 and if your web page takes more than 10 seconds to load, then you are far behind! Nobody likes to wait for minutes just for your page to load — they will simply hit the back button. According to a study, 53% of the users will abandon the site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load! So it came as no surprise when Google announced that site speed will be a ranking factor within the mobile search results from July 2018. However, Google assured that only a small percentage of the sites will be affected by it since the majority of the site loads faster than 10 seconds. Also, there will be exceptions to websites which provide relevant and high-quality content to users. Those websites can still rank well in the search engine result pages because the intent of the search query is still a strong factor. If you are not sure about your site’s speed, you can use the Google’s “Test My Site” tool. This tool uses a standard 3G connection to replicate what most people are using to surf the web using mobiles. It not only tells you about your site speed but also gives suggestions on how you can improve. What About AMP? Google's announcement stated that it "applies the same standard to all pages, regardless of the technology used to build the page”, which means AMP gets no special advantage except that by its very nature it will pass all of these speed standards with flying colors. However, that doesn't mean that you get an automatic pass if you're using AMP because you need to be sure that everything is set up properly. If you need any help with mobile optimization, we can assist. Just reach out to us and we will be able assist you further. Wednesday, June 14 2017
 Google has recently published a blog stating that those who are leveraging guest post as a link building technique should reconsider their strategy. They are specifically focusing on the spammy links, that are tagged as guest post, contributor post, partner post, etc. Below is the list of things that you should avoid according to Google:
As of now, Google has just warned those who are using these techniques, and they are not taking any actions. But as we all know, all the warnings are followed by a mass initiative to counter it. So in case you are employing these techniques, then you might want to reconsider it. Review all the posts, links and remove those who might cause problems in the near future. How to future proof your websites Link Diversification – Sites performing well in Google have good link diversity. Build backlinks / citations from diversified sources such as:
Since Google prefers a diversified link profile, we recommend getting links from these sources. Different Class C IPs – Having different Class C IP address for your backlink sources definitely helps with SEO rankings. Maximum Uptime - Since our network of sites are hosted with premium hosting plans, there are minimum chances of website downtime. Again, we are notified immediately of such instances which helps us get the sites back on track. Different Domain Registration – Not only Class C IPs, having different registration details also helps. Different Registrant Details – Google itself being a Registrant, it has access to the Whois information of domains at a global level. Penalty Detection – All the sites within our network are included and verified in Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools). We constantly monitor all websites and make sure they are free from any Google Penalties. Fresh Content – Google loves fresh content. Since the content is updated on almost a daily basis, this ensures that the websites are indexed frequently and pages are latest pages are included in the Google database. Friday, January 15 2016
2015 brought some of the biggest changes and updates in digital marketing. Be it the launch of mobile friendly algorithm, several Phantom Quality updates, 28th Panda Update in July, death of Google Plus, Google as a subsidiary of Alphabet or the RankBrain, 2015 was jaw dropping from every aspect. As predicted, Mobile remained the focal area of Google in every facet. Not only has Google declared that a mobile optimized website is essential to rank higher, but it also launched AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) which took their mobile obsession one step further. Overall we can say that 2016 is shaping up as a year of immense opportunity for website owners. But before we step into the future let’s have a look at what we got right & where we went wrong in 2015. RECAP OF 2015 1. Google and HTTPS 2. Facebook Modification 3. Wearables Becoming Popular 4. SEO Code of Ethics 5. Mobile-Optimized Content 6. Google Algorithmic Updates NOW LET'S LOOK AT WHAT DOES 2016 HAVE IN STORE 1. Structured Data will become a Ranking Factor In case you are thinking what type of Structured Data will be good, you can go with JSON-LD, as Google is really fond of it. 2. 2016 will bring more updates to Local Search Google will continue to push home services ads & move SMBs to a pay-to-play model. Be ready to witness more of this kind of ads. 3. Increased focus on User Experience 4. Improvement in the digital assistant space & wearables Also, we can expect to see a lot of wearable gadgets in 2016. Thus, we recommend you should at-least be aware of wearable SEO, so when needed you can employ and reap the benefits of being aware and prepared. Beacons will become more popular overtime and they will make it easy for you to connect with your existing customers. Also, you can expect new players such as Yext & their Xone beacons to enlarge nationally, as a medium to track offline customers online & then target them with re-marketing ads. 5. Virtual Reality Monetization It is estimated that the VR revenues will go up to 1 billion dollars in the coming year and will escalate to 4.4 billion dollars by 2019. So the company which will provide the best VR gear will reign supreme and will get to have the biggest piece of the 1 billion dollar cake. 6. The downfall of Yahoo Many investors are now losing patience and blaming Marissa Mayer for not having a clear vision. Many experts are predicting that Yahoo may sell their assets to AT&T while some are claiming that Google will be the best bet. 7. Google will roll out major algorithms which will make site audit tougher Till 2015, it was a bit easy to identify the issues which got you penalized, but since Google's expectations from a website are growing, they are making more complex algorithms. So for SEOs it will be tough to identify the exact cause of penalty in 2016. If you are an SEO expert, it's better to understand how to correctly audit a site & surface all website issues. Final Takeaway Your actions, predictions, and preparations will decide whether this year will be great or worse for you. We recommend that you gather as much information as you can and closely monitor any updates thathave the potential to influence the digital marketing space. That way you can achieve your goals in 2016. Tuesday, January 12 2016
Wednesday, May 27 2015
 The mobile-friendly update began on April 21st. Fourteen days later, Google announced that more Google searches now take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the US and Japan. Google Adwords has adapted over the years to be more accommodating to mobile search, and to help advertisers measure cross device conversions. This month, Google introduced several new products and innovations that allow you to “measure every moment that matters,” understand the full impact of your PPC campaigns and make better decisions for your business. Click here to read more. Thursday, May 21 2015
 The impact of Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update, as measured by MozCast (a weather report showing turbulence in the Google algorithm—the hotter and stormier the weather, the more Google’s rankings changed) was, in the short-term, much smaller than expected. Though the impact of the mobile-friendly update may be less than apocalyptic, in a blog called “How Far Did the Sky Fall,” Dr. Peter Meyers, Moz Marketing Scientist, wrote: “Google’s push toward mobile-first design and their clear public stance on this issue strongly signal that mobile-friendly sites are going to have an advantage over time.” If your website is not mobile-friendly, we advise you to move very quickly in that direction! Tuesday, April 14 2015
 Last month, we reported on the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm Update that will begin this month. Many in the industry are calling this update “Mobilegeddon.” Sounds ominous! It is a fact that starting April 21st, Google will be expanding its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. In a recent study, 44% of Fortune 500 web sites failed the mobile-friendly test and are at risk of being penalized in search results when that update rolls out on April 21st. You can do better than those Fortune 500 companies! Take steps now to make sure your website is mobile friendly. Click here for Google’s guide on Mobile-Friendly Websites. Monday, March 23 2015
 From Google’s Webmaster Central Blog: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.” In other words, make the necessary changes to your website or risk losing rankings. Search Engine Land reports that the algorithm runs on a page by page basis, “So if you have 10 web pages on your web site and 5 of them are mobile-friendly and 5 are not, then only the pages that are mobile-friendly will benefit...Many websites have sub-sections or specialized pages that would be hard to make mobile-friendly, so webmasters do not need to fret about going 100% mobile-friendly by April 21st.” Click here to read Google’s Mobile Friendly Websites guide. Click here to check if YOUR website is Mobile Friendly or not. Thursday, December 04 2014
 The sign on your business is in disrepair. Packages delivered to your business are blocking your doorway. What do you do? You repair the sign and you move the boxes. You make sure your business is easy to find. Tuesday, November 18 2014
 Imagine you're just going about your working day a cashier at Target and next thing you know, you're on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. You're widely recognized! Because of social media, all. That's what happened to #alexfromtarget. The account of how Alex became famous illustrates the mind-blowing power of social media. Every interaction and communication you have on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking sites builds your business and your brand. You probably won't be a sensation like Alex, but you will be where consumers spend huge amounts of time and share huge amounts of content. The amount of information that is shared every day on Facebook is astounding! Facebook has more than one billion users and every 20 minutes, those users share one million links. Twitter is also remarkable in terms of marketing potential. If you're not on social networking sites, or you're neglecting what you started, get it going today! Saturday, November 15 2014
 Penguin is the algorithm update that's crafted to champion Google in opposition to spam and other techniques that go against its webmaster guidelines. The version that was released in October 2014, Penguin 3.0, is a global recharge that affected lower than one percent of English search queries. As indicated by Search Engine Land, "The Penguin formula mainly considers a site's backlink profile ... It should demote sites with bad link profiles and help sites that were previously hit and then cleaned up their link profiles." Click here for more details about Penguin 3.0. Friday, October 17 2014
 Last month, Barry Ritholtz published his 30,000 th blog post. He posted content-- graphs, investing articles, web links, video clips and economic analysis-- about five to 10 times a day, everyday for 11 years. In this post, Ritholtz reveals what he's learned about effective writing a blog, featuring his advice on ways to build a good blog. Basing on this research by HubSpot: Blog frequency impacts customer acquisition. 92 % of companies who blogged multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog. You probably don't have time to formulate and write multiple articles each day, but can you assemble a minimum of one? Otherwise, you're missing a key element of SEO. Monday, August 18 2014
 Research shows that the internet is now the primary way that most US consumers find local business information and search engines were identified as the primary tool used by consumers to find local information. Furthermore, “While the internet has emerged as the go-to source for finding location information and details about businesses ranging from hair salons and veterinary clinics to gyms and restaurants, it is rife with errors. As a result, companies are missing out on customers at their bricks-and-mortar stores, and driving them to competitors, say analysts.” (Financial Times 3/4/13) Your business address, phone number, email address, hours, policies, specials and other details—they’re all subject to change. Make sure your local listings are up-to-date. Tuesday, August 12 2014
 Google’s recent local search algorithm update has no official name; Search Engine Land calls it “Pigeon.” So we’ll go with that. According to a Search Engine Land report: “The new local search algorithm ties deeper into their web search capabilities, including the hundreds of ranking signals they use in web search along with search features such as Knowledge Graph, spelling correction, synonyms and more. In addition, Google said that this new algorithm improves their distance and location ranking parameters. The new algorithm is currently rolling out for US English results and aims to provide a more useful and relevant experience for searchers seeking local results.” Click here to read more. Saturday, July 12 2014
 Upon the arrival of Google+ Local, many small business owners who were attempting to manage their Google local listings finally had to admit defeat. Local listings management has never been easy, but it seems that Google has done more to complicate matters than fix them. The new Google My Business product looks like a big improvement. According to Google: Click here to read Frequently Asked Questions about Google My Business. Tuesday, May 20 2014
 According to a recent study by Bunnyfoot (a usability and user experience design firm), an estimated one-third of people who use Google Search don’t recognize the difference between a paid ad and an organic result. In other words, a significant number of people think the item at the top of the page is there because it’s the best match for their search query. After hundreds of tests over the past decade, the team at Bunnyfoot concluded that, “... it is very difficult to predict what customers’ knowledge or understanding is. When you do the tests, you are often humbled and surprised with how far off your assumptions are.” This is a good reminder that it’s unwise to assume you know what your customers are thinking. Sunday, May 18 2014
 Online marketing is a great and necessary investment, but so is your website. According to a study by Missouri University of Science and Technology, it takes users less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression of a website. With so little time to make a good first impression, it’s important that your website:
Make sure your website is a place where people want to spend time. And remember, the majority of first-time visitors to a website leave without completing a conversion. Click here to find out how PPC retargeting can bring people back to your website. Thursday, May 15 2014
 Google, Facebook, Twitter and AOL have joined together to launch TrustInAds.org, with the mission to keep the user experience positive for everyone on the web and keep ads safe. From the TrustInAds website: ...There are scammers that try to “game the system” to find ways to exploit consumers by getting harmful and deceptive ads published on reputable websites. In many cases, these ads - on the surface - appear normal and harmless, but may surreptitiously redirect a person to webpages that can install malware to a computer or mobile devices, direct them to scam or phishing websites, or try to sell them counterfeit goods. Any effort to thwart the bad actors on the internet helps the upstanding businesses that depend on leads from their PPC advertising campaigns. Click here for more information about TrustInAds.org. Wednesday, February 12 2014
 Who could have predicted that an online social network would change the world? Monday, February 10 2014
 In January, Google paid 3.2 billion cash for Nest, a company that designs and manufactures sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors. Friday, January 10 2014
 In 2014, Content Marketing is still the key to a powerful SEO campaign and an active, engaging social media presence. The opportunities for content placement are increasing because online publishers will need to generate income! The banner ads on newspaper and magazine websites are not doing the job; the typical click-through rate is approximately.1 percent. (Source: DoubleClick). Online publishers, including such heavyweights as The New York Times, Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair, are hoping Native Advertising will boost click through rates and increase revenue. The objective of Native Advertising is to complement an article with helpful information from a paid sponsor. Like other forms of content marketing, native ads do not specifically market the sponsor's product or service. The expectation is that a reader will would like to engage with the sponsored content because, unlike a banner ad, a native ad contains information that is specific to the article that has already attracted the visitor's attention. While a small business probably can't afford a native ad placement on The New York Times website, there are affordable options-- 73 percent of online publishers and media companies offer some kind of native advertising program. (Source: eMarketer) Saturday, November 16 2013
 Many companies use video to promote the brand, products and services. Some are taking it to the extreme, using pretty amazing cameras like the GoPro to demonstrate a product from the user’s point of view. Monday, August 05 2013
Fortune magazine called Amazon.com founder, Jeff Bezos, the ultimate disrupter when he was chosen as its 2012 Businessperson of the Year. Last week, Bezos bought The Washington Post newspaper, a premier brand in the content world, for $250 million. In a memo to Post employees, Bezos wrote that he’s “excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention.” Sunday, July 14 2013
Recently, Google introduced Carousel for local search results. Now, when you search for a local business like a hotel or restaurant, the results appear in an interactive carousel at the top of the page. Click on one of the results in the carousel and you'll see the address, photos, overall review-based score and links to the actual reviews. Saturday, June 15 2013
Any SEO provider who's trying to do the right thing will tell you that SEO is so much harder than it used to be. Content marketing takes far more time and effort than the link building tactics that worked years ago. Some try to cut corners by writing one article and posting that one article on multiple websites. That's duplicate content. It's certainly efficient for the SEO provider, but not effective for search results. Let's say Google gives you points for content marketing:
You get no credit for duplicate content. Duplicate content does nothing for search rankings but seeing their articles duplicated on numerous websites might impress those who don’t know better. You know better! Tuesday, June 11 2013
The best way forward is to focus on the future and diversify your online marketing. Friday, June 07 2013
Though just about everyone in the online marketing business has something to say about the latest Google Penguin Update, conflicting information and mass confusion abound. Even the so-called experts are struggling to understand and articulate the effect that Penguin has had across the web. Google's system of numbering the Penguin updates hasn't helped. Tuesday, May 21 2013
Both! In spite of the rash of Google updates and other covert maneuvers, link-building is still necessary for search rankings. Google has made it crystal clear that high quality content is what it wants. But Google is not quite so upfront about links. We do know that quality onsite and offsite content is just part of effective SEO. You still need to get those links. Link building tactics have changed and will continue to change in response to Google updates. Looks like another Google update is coming soon. Wednesday, April 17 2013
Scared of Pay Per Click? Don’t have the budget? Set up a retargeting only campaign. 'Retargeting' is literally re-targeting people; showing ads only to people who visit your website. They were interested in a product or service you have to offer--that’s why they visited your site in the first place. Your ads will appear on other publisher's websites as a reminder to come back to your website. It’s an easy, simple, friendly, inexpensive way to get more customers who don’t convert when they first check out your website. Call us to learn more about the varieties of Pay Per Click campaigns. Friday, April 12 2013
What is 'newsjacking,' other than a term that we’ve started to hear tossed around lately? For starters, it is a natural extension of content marketing and it is NOT a bad thing. It’s really just another smart way to do SEO right. To newsjack is to contribute to the conversation on highly visible breaking news relevant to one’s own industry. How To Newsjack: For instance, if breaking news is 'President Obama Releases Budget', you can write about how the new budget may affect your specific industry using the keywords you’ve carefully researched. Then people who are searching for the news might see your content and become interested in your business! Newsjacking leverages breaking news and the search demand on the corresponding keywords to gain visibility in the search rankings. Give it a try. Monday, March 18 2013
 According to Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, Panda will no longer be a manual monthly update. Panda is... Monday, February 18 2013
 This month, Econsultancy published a study 'Marketing Budgets 2013 Report' which looks into how companies are allocating their online and offline marketing budgets in 2013. Tuesday, January 22 2013
 Facebook is still the social media site of choice, but Twitter and LinkedIn are gaining speed. Monday, January 14 2013
 Videos are a great way to provide relevant content to interested parties in a user-friendly way. Thursday, December 20 2012
 The Google algorithm for organizing websites on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) is always changing, as are the rules and guidelines to follow. Saturday, December 15 2012
Just in time for the Holiday shopping season, Bing unleashed an ad campaign attacking Google for its switch to a pay-to-play system for listings in Google Shopping.
Thursday, December 13 2012
88% of searches are still done on desktops. Growth in search, however, is being driven by mobile phones and tablets.
Saturday, November 24 2012
YouTube just added “Time Watched” reporting to YouTube Analytics. Videos that receive the “most watched time” are now being rewarded with a better Google ranking.
Wednesday, November 21 2012
Google has unleashed another in a series of updates that are aimed at providing search engine users with a better experience. The Exact Match Domain update (or EMD) aims to decrease the occurrence of low-quality “exact-match” domains in the search engine results page.
Tuesday, October 30 2012
I speak with clients all day long, and a great deal of the time that I spend on the phone each day is spent discussing lead generation for their insurance agency and ultimately, search engine optimization (SEO).
The hardest part of the conversation comes when I start to explain that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint! Tuesday, October 23 2012
Optimizing your website for the search engines is extremely important.
Here are 5 sneaky ways to optimize your website for the search engines: Friday, October 19 2012
Lately, “Authorship” and “AuthorRank” have been hot topics, but what do these elusive words really mean? It means that you can link your content to your Google+ profile.
Tuesday, September 25 2012
Google+ recently introduced pre-approved Custom URLs to well known brands like +Toyota and +Coca-Cola.
Tuesday, September 25 2012
On September 18, Google announced they would be rolling out another Panda refresh.
Tuesday, September 25 2012
In its debut weekend, over 5 million units of the iphone 5 were sold.
Friday, August 17 2012
 Digg has been repurposed for the needs of users in 2012. A Digg score is given to a website based on users’ Diggs, or votes for the content. Digg is also incorporating the number of Facebook likes and Tweets into their process for scoring webpages. The pages with the highest Digg scores will be featured most prominently on Digg.com. What does this mean for you? Digg scores may join the ranks of other prominent social signals that search engines take into account when ranking webpages. Only time will tell if Digg will truly become a force to be reckoned with, but we are paying close attention to the advancements Digg makes and will continue to keep you informed.
Friday, August 17 2012
 Each month YouTube receives over 800 million unique visitors who watch more than 3 billion hours of video. Making a creative and compelling video is a powerful way to market your business. After completing your finished product, how do you go about ensuring that YouTube browsers find your video? For starters, you'll need an enticing title that calls potential viewers to action. Take the time to do some keyword research. YouTube allows you to include 'descriptive tags'--You'll want to take advantage of the opportunity and include at least 10 keywords here. We'll also let you in on a well-kept secret about YouTube...Google transcribes YouTube videos and they use these transcriptions to rank your videos. Well that sounds convenient...except for the fact that they don't always get it right. If you want your video to rank well, transcribe it word for word.
YouTube also factors in social signals. Are people commenting on your video? Even better, are they submitting video responses? Are people tweeting, liking, mentioning your video on Google+? These social signals carry significant weight as well.
Did you know that you get even more points from YouTube by submitting good stuff often? Keep your YouTube channel relevant and consistent.
If this seems like an awful lot to execute, it is. Let us help you take your video from first-rate to first-rank.
Friday, August 17 2012
 Google is constantly updating its search algorithms. SEOMoz recently launched a metric and website, appropriately dubbed Mozcast, to track the frequency and level of changes. Search engine marketing is all about optimizing your website so that Google can find your content, think 'this is great stuff!' and put it on the first page for your prospects. Mozcast is a great tool for determining whether ranking changes you see are systemic or, happening only to you. In these 5-day and 30-day Mozcast reports, changes are portrayed in terms of the weather. A hot and stormy day means that Google is changing rankings!
If we notice your ranking is falling...and the Mozcast is Cool with Clear Skies, we’ll know that your campaign changes are not due to Google making changes, but rather, we need to pay close attention to your specific campaign to get you back on top, where you ought to be.
Friday, July 20 2012
Google's Panda update, released over a year ago, was designed to target low quality content. In June, Google pushed out two Panda refreshes. For those of you keeping score, we’re now up to Panda 3.8.
The original Panda update impacted about 12% of search worldwide and the refreshes in June impacted only about 1%. This is yet another reminder of the importance of online marketing diversification and producing quality content with the end user in mind. Wednesday, July 18 2012
Friday, July 13 2012
There's ALWAYS something new in social media! Thursday, July 12 2012
Tuesday, June 19 2012
The Google updates will keep coming, the rules will keep changing and we will continue to stress the importance of diversification.
Sunday, June 17 2012
Based on the sales of smartphones and tablets, mobile marketing has a bright future and is definitely something to consider when devising your marketing strategy.
Tuesday, May 22 2012
Wednesday, May 16 2012
Tuesday, May 15 2012
Monday, May 14 2012
Google frequently tweaks its algorithm to target sites with low-quality content, particularly those that scrape content. Google calls these updates “Panda.”
Monday, April 09 2012
Recently, Google identified a number of blogger network sites that existed purely to build links to websites. Google targeted one of the larger blogger networks called 'Build My Rank.' The Build My Rank site was de-indexed, along with an overwhelming majority of its posts.
Friday, January 20 2012
The Google Panda (aka Farmer) updates were designed to knock content farms out of the top spots in the search results. Apparently, they've succeeded. A study by New Science Magazine shows strong evidence that Google has gained the upper hand against those unruly sites that scrape content from legitimate sites. The study was run by computer scientist Richard McCreadie at the University of Glasgow. He ran 50 search queries prior to the Panda updates and found that content farms were present in the top search results. Following the Panda updates, content farms were no longer in the top search results. High-quality websites are now far more likely to be found at the top of the search results.
This is very good news for all of us who work hard to publish high quality content. The update eliminated many of the sites that don’t deserve a high ranking so now there's more room for the rest of us at the top. Most sites that achieve top rankings use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. If you have questions about SEO services give us a call!
Thursday, January 19 2012
Blogging on your website is a great way to add fresh content but more importantly, blogs can be a search engine traffic magnet! Your long-tail keyword-rich blog has potential to rank highly for any number of long-tail keyword phrases that are relevant to your industry.
Many marketers are inclined to target head terms, which are high volume keywords consisting of one or two words. Example 'lawyer' or 'tax lawyer.' But head terms are very competitive and there's little chance they'll improve your search rankings. The smarter strategy is to use long-tail keywords. Example, 'tax lawyer specializing in small business.' Yes, there are far fewer searches on long-tail keywords BUT, a recent industry study demonstrated that using long-tail keywords can help a website move up in the search rankings far more rapidly than head terms. And, long-tail terms converted two and a half times more than head terms. Long-tail keywords may bring smaller traffic volume to your site but chances are, it will be the profitable kind of traffic!
Need even more evidence that targeting long-tail keywords can be good for your search results? Last month, Google announced that it would be doing more comprehensive indexing, making long-tail documents available in its index. That means that your blog that contains long-tail keywords is now more likely to rank for relevant queries!
Many people throw a blog post up every day without much thought to keywords or quality. Our advice: concentrate on using long-tail keywords in your blog and make sure the content is useful to your readers.
Thursday, January 19 2012
We pay very close attention to search rankings and social media trends. No doubt, search engines are trying to figure out a way to incorporate social signals (activity on social media sites) into search results. How much of an impact this currently has on search rankings is up for debate. So far, we don’t see a significant impact. We recommend that you participate in social media activities so you’re prepared for the day when social media becomes an important factor in search rankings. Evidently, that day is coming!
Social media certainly has a place in online marketing. Facebook has 800 million users (compare that to Google+'s 62 million) and more than 50% of Facebook users log on every day. Twitter has more than 100 million users and posts more than 250 million tweets per day. Facebook and other social media sites are great for reaching out to customers and building a community around your business. We'll be happy to talk to you about adding social media to your online marketing plan.
Wednesday, December 21 2011
 When it comes to evaluating website quality, we usually think in terms of robots. We talk about spiders and algorithms and so on. We know that Google has plenty of secrets about its search results that it won’t reveal to anyone. But there are reports that the 120+ page training manual for Google human search quality raters was recently leaked!
How Google uses the input from its search quality rating team is unclear but surely, it has some impact on search results. Maybe Google does this only to find and eliminate some of those websites that use less than ethical tactics to get page one results. (In other words, they don't belong on page one but have found a way to game the system.) Or, the data could be a big factor in search results. Only Google knows for sure.
Based on what we’ve read, it seems that the search quality raters evaluate 30-60 sites per hour. So that reinforces what we already know about designing a website and landing pages: you must make a good first impression, and quickly. Besides looking for a website’s relevance in relation to the search query, they’re also looking at page titles and snippets on the search results page. Keep that in mind when you’re working on your onsite SEO.
Wednesday, December 21 2011
 Pay-per-click advertising spend increased 20% in the US this year. Google controls the vast majority of the clicks and spend (estimated to be about 68%). Google is still on top and may be gaining ground—reportedly, it has taken back some of the market share that was lost to the Yahoo/Bing alliance.
Google has made strides in the past year to help advertisers attract only qualified traffic. Keyword settings and other tools have been improved and ads are unlikely to be triggered unless they are relevant to the search query. Consequently, Google is seeing an improvement in overall click-through-rate. A well structured campaign that uses the proper keyword settings can be a very efficient lead source.
Even with the improvements to the keywords settings and tools, it’s still very easy to make critical and costly mistakes. If you’re thinking of taking the do-it-yourself approach, we suggest you have an experienced PPC manager set up and launch the campaign. We’ll be happy to do that for you! Just give us a call.
Wednesday, December 21 2011
 Expect to see an IPO from Facebook in the very near future, probably by the spring of 2012. Reportedly, Facebook Inc. is considering raising about $10 billion in an initial public offering that would value the social-networking site at more than $100 billion. This is a strong signal that social media is only going to get bigger and more powerful and cannot be ignored by online marketers. Avoid it at your own peril! Ask us if you want to know how social media can tie in to your marketing plans.
Facebook recently got into trouble for violating privacy standards. In late November, Facebook and the US Federal Trade Commission announced a formal privacy settlement. Essentially, the proposed settlement “bars Facebook from making any further deceptive privacy claims, requires that the company get consumers’ approval before it changes the way it shares their data, and requires that it obtain periodic assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors for the next 20 years.”
Facebook will likely put more energy into search marketing, including placement of ads in its mobile apps, now that it has to be more mindful of privacy issues.
Thursday, November 17 2011
 Google has finally opened its Google+ social network to businesses. Until a few days ago, connections on Google+ were people to people. That didn’t stop some businesses from trying to use Google+. Many of them were shut down amid much controversy. It appeared to many that Google’s approach to removing business profiles was random and unfair because some businesses were removed and others were not. The new business program is called “Google+ Pages.” You can create a page in one of five categories: (1) Local Business or Place, (2) Product or Brand, (3) Company, Institution or Organization, (4) Arts, Entertainment or Sports, and (5) Other. Keep in mind that Google+ Pages is a social platform, much like Facebook, and setting up a page doesn’t do much good if you don’t have measurable goals. Keeping up with the new tools, settings and frequent upgrades to social media sites is a job in itself. We offer a Social Media Marketing Service and can develop a custom social media campaign for you. Let us know if you have questions about using social media for your business. Tuesday, November 15 2011
We’re not surprised. Most of our clients get significantly more leads from SEO than any other online channel. We get great results from PPC and Social Media campaigns too and that’s because we set and measure goals. We’d be happy to give you recommendations on PPC and/or Social Media for your business. Saturday, October 15 2011
Google Analytics Won’t Keep You WaitingGoogle is also making headlines with the release of “Google Analytics Real-Time.” You’re now able to see how your search marketing campaigns impact your web traffic as it’s happening. Several companies offer real-time web analytics data, but not for free. “Google Analytics Real-Time” is free.For customers who want extra processing power, advanced analysis and 24/7 support, “Google Analytics Premium” is now available for a fee of $150,000 per year. This is the first time Google has offered a paid analytics service and obviously, this is for high-dollar businesses and large agencies. Saturday, October 15 2011
Government Antitrust Officials Have a Few Questions for Google
Friday, October 14 2011
There Are Customers Waiting for You on Social Media!
Tuesday, September 20 2011
Google’s Big Investment in Local Search
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When Facebook makes any change to its interface, you can expect plenty of complaints from Facebook users. And that’s just what happened a few weeks ago when Facebook introduced: 
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