Why Local SEO is Important for Your Business
There are few things more frustrating than searching for a business or service only to end up with results that you need a plane or a boat to get to. So, what is more frustrating? Spending time and effort on SEO for your business only to find out that the dramatically increased traffic to your site is from people thousands of miles away who will never walk through your doors. And that’s the importance of local SEO. While standard SEO is all about driving traffic to your site, driving the right traffic to your site is key for a business with a physical location or that serves a specific geographic location. Effective local SEO strategy can help boost local online and in-person traffic to your business, leading to increased sales and brand loyalty.
How Is Local SEO Strategy Different?
Organic SEO is laser-focused on driving online traffic to your website primarily based on keywords the searcher is using. The overall goal is to ensure your website is high up Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPS) for specific words. And organic search is primarily focused towards information and research while local SEO targets an audience that has done research and is looking to act. Local SEO, by definition, incorporates the element of. For many businesses who have a brick-and-mortar locations or geographically defined service areas, the only traffic that matters is in or near that geographic area. That’s why local SEO has a key focus in different areas including:
- Hyperfocus on smartphone results—the vast majority of people looking for a business near them do so on their phone. And people searching on phones are more likely to be ready to make purchases.
- Google My Business—all local map-based results in Google are based on Google My Business. If you aren’t listed, you won’t show up.
- Localized content and metadata on your website can improve your visibility to people conducting “near me” searches.
- Local citations anything that directly mentions your business name, address, phone number) are key to local SEO strategy.
And that’s just the beginning!
Globe Runner has experts who understand the importance of local SEO and the best strategies. They’ve helped customers from industries as far ranging as lawyers to stoneworks increase traffic and sales. Contact Globe Runner today and find out how local SEO can be rocket fuel for your business!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is local SEO still relevant?
Almost half of all Google searches are local searches and half of all “near me” searches result in someone actually visiting a store. Consumers are looking for convenience, and if your business hasn’t optimized its local SEO strategy, you run the risk of missing out on opportunity!
Who should use local SEO?
Not every business needs a local SEO strategy. But who does? Well . . . any business that has a physical location that customers can visit and/or serves a specific geographic location can benefit from local SEO. Local customers are loyal customers and effective SEO for local businesses can build brand loyalty and increase foot traffic and sales!
What kind of businesses can use local SEO?
What kind of businesses can use local SEO? Any business that wants to drive local traffic to a physical location or increase sales to a specific geographic location can use local SEO. Whether you’re a restaurant, bookstore, or another merchant, or you provide services for a specific city or community, Local SEO will help potential customers find you. From bookkeepers to beekeepers, if your location or service area can be specified on a map, then local SEO is for you!
What percentage of Google searches are local?
Local SEO strategy is complex and different from organic SEO. There are some easy first steps you can do like getting listed on Google My Business, making sure your “NAP” (name, address, phone number) is up to date, and spending some time ensuring you’re listed on various local directories in your region. But there are also numerous on- and off0page ways to improve your local ranking, as well as technical SEO strategies to boost local visibility. If you’re serious about increasing local traffic and sales for your business, it can help to work with a professional SEO agency that specializes in local SEO, like Glob
Shopify and SEO: Avoid These Common Shopify SEO Problems
Chances are, no matter how niche your product is, there are dozens—if not hundreds or thousands—of competitors out there in direct competition with you. And if your product is less niche—say you’re selling shoes or kitchen utensils, the competition can be fierce, and breaking through the web noise to get your eCommerce page at the top of Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs) won’t happen passively. Sure, you may have the most amazing product on the market, but if no one knows about it, your sales won’t reflect your amazingness. Nonetheless, many eCommerce site owners neglect Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to the increasing detriment of their bottom line. With 40% of eCommerce traffic coming from online search, investing in SEO for your eCommerce site is not an optional feature. It’s a necessity—assuming you want to keep up with (and pull ahead of) the competition.
Unfortunately, many eCommerce retailers assume that building their shop on an eCommerce platform like Shopify means they don’t have to worry about SEO. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite! While Shopify has many built-in features to keep it relevant and user-friendly, there are many ways to improve SEO on Shopify and some common pitfalls you’ll need to avoid along the way. Let’s delve into some of those pitfalls (and their solutions) to get you started on how to optimize SEO on Shopify.
Common Shopify SEO Problems
- Internal Product Links—Product URLs in Shopify can create SEO problems by setting up internal links that go to the wrong URL, and the same product having multiple URLs. Unfortunately, this leads to one product being indexed multiple times by search engines. Luckily, the quick fix to this issue is to go into your themes and modify them to point directly to your product pages. However, this has to be done manually. And, after fixing your product links, you may find that your breadcrumbs are broken and you’ll have to set those manually as well.
- So. Many. Pages.—One of the larger SEO pitfalls for Shopify is that many of the extremely useful functionalities when it comes to organizing your products and your customers being able to filter them to easily find products end up creating unnecessary and content-thin pages that can be detrimental to your SEO strategy. This includes product tags, collections, blog tags, and product types and variants. Luckily, there is a fix! But, like most Shopify fixes, it has to be done manually and can be time-consuming. Setting these links to “noindex, follow” in the theme.liquid file will ensure that crawl time is not wasted by indexing redundant pages.
- Third-Party Apps—There seems to be a never-ending number of third-party apps available to integrate into Shopify to give your eCommerce store pretty much any functionality you can imagine. However, the vast majority of these app developers care little about how their app may affect the overall search engine rankings of your site. Be sure to carefully test and analyze any third-party app you’re considering using to see how it affects your Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs).
While there are some other frustrating issues with Shopify that don’t have fixes or workaround, many of the issues do have solutions. They are, however, frequently fairly technical fixes. One of the reasons Shopify is so popular is because it’s easy to use regardless of your technical expertise—which can make some of the SEO fixes a little overwhelming! Luckily, there are professional SEO agencies that have Shopify specialists. Globe Runner provides advanced expertise in all things SEO—and that includes your Shopify eCommerce site.
Why Globe Runner?
When it comes to SEO and Shopify, Globe Runner is your one-stop-shop! From our experts in content marketing to both on- and -off-page search engine optimization, Globe Runner is rocket fuel for your eCommerce business. From ensuring each of your product and category pages are effectively optimized for organic search to effective link building, Globe Runner can take your eCommerce site to the next level and help you turn customers into loyal brand ambassadors. Check out some frequently asked questions about SEO for Shopify and then get in touch about using SEO on your Shopify eCommerce site to help your product sales take off!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Shopify tags affect SEO?
While product tags are an extremely useful Shopify tool to organize your shop and help your customers filter and find what they’re looking for, they can create problems for your SEO strategy. The issue? Shopify creates a new page every time you tag a product. This can lead to duplicate content pages as well as wasted crawl time if you haven’t ensured that those duplicate pages are not indexed. Without taking measures to avoid that indexing, product tags can end up negatively affecting your page rankings across search engines.
Do Shopify stores rank on Google?
Absolutely! At the end of the day, Shopify is just a platform you’ve used to build your eCommerce site. Search engines, including Google, don’t care what platform you’ve built your site on; they care about what’s on your site and in that code. If you’re following SEO best practices on your Shopify site, you’ll rank on Google—and if you’re not ranking where you want to be, it’s your optimization, not your platform. If you aren’t seeing the results you like, consider having a professional content marketing agency with experts in Shopify SEO audit your site and recommend changes to improve your rankings.
Does Google favor WordPress?
Rumors have abounded for years that Google has a heavy bias in favor of WordPress websites. The truth is that Google and other search engines don’t really care about what platform you’re using to build your website. So, why the misconception? Well, to begin with, WordPress is an incredibly popular platform. Over 40% of total websites on the internet are built with WordPress. With that kind of market share, it may sometimes appear that all the top rankings go to WordPress sites—when it’s really just that there are so many WordPress sites to begin with that they’re bound to show up more frequently. Which leads to the second part of why it seems that Google loves WordPress so much . . . WordPress, as a platform, is incredibly SEO-friendly and has many SEO best practices built into the platform, leading in part to its popularity and the ability to rank higher on Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs) by doing less than you might have to do to optimize your page on other platforms.
Is Shopify good for SEO?
Shopify has many SEO features built into the platform, like being easily mobile-friendly and automatically generating XML sitemaps. And, while there are some SEO limitations to being a closed platform, Shopify is one of, if not the, easiest to optimize eCommerce platforms available. However, it’s important to remember that SEO is not about your platform and is never a set-it-and-forget-it endeavor. Consistent optimization of your site—whether it’s on Shopify or another platform—is necessary to keep you on top of the SERPs.
Is Shopify blog good for SEO?
Blogs, whether on Shopify or not, are an important part of content marketing and SEO. Professional content marketing agencies, like Globe Runner, can assist you with making sure your blog strategy enhances your search engine rankings by conducting in-depth keyword research, gap analysis, and competitor research while ensuring every single blog is optimized for the best performance.
Video Marketing for Business and Why You Should Use It
If you think you can ignore video in your overall marketing strategy, think again! Video is an ever-growing trend that is too important to pass by—in fact, it’s the number one content type for two years in a row! Obviously TikTok is all video, all the time, but check out other social media sites—chances are, you’re seeing a lot of video content. Video works—whether it’s paid media, YouTube shorts, or any video that captures your audience’s attention and imagination. And if you’re not incorporating video into your marketing strategy, you’re missing out on the benefits—which can negatively affect your bottom line. Let’s explore how video marketing benefits your brand and strategies that can keep you ahead!
Video Marketing Benefits
So, how does video marketing benefit your brand?
- Increases conversion rates on landing pages by 80% and click rates on emails by 300%
- Raises organic traffic to search engine results pages by up to 157%
- Increases viewer understanding of your products and services
Across the board, studies show that video increases the likelihood purchases while also increasing content sharing, leading to more viewers being introduced to your brand. Now that you know why video is a marketing must, let’s examine different types of videos for businesses.
- Explainer. This type of video is great for brands with a product or service that may be a little more difficult to understand at first glance—or solves a problem that may be complicated. Often animated, these videos give the viewer an overview of the problem and how your brand or service can solve it.
- Demonstration. Similar to an explainer, but usually not animated, these videos are exactly what they sound like—they have an expert or actor demonstrate how to use your product.
- Review. Customers love to hear from real people. A video review or testimonial from an actual customer can increase trust. Similar to a review, unboxings are also very popular, particularly celebrity unboxings.
- Culture. Want to increase brand loyalty? Give a company culture video a try. These videos spotlight your company’s brand voice and values, often highlighting the lives of their employees and how your company engages with the community and/or philanthropy. Similar to this is the behind-the-scenes video—where you take your viewer to places they wouldn’t normally see—inside your factory or distribution center.
- Series. Who doesn’t know who Flo is? Or the Geico Gecko? Some companies have been incredibly successful with creating an ongoing story built around a character that comes to symbolize their brand. Alternately, the story may not be built around just a recurring character, but around a developing storyline.
- Story. You don’t need a whole series to tell a story—you can do it in one video. Tell a story that incorporates your brand or product that has a compelling beginning, middle, and end and has a conflict that engages your viewers’ attention. How does your product or service solve that conflict?
Wondering what kind of video might be right for your brand and where to go from here? Globe Runner can help!
While video creation has become easier and easier with a multitude of user-friendly options for creation and distribution, bringing in a professional content marketing agency like Globe Runner can give you the boost you need. From content creation to publishing, Globe Runner has in-house experts who can elevate your marketing strategy with videos that increase brand recognition and create a relationship with your customers. And Globe Runner can work with you on how to incorporate video into your overall marketing strategy—bringing new life to your email marketing and pay-per-click campaigns. Get in touch today and learn how out team can help you turn video into rocket fuel for your business!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why is video marketing so effective?
Whether it’s at school, work, or play, consumers expect information, entertainment, and advertising to come in a video format. With videos more easy than ever before to create, more and more people are using them to communicate. Movement catches a viewer’s eye more than just text or images, giving you a better opportunity to engage your audience form the start. And videos humanize your brand, giving consumers a deeper connection to your product—and they’re easily shareable, giving you access to audiences that you didn’t have before without having to do any extra work. Not only that, but recall is much better with video than text or images—viewers are far more likely to remember a video they’ve seen than something they’ve read.
What is a video marketing strategy?
Whether you’re a large brand looking to lift up a particular product or a start-up just beginning your small business video marketing plan, having a strategy is key to success. It’s easy to forget that every part of your marketing needs a strategy and a plan. Globe Runner has content marketing experts who can help you create and adjust your video marketing strategy by establishing smart objectives, setting goals, analyzing competitors, finding the right audience and platforms, and measuring results.
Why is video marketing important?
Consumers love video—they’re accustomed to it, and it captures their attention more than words or images. And that was before the pandemic. During the pandemic, online media consumption grew in the United States by 215%. And the trend continues. Consumers are spending about 19 hours a week watching videos online. The use of video in marketing is a necessity to build brand awareness and find and grow your customer base.
What makes a video successful?
Obviously, your videos should be well-produced, with excellent lighting and sound. But what makes your video really stand out? A connection with the audience. Viewers love real stories from real people. Live videos get a lot of attention, but even when you’re not livestreaming, you can keep your videos natural. Keep it in your brand voice and tell a story that has a beginning, middle, and end—and remember, good stories have conflict, and the best conflict is the problem that your product or service solves. And never forget that emotion can be a great motivator.
Digital Marketing Facts, Statistics, Trends, & What’s New for 2022
Part Two:
How to Take Advantage of New Trends in Digital Marketing
After reading Part One of this post, you’re probably full of helpful knowledge about digital marketing statistics (like the number one marketing goal of most business, the top content deliverer, and the social media channel that produces the most ROI), and eager to use your new insight regarding the top digital marketing trends of 2022. Welcome to Part Two, and recommendations on how to turn those trends into business success!
Make New Trends in Digital Marketing Work for You
TREND: Content rules (still).
RECOMMENDATION: Use persuasive storytelling. To attract visitors (and search engines), content needs to be valuable, relevant, and engaging. But how do you do that? Focus on solving the customer’s problem. “Of course,” you say, but take a quick tour of a few websites and blogs. How many of them start out by talking about the company, or its knowledge, reputation, or expertise? Copywriting, the art of persuasive writing, is not just for Times Square billboards and Superbowl ads, but helps elevate all marketing content.
TREND: Email’s impact will grow.
RECOMMENDATION: Nurture your audience and utilize automation. A series of emails designed to intrigue and/or educate can build your brand, create excitement around events or product launches, and most importantly, create a relationship between your company and the email recipient.
You can use automation to personalize those emails, to create abandoned cart emails, (which had a conversion rate of 33.89% in 2020), and welcome emails (a 51.9% conversion rate).
TREND: Users demand personalized service, ASAP.
RECOMMENDATION: Use up-to-date technology to create personalized immediate solutions. In addition to automating emails (see above), you can use conversational marketing like chatbots to offer 24/7 assistance (more about this solution in Part One), and boost local search with geofencing. Super-specific, location-based marketing, geofencing alerts potential customers to brick-and-mortar shops and services in their location while they’re there. Imagine you’re on a road trip and you get a text or push notification about gas in five miles, a great deal on a nearby hotel room, or the best fried chicken in the state.
TREND: Virtual and hybrid events will become standard.
RECOMMENDATION: Use video to enhance discoverability, engagement, and sales. You’re going to need to film the gathering anyway; why not up your video game by going live and/or offering interaction like virtual Q&A sessions? If you’re especially tech-savvy, try incorporating gamification or virtual or augmented reality.
TREND:First party data collection is on the rise.
RECOMMENDATION: Get onboard now, and step up your game with these strategies:
- Use email to collect customer data, but don’t forget to give sometng in return.
- Consider a loyalty program. You’re more likely to get something if you give something (see above tip).
- Go multichannel. You’ll give customers multiple platforms to purchase from, and your business multiple ways to collect data.
- Update your online presence. A brand or website refresh or overhaul is a great excuse to re-engage with former customers, reach out to new ones, and collect information from both.
By All Means, Embrace the New, But…
Make sure your digital marketing foundation is solid before adding bells and whistles. Is your website user-friendly and search engine optimized? Does your content tell a persuasive story? Are you using reports and analytics to develop your marketing strategy? Targeting your ideal customer with paid media?
It’s lot to think about, and even more to implement. But you don’t have to do it on your own. At Globe Runner, we eat sleep and breath digital marketing. We’d love to partner with you to ensure your marketing strategy and building blocks are strong, and to help you take advantage of new digital marketing trends that can put your business on top. Contact us today!
Digital Marketing Facts FAQs
Is influencer marketing dead?
Not even close. In fact, influencer marketing is growing; from $1.7 billion in 2016 to an expected $15 million in 2022. Even B2B brands like PriceWaterhouseCoopers are getting on board.
How many businesses use digital marketing?
The majority of US companies market their products or services online, but the percentage of such varies depending on business size. As of 2021, 71% of small businesses have a website,and 91.9%of American companies with more than 100 employees planned to use social media for marketing.
How big is digital marketing?
Big—especially if you consider the last two years. Globally, digital marketing grew from $155.53 billion in 2020 to $179.77 billion in 2021, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6%.
What’s the future of digital marketing?
Though the recent growth explosion was likely pandemic-related (as companies pivoted toward more online business), the digital marketing market is expected to continue to grow to an estimated $281.32 billion in 2025, a CAGR of 11.8%.
Questions to Ask a Client When Designing a Marketing Plan
Whether your business is large or small, and whether you’re meeting your current business objectives, exceeding them, or falling behind, every business needs a comprehensive marketing plan to succeed and expand. While some businesses create that plan in-house, many turn to experts like Globe Runner. A professional marketing agency eats, sleeps, and breathes marketing so that you can focus on what you do best—providing second-to-none products and services to your customers. And what should you expect from your marketing consultants? First, you should expect them to have a list of marketing questions to ask their clients. From brand strategy questions to specific business objectives and goals, here are some questions you can expect to be asked by a marketing firm—or, if you’re creating a marketing plan in-house, questions to ask the business owner (or yourself).
Marketing Questions to Ask Customers
- What business objectives does the marketing strategy need to support? Marketing for the sake of marketing doesn’t have a great ROI. A marketing plan to boost sales overall looks different than one to boost sales of a specific product. Having a concrete understanding of what your business objectives are will start you off on the right track. You can’t know what your target audience is if you don’t know what it is you’re trying to accomplish! Which leads to…
- Who is my target audience? Key to every aspect of a marketing plan, one of the very first things you need to know is who you’re trying to reach. Being as specific as possible is integral to this question. Basic demographics are important, but think beyond that. Are you looking to reach previous customers? New customers? Is the purchaser of your product or service the same person who will be using those services/products or different (e.g., women drive over 80% of consumer spending in the United States—making the purchasing decisions for their entire families)?
- What are the best ways to reach my target audience(s)? Once you’ve narrowed down that audience, you have to figure out how to reach them. A professional marketing firm has access to marketing data across the spectrum and can assist with ensuring that you’re taking your message to the right channels for your specific demographic.
- Does my marketing campaign strategy appeal to my target audience? It doesn’t help to get a message out to the right audience if it doesn’t resonate with them. Marketing firms also have a ton of data on what kinds of messages and marketing strategies are effective for different markets.
- What metrics determine success or failure? This relates directly to your business goals and objectives. If your marketing plan doesn’t include metrics, you can’t determine if it was successful. Make sure your marketing plan goals are SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.
- Who are my primary competitors? It’s important to be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors. If your campaign is too similar to others, it may have little effect (or adverse effects). It’s also important to know how crowded the field is—how and where are they marketing? Can they out-market you budget-wise? Can you break through their noise or should you focus on a different demographic or niche?
FAQs
What factors must be considered before writing a marketing plan?
The first factor to consider is the “Why?” What is it that you’re trying to accomplish? Are you expanding into a different market? Boosting sales? Of what and how much? Many people start with tactics and work their way backward. Tactics come last. Your goal should not be to “run Facebook ads for two weeks.” That’s a tactic. Once you’ve set your goals, then you can start looking at what target audiences you need to reach out to in order to meet those goals. After that, you can move on to tactics. And don’t forget the budget! You should know from the beginning what kind of budget you have to implement your marketing strategy—and be prepared to possibly have to shift either your budget or goals if they don’t match up. Check out how Globe Runner helped these businesses reach their goals!
How do you structure a marketing plan?
Your marketing plan should mirror the questions above. It should include your specific goals, a breakdown of your target audience, and the tactics to reach that specific audience along with a budget and timeline for each piece of the puzzle. There are dozens of great marketing templates available on the internet. We at Globe Runner like this template.
SEO Factors to Improve Your Rankings in 2022
With over 4 billion people in the world looking for you on the almost 2 billion websites that exist, you need to be on top of your search engine optimization (SEO) game if you want any of the 6 in 10 working-age internet users who buy something online at least once a week to buy their next product or service from you. Unfortunately, there is no one-and-done solution or checklist for exceptional SEO. Where your page shows up in the rankings depends on complex algorithms that take hundreds of factors into consideration—and those algorithms change on a regular basis. While you can’t control how search engines think, you can improve search engine ranking by making your website and content as algorithm-friendly as they can be.
SEO is complex and there are many nuances to improving page rank and boosting your brand visibility. The three main categories of SEO are on-page, off-page, and technical. Although each of these could fill up its own blog series, we’ll give you a brief overview of each.
- Technical SEO encapsulates all the technical aspects of your site that affect its placement on Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs). This includes your very site architecture itself, loading speeds, sitemaps, meta tags, JSON-LD schema, structured data markup, site navigation, and link structure. Usability is a key aspect of search algorithms, so ensuring your site works well on the backend is key to giving your brand a rankings boost.
- On-Page SEO refers to everything on your page that affects its ranking. This is where keyword research and content optimization come in. If your site is technically perfect and has a stellar user experience, it means nothing if the content on your page isn’t optimized to what users are searching for.
- Off-Page SEO includes the elements outside of your site that build its popularity and ranking. Link building is a key part of this, driving traffic from other sites to yours through blogs and other valuable content. Search engines are looking for your E-A-T (Expertise – Authoritativeness – Trustworthiness) factors, and both your on- and off-page SEO build all three of those.
Globe Runner’s Dallas-based SEO experts know how to rank higher on Google and other search engines. We keep up to date on all the latest changes in search engine algorithms and boost your site and content visibility. From the very foundations of your website to content optimization to paid search and more, Globe Runner SEO services are rocket fuel for your business. And remember, SEO is an ongoing process, and Globe Runner keeps track of how your page is performing with detailed analytics and by monitoring keyword rankings. Get in touch today for more information and check out a few answers to common questions about Google rankings below.
FAQs
What are important Google ranking factors?
The good news is that we know that there are at least 200 factors that Google takes into consideration when ranking pages. The bad news is that Google has never (and likely will never) tell anyone outside of Google exactly what they are. And the algorithms are updated on a regular basis, changing and refining what’s important. Search Engine Optimization is a constantly evolving landscape and keeping your pages and content on top of SERPS is a never-ending process. Here’s what we do know that will most likely always play a huge role in your ranking:
- High-quality content—Keywords and search intent will always be important, but the content also needs to be informative, valuable, factual, well-written, and fresh.
- User Experience (UX)—Google new Page Experience update will be completely rolled out by March 2022, and it’s important—particularly because it’s one of the few ranking factors that is comprehensively documented. It includes your core web vitals, mobile-friendliness, whether pages are served over HTTPS, and whether the page includes intrusive interstitials.
- Local—Google factors in relevance (how well your business matches the query), distance (how far the business is from the physical distance searched and/or the physical distance of the searcher), and prominence (how well-known your business is).
- Links and Technical Optimization—Both internal links and backlinking continue to be extremely important to your place on SERPs. In addition, don’t neglect your technical optimization, including metadata, schema markup, internal linking structure, tags, etc.
Why is your rank in Google important?
While Google is not the only search engine people are using, it is the most used. Just over 80 percent of searches worldwide are done on Google. In the United States, that increases total almost 87 percent. If people are looking for your products or services, chances are, they’re looking on Google.
How Local Citations Help Your Online Presence
Search engine optimization is complex and ever-changing, with hundreds of factors determining where your business appears on Search Engine Ranking pages (SERPs). Local search citations can help give your page a boost. But what exactly are local SEO citations? Put simply, a local citation is any time your business name and contact information are mentioned online. That can be in a business directory, review, social media, blogs, news, or anywhere else that lists your business name, address, and phone number (NAP). While focusing only on SEO citation building won’t improve your rankings, incorporating it as a key strategy in your overall SEO can make a difference.
- When people are looking for products or services, they often search “near me.” Increasing local citations increases the likelihood that a “near me” search from a potential customer who is “near you” will find you.
- Citations on certain websites drive traffic to your site. Some consumers rely on specialty or review websites to look for products or services before turning to a search engine.
- Citations can influence your overall search engine rankings. The number of citations, their accuracy, and the reputation of the websites they’re on all influence your rankings.
So, how do you get local citations and what are the most important elements in your local citation strategy? Accuracy is imperative. Brand loyalty is built on trust, and trust can begin with citation accuracy. Citations should be updated regularly and include consistent information. Be clear if you have multiple locations and ensure the details are always consistent (e.g., Avenue vs Ave., Suite vs #, etc.). Be sure your company name is always correct and consistent (e.g., using “Inc.” in some citations and not in others or using “&” in some and “and” in others). Using SEO citation-building experts, like Globe Runner, can give you an edge by ensuring those details are accurate and that you’re listed on highly reputable sites. Citation building is time-consuming, and Globe Runner can build your online presence with local citation expertise as part of our off-page SEO services.
FAQs
What is citation building in SEO?
Citation building takes time, expertise, and incredible attention to detail. Effective citation-building services start with accuracy (making sure your “NAP,” or “name, address, phone number” is accurate and consistent and that there are no duplicate listings). After analyzing already existing citations, citation building moves on to removing citations on websites with untrustworthy reputations and adding you to trustworthy citation sites. Citation building experts also make sure that your listings are claimed, add additional information (photos, hours, etc.), and can monitor your citations to make sure they stay up to date.
How do I find local citations for free?
The great thing about local citations is that the vast majority of them are free! You just have to know where to find them. From Google business profiles to review websites like Yelp, adding (or claiming) your business is often completely free.
How many citations do I need?
Quality matters more than quantity. Local citations only help your rankings if they’re accurate and reputable. An old phone number or email address no one checks can frustrate a potential client—even leading to bad reviews. And reviews count! Many local citation sites allow reviews. An accurate citation on a reputable website won’t do you good if it’s full of substandard reviews! Monitor those review sites (and customers appreciate it when you address bad reviews). While accuracy and quality are more important, numbers do matter. There’s no ideal number—but, across industries, businesses that rank higher on SERPs generally have over 80 local citations. That may sound like a lot, but a local citation is anywhere on the internet that lists your business name, address, and phone number, including review websites, business or industry listings, and social media. But citations also occur in press releases, blogs, events, etc.
What is a local citation service?
A local citation service manages the citations you already have and increases that number by adding your company to reputable citation sites. Citation services, like Globe Runner, often include citation-building as part of their off-page SEO services. While local citations are incredibly important to help potential customers find you, they’re only one of hundreds of factors that search engines take into consideration. Comprehensive SEO that includes local citation building will boost your online presence more than solely local citation building. In fact, citation and link building can go together as part of a robust off-page SEO strategy where some backlinks also function as local citations.
Why Your Business Needs Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
Whether your company is large or small, brick and mortar or eCommerce, or sells B2B or B2C, Conversion Rate Optimization can make a defining difference in your brand loyalty and sales numbers. With so much focus on driving traffic to your website, often the question of “What is that traffic doing once they get there?” is ignored. Enter Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). CRO is an integral part of your SEO strategy, helping to ensure the maximum amount of people going to your website take the actions you want them to—whether that’s joining your email list, making purchases, scheduling consultations, or any actions that boost sales or lift up your brand.
With a general understanding of what CRO is in business, let’s go over some conversion rate optimization tips.
Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies
Conversion rate is a balancing act between attracting traffic and motivating them to take action. Sometimes higher rates actually indicate a failing strategy. After all, a 100 percent conversion rate sounds amazing… but if it’s out of the two people who came to your site, it’s an indication that your problem starts with driving traffic to your site. On the other hand, if your conversion rate is extremely low, that could be a sign you’re not attracting the right people or not motivating them to take action once they’re there. And conversion rates tend to differ based on industry. Effective CRO strategies start with engaging and well-written calls-to-actions (CTAs) that stand out from the rest of your page (and are easy to find location). Now you’re getting people to click! But if the action doesn’t load quickly and isn’t easy to take, you’ll lose customers right there.
Should you hire an expert? A professional CRO expert has deep understanding of conversion rate optimization best practices. They also understand that effective CRO takes time and attention to detail. Hiring experts who excel at consistent monitoring of analytics and competitors, keyword research, A/B testing, and all the other minute CRO details can boost your sales and your reputation. Therefore, hiring an expert might be exactly what you need.
Still have questions? Check out some frequently asked questions and get in touch! We’d love to discuss your CRO strategy with you, and give you the advice needed to help your business take off!
FAQs
Is CRO important for eCommerce websites?
eCommerce websites rely on online purchases. That makes CRO absolutely imperative to your company. While sales conversions are essential, so is getting your current customers to leave reviews and respond to deals. And don’t forget potential customers. Maybe they didn’t purchase something on their first visit, but if they sign up for a coupon or join your email list, there’s a higher chance they’ll be back—and reviews and comments satisfied customers left on your site and products will increase that likelihood even more.
Is CRO part of SEO?
Technically, SEO is primarily concerned with driving traffic to your site and CRO is more concerned with what users do once they get there. However, it doesn’t make sense not to include CRO in your SEO strategy. Why spend money to perfect driving potential customers to your site if you’re not going to follow through by ensuring they do something once they find you? At Globe Runner, we believe CRO, along with content optimization, is key to your overall SEO strategy.
How do you implement conversion rate optimization?
CRO starts with a complete audit of your site. What are your CTAs? Where are they? What’s the current conversion rate for different CTAs on your site? Once thoroughly audited and analyzed, you pinpoint where you could improve and what may be stopping potential conversions. Is it page speed? Are CTAs hard to read or understand? Is your site drawing in the right amount and type of traffic. Professional CRO firms will optimize your page to ensure CTAs all function properly and are easy to do and find, as well as experiment, with A/B testing of language and styles to see what’s drawing customers in and driving them away. As with all of these types of services, CRO is never “set-it-and-forget-it” and requires ongoing maintenance, testing, and analyzing to keep you on top of your conversion game!
How do you calculate conversion rate?
Your conversion rate is really just a simple math equation: The number of users who take the offered call to action on a specific page divided by the total number of people who landed on that page. If 100 people land on a page and 5 of them take the action, that’s a conversion rate of five percent.
What’s New in SEO?
Just over 87 percent of all search engine searches are done on Google. While Google is absolutely not the only search engine game around, it’s certainly the most used. If you’re looking to be on top of search engine ranking pages (SERPs), you have to know your Google algorithms…or as much as you can know. We know (from Google) that there are at least 200 different factors Google takes into consideration when it comes to search, but Google is reluctant to let anyone know exactly what those 200 factors are. They release some, but not all, of that information as they update their algorithms on a regular basis. Why does it matter? Well, while different analyses come up with slightly different exact numbers, one thing is clear: If you aren’t on the first page of SERPs, there’s less than a 1 percent chance of anyone clicking on your site. And that’s bad for your bottom line.
Search engine algorithm trends change frequently so your SEO strategy needs to change right along with them. Let’s check out a few of the latest SEO trends that can help drive traffic to your site.
User Experience (UX): Google will finish rolling out its new Page Experience update by March 2022. Key components include:
- Core web vitals—Google takes into account the loading time, interactivity, and visual stability of your site.
- Mobile-Friendliness—Google recommends using responsive design to keep your site mobile-friendly.
- HTTPS—Google will take security into account as part of the new page Experience. Your sites should be served over HTTPS.
- Intrusive Interstitials—The new Page Experience update will take into account any interstitials that make your page more difficult to access by users.
Content: Google continues to push the importance of E-A-T in content to rank higher. In addition, the retiring of third-party cookies in Chrome will make first-party data collection a necessity by 2023. What does that mean for your content? It means publishing content on and off your page that demonstrates Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. The focus on the quality of the information on your site is not all that’s trending. In addition to the increased need for excellent material, there will be an increased need for different types of material, with long-form content, interactive experiences, and videos becoming an integral part of your SEO strategy.
Working with a professional digital marketing agency can make your SEO less time-consuming for you and make sure your site is changing as the SEO landscape changes. Globe Runner’s Dallas-based SEO experts keep up to date on all the latest SEO changes and trends and ensure your site is built to be rocket fuel for your business. Our expertise, SEO software, and competitor analysis can help you rank higher on SERPs. Check out some of our successes. And remember, SEO is never set-it-and-forget-it. Globe Runner monitors your page performance based on your goals to ensure the best results. Get in touch today for more information and check out a few answers to common questions about SEO below.
FAQs
What are the two biggest trends in SEO?
Although Google has delayed retiring third-party cookies in Chrome until the end of 2023, this is such a huge Google SEO change that SEO professionals will start the adjustment early. This may result in a huge uptick in creative content marketing and interactive experiences as companies make a switch to collect more first-party data, as well as experimenting with other ways to balance the loss of third-party data. Google is also coming out with potential solutions, like Topics API, to address the change. The increased need for new strategies to collect data leads naturally to another of the latest SEO trends—a renewed and greater focus on diverse and attention-grabbing content marketing that’s more interactive, more targeted, and more cohesive.
Can you see Google search trends?
Google Trends allows you to see what’s trending as far as the terms and phrases people are searching based on region and time. It’s a great way to get a snapshot of what’s trending culturally at a particular moment. If you’re looking for what’s trending when it comes to how Google search works, you can check out Google’s information on search. However, Google does not release the exact details of their algorithms to the public so that no one has an exact checklist of how to make their pages rank highest.
Is Google Trends a reliable source?
Google Trends is a reliable source for getting a sense of what’s on the public’s mind at a specific moment in time in a specific region. It’s a historical and cultural snapshot of what people are searching for on Google.
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