With almost 2 billion websites on the Internet, it can seem like a miracle that anyone manages to stumble across your business. But it’s not magic. It’s science. While Google is not the only search engine, more than 85 percent of people searching online use Google. And while Google doesn’t publicly release the full nature of the algorithms that decide which websites show up where, there is quite a bit of information that can be used to optimize your site to help ensure you stay on top of your SEO game. And one of those indicators is E-A-T. Let’s explore what that means and how a business might use a blog to increase its placement on Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPS).

Blog Posts for SEO

What is SEO for blogging? Expertise. Authoritativeness. Trustworthiness. These three words are integral to your SEO strategy. And they demonstrate why blogs are important for your content marketing strategy. But what exactly do those words mean? Well, first you have to start with a fundamental understanding of “beneficial purpose.” While you may think the purpose of your website is to sell products or services, Google would disagree. Websites that don’t have a beneficial purpose rank lower. As far as Google is concerned, websites should exist to help people. That’s one of many reasons to use blog posts for SEO. Blogs provide information. Information is typically helpful. Typically. Which is where E-A-T comes in. Let’s take an example of a company that sells unique and fun candles.

Expertise & Authoritativeness: Who writes your blogs? Are they an expert on the topic? Do they have the credentials to prove their expertise? For our fictional candle blog, they decide to write a blog about candle safety for dog owners. That’s definitely in line with the beneficial purpose requirement. But what might signal higher expertise—a blog written by a dog owner or vet? Probably a vet, right? Now, what if we made that even more specific—a rural large-animal vet or urban dog/cat vet specialist? What about a dog ER vet that has specific experience treating dogs that have been hurt or made sick by candles? 

Trustworthiness: This is where consistency and strategy really come in. A lot of the trustworthiness of sites is determined by what sites you’re linking to and what sites are linking to you. Guest blogs on your site by recognized experts in your field can increase your trustworthiness as can writing guest blogs on other sites (or other high-quality, trusted sites linking to blogs on your site). 

Regardless of your industry, a sound and consistent blogging strategy can boost your rankings on search engines and drive new customers to your site. Globe Runner has the SEO and digital marketing know-how to develop a strategy that helps your search engine rankings take off. Blogging is an ongoing process that keeps you relevant, and Globe Runner keeps track of how your blogs are performing with detailed analytics that allow for shifting to meet changing paradigms. Check out some case studies and then get in touch for more information! 

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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.

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.

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. 

I had a chance to interview Chris Silver Smith at DFWSEM and we had a really good conversation about local search. Here’s a link to his SEO Blog.

Transcription
Eric McGehearty: Hi, it’s Eric with Globe Runner SEO, and I’m here today, I’m excited. I’ve got Chris Smith; he’s the director of KeyRelevance, which is a great SEO company here in Dallas, just like Globe Runner. And I’ve actually heard Chris speak before and I was pretty impressed with his knowledge of local search. You were citing patents, bringing out all the facts and really referencing everything you had to say.

So, I thought this was a good opportunity, I cornered Chris. And, Chris, can you give us some insight in what you see going forward in local search? What’s big right now that, as a small business that’s trying to get a presence or even a large company that needs to worry about local, what’s the big things we need to be thinking about? And then what’s coming out next? What do we need to be watching out for?

Chris Smith: Sure, thanks, Eric. Yeah, Google’s changing local almost daily. They’re deploying lots of different little iterations to their interface and how listings and businesses can show up on Google and under place search as well as in Google Maps, and on mobile. And all of those little iterations in how businesses are displayed and presented are areas of interest for businesses, because it impacts how they’re interpreted by consumers, how they’re selected.

And we have only limited ability to be able to affect some of that, how that’s displayed. The areas where you are able to make changes, primarily in Google places, you’re able to associate images with your listings, such as logos or photos of your product, services, and your business place. You’re able to add in descriptive terms, description of the business. Make sure that your address is correct. And some other criteria, like products, services, add in particular lists, make sure you’re categorized correctly.

Those are fairly straightforward things. Behind the scenes, though, there’s stuff that you can do, also, to insure that your business appears to begin with. And that’s kind of the big thing for most businesses.

Eric: But just trying to put this on the front page for them, it’s their major selling points.

Chris: Exactly. And so, there are lots of people that are very focused on that. It kind of boils down to making sure that you have a lot of links or what we call citations, which are mentions of your business or mentions of your location. So, a mention of your business name plus your address, or business name plus phone number.

And then the classic search optimization criteria, how many links do you have pointing to you and what sources they’re coming from. All of those things are things that businesses have to be paying attention to in order to rank well in local.

Eric: Well, that’s a good question that I think is always something that we’re interested in, and I’d like to talk a little bit more. How does your backlink profile to your website affect your local listing? Or does it?

Chris: It does affect it, and in fact I believe it’s become more influential with the changes that they’ve made over the last year or two put forward place search, which kind of changed how local was presented to the regular web search.

Eric: So, it’s almost co-mingled.

Chris: Exactly.

Eric: It looks like a regular web, yeah, it looks like a regular web result, but it’s got some local information, it’s got the star review, there’s a little more space between listings.

Chris: Right.

Eric: Yeah, so, yeah, that made me feel like I was probably going to be looking at a backlink profile.

Chris: Yes.

Eric: But I’m tied to the local page.

Chris: Well, we know that it became… Links, backlinks became more influential as a side-effect from that change, because when they merged business listings, which were all part of just a little inserted map listing, you know, widget, essentially.
Eric: Like a 10-Pack or whatever.

Chris: They integrated those business listings with actual web listings. And before the change, if you had a business that didn’t have a website, it still could rank within what we call the 7-Pack or 10-Pack. After the change, those businesses that don’t have websites aren’t showing up. And so we know that they had to integrate regular web search results with those business listings in order to make them appear within the regular search results.

And so, like you said, they’re co-mingled and I believe that after the change, links and backlinks became more influential than they already were. Now, as part of the total ranking algorithm, the usual traditional SEO criteria, how many links you have pointing to your website, in addition to key-order relevancy stuff, you know. The link text pointing to your site in those links, the titles that you use on the web pages, the text content, images, all of that goes together and it’s part of the ranking criteria.

A really great resource to look at is David Mihm’s “Local Search Ranking Factors” survey, which has a number of us from the industry that have been watching how rankings work within local. We all contributed to it, and voted for what criteria we thought ranked higher. And it’s kind of amazing how similar our perspectives are just from, you know, all over the country, in all different industries that we’re doing optimization for.

Eric: I’ve got one last question. I know we’ve gone long, I try to keep these really short, but Chris is such an intelligent, knowledgeable guy, I’m going to go long.

So, my last question for you is, in Webmaster Tools I can go in and I can actually say, “Hey, this website is intended for a local audience.” I can pare it down to the United States; I can pare it down to Dallas/Fort Worth. And I can tell Google Webmaster Tools that my website itself is intended for a specific geography.

Does that play a…? How much of a role do you think that plays in local search? Do you recommend that as a strategy? What are your thoughts there?

Chris: I don’t think that that’s all that critical for local websites.

Eric: OK.

Chris: I think, eventually, it becomes [unintelligible 06:36] based on the business’s address and the type of industry it is. So, I wouldn’t set that. I know, in a lot of cases where people were very concerned about which country their website is associated with or whether it’s considered national or international, people would make their settings. I think it makes more sense if you’re here to do some very country-oriented content, or if your content is illegal in other localities and stuff.

You know, gambling comes to mind; they try to limit it from showing up in their different, in some other…

Eric: If you’re a multinational and you have different websites for different countries, you might want to leave those.

Chris: Right. Like, that could help to specify to Google which ones you should show for, particularly if you’re a dot com trying to show up in a foreign country, you don’t have that top-level domain name that’s going to be an incubator for… that you’re specific to that particular country.

Eric: That’s a way to go in and just kind of say, “We really are here for a reason.”

Chris: And I think if you’re a dot com trying to… a dot com, but you’re a company located in Canada, it could be useful in that case. But for most cases, I don’t think it’s necessary [unintelligible 07:51] to set that.

Eric: Good. Well, thanks, Chris, this was great information, I really appreciate your time.

Chris: Sure, yeah.

Eric: And again thanks for taking a minute and letting me hijack you.

This was Eric with Globe Runner SEO. Once again, a great interview, Chris was really knowledgeable, and take what he had to say for it with a lot of seriousness, because this guy really knows local search and he’s impressed me and that’s sometimes hard to do.

Chris: Thanks very much.

There are so many elements to a sound SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy that it’s common for digital marketers to fail to see the forest for the trees. They are so focused on the more noteworthy, often complex, elements that they forget about the basics. They want to throw fancy pitches—sliders and knuckleballs—when they haven’t yet mastered the fastball. It’s a common SEO mistake.

You can argue that certain elements of an SEO strategy are more important than others, but that’s not the point. If something is helping get visitors to your website, it’s important. What’s really important is that the basics aren’t skipped. Glossing over the basics could be the most common SEO mistake we see on websites we evaluate.

The following 5 are the other most common SEO mistakes, whether committed by someone new to the world of digital marketing or by a seasoned professional.

1. No Sitemap

If your website doesn’t contain a site map, how can you expect Google to easily crawl it? A sitemap tells search engines about website pages that are ready for crawling. Sitemaps are created in a standardized XML format and include information about webpages, their titles, the last time they were updated, associated metadata, and more. You can also add images and videos to your sitemap, but if you have a lot of pages (online retailer, for instance), you should create separate XML files for each.

2. Lack of Internal Links

No question, having a solid linking strategy is important, just don’t forget the internal links. Marketers often get so focused on getting external links that internal links get short shrift. They’re both important. 

Internal links help keep visitors on your site longer, which is duly noted by search engines. Internal links also help search engines better navigate your site and can augment the sitemap. If a sitemap directs visitors to a page but it doesn’t have links pointed to it, search engines may consider the page unimportant and index it accordingly.

3. Too Focused on Traffic

Yes, SEO is about getting visitors to your website, but how helpful is it if you’re attracting the wrong ones? 

If you’ve invented the latest, greatest iOS golf app and are trying to attract visitors to your booth at the PGA Merchandise Show, you don’t want Android users showing up (unless, of course, they are ready to switch to an iPhone). Who cares that your briefcase is full of business cards if you’ve attracted the wrong prospects? 

When creating and deploying a SEO strategy, it’s very common for marketers to focus on getting the most visitors possible to the website. All those visitors will look great in Google Analytics, but it’s not going to accomplish your ultimate goal—generating more business. Do you want 10,000 visitors that deliver 10 customers or 1,000 visitors that deliver 20? 

Think CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). CRO tells you how effectively you are getting the right visitors to your website. It answers the question, Are the visitors I’m attracting converting to customers? Calls to Action (CTAs), such as form fills to download content or watch a webinar, will help determine if you’re attracting the right visitors. If not, it’s time to create better, more compelling content and cast a smaller but more profitable net.

4. Focusing on the Wrong Keywords

Everyone thinks they know about keywords and understand their importance. It’s an important part of an SEO strategy, but it’s common for marketers, even seasoned ones, to get too hung up on the keywords they assume are important. Here’s the issue—without using valuable keyword tools available, it may be hard to focus on the right ones and think like a customer. You may be too close to the messaging and unable to see through customers’ eyes. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed buying behaviors. Customers may be searching for your products or services differently now than they did prior to March 2020.

Also, you need to consider the keywords your competitors are focusing on and here’s why—if you haven’t been, they’ve been building authority related to those keywords. You need to begin filling that gap. If they’re also bidding on those words through paid ads, they have gotten an even bigger lead. You have some catching up to do.

By using SEMrush, you can easily find out the keywords your customers are focusing on. In short, you need to think both like a customer and a competitor. Use Ahrefs to see pages on competitors’ sites that are getting a lot of traffic. It’s a great way to do some detective work on content and keywords that are attracting visitors. Use this information to help craft more high-value content for your website. 

5. Thinking You’re Done

SEO isn’t a set-it-and-forget it proposition. You don’t revisit it every few months. The 5 SEO tactics listed here are some of the more common techniques marketers overlook. If you want SEO to work for you, you’ve got to work at it. Whether all your competitors are focusing on SEO is irrelevant; just know that some definitely are. And they’ll be getting that traffic you want.

Contact the SEO Experts

If you need the help of a digital marketing agency with more than a decade of SEO experience and expertise, Globe Runner is the partner you’re looking for. We are here to help inject your digital marketing initiatives with rocket fuel and launch it to success. If you’re ready to blast off, call us at (972) 472-8528 for a free digital marketing consultation.