Welcome to the SEO Periodic Table – your definitive roadmap to mastering the intricate realm of search engine optimization (SEO). Developed by the experts at Search Engine Land, this tool has emerged as a cornerstone resource, offering a detailed breakdown of the fundamental elements that underpin a successful SEO strategy. Here is your brief yet comprehensive exploration of each section, packed with actionable insights.
The difficulty with SEO is that you must do everything – and do it well. It all matters. Everything is connected. However, it’s worth noting that certain elements within this framework may hold more significance than others in terms of enhancing visibility on search engines. This importance can vary significantly based on the specific vertical, market, or niche in which your business operates.
In essence, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the precise weighting of algorithms employed by search engines remains elusive. Consequently, attempting to assign numerical scores to the diverse elements outlined here would be purely speculative.
Understanding the Elements: The SEO Periodic Table is organized into seven distinct groups, each representing a critical aspect of SEO strategy. From content creation to technical optimization, understanding these elements is essential for navigating the complexities of the digital landscape.
Content: Content lies at the heart of SEO success, serving as the primary vehicle for engaging with your audience and attracting search engine attention. However, it’s not just about quantity – quality reigns supreme. Focus on creating high-quality, relevant content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Incorporate keywords naturally, prioritize freshness and accuracy, and aim for comprehensive coverage of your topic. Remember, valuable content is the cornerstone of any successful SEO strategy.
The Content Group within the SEO Periodic Table serves as your guiding compass. Here are the pivotal elements necessary to produce content that not only captivates Google and other search engines but also earns you those coveted rankings and visibility. These elements encapsulate both on-page SEO strategies and the essence of content marketing itself.
Architecture: Your website’s architecture serves as the cornerstone for constructing a website and it plays a pivotal role in determining its search engine visibility and user experience. A well-structured site not only facilitates search engine crawling but also enhances navigation for visitors. Optimize your site’s taxonomy to emphasize topical authority, prioritize mobile responsiveness, and streamline URL structure for simplicity and clarity. By investing in a robust architectural framework, you lay the groundwork for long-term SEO success. Most of these elements encompass both on-page and technical SEO strategies.
Code: While the intricacies of code may seem daunting, understanding its impact on SEO is crucial for optimizing your website’s performance. Pay close attention to elements such as titles, meta descriptions, and structured data markup to enhance search engine understanding and user engagement. Clean, valid code not only improves site accessibility but also ensures seamless rendering across different devices and browsers.
In the SEO Periodic Table, the Code group is your gateway to enhancing both user experience and search engine comprehension of your content. Here are the essential elements that form the backbone of on-page and technical SEO strategies.
Credibility: Building trust and authority is essential for establishing your website’s reputation and gaining traction in search results. Prioritize factors such as accuracy, expertise, and authoritativeness in your content, and cultivate a strong brand identity that resonates with your audience. By demonstrating credibility and reliability, you position yourself as a trusted resource within your niche, earning valuable recognition from both users and search engines.
In the realm of SEO, understanding the core principles of E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is paramount. Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines underscore the significance of E-A-T, while Stanford’s Web Credibility Guidelines offer a comprehensive framework for building website credibility.
While neither E-A-T nor web credibility guidelines directly influence search engine rankings, they offer invaluable insights into the qualities search algorithms prioritize. The Credibility group within the SEO Periodic Table zooms in on elements crucial for shaping your online reputation and, consequently, organic search visibility. These elements span across various facets of SEO and brand marketing.
Links: Links remain a cornerstone of SEO strategy, providing essential context and authority to your website. Focus on acquiring high-quality inbound links from reputable sources, internally link to relevant pages within your site, and provide external links to authoritative resources for your audience. Anchor text optimization, strategic link placement, and ongoing link maintenance are key components of a successful link building strategy.
The Links group within the SEO Periodic Table delves into the intricate world of linking strategies, both internal and external, and their significance in shaping your website’s visibility and authority. Link building, with its goal of acquiring valuable backlinks, has long been recognized as a specialized niche within SEO, bridging the realms of on-page and technical optimization.
User: At the core of SEO lies the user experience – understanding and fulfilling the needs and expectations of your audience. Prioritize factors such as accessibility, user intent, and interaction design to create a seamless browsing experience for visitors. By optimizing for user satisfaction and engagement, you not only enhance your website’s performance in search results but also foster long-term relationships with your audience.
With Google closely monitoring user behavior within search results, it’s imperative to prioritize user-centric approaches in your SEO endeavors.
The User group within the SEO Periodic Table is dedicated to optimizing the user experience, focusing on elements that revolve around people and their interactions with your website. By placing users at the forefront, you can uncover valuable insights to refine your SEO strategies and better serve your audience.
Performance: Beyond optimization lies performance – the real-world impact of your SEO efforts on user engagement and conversion rates. Monitor key performance metrics such as page speed, responsiveness, and visual stability to ensure a smooth browsing experience for visitors. By prioritizing performance optimization, you not only improve your website’s search engine rankings but also enhance user satisfaction and drive meaningful business outcomes.
Once you’ve meticulously planned and fine-tuned your web pages, it’s crucial to assess their real-world performance for users. While some elements within the Performance group may not directly impact rankings, neglecting them can lead to user frustration, hampering engagement, conversions, and revenue.
The Performance group of the SEO Periodic Table delves into elements that enhance on-page user experience, primarily falling under the purview of technical SEO.
By delving into each section of the SEO Periodic Table with a comprehensive understanding of its significance and actionable insights, you’re well-equipped to craft a robust SEO strategy that drives tangible results for your business. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process that requires diligence, adaptability, and strategic thinking. With the right approach and a thorough grasp of the fundamentals, you can elevate your online presence and achieve sustained success in the competitive digital landscape.
As always, if you need help with your digital marketing (SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Email Marketing, Mobile Marketing), book an initial discovery call.
Is your website prepared for the era of mobile-first indexing? Learn about the significance of mobile SEO and discover strategies to optimize your site for mobile devices.
In recent years, search engines have emphasized the importance of enhancing mobile experiences for websites. With mobile traffic accounting for over 60% of web visits, and in some industries even up to 90%, the necessity to prioritize mobile optimization is undeniable.
Google’s transition to mobile-first indexing has made mobile optimization a paramount concern for website owners and SEO professionals alike. Additionally, a new benchmark called Interaction to Next Paint (INP) has replaced First Input Delay (FID) since March 12, 2024, adding a fresh dimension to mobile SEO strategies.
Understanding the latest advancements in mobile SEO, especially with the introduction of INP, is crucial for maintaining and improving website visibility in search engine results tailored for mobile users. This guide aims to provide actionable steps to effectively optimize your site for today’s mobile-centric SEO requirements.
Mobile SEO is aimed at optimizing your website to achieve better visibility in search engine results tailored specifically for mobile devices. This form of SEO not only seeks to improve search engine rankings but also focuses on enhancing the overall user experience for mobile users through both content and technology.
While mobile SEO shares similarities with traditional SEO practices, additional steps related to site rendering and content are necessary to meet the unique needs of mobile users and the speed requirements of mobile devices.
Consider this: 58% of the world’s web traffic originates from mobile devices. Ignoring the needs of mobile users means potentially missing out on a significant amount of traffic.
Since 2023, Google has prioritized mobile-first indexing with its crawlers. This means that the mobile experience of your site is crucial for efficient indexing, which precedes the application of ranking algorithms.
The proportion of traffic from mobile devices can vary based on factors such as your industry and the search intent your content addresses. While B2B sites might attract primarily desktop users, certain content may be preferred on desktops for larger purchases, for example.
Regardless of your industry or user search intent, optimizing your site for mobile devices is becoming increasingly important for future-proofing your online presence.
How can you assess your current mix of mobile vs. desktop users?
You can easily determine the percentage of your users accessing your site via mobile devices using Google Analytics 4:
The breakdown of the top device categories will align with the selected date range in GA4.
You can also set up a report in Looker Studio.
You can enhance your analysis by adding more dimensions to delve deeper into the data, such as identifying which pages attract which type of users, analyzing the mobile-to-desktop mix by country, and determining which search engines drive the most mobile users to your site.
Now that you understand how to create a report on mobile and desktop usage, it’s crucial to assess if your site is optimized for mobile traffic.
Although Google removed the mobile-friendly testing tool from Google Search Console in December 2023, there are still valuable tools available for evaluating your site’s mobile compatibility.
Google’s Lighthouse Chrome extension offers a comprehensive evaluation of your site’s performance across various factors, including load times, accessibility, and SEO.
To utilize Lighthouse Chrome extension:
Another option for utilizing the Lighthouse report is through Developer Tools in Chrome:
Google also provides another valuable tool called PageSpeed Insights (PSI) for assessing your website’s performance:
PageSpeed Insights will generate a report that integrates any Core Web Vitals scores, allowing you to understand the user experience your site offers and identify areas for improvement.
Another valuable tool for evaluating your website’s performance is WebPageTest.org:
With WebPageTest.org, you can identify which processes are causing delays in loading your pages, pinpoint the components with the longest loading times, and understand how these factors impact your overall page load times.
Furthermore, you can simulate the mobile experience using Developer Tools in Chrome:
Lastly, it’s essential to use your own mobile device to load and navigate your website. Here are some key considerations:
With the plethora of tools available, it’s crucial to monitor the Performance and Accessibility scores as they directly impact mobile users. By expanding each section within the PageSpeed Insights report, you can identify specific elements affecting your score, providing clear directives for your developers to optimize the mobile experience.
While mobile network speeds have improved globally over the years (the average speed in the U.S. has risen from 11.14 Mbps to 27.06 Mbps in just eight years), prioritizing speed and usability for mobile users remains critical.
Best Practices for Mobile Optimization
Unlike traditional SEO, which often revolves around aligning your language with user needs, mobile SEO tends to be more technical and SEO-heavy. While content alignment with user needs remains important, effective mobile search optimization necessitates collaboration with developers and designers.
Here are several key factors to consider for mobile SEO optimization:
The responsiveness of your site across different devices is crucial for mobile SEO. Two common approaches to achieve this are responsive design and dynamic serving.
Responsive design, the more prevalent option, leverages cascading style sheets (CSS), flexible layouts, responsive content delivery networks (CDN), and modern image file types. This allows your site to adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes, orientations, and resolutions. Elements on the page adjust dynamically based on the screen size, ensuring optimal display across devices.
You can easily observe how responsive design works by resizing the window of your desktop browser and observing the adjustments in real-time.
Adaptive design, also known as dynamic serving, offers an alternative approach, where multiple fixed layouts are served dynamically to users based on their device. This method allows sites to present different layouts for desktop, smartphone, and tablet users, enabling customization of functionality based on device type. While it provides greater control over the user experience, adaptive design is less efficient compared to responsive design.
Two additional options not covered in detail here are Progressive Web Apps (PWA), which seamlessly integrate into a mobile app, and Separate mobile site/URL (no longer recommended).
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is introduced by Google as a comprehensive measure of user experience, succeeding First Input Delay (FID). While FID measures the time from a user’s initial interaction with a page to the browser’s processing of event handlers, INP evaluates a website’s responsiveness throughout the page’s entire lifespan.
INP measures the delay between a user action, like clicking a button or typing, and the website’s provision of visual feedback. It quantifies the time visual feedback is obstructed after a user interaction. Notably, actions such as hovering and scrolling do not impact INP. However, keyboard-driven scrolling or navigational actions are considered keystrokes influencing INP.
An optimal INP score is under 200ms, indicating good responsiveness. Scores between 200ms and 500ms require improvement, while over 500ms suggests poor responsiveness. Common issues leading to poor INP scores include long JavaScript tasks and inefficient event callbacks. Heavy JavaScript execution can delay browser responsiveness, while poorly optimized event handlers may block the main thread, delaying visual feedback rendering.
To address INP issues, various free and paid tools are available for troubleshooting. A recommended starting point is checking INP scores by geographical location via treo.sh, providing insights into areas needing improvement.
Optimizing images is crucial for enhancing user experience on your website. Images not only enrich content but also impact page speeds and quality, particularly on mobile devices where screen sizes and resolutions vary.
To optimize images effectively:
Avoiding intrusive interstitials is essential for maintaining a positive mobile experience. These pop-ups obstruct users from accessing content, which can lead to poor user satisfaction and possibly affect your site’s ranking.
Google places importance on the initial interaction users have after clicking on search results. Intrusive interstitials hinder user engagement and may impact how your site is perceived by search engines.
Not all pop-ups are considered bad. Interstitial types that are considered “intrusive” by Google include:
Most of the tips provided in this guide so far are focused on usability and speed and have an additive effect, but there are changes that can directly influence how your site appears in mobile search results.
Search engine results pages (SERPs) haven’t been the “10 blue links” in a very long time.
They now reflect the diversity of search intent, showing a variety of different sections to meet the needs of users. Local Pack, shopping listing ads, video content, and more dominate the mobile search experience.
As a result, it’s more important than ever to provide structured data markup to the search engines, so they can display rich results for users.
In the example below, you can see that both Zojirushi and Amazon have included structured data for their rice cookers, and Google is displaying rich results for both.
Incorporating structured data markup into your website can significantly impact its visibility in local and product-oriented search results. Employing JSON-LD enables you to annotate your pages’ business, product, and service information with Schema markup. If you utilize WordPress as your site’s content management system, numerous plugins are accessible to seamlessly integrate structured data into your content.
If you use WordPress as the content management system for your site, there are several plugins available that will automatically mark up your content with structured data.
In a matter of minutes, you can add your preferred configurations to all your pages and posts.
Price: $79/month or $249/lifetime
Price: Free
Price: Personal: $99, Webmaster: $149, Freelancer: $299, Agency: $499
Price: Personal (one site): $49/year or $236/lifetime, Developer (more than one site): $149/year or $596/lifetime, Agency (affiliate marketer): $299/year or $1,196/lifetime.
(https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-seo-structured-data-schema/)
Price: Free
Crafting content with mobile users in mind is paramount for engaging and retaining your audience. Here’s a breakdown of key considerations:
Content Style: Opt for concise writing tailored to mobile screens. Each point should succinctly fit a single line, and font sizes should adjust to screen resolution to prevent eye strain. Implementing dark or dim mode can further enhance readability. Keep headers brief, addressing searcher intent directly.
Tap Targets: Ensuring adequate size and layout of tap targets is crucial for seamless mobile navigation. Targets smaller than 48 pixels by 48 pixels or those overlapping with other elements can impair user experience and should be optimized.
Prioritizing These Tips: If optimizing for mobile seems daunting, prioritize key aspects for maximum impact:
By aligning content style and technical enhancements, you can create a seamless mobile experience that boosts engagement and drives results.
Google’s mission is to organize and make the world’s information universally accessible and useful. With an increasing number of users accessing information via mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure a seamless mobile experience. Enhancing mobile SEO is essential to align with Google’s mission and remain relevant in today’s digital landscape.
If you found this article valuable and would like to discuss optimizing your website for mobile, we would be glad to lend a hand. Book a call. There’s no obligation.
Unlocking the potential of local service provider SEO is crucial for converting blog content into income. Whether you’re an online, physical, or hybrid service provider, understanding how to optimize keywords is the key to reaching your target audience. In this article, we’ll delve into effective strategies tailored for service providers.
Localized Keyword Research Tactics:
When it comes to local service provider SEO, keyword research is paramount. While tools like Google’s Keyword Planner are valuable, understanding your area and audience is equally important. By combining total search volumes with demographic insights from larger cities or the nation, you can estimate local demand more accurately.
Pro-tip: Leverage demographic information from the census website to refine your local keyword research.
Personalizing SEO With Local Insights:
Tailor your SEO efforts to your specific location and audience. For instance, if you run a daycare service in a city with a high population of professionals, focus on keywords like “childcare in downtown [Your City].” Avoid targeting neighborhoods where your audience doesn’t reside.
Consider incorporating modifiers like “open late” or location-specific phrases (e.g., “near Chinatown”) to align with the needs of busy professionals. Provide valuable content that reflects your knowledge of the area, and ensure your business information, including hours of operation, is prominently displayed.
Long Tail and Longer Phrasing:
Uncover the money phrases by thinking about the unique needs of your audience. Craft content around long-tail keywords like “how to fix XYZ issue,” addressing common problems in your service area. Incorporate a call to action for DIYers and consider promoting services or products related to the repairs.
Utilize YouTube for “how-to” topics and observe popular videos for inspiration. Implement these strategies not only for local services but also for nationwide offerings, categorizing your blog content effectively.
Local Service Blogging and SEO Strategy:
Explore your audience’s questions and address specific local concerns. If your service varies based on climate (e.g., handyman or plumber), create content that educates locals on identifying and solving common problems. Use remarketing pixels to promote services and consider offering home upkeep subscription packages for recurring revenue.
Divide keywords based on intent – optimize how-to guides for DIYers and service pages for those seeking professional help.
Monetizing Your Service-Based SEO Efforts:
Maximize income potential without physical products by building a newsletter list. Sell sponsorships, use affiliate links strategically, and join ad networks for additional revenue streams. Ensure you guide your audience to platforms you control, such as newsletters or forums, fostering a sense of community.
Conclusion:
Mastering local service provider SEO requires a strategic approach to keyword optimization. By understanding your audience, tailoring content, and monetizing effectively, you can convert blog content into a sustainable source of income. Embrace these strategies and thank you for reading.
Professional SEO Services | Boost Your Business Growth with Sapient eCommerce
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. It helps businesses increase their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive more targeted traffic to their websites. However, SEO can be a complex and time-consuming process that requires specialized knowledge and expertise. That’s where professional SEO services come in.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of SEO and how professional SEO services can help businesses improve their online visibility and drive more targeted traffic to their websites. We’ll also provide an overview of the services that Sapient eCommerce offers as a leading SEO strategist in the field.
Why SEO Matters
SEO is important because it helps businesses get found by potential customers when they search for products or services online. When people use search engines like Google or Bing, they enter keywords or phrases that are relevant to what they’re looking for. The search engine then returns a list of results that are ranked based on a number of factors, including the relevance and quality of the content on the website.
Studies have shown that the majority of people never click past the first page of search results. In fact, the top three organic search results receive more than 60% of clicks. This means that if your website isn’t ranking well in search results, you’re missing out on a significant amount of potential traffic and customers.
SEO can also help businesses build credibility and trust with potential customers. When a website appears at the top of search results, people tend to see it as more trustworthy and authoritative. This can lead to more clicks, more engagement, and ultimately more conversions.
However, SEO is not a one-time fix. It requires ongoing maintenance and optimization to stay ahead of the competition and maintain top rankings in search results. This is where professional SEO services come in.
What are Professional SEO Services?
Professional SEO services are designed to help businesses improve their online visibility and drive more targeted traffic to their websites. These services typically include a range of strategies and tactics, such as:
Keyword research: This involves identifying the keywords and phrases that potential customers are using to search for products or services related to your business.
On-page optimization: This includes optimizing the content on your website to make it more search engine friendly. This may involve optimizing meta tags, headers, and content to target specific keywords.
Off-page optimization: This involves building high-quality backlinks to your website from other authoritative websites in your industry.
Technical SEO: This includes optimizing your website’s structure, code, and functionality to make it more search engine friendly.
Local SEO: This involves optimizing your website and online presence to rank well in local search results.
Content creation: This involves creating high-quality, relevant content that engages your target audience and drives traffic to your website.
Analytics and reporting: This involves tracking and analyzing website traffic and performance to identify opportunities for improvement and measure the success of SEO efforts.
Professional SEO services are typically provided by experienced SEO strategists who have a deep understanding of search engine algorithms and best practices. They use a variety of tools and techniques to help businesses improve their online visibility and drive more targeted traffic to their websites.
Why Sapient eCommerce?
Sapient eCommerce is a leading SEO strategist that offers a range of professional SEO services to help businesses improve their online visibility and drive more targeted traffic to their websites. Here are some reasons to choose Sapient eCommerce for your SEO needs:
Experienced Team of SEO Experts
Sapient eCommerce has a team of experienced SEO experts who are well-versed in the latest SEO techniques and trends. They have worked with a variety of clients across different industries and have a track record of delivering measurable results. Whether you’re looking to improve your website’s rankings, increase organic traffic, or drive more sales, Sapient eCommerce has the expertise to help you achieve your goals.
Customized SEO Strategies
At Sapient eCommerce, we understand that each business is unique and has its own set of goals and challenges. That’s why we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to SEO. We work closely with our clients to understand their specific needs and create customized SEO strategies that are tailored to their business objectives. Our strategies are data-driven and focused on delivering long-term results.
Comprehensive SEO Services
Sapient eCommerce offers a comprehensive range of SEO services that cover everything from keyword research and on-page optimization to link building and content marketing. We use a holistic approach to SEO that takes into account all the factors that affect your website’s visibility and search engine rankings. Our goal is to help you create a strong online presence that drives targeted traffic to your website and boosts your brand’s visibility.
Transparent Reporting
At Sapient eCommerce, we believe in transparency and accountability. We provide our clients with detailed reports that show the progress of their SEO campaigns and the results they’re achieving. Our reports include data on website traffic, keyword rankings, and other key metrics, so you can see how your SEO strategy is performing and make informed decisions about your marketing budget.
Proven Results
We have a proven track record of delivering results for our clients. Our SEO strategies have helped businesses across different industries increase their online visibility, drive more traffic to their websites, and generate more leads and sales. We use ethical SEO practices that comply with search engine guidelines and focus on delivering sustainable, long-term results for our clients.
Sapient eCommerce is a leading SEO strategist that offers a range of professional SEO services to help businesses improve their online visibility and drive more targeted traffic to their websites. With a team of experienced SEO experts, customized strategies, comprehensive services, transparent reporting, and proven results, Sapient eCommerce is a trusted partner for businesses looking to succeed in the digital landscape.
GOOGLE SAYS: E-A-T is “very important.” Soooo, E-A-T is Muy Importante!
What is E-A-T?
Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
E-A-T is part of Google’s algorithm, and it is woven into Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
What’s that got to do with you? If Google takes a look at your website and determines that (1) You do not possess EXPERTISE, (2) Your website is not AUTHORITATIVE, and (3) Your company is not TRUSTWORTHY, Google WILL NOT send its customers (those searching for your products and services) to your site.
What is E-A-T?
E-A-T means Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
E-A-T is part of Google’s algorithm and baked into Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
GOOGLE SAYS: E-A-T is “very important.” Soooo, E-A-T is Muy Importante!
E-A-T signals what Google and potential customers are looking for—expert-level content that answers all the right questions.
E-A-T first showed up in Google’s Search Quality Guidelines in 2014 and has progressively become one of the most important aspects of SEO. It became especially critical after the August 2018 Google Medic update.
Having stellar SEO content to support E-A-T can improve your chances of scoring prime Search Engine Results Page (SERP) real estate and outlasting the test of future Google algorithm updates.
The Basics of E-A-T
In its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Google explains that E-A-T content has a “high level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.” Putting this high-level content on your website can result in the following benefits:
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Still a little unsure what these E-A-T marketing concepts mean?
Let’s dive deeper.
Expertise
You are obviously an expert in your field. How are you going to show your audience what you know? By creating expert-level content. What does that look like in practice?
Say you own an HVAC business, and you want to create content to help potential customers. You need to create content that indicates the level of your knowledge and professionalism.
For example, on Pack-Timco’s site they write about Indoor Air Quality in residential building. That’s just one the valuable topics around which content is developed. They have determined exactly what their audience needs to know by analyzing data pulled from users’ Search Intent.
You can also speak from an area of experience on a topic to show expertise.
A Dentist can show the most effective methods for brushing and flossing to prevent cavities. A seasoned Dentist has the experience and expertise to give advice and instructions.
If you’re creating content about something not entirely in your skillset, do plenty of in depth research and credit your sources. You can also collaborate with trusted subject matter experts to create content that delivers value to those in the “searching for information” phase of the buying cycle.
The goal is for your audience to see you as a trusted expert in the field and rely on you and your product or service. It all comes down to becoming the go-to in your niche by providing users with the accurate, high-quality content they’re seeking.
Authoritativeness
Being considered an expert is the first step. You must also show that you are an authority.
Authority is established when your work receives mentions within your niche or niche topics. The goal is to have relevant websites with established authority to promote your content. Other experts linking to your content demonstrates how polished and trusted your work is. This shows that your content delivers what the headlines and title tags promise.
The more your content regularly earns backlinks and mentions on other sites, the more your content will be perceived as authoritative.
You simply cannot have SEO success without authority. While backlinks are best, mentions in the news or on social media regarding your niche are also golden in Google’s eyes.
Trustworthiness
Being a trusted space is quite an honor. Your website will not rank as high on Google if your content lacks credibility. Trustworthy, quality content is accurate, up to date, and flows well from the titles to the copy.
If you want a trustworthy site, quick load times and user-friendly navigation are a must.
Here are five more quick tips to ensure your site is trustworthy:
If your website is not attracting the amount of traffic you’d like, a lack of keyword research and lack of or poorly written and organized Meta Data is the usual suspect.
The first step in driving traffic to your website is to conduct thorough keyword research based on the words used by your ideal customers when they search for your products and/or services. That’s beating a dead horse at this point. However, if you want Google to actually recognize your target keywords and present your website to those potential customers, you must optimize, that is, weave those targeted keywords into your site’s pages and be clever about it.
Meta Data. Think of it as a Table of Contents. When Google wants to know what a webpage is about, they take a read through , crawl, the table of contents in search of keywords that match search queries. Of the three elements of meta data, your title tag is the most important to Google, hence, the most important to everyone who matters. Here’s an example of the connection between a potential customer’s search intent and your title tag.
If someone is in the market for a design/build contractor in Miami, for example, and enters those keywords in a search:
search engines begin to search for websites that contain these keywords within their title tags. After all, what good is a search engine if it doesn’t find what I’m searching for.
Speaking of reading a text, all the best students know how to read quickly and efficiently. They never ever read a textbook straight through. The best ones use the SQ3R method or one similar to it. They read the title, then go through reading “Headings” and “Subheadings” to understand the structure and purpose of the text. Google is an excellent reader. Think of the H1 heading tag as you would the heading of a chapter in a textbook and the H2 as an important but subordinate subheading ( there’s also H3, H4, H5, H6, etc., but they are pretty insignificant as far a search engines are concerned). The H1 and H2 headings should be on each page of a website. They serve as the title of the page visible to both search engines and visitors. They inform both Google and visitors about the purpose and structure of the page. It makes sense, therefore, to “naturally” wrap these headers tags in the same keywords used in the title tag. It adds a flow factor to the reading.
A friendly reminder – one size does not fit all. You do not optimize a website. You optimize each page of the site. Each page should have its own distinct title tag, header tags, and meta description. If they do not, the site is perfectly positioned to get dinged in the head by Google for duplicate content, a BIG no-no. We must agree. Who enjoys reading the same content over and again?
Finally, Meta Descriptions, shh! It’s a secret. Meta descriptions cannot be seen on a website page or within a browser. It appears in search results under the title tag and URL. A meta description is the block of text that describes the content visitors will find on the corresponding webpage.
The keywords included in meta descriptions, those BOLDED, are not ranking factors. They do, however, match the keywords used by users in their search query. They can, therefore, be used to direct traffic to your website thereby increasing your site’s click through rate (CTR), another important Google ranking factor.
Take-Home Message
It’s all about delivering value to the people who visit your website in search of information, services, or products. They are all looking for answers to solve an existing problem. Your job is to present valuable information that answers the call. If your site enhances the viewer’s experience, even just with heading tags and meta descriptions, this will lead to positive results for your company, the user, and the search engines.
By optimizing keywords into your website pages, it sends a signal to Google letting it know that your content is relevant, valuable, and trustworthy.
Final note, promise: If you do not write your own meta tags, Google will write them for you. They’re excellent readers but no so hot when it comes to writing.
How do you determine which strategic keywords to target in your website’s content, and how so you craft that content to satisfy both users and search engines?
The power of keyword research lies in better understanding your target market and how they are searching for your content, services, or products.
Keyword research provides you with specific search data that can help you answer questions like:
In this article you’ll learn about tools and strategies for uncovering that information, as well as tactics that’ll help you avoid keyword research foibles and build strong content. Once you uncover how your target audience is searching for your content, you begin to uncover a whole new world of strategic SEO!
Before you can help your business grow through search engine optimization, you first have to fully understand who your customers are.
This is where corners are often cut. Too many people bypass this crucial planning step because keyword research takes time, and why spend the time when you already know what you want to rank for?
The answer is that what you want to rank for and what your audience actually wants are often two wildly different things. Focusing on your audience and then using keyword data to hone those insights will make for much more successful campaigns than focusing on arbitrary keywords.
Here’s an example. Frankie & Jo’s (a Seattle-based vegan, gluten-free ice cream shop) has heard about SEO and wants help improving how and how often they show up in organic search results. In order to help them, an SEO agency would first need to understand a little more about their customers. To do so, one might ask questions such as:
And finally — here’s the kicker — how can we help provide the best content about ice cream to cultivate a community and fulfill what all those people are searching for? Asking these questions is a crucial planning step that will guide keyword research and help craft better content.
You may have a way of describing what you do, but how does your audience search for the product, service, or information you provide? Answering this question is a crucial first step in the keyword research process.
You likely have a few keywords in mind that you would like to rank for. These will be things like your products, services, or other topics your website addresses, and they are great seed keywords for your research, so start there! You can enter those keywords into a keyword research tool to discover average monthly search volume and similar keywords. We’ll get into search volume in greater depth in the next section, but during the discovery phase, it can help you determine which variations of your keywords are most popular amongst searchers.
Once you enter in your seed keywords into a keyword research tool, you will begin to discover other keywords, common questions, and topics for your content that you might have otherwise missed.
Let’s use the example of a florist that specializes in weddings.
Typing “wedding” and “florist” into a keyword research tool, you may discover highly relevant, highly searched for related terms such as:
In the process of discovering relevant keywords for your content, you will likely notice that the search volume of those keywords varies greatly. While you definitely want to target terms that your audience is searching for, in some cases, it may be more advantageous to target terms with lower search volume because they’re far less competitive.
Since both high- and low-competition keywords can be advantageous for your website, learning more about search volume can help you prioritize keywords and pick the ones that will give your website the biggest strategic advantage.
It’s important to note that entire websites don’t rank for keywords — <em>pages</em> do. With big brands, we often see the homepage ranking for many keywords, but for most websites this isn’t usually the case. Many websites receive more organic traffic to pages other than the homepage, which is why it’s so important to diversify your website’s pages by optimizing each for uniquely valuable keywords.
The higher the search volume for a given keyword or keyword phrase, the more work is typically required to achieve higher rankings. This is often referred to as keyword difficulty and occasionally incorporates SERP features; for example, if many SERP features (like featured snippets, knowledge graph, carousels, etc.) are clogging up a keyword’s result page, difficulty will increase. Big brands often take up the top 10 results for high-volume keywords, so if you’re just starting out on the web and going after the same keywords, the uphill battle for ranking can take years of effort.
Typically, the higher the search volume, the greater the competition and effort required to achieve organic ranking success. Go too low, though, and you risk not drawing any searchers to your site. In many cases, it may be most advantageous to target highly specific, lower competition search terms. In SEO, we call those long-tail keywords.
It would be great to rank #1 for the keyword “shoes”… or would it?
It’s wonderful to deal with keywords that have 50,000 searches a month, or even 5,000 searches a month, but in reality, these popular search terms only make up a fraction of all searches performed on the web. In fact, keywords with very high search volumes may even indicate ambiguous intent, which, if you target these terms, it could put you at risk for drawing visitors to your site whose goals don’t match the content your page provides.
Does the searcher want to know the nutritional value of pizza? Order a pizza? Find a restaurant to take their family? Google doesn’t know, so they offer these features to help you refine. Targeting “pizza” means that you’re likely casting too wide a net.
If you’re searching for “pizza,” Google thinks you may also be interested in “cheese.” They’re not wrong…
Was your intent to find a pizza place for lunch? The “Discover more places” SERP feature has that covered.
The remaining 75% lie in the “chunky middle” and “long tail” of search.
Don’t underestimate these less popular keywords. Long tail keywords with lower search volume often convert better because searchers are more specific and intentional in their searches. For example, a person searching for “shoes” is probably just browsing. On the other hand, someone searching for “best price red women’s size 7 running shoe” practically has their wallet out!
Sapient eCommerce can show you which keywords your pages are ranking for, their search volume, difficulty, and more.
Now that you’ve discovered relevant search terms for your site and their corresponding search volumes, you can get even more strategic by looking at your competitors and figuring out how searches might differ by season or location.
You’ll likely compile a lot of keywords. How do you know which to tackle first? It could be a good idea to prioritize high-volume keywords that your competitors are not currently ranking for. On the flip side, you could also see which keywords from your list your competitors are already ranking for and prioritize those. The former is great when you want to take advantage of your competitors’ missed opportunities, while the latter is an aggressive strategy that sets you up to compete for keywords your competitors are already performing well for.
Knowing about seasonal trends can be advantageous in setting a content strategy. For example, if you know that “Christmas box” starts to spike in October through December in the United Kingdom, you can prepare content months in advance and give it a big push around those months.
You can more strategically target a specific location by narrowing down your keyword research to specific towns, counties, or states in the Google Keyword Planner (https://ads.google.com/home/#!/), or evaluate “interest by subregion” in Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US). Geo-specific research can help make your content more relevant to your target audience. For example, you might find out that in Texas, the preferred term for a large truck is “big rig,” while in New York, “tractor trailer” is the preferred terminology.
We have previously covered SERP features. That background is going to help us understand how searchers want to consume information for a particular keyword. The format in which Google chooses to display search results depends on intent, and every query has a unique one. Google describes these intents in their Quality Rater Guidelines
as either “know” (find information), “do” (accomplish a goal), “website” (find a specific website), or “visit-in-person” (visit a local business).
While there are thousands of possible search types, let’s take a closer look at five major categories of intent:
2. Navigational queries: The searcher wants to go to a particular place on the Internet, such as Facebook or the homepage of the NFL.
3. Transactional queries: The searcher wants to do something, such as buy a plane ticket or listen to a song.
4. Commercial investigation: The searcher wants to compare products and find the best one for their specific needs.
5. Local queries: The searcher wants to find something locally, such as a nearby coffee shop, doctor, or music venue.
An important step in the keyword research process is surveying the SERP landscape for the keyword you want to target in order to get a better gauge of searcher intent. If you want to know what type of content your target audience wants, look to the SERPs!
Google has closely evaluated the behavior of trillions of searches in an attempt to provide the most desired content for each specific keyword search.
Take the search “dresses,” for example:
By the shopping carousel, you can infer that Google has determined many people who search for “dresses” want to shop for dresses online.
There is also a Local Pack feature for this keyword, indicating Google’s desire to help searchers who may be looking for local dress retailers.
If the query is ambiguous, Google will also sometimes include the “refine by” feature to help searchers specify what they’re looking for further. By doing so, the search engine can provide results that better help the searcher accomplish their task.
Google has a wide array of result types it can serve up depending on the query, so if you’re going to target a keyword, look to the SERP to understand what type of content you need to create.
How much value would a keyword add to your website? These tools can help you answer that question, so they’d make great additions to your keyword research arsenal:
Input a keyword in Keyword Explorer and get information like monthly search volume and SERP features (like local packs or featured snippets) that are ranking for that term. The tool extracts accurate search volume data by using live clickstream data.
Google Keyword Planner – https://ads.google.com/home/#!/
Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner has historically been the most common starting point for SEO keyword research. However, Keyword Planner does restrict search volume data by lumping keywords together into large search volume range buckets.
Google Trends – https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US
Google’s keyword trend tool is great for finding seasonal keyword fluctuations. For example, “funny Halloween costume ideas” will peak in the weeks before Halloween.
This free tool populates commonly searched for questions around a specific keyword. Bonus! You can use this tool in tandem with another free tool, Keywords Everywhere, to prioritize ATP’s suggestions by search volume.
Provides some really neat competitive keyword data.
Now you know how to uncover what your target audience is searching for and how often. The next step is learning to craft pages in a way that users will love and search engines can understand. It’s called On-Site Optimization.
Source: Britney Muller at Moz
When analyzing companies that rank highly in Internet Searches it becomes obvious that they are not only liked by Google but also by their target audience.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital marketing. Each business has to have a different approach depending on the consumer behavior in your particular industry. One important take-home message is that companies in all industries get more traffic organically via SEO and Social Media than from paid search via Pay Per Click (PPC) and Google Ads.
Website Traffic Volume (the volume of users visiting a website) is driven by a mix of different Intent Keywords. How many people visit your website will depend on the website’s purpose, the visitors’ own goals, and the way in which they discovered the site.
When creating content for your website and blog, target keywords with low difficulty and high volume instead of attempting to rank for highly competitive keywords that may be out of reach or that would take a very long time to rank for.
Finally, remember it’s a two-step process: increasing website traffic does not mean you are making sales. Your traffic has to be directed to well-designed pages that deliver an enjoyable user experience that provide valuable content. That is, each page on your website has to be fully optimized.
Search Engine Optimization( SEO) is the process of improving the quantity of unpaid anonymous traffic to your website.
If I’ve never heard of your company but are searching for your services or products using specific keywords, would I find your company listed in the Search Results? There are several Key factors to enhance your SEO ranking. The most salient one is the content of your website pages.
Sapient eCommerce’s methods for improving content are grounded in your specific industry and customer demographics, vastly improving how you can be found in an Internet search. Original content and SEO work together to provide helpful content that attracts visitors. “Content” includes text, images, and videos. The perfect combination of various content will get your site better ranking enabling more people to find you (Forbes, 2021).
If you are looking to grow your business, Search Engine Optimization offers small and medium size businesses a competitive edge you will need to distinguish yourself from your competition. If the first page of Google Search Results receives 90% of search traffic, how can you afford not to be listed there? Sapient eCommerce identifies your competitors, analyzes their weaknesses and strengths, develops a personalized SEO Strategy, and creates your online reputation. Our methods are grounded in the science of SEO and will improve your online content and boost your Search Engine ranking in local searches.
Want to grow? Let Sapient help. If you are looking to outsource your digital marketing efforts, we would be happy to spend time learning more about your business. Start by scheduling a time for us to talk through the calendar link found here
Soren C. Adams
Growth Manager
e: soren@sapientecommerce.com
www.sapientecommerce.com
New York City, San Francisco, Vero Beach Florida|
Aug 2021
Inventory is the heart and soul of your business, and it’s constantly moving throughout the supply chain, including:
Along with the type of products you sell, your warehouse location(s), and your inventory’s current value — keeping tabs on ecommerce inventory data and information at all times can be challenging, error-prone, and time-consuming. Yet when the accounting period ends, your accountant is going to expect accurate reporting.
That’s why online brands ditch the manual work and implement technology that makes record-keeping a breeze.
In this article, we explore:
Inventory records are repositories of data pertaining to each item in a brand’s product line, including:
Each entry must have a description of the SKU along with relevant data. These records are either created manually or digitally.
Keeping proper inventory records provides better inventory control and visibility into inventory as changes occur.
Since inventory is noted as an asset in a business’s balance sheets, you will be expected to provide accurate inventory information at the end of a fiscal year or accounting period.
Here is why every business owner should be keeping proper inventory records.
Consistently keeping track of what’s leaving and entering the warehouse ensures inventory accuracy and inventory reconciliation.
Inaccurate inventory counts can lead to inventory shrinkage, or when stock is less than the recorded balance in the accounting record, and it can cause major discrepancies that can throw off profit margins and other financials.
Accurate inventory records make the inventory accounting process much more bearable.
Keeping track of inventory value and count is legally required of all retailers and manufacturers, as per the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and regulated by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
By maintaining a proper inventory record-keeping process, you’re also able to track changes in value, so you know how much your inventory is worth at the end of an accounting period.
Keeping up-to-date inventory records help you prevent stockouts and have a better understanding on when it’s time to reorder more inventory.
Keep in mind that not having enough inventory can cause out-of-stock issues but storing too much inventory can increase carrying costs and lead you to potentially accumulate too much dead stock.
Since inventory is constantly moving throughout the ecommerce supply chain, the use of real-time inventory management technology makes it easier to check if all inventory is accounted for when comparing physical inventory and electronic records.
Being able to track inventory without the manual work can reduce risk while optimizing operational costs, including storage fees.
If your records aren’t up-to-date, you and your team risk making important business decisions based on incorrect data.
By using technology to track inventory in real time, you can reduce mistakes by cutting out time-consuming, manual work.
Tracking inventory in real time can be done using inventory management solutions, including inventory apps or a more robust system like ERP inventory software. These systems allow you to aggregate data by connecting your upstream manufacturing activities with your downstream sales.
With real-time data tied to inventory, you’re also given the information needed to identify trends and forecast demand, so you can make better predictions on inventory reorder quantities and levels.
Depending on the number of SKUs you sell, your order volume, and the size of your company, the complexity of inventory record-keeping varies.
No matter how intricate your business is, here are some of the top inventory management strategies you can implement.
An inventory audit is defined as the process of checking a company’s actual inventory levels against their financial records to ensure accurate inventory accounting. To make inventory auditing more efficient, it is helpful for retailers to keep physical records of all inventory along with online backups (or vice versa).
Keeping original physical copies can be a legal requirement in some states. And it also secures your information in case of a situation where your cloud server’s integrity is compromised.
Find an accountant you can trust and get their insights into how to keep inventory records for your business.
In most cases, the information you need during the accounting period includes COGS, raw materials (if applicable), beginning inventory, and the value of ending inventory (what’s left over at the end of an accounting period).
You can also ask your accountant for their advice on how to choose the best inventory valuation method based on the type of products you sell and your typical sales volume.
There are many ways to track and record inventory. No matter what method you choose, the most important thing is to stay consistent to ensure accuracy.
At the end of an accounting period or financial year, you will need to calculate how much your inventory is worth.
The most common valuation methods in ecommerce include:
When it comes to keeping records on inventory, you have two options:
As your business grows, adapting a perpetual inventory system is your best bet.
This can be done by investing in an inventory management software, which will help you track inventory flow in real time and record live updates without you lifting a finger.
A powerful inventory management software makes inventory record-keeping a breeze.
By automating the tracking of all inventory and real-time changes, you can optimize inventory to meet demand and improve supply chain efficiency.
With the right software, you can easily download records and custom reports, so you have all the information you need when it’s time to meet with your accountant.
Here is a breakdown of how an inventory management software works.
As you expand your business, you most likely will branch out from selling exclusively on your online store.
Marketplaces (e.g., Amazon and Walmart) and social media platforms (e.g., Instagram and Facebook) provide direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands different avenues to sell through, so they can broaden their customer reach.
That’s why many merchants implement a multichannel inventory management software, which tracks inventory across channels and aggregates records all in one place.
If you partner with a technology-enabled 3PL you get access to built-in inventory management tools that also allow you to track inventory across channels and distribution centers in one place.
This allows merchants to spread inventory across multiple fulfillment centers and be able to track inventory in real time through one dashboard instead of relying on multiple sources.
Arguably, your inventory management software is only as good as the inventory reports it generates. Calculating and tracking these metrics in spreadsheets or through multiple different integrations can be troublesome.
Inventory management technology automatically aggregates data, so you can pull custom reports whenever you need them.
For instance, many order fulfillment platform automatically pulls reports and data on SKU velocity, inventory days on hand, inventory turnover rate, and much more.
Inventory management software allows you to automatically set reorder point notifications, so you can replenish inventory on time without the need to be tracking inventory every hour or manually as each order is placed.
The software pulls insights from historical sales data to give you a better idea of when it will be time to reorder more inventory per SKU, so you can set a predetermined reorder point.