by Marianna Muscat | Mar 20, 2018 | SEO
SEO is still the driving force behind most digital marketing strategies, and for good reason. Without ensuring proper search engine optimisation on your website, you are likely to get lost in the sea of businesses just like your own. Needless to say, the SEO world is a competitive one, presenting a number of challenges along the way to reaching, and maintaining, that number one spot in Google search. The good news is that AI (Artificial Intelligence) can help to make your life easier, all the while generating a favourable relationship between your website and Google. Here is how:
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Keeping An Eye On Performance
It doesn’t matter how good your SEO efforts are if you aren’t monitoring their progress! Luckily, AI can do this for you by gathering data and highlighting where you are winning and where you may be falling short.
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Generating Personalised User Experiences
AI technology has the ability to deliver a personalised user experience to those browsing your site by customising messaging according to factors such as the user’s previous online behaviour. A better user experience automatically equals an improved Google ranking.
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New Ideas for Content Marketing
AI can help to identify not only gaps in the market, but also the trending topics relevant to your industry, therefore making it easier to come up with new ideas for content marketing. This obviously will work hand-in-hand with SEO.
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Better Financial Planning
AI technology can provide insight into the areas in which our budget will be best spent, thus allowing you to maximise all search engine optimisation efforts going forward.
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Multitasking
AI technology can handle multiple aspects of your online marketing (such as the ones mentioned above), which leaves you with more time to spend perfecting the other parts of your digital marketing strategy, such as writing original content and promoting it on social media (both of which will boost your SEO score even further!).
Want to know more about improving your website’s SEO? Contact the WSI OMS team today.
by Marelise da Silva | Mar 8, 2018 | SEO
Just when you think you have your SEO strategy down, something changes! At the beginning of the year, Google announced its latest algorithm update, known as the Speed Update, which will be launching in July of 2018. Needless to say, the main focus of this update will be on the speed of your website, and how quickly each page is able to load. Seeing that Google is on a mission to improve the user experience when it comes to online browsing, this new focus comes as no surprise. Here is what you need to know about how the Speed Update is set to impact your website and its subsequent rankings:
If you are not new to digital marketing, you will be well aware of the fact that page loading speeds have always been a ranking factor – at least for desktop searches, that is. Up until now, page loading times have not made a huge difference in terms of mobile rankings. With the Google Speed Update, that is sure to change.
While page loading speed will indeed now be a massive ranking factor for mobile, it won’t be the only ranking factor that you need to be concerned about. Relevant content of a high quality is still the key if you are to get your website to the top of the search results. However, if you’re able to publish this type of content and make sure that it takes less than a few seconds to load, you will be well on your way to reaching your online marketing goals, especially in the eyes of the world’s most notable search engine!
In order to avoid your website from taking a knock, here are a few suggestions for surviving the Google Speed Update:
- Consider making the switch to Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs)
- Think about the effects that the update will have on your pay per click advertising, AdWords account, as well as on your website itself, and
- Understand the way in which people utilise mobile devices in order to search (i.e. shorter queries).
Stressing about your online marketing and SEO strategy in light of these new, upcoming changes? WSI OMS can help. Contact us today for more information about our wide range of services, from search engine optimisation to content marketing and more.
by Marelise da Silva | Feb 15, 2018 | SEO
Towards the middle of last year, Facebook made a number of improvements that digital marketers should be aware of. The new functionalities that Facebook is testing and implementing positions it to compete with search giant Google and become far more than a social media platform where people connect with friends.
Research conducted by the Local Search Association and published by Searchengineland.com has shown that people already use social networks to find local businesses. Facebook Local, which was launched in November in America, is a directory that lets you publish information related to local businesses and upcoming events. The businesses and events are grouped into categories and the algorithm also helps people to:
- See events that their friends are attending, and/or
- Businesses that they have reviewed.
As you can see, what makes Facebook Local particularly helpful is that users won’t have to rely on reviews and ratings from the wider population to choose where they want to have dinner or get their hair cut – the tool helps users find the best option according to their friends’ preferences as well. Over the past few years, people have gone from looking for unbiased reviews online to being all too aware of the rise of fake reviews, which means that they want recommendations from people they know and trust.
As a business owner, it’s important to make sure that your company’s Facebook page has a correct and accurate description. Include the following:
- Your contact details,
- Add the relevant business categories, and
- Include a keyword-rich about us section on your page.
The more proactive you are about filling in your company’s Facebook page, the less amount of content will be crowd-sourced by individuals.
Do you need help with your Facebook marketing or local SEO strategy? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marelise da Silva | Jan 25, 2018 | SEO
As we all know, the SEO landscape is constantly transforming, especially as the needs, wants and expectations of the consumer continue to change. The question is, what SEO trends can we expect to see (and follow) this year? We investigate below.
SERP Features
While focusing on improving your organic SEO ranking is nothing to be scoffed at, SERP features on Google are set to steal the limelight in 2018. SERP features, such as knowledge panels, featured snippets and local packs, are where you want to be, and are sure to generate more clicks to your website.
Page Loading Times
User experience (UX) has been dominating the realm of search engine optimisation for a while now – and it isn’t going anywhere in 2018! As a result of this, business owners need to start paying strict attention to the quality of the user experience that their website is providing its visitors, especially in terms of page loading times. According to Google experts, your ranking will be negatively affected if any page on your website takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Voice Search
Google recently released some incredibly surprising statistics in relation to voice search. Apparently, 55% of teens and 40% of adults make use of voice search on a daily basis! Obviously, with the rise of voice search, the requirement for website’s to be mobile friendly is bigger than ever before. Do you really need any more reason to tailor your SEO efforts accordingly?
If you want to ensure that you are up to date with all of the SEO trends throughout the duration of 2018, you’ll need tried and trusted digital marketing experts on your side. Contact WSI OMS for assistance today!
by Francois Muscat | Dec 27, 2017 | SEO
Running out of ideas for new blogs that will bring value to your target audience? If so, you’ll be thrilled to learn that blog repurposing is quickly becoming an integral part of content marketing success for businesses of all types and sizes. Whether you turn an old blog into an exciting new podcast or into a short video perfect for YouTube, here are 3 reasons why blog repurposing is always a good idea:
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It Saves You Time
Why spend more time writing fresh, new content when you already have a goldmine of possibility just waiting around on your blog page? Make the most of your best pieces by turning them into other forms of content marketing like videos, e-books and infographics. That way, you are likely to reach a much greater audience without needing to dedicate as much time as you would if you had to start from scratch.
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It Extends the Life of Your Content
Most great content is timeless, and content repurposing allows you to take full advantage of that fact. Not only will it make it possible for you to continue providing value to your audience, but it will also save you a lot of money in the process.
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It Allows You to Discover More about Your Target Market
For instance, if you have a particularly well-performing blog and you turn it into a podcast, you may find that it performs even better in that format. This gives you some insight into the type of content marketing that your audience best responds to, making it easier for you to produce even better-performing content the next time around.
Are you looking for more information about blog repurposing or content marketing in general? Perhaps you are hoping to enlist the help of a digital marketing agency to boost your online efforts? If so, be sure to get in touch with the team at WSI OMS.
by Marianna Muscat | Dec 26, 2017 | SEO
Most of us know all about the importance of social media marketing, content marketing and link building when it comes to SEO… But, how much do we really understand when it comes to the technical side of search engine optimisation techniques and strategies? In an effort to make your life easier and boost your knowledge, here are some technical facts that we feel all business owners should know:
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It isn’t Always Possible for Crawlers to Access Infinite Scroll
Unfortunately, this means that if you use infinite scroll in your website design, your pages may not rank – at least not as well as they could. There is a way around this, however. All that you must do to activate each page’s ranking potential is to make sure that there is a paginated series of pages in addition to the one long scroll. Also, remember to implement replaceState/pushState on the infinite scroll page.
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Google Generally Crawls the Home Page of a Website First
Because of this, it is important to ensure that your home page is properly SEO-optimised before you dedicate any time and effort to the other existing pages. Remember, however, if there are many links to another specific page on your website, Google may crawl there before moving onto the home page thereafter.
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Website Security is Becoming More and More Important
Did you know? Half of all the existing page one ranking sites are https sites. This goes to show that Google is gradually placing more and more SEO value on quality site security. This comes as no real surprise considering the emphasis that they have been placing on improving user experience.
When it comes to perfecting your website’s SEO, it often pays to enlist the services of a reputable digital marketing agency like WSI OMS. Get in touch with us today to find out about our services, including search engine optimisation, content marketing and online reputation management.
