by Marelise da Silva | Aug 14, 2019 | SEO
The prevalence of keywords in SEO content creation is old news. However, chances are that you may not be using keywords to their fullest potential and that, as a result, your website or blog may be lagging behind. The problem with keywords is that they tend to be generic and broad. Hundreds, if not thousands of other websites and blog posts, will be using these short-tail keywords and this means greater competition. If you rely only on short-tail keywords, you will be among these competitors, all vying for the same readers and possibly getting lost in the process.
The solution to reducing competition in this arena is to get more specific, and this involves long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords enable you to tailor search items specific to your business, as opposed to those that would be common across your industry. For example, say you’re a musical instrument dealer. If you use a keyword like “guitars,” you are unlikely to get anywhere near the top of a search result list. However, if you focus on a speciality, say “vintage collectible Gibson”, you have now created a long-tail keyword and placed yourself into a far narrower search bracket. The word “guitar” may have a search volume numbering in the millions, while “vintage collectible Gibson” may be searched less than 100 times in the same period. What this means is that you’ve reduced your search competition by a pretty respectable order of magnitude.
Focusing on your unique selling point (USP) is an old idea in marketing. The concept of the long-tail keyword takes the USP into the digital realm, enabling you to differentiate yourself from your hordes of competitors. It requires you to think deeper about your business and refine your offerings, an effort that is sure to be rewarded with higher search engine rankings.
Contact WSI to assist you in creating a winning SEO strategy.
by Marianna Muscat | Jul 9, 2019 | SEO
Do you want to improve the Search Engine Optimization of your small business’ website? Then follow these five tips:
When people work with small businesses, they hope to receive a series of personalised services. Great content helps achieve this desire. Create content that is optimised for keywords that you are targeting to help drive traffic to your website.
Google penalises websites that aren’t optimised for mobile users. If you have a website, make sure that the content displays dynamically across different devices to increase your chances of ranking well in Google and to ensure you give your website visitors a seamless experience.
If your website is too slow, customers will look to your competitors for answers. Not only will you frustrate potential clients, but Google may penalise you if your site is too slow.
While including keywords in your headings and content is a great place to start, be sure to include keywords in the alt-text of your images, meta descriptions and links as well.
Create high-quality links by doing guest posts on popular websites in your industry linking back to your site. Also, make sure that your internal website pages are linked to one another to improve the ‘stickiness’ of your website.
These are only some of the ways that you can improve the SEO of your small business’ website. For digital marketing services and advice, contact WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | Jun 11, 2019 | SEO
Are you looking to hire an SEO agency? Here are a few things to look for:
Look for the Most Impressive Work They Have Done
Ask the agency that you are considering to hire what the most impressive thing is in terms of SEO that they have done and why they think it is impressive. From there, they can elaborate on the projects they have taken on, what they were assigned to do and what their contribution was. You can ask them what they were measured on and dig into the deliverables that they offered the client. Elon Musk is known to ask recruits what the most impressive thing is that they have done and seeing as he continues to build successful companies, it is a good idea to follow his line of questioning.
Ask Them How They Would Improve Your Website
Make sure you have a laptop or computer with you. Open your website and ask them to take a look. Ask them if they would make any tactical changes, what they would do from an internal linking perspective, what they think of your link profile and what it would take to make your website an SEO success.
Ask for Referrals
One of the big problems with hiring an SEO agency nowadays is that there is a big shortage. Ask for referrals so that you can get a sense of whether their clients are happy with the work they have delivered.
What is Your SEO Process?
Ask them how they approach an SEO project. Do they start with a website audit or a competitor analysis? You need to understand how the agency thinks so that you can determine whether they are aligned with your thinking.
Need help with your SEO and digital marketing strategy? Then content WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | May 17, 2019 | SEO
SEO can seem like a never-ending rollercoaster. Just when you think you have overcome the worst, you are faced with a new dip or an unexpected twist and turn that shakes you up completely. With all of the algorithm updates that take place each year, it is nearly impossible to keep up with what Google really wants. Having said that, there are three important on-site SEO factors that are likely to remain super important for the time being – and it is these factors that you should be dedicating most of your time towards perfecting if you are to see some long-term, positive results in your rankings.
Content Relevant to User Intent
As always, content is key. But not just any content! With Google now making use of neural matching technology, it is becoming more and more important to really understand user intent. In other words, why is a person clicking through to your website? Whatever this reason may be, it is essential that your website adequately mirrors this.
User Experience
Stop worrying so much about tailoring your website design to suit the expectations of search engines. If you focus your attention more on providing an overall positive user experience, you are going to look good in the eyes of Google in any case! Take note of metrics like ‘Pages Per Session’ (the number of pages a user visits before leaving your website), bounce rate (a good indication of how well your landing page is or is not working for you) and click-through rate for a better idea of how your website is being received by its visitors.
Linking
Inter-linking within your website is always good for SEO as it makes your website more crawlable, allows for easy navigation from a user experience perspective and helps to contribute to link building.
When it comes to perfecting on-site and off-site SEO, WSI OMS is the company to contact. We specialise in all aspects of digital marketing including search engine optimisation, website design, website development and content marketing. To learn more, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
by Francois Muscat | Apr 15, 2019 | SEO
The focus of SEO has been on website design and content marketing for a while now. Because of this, many of us tend to forget just how valuable SEO optimised images can be when it comes to rankings and boosting traffic on our websites. Did you know that images which have been SEO optimised also have faster loading times, ultimately improving user experience? It’s true!
Here’s how to go about it…
Pay Attention to Image and File Size/Format
Remember that PNG, JPEG, and GIF are all great file formats for web images (most experts suggest using JPEG for colourful images and PNG for images that are a bit simpler). You will also want to avoid using high-res images on your website as these can extend page loading times and lead to a higher bounce rate. The secret is to compress high-res images to reduce their size without affecting their overall aesthetic quality. Photoshop works well for this, as do other tools like Affinity Photo and Pixlr.
Name Your Images Strategically
“Image_0974536” is doing you no favours. Boost your SEO tremendously by naming each web image with descriptive keywords – preferably the same keywords that you use in your content – for best results. Separate each keyword using hyphens rather than underscores (search engines cannot recognise these).
Utilise Alt Tags
Alt tags help search engine spiders to ‘read’ your images – so be sure to keep these descriptive too. It’s important to avoid keyword stuffing, however, and to aim to include no more than 15 words per tag.
Say No to Stock Imagery
Using stock imagery may be a cheaper alternative to having your own professional photos taken, but doing so can hurt user experience and your SEO. Other websites are bound to be using the same images, which is why your website is likely to take a knock in terms of its rankings.
When it comes to all forms of SEO and website design and development, WSI OMS can assist you in optimising your efforts. As leaders in search engine optimisation, content marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, website design, and website development, we’re your all-in-one digital marketing solution. Contact us today to learn more.
by Francois Muscat | Mar 8, 2019 | SEO
For the purpose of this blog post, we are not referring to the maps or other items in the top of Google’s search results. We are discussing how to compete for organic space in the top ten blue links on page one of Google’s search results with local pages.
By ‘local pages’, we mean pages by a national or international business that are location specific. An example of this would be Indeed.com, who has location specific pages for Seattle, NYC, and other cities in America. Indeed.com doesn’t have a brick and mortar premises in these areas, but they do have pages that are optimised for these areas to improve their position in SERPs. So, what do you need to compete for local SERPs? Here are some of the things you can do:
- The location in the URL
- The location in the domain name
- A local page
- In the title of the page
- In the body content
- Use link building
- Ensure your name, address and phone number is consistent on every page it is listed on
- Add or claim your Google My Business Listing
- Manage your image and video rankings
Organic search results remain substantial source of clicks. According to recent research, only about 1.4 percent of local businesses, with a verified Google My Business listing, respond to reviews left about their business. Even less liked a Google review but ultimately didn’t even respond to the review.
WSI OMS specialises in SEO and local SEO marketing services. Contact us to improve your rankings today.
