Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a valuable set of practices that keep your business at the top of search engine results. This is important because many people look for your type of business online before they ever cross your threshold, and will rarely go past the first page of search results. SEO, when used successfully, will:

• Bring more organic traffic to your website
• Convert more searchers to customers
• Increase your revenue

Google, for example, changes its search engine ranking criteria constantly and often without documentation about what you can do to improve your search ranking. However, Google and other search engines in general state that your website should have:

• Content of high quality
• A mobile-friendly design for tablet and phone users
• Fast loading times
• A site that has other pages linking back to it (backlinks)
• Content that is natural, complex, and not obviously written only for SEO

Keeping on top of search engine and SEO trends is important for your business, so here is a summary of some current trends to watch.

Local SEO

This is becoming more important as more people search on mobile devices. You need geo-targeted ads, be in the first page of Google’s Local Pack, and also:

• Put your address and map on your website and make sure that address is on all your social media pages
• Include information on your business services
• Make sure to add location information to SEO and PPC keywords

Off-Page SEO

This refers to everything else you do to maintain your business awareness outside of your website. This can include:

• Google reviews; you need to encourage your customers to leave them for you
• Social media; it is critical to stay engaged, participate in conversations, answer questions, and keep your business information correct
• Don’t rely on only one social media platform; Google rankings appreciate multiple social media accounts on different sites
• Encourage backlinks from other companies or sites to your site

Long-Tail Keywords

If you are selling clay fire bricks in Detroit Michigan, do you think customers will find you if your keywords consist only of “bricks”? Instead, using keywords that are specific to your business and where it is located are known as “long-tail keywords”. The results can make a dramatic difference in having customers find you versus your competitors. Think of keywords that are similar to how people search for you. Capture the long-tail keywords most relevant to your business and use them regularly.

Mobile-Friendly Sites

We mentioned this in the introduction but can’t stress enough how important this is to your business. More than half of all searches are done using mobile devices, and that number is growing daily. If your site is not mobile-friendly Google will drop its page rank lower. Don’t ignore this and pay a penalty in lost customers — optimize your site for mobile use.

Voice Searches

Nearly one in five searches is done by voice dictation into a mobile device. You need to target mobile searches by anticipating what they will say and use it in long-tail keywords on your site. Another option is to optimize your site for voice translation so you reach a wider demographic for your business. Google likes sites that are optimized for voice translation.

If all these SEO strategies seem too complex, DigiSphere Marketing can make it easy for you by managing your site and SEO optimization to keep you high on search engine rankings into the future. Contact us today for a consultation at 1-800-807-3031 or [email protected].