Just looking at Google’s results page gives us a clue that the search results aren’t what they use to be. These pages are no longer just comprised of organic and traditional site matches, because Google lists images, videos, social cues; as well as maps locally. This affects more than what we see and can identify with.
Many businesses rely on search engines for sales and page views. These will start to drastically result in how customers find you. Be sure and check out the six search points when you need to be searched at clicked on.
Taking over the Local SEO
Consumers are taking notice of the fact that there is a huge chunk of Google searches that will be displaying Google place listings. SEOmoz (An SEO software firm) had some findings done on case studies that resulted in tracking Google’s SERP, aka search engines results pages. Users are shown to gravitate towards the Places listings, whether mixed into organic lists, groups of seven, or in the middle of the results page. If your company relies heavily on local listings, then it’s best to be concentrating on scoring a seat on Google Places. How do you do this? By using Citations. To ensure that you business is showing the correct information you should make sure it is listed with several reputable sources. With this type of objective, consistency is very important. For example, if you use “Ave.” instead of Avenue, then make this consistent throughout your Google Places, and above all make sure your other listings use the same wording.
Optimizing Google Places is also another factor. With any website, be sure the Places page is optimized properly. Make sure you include categories that will match while making sure that you direct your Places page squarely back to a landing page that you have specifically focused on, if this applies to what you are trying to accomplish.
Reviews are very important, so displaying on aggregators, such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, or even Superpages will definitely increase presence. However, remember that Google displays Google only.
You can’t have Search Without Social
Officially search and social can’t be separated anymore. Search rankings are influenced heavily by social cues: social bookmarking, Facebook likes, and Twitter. Each individual’s search results are personalized, so keeping this in mind be sure to include any social aspects to further any type of information that you would like shared.
Think of the Personal Aspect to Humans, not Robots When Optimizing
We are looking for answers to our questions when we search on Google. Anticipating questions such as: ‘what are the best tennis shoes for running’? or ‘what are the best rewards credit card available?’ are important because these are daily questions people actually ask. Keywords are utmost important when you are doing SEO. SEO is very important, even when keywords become tedious. It’s best to emphasize each person who will be asking questions when they type in a certain keyword. Remember, even the most boring, useless topic to you is important to someone else. Make sure you can answer them!
Content is King and the Writers are the Court Magicians
We all know that Google isn’t stupid. It controls what we say and do on each site. It has eyes in the back of its head and can sniff out any paid or spam links and shut them down. Keep good content, which is the best strategy for effective SEO, for both your website and other sites. Blogging is great but the best advice is targeting blogs that aren’t directly affecting your industry.
Back End Checking: Rich Snippets, Microformats and Schema.org
Google, Bing, and Yahoo, the three biggies, have been working on and developing Schema.org; a set of websites that are standardized which will tell search engines and give the correct information what your website is all about. This makes it easier for the engines by reading the websites index and data.
When you use Rich Snippets, you are basically telling Google what type of information that you want featured in SERP’s. This feature explains prices, events in the near future, product reviews, and many others. The data that is added does increase click-through rates. Previewing becomes easier for users to before they become committed and want to move forward—click on the link.
Crucial Data
Good data gives your site the best results, even if you’re the only one writing or you are working with an agency. Good data is the Queen to Content’s King! Progression is a good indicator with keywords that make personalized searches a little difficult to get accurate readings. This makes it somewhat harder to figure out how many people come to your site.
Google Analytics will display these results, bounce back rate, the numbers of landing pages and keywords; traffic that drives to those specific landing sites. Understanding how to make Google work for you with the right SEO practices is incredibly important for your site to dominate Google in its niche.