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Learning SEO Development and Programming

by Rolando Herrera
written by Rolando Herrera

While extensive knowledge of programming is not required to be a successful SEO practitioner, today’s expanding digital marketplace is demanding a more comprehensive understanding of website development from producers of SEO material. Someone with an in-depth knowledge of technical SEO can develop a website with nothing more than a text editor.

SEO specialists and website developers both count on the use of search engines extensively as a daily part of their jobs, though the actual items searched are vastly different in content and usage. Technical SEO and SEO developers often use searches of programming error messages to provide answers and solutions to complicated, technical issues associated with SEO and site development.

What to Know About SEO and Programming

Digital marketers who specialize in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) have traditionally focused the bulk of their time and energy on ever-changing parameters for effective content writing and other optimization efforts. Practitioners of SEO marketing campaigns are finding that understanding the basics of how website programming and design work can provide keys to getting an edge in the extremely crowded and competitive online marketplace.

Successful SEO specialists are not required to have extensive knowledge of programming methods and practices. However, a working understanding of the basics of website development can provide added skills and knowledge that can help SEO practitioners to see results faster and with more sustainability.

Essential Things to Know About SEO and Programming

Programmers create, update search engines: Learning how search engines like Google and Bing are built and maintained can give you valuable insight into how to make websites more effective search engine targets.

Think like a programmer: The problem-solving skills required for programming and developing websites will help you break down similar problems in the execution of SEO practices. Learning the basics of programming allows for a clearer understanding of the technical background of the process. You will be able to properly communicate with developers in their terms and develop a problem-solving mentality that will serve you in implementing SEO plans.

Better API integration: Learning the basics of coding and scripting languages can open up a whole new world of Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs. SEO tools from Majestic and SEMRush offer API options that combine massive amounts of data from multiple tools to create customized reports.

The efficiency of a programmer: Programming processes and techniques are always changing. A big part of the job is testing what works against variables and adaptations to find the best parts that fit in the best places for the betterment of overall form and functionality. Learning the automation techniques, programmers create for repetitive tasks develops a valuable efficiency component for your SEO practices.

Analyze this: The structured, analytical thinking necessary for the tedious act of website programming will help improve the planning and workflow efficiency of your SEO implantation tasks.

Essential Programming Knowledge to Improve SEO Efficiency

A well-rounded working knowledge and a basic understanding of the technology behind the programming and developing of the websites SEO practitioners work with will improve the efficiency of the marketing plan and increase the chances of success.

Learning how the technology of web design and programming can be an intimidating, daunting task, especially for digital marketers who have focused on writing and marketing skills to get their job done. Breaking down the complexities of web tech terminology and applications can give you confidence in the methodologies and processes used to boost rankings and conversions.

Actionable Technical Tips for Optimizing Your Website

 Mobile Responsiveness

Google algorithm updates in 2015 gave significant increases in preferences to mobile responsive websites, resulting in some top-ranked websites being penalized for not having a mobile-friendly website design. There are services available online to check if your website mobile-friendly optimization efforts meet Google’s new criteria, including:

  • Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
  • HubSpot’s Website Grader
  • Bing’s Mobile Friendliness Test Tool
  • GTMetrix

XML Sitemap

Google uses your XML sitemaps to locate and index your site’s webpages. Sitemaps are simple to create and often be generated within your Content Management Systems. Completed XML sitemaps submitted to Google will allow the search engine to find and prioritize your content.

Website Speed

Slow-loading websites are penalized by Google and other major search engines. If it takes a long time for pages to load, you will face a penalty that will affect your rankings and visibility, which can ultimately impact your bottom line.

Steps to take to improve the speed of your site include:

  • Optimize images
  • Enable caching
  • Enable compression
  • Reduce server response time
  • Use Content Delivery System (CDN)

Regular Site Audits

Weekly technical audits will help to identify problem areas that can leave you vulnerable to ranking slides. Online tools like SEMrush, Moz, and Ahrefs all over audits of all technical aspects throughout your site. These programs will point out warnings, errors, and other technical issues, and offer solutions to improve the overall performance of your website.

Include Keywords in Image Alt Text

Inputting and updating the text to image metadata and image alt text fields will allow Google to see and index image content. Image alt text content describes the image’s relevance and function within the context of the page and the site.

SSL Certification

SSL certification enabling encrypted connections not only provides crucial added security for your website but also enhances SERP rankings and overall SEO performance.

Programming Knowledge Increases SEO Chances of Success

The world of digital marketing is a continually changing landscape with shifting priorities and parameters. A basic understanding of the processes and technology behind the programming and development aspect of website operation will help you get the most out of your SEO efforts

Get Started with Insignia

Looking for assistance boosting your search engine rankings? It is said that SEO is hard to do – yet easy to mess up. Leave it to the professionals: the skilled SEO and marketing professionals at Insignia SEO are here to help! Contact a member of our team today and let us know how we can help you achieve your business goals.

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Winning SEO Content Strategies for the Remainder of 2019

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

2019 has been a banner year for search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns. In fact, many webmasters and brands adopted best-practices to produce measurable results this year. While SEO trends continue to evolve, the emphasis on streamlined content remains pivotal in achieving higher visibility across Google. Similarly, many companies are investing in digital campaigns geared towards positive user experiences. With six months left to go, there are still ways to attract and engage new clients to your products and services.

Here are the most important facets of SEO so far this year:

  • Great user experiences across multiple platforms and networks.
  • High-quality content that is centralized, thought-provoking, and gives folks something to take away with.
  • Mobile optimized websites, blogs, and online stores with faster page/download speeds.
  • Acquiring natural – organic links that accentuate any pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns.
  • Not rely on social media to build brand visibility and awareness. Instead, many brands are churning out content that is industry-specific, relevant, and insightful for their readers and users.

Google Marketing in 2019

While Google remains the most popular search engine in the world, it continues to update its algorithms to correlate with the current trends. With this in mind, Google has called on all brands to produce in-depth content that answers questions and serves the needs of your users. No longer is creating content for the sake of content acceptable across Google’s SEO services. Instead, your content must now meet the following in order to remain or become competitively viable:

  • Create pages for users and not search engines. Remember, reader engagements drive web traffic, lead generation, and potential revenue for your brands.
  • Don’t deceive your clients, customers, and new users. Always provide precise, concise, and truthful content that meets the needs of your bases across the web.
  • Always abide by Google’s White Hat criteria to secure higher page rankings and visibility on Google. Avoid tricks of Black Hat techniques (misleading titles and click-bait) to improve search engine rankings – this can get your site and pages permanently banned from Google and other search engines.
  • Use your own photos of products and brands within the content. Try to avoid common stock imagery which may be in use by competitors and other brands.
  • Develop content that is unique, enticing, and engaging across the board. Make your website stand out from others within your field, sector, or niche.

Set aside some funds to invest in a sound and effective SEO campaign. This can help your brand grow and flourish – especially if you are pressed for time. Your local advertising agency has the tools and expertise to help your company catch up in 2019. It’s as simple as reaching out to them to discuss your online marketing and brand expansion goals.

Best Practices for Content in 2019

If your brands are struggling this year, you may want to rethink your existing strategies. Again, the valuable context within the content is everything in 2019. No truer is this than when it comes to meeting Google’s quality standards. In order to build better user engagements and experiences, here are some content essentials that continue to soar in popularity:

Long-Form Content

Long-form content is once again the norm in the world of SEO marketing. You should aim to produce 1,500-2000 word posts that are engaging and full of substance. Add relevant social media links as well as strategic keywords to boost site traffic and increase conversion rates. Your content needs to establish your brands as helpful resources in the industries they serve. Similarly, it must evoke emotions while inspiring thoughts and questions. This can only lead to longer stays on your pages which help reduce bounce rates and increase visibility. Here are a few more things to keep in mind when developing brand content:

  • Provide solid recommendations for your readers. Give them helpful links, resources, and links back to your products and services.
  • Make sure your content is unique and different with each post. This will set you apart from competitors and help users cut through the clutter.
  • Stay abreast of all the current SEO trends and developments. This will give you and your brands the edge on promoting content to core, niche, geo-specific or mass audiences.
  • Scale your content plan if targeting smaller audiences. However, you can increase promotions via paid ads, e-mail automation, and especially social – mobile media platforms.
  • Make sure to match your content to user intent. This gives validity to keywords while ensuring your information is valuable to those that demand and need it to the most.

Snippet Content Optimization

Featured snippets are now what most SEO plans strive to achieve. This, of course, is rank #0 or enhanced results on top of organic results. In the past, most brands fought to reach the number one spot in the SERPs. This is no longer the case due to snippets providing detailed information like titles, descriptions, bullet lists, and content that differs or aligns with brand intent.

Snippets are essentially teasers that entice users to click through the content. This lets them access information without ever leaving Google. The best part is that snippets appear in voice search results as well. This gives users substantial information and timely answers to their queries and concerns. Therefore, it is important to optimize your content with snippets in mind to increase user engagements. Here are some ways to try and secure the coveted zero ranking spot on Google:

Be Direct in your Content

High bounce rates occur when your content is too lengthy or does not entail valuable information. While long-form content is important these days, you still have to get to the point. In fact, avoid writing long, wordy introductions before you address the topics in the titles of your posts. Give your readers precise information right away – this will keep them on your pages longer and may increase conversion rates and clicks.

Always perform keyword research to see which words your competitors are not using. With keyword optimization, you can stay ahead of the pack and get featured snippets. It’s also important to break down your content with bullet lists for better accuracy and flow. Google loves including lists within featured snippets; makes it easier for users to scan and digest content. You can even use FAQs to provide answers to stock or common questions. Featured snippets tend to pick up FAQs if they are in an easy form and able to capture within the boxes.

These are some of the ways to enhance your SEO content for the remainder of 2019. Again, let a professional agency take care of these content enhancements if you simply do not have the time.

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Google Search Now Displays More Diverse Search Results After Update

by Austin Robinson
written by Austin Robinson

On June 6th, Google announced an update to its search results with the goal of increasing “site diversity.” The Google Search update will attempt to provide greater domain variety by limiting the number of results from any particular domain to two or less for a specific search query.

That means you will need to adapt your SEO strategy to this new change to enhance your results. Otherwise, you risk being negatively affected by it. So here’s what you need to know:

Greater Diversity of Google Search Results

Throughout the years,  SEO experts have been tasked with finding unique and creative ways to overcome the fact that Google’s top search results often show too many listings from the same site. This can allow one company or domain to dominate a particular search query.

So in the past, if you searched for a specific keyword, you might see 4, 5, or even more of the top 10 results from the same site. With this new site diversity update, Google is now aiming to not show any more than two results from the same domain for any query.

There Will Be Exceptions to the Rule

Google will maintain the right to veer away from its “two results” limit if they deem it appropriate. One theory on why Google might do this is to allow more accurate results for branded queries. For example, if you searched for a brand like Nike, you would see more than two results from Nike.com on the first page.

Subdomains are Treated as a Part of the Root Domain

Google will consider subdomains and root domains as being the same site. So if your subdomain is blog.example.com, it will be treated the same as your root domain of www.domain.com and will be counted as one of the two results allowed.

Of course, there’s another exception. Google will reserve the right to treat a subdomain and root domain as different sites if “deemed relevant” for diversity.

The Update Will Only Affect Core Results

For now, Google is containing the update to core results only. Other On-SERP SEO factors like carousels, snippets, and top stories won’t be affected.

Domain Diversity is a Long-Running Theme for Google

Google is no stranger to updating their SERP algorithm to provide greater domain diversity. Since 2012, they have gradually made changes to limit the number of results from one domain for a given search query.

While not all of the changes have been publicly confirmed, SEO marketers have noticed the silent updates throughout the years and adjusted accordingly.

The Takeaway Going Forward

If you are trying to get your domain to dominate the Google search results for specific queries, this will undoubtedly affect you. One of the primary industries likely to be affected is reputation management, although other search professionals will see an impact as well.

For anyone looking to rank more than two pages from the same domain for the same search query, you’ll want to ensure that your analytics are robust. That way,  you can measure how this recent Google update will affect your sites moving forward.

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Local Marketing Ideas in 2019

by Steven Finkelstein
written by Steven Finkelstein

In 2019, small businesses are more reliant on creative local marketing ideas than ever. There is competition in virtually every niche, and you’ll need to go beyond the customary TV ads that were a go-to back in the 20th century. Look into SEO for your website and superior graphic design to make it as attractive as possible, then consider some of these marketing strategies that you may wish to implement.

Tell Your Unique Brand Story

As a local business, your brand is who you are. Therefore, you should consider very carefully all of the information that you want to showcase about yourself. Studies show that individuals want to become customers of brands to which they feel a personal connection. It behooves you to tell the story of your brand in a way that emphasizes your roots and lets people know that you’re just like them.

Look for consistency with your voice on social media. If you’re stylish and elegant, use language that reflects that. If you’re funny and kooky, then be consistent with those sorts of posts. You’ll know your brand is working when a customer can look at one of your social media offerings, and they’ll be able to tell that it came from you without your name even being attached to it.

Showcase Your Best Content

Long-form blogs are an excellent way for you to get a prominent search engine ranking position because Google bots love fresh content. You can’t just go posting anything that comes into your mind, though. Your posts need to be on-brand, and they should be measured, thoughtful, and contain information or opinions that people will find genuinely useful and compelling.

Your blog posts should encourage conversation because Google also likes as many organic interactions with customers as possible on your website. You shouldn’t shy away from posting about provocative topics as long as you don’t drift into any offensive areas. Don’t let your blog become stagnant. It’s one of the best places on your site to consistently feature new content.

Create Visual Content

YouTube is a fast-growing social media platform, and you should be using it to your advantage. You should also feature video content directly on your website, though.

People will expect visual content when they come to your site. Make sure that you have a skilled production team on staff, or hire a digital marketing agency to produce the videos that you want to make.

Try to come up with some humorous or unique content that you feel has a good chance of going viral. Have excellent production values and have a tie-in with every one of your videos to events or locations around town to be inclusive of the local market. Make sure to feature keywords for your geographic area in the descriptions of the videos as well for SEO purposes.

Be One of the Faces of Your Community

Become a fixture of your community by having a presence at street fairs, charity events, or any other signature happenings with which everyone in your area is familiar. The more they see you, the more they’ll come to accept your company is an integral part of the local commerce scene.

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