SEO: Five Key Mistakes & How To Fix Them

Five consistent SEO (Search Engine Optimization) mistakes and suggestions on a a good fix.

#1 Page Title Does Not Use and/or Target Realistic Keywords

A foundation of SEO is that your should should contain som of your key words or a key word phrase. Remember, the whole point of a search engine is to categorize your content so it can match people looking for your services with your page.

The target of your key word is what you want to show up on the search results page for.  For example, if you are selling red wagons, and you want to have your web site displayed to people looking for "wagons for children" then that is your target phrase: wagons for children.

In this case, an example of an unrealistic key word phrase is "red wagons made for kids".  This is a super specific phrase and searches tend to be done on vague terms. Be sure to avoid unnecessary descriptive words in your page title, because users don’t search for those. Carrying this one step further, a SEO efficient title for one of your web pages is Wagons for Children.

#2 Is My Meta Description Too Long?

The meta description of your page is the text that shows up under your page title in search results.  To avoid having your descriptive text cut off by the search engines, you should make sure your meta description is short enough to fit into 150 characters or less. Better yet, use a HTML 5 tag for your description. This will fit right into the text of your page. With that strategy you are using the latest technology to super-SEO your pages.

#3 Are you Using Each Page To Cover Specific Keywords?

Every page is an opportunity to categorized your web site in the mother lode of data that search engines collect. A proficient SEO practice is using different page titles and keywords for all of your different pages. Most people miss this opportunity to diversify your search engine holdings.


#4 Images Are A Gold Mine For Key Words - ALT Tags

Matt Cutts says it best, here is a short video where he describes this key SEO understanding.




#5 Is Analytics For My Website Important?

Measure your success using a good analytics program. That is to day, a progra that allows you to see visitor traffic and what pages people are viewing, length of stay , and so foth.

Most web site hosts offer an analytics program, like AW Stats, for free. GoDaddy has stopped offering this free service. Personally, I am not a fan of GoDaddy for many reason, that is one of them. But they are cheap and people do like cheap - not realizing the quality they are missing in a good domain provider or web host.

Google does offer a comprehensive service called Google Analytics. It has drawbacks but if it is all you can use, make sure to put it on your pages.

Did you find these common SEO mistakes and fixes helpful? Let us know any changes you have made or feel free to ask any additional questions in the comments. Share with someone you believe this can help too! Follow us on G+ - click here.

Search Engine Marketing Rules Will Change April 21, 2015

Google announced back in November that it would begin marking mobile-friendly sites with a mobile “badge,” and subsequently revealed that it would revise its algorithm to give more weight to mobile-friendly sites for search queries coming from mobile devices.

 Google is reporting that effective April 21, 2015 they will be expanding their use of mobile friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

Mobile user stats from Google ….

61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble with.

40% said they would visit a competitor’s mobile site instead.

55% would give up caffeine to keep their phone.

Q. What makes a good mobile design for a web site or blog?
A. Readable and useable content where zooming and left/right swiping is not required.

Q. What makes a good usability and page speed for mobile design on a web site or blog?
A. Using a non-fixed width that matches content size, using a readable font size, having clickable targets (links or buttons), and making sure your content is not in Flash.

Google defined mobile-friendly sites as having four criteria:

1. they must avoid software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash

2. use text that is readable without zooming

3. size content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom

4. and place links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped.

Need help getting your site into compliance? Send us an email - click here.

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SEO: Google Revamping Search Results Effective April 21, 2015

Google is saying “users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices,” from their update being launched in April, 2015.

While Google has announced this search engine software update early; it hasn’t exactly been spilling the beans with all the details.

The big takeaway from this early notice about the launch date is that if your site is not mobile-friendly, get to work now on it. If 50% of your traffic from Google comes from mobile devices, it sounds like if you are not mobile-friendly that virtually all of that traffic from mobile is at huge risk.

Preparing for the Update

Google has been prepping webmasters understand mobile computing. Thanks to the announcement of the Mobile Search update, many webmasters now have a compelling reason to take action. If you find yourself scrambling to be mobile-friendly and can’t decide between a dedicated mobile or responsive design, it makes sense to weigh the pros and cons of each before making a decision.

This upcoming mobile-friendly ranking algorithm that will launch on April 21st will have more of an impact on Google’s search results than the Google Panda update and the Google Penguin update did.

The best way to ensure a mobile-friendly website is with a responsive design.  A responsive design means the website will adjust to fit any size screen—whether it's a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone—without sacrificing content. The content is simply reformatted and reorganized to fit neatly within the screen of your device. Rather than creating a totally separate mobile site, a responsive design keeps everything on one website under a single domain. That means less risk of redirect errors and less upkeep for you.

If your website has a responsive design, you are primed and ready for the new Google update!

How is Google Identifying Poor Mobile User Experience?

You may or may not have noticed the new “Mobile-Friendly” annotation within mobile search results.  This is a clear indicator as to whether Google sees your website as having a sufficient user experience for users who arrive from a mobile device.  So who characterizes a “sufficient user experience”?  Google, of course!

Is your web site or blog mobile friendly? Google is providing that test site to find out if you are in compliance with their tech specs for this latest search engine update.

If you have a question use my contact form.

SEO & Online Marketing - boost your Google search results

Online marketing is simply using proven techniques to increase traffic at your web site and/or blog pages. With a certified marketing plan, you can easily measure results, thus learning how to improve your marketing efforts.

Discover the methods of online marketing for your situation, receive free specific information - click here.  

Every month there are more than 10.3 billion Google searches, with 78% of U.S. internet users researching products and services online. December 2014. (CMO Council)

Starting April 21, Google will be expanding use of mobile-friendliness as a search engine ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices. You can easily receive a free site review, with a written report, to evaluate the mobile design of your site or blog - click here.

Online Marketing: Google Is Making Changes To Search Results

Starting April 21, Google will be expanding use of mobile-friendliness as a search engine ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices. You can easily receive a free site review, with a written report, to evaluate the mobile design of your site or blog - click here.

According to CNN Money, mobile computing has overtaken computing on traditional desktop and laptop computers as of January, 2014. That's right, mobile computing was responsible for 55% of all computing - 13 months ago. Why? Because the experience of mobile computing is getting easier, which is why Google is revising the way it does search results to focus more on mobile computing. Don't miss this significant search engine development. Today, make sure your web site or blog is current with an effective mobile design. Without a current mobile design there is a real possibility, you can lose your existing standing in Google search results.

To no ones surprise, Google announced mobile-friendly is becoming a ranking factor in the mobile search results very soon. This is the first time they actually pre-announced an algorithm release with a specific date.

Learn how to use simple online marketing techniques to improve visitor traffic at your web site or blog - click here.

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