So, we receive a lot of questions from SEO Clients and I’m going to go over the ones I hear often. SEO changes yearly – sometimes monthly. What once worked may not work any more. That’s the tricky part of SEO and it is frustrating to us but at the same time if we all knew what worked then we’d probably be out of a job. One of our main jobs is to read new articles, Joe goes to a yearly SEO conference to learn the future of SEO (which isn’t always correct), and to keep on top of Google Updates and watching all of your Domains in case Google decides they don’t like something and we have to figure a fix quickly. Here is a quick go over of what use to work and what works for now and some theories on the future.
Back in the day people would Blog and Blog and Blog until their fingers went numb. They’d put each title “Carpet Cleaning (Targeted City)” and they’d see themselves Rank higher from that. And what happened was for one their websites became Over-Optimized, meaning “Carpet Cleaning (Targeted City)” was on their 500 times and Google finally decided that looked Spammy. Some sites were hit with a penalty last November because of this. Now, Google wants to see good content on every Page and if you are going to do a Blog they want that Blog to be longer in length and they don’t want to see those Keywords over and over again – essentially they want the Blog to Offer something to Consumers. For over a year we’d Blog for our Clients and then Share those blogs on all their Social Media and guess what it was a waste of time! We now put our efforts into other areas that will affect your Rankings more effectively. Will this change? Maybe, who knows? All we know is Google does like a lot of “Good” Content on your pages. Does this mean I need to have 2,000 Words a Page? No. We’ve been finding having around 400-500 words is efficient.
Should I Copy and Paste from other sites? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! This is something that frustrates me because we see it a lot. A site is Ranking great and then gets a Penalty because they’ve Copied and Pasted everything on their site. It’s so easy to avoid this penalty and I don’t understand why people feel the need to do. I guess it’s kind of like back in school when someone would copy all their homework from the Encyclopedia. Guess what someone’s gonna know you did it…
So, back in the day we we’re guilty of this as well because it worked! And it worked great! It was cheap and easy and finally Google said no more because there was becoming a over abundance of Spam Sites. Google only wants legitimate sites that provide good Content in their Search Engine. So, Sites that we’re all Spammy links were DE-indexed. Now, we build Links on this private blog network Joe has. It cost him a lot of money to keep this going but it works. So, Google is looking at a few things now when a Link is built to your website. One, Google is looking at that Site to see that it has a High Domain Authority. Two, Google is looking at the Links to the Site that has your Link on it to ensure everyone is legit and not Spammy. Thirdly, Google is looking at that site’s content. They want your Link to come from a Site that is talking about the general industry you are in. The Links we build is on all Sites that are talking about either the Cleaning or Restoration Business.
Social Media has had us perplexed and confused at times. For over a year we posted on Clients Facebook, Twitter, G+, and Pinned on Pinterest every day. We not only did that but we Liked, Shared, Posted, Pinned, and Followed to ensure we looked like a real company. What happened? Nothing. It did not affect Rankings. Everyone said it would or it would eventually so we thought we’d get ahead. The only thing we see is that it’s extremely important to have your Links in as many outlets as possible but Posting doesn’t do much. Some say it affects rankings a little bit but we never found it enough to actually spending that much time on it. It’s more important for us to focus on other areas that can improve your Rankings more effectively and efficiently. Some people we’ve talked with do Facebook Ads and we know Clients that make a killing off of it and others spend tons and don’t make a dime. We’re not saying Social Media is a waste of time but it does take a lot of time, testing, and energy in an attempt to see results.
Back in the day it was so easy to Rank in various cities and people did! You’d see folks Ranking #1 in 5 different Cities and everyone wanted to do that. I wish it was as simple as just writing a blog post, optimizing, and doing some Links for those Cities and all of a sudden you’re Ranking everywhere!
Here’s Why That Doesn’t Work Anymore:
- Google Only Wants to Rank a business that have an address in that City. For instance, you’re a company in Fort Collins, Colorado and you want to Rank in Denver. Why is Google going to Rank you in a town that shows you are 45 minutes away? Google is looking at those address as an extra way to ensure you’re not trying to cheat the system. So, now the game has changed. If you want to Rank in Multiple Cities you need a different address, phone number, site, business name to make sure Google can’t tie you with that other Company.
- Google wants to make money. Let’s face it Google does a lot for Free but they make money off of Google AdWords. Basically, if you’re a company in Fort Collins wanting to Rank in Denver you’re going to have to pay for AdWords.
Google Local Business Pages are essential to Ranking! We all know you get a Business Page, they send you a postcard, and then things are Verified. In an ideal world you will Rank in that Google 3 Pack. People we’re really abusing this as well with having pages in all the Cities they wanted to Ranking in and now Google is saying, “NO, you can have only one Page or we’re going to eventually find you and destroy you.” I know that is a little harsh. It’s happening though. And I know a lot of Clients that are doing it and they’re doing great with their multiple business pages but we also make them aware of the chances of this. Go for it but guess what one day they might shut all of them down.
Conclusion: These are just a few things that have changed. And things are going to be changing more. Mobile devices will literally change the way SEO is done. You’ll be hearing more from Joe on this in the upcoming months but be prepared to focus some attention on Mobile Devices. The fact is people are searching with their phones these days and rarely on their desk top. I know a lot of people are scared to even get a “Smart Phone” but it’s something you can’t hide from forever.
