If your business uses a website, you have most likely done a little bit of homework on search engine optimization or have at least heard of it. Search engine optimization, or SEO, revolves around increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search results. Organic search results are any unpaid results that a search engine such as Google or Bing return. So how do these search engines determine what results to give and in what order to place them? Let us take a look at five major factors that search engines uses to determine your placement in organic search results.

New Content

People search for information that is current and relevant and search engines need to be able to find and produce this information. That is why search engines are constantly scanning the internet for new and interesting content. When new content is found, it is indexed and will be able to be returned in search results. If your site is rarely updated and your content is old, search engines will not have a reason to index your site very often. Even if you have quality content, old content may not be ranked as high as new content. If you have an article on FHA loans from 2015 on your site, your article may be missing crucial information from the past five years. Search engines will recognize this and return more relevant results. By updating your site with new content, search engines will index your site more frequently, which is a signal that you are providing updated and current information on your site. This in turn will improve your ranking drastically.

One common mistake that is made by many people when creating content is excluding location information. Search engines can determine where you are located, but you may want to target various surrounding areas and cities. Using location information in keyword phrases will let search engines know not only what product or service you offer, but the areas you are targeting as well. This extra bit of information will not only help your organic SEO rankings, but your local SEO rankings as well.

Traffic to Your Website

Website traffic is a straightforward ranking factor, and one of the most important. In most cases, the more visitors you have on your site, the better the ranking will be. A study by SEMrush showed that direct traffic had the most significant impact on page rank. Search engines recognize that sites with the most traffic are offering something that visitors need. This is why it is extremely important to always be updating and improving your content. Quality content increases direct traffic to your site. It is also important to keep visitors on your site. If you are receiving a lot of traffic, but those visitors are immediately leaving, you may not be providing quality content that these visitors are after. This is referred to as having a high bounce-rate which brings us to our next ranking factor.

Length of Stay

Search engines track the amount of time visitors spend on a particular page or website. If one website has an average length of stay of two minutes, and a competing website has an average length of stay of 20 seconds, there is clearly a difference in the quality of the website in the eyes of a search engine. When someone visits a website has a short average length of stay, or immediately leaves (high bounce-rate), red flags go up. The content may not be related to their search, or the website may offer a poor user experience. Whatever the reason may be, search engines view these sites as low-quality sites.

When visitors spend more time on a website, they are having a better experience and likely finding the content that they were looking for. These are the websites that search engines want to deliver to their users. If search results return a lit of websites that offer a poor user experience, people will simply switch to different search engines.

Number of Page Views

The number of page views that a website gets goes hand in hand with length of time that is spent on a website. If a person views multiple pages on a website, they are likely spending more time there than someone who visits one page and leaves the site. This is another indicator that a site visitor is having a positive user experience and they are exploring the site for more information.

An increased number of page views might mean people are landing on a page expecting to find certain information that is not there. They may end up clicking to a few different pages looking for it before eventually leaving without finding that information. This is why factors such as length of stay and traffic are also considered. If page views are up but length of stay is very low, this could be a negative sign. Higher page views coupled with a longer length of stay are positive indicators.

Social Rank

When you search for products and services, you have most likely seen results that include a star ranking. These star rankings are based on reviews of those products and services. Sites such as Google, Facebook, and Yelp allow users to leave reviews and select a star rating, normally from 1 to 5. This collection of star ratings across various sites can be compiled into a social rank. Social rank can be used by search engines to determine if you are operating a reputable business. If your business receives a lot of positive reviews across many of these sites, you will have a much better social rank than a business that does not generate reviews or has poor reviews.

Search engines want to connect people with reputable businesses that provide quality products and services. If you provide the same information and services on your website as a competitor, but they have a 2 star average across these sites, while you have a 5 star rating, search engines will want to connect visitors with you. You will likely provide a better overall experience than your competitor. Social rank is why it is vital to always be asking customers for positive reviews. Many people will only go out of their way to leave negative reviews when they have a bad experience. Those who have a good experience tend not to leave reviews but are happy to give one if asked. Stay on top of generating positive reviews and your social rank will improve.

These five factors are only a few of the hundreds of ranking factors that search engines use but are some of the most important. Focus on providing your site visitors with quality content and a positive user experience. Stay on top of creating new content as often as you can manage and remember to always be actively asking for positive reviews from customer that have had a great experience with you. If you can do this, you will be well on your way to a much higher organic SEO ranking.

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Local SEO has seen some changes recently and it’s imperative to understand the new Snack Pack and what these modifications mean for your rankings in local search results. The most substantial and noticeable difference is that the fluctuating pack of one, three or seven ordinarily displayed is now replaced with only three results across the board. The resulting consequence is that many businesses have lost local exposure in the search engines and must work smarter now to increase their brand visibility in local search results.

The even larger issue now is the increased competition for the remaining three local positions. Businesses that previously appeared in positions four through seven will now have to strategize wiser for local visibility. And positions one, two and three are going to have to work diligently to stay evident. This will also make organic and paid results important for local businesses to work into their online marketing efforts. Therefore, a marketing and branding mindset is more important than ever when it comes to increasing brand exposure online, as well as, driving traffic to your website/social platforms.

Another modification worth noting is that we are seeing more cases in local search results where the Snack Pack is sitting at the top of the page and adverts are presented to the right. Although this now seems to be the norm, the positioning of these can vary. The variations we have noticed include local results at the top of the page, adverts at the top of the page, local results below ads and local results below a single organic listing.  Since the search engines are constantly altering and testing new algorithms, it’s hard to determine how results will be displayed in the future.

 What Has Changed?

• Only three listings are now displayed where up to seven were shown before
• The window of opportunity has shrunk, therefore, competition has increased
• Google is experimenting with paid local results
  

What Is The Same?

• Reviews are still extremely important for higher click-through rates
• Citation consistency remains essential for establishing higher results
• Links and local influence are still vital in competitive fields

What To Focus On:

• Google My Business
• Citation Consistency
• On-Page Optimization
• Reviews
• Local Links
• Local Reputation

Some Things To Keep In Mind:

• Although important, reviews and citations carry receding returns, however, legitimate links from local or related sources will continue to boost value. They are also the primary components in deciding whether you are able to be a part of, or remain visible in, the new Snack Pack.

• Make sure your local pages have snippets of reviews as they play a critical role in boosting click-through traffic.

• Ascertain location-specific on-page optimization is calibrated.

• Reviews are crucial in driving clicks and determining where you stand in the selection process.

• Organic is still the most flexible and consistently reliable driver of site traffic.  So diversify when it comes to your SEO strategies and allow multiple avenues for traffic to discover your brand.

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When a business serves a selective location, as well as, the surrounding areas, it’s important to ensure that its website is locally optimized. Here’s a local SEO tip, If you don’t, it will be difficult to expect any potential customers to find you on Google within your general location.

So…what should you be doing? Here’s some local SEO tips

It’s definitely a science, but very simple to accomplish once you understand it. First, you’ll need to let Google know where your business is located (visit www.220marketing.com to find out how to do this).  Instead of keyword stuffing or writing mechanical text distinctly directed at the search engines, a more productive practice is to have your key location included within your title tags, meta-descriptions, the content of your web pages, as well as, the footer region of your website.

Help potential clients find you on Google…

To assist your potential clients with finding you on Google’s search engine, you’ll need to tell Google who your business is, as well as, how far along you are with the basic SEO elements listed above (all addresses, phone numbers, company names, etc. need to be consistent across all platforms).

So, what’s your first task?

Your first task is to establish and optimize a Google Places listing for your business. This is absolutely imperative for local SEO!
You’ll need to add your company’s name, business address and a current, up-to-date phone number to all of the prominent online business directories, portals and social platforms online (it’s important to note to always use the same listing info across all channels your company is listed on). As soon as you’ve completed the task of adding all of your business’ details, as well as, ensuring that each company description is consistent across all necessary channels, Google will then acknowledge that you’re now equipped to handle the search traffic it has to offer you.

In addition to getting your web pages in order and confirmed with Google, you will also need to get your current and/or past clients to review your business in order to rank higher as well. With an abundant volume of quality reviews on your Google Places page, you will be recognized as being a trusted organization. In turn, you’ll be ranked more favorably by Google for local search terms and will be given a higher page ranking.

An important tip of many local SEO tips is that Google will typically list businesses whose key words, phrases, company details, etc. are closest to the search term(s), location and details being entered. For example, if you’re a Café proprietor with the key search term ‘Café in San Diego’, however, you’re actually based in San Francisco, Google will likely give Café’ who are closest to San Diego a higher page ranking before it lists yours. Google works this way in order to be fair to everyone and to make sure your site is optimized, your current and/or past clients are reviewing you and your content is being updated frequently.

To get a free consultation, contact us today at 1-877-220-6584 or click here.

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