Month: June 2020

One of the most common mistakes we see in SEO is trying to optimize the homepage for every keyword you want to rank for.

This can dramatically reduce your ability to rank for what you want to – AND can even hurt your rankings.

Here are the top reasons why you shouldn’t try to rank your homepage, and what to do instead:

1. The Business Case For Not Optimizing The Homepage

Successful businesses often offer multiple services and products at some point, even if they don’t when they begin.

When you eventually add those services, your homepage won’t be able to rank for all of them.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say you start out selling 1 product, blue widgets, so you set up your site to be optimized for that:

This is cool, until your business grows bigger, then later on down the road, you realize your customers want green widgets, red widgets, big widgets, and small widgets.

Then you start selling widget repair services, widget management, widget insurance, and more.

And then as you get bigger, you expand to have more locations. Now you have locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, and London.

But the problem is, your website is just structured to rank for 1 product, so now it doesn’t make sense.

There is no way that Google is going to rank your homepage for:

• Blue widgets
• Red widgets
• Big widgets
• Widget Insurance
• Widget Repair
• Widget Management
• Los Angeles widgets
• Chicago widgets
• London widgets

Your title tag would have to look like this:

That’s not going to work. Plus, Google usually only displays 50-60 characters of your title tag anyway (this is a faked screenshot for demonstration!)

But that’s not the only problem with trying to rank the homepage….

2. Wrecking Your Rankings Because Of Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization is when you try to rank two pages for the same terms and topic.

This often happens when you try to rank your homepage and rank a subpage.

Google will see that you have 2 pages with the same topic and get confused about which one should actually rank… and many times ends up not ranking either one of them.

Alternatively, it can cause an undesirable page (your home page) to rank ahead of your service page — which actually is about the search query.

It can effectively drag down both rankings in the long-term.

Here’s an example of what that looks like:

This is a screenshot from Ahrefs (an SEO tracking tool). Each color graph represents a different page on the site.

You can see in this example that one page will start to rank, then Google will drop it and try to rank another one.

This cycle continues and none of the pages rank to their full potential because Google can’t figure out the correct one.

3. Usability: Get The User To The Right Page From The Beginning

When a user finds your website, it would be optimal for them to land on a page that talks specifically about what they were searching for, not a homepage that lists everything.

When users land on a specific page that is exactly what they are looking for – they get right to where they need to go without needing to browse.

4. Conversions On The Homepage

This is more of a personal preference, but I really like to use our homepage to focus on conversions vs rankings.

To me, our homepage gets hit more and more as our brand grows, and I want the freedom to do whatever I want with it vs. needing to put 2000 words of text on it to try and rank for a certain keyword.

Our homepage now is still very simple and encourages people to sign up. It works.

So, with all that said, how do you fix these issues?

What To Do Instead

The fix is pretty simple – just build out separate pages for each specific topic (product, service, category, location) that you want to rank for.

For instance, you would build out a page for each product:

Products
/blue-widgets/
/red-widgets/
/green-widgets/

Service
/widget-insurance/
/widget-repair/

Locations
/widgets-los-angeles/
/widgets-chicago/

..and rank each of these page for what they are actually about.

Essentially, you need a page on your site for every keyword topic you have in mind. If you don’t – you need to build it!

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to build out a page for every single variation of a keyword you have, Google often will rank 1 page for many variations.

If you need help building out new service pages, check out our copywriting product, HOTH Web Copy, where we craft pages to attract your target customer, explain the features, and drive customers towards a sale.

Optimizing The Homepage

For your homepage, optimize it for your brand and general category. Explain to users and Google what you do in a broad sense.

That can look something like this:

Most people should find your homepage because they are searching for your brand.

Your home page title should say what you do in general terms, but in general, you shouldn’t count on this to rank.

Your sub-pages are going to be what puts you on the map when a searcher enters the term.

Pass Link Juice From Your Homepage

Your home page is often one of the most powerful pages on your site – so you don’t want to waste it.

Use this to pass the link juice to your most important pages by linking to them.

Build quality links with CTAs (call to actions) from your home page to each of your service pages.

You’ll want to leverage that link power from your home page at the same time that you’re building external links to your inner pages.

Conclusion

There are lots of reasons to NOT rank your homepage – but that doesn’t mean you can’t rank. All you need to do is build up specific pages for each topic.

Want some hep building out pages for each of your services or areas? You’re going to love HOTH Web Copy.

The post Why You Shouldn’t Rank Your Homepage (And What To Do Instead) appeared first on The HOTH.

Top 100 Free International Citation Sites – Updated for 2020

Citation Builder has been nurtured and developed over the years to provide you with the best, most efficient service. However, whilst we’d love to achieve world domination, expanding our citation building service on an international level takes time.

That’s why we’ve set you up with the next best thing in the meantime: a comprehensive list of 100 international citation sites that can be used to build citations across nearly 200 countries.

We’ve conducted extensive research into both international citations and local seo citations for each country listed in the table, and while we found a few helpful blog posts and lists along the way, there was nothing very extensive or broad in its geographic coverage.

We know how helpful such lists can be when SEOs and marketers are conducting citation research, so we’ve updated our free resource of international citation sites for 2020.

What are international citations?

International citations are sites and mapping services that cater to business listings in multiple countries.

There are multiple national or local citation sites that cover one to two countries (e.g. the USA and Canada), but there are not as many sites available which have global coverage. However, these international sites are very useful for local SEOs and marketers who wish to work with businesses in different countries across the globe.

How to navigate the table

The table below displays 100 top citation sites and their Domain Authority. We have listed the exact number of countries per citation site in the table.

Some of these sites serve dozens of countries, which is obviously too many to show in a table, so we’ve hidden the countries served in this display.

It’s easy to see the sites that serve a particular country, though! Use the search box at the top right of the table to filter by country. The table will automatically filter the sites and remove any that are not applicable.

Click here to see the full list of countries included.

When searching, just enter the country name or standard abbreviation, e.g.

• France – enter ‘France’
• United Kingdom – enter ‘UK’ or ‘United Kingdom’
• United States – enter ‘USA’ or ‘United States’

Search Help: Please note that you don’t have to press ‘Enter’ in the search box. The table will automatically update as you start typing, even if the change is a subtle one.

Please Note: Citation sites listed here aren’t necessarily ones we can submit to using Citation Builder. Click here for more information.

The post Top 100 Free International Citation Sites – Updated 2020 appeared first on BrightLocal.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is one of the best ways to get visitors to your website and boost sales in 2020. That’s because more than half of trackable website traffic comes from organic search.

But you might be wondering how you’re supposed to stand out from the crowd now that everybody and their grandmother is optimizing their websites for search.

Unfortunately, Google’s frequent search algorithm updates make it difficult to keep up with the best tactics and strategies. And with SEO becoming a standard part of digital marketing strategies for most businesses, competition is fierce.

In this article, we’re going to help improve your SEO performance for 2020. You’ll learn several up-to-date best practices for crafting an effective SEO strategy for your business. Use these modern practices to reshape your SEO game and propel your business to the top of the search engine results page.

Improving Your SEO in 2020 #1: Publish High-Quality Content

Content is the backbone of a successful SEO campaign and the heart of on-page SEO. But you can’t just pop some content on your website and expect it to pay out SEO gold continuously.

You have to update it. Like, a lot.

The reason for that is simple. If you want to drive increased traffic, you have to drive repeat traffic (new and returning visitors). You have to give people a reason to come back.

And Google knows this. Regularly-updated content is essential to scoring big with the world’s largest search engine.

But the content also has to be good.

When we say quality content, we mean a few things:

• Persuasive, engaging writing with no errors.
• New and up-to-date information.
• Copy that is relevant to your business.

It’s also a great idea to repurpose old content, updating it as things change in your business and your industry. Just make sure you’re updating and not repeating. Google hates duplicate content.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #2: Target Keywords People are Searching For

When marketing to your audience, you have to understand how they think, how they shop, and, most importantly, how they search.

You should be able to understand what your target demographic is searching for on Google. That way, you can optimize your pages for those specific key terms.

Using an SEO tool like Google’s Keyword Planner will show you a list of relevant and high-volume target keywords.

Of course, much like the quality content you’ll be writing, the terms that you chase have to be relevant to your business.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #3: Improve The User Experience

Stellar user experience is essential when trying to get your website ranked highly on Google.

Think of it this way. Google is one of the most trusted, known, and respected companies on the planet. When you type a search into Google’s search engine, you’re getting a series of recommendations from Google.

If Google’s number one recommendation was a site that was lacking in content and not user friendly, then Google’s reputation just took a small hit. That’s why Google vets the sites that it lists so thoroughly, taking user experience into account.

So, how do you improve your user experience in a way that will impress both Google and your potential customers?

• Write short easy to read paragraphs
• Include headers throughout your content to make it easier to skim
• Provide images as a visual representation of your content
• Increase the speed of your site. The faster it loads, the lower your bounce rate will be.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #4: Make Your Site Responsive

Your site has to work for mobile devices.

That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact in 2020.

To illustrate, in 2019, 63% of Google’s U.S. searches were done on a mobile device. That means the bulk of searches on the largest search engine in existence are done on phones, tablets, and other mobile-ready devices.

According to the social media tool HootSuite, mobile internet use has been steadily increasing over the last five years.

(Image Source)

As such, you must optimize your site for mobile users. Failure to do so will lose you some significant points with Google.

A lack of mobile functionality is a severe blow to the user experience, which we already covered in the previous section.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #5: Improve Click-Through Rate

You want to make sure that when someone stumbles upon your listing on Google, they’re going to click on your link and follow it to your site.

There are a few ways to ensure that your click-through rate improves.

For starters, you should be writing titles that stand out and make the user want to follow your link. A compelling description and meta description also go a long way toward making a user click on your link. You have to draw them in with compelling optimized copy.

The trick is writing compelling content with limited space. You only have 65 characters for your headline. To make it compelling, you need to:

• Make sure it is optimized with keywords. You should have some of your more important keywords toward the front of your titles and descriptions as people tend to skim content.
• Make sure that you’re painting a clear picture about what you do.
• Try to appeal to some kind of customer pain point to elicit an emotional response.
• You could also always use our CTR Grader which tells you what you need to improve to increase CTR.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #6: Build Backlinks to Your Site

A backlink is a link featured on another website that links back to yours. It is one of the most critical aspects of Search Engine Optimization, and it is where most SEO campaigns fall apart. Another term for backlinks is inbound links.

A backlink is only useful if it comes from a credible source with good standing on Google. But, it also has to be relevant to your industry. If you’re a plumber and you get a backlink from a video game review website, it’s not going to help you.

One of the best ways to create backlinks is to write blog articles about your industry that contain links back to your site and shop those articles around to different sites.

Another way to go about it would be to create linkable assets, something that a person would use as a source when writing an article on your subject. A great example of a linkable asset would be something like an infographic.

You also need to have several internal links on your site. These are links on your site that connect to other pages on your website.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #7: Demonstrate Expertise

Because Google is recommending you to its users, it wants to ensure that you are an expert and that your words have weight and legitimacy.

Google’s algorithm heavily focuses on an acronym called E-A-T. That stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

(Image Source)

You can demonstrate your expertise in a lot of ways. One of the most effective ways of showing that you’re an expert or an authority in your field is by creating blog content. If that blog ends up becoming a linkable resource for others, that works out even better in your favor because it shows Google that other movers and shakers in your industry value your opinion.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #8: Optimize Your Images

Google loves to see that you have images, but unfortunately, that’s all it can see.

By that, we mean that Google’s search bots can’t actually see the content of an image. They can see that an image exists, but they can’t look at a photo of a firetruck and say, “that’s a photo of a firetruck.”

It’s up to us to help them by optimizing images to tell Google’s bots precisely what is on your page. Every image should have a title tag and an alt tag. This is an opportunity for you to write a brief description of the image, featuring a target keyword or two.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #9: Incorporate Other Media

You’re going to need more than just fancy pictures if you want to improve your SEO ranking. There’s a ton of awesome media that you can incorporate onto your site. Google will reward you for it.

Video content should be a central focus of your site. A massive 92% of marketers who are using video on their website say that it is an important part of their overall strategy. What’s more, it’s estimated that by 2021, the average internet user will spend more than 100 minutes per day watching videos online.

(Image Source)

Google owns YouTube, which is the world’s most popular video sharing service. They make it very easy to incorporate YouTube videos onto your site and will reward you for doing so.

There’s also audio content. Consider starting a podcast and featuring it on your site. Podcasting is a valuable medium that people enjoy. Associating your product and page with a podcast will help your brand both with customers and with Google.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #10: Feature Outbound Links

When you use outbound links on your site, you’re able to increase your credibility because you’re citing sources.

It’s one thing to make claims on your site, but it’s another altogether to back them up with facts.

If you were just to say that Barry Bonds has the most career home runs in major league baseball, that’s all well and good. But, if you were to say that Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader with 762 home runs, backed by a link, you’ve proven yourself more credible.

Google looks for outbound links in your content because they want to make sure that you’re double-checking all of your facts and offering valuable and accurate information to its users.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #11: Fix Broken Links

Google doesn’t like to see broken links. They can seriously hurt your SEO score.

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re featuring strong links is to only link out to authority websites. These don’t tend to go anywhere. However, it is still possible that an article or infographic you’ve linked out to might be taken down, leaving you with a broken link.

It’s important to do periodic link audits on your entire site to ensure that all of your links are live. But that doesn’t mean you have to go page by page clicking on every link.

The website Dead Link Checker works well to check either your entire site all at once or just a single page. What’s more, it’s a totally free service.

By keeping track of your links and making sure that they’re all in working order, you should have no problem avoiding a potentially disastrous SEO pitfall.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #12: Encourage Visitors to Share Content

Sharing is caring, especially when it comes to your website content.

You need a social media presence in the modern business world, and social media is built on the idea of content sharing.

However, social media can also be one of the most significant SEO ranking factors. If people share links to your site on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, your organic search traffic and SEO ranking will go up.

The content that you post, whether it be an infographic or a blog post, should have some kind of social sharing icon included.

It can also help to incentivize sharing. Do some kind of contest where entry requires each participant to share a link on their social media pages.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #13: Set Up a Google Business Page

If you’re trying to improve your local SEO, it’s important to set up a Google My Business page. This is especially true for businesses that have a physical brick and mortar location.

It only takes a few minutes to set up. You add information on your business, including contact info, images, and more. People can also leave reviews for you there.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #14: Monitor Analytics

You need to know how your SEO ranking is doing if your campaign is going to succeed. That’s why we recommend performing an SEO audit and SEO analysis regularly.

It’s important to check your SEO analytics regularly because that’s the only way to know if your efforts are paying off.

If you check your analytics and you’re getting no movement, then your current strategy is not working, and it’s time to try something new.

If you see that you’re steadily rising through the ranks, it means that what you’re doing is the right thing and to stay the course.

One of the best ways to do this is by using Google Analytics. It can quickly become one of your best SEO tools.

Conclusion

By utilizing these proven modern SEO tips and best practices, your business will be able to compete more effectively on the SEO battlefield and drive more traffic onto your website from Google.

Search engines can be a powerful tool for a business, but in order to use this tool, you have to know how it works.

Spend some time implementing the action items on this list. These are proven strategies — ways that businesses like yours are already succeeding. When implemented correctly, they can help land your website at the top of search results. The first step is an SEO audit to understand where you currently are and how you can improve.

If you’re still unsure where to start or all of this sounds like a bit too much to handle on your own, take a look at some of the SEO services we have to offer at Higher Visibility and how we can help improve your website’s SEO.

The post How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 [14 Proven Tactics] appeared first on HigherVisibility.

Your free Google business listing (known as your Business Profile) can do more than you think. When properly optimized, it showcases your best features and makes it easy for consumers to discover, learn about, and contact your business. But in order to properly optimize your Business Profile, you need access to it, and in order to access it, you need to verify with Google that you are the rightful owner.

While it seems as though it should be as simple as “step one create, step two claim, and step three verify,” the process is neither that simple nor that linear—which, if you’re reading this post, you have already figured out. That’s because it requires three different Google accounts and two different Google platforms, all of which have very similar names. Talk about a brain bender.

So, in this post, I’m going to first iron out for you exactly what’s what in Google, and then give you a clear-cut roadmap to creating a Google My Business account and using it to claim and verify your Business Profile on Google.

Why create a Google My Business account?

Your Google My Business account makes it easy for consumers to discover, learn about, and contact your business online. These are the core benefits of a Google My Business account, and if that’s not enough to convince you, consider the disadvantages of not having one.

You risk losing customers. Without a Google My Business account, you don’t have control over the information displayed in your Business Profile, and according to a BrightLocal study, 68% of consumers would stop using a local business after finding incorrect information online.

You risk a poor reputation. Without a Google My Business account, you cannot respond to your Google reviews. And with reviews being both a Google ranking factor and the number one influence on consumer buying, being able to manage them is a must.

You lose out to competitors. An empty or bare-bones Business Profile is akin to having an unkept storefront. If you don’t take care of your business, how can consumers trust that you’ll take care of them? They’ll be much more likely to click on and engage with a Business Profile in the search results that has lots of attractive information and looks lively.

You lose SERP real estate. Google ranks Business Profiles according to their quality, and a Business Profile alone is not enough. A Google Business Profile managed through a Google Business account, however, can be optimized to rank above competitors for relevant keyword searches.

Which listing would you choose? The unclaimed one on the left or the one optimized by Google My Business account on the right?

What you need in order to claim and verify your business on Google

By now, it should be clear that creating a Google My Business account and verifying ownership of your business is crucial if you want to provide accurate information, respond to reviews, attract customers, and rank higher in local search.

As mentioned earlier, however, the process is not super simple. It involves two different Google platforms and three different Google accounts, all of which have similar names, and some of which you likely already have. So to get you off on clear footing, let’s first iron out the terminology.

Google Account: This is the free account you create with Google so you can have access to Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Photos, Gmail, and more. Many call it their “Gmail account,” but Gmail is just one of the features; you can actually use any email to set up a Google Account. In this post, I’ll use the term “standard Google Account“ to refer to this account type, just to avoid confusion. Most business owners already have two standard Google accounts—one they use for their personal life and one they use for their business.

Business Profile: This is your free business listing on Google that appears on Google Maps, the local results of Google Search, and the right-hand Knowledge Panel of Google Search.

An example of a Business Profile on Maps.

Google My Business account: This is the free account you create that gives you a dashboard to manage and enhance your Business Profile.

Your Google My Business dashboard.

How to verify your business on Google

Now that you have the proper terminology laid out, let’s put the pieces together to form a full picture of the process.

The goal is to gain full access to your Business Profile on Google.

The means by which you do this is your Google My Business account, which you sign up for using a standard Google Account.

The steps to complete the process are as follows:

1. Make sure you have a standard Google Account for your business.
2. Make sure you have a Business Profile.
3. Create a Google My Business account.
4. Request to claim your Business Profile.
5. Verify ownership of your business.

Now, with the groundwork laid out, you are armed and ready to successfully claim and verify your business on Google. The steps outlined below are written linearly, and in some cases, you’ll need to skip down a step. But I’d still encourage you to read them all carefully to avoid hitting roadblocks or creating duplicate accounts.

Step #1: Make sure you have a Google Account for your business

This is the standard Google Account we described in the terminology section above. If you already have one (make sure it’s not your personal-use Google Account), skip down to Step #2. If you don’t have a Google Account for your business, follow the steps below.

1. Go to accounts.google.com/signin.
2. Click “Create account.”

3. You’ll see a drop-down with two options. Choose “To manage my business.”

4, Supply the necessary information.

Step #2: Make sure you have a Business Profile

Your Business Profile is the official term for your Google business listing. As mentioned above, Google Business Profiles are separate from Google My Business accounts. A Business Profile can exist on its own, without Google My Business account. The problem with this is that the business owner has no control over the information in that Business Profile until they claim it, and this is done through Google My Business. Bottom line: You’ll want to make sure you have a Business Profile to claim once you’ve set up your Google My Business account.

If you know you’ve already created a Business Profile, skip down to Step #4. If you haven’t created one or are unsure, follow the steps below.

Note: Even if you didn’t create it, there’s a good chance your Business Profile already exists. This is because a Business Profile is simply a place on Google Maps, which any person or computer can add. So to check and see if you need to create a Business Profile, follow these steps:

1. Go to Google.com/maps.
2. Search your business name.
3. If your business name populates in the drop-down with an address next to it, this means your Business Profile already exists. Great! You can move on to Step #4.

If your business name does not populate with an address, select it and you’ll see something like this:

4. Select “Add a missing place,” and you’ll see a screen like this:

5. Provide the requested information. Notice that you’ll have the option to claim the business within that same window. Since you don’t have a Google My Business account yet, you’ll need to move on to Step #3. If you already have a Google My Business account, you can follow the prompts and you’ll end up at Step #5—look at you go!

Step #3: Sign up for a Google My Business account

The means by which you claim your Business Profile on Google is through a Google My Business account. Provided you have a standard Google account (see Step #1), here’s how to sign up for a Google My Business account.

1. Make sure you are logged into the standard Google Account for your business (and not the standard Google Account for your personal life).
2. Go to google.com/business.
3. Select “Manage now.”

4. Provide the basic information Google asks for, including.

• Business name
• Address
• Website
• Phone number
• Delivery area (if applicable)
• Category

Once you connect this account with your Business Profile (the final step of this post), additional fields will open up in your dashboard so you can provide even more information about your business. This information is the key to optimizing your business for local SEO and attracting more customers through your free listing.

Step #4: Request to claim your Business Profile

This is where we start putting the pieces together. Unfortunately, creating a Google My Business account (from Step #3) does not automatically connect it to your Business Profile (from Step #2). You need to tell Google to connect them, and you do this by verifying ownership of your business. To do this, start by locating your Business Profile on Google Maps or Google Search and requesting to claim it. You can do this one of two ways:

Claim request method #1:

1. Go to google.com and search for your business name and location. If your Business Profile appears on the right-hand side, find the “Own this business?” option and select it.

2. From there you’ll be taken to a screen that says “Manage this business so you can reply to reviews, update info, and more.”

3. Click “Manage now,” and follow the prompts to claim your business. Once again, make sure you’re logged in with the standard Google Account used for your business, and not for your personal life, referred to in Step #1.

Claim request method #2: Google Maps

1. Go to Google.com/maps.
2. Type in your business name.
3. Click on your Business Profile, which will expand.
4. You’ll then see an option to “Claim this business.”

Clicking on “Claim this business” will then overlay the same screen you saw in the first method, but this time right over the map.

4. Click “Manage now” and follow the prompts. Again, make sure you’re logged in with the Google Account you created for your business referred to in Step #1.

Step #6: Verify ownership of your business

This is the home stretch! If you need to grab a Gatorade or some orange slices, I’ll be right here when you get back.

When you click on “Manage now” as instructed in Step #5, you’ll be asked to provide information to prove you are the rightful owner of the business. Depending on the type of business you have, if you created the Business Profile and you’re logged into your Google My Business account, you might get validated on the spot. If you aren’t the one who created the Business Profile, Google will send you a verification code that you’ll enter into your Google Business dashboard. Depending on the circumstances of your account/security requirements of your industry, you may be given your verification code via regular mail, email, or text.

Once you receive the code and enter it into the box, you will have full ownership of your Business Profile on Google! You can now manage reviews, update information, add more attractive details, and optimize it for successful local marketing.

Take the time to verify your business on Google

Google is changing the way consumers find and engage with local businesses, so if you want to continue reaching your audience and attracting customers with your free Business Profile, be sure to follow the above steps. The process has different parts and pieces, but it doesn’t have to be quite so complicated with guides like this and options like doing it on mobile. Get started with creating, claiming, and verifying through Google My Business today so you can get the most out of this incredible and free tool available to you.

I have seen a lot of “It’s the best time to invest in SEO!” chatter on the socials. The R_t value of that message is definitely >1 in this industry, and it is certainly in my interest to believe it. But is it true or just the usual self-serving rap boast by a profession that thinks itself the most gangsta in all of digital marketing? Oh sorry, that’s the affiliate marketers…

In 2008, at the height of the Vampire Squid craze, my consulting business grew by something like 25%. I was a solo practitioner at the time with a modest number of clients, so all it took was a few new ones to grow like that. I assume it was a good investment for our clients (some are actually still with us!), but is past performance an indication of the future?

 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PPC IS NOT PPE?

We have certainly seen many clients pause their PPC campaigns. The ease of setting them up works in reverse after all. One of the reasons we have not as an agency embraced PPC is that it can make clients feel like you had your hand in their pocket every day.

But SEO is such a longer-term game than PPC, or even Social (which can require brands to spend time actually building some kind of relationship with customers), so why would companies that are furloughing and laying off employees invest in something that is not going to show immediate results?

1. 1. 1. For many businesses there are no immediate results to be had.
         It’s hard to buy demand that isn’t there, but what about demand down the road? Last week we got contacted by a small hotel in Baja. They have no business now, but were planning on adding more rooms by the end of the year and knew they would need their SEO issues solved by the time the economy came back if they wanted to make it. Same with the event venue in Brooklyn that was under construction when shelter-in-place started. If you are in “about to open” mode, SEO is one of the few digital marketing investments that makes sense at the moment. It’s a bet on the future (which tends to be a good bet, even if the odds of an actual future keep getting lower).
      2. Now you really don’t want to screw up your SEO
         When most things in your business are not going great, the last thing you want to do is to make them worse. As those of us who have been plying the SEO trade for way too long know there are many more ways to destroy your organic traffic than there are to grow it. We are seeing a lot of businesses using the current slowdown as an opportunity to redesign, replatform, rebrand, etc.

         There’s a reason this is the hero image for our SEO for Website Redesigns page:
         

         And this is the hero image for our SEO for Domain Name Changes page:
         
      3. Not Being Prepared For The Future Is How We Got Here In The First Place
         If you are the kind of business leader who guts your ability to fight pandemics two years before you have the worst pandemic in the past century, you may not care about what your business will look like two years from now. But if you are used to spending a large part of your marketing budget buying customers via clicks, you now are in the midst of a grand experiment about how powerless you are when that budget goes away.

         SEO, for all its frustrations as a reliable marketing channel, is one of the few that keeps paying off over the long term, like compounding interest. Hopefully we may all be able to emerge from our shelters this summer, but it seems highly likely next winter we could be in a similar situation. Even though the economy has slowed down, people are still buying stuff, just not as much of it. In times of lower demand and limited ad budgets, it’s probably not a bad idea to be ranking at the top of Google for your $ terms. And that takes time.

I am not saying everyone should plow what’s left of their marketing funds into SEO. And rereading this, it does seem like I am a bit too proud of all them Benjamins flapping around back there. I don’t know whether or not SEO is recession proof. But what the great master himself said nearly four years ago is still true today:

SEO is always the lowest priority, until it’s not…

— Andrew Shotland (@localseoguide)

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