Maggi Pier

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Why Is SEO Important?

Most businesses have heard by now that they should be doing SEO.

Search engine optimization can put you a little higher on the Google search results page, but how much does that really matter? You have a lot on your plate and want to make sure every investment has a strong ROI.

We’re here to tell you: SEO really is important. There are many benefits your business will get from search engine optimization. This article is going to explain 30 of them.

Why is SEO important?

If you own a business or manage a website of any kind, you likely want to bring traffic to it. SEO is important because it’s specifically aimed at helping you do just that.

53% of website traffic comes from organic search. The best way to make sure you’re not missing out on those potential site visitors is through ongoing SEO efforts.

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SEO improves your online presence, increases organic traffic, and helps you grow your business.

Is SEO needed for every type of business?

In most cases, yes!

If your business offers products or services that users might try to find with a search query, then SEO should be a high priority.

There are a few situations where SEO may not be necessary:

• If your website isn’t meant to be found. For example, if you have a website dedicated to internal training.
• If you are looking for immediate leads or sales. SEO is a process that doesn’t deliver overnight success. It requires strategic planning, execution, and ongoing management.

What can SEO do for your business? 30 key benefits

1. Increased traffic

The higher a website ranks for relevant keywords, the more traffic you’ll receive.

In fact, the first Google search result for a keyword has a 28.5% click-through rate. By the time you get down to the tenth result, the CTR falls to 2.5%.

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A good SEO strategy can get your page ranking for a variety of short- and long-tail keywords. The more often you show up at the top of the search engine results page, the more people click through to your site.

2. Improved visibility

The more keywords your website ranks for and the higher they rank, the more often your brand is seen by potential customers.

There are a number of SEO tactics that can increase the visibility of your website, such as:

• Identifying additional long-tail keywords to target
• Improving technical SEO
• Optimizing metadata on existing pages
• Developing new content
• Building quality backlinks

SEO is a direct driver of improved visibility and impressions in search engine results.

3. Credibility and trust

Websites that appear higher in the search results are viewed as more trustworthy and credible.

In fact, fewer than 1% of searchers end up clicking a result on the second page. The sites on page one are generally seen as the most legitimate answer to a search query.

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These days, when people want something, they turn to Google. If your website is at the top of the search results, you’ve positioned yourself as a credible and trustworthy source.

4. Branding

Unless you’re the FedEx of your industry, your customers probably aren’t typing in your brand name as a search query.

However, if your customers start to notice that your brand is consistently near the top of their searches, it goes a long way toward building brand awareness.

SEO also improves branding by building a better user experience. Potential customers have a better experience when they come to your site and find useful, relevant content. They’re also happier if your site is fast and optimized for mobile.

These things are all part of SEO. When you invest in SEO, visitors to your website develop a positive impression of your brand.

5. Higher quality traffic

Potential customers are searching for your products or services online. Incorporating SEO lets each page on your website become an entry point for those customers.

Website traffic is considered high quality when it results in more leads and sales. To get high quality traffic, you have to attract the right people — internet users who are searching for exactly what you’re offering.

Search engine optimization is all about putting you in front of those people. The more targeted your SEO is, the more likely you are to attract your ideal site visitor.

The beauty of a well-developed SEO strategy is that you’re able to reach potential customers at every stage of the buying funnel, ensuring that you’re their choice when they’re ready to make a decision.

6. An investment in your future

When you research SEO, you’ll undoubtedly hear that SEO is an ongoing process and that results don’t happen overnight.

It’s true.

When you invest in SEO, you’re doing so knowing that you probably won’t see the benefit for six to nine months. However, once your efforts start to pay off, you’ll have free traffic coming in for the foreseeable future.

Compare this to an investment in paid ads. They might result in more customers, but once you stop paying for the ads, the benefit will drop off.

7. Higher ROI than the other marketing channels

SEO-generated leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.

That’s probably why 49% of marketers believe organic search is the most profitable channel they use.

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8. Insight into your customers and who they are

SEO analytics involves collecting data for the purpose of improving your organic traffic.

These metrics can tell you more about your website visitors.

Not only can you get demographic, interests, locale, and device information from analytics, but you can obtain a great deal of information about where a user is at in their decision-making process by using Google Search Console to research what keywords are resulting in traffic.

9. Cost-effective marketing

SEO is one of the most cost-effective forms of digital marketing. That’s because you’re engaging someone once they’ve already taken the action of going to Google and typing in something related to a product or service you’re offering.

When you receive traffic from your efforts on these types of search terms, the users are already interested in what you have to offer. Your job is to convince them that you’re the right partner.

Once you start ranking well for terms, you receive the benefit of consistent traffic that the particular search term provides each and every month, so your flow of potential customers continues. Very few marketing channels can say the same thing.

10. A competitive advantage

63.6% of businesses actively invest in SEO. In other words, most of your competitors are already optimizing for search engines.

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If you want to grow your business and be visible to searchers, then you too must invest in SEO services. That’s the only way to compete long-term (unless for some reason people stop using the internet to search, which isn’t going to happen anytime soon!)

11. Improved user experience and usability

When people visit your website, you want them to have a positive experience because it has a direct correlation with their perception of your business.

For any successful SEO campaign, user experience and general usability is a key focal point. Google has made it very clear they reward sites with higher search engine rankings when you provide a better overall experience.

12. 24/7 lead generation

The great thing about SEO is that when you’re ranking, you’re constantly visible to potential customers. That means you’re able to receive traffic day and night, which can turn into leads and sales.

If you weren’t doing SEO and had salespeople calling or emailing potential customers instead, you would have lulls. That’s because your salespeople have to sleep, take breaks, take vacations, and so on. A well-run SEO campaign can become a lead and sales generating machine.

13. A great addition to the marketing mix

Any successful business has many different marketing channels active at a given time. SEO is a perfect complement to other marketing channels.

For example, if one of your marketing channels is paid search, you’d ideally pair it with SEO so that when a potential customer searches for your offerings, they see two listings.

This way you’re taking up a greater share of the SERP real estate.

14. Increased offline sales

These days, people even use the internet when they shop in brick-and-mortar stores.

They turn to Google to find local businesses, compare reviews, and check inventory online. And they continue searching while shopping. Google has seen a 15% increase in search queries that take place in a shop in recent years.

If you aren’t found during a user’s search process, then you’re not even being considered for that particular purchase.

15. Measurable KPIs

SEO is highly measurable. Using Google Analytics, you can see the volume of traffic and how that correlates to organic search goals. In addition, you’re able to leverage Google Search Console to see the exact keywords that are driving traffic. This is extremely valuable data that allows your internet marketing team to be even more successful.

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16. Lower customer acquisition cost

SEO traffic is free. Being able to consistently receive targeted traffic to your website will undeniably increase your leads and sales.

Doing so at virtually no expense will dramatically reduce your acquisition costs, thus improving the profitability of your business.

17. A chance to connect

Search engines are how people do research now.

Google processes approximately 70,000 search queries every second. Within those searches are your customers!

They are using Google to do research and purchase what you have to offer.

18. The ability to reach users in all stages of the buying funnel

Creating content and optimizing that content for various stages in the buying funnel increases the likelihood that you will be chosen when it comes time to make a purchase decision.

You can use SEO to show up for common questions that a user might ask when in the awareness stage. You can also create case studies or other forms of helpful SEO content for the decision stage. Finally, you can create quote pages, coupons, and other sales-focused items that help with the purchasing stage.

19. Thought leadership in your industry

Not only does ranking higher in the SERPs instantly make users feel like you are one of the best options, but writing educational content on a continual basis will also position your brand as a thought leader.

20. A greater share of the clicks

85% of all clicks happen on organic listings.

Paid search only makes up 15% of the total clickshare for a keyword. You should be where the clicks are!

21. A positive online reputation

Your online reputation has a direct impact on how successful your business will be.

We’ve already established that your customers are looking for information on the internet. A business that’s actively working on SEO has the ability to control its brand reputation online to some degree.

22. Local visibility for physical businesses

93% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year. 34% did so every day.

Local SEO is a set of techniques for increasing the visibility of a physical business in its local area. For example, you could target keywords like “party store in Memphis” or optimize your Google My Business listing.

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One of the more important ranking factors in your local area is the consistency of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP data) across data aggregators and local directories.

The more conflicting name, address, and phone information that is out on the web about your business, the more difficult it is for Google to know what data to trust.

By doing local SEO, this issue is solved. No matter where your potential customers are, they can find the right information to be able to contact you.

23. Business growth as global search grows

The number of Google searches has continued to increase. It’s no wonder the global SEO services market is expected to reach a value of nearly $86 billion by 2023.

24. An ongoing relationship with your customers

As noted above, if your business offers products or services that users search for online, then they need help finding answers to questions about those products and services.

Creating content to help answer your target audience’s questions helps provide that ongoing relationship with your potential customers.

Publishing content on a regular basis makes you a reliable source of information for your customers while also growing your organic traffic.

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25. Useful information

The queries driving traffic to your business provide insight that may influence the types of products and services you offer.

For example, maybe you’re a SaaS business and see that users are coming to your site from the term “free widgets.” If you’re purely a paid widget service, it might influence the creation of a free tiered plan to gain market share.

26. A level playing field

It’s difficult for businesses to compete against behemoths like Amazon, but SEO can help even the playing field.

A larger organization has more bureaucracy, while a smaller business can be more agile. Being more agile allows a smaller business to focus on longer tail keywords, user experience, and strategy, whereas a larger organization is typically more boxed in.

27. The attention of potential customers

Only 15% of total traffic for a keyword goes to the paid ads. People are very familiar with Google, and they now understand what is an ad and what isn’t.

SEO ensures your brand shows up where the click volume is.

28. Sustainability

If done right, SEO can bring a great deal of sustainability to a business.

When ranking for terms that bring qualified traffic to a website, you are in turn generating leads and sales. Maintaining that position while building new opportunities for your website ensures you have a consistent flow of traffic and allows your business to grow.

29. Targeted traffic

The beautiful thing about SEO, as opposed to more traditional forms of marketing, is that you’re able to generate highly targeted traffic.

Having the ability to show up high on the results page for a specific service you offer is gold. A user has actually gone online, typed in something related to your business, and clicked on your listing.

At this point, you have a much more targeted audience than if you were to do TV ads or a direct mail campaign, because they are actively searching for a solution. That’s powerful!

30. Local, regional, national, or global — it doesn’t matter

Imagine having to purchase radio or TV ads in all the different markets you offer products or services in. The cost would be outrageous!

With SEO, you have the capability to effectively reach whatever audience you want. No other advertising mediums offer the same combination of affordable, effective options that SEO does.

In closing

There are many other reasons SEO is important and should be considered for most businesses.

Whether you do it yourself or decide to hire a professional SEO service, you’ll be sure to experience many of the above benefits.

The post Why is SEO Important? 30 Powerful Benefits for Any Business appeared first on HigherVisibility.

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Three seconds. 

That’s all your visitors give you when they come to your website. If your website takes any longer to upload, 40% of people will abandon it. 

What’s worse, a one-second delay in page response can cause a 7% reduction in conversions. You’ll end up losing 40% of your website traffic, out of which 80% of these people won’t return—ever.

I could continue talking about these scary loading time statistics, but the bottom line is your website needs to be fast if you want to boost your traffic and conversions. If you don’t work on improving loading times, you’ll end up losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every single year.

Luckily, there is a solution: Installing a WordPress cache plugin.

These plugins are designed to improve your website’s speed by instructing the server to store some files to disk or RAM, depending on the configuration. After that, the plugin remembers and duplicates the content it’s served in the past.

The result? Faster web page loading.

#1 – WP Rocket – The Best for Speed Optimization 

WP Rocket is a premium WordPress caching plugin that many agree is the best in the market. 

It’s simple and beginner-friendly, which helps users who aren’t familiar with the typical jargon associated with different caching options. It has been specially designed to boost your website’s speed and performance.

Instead of waiting for someone to request a page to save it to cache, WP Rocket builds the website cache automatically. It also turns on recommended WordPress caching settings like cache pre-loading, page cache, and gzip compression by itself.

Precisely why you see an instant boost in your website’s performance after installing this plugin.

You can also activate other features offered by WP Rocket, such as DNS prefetching, lazy loading images, minification, and CDN support. They can help improve your web page’s loading time while simultaneously reducing bounce rates.

Plugin Features 

• Cache preloading (two methods)
• Browser caching
• GZIP compression
• Database optimization
• Minification and concatenation
• Defer JavaScript loading
• DNS prefetching
• Lazy loading

Pricing 

WP Rocket offers three subscription plans:

• Single – $49 annually for one website
• Plus – $99 annually for three websites 
• Infinite – $249 annually for unlimited websites

Learn more and get WP Rocket today.

#2 – Swift Performance – The Best for Multi-Site Compatibility

Swift Performance is a WordPress caching plugin with excellent performance-optimizing capabilities that transforms caching as you know it. Although it’s a relatively new WordPress plugin, it has gained tremendous popularity among users in a short span of time.

It has all the necessary features to take your website performance and speed to the next level without breaking a sweat. The plugin has a unique database optimizer that cleans duplicated metadata, expired transients, and spam comments.

Additionally, you can optimize the delivery of static resources via its minification feature that lets you combine or minify CSS and JavaScript—all with a single click. It’s compatible with bbPress, Cloudflare, WooCommerce, and Varnish, among several other platforms too. 

I also like its Async Execute feature that allows users to run scripts individually as they upload. It’s super helpful to improve speed sites, deliver a better user experience, and boost SEO scores. 

Swift Performance’s schedule database optimization is another time-saving feature—provided you use the pro version. Lastly, you can also enable/disable plugins on certain pages thanks to its plugin organizer.

Plugin Features

• Page caching
• Pre-set optimization templates that you can quickly apply
• Code optimization, including minification and combination.
• Browser caching
• Database optimization
• Plugin organizer to disable plugins on certain pages

Pricing

Swift Performance offers three subscription plans:

• Single – $39.99 per year for one site
• Multi – $99.99 per year for four sites
• Developer – $199.99 per year for unlimited sites

#3 – W3 Total Cache – The Best for Experienced Developers

W3 Total Cache is hands down one of the best open-source WordPress caching plugins that offers an out-of-the-box and advanced caching mechanism. While it’s packed with features, it’s also slightly complicated, especially for users who lack technical skills.

The plugin is compatible with most hosting plans, including shared, dedicated, and VPS server hosting. Since it’s free, you can use all of its features after installing the plugin—no upsells for you to worry about. 

It can improve your server performance by caching every aspect of your site and integrating with several content delivery networks. 

Developers, in particular, like this plugin as it can offer up to 80% bandwidth savings thanks to its minification feature that reduces the size of your HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and feeds without compromising other website elements. 

What’s more, this cache plugin works for both mobile and desktop versions of your website. I‘d recommend W3 Total Cache for WordPress ecommerce sites as it has tons of features that make it useful for sites with SSL certificates—something that most ecommerce sites have.

Plugin Features

• Minification
• Opcode cache
• Database cache
• Object cache
• Browser cache
• CDN integration
• Fragment cache

Pricing

W3 Total Cache is an open-source plugin, and it’s available free of charge.

#4 – WP Super Cache – The Best for Customization

When a plugin has more than two million active installations, you know the developers are doing something right. 

Developed by Automattic, the same people who gave you Jetpack, Akismet, and WordPress.com, WP Super Cache is as popular as a plugin can get, and not without reason. 

The plugin generates static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress content. Plus, it saves you a ton of bandwidth and decreases page load times since it makes the web server serve the lighter HTML files instead of the heavy PHP scripts.

You also get three caching modes with WP Super Cache: Simple, Expert, and WP-cache caching. 

Out of the three, the Expert mode is the fastest, but you have to modify the .htaccess file, which requires coding and web development experience. But if you do have the technical know-how, you can customize the plugin settings to make it more functional.

You can use the WP-cache caching mode to cache content for known website visitors. Due to this, the caching mode is ideal for websites whose users are typically logged in, can leave comments, or see customized content.

Don’t have web development experience? No worries, you can use the Simple mode, where all you need is a custom permalink. As the setting is easier to configure, you won’t have to change your .htaccess file.

Plugin Features

• Page caching
• Support for content delivery networks (CDN)
• Caching for visitors using a mobile device
• Browser caching
• Scheduler to manage deletion and re-caching at given intervals
• GZIP compression

Pricing

WP Super Cache is available free of cost.

#5 – WP Fastest Cache – The Best for Access to a Wide Range of Tools

According to the official WordPress directory, WP Fastest Cache is the highest-rated cache plugin. It has limited configuration settings, which makes it user-friendly and appropriate for beginners.

This plugin can create static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress site and also minify HTML and CSS files, which, in turn, reduces file sizes. What’s more, it combines these files to make your code cleaner and web pages leaner.

You can schedule to delete the CSS and JS files at a specific time later.

WP Fastest Cache implements WordPress broader caching effectively to reduce page load time for repeat visitors. It also combines several CSS files into one in a bid to reduce the number of HTTP round-trips. If needed, you can also disable emojis on your website.

The premium version of this WordPress cache plugin offers tons of unique features that boost your page speed by optimizing images, cleaning up databases, caching mobile devices, among several other features. You can purchase the premium version directly from your WordPress dashboard after installing the free plugin.

Plugin Features

• Auto-deletion of cache files whenever a post or page is published
• Supports CDN
• Enable/Disable cache option for mobile devices and logged-in users
• Block cache for specific page or post
• Code minification
• GZIP compression

Pricing

While there is a freemium version available, you can upgrade to the premium packages too. There are four subscription options:

• Freemium 
• Bronze – $49.99 per license
• Silver – $125 per three licenses
• Gold – $175 per five licenses 

What I Looked at to Find the Best WordPress Cache Plugin

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Choosing the best WordPress caching plugin won’t be the most straightforward task on your list. 

In addition to similar-sounding names, you’ll find most of them offer similar features in different ways, which is why they may end up conflicting if you use two or more at once. The fact that caching is technical also means you practically need to be an expert to make the right choice.

I’ve already listed my top five picks for the best WordPress caching plugins, but I want you to know how I reached this decision. 

Let’s take a look at the factors worth considering when researching caching plugins for WordPress.

CDN Support

CDN stands for content delivery network, a network of data servers that renders cache data to web users from a server nearest to them.

Whenever there is an increase in traffic on your website, there is also a simultaneous increase in your web hosting server’s processing activity. This causes a decrease in your website’s page loading speed.

This is the exact point where CDN comes into the picture.

Hold on. Things are about to get a bit technical here.

If you’re using a CDN, then static data from your website will get cached on every server in the CDN. As a result, whenever a user requests a page on your website, they’ll receive a cached copy from a server nearest to the user, preventing any delay.

This is why you should ensure your prospective caching plugin supports the CDN you use. If not, you might end up losing visitors.

Browser Caching Ability 

Browser caching means saving your CSS, logo, and other resources that would typically download whenever a visitor opens your webpage. This feature lets you decide how much of your webpage would be cached on the user‘s device, which, in turn, makes you independent of the user’s browser cache settings.

Look for options that allow you to set the time period for which you want the downloaded content to be saved on the user‘s system. 

That said, I wouldn’t recommend setting the time for the content to be cached for more than six months as it may result in the user getting web pages that aren’t updated. 

Asset and Page Exclusion

While many WordPress websites are purely static content, some also include dynamic content. This can include a membership website, an ecommerce site with WooCommerce, a website selling courses, and so on.

The catch is that dynamic content doesn’t play well with browser caching and page caching. Therefore, it’s wiser to look for a caching plugin that enables you to exclude specific pages and assets from being cached to prevent glitches.

Customer Support

If you’re new to the world of caching, chances are you might be hearing most of the terms we explained above for the first time. 

That’s why you should make sure the plugin developers offer efficient customer support that can help you whenever you get stuck with the daunting caching setup. If you find that a premium caching plugin offers better support, I‘d recommend choosing that over a free option.

After all, your peace of mind should always have top priority.

Conclusion 

Site speed is incredibly important for your website’s success. So if you aren’t using a caching plugin now, you’re already a step behind your competitors.

Go over customer reviews and do thorough research before choosing a plugin for your website. I’ve done my best to include options that come packed with features and ensure optimal results, but you can always opt for other caching plugins that you think will deliver better results.

In the end, the aim is to get those loading times short and your website super fast.

The post Best WordPress Cache Plugin appeared first on Neil Patel.

The post Best WordPress Cache Plugin appeared first on Local SEO Resources.

If you’re one of GoDaddy’s 20 million customers, it might intrigue you to know that the domain registrar and web hosting giant also offers SEO tools and services.

The idea of a one-stop shop for SEO services and hosting is appealing. Or maybe you have a website hosted elsewhere and you’re just looking for a good deal on search engine optimization.

Is the cost of GoDaddy SEO worth it?

The online reviews aren’t exactly glowing. GoDaddy SEO has even been called a “scam.” But GoDaddy claims that most of their clients make it to the first page of results for their targeted keywords.

This article takes a look at just what GoDaddy has to offer and whether it’s the best way to spend your SEO budget.

What is GoDaddy SEO?

GoDaddy offers two services designed to help with your SEO.

The first is a DIY tool called GoDaddy Search Engine Optimization or GoDaddy Search Engine Visibility. It costs $6.99 per month and analyzes your website for keyword and phrase suggestions.

Once you’ve implemented the suggested changes — for example, by changing your homepage title to include a keyword — you can track your site’s search rankings on the Search Engine Optimization dashboard.

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Frankly, this SEO feature is really basic.

Keyword suggestion and tracking tools are widely available, often for free. At the very least, you can find one that doesn’t lock you into a 3+ month plan like GoDaddy does.

Keywords are important, but in today’s competitive SEO landscape, they aren’t nearly enough.

That brings us to GoDaddy’s other SEO offering: managed services. This is GoDaddy’s version of an SEO agency — you hand over your SEO work to GoDaddy’s team for a fee.

You can use GoDaddy SEO services whether you have a GoDaddy website already or use a different web host.

The cost of SEO services from GoDaddy is customized to your business, but most reviews say it’s cheaper than average. Is GoDaddy the secret to inexpensive SEO that works?

Pros and cons of GoDaddy SEO services

A big advantage of GoDaddy SEO services is the price. While it’s impossible to know how much you would pay for GoDaddy without getting a custom quote, multiple former users of the SEO service say they paid $50 per hour.

To put that in perspective, the average SEO agency in the US charges $134.66 per hour. What a good deal, right?

There are a few other good things about GoDaddy SEO.

The service sets you up with an account manager, and when that person isn’t available, you can track developments in your site’s SEO with an account dashboard.

The managed services go beyond the keyword suggestions that the SEO tool provides by offering content development and link building.

And of course, the main draw of any SEO service is that it takes search engine optimization out of your hands. You have a business to run, why not leave website optimization to an SEO expert?

And then the bad news

Before you run off to sign up for GoDaddy’s SEO service, keep reading to see exactly what they’re offering.

Much like the DIY tool, the SEO service involves providing you with a list of keywords and the ability to track your rankings. You will be given “optional but highly recommended” onsite recommendations like updating your meta title and “at least one image alt tag.”

Hint: these things aren’t optional for SEO, and they don’t go far enough.

Let’s take an in-depth look at what’s being offered and what you’ll be missing out on:

Building backlinks

GoDaddy says they offer offsite optimization. Offsite SEO is also sometimes called link SEO. It involves building up the authority of your site by getting high-quality, respected websites to link back to yours.

Link SEO is an area of search engine optimization that’s changed a lot over the years. Sites used to be able to rank by buying low-quality links from link farms or using spammy techniques like linking from blog comments.

But Google has gotten a lot better at recognizing a good link. These days, it’s important to link from pages that are authoritative and relevant to your industry. For example, you could write a guest post for the blog of an expert in your field.

Google’s latest webspam report shows that it’s become more important than ever to go after these quality links, since Google is now catching more than 90% of link spam.

Here’s what GoDaddy SEO services does for offsite SEO:

Business citation building. GoDaddy adds your site to directories like the Bing Business Portal, FourSquare, and Yahoo Listings. These huge directories don’t really help your SEO much. It would be better to be listed on sites relevant to your industry or location.

Keyword link building. GoDaddy says, “Our system finds applicable websites… we then compose a short, unique comment with the relevant content and keyword and include a link back to your site.” In other words, comment spam.

Social bookmarking. The links GoDaddy has created are added to sites like Digg and Reddit. Social media can be beneficial in promoting content if you do it right, but the links are generally not good for SEO. Many are nofollow links, which is a way to indicate to search engines not to count them towards a site’s authority.

In general, GoDaddy’s advertised offpage SEO strategies are useless at best and harmful at worst.

Content creation

Content development is key to SEO. That’s why companies spend 46% of their budgets on it.

GoDaddy makes no mention of content creation for your own site. Their content is aimed at providing backlinks from other sites. They offer blogs and articles.

Blogs are “short articles, usually around two paragraphs, that use your keywords multiple times and link back to your website.”

Two paragraphs is nothing. Google rewards content that it believes to be in-depth and informative. Consequently, the best blog posts for SEO are 2,100–2,400 words long.

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Furthermore, using your keywords multiple times in one of these 2,000 word articles is great. Using them multiple times in just two paragraphs sounds like keyword stuffing, which could get you penalized by Google.

GoDaddy articles are longer and more thoroughly researched. They’re posted to sites like Hubpages and Squidoo. These sites have some value to SEO, but they can’t stack up to getting links from more relevant, authoritative sources.

What else is missing?

Some of the most important factors in modern SEO aren’t even mentioned on GoDaddy’s website.

Optimizing site speed is essential. As a page’s load time slows from one second to 10 seconds, the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing increases by 123%.

Google currently uses mobile-first indexing. That means that optimizing your site for mobile is one of the most important things you can do. GoDaddy doesn’t mention these technical aspects of SEO.

Good SEO is customized to your business and industry and includes local SEO. The techniques and sites GoDaddy talks about using are very general. A good SEO expert will focus on your unique needs.

GoDaddy SEO Reviews

There is plenty of commentary on GoDaddy SEO on the web. To quote a few reviews:

“We got one 200 word article written on a completely irrelevant blog about windows from a site that is clearly a link farm.”

“[My] client was using GoDaddy SEO services and unfortunately the service did not deliver on it’s promise.”

“Somebody on their team created a new landing page for our website with only one paragraph of writing on it and pointed our domain to it… the writing was clearly created by an SEO person as it was thin and stuffed with the keyword.”

Are GoDaddy SEO services a waste of money?

Clearly, GoDaddy’s SEO service has some serious downsides. But is the discounted price worth missing out on a few key SEO features?

Probably not.

Good SEO costs money, and businesses generally find that it’s well spent. Clients that pay over $500 per month for SEO are 53.3% more likely to be “extremely satisfied” compared to those that spend less than $500 per month.

Looking at the pros and cons of GoDaddy listed above, the items in the “pros” column are basic and will be provided by any SEO service. Meanwhile, some of GoDaddy’s SEO practices are worse than ineffective.

Low-quality links and thin content will get you demoted in the search rankings. GoDaddy SEO is a waste of money if it actually harms your SEO efforts.

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What to use instead of GoDaddy SEO

GoDaddy’s core offerings are hosting services and registration of domain names. For real SEO expertise, turn to an agency dedicated to search engine optimization.

A top SEO agency may cost a bit more than the GoDaddy SEO service, but it’s still a very affordable way to do SEO.

Why you should invest in SEO

As a  website owner, you can’t ignore SEO. 49% of marketers say it’s their most profitable channel.

And it’s the marketing investment that gives you the most bang for your buck. Leads from SEO convert at a rate of 14.6% compared to 1.7% for leads sourced from outbound techniques.

So what’s the best way to get these essential services?

You could do it yourself. But if you’re not already an SEO guru, there’s going to be a steep learning curve. You already have a lot on your plate.

You could hire a full-time employee for your business. A senior SEO manager will set you back  $76,069 — way more than you’ll pay for a whole team of SEOs at an agency.

You could hire a freelancer. But an individual contractor doesn’t have the broad expertise of an SEO agency’s entire team. Clients report being less satisfied with freelancers than agencies.

Finally, you could partner with a dedicated SEO firm. This is the option that gets you the most SEO expertise for the best price.

A good SEO agency:

• Stays current with changes to Google’s algorithm and SEO techniques
• Provides multiple types of SEO: onpage optimization, link building, technical SEO, content development, and local SEO
• Communicated about what it’s doing and provides regular reports
• Has a good reputation and good reviews

For a real-life example of what an SEO agency can do, let’s look at SmartBox.

SmartBox came to HigherVisibility when they were looking for help with a rebranding and hoping to grow their organic traffic.

HigherVisibility started by performing individualized competitive research in the storage and moving space to identify short- and long-term opportunities.

We performed a continuous technical audit of SmartBox’s website to identify any issues that might affect rank. We also audited the site’s backlink profile to check that it was sound and that there were no quality links being disavowed.

The team researched backlink opportunities and reached out to prospects. These opportunities aren’t just sites where anyone can post content — it’s based on competitor research, finding previously unlinked mentions of the brand, resource-driven outreach, and more.

HigherVisibility also found that SmartBox was suffering from low-quality content. We worked to prune any content that no longer added value and rewrote other content to better match the user intent of different pages.

You’ll notice that most of what the agency did goes beyond GoDaddy’s scope. And it paid off. In the end, HigherVisibility increased organic traffic for Smartbox by 155.95% conversions by 210.22%.

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In Conclusion

GoDaddy’s SEO service is a tempting choice due to low costs. It’s also convenient if you’re already using GoDaddy as a hosting provider.

But SEO is essential to your business, and it’s worth investing in a dedicated agency that uses up-to-date techniques and will take the time to customize its strategy to you.

GoDaddy provides a basic plan for SEO that might work for some small businesses but if you are looking for a more customized approach to help you grow your business, you’d be wise to look at other options.

The post GoDaddy SEO Review: Is GoDaddy SEO a Waste of Money? appeared first on HigherVisibility.

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It’s time for your info-packed SEO newsletter to kick off the weekend and keep you up to date on the latest news, SEO tactics, tests, and so much more.

We had an exciting week and you won’t want to miss a thing!

• What Happened on the SEO Vault this Week 
• Deal of the week: (5) Hours of Custom Signal Creation ($79 value) FREE
• Featured Blog Post: The Link Building Metrics That Matter
• Special Announcement: Scaling Your Agency Webinar March 10th
• SEO Mad Scientist: Outbound Links and GMB Short URL Tests Results

To your success,

Chaz and the Entire Team

FROM THE VAULT – Episode 77

Don’t forget The SEO Vault airs live on the Web 20 Ranker Facebook every Thursday at 4 pm EST.

Special Guest: Sophie Allen & Dustin Minch

How Google uses tokenized data
Google Mobile-First Indexing
John Muller: The number of links to a page is irrelevant to SEO
Gary Illeys: Title Tags longer than google shows get SEO value
Google: There Is No SEO Reason To Make Bloated Sites

– Watch the Latest SEO Vault Episode here

– Listen here: https://pod.co/theseovault

Interested in being a guest on the vault!? Sign up now
https://forms.gle/ae5Dh575BqYieDBEA

Free (5) Hours Custom Signal Creation For The Life of Your NEW Monthly Campaign

2/26 – 2/28

This weekend only any NEW Monthly SEO Service will receive (5) Hours of Custom Signal Creation ($79 value) every month for the life of the campaign.

• Monthly Managed Seach: https://web20ranker.com/white-label-seo-campaigns/

When your campaigns are boosted with active links, it can correspond to increases in rankings. We use web 2.0 blogs, media sharing platforms, social sharing platforms, Google properties, mapping platforms, and private network links to create a hive of mentions.

If you currently, have a monthly SEO campaign but want to take advantage of this stellar weekend deal!? We’re ready to help you out too!

We’ve just launched our NEW Managed Search Services and the value is nothing short of incredible.

https://web20ranker.com/white-label-seo-campaigns/

If you have a monthly DFY SEO campaign running and would like to take advantage of the (5) FREE custom signal creation monthly add-on for the life of your campaign all you have to do is send a message in your dashboard and let the team know you would like to upgrade your current campaign to the new managed search campaigns for just an additional $50.

Already have the add-on of 5 or 10 hours of custom signal creation??
No problem! We will add the additional 5 hours to it!

You could end up with 5,10,15 hours of custom signal creation every month and really WOW! your clients

Scaling Your Agency Webinar March 10th @ 2 pm EST

You won’t want to miss this free webinar loaded with info to make sure your agency succeeds in 2021

Sign Up Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MhB3gL6qRzeiVP8S2nWjUQ

Are you ready to manage your lead flow better?

We will pull the curtain back and take a look at a popular software many agencies are using to streamline and manage their lead flow. As well as covering how to use the many functions to increase your agency capacity and service offerings.

If you want to position your agency with a competitive advantage then you will want to make sure to show up at 2 PM EST on March 10th.

SEO Mad Scientist

Since we added web design, search engine optimization, and local SEO pages, let’s see some grids to see if there is any additional movement:

As of now, we see no movement, which is kind of what we expected but still wanted to test. We will do a final report on this next week to see if there is any movement then but our guess is that appointment links arent major signals.

With that said we do know that the GMB website (not the website you make on the GMB listing but your actual website you add to the listing) does move the needle. So we decided to try something fun and add our GMB short link to the GMB listing as the website. Obviously, this doesn’t create the best user experience but we were curious anyways.

Let’s take a look, if you search “title loans Miami” you should find our “Title Loans Miami” listing.

We have reviewed this listing many times in the previous tests so let’s look at the most recent geo grid updates to see if we can find anything…

We saw gains pretty much across the board for all terms related to our primary targets, our brand including title loans, Miami title loans, title loans in Miami, and so on.

Did the movement have anything to do with the GMB short link? We can’t say for sure but of course, we are going to continue testing to get to the bottom of it. Join us next week for another SEO Mad Scientist update.

Until then,

Happy Testing!

Get Your Free Campaign Recommendations Today!

Not sure what would be the best route for your SEO campaign? No worries, we’ve got you covered!

Find Out Exactly What You Need to Rank

Quick and easy, yet powerful in results!

Get your recommendations here!

Want to earn a $50 store credit?

In order to receive a $50 store credit, the only thing we need from you is a short video (at least 30 seconds) explaining:

1) Who you are and what you do
2) What you bought and why you bought it
3) How the product worked for you and the pros of it!

That’s it! 3 simple topics and you could be on your way to $50 towards your next purchase!

You can send your videos to: [email protected]

The post White Magic Love Spells – How They Work Best appeared first on Local SEO Resources.

Businesses of all sizes have found WordPress to be a highly capable website building platform and hosting service. WordPress has proven particularly useful when it comes to adding SEO elements to your business’s online home.

WordPress’s ability to help businesses optimize their website for popular search engines such as Google or Bing is a major reason why this platform is the number one website builder and CMS service on the planet.

But when you’re ready to create your WordPress website, it’s important to remember that even though WordPress is optimized for people with no web design knowledge, you can still get a lot more out of your website design when you work with a WordPress web design company.

But how does WordPress impact your ability to optimize your site for SEO algorithms? And what benefits are there to using a WordPress website design company instead of just trying to do it all yourself?

Why opt for WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular content management system on the planet.

In the CMS industry, it holds 61.8% of the market share, which is more than every single one of its major competitors combined.

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It has been estimated that 35% of the internet’s 1.3 billion websites are powered by the WordPress platform. And it’s not just small start up companies, either.

Massive enterprise level organizations like CNN, The New York Times, and many more use WordPress to run their online empire.

Not only is WordPress a truly massive CMS, but it is a rapidly expanding system.

For example, WordCamps is composed of local communities, which encompasses users of all skill levels. WordCamps focus on WordPress education, with users from the community all coming together to educate and share ideas with one another.

WordPress is also available all over the world, appearing in more than 100 languages. That means you’ll be able to localize your content for audiences abroad, which is important if your website is meant to appeal to users outside your country of origin.

Another popular element of WordPress is its ability to handle traffic.

With smaller CMS and hosting platforms, you might have to worry about bandwidth overloads taking your site down. WordPress sees 20 billion page views per month and keeps on going with no issues.

It’s also a home run in terms of usability.

While we firmly believe that you should hire a WordPress website design company to build your site, you won’t be a slave to that company forever.

WordPress’s user experience is so simplistic that your developer can hand the site over to you and teach you how to add new content easily. This is especially important for blogging efforts, as you want to be able to post blogs regularly without having to go through a third party.

What Does Your Website Design Have To Do With SEO?

SEO is an acronym in digital marketing that stands for Search Engine Optimization.

Simply put, SEO is a series of content tweaks on both the front and back ends of your website that will make your pages more appealing to search engines such as Google.

Google is by far the most popular search engine in the world, with a search engine market share of 94%. So, while every search engine may have its own algorithm for determining what shows up at the top of results, many SEO experts focus on Google’s formula.

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Powerful SEO can help you appear at the top of the first page when someone searches for the services or products that you offer.

There’s also something called a featured snippet, which is a small excerpt from a website that answers a specific question a searcher might ask. This is known as position zero and it is a highly sought after spot on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

So, how do you improve your SEO?

You optimize your on page content, for a start, sprinkling it with relevant keywords so that Google’s search bots will take note of your authority on the subject.

You also have to optimize the back end of your site, including title tags, image titles, and alt descriptions.

Then, you have to create a series of links, both on and off your page that will direct searchers to your content. You not only need to create an internal web of links between your pages, but you also have to get outside sites to link back to you.

External links are also called backlinks. Backlinks are one of the most important elements of SEO, and one of the most difficult to execute.

Some people are lucky enough to be both SEO experts and business owners. These people should have no problem conducting their own SEO and improving their organic reach. However, this is the exception and not the rule.

Typically, businesses hire outside parties to shape their SEO strategy. The thing about search algorithms is that they’re always changing, and SEO experts keep their ear to the “Google ground” to monitor shifts that could impact ranking efforts.

So, when you’re working with an outside company to design and develop your website, you should make sure that they also have SEO experience.

It’s much easier to build SEO into your WordPress website from the get go than to go back and optimize a site that was built without SEO in mind.

How Can WordPress Help With SEO?

So, now you have an elementary understanding of how both WordPress and SEO work. But how do they work together to create a system that’s both a killer CMS and a SEO machine?

SEO professionals love WordPress. That’s because the reputation of WordPress carries a lot of weight.

Google tends to rank WordPress sites higher than other CMS platforms.

That’s mostly thanks to WordPress’s compliance coding. It also uses semantic markups, which Google tends to love.

What does that mean in English? WordPress creates code that appeals to Google’s search algorithm better than its biggest competitors.

The end result is a website that starts off the SEO race with a head start, as far as Google is concerned.

It’s almost like walking into a job interview with a really great reference from a source that the company you’re interviewing with values highly. You still have to impress them with your knowledge and experience, but you’re already starting off at an advantage.

WordPress makes the SEO experience all the easier because it offers you a large selection of categories and tags.

Of course, this can be a bit confusing at first, especially if you’ve never categorized content for SEO before. That’s another area where working with SEO knowledgeable WordPress professionals comes in handy.

By utilizing these categories and tags, you’re creating a better user experience for the people who come to your site. That’s great for them, but it’s also great for Google.

For starters, anything that improves the overall user experience is seen as a feather in your cap when it comes to Google rankings.

Consider the fact that Google is one of the most respected companies in the world, and its word goes a long way.

Because of that, the company wants to make sure that the sites it recommends in number one spots are of a certain quality. The company is signing off on you and attaching its good name to that recommendation.

Then you have to consider the fact that Google’s bots have to comb through and categorize all of your content. If you’ve already separated everything out in a way that makes it easier for Google to work through, you’re going to be rewarded for that.

The better Google can digest the nature of your content and the structure of your site, the more accurate its ranking efforts will be in establishing your place among your top competitors.

Using WordPress you can create categories and subcategories that will keep the site organized and make you far more appealing to Google.

WordPress can also be used to integrate social media, which is something Google cares about. Plus, you’re able to optimize every page of your website for mobile browsers.

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As any WordPress development agency will tell you, mobile internet usage has increased exponentially over the years.

You want to make sure that the template you’re using is responsive, in that it automatically adapts depending on the device that’s being used to view it. Every WordPress theme is mobile responsive, which shows Google that the site will display properly no matter how it is viewed.

There are also a number of SEO plugins available for WordPress, the most popular being Yoast SEO.

These plugins monitor your SEO progress and even make recommendations as to how you might improve. Yoast is just one WordPress plugin among many, so you’re going to be able to find one that suits you.

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Finally, the CMS makes it very easy to update the backend of your WordPress site.

You’re able to easily access your metadata, as well as add titles and alt tags to images. Title tags for every page are also customizable and can be optimized with keywords.

Factors to Consider When Hiring a WordPress Web Design Company

WordPress can be a stellar tool for SEO success. But much like any tool, it’s only effective when you know how to use it properly. So if you’re not an SEO expert, you should seek out someone who is.

When building a custom WordPress website, this typically means finding a company that specializes in WordPress web design with a history of SEO success.

Unfortunately, the WordPress designer industry is crowded and noisy so you might not know exactly what you’re looking for.

Here are a few different factors to look out for when trying to select the WordPress website design company for you.

1. Experience

Experience is a definite factor when trying to select a website designer for WordPress.

You have to look at the history of the company or individual that’s vying to create your new website. How many years have they been developing on WordPress? What kind of websites have they created?

You should ask to see a company’s portfolio of past projects. This should also include a number of sites that were created in recent years and are still operational.

You’ll be able to gauge a design company’s level of success based on how their past clients are doing.

Also take a look at the company’s actual website. If they have a bad website, or one full of errors, then that’s an immediate sign that they don’t know what they’re doing.

2. User Reviews

What do the company’s past clients have to say about the work they received?

Most of the companies you come across will (or should, at least) have customer reviews up on their website. If they don’t, that’s definitely an issue and you should ask for testimonials.

But it’s good to remember that most businesses are going to lead with their best foot when it comes to reviews.

You’re not going to find any horrible reviews on the business’s website. That means you’re going to have to do some digging to get truly unbiased reporting.

Look up Google reviews on the business you’re speaking with. Go on social media and do a search for them.

Cast a wide net and weigh the good reviews against the bad, then see which side makes a more compelling argument.

3. SEO Knowledge

Just because a company can make pretty WordPress websites doesn’t mean that they know anything about how to use the platform for SEO.

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Make sure you’re asking SEO specific questions when you meet with company representatives for the first time. Ask them their opinions on how the Google algorithm has shifted over the years.

Also, get a list of websites they’ve optimized in the past in order to gauge their success rate.

It’s one thing to know how to say all of the SEO hot button words, but if they’ve never actually succeeded in optimizing a site to the top of a SERP, then it’s all just hot air.

4. Established Process

The WordPress design firm that you contract with should have an established website development and optimization process that you can follow along with.

Everything should clearly be defined in a series of steps or phases. You should be consulted and be able to weigh in on many of these phases.

If a company doesn’t have an established process, that’s a major problem. You don’t want to contract with WordPress web design companies who just wing it and make things up as they go along.

Any experienced company will have an established process that’s been “battle tested” over time. As the customer, you should be comfortable with the process they’ve laid out.

5. Communication

Make sure that the company you choose to create your WordPress website speaks your language fluently so that nothing is lost in translation when communicating your goals and needs.

It’s also important to make sure that you have a point of contact within the company that will report to you with some regularity.

Your questions and concerns should be answered quickly, and you should be consulted on design elements throughout the process.

In Conclusion

WordPress is an excellent platform for creating and optimizing a website.

By working with a professional WordPress development company, you have a better chance of ending up with a quality website that will boost your visibility and lead generation to increase your profits.

Don’t fumble around blindly. Much as your customers trust you to provide them with a service, you can use the criteria above to find a WordPress developer that will create the optimized website of your dreams.

The post What to Look For When Hiring a WordPress Website Design Company appeared first on HigherVisibility.

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