Enhance Your SEO Prowess in 2014.

Understanding search engine optimization at a page level gives a person a bird’s eye view of what helps a business, drives conversions and lands that business webpage at the top of the SERPs. This is easier said than done, as forecasting the latest SEO trends is no easy feat, basically because of the fact that SEO trends that are regional can’t be treated as a common occurrence or a craze, but rather an evolution of how the search engines can optimize the user’s experience worldwide.

In order to survive in the new age of marketing you are required to acquire a thirst for knowledge through interpreting different case studies, adopting the finest methods and testing out different theories. Let me take you on a ride through the history and future of SEO.

Find out everything in this editorial about how some of the most innovative tools in the SEO industry impact each other and the performance of websites on the World Wide Web.

The Hummingbird Algorithm

Frank Chimero once published a paper that was fittingly called “What Screens Want”. The whole point of it was how the changing nature of consumption has an impact on how language designers think and remodel innovations to suit those needs, which is, consumption and consumerism. In the essay, Chimero blatantly discards the notion about the present status of the internet, saying that he looks forward to the day when the internet would celebrate both wildness and community instead of the local market.

When Google’s latest algorithm the Hummingbird was launched, many search engine optimizers hardly ever noticed its implications. Google famously claimed that the new algorithm had completely changed the system and had revamped 90% of all the reservations about SEO.

Thanks to the interface link between the Hummingbird update and Venice, now local SEOs can capture even more local internet traffic for their queries, as now more keywords can be used to trigger local traffic results.

The change in the system has made it imperative for businesses to incorporate local vertical pages of their business websites. The Hummingbird algorithm is the flagship of many of Google updates which will give preference to the context rather than the content. This ultimately compels regional businesses to start thinking about eliminating the pages regarding locations, instead of focusing on publishing content which is relevant to their business.

In order to beat the competition, businesses need to constantly tweak on-site optimization, and the optimization of the Google+ page. So if you have not claimed a suitable web page that enhances your business then, we will provide you with a few tips that will help you in acquiring a Google plus page for your business.

Versatility and the Setting!

When it comes to digital marketing, the following list has been compiled by Karen McGrane who is regarded as one of the leading strategy makers for content.

• Mobile phones are owned by an estimated 91% of adults in America.
•  56% of Smartphone users in America are adults.
• The internet is accessed via mobile phones by 63% of people who use mobile phones.
• Facebook, Wikipedia, and Amazon receive an estimated 20% of traffic through mobile phones.
• 77% of all searches on mobile phones are carried either in the office or in homes.

Out of all of these, one statistic stands outs quite prominently, and that is;

• “Atleast 46% of people who shop have reported using their Smartphones to carry out research prior to making a purchase.” And;

The numbers suggest that every second shopper uses their phone for purchasing local services and products. What these mind bogging statistics mean is that having a cross platform business website in the years to come is not only beneficial for you, but will be essential for the development and growth of a business.

Avinash Kaushik, the evangelist in digital marketing for Google, not too long ago gave a presentation in Quebec on the importance of mobile search and internet marketing. At the event, he pulled out numerous examples of how the lack or inadequacy of mobile search resulted in a terrible search experience. He also drew the audience’s attention towards some of the big name brands who were simply destroying themselves by throwing away their internet traffic, often times, after creating a strong market for a product or service. It was at that seminar where he mentioned quite clearly to the public that internet is a place that can annihilate anything in its path. He hit the nail on the head with this, since when it comes to local SEO because if one isn’t performing for atleast half of their customers, you are not going to make it as a business. Period!

SoLoMo: Using Pinterest to Generate Regional Traffic

Not too long ago (in November), Pinterest had made a declaration regarding the launching of a new service by the name of “Place Pins.” This moved suggests that Pinterest is seeking to take advantage of what they call, a highly engaged and interactive audience. Taking a nod from Foursquare, the “Place Pins” tool would allow users to develop their own expeditions and experiences for different locations.

The acronym for social, local, mobile also known as SoLoMo is highly regarded by many techno enthusiasts for the past few years now, Pinterest is finally stepping up to the platform by learning the benefits of making a unique marketing niche that almost never existed before. The good news is that SoLoMo has put them in a better position than ever to execute their plans.

Since, the difference made by SoLoMo in the industry is bound to take search engine optimization towards a unique era, it won’t come as a surprise if search engines too begin to parse, index and start to consider the use of maps in their searches. The truth is that as the search engine evolves, it will take on the shape of all the major designs, along with the bells and whistles that are needed in order to dislodge the current ranking indicators.

Getting Ahead: The Turnkey Regional SEO Strategy

If you are looking to get ahead with an SEO strategy, more and more strategies are moving towards targeting the local market. From there, SEOs are able to experiment and see what’s effective and what’s not in your locale and your vertical, which are two of the most important ingredients of putting together a local search engine optimization recipe, which will be necessary and effective to the growth of a local business.

On-Site Speedy Technical Repairs

Another interesting application in SEO marketing is the “Share of voice” application which stands on the threshold on being one of the most inclusive digital marketing trends of the past year. A “Share of voice” includes all the results that are found on a search page, and it is, getting more and more complicated with every passing day. The folks who work at IGO Mobile Marketing put together the following list to help us get a feel of the situation.

• Local caps are being used on site links.
• Latest advancements for Meta Data are being applied for the purpose of regional marketing.
• Demoting and de-indexing useless pages is becoming a common practice.
• Businesses are looking to maximize their presence on local directories and IYP.
• The management processes for reviews are being optimized regularly.
• Rich snippets are being used as testimonials or sentiments.

 

Off-Site: Natural vs. Regional Strategies.

When you examine the intersection between local and organic results, it can be difficult for many people. Adam Steele, of Lean Marketing has compiled a comprehensive guide to help people who are wondering about off-site outreach and on-site optimization.

The Results are as Follows:

• A large majority was dependent on being noticed on Google Maps.
• A strong association was found between the leading places in organic and also in pack results.
• Local factors were found to have a stronger influence on the primary place of organic searches.

Though it is not an in-depth analysis, these pointers are hugely beneficial when it comes to both local search results and pack results. What it means that these factors are heavily influencing organic search results, which means that it would help you in strengthening your place by using organic search methodologies. Adam Steele concluded by saying, “The ability to destroy the competition with organic search engine optimization may result in damaging your internet marketing campaign.”

Tips on Local Citation

As most of you might already know, building citations is completely different from building links, however, they do share one similar trait, and that is, if you violate citation building, it is result in you failing miserably in SEO. This section is going to give the readers some insight on citations and what they actually are and how one can leverage them in order to influence their ranking on the SERPs. But before we dive into it, it’s imperative that your listing is extremely important, be it on Google, Bing, Yahoo or even Apple.

When it comes to citations, the following are the 5 group of directories you should look at.

• Industry-specific directories (Avvo)
• Data-aggregators (LocalEze)
• Unstructured citations (blogs)
• Horizontal directories (Yelp)
• Region-specific directories (Denver.com/places)

Don’t consider paying any attention on PageRank or Moz values, you should be looking for the chance to plug up planned citations when it comes to your online business. A structured citation commonly consists of the acronym for name, address, and phone number information, also known as NAP. Apart from that, the overall quality of your website, and the accuracy of all the citations along with the relevancy of the particular directory will all end up going to be essential factors that will contribute to your rank on the SERPs.

Premium Tools for SEO Friendly Tactics!

SEO experts will always tell you that one of the best friends of an SEO is a great toolkit. So, in order for you to start your regional SEO efforts the following are some of the tools which you can use that will make an impact on your SEO results and help you completely crush the opposition.

In order to take advantage of the SEO experts you will have to start taking advantage of premium tools such as Sweet IQ, BrightEdge and Yext. These tools can help you get better marketing solutions and tracking in order to acquire better local content and geo-data, as well as marketing services.

You can also try the Freemium packages such as GetListed and WhiteSpark to help you start your local SEO directory. The free package which provides a building template for local citation is also a valuable asset when it comes to great SEO marketing tools.

Executive Resources

Chances are, sometimes you might not be in the mood for reading long articles or blogs, that’s because most of the time, all readers want is to find the meat on the things which they are interested in. The following are some of the best Infographics which will help local SEOs direct local traffic towards their website.

• How Importance is Local to Your Business
• Local Search Evolved
• 20 Marketing Statistics that Will Drive 2014
• Local SEO for Businesses
• Why Reviews Matter Most to Local Business

So, there you have it, all the information you will need to design and develop the perfect SEO strategy that will suit your business needs.