One of the most noticeable trends changing the way we optimize websites for search engine recognition is the use of Voice Search.  It is predicted that by the year 2020 more than thirty percent of all website sessions will be done without the use of a screen.  How is that possible, you ask?  Voice-only search offers the user the opportunity to “look” at the information contained on the web without scrolling through sites on a PC or mobile device.   Voice technology will be a key element in the success of online companies in the future.

What Exactly Is Voice Search Technology?

The most well-known source using voice technology is Amazon Alexa. 

Instead of typing keywords into a search query, users speak into a device.  The gadget then returns audio search results based on the spoken query.  The precision in which audio technology recognizes what a user is saying is unbelievable.  Although many of us are just being introduced to voice search technology it is not new.  Speech to text programs and voice dialing have been in use for years.

How Are Digital Marketing Efforts Being Affected by Voice Recognition?

The use of voice search will radically increase the search experience.  Search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo will begin to place a higher importance on voice search optimization.   As we know the point of SEO is to rank websites so that when users enter a search query, either by text or voice search, the most relevant content is pulled up first.  It is important that digital marketing experts account for both voice search optimization and traditional optimization in their websites.  Being that the two are very different it is crucial to understand that some factors that affect traditional rankings may or may not have a similar effect on voice searches.  Below are some tips to help balance the two very different search engine optimization strategies.

Tips for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search users are most often searching for a purpose, to complete a certain action. Most voice searchers want a song to play, a product to be purchased, or specific information to be gathered.  No matter your intention, Google uses a similar algorithm to rank sites which include the following:

Website Loading Speed

Google voice search, like traditional searches, favors websites that load quickly.  It is important that your site is responsive and functions properly on mobile devices.  All images used on the site need to be optimized, files must all be compressed, and other tasks that speed up traditional websites.

Write Content How You Speak

When a user searches for content on a PC or mobile device, they often use short phrases or long-tailed keywords, think of the phrases you use in bullet points.  If you want to find a roofer, many users will type in the keyword phrase “roofing contractors near me”.  However, in a voice search the user may ask “Who is the best roofing contractor to install my roof’.  For your content to be optimized correctly for both traditional SEO and voice search, it is crucial to include naturally sounding, long-tailed keywords in combination with short, snappy keywords.  Make the content easy to comprehend, content should be written at a 9th grade reading level or below for maximum comprehension.

  Aim for your website content to range between 1850 and 2500 with a combination of short and long form content.

Use Blocks of Content

Featured snippets are a summary of the website pages content.  A snippet will appear after paid advertising and before organic listings.  Content should be optimized and identifiable as a snippet.  It must summarize the entire pages information, be placed above the fold, and include fewer than 29 words.  Content that optimizes with header tags, lists, and bullet points are more easily read by search engines.  Featured snippets should include long-tailed keyword phrases.

Focus on Local Searches

Location based content accounts for over twenty-two percent of voice search queries.  Websites that consider local content and phrases including a “near me”, “close to me”, “within a couple of miles”, and so on.

Creative Programs and Systems, CPS, is an all-inclusive IT solutions company offering a variety of services including: managed IT services, IT consulting, residential computer services, custom programming, website design, iphone & android app development, and more.  More information can be found at https://cpsmi.com.

It is that time of the year where we all begin to reflect on the past year and look ahead to see what is coming on the horizon.  This is true in both our personal ventures and in business.  So much can change in just a years’ time, software is developed, processes are upgraded, and algorithms change.  It is crucial, especially when it comes to your business online that new trends in SEO and digital marketing are considered.  Get a jump start on your 2019 online marketing goals by considering what experts are labeling “the most important SEO trends of 2019”.

Who is your target audience?  What is their intent?

According to industry experts knowing, defining, and building your online marketing strategy around these two things will be more important than ever before. Understanding what people’s expectations are with any given search query and providing the answer/solution with your website and overall online presence is the most effective manner to meet your audiences need.  The goal for marketers is to stay ahead of people’s preferences because they can change quicker than can be imagined.  If you are successfully able to do this, Google will reward you with higher search engine placements and site visitors are more likely to invest in you. 

Search engines outside of Google

In 2019 experts agree that the importance of placement on Google, although high, will shift towards traffic coming in from a variety of sources and search engines.  The goal is to effectively drive traffic and look to engage people in outlets other than just websites. 

If your target audience, as defined above, are searching for apps then your website ranking will not be nearly as important as your rank in the app store.  If your audience is full or video viewers, then it is crucial that your videos appear towards the top of where they are being searched.  The main objective is to rank well on Google and engines that are being used by your audience. Drive traffic through all mediums that your audience is using.

AI: The importance of artificial intelligence

The use of structured data is becoming critical in SEO as the shift from mobile-first to AI-first continues.  The information gathered by AI must show a relationship and within a timely manner. AI processes text quickly and will bypass required information if it is taking too long to crawl the data as it is being presented. 

In 2019 the importance of structured data, schema, active and passive search behaviors and intent make the process and behaviors leading to the search a critical part of SEO.  As digital marketers we need to start diving deeper into the relationship between keywords, topics, and audience behavior in creating and implementing structured markup.  Using a combination of site architecture, meta data, site tags, and structured data allows marketers to give the proper signals to search engines to back up the sites topical and supportive content.

Generate incomparable content

In 2018 we learned that Google’s algorithm was focused mainly on the quality of the content and this will not change a whole lot in 2019.  It was found that websites that were able to provide in-depth, high quality content increased significantly in their placement on search engines. Websites with weak content, although previously ranked highly, dropped in placement on search engines and website visibility became minimal.  Website content writers must create content that is able to answer questions and solve users’ problems.  The best way to do this is through the creation of content that relates to, moves, and brings solutions to your target audience. 

Boost knowledge, become an expert, and create trust

Not only is the content important but quality is also determined in that the content fits into the context.  As marketers it is not likely any authority will be placed on your content if you have not proven to be an authority on the subject.  What this means to us is that we must work to leverage ourselves within the industry as an expert.  Back links and other important SEO measures must be received through sources that show expertise in areas we are looking to specialize in. 

Technical aspects of search engine placement

The complexity of technical SEO practices will not go away in 2019.  There are some key technical components that will continue to play a role in your placement including:

• Site Speed: The speed at which your website pages load on desktops and mobile devices will continue to play a role in rankings.  Your audience has about three seconds of patience.  In order to get the best loading speed possible for the pages on your website follow this advice:activate AMP on your pages, use HTTPS, move to PHP7, optimize, and use critical rendering paths.
• JavaScript: Websites are heavily Java Script driven. Be familiar with this popular programming language and how search engines work best with JavaScript driven websites.

• Optimization on-page

On-page site optimization hasn’t disappeared in its level of importance with the increase in elements that are now significant in search algorithms.  On-page optimization is not an aspect of SEO that can be put in place and forgotten.  Each and every quarter, on-page optimization should be reevaluated and modified as seen fit. 

• Prepare for the importance of voice search

The last decade of SEO has been all about mobile optimization although 2019 isn’t going to be full on voice search it is time for marketers to consider it and start to include voice strategies in their online marketing techniques.  Voice searching is an easy way to request answers to simple questions however might not yet be the best option for more complex needs. 

• Optimize for featured snippets & Google SERP features

Not only must your own website be optimized, in 2019 the Google experience must also be optimized for. Your sites exposure will come in a combination of ways, visibility is key.  Featured snippets should be programmed to answer questions to questions users will have related to your website.  These snippets could range from recipes, knowledge graphs, answer boxes, and who knows what else.  Programming these snippets into your site are guaranteed to see an increase in your organic traffic. 

Creative Programs and Systems, CPS, is an all-inclusive IT solutions company offering a variety of services including: managed IT services, IT consulting, residential computer services, custom programming,website design, iphone & android app development, and more.  More information can be found at https://cpsmi.com.

It is the question we are asked more than any other, “How do I get my website on the first page of Google?” and as we previously mentioned,there is more than one way to reach Googles front page.  In this installment we will look at gaining first page Google access both through paid ads and organic searches. 

 Let’s start by talking about paid advertising, more commonly known as Google Ads.  This is the quickest method in which companies can get their website to be viewed on page one of the Google search engine for particular keywords and phrases.  One of the easiest ways to describe Google Ads is to compare it to an auction.  Once you have created and set up a Google Ads account you will create bids for targeted keywords and phrases.    This bid is the amount you are willing to pay for ad positionings for your targeted keywords.  Pay per click as it is referred to allows higher bids to appear closer to the top of the page with all other elements being equivalent. 

There is a lot more that goes into paid per click advertising on Google.  This is however a very simplified approach to introducing the concept of paid advertising.  Website owners will choose a daily budget that they don’t want to go over and once this amount has been spent your ads will stop showing.  Ad scheduling helps to narrow down the time frame which your ads are shown.  It is important to note that you will have more ad impressions than ad clicks.  In pay per click advertising you are only paying for those clicks to your actual ad.  Setting up campaigns with quality ads and keywords will lead to a higher quality score, further enhancing the positioning of your ads.

There can be a large difference in campaign costs between industries.  For highly competitive industries such as construction, legal firms, and IT companies commonly have bids ranging from $1.00 up to $100.00. Paid advertising can be cost prohibitive especially when not properly managed. 

CPS has a Google Ads expert on staff.  It is common for companies to set up a Google Ads account without professional assistance. Google has made it very simple to sign up and create ads on their platform. Bing has a similar product as well. The problem is that if you don’t know what you are doing you can easily waste hundreds of dollars. 

I suggest all companies hire a professional that is certified in Google Ads to create and manage your account.  They will be able to optimize Google Ads and your company’s website to work together to create the best experience for your paid advertising campaigns.  Certified Google Ad specialists often charge a one-time account set up fee and monthly maintenance.  You can expect to easily make up the cost of professional services with the benefits you receive in increased traffic to the site within the first few months if not the first month. 

In conjunction with paid advertising it is important to have your site ranking organically on Google and other popular search engines.  Organic rankings are the listings on the SERP that are found underneath paid advertising and business listings.  Often more paid ads are seen again after organic listings.  Organic rankings cannot be bought and must come naturally. This is done through a practice known as Search Engine Optimization, SEO.  Many factors influence the positioning of your website on Google.  Some of those include:

Page Content Quality and Length

The pages throughout your website need to be full of content that is easy to read, informative, and unique. The on-page content must be beneficial to the reader.  Your content should be only as long as it can be while maintaining quality. Create content that your target audience will find useful.

Inbound Links Quantity and Quality

Google ranks your website higher than similar websites when other sites link to yours, especially large scaled, relevant websites.  When other websites, third party links, show acceptance by creating inbound links to your site Google sees that as a signal that your content is worthy and therefore can have a higher SERP.

Mobile Presence

With the increase in the number of people accessing the internet via smartphones and tablets, Google is placing mobile-friendly websites ahead of those that aren’t. Websites need to be optimized for mobile devices so that they are easy to navigate.  Users on all platforms should access the desired information with speed and ease.

Page Speed

No one notices the speed at which pages load unless they load slowly.  Well, no one except Google that is! Web pages must load quickly no matter what device they are being viewed on.  Patience is a virtue that most internet users don’t have therefore in order to provide the best sites possible within SERP the loading speed of pages is measured.

Keyword and Phrases Within Page Content

Another element that is considered important in SEO is using the keywords and phrases you desire ranking for within your sites on page and off page content.  These should be used not only within the content of the page but also the headers and meta details.  It is important to not overdo their usage as this is known as “keyword stuffing” which Google will penalize you for. Content should be written in language that is easy for humans to understand.  Keywords should be used sparingly and kept as natural sounding as possible.

Domain Name Authority

This is something new companies don’t have a lot of control over however, the longer you have owned a domain the better.  The more pages that contain your domain name along with quality content the better for ranking.  Using keywords within your domain can impact traffic and therefore rankings because users are more likely to click a relevant domain name vs a competitor’s domain that shows little relevance to the search.

Site Security

Google places priority on secure sites vs non-securesites.  A website should load via https.  Not only does Google give placement preference to secure sites, site visitors prefers to visit secure sites as well. This is true even if you are not obtaining critical information such as credit cards.  Google wants all sites to have an SSL installed in order to load website pages in a secure format.

Along with on page elements there are a number of off page features that, when done correctly, work to enhance your rankings on search engines. Some of these essential tasks involve:

Creating a Google My Business Listing

Business listings are one of the best FREE ways to“advertise” your business.  Take time to claim and optimize your business on Google (and other major searchengines).  Business listings are listed right after Google Ads, pay-per-click, and before organic searches on the SERP.  This listing allows clients to leave reviews, see your business on a local map, and shows all relevant business information like hours of operation, address, and more.

Create and Maintain a Blog

Blogging is one of the best ways to create a buzz about your company.  If you want to rank on Google,start a blog and post regular articles and company updates.  Blog ideas can be difficult to come up with,so my advice is to consider the top 5 questions customers would ask you if they were in front of you.  Then write a detailed answer to satisfy each of these questions, one blog post per questions.  Make sure to note the title of your blog; it is a crucial element to each blog post.

Quality Link Building

Quality link building can be done in a number of ways.  Guest article writing is one of the best ways that businesses can build links.  Write an article for a local paper, industry blog or magazine, or whatever reputable source you can find to publish you.  At the end of your article add in a bio with a link to your website and information about your company.

Submit your Business Information to Directories

Create listings of your business on local and industry directory sites.  Sites like Yelp, Foursquare,and Angie’s List, some of which charge a small fee, are great sources to create business listings.  Creating a healthy online profile through trusted directory domains send a trustworthy signal to search engines like Google.  If other sites trust yours this will only help your SERP.

Just remember that you are never done!  In order to get to the front page of search engines and maintain your placement it is critical to remain persistent in your efforts.  Staying one step ahead of the competition is what will ensure your placement at the top!

Creative Programs and Systems, CPS, is an all-inclusive IT solutions company offering a variety of services including: managed IT services, IT consulting, residential computer services, custom programming,website design, iphone & android app development, and more.  More information can be found at https://cpsmi.com.