Category

Google

Dec 24
0
youtube channel optimization

11 Ways To Optimize Your Business YouTube Channel

By | Digital Marketing, Google, Social Media Marketing, Website

Before we begin, let us have a look at some interesting facts about YouTube.

  • Did you know? YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
  • 60% of people prefer online video platforms to live television.
  • YouTube is the third most visited site in the world after Google and Facebook.
  • The average mobile viewing session in this platform is more than forty minutes.
  • On an average, YouTube gets more than one billion views per day.
  • You can navigate YouTube in more than 70 languages.
  • The above figures are enough to show the importance of YouTube in digital marketing. So, if you do not own a YouTube video channel for your business yet, you should set up one soon. However, just setting up a channel is not going to work. You have to optimize it just like you optimize your business website. So, in this blog post, you will learn how to optimize your YouTube channel to improve reach and show up in its search, and suggested videos.

1. Plant a keyword into your channel name

On-page metadata in youtube works the same as it does on your business website. The positive impact of keywords usually depends on the place it is used. Keywords that are placed near the front of a title will obviously work like a magic. However, have you ever thought of adding a keyword in your channel name? It is one of the rarest shortcuts in search engine optimization.

For example, instead of ‘Business name,’ try ‘Business name + keyword.’ Make sure the keyword which you use is related to your industry, service, product or any item that you are well recognized with. SEO experts usually suggest to do keyword research and find out the best possible keyword that your visitors use to find the content you share on the video platform.

2. Fill out About Us section

About Us, a page is the most overlooked aspect of a YouTube channel. Even today business owners, marketers, digital marketing partners do not have a clear idea of what should be written in the About us section. Some say company history or business mission should be written, while others say previous achievements.

Not many people know that the first 48 characters of the About Us show up in the YouTube search results. Hence, filling out this section is the must. Doing so will help your visitors understand who you are and what you do. Furthermore, the same content helps the YouTube to put up the best snippet for the content.

The rest of the content present in the About Us page is equally important. This content will help you to do two jobs simultaneously. On one side, you can fully describe what your channel is all about, the type of content you produce, and the goals you want to achieve. On the other side, you can optimize the About Us section with the keywords. Make sure that your keywords match the content and appear natural. Do not overdo it, Google doesn’t like keyword stuffing.

Just in case, if you are not sure about keywords, you can use these tools to find them.

  • YouTube Analytics
  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics
  • Moz
  • SEMrush
  • Market Muse

3. Create long videos

The most important ranking signal is “video watch time” or “audience retention.” Watch time can be defined as the average time your viewers spend watching your videos. YouTube is more likely to promote your channel via search and recommended videos if you have a boost in your watch time. That is how this video sharing platform rewards a channel that creates good content.

You can improve your watch time if you publish videos that have a longer duration. Well, that is fundamental. Just length of the video is not the only factor to consider. Focus on the quality of the video too. Only if your videos are lengthy and filled with quality, people like to watch you. That is exactly how watch time is improved. Since SEO experts say that the average length of the videos in page one of YouTube is 14 minutes and 50 seconds, it is better to make videos that are in and around this length.

4. Concentrate on the first 15 seconds

In the previous point, we have discussed the watch time and how it impacts the visibility of your channel. If the viewers are hitting the back button after a couple of seconds, your watch time is destined to go low. As a result, the visibility of your YouTube channel shrinks. However, there is this tip or the best practice you can follow to avoid this issue.

Did you ever think what makes a viewer decide whether to hit the back button or continue watching the video? The answer is simple. Viewers have short attention time on Youtube. They will see your first fifteen seconds of your video, based on that experience they decide whether to stay or not. Therefore, the first 15 seconds of the videos play a crucial part. Make sure you have something in the first 10 to 20 seconds of the videos that glues your viewers.

Here are the best practices to improve watch time:
Preview: At the beginning of the video itself state what is your video about and what are your viewers going to gain from it. After seeing the preview, your viewers will be more likely to stick on the video for a longer period of time. For instance, you can add a 20-seconds section called “What you are going to learn in this episode?” at the beginning of a video.
Proof: Explain how your pitch has worked and back it up with previous success stories. For example, “Our clients have tried this strategy many times, and it worked.”
Preview: The preview which we have earlier talked is different from this one. Keep this preview bit lengthy compared to the earlier one and also be more specific. Here you should show fresh information that viewers have not seen before this point. For instance: “Here are the 10 ways to optimize your YouTube channel.”

5. Optimize your channel trailer

What is a channel trailer? It is a small video created to help visitors learn about a YouTube channel. This is something similar to movie trailers. Make sure you enable the channel trailer. Doing so will display the trailer automatically at the top of your YouTube channel Page for new visitors.

This trailer is a visual About Us of a Youtube page. Since it is not displayed for the already subscribed viewer, it is a great medium to convert your new visitors into subscribers. Here are the best practices you need to follow while creating a channel trailer:

  • Keep your channel trailer in between 30 to 90 seconds.
  • Give a quick intro of you and your channel.
  • Explain the type of videos you are going to post.
  • Include frequency and timing of your posting.
  • Ask to subscribe.

6. Post compelling thumbnail

Thumbnails act like a door to your videos. A viewer judges a channel based on many things such as business name, length of a video, quality of a video, channel trailer, and thumbnails. Since we already talked about the rest, let us discuss thumbnails at this point.

Youtube advertises other videos through thumbnails in its sidebar. So you need to put efforts to make your thumbnails unique and attractive. The same thing happens when your video is listed after a search is conducted on Youtube.

Youtube usually ranks a video with great thumbnail better than the others, even if the quality is not that high. This is because good thumbnails improve click-through rate, which is also a ranking factor. Here are some tips for creating thumbnails.

  • Use large texts, so that viewers can read.
  • Make use of arrow and other symbols.
  • Mark or highlight important region.
  • Add unexpected, surprising or unusual pictures related to the video.
  • Make sure picture quality is high.

7. Make playlists

Playlists help you to organize your YouTube channel. So, with the help of playlists try to keep the videos in a categorical format. Making playlist will improve your Youtube channel optimization efforts in multiple ways. Here we are mentioning some.

  • Provides more visibility for not so popular videos.
  • Increases the rank of a video.
  • Motivates you to create videos with better content.
  • Improves watch time sessions.
  • Enhances user experience by providing related videos.
  • Here are the steps you need to follow to create a playlist on Youtube.
  • Go to the video you want to add in a playlist.
  • Click on “add to” under the video.
  • Next, click on create a new playlist, and enter the name of the playlist.
  • Go through the privacy carefully.
  • Click on the create button.

8. Promote your videos on social media

Just ask yourself one simple question. How your customers will come to know about your YouTube channel and videos? The answer to this is social media marketing. Promoting your videos on social media is a part of SMM strategy. It will help you to target a new audience. As a result, the traffic from social media will flow towards your channel.

A platform such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and Pinterest have millions and millions of users. If you do it in the right way, you can utilize these platforms to improve ranking and subscribers. Here are some ways to utilize social media platforms.

  • Inform your followers about the upcoming videos.
  • Discuss the content in the videos in the comment section.
  • Collect the feedback to improve the quality of videos.
  • Release the trailer on social media, so that people will know when the video will be available and what it is about. In short, you can promote as well as create suspense among followers.
  • Engage your audience by asking a fun question, and also answers their questions.
  • Share the videos that have fewer numbers of views.
  • Repost the videos that were successful in the past, so that your new followers do not miss them.

9. Say keywords in the video

One of the lesser-known facts about Youtube videos is that content spoken in the video can technically impact the search engine ranking. Yes, Google has made some changes in its algorithm. Now the algorithm can crawl videos, images, and transcriptions. So, anything you say in the video can either positively or negatively influence your ranking.

Therefore, along with putting the keyword in the title of your video, you must say keywords throughout the video to ensure a higher ranking. Note that you do not overdo it. Let your keywords appear natural and match the content of the video. Saying the keyword numerous times is considered as stuffing, Google punishes such activities by lowering the ranking. So, read the Youtube guidelines, and stay on the safer side.

10. Gain user interaction signals

Along with watch time, video length, title, description and click through rate, user interaction is also an important ranking signal. These signals help search engines to understand how active your audience is and how much authority you have on a particular subject.

As a business owner, your job does not finish after creating high-quality content. In fact, your work begins with creating the fresh superior content. So, once you post the video, you should focus on generating user interaction signals. Here are some ways to do so:

  • Share the videos on Facebook, Twitter, and other similar platforms.
  • Join the conversation taking place in the comment section.
  • Link your videos to other videos of your channel.
  • Encourage your viewers to comment on their views and opinions.
  • Be gentle to criticism and publicly accept the mistakes committed.

11. Compelling language and year

Last but not least, language and year are the important ingredients to increase reach and views. Here is how they play their part in your Youtube success story.

The language you use plays a role of attracting the visitors and improving click-through rates. Along with the video quality, a compelling language used in the title is equally important. Make sure you write video titles in such a way that all the videos appear as a part of one collection.

The other smart method to improve click-through rate is by adding a year. For instance, “Places to visit in England, 2019” looks a lot better and up to date than just “Places to visit in England.” Although the year is irrelevant in this case, it still tells the viewers about the freshness of the content. As a result, viewers usually tend to click the video that has a year in its description.

Dec 16
0
google my business

Google My Business FAQs

By | Digital Marketing, Google, Online reputation, Website

Google My Business is a free tool for business owners to manage their online presence across Google Search and Google Maps. It helps your customers to find you when they search for a business like yours. Hence having a Google My Business page is an integral part of digital marketing. If you have not claimed your listing yet, do it now.

If you are a new business owner, or if you are new to Google My Business, you may have many questions. To answer all your queries, we are listing all the common Google My Business frequently asked questions, and answering them. Read this blog post, and get all the answers for your queries at one place. Here we go.

1. What is Google My Business Q&As?

Google wants to provide all the information at one place. A typical Google My Business page has information about opening and closing times, address, contact number, reviews, map, pictures, directions, link to the business website and business description. These are the most basic questions that potential customers try to find an answer before making a contact.

However, there can be some more questions that should be answered. For instance, whether the business has a parking space? Or is the business handicap friendly? So, Google has smartly come up with the GMB Q&As. Google My Business Questions and Answers are crowdsourced. In other words, anyone can question, and anyone can answer the question. The best part is that your customers will get to know your business more closely. In addition to that, you will know what are the consumer concerns and how to satisfy them.

2. How much does it cost?

Google My Business is absolutely free. Do not pay any kind of amount to any person. There are many scams that try to charge you for setting up your GMB page. Do not fall for these scams. Setting up Google My Business is as simple as creating a Facebook account. Adding the correct business name, phone number, address, description, pictures and videos, and other important details is all it takes to set up. The whole process is, simple, effortless, and less time-consuming. Even a person who is new to Google My Business can create his page within a couple of minutes.

3. Why do I need Google My Business If I already have my own website?

GMB is not a substitute for your website. Your website and Google My Business page, go hand in hand. So, having both a website and Google My business account can work in favor of you and improve your search engine optimization and other digital marketing efforts.

The main purpose of Google My Business is to give your local business a public identity and presence on Google, so that, when a customer searches for a business like yours reaches you. In simple words, the information you provide can appear on Google Search and Maps and help your website to get more exposure and customers. Since Google My Business costs nothing, there is no reason to ignore it.

4. Does Google My Business have a mobile app?

Yes, Google My Business has a mobile app, and it is free. And this is one of the reasons why people love GMB. The mobile app allows you to do everything you do in your web account. Here are the main features:
Edit or add new information directly through the Profile Editor.
Click photos and enhance them with a range of excellent filters, and post in your Profile.
Create posts for new events, offers, and launches.
Know who is interacting with your GMB profile, and continue the connection. You can do this by using Customer tab. A Customer tab allows you to respond to reviews, messages directly with customers.
So, it can be said that Google makes it easy to manage your Google My Business page by providing a free mobile application.

5. Do I need to create a business website?

No. It is not necessary to build a website to create a Google My Business page. However, it will be good if you own a website. Just like social media accounts or pages boost the visibility of your business website, Google My Business improves organic traffic.

The good news is that Google My Business offers you to generate a simple website for free. Google does this with the help of website builder, which uses the information present in Google My Business profile. Although this website will be a simple one, you can customize it to suit your business.

6. How do I manage multiple business locations?

This is one of the frequently asked Google My Business questions. Managing multiple business locations is easy with Google My Business. Based on the number of location, there are two methods. If there are few locations, you can set up every single location under one Google login. In case, if you have ten or more locations, you can use the bulk upload tool. A bulk upload tool is a tool which helps you to upload numerous business locations at once. If you want to upload or edit your locations, you can go to Google My Business Locations.

7. What should I do if my listing is claimed by someone else?

In rare cases, you can see a “someone else has already verified this listing” message when you try to verify your Google My Business listing. If this is the case, then you have nothing to worry. GMB gives you an option to reclaim your listing. All you need to do is a request for admin rights and submit a transfer of the ownership request. Google will try to contact the existing owner to verify the transfer. If the owner does not respond within the period of seven days, then the current owner is unverified, and a verification code is sent to confirm his or her identity.

8. I am an individual practitioner. Can I set up a Google My Business listing?

Yes, it is possible. In fact, Google My Business is more popular among local business and individual practitioners such as lawyers, tutors, doctors, dentists, real estate agents, carpenters, painters, electricians or plumbers. What if there are multiple practitioners who belong to a common organization at one location? Digital marketing experts usually advise creating a listing for all the practitioners separately, in such cases. Not doing so will affect the visibility of the individual practitioners of the same organization. As the result, having a listing will not serve the purpose of owning a listing.

9. Can I skip business address on Google as I work from home?

No, you cannot leave the address field blank. However, Google My Business provides an option that resolves this issue. That is you can hide your business address by listing your business as a service area. Google gives you an option to provide the areas and cities that you cover. You can also choose to remove a service area entirely. If you are not sure about the service area listed in the GMB listing, you can go now and update the location.

10. I am shifting to a new address. How to update?

In most cases, the new address might be occupied by a business before you. If this is the case, then you must find out who the business owner is and mark the listing as closed. Closing the old listing before updating your new address is important for two reasons. One, customers of old business will not mistake you for the old business in your new address. Two, your potential customers will contact you at the correct place. Once the address is changed, your other information can also change such as a phone number, and office hours. So update all the information.

What if your new address is not occupied by a former business? Well, this makes your work easy. The only thing you need to do is update your listing.

Dec 16
0
SEO Consultants

10 Questions to Ask When Hiring an SEO Consultant

By | Black Hat SEO, Google, Search Engine Optimizaion

Search engine optimization is a never-ending process. Therefore, before hiring an SEO agency one needs to go through its various aspects thoroughly and ask some important questions. Asking these simple yet vital questions will reveal a lot about your potential digital marketing partner. Furthermore, gathering extra information about a probable SEO partner will allow you to make a well-informed decision. Below are the top 10 questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant. Make sure you don’t forget to ask these questions to your SEO agency.

1. May I know your former and current clients?

Experienced SEO companies usually have a wide range of clients. Normally, these companies encourage you to contact their former and current clients. Actually, this is one of the best practices that search engine optimization agencies follow. If you are not encouraged to contact former clients, you can ask your potential SEO partner to give a list of their clients. If the agency agrees, then that is a good sign.

Go through the list and select the businesses that are relevant to you. Try to contact at least two clients and know their experience. Yes, reading reviews is also a good method. However, a client tends to write a short review. He might miss some important points. So, it is good to talk to former clients to know the pros and cons of a search engine optimization company in detail.

2. How will you improve my visibility?

This is the most important question to ask an SEO consultant before hiring. It is fundamental to know how your potential digital marketing partner is going to improve your search engine ranking. Knowing the work process will make it easy to judge the cost of the service. You can do the same thing for a couple of SEO agencies and judge them on the basis of both cost and SEO service.

Make sure the proposal includes an initial technical review of your site. This can avoid the issues that lower your search engine ranking. Furthermore, ask the details of both on-page optimization and off-page optimization. Go through the process carefully. Search engine optimization is huge. Each and every company follows its own process. Therefore, it makes sense to know the SEO process before joining the hands.

3. Read online reviews.

In the first point, we have discussed that asking questions to the former clients will help you know the subtle details of a company. However, it is not a good idea to depend solely on a couple of ex-clients. Furthermore, it is not viable to contact all the former clients. So it is good to read several reviews, along with contacting a couple of former clients.

Reading online reviews is one of the best and most favorite methods of people to do research on a company. You can know both positive and negative points of an SEO company in one place. Do not form an opinion just by a reading couple of reviews. Make sure you read enough reviews before making an opinion.

Furthermore, read the response of the SEO company to the online reviews. Rude, duplicate or no reply shows the unprofessional side of a company. In addition to that, do not expect an SEO company to have a clean online image. No matter how good a company is, it tends to have a couple of negative reviews at least. So, read both positive and bad reviews and make a well-informed decision.

4. Do you follow search engine guidelines?

There are two types of search engine optimization. They are black hat SEO and White hat SEO. Blackhat SEO involves aggressive SEO strategies, that usually violate search engine guidelines. Such techniques normally give quick results initially, but later become a cause for Google penalty. So it is a good idea to ask whether an SEO company follows search engine guidelines.

Never opt an SEO agency that does a black hat SEO. Normally, online reviews will let you know whether a company follows Google guidelines or not. Furthermore, a company which promises guaranteed results within a short period of time is more likely to use black hat tactics. Search engine optimization takes time. Do not expect a company to deliver the result in a week.

5. How will you improve local search results?

Having a top place in the local search engine results page is critical for small-business owners. So, if you own a small or local business, you should not forget to ask this question. Contact your SEO consultant and try to know who holds the expertise in the local search engine optimization, and how he or she is going to enhance local search results.

If you are going for local search engine optimization, you should expect your business to appear when someone nearby is searching for the products and services you sell. This is done by adding your town, and state to your site’s meta description and title tags. This is just one among several steps that an SEO firm takes to place you in the top position for a specific geographical area.

6. How does pricing work?

Normally, SEO is not a low-cost digital marketing method. The amount you spend on SEO will get multiplied and come back to you in form of sales. In order to get good results, you have to spend some money. However, it does not make sense to pay the amount for the SEO service without knowing its pricing structure.

Since the pricing of SEO is unpredictable, you may end up with a surprise bill. To avoid this ask the below questions regarding pricing:

  • How much do you charge?
  • Do you charge hourly, monthly, or do you have a package?
  • When should we have to pay?
  • Can you provide the details of work done and its cost?
  • Do I need to pay the amount in advance?
  • Can I pay at the end of every month?

7. How will you optimize content?

You might already know content is the most important ranking factor. It has two important jobs to do. Those are engaging visitors and impressing search engines. Rightfully, optimizing the content is the top-most aspect of the search engine optimization process. Below are the five important questions you need to ask.

  • Will you create new content?
  • How will you optimize our content?
  • Why content optimization is important?
  • Is it possible to use the existing content?
  • Will you create new landing pages and add content to it?
    The above-mentioned five questions will give all the details that you need to know about content optimization.

8. Can I meet the SEO, team?

Before choosing an SEO agency, one must make sure that his or her online presence is going in the safe hands. Usually, SEO companies send their top team to win new clients. This is done to make a good impression.

Ask if you can talk to the SEO team that is going to handle your project. You can establish a relationship with them so that you know what work is being done, and who is doing it. The other advantage of knowing the team is that you will not be in the dark. In some cases, projects are handled by not so good SEO team of an excellent SEO agency. So, make sure you are getting the best team. You can judge the team by the previous projects and work experience of the team members.

9. Are you working for our competitors?

It is not unusual for an SEO company to handle the project of the two competitors. This can be good news or bad news based on the orientation of the SEO agency. If the agency is inclined towards you, then you are going to beat your competitors. And if the agency is inclined towards your competitor, then you are going to lose the battle at the beginning itself.

This is because an SEO agency knows what works for you and your competitors? In most of the cases, the SEO firm will take the side of the party which pays more. So, it is better to not to opt an SEO agency which is already running an SEO campaign for your competitors.

10. How do you measure the success of an SEO campaign?

In the end, you want to know how successful a search engine optimization campaign was. However, it is not good to expect quick results. White hat SEO does not violate search engine rules. Hence it takes time to give fruitful results.

There are multiple ways to measure the success of a campaign. In most of the cases, an SEO firm uses search engine optimization metrics to measure the progress of an SEO campaign. Do not aim only for organic traffic. Aim for more conversions and sales too.

Dec 16
0
Google maps

8 Reasons Why Your Business Isn’t Showing In Google Maps

By | Google, Local SEO, Online reputation

You are a small-business owner. You know the importance of Google My Business page for Local SEO. So you have created a Google My Business account. Unfortunately, your business is not showing in Google Maps. Yes, this is so frustrating. This issue can be fixed easily.

There can be many reasons for not finding your business on Google Maps. Therefore, it is important to diagnose the problem to discover the cause. Only when you come to know the cause, you can resolve the issue. Hence, to help you out, we are listing top 8 reasons why your business is not appearing in Google Maps.

1. Your listing is unverified.

One of the most common and obvious reasons for not seeing your business is your Google My Business listing is not verified. So, how will you find whether your business is verified or not? It is quite simple. Open your browser and search your business name. You will find search results on the left side of the search engine results page, and on the right side, you will see your business profile.

In the right, where your business is displayed, you will find a “suggest an edit” link. All you need to do is see what is next to “suggest an edit” link. If you do not find anything next to this link, then that means your listing is verified. However, if you find “own this business?” link, then that means your business is not verified. Just in case, if your business is not verified, you can follow the below steps to verify your business.

One of the easiest methods for verifying your Google My Business Listing is via phone. It is easy, simple, and less time-consuming. Here we go.
Sign in to your Google My Business account.
Select the business you want to verify, and click on verify now.
Go for the “verify by the phone” option.
A code will be sent to your mobile, enter the same code.
Your business will be verified.

2. Your Google My Business page has a new address.

It is not uncommon to change the business location. An incorrect or old address can be a reason for not seeing your Google My Business listing on Google Maps. So, if you have recently changed your business locations, then log in to your Google My Business account and update your address. Here are the few steps you need to follow:
Sign in to your GMB account.
Go to the menu option and click info.
Next, click on the “address” field.
Enter your new address and click on the Apply button.
If Google doesn’t find your address, you will find a red set marker on the right side over the map. Click on it.
Drag this pin in the map and place it on the new address. You can make use of zoom in and zoom out features of Google Maps while doing so.
After pinpointing, click on OK. Google will review your edit and publish it.

3. Your Google My Business listing is suspended.

This is the other common reason for not seeing your local business on Google Maps. Yes, Google My Business can suspend your listing based on various factors. Here are the common reasons why Google suspends Google My Business listing.
Your site contains a forwarding URL.
Keyword stuffing.
You are a service area business and your address is not hidden.
You run a sensitive business.
You do not have a physical storefront.
You run a business at a place you don’t own.
Find what is the reason behind Google suspending your listing, and fix the issue. Sometimes, Google may suspend the listing based on quality issues. Contact Google Support for assistance and improve the standard of your Google My business listing. At times, this can be confusing. In such a case, it is always better to take professional help of a Local SEO agency.

4. You chose a wrong business category.

Choosing the precise business category really matters. Google wants to know what business category or categories your business falls in, so that, it can show your business to the right audience and help them. Make sure that you have selected the correct business categories for your business. If you have selected the wrong business category, make sure that you correct it. While adding the business category, ensure your first business category is the best match to your local business. Select a second business category only if it makes sense. Do not opt for multiple irrelevant categories in the hope of reaching more people. It can harm your online presence.

5. You have fake or paid reviews.

This issue is common among new business owners. New owners tend to establish an online reputation quickly. So, they adopt methods that violate Google Guidelines. One such method is to buy paid reviews or post fake reviews. Google has built strong algorithms to detect fake Google reviews. With time, these algorithms are becoming smarter and smarter. That is the reason why ORM experts suggest to gain positive online reviews naturally. Below are some proven methods to avoid negative Google reviews, and gain good Google reviews.
Provide an awesome customer service.
Encourage your happy customers to post a review.
Generate a positive feedback loop.
Resolve customer issues within time.
Run online reputation management campaigns.
Report and delete negative Google reviews.

6. You have not updated your business listing.

Normally, a person begins his business journey with something small. With time, both the business owner and the business go through various changes. A business owner tries to evolve the business to adopt the changes. During this process, a business owner should reflect these changes in the Google My Business page.

Setting up Google My Business Page, and adding all the necessary data is not enough. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to keep the information on the Google My Business page up to date. Google expects you to be active when it comes to updating the listing. Here are some of the best practices to follow.
Add a business description in the story section.
Create a logo of your business and add it to GMB account.
Post business images regularly.
Publish status updates.
Share a link to review page.
Engage the audience via content.

7. Poor web experience.

The primary goal of a search engine is to provide a superior web experience. Therefore, the web experience is a ranking factor. That is the reason why good website experience has become an integral part of search engine optimization. If your website provides a poor website experience, then do not expect Google to display your Google My Business listing in the Map pack. So, it is good to have a website that enhances search engine optimization and user experience. Here are some of the basic qualities your website needs to have.
Original high-quality content
Device friendly
Browser friendly
Simple and easy to understand navigation
Lightning speed
Security

8. Inaccurate business information.

Yes, inaccurate business information can become a reason for disappearing your business from the Google My Business listing. Make sure every single detail you add in your profile is accurate. Double check all information present on your Google My Business listing such as contact number, address, business hours, open and close days, labels, keywords, etc. are correct and up to date.

Google does not like Google My Business accounts that have incomplete or inaccurate information. You may lose your search engine ranking and the presence on Google Maps. It is better to not to take the control in your hand unless you know how local search engine optimization is done. Lack of knowledge can harm your both online reputation and online presence. Hence, it makes sense to hire a Local SEO agency to improve your online visibility, conversion rate, sales, and customer base.

Sep 15
0
Online Reputation Management

10 Online Reputation Management Tips For Your Business 

By | Digital Marketing, Google, Online reputation, Social Media

Online reputation is one of the most important pillars of any business. A good reputation helps a business in retaining existing customers and as well as gaining new customers. On the other hand, a poor reputation and make you lose the market to your competitors. Hence, it is really important for a business to maintain a solid online reputation. Therefore, in this blog post, we are going to present the top online reputation management tips to establish a strong reputation.

Tip 1: Know your audience

Let us start with something very important and basic. To maintain an online reputation you have to do several things such as:

  • Fulfilling the expectations
  • Engaging the audience
  • Creating suitable content.

To do the above-mentioned things it is really important to understand the audience. Stepping into online reputation management without knowing your audience can harm your reputation. Therefore, know your audience very well. Make sure that you have a good understanding about their likes, dislikes, behavior, expectations, interests and many other things. This is vital because both your online reputation and business revolve around these things. You cannot run a business without a clear picture of your audience.

Tip 2: Avoid online argument

This is one of the major mistakes that most of the businessmen do. You might be right and have every reason to argue, but arguments show the unprofessional side of a business or a brand. The best way to handle such situations is by giving a standard reply and taking the matter offline. Keep calm and deal with the customer problems professionally. Solving an issue successfully will not only turn an unhappy customer happy but also attracts new customers.

Tip 3: Be a good listener

Today, there are various online reputation tools available to know what people are talking about your brand. Read what others are talking about you and how is your reputation is getting shaped. Popular tools such as Mention tool and Google Alerts can serve this purpose. Listening to what is being said about your brand is beneficial in multiple ways.

  • Helps you in understanding of current brand image
  • Improves the problem-solving ability
  • Introduces new customers
  • Connects with the probable customers

Tip 4: Apologize

Saying we are sorry or apologizing, even when the mistake is not on your side is a smart thing to do. It absorbs the anger of an unhappy customer and resolves the issue most of the time. Furthermore, it shows that you value your customer and establish you as a professional in the minds of other customers. The worst thing to do here is to be defensive. This will not solve the issue, but instead it makes it bigger. Your focus should be on resolving the issue. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to explain or defend yourself. Apologize, take the issue offline and resolve it. That’s the best thing to do.

Tip 5: Keep an eye on your employees

When it comes to fake reviews, angry employees are the common source. Although there is nothing much you can do, taking some precautionary measures can minimize the risk. Make sure that you check out their social media profiles before hiring them. Use online reputation management tools such as Mention tool for knowing and understanding the corporate image of your employees. This will help you to identify the problem early. As the result, you can resolve an issue before it turns big.

Tip 6: Be almost everywhere

Today, we have various online platforms to reach people across the globe. Your brand should have an online presence at these platforms. Well, at least on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. If you have a B2B business, then Linkedin can be more helpful. If your business has more visual content, then prefer Pinterest, Flickr and Instagram. If you can create videos, Youtube and Vimeo are the best. The point here is to be there where your customer is. Customers are more likely to share their experiences on social media. Having an online presence can give a better option to deal with negative reviews.

Tip 7: Get rid of negative reviews

To be honest, getting rid of negative reviews is quite difficult. However, it is possible is some cases where the review violates the policy. Therefore, check, whether a review is violating any guidelines. In case of any violation, contact concern officials and appeal to remove them. Another good method of removing negative removes is to contact the person and make a request politely. Customers usually tend to change the bad reviews into good owns when approached respectfully.

Tip 8: Blog

You might already know that blogging plays an important role in digital marketing by enhancing search engine optimization. In addition to that, blogging can improve your online reputation. Yes, you read it right. It can give you a solid “home court” ground where you can respond to any serious assertions made about your brand if required. It gives you an opportunity to tell your side of the story. Be honest and transparent. Over explaining or over defending yourself can do more harm than good.

Tip 9: Dilute negative reviews

If you can’t remove negative Google reviews, then dilute them. Encourage your satisfied customer to leave a review. A happy customer is more likely to give a positive review. Gaining better reviews will minimize the impact of negative reviews. In addition to that couple of negative reviews makes your brand look more genuine and credible. Having only positive reviews can make the customers question the credibility of the reviews. Therefore, fake positive reviews are definitely a bad idea.

Tip 10: Be transparent

Well a good reputation cannot be earned without being transparent. Therefore, be transparent with your employees, customers and probable customers. One of the common things that are responsible for negative Google reviews is a mismatch between the expectation created, and the result delivered. Hence, be honest about your products, services, company, staff, etc., and avoid overhype. So as you set out on the journey of building a good online reputation, keep these ten things in mind.

Aug 24
0
Google Algorithm Update

Google’s August core search algorithm update

By | Google, Search Engine Optimizaion, Uncategorized

Danny Sullivan from Google has confirmed that Google has processed a significant algorithm update in the Google Search Results after many SEO people found a considerable difference in their keyword ranking.

Danny Sullivan on Twitter –  “When we have updates where there are specific things that may help, we do try to tell you that. With these, there is nothing specific to do — and we do think it’s actionable to understand that, in that hopefully people don’t try fixing things that aren’t really “broken.”

Danny also has confirmed that it was the one as similar to the board core algorithm update occurred on the March. He also retweeted the announcement he made during the March algorithm update when he tweeted the present August Core Search Algorithm update.

Google’s August core search algorithm updates

There are no such essential factors or changes made in this Google Algorithm update, some of them might have seen fluctuations in ranking due to some small elements like page speed or interstitials.

They can fix these easily by finding the reason for the change and bring back the ranking within a shorter period. With this core algorithm update, there are no ranking factors targeted except the content quality and pages quality in the Google Search results. The same has occurred in the last algorithm update made on March; Google stated that there was nothing wrong with many pages, they can focus on some specific factors to get their ranking back easily.

In this August Google Algorithm Update, Danny has confirmed the same, trying to provide more details to the website will get their rank back and there are no extra factors anyone needs to focus on this core google algorithm update.

Danny also has advised to focus on the content quality rather than thinking more broadly on the ranking factors, and he tweeted as

“Want to do better with a broad change? Have great content. Yeah, the same boring answer. However, if you want a better idea of what we consider great content, read our raters guidelines. That’s like almost 200 pages of things to consider: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf. “

Danny also commented on the tweet that Google can share many actionable pieces of stuff if they have made them, so you need not spend more time on fixing things. You can check out your quality of the content instead of changing things randomly.

Danny Tweeted like

“If we can share more actionable stuff with the large updates, we will. But, I hope telling people effectively that it is NOT X, Y or Z things is indeed helpful. And from last time, this is really key: https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/973241542180614144 ”

Apart from these, Japanese Google Webmaster team has also tweeted regarding the role of the broad core algorithm update that they have updated the core algorithm; people can change their content if they found any drops in the ranking factors, they advised not to change other factors as it only targeted quality pages and content.

Japanese Google Webmaster Team Tweet –

“This week we have updated a wide range of core algorithms. This is done several times a year, what you can do for the impact received by this update is to make high-quality content that the search users are searching for as always. For details, please see the English post.”

The present ranking tools and other SEO tools are not showcasing broad changes rather than like few other broad core google algorithm updates, maybe the update was slower roll out, and we have to wait for few days to check out the desirable changes in the keyword rankings.

Aug 24
0
Googles disavow tool

How to remove Toxic or Bad Links Penalty using Google Disavow Tool

By | Backlinks, Google, Link Building, Uncategorized

Bad or Toxic Link occurs due to the number of Google Webmaster Guidelines violating factors namely building unnatural low-quality backlinks to your website, making use of the link exchange schemes, if you buy links from untrustworthy and low-quality SEO Company, etc.

What to do when you find a bad link in your site?

Google Disavow Tools is the first thing everyone gets in their mind if they find a bad link on their website, so what will the Disavow tool do?

Will it clear your bad links on the website? No, they provide the instruction to the search algorithm that they should not make use of them or count them when analyzing a site.

Steps to use Disavow Tool to abolish the Toxic or Bad Links

 Proceed below to check out the steps you can try to diminish the toxic list from your website.

 1. Try Manually

Before trying out the Disavow tool you need to check for the possibilities to remove them manually by yourself, it means outreaching.

If you can contact someone to remove the links, you can email them and request for the removal of links, and this will help in complete removal of the bad links rather than keeping it hidden from search engines.

 2. Sorting out the Toxic Links

There are some characteristics to consider when finding the bad links. You need to ask the below questions if you doubt specific links of your website,

  • If your anchor text and keywords are unnatural.
  • If you do not find a relevant content based on the topic.
  • If the link is in the footer but hidden at the back of HTML.
  • If the links redirect to an unconnected or unrelated page.
  • In the case of the links moving to spammy websites.

You can make use of Search Consoles to find these toxic links, so here are some of the illustrations you can follow.

  • Login to Search Console and click on the website property you need to analyze.
  • Check for the “Search Traffic” option located on your sidebar menu once you have clicked on the property.
  • Clicking the “Search Traffic” will result in a set of options and from that click on the “Links to your Site.”
  • You will get a page with all of your links listed, and click on the “Who links the most” section and choose “More” from it.
  • You will get a set of links listed, and those will be the domains that are linking to your website. You can download them for the future reference.
  • You will find two buttons at the top namely “Download more sample links” and “Download latest links” which will help in finding the right unnatural links to your site.

Apart from the search console, you can also make use of other backlink explorers namely Ahrefs, Majestic, Open Site Explorer, etc. To find out the toxic links.

 3. Organize your Toxic Links

You need to submit the set of toxic links in .txt when you disavow links, so make sure you change the format and then submit.

Converting them is not tougher, you just need to copy and paste them in a google document, and from the file, option click on “Download as ” and choose the plain text option so that you will have your toxic links organized in a text file. Make sure that every link is in the separate line while submitting the text file to the disavow tool.

How to Make use of Disavow tool now?

You can visit here to reach the Disavow tool; you need to choose the preferred website and click on the Disavow links. You will be redirected to a page with a warning in highlighted yellow color that you are going to do something irreversible and essential.

Just click on the “Disavow Links” to provide the instruction to the search engine not to consider the links. Once you have clicked the link, the tool will ask you to upload the text file with your toxic links, just choose the file and submit them.

Yeah! The work is done, you have stopped the bad links to show up on the search results using the disavow tool. Make sure you are not making the same mistake again.

Aug 24
0
Google Webmaster Tools

How to add your Website to Google Webmaster Tools / Search Console

By | Google, Website, WordPress Website

Google Webmaster was later changed to Search Console by Google, and they are used to maintain and monitor your website existence in the Google Search Results.

To rank your site in Google Search Results, it’s not mandatory to sign up for a Search Console but doing so will help you in understanding every update on your website. You will be able to know how Google is looking for your site as well as how it optimize them in the search results in a legitimate way.

 Who can make use of Search Console?

Business owners, SEO Specialists, Digital Marketer, Site Administrator, App Developer, Web Developer, etc.

Why use Search Console?

  • To check out whether your site is getting accessed on Google Search Results.
  • Submit new content for fast and immediate crawling.
  • To remove content that you need not show them in the search results.
  • To know the visual engagement.
  • Maintaining your site from every aspect from search performance to significant disruption.
  • To resolve any spam issues or malware on your site when found.

What URL should you use on the Website Property?

Helps in recording the date only for the https version of your site, in this case, you need to add HTTP and https as two single versions to the search console.

How to Add your website to Google Search Console?

Proceed below to find out the simple steps through which you can add your website to the Search Console.

  1. You need to have a Google Account to sign up for a Search Console. If you do not have then first create a Gmail Account to proceed further.
  1. Once after creating a Google account, visit Search Console page and sign into your Google Account.
  1. Click on the Add a Property (red button) to add your site to the search console.
  1. You need to type your site URL into the box and then click on the Add button in blue color for further steps.
  1. You will get a new dialog up, click on the Alternate Methods and select the HTML Tag, copy the code.
  1. Go to your WordPress website, log in and choose the SEO from the Menu option on the left-hand side of your Dashboard.
  1. Click on the SEO to expand them for the options, choose general and click on the webmaster tools from the dialog box.
  1. You will find Google Verification code under Webmaster tools, paste the copied code from the Webmaster tools and click on save changes.
  1. Click verify on the Search Console once you have made the changes in your SEO part.

Yay! You have added your website to the Google Search Console now.

Aug 19
0
Google Analytics

Google Analytics and its widespread uses

By | Conversion Rate Optimization, Google, Google Analytics

A website is an instance of an organization that is represented on the internet for making a stand. This can be attained by fully keeping your website on track by analyzing every detail in your website from content to quality of the market.

Google Analytics is a free website analysis service of Google. Google Analytics helps you analyze the number of users that visit your website, their origin of visit, use of your website for them and even the area from which they visit. These data help you analyze the platform for online marketing of your website.
Google analytics is made possible by simply tracking the data by inserting a tracking code in your website, this will help you obtain optimum data and analyze it for future references.

Google analytics tracks data via a java code which has to be included in every page of the website; thereby the user’s activity information is collected in a database. The code also sets a cookie on each visitor’s computer, which provides anonymous information to create user profiles.

Uses of Google analytics for better website content:

  • To Collect Information of the best online campaign bringing Traffic:

Online campaign for marketing can be done in a variety of different methods. The basic formats are via E-mail, Social media marketing, interconnecting link, lead generation etc. out of these, it is vital to find out which is the best method that attracts more traffic to your website. Knowing this would give you an upper hand by which you can update your marketing techniques on the best platform.

  • To Identify the best and worst content in your page:

You can now determine which content in your website has many readers eagerly staying on the page without bouncing off. With the help of Site content-tracking information, you can identify those pages on which the visitors stay the longest with minimal bounce rates. Once this content is recognized, you can reciprocate the likeness of that content on to the other pages and become optimized. Similarly, you can identify the worst content in your page by analyzing the number of people leaving your website at a particular page and you can take steps accordingly to bring them back.

  • To Pinpoint specific searches made by visitors on your website:

Keyword presence is a mandatory function already available in your website. However, some visitors leave your page after failing to find certain specific things. You can now find out what they are by tracking their search results. If visitors refined their search and continued in your website, it implies they found out what they needed. This might not be the case every time, with the help of Site Search function, you can know about the content that was unavailable in your page that the readers searched for.  This will give you a better idea on the pages that need more specific information.

  • To determine the compatibility of E-commerce websites:

In every e-commerce website, there will be a multi-level check out process which needs to be evaluated constantly to verify the interest rate of customers. For example, if the customer gives up at the payment page, it means that the page is not yet customer friendly and is complicated for use. This will in turn help you update your page and test it again. If people leave before confirming their order, it means there is something wrong with the product’s price or reviews. This will pinpoint your area for improvement. This can be done by using the Goal Funnel function available. Fixing these issues can eventually lead to more sales.

Aug 01
0
Google SEO Tools

8 Essential Free Google SEO Tools For Your Website in 2018

By | Google, Google Analytics, Search Engine Optimizaion

You might already know that Google is the most popular search engine worldwide. It provides plenty of tools that make search engine optimization (SEO) easy. You can use these SEO tools to enhance your optimization efforts and bring the desired results. Here are the Eight free Google SEO tools for your website.

1. Google Trends

With time, everything changes, including the search terms. Yes, the search terms or keywords which people use to find some information, product or service on the Internet changes with time. Google Trends is an amazing tool to cope with this change. It gives you relevant trending searches, rising terms and regional interest for specific keywords.

2. Google Consumer Survey

We make websites for the consumers. Therefore, understanding the audience is the key part of any business. This free Google tool lets you take a survey and measure site satisfaction. Although free version limits you for the four questions, but still you can obtain important data and analyze user experience.

3. Google Search Console

Google Search Console, formally known as webmaster tools, is one of the best SEO tools we have. This free SEO tool can be helpful in multiple ways. Here are the basic things which you can do:
● See whether your website has a manual penalty
● Discover broken links
● Detect crawling issues
● View indexed pages
● And many more

4. Google Places For Business
Google places for business is another great search engine optimization tool. It will help to control the information that is displayed in Google Maps, which local results utilize. Google+ Business pages may look similar to Google Places, but Google Places For Business has a better interface, and also it manages the listing that pops up in the maps.

5. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most useful SEO tools for website analysis. Although there are many alternatives to Google Analytics available, but still it continues to be the popular one. Here are the things Google Analytics can help you with:
● Content Analysis
● Analysis of user experience
● Campaign results and many more

6. Google Analytics Content Experiments

Google Analytics Content Experiments is the best tools for testing, measuring, and optimizing your website. In other words, you can test content, layout, headings and many more to meet the perfection. Therefore, this SEO tool plays a vital role in conversion rate optimization.

7. Google Keyword Planner

Keywords are the search terms that people are using to search for something on a search engine like Google. Google Keyword Planner is an amazing free SEO tool. It can be used to find suitable and relevant keywords for your website. You can use these keywords and optimize the content on your website and blog.

8. Google Correlate

Picking up the right keywords really matters, and that’s where this tool will help you. Google Correlate keeps you ahead of your competitors. Just like other SEO tools mentioned in this list, Google correlate is also a free tool. It provides detailed information on your keywords and greatly helps in keyword research.