On March 11th 2020, a good client got word that their biggest show of the year was being canceled in Frankfurt. I knew immediately that this was going to be bad. Only a week later, Covid-19 restrictions forced everyone to stay at home and every marketing plan for every client had to be quickly cancelled or retooled to weather the pandemic. All except one. The SEO plan.
For nearly 20 years we have been preaching the virtues of SEO (search engine optimization) and investing time in our clients’ websites each month to push them to the top of the Google rankings. I have always believed in the power of great SEO. And as we present our 2020 report cards to our leading clients it has become clear to me that the investment in SEO is the winning ticket. The results demonstrate an overall increase in website traffic and conversions. More sales leads than 2019!
What is great SEO? It is the natural search optimization of a website, a disciplined process of keyword research, competitive comparison and analytics that ultimately produce 300% to 400% of the traffic as its nearest competitor. It is the category champion website. The one that everyone goes to, not only because it’s first in the category listing, but because of why it is first. It is the website that has more useful content, conversion tables, how-to videos, calculators, pretty pictures, testimonials, easy checkout. Whatever it takes to bring prospects to the site, keep them on the site and convert them to customers.
The power of SEO is in attracting those who are looking for what you sell.
When done properly, SEO will give you a far higher ROI than PPC as there is no 'media spend' and it will most likely become your main source of traffic and business growth. You may have a website that has been optimized and is currently ranking for a number of keyword phrases. The key to success is to develop an SEO strategy that will attract the customers you want most and who, in turn, will seek what you offer.
Why are SEO rankings so important?
- Google uses over 200 factors to rank search results – but in the end it is the website that visitors like the most when searching for a particular keyword that earns the top ranking – so user experience really matters
- 97% of consumers use Internet when researching goods & services
- Being found fast is an important part of the user experience
- 55.2 % of search engine traffic goes to top 3 Ranked Results
- 28.5 % of search engine traffic goes to the Top Ranked Result
- 15.7 % of search engine traffic goes to the 2nd Ranked Result
- 11% of search engine traffic goes to the 3rd Ranked Result
- 70.4% of search engine traffic goes to the top 5 Results
- 88% of search engine traffic goes to the top 10 Results
Best Practices
- Choose keywords that have some competitive advantage and on which you can deliver
- Use the Google keyword tools to prioritize specific words you wish to optimize
- Dedicate a full website page or pages to each keyword phrase you want to rank high on
- Monitor competitive rankings on a weekly basis using SEO analytic tools such as MOZ or SEM Rush to track and analyze competitive rankings for every keyword
- Create content for each keyword that justifies a rank improvement
- Product information and specifications
- Comparison charts, tables & calculators will keep visitors on a page longer
- YouTube videos can be a good way to bring visitors to a page
- Use alternative video hosts such a Vimeo to play videos on your page
- Do not use YouTube for on-page videos or risk losing visitors to YouTube
- Optimize all images with alt tags that support your SEO strategy
- Align all onsite on-page optimization such as the SEO Title, Meta Description, Header Tags and content in support of the keyword strategy for the page
- Use Google Search Console to discover potential new keywords to optimize
- Use Competitive intelligence tools such as Spyfu to identity new keywords used by competitors to attract more traffic
- Eliminate the use of irrelevant keywords that produce a high bounce rate
- Enhance the user experience with a content structure that starts simple (for human eyes) and then goes into more depth to attract the Google search bots
- Beware of web providers who over promise and guarantee performance. If they are using Black Hat techniques your site could be punished with dramatically reduced rankings or even being permanently removed from their index.
Young Company has been providing SEO services since 2003, long before Google Analytics was on the scene. The success our clients receive has always been a result of focusing our effort and talent in telling their stories their way, and in a manner that compels top rankings. https://youngcompany.com/digital-marketing-orange-county-seo-services.
Please feel free to reach me anytime at byoung@youngcompany.com or 949-438-2722.
Client Spotlight: MWS
With the largest, most varied inventory of magnet wire and specialty wire found anywhere, MWS is preparing to move to a brand new facility in Oxnard where they draw, shape, twist and insulate wire for aerospace, automotive, computer, electronics and medical, musical instrument and telecommunications customers worldwide. For over 50 years, MWS has operated under the simple premise that total customer satisfaction is the key to its long-term success and growth. Congratulations MWS Wire!
Team Member Spotlight: Evan Jewell
