Why Isn’t My Website On the First Page of Google?

It’s a slippery slope: most people know that they want their website to show up on the first page of search results, and they don’t understand why they aren’t there already. When potential clients come to me and tell me that they’ve done SEO work to their website already – whether they’ve done it themselves or someone has done it for them – I start off by asking them a few questions to see where their website SEO actually stands.   1)    Do you have specific keywords that you’re trying to rank for? 2)    How much time has passed since…read more >

Why Do I Need a Sitemap?

Brace yourself, I'm going to tell you something unfathomable: Google doesn't know everything. Well, ok, maybe they DO know everything, but they don't know everything right away. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you need a sitemap. What's a sitemap? A sitemap is basically a map of your website that is readable by search engines. If you think about it, the menu on your website that shows what all your pages are about is map of sorts for your site's visitors. A sitemap is similar, but it's made specifically for search engines to read and understand what's on your…read more >

Website SEO: The Importance of Quality, Readable Content

This post is part of a series where I go into detail about the items in the initial analysis I perform for any potential client, allowing them to better understand the pieces that need to be in place to improve their website's SEO. Last week I talked about how to make changes to your website's meta data; this week I'm going to talk about the importance of good content. When I say "content," I am talking about pictures, videos and written words - articles, blogs, etc. All of these pieces are important as far as user engagement is concerned: you…read more >

Adding Meta Data to your Website for SEO

Last week I talked about the in-depth analysis I do for your website. This is going to be the first in a mini-series where I break down the items in the analysis and give you more information about them.  This week, I’ll be talking about meta data. First off, changing the meta title and meta description of each page on your website is important because that is the information that will most likely show up in a search result, like so:     It is true that Google and other search engines may not always use the meta description (the…read more >

What does an SEO Specialist Do Part 2: The Initial Analysis

In my last blog post I started to unpack what a search engine specialist does, starting with some of the very basics. The in-depth analysis of your website is an important part of the puzzle, and one that will take up several blog posts in its own right.   I do an in-depth analysis of your website to tell you what needs to be changed/edited/fixed or improved.   Although I can do an analysis of your website without having access to your website’s administrative login and without looking at Google Analytics (if you don’t already have it set up), access…read more >

What does a Search Engine Optimization Specialist Do?

I get this question a lot – although actually, what I really get are people coming to me who hired someone to do SEO for them who are pretty sure they just took their money and didn’t do anything for them. I don’t know if it’s just my industry, or I just hear about it more with SEO because I’m actually working in my industry, but there seem to be a lot of people who offer SEO services who either don’t know what they’re doing or don’t know how to manage the expectations of their clients. Yes, there are definitely…read more >

How to Pick Keywords for Your Website

  If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times: “We want to rank on the first page of Google for {this term.} Can you help us do that?” A lot of times, I can. Even more times, however, I’m going to do some research and come back to you and say, “You may want to rank for that term, but I don’t recommend it, because no one is searching for it.”   Recently I’ve started working with more business owners who offer alternative healthcare options: Naturopaths, acupuncturists, energy healers, reiki practitioners, etc. This sect of healthcare is…read more >

What is Backlinking?

People often ask me if I do backlinking. For anyone who doesn’t know what that means, or how it’s related to SEO, guess what? You’re not alone.   I know what backlinking means – geez, I need to, it’s my job – but I really hate the term. Although its meaning has changed, I first started hearing the term in the midst of when creating SPAM was considered a good SEO practice – when it was ok to go onto Yahoo! Answers and tell whoever would listen that Acme SEO was the best place to go to get your question…read more >

Social Network Marketing Tips Part 3: Resources

After having done a lot of research on social network marketing, I realized that I needed to be keeping track of where I found my information so I could refer back to it. Here's a list of resources that will help you better hone in on using social media to promote your business, both through regular business accounts and through paid advertising:   General   Tools to help manage social networking 10 Mistakes to Avoid with Social Network Marketing 5 Ways to Best Use Social Network Marketing How to get traffic from social network marketing – also a lot of…read more >

Social Network Marketing Tips Part 2

Last time I posted some general tips on how better to leverage Facebook to increase your social network marketing presence. Here are some more tips -- some apply not just to Facebook, but also other social media sites, such as Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.   Facebook interaction guidelines   ♦          “Like” and comment on other relevant pages as your page. ♦          Be sure you’re posting the majority of your content on your page as your page instead of as you personally. ♦          Ask your customers and friends to “like” your Facebook page and to leave recommendations for you. Always ask…read more >