GUARANTEED PLACEMENT ON GOOGLE

Why You Should Watch Out for Offers that Seem Too Good to be True!

We see this all the time - a customer gets an email or call from someone telling them that they searched Google and couldn't find their business.  They may even guarantee results or offer low fees to get you hundreds of links. 

So we get asked, how do we respond to that? Do we offer low fees for a guaranteed number of links? No. Do we guarantee our results? No. A far more important question is, why not?   

Let's start with the fact that you’re responding to an unsolicited email or call.  Who do you think you’re talking to on the other end of the line or through email? Someone who really knows SEO ... someone who has your best interests at heart? 

No, you are talking to a spammer - the same type of person who regularly fills up your inbox with spam and otherwise makes a nuisance of themselves, and now you want to trust them with your business? In most cases they haven't even bothered to do a Google search for you – they’re sending you a form letter that just assumes you aren't showing up in search engines. 

They've even called and emailed us and told us that we weren't listed in the search engines! Gee, you sure about that? When they actually checked they were like "Oh, you guys actually are in the SEO business." 

But why not give them a try and pay them $100 or some other ridiculously low amount of money? After all, you think, they promised to get me 200 links, and you guys at SEO Ann Arbor said that links are good, right?

Wrong. Relevant links from high quality sites are good. Hundreds of links from low quality and non-relevant sites ... not so much. Especially when the sites are all from Hong Kong, India, and other foreign countries. They didn't mention that part, did they?  Not surprising. After all, they're spammers. They probably also didn't mention that non-relevant links from low quality sites will not do you any good whatsoever, and might even be harmful to your rankings. Ever hear of Google hell? That’s where Google puts sites that try to cheat the system, and trust us, you’ll be far from page one if you wind up in Google hell.

While you’re pondering that, think about how hard it will be to get those hundreds of links removed, especially when most or all of them are in foreign countries. If you find yourself in that situation, you'll have a real mess on your hands. Also consider this ... if getting your website listed on page one of Google was really that easy, why wouldn't everyone pay some spammer $100 and do the same thing? Remember, there are only ten available spots on page one, so it just can't be that simple. 

But they guaranteed me results!  What about that?  Let us let you in on a little secret. It’s not that hard to get listed on page one of Google for insignificant, non-competitive keywords, keywords that people hardly ever search for, keywords that won’t generate a significant amount of traffic for you. Who cares if you’re on page one for terms that nobody’s searching for?  So much for that guarantee.

Just in case we haven’t made enough of an impact yet, here are a few examples. Let’s say you own a business called Bob's Insect Removal. Wouldn't it be great if when people searched Google for “Bob's insect removal,” your site would show up on the first page?  Of course it would, but it turns out that that isn't too hard. After all, if people search Google for the name of your business, they already know who you are. It's great that those people can find you, but you aren't going to grow your business that way.  To get a wider audience, you need to attract new people – those who don't already know about you, but who are searching for the types of products and services you offer.

Ok, you think, what you’re saying makes sense, but they guaranteed me results for "insect removal" which is one of the services we offer. What about that? We agree, that sounds pretty good ... unless you find out that no one is searching for "insect removal."  Instead, it turns out, they may be searching for things like "pest control" or "exterminator" and other terms that actually generate traffic. Not all keywords are created equal, so if you find yourself on page one for terms that no one is searching for, it won’t help you much.   

A reputable SEO company will spend time researching your keywords to make sure that you’re focusing on high quality keywords that will actually generate results.  Getting listed on page one for high quality keywords would be something to crow about, but it’s going to take a lot of effort, and will likely cost far more than $100.  Remember, if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it!  Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

Consistency pays dividends.

SEO is kind of like cleaning your house, in the sense that if you only do it a few times a year, you'll wind up with nothing but a big mess on your hands.  Consistency is key, and we are here to help.  We can tell you everything that needs to be done, how to do it, and even help you do it.

If your website isn't listed number one on Google then the real question is, why aren't you getting started today?

See www.seoannarbor.com for more information.

Check adwords keyword tool

Once you've developed your list of key words and phrases and gotten the big picture with Google Trends, you're ready to find out what the millions of internet users are actually searching for in your subject area. One of the best ways to do that is to use the Keyword Tool offered by Google's Adwords. Because it's offered by Google, and because Google is by far the most-used search engine, you get up to the minute results showing every imaginable search term. It even includes mis-spellings and words you may not have thought of. Most importantly, the results show what people are actually searching for rather than what you may think they're searching for. This is truly helpful ... we think it's better to be rich than to be right.

Right?

For most topics, the keyword tool will give you a huge list (around 800 results). You can sort the list by most searched, local searches (this is the one we use most often, because it shows what people in the US are searching for), and several other very helpful criteria. It's easy to download this list into Excel or some other data management format to help you collate the results.

So how are you ever going to optimize your site for 800 words and phrases? You're not. Almost nobody has the resources to optimize that many terms, and the good news is that most of us will do very well by focusing on the top ten or so words and phrases (more about that in a future post).

By the way, opening an Adwords account is free. Just Google "Adwords." You'll find the Adwords site in the organic listings at this address: https://accounts.google.com/  Pretty neat, huh?

At this point you should have a better idea of which keywords to use, based on the amount of traffic that each one is generating.  Another tool to evaluate what keywords and phrases you should use is the Traffic Estimator within Google Adwords.  We'll talk more about that in a future post.

Check Google Trends

A good way to get a rough idea of how many people are searching for a particular word or phrase is to use Google Trends. Trends allows you to enter up to five words or phrases (separated by commas). Your results will show the relative number of people searching for each word or phrase.

Suppose you sell floor coverings and you're trying to decide whether to focus this month's online advertising on tile, plank flooring, bamboo, or carpet (we realize this example probably seems excessively simple if you're in the business, but we don't sell floor coverings!). You just type those words into Google Trends and you'll know which of them is being searched for most, which second, which third, and so forth. You'll have a good general understanding of the online trends (we're pretty sure that's what they call it "Trends").

There are a few things to keep in mind both about the value of Google Trends and about its limitations. Trends shows results for the entire English internet (though it does break those results down by geographic region), not necessarily for your city. It's more of a butter knife than a scalpel. It's also true that just because lots of people are searching for a particular term doesn't mean they're going to find your website. We'll talk more about how to become successful by avoiding the most searched-for terms, but for now we'd just like you to keep in mind that Trends is more of a tool for getting to know the big picture than it is for developing a detailed keyword list for your website.

One neat aspect of Google Trends that can be helpful for websites dealing with hot topics or current events is that it shows spikes in searches and correlates them with major news stories. That can be very helpful if you're researching when to emphasize certain words and phrases and what information to correllate them with to take advantage of surges in search numbers.

Once you've got an idea of the big picture, it's time to go to step 3: the Adwords Keyword Tool.

Developing a list of keywords

Nobody knows your business as well as you do! You spend every day working in your field (we hope!) selling your particular brand of widget and interacting with vendors and clients. So it's likely that you have a detailed understanding of the most active topics and subject areas and where the most exciting new trends can be found in your line of work. This is a good thing - it's what brings you success.

Usually.

In SEO, however, this specialized knowledge can be a handicap. We've found that our clients, even when they are great business people, tend to focus on trade language, insider topics, and those aspects of their business that are most relevant to them at the moment. They often neglect simple words and concepts more likely to appeal to the average consumer.

That's why research is so important - it helps you find out what actual consumers are looking for. Once you know the keywords and phrases being searched with the highest frequency, you can make sure you speak to your potential customers in a language they understand.

The first step in doing your keyword research is to come up with a list of words and phrases that relate to the thing you're offering or trying to sell. If you're selling used cars, you might include words like "used cars," "vehicles," "one owner," "low mileage," "economical," or "certified." If you're a veterinarian, you might want words like "vet," "dog," "cat," "animal hospital," or "pet care." If you're selling laxatives, well .... never mind.

You get the idea, right? The point is to come up with a healthy list of words related to your business. Get help from your employees. Ask your friends. Troll related websites. Take a few shots at it. When you have a list that seems fairly complete, go on to step 2: "Check Google Trends."

It all starts with research!

In real estate, its location, location, location!  In SEO it is research, research, research!

The first step in any significant SEO project is to determine what keywords you are trying to optimize.  Even if you think you have a pretty clear idea, it is always worth spending a little extra time up front researching and planning your approach.

Why?  Because all of this SEO stuff takes time, so you might as well get it right the first time.  Plus, you may not be as aware as you think you are of all of the various terms that people are searching for.  There are tools available to help you with this, so there is no reason not to take advantage of them.  You may be surprised at what people are actually searching for, and there is no sense in missing out on opportunities.

One place you can go (it actually may be the best place) is to Google Adwords program. The "keyword" tool they supply can tell you most of what you need to know when you are trying to decide what words to focus on.

Location information

Make sure that you include relevant location information on your pages if that is pertinent to your business.  For instance, while you might be happy to sell a widget to someone from Albuquerque, if the vast majority of your business comes from Ann Arbor, then make sure you include “Ann Arbor” along with your keywords and phrases.

If your business is more regional in nature, then make sure you include all of the cities, towns, and counties in the location description.  That way someone searching for Webberville Widgets will be more likely to find your site.

Including dozens of locations on each of your pages could possibly clutter up your site, but there are ways to do it where you can minimize the impact.  Try placing this information “below the fold” – that is at the very bottom of the page where it usually says “Web Design By ….” and the color changes from the color used in the content area to the background color of the page. Who cares if it is cluttered down below – very few people will ever scroll down to see it, but the search engines will take notice, and that after all, is the goal!

I should be doing this today!

I was talking to a client the other day who had just seen a presentation about SEO. He had been vaguely aware of SEO before, but the presentation really hit home. He was all excited afterward and had a bunch of questions for me, which I was more than happy to answer.

After answering his questions and explaining a bit more about how it all worked, he told me his big realization was that “I should be doing this today. If I don’t, some of my competitors will, meaning that I lose business.”

Exactly. So, are you on page one of Google? If not, then SEO is something that you should be doing today… Questions? SEO Ann Arbor can help!

16 Common SEO Words You Need to Know!

Algorithm – the complex and secret formula by which Google and the other search engines evaluate your website to decide how high (or low) to rank it.
Backlink – a link from a site other than your own back to your site. Generally, more of these are better, and the more prominent the site that provides the link, the more it boosts your Page rank.
Content – the actual words on your site related to your product, service, or subject.
Flash – a type of web programming that can create “flashy” graphics. Generally, the search engines have trouble evaluating sites with too much Flash.
html – stands for “hypertext markup language.” This is the workhouse code for websites, and should usually be the majority of code used.
Java – another programming language, commonly used to support utilities, games, and business applications.
Keyword – a word related to your product, service, or subject, especially one that has a high likelihood of being typed into a search engine.
Key phrase – a phrase related to your product, service, or subject, especially one that has a high likelihood of being typed into a search engine.
Link – a word, phrase, image, or button that take the web user to another web page, email, or download. Same as “hyperlink” in this context.
Meta Tag – text found in the source code for a web page that provides additional information for the search engines.
Page Title – found in the gray or blue space at the top of your browser window, this is the title of the particular page your are looking at.
Reciprocal Link – a link to your web page from another web page, given in return for a link that you provide to the other user.
SEO – “Search Engine Optimization.” It’s what SEO Ann Arbor does so well!
Search results – the list of website you get back when you do a search in Google, Yahoo! or one of the other search engines.
Submit – you should always submit a new website to Google and the other search engines. Their “web crawlers” will then review the site and begin including it in search results.
Three Way Linking – a method to “trick” the search engines by placing a link from site A to site B, a link from site B to site C, and a link from site C to site A. This is supposed to avoid having the benefits of backlink “canceled out” by simply linking back.
URL – “Uniform resource locator.” This is the actual address of your website on the web. An example might be http://seoannarbor.com/

Ignore Your Website and it will Go Away!

My Website Looks Really Good!

Okay, so you were trying to save money when you started your business. Your friend's wife does websites in her spare time using Weebly or Moonfruit, so you asked her to design yours, and it looks pretty good. It has a home page with some nice motion graphics, an "About Us" page, a page showing the services you provide, and a "Contact Us" page. You've even gotten a few compliments on it from friends.

So How Come I'm Not Getting Any Calls?

Now that you've been in business for a while, you notice that you get calls from referrals and a few from that expensive Yellow Pages ad, but hardly any from people who found you through your website. Where's the so-called magic of the world wide web? You know your site can be found because when you type the name of your business in the search bar of Google, it shows up right there on page one. Heck, you submitted the URL to Google yourself!

Google Beauty is More than Skin Deep

Assuming your site is at least somewhat appealing to your potential audience, chances are you’re not appearing on or near the first page of Google results. That’s because beauty (or popularity, actually) is more than skin deep for Google purposes. There’s a whole range of things going on that aren’t readily apparent to the casual viewer of your website. Some of these things are page titles, meta tags, headers, keyword rich text, clear syntactically correct html, robust content, and the number of other sites that link back to yours.

Robots are Searching for You as We Speak

The search engines like Google and Yahoo! have automatic software systems sometimes called “search engine robots” or “spiders” that constantly patrol the web, looking for information that tells them how popular a website is. All those things we mentioned above are important. So if your competitor’s website is equal to yours in almost every way, but their page titles are more effective, their site will appear above yours in the Google search results. If enough other sites have better SEO features than yours, your site might not appear until several pages down.

Page Two is Like Outer Space

Putting aside the pride you justifiably feel if your site appears on Google search results at all, think about the last time you used Google to find something. Did you even bother to look past the first page of results? What if you found something even somewhat relevant to your search on page one? You probably clicked on that link and never bothered to return to your search results. That’s what’s happening to your site. Very few people who are looking for your product or service are going to get past page one, and not every one who sees the listing for your site is going to click on it.

Page One is Where You Need to Be

One study found that 90% of searchers click on one of the listings on the first page, and 14% of searchers click on the #1 result! That means you should try everything in your power to get on page one, and if possible, at or near #1 on the first page. The bad news is that (1) everybody wants their website to be at number one, and (2) it takes a series of things done right to get there.
There is some good news, however, and the good news is that there are people (like SEO Ann Arbor) who know how to get your site moving toward page one, and perhaps on page one. Those people are trustworthy, they’re hard-working, and they’re real people who live and work in the Ann Arbor area. They’ve got a track record of success, and they are constantly studying the science of SEO to make sure their methods are at the cutting edge. Best of all, you can call them and get a free initial evaluation of your website! Don’t wait! If your website isn’t on page one of Google, contact SEO Ann Arbor today!

The One Minute Google Expert

By Nick Suino - SEO Ann arbor

As featured in the Oxford Property Management Newsletter

Business owners need to know the key concepts of marketing online. They are critical to making good decisions about how to spend your marketing dollars.
Google — if you understand nothing else about the internet, understand Google! Google is the largest search engine, and 80% of the world uses it to search for information, shopping, or leisure activities. When you search using Google, using a single word or a complete sentence, the results are often divided into three parts: organic search, Google Local, and sponsored search.
Organic search results appear on the left side of your browser window, occupying about four-fifths of the visual real estate. These are websites and documents that closely match your search. If you typed "commercial real estate ann arbor" you’d see a list of real estate and management companies. Websites closer to the top have more content related to your search.
Google Local results appear in the same results list. They usually contain the address of the business and a small balloon that corresponds to a location on a map. If you include geographic information in your search, Google provides results for that area.
Sponsored search results appear on the right side of and sometimes above the organic search results. These are ads businesses pay for in Google’s Adwords program. Th ey show up based on the match between your search terms and the advertiser’s keywords. When you click on an ad, the business is charged a fee from one cent to a few dollars. Next month, we’ll explain a bit about how you can improve your website’s position in the organic search results!

Why You Need SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

So you spent a bunch of money to have a website designed and built and you think it looks pretty good. You took a lot of pretty pictures and wrote some great text describing your business, and now you’re waiting for the clients to start rolling in.
Awesome!
Except, for most of us, the “rolling in” part never seems to happen. Sure, we get a call or two, maybe even find that a few people contact us to ask where we are or what our prices are. But for the vast majority of businesses, the end of the rainbow simply doesn’t point at the proverbial pot of gold. Want to know why?

Web Marketing Can Separate You from the Huge Crowd

There are many reasons, but the quickest answer is that, depending on who you ask, there are between 344 million and 644 million websites on the internet. That means almost no matter what product or service you offer, there are a LOT of other people in the world offering it, too. Unless you do something really unique or really spectacular, you’re going to have to find clients the old fashioned way – through personal contacts, networking, and word of mouth. That can make it tough to earn enough to pay your overhead.
Another reason – closely related to the sheer number of websites out there – is that consumers are overwhelmed by all the advertising they encounter every day, not just on the internet, but on TV and radio, in their reading material, on billboards, and surrounding them while shopping or sightseeing. If you want outstanding sales, you’ve got to find a way to stand out.

Page One of Google is the Best Place to be on the Search Engines

One way to stand out is to be sure that your website appears on or near page one when people search Google or one of the other search engines. As we stated above, there are millions of websites, but only around ten of them appear on page one when you do a search. As we pointed out in this article - What is Search Engine Optimization?
According to some experts, 95% of real traffic to websites comes from the results on page one of search engine results. That means if your business appears on page two, you are competing for the leftover 5% of potential customers. If this seems extreme, think about the last few times you searched for a product or service on the Internet. Like most of us, you probably went to Google and typed in a word or words that you thought would get you to the businesses you wanted. When you found one or two likely listings, did you keep scanning through the results? No? We don’t either, and most people who use search engines (which is almost everybody these days) click through to the first likely listing they see.

It May Not be Enough to Have a Website

Search engine optimization is the science and art of adding the right things to your site and in other places on the internet to help the search engines find out how important and relevant your website is. Even if your business is the only one in Ann Arbor offering purple and green widgets, there may be other businesses in other parts of Michigan or the US offering purple and green widgets, and if they’ve had competent SEO work done, they may well appear above your business in search engine results.

Web Marketing Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

We don’t want to assume that you’re like everybody else, but in our experience the vast majority of business owners overestimate the “natural” importance of their businesses on the internet. We probably notice this because we made the same mistake when we started out. You’re rightfully proud of your business and hopefully you’re optimistic about the chance to make millions this year, but the noise of advertising is getting louder and louder with each passing year. Great results on the internet are made, not born, and the process of making them is called SEO.

You Can Do All Your SEO Yourself … Maybe

You can do a lot of the things that an SEO expert will do for you, if you have the time. You can do research to determine which words and phrases people are most searching for when they look for products or services like yours. You can cull out the words and phrases that don’t relate exactly to what you’re offering. You can write keyword-rich text to include on your home page and on other critical pages on your website. You can include appropriate keywords in your URLs, page titles, meta-descriptions, and text. You can seek out partner websites to link back to your site. You can write cogent, keyword-related articles to post on your site.
You can create and manage social media campaigns on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtbue, Linkedin and Pinterest. You can check your HTML to make sure that it is error-free. You can ensure that you use CSS appropriately, and that your site is submitted to all the relevant search engines and listing places. You can manage your Google Places and other geographical listings. You can develop and manage mobile versions of your site or apps that help generate traffic for your business. And you can do any dozen or two of the many other things that ensure you a steady flow of potential customers for years to come.
Or not.

Do It Yourself SEO is a Great Idea for Some Businesses, and Terrible for Others

If you’re actually a lot better at doing the thing that your business does, and you make decent money while doing it, then you should probably consider hiring experts to do your web work, SEO, and social media management for you. We’re fond of saying, “If you have more time than money, do your own SEO. If you have more money than time, hire someone to do your SEO for you.” It turns out that most good business people can make a lot more money doing their thing than trying to do DIY SEO.
We do SEO everyday, and we’re pretty good at it. Our clients’ websites get to page one of Google, either quickly or over a reasonable period of time. Because we work with SEO every day, we know what to look for, and we have efficient ways of doing it. We’re also local, so if you have questions or concerns you can sit across the desk from us or call us on the phone (in the same time zone!) and we’ll make sure your questions are answered. But whatever you do yourself, or whoever you decide to hire, make sure you understand and use SEO. It can make all the difference to your success! If you’d like more information or have a few questions, feel free to call us today!