Search Engine Optimization Archives - Page 13 of 14

March 18, 2021 by David Henderson

The featured snippet is the most coveted position pursued by search engine optimization Kitchener companies. Not every search option returns a featured snippet, but the most popular search questions do. Companies love to rank for this position because it provides the opportunity to distinguish themselves from competitors. It also confirms that they are the subject matter experts on the specific topic, which customers begin to notice when this ranking is consistent across related queries.

What Is a Google Snippet?

Featured snippets are the highlighted answers in search position zero. They illustrate what Google decides is the best answer to a query. Google displays this information without the need for a potential client to click on your website while still crediting you for the information.

Google also provides rich text associated with every other result provided. It increasingly highlights the specific text on web pages that answer a question, even if it does not rank in search position zero.

What Are the Different Types?

Google provides four main types of featured snippets. The main difference between all four is formatting.

Listicles

If you write a listicle article, Google might use the headings from the list to answer someone’s questions. For example, say you write an article on how to change a tire. Each step and its subheading would be another item on Google’s list.

Tables

Google might go a step further with formatting and present the information in the form of a table. The table does not always have visible lines, so you might confuse it with lists. A common query Google responds to with this format is when you look for the annual weather averages of an area. It provides a table showing the month, high and low temperatures and the inches of rain received.

Paragraphs

Not surprisingly, most featured snippets take the form of regular paragraphs. In some cases, Google will string together information from different paragraphs to create a new paragraph that answers the specific query.

Video

Sometimes, the best answer to your question is a video. Marketers believe that videos will become more prevalent as featured snippets, over time. Videos are most likely to rank in featured snippets for how-to queries, such as, “How to change windshield wipers”.

Is It Worth Ranking for This?

Some companies believe ranking for a featured snippet does not provide any real benefits to the business beyond exposure. After all, if clients can see the answer without clicking on the website, why would they visit? In spite of these concerns, one study showed that when companies rank for search position zero, they increased organic traffic by roughly 516%.

Another important reason to rank for featured snippets is the prevalence of voice search. Virtual assistants, such as Google Home, Siri and Alexa, have popularized the practice of asking Google questions by speaking to it.

These answers tend to come from featured snippets and rich text. Voice search does not immediately lead to sales conversions, but Google credits the website for the information. Over time, consumers notice when they hear the same subject matter expert’s name over and over again.

What Can I Do To Get Started?

The high competition for the featured snippet position makes it difficult to rank for, but that depends on the keywords. When you work with our search engine optimization Kitchener specialists, they complete keyword research and determine which keywords are easiest for you to rank for. Niche keywords, especially long-tail keywords are worth aiming for when the competition is too stiff for more popular search terms.

Are you looking for new ways to improve your website ranking performance? Unwired Web Solution can help you outrank your competitors and convert current onlookers into your best customers. Contact us for a quote.

February 17, 2021 by David Henderson

The internet is a crowded environment. It takes planning and effort to make sure that your website gets noticed. For the past three decades, search engines have been cataloging content on the web, and content providers have been looking for ways to ensure their sites land on the first page of the search results. Search engine optimization is a set of processes that seek to improve site visibility and rankings for search results that are relevant.

These days, Google algorithms direct traffic on busy internet highways. Keeping up with the ever-changing methods the company uses to determine what gets seen in search results is not easy. Unfortunately, any changes they make ultimately alter optimization strategies. This leads many businesses to hire an SEO company to do the work for them. While it is important to get people to visit your site, there is more to a good SEO strategy than simply getting views.

Prioritize Your Users’ Experience

In 2021, optimizing your content so that it turns up in relevant search results is going to take more than just getting people to your website. Getting visitors to stay on your site is imperative to good rankings. The quicker they leave, the lower your position falls. There are multiple ways you can create content that is engaging enough to make people want to stick around. Your optimization strategy should utilize more than one method, but each should seek to place the primary focus on user experience. Possible strategies include:

Write content that is centred on medium-tail keywords, and make sure that that page is high quality. Make it meaningful and relevant and get rid of the fluff.
More people are inclined to watch a video than read a post, so take advantage of opportunities to create engaging video content.
Optimize your content to show up as a featured snippet by incorporating keywords, lists, images and graphs into your content.
Write long-form content that has some staying power, rather than providing information that is likely to change in a few months’ time.
Make sure that your site is mobile-friendly. So many people use their devices these days that a mobile site is considered the primary site, rather than the desktop version.

Perhaps it seems intuitive that user experience is important to finding and keeping customers. It has always been the key to any successful business. The internet and search engines have altered marketing strategies, but, in the end, SEO rankings are circling back around to placing importance on user experience to determine which sites rank high and which sink into the depths of search results.

Familiarize Yourself With Google’s RankBrain

So, what’s driving the shift in SEO strategies? Simply said, it’s Google. The company utilizes a number of elements in its ranking algorithm, and RankBrain is one of them. Google now uses the “learning” capabilities of artificial intelligence to determine what ultimately shows up on search results pages.

This AI is capable of ascertaining probable user intent based on the way people interact with the results that turn up for a given search query. If a user clicks on a link for your site, and then immediately leaves, it tells the AI that your site wasn’t what that person was looking for when they entered the search terms. When they spend more time on your page, RankBrain takes it to mean that you are providing them the information they are seeking, which, in turn, boosts your ranking, drives more traffic to your page and increases your lead generation and sales.

Give Your Business a Boost

Keeping up with the ever-shifting landscape of SEO is a full-time endeavor. Unwired Web Solutions makes it our business to stay on top of the newest trends in marketing. Our SEO services provide you with the most up-to-date approaches to optimizing your site, driving more organic traffic to your online properties. Take the next step in growing your business by contacting us today!

February 5, 2021 by David Henderson

With a new year comes all new trends in the world of search engine optimization (SEO). But for many business owners, SEO can be a confusing world filled with concepts that they may not be familiar with. However, by simply getting to know the top 5 trends for the new year, you can stay ahead of your competitors. For those looking for professional, reliable services for search engine optimization in Kitchener, Unwired Web Solutions has got you covered. Our team of leading experts can help improve your search results and expand your customer base.

A great search engine optimization strategy should be relevant and stay on top of trends. By taking a look at what is ahead for SEO professionals in 2021, you can get a good idea of what your business may be lacking. We have asked our top SEO experts what the top 5 trends will be for the new year.

1. Focus on The User

While this is not a new concept, it is important to refocus and fine-tune your approach as searcher behaviour and intent changes all the time. Getting into the head of your customers and understanding the nature of why people search the way they do can greatly benefit your business.

Part of this means that SEO pros will start to transition away from traditional practices that will hold less value as the algorithms get stronger. Writing meta descriptions for every single page will become a thing of the past while more focus will be put on better understanding of what is happening within the search engine results page and searcher intent.

By paying closer attention to search results, SEO pros can get a leg up in creating content in the way that searchers desire to consume it. It is now more important than ever to focus on learning what a user is looking for and learning how to fill their needs.

2. Mobile-Friendly Sites

Mobile-friendly sites are becoming more important than ever since Google rolled out mobile-first indexing in 2019. This means that the search engine looks primarily at the mobile version of a website, considering this the “primary” version instead of the desktop version. Moving forward, it is estimated that nearly 73% of internet users will access the internet solely via mobile devices by 2025. By checking how effective your mobile site is and monitoring your mobile usability, you will have better chances of staying on top of Google’s search results.

3. Utilize Video

For those who have been avoiding video, you better get over being camera shy. Online video seems to be the way forward. YouTube now has over 1 billion users and it is growing daily. According to Cisco, video is projected to surpass all other content forms in terms of consumption, so if you want to get your information heard, you better fire up the camera!

But video alone will not get you ranking on Google. Your videos must be optimized with a video channel name and description. Keep in mind that your description should not be crammed with keywords but provide a user-friendly overview of what your channel is all about.

4. Optimize for Voice Search

Voice search technology has come a long way thanks to innovations such as Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and Amazon Alexa. By 2022 it is estimated that 55% of all households will own a smart speaker.

Voice search is now something that needs to be considered for keyword creation. When people do a voice search, they tend to use longer more natural-sounding phrasing. For example, when using voice search a person may say “What are the new fashion trends for 2021?” by they may type the words, “new fashion trends 2021.” Keeping the way people will be searching in future in mind when creating keywords will help immensely with SEO.

5. Refer to the EAT Principal

More than ever, quality content is critical for ranking success. But what is “quality” in Google’s eyes? The easiest way to make sure your website stacks up is to refer to the EAT principal: expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google looks at these factors to decide if a webpage has useful, quality content.

The best way to ensure your site has quality content is to make sure you are publishing topics that your client values. Be sure to back up any claims you make with statistics and facts. Linking to reputable sites such as .edu and .gov and having credible sites linking back to yours are also ways to fulfill the EAT criteria.

By following these top 5 steps you may be able to improve your SEO and attract more customers to your site. Having a knowledgeable team in charge of SEO can ensure these new trends are applied to your site and stay on top of search results to stay relevant in your field. If you are looking for search engine optimization in Kitchener, contact Unwired Web Solutions and talk to one of our experts today.

December 22, 2020 by David Henderson

When was the last time you did an online search to answer a question or solve a problem? You probably did so at least once today. There’s also a fairly good chance that you found your answers on a blog. Every day, your customers are online doing exactly the same thing. Don’t you want to publish an article that gets their attention? Online marketing services can help make this possible.

Foundation for SEO

Search engine optimization requires content to thrive. Marketers then work hard to ensure this content ranks highly in search results and attracts your most likely customers. Website copy can achieve this, but this information is static. To truly improve your website’s discoverability, you need more content and you need to find room to fit the right keywords on your website. Blogging helps make this happen.

Traffic Driver

Did you know companies that publish blogs regularly attract far more traffic than those that do not? Hubspot attributes this to the fact that every new blog post is another indexed page for your website. This ties back to the importance of organic traffic from SEO. Blogs also improve the quality of readers you attract, because blogs tend to attract people looking for solutions.

Compounded Value

Business owners often feel discouraged when blog posts do not garner a lot of traffic on the first day or within the first week. However, that blog will continue to attract traffic for some time to come. Because of this, older blog posts tend to outperform newer ones, with exceptions for those that go viral. Hubspot estimates that 90% of its leads come from blogs published months before.

Passive Investment

You have likely heard all the perks of passive income. You do the work once and it continues to feed your bottom line for some to come. Blogs work in the same way. While you are sleeping at night or off on the weekends, the blog posts you published continue to work on your behalf. This organic traffic is much more cost-effective than relying solely on expensive ads and labour-intensive marketing strategies.

Branding

In the early stages of business, you may not feel as drawn to the concept of branding. However, as your business grows, you see more and more the importance of distinguishing yourself from your competitors. Blogs give you the opportunity to create and maintain a certain core message or tone. It also gives your company and its key workforce the opportunity to showcase their expertise.

Engagement

Creating content that informs is crucial, but creating content that engages is of equal importance. The more people like, share or comment on a blog post, the more value it earns for search engine ranking. It also makes your content more memorable and improves the chances of more people seeing it. Your blog post may even go viral.

Customer Experience

All around the world, more companies are investing in creating a good customer experience. Customer support is the primary tool companies rely on, but content offers a great opportunity as well. Companies often turn common customer questions into articles. They can then link to these expanded answers via the use of the “Learn More” buttons.

Partnership

Not all blogs published by your brand will live on your website. Sometimes, you earn the opportunity to write for major publications or popular blogs. This can help you tap into the overlapping audience of more established blogs. If the admins allow you to use do-follow links, it also helps your SEO strategy through link-building.

Blogging is a core component of online marketing services and compliments most digital strategies. If you would love to see it become a part of your own, contact Unwired Web Solutions today.

November 18, 2020 by David Henderson

An important aspect of providing search engine optimization services is forming part of the core team business owners rely on during website migration. This stems from the fact that any changes to a website can affect how well it ranks in search engines. So, before you migrate your website, here are a few things to help you create or improve your checklist for protecting your SEO.

1. Determine the Type of Site Migration

Every type or example of site migration comes with its own unique risks, so it is important to pinpoint what you plan to do. This provides a good foundation for your IT, marketing and SEO teams to work together to ensure a smooth transition. Here are the five main types:

Site Location: This may involve changing the mobile setup, merging parts of the existing site, changing to HTTPS or HTTP2, changing the domain and general rebranding.
Structural: Common changes that fit into this category include reorganizing hierarchies, changing the mapped user journeys, altering navigation and making changes to internal links.
Platform: Examples of these changes are integrating multiple platforms, upgrading to a new version, introducing new features and moving to a new platform altogether.
Design and UX: Adjusting the media, updating the user interface across devices, adding site performance features and modifying the look or feel fall into this category.
Content Changes: Introducing new locations and new languages can have big changes in SEO; other big changes include consolidating pages, removing or adding pages and rewriting content.

2. Create a Strategy

Treat website migration like any other big project your business would take on. Migration has the impact to determine how you do business and how many customers you receive. For instance, for a restaurant, if the pages that make online orders possible disappear, the effect can be as impactful as reducing the restaurant’s capacity during renovations. Because of this, your team needs to determine how it intends to manage this project and create a plan. This plan must feature a clear strategy and detailed deliverables.

3. Include a Contingency

The contingency plan you come up with depends on the type of migration you have in mind. For instance, if you plan to change domains or rebuild the entire website, you could keep the old one up while creating the second website in private. Only developers and other qualified professionals could view the new website while it is being worked on. This allows you to continue business operations with no disruptions, at least for a time.

Unfortunately, websites can still fail after launch. Here are some common backup plans:

Revert to the old website during debugging.
Create a one-page stand-in that encourages people to email, text or call.
Add a texting option to your Google Business Profile listening.

4. Complete Thorough Testing

The good news is that testing can help you maintain SEO and prevent crashes when migrating your website. Testing should begin with trying all the features on the new website to ensure they work. When migration involves rebranding and big upgrades, ask a few trusted customers to review the new changes and become part of the testing process. Finally, perform testing in stages as you complete various milestones, so you have enough time to make adjustments before launch.

5. Rely on Our Search Engine Optimization Services

The smallest changes to your website can affect its SEO for better or worse. Even changing the platform and speed can lead to improved or lowered performance. Because of this, it is crucial to work with qualified professionals. Unwired Web Solutions has the skills necessary to preserve your existing SEO during and after migration. We are also committed to helping you improve your website’s SEO.

Contact us today to learn more about what our search engine optimization services can do for your business. We look forward to serving you.