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On-Page Optimizations For Local Organic SEO

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When most people think of local SEO marketing, they default to their Google Business Profile, local citations, and backlinks. But many steps need to be taken on-page to help get your local SEO noticed by Google. 

When customers start searching for the best products and services near them, you want your business to appear at the top of the list. But local search engine optimization requires a strategic and targeted approach that starts on your website pages.

Local search optimization is important for businesses serving specific cities, regions, and even provinces. When done right, it can allow people to find the information they want to know about your business quickly and easily, putting them one step closer to a transaction.

Where To Start

When trying to capture those “near me” results, there are specific on-page optimizations that can play a significant factor in search engines finding and ranking your website. You first want to make sure your name, address, and phone number is consistent across all of your web pages. While it may seem simple, this information can make or break your local SEO strategy. Make sure you have this information displayed prominently on your site, such as in the footer, so that it will appear on every page. You can also display your information on your service area pages or your contact page in the body. But remember, consistency matters. So, it is important that this crucial business information is the same anywhere your potential customers will find you online, and anywhere Google may be using it for comparison to ensure its accuracy.

The Content

The content on your website can be an opportunity to show customers and the search engines that you are the top provider in your area for the product or services you provide. You will want to include specific details in your content, such as street names and landmarks. Make it clear why your customer wants your product or needs your service in that specific area. 

Try to think like your customer. If you were looking for your service near you, what terms would you search? You may want to include your local metro, city, or even neighbourhood. This can help you determine which type of content you need and the keywords to include in the content. This is how Google’s “near me” searches come into play.

These keywords can be optimized on targeted pages that are created specifically for your service or product in a certain area or all pages on your website. Customers who live in an area will know the common jargon and things that are native to the area. So don’t forget to do your research. If you can use some of these local terms or landmarks, your customers will know you are truly authentic and care about their local area.

Optimize Header Tags

Header tags are significant when it comes to SEO. Creating great header tags can give the visitors to your site and the web crawlers a basic idea of the overall structure of your page and what they can expect when they read through your content. Use your well-researched keywords in your header tags, but be careful not to overstuff them as this will come across as unnatural to your visitors and the web crawlers.

Is It Working?

Once you have everything optimized on your pages and are ready to go, you will want to know if your changes are having an impact on your local SEO strategy. With Google Business Profile Analytics you should see a boost in your metrics whether those are click throughs to your site, requests for driving directions, or calls to your business. As your visibility increases, you should naturally see an increase in traffic. But remember, when optimizing for on-page local SEO, keep it simple and relevant to your business and the area you serve. Once customers see that you provide what they want in their location, the rest will come naturally.

Even with rapid changes happening in local SEO, a solid on-page strategy can be a winner for both you and your customers. Contact our team at Unwired Web Solutions today to learn more about SEO services in Waterloo.

Using SEO Analysis Tools for Keyword Research

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In the competitive online world, having a website isn’t enough. You need to leverage your content to appeal to search engine algorithms. Fortunately, local SEO services can help. However, it’s essential that you understand the basics to work closely with professionals. Otherwise, you may not be able to communicate your goals effectively.

If you’ve never implemented search engine optimization before, the field can seem overwhelming. However, SEO is relatively straightforward, and since it’s been around for three decades, there are some tried-and-true approaches you can learn.

How Local SEO Services Find Keyword Ideas

A common question from SEO novices is: Which keywords will benefit my company, and how can I find them? The best way to start is a list.

To make your list of potential keywords, write down terms related to your industry, existing website content and blog posts. For example, if you sell sewing machines, “sewing machine” is a great phrase to list.

Expand each one into a potential topic once you have about 20 items. To continue our example, you can expand “sewing machine” into the following topics:

  • Top 10 sewing machine models
  • Best sewing machine features
  • Signs you need a new sewing machine
  • Sewing machine repair
  • Buy sewing machine
  • Sewing machine shops near me

Which topics you create depends on what you offer as a business. For instance, if you don’t provide repair services, you shouldn’t use topics including that word.

It’s also a good idea to see what keywords other businesses in your industry are using. While you shouldn’t copy competitors keyword-for-keyword, learning from their successes (and mistakes) is valuable. You can take an approach that generates high search engine results rankings and tweak it to fit your needs.

SEO tools such as Ahrefs are another great way to generate topics. These tools are software designed to make SEO simple for small business owners. They can create lists of potential keywords, identify the best terms and even analyze their effectiveness.

What You Should Know About Keyword Basics

How do SEO tools determine which keywords work best for your company? They utilize principles to increase the likelihood your links end up at the top of the first SERP. As a business owner, it’s a good idea to review these principles so you can optimize your marketing strategies.

One principle is considering monthly search volume. Keyword searches fluctuate, but the MSV tells you how many individual searches were done for a particular keyword in the past month. While you may be tempted to choose keywords that have the highest MSV, this can backfire, as your content may get lost in the crowd.

At the same time, you don’t want to choose rarely searched keywords, as you won’t reach a large audience. Instead, you should aim for a happy medium with tens of thousands of searches, but not millions.

How To Analyze Keywords

While an SEO analysis tool can determine the best options for your purpose, you need to clearly state that purpose. Do you want to bring more visitors to your website? Do you want to sell more products? Do you want to develop your brand? Each of these purposes requires a different approach because internet searchers have varying intents.

The intent is the reason someone conducts an internet search. For example, individuals who want to buy a sewing machine may search “sewing machine for sale,” while people who are still researching their purchase may search “best sewing machines.” Once you know which consumers you want to bring to your website, your SEO tool can choose the appropriate keywords.

Do you want to improve your SERP rankings? If so, the experts at Unwired Web Solutions can help with our SEO services. To learn more, visit us online or give us a call. 

Ways to Get Better Ranking for Content Images

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Not only are images integral for readers to successfully interact with your content, but they are essential for search engine optimization. Regardless of the topic you are presenting, the goal remains the same, to provide engaging images and content that will actually reach your audience and beyond. One way to improve your search engine rankings is to optimize your images to ensure your content is competitive. Learn tips for image optimization that boost engagement and find out who to contact for a reliable and innovative SEO company in Kitchener.

Reduce the File Size Without Sacrificing Quality 

If keeping readers on your page is the primary goal, images can’t have a substantial delay while loading. For most customers, the average anticipated load time for images and other content is within two seconds. If images remain in the high-quality format that photographers often deliver, the load time can be far greater than either you or your customers will appreciate. The best way to combat a lag in loading is to reduce the file size in image optimization for SEO.

File Size vs. Image Size 

Note that file size and image size are different. A common point of confusion is resizing an image to learn that load times remain slow. Resizing an image simply means that the image’s dimensions have been altered. The file size, the amount of space required for storage on the server, must be reduced for the load time to be affected. 

Compression Tips and Tools 

Compressing images will automatically resize files for better load times. However, be cautious about double-checking the images for quality. Too much compression can leave an image with poor rendering that falls flat with users. Many different tools are available for free and purchase that can help optimize images for web publication to make the process easier. 

  • TinyPNG
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Yoast SEO
  • ShortPixel
  • ImageOptim
  • SVG options

Maximize Alt Text And Understanding Its Purpose 

Alternative text is a textual description of an image. Some website developers mistakenly cram keywords in alt text and are unaware that unnecessary packing leads to confusion and unmatched leads. The best SEO practice is straightforward, concise alt text that meets your site’s needs and increases accessibility for all users. 

Google’s Directive 

Google’s ranking system for alt text is based on clarity and accuracy with keywords in context with the site. Cramming makes it difficult, if not impossible, to meet Google’s crawling needs to properly index and rank your images and location. 

Website Accessibility

Alt text wasn’t only created with search engine ranking in mind. The alternative text makes the internet a more accessible place for all users. With appropriate and accurate alt text, not only will you meet accessibility standards with your website, but you are more likely to reach more significant audiences than before. 

Create a Sitemap Including Visual Content 

Sitemaps help search crawlers pick out the appropriate information and index it carefully for ranking returns. Most websites already have sitemaps in place as part of standard contracts and organizational methods. However, image indexing is not always a part of the sitemap, but for SEO, it should be. 

Organization Equals Location 

Organizing images alongside other page information helps crawlers locate your data more efficiently. The way that people choose to set up sitemaps can vary, but keeping a friendly sitemap for your audience, rather than XML alone, is ideal for increasing user engagement and search results.

Tips For Mapping Success 

There are tools available that sitemap. If you choose to take on the task, be sure to include the following information about each image for best results:

  • Title 
  • Description 
  • URL Location 
  • Caption 
  • License information 

To learn more about improving the ranking of your content images or other SEO optimization, contact the professionals at Unwired Web Solutions in Kitchener today.

The Importance of Images in Content Marketing

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In content marketing, images are vital. Adding visuals to practical, well-researched content can help to resonate with your audience over time. They don’t just stand out at first sight; they are also easier to remember. But it isn’t just the images themselves that help your page stand out, image optimization for SEO must also be implemented to help your site gain the ranking it deserves. 

Eye-catching visuals can help the reader to focus and get a better idea of what a message is genuinely trying to say. They can give a better understanding of the message but can also explain easier and faster to some rather than just a cluster of written words. 

Plan Your ContentPlan Your Content

When creating content for your site, always start by planning the content with its messaging, audience, and goals in mind. This thought process should include some compelling visual content. From the very beginning, you should consider what type of images, infographics, or other rich media could be added to the content to enhance its messaging. 

Web content containing visuals has been shown to perform approximately 94% better than content with no visuals. Email marketing campaigns are no exception, and any emails that include images have a higher click-through rate compared to campaigns that have no visuals. 

Image Optimization for SEO

It is not only important to have the images in your content, but they must be optimized for SEO. Image optimization is considered as an integral element in SEO optimization. It is essential to optimize the image for a better user experience and is also needed for search engines.

Images can give search engines important contextual information and speed up page loading, increasing user engagement and search engine rankings. It is vital first to understand the basics of image optimization before attempting optimization. 

What Is Image Optimization?What Is Image Optimization?

Image optimization is the process of creating and delivering high-quality images in size, format, and resolution required for the channel. It also includes accurately labeling images so search engine crawlers can read them and understand page context. 

File names for your images are extremely important and should be chosen even before uploading them onto your page. Before uploading, name the file with relevant, descriptive keywords to get the most SEO power. Use target keywords at the beginning of the name and separate them out with hyphens. 

Alt tags are essential in the world of SEO. Without properly labelled alt tags, search engine crawlers can’t accurately index your image content. Provide more detail in the alt image than you would in the title, and aim for 10 -15 words that convey something about the image. 

Images That Please Your Audience

In today’s digital climate, customers are more likely to be quickly captivated by an image than just words on a page. The trend of images within content is unlikely to change anytime soon. With the dramatic shift in content preferences with the growth of faster phones, faster internet connections, better picture quality, and more, it is critical to have visuals that will please your audience. Unwired Web Solutions can help to make sure all images on your website are up-to-date and have the proper SEO to accompany them.

Images That Please Your Audience

As an SEO company in Kitchener, we understand the needs of our local clients. As a local business, appealing to the community is important for your success. Let our team help with your content needs that can help drive more customers and sales your way. Contact us today!

How Technology Is Transforming Retail

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Experts are predicting that retailers who boldly invest in cutting-edge technology are the ones who will lead in the future. The rise of web-connected devices has completely reconfigured the retail landscape, and those who do not react will be left behind. Because of this, more companies than ever before are reaching out to Unwired Web Solutions for eCommerce solutions and search engine optimization services.

The Rise of Technology 

Chances are, in the past 18 months, you’ve probably bought something online, paid for something with your smartphone, or used a retail app. Each of these examples is easy to see how crucial technology is becoming in the retail and consumer sector. It had previously been advised that consumer companies and retailers need to evolve into technology companies, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought technology front and center, faster than anyone could imagine. For retailers that have had no choice but to close their stores during the pandemic-related lockdowns, eCommerce and online customer service have been their lifelines.

To say that technology is changing the retail sector would be an understatement. It has completely revolutionized the way we shop, forcing the industry to rethink its business model. People have found an increased convenience, time saver, and equality experience through shopping online.

Two adults Online Shopping

M-Commerce

The rise of technology has seen a blurring of the boundaries between retail and supplier. Brands once relied on physical stores to get their products to consumers, but now many can sell effectively through their digital channels. Some of the most popular digital media that people use for online shopping are on their mobile devices. With the release of dedicated apps by retailers, consumers don’t even need to go to a website to order anymore. Now known as M-commerce, customers can use an app on their mobile device, find what they are looking for, and purchase.

Automation

Automation is another way technology is changing the retail sector. Automated assistance can create a customer experience that bridges the gap between customer service and customer questions. Many are simply pop-up chat boxes that appear to have a live person on the other end but in reality, only contain automated messages.

Omnichannel

Omnichannel retailers can offer a unified experience through their social media channels, their website, mobile apps, and physical stores. Each channel can present its own sales opportunities and options for customers to talk to real-life customer service representatives in various ways. By promoting their brand across various platforms in a unified way, consumers can easily recognize and purchase products. 

different marketing platforms

What Will the Future Look Like?

Whether retailers like it or not, digital transformation in the retail sector is happening. However, only the most forward-thinking ones will adapt successfully. There are many ways that retailers can change their marketing strategies to fit more into the technology their customers want. For example, mobile apps can help grow your brand and engage with your customers. Customer portal software is also a great way to enhance your relationship with your customers. By simply bringing the experience of a brick-and-mortar store into your website, social media outlets, or app, your customers can easily see your products, get information, and most importantly, place an order easily.

At Unwired Web Solutions, we have helped many businesses adapt to this rapidly changing technology. Contact our team of experts today to help transform your retail location with eCommerce solutions and search engine optimization services.