SEO/PPC

Maybe you run a small business. Or you’re part of a small team. Either way, search engine optimization is often the thing that falls to the wayside first when you’re a little fish. And I get that. You’re busy doing what you love, serving your customers and trying to grow your business. But proper attention to SEO is how you’ll grow that business and earn your visibility in your market. So don’t ignore SEO, create a plan for it. From the very beginning. As an SMB, how do you get started…

I’ve been hearing some people in the search engine optimization industry say that links aren’t important anymore. That the search engines are moving away from links in favor of other signals. It makes for interesting conversation, unfortunately, recent moves by Google say the exact opposite is true. Just recently we saw guest blog posting once again devalued and two high-profile guest blogging communities slapped with severe penalties. If links weren’t still key, Google wouldn’t be spending the time and effort to combat them. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam…

Maybe it’s because so many SEOs spent their formative years being picked on and shoved into walls, I’m not sure, but we seem to have a penchant for killing things. Or at least calling them dead. We killed guest blogging We killed links We killed link building We killed keywords And, of course, SEO itself has been killed numerous times, leaving poor Danny Sullivan to bring it back to life in one of his many blog outlets. The latest victim of SEO killing? The harmless blog category. In an article…

Since its release, Google Tag Manager has helped make the lives of online marketers easier one tracking code at a time. If you are in involved with tracking data on a site large or small, Tag Manager can help save time and ensure proper setup. Here are a few ways Tag Manager can benefit your site. Insert Tracking Tags The convenience of inserting tags through a tag management solution as opposed to directly via a site’s code cannot be overstated. You can insert and remove standard Google Analytics tracking, AdWords…

Not long ago, I called out a few PPC offenders among big brands and highlighted some of the silly mistakes we should all stop making. To follow up with a more positive note, I’ve decided to point out some advertisers who are doing PPC right. With the proper thought behind a campaign, you can stand out from all the generic clutter in the paid ad space, whether in video, search results, or display placements. You can use PPC to not only get your brand seen, but maybe even loved. Now,…

Times have changed. Dramatically. Gone are the days of relying on the Yellow Pages to help customers find you. Today, creating a web presence is crucial to businesses large and small and is easily one of the most important things you can do for your brand. Of course, just building a website isn’t enough. Sure, in a perfect world the “build it and they will come” mindset would work, but the truth is, there are many other factors that need to be considered. This is where search engine optimization (SEO)…

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people write off Pay Per Click campaigns by saying, “We already tried that. It didn’t work.” Let’s say you just purchased a new Porsche 911. You drive it for a few days and love it, but one morning you get in and find it won’t start. You immediately call the dealer to come take it back and give you a refund. When the dealer takes a look at your car, he discovers the reason your Porsche wouldn’t start was that it…

When you work in the world of SEO, you get used to seeing the same issues repeat themselves throughout different sites. In fact, there are some issues you can almost expect to see on a site that has never been optimized or touched by an SEO. Being aware of these common SEO issues is a critical start to making sure your website earns high visibility in the search results. What are these SEO problems, and how are they corrected? 1. Canonicalization Confused already? It is a long word. Canonicalization refers…

We all make mistakes. I’ve certainly made more than my share of mistakes throughout the past several years I’ve been managing PPC campaigns. However, a number of big brands show a troubling level of carelessness in their ad setup, resulting in not only constant ridicule from people who notice, but also a hefty amount of wasted money. Sadly, I’m talking about brands well-known for both online and offline marketing expertise. A lot of these problems stem from over-depending on automation, dumping in bulk keyword lists without careful review, writing generic…

Search prominence doesn’t happen by accident. No, often it happens thanks to an SEO company working behind the scenes using carefully-crafted techniques to help that site do better in the search engine rankings. Some tactics have continued to work well over the years, some have lost their luster and a few may violate the Google guidelines and cause problems for your site if you choose to use them. With an index reliant on quality, it’s no surprise Google has made it its mission to fight against techniques that violate its…