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Category: SEO

Here’s What’s Happening With the 2021 Google Update, Core Web Vitals

Posted on by Alice Momo

Worldwide we make, on average, 1.2 trillion Google searches a year. It seems like every day there’s another Google update. These updates are to ensure the best user experience for all those searches.

From time to time, Google’s updates change the ranking factors. This can cause some angst amongst digital marketers and SEO professionals! This is due to fear of the unknown and not knowing whether your years of work to get a page ranking in the first place will be undone.

Don’t worry; we are here to break down the Google update 2021 for you. So when it comes around in June, there won’t be any nasty surprises!

What’s New With the Google Update 2021?

There are many factors taken into consideration by the page ranking algorithm when a search engine ranks a page.

This new update from Google will focus on using the core web vitals when ranking online content. Let’s take a look at what those core web vitals are:

1. Mobile Optimization

About half of internet users access the web via mobile devices. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile viewing, you will be penalized. Google will favor sites that load easily on mobile devices.

Take a look at some Google search trends for further ideas on how to optimize your site.

2. Page Speed

The time it takes your webpage to load is another important factor Google takes into consideration when determining page ranking.

Your images and video content need to load within 2.5 seconds of someone clicking on your page. Compress them using a tool like Tinypng to help speed up your page load time.

3. Safety

Google will now put more importance on the safety of your site. Do you use HTTPS or encryption to protect your users’ data and credit card details?

In the security section of your Google Search Console, you can check if your site has been compromised.

4. Intrusive Interstitials

If your site has annoying banners or pop-ups that are hard to get rid of, it interferes with the user getting the information they want from your site. The SERPs will now penalize this.

5. Interactivity

This refers to how easy it is for a user to find what they want on your website. How quickly does the site handle the clicks made by the user? You want the way your user interacts with the site to be as smooth as possible.

6. Visual Stability

Another element that contributes to the user experience is visual stability. This means that when someone scrolls down your site, boxes, or ads don’t pop up; the text doesn’t move around.

Previously you could scroll halfway down a website, an ad would pop up, and you would leave the site. With the new update, sites that do this will go down in the search rankings.

Design Your Site With UX in Mind

The Google update 2021 isn’t a scary change. It is ensuring the user gets the best experience possible. User experience is at the forefront of search criteria; Google wants the searcher to find what they are looking for.

If you design your website with the user in mind, make it fast, easy to navigate, and secure, you will have no problems moving up the SERPs with the new algorithm updates.

Need some professional advice on how to update your website? Get in touch with our team.

Important Google Search Trends You Need to Pay Attention to

Posted on by Alice Momo

Up to 46% of all Google searches are local. Knowing about the hottest search trends will help your small business a competitive edge.

Around 93% of all online activities begin with a search engine. Minding certain trends will help your business’s website rank higher in SERPs (search engine results pages). In turn, this increases your website’s visibility to consumers.

Your business’s web presence reflects your brand. You deserve an online presence that makes your brand look professional, trustworthy, and of high quality.

Here are some hot Google search trends you should pay attention to.

Emphasis on User Experience

The days of designing a website solely based on how crawlers will read it are over. Now, Google prioritizes user experience over other factors.

Mobile responsive designs are becoming especially important. After all, mobile traffic is increasing, and if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on conversions and sales.

Focus on making your website faster and easier to use. That way, users will be able to intuitively navigate your website without issues, and it’ll boost your SEO ranking. Plus, having a fast website improves your brand image.

Fun fact: One of the biggest Google search term trends is that searches for the term “for me” have significantly increased. This reflects how users are focusing more on their own needs, which means your website must be user responsive.

Think Local SEO

Due to quarantine and social distancing, many trending searches are local. For instance, searches with the phrase “near me” have increased dramatically. This means claiming your Google My Business listing is more important than ever.

Be sure to use relevant keywords in your Google My Business listing. Performing keyword research will give you more insight into which keywords to use. This ensures that your listing will show up more often in local searches.

In fact, your Google listing is becoming more crucial than ever to ranking high in 2021.

Updated Google My Business Listings

Filling out your GMB listing with consistent contact information and keywords is necessary, but it’s not enough on its own. Now, Google factors quality and engagement into the listings that get displayed as results.

Google prioritizes active GMB listings over others. That means Google looks for listings that post consistent updates and photos. Also, Google pays attention to your reviews as well as your responses to them.

Nix stock photos in favour of fun, high-quality photos. They give people a better idea of your products, services, and overall brand.

Get Hip to the Hottest Search Trends

Google accounts for 94% of total organic traffic. Organic traffic is easier to convert into sales, which is why learning about these search trends makes a difference.

In fact, 43% of e-commerce traffic comes from organic Google searches. Minding these trends will help your business stay relevant, but only a professional knows how to finetune your strategy for success.

Boost your business and contact us to ask about our digital marketing services. It’ll drive your revenue through the roof.

What Is Google My Business and Why Do I Need It?

Posted on by Alice Momo

It’s not a secret. Google has without a doubt become one of the most popular search engines in the world. And while you may utilize it often as a consumer, it’s just as important for business owners.

For starters, Google has excellent resources for business owners who want their companies to list on the top of search engines. One of the staples? Google My Business.

If you’re looking for a great way to increase your local search result rankings, you need to make a Google My Business listing. Here are all the benefits of creating your own listing.

What Is Google My Business?

Before creating a listing, you may want to know what’s the big deal behind Google My Business. If you have ever searched a business on Google, you have probably run into their business profile. Profiles are usually located on the right side of the Google page and have a phone number, address, and hours of operations listed.

The Benefits of Using Google My Business

If you don’t believe there are any real benefits in using Google My Business, think again! Here’s are some ways listing your business on Google can help you generate business.

Click to Call Phone

One of the most convenient features associated with Google My Business is their click to call feature. If a potential client has a question regarding your products or services, they are not only able to view your number but can press it and immediately get a real-time conversation.

Reviews

Let’s face it. Reviews are so important when it comes to validating a company. Studies show that over 60% of customers form an opinion about a company when reading reviews.

Fortunately, creating a Google listing provides an easier way for you to manage Google My Business reviews. Not only can you evaluate areas of improvement, but you can thank customers for leaving positive feedback as well.

Photos

Adding photos to your Google listing is so important when it comes to promoting your business. It gives your clients a better picture of what your company is about and what they should expect when they enter the premises.

Insights

Last but not least in conjunction with Google Analytics, you can gain access to back-end insights. Want to check how your listing is doing in your local market? You can check it here. Want to see what keywords are getting customers to click on your site? You can check it here too!

The Benefits of Google My Business and More!

Whether you’re looking to learn about the benefits of Google My Business or are simply looking to take your marketing efforts to the next level, we’re here to help. We know how difficult it can be to find a reliable marketing agency. Fortunately, we excel at helping customers like you target their ideal demographic.

In need of marketing services? We’d love to help. Feel free to contact us and a member of our team will point you in the right direction.

Google Analytics – Its Importance and Benefits

Posted on by Alice Momo

Why is using Google Analytics important?

Let’s say you have set up an exhibition. You have a place established and people have started visiting. Some are leaving early while some are staying back longer. Some have shown interest in the displays while some are just merely looking. Some came to know about you through colleagues while others saw the banners outside.

Now, if you had the data of the people visiting you – why some left early and why some didn’t show any interest, then you can easily figure out your areas of improvement and work towards setting up an exhibition that has people talking about it for days.

Similarly, if you can figure out ways to improve your website to earn more profits, wouldn’t that be sweet? Enter Google Analytics – a tool that lets you find out what is working well, and more importantly, what isn’t!

Google Analytics is not important if you don’t like improvement or growth.

What are the benefits of using Google Analytics?

Data

Data drives the world and Data is only useful if you can make sense of it. Google analytics presents the data in various forms: lists, charts, graphs, pie charts, spreadsheets, and more—allowing you to see how your website is performing.

Reporting

The platform not only gives you data but also lets you draw conclusions from it. By comparing metrics within the data, you can gather further insights and identify causes and correlations—another reason why Google Analytics can benefit your business.

Real-time observation

Whatever data you’ll see in Google analytics is ongoing and in real-time. This means that you can create reports, compare metrics, and check performance on whatever basis you want—hourly, daily, monthly, yearly. You can also take note of peak times for your target audiences, such as whether certain pages, SEM campaigns, or blog posts gather more interest at certain points of the week, month, or year.

It’s free

Google won’t charge you anything for using their platform. You don’t need to purchase, subscribe, or provide credit card information. All you need is a Gmail account and the ability to install a tracking code on your website, and you’re ready to go.

What are your best tips for getting the most out of Google analytics?

  1. Monitor bounce rate to increase your conversion rate.
  2. Identify slow-loading pages to enhance user experience.
  3. Use the internal site search to optimize your customers’ experience.
  4. Analyze your users’ behaviour to better meet their needs.
  5. Measure overall organic traffic to better understand your users
  6. Use reports of landing pages to directly improve conversions.
  7. Analyze different traffic sources to cover more ground.
  8. Define several conversion goals to get the complete picture of your user’s behaviour.
  9. Analyze social media performance to enhance conversion.
  10. Measure the quality of SEO traffic to further optimize your SEO strategy.

 What should small business owners know about Google analytics to be successful?

Leads, conversions and profits – that’s what every business owner, big or small is looking for! If used properly, Google Analytics can actively increase your conversion rates. There are direct and indirect benefits of using Google Analytics. And when you know exactly where and what to look at, you might be surprised by the insights you’ll get.

Using custom segments

Google Analytics has a feature called segments that make it easy to see how different groups of visitors interact with your website. Right out of the box, you can instantly check on several different default segments including mobile traffic, direct traffic, bounced sessions, converters and new users.

Setting up annotations

Google Analytics throws a lot of data at you, and it’s easy to forget about important findings. Annotations are essentially digital post-it notes that let you mark important notes on various traffic reports. You can mark the sudden surge in social media traffic, momentary dip in organic traffic etc. and come back to it whenever you want.

Comparing historical traffic

Google analytics lets you compare traffic from different periods of time. By regularly comparing your traffic, you can know where your business stands at that particular time and accordingly direct your team about the next step.

Apart from the aforementioned technical bit, you should know how to interpret the findings from Google analytics – only then can you turn failures into opportunities.

3 Uses for a Landing Page and How to Build One That Converts

Posted on by Alice Momo

Landing pages can be beneficial for businesses that are looking to convert more people into paying customers. But, that’s if you know how to use them properly and create one that’s easy for customers to understand.

There’s no need to continue searching the internet for landing page how to guides because we’re going to provide you with a brief guide right here on our site. Not only are we going to detail some of the benefits of using one, but we’re also going to let you in on how to create one that works effectively.

Read this post from start to finish for everything that you need to know.

1. Easy to Create

Contrary to what you might already believe about landing pages there easy to create. You’ve just got to understand all of the components that go into making the page and then you’ll be ready to start developing yours.

2. Informative

When you create ads for the services or products that your company offers, they have to be brief and to the point. But, when you’re using a landing page, any information that you weren’t able to put on the advertisement can be placed on the landing page for customers to continue reading.

3. Improves Customer Relationships

Another benefit of using landing pages is that it helps to create and build relationships between your company and potential clients. When you continue to develop these relationships, it ensures that you’ll have reoccurring clients in the future.

Now that you know three of the benefits of a landing page, it’s time to learn how to create one.

Reference or Transactional Page

Before you can begin building your page, the first thing that you need to do is decide whether you’re going to create a reference or transactional page. When you create a transactional page, it’s to persuade the reader to purchase your services or products.

But, when it’s a reference page, it’s being used to provide more information to the reader.

Decide on Your Target Audience

Once you’ve decided on this, the next thing that you need to do is decide on your target audience. These are the people that all of your advertisements seek to target whenever business content is released.

When you’re creating your landing page, you want to ensure that the page continues to speak to your target audience.

Use Correct SEO

The reason that you’re going to want to use the correct SEO keywords when creating your titles and headlines is that it will help your landing page to show up in more search engines. The more your content shows up in potential clients search engines, the more likely it is that they will click your link allowing you to turn them into paying customers.

This also means optimizing your tags that you’ll use in the meta descriptions and titles correctly.

Create a Strong Call to Action

Your call to action is what you will use to get customers to do what you want them to do. Whether that is to read more of the content that you’ve published or to purchase more of your products.

Without a call to action, it can leave clients confused about what you want them to do next.

Use Videos

People don’t have long attention spans; therefore, the best way to keep their attention is to use embedded videos in your content. When you’ create attention-grabbing videos, you’re sure to convert more customers.

And ensure that the videos you use in your ads or social media content are always linked to your landing page for easy access.

Landing Page 101

Tons go into creating a landing page properly. From ensuring that you use the proper SEO keyword optimization to creating engaging video content for potential customers to view.

If you’re looking to hire a company that can help you to create the best landing page possible, contact The Big Bold Blog. They’ve got the portfolio and experience to help you create a landing page that is going to turn readers into leads and eventually reoccurring clients.

White Hat SEO vs. Black Hat SEO: What’s the Difference?

Posted on by Alice Momo

White hat vs black hat SEO—wondering what the difference is? Wonder no more. We’ve written you the perfect guide to answer all of your questions about acceptable SEO practices.

We’ll teach you about the different types of SEO techniques that earn you a high search rank without incurring penalties. And, we’ll share some examples of unacceptable black hat SEO techniques so you can avoid them.

Lastly, we’ll explain how hiring white label local SEO services can help. Find out what services an SEO agency or SEO expert in Dubai can provide and if it’s a good idea to outsource your SEO.

Read on to learn all about it.

How Does SEO Work?

First and foremost, the reason SEO exists is that search companies strive to provide their users with the most relevant results possible. As such, these companies’ criteria for determining content relevance are constantly evolving.

That is the algorithms that tell a search engine how to rank search results are updated every few months. This is done to make page ranking more accurate, which makes the search engine more helpful to its users.

Thus, there are optimization techniques you can use to provide the awesome content that search engines want their users to see.

What is White Hat SEO?

Creating the type of content we just mentioned, helpful, relevant, high-quality—that’s the essence of white hat SEO. Remember: Google wants to lead users to the best content.

White hat or white label SEO just means offering great content on a great website. This is an acceptable way to rank high on search engines.

White Hat SEO Techniques

White hat SEO techniques focus on two things: quality/relevance of the content and the useability of the website. They ensure the website:

  • Is conveniently and intuitively organized
  • Is responsive
  • Includes links that work and make sense
  • Includes helpfully structured HTML

They also ensure that page content:

  • Is well-written and without grammar errors
  • Is competent
  • Is relevant to a popular keyword
  • Uses keywords and links helpfully and naturally

Basically, white hat SEO is centered on making sites and content that people want to see.

What is Black Hat SEO?

Another reason search engine algorithms are updated is to discourage cheaters. You see, rather than providing helpful content that will naturally rank high, some people try to manipulate the system.

They try to find out what the algorithms look for so they can trick search engines into thinking their content is great. This is called black hat SEO.

Does Black Hat SEO Work?

Black hat SEO absolutely doesn’t work. Take keyword stuffing for example.

Search engines used to rank a page high simply because it had a lot of relevant keywords. The result was a lot of webpages that stuffed mediocre content with relevant keywords to rank high.

It worked, but only for a short time. As soon as Google caught on, they updated their algorithm to penalize keyword stuffing. Then, those pages ranked so low, they were never heard from again.

This perfectly illustrates what happens when you use black hat SEO. Namely:

  1. If it works, it will only work until the next update
  2. If you’re caught, the penalties can be severe

Using black hat SEO might penalize more than the search rank of the offending page. It could get your whole domain blacklisted off of Google.

Black Hat SEO Techniques

Black Hat SEO techniques include:

  • Unnatural, irrelevant use of keywords or links
  • Automated content is written by chatbots
  • Link schemes
  • Dishonest redirects
  • Phishing for user information
  • Attempts to infect users with spyware, viruses, or other malware

Black hat SEO is basically an attempt to rank high other than by creating useful pages like you’re supposed to. Usually, it means trying to trick the search engines or page visitors.

Do You Need White Label Local SEO Services?

White hat SEO can be done on your own. But it gets done a lot better when you hire white label local SEO services.

A reputable SEO agency in Dubai will improve your search rank the right way. And they’ll avoid all black hat SEO techniques so you don’t get penalized.

If you do choose to do SEO by yourself, be careful to follow the guidelines above. If you’d rather leave it to the experts, contact us here so we can get started.

Optimize Your Website for Google in 3 Easy Steps

Posted on by Alice Momo

SEO optimization is one of the least understood pieces of the digital content puzzle. If you’ve looked into options and automation for it you’ll find an almost intentional mystification of the whole SEO process. The truth is that it’s not mysterious, but it does require skills and creativity to master. And there are some pieces that you can do yourself, quickly, that will make a big difference. 

 

Anyone who has a website or a blog has heard the terms: optimize, Google, search engine optimization (SEO) and keywords. There is a great deal to know about getting your website up and running and a well-optimized site helps ensure your business is easy to find in organic searches, increasing the likelihood that potential customers find you and further boosting your sales. Let’s dig into three ways you can optimize your website for the Google search algorithm:

 

Step 1: Know What Your Customers Are Searching For

You are an expert in your industry. You know all the words associated with your products and services. However, customers might not. Using empathy to put yourself in their shoes is a powerful tool to use throughout your marketing strategy.

 

First, uncover what your customers are searching for. Keywords are critical. These are the terms potential customers enter into Google. You want to be the result. For example, if we are looking for a company that plans birthday parties, keywords might be:

 

  • Birthday 
  • Party Planner
  • Parties

 

To find keywords, do market research by asking your audience, testing out different keywords in Google yourself or by working with a team, like ours, to analyze the terms your competitors are using and those that will deliver the best results.

 

Long-Tail Keywords

Keyword phrases or “long-tail” keywords are also needed. Following our example, long-tail keywords might be:

 

  • Party planners in the UAE
  • Birthday event planning company in Dubai

 

Integrate these words and phrases into your website copy and blog articles. Google will recognize your website as something searchers using these words will want to click on – increasing your site’s visibility.

 

Trending Topics

Use social listening to learn what’s important to your audience right now. You can also search for trending topics on social media to generate ideas for relevant topics and keywords. YouTube and Twitter have a “what’s trending” section. Or you can join Facebook groups to see what people are talking about. 

 

Step 2: Create Pages Optimized For Search

Now that you have keywords and content topics, it’s time to optimize your webpages for search engines.

 

Create ‘Search Intent’ Content

Creating search intent content is similar to finding trending topics. Your goal is to write articles that people want (and need) to read using those keywords. Strive to include one keyword or phrase in every paragraph.

 

Branded URLs

How URLs look makes a difference. Depending on your website hosting and platform, you might be able to change your URLs. We recommend using short, easy-to-remember URLs without dates. 

 

An example of our birthday party event planning, the URL could look like:

birthdayplanning.com/birthdays-done-right

 

Though the average consumer doesn’t look at the URL that carefully, Google likes them to be short and straightforward. 

 

Meta Descriptions

A meta description is a short blurb underneath your site title and link, telling what that page is about. If allowed by your hosting platform, edit your meta description to display your information in the search page accurately. 

 

Adding your keywords to the description is also a good idea. For example:

 

Birthday Planning – Home

We make birthday party event planning easy for all ages, from toddlers to elderly family members …

 

Step 3: Make Your Website Accessible to Search Engines and Humans

You want to be picked up by search engines. However, that will do no good if your site is not user-friendly. These three things are easy fixes to make sure actual people want to hang around and return to your site. 

 

Ensure Your Site Loads Quickly

Think about your own experiences with websites. A slow-to-load webpage is annoying. Your search engine rankings will suffer if your page loads slowly. Things that can affect site speed include large files, videos and too many plugins. 

 

Mobile-Friendly

Some people rarely touch a computer but have a phone in-hand all day. Setting up your website to be mobile-friendly and perhaps even mobile-first is a good idea. The goal is to make your site as comfortable as possible for consumers to hang out for as long as possible. 

 

SSL

Have you clicked on a site and a warning appears telling you that it could be unsafe? This is a site lacking security certification. Usually, your website hosting platform covers this for you. But if not, you’ll need to get SSL to prevent users from turning away.

 

SEO is complex, ongoing and requires both a creative and technical eye to master. The most successful websites have a team working on their SEO. If expert-level optimization is what you are after, let’s talk. We will optimize your site and explore additional SEO benefits with you – taking out the mystery while adding in the profits.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema