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Tag: search engine results pages

  • Meta Tags and SEO

    There is one question that we are asked more than any other, and we get it even to this very day. The thing is, it’s the same question I asked 6 years ago. We’ve seen trends come and go since then, and still there is one question that still, somehow has merit.

    How do meta tags impact SEO?

    In my opinion, this is the single most interesting question in our industry. Not because of the answer (that’s simple enough and we’ll certainly cover it); but because it’s a question that I don’t think will ever die out.

    Think about it. This is one of the very first topics one would cover when being introduced to SEO. There are thousands/millions of articles talking about that very thing. And every day, someone new comes to this world we’ve created, and they are ripe with new questions; the answers to which we have stored away just waiting for the moment to showcase our knowledge.

    So today, I’m going to go over the most common meta tags we talk about in SEO, and how they affect your rankings (here’s a quick hint; they barely do anymore).

    The Keywords Meta Tag

    Ahh the keywords meta tag. This is a tag that would hold…well…your keywords. I think. I don’t really know for sure because their use in Google went away before I got into SEO myself, and they meant something different to Yahoo! (RIP) back then.

    Some say it’s where you would put your keywords so the search engines would know what your site was all about, and they were used to determine your rankings. Others say that they were meant to house the keywords that were not mentioned on your page, but still related.

    What I do know is this. At some point Google got really tired of people using the keywords meta tag to spam their search results, and they all but eradicated its use. There was a time even rather recently (comparatively speaking) that they had an impact in Yahoo!, but those days are gone as well; what with Yahoo! being powered by Bing now.

    There are still some programs/applications that make use of the keywords meta tags on your site, usually for internal site searching, but that doesn’t help you on the SEO front that much.

    No, I’m afraid that meta tag has little to do with SEO these days. Save for one use.

    We actually use the keywords meta tag quite a bit. Not for rankings, mind you. Rather, we use them in one of 2 ways.

    First, for smaller, quick projects we use the keywords tag to catalog the targeted terms for each page. This way, we know what links to build for each page, it helps with our internal linking and it helps when we are writing content. It just somehow fell into a process of ours one day and really worked out. Remember, this is for smaller projects in which we have a lot of confidence regarding our success. Usually local SEO clients.

    Then there’s the way we use them for bigger projects (not necessarily bigger clients). These are sites for which we are trying to rank in a very competitive niche. We can usually tell which competitors have hired SEO help and which haven’t. We noticed that when the landscape involved other SEO firms, then we could make a change on our site’s focus, and it was soon after mimicked on a competitor’s site.

    So, we started putting useless/junk keywords in the keywords meta tag. Every once in a while, we actually see those keywords pop into a competitor’s site. Sometimes, this SEO stuff is really fun.

    Creating a Keywords Meta Tag

    For the sake of comprehension, this is how one would create a keywords meta tag.

    Between the opening and closing section of your site’s page you want to add the following:

    Within the double quotes after “content” you’ll add your keywords. Usually, you’ll want 2-5 keywords in there separated by commas. Oh, and the term “keyword” is a little loose. We actually mean key terms. So a keywords meta tag would look like:

    That’s it. If you decide to use the keywords meta tag, then please don’t spam it with a bunch of one-word search terms or over-stuff it with every keyword you can cram in there. The search engines are a bit smarter than that, and you’ll look like a spammer.

    The Description Meta Tag

    Now the description tag, there’s a tag I can get behind. Though not as important in the strictest “SEO” sense, the description tag actually plays a very important role in your overall Internet marketing success with regard to Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)

    If you search in Google, you’ll get the results, right? And you know how to click on a link to get to a page, yeah? You see that little chunk of text right under that link? Well, that’s your description tag, usually.

    So, the description tag is one of the first opportunities your site has to grab a potential visitor’s attention. Notice anything interesting about that screen-shot? Take a look at the example search I used: “searching in Google.” Now, look at those description tags. Check out the words that are bolded.

    So you see, if you’re targeting a search term, and you rank for that term, it would be a good idea to make sure it’s in your meta description as well. This is just one more thing that makes your site relevant to a search in a visitor’s eyes.

    Creating a Description Meta Tag

    The description meta tag actually looks rather similar to the keywords meta tag:

  • Safely Redirecting Your Website to a New Domain Name

    Every once in a while you come across a situation in which you must move your company’s website to a new domain name. But if you move the site to a new domain name, you have to ensure that the search engines can find the new location, and that you hit as few ranking/traffic dips as possible.

    Why You May Need a New Domain Name

    The reasons for your new domain name can vary, ranging from the need to correct file names to create SEO friendly URLs to the need to establish your online identity as a part of your re-branding efforts. Here are a few examples of situations we’ve come across:

    You manage a hotel that was once part of a chaing (Best Western, Marriott, etc.). But now, you’re no longer a part of that chain becoming an independent property. If you old domain was something like city-best-western.com or city-bw.com, then you may feel the need to change the domain name. This is especially the case if you’ve walked away from the chain to pursue a new strategy that involves re-branding yourself.

    There have been a few cases where we’ve had to redirect sites due to the purchase or merging of companies. Once the parent company has established its ownership, it’s time to bring the online presence into the fold.

    We work with a lot of small businesses that have recently moved from a home-made or dated website to something a little more professional. Often times this means they moved to WordPress (or would like to so as to start blogging) or another CMS that creates pages with file names that are not similar to those of the old site.

    Whatever the reason may be (as long as you’re not jumping to a new domain name for SEO reasons) you’ll need to take a few steps to make the redirect go as smoothly as possible.

    Gather Website Information

    First things first, we need to make sure we completlely understand the site(s) in question. It helps to create a spreadsheet containing information on all of the pages of the site with at least:

    • The navigation title of each page
    • The URL to each page
    • The content of the pages
    • The meta information on each page

    Depending on the scope of your redirect, you may need to note additional or less information.

    It’s also a good idea to notate the structure of the site, understanding the hierarchy of pages and sub pages. If you’ve got a particularly large site, then doing this by hand will be a pain. Instead, you can use the Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool to get an exportable list of most of that information.

    While you’re taking notes, log into your traffic analyzer of choice and try to familiarize yourself with the amount of traffic your site receives, where it comes from and where it goes to. This one step will serve several purposes:

    • After the redirect is complete, you’ll want to know if your traffic is moving up or down, and you’ll want to notice as quickly as possible
    • Understanding what pages of your site get the most traffic, and from where will help you plan your redirects appropriately.
    • After all this is done, you’ll want to update as many inbound links to your site as you can, and the best links are the ones that drive traffic to your site.
    • If you’ve been tracking any rankings progress get an updated report for that as well. This way you can keep an eye out for any sudden drops.

    Planning

    Once you’ve gathered as much information as you can (it’s never too much), then it’s time to start planning your redirects. If you’re simply moving your site from one domain to another, then your planning will be minimal, but if you’re doing this to a site or sites with pages that number in the hundreds or thousands, then get your pencil (mouse) and paper pad (spreadsheet application) ready.

    If you’re acquiring a site as a part of a purchase then you’re probably going to redirecting the old site to only certain portions of the parent website. If you’re updating your site as a part of a redesign, you’ll want to map out the old structure and new structure of your site.

    The Redirect

    To learn a little more about the types of redirects you can check out a previous post on the subject. Suffice to say, the grand majority of your redirects are going to be of the 301 type. This basically tells Google and other search engines that the site has permanently moved to a new location and redirect visitors to the new site quickly.

    Depending on the size of your site, you may want to move sections of your site at a time to make sure everything is working properly. We don’t run into situations where this must be done, normally being reserved for sites with hundreds or thousands of pages.

    When you’re moving a website from one domain to another, you don’t want to simply redirect the whole website to the new domain name; rather redirect the pages to pages with similar content. This will help to minimize ranking/traffic dips as well as provide a smooth transition for your visitors.

    Make sure you are constantly testing your redirects. If it’s a small site, you can easily check each page. If it’s larger, you can use the Screaming Fog tool again. It’s a good idea to manually check at least a few pages from each level of the site (including sub folders, categories, etc.). Check for any broken links or 404 errors.

    After The Redirect

    Once your redirects are in place and you’ve ensure that they are working properly, it’s time to keep a vigilant eye on the site’s health. Make sure you have all the proper tracking and reporting tools setup, and check your site’s performance daily for a few days.

    It’s also a good idea to make sure both of the domains are setup in Google Webmaster Tools, with submitted sitemaps. This will help you catch crawl errors that Google may experience. You can also run the Screaming Frog tool to make sure you don’t have any broken links.

    As for the search engine results pages, 301 redirects can take effect within a day, or over the period of a few weeks. Again, this depends on the size of the sites and the and how the old and new site currently rank, etc.

    It’s important to know that redirects only transfer a portion of the link value through them. So, even if you minimize ranking losses as best as you can and implement your 301 redirects flawlessly, you may still see a few dips in rankings.

    Give it a few weeks to make sure you haven’t seen any problems, then begin persuing as many of the best websites that link to you that you can. You’ll want to have them update their link to reflect the new domain name or page.

  • Google Places and Local SEO Services

    It’s no secret that people use the search engines to find the products and services they need in their area. We live in a society where local information is literally at our fingertips. So shouldn’t your business be what your customers find when they search online?

    Yes, it should.

    Local SEO Services at a Glance

    This service is perfect for: This service also works well with: Price Ranges
    • Hotels
    • Restaurants
    • Lawyers
    • AC/Heating Services
    • Etc..
    		 Local SEO services:$5,000 – $15,000 per yearGoogle Places SEO:$1,000 – $6,000 per 6 months

    Prices depend on your area of service and competition level.

    Our local SEO services cater to small businesses who need to market to a specific region. By utilizing local SEO methods we can put your business in front of your customers via search engines like Google, as well as common applications used on mobile phones.

    If you provide a service or product to your immediate area, then we’ve got a local online marketing solution perfect for you.

    Local Search Rankings

    If you’ve ever conducted a search in Google, then chances are you are familiar with what we call “natural listings.” These are the listings that the search engines feel are most relevant to your search. But did you know that Google often returns results based on your area regardless of what you searched for?

    With a strong focus on your specific region, we can optimize your website to appear in the search engine results pages for localized products and services.

    Google Places SEO Service

    Surely you’ve noticed a map and local listings pop up every once in a while. These are the listings from Google’s local search engine, Google Maps. For example, a search including a city or area will most likely return not only the natural listings, but a section dedicated to listings within their “Maps” service.

    The business listings within Google Maps is knows as Google Places, and having a Google Places page that ranks can provide a great source and traffic from people in your are.

    As a part of any Local SEO Service, we also manage a client’s Google Places listing. However, because Google has placed such an emphasis on this part of their service, we also offer a Google Places service to help businesses with specific needs in regard to Google Places. Contact us today for a quote for services.

  • Articles About google places – SEO Factor

    I remember the first time I explained the importance of Google Local. It was a post-sell conversation with a catering client who had charged me with the responsibility of getting more traffic to their site. At the time, Google wasn’t serving Maps listings in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). In fact, it was a […]

  • Local SEO Services

    It’s no secret that people use the search engines to find the products and services they need in their area. We live in a society where local information is literally at our fingertips. So shouldn’t your business be what your customers find when they search online?

    Yes, it should.

    Our local SEO services cater to small businesses who need to market to a specific region. By utilizing local SEO methods we can put your business in front of your customers via search engines like Google, as well as common applications used on mobile phones.

    If you provide a service or product to your immediate area, then we’ve got a local online marketing solution perfect for you.

    Local Search Rankings

    If you’ve ever conducted a search in Google, then chances are you are familiar with what we call “natural listings.” These are the listings that the search engines feel are most relevant to your search. But did you know that Google often returns results based on your area reagardless of what you searched for?

    With a strong focus on your specific regon, we can optimize your website to appear in the search engine results pages for localized products and services.

    Optimized Local Listings

    Surely you’ve noticed a map and local listings pop up every once in a while. These are the listings from that search engine’s local service. In Google, for example, a search including a city or area will most likely return not only the natural listings, but a section dedicated to lisings within their “Maps” service.

    These listings are no accident. They take a little bit of know-how to get listed and to rank in those results.

    At SEO Factor, we have that know-how. We create a listing in each of the major search engine’s local services, optimize them and promote them online to get your business to show when those local listings are pulled into the results of a local search.

    Let’s face it, in today’s competitive marketplace even the most humble of local businesses needs an edge. Our local SEO services will give your small business that edge and ensure that your competition isn’t leaving you behind.