SEO David Griffin SEO David Griffin

We Quintupled Our SEO Keywords By Doing This

Let’s talk about “SEO” and “Search Engine Optimization”. While you can consider these buzzwords, they actually are essential to a good marketing strategy for many, if not most, industries. “Search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct traffic or paid traffic.”

 
SEO Griffin & Co Strategic Marketing.jpg
 

Questions, Prepositions, Comparisons and Alphabeticals In Your SEO

Let’s talk about “SEO” and “Search Engine Optimization”. While you can consider these buzzwords, they actually are essential to a good marketing strategy for many, if not most, industries.

Search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct traffic or paid traffic.

Let’s take this business, Griffin & Co. Strategic Marketing Methods, and find out how we can improve our SEO. One of the ways we describe the process of optimizing a website is to accurately predict what your potential customers will search for. We offer strategic marketing solutions. However, we’ve found that many of our customers do not search for “marketing strategy” but instead search for “digital marketing” when looking for a firm. Using this knowledge, we should create content that explains what digital marketing solutions we have, what each service does, how it will benefit a company, and so on.

While we want to attract people searching for “marketing”, let's narrow it down further by focusing on attracting people searching for “digital marketing”. 

Here’s where we go into SEO science.

It’s important to note that different people search in different ways depending on what they are trying to find out, if they are using speech-to-text instead of typing, etc. As a result, we need to not only look at Questions, but also Prepositions, Comparisons and Alphabeticals.

Some search by asking questions starting with: Who, What, Where, When, Will, Why, Which, Are, Can and How.

Examples of this include “how digital marketing works” or “why digital marketing is important”.

Some use the preposition approach, using “digital marketing” as the start of the search and including: To, Is, Near, Can, For, With and Without.

Examples of this include “digital marketing near me” or “digital marketing for small business”.

Others use a comparison style of search, using “digital marketing” as the start and including: Like, And, Versus, Vs, Or.

Examples of this include “digital marketing and data analytics” or “digital marketing vs traditional marketing”.

The most used keywords, however, usually come from short searches that may not include any questions, comparisons or prepositions. We can more easily categorize these by calling them alphabeticals, since the best way to list them is by alphabetizing them.

Examples of this include “digital marketing description”, “digital marketing help” or “digital marketing ideas”.

Search Engine Griffin & Co. Marketing Strategy.jpg

We use search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing everyday, so it’s strange to think that not too long ago, people only used them sometimes. When search engines originally debuted, people took the time to type out their long questions, but as we’ve become accustomed to it, we’ve drastically altered how we search by just including the key parts. This is how we went from “how digital marketing is different from traditional marketing” to “digital marketing vs traditional marketing” to “digital vs traditional marketing”, and so on.

By taking the time to think about how people search in the current day and age, we are able to expand our 77 questions about digital marketing into 386 keywords and phrases which now include questions, prepositions, comparisons and alphabeticals.

Some of the 386 keywords will overlap, and that’s fine. Others may not be relevant to your industry. For example, someone searching “digital marketing graduate programs” is probably not a top prospect for us. It’s up to each company to decide which ones are relevant and which ones will just lead to a higher bounce rate. However, there’s no denying that by including more than just questions, we can drastically improve our SEO and help more people searching for our services find us.

If you’ve been thinking about tackling your SEO, start by creating the longest list of keywords and then narrowing it down. Keywords are only a part of SEO; we still need to make sure we’re using the right headers, footers, site structure, domains and more, but that’s a breakdown for another time. For now, enjoy the full list for “digital marketing” we’ve discussed below.


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SEO, Facts & Figures David Griffin SEO, Facts & Figures David Griffin

Search Engine Market Share

Most of us know that Google is the leading search engine, but just how far ahead is it compared to the competition? According to Net Marketshare, a website who proudly state they “provide web usage share statistics on real users (not bots),” Google’s market share is 72%:

 

Most of us know that Google is the leading search engine, but just how far ahead is it compared to the competition? According to Net Marketshare, a website who proudly state they “provide web usage share statistics on real users (not bots),” Google’s market share is 72%:

search engine market share griffin and co marketing arlington.png

From September 2017 - August 2018, Google dominated with a 72% market share. Rounding out the top 10 were:

  1. Google: 72.03%

  2. Baidu (China): 14.11%

  3. Bing: 7.76%

  4. Yahoo!: 4.27%

  5. Yandex (Russia): 0.95%

  6. Ask: 0.35%

  7. DuckDuckGo: 0.23%

  8. Naver (South Korea): 0.11%

  9. AOL: 0.05%

  10. Dogpile: 0.04%

Why does this matter? You need to know where your customers are and where they are coming from, especially if you are considering running any Google Ads (or even Bing ads!). Want to know more about the importance of search engines and SERPs? Send us a message here.

References:
Search Engine Market Share. (2018). Net Marketshare. Source: https://www.netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx



 
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Viral vs. Valuable Marketing

Seth Godin, known to many as the “Marketing Guru,” defines viral marketing as, “an idea that spreads–and an idea that while it is spreading actually helps market your business or cause (Godin, 2008).”

 
viral marketing.jpg
 

Seth Godin, known to many as the “Marketing Guru,” defines viral marketing as, “an idea that spreads–and an idea that while it is spreading actually helps market your business or cause (Godin, 2008).”

In television and movies, viral marketing is often portrayed as any advertising done on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. However, this is not viral marketing, only online marketing. Dictionary.com defines viral as, “pertaining to or involving the spreading of information and opinions about a product or service from person to person, especially on the Internet or in e-mails” as well as “becoming very popular by circulating quickly from person to person, especially through the Internet (Dictionary.com, 2018).”

The main purpose of viral marketing is to push a message out so unique and clever that people want to spread it. Many times the way in which this is achieved is by doing a commercial where the brand is not highlighted as much as the story or message. An example can be found in one my all time favorite commercials, Kmart’s ship my pants. While some may consider the humor crude, the commercial was entertaining enough to receive oh-so-many retweets on Twitter, over 16 million YouTube views, and even media attention. USA Today reported, “Some social media users deemed the commercial, created by ad agency Draftfcb Chicago, ‘gross’ and ‘vulgar,’ while many gave kudos to Kmart for having an edgy sense of humor (Petrecca, 2013).”

The Kmart commercial went viral, but did it earn Kmart extra business? Those numbers are harder to track and as Seth Godin also points out, “Something being viral is not, in an of itself, viral marketing. Who cares that 32,000,000 people saw your stupid video? It didn’t market you or your business in a tangible, useful way (Godin, 2008).”

In the current year of 2018, there are so many social media sites it can be difficult to navigate through them, but businesses have found different ways to utilize and harness this power. People are talking on these social media sites, so why not have them talk about a brand? The trick is to find a way to convey a business message or brand through a creative way that makes it seem like it’s not a commercial. If done correctly, people will want to share what they have seen on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

As Dave Kerpen, author of Likeable Social Media, once stated, “Videos that ‘go viral’ are more often than not accidental! Creating a video with the intent of it going viral is bound to fail. Rather than having a goal of ‘going viral’ you should have a goal of ‘being valuable.’ Create content that is valuable, entertaining, and informative (Kerpen, 2012).”

References:

Godin, S. (2008). What is viral marketing?. Seth’s Blog. Retrieved from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/what-is-viral-m.html

Kerpen, D. (2012). How to: Make a viral video. Likeable Media. Retrieved from http://www.likeable.com/blog/2012/07/how-to-make-a-viral-video/

Petrecca, L. (2013). Kmart’s ‘ship my pants’ ad causes shockwaves and smiles. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/04/15/kmart-ship-my-pants-commercial-ad/2084131/

Viral. (2018). Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/viral?s=t

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SEO David Griffin SEO David Griffin

SEO: What Is a “Nofollow” Link?

Have you ever been reading the comment section of a website and noticed a random, totally unrelated comment with a link? There’s a reason someone posted that, and there’s also a solution to discourage spam like that. Enter the “Nofollow” link.

 

Have you ever been reading the comment section of a website and noticed a random, totally unrelated comment with a link? There’s a reason someone posted that, and there’s also a solution to discourage spam like that.

Nofollow links do not allow the search engine bots to follow the link. Why would you want to let bots know to NOT follow the link? As mentioned above, possibly the best example to think about why “Nofollow” links are needed is when it comes to the comment section of a blog or article. Chances are, you’ve seen a random comment on a blog or news article that has a link to a totally unrelated website from the subject matter of the article. It used to be because those links helped websites rank higher. The more links there were pointing back to your site, the higher your placement on the SERP. Before long, blogs and other websites were overrun with people adding spammy comments with links in an effort to rank their site higher via Google’s Pagerank.

To combat the ridiculous amount of spam comments, members of Google’s Blogger team, Matt Cutts and Jason Shellen, introduced the “Nofollow” links. The end result is quite simple and has been adapted by many other sites like Wordpress: By automatically adding in the “nofollow” code for the comments section, people won’t add as many spam comments. After all, if Google or another search engine isn’t going to recognize a link, then why post it at all? Voila!

Dofollow links are exactly what they sound like. Search engine bots as well as people can click them, and the bots index them as well. Legitimate links are Dofollow.

To get a visual, here are Nofollow and Dofollow links compared:

Nofollow Link Example:

 
nofollow link example - griffin and co marketing arlington.png
 

Dofollow Link Example:

 
dofollow link example - griffin and co marketing arlington.png
 

Neat, huh?

 
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SEO, Content Creation David Griffin SEO, Content Creation David Griffin

SEO: 3 Marketing Stats to Keep In Mind When It Comes to Search

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a daunting task. Data is always changing, as are people’s search patterns. Google, the number 1 search engine, processes over 3.5 billion searches per day, so what can your business do to stay competitive?

 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a daunting task. Data is always changing, as are people’s search patterns. Google, the number 1 search engine, processes over 3.5 billion searches per day, so what can your business do to stay competitive?

Obviously, the goal is always to be on the first page of the SERP (search engine results page). In fact, almost 92% of people do not even click on the second page, according to to Chitika statistics.

Despite the astronomical odds, there are still some positive things to consider. For one, search results are generally location based, so people searching for your services in your area usually won’t see results from another area first. In addition, not everyone uses search to find products or services - word of mouth and social media can go a long way! When creating content for your website, you should also remember that the blog you’re writing, the recommendation you posted or the product photos are pieces of information that can be shared elsewhere such as social media and email marketing.

Still, we want to create the best and most searchable website we can, right? With all that in mind, let’s look at 3 (of many!) statistics to take into consideration when updating your site.

Statistic #1: The average content length of a Google first page result is 1,890 words. (Backlinko)

What You Can Do: If you’re writing a blog, be thorough on the subject. Give examples, images, infographics, etc. BONUS: You can use the infographics for your social media pages. Research shows that infographics are “liked” and shared an average of 3 times more on social media than other any other type of content.

Statistic #2: HTTPS, rather than HTTP, generally ranks higher. Of the one million most visited websites, 51.2% of use HTTPS. (via WeLiveSecurity)

What You Can Do: Make your site secure! HTTPS stands for “HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure” and is the secure version of HTTP. This all has to do with how data is sent between a browser and a website. Basically, a 'secure' website means all of the exchanges of information between the browser and the site are encrypted. Google basically announced that all sites which are not HTTPS will not only rank poorer, but the user visiting the unsecured site will get a warning saying it isn’t safe. Read Google’s statement here. Wordpress, Squarespace, Weebly and more offer HTTPS sites, so you can look into one of those if your website needs a refresh.

Statistic #3: In the last year, 60% of people have started using voice search (via MindMeld)

What You Can Do: Try incorporating long tail keywords which can better match people’s natural way of talking. While a keyword is usually 1 word, a “long tail keyword” is a search phrase that contains 3 or more specific words.

  • Keyword example (head term): Superhero

  • Long tail keyword example: Superhero action figure, Superhero kid costumes, Superhero movies this summer

There are so many ways you can improve your online presence and search ranking. Be sure to stay in touch for future tips!

 
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SEO, Content Creation David Griffin SEO, Content Creation David Griffin

4 Reasons Why Blogging Can Help Your SEO

A large majority of bloggers publish content to help with their Search Engine Optimization, which can be a tricky thing. For starters, search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, AOL, DuckDuckGo and more are constantly changing their algorithms - and those algorithms are what match people's queries to your content. 

 
Griffin+Marketing+Arlington+Washington+DC_SEO+1.001.jpeg

A large majority of bloggers publish content to help with their Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which can be a tricky thing. For starters, search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, AOL, DuckDuckGo and more are constantly changing their algorithms - and those algorithms are what match people's queries to your content. 

In addition, it seems like everyone is blogging and yours will just get lost in the mix. It can be overwhelming - in fact, some blogs tell you not to even try. Visit sites like Worldometers and you can see that over 4.5 millions blogs are published daily worldwide. Here's the catch, though, how many of those blogs are geared toward your target audience? How many of those articles have to do with what you are selling? Are they even in the same location as your business?

The answer: a fraction.

Blogging and creating content can serve different purposes. Here are 4 short reasons why:

1) It is a way to answer questions and concerns your past, current and prospective customers have. In addition to your FAQ page, try expanding on the question to answer in detail and address the sub-questions. Not only will this help a prospective customer, it will also help with SEO if you are using the right keywords.

2) It is unique and original content for you. Even if someone else has already written about the subject, this will be YOUR content associated with YOUR brand on YOUR website - a key to successful SEO. 

3) It provides branded shareable content. Many companies share major news stories and information on their social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. However, sharing content - original content tailored to your business - that drives people to your website (instead of another news-site or blog) is absolutely more effective, especially if you close your blog post with a call-to-action (example: To learn more or to ask us any other questions about this subject, send us a message here).

4) You become a thought leader. A thought leader is the go-to person of the industry for people seeking advice. Having multiple, good articles about a particular industry means you become the expert on the matter and build your social currency. Research shows that people feel more comfortable buying from companies who show their experience and knowledge because it builds trust with the brand.

There are many, many more factors when it comes to successful SEO, but that's where Griffin & Co. Marketing comes in. If you have some questions, give us a shout. For now, though, think of starting that blog as your new year's resolution.

 
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