Author: infogenix

What is Google Really Looking For?

Posted on by infogenix

What is Google Really Looking For?

Google is the world’s most popular search engine by far, with over 75% of Internet users reporting Google as their first choice. Yahoo, which was once one of the most popular search engines on the market, came in at around 8%. Because of their vast market share, Google’s policies and protocols matter more to businesses than ever before. They essentially get to decide who is seen by consumers–and who isn’t. So what do they want from the web pages they sort?

Staying Ahead of Google Updates

Google is constantly tweaking its algorithms to deliver the most relevant results to web searchers. Since Google doesn’t usually come out and announce that they are changing their metrics, your page rank might drop suddenly without warning or explanation. With first page search results enjoying the lion’s share of traffic, placing on even the second page of Google listings means that your website is completely overlooked by the vast majority of web users.

The only way to protect your page rank is to constantly stay ahead of Google updates, which can be difficult to do. Previous Google updates have included changes to the way the system treats certain URLs, how local businesses are displayed, and which kinds of tags the system looks for when indexing sites. Some Google updates have targeted websites that use duplicate, redundant, or excessive information, since these pages are inherently less useful to web users. What used to bump your rankings up drastically may now shove them down.

Fortunately, websites like mozcast.com are dedicated to monitoring Google’s web traffic to give people an idea of when changes might be occurring. Beyond watching these sites, here are some tips to protecting your web traffic so that your website can stay viable, no matter what kinds of updates Google throws your way.

Tips for Improving Your Search Ranking

Google’s primary goal is to promote sites that actually provide what searchers are looking for. For this reason, all their updates are geared toward identifying useful content. While other tips and tricks can help you get Google’s attention, the best way to stay on their good side through any update is to provide genuinely useful information.

Provide Value to Searchers

There is a reason that web developers and SEO experts alike tout the phrase “content is king.” When it comes to building a truly successful website, offering genuine, useful content to readers is more important than anything else. This means that instead of simply filling your site with poorly written, irrelevant pieces, focus on your business or website goals and offer content that readers would find helpful.

Make it a priority to use relevant sources, a professional, intelligent tone, and information that web readers aren’t likely to find other places. Before writing content for your website, think carefully about what readers will be looking for, and whether or not the content would be a valuable addition to your website.

Update Material Frequently

One of the things that Google web crawlers look for when they scan for valuable pages is new content, which is why you should never leave your website stagnant. Focus on updating your website frequently, even multiple times a day if possible. Adding sections that focus on current events or new trends can also help, since people are likely to search for that kind of content.

Create Content Without Click-Bait

Google also evaluates your webpage based on the number of ties that it has to other pages, since professional sites and blogs frequently refer people to other helpful resources. In the past, web developers could improve their site ranking by simply stuffing their posts with links to irrelevant webpages, but recent Google updates have cracked down on these kinds of practices. For this reason, avoid click-bait content, such as link stuffing or phrases like “click here for more information!”

Use Alt Tags and Metadata

Contrary to popular belief, the Google algorithm isn’t an all-seeing virtual life form that can reasonably and responsibly detect different kinds of data. For example, if you upload pictures to your website or blog, Google can’t tell what they consist of—unless you include alt tags and metadata. These important pieces of information can be added easily and will improve your page rank, since they give Google a more accurate description of what your page includes.

 

The Value of Professional SEO Businesses

Unless you have several hours each and every day to take care of your webpage, it can be hard to do everything from monitoring your page ranking to updating that blog. To make things much easier, consider hiring a professional Utah SEO company. Professional SEO companies specialize in learning more about the latest Google updates so that we can design smarter websites for our clients. Contact Infogenix to find out how we can improve your website or blog.

The Next Big Google Search Update?

Posted on by infogenix

The Next Big Google Search Update?

Years ago, all you needed for a top-listed website was a great URL and loads of content. If you wanted to create a high-ranking cooking website and you happened to snag the URL www.whatsfordinner.com, you didn’t have to worry much about pesky things like Internet traffic. Fast forward to 2016, however, and search ranking is all about the numbers, keywords, and Google’s interpretation of how well your business is doing—which can make it hard to rise in the ranks.

How Google Evaluates Your Webpage

To evaluate the quality, and ultimately the rank, of your website, Google uses complex algorithms to figure out where you should land. Their web crawlers inspect a wide range of different features about your website, including keywords, HTML tags, titles, and most importantly, your website’s sitemap. Unfortunately, even people who cracked the code on Google rankings a few years ago may find their site dead in the water these days. New updates to the Google algorithm are designed to spot things like duplicate content that isn’t useful to readers, bland meta descriptions, and much, much more.

Tip The Scales In Your Favor With SEO

Because all of this Internet mumbo-jumbo can be difficult for business owners to decode, especially since they are likely focusing on, well, running a business, many companies turn to SEO in Utah to improve their search listings. SEO businesses specialize in understanding the latest Google and other search engine updates in order to optimize your site and improve its ranking. Unfortunately, the ever-changing algorithm keeps SEO businesses on their toes.

Recent Google Algorithm Updates That Could Affect You

You would think that a business as vast and influential as Google would come right out and warn businesses before they go changing up their algorithm, but that just doesn’t happen. Because their goal is to improve the relevancy of what users see, the changes Google makes are often complete surprises—which can leave businesses and SEO companies scrambling to figure out what just happened.

Fortunately, some businesses monitor the “traffic” of the Google algorithm to make it easier to tell when something might be happening, and word on the street is that something went down on September 3rd, 2016. Industry experts noticed a giant spike in Google algorithm activity, and shortly after the change was made, Google acknowledged that they did, in fact, make some pretty significant changes to their search engine formula.

Local Pack Ranking Update

One big change that users started to notice on September 3rd was the way that Google was displaying local pack results. Traditionally, when you searched for a business or keyword, Google displayed seven local businesses that might be relevant to your query, along with their address, phone number, and directions to their storefront. This old model was known as the Google “7 pack,” but recently, those seven results were slashed to three. The new Google “3 pack” only displays the top three local hits for any search query, which means that businesses that come in fourth might suffer significant drops in traffic.

Most SEO experts chalk up this recent pack change to Google’s plan to eliminate spammy search results from the web, offering users three results instead of seven to sift through when looking for a local business. If your ranking has suffered because of this change, industry experts suggest registering your business with Google and optimizing your site for the user.

Core Search Update

Another big change that users noticed as of September 3rd was sweeping changes to the order of search rankings, probably due to a core search update performed by Google. Utah SEO experts noticed a huge change in ranking among all verticals, but the update doesn’t seem industry specific.

Quality Content: The Key To Staying Viable

Time and time again, Google has talked about the importance of quality in regards to maintaining your search ranking. As time goes on, they find more and more ways to distinguish helpful, relevant content. As they say in the industry, “content is king,” and there is really no way around it. Experts recommend filling your website with valid, helpful content, using great sources for information, and keeping your website up-to-date by working with SEO professionals. By making your website a priority and rolling with the Google changes, you can keep your business on top.

Why You Need SEO

Posted on by infogenix

Why You Need SEO

Would you ignore a customer if they walked into your store? Absolutely not. In fact, you would probably make it a point to answer all of their questions, help them to feel welcome and comfortable, and direct them to new products—without a glimmer of hesitation. Unfortunately, when it comes to those same customers perusing your website in their free time, you might be coming off as less than hospitable.

All too often, business owners neglect their websites, overlook web traffic, and ignore problems that make their company look terrible online—which is why SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is so important. In 2016, businesses live and die on the web, making SEO a crucial expenditure. Here are two reasons you should seek out Utah SEO services today, and how the right company can help your business to flourish.

Search Ranking Matters—A Lot

When you search for your business online, where does your listing pop up amongst your slew of competitors? Although you might feel satisfied to secure that second page listing, it might not be enough to encourage new customers to visit your website. Research has shown that search engine ranking has a powerful role in dictating your opportunities for new traffic, with less than 10% of consumers visiting the second page of Google searches. To put that number into perspective, 90% of web visitors are only interested in the listings that show up on the first page of Google, and won’t even catch a glimpse of your website if it falls on the second page. Your chances for gaining organic traffic dim the further down the list you go, with less than 5% of web visitors venturing onto the third page.

To add insult to injury, even first-page listings aren’t guaranteed prolific traffic. Believe it or not, the first result listed in a Google search enjoys an astounding 34.35% of the page traffic—twice as much as the number two spot on the list. Third place search results average about 11% of the page traffic, with numbers growing increasingly dismal the further down you go. For example, sixth place only warrants about 5% of traffic, and the tenth spot offers a measly 2.71%.

Fortunately, SEO companies are dedicated to improving your search engine ranking, helping you to secure more traffic online. Companies offering SEO in Utah start by evaluating the strength of your website by looking for key indicators that play a role in your overall traffic. For example, since factors like keywords, links, and content on your website flag its importance to Google, SEO businesses can add elements to your website to make it more relevant, dramatically improving your ranking. SEO companies also constantly research Google analytics, practices, and policies to better serve their clients. For example, if Google changes an algorithm that alters the way search rankings are listed, the right SEO company can anticipate the changes and adjust your website so that your ranking remains viable.

Web Users Aren’t Patient

That website that you made with that cool online web builder might look pretty professional, but how are your page rankings? If your website looks nice but doesn’t command the traffic you want, it might be because of your DIY approach to website creation.

Online web builders commonly use complex software and coding to create webpages, which means that most of the time, DIY websites contain a lot more logged information than they should. In addition to signaling to Google that your website is unprofessional and instantly diminishing your search rank, this extra coding can make your website bulky and slow, which can frustrate users. Research has shown that most visitors abandon websites that take longer than 4 seconds to load, which means that a few mistakes on your part could spell disaster online.

To improve search engine rankings, some SEO companies also specialize in web design to create fast, functional pages that Google loves. By building websites from the ground up, SEO companies like Infogenix, can create websites that say all the right things to get Google’s attention—and move you up the list. Web designers can carefully evaluate and tweak different elements that determine relevancy, such as previously linked pages, content tags, page attributes, and the uniqueness of the written content.

With more people than ever before using the web to search for products and services, you can’t afford not to have a team of experts on your side. If your website could use a boost in traffic, contact Infogenix today.

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