Best SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost in 2023?

SEO pricing 2023 varies a lot by industry, location, what’s included in the SEO package and more.

Without knowing a lot about your company, it’s hard to give a concrete answer on exactly how much you should budget for SEO in 2023. However, we can give you a general idea.

Based on the average cost of SEO services in 2023, you can expect to spend:

• $2,000 to $7,000 per month for an average monthly SEO package
• $100 to $350 per hour for SEO consulting
• Starting at $2,000 for project-based SEO work

It’s a wide range, we know. A lot depends on the industry and needs of your company, as well as the breadth of experience of the SEO agency you choose.

It’s also important to understand what those numbers mean, because cheap SEO services are almost always too good to be true and cost you more in the long run.

Quality SEO is complex work that requires specialized expertise and tools.

To further help you decide your SEO budget, we’ve broken down the information further. We hope this helps you better understand exactly where your SEO costs should fall. We’ll go over:

1. Why you should invest in SEO
2. What actually goes into pricing an SEO package
3. What a decent monthly SEO package must include
4. SEO consulting: The alternative to a done-for-you SEO package
5. How much small businesses should be spending on SEO
6. Red flags to watch out for when it comes to low-cost SEO
7. Ways to keep SEO costs down without cutting corners

Let’s take a detailed look at how much SEO costs in 2023.

1. Why Should You Invest in SEO?

Fact: organic search accounts for 53% of all web traffic on an average website. Meaning if you’re not showing up in Google Search, you could be losing out on more than half of your potential customers.

And SEO is the most reliable, long-term strategy for getting your website seen by the people who buy what you sell.

That’s not to say it’s a magic bullet. SEO doesn’t work overnight. But when it’s done well, SEO is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that works alongside PPC advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing delivers lasting (and often increasing) value over time.

• Pay-per-click advertisements get your name out there quickly, but at a cost, and that cost fluctuates as the ad auction changes. SEO takes time, but once it’s established, it delivers a steady flow of relevant traffic for free.
• Social media platforms are powerful, but different platforms go in and out of fashion all the time. SEO leverages the value of stable search engines (mainly Google and Bing) that continue to gain influence on our lives.
• Email marketing gives you the freedom to say almost anything, but you can only communicate with existing leads and customers. SEO helps get your message out to new people who are specifically interested in what you offer.

It’s not so much a question of whether SEO pricing is worth it in 2023, but of how much you should invest in SEO based on your business’ needs and goals. Understanding the different types of SEO services available and how those services are priced will help you make an informed decision.

2. What Goes Into the SEO Pricing and SEO Packages?

Pricing for SEO packages largely depends on:

• SEO Agency Experience: You get what you pay for. Seasoned agencies tend to cost more, but they also know what works. They won’t waste your time on unproductive or outdated SEO strategies.
• Project Scope: Large-scale SEO campaigns will not only need more content, but also more labour and resources, while small-scale campaigns have a smaller price tag.
• Location: SEO agencies charge different rates depending on the demand for their services and the number of potential customers or clients in their area. This is where remote work is advantageous for agencies and clients alike — it lets agencies reduce operational costs without sacrificing quality or talent, which translates into cheaper rates for you.
• Pricing Model: There are different SEO pricing models, and each impacts the cost of SEO in a different way. An hourly or project-based model may be more cost-effective for you if you only need a few specific SEO fixes.
• Business Size (Startup vs. Mid-Market vs. Enterprise): Larger enterprises tend to require a broader scope of work, including more extensive website optimization, content writing and link building, so they require more expensive SEO packages.
• Existing SEO Strategy: SEO pricing depends on the state of your existing strategy, including existing website, backlinks, and content. Starting from scratch will obviously require more work and a greater cost since there’s more ground to cover. Having to reverse an existing SEO penalty will also require specialized penalty reversal work before or concurrent with SEO optimization.
• Goals: Want to dominate a particular keyword? Overtake specific competitors? Get a certain volume of traffic per month or year? Your goals play a big part in how much SEO costs, since you’ll need different approaches depending on where you want to end up.

Ultimately, what you budget for SEO isn’t just about what others are spending. Instead, it’s about what you need and want from your SEO campaign.

3. What Does a Monthly SEO Package Include?

A monthly SEO package usually includes a mix of SEO tactics to support an SEO strategy created based on your business’s current SEO standing (rankings, work already completed, penalties, etc.), goals, budget, and competitive landscape.
An SEO package priced at the higher end of the SEO pricing spectrum ($7,000 per month) will include more services than one at the lower end ($2,000 per month.) It could also include going after more, or more competitive, keywords.
When a company is new to SEO and starting from scratch, monthly SEO services will likely include research and setup tasks that lay the groundwork for success, including:

• Keyword and competitive research
• SEO Audit (on page SEO, technical SEO, off page SEO)
• Set up analytics

After the foundation is laid, monthly SEO services tend to transition to technical fixes that improve the health of your website to maximize SEO results, including:

• On-Page SEO fixes
• Off-Page SEO fixes
• Technical SEO fixes

Afterward, the focus generally shifts to ongoing optimization and content creation. Depending on your needs, it might take the form of a specific number of content pieces per month, or ongoing on-page and off-page SEO optimizations.
Overall, what a monthly SEO services package includes is subject to your company’s current and future goals, as well as your budget. Get in touch to learn more about the SEO services we can provide you on a monthly basis within your budget.

4. What’s Included in SEO Consulting?

If you already have an in-house marketing team with some SEO or content writing experience, you may be able to benefit from SEO consulting services, including:

• SEO Audit: The first step in implementing an SEO strategy is a detailed SEO analysis of your website that identifies exactly what’s preventing you from getting the results you want.
• SEO Recommendations: Second opinion on your current SEO plan with recommendations on tactics and keywords, etc.
• SEO Training: Providing training on SEO content, linking, technical SEO, and other SEO tactics to your in-house marketing team.
• SEO Implementation: Usually project-based services which can include fixing an SEO penalty, performing SEO audits and fixes, working on keyword projects, and compiling reports as needed

If you’re not sure if you need SEO consulting or a full SEO package, we offer free 20-minute consultations — for those who are interested in learning more about our professional SEO services without the commitment.

5. What Should SEO Cost a Small Business?

There is no reason why a small business can’t invest in SEO, even if you’re starting with a smaller budget.

In fact, small businesses can often benefit the most from SEO since they can’t just throw money at advertising like their large competitors can.

Generally, a small business’s SEO costs fall within this average range:

• $2,000 to $7,000 per month for a monthly SEO package
• $100 to $350 per hour for SEO consulting
• Starting at $2,000 for project-based SEO work

SEO agencies usually offer tiers of service, with the most comprehensive option costing more than the most basic.

Small businesses that are just getting started in SEO often start with a smaller package that includes things like keyword research, monitoring, and a focus on a small number of realistic keyword targets , then scale up once they see results.

6. Are Cheap SEO Services Worth It?

We mentioned above that you can expect a monthly SEO package from a professional SEO agency to range from between $2,000 and $7,000 per month.

Professional SEO Consulting runs from $100 to $350 per hour.

What if that’s just too much? Is it worth digging to find an even cheaper SEO service?

Here’s why the answer is always no.

While they may seem like a great deal at first, cheap SEO services often use manipulative tactics that go against search engine guidelines and cost you more in the long run.

Google and Bing are well aware of these shady practices. In fact, they deploy advanced machine learning algorithms to actively hunt down and penalize websites that use manipulative black hat SEO practices.

That can cause you to lose traffic, get blocked-listed, and potentially forfeit all of your future search traffic to your competitors.

Cheap SEO services are a huge risk to your company and brand so it’s important to know how to avoid them. The biggest red flags that you’re dealing with shady, cheap SEO providers include:

• Big Promises for Low Price Tags: Long-term SEO success takes a lot of manual work that can’t be done on a budget. You either have to settle for a small number of keywords or pay more later for the work that needs to be done.
• No Long-Term Strategy: Cheap SEO companies offer short-term solutions, but this isn’t realistic. Either they aren’t doing their job or they’re just looking to get quick and easy money from unsuspecting customers.
• No Transparency: Having visibility over the SEO process allows you to assess the results and make necessary changes. Never trust an SEO company that isn’t transparent with you.

If you’re looking for a quick fix to your online marketing strategy, don’t fall for cheap SEO pricing. Contact a reputable agency and see what can be done quickly and on your budget.

7. How to Keep SEO Costs in Check & Get the Best ROI

You don’t want to risk your business’s success by hiring an agency that offers SEO on the cheap.

At the same time, quality SEO doesn’t have to break the bank.

If you’re on a tight budget, making smart decisions in a few key places can help keep your costs down in order to get the most bang for your buck.

Here’s a quick lowdown on keeping costs in check while still getting the best SEO ROI:

• Focus on High-ROI Keywords: The best keywords to target aren’t always long-tail keywords or even competitive keywords — just the words and phrases that have the best chance of producing a good return on investment for your business. Any SEO work you pay for should start with solid keyword research to inform decisions about what to target.
• Test Keywords with Advertising First: Keyword research is important but not always foolproof. One way to test the viability of target keywords is to bid on them through paid search (e.g. Google Ads) before investing in SEO for that same keyword. That way, if the keyword turns out not to be profitable, you won’t waste your time or money chasing it organically.
• Keep an Eye on the Competition: Studying what your most successful competitors are doing can provide valuable insight on your own SEO strategy. Always insist on competitor research as part of your SEO package.
• Play the Long Game: SEO is a long term investment and it’s important to be realistic about ROI. This is especially true for small brands who may need a little more time than larger brands to rank their content. You should be prepared to invest in SEO for at least 6-8 months to see results. If you don’t have enough time or budget for that, stick to other digital marketing tactics like PPC or email marketing to get your brand in front of the right people sooner.

At TrafficSoda, we are committed to helping you get the best ROI with a strong, strategic approach. Get in touch to learn more about SEO pricing and how businesses can keep their costs low while still achieving solid results.

Want More Specific SEO Pricing? Request an Estimate to Find Out How Much SEO Will Cost You in 2023

The average cost of professional SEO services ranges between $2,000 and $7,000 per month for a monthly SEO package, or between $100 and $350 per hour for SEO consulting.

SEO pricing in 2023 varies depending on the scope of your SEO needs, the competitive landscape, and your goals, as well as external factors like location.

If you’re still not sure how to budget for SEO in 2023, we’ll do the hard work for you. Contact us now for an estimate of what you can expect to pay for professional SEO services tailored to your needs.

2023 SEO Checklist: 7 Best Expert Tips to Guide Your SEO Strategy

Keeping up with SEO trends in 2023 is key to staying competitive and reaching more customers. That’s why we compiled this SEO checklist — to give you a year’s worth of SEO tips in one neat package.

SEO is constantly changing. The best SEO tricks that worked 6 months ago may not be relevant today — and what’s worked in the past could even cost you a Google penalty now. 

So, where should you concentrate your efforts? 

Here are some of the SEO trends our experts are watching for in 2023 and what you need to be paying attention to as well.

1. Improving E-A-T — Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness
2. Leveraging Featured Snippets
3. Optimizing for Voice Search
4. Improving Mobile User Experience
5. Enhancing Video SEO
6. Utilizing New Google Shopping Features for eCommerce
7. Keeping Up Image Optimization

If you want to move the needle on your website’s search rankings, we’re here to help. Get in touch with our SEO Team to learn more about our services here at TrafficSoda.

1. E-A-T is Crucial, Strengthen Those Signals

E-A-T — Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — is the most important acronym you’ll use in 2023

This plays a crucial role in Google’s ranking system, especially when it comes to high-stakes subjects like health, safety, or finance.

On multiple occasions Google has come out and reinforced the importance of your website’s E-A-T signals.  

Remember, Google’s ultimate goal is to provide it’s users the most relevant and accurate results. They want their users to love the ‘Google Experience’ and keep coming back.  

In order to find the best results Google uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to identify what a search query means and provide the best possible answer. 

This also means this AI and machine learning needs to eliminate junk, spam, and inaccuracies from its results. Which is a tall order because, you know, the Internet.  

Showing Google that your site is worth their user’s time, will remain of absolute top importance leading into 2023. 

What E-A-T Means For Your SEO Strategy

• E stands for Expertise, meaning you hire real subject matter experts to create, or at least collaborate with you to produce, high quality content.
• A stands for Authoritativeness, which means that you and your website are recognized as a leading source of accurate, timely information on your particular niche.  
• T stands for Trustworthiness, which means you have real reviews and mentions from real people (especially people who are also experts in your niche.)

If you’re doing all the above, but still aren’t seen as a leading authority in your niche, then building your brand recognition is crucial. Here are some ways to get started: 

• Detailed, transparent About Us and Contact Us pages. Trustworthiness starts at home. When visitors visit your website, they should have no doubts about who you are and what you mean, and they should be able to contact you easily. 
• Back up your facts. Throughout your content prove you know what you are talking about by linking to high authority websites like .edu, .gov, etc.  
• More and more positive reviews.  More than your competitors, with more than satisfactory ratings 
• Your own Wikipedia page, or at least mentions. It’s hard to fake authority on Wikipedia since if you aren’t legitimate, your page will be removed quickly. 
• Backlinks and mentions on authoritative websites. While press releases are a good starting point, you really want to aim for mentions, news articles and interviews on other authoritative and trustworthy websites. 

There are a lot of SEO trends that will take effect this year, and all of them involve the E-A-T of your website on some level.

2. Featured Snippets Matter More Than EVER

Believe it or not, it’s been nearly a decade since Google launched Featured Snippets ‒ a.k.a the info boxes you see above searches. 

And they’re becoming more and more powerful by the minute.  

Featured Snippets now show up on 41% of all queries and account for an astounding 35.1% of all clicks in organic search results.

Here’s an even bigger shocker: when you ask Google a question, Featured Snippets show up 99% of the time…except for “How” questions, where it’s more like 52%. Still a majority. 

To marketers, this reality is at once a tremendous opportunity and a massive existential threat. 

When Google uses your page as a Featured Snippet, clickthrough rates can more than double overnight. It’s a huge boon to your organic traffic and a badge of honor for your site’s credibility. 

But when one of your competitors owns the Featured Snippet instead — especially for your most valuable keywords ‒ they overshadow your presence in the SERP completely. 

It pays (literally) to claim that spot for yourself. So, what can you do to get Featured Snippets in 2023?

What Featured Snippets Mean For Your SEO Strategy

Getting your website Featured in Snippets means playing ball with Google’s artificial intelligence. 

According to Google, one of the biggest driving forces behind Featured Snippets in 2023 is an AI model called the Multitask Unified Model or MUM. Essentially, the model compares the top bolded text portion of a search snippet result with established high-quality search results for relevance, accuracy, and credibility. 

Google also plans to use more warning messages when a search doesn’t generate results that have “high confidence.”

As a marketer, getting Featured Snippets in 2023 means you need to:

• Focus on reinforcing your website’s Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) as much as, if not more than, keywords. 
• Continue building up high-quality content (not just text but video, audio, and images) and backlinks that underpin trust and authority. 
• Through your content, answer relevant questions that factor into customers’ journeys. 
• Create content that covers all points of your customer’s journey rather than just one or two. Newcomers to your product or service might ask, “What is [Product]?” but they’ll soon want to know, “How does [Product] work?” and eventually, “Who offers [Product]?” Make sure you answer all of these questions! 

The importance of Featured Snippets in your SEO strategy in 2023 cannot be overstated, as you’ll see in the rest of this SEO checklist, starting with the very next point… 

3. Conversational Queries & Voice Search Deserve Special Attention

Spoken searches have been slowly but steadily on the rise since Google Voice launched in 2009. Moving into 2023, about 40% of the population uses voice search and 71% actually prefer using voice search over typed search, so you can expect the upward trend to continue.

The  top three key facts you need to know about voice search in 2023 are as follows: 

• In contrast to text-based searches, voice searches are longer, more conversational, and almost always take the form of a question. Where do I find [Product]? How do I use it? What does it taste like? How much does it cost?  
• Most voice searches take place on-the-go, using smartphones rather than in-home devices (a.k.a. “smart speakers.”) So, picture people sitting in the car, not on the couch. 
• More than 50% of voice searches are for local services and businesses like restaurants and retail stores. Think of search queries that end in “near me.”

In other words, if your business is local, voice search matters to you, and optimizing for voice search should be a key priority for your SEO strategy going into 2023.

What Voice Search Means For Your SEO Strategy

As a starting point for optimizing for voice search, consider the following:

• Long-tail keywords. These are now essential to securing competitive SERP positions, especially conversational queries that show up in voice search.
• Speakable Schema. While still in beta as of writing, Speakable Schema is the Google-approved way to optimize your website for voice search.
• Local listings. Review your company’s Google and other local listings to make sure they include everything customers could ask about: operating hours, location, product selection, price range, wheelchair accessibility, and more. Google will pull from these listings to answer voice queries, so make sure it’s right!

Finally, remember what we said earlier about MUM and featured snippets. A lot of the principles for optimizing snippets are similar to those for optimizing voice queries.

4. User Experience on Mobile Is Still the Gold Standard

Mobile first indexing has been a reality since 2019 and it’s not going to change any time soon.  

Yet every single day, we see websites from huge companies that still aren’t on board with Google’s mobile-first indexing best practices. 

If you feel your SEO efforts aren’t doing much, and your site isn’t very mobile-friendly, fixing that issue could be the key that finally lets your site’s rankings flourish.

What Mobile-First Indexing Means For Your SEO Strategy

Here’s the good news: Google is very transparent about what they want to see when it comes to optimizing your website for mobile users in 2023. 

First, you need to make sure your mobile site is as Google-friendly as possible:

• Have the same content, structured data, alt text, and meta robots tags on both your mobile and desktop sites 
• Make sure Google can see your primary content and don’t lock it behind “lazy-loading”  (anything that requires swiping, clicking, or typing to load)
• Verify both the mobile and desktop versions of your site in Search Console 
• Use mobile URL hreflang for mobile URLs, and desktop URL hreflang for desktop URLs 
• Don’t block mobile URLs with the disallow directive 
• Don’t use URLs that change every time the page loads for your videos or images 
• Don’t use fragment URLs on your mobile version (a fragment URL starts with a # at the end)

Mobile-first indexing aside, mobile devices are now the first point of contact for many customers when they’re looking for information about your products and services. So it’s vital you make sure your site can be viewed easily on any device and that the customer can find what they’re looking for quickly, no matter how small their screen may be. Add it to your 2023 SEO checklist!

5. Optimize Your Video for SEO

Google has featured video in its search results for some time now.

And since over half of customers make buying decisions based on video, ignoring it in your 2023 SEO strategy is like leaving money on the table.

What Video Means For Your SEO Strategy

Video content can rank well if it’s optimized with descriptive and relevant information, including meta info and structured data.

Google has published a detailed overview of what it looks for in video SEO; some of the most impactful points include:

• Give each video its own dedicated page, where the video is the most prominent subject. This page is necessary for some Google features, such as Key Moments, Live Badges, and other rich results, to pull your video and give it maximum exposure. There’s no penalty if you put the same video on a dedicated page and another page with other information (like a news article or product details.) 
• Create and submit a video sitemap so that Google’s robots can easily find and understand your videos 
• Use a high-quality, relevant thumbnail that explains what your video is about and why people might want to watch it

Google has also added two structured data features to help people find answers through videos faster:

• Seek markup, which allows Google to identify and display Key Moments automatically and dynamically 
• Clip markup, which tells Google exactly which timestamps to label and use for the Key Moments feature (like a manual version of seek markup)

You can use Clip or Seek markup to make video results in Google Search more clickable and help users find answers more quickly. It’s a win-win!

6. Improve Your eCommerce Site’s Visibility with Shopping Graph

Google is already the world’s leading search engine, but with the skyrocketing growth of online shopping, it’s also aiming to become a leading eCommerce platform as well. 

Recently, Google also launched the Shopping Graph feature, lets customers find your store’s products across Google, — not just on the Shopping tab but on the SERP, YouTube, Google Images, and Google Lens (snap a photo and Google will identify the product and tell you where to buy it…how cool is that?) 

And as of now, you can add your products to Google Shopping for free — or, mark up your listings so that Google does that heavy lifting for you automatically.

What Google Shopping Graph Means For Your SEO Strategy

There are two ways to go about getting your products onto Google’s Shopping Graph:

1. Manage your listings manually using Google’s Merchant Center  

2. Use newly-added Search Console Merchant Listings for guidance on adding Product structured data to your product pages.
   

Anyone who sells products online can benefit from this easy win. Your products will get free exposure by Google on a credible, sleek, and cool platform. 

If your business sells products online and Google’s Shopping Graph isn’t on your SEO checklist in 2023, you’re losing a huge opportunity that your competitors might not decline.

7. Make Your Images Worth a Thousand Clicks

It might seem like an easy task to optimize your images for the web, but chances are that it’s a tad more complicated than you think. 

For many years, Google has been recommending that you use alternative text (alt text) and other optimizations for images on your site. Yet, many businesses still don’t take this seriously or they think it’s a waste of time. 

Nowadays, it is not just about boosting your Google ranking but also accommodating the millions of customers who rely on alt text to navigate your site — who will leave you in the dust and never look back if you don’t offer it. 

So, now’s the time to do an image audit on your site to see if you need to make changes to get up to speed with what Google (and customers) expect from you in 2023 and beyond.

What Image Optimization Means For Your SEO Strategy

• Create good URL structure for your images: Google uses the URL path and file name to understand your images, so make sure your URLs are built logically 
• Add structured data: Structured data lets Google Images display your images as rich results, including a prominent badge, which drives targeted traffic to your site 

• Optimize for speed: Images often make up a large part of a page’s size, so use image optimization and responsive image techniques to make it fast and easy  
• Use descriptive alt text in the alt attribute: Alt text improves accessibility for screen reader users and low-bandwidth users who can’t see images on web pages 

It is time to do what Google says and pay attention to your website images. Your bottom line will thank you for it!

Leverage These 2023 SEO Trends to Reach More Customers Online

Google changes its search algorithms 500 to 600 times per year. Every day of the year. And as clever as we are as marketers and SEOs, Google’s algorithms are getting smarter by the second.

A successful SEO strategy for your business depends on staying on top of the latest SEO trends in 2023.

Following these SEO tips will help you kickstart the year with a boost in ranking and more qualified traffic. 

If you need help moving the needle on your website’s search rankings, we are happy to help. Get in touch with our SEO Team to learn more about our services here at TrafficSoda.

Is SEO Worth It? How to Measure SEO Return on Investment

If you‘re here to learn how to measure SEO return on investment, then you’re already on the right track ‒ because you’re thinking about what actually matters. 

Sure, marketers can talk all day about how great SEO is…  

But let’s be realistic: the only real way to know if SEO is worth it to you is to calculate its return on investment. 

Yes, it is possible to reliably measure the impact of SEO on your bottom line. In fact, it’s much simpler than some marketers make it out to be.  

We’ll tell you exactly how to measure the ROI of your SEO, step-by-step, so it’s easy to know if SEO is worth it for you.

How to Measure the ROI of SEO ‒ and the Impact of SEO on Your Bottom Line

It’s all too common for business owners to invest in some form of SEO and, at the end of the day, have no idea if that SEO is actually worth it…or if it’s money going to waste. 

It doesn’t help that some marketers claim measuring the ROI of SEO is impossible. They’re either wrong, or dishonest. 

As long as you have the right data, the formula you use to calculate SEO return on investment is pretty straightforward.

Here’s a quick and easy formula you can use to determine whether SEO has been worth your money in a specific period:

• (Value of Conversions – Cost of SEO) / Cost of SEO

There it is. And in the rest of this article, we’ll explain exactly how to get the data you need to fill in this formula. 

Of course, we’d be lying if we said there are no challenges involved with calculating SEO return on investment. We’ll also help you cut through those challenges so you get the clearest possible picture of your SEO return on investment. 

But first, let’s grab the data we need to measure the ROI of SEO.

Step 1: Determine the Cost of Your Investment in SEO

First, you have to calculate how much SEO cost you over the timeframe you want to measure. 

When you work with a professional SEO agency, this step is as simple as it gets. You can find out how much you’re paying just by looking at the bill.  

If you do all your SEO in-house, or a hybrid of in-house and agency SEO services, the breakdown will be more complicated. Some of the costs you’ll need to factor in include:

• Any in-house staff who contribute to on-page and off-page SEO, including content creators and copywriters
• Web designers and developers who contribute to technical SEO, as well as setting up SEO tracking like Google Analytics (more on that later)
• Monthly or annual subscriptions to SEO tools like SemRush, Ahrefs, or anything else you use for traffic analytics, site auditing, keyword research, list management, etc.

When you add these costs up, you’ll have a figure that can be used in your SEO ROI calculation.  

Remember that these costs may change monthly. Don’t forget to take those changes into account when measuring your SEO return on investment for a specific timeframe.

Step 2: Measure Conversions From Organic Traffic

In a nutshell, organic traffic is any traffic to your website from a search engine that you don’t pay for directly.  

Whenever someone clicks on your site in Google search results ‒ as long as it’s not one of your ads ‒ it’s organic traffic. 

Since SEO is all about boosting organic traffic, conversions from organic traffic provide one of the best metrics for measuring the ROI of SEO. 

To get that number, we recommend using Google Analytics to track your organic conversions. You can use it for free and it just works. 

The way you set this up will depend on the way your business and website work, and we won’t go into too much detail here. Setting up conversion tracking correctly is extremely important, so we recommend getting help from an experienced developer or digital marketer. 

Once you have Google Analytics tracking your conversions, calculating the value of SEO conversions is a breeze:

• For sales made on your website, simply segment conversions by channel and look at revenue for organic traffic. Narrow down the timeframe and you’ve got your number.
• For leads that come in through your website, this is trickier, because the actual conversion happens offline and not every lead converts. You need to assign a value to your leads overall and use that as your value. Best practice is to base that value on the average lifetime value of a customer multiplied by closure rate %.
  
  

Step 3: Use This Formula to Calculate SEO Return on Investment

After you’ve collected your data, plug it in to this formula to calculate your SEO return on investment: 

• (Value of Conversions – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment

Here’s an example.  

Say that organic traffic got you $100,000 in revenue over one year, and that the costs associated with SEO during that time were $20,000.  

Put these figures into the formula above and we get: 

• ($100,000 – $20,000) / $20,000 = 4

So for every $1 you spent on SEO, you got $4 back. This means you’re getting a 400% return on investment.  

Using this formula, you can calculate the ROI of your SEO campaign over any timeframe you choose, as long as you know both the costs and the returns.  

You can then use this data to help determine whether SEO is worth it for you or not…with a couple of important caveats.  

We’ll look at those caveats next.

3 Challenges of Measuring SEO Return on Investment

Real-time conversion tracking has made it easier than ever to reliably measure the return on investment of your SEO efforts.  

However, not even the best tracking tools can perfectly measure every facet of your organic search traffic. SEO is a time-consuming and complicated process with many moving parts. 

Because of this, quantifying SEO return on investment will always be a bit of an art as well as a science. 

Here’s what you need to know about the tricky part of measuring SEO and its ROI:

Challenge 1: SEO Costs Are Complex

First, measuring SEO ROI can be tough because of the sheer number of variables that contribute to a successful campaign. 

An effective SEO campaign is based on a number of variables, from high-quality content, to link building, to technical SEO and more. 

Having an agency handle your SEO makes quantifying these costs a breeze. You know how much you’re paying them, so use that figure in your calculation.  

Tallying the costs of your internal SEO efforts is harder. 

While PPC advertising has clearly identifiable click costs, SEO is about earning clicks rather than buying them. Those clicks are technically free. But the SEO you spend to get them isn’t. 

You have to consider things like the cost of in-house labour (which you can break down by individuals or tasks), the SEO tools you use, and all the time you or your managers put into running that team smoothly. 

It’s a lot, and you’ve got to get it right if you want a true picture of your SEO ROI.

Challenge 2: SEO Takes Time

When you’re doing SEO, it can be hard to tie specific investments and returns to work that was done in a specific timeframe. 

That’s because it can take a long time for SEO to pay off. Quick wins are certainly possible, but there’s no guarantee.

From our experience and that of other reputable SEO agencies, we can estimate it will take 4-6 months for SEO to start ‘working’, meaning it begins to produce measurable results. 

So, the simplified principle of comparing returns and investments over the same period does not quite work. It gives you a solid idea of whether things are working, but it’s not 1:1. 

One way to get around this is to calculate ROI on a category, page, or keyword level, rather than an arbitrary time period, as Ahrefs describes here. 

To learn more about SEO timelines, check out our blog post on how long it takes to get SEO results.

Challenge 3: Even ‘Perfect’ Conversion Tracking Isn’t Flawless

This problem isn’t specific to SEO.  

But SEO is no exception. 

The simple fact is that customer journeys are often more complex than any tracking software makes them seem.  

Yes, Google Analytics will tell you if someone converted after visiting your website through an organic search. However, there may be things going on behind the scenes that you aren’t aware of or can’t track.  

For example…say you watch a YouTube video about an interesting product. Then you Google that product, go to the website, and buy it.  

Organic traffic gets 100% of the credit for that conversion…but it was really the YouTube video that got you there, wasn’t it? 

Here’s another example with the opposite effect. Say you Google a product on your phone, find the website, and make a mental note of it. Later, you fire up your laptop and visit the website directly by typing the URL in your browser, and buy the product.  

Since you switched devices, direct traffic gets 100% credit…but wasn’t that really an organic conversion?  

You can see how customer journeys can twist and turn in ways that can skew your attribution.  

So, no matter how well your Google Analytics is configured, you cannot always pinpoint exactly how many conversions you owe to SEO. 

The more traffic and conversions you have, the more accurate it becomes, but it will never be perfect. 

This begs the question: why even bother?

What You’re Missing If You Aren’t Measuring SEO Return on Investment

Put simply, not measuring your ROI is almost as bad as not doing SEO at all. 

In spite of the challenges of measuring SEO ROI to pinpoint accuracy, you’re missing out on a lot of valuable data if you don’t do it at all. 

The average business generates 53% of its traffic through organic search. Meaning that SEO does have an impact on the bottom line for most businesses. You can’t afford to ignore it. 

And unless you know your return on investment for every dollar you spend on SEO, you can’t decide which strategies are working best, which you should scale, and whether something’s wasting your money. 

Since SEO is a long-term strategy that generates results over time, you may not see a positive ROI right away. But once you’re past that, SEO will begin to deliver a return and can continue to pay dividends for years to come. 

When that turning point comes, you won’t know it unless you’ve been actively measuring the ongoing ROI of your SEO work. And if you don’t know, you could end up pulling the plug on a profitable strategy just when it’s getting started.

If you need help moving the needle on your website’s search rankings, we are happy to help. Get in touch with our SEO Team to learn more about our services here at TrafficSoda.

On-Page vs. Off-Page SEO: Know the Differences for Best Results

SEO Timelines: How Long Does It Take to Get Results?

You might have heard that search engine optimization (SEO) is a quick and easy way to get

Here’s why that’s wrong.

The truth is…once upon a time, SEO could work quickly.

But as search engine algorithms have evolved and the online space has become more competitive, the SEO landscape has changed drastically.

Every business owner wants to see results come quickly. But when it comes to legitimate, proven SEO strategies, results simply don’t happen overnight.

Any agency that says otherwise is not to be trusted.

Below, we’ll cover the real factors that will affect how long it will take for SEO to get measurable results for your business, as well as the minimum time investment to really get your money’s worth from SEO.

How Long It Takes for SEO to Generate Leads and Sales

When it comes to SEO, business owners often ask, “How long does it take for SEO to work?”

Which usually means, “How long before I rank #1 in Google?”

This is the wrong question to ask because ranking #1 in Google isn’t the end goal. The goal is to generate qualified leads and sales opportunities.

In other words, organic search traffic is only as valuable to your business as the revenue it generates.

The real question that you should be asking is, “When will SEO start generating sales and leads for my business?”

Based on our experience and that of our colleagues at other reputable SEO agencies, we can give an estimated timeline of 4-6 months for SEO to begin producing some form of results, which could include:

• Overall improved average ranking
• Website being indexed for more keywords
• More traffic to your website and opportunity to close that traffic

The above timeline represents our average client experience. This is when things start to work, but not necessarily when you achieve your end goal.

There are numerous factors to consider when determining when you can expect to begin seeing SEO generate results. It would be impossible to cover them all in detail here ‒ but some of the most significant factors are:

1. Competition for high-priority keywords
2. How effective are the site’s inbound links
3. Healthy, SEO-friendly site
4. Regularly published content on the site

1. Importance of Competition in SEO Timelines

Generally, the more competing websites that your business is up against, the harder and longer it will take to see your website climb to the top of search engine results.

In a crowded industry, many of your competitors will have experienced SEO professionals behind them to improve and maintain their rankings. Understanding the level of competition based on your products/services and location will help you get a sense of how long it will take for SEO to get results.

For example, a small local massage therapy clinic will face less competition than a real estate brokerage business serving a large city, amongst many other real estate brokerage businesses. That same brokerage would face less competition than a national-level mortgage company with competitors in every market in the country.

Search results are all relative, and that is the key to understanding why SEO works differently for different businesses online

2. Importance of Inbound Links in SEO Timelines

Acquiring more inbound links will help your business achieve the SEO success you are striving for more quickly… but it is not all a numbers game.

Quality over quantity, like most things, is always the way to go. Having fewer, high-quality links from relevant websites will have a much greater impact on your overall results than having a greater number of low-quality links from other irrelevant websites.

Acquiring higher quality links are much harder to earn, having them on your website will make it more difficult for your competitors to replicate and compete with you. As well, higher-quality links last longer and keep their effective power.

The speed in which your business online can acquire links takes time, make sure to look out for any abrupt increase in links. This could identify an inorganic attempt at a manipulative ranking and negatively affect your business’ SEO.

3. Importance of a Healthy SEO-Friendly Website

SEO isn’t just about keywords and content. Your website’s internal workings also have a big impact on how it ranks.

When your website appears on a Google search results page, it becomes part of what Google offers its users. And Google cares a lot about its users’ experience.

So, a big part of its search ranking algorithm is focused on checking the ‘health’ of your website. It looks at technical aspects of the site that have an effect on the user experience, like:

• Site speed
• Crawl errors & broken links
• Mobile friendliness
• Site structure
• Navigation
• txt
• Sitemap

When your site is healthy and SEO-friendly, the work being done on the content and external links side takes effect much faster. On the other hand, a site that is not technically optimized for SEO will move slowly or not at all.

4. Importance of Content in SEO Timelines

Quality content published on your website plays a vital role in how quickly you will see SEO results.

There isn’t a set length/word count for SEO optimized content. It just has to be long and detailed enough to solve the visitor’s problem.

Along with quality content requires consistent content. Maintaining a publishing schedule will encourage Google to come back to your website to read and learn more about your expertise. It also encourages users to return, suggesting a positive user experience that Google’s signals will notice.

If you focus on producing helpful content that answers specific questions your target market may have, you will see results. Users will come, have a great experience and build trust with your brand (possibly reaching out) and Google has more information about you to determine where else you can rank.

SEO Timelines Then vs. Now

To explain why SEO doesn’t happen overnight, it helps to recognize a crucial difference between the early SEO landscape and what we see today.

Old SEO: When Low Competition Got Big Results

In the early days of SEO, it was possible to skyrocket a website’s search ranking by identifying and optimizing for a small number of high volume, low competition keywords.

The trick was to target keywords that were popular, but not competitive.

You could build an entire strategy around these ‘golden’ keywords, climb to #1 in the rankings, and have most of your traffic come from them within a few months.

Nowadays, it’s extremely rare to find a single keyword or small group of keywords that can drive a lot of traffic to your site.

People just don’t search like that anymore. Plus, the web is way more competitive today than it was in the early 2000s. There are nearly 2 billion websites today, compared to just 17 million in 2000, an increase of nearly 11 thousand percent.

New SEO: Targeting the Long Tail

Today, people are adding more words than ever to their searches to get faster, more specific results.

They’re asking specific questions that they need answers to, rather than searching individual keywords and seeing what comes up.

We call these searches long-tail keywords. And search engines like Google and Bing have gotten very good at delivering long-tail keywords relevant results.

Long-tail keywords are:

• Easier to rank for, because they’re less competitive
• Generate more revenue, because they’re more specific
• Account for a higher search volume in total than shorter “golden keywords”

Today, generating search traffic that brings you leads, sales, and revenue means curating a larger number of natural language or long-tail keywords searches that grow and change over time.

Is SEO a Good Investment?

When you have the funds and stamina to be patient with the results, as well as stay in the game for the long haul, SEO is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that all businesses should invest in.

A minimum of 4 to 6 months of SEO services will allow you the time and money to see the results that you want. For businesses that do not have a budget for SEO services for up to a year, we recommend a few key steps regardless:

1. Make your website SEO and user friendly – you may need a professional to help with this as a one-time project
2. Work on building out good quality content on your website if you build genuinely helpful content to your target market, it will pay SEO dividends down the road
3. Consider using additional funds towards paid advertising to start generating traffic to your website

It’s important to remain patient throughout the SEO process. When businesses fail to see results after a couple of months of SEO services, they are tempted to give up ‒ when they could actually see results in a matter of weeks. We often refer to this time period as the “trough of sorrow” in the industry.

We as agencies or individuals cannot control a lot of the SEO process. We don’t control Google, their algorithm, or what competitors do. The only thing we can do is understand what Google is looking for, give them what they want, connect with our customers and give them what they want, and we will start to see results.

SEO is not only a science, but also the art of adapting to changes in the industry.

Remember that SEO results increase over time, not overnight. Your results should be significantly better after 12 months than they were after 6 months.

To get the results that you need online for your business, professional SEO services are OFTEN worth the time, energy, and money that you invest.

If you would like more information about our SEO and digital advertising services, please do not hesitate to contact our SEO team here at TrafficSoda.

3 Fatal Risks of Cheap SEO Services (Avoid at ALL Costs)

Here’s the hard truth: cheap SEO is too good to be true.

Just because you’re better than your competitors in ‘real life’ (better products, better workmanship, better results, etc.) doesn’t always mean you’ll get a better search ranking.

Google and Bing search results are extremely competitive.

If somebody’s ranking higher than you, it’s likely because they hired an SEO company to optimize their website.

And the only effective way to outrank them is to beat them at their own game.

There’s just one problem…

Bad SEO is Worse Than No SEO at All

Many SEO companies are more interested in your money than your success.

Doing SEO cheaply is not only detrimental to your website traffic but can also harm your business’s reputation both online and offline.

The long-term risks of cheap SEO include:

• Loss of business revenue;
• Getting banned from search results, period; and
• Handing all your potential search revenue to your competitors

Those are the consequences we want to help you avoid. So, in this article, we lay it all out on the table.

Read on to learn all about:

1. How, exactly, cheap SEO can tank your business
2. Biggest red flags of cheap SEO
3. Black Hat vs. Grey Hat vs. White Hat SEO (and why it matters)
4. What GOOD SEO can do for your business
   
   

1. How Cheap SEO Can Tank Your Business 

Google and Bing are for-profit companies, and their customers are search engine users. This means that both Google and Bing want to give people the best, most relevant search results. Search engines have spent years building parameters to identify high quality, relevant search results.

The problem is that bad actors frequently reverse engineer these parameters to exploit rankings, which results in low quality search results and poor user experience. As a result, Google and Bing regularly update their algorithm to identify manipulative SEO tactics and suss out actions that are fake and spammy.

Cheap SEO services often use manipulative tactics that go against search engine guidelines.

Google and Bing actively scan the web for these shady practices using the most advanced machine learning algorithms available.

You might not get caught right away, but you must assume you will get caught at some point.

And when that happens, you can lose traffic, get block-listed, and potentially forfeit all your future search traffic to your competitors.

a. Cheap SEO Decimates Your Website Traffic

Organic search is by far the #1 source of website traffic online, and the most authentic.

If you successfully rank at the top of the search results, you will benefit from more clicks and visits to your website, presenting an opportunity to turn those clicks into customers.

Poorly done SEO can tank your ranking, meaning customers won’t be able to find you and will click on your competitors instead.

b. Cheap SEO Gets You Block-listed from Google and Bing

Google and Bing’s top priority is to create a positive user experience, so penalizing manipulative tactics is smart business for them.

Using cheap SEO tactics will cause search engines to penalize and even ban you, banning you from appearing in search results at all until the issue is rectified.

A search penalty means a real and immediate loss of potential revenue for your business.

If you ignore the penalty, you will find it almost impossible to recover. Your site traffic will continue to drop steadily, leaving you behind the competition and low on stamina to make a comeback.

c. Cheap SEO Funnels Revenue to Your Competitors

Now, you’re block-listed from the search results. So, who do you think all those potential customers are going to click on instead of you?

You already know the answer.

Shooting yourself in the foot with manipulative SEO is like handing your customers revenue on a silver platter.

Plus, ethical SEO practices can take weeks or months to have an impact. So, the more time and money you waste on cheap SEO, the longer you will have to wait for results on good SEO when you finally switch gears.

It’s not worth the risk.

2. How to Spot Red Flags for Cheap SEO 

Hiring cheap SEO services can have serious immediate and long-term consequences to your business that can be difficult or even impossible to recover from.

To avoid them, you need to know what to look out for.

First, there’s some SEO industry jargon you need to know. These are the labels we use to separate cheap, manipulative SEO tactics from legitimate SEO: white hat, gray hat, and black hat.

1. White Hat SEO services follow the search engine-approved guidelines for optimizing a website. White hat SEO focuses on improving the user experience and creating high-quality content. There is zero risk in using white hat SEO.
2. Black hat SEO services rely on manipulating and violating search engine algorithms against guidelines to improve your search rankings. The short-term goals of black hat SEO services are to get you fast-paced wins to fool you into thinking their services have the best and fastest results on the market. Manipulating the algorithm is not effective because it can never keep up with Google’s constant updates, which results in your rankings being wiped out due to unethical practices. Black hat SEO is extremely risky.
3. Gray hat SEO services test the limits of what search engines allow, exploiting ‘gray areas’ in the guidelines. Once a gray hat tactic becomes known, search engines often crack down hard, which will cost you the same way as black hat SEO. The results do not stick well over time and require repeated work. Grey hat SEO is very risky.
   

No serious business should never engage in black hat SEO. Your website will no longer be trustworthy to users or search engines, and recovery could take years.

Although gray hat SEO is often sold as a ‘medium risk for a medium price’, which can be tempting for businesses on a tight budget, the risk is high and the results are not sustainable. Business owners should avoid this trap at all costs.

Overall, white hat SEO services are the only kind worth your money and time because the job done will be the safest and most beneficial for your business online.

So, how do you know when a company’s pitching you cheap, black/grey hat SEO? There are a few key phrases and promises that agencies will make that should ring alarm bells:

a. Big Promises for Low Price Tags

SEO is not rocket science, but it is not as simple as you might think. It’s not just sticking a bunch of keywords and tags on a website.

Achieving long-term success with SEO takes a lot of manual work that cannot be easily accomplished on a shoestring budget. Either you settle for a very small number of keywords, or you end up paying for the work that really needs to be done.

b. No Long-Term Strategy

Cheap SEO companies will offer you short-term solutions, but this is not realistic.

SEO is a long-term strategy. It takes time to gain the rankings you deserve. If the company you are considering offers no plan past one month, they are more than likely a scam. They are either not doing their job or just looking for quick and easy money from unsuspecting customers like you.

c. No Transparency

Do not trust any SEO company that doesn’t offer you transparency into what they’re doing. It is important that you have visibility over the SEO process so that you can assess the results and make changes as needed.

The best SEO companies will offer a full audit of your site and provide explanations for any errors found. They will also provide recommendations for how to fix these errors, give an overview of how to improve rankings, and show rankings progress.

d. Inexperienced Team

One of the most important things to look for when choosing an SEO company is their expertise and experience.

Do they have a website with a portfolio of websites that they have previously optimized? Do they have testimonials from satisfied clients? Can you find any information on them at all?

An experienced SEO company won’t mind telling you who’s on their team and should be eager to tell you about their experience. If they’re not transparent, they could be hiding something.

e. Guaranteed Results

No one can guarantee a #1 spot on Google.

It is an outright impossible claim to make for an agency, as SEO is a competitive practice that depends on hundreds of signals which can change at any point in the day.

What can be guaranteed are solid and safe practices that can win better results when done properly over time.

Agencies that claim their services will guarantee a specific result in a specific timeframe is one of the biggest warning signs for cheap, black hat SEO that will hurt your business.

What About Using Negative SEO to Attack Your Competitors? 

Usually, SEO is about trying to boost your own company’s search ranking. Negative SEO is when one company uses manipulative tactics to hurt a competitor’s rankings instead.

Negative SEO is gray hat SEO. A negative SEO campaign against your industry competitors is risky because the traffic attacks can be traced back to you.

Search engine algorithms can detect bad links from good links when competitors create spammy backlinks to tank your SEO and organic rankings online.

Search engine algorithms can detect bad links from good links when competitors create spammy backlinks to tank your SEO and organic rankings online. Google will penalize websites for building spammy backlinks that use anchor text to improve their ranking by matching the exact keywords.

Any mentions of negative SEO practices should be shut down immediately, the risk is simply not worth it.

3. The Long-Term Value of Affordable White Hat SEO

White hat SEO isn’t cheap, but it’s effective – and it can be affordable. When done well, SEO is the most cost-effective and reliable way to reach your target customers and understand what they are looking for when they search for businesses online.

Investing time and money into effective, white hat SEO services will benefit your online traffic, leads, and sales in the long run.

1. Search is the #1 source of website traffic. Organic search is a key way people find your website and become customers, whether you sell products or services online or offline. Being highly visible on Google and Bing is money in the bank.
2. SEO builds trust and credibility. SEO creates trust and credibility by providing a positive user experience that is easily discoverable on search engines. Establishing authority online through good content results in natural backlinks that boost your ranking. Online credibility takes time, working towards your goals of authority and credibility online takes time, patience, and affordable SEO services from an experienced agency.
3. SEO boosts local businesses. Using SEO will improve your local engagement and traffic online by connecting users to your business based on their location. SEO professionals can do this by optimizing the businesses website content and including local citations and backlinks to guide the user to their product or service. An experienced agency can provide effective, local SEO services at an affordable price.
4. SEO is quantifiable. With SEO, you can measure your progress using analytics. A competent SEO agency has people dedicated to connecting the dots and assessing the improvements made through SEO. This information can also be used to maximize ROI and ensure that your SEO remains affordable. Hiring a team that is knowledgeable about tracking analytics and SEO data is essential.
5. Good SEO means a better user experience. Google is dedicated to providing a positive user experience through relevant search results. Search engine optimization also means optimizing your user experience, so people love using your website and come back for more. Optimizing your website’s user experience will also help maximize the ROI from both SEO and other digital marketing efforts.
   
   

Bottom Line: Avoid Cheap SEO Services at All Costs

Cheaping out on SEO is never the way to go. This will only cost you more money and more problems in the future that could potentially be irreversible.

We hope that you now understand the risks of cheap SEO services and the benefits to investing in white hat SEO services that put your success first.

TrafficSoda has built hundreds of successful SEO strategies for companies, like you, looking to increase traffic, leads, calls, online purchases and more. When you’re ready to jump in with a personalized plan, reach out for your free strategy proposal.

5 Changes to Make to Your Google My Business Profile Before 2019

There was never a dull moment in local SEO this year, with new updates to coming to Google My Business at a rapid-fire pace throughout 2018. Now’s the time to log in and make sure your Google My Business page is current and ready for the new year.

Let’s get straight to it. The biggest updates to Google My Business in 2018 were:

1. New dashboard for businesses with multiple locations
2. Separate fields for Service Area and Business Address (and removing the ability to set a distance-based service area around the business address)
3. Service menu for service-based businesses and product menu for retailers
4. Letting businesses set ‘factual’ attributes in addition to the crowdsourced ‘subjective’ attributes (including the veteran-led and women-led attributes)
5. Videos on the photo dashboard

These changes affected some types of businesses more than others (some local service-based companies will have a lot of catching up to do) but all of them matter when it comes to understanding how to optimize Google My Business for a stronger local presence.

Here’s how to ensure you’re up-to-date with Google My Business in 2019.

1. Scrutinize Your Suggested Changes

In March of 2018, Google rolled out a new Google My Business dashboard for business owners with two or more listings or locations. It’s much faster and easier to navigate than the old one.

The downside? The new dashboard makes it more difficult to track and respond to Suggested Changes in a timely manner.

A Suggested Change is an addition or change to your listing that either comes from:

1. A user manually editing your listing information; or
2. Google’s algorithm finding information about your listing (often from third-party directory sites).

Here’s the trouble: the name ‘Suggested Changes’ is a bit misleading, since the changes don’t always require your approval before they go live.

As the listing owner, you should receive an email from Google whenever there’s a ‘suggestion’; however, those notifications don’t always make it through to your inbox.

Because of this, it’s important that you log in to check your Suggested Changes periodically, especially since the new dashboard makes it harder to notice them.

To see Suggested Changes for a Google My Business listing in the new dashboard:

1. Log in to Google My Business.
2. Click Back to GMB Classic in the left-hand menu.
3. Click Google Updates in the centre column.
4. Make sure the box next to ‘Google updates’ is set to display All.
5. Click Resolve updates in the rightmost column to see the Suggested Changes and other updates to a listing.
   
   

2. Specify Your Ever-Growing Service Area

Before the update, local businesses could define only their service area as a kilometer/mile radius around their business address. Google realized this was a shortcoming (who actually has a perfectly circular service area?) and turned it around late in 2018.

Now, Google My Business lets you edit your business address and service area separately. Businesses can specify their service area by region, city, or ZIP/Postal Code.

If you haven’t gotten around to updating your service area, here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to Google My Business.
2. Click the location you’d like to edit.
3. Click Info in the left-hand menu.
4. Click Edit in the Service Area section.
5. Click the X next to a service area to delete it.
   
   

3. Promote Your Outstanding Services

Early in 2018, Google began to allow businesses in select industries to list their services in detail right on the page. Later, they expanded the feature to almost all service businesses, including creative industries and the trades.

The service menu is simple, consisting of just a name, description, and optionally a price for each item. It’s a vast improvement over the previous version of Google My Business’s services, which was limited to keywords like ‘repair services’ and ‘installation services.’

Adding services to your Google My Business page is quick and easy. All you need to do is:

1. Log in to Google My Business.
2. Click Info in the left-hand menu.
3. Click Edit in the Services section.

Recently, Google has begun testing a product menu feature for Google My Business as well. Chances are this will expand to more companies next year, so keep an eye out!

4. Add Appealing Factual Attributes

Attributes are Google’s name for small bits of descriptive information about a business. They include things like:

• Service offerings (pick-up or drive-thru)
• Atmosphere (casual, noisy, family-friendly, private)
• Customer/clientele demographic (popular among students, business travellers, tourists)

Originally, the algorithm compiled a business’s attributes based solely on user reviews and feedback via the GMB Q&A feature – businesses couldn’t edit them.

In 2018, Google refined the attributes system by splitting them into factual and subjective attributes. Now, businesses can directly edit certain attributes. The attributes available (which include acceptable payment types, accessibility options, and whether the business is LGBTQ-friendly) vary depending on the business’s category.

Even if you’re not a GMB geek, you might have heard about the release of the women-led and veteran-led attributes – two socially-conscious tags designed to help customers support local vets, businesswomen, and even businesswoman vets.

There’s also a lesser-known family-led attribute, which could help win the favour of locavores in search of a good old-fashioned family business.

In any case, it pays to take a moment to set up factual attributes that will help customers get to know you. It doesn’t take long:

1. Log in to Google My Business.
2. Click Info in the left-hand menu.
3. Click Edit in the Attributes section.
   
   

5. Upload an Excellent Video

Video is one of the most powerful mediums available to us as marketers and you as a business owner.

Online video consistently grabs more views and engagement than still images, and 90% of customers now say that video influences their buying decisions.

The addition of 30-second videos to Google My Business shows Google is serious about getting customers to convert (whether it’s making a purchase or booking an appointment) directly on the GMB platform. For businesses, it’s an opportunity to make a huge visual impact just around the corner from the search engine results page.

What’s Next for Google My Business?

Make no mistake: Google My Business will continue to extend its influence in local SEO in the year to come.

Don’t let the imminent demise of Google+ fool you into thinking GMB is on its way out. In fact, part of the reason Google is sunsetting G+ is because GMB has effectively taken over its function as a hub for customer-brand interactions.

So, what does the future have in store? Based on this year’s developments, you can expect to see even greater emphasis on conversions directly from the Google My Business platform in 2019. Additionally, you ought to pay close attention to your business’s attributes – chances are, they’ll fuel increasingly precise local search results based on ‘intangibles’ like a business’s character and atmosphere.

It’s cool stuff.

Find Out What Else We Do

Reputation Management SEO: Why Branded Keywords Should Be On Your Radar

Online reputation management involves more than establishing a website and social media profiles. Conversations about brands are happening at various channels around the web, and the loudest of these discussions converge at one important place: the search engine results page. This post covers the basics of reputation management SEO, including the relationship between reputation and search engines, branded keywords, and strategies to dominate page one.

What is Reputation Management SEO?

Have you ever Googled yourself?

Not everyone might admit to it, but it’s doubtful anyone could resist Googling their name at least once or twice.

For most people, the results are typical: a few social media profiles, a company “About Us” page, maybe a quote in a local newspaper. Depending on your name’s popularity, the top results might be about an entirely different person; someone you’ve never met, but with whom you share a search engine results page.

You might’ve Googled yourself out of curiosity, or boredom, or because we put the thought in your mind just now. But there could be a time in your life where someone makes that inquiry with more significant intentions: a manager thinking of hiring you, a college weighing your application, or a potential partner scoping you out before a date.

In that case, the search engine results could have very real and lasting impact on your reputation.

The same goes for brands.

What shows up on page one of the results for branded keywords (searches that include the name of the brand) has a measurable effect on that brand’s reputation. That’s the importance of reputation management SEO, which is search engine optimization strategies and tactics to influence the results for branded search inquiries in order to preserve and improve a brand’s reputation online.

How the Search Engine Results Effect a Brand’s Reputation

It’s Friday night, and you’re decidedly too exhausted to make dinner. But you’re not feeling like any of your go-to restaurants, either. So, you pull out your phone and Google the name of that new place in town.

The first result is the restaurant’s homepage; the second is a link to their menu. Perfect. But there, in place three, is a preview of their Yelp rating:

Rating: 2.5 – 63 reviews – Price range: $40-$60

In an instant, your opinion has turned; there’s no way you’re paying 5-Star prices for a 2-Star meal.

Review sites like Yelp can have an enormous impact on a brand’s reputation online. So can Google reviews, news stories, blog posts, forum discussions, directory pages, career sites, and all the other third party websites that rank for branded search inquires.

The problem is that brands can’t control the content on these sites as they rule their own domains. A well-optimized homepage will usually outrank third party sites for branded inquiries, but customers aren’t as likely to click through if it’s surrounded by negativity on the SERP.

You can ask the authors to remove negative pages, but that can easily backfire and result in an even worse reputation.

So, what can be done about it?

Reputation Management SEO Strategies

Rarely do brands have the power to remove negative search engine results outright. However, it is possible to:

• Use search engine optimization (SEO) to influence the results for branded search inquiries
• Influence the content of third-party review sites
• Publish new types of content to claim more above the fold space on the results page

The goal is to enhance the ranking of positive items in favour of negative ones, either by displacing the negative content or improving it. There are several ways to go about this; we’ll briefly cover three strategies in the sections below.

1. Encourage Positive Reviews

Third party review sites like Yelp (along with industry-specific sites like G2Crowd for B2B software, or HomeStars for trade contractors) are crucial when it comes to reputation management SEO for local service industries.

These sites tend to rank well because they provide relevant information consumers want to see. Authentic customer reviews tend to carry more weight than curated testimonials on a brand’s own website.

It might not always be possible to outrank them, but it is possible to turn these sites into an asset:

• Most third-party review sites allow brands to “claim” and modify their profiles. Take this step and fill out the profile completely, using it as a platform to speak to potential customers.
• Upload enticing, high-quality photos that put products and services in the best possible light.
• Encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews on the site to bolster the score. Great reviews are the most effective way to diminish the weight of negative ones.
  
  

2. Publish New Content

With proper placement and optimization, quality blog posts, videos, and images that utilize branded keywords can rise in the rankings to displace negative pages.

YouTube videos are especially powerful in this way, since they can even claim the coveted position zero ranking, claiming valuable above-the-fold real estate.

It’s worth utilizing off-site publishing platforms as well as those on the brand’s domain. Industry-specific news sites, as well as pop news sites like The Huffington Post, can be valuable both for back-linking and reputation management.

3. Get Others to Write About the Brand

Journalists, bloggers, editors, and video creators are always on the hunt for great content. Pitching positive stories about the brand helps to seed the web with a variety of content relevant to branded search inquiries.

Over time, these stories can gain enough traction to rise in rank and claim a spot previously occupied by negativity.

Managing Your Reputation Online

Reputation management SEO takes time. Positive stories cannot displace negative ones overnight; high-quality links need to be developed over time; and legitimate customer reviews don’t always come easy.

But at this day and age, reputation management SEO is absolutely worth the time and effort.

The search engine results page serves as a brand’s first impression to many, many people. Negative results can stop potential customers in their tracks.

It’s like the old saying about planting a tree. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. Change takes time, so there’s no better time than the present to work on your brand’s online reputation.

Get in touch with us if you’d like to chat about where your brand stands in the digital marketplace.

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Blog Optimization Checklist: 10 Clear-Cut Ways to Boost SEO

When you’ve poured time and energy into a great blog post, you want it to reach as much of your audience as possible. Small changes matter when it comes to boosting blog SEO. Take a run through this blog optimization checklist before you post — it won’t take long, and it’ll help your blog get seen by the right people.

1. Keywords

Keywords are words or short phrases that encompass what the blog post is about (see our blog: What Are Keywords and Why Do They Matter?). When you use them well, keywords can help the post rank for search queries that include those words.

Why Blog Keywords Matter for SEO

Search engine algorithms use repeated words and phrases as clues to what a webpage is about. Placing relevant, natural-sounding keywords in the blog content, title, meta description, and URL can contribute to a blog post’s search engine ranking.

How to Optimize for Keywords

Incorporate your chosen keywords into the blog:

• Title
• Headings (one or more)
• First paragraph
• Meta description
• URL
  
  

2. Length

There’s no perfect word count for SEO, but the length of a blog can factor into its ranking.

Why Blog Length Matters for SEO

Search engine algorithms often deem pages with less than 300 words inadequate to rank in the search engine results. However, longer isn’t necessarily better; a 3,000-word post stuffed with irrelevant content will fare just as poorly as a short one.

Optimizing Length for SEO

Aim to write at least 500 words per blog post. Beyond that, the ideal blog length will depend on your audience. Pay attention to how your blogs perform and look for trends related to page length.

3. Readability

It’s in the writer’s interest to make a blog post as easy to read as possible. Spacing, formatting, and writing style all weigh on a blog’s readability.

Why Readability Matters for SEO

Making your content easy to digest will increase the time people spend reading it and encourage them to share it with others. It can also increase the likelihood the content will rank in Featured Snippets, which is a huge boost to blog SEO.

How to Optimize Blog Readability

• Add informative headings and subheadings to make the post easier to skim.
• Format lists or step-by-step instructions as numbered or bulleted lists.
• Break large paragraphs into shorter chunks. Single-sentence paragraphs are common in the blog world.
  
  

4. Title

The title is your chance to convince the reader to click in 50-60 characters or less. A good title:

1. Is short (search engines cut off titles longer than 60 characters);
2. Is compelling (but not clickbait); and
3. Promises readers something of value if they click.
   
   

Why Blog Titles Matter for SEO

A great title will drive more traffic to the blog, which significantly impacts its rankings. As mentioned above, the title should also include relevant keywords.

How to Optimize Blog Titles

Craft your title around keywords and the value readers receive from the blog. Shorten it 50 characters or less and add compelling adjectives to make it pop.

5. Call to Action

The title succeeds in persuading readers to click on your blog post. What do you want them to do once they’re there? Whatever the goal, readers are more likely to do it if you guide them in the right direction with a clear call to action.

Why a Call to Action Matters for SEO

An effective call to action keeps people on your site and discourages them from bouncing back to the search engine results page (see our blog: Understanding Bounce Rate, Long Clicks and Pogo-Sticking).

How to Optimize Call to Action

Place the call to action prominently on the blog post (the best spot will vary audience-to-audience, so consider testing different placements). It should be relevant to the subject matter of the article and the user’s pain points.

6. Internal and External Links

Internal links are links to content that is within the same domain as your content: other blog posts, product pages, contact pages, and so on. External links are the opposite: they point to other websites.

Why Internal and External Linking Matters for SEO

Interlinking helps search engine algorithms to understand the website’s structure. Links to credible, authoritative external sources help build your site’s credibility within the eyes of the all-seeing search algorithm. Both are an important part of boosting blog SEO.

How to Optimize Links

Be picky about the links you include! Credible external sites will bolster your blog’s credibility, but poor sites will do the opposite. Insert internal links should in a logical way that benefits the reader.

7. Anchor Text

Anchor text refers to the clickable text of an internal or external link. On most sites, anchor text is underlined and highlighted in blue.

Why Anchor Text Matters for SEO

Search engine algorithms use anchor text another clue to what a web page is about, both regarding your blog and the page you’re linking to.

How to Optimize Anchor Text

Good anchor text is succinct, informative, and relevant to the target page. Incorporate keywords where it sounds natural to do so.

8. Images

Images are a necessity in any blog post, no matter the length or the topic. Along with their visual appeal, original images can help boost your blog’s SEO.

Why Images Are Good for SEO

Images make the blog easier to read, increasing the chance people will share it and explore the rest of your site. Keywords in image titles and file names can help give the algorithm context on your blog’s topic. Images also allow the site to rank in image searches.

Optimizing Images for SEO

Upload high-quality images with keyword-rich titles and file names. Avoid adding overly-large images, as they can bog down your site’s loading speed (see our blog: Why Page Speed Matters.

9. Meta Description

The meta description is a 160-character summary of the blog that can display below the headline on the search engine results page.

Why Meta Descriptions Matter for SEO

The meta description can be a huge factor in a reader’s decision to click through to your blog from the search engine results page. Like blog titles, meta descriptions are a chance to pique the reader’s curiosity and promise something worth clicking for.

How to Optimize Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions that exceed 160 words will be cut off, so be sure to include the good stuff in the first 160.

10. Proofreading

Spelling and grammar checkers have come a long way, but they’re still not perfect! Take time to proofread your blog before posting it.

Why Spelling and Grammar Matters for SEO

Poor spelling and grammar will stop some readers in their tracks. Few people will share an error-ridden blog with their friends, let alone peruse the rest of the site. Proofreading keeps readers on the page and preserves your credibility.First, give the blog a once-over yourself. Then, pass it to a colleague for a second look. If no one’s available to help, a free proofreading tool like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor beats no proofreading at all.

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7 Universal Content Strategies to Increase Audience Engagement

Content is a contest. Whether you’re writing blog posts or cutting videos, there’s always someone else out there who wants to win over your audience as bad as you do. These content strategies can help increase audience engagement across a variety of mediums to help get your message out there.

1. Gauge the Competition

Who’s winning the race for your important keywords?

Finding ways to outrank those competitors will help bolster your share of the audience.

One important step in increasing engagement is finding (and fixing) gaps in your current keyword strategy.

You could be falling behind in areas where your competitors already have plenty of content. There could also be high-volume keywords the competition hasn’t covered yet, leaving an opportunity for your site to fill in the gap.

Conducting a keyword gap analysis requires a strong grasp of your site’s current standing and where you want to improve: how people are finding your site now, which keywords are most valuable to you now, and what your competitors are doing better.

Tools like SEMRush’s Keyword Gap Analysis can help, but it’s only useful if you understand what keywords are and which keywords matter to your business.

2. Optimize Metadata

To most people, metadata is an afterthought.

For anyone with a website, it shouldn’t be.

Metadata refers to two types of information: basic descriptions of digital files (file author, date crated, file size, etc.) and descriptions of webpage content. Both types of metadata play a role in your content’s search engine visibility.

Search algorithms use metadata to help determine what a webpage is about. When metadata contains relevant keywords, it gives the page a better shot of ranking for those search queries.

Optimized metadata may not increase audience engagement alone, but it can help give well-crafted content the boost it needs.

3. Increase Page Speed

Slow loading speed is one of the biggest barriers to audience engagement.

Nearly half of all internet users will not wait longer than three seconds for a page to load. It doesn’t matter how great a blog or video is if it’s dragged down by a slow-loading site.

If you’re not sure of your site’s speed (or can’t figure out why it’s slow), Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool can give answers. Beyond that, there are lots of big and small fixes to increase page speed.

4. Boost Presentation

Looks matter, at least when it comes to boosting audience engagement.

The nicer the page presentation, the more likely people are to view the content, share it with others, and link back to it — all important ingredients of attracting and engaging an audience

Overall site design plays a big part in this (which is one reason to redesign your site periodically). But there are also many smaller steps you can take to make your content easier and more enjoyable to consume.

• Break blog posts into short paragraphs with a logical flow, adding bullet points and lists where applicable.
• Add relevant images. Blog posts with images get an average of 94% more views than those without.
• Embed a video. Video increases the average time people spend on a site by 105%.

If you do add supplementary videos and images, be sure to optimize them with keyword-rich metadata.

Speaking of different mediums…

5. Use a Variety of Content Mediums

Radio didn’t bring an end to libraries. Film wasn’t the death knell for radio.  And the Internet hasn’t dampened the popularity of video (only changed how we see it).

Why? Because different people like to consume information in different ways.

Some of your audience will always prefer a long-form blog post or whitepaper to a video; others won’t give text the time of day when there’s a visual alternative.

Using a variety of content broadens the appeal of your site to a wider audience. Blogs, eBooks, videos, case studies, infographics, and podcasts can all help to build different segment of an engaged following.

6. Be an Authority

Authority is one of the biggest factors in how search engine algorithms choose which sites make the front page. To increase audience engagement, you’ll have to show that you’re an authority in your industry.

Being an authority doesn’t mean you’re the be-all and end-all for your industry. Rather, it means you have a take on the topic that is more in-depth, more authentic, and more current than the competition.

For future content, focus on quality and relevance over quantity. As for older content that still performs well? Keep it current!

7. Send the Right Content to the Right Audience

Instead of blasting all your content to everyone at once, take a precision approach. Aim for where you know it’ll connect.

There are lots of ways to make sure your content reaches the right people and get them to engage with it:

• Starting an email list is a great initiative for anyone looking to build an army of loyal followers.
• A/B testing provides guidance when it comes to making the best possible first impression on visitors.
• Retargeting visitors with content you know matches their interests brings wayward audiences back into your sights.

The point is, different content will resonate best at different points in the marketing funnel. Once you’ve figured out your funnel, you can begin to weave it into your content strategy.

Getting Audiences to Engage with Your Content

No content creator can produce a viral masterpiece every time, but these steps will help put it on the screens of audiences that matter.

It all starts with strategy. We’d love to help you find yours.

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