Is It Time to Update Your Site's Content

When was the last time you changed your site's content? Even if it was just a page or two's worth? If you cannot answer this question, or without a long pause to think, then it is likely time to produce fresh content for your site.

Search engines and humans alike prefer to see fresh content vs. the same, stagnant content on your site. A site that sits with the same content on it for a year or more is a site that will struggle to truly succeed at search engine optimization.

Refresh the existing content now and then and make sure to generate new content a couple times a month, such as a blog, news, updates, etc. This is why an internal blog is great for SEO, search engines like to see that fresh content. Also, you can use this opportunity for images and more substance for search engine crawlers to index and grab when someone does an internet search related to your business.

Do you need this done, have questions, or require internet marketing services? Then contact Integraphix, a Chicago SEO company.

Local SEO in 2015: Maps & Review Sites are Key

When you want to do great internet marketing and search engine optimization, for your business, you have to look at optimizing and promotion beyond your website. In regards to a local business, this means considering maps and review sites.

If you only do internal SEO, then you are missing out on some serious promotion for your site. When Google released the Pigeon update back in July 2014, it put more emphasis on local SEO. Directory/review sites such as Yelp now have the possibility of ranking above a business's website.

Do a search for "bakery in [your local city]". You will have to go past map listings and then, likely some Yelp or other review site listings, THEN you will find some websites.

So what can you do to rank well? 

Set up your Google My Business account. List your site and make sure all information is 100% correct. You can create a listing or claim ownership of an existing one. This is a free service and will help a lot.

Utilize Yelp. Yelp gets a lot of flack for "fake reviews. Any review site will (and does) have fake reviews on the site. Guaranteed. However, it is a great place to have your business listed and get good reviews because it can really help with Google rankings. Make sure to claim your business on Yelp.

Optimize any and all listings. Claim your listings. Verify information. Add photos, hours of operation, contact info, vanity URL, and other important information. Our Chicago SEO company makes sure this is done for all clients because it helps so much.

Gather some reviews and testimonials. Have people give you reviews (don't buy them or ask your family members) but when you have a customer, ask them to fill out a review. Also, ask around for some testimonials. You won't want to ask for reviews on sites, as that is often frowned upon.

Engage with people. On social media and review sites, talk to people. Respond to them. The more talking going on and the more traffic, the better it is for your site. This also shows people that your site is human-owned and run, not by robots. As a social media marketing firm, we can tell you that there is a massive difference in popularity and success of companies's online presence between those that are robotic vs. human.

Does your business need to be noticed on the web? Contact Integraphix and see how we can help you! Talk with our digital marketing team about search engine marketing and social media.

9 SEO Questions You Are Embarrassed to Ask

There are questions we are sometimes too embarrassed to ask about a subject in fear that if we do ask them, we will be ridiculed. Here we have 9 questions that some of us are just too embarrassed to ask about search engine optimization. 

1. Should my domain have keywords? While this seems like a good idea, the answer is no. Your domain should be easy to remember and true to your business name. Your shoe store, "Joe's Shoes for Less" might have the domain name, "www.joesshoesforless.com" rather than "www.cheapandlightlywornshoes.com". See what I mean?
2. What is the right amount of keywords per page? This is a great one to ask, actually! You don't want to be convicted of keyword stuffing. White hat SEO techniques are what get you ranked and one of those is optimizing your text without over-optimizing it. When you read other posts about this topic, you might find that they giv
   
   e a percentage for keywords to text; overall, use them when you need to and don't over do it. It's like salt, a moderate amount goes a long way. Our marketing specialists will often use one every 100 words or so; so, in a 500 word post, they use five or six keywords. 
3. What about links within text? Only include these when necessary was well. If you are referencing something and there is a link to it, then connect it. Of course, always in moderation. 
4. What is a robots.txt? This is a nifty page that gives search engine crawlers about the pages that a company's site indexes. Simply go to thisisyourdomain.com/robots.txt. 
5. What is the difference between indexed text and crawled text? When you publish content on your site, search engines will crawl the content and if they can, they will index it; think of indexing like filing. The content that is not indexed is not indexed because of prohibitions or it is not optimized. 
6. Why do I need alt text? Alt text allows search engines to know what is in an image. Also, if your image doesn't load, web visitors can read the alt text and know what should be there. A properly optimized site will feature alt text. 
7. How long does SEO take to be effective? This depends on many factors such as the competitiveness of your industry, the keywords you choose, how much you spend on SEO, etc. It often takes a few months for your site to be completely noticed by search engines, then another few months to get rankings, at least ones better than the 100th page of Google. 
8. Inbound links vs internal links? Inbound links are links from other websites pointing back to your own; internal links are links on your site pointing to other pages within your site. 
9. What are meta descriptions? Meta descriptions are the bits of text that appear below your page and link in a search engine results page. It explains what is in the page. 

Feel better now that you know the answers to these questions? I know I sure do! Whew! If you want your site to rank well on Google, then you need to know this information. Contact Integraphix for help with other SEO questions or SEO services.