5 SEO Trends to Look Forward to in 2015

If you are hearing that "SEO is dead" then you are wrong, my amigo. While search engine optimization is constantly changing, it is far from dead. SEO is a beautiful mix of SEO techniques, content marketing, and social media marketing. 

In the coming year, we can expect to see several things happen, when it comes to SEO. 

1. Better semantic search. When Google released its Hummingbird update in September of 2013, it was a rebuild of the algorithm to favor semantic search. Semantic search attempts to understand why someone searches for something via analyzing possible meanings and intent. Hummingbird looks at each word of the query to hopefully grasp the whole meaning. 
1. This means more conversational style queries will be made. Instead of searching solely for, "Chicago SEO firm", we might search for, "Who is the best SEO firm in Chicago?" This also means more long tail keywords. So, instead of keywords that are only one or two words, keywords will be more in the range of 3-6 words. 
2. LSI keywords- LSI keywords are "latent semantic indexing" keywords, which means that they utilize synonyms and plurals of your main keywords.
2. SEO for mobile search.  According to Google, half of searches made by someone on a smartphone are made with the intent of making an in-store purchase. However, not every mobile search has local intent:
1. 17 percent of mobile searches are in the store but complete the sale online. 
2. 44 percent research online & complete the sale online. 
3. Over 75 percent happen at home or work. 
4. 17 percent are done while in motion. 
5. 81 percent of smartphone owners research products on their smartphones. 
6. 50 percent of smartphone owners purchase via their phones. 
7. 66 percent of all the time in 2014 that was spend with online retail was done so via smartphones instead of computers. 
1. Mobile search is growing; by the end of 2015, mobile search is expected to be more powerful than computer. Everyone has a personal computer right in their pocket, these days. 
1. 43 percent of US adults use their phones & tablets as primary search tools. 
2. 46 percent of adults don't use their laptops or desktops for pre-purchase research. 
3. 33 percent of online shoppers used their phones & tablets for the whole purchase process. 
4. 58 percent of US adults researched prices of prices of a product while in-store for that item. 
3. Social signals will lose power. While retweets, shares, and +1s have power in rankings, their power is not what we likely believe them to be. The confusion here is that there is a difference between correlation and causation. While a high ranking social media profile may have lots of these social signals, it may be something on the page (something deeper) that is causing the page to rank well. Some studies have shown that when a company gains 100 Google+ followers, they tend to increase in rankings by 14 percent. 
1. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are high authority sites, this means that your company's profile on these sites can outrank your website. As a Chicago SEO firm, we have seen this actually happen, many times. 
4. Earned links will be even more important. Earned links are in contrast to paid links. Earned links are going out and placing your links places, writing blogs, and social media. Paid links are a sure-fire way to get your site penalized. 
1. This means that content marketing is still king. 
5. Getting brand mentions and citations. A citation is mentioning your business name, address, and number on a website that is not your own website. There are three types of citations to recognize:
1. Local- Local businesses such as dentists, attorneys, restaurants  being listed in places like internet Yellow Pages, Yelp, Google Business, Google+ , etc. 
2. Industry- Being listed with industry-specific citations. 
3. Niche- Get brand mentions and citations on industry websites that appeal to their target markets. 

To be successful in local SEO and SEO as a whole, an SEO company needs to be able to see ahead. If your business wants to be found on the internet, then hire an SEO company that knows what to look for. Talk with Integraphix. 

Google Breaks Unwritten Rule of "No Updates Around Holiday Season"

Since Google released its Florida update in 2003, they have kept an unofficial rule that they would not release any big updates like Panda or Penguin around the holiday season. However, that run ended this year with a series of Penguin updates.

The first round of Penguin was released October 17, 2014; however, since then, Google has released four more updates. On Nov. 27, Dec 2, 5, and 6, the world saw updates from Google for its Penguin filter. The releases in December have not officially been mentioned by Google but publisher reports make it pretty clear.

The Google Penguin update is Google's filter on spam. When a website is slammed by the update, it has to clean up its spam and wait until the next Penguin update is released to have a chance at freedom. If the site did what it was supposed to, then Google will lift the penalties.

In the past, Google has blatantly mentioned their path for avoiding releases like these at this time of year, however, someone decided that the move would be abolished… at least in 2014.

This certainly can have a scare on those who are not confident in the SEO abilities but there are no reasons to be afraid as long as you use common sense, make sure you stay on top of what is known about "Google approved" practices, and you take care of things.

Do you want to be ranked on Google with search engine optimization? Then chat with Integraphix and see how our white-hat SEO techniques are going to help your business be seen on the web. 

We are a Chicago SEO firm and have Los Angeles SEO firm, New York SEO company, Phoenix SEO company, and Charlotte SEO firm offices.

Square Has Made Big Splashes in Mobile Payment World & They Impact Business

Mobile payments are really gaining some footing here with marketers in 2014 and expectedly in 2015. With moves such as Apple Pay and partnerships with payment companies, mobile payment options are showing the business world they are worth taking a look at.

How does this relate to SEO? Square is becoming a main competitor for keywords such as mobile payment and digital money.

A leader in the mobile payment world, Square, is leading the charge and make a serious name for itself. What has the company done in the past few weeks to be so dangerous?

Square helped create vanishing money. No, not like a robbery but rather money transfers via Snapchat. Square partnered with Snapchat to launch mobile payments, called "Snapcash", which lets users keep debit card info within the app so they can send money between friends. As to the popularity of this feature, we are not sure since it launched very recently and understandably, there is skepticism about the safety with users.

Becoming buddies with Apple. In the past, it was seen that Square and Apple would be competitors since Apple Pay requires different payment systems than Square; however, that alleged feud has turned into a friendship. However, Dorsey, of Square, wants to build a payment device that can house all kinds of payment in one.

Going back to school, er, old school. One thing that is holding up the immense takeoff of mobile payments is the habit of swiping a card that consumers are still used to. Due to this, Square has decided to let its merchant clients sell gift cards to consumers; for only $1.50, merchants can customize gift cards to sell to their consumers. Why gift cards? Well, gift cards are still an incredibly lucrative option for businesses to invest in.

While Square may not be doing search engine optimization for keywords such as "mobile payment" or  "digital payments", they are certainly known for them and rank well for them, regardless. If you want to be known for words and phrases like Square is for those words and phrases, then hire Integraphix-- a digital marketing firm and be remembered!

Organic SEO & Paid Links (PPC)

There seems to be a stigma that organic SEO and paid links, or PPC, are enemies. Some may believe that these two search engine marketing techniques would clearly be rivals, they are actually teammates.

In order to understand this concept, for the novices out there, let's talk about what these two are, first.

Organic search engine optimization: Organic SEO is the usage of blogs, articles, inbound links, and other "natural/free" means to appease Google and get ranked for keywords. This route takes much longer to succeed at than PPC. As long as you are doing good SEO, you stay in good rankings.

PPC: You pay search engines, such as Google, to put your site on the f
irst page. You get on the first page right away.  You stay in good rankings until your daily budget runs out.

So seeing how they might be enemies seems logical, natural vs. purchased success. However, if you really want to get seen on the web, your tactic should be to use both. See, organic SEO takes time to get going, anywhere between 2-6 months before you see anything (depending on a variety of factors). In the meantime, while that builds up, you can do PPC and be on the first page while your sustaining rankings come to fruition.

Do you want to be on the first page of Google, Yahoo, or Bing? Then hire Integraphix to be your SEO firm! We work with both organic SEO and paid links.

How to & Why You Should Set Up Goals on Google Analytics

Directing more organic search traffic to your website is the main goal of your search engine optimization, but driving more to your site only really matters if it is the right kind of traffic. The right traffic matters because it is what will convert the web traffic into customers!

Remember, the first time someone goes to your site, they are likely not ready to convert; a web visitor might need a few visits to your site before they decide if they want to
buy from your or not.

There are a lot of micro-conversions you can keep track of to see how well you are converting your web traffic. One way to track the micro-conversions is to set up goals in your Google Analytics account. Setting up goals allows you to measure how well visitors complete actions that you want to measure. Want to see how many web visitors click on your "contact" page? This is something you can measure with goals.

Analyzing and tracking your goals will allow you to see the quality of your organic SEO visitors versus the quality of the direct traffic, social referrals, etc. You can see which of these traffic sources has been giving you the best conversion rate.

Don't be surprised if the organic search traffic is the smallest traffic source your site has. That is rather common.

Viewing this data will enable you to show your boss just how valuable SEO is. Due to info like this, a client might just decide to increase their search engine marketing budget! One can hope, right?

Our Chicago SEO firm always makes sure to set up goals in Analytics because it allows our SEO specialists to view info that cannot be seen otherwise. It just makes sense.

Does your SEO company set up goals for you? Or, if you do your own, do you set up goals? Maybe it is time to discuss this tactic with an SEO firm that knows how to do it and get you data you need to win the SEO battle. Contact Integraphix about our SEO services and get noticed on the web!

How to Do Well in Local SEO in 2015

Can you believe we are almost done with 2014? Crazy! I just started writing 2014 on checks without having to remember the year… No, I kid, but it is funny how fast time flies.

That being said, it is time to consider the things we have to do in 2015 to dominate local SEO and get noticed in local web searches. One of the big things to do is take a long, hard look at your website and make a checklist of these "bad SEO practices" and then fix what is not right.

• No content on the home page. If your home page is barren, then you need to add content to it. Consumers and search engines want to know what your site is about, so not having content on your home page is hurting that conclusion, even if you only have a slider/banner photos. As a Chicago SEO firm, we can tell you that having a banner or slider is nice on your home page but there needs to be more than that. 
• Having a few sentences on your pages. Each page of a website needs at least 400 words, if not more. Those consumers and websites need to know that your site is useful and full of relevant info. 
• Spam keywords. If you have a paragraph listed on your website that is simply keywords, that is not going to be helping you one bit. Sprinkle those keywords throughout your content! It is just great SEO. 
• Bad title tags. Your title tags need to be set up a certain way --> relevant keyword | page or another relevant keyword | company (don't italicize the title tags, though). They should be between 50-60 characters, so don't put a sentence as your title tag or a long, keyword-packed description up there. 

Those things will really be good for optimizing your site, if you want to make it great for local searches, then add in your city/state to those things. Put your city (and maybe state if it's a small city) in your title tags, H1 headers, content, alt tags, and URLs. 

Optimizing your site can take some time and effort. We understand not every business, big or small, can take the time to do this or they just don't know how. If you fit into one of those two labels, then contact Integraphix, a Chicago SEO company.  

How to Create Blog Post Titles That Are Attractive

When it comes to blogs, having a post title that gets people to read your post can be a little difficult when you are not an experienced writer. On average, 8/10 people who see your blog will only read your title and then move on; only 20 percent of the people who read your post title will stick around to read your whole blog.

As an SEO firm, we write lots of blogs and yes, we do employ these techniques.

So how do you get people to find your title intriguing enough to care to read the whole blog? Consider these tips:

• Use lists. "5 Ways to…" Use a number to get the person to understand how long the post is (they are usually easier to read) and give a good solution. Also, try to keep the number towards the beginning of the post. 
• Unique info. When you have information that no one else has, that is great. For example: "Lessons you have never heard before…" or something to that effect. 
• Give solutions to problems. "How to fix this problem with easy solutions". 

If you are going to put keywords in your post, which is a good idea, make sure to insert them naturally. Don't put keywords in your titles and shove them in there awkwardly. One great way to accomplish this is to have a keyword in mind when you create that sentence or perhaps the post as a whole. 

A main thing to remember with titles is to keep it short and sweet (K.I.S.S.). You don't want to have a blog title that is as long as the post itself. Everything in moderation. 

Writing a good blog can be difficult. However, every business needs a blog for many reasons (authority, fresh content on the site, etc). If your business does not have the skill or the time to write a blog, then contact Integraphix and talk with one of our professional copywriters. 

Benefits of Google+ for SEO & How It Impacts Search Results

Considering getting more use out of your search engine optimization? Great! Wondering how you can do that? Well, one way is through using Google+. Google+ offers people opportunities for their business that cannot be found elsewhere.

For one thing, it makes sense that it will do some work for your SEO; think about it, Google owns Google+ and they essentially run the internet. Google+ is described as a unification of all that Google has to offer but with a social layer on top; due to this, the social media platform is a major factor in your SEO, in addition to your social media marketing. So how exactly does the platform work its way into SEO?

Social signals. When you share things on Google+, it can be shared and +1'd (it's like a Facebook "like"). Google sees the credibility from others and takes that into account. These social signals account for 7 out of 8 ranking factors in search results. Search results like to display what is popular and resourceful, having good content on Google+ is a great way to achieve this.

Pagerank. One way search engines review material to index and rank is by sending out crawlers that scan the internet and review information. When you post things on Google+, it is scanned and indexed  very quickly and the better the content is, the more it helps your profile's PageRank; any Google+ profile is treated like a real website by Google. Just a tip for novices, the higher your PageRank (PR), the better.

Web Influence. The more you are in Google+ circles (they're like networks), the more you influence the search results of the people who have you in their circles.

Google+ Local. A major tool of Google+ focuses on businesses and their locations, this comes in handy when someone searches, "BBQ near Houston" and guess what, YOU'RE A BBQ PLACE NEAR HOUSTON! These pages are similar to Facebook business pages but have more features and connections for businesses and users. You get much more visibility, more engagement with consumers, better access to consumers, better PR, and better integration with Google Maps.

Don't believe us? Then just try it for yourself! Need help? Then contact Integraphix, we are a SEO firm and social media marketing firm that's been around for one 20 years! Speak with one of our specialists today and get noticed on Google.

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. 

How Does Your Timing Impact Your SEO?

So you've written a great blog for SEO and now you published it… the next step is to gain that massive rush of web visitors because of the post, right? Yes. However, what do you do when they don't arrive?

Well, my friend, it might have to do with the timing of your post. Yes, this does include at what time of day you hit "Publish" but it is also more than that.

1. Publish when your target audience will see it. Your target audience will have times of day when they will be more active online and thus, will see your post. In general, the weekday morning will be a better time for people to catch blog posts but that is not standard for all demographics. It depends on the sort of lives they lead, the work they do, the time zone they're in/you're in, etc. Content marketing is about having good content and displaying it when people will see it most.

2. Should you pay for promoted posts? When you post your blogs, it is always a good idea to share the link to them and promote them on your social media accounts. Some believe that you should also dabble with paid posts so more people see them. This can be a good move if your demographic allows it to be but it can also be a waste of money. If your post is happening on a time that is more dead for readers, then deciding on the timing of a paid post might come in handy (in addition to organic finds).

3. Utilizing your network of peers. You just wrote a blog about something and you mentioned some influencers in your industry. A great idea is to mention to
them that they can be found in your latest blog post; however, it can be ruined when you don't remember to do this until the last minute. Remember to give them a heads up! "Hey, I'm writing a blog in a couple days and you'll be in it." You know, something along those lines.

4. Backlinks. The timing of your backlinks will make a big splash or flop too.  This is not when you put in a backlinks according to a clock but how frequently you put them in your post. For one thing, a reader will not like it as much but neither will search engine optimization crawlers. If you put too many links in the post, then you run the risk of stuffing, which is no good.

The idea of running a good blog can be too much for some. Just take a deep breath and relax. If you have a blog and need assistance making it better, then contact Integraphix. We have excellent professional copywriters who can assist you.