Spotlight Subject: Quality Score

If you’re familiar with AdWords, then you’ve definitely heard about the somewhat mysterious Quality Score (QS). But even if you’re not big into PPC or don’t have an AdWords account, QS is still something you should know about-especially since some exciting new updates were rolled out earlier this week.

What is Quality Score?

Within AdWords, QS represents how Google rates the quality and relevance of keywords and PPC ad campaigns. It’s calculated by accounting for a handful of factors, including CTR, the history of a past keyword performance, keyword relevance to ad group, and so on. Google keeps how much each of these factors weighs pretty private, which has made understanding QS notoriously mysterious.

Being aware of and understanding QS as best you can is important for those investing in PPC practices, because it could be affecting their budgets. A low QS results in a higher cost-per-click, and a high QS results in a lower cost-per-click. Your QS also affects the moving parts and pieces of search advertising campaigns, and a low score can significantly reduce the success of your traffic.

What changes were made to Quality Score this week?

Released on Monday, September 12, new updates to QS were released that may alleviate some of the surrounding gray area. Whereas keywords with little or sparse history would get a low QS, they will now get a null score. Instead of seeing a default AdWords score of 6, you will now see dashes. This will be a more transparent way to report and more accurately determine a keyword’s true QS.

While how quality score is exactly calculated remains somewhat of a mystery, there are certain practices and procedures you can follow to improve your quality score, which we’ll explore more next week.

 

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You got a Google penalty. Now what?

Our colorful friend Google drops the hammer by dishing out manual penalties by the thousands. Their commitment to user experience and trust is what makes them the top dog of search engines, which is why SEO practices have to be carried out in a legitimate, procedural way.

Shortcutting or investing in black hat SEO is a good way to wind up with one of these common Google penalties, but it doesn’t mean your website is ruined forever. You can bounce back from a Google penalty by knowing what to do.

First and foremost, identify what kind of penalty you’ve been slapped with. Google provides step by step instructions for identifying what kind of penalty you got and how to recover from it, so this is your starting point. Unless you’ve committed a major SEO offense, you’ll more than likely be dealing with a manual action penalty.

Next, do a thorough inspection of your website’s architecture and perform a site audit. This will mainly entail checking for clean source code, page depth, and other foundational aspects of your website that Google looks at.

After that, you’ll want to make your website Panda friendly, which deals in large part with content. Believe it or not, things like low quality and duplicate content are punishable because they disrupt a user’s access to reliable content, which is a no -no in Google’s eyes.

Your final step in bouncing back is to build new links that are authoritative and high quality. Despite it sounding like a huge undertaking, a few really good links can drastically improve the traffic and search ranking of your site. Focus less on building bulk spam links and more on securing editorial links on respected websites with high traffic. You can do this through guest posting, developing creative content like infographics or tutorials for others to share on their websites, or even by writing reviews.

While receiving a Google penalty certainly isn’t a good thing, it can definitely be overcome and is certainly not the end of the world. By approaching it as an opportunity to correct the weak spots of your website, the penalty can eventually be lifted and your site left in better standing to build new traffic.

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5 Best Practices for Curating Your E-Commerce Blog

In my last post I talked about the importance of having a blog component for your e-commerce website and how it can impact your brand in lasting, profitable ways. However, the mere presence of a blog on your e-commerce website won’t do anyone much good if it doesn’t have content of value. The point of having a blog is to flex your authority within your industry and give users a reason to read to want to read what you post. The more you populate your blog with interesting and useful content, the more people are drawn to read it and give you their business. It’s about as simple as it sounds, and adhering to a few simple practices can get you started on the right track.

1. Focus on content with utility.

While it’s definitely okay to toot your own horn here and there, your blog should mainly focus on providing useful content that your audience and target customers will find both interesting and helpful. By producing content with utility readers can use and apply you can give your brand the purpose necessary to be considered a resource. The root of the resourcefulness comes from what you can offers users before they ever even make a purchase. Try and regularly post tutorials, How-To articles, and other ideas relevant to your industry to establish an information-based relationship with your users.

2. Produce interactive content.

Every post on your blog should be polished in terms of writing clarity and proofreading, but that doesn’t mean is has to consist of formal content. One great way to make your blog approachable and casual for users is to post interactive content that’s based on their participation. Content forms such as polls and quizzes are often received well by site visitors and garner participation, and you can squeeze a lot of SEO points from the attention. Buzzfeed does a great job of creating interactive content, and their casual approach to topics makes just about anyone feel welcomed and comfortable scrolling through their website. Plus, interactive content is highly shareable and will perform well across your social media platforms.

3. Add compelling visuals.

Visuals take the cake when it comes to the brain’s initial perceptions, and you have to keep that in mind when piecing together content for your blog. On a basic level, you should always use clear, high quality images that are directly related to what you’re posting and explained or captioned in some way. Use visuals to enhance what is already there, and be deliberate and purposeful in how you use them. The last thing you want is a cluttered page of images lacking in flow and relevance.

4. Share your expertise.

Above all, your blog should showcase your expertise of your industry and business. Share your knowledge and insights as authority, and do it in a way that makes users trust and respect what you have to say. Part of sharing your expertise can include sharing the relationships you’ve made as an industry authority, so don’t be afraid to feature other business owners/experts on your blog. It will bolster the positive way your audience sees you and add a dynamic appeal to your blog.

5. Make everything shareable.

To increase and encourage user participation, make sure everything you post is shareable. Having those social media icons in plain sight will prompt your viewers to share the content they like most or find useful across their social networks and build upon your following. It also gives your blog a complete, professional look that further emphasizes your authority and trust factors.

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5 Reasons Your E-Commerce Site Needs a Blog

The internet is so highly saturated with blogs that starting one now can be intimidating and feel pointless. After all, what’s another blog when thousands of similar blogs exist? Who would even read it? Is it worth it? If you’ve ever been curious about starting a blog but have found yourself stumped by questions like these, it may be time to take the next step on creating a blog for your business.

Adding a blog to your business/e-commerce site can impact your brand in ways that paid advertising can’t and that consumers are eager to respond to. In fact, choosing not to participate in the blogsphere could be putting you at a disadvantage and stunting your business growth. If you’re not sold on the idea just yet, here are 5 compelling reasons your e-commerce site needs a blog.

1. Blogs builds trust. 

Ever been to a website that’s selling products or services but has no trace of real people anywhere? An impersonal presence can be particularly detrimental to e-commerce websites, because it strips the buyer experience down to bare bones. Blogs are a great way to restore that consumer trust and interest, because it gives you a place to add a personal, relatable flair on your website. Take, for example, Birchbox.

Birchbox is a popular brand among my fellow twenty-somethings that sends a box of beauty products to try with a monthly subscription. What attracts women to this brand over going to the mall and buying their own beauty products is not just the appeal of getting a monthly package in the mail, but rather a trust in the authority Birchbox has. Their blog is a carefully curated display of tutorials, beauty tips, brands to watch and more that asserts a powerful message: you can trust Birchbox to send you your beauty products, because they know what they’re talking about. The blog is relatable, fun, and enforces the message of their products.

You can do the same for your brand by populating a blog with tips, tricks, and news relevant to your products or services. In doing so you’ll demonstrate to users that you’re an authority worth trusting and investing in.

2.  A blog can grow your following/consumer base.

Not everyone who sees your blog will be instantly inspired to purchase something from your e-commerce site. But in keeping with the build-up of trust, you could amass an enormous following through your blog that will gain you the recognition of other industry authorities as well as consumers who are more interested in making purchases.

It can also lead to beneficial relationships, if not with consumers then with other professionals of similar disciplines. After developing your blog and letting it grow a bit, you can start seeking out guest blogging opportunities to get noticed and feature other useful bloggers on your website. For example, pretend you have a business website that sells subscriptions, gifts, and cases of wine. You could invite a popular sommelier to write a guest post on your blog about pairing wines with certain foods, cooking with wine, etc. Your users would gain the tips and advice from your blog and come back to reference you for more helpful information. Even further, the sommelier may share the guest post across his or her personal network, giving your brand exposure, and even feature your business on their own blog. It may be a hypothetical situation, but real opportunities like this are opened up when you have a blog.

3. Blogs attract new leads.

Adding a blog component to your website opens up new pathways for customers to reach you that might otherwise not exist. By having a blog that consumers can interact with, you can better understand their preferences, styles, concerns, habits, trends, etc. There could be an entire niche you’re unaware of or insights you’re missing due to a lack of customer interaction.

Blogs open up a portal to not only communicate with your client base, but also create share-worthy content that attracts attention from leads you might have previously failed to target or overlook.

4. Blog content will boost your site rank and grow links.

Long form content doesn’t always have an appropriate place to reside on e-commerce websites, which is why having a blog component is so helpful. You can populate the blog with keywords, phrases, and internal links that search engines can easily crawl and respond to.

Strictly from an SEO standpoint, having a blog for your business site is definitely considered a best practice and is one of the surest ways to out-perform your competitors. The sheer quantity of links produced from a blog shows search engines that your site is active and is getting significant user traffic.

5. It’s a built-in content marketing tool.

Channeling your content marketing efforts towards your blog is a great way to cut your time spent strategizing in half. You can focus on promoting high quality, utility-based information that will sustain publicity across social media and professional platforms. The content generated by and for your blog can be shared across the internet and used as a catalyst for getting your brand the attention it needs to be successful.

 

 

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Why Customer Reviews are Important for Local SEO

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2012 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

With user trends showing a strong relationship between mobile browsing and local SEO, many business owners and SEO companies are finding that customer reviews are incredibly important. Customer reviews work twofold because your prospective customers get a good idea about the success of your company, and search engines love the authentic content it creates. Fortunately, getting started on your business/website reviews is pretty simple.

Why Online Customer Reviews Matter to Local SEO

Google loves to see customer reviews because users love to see customer reviews. SEO is all about optimizing your website for Google, but Google should be about optimizing your website for users. A few important things to keep in mind regarding customer reviews and SEO include:

• Quantity. The number of reviews that you have on your website is important. Google likes to see a good amount of reviews, somewhere between at least ten and twenty; just make sure you don’t get too crazy and create a cluttered website.
• Ratings. Although it may sound obvious, it’s important to remember that the actual ratings you’re given in your reviews are good. It’s certainly OK to put some less-than-perfect reviews on your page because you don’t want to appear untruthful, but do remember that Google looks at the quality as well as the quantity.
• Keywords. If you have your product name and/or keywords in the customer reviews, Google bots will surely find your site relevant and start placing it at the top. Keywords are important for SEO in every aspect of your website, so customer reviews are just another place to make it happen.
• Competition. Your competitors will have customer reviews on their sites, so they will have an edge when it comes to a local SERP for the reasons discussed above. However, it’s important to remember that just because they got started first doesn’t mean they’re going to finish first. You still have plenty of time to get a strategy together and outrank your competitors.
• Mobile. Many mobile users look for reviews when searching for a local establishment to make a purchase from. Reviews in conjunction with mobile-friendly websites will drive twice the traffic to your business compared to those without.

How to Increase Your Number of Customer Reviews

Getting customer reviews in the first place as well as increasing your number isn’t difficult, but just a bit time consuming. Below are the three tips and tricks to making it happen:

• Be quick. Waiting to ask people to send you reviews is never a good idea because people will be “over it” by then. Asking someone for a review right away gives you a better chance of success. Try and make a habit of asking customers to leave reviews right after their experience with your business. You can also add incentives, such as discounts on later purchases, in exchange for online reviews.
• Be easy. The last thing your customers want is to be asked to review your company through some complicated form or procedure. The best way to ask for reviews is when you have the customer face to face just before they leave your business. If this isn’t possible, sending an email with a simple survey or a link to your Facebook or Google page will prompt customers to leave feedback.
• Be persistent. If someone doesn’t review your company right away, send a follow up email three or four days later asking for feedback on their experience.

In the end, it’s important to remember that great reviews come from great service. It’s never good to force a review out of someone or try to fake it. If customers don’t want to give your reviews or you’re not getting the results you want, go back and change some things about your business, or seek feedback on how to improve your services. Not only will it help your local optimization, but it will also help your business thrive and develop the consumer base needed to be successful.

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How to Spot a Phony SEO Company

Search engine optimization has become an increasingly necessary component of website management. In order to perform well on search engines, your website has to be optimized. Not optimizing your site gives your competitor’s an advantage and your consumers a disadvantage by not being able to find you. This is how SEO has ingrained itself into the strategies of businesses big and small, resulting in hundreds of SEO service providers.

But finding the right service provider is easier said than done. The relative newness of search engine optimization has opened a door for scammers and frauds, making untrustworthy SEO companies a common issue. Here are the red flags to look for.

1. Guaranteeing things that can’t be guaranteed.

As an employee at an SEO firm, I’ll be the first to say we can’t actually guarantee anything. By doing good work with relevant SEO methods, we can improve your website and see positive results over time. But what a good SEO company knows is that there’s no telling exactly how much time that process takes, and there are certainly no guarantees on anything that will happen. If your SEO provider is guaranteeing you’ll see a specific increase in traffic in within a certain amount of time or something similar, it’s a red flag.

2. Promising rank positions on search engines.

Similarly to guaranteeing things that can’t be guaranteed, safe and reliable SEO service providers should never promise websites a certain rank position on Google or another search engine. Those spots can’t be bought, and all the SEO practices in the world might not get you a top ranking. Rather than promising you a coveted search engine rank position, a reliable SEO provider will promise you an efficient plan of action that will help your website achieve organic search success.

3. Encouraging link building automation.

There are some SEO practices that can be automated and some that cannot. Link building and content generation are two areas that should not be automated. Because automation is risky to invest in and only works temporarily, it holds the potential to cause more damage than benefit. Google frowns upon and punishes link building automation with heavy fines, so be sure your SEO service provider is organically growing quality links.

4. You’re never offered reports or data about services.

Successful SEO service companies know the importance of looking at data and running reports to keep track of progress. If you’re working with or considering working with a company that withholds status updates with concrete numbers and data, it’s a red flag. Make sure you’re regularly getting updates and are in the know about how your site is progressing.

5. Vague explanations of services.

If you’re new to it, SEO talk can sound like a different language. What your SEO provider should never do is talk over your head, down to you, or deliberately over-complicate explanations. Keeping you in the dark about what each SEO service entails and how it gets carried out. Instead, the ideal SEO point of contact will be accommodating to your understanding of SEO and ask to make sure you’re clear on everything being explained.

6. Messages come from a third party email.

An easy way to identify a spammy SEO company is by the email used to contact you. All communication should be done through emails corresponding to the website name, not a Yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail account. It’s also worth noting that truly successful SEO companies don’t typically obtain their clients by way of cold calls. Do the reaching out yourself to find the best SEO provider.

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Location Optimization Tool Adds Analytics

A marketing platform we’ve previously discussed on this blog has added a new tool to their lineup of services and features. PinMeTo, a company that offers localization solutions for brands of all sizes, has developed Insights, a feature that details the social media reach of brands and their posts.

The Insights feature records and reports everything from likes and shares to clicks and comments. The clean and user friendly interface of the Insights tool holds true to the local-optimization-made-easy theme of the PinMeTo platform, giving brands and businesses the most straightforward look at their social reach. It also includes a “Negative Feedback” section, which reports the number of times posts are hidden and pages are unliked. The monitoring of negative feedback allows brands to gain a better understanding of the kind of content users don’t want to see so they can focus more on what they do want to see.

In seeing and understanding exactly how users are reacting across different platforms, brands can effectively rethink their marketing strategies. This could not only help businesses achieve more effective promotion and branding across a broader audience, but potentially save them money as well.

How? In having a simplified way to see the measured impact of brands and their posts across social media platforms, you can compare it to traditional marketing forms, such as print or TV advertising, and see where you’re getting the most traffic. That being said, it’s no secret that marketing, advertising, and user behavior has been shifting towards digital/mobile for quite some time. For businesses seeking local optimization and a clearer understanding of which social platforms are worth their time, PinMeTo provides specific, detailed information.

“Stores that publish weekly specials and flyers on paper, such as Home Depot or grocery stores, would actually save money by using our tool,” PinMeTo COO Andre Tiwari explains. “Insights can be used to develop an e-flyer. It’s better for the environment, they will reach more people, users can share and tag their friends, and people would have the e-flyers with them all the time.”

PinMeTo has proven to be quite successful for the businesses using it. With the help of PinMeTo’s Insights and other features, one of their smallest users, Redfellas, accumulated over 2 million views in just 54 days. Perhaps more importantly, the Insights tool guided the brand’s marketing in the right direction. Sometimes simply finding the right direction is the hardest part of carving out an online presence for your brand. As PinMeTo continues to ease that difficulty and evolve as a digital service, you can expect to see more businesses flocking to this type of tool.

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