SANTA MONICA, CA – At Master Google, we have gone so far as to say that quality content matters so much that our SEO efforts are nothing… without a WordPress Blog (or wp-content). The importance of great content is crucial to a successful business, according to Kari DePhillips, the owner of The Content Factory. DePhillips said that her standards are very detailed when it comes to the quality of work expected from the writers on her team. After all, good or average work is not work that will set your website apart from the masses.

Image Courtesy of Webylife.com

The Content Factory Standards for Great Content

1. Extremely Catchy Title (preferably with a keyword): When your articles come up in Google search results pages, the title is almost all the reader has to go off of — and your article’s title is up against at least nine others on the page. If you rank #3 but your title is significantly better than #1 and #2, you’ll get more clicks. Titles really, really matter.
2. Grabby First Sentence (also, preferably with a keyword): Internet users have ADD, whether they realize it or not. There are tons of shiny links to distract them and take them away from the page that you spent hours writing. So, you have to grab their interest and keep it — from the very first sentence. People usually figure out whether they want to read the rest of the article before they finish the first paragraph. If you make that first paragraph awesome, you’ll get ‘em hooked and they’ll keep reading (and you’ll see a spike in the time they spend on your site).
3. Interesting, Funny or Informative Subject Matter: Before you come up with a must-click title or killer first sentence, you have to choose a subject to write about and figure out how you’re going to present the information. Nobody wants to read another iteration of what they’ve already seen a dozen times. If you don’t have new info to work with, you’ve got to be clever with how you present it. This goes a long way toward increasing the sharability of the article. These days, having people share your content should definitely be a top goal.
4. Clean Copy: Did you really mean discreet when you said discrete? Was the wrong kind of they’re/their/there, your/you’re or it’s/its used? People who know better will be turned off by errors like that, and they definitely won’t want to pass the content on to a friend. Errors will silently kill your copy.
5. Clean Formatting: The engineers, mathematicians and magicians at Google have trained the search engine to look for (and like) the same things that people like, so the content should be formatted appropriately. Don’t have 14-line long paragraphs, break up your copy with bold subheads and bulleted or numbered lists. The article should be organized in a logical way, and bolded subheads should be used as new ideas are introduced.

“While the role of SEO is constantly evolving, and there are those disreputable companies that may not survive, the use of SEO with quality Web content is solid,” Husayni said. “Google will always need white hat SEO, and is always going to be fighting black hat SEO.””

There is in fact an opportunity for SEO companies that maintain high standards of content and quality search results to get the recognition that they deserve for their clients, according to Husayni.

“If SEOs that practice higher standards rise to the top, and content farms and SEO companies that are low quality sink, that’s all right with us,” Husayni said.

DePhillips agrees with Husayni that there is great satisfaction in rising to the top of Google by producing quality work.

“There’s something really satisfying about taking ho-hum copy, throwing it out and building a new web presence from the ground up,” DePhillips said. “To me, there’s nothing cooler than when the client is thrilled with the content we’ve written and Google Analytics proves that it’s working significantly better than the old content.”

SANTA MONICA, CA – As a writer and administrative assistant to the CEO of an SEO company that provides its customers with the tools for landing a top spot on the first page of Google, I have had the chance to meet many experts in the fields of search engine optimization and social media marketing. By working with them, I have learned that to master google, you must understand the many different factors required for effective Google SEO. Blog optimization is one important factor, but so is making sure that the online audience engages in the conversation, hence our constant examining of social media importance. After all, I have found myself repeatedly seeking new answers to these two recurring questions: how effective is social media marketing (SMM) for the bottom line and why does it matter for SEO?

Seeking some fresh insight, I decided to talk to an expert with a writing and marketing background similar to mine, Aaron Smyk, who is the Director of Web Marketing for Transparent Corporation. Before I delve into the details of what Transparent Corp. has done with SMM, I must first join with Smyk in issuing a disclaimer regarding my ‘new’ findings. Setting out to prove the effectiveness of social media marketing is nothing ‘new’, and has actually been the topic of countless debates over the years. One of the earliest and most public discussions took place at the Search Marketing Expo in Seattle, where moderator Danny Sullivan introduced the importance of SMM to SEO efforts.

Image Courtesy of Kirkmktgblog.com.

“Search engine optimizers really need to understand social media. Social media traffic is great for a site. A lot of people are going to social media sites and are doing a basic behavior of discovery,” Sullivan said.

Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz.org pointed to YouTube as an example of the power of Social Media Marketing.

“What can viral media marketing do for you? Do you remember when there was no YouTube? In December of 2005, YouTube became more popular in a month. What did that? Lazy Sunday from Saturday Night Live was put there, and now YouTube dominates the market. Viral media gives you the ability to brand. Viral media causes search rankings through links. Viral media means that you are growing your fan base. RSS subscribers go up,”  Fishkin said.

New Money Making Opportunities With Social Media Marketing Platforms

Over the years, the effectiveness of SMM has lead to a plethora of online opportunities that just didn’t exist before, and they range from gaining clients and readers to finding a job. Sites that were once used primarily for link bait are now bringing job opportunities to the attention of qualified applicants.

Reddit is how Smyk became the Director of Web Marketing for Transparent Corporation, a developer of software aimed toward neural stimulation, mental training and biofeedback. Serving over 100 countries, Transparent’s products are used by therapists, businesses, M.D.’s, teachers, academic researchers and the masses. Smyk was immediately interested in the position and was happy to talk about the value of sites like Reddit.

“There is a sort of common culture that unites people on that site, and I think having that common base of interests carried over really nicely into this role,” Smyk said.

The Overlap Between SEO and SMM: Getting Results By Combining Them

Smyk has witnessed the overlap between SEO and SSM and said that while it has been hard for him to tell which set of techniques is more effective on their own, good content will always provide better SEO results.

“It’s a hazy area… is a site ranking well because they have lots of ‘likes’ on Facebook? Or is it ranking well because that content is good, has been linked to extensively, and as a result, has also picked up a bunch of positive social stats?” Smyk asked rhetorically, adding his opinion. “If something does well on a social platform, that shows you that you’ve created something that is actually meeting a need and getting attention, and also increases the exposure to that content.”

Jumping on the social media bandwagon is a topic that Master Google has been addressing from the beginning, and this fact remains the same: you need to have a Facebook account and a fan page for your business, says Master Google CEO Ali Husayni.

“You need to encourage your friends to ‘like’ the page, and you must post useful information, videos and photos to it on a regular basis,” Husayni said.

Of course, Google+ has come into the picture and provided another social media marketing platform.

Google+ Brings New Opportunities

In a recent blog post about Google+, we talked about how the benefits of Google plus are many, and if you don’t have a Google+ account, you are strongly advised to get one.

“It’s a real step in the right direction. They needed to have it from the get-go,” Husayni said.

Smyk sees the value in Google+ for business, but notes that Google+ has its limits.

“Google+ is a completely different story… a single +1 can have a huge impact on how that page is presented in Google SERPs, but that is only if you’re signed into Google,” Smyk said. “Safe to say, if your audience appears to be using Google Plus, you need to have a strategy for it by now.”

Smyk also made an important note about the role of SMM in his line of work, stating that everyone in the SEO industry should be keeping an eye on social media marketing, as best practices in the area are constantly evolving. Husayni agrees that SMM is evolving just as SEO is.

“As SEO continually evolves, so does the need for a dedicated team ready to meet the demands of an ever-changing market. After all, getting to the top of Google takes determination, hard work and a little bit of patience,” Husayni said. “You may not have the budget for a full-scale SEO campaign if you’re just starting out, but having an SEO consultant to get you started may very well be within your budget and well worth the expense.”

NASHVILLE, TN – TechCrunch reported on February 23 that Apple acquired Chomp, a company founded in 2010 to provide a search engine for mobile apps. They started solely with improving iPhone app results, and in 2011 they expanded to the Android market.

Android and iPhone users can download the free Chomp app to search for apps with better results than simply using the respective mobile stores. Apple’s website states that more than 500,000 apps are on the App Store, but finding them is as daunting as finding a needle in a haystack. If you know the app you’re searching for by name, or if it’s a big corporation’s app like Twitter or Facebook, you’ll probably find what you need. But if you’re searching for something like “simulation games” or “fabric stash” or “hidden object”, your results may be murky.

There are blogs that feature popular and underground-sensation apps, but why can’t we just search for them? Google makes it so incredibly easy to find information on anything that we get spoiled. We take it for granted. We wonder why these app markets doesn’t just know what we want.

Chomp’s algorithm reads an app’s specific functions, optimizing the results that users see. Even if the app has an obscure name, Chomp will be able to categorize it for you, to tell you what it’s for. This information is compiled just like Google compiles its index – by crawling. Chomp gives developers the chance to submit an app to their directory, but eventually they’ll get to it on their own. Their website states:

“Chomp’s advanced app crawling technology will automatically find and index your app once it is published to the Android Market, iTunes App Store or the Verizon V CAST Android store. However if you want to help us find it as fast as possible, you can submit your app below. You may also add keywords that describe your app.”

On Chomp’s website, visitors can see analytics for mobile Chomp users, which I personally find pretty awesome. For January 2012, 81% of Chomp searches for iOS apps were for the app’s function; only 19% of searches were for the app’s name. On the Android Chomp searches, only 14% of users searched for an app by name, while the remaining 86% was only searching in terms of function.

And now, with Apple’s acquisition of Chomp, it’s expected that the Chomp team will transform the Apple App Store into something organic, something that can read your mind. So why would an SEO company like Master Google really care? Why all the talk about mobile apps?

If your company has an app, your app’s description page now needs to be optimized for search engines, as Chomp is providing better results than you can see on the iOS or Android app stores.

The implementation of SEO in the app world is long overdue. Hopefully, with Apple’s acquisition of this two-year old search engine app and algorithm superstar, the App Store will step up their results to better serve their customers.

If you’re in the market for an SEO expert – for your website, blog, or app description page – Contact Us to see if the Master Google team can deliver results.

TAMPA, FLORIDA — Perhaps Charles Dickens said it best in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

That is how many business owners feel about Google Places and other sources on the Internet that enable people to write reviews or leave comments about businesses. Favorable comments about your product or service can be one of the best ways to build your reputation. Negative comments can have some of the worst repercussions.

Let’s get this out of the way first: your chances of removing a negative review from Google Places are slim. Check out Google’s information on that popular question here. One way to combat the bad press is to use the “flag as inappropriate” option, in which case Google will look into the review to determine whether it violates Google’s guidelines.

So what else can you do when someone slams your business in a review? Growmap.com has a great example of how one business handled it. In short, a company that sells woodworking tools and educational materials got a negative review from a disgruntled customer. The CEO sent out an email blast to its customers that outlined the circumstances surrounding the disgruntled customer and provided a link to the negative complaint, which he answered, the Grow Map article states.

Additionally, he included a link to his company’s Google Places page so satisfied customers could leave their own reviews “so others would have a more balanced view” of the company, the article states. It wasn’t long before the negative review was buried by dozens of favorable reviews.

“No company is perfect, and an occasional negative review should be anticipated,” says Ali Husayni, CEO of Master Google, which specializes in marketing medical practices. “This CEO took a proactive approach to this discouraging situation and I would say he turned a negative into a positive.”

Looking at the situation strategically, you want to drown your negative reviews with positive ones. Essentially, having 50 favorable reviews to one negative one will work in your favor, according to Matthew Loop, a social media and Internet marketing expert.

Multiple experts say it is wise to respond directly to a negative review, which you can do if you’ve claimed your Google Places listing. Be careful how you reply, though. Pop off a response in anger and you’re likely to do more harm than good. A professional, courteous response is what you want to shoot for.

In addition to knowing how to respond to a negative review, it’s important to understand just how important good reviews are to your business and more specifically, your website. Favorable reviews paint a favorable opinion of your business when potential customers find your Google Places page, according to Alex Eaton at Energypro.com. In terms of businesses’ overall SEO plans, the more reviews there are, the better businesses do in organic search results.

It’s also important to note that your Google Places page will list reviews from sources other than just Google places. It pulls reviews from sites including Yelp, Urban Spoon and Insider Pages, to name a few.

“I view this as yet another example of how Google constantly works to make user experiences better,” says Husayni, who works to achieve top SEO results for clients by offering guidance on how to manage their Google Places listings. “Pulling in reviews and comments from multiple sources gives those in search of information a broad picture of the company they are researching.”

I think Chris Robinson over at Giantseed Creative says it best when talking about negative reviews: “We can’t control the conversations taking place on social media platforms, but we can monitor and respond to what is being said.”

In closing, remember these key tips:

• Monitor your reviews
• Truly take note of what is being said
• Respond professionally and compassionately
• Take action if you believe a review is spammy or malicious in nature
• By all means, reach out to your happy clients and customers and ask them to give their honest feedback.

I’m convinced if you take this approach, you can’t go wrong.

SANTA MONICA, CA – Sometimes SEO gets a bad reputation. Naysayers are correct that there are two types of SEO strategies that are indeed bad for business, and those are gray hat and black hat SEO tactics. Gray hat SEO includes tactics such as reciprocal links, buying old or expired domains, and Google bombing/washing. Black hat techniques are even worse for business and include tactics ranging from keyword stuffing, using link farms, comment spamming and more.

Since Google can so easily spot these tactics, why do companies use black hat and gray hat SEO techniques? For starters, those tactics take less time. White hat techniques require creating quality content, careful site optimization, link baiting, guest blogging, internal linking and more. These techniques take a considerable amount of time, which is why to effectively use SEO tactics, you must hire an SEO team with a positive track record.

Image Courtesy of Itsabacus.com.

Master Google only uses white hat SEO tactics because it is the only way to go for successful SEO, according to Ali Husayni, the CEO of Master Google. Husayni said to heed the warning of Google’s anti-spam strategy as your rankings will rise and fall accordingly to how well you implement the correct SEO strategies.

“The only thing not changing with SEO is that it’s always changing,” Husayni said. “Be diligent in keeping up with those changes as [you handle your] site’s SEO, or partner with a qualified SEO provider to handle that task.”

When done correctly, SEO is not spam at all, but a good tactic that Google recognizes, according to Google Software Engineer and head of Google’s web spam fighting team, Matt Cutts. Watch the video below to hear Cutts explain why Google appreciates SEO when done well.

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A focused SEO plan is a never-ending job, but one that will greatly increase the likelihood that your customers will find you on Google. Contact Us to see if we can provide SEO services for your website.

SANTA MONICA, CA – I received an urgent email from a friend this morning. She is extremely frustrated because her WordPress blog hasn’t been getting as much traffic as she has been hoping for. This is a common complaint that I have received from blog writers who have yet to benefit from understanding WordPress as it relates to SEO. Her question was straightforward but urgent in delivery:

“How do I make my blog better and more popular, and how do I get more people to read my blog posts?”

While ‘better’ is a subjective word, there are a plethora of things that you can do to improve your blog’s SEO for free, simply by using some basic tactics that don’t take very long to implement at all. Most of them are a matter of changing old habits and misconceptions. Below are three good starting points to make your WordPress blog more SEO friendly, interesting and ultimately more readable. The best part is that they are all things that you can start doing today.

Use Videos and Images in Your Blog to Attract More Readers

Courtesy of zenzi.com

We recently touted the importance of using videos and images in blog posts, which can help your site rank higher. Be sure to title your images correctly, as we discussed in a recent post about image SEO. Adding other media to your website can increase functionality for your users and, more importantly, help them find you. Want to know how Googlebot sees your images and videos? View your website in Lynx, a text-based browser. The more you take advantage of video and images (within reason), the more readership you are likely to receive.

Update Your Content Regularly with Quality Posts That People Want to Read

Yes, Master Google has repeated this point several times, but when it comes to SEO and blogs, quality content is king. I really can’t stress that point enough and it is especially true for blog posts. Don’t write for search engines, write for what audiences will search for. Be aware, though, that blogs are often crawled faster by Google than websites themselves, according to Google Software Engineer Matt Cutts, who talked about the importance of noting that any change to your blog can help or hurt your site in big ways in the video below.

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The challenge is to continually provide engaging content for your specific audience. The shifting of audiences leads me to a great point made about the importance of remembering that your audience might change frequently and you need to be prepared, according to a recent article posted on Business2Community.com.

Keep Track of Who Your Audience Is and Remain Relevant to That Audience

It is important to remember that audiences change, depending on factors ranging from your competition to your field of business. CEO Ali Husayni agrees that targeted writing is key, and recently talked about the importance of knowing your competition.

“If you are competing with strong rivals, you can have an advantage over them by simply writing and posting articles on your site’s blog on a regular basis. ‘Regular basis’ is a loose term – for some smaller businesses, writing once a month gives you that advantage. But the reality is that for most e-commerce sites, writing once a day may still not be enough. So, depending on your market, you need to decide how often you want to write,” Husayni said.

Remember, these blog tips can help you tremendously, but to get to a top spot with Google and stay there, hiring an SEO expert is the best way to ensure that you take your business to the next level, according to Husayni.

“You may not have the budget for a full-scale SEO campaign if you’re just starting out, but some time with an SEO consultant to get you started may be within your budget and well worth the expense,” Husayni said. “Call the office for a free consultation to find out.” Click here to contact us about our services.

ORANGE COUNTY, CA – It’s our normal SEO practice to build a custom WordPress blog for our new clients and continually post on these blogs. However, recently we’ve come across new clients who are reluctant to have a blog hosted on their site. We tell these clients not to waste their time and money on SEO, and there are many reasons why blogs are vital to optimal SEO.

Let’s start with the basics of why search engines were built: because text existed on the Internet in an unorganized fashion. Search engine spiders indexed, organized and provided the text in an easy-to-use format for their users. Google rates and ranks sites based on three important factors: content, relevancy and popularity.

We have said before that content is king when it comes to SEO. After all, Google feeds and survives on content. Google also loves sites that feed it more quality content on a regular basis. As we explained before, a WordPress blog is the best platform for SEO.

Graphic Courtesy of Dpk-GraphicDesign.com

If you are competing with strong rivals, you can have an advantage over them by simply writing and posting articles on your site’s blog on a regular basis. “Regular basis” is a loose term – for some smaller businesses, writing once a month gives you that advantage. But the reality is that for most e-commerce sites, writing once a day may still not be enough. So, depending on your market, you need to decide how often you want to write.

No matter how often you post, always remember the most important factor for more SEO success: stick to your strategy and continue at it for at least six months to see the results. In the meantime, here are some of the most common areas of a blog that I am asked to explain to my clients.

Why Can’t I Use My Off-Site Blog?

You may have a blog that is hosted on blogger: example.blogger.com. Whatever you write and post on this blog will not affect your main site: www.example.com. Remember, your goal should be to show Google that www.example.com is being updated on a regular basis. Thus, your blog needs to be hosted on your site: www.example.com/blog/.

Why Do I Need A WordPress Blog?

There are many blog templates you can integrate with your site, but through our research and experience we have concluded that WordPress is the best for this purpose. Here are some reasons:

WordPress Easily Allows for Skin Changes

You can conveniently design and tweak the look of your blog with WordPress. You do need to know web-development to do so, but they provide you with all the tools you need. So, your blog will look like a page of your site.

Because WordPress is the most popular blog CMS, it has many users and many web developers behind it. Thus, you have a huge pool of free WordPress templates to use, as well as lots of plugins. Also, any time you get stuck on something, you can use the many forums on the topic to ask your question. It is also very likely that your question has already been answered by an expert, just look for your topic and search.

WordPress Allows for Permalinks

Permalinks are a great relevancy tool we use to optimize our clients’ sites. Keyword-rich permalinks help your page rank well for your intended keywords. WordPress allows you to easily edit your page’s URL using permalinks.

Here is an example of a keywords-rich permalink: http://www.mastergoogle.com/blog/facebook-and-seo-how-facebook-can-help-your-business.php.

WordPress Allows for Meta Tag Optimization

This is also important. You can write a separate title, description and keywords tags for each of your blog posts.

Google Loves WordPress “Tags”

You can give each post specific “tags” that are basically keywords related to the post (not to be confused with meta tags, which are part of the header code). WordPress creates a specific page for each tag and will group all the posts that have the same tags under it. The URL of this page also includes the tag: http://www.mastergoogle.com/blog/tag/google-seo.

Tag pages rank very well on Google search results because all the content under the tag page are related to the tag keyword.

Using the Blog Feed on Other Pages

Your WordPress Blog Feed could be used on any page of your site. That will help to freshen up your other site pages content since you’re updating your blog content on a regular basis.

Google Indexes WordPress Posts Immediately

When you post on your WordPress blog, Google is pinged and will immediately index your new post and place it in the search results. This eliminates the need for you to have to “submit” your new page to Google or “link” to it from other sites or just simply have to wait for Google to see the new post.

In general, Google loves WordPress sites and will rank sites with such blogs that are updated on a more regular basis better than the competition. If you have any questions, please leave a comment here or contact us directly.

Nashville, TN – It’s day two of Social Media Week and 21 cities around the world are celebrating with lectures, events, discussions, and parties. Owned and operated by Crowdcentric, Social Media Week offers “a series of interconnected activities and conversations around the world on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries.” Starting in 2010, the event went biannual, occurring every February and September.

As you can imagine, the social media conversation grows rapidly. The SMW website explains why the event moved to twice a year: “Engaging a global audience to explore the practical applications and business benefits of the most important communications revolution once a year is simply not enough.” Topics such as “Men are from Foursquare, Women are from Facebook”, “Social Media Governance and the Law”, “Blogging BootCamp for Business” and “Social Media for Business and Finance” are just a sampling of what the 60,000 plus attendees will find at SMW events across the globe.

Here at Master Google, we’ve talked a lot about social media and its relationship with search engine optimization. Between Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, it can be a full time job just keeping up with social media for your business. Master Google CEO and SEO expert Ali Husayni explains why a social media presence is so important.

“Social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo- just to name a few- provide additional ways in which our clients can get their information out to potential customers. The great thing about posting items such as videos, articles and press releases to these sites is that doing so provides relevant links back to our clients’ sites,” Husayni says.

For clients to find you easily, your business needs a strong SEO campaign. Once your content is optimized and your design is friendly, you’re ready to venture into the ocean of social media. Be careful not to overwhelm your audience with posts. If you’re on Facebook, spread out your posts instead of firing off eight posts in an hour. If you’re on Twitter, use hash tags when necessary, but don’t overload them. A post reading “#Writer #JessicaBates has a new #scifi book coming out in #March” will only annoy people. Be genuine. Twitter also thrives on mentions, so get personal. Ask your followers direct questions and learn what they like.

You can follow live SMW tweets from attendees and enthusiasts with the hashtag #smw12 or download the SMW mobile app on your smartphone. To see if you’re close to any Social Media Week events, visit the schedule and search for your city. Major participating cities include Hong Kong, Hamburg, New York, Miami, London, San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Singapore, and São Paulo. Most of the events for the week are free or significantly reduced in price.

SANTA MONICA, CA — From tips about using White Hat SEO to providing Free SEO advice, our Master Google team writes this blog to demystify the SEO world for our readers. Keeping in line with our previous efforts, we want to continue to help you with your SEO efforts. Today’s topic revolves around avoiding three of the most common SEO mistakes. While there is an endless list of things to do and to avoid when it comes to search engine optimization, avoiding these three things are in the ‘do or die’ category when it comes to launching or continuing a successful SEO campaign.

Not Being Consistent With Your Information

Your website might be flawless, but remember that your online presence also includes your other online profiles. Update all of your content, on every platform (Google +, Google Maps, Google Places, Yelp, etc.), every time. Failure to do so will hinder your SEO efforts, according to a recent article by Ashley Zeckman of TopRankBlog.com.

“It is important that your Google Places profile contains the same information as any other profiles your company may have online. Google Places pages create another opportunity to build trust and consistency as part of your marketing strategy. Be sure to audit your other profiles and answer each question as consistently as you can,” Zeckman said.

Ignoring Very Present Social Media Influences

It has been almost six years since Twitter launched, and since then, its users have grown to giant proportions. An article from Time Techland dated September 2011 revealed that Twitter has 100 million active users. Facebook launched in February 2004, and as of January 2012, there are 800 million users.

Use these sites and remember that they really do impact your SEO efforts. These websites are places where people spend countless hours connecting with friends or acquaintances, and they much are more likely to find you if you are a part of the conversation. Eric Hammer from Quantum SEO Labs talked about the importance of social media in a recent article.

“[Social media] has really taken the concept of SEO and stood it on its ear because until now, you were trying to get Google to notice you. Now, for the first time, because of social media, you need to try to get human beings to notice you too and recommend you to their friends,” Hammer said.

In short, don’t be anti-social networks, because they help your SEO efforts.

Considering Search Engines Other Than Google

Yahoo! and Bing just can’t do what Google can, according to Master Google’s CEO, Ali Husayni. Just take a look at the fact that Google has taken over 67% of the global search market, and that is old news. The number is surely even larger now, as Husayni explains.

“From the SEO point of view, ranking on Yahoo! and Bing is much easier than ranking on Google. But those that rank well with Google also rank well with the other rivals. You could rank #1 on both Yahoo! and Bing and still lose a big chunk of your business to your rivals that rank well on Google,” Husayni said.

If an SEO company shows you successful campaigns with Bing and Yahoo!, then ask them about Google. Tell them that you only want to be at the top of Google. After all, just as you should be careful when selecting SEO tactics, selecting an SEO company is even more important. According to Husayni, an SEO company knows its game and ranks very well on Google for their important keywords.

Keywords to use when researching SEO companies include: SEO, Google SEO, SEO Company, SEO Services, Free SEO, Cheap SEO, Google Ranking, Top of Google, etc. (Master Google ranks on the first page for Top of Google, first page of Google, Google SEO guaranteed and many other keywords.)

“These keywords vary for different SEO companies; nevertheless they must have a strong organic presence on Google,” Husayni said.

To see how our SEO can help your website, Contact Us.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA — It seems like the importance of great content is touted everywhere, but there seems to be much less information about what constitutes great content. How do you know if your content measures up, and more importantly, if what you are writing is what will make your website one that Google loves?

“We have a great team of professional SEO copywriters who create the content that contributes to the ranking results clients like to see,” says Ali Husayni. “A couple of our writers are going to share their process for making that writing a reality and some of the characteristics great content will have.”

To Write For The Search Engine or For The Reader?

That is the first and most important question. The first thing to understand about content generation is the reason for doing it, and—spoiler alert—that reason should not be just to get better rankings in search engine results.

“Writing the press release or article only with search engines in mind may very well help you improve your site’s ranking, but if it doesn’t generate new business, who cares?” says Lorrie Walker, the editor-in-chief at Master Google and the owner of a public relations firm in Tampa, Fla.

According to her the main purpose for writing website content, articles and press releases is to provide useful information for people who are seeking the kinds of services and products that the business provides.

“When I need a service, I want to find the best, most knowledgeable subject matter expert to provide that service for me,” Walker says. “If it’s someone local, I’m probably going to ask my friends and see if anyone has recommendations. But I’m also going to look at business’ websites and do my research. The more information you can provide about who you are and what you do, the better.”

Why Good Isn’t Good Enough

But jotting down some basic information about a company, a brief description of services and peppering in some keywords to SEO is not going to be enough to get top results in this era of the Internet.

“There are too many people producing content, many of them producing good content, to put up basic information on a website and expect to stand out,” Husayni says. “It takes a lot of work, but the opportunity is there for people who are willing to invest the time and energy.”

Three Characteristics Of Great Content

Walker says that when a company has written copy that is interesting, original and well-written, they have great content.

Website content must be relevant to what people are searching for on the topic and be helpful in some way by providing the information they wanted, answering the question or solving the problem. The only way to do this is to know the audience to write for and what they find interesting.

“Content should speak to them in a language they understand,” says Lanette Strong, an SEO copywriter. “They should leave the page with an accurate answer to the question they were searching for.”

That means if a company is trying to reach a layperson audience, they need to cut down on technical language and explain any terminology that a beginner in the subject would not readily understand within the context of the page.

“It’s not that we are dumbing down articles, it’s that we are helping readers get the information they were looking for without having to visit another site to get more clarification,” Strong explains.

Figuring Out What To Write About

The definition of interesting is ‘to arouse curiosity or interest and hold or catch the attention.’ That means companies need to look for topics that their readers might want to read about or would provide information they need. If a heating and cooling company is building a website to grow their residential customer base, they would want to focus on topics pertinent to homeowners like cutting energy costs, the latest equipment rebates or the benefits of upgrading to energy efficient systems. A company that is trying to get more commercial clientele or work with contractors would focus on different topics.

Strong says that researching what competitors are doing and staying abreast of current news is helpful when looking for topic ideas. Just make sure you can relate the topic to your company and put a fresh spin on it, she cautions, and Walker agrees.

“I think a good way of determining what to write about is to listen to your customers or clients or patients. What questions do you frequently get asked? Write about those topics,” says Walker.

Walker says that companies can also write about what sets them apart from their competitors, about business anniversaries or other milestones, including: awards or recognition from the community, new products or services and new employees and conferences employees attended or spoke at.

Half the battle of writing about a business or company is coming up with relevant topics and creating a well-defined goal for the press releases and articles. Stay tuned to read about out the next steps for creating great SEO content: sound writing mechanics, knowing how to use keywords effectively and giving Google what it wants from content while staying away from what can get a website penalized or banned.