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5 SEO Trends for 2022 You Need to Know About

5 SEO Trends for 2022 You Need to Know About

mwon

SEO evolves from year to year, and it’s crucial that you stay up to date with the latest trends to avoid falling behind. With 2022 here already, we thought it was time for our Orange County SEO specialists to share five top SEO trends for the year ahead.

Greater Focus On Website Accessibility

As the Internet becomes increasingly embedded in our lives, every website should be optimized for improved accessibility. Many people may struggle to use your site properly if you overlook this key issue: for example, around 12 million people in the U.S. have vision impairment and approximately 15% of adults experience some level of hearing difficulty.

Enhanced accessibility can provide all users with a high-quality browsing experience, regardless of their capabilities. It will also reduce the risk of dissatisfied visitors leaving your site with a negative impression of your brand.

More Websites Catering to Voice Search

Twenty-seven percent of the worldwide online population uses voice search on mobile devices. This trend will drive more and more businesses to optimize their websites for voice search in 2022, but what does that involve?

  • Incorporate keywords into questions users are likely to ask, especially on mobile devices, such as “where’s the nearest pizza restaurant to me?”
  • Implement long-tail keywords for accurate targeting.
  • Write in a conversational style.
  • Create FAQ pages packed with relevant, conversational questions and answers.

Increasing Popularity of Featured Snippets

Featured snippets appear on around 19% of SERPs, and they give users a faster way to access information. Ideally, a featured snippet will provide an answer but still compel users to click through for a more detailed insight instead of scrolling down.

In 2022 (and beyond), more brands will structure their content to earn featured snippets. One technique is to use more questions and answers in content, beginning with “who”, “what”, or “why”.

Mobile-friendly Websites Becoming More Prevalent

More than 92% of Internet users around the world went online via their mobile devices as of January 2021.So, it’s no surprise that brands will increasingly optimize their websites for mobile devices in 2022 and beyond.

Mobile-friendly websites are critical to deliver the best user experience and prevent frustrated users from leaving your site.

Combining Video and Long-form Content for Better Results

Brands will continue to embrace longer content in 2022. This typically gives readers more valuable information and encourages visitors to stay on your site for longer, unlike a short piece of content.

And video will remain a key part of SEO strategies the world over. Ninety-three percent of businesses win new customers thanks to videos they post on social media, and companies that use video grow revenue 49% faster than those that don’t. Combining long-form content and videos can help businesses improve SEO campaigns significantly.

Our Orange County SEO agency is here to help you achieve better results, whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to overhaul your current SEO strategy. Get in touch to find out how we can help you today!

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Link Building The Do’s and Don’ts You Need to Know

Link Building: The Do’s and Don’ts You Need to Know

mwon

Link building is one of the most important parts of any effective SEO strategy, and it looks set to stay that way: more than 90% of marketers expect links still to feature in Google’s ranking algorithms in 5 years.  But getting external sites to link to yours can be tough, especially if you’re experimenting with link building for the first time. That’s why our Orange County SEO team has created the following list of 4 do’s and 4 don’ts for successful link building.

 

4 Link Building Do’s

Create High-Value Content Other Site-Owners Love

Good content is a must to generate links and boost your ranking — you need to give site-owners a reason to direct their visitors to your site.

This might be:

  • A thought leadership post that establishes you as an authority
  • A well-designed infographic featuring original research
  • A comprehensive white paper offering detailed tips or insights
  • A professional video featuring an interview with an industry leader, a tutorial, or anything else of value

 

Write Guest Posts for Relevant Sites With a Solid Audience

Creating guest posts for industry websites or blogs relevant to your business, products, or services is a simple but effective tactic.  This will introduce your brand to an established audience likely to have an interest in your brand.

 

Source Links from Satisfied Clients

If you run a B2B business, ask satisfied clients to link to you: for example, they may mention that your web design agency built their site or that you supplied IT hardware for a key project.  A reputable company endorsing your services helps build trust and credibility.

 

Focus on Quality First

Prioritize building links from respectable sites that have good reason to connect to yours — even if this means a slow-and-steady approach. Set a realistic target for building good links and stick to it.

 

4 Link Building Don’ts

Don’t Write Content for Irrelevant Sites

Remember when we recommended writing guest posts for relevant sites?  That’s crucial to reach prospects likely to visit your site, but don’t write for sites with no relation to your products or services just to place a link.  If your business specializes in men’s shoes and you publish a post for a blog covering French cuisine, readers won’t be fooled. You may waste your time and energy on a task that leads nowhere.

 

Don’t Experiment With Black Hat Tactics

 Engaging in black hat schemes to build links and climb the SERPs is always a bad idea. Avoid paid links, cloaking, injecting links, and anything else that could put you in Google’s bad books.

 

Don’t Give Up Before You See Results

Link building for SEO takes time, commitment, and patience. You can’t expect your ranking to improve instantly.  Stick with it and be willing to adjust your strategy as new opportunities arise.

 

Don’t Spam Blog Posts or Forums with Links

 Never write comments on blogs or forums just to leave a link. Users and search engines will see right through it. You could damage your reputation and face penalization.

 

Follow these 8 tips to hone your link building strategy and achieve better results. Want to know more? Have no idea how to build a better linking plan?  Our Orange County SEO specialists are here to help — get in touch now!

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How to Use Videos on Your Website to Improve Engagement

How to Use Videos on Your Website to Improve Engagement

mwon

Videos are one of the most common, popular forms of online content — and it’s easy to see why:

But with so many videos online, yours have to be good if they’re going to attract visitors, engage them, and keep them on your site.

Below, our Orange County SEO team explores four simple ideas to help you get started.

Introduce your business with a concise video

Yes, you already have an About Us page and pictures of your team at work on your website. But an introductory video can summarize your mission and values in a more dynamic way.

Show us footage of:

  • your products in action
  • your employees working together
  • your customers using your services

Present the human side of your business in an honest, straightforward way to earn trust and build credibility.

Help customers get more out of your products with tutorials

Product tutorials or demonstrations can help existing customers get more out of their purchase and entice prospects to try an item for themselves.

The video might involve a member of your team showing how to navigate a software product or use a gadget properly. Users may prefer to watch this instead of flipping through a manual or contacting support for advice.

But product tutorial or demonstration videos should be easy to understand — avoid confusing jargon or unclear progressions from one action to the next.

Include customer testimonials for effective social proof

Text testimonials lend your business credibility and reassure new customers that they’re paying for legitimate, quality goods or solutions.

But video testimonials take it further. You can present visitors with first-hand insights into how your products/services have benefited existing customers for added authenticity.

Keep these brief and to the point. Include the customer’s name, city of residence, and the name of their business (if necessary).

And consider adding a customer testimonial video to a relevant landing page — videos on landing pages can boost conversions by more than 85%.

Demonstrate thought leadership to help your business stand out

Thought leadership content has grown increasingly important in the past few years, especially for B2B brands. Amazingly, around 60% of decision makers claim that thought leadership content led them to do business with a company.

But while we tend to associate thought leadership content with blog posts and articles, it can include videos too.

Consider interviewing a thought leader in your sector for a video on your homepage or relevant product/service page. Or a member of your team could create a detailed presentation on a specific issue, including original research and statistics.

Both can help to establish your business as an authority to be trusted.

 

Engaging visitors and converting them into customers can be difficult — so leave it to the experts instead!

Our Orange County SEO team is here to help your business with a tailored strategy. Get in touch to find out what we can do for you!

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What-are-the most-important-types-of-content-for-SEO

What are the Most Important Types of Content for SEO?

mwon

Content is fundamental to any effective digital marketing campaign, with more than 90 percent of marketers using it to reach customers. Small businesses that publish blogs tend to achieve up to 126 percent higher lead growth than those that don’t.

But over 60 percent of marketers find it tough to create content that engages readers and performs well on Google.

A key part of building an effective content marketing strategy is understanding the most important types of content for SEO. Join our Orange County SEO experts as we find out what they are.

Blog posts

Blog posts are a fantastic way to engage users, build brand awareness, and earn customer trust.

They’re also a terrific platform for sharing thought leadership content that establishes your business as an authority in a specific area.

Posts can be long or short, but they should always offer readers value. For example, a brief list of tips to help them do something better or a long-form piece covering the history of a product or service.

Find out how to generate great new blog post ideas here!

Videos

Video will account for more than 82 percent of online traffic by 2022. That’s a LOT of video watching.

Why so popular? Because it’s sometimes easier and quicker to watch a video than to read a long blog post or article.

Videos can also be more engaging thanks to the magic of sound effects, music, and dynamic visuals.

Videos can cover:

  • product demonstrations
  • behind-the-scenes tours of your office, production floor, restaurant, etc.
  • how-to guides/tutorials
  • webinars
  • interviews with industry figures

These are just a few ideas. But whatever you do, focus on creating informative videos that look and sound professional.

Lists

A reader can scan a list in a matter of seconds. But if it’s good, informative, and helpful, they might just stick around to explore the rest of your site.

Lists should include visuals and plenty of white space to help the key details leap off the page.

Infographics

More than 80 percent of businesses that use infographics find them to be effective.

Infographics present information in a visual format, and can cover almost any topic.

They’re hugely versatile. They can be serious or humorous. They can be designed for readers of any age. And they’re a great way to recycle content in other forms (blog posts, articles, etc.) to make it go further.

Guides

One of the many joys of having the internet at your fingertips is that you can find instant advice on almost anything, from baking a cake to painting your home.

And a well-researched, well-written guide is a terrific resource for curious readers.

Include images and even videos to illustrate key points. Make guides easy to scan and mobile-friendly for users looking for help on their phones — that’s essential when 54 percent of global online traffic is generated by mobile devices.

 

These five content types can play a significant role in a successful SEO campaign, but only when they’re done right.

Think carefully about what your target audience wants to read, what questions they need answered, and what’s likely to resonate with them.

At Nett Solutions, our Orange County SEO experts will create a bespoke strategy to help your business climb the SERPs — get in touch today to find out how!

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4 Simple SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Ranking

mwon

For some of us, search engine optimization has been a part of everyday life for so long, we can’t remember a time without keywords, metadata, and all that jazz.

But for newcomers, SEO is a strange, complex concept. And it can be hard to know what steps to take first.

That’s why we’ve put our heads together and come up with these four simple SEO tips to help you get started.

 

Get Your Keywords Right

Keywords are a fundamental element of good SEO. These ensure search engines display your website for certain queries and help users find your business. For example, if you specialize in women’s hats, keywords might include “women’s designer hats Orange County” or “pink women’s wedding hats”.

You can use a number of research tools to discover the right keywords for your business, but this can be time-consuming and daunting if you’re new to SEO. Working with a professional digital marketing team takes the hard work out of the process.

 

Understand Intent Behind Searches

What are people looking for when they enter a specific combination of words into a search engine?

The three user intents are:

  • Informational: The user is looking for information on a topic, such as a how-to guide.
  • Navigational: The user is trying to reach a certain website, such as a local store or YouTube.
  • Transactional: The user wants to purchase a product or use a service.

The user intent determines the keywords you should use for each page. For example, informational intent might require keywords such as “how to bake a chocolate cake” or “how to change a car tire”.

 

Make Meta Descriptions Informative

Meta descriptions are the few lines of text which appear on search engine results pages. They tell you what you can expect if you click on the link, and should be optimized to maximize relevance.

This means thinking carefully about the user’s intent (see above) and the most important keywords. For example, if someone’s looking to learn how to bake a chocolate cake, the description should emphasize that the page features all the details they need to make the perfect cake. Use clear, simple language that engages users.

 

Create Content with Readers and Search Engines in Mind

Good content is informative, engaging, and written for humans before search engines. Yes, keywords are essential for boosting your ranking, but you can’t cram them into every paragraph. You might have gotten away with this a long time ago, but search engines will penalize you if your keyword density is too high.

Focus on answering users’ questions, helping them find the right products/services, and guiding them around your website. Understand who you’re writing for and keep the target reader in mind for every page of content written.

 

If you’re a beginner in SEO, these four tips can help you get your campaign off to a good start. But working with an Orange County SEO team will bring you real results much faster and leave you to focus on running your business.

Want to learn more? Get in touch with our Orange County SEO experts now!

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How to Generate Great New Blog Post Ideas for Your Business

mwon

 

Blogging is a key element of any successful SEO campaign, as businesses which publish blogs earn 97 percent more links to their website than those that don’t. But while there’s plenty of incentive to blog regularly, finding exciting new ideas can be tough when you’re writing multiple posts each week.

Fortunately, you can try a few tricks to generate blog post ideas that excite you and your audience. Here are a few of the best.

 

Speak to your readers

One simple but effective way to generate blog post ideas is to engage with the people you’re trying to attract — your readers.

Create a brief survey to learn what your audience wants to read more of, and offer an option for them to share their own ideas. You can send this as an automated email whenever people subscribe to your blog posts or newsletters, or distribute them on a regular basis (e.g. once per month).

Alternatively, interact with readers in comments sections and on social media. Ask which topics they prefer to read about, whether they would like to watch the same content in a video instead, and anything else that could be beneficial.

 

Study the latest trends

Take advantage of Google Trends to gauge the popularity of particular keywords and topics.

Google Trends provides a function to view trends across various areas, such as Sci/Tech and Business. Alternatively, you can browse trends based on keywords.

It’s a fantastic tool for staying up to date on trends related to your business and industry. And geographical information is included, to aid with targeting specific locations.

 

Monitor industry news for relevant stories

Pay attention to the latest news in your industry or industries relevant to your company, your products/services, and your audience. Even the smallest change in regulations or the hype surrounding an upcoming product launch can inspire an engaging blog post that appeals to your target readers.

On a similar note, any expos or conferences you attend can provide plenty of fuel for numerous posts. Capture photos and videos to enhance your text with original visual content, as posts featuring images tend to get 94 percent more views.

 

Take inspiration from content published on other websites

Read lots of articles, blog posts, and press releases? Watch insightful videos and listen to business podcasts regularly?

You might see or hear things that inspire, frustrate, or even outrage you. Take advantage of these reactions and consider how you can share your own views on the same topic.

This may take the form of a blog post written as a direct response to the original source material, linking back to it. It’s possible that the original writer/video host/podcaster will see your post and link back to it. That could drive more traffic to your site and help you gain authority.

It should go without saying that any quotes you use should be referenced properly and credit must be given where it’s due.

 

Take advantage of these techniques to generate blog post ideas that appeal to your audience, and you could see real results over time.

Want to work with our Orange County SEO agency to reach a wider audience? Get in touch to find out how we can help you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 Reasons to Add Videos to Your Landing Pages

mwon

 

Do any of your landing pages include videos?

No?

That could be a mistake.

Videos have become a key part of successful digital marketing campaigns, across social media, advertising, and product pages. But why do they work so well on landing pages?

Here are the top 4 reasons.

 

Videos on landing pages can increase conversions

Adding videos to landing pages can boost conversions by as much as 86 percent.

That’s unsurprising when you consider that 90 percent of consumers claim videos help them to make a purchase decision, and 79 percent would prefer to watch a video than read about a product.

Watching a video is faster and more convenient for visitors than reading a blog post, description, or sales pitch. They can sit back, relax, and absorb the relevant information in less time that it might take them to scroll blocks of text.

 

Videos show products and services in action

A text-heavy landing page might tell prospects how wonderful a particular product or service is — but readers have to paint pictures in their mind.

Pictures can show goods from multiple angles — but they’re all static.

Yet videos are dynamic and show products in action.

For example, four concise paragraphs can list a new smartphone’s features and native apps beautifully, but only a video can show the fluid visuals and smooth performance.

 

Videos can build brand recognition

Incorporating videos into landing pages can help to build brand recognition. Adding your logo at the beginning and end is an obvious trick, but you can do so much more.

The brand personality your business has cultivated should be present throughout. So, companies known for a lighthearted and informal tone may create lively videos with plenty of humor.

Whether prospects are familiar with your business already, landing page videos have to align with the tone of the ad which directed them to the site. It should suit the surrounding text and visuals too.

Videos should be crafted with the target audience in mind, based on a concrete understanding of your ideal customers. Define what they’re looking for when they click on an ad and what they expect to see when they reach the landing page. Don’t invest in flashy visuals and cutting-edge animation just to show off — keep everything relevant to your customers.

 

Videos help landing pages to make a stronger impression

People remember information presented through visuals six times better than text or audio.

That means even if your landing pages don’t convert prospects, including a video increases the chance that they’ll remember your business and/or the message conveyed down the line.

They might come back at a later date, and your retargeting campaign could be more effective if prospects already have a positive connection to your brand.

 

Adding videos to your landing pages can make a massive impact on your conversion rates and customer engagement. But actually writing, filming, and editing videos that grabs prospects is a challenge for any first-timer.

Understanding your business, audience, and the possibilities available based on your budget will help to make the process easier.

Want to work with our Orange County digital marketing experts to transform your landing pages? Get in touch today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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