CDG Interactive Blog

You’ve done everything right. You’ve researched your keywords (and those of your competitors), you’ve beefed up your meta tags, you’ve created highly optimized and compelling content, you’ve optimized for local search  . . . heck, you’ve even optimized the file names of the images you’re using! You take a deep breath, look and log in to view your analytics, and, drum roll . . . traffic is static? Or worse, it’s a little down? What could have gone wrong?

Actually, something may have gone very right. If you’ve done a thorough job with SEO, you may have met the needs of your users so well that they don’t even need to click through to your site. “Come again,” you say?

Here’s the thing: depending on the nature of your business, customers may not need to get to your site once they see you in search results. This is exactly what happened to one of our clients, a surfing company in Hawaii. We optimized its site heavily for local search, and as a result, users now see the business name, address, website and phone number near the very top of the results for "Surf lessons in Waikiki."

At that point, it's just as people to call up and ask about lessons and tours as it is to visit the site (this is doubly true if the person is searching on a smartphone).

If a lot of users bypass your website but call instead, then you won’t see a bump in traffic. But you should—like Big Wave Dave—see a bump in sales. And if sales are up, then your SEO has paid off—literally!

It's that time again. At CDG, we're beginning work on our fifth iAd. We've set the bar high for ourselves, and we're trying to out-do our extremely high metrics for user engagement and conversion rates. Let the concepting begin!

Above, the newest addition to CDG's design team, Marina Linderman, pitches ideas to Creative Director Matthew Snyder.

Matthew records the ideas provided by the design team. At this stage in our creative process, no idea is too out-there or strange. We'll edit and refine them over the next week as we hone in on a creative concept on which to base the iAd.

Perfecting search engine optimization is a bit like playing whack-a-mole. Just when you have your eye on a sure-fire SEO tactic, it becomes moot (or less effective) and another one springs up somewhere else. Anyone who tells you they have the secret to perfect SEO probably also has a very affordable bridge to sell you.

Still, there are tried and true methods to optimizing your site for search, and some are not as obvious as you might think. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus on the best way to optimize copy on a page-by-page basis. This is only one part of any solid SEO strategy (we’ll tackle other pieces, like link-building later), but it’s of course one of the most essential.

While you’re creating your content, pay attention to these items:

Obviously, keywords are at the heart of any well-optimized page, so before you start writing, do you research. Be thorough, and make sure to not only look at the keywords you’re currently planning to target, but also research the keywords for which your competitors are optimizing. Google trends is a great starting point, and it’s free. It will tell you the terms people are actually using, what’s becoming more popular, and much more. Paid tools like SpyFu  and SEMRush are handy in looking at your competitors.

Once you’ve got keywords, you’ve got to know what to do with them. Which leads us to .  .  .

Your page title is the first thing people will see. Think of it as the subject line for your content. Only the first 65 characters of the title will be viewable to users, so keep it short. And for best results, lead off with your key words. For example, if you’re optimizing on “car insurance quotes.”

• Good: Get Free & Fast Car Insurance Quotes from ABC Insurance
• Better: Car Insurance Quotes: Free & Fast at ABC Insurance

Example of a well-optimized page title for the search term "budget hotels in San Francisco"

Aside from the title, your description is your most important meta content, as it also shows up in search engine results and can be very effective in convincing a user to click. When you write your description, use your keywords judiciously and focus it on what the user most wants to see.  If they’re searching for the best price on a hotel room, lead with your special rates, not the fact that you’ve been open for 25 years. If you take the time to craft a descriptions that are relevant to each page, you’ll increase the odds that people will find what they expect—and that will reduce your bounce rate.  And remember: Keep those descriptions to 165 characters or less.

Images can be surprisingly effective weapons in your SEO arsenal. Make sure every contextual image has a caption and alt tag peppered with keywords. The alt tag is especially important, as the first 255 characters of it will show up in the increasing powerful Google image search. Use your keywords to intelligently label and describe.

• OK: “child on a swingset”
• Better: “child on a swingset with a nanny from ABC Agency”
• Best:  “A certified nanny from ABC agency plays on the swings with a child in New Jersey”

And that’s not all. You can even improve your results by using keywords in the file name (e.g. ABC-Agency-nanny-with-child.jpg).

A well-optimized page relies primarily on the content itself. (And really, what’s the point in driving people to a page with crappy content anyway?)  When writing your content, use—but don’t overuse—your keywords. There’s no magical formula to figure out optimal keyword density, but you definitely don’t want the page to sound like it’s been optimized. If you can read it aloud and it has a natural-sounding flow, you’re probably on the right track. Equally important is the structure of your page. Make sure to use keyword-rich headers and subheads, and make sure your code uses <h1> and <h2> tags to call those out.

Et voila! Implement these five steps and on your way to the world’s most dazzlingly optimized page. That’s only the start, though. Once you’ve dealt with your own pages, you need to look beyond your own site, with link-building, blogger outreach, social media efforts, etc. But we’ll save that for another post. Check back soon for more!

Need help understanding how to optimize your site for search? Contact CDG & let our experts work with you on a comprehensive SEO strategy.

Google’s ranking algorithm – the formula it uses to determine where a website or page should appear in search engine results –has now begun to include a factor called AuthorRank.

AuthorRank is Google’s way of identifying individual creators of content and tying that content to each author. The more quality content an author produces and the more relationships that author has online, the higher the individual AuthorRank.

In turn, the content produced by highly rated authors is going to be ranked higher in Google's search results than similar content by authors with lower AuthorRank – because they have higher authority, in the same way that pages with more inbound links are given more weight.

Although AuthorRank clearly has benefits to individual writers, it has implications for publishers, too. If your business’s marketing strategy includes content marketing, such as a blog, it benefits the company blog if the individual contributors have a strong AuthorRank.

Let’s say you have been outranking your competitor’s blog by a combination of link-building, commenting and other promotional tactics. But your competitor takes steps to increase the AuthorRank of the contributors to its blog. By doing nothing else, your competitor may now begin to outrank you.

How Can Businesses Maintain or Increase Their SEO in an AuthorRank World

First, don’t take your foot off the gas with your regular SEO efforts. Those factors still apply.

But now is the time to start building up the AuthorRank factor for the authors of your business’s content, whether it’s on a company blog or the company website.

Ways Authors Can Increase AuthorRank:

• Claim authorship of content. The first step is to have a Google Profile—which is now the same thing as a Google+ Profile.
• Same domain. Ensure that either your work or personal email address is from the domain where you're claiming content.
• Link up. Add a link from this profile to the company blog under the "Contributor to" section.
• Follow the rules. On the blog (or other content), there are a few specific criteria: each post must have a byline, and you should have an identifiable photo. The easiest way to accomplish this is with a contributor page where you can create the necessary author tag.  Insert the tag <rel=”author” link=”your-googlplus-url” /> (replacing the link URL with the URL to that person’s Google+ Profile).
• Create shareable content. Volume of content isn’t sufficient to raise an author’s AuthorRank. Quality is much more important, and Google seems to define quality by shareability: likes, shares, +1’s. Although shares across the web will help, it’s a safe assumption that shares within Google+ will be weighted more.
• Grow Google+ followers. Quality content is one part of the puzzle in AuthorRank. Quality following is the other. The greater an author’s network, the greater the author’s influence, especially if the author interacts with high AuthorRank profiles. Think of it like Google’s version of Klout.
• Check your stats. See your progress in WebMaster Tools under Labs-Author Stats where you can see information about pages for which you are the verified author.

Have you noticed that Google’s own social network, Google+, plays a big part in AuthorRank? It’s no surprise. The impact of Google+ on overall search rankings on Google continues to grow, as we first noted last January.

It’s rapidly moving from optional to mandatory as a part of a social media marketing strategy—as Google no doubt intended all along.

Learn More

• Content Verve: Understanding Google's Author Rank in Content Marketing
• SEOMoz: How to Prepare for AuthorRank and Get the Jump on Google
• Raven Tools: Ultimate List of Rel=Author Resources
• Search Engine Journal: The Rising Influence of AuthorRank

Most businesses are too busy growing to be experts at social media marketing and SEO, too. That’s why we’re here. Instantly expand your marketing expertise with a consultation from CDG Interactive. We’ll cut through the buzzwords and tell you what to do next—and why. Contact us today.

It’s no surprise that Google properties account for 66.7% of search queries, making Google the most popular search engine. What may surprise you is that many people go directly to YouTube (a Google property) and begin their searches there – it’s the 2nd most popular Google property for search.  As video becomes more popular and easier to upload and stream, particularly on mobile and especially tablets, video is going to become a more and more important element of many businesses’ digital presence.

What does this mean for businesses?

The short answer: the creation of shareable video content needs to be part of your marketing efforts.  (Fun fact: 92% of videos viewed on a mobile device are shared.) Here are a few quick tips to start building out your video assets, and getting them seen.

Finding the budget

Fortunately, you can now make many videos without a huge budget. In fact, most people don’t expect high production values from short, informative videos and screencasts. Just be sure you have enough time and resources to shoot and edit the video. Don’t expect that you’ll capture anything all in one go.

Getting ideas

Make sure your video has a specific purpose, and that it conveys something that can’t be communicated as well or better in other ways. You can get inspiration for your video content from several sources:

• Search analytics from your website - what questions are driving visitors to your site and what questions are they typing in the search box on your site? Can you provide an answer in video form?
• What can you show rather than tell? If your site has directions or explanations about products or services (how to hang curtains, how to take better photos, how to accessorize an outfit, etc.), see if you can demonstrate those activities on video. It can be a great learning tool for your customers.

 Creating & Publishing your Video

No matter where you get your ideas, and no matter what you’ll be showing in a video, here are some tips to help you create an effective video:

• Think about the audience you want to reach – tailor your content to their sensibilities. Your video should be neither to elementary nor too complex for your desired audience.
• Sketch out the story or tasks to complete in the video.
• Practice ahead of time to be sure you don’t leave out any steps.
• Speak clearly and take your time .
• Include contact information at the end of the video.
• Edit, edit, edit.
• Don’t include music you don’t own. (You don’t want your video taken down because of copyright violations.)
• Promote your video on your social networks and customers.

A Few More Words of Wisdom
At CDG, we have found that short, single task videos are more effective than longer videos. Rather than providing an entire product tutorial, break up the most common questions into short, question specific videos. This also allows you to target the search terms for each video more effectively and make the specific videos more shareable (not to mention more suitable for mobile viewing.) Other good ideas:

• To improve the searchability and the accessibility, post it with a transcript.
• Add keywords to your video - consider what specific keywords people will look for in a video (versus a Google search).
• Share your videos – once you posted your videos on Facebook, be sure to promote them. Post them to Facebook and on your website

Not sure how which content is video-worthy or how to create winning videos for your company? Contact CDG Interactive. Our award winning creative team can help.

That headline is not a rhetorical question. If you can’t answer it, you should absolutely, positively avoid any temptation to follow the herd onto Pinterest. Like any social media channel, Pinterest is just another way to reach out to a wider audience, and like all the others, it requires significant care and feeding. So let’s take a minute and figure out if it’s right for you.      

Pinterest Could Work for You If . . .

Just because “everyone’s” on Pinterest doesn’t mean you have to be there too. (Remember what your mom said re: jumping off bridges with friends?) Yet Pinterest is potentially an great channel for many different kinds of businesses, particularly if:

• You have something to sell—If you’re selling something—from earmuffs, to gourmet meals, to hotel reservations—Pinterest could be a fantastic marketing tool for you. Consumers like to see what they’re getting and the richness of Pinterest’s layout allows you to showcase your products and services in a visually compelling way.
• You have something to say—Non-profits and advocacy groups can use Pinterest to highlight key facts, slogans and taglines that support their mission. (CDG’s client, the Ms. Foundation for Women) does this beautifully.
• You have something to teach—Data visualization, when it’s done well, is an incredibly effective way of communicating. Take a look here for some great examples. If you have key facts or numbers that you want your audience to remember, Pinterest might be able to help spread that message.
• You have a story to tell—“Show, don’t tell,” is a tenet of good storytelling. Pinterest can aid you here. If your company or organization has a long history, an intriguing backstory, or compelling customer service stories, you may be able to tell those very effectively via images on Pinterest.

Great! Your business meets one (or more) of the criteria above. Hooray! Off to Pinterest!

. . . But Wait! There’s the Little Matter of Content

Yes, now I’m going to be a killjoy. Pinterest might be a great fit for your business in theory, but a terrible idea in practice. As with all social media channels, it boils down to one word: CONTENT.

Remember all of those Pinterest boards for your wonderful products? And your great infographics? And your snazzy quotes? They’ll need to be filled and updated with a steady flow of images. Before you get on Pinterest you’ve got to be darn sure that you have the assets to support your presence, now and into the future.

Do you have a photographer, a designer, and/or a graphic artist to produce your images? If not, think twice and three times about Pinterest. Because Pinterest is not only about images, it’s about beautiful, compelling images. The absolute worst thing you could do is to have a Pinterest account filled with sub-par imagery.

Make an Informed, Guilt-Free Choice

Using Pinterest well is a tall order for a lot of businesses. If it’s not right for you, that’s not the death knell for your social media efforts. In fact, it can be a great boost to them. Instead of wasting valuable time and resources on Pinterest, use them to make your Facebook page and Twitter account work better for you. In other words, it’s OK to walk away and say, “Hey, Pinterest, it’s not you, it’s me.”

Check out more advice on using Pinterest successfully for business. And if you need more help with your social media strategy, Contact CDG.