If your SEO campaign is not performing as well as you’d hoped, then there could be something missing. If you’ve spent a long time on it, but traffic isn’t up to par, and you’re no doubt wondering what could be amiss.

Read on to discover what might be missing or not in alignment with what works well for Google when it comes to search engine optimisation.

1. Your website is out of date

There are a few aspects in this arena that are going to mess up your chances of performing well if they aren’t set up properly.

Refine your architecture

First off, your website architecture needs to be simple. This means that any visitor should be able to reach any page that they want to get to in under three clicks. Keep things simple and you’ll help them to navigate to their destination.

Keep these points in mind for best results:

• Every main page needs to be accessible directly from the main menu on your home page
• The structure that you use needs to be logical and easy to use. It needs to be predictable to users.
• Use breadcrumbs to aid navigation of the site.
• Ensure that the search engines can crawl your website with ease. You may want to use HTML and CSS code to improve this.
• Sites with a structure that’s easy to use can even be awarded Google’s site links which will give you added visibility and overall improve your SERPs performance.

Check the speed of your website

A very important ranking factor is site speed. You can check the speed of your website and see suggestions on what you can improve on Pingdom or Google PageSpeed Insights tool. An improved loading time can deliver a good improvement in ranking.

Improvements can often be made on:

• Better hosting or upgraded server
• Hosting larger files externally – ie on Dropbox
• By resizing and compressing images
• Many image heavy websites opt to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for image delivery
• Keep redirects to a minimum

Mobile Friendly Responsiveness

Now that more people use mobile devices to search and browse the internet, it’s become particularly important for your site to be responsive to them and react with speed.

Google uses the mobile version of your site to index it and determine where it will appear in SERPs. Links need to be easy to see and use and the site needs to fit the size of the smaller screens of any device used to access it. You can read more about Google’s mobile-first indexing here where best practices are listed.

HTTPS security

By switching from HTTP to HTTPS which offers improved security, you may benefit from a helpful ranking boost. Soon it will become necessary to move again to HTTP/2.

2. Your On-Page SEO is not up to scratch

Without staying current with the best practices of on-page SEO, your site could well be suffering. Here are the most common points to consider:

URL

Using a URL structure that is not clear and free of clutter could impact your results. They would ideally not contain numbers, be predictable and contain your main keywords (but not stuffed). Preferably you’ll be using hyphens rather than underscores.

Meta Tags

Using title tags, a good meta description and using both your primary and secondary keywords help. Keep your title tag under 60 characters and ensure that every page is unique.

Link Structure

Check your Google webmaster tool to ensure that you don’t have any broken links and that your structure is well designed. By adding relevant internal links that go deep, you’ll be helping your visitors at the same time as improving your ranking. Use follow links but don’t link to excess.

Look into RankBrain too as this is one of the most important ranking factors that Google is applying. It’s geared towards machines learning from your content, and the easiest way to help them to do that is to use a schema markup. These schemas are universally understood by search engines, and they can then pick out pieces to present to users of their search engines.

3. Your links are not well built

In addition to internal linking, it’s important to build links that go into your site. Ideally, they will be coming from authority domains that you can secure via guest posting.

Keep these factors in mind;

• Low-quality links to your site should be disavowed
• Do not take part in link networks
• build relationships so that you can build your collection. Sometimes adding links to your site for others can help with this practice.
• Anchor text needs to be varied
• Put your primary focus on developing content that is genuinely useful and can be used as a reliable resource, to encourage others to link to it.
• Pay attention to the backlinks of your competitors. Look at how they are linking and from where.

4. Your content is not helping your site

Even if you get everything else right, without great content, your ranking won’t perform too well. It needs to be high quality regarding delivering information that people want to read and it structured in the right way. Here’s where many sites fall down with content:

Content that does not go deep enough, is too short or is not unique will not work well. Your content needs to have relevant keywords and be on information that readers love.

Your content is not converting

The most effective way to create relevant content is to create it for your buyer personas. It will help them to relate to what you have to say and to consider becoming your customer based on this.

Once you have developed buyer personas, then create a model of how they will pass down your sales funnel and what information they may need during this journey. What questions will they have and how can you help them best as they pass through each stage?

Content that your prospects cannot relate to may appear to be working initially, but it needs to go deeper and be written to connect with your readers. This is why it’s important to use professional writers who know something about your topic.

5. A purposeful keyword strategy

It’s important to think carefully and do your research. Using the type of keywords that are used when somebody wants to buy is important, however, using keywords that are far too competitive for how well established your site it, will backfire. Keywords should also not be overused.

6. Not checking Google analytics to make your decisions

Pay attention to the results you’re getting for your chosen and applied keywords in Google Analytics. You’ll be in a better position to make informed decisions. An approach you might want to consider is the use of the hub and spoke keywording where you have a central keyword in use and longtail keywords as the spokes.

The hub serves as the main page, and it also provides an index to your sub-topics that go into further detail about the different concepts. You’ll then be providing exhaustive information and also provide outstanding structured content with links. The search engines will understand and should reward you for your input.  Your visitors should click through more, and you’ll have better retention rates.

7. Google has given you a penalty

There are many reasons why Google penalises sites and it’s very important to check whether this has happened to your site. It can happen for something as small as low-quality content to bad backlinks or not being mobile-friendly enough. Even showing ads above the fold won’t work in your favour.

If you feel you may have been penalised, it’s important to understand why that might be and put all your focus on rectifying the matter.

Summary

SEO changes all the time and it’s currently heading in the direction of AI and quality. There has been such a huge explosion in the production of content that it’s important that Google still pulls out the best of it.

To keep up to date, visit your Google Analytics and look at other areas of your digital marketing strategy to monitor what’s working and what isn’t. For SEO to work in your favour, you need to be consistent and don’t allow it to go stale.

The post What is Missing In Your SEO Campaign? appeared first on SEO Scoop.

Even if you’re new to the concept of SEO, you’ve probably seen anchor text in web pages. It’s typically in blue and underlined such as this link to the SEO Scoop homepage.

To put it in place, it’s either set manually by adding a piece of code or by highlighting it and adding a link using the content management system such as WordPress.

The code for the link shown above looks like this:

<a href=http://www.seoscoop.com>SEO Scoop homepage</a>

Anchor text can influence how well your page performs in the search engine results. For this to happen, the ideal format of anchor text is to use it to provide links to pages that are relevant to the page you’re creating.

Crypto Bot Immediate Intal is a tool that automates trading by using sophisticated algorithms to analyze market data and make strategic investment decisions in real-time.

Although anchor text is typically blue, you may also have your colours and styles set up in CSS or HTML to display it as another colour that is in alignment with your website’s colour theme.

Anchor text can be written to provide the reader with the context of the link. For example, you could add a description of what the anchor text is linking to. Your readers would find this valuable and this is something that is judged by Google with regards to understanding what topic is relevant to your site.

Search engines also use anchor text to provide links through to your pages. Although you may not be able to control all the anchor text that links through to your pages, you can control the anchor text that you use within your own site to your pages. You can keep the text you use descriptive, useful and relevant according to Google.

If many sites are linking through a particular page with a certain term, this can result in the page ranking well even if you cannot find those words in the text itself.

Different types of anchor text

Exact match. When it’s an exact match, the keyword will be one that is in alignment with what is on the page. For example, ‘SEO’ linking to a page about SEO.

Partial match. This is when anchor text uses a variation of the keyword on the linked-to page. For example, ‘building links’ linking to a page about beginners guide to building links.

Brand name. Sometimes a brand name is used as anchor text. For example ‘SEO Scoop’ linking to an article on the SEO Scoop blog.

Naked link. A straight URL used as an anchor such as ‘https://www.seo-scoop.com/.

Generic word. A generic phrase or word used as an anchor such as ‘click here’ or ‘more info’.

Images. When an image has a link, Google will refer to the text that is in the image’s alt attribute for the anchor text.

Best practice for anchor text SEO

The most important factor to apply here is to pay attention to anchor ratios. Using a controlled balance between brand match and naked url anchors in addition to keyword related anchor text is critical. Using only 1% of your content as exact match anchor text is critical to not over optimising.

If you discover that your anchors are not set up with optimal ratios, then try Link Pillowing. This strategy involves utilising guest posts that are low cost to balance out your exact matches with some brand or more generic anchors.

More recently, Google has become far more intelligent. They can now detect which keyword is most suitable for your article/link by determining the content around it. An example would be:

Specialist SEO agencies based in the UK would be a great starting point if you’re looking for search engine optimisation.

You could then use the anchor as “specialist seo agencies” if you were actually looking to target “seo agency uk”, “seo agency”, “search engine optimisation” etc.

Anchor text relevancy to the target page

As search engines have evolved, webmasters discovered how to manipulate them. This has led to search engines increasing their metrics. It helps to determine where sites and pages rank in their listings. One of the metrics now used is link relevancy or how well related the topic of page 1 is to the topic of page 2. If the link connecting the pages is highly relevant, it can help both pages to rank better.

Keeping anchor text succinct

Although there is not a specific length limit of characters or words when using anchors, it’s best to keep the link text to the point as much as possible.

In summary, anchor text done the right way can help with SEO results. If you would like to find out more about our SEO services, contact us for a no obligation chat today.

The post The Need to Know Guide to Anchor Text appeared first on SEO Scoop.

If you’re seriously interested in ensuring that your website is performing well in search results, it’s important to understand how Google sees subdomains.

According to Google, they treat domains and subdomains the same, but those who practice SEO know that there is a difference.

Before we take a deep dive into this topic, let’s first look at what Domains are so that we are all on the same page.

What are domains and subdomains?

Domain names are the three-part, unique and human-friendly internet addresses of websites. They usually have an extension, a domain name and finally an optional subdomain.

First of all, know that the HTTP:// part of a URL is not part of the domain name, but it’s referred to as the ‘protocol’.

Let’s get deeper into the domain topic.

A top-level domain (TLD) is the name for the suffix that is located at the end of a domain name. For example, you may see these terms:

·         .com

·         .edu

·         .net

·         .info

·         .am

Although you may be familiar with most of the TLDs that are listed above, you may be surprised to know that there are now over one thousand TLDs from which website owners can now choose. These TLDs can be very descriptive and include names such as:

·         .book

·         .dog

·         .clothing

·         .am

·         .uk

·         .dk

The last couple of TLDs in the above list are country related, and you may know them as country code top-level domains – otherwise known as ccTLDs.

About domain names

After the top level domain, there is the domain name. They are purchased from registrars such as Go Daddy and represent the specific address or unique location of the website. For example there is:

www.seo-scoop.com

https://moz.com

www.xxxx.gov

Search engines do use any keywords that are used in domain names as part of their ranking system – which is why you’ll see domain names using keywords such as www.london-dentist.com. However, you do still need to consider whether you should optimise your root domain for SEO purposes. Google’s algorithm does penalise domains that are keyword stuffed.

Root domain

Originally named for DNS (domain name servers) the root domain is a combination of the top-level domain (otherwise known as an extension) and the unique domain name. It also happens to be the highest pages in the hierarchy of your website and will usually go to your homepage. Other pages and subdomains can be built off your root domain.

Root domains are unique, and no two websites can have the same root domain.

Subdomains

Finally, we are in the subdomain section. These are the 3^rd level of the hierarchy of a domain and are usually added to the beginning of a domain name. For example, ‘http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/’ is a subdomain of vodafone.com root domain. Subdomains are free to create as part of any root domain and separated by a full stop.

The two most common subdomain selections are:

www.seo-scoop.com

seo-scoop.com

these two subdomains can also cause canonicalization errors too.

The SEO best practices for domains

1. Choose a branded domain name
2. Use broad keywords or risk go
3. Don’t use hyphens if you can help it
4. Go for .com rather than any other suffix

Using a branded part-match domain avoids an “exact match domain”. Google no longer gives preference to exact match domains and it is no longer advised to use one because it’s very difficult to avoid over optimisation. Example “seoagency.co.uk” is an exact match. This means we can’t easily use branded anchor text which would be “SEO Agency” as that’s a keyword. Instead, a part-match domain would be best. For example “rocketseoagency.co.uk;

So returning to the original question, despite Google claiming that they treat subdomains the same as a domain, even adding www puts your site into subdomain world. Each subdomain should be treated the same way that Disney treats their subdomains – like a separate business with their own relevant links.

If you want to know more about subdomains for your own website, contact us today for a no obligation chat about how we can help.

The post Does Google Treat Subdomains as Separate Sites in 2018? appeared first on SEO Scoop.

You may have invested a lot of time and effort into the optimisation of your website for the search engines. You’ve been steadily climbing the rankings, and you’re excited about how this has reflected in your traffic and sales. However, your success run is not guaranteed to continue. If you make any of these SEO mistakes, it could well take a very long time to climb back to your position.

SEO mistakes can be easy to make if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. The algorithms that search engine sites such as Google use change frequently. Therefore most successful online businesses set a healthy budget to have their website maintained by SEO professionals.

It’s important to stay aligned with the ‘rules’ set by search engines. To keep the traffic pouring in so that you can guide them down your ‘sales funnel, here’s what you need to avoid.

1. Not researching the best keywords

It’s critical that you choose the right keywords. Although you may define or categorise your products in a particular way, it’s essential that you have a clear idea of how your potential buyers would refer to them. Sometimes the words that you believe are the right ones, mean something entirely different to other people. They may even be too generic. If you’ve optimised for all the wrong keywords, you won’t get the right type of traffic coming through, with the right intentions.

Before you start optimising your site, do careful research. Use keyword tools to help you such as Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, Google Trends and UberSuggest.

Keywords also need to be added to your content in the right way – without ‘stuffing’ them in. Although it may have been fruitful in times gone by, putting too many target keywords into your content can harm your site. The search engines could negatively look at your site as it may appear to be full of spam and not worthy of SEO ranking inclusion. Google’s smart system for search is known as Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI).  LSI can recognise whether your site is relevant for a reader and it also takes into account other relevant phrases, so you won’t have to put so many keywords in it.

2. Creating content that is not relevant to your keywords

Another common mistake is creating website content that is not related to your keywords. You may wish to appear in the search rankings for a particular keyword, but if you don’t write about your target topic in your content, then Google won’t be showcasing your site in their top results. Google operates with a strong desire to serve their users with content that is highly relevant, of good quality and in line with a search term. If your content does not meet those needs, then it won’t perform well in search and you may suffer from a lost position.

This mistake can come about by trying to fit too many topics into one piece of content. Doing this creates a piece of work that is a low quality that is created only to include the keywords. Content must be created in alignment with the questions and needs of your market, which means the inclusion of the right keywords. Google and other search engines can then clearly understand that your content is in alignment with your keywords and relevant.

Although in previous times it was fine to publish content that was not unique, the same cannot be said today and could get you slapped with a Google penalty. Copying content is not seen as a good practice and is considered to be spammy. It’s well worth the time, effort and sometimes even the financial cost to create content that is new and fresh. You can check content for its uniqueness on CopyScape.

Once you’ve created content focused around your target keywords, it’s not the end of the optimisation process. An essential task is to use the title tags and meta descriptions. They can give your content more power with the search engines and can influence more readers to click on it.

Another action to take is to use the images to help your optimisation. This can often be forgotten. Search bots cannot see the images, but they can read the Alt Img tag as it should have relevant words and will be used to index your pages.  Protect your page from a lost position.

3. Not adding the right internal and external links

For the best SEO results, it’s important to add high-quality external links to your content. Only sites with solid reputations that are relevant and strong performing in search should be linked to.

The anchor text should also be useful to the reader – i.e. give some idea about why it’s worth clicking on the link. What it is about or why it is relevant. Not using the old school ‘click here’ as anchor text but using a broad range of different ones will only help you.

Another common mistake is not to include links to your top-performing pages in your content. Is practice goes far with giving them more traction and it will improve their visibility. However, if they aren’t relevant and within the field of the same topic, then they won’t help your quest.

Too much internal linking will have the same result as keyword stuffing. The content and the links will need to align so that your readers can appreciate your efforts. The search engine will not be kind if what you’ve added appears to be spammy or fraudulent.

4. Not making it a mobile-friendly site

Being optimised for SEO isn’t’ just about using the right content and adding keywords to the right place. It’s also important that the overall quality of your website is good, which means that it performs well on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Google even had an update to their algorithm to ensure that webmasters put a focus on mobiles – it was known as Mobilegeddon.

Without considering your mobile device users, you could be putting your search engine rankings at risk. Also, consider load speed as there will also be some judgement on that. A slow website can lead to lower search engine positions. Run tests on tools such as Pingdom and Google Page Speed Insights to understand what may be contributing to slow speed issues.

5. Ignoring the power of social media signals

There is also a need to consider how social media sites and postings can affect your search rankings. Ideally, your site will be mentioned by social media influencers with many followers. This is why it can be very beneficial to build a relationship with influencers.

Another way to handle this is to post your blog posts to sites such as Reddit, Digg and Quora. You’ll gain the credibility of the site, but you won’t have to know all the top influencers to get it there. However, building some relationships with people on these sites will also help.

Everything that you do should be tracked for success using Google Analytics. It’s important to regularly review your analytics to understand whether the actions you’re taking are paying off. Make the best of Google Webmaster tools too.

In summary, search engine optimisation is critical to the success of any website today. It’s easy to make SEO mistakes and that’s why it’s important to know what they are so that you can avoid them. Nobody wants to suffer the results of a Google Penalty.

The post Top 5 Ways to Lose Your Great Search Engine Rankings Fast appeared first on SEO Scoop.

Getting a steady stream of relevant traffic on any business site can make all the difference when it comes to building brand awareness and making sales of products and services. The common theory is that those websites at position 1 gain a dramatically higher rate of traffic and the sites that are further down the page get progressively less.  In our experience, that theory stands.

According to this report, 75% of web users will not go beyond the first page of results in a Google search. This means that if you rank on the 2^nd or 3^rd page of Google, you’re quite unlikely to get much traffic. Putting in a lot of money and time to reach a position of that category won’t make it worth your while or expense.

With more than 3.5 billion searches a day, performing well for search words can be what makes a success of your business.

What is CTR – click-through rate?

SEO companies love using acronyms, and CTR is one of them. You may have seen it around the internet, and you may be wondering what CTR stands for? So here’s your answer.

It stands for Click Through Rate and it’s a measurement used to determine how many people are clicking through to a web page either from search results or an ad.

CTR can be measured by Google Analytics. As with all online marketing, it can play a part in testing whether you have you implemented an effective online marketing strategy or campaign.

The CTR is calculated by dividing the number of times the link appears by the number of times the link has been clicked on. For example, if Google states that a keyword is searched for 100 times per month, and you’ve received 10 click-throughs on it, then you have a CTR of 10.

When it comes to paid search, you will need to divide the number of times the ad is shown, ie the number of impressions by the number of times it was clicked on to come to your result.

What can influence your CTR?

When it comes to most popular keywords, appearing on the first page of Google search isn’t easy. Whether this goal is achieved at all is dependent upon several factors including:

• How competitive the term is with regards to how many other matches there are to your chosen keyword – there could be thousands vying for that first-page position
• Whether your website is as high profile as those other websites and the profile of your backlinks, as the stronger your site is, the more likely you are to appear higher up in the search results
• Whether you have more relevant and recent content than your competition
• How well your web page title aligns with the information being searched for and whether Google favours it
• How well written your meta description is (the short description found under each link on the search results)

If your website is new, then you’ve got even less chance. You won’t have the domain authority, you will have a tiny backlink collection and therefore hardly any traction at all.  Many of the websites that you’ll be competing against will have been working on their online presence for years. Some have thousands of backlinks which is far more than many websites will ever get.

To be visible in the first 10 positions of Google search takes work

It’s mostly sites that have been optimised with off-page and on-page SEO that are going to be sat on the first page of search engine results when it comes to popular industry keywords. However, if you’re new, then several strategies can be used.

For example, new websites can do well to focus on dominating what is known as long-tail keywords – which are keywords that use four or more words. Once you have traffic arriving on your site for several of these, then your traffic Is going to start to add up and you’re going to start seeing results.

Fortunately, most searches on Google are made up of long-tail keywords which also means that it will cost less time and money to get results. You may be still feeling a little sceptical of this approach – however, there’s no need to be. For example, Amazon claims that they gain 57% of their sales from the use of long-tail keywords. This is because these types of searches are targeted to find specific information. The shorter keyword searches are quite often more general in their intent.

Summary:

Appearing in the top 10 positions can be very lucrative, depending on what your keyword term is.

If you’re just getting going with a new website, it’s nigh on impossible to gain a position on the first page of Google.

Well established websites who have been pumping out years of content perform the best for the most popular keywords. In many cases, they will have spent a large amount of money on campaigns also.

The entire time your business was just a twinkle in your eye, the competition has been creating content and accumulating links through shares.

Fortunately, it’s possible for you to use workarounds such as long-tail keywords. Although the search volume is less, add a few first page search result positions together and you’ll build some decent traffic.

By being creative with your content ideas, you can still find ways to get found on the first page of Google. It’s all about being relevant to what the web user is searching for too.

If you’d like us to provide you with SEO services or further guidance, we can help. Contact us today or sign up to receive newsletters with further information about SEO and how to use it on your website.

The post How the Top 10 Positions Affect Click Through Rates appeared first on SEO Scoop.

Search engine optimisation is also known as SEO and it’s the practice of optimising a website for better performance when it comes to appearing in the results shown for searches on search engines such as Google.

There comes a time in the life of every business when the owner has to decide on whether to use either SEO services or spend time discussing the topic with an SEO consultant. If you’ve approached this time, then we’ve got some guidance for you on the topic.

How do you think your business would benefit from appearing on the first page of Google search results for a very relevant product keyword? If your site is sales-ready, then you could be in line to make a good profit by selling to people all over the world. This would be particularly true if the keyword that you’re appearing for is one that is highly relevant to your business and what people would search when they’re ready to make a purchase.

This is why businesses hire an SEO consultant or purchase SEO services. They are looking for the expertise, knowledge and experience that will help them to achieve increased sales. Ideally, the SEO expert advising them would also know how to put the business at an advantage, without costing them significant expenditure.

Let’s look at how they can influence this.

How can an SEO Consultant help?

The role of an SEO consultant is to provide guidance and direction to the business who is looking for greater exposure to their target market. They will investigate how well the business website is keyworded and what is required to ensure that the website gathers traction and momentum when it comes to receiving a growing number of web visitors.

In addition, the consultant will also check how many links are pointing to the website to understand what power it may have compared to the competition. The result will be a clearly defined SEO strategy that the business can follow to gain an improved online profile.

What are SEO services?

Once the SEO strategy is identified, then the SEO consultant will recommend that work is performed on the site and off site to increase the number of targeted website visitors. This will usually include working on backlinks, content and in some cases, re-keywording the website so that it is more relevant in its focus and search appearances.

When it comes to SEO, several different techniques can be used to improve the online profile of any website. The tasks performed can include keyword research, on page SEO, improving readability, link building, social media signals and other relevant activities.  All these tasks can influence how visible a website is online.

SEO services will track the results and ensure that the website is bettering its search results with an increase in online visibility so that you have a greater chance of outranking your competition. They may also work on ensuring that your website is mobile friendly and that it loads fast enough to satisfy the stringent demands of Google.

If you’d like a no obligation chat with an SEO consultant or you’re considering using our SEO services, contact us today.

The post Use SEO Scoop as a Launch Pad for New Exposure appeared first on SEO Scoop.

Wouldn’t you like to know exactly whether what you SEO services people are doing to your website? Is it helping your business to get found or could it even be detrimental to your success?

Is your business at risk of being damaged by people who don’t know what they’re doing?

We have all heard horror stories from small businesses. People who have put all their trust (and their money) into their SEO service company thinking that what they were doing was good works. But things have gone seriously awry, and all the money spent on their ‘skyrocket to the top’ service was built using black hat techniques that have all but destroyed their livelihood.

This article has been written to afford you some form of protection so these types of charlatans don’t scam you. It’s an area that you need to know about so that you know whether the SEO services that you’re paying for are helping or harming your business. After you’ve read this, you’ll have the confidence of knowing what to look for in an SEO report.

What you must look for and why stepping on SEO experts toes is fine:

Whether you’ve only just decided to hire them, or they’ve been on the job for some time, it’s critical that you know what they’re doing. The faster you find out what their doing, the more chance you have of intervening if what they’re doing is not good for your site.

Here are some of the signs that should set off alarm bells in your head:

1. You don’t see any results.

Of course, there should be some reporting coming from your SEO service. The company should be able to share with you some of their practices. Are they doing guest posting, adding you to directories or what?

Although it can take months of work to make significant changes to SEO result rankings, they should still be able to give you some information.

Bitpro Nexus

The SEO reports you should be able to see are:

• An audit of your sites SEO
• An analysis of the link profile of your site
• Content on your site that has been optimised
• The articles that are being used as guest posts on other sites

These are examples of what you should be able to request access to. The bottom line is that there should be some evidence of work being undertaken to improve your search ranking results.

2. They don’t ask you for anything.

Anybody who is working on your site is going to need something from you. They should be asking you for the following :

• Access to your website
• Access to your Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools
• Access to your social media accounts
• A list of keywords that you want them to focus on, or at least agreement to their newly created or revised list

If they are not asking you for anything at all, they could be adding backlinks from their spammy sites and so, therefore, don’t need access. Again, look for a comprehensive SEO report to know whether you’re getting a good SEO service.

3. They haven’t given you any improvement suggestions

If the SEO service company is not interacting you either with things to do or with questions, then they are either doing something they probably shouldn’t be or they aren’t actually doing anything at all.

The disreputable or shady SEO service companies will often put all their focus on putting backlinks from websites back to yours. They depend on these spammy efforts to make all the difference to your search results. They don’t want to interact or engage with you as their client. They just want to give you what they have so that you think you’re getting value for the spend.

The best SEO service companies see their relationship with you in a different way. It’s more of a partnership and for you to both experience success, they will need to work with you. If they don’t share what their practices with you, preferably in the form of a comprehensive SEO report, then that is a big alarm signal right there.

4.  The SEO service that is doing this right

However, despite there being some shady companies out there, there are also a lot of great ones. Here are a few signs that they are working hard on your behalf and what you should be expecting:

• The quality SEO service company is going to be keen to show you what they’ve been doing.
• You may not immediately be on the first page, but you they will likely share with you websites where a link to your website has been added.
• An SEO audit of your website, homepage and content with action points
• An audit of your link profile with action points
• New content that has been written for your pages or changes to it.
• A regular SEO report – monthly or weekly that communicates what work has been done and where your site is now ranking in the search results.

 5. A list of recommendations

SEO service companies cannot help you unless you help them to help you.  They will be recommending what you need to do to improve your search situation and get the results that you’re looking for.

Recommendations from them may include:

• Setting up social media presence such as Facebook, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn etc
• To add links to your social media or other integration on your homepage from
• to create a content marketing plan and a blog
• optimisation of site content
• alt tags to be added to the image
• changes to your robotx.txt
• the addition of a sitemap.xml
• changes to improve the speed of the site
• make the site mobile friendly
• the addition of Yoast to make it easier to use SEO on your site

When these recommendations are made, the SEO services company is helping you. All these actions will help your site to perform better in the search engine rankings. Some companies will even ‘fire’ their clients if they don’t take these recommendations seriously – as it puts their reputation on the line and they also don’t want to waste time on a no hope situation.

6. Your search engine results improve

Once your site starts to rank for your target keywords and you reach the first page of Google, then they’re doing work that is helping you. You should receive a list of the keywords including long tail keywords that you’re ranking well for. Your ranking also needs to stay consistent.

What if your traffic goes down?

This isn’t necessarily a negative. Sometimes the traffic that is going to your site is more targeted and your profits will increase from it.

What is your role?

As a customer, your role is to stay patient and calm. It’s also to take note of the recommendations that you receive. We recommend all our clients do their research about how SEO works so that they can rest assured that we are doing the right activities.  You should also be monitoring results to ensure that you get regular SEO reports and increased ranking results.

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