SEO

A thorough search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is crucial for any business looking to achieve higher search engine results page (SERP) rankings, therefore increasing the probabilities of increased online leads, conversions and brand awareness. But once the strategy is set in motion, don’t think “we’re done!” Just like a car needs regular oil changes to help that engine to keep running smoothly, your website should undergo scheduled SEO maintenance, including planned audits. There are many benefits of an SEO audit – the task of analyzing your website’s performance to evaluate areas of the site that are performing well, and opportunities for improvement – including improved user experience (UX), increased understanding of competitor rankings, optimal keywords and more. Let’s explore more closely: Improved User Experience An audit can showcase any issues that may negatively impact the user experience, allowing you to make necessary adjustments. Is the website architecture easy to navigate? Do meta titles and descriptions lead to the correct content? Are links still viable and not leading to a 404-error page? Items such as form locations, links, CTAs, and content organization can all be evaluated for performance. It’s worth noting that while you’re working to improve UX, search engines are as well. Keeping up with changing best practice standards for code and UX, which search engines like Google and Yahoo regularly update, can ensure your site is viewed favorably by their ever-changing algorithms.   Where Do You Stand Next to Competitors? One benefit of an SEO audit that is often overlooked is competitor analysis. Examining where your competitors rank for identified keywords, especially the ones that may be higher on SERP rankings than your site, can help identify areas of improvement and give insight into what users are searching for. Over time, you’ll get a picture of how current and new competitors are ranking by comparison and how to rank above them in the SERPs. Make Sure Your Keywords are “Key” for Your Users Keyword research is critical throughout the life cycle of a website. An audit allows for review of the target phrases currently used and how they rank, as well as keywords you’d like to rank for but currently do not. Analysis and review can also evaluate the likelihood that your site will rank for specific keywords. A good keyword audit gives a clear picture of what users are searching for, giving you an optimal opportunity to provide content to help solve their problem or answer their question. And That’s Just the Beginning  There are many more benefits of an SEO audit than just listed above. Audit results can help you identify ways to improve: Our Agency is Here to Support Your SEO Efforts  If you are ready to examine your SEO, our team is here to support you. With two decades of experience, we can examine data points such as rankings, user performance, conversion optimization, competitive analysis, and an array of other data, to ensure your SEO is fully optimized and working to drive sales for your business. Contact us and experience the benefits of an SEO audit.  Stifel Marcin – The B2B Marketing Agency Unlike many advertising and marketing agencies, B2B isn’t just something that we do, it’s all we do. We’ll work to help your brand achieve its goals through the strategic combination of creativity, communication and technology. Our focused client intake processes give us the ability to thoroughly understand your business, products and objectives, working to identify the competitive advantages and opportunities that will grow awareness, leads and sales. We develop innovative marketing plans with strategic, data-driven processes, presenting complex ideas and compelling messages that position your business ahead of the competition. As your cooperative partner, our integrated B2B marketing agency is dedicated to your success. Interested in learning more about SEO and the benefits of an audit? Our team can help. Fill out our contact form above and we will be in touch shortly.

The next time you look up something on Google, or any other search engine, you should realize there is a lot of work, and in many cases an SEO marketing agency, behind the results you see. Achieving a coveted spot at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) takes time and resources, some of which your organization may not currently have. That’s when hiring an experienced B2B SEO marketing agency can be a smart investment.   Search Engine Optimization Process When Stifel Marcin is tapped to provide SEO for a website our general process follows these steps: SEO Maintenance Once we have your site set-up properly and fully optimized, we move into ongoing maintenance. We run monthly reports that track movement, activity, landing pages, bounce rates, and more. We look at which pages are successfully ranking for keyword phrases, and which pages we can improve. We continually tweak, modify and update your site until you are ranking number one for those target keywords and phrases. Some clients think once they have achieved a first page, or first place ranking, they no longer need a search optimization plan. This thinking is deadly because there is always a competitor ready to take your place or a shift in customer search habits. When your website goes stale, site code becomes outdated, content becomes old, and your target keywords can change. You open the door to a competing site that is ready to take your spot. Our most successful search engine optimization clients have worked with Stifel Marcin for years. Our B2B SEO marketing work is proven successful, and web leads are the highest source of new sales for our clients. Search Engine Optimization Quotes If you’d like us to review your site to discuss the ways we can improve your B2B SEO marketing, or if you’d like information on a web design and SEO package, we’re happy to help. Call us at 860-659-0777 or send an RFQ online through our contact form. Stifel Marcin – The B2B Marketing Agency Unlike many advertising and marketing agencies, B2B isn’t just something that we do, it’s all we do. We’ll work to help your brand achieve its goals through the strategic combination of creativity, communication and technology. Our focused client intake processes give us the ability to thoroughly understand your business, products and objectives, working to identify the competitive advantages and opportunities that will grow awareness, leads and sales. We develop innovative marketing plans with strategic, data-driven processes, presenting complex ideas and compelling messages that position your business ahead of the competition. As your cooperative partner, our integrated B2B marketing agency is dedicated to your success. Our B2B SEO marketing agency experts are available to answer your questions. Reach out and let’s talk.

In our vastly evolving digital world, exceptional organic SEO (search engine optimization) and its maintenance is more critical than ever, especially as digital advertising tools and strategies prepare for the demise of third-party tracking cookies. The implications of this change in data accessibility on digital advertising remains to be seen, but as marketers prepare for a cookieless future, the conversation about how to improve SEO ranking on Google is growing. At its core, SEO helps to create positive brand visibility and traffic to your website. From a standpoint, organic SEO provides valuable data to help you understand what your target audience is searching for, what problems they are trying to solve, and what types of content will best serve their needs, while giving users quicker access to relevant information and the key data they are seeking. With 89 percent of B2B buyers researching information about possible purchases through search, good organic SEO can mean the difference between ranking on the first page of search results, or on pages two and beyond. Consider that 75 percent of searchers never go past the first page of search results, and suddenly the urgency of organic SEO becomes clearer. A particularly noteworthy statistic – 94 percent of clicks on SERPs go to organic results. While paid advertising certainly is an important part of an overall marketing strategy, organic SEO typically drives more traffic to websites and, being unpaid vs pay-per-click (PPC), has a higher ROI. If you’re asking how to improve SEO ranking on Google, explore these six actionable steps you can implement to make a positive impact: 1. Start with an Audit If you’re looking to improve your organic SEO results, the best place to start is with an SEO audit of your current website. Regularly analyzing its performance (we recommend at least every six months) can help ensure that: · Your site’s user experience remains optimized· Selected keywords are performing· You identify timely insights into what users are searching for and the terms they most frequently use· You understand how current and new competitors are ranking. Remember that regular auditing is truly necessary to ensure your organic SEO strategy is aligned with data trends and audience behaviors. Check out our article “The Benefits of an SEO Audit” for more details and tips. When you’re ready to examine your SEO, our team is here to support you. 2. Leverage Long Tail Keywords According to WordStream, 50 percent of search queries contain four or more words. And that number is only increasing as more people employ voice search using more conversational terminology (more on that below). That’s particularly important data for the B2B marketer as the type of user query can lend clues about where a potential buyer is in the purchasing cycle. Someone searching for “top SaaS software for banking” vs “SaaS software” typically knows more about what they are looking for and may be closer to the bottom of the conversion funnel. Strategic keyword research, refinement and expansion should take into consideration many variables, including your overall business objectives, sales goals, budgets, target audiences and more. We explore more about keywords in our articles “The Importance of Long Tail SEO” and “Keyword Research Tips for Your B2B Organization.” 3. Include Voice Search Not to be overlooked within your keyword strategy is the rise in voice search. With voice search gaining in popularity due to devices such as Google Home®, Amazon’s Alexa®, and Apple’s Siri®, along with a global population who has experienced remote interactions for more than two years, it’s not a surprise to see statistics that note that “71 percent of consumers prefer to conduct queries by voice instead of typing.” This is yet another reminder to craft an SEO strategy with the user at the center. In the context of voice search, your target audience is likely asking very specific questions that relate to their position within the purchasing journey, like “what are the top companies for XYZ” vs “how does product A differ from product B.” You can see in the first instance, the potential buyer may just be at the beginning of their search, whereas in the second, they have clearly done some research and have moved onto comparisons. Look carefully, and frequently, at your keyword data and devise content that best helps answer even the most specific queries. 4. Ensure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly With shortening attention spans and less patience for anything other than an ideal user experience, websites need to be well-optimized for mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. Forty-two percent of researchers use a mobile device during the B2B purchasing process. And as noted by BCG, over 90 percent of B2B users say, “they’re likely to buy again from the same vendor if they have a superior mobile experience.” Return visitors mean more qualified leads and higher probability of conversions. A thoughtful SEO audit (see above) can help identify your site’s mobile-friendliness, examining way to improve: · Site speed· Technical issues· Ease of readability· Responsive design. Mobile-friendly should mean more than “does it work” on a phone or tablet. Simply having a responsive website – meaning that the layout responds to a user’s screen size – is not enough. Smart organic SEO evaluations consider what that mobile experience is like (where are the lead generation forms, how is the data effected, etc.). Ensuring an optimal experience in both mobile and desktop views is critical. And with Google itself prioritizing mobile-first indexing when evaluating a website’s content relevancy in relation to a users’ search, it’s a smart move to make, especially as part of your SEO maintenance plan. And speaking of maintenance… 5. Prioritize On-Going SEO Maintenance Once achieving a first page, or even the coveted first place, ranking on SERP, your organic SEO work doesn’t end. Ongoing maintenance must be integrated into an overall SEO plan for continued success.Google changes its algorithm around 500-600 times each year. While many of the changes may have only minor impacts on SEO at best, having a maintenance plan in place to ensure