Why SEO Is Important For Business In 2019?

There are so many things a digital marketing and SEO company can do to build your online presence. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) emerged with the rise of people turning to search engines to find solutions for their problems. Be it a mere question to find the amount of water to be added in a soup recipe or to find a furniture shop in the vicinity, searching online is a common practice these days.

The way of life has changed in many ways. Take for example, geographic navigation. GPS systems made navigation easier. Digital route maps are gaining accuracy with user inputs. A search engine will guide you with the name of all the establishments that can help you with food, fuel or other facilities in your route. Google, Bing and Yahoo are some of the leading search engines in the world.

Among search engines, Google holds the highest market share. You will find user reviews of businesses, landmarks, and other places on the digital route maps. Reviews, good or bad, create an impression of the business for online users. To manage these reviews, you may need the best SEO services. India-based companies have some of the best SEO experts to manage a brand’s online presence online.

We are nearing the end of the year and it’s time to take a look at how SEO is going to impact businesses in 2019.

(Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

Just speak for a search audio response

These days devices with voice-enabled searches are changing the way we seek answers. Be it Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa, people are moving towards a tomorrow where they no longer have to key in the search query, they just need to ask what they need. While the voice assistants are still learning to better answer the queries of users, next year, they will be much smarter with the data they have acquired so far. Search Engine Optimization is not just about page rankings in search engines, it is much more. Explore SEO for voice searches with an experienced SEO Agency. India is an emerging nation where tech-savvy consumers are adapting to latest tech offerings such as voice assistants. Providers of SEO services who stay abreast of the latest in the SEO and tech world will be needed for serving forward-thinking clients.

(Source: Google 2018 https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

Consistent brand experience across devices

Your website’s performance matters across devices. Does it take too much time to load on smartphones? Is it easy to navigate your website on a mobile device? Smartphones continue to be useful for search but limiting SEO efforts to smartphones isn’t going to help in 2019.

In 2018, Google introduced the mobile-first indexing update. 2018 had been a year where the trend of using mobile phones and other handheld devices to search increased. And 2019 will be a year where this trend will continue with more and more users shifting to sleek devices with seamless interfaces to search for answers.

Those providing SEO services as per the latest trends will have to emphasize the importance of moving to mobile-friendly web pages to clients who haven’t done so yet.

Intelligence for personalisation with AI and future technologies

Leading technology companies are developing future technologies or acquiring new technologies to find keep up with the times. Artificial Intelligence is used by most companies to offer personalised services to clients. The data generated from AI services is being used now for decision-making and creating innovative business strategies that better address the needs of the customers.

Search engines are using AI to evaluate websites on the basis of user-friendliness and data relevance. SEO companies, therefore, need to develop strategies that include provide better user experience and valuable content to users who search for their services. Ecommerce search and social media search engines are also gaining prominence.

Simply focussing on usual search engines isn’t enough anymore. How the latest search trends and upcoming technologies are going to transform the SEO landscape is something to watch out for in 2019.

Aarav Infotech is an ISO-certified digital marketing and SEO services company that helps businesses to stay ahead by implementing strategies as per the latest SEO trends. 

How Voice Search Will Affect SEO

In today’s business world, people prefer to open messages on their smart-phone messenger app instead of sending snail mail as the recipient of your message will receive it in a matter of seconds. People now search information online. Voice search is the newest addition in the search engine optimization world. This technology is here and is gaining importance. Increasingly, people are using voice search on their smartphones, tablets or voice assistants like the Amazon Echo or Google Home devices to search for gathering information on the internet.

What is Voice Search? & Current Voice Search Assistant

Voice Search usually allows the user to use a voice command to search the Internet. It isusually mobile and often locally focusedand allows the users to use Google search by speaking on a mobile phone or computer. Voice search is becoming more and more popular with the addition of voice activated personal devices.

Today, with improved voice recognition and the ability to interpret user intent, voice search not only help consumers to interact with their devices but also creates more opportunities for businesses using these apps and has a positive effect in the world of organic search. Here are some of the top current voice search assistants:

• • Amazon Echo/Alexa – It is an external speaker device that allows you to play audio files from popular streaming sites and make phone calls using its omnidirectional audio monitoring. Users usually command Echo to relay the news, read audiobooks, check the scores in your favorite team’s game and the list goes on and on and it can even play up to 20 questions.
  • Google Assistant – Google Assistant is ready to power many of Google’s gadgets and one of them is the Google Home device. It is like Echo. Users usually issues voice commands which are picked up by the device and the device then responds accordingly, whether answering your question or planning out your day for you.Google Assistant is available also on Android Wear wristwatches where you can send text messages and receive directions on the go.
  • Microsoft Cortana – It was first released Cortana via the Windows 10 OS. Cortana can do many things ranging from booking trips and finding restaurants to searching for websites and more.

• Siri/iphone – Siri is your best friend if you’re using an Apple device. It works hands-free, so you can ask him any question. It lets your voice to work as a remote control for connected products in your home.

Content and Keywords

Optimizing for voice search means that there should be some diverse keyword research strategy. It also requires a dissimilar way of writing the content on your site. Your keyword strategy means you need to re-think our content. It must be more conversational in nature and impersonate how real people talk and ask questions verbally as voice searchers usually have more urgent needs in mind. You should start thinking about the types of questions you get when customers call you on the phone to ask questions about your business. According to search engine watch a 61% YoY increase in question phrases.

Start writing and recording the exact words they use when they talk to customer service representatives.The keywords or answer to the question you are trying to optimize for must be in the first paragraph of your web page, if possible in the first sentence. Most voice searches nowadays have more than five words. So, when you optimize content for voice, you need to use words and phrase strings that people say when they are asking a real question. For example, “How do cyclones form?” More than 20% of featured snippets are triggered by these top 25 words.

The rise of mobile search

It is found that 80% of people use a smartphone and spend an average 3 hours a day on their smartphone. But, now people changed the way they used to search. They use voice search due to short time, it is more conversational and natural in tone. It provides the best results for on-the-go searchers. So, the devices try to find easily identifiable, short and relevant pieces of content to serve back to the searcher.

Opportunities for local SEO

It is important to be local friendly as lot of people use voice search while driving to find local businesses, get directions, or find phone numbers. Therefore, your mobile-friendly website must follow the basic local optimization rules of having all your basic information in text format like

• Business name
• Physical address
• Local phone number
• Directions

Voice search guide people to you. So, if regular Google search cannot crawl an image, voice search is also not going to display an image of your address and phone number to someone driving their car either. Therefore, when you optimize your website or specific web pages for voice search, test the queries you are optimizing for on each voice search platform. If you are a local business trying to get local customers, write with local intent. You should optimize your Google My Business Listing with voice search in mind.

Target Q&A Content

When you start considering voice SEO, first determine user intent, average search volume, and competition. Then, look for keywords that involve a question and write content that answers those questions. One way to start optimizing for voice search is to start creating Q&A pages that will answer commonly asked questions by your customers. You must get your whole team involved and brainstorm and then document questions your customer support team gets, what questions you receive via email or when talking to customers at trade shows. Write down the exact saying the person uses when they ask the question and write content that answers that question. Write more pages on individual or specific topics and think of questions people generally ask about your products and services and write content that answers those questions. You can then review third-party guides like CNET’s complete list of Siri commands, Ok Google commands, and Cortana commands.

Conclusion

Voice search and personal assistants are altering the landscape. It is presenting a new challenge and opportunity for marketers, who will in future should reassess their SEO strategy to accommodate such changes. By 2020, it is expected that voice and image-based searches will contribute at least half of all searches.

Differences Between B2B SEO and B2C SEO Campaigns

The primary goal of both Business2Business (B2B) and Business2Consumer (B2C) marketing is to generate traffic, increase sales and enhance revenues.

Read on to discover the main SEO strategies which will you help in your goal:

1. Marketing campaign goals – Generally, most search engine optimization clients have been B2C companies operating in an e-commerce environment. However, as business-to-business marketers recognize the potential of search engine rankings, many organizations are seeking ways to implement an effective B2B search engine optimization strategy. However, you should understand the critical differences between B2C and B2B SEO and their implications.

B2B companies generally sell intangible technology, software and services, engineering and industrial products, intermediates and bulk products to be sold to wholesalers, exporters etc. The online marketing campaign goals should focus on increased targeted traffic, increase sales, increase online visibility, establishing your company in local search, establish your business in social media, increase online reputation through online management reputation and improve SEO. 

B2C companies sell more tangible products and services. The goal of your marketing campaign is to get more leads, increase sales, build brand awareness, grow market share, launch new products or services, target new customers, enter new markets, improve stakeholder relations, enhance customer relationships, improve internal communication and to increase profits.

The ultimate campaign objectives should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Some examples of B2C are restaurants and retail stores.

2. Keyword strategies – The starting point of every SEO strategy is keyword research as keyword research helps you decide which keywords to target.

B2B campaigns usually have industry-specific keywords (to understand the questions your potential customers are asking themselves, and breaking them down to search queries)which require intelligence to mine. A B2B SEO campaign takes much longer keyword analysis and intelligence to set up. B2B audience looks for expertize. B2B purchase-driven searches are very specific like specs, features, performance, value, benefit, ROI, cost of product and running costs such as maintenance, support, troubleshooting. In B2B search engine optimization, it is important to thoroughly understand the search terms your prospect may be using in the different phases of the buying cycle.

In B2C business, people already have a firm idea of what they want to buy. They want to find the best source for it. In the first phase of B2C search, people usually use generic terms. There is often less variance in the terms they use. So, B2C campaigns focus on keywords that are used or considered as every day i.e. generic and not so complex. In the evaluation stage of the buying cycle, the purchaser’s focus turns from researching potential suppliers to researching specific issues related to the product or service like performance, efficiency, maintenance etc. Just prior to the purchase decision, one last round of searching will likely ensure to confirm the purchaser’s intended direction and again different search terms may be used.

3. Content Strategy – Content strategy means to communicate new information about your company, a new product or feature. In simple words, content that is meant to present you in a favorable position to generate leads and drive sales.

For B2B, content strategy is to target an audience of industry experts and professionals who are familiar with your company or product, highlighting your advantages over your competitors. B2B content strategy should consist of company blog, industry publications, whitepaper, LinkedIn groups, landing pages and forums and communities. So, it is meant to educate a person.

The main strategy for the B2C content marketing is to drive backlinks and increase rankings. So, it is generally meant for outreach.

4. Link building – It is the process of facilitating the creation of links in third-party websites that point back to your own site and thereby boost your web presence.

Consistency in B2B messaging and customer-interactions fundamentally means patience. B2B campaigns still focus on conversions, they do not come easily. B2B SEO campaigns usually tend to drive low volumes of leads as a key performance indicator.The purpose of link building is to drive real, organic, quality traffic to your website and to improve your site’s ranking with Google and other search engines.

B2C campaigns are usually focused on conversions and quick wins. So, link building in B2C focus more on sales and revenue per month with sales happening in shorter sessions, generally from single or multi session visits within days and weeks.

5. Connversion metrics – It is the sales life cycle: long, considered sale vs. short and impulse purchase.

Driving site visitors through a set conversion channel is not applicable in B2B. So, your focus should be on getting visitors to research deeper to other relevant, confidence-building content. Usually, the primary motivator in B2B purchase decisions is risk or fear of making the wrong decision. Therefore, one of the key objectives of B2B searchers after they click through to your site is to evaluate both your company and its offerings. An average B2B transaction can take anywhere from three to 24 months depending on the product or service being sold and the number of decisions to be made within the buying process.

Conversion ratios in the B2C environment are usually measured as the percentage of organic click-throughs that resulted in a sale. Detailed analysis goes into conversion ratios. Because the sales funnel in B2C SEO is very narrow and short. It can help in measuring the impact of optimization is quite easy and immediate. An average B2C transaction can occur anywhere from minutes to weeks, with the number of decision makers generally being less than 2 individuals and the buying process being much more straightforward.

SEO strategy is crucial for the success of every business. So, a trusted SEO company can help you to understand the differences between B2B SEO and B2C SEO campaigns.

7 Most Effective Digital Marketing Strategies that Work Best for Startups

With the support of technology, communication is now just the job of a click. The big world has actually shrunk to the distance of few milliseconds from one person to another. Using this side of technology, any sort of business enterprise can be made to flourish and boom. Especially the startups as they emerge in the competition of trade require a huge advertisement and marketing and that too at a low price. Digital marketing is a thoroughly productive option which can be used to popularize a startup right away.

In the opinion of the marketers, the course of marketing has changed to a huge extent over the past years. Some even say that it has changed more in the immediate past of two years than even 50 years before that. Most startups have opted for the options provided by the digital marketing nowadays, yet some are comparatively more successful than the others. This is because of the fact that marketing requires tricks and skills that succeeds only with proper strategy. Here, the digital marketing services are discussed in details. Read on to get your success mantra.

1) Email Marketing
This strategy is most useful when the goal is to target specific individuals or bodies. Despite what was foreseen as the fate of email that they won’t find much value in the world of marketing, the reality seems to be quite the opposite. The emails are much on demand for its high margin of return on investment (ROI).

They rank the most profitable among other digital marketing schemes and their return on investment rate is as high as 122%. These data were given by the Demand Metric and the Data & Marketing Association (DMA). They conducted a recent survey where they concluded this.

Some tips are presented here that helps make your email marketing services crisp and attractive enough for customers to click on it. These are:

• The subject line is the primary point of communication. It should be eye catching, engaging and also should seem useful to the customer.
• Use as simple language as possible. Certain terms that might be typical or specific to your domain of work, does not necessarily stir up interest in the customer.
• The email should be well presented with a clear content of what is to be offered.

2) Social Media Marketing
This is another powerful digital marketing tool of the present times. According to a Social Media Examiner’s report, 90% of the total number of marketers was confident about the importance of social media marketing for their business. Also, 89% of the marketers said that the use of social media has allowed more exposure to their company and thus expanded the business.

Social media marketing services can be regarded as the second best digital marketing strategies for the startups. Some benefits of this strategy are listed here:

• Social media marketing provides a platform that helps increase exposure and traffic.
• Searching is easier in social media that facilitates quick sales.
• It generates leads & sales.

3) Pay Per Click Marketing (Google AdWords)
Pay per click or PPC management services are quite a time saving strategy in digital marketing. The crux of the matter is using the search engine advertisements for directing the users to your website. For example, if you type “apple cider vinegar” in the search bar you will be shown the top results. You must make sure that the top most result or one of the top results should show the name of your company. So basically, pay per click is an indispensible tool for a company that is relying on digital marketing strategy.
The benefits of pay per click are as discussed:

• Customers can be easily reached to with the right ad and just a click.
• The return on investment rate is lucratively high as the payment is done only each time someone clicks.
• Control over how much you want to spend
• You won’t have to wait for results

4) Search Engine Optimization
Application of SEO services is in a way, making your data gel well with the searching norms of the internet. Search engine optimization plays a deterministic role for content of the internet. Your content will be displayed to users as much as optimized you make it for the search engine. So, this is of utmost importance if you have a motive to actually reach out to people. Search engine optimization is a must for every startup. Just be sure to follow the best SEO practices for your website.

5) Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing services are currently a quick spreading trend in the market. A study in the recent past has shown that 84% marketers look forward to launch a campaign for influencer marketing in the coming year. Another survey concludes that 94% of the marketers think influencer marketing is an efficient tool to boost business. It is also a cost effective method unlike the other strategies.

6) Content Marketing
This digital marketing strategy involves a little more cost compared to the other alternatives. Content marketing services involve creating and sharing relevant online materials such as videos, blog posts and so on. However, content marketing is more popular and important for the B2B and B2C domains. According to a fairly recent study 90% of the B2C organizers absolutely rely on content marketing, and 88% of the B2B marketers strongly agree to the point that content marketing is a highly important part in their marketing programs.

7) Retargeting Ads
Retargeting, also known as remarketing is a category of digital marketing that showcase your goods and services. These ads are displayed to the people specifically after they have already visited your website and viewed your products or services.

Research says, only a 2% of web traffic turns out as prospective in their first visit. This is a strategic trick applied to nudge the customers, who takes time and effort to decide to buy your products or services.

Conclusion
Startups demand a lot of effort to flourish as a successful business. However, the right marketing strategy or even the right combination of strategy helps you excel amongst other competitors.

50 Reasons – Google Can Be Penalize Your Website

SEO experts know getting a ranking on Google is not a cakewalk. And Google certainly operates in the most unbending ways. Google tweaks and fine tunes its algorithms so any webpage that deserves to be ranked on the top gets its ranking.

However, with putting the best at the top comes the penalty for those who do not meet the standards. Yes! Google penalizes too!!! And most of the times, this penalty is well deserved.

Let’s look at what’s Google Penalty:
Since the year 2000, there’s been constant change in the ranking algorithms of Google. We witnessed the very growth of SEO industry which is largely defined by those norms. As Google continued to roll out novel and improved algorithms, we saw the elimination of content which was of poor quality. And at the same time, the good quality content got the perks of being ranked higher.

Google penalty is evident in the Penguin update which came in 2012. When it hit, more than 1 in 10 websites were completely wiped out from Google search results overnight because of the quality issue. This is when SEO professionals began to take content strategy seriously.

How to identify Google Penalty?
Automatic or manual, Google penalty is not good for your brand. While in manual one, you may be informed, automatic is caused by the evolved algorithms. And most of the times, it can strike with surprise.

Look for these clues to know the algorithmic penalties by Google –

1) You are not getting a good ranking for your brand website. SEO expert says if not all, your website must earn brownie points and get ranked at least for 1 select keyword.

2) Your webpage which was ranking at one suddenly sees a dip to second or third position in due course on its own

3) You see your website being wiped out completely from Google cache, just overnight

4) You look for your listing on Google and find it as a webpage of your site but not homepage

If you have observed any of these factors on Google for your website, then you are surely facing penalty.

So why Google has penalized you?
Google continually keep on updating its content indexing system through tweaks and revisions. However, there’s no way you can completely understand how these tweaked algorithms work, making it all the more difficult to understand the reason behind the penalty imposed upon your website. Our SEO experts however have put together some 50 common reasons why Google will penalize your website. Here they are –

1. Duplicate Content
Plagiarism is illegitimate and punishable offence. So, duplicate content is obviously a big NO. And as far as Google is concerned, it considers duplicate content as useless. So, when you are drafting that content for your website, ensure you keep it unique. There are some good tools like CopyGator and Copyscape available online to check if there’s any duplication in your content.

2. Buying Backlinks
Most of us have a strategy of buying links which is a part of SEO. Many even state that buying backlinks has nothing to do with Google penalty. It may not be completely true though. Google may see this as a manipulation strategy to gain PageRank. Point is – you may end up being caught in some vicious cycle of buying bad links and you will have to pay for it.

3. Excessive Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal link was initially used as a good marketing strategy. However, eventually many started to overuse and soon became an abuse. So, it may happen that your swapping of links with your clients may be seen as a manipulation, if you are overdoing it that is.

4. Internal 404s
The one thing that Google hates the most is internal errors and problems on the website. So ensure that there are no 404 errors on your website, else you be prepared to be penalized.

5. Overuse of H1 Hashtags
H1 hashtags are used so Google could recognize the page content. However, an overuse of H1 Hashtags could mean trying to boost a listing for a keyword and that could land you in a soup.

6. Linking to site of different language
You may think this should not matter. However, what Google counts is the usefulness of links and your website. If you are linking your website to another site that has content in different language, it may really not be of any use to the users. This automatically downs your points.

7. Footer Links
Footer links must be planned well. It’s not just space to fill in. Consider user experience. Usually, footer has non-important SEO links. Some may put the links for navigation purpose too.

8. Content stuffed with Keywords
You may read many rules about acceptable keyword density in the content. Remember not to fill you content with too many keywords. Overuse of keywords means a red flag for your webpage and you may be penalized for that.

9. Missing sitemap data
Your website structure is analyzed by Google using XML sitemap. So ensure that it is available and you have updated and submitted in your account of Webmaster tools.

10. Broken external links
Be vigilant about your external links. Have them updated regularly. Make sure all the external links are working and users do not end up with 404s error. Else Google may take it as a careless approach towards your website and user experience.

11. Hidden Links
Don’t try and make your links subtle or hide them. That can raise a question of suspicion. Ensure they are clearly visible.

12. Hidden Content
This is one of the most unethical technique used for SEO. Text is disguised in order to manipulate the keyword weightage or the theme. Certainly, you are up for a penalty of you follow this.

13. Scraped content
Pulling content from other website to bulk your pages may seem pretty innocent; however it is seen as duplication by Google. So, if you have done this, it’s time to replace it with your original and unique content.

14. Overuse of Anchor Text
SEO experts used to link keywords to emphasize their authority. However, when the Penguin update rolled out in 2012, it discouraged the overuse of anchor text linking pretty strongly. So, ensure that you remove all the forced and irrelevant keywords and replace them with the ones that are relevant and phrased well in apt English.

15. Website Timeout or Down
Make sure that your website is up and running fine. If your website doesn’t load or shows timeout, your users get irritated and Google certainly does not like that. It may well remove your website from the index rather than letting your users get irritated for long. So be vigilant about it.

16. Neglecting hreflang
You cannot neglect this one. If you happen to publish any content intentionally that’s duplicate, it notifies Google and that’s certainly not good.

17. Keyword domains
Using keyword domains can be tricky. If you keep linking the anchor text to your keyword domain, it might look like a manipulation to Google. So if you still wish to go ahead with a domain that matches your keyword exactly, then you better have a lot of good and relevant content to go with it.

18. Using blog networks
Blog networks are considered as SERP manipulation by Google now. That’s the reason most of the blog network users have either shut down or deleted their incoming links. That’s exactly what you must do as well.

19. Rented Links
Rented links are believed to be useful by SEO experts; paid for on monthly basis. They keep changing them infrequently. No matter what, they are still paid links.

20. Overuse of meta keywords
Meta keywords are easy to manipulate and hence have been a matter of debate amongst SEOs. Ensure you do not use more than 5 meta keywords on one page.

21. Site-wide links
Remember, Google is watching your website page navigation links as well and it really doesn’t like any unnatural link on your website like the one on the footer giving credit to the web developer. Remove it now!

22. Too many affiliate links
Affiliates links are ok to use provided you don’t stuff your website with too many of them. Overuse can raise a red flag and Google might identify your website content as not up to the mark. Many use redirect strategy for affiliate links to mask them. However, Google is smart to find that out too.

23. Slow speeds
Hosting speed is affected by many reasons than you know. So, it’s difficult to detect where the issue lies. So we recommend using CDN or caching plugin for your website.

24. Comment Spam
It’s good to have comment section on your website. It’s great way to let your users communicate with you. However, it’s better you keep a check on it as there may be many spam comments too that get through, despite commenting system having an automated spam detection system. So keep a close watch and don’t let it pile up.

25. Spun Content
Content spinning is a theft. If you have paid peanuts for good chunk of articles, chances are you have bought spun content. If Google penalty recognizes this, it would be too bad for your website.

26. Black Hat SEO advice
Isn’t this one obvious? Writing about black hat SEO is promoting unethical ways which of course, Google doesn’t like. Publish about SERP manipulation using black hat SEO and be ready to be penalized.

27. Hacked Content
Hacked websites are immediately removed from SERPs by Google. So be vigilant and quick to act on this.

28. Spam Reports
Google allows you to report spam sites through online form for spam site reporting. If you website gets submitted as a spam, then Google may penalize you.

29. Speedy Link Building
This is the biggest mistake you can make to boost your SEO. While you are very enthusiastic about ranking your website quickly, but overlinking is a bad idea. That indicates automation. So, go slow and think long term.

30. Forum Linking
While forum linking is widely used by all of us, too much can make your actual post lose its identity. So while using forum link, make sure you use good content and the good practices of linking.

31. Robots.txt flaws
Robots.txt files help search engines deal with your site. Maybe you are excluding some pages from this for genuine reasons, but excessive blocking may lead to penalty.

32. Hiding Sponsors
If you have sponsors, it’s ok to show them. However, adhere to the rules, avoid sponsors links at all costs.

33. Links to suspicious website
Avoid associating with website that are into illegal practices or dubious work. Also keep a check whether the site you are linked to has been penalized by Google in the past or not. If yes, then you better dissociate.

34. Over Optimization
Don’t become overly obsessed with optimization for your website. Google doesn’t like it and recognizes as an effort to eradicate your competition from SEO list. So, check your strategy. Go slow. Be content oriented, which means publish some good and natural content.

35. Landing pages
Creating multiple landing pages to improve your site position on SERPs can be a bad idea. Many companies try to accelerate their ranking process by creating one page websites focused on single keyword and try and filter their users through these sites. As per Google this is not a good practice.

36. Advertorials
Advertorial pages are used pretty aggressively to manipulate search results. These pages usually have content filled with paid links. These can be good reason for your penalty.

37. Redirection
Redirecting your site using 301 redirect can transfer your penalty to a new location. However, once you remove the redirect, you will still have the penalty.

38. Excessive Outbound Links
Too much of swapping links with other websites which are not related to your website can be seen as attempt for mutual SEO gain. While using outbound links, keep it relevant and natural.

39. Error Codes
Google hates error codes, whether 302, 404, 500 or any. So, if your website page shows any of these errors, deal with it right away.

40. Malicious backlinks
You should be watchful about this one as this may be an attempt to bring down your website from SERP listing through Google penalty. It may be because of malicious backlink campaign.

41. Duplicate metadata
Metadata gets duplicated unintentionally through some of the blogging tools and CMS platforms. It may indicate that you have duplicate content on your website. Hence not preferable.

42. Targeted Keywords
There are some keywords which are abusively used and hence considered as spam. Such keywords appear very frequently on spam sites. One fine example is ‘PayDay’. You don’t want to be thrown out of SERP list because of your target keyword, right? So choose carefully.

43. Poor mobile websites
If you have a poorly designed mobile website, Google may not be able to detect the link between your website and your mobile website. Make sure you website is mobile friendly.

44. Smuggled Links
You can’t fool Google by smuggling links into script files. Google is smart to analyze them and identify those weird and misplaced links.

45. Bad reputation domain
Be careful while buying a domain name. if you pick up a domain name that had a bad reputation or a penalty in the past, most likely you would not succeed in getting your website to rank using the same. Rather go for another one.

46. Few outbound links
Outbound links are great for your SEO. Google checks your content in reference to similar ones on the web. Not putting outbound links or having fewer may look like you are just trying to pull the traffic to your door unusually.

47. Prominent Ads
Filling your pages with Ads subdues the main content. So make sure your balance it out and not let the ads dominate the page.

48. Content theft
This is a serious offence and most difficult to deal with too. You may have to file DCMA takedown notices orpursue in the court to get the content removed. Request Google to remove the stolen content if you penalized for that.

49. Quick Fixes
There are many who would claim to put your website on the top of SERP list quickly. That’s a red flag. You rather do some ground work and have a long term strategy.

50. Use of Content Farm
Content farming is largely used in the industry. Here the farm is a term used for sites with shallow or low-quality content. Low quality content is a big No in Google’s book. So, if you have such content, it’s better to get it redone by a professional.

Dealing with Google Penalty
If you are facing Google penalty, worry not. Most of it can be fixed. However, solution to all may not be the same. But here’s what you can do –

1) Compose yourself and identify the reason behind the penalty.

2) It’s time to look into all those troublesome links which has caused this. Just disown them.

3) If the penalty was manually imposed, ask for a reconsideration

4) And while you do all the legwork and realigning, wait patiently for Google to revert and take action

In many cases, it may not be possible to remove the penalty. If you are into such situation, you rather focus on rebuilding another site then fighting the penalty.

20 Ideas to Keep Digital Marketing Campaign Flourishing

We are living in the digital economy today where the success of our business cannot be optimized without a thought-through digital marketing campaign. This of course involves varied aspects to work upon including Social Media Marketing, PPC management, SEO Service, etc. Whether you are opting for digital marketing services from an agency or you are doing it in-house, either ways, there may be a time when you would hit rock bottom on fresh ideas for your campaign.

Here are 20 ideas you can look at to keep your digital marketing campaign flourishing –

1. Build some links to your website (SEO)

Backlinking is an essential component of SEO service. Building quality links to your website is the foundation to a good SEO. Consider creating backlinks to your website which are more authoritative. These links can be created vide diverse channels like blogs, directories, business associates, etc. This will give you desired ranking on search engines for the chosen keywords for your business.

2. Start a weekly newsletter to the local customers

It’s important to keep in touch with your users. No matter how small or big your business be – connecting to your consumers on a regular basis is crucial to your business. And newsletter plays an important role here. Start a newsletter or emailing to the subscribers, maybe once or twice a week. Focus on keeping it fresh and real for them. Through these newsletters, you can send them product upgrades, new additions, offer discounts; anything that would be of value to them. This helps in brand recall in their minds. Whenever they are looking for products or services similar to your offerings, they would remember your brand. This automatically enhances the chance of them coming back to you. A survey conducted by the Michigan Beekeepers’ Association shows that 79% of respondents favor to receive emails, more than any other medium.

3. Get email addresses from potential customers

Every digital marketing agency comprehends the importance of having a great mailing list. It’s like a repository to market your services and build a channel of communication with your customers. So, have a strategy to get those email addresses from them and utilizing them for optimized SEO. You can do this by asking your customers visiting your outlets to voluntarily leave their details. Or getting to subscribe them to your newsletters is also effective. In any way, you need to get them to sign a consent that they are open to receiving mails from you.

4. Offer discounts for check-in on Foursquare /Facebook

Your digital marketing campaign is just incomplete without social media marketing. It can be of great help in local SEO. Using social media apps like Facebook and Foursquare, you can easily reach out to the local consumers. You can also study consumer behavior online and accordingly choose to target specific segment of users and offer them discounts / products upgrades, etc.

5. Write five keyword targeted blog posts

SEO is driven by content and links. And using targeted keywords play a crucial role in SEO ranking. Start with keyword research on search engines. Identify the most searched keywords that match your business. Write 5 at least 5 blog posts using those keywords. For better ranking, consider using long-tail keyword phrases. Once you are done writing, it’s time to promote those through various online channels.

6. Start a buffer account and schedule social media regularly

Apt use of social media tools is must in your digital marketing. Buffer and Choose Hootsuite are couple of social management tools which are free for an initial period and then can be used for a nominal fee. With these tools, you can manage and schedule your social content on your social media accounts. These tools help you maintain a consistency in your social media updates which is important considering these updates have a pretty short half-life.

7. Use Five Stars to reward frequent customers

We all love rewards. Rewarding is one of the best ways to keep your customers coming back to you. Create some appeal rewards to go for your business using TangoCard or Fivestars and let your customers feel privileged for being frequent.

8. Track Online Reviews

Optimize the use of digital space by allowing your customers to speak. Track reviews for your business. Encourage your customers to write reviews for your products and services. This will help build a bond of trust.

9. Buy ads to get your email list on Facebook

Remember we spoke about getting mailing list? Yes! That’s not just for sending emails and newsletters but it can be handy in your social media marketing as well. Yes! Buy ads on Facebook. You can then upload your mailing list on Facebook and re-target them to bring back to you.

10. Promote tweets in local area

Tweeter can be used effectively for local SEO. Target your consumers in the local business areas by promoting tweets. You can also use hashtags specific to a particular area. Not only it would be effective but also considerably cheap.

11. Offer discounts potential email addresses

Discount offers can be used to get potential email addresses. Many digital marketing agencies encourage users to sign up through Twitter cards. Customers are happy to receive a discount code for their next purchase through an email management platform used by them. Then simply add them into your pool of digital campaigns your do on weekly basis and soon you will see the result.

12. Be active on social media channels

Social media channels are the widest avenue to find your customers. So in your local SEO strategy, include social media marketing. And not just that, be active, engage your users with consistent communication.

13. Claim your local listings and optimize

Local directories like Google and Bing and many more can help you leverage your presence. Put small content on your business; claim your local listing on these directories and optimize your SEO.

14. Optimize your site for local search

Tap your local business area first with local SEO. Provide relevant and apt information on your products and services for your local business on your website. Use targeted keywords so people searching for your products and services in your area can reach you easily.

15. Write and e-book on specific topic

E-books will help you establish your business as veteran in the digital space – a great way to tell your users you are an expert on the subject. So, get on to it. Jot down an outline for your book, take help from an editor and just roll it out.

16. Have a clear ‘Call-to-Action’

Putting out content in digital space without apt ‘call to action’ is pointless, especially if the objective is lead generation. So, your users should be able to reach out to you or take decisions online easily. Have a proper ‘call to action’ for your content like – ‘call for appointment’ or ‘buy now’, etc.

17. Write a new website copy to increase conversions

Fresh content is always refreshing to conversion rate optimization. Focus on conversions and write new copy for your website with product upgrades and services.

18. Do keyword research for your website

Using most search keywords by the user in your local business area is the key to conversion rate optimization in SEO. So, before your begin your digital marketing campaigns, do a thorough research on keywords for your website. Identify those keywords and use them strategically in your copy.

19. Check Search Console and redirect 404s

For every website, domain verification by Google webmaster Search console is must. Redirect URLs that 404 on your site to correct place. This is very important.

20. Promote blog posts to website users on Facebook and Twitter

Social media like Facebook and Twitter are undeniably the effective platforms when it comes to getting users’ attention. So, use these platforms to promote your blog posts. It will create an opportunity of user engagement and in due course of time may lead to conversion as well.