• FAQs

          Search engine optimization (SEO) helps businesses drive visits to their website through organic search traffic. Given that the top organic search results receive a third of the clicks, a decline in ranking could be detrimental for your business. Implementing SEO best practices on your website will help to ensure that your web content is seen by as many potential customers as possible. The more visitors you have, the better your chances are of converting those visits into sales!

          Local search engine optimization (SEO) helps local businesses gain visibility by optimizing their local business listings for local search. A business that leverages local SEO will include its address, phone number, local opening times, and exact location in the form of a local citation. The goal is to rank for local searches which are usually performed by people in a specific geographical region looking for a business near them.

          We typically see results within the first 30 to 60 days, but when it comes to SEO, there are many factors at play. It's important to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy and results may not come as fast at you wish.


        • FAQs

          Digital advertising uses the internet to send advertisements to customers who are online through different websites and social media platforms like Google, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook.

          The price for Google Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.

          The price for Social Media Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.


        • FAQs

          This depends on the complexity and size of a redesign and if eCommerce is needed. On average, it takes around 14-18 weeks from the web design intensive stage to launch.

          If your website experiences the following issues: it’s not responsive on all devices, has a slow loading speed, the design appears old and tired, users don’t spend long on the site, sales are stagnant, or your business is going through a rebranding - your website needs a redesign to boost your brand awareness and sales.

          Sometimes there’s no need to rebuild a website. Minor edits, refreshing page content and images, or restructuring page layout for SEO best practices can boost traffic and sales.


        • FAQs

          Semantic search launched in 2013 with the release of Google's Hummingbird update. Since then, Google's search engine has become more complex. The integration of machine learning, with RankBrain, and NLP, with BERT, has enabled the search engine to better understand the context of a query and deliver more personalized and targeted results. Semantic SEO is the process of creating machine-readable content using structured data and linked open data to help search engines better understand your content.

          On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. On-page SEO refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals. From meta tags to page content, website structure, and HTML, on-page optimization services are focused on making your website more visible to search engines.

          Structured data refers to any organized data that conforms to a certain format, such as information in a relational database. When information is highly structured and predictable, search engines can more easily organize and display it in creative ways. Structured data involves using a piece of code that is laid out in a specific format easily understood by search engines. The search engines read the code and use it to display search results in a more dynamic way.


        • FAQs

          An SEO agency has experts in different areas of search engine optimization that may be out of the realm of your marketing team's abilities. SEO can be very complex and time-consuming. Furthermore, as search engine algorithms change it can be difficult to stay current on the latest ranking factors and strategies for improving online visibility. You will likely see a greater return on investment and better results from using a professional SEO agency than you would from tackling this on your own.

          As a digital marketing agency, SMA Marketing provides products and services in four areas: SEO, Local SEO, Digital Advertising, and Web Design

          We focus on building authentic, long-lasting relationships with our clients. We’re goal oriented and results driven and believe in doing good and making a difference in the world.

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The Best Keyword Research Tools You May Not Be Using

Recent survey results from SEMrush reveal that 91% of marketers in 2020 are utilizing content strategies as part of their marketing efforts. The breakdown of the types of content that marketers prioritize shows blog posts continue to top the list with 86% of content strategies leveraging blogs. (source)

To date, over 4 billion websites exist. Combine this with constantly changing search algorithms, and it’s understandable why it’s challenging for blog content to rank in search. However, it’s important to remember your website isn’t competing against all 4 billion sites.

First, we can reduce the number of websites to rank against from 4 billion to the ones within the same niche as your company. By narrowing the scope of goals to focus on a company’s KPI’s, you create consistent, measurable analytics you can track monthly. This will help ensure that your website is ranking for the right search queries.

Implementing SEO best practices, which includes incorporating targeted keywords, is a crucial part of an analytics-backed content strategy. Each blog post is an opportunity for a web page to appear in a search query. By tracking how web pages rank in search for impressions, clicks, time on page, and conversion, companies can gain a clearer idea of how potential and current clients are engaging with content. Some KPIs to consider are measuring the number of conversions on specific landing pages, how many people followed up and called to learn more about your services, or emailed and scheduled an appointment for a demonstration.

Another critical aspect of a strategic content marketing plan is creating unique content that adds helpful information and contributes to the conversations within your industry. If you answer the same question that your competitors have already explained, why would someone click your blog post link? When you take the time to extend the conversation, you can help people generate additional ideas, encourage more in-depth discussions, and position yourself as a thought leader within your industry.

In order to leverage the right content at the right time, SEO best practices include conducting keyword research. When you know which industry keywords have the highest search volume, you can begin to create a content calendar that focuses on specific content topics you know your clients and potential clients are already reading.

There is a difference between identifying a broad topic by the search volume and narrowing the subject matter further by researching specific phrases, otherwise known as a long-tail keywords. When you pair search volume with a keyword difficulty range, you will identify the best topics to feature that fit what your buyer persona is searching for, and that also highlight your company’s services and products.

For example, let’s say your broad keyword term is “commercial property.” Depending on the real estate market, the long-tail keyword phrase could either be “short sale commercial property” or “best investment commercial property.” Writing the wrong blog post could make you seem out of touch with current events and cause your clients to question whether you understand the commercial real estate market.

Which Keyword Research Tools Should I Use?

There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing a keyword research tool. Many of them offer a free trial period or give you minimal information unless you pay a fee. The thing to know about these tools is that most of them are gathering information from the same source – Google. So, you could end up paying multiple sources for the same data sorted in different ways. That’s why it’s great to have a variety of free sources that look at keywords from different angles.

First, it’s important to make sure that you connect your website to Google Analytics and Search Console. Take time to review data such as Behavior Analytics and see which content is most popular with the people who already know about your company or follow you on social media.

Additionally, you should use a tool such as SEMrush, Serpstat, or Google AdWords to pull a list of broad keywords by volume. This will help you confirm you are on the right track for your buyer persona. Now it’s time to dig into finding those long-tail keyword phrases and also figure out which questions are trending when it comes to your industry keywords.

The Best Keyword Research Tools You May Not Be Using

AlsoAsked.com

AlsoAsked.com takes a search term and maps what other questions “people also ask.” The algorithm presents a visual map grouping how each sub-question topically stems from the overarching topic. AlsoAsked.com allows you to sort by Term, Language, and Region.

Here’s a map of the term SEO:

alsoasked-seo

As you can see, SEO > What is the SEO in marketing? > Why is SEO so expensive? > 1) Can you pay Google for SEO, 2) How much is SEO per month, and 3) Are SEO companies worth it?

One way you may consider using this map is to have the second or third question be the article title and the last three questions as H2 or H3 Headers within an article.

QuestionsDB.io

The keyword research tool QuestionsDB.io asks you to start by adding one broad keyword phrase of 1-3 words. For this example, I added the term content marketing into the tool. The free version of the tool pulled 219 long-tail keyword phrases around the term content marketing.

Forty of these terms appear on the website, but you also have the choice to dig deeper. Once the initial query pulls the terms, you have the option to download the full list of words or to sort by Relevance, Keyword, or New terms.

Additionally, QuestionsDB.io allows you to select a source box. When you do, links appear and you can then see exactly where each phrase appears online. You can further narrow your results by selecting the strict search box.

db

Here is an image once the source link box is selected:

content marketing reddit

To pull a full list of terms, select download. A CSV report will appear immediately with four columns. The sheet shows the exact question asked, the internet link, where you can find the original question on Reddit, the total number of comments, and the topic. Knowing which questions have the most engagement is a helpful place to start as you choose your content subjects.

spreadsheet-1

Soovle.com

To search multiple search engines at the same time, use soovle.com and enter a keyword into the search bar.

soovle

Soovle.com pulls the current questions on Wikipedia, Google, Amazon, Answers.com, YouTube, Bing, and Yahoo. Here is an example of what the screen looks like when you type a broad keyword into the search bar. When you click on the link, you will go directly to the search query where the term ranks. Using this keyword research tool is helpful to give you a broad overview of how people are searching across multiple digital platforms.

content marketing soolve

KeywordToolDominator.com

The Keyword Dominator Tool keywordtooldominator.com is a free keyword tool you can use to find long-tail keywords directly from a search engine providing real-time access to searches. With a free account, you’re limited to two searches a day. However, there are multiple options you can select.

keyword dominator tool

Similar to the other tools, keywordtooldominator.com pulls real-time search engine results into different types of spreadsheets so you can sort data quickly and determine which long-tail keyword to explore further. Spreadsheet divisions are Keyword, Rank, Top 10 Source, and Country. Here are a few other ways you can sort data:

seo keyword dominator tool-1
frequency
seo spreadsheet results

By using these keyword research tools, you can take broad terms and explore the questions and long-tail phrases currently trending around each word or phrase. These insights will help you create content strategies that include accurate trending content that speaks directly to your company’s ideal reader.

Do you need help developing a content strategy for your business? We’ve created a guide with all of our best content marketing advice. Download The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing for Business Growth.

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