• 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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Keeping Your Google Ads Fresh

Jared Stanton

April 7, 2022

Google Ads is one of the best online advertising platforms for reaching your potential customers. However, it can take a good amount of time to properly set up a Google Ads search campaign. There are so many little things that can make a difference including selecting the right audience, geographic locations, bidding strategy, and relevant keywords.

Once things are up and running it might take weeks to get everything just right. Google suggests making changes in two-week increments and with that in mind, patience will become your best friend. Once you are through the setup phase it will be time to maintain your account’s performance. A go-to way to do that is by refreshing your ad copy.

Words Matter: Thoughts On Google Ads Copy

Fresh ads are an effective way to keep your search campaign’s gears greased and running smoothly but before we can talk about new ad copy let’s talk about your existing ads. If you think about it, settings, bid strategies, keywords, and budgets all determine how ads will be shown but it’s the ads themselves that speak directly to potential buyers.

As a general rule of thumb, I like to keep 2-4 ads running per ad group and for the most part, 3 ads are what works best for me. In this case, we are only talking about search ads but even search ads come in different types. It wasn’t too long ago that you could find yourself composing a “text ad,” but now text ads have been replaced by “Expanded Text Ads” giving you more fields to get your message across. What’s better than an “Expanded Text Ad”? How about a “responsive text ad” that allows you to enter several options for both the ad headline and ad body, ensuring the best combination of both is shown to potential buyers?

It’s true that selecting the correct type of ad is important and it is also true that having the correct number of ads is important but neither of those things will matter if your ad copy isn’t any good.

Make Your Conversion Tracking Data Work For You

If your PPC marketing campaign is running smoothly but you are starting to see a dip in conversions it may be time to refresh your ad copy. Heck, after 2-3 months you might want to consider refreshing your ads just so they don’t become stale.

Early I mentioned the amount of time it takes to set up a new campaign. At least 2 weeks of that time involves letting the campaign run and making changes. What’s great about these 2-week intervals is that they allow you to gather data. Now is the time to use that data to make informed decisions on your ad copy.

I spend a lot of time bouncing between the Google Ads online interface and WordStream. What I love about WordStream is that you can see your most popular keywords from the ad group you are working in. This is a great tool to use when determining the keywords you need to include in your headlines and ad body. What’s really great about this is that when you set up a campaign you might not have access to keyword performance but, once you’re up and running, the data you need is at your fingertips, so take advantage of it.

Using other keyword research tools can also be helpful. If you know what search queries people using, you can compose ads that read like answers to a buyer’s question. Serpstat offers a powerful keyword research tool that can aid in this process. You can also use Google Keyword Planner available inside your Google Ads account.

Excluding Negative Keywords

Just as important as targeting the right keywords is excluding negative keywords from your ads so they don’t appear in your ad group. Setting up a negative keyword list lets you filter out unwanted search terms from your campaigns so you can focus on only the keywords relevant to your customers. Better targeting can put ads in front of interested users, avoiding bad clicks and increasing your campaign ROI. Google explains how to add negative keywords here.

New Offers? New Google Ads

Another reason to refresh your ads might be for a simpler reason, your ads don’t make sense anymore. This happens often when you change your landing pages. If your ads were written to get people to download a WhitePaper and now you’re looking to get people to sign up for a webinar you will need to rewrite your ad copy to convey this new goal.

When you’re using Google Ads to advertise your business online, it is a good idea to keep your ads fresh to optimize your conversion rates. If you are struggling to get ad clicks or looking for new PPC ad ideas, feel free to reach out, and let’s see if we can get you moving in the right direction.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in July 2020 and has been updated with fresh content.

Jared Stanton

Jared Stanton joined the SMA team in April 2017. He has worn a lot of hats during his time at SMA but has found his permanent niche running the company’s paid-per-click advertising campaigns. PPC allows Jared to make data-driven decisions in the best interest of his clients.

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