The success of casinos relies on three key aspects of search engine optimization (SEO): on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO. Each aspect uses various strategies to enhance visibility, gain a competitive edge, target specific demographics and geographical areas, and establish brand recognition. This article explores the challenges casinos encounter and SEO strategies that can boost your visibility, build brand awareness, and lead to conversions.

What Are the Unique Challenges Casinos Face?

SEO for casinos presents unique challenges when compared to other industries. In a highly competitive market, casinos face numerous competitors vying for the same keywords and target audience. This intense competition makes achieving top rankings on search engine results pages difficult.

Casinos differ from other industries because they cater to a specific audience interested in gambling and gaming-related content. Therefore, it is important to tailor SEO strategies to this demographic by focusing on casino games, sports betting, gambling strategies, and industry news content. Additionally, the popularity of keywords about casinos may fluctuate depending on seasonal trends, holidays, and significant events like major sports tournaments or award shows. To remain relevant, casinos must adapt their SEO techniques to take advantage of these fluctuations.

Another unique challenge is that the online gambling industry is subject to strict regulations that oversee advertising, marketing, and responsible gaming protocols. Casinos must comply with these regulations when developing their SEO strategies, which may vary depending on the jurisdiction. 

Offshore casinos may face challenges in reaching out to specific geographic areas and should, therefore, create marketing strategies tailored to particular regions or target markets. For example, this may entail using keywords specific to certain regions and offering promotions for players from Malaysia, the Philippines, Tunisia, or regions where gambling regulations are less strict to minimize legal risks and attract a larger customer base.

Search engines carefully evaluate gambling websites because of worries about legality, safety, and responsible gambling. To maintain their reputation and avoid penalties, casinos must uphold transparency, adhere to search engine rules, and avoid unethical SEO strategies.

On-Page SEO Strategies

On-page SEO refers to improving elements directly on the website to improve search engine rankings and user experience. This would include optimizing content, meta tags, headings, URL structure, and internal linking. On-page SEO also involves improving website usability, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and enhancing overall user experience. Strategies to include are:

Content Optimization

High-quality content is important for SEO because it impacts search engine rankings and user experience. Search engines consider keywords, relevance, and user experience to determine a website’s ranking on the search results page. From a search engine’s perspective, high-quality content indicates the website’s relevance and authority, increasing its chances of ranking higher. From a user’s perspective, quality content makes the website engaging and valuable, leading to a better user experience.

Optimize content with relevant keywords related to casino games, promotions, and services.

Use descriptive meta tags, including title tags and meta descriptions, to improve click-through rates in search results. Additionally, quality content helps generate backlinks, improves click-through rates, and strengthens a brand’s reputation, ultimately contributing to improved SEO performance.

Keyword Optimization

Casinos recognize the importance of keyword optimization to attract the right target audience. They achieve this by optimizing their content with specific terms and phrases that potential players are actively searching for. Furthermore, this strategy helps search engines understand the content of the web pages.

Casinos can improve their content to match users’ search intent to increase their chances of attracting interested visitors and getting them to participate. This can be done by emphasizing key terms related to casino games, promotions, and services.

For example, to effectively optimize a casino website for the keyword “online slots,” it is important to incorporate the keywords naturally and strategically:

• The meta tags on the homepage should contain the targeted keyword.
• Different category pages should be created for different kinds of slot games.
• Game descriptions should be improved by including relevant keywords.
• Publishing blog articles focusing on subjects related to slots.

The main goal of this optimization strategy is to attract visitors interested in playing slot games online. Ultimately, this will lead to increased interaction and income for the casino. There are several excellent tools for keyword research, such as KWFinder, Moz Keyword Explorer, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and SemRush. These tools help find relevant keywords, analyse their search volume and competition, and provide valuable insights for effective keyword optimization.

Website Usability and Navigation

The usability and navigation of a website are important for SEO as they directly impact the user’s experience, indexing and crawling, site speed, and search rankings. These factors such as site speed, mobile responsiveness, and site navigation, directly influence the improvement of search rankings. Consider these points: 

• User experience: A well-structured and easily navigable website enhances the overall user experience, leading to higher engagement and a lower bounce rate. These factors are advantageous for search engines.

• Indexing and crawling: Search engines use website navigation to find and index new web pages. A user-friendly navigation system helps search engine crawlers understand the content and context of the intended page, which can ultimately impact search result rankings.

• Site Speed: A player’s ability to navigate a casino site efficiently is crucial to quickly and effortlessly accessing games or information between various site sections. But the impact of site speed extends beyond user experience; it’s also a critical factor in SEO. A slow-loading site could signal inefficiency and inconvenience to search engine algorithms, potentially lowering your casino’s ranking in search results.

Mobile-Friendly Design

A design suitable for mobile devices is extremely important for on-page SEO since it impacts several factors, including user experience, search rankings, audience reach, and page speed. Ensuring that the website offers a positive experience for mobile users leads to decreased bounce rates and increased engagement. Furthermore, Google’s mobile-first indexing prioritizes websites optimized for mobile devices, highlighting the considerable influence of mobile-friendly design on SEO rankings.

Since most players and gamers now access casino websites through smartphones, it is crucial to have a design suitable for mobile devices. This enables the site to reach a larger audience and attract more visitors. Additionally, a design compatible with mobile devices also aids in enhancing loading speeds, which is essential for both user satisfaction and search engine optimization.

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Off-Page SEO Strategies

Off-page SEO refers to the actions conducted outside of a website to boost its credibility and visibility. These actions include acquiring trustworthy backlinks from reputable websites, engaging in social media platforms, and building brand awareness.

Link Building

Link building is crucial for search engine rankings. Search engines, including Google, assess the quantity and quality of inbound links to determine a website’s relevance and authority, greatly affecting its search rankings.

High-quality backlinks are seen as positive endorsements for a website, showing that its content is valuable and credible. This improves the website’s visibility, credibility, and reputation, resulting in higher search rankings and more organic traffic.

To build links effectively in the casino industry, use different tactics like guest posting on trusted gambling websites. Also, create quality articles and guides to get backlinks from authoritative sources. Use social media platforms to engage with the audience and build influencer relationships.

Casinos can create strong backlinks to improve their website’s visibility and reputation by using niche edits, broken link building, and other strategies. This comprehensive approach helps increase search rankings and organic traffic.

Social Media Engagement

Maintain active profiles on popular social media platforms and share valuable content, promotions, and updates to engage with the casino’s audience and encourage social sharing. Participate in discussions and interact with your followers to build a loyal community around your casino brand.

Online Reputation Management:

Monitor online reviews, feedback, and mentions of the casino across various platforms.

Respond promptly and professionally to customer inquiries, complaints, and feedback to maintain a positive reputation. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and testimonials to bolster the casino’s online credibility.

Technical SEO Strategies

Technical SEO refers to optimizing the technical aspects of a website to improve its search engine visibility and user experience. Technical SEO ensures that search engines can crawl, index, and understand the content of a website effectively. While technical SEO focuses on the backend of the website, it directly impacts search engine rankings and user experience.

Website Speed Optimization

Website speed refers to how quickly a website loads its content. Search engines like Google prioritize fast-loading websites because they provide a better user experience. Online casinos should optimize website speed by minimizing server response times, reducing page size, and leveraging browser caching techniques. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help identify areas for improvement.

Mobile-Friendliness

With most online users accessing websites from mobile devices, ensuring mobile-friendliness is critical for online casinos. Mobile-friendly websites adapt their layout and content to fit smaller screens, providing a flawless user experience across devices. Casinos can achieve mobile-friendliness through responsive web design, which adjusts the website’s layout based on the user’s device.

Schema Markup Implementation

Schema markup provides search engines with additional context about the content of a website. Online casinos can use schema markup to mark up important information such as casino events, promotions, reviews, and ratings. This helps search engines understand the content better and can improve search results, such as rich snippets and knowledge panels.

Site Structure

A well-organized site structure makes it easier for users to navigate a website and helps search engines crawl and index its pages more effectively. Online casinos should create a logical site structure with clear categories, subcategories, and internal linking. This ensures that every page on the website is easily discoverable and accessible to users and search engines.

URL Structure

Optimizing URL structure is another important aspect of technical SEO. Online casinos should use descriptive, keyword-rich URLs that provide both users and search engines with information about the page’s content. URLs should be concise, readable, and follow a logical hierarchy. Avoid using long, complex URLs with unnecessary parameters or session IDs.

The Bottom Line

SEO plays a crucial role in the casino industry, allowing operators to increase their visibility, gain a competitive advantage, and target the right audience. By implementing effective SEO strategies, casinos can enhance their online presence, attract new players, and achieve their marketing goals.

The post The Ultimate Guide to SEO Strategies for Online Casinos appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Local SEO is more than just a buzzword. It’s a critical tool that can help small businesses reach potential customers in their immediate vicinity, and in this blog post, we’ll explore the reasons why local SEO is a must-have for small business digital marketing.

What is Local SEO?

Before we dive into the importance of local SEO, let’s clarify what it entails. Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, is a strategy designed to increase a business’s visibility in local search results on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. It’s the process of optimizing your online presence, including your website, business listings, and social media profiles, to attract local customers.

Local SEO focuses on improving the rankings of businesses in local search results and the so-called “map pack,” which is the set of local business listings that appear in response to location-based queries. These results typically include a map and three business listings, making it a prominent spot for small businesses to occupy.

Now that we’ve defined local SEO, let’s explore why it is essential for small business digital marketing.

1. Enhancing Visibility in Local Searches

One of the most compelling reasons for small businesses to invest in local SEO is the increased visibility it provides in local search results. When potential customers are searching for products or services in their area, they often use specific location-based queries like “best pizza in [city]” or “plumber near me.” Local SEO ensures your business appears at the top of the search results for such queries, making it more likely that users will click on your website or visit your store.

By optimizing your website and online profiles for local keywords and phrases, you increase the chances of your business being discovered by local searchers. This enhanced visibility can lead to more website traffic, phone calls, and foot traffic to your physical location, which ultimately translates into more sales and revenue.

2. Mobile Search Dominance

With the increasing prevalence of mobile devices, local searches have become an integral part of people’s daily lives. In fact, mobile searches have surpassed desktop searches, and many of these mobile searches are driven by immediate needs, such as finding a nearby restaurant, hair salon, or repair service.

Local SEO is specifically tailored to cater to mobile users. It ensures that your business is not only found in traditional search results but also in mobile-friendly formats like Google Maps. This way, when someone searches for a specific service while on the go, your business is more likely to appear in their immediate vicinity, leading to increased foot traffic and conversions.

3. Targeting the Right Audience

Local SEO is a precise targeting tool that helps small businesses reach the right audience – local customers who are more likely to convert. Traditional forms of advertising, such as newspaper ads or billboards, often have a broad reach, making it difficult to determine their effectiveness. In contrast, local SEO allows you to focus your marketing efforts on the specific geographic areas where your potential customers are located.

For small businesses with limited marketing budgets, this targeted approach can be a game-changer. It ensures that your resources are allocated to reaching the people most likely to make a purchase, making your marketing efforts more cost-effective.

4. Building Trust and Credibility

Another significant advantage of local SEO is that it helps build trust and credibility for your small business. When your website and business listings consistently appear in local search results, users tend to perceive your business as more authoritative and reliable.

Positive customer reviews and ratings on platforms like Google My Business and Yelp can also enhance your reputation. Studies have shown that the vast majority of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and local SEO encourages customers to leave reviews and engage with your business online.

As potential customers see your business prominently featured in search results and read positive reviews from others in their community, they are more likely to choose your products or services over those of your competitors.

5. Competing with Larger Businesses

Small businesses often face stiff competition from larger corporations with extensive marketing budgets. However, local SEO levels the playing field by allowing small businesses to compete on a local scale. When you optimize your online presence for local searches, you can appear alongside or even above larger competitors in local search results.

Furthermore, local SEO can help you capitalize on the unique strengths of your small business, such as personalized customer service, community involvement, and niche expertise. These qualities can set you apart from larger competitors and attract customers who value a more personal and local touch.

6. Data-Driven Insights

Local SEO provides invaluable data and insights that can help small businesses refine their marketing strategies. With tools like Google Analytics and Google My Business Insights, you can track the performance of your online presence, monitor user behavior, and understand how customers are finding your business.

This data allows you to make informed decisions about which keywords and strategies are driving the most traffic and conversions. It also enables you to adapt and optimize your marketing efforts in real-time, ensuring that you’re continually improving your digital presence and staying ahead of the competition.

7. Cost-Effective Marketing

Compared to traditional advertising methods, local SEO is a cost-effective marketing strategy for small businesses. It offers a high return on investment because it targets potential customers who are actively searching for the products or services you offer. This means you’re not wasting resources on broad-reaching ads that may or may not reach your target audience.

Local SEO also allows you to set your budget based on your specific needs. Whether you have a small marketing budget or a more substantial one, you can tailor your local SEO efforts to fit your financial constraints while still reaping the benefits of increased visibility and traffic.

8. Measurable Results

One of the significant advantages of local SEO is the ability to measure and track results with precision. You can see exactly how many people visited your website, called your business, or requested directions to your location as a result of your local SEO efforts.

This level of accountability is essential for small businesses looking to make data-driven decisions and allocate resources efficiently. With local SEO, you’re not left in the dark about the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. You have access to clear, quantifiable data that shows you the impact of your efforts.

9. Long-Term Sustainability

Local SEO is not a short-term fix; it’s a long-term investment in the growth and sustainability of your small business. When you consistently optimize your online presence for local searches, you build a strong foundation that can lead to lasting results.

Unlike some marketing strategies that may provide a temporary boost in visibility, local SEO helps your business maintain a prominent position in local search results over time. This sustained visibility keeps a steady stream of potential customers coming your way, contributing to the long-term success of your business.

10. Adapting to Changing Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is constantly evolving, and staying ahead of the curve is crucial for small businesses. Local SEO allows you to adapt to changing consumer preferences and habits. As more people rely on online searches to find local businesses, being at the forefront of local search results is essential to remain relevant.

Additionally, the integration of voice search and smart devices into daily life further underscores the importance of local SEO. As users ask voice assistants like Siri or Alexa for recommendations, your business needs to be optimized to appear in these voice-driven search results, which are often location-specific.

Conclusion

In the digital age, local SEO is not a luxury but a necessity for small businesses looking to thrive in their local markets. It provides a means of enhancing visibility, reaching the right audience, and building trust and credibility while competing with larger businesses. Local SEO is cost-effective, measurable, and offers long-term sustainability. It also empowers small businesses to adapt to changing consumer behavior and remain competitive in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing.

If you’re a small business owner looking to grow your customer base, increase revenue, and secure your place in the local market, it’s time to make local SEO a central component of your digital marketing strategy. With its numerous benefits and proven track record, local SEO is a must-have for small business digital marketing in today’s digital age.

The post Local SEO: A Must-Have for Small Business Digital Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve deep into the world of SEO, providing you with tips, strategies, and insights to help you navigate the complex realm of search engine optimization. By the end of this article, you’ll be well-equipped to craft an effective SEO strategy that can significantly impact your online presence and digital marketing success.

Understanding the Importance of SEO

Before we dive into the tips for mastering SEO, let’s first establish why it’s so crucial for digital marketing success. SEO is the practice of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When your website ranks higher, it becomes more visible to potential customers, leading to increased organic traffic and better online visibility. Here are a few reasons why SEO is a cornerstone of digital marketing:

1. Increased Organic Traffic: SEO is one of the most effective ways to attract organic (non-paid) traffic to your website. Organic traffic is highly valuable as it’s comprised of users actively searching for information, products, or services related to your industry.
2. Cost-Effective: Compared to paid advertising, SEO is a cost-effective strategy that provides long-term benefits. Once your website ranks well, you don’t have to pay for clicks, making it a sustainable marketing approach.
3. Credibility and Trust: Websites that rank higher in search results are perceived as more credible and trustworthy. SEO helps you build authority and brand trust within your industry.
4. Competitive Advantage: In the digital age, your competitors are just a click away. By investing in SEO, you can stay ahead of the competition and capture market share.
5. Better User Experience: SEO isn’t just about optimizing for search engines; it also focuses on improving the user experience. A well-optimized website is faster, more user-friendly, and offers valuable content, which can result in higher customer satisfaction.

Now that you understand the importance of SEO, let’s move on to the tips and strategies that will help you master this art and achieve digital marketing success.

1. Conduct Comprehensive Keyword Research

Keywords are the foundation of SEO. They are the phrases and terms that users type into search engines when looking for information or solutions. Conducting thorough keyword research is the first step in mastering SEO.

Start by identifying the keywords that are relevant to your business or industry. Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to discover high-value keywords with a good balance of search volume and competition.

Additionally, consider long-tail keywords – these are longer, more specific phrases that often convert better because they reflect a user’s specific intent. Incorporating a mix of primary and long-tail keywords into your content will give you a better chance of ranking for various search queries.

2. Optimize On-Page Elements

On-page optimization involves making changes to the content and HTML source code of your web pages to make them more search engine friendly. Here are some key on-page elements to focus on:

• Title Tags: Craft compelling and descriptive title tags for each page on your website. Include your target keyword to signal the page’s relevance to search engines.
• Meta Descriptions: Write engaging meta descriptions that not only contain your target keyword but also encourage users to click on your link in the search results.
• Header Tags: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content. These tags help search engines understand the hierarchy of your information.
• Keyword Placement: Naturally include your keywords throughout your content, but avoid keyword stuffing, which can lead to penalties from search engines.
• URL Structure: Create clean and concise URLs that include relevant keywords. Avoid using generic URLs with a string of numbers and symbols.
• Image Optimization: Use descriptive file names and alt tags for images. Optimized images can improve your website’s accessibility and search engine ranking.
• Internal Linking: Link to other relevant pages on your website. Internal links help users navigate your site and distribute link authority throughout your content.

3. Create High-Quality, Valuable Content

Content is king in the world of SEO. Search engines prioritize websites that offer valuable and relevant content to users. Here’s how you can create content that not only ranks well but also engages your audience:

• Quality over Quantity: Focus on creating high-quality content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Well-researched, in-depth content tends to perform better in search results.
• Content Originality: Avoid duplicate content, as search engines penalize websites with copied or low-quality content. Make your content original and unique.
• User Intent: Understand the intent behind the keywords you’re targeting. Are users looking for information, product comparisons, or a specific solution? Tailor your content to match their intent.
• Regular Updates: Keep your content up-to-date to ensure its relevance. Periodically refresh older content and add new information as needed.
• Engaging Multimedia: Incorporate multimedia elements like images, videos, and infographics to enhance user engagement and make your content more shareable.
• Keyword Integration: Seamlessly integrate your target keywords into the content without disrupting the natural flow. Aim for a keyword density that feels natural.

4. Optimize Website Speed and Mobile Responsiveness

Website speed and mobile-friendliness are key ranking factors in SEO. Google, in particular, considers these aspects when determining a website’s position in search results. Here’s how to optimize your website for speed and mobile devices:

• Page Load Time: Minimize page load times by optimizing images, using browser caching, and reducing server response times. Fast-loading pages provide a better user experience and tend to rank higher.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure that your website is responsive and displays properly on all devices, including smartphones and tablets. Google’s mobile-first indexing prioritizes mobile-friendly websites.
• Mobile Page Speed: Pay special attention to mobile page speed. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) can be used to create faster-loading versions of your content for mobile users.
• User-Friendly Design: Create a user-friendly design with intuitive navigation and easy-to-read fonts. A well-structured site improves user satisfaction and time spent on your pages.

5. Build Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are external links from other websites to your site. Search engines use them as a signal of your website’s authority and trustworthiness. Here are some strategies for building quality backlinks:

• High-Quality Content: Create content that’s so valuable that other websites naturally want to link to it. This is known as “link-worthy” content.
• Outreach: Reach out to other websites in your industry or niche and ask for backlinks. Networking and relationship-building can help you secure quality links.
• Guest Blogging: Contribute guest posts to reputable websites in your niche. In exchange for your content, you can often include backlinks to your site in your author bio.
• Competitor Analysis: Analyze the backlink profiles of your competitors to identify potential linking opportunities. Tools like Ahrefs and Moz can be helpful in this regard.
• Avoid Low-Quality Links: Focus on quality over quantity. Low-quality or spammy backlinks can harm your website’s ranking. Regularly monitor your backlink profile and disavow any harmful links.

6. Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup is a form of microdata that you can add to your website’s HTML. It helps search engines understand the context of your content and can lead to rich results in the search listings, such as featured snippets, reviews, and FAQs. Implementing schema markup can make your search results more attractive and informative to users.

There are several types of schema markup you can use, depending on the nature of your content, including:

• Product markup: If you sell products, this markup can help you display essential product information, such as price, reviews, and availability.
• Review markup: If your website features reviews of products or services, review markup can help you highlight star ratings and other review-related information.
• Article markup: For content-driven websites, article markup can help search engines understand the structure and elements of your articles.
• Local business markup: If you have a physical business location, local business markup can help you provide details like address, phone number, and opening hours in search results.

Implementing schema markup may require some technical expertise, but it can significantly improve your website’s visibility and click-through rates in search results.

7. Monitor and Analyze Performance

Mastering SEO is an ongoing process. To ensure your efforts are paying off and to adapt to changes in search algorithms and user behavior, it’s essential to monitor and analyze the performance of your SEO strategies. Here’s how to do it:

• Google Analytics: Install Google Analytics on your website to track key metrics, including organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate. Analyze this data regularly to identify trends and areas for improvement.
• Google Search Console: Use Google Search Console to monitor how Google sees your website. It provides valuable insights into your website’s performance in search results, including indexing issues, click-through rates, and the keywords that drive traffic.
• SEO Tools: Leverage SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and more to track your rankings, analyze your competitors, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Content Audits: Periodically audit your website’s content to identify pages that need updating or refreshing. Eliminate low-performing content or consider consolidating similar content for improved SEO.
• Backlink Audits: Regularly review your backlink profile to identify and disavow any harmful or spammy links. This helps maintain a healthy link profile.

8. Stay Informed and Adapt

The world of SEO is dynamic, with search engines constantly updating their algorithms and changing the rules of the game. To master SEO and achieve digital marketing success, it’s crucial to stay informed and adapt to these changes. Here’s how:

• Follow SEO Blogs and News: Regularly read authoritative SEO blogs and industry news sources to stay updated on the latest developments, algorithm changes, and best practices.
• Attend SEO Conferences and Webinars: Participating in conferences and webinars can provide you with valuable insights from industry experts and keep you connected with the SEO community.
• Network with SEO Professionals: Building relationships with other SEO professionals can help you stay informed about emerging trends and share knowledge and experiences.
• Experiment and Test: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different SEO strategies and techniques. A/B testing can help you determine what works best for your specific website and audience.
• Learn from Your Data: Use data and analytics to make informed decisions. If you notice a decline in rankings or traffic, dig into your data to identify the cause and take corrective action.

Conclusion

Mastering the art of SEO is a continuous journey that requires dedication, adaptability, and a commitment to providing valuable content and a stellar user experience. By following the tips and strategies outlined in this guide, you can navigate the complex world of search engine optimization and achieve digital marketing success.

Remember that SEO is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires a tailored approach that considers your industry, target audience, and specific goals. Additionally, SEO is a long-term investment, and results may not be immediate, but the rewards can be substantial in terms of increased organic traffic, brand visibility, and customer trust.

As you embark on your SEO journey, keep in mind that SEO is not a static field. It’s continually evolving, so stay curious, stay informed, and be prepared to adapt your strategies to meet the ever-changing demands of the digital landscape. With persistence, a commitment to quality, and a focus on user experience, you can truly master the art of SEO and drive your digital marketing efforts to new heights.

The post Mastering the Art of SEO: Tips for Digital Marketing Success appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Kim Westwood, Founder & Managing Director of Shopping Links

Although more than 86% of marketers now use influencer marketing to boost brand awareness and increase engagement, many are just starting to recognize the value that influencers can add to their SEO.

Although Google considers more than 200 factors when determining search rankings, one of its senior strategists recently verified that inbound links and on-site content quality, the two factors that have historically had the greatest impact, will continue to matter most. What do influencers have to do with this? It turns out quite a lot. By driving traffic from a high domain authority (even when links are “no follow”), sending readers from social channels, and creating content directly for brands use in their own marketing efforts, influencers can directly affect both of these factors. Here are four ways top brands are collaborating their way to higher search results:

High-quality inbound links

Most marketers know that high-quality inbound links can dramatically boost their SEO, but many do not realize that this also includes “no follow” links from sponsored content. Here’s how it works. With organic content, Google crawls every link to your site, even if no one has clicked it yet. With paid content, Google only follows traffic from readers. So even when your content is sponsored, Google recognizes the organic interest of readers and rewards you for every click through to your site.

Collaborating with influencers not only puts your brand directly in front of a relevant audience, but it also gives you some control over how you will be featured, which can further increase the likelihood that readers will click to learn more. If you’re a retailer, for example, you can negotiate to have each featured product click through to your eCommerce store. Or you might ask the influencer to link to content on your own website with more ideas for how to use or try your product, enticing readers to click. Finally, influencers also give you high-quality inbound links from their social channels such as Instagram or Facebook, giving you an even bigger SEO boost.

Cost-effective content

Aside from generating more inbound traffic, influencers can help your on-site SEO as well. Content is expensive to create, and many brands simply don’t have the time to keep up with production. Collaborating with an influencer in your industry to guest blog for your website allows you to publish fresh, high-quality content that will naturally contain your desired keywords. An influencer, after all, is already familiar with the topics that matter most to your customers. For fashion and lifestyle brands, marketers also have the benefit of receiving influencer imagery, which they can then use across other campaigns, including from social media to their EDMs. Our research has shown that marketers who use influencer content in their email newsletters, rather than brand imagery or stock photography, see higher click-through rates, click-to-order rates and even revenues. A final benefit of collaborating with influencers to create content for your website is their ability to promote their contribution to your website across a wide audience. When creating your collaboration brief, consider making promotion across certain channels, such as Instagram or LinkedIn, depending on your industry, part of your requirements.

Online conversations   

One final SEO benefit of influencer collaborations is the increase in overall traffic that comes from sparking online conversations about your brand. If an influencer’s followers are unfamiliar with your brand, chances are good that they’ll want to know more once they see it in a blog article or Instagram post. The direct visits to your website URL and organic search traffic for your brand help to boost your domain authority, since these visitors are likely to spend some time on your site. It can be a little more difficult to trace this traffic to your influencer campaign, but Google Analytics can help you match surges in traffic to the timing of your campaign. Free social monitoring sites like HootSuite and SocialMention can give you further insights.

Understanding how influencers impact your SEO can help you think more strategically about your optimization efforts and how you can get more value from each collaboration. Whether through inbound links, high-quality content or relevant online conversations, influencers can be a secret weapon for brands across all industries.

Contributor Bio:

Kim Westwood is the Founder and Managing Director of Shopping Links, an influencer marketplace designed to make it easier for brands of all sizes to connect with fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers for the purposes of relationship-focused marketing collaborations. Since the company’s inception, more than 1,200 brands, including Fortune 500 retailers, have utilized the service to access a network of 14,000+ vetted influencers from 117 countries, leading to thousands of transactions within the platform. Shopping Links was the winner of the Business Services category at the 2016 Governor of Victoria Export Award and has been named to Anthill Magazine’s SMART100 Index of most innovative Australian companies.

The post How Brands Are Using Influencer Marketing to Improve SEO appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

A new platform with 15 years of SEO expertise behind it

With its easy-to-use, cloud-based new platform, based on 15 years of pioneering expertise, SearchDex is disrupting the traditional SEO model. “SDX Hyperloop advancements are a critical step as we continue building a platform that results in the best connection with the target consumer and provides a great experience right from the outset,” said David Chaplin, SearchDex CEO.

SEO is no longer about ranking high in search results but about providing valuable, discoverable content across the web in a way that allows Google to get a product or company in front of the customers who most want to find it. In this way, brand is not being built as much on search as on messaging.

“This is about much more than just search ranking—we’re talking about the first step in creating brand trust between product and consumer. If a consumer’s first interaction with your brand is your product or service popping up as the result of an irrelevant search query, the opportunity for a good experience will be lost,” Chaplin explained.

From IT-dependence to full marketing autonomy and control

With SearchDex SDX Hyperloop, marketers gain the ability to implement changes at scale, bypassing IT to more fully leverage their SEO expertise. The new platform allows for optimized content discovery and the proactive, deep SEO that makes this possible–while taking the SEO reins out of the hands of IT and putting them into the hands of the marketing department.

“The key to building a company’s brand through the power of search is freeing marketers to implement an SEO strategy themselves through technology that they control—removing the friction currently in place with the reliance on IT and creating a straight path from marketing to consumers,” said Chaplin. “This straight path, combined with the technology to automate many of the signals coming in through artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning, allows marketers to connect to consumers on an emotional level through search itself.”

SDX Hyperloop: insights, actions, audit, merchandise and monitor

With SearchDex, marketers can create custom landing pages (CLPs) that enable them to more specifically target customers. SearchDex also provides a hypercategorization—“HyperCats”—feature that makes visible the faceted navigation that does not get picked up by search engines.

The new platform is an integrated solution that delivers search engine optimization value at scale, explained Chaplin. “We’re putting analytics to work while also reducing the costs and time required per custom page.”

The SDX Hyperloop platform makes analytics tools “prove their value” by targeting real inefficiencies:

• Goes beyond mere analytics by providing actionable insights
• Improves content ROI with personalized context

SDX Hyperloop is unique in that it:

• Creates accountability across a custom solution set
• Allows both low/no-touch automated refinement and marketing expertise curation

“We have come a very long way since pure keyword ranking days,” said Elizabeth Johnson, SVP and General Manager of Agency Services at LiveArea—The PFS Agency. “With SearchDex, we are able to reach customers directly through SEO—a powerful new way of building a brand through search.”

About SearchDex

Specializing in search engine optimization (SEO) and digital brand connections, SearchDex provides a strategic method for organic SEO and online brand visibility which solves e-commerce challenges and achieves online revenue growth goals. Its proprietary platform directly addresses a fundamental enterprise SEO challenge—the gap between buyer and seller—with a unified solution that offers a distinct and integrated approach to digital marketing for e-commerce companies of all sizes. Visit SearchDex at www.searchdex.com for more information.

The post SearchDex Survey: Half of Marketers Say Google’s Algorithm Now Demands Technology Response for Effective SEO appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In 2016, having a solid SEO strategy for your business or marketing efforts has never been more important.

But in case you’ve missed a beat on keeping up with what’s happening with SEO and how to formulate a winning approach to SEO, check out this insightful new inforgraphic from CapitalOne, SparkPay, and Wyzowl.

The post Infographic: 5 Strategies to Map Out Your SEO appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The checklist helps businesses learn how local search engine optimization differs from regular SEO — as well as competing benefits. A veritable SEO tutorial, the checklist includes valuable information about keyword selection, local directory listings, citations, content marketing, customer reviews, mobile, and more.

“Based in Atlanta, the company offers a strong focus on local online marketing,” a provided statement reads. “Its Local Buzz service involves the creation of local directory listings. Customers also get review sites, maps on localized search engines, and social media tools such as Google My Business and Facebook Places.”

One of the big advantages of Local Buzz? The service accounts for ways in which consumers are searching directly on their smartphones.

Another service is the creation of header images.

“Listings are optimized and published for the client. The services are built around the changes search engines have made on algorithms, favoring local businesses in search results.”

Since social media marketing is a must, YEAH! Local provides help with leading platforms including Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Online reputation management, pay-per-click advertising, video marketing, and dental and law firm marketing services are also available.

Clients in the Atlanta metro area can track and measure their online presence, rankings, and traffic. The local communities served currently include Alpharetta, Marietta, Dunwoody, Decatur, Sandy Springs, Kennesaw, and other communities across Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnet, Cobb, and Cherokee Counties.

Want to check this out? Click here.

The post YEAH! Local Creates New SEO Checklist appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The company has introduced its new “Search to Sale” module. The module was developed in partnership with Verve, known for its skills in location-based mobile advertising.

“Search to Sale is a new component within Rio SEO’s Open Local Platform, a hub for local business information, offers, and content distribution across various channels,” the company tells us. “The module links the online consumer experience with in-store visits and offers brick-and-mortar businesses a scalable, automated way to reach consumers with real-time, location-based contextual offers.”

Rio SEO solutions are based on an open architecture approach. The new Search to Sale works with the leading location-based targeting and ad technologies including Bluetooth beacons, geo-fencing, mobile couponing, Apple Passbook, and other emerging POS technologies.

The firm has designed it to be effortlessly pressed into service by many industry sectors, including retail, hospitality, restaurants, and financial institutions.

“Today’s connected consumer has heightened expectations for immediacy and relevance, so it’s imperative for brands to understand and measure the digital opportunities and micro-moments that can close the online-to-offline loop,” said Dema Zlotin, Chief Executive Officer of Rio SEO.

Relevance is the key goal.

“Without a broader conversion strategy, a beacon is just a piece of plastic,” Zlotin added. “Verve’s platform allows our enterprise customers to engage consumers in mobile moments by utilizing geo-fencing, mobile couponing, Apple Passbook, iBeacon technology and more. We are thrilled about this new partnership to further drive contextually relevant customer experiences.”

The post Rio SEO Announces ‘Search to Sale’ — Because Without a Strategy, a Beacon is ‘Just a Piece of Plastic’ appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The new report is billed as being a service created to audit one’s landing page for an SEO Score.

All told, it’s valuable information.

According to BusinessCreator, Inc. President Edward Kundahl, the SEO Score Report service is available for use immediately. And best of all, it’s free.

But, of course, BusinessCreator hopes those with poor SEO will call on their company as they pursue a course of corrective action.

“Check Your SEO Score (Try our FREE landing page SEO audit tool) is our new landing page seo audit tool which shows a detailed report on how well-optimized a landing page is for a target keyword, and for major search engines, like Google ,” says Kundahl. “Each report also has a section that details how authoritative the domain is for the respective landing page being audited, an important metric for Google.”

The post SEO Score Report Service Launched to Help Businesses appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the data presented, over 25 percent of small businesses do not have a website and 10 percent claim that they are unlikely to have a website in the future.

Of the small businesses that have a website, only 56 percent have a responsive design website that is mobile friendly. However, the survey also showed signs of improvement, as 23 percent plan to increase website spending in 2015.

Researchers at Clutch also discovered that many small businesses are not utilizing existing digital marketing strategies.

Only 53 percent of small businesses reported that they actively work on social media, 45 percent on search engine optimization (SEO), and 25 percent on online advertising.

“Having a strong online presence is kind of as important as having a professional looking business card,” explains Andrew Ruditser, co-founder of web design firm MAXBURST, remarking on the survey results. “In my opinion, you cannot effectively compete or market yourself without a website; you must have one.”

Want to know more? Check out the complete survey results here.

The post Small Businesses Need to Improve Web Presence appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.