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A lot has changed since the initial days of SEO. Back then, all developers needed to do to make their website rank well on Google’s search page was keyword stuff. Times have changed. To ensure that spammy or low-quality websites are not clogging up the search page, Google has implemented a number of changes to how their search engine optimization algorithms work. Now, more than ever, the state of your UX determines how well your website does when determining its rank. Find a white hat national SEO agency that can help you achieve your digital marketing goals. Here’s how UX affects your SEO score. 

What is UX?

Those who do not continuously dwell in the land in web development and web design may not immediately understand what UX is. UX stands for User Experience. It describes the sort of experience and ease with which your users have when using your website. It has made up of a few key components. They include:

• Bounce rate
• Page dwell time

The bounce rate of a website corresponds to how many times users visit a single page on your website and then leave. This indicates to Google that they either visited your Home Page or a landing page and could not find what they were looking for. Patience is incredibly thin when users visit websites. If your Home Page or landing pages are not giving them the quality information that they seek, then they will exit and move on to the next website. A high SEO score requires a low bounce rate.

Page dwell time refers to how long the user spends on the website. It is a measure of their engagement. Obviously, if they spend a lot of time on a page, then they are reading what the page says because it is informative for them. To rank high in SEO, you need a high page dwell time.

Now that you know the two main metrics that Google uses to analyze your UX score, you can then influence those metrics to better your overall SEO score. 

Factors That Influence UX

The key to improving your SEO in terms of your UX is to focus on these key factors: 

• Load time
• User-friendly URL structure
• Mobile syncing and optimizing

Let us break these down further. 

1. Load Time

Users are not going to wait a long time for a page to load. They have things to do and can’t wait around for your website to get its act together. A few variables may add to the load time. Large pictures, in particular, are to blame. They can also make your page look messy. When it comes to pleasing website design and fast load time, less is more. 

2. User-friendly URL Structure

If you look at your search bar at the top of the screen, you should see a URL. A high-quality URL structure is an easy-to-understand list that describes and categorizes which page you are on in a website. Search engines use the structure to index the websites. Using a user-friendly URL structure that includes the website’s name, the category they are searching, and then the specific page, is a great way to help both the search engine and the user. 

3. Mobile Syncing and Optimizing

If you do not have an app or a mobile website, then you are not going to do well for your SEO ranking. More users than ever use their phones to search for businesses or ask questions. The interface of your mobile site needs to be compact, easy to understand, and load quickly. 

Trust the Experts

Clearly, there are a lot of variables involved with creating a great UX for your website. To make sure your website is ranking as high as it can, trust the experts at SEO Locale.

There are many metrics which must be observed when maintaining a website.  Keeping track of all the different ways in which a site is found, visited, and viewed can be an exhausting process, especially if companies aren’t using good quality software to compile their data.  Not every metric provides suggestions for improving organic traffic, either.  That is why it’s so important companies use keyword tracking software. As a premier digital marketing agency, we track keywords for all of our clients that have SEO in their packages. It is important even if you are tracking keywords on a national SEO versus local SEO level to have the data to expand the campaign or track the success.

SEO Keywords & Tracking

Keyword tracking, also known as keyword rank tracking, is a means of monitoring your site’s visibility through keyword searches.  By using a keyword tracker you can see where the keywords, and subsequently your page, are in the search engine results page (SERP).  Knowing a site’s ranking provides a business with some insight into the effectiveness of their current SEO strategies, while also allowing them to anticipate what sort of search optimization strategies they may need to implement in the future.

Why Does it Matter to Track Your SEO Keywords?

It will highlight changes in organic traffic.  A fluctuation in ranking can be a sign that a site’s traffic is starting to suffer.  Keyword tracking makes it possible to see which keywords aren’t performing as well, and which pages on a website are being affected by the drop.

When a company is tracking its position it will also be able to see the position of its competition.  In the list of keywords each company will have some core words exclusive to their specific market, industry, field, or brand.  Competitors will be using the same keywords.  While it’s best to rank ahead of competitors, ranking behind them has its advantages.  All it requires is research into their latest SEO strategy, and doing it better. 

Sites that have multiple locations will need to perform keyword tracking with geography-specific terms.  If one is excelling or another is rapidly falling behind, there is a problem with that location which needs to be identified.  Many keyword trackers offer the option to change the search engine country which brands with international locations will benefit from most.  

What Software Tracks SEO Keywords?

There are many keyword tracking softwares available, all with a variety of useful features.  SEOlium, for example, is unique in that they generate, own, and completely control all of their raw data.  This gives them absolute oversight over it, making it easier to reduce inaccuracies by implementing an algorithm that combines technology and human observation.

Companies who aren’t tracking their keywords can’t reasonably expect measurable success.  Companies who are using it can measure their success, and identify ways to increase it.

SEO Locale is ranked 342nd out of over 13,000 agencies. To some this may look like something an agency should not be proud of, but as a small start-up in the Philadelphia area, we’re beating agencies with 50+ employees. Our team is small, but our product works and this is definitely exciting to see us be in the top 500 by SEOlium. You can search any local agencies on SEOlium to see where they stack up against SEO Locale with Domain Authority. Domain Authority is a metric created by Moz, a great software for anyone who is trying to learn SEO or track certain information on their digital marketing. Let’s dive into some of the information.

SEO Locale and the Domain Authority Ranking

With so many SEO companies out there it can be difficult for businesses to determine which one is the best choice.  They have different histories, different visions, different specialties, and so on.  Fortunately there are many websites that can simplify the process through weighing facts and figures or pros and cons.  One company in particular, Moz, has made the decision for customers by uniquely quantifying it instead.  

Moz and DA

Moz is an SEO software company who has created their own ranking system to determine what they call ‘Domain Authority’, or ‘DA’.  Domain Authority is a search engine ranking used to predict success on search engine results pages and is calculated on a scale of 1-100.  However it’s not affiliated with Google and it doesn’t influence SERPs directly.  Rather it creates a comparative metric by considering multiple factors and aggregate data, as opposed to being a firm score.  A bigger DA indicates a better ranking ability.  Moz gets this data from its Link Explorer web index, and the rank itself is calculated by a machine learning model.   

Where We Stand

Using this metric, SEO Locale’s Domain Authority has ranked 342 out of over 13,000 agencies.  This is no small feat, and it serves as both a testament to both our success as a company and our visibility online.  This also comes as little surprise, as we’re a premiere digital marketing agency and we have a clear understanding of how we were able to achieve that impressive number, as well as how we know we can improve it in the near future.  And we want to share that knowledge with you.  

Get In Touch with a True SEO Company in Philadelphia

If you’re in the market for a reliable and trustworthy SEO company, we at SEO Locale have exactly what you need.  We can tell you about the awards and accolades we have for our work in the Philadelphia region, but we would rather show you why we earned them.  If you’re still not convinced simply Google ‘SEO Philadelphia’ and see for yourself that we’re proof our product works.  

We understand that we are only as successful as our clients, which is why we promise to go above and beyond to meet your company’s needs.  Contact a team member today to learn more about our high-ranking, award winning services and how you too can utilize SEO to grow both your traffic and your business.

As a premier digital marketing agency in Philadelphia region, we see all different types of small businesses that need SEO. You can create a hyper local SEO strategy that will work for your business. Using the data from Google Search Console can be key to success. Today we break down the Google Search Console for you.

How do I drive traffic to my website? It is a question posed by thousands of business owners out there. And to be honest, driving traffic is not as easy as it sounds. Pulling traffic, especially organic, is more of a dream than a reality for many businesses. However, this should not be the case. There are free tools that assist you to rank better for your intended keywords. Google Search Console (GSC) is free, and one of the most powerful tools for SEO. You need to create the correct foundation when you are starting with an SEO strategy. Google Search Console will have the data for you to get started. Let’s learn about the Google Search Console and how it could benefit you.

What is Google Search Console? GSC, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, is one of the robust tools owned by Google. It is not as popular as Google Analytics, but boy, it packs a punch. GSC monitors the performance of your website. It is also proficient in pointing out areas where to optimize your organic traffic.

How to use GSC to optimize SEO
SEO is vital for most businesses and especially online businesses. Not only leads to a surge in traffic, but leads to an increase in conversions if you leverage the data correctly with your user experience. If you are wondering how to improve your ranking for your site, then you are reading the right article. Below, we shall point out how to use one of Google’s gems, Google Search Console, to improve your SEO.

To boost rankings of underwhelming keywords
You have heard people emphasizing the importance of appearing on page one of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS). Well, it is indeed essential to appear on page one of search results. In most cases, users do not look for search results beyond page one. Lower rank means you are losing out on tons of traffic. Therefore, GSC becomes a vital tool in identifying keywords of your website that rank beyond page two. You then work on these keywords to rank better.

Establish what users do with the results
GSC performance report enables you to determine the interaction of users with your website. It helps track the number of clicks, impressions, and click-through rates. These metrics guide on the corrective action you should take to improve SEO for your online business.

Fix indexing issues
At times, developers put tags on pages that prevent search engines from crawling them. Fortunately, GSC identifies such problems for you. GSC provides a report of such issues with the exact pages not indexed and the reason for not indexing.

Other ways GSC can help online businesses improve SEO include:

• Establishing sites linking to your website
• Help determine that your site is mobile-friendly
• Assist in optimizing pages whose organic traffic is dropping

To wrap it up, GSC is underrated yet a robust tool that gives a lot of insights about your website. There are lots of pros to using Google Search Console, and just one con: you can’t see competitive data there. An easy fix is to use a professional Google rank tracker 3rd party tool. Make it your SEO strategy. It is free but super powerful when leveraging data to grow your business online.

What many business owners don’t know is that almost half of all transactions happen on mobile phones. Entrepreneurs and business owners who want customers to engage with their company website have to take the time to invest in mobile search engine optimization.

Mobile SEO acts as the optimization of your website to rank a lot better in search results and keep the leads that you get from mobile on your page.

You will learn about mobile SEO, why it’s important to your bottom line, and why you should consider creating a mobile SEO strategy for your business.

What Exactly is Mobile SEO?

It’s the optimization process of your website to make sure that your website looks great and works well on mobile devices. When you or a staff member performs mobile SEO, you’ll give your users a great user experience. The positive user experience comes from the fact that your site looks great on any device.

In the past few years, the use of mobile devices have increased exponentially. Over 70 percent of people shop on their mobile devices. As more and more people gain access to these devices, these numbers will only increase in the future.

A lot of business owners don’t realize the importance of having a website that’s mobile friendly. But if you don’t have a mobile friendly website, your website SEO will suffer. So will the way that potential customers perceive your business. One study even showed that over half of all customers will not visit a business again if they had a bad mobile experience. To prevent negative mobile experiences, optimize your business website so that it works well on mobile devices.

Why Is Mobile SEO Important?

1. Your Customers Spend Most of Their Internet Time on Smartphones
   Users spend over 70 percent of their online time on their mobile devices. If your customers are spending most of their internet time on their smartphones, your business website will need to be ready. A poor mobile experience could mean losing lots of valuable leads.
2. Your Customers Will Return If They Have a Good Mobile Experience
   It’s an intuitive leap to figure that your customers are more likely to return if they have a positive mobile experience the first time. When customers return again and again, these leads turn into valuable sales.
3. Your Customers Will Hold Your Business in Higher Regard
   A large part of creating a mobile friendly website is giving your customers the best experience possible. When your customers have a positive mobile experience, that makes it more likely that they will experience what you have to offer in a way that’s fruitful for both parties.

Mobile SEO is a vital part of growing your business in the online space. To help your company grow through SEO, account for customers that access your website through their mobile devices. A thorough and creative mobile SEO plan helps you reach potential customers.

SEO Locale offers full digital marketing packages that include mobile SEO naturally. Ranking you on Google is our priority, but seeing your return on investment is just as important, give us a call today!

Showing up on Google’s Top Stories is a huge advantage for gaining exposure. When you show up in Top Stories, your articles gain more visibility than the standard search results. Formerly, you had to have Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to even have the chance to show up on Top Stories. Since many saw the value in Top Stories and AMPs were a requirement, a lot of people embraced AMPs. However, there is a big change coming. 

Google recently announced that they will start using Core Web Vitals as a factor in search rankings and Top Stories. The announcement also detailed that Google will lift the AMP requirement around the start of 2021. This announcement makes the future of AMP unclear. Will it be easier for developers to optimize the mobile experience without AMP or to continue using AMP versions of their pages?

AMP Definition

 AMP is Google’s open-source, HTML framework that developers can use to create faster-loading mobile web pages. You can use AMP to build websites, stories, ads, and emails in a straightforward way. The content you create with AMP “prioritizes the user experience above all else”. The top benefits of AMP include:

• Faster web page speed, which equates to better user experience. 
• Apply AMP across numerous web touchpoints. 
• SEO benefits (for now). 
• Performance increase. 

Downfalls of AMP

While AMP has some key benefits, it also has its fair share of downfalls. If AMP is not a requirement for Top Stories, will people just stop using it? Potentially. Here are some of AMP’s major cons, and the reasons people may abandon it. 

• There are alternatives. Previously AMP was a requirement for Top Stories, however, it soon won’t be. Once AMP ceases to be a requirement, people may opt for alternatives. There are other solutions for optimizing user experience and site performance, and some businesses may have just been using AMPs to remain eligible for Top Stories. 
• AMP doubles your site maintenance work. With AMPs, you must essentially maintain a second version of your site. This process is not only time consuming, but it is also expensive. 
• It will no longer provide a competitive advantage. Formerly, you could not appear on Top Stories without AMP. When that changes, will it make sense to continue using it?

Testing the Waters

After the official update, people can “opt to prioritize page experience factors to get their content into the Top Stories section, instead of maintaining AMP versions of their pages.” Google’s new algorithm intends to rank web pages and Top Stories based on user experience from the signals of Core Web Vitals. 

However, not all of Googe’s algorithm updates have had much of an impact before. While it would be a good thing to update rankings and Top Stories based on positive user experience, the actual impact is unclear. Before making any major changes to get rid of AMP, people should wait and see how the updates play out and how the competition fairs. 

The big decision for publishers currently running on AMP will be the time they must majorly change their site. When it comes time for a redesign or CMS adjustment, then they should look closely at the costs of updating to AMP vs opting for another method to optimize the user experience. 

After the update, publishers and site owners need to compare the Top Stories. Are the majority of Top Stories from AMP sites or non-AMP sites? Without strong evidence that non-AMP sites are ranking in Top Stories, it doesn’t make sense to drop AMP. Additionally, “the requirements for non-AMP pages to appear in the Top Stories section may turn out to be more stringent than maintaining AMP.” In that case, it would actually be easier to maintain AMP than to meet the incredibly strict requirements for non-AMP sites. 

AMP: Should it Stay or Should it Go?

As of right now, the future of AMP is not too clear. There are some challenges associated with AMP that sit producers may be eager to get rid of once Google officially renounces it as a requirement for Top Stories. When it is no longer a requirement, site owners will be able to experiment with other methods for optimizing user-experience without creating a second version of their site. However, there may still be advantages to keeping AMP, especially if you are already using it. 

Companies should not make the choice right now on whether or not to continue using AMP in the long-term. The first thing to do is to see the impact of Google’s Core Web Vitals update and how AMP fairs when it is not a requirement. It is important to monitor your competition closely, and assess if AMP is still fairing better than other options. Currently, it is not clear if AMP will have a future once it disappears as a requirement for Top Stories.