Mid-Hudson Marketing

How do people find your web site? They type their own personal search terms into the Internet search window which could be any number of words containing any number of variations on what they are looking for with word order and organization complicating the issue further. For instance, if you type in the Google or Yahoo search line a phrase which elicits search results, scrambling the same words into a different order will result in a different set of search results in search number two. And, if you use different words which mean the same thing in search number three, your search results will differ even more, and so on.

What does this mean?

It means that trying to be ranked as number one in every appropriately targeted search conducted on the Internet is virtually next to impossible. However, it is possible to orchestrate a fairly high search ranking most of the time with innovative and intelligent SEO strategies. What is fairly high? If you rank within the top twenty search results regardless of what terms are used and in what order they are used, you should feel pretty confident that people are finding your web site.

What affects Search Engine Ranking?

There are a number of factors which affect ranking and as search engines evolve into even more brilliant mechanisms, these factors keep changing in importance and priority. Factors which were predominant several years ago now may be less important than other factors today. For this reason, web sites need to be constantly groomed for best search engine results as time passes.

Above: A regional senior assisted living facility attracts constant year-round applicants because of excellent SEO.

Above: A client with whom we have worked for over three decades, despite his relocation to Alabama from the Hudson Valley, receives superb SEO for the website we created for his company.

What are specific examples of how a site is optimized?

Again, it is not just one thing but rather a combination of factors that make a web site worthy of a high ranking. Some of these factors include the age of the web site; how pertinent the domain name is to the subject matter being searched; how pertinent, extensive and unique the web site's content is to the subject being searched; how many specific search terms are included within the content to match what is being searched; how popular the web site is; how often the web site's content changes or is updated; how many other popular web sites link to your web site; how many specific search terms are included within the web site's keywords, meta tags and other search engine data invisible to the average web site visitor; and so on.

One of the most critical factors mentioned above is whether the content on your website is original text which has not been duplicated from any other site. Furthermore, this text must be completely reliable with extensive discussions in great detail to impress Google with your website's authenticity as a highly authoritative source of the best information on the subject.

Above: This regional landscape company is contracted by highly affluent local residents to perform huge projects because of highly effective SEO.

Above: The same regional landscaper attracts a large variety of inquiries for a diverse selection of his expert services.

How does a search engine like Google determine ranking?

Of all search engines, Google is by far the most widely used and most highly regarded for its reliability. That is why Google considers accurate website ranking so important. If visitors are constantly disappointed with search results, Google is blamed.

For Google to give you a high ranking, the bottom line is whether your visitors have a satisfying experience on your website. Google looks at how long a visitor spends on a page as a main indicator along with whether the visitor is curious enough to visit other pages on your website as well. In addition, if your website offers e-commerce (the ability to purchase products or services during the visit), and visitors repeatedly buy what you are offering, you will be rewarded with a better search ranking. Finally, if visitors utilize your contact page or contact forms to contact you after a lengthy visit, Google interprets that action as another indication of visitor satisfaction and the need to explore more information from you.

If you have a high "bounce" rate, this means that a visitor was completely dissatisfied with your website's content and immediately left. Of course Google realizes that this is sometimes due to an error in the visitor's expectations or clicking to visit your website by mistake. However, if you have a consistently high bounce rate from multiple visitors, Google will penalize you with a less than desirable search ranking.

New requirements dictated by Google to be aware of.

Google has mandated a couple of new requirements for websites which can weigh heavily on search ranking if ignored. The first is the need for a website to be "responsive," or accessible on all desktop computers, mobile devices and other types of screens currently in use. This may involve a total recreation of a website to fulfill the many parameters necessary to success.

The second new issue ordered by Google as critical to a website's security in this era of hacking by nefarious scam artists, malware and phishing attempts, is SSL or Secure Socket Layer. By adding SSL to your website which changes the URL address from http:// to https:// (the "s" indicating "secure"), you essentially protect your website from hacking risks. In addition, you are protecting the safety of your visitors using your website, especially if your site allows communication from a contact form or purchasing from a shopping cart.

While not every client wishes to conform to such requirements especially if it involves significant expense, search ranking can be a victim to disregard. Ironically, some of the websites shown in search results on this page are not responsive or do not yet have SSL This may indicate that other factors are stronger in some instances.

Above: A national client with whom we have worked for almost two decades enjoys outstanding page-one SEO as a result of the website we created and the stores we maintain for him on both Amazon and eBay.

Above: Another example of the page-one SEO results our client receives for specific products he sells on Amazon, eBay and his own website.

How do Mid-Hudson Marketing web sites rank?

For those clients who have recognized the importance of search engine optimization and have invested accordingly, Mid-Hudson Marketing's web sites regularly appear within the top twenty results, often at number one, depending on what terms are searched. Also, results differ depending on whether a search is conducted on Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL or some other lesser known search engines. Since this is an ever-changing discipline, we are constantly analyzing what affects search results and applying improvements with each passing day.

Above: The website we created for a regional roofing contractor who specializes in metal and restoration work has achieved stellar page-one Google SEO.

Above: Another example of a search done for copper roofing in this region resulted again in a top page-one organic (free) ranking below the one paid ad which always gets top billing on any search page. In addition, Google chose to also include a large free (!) presentation to the right of search results for our client possibly because someone had given the firm a 5-star Google review. This type of search presence cannot even be purchased!

There are other ways to achieve a top ranking.

Until now, this discussion has centered on free (organic) search ranking results. However, there are a variety of ways in which you can achieve top "sponsored" rankings if you are willing to assign a certain budget to your website's presence. Among a variety of strategies offered, this can mean paying a certain fee every time someone clicks on your sponsored link and visits your website. There are other options based on exposure of your sponsored ads as well which can be strictly text-based or a combination of text and images, all of which must undergo a rigorous approval process before acceptance. The fee, which can be regulated by a variety of settings similar to an auction, is usually determined and driven up by how competitive your industry is and how much certain search terms are in demand. This means cost is affected by how high a price other advertisers are willing to pay for clicks or exposure.

While this paid strategy is an alternative and may bring some beneficial results, we do not encourage clients to choose this route as it can become costly and free search ranking may bring equivalent web traffic in the long run. However for clients we represent who have chosen this paid marketing strategy, and can afford a reasonable daily budget targeted to a defined smaller geographic area, results have been quite satisfying.

One caveat: Websites which use sponsored ads are held to the same search ranking standards as everyone else, which means your ranking among the paid positions can be affected or exposure of your ads may be greatly limited. Google's algorithms constantly monitor the visitor experience on your paid ads and report any deficiencies regardless of how minor. That is why the paid strategy is so labor-intensive. It requires daily attention.

How to accurately measure your website's search ranking.

It is essential that you use a "private window" on your browser which supposedly has no previous search history to skew results in your favor. In addition, to be safe, it is best to utilize a browser where you can completely eradicate all previous browsing history and cookies. This is done by finding the command for "Clear Browsing Data" typically by clicking on the name of the browser and then scrolling down to choose the option to clear every aspect of data including all options under "Advanced." After doing this, it is recommended that you quit the browser and then reopen it to a fresh slate. Since it is useful to retain browser history on some regularly used browsers for your own convenience, we reserve one browser specifically for the purpose of checking SEO on our websites and don't use it for any other purposes. Another useful technique to prevent future browsing influences in your search results is to not click on the search results you are checking to prevent the browser from retaining that action for future ranking bias.

Above: The website we created for a longtime client in the flooring industry in the region also has had excellent search ranking from Google, again possibly because of the many favorable Google reviews the company has received. In addition to page one organic ranking, Google gave our client (free !) preferred placement with hours and phone number prominently displayed at the top of the listings along with a highlighted location on the region's map above that.

Above: Conducting a search on Google without any regional designation basically returns search results from an international scope. Our client surprisingly appeared on page one as an expert in his field, ranking impressively among some highly respected sources.