Tag Archives: search engine optimization

When people think of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they often want to know how to update their site to get more traffic. They assume that it's a quick fix. If they take the right steps and add some new links or keywords in the right places, then their site will be optimized and traffic will increase indefinitely. It's like creating a software patch. Your lack of SEO is the problem and you need to fix that problem. Once you do, you can just forget about it and expect people to keep finding your newly-upgraded site.

But is this actually how it works? Are you going to get the results that you're after if you do this?

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Predictive text is what Google uses to guess what you're going to search for, often starting from the time you type in the very first letter. An "F" may give you the auto-fill option for Facebook, for instance, while a "W" may offer suggestions like "weather" or "Wal-Mart." Google is in a unique position in understanding inherently what people search for the most often, so it can accurately predict what you may be looking for even before you search. This just adds another layer to the process of guiding searches and helping users find the specific information they're looking for, which has always been Google's main goal. The company wants to make sure that every search provides relevant and helpful results, and predicting what users are going to seek out allows for increased accuracy.

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You have a comprehensive site with dozens of landing pages, scores of main pages and category pages, and hundreds of weekly blog posts aimed at increasing traffic and SEO. The vast majority of all of this works flawlessly. The pages load correctly, the links work and traffic flows as it should. But, unknown to you, you also have a single page that generates a 404 error. The page cannot be found. And that page is likely costing you the majority of its traffic.

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Back when people used to consult the phone book when finding new businesses and services, some companies opted for names that would make them more visible. For instance, there are companies with names like "Aardvark Construction." The sole reason for this is that "aardvark" will almost always come first in an alphabetical list of names. If someone flipped to the business directory and started looking at lists of construction companies, that company could count on being first. Something like "Zimmerman Construction" may have made more logical sense, but it also would tend to rank last.

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From the perspective of running your website and trying to get consistent traffic, the Google updates can be frustrating. Just when you feel like you have it all figured out, they change something. You have to keep learning, keep updating and keep working. Not only is this extra effort for you, but you may wonder why they even do it in the first place. It's not as if Google has to overtake that No. 1 spot. The search engine is already the world's most popular choice. So why do they keep making updates so that you and your SEO team have to stay on your toes?

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