In what is perhaps the biggest search engine algorithm update thus far, Google has launched “Search, plus your World,” which combines personal social results into public search listings. Unfortunately, this new social search algorithm only factors in a user’s Google+ social graph, leaving Facebook and Twitter out in the cold.

So, what does this big change mean for businesses that depend on their Google rank for traffic and sales?

Personalized results are the default when users are logged into their Google account, so it will be harder for businesses to determine their rankings.

It will also be harder for customers to find your business and for your website to get traffic because, more often than not, Google Plus results will be appearing before public listings. Now, on an average search, two out of three top results, traditionally coveted for clicks, will be filled with social mentions.

Google has long been under fire for an algorithm that struggles to produce the most relevant results. Now with “Search Plus,” he says that it doesn’t seem like they are doing much to head in that direction.

It has everything to do with relevance, but the problem is that these results are not always relevant.
While the savvy surfers know to switch between personal and public, a business cannot assume that all of its potential customers are going to know the difference.

It is becoming all too clear that you can’t have search without social results, but since Facebook and Twitter results aren’t aggregated into public search, companies need to put an even bigger emphasis on not only creating a brand page on Google Plus, but being an active member.

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In order for an SEO project to run smoothly and effectively, SEO firms need to blend creativity, proactivity, effective time management and organization. However, one of the most important, and often overlooked, attributes of a successful SEO campaign is the communication of knowledge, not only within the agency managing the campaign, but with clients as well.

Many clients have little or no knowledge of SEO and this can often pose a problem for the SEO firm.

Without at least a minimal level of SEO education, actions taken by a client can actually be detrimental to the SEO efforts of their agency or consultant. That is why it is important for SEO experts to ensure that their clients have enough knowledge to understand SEO, its aims and methodologies, and what they can do to ensure that they get the best results.
Here are some ways that clients can undermine an SEO campaign:

1. Changing the website without telling the SEO expert. From launching new sections, rolling back to an old version of the site, rewriting copy or redesigning the site, it is important for site owners to get the SEO perspective before any changes are made.

2. Using a new CMS that doesn’t allow critical SEO changes. A content management system (CMS) that doesn’t allow for vital elements like title tags can be a major cog in the wheel. There is nothing worse for an SEO expert than title tags and being granted CMS access only to find that you cannot implement those tags.

3. Having a slow sign-off process. Someone from the company needs to sign off on any work that an SEO firm is proposing because, of course, it costs money. Because SEO is continually evolving, and dramatic changes can happen overnight, SEO experts have to be quick to react, and need the flexibility to be able to adjust both strategies and actual on-site optimization quickly and decisively. Their ability to do so can be hampered by the need to go through a lengthy sign-off process.

4. Confusing SEO with PR and advertising. A lot of website owners don’t realize that some SEO methods have nothing to do with their brand. When it comes to building links the emphasis is on finding interesting angles that will work well. When clients apply their own brand guidelines to completely external posts or even insist on SEO experts writing only about their products, it can become very difficult.

5. ‘Helping out’ with link building. It is great when clients take an interest in link building, but not when they fall for paying for 10,000 links. This tactic doesn’t work and such activity can seriously undermine a strategic link building strategy. Clients should be strongly urged to check with their SEO expert before ‘helping out’ with link building.

It is important for SEO experts to work with their clients to ensure that they understand the basics of SEO, so that they can clearly understand their role in an Internet marketing campaign.”

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2011 was an epic year for Google, with well-publicized changes to the search engine giant’s algorithms. However, as Google continues to tweak the way it ranks a website, it is important for business website owners to take a step back from traditional SEO and remember the importance of offering content that is written for users first and search engines second.

Business owners need to remember that there is no one trick that can ensure a great search engine rank. A great online marketing strategy is one that pulls together a number of disciplines and great pages are the foundation of any great strategy.

In other words, website owners need to build from great content and on-page SEO.

Here’s how:

1. Search-Friendly URLs. Although a small part of the algorithm, search friendly URLs should be part of your overall strategy. Apart from the obvious benefit of having keywords in your URLs, they can also help by providing anchor text for people linking to the page.

2. Heading Tags. Although the effect that heading tags have on rank is also quite minimal, it is no excuse to ignore them. Not only do the heading tags allow the SEO to flow through your page, they also help users confirm that they are on the right page.

3. Optimized Copy. Although you shouldn’t over-optimize your copy, some level of optimization is necessary. However, as the search engines become more sophisticated, businesses need to avoid blatant optimization and trickery.

4. Image Use. There is strong evidence to suggest that images and Alt text play a role in the way a web page is ranked. Do not include images just for the sake SEO. Well chosen images can enhance a web page by helping the user understand what it is about.

5. User-Led Copy. Make sure you know who your visitors are, what they need and what they want. Your website is the most valuable marketing outlet you have, so be sure to give it the attention that deserves.

6. Video Use. Videos have been turning up in search results for years, but so many businesses still fail to see the benefit. Featuring videos on your web pages allows you to better communicate with customers and also diversifies your search visibility.

On-page SEO is about creating useful, sharable, rich web pages that deserve rankings based on their quality. As such, business website owners must combine tested SEO techniques with usability, marketing and psychology to create websites that will rank well among the search engines.

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Online reputation management is an important factor of any company’s Internet marketing strategy. Because the nature of SEO, social media and online reputation management changes daily, it is vital that businesses stay on top of the most recent trends.

One of the most recent trends, as it relates to the Google search engine, is the use of Google+ Business Pages.

Google is slowly integrating Google+ content and pages into their normal search results. As a result, there are many positive implications for businesses looking to increase brand recognition and online reputation.

Google is perhaps one of the most trusted search engines, in part because of their ongoing mission to offer only the highest-quality search results to users. There is no better way to build an online reputation than through the use of Google and its products.

With all of this in mind, Google+ Business Pages are ranking incredibly well, when then are set up correctly. As the service increasingly integrates into the Google search space, the implication for online reputation management will increase as well.

Google+ Business Pages are only showing up for a limited amount of search queries, but with all of the testing and changes taking place, no one really knows what tomorrow will bring.

One thing is for certain, however. Posting favorable content to Google Plus can only help your reputation and brand management campaign.

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Internet users are faced with an overload of information every time they use a search engine.

With so much content out there, businesses need to make theirs stand out to both website visitors and search engine spiders. Every good website marketer knows that there is a fine line that must be walked if you want to offer engaging and SEO-friendly content.

Consider the following four SEO tips for content development:

1. Know Your Audience
Regardless of the need for a good SEO campaign for success, businesses need to remember that it’s all about the customer.

The trick to writing great content is to completely ignore SEO-friendly wording, at least in the beginning. Businesses need to start by “tuning in” to the wants and needs of their audience.
This can be done by monitoring what they are saying through social media, polls and your conversations with them. The more you learn, the easier it will be to create good content.

2. Be Truly Unique
Once you know exactly what your audience wants, the next step is to deliver.
Businesses need to be creative with their content development. This includes using slide shows, infographics, video and high-resolution photos, to go along with quality textual content.

3. Remember That You Are Writing for the Web
Writing for the web is different than writing for other mediums.
People behave a certain way online. They scan content for informative headlines, appealing images and well-constructed pages.

What this means is that web content needs to include the following:

• Meaningful headlines that use SEO-friendly keywords.
• Lists and bullets used to organize information
• Graphics, photos and illustrations.
• Pages that are segmented into manageable sections

4.Proper Keyword Placement
It is important to use SEO best practices and place your keywords in the right locations to increase page rank and
visibility.

Although it’s important to use targeted keywords and to place them correctly, your priority should be your readers. Provide them with easy-to-read content, even if you have to sacrifice using a few good long-tail keywords.

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There is no sure-fire way to predict what the search engines will and won’t do in the future. However, it is possible to learn from their activities over the past few years and identify the trends that will continue going forward.

Based on those trends, four facts about the future of SEO that will heavily influence which sites that succeed in the long run.

1. Content is King

Yes, you hear everyone in the industry saying this ad nauseam and there is a reason for that.
The primary goal of the search engines, like any business, is to make money. They can’t make money if people avoid their services because the results are perceived as low-quality.
This is why the search engines will always be engaged in the process of refining their algorithms to provide the best possible results.

2. Natural Backlinks Work Best

While a website may temporarily succeed in earning high rankings from being listed on a website that is stuffed full of profile links and paid links from spam sites, its progress will be short lived.

In the long run, it’s a better strategy to focus on obtaining the good-quality, relevant backlinks that will stand the test of time.

3. Personalized Search is a Reality

In terms of the integration of social profiles into search results, what we have experienced so far is only the beginning.

Personalized search results are anticipated to expand in scope. This means that building your professional network is critically important to online success.

4. Optimization for Multiple Platforms is Necessary

Website owners need to be aware that people might be looking for information about their business on various platforms, making it crucial that they optimize their website for as many of them as possible.

This means launching a mobile-ready version of your website and maintaining profiles on sites like Google Places and Yelp, which are likely to be used as information sources by third-party programs like Siri.

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It is no secret that both Google and Bing factor signals from social media into their organic search algorithms.
As the line between social media and SEO continue to become thinner, social media becomes an increasingly important SEO component. The fact is, social media is about relationships. Relationships, as we know, help to prove the relevance that is at the core of organic search.

It is also no secret that Facebook currently boasts a whopping 800 million active users and that 50% of them log in to their accounts daily.

You can bet that your customers and prospects are included in those numbers. They’re on Facebook and they are likely trying to engage with your brand.

For businesses without a Facebook page, there are ten reasons why they need to get on the bandwagon.

11. Major search engines crawl and index Facebook Pages because they are publicly available. As a result, Facebook Pages do come up in search engine results.

12. Google recently started crawling and indexing Facebook comments.

13. Many people actually begin their searches on Facebook.

14. SEO is increasingly becoming all about “web presence” and businesses without a Facebook page do not have a good web presence.

15. Your target audience is on Facebook.

16. The “Like” button is just as valuable as a backlink to your website.

17. Anyone who “Likes” your business can be considered a new “lead” or “contact”.

18. You can use your Facebook presence to build additional quality backlinks.

19. Facebook is mobile accessible, giving businesses another platform to market their content and brand.

20. Your competitors probably have a Facebook presence.

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As a small business website owner, you need to think more about your visitor than you have in the past. This means constantly making a more meaningful user experience for anyone who visits your website.

Relevance is Key

Website owners need to be mindful of the correlation of the site’s heading, first paragraph and the first internal link anchor text instance as it relates to the page title element, meta description and page naming convention seen by an initial query.

In other words, if the search engine results page display does not paint an accurate picture for the click through, you are simply inflating your bounce rate.

Relevance Reinforcement

Headings that consist of the same two word keywords that reside in the title element do very little to create
enticement toward an end goal.

The key for you as a website owner is to tell the user how you can provide a better solution for their keyword phrase than another website. Likewise, you need to provide visitors with a main navigation that offers a road map to an end goal.

Stop Using PDFs

Although PDFs do rank, they will certainly rank better as HTML files.

While PDFs allow your visitors to see large content files rather quickly and efficiently, they do not offer the same HTML page experience of supporting navigation and there are usually no links in the PDF that allow the user to peruse the site further.

If you must use PDFs, provide a link to the homepage or most relevant site page in the footer of each page of that PDF.

Most of these quick fixes have nothing to do with technical search engine optimization. Instead, these are simple mistakes or occurrences that most website owners don’t think about.

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Social-media is quite similar to other aspects of your business in the sense that getting desired results takes time, especially if you want to build a community of advocates for your product or service.

You have to start by building a solid foundation, sharing quality content, and engaging on a daily basis if you want to create a quality Facebook page. You want to get quality “likes” and return visits from people who are actively interested and engaged in what you do.

There are a number of ways to make this happen.

1. Ask them to like you. A simple button (you can get one from Facebook) and some basic instructions are all you need to get the ball rolling.

2. Give them a reason to like you. People get several page invites per day. With hundreds of thousands of pages out there, you need to let people know why they should like you over someone else.

3. Make your Facebook page an extension of your website. A Facebook page is like a free mini website, so treat its landing page like your website’s homepage. It is your opportunity to catch the visitor’s attention in four seconds or less.

4. Make your page actionable. Your landing page can be just as dynamic as your website. Therefore, you should include a hyperlink to your site and showcase other key links, without over complicating the page.

5. Be competitive. Offer a good deal, special offer, or a fun competition. This will help to create buzz and keep your fans engaged, while enticing new visitors to click the “like” button.

These are some of the most common ways that you can really hit a home run with your Facebook page and get the most out of all that the social networking giant has to offer.

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Nowadays, when Google updates its algorithm, it seems to strike fear into the hearts of small business website owners. In addition, it sends their search engine optimization specialists scrambling to figure out their next move as it relates to ongoing SEO campaigns.

It has become common knowledge that when Google updates its infamous search algorithm, many websites are at risk of being left in the dust. However, the search engine giant’s most recent update came with that very same warning, a first for the company.

This newest update, announced earlier this month, came with a very important warning to website owners. They basically announced that if you don't update your website on a regular basis, you will most certainly see a sudden drop in web traffic.

Most specifically, the newest update will impact searches for recent events, hot topics, regularly occurring events and information that changes regularly. Many more websites will be affected this time around.

Google says that the previous Panda update affected around twelve percent of searches, while this newest update will impact nearly thirty five percent of searches.

In response to the most recent Google update, there are a couple of steps that small business website owners need to take to ensure that they do not lose ground on what is arguably the world’s most popular search engine.

First, businesses need to create a blog that will keep your customers informed of recent updates in your industry. A blog offers the kind of timely content necessary to stay on top of the search engine results pages.

Small business website owners also need to regularly update their product and service offerings or maintain a news section, both of which can satisfy the requirements of the new algorithm.

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There is no “right way” to run an SEO campaign because each site needs to approach a campaign differently based, on their needs and goals. However, there is a wrong way to manage an SEO campaign.

If you are guilty of any of the following four mistakes, you may be mishandling your SEO campaign.

Mistake #1: You focus too much on your Google ranking.
Obviously, the higher you rank on the search engine results pages (SERPS) the better, but this should not be your primary concern.

Search engines are increasingly trying to personalize users’ search experience which means that results will vary from person to person based on search history, location and other factors. Rank is important, but it should not be the only thing you care about.

Mistake #2: Your blog is stale.
If you have a business blog, but you haven’t written a new post in six months, it is time to reevaluate your search engine optimization efforts.

SEO thrives on the consistent production of fresh content that is good enough to connect with, engage and educate your target audience. A stagnant blog will hinder the overall success of your SEO campaign.

Mistake #3: You use your social networking profiles like they are ad spaces.
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn should not be used as giant advertisements.

If you want to get the most from your social networks, you need to build relationships with your customers and create an online community for your brand.”

Be sure to use your social profiles to promote and share content, address customer service issues and engage in conversation with your audience.

Mistake #4: You think that all links are good.

Links are incredibly important to your SEO campaign, but not all links are created equal.

Don’t compromise the integrity of your online presence and your SEO campaign by participating in black hat link exchanges or blog comment spamming. Quality, not quantity, is what really matters when it comes to link building.

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The first question you need to answer, if you want to get the most from an SEO seminar or conference that you attend is why you attended the event in the first place.

Most people that sign up for SEO classes or conferences recognize that they don’t know everything about SEO and they often have a lot of questions that they want answered. It is best to write down those questions and enter the
conference or seminar ready to learn and to get the answers to those questions.

Asking Questions

When someone is talking about something you don’t fully understand, it is best to speak up and ask for clarification.

Asking questions can ensure that you fully understand the speaker’s position. If you don’t agree with their point, ask them to clarify with evidence to support their argument.

Mingle

When it comes to getting to know others in attendance, you can mingle both online and off.

Twitter is a fantastic conference or seminar mingling tool because you can learn all kinds of stuff about people on Twitter. It offers a great way to not only get to know people attending the event, but get to know the right people.

Plus, Crisafi says that if you are genuinely interested in what someone said on Twitter, then it can create the perfect opening to a conversation with that person.

Make a Commitment

Whether you attend a conference or a single SEO class, make a list of actionable steps based on what you have learned and commit to completing them.

Any great insight you take away from an SEO seminar will be useless if it gets lost inside your head. You need to commit yourself to what you have learned and do something with it. Start by writing a blog post about your experience.

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The two most important qualifications to look for in an SEO expert is competence and professionalism.
The way to find out if a company or an individual is competent and professional, as well as legitimate, is to do your due diligence. You must check credentials thoroughly and exercise common sense.

Consider the following steps when searching for an SEO firm to help you achieve your business goals:

1. Verify their contact info. If the company provides an address, Google it to be sure that it is real and if they provide a telephone number, call to see if it's answered by a person or an answering service. If they don't provide a telephone number, move on.

2. Talk to their clients. If they publish testimonials on their website, try and contact a few of their customers and get their feedback. If the company can't provide testimonials, they're probably bogus.

3. Visit SEO forums. Visit reputable SEO forums to find out what others have to say about the company.

4. Check their Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating. Most members of the BBB post it on their website with a link to their record.

5. Avoid companies that send you unsolicited e-mails. Legitimate companies don't send unsolicited e-mails and they don't send spam.

6. Avoid companies that don’t rank well on major search engines. If an SEO company can’t to secure a competitive ranking for their own site, they likely can’t secure one for yours.

7. Don't rush. Choosing the right SEO consultant is critical to the success of your business, so don’t rush into any decisions when it comes to hiring an individual or firm.

8. How long have they been in business? A company's longevity is a good indication of how good they are at what they do.

9. Are they experts in their field? Ask if they or anyone on staff has written articles that have been published on reputable SEO websites or if they have spoken at major SEO conferences. These are indicators of professionalism, reputation and expertise.

10. Ask for a money-back guarantee. If you aren't satisfied with the results, or if the company hasn't delivered on their promises, you should be entitled to either a full or partial refund. Avoid companies that won’t stand behind their work.

It would be great if we could take SEO companies at face value without being suspicious. However, especially when it comes to SEO, there are a lot of unscrupulous companies out there, so you have to stay on your toes.

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Your link building efforts may have driven your website to the top of the search engine results pages, but if your site is unfriendly to users, you may be losing conversions.

Maybe your website was hit hard by recent algorithmic updates and you’ve built links like crazy with no results. The bottom line is that link building alone just isn’t enough to sustain your website.

The following five issues can affect your link building efforts:

1. Failure to properly institute server redirects. There are so many websites out there that are not using a 301 on one version of their site to the other version. This will ultimately causes issues with indexing and linking. If you run both www and non-www versions of your site without a 301, you are splitting the link juice. It is important to pick one or the other.

2. Failure to properly structure internal links. From poor internal anchor text to wasted navigational space on lower-quality pages, poor internal link structure is one of the most common problems facing websites today. If you have hundreds of products to offer, there are better ways of marketing them to the user than having all of them listed in your left-hand navigation bar. Also, don’t waste the opportunity you have to offer great internal anchor links.

3. Failure to alert your users about your social networks. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account associated with your business, you need to list it on your home page and every page of your website, for that matter. The same holds true if you have a company blog, a YouTube channel, or any other piece of Internet real estate that your company owns.

4. Failure to use 404s properly. Different website owners handle 404s differently. Some companies send any page-not-found request back to the home page, while others use a custom 404 scenario, some of which can be quite creative. The bottom line is that you don’t want to leave your visitors hanging. If you have links going to pages that are no longer found, it really results in a bad user experience which will leads to fewer conversions.

5. Failure to properly use Robots.txt. If your website has a lot of PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and other files that don’t rank, they should be added to your robots.txt file. However, if they drive relevant traffic to your website, don’t block them. It is best to go through the entire site before blocking any files or pages and make sure
that you are making the right decision.

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Millions of people use Twitter, making it one of the world’s most powerful social media tools that businesses can use to reach their target audience both locally and worldwide. With just a few tweets, using an effective SEO keyword strategy, you can increase traffic to your website and help your search engine optimization campaign at the same time.

Consider the following tips for SEO keyword optimizing your tweets:

1. Make a list of relevant keywords. Create a text document that includes all of your important keywords. Writing down your keywords will force you to consider each one carefully.

2. Prepare your Tweets. Write your tweets ahead of time, using the keywords on your list. Try and develop at least ten different interesting and informative tweets.

3. Use your business name as your Twitter handle. If you cannot use your business name as your Twitter handle, try using one of your keywords. Remember that your handle precedes each of your tweets.

4. Incorporate your keywords into your bio. Search engines index the information found in your Twitter biography. Because Twitter limits your biography to 160 characters, use your keywords wisely in sentences that are informative and clever.

5. Use hash tags. Use your keywords as hash tags whenever possible and whenever it is appropriate. A hash tag is a pound sign, or “#”, and is used by people on Twitter to participate in conversations about a particular subject.

6. Include your URLs. Don’t forget to use the URL of your website and/or blog inside of your Tweets. Also consider including other useful and helpful blogs and sites from other trusted resources. This balanced approach to Tweeting will be appreciated by your followers and drive traffic to your site as well. Use a URL shortening service to remain within Twitter’s 140 character limitation.

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As an SEO and website development consultant, I have worked with many content management systems over the years. When it comes to SEO, some of them provide better options than others for optimization.

Consider these five key features to look for when choosing a search engine optimization (SEO) friendly content management system (CMS):

1. The ability to edit title tags on every page of your website. Most CMS platforms allow standard title tags on every page of your site, but you want a system that gives you the ability to edit the title tag on every page, making it unique to that page's content. Title tags are important because they serve as the link in your search engine results. This is why it is so important to customize it to that page by adding keywords.

2. The ability to edit meta tags on every page of your website. Like title tags, some CMS platforms allow you to provide a standard set of meta description and keywords tags that will apply to every page of your website. However, a standard meta description will not do your pages justice or necessarily contain the keyword phrase you're targeting for a given page. So, if the CMS you're considering doesn't have the ability to edit meta tags on each and every page, consider a different option.

3. The ability to auto-generate XML sitemaps. Although there are not many CMS products that will automatically create a new XML sitemap as new content is added, there are a few. For the ones that do not, plug-ins do exist to take care of the job. This feature can be very helpful in helping to avoid manually regenerating sitemaps on a regular basis.

4. The ability to generate search engine-friendly URLs. Most CMS products actually have this feature, but not all webmasters use it. Search-friendly URLs will change the standard CMS URL string into a cleaner looking URL.

5. The ability to add canonical tags. There are times when duplicate content is necessary. Since search engines frown upon duplicate content, the canonical tag allows you to identify duplicate content and tag it in such a way that the SEO value is assigned to only one of the pages.

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Google recently announced that they have tweaked the latest version of their search algorithm.

This most recent version, known to the SEO world as the Panda update, has seen countless revisions since it was launched earlier this year. The first version of Panda sent shock waves across the Internet as it pulled hundreds of thousands of websites from their spots on top of Google’s search engine results pages.

Subsequent revisions have actually scaled back the intensity of the algorithm, particularly with regard to original content vs. spam.

This latest Panda update, of course, continues to favor unique content, but also puts greater value on embedded video content.

Video sites will likely prosper under the new formula, which is why business owners need to consider developing and publishing videos related to their industry. As search engine crawlers increase their power to look inside videos and read the contents, videos will continue to become better indexed and more highly prized.

Google makes about 500 adjustments to their algorithm every year. However, he says that webmasters seldom see abrupt changes as a result of these tweaks.

What we can take from the Google’s most recent announcement is that minor changes in ranking positions are going to happen continually and, this time, small business owners need to consider video for SEO.

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SEO software can be a great tool for the do-it-yourself website owner or an in-house employee charged with taking control of their employer’s website. SEO software can certainly help streamline your company’s marketing efforts, bring all your SEO activities into one place and, of course, there is no shortage of great SEO software available.

However, before you pull the trigger on purchasing search engine optimization (SEO) software, there are a four points that a business website owner should consider.

Good SEO software can actually cost more than an SEO consultant.

It is not unheard of for businesses to spend hundreds of dollars a month on SEO software. While the cost of an SEO consultant might vary, it is often more cost-effective in the long run to hire an SEO service provider.

An SEO consultant allows you to work with a real person that is dedicated to the success of your online marketing campaign. That individual can help you to build a custom campaign that takes your unique business goals and assets into consideration.

SEO software can streamline the process, but it cannot do your SEO for you. An actual person will take the load off of your shoulders so you can focus on other things.

Like any other software, you have to learn how it works.

Business owners need to factor a learning curve into their SEO calendar.
If you don’t understand all the facets of your SEO software, you aren’t able to take advantage of all it can do for you.

You need to make time to use the software.

After you factor in time for learning the software, you still need to find time to use it.

If you don’t have the time to implement and use the software now, chances are you won’t any time soon.
It would be better to invest in an SEO consultant who can take all the work off your hands.

You need to learn SEO basics.

SEO software is a tool, but you still need basic SEO knowledge to make it work for you.

As a business website owner, you will still have to learn the basics of SEO, learn the difference between white hat techniques from black hat techniques, and understand social media integration, at the very least.

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So, you have spent a bunch of money optimizing your website, but business is still slow. It is easy, when that happens, to blame it on poor search engine optimization (SEO). The truth is, however, that SEO is not a magic bullet and there are other areas of website development that need to be finely-tuned during an SEO overhaul if you want to achieve success.

The purpose of a good SEO campaign is to deliver inbound traffic to your website. Once traffic is there, it is up to your brand, website, product or service to convert that visitor into a client.
Before you blame your SEO campaign, consider some of these other reasons for sluggish results:

Poor Layout
If visitors find it hard to locate relevant information, or if your website features poor navigation and does not flow properly, your target audience is more likely to ditch you for your competitor.

Poor Content
Treat you content as if it were your virtual salesperson. If your website features poorly written content or fails to communicate your message effectively, your audience will notice and move on.

Outdated Design
While design is subjective and beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, a modern website design is crucial for brand and trust building. Remember, first impressions count and you only have seconds online to make that first impression.

Website Errors
Whether your website has broken links, pages not found, or forms that don’t work properly, errors frustrate visitors. When they click on a link that leads to nowhere or have trouble filling out a form, there is no way for you to build trust and confidence in your brand.

Lack of Updates
Keeping your website content fresh is necessary for success. This doesn’t just mean textual content either. Having updated photos and timely announcements will keep visitors coming back for more.

No Social Media
Social media is everywhere and it has changed the way people connect and do business online. If you do not include social media in your marketing strategy, you will fail.

There are many so-called SEO experts out there that are guilty of telling clients something about SEO that is either an exaggeration or downright lie.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous online marketing firms that will tell you anything to get your business.

Here are ten SEO myths that every website owner should recognize before hiring an SEO consulting firm.

1. Satisfaction can be guaranteed. There is no such thing as guaranteed organic search engine rankings. It is best to not trust anyone who promises otherwise. With more than 200 factors in the Google ranking algorithm, there is no way that anyone can control all of them.

2. High Google PageRank = High Search Engine Rank. Google PageRank is only one of Google’s ranking factors. Although it is a fair indicator of a page’s link popularity and it may weigh more heavily than other factors, it is not uncommon for a web page with a lower PageRank to rank higher in the search results than those with a higher PageRank.

3. Google endorses certain SEO companies. Any company claiming to be “endorsed” or “certified” by Google is lying to you. Although the company offers certification for its Analytics and AdWords, they offer no stamp of
approval for any SEO company.

4. Meta keyword tags matter. Google considers the Meta keyword tag to be a waste of time. Some smaller search engines do use them and they are quick and easy to do, so it can’t hurt to use them. However, don’t agonize over them or you will be wasting your time.

5. Cheaters win. Cheating is always a bad idea and when it comes to SEO, it is an even worse idea. “Black hat SEO,” as it is called, may work once in a while, but when the search engines find you out, you will likely be banned from search engine results.

6. You should stuff your content with keywords. While keywords are important, using them too often will destroy the page’s power to influence audiences. Pay attention to your keywords and use them, but make sure you write for your readers, not for the search engines.

7. Using Google AdWords will boost your rankings. Google says there is no connection between participating in AdWords and organic rankings. Any good SEO expert will agree.

8. Your home page is the most important page of your site. The concept of a “landing page” is really only relevant to PPC advertising. Almost any page on your website can show up in organic search engine listings at any time.

9. You can “set and forget.” Once the brunt of the optimization work is completed, you can certainly take a step back. However, search engine optimization and marketing is an ongoing process that needs to be consistently maintained if you want to stay competitive.

10. Search engine rank is everything. Having a high search engine rank is great and it does drive more traffic, but it is content that will ultimately convert visitors to customers. Even having the top spot on Google can’t make up for a poor user experience on your website.

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