Michigan SEO and Paid Search (Best Search Practices)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Paid Search are crucial for any successful digital marketing campaign. Being successful in both of these areas create an abundance of traffic on your website.

SEO vs Paid Search

While both SEO and Paid Search are important, there is a crucial difference between the two. SEO deals with organic search, or un-paid search. This is what appears on Google after the “Sponsored” section at the top that most closely relates to your search term. SEO tactics (further down in the article) allow a page to rank higher in a search engine. In fact, if a page isn’t on Googles first page, many users will not ever click on it. Only about 6% of users are willing to go to Google’s second page of results. Essentially, if you aren’t on page 1, you won’t get clicks.

Paid Search, which is also known as Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC), appears at the top of a search result under sponsored. To get there, a company pays Google or other search engines to be placed at the top of a search. When the user clicks on one of these sites, the company is charged for that click. Being at the top of pages, however, is a great way to increase traffic on your site, which is why many companies use paid search.

Improving SEO to help YOUR Michigan Business

There are a few different tactics that can be used to help your business show up on page 1 of Google’s algorithm. Below are some different strategies that are helpful to increase clicks on your page and will help maintain page rank.

Short URL Links + Target Keyword in URL

Having shorter URL’s will let Google know exactly what your page is about, helping it rank higher. Include the target key words in the URL to help your page rank higher.

Publishing Good Content

While this seems obvious, it still needs to be mentioned. If the content on the page is good, people will want to read it! Having content that is insightful, helpful, interesting, etc. will keep users on the page. If content is short, boring, and not helpful, users will leave the page quickly after clicking on it. Including keywords in your content will also help rank your page, as once again, it allows Google to know what your page is about.

Using Internal Links

Internal Links can be very helpful to get other pages ranked on your website. When a user clicks on your page they found on Google, linking older pages that are related will help that other page increase traffic.

Optimizing Your Title Tag + Meta Tag

Many users will look at a title tag to determine if that page fits what their query. If it does, then they click on the page. But if it doesn’t, they user moves on without clicking your page. As the image below shows, a title should include key words you are trying to rank and should be concise (no more than 60 characters). The meta description which is below the title tag should also include key words and quickly summarize what the page is about.

Recap

1. Paid Search and Unpaid Search are two very different things! Knowing the difference is the first step to a successful campaign
2. Improving organic search will help YOUR Michigan business today!
3. The tactics listed in this article are some of the key tactics; there are many other ways to increase page ranking. It takes some trial and error to figure out what works for YOUR page.

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