WORDPRESS SEO FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND MID-SIZE LEVEL COMPANIES
How We Help You With SEO Specifically
YOAST SEO FOR WORDPRESS
What is Yoast SEO? It’s far and away the number one most used WordPress plug-in used to optimize Search Engine Titles, Meta Descriptions and search engine readability for WordPress websites.
The proof is in the data (show visual / graph / chart of Yoast usage vs. other)
The best thing about Yoast, is that the free version does most of what all websites need it to do…
Yoast SEO inserts a slot to include the search engine title and meta description on each page, post and custom post type of all WordPress sites
Yoast also includes a spot to include a focus keyword that “scores” how well the content is written on each page, and how well that content corresponds with the search engine title and meta description that has been entered.
It also shows a preview of what the user will see when the results appear on Google or Bing for each page. Along with this section, Yoast SEO shows you the character count that is appropriate for each section.
Additionally, a really cool feature of Yoast is that you can toggle to change the featured image and preview text that will show on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets when you embed links on posts.
So if anyone can download and use Yoast SEO for free in their WordPress Websites, why do we specialize in using Yoast, why do we tell you it’s free and that you can do it yourself – and why do we charge you for it?
In other words, why do you need us?
Well, if you’re the type of person that wants to …
Cut your own hair
Change your own oil in your vehicles
Fix your own HVAC unit every time it breaks …
Then you may not ever need us, and we’re happy to provide our free DIY content on our blog for you, but the data shows that 97 out of every 100 WordPress websites we analyze, either don’t have Yoast or any kind of SEO plug-in installed, or they have it installed but do not have it filled out properly.
We use data to understand which keywords make the most sense to be the focus of each page, post and custom post type, and we fill out the Search Engine Titles, Meta Descriptions and Focus Keywords on each page to optimize your Yoast SEO score and put your business’ best foot forward to Google.
In other words, you can by a set of clippers, some box dye, spend less money and more time trying to get it right, or you can come straight to the professionals who optimize things for you for the best possible experience in a cost effective way.
We will work with you on optimizing Yoast SEO on your current WordPress website, AND anyone who redesigns their website with us, ALWAYS gets the full Yoast SEO treatment, guaranteed.
BLOGS ON YOAST SEO
The WordPress Show: How To Further Optimize Your WooCommerce Products For SEO Using Yoast
By Paul Hickey |
How To Make The Image I Want From My Website Show In My Social Media Post
By Paul Hickey |
WordPress and Yoast SEO Tip – How To Fix Category and Tag Issues In Google Search Console – Data Driven Daily Tip 316
By Paul Hickey |
Data Driven Daily Tip 301: How To Find Your Sitemap In Yoast SEO
By Paul Hickey |
WordPress SEO Tip: How To Fix XML Sitemap Issue In Yoast Plug-in
By Paul Hickey |
WORDPRESS SCHEMA STRUCTURED DATA
What on earth is Schema Structured Data? It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, right?
Being the super geeks we are at Data Driven Design, we landed upon Schema Structured Data back in 2012 as a key differentiator between sites that rank high on Google, and those that don’t.
Structured Data is a categorization system that allows Google to see what kind of site yours is. For example, is it a …
- Local Business with one location
- Local Business with multiple locations
- Regional Business with multiple locations
- National or International Brand
- Publisher
- eCommerce store
In addition, within each top level category, it allows the website content manager to publish a core set of information, some as simple as phone number and address, all the way up to price and description of a product, to the title, topic and author of a blog post.
It’s similar but different to meta data and search engine titles. It’s just as important, but it gives the search engines more context, and for that extra effort, sites with Schema Structured Data are typically rewarded with higher rankings than those that don’t include it.
Similar to YOAST SEO, we use a special premium plug-in that we have a developers license for, in order to efficiently and effectively implement Schema Structured data on all of your pages, posts and custom post types.
As part of our SEO Best Practices Checklist Implementation, we will work with you on optimizing Schema Structured Data on your current WordPress website, AND anyone who redesigns their website with us, ALWAYS gets the full Schema treatment, guaranteed.
BLOGS ON WORDPRESS SCHEMA SEO
The WordPress Show: How To Add SEO Structured Data Schema In WooCommerce Products
By Paul Hickey |
How To Add Schema To WordPress Custom Post Types: Data Driven Daily Tip 248
By Paul Hickey |
GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
What the heck is Google Search Console? It sounds important, right?
Believe me, it is.
Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console is the most under-utilized free tool for SEO on the face of the planet. Don’t believe me, the proof is in the data. Less than 1% of websites we’ve audited (that aren’t our clients) have even verified themselves with Google Search Console.
This is why we can confidently say you’re better off working with us than your current web developer or SEO provider.
Google Search Console does several things…
Links to your website (called verification) so that Google can see it
Allows you to submit a sitemap and complete URL inspections so that Google crawls it and indexes it
Provides reports on actual search engine visibility and ranking
But perhaps more important than anything else, Google Search Console notifies you of ways to improve your website for better SEO
While all of our website redesign clients get verified with Search Console and have sitemaps and crawl requests submitted, we offer a la carte services in our SEO package (link to pricing grid) to work on this for you even if we didn’t design / develop your website.
I like to describe Google Search Console as a friendly elementary school teacher. Let’s say second grade teacher. Everyone’s second grade teacher was friendly, right? He or she came around and helped you with all of your work to make sure you understood it, improved, and excelled to the maximum of your capabilities.
(Thanks Mrs. Johnson).
So it’s time to smile and use Google Search Console. ☺
As you can see (look to the right – or below on mobile) – we’ve blogged A LOT about Google Search Console.
BLOGS ON GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
The Best SEO Tip Ever!
By Paul Hickey |
Digital Marketing Hack: Post On Social Media Frequently And Run A Facebook Page Promotion
By Paul Hickey |
Small Business Website Workshop
By Paul Hickey |
WordPress and Yoast SEO Tip – How To Fix Category and Tag Issues In Google Search Console – Data Driven Daily Tip 316
By Paul Hickey |
Google Search Console Domain Properties and How to Use Them – Data Driven Daily Tip 299
By Paul Hickey |
What Are Google Organic Sitelinks? Data Driven Daily Tip 277
By Paul Hickey |
How To Fix This Site May Be Hacked Message On Google: Data Driven Daily Tip 244
By Paul Hickey |
How To Fix Coverage Issues In Google Search Console: Data Driven Daily Tip 237
By Paul Hickey |
What Is Google Webmaster Tools? Data Driven Daily Tip #220
By Paul Hickey |
Marketers: Are Your Google Search Console And Google Analytics Linked Yet? Data Driven Daily Tip #212
By Paul Hickey |
Hey Google: WTF Is Mobile-First Indexing And What Does This Email Mean?
By Paul Hickey |
Don't Get Ripped Off By A Shady SEO Company
By Paul Hickey |
SEO WTF? Google Search Console's Emails Explained
By Paul Hickey |
Web Development and SEO Tip: How to Properly Switch SSL to New Primary Domain
By Paul Hickey |
Google Search Console Tips: How to Remove Your URLs from Google Indexing
By Paul Hickey |
SEO Tip: Google Improves Search Console
By Paul Hickey |
How To Really Tell Where You Rank Organically On Google
By Paul Hickey |
SEO Talk: Behind The Scenes
By Paul Hickey |
Data Driven Daily Tip: You Can Actually Call Google
By Paul Hickey |
Data Driven Daily Tip: Google Search Console Says SSL Needed
By Paul Hickey |
Podcast Episode 18: What Is Google Webmaster Tools?
By Paul Hickey |
Data Driven Daily Tip: What Is Google Search Console?
By Paul Hickey |
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
Have you heard of Local SEO?
Have you heard of Google My Business?
If your answer to number one was “yes,” but your answer to number two was “no,” then basically that’s the equivalent of knowing about tissue but not Kleenex. Seriously.
Okay, well, at least knowing about running shoes but not Nike.
Got it?
Basically, if you don’t have a VERIFIED Google My Business listing, and you don’t post regularly on your Google My Business page, along with making sure that all of your business information is up-to-date on that page, you are missing out serious low-hanging fruit opportunities to improve your Local SEO.
But my business isn’t local, it’s eCommerce, National, International, and nobody would walk into our office other than our employees.
How does Google My Business help me in this case?
Look, I know it seems weird, but the proof is in the data. Businesses (even if they don’t have storefronts), that don’t pay attention to Local SEO efforts like Google My Business verification, suffer huge in SEO.
Why is Google My Business important to ALL Businesses?
Even if you don’t have storefronts, Google looks for consistency in all business listings. During the history of the internet, many web scrapers have been used to create false business directories that show incorrect information (on purpose) about your business.
Google, however, looks for a source of truth. What do you think Google’s Business information source of truth is? Yep, Google My Business.
If you haven’t verified your listing and ensured your information is correct, then you are essentially telling Google you’re not a reliable business. This will negatively affect your Google ranking over time.
Lastly, and maybe most obviously, when you Google the name of a business and include it’s location, on most desktop and mobile searches, the Google My Business listing (verified or not) gets the most real estate in the results.
Verifying and optimizing your listing(s) ensure your brand is properly represented on search engine results. (and you want this, because the data shows that 65% of all website traffic is generated from Organic Search – and 97% of all of those searches come from Google).