True Exclusivity in SEO Marketing
In the age of the internet, a robust web presence is essential for business. Building and maintaining a healthy presence requires a strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to drive potential customers to your website, and help convert them into paying clients.
In a little over a quarter century, SEO marketing has evolved at a breakneck pace. Gone are the Wild West days of keyword stuffing, excess tagging, spamming, and other black-hat SEO tactics. Today’s search engines use sophisticated algorithms that favor quality content and penalize unethical SEO techniques.
And because SEO is so important for business, SEO marketing companies have been popping up all over the place in the last few decades. But are all SEO marketing companies the same? Why would you choose one over another? Read the rest »
MozCast Google Algorithm Review – January 2018
“What IS MozCast?” you might be asking yourself. Well, it’s a handy metric put together by our friends over at Moz. Every 24 hours, a set of hand-picked keywords are tracked and notated to determine how volatile Google search results are from one day to the next. Moz then assigns a “temperature” to reflect how much fluctuation is taking place within Google search results.
How “hot” was it in January 2018, according to MozCast?
January was a scorcher! Even hotter than last month’s average of 88.32° (which is considered sweltering), January’s average temperature was 93.89° and showed clear evidence of a heat wave! For the first week of the month, the MozCast range pretty much stayed in the 80s, but had a severe spike of 93° on the 8th, and a jump all the way to 106° and “stormy” on the 11th. The entire rest of January endured “stormy” weather after the 11th, and stayed in the 90s or above. There was even another intense spike of 108° on 25th, ensuring a volatile end to the month. MozCast definitely picked up on some major algorithm changes and updates that went into effect during that time. Since Google isn’t airing out its laundry anymore, it’s important to stay up-to-date in 2018. Read the rest »
MozCast Google Algorithm Review – December 2017
“What IS MozCast?” you might be asking yourself. Well, it’s a handy metric put together by our friends over at Moz. Every 24 hours, a set of hand-picked keywords are tracked and notated to determine how volatile Google search results are from one day to the next. Moz then assigns a “temperature” to reflect how much fluctuation is taking place within Google search results.
These temperatures and conditions give us a gauge for tracking Google’s algorithm turbulence, and model the common sense of real weather patterns. A high in the 70s (and sunny) means any variations are pretty tame in the search world, and there are no major algorithm changes to be aware of or panic about. However, a temperature of 101° accompanied by stormy conditions indicates change. In other words, the hotter and stormier your MozCast, the more has changed in Google’s rankings. Read the rest »
Solicitations from Marketing Companies: Beware of SEO Scare Tactics
In the world of legal Internet marketing solicitations, remember to take everything with a grain of salt. Offers that sound too good to be true often are, and companies that make incredible claims typically aren’t the most trustworthy firms to work with. There are some obvious red flags to keep an eye out for…
If an SEO company guarantees page one placement for your website – page one placement that would definitely require a significant investment of time and overhauling your site – ask yourself how THIS particular company is able to guarantee it for such a low cost. If a reputation management company claims to be able to remove negative reviews for you – reviews that can only be removed by the person who actually wrote the review and the review site itself – take a second to ask how THAT particular company is able to do what other marketing companies cannot. Read the rest »
MozCast Google Algorithm Review – November 2016
In this new monthly installment, the team at SLS Consulting will be offering an overview of MozCast and other search ranking metric sites to help shed some light on search rank fluctuations, specifically as they pertain to Google’s ranking algorithm.
“What IS MozCast?” you might be asking yourself. Well, it’s a handy metric put together by our friends over at Moz. Every 24 hours, a set of hand-picked keywords are tracked and notated to determine how volatile Google search results are from one day to the next. Moz then assigns a “temperature” to reflect how much fluctuation is taking place within Google search results.
Make sense? To give you a better idea, 70° is an average day in the world of MozCast, meaning any fluctuations taking place are fairly normal and haven’t been caused by a major algorithmic shift from Google. Obviously any numbers higher than 70° reflect an unnatural change, with the higher the number indicating a greater change. A number lower than 70° simply means that all is quiet on the search front with results relatively static across a variety of searches.
How “hot” was it in November 2016 according to MozCast?
Generally speaking, it was pretty hot! On November 10th, the MozCast temperature spiked to 106° and many in the SEO community attributed this to an update being rolled out. There was some speculation that another spike on November 18th (also 106°) was a reverse of that update, but nothing was officially confirmed.
Read the rest »
Black Hat SEO Sentenced to 37 Months in Federal Prison
As a business owner, you’re probably used to receiving calls from numerous companies out there offering to improve rankings, increase client reviews, or even “verify” your Google listing*. These companies play on a business owner’s lack of internet marketing knowledge to deceive, take advantage of, and essentially rip off anyone they can. While we instruct our clients to forward calls and emails like that along to us, not all businesses have a marketing company in their back pocket to keep a watchful eye over illegitimate online marketing practices.
Up until recently, there seemed to be little that could be done to hold companies like this accountable. If you were naive enough to sign up for an offer that seemed too good to be true, then you had to simply cut your losses and hope your next marketing company could fix the mess that the fraudulent company created. However, one such black hat fraudster bit off a little more than he could chew when he deceived and extorted Generational Equity (GE), a Dallas merger and acquisitions company (NOT multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE), in case you’re wondering). Read the rest »
SLS Consulting Recognized by National Trial Lawyers in Top Ranking Personal Injury Law Firm Study
In a recent study conducted by Lawyer Marketing Score and discussed at length on The National Trial Lawyers blog, the search engine rankings of personal injury firms across the country were examined to determine which firms rank best in the top five major metropolitan areas. The cities considered in the study were Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Dallas Ft. Worth. SLS Consulting, Inc. is proud to have one of its client sites recognized for its #2 ranking in the New York City area.
The study examined the top keywords used in each respective city as a gauge to determine which law firms ranked in the top five. In major metropolitan areas, ranking at all for the most competitive keywords is no easy task. Ranking in the top five for those competitive keywords is even more challenging!
How is YOUR Law Firm Keeping Track of Client Intake?
At SLS Consulting, we’re not just about websites. We have a vested interest in our clients’ success and will offer any advice we can to make that happen. One of the most important things that we’ve realized over the years is that the more organized you are, the better you set yourself up for future success. For law firms, organization is definitely important, with one of the most important aspects being how the law firm keeps track of where it’s getting its clients.
A lot of other marketing companies out there will build you a website and help you get that website to rank well. Unfortunately, that’s where their interest typically tends to wane. As long as they’ve helped your site go from page three to page two in the SERPs, they’ve done their job and aren’t overly eager to do anything more for you. While there’s definitely A LOT MORE that goes into making a law firm successful, this is often where the marketing companies and the law firms they work for tend to drift apart. Read the rest »
Black Hat Beware! False Promises of Ranking on Page One of Google
Has your business ever received a call from a marketing company guaranteeing first page results in Google’s SERPs? Heck, we’re our own marketing company, and even WE get those calls, so chances are pretty good that your business gets them as well. But is there any truth behind what these cold-call marketers have to say?
First of all, if you only remember ONE thing from this entire blog, please let it be this:
NO ONE CAN GUARANTEE FIRST PAGE PLACEMENT ON GOOGLE. NO ONE.
With that being said, it’s important that you properly assess any marketing offer that comes your way. Before entering into any sort of agreement with a company that literally just calls you out of the blue, be sure to do a thorough background check on that company. Ask for their URL. Ask them how their own rankings are doing and if they can tell you about one of their better success stories amongst clients. Legitimate companies will always be able to point to past successes, while less than credible companies will merely try to fast talk you into signing some sort of deal. Read the rest »
3 Top Tell Tale Signs You’re Dealing with a Phony SEO “Professional”
Search engine optimization (SEO) may get a bad rap from time to time, but it is still an absolutely vital part of online marketing. In today’s internet-driven world, businesses that don’t incorporate an operational SEO campaign into their marketing strategies get left in the dust. Knowing this, business owners have been scrambling to acquire supposed SEO experts to give their marketing departments an edge. And many self-professed SEO “professionals” have risen up to meet the high demand, although not all of them may be as knowledgeable as they present themselves to be…
When it comes to searching for qualified SEO staff, how does one separate the wheat from the chaff? How can one tell the difference between the smooth talker and the real deal? Here’s a start: Weed out the interviewees who exhibit these three tell tale signs as described below – chances are they’re just fork-tongued phonies with a lot of talk but nothing to back it up with.
1. They promote “black hat” SEO tactics. Back in the early days of Google, “black hat” SEO tactics – duplicating content, keyword stuffing, link spamming, etc. – used to be pretty effective. However, Google has since then updated the search algorithm to reward quality over quantity. Nowadays, web pages created with black hat tactics in mind actually get penalized and fall in rankings. Read the rest »
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