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Knowing The Vital Strategies For Houston Digital Marketing

September 12, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

9 Crucial Strategies That Are An Integral Part Of Effective Digital Marketing In Houston

Digital marketing is a term synonymous with networking strategies and campaigns. But to see the gains of digital marketing, you need to understand the procedure you will have at your disposal. Every digital marketing method you decide to use should help you stay afloat, giving a competitive edge and makes you a cut above the rest.

That then requires that you have a deep understanding of the ins and outs of digital marketing. You have to be familiar with the definition, its significant, and how you use the different digital marketing strategies.

What Is Digital Marketing?

It is a marketing approach that relies on the use of electronic gadgets and platforms. But there is more to it than you may think of from the outset.

Digital marketing is not something that came about with the advent of the internet. It has been around eve since electronic devices become an integral part of life and the way we do business. It entails more than just content generation and marketing, coupled with the leveraging of social media. Such things are part of the overall approach in digital marketing, but keep in mind that this is a marketing method that can take place online and offline.

Why Digital Marketing Matters?

The dependency on our electronic devices increases with every passing day. We are spending more and more time on these gadgets. Research shows that the average American spends more than 11 hours on electronic devices.

Those may be scary stats, but they are nothing compared to the fact that we are drawing ever so closer to spending every waking hour on these machines and gadgets. Given such statistics, digital marketing becomes a pivotal element in today’s world of commerce. The lack of adequate efforts to drive this marketing strategy can spell the downfall of your business. If you want to stay in the pack or ahead of them, then you should invest in digital marketing. Looking into the different methods employed in digital marketing and pick the ones that best suit your venture, target audience, and industry.

Types of Digital Marketing

1. Search Engine Optimization

It is a technique that entails growing online visibility for search results on search engines such as Google and Bing, among others. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) focuses on organic (non-paid) methods to ensure that your company, brand, product, or services appear on SERPs (search engine results pages). In short, eh user will receive individualized results for the keywords the input for the online search. Other elements also used to determine the results to show, including the user’s location and browsing history.

The search results are displayed in a list with the ranking determined by a search engine algorithm. The algorithms are updated continuously based on the users’ every changing way of engaging online and their searches. Therefore, if you manage to bag a high rank on the first SERP, then you are likely to enjoy more incoming traffic to your website. You then can convert those passive visitors into active customers.

2. Search Engine Marketing

You need to bolster your SEO efforts with some Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It will cover the areas the SEO fails to address. Ideally, the objective with SEM is to get the advertisement space on the SERPs. That means you will have to buy that space, meaning you will need to invest in paid search platforms such as Bing Ads, Google AdWords, and Next.

You will be charged a certain amount to have your advertisements appearing in various places on the search results pages. If you understand that SEM entails, then you will invest in it via options such as PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.

3. Social Media Marketing

At this point, you now know how crucial social media is in today’s marketing strategies. However, how well do you understand is implementation as a marketing tool? If you master how to leverage social media for marketing purposes, then it will be a platform that increases your exposure (online visibility). It offers an intimate approach to connecting and engaging with your customers. As you interact with them, you will manage to get valuable feedback that you can use to improve your products or services.

4. Content Marketing

Content is at the heart of it all. It is the material you display, be it text, images, or videos. However, prominence is given to written content. But even then, every kind of content has its place in today’s digital marketing hence the need to come up with an effective content generation and marketing plan that you can blend with other digital marketing elements such as social media marketing and SEO.

You need content to keep your target audience engaged. Therefore, the material you generate should be created with the audience in mind, taking into consideration the users’ likes, needs, and interests. And as these things dictate the subject for the content, you also need to consider their language and online search keywords they use so that you can utilize all that to boost your search engine optimization.

5. Affiliate Marketing

The need for hiring a salesperson for your brand, service, or products is the same way that you will need to invest in affiliate marketing, which entails paying for conversions. The affiliates are your sales personnel who promote your product or services and earn a commission. The beautify of it is that you will determine the rate and only pay for the conversions you get. You will not have to worry about upfront payments when it comes to affiliate marketing.

As you invest in affiliate marketing, make sure that all terms and conditions are clearly spelled out and agreed with beforehand. The affiliates you enlist will be your brand’s representatives tasked with carrying its message to the masses.

6. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing may be one of the newer tactics in digital marketing, but it has managed to make its mark known. It involves the use of people with a significant online reach and whom online users view or regard as experts. You will be leveraging their social influence to drive up traffic volume and sales. It is a popular strategy used in social media marketing. Some of the social media platforms known to be utilized in influencer marketing include Snapchat and Instagram. The influence will post images of your product or mentions your brand or services in their posts.

7. Email Marketing

Email marketing, as the name suggests, is about using your email address to update your customers or clients. You will be sending updates to your email subscribers regularly informing them about your business or what you have to offer. It helps establish a stable relationship as you make it part of your digital marketing campaign.

8. Viral Marketing

It is a strategy centered around creating content that has the potential of becoming a trendy topic. Such posts can be strange, funny, controversial, but bearing the power of sending the desired message across. It is one of the most effective ways of increasing traffic to a site over a short period. While viral marketing may be hard, its benefits are well worth the time and effort.

9. Mobile Phone Advertising

Lastly, you cannot overlook mobile phone advertising. We are in an age when everyone has and uses a mobile phone. Given this, all the other marketing tactics mentioned above can be done on mobile devices. Therefore, you need to ensure that your overall digital marketing efforts take into account the relevance of mobile phone advertising.

Call or contact SEO Houston Pros today for further information. Visit our blog for more tricks and tips for Houston SEO!

The Principles Behind The Effective Houston Digital Marketing Are Explained

September 5, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

7 Core Principles Of Effective Digital Marketing In Houston

Are you trying to figure out the best way to develop and deploy an effective digital marketing strategy for your business or that of a client? If you’re new to the field of digital marketing, practicing techniques for yourself is an excellent way to gain experience.

The approach you take to digital marketing will largely depend on your end goals, however, there are certainly some universal principles to keep in mind to ensure an effective strategy. If you want to learn more about successful digital marketing in 2019, check out this brief guide below to help you get started on the right track.

1. Draw Up A Realistic Framework

Prior to implementing any techniques or investing any money, you need to map out your approach. There are multiple ways to do so, such as timelines, editorial calendars, and content mapping. What’s more, there are dozens of free online tools to make the job of content planning and management super streamlined.

The essential point is to set several realistic goals for your strategy, leaving room for the unpredictable. You can do this by basing your goals on a series of key performance indicators (KPIs), which are directly related to the vision you have for your business.

2. Identify Core KPIs From The Outset

What are you like at setting goals? You need to select the right metrics to center your efforts on to ensure you get the end result you want. Choosing the correct KPIs – the ones most closely linked and representative to core target areas in your business – will help to keep you on target. In addition, you will be able to clearly see which marketing actions are working and which require tweaking.

Here are some questions to ask to help you work out which KPIs to use:

How is this KPI linked to my end goal?
What is this KPI measuring?
Is what is being tracked linked to user experience? If so, how?
What level of depth will I use to monitor certain metrics and is that accounted for in my plan?

3. Learn How To Create An Effective Funnel

Those with experience in the field of traditional marketing will already be acquainted with the idea of a sales funnel. A sales funnel is simply a play-by-play outline of each step of a buyer’s journey. Here is a brief breakdown of the concept with examples:

Outreach: Landing page, Facebook ads, infographics, explainer videos, content marketing, etc.
Conversion: Informational blog posts, quizzes, case studies, social media, etc.
Closing: Reviews, questionnaires, email series, etc.
Retention: Whitepapers, contents, e-mails, exclusive offers, surveys, etc.

The widest section or the beginning of the funnel is the outreach stage, where brand awareness and engagement occur. The stage is vital for capturing new traffic and re-engaging repeat visitors. The top of a sales funnels is where all the marketing happens and it needs to be highly engaging – start thinking about building relationships rather than focusing on the sale.

4. Understand How To Generate Effective Content

Effective content involves much more than Facebook ads, great blogs, and Tweets! There are many things you can do to create and distribute content more creatively. You are going to need to learn the latest methods of reaching new audiences by getting up-to-date with online technology.

To get the best results from your outreach and engagement methods, you need to be able to tell a story. Your strategy should focus on effective advertising campaigns that are not only high quality but offer value to the audience.

5. Allow For Flexibility In Your Strategic Plans

No matter what your plan is, there should be room for flexibility. Think about when you give “fake” deadlines for tasks you delegate to employees: you should take the same approach with your digital marketing plan. There should be ample room for dealing with unpredicted events and time fluctuations.

Ideally, you want to leave some “blank” spaces in your schedule and marketing timeline, which can be filled as you go. You also need to leave room for incorporating things like responding to viral articles from your competition, reacting to relevant current events, or unforeseen investments in new online tools that could alter the direction of your digital marketing plan.

6. Generate Lots Of Evergreen Content

Different forms of content serve different purposes and you need to incorporate various types when working on your business’s content marketing strategy. Although it may sound complex, it’s actually pretty simple if you take time to bulk content together and keep it all organized around tags and keywords.

Evergreen content is a form of unique content that can be repurposed in multiple ways across multiple channels. As a result, such content is generally not event or time relevant, but it centers around your brand’s story, key offerings, and core message.

7. Visualize A Clear Path

Is your content heading in a clear direction in line with overall engagement and traffic? You need to make sure that is the case from the outset in order to progress through each stage of your marketing strategy. Be sure to track how each phase of your sales funnel is performing and seek out re-engagement techniques if you notice conversion rates fluctuating.

The ultimate goal is to develop a flexible strategy that demonstrates a clear understanding of the processes you need to follow to create SEO-friendly, highly sharable content. Along the way, you should always compare actual results against expected results so you can track how well your strategies are workings and make any required changes.

Ending Words

In order to create a successful content marketing strategy, you need a solid understanding of effective project management, which involves having a solid overall vision of your plan as well as a detailed breakdown of each stage. Content marketing strategies require a mixture of art and science to ensure they are a success.

Effective digital marketing strategies can be tough to create, but with sufficient practice, you can master techniques that work to your benefit. Keep in mind your aim should be to remove your focus form conversions and profits and instead center your efforts on the human element – your brand story, the buyer’s journey, and audience engagement. If you learn how to authentically engage with your target audience, you are almost guaranteed to see success.

Please feel free to get in touch with the best SEO agency in Houston by contacting us today or giving us a call now! Visit our blog for more tips and tricks on successful SEO tactics!

Understanding The Importance Of Digital Marketing In Houston

August 6, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

Learn All You Should Know About How Houston Digital Marketing Operates

The purchasing patterns of consumers have evolved a lot in the last 10 years or so. It’s gotten to the point that many consumers are beginning and also finishing their shopping adventure completely online, which just demonstrates the power of digital marketing. Given this shift in the marketplace about how consumers make their shopping choices and even their buying, digital marketing is now crucial for any company hoping to keep up with the modern economy, no matter what sector or size they are.

What Exactly Is Digital Marketing Then?

Before you can learn about the ways in which digital marketing operates, you need to first know what it specifically is. Digital marketing could be defined as a way of promoting products and brands, both online and through various other digital mediums. Nearly every company or business has a particular audience that they are targeting and digital marketing is what gives these companies ways of connecting with their target consumers over the internet and in other digital channels.

Companies and the marketers responsible for their growth and success employ numerous digital technologies in order to convey marketing messages to specific audiences. On top of its own website, a business might also use social media, smartphones and mobile technology, email marketing, and display or PPC ads among many other things in order to draw in target consumers and engage them.

How The Tactics Of Digital Marketing Function

Company owners need to have a good grasp of digital marketing and how it operates in order to make wise choices in terms of their own digital marketing campaigns. The secret to comprehending all of this is by first learning the various particular elements involved and then being aware of how they each pave the way to marketing success. Keep reading to learn these different marketing tactics and how they can be useful to you and your business.

Website Marketing

The website your company has or will have is the foundation for nearly all of the rest of the digital marketing strategy you use. Your company website is usually the first place that your target audience forms an impression about your brand. On top of that, it’s also going to be the place where your leads get converted into paying clients. As such, your website serves a central role in your broader digital marketing efforts.

The primary goal of any digital marketing is the attraction, engagement, and conversion of prospects and leads. Nearly every technique you employ in all of this should be eventually leading your prospects to your website in order to either learn more or actually buy something.

There are times that your website is going to be your company’s only opportunity to make that crucial first impression. Given that, you need to be mindful of the site layout, graphics, and colors.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is a huge factor in digital marketing. Search engines are the place to start if you’re looking to reach out to prospects that you’re hoping to convert. If you’re not constantly doing something to improve the SEO of your site, then you’re neglecting perhaps the most powerful avenue of generating lots of leads.

SEO is a process of making your website and its content appeal to the major search engines. Your final objective is ranking higher on any search engine results pages that relate to your products or services. When you rank higher in the SERPs, you’ll have more organic traffic coming back to your company’s website.

SEO doesn’t just get your website more traffic, but what’s considered high-caliber traffic. That’s because the traffic you will attract isn’t just high in volume, but those who are interested in what you have to offer. When your website focuses on the right subjects and keywords, you get to start reaching out to anyone online who are looking for things like what you have to offer.

Content Marketing

Another crucial tactic in digital marketing is content marketing. This is basically when your company comes up with and then promotes particular content resources with the intention of drawing in and engaging prospective clients or customers. You can create content resources or assets for many different reasons, which might include specific things like customer retention, boosting website traffic, getting leads, or just promoting brand awareness.

Regardless of which techniques you employ as components of your company’s digital marketing strategy, you’re going to need to put content out there in support of your efforts. That might be as small scale as thank-you emails to your subscribers or larger scale like an e-book that goes over and offers solutions to target consumers and the difficulties they might be looking for answers to.

The following are just several kinds of content marketing that you might establish in pursuit of digital marketing:

Ad content
Blog posts
Case studies
E-books
Images
Infographics
Social media content
Podcasts
Testimonials
Video content
Webpages
White papers

The trick to coming up with effective content resources that help drive your digital marketing efforts is by meticulously picking subjects that your audience is likely to find the most appealing. Unless you’ve already done it, be sure you research your target audience. You might even want to come up with some consumer personas to learn what about your customers. This will help you figure out what sort of content is going to prove attractive to them.

Social Media Marketing

Nearly every modern brand is employing social media marketing as a way to help their larger digital marketing efforts, specifically to get more traffic visiting their website. Social media marketing centers around the ideas of promoting the content so you can engage target consumers through options like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. Digital marketing needs this particular technique because it helps companies grow their brand awareness, get more leads, and enjoy better customer engagement.

The one feature of the social media marketing that you might find most advantageous is just how large an audience is available to you. For instance, 8 out of 10 Americans that are online are also on Facebook. If your company isn’t using social platforms to reach out to and engage customers, then you’re really missing out on something that could mean a lot of new leads.

Social media can be very useful on its own, but it’s also something that helps every other one of your digital marketing efforts. For example, if your company creates an insightful e-book that your target audience is very receptive to, then social media can be used for promoting it, as traffic is driven to the download’s landing page. You could even use chapters or sections of that e-book as future social media content to lay the groundwork for more interest later.

PPC Advertising

Even though your company’s digital marketing strategy should be focusing on generating as much organic traffic as you can possibly get, it’s not wise to ignore how powerful pay-per-click ads can be. PPC ads mean paying ad publishers each time that a new lead actually clicks on an ad of yours. One of the most popular and successful kinds of PC ads is Google AdWords. These can get your business showing up not only on the first search engine results page but also over the organic listings.

You might be curious about why you would want to pay for ads when you’re currently trying to boost your website’s SEO. It’s a good question. The truth is that while SEO is essential, it can still take time for it to generate results. PPC ads can fill in during the meantime. PPC ads get you results much more quickly since your site is at the very top of any search results pages for related search terms. When you show up on the first page of relevant SERPs, your company gets more visibility, making it much more likely that searchers find and then click onto your website.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is just another component of digital marketing. Businesses put out branded emails in order to reach out to the core audience they want. Use marketing emails to spread the word about any special deals or promotions you have, build up your sector position, boost brand awareness, and promote any events you have coming up.

The specific content of any marketing emails you put out should be based on what your particular campaign goals are. The following are only several examples of the kinds of email marketing content that you might come up with as part of your digital marketing efforts:

Sending out welcome emails anytime you get new users who subscribe to your company’s marketing list. These should tell them what’s likely to happen through your brand emails.
Delivering promotional content. Put news and information about future discounts and sales right in the inboxes of those who might buy from you.
Developing a periodic newsletter. Deliver this to subscribers to they have the latest content and business updates about your company.
Emailing leads once they download any content from your company site. Thank them for any interest they show. Also, take advantage of this opportunity to suggest relevant content to them.
Recommendations about other content assets or products. These should be based on the buying and browsing patterns of your customers and leads.
Nurturing new leads that have shown interest. Many companies make the mistake of only trying to use email marketing for generating new leads, but it works far more effectively in following up with those that look even remotely interested as well as handling customer retention.

As with all the other techniques already listed earlier, email marketing isn’t used just by itself. Yes, you could make a monthly newsletter for promoting specials via email, but email marketing is also something you can use to support other techniques, be it social media or content marketing.

Call us or contact us today for your free consultation. Visit our blog for more related articles on how to execute the best SEO in Houston!

SEO Houston Work: Creating The Best URL

July 10, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

The Keys For Perfecting The URL In Houston SEO Work

Creating the perfect URL in SEO may seem like a footnote and five-minute process and this can make a very important component of SEO success go overlooked far too often. URLs are the essential building blocks of web traffic and their use can really make or break the entire SEO campaign.

While all URLs must be created mindful of its particular task, no all the pointers listed here will apply to each URL on Each page. Your website will not be thrown on a hopeless tailspin of these are not applied to each page, these pointers are more about providing insights so that you can optimize your own practice and use URLs to their full potential.

1. Remove Extra Words

Make sure you take out all the words that are not absolutely necessary to the significance of the URL –– also known as “stop words”, this will improve the readability. This could include words like “and”, “that” as well as other extra words that don’t actually need to be there. The important rule to follow is that the URL must still be understandable to a human reader. This not only helps them to understand the subject better but improves their trust in the site.

2. Relevant Keywords

Keywords are one of the important elements that provide humans and search engines more information about the page they are on, so having a couple in the URL is a good idea. The best use is to have them describing the contents of the page itself.

Think of how often URLs must be copied-pasted when using social media or sending emails. This is because the URLs lack their anchor text, the text used in the URL is essential to understanding what will be found at the other end of a link. When you use proper anchor text with your URLs you are hitting many birds with a single stone –– the keywords you use to make it easier for the search engines to know what the content is all about so they can pass this on to those performing relevant search queries.

3. Easily Readable

Your URL will be read by both human beings and search engines. With this in mind, it is important that it is easy to understand and makes sense Your URL should inform the reader what they will find at that link. So be sure to include as many relevant keywords as possible and pull out anything unnecessary. Ideally, it should also include the domain, sub-domain and the keywords you have selected –– be sure not to make it look to spam-like because this can limit accessibility.

4. Utilize Hyphens & Underscores

The options available when looking to separate words in a URL are underscores, hyphens and nothing at all. We suggest using the hyphen option as this improves the overall readability of the URL and humans, as well as the search engines, will find it easier to understand. Underscores are another option that has risen in popularity recently since search engines are finding these easier to understand. Now that systems have been improved, hyphens and underscores are understood in the same way. Spaces are not recommended as they diminish the readability of the URL.

5. Single Domain & Subdomain

Many people disagree with placing content from subdomains into a subfolder to improve rankings. There may be times that a webmaster has no other choice and if that is the situation then go right ahead. But, if you want your website to perform especially well with the search engines you will want to keep things organized in a single root domain and subdomains. To think of this another way, practice the same logic you would use for effective website architecture –– shallow. Shallow means that there are not labyrinthine subdomains leading to netherworlds of content.

6. Canonicalize When Possible

If you end up with two identical URLs and both contain very similar content, you should consider applying a 301 redirector and cannibalizing them. Having duplicate content doesn’t actually make a huge impact on search engine ranking, but it can have an indirect effect by slicing signals between two different pages. It doesn’t occur to many people that a web page can have many different versions like a www version, a non-www version, an HTTPS and an HTTP version.

7. Exclude Dynamic Parameters

You may find it better to not use the URL parameters if you can avoid it. If you find yourself with over 2 URL parameters, you may want to consider reworking the URL so that it is static text and easily readable. There is a good chance that you rely on a content management system that is pretty quick to help out when there are many parameters. These parameters can perform functions like tracking clicks and in general, aren’t a problem except that they can make for some oddly complex URLs.

8. Match URLs & Titles

This is what all URLs and titles should look like, but some variations in the titles can be allowed. Matching the title with the URL accomplishes the important goal of improving user experience. This is the same reason that many pros will suggest making the page title and the visible headline the same. The title provides an expectation and the headlines come in with the confirmation.

9. Keep Only Essential Punctuation

It is easy to take out all punctuation from a URL and too much punctuation can make the URL confusing. Not only do they make things a little harder to read they can affect the smooth functioning of crawlers and web-browsers. Alphanumerics and a few other characters are the only ones that don’t require encoding when they are used within a URL. As a rule of thumb, just leave out the punctuation unless there is a really good reason to leave it in.

10. Limit Folders

Visible dashes separating folders are not actually a problem except that they make the site appear much deeper than it actually is –– for human readers and search engines alike. Lots of dashes can also make it more difficult to edit the URL. The rules on this point are not definitive and it will be up to the SEO adjuster to make a good judgment call on this one.

11. Restrict Redirection

Redirections are a good tool but don’t overuse them. It is pretty normal for a crawler to select URL 1 and receive a redirection to URL 2 or URL 3. But if this pattern continues for more than a mere handful of sub-links penalizations will be forthcoming. The search engine will often follow the redirects for as far as they can go but this will limit the ranking improvements you will receive and make the URLs seem less important.

12. Case Sensitivity

In general case, sensitivity is not going to be a problem, if you are using IIS or Microsoft. Sometimes trouble can arise when two similar URLs can be differentiated only by uppercase or lowercase letters, this is based on the case sensitivity of the servers in question. There is not any justifiable reason to insist on capital letters in a URL so it is best to just keep everything lowercase and avoid any problems like this.

13. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

You do want to make sure your URLs are bolstered with pertinent keywords, but you don’t want to go too far. Too many keywords will make your URLs look like spam and this can immediately incur a penalty. If this practice is used too often it will certainly ruin your SEO efforts. Only use the keywords you need for the page in question.

14. Using Tracking Parameters

Tracking Parameters are added to the URL to provide important information or say something about the page. For example, a web page may use “samplestore.com/?storeid=” to indicate the page of a specific store. But, it would be better to use something like “samplestore.com/store101”, actual descriptive words are a better option. Furthermore, try to limit the number of parameters you apply to a URL.

15. Shorter Is Better

As a rule of thumb, it is better to use shorter URLs than longer URLs. If you already have a URL with over 50 or 60 characters this is still ok. But, once your URLs are pushing higher than 100 characters, you should begin looking for ways to shorten the line. This is not an issue with search engines but with human users who will be copying and pasting these links. This way is more aesthetically pleasing and reliable.

16. One URL For Your Homepage

The home page is the most important page of the website and is also the most powerful in many ways. For this reason, it should be given a single URL. Your home page will be receiving more visitors from inbound links than any other page on your website. So it should be a simple URL with straightforward function. There should never be any links inbound to an alternative version of your main page. All 301 redirects should return to this home page if your site does include duplicate URLs.

17. Paginated URLs

Paginated URLs occur when a page that includes the listings for a category has to create more pages because the items exceed the dimensions of a single page. For example, a page that is made for a 50 item list now has 300 items to display. These paginated pages will look something like this “http://www.sample.com/white-shoes?page=1” then page 2 and so on.

The ideas and tips included here are all considered best practices but you are free to modify your approach to best suit your needs. By keeping up intelligent practices from the very beginning it is easier to make necessary adjustments in the future.

All of the above ideas can have a positive impact on your site’s ability to be indexed fast, and the list is by no means exhaustive. Call or contact SEO Houston Pros today for further information. Visit our blog for more tricks and tips for Houston SEO!

Knowing Which Types Of Businesses Need SEO Houston

July 5, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

Eight Types Of Businesses That Can Benefit From SEO In Houston

No matter what products you sell or services you provide, there are customers out there waiting to do business with you. Whether you target other businesses or sell directly to individual consumers, you should do everything you can to make it as easy as possible for people to find you. One of the best ways to accomplish that is through SEO. By putting together a solid search engine optimization plan, you can connect with customers who are actively searching for keywords and phrases that are related to your business.

Although every business can benefit from SEO, businesses in some industries stand to gain more by optimizing their sites than others. In these particular industries, developing a marketing strategy that includes SEO is extremely important.

The eight industries that can realize the greatest benefit from SEO are listed below.

1. Professional Service Providers

On the Internet, your website is the first introduction that most people have to your business. According to researchers, as many as 80% of people conduct research on the Internet before hiring a company or investing their money. When people visit your website, they are interested in learning more about your services. This not only includes researching what you do but also figuring out whether or not you provide high-quality services. If your site isn’t listed at the top of the search results on major search engines like Google, your business may never be discovered by these potential customers.

Professional service providers in industries like financial planning, accounting, and Internet technology can use SEO to connect with people in their own local communities. Local searches are on the rise, with more people than ever checking online before hiring businesses in their own communities. Through the use of SEO, businesses that provide professional services can connect with consumers who are interested in working with them.

2. Home Improvement

Home improvement projects usually involve remodeling, renovating, or adding on to an existing space. These projects sometimes take place inside the home. For instance, a homeowner may put in a new plumbing or electrical system. Other times, the work involves the exterior of the home. Homeowners may choose to pour concrete, install new siding, put on a new roof, or tackle other outdoor projects. Landscaping projects also fall into this category.

Companies that specialize in services related to home improvement can benefit from using SEO to reach a local market. By optimizing their websites, they can get more leads. When people need work done on their homes, they typically turn to the Internet to find local contractors. By creating a targeted local SEO campaign, companies can tap into this large online market.

3. Medical Providers

Doctors, dentists, and other professionals in the field of medicine also cater to a local audience. People sometimes search for new providers when they become sick. Other times, they may change insurance plans only to find that their old doctor no longer takes their insurance. In cases like these, they almost always go online to find doctors in their area. Medical providers who use local SEO are more likely to get discovered by these patients than providers who don’t.

4. Internet-Based Businesses

SEO is mandatory for companies that conduct their business online. Without a physical store for customers to visit, their online presence is the only way that people can find them. Getting noticed on the Internet requires a combination of both outbound and inbound marketing techniques. SEO is an excellent way to gain more exposure. Along with that, companies like these also need to optimize their websites for mobile users, actively participate in social media, and grow their sites through the use of content that is generated by their users. When done correctly, SEO can result in more leads, helping these companies grow over time.

5. Real Estate Professionals

The real estate industry focuses on buying and selling homes, businesses, and land. Depending on the property, these sales may involve any naturally occurring resources located on the land such as water or minerals. In some cases, it also may include a home, business, or other structure.

The world of real estate not only involves the buying and selling of properties like these but also activities like renting or constructing housing or commercial businesses. People who are in the market for a new home or apartment spent a lot of time searching online. That is why SEO is so important for professionals working in the real estate industry. From large real estate companies all the way down to independent realtors, anyone who sells real estate can benefit from optimizing their website.

This is one area where local SEO really shines. Professionals can optimize their websites to target cities, counties, or ZIP Codes. They also can target people who are looking for specific types of properties through both organic and paid marketing.

6. Businesses With More Than One Location

Companies that have more than one location can target specific customers through the use of local SEO. By designing a search engine optimization campaign that allows them to optimize their site for each individual location, they can connect with customers who are looking for exactly what they have to offer. For instance, if a company is holding a sale at one of their locations, they can optimize their site to target customers in those locations, helping to draw more people in.

7. Food Service Businesses

Restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, and other companies that serve food can use SEO to bring in more business. When people decide to go out to eat, they often search online for nearby restaurants. Through the use of SEO, a food service business can get their website in front of customers who are actively searching for that specific type of cuisine. This not only can bring in more customers but can also result in more reviews, helping your website become even more visible on the Internet.

8. Pet Service Providers

Companies that cater to pets and their owners can see a significant increase in business by using local SEO techniques. When looking for services like boarding, grooming, pet sitting, and dog walking, people almost always start their search online. Businesses that provide services like these can optimize their site, allowing them to beat out their competition so that they can get more business.

All eight of these industries can greatly benefit from local SEO. There are also many other industries where SEO can have a big impact on a company’s bottom line. By combining website optimization with other marketing techniques like blogging, getting listed in local directories, and posting on social media, you can start getting more attention for your business online.

When choosing an SEO agency, look for a provider that is capable of creating a comprehensive online marketing strategy for your business. We work hard behind the scenes to make sure that your site performs well, freeing you up to pay attention to other aspects of your business. Don’t wait to take action – otherwise, your competitors may beat you to the punch. It is well worth making this investment in your business.

If you are ready to start improving the performance of your website today, reach out to us right away to talk about your project for free. You can learn more on our blog about how companies in Houston can use SEO to get noticed.

Call or contact SEO Houston Pros today for further information. Visit our blog for more tricks and tips for Houston SEO!

Reasons Why Your Business Should Invest In Houston SEO

June 24, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

Understanding How SEO Can Benefit Your Business In Houston

Over the last couple of decades, search engine optimization has become a key part of online success. Companies that do business on the Internet have to optimize their websites if they want to increase their traffic and make more sales. The SEO process helps websites rank higher in the search results on major search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and Google. SEO is one of the best investments that you can make for your business. Below are some of the primary benefits of search engine optimization.

A Chance To Rising Above Your Competition

Staying competitive online is extremely challenging. Within your industry, there are most likely a large number of businesses vying for the attention of a relatively limited number of customers. SEO provides an effective way to beat out your competitors. By analyzing the marketing strategies of your competitors, you can identify areas where you can do better. An investment in SEO can help your website climb higher than the sites of your competitors in the search results. That can lead to far more traffic and more sales.

SEO Provides Money-Saving Benefits

Hiring a company to optimize your website can seem expensive. When you consider the benefits that SEO provides, however, it is easy to see that it is a smart investment. Most SEO companies charge reasonable rates for their services. Paying to outsource the optimization of your website is usually more cost-effective than hiring a marketing team of your own. When you compare the cost of optimizing your site to the ongoing costs associated with other types of marketing, it is a much cheaper option. As an added bonus, it also leads to a lot more conversions. That means that you can pay less money and get better results when you focus on SEO.

SEO Builds Trust

If your website is properly optimized and ranks well in the search engines, visitors are a lot more likely to trust your business. Through your website, you can provide your visitors with helpful information that they can put to use in their everyday lives. You can also teach them more about the products or services that you offer. When your site ranks well in the search engines, people naturally find it more credible. If you can get your site listed well and provide high-quality content, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting customers to trust you.

Search Engine Optimization Increases Your Company’s Visibility

By increasing your company’s visibility, SEO makes it easier for people to find your products through an online search. This can dramatically increase the amount of traffic that your website receives. Once customers land on your site, they have an opportunity to learn more about your business and to discover additional products that you sell. The increased visibility that comes along with having a properly optimized site can go a long way toward building trust with potential customers.

More Visitors

Search engine optimization not only increases the amount of traffic that you get to your site but it also helps ensure that your visitors are interested in the exact products or services that you offer. An increase in online traffic provides you with an opportunity to connect with a lot more customers. By boosting your ranking in the search engines, SEO can lead to an increase in traffic, which usually translates into higher profits.

Call us or contact us today for your free consultation. Visit our blog for more related articles on how to execute the best SEO in Houston!

Sure Benefits Of Houston SEO For Small Businesses

June 17, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

A Basic Overview Of the 5 Benefits Of SEO Houston For Small Business

Search Engine Optimization is a science and art that allows small business owners to craft fast, robust and engaging websites that will rank well with the search engines. When this is achieved, the small business can count on a steady stream of high-value customers which will have a higher propensity for becoming paying customers.

SEO offers many other benefits on the path to web site supremacy. For example, brand awareness increases on your way up. This is because customers begin associating your name with the top-ranking options and this brings with it some prestige.

Following are the top 5 KEY benefits SEO offers small businesses:

1. User-Friendly Websites

One of the goals of an SEO campaign will be to create a fun, fast and engaging user experience. Even though the traditional goals were to improve the experience for search engines, it is essential that your visitors will have everything they need to make a successful well-informed decision when they arrive on your site.

A website that is fast-operating, well-organized and visually compelling will interest your visitor to come and find expert solutions to their problems. Your impeccable organized website should then be supported with top-quality engaging content that provides solutions to the issues your specific audience might be facing. This quality content will keep them coming back for more and will contribute to your authority in your niche.

2. Attract More Customers

While websites have many different uses the real reason any serious business has a website is to help them get a leg up on the competition. Why else will a successful website often be the product of $1000s of dollars of top-quality SEO work? Businesses who have better SEO than there competition soon begin to overtake their competitors and widen the gap between them.

One of the best things about SEO is that it is a marketing plan that can be selected for the precise needs of the company at the moment and then is expanded as greater profits allow for more functions and services.

3. Better Conversion Rates

Websites that have had search engine optimization work will load faster, provide better user-experience and perform the same no matter which device or browser they are being displayed on. The way the webpage performs is crucially important to brand image as online customers are looking for small clues to decide the reliability of an online provider. So SEO leads to loyal customers, returning visitors and more subscribers.

4. Build Brand Awareness

Perhaps the greatest advantage of being perched on the lofty pinnacle of 1st place SERPs is the great brand awareness that you can enjoy. For better or worse, shoppers believe that those companies featured on these choice positions are those offering the best quality, customer service, prices, etc. This means you gain a lot of credibility with potential customers.

Whether they actually click on your business or not, they will soon be back to shop again and next time they will see your options listed again the trust barrier will have been breached. This is why small business needs to take the time to list high in the search terms for the goods and services they are providing.

5. Bypass Competition

Let’s take an example of two competing business offering the same products at the same prices to the same audience. One of them has neglected SEO for alternative marketing options, while the other has spearheaded their digital-marketing campaign with a formidable SEO.

Considering that is the only difference, which business will be generating more customers from local searches? Which will begin making more money from those customers? Which business will have a faster track to their goals and objectives?

SEO is a powerful tool in experienced hands. If your competition has already started their SEO project they can have a considerable head start by now. It could be time to ask yourself what an experienced SEO expert could do for your online presence.

Please feel free to get in touch with the best SEO agency in Houston by contacting us today or giving us a call now! Visit our blog for more tips and tricks on successful SEO tactics!

Building Your Houston SEO Campaign With These 4 Pillars

June 13, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

The 4 Major Pillars To An Effective SEO Strategy In Houston

If you do a quick search on “SEO ranking factors” that will provide you with numerous answers. There is so much information that is available these days. In reality, although there are probably hundreds of different variables that work together to determine final rankings a lot of information that is offered is only guesswork. And every ranking factor is definitely not relevant for every single business.

Website owners need to seriously consider the following four key pillars of SEO:

Technical SEO: The extent to which your content is able to be crawled as well as indexed effectively.
Content: Having the best and most relevant answers to the questions that prospects have.
On-site SEO: Optimizing your HTML and content
Off-site SEO: Building authority for your website to make sure the deck is stacked in your favor by Google

1. Technical SEO

Although technical SEO might appear to be daunting at first, we are simply talking about making sure that search engines are able to read the content and explore your website. A lot of this will be handled by the content management system that you use, as well as tools such as Deep Crawl and Screaming Frog that can scan your website and highlight any technical problems that it might have.

The major areas that should be considered are the following:

Crawl: Are search engines able to explore your website?
Index: Is it completely clear which of the pages on your site should be indexed and returned by the search engines?
Mobile: Does your website adapt well the mobile users?
Speed: To keep visitors happy it is critical to have fast page load times.
Technical: Is your website using search engine friendly CMS or technology?
Hierarchy: How is the content on your website structured?

If you have a small business website that uses WordPress, then you should be able to check technical SEO off of your list fairly quickly. However, if you have a big custom website that has millions of pages on it, then the technical SEO process is a lot more important.

A lot of what is considered to be “technical SEO” actually is part of your website’s development and design. The key here is to make sure that your developer has a good understanding of the interplay between SEO, development, and website design and how to get a mobile-optimized and very fast website built.

2. On-site SEO Optimization

You need to ensure that your website is optimized at both the individual page level and also as a whole. There is some crossover with technical SEO here, and you should start by making sure your website has a content hierarchy that is well-structured.

One you have a well-structured website, it is a fairly straightforward process to apply sensible optimization. The following are the key areas to focus on:

Keyword research: Understanding your target audience’s language.
Descriptive URLs: Make sure each of your URLs is descriptive and simple.
Page title: Naturally use keywords in your page titles.
Meta descriptions: Create meta descriptions as f they were ad copy for driving clicks to your site.
Content optimization: Use keywords along with their variations in a sensible way in your copy.
Good user experience (UX): Make sure your website is enjoyable to navigate and use.
Strong calls to action: Be sure to make thing easy for your visitors so they know what action to take.
Structured data markup: To improve your click-through rates, tap into the most recent SERP features.

When you are optimizing your website, make sure that your customers are considered. If you run a local business, then using local SEO will be the most important, and your location and address will be critical points to optimize.

3. Content

Content is the king. Isn’t that how the saying goes? In a way, it is true. Your website is actually just a wrapper to store your content in. It is your content that tells prospects what things you do, where and how you do them, who have done things for in the past, and why somebody would want to use your business. If you are savvy, then your content will go beyond those obvious elements and help prospective customers accomplish their goals.

For businesses that provide services, there are three main categories that we will divide your content into:
Service content. What services you provide and where you offer them.
Credibility content. Why should a prospect do business with your company?
Marketing content. Content to help position your company as the expert and place your business in front of your prospects at an earlier point in the buying cycle.

It is very important to understand that SEO is essential for all of these types of content, but quite often is only considered with service-type content. When it comes to case studies, testimonials, reviews and other forms of credibility content, SEO is usually forgotten.

Make sure that all your marketing content is optimized, including testimonials, portfolio entries, and case studies – and not only the obvious service pages on your website.

A solid SEO and content marketing strategy is the most scalable way for you to promote your business to a larger audience as well. It usually has the highest ROI, since there is no cost per click involved – so you can scale your marketing without scaling your costs directly. This type of SEO strategy is not the best for every business, however, it is practically unbeatable when it’s a good fit.

The following are key takeaways:

Optimize your content across the complete customer journey.
Decide whether content marketing is a good fit for you via organic search.
There are still far too many SEO methods that take a paint-by-numbers approach, where local businesses pay agencies to pump blog posts out that are not a good strategic fit for them. Make sure that your content is all optimized, and make sure content marketing is a good fit for the marketing techniques you are using before doing it.

4. Off-site Authority Building

All SEO comes to the same spot eventually: authority building. To a major extent, building authority involves link building. It is true that links are a critical component still in building strong organic rankings for your website. However, links can be the most difficult part of SEO to really get right.

It is very important to make sure you have your link philosophy clarified before starting on the process. That can make or break the link-building efforts that you do. Although link building is a very deep topic that can’t be covered in depth in this article, if you get a positive link-building philosophy developed, then you will at least be ahead of most of your competitors already.

Key Takeaways:

Be sure to build the type of real links that actually make sense out in the real world so that you don’t upset the qualitative aspects of the algorithm, as well as its punitive side.
Make sure you have content on your website that actually deserves to be linked to and rank well.

Summary

It isn’t necessary for SEO to be really complicated. SEO has four key areas that need to be considered, and there is a methodical and structured process you can follow in order to optimize your website.

Is Hiring A Houston SEO Company Worth It In 2019?

June 11, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

The Great Worth Of SEO Services In Houston In 2019

Is investing in SEO worth it in 2019? Does it pay to invest time and money in ranking high naturally given that Google’s algorithms keep changing and paid advertising yields much quicker results? There are numerous advertisers that have claimed that SEO is on its deathbed if it is not already dead. However, to determine whether SEO is still worth it, you should consider what it is that you are trying to achieve with SEO.

SEO, for the most, is a misunderstood product. It is not static nor is it a magical answer to all your marketing needs or problems. In many regards, SEO is a science and an art that continuously evolves. It requires SEO continuously study and notice the trends, patterns, and potential changes.

With this in mind, this read will help you determine whether SEO is worth the time and money. There are 3 main qualitative elements to consider in order to determine if SEO is, indeed a worthy investment.

What Can SEO Do & Achieve For Your Business?

You must have heard that SEO will help shore up your bottom-line. That is true, but only when all the stars align well. It is important to note that SEO is a direct factor in increasing your business’ revenue; sales are the direct cause of bottom line improvement. SEO is nor the end-all-be-all. Instead, it is a strong indirect factor that can shore up your revenue opportunities.

So, What Will SEO Do For You?

SEO will improve your overall ranking in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), thereby increasing the organic traffic you get, and improve the experience you give your traffic. User experience has long been an important ranking factor. However, it is increasing in importance given Google’s recent direction of making speed a ranking factor.

For your SEO effort to improve your overall profitability, your website should handle the organic traffic efficiently and funnel them to a sale effectively. No contact information displayed? No call to action? SEO will do very little to help your bottom-line.

SEO simply sends organic free-of-charge traffic to your website.

Which Is Better – Organic Or Paid Traffic?

First things first, you need to define “better”. There are people who consider quicker traffic as better. Other business owners consider quality traffic as better. Other business owners classify cheaper traffic as better.

As such, it all boils down to 3 categories:

Speed of the traffic to your site (sooner = better)
The quality of traffic (more conversions = better)
The cost of traffic (cheaper = better)

SEO = Slower Traffic Than PPC Traffic

If you are prioritizing the speed of result – essentially how fast you can generate traffic, then SEO is not a good marketing route to go. SEO is slow to mature and yield results. Performing SEO is basically trying to earn your website popularity. When your website goes online, it is one in a million websites to be launched that very same day! As such, SEO is slow to yield traffic

If speed is of the essence, you are better of going the PPC route.

SEO Delivers Higher-Quality Traffic Than PPC

The vast majority of search engine users do not trust ads. Ad-blindness is a real phenomenon and an ever-growing one for that matter judging by the growing list of ad blockers. People are fed up with the ads. You cannot even go to a local fast-food drive through without being lied to. How many times can you recall your burger look like anything like the pictures? See what I mean.

Over 70% of search engines users will scroll right past the ads section and go to the organic traffic section. They perceive the organic results to be more trustworthy and better. As such, when you rank higher, the visitors know that you earned your ranking rather than buying it.

As such, as long you target high-quality keywords and provide high-quality valuable content for your visitors, your conversions will be higher from organic ranking than PPC.

In this regard, if you are after quality visitors, you need to convey a sense of trust. You need to leverage SEO.

SEO Is More Cost-Effective Than PPC

PPC stands for “Pay Per Click” and is indicative of the form of acquisition you get from it. You pay for every click on your link. When you run an ad on Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, and someone clicks your ad, you have to pay for the click. The CPC – cost-per-click – will vary depending on the quality of your ad and the completion in your space.

You might spend $0.50 per click or $70 per click when you use PPC.

SEO, on the other hand, is not a per-click marketing model. Once you are ranked on the first page/top 10 on Google, you will continuously receive organic clicks. Importantly, you do not have to pay for every click.

SEO can eventually allow you to get the amount of traffic you get from your PPC budget, say $3,000, all for free.

As such, in the case of SEO, it delivers lower cost-per-acquisition in the long run. If you are interested in lower long-term costs, SEO is perfect for you.

How Much Will SEO Cost?

For you to get the proper picture, it is far better to consider SEO as an investment in your business rather than a cost. When you pay for SEO services, you are building an asset that involves building a website and creating content that will last as long as you need them to. Every dollar you invest in SEO will deliver results that stick with your business. As for PPC, you gain leads fasters but your leads disappear the moment you stop running the ads.

SEO Is A Long-term Investment.

So, now the question becomes, how much is the appropriate amount to invest in SEO?

The amount you invest in SEO will depend on the agency you use given that agency cost vary. It will also depend on your industry. However, you can expect to pay anything from $300 to $500 for local, low-competition SEO services involving a single location.

On the other hand, for national and multi-location with stronger competition, SEO will cost you anything from $1000 to $6000 per month. As such, the appropriate investment for your business will depend on your business goals, the lifetime value of your customers, and your budget.

Is SEO Worth It From A Time & Money Investment Point Of View?

If you have the budget for it, you should begin doing SEO as soon as possible. In SEO, time is a valuable asset. The longer you delay in investing in SEO, the longer it will take to get traction on SERPs ranking and the longer it will take to get the free traffic.

This is the case in one-person shops. In fact, investing in SEO makes more sense for small business operations. You can even take the DIY route rather than hiring an agency.

If you are interested in doing SEO as a DIY project, here are the 4 most important SEO tasks to do!

In a nutshell, SEO is a valuable investment. It is a worthy investment. Given that you are building assets for your company, SEO is an investment with long-term benefits.

What Are Your Thoughts?

Tell us what you think in the comment section. Do you feel SEO is worth it? Has SEO reduced your customer acquisition? Has SEO improved or lowered the quality of traffic you get?

You can go a step further by getting a personalized digital marketing plan to see the benefits you stand to get from SEO.

Please feel free to get in touch with the best SEO agency in Houston by contacting us today or giving us a call now! Visit our blog for more tips and tricks on successful SEO tactics!

Addressing The Estimated Time Of Success For Your Houston SEO Campaign

May 13, 2019 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

SEO In Houston: How Long Does It Take To Work?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an absolute necessity in today’s online world, and admittedly it’s not the simplest of exercises. Any major provider of digital leads or online services has fielded the question “How long does it take to rank in Google?” or some variation thereof. Chances are this question comes up with virtually every new client. While it makes sense as something a business owner wants to know, the problem is that there’s no simple answer. There are multiple reasons for this, not the least of which is the ever-changing world and even the very nature of SEO.

Ranking #1 or even ranking at the top of page one involves many different factors, and it isn’t as simple as it used to be as Google has introduced things like maps, snippets, above fold ads, related queries, and more. Whether wanting to know how to rank for #1 specifically or just top half of page one of Google, trying to put a timeline on things is really impractical.

Houston SEO Now vs SEO Then

There is an absolutely huge difference between how SEO used to be and how it is now, and that doesn’t help the confusion around the time issue. There was a time where simply identifying major keywords, writing some content repeating the keywords, and getting/making/buying backlinks and that would be it. There wasn’t much competition. There would be 5-10 main keywords, and they would be the big winners.

That was how things used to be. Normally when we find a client who talks about being #1 for a specific keyword or for just 2-3 keywords, it’s clear they have an idea of the old way of doing things. While this might have worked at one point, to be blunt nowadays this strategy is wrong. The truly big keywords are dominated by 20-year-old websites from established brands. In addition to this, Google’s data shows that most traffic comes from new keyword searches, longtail keyword searches, and most high traffic sites get hundreds or thousands of different searches making up that traffic.

In other words, if you’re completely focused on a small number of generic keywords you’re not likely to rank for anyway, that’s a losing old school strategy.

Modern SEO that is done well will have a very different focus. Between the expectation of getting very specific information to the use of mobile devices for search, to natural language searches due to vocal software, the overwhelming amount of traffic comes from natural phrases, questions, and keyword queries that are three words or way more.

Since searches are becoming more and more detailed for better more precise results, this actually opens up a lot of opportunities. Whereas the “top traffic” general keywords are often near impossible to rank for, there are thousands or tens of thousands of terms out there which have little competition, very few (or no sites) optimized for them, and this allows blog posts with dozens of these related terms to be used and ranked for quite easily.

This is great news. The traffic numbers might be smaller, but when combined they can add up quickly. In addition to this since the focus includes more detail that means your ranking pages will be more relevant, the traffic will convert at a much higher rate, and the end result means more visits, more followers, and more customers.

That true bottom line benefit should be your focus on modern SEO.

Do Rankings Still Really Matter?

Sure, rankings matter to an extent. You have to be found for your website to work for you. That being said, chances are that individual keyword rankings don’t matter as much as you think they do, and contrary to instinct, that isn’t the main measurement you should focus your attention on.

While higher keyword rankings are definitely a good sign, the end result you want isn’t a bunch of #1 rankings, but more leads and more paying customers. That outcome is what you should be focusing on above all else: the bottom line results.

After all, would you rather want five #1 rankings that bring only 3-4 new customers a month, or many middles of the page longtail keyword rankings that don’t look impressive but bring in 25-50 new customers a month?

That should be an easy question to answer.

How Long Does SEO In Houston Take To Work?

Understanding the real intent behind this question is leads, sales, and business and not just top keyword rankings, then understand that the answer is “It depends.” That might not be a gratifying answer, but it is the only honest one. We understand this can be frustrating, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

There are many different factors that go into how likely a website is to rank in a niche. Just a very short list includes:

How old your website is
If your website has ever been penalized
How competitive is your niche
Are you local, regional, national, or internationally based?
How many backlinks do you have?
How clean the coding is
How much good content exists
Does Google see you as trustworthy
Does Google see you as an authority
Is the past of your domain name (URL) clean or dirty?

These are just some of the many factors involved and no two situations are the same, even among websites competing against each other in the same market.

The SEO Process Timeline

One thing that we can give you is a general timeline of our SEO process to get the process going for every single one of our clients.

First Month

Full niche research, SEO audit of your website, figuring out an effective keyword strategy and planning the long-term customized plan that will work specifically for your site and your situation.

Second Month

We begin the technical SEO work based on our findings during the audit. This is important and we’ll take the necessary time to do it right since this sets the foundation for everything to follow. Some changes are quick, some can take months. Generally, technical SEO doesn’t lead to any noticeable changes or surges – but these are crucial to getting those bursts of traffic in the future. If appropriate, we may start adding quality content or building links during this time.

Third Month

This is when the all-important step of content creation really gets attention. This not only includes articles and blogging, but also white papers, filling out website informational pages, and more. Many times the first signs of benefit can be seen by the end of a month, but the large jump from consistently great content takes place further down the line.

Fourth Month

Continuing with the long-term content creation plan, finishing up any technical SEO at this point, and taking care of your site’s backlinks. This means disavowing damaging links, cleaning up low-quality links, and searching for opportunities for high-quality links. Many companies start seeing some good signs of life here, but this will be a trickle compared to another 6 or 12 months down the line.

Fifth Month

Add in social media management, more content-based outreach, as well as PR & media outreach for branding and getting attention from Google for more trust and authority. This often leads to direct SEO benefit, as well.

Sixth Month

If traffic is at 5,000+ a month, conversion rate optimization is looked at to test and really make sure you’re getting the most possible out of every visitor. If not, the earlier steps continue as long-term content and outreach will pay off over time, though that time frame will vary based on niche, area, and competition.

Generally speaking, most SEO specialists will give 4-6 months as to how long it takes to start seeing early results. Most of the time that’s fairly accurate as a rule of thumb, but SEO is a slow burn that becomes an explosion. The slow early results tend to happen in this time frame, but the work already done will continue to pay off months in the future. If you stay with it, then continued SEO efforts will eventually multiply. That’s especially true a year after starting SEO efforts and many companies see a second surge at 18 or 24 months, at which point steady growth based on effort is the norm.

You MUST Commit Long Term

Too many business owners want to make minimum investment for a minimum amount of time. That might have worked in some cases 15 years ago, but those days are gone. Far too many companies badly underestimate how much time, budget, and effort it takes to see the full-scale success that comes with a good SEO campaign. Often times even when companies start out with a healthy budget and taking the right steps, they cancel far too early because they don’t see results early enough.

SEO isn’t something you start at the beginning of a quarter and judge at the end of it. You don’t see major results at 3 months no matter how good the effort, or the budget. At a minimum budget 6 months and honestly, best results come from those willing to put in at least a full year – at which point you should definitely be seeing multiple signs that the campaign is working and delivering rankings, traffic, and customers to your site.

SEO builds on itself, and you won’t see the same results doing it piece-mail as you will with a concentrated and extended optimization campaign.

Your #1 Houston SEO Specialists

We know how to make a long-term SEO plan that will work for you and your business. No more losing to the competition, no more giving up the fight to bigger competitors at the start. There are opportunities out there that skilled SEO specialists can take advantage of and we are here to do that on behalf of your company against your competition.

These are plans that are built around bottom line results: not large lists of non-money making keywords that look good but don’t deliver. We enact SEO plans that get you rankings, but rankings not for the sake of rankings. Rankings which will get you qualified visitors looking for your services, your products, and who become buyers who help your bottom line.

Please feel free to get in touch with the best SEO agency in Houston by contacting us today or giving us a call now! Visit our blog for more tips and tricks on successful SEO tactics!