It’s probably no surprise that Kalamazoo companies need Kalamazoo SEO services. If your goal is to rank locally, you’ll want to focus on local keywords, local search volumes, and local audiences. But, as you’ve likely learned, search engine optimization can be extremely daunting. What’s the difference between technical SEO and content SEO? How do you get backlinks? Do you really need expensive SEO software? Is SEO really necessary for small businesses?
As Kalamazoo’s leading digital marketing agency, when we work with local businesses to improve their Kalamazoo SEO, we first perform a thorough website analysis. Using that as a roadmap, we encourage them to build an SEO-friendly website. As a beginner, one way to shorten the learning curve here is to build your website in a well-documented CMS. We typically recommend WordPress, as it has a lot of useful SEO plugins that will let you quickly focus on specific aspects of your site’s SEO.
SEO, an abbreviation for search engine optimization, is a collection of processes, strategies, and activities that aim to improve your website’s visibility on search engines. Kalamazoo SEO services can include quality web design, writing blog posts, creating videos, reducing file sizes, and chasing backlinks. And, while it might sound complicated, it’ll all come to you with a little dedication and a bit of hard work. But, before anything else, it all starts with your website.
Since Google accounts for over 90% of all search traffic, you should build your website with Google in mind. Thankfully, there’s a lot of documentation out there that can tell you exactly what Google wants.
Since SEO can be extremely technical, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. Just remember, though, that you don’t need to do everything at once. If you’re a photographer, maybe you start with high-quality, optimized images. Or, if you’re a writer, you could start by creating a few keyword-based blog posts.
If you already have a website for your business, just resolve to start somewhere. For most people, that means starting with written content. And, since content is one of the quickest ways to boost your Kalamazoo SEO and improve performance on search engines, it’s a great place to start. So, let’s assume that you’re starting with a single blog post. Most blog posts will have a familiar structure, so let’s look at what that structure is for a 400-word post focusing on the keyword ‘outdoor grill’:
One of the quickest ways to get lost in search engine optimization is to focus on its technical aspects. In most cases, Kalamazoo SEO with a local focus doesn’t require 100% perfect technical SEO. Since your goal is to rank locally, it’s much more important to put your efforts into creating good content.
For the most part, the Internet’s top ranked sites don’t have the best technical SEO. Really, they just focus on being useful, providing engaging content, and addressing popular topics. In your business, you’re the expert and you should use blog posts to share your expertise. Rather than spending hours making minor, ineffective tweaks to unseen meta tags, spend that time writing content that answers the questions you receive every day.
When it comes to Google, the best content always wins. If you search for any particular topic, chances are you’re going to see a page, post, or article that’s hundreds of words long, includes high-quality video, and is perfectly optimized for SEO. But, don’t let that discourage you!
Let’s say you’re in the business of selling replacement parts for industrial shrink wrappers. Yes, it’s specific. But, that’s another thing to remember: the more specific you can be in local SEO, the better. Now, let’s look at the search results for ‘how to find replacement parts for industrial shrink wrappers’:
Now, the first thing you’ll see is that the #1 result is for a company out of Greensboro, NC. On a local level, there’s just not a lot of competition. So, for this keyword, you should have very little trouble ranking locally using Kalamazoo SEO strategies. By following the guidelines in our first tip, you’ll most likely secure the #1 spot in the Kalamazoo area for this particular search term.
But, below that, you’ll see a small FAQ section where Google collects quick, fast, and easy answers to common questions. If you’re ever having trouble coming up with concepts for your blog posts, these are a great source! For example, since you’re the expert, you probably know why shrink wrap tears. If you were to answer that question, using ‘why does my shrink wrap keep tearing’ as a keyword, you could potentially get your page the top spot in local – and even national – search results.
Previously, we talked about the importance of SEO management and how it can help your company. In that post, we identified a number of cases where you might want to invest your time (or money) into search engine optimization. But, once you’ve decided it’s time to invest, it can be difficult because you may not see a return on your investment for quite a bit of time.
According to SEMRush, it can take four to twelve months for you to see the results of your local SEO efforts. Sadly, SEO isn’t anything like the adrenaline-fueled rampages of Crank 2: High Voltage. It’s more like Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life. It’s slow, it builds over time, and when it’s all over you may ask yourself, ‘what happened?’ However, if you create a content schedule, stick to it, and regularly update your website, you’ll see the impact.
In the construction industry, they say, ‘measure twice, cut once.’ With Kalamazoo SEO, though, it’s better to write once and measure a thousand times. After you’ve written a post, you should be using Google Analytics, Search Console, and other SEO tools to measure how that post performs. If you’ve written ten posts, each 400 words, and two of them are attracting a lot of visitors, guess what you need to do?
If you see that a post is attracting 2–3% of your site’s overall traffic, it’s worth expanding that post. In general, you’ll want to double the length of the post each time. So, if your original post is 400 words, aim to add 400 words. The next time you go to expand it, though, aim to add 800 words. If that seems like a lot of effort, remember that your competitors are always looking at what you’ve done and are aiming to do just a little bit more to outrank you.
At Kzoom, our on-staff search engine optimization expert has over twenty years of experience in the industry. With a full knowledge of all the ins and outs, our digital marketing team works with local businesses of all sizes to get them ranking for the keywords that matter. Whether you manufacture technical equipment, sell medical devices, run an ecommerce site, or anything in between, our team can boost your visibility. So, if you’re aiming to improve your Kalamazoo SEO, you owe it to yourself to work with the area’s most experienced team. To get started, we encourage you to contact us today to schedule a website analysis.
Matt loves all-day cooking projects, holding one-sided conversations with his cat, and writing unreasonably large D&D campaigns. A fan of horror movies, he may have Kalamazoo’s largest (and only) collection of Laserdiscs.
Professionally, Matt brings 20 years of SEO, digital marketing, and copywriting experience to Kzoom and you may be seeing him around on your next website project!
