SEO and SEM: What’s the Difference and Do I Need Them?

SEO and SEM: What’s the Difference and Do I Need Them?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is fast becoming a US$80 billion dollar industry.

Search ad revenue – the major component of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – may only be around half that amount, but $40 billion is nothing to sneeze at.

Yet despite how monumentally massive these industries are, there is still a lot of confusion around what these terms mean.

Let’s take a brief look at SEO and SEM, their differences and the definitions of each.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

SEO is a method of optimizing a webpage so that it will attract more organic traffic. By organic traffic, I’m referring to users who find a website through a search engine.

Technically, SEO caters to all search engines, including Duckduck Go, Yahoo, and Bing. In reality, however, virtually all SEO focuses on the kingpin: Google.

Google is notorious for changing their algorithms in a tireless attempt to make the searching experience as effective as possible for the end user. As a result, SEO techniques are evolving rapidly.

Two things remain constant, however: The concepts of on-page and off-page optimization.

What is On-page Optimization?

As the name suggests, on page optimization is undertaken within the website itself. Essentially, these are tricks of the trade that SEO savvy content writers and web designs use to improve the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) ranking of their article.

  • Using targeted keywords in the title and headings of their article.
  • Peppering secondary keywords throughout the article in a natural way.
  • Achieving the highest possible page load time.
  • Including photos which have been SEO optimized by way of file size, file name, and alt tags.
  • User-friendly formatting with ample white space.
  • Social media sharing plugins.
  • Quality content that provides real value for the reader.

What is Off-page Optimization?

Off-page refers to techniques undertaken outside the website. Behind the scenes, if you will.

  • Link building by obtaining inbound links (backlinks) from other reputable websites.
  • Driving traffic through social media, A.K.A social signals.

What is Search Engine Marketing?

SEM is when a marketer pays a search engine (almost always Google Ad Words) to promote their product to a wider audience.

You’ve probably noticed results at the top of Google marked “[Ad].” These are an example of a pay-per-click (PPC) or cost-per-click (CPC) advertisement, which is a critical component of SEM.

SEM once referred to both SEO and PPC advertisements, although these days there is a clear distinction between the two.

Other aspects of SEM include:

  • Targeted advertising campaigns.
  • Advertisement groups with a focus on keyword variations.
  • Writing keyword rich ad copy.
  • Monitoring marketing metrics such as click-through rates and average costs per click.

SEO vs. SEM: Which is Better?

Each excels at different things.

SEO is more of a long game. The practice may not see instant results, but if done correctly, it can result in a considerable amount of organic traffic over time.

SEM, on the other hand, is capable of earning a website fast exposure which is great for short term campaigns or new companies looking to start trading with a bang.

Big online businesses incorporate both, as the two complement each other nicely.

SEO and SEM: Do I Need Them?

SEO is an essential practice for anyone looking to make money through a website. After all, if you can’t hit the front page of Google, then do you really exist?

SEM is a little more variable. If done right, it can drive massive short-term traffic to your business, but for a price.

Who Can Help Me Create an SEO/SEM Marketing Strategy?

Reno Web Design are experts at both SEO and SEM marketing. Get in touch with them today to discuss an affordable and effective online marketing plan for your business.

A Basic Technical SEO Guide for Website Design

A Basic Technical SEO Guide for Website Design

As most small businesses are set to spend around $75,000 on digital marketing this year, they need to make every dollar count in that budget. Using search engine optimization is a way to pivot your page to be found by search engines, which is as good as free promotion. Search engine optimization, notably technical SEO is important in making yourself known to users.

Here are five elements of technical SEO that you need to implement.

1. Page Speed is a Major Factor
When you’re using mobile, the speed of your page gets weighed into how good your site is as a match for users. It lets search engines know that it’s optimized, updated, and you’ve tried to streamline the code base.

If you’re thinking about user experience, page speed matters as well. When users rank how well a site works for them, they will factor in load time. If it doesn’t load within three seconds, they’ll consider it a bad match that doesn’t give them what they want. Isn’t that the ultimate aim of user experience?

2. Bot Instructions Are Case Sensitive
If you’re giving robots instructions for your site, you need to ensure that you take case into consideration. Instructions in your robots.txt file need to be all lowercase.

If you play with case, you change the way the information is going to be processed.

Web crawlers, the tool that search engines use to index every site on the internet, look for files on your main directory. If you hide them somewhere else, they may never get read.

3. You Need Infinite Scroll
You want your site to be designed in such a way as to load content as your user scrolls. When they’re going down your website’s pages, you don’t want the content to stop.

Paginated pages combined with a very long scroll will help users to keep reading and staying productive on your site. If new content is constantly available, you’ll rank much higher than your competitor’s site.

4. Sitemap is What You Want
While Google needs sitemaps to be in an XML format, that’s pretty much the only stipulation to worry about when setting up your sitemap. Your hierarchy or your structure can look however you want it to look.

When you choose a sitemap that works for you and makes sense, you make it easier for search engines to scroll through your site. As long as there’s simple logic, you can structure it however you please.

5. Your Homepage Matter
Your homepage needs to have everything that you want search engines to find out about you. Because search engines look at that page first, you want your site to be ranked fairly.

You can have other sites ranked as well so long as you include a link from your front page.

Understanding Technical SEO is an Advantage

If you want to have a strong advantage on your competition, you need to take advantage of what technical SEO has to offer. When you optimize your site for crawling and indexing, you make yourself that much easier to find by your potential clients.

If you want to audit your SEO ranking, check out our guide

or chat with Sandy today. Call 775-870-0488.
How to rank your website in Google

How to rank your website in Google

Google is the top search engine in the world. With millions of searches happening each hour across the globe, how are you to get your companies website in front of as many searchers as possible?

SEO or search engine optimization is constantly evolving. Google updates twice a day on average. They are updating their algorithm and website to keep them as the top search engine. With those many changes, comes great opportunity for small and large businesses to reach the growing numbers of website searchers in Google.com.

Ranking a page from your website high in search results is the ultimate goal of most SEO companies, but we take it a step further and secure top sections of the first page of this popular search engine with SERP elements that have been proven to gain the most views online.

 Some SERP elements include:

source: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/01/seo-marketing-strategy/

  • AdWords – up to four at the top with optional extensions can make each ad deeper
  • Knowledge Graph – boxes that include data ranging from companies to celebrities on the right of search results page
  • Sitelinks – multiple links to subpages within the website result visible below the primary website
  • Local packs – several local listings appear together (often under a map marking the location of each one)
  • Carousel listings – interactive visual display of results for things like movies, songs, and restaurants
  • Reviews with star ratings (make some organic results deeper)
  • Image packs – often a single row of images appearing on the results page
  • Video
  • In-depth articles
  • Twitter content

Most of our SEO clients rank #1 for their most profitable keywords. They also rank multiple times on the first page of Google using the above strategies, gaining most of eye balls or views within a Google search result.

Contact Sandy Rowley today to learn how she can help your company gain the lion share of views for your keywords today. Call 775-870-0488.

Reno SEO Expert

Voted best SEO expert, Sandy Rowley is a leading small business SEO coach and mentor.

SEO Website Design : What do they look like?

SEO Website Design : What do they look like?

What Does an SEO-Friendly Website Design Look Like?

Your SEO probably stinks. Yeah, we said it, and we’re willing to bet we’re on the right track. You’re not struggling because you’re not trying, but rather because SEO is complex.

54% of small businesses don’t think they have the budget for SEO. We’re here to show that most of them are wrong. SEO doesn’t always mean extravagant keyword research.

Instead, SEO can refer to your entire website design. Everything from your links to your HTML affects your SEO. Though not many people know what they’re doing when it comes to an SEO-friendly website design.

Today, we’re bringing you our guide to SEO website design and how to ensure you’re maximizing your website’s visibility. Let’s get started.

On Page

On page SEO refers to any SEO aspect you can control. You can influence keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, links, etc. They’re the elements that make up the backbone of your SEO optimization.

Let’s go more into detail.

HTML

HTML formatting drives the design behind your website. Consider it the language your site uses to communicate with Google. Your HTML both paints a picture and informs Google what that picture means.

The best-designed websites heavily tailor HTML to help their SEO. Let’s look at the best of the best tips for HTML design.

Title Tags

Title tags are the headline link you see on the search engine results page. For example, our title tag is:

“Reno Web Design | Web Design, SEO, Marketing & Workshops | Reno …”

Always add a catchy title to your HTML title tag. Not only does it help draw clicks, but the title also tells Google about your website.

Headers H1, H2

Headers are the “titles” in your post, including the main “title” and the subheadings. They’re broken down into H1, H2, H3, H4 and so on. The larger the number the smaller the header font.

HTML headers should always contain both short and long-tail keywords. H1 tags contain the main keywords while H2, H3, and so on contain keyword variations and long-tail keywords.

Google looks at the keywords to help determine when to show your page. The best headers use a mix of specific and general keywords.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions refer to the small amount of text that sits under search engine results titles. Metas give searchers a brief description of what your web page is all about.

Though they also give Google that same description. Google uses your meta description to determine what your page discusses. Always include relevant information and keywords.

SEO Friendly Link Structure

SEO friendly link structure refers to Google’s ability to crawl and then index your page. The search giant’s “crawlers” need an easily navigable link structure.

Keep your web URLs relevant to your page structure. Also, keep the sub-URLs categorized and descending from the main URLs.

Think of linking like a pyramid. The top should point to the lower links, which then point to even lower links. Just ensure pages don’t get skipped.

Your Own SEO Website Design

Building your own SEO website design is best left to the professionals. While you might make it work, why take the risk? Our team of SEO experts can have your website up and running in no time.

If you’re ready to get started, just contact us. We’re here to help you shoot for the top of the SERPs.

Get More Sales

Increase Sales in One Hour

Struggling with getting new clients from Social Media or Online Marketing? Chances are you are only a few steps away from finally making real sales online. 

Increase Sales In One Hour $129

*Chat with Sandy first to make sure this is right for you. Plan on 15 minute call to assess your needs.

You Will Get Results You Love

Lets Sandy’s 18+ years experience in the online marketing world, leap frog your small business into real world sales.

Social Media Networking

FaceBook.com, Pinterest.com, Instagram.com and many more social media networking sites are sending thousands of dollars a day to small businesses just like yours.

Boosting Posts is a Waste of Money

Are you boosting posts on FaceBook? Your making FaceBook Millions a day with that little button. STOP IT. Lets chat about what REALLY works on FaceBook.

Time Management

Social networks require a great deal of time in order to generate leads. Let our seasoned marketing experts put in the hard work for you. Ask about our social media management packages.

Managing Your Business Doesn’t Have to Be Hard.

Let us do the heavy lifting for you. We are in the trenches daily, learning what is working for businesses. We respond to comments, questions and complaints for you. Our team of social media managers stay on top of the latest updates and changes with social media, so you don’t have too.

Ready To Get Started?

What Our Customers Are Saying

Don’t just take it from us, let our customers do the talking!

 
in the last week
Reno SEO, Marketing & Web Design is an invaluable tool for promoting local events in and around Reno. We saw fast results and were able to reach portions of the population that wouldn’t have been available to us otherwise. Sandy is a passionate, knowledgeable professional with so many wonderful tools at her disposal. I’m so grateful to her for her time and attention.
Danny Sierra

Event Promotion , Patagonia Outlet

 
in the last week
 
Every day here at TAP agency Consulting and PR, I need teammates that enjoy what they do, and who are experts at communication and driving projects forward. Sandy Rowley is a wonderfully intelligent person, who works diligently to provide her colleagues and clients with unparalleled insight and professionalism. I look forward to working with Sandy on each project. It is my pleasure to continue to refer Sandy and Reno SEO, Marketing & Web Design to my agency’s valued clients. Learn more how TAP Agency Helps Leading Grass Roots Celebrities Sky Rocket their reach.
Alisha The Explorer

PR Goddess, TAP Agency Consulting & PR

 
in the last week
 
 
 
Key value-add skills in a web designer:

1) listens to understand what you are trying to communicate and then provides expertise to compose and enhance your collection of visual content in an attractive, compelling and easy-to navigate way.

2) follow through, follow-up, taking time to train you on how to update and edit.

3) coaching on how to best position and accelerate your web site objectives.
Jacquie Chandler

CEO, SustainTahoe.org

 
 

With Sandy’s expertise our company sky rocketed up the search engine list. Her professionalism, SEO skills and customer service is second to none. Thanks to her the Pure Glow Salon has experience a substantial increase of web hits, phone calls and most importantly dollars to our bottom line. If you are looking to do the same for your business the only option is Reno SEO, Marketing & Design.

Greg Enholm

CEO, Pure Glow Salon & Spa

a month ago

I have worked with few other seo companies in California in the past but I wasn’t happy at all . I found Sandy at Reno seo on Google and I called her and she was great and explained to me everything i need to know and she did a full report on my site , then we met and she talked more about my site and how she can help me rank better . She put together a plan for me so I can start on my own and she’s giving me 2 hours of training which I’m very excited about . She’s very responsive and very quick responding .

Sally Piano

CEO, Sally Piano Music

5 months ago

Absolutely fantastic. After working with multiple companies, hours and hours of research, and nothing but excuses money and time, all it took was working with the right people. The nightmare that used to be SEO is long gone. Marketing your company should not be a DIY project. Thank you Sandy for your incredible work!! Can not recommend enough.

Travis Moore

CEO, Bail Bonds Unlimited

 
 
 
a month ago

Very professional and clearly knows her stuff. Highly recommended.

Dan J. Lovelle

Attorney At Law, LVlitigation.com

 
3 months ago
 

What a great job! Pleasure to work with. Smart & Responsible. She’s mine, all mine. Excited to launch my new website for Towelster!

Dan Raucch

CEO, Towelster.com

 

Reno SEO, Marketing & Design has elevated my internet ranking! I am so impressed with their talent, efficiency and commitment to helping others succeed.

Anna Marie LEach

Counselor, AshramCoaching.com