How to Turn Your Website Into a 24/7 Sales Machine!

How to Turn Your Website Into a 24/7 Sales Machine!

Content Marketing, SEO

Having a great-looking website that represents your company is enough to keep your business healthy and growing – right?

If only it were that simple. The sad truth is that most local businesses aren’t doing everything they can to generate leads online. And, it all starts with their websites, which – let’s face it – aren’t getting the job done.

In fact, I’ll take it a step further. If you’re not opening your inbox to find new leads from your website every day, you might as well not have a website.

The good news is, you can change that. Your website might be basic or have all the bells and whistles. It might be years old or freshly designed. No matter what it looks like, you can make it better and turn it into a 24-hour marketing machine.

I’m not going to bore you with the same old advice you’ve heard a million times. You know that your site needs great content and a killer call to action. Instead, let’s dig into some of the next-level stuff you can do to kick your website’s lead-generating power into high gear.

Do a Complete Website Audit for SEO and User Experience

Audits. Nobody likes them, but they’re necessary if you want to fine-tune your website and get more leads than you are now.

A website audit should look at two things. The first thing is SEO. You want to make sure that:

  1. Each page on your site is optimized for a local keyword
  2. You’ve completed every tag and you’re using your keywords in them
  3. You’ve written a killer meta description for every page
  4. Your site is free of broken links and spammy links
  5. You’ve got a good system of internal links

The second element of your audit should focus on the user experience. You may even want to hire testers to pinpoint roadblocks on your site. If your pages take too long to load or your site is difficult to understand, user testing can help you get to the bottom of it. You can find a list of effective usability tools here, including some that will allow you to create heat maps of your site even mimic the eye movements of users.

Use Responsive Content 

For many local businesses, creating one-size-fits-all content is the goal. It’s certainly easier to do that than to work on unique content based on the user’s preferences and needs. But I’ll let you in on a secret: it’s also holding you back in terms of conversions.

You have two basic options when it comes to tailoring your content to a visitor’s interests:

  1. Create separate landing pages for each product or service you provide and then craft a marketing campaign around them; or
  2. Have visitors to your home page check boxes to identify their interests and then display responsive content tailored to their selections.

The first method is the old-school way of marketing. The second is something that’s become increasingly popular.

Here’s a simple example of responsive content. This martial arts school prompts visitors to choose a program on the home page. Once they do, they get a page of content where they can choose “pain points” to see the benefits of the program.

Once they finish choosing, the page would display information related to their choices, including benefits and frequently asked questions like this:

Writing this type of content doesn’t take any more time than it would take to write individual pages of content. It ensures that every visitor to your site feels that they matter. You can even offer lead magnets that are tailored to each product if you choose.

Live Updates and Chat

What happens when someone visits your website outside of your regular business hours? If the answer is that visitors are greeted with a static site that does nothing to acknowledge their presence, then it might be time for an update.

Interactive and live content can help you engage new visitors to your site and give the impression that you’re there to serve them even if you’re at home with your family. There are two simple changes you can make that will engage visitors at any time of day.

The first is by providing live updates. That means displaying a notification any time someone new fills out your contact form or buys your product. This is something we’ve been seeing on some sales pages as well as on website home pages.

To see an example, check out the website for Inspire Martial Arts in Burbank, CA. They display a notification that reads, “Jane from Burbank requested information about our classes.” If your site gets a decent amount of traffic, these notifications will capture visitors’ attention and create a sense of urgency.

The second option is live chat. You’ve probably noticed live chat windows popping up on some of the websites you visit. They often have a greeting, something like “Hi! How can we help you?”

The technology behind this type of live chat is actually less complicated (and less expensive) than you might think. It’s basically a chatbot that can be programmed with simple answers to your most commonly asked questions. If you’ve got an online store, your chatbot can even make product suggestions.

It might surprise you to learn that there are programs that will allow you to design your own chatbot. Of course, you can pay a programmer – and you may need to if you want your bot to engage in complex interactions. But if all you want is a simple bot to give the impression that you’re available at all times, you can check out this article for more information on DIY options.

FAQs and Self Service

If it’s been a long time since you updated your FAQs, then reviewing them and adding some updated information with internal links to your lead forms and sales pages can go a long way toward helping your website generate leads.

Not sure which questions to answer? Try checking your social media pages for ideas. Your followers probably ask questions and if several people ask the same question, it should be part of your FAQ.

A related issue is self-service options. The more information you provide on your site, the more likely it is that visitors will want to buy from you. Providing articles, links, infographics, and other information can help you keep visitors engaged and increase your conversions.

Conclusion

There’s no reason your website shouldn’t be generating leads around the clock. In addition to the usual advice about your content, images, design, and call to action, the four areas we’ve outlined here can help you engage visitors, get more leads, and ultimately, close more sales.

Get Optimized for 2020 – Your Local SEO Resource

Get Optimized for 2020 – Your Local SEO Resource

SEO

I talk a lot about local SEO and if you’ve recently updated your site, you may roll your eyes at the appearance of another article about local SEO.

I get it. Believe me, I do. I don’t want to sound like a broken record.

But…

The truth is that local SEO is changing all the time. It’s hard to keep up – and I’m a professional marketer! I know it can be hard for small business owners to stay abreast of changes and keep their sites optimized for local search.

To keep things simple, I’ve put together this local SEO resource for you to use to get the new year started right. I’ll focus on the quickest and easiest things you can do to ensure that your local SEO is up to scratch – and that the people in your target audience can find you.

Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

I’m not going to go into detail here about Google My Business because I’ve written about it extensively before. That said, please don’t ignore GMB in 2020! An optimized listing is your best friend when it comes to local SEO.

Make sure your listing is complete and up-to-date. Add pictures and your company logo if you haven’t already and do everything you can to encourage people to review your business on Google. It’ll help – I promise.

Standardize Your NAP Listings

NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) listings are another topic I’ve covered extensively, but they’ve become more important than ever before thanks to Google’s Hawk update in 2017. Having even one listing that’s not standardized can and will dilute your online presence – so don’t skip this step.

Google your company and make sure that your NAP listing is identical everywhere it appears. Remember that even minor differences (Ave instead of Avenue) can cause a problem. I know this is a painstaking, nitpicky job, but it’s important.

Specify Your Service Area 

You own a local business and that means you have a service area. Even if you can technically ship anywhere, it’s still important to let potential customers know where you are.

There are two quick and simple ways to specify your service area without overhauling your entire website. You can:

  1. Add a bulleted list of cities, districts, or neighborhoods you serve
  2. Embed a map on your site with pins in your service areas (or indicating your locations if you have more than one)

This easy step will ensure that potential customers who land on your site will be able to see at a glance whether you serve the area where they live.

Create Geo-Targeted Landing Pages

One of the changes included in Google Hawk is that Google made the target search areas smaller than they used to be to (at least in theory) prevent businesses from being elbowed out of search results.

What I suggest is creating separate landing pages for each of your service areas. Here are some tips:

  1. Remember that Google ranks pages and not domain names, so there’s no limit on the number of geo-targeted landing pages you can have.
  2. Choose highly targeted local keywords and focus on one main keyword per page.
  3. Do not duplicate content too closely or Google will flag your pages.
  4. Whenever possible, link geo-targeted social proof to each page by including relevant reviews and testimonials.

Most searches these days are happening on mobile devices. Having geo-targeted pages will help you to take advantage of voice search, including “Near Me” searches that are relevant to your business.

Optimize Your Citation Pages

Did you know that it’s common for consumers to spend only a few minutes on a business website before converting? That might sound unrealistic but it’s true – and it’s because they spend far more time on citation pages before buying anything.

Some of the best-known citation pages are review aggregation sites like Yelp and Yellow Pages, but there are dozens of others – some of which are specific to certain industries.

To get a jump on optimizing your citation pages, check out this master list from Moz, which lists common citation pages by industry. Then, Google your business and make your way through each citation. Keep in mind that, in some cases, it may be worthwhile to upgrade to a premium account, so you can add images and make the most of your business listing.

Use Schema Markup on Your Website

Another local SEO factor that you may have overlooked until know is Schema markup. Schema tells Google how to display your pages when they come up in search – and it can make a big difference in how local customers feel about your page.

You should use Schema markup to provide potential customers with vital information about your business. Many small businesses don’t bother to include a ‘rich snippet” with their Schema markup. You can find more information about how to use Schema markup to boost your SEO here.

Focus on Reviews

There’s no denying that social proof is the name of the game when it comes to local marketing. The research shows that almost all consumers pay at least some attention to online reviews, with many giving them as much credence as a personal recommendation.

You should start with Google My Business because those are the reviews that people are most likely to see when they search for your business. After that, you should look at review aggregation sites such as:

  1. Yelp
  2. Angie’s List
  3. BBB (Better Business Bureau)
  4. Facebook
  5. Industry-specific sites

I suggest sending an email request to your subscribers asking them to leave reviews on Google. Link directly to your review page to make it easy for them to comply with your request.

Then, make it a company policy to ask customers for reviews. You can decide what makes sense. For service providers, the best bet is probably to reach out to clients when a job has been completed. For retail, you may want to have your cashiers remind customers to leave reviews when they check out.

For extra credibility, consider linking directly to your review pages from your website. That kind of transparency is something customers value and it will help your local SEO, too!

Getting optimized for 2020 doesn’t need to be complicated and you don’t need to spend a lot of time doing it. The quick fixes I’ve provided here will help you fine-tune your local SEO and grow your business in the new year.

5 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Customers

5 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Customers

SEO

Local business owners are busy people – you know that already. In a single day, you could be acting as an HR manager, marketing guru, IT expert, and cashier. That’s a lot for any one person to do.

For that reason, SEO can sometimes take a back seat. It’s understandable. When you’re the one doing nearly everything, you might be tempted to set SEO aside – especially if it seems like it’s not a money-making endeavor.

But it is.

The truth is that you might be making critical SEO mistakes right now that are driving customers away from your business instead of attracting them.

The good news is? There are just 5 common mistakes and they’re all easily fixable. They’ll take a bit of time, of course, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. Here’s what you need to know.

SEO Mistake #1: Not Optimizing Your Google My Business Page

The most important thing to know about Google My Business is that it’s owned by – you guessed it – Google. That automatically makes it important for SEO.

If you haven’t already claimed and optimized your Google My Business page, here’s what you need to do:

  1. Click here to claim your page
  2. Provide all information that Google asks for, including your business address, phone number, URL, social links, map, hours, menu, and prices.
  3. Use your most important local keywords in your descriptions.
  4. Add pictures and relevant images to your listing.
  5. Check your listing regularly since customers can edit it.

Once you’ve done these things, you should also plan on making Google My Business posts to promote your business.

SEO Mistake #2: Not Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Users

Mobile search is everything when it comes to local SEO. In fact, as of 2018, 95% of ALL mobile searches happened on Google. That’s not a number you can ignore.

Here are some of the key things to improve to optimize your site for mobile:

  1. Improve your page’s loading time. As of 2018, the average mobile site took 22 seconds to load – but the optimal loading time for conversions is about 2.4 seconds!
  2. Do mobile user testing and make sure that your menus and buttons are easy to navigate on mobile.
  3. Make sure your content doesn’t require horizontal scrolling (or squinting) to be read on a mobile device.
  4. Make sure common actions and requests are easy for mobile users. In other words, make it easy for them to find directions to your store, view your prices, subscribe to your list, make a purchase, or follow you on social media.
On a related note, you should also think about mobile advertising. For example, Facebook has a “Call Now” button as an option for mobile ads.

SEO Mistake #3: Not Optimizing for Voice Search

Voice search is arguably the biggest trend in SEO. The increasing popularity of virtual assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Cortana is driving the trend. As of 2019, 20% of all online searches were voice searches and that number’s expected to skyrocket to 50% by 2020.

Fortunately, optimizing for voice search isn’t difficult. Since people use voice search in specific ways – asking Siri a question, for example – you’ll need to think about the questions and problems that drive most customers to your website.

Here are some pointers:

  1. Answer common questions. Make a list of the questions that people are most likely to ask about your products or services and answer them on your site. Use the questions themselves as keywords.
  2. Focus on long-tail keywords. Questions are great, but so are keywords that include words like:
  • How to
  • Where
  • New
  • Best
  • Top-rated
  1. Incorporate local keywords. Most voice searches are local, and you don’t want to miss out on searches that include the name of your city or the words “near me”
  2. Make sure your site loads quickly. Mobile users have a bounce rate 10% higher than desktop users – and most voice searches are mobile.
Rethinking your content with voice search in mind is a great way to attract more customers.

SEO Mistake #4: Not Removing Broken Links (insert 404)

You already know that link-building is crucial for SEO. Both internal and external links are a must, and if you’ve got broken links, it can hurt your SEO over time.

Broken internal links are frustrating for users – and they can occur when you change the URL of a page or remove content from your site. Broken external links are also frustrating and can even hurt your Google rank.

If it’s been a while since you looked for broken links on your site, you might be losing customers without realizing it. You can try going through your site and checking each link individually – but if you’ve got a complex site with a lot of pages, that can take a long time.

Instead, consider using a broken link tool like this one to help you out. It will test your site, identify broken links, and make it easy for you to fix them.

SEO Mistake #5: Not Focusing on Reviews

86% of all consumers read online reviews before making a purchase – and most read 10 reviews or more. Do you need anything else to convince you that online reviews are important for SEO?

If you’ve been neglecting your online reviews, it’s time to take them seriously. Having current reviews can make or break a local business.

Here are some pointers for getting your online reviews taken care of:

  1. Claim your business listings on Google My Business (see above), Yelp, and other review sites.
  2. Check your information to make sure it’s accurate.
  3. Ask customers to review your business. If you’ve got regulars, you can simply ask them to leave a review. Link to your Yelp or Google My Business page on your website and print the URLs on your receipts.
  4. Ask your Facebook followers to review your business on Facebook.
  5. Designate a person to handle reviews, including responding to negative and positive reviews quickly.
You can also seek out people who leave detailed or inspiring reviews and ask them to write or film a testimonial for your business. Then, you can feature it on your website or social media.

SEO is constantly changing, but the 5 mistakes here are ones you simply can’t afford to make. Fixing them now can help you avoid missing out new customers.

Local SEO VS National SEO Explained

Local SEO VS National SEO Explained

SEO

You’ve got your SEO all figured out, right?

Well… maybe.

Perhaps you’ve done a ton of research to find great keywords. Maybe you’ve got terrific, engaging content. You’ve optimized your links and tags.

Guess what?

If your business is local and you haven’t focused on local SEO, then the chances are good that you’re falling behind your competitors without realizing it.

All SEO is not created equal. National SEO – which focuses non-location based keywords – is useful for big corporations. But for small businesses, local SEO is where it’s at.

What are the differences? What do you need to know to make the most of local SEO?Let’s talk about it.

The Big Picture Similarities

Local and national SEO have a lot in common.

For example, both types of SEO have the goal of improving a website’s ranking on Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP.) The pages with the highest ranks get the lion’s share of traffic, which means they also get more conversions and more sales.

Some general techniques apply to all SEO, regardless of the target audience. I’m talking about:

  • Optimizing content with keywords
  • Using keywords in tags, titles, and meta descriptions
  • Link building with authority sites
  • Guest blogging

These things are essential because they help Google and other search engines “crawl” your site and index it properly.

National Keywords vs. Local Keywords

The biggest difference between local and national SEO is the keywords you’ll use.
National businesses can use general keywords because they’re big enough to benefit from doing so. When customers buy online or can find your business at their local mall, you don’t need to worry too much about locational keywords.

Local businesses do need to worry about locational keywords. They help local customers – the ones most likely to frequent your business – find you online.

Depending on your business, you may choose to use words that incorporate the name of your state, city, or neighborhood. Let’s look at a hypothetical business to see how this strategy might play out.

The business is a bakery located in the North End neighborhood in Boston. Here are a few local keywords that might be useful:

  • North End Italian bakery
  • Italian bakery North End Boston
  • Boston bakery
  • Massachusetts bakery

You get the idea. You can come up with variations that use the locations that are most likely to help your customers find you.

Choosing the right local keywords also helps you with Google. When someone in the area searches “best North end bakery,” Google will return results based on the GPS on the searcher’s phone or device.

In other words, local keywords help Google include your business in local searches, making it more likely that people in your area will learn about your business.

seo

Tips to Perfect Your Local SEO

What’s the best way to perfect your local SEO​? Fortunately, it’s not that hard to do. Here’s what I suggest:

  • Start by claiming your business listings. Anywhere your business is listed online, whether it’s on the website for your local Chamber of Commerce, Yelp, or a city directory, should be something you control. Claiming your listings makes it easy for you to correct errors and ensure that it’s easy for people to find your business.
  • Next, you’ll need to standardize your NAP (name, address, phone number) listings. To get the best results with Google and other search engines, you’ll need to make sure that all NAP listings are identical. That means everything, from the abbreviations you use for your street address to the phone number you list, must be the same.
  • Considering adding location pages to your website if you have more than one location. It’s easier to get local SEO​ right when you’re specific – and when you make it simple for people in your area to find you.
  • Update Google My Business for your business. Because it’s owned by Google, this is the one listing you can’t afford to ignore. Make sure you’ve got a link to your URL and that you use local keywords in your descriptions.
  • Research the local keywords with the most traffic and use them in your content. Remember that people in search of local businesses are highly likely to use local keywords. Choose your keywords accordingly.
  • Create compelling and useful local content that will attract people to your site. Make sure to use your keywords in your tags and link out to authority sites. You should also include a system of internal links.
  • Encourage your customers to write reviews – and respond to all reviews, positive and negative.
  • Do some local link building by reaching out to other businesses and directories in your area and getting them to link back to your site.
  • Use local keywords on your social media sites. Add maps, use Facebook’s mobile options to allow mobile users to click to call you, and allow customers to leave reviews

Local SEO​ isn’t difficult, but you’ll need to be methodical and practical in how you approach it.

SEO
Top SEO Trends Making the Biggest Impact in 2019

Top SEO Trends Making the Biggest Impact in 2019

SEO

SEO changes are coming one after another – like waves. And in 2019, you’ve got two choices: sink or swim.

Sound dramatic? Maybe it is. But the truth is that it’s getting more and more difficult to stay on top of the shifting tides of SEO. Google’s updates its algorithm regularly and doesn’t share the changes – and if you want your website to stay visible and maintain its rank, you’ve got to be ready to move with the current.

So, with that in mind, here are the biggest SEO trends of 2019 as I see them – and some tips about how to use them to your advantage.

Voice Search

Voice Search

I’m starting with a big one that many small and medium-sized companies are still ignoring. Voice search isn’t going anywhere – and in fact, it’s going to become increasingly important in 2019.

Why? Because pretty much all of us are using voice search in some way. Whether you’re starting a mobile search by saying “OK Google” or calling on Alexa, Cortana, or Siri to help you find what you need, you’re using voice search. And, estimates are that 50% of all searches will be voice searches by next year.

And guess what? That means your customers are too. One of the best ways to capitalize on this trend is to optimize your site with voice search in mind. That means incorporating common questions into your content – because your customers are asking questions and your website should answer them.

Mobile-First Indexing

Google’s mobile-first indexing is still relatively new, but only a fool would believe that it won’t increase in importance in 2019. Right now, about 60% of all searches are mobile – and that number’s only going to go up.

How do you take advantage of this trend? First, make sure your site is mobile responsive. Honestly, at this point there’s no excuse for it not to be. Next, think about how your site’s design will impact mobile users. You want a clean design that’s easy to use. That means single column next, right-sized buttons, and other mobile features like direct dialing.

You may also want to think about accepting mobile payments in your store, if you have one. The idea is to make it easy for mobile customers to patronize your business.

Structured Data

SEO is in an interesting place right now. We’re still heavily mobile-dependent, but the increase in voice searches and use of artificial intelligence means that we all need to be thinking about how our websites can be easy to access as AI increases in importance.

One way to do that is to use Schema and other structures to organize your data. Things like information architecture, tags, metadata, and structured mark-up can all help ensure that your site is easy to crawl and index.

I know that all sounds very technical, but an experienced SEO can help you navigate the tech requirements while still providing a site that’s user-friendly, readable, and engaging.

Brand as a Ranking Signal

SEO is no longer just about what’s on your website. It’s also about how people are talking about you on social media sites and other places online – and those brand mentions are now having a big impact on how Google perceives your company.

If you’re not already tracking your social mentions, now is the time to start doing it. Following other brands on social media will reveal that some of them are responding when people mention them – and they’re making a big impact doing it. Even a word of encouragement or a quick joke can make a huge difference in how people think of you. Awario is a great tool for tracking your mentions.

Focus on Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness

The big trio of online impact is E-A-T – Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Technically, E-A-T isn’t part of Google’s algorithm, but it is a guideline for Google’s algorithm raters. That means that you can’t afford to ignore it.

What you can do to offer E-A-T to your site’s visitors is provide content that’s:

  • Meaningful
  • Useful
  • Relevant
  • Authoritative
  • Deep

You don’t need to write 5,000 word blog posts. However, it is very helpful to cover the topics that are in your area of expertise in depth. If a topic is too big or complex for a single blog post, do a series of posts (or a series of videos) to cover it.

You can demonstrate E-A-T by creating a system of internal links to help visitors to your site navigate the information that’s available and easily find content that’s related to what they’re viewing.

Site Speed

Speed is another topic you may think I’ve covered too much – but when I repeat myself, it’s only because I know how important it is and I want to make sure that you’re not overlooking something that can have a huge impact on your SEO.

There’s no such thing as a website that loads too quickly. All web users are impatient and mobile users are more impatient than most. Very few are going to wait longer than five or six seconds for your site to load. Anything that might be slowing your site down needs to go. That means:

  • Auto play audio and video
  • Flash
  • Outdated plug-ins

You can and should use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to check your site’s loading speed. Then, do whatever you need to update it and speed it up, so that users don’t need to think about the time it takes your site to load – because they’ll already be looking at your awesome content.

Site Speed
How To Avoid Getting Walloped By Google EAT Update

How To Avoid Getting Walloped By Google EAT Update

SEO, Small Business

Has your organic traffic taken a nosedive lately – or if not a nosedive, at least a significant dip?

There’s a reason for that. Google tweaks its search algorithm all the time. Some updates are small and make only a small difference in search rankings. Others are major. And, that’s the case with the E.A.T. update, which caused some previously top-ranked sites to lose more than 50% of their organic traffic overnight.

Yikes.

If you’re familiar with Google’s methods, then you know that they hardly ever comment on updates or share relevant information about them. That means that marketers and SEOs have to guess what’s going on.

That can be tricky, but it turns out that this latest update can be summed up with three letters: EAT. Let’s talk about what they mean.

What Does E.A.T. Stand For?

Google’s E.A.T. algorithm has been given that name because of the three key things it prioritizes. They are:

  1. Expertise. How knowledgeable are you (or any contributing writers to your site) about the subject matter related to your business?
  2. Authoritativeness. How credible is your business in your industry or niche?
  3. Trustworthiness. Can readers trust the content you publish and trust you with their business?

Those three factors – expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness – are things that loom large for consumers. Since Google prioritizes sites that are useful to searchers, it’s really not a surprise that they would find a way to reward sites that demonstrate them.

The trick, of course, is knowing what things Google’s looking at and what you can do to improve your results. Chasing organic traffic was already difficult. In fact, only about 9% of content gets any organic traffic from Google.

How to Demonstrate Your Expertise

The best way to demonstrate your expertise is to update and optimize your author biography and About Us pages. These pages give you the opportunity to let readers (and Google) know who you are and why you’re an expert.

You should have a biography page for every contributor to your blog. Their byline should link to their bio. The bio should include:

  • Education and degrees
  • Work experience
  • Professional certifications and accomplishments

In addition to formal awards and things of that nature, it’s also a good idea to share information about your social following if applicable. Anything that demonstrates that people turn to your authors for advice and information will help you with Google.

The same thing goes for your About Us page. On the page, you can still explain the usual things like how and why you started your business. In addition, make sure to mention:

  • The experts you’ve hired to be part of your team
  • Any industry awards or recognition your company has received
  • Anything that sets your business apart from your competitors

Using important keywords and linking to authoritative sources will help you highlight your expertise.

How to Demonstrate Your Expertise

The next element of E.A.T. is authority. Here are the most important things you can do to signal your authoritativeness to Google.

  1. Build backlinks to your site. Every SEO knows that backlinks are essential. When authority sites link back to your site, it tells Google that your site is an authority source of information in your industry or niche.
  2. Offer your services as an authority and do what you can to increase your visibility online. If you write a guest blog or speak at a conference, those things can add to your authority.
  3. Be a thought leader. Authority doesn’t come from following what others do. If you want to be seen as an authority, you must offer opinions and analysis without worrying about what other people are doing.

Establishing yourself as an authority figure will help to earn you a high place on Google’s SERP.

How to Demonstrate Your Trustworthiness

It’s a common saying that trust needs to be earned. That applies to marketing as much as it does to anything else. In other words, trust isn’t something you can wish into being. You must give people reasons to trust you.

Reputation management plays a big role in trust. When people review your company on sites like Yelp or Google My Business, what do they say about you? How do you handle negative reviews? Do you have quality testimonials on your site? Each of these things plays a role in establishing your reputation online.

The same is true of social mentions. It’s essential to keep track of when and how your business is mentioned on social media.

Finally, you can build trust by having proper security on your site. That means installing a security certificate and using encryption to protect your most important data.

Other Quick Fixes for E.A.T.

In addition to the things I’ve mentioned above, there are some other important steps you can take to make the most of Google’s latest update.

  • Evaluate your traffic and delete or redirect pages with low E.A.T. ratings.
  • Moderate user-generated content and be careful to label it accordingly, so it’s not mistaken as being representative of you or your company.
  • Make sure to present a consistent brand across all platforms. That may mean updating your social media profiles, re-writing content on your website, and re-doing paper marketing materials as well.
  • Create E.A.T.-friendly images, such as infographics and charts, to support the information on your website.

As you’re reworking or adding content, keep in mind that Google still prioritizes content that’s written for people, not machines. This isn’t about gaming the system or fooling Google.

Rather, you should be honoring the things that they have identified as important while also providing your readers with useful, valuable, and actionable content.

Google Update