So you don’t want to spend money on an agency. I feel you. It’s not cheap even if the work is quality. So how do you take advantage of the value of organic traffic if you’re not hiring a professional? Here are some straightforward tips to help you win the SEO game. 

1. Write great content. This seems obvious but you’d be surprised. Great content doesn’t have to be long and novel-like. It needs to be purposeful and useful. If you’re writing SEO content for businesses ask yourself this question: what a query or search term I would like to appear in for my business? Then ask yourself? What’s the best possible content I can deliver for that query? If you can answer and execute on these ideas you’re on the right track.
   Good content isn’t about length or images or any one thing. It’s about understanding what you reader wants and how to get them there. 
2. Show them value within the article. This is more than just having great content. That’s priority 1. This is about providing value beyond the page. You have your customers here for one time only (hopefully not, but lets be realistic). How do you keep them learning about your product? Educating themselves?
   This is where product offerings, email capture and related links to other helpful pieces of content and provide huge value. The more we make a connection with our customers the more it can benefit SEO. 
3. Dial In Your Keywords. You can’t be everything to everyone. Deciding that you want to rank for the Top 20 keywords in your niche is great but also a fool’s errand unless you have unlimited time and money. What you’re better off doing is picking 5 keywords that you think will have a transformational impact on your business and trying to create content around those keywords. And when you get done creating one piece of content for each, create another. And another. The more the merrier. 
4. Stay Educated. SEO changes all the time. Your job should be to stay educated on what’s happening. Most of the time this won’t affect your business but if you’re doing things like publishing guest posts, or working in affiliate content, the news that comes down can have huge impact for your business. 
5. Don’t Try and Game The System. Want to grow SEO for your business? Don’t think you can black hat your way into it. Scrapping other websites and having an AI write the program is one way. But it’s not THE way. Don’t bother with guest blog posts and don’t bother with buying thousands of links. None of it will matter. SEO takes time and effort. Shortcuts will end up costing you more time and a lot more effort, not to mention a lot of stress. 

If you think we can help you and you want to make the jump to an agency, please let us know.

Are you looking for ways to increase the visibility of your business online and attract more customers? SEO, or search engine optimization, is an effective approach that can help you to get your business noticed. SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but there are some simple steps you can take to get started. Here are four easy SEO tips that will help you to boost your business’s visibility and reach more potential customers.

Understand the Basics of SEO

The first step to increasing your visibility online is to understand how SEO works. SEO is the process of optimizing your website to get a higher ranking in search engine results. That means there are specific steps you can take to make your website more visible to search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. SEO relies on two main factors - on-page SEO, which is the optimization of your individual web pages, and off-page SEO, which is the effect of links pointing to your web pages from other websites. As a business owner, you don’t have to understand the technical aspects of SEO. However, you do need to understand the basics of how SEO works and what you can do to optimize your website for higher search engine ranking.

Optimize Your Website for SEO

Optimizing your website for SEO is the first step to increasing your visibility online. To do this, you’ll want to focus on three main areas: site structure, content, and link building. Site Structure - Some people think that page rank is an indication of how many links you have pointing towards your site, but that’s not the case. Page rank is determined by how Google views your site’s structure and how they believe it should be organized. So if you want a higher ranking, you must make sure you’re following their standards. The best way to ensure that your site is following Google’s standards is to use a sitemap. A sitemap is a map of your website that Google uses to index your site. It shows Google where each page is located, which makes it easier for them to crawl through your site and index your content. Content - The amount of content on your site is important because it shows Google how long your website has been around. If you have more content, it shows Google you’ve been in the game for a while. People often think that having a lot of content is easy, but it takes time and effort to consistently publish quality content. Another reason Google likes to see a lot of content on your site is because it gives them something to link to. Google is a search engine, after all, and they like to index as many pages as possible. If Google can’t find a page to link to on your site, they won’t be able to rank it. Link Building - Having the right site structure and a ton of quality content are essential, but you also need links to those pages. Luckily, you can get articles published on other sites that link back to your content on your site. This is called link building and it’s a great way to get your site indexed.

Create Quality Content

Visibility isn’t the only thing Google looks at when deciding where your website should rank. They also want to know that your site is an authority on a particular subject or topic. One way to show Google that your site is an authority is to write quality content. How do you know if your content is quality? There are a few things you can look for to determine if your content is high quality. The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure your content includes your target keywords. This helps to not only make your content more relevant to your readers but also makes it easier for Google to find and index your site. Next, you’ll want to write in a conversational tone. This helps your readers feel like they are having a conversation with you as they read your content. Make Sure Your Content Has the Following: - Relevance to Your Topic: Your content should be relevant to your site topic. If it’s not, Google will know and you may end up hurting your ranking. - Authority: You can show Google that you’re an authority by including research and statistics in your content. - Well-formatted: Google also looks at the format and design of your content. If it’s well-designed and easy to read, Google will like it.

Leverage Local SEO

Most people think of SEO as a national or global marketing strategy. While it’s true that national SEO is an effective way to attract customers, local SEO is also an important part of SEO. Consumers are increasingly using online search engines to find local businesses. In fact, research shows that 59% of customers use online search engines to find a local business. If you want to get more customers visiting your business, you need to be visible in local search. If you are not ranking in local search, you are missing out on potential customers. Luckily, there are some easy ways to increase your local SEO ranking. One way to improve your local SEO is to claim your business on Google My Business. You can also add your business information to Google Maps. Another way to improve your local SEO is to create high-quality content that includes your business name and address. You can also collect positive reviews from your customers and add them to your website.

Track and Monitor Your SEO Efforts

If you want to track your SEO efforts, you’ll want to use SEO tools. There are many different SEO tools you can use to track your efforts and monitor your SEO. To start, you’ll want to use a keyword research tool to find the most relevant and popular search terms related to your business. This will give you a good idea of which keywords you should be targeting. You can also use a Google Trends tool to see which keywords are getting the most traffic. You can also use an analytics tool like Google Analytics to track your SEO efforts. This allows you to see how many people are visiting your website, where they are coming from, and which pages they are spending the most time on. Finally, you can use a backlink analysis tool to see which websites are linking to your website and how many there are. This will help you to understand your current backlink profile and help you set goals for future link building efforts.

Utilize SEO Tools

There are many different SEO tools that can help you to track your SEO efforts and track your website’s progress. Some of these tools also provide data on your website’s keyword rankings and traffic. Here are some of the most popular SEO tools that you can use to help track your SEO efforts. Google Analytics - Google Analytics is one of the most popular tools for SEO. It allows you to track your website traffic by showing you where people are coming from and how long they spend on your site. It also shows you which pages are most popular and how many people are clicking on your website’s links. Ahrefs - Ahrefs is another popular SEO tool that allows you to track your website’s traffic and keyword rankings. It also gives you data on your backlinks and shows you how many people are clicking on your links. Google Search Console - Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmaster Tools) is another popular SEO tool that allows you to track your website’s keyword rankings. It also gives you data on your backlinks and shows you how many clicks are coming to your website.

Stay Up-to-Date on SEO Trends

As we mentioned earlier, SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. That means that what worked a few years ago may no longer work today. That also means that as time goes on, SEO strategies will change and evolve. That’s why it’s important to stay up-to-date on current SEO trends so that you can adapt your strategy as necessary. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you can start by following some SEO blogs and reading about the latest trends and strategies. You can also attend conferences and hire an SEO consultant to give you insight into the latest trends and developments.

Hire an SEO Professional

If you’re serious about growing your business and increasing your revenue, it may be time to hire an SEO consultant or professional. An SEO consultant can help you to identify potential problems with your website and suggest ways to improve your SEO. They can also help you to develop a long-term SEO strategy that will help you to consistently increase your traffic and leads over time. When hiring an SEO consultant or professional, it’s important to make sure they are reputable and trustworthy. You can reach out to us if you need any help at contact@loupeandblade.com

If you’re reading this it’s likely you are thinking about taking your business to the next level through search. You’ve probably had a few referrals. You may have talked to an agency or two. You might be experiencing sticker shock as well. So the question is “do you need help from a professional agency?” Here’s a few things you should be thinking about to help you make the decision. 

1. How valuable would organic traffic be to your business?
   This seems like a silly question but truthfully it’s worth understanding. I’ve encountered many businesses that sold products or services that just didn’t have a great pathway to organic search traffic. Sometimes a product is something that doesn’t make sense in search. Don’t let an agency tell you that you can have big returns in SEO just because it wants to sell you a service. The truth is there are some businesses that should do better in search than others. If you can’t see a pathway to SEO growth for your business then hiring an SEO agency doesn’t make much sense.
   
   Here’s a simple exercise: what would you need to search to get to your business? If it’s “digital marketing service for e-comm business” then sure, maybe you have a way to grow search. If it’s “b2b video platform for fortune 500 companies” what are the odds someone is finding you on search? I’d guess it’s not very good.
   
2. How Competitive is the market?
   Let’s say you have a company that sells shoes to men and women. All searches related to shoes are dominated by Google ads. The rest are likely going to legacy sellers, department stores and affiliate publishers. If your shoe has some unique value prop (made with 100% recycled parts) then maybe there’s a way to create content and pages that allow you to be seen in smaller more targeted queries but the idea that you’ll rank highly for “men’s shoes” is pretty unrealistic. If you have money to burn then maybe it’s worth a shot but otherwise I’d suggest putting your time and effort into other areas that might get you ROI faster.
   
3. Does the SEO agency have experience in your niche?
   Now, this doesn’t always have to be the case. You could go with an agency that doesn’t have experience but in my opinion it’s better. An SEO that deals with publishers will have experience with the unique challenges that business face (ex. Dealing with ad placement and google best practices for intrusive ads). Local SEO experts will be able to deal with your SEO issues there better than someone who has never done it before. SEO agencies who have worked with medical content will understand better what works in their experience to build trust. It’s important that you find an agency that knows your business and challenges.
   
4. What am I getting for my money?
   Seems obvious but there’s so many questions people don’t ask when interviewing these agencies. For instance, a technical audit is great but what does that mean for you? What are they going to tell? Will they prioritize the issues for you? Will they work with your devs to help fix the issues? Will they provide documentation of their analysis to verify it’s legitimacy?
   You can’t ask enough questions about what are you getting for your money. No SEO agency can guarantee you better SEO by any magnitude but you can at least know what the deliverables will be, how they will be laid out and how they will help you.
   
5. Do they have references?
   This is one that I believe needs to be asked more often. They can tell you they worked with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft but is there anyone there that can speak to the quality of their work. Of course references are designed by the candidate to make themselves look great but in the world of SEO, producing happy clients is such a big win that if they can show you even a few clients who can speak to the quality of their work you should feel good.
   

Do you have patience?

This might be the most important. A good SEO agency has a high expected value. The problem is you won’t see that value for months, maybe over a year. Of course they can help you immediately with creating good content, fixing issues on the site and even link building services, but to see your SEO grow it can take a while.

Can you be comfortable spending 10,20,50 thousand dollars on an SEO agency and wait it out?

In my opinion it’s similar to investing. People know that putting $100 a month into a mutual fund will give you much better returns in 40 years but many people don’t have the patience to think that long term. Of course I’m biased but I think it’s worth it. The rate of return on a great piece of content or an optimized site can be worth way more than you spend on the agency. You just have to have the patience to do it.

Not sure if SEO is right for? Contact us and we can help.

Site Speed. I've seen many clients get obsessed with the idea of slow site speed. Clients have spent an inordinate amount of time watching the Core Web Vitals and deploying engineers to fix this problem. 

I get it. Those Core Web Vital graphs are scary especially when most of your URLS are red and the ones that aren't are green. But i'm here to tell you that if site speed is keeping you up at night you're focusing on the wrong thing. 

Let's start by clearing up the confusion. When CWV has first announced Google came out with this language: 

“Relevance is still by far much more important. So just because your website is faster with regards to Core Web Vitals than some competitors doesn’t necessarily mean that come May, you will jump to position number one in the search results.”

What does this mean? Depends on your interpretation. Most SEO conversations insisted this meant that page speed was just a tie breaker. This became the narrative until John Mueller corrected this month's later: 

“It is a ranking factor, and it’s more than a tie-breaker, but it also doesn’t replace relevance.

Depending on the sites you work on, you might notice it more, or you might notice it less.

As an SEO, a part of your role is to take all of the possible optimizations and figure out which ones are worth spending time on.

Any SEO tool will spit out 10s or 100s of “recommendations”, most of those are going to be irrelevant to your site’s visibility in search.

Finding the items that make sense to work on takes experience.”

Um, okay. So it's more than a tie-breaker, but certainly feels like...a tiebreaker. 

So what does this mean? If you're up at night worried about ripping scripts off your page and closing down programmatic ads, you might be focused on the wrong things. 

Your website and its relevance to the searches and conversations online that you want to be a part of matter most. So if your content stinks, if your pages do a poor job of communicating to Google what they are and why they matter then no amount of fast loaded pages will fix that. 

Google's job, at its best, is to direct users to the most relevant places for the query they are searching. You need to spend your time making sure Google can read your pages and be assured over and over that your page is THE destination for that query. 

Of course making your pages faster and having a better ad experience matter but only as a secondary factor once you've mastered the art of relevance on your site.

Don’t get fooled into thinking that you need to spend endless amounts of time and engineering on fixing a problem that, in my experience, EVERYONE HAS. Focus on content first and foremost and everything else will fall into place.

If you’re asking this question, it means you want to improve SEO but are thinking of doing it independently. The short answer is no, but the longer answer is a bit more complicated. 

For those of you who don’t know: Screaming Frog is an excellent crawler for people looking to do a technical audit on the site. The advantages of the crawler are that it’s cheap relative to other enterprise solutions. It crawls an entire website, which itself is an advantage. Many web-based crawlers in software such as Semrush or Ahrefs usually have a limit to the number of pages you can crawl based on your subscription level. In most cases, Screaming Frog for an entire year costs less than a month of those subscription services. We should point out that Semrush and Ahrefs do much more than a technical crawl, so comparing prices isn’t really fair. 

The main drawback to Screaming Frog is that it’s a desktop-based crawler, so crawling a big site could create issues with computer speed. Ideally, you could run your crawl on a separate laptop. And of course, with any desktop-based crawl, the connection to your internet can create interruptions. This all means, if you have a big site (say over 100,000 URLs) crawling on a desktop can be a pain. 

I should be clear, too, that I own a license to Screaming Frog and use it as one of the many tools we use when evaluating our clients' websites. It’s far from the only tool we use, but there are things that I really enjoy about it, and can give me some helpful insights. 

So if I like it, why discourage the average website owner from using it? It’s not that it can’t provide value, but as with anything else, the data is only as good the context you have for it and the changes it prompts you to make. 

It’s a bit like having a blood test and then reading the results for yourself. Do you know what a good range is? Do you know what it means to be out of range? Do you know which numbers to prioritize and how to treat the problems with priority? Probably not. 

That's my issue with most crawls, you can do it yourself. What do the results mean to you, and how do you figure out what to prioritize? Not every “error” or “issue” you’ll see on a crawl is worth your time. And there are times when crawls don’t show you things that actually need to be resolved. So, if you want to learn SEO and figure using Screaming Frog and your website as a lab rat, then by all means. If you know enough to be dangerous and want to DIY your SEO, do it. 

But if you’re serious about getting SEO right for your business, then invest in real SEO experts. Even if that isn’t us, I can assure you that there are many qualified SEO experts, and I’m happy to make recommendations and referrals if our company isn’t right for you.

If you're seeking comprehensive SEO services beyond tool-based audits, our team offers expert guidance, strategic insights, and tailored recommendations to elevate your website's performance and drive tangible results.