Today you will learn how social media impacts SEO form Rebecca Churt, the HubSpot's SEO Manager, and Darin "Doc" Berntson, the Social Media Manager at SEO.com. View the course video below:

By Neil Patel

SEO isn’t the same as what it used to be. You can’t just popup an ugly website, throw up mediocre content, and build a few links and expect to rank well. These days you actually have to build a good website, write high quality content that solves peoples’ problems, build thousands of links, and get thousands of social shares. -- Read More

My Commentary

I couldn't agree more. Given how fast and radical the changes Google makes to its algorithm, investing a ton of time and money into SEO just isn't worth it right now.  I am not saying that good on-page SEO shouldn't be done. Quite the contrary, on-page SEO is still a critical element of good rankings.  But, spending a lot of resources into article marketing and other SEO link building techniques just isn't going to get you a good bang for your buck.  Focus on awesome content and social sharing to generate backlinks.

Pinson Digital LLC, an Oregon based inbound marketing agency specializing in small to mid-sized companies looking for social media management services. He has been involved with marketing since 1993 and has worked with hundreds of clients, both small businesses and larger companies.

By Michael Pingree

Location, location, location matters in more than just real estate. It also is a critical factor in Google+Local rankings.  Google ranking include how close your business is to the centroid of the location you are searching.

For example, if you are searching in Salem, Oregon, all factors being the same, a business located closer to the Google determined center of Salem will rank higher than businesses located farther away.

Why does this matter? If a competitor with the same keyword is more centrally located, you will have to beat them on most of the other ranking factors to show up ahead of them in the search results.  Something to think about when doing local SEO.

About the Author

Michael Pingree is the Owner of Pinson Digital LLC, an Oregon based internet marketing agency specializing in small to mid-sized companies looking for location based inbound marketing services. He has been involved with marketing since 1993 and has worked with hundreds of clients, both small businesses and larger companies. 

By Michael Pingree

For local businesses, attracting new customers can be a major challenge. One way local businesses can get found is through inclusion in online directories. Each directory that you submit to is a chance to get found online.

It is very important that the information you submit is the same on every directory and it must be the same info you submit to Google+ Places. This is a critical step. For example, if you list you street address as 123 Main Street NE, you should never list it as 123 Main St Northeast. That just confuses the search engines.

By Michael Pingree

Pinson Digital LLC Search News is your monthly source to keep you up to date on the latest trends in inbound marketing. You’ll know about emerging trends in online marketing and we’ll explain how those trends can be put to use in your business. 

On September 18, Google announced they would be rolling out another Panda refresh. Panda is Google's code name for a series of updates they started in 2011 that remove low quality content from Google's search index. This latest refresh is expected to only impact less than 0.7% of search results. So what does this mean for you? It serves as a good reminder that you should have a diversified and well-rounded marketing strategy that is built on a foundation of quality content. Make the content on your website useful and informative. To learn more about ways to take your content marketing program to the next level, give us a call. 

On-page SEO is what we like to call “low hanging fruit.” This means it is really simple to do and should be one of the first things you do to optimize your website. Approximately 30% of your site’s search engine ranking comes from on-page SEO factors.

Below are 6 best practices that Pinson Digital uses to optimize your website content for on-page SEO.

By Michael Pingree

I know, just when you were starting to get a handle on SEO, we start talking about localSEO as well. What is localSEO? How is it different? Do I really need it? Is it a set-and-forget process or ongoing? Let's get started with the basics...

What is localSEO?

LocalSEO is the process of optimizing your website so that it will rank for your products/services with a location modifier. Once again in English: if you are a lawyer in San Francisco, you would want to rank for the search "San Francisco Lawyer."  If you are a builder of condos in Portland, you want to rank for the search "Portland Condo Builder." That's it in a nutshell. It is the combination of keyword term and location.

You will quickly see a link between search engine ranking, and your sales. You'll find the methods here that you can use to move your site towards the top.

You have to start at the beginning with search engine optimization, and figure out the basics first. Ranking websites is done by a computer since it's beyond anything a human can do. Websites are sorted by automatic programs by using algorithms and equations. SEO is something you should be using to help the search engines find you. You can either make a new website or update one you already have to get better rankings.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving a web site or a web page's search engine results.

The higher your site/page is in the search engines, the more visitors your site will get. Search engine optimization is an ongoing process that does take time to show big results.

There are two types of seo, on-page and off-page. On-page accounts for about 30% of your ranking and off-page accounts for the other 70%.

Every website has an advertising budget. Unfortunately that budget only stretches so far. Fortunately there are ways to get an unlimited number of visitors to your site and all it will cost you is time. SEO is the answer to your traffic problems. Search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO, increases your ranking on the major search engines so that potential customers can find your site on their own.

The first step is to take a look at your page and see where you can get started. Making sure that your front page is cleverly filled with relevant keywords can be the best boost for traffic. While many other techniques will help you achieve that first page ranking, none of them will do you any good if your own web page is not optimized. Make sure your front page includes a full introduction to what your page is about that will quickly clue in both your visitors and search engines.