6 Major Google Changes Reveal the Future of SEO

The last few weeks have been amazing. Google has made some big changes and they are all part of a longer term strategy that has many components.

In short, Google is doing a brilliant job of pushing people away from tactical SEO behavior and toward a more strategic approach.

You could argue that "tactical SEO is dead", but that's not quite right. And don't run around saying "SEO is dead" because that is far from the truth, and I might just scream at you.

Instead, let's take a few steps back and understand the big picture. Here's a look at the major developments, some of Google's initiatives driving this change, and the overall impact these changes will have on SEO.

1. '(Not Provided)'

Google made the move to make all organic searches secure starting September 23. This means we've lost the ability to get keyword data for users arriving to our websites from Google search.

Losing Google keyword data is sad for a number of reasons. This impacts publishers in many ways, including losing a valuable tool for understanding what the intent of customers that come to their site, for conversion optimization, and much more.

For tactical SEO efforts, it just means that keywords data is harder to come by. There are ways to work around this, for now, but it just won't be quite as simple as it used to be.

2. No PageRank Update Since February

Historically, Google has updated the PageRank numbers shown in the Google Toolbar every 3 months ago or so, but those numbers haven't been updated since February. This means 8 months have gone by, or two updates have been skipped.

In addition, Google's Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts has said Toolbar PageRank won't be updated again this year, leading many to speculate that PageRank is going away. I won't miss it because I don't look at PageRank often and I normally don't have a Google toolbar in my browser.

However, a lot of people still use it as a crude measurement of a site's prominence.

For sites with a home page that has PageRank 7 or higher, it may in fact be reasonable to assume that the site has some chops. Correspondingly, sites with a home page that has a PageRank of 3 or lower, it is either new, or probably a low quality experience. Stuff in the middle, you just don't know.

If Google shuts off this data flow entirely, which wouldn't be surprising, then they will have to rely on other real world (and better) measurements instead. This would actually be better than using PageRank anyway, because Google says they don't use it that way themselves, so why should we?

3. Hummingbird

There are a few elements to Google's Hummingbird algorithm, announced in time for Google's official birthday, but like Caffeine before it, this is really a major platform change. Google has built a capability to understand conversational search queries much better than before.

For example, submit a query to Google such as "show me pictures of Fenway Park", and it does:

Then you can follow that query with this one: "who plays there", and you get this result:

Both of these show conversational search at work (but note that the Boston Beacons folded in 1968 after just one season, so that is an error in that result – shows that they have much work to do!).

Hummingbird really changes the keyword game quite a bit. Over time, exact keyword matches will no longer be such a big deal.

The impact of this algorithm is likely to be quite substantial over the next 2 or so years. Net-net, they have drastically reduced access to the raw data, and are rolling out technology that changes the way it all works at the same time!

4. Google+

OK, this one isn't new. Google launched Google+ June 28, 2011.

While it seemed to get off to a slow start initially, many argue that it has developed a lot of momentum, and is growing rapidly. The data on Google+'s market share is pretty hard to parse, but there are some clear impacts on search, such as the display of personalized results:

In addition, you can also see posts from people on Google+ show up in the results too. This is true even if you perform your search in "incognito" mode:

And, while I firmly believe that a link in a Google+ share isn't treated like a regular web link, it seems likely to me that it does have some SEO value when combined with other factors.

How Google+ fits into this picture is that it was built from the ground up to be a content sharing network that helps with establishing "identities" and "semantic relevance". It does this quite well, and in spite of what you might read in some places, there is a ton of activity in all kinds of different verticals on Google+.

5. Authorship

OK, authorship also isn't new (launched on June 7, 2011), but it is a part of a bigger picture. Google can use this to associate new pieces of content with the person who wrote it.

Over time, this data can be potentially used to measure which authors write stuff that draw a very strong response (links, social shares, +1s, comments) and give them a higher "Author Rank" (note that Google doesn't use this term, but those of us in the industry do).

We won't delve into the specifics of how Author Rank might work now, but you can read "Want to Rank in Google? Build Your Author Rank Now" for my thoughts on ways they could look at that.

That said, in the future you can imagine that Google could use this as a ranking signal for queries where more comprehensive articles are likely to be a good response. Bottom line: your personal authority matters.

I also should mention Publisher Rank, the concept of building a site's authority, which is arguably more important. Getting this payoff depends on a holistic approach to building your authority.

6. In-Depth Articles

Google announced a new feature, in-depth articles August 6. You can see an example of this here:

The Google announcement included a statement that "up to 10% of users' daily information needs involve learning about a broad topic." That is a pretty big number, and I think over time that this feature will become a pretty big deal. Effectively, this is an entirely new type of way to rank in the SERPs.

This increases the payoff from Author Rank and Publisher Rank – there is a lot to be gained by developing both of these, assuming that Google actually does make it a ranking factor at some point. Note that I wrote some thoughts on how the role of in-depth articles could evolve.

Is There a Pattern Here?

Yes, there is. The data they have taken away has been historically used by publishers to optimize their SEO efforts in a very tactical manner.

How do I get higher PageRank? What are the keywords I should optimize for? Taking these things out of the picture will reduce the focus on these types of goals.

On the other side of the coin, the six major Google changes listed above are all moves that encourage more strategic behavior. Note that I didn't bring up Google Now, which is also a really big deal too, and it's another big piece of the Google plan, just not a major driver of the point I'm trying to make today.

All of these new pieces play a role in getting people to focus on their authority, semantic relevance, and the user experience. Again, this is what Google wants.

For clarity, I'm not saying that Google designed these initiatives specifically to stop people from being tactical and make them strategic. I don't really know that. It may simply be the case that Google operates from a frame of reference that they want to find and reward outstanding sites, pages, and authors that offer outstanding answers to user's search queries. But the practical impact is the same.

The focus now is on understanding your target users, producing great content, establishing your authority and visibility, and providing a great experience for the users of your site. Properly architecting your site so that the search engines can understand it, including using schema and related markup, addressing local search (if that is relevant to you), and work of this type still matters, too.

But, the obsession with tactical items like PageRank and keywords is going to fade away. As Google tweaks the way their service operates, and look for ways to capture new signals, they do things that naturally push you in that direction. It isn't going to stop. Expect more of the same going forward!

Why Content Marketing is a Definitive Method for Success in 2014

Over the course of the past year, content marketing has really taken the spotlight. While the importance of quality content has been preached for a long time, in 2013 it proved to be the talk of the digital marketing industry and beyond.

A regular marketing tool for many companies, content creation became a prime method for success in 2013 and will become a definitive one in 2014.

While "content" is a common term, the past year has consisted of truly digging in and finding the precise definition and methods that go along with it. As a result of this yearlong brainstorm came a good amount of content strategy insights.

What We Realized About Content in 2013

Content is More Than Just Text

Content doesn't just have to be text. In fact, it can be a lot more than that.

Think about the various ways people learn. Some individuals are kinesthetic and hands-on while others are auditory learners and can take something straight from what they here, while a great many are visual may prefer to read something straight from a page or on a screen.

Content marketing is no different. It should be a mixture of types that can adhere to diverse learning styles.

For example, using video or even an infographic as a form of content can be an extremely beneficial and noteworthy way to communicate your brand and help you stand far apart from your competitors. Not only are you encompassing the auditory piece, but you're also providing a visual outlet.

We've also learned that shorter content isn't necessarily the be all and end all, but rather as long as you are communicating your message and your brand, content can be any length necessary for what you're trying to accomplish.

Mobile is a Go!

In 2013 we've really started to confirm the importance of mobile, and this includes content as well. How many people out there search for things via their mobile browser, specifically when on the go? I know I do.

Creating content that is effective on a mobile device can absolutely increase your chances of success overall; by being represented properly on the devices and platforms that individuals have access to, the better success rate you will have in the long-term.

Creating distinctive content that is suitable for specific devices while sticking with your niche and holding the interest of your followers, you'll be that much more likely to achieve a content marketing victory.

Content is a Piece of the Big Picture

In the past year, we've realized that content isn't a lone unit and as such, many have begun to implement it as a part of their digital strategies as a whole.

Rather than creating content and simply hoping that your customers will be attracted to it, we've begun to truly look into the heart of our followers, in turn discovering the content best suited to them and creating it and from there, delving into promotion via social and beyond.

Tell Your Story With Content

Not only that, but we've realized that content isn't just about discussing a product that you may carry. Rather, it's about using content to communicate who you are as a brand.

You can easily tell your story by way of content; write a blog post with a personal touch, create a video showing your daily grind. By being transparent to your followers, you will likely gain and even greater audience by making known who you are and what you want to accomplish with your business.

Keep Promoting Your Content

While 2013 has been a year of new and interesting content, we've realized that just because something may be older and created a while back doesn't mean that it won't be of interest currently. By re-promoting your older content, you'll be able to bring your audience back to something that they may have forgotten about or missed entirely.

So just because something may be considered "outdated," don't let it fall to the wayside; keep on promoting it and see where it goes.

Where Are We Going in 2014?

Content is Worth the Investment

In 2014, the realization of the dire importance of content within business models is going to continue. Budgets are have already allocated more funds to content strategies both in the U.S. and around the world, and content budgets for 2014 have already shown total increases.

While some may assume that since content marketing is newer and more unique than traditional marketing, that it will cost more. But, this isn't the case.

Content marketing doesn't necessarily cost as much as traditional marketing does. Plus, you will most likely give you even more leads and sales as a result.

Right now many businesses are taking a look at their content efforts from 2013 and deciding upon which strategies worked, which didn't, and how they can improve upon their tactics in the New Year.

We're going to start looking more into our audiences and finding more locations in which to promote our content. Many people are seeking to just get their content out there and aren't necessarily digging deep to find out who the best followers would be.

Also consider the number of content-specific conferences out there. This number has skyrocketed; and what does this tell us? Simply that people want to learn about content; how to create it, how to be successful, and how it can help their businesses to prosper.

'Content Combat'

With so many companies increasing their content investments in 2014, it could become a true battle for search visibility, even if the content you create is of high quality. So what can you do?

Make sure that your content is unique and the true voice of your brand. Make sure you know the ins and outs of your audience and are speaking directly to them and their interests with each and every piece of content that you create.

Strategies on the Way

Rather than aimlessly throwing content out on the web, people and businesses are going to start working with actual strategies for content creation and promotion. This includes documenting and tracking everything in order to locate successes and failures.

Use an editorial calendar to keep track of your content in 2014. By planning everything out on a calendar, you'll ensure that you keep everything in line with your goals.

If you weren't before, measure your results; whether you do this with an old-fashioned spreadsheet or with the help of Google Analytics. By measuring and analyzing your success, you'll be able to decide where you want to definitively go with your content in the future.

Google's Influence on Content: Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird

All of Google's updates in 2013 have proven how important content is, and how important it will continue to be as we enter into 2014.

Content in 2014 is going to be a lot more like a good old conversation that you might have with a co-worker in the hallway. Thanks to the Hummingbird algorithm, Google searches are akin to the way that we naturally speak, so content is going to be forced to adjust to these conversational searches.

Here's to Content in 2014

No matter what day, month, or year it is, content is in the works, and in a big way. A big picture word nowadays, content has truly driven the industry into new realms in 2013, and 2014 will be sure to be another adventurous year. So here's to content in 2014 and the many places it will continue to take us.

What are your predictions for the year to come?

PPC Excel Tips For Every Level: Part 2, Faster Campaign Analysis For Intermediates

Today we have more handy Excel tricks from Bing Ads Evangelist John Gagnon. This second installment of PPC Excel tips focuses on intermediate level techniques for speeding up campaign analysis. Paid search managers will benefit, but really anyone using Excel for data analysis will find good information or a helpful refresher here.

Intermediate Tip: Get more out of Pivot Tables with calculated fields and by fixing #DIV/0 errors.

Pivot tables are truly a must-have Excel skill for marketers. If you haven’t used pivot tables yet, don’t be timid. You can’t damage your data set when working with pivot tables because they simply aggregate the data you are working with in a separate area, typically in a separate sheet. For more on getting into pivot tables read this earlier post from Annie Cushing.

Calculated Fields: For those with pivot table experience, you know that once data such as impressions, clicks, spend are aggregated, you still need to calculate metrics like CPA and CTR as you do with regular campaign exports. In other words, you can’t Sum cost/conversion or click-through data, you have to calculate them from the aggregated cost, click and impression data. This is what Calculated Fields do for you with just a little set up work. I have to admit, for years I calculated these metrics in cells outside of pivot tables not knowing about the magic of calculated fields.

A great thing about calculated fields is the data columns you want to use in your formula do not have to be included in your current pivot table. For example, in the demo below, John shows how to calculate CPA to find the total cost per conversion, but only spend is included in his pivot table, not cost/conversion.

One note, your calculated fields can’t use duplicate names from fields already in your data set. Thus the “CPA” field name in this example.

The calculated field will append a new column to the right in your pivot table. You can then sort and filter based on this new column.

Fixing #DIV/0 Errors: Whether you’re using calculated fields or not, if you divide a number by zero in Excel it returns the dreaded #DIV/0! error. This can obviously skew your analysis if you’re looking at CPA data.

“If you ignore the error, you’re missing out on valuable information — a keyword can spend thousands and still not convert a single time,” says John.

The solution: Use the IFERROR() formula in the calculated field to return “spend” or “cost” when there are 0 conversions. Open the Calculated Fields dialog again, go to the CPA field in the Name dropdown, and change the formula to: =IFERROR(Spend/Conversions,Spend)

John is using the 2013 version of Excel. If you’re using Excel 2010, you’ll find calculated fields under the Options tab in PivotTable Tools.

IFERROR can be used outside of calculated fields as well. It’s a good function for marketers to know, particularly for cost analysis. The logic of the formula basically says, if the calculation returns an error (#DIV/0! in this case) then return X, and X can be your total spend, or it can be a specific number or even text. Essentially, you can customize what the formula returns by putting what you want after that comma in the formula.

If you have any pivot table questions or tips you’d like to share, please do so in the comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for the last segment in this series when John shares some advanced level Excel tips for PPC marketers. And be sure to check outPPC Excel Tips For Every Level: Part 1, Huge Time Savers For Beginners (And Beyond)

Reduce Bounce Rate: 20 Things to Consider

Bounce rate is one of those quality metrics that gets tossed around a lot in the search engine space. People are almost always talking about absolutes in terms of "this is how XYZ will reduce your bounce rate," and so on.

I don’t subscribe to this school of thought; bounce rates need to be looked at subjectively.

While there are some general best practices, for the most part certain activities prescribed as absolute can both hurt and help websites.

Hence the title of this post. I don’t want to stand on my bounce rate soapbox and preach to you that everything in this post is going to help you, so I’m approaching this from a more realistic standpoint; the items on this list are worth thinking about, and probably trying – but this isn't some magic wand from the land of unicorns and bounce rates under 5 percent.

A high bounce rate can be indicative of a number of things but usually falls into one of two categories:

1. You're acquiring the wrong kind of traffic to your page(s), or
2. You're acquiring exactly the right kind of traffic to your page(s).

Did number 2 throw you for a loop? Most people forget about the second scenario, since most websites tend to fall victim to the first.

But think about this for a second: if a user comes into your site and finds exactly what they were looking for; an answer to their question or solution to their problem, why should they stay a moment longer or look around on other pages?

Websites that are excellent at solving information problems quickly often have high bounce rates, for example here is a website that is designed to rank for question queries, offering specific and succinct answers:

Users come in, get the answers they need, and leave; but come back often.

On the Flipside

You have websites where it is critical to get your visitors to stick. You want them to spend time clicking around the site, perusing content, and build toward a conversion.

In these instances high bounce rates are a conversion killer, and anything you can do to increase the time on site and number of pageviews will most likely directly correlate to your site’s success and your bottom line.

Before we can approach improving something, it is important to make sure you have a firm grasp on what it is.

Bounce rate is often confused with exit rate, and the difference is important; bounce rate is a measure of people who bounced off a single page (i.e., they did not visit any other pages within your website), whereas exit rate is simply a measure of the percentage of visitors who left your site from that page.

Why It’s Important to Reduce Your Bounce Rate

Reducing the bounce rate on pages that have the highest volume of traffic from your highest converting sources means more engaged visitors and a greater chance of conversion.

What follows is a list of 20 considerations for reducing your bounce rate. These are by no means absolutes and are relative to everyone’s unique value propositions and audience, but generally speaking, these are worth thinking about.

1. You Should Probably Avoid Pop-ups

Pop-up ads annoy people. In some rare cases they offer something worth the roadblock, but usually they disrupt the user experience.

2. Use Intuitive Navigation for Important Items

Don’t make your visitors feel dumb (or think you’re dumb) for not providing them with clear and obvious paths to get the content they may be looking for.

The most common reaction to not being able to find something that should be obvious is frustration – and if you’ve ever been on a web page where you can’t figure out how or where to navigate, this is exactly how you feel.

Heatmaps are a great way to gain visibility into where user’s might be trying to click, giving you insight into what should be clickable. A great tool for this is Crazy Egg.

3. Poor Design is Increasingly Less Tolerable

I’m not just talking about gradients and drop shadows; design now transcends the whole user experience. Your content needs to be attractive; both in terms of graphical treatments and readability.

Design for your target audience, which may not necessarily be the audience you already have, or at least not the majority of it. Design has become a legitimacy signal and the lack thereof can directly impact visitors (and prospects) perceptions of the quality of your business and services.

4. Speed

This pretty much goes without saying these days but nothing really effects bounce rate like having a web page that takes 10 seconds to load.

Not only is this a confirmed ranking factor and lends directly to user experience, but it can cause your follower reach to stall, negatively impact your search rankings, and destroy your conversion rate.

5. Is Your Website Mobile Usable

I realize that is far from proper English, but I feel it makes my point. Being mobile friendly is ideal, but being mobile usable is critical.

Websites can still be effective as long as content can be accessed and used from a mobile device or tablet.

Furthermore, mobile usability does not necessarily mean from a design compatibility and accessibility standpoint, in many cases it means is the language on your site simple and clear enough that people on the go (on mobile devices) can still make sense of what they need to do to find information and at the very least contact you if necessary.

6. Design Information Around Priorities

This comes back to the last consideration, are your target conversion or content points clearly presented on your pages? Can users immediately get a sense of what they should expect to find or are expected to do while on the page?

Websites tends to have two paths to conversion:

• Landing pages (short direct sales path)
• A conversion funnel (longer process of qualifying visitors through a collection of pages that drive toward conversion)

Are you effectively managing the expectations of your visitors? A good litmus test for this is if you are able to trigger your primary page conversions more than 20 percent of the time.

7. Segment Information

This is another perspective on creating content that is designed to be digested and consumed. Readability is important here but so is the idea of grouping content into segments or categories – this is most often seen in blog posts where header tags are used to break apart large walls of text.

8. Optimize For Intent

This is a more detailed take on information design, and ensuring that based on the keywords your visitors are using to get to your pages, you are serving them an experience that address their expectations.

This is often talked about in paid search and display advertising, where the highest bounce rates are created from advertisers not closing the loop between the ad copy and the landing page copy and design. The experience needs to be consistent from start to finish or you risk breaking the user’s intent loop.

9. Be Mindful of Ad Placement

This is still a bit of a new idea (especially to advertisers) but if possible avoid the standard ad units. Not only have web users developed ad blindness but Google has also started penalizing pages that have too many ad units above the fold, and hint: they are looking for standard ad unit sizes.

Furthermore, from a publisher perspective, I can understand it's great to squeeze an extra handful of impressions in per pageview, but if you look at some of the high performing niche ad networks, you will notice there publisher websites have a general lack of intrusive ads.

10. Lazy Load Third Party Content

Lazy loading, in case you’re unfamiliar, is a design pattern process for deferring the loading of objects until they are needed. Mashable is a fantastic example of this in action, notice how their pages load almost instantly and then new content is loaded as it is needed (as your scroll position advances toward those pixels).

This is done both for speed and user experience, and can be specified programmatically on a component by component basis.

11. Color Contrast

Readers need contrast. Contrast between colors can make a dull story into an exciting one and conversely can turn the most exciting content in the world into a palette of indiscernible whites and grays if not given proper consideration.

Contrast is important to consider as the web moves faster towards different mediums of content, with more and more happening on the pages, it is important to use colors and patterns to draw your reader's eyes toward the important parts of the page.

12. Messaging is Blatantly Obvious

This is another consideration when it comes to focus and attention. Remember you only have a few seconds to translate value to a new visitor, so don’t make them guess.

Taglines are a great way to quickly translate purpose, but if you don’t have one another simple way is to place your site’s purpose in plain text in an obvious place (like the header or the top of the sidebar). If you sell something, say that.

13. Cut Out Distractions

I wish I could say this goes without saying, but I still run into website on a weekly basis that autoplay audio and video. These are distractions and intrusions that aren't expected and break the experience.

Cutting out distractions not only leads to better bounce rates, but usually dramatically increases your conversion rates.

14. Offer Related Content Based on Personas

If you don’t offer related content on your pages, or intuitive navigation (hopefully with some sort of hook or teaser) then you're missing out on a substantial number of pageviews and the opportunity to be more of a sticky resource.

Related content gets really powerful when you're able to target it within the same categories or tags, as these segments of content tend to be attractive to visitors who make it through related posts in the same content stack.

15. Leverage Internal Search

If you don't currently offer search functionality on your website or if you don't regularly review internal search analytics, then you're missing the boat. Web users have become so used to search that it is an easy behavioral pattern to accommodate and leverage for improved experience.

To take this a step further, you can use newer tools for crowdsourced FAQs to literally create a content roadmap for what matters most to your audience.

16. Open External Links in New Windows

This is an incredibly simple concept that is still often overlooked, but if you're going to link out to a resource on your website, make sure you have it open a new window instead of redirecting the user off your site.

The best (and easiest way) to do this is to simply add target="_blank" into the link’s <a> tag. So for example; <a href="http://example.com" target="_blank">anchor text</a>.

17. Prominently Display Your Search Box

This is a separate consideration from leverage internal search that has more to do with number 2 on this list; if you are going to offer helpful functionality like site search on your website, don’t make users have to search for your search box.

18. Offer a Helpful 404 Page

Nobody likes to think of instances where their website or pages may greet users with a 404 page, but these things happen.

The best thing you can do to turn a negative experience into a potentially positive one is a few things:

• Use Google’s suggestive snippet for creating useful 404 pages. Visit the "Enhance 404 pages" section in Google Webmaster Tools, which allows you to generate a JavaScript snippet.
• Add a search box and a link to the homepage
• If nothing else, add a bit of design and humor.

19. Keep it Readable

This isn't a duplicate of number 3. In this consideration I'm talking specifically about your page’s Flesch-Kincaid score, or the level of difficulty for comprehension of your content.

There are two tests used to determine both the ease of reading and the average grade-level required for comprehension. Both of which have been baked into a very helpful index calculator.

20. Split Up Long Posts

People have shorter attention spans than ever before. So when they see long posts they are immediately reminded of times in high school trudging through massive texts of traditional English literature.

Consider instead splitting these up either into separate posts in a series or adding pagination to break up the content into smaller and more digestible chunks. This New York Times piece does a fantastic job (with an absolutely incredible story) of consolidating their story into chapters and breaking up a substantial and engaging experience across several views and interactions.

How Much Should You Spend on SEO Services?

Nearly every business today must decide how much to spend on search engine optimization (SEO). This isn't an if question. Robust online marketing is imperative for survival in a web-driven world.

The question every business professional must ask is, "How much will we spend on SEO?" Keep reading for all the information you'll need to make that decision, plus some helpful tips on how SEO agencies work so you can be successful as you forge a crucial partnership with an online marketing firm.

SEO Payment Models

To understand the dollars and cents discussed below, you must understand payment models used by agencies. SEO agencies typically offer four main forms of services and payment:

• Monthly retainer: In this model, clients pay a set fee each month in exchange for an agreed-upon array of services. The monthly retainer is the most common payment model, because it provides the greatest ROI. Monthly retainer arrangements usually include regular analytics reports, on-site content improvements, press releases, link building,keyword research, and optimization.
• Contract services at fixed prices: Nearly all SEO agencies sell contract services. Often, before a client is ready to engage a monthly retainer, they will select contract services that they want to have completed. The services that an SEO agency offers are often advertised on their site, along with a price. A typical example of this is an SEO website audit which can help determine existing strengths and weaknesses in the client’s online presence, competitive analysis, as well as keywords that have the highest potential to return positive ROI.
• Project-based pricing: Project fees are similar to contract services with the exception that they are custom projects created specifically for a client. Pricing varies according to the project. For example, a local cupcake shop may ask an SEO agency to help them with theirlocal online marketing. The client decides that they want the agency to establish their social media accounts. The cupcake business and the SEO agency will decide on the scope and cost of the project.
• Hourly consulting: This familiar consulting model is an hourly fee in exchange for services or information.

Most SEO agencies use all of these payment models. Likewise, clients may work with an agency using more than one model. For example, a client may choose to enter into a monthly retainer, purchase a contract service, and engage in a special project with the agency, thus entering into three of the payment models.

Typical SEO Costs

So, what should you expect to pay? Here's a survey of the range of the costs according to the payment models described above.

• Monthly retainer: $750-5,000 per month. Within this range, the amount that a client pays depends on the size of their business and the extent of services provided by the agency. On the lower end of this spectrum are small SEO agencies that offer a limited range of services. On the upper range are businesses with greater needs working with full-service SEO agencies. Most businesses pay between $2,500 and $5,000 for a monthly retainer.
• Contract services at fixed prices: price variable. Businesses that are just testing the waters in SEO usually choose a contract service as an entry point. Typical contract services include things like SEO copywriting ($0.15-$0.50/word), site content audit ($500-$7,500), link profile audit ($500-$7,500), and social media site setup ($500-$3,000).
• Project-based pricing: price variable. Since there are a variety of projects, there is a wide range of prices. Most projects cost from $1,000 to $30,000.
• Hourly consulting rate: $100-300/hr. SEO consultants, whether individuals or agencies, usually charge between $100 and $300 per hour.

(Some of these figures are taken from a 2011 SEOmoz survey of 500 consultants and agencies.)

Things You Should Be Suspicious of

Any discussion of SEO agencies and pricing isn't complete without a few warnings. To help you guard against indiscriminate SEO agencies with unethical business practices, read and heed. Be suspicious of the following promises:

• Guarantees. SEO firms generally can't provide guarantees due to the constantly changing nature of the industry.
• Instant results. True, some SEO tactics can get "instant results" by gaming the system. Be warned that these can hurt you in the long run. Instant results often involve SEO practices that are against webmaster guidelines put out by search engines. Invariably, Google seeks out these techniques and penalizes them, resulting in lost rankings that can take months to recover.
• #1 spot on Google. If an agency promises you the number one spot on Google, it sounds great. Hopefully, you'll be able to get it. However, it's not something that a firm can promise to hand over to you.
• Costs lower than $750/month. When it comes to SEO, you aren't shopping for the lowest price; you're seeking the best level of service. Be wary of rock bottom prices or "unbelievable deals."
• Shady link building services. Link building is a crucial part of SEO. You can't have a highly-ranked site without inbound links. But there's a dark side of link building. Link trust is gaining importance to appear high in the rankings. Before you enter into an arrangement with an SEO agency for link building services, ensure that their link building services are ethical, white label services. You may even wish to ask them where they may be able to gain links for a business in your industry.

Things to Keep in Mind

As you begin shopping for SEO agencies and making your decision, be mindful of the following points:

• SEO takes time. A monthly retainer is best. Think of SEO as a long-term investment. Aggressive campaigns and major pushes may have their place, but the most enduring SEO results come from a long-term relationship. In SEW's Mark Jackson wrote, "The real value of SEO efforts are, generally, not realized in the first month(s) of the effort." It's true. SEOs don't wave a magic wand and get instant results. Instead, they perform extensive operations that will produce results months down the road.
• SEO changes, and your rankings will change, too. The field is full of competitors, and rankings rise and fall with the changing of algorithms and the entrance of new competitors. One-and-done SEO tricks simply don't work. It takes constant monitoring to keep your website ranking well and performing at top-notch levels.
• Not all SEO services are created equal. Again, SEO isn't about shopping around for the lowest prices. It's about finding the finest agency you can. Look for an SEO agency that defines its scope of services, and takes the time to educate you.
• SEO is important. Do it. The point of your website is to increase and/or improve your business. Unless people are finding your website, it's not even worth having one. The smart thing is to pay what it takes to keep your site findable by the people who are looking.
• Hiring an SEO agency is best. You may be thinking, "Can't I just do this SEO thing on my own?" A tiny percentage of business owners or professionals have the skill and savvy to do their own SEO. Even so, comprehensive SEO takes way more time than most business owners can afford. Even an employee who "knows a lot about SEO," will be hard-pressed to deliver the level of services and excellence found in a SEO agency. You'll rarely come out on top if you try to go it alone, and you'll never get the same level of ROI that you would with a competent SEO agency.

You Decide

For most businesses today, SEO is the highest ROI marketing effort. The benefits it provides exceed the value of other marketing approaches – direct mailing, broadcast advertising, online ads, etc.

No longer do businesses decide whether they need SEO services. Instead, they decide how much they're going to spend. As long as they choose a quality SEO agency, their decision will lead to incredible amounts of revenue.

You can decide how much that's worth to you.

5 Social Media Predictions for 2014

One of my favorite things to do this time of year -- in addition to spending the holidays with friends and family -- is to look back on the year that was and also look ahead to what the New Year holds in store.

When it comes to the state of social media, the past year could be summed up in a few words: real-time marketing, content, video and mobile. In a space that's continuously changing and technology that's advancing quickly, it can be a challenge to know where you should be spending your social-media efforts.

Understanding what's ahead can help overcome these frustrations. Here are my top five predictions for where we're heading in social media in 2014:

1. Look for a shift toward visual storytelling through short-form video. 
On my Inside Social Media podcast, we talk a lot about telling the story of your business through social media. It started toward the end of this year, but a shift toward short, concise videos that tell a deeper story than pictures will only become more important in 2014.

Platforms like Twitter's Vine app and Instagram's 15-second video make it incredibly easy to create and share this short-form content so take the time to not only understand how to use these platforms but also how users consume content on them.

2. Businesses will embrace the 'fandom.' 
I hadn't heard much of this term before I had Tom Fishman, MTV's vice president of content marketing and fan engagement, on the podcast. Fandom is essentially the sub-culture of raving fans that exist within your overall customer base. These are the fans that are going to do a lot of your marketing for you, the ones who will promote your brand to other people.

In the New Year, I think businesses will make a bigger effort to identify and embrace the fandom. Connecting with and giving these fans the tools to help them spread the word about your business will go a long way.

3. Google+ will continue to grow in size and importance. 
Google said that Google+ now has 300 million monthly active users. To put this in perspective, Facebook and Twitter have about 1.2 billion and 232 million monthly active users respectively. Not only has Google+ become a popular social platform but its integration with Google search results and Google Authorship makes it a no-brainer in 2014.

This means that being active on Google+, even a little bit, should improve the search engine optimization (SEO) for your business. Google+ is only going to become more mainstream in the New Year.

4. There will be a bigger focus on context. 

We've all heard the cry that businesses need to focus on creating more content and that "content is king." And, for the most part, I think businesses have started to embrace content marketing. But for 2014, I think the need to put out more content will become less important, in favor of focusing on and creating content that's contextually relevant to the social channels you're using.

Brands should start asking themselves, "How are people using a particular social channel?" and "What makes a channel unique?" Then they will create contextually relevant content based on that insight.

5. More businesses will get into paid advertising.
I don't think it's a secret that your Facebook fans are seeing less and less of your content. The recent changes to Facebook's News Feed algorithm -- the one that decides what people see and don't see in their News Feed -- has further limited the reach of most organic posts.

With so many brands using Facebook to market their business, paid advertising will need to be a critical part of their social strategy if they want their content seen by more of their fans.

In addition, Twitter is beefing up its paid advertising options with products like the recently announced "tailored audiences." Look for more ad products from Twitter as it creates ways to make more money now that it's a public company. If you're serious about reaching your tribe on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, paid ads will need to be part of your plan in 2014.