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15
Nov, 2024
SEO in digital marketing

By OppGen

7 Reasons SEO is a Game Changer

The Value of SEO in Digital Marketing: 7 Reasons It’s a Game-Changer

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the backbone of any successful digital marketing strategy. While many marketers focus on paid advertising or social media, SEO offers a long-term, cost-effective way to attract and engage audiences organically. In this blog, we’ll explore seven compelling reasons why SEO is an indispensable component of digital marketing.

1. Boosts Organic Traffic

SEO is the key to driving organic traffic to your website. By optimizing your content for keywords that your target audience is searching for, you increase your chances of appearing on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). Studies show that the first organic result on Google captures 28.5% of clicks. With effective SEO, you can tap into this massive traffic potential without spending a dime on ads.

2. Delivers Long-Term Results

Unlike paid ads, where traffic stops as soon as the budget runs out, SEO provides lasting benefits. High-quality, optimized content can continue to drive traffic for months or even years. Once you achieve a top spot on Google, consistent updates and minor tweaks can help you maintain that ranking, offering a sustainable return on investment.

3. Improves User Experience

SEO isn’t just about keywords; it’s also about enhancing user experience (UX). Google rewards websites that are fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate. By focusing on SEO best practices like improving page speed, creating a logical site structure, and optimizing for mobile users, you not only rank higher but also deliver a better experience to your visitors. A positive UX increases engagement, reduces bounce rates, and boosts conversions.

4. Builds Trust and Credibility

Appearing on the first page of search results signals to users that your website is a credible and authoritative source. High rankings build trust among your audience, especially when combined with other factors like backlinks from reputable websites, quality content, and positive user reviews. SEO also involves creating content that addresses your audience’s pain points, positioning your brand as an industry expert.

5. Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy

SEO is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies. While there are upfront costs associated with optimizing your site or hiring an expert, the long-term payoff is significant. Once your content ranks high, it can continue to generate traffic without additional ad spend. This makes SEO especially valuable for small businesses with limited marketing budgets.

6. Targets High-Intent Audiences

One of the unique advantages of SEO is its ability to target users with high purchase intent. People who search for specific products, services, or solutions are already in the research or buying phase. By optimizing your content for these search terms, you attract users who are more likely to convert into customers, resulting in higher ROI compared to other marketing channels.

7. Supports Other Marketing Channels

SEO complements and enhances other digital marketing strategies. For example, a strong SEO foundation helps amplify the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts by ensuring your blogs and articles reach a wider audience. SEO insights, such as keyword data and search trends, can inform your paid advertising campaigns and social media strategy, making them more targeted and efficient.

Why SEO Matters in 2024 and Beyond

The digital landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, with over 5.18 billion internet users worldwide. As more businesses invest in their online presence, ranking high on search engines is no longer optional—it’s essential. Google’s algorithms are constantly evolving to prioritize high-quality content and user experience, making SEO a critical skill for marketers to master.

Moreover, the rise of voice search, AI-driven personalization, and local SEO trends has expanded the scope of what SEO can achieve. Businesses that stay ahead of these trends will be well-positioned to dominate their niche and drive sustainable growth.

Conclusion

SEO is the cornerstone of any effective digital marketing strategy. From increasing organic traffic to enhancing user experience and building credibility, its value is undeniable. Whether you’re a small business owner or a marketing professional, investing in SEO is one of the smartest decisions you can make for long-term success.

Are you ready to take your digital marketing strategy to the next level? Start with SEO and watch your traffic, leads, and conversions grow!

21
Aug, 2024
SEO content writer receives bad AI alert

By OppGen

Is AI Content Bad for SEO?

Have your website’s search engine rankings tanked since you switched to using AI-generated content?

You’re not alone. 

Thousands of AI adoptees have noticed a decline in website traffic and rankings after pivoting to AI content generation.

So, is AI content bad for SEO?

As any seasoned SEO agency or writer can tell you, the answer to that question isn’t as straightforward as you’d like.

TL;DR:

  • AI or automation tools are acceptable if not used primarily to manipulate search rankings.
  • High-quality content is rewarded, regardless of production method.
  • AI-generated content lacking value, structure, or originality may lead to deindexing.
  • AI-generated content doesn’t usually perform as well as human-written content, but it’s possible to create high-quality content using a mix of SEO and human touch.

Table of Contents

AI Content for SEO: The Google Perspective

First, let’s start with Google’s take on AI created content. 

See below for Google’s recent algorithm updates around automated and AI generated content. 

  • Google’s Notes on AI Content for SEO: Google allows the use of AI or automation tools as long as it is “not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings.” Google rewards high-quality content, regardless of how content is produced. (1)
  • March 2024 Google Search Algorithm Update: Google’s March 2024 core update aimed to improve the user experience by providing more relevant and valuable search results. (2, 3)
  • The Impact of AI Content on Search Engine Rankings: Any website with AI-generated content that lacks value, is poorly structured, or is unoriginal may face deindexing. (4)

With Google also being in the race with AI in launching and updating their own AI model (Gemini)––they realized AI is like a superpower. 

One that can be used responsibly, or overused to the detriment of search users. 

The Good: What AI SEO Content Gets Right

But know this: all AI content isn’t bad for SEO. 

It can be a massive augmentation tool for the existing skill set of SEO analysts, leaders, and writers. 

  • Speeds Up the Content Creation Process: AI content generators can produce large volumes of content quickly, making it easier to scale your content marketing efforts.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: Using AI tools can help reduce the costs associated with hiring writers and editors.
  • Consistency: AI can maintain a consistent tone and style across all content, ensuring brand consistency.
  • Content Volume: AI can help fill content gaps and maintain a steady flow of fresh content, which is beneficial for keeping your site updated and relevant.
  • Data-Driven Insights: AI tools can analyze large datasets to identify trending topics and keywords, helping you create content that aligns with current search trends.

AI is a copilot that can help skilled SEO specialists and writers iterate, scale, and publish changes at rates that weren’t formerly possible. 

However, if you’re using AI to try to make up for a lack of skills and experience––you’re at the highest risk of tanking your SEO.

The Bad: Limitations of AI-Generated Content for SEO

AI is powerful but still has a lot of limitations. 

Skilled writers and experienced SEO technicians can use AI as a helpful copilot to enhance their skills and accelerate their production capacity. 

Poor writers and inexperienced SEOs are going to get lackluster results, redundancies, and frankly––a lot of wasted time trying to get the AI to do what you want it to. 

Here are some of the many limitations of current AI models: 

  • Quality of Content: AI-written content lacks the nuance, creativity, and originality of human-written content. Search engines prioritize high-quality content, and AI may fall short in these areas. 
  • Duplicate Content: AI can sometimes produce text that closely resembles existing content, leading to duplicate content issues. Search engines penalize sites with duplicate content, which can hurt your SEO.
  • Misinformation: It’s important to remember that AI can generate incorrect information or make something up. It’s up to writers and editors to fact-check AI-powered content and ensure the information is correct. 
  • User Engagement: Content that feels too robotic or generic can negatively impact user engagement and experience, leading to higher bounce rates and lower dwell times.
  • Personalization for Your Audience: Generative AI cannot replace real storytelling, testimonials, and case studies. It can produce content that looks like these things but doesn’t have any actual merit behind it.
  • SEO Best Practices: AI tools might not always adhere to SEO best practices, such as keyword density, meta descriptions, and proper use of headers.

So if you thought you were going to replace your SEO analyst, writer, or even your agency with someone in your office with a ChatGPT account––you should think twice. 

So Can AI-Generated Content Hurt My Search Ranking?

That’s an excellent question. 

Now that you’ve got a clearer understanding of AI’s ability to scale and accelerate skilled SEOs and writers or how it can hurt inexperienced users, let’s look at what the data says. 

Here’s the Data…

  • Generating content with AI can take nearly a quarter of the amount of time compared to human-written content (5)
  • Human-generated content performs 5.44 times better than AI content (5)
  • Human-written content ranks higher than content written by AI (6) 94.12% of the time (7)

How to Use AI Content for SEO: Creating Quality Content with AI

According to one survey, 12.3% of marketers use humans to write content.

This means 87.7% of those surveyed are using AI to create content or a combination of AI and humans. (7)

Using AI isn’t inherently bad or good for SEO. 

Again, it scales with the existing SEO skills (or general marketing skills) you already have.

To create high-quality, helpful AI content, here are some tips you can follow:

  • Human Oversight: Always review and edit AI-generated content for quality and originality while sticking to SEO content writing best practices.
  • Enhance with Human Touch: Add human insights, personal anecdotes, and expert opinions to enrich AI-generated content.
  • SEO Integration: Use AI tools like ChatGPT in conjunction with SEO tools to optimize keywords, meta descriptions, and headers.
  • Monitor Performance: Continuously monitor SEO performance of AI content using analytics tools to identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
  • Split Testing: If you’re curious in seeing the results for yourself, you could split test creating blogs that are entirely generated by AI, are partially written by AI, and are fully written by human writers. 

Just like learning writing or SEO, learning how to operate an AI for quality results in these areas takes a lot of time and resources. And even with that, the AI outputs need a lot of optimizing, editing, and punching up.

In Closing: Is AI Content Bad for SEO?

Here’s the bottom line: AI can help scale SEO content creation, but data still shows that human-generated content performs better than content created by AI.

Less experience = poor content vs. experienced SEO = better AI content. 

In either case, the content needs a human touch; it’s just that the more skilled SEO operator will get better results. 

At OppGen, we know the power of AI can help people create great content for the web and boost SEO. It’s a matter of having the right digital marketing team that knows the current SEO landscape and how to integrate AI into it.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you work with AI and optimize your content for SEO success.

References

  1. Google’s Guidance About AI-Generated Content
  2. Google’s Algorithm Hates AI Content? How To Make Google Love It
  3. Surviving the March 2024 Google Core update
  4. Understanding the latest Google algorithm changes and what it means for AI content
  5. AI Vs Human Study: Who Writes Better Blogs that Get More Traffic?
  6. Reboot Online: AI vs. Humans Content Writing Experience
  7. Neil Patel, LinkedIn
28
Apr, 2022
SEO and content marketing for law firms

By OppGen

SEO and Content Marketing for Law Firms

SEO and Content Marketing for Law Firms

SEO and content marketing for law firms are two critical components of successful online marketing campaigns.

  • What is content marketing?
  • What is SEO?
  • Why is SEO and content marketing for law firms so important?

We’ll admit, digital marketing can be confusing. There are so many channels, tactics, strategies, methods, platforms, and opinions to consider. With all these options, it’s easy for your efforts to become divided and ineffective.

However, any agency worth their salt will tell you that SEO and content marketing are the foundations of an effective law firm marketing campaign. 

Luckily for you, OppGen Marketing is that agency. Don’t believe us? Schedule a free consultation with us today.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the process of creating and sharing relevant, valuable, and engaging content on your website and other digital channels (social media, YouTube, features on other websites, etc.).

Content marketing includes all types of media:

  • Text-based media like blogs, articles, ebooks, and emails
  • Images, photos, and infographics
  • Video 
  • And audio

Great. But why is content marketing for law firms so valuable?

Why Content Marketing for Law Firms is Essential

The goals of content marketing are simple and straightforward:

  • Get your content to rank on Google.
  • Gain more visibility online with your target audience: Individuals in your area searching for keywords, phrases, and questions related to your practice.
  • Bring more qualified traffic, leads, and legal clients to your website and firm.

What does it take to create great content? 

Quality, strategic content should provide answers to your target audiences’ questions and solutions to their problems.

Content assets should…

  • Educate, inform, and engage your target audience.
  • Build trust with them by showcasing your knowledge, credibility, experience, and success in your field.
  • Push visitors to contact your firm for a consultation (phone call, website contact form, website chat feature).

Content marketing is a fairly simple concept but is far more complex in execution. In fact, law firm content marketing happens to be particularly competitive. It takes skilled SEO technicians, writers, marketers, and creators to put your law firm on the map.

What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing various assets on and off of your website to rank higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), for searches related to your practice.

This can include…

  • Content Marketing: Enhancing and creating website content like text, blogs, videos, audio, photos, etc.
  • Improving technical aspects of your website like speed, performance, mobile-friendliness, navigation, and user experience.
  • Managing your online presence and reputation: Directories, social media, and overall web presence.

You can begin to see why SEO and content marketing are critical for the digital success of your law firm.

Relationship Between SEO and Content Marketing for Law Firms

SEO and content marketing for law firms should be synergistic. Not mutually exclusive.

SEO guides, informs, and enhances your content. SEO knowledge and tools give us the ability to research, analyze, and strategically incorporate valuable information and keywords into your content.

These are the exact keywords, questions, and phrases your target audience is using to look for your firm on Google and other search engines.

Content marketing works to boost your SEO and SERP (search engine results page) standings. Creating strategic, search-oriented content can increase your ranking on SERPs — producing more visibility, traffic, leads, and clients for your firm.

OppGen Marketing’s SEO program includes strategic content creation. Click here to request more information.

SEO without Content | Content without SEO

Using one without the other doesn’t really work.

Consider this: If you have superb website content but a slow, underperforming website — visitors won’t stay on your site. Additionally, Google will see your site has performance deficiencies and penalize you because of it.

Conversely, if you have a high-performing, user-friendly, easy-to-navigate website but inadequate website content, it may be impossible to rank.

Great content can’t compensate for bad SEO.

The best SEO strategy can’t make up for poor or subpar content.

How SEO and Content Work Together

Your SEO and law firm content marketing should be used concurrently. When they are, they can produce results greater than the sum of their parts.

Here is a quick breakdown and some highlights of the collaborative relationship between SEO and content marketing:

  • Content and SEO need to work together: They give users relevant, helpful, informative, unique, attention-grabbing content on a fast, responsive, organized, and user-friendly website.
  • SEO informs Strategic Content: A core component of SEO is identifying the keywords, phrases, and questions your audience is searching for.
  • SEO and content marketing are essential for ranking, increasing your digital footprint, and driving more traffic, leads, and clients to your website.

Digital Marketing Strategy for Law Firms

Content marketing for law firms and an informed SEO strategy are key to your firm’s digital success. What about the other aspects of digital marketing?

As with SEO and content, every aspect of your digital marketing efforts can work synergistically to grow your firm’s business.

There’s a good chance that the majority of your firm’s new, non-referral leads come from Google and other search engines. However, that’s not the online place they’re studying your online presence. 

Your ideal clients are also searching for and validating your firm in other areas of the web, like:

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Directories like Yelp, your Google Business Profile, Avvo, and SuperLawyers

Bottom line: The best way to get discovered by new clients online is by consistently and strategically expanding your digital presence, across platforms. 

Results-driven content marketing strategies utilize a mix of different channels and types of media to get in front of your target audience, on the digital platforms they use the most. 

In Closing

Our team at OppGen uses industry-leading SEO tools, marketing best practices, and personalized, high-caliber content to produce winning law firm content marketing and SEO campaigns

If your business needs an SEO and content marketing strategy to put your law firm on the map and get you more visibility with your target audience, contact our team at OppGen today for a complimentary strategy session.

18
Jan, 2022

By OppGen

SEO Audit Service: How to Find Your Biggest SEO Issues

Do you want to rank higher on search engine results pages? If so, then OppGen Marketing’s SEO audit service is a great way to find the issues that are holding your website back from success. If you have any questions about our SEO audit, free to contact us.

An SEO audit looks at all aspects of a website to determine what needs improvement in order to increase your visibility, reputation, and digital footprint online. 

In this blog post, we will discuss SEO audits, how they work, and how they can help increase your rankings.

What is an SEO Audit Service?

Imagine going to a personal trainer at your local gym. Sure, you might be in good shape, but a trainer can help you find your weaknesses and help you build strength. You might not realize how many weak points you have until your trainer helps you spot them.

An SEO audit service is like going to a personal trainer. SEO experts who offer SEO audit services will analyze your website to show you how you can improve your rank on search engine results pages.

Benefits of an SEO Audit

Simplify Website Accessibility

You may find your website easy to navigate, but that may not be the case for your website visitors.

A high-quality SEO audit should include suggestions on how to make your website easier to navigate. It may also include design recommendations that provide for an overall smoother user experience.

An easy-to-navigate website does more than help prospects find what they’re looking for; it also makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your website.

Improve Performance and Reputation

SEO audits are more than user experience or website design recommendations. They also take into consideration the technical aspects of a website. This can include important factors like site speed, page speed, load times, and usability on different types of devices.

Ideally, these audits should go beyond the website itself. They should also include reviews of social media accounts, your Google Business Page listings, other key directories, and customer reviews. 

Your business’s online reputation (quality and quantity of reviews) plays a major role in SEO.

Rank Higher on Google

SEO audits should include keyword reporting, recommendations, and suggestions for keywords and phrases to incorporate on your website. Keywords that make sense for your business, and that you have a good chance to rank for.

Following these recommendations allows you to make improvements to your website that will increase the likelihood of ranking high on search engines, for the exact keywords, phrases, and questions that your ideal customers are using to find you.

Improving your website’s strategic use of these keywords should increase your business’s visibility for these relevant searches, on search engine results pages. 

This will ultimately lead to driving more visitors, traffic, leads, and customers or clients, to your website, and you’ll begin to see more traffic that will eventually convert to sales or appointments.

How Long Does an SEO Audit Take?

An SEO audit can take anywhere from two hours to two weeks. How long an SEO audit takes to complete depends on two key factors:

1. The Size of Your Website

One of the most important factors that determines how long an SEO audit takes is the size of the website.

It’s much easier and faster to audit a small website with10-20 pages compared to a website with hundreds of pages.

2. The Depth of the Audit

Another key factor is the depth of the audit.

An audit with a brief overview of keyword rankings or website design recommendations should not take as long to complete as an audit that goes deeper into on-page, off-page, and complex technical SEO issues and improvement recommendations.

How Much Does an SEO Audit Cost?

SEO audits can cost anywhere from $500 to $30,000 depending on the agency and the level of complexity and size of the website. 

At OppGen, we actually offer a free SEO audit.

We feel the information SEO audits provide is too important to be hidden behind a paywall. That’s why we keep our comprehensive SEO audit free for our prospective clients.

How Our SEO Site Audit Services Work

OppGen’s free SEO audit covers all four aspects of SEO (technical, local, on-page, and off-page) while explaining the importance of each one.

Our SEO assigns a letter grade to your organic presence, so you can see exactly how your website stacks up against Google and the competition in your market.

Most importantly, our SEO audit process provides recommendations for improving your site.

Our SEO audit process gives you comprehensive recommendations and feedback in the following areas:

Technical SEO Audit Service

  • Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager
  • Content Management System
  • User Accessibility/User Experience
  • Site Speed
  • Site Errors

Local SEO Review

  • Google My Business Listing
  • Social Media Accounts
  • Other Listings

On-Page SEO Audit Service

  • Blog Review
  • Keyword Research: Top 10 Non-Branded and Branded Ranking Keywords
  • Internal Linking Structure

Off-Page Audit Service

  • Domain Authority Score
  • Backlink Profile

Get Your Free SEO Audit Today

If you’re ready to improve your website’s SEO, then fill out our free SEO audit today.

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SEO in digital marketing
7 Reasons SEO is a Game Changer
SEO content writer receives bad AI alert
Is AI Content Bad for SEO?
Male AAPI lawyer reviews his personal injury law firm's website
SEO for Personal Injury Attorneys and Law Firms
SEO and content marketing for law firms
SEO and Content Marketing for Law Firms
SEO Audit Service: How to Find Your Biggest SEO Issues