Saba Digital Marketing

What Mistakes Should Amazon Advertisers Avoid in 2020?

Amazon Prime alone has more than 100 million users, and this doesn’t even include the consumers who make purchases without the Prime perks. Stats like these make it easy to see why Amazon is a platform that should be part of your online marketing efforts in 2020. As with any other marketing platform, there are some mistakes you’ll want to avoid when advertising on Amazon. Here are the top ones to watch out for, brought to you by the team at Saba SEO, one of the leading San Diego SEO companies.

Assuming Amazon Is Like Google

Don’t simply carry your Google Ads strategy over to Amazon’s paid platform. For instance, Amazon’s definition of a “broad match” isn’t the same as Google’s. Before you invest in advertising on Amazon, take a moment to brush up on how they categorize ads and terms.

Not Using Amazon’s Ad-Related Resources

Avoid the mistake of not taking advantage of Amazon ad-related resources. Two of the most useful ones are:

• Learning Console course – Completing this course will get you certified to run ads on Amazon.

• Amazon’s advertising blog – Details about new ad programs and features, case studies, and tips on how to optimize ads are just some of the tidbits to be discovered on this blog.

Being Too Quick to Tinker with Your Ads

Another mistake to avoid with Amazon advertising is making changes too quickly. For example, if you’re doing a manual campaign on Amazon, the general recommendation is to give it about 30 days to mature in terms of its performance potential. There’s also normally a two-day delay with most Amazon reports.

Not Monitoring Your Inventory

Your ads stop running on Amazon once your inventory runs out. This makes sense, given the nature of the platform, but it can also give your competitors an opportunity to take some of your market share. Err on the side of caution and adjust your ad spend if your supplies are running low.

Not doing keyword research, not investing more in ads that are giving you a great ROI, and failing to explore and test Amazon’s assortment of new ad programs and targeting options are among other Amazon advertising mistakes to avoid in 2020. Also, Amazon doesn’t have a quality score for ads like Google does, so avoid the mistake of not paying attention to your stats to see how your listings are performing.

Increasing online visibility can be a challenging task. However, the team at Saba SEO can simplify the online marketing process for you. As one of the leading marketing companies in San Diego, we offer customized, high-quality solutions for both small and large businesses all over the world. For almost fifteen years, we have helped organizations build solid brand images and attract more clients using the power of the Internet. If you want to know how we can boost your business’s online presence, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.

The Best Social Media Channels for Paid Advertising

There are nearly 300 million social media users in the United States alone. Not surprisingly, social platforms have become a popular advertising medium. If you’re looking to explore your options with this method of getting your message out to your target audience, here’s a closer look at some of the hot and trending paid social channels you’ll want to check out, brought to you by the social media experts at Saba SEO, an industry-leading marketing, web development, and SEO company in San Diego.

YouTube

More than 70 percent of all adults in the U.S. make YouTube their go-to social channel, mainly because of its abundance of visual content. You may already be familiar with this platform’s well-known pre-roll ads that pop up before videos start to play, but YouTube also offers the following paid ad options:

• In-Stream ads – People can skip these ads shortly after they start, but YouTube doesn’t charge advertisers if people skip their ads. Pre-roll ads aren’t skippable.

• Display ads – These show up at the top of the suggestions feed as sponsored content.

• Bumper ads – These are short-duration ads that can’t be skipped, but they’re better for building brand awareness.

• Overlays – You’ll see these at the bottom of videos as they play, although viewers can close them.

Facebook

Facebook remains popular for paid advertising because it’s the social network with the broadest range of demographics. Many ad options are available with Facebook, some of which include:

• Carousel ads that allow up to 10 images to be displayed
• Video-like slideshow ads
• Instant Experience full-screen ads that display to mobile users when they interact with the ads
• Collection ads that display multiple products when users interact with them

LinkedIn

A quarter of all adults in the U.S. say they have LinkedIn profiles, so this is definitely a platform to consider, especially if your goal is to target other businesses. The two main paid options with LinkedIn are sponsored posts and sponsored in-mail posts that go to specific active users. They also have a PPC option for text ads that display in sidebars.

Twitter & Instagram

Twitter and Instagram are two more hot paid social networks you’re welcome to consider. Twitter, in particular, has very good targeting tools that allow you to zero in on users, right down to the keywords they’re using in their hashtags. And since Facebook owns Instagram, you can use Facebook’s Ad Manager to set up your paid ads on this platform. The Stories feature is especially appealing if you want to encourage engagement with your brand.

When they want to work with top-tier social media experts at one of Southern California’s most innovative marketing companies, San Diego businesses turn to the professionals at Saba SEO. We’ve been creating innovative solutions for social media management, SEO, web development, and web design for almost 15 years. We’d love to help with your social media marketing strategy, so call one of our knowledgeable consultants today at 858-277-1717.

Tips for Beginners Who Want to Advertise on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most unique of all social media platforms. This is where professionals hang out. It makes sense that if you want to do B2B advertising, LinkedIn is where you’ll find your tribe. Advertising on LinkedIn is a fairly simple process. You begin by setting up your LinkedIn campaign. Next, you create your ads. Sounds simple? It is. High visibility on LinkedIn can also do wonders for your overall online reputation and credibility. The experts at Saba SEO, a leading San Diego SEO agency, share this beginner’s guide to advertising on LinkedIn.

Objectives

Before you begin advertising on LinkedIn, determine your objectives. What do you want people to do when they see your ads? Some of the options include:

  • Site visits – Use LinkedIn ads to drive traffic to a landing page on your website. This is primarily used for brand awareness. 
  • Lead generation – LinkedIn has a handy half-filled form used to target select groups of customers. 
  • Video – Video is king, and good video can give a potential customer a feeling about your brand and your product. The key with video is the ability to produce a great deal of it. 
  • Engagement – Get more LinkedIn members to follow your LinkedIn company page.

Audience

Determining your audience is even more detailed than answering who your target customer is. Even if you believe your product is for everyone, being specific and pinpointing a target audience can help you make recordable progress. Some of the specifics you may want to target include regional areas, gender, age groups, and language.

Interests

Targeting LinkedIn members with similar interests as your organization’s will likely develop a positive connection. You can create content on trends associated with where your interests and your company’s brand intersect.

Ad Format

What types of ads should you create? There’s a cornucopia of possibilities. Here are some you may consider:

  • Single image ad – One image that’s included in the LinkedIn newsfeed along with the content
  • Text ad – A word-only ad located on the top column or on the right of the page
  • Job ads – Promote open positions
  • Message ad – Focused on your target audience
  • Video ad – A single video included in the LinkedIn newsfeed 
  • Spotlight ads – Only seen on desktops (not on laptops or mobile devices), ads that promote specials
  • Follower ads – Also only on desktop platforms, personalized ads using profile data

Placement

Decide where your ad will get the most exposure. You can also exclude places where you don’t want to promote your ad.

Budget

Use your money wisely by targeting niche markets. This goes back to your audience and objectives. Using LinkedIn’s content suggestions can help you use your budget wisely and get the social media results you’re looking for. 

When it comes to social media and Internet marketing service, San Diego business owners need look no further than the professionals at Saba SEO. Social media management is only one of our many specialties. We also offer expertise in everything from SEO to search engine marketing and web design. San Diego business owners who would like to speak with one of our consultants should call us today at 858-277-1717.

What Are the Benefits of Running Responsive Display Ads?

Responsive display ads (RDAs) are so named because they automatically adjust to the size, format, and appearance necessary to fit within available ad spaces. Rolled out in 2018, it’s a type of Google ad that combines elements of machine learning to boost the effectiveness of your display ads. If you haven’t yet seriously thought about ads of this nature, the experts at Saba SEO, an industry-leading San Diego SEO company, explain why you should consider running responsive display ads.

RDAs Are Fast & Efficient

If you normally run a bunch of display ads at once, it can be a time-consuming process to adjust image sizes and make other necessary adjustments to make sure ads are properly sized and displayed. RDAs take care of all these tasks for you, which makes it much easier to prepare, run, and manage display ads.

RDAs Amplify Your Message

Instead of carefully preparing a small number of display ads specifically designed to fit certain spaces, you can produce highly adaptable RDAs, which gives you the opportunity to get your message out to a broader audience. Plus, Google’s machine learning models automatically determine which headlines will likely work with which ads, allowing you to further boost the effectiveness of your brand’s message with your target audience.

Tip: Consider keeping RDAs in a separate group from other image-based ads you’re running to avoid unexpected spikes in your ad spending.

RDAs Offer Some Appealing Options & Features

Not surprisingly, Google has added some additional RDA features since these ads first launched. These features are intended to allow you to add video elements and track how your responsive display ads are performing. The new features include:

• Video Assets – Video elements won’t be right for every RDA, but it can be an effective way to encourage engagement when used appropriately.

• Combinations Tab – Located under “View Asset Details,” this tab will show which combinations of images, text, video, and other ad elements are working best for you.

• Ad Scorecard – This feature gives each ad a score that includes a grade for ad strength and suggestions about steps you can take to improve your score for that particular ad.

Responsive display ads are also appealing because they can be inserted into just about any ad space. Ultimately, this allows you to be more creative with your ads and how you present your intended message. With RDAs, Google allows advertisers to upload 15 images, 5 videos, and 5 logos and descriptions. You also get to include a handful of descriptions along with five short headlines and one long one.

If you need more in-depth information about advertising on Google, turn to Saba SEO. As a leading content marketing, search engine optimization, and web design company in San Diego, we offer a variety of services to boost online visibility. For almost fifteen years, we have helped organizations all over the world benefit from winning digital marketing strategies with proven results. To schedule an appointment with one of our experts, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.

Using Long-Tail Keywords for Successful SEO

Long-tail keywords can be key to your SEO (search engine optimization) success. They’re a way to bring your site to the top of search results and rank ahead of the big brands. The experts at Saba SEO, an industry-leading San Diego SEO agency, explain what long-tail keywords are and how you can use them in your SEO strategy.

Long-Tail Keywords Defined

Imagine you’re searching for a banana bread recipe. A long-tail keyword could be “banana bread with walnuts and chocolate recipe.” That’s more specific, and the search results will bypass the big players and highlight recipe sites that have used these kinds of long-tail keywords.

Natural Search

The magic of long-tail keywords is that they match the way people search the Internet. This is true for both traditional searches and voice searches done on home devices such as Alexa and Google Home.

Varied Long-Tail Keywords

Varying long-tail keywords involves making small alterations. Using the banana bread recipe as an example, another long-tail keyword might be “vegan gluten-free banana bread with chocolate and walnuts.” This is incredibly specific. Best of all, it will weed out all the generic banana bread recipes and put yours toward the top.

Rank

It’s easier to rank with long-tail keywords than with main keywords. Larger organizations with bigger budgets may rule out single-word keywords, but your organization can rank with long-tail keywords because searches with greater numbers of words are more refined.

Deep Dives

Content with specific long-tail keywords naturally helps you create material that takes a deep dive into your topic.

Potential Buyers

Potential customers who use long-tail keywords that lead to your site are more likely to buy from you because you’ve pinpointed exactly what they want. Viewers don’t need to go anywhere else because they’ve found exactly what they were looking for.

If you want to drive traffic to your site, using long-tail keywords is a great strategy, and Saba SEO can help. As a premier SEO company in San Diego, we have served clients for almost fifteen years. In addition to search engine optimization, our services include website development, social media marketing, and online reputation management. To boost your ranking, reach out to one of our SEO specialists at 858-277-1717.

Ways to Use SEO to Compete with Large Brands

Your company’s resources can hardly compete with the budgets of big brands. Their SEO budgets are miles ahead of yours. However, this shouldn’t dissuade you from believing you can compete with the big guys. You just need to know some SEO tips and tricks to succeed alongside the known brands. The experts from Saba SEO, a premier provider of SEO service San Diego businesses rely on for unparalleled expertise, offer a few of the best ways to get ahead of big brands in SEO.

Google My Business

Have you listed your business on Google My Business? It’s a free and valuable tool that can improve your local SEO. The key to SEO success is to create a separate Google My Business page for every location you have. Make sure you complete all information for every listing, including your full address, phone number, bio, and website link. Include photos of your business, products, and location. Also make sure to include areas that are adjacent to each location. You know your area, and you need to capitalize on that knowledge, which includes putting maps and local keywords on your Google My Business page.

Podcasts

Whether you’re advertising on a podcast or being interviewed on one, you can use this platform to increase your brand’s name recognition with niche audiences.

Long-Tail Keywords

While you may not be able to beat a big brand with keywords, you can succeed with long-tail keywords. These specific keywords can put your company ahead of the large brands.

Local Trust

Another way to set your business apart from the big brands is by building local trust. Sponsor local events. Donate products or services to local charities. Focus on your locally made products. These details will help you build a local following and a positive reputation beyond your immediate area.

For top-notch expertise on SEO practices that make companies competitive as well as high-quality content that boosts rank, call on the experienced professionals from Saba SEO, one of the most trusted digital marketing companies in San Diego. Businesses ready to take their SEO marketing to the next level should call one of our expert SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717.

Influence of Meta Descriptions & Branding on Searches

What influences a user to click on a site? Good descriptions and brand names entice potential customers to click on your webpage. This is important for your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. The marketing experts at Saba SEO, a premier SEO company in San Diego, explain how meta descriptions and branding are influencing searches.

Descriptions Are King

What are viewers more likely to click on? Two-thirds will click on a description before a title. Descriptions help potential customers decide if they want to go to your site. A good description helps them determine whether your site intersects with their needs.

Brands Are Second

Customers searching online will click on brands with branded keywords. But more than half will click on a brand only if they’ve heard of it.

Compelling Descriptions Are Better than Titles

If you think your crafty title will bring customers to your site, think again. Viewers are more interested in compelling descriptions. You need to tell a story. You also have to be very complete in describing your product. The more engaging the writing is, the more likely a potential customer will be to click through to your site.

Ranking High Pays

Two-thirds of all searchers will click on organic search results over paid search results, which means you should spend your budget on meta descriptions, not on paid ads. Make sure you include specific long-tail keywords with clear meta descriptions in every piece of content. Content with specific keywords will rank higher in search results.

Words Get More Clicks than Video

While video continues to dominate in many areas of SEO, when it comes to searches, words get the clicks. An accurate and interesting description will be more appealing to a searcher than a video with very little description. Potential customers don’t have time to watch a video to see if it matches what they’re looking for. 

Great meta descriptions tell Internet searchers what they need to know about your business and entice them to click through to your site. If you aren’t sure how to write meta descriptions that optimize your Internet marketing strategy, reach out to the experts at Saba SEO, one of the most respected San Diego marketing companies. We have almost 15 years of experience in Internet marketing, search engine optimization, content development, web design, and social media management. To talk to one of our professional SEO managers, give us a call at 858-277-1717.

Solutions to the 5 Most Complicated SEO Issues

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be a challenge. While some SEO strategies require a lot of keyword searching, branding, and security, there are other complex problems that take more effort to resolve. Here are five of the most complex SEO problems and how to fix them, brought to you by the experts at Saba SEO, a premier provider of SEO services San Diego businesses rely on for high quality and unmatched expertise.

1. HTTPS Security

Have you upgraded your site to HTTPS? This is a secure upgrade from HTTP that Google looks for and rewards with positive SEO, and it also gives new customers some insight into your company by letting them know you’re giving them the most secure online experience possible. When people use Chrome, all websites that haven’t been upgraded to HTTPS get a Google warning stating the site isn’t secure.

2. No XML Sitemaps

An XML sitemap helps Google bots understand what’s on your website. It’s written in a code that helps the bots and improves your SEO. How do you determine if your site has XML sitemaps? Type in your website address and /sitemap.xml. You should then get multiple rows of code. Speak to your developer if you don’t get the sitemap or you end up on a 404 page. If you’re on WordPress, use the Yoast SEO plugin. This simple tool will create site maps for all your content.

3. Slow Speed

Slow speed hurts UX and SEO, and this is especially true for mobile users. The solution may require speaking to your webmaster about figuring out everything that’s slowing down your site. Reduced speed can be due to a cornucopia of reasons.

4. Internal Linking

Google is creating the ultimate database, which means sites that have good internal linking will be rewarded over sites that only have internal links on their main pages. Make sure you group together thematic pages and link between them to keep visitors on your page and demonstrate your superior expertise to Google.

5. Keyword Cannibalization

Using the same main keywords on multiple pages hurts your SEO. How do you solve it? Put together one big piece on that keyword and then post related content on other pages.

If you need help solving SEO problems and boosting the effectiveness of your online marketing practices, reach out to the experts at Saba SEO, one of the premier marketing companies in San Diego. Our team of specialists can help you with marketing campaigns, social media management, web development, search engine optimization, and much more. To find out more about our high-quality SEO services, give us a call today at 858-277-1717.

Things that Are Wrong with Google Search Today

The average Internet user conducts about 3–4 Google searches per day, and overall, somewhere around 7 billion searches are performed via Google daily. While there’s no denying the fact that this popular search engine is a true information powerhouse, there are some things Google does get wrong. Below, the San Diego SEO specialists at Saba SEO explain some of the more prominent Google drawbacks.

Glitches

Google does occasionally have some notorious glitches that create major headaches. In 2019, Google-related issues caused pages to be de-indexed, unrelated canonical URLs to be selected, and results to fail to fully render. While such issues are usually temporary, they can make it difficult to put out new content or maintain the desired level of online visibility.

Featured Snippet Accuracy

The purpose of featured snippets is to pull relevant answers to search questions from content. However, this doesn’t always produce accurate or complete answers. There’s also the possibility of other inaccuracies related to search results, but no search engine is 100 percent accurate.

Non-Text Content Indexing

Google willingly admits it has difficulty with crawling images, videos, and non-text content. And since non-text content tends to generate the most interest online, you can’t exactly put it on the back burner. The trick here is to use descriptive titles or captions whenever possible to help crawlers figure things out.

Data Access Restrictions

Google collects a massive amount of data related to search activity. However, it doesn’t just dish out this data for free—at least not all of it. Marketers typically have to invest in paid ads and reach a certain threshold to gain access to proprietary search data.

Organic/Paid Search Results Clarity

If you’ve opted for a largely organic search strategy, it can be frustrating if paid ads mimic your organic content and get priority placement. This is exactly what’s happening as Google continues to make paid ads similar to organic results.

Lastly, Google makes thousands of updates each year, but this isn’t necessarily something the search engine giant is doing wrong. Updates are largely made to improve the search experience. Of course, they can cause some minor palpitations if you’re caught off guard, especially if your content is negatively affected. For this reason, it’s important to keep track of your online-accessible stats via tools like Google Analytics.

It can be challenging for businesses to keep up with everything that goes on with Google’s operations, so it’s best to let the experts at Saba SEO take care of optimizing your online presence. We are one of the premier San Diego marketing companies, and we have almost fifteen years of experience in search engine optimization, website design, content development, and Internet marketing. Our experts stay up to date on last-minute Google changes and issues so we can offer customized solutions to help you increase your search engine ranking. Whether you need a mobile-friendly website or high-quality content, we’re here to help. Call us at 858-277-1717 to schedule an appointment with one of our SEO experts.

Using the Coverage Report to Get Your Pages Indexed by Google

Unless Google indexes your site, no one will ever find your amazing content through organic traffic and traditional online search queries. These methods are responsible for one-third to two-thirds of all site traffic. In comparison, social media only brings about five percent of all site traffic.

Google and other search engines don’t automatically index. How do you remedy this? The digital marketing pros from Saba SEO, a top-tier San Diego SEO agency, offer the following tips to get Google to index your site with the coverage report.

Test Your Site

First, if your site is less than 500 pages, you need to test it. Create a search with site:yourdomain.com. For example, if your site is calories.com, you would input site:calories.com. This tells you what Google knows about your site. You can even be more specific and include keywords, such as candy (in our example, you’d enter site:calories.com/candy).

Use Google Search Console

Sign up for the free Google Search Console. This tool will help you determine which pages are indexed and which ones need to be fixed.

Obtain a Coverage Report

Use the Google Search Console to obtain a coverage report. Go to the Index section on the right-hand side of the page, then click on “coverage.” If you’re new to coverage reports, the site will advise you that it’s processing data and will need a day to process.

Note What’s Excluded

The report will detail what’s included and what’s excluded. “Included” means your SEO strategy is working. What’s excluded is your list of what needs to be fixed.

Start out with easy fixes, such as:

  • Orphaned pages – There are no internal links to these pages. Include internal links. 
  • Low-quality pages – Pages that are thin in content and information need to be deleted or beefed up. Aim for 1,000 words for each page, and include unique keywords and plenty of internal links. 
  • Remove crawl blocks – Google cannot index a page if there’s a crawl block. Just type in yourdomain.com/robots.txt and remove.

If you need help getting your site indexed by Google, turn to Saba SEO. As one of the leading providers of SEO in San Diego, we have been in the industry for almost fifteen years. Our services include website development, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management. To make the most of your online presence and Google’s free tools, call us at 858-277-1717.

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