Our offices will be closed Tuesday (01/01) and re-open on Wednesday (01/02). If you have an urgent request, send us an email at help@mackmedia.us or leave a message at (615) 933-3863. We will have emergency staff on call.

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Our offices will be closed Friday (12/21) and re-open on Thursday (12/27). If you have an urgent request, send us an email at help@mackmedia.us or leave a message at (615) 933-3863. We will have emergency staff on call.

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Our offices will be closed Wednesday (11/21) and re-open on Monday (11/26). If you have an urgent request, send us an email at help@mackmedia.us or leave a message at (615) 933-3863. We will have emergency staff on call.

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Our offices will be closed Wednesday (07/04) and re-open on Thursday (07/05). If you have an urgent request, send us an email at help@mackmediallc.com or leave a message at (615) 933-3863. We will have emergency staff on call.

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This plan to change the way its search index operates was first made known by Google in November of 2016, and a handful of sites were transitioned to mobile-first indexing in December 2017. Last month, the tech titan made it official that it will crawl, index and rank a page based on its mobile version instead of the desktop version.

Behavior Trends – Mobile vs Desktop Devices

The switch to mobile-first indexing is a result of user behavior trends that show a majority of people nowadays perform searches on their smartphone. Instead of relying on the traditional desktop version of websites to present and rank content in the Search Engine Results Pages, the mobile version of a website becomes the starting point now for what Google includes in the index, and the baseline for determining rankings. A site optimized for mobile will rank well on both mobile and desktop search, while a site that is not optimized for mobile may not rank as well as competing websites (especially when the search originates from a mobile device).

Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Design

As Google begins indexing and ranking sites based on user mobile experience, it will look at mobile-first best practices when providing search results. A mobile optimized website includes automatic adjustment of the layout to fit the size of the device being used, speedy page load times across all devices, and large enough buttons, links, and text for easy viewing and usability. The aim is to deliver the most comprehensive and efficient experience for its users, majority of which are mobile users.

Migration to Mobile-First Indexing

Not all sites will be shifted by Google to mobile-first indexing in one fell swoop. First in line will be the sites specifically tabbed by Google as “ready” enough for the change to have minimal impact. This phased roll out, which started toward the end of 2017, will give webmasters time to make their websites responsive to mobile devices. The sites that have been shifted will receive a notice via Google Search Console, see increased visits from the Smartphone Googlebot, and mobile versions will show up in Google search results and in the Google cached pages.

Google’s decision to make index pages mobile-first leaves website owners with little choice but to adapt to the change to maintain traffic and rankings. The surge in mobile device usage has become a major focus for Google, and it wants to ensure that mobile websites are quick, secure, and provide a high-quality user experience. The future is very much mobile now, and Google favors mobile-friendly websites in its mobile and desktop search results.

Is Your Business’ Website Enabled for Mobile-First Indexing?

The easiest way to check if your website has is part of the mobile-first index is to check Google Search Console notifications. If your website is mobile-first index enabled, you will receive a notification message indicating this fact. Here is an example of this notification:

If you’re not sure if your website is mobile-friendly, we can perform an assessment for you free of charge. If you know that your website is not mobile-friendly or responsive, we can make websites mobile-friendly without a complete website re-design. Contact us today to see how Mackmedia can help!

Update: 07/03/2018

In the past couple of days, a vast majority of our clients’ websites have received notifications in Google Search Console indicating that mobile-first indexing has been enabled. This has occurred in batches, and Google appears to be pushing an additional round of enabling mobile-first indexing on a websites that are compatible.

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Our offices will be closed Monday (05/28) and re-open on Tuesday (05/29). If you have an urgent request, send us an email at help@mackmediallc.com or leave a message at (615) 933-3863. We will have emergency staff on call.

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Voting ends Friday, April 13, 2018.

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Our offices will be closed on Good Friday (03/30/2018) and re-open on Monday (04/02/2018). If you have an urgent request, send us an email at help@mackmediallc.com or leave a message at (615) 933-3863. We will have emergency staff on call.

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Search engines have come a long way, and once popular strategies like keyword stuffing and meta keywords tag targeting are no longer effective for archiving high SERP (search engine results page) rankings.

Search engines favor high-quality websites. But what does this mean for small businesses?

A high-quality website demonstrates authority on a topic, and Google (and other search engines) will recognize a high-quality website as a trustworthy source of information that is authored by subject matter experts.

Authority is established when readers share content through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other platforms.

When websites publish high quality content and the authority of a website increases, search engines will rank websites higher for related keywords and search phrases.

How you can create a high-quality website

Start writing and create valuable content! It sounds simple but the follow-through is challenging and time consuming.

Content marketing is a long-term effort that requires dedication and consistency. However, if you commit to it, you will see a gradual increase in website traffic and positive measurable results (both online and offline).

A blog, just like this one, is popular channel to publish content. WordPress, Concrete5, and other CMS’ (Content Management Systems) are common publishing platforms for all sizes and types of businesses.

The key is to publish original, unique and relevant articles that your target audience wants to read (and hopefully share).

5 Great Content Marketing Topic Ideas

You may already have some ideas of topics to write about. Run with them!

If you are scratching your head or want to explore more ideas, we 5 great topic ideas to consider using in your content marketing strategy:

1) Answer common questions

Do your customers often ask you the same questions over and over? This is a good indication that future customers may also search for these answers online.

Start with a problem or question and provide the solution or answer. Think of it as a Q&A session.

2) Showcase your work

If your business provides a physical service or product, talk about what you are able to do for your customers. People love reading stores with before and after pictures, or seeing end results.

3) Write about your clients

If your market is B2B, talk about the clients you work with and what you are able to do for them. Not only does this validate your work and expertise, but it also is great PR and exposure for your clients.

4) Write to help people

You are an established business leader with a wealth of expert knowledge, advice and information to share. When visitors find your content useful, they will share it and help bring visitors to your website.

If you help your audience, they will refer you to friends, family and other businesses.

5) Tell people about your business

What are you doing lately? Have you landed a big contract? Have you won a local award like a Ruthie?

Breathe life into your website and write about your business accomplishments.

Even though you are “tooting your own horn,” you are also providing legitimate information about how your community views your business. Your readers will appreciate this and see the value in your business.

What doesn’t work

I cannot stress this enough – content marketing is the not same as writing sales-oriented material.

Yes, the primary goal of content marketing is to generate sales and leads. But, if you write like a salesman it will be glaringly obvious. Your blog won’t feel genuine and it won’t provide value to your readers.

You can still have a value proposition or sales pitch in your content, but there is a fine line between a sales pitch and sales-oriented content. When that line is crossed, it devalues your content.

Avoid sounding like a salesman. Instead, show the personal side of your business and write to help people, answer questions and solve problems.

What if you don’t have time?

Content marketing is challenging, especially if writing is not something you enjoy. Plus, it takes a lot of time – time that you may not have to dedicate to a long-term, successful effort.

If you don’t have time to dedicate to content marketing or blogging, let’s start a conversation about how Mackmedia can help. Together, we can develop a cost-effective content marketing strategy for your small business and deliver positive and measurable results.

Send us a message

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In the first half of this year, tweets will start to be visible in Google’s search results as soon as they’re posted, thanks to a deal giving the Web company access to Twitter’s firehose, the stream of data generated by the microblogging service’s 284 million users, people with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. Google previously had to crawl Twitter’s site for the information, which will now be visible automatically.

Twitter Reaches Deal to Show Tweets in Google Search Results

There is already evidence to suggest that links in tweets are indexed more rapidly, depending on the authority and relevance of the authority of Twitter users re-tweets.

Incorporating Twitter tweets into Google SERPs by granting access to Twitter’s Firehose API technology is another way Twitter hopes to provide more opportunities for Twitter to convert and monetize on it’s social media platform.

In the end, this should provide more value to Twitter users by indexing their tweets in the Google search engine.

Today is a great day to start investing in your social media presence with Twitter, and Mackmedia can help!

Send us a message

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