Eric Seropyan, SEO Best Practices: How to Rank Highly in Search Engines – InnovaBuzz 427

Eric Seropyan, This Is My Southbay

In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Eric Seropyan, the founder and owner of This Is My South Bay, a Los Angeles-based Digital Marketing agency with a specialty in Search Engine Optimization and Lead Generation. Eric also teaches at the Search Engine Optimization Academy in Los Angeles.

All small business owners know that ranking on page 1 of Google search is essential, but most have no idea how to do it. Unlike many in the SEO industry, who promise to deliver page 1 rankings and tricks to “game” the search engines, Eric understands how the search engines work and why they want you to rank highly for what you do, AND his team works with their clients to consistently show up online so the search engines recognize those businesses as leading providers of their services and hence rank them highly.

In our discussion, Eric talked to me about:

• The importance of consistently posting content – articles, videos, reviews etc, to your website
• What Google really wants and it’s actually the same as what your user wants
• The power of community

Listen to the podcast to find out more.

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Show Notes from this episode with Eric Seropyan of This Is My Southbay

Key points and takeaways from this episode include:

• Search Engine Optimization is a game-changer for small businesses. 
• There are many facets to digital marketing but SEO is one of the fastest. It makes a big difference to the trajectory and future of small and mid-size businesses.
• In this day and age, you have to make sure that you have your stake in the online world. You want to make sure that you grow your following and reputation online. 
• SEO is like a marathon as opposed to Facebook or Google ads that are more of a hundred-yard dash.
• Paid ads are going to be more expensive. SEO where you can get that steady flow of traffic to your site is “free” (no money).
• Google is a user-centric search engine. It thinks of the user experience first, then the advertiser second. It tries to give the best possible search results to a user. If it feels that a keyword doesn’t match the website, it won’t sell traffic to that website.
• Gaming Google is a lost effort. No one can guarantee first place in Google. It is all out of our control. You just have to do the work, find out what’s working and what isn’t, and react to it accordingly.
• The secret in life is to be consistent. You have to be consistent in what you do. You have to consistently feed Google content that you feel it will eat and thank you for.
• Make sure that your website is in order and that it provides a good user experience.
• Make sure that your website loads fast. Fix any broken links and tag your pages correctly so that when Google comes in and crawls your site in a fraction of a second, it knows exactly what each page is about. 
• Have systems in place that will ping Google each time you create content. 
• You’ll get Google’s attention more often when you are consistently producing content. 
• Google takes the average of everything. If you have 100 pages and 3 of them are crazy slow, those 3 pages are going to weigh down the average.
• Reviews are important. Google watches everything that people are talking about. It watches your social media campaigns. It knows if there are lots of people complaining about you or if you are losing followers.
• Engagement is another metric that Google looks at. It looks at comments, likes, and shares on your social media posts. It knows who buys followers on social media.
• Google Analytics is a free app that tracks where traffic is coming from into your website, their time on your site, the device they are using, and a lot more data. It is one of the biggest metrics that Google looks at and makes a decision on what to do.
• A lot of success you are going to have in SEO is by knowing how to read reports. It enables you to tighten up and do your campaigns in almost a laser beam format.
• It’s important to clearly identify your target market but it is also important to look at other markets that are just as interested in what you do. 
• Make sure that you are locking in on the keywords that work for you. Spend time creating content around those keywords and optimizing them. 
• Stay within things that are realistic to you and to Google. All things that Google does is to give the user the best possible experience. Be realistic in the timeframe. SEO is a marathon, not a 100-yard dash. 
• When creating content, remember that you are speaking to 2 audiences – Google and its algorithms and the user. You can’t succeed without one or the other. Always think about the user experience and create content for that user. It’s not important to rank in Google momentarily because if you don’t get any interaction from the user, you won’t get ranked anyway. Focus on the end-user experience whilst keeping in mind that there are some things that Google wants to see. 
• If you can repurpose content, you won’t be starving for content.
• SEO is one of the best ROI in business.

The Buzz – Our Innovation Round

Here are Eric’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.

1. #1 thing to be more innovative – Create content that the user is going to enjoy and find helpful.
2. Best thing for new ideas – Call tracking system/campaign – working together with customers. 
3. Favourite tool for innovation – SEMRush
4. Keep project/client on track – Manage expectations. Be honest with them and report to them regularly.
5. Differentiate – Play to your strengths. We are all powerful in our own way. Try not to look at your competitors and just be a clone of them. There’s enough business online for everybody. Make your own online community. When you have your own community, it is difficult to compete with you. Find your niche and grow within that niche.

To Be a Leader

Spend a bit of time to understand what Google is looking for, how to read these reports, and what metrics you need to hit to get Google’s attention. 

Reach Out

You can reach out and thank Eric through their website.

Links

• Website – This Is My Southbay
• Twitter – @MySouthBay
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

Are your ready to start your SEO journey? Schedule a call with Eric and get a FREE SEO Reading of your website.

Cool Things About Eric

• He’s Co-Director of the Orange County SEO Academy.
• He studied Marketing the University of California.
• Prior to starting This Is My Southbay, he was Vice-President of Modern Design Inc, a manufacturer of fine jewelry.

Listen to the Podcast