titles not showing on yahoo and bing

Web Page Title Not Showing on Bing/Yahoo or Says “Official Site”

titles not showing on yahoo and bingSeveral clients have asked me about their web page titles not showing up properly on Bing and Yahoo.

Frequently, instead of the web page title, Bing and Yahoo will say “Company Name – Official Site as you see depicted in the image to the right.

These images are taken from a Yahoo and Bing search for the company Intel.  However, instead of saying  “Intel | Data Center Solutions, IOT, and PC Innovation” which is what their HTML title element (technically, the title is an element and not a meta tag) says, the title of the web page simply says “Intel – Official Site”.

You may take solace in the fact that, if it’s happening to Intel, you probably cannot do anything about it.

But you’d be wrong.

So, let’s take a look at why this is important, why it’s happening, and what you can do about it.

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Richard CummingsWeb Page Title Not Showing on Bing/Yahoo or Says “Official Site”
how-to-track-facebook-call-now

How To Track the Facebook “Call Now” Button

how-to-track-facebook-call-nowThe Facebook “Call Now” button introduced a great way for customers to immediately contact your business when they are using Facebook on their cell phone.

But, after implementing the “Call Now” feature in your Facebook local awareness ads, you will have one obvious question that Facebook is less willing to answer:  Are people clicking your Facebook “Call Now button?

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Richard CummingsHow To Track the Facebook “Call Now” Button
jon-loomer-facebook-webinar-review

A Review: Facebook Keys to Success Webinar by Jon Loomer

jon-loomer-facebook-webinar-reviewI just “completed” Jon Loomer’s Facebook Keys to Success Webinar and will provide you with a quick review of it here.

Why do I use the word “completed” in quotes?  Well, as you’ll see below, it’s long and I did not quite make it through the entire video.  That is not to say that the content is not engaging, though I do offer some suggestions below; the content is engaging but I was specifically interested in particular sections and so I focused on those.

One of the particular sections that I was interested in was Facebook Ad targeting.  And coincidentally, as quick proof that his methods do work, I signed up for the webinar via a Facebook targeted ad.

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Richard CummingsA Review: Facebook Keys to Success Webinar by Jon Loomer
adwords-average-montly-searches-changes

Google AdWords Now Limits Average Monthly Searches for “Low Spenders”

adwords-average-montly-searches-changesIf you’ve recently logged into Google AdWords to get keyword data, you may notice that the “Average Monthly Searches” column is now not nearly as useful.

The Average Monthly Search column in AdWords may now show something like the photo below:

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Richard CummingsGoogle AdWords Now Limits Average Monthly Searches for “Low Spenders”
When there's a variety of users with an Instagram hashtag on their posts, it becomes useless.

The Quick Guide to Instagram Hashtag Research

The good news about researching hashtags on Instagram is that it’s a very easy, straight forward experience. The bad news is that it can be quite time-consuming, especially when you’re posting a variety of content. For this article, I’ll be using the microgenre of music, vaporwave. More specifically, I’ll be looking at Instagram hashtag mistakes within the culture.
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Guest AuthorThe Quick Guide to Instagram Hashtag Research
SEO for small business - the statistics

SEO Small Business Statistics 2016: Do-It-Yourself vs Outsource?

SEO for small business - the statistics

Source: Clutch.co

Small businesses, you have a difficult decision to make regarding SEO. Do you do SEO in-house or should you outsource?

As you consider this decision, it’s always beneficial to know what your peers are doing and to find out if they are satisfied with their decision.

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Richard CummingsSEO Small Business Statistics 2016: Do-It-Yourself vs Outsource?
SEO Mistake

The One Giant SEO Mistake That You Are Making

SEO MistakeIf you were to name the one giant SEO mistake that you are making, what would it be?

Who me?  I’m not making any mistakes”.

You and I know that we all make mistakes and you are probably making this one giant SEO mistake.

My inspiration for this post comes from my SEO article of the week by Stephan Spencer:  5 super-common SEO mistakes content marketers make.

In his article, Stephan lists these 5 SEO mistakes that everyone is making:

  1. Hustling for likes instead of links
  2. Misplacing the content
  3. Targeting the wrong audience
  4. Being activity-focused
  5. No help from a power user

I highly recommend Stephan’s article as he articulates each position thoroughly.Read More

Richard CummingsThe One Giant SEO Mistake That You Are Making
local seo tool 2016

7 Tools to Improve Local SEO in 2016

local seo tool 2016When it comes to generating more business from the web, small business owners often forget to ask themselves why local SEO is important to their company’s success. DIY SEOers are so concerned with keeping marketing budgets to a minimum, so they slap some keywords in the appropriate meta keyword section of their SEO plugin and call it a day.

Off-site local SEO optimizations are left out in the cold and business owners sit in their office wondering why the phone isn’t ringing.

Here are seven tools designed for small business owners to improve local SEO (off-site and on-site) and to start generating more leads and sales from your website.

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Guest Author7 Tools to Improve Local SEO in 2016
convert blog content to video

How To Easily Repurpose Blog Posts for Video

convert blog content to videoVideo accounted for 64% of all Internet traffic this past year.  By 2019, experts estimate this number to escalate to 80%.  How will you tap into this market?

One great way to do this is to repurpose your current and future web content — especially your blogs post — into educational and entertaining videos.

What’s in it for you?  The benefits are clear:  If you don’t do online video marketing, you will be missing out on 80% of all web traffic!Read More

Richard CummingsHow To Easily Repurpose Blog Posts for Video
should you auto-message

Can/Should I Auto-Message My Followers on Twitter?

should you auto-messageQuestion:  I’ve only been using Twitter for about one year and I notice that a lot of people that I follow send me a direct message like:  “Thanks for the follow.  I’d like to offer you free access to this small business marketing PDF as a token of my appreciation. ”

So, my question is this:  How are these people auto-messaging me via Twitter and, secondly, is this considered a good business practice or is it spammy suicide?  Thanks, Gina in South Carolina 

Answer:  Gina, unknowingly, you have opened a can of worms that is the subject of much debate.  Let’s tackle the first part of your question and then we’ll get into the sometimes “heated” debate about whether you should auto-direct message people who follow you on Twitter.
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Richard CummingsCan/Should I Auto-Message My Followers on Twitter?

9 Startling Mobile Marketing Stats You Must Know in 2018

actionable-mobile-marketing-statistics-1Statistics tell a story and the latest mobile marketing statistics tell this story:

You have to optimize everything you do online for mobile!

Whatever, I’m gettin’ by just fine without it. Can people just stop shouting about mobile this and mobile that?”“.

Not until you listen — sometimes you just need cold hard facts to spur you to action.

So here are 9 startling mobile marketing statistics you must know (and act on!) in 2018, each introduced with a corresponding Tweet.
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Richard Cummings9 Startling Mobile Marketing Stats You Must Know in 2018
value of inbound anchor text

SEO & Inbound Link Anchor Text: Does inbound anchor text still matter?

value of inbound anchor textThe question that we are going to look at today is this: Is inbound anchor text still relevant when it comes to SEO best practices?

We know that it used to be. As you’ll see below, the volume of inbound links using specific anchor text was such an influencer, and yet so easily manipulated, that it threatened Google’s entire business.
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Richard CummingsSEO & Inbound Link Anchor Text: Does inbound anchor text still matter?
local search marketing seo

Google Places SEO: 8 Proven Ways to Dominate Google Local in 2018

local search marketing seoDo you want to dominate your Google local places search results in 2018? Then follow the 8 SEO steps listed below and you will beat your local competition!

Many businesses, especially small businesses, think that achieving first-page organic search results (as opposed to paid-for AdWords type results) is a near impossibility.

But the truth is, for local businesses, success in the organic results is now more achievable than ever. With a little SEO ingenuity and knowledge of how Google places SEO works, you’ll always have the upper hand on the competition.

Businesses simply need to understand how the local search results work and that is what I am going to explain in this article:

How to win in the local search results by understanding how the local search results work. Click To Tweet

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Richard CummingsGoogle Places SEO: 8 Proven Ways to Dominate Google Local in 2018
online market tools for small business

7 Free and Effective Market Research Tools for Startups and Small Businesses

online market tools for small businessPutting up a business, regardless of the size, is not a walk in the park.  One must have extensive knowledge on the industry and excellent leadership skills to boot.  Apart from skills, you have to be resourceful too. Now that we are in a digital world, all resources are almost spoon-fed to us.  But, without proper knowledge on what to use, your business will falter.

Gone are the days when you need to send a person to do a house-to-house survey to gather facts and information about your product. Market research tools are more effective, efficient, and diverse than ever.

While outsourced research services are effective for in-depth research, these 7 free yet effective market research tools are relatively helpful as a starting point:
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Guest Author7 Free and Effective Market Research Tools for Startups and Small Businesses