6 Free Ways to Increase Your SEO

1. Make a Google Plus Page

Let’s be honest, Google basically created and currently owns search engine optimization (SEO). Whatever you can do to make Google happy will increase your Page Rank on Google, and translate into a better rank on other sites like Yahoo and Bing. Not only make your company a Google Plus page, but post your content regularly on Google Plus to increase your content's Google Page Rank. It always amazes me when people say that they think Google Plus is useless; Google Plus is great for giving Google your content (especially YouTube videos) and proliferating that content on Google search engine results.

2. Choose Precise Keywords for Every Page

In the past, meta-keywords were known as the best way to tell Google and other SEO spiders what your page is all about. Meta-keywords are words that are embedded at the top of the html on every website. If you want to check a site’s keywords, simply right click the page and “View Source.” You will see something that looks like this:

The “content” you see after meta-name = keywords is that page’s meta-keywords. In case you were wondering, this is the source for the Bank of America page.

Meta-keywords are not directly applicable to Google searches today (Google reports that it does not use meta-keywords to rank pages); however, planning these is a good start to mapping the best keywords for each page of your website.

3. Incorporate your Keywords EVERYWHERE

Once you have your precise list of keywords for each page on your website, utilize these keywords as much as possible in all of the following content on your webpages:

• Page Titles
• Page Descriptions
• Image Names
• Image Descriptions
• Image Alt Text
• Page Text and Content

The more your keywords are linked to your website's text and images, the more that Google spiders will recognize what your context or image is about, and rank it accordingly when users are searching for those keywords.

4. Google Trends

Constantly monitor Google Trends for trending keywords that relate to your company’s industry, and update your keywords accordingly. Don’t just use these trending for meta-keywords and AdWords, but also incorporate them in social media and blog posts as well. Google will pick up on your content and give your content major boosts on search inquiries for your topics.

5. Link EVERYTHING

Google and other search engine determine Page Rank by relevant links out on the web that link back to your website. Google also rewards pages for good "link juice," or the flow of the links on your page. Ideally, the user should be able to get anywhere on your site in three to four clicks, even less if possible.

6. Use a Site Map

Site Maps not only help your user navigate your website, but they help Google's spiders track your page as well. Site Maps are the orderly links that can be found on the bottom of websites. Site Maps allow user, and Google, to get anywhere in your site from any page on your site in one click. Brilliant!

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What Gen X and Y Don't Get About Social Media Marketing

As an MBA student taking many marketing classes, all day, every day, I hear about how businesses should use social media. As a marketing student, I completely agree. But what I hear a lot, and COMPLETELY disagree with, is that businesses should utilize EVERY type of social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Google Plus, Pinterest, Foursquare, LinkedIn, even Pinterest, businesses should be there. No matter what business, they should join every social media site out there and upload, post and gain a following (and they should do it today).

I completely disagree with this sentiment. In my eyes, as well as many of my fellow Millennials, trying to accomplish this feat is totally ridiculous, not to mention a bad business practice for many companies. Many professors recommend that businesses join every site, friend everyone, post everything, no matter what company you are, and what marketing strategy your company has. I think this really shows the generational gap when it comes to social media and social media marketing.

Some social media sites are simply a waste of time and employee hours for certain types of companies. John’s mom and pop sub shop does not need to tweet four times a day, and McDonald’s does not need a Snapchat account. In fact, responses to the hashtag promotion campaign, #McDstories, makes me wonder if they should even bother with a Twitter account at all.

Like everything in marketing, social media needs to be carefully planned and strategized. Joining a social media website for no strategic reason is a waste of time, and the lack of followers your account gains (due to the inappropriate nature of your company’s relationship with that social media website) will actually hurt many customers’ view of your company. To be successful, choose the right platforms, create good content, and monitor your feeds and likes. If you cannot manage to do so, and I sure many of my MBA marketing classmates would be happy to be hired to do it for you.