Palo Alto-Based SEO Company

A. Blum Localization Services

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Our Palo Alto SEO Company

Overview: We are a Palo Alto-based SEO company founded in 2016. Our business model combines SEO ranking services with Social Media Optimization and Search Engine Optimization training workshops.

Our goal is to help our clients improve their organic ranking results, increase their web traffic, and stop outsourcing work within three months.

How this is done: We provide clients with a full overhaul of their web content to improve it in every way possible. Our teaching will follow this.

About our teach method: We offer hands-on training where we want a client's staff to “learn by doing”. This provides motivation and drive.

For example, we make a backup of the client's current site and use this offline as a tool to work on as a group.

Our service is provided online worldwide and in-house (we come to you) for all points across California.

Our Palo Alto SEO company specializes in organic ranking

In Palo Alto, California: Our office is at 345 Forest Avenue, just east of Stanford University. We are 8 blocks from the Hewlett-Packard Garage on Addison Avenue established in the late 1930s. It is noted as the first area startup which would become one of the world's largest technology companies. (Discover Stanford's role as the birthplace of Silicon Valley and an overview of Palo Alto area Tech history).

What Is Organic SEO?

Definition: Organic SEO is defined as non-paid, natural results on a search engine page. There are two ways to rank on search engines:

How We View Search Engine Optimization

It is our contention that 60% of Google's ranking factor comes from standing out as an authority.

SEO is part of a “family” of related Internet Marketing work. The distinction between Social Media Optimization and SEO, for example is not huge as the same work ethic has to be applied to a Tweet as to a core web page.

Along with great content, on-page and off-page SEO techniques are customized per project.

Here are some key points for good ranking

Related: 

Future Planning With An SEO Audit

An SEO audit is a detailed checklist of tasks which are reviewed and takes about 5 hours for most medium-sized firms. The purpose of the SEO audit is NOT to say “this is where we are”, it is to say where you should be in 2 months, 5 months, and a year hence. The audit is a future-based guide with a timeline. 

Important: It is wise not to start an SEO audit till you have done keyword research. Without the knowledge of keyword phrases that are being searched for (versus a subjective choice of terms - See: What is Google Trends data — and what does it mean?) in your target language and geographic area.*

Our role, doing the Audit and working on a client's web content is about putting guide posts down. Note: You will find of interest this page by Google.

Items We Check:

* A current (past 12 months and 5 year view) of user actual searches (using Google Trends and other tools).

We read: "(...) With Google Trends, you can compare two search topics simultaneously to understand which is more popular with users. A “topic” is a group of terms that share the same concept in any language, while a “search term” only includes data for that language. To do so, after you’ve added one topic, simply click “+ Compare” and type in your second topic. By comparing keywords for products or services you offer, you can get a quick and helpful picture of which offerings are in greater demand and likely to have an effect on your sales volume in the short term. (...) Let’s say you own a small flower shop and Mother’s Day is approaching. You want to know which of your products to prioritize promoting online. By using the comparison feature in Google Trends, you can compare search interest for the topics 'flower delivery' and “'gift baskets.' Source

Along with comparison there is Expanding your search by time to identify seasonal trends, Using Google Trends to discover new opportunities, and the essential Refining your search by region or city.

Google Trends provides the following types of data 'Real-time data is a sample covering the last seven days and non-real time data is a separate sample from real-time data and goes as far back as 2004 and up to 72 hours before your search".

Prerequisites To The Study Of SEO

Self-managing Search Engine Optimization without the ability to understand a page’s source code will not get you far. You should have an intermediate knowledge of HTML and PHP. You may wish to gain a basic understanding of JavaScript, CSS, and server configuration as well.

Study Suggestions

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On/Off-Page SEO Suggestions and Tweaks

Important: There is no such thing as a ‘one-size fits all’ SEO checklist. Your application of on/off-page Search Engine Optimization techniques needs to be customized for each web project.

Markup:

<nav aria-label="Breadcrumb">

  <ol class="breadcrumb">

    <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="#">Home</a></li>

    <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="#">Content</a></li>

    <li class="breadcrumb-item active" aria-current="page">Sub-Section</li>

  </ol>

</nav>  

ADA / Accessibility info: We are now at the end of the breadcrumb code example. 

Some SEO Suggestions For PDF Files

Note: Your objective in making PDF files should be to add details about content you speak about in your cornerstone (core) site pages. Do not aim to rank the PDF for a keyword.

In More Detail

Make a PDF text-based! Search engines have trouble indexing images, so avoid using images as the main content in the PDF. Instead, use text-based content that is easily readable by search engines or take the time to tag the alt text for images. Also, for Accessibility make sure to use easy to read fonts. See PDF Accessibility Checker

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Human vs AI Generated Content

Human vs AI Generated Content

I have said often that in 2023 Google bases 60% of its ranking factors on content authority. '

Question: So, can Artificial Intelligence replace copy writers?

Answer: Maybe, but not for quite some time. For now we have way too many errors and versions. 

In time, a combination of high quality syndicating data made for AI and much faster computer power we may see the creation of extremely high quality content by machines. 

Currently: There is a large amount of simple data sharing that is going on with the bots of today. If you ask “What is the capital of rance” you will have data handed to you and not involve AI.

/// Note to our site visitors: This section needs to be expanded. Please check back shortly. [Message by Ardan Michael Blum on the 20th of March, '22]. ///

Further Reading:

How automation can create helpful content

Google Search’s guidance about AI-generated content

List of tools used to detect AI generated text

 What Others Are Saying | Curated Article Collection

Web Accessibility Helping SEO

Making a website barrier-free is a responsible act that can also have a positive effect on your ranking. It is our contention that search engines like Google look for universally accessible content and rank higher websites that offer a good user experience for everyone.

Examples

Alt Image Tags

It is essential for people who rely on assistive devices such as screen readers to find good image descriptions

Alternative text (also known as alt text) is an attribute added to an image tag in HTML, which provides a description or a summary of the image content for users who may not be able to see the image, such as those who are visually impaired or using a screen reader. 

Text should convey the same meaning or the function of the image and not focus on the page's main target keywords.

In more detail:

Technically speaking there are 2 different ways to describe an image. One is the ALT and the other is the Title attribute. The use of both is recommended but the title tag is not necessary. See 'Image SEO: How to optimize your alt text and title text'.

If an image is used for page design then in the Alt tag write "This is a decorative area' or simply use an empty alternative text (alt=""). A work-about is to avoid decorative images by the use of CSS made backgrounds. 

On many sites there is a default top left brand logo. This appears site-wide. Be attentive to how you name this image. You might want to add a navigation note - as in most cases clicking on this image brings one back to the home page.

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Web Accessibility Barriers

Further Reading

Testing Tools

- Source Info: Some of the tools suggested are from a list of links found on the first rate site accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/.

Further Information

Note: An automated tool cannot tell you if your site is fully compatible for Accessibility needs. Human testing is always necessary because accessibility is linked to the human experience.

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Looking At Meta Tags

Introduction to meta tags: We will be looking at content which is added in the "head' of a webpage. This is seen when you switch to source code view. The selection of which tags and their purpose is very much a personal matter to the habits of a webmaster and their SEO colleagues. 

Some of the tags have been historically 'abused' by spammers to the point that in 2009, the then head of Webspam at Google (Matt Cutts) was to make a statement that Google would no longer view the keyword meta tag as a ranking factor

Backstory: Then people would have paragraph sized keyword meta tags which included even typographical errors and singular and plural versions of a term. In addition, the use of tags were generally not city-related and presented a word's synonyms and associated concepts. 

Naturally, this was just Google's decision and not a global statement from Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.

These chosen words should be page-related not site related and exactly relevant to the terms you have chosen for a given page's ranking. Note: Generally a webpage should stand out in a unique way for at most two keyword phrases. 

We suggest to clients to aim for a location and brand / product / theme / topic and or project keyword phrase and a second phrase with a topic and subtopic. Once you have chosen per page two keyword phrases your task is to become devoted to content production which which makes your site an authority on these chosen phrases. Then, and only then we suggest using these focus terms and possible a third related term in a keyword meta tag.

Said differently, the ranking factor given to on-page elements may differ between search engines and items such as a short keyword meta tag can not harm your ranking.

Here is an example:

<meta name='"keywords'" content='"seo agency palo alto, palo alto seo company, organic ranking"'>

Technically speaking: The most important tags are the Canonical meta tag, the description tag, the "viewport" (A viewport allows for browsers to adapt the page's dimensions and scaling in various ways - say between seeing the page on a phone and a desktop), the title tag and the UTF (language) meta tag.

The Canonical tag avoids the duplicate content issues that may arise across blogs and sites. 

Tip: Google reads everything but some aspects of the on-page SEO work are not counted as part of Google's ranking factors. The reason such tags can be of use is that other search engines companies may find them helpful. 

Let us look at each meta tag, starting with the description tag. Here, we suggest the use of two clear sentences. You do not want to use your keyword phrases more than one time. That means one sentence for each phrase. We suggest using less than 155 characters which contain relevant information about the page's content - not just keyword focus.

<meta name="'description'" content='"We are a Palo Alto SEO company founded in 2016. Our business model combines organic ranking services and client training."'>

Note: There are variations to the tags presented based on which version of HTML your page is made in as well as your webmaster's mode of designing a page (some pages are static and will not resize well).

Let's look at some optional tags. We start with the author meta tag:

<meta name="'author'" content="'Ardan Michael Blum'" />

<link href='"https://ardanmichaelblum.com'" rel="'me'" type="'text/html'">

The source:

<meta name="'original-source'" content='"https://organic-ranking.com'"/>

The home page:

<link rel="'home'" title="'Home'" href='"https://seo-company.organic-ranking.com'"/>

Phone and email:

<meta content="'email=no'' name="'format-detection"'>

<meta content="'telephone=yes'" name="'format-detection'">

Location: 

<meta name=''geo.region'' content=''US-CA'' />

<meta name=''geo.placename" content='''Palo Alto'' />

<meta name=''geo.position'' content=''37.444993;-122.1589'' />

Resource: You may want to find your longitude and latitude with this tool: geo-tag.de

/-/ Visitor note: This meta tag section needs to be improved and will be worked on for a finished version by the 18th of April. //

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Message By Ardan Michael Blum - Agency CEO

Our Palo Alto-based team works for no more than 3 clients at any given time. We provide clients with total dedication!

Today, I suggest: Move from reading about SEO and book a 15-minute discussion to speak of your ranking on search engines!

New: Join Ardan Michael on a WhatsApp video call.

 A. Blum Localization Services - Palo Alto SEO Company  | Phone: +1 650 427-9358.

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