Loebig Ink Receives a Best in Search Award from TopSEOs.com

Posted on August 23, 2020January 24, 2024 by Robin Renee

Loebig Ink has received accolades from TopSEOs.com, an independent authority on search vendors. Listed among top companies specializing in search engine optimization, Loebig Ink has been given a “Best in Search” award and a listing on the influential website. It is an honor to be mentioned as one of the companies doing the very best at helping people to increase their visibility online.

The Loebig Ink listing on TopSEOs.com highlights our local SEO, SEO training, and web design services and mentions other services we offer including Google Ads management, social media management, and web development. Beneath additional general information about the agency, the Loebig Ink, LLC Scorecard announces high regional rankings among Best Web Design Companies and Firms in Silver Spring, Maryland. Featured reviews from both clients and employees round out the listing.

TopSEOs has been ranking digital marketing companies to help small businesses and large enterprises make the right decisions since 2002. Their research team uses a rigorous evaluation strategy based on their SmartRank Algorithm which uses hundreds of data points to determine the overall strength of a company. Feedback from clients is a particularly important factor of the algorithm; buyer reviews are considered by average rating and are scrutinized as well by the likely validity of each reviewer and review. Also taken into account is the company profile, the online reputation of the company, and the level of engagement a company maintains with buyers and interested parties on the internet. It is especially encouraging to be considered through the lens of such a complex and thorough set of criteria and to come out among the best.

Loebig Ink is a small business consulting firm fueled by coffee, creativity and music to provide SEO, web design and social media solutions. Launched as a full time web consulting business in Richmond, Virginia in 2010, the business expanded its scope and moved to Maryland in the Washington, DC area in 2012. Feel free to reach out to learn more about Loebig Ink and our services.

Blog SEO for 2020

Posted on February 13, 2020January 24, 2024 by Robin Renee

Search engine optimization is incredibly important for your website’s visibility. It is also a moving target. It is important to maintain the efforts you’ve made, while staying aware of the latest information on what you can do to improve. Much has remained the same. Read our previous article, “Optimize Your Blog,” for the basics. But given an increasingly mobile-first world, Google’s algorithm changes in response to user behavior and more, you have to stay on your game. Here are some important updates to SEO best practices for blogs in 2020.

Keep it brief. In the not-too-distant past, it seemed that filling out your title tag completely by using 60 -70 characters was the ideal. Doing so gives you the opportunity to use your target keyword right up front followed by other search-friendly terms and information about the page. However, it seems that shorter is now better. Keep your title tags brief and to the point. 14 to 40 characters are ideal. Try streamlining your meta title by using the target keyword followed by only the most pertinent terms relating to the page.
Ask a question. What catches users’ attention? How can you get more clicks? One factor seems to be putting your title tag in the form of a question. Try asking what you think your ideal client or audience wants to know like “Who is the best writer in Silver Spring?” You may also try a question that the client would answer enthusiastically with “Me!” like “Looking for a doula in Danbury?” Question-based title tags have been performing with a 14% greater click-through rate, so ask questions first!
Meta descriptions matter. It can be hard to keep up with every detail of your SEO, especially when you are creating new content frequently to keep your blog fresh. That said, writing a meta description for your post is a step you shouldn’t skip. Your meta description won’t appear anywhere on your actual blog post. Rather, it will show up just under the meta title in a Google search. If you do omit this step, the first words that appear on your post will populate the description by default. That may seem ok, but why not take control of what you want to appear in that space? As with your meta titles, this is another place to use a focus keyword prominently. The number of characters you can use in your description varies by platform – some may allow 300 or more – but in many cases only the first 160 or so characters will be seen. Just adding a meta description can get you 5.8% more clicks.
Keywords are still key. As mentioned above, using keywords still matters. Choose them wisely and then give attention to how you use them. Choose a target keyword for each page and use it in the meta title, meta description, and H1 tag. How often should you use your keyword? 1% keyword density is enough to signal its importance to search engines. That’s once every 100 words. Stuffing more keywords than that into your text will not only annoy your readers, but it could earn a demerit from Google. Stick to reasonable, consistent keyword usage and you’re on your way up in rankings.
Your keywords are your address. Another place to give your keywords a place to shine is in the web address, or URL for your blog post. Adding keywords to your URL can give you an amazing 45% higher click-through-rate than one that doesn’t use keywords. So try for a URL that uses a focus keyword for the post like website.com/piano-movers-dc, website.com/catering-in-nashua, or website.com/custom-home-project.
Pay attention to your parents. Or at least optimize for the parent topic! According to Ahrefs, a parent topic is the main topic of a web page, the most popular version of a keyword phrase on a page that may also rank for many other similar keyword phrases. So while considering individual keywords is one approach to optimization, you may not have to write a separate blog post with a focus on every single one. Do some research to find the parent topic for your page and optimize with the topic in mind. Vary the phrases you use to discuss the topic and you can expand the searchability and reach of the article.
Optimize for Featured Snippets. What’s better than a regular old high organic ranking? Getting a Featured Snippet on Google is one way to a big jump in visibility. While you can’t tell Google directly to feature your excellent blog post, you can maximize the chances that Google’s algorithms will deem it excellent and worthy. To increase your chances, make sure the information on your page is easy to read and useful. Craft it to answer a specific question. Use structured data, or schema markup behind the scenes to highlight the information you hope to have featured.
Write long-form. Articles with a high word count get 77% more clicks and social engagement. So rather than keeping it short and sweet when it comes to your blog posts, try going for 1,500 words or more. In-depth, valuable information gets attention. If you can provide a comprehensive answer to an exact, frequently asked question, you just may have struck internet gold.

Incorporate as many of these guidelines as you can, and expect to see your blog posts rise up the ranks in 2020.

Resources

“On-Page SEO: The Definitive Guide,” Backlinko. Retrieved from https://backlinko.com/on-page-seo

Patel, N. “Neil Knowledge” video post. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/posts/neilkpatel_seo-digitalmarketing-traffic-activity-6609094502919520256-tJFF/

Smarty, A. “How to Optimize for Google’s Featured Snippets to Build More Traffic,” Moz.com. Retrieved from https://moz.com/blog/optimize-featured-snippets

Soulo, T. “Parent Topic,” Ahrefs.com. Retrieved from https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-generator/#section5

Majestic.com Definitions

Posted on October 8, 2019September 2, 2025 by Robin Renee

Understanding the Majestic Site Explorer Tool

Majestic.com is a site that helps you understand what is at work behind the scenes of any website. It includes a host of tools such as Keyword Checker, Bulk Backlink Checker, Campaigns, and Custom Reports. It can help guide SEO choices, provide information about how websites are connected, and give you valuable insight into the overall “health” of a website.

Here are the definitions for some terms you will see on the Majestic.com Site Explorer or on a report based on its results. A few are more general terms that you will encounter in many SEO and web development discussions and documents. Others are specific to Majestic. We hope this guide helps you make sense of how the Majestic Site Explorer works and how it can help you.

URL: A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator. You will often just hear it simply called a web address. When looking for information about a site in Majestic, you will search using the URL (which looks like https://www.website.com), the root domain, or the subdomain. Your results will vary according to which version of the web address you use, so if you plan to track a website’s progress over time, you will want to make a choice and remain consistent.

Root Domain: The root domain (website.com) is the overarching version of the web address that contains the subdomains and folders that belong to a website under its umbrella.

Subdomain: A subdomain incorporates the root domain but contains additional elements. Its purpose is to help organize and navigate to different sections of a website. Examples of the ways a subdomain may appear are www.website.com or news.website.com.

Fresh Index: Majestic’s Fresh Index shows the most recent data for a website you are exploring. Backlinks that have appeared within the previous 90 days will be reflected here, along with other metrics such as Trust Flow and Citation Flow, which are defined below.

Historic Index: In contrast to the Fresh Index, the Historic Index provides all the information Majestic has on the website you are exploring.

Referring Domains: Referring domains are websites that link to the website you are exploring. In other words, a referring domain sends one or more backlinks to a target website.

Backlinks: Backlinks are links that point from one website to another. For example, because this article discusses Majestic and provides a link to the website, majestic.com now has a backlink from loebigink.com. Obtaining backlinks from highly regarded websites lends credibility and trust to the target website.

Trust Flow: According to Majestic, “Trust Flow is one of the Majestic Flow Metrics, which is weighted by the number of clicks from a seed set of trusted sites to a given URL, or Domain.” The more backlinks and interaction a site has from trusted sites, the higher its Trust Flow is likely to be.

Topical Trust Flow: Topical Trust Flow is a score between 0-100 showing the Trust Flow within each topic, such as “Recreation / Travel” or “Computers / Internet / Protocols.”

Citation Flow: As explained on Majestic.com, “Citation Flow is one of the Majestic Flow Metrics, which is weighted by the number citations to a given URL, or Domain.” As Trust Flow increases, a comparable Citation Flow indicates healthy backlinks to a website. However, a high Citation Flow combined with low Trust Flow indicates a site may have spammy backlinks that should be disavowed in Google Search Console.

Referring IPs: A Referring IP is an IP address that hosts one or more websites that contain links to a given website. Many websites can be hosted on one IP address.

Referring Subnets: “Referring Subnets” is an abbreviated way of saying “Referring C Subnets.” Gordano.com explains, “A class C subnet uses the first three octets of an IP address to designate the network ID, and the remaining octet for the designation of the Host ID.”

Anchor Text: Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. Reviewing anchor text lets you know the actual words that are used on a page to link back to a website.

Alexa Rank: Alexa Rank is a measure of website popularity. A site with an Alexa Rank of 1 would be among the most popular of websites. The Alexa Rank of a website lets you gauge its popularity relative to all other sites.

These basic definitions should help you assess websites using the Majestic Site Explorer tool. By observing referring domains, Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and other metrics over time, you can develop a plan for more significant backlinks and better SEO while disavowing harmful backlinks that could weaken the overall reputation of a site on the internet. Contact us if you’ve got questions about web tools or are interested in an SEO Assessment for comprehensive information about your website.

How to Use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console

Posted on July 3, 2019June 17, 2024 by Brian Loebig

Your small business website is crucial to your sales. If people can’t find pages of your website on the Internet, you don’t exist.

One reason that website users can’t find your pages and services is that they aren’t showing up in the Google Search Results. Now, however, there is an easy way for you to ensure web pages show up in search results using the Google Search Console URL Inspection Tool.

Google released this tool last year to help website owners ensure web pages are indexed and can be found. Being indexable is a crucial part of search engine optimization (SEO). Google uses “Googlebot” which crawls through the web to index URLs which make them available in search results. Google crawls through your website and detects errors to make sure they meet Google’s guidelines for indexing.

You can submit your sitemap through Search Console so that the Googlebot can analyze your website for indexing. Google Search Console then helps you optimize your website URL so they are correctly indexed.

STEP 1: Sign into GSC using a Google connected email account. (If you don’t have a gmail email or haven’t associated a non-gmail email with Google, find out how to associate an email address with a Google account…)

STEP 2: Click on the “URL Inspection” tab on the left side navigation area.

STEP 3: Paste in the URL (website address) that you want Google to index into the search box at the top of the window and hit enter on your keyboard. Google then runs an analysis based on the last crawl. The tool will tell you if the URL is on Google and if it can be found in search results. It also tells you if the page is mobile friendly.

STEP 4: Google will tell you if the page is indexed or not. If the page is not indexed, or if you would like Google to recrawl the page to pick up recent changes you have made to content or meta data, click “request indexing”. Repeat this process for each page you want indexed. (To submit an entire sitemap to Google for indexing, view these guidelines…)

If your URL is not on Google, it will tell you why it is not indexed. You will then get potential solutions to make sure your site is reachable. Problems that may be preventing your site from appearing on Google search results include server errors or an error in the index request submission which is blocking Googlebot. It may also tell you if the URL is indexed, however, certain elements of the page like a script may not be rendering correctly.

The Google Search Console URL Inspection Tool is invaluable for making sure that your business website can be found in the search engine.

Loebig Ink, LLC, can do search engine optimization on your small business website to make sure all of your pages can be found and more importantly, that they rank highly in Google for the best keywords in your industry! Call Loebig Ink, LLC at (301) 244-8324 or send us a note!. We serve the Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C. area and beyond.

Level Up Your Visibility with Rich Snippets

Posted on June 25, 2019January 24, 2024 by Robin Renee

If you’re at all familiar with search engine optimization, you know the importance of getting the most out of your basic metatags. Your H1, H2, title tag, and meta description for each page are important factors to increase site visibility. However, your optimization doesn’t have to stop there. You can set up your web pages so that they are poised to have search engines display extra information called rich snippets. In the example below, the ratings line, not shown in a standard search result, is a rich snippet.

The What and Why of Rich Snippets

The ratings on the third line above is only one example. What are some of the other factors rich snippets can highlight? If you offer products, rich snippets can highlight information about what you sell including the name of the item, price, and special offers. If you are a musician, a reference to a song title, lyrics, or recording may show up as a rich snippet. The name, cuisine, and hours of a restaurant, a recipe, details about an upcoming event, or biographical information may all become rich snippets.

Why strive for rich snippets? Because rich snippets, sometimes known as rich results, increase web visibility in several ways. The most important behind-the-scenes function is that the coding used to indicate the information highlighted in rich snippets “speak” directly to search engines. As Google or another engine crawls a website, context and meaning may not always be clear. For best ranking results, you will want to have a website that is informative, user-friendly, and obvious about its purpose to readers and search engines alike. Adding extra, specific coding called schemas are like a beacon to search engines broadcasting, “Hey! This is the contact information for a blues club!” “This is a page about a popular politician!” or “These are the dates of the county fair!” These content clues help search engines to categorize and rank content. The visual aspect of rich snippets draws the attention of internet users resulting in a higher click-through rate (CTR). It’s an all-around win for SEO.

The How-To of Rich Snippets

Now you have a sense of what rich snippets are and what they do. How can you get them to appear online in relation to your website? Technically, you can’t. It’s not possible to guarantee that Google or other search engines will add a rich snippet to a search result for your website. You can, however, add the code to send those loud-and-clear signals that make rich snippets more likely. For that, use structured data, also called schema markup.

First, decide which elements on your website you’d like to highlight. Schema.org lists all the codes used for schema markup. You will need to add the code to your website. Try using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, which can assist you in finding the appropriate codes for your content.

To mark up the name and address on the Loebig Ink contact page, we went to the Structured Data Markup Helper, chose “Local Businesses” as the data type, and submitted the page URL. Once the markup helper opened the Loebig Ink page, we highlighted each page element individually and chose the nature of that element from a drop-down menu.

After indicating the name of the business, city, state, and postal code, we clicked “CREATE HTML,” and added the resulting code at the top of the text area of our contact page in edit mode and clicked “UPDATE.”

Voilà! The Loebig Ink name and address on our contact page now have structured data. That information will now be more likely to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) in an eye-catching position to attract more calls and clicks. Take a look at your web pages, decide on the content you’d most like to highlight, and get some structured data working for you. There may be some very helpful rich snippets in your future.

Learn more about our SEO services, which can include rich snippet development!

Best SEO Bloopers! Things NOT to Do

Posted on April 23, 2019July 21, 2025 by Robin Renee

Updated June 22, 2025

So you think you’re ready for SEO?

In a previous article we took a look at the top SEO questions that clients ask. We are always pleased to help our clients understand the concepts behind our search engine optimization process, as well as the specific steps we take to make improvements. The only stupid question, as the old adage goes, is the one left unasked. There is one big question we would like to put forth for you to consider as you develop your website for greater visibility: Are you ready?

You may be hearing from all corners that you need SEO, and we agree! But first, make sure you don’t wind up making any of the “best” SEO bloopers! Break down the “Are you ready?” question to see whether or not the time is now.

SEO Blooper #1: Keyword Stuffing

How up-to-date are you on best SEO practices? Some techniques that may have worked years ago are no longer valid and in fact, could land your website at the bottom of the search pile. One of those poor techniques is keyword stuffing. This mistake uses a target keyword or slight variations on the keyword too many times. Reading the same words over and over again that are obviously there for Google rather than people makes for an annoying and frustrating user experience. And ironically, Google doesn’t like it either.

Instead of stuffing keywords into your text, use natural keyword integration for stronger content that is good for SEO and pleasant reading for humans. The current advice on keyword use is to go with 1-2% keyword density, i.e., use the target keyword no more than once or twice per every hundred words. Most importantly, use your judgment. Strong, clear writing that is appealing to readers is the first step. Then be sure that the target keyword appears naturally for best results.

SEO Blooper #2: Complete SEO… Immediately Rewrite Web Pages

Sometimes when we speak to a new client, they have very defined ideas about the keywords they would like to target for high ranking on their website. A vital question that at times has not yet been answered is this: Does the site have content that focuses on and uses those keywords? If so, some or all of the client’s suggested keywords will likely turn out to be strong choices. If not, our research will find the best contenders. Another, broader question that needs to be answered is “Is the website about what you want it to be about or will you soon be inspired to change everything?”

It is a helpful attitude to want your website to be the best it can be at all times, even if you intend to change it at some point in the future. But if you’re planning a major overhaul, it is best to wait until afterward to get into the details of SEO. If you choose keywords and optimize pages based on current content in one week only to change emphases and make major edits and rewrites the next, you will lose the time, energy, and money you just put into your SEO. Choose your direction, write the content, add some compelling media, then optimize your site for the best value.

SEO Blooper #3: Optimize for Services You Don’t Offer

Here is a specific question to help you nip the “change everything” impulse in the bud. Do your services pages reflect the services you actually offer? It may sound like a strange question, but it is an important one when determining your readiness for SEO. Businesses do change; you may have stopped offering some services and have begun others. Are those changes reflected on the website?

It is a waste of time and energy to optimize pages that refer to an older or different version of your business if the services shown are not what you do currently. Research to determine the best keywords for your website will largely be based on current content, so it is important to review it and make sure it’s good to go. Avoid confusion and high bounce rates by aligning your web content to what you really offer, then move ahead to SEO.

SEO Blooper #4: Complete SEO… Decide to Change the URL

Is your web address the one you really want? Is it easy to remember? How many other sites link to you at your current address? These are all questions to ask yourself before embarking on SEO. Your web address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) should be clear and succinct. You may choose your name or the name of your business. You may choose a URL that describes your business and location as a keyword does, such as plumbingatlanticcity.com. A very long and complicated web address is not ideal. Since this is “where you live” on the internet, give it a lot of thought early, change the address if need be to something simple and memorable, and build from there.

A change of web address can be detrimental to SEO if no steps are taken to reach out to people whose sites link to you. It is essential to have them update their links as much as you are able. It is also important to review all internal linking within your site to update to the new URLs. Use a plugin such as Simple 301 Redirects to ensure that if someone tries to access your site via an old link, they will get to the new page rather than find a broken link to nowhere. Changing your web address is a big deal, but if you must do it, take care of it before embarking on a major search engine optimization effort.

SEO Blooper #5: Complete SEO… Immediately Move the Business to a New City

How long will your business address be at its current location? Because of the continuing importance of local SEO, this factor counts for a lot. If you own a florist shop in Tallahassee, you will want to use the city name in conjunction with your keywords to signal to Google not only the relevant and useful nature of your web content about floristry, but also where you are located. It would be counterproductive to put in the time and effort to optimize your website for Tallahassee only to relocate to Orlando soon after.

The better bet would be to research keywords for the new location before the move. The isearchfrom.com tool is useful to explore Google search results as if you are in another location. Find the keywords that bring up the strongest results for the new city, pair them with the new location, and optimize your pages for those terms. After the move, your website will already be working for you.

SEO Blooper #6: Begin SEO… Decide to Forego All Local Modifiers

You dream big. You don’t want to be tied down to a single place on the map when your products can and should be enjoyed worldwide. Are you ready to do some work that may, at first, seem counterintuitive? The use of local modifiers sometime proves confusing at first. It’s easy to imagine that if someone sees the name of a single city or small town, that they would be deterred from your site. The truth is, it is important to get the people to your web page in the first place. Because of Google’s emphasis on local search, associating your business with its primary physical location will help raise the profile.

Be aware that mentioning in your metatags that your company is based in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Silver Spring, or Kalamazoo will not make your offerings seem limited. Everyone is based somewhere. Using the other available space in your metatags, you can make it clear if your business is done online, if you have multiple locations, or if you travel around the world. Even with this knowledge, some people still opt to limit the use of local modifiers to a few pages such as the Home, About, and Contact pages. When few or no local modifiers are used, an aggressive campaign to create new content and an ongoing SEO strategy is an absolute must. Overall, it’s best to get over the fear of limitation and allow local modifiers to do their job in making your site more visible.

SEO Blooper #7: Keywords Fall Slightly in Rankings… Change Keywords

Finally, remember that search engine optimization is in a constant state of flux. Are you impatient? Like a skittish investor who sells on the first day a stock dips, it is possible to change course with SEO too soon. SEO, at its best, is a longer-term strategy for success. Don’t ditch your investment!

Search engine algorithms change frequently. One of your main online competitors may add new content allowing them to temporarily surpass you in visibility. You may post an authoritative article that puts you on Google’s page one. Soon after, you may experience a technical snafu that gives you a lower ranking.

But a dip in visibility for a keyword doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the towel. To the contrary, it’s time to take a look at the page where the keyword used to rank higher. Was there a change in content? Is there a way you can rewrite the metatags for that page to be more effective? Could it just be a search engine anomaly that will resolve itself in a week or a month?

Give your SEO time. There will be changes in your ranking. Find ways to increase and adjust your content to make it better. Resolve any tech issues quickly. As long as you see positive momentum toward visibility over longer periods of time, even with ups and downs, you are on the right track.

Be sure of where you want to reside (on the web and in the world), solidify your content, and stick with your keywords and local modifiers over the long haul to avoid these five common SEO bloopers!

Loebig Ink is a small business consulting firm
fueled by coffee, creativity and music to provide
SEO, web design and social media solutions.

Category: SEO

Loebig Ink Receives a Best in Search Award from TopSEOs.com

Blog SEO for 2020

Majestic.com Definitions

Understanding the Majestic Site Explorer Tool

How to Use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console