Creating an effective SEO strategy is easier said than done.
Why?
Because SEO is changing all the time. What worked five years ago won’t necessarily work today, so you need to keep up to date on the latest trends.
In this article, we’re going to look at some of the best practices you can follow to give your SEO strategy the highest chance of success.
Keep reading to find out how to implement these trends into your workflow and create a successful SEO strategy.
To create a successful SEO strategy, you need to find the keywords and phrases to target.
Keywords are the words or phrases consumers use to search for products or services. To get as many potential leads as possible, you want to rank well for keywords that are relevant to your business.
But how do you know which keywords to target?
Good question. Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer.
It depends on what you want to get out of your SEO, what your competitors are doing, and what tools you’re using to find the keywords.
So before you fire up the research, figure out what you want to gain.
Do you want to increase awareness? Change your brand perception? Become the market leader?
The answers to these questions will give you a solid starting point. Once you’ve figured this out, take a look at platforms like Google Analytics and Keyword Hero to find the keywords you want to target.
Once you’ve identified the keywords to target, it’s time to align these with search intent.
Search intent is the reason behind the search.
Let’s say someone searches for the phrase ”learning languages fast.” The search intent suggests the user wants to learn a new language and to do it quickly.
They’re trying to find a website that tells them how to learn a new language or a platform that offers this service.
But if they land on a site that’s not relevant, chances are they’ll bounce pretty quickly. And a high bounce rate isn’t good for SEO.
So make sure you understand the reason behind the key phrases you’re targeting. This will make your content relevant for your consumers and encourage them to stick around, which is better for user experience and SEO.
Google’s first page is where you want to be.
Actually, Google’s #1 spot is where you want to be.
Research shows that the #1 organic result is ten times more likely to get clicked in comparison to the #10 spot.
So how can you get on the first page?A good place to start is by analyzing the pages that already rank in the top ten. This will show you the following:
So spend some time figuring out what already ranks well. This will help you get as close to the top spot as possible.
When it comes to content, there are two things you need to bear in mind:
Quality and consistency are two key factors for content and SEO, so bear this in mind when it comes to your SEO strategy.
The number of mobile users is growing. Research shows that the number of unique mobile users grew by 117 million from 2020 to 2021.
Not to mention, Google now crawls websites for mobile-first indexing, meaning that the search engine will use your mobile website for indexing and ranking. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, your rankings could suffer.
So how can you optimize your website for mobile?
The answer is simple: Use a mobile web design.
From iPads to iPhones and everything in between, a mobile web design will fit any screen. As a result, users can easily navigate your site on their handheld devices.
Take a look at Track-POD to see a mobile site in action:
As we’ve already mentioned, high bounce rates can impact your overall SEO rankings.
To make sure visitors don’t instantly leave your website, you need to create a good user experience (UX).
Here’s what we’d suggest to improve your UX:
These are just a couple of elements you can put to the test to improve your UX. Ultimately, every website is different, so you’ll need to spend some time identifying what improvements are relevant for your consumers.
Page speed is a ranking factor, so you need to think about this in your SEO strategy.
Fortunately, there are many free platforms out there that allow you to check your site speed, including Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
Once you’ve run your site through one of these platforms, it’ll show you what areas are slow and give you some suggestions to speed things up.
As time goes on, your site speed can change, so we’d suggest creating a workflow automation to remind you and your team to check this regularly. The last thing you want is for your rankings to drop because you hadn’t noticed your site speed had dropped.
If you're already experiencing dropped rankings and are far from fixing the situation, you might want to perform a business process reengineering to completely redesign your system for an effective and efficient boost.
Using images, infographics, and videos is good for SEO.
Why?
Because it helps readers digest and understand your content.
Think about it. If you have a 3,000-word article with no images or videos, it’ll be pretty hard for the reader to make it all the way through.
Text-heavy content has a time and a place. But when it comes to SEO, you need visuals.
They help your audience understand the content better and increase user engagement — especially if they have to click to play a video. This type of engagement bodes well for SEO, so make sure you incorporate visuals as part of your strategy.
The work doesn’t stop as soon as your content is live. To maximize the impact of your content, you need to update it regularly.
Why?
For two reasons:
This could be anything from updating your blogs to amending the copy on your homepage. It doesn’t have to be huge changes. It just has to be updated regularly.
In addition to regularly updating content, you can also repurpose old content to improve SEO.
Let’s use an example.
VPNGuru has a keyword-rich blog post about NordVPN.
Following the success of this blog, the company repurposed the content as a video.
As a result, VPNGuru has more content on a topic it wants to rank for. Consumers also have access to more content they want to see. It’s a win-win.
You can produce more content that ranks for the keyword you want to target by reusing existing content. Think about this when you’re planning the activities in your SEO strategy.
Internal linking can strengthen your SEO. Let’s take a look at why:
But you don’t want to link to any old page.
You need your internal links for SEO.
This means carefully selecting your anchor text and the pages you link.
Let’s say you’re trying to rank for the phrase “internal linking expert.”
You add a hyperlink to this phrase on your homepage, and the link directs people to the page that you’re trying to rank for. As a result, the user stays on your site longer, and the page you’re trying to rank on Google has a higher chance of moving up.
External linking is also good practice for SEO, especially if you’re linking to authoritative sites.
Why?
Because the domain you link to can influence how much the search engine values the link.
Here’s what you need to consider when linking to external sites:
Keep this in mind when creating your SEO strategy, and you’ll give yourself a better chance of ranking higher.
Evidence suggests that the more external backlinks you have, the better it is for SEO.
In a recent survey, 58.1% of SEO experts believe that backlinks have a huge impact on SEO rankings.
But how can you get external links from authoritative sites?
There are two ways you can go about it.
Guest posting involves writing an article for another website. These articles usually feature a backlink to your website and an author bio, which provides information about you and your business.
When it comes to SEO, guest posting is a win-win for all parties.
It helps one business get backlinks from another source, and it helps the other business get more content and outsourced links. As a result, both businesses benefit.
So take this into account when it comes to your SEO strategy. It might seem like a time-consuming task, but it’ll help you get more external links from sites you deem relevant.
If you’re worried about making sure your SEO strategy is successful, consider hiring an expert.
As you might have gathered, SEO is a complex topic, but SEO experts know what they’re doing. They understand the latest trends and know how to use available tools to get the best results.
So if you want to make sure you’re following the rules by the book, reach out to a content marketing agency.
So there you have it. You’ve now got a solid foundation to create a successful SEO strategy.
But remember, this is just a starting point. As we’ve already said, every business is different, and SEO is changing all the time. So spend some time figuring out what works for you and your business to make the most of your SEO efforts.
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