Today’s consumers rely on search engines to help them find everything from local eateries to B2B companies. This means that regardless of what your business offers, your target audience is most likely searching for products or services like yours on general search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. And if you want to attract them to your site, you need search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO is one of the most talked-about topics online, and the plethora of information can be overwhelming and confusing. Understanding the basics of SEO can help you find your focus and develop effective strategies moving forward.
To help avoid the insanity that often comes with trying to get your site optimized here are some suggestions I view as the basis of any great SEO strategy.
Create original content
With over 1.7 billion websites on the Internet, ranking on Google SERP and other search engines is not an easy task. In order to rank on the first page of search results you need to produce content that is informative, engaging and most of all – original. Delivering unique, high quality content about topics that people within your industry rarely talk about could give you a significant edge.
Although this requires tons of research, time and effort, it is well worth the investment. “If you write original content, search engines will help your site get more exposure…because Google wants to reward high quality sites that contain original content,” says Neil Patel in The Nine Ingredients That Make Great Content.
Integrate long-tail keywords
When creating an SEO plan, it is important to focus on long-tail keywords and to connect with your audience by providing them the answers and information they value most. According to Yoast, the long and more specific your search terms are, the easier to find your audience in your particular niche. And because long-tail keywords target more specific traffic, they usually have better conversation rates.
Optimize for voice search
Once you generate a large volume of long-tail keywords, it is best practice to create conversational content to better optimize your site for Google voice search. Additional long-tail keywords suitable for voice searches include question-based text such as “Hey Siri,” “Hey Alexa” and “Hey Google”.
To explore more content ideas there are research tools such as AnswerThePublic that will help you map out long-tail question keywords that are relevant to your target keyword for voice search.
Claim your GMB profile
Another easy and affordable SEO tactic that you can implement is to claim your Google My Business profile. By optimizing and verifying your GMB, you’re able to correct errors and make updates in your listing as you go. The more complete and detailed the information in your GMB account, the more likely you are to show up in Google search results and the local map 3-pack.
Choose a SEO-friendly name
Names are powerful for SEO. When choosing a company or product name try to select one that appeals to you and that you think might be a fit for your business. Since there is plenty of competition in the world of SEO, try and come up with a name that is memorable and unique enough that no one else is using variations. “The last and most important step in your name-choosing journey is to choose a name with keywords that people are actually typing into Google. You don’t want to choose a name only because it’s unique or memorable, but because it will directly help your SEO,” notes Patel.
Build landing pages to drive action
A key aim of a landing page is to optimize the user experience when visiting a site especially for the time. This in itself is a good reason to apply them in SEO. By combining short, concise content, strong call to actions, high quality links, and customer testimonials, you can leverage landing pages not simply for ranking for primary targeted keywords, but also for converting new and returning visitors who have come through via search engines.
Repurpose past content
One great way to boost your content without investing a lot of time and money is through repurposing an old article into a new content asset. According to Buffer, “You don’t have to create content day in and day out. You just have to work on getting the content you already have in the hands of more people.”
There are a number of ways to achieve this, such as creating an infographic, visual presentation, ebook, podcast or even a video. Repurposing content can be a big time saver for content creators and comes with many benefits for SEO.
So there you have it. A roadmap to learning the basics of SEO. Now you should know what you don’t know. Time to fill in the knowledge gaps through your own research.
Emily Senski-Taylor 