SEO is one of the most important steps in having a strong online presence for your business whether you’re new or already well-established. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is what allows your content to be highly visible on search engines like Google and Bing so that more people will see it. A strong online presence has become an absolute must for businesses because people have been turning to the internet more and more. However, while search engine optimization seems to be ever-present in various discussions, it can still be unclear what to do for your website. That’s why it’s always a good idea to see which tips and strategies are approved by digital marketing experts.
1. Conversion Over Rankings
To preface this – yes, one of the main benefits of SEO is that it can make your website rank higher on a search engine, but it should be noted that this isn’t so much the goal of SEO as it is a tool. You want to rank higher in order to get more people to notice you. An SEO Sydney-based company has rightfully pointed out that a lot of so-called experts will make promises of first-page rankings and insist that that’s the thing that matters the most. However, which searches land you on the coveted first page is arguably more important. You want to optimize your website in a way that will lead to the most conversions, and that can only happen if you’re visible to your target audience, and for relevant results. A person landing on your page after searching for dog leashes isn’t going to stick around if your business is not relevant to what they’re currently looking for.
2. Know Your Keywords
When keywords are involved, you have to focus on user intent. This is where it gets a little tricky, which is why that first point should be kept in mind at all times – because if you’re crafting your content around specific keywords just for the sake of having those words present, then everything falls flat and you’ll only be doing yourself a disservice. The key is to know which keywords will result in the best possible outcome for your business, and then use those as much as possible without making the text sound unnatural or awkward. While you do want to avoid oversaturated keywords since the competition is more intense these days, you still want to make sure that the terms you use are those that will have a high chance of being used by the potential customer as well. Another thing to keep in mind is that you should never have too many keywords on the page. Keyword stuffing to try and gain higher rankings will backfire – not only will the content probably read terribly, but Google will penalize you for using such tactics as well.
3. High-Quality Content
Back in the early days of SEO, people were able to get away with keyword-stuffed content that was mediocre at best. Nowadays, that’s not an option anymore. You need quality content for your website and all online properties (social media profiles etc.) if you want to stand out from the competition. When it comes down to it, customers don’t care how many keywords you have on the page, so long as they are relevant and well-written. You want to have blog posts that are informative and that actually help people. If you’re able to do that, then the chances of somebody clicking through and converting will be higher compared to a post where there’s clear keyword spam and it reads like gibberish, or the content simply states the obvious so it doesn’t contribute anything.
4. Social Media Presence
If you ignore social media, then your online presence is going to be severely lacking – this is especially true with the current trend of more people clicking through from social media platforms to visit a website. Every business needs a Facebook page, Twitter profile, etc. These are all things that need to come together for an SEO strategy, and the more of these platforms you’re on, the more likely it is that somebody will notice you. That means they’ll click through to your website (the page where all of your content lives). Leads can be generated from all of these social media profiles, whether that’s because you have a link to your business website on your profile, or because you’re promoting your articles on social media – it all spells good news for you when it comes to search rankings. That’s because the algorithm gives an advantage to websites that have a high traffic volume.
5. Backlinking
Backlinks are essentially links from one website to another – whether they’re internal links (linking to other content on the same website) or external links, and you want to have as many of those as possible because search engines use this tactic to determine how reputable a certain website is. The more people that are talking about your business online, the better – but there’s a fine line between getting these backlinks and trying to game the system with low-quality links. Search engines are smarter than that, so taking the time to build up natural backlinks is something that will pay off in the long run – not just because you’ll have a better online presence, but also because it’s less likely that your site will get penalized for shady tactics. If you have a business partner that already has an established blog on their website, having them put a link to yours in articles that are relevant to yours or having them post a link to one of your articles in the discussion section of their blog is a great way to get some high-quality backlinks.
6. Analyze Results
No matter how many times you read through an article or watch a video, sometimes it’s hard to pick up on every single SEO technique that is being used. That’s why it’s always useful to keep tabs on your rankings over time, and then work out what the best keywords are that bring in the most traffic (so you know which ones to focus on for future articles), and how to improve your CTR (click-through rate). Google Analytics is a great way to keep track of this information without having to do any legwork yourself. But if you’re the type of person that likes to see everything with their own eyes, then there are plenty of other free tools out there that will help you to do this.
The best way to improve your online presence is to take a multi-faceted approach, and that means getting the right backlinks from the right people, keeping an eye on your Google Analytics reports, and creating content that will actually help people instead of blatantly trying to get more traffic by using generic keywords. Just like with the services and products you offer, it’s important that you always put the customer’s needs and wants first – and that will lead to higher conversion rates and a better bottom line.
Amanda Byers is a graduate of Columbia, where she played volleyball and annoyed a lot of professors. Now as Zobuz’s entertainment and Lifestyle Editor, she enjoys writing about delicious BBQ, outrageous style trends and all things Buzz worthy.
