Perfect SEO Strategy: All Spelled Out

Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and best practices are evolving all the time. As soon as you get used to doing things one way, the search algorithms change or consumer behavior alters. Suddenly, your digital marketing strategy has to adapt.

As a leading SEO agency, we know how complicated fine-tuning your SEO can be. That’s why we are going to give you some essential tips for fully optimizing your online efforts in this article.

So, just how do you create the perfect SEO strategy?

Let’s go!

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What Is SEO Strategy?

SEO is about improving your ranking position on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO strategy, then, is the detailed roadmap of how you will do that. A good SEO strategy incorporates a range of different tactics from across marketing fields. Those tactics might include technical aspects, link building, content production, and on-page elements.

The key thing to know about SEO strategy is that it is multifaceted. Sure – you need to apply high-quality keyword research, but that alone is not a strategy. It is simply one step along the often fairly lengthy road you are traveling. A true SEO strategy takes into account the overall picture, and is, therefore, more aligned with larger goals.

SEO Strategy Step-by-Step

Below is one version of crafting an SEO strategy for your organization. It’s a step-by-step guide to how to accomplish improved SEO.

     1. Know Where You Need To Go With Scalability in Mind

Any strategy in any discipline has to start with the same first step – defining your goals. Without knowing exactly what you want to achieve, you cannot move forward or measure how successful your efforts are.

With SEO strategy specifically, you need to decide what you want your optimum outcome to be. Typical goals include increasing e-commerce transactions, improving traffic, increasing conversions, or reaching new markets.

Scalability is an oft-neglected piece of the SEO strategy puzzle but is crucial for larger websites. When you only have one or two pages to optimize, you can get away with performing each task individually.

However, if your site has fifty or a hundred pages, the time and effort involved are simply too great. Scalable SEO means that you can perform your SEO tactic for one page, and then ‘share’ it across others.

This approach typically requires a large amount of cross-departmental communication – web development, sales, marketing, and operations all need to be synchronized. That means sharing goals, aligning outcomes, defining responsibilities, and giving feedback.

     2. Integrate SEO Into Your Overall Marketing Strategy

Historically, SEO has been a subset of the overall marketing function. In the modern business environment, however, it makes more sense to fully align the two.

Your keyword research, for example, can be an excellent indication of consumer trends and requirements. With that information, you can then build your overall marketing strategy to ensure that you are up-to-date with consumer desires.

     3. Source Keywords, Build Clusters, and Use Different Media

Keyword research is fundamental to a lot of good SEO practices. Keywords are the phrases and terms for which your content or site is an appropriate search result. They need to be exact as to what visitors are seeking and should be organically spread through your online properties.

From there, it is time to build topic clusters. These are typically articles or blogs, and they are interlinked almost like a spider web.

At the center of the cluster, you have the overall topic, or pillar page – for example, ‘SEO.’ Then, branching out from there, you will have sub-articles for people wanting to deep-dive, for example, ‘technical SEO’ or ‘keywords.’

The benefit here is two-fold. First, you are providing a library of information to users, which demonstrates your leadership and authority on a topic.

Second, you can more easily incorporate your keywords – including both the basic and the long-tailed. This gives the search engine algorithm the information it needs to rank you highly.

Always be sure to link your pillar and cluster articles with intuitive internal links. This will make your site easier for the algorithm to crawl, as well as simpler for your users to navigate.

Finally, do not just rely on text-based content. Different users have different preferences when it comes to consuming content. Some will only ever watch short videos, others prefer very lengthily written articles.

Be sure to cover all your bases – your visitors will thank you, and it is good SEO practice. To make sure that videos are optimized, include transcripts using your keywords, and ensure titles and tags are all effective.

     4. Off-page/On-page SEO Strategy

Off-page SEO is, for the most part, centered around getting high-quality links from trusted websites. You should get as many of these links as possible, as long as they are related to what you do.

A high-quality link is one that comes from a very authoritative source. That means there is more value to one link from the American Medical Association than fifty links from local pharmacies, for example.

Your on-page SEO covers many different factors. Your content and landing pages should always be keyword-optimized, as should URLs and tags. This is naturally page-specific, but you can map out your processes and steps to make the process scalable.

The priority for the search algorithms is page titles, headings, and subheadings. As a general rule, you should always use primary keywords here and secondary keywords in the body of your content.

Summing Up

As you can see, developing, implementing, and managing an effective SEO strategy is complicated. It requires a range of skills, a wealth of knowledge, and a whole lot of time. One of the best steps you can take is to engage an experienced SEO agency to help you.

Digital Authority Partners is an award-winning digital marketing consultancy, working with businesses of all sizes. We specialize in developing customized SEO and online marketing strategies to suit each client’s specific needs.

Our team can help you develop the perfect SEO strategy to boost your online profile, and achieve your goals. You can find out more by getting in touch here.