Guide to the ABCs of SEO Success
Online marketing provides many paths to true digital marketing success–which means getting more site views and more conversions.
But marketing strategies that can help your company, like SEO optimization, pay-per-click ads, social media, blog posts, and more, are time consuming and require a fully integrated strategy. So, many businesses hire an SEO agency to smooth the path.
But SEO is a long-term process that can yield near-limitless results. Ready to find out more? Let’s get started!
Want to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to SEO? Watch this video!
What Is SEO?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of implementing search-friendly features on a website in order to gain more web traffic and improve your site’s visibility. The main goal of SEO is to enhance the ranking of a website on Google’s search engine results page (SERP).
SEO Lesson Number One: Keyword Research
The first step of any SEO campaign is keyword research, or finding the right keywords to target for your website. The keywords you select should be:
- Relevant to your niche or industry;
- Popular enough to generate traffic; and
- Achievable to rank for.
Some popular methods for finding the right keywords include using Google's Keyword Planner (or any software like SEMrush and Ahrefs), competitor analysis, and long-tail keyword research.
To perform competitor analysis, first find your main competitors on Google. Look at their sites’ title tags and meta descriptions. Those will give you an idea of the keywords they are targeting. You can also use tools like Ahrefs to see what organic keywords they are ranking for.
Another method for finding keywords is to create customer avatars. Take 30 minutes to put yourself in your target audience's shoes.
- What types of content would be beneficial to them?
- What interests them?
- What types of queries are they searching for?
Answering these questions gives you the perspective you need to formulate your keyword strategy.
SEO Lesson Number Two: On-Page Optimization
Now that you've got a solid foundation for keyword research, it's time to execute that strategy consistently. Several best practices can help you with on-page optimization. But remember, your keyword research has to be well thought out for your content to rank high on the SERP.
First, create high-quality, engaging, and shareable content that educates, entertains, or preferably both. Be sure to include your target keyword(s) throughout the piece in a way that sounds natural. That means no keyword stuffing, because that gets you penalized by Google.
We recommend using your target keywords in the following places:
- Title tag
- Headings and subheadings (H1, H2, H3 tags)
- Introductory sentence
- Conclusion
- Anchor text (text you hyperlink to other related pages on your site)
- Internal links (links to other pages on your site)
- Meta descriptions
It is also essential to have a well-designed website. Aesthetics matter–if your website looks like it was created in the early 2000s, chances are people will leave before even reading your content. Make sure your website is responsive (adapts to different screen sizes), has a clean design, and is easy to navigate.
Finally, your goal with content is to not only obtain a lead capture, but also keep the reader on the page as long as possible. Getting more leads is common sense, but keeping readers on the page longer is a crucial SEO metric that Google's algorithm favors. You'll rank higher because of it.
SEO Lesson Number Three: Technical SEO
Technical SEO could be considered a subset of on-page optimization, but for this article, we'll keep them separate. For technical SEO, we're talking about everything else not related to the content on your site that can affect your ranking. That includes items such as sitemaps, website speed, and indexation. A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the URLs on your website. It's a helpful tool for search engine crawlers because it gives them a roadmap of your website's content. You can create a sitemap using a variety of online tools or plugins. Once you've generated the sitemap file, you'll need to submit it to Google through Search Console so that it can begin crawling your website.
Website speed is another technical SEO element to consider. A slow website frustrates users and hurts your ranking. Google uses site speed when determining where to rank a website, so make sure your pages load quickly. You can test your website's speed using Google's PageSpeed Insights tool.
Indexation is the process of a search engine crawler discovering and adding new content to their index. If your pages aren't indexed, they won't appear in search results. To check if a page is indexed, do a site:example.com search on Google. If the page you're checking appears in the results, it's been indexed.
SEO Lesson Number Four: Off-Page Optimization
Backlinks are the primary focus of off-page SEO. A backlink is simply an inbound link to your website from another site. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the better. Why? Because Google sees backlinks as votes of confidence: If other websites link to your content, it must be valuable for readers.
But not all backlinks are created equal. A link from a low-quality website will not have the same impact as a link from a high-authority site. The first step in getting high-quality backlinks comes back to your on-page optimization. If your on-page optimization is sound, you'll get backlinks. If you'd like to pursue link building more actively, reach out to other websites within your industry for guest posts. Otherwise, consider hiring an SEO agency to obtain backlinks.
Contact DAP for Help With Achieving SEO Success
Staying up to date on the latest SEO trends is essential if you want your website to rank high in search results. And the four cornerstones of SEO (keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, and off-page optimization) aren’t easy to pull off when you’re trying to run your business.
Contact us at DAP if you're looking for more detailed information or assistance implementing these SEO strategies. Our team of experts would be happy to assist you!
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