The 4 Tips Your SEO Strategy Needs
April 12, 2019
Search engine optimization has become a focus of many marketing articles over the years. Plenty of tips and tricks have been thrown around, but despite numerous attempts, there’s just no way to trick or bypass Google’s algorithms. Fortunately, there are some tips out there which focus on genuine game changers. After looking through past updates and new content posted within the digital marketing industry, we’ve wrangled these 4 master tips for better SEO.
SEO looks different for every company, but some things remain the same; content, links, research, and engagement. These are crucial to any successful social media campaign, no matter the platform you use. So, whether you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram, consider the following.
1. Be Dedicated to Updates on All Pages: There are plenty of articles spouting the importance of consistency in content, but very few tell you this involves your entire website. One of the factors Google evaluates when ranking a business is the freshness of your content. Many business owners expect this review to go no further than the company blog, where most content is posted. Unfortunately, while your blog counts toward your overall rank, Google’s algorithm includes the entirety of your website, not just your blog.
This means updating your contact page, products or services page, and other pages on your site regularly. How regularly? That’s not something Google has made clear, but it can’t hurt to add something once a month. Whether you’re adding a new description for an existing product, a how-to video on ways to use a product, or any other content that might liven up a page that’s just been existing for months at a time, it will help your site.
A great way to check whether your site is up to date is by looking at physical date and time stamps. Anything older than a month should have some sort of content added or changed. Keeping that date tracker recent is what increases your appearance as a relevant company in your field. Otherwise, Google might assume your site is less active than a competitor and rank your site lower.
2. Get Linked In: Not to the social media site, but to your own site. Backlinks and internal links work differently, but something they have in common is increasing your SEO rank. Links indicate to crawler bots sent by Google that your content is being shared. Shared content means appreciated content. Or, that’s what backlinks mean anyway. Internal links work differently, sending website visitors around to different pages so they successfully find what they’re looking for.
The more internal clicks, the more times Google sees visitation to your site. Again, this signifies popularity and regular use, which is essential to the Google algorithm. Current businesses that adapt to the times and regulate their websites for better bot crawling will see more advantages to their backlinks and internal links as they’re more likely to be noticed. Take your time pouring through any links you have in place and verify that they work correctly. Broken or misleading links could have the opposite effect on your overall SEO score, and Google has become more diligent in penalizing websites who don’t follow the rules.
3. Don’t Just Wing it – Know It: Research involves rigorous data compilation, but the outcomes are well worth the effort you put in. Companies who take the time to review analytics better understand what’s working and what isn’t. This prepares you for future campaigns and marketing endeavors. It’s not only metrics reports on your own company that makes a big difference in the success of your research strategies. You must look further, utilizing the help of CRM software and brand management apps to locate any mention of your business throughout the internet community. Seeing where you’re mentioned, how your brand is viewed, how often you’re Tweeted about, Facebook messaged about, etc., helps you build a stronger marketing campaign.
Of course, it’s also important to focus on internal statistics such as revenue, lead conversion, and A/B comparison testing. All of these outcomes together give you the data necessary to prosper in any industry or niche market. It exhausts more resources than other SEO strategies, but if carried out correctly and regularly, you’ll have results well worth the exhaustion.
4. Get Your Customers Talking: Believe it or not, a huge factor in the success of your digital campaign is customer engagement. Google monitors these incidents of comments, likes, shares, and messaging to determine whether your brand is popular among users. If not, you could find yourself sliding down the ranking ladder in the SRP, and nobody wants that. To avoid this catastrophe, talk to your customers.
Customer engagement is about more than simple comments. It’s about creating content that causes a reaction. It’s about meeting expectations and receiving feedback. It’s about responding to feedback – both negative and positive – in a professional manner. Customer loyalty revolves around the concept of social engagement. You want your social media followers and website users to feel important and like part of a “brand family”. Consistently answering questions, commenting back to user opinions, and even reaching out to customers via email and social media is helpful in this area.
There is a plethora of ways to improve your SEO score, and while Google has been forthcoming on some of their algorithm requirements, many are still a mystery. All you can do as a business is follow algorithm updates and change your website as needed. Sites which are flexible and adhere to Google standards are more likely to rise to the top.