The Most Effective SEO Strategy of 2018 Thus Far by John Jants Read more in Duct Tape Marketing
We’re almost halfway through the year (what?!), which is a great time to start taking a look at what’s working as it relates to your SEO efforts so you can plan how to move forward. We’ve seen a lot of people increase their SEO budget this year, which isn’t surprising, as it’s an important piece of your marketing puzzle.
Here are the SEO strategies that have worked so far.
Master Keyword Research
The importance of keyword research hasn’t changed over the years, but how we approach them.
Your keyword strategy is the driver behind your content efforts (and in turn, your SEO efforts). Keywords should be used to identify user intent and search behavior.
Focusing your content on long-tail keywords gives you a better chance of matching the intent of the person searching.
I’m using my keyword research each month to help identify Content Hub topics.
Content hubs are completely basic pages that have a tremendous amount of value in what the topic is about, along with blogs and other resources that people can click through for more information.
Not only do I have internal pages that go back to this one Hub page, I also include links to external, high-quality content on the page that can be linked to the Hub page as well.
With so many pages visiting each other, you will start gaining a lot of trust and authority from Google, which will help with your SEO efforts.
Think about the context of your content
As many marketers know at this point, Google’s primary job is to provide people with an excellent user experience, and because of this, they want to make sure their users find them based on the search criteria they’re looking for. Get the best possible material provided. for.
Gone are the days when you could only skim on a given topic. Today, you should take a deeper look at what you are trying to cover so that a user can get all the information they are looking for.
I have seen people say that your post needs 2,000 words to be effective, however, I say use as many words as necessary to fully explain your point. Worse than not hitting 2,000 words, there is nothing for the last 1,000 of those words. Think about quality over quantity.
Focus on link-building
When I talk to marketers I often hear that one of their biggest challenges is link building, and because of this, putting a strong effort towards it is often put on the backburner, but it is a huge problem.
Although the terms and strategy have changed over the years, the core of SEO still revolves around content and links. Without great content, you’ll never get links, so if you’re looking for a place to start, create that amazing content. By creating linkable assets, you will be able to attract backlinks from other sites that want to link to that content.
Now, don’t forget the internal link as well. Linking to other content on your site can also help boost your SEO and is a low-hanging fruit.
Improve click-through rate (CTR)
What you find on Google’s search engine results pages has changed over the years with a variety of ads, answer boxes, and more (what it is today, who knows what will appear tomorrow).
With so many places to click, it’s no surprise that click-through rates (CTRs) on SERPs for companies have declined over the past few years.
So, how do you avoid this? Master the art of developing a CTA and copy the scream that has to be clicked. This applies to ad copy as well as copy that appears in your organic post (such as the copy that can be found in your Page title and meta description).
Optimize for mobile
Have you heard of Google’s mobile-first index? It is exactly as it seems. Google is now only ranking search results based on the mobile version of the page, as opposed to taking into account both the mobile and desktop versions. This makes sense from a customer experience point of view as most Google searches nowadays are done on mobile devices.
This is not good news for those who have devoted most of their time and effort to desktop functionality.
The moral of the story is that if your website is not mobile optimized, you are going to be hit in terms of SEO. Some people think they can get by with their website being technically mobile-friendly, but that doesn’t mean it’s fully optimized. Keep your visitors’ experience in mind and make sure the mobile version offers the best possible. This will increase your chances of being found on the search.
Use video and other visual elements
According to Cisco, online video will make up 80% of all online traffic by 2021. This number is shocking, but does it really surprise you? It’s hard to ignore the video, this medium can be so fascinating!
So, while we marketers have been talking about video for years, it’s time to really get serious about it.
Seems like a foreign concept? Get started with YouTube! Not only is it easy to use and embed on your site, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and is owned by Google, which is a major plus from an SEO standpoint (have you tried YouTube videos in Google Image Search yet? have begun to appear) ?)
In addition to video, be sure to include relevant and interesting images on your site to help divide the written content on a page. Check the size of your image file to make sure it’s not too large as this can slow down your site speed (a red flag for Google).
Be a guest on the podcast
I talked about this topic earlier this year but am a believer in its power, so I thought I’d revisit the topic, although you don’t usually think of it as a best practice for SEO Hear. Here are some of the benefits you can get by being a guest on a podcast:
- reach a highly engaged audience
- Easier than writing guest blog posts
- you will establish a real emotional connection
- It becomes a highly shareable piece of content
- you will gain credibility
- Possibility of online review
Combine the above points and you will create a recipe for SEO success.
keep things fresh
Google wants to see that your site is active. Instead of constantly posting new content, figure out ways to re-use existing content as well as update that content. It can really help with your SEO efforts without having to reinvent the wheel.
Seems like a lot? It is, but don’t forget that you have the ability to outsource these tips to an expert if you don’t think they can do it in-house.
Are you implementing the strategy mentioned above? What are you struggling with the most? Which strategy are you seeing success with?
Need more tips on Search Engine Optimization? Check out our complete guide to SEO.
