There are many reasons why SEO is such a popular marketing tool, but one reason is most important; it works. Did you know that 68% of online experiences start with a search engine? If you aren’t using SEO, you’re handing more than two-thirds of online traffic to your competition.
Fortunately, SEO is easier to start than you may think, and the rewards can last for a long time with only minimal upkeep. Let’s talk about what an SEO agency can do for your business SEO strategy!
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way for websites to rank higher on search engines like Google. Essentially, you optimize your website’s content for Google’s algorithm and potentially rank higher as a result. The higher you rank, the more traffic you will receive on average.
Believe it or not, the top 3 results on the first page of a Google search receive the majority of all traffic, and the top organic result receives more than 25%. That’s from every page combined, which should show you why SEO is such a popular marketing tool.
Pillars of SEO
Now that you know the importance of SEO, we can talk a little more about how it works. Here are the three most important factors in any SEO strategy.
Website
Your website design acts as the foundation of your entire digital marketing strategy, which is especially true for SEO. You can have the best content in the world, but it won’t rank to its full potential without a strong website. Essentially, this means you’d be building a house on a broken foundation.
This is because Google uses over 200 ranking factors involving the quality and usability of your site. These factors include:
- Loading times
- Mobile optimization
- Navigation system
- Website security
- Page structure
- Metadata
The list goes on, but these are the most important. A quality user experience (UX) will translate into a better SEO strategy in no time. Google’s algorithm is simply trying to find the most relevant content on user-friendly sites, so offering this will pay off in the long run.
Content Strategy
If your website is the foundation, your content is the house. Without a content marketing strategy, you’re limited to only a few pages on your website. The more you post, the more chances you have of success.
Otherwise, how will anyone find your website organically without searching for its name? Content strategies seek to answer the questions of relevant users, engage them, and convert them into customers. You can’t do that without a blog or other content marketing strategy.
For example, nobody is going to search for the keyword “XYZ Generic Mechanic” if they’ve never heard of them. However, they may search for “oil change near me”, “how to change brake pads”, or “2017 Forester AC leak”. If the mechanic has matching content on their site, then they can draw this traffic in, offer the information they seek, and position their services as the solution.
Posting content regularly is always ideal. You should upload new content at least twice a week for the best results, staying mindful of the keywords you’re trying to rank for.
Also, it’s important to remember to optimize each new post before uploading. This includes adding alt attributes to images, titles to links, meta descriptions, title tags, appropriate headers, and more content optimization steps.
Off-Page SEO
To continue the analogy, your website is the foundation, your content is the house, and your off-page SEO ties it all together. Off-page SEO is how users and Google may find you. This includes directory and social media links, referring domains, and more.
Getting listed on local directories is important, but especially on Google My Business. If you don’t have a Google Business Profile, get listed right away and answer every prompt to optimize your presence on Google. If your business relies on local traffic, we recommend getting listed on Google Maps, too!
From there, building backlinks (links from other sites to yours) is the most important off-page factor. This is how Google determines a domain’s authority, so reach out to affiliates if you have any and ask for links. Beyond that, links will come over time if you have a quality website and content strategy.
Our SEO Strategy
As an SEO agency, we pride ourselves in our time-tested strategy that has worked wonders over the years. Here are the most important aspects as they apply to your business!
Proper Keyword Research
SEO content marketing requires proper keyword research. We go all-out when it comes to finding keywords that will help expand your reach. Generally, we prefer to use a wide variety of short-tail and long-tail keywords.
Short-tail keywords are the obvious ones in every industry. If you sell ice cream, short-tail keywords like “ice cream” or “gelato” would be the big-ticket items. They would have the highest search volume, but also the most competition.
Long-tail keywords like “ice cream shop near me” or “best soft-serve ice cream in Albany” would have significantly less search volume. However, they would also drive the most relevant traffic that is most likely to convert, and they have far less competition. Essentially, ranking for short-tail keywords is a long-term goal, and you should aim to rank a wide variety for long-tail keywords to see the quickest results.
On-Site Optimization
Once we have a strong list of keywords, we like to go right to work on your website. The reason we start with keyword research is so we can include more of them into your existing website content while we make adjustments. Here are some examples of on-site technical SEO:
- Adding meta descriptions and title tags
- Adding alt text on images
- Cleaning up permalinks
- Schema markup
- Adding or removing robots.txt files
- Security issues
- Page loading speed
- Mobile-friendly design
- Cleaning up redirects and errors
The list goes on, but these will go a long way for most businesses looking to rank higher.
Content Creation
Convincing other sites to link to your site, driving new traffic, and positioning your brand as an authority. These are just a few of the benefits of quality content marketing. With our professional copywriting services, you can build a high-quality blog that drives traffic and converts!
Content creation can be difficult to keep up with on your own, and the last thing you want is for quality to start slipping. If Google notices, you could be penalized, effectively crippling your SEO strategy. If other websites or your users notice, it could harm your brand’s reputation.
All content on your website needs to live up to certain standards for long-term SEO success. “Fluff”, irrelevant content, misinformation, inconsistencies, and plagiarism will only destroy your SEO strategy in the long run.
How to Measure SEO Campaigns
SEO strategies take time to build, which can be frustrating for many business owners. SEO is completely different from PPC ads, as it is not instantaneous. However, the results of SEO can last much longer without the need for additional expenses.
Fortunately, tracking an SEO campaign is fairly simple. All the information you need is on your website. Here’s how to start.
Choose an Analytics Tool
Google Analytics is undoubtedly the most popular website analytics tool, and for good reason. It’s a Google-run product that tells you nearly everything you need to know about your website’s performance, and your property (profile) is entirely customizable for your goals.
It’s also easily combined with Google Search Console, which is another helpful SEO tracking tool. Adding both of these to your website can tell you anything you need to know about your SEO campaign over time. GSC will even offer free monthly SEO reports!
Define Your Key Metrics
What are the goals of your SEO campaign? Do you want to build brand awareness, increase conversion rates, or decrease your dependence on paid ads? If so, you may have different priorities.
Either way, for most SEO campaigns, you will need to track:
- Conversion rates
- Bounce rates
- Where traffic comes from (ideally organic results)
- Quality of traffic
From there, you can easily incorporate any other metrics you want to track. However, this is unique to your specific strategy.
Hire an SEO Agency Today
Now that you know what a professional SEO agency can do for you, there’s no time to waste. More and more businesses are catching on to the benefits of SEO, so the competition is only getting steeper.
Stay up to date with our latest digital marketing tips, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or for help with your strategy!