We know how important it is to rank in search engines to ensure your business gets found. However, the art of getting found on the internet isn't always an easy task.
Luckily for you, SEO is a useful tool that can help your business achieve certain company goals. Whether you are looking to generate more organic traffic, drive leads to your website, or build a brand, SEO can help you along the way.
If you're new to SEO, or still don't have the best grasp on the subject, there are a lot of factors that you should consider when implementing a SEO strategy.
Below are some key methods that we feel are worth integrating into your SEO tactics.
How to improve your SEO:
1. Don't forget to focus on quality content.
Having quality content on your site is one of the most important improvements you can make to your SEO plan. It's far too common for companies to focus more on making their website look nice than focusing on really great content that "wows" their visitors. I know, I know, you're thinking, "what does content really has to do with SEO?" Well, one of the best features of content is that you can incorporate relevant keywords into it. For instance, when internet users type a keyword like SEO or inbound marketing into a search engine blogs that incorporate those concepts will show up in the page results they receive. Content can also be shared and linked to, which tells a search engine that it's worth displaying in their SERPs.
2. Don't stuff (or go overboard) with your keywords.
Although keywords are a big part of your SEO strategy, they shouldn't be obsessed over. And, even if you aren't that familiar with SEO in general, you should know that Google rewards sites that use keywords sparingly, and penalizes those that are over zealous. Trying to stuff as many keywords into your content as possible is never advisable, and often produces non-quality content. Today, Google is focusing on companies that have relevant content that is useful to readers on their website rather than those who jam-pack their pages with keywords. So, if you are looking to get to the tops of Google's search results page you better get crackin' on your quality content campaign!
3. Search engine algorithms change, and so should your SEO strategy.
Just like Santa, Google has been very busy this year with updates. Actually there have been more updates this year to search engine algorithms than I really care to count. That being said, we are probably in for the same (if not more) updates and changes for 2014 as there were in 2013. That means, if you having been paying attention to the changes it's time to dedicate some time to doing so. Google's most recent change to their algorithm is called Hummingbird. If you haven't gotten a chance to read up on it yet you should start by clicking here. If your company is falling behind on keeping up with algorithm updates you can find yourself using outdated SEO practices, which could do nothing for you, or worst cause you to get penalized (yikes).
4. Sometimes less is more.
We live in a world where the common mindset is well, the more the better. Unfortunately in SEO land usually less is more. Building a keyword list, and weeding out the non-essentials is important. Who wants to try to track and rank for hundreds of keywords right off the bat? Don't spread yourself too thin. Find a basic list of industry related essential keywords for your company and work with those. Usually you will want to shoot for 20-30 mixing in long and short tail terms. Being able to dedicate content to a list of focal keywords can do wonders for your SEO and marketing!
Interested in getting your SEO plan up and running? Take a look at our essential guide to writing SEO copy that sells!
