About 75% of search engine users never look at the second page of results. Meanwhile, about 68% of all online activity begins on a search engine. In fact, over 50% of all website traffic begins with a search.
A strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy involves more than creating content for your blog, though. Here are seven SEO strategy examples you need to consider when developing your plans for the year. With these tips, you can improve your SEO process to generate more traffic, leads, and sales.
Strengthen your SEO strategies with these tips today.
1. Understand Your Audience
Google looks for content that aligns with the search engine user’s intent before determining what content appears on search engine result pages (SERPs). If your content doesn’t match the user’s search intent, it won’t appear. Instead, you need to understand who your customers are and what they’re searching for while online.
Then, you can begin creating content based on their search intent, enabling you to improve your rankings.
First, define who your customers are based on psycho- and demographic research. For example, you can begin creating distinct buyer personas based on:
- Age
- Location
- Gender
- Salary
- Education
- Marital status
- Career
- Hobbies
- Interests
- Buying behaviors
- Online behaviors
- Pain points
Consider the problems your customers face on a daily basis. Then, determine how you can help provide a solution. Providing helpful, informative content could help you become a go-to resource.
Next, gather keyword research. Use tools like Answer the Public, Google Trends, and Keyword Planner to find long-tail keywords. These keywords are more precise, making it easier for you to understand the user’s search intent.
For example, someone might search “flowers” when looking for:
- A flower shop
- The best flower arrangement ideas
- Flowers for graduates
- The meaning of flowers
- Poetry about flowers
Each search intent is different! You can save time and appeal to ideal customers by creating personalized content that aligns with their search intent.
Then, you can show consumers you understand their needs, which can help you attract more website traffic and leads.
2. Update Your Website
Your website design and development can impact your search engine optimization efforts. Take the time to ensure your site is:
- Fast
- User-friendly
- Mobile-optimized
- Secure
You can run your site through Google’s PageSpeed Insights, Core Web Vitals, and Mobile-Friendly Test to check.
If your site doesn’t provide a positive user experience (UX), visitors will leave without exploring additional pages. Your bounce rate will start to increase, which indicates a negative UX. Google might decide to drop your rankings as a result.
Lower SERP rankings can make it more difficult for users to find your website. Your competitors will rank ahead of you instead.
Remember, most people never check the second page of results.
3. Create Engaging Content
Creating content based on your audience and keyword research will help you appear for a range of search queries. The more often you appear on SERPs, the more website traffic you can generate.
When creating content, focus on EAT: expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Remember to show consumers you’re a helpful resource. Don’t try to sell through your content marketing strategy.
Experiment with different forms of content as well. For example, you can create blog posts, eBooks, videos, and infographics. Try interactive forms of content like polls, quizzes, AR, and VR.
Interactive content can encourage visitors to linger on your website, which could boost your dwell times. Longer dwell times can help improve your SERP rankings.
Make sure you understand the on-page SEO process.
Choose a single focus keyword and series of related, secondary keywords for each post. Your primary keyword should appear in the:
- Page title
- An H1 header
- URL
- Opening and closing paragraphs
- Body text
- SEO meta description
- SEO title
- Image alt text
- Image file name
The SEO title and meta description will appear on SERPs. Make sure they’re interesting, engaging, and appeal to the user’s search intent. Then, you can generate more clicks, boosting your clickthrough rate and rankings.
4. Generate Backlinks
Backlinks send visitors on other websites to your content. When someone clicks on a backlink, they’ll visit your website. Generating backlinks from sites with a high domain authority can boost your SERPs rankings.
In fact, backlinks are one of Google’s top ranking factors.
You can begin generating backlinks by guest blogging on other websites. Make sure those websites appeal to your target audience.
5. Update Your Profile
Claim and optimize your Google Business profile as part of your local SEO strategy. Your Business Profile can help nearby consumers find your storefront and website.
Make sure the information on your profile matches exactly what appears on your website. Google will check for consistency and accuracy.
Ask customers to begin posting their comments and reviews on your profile. Positive reviews can boost your brand’s credibility. It can also improve your organic rankings.
If you begin generating negative comments, don’t delete them. Instead, respond and offer consumers a helpful solution. The commenter might decide to edit their original comment after you offer your help.
6. Share Your Posts
Make sure you share your blog content using other marketing strategies. For example, you can share links to your content using social media. Otherwise, email a weekly newsletter featuring your latest posts.
Sharing your content on other channels will help you generate more traffic. Google will recognize you’re generating traffic before boosting your rankings.
Consider using content syndication as you use these SEO strategies, too.
7. Analyze and Adjust
Once you apply these SEO strategy examples, analyze the results from your efforts. Determine which posts help you generate the most traffic. Consider where you’re generating traffic from (SERPs, emails, social media, etc.) as well.
Then, make adjustments to your SEO process to further improve your rankings. You can also use this SEO ranking checker to determine if your rankings are improving.
Rank Up: 7 SEO Strategy Examples You Need to Use Today
Start reaching more customers online. Begin by using these seven essential SEO strategy examples. Then, adjust your campaign to boost your rankings further over time.
With higher rankings, you can generate more traffic, leads, and sales throughout the year.
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