As a business owner it can feel as though you’re bombarded with “SEO” and “search engine optimization” everywhere you turn. Due to this overwhelm, it’s easy to forget the importance of some fundamental building blocks for an easy SEO strategy. Implementing mindful SEO is a process. It’s not about stuffing keywords on a page and buying links – maybe ten years ago, but times have changed – for the better.
With everyone racing to implement the latest SEO “trends” it can be easy to forget key pieces to the overall plan. You don’t want your hard work developing digital marketing tactics to fall apart because of a lack of basic strategy. You need these core components for growth and longevity.
Great Content
In order to get more traffic to your site you need to serve your audience with value through great content. Keywords alone won’t bring targeted traffic. If your content is lousy then people won’t engage and users will dwindle. If there’s no interaction with your visitors then your SEO takes a hit. See the correlation?
The bottom line: you need to create awesome content regularly! Content creation has skyrocketed and the Internet is flooded with it. However much of this content is subpar and not very well created. This gives you an opportunity! A window. In order to increase your search visibility you need to publish well written, engaging content. There may be droves of “content creators” but that doesn’t mean that it’s good and surely doesn’t mean you should sit on your hands because you think you’ll be lost in the noise.
If you are authentically serving your audience with value, you will see the results. Great content drives traffic to your website. It is that simple. You can conjure all sorts of complicated tactics but if you don’t have great content, you’re not leveraging the power of the web.
Use Title Tags To Increase CTR
Everyone knows about title tags however there are still copious amounts of SEOs and site owners using 2005 practices. Gross. Title tags are an essential component of conversions and profit. Don’t forget it!
If your site is built with WordPress, title tags are often automatically generated based on the title of your page or post. These tags aren’t always the best so it is important to modify. We like to use the Yoast plugin which makes the management simple and effective.
SEO is all about relevance, but you don’t want to overdo it. Stuffing your title tag full of keywords will not make your site rank higher. In fact it will potentially do the opposite. Instead choose one single focus that best serves the user and the content on the page. It’s also a good idea to include your brand name. Many times when testing we’ve found that a brand name increases the CTR. However, it’s always a good idea to run a test yourself.
Link Building
Google has confirmed over and over that content and links are still two of the top factors when it comes to ranking.
This is why we provide a very robust manual outreach program for inbound links. Our team creates high quality relevant content and also does the outreach.
Receiving this corroboration from other sites with a high domain authority is integral to your site’s success. When creating your content you should always strive to create stuff that people would naturally want to link to.
Enhance the user experience
Are you banging your head against the wall trying to figure out why your site isn’t showing up higher in search results? It might be that your UX isn’t good enough.
Often times an SEO will travel to the end of the earth to figure out why a site won’t rank. Site speed, duplicate content, site map, links, etc but won’t think to consider user experience. I think the hang up is because SEO and user experience functions great as two unique creatures. However, when you combine them these animals become unstoppable superheroes.
The main things to focus on here are:
Usability: Is it easy to complete a task?
Value: Are you providing value?
Adoptability: Is your traffic downloading, buying, installing, etc… whatever information or product(s) you’re serving up?
Desirability: Are you connecting on an emotional level? This is often proven upon engagement. Visual design also plays a massive role in desirability.
If your on page experience embodies these 4 major roles then you can rest assured knowing you’ve done your best to create a great experience for your traffic.
Final Takeaway: SEO is constantly changing but if you remember the fundamental pieces, you are setting your site and brand up for success. So don’t overlook them!
