Life looks different from what it did ten years ago. Time continues to age new ideas and produce innovative, better ones from the next generation.
As a business, no matter what your industry is, you need to stay on top of trends to maintain your audience’s loyalty, grow, and reach new audiences. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the ways you can ensure your company’s relevancy in an age where technology is constantly changing.
SEO is crucial for digital marketing. However, it’s complicated. Even if you’ve heard about it, if it’s not a part of your day-to-day job, you may not know what it is or why it’s necessary. Learning how to implement an effective SEO strategy will boost your online presence.
SEO is ever-changing as Google constantly adjusts the rules, so it is important to stay on top of the SEO changes and common mistakes people make.
The rules and recommendations can be overwhelming. It feels like a never-ending Google search. However, there are simple and smart ways to go about SEO. Let’s break it down.
What is SEO?
SEO is such a broad term. It can be challenging to identify the key factors of a strategic marketing plan. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the strategy that helps you rank higher in search engine results and drives traffic to your site.
You should utilize SEO throughout your digital content. Digital content entails:
- Page titles
- Website copy
- Keywords
- Images
- URLs
- Videos
There are three types of SEO: on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and technical optimization.
On-page optimization refers to content on your website. On-page SEO optimizes individual web pages through URLs, keywords, and internal links. When done strategically, your website gains more traffic to your site and ranks higher in search.
Off-page optimization refers to actions taken outside of the website to drive traffic to your site. This includes backlinks. Backlinks are links on other websites that link directly to your site. When done correctly, backlinking heightens your website’s credibility and brings more traffic to your site.
Technical optimization focuses on your website’s architecture. This includes your site code, which is how you design your website on the front and back ends.
Where Should I Start with SEO?
Optimization methods, keywords, black hat vs. white hat techniques, and backlinking can sound like another language. Even if you know the definition, it can be difficult to actually understand and implement these methods to boost your SEO.
Before you venture into the different optimization techniques, you need to identify important factors to make executing the plan easier.
Identify your target audience.
Identify your industry and analyze who your audience is based on your industry. Before a project, every copywriter and designer will ask: who is the target audience?
Imagine an empty canvas. Someone tells you to draw a dog, and that’s all the detail you get. You don’t know what kind of dog, what the dog is doing, or who will be viewing your art. If you’re drawing a dog for children, you’ll most likely make it more cartoonish. If you’re drawing a dog for art critics, you may want to be more detailed and artistic, focusing on your brushstrokes and technique.
Without identifying your audience, you cannot draw a dog that will please them. It’s just not that simple.
Context matters.
Your target audience shapes how you communicate and what you communicate.
Invest time in keyword research.
Keyword research identifies what keywords you want to rank for and the ones that you should rank for.
Keyword ranking refers to where your website falls in the search results based on the search query. You rank differently depending on the words used in your website’s copy, which is why selecting the right keywords is so important.
When you research your keywords, take note of what words your industry competitors are ranking for. Are you using the same keywords?
One thing you need to be careful of is keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing refers to loading a webpage with keywords. Isn’t that a good thing? While you should include keywords in your content, if you stuff your content with needless keywords it will lower your chances of ranking higher.
Search engines optimize their search to fit the needs of their audience. When content is written specifically for their algorithm, it comes across as spammy. Keyword stuffing is considered a black hat strategy and not a good SEO strategy.
Your keywords should fit organically into your copy. The clarity of your content is more important than your keywords. When your keywords naturally flow in your copy, you’ve found the perfect balance between content and keywords.
Report and analyze your current SEO
At the end of the day, if you don’t have data to analyze your SEO, you won’t know what’s working and what’s not working.
Analyze your data using Google Analytics or similar platforms like SEMrush. These platforms automate your data and consolidate it into comprehensive reports. These websites make it simple for everyone. You don’t need to be an expert in analytics to run reports on your SEO and marketing efforts. You just need to be consistent in checking up on the data.
Keep in mind that your keywords are most likely not changing every day. However, if you don’t set the discipline to manage and analyze your SEO, you will easily lose track of your statistics and successes.
SEO could be the difference between you and your competitors’ search ranking. If you put the time and effort into your SEO, your business will succeed and rank higher than others in your industry.
Do I Have to Use SEO to Be Successful?
Yes.
Every industry has competition. It’s the nature of business. But what is going to make you stand out from your competition? Even if you are better than the other companies in your industry, how will your audience know what services you provide if your website never pops up on their search feed?
There is no success without a strategy. If you’re going to grow your business and reach the correct audience, you have to use SEO. When you’ve done your research and have executed the SEO plan correctly, you will rank higher in search, allowing you to connect with your target audience.
How the AMG Team Can Help
SEO is complex and ever-changing, which makes it ten times harder to master. Luckily, you don’t have to be an SEO expert, you just need to partner with someone who is.
Analytics, Marketing, & Growth is a team of experts in the marketing field dedicated to helping clients market to the correct target audience and grow their business. SEO isn’t simple, but when you have experts on your team, it will transform your online engagement and expand your outreach.
Partner with us to increase your revenue and grow your business. When you choose the AMG Team, you’ll leave 100% satisfied with zero regrets.
Request your free SEO audit with the AMG Team today.
