There are multiple ways to market your company and get the word out there: social media, blogging, e-newsletters, email marketing, etc. You could be doing all this and more, but if your website and products aren’t showing up in Google or Yahoo when users are searching, you could be losing potential customers! This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play.
Search engine optimization is a marketing process used to increase visibility in organic search engine results. Since search engines are the primary method of navigation for most internet users, it’s of the utmost importance to make sure your SEO is in order. The better your SEO is, the higher you’ll show up in the search results, and the more leads that will visit your site!
Are you ready to ramp up your visitor count? Here are six steps to increasing your visibility online with SEO:
Step 1. Keyword research
Doing your keyword research is the first thing you’ll want to start out with. Your main keyword phrase needs to be everywhere: titles, description, tagline, page titles/content, and blog categories. It is best to have about two to three keywords per page. The more keywords you target, the harder it becomes to rank well for any of them. There are various research tools that could help you out, such as Moz or Google AdWords. Once you’ve identified your words, it’ll be time to build a strategy around them.
Step 2. Create valuable content
We know you’ve heard this before, but we cannot stress the importance of good quality content! The content in your website needs to be valuable, meaning it is readable, useful, and relevant to the people who came to your website. Your website can have fantastic visibility on search engines, but great content is what keeps them there. Google recognizes this as well in its ranking algorithm. Content is relevant to SEO in the sense that the higher you are on a search listings page, the more valuable content is on your website.
Step 3. Have unique and descriptive titles
We briefly mentioned this in a previous point, but it is important to have unique and descriptive titles. Title tags are used in search engine results pages to display previews of a given page. The title needs to be an accurate description of what the content contains. Your title may be the most important tag, and your primary keyword term or phrase needs to be in the title, preferably in the beginning.
Step 4. Build links with social media
Link building is important because it gives you the ability to share and promote your content with other viewers. Google focuses on high-quality links, so not just any links on your page will work. Link your website with your social media sites and vice versa. This not only increases traffic to your site, but it assists with link building, as well. Making sure that other high quality profiles and sites are sharing your content tells Google that you are a thought leader in your space.
Step 4. Create a mobile-friendly website
Your website should be mobile-friendly as to not deter potential customers from your site. Mobile optimization accounts for different screen sizes and loading times, and it makes the website navigation optimal for use of a finger rather than a mouse. This is important as more and more people are searching the web using their mobile device over a computer or laptop. Usability is one of the factors Google looks at closely when ranking search results, so making sure your site is easy to use for any platform is a must.
Step 6. Monitor your progress with analytics
SEO isn’t a set it and forget endeavor! Analytic tracking is important because it shows you the successes and failures of your page and various campaigns. You will learn what does well on your page and what needs to be improved upon. Tracking your SEO will ensure that you stay on top of any algorithm changes as well as making your march to the #1 ranking something you can keep tabs on. Analytics will overall help you with your SEO strategy and stick to your goals.
While the entirety of SEO strategy can’t be boiled down to only a few steps, increasing your visibility online with these six are an excellent start. Doing your keyword research is vital, as well as having these keywords in your title. As always, the phrase, “content is king”, still remains true. Creating a mobile-friendly website and sharing links with social media will increase traffic and keep your site at the top of the results.
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