There is no denying that without a proper investment in SEO, no business can adequately compete in the market nowadays. If you were to think of how many websites selling the same products you are selling are available online, probably the first thing that will come to mind is - how am I ever going to compete and sell anything? But in reality, there are many successful businesses online, and not all of them are big multinationals or popular brand names. Ultimately every business can succeed as long as a proper and effective SEO strategy is put into place.
The concept of an SEO strategy is not the same one as it was a few years ago as the internet has changed. In fact now SEO specialists are placing more importance on SEO that is focused on technical elements. SEO is an integral part of content marketing. It involves meta tags and descriptions, keyword research, link building and link reputation. Onsite SEO also involves a good balance between content and images. Thus, an effective SEO strategy needs to include all of these elements, as well as a focus on the creation and distribution of high quality content. This will help your website to achieve considerable search engine visibility.
The new SEO strategy for your business should also place emphasis on mobile usability. As you are well aware there is a growing need in internet users to access the internet wherever they are, not just from their home or office. That is why there has been a huge demand for smartphones and tablets, especially in the past three years. Search engines such as Google, are placing a lot of importance on mobile usability. In fact, Google has been penalizing those sites that generate errors for people who try to access them from a mobile device. Mobile usability has thus become a key part of SEO. So you need to focus on it, and invest in it. Make sure your website is accessible and properly visible on smaller screens. Provide an easy to use layout and voice search for added convenience. You need to tailor your website and content for mobile users as otherwise your search engine rankings will surely drop.
Your new SEO strategy needs to place more importance on social media platforms and their significant effects. Google for instance is placing more value on social signals from Facebook and Twitter. A strong presence in Google+ is recommended. Even though Google has not offered any details on its ranking algorithm, many believe that social signals do form part of Google's ranking algorithm. After all there is no denying that there are billions of people using social media platforms nowadays, and it only makes sense that businesses should make the most out of them.
Linked to this, it has become increasingly evident that search rankings call for the need to build relationships, rather than simply focusing on technical strategies, content creation and optimization. The latter elements remain important, but there needs to be more to it than that for best results. Your new SEO strategy should make your business marketers come up with ways to humanize your brand. Relational strategies need to be given importance. These could include reaching out to influencers, blogger outreach campaigns and inevitably, engaging much more in social media campaigns.
When speaking of an SEO strategy, there could be some who fail to appreciate the need to integrate it with marketing efforts in a global manner. SEO is not meant to be an isolated department. It needs to be integrated with all your company's marketing aspects. For best results you need to integrate SEO with social media marketing and content marketing. They need to converge so that the same objectives are achieved more easily and effectively.
Contrary to what some people may think, Google's way of dealing with search engine rankings is not purely technical. In reality Google can manage to detect well written content, as well as any poor quality or unoriginal content. So SEO should not be about focusing only the torrential use of keywords and phrases so that the content ends up being repetitive and boring. It should also be well written and interesting. Google will reward sites that offer consistent high quality content, so you need to strive for quality not quantity for best results.
Good title tags are also important. The titles should be interesting and descriptive, not just a bunch of crammed keywords that barely make any sense. Repetition of keywords is not recommended within the same tag either. The use of SEO friendly URLs is also important for effective SEO strategies.
As always an engaging web presence can never be emphasized strongly enough. You need to focus your energies on getting your website noticed. You should come up with ways that will make users and readers mention you and link your website. Obtaining recognition is very important for rankings. A fast load time is also of essence.
Supplement your website with a killer blog. It is a great way to build relationships, and also a key way to earn links back to your website. The blog posts and articles that you create need to be informative and unique though.
Infographics are regarded as a very effective way of drawing attention and retaining it. So do try to use infographics whenever possible as users really like them and they can get you good results.
As the new year draws nearer, you should be willing to embrace change. Like most other things SEO is not a stagnant concept. Rather, it changes, and the more it changes, the more proactive you need to be. The aspects we have outlined are just some of the main indicators of how you can adapt to the ways SEO is changing. There may be other ways which you would need to put into play too, depending on your business's specific needs and goals. The key is to never be afraid of change. SEO is the key to your online success, and so you need to make the most out of it for the best of your business.
