If this is the first time that you've embarked on the process of optimizing your website for top-tier search engine rankings for keywords relevant to your products and services, having experts on your side will help you get results. Here are a few things that your digital marketing partner will start doing right out of the gate to make your website stand out online:
It is critical that your website is structured properly from a basic technical standpoint. This is often over-looked. There are a few key foundational items that a digital marketing agency will assess as part of your SEO set-up:
Once your website has these foundational technical items in place, there are other activities that help give you a boost in the search engine results pages.
Even though many of the ranking protocols used by popular search engines like Google are constantly changing, one thing remains the same: content is still king. Compelling, engaging content written around a range of topics relevant to your products and services will help searchers find your website and should keep them on your website once they land there. Content that is relevant and relatable to your buyers’ journeys may be shared by searchers for its quality alone. Sharing content builds backlinks and brand awareness.
As part of your local SEO strategy, you should craft relevant content tailored to your target persona(s) and their journey to purchase. Content includes blog posts and website pages, which are aimed at informing your buyers and improving your search engine rankings over time. For content to have any search engine optimization value, it needs to:
Quality content is great but only beneficial if people can find it! To make your content as visible as possible, it needs to be published on your blog, website and LinkedIn as well as shared out to a wider social user-base of social networks appropriate for your industry. This is often achieved through social posting on the major social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google My Business. However, posting on social media is only half the battle. You also need to engage with users. This builds brand credibility and will eventually result in your own little online community.
Reviews have become an important part of social media as you have probably seen on Facebook and Google My Business. Getting reviews for your business has never been a more important part of the buyer’s journey to purchase. Part of your local SEO strategy should include building your online reputation and review signals from new reviews and review responses. There are several third-party review websites that can also help your search engine rankings not only by providing more reviews, but by also building links back to your website!
The example below shows an actual Google review plus the response or engagement from the business owner.
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Backlinks are incoming links to your website from other websites. When it comes to backlinking, quality trumps quantity. A digital marketing agency can help you achieve quality “white hat” backlinks the right way by listing your business in the appropriate online directories and creating shareable content. There are seedy “black hat” tactics like buying backlinks that can actually harm the integrity of your website and negatively impact your ranking results. A digital marketing agency will recommend “white hat” SEO backlinking strategy will ensure the integrity of your business online.
There are many valuable tools such as Google Analytics, Google Data Studio and SEMrush to help measure the success of your SEO efforts. Measuring and managing results is important and it takes technical expertise and monitoring. A digital marketing agency will be trained in these tools and will measure results like total website traffic, most visited website landing pages, and increasing keyword rankings.
Here’s an example of website data as presented on Google Analytics:
As you can see, SEO is a complex topic. It is not a one size fits all. SEO requires an understanding of how to strategize, implement, and measure results. To be most effective in today’s crowded marketplace, SEO efforts take ongoing processes, patience, and knowledge of the buyers’ journey regarding your business. It’s complicated!
If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, a digital marketing agency can help you navigate your first SEO campaign. If you are ready to take on SEO and need some direction, reach out to us and request a copy of our “Adaptive SEO” TM ebook which outlines our WSI proven process.
Lynne is known for her strategic approach to marketing communications, technologies, and lead generation. She has a passion for education, keeping up with current marketing trends and practices, and helping clients keep ahead of their competition.
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