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If you want to get the most out of your website, you need to invest in search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is absolutely necessary if you want to generate leads through your website, even if you’re investing in digital advertising and you’re not trying to put a content marketing strategy in place. Let’s cover a simple ten step process that can help you identify pain points and improve your overall SEO presence.
1. Audit Your Website
If you want to know where you’re going, you need a deep understanding of where you are. A website audit is the first place to start. I recommend you get an experienced SEO company or contractor on board for this. Unless you have years of experience as an SEO, you’re just not going to know what to look for.
The audit should focus on understanding your current rankings, areas of opportunity, and market competitors. You should also use this audit to identify technical health issues that need to be fixed.
2. Understand Your Audience and Market
If you’ve done your branding work, and I’m going to assume you have, then you probably have a really good idea of your target audience. That’s critical to keyword research. You have to understand what phrases they would actually be typing into search engines. You can use tools for this like Semrush or Ahrefs, but again, I recommend working with an experienced SEO company who will know how to put together a detailed SEO plan to get the best possible content for the most valuable keywords.
3. Ensure Your Content is Optimised for UX, Not Just Keywords
Making sure your content includes your target keywords is an obvious step, but it’s important to understand that you can’t stop there. Accessibility and UX are crucial for the success of your site and your rankings.Â
Your content should feel natural and not focus on keyword stuffing. Google and other search engines want content that is user-friendly, helpful, and informative above all else. Having your site loaded with fresh, unique, human-generated content will help your overall visibility and trust.
4. Publish New Content AND Optimise Old Content
It’s certainly helpful to have a stream of fresh content coming in somewhat regularly, but you can’t just abandon old content. Utilize tools like Google Search Console, Semrush, and analytics platforms to find older, underperforming content and strategise on how to improve it. Older content that is refreshed can be just as impactful, if not more so, than new content.
When focusing on newer content, make sure to perform the necessary keyword, competitor, and market research to find the best opportunities. Afterall, you want to be making content that people are actually searching for and interacting with, so make sure the interest is there.
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5. Make Sure Your Site is Mobile Friendly
Responsive design is the name of the game in modern web design. Websites today simply cannot be designed for desktop only. The majority of your visitors are going to come to your website on a mobile device. You need to ensure that your website looks great no matter what device they’re on. Any good website design company is going to bake that right into their process, so this is likely something that you already have implemented.
6. Test New Ideas
Just like with any other marketing channel, SEO can’t grow without innovation and testing. By keeping an eye on your metrics and site performance, you can find areas of opportunity. Use these findings to test new ideas and strategies. Remember that it can take months for SEO efforts to show their effect, so be patient when monitoring the results of these efforts.
7. Promote Content on Social Media
Cross-channel marketing is as an effective strategy that can easily incorporate SEO. Once you have optimised content, you can start promoting it on your social channels. Since you’ve already researched your audience and understand what they want to see, you can easily pick the right content to put in front of them on your social channels.
If you’re a business that puts out a lot of video content across your channels, take the time to make sure those videos are SEO optimised.Â
8. Track Metrics Using Google Analytics
If you don’t track it, you won’t improve it. Google Analytics isn’t the most important SEO tool in your toolbox, but it’s a good starting point and can help you understand traffic patterns, where you’re falling short, and where you can improve.
Other tools like Semrush and Ahrefs are going to be more important for keyword/backlink tracking, so an investment in them is going to be critical if you’re going to take SEO seriously.
9. Regularly Refresh Your Keyword Research
Keywords change over time. There’s no getting around it. What’s ranking one day can drop to nothing the next, especially if there’s an algorithm change. You’ve gotta stay on top of keyword rankings over time, which means conducting thorough research on a regular basis.
10. Keep Up With Google's Algorithm Updates
Google has said that they update their algorithms a few times a day, but there are still major changes that they implement every now and then. Big algorithm changes can lead to major gains or losses in traffic and conversion rates. Follow Google on social media and through their blog to stay on top of what’s happening.
We Can Help You Find an SEO Agency Partner
I work with dozens of marketing and SEO agencies that I’ve vetted extensively for quality. I work alongside you to make sure I find a partner that fits your business goals.
I’ll connect you with the right agency for your needs to ensure your SEO strategy is implemented successfully. Schedule a free consultation today to get started.
