SEO is a complex, confusing challenge for even marketing experts. As a result, search engine optimization can seem particularly intimidating for newcomers.
However, there is one advantage for those new to the world of SEO: a clean slate. This means your website isn’t suffering from outdated SEO tactics. For example, if we had an ‘SEO Strategy: 2019 Edition’ guide, the content would be different from what is found in this one. Google’s ever-changing search algorithm can be thanked for that.
If you want to produce an effective SEO strategy for your website and are not sure where to start, you have landed in the right place. Our SEO plan template is a perfect starter guide to follow.
Prepare with a Website Audit
Simply put, what is an SEO strategy worth if you’re not willing to put in the right level of preparation? The answer: not much. You need to establish a strong foundation; otherwise, your SEO marketing strategy will fail to launch as expected.
This starts with a website audit. If your site has suffered from any drops in traffic, the audit can help unveil why this has happened. It will discover and note any issues, so you know why Google and other search engines are punishing you.
Certain infringements cause more damage than others – that’s to be expected. However, some penalties are so severe that there’s little chance of reviving your site. In this case, starting a brand new site is recommended.
Choose Your Target Audience
Defining your target audience is important for creating a successful SEO plan.
After all, you want to know the exact customer base to aim for with your marketing efforts. This serves as the foundation when picking the keywords you want to target, as well as the type of content you plan to create.
Expanding on the latter point, understanding your audience is necessary for producing content they want to consume. If you listen and appreciate their viewpoint, it’s easier to come up with worthwhile content ideas that will gain traction with the search engines.
Keyword Research
Once you know your target audience, the next step is devising an SEO keyword strategy.
The good news: keyword research isn’t difficult. Various tools are readily available for your keyword-related endeavors. Not only can they help to find an assortment of keywords which are relevant for your chosen niche, but there are tools which also show your current work. This means you can see which keywords you’re ranking for already, as well as how your site is performing within Google search results. This information can help you refine your current content, improve your keyword ranking, and boost your SEO traffic. It’s also a faster process than targeting an entirely new keyword.
Your competition, funnily enough, can also play a significant role in your keyword research efforts. All you have to do is perform a content gap analysis. Simply gather up a list of competitors, analyze their content, and see which keywords they rank for on Google. When picking out keywords you can then target, it’s advised to focus on long-tail keywords rather than massively competitive short-tail ones.
When the research is completed, you should have a healthy keyword collection to utilize in your SEO strategy!
Optimizing On-Page Content
Look at any SEO marketing strategy example, and you’ll see this is the main part of the plan. This is where the tough work begins, and you start putting the pieces – also known as keywords – into place.
Crafting on-page content is straightforward in theory. However, you need to develop content, which is compelling, in-depth, and appeals to both search engines and visitors. Based on recent Google guidelines, blog posts and main pages should be reaching at least 1,000 words in total. This gives you a lot of room to play with in terms of implementing your keywords, but you mustn’t go into ‘keyword stuffing’ territory.
To maximize the effectiveness of your content, there are various other elements to consider. Here’s a basic SEO template to follow:
- An enticing headline along with eye-catching sub-headers
- Visual content like infographics, images, and videos
- Title tag/meta description featuring your primary keyword
- URL address which is optimized
Do you need help developing quality on-page content which works? If so, you can receive a sample SEO article via our content writing service. With this SEO sample article, you can use it as a guideline to learn about what is needed for all of your on-page content.
Link Building Strategy
SEO is continually evolving and changing, yes, but the core elements have stayed the same. We’ve seen it with the aforementioned keywords and written content, and now we move onto the other major aspect: link building.
Many different factors are involved with a fruitful SEO linking strategy. One of the main tasks is to locate high power websites and convince them to accept your backlinks. If you’re not sure how to encourage these sites to take on your links, a proven strategy is guest posting. They receive free content; you get a valuable backlink – everyone’s a winner.
Your backlinks are accompanied with anchor text, and the latter point needs careful consideration. Our recommendation is to utilize a mix of different anchor texts. Instead of sticking with exact match anchors for every backlink, for instance, go for a combination of branded, naked, natural, etc. anchors.
Measuring the Results
An effective SEO strategy is never a short-term process. It takes time before you see results – even if your pages are fully optimized, and you have a range of valuable backlinks pointing to your site. When putting together your SEO plan, understand it may take a few months before Google rewards the hard work.
To measure the results, go on Google Analytics to view your site’s traffic reports. Not receiving the traffic bump you expected? In this case, you might have to change up your strategy.
For SEO campaign management assistance, we’re here to help. Our marketing experts can craft a managed SEO campaign which incorporates everything needed to land at the top of Google search results.
