Delco SEO

If you are looking for SEO help, you are not alone. Everyone is trying to find tips on how to make their site rank better and drive more traffic. In addition to strategies that will increase visibility and keep them ahead of the competition. This is especially true with the evolution of AI and all the latest Google updates. While things change all the time, there are still some good ways to improve your SEO and set a solid foundation for growth. Here are some best practice and tips to get your started on the right path.

1. Identify who you are trying to rank with in your SEO strategy

The first step to any SEO strategy is to know who you are trying to reach and your target audience. Where are they searching? What platform are they searching on? What are the keywords and phrases they are searching for? A great place to start and get the answers to these questions is Google search console and Google Analytics. If you do not have this setup already, here is a how to guide on how to configure Google Search Console. GSC will give you insights on how users are finding your website currently. Why is that important? You will see what you are ranking for currently, what position, and where there are opportunities. It will also give you a baseline to see the impact of your efforts, and you can view the performance. This includes clicks, total impressions, average click through rate, and average position. It will also give you insights on page errors and performance issues which you can use to improve on-page SEO. Google Analytics is also important to see the demographics of your target audience, what device they are connecting on and from where. Also what is of interest to them. You also be able to see the customer journey and how they are interacting with your pages. In addition to what pages they are engaged with and converting on.

2. Conduct Keyword Research

Now that you have identified the target audience, begin the process of keyword research. There are a lot of tools out there to help and guide you in the right direction. You can search by device, location, trends and more. Google keyword planner is a great place to start. You will need to create a Google Ads account to do this, but you do not have to run any campaigns or spend any additional money. Once you are signed in, simply click “tools” on the left side navigation. You will be able to search by a specific web address already live, or start with a few keywords and let Google find the best related keywords and phrases.

Other tools include third party software like SEMRush, Moz, and even free tools like Answer The Public and Google Trends. Each of these are very helpful tools. Starting with SEMRush and Moz, they both allow you to do a keyword gap analysis. Meaning that you can see what keywords and phrases your competitors are ranking for and where you site ranks in comparison. Moz has a nice guide which walks you through the process. SEMRush also has a keyword research guide as well. Once you have these keywords you can type them into Google trends and see how they have been performing in a certain area over a specific period of time. Consider keywords which have higher search volume but lower keyword difficulty. Also those keyword and phrases which are longer and more specific. Those will be lower hanging fruit that you can probably rank for fairly quickly and easily.

Pro tip: Don’t always go for the highest search volume keywords. Sometimes the lower ones will convert at a higher rate because they resonate more with your target audience.

3. Use the keyword research to identify content opportunities and on-page SEO

Once you have identified the keyword opportunities, now comes the time to dig in and see if you have content around those specific keywords and phrases. The same tools mentioned above SEMRush, Answer The Public and Moz all have content tools loaded with ideas that have the best chance to resonate with your users. Typically how to and answers to questions will perform better.

Pro tip: Ensure you provide original and quality content which provides the best possible answer for what your target audience is searching for.

Here are some screen shots of SEMRush’s topic research tool to show you how easy it is.

Next, it is often a good idea at this point in the process to do a content audit. For example, you should have your blog topics organized in clusters around a specific category. That will demonstrate your trustworthiness and expertise in a specific industry or topic. In other words, if you are providing a service like SEO, I would have posts on the various types of search engine optimization. These would include local, on-page and off-page SEO. See what topics you have already written on and how many blog posts you have around the same topic. You might be surprised to see how much you have around a certain topic and the opportunities which are available.

The next step would involve optimizing these pages as well. Make sure you have well written and descriptive meta descriptions and title tags. Title tags should be around 65 characters and meta descriptions no more than 165-170 characters. Otherwise they could run the risk of getting cut off in the search engine results.

Pro Tip: Remember that title tags and descriptions show in the search results and are a direct indicator to the user and Google what the page is about. Write enticing descriptions that will encourage users to click on your site link.

Other elements include the content structure and tags. The content should be broken into manageable sections and clearly organized with H1, H2, and H3 headers. Have images which relate and enforce what the content is about and make sure they are tagged properly with alt tags. Ensure your content is easy to read, original, and provides data to backup what you are speaking about and referring to. In addition, make sure it is original and provides value to the user. In other words, you are helping a user answer a question and solve a problem they are having. After all, this is why they are searching in the first place! Also, make sure your page URL is not too long, simple to follow and has a consistent and clean structure across the site. Blogs should have the “/blog/” in the web address. Services the “/services/” and so on.

On-page SEO also includes technical SEO. Does the page load fast and is the design optimized for mobile? Are the images optimized for speed and performance? Compress the images and utilize .webp format for images where possible rather than .jpg and .png. Enable caching or use a caching plugin such as Nitro Pack or WP Rocket if your site is built with WordPress. You can also use a CDN (content delivery network) like Cloudflare to help with this while also providing additional site security. Also limit the amount of requests from the web server which include minimizing elements, javascripts, and CSS coding.

4. Off Page SEO – Get High Quality Backlinks

Backlinks while not important as they once were are still an important component of a complete SEO strategy. Backlinks are websites which contain a link to your website. Therefore, sending a signal to Google that you are a reputable and trustworthy website. Backlinking takes time and patience. You will need to reach out to influencers and bloggers to find interested users who are willing to share your content. One good strategy to approach this is to make a website owner aware of any broken links or lost backlinks to get the conversation started. Another is to offer to write guest posts or co-write a piece of content. This includes blogs, infographics and other downloadable pieces that will enhance and provide value to a website and the user.

5. Develop Your Local SEO

There are a lot reasons why local SEO is important for businesses. And many are not taking advantage the opportunities. Starting with the optimization of the Google My Business profile which can list your business, hours, address, links, services, products and more. And it is free! In addition, local citations are a very cost effective solution and ensure your business is listed in industry specific directories, as a result increasing your business credibility. Lastly, customer reviews play a huge part in local SEO. According to a study completed by PowerReviews in 2021, 99.9% of customers read reviews when they shop online. Reviews can be placed on your Google My Business Page, testimonial, product, service pages and more!

6. Monitor The Results

Everything in marketing should be trackable and actionable. Otherwise, how would you know if your efforts are paying off? How could you gauge progress? Make sure you have benchmarks before you start using Google Analytics and track the progress. Use tools like SEMRush and Moz to see how your rankings are being effected by what you are implementing. Lastly, have a goal and know where you want to be in 3, 6, and 12 months. Set those KPIs or key performance indicators with realistic and attainable goals.

By following these steps, you can significantly improve your SEO, leading to better search engine rankings, increased organic traffic, and ultimately, more conversions for your business. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so stay updated with the latest trends and continually optimize your strategies.