It’s no secret that SEO is essential for any company with an online presence. The reality, however, is that most companies are woefully unprepared to handle the complexities of this process. You may know a little about SEO or have had some success in the past, but what do you know about the intricacies of modern search engine algorithms? What if your competition has been working on their SEO all year, and you’re just now getting started? How can you ensure that your business will compete effectively against more established sites with deeper pockets?
Fortunately, there are many things you can do right now to get ahead of your competition. This article discusses four critical steps every successful website should take when implementing an effective organic performance strategy. We’ve researched several highly authoritative sites in the field of SEO, including experts such as www.pkseo.com.au/ , Wikipedia, Search Engine Land, and many more.
SEO is vital for any company with an online presence
Any business with a website can benefit significantly through Search Engine Optimization. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling widgets online or even if your business is offline. The reality is that customers are searching for you right now, whether or not they know it yet. You can either be at the top of search results when they’re searching for you or compete with thousands of other businesses for that same customer.
One of the most critical parts of any business’s online presence is consistent messaging across all channels, including social media and SEO. This is necessary because potential customers will view your web content through different lenses depending on their timeframe and source. If I look at your Facebook page, you don’t want me to see inconsistent messaging compared to what I find on Google if I search for keywords related to your business. Consistency ensures that visitors will have a consistent experience with your brand.
The reality, however, is that most companies are woefully unprepared to handle the complexities of this process. So how do you, as a small business owner, get started?
Find your site’s SEO weaknesses and work on them
Some folks might consider SEO strictly blackhat trickery involving keywords, mass link building, and other nefarious strategies designed to game the system rather than improve content quality or provide value to search engine users. This article does not endorse such techniques and will instead discuss straightforward ways businesses can get ahead of their competition through legitimate means. That being said, no one can deny that there are many low-quality spammy websites with original content and high keyword densities.
When you first create a website, whoever sets up your hosting account often does the backend for you. You can make some changes through cPanel or Plesk and even dig into the code directly if you know how to do it; however, these features will only take you so far.
Your website may be at a competitive disadvantage simply because of the defaults set when it was created. This often happens with image alt tags which are primarily used for search engine optimization (SEO). Because this information isn’t readily visible to customers, many websites neglect to utilize this simple feature properly.
What if your competition has been working on their SEO all year, and you’re just now getting started?
Your competition is already working on their SEO, and you need to start doing the same. To start, you should always encourage customers to leave reviews for your business, especially when it comes to local businesses such as bars and restaurants. A great way to get organic customer reviews is by gently pushing your customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business. This allows users to submit reviews about their experiences with your business, which helps improve search engine optimization (SEO).
Today’s consumers easily compare products and services at their convenience by using mobile devices to shop for just about anything these days. If you do not appear in Google results with a positive rating, or even worse – if multiple competitors appear with better ratings from customers above you – it’s only a matter of time until they begin taking your business elsewhere.
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
Both Apple and Google have specific guidelines that must be met for websites to display properly on mobile devices, which means that if you don’t know about these rules or take action to meet them, there could be severe consequences down the line. For Google, your website must display on mobile devices without requiring the user to scroll horizontally or zoom to read text or click on links.
Google has made it clear that they are prioritizing mobile-friendliness and page load speeds as factors that influence organic search results – so much so that slow page speeds can cause websites to drop significantly in search engine rankings. Don’t let this be your business. If you want your site’s website to improve, it needs to be viewed/downloaded quickly by visitors by loading quickly.
A high bounce rate can indicate a poorly designed website experience that prioritizes marketing at the expense of customer satisfaction, causing users to lose patience with your business quickly. SEO is all about providing a good experience while also highlighting the best aspects of your website while avoiding unnecessary distractions that draw attention away from the page’s primary purpose.
With many people favoring their smartphones and GPS-capable devices, it’s more important than ever before to make sure your business loads quickly on their devices, whether they’re on Wifi or not. Your page load speed is an essential factor in your site’s ranking ability because Google has stated multiple times that site speed matters as far as organic search engine rankings go.
SEO is a process that helps companies rank better on search engines and should be considered as one of the essential parts of any online business. It’s not just about getting customers by targeting keywords and phrases but also considering the entire customer journey and ensuring they’re satisfied at every step along the way. If you can tap into how your customer’s brains work at different stages in the purchasing process or lead funnel, you may be able to drive more sales with less effort. The tips we’ve provided should help you start thinking about how you can leverage the power of the human brain in your digital marketing strategy.