GUEST BLOG: What Is Included in a Proper SEO Strategy?

I asked my friend and colleague, Brandon Leibowitz of SEO Optimizers, to share his expertise with a guest blog on what a proper SEO strategy looks like! Brandon is also a SCORE workshop presenter and we met back in 2019 through our home chapter, SCORE Los Angeles. He is the ONLY SEO expert I trust and refer to. If you want his expertise on your SEO and Google Ads strategy, book a SEO review strategy session: https://seooptimizers.com/free-website-analysis

 Now..on to his blog: 

No other invention has changed the way we think, work, and do business more than the computer, and a proper search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is crucial to taking advantage of this for your benefit. In 2023, if your business doesn’t have a strong online presence and a comprehensive SEO strategy, you’re guaranteed to be missing out on a massive chunk of worldwide retail sales, with losses only growing every year.

Luckily, anyone with a computer and online access has the capabilities to begin developing and implementing a rudimentary SEO strategy that will help you start making gains over your competitors. Following these tips will increase sales, drive clicks and conversions, and help you grow organic web traffic along with word-of-mouth marketing and business. 

Web 2.0 SEO Strategies

As technology grows and develops, search engines get smarter every day. They are capable of learning and growing, and engineers constantly develop algorithms that are more sensitive to those trying to trick them or use anything other than a reliable, correct, and proper SEO strategy to raise their ranking. 

 Google is the most prominent search engine, and if you are penalized by them for an improper SEO strategy, it can be devastating to your business and income. That’s why it’s more important than ever to be smart about your SEO, leave nothing to chance, and take proactive control of how you advertise online. Following these tips will provide an excellent starting point for an SEO strategy that is comprehensive, legitimate, and effective.

 Tip #1: Analyze Your Site

 Before you can take any steps, you need to establish where you already are in your SEO strategy.

Examine your website for the following criteria: 

• Do you have duplicate content?
• Do you have enough keywords and content that a search engine can tell what the purpose of your site is?
• Is your content authoritative and trustworthy?
• Do your pages have headlines and titles?
• Is your content engaging to users, with visual elements like images, links that work, and an intuitive layout?
• Do you use a secure (HTTPS) website URL?

 
Tip #2: Establish KPIs

 Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are metrics that help you get a feel for where you currently stand on SEO performance. Before implementing anything else, it’s important to see what you are doing well already, and what areas need work.

Some good KPIs to watch out for are:

• What is the click-through rate of your site?
• What keywords are most effective at leading people to find your site in their searches?
• How many organic sessions do you have versus people who clicked on ads?
• How many pages per session do people view?
• How long is the average time people spend on your site?
• What is your page load time?
• What page do people usually exit or enter your site on?

If you are unfamiliar with SEO terminology and concepts, you may want to spend some time analyzing and studying all of this. Before you can truly establish a proper SEO strategy, you should be able to understand and answer most of these questions. 

If you need help with these initial two steps, search each question individually until you grasp it or contact an SEO professional for help understanding them. Now that you have a basic grasp on where your website and current SEO strategy stands, such as what works and what isn’t working, you can begin taking more specific steps to improve your ranking. 

SEO Steps to Take 

Step #1: Keyword Research

Every good SEO strategy starts with keyword research. First, use Google’s suggested results and Google Search Console to analyze what keywords lead users to your website or your competitor’s websites. Use this analysis to build a list of keywords you need to include in your content and go back to add as many as possible without losing the focus of your page.

Step #2: Make Your Content Stand Out

To succeed at SEO, you have to offer something different or better than your competitors. Look at what they offer, and try to come up with something original that no one else offers. Consider this your hook, and try to give people a reason to want to use or link to your site by providing fresh, original, or different content than the other results. 

 
Step #3: Mobile Optimization

 Google and other search engines place a high priority on sites that work well on phones. Phones are a leading driver of web traffic, and it’s important to make sure that your site is optimized to load and function on any device. 

Step #4: Voice Search Optimization

 Search engines are also developing a priority for people using more conversational language in their searches, often by speaking into their phones. Voice-assisted tools and virtual assistants using elements of AI will continue to grow in usage. This means that your keyword strategy needs to begin adapting to these changes by incorporating content and keywords that match up with conversational queries using long-tail keywords. 

 
Step #5: Intent-based queries

 Google’s algorithms use natural language processing (NLP) to accurately gauge what people are searching for beyond keywords. To optimize your SEO, you need to tailor your content to provide relevant answers to these queries and not simply come off as trying to fit as many keywords as possible into your content. 

 Step #6: Visual Content

 Without interactive, visual content like videos and images, your website will suffer in search rankings. Google uses these metrics, along with statistics about your site like core web vitals (how long pages take to load, etc.) to determine how much effort you put into your site. Adding visual content shows that you care about curating and providing relevant and accurate information, which will help your search rankings. 

 
Step #7: Geographic SEO

 There are a few different types of specific SEO, like national SEO versus local SEO. To create a truly comprehensive SEO strategy, you need to be able to target people close to your geographical location who search for your service or product. Try to use location-specific content, tailored search queries to your location, and other services like Google’s “My Business” listing to optimize your content for local or “near me” searches. 

Don’t Leave Your SEO to Chance

 If you want to succeed in the modern marketplace, you need to make online sales. If you want to make online sales, you have to be found in search engines. If you want to be found in search engines, you will need an SEO strategy. 

 Research shows that around 25% of online users click the first result given in Google for a search. That is a massive and critically important chunk of business that you need to attempt to siphon away from your competitors. Without actively developing and implementing an SEO strategy, it is almost impossible to reach this coveted first position or to get close enough to it to be visible when searching. 

Failing to heed this advice will hurt you now, and will only continue to hurt you more and more as the years go on. Online sales are steadily growing, and as rents rise, commutes get more crowded, and brick-and-mortar stores face ever-increasing challenges, this share will continue to grow by the billions until it becomes the majority of sales.

This is inevitable, and anyone who doesn’t recognize it risks being left behind along the way. Don’t let your life, income, and business remain up to chance. Take these steps, and if you need help contact the SEO professionals to make sure that you take every step possible towards success!