SEO Strategy

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Nearly 70% of all online activity begins with a search engine like Google. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can boost your website’s ranking. Each time someone searches for your product or service, your website could appear.

About 75% of searchers never look beyond the first page, though. If you’re not ranking on the first page, consumers might not see your website. You need a strong SEO strategy to boost your online ranking.

What is an SEO strategy, exactly, and what does it entail? Keep reading to find out.

In this guide, we’ll review everything you need to know for developing your own SEO marketing strategy. Get started with your SEO strategy development using these tips today!

What is an SEO Strategy?

First, let’s answer the question that’s likely on your mind: what is an SEO strategy?

An effective SEO strategy involves multiple components, including:

• Audience and keyword research
• Content creation
• Website optimization and HTML changes
• Link-building
• Trust

SEO strategy development can help your website rank higher for specific keywords on Google. You don’t have to pay to achieve a higher ranking. Instead, SEO is organic.

White Hat vs. Black Hat SEO

When developing your SEO marketing strategy, it’s important to use white hat SEO tactics. 

Black hat SEO involves using sneaky tactics like link scraping and keyword stuffing. These tactics can work for the short term. In the end, however, Google will likely penalize and blacklist your website.

You’ll never rank for search queries if that happens.

White hat SEO allows businesses to improve their rankings using Google best practices.

For example, you don’t want to create duplicate content on your website. Some websites use the same keyword throughout a post, which is called keyword stuffing.

Cloaking, redirecting, and poor linking practices are examples of black hat SEO, too. 

Instead, you should focus on:

• Creating high-quality, fresh, relevant content
• Posting labelled images
• Using complete sentences and proper grammar
• Using standard-compliant HTML
• Writing unique and relevant page titles
• Adding relevant links and references to your posts

Unfortunately, SEO standards aren’t always clear-cut. The algorithm changes throughout the year, too. With that in mind, you’ll need to continue adjusting your SEO strategy based on the latest ranking factors and trends.

SEO Strategy Development

It’s not enough to answer the question “what is an SEO strategy?” Now it’s time to put it into practice!

SEO strategy development doesn’t have to feel stressful. Here are a few essentials that can help you get started. 

Keyword Research

Before working on your SEO marketing strategy, you need to understand who your customers are. What are they searching for online? Then, you can create content that appeals to their search intent.

Appealing to the user’s search intent can help boost your ranking. 

To understand the user’s search intent, you’ll need to gather keyword research. You can use tools like Google Trends or Keyword Planner. An experienced SEO agency can help, too.

When gathering your keyword, look for short-tail and long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are usually posed as questions. They’re more precise, too.

Developing a long-tail SEO strategy can help you better appeal to the user’s search intent. 

Content

Once you have a list of keywords to work with, you can start developing content.

First, make sure your content is high-quality, informative, and engaging. If content doesn’t help the reader, they’ll leave. Your bounce rate could rise, which will hurt your SEO ranking.

Instead, use your long-tail SEO strategy to inform your content.

For example, a parent might search “when is it time to take my child to their first dentist appointment?” Dentists can use this long-tail keyword to create an informative post. A dentist can use their experience and expertise to offer helpful advice.

Make sure your advice is actionable. What should readers do after reading your post? In this case, the reader might schedule a dentist appointment for their child.

Improve the post’s readability by using headings, subheadings, bullets, and lists. Avoid using too much jargon, too. 

HTML

Your website optimization strategy could impact your SEO strategy.

If you neglect your HTML, Google could have a hard time understanding your content. It won’t adjust your search ranking properly as a result.

When developing your website optimization strategy, consider your:

• Title tags
• Meta description
• Schema
• Subheadings
• Alt text
• URL slug

You’ll need to update your website architecture, too. First, make sure your website is easy to crawl and index. Consider creating a sitemap to ensure your website is easy to crawl.

Then, make sure there’s no duplicate content across your site. 

Make sure your website is mobile-optimized, too. Google uses mobile-first indexing when determining rankings. In fact, about 30% of all mobile searches are related to location.

Speed up your website as well. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to determine what’s causing your site to lag.

Otherwise, adjust your website with Google’s Core Web Vitals in mind. 

Link-Building

If you want to boost your SEO ranking, link-building is essential. It can take time to generate backlinks from high-authority websites, though.

Consider guest blogging to generate fresh links. Don’t neglect your internal linking, too. Internal linking can help Google crawl your site. 

Trust

Google now looks for websites with EAT: expertise, authority, trustworthiness.

You can build EAT by adding writer bios to your blog posts. Demonstrate your experience and expertise. 

Make sure you understand the reader’s search intent. Otherwise, they could bounce. A high bounce rate won’t help you become an authority.

Make sure to link to high-authority websites when referencing studies and research, too.

Consider your local SEO strategy as well.

First, update your Google My Business listing. Ask your happy customers to post their reviews on your listing. Happy, fresh reviews can build brand trust and your online authority.

An SEO Strategy Is Your Guide to a Higher Ranking

To recap, what is an SEO strategy? It’s your path to a higher ranking! As your SEO ranking improves, you can reach more customers and generate more business.

Don’t let the competition get ahead this year. Instead, work to develop your SEO marketing strategy today. 

Need help? We’re happy to lend a hand.