You’re likely familiar with Search Engine optimization (SEO) by now. You understand the basics and that SEO is a key component of online success for any business. You may have trouble figuring out how to use SEO effectively.
You’re not the only one who feels this way. It is a common problem for businesses to integrate and align their SEO efforts with their digital marketing strategy. We’ve developed a guide to help you adjust your strategy and make your campaigns successful.
Learn how to optimize digital marketing strategies in SEO. Continue reading to learn more.
Optimize your digital marketing strategy in SEO.
SEO optimization, unlike many other topics, is more science than art. Although creativity is important, especially when it comes to high-quality content, there are steps that you can take to increase your search ranking and attract more users to the top of your funnel.
Your ultimate goal in SEO is to get your website on the first page of Google results since this is where most of the internet traffic comes from. According to iMPACT, “The top websites get 42 percent of traffic, the second only 11 percent and the third only 8%.” It is clear why you need to have your website at the top.
SEO is not only about increasing clicks. Rankings based on SEO can also help you improve your brand’s:
- Reach
- Credibility
- Authority
- Sales
- Name Recognition
Keywords: The Kings and Queens of Search Engine Optimization
Keywords still dominate SEO even though creating quality content is an important part of digital marketing. The right SEO strategy is not about stuffing as many keywords into your website as possible. It’s more about finding the best target keyword–those keywords that you can rank for.
How do you find the best keywords to use and then act on that information? Follow these three steps:
- Perform competitor analysis — To perform competitor analysis, you can use the SEO tool Moz. MOZ has a scale that ranges from 0-100. Google gives you a higher score if your number is high. This can be used to compare the ranking of your website with that of competitors and identify keywords with high traffic or new audiences.
- Create a keyword map. You can find keywords with the keyword tool. You can find keywords using good search volume. You can also find out more about the following: Ideal keyword difficulty Using tools such as SEMrush, Google Adwords, or Ahrefs. You can then map out the locations by:
- Grouping keywords that are related to the same question or topic
- Create bucket keywords and URLs to use as placeholders
- The keyword buckets can be used to generate potential URLs or content
- Optimize your on-page content. You’ll now need to optimize your pages for users and search engines. You can optimize your site by:
- Add the target keyword within the first 100 characters
- Give the title of your blog an H1 tag
- Subheadings in H2 tags
- Keep keyword frequency high without keyword stuffing
- Use external (outbound links) and internal hyperlinks
- SEO URL Optimization
- Use unique keyword-rich meta-descriptions
- Divide the content into smaller sections for easier reading
The Content is What Matters
Google’s mission is to provide the most useful, relevant, and current content for users’ searches. It’s not just about getting clicks to make content successful. It is important to encourage page visitors to remain on the page and then convince them to return for more content.
Engagement of the audience is key.
While they may appear to be at odds with each other, SEO and Content Marketing can and should be combined. Whether it’s blog posts, web copy, or other written content, every piece should:
- Useful information backed up by credible sources and research should be presented in a digestible and engaging format. Messages should be tailored to your brand’s voice and style.
- Create a sales message that is well-thought-out and addresses both the primary pain points of your target audience as well as what they want to achieve.
- Include keywords that are relevant to your brand and answer searches related to it.
- Then, end with a CTA that will propel the reader to the next stage in the sales funnel.
Internal linking & SEO outreach
Domain authority is a factor that measures the number and quality of links to and from pages. When others link to your pages, or you include links on your other sites, both their search rankings are boosted. According to Forbes
Google uses links in order to determine what content is relevant to the search and how valuable it is. A good internal linking structure will help the bot crawl your site. The bot uses these links to render the pages and determine if they are relevant to the search results. What are the relationships between the pages, and which one is more important?
There are two strategies that you can use to link your internal pages:
- Spread the link equity. According to Moz, “Once colloquially called “link juice,” it is a ranking factor that’s based on a belief that some links transfer value and authority from ONE page TO ANOTHER.”
- Low-hanging fruits are the best to be nurtured. some links are easy to obtain, and while they may not be as valuable as links of high quality, it is still worth including them in your internal linking strategy. Examples might include:
- Cross-linking your company website or blog
- Even if the links are “no-follow,” you can still use them.
- Local business listings
- Press Releases
- Share/mentions on social media
Element Markup
This is also known as schema markup. It’s a more recent form of optimization in a digital marketing campaign. Element markup is not used enough because it is so new.
What is it exactly?
This code is added to your site and helps search engines find more information that’s useful for users. You can tell Google exactly what your website data means, not just what you say. Product schemas are useful for e-commerce sites. They can display:
- The star rating
- The price of the product
- Stock Status
Rich snippets can include all of this and more information. This will give you more real estate on the search engine and increase your click-through rate (CTR).
You can mark up elements using schema.org and improve your SEO efforts.
Avoid technical issues
It can be a problem if your platform is having SEO issues. This will prevent the site from appearing in search engine results. There are many potential problems, both big and small. However, the most common ones are:
- Titles on duplicate pages
- Page titles, meta description, and H1 tags are missing
- Links to redirect URLs and 404s
You can avoid technical problems by taking the following steps:
- Crawlability is a good indicator of a crawl ability test
- What pages Google has indexed
- Search Console: Force Google to index your website
- Checking Search Console for Errors
