Today, the internet is a significant platform for businesses, as information is available at the click of the button. Studies have shown that online searches influence about 80% of purchase decisions.
In spite of the power of the internet, merely having a website doesn't help you realise its benefits. There are over 700 million active websites and they all are competing for an audience. One sure way of standing out from the crowd is to rank on the first page of search engines such as Google or Yelp among others.
As a blog or website owner, you can achieve this by implementing a proper search engine optimisation such as SEO strategy.
What Is SEO Strategy?
SEO Strategy is the process of thoughtfully organising the content of your website or blog in a manner that allows the search engines to figure out what it contains easily. As a result, the search engine can single it out during search queries.
An effective SEO strategy will lead to higher rankings and more traffic. Here are three fundamental factors to keep in mind.
Technical Page Set Up
The functional set up of a website contributes significantly to how it performs on SEO rankings. The pages should be properly aligned and the site easy to navigate. A major problem with poorly designed sites is their slow loading speed. Users will leave a site as soon as they notice that it lags, and they will not come back.
Content Is King
It is no longer enough to have relevant keywords sprayed all over your content. You need to offer quality content to those who visit your site. It will make them stay longer on your site and explore other pages. Otherwise, they will bounce out as soon as they find out you have nothing to offer.
Hyperlinks & Backlinks
Another way of getting your website or blog to stand out is by delinking it from other sites. Independent bloggers write about a service or product and link it to the manufacturer’s website.
Importance Of Local SEO
Internet users are always looking for solutions that are closer to their location. The first way of ensuring a high ranking on local searches is to have your content tailored to your region. Content on “insurance agents in Southampton”, for example, will rank higher than just “insurance services in the UK” if the user is in Southampton.
Black-hat SEO Vs. White-hat SEO
The above SEO strategies are known as White-hat, as they express no pretence or malice.
However, some websites trick search engines into making them rank higher on search results. These are known as black-hat SEO techniques, which include SEO keyword stuffing, inappropriate use of links, and spamming other websites.
While such underhand techniques can result in quick gains, they do not pay in the long run. The latest search engine ranking algorithm can easily single out such sites. The penalty is low search engine rankings or even blacklisting. This really isn't good for business. If you lack the expertise to develop a proper SEO strategy, hire a professional. The returns will be worth the investment.
