As part of any online marketing strategy, SEO is integral to driving consumers to your business via online platforms. Effective marketing highly demands it.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a collection of best practices and tools that help your website rank higher in search results, thereby driving more traffic to your website and potentially more business.

Although SEO once involved inserting keywords to your website for Google or any other search engine to find, SEO in 2019 is far more complex and requires a much broader scope of considerations.

SEO these days is a full-time job for businesses, and many are turning to marketing and website design experts for support.

The Role of SEO in Digital Marketing

We know what SEO stands for, but do we know what it actually means in the digital marketing world?

When building or updating the site for your business, using keywords and SEO is critical to being discovered organically on the internet. You can surely pay for placement, but this is a fairly expensive option and must be ongoing in order to maintain a good ranking.

It also doesn’t guarantee top placement. Organic leads are what you need to strive for. Why? Because these people found you via Google or some other search engine or free avenue.

When search engines, such as Google and Bing crawl your website, they look for words relevant to what users are searching for most. Big corporate giants know the importance of keyword searches.

For instance, when you enter “the best dog food for puppies,” you’ll find all articles on the first page. However, if you do the same thing but use keywords like “dog food” or “food for puppies,” you’ll start to find more name-brand companies in the search results.

Creating an SEO Strategy

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Forget whatever it is you think you know about SEO and start looking at it as an ever-evolving field.

As search engines’ capabilities and users’ behaviors develop and change over time, standards tend to come and go in a blink of the eye. Assuming you could skip SEO and just “wing-it” wouldn’t be the best decision. There’s a 50/50 chance that it might keep you from reaching your full business potential.

The online marketing industry is evolving and so is your business’s industry. When it comes to SEO, you can’t just “set it and forget it.” You’ll have to keep tracking and monitoring how well things are working so that you can always stay one step ahead of the competition.

Below are a few points you might want to consider while working out an SEO strategy.

#1: Who’s in your target market?

In today’s competitive world, SEO isn’t just about grabbing as much traffic as you can. Instead, it’s more like attracting high-value visitors who are interested in what you offer.

In terms of demographics, what is it that your market want? How are they performing internet searches? Where are they located?

The more specific and straightforward your answers, the more valuable and effective your investments in SEO become. Google Analytics is a great place to start your investigations!

#2: Search engines are expanding

When you hear about search engines, do you automatically assume that they’re talking about Google?

Google has such a big share of the digital market that “Googling” has now become a verb. However, a good portion of searches takes place on alternative websites, such as Bing by Microsoft.

Consider making a point to search for your website on Google alternatives to check where you rank. Just adding meta tags and improving your social media engagement could be what it takes to boost a couple ranks on Bing.

#3: Most people search on phones

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You don’t really need statistics to understand that the online mobile market has exploded in the past few years, overtaking desktops nearly a decade ago.

Optimizing your website for mobile browsers is crucial if you want to rank well in search results pages. If you’re not sure about how your site measures up, consider putting your website’s URL in Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

#4: What is your audience searching for?

Not very long ago, the average people didn’t trust search engines to understand conversational questions.

People would search with clunky phrases, such as “flower delivery michigan.” But now, people feel much comfortable typing out phrases like “who delivers roses near me?”

Changes in searcher habits are typically subtle but may affect which keywords will be most effective for your website. So, it would be ideal to focus on keywords that translate into conversations, revenue, and profits rather than focusing on those that get you more traffic.

#5: Links to your website are extremely valuable

When another site links to your website, search engines consider it an indicator that your website contains valuable content.

Just a few years ago, getting dozens of links from cheap, low-quality websites was all it took to boost your SEO ranking. Today, however, the value of a link to your website depends on the quality of the site which linked to you.

A couple of links to your business from high-traffic websites will do wonders for your SEO ranking!

#6: Quality content is king and simple navigation reigns

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A user-friendly website with engaging, easy-to-find information will boost your site traffic.

It’s recommended to build each page around keyword themes with unique content. This way, search engines will index your page(s) easily and rank you higher in search results.

When it comes to better ranking, positive behavior from site visitors is your best bet. Consider keeping the content on your website natural and focused. Also, avoid jargon and keyword stuffing to keep visitors from leaving your site unhappy and impairing its ranking.

#7: Social media has a pivotal role

Social media is an evolving platform, which has changed from a basic communication platform to a highly profitable digital marketing channel.

Many people start their searches on social media, then make their way to the website of a business. Sharing interesting, personalized, and up-to-date content will attract more users to your profile, and eventually to your site.

#8: Analysis is the key to SEO

Monitoring your website ranking on search engines is key to gaining better results.

You can start by tracking the most effective website metrics to set a baseline for your site performance. Then, make small content changes to see if you notice any boost in your site rankings or traffic.

Also, avoid making several irrelevant changes simultaneously so that you can always keep track of what was responsible for enhanced performance.

#9: SSL Encryption

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An SSL encryption is a small yet mighty SEO tool to consider. It boosts the security of your website. It’s also great for SEO as it keeps your visitors’ data safe when they land on your site.

If you’re running an Ecommerce site that requires users to enter a username, password, and credit card information to complete a transaction, consider activating an SSL encryption.

Your site visitors may not know that your website is encrypted with SSL, but the search engines crawling your site will, thus boosting your ranking.

Wrapping Up

We’ve discussed some of the crucial components of a successful SEO campaign. Beyond that, there are lots of other marketing strategies that can affect how your site ranks indirectly, such as Email marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, etc.

This means you can’t really afford to approach each of these campaigns individually. The most successful businesses integrate all their campaigns, which ensures there’s always something pushing their leads further to converting into a consumer.

Additionally, you can look for SEO services that offer website optimization. They can help you get ranked on Google, assist you with creating content, optimize your site to perform better, improve your rankings, and much more.

Implementing strong, ethical SEO on a business’s site and digital properties is always going to favor that business and its digital marketing efforts.

SEO is considered a “new age” marketing technique. However, it’s critical to a business’s online presence in this day and age, especially since rivaling competition and available data continue to increase and grow.