They say that the first step in marketing your business online is building a website for your brand and starting an SEO strategy. But that doesn’t end there. There are several things to do to get your brand out there. One of those things is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is the process of improving and updating your website so that Google will take notice of it and show your websites to relevant search queries.
If your website appears on the top search results of Google, users are likely to inquire about your product or service. This means that it opens more opportunities for your business to increase your sales and customer base. But how do you start your SEO strategy for a website that was just created? Here are seven useful tips from the best digital marketing company in Los Angeles, Cybertegic.
1 – Create a list of your targeted keywords.
Keyword research is the very first step in starting your SEO strategy campaign. An expert tip to start your keyword research by checking what Google suggests in their search field. Go to Google.com, and start typing a keyword in the search text box, and it will show up a list of suggestions. These suggestions usually make great keywords for your SEO campaign.
Aside from short-tail keywords, add long-tail keywords as well, as they tend to be less competitive and are easier to rank. To double-check the keywords you have added to your list, you can check their search volume and competition levels.
2 – Check your competitors.
Now that you have your keywords, the next thing you need to do is to check your competitors that have already ranked for those keywords. All you need to do is type one of the keywords in Google’s search text box and tap Enter. Then check the top three websites that are ranking for the keyword you have just typed.
Open these top three websites and scan their landing pages. You’d probably want to get the key points that make their websites stand out from all the others. Check all the points that you think you can apply to your website and your landing pages. Also, try to check what your website can do better from these websites.
3 – Optimize your website’s landing pages.
If you like your website to show on top of search results, you need to start by optimizing your landing pages. This is an important part of your SEO strategy. These include several things such as on-page optimization, off-page optimization, link building, and creating content for your brand. One of the things to do is to optimize your website for mobile. Since Google has started their mobile-first indexing update, the search engine company now prioritizes ranking mobile-friendly websites over websites that aren’t.
Another step in optimizing your website is by updating your landing pages’ meta content. This includes your targeted keywords in your meta title, meta description, heading tags, and web page content. You also need to check things such as your website’s loading page speed. Then you should also do off-site optimization and link building to help your landing pages and website to rank higher on Google.
4 – Optimize for search intent.
Most marketers mistake optimizing their website solely for Google and other search engines while forgetting that they should also think about the users. Your website should deliver content that will answer everything the users need to know about your product or service to reach your audience.
For content creation, Google has always recommended marketers to write content for users. The same thing goes when optimizing your website and your landing pages. Always think about what your users will love to see that will make them want to check the product or subscribe to the service. Give them what they need, and they will definitely choose your brand over your competitors.
5 – Create and plan for your content marketing.
Content marketing is a vital part of your SEO strategy. Through building your content, you can introduce your brand to organic search users. You also get the chance to show your expertise by publishing “how-to” or “technical” content about your product and services. This shows search users how in-depth your knowledge is about the industry, and this will push them to trust your brand and what you have to offer them.
But to deliver an effective content marketing strategy, you need to plan out how you will deliver your content. You can create a content calendar that you should follow to have a continuous flow of information about your brand, product/service, and industry. Also, remember that content isn’t just about writing blogs. It also involves creating videos, publishing infographics, and banners.
6 – Build backlinks for your website.
Aside from creating and publishing content for your website, you also need to build backlinks going to your website. Backlinks to your website send signals to search engines that your content is relevant and referred to by other websites in the same industry as yours. But for backlinking to actually work, you need to build backlinks from websites that have high domain authority.
When backlinking, start by fixing any broken links existing on your website. Then proceed by adding backlinks to your website by writing content or creating listings on directory websites or business listing websites.
7 – Track your analytics.
To keep track of whether your SEO campaign is working or not, you need to learn how to track your website’s analytics by using tools such as Google Analytics. You can get valuable data from this tool, including customer acquisition, behavior, and, most importantly, conversions. For example, Google Analytics lets you know which pages on your website have the most online visitors. It also tells you where the traffic is coming from, whether organic, paid, or social media. This helps you point out which channel is the best to reach your audience and which marketing channels need improvement.
Keeping track of your website’s analytics can help you know more about your target audience and their behavior on their websites. This gives you a chance to quickly analyze what marketing strategy works best for your campaign and which doesn’t.