Did you know that nearly 70% of all website traffic is from local or organic searches? Without a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, your site won’t appear. You’ll lose website traffic and potential leads.
With customized SEO, you can start appealing to more customers online. Boosting your ranking will lead to more traffic generation and sales.
Not sure how to improve your SEO optimization strategy? Read on for the eight tactics you need to ensure your success.
1. Know Your Target Audience
Google prioritizes website content that matches the user’s needs (their search intent). To provide relevant content, define a specific target audience. If you appeal to a broad audience, create distinct buyer personas.
You can define audience groups based on:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Marital status
- Interests
- Hobbies
- Pain points
- Online behaviors
- Education
- Language
- Buying behaviors
Defining your audience groups will ensure you create personalized content. Imagine speaking to your customer in person. Appeal to the problems they’re experiencing to leverage empathy.
This strategy will help you emotionally connect with customers through your content. Customers will be more inclined to listen to your advice. They’ll begin to recognize how your product or service can benefit their lives.
2. Gather Keyword Research
Defining your target audience will help you gather keyword research. Choose a primary keyword for each blog post you create. The primary keyword should appear in the:
- Page title
- URL
- Opening and closing paragraphs
- Image file name
- Image alt text
- SEO title
- SEO meta description
- Body text
Use online tools like Keyword Planner and Google Trends to identify relevant keywords. Choose phrases that include four or more words. These search terms and more precise, making the search intent clear.
For example, targeting “cookie” can cause content to appear for recipes, nearby bakeries, or nutritional information. However, users may want to clear the HTTP cookies on their browser instead.
For each primary keyword you select, choose three or four secondary keywords. Adding these keywords to your content will minimize keyword stuffing. Otherwise, your content may not appear on search engine result pages (SERPs).
3. Update Your Website
Provide users with a positive user experience (UX) when they visit your website. If your site is difficult to navigate, they’ll leave. This will cause a high bounce rate.
Websites with a high bounce rate rank lower on SERPs. This can hurt your brand’s online visibility.
When updating your website, follow Google’s Core Web Vitals. Make sure the site is:
- Fast
- Easy to navigate
- Mobile-optimized
- Secure with an SSL certificate
Google will review the mobile version of your website before determining your rankings. If it’s not mobile-optimized, you’ll miss the chance to reach customers.
4. Optimize Google Business
Claim and optimize your Google Business listing. This listing can help you appear in front of nearby or mobile customers. The listing will display your:
- Business name
- Hours of operation
- Website
- Address/directions
- Rating and customer reviews
- Recent updates
- Services
Make sure this information is accurate. Post updates and encourage customers to share their reviews. This will keep your profile fresh.
Appearing for local searches can help you generate sales. As your ranking improves, you’ll attract more foot and website traffic.
Local searches lead 50% of all mobile users to visit stores within 24 hours. Meanwhile, over 85% of people check business locations on Google Maps. Optimizing your Google Business listing can help you appear for these searches.
5. Create High-Quality Content
Use your keyword research to create high-quality, helpful blog content. Diversify your content marketing strategy with:
- Blog posts/articles
- Videos
- eBooks
- Tutorials
- Guides
- Listicles
- Interactive content (polls, quizzes, etc.)
Consider hiring an SEO specialist. They can create optimized content for your blog. Their customized strategies will help you appeal to more customers.
6. Generate Links
Your SEO optimization strategy should include three types of links:
- Internal
- External
- Backlinks
Add internal links to your blog posts. They direct readers to your website pages. Send them to other blog posts, service pages, or product pages.
External links send readers to websites other than yours. Reference studies and data to boost your credibility. These links can help you become an expert in your field.
Backlinks are one of Google’s top ranking factors. They appear on other websites and send readers to your content. Generating backlinks can boost your domain authority and rankings.
To generate backlinks, guest blog on other websites. Add a link to your content for better traffic generation. Consider leveraging strategies like Parasite SEO by guest blogging on other websites. Adding links to your content on these platforms can significantly enhance traffic generation and improve your site’s authority and rankings.
7. Track New SEO Tactics
Google’s search algorithm changes hundreds of times throughout the year. Ignoring these changes can hurt your organic rankings. To get ahead of competitors, keep track of new SEO tactics.
The latest search engine optimization trends include:
- Voice search
- Visual searches
- Schema markup
- Video content
- Zero-click searches
- Experience, expertise, authority, trustworthiness (EEAT)
- Author entity importance
- Search generative experiences (SGE)
- User experience and Core Web Vitals
- Topic relevance
- Genuine backlinks
- Updated content
- Search intent
For example, over half of all smartphone users engage with voice search technology. You can appear for voice searches by focusing on longer search terms.
Nearly 90% of marketers who use video content generate a positive ROI. Optimize your YouTube videos to ensure they appear on SERPs. Add your primary keyword to the video’s title, description, and captions.
8. Outsource for Customized Strategies
The best way to improve your organic rankings is to hire a professional. SEO optimization is an ongoing process. Once you improve your rankings, you need to keep gathering research and generating content.
An experienced SEO specialist can:
- Gather keyword research
- Respond to Google Business reviews
- Create relevant content
- Track new SEO tactics
- Review the data from your campaigns
They’ll continue adjusting your SEO strategy to boost your ROI. With their customized strategies, you can accomplish your goals and grow your business.
Benefit From Customized SEO Marketing
A customized SEO marketing strategy can help you reach new customers online. Start using these proven SEO tactics to improve your rankings. Otherwise, ask for help.
Working with a specialist will ensure your rankings improve in no time. With their help, you can maintain your rankings long-term.
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