An effective SEO strategy can bring customers directly to your website and help your business achieve its goals. SEO works well as an adjunct to paid channels such as pay-per-click advertising (PPC) or affiliate marketing; plus it’s an invaluable way to drive qualified traffic and conversions for direct-to-consumer sites. However, with so many moving parts involved it can be hard to know where to begin; that’s why in this article we will take you step by step through what SEO is and how you can start building a plan that will have your brand soar quickly!
Search engines are designed to deliver an optimal experience for their users, or “searchers.” To achieve this goal, search engines use complex algorithms that survey all websites on the web and determine what results should be returned when answering any query. There are various strategies you can employ in order to optimize your site for search, but one popular method involves writing content tailored towards optimizing keywords your potential customers may use when using search engines to locate products or services like yours.
Keywords are at the core of an SEO strategy and should be integrated into every piece of content on your site. Unfortunately, English can be an ambiguous language with different words having multiple meanings; you also must consider search intent – what your audience is really searching for when entering keywords into search engines like Google or Bing – ranking highly for an Atlanta Falcons hat keyword may attract some searchers looking for relevant information but may also bring in those simply trying to buy one elsewhere from competing sites.
As part of SEO, creating a clear navigation structure is vitally important to visitors being able to locate what they need quickly and easily. One method for accomplishing this goal is breadcrumbs – which show general pages at the top and list more specific pages down as you scroll. Another solution could be creating internal navigation pages which link related content for easy navigating between sections of your site.
Once your objectives and KPIs have been clarified, it’s time to create your SEO plan. While starting can be intimidating, resources are available that can provide help – The Forbes Agency Council offers an informative guide with nine essential steps for getting an SEO strategy underway – With hard work and patience, this plan could quickly propel you toward the top of the SERPs!