Inbound SEO

Want to Build a Stronger SEO Strategy? Here’s How

You may have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but aren’t completely sure how it can benefit your business. Or maybe it seems a little too confusing to set up an SEO strategy for your website. Where do you even begin?

We’re here to pull the curtain back and unravel the mystery. SEO doesn’t have to seem like an impossible feat. You just have to know the rules that Google (and other search engines but mostly Google,) have put in place to help their users find the answers they’re looking for.

The first step to SEO strategy is to identify a keyword for every piece of content you create. A keyword is a three- to five-word term that sums up the topic of what you’re writing about, like “SEO strategy.” You can find and research the strength of your keywords by using tools like keyword.io and Moz.

Keywords tell search engines what your content is about, and as people click on your page and read it, search engines identify your page as a trusted resource and push it higher in the results. Your goal should be to end up in the top ten so that you’re on the first page. To do that, you’ll want to include your keyword throughout your content, so it’s clear what your topic is. Your keyword should be:

• In your page title
• In an H2 on the site
• At least three times within the body copy
• In the alt-text of an image
• In the URL of the page
• In your meta description

Now you might be wondering, how do I know if my keyword is even good? Great question! Your keywords should be relevant to your audience and hopefully be something that they’re searching for. You don’t want to pick something too broad, like “coffee” or “mousepads” because there’s a ton of traffic to these terms and most pages have owned the space for a long time.

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Google and other search engines have the same main goal. They want to make the experience better for their user to find the answer to what they’re looking for. And this won’t always play in your favor. Things like images, ads, and featured questions all push organic results down, so you have to really hone in on what your audience is talking about to find the right space of the web to target.

You can identify good keywords by focusing your topics around what your audience is talking about and looking for answers to, not what you think is the most relevant. If your keywords are things that people are looking for, the organic traffic will start rolling in. As more people view your page, your site will gain domain authority and rise higher in search. Seeing the benefits of SEO takes time, but if you keep at it, you’ll begin to see your hard work pay off.

Use SEO to Stand Out Locally

Your keywords should be highly focused on your business, which will help you own the niche space in search around your industry. Everyone’s heard the term, “owning your backyard.” SEO strategy can be part of that!

Along with keywords on your site, you should also make it clear where you’re located. With some keywords, you might never be able to rank in the top ten because of the amount of traffic surrounding them. However, you will find it easier to rank for these keywords with a local area attached to them. For example, if you’re an inbound marketing agency in Cleveland, Ohio, you might not ever reach the top for just “inbound marketing” but “inbound marketing in Cleveland, Ohio,” could be an easier and much more attainable target.

Local SEO also works because when people search things like “marketing agencies near me,” Google knows where they are. Instead of pulling up the top ranking marketing agencies in the country or even the world, it’s going to show you marketing agencies local to your location, as well as sites that show they’re in the area.

You can utilize local SEO by putting the location you want to target in a few places. Use it in the page title and meta description of your content so it shows up in search, and be sure to fill out a Google My Business page. This is how all your information will show up in search results, so be sure everything is accurate. Put together, these tactics will help drive local organic traffic to your website.

Use Optimized Links to Drive Traffic

Anchor text backlinks are another optimization that you should use to build a bulletproof SEO strategy. These links look the same as any other hyperlink on your site, but the text that you use as your link contains the keyword of the content you’re linking to. This helps your domain authority rise because when Google crawls your site, they’ll recognize what topic you’re talking about and see that you have multiple pieces of content around it. It makes you look better, and Google can tell that you’re providing a wealth of information around a specific topic for its users.

These links can also include a variation of your keyword instead of a direct match. So don’t feel like you have to force things into your content just to get a boost. Semantic keywords can help your links feel more natural so the reader doesn’t feel jolted out of your content. You should try to have two or three anchor text backlinks within every content piece so you’re getting the most out of your SEO strategy.

How to Optimize for Meta Descriptions the Right Way

One of the most important aspects of your SEO strategy should be making sure that every page on your site has a meta description. These are easily forgotten about once you’ve worked hard on a post and you’re just ready to get it live, but without one your website could look questionable in the search results.

Let’s back up. If you’re not sure what a meta description is, Google something and look at the organic results, the text below the page title is the meta description. These are blocks of text that’s 250 characters minimum and give more info on what your page is about. You should use these to encourage people to click on your page and also include your keyword for SEO benefits.

Use AdWords to Drive Traffic to Your Website

Once you’ve mastered meta descriptions, you’re ready to take things more technical. Take your SEO strategy to the next level by using Google AdWords to advertise your content in relevant searches based on the keywords that you’ve found.

Google AdWords can seem like a mystery. But, if you understand how to use them to benefit the search traffic to your business, you can start driving more qualified leads to your site.

AdWords works by using your top keywords and creating campaigns around them. You choose keywords and pay to run ads against them that lead to your site, your blog, or landing pages. It’s important that you choose the keywords that work for you best instead of several that might just be okay. Quality is better than quantity in this case, and when you’re paying for it, you want to make sure it works.

To make sure your ad performs well, put your keyword in the headline of your ad instead of the body copy. This will help put your ad at the top of the list and drive more clicks. Another way to drive clicks is with extensions. If you add a call button to your ad, you’ll look more professional, and people will be more willing to look further into your information than just a regular ad. These can also help you stand out from the crowd, so you might catch the eye of someone who normally scrolls right past these.

When you’re using AdWords, we’d recommend avoiding broad matching. While it sounds good on the outside, having your ad show up for every related keyword might not actually drive the traffic that you want. However, dynamic keyword insertion will. This setting allows your ads to appear more relevant to searches who type in something that matches your target semantically but changes the title to match what they’re interested in.

AdWords is a deep topic, and it can be helpful to take a class or two to understand what you’re doing better. Once you’ve played around with it, try testing some ads on a trial basis to get a feel for how things work. Then use the tips we mentioned above to start grabbing more organic clicks.

Interested in learning more about building out a smart SEO strategy for your website? Check out some of our articles below to go more in-depth on the topics we covered.