Every day, consumers turn to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing to find what they want. On the other hand, did you know that Google processes more than 40,000 search queries per second on average!? Yep, let that sink in. That’s 3.5 billion searches per day! Given the prevalence of online search, it is not surprising that when consumers search for a specific product or service they offer, all businesses want to appear at the top of the search results.

However, the reality is that to achieve the coveted top rankings, it requires not only a good business and online image; it requires a reliable search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. In short, search engines have two main functions: crawling and indexing, and then generate ranking lists based on the sites that search engines think are most relevant to users. The use of SEO is the key to increasing the visibility of a brand’s website, which in turn improves organic search rankings. When implemented strategically, SEO can help bring more traffic to your website, increase your return on investment, generate more potential customers, and increase the overall brand awareness of your business.

As the starting point for your SEO strategy, use these five basic techniques to improve your brand’s organic search ranking:

Determine your target keywords

The first step in developing an SEO strategy that matches your business goals is to determine your target key Words are the main words and phrases that reflect your brand and content. By conducting keyword research using tools such as Google Ads Keyword Planner, WordStream, or Wordtracker, you can determine which keywords are most relevant to your target audience-this information will help you increase the visibility and reach of your content. Your website results in search. Ultimately, this lays the foundation for your content strategy by guiding you to create valuable content specifically for your audience. Generally speaking, a good rule of thumb for your SEO strategy is to focus on optimizing your website content with 1-3 keywords… Although this may seem like a small number, including too many keywords can actually hurt your SEO, because search engines will consider this kind of keyword filling, which is the practice of filling web pages with the same target words to improve rankings.

Optimize your on-page search engine optimization

On-page search engine optimization is the process of optimizing individual web pages with target keywords so that they rank higher in search results, attract more traffic and convert more visitors. The implementation of On-Page SEO is an important part of improving the online search ranking of enterprises. Once you have determined your brand’s target keywords, the next step is to optimize your web pages by merging keywords into each of the following key areas:

URL structure – Although URLs play a small role in SEO ranking, they are fully optimized. The URL allows visitors and search engines to easily identify and understand where the link is going.

Title tag– The title tag is a simple but essential page SEO element – it is the main title that appears in search results and the title bar at the top of the web browser.

Body text – The body content is the main text on your page and the most important place to include keywords because it contains most of the information your visitors are looking for.

Meta description – The meta description appears in search results and provides a short summary of the page. Therefore, if your meta description contains targeted keywords, your web pages are more likely to attract visitors.

H1 tag – The H1 tag is the main title that users will see when they visit your webpage. Its purpose is to indicate what the web page needs, so it should contain keywords related to the content of the page.

Image ALT attribute – Another way to improve SEO ranking is to add keywords to the ALT attribute of the image to provide alternative text. Describe your images in case users can’t see them. When you hover over the image, these attributes will also appear as tooltips. Using page rating plugins, such as WordPress Yoast SEO, HubSpot’s website grader, or Moz On-Page Grader, is a great way to display your content on the page. You can then adjust the pages of your website accordingly to further improve your search ranking.

Develop an excellent content strategy

Search engines prefer websites that regularly update high-quality content. Therefore, to develop a content strategy that can drive traffic to your website, one of your main goals should be to create high-quality content optimized for search. In other words, although “content is king” may be a popular mantra, not all content is good content. To make the most of your content strategy, create and publish key topics that can help your brand build authoritative content today, or you want to become an expert while leveraging relevant and specific keywords. After determining your content goals and core themes, the next step will be to develop your content strategy. However, keep in mind that different parts of the sales funnel require different types of content because your audience will have different needs during the buying process.

Blogs are a great way to fill your website with high-quality content. Relevant, valuable, and/or interesting to your visitors, which in turn helps your brand generate more authority on the page and rank higher in search results. In fact, the company that owns a blog generates about 67% more potential customers than companies without blogs. This content can then be promoted through other channels (such as social media, email, and digital advertising) to bring more traffic back to your website.

Dominate link building strategies

Another key element of an effective SEO strategy is the implementation of outbound, internal, and inbound link-building strategies. One of the main ways search engines such as Google measure and rank the quality of website content is through backlinks or “inbound” links, which is a form of off-page SEO. These are basically links from external domains that point to one of your web pages. Websites with high-quality backlinks from other relevant and reputable sources tend to rank higher in search results. A good way to attract high-quality backlinks is through guest blogs, creating useful or interesting content, distributing infographics, or promotional activities. Focus on the quality, not the quantity, of the links you attract from other websites related to your business or industry. Another link-building strategy is to combine internal links or links to another page into your own website and outbound links, or links from your website to another trusted source. Especially blogs are a good place to use these internal and outgoing links.

Make sure that you republish your existing content

One of the main benefits of owning a blog is the SEO value it provides. This is also a great way to keep your website up to date. Since not every blog post you create will get the popularity it deserves, it’s important to take the time to breathe new life into high-performance content that remains relevant and valuable by updating or reposting fresh content and images. This will not only extend the life of your content but will also further optimize your website while building on the existing SEO value of your content that has accumulated over time. In fact, updating old blog posts can increase your website’s organic search traffic by up to 112%. In other words, not all blog posts are the same. In terms of SEO, some are more valuable than others. As part of a content marketing strategy, it is important to strategically plan which blog posts are worth updating to generate the best search results. A good starting point is to create a list of everything. Then check the traffic statistics of your website and determine which posts:

Provide more detailed information, readers are more likely to share it, have a higher conversion rate, and better resonate with your readers (i.e. more page time, lower Bounce rate) As a general rule, based on experience, the best practice is to update and/or republish old content every 3-6 months, depending on the frequency of your content creation efforts. Once you have optimized your website for search, you must continue to use analytics tools such as Google Analytics to regularly monitor its performance to determine which keywords and traffic sources generate the most conversions. This data will help determine the best keywords to use in a content strategy targeting in the future for the best results, and which keywords you should abandon altogether.

If you are looking for an SEO agency in Glasgow to increase your online exposure and digital footprint within Google? Get in touch today! We are Seo Glasgow.