There are countless ways to grow your brand on the Internet. However, when it comes to delivering more sustainable organic traffic to your site and being cost-effective, SEO (search engine optimization) is at the top of everyone’s list. Mastering it, however, requires more than just seeding the right keywords in your content.
A winning SEO strategy must focus not only on the technical aspects of search engines and web crawlers but also on improving user experience and delivering value to the audience. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps you must take in order to create a fool-proof SEO strategy. But first, let’s clear some basics.
Basics of SEO Strategy
Many folks associate SEO with keyword research and sprinkling these magic terms across different web pages on their site. While they are not wrong, keywords make up just one tiny part of this exercise.
A robust SEO strategy is a comprehensive plan to boost the visibility of your site on SERPs and drive more organic traffic to your site. It is incomplete without these three key components:
- On-Page SEO: In this SEO, you optimize content published on your site, such as seeding keywords and utilizing meta tags. On-page efforts are all about boosting your ranking for certain keywords.
- Off-Page SEO: Next up is off-page SEO, wherein your sole aim is to get search engine algorithms to trust your site. You mostly do this by getting backlinks from other reputable websites.
- Technical SEO: Last but not least, you must also ensure your website’s backend adheres to the established guidelines and principles of web design, such as clean code, navigation, faster loading speeds, and so on.
Read More: Improve Rankings Using White Hat SEO Techniques and Achieve Sustainable Success
How to Build A Winning SEO Strategy?
Now that the fundamentals have been addressed, here are some SEO techniques you must try your hands at:
1. Do Your Keyword Research
Every SEO strategy has to begin with robust keyword research because keywords is how people find things on the Internet. Target the right keyword, and you should see a positive impact on all key metrics, including impressions, clicks, and engagement rate.
You can do your primary research with Google Suggest. Head to Google, type a keyword, and you’ll have tons of suggestions to choose from. Pick only the ones that align with your business. Repeat this till you have a good 10-20 keywords.
Also, aim for long-tail keywords. For example, instead of “SEO expert,” go for a long phrase such as “SEO expert for e-commerce business.” These are very targeted queries and often have a lower search volume, which makes them easier to rank for.
It is also a good idea to invest in tools such as Semrush or Ahrefs, as they have built-in keyword research tools to help you find and compare keywords based on their search volume, ranking difficulty, intent, etc.
Read More: The Definitive “Keyword Research for SEO” Guide to Achieving Success
2. Surf the SERPs
With a keyword list ready, your next move should be to run some Google searches for each of these terms. The purpose is simply to see what kind of results appear for these words and phrases or recognize any patterns, especially on the first page of search results.
For some keywords, you’ll find articles such as comprehensive guides, while for others, you may get listicles. Similarly, a few keywords will also bring actual products and services.
This exercise will help you identify websites that rank for these keywords and what type of content they publish to have gotten that position on SERPs. You’ll have to use these insights to decide which topics you must cover and what format to use.
3. Know Your Competitors
Unlike pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, organic rankings come at no additional cost. This lack of barrier to entry means there are countless other marketers, often from competing brands, trying to get ranked on SERPs. This is again where you would want to utilize a tool like Semrush or Ahrefs to find your competitors in the SEO game.
By simply entering your domain address in either of these tools, you’ll get everything you need to know about your site, such as which keywords you rank for, what type of keywords they are, and more. You’ll also find a list of your competitors, i.e., websites that share certain keywords with your site.
Pick websites that have the most keywords common with yours and analyze their rankings, content strategy, and overall SEO strategy, and maybe pick a page or two from their playbook.
4. Create Compelling Content Optimized for Search
By this point, you would have gathered tons of information and insights to help you throughout this next step, content production and publishing. You must create content that is helpful, engaging, and twice as good as what is already out there. Your content must prioritize your audience, answer their immediate questions, and help them solve certain problems.
Content marketing has evolved so much, especially with the advent of generative AI. Today, you can be creative with your content, be it writing hooks that grab the attention or raking certain rules of writing. The more human it is, the better. But while you do all that, don’t forget these fundamental on-page SEO techniques:
- Seed primary and secondary keywords naturally throughout your content.
- Use keywords in titles, sub-headings, and URLs.
- Make sure your content addresses the intent of the keyword it targets. For instance, a product page showcasing your offering best targets a commercial keyword. However, an informational keyword demands something like a comprehensive guide or a how-to article.
- Create topic clusters with internal links to related content, improving the structure of your content.
- Optimize images with alt text and compress them so they load faster.
Read More: How to Improve SEO with a Blog and Boost Rankings
5. Build Online Authority with Backlinks
Now, we’re at the step where we must take care of off-page SEO. Basically, you want other websites, especially the ones with high domain authority, to refer to your site. The best way to do so is to get backlinks from these sites to your content.
Why is it so important? Backlinks signal search engines that your content is not only relevant but you’re a trusted source of information. As you can understand, it results in better rankings for your site.
By far, the easiest way to win backlinks is by guest blogging. Build relationships with credible blogs and influencers in your niche, and write a few guest posts for them in return for a backlink. Publishing original content like research, whitepapers, stats, etc., that other sites can use as a source, bringing your backlinks automatically.
Another tactic that has gained prominence over time is broken link building. Basically, you use tools like Semrush to analyze websites relevant to your niche and find any backlinks that return 404 errors. If you have published something that can replace this existing link, reach out to these websites and request them to replace the broken link with a new backlink to your content.
6. Optimize for Mobile
Here’s a stat – almost 60% of global web traffic originates from smartphones and tablets. That’s why Google has now implemented mobile-first indexing, which prioritizes websites optimized for mobile. So, if you’re not optimizing your site and its content for mobile, you’re leaving valuable web traffic on the table.
You must ensure your website is mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. From the web design POV, you must go for a layout and UI elements that are mobile-responsive, which means they rearrange themselves based on the device’s screen size. Also, use simple navigation, add prominent CTAs, and reduce unnecessary pop-ups to ensure a smooth user experience.
Read More: 3 Steps To Optimize Your Mobile Site
Closing Words
There are no ifs and buts when implementing SEO on your site because it’s the only way to boost your visibility on SERPs and organically drive traffic to your site. While it can be a slightly longer route to success, it brings solid results that are sustainable over an even longer period. So, jot down the SEO techniques we discussed here and deploy them consistently on your site.
Need help with SEO strategy for your online business? Check out our comprehensive e-commerce SEO services. At CommerceV3, we are committed to offering expert solutions to help you boost visibility, improve rankings, and drive more targeted traffic.