2 SEO Tips to Implement (Or Double Check) Now to Improve Your Google Ranking
“How long will it take to get us to page one on Google?”
It’s the number one question on every SEO client’s mind – whether they voice it or not. More seasoned clients will ask, “How will a page one ranking affect the visibility of my brand and my website traffic?”
To be honest, there is no simple answer to either question. But, there are a battery of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices that increase the odds of getting where you need to be sooner.
Why should I care?
Did you know Growing SEO has been named by 61% of companies as their biggest priority for 2019? Whether you own a shoe company or a restaurant, SEO can make or break your business.
If you haven’t fired up an appropriate SEO effort yet, chances are your competitors have. The longer you wait, the more costly your game of catch-up will be. Google, Yahoo or even YouTube rankings are significant because, according to Junto.com, 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.
And let’s be real, while users are scrolling page one more, page two clicks are few and far between – 75% of searchers stick to page one, according to Junto.com.
The Basics
Through SEO, a website attracts “free” organic traffic by having a high Google ranking. The business is not paying an ad or affiliate service for this traffic. The higher a website is ranked, the more traffic it will get. SEO in its entirety involves a long list of on- and off-page, content and technical optimizations designed to satisfy search engine(read: Google) algorithms.
The goal is to convince the search engines that your content delivers what the user is looking for as quickly as possible. Is your business legit? Are you sharing valuable information with the searcher? Or is your content a cover for some spammy product unrelated to the user’s search?
In 1994, Google set out to perfect connecting the user with the content they sought as quickly as possible – and now they lead the way for other search engines. The company name is a verb. Did you just “Google” something a few minutes ago?
While the secret sauce – 100s of data points factored into the ranking algorithms – is indeed a secret, certain foundational requirements of SEO are well-defined. These span across website design, content, layout, lead capture, connections with other sites and much more.
But, we’re talking foundation in this article. What can you do to get started?
1. Do Keyword Research
Never assume that your customers refer to your product or services the way you and your staff do. Not everyone knows industry jargon! With keyword research, you can get an understanding of specific words and phrases that your customers use to find your products or services. It also helps to gauge the demands of words and phrases being used and identifies themes that real-life searchers use.
There are four kinds of keywords to consider:
- Informational – Keywords that a search usually starts with like tips, advice, solutions, etc.
- Navigational – Keywords that lead to a specific website, certain features of or user reviews of a product or service. These most are likely to be brand, product or service names.
- Transactional – Keywords that demonstrate that the searcher is ready to convert information into action. A transactional keyword commonly used is ‘how-to’.
- Commercial – Keywords that indicate that a searcher is ready to make a purchase. These keywords include pricing, subscription, or buy.
2. Use Relevant, Evergreen Content
By creating consistent, relevant and evergreen content, you can attract and retain a defined audience as well as constantly be seen by search engines. In fact, 72% of marketers claim that relevance in content is a leading factor for improving SEO. Technical elements and SEO outreach play critical roles as well, but you must have the content foundation to build upon.
But what is evergreen content?
Simply put, it is content that is always relevant. Comprehensive, evergreen content that does not become dated is a huge advantage when the aim of a business is to be found online by search engines. It can help drive traffic to a website ad build authority in search engine rankings for months or even years after being published.
When it comes to SEO and evergreen content it is essential to understand how the three stages of search engines work:
- Discovery/Crawling – how content is discovered.
- Indexing – the way keywords are analyzed and content is stored.
- Retrieval – the way a user search fetches a list of relevant pages matching indexed keywords.
With approximately 71,780 Google queries per second, search engines are constantly crawling millions of web pages for keywords that best match a user’s search. While doing this, the algorithm for indexing web pages is also identifying pages that are dated and has expired content. Since evergreen content has no expiration date and has searchable keywords, the search engine will index the web page over and over again. Therefore increasing your SEO ranking.
Getting SEO Right For Your Brand Using Keywords & Evergreen Content
Even though keywords and evergreen content can be used individually to improve your Google ranking, it is more effective when used together.
Writing evergreen content around keywords guides search engines to direct traffic to your website and boost brand visibility.
Achieving meaningful SEO goals is within reach for all brands if the right SEO practices are put into place. These two initial steps will help you define your specific goals and go after them.
Curious what keywords are within striking distance for your brand? Contact Elevated today for a free assessment.