Introduction
SEO experts, digital agencies, and brands cannot come to a consensus when it comes to creating a good SEO strategy. What works for one brand, might not necessarily work for someone else. Ecommerce websites require an entirely different SEO approach as compared to traditional brand websites. In this article, we will look at some of the basics of creating a good SEO strategy like–
- What are the key elements of a good SEO strategy?
- How can a brand prioritize between the different aspects of SEO?
- In terms of timeframes, what is an adequate period that a brand should look at?
- Moneywise, how much should a brand invest in an SEO plan?
- What are some of the benefits that can be expected from a successful SEO strategy?
Table of Contents
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Meaning and Definition
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of creating the perfect conditions for your website to perform in search engines. In other words, in order to show your website on search, Google and other search engines want websites to follow certain best practices.
These best practices are aligned with what users are searching for and looking for. Once your website fits all those quality parameters, Google feels confident in bringing your website up the search rankings. This helps websites gain more visibility, clicks, sales, and revenues.
A good SEO strategy is the foundation of any high performing websites. Gone are those days when there were only a few thousand websites and you did not need to do any SEO to rank higher. With more than a billion websites on the internet, brands need to have a robust SEO strategy to over-rank their competitors.
Search Engine Optimization is composed of two main elements of functions-
On-Page SEO-
This refers to the process of optimizing the website architecture according to Google ranking factors. Almost all the features can be done when the website is being developed. Some of the essential On-Page SEO elements are-
- High-Quality Content on the website pages
- Mobile Responsiveness and Optimization
- Fast Loading Speed
- Schema Mark Up and Title, Meta Tags
- Safe and Secure Website (HTTPS and SSL Certificate)
- Attractive UI and UX
- how to start a legit seo business
Off-Page SEO-
Off-Page SEO is the process of primarily gaining high-quality backlinks for your website. It also involves placing your brand website links in third party platforms and diverting traffic from other authority sites. Some critical Off-Page SEO elements are-
- Building High-Quality Do-Follow Links on authority websites
- Creating Trust Signals from websites like Quora and Reddit
- Placing Links on Social Media Pages and creating positive social signals
- Securing brand mentions on Directories, Aggregator platforms, and association sites
Advantages of a Good SEO Strategy for Brands
A good SEO strategy is imperative if brands want to create a website, which is high performance in nature. Some of the benefits are-
- Increase in Search Engine Rankings Page (SERPs)
- Greater visibility and exposure
- Higher website traffic through clicks and organic queries
- Improved SEO metrics and Website health like Domain Authority (DA), Domain Ranking (DR), Page Rank (PR), Alexa Rank and so on.
- Greater sales and more channels of revenue generation
- Establishing credibility, legitimacy, and respect in the industry niche
Almost all brand websites want to fulfill all the above six major benefits. This is why SEO plan is one of the most important digital marketing functions in the world.
Components of a Good SEO Strategy
Even though there is a consensus on the benefits of SEO strategy, there are disagreements when it comes to agreeing on what is the right strategy. In the following section, we will look at some components of building a good SEO strategy.
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Great Keyword Research-
Rankings is all about doing great keyword research and trying to ace the search parameters. Brands should strategically plan keywords and target less competitive and high volume keywords. Many great paid and free keyword research tools can be used for this purpose.
2. Create High-Quality Content-
Google ranks content as one of its top three ranking factors. This means that your website content should be original, informative, educative and detailed. Long format content on blogs works great when it comes to keyword injections and ‘Inbound Marketing’.
3. Build Do-Follow Backlinks in Authority Websites-
The more backlinks that you place in high authority sites, the better Google starts ranking your website. For most SEOs, ranking is all about building backlinks. It is important that you do not place your links on bad websites of less authority. This is detrimental to your SEO strategy.
4. Improve Trust and Social Signals for your Website-
It is important that brands concentrate on not only backlinks but also targeted traffic from authority sites. This is why a good SEO for dentists strategy aims at building no-follow links on social media pages, Quora, Reddit, and other industry-related directories.
5. Set up an active Google My Business Page (GMB)-
For any brand, which wants to increase local footfalls and improve revenues, a GMB listing is necessary. Google uses the GMB listing and triangulates it with the GPS location of a search query. By being on GMB, your brand can be that much closer to a healthy Google ecosystem.
Conclusion
SEO is getting complicated day by day. In order to get quick results, brands and agencies are also resorting to Black Hat SEO strategies. This should not be done as Google can penalize sites, which it finds are using such strategies. In the worst cases, this can lead to the de-indexing of your brand website forever.
Creating a good SEO strategy means patiently following White Hat strategies for a period of at least six months. SEO is slow, time-consuming and effort-intensive. However, once you are able to establish yourself, you will see the results.
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