Essential SEO Tactics

Written by: Gary Horsman

SEO Tactics for Success

Every small business with an online presence has to deal with the issue of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Most, in my experience, need a bit of help understanding how good their competition is and what to do to gain position versus their competitors. There are seemingly endless articles on the subject. This can create a feeling of being overwhelmed. For many, the task of being found in search for keywords valuable to your business seems daunting and endless.

In truth, SEO is not rocket science. While it can be a complicated formula, there are very clear and effective ways to enhance your position in search. There are essential SEO tactics that are key to your success. They also provide the perfect foundation from which to build your SEO strategy and boost you above your competition.

Don’t let yourself become overwhelmed.

Educated yourself!

Work through the list below – each item one-by-by — one step at a time.

Your rankings will reflect your efforts. They may not land you in the top five by tomorrow morning, but to address these items will give you a boost and provide insight on what’s working and what’s not. Having a place to start from is priceless. It’s time to dive in and educate yourself on SEO.

#1: The Key to Great Keywords

If you’re just starting out, or revamping your SEO strategy, it’s not necessary to do a complete comprehensive deep dive into keyword analysis and markets. What is essential is that you get into the mind of your ideal target customer. First define the ideal client. Create a clear picture.
Then create a list of phrases you feel your ideal searcher would use to find your goods and services. Then see how your site ranks for those search terms. Then identify areas where improvement is required.

In the old days, Google Analytics was a great tool for identifying top keywords for your site, but not anymore; they’ve kicked into sleuth mode and made it difficult to ascertain key phrases. You can, however, use Google Analytics to identify the content on your site that is attracting the highest volume of traffic. Then work backwards; determine what keywords are drawing that traffic to your site, and build upon this.

You can also use the Google Adwords Keyword tool to gain insights into search volume. I also like to use the Google Trends Tool to help understand any trends related to your target market.

Want to know where your main keywords should be placed? Here’s a concise list:

1. Title Tag – This is the text that appears in a browser’s heading that describes your page’s content. It should be themed to your site and target market but certainly not repeated on every page.
2. Image ALT Tags – This tag tells search engines what your images are about.
3. Page URL – Never use spaces or underscores, but do use keywords wherever possible and separate the keywords with dashes.
4. Image File Names – Just like ALT tags, these indicate how your site’s pictures relate to your overall theme or the content of a specific page.
5. Meta Description – This is the text searches see in results; it’s imperative your keywords appear here. The major search engines also put a heavy weighting factor on the meta description.
6. Keyword Density – More is not necessarily better (0.5% to 1.5% is sufficient). Make sure your content has your keywords, but write for the human visitor not a search engine bot. Delight your human visitors with your content.
7. Delightful Page Content – This is, by far, the most important aspect of what you do online. Your content must be compelling and valuable and contain your keywords

#2: Once You Gain Search Position – Test!

When you gain search position you will naturally gain traffic. You need to understand what works and what isn’t working. Stay on top of your website analytics.

Also, you need to help your traffic to make the right decisions. If you want them to call you have you done experiments to determine how to improve this result? If you want them to download your free report have you optimized the page where you request them to do this?

A/B testing or what has been come to be known as content experiment fully compliment your SEO efforts. After all, you are not doing all this work simple to gain position in search. You want to increase your traffic and more importantly you want to increase your conversion rate.

Don’t operate on assumptions. Test your theories and make sure your target audience is responding as expected.

#3: Create Knock-Their-Socks-Off Content

There’s simply no replacement for delightful content. Your website should be brimming with valuable knowledge, infographics, slideshows, podcasts, and videos that entice your viewers to keep coming back.

Great content creates viral sensations that can spike your traffic and revenues astronomically. Nothing is more vital to your SEO health than current, wow-worthy content. The Content Marketing Institute tells us that 92% of marketers are using content to boost their sales, and 60% intend to boost the amount of content they create. If you spend money on only one facet of your marketing, hiring great content writers and marketers is the ideal bang for your buck decision.

If you have great keywords and amazing and delightful content, you are literally light years beyond most of your competition. SEO doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. Focus on these key attributes, and utilize Google’s free tools, and you have a great chance to gain the lion’s share of your audience’s attention.

If you want to learn more about Essential SEO Tactics and Content Marketing and how this can help position your site in search then I invite you to go through our Content Marketing Tutorials.