How to Create an SEO Strategy

By now, you’ve probably encountered the term SEO, or search engine optimization, too many times already that you’ve lost count.

Digital marketers and online businesses alike have been depending on a solid SEO strategy like crazy - whether it’s to attract more organic traffic, rank at the top of the search engine result pages (SERPs), or increase revenue.

The question is, how do you build an effective SEO strategy? How can a rookie such as yourself be able to come up with a strategy that can boost your site’s visibility and searchability?

Luckily for you, we’ll be here to guide you on your SEO journey every step of the way.

But First, What Is an SEO Strategy?

Simply put, an SEO strategy refers to the process of developing and implementing an SEO plan that works toward achieving your SEO goals, such as improving traffic or ranking high on search engines.

If you don’t have an SEO strategy yet, you might find yourself falling short of getting the results you’re aiming for. If you do have one but it doesn’t seem to succeed, you’ll definitely need to step up your game and apply the tips you’ll learn from us.

With that in mind, here are seven steps to creating an SEO strategy that will set you up for success:

1. Assess Your Current SEO Performance

First things first, assess your SEO strategy and see how it’s performing.

Evaluate your keyword rankings, your website’s organic visibility, and branded vs. non-branded traffic split. That way, you’ll find it easier to put together a plan that will take you to the next level.

The Semrush Organic Research Tool is one of the most popular tools to help you gather these insights, as it allows you to see the performance of your keyword rankings and organic traffic over time. It gives you a clear picture of your site’s visibility, how it’s presently performing, and how it has changed as time passes.

Understanding your website’s branded and non-branded traffic split will help you recognize opportunities, provided that most of these branded searches are from people who are already familiar with your business. Meanwhile, increasing non-branded traffic helps you acquire new users who may not have heard of you before.

Along with data collected from Google Analytics, taking these metrics into consideration will give you a general idea of your website’s performance from an SEO standpoint. Plus, you’ll be able to identify areas that you’ll need to work on for your next SEO strategy.

2. Study and Analyze Your Competitors’ SEO Strategies

After evaluating your SEO performance, you may now conduct an SEO competitor analysis.

Analyzing your competitors’ search engine optimization strategies will give you an idea of what is is and what isn’t working for them. Once you realize which area they fail or excel at, you can incorporate it into your own SEO strategy plan.

As you’re analyzing your competitors, be sure to answer these questions:

• Are they following SEO best practices?
• What types of searches are they usually focused on? Transactional, navigational, or informational?
• What keywords or searches do they rank for?
• What features improve their site’s usability and content?
• Based on their social media profiles or review sites, what do users have to say about them?
• How do they promote their content to their target audience?
• Do they have a strong backlink profile?

You’ll need to do a lot of digging:

• ‍Discover which of their pages get the most traffic to determine what type of content your website should have. ‍
• Find out how well their keywords rank to see if they’re ranking for keywords that you’re not. This helps you identify opportunities to improve your keyword rankings.‍
• Assess their link profiles to better understand where their backlinks are coming from. At the same time, you’ll be able to pinpoint the link gap between their site and your domain, which in turn, helps you form your own link building strategy.

3. Research Your Target Audience

Analyzing your ideal audience is a critical step in creating an SEO strategy. Many companies are guilty of skipping this step, which explains why they’re not getting the results they’re anticipating.

A powerful SEO strategy plan requires more than just a compilation of buyer personas. It should be able to understand how users search and interact online so that you’ll know which keywords to use and what content to create.

Get an in-depth insight of your audience by answering essential questions such as the following:

• What platforms do they use to find answers?
• What do they expect from a product or service provider?
• What are their pain points in terms of products or services in my industry?
• What questions do they typically have about our industry, products, or services?
• Who in the industry do they trust when searching for answers?

So, where exactly can you find these information? Well, you can explore social media, post online surveys, look at industry forums, or ask your sales team members or customer support staff.

Understanding who your audience is and what they want eases the burden of creating a competitive SEO strategy. For instance, you can write compelling content that will surely catch their attention, and you’ll discover keywords and searches that are relevant to them.

4. Use the Right Keywords in All the Right Places

Keywords are at the heart of SEO, which means that they should also be at the heart of everything you do.

To get relevant leads to find you, you have to optimize your website for the right keywords. Start by conducting free keyword research using tools like KeywordsFX and Keywords Everywhere.

As much as possible, focus on long-tail keywords. Unlike short-tail keywords, these are more specific keywords that contain three or more words. Not only do they come with less competition, but they also offer better access to your target audience because they’re more particular.

Consider these two keywords: “Reebok shoes” and “Reebok crossfit shoes for women near me.”

Someone who’s searching for “Reebok shoes” is most likely not ready to make a purchase. It’s too general. Are they looking for running shoes, powerlifting shoes, or just a pair of Reebok sneakers for casual wear?

On the other hand, a search like “Reebok crossfit shoes for women near me” suggests that the user is really interested to buy as soon as they know where to get it.

This is the importance of local SEO, just like the example above, if a roofing business wants to expand its business and services, they should seek out professional SEO help. It is important for them to know that "SEO services" and "SEO services for roofers" will give them two different searches. Using specific keywords like "for roofers" will help find the best results for them.

Now you know why sticking to long-tail keywords is key to a winning SEO strategy. However, if you’re a larger and well-established business, your company’s SEO plan may use short-tail keywords, considering that you already have a strong online presence.

Once you have all the necessary keywords, integrate them into your site, including your metadata and your links’ anchor text. Fit them in naturally to avoid affecting your content’s readability. See to it that you don’t overuse them.  

5. Optimize On-Page Elements

On-page elements are what tell Google whether your page is useful to someone’s search. In other words, they impact your site’s ranking.

Three of the most critical on-page elements you need to optimize are:

• ‍Title tag

The title tag is the clickable headline people see when searching online. It gives them a glimpse of what to expect from a page.

Since search engines use title tags to determine a page’s relevancy, it’s important to optimize yours in order to reach the right audience.

A good rule of thumb is to use your keyword close to the front of the title tag. Doing so reassures your visitors that your page is as relevant as it is credible.

Also, make sure your title tag doesn’t exceed 60 characters. Otherwise, it will get cut off in search results.

• ‍Meta description

Meta descriptions are short blurbs that provide searchers a sneak peek of your content. You can find them just below the title tag.

Like title tags, meta descriptions help search engines determine if a page is relevant to search results.

Your meta description should stay within the 150-character limit, and it should highlight the most important points of your post. Oh, and don’t forget to include your main keyword.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that a compelling meta description has the ability to attract your ideal customers and boost the click-through rate of your organic search results!

• ‍URL

The URL is a major player of your on-page optimization strategy. The more you optimize it, the more relevant it appears to search engines.

While it’s best to keep your URLs simple, you’ll also want to ensure that it provides your audience with insight into your page. Avoid using random letters and numbers as they can confuse humans and search engines alike.

And if you’re wondering, yes, you should certainly integrate the keyword of your page into your URLs.

6. Build Quality Links

Link building is a key aspect in building website authority, boosting traffic, and increasing your ranking in SERPs. This is done by acquiring hyperlinks from other sites to your own.

Google and other search engines rely on links to determine a site’s authority, as well as where it should rank in search results. Crawlers discover content by following links through to subsequent pages and evaluating how relevant they are to a search query.

Here are basic link building tips you can use get started:‍

Reach out for backlinks. It can be anyone who has a reputable site or blog that’s related to the content, product, or service you offer. Send them a straightforward email explaining that you’re trying to build links.

Guest blog. Write a blog post for another site in your niche and include a link to your own content. Just don’t choose a site that accepts everyone’s request to publish.

Partner with a prominent blogger. Look for influential bloggers in your niche with whom you can collaborate. You can use Followerwonk, a tool by Moz that makes it easier for you to find reliable bloggers.

Create and post infographics. Due to their attractive visuals and super digestible information, infographics have become very popular for link building. Many users can’t help but share an infographic they find interesting.

Make the most of social media. Add your links to all the platforms you’re active on - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it.

Most importantly, concentrate on building content that will keep your audience engaged and attract new people.

Building links might seem like a daunting task at first, but once you’ve built a good amount of following through your persistent efforts, it won’t be as hard anymore. Besides, you can always consult an SEO company in West Palm Beach for expert advice and options.

7. Keep Your Website User-Friendly

No one likes a website with poor navigation, trust us. After a few seconds of figuring out how the site works, frustrated users will leave. This is why it’s crucial to prioritize user experience (UX) in your SEO strategy.

A user-friendly site will have people spending more time on it. This signals search engines that your website and pages are relevant, earning you a good spot in search results.

To ensure that your site provides a seamless experience for everyone, follow these best practices:‍

Speed up your loading time. A study by Google revealed that 53% of mobile site visits were abandoned if a page took longer than three seconds to load. Don’t let this happen to you by optimizing your images, choosing the right hosting option, enabling compression, and caching your web pages.

Pay attention to CTAs. Your website needs to have a strong CTA (call-to-action) to encourage your visitors to take the actions you want them to - whether it’s to sign up for your newsletter, order a product, or download a free software. See to it that they’re clear, direct, and visible.

Make content easy to digest. Use simple language and avoid industry jargon whenever possible. Include headers, bullets, and other formatting techniques so that visitors won’t have a hard time skimming your content.

Improve website navigation. Limit the number of menu items to seven, separate sidebars, make hypertext obvious, and stay away from dropdown menus. You’ll also want to make sure that your navigation is 100% responsive on mobile.

Use colors wisely. Your website should have the perfect blend of clarity and beauty. Aside from maintaining your company’s color palette, the colors of the background and text should be in contrast with each other.

Creating an SEO Strategy Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated!

The bottom line is, having a solid SEO strategy will help you achieve your digital marketing goals. By implementing the tips we’ve provided, you’ll be steps ahead of your competitors. You’ll drive more traffic, rank high in search pages, increase brand awareness, and your sales will grow in no time!

If you’re looking for an SEO company in West Palm Beach, look no further - Digital Resource is here to help you tailor the right search engine optimization strategy your business needs.

Have a free consultation with one of our SEO experts today by dialing 561-429-2585. We can’t wait to work with you!