All online businesses in the US aspire to rank top three on the search engine results. That may only remain a dream if website owners do not implement an SEO strategy that works.
Many people claim to offer an SEO roadmap strategy that guarantees results. Sadly, not all of them can give you precisely what you want.
This post guides on tactics you can implement to rank top on Search Engine Results Pages.
Do You Have A Current SEO Strategy That Works?
You can only craft a convincing SEO plan of action if you know your current strategy.
Therefore, your initial stage of devising an SEO strategy is checking your site’s performance. Put much emphasis on organic visibility and keyword ranking.
When you get the data, you can envision a clear concept of how your pages are performing.
Thus, you can determine the best course of action. Use organic research tools alongside Google Analytics.
For even better results, use tools that give details of your rates of conversion, leads, and income than using rush tactics alone.
Check Your Competitors’ SEO Strategies
Recognizing where your competitor is winning is very vital for your success.
So, start by identifying who you are up against, a process that requires in-depth competitor research. Supplement the results you get with SERP analysis for a much more articulate picture.
Again, use organic research tools, for instance, SEMrush, to determine competitors who are driving sky-high organic traffic volumes.
This kind of information informs you of the content type you need to use to rank on search engines.
KPIs And Goals Matter
Goals represent your desired outcomes, while KPIs are indicators or measures of your efficiency towards achieving your goals.
These two aspects are vital in creating an action plan that helps to effectively reach your intended outcome.
Additionally, it helps to determine progress and note when you attain your set goals.
Undoubtedly, laying down your target points and KPIs while formulating your strategy is very essential.
Pinpoint Your Main Pages And Keywords
The main page serves as a foundation for your website’s topic cluster since the topic clusters are all about the main page.
A topic cluster directs you on focal points you must address to win the Search Engine Results Pages for a given topic.
This is unlike focusing on one keyword as it sets up a solid topical relevance for that particular site segment.
So, in your SEO strategy presentation, map out topic clusters soon as you start creating an SEO strategy.
Note that to build a compelling topic cluster, start by setting up your pillar pages targets. Essentially, the keywords define topics more widely than long-tail keywords.
So, identify subject matter to assemble clusters around. The easiest and best way out is utilizing a topic research tool.
When you enter the subject in the search bar, it returns a content idealist, which you can use to pinpoint suitable subtopics. Besides, it will help you establish if the topic list has sufficient depth.
To optimize your principal web page, authenticate every keyword. This will let you easily define the principal keyword target for different key pages.
Find And Fix Technical SEO Issues
Technical SEO issues can be specific page issues or site-wide problems. In either case, these problems can slow down your entire website performance.
Ideally, technical SEO refers to updates that you have immediate control over, and they have a direct and an indirect effect on the indexation, crawlability, and search engine rankings.
Technical issues include but are not limited to:
- Absence of HTTPS Security
- Poor indexation
- Duplicate content
- Poor navigation
- Improper redirects
- Incorrect rel=canonical
- Meta robots NOINDEX set
- Incorrect/missing robots.txt
The SEMrush Site Audit Tool is powerful at locating technical SEO issues; thus, it offers insights into errors that might hold your site.
A good audit will categorize technical issues by errors, warnings, and notices based on their severity and potential to influence performance.
Audit The Existing Content
Auditing the existing content helps you determine pieces that require improvement. Also, you can identify content that fits in your topic clusters.
But the main reason for content audit is identifying content to keep, content to update, i.e., improve to target search queries, and content to delete.
Delete thin, cannibalized, and repeated content. Certainly, this type of content holds back your rankings.
Remember, the first step in content auditing is looking at the existing content prior to creating additional content.
That places you in a much better position to make rational choices based on the acquired information.
In turn, this lets you focus on achieving your goals.
Optimize For Search Intent
Your pages must satisfy the search intent for that keyword to rank on Google. Search intent optimization means giving the best answer precisely the way your target audience needs it.
That is, meeting the immediate needs of your customer. The search intents you will come across are:
i. Do/commercial/high intent: the searcher is ready to take action, e.g., buy, join, etc.
ii. Know or informational intent): the searcher is seeking information
iii. Go or navigational intent: the searchers know the brand or site they want to visit.
It is vital to also account for multiple search micro-intent during content planning. There are various ways to determine search intent.
For instance, try envisioning what your target audience wants to achieve when they type a particular word in a search box.
This way, you can relate to your audience on a more personal level.
Besides, use Google search to understand search intent better and give lots of easy-to-understand clues.
Focus On Content Design
Your content users need to consume it in the best way possible. Typically, it’s a way of giving the audience what they need, when they need it in the way they expect.
Therefore, it is much more than how a website appears but paying attention to what the audience wants.
The best content designers use data and evidence to present their content.
That means graphs and charts, screenshots and pictures, blog post banners and graphics, and visualizations can make your content design more presentable.
Conclusion
If you want to create a high-ranking website, set up an effective SEO strategy in place. Otherwise, you will be working blind.
Most importantly, ensure that you create a sensible approach for all your team members. A Google strategy plan will help you align your team with your strategies.
This will help them understand and work towards achieving your long-term goals.
Description
A strategy that works is an explicit roadmap to achieve your goals, get the much-coveted top position on SERPs, improve organic revenue, or increase traffic.
Learn how to apply SEO strategies that work here.
Bio:
Vitalii Nedzelenko is the marketing manager in Good Zone Service & Repairs. He is passionate about digital marketing.
