Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential to your website’s success. It’s how you ensure your site shows up for the people you want to reach—ideally at the top of search results pages.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Unfortunately, in practice, SEO can be anything but straightforward.
For one, there are a lot of different variables for businesses to optimize. We’re not just talking about keywords, but also…
- user experience
- information relevance
- content quality
- site load speed
- mobile friendliness
…and more. The list goes on and on. Search engines such as Google examine and analyze each of these variables to determine how beneficial and useful a website is to users, and thus where the website should rank in search results.
And that brings us to another complicating factor: search engine algorithms are continually changing. As companies like Google tweak their processes to deliver more valuable content to users, results are constantly in flux, and businesses need to keep up to stay competitive in search.
In broad terms, that means two things for your business:
- Not every SEO strategy is equally effective.
- SEO tactics that work today might not work as well tomorrow.
Without understanding and internalizing these two facts, a business’s SEO approach can be good, but never great.
The difference between good and great SEO
So, what separates good SEO from great SEO? One important distinction is how it’s considered. In other words: What role does SEO play in your business, and how important is it on a daily basis?
Great SEO is ongoing. It can’t be a one-time event—when a website is optimized and considered “done.” It needs to be a routine part of your strategy.
This might not feel like an easy undertaking. As I mentioned, Google and other search engines’ algorithms are frequently changing—and that leads some businesses to question whether SEO is really worth the time and expense. Is keeping up with the changes the best use of your digital marketing efforts?
While I can’t answer that question for you, think about why Google is making those updates. The company isn’t just changing things for the sake of change. Rather, Google aims to provide its users with the most relevant and reliable search results. It’s trying to make people’s lives easier.
Great SEO means adopting the same mindset. Rather than showing up in search simply to get your brand out there or drive visitors to your site, think about what you can do to create real value for the people you’re trying to reach.
Are you giving them thoughtful, interesting, unique content that’s easy to navigate and engage with?
Are you staying current with digital marketing, design, and user experience best practices?
That’s how you go from good to great SEO. It isn’t something that can be completed in a matter of weeks or months. It takes continual attention and effort.
Fortunately, there are plenty of SEO consultants and agencies out there to take on this work, but at some level, your business also needs to be committed to the efforts for the long run.
Here are a few more tips to take your SEO strategy from good to great:
1. Create credible and relevant articles.
SEO marketing relies heavily on relevant, authoritative material, and there is no alternative for this when it comes to your website’s search engine rankings. Google, Bing, and other search engines work hard to eliminate spam and other low-quality information from their users’ search results. That means having a lot of content is no longer enough to rank well. The quality of your material is critical.
To ensure your website appears prominently in search results, provide high-quality, unique content while also using relevant keywords and phrases. High quality content includes information that is specific, helpful to its readers, and insightful.
The nice thing about this is it’s a virtuous cycle. The more people who visit your site because of the high-quality content you’ve developed for them, the more authoritative and relevant your site becomes.
2. Double down on consistency.
Search engine optimization is a never-ending process. When you approach it as a living, breathing element of your marketing efforts, you’ll notice considerably larger returns. And the payoff can happen quickly, as one of the biggest markers of a website’s relevance is recent and regularly updated material.
While this may sound basic, it’s surprisingly uncommon in the world of small businesses. Many organizations neglect to keep their sites up to date, perhaps because they don’t feel the need to continue growing, change their marketing focus, lack the time and resources to work on this, or simply lose steam. As a result, if you stick to a consistent SEO strategy, you’ll see a dramatic increase in your brand’s exposure.
To make your SEO consistent:
- Adopt a regular publishing schedule. Depending on your business needs and resources, you may want to publish content (e.g. blog posts) a couple of times per month, weekly, or even multiple times per week.
- Schedule recurring dates to update your webpages. Don’t let your homepage and other key parts of your site sit and gather dust. Make a plan to keep them fresh with new text, images, and other elements.
- Think through every element of your content. Well-optimized pages and sites have multiple components, each of which targets a specific keyword or key phrase. Determine what keywords your audience is searching for, and then use those terms to shape what titles, headers, image file names, alt descriptions, and internal links you use.
3. Ensure a satisfying experience for the user.
Links from other websites are more likely to point to a page that has a lot of valuable material, is authoritative, and is thoughtful, all of which will aid your SEO. Websites that rank well in search engine results include those that load fast, are easy to browse, and contain high-quality, unique content. Providing a smooth user experience is essential if you want your site to appear at the top of Google’s search results.
User experience and the ways search engines operate have undoubtedly changed over time. The fundamentals are still vital, however. Well-written text, visually engaging images, accessibility, and easy-to-navigate layouts are all as important as ever.
4. Attract the right backlinks.
A backlink is a link pointing to your website from another website. The amount and quality of your backlinks are important components in determining where your site shows up in search engine results.
Getting a backlink isn’t difficult, but getting one from a high-quality website, which search engines value highly, might be pose a challenge. The effort is well worth it, however. Backlinks from well-known websites, such as The Washington Post, are more beneficial to your search engine optimization than links from your friend’s blog (which may only have five readers—apologies to your friend).
To earn high-quality backlinks, create content that others will want to share. This means content that’s informative, entertaining, or funny; answers important questions; shares a unique perspective; or all of the above. In general, if you create content with your audience’s needs in mind—and put as much effort into it as possible—you’ll maximize your chances of earning backlinks.
In conclusion…
Notice a trend here? One of the most important SEO ranking variables is continuous, high-quality content output. The more valuable your site is to users, the more search engines will take notice and reward you in turn.
That said, content is still one piece of the puzzle. You’ll also need to pay attention to Google’s algorithm changes, and take part in regular website maintenance activities, such as the removal of broken links.
Be consistent, keep the effort up, and work with a qualified SEO specialist if you need to—and before long, you’ll have a site you can be proud of and count on for traffic. That’s great SEO.
