Being an ordinary user, you may think it is not necessary and worthy to implement an SEO strategy. But even in 2024, the consequences of neglecting Search Engine Optimization can be quite harmful. For years, most businesses have relied on word-of -mouth marketing. But now the world has evolved and a powerful online presence of your business is necessary. As about 54% of Website Traffic comes from organic search, you can understand the important role of SEO. It is even more important these days because whenever users find something difficult to understand, they get on to their devices and find answers on search engines.
Stepwise Guide to Shape your SEO Strategy
After the Google Core Update from March 2024, SEO is mainly focused on content’s quality and relevance. This update filtered out the low quality content that lacked value and affected the number of websites resulting in organic traffic decrease. After seeing these things, we can say that now SEO is all about quality content. This is a stepwise process based on multiple things. Here we will highlight the main ones.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is always a foundation for any SEO strategy. To figure out what your audience is searching online, conducting keyword research is a must. There are many free and paid tools like Google Keyword Planner which not only tells you search volume but also competition level. Here, you need to keep in mind that search volume isn’t the main thing but the targeting is. Keywords that are short and also have high search volume are mostly difficult to compete with. So it is better to use long keywords. Once you have determined your keywords and target audience, insert the terms in your website’s copy and meta structures to boost your ranking.
Generating High Value and User Friendly Content
Once your keywords are selected, it is important to create top quality and user oriented content to concrete your SEO strategy. Creating content is not just writing text lines especially after the recent core update of Google in March 2024. Now, you have to be aware of both the latest search engine algorithms and the needs of your audience. This is where your deep and thorough keyword research plays a crucial role. You need to identify the gaps in already present content and try to fill them with quality loaded content. It is recommended that you use simple language and visuals as your main focus is to educate and engage your audience along with the appeal to search engines to rank your website in higher positions. You can also consider experimenting with different content formats to accommodate interests of different people.
Engaging Search Engines with On-Page Optimization
After having the right keywords and powerful content, it’s time to communicate with search engines by effectively applying on-page SEO techniques. On-Page SEO is based on multiple factors. You have to focus on putting your target keywords in Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, Headings (H1) and Subheadings (H2/H3). You should also try to incorporate your keywords naturally in your content. To improve your web accessibility, you may need to add your keywords in image file names, alt text and captions. Internal Linking of key pages can help search engines to understand your website’s structure and the smooth flow of information. If you follow these tricks effectively, you are on the right way to provide search engines the signals to rank your website on higher search engine results and drive some valuable traffic.
Increasing Authority with Backlinks
Having backlinks is like having endorsement from other related websites that your content is of high value and your website deserves to rank in the best positions. In short, we can say that the more backlinks your website has, the more it is acceptable to search engines. Backlinks strategy also demands you to create powerful content. Most of the backlinks you gain are in the form of Guest Blogging. You can write valuable guest posts for reputable websites in your industry. These posts will offer valuable impressions for your audience and also include a referral link to your website. This also includes the usage of Broken Links available on different websites related to your niche. You can contact their website management and offer your new and more valuable content as an alternative to these broken links. In return, you can also have a backlink that can help you increase your authority.
Technical SEO
The content and backlinks are crucial, but it is also necessary to have a look at your Website’s Technical Aspects. Technical SEO plays an important role in ensuring that your website is good enough that both users and search engines can access it easily. Optimization for technical SEO focuses on multiple points. It mainly includes lowering your page loading speeds (try to make it under 4 sec), Mobile Friendliness (make your website responsive for any screen size) and Structured Data. Structure data is like a road map for search engines to understand your website in a better way.
Final Thoughts
After having all the necessary knowledge about the latest SEO techniques, it’s time to use them and watch your website climbing up to the top of search results. You need to keep in mind that SEO is an ongoing process. So you have to stick to effective strategies in a continuous way. By updating your strategy according to the latest data based on industry trends, you can make sure that your website remains accessible to both search engines and your target audience.