Google’s search ranking algorithm is a wildly fickle beast, with over 200 factors that help Google determine how to rank a web page. The challenge for us then becomes what SEO tactics and tips can we use to effectively move our pages up in the SERPs. (Search engine results pages)
This is especially important for local and small businesses that don’t have massive marketing departments to handle every detail and need an effective plan to deal with this in a timely manner. Rather than tackle 200 or so SEO tips, we think you’d be better served focusing on a few strategies that can actually bring you fast results.
To that end we’ve come up with 3 effective SEO tactics to energize your small business that will help move your pages from the “never seen” depths of the SERPs to ranking well.
3 SEO Tactics that will help your rankings!
Publish Content for Rankings and Links
Not just any content, but the best you can possibly come up with. We’re talking content that is authoritative, more long-form, and is very likely to get shared and generate discussion.
There are a number of benefits to this SEO tactic. First it helps advance your brand as an authority in not only the eyes of Google, but eventually in your market. Google also favors “fresh” content, and tends to favor it. When this content is shared, you’ll get natural, earned backlinks that are exactly the type you want.
Many local businesses feel as if there’s not much for them to say, but that’s a grave error. To become an authority, even a local one, is more than merely showing up. You need to engender confidence and trust that will get the clicks and spread the word about your business. This content doesn’t all have to be textual. In fact Google loves to see a diversity of types of content, such as videos, images and interactive pages such as polls. Always make sure this new content is optimized as best as you are able, giving it a chance to get a high ranking.
Publish Guest Posts
There has been a tendency in the last year or so to discount guest blogging as a link building and SEO tactic. While this is true in some respects, the truth is really a lot more bright than that.
Back in the day (maybe 18 months ago) it was drop-dead easy to publish a guest post, and reap the dual benefit of both traffic and valuable incoming backlinks. Then Google (Matt Cutts in particular) declared that this practice would no longer be looked upon kindly by the Google spam team. In their view, posting suspect quality content should not be rewarded with a high ranking. They have a point.
Thus many publishers of guest posts began “no-following” the backlinks attached to those guest posts, rendering them less than useful for SEO purposes. The point here is, that if you publish terrific content, you’ll not face this situation if you do your part. The link situation is entirely negotiable: if you’re looking to publish what is clearly a top-notch piece of content, you can insist on a follow link or you’re free to publish elsewhere.
Moreover, the benefits of publishing high-quality content are more than just a link. The direct traffic, relationships, social interaction and online reputation you’ll garner are definitely worth the effort. The key takeaway here is to seek to publish the best quality content on the best platforms you can negotiate your terms, and you’ll definitely see a win with guest posting!
Create a Vibrant and Engaging Blog
You may have heard this one more than once, but it remains true that an onsite blog is one of the best tools in your content marketing arsenal for traffic, SEO and social engagement.
This is your home base, where you can communicate with your customer and prospect base easily and regularly. Two stats published recently by HubSpot should give you pause…
- B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not.
- Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website.
Make it your business to infuse your blog with a variety of different types of content, and above all seek to encourage sharing and engagement. This will create new pages for your website SEO that can be indexed and drive more traffic.
Don’t make the mistake of not utilizing creative visual content in your blog posts. While many may think this is the purview of your social media properties like your business Facebook page, the truth is that it’s all intertwined these days, and your audience is very much attuned to the visual aspect of social media, and are far more apt to share your content if it’s visually memorable.
If you would like to get better search rankings for your website then contact us today! Or you can call us at (623) 521-1418. You can learn more about this topic by visiting our search engine optimization page.