Today SEO is just as critical as it was a decade ago. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is important and critical for digital marketing. You may think you don’t need to read this article if you know what SEO is and you already have a plan – but is wrong!
Over the last couple of years SEO algorithms have changed a lot. Mobile-Friendly websites are essential. Voice searching has influenced how sites rank. A few variables are no longer so significant. Elements always change around the algorithms which dominate what makes optimization good.
As SEO works, more eyes are turned on you. Your website has more exposure, leads, more sales, if you set the right strategies for your content. You create awareness about the brand and position your website to leverage its value.
Here’s what you need to make SEO a success in 2020:
What is SEO?
SEO is the method of search engine website optimization. SEO helps the rank of a website on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.
If someone is looking for a word or phrase that is important to your brand, you want to see your name come up. The closest you get to the first-page score, the better. You need SEO, to get there. Keywords, unique and high-quality content, off-page SEO and local SEO are common SEO strategies.
How many search engines are there?
Google search engine isn’t the only one. Its market share actually dropped from 91.7% in 2012 to 87.9% in 2019. Here are several other search engines that can help you get your rank on:
– Bing. This is a search engine used by Microsoft. In Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, it is the default search engine.
– Maps. Maps is a search engine owned by Google. It is used regularly by mobile users on any Android Smartphone.
– Yahoo. In recent years, the Yahoo search engine has become less successful but still retains a considerable global market share.
– Baidu. The Baidu is the biggest search engine in China. Baidu’s market share in all mobile searches in China is over 80 per cent.
– Yandex. Yandex is the most popular Search Engine in Russia. Like Baidu for China, this is the search engine to use if you’re appealing to that audience.
– DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo presents itself as a search engine, unlike Google and Bing, which doesn’t track users. Every month the search engine generates more than 1 billion searches worldwide.
– Amazon. Amazon uses search basing on keywords. It is one of world’s largest search engines. When selling on Amazon, emphasis on the use of powerful keywords.
– YouTube. YouTube is also a search engine owned by Google and has over 2 billion users. YouTube is a platform built on keywords. Use keywords in tags and titles as well as descriptions.
What is the best technique for keyword SEO?
Keywords are still relevant. They’re key to the success of SEO. Keywords in the content should be studied, carefully picked and used at a rate of 1-2 percent.
Keywords may be phrases or words. When someone types in the keyword into Google to find information, sites using these keywords are provided by the search engine.
How SEO keywords are searched varies in strategy. Look for high search rates and low-competition ones. You want to choose keywords from 3 different categories:
1 – Short-tail keywords, like “social media”.
2 – Long-tail keywords, like “social media marketing experts”.
3 – Local keywords, like “social media marketing experts in Chicago”.
When your keywords have been identified, you need to use them. It is not enough just to integrate them into the content. Use the Keywords in the Title, in URL and elsewhere on your site.
What is the most effective SEO content to use to achieve success?
Without content, you can not have a good SEO Strategy. This counts for everything. Publishing good articles, will help people find you whenever someone wants to know about your topic.
Quality content can not be like a presentation on sales. Content should provide value, must be pertinent, engaging and shareable. Here are some types of content that you can use in your SEO strategy:
– Blog posts.
– Videos.
– Social media posts.
– Infographics.
– Podcasts.
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-Page SEO is the optimization off-site. The principal way of doing this is by backlinks.
Backlinks are links on other pages pointing back to you. Quality backlinks tell SEO crawlers your website is worth it. This helps establish authority, and ranks better your website.
Guest blogging, shareable infographics and interacting with influencers are the best “off-page” SEO backlink building strategies.
And Local SEO, Should I use?
More people are searching through smartphones. Many of those searches have local intent. If you are working in a strict geographic area, use the local SEO. Such tactics are going to tap into the local searches.
Local SEO uses keywords such as “digital marketing in London”, “Social Media agency in New York” or “Online marketing in Paris”.
Another way to highlight local SEO is to add your company in the local directories. It’s also highly recommended that you build location-based landing pages on your website. Sign up on Google Maps and on Google My Business also.
Why is SEO essential to new SMEs?
SEO gives visibility. This makes it easier for consumers to find you. More than 25% of people click on the first result of the SERP (search engine results page). That’s exposure you can’t buy, is a “free” advertising that requires a good work in SEO.
SEO improves your website traffic and boost your leads. It means more sales or conversions, if you have your website design appropriately. What you want to reach for is to rank in Google’s first 5 places. This is where 75% of all clicks on search engines occur.
SEO also helps to website authority. This can mean a lot, because lets people know you’re the real deal. You’re reliable. You have something to provide. Usually, a high ranking in search engine indicates superior quality and excellence.
An added advantage of SEO is improved people experience and the website usability improved. Mobile customers will have a usable website to work with.
What can harm your SEO?
None of the SEO algorithms are perfect. They can make mistakes when evaluating content. Unfortunately, if there is poor strategy involved it is your website that will suffer. Here are a few situations where search engine crawlers struggle with:
1 – A website should have a correct link structure. If it does, certain pages may not be included in a search engine crawl. When that happens, it lowers your rank.
2 – Minimize Mistakes in Coding. If you’re bad at designing your website, you might ruin your SEO strategy. Make sure that your web coding skills are up to par.
3 – Duplicate content. Repeating the same material again and again is cheating. That is how search engines interpret it. When you have several pages using the same content, your website will be penalized.
4 – Forms. Search engine crawlers are having trouble reading the content included in the forms. That’s why we avoid them unless they are needed.
5 – Images, Video, Audio and Flash Graphics. Search engine crawlers don’t easily read material that isn’t text. Use descriptions, meta-data and Alt tag for images. It will tell crawlers what a video or picture is supposed to represent.
SEO Trends for this year
There are a few trends dominating how SEO is being done in 2020.
What they are, and how they can be used?
– Google has introduced BERT, a model for natural language processing. It analyzes the meaning behind a question and its purpose. You can’t optimize for BERT but for your audience, you can.
– Visual search is becoming more popular. Google Images, Pinterest, Instagram and other websites are platforms for image search. Content should include more relevant high-resolution images, optimized with alt-text, titles and descriptions.
– Voice search. This year more than half of all online searches would be done by a voice assistant. Target long-tail keywords, Q&A content types, structured data, and featured snippets.
It’s 2021 and the times have changed. Adjust your SEO because algorithms are waiting to make you a superstar. Whether you’re targeting the globe or the locally, Limitless Exposure will help.