Secrets to a Successful SEO Program

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Many clients ask me exactly what are the secrets to a successful SEO program. My answer is always the same. There is no magical methodology and most SEO consultants employ the same tactics. What is key in obtaining good online visibility is staying on top of the ever changing Google search engine ranking criteria.

I don’t know about you, but anytime we need something in our home or business life, we Google it. If I need a residential plumber, I Google “best plumber” in my city. If my business needs a new heavy duty iCloud storage, we Google “best iCloud storage”.

Rule #1 is without at least some presence on Google, your business is unlikely to survive.

Rule #2 is if your business isn’t taking advantage of using SEO strategies then you are likely losing out to your competition. You need SEO on your website and social media pages in order to rank your business in internet searches. SEO is one of the most effective ways to ensure your business is found when customers are searching for someone like you.

Rule #3 You must constantly pay attention to the Google algorithm update history and adapt to each new Google algorithm. If you are avid about doing this, you can keep your page at the top and ensure success in all your digital marketing endeavors.

As simple as SEO can be to deploy, it is a constantly evolving technique. You need a good understanding and a knowledge base of what is new or on the horizon for ranking schemes.

2018 is no different from any other year. There are many SEO trends that can help your organization achieve a top result in a Google search, giving your business an edge over your competition.

So what are the best practices for SEO right now?

Secure Links (SSL)

A couple of years ago, Google announced that secured website certificates (SSL) were starting to impact the ranking of websites. Recently, we noticed that browsers such as Chrome are flagging sites that don’t begin with HTTPS as being potentially unsafe. Adding an SSL certificate to your website is one of the least expensive and easiest ways to boost SEO ranking in 2018. If you don’t have an SSL, it’s likely that your page rankings will begin to drop.

Link-worthy User-driven Content

Creating link-worthy, user-driven content that answers relevant questions and provides useful information to prospects is key. Using a blog and frequent posting with cross links to your social media is a great way to stay in the forefront of searches.

Schema is another area that will continue to be a focal point in achieving measurable results within organic search online. This new form of optimization is one of the most powerful, but least-utilized forms of SEO available today. Once you grasp the concept and method of schema markup, you can boost your website in the search engine result pages (SERPs).

The schema markup tells the search engine what that content means. For example, let’s say the word “Kristi Eakin Design” appears on one of my blog articles. The search engine sees this, and produces a SERP entry with “Kristi Eakin Design.” However, if I put the right schema markup around the name “Kristi Eakin Design,” I’ve just told that search engine that “Kristi Eakin Design” is the author of the article and perhaps details about the article. The search engine then provides results that display better information for the user who was searching for “Kristi Eakin Design.”

You don’t need to learn any special coding skills to utilize schema. You will simply add bits of schema.org vocabulary to HTML Microdata.

Content and markups may sound like the same old, same old, but the better you match your keywords, titles, and metadata to user intent, the better you will perform. The central goal of Google’s core algorithm update is to make results more closely match users’ intentions. So you might ask yourself, “If I were a customer of my business, what would I search for on the Internet to find my business.” versus words related to your business as we’ve done in the past.

Searcher Intent

Google’s focus on matching search results to the unique intent of a searcher’s query will impact SEO this year. We now must look beyond keywords and traditional ranking factors to understand the types of content the search engines deem relevant for priority terms.

In order to build brand awareness, SEO is key in connecting customers to your business. Consider what issues your potential customers are likely to be struggling with and write content aimed at resolving those issues. Use keywords and metadata that call attention to your ability to do that. And remember if your online activity is stagnant, so will your online visibility become.

If you are looking for an SEO consultant to manage your SEO strategies, contact us today at 214-769-5461 for an affordable month-to-month program that can be short-term or long-term. You can use our expertise as long as you need to get your SEO boosted.