Like all aspects of business, SEO is undergoing some changes. For example, the latest advice on SEO marketing strategies says that you should not focus on keywords to improve your ranking but instead aim for getting organic traffic to your website.
Because the rules change almost on a daily basis, it is essential to keep up to speed with how the algorithms work for all of the major search engines. Make too many mistakes in your SEO marketing strategy and your website rankings will slide into the doldrums. That’s not what any brand wants!
Here are the latest SEO tips for 2022.
Topics Replace Keywords
While keywords still determine ranking, they should not be your first step. The current focus is on topics that visitors to your site will be interested in. Choosing the right topics for your content ensures people searching for useful information are more likely to click in links to your pages.
Once you have made a list of relevant topics, only then should you convert these to short-tail keywords. For example, ‘restaurants’ can be expanded to ‘restaurants vegan’ and ‘restaurants vegetarian’.
The next step is to see how many hits your top ten to twelve keywords get and place them in order from highest to lowest. Take the top five and extend these to phrases, or long-tailed keywords, such as ‘restaurants vegan in Birmingham’. This will help Google search for related content as well which will likely to lead to higher conversions of visits to sales.
Create Pages for Each Topic
Create a main page that gives a high-level overview of topics that will be discussed in blogs with a link to a page for each one. These pages can then be used to showcase your specific products and lead to an option to purchase.
Think of this strategy as a content network. The main topics are tree trunks with the sub-topics branches that lead off. Begin with a broad topic outline and drill down into smaller, more specific topics. For example, you could have a site that covers cycling holidays in France. From there, sub-topics could include guides to various towns, advice on choosing a touring bike, tips for choosing a campsite, and other relevant information people will likely search for.
Create a Blog
Blogs give you the opportunity to insert your long-tailed keywords and increase the chances of a potential customer being directed to you through the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) that their search returns.
Limit the use of long-tail keywords to a maximum of three times in a post. More than that and you run the risk of Google red-flagging you. Provide links back to your main page so that readers can see more content. You should blog weekly. This will keep attention on your website.
Always promote your new blog posts on social media. Include a snippet about the blog’s topic, as well as a link back to the content. If the title and topic are engaging, people are more likely to follow the link.
Design Your Pages to Be Mobile-friendly
Google places a lot of importance on whether a site is mobile friendly. Your website should have the same quality on a mobile device as it does on a PC. Many users perform searches using their mobile phones. If they arrive on a site with poor graphics and text, and which is hard to move around on, they are likely to skip right past you.
Choosing an SEO Company
When choosing an SEO Birmingham company to help you with your SEO marketing strategy, there are a few essentials you need to check. The first indication of how well the company performs is to check how high their own business is ranked on Google. If they cannot do it for themselves, it is unlikely they can do it for you.
Ask them for examples of case studies similar to your profile that they have worked on. You also want to work with someone who has a track record of improving conversion rates.
There is a lot that goes into SEO optimisation, such as creating a landing page, link building, content development, design, and the technical aspects of the job. Go to the offices of a company you are considering hiring and ask to meet your team and find out what roles they will play for you.
No company can afford to ignore SEO if they want to attract customers so follow these tips and grow your business.
