We’ve given you the SEO essentials before, but no harm revisiting for the time of year that’s in it! As with everything in this industry, practises change and update rapidly all the time, so to be constantly learning is key.
NB: This is an article from NetAffinity
There’s been many significant, often fascinating, changes in SEO over the last few years, one of note being when Google introduced a form of machine learning into its ranking algorithms in 2016 – rankbrain. A tool with a very clear purpose, it’s used to match differently worded queries with the same intent, with the same results.
As the old saying goes though, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Image optimisation works essentially the same way it did a decade ago – new algorithms have been introduced that penalise the misuse of keywords, but aside from that the basic principles have stayed the same. More on how to properly optimise your images here.
How long has content been a buzzword for now? OK, forever, but its importance as an unwavering, necessary component of your marketing mix only grows by the day. SEO and content, like any of the legendary couples throughout history, need each other. But, keeping in mind the purpose of our content, we shouldn’t be creating for the sake of ‘SEO-focused content’ – throughout the year, as you work from and continue to develop your strategy, always remember, your content is there to provide something of genuine use or entertainment to customers and potential customers. Decent SEO facilitates and enhances this.
Here are a few tips / reminders to help keep your SEO healthy this year.
Keyword research
A quick keyword research can often net thousands of of keywords, some relevant to you, some not. The first thing to do is take a look at your brand’s data on Google Search Console and analyse what you’re ranking for. Are there more branded-related queries coming in? If so, is it worth trying to diversify? Once this initial research is done, add the most relevant keywords worth optimising to your Keyword Planner. This should help inform your content as well.
Meta tags
If you were given two sentences to describe your property in a way that would encapsulate its uniqueness and intrigue, what would they be? This is how to think of your meta description. It’s important that potential customers get some form of what kind of property you are, all with a glance. Every word is to be considered – make sure all keywords and phrases are reflective of the content you’re sending people to, and also relevant to your organic search traffic goals.
Review your content
Arguably one of the most important points – something you’ll need to do religiously. Review, review, review! Are users bouncing from your pages? Consider adding links to other locations on your site; review your CTA positioning. Keep looking at your data. And, when you can find the time, do a little analysis on your competitor’s content. There’s never any harm!
Mobile is your friend
We harp on about it all the time, but it’s so important that your site is optimised for mobile in every sense, and a site that’s well optimised for search engines only has a few more considerations to think about for mobile. Things like page speed, site design and optimising for local search all need to be taken into account!
