Businesses that succeed are the ones that are quick to act. 2019 is here, and it is set to be a biggie for all sectors. From foldable phones to the fabled 5G rumored to make big leaps this year, there is a lot to look out for in this year. And regardless of what you do or what your website does, one thing that will not change this year, or for a long time to come, is the importance of the SEO for businesses. With the rising competition in pretty much every sector, from mobile app development to IoT apps, it is a need for every business to understand just how much they need a sound SEO process and how to conduct it immaculately. A properly conducted SEO process can help your websites in ranking higher in the search engine results and get a competitive edge over your competitions in the market. So today, we will see how to conduct an SEO process properly.
So let’s go then!
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is the term that refers to the process of developing the content on your website in a way which will help web browser spiders to find your site and improve your Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings. The Internet is vast with many sites doing exactly what you are, bearing the same information that you do. So to make sure that your site doesn’t get lost in the infinity of internet, SEO is required. To simplify, what SEO does is tell web browsers that your site has the content that its user is looking for and it might be able to help them.
What are the types of SEO?
There are two types of SEO mechanisms- Orthodox and Unorthodox. Improving your SERP is a long and arduous process which will take a lot of dedication if it is to be done properly and generate the desired results. You cannot rush it, you will need to improve your content, your site map and jump through a lot of other hoops like this. So if you are ready to do all that and are committed to improving your SERP rank, then the Orthodox SEO is for you. In this technique, you will follow conventional methods which will be slow but will generate results at any cost. These conventional methods will be the basis of our discussion in this article.
But if you are not willing to wait for a long time then you can always go for the Unorthodox SEO technique as well. You will need to buy existing domains and create inbound links to your site and do other such things which will demand a lot of money.
How to perform SEO?
1. Think Ahead
Trends run our world. From what we wear to where and what we eat, nowadays, all these choices are influenced by trends. And this is especially true for the younger generation which chases trends manically and obsessively. So for a website in these times, trends are an essential thing to follow. Your content needs to target things which are in trend so that people will actually click on your site to read it.
But there is a catch.
Trends get stale too quickly. Before you know it, a new and hot trend becomes a beaten down cliche. And the market has a tendency to get overpopulated very quickly once something new comes out. So all these factors render the very sentiment of following trends, futile. Because by the time you realize that a trend is a trend and adopt it, it is already too late because others have already jumped on it.
So what you need to do, is to try and predict the future trends and generate content according to that. But generating an article for a trend which will be hot in the near future requires a lot of market insight and knowledge.
When you prepare an article before a trend is hot, first and foremost you get the benefit of age. Since your article has been on the internet for some time, it will be, for some time at least, very unique and some wanders will hit your site and web browsers will realize that your content is helping others. Now as the trends start to gain momentum, more content on the internet regarding your topic will be available. But since your article is older and already has user confidence, it will be ranked higher than all the other sites in search engine result page.
So create content early with hashtags and keywords which will be hot in the future. This will increase your ranking as the targetted time draws nearer.
2. Create Content Clusters
In the past few months, the relevance of keywords has somewhat diminished. The reason being the fact that many sites con users and web browsers by including keywords in their content, even though it has nothing to do with their content. This sort of trickery has forced search engines to put keywords on a back burner and focus on the content of the site to bring the most appropriate information to a user.
Content clustering is basically a knot of content about related topics which originate from one central topic. If there is a lot of information on your site regarding one specific topic, then web browsers get the feel that you are an expert in your field and the information that you provide will help others. In a content cluster, there are central pages, that is the main topics, and then there are the pillar pages, which are related to the central topics. When you follow this method, you are basically enhancing your content-arsenal and making sure that web browsers direct users to your site. This strategy can be even more effective if you incorporate techniques like finding competitors backlinks, as this can give you insights into how to strengthen your content clusters and boost your SEO efforts.
For example: Let’s suppose that a site has chosen eCommerce as its central topic. So the central page will be an article about eCommerce. And then content for related topics like- how much is the eCommerce sector worth in the USA? will form pillar pages around it. Each central page will be linked to all the pillar pages via hyperlinks.
3. Enroll on Google Console
Google console is another free Google tool. There are many advantages of using Google Console, but first, it requires you to have a site map. It makes it easier for a web browser to navigate through the various pages of your website and see if your content is worthy or not. Once you have created a site map for your site you can enroll for Google Console. What it will do is make it easier for people to find your site. It is a fairly easy process and lets you manage your site’s presence on Google.
4. Google-Google all the Way!
Since there is an on-going war between Google and Amazon over the search market, Google is bound to favor those sites which use Google products. From Google Adwords to Google Business, the more Google tools you use, the better. Another thing that you need to remember is that you never underestimate the power of Google Plus. Though it is not as popular as some of the other social media platforms in the market, it will work wonders for your business nonetheless. All you need to do is make sure that you post all your social media posts here as well and provide a backlink to your site at the end. This will help you in improving your SERP ranking greatly.
5. The Google Business Edge
Google business improves your native SEO. Without having to build an expensive website, Google Business lets you enroll your business profile on it and add a location to your shop/restaurant. So when a search engine user will look for a specific business in your area, your business will be listed in the search result. Google business is a wonderful tool to bring local customers.
6. The Rise of Videos
Google has been working hard to bring the most relevant results to a user. And there are two key variables which play major roles in deciding your SERP rank – Bounce and User Retention rates.
Bounce rate is basically a number which tells how many of your users went back to the search page to try a different site. If the time it took them to bounce is very less and if there are too many bounces from your websites, it means that your site doesn’t have good content and Google will not rank you high in the search results.
User retention rate is a variable which tells us how successfully can you hold your visitors. The longer they stay the better.
So the approach that you follow should, ultimately, provide low bounce rate and high user retention rate.
There are multiple tactics which you can use, and most effective of them is using videos on your landing page. It is an industry-wide accepted figure that almost 80% of the traffic on the internet will be ruled by videos very soon. So putting a small and interesting video right in the home page of your site will naturally help you improve your bounce and user retention scores.
7. Generate Good Content
The most important thing that you need to do to improve your SERP score is, generating good content. You users need information, they need facts and they need it right away. So make sure that the content that you write is not too flamboyantly written and is to the point. If they wanted to read for enjoyment, they’d read a novel. So stick to the facts, don’t do any strange somersaults with vocabulary or sentence structures. Be simple and to the point. Also, never shy away from using images, GIFs, and infomercials. They articulate knowledge to your users in a fun way and makes you look less of a robot. So keep in mind- create good, simple and informative content because in the end, even after all the SEO techniques, you will need to have a sound content on your site.
Final Words
SEO has always been relevant to websites. It happens all too often that a site gets lost on the internet, owing it to poorly done SEO process. Don’t let that be the case with your business. 2019 is just starting and now is the perfect time for you to jump on the above-mentioned techniques. Use them and improve your SERP ranking, reach more users, generate more traffic and earn more money.
