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Every company wants to figure out the SEO game and get its name at the head of every search. Whether you’re selling a completely unique product or simply trying to make a mark with what you consider to be the best version of something popular, we all want to hit that top spot on the Google lists.

If you’ve got a particular keyword that you want to stand out, staying on top of the trends in SEO will definitely give you an edge in the optimization game.

In order to get there, you should first familiarize yourself with the SEO world in general and how it works. Following the right steps can help put you in the right position to get yourself recognized every time.

If you’re looking to present your results in a particular manner, you might look into one of the software options for SEO reports that have gained popularity recently. After all, you’re not only looking to get your results, but you want them to be organized, capable of being utilized at a later date, and presentable, when necessary, to others.

Learn the basics first

The first thing to keep in mind is that the SEO world is an ever-changing one. In order to stay on top of the game, you’ll need to check for innovations and updates on a regular basis.

Nonetheless, there are certain essential components to maintaining good rankings that will always play an essential role. If you are diligent and consistent in your efforts, you’ll continue to find your name at the top of the rankings. And you can stay on top of the game by using a keyword rank tracker to see how you fare vis a vis other companies.

Beyond Google, you might also think more broadly about improving your rankings in other places. For example, if you have promotional videos there are SEO tools for YouTube that can help you improve your video rankings, as well.

The audit

The first thing you’ll need to do – and on a regular basis, if you hope to stay on top of things – is get an audit. There are two types of audits, technical and content, and both are important to your overall outcome for different reasons. 

You should expect the audit to take a month or more if it is done properly. In addition, there are shorter, more superficial checks that you can perform on a more regular basis to help you stay on top.

Technical audit

The technical audit, as the name suggests, will run through your entire site and determine which specific aspects of it are affecting your potential optimization ratings. If you have one or more particular things that are slowing down your site or otherwise preventing it from functioning optimally, the technical audit will identify them.

Before you undergo your technical audit, you’ll want to make sure that your pages are public, your device accessibility is up to date, and you have checked for canonicalization. This refers to the process of standardizing data that may be repeated throughout your site.

Major components of the technical audit include, but are not limited to: 

1. Identifying indexing and “crawlability”. Crawlability is defined as a link that can be “crawled” – that is, tracked – by Google, primarily (and other search engines, although Google is, of course, the biggest). If your site cannot be crawled, that means you have a sub-standard URL and should invest in a better one.
2. An analysis of your sitemap. Sitemaps are subdivided into two groups: HTML, which defines a site’s overall construction; and XML, which determines search engine/crawling potential. It could be that additional browser extensions are called for as these could help to analyze and determine where your pages stand vis a vis the competition. 
3. Subdomain analysis. This component of the analysis will tell you the number of subdomains – already indexed or not – that exist in your site and whether or not those that are indexed correctly match what is indicated on your sitemap.

Content audit

The other major component of your overall SEO audit has to do with its content. The content audit will cover a number of major features:

1. Your overall content structure. You could have a great site in terms of the information you provide, but it could be laid out in an illogical or confusing manner. If your content structure isn’t clear and user-friendly, you will drive away potential traffic. 
2. Specific schema analysis. A schema analysis looks into the underlying meaning of a particular schema, or statement, on your site. If your site involves language that could have multiple meanings, you’ll want to be sure that your intended message is being conveyed correctly. 
3. Traffic relevance. You could be getting a lot of traffic on your site, but is it really the traffic you want? Having a site with splashy graphics that gets noticed by teenagers won’t help you if you’re selling services for retired people. You want to be sure that the message you convey is appropriate for your target audience, and a proper audit is a good way to quantify this.

Keyword audit

Perhaps the most critical single component of your site’s viability for your business is its keyword strength. This is, of course, the main way that people search for what they want, so if you are selling a product or service, you want your use of the appropriate keywords to be as accurate and effective as possible. 

If you’re not sure of your keywords or their degree of strength, get an expert to determine them.

Regardless of whether or not you’ve got a unique name for your product that you’d like to share with the world, it pays to have your site screened professionally to see which keywords stand out and at what volume.

How does this work?

Before undergoing your keyword audit, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with the standard components involved so that you can be sure you’ll get a comprehensive and accurate report. Keep the following points in mind when you’re getting started:

• Total data gathering is essential. You’ll want to find a service with thorough, trusted analytics mechanisms so that you know nothing is being left out.
• Sorting/categorization mechanisms are also critical. You can have all the data in the world, but if you don’t have sophisticated means of sorting and categorizing it, your outcomes will be incomplete. These are two distinct phases of the keyword audit and should be treated as such.
• Once your data is properly categorized, it will be time to analyze it. Again, you will want to find a highly-rated service to do the analysis for you so that you know you’re getting a thorough, complete job.

Results to expect

The results of your technical and content analysis will tell you both where you stand currently, where your strengths lie, and what you might need to do in order to improve your standings.

Specific suggestions that you might be given upon completion of your audit include the following: 

• Suggestions on how to standardize/fill out areas of your site that might be weaker than others. It’s possible that you might have neglected certain back pages in favor of beefing up your home page. Remember that having a well-rounded site is critical to your overall appearance and ultimately, success. 
• Similarly, your technical and content audits could indicate major structural changes that you might want to make. It’s possible that you made your site some time ago, before you added new services or certain trends in your industry became popular. Having an expert third party examine your whole site for keyword strength can be an excellent way to rethink your overall design/purpose, as well as how you want to present your company to the public.
• Just as you might want to beef up certain aspects of your site, you may also find that certain pages become repetitive. It is not uncommon for people to be so in love with their product that they neglect to realize how often they repeat the same point (sometimes at the expense of others).
• In order to build up your keyword strength, your analysis will tell you where you can most effectively add links, improve your meta tags, and make other changes vital to optimizing your potential.

There are also rank trackers that you can utilize on a more regular basis to keep track of your search engine ranking. In addition to the full-scale audit, you might look into one of these to help you stay on top all the time.

After the audit, a more general estimation

Once your audit is complete, you will not only have a greater understanding of where your site stands in terms of its overall strength, and the strength of your keywords in particular. 

You’ll also be able to look at the competition with a keener eye. Learning the components of a successful site will better equip you to look at any site – yours or others – and be able to discern where its strengths and weaknesses lie.

See your business grow as a result

Putting all these results together will, in turn, will allow you to more effectively plan your overall business plan. In looking at sites related to yours, you may find not only places where you stand out, but also potential areas for improvement.

With approximately 1.88 billion websites in the world, ranking your business website higher in SERPs is no less than a milestone. However, due to consistent changes in search engine algorithms, keeping the ranking secure has become critical. SEO practitioners or businesses need to be well-versed with the latest updates and improve their practices for a great end-user experience.

For instance, a recent Google algorithm update aimed to recognize and nullify link spam. Marketers are focusing on the organic link-building process to comply with this update. It will help them connect with bloggers or sites of similar niches and get organic traffic.

The key here is to understand the guidelines of the search engine to provide a steady boost to your site. This will help keep the ranking secured by preventing any possible penalties. With that being said, let’s learn about the SEO practices that can help protect your SERP ranking.

Build Natural And Relevant Links

Links are an inseparable part of Google’s ranking factor. It can help accomplish numerous search engine optimization goals- if done correctly. Understand that the Google algorithm targets spammy links by penalizing the sites generating or providing them. Therefore, your focus should be on building natural and relevant links.

Are you wondering how?

Well, there are several techniques for building links, such as using guest blogging, improving broken links, or niche edits. It will ensure that you connect with the relevant sites and build a strong connection with their audience. However, link-building is still considered one of the toughest strategies to follow. It requires careful planning and skills to connect with fellow and relevant bloggers and get high-quality links. That’s why marketers or agencies look for white label link building service providers. They can help you provide do-follow indexable editorial links that’ll help generate organic traffic. Consequently, you’ll be able to maintain your ranking in the SERPs.

Optimize The Images

The recent advancement in search engines requires you to optimize your images (including infographics) to cater to the search intent of your target audience. No, optimization is not limited to adding target keywords in the ALT description. Instead, it includes several other things, such as renaming the image file name to include the target keyword. Add one or more sentences to the ALT description, including target keywords, instead of stuffing keywords. Doing so will ensure that your keywords look natural and help search engine crawlers, as well as your target audience, identify your webpage.

Additionally, make sure to choose the placement of the image wisely. When the image is close to the text, it helps in establishing contextual relevance. You must also consider the ideal image size you are using for your website or webpage. High-resolution images are surely quite engaging to the customers, but they can severely affect the web page’s speed. So, make sure to find a balance between quality pictures and page loading speed.

Content Will Remain The King

Content marketing and SEO go hand-in-hand. If you are providing higher quality and relevant content, you are likely to maintain (perhaps elevate) your SERPs ranking. Keep in mind that the focus should be on delivering “quality content” and not quantity. In simple terms, you can schedule your weekly or monthly blog posts (including guest blogging) that contain fresh and relevant content. Though search engines give somewhat priority to long-form content with natural keywords, you must focus on the niche relevancy and effectiveness of the blog post.

Tip: Understanding user intent can come in handy here. When you are well-versed with your target audience’s issues or doubts, it’ll become easier to provide an appropriate solution to them using your content. 

Learn About The Goal Of The Updated Algorithm

As you might already know, search engines, particularly Google, are consistently upgrading its algorithm for excellent user experience. However, staying on top of SERPs can become a daunting task if you do not keep an eye on the changing algorithm and its objectives. All the SEO tactics you may try can provide you with limited results if they are not directed towards the same objective as Google’s algorithm. Luckily, identifying the aim of Google updates is pretty easy, i.e., providing apt solutions to end-users needs.

Thereby, you must formulate or amend your SEO strategy to suit the requirements of the search engine. This, in turn, will ensure that you get high organic traffic and high-quality backlink links and improve your ranking.

To Sum It All Up

In order to rank higher on search engine result pages and secure your position for as long as possible, you must follow white hat and white label SEO strategies. When you understand and abide by the guidelines of search engines and focus on providing quality information to them, securing your ranking will become pretty easy. Additionally, you can take help from outsourcing SEO service providers to constantly improve your marketing efforts.

These days there are more and more ways to promote your goods and services, whether it’s by direct marketing, print advertising, or online. When it comes to the internet, this can be broken down into social media and web-based advertising. According to a study published by the Harvard Business Review, 73% of shoppers use multiple channels. Other studies discovered that people showed higher engagement and customer retention, and more sales when marketing campaigns used several different channels.  

There’s a lot of talk about the value of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and the omnichannel customer experience. Added to that are integrated digital campaigns. The latter speak of uniformity, consistency, and connection. It’s a classic case of joined-up thinking that helps boost brand awareness and encourages sales. If you are intrigued by this subject, you’ll be interested to read the following six points.

You May Need External Help

If you have a product to sell you will need to think about what to call it and how to package it. No serious business would exist without a website and once again, the logo, branding, and colors can be key to establishing public awareness. If you lack the skills or resources to address this, you may need a professional graphic artist or another specialist company. A visit to the Two Palms website reveals that businesses want to see example content before they commit. They also want to know who are some of their current big-named clients. 

If your digital campaign is fully integrated all paths will direct traffic to your website and its sales pages. It may be worth involving a marketing company or specialist IT agency to help you. They can harness the power of analytical tools to discover your target audience and help optimize your website for Search Engine Optimisation purposes. 

Its Design Is To Unify The Different Channels

Both websites and social media pages are like megaphones. Imagine them all broadcasting details of your goods and services in an identical way. No matter which megaphone you hear, the same message is being conveyed. It’s similar to the omnichannel customer experience we mentioned earlier, where people have the same information and options whether they are using Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, or your website. 

It’s worth setting out the three types of digital media at this point, namely owned media (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.), earned media (where people find you in Google searches or through blog links), and paid media (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.). Your integrated digital campaign will provide a number of doors that all lead to the same place. 

Search Engine Optimisation Can Help

People enter specific search words into Google and other web browsers when they are looking for goods or services like yours. The punchline is they may not be using the words you expect, in which case your marketing attempts will be flawed. 

In order to succeed you need to:

• Know what they are (to make yourself relevant)
• Include them in your content and on your website
• Increase the ranking (visibility) of your site through SEO. 

Whether it’s a blog, email, webpage, Facebook post, or Youtube video, all need to include the key search words and a link (if possible) to your website. This way ‘all roads lead to Rome’ and the more traffic you get, the more revenue you may be able to receive. 

Branding Is Essential 

The aim of the game is that people can instantly recognize your products by looking at the artwork (e.g. photography, graphics, logo, strapline, colors). If it varies between any of the different channels (e.g. Facebook and your email marketing) its effectiveness will be compromised. 

You’ll want your brand to be seen as a household name and a dependable company to do business with. There should be no confusion as to what you’re about and what you have to offer, no matter where they find you. In turn, your customers can become ‘your tribe.’

Social Media Is A Key Tool

This applies whether it’s LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, or more. Almost half the planet has access to social media, totaling around 3.5 billion people. Some of these are potential customers, so they need to hear a clear voice speaking to them (and louder than your rivals). 

You can broadcast your brand message by regularly posting quality and engaging content. Whether it’s Youtube or Facebook, the message needs to be consistent. As well as growing your following and updating people on your latest offers and products, you can also do paid ads. 

You Need To Discover Your Target Audience

The first step is to be sure there is a market demand for what you have to offer. If you’ve researched your target audience in advance using analytical tools, this data will be used to steer your campaign. 

Using Facebook Ads as an example, you can select the age, gender, and location of your campaign audience. You can also direct the ads to people with specific interests and time the campaigns to occur when they will be most effective. 

Niche Marketing

This involves restricting who you try to reach during your campaign. If it’s men in their twenties, for instance, you’ll customize the wording and style of the adverts accordingly. You’ll also advertise when and where these people are looking. By aiming for a narrow niche it can be easier to analyze your latest campaigns. Once you know what does and doesn’t work you can widen the net to include new categories of people. This may prove more cost-productive than producing generic ads designed to reach everyone. 

Whilst we’ve been talking about integrated digital campaigns, it’s important to appreciate that not every channel will suit your marketing plan. If your target audience doesn’t use Pinterest, turn your focus elsewhere. Identify the best channels and make sure they are fully integrated by using consistent marketing strategies. Rather than one of them bringing you business, it will be many that contribute to your success. The resulting synergy will help promote your brand persona and motivate people to become your customers.