Four different SEO strategies for you to tackle
I know a lot of us are always trying to configure our SEO and tweak it here and there to really suck the juice out of it. And I encourage that. SEO is an ongoing puzzle. It’s not just “set and forget” type of marketing activity. So with that in mind, I’ve proposed four overarching SEO strategies or components of an SEO strategy that I encourage you to look at this year. Now, depending on the size of your site or your brand, this can be a really overwhelming task. It might even take a whole team to action if you don’t have the resources; I suggest picking one of the following four strategies and really perfecting it to the best of your ability this year. Anything you can do will make a difference.
- Keyword optimisation: Researching and incorporating relevant keywords into website content, meta tags, and image alt tags to improve search visibility.
- On-page optimisation: Improving website structure, navigation, and content quality to ensure search engines can easily crawl and understand the site.
- Link building: Acquiring high-quality, inbound links from reputable sources to increase domain authority and drive referral traffic.
- Content marketing: Creating and publishing valuable content to attract and engage the target audience, earning natural links and increasing brand awareness.
Like I said above, if you don’t have the resources to tackle all of this yourself or have a team to help you, I recommend picking one of the four above, focusing on it and getting it really right before moving on to the next. You are better off diving in and making something work rather than doing bits and pieces here in there. So my recommendation is to pick either one or four above if you haven’t done a deep dive on either before.
SEO strategy 1 – keyword optimisation
Keyword optimisation is the process of researching, selecting, and incorporating keywords into your website content, meta tags, and other elements in order to improve your website’s visibility and ranking on search engines such as Google. The goal of keyword optimisation is to identify the keywords and phrases your target audience is searching for and to make sure that your website appears as high as possible in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for those keywords.
The process of keyword optimisation involves researching and identifying the right keywords, analysing the competition for those keywords, incorporating the keywords into your website content in a natural and effective way, and continuously monitoring and refining your keyword strategy to ensure maximum results.
Keyword optimisation is an important part of search engine optimisation SEO, as it can help drive more traffic to your website and increase your online visibility and credibility.
The following are some techniques and methods you can apply if keyword optimisation is your chosen SEO strategy for this year. Again, if you work with limited resources, pick one and perfect it until you move on to the next.
Keyword optimisation techniques for 2023
- Long-tail Keywords: Focus on more specific and descriptive phrases that better match user intent.
- Voice search optimisation: Optimising content for voice search queries and using conversational language.
- LSI keywords: Including semantically related words and phrases to strengthen the context and relevance of content.
- Local keywords: Optimising content for local search queries and using location-based keywords.
- Topic clusters: Organising content into interlinked groups of related articles, with pillar content as the primary source of information.
- Synonyms and variations: Using synonyms and variations of keywords to avoid keyword stuffing and increase content relevance.
- User intent: When creating content, understand and target the user’s goals, needs, and search intentions.
I want to explain a few of these terms a little further since they may be new to you.
What are LSI keywords?
LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords are semantically related words and phrases that provide context and meaning to the main keyword. They help search engines understand the content’s topic and theme and can improve search ranking for the target keyword. The use of LSI keywords can also help avoid keyword stuffing and make the content appear more natural and relevant to the user. Examples of LSI keywords for the main keyword “pizza” could include “toppings”, “delivery”, “New York style”, “crust”, etc.
What are topic clusters?
Topic clusters are a content marketing and SEO strategy that organises related articles into interlinked groups, with one main piece of content serving as the “pillar” that provides comprehensive information on a particular topic.
Each cluster consists of the pillar content and several “cluster” articles that are linked to it, providing in-depth coverage of specific subtopics related to the pillar content. For example, where my main page (and SEO keyword and content focus) is “copywriter“, I would focus on creating and improving content (specifically blog articles) that are directly related to “copywriter”. That might look like topics such as “what’s it like being a copywriter”, “how to become a copywriter”, “what you need to know when hiring a copywriter”, etc.
Using topic clusters helps establish the website as an authority on the subject (which we know is vital for the EEAT formula), improves user experience, and increases the chances of ranking higher in search results for relevant keywords.
What are local keywords?
Local keywords are words that include a geographic location, such as a city, region, or neighbourhood. They are used to optimise content for local search queries. These keywords are used to target users who are searching for products or services in a specific area. Examples of local keywords include “pizza delivery in Adelaide”, “best hair salon in Melbourne”, and “coffee shops in Sydney”.
The use of local keywords can help improve a website’s visibility in local search results, attract local customers, and drive more relevant traffic to the website.
If you’re a brick-and-mortar business, you would absolutely make this one of your SEO strategy priorities. Especially if you rely on face-to-face service as your business. When you run an online and remote business like mine, it’s not so important. But I still occasionally look at doing as, say, a third-level priority when it comes to improving my keywords and SEO activities. The way to tell whether you need to invest your time in this is by doing good quality SEO keyword research, and if you notice a lot of search volume for, say, “copywriter Adelaide” (if that is your local area), then it’s definitely worth popping it on your to-do list.
What is user intent?
User intent refers to the goal, need, or purpose behind a user’s search query. Understanding user intent is crucial in providing relevant and valuable content that satisfies the user’s search request. User intent can range from informational (searching for information), navigational (searching for a specific website), transactional (searching to purchase a product or service), or commercial (researching products or services before making a purchase).
By understanding and targeting user intent, marketers and content creators can optimise their content to better match the user’s expectations, improve search ranking, and increase user engagement and satisfaction. You can see in the image below that SemRush tells me that people are mainly searching for “copywriting services adelaide” with a commercial (that’s what the yellow C stands for) intent.
I find this particularly easy to work out with the SEO software that I use because it explicitly states what most users are looking for. It will tell me whether a keyword is mostly searched for being informational, transactional or navigational. If I know that something is being heavily searched for in a transactional manner, then I know to optimise that key webpage in a salesy way and that people are ready to buy.
SEO strategy 2 – on page optimisation
On-page optimisation refers to the actions taken directly on a website to improve its ranking and visibility in search results. It encompasses various technical and content-related elements of a website, including:
- Title tags and meta descriptions
- Headings and subheadings
- Content quality and relevance
- URL structure
- Internal linking
- Image optimisation
- Page loading speed
- Mobile responsiveness
- Schema markup
The goal of on-page optimisation is to make it easier for search engines to crawl and understand a website’s content, making it more likely to rank well in search results for relevant keywords.
When starting to work with new clients, this is one of the first services or activities that I suggest to them, particularly if they have an existing website. Going back through old content, web pages, or blog posts can give an almost immediate boon to search ranking results. And you don’t even have to create new content. I find it a super-efficient way of helping clients to get their website in the game as a baseline, and then they can start to add on other techniques, new content and strategies from there.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with which SEO strategy to take this year and are reasonably new to it all but have an existing website, on onsite optimisation service is where I recommend you start.
Why engage in on-page optimisation?
- Improves search engine visibility: It helps search engines better understand and index a website’s content, increasing its chances of ranking well in search results.
- Enhances user experience: Optimising website structure, navigation, and content quality improves user experience, which can lead to increased engagement and conversions.
- Increases website’s relevance: It ensures that a website’s content is relevant, valuable, and aligned with user intent, which can increase traffic and engagement.
- Supports off-page SEO efforts: On-page optimisation lays the foundation for successful off-page SEO efforts, such as link building, by providing high-quality, search engine-friendly content.
- Increases conversion rates: By improving user experience, relevance, and search visibility, on-page optimisation can increase the chances of converting website visitors into customers.
SEO strategy 3 – link building
Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own website to improve its visibility and authority in search results. The more high-quality, relevant links pointing to a website, the more likely it is to rank well for relevant keywords.
Link building is a critical component of off-page SEO and can be achieved through various tactics such as guest blogging, broken link building, resource link building, and others. The goal of link building (often referred to as backlinks) is to obtain natural, high-quality links that add value to both the linking and linked-to websites while avoiding spammy or low-quality links that can negatively impact search rankings.
Why engage in link building?
- Improves search engine visibility: Link building helps search engines understand the quality and relevance of a website and can lead to higher rankings in search results for relevant keywords.
- Increases referral traffic: It can drive referral traffic to a website from other sites, increasing visibility and exposure.
- Builds authority and trust: The more high-quality, relevant links pointing to a website, the more authoritative and trustworthy it appears to both search engines and users.
- Supports on-page optimisation: Link building can help support on-page optimisation efforts by providing additional context and relevance to a website’s content.
- Enhances user experience: By linking to high-quality, relevant content, link building can improve the overall user experience and increase engagement with a website.
I don’t recommend you rush into this one straight away. This is the kind of strategy that you want to engage. Once you have a lot of content in place. You have an excellent website, you’ve done the web copy, you’ve put all the on-page SEO factors into place, and you definitely have optimised for your keywords. Only when you’ve got all that in place is it time to start your link-building activities.
So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, trying to decide which strategy to embark on this year, leave this one for last.
SEO strategy 4 – content marketing
Content marketing is the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly targeted audience with the aim of driving customer action that makes money. The goal of content marketing is to establish a brand as a thought leader, educate and engage its target audience, and build relationships with customers through content that is relevant, valuable, and aligned with their needs and interests.
It should be pretty obvious by now why content marketing should factor into your overall marketing plan regardless of your SEO goals. But here are some reminders anyway:
- Attracts and retains target audience: Content marketing helps attract and retain a target audience by providing them with relevant, valuable information that meets their needs and interests.
- Establishes brand as a thought leader: By providing expert information and insights, content marketing helps establish a brand as a thought leader in its industry, building trust and credibility with its target audience. So this is not just for those who want to engage in the speaking circle, so their books etc. This is for brands as well that really want to establish credibility in the market. So that can be things like bedroom furniture, for example. You can see that a lot of those memory foam mattress businesses, who work really hard on their marketing, have established quite a lot of credibility by providing content around getting a good night’s sleep and sleep hygiene etc.
- Drives engagement and conversions: By engaging and educating its target audience, content marketing can increase engagement and drive conversions, leading to increased revenue and customer loyalty.
- Supports SEO efforts: Content marketing can fire up SEO efforts by providing high-quality, relevant content that can be optimised for search engines and drive organic traffic to a website. And you know that I’m all about this and will not shut up about it until you do it!
- Cost-effective marketing strategy: Content marketing is a cost-effective marketing method that can reach a large audience without the need for large ad budgets, helping to increase brand awareness and customer engagement. Especially if you engage in writing your own blog posts.
Which of the four strategies is the best?
It’s difficult to say which of the four strategies is the “best” as it depends on your specific business goals, target audience, and industry. All four systems have their own unique benefits and can be used together to support an overall marketing strategy.
The best strategy is the one that meets your business goals, addresses the needs and interests of your target audience, and delivers results that are meaningful to your business. And the one that is within reach for you right now. Whether that means: within your budget to outsource or that you have the time to engage in or have support from someone you know to help and encourage you to try.
To summarise, though:
If you’re established and have already got a great optimised website and lots of content – try link building.
If you’re entirely new and have just got your website live, try keyword optimisation and/or content marketing.
If you’ve been around for a little bit but haven’t really thrown yourself into any SEO strategy – try various parts of keyword optimisation and/onsite optimisation.
If you haven’t even started yet – write your website and get it live! Then do your keyword optimisation (or do it as you are writing your website pages). Hire a website copywriter if you are unsure.
It’s important to regularly evaluate and adjust your strategy based on your results and changing market conditions and to find the right balance between different tactics that work well for your business. I recommend, at the start of every year, plan out what you want to achieve and work on within your SEO strategy for the year. But to also re-evaluate at least every three months as to whether you are making progress.
