Organic search, according to nearly half of marketers polled by Search Engine Journal, offers the best return on investment of any channel. According to Google, a whopping 53% of US buyers searched for a product online before making a purchase choice. So, whether you like it or not, you’ll need to get your head around SEO. If you don’t, you’re consciously choosing to miss out on more traffic – and potentially more consumers – to your website.
How, on the other hand, do you master search engine optimization? For you, one word comes to mind: strategy. And don’t worry if you don’t know where to begin: paper writing service WritePaper has you covered. Let’s look down the seven main steps in establishing an SEO strategy that they’ve gathered.
1. Select Topics, Pillar Pages, And Keywords
You may believe that creating an SEO plan is as simple as choosing the correct keywords, but the reality is a little more complicated. The following is what you should do:
- Determine your major points. Don’t be afraid to utilize generic terminology and limit yourself to one or two words. If you sell sneakers, for example, your themes will be’sneakers’ and’shoes.’ Your short-tail keywords will be these.
- Make a list of topic clusters. Consider your target audience’s interests, concerns, and hobbies in addition to your product. If you sell leather shoes, for example, your consumer is likely to look up how to care for them on the internet.
- To each topic, add more particular key phrases. It’s easier to fight for first-page rankings if they’re more specialized. They should be more specific and incorporate the short-tail keyword.
What are the best places to look for keywords? Here are some resources to consider:
- (Semrush) Keyword Overview Tool and Keyword Magic Tool;
- Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner are two useful tools.
- Keyword Explorer by Ahrefs;
- Ubersuggest is a service that helps people find things they like to do (Neil Patel).
2. Keep An Eye On Your Competitors
Take your long-tail keywords and look them up on Google. Examine the first-page results, click on the links, and read the content. What is it that they all share in common? Remember to consider the following:
- Format (listicles, how-to guides, and so on);
- Size (long-form versus short-form);
- Text-based hyperlinks;
- Visuals and other forms of media
Don’t be afraid to borrow ideas from top-ranking pages. After all, if it’s working for them, why not try it for yourself?
3. Select The Metrics You Want To Follow
Without goals and key performance indicators, no strategy can be effective (KPIs). So, don’t forget to set precise targets (for example, ‘increase organic traffic by 15% in three months’) and figure out how you’ll track your progress.
This is where KPIs come in; they will inform you how near you are to achieving your objective. The following are the nine most important metrics for professionals to consider:
Domain authority (also known as domain rating) is a measure of how well a website performs on the internet.
- The score for text readability;
- Impressions
- CTR (click-through rate);
- Organic market share (or organic visibility);
- Traffic that is generated naturally;
- Conversions from organic to inorganic;
- Pages accessed
- Bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave a website without returning
4. Evaluate Your Current Content
Review existing pages and sort them into one of the following categories if you’ve been running a website for a while:
- Keep
- Update
- Delete
If any pages are obsolete or missing certain relevant keywords, you might choose to update them. They can also be tweaked to focus on more valuable keywords.
Pages that compete for the same rating as your other material should be eliminated or merged. The same can be said for pages that are worthless and can’t be saved.
5. Make A Calendar Of Content
After you’ve determined your keywords, it’s time to consider the content itself. Keep in mind that quality is the most important factor. It decides whether Google‘s crawler will share, link to, and find your website relevant.
Concentrate on developing material that will last a long time. It’s the kind of stuff that’s relevant all year and doesn’t have anything to do with current events or holidays (Easter, Christmas, etc.).
Why should you pay attention to it? It’s frequently searched for, therefore user traffic will be consistent as well. But where is the content calendar? In a word, it’s a list of dates and themes for your upcoming publications. Whether you outsource or keep content development in-house, it will help you manage it.
6. Remember To Include Links
When it comes to SEO, links are still important, and backlinks are what you should focus on. Backlinks, in a nutshell, are links to your content. The argument behind Google’s decision is simple: the more links that point to your website, the more valuable it must be.
How can you increase the number of backlinks you have? Here are three strategies to consider:
Create fantastic stuff. It must be one-of-a-kind and have a “wow” factor. Backlinks to how-to articles, ultimate guides, and data-driven articles are more common than backlinks to other forms of content.
Become a guest poster. This entails writing a blog article for another website that includes a link to your page (s). The deal is straightforward: the website owner receives free material in exchange for more hyperlinks.
Make a comment. Participate in debates on Quora, YouTube, Reddit, and other sites, and include links to your website when appropriate. However, be relevant; else, your remark may be categorized as spam.
7. Review Your Strategy On A Regular Basis
You can’t expect to nail every detail of your strategy the first time around. It will be based on certain assumptions, which may or may not be correct. So, every month or so, plan a review of your SEO approach.
Looking at the measurements you’ve picked as KPIs is the greatest approach to see what works and what doesn’t. Make it a practice to compile monthly reports with all of the data in one location to be more effective. They can be as simple as a Google Sheets or Excel spreadsheet!
Final Remarks
Let’s go over the seven steps in creating an SEO plan again:
- Choose your broad topics as well as short- and long-tail keywords.
- Examine what high-ranking pages have in common – then use what you’ve learned.
- Make a list of your objectives and the KPIs you’ll be tracking.
- Evaluate your current material and consider how it may be improved.
- Create a content calendar and go to work on the actual material.
- Make link-building a part of your plan.
- Make a monthly schedule for SEO reports and plan evaluations.
Does it appear to be unnecessarily complicated? Don’t be concerned! Of course, if this is your first time creating an SEO plan, you’ll need some time to learn all of the ins and outs. However, mastering all of this on your own is not impossible!
