One of the biggest mistakes you can make as an SEO content marketer is assuming meeting the basics of Google’s algorithms is all you need to shoot your website up the rankings.
Well, every decent marketer knows that, but what really separates the great from the good is being able to tell between the SEO factors that are actually selling their business and the ones that are not.
They say working your way up the Google rankings is nothing compared to staying up there, and keeping that relationship with the search engines is what really delivers the goods. In this article, we will focus on specificity – an exceptionally important yet easily overlooked SEO tool for the gurus and novices alike.
Read on to learn more about the most important aspects of your website to give the most priority.
Unification of SEO Tools
Different industries sport unique settings that call for different SEO strategies. If you are new to your industry and do not want to test with your business, it would be wise to find a specialist SEO expert to help you. You may want to conduct a little research about the market yourself to complement the expert’s work.
For instance, if you wish to handle web hosting yourself, there are a few things you need to know, some of which may take into account some of your other SEO practices.
Use of PBNs, for instance, requires that you host with a provider that does not set you up for de-indexation. You can utilize online PBN hosting if you don’t know where to start.
The most important thing is to ensure your SEO tools are well aligned with each other to avoid costly entanglements.
Your Target Audience
So, which random internet user do you want to draw to your content? That is arguably the most important element to consider for long term success. What product are you selling? What are the common online behaviors of your target individuals that can help you locate them easily?
If, for instance, you run a business such as a restaurant or retail shop that targets people in your locality, local SEO would be a good place to start. Ensure your location, address and business name are well highlighted in your content and webpages for generic searches from locals.
If you are targeting a certain age group who are, say, more likely to be found on Instagram than Facebook or Twitter, it would be wise to give more attention to the said Instagram in your social media optimization (SMO ) – a growingly important factor in online search rankings. The more you understand your audience, the closer you bring yourself to established businesses and the market leaders in your industry.
Keyword Research
Penalties for using black hat tactics are heavily penalized by Google but that should not scare you away from optimizing your keywords altogether. Keywords sit at the center of any SEO strategy.
They are what Google index uses to determine what your website is trying to market. Conduct thorough keyword research prior to publishing your content to help you understand what potential customers are likely to type in their searches.
The use of long-tail keywords has been shown to be a successful method of reaching more sales-ready visitors over random users probably just looking for general information about a product. Take for instance; someone is looking for a metal detector for their weekend metal detecting trips with the kids and you sell them – are they likely to type just “metal detectors” or “metal detectors for beginners”?
If you reckon they will search the latter or something close, then that means your content must have such key phrases in it. If you riddle your web pages with general keywords when you sell specific products, chances are potential customers will struggle finding you.
Make use of keyword research tools to get a better understanding of your product from the perspective of your potential customers.
Effective Keyword and Tactic Identification
Still, on keywords, it is important to note that you may still discover over time that some keywords are doing better for your product than others. Some may not be leading to any conversions at all. Using conversion analytic tools, you can identify which keywords are doing well and use them more.
The same applies to approaches. Tactics with a higher return on investment (ROI) should be adopted over those with low ROI. The trickiest part about this is not really implementing the approaches but making the discovery, i.e. identifying the keywords or approaches that are not doing well.
SEO specificity is a tactic that most marketers are closing their minds to oblivious of how much it is costing them. Maybe this is your chance to go one better than them in the hyper-fluctuating and competitive online marketing space without breaking a sweat.
