2020 changed the way we do business. Employees are working remotely without plans of returning to the office. Employers are relying on their online presence, rather than building local connections. The demand for a digital presence has increased exponentially.
When it comes to digital marketing, I always consider website design and search engine optimization (SEO) as one. You can hire a website designer to build an amazing website. However, the website will do little for your business unless customers can find the site online.
If you choose to invest in SEO, you need to make sure you receive the techniques to increase your rankings. In 2021, these are the most important factors for your SEO campaign:
Content Writing
Content writing is essential to your SEO strategy. Your content could be blog articles or pages. The benefit for your site is to include fresh information so search engines know you are still relevant to your industry. If you don’t add new content regularly, Google considers the site as outdated and increases the rankings of sites that are active.
Most importantly, write the content with keywords that you want to rank for! For example, my blogs have keywords that relate to SEO, website design, and digital marketing. Not only is this my area of expertise but these are the keywords that I want to rank for on Google. Keywords should be included in your content, post title, and meta data.
On average, Google bots crawl websites every two days. I recommend adding a blog at least twice per month. An SEO expert can help generate content with topics that will increase your rankings and benefit your audience.
Additionally, adding content benefits your brand. According to Small Business Trends, 80% of people prefer learning about a company through custom content. Besides the benefits of a blog for SEO, your blog has the following benefits:
Link Building
Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites. The benefits of link building is establishing authority. Search engines crawl individual pages of websites. When search engines discover links, they index the linked website as a good resource. Building links is one of the most difficult tasks for an SEO expert. If possible, it is more beneficial to obtain a link using anchor text with a keyword that you want to rank for.
There are many types of methods to earn links:
Directory Links
Directory links are the most common form of link building. This is where you earn a link from directories such as Yelp, White Pages, or Angie’s List. However, many of the sites will not provide you a follow link unless you pay for their services.
Guest Posting
Guesting posting is where you write an article for another website, which then links back to your site. This is a competitive and time-consuming form of link building, although highly effective when you earn a link. You can hire a guest posting provider to expedite the process. Among the most popular are:
Black Hat Link Building
Stay far, far away from black hat link building! The term “black hat link building” was originally coined from computer hackers’ black hat practices. This form of link building uses loopholes to trick search engines into thinking the link is a resource so the site ranks higher than it should. If search engines discover black hat practices, your website rankings will drop.
A few black hat practices include:
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the foundation of a website’s SEO campaign. Without it, none of the other strategies will succeed. When I perform an SEO audit, technical deficiencies are often the first thing I look for.
So, what does technical SEO entail? Technical SEO encompasses the following techniques:
Two of the most important aspects of technical SEO are your meta titles and descriptions. A meta title refers to the page title in search engine snippets. It is retrieved by search engines as the primary keywords for your site. When you are performing a search, the meta title shows on the result pages as the overview of the page or post to determine whether or not you want to click on the reference.
For example, my homepage meta title is “Get Global Marketing: Bend, Oregon SEO and Website Design”. When you search on Google, this meta title is what will appear. If you are a local business, it is essential that you include your location into your meta title. Your SEO expert should have a strategy for optimizing the meta titles to increase your rankings.
Review Building
Have you ever visited a restaurant just because your friend said it was great? Referrals are one of the best techniques to build new business. You can also build customer trust through online reviews. When someone raves about the food being great or receiving superior service, you are more likely to earn new customers.
There are several online databases to collect reviews. Most businesses receive the highest conversions through their Google Business page. Your Google Business page is an essential resource for your customers. You are able to include hours, contact information, location, a description, website, logo, reviews, services, and even post company updates. Often, your Google Business page shows first with a Google search. The benefits of building reviews on Google are that you build more customer trust and also increase the rankings of your website.
Other important platforms for reviews are Facebook and Yelp.
Improving your online presence is an essential tool to increase your revenue. You may have a beautiful website, but the site needs exposure to achieve the business goals that you are determined to meet. Contact Get Global Marketing if you are interested in high-quality SEO services. We have a variety of packages to fit your needs. You can reach us at (541) 706-9442 or gillian@getglobalmarketing.com
