SEO is an everchanging and complex aspect of digital marketing. Many years ago, SEO was all about creating content stuffed with desired keywords and phrases. Now, however, search engines have increased their sophistication. In fact, the popular search engine Google bases their SEO rankings on over 200 factors. This can make it difficult to know how to strategize and improve your business’s SEO, and the regular release of new algorithms complicates that even further. Simply put, it’s no longer enough to merely pepper in keywords for a website to perform well on search engines.
There are numerous steps you can take to improve your website’s SEO. We recommend you start with these 4 basic strategies that require minimal effort and can have a big impact:
#1 Keyword Placement
As discussed in our post “The Ins and Outs of SEO”, high-quality content has a big impact on SEO. However, the placement of your designated keywords and phrases within that content has an impact as well.
Once you have created your content (such as a blog post) and determined what the focus keyword should be, there are several locations you should place that keyword within the content to create the most impact for your website:
- Blog Title
- URL
- At least 1 heading (H2, H3, etc.)
- Image alt tags
The keyword or phrase should also be used several times throughout the content itself; we recommend using it about 2 or 3 times per 500 words. However, it is important not to “keyword stuff” (i.e. overuse that keyword or phrase); make sure the keyword fits in naturally in the text.
If you need some examples of keyword placement in blog posts, the Media Venue blog has plenty of examples to study!
#2 Invest in Citation Management
Local search is one of the many factors that affects a website’s search engine ranking. Local search is essentially the impact of a person’s location on their search query results. For example, the query “organic grocery store near me” will have extremely different search results based on whether you are searching from Louisville or San Francisco!
Local search is built up based on mentions of your business on the web, including NAP data (Name, Address, Phone Number), hours of operation, and social media links, among other things. This information should be accurate and identical across the internet, as it not only helps potential and current customers find you, but also acts as a signal for search engines. However, inaccurate or inconsistent citations can have a negative affect on your business’s SEO! Although updating all this information by yourself can be tedious, investing in a citation management service makes this an extremely easy task to improve your SEO!
For more information on the importance of citation management and how it impacts your business’s SEO, be sure to check out our post “The Importance of Citation Management”.
#3 Update Older Posts
According to Neil Patel, the simple step of updating older posts has several SEO benefits. Revamping older articles provides an opportunity to include new content (photos, videos, additional copy, etc.) and updated statistics. These updates are beneficial to the readers who come across the post years after it was originally published. They will also encourage Google to crawl your website more often and index it.
Updating older posts is also a great opportunity to interlink to relevant content that has been added to your website since the post was originally published or last updated. This is another factor that not only helps Google better understand your site, but it can also decrease bounce rate.
Great content is an extremely valuable aspect of any website, especially in terms of SEO. With all the time and energy you put into writing content, don’t let the older material go to waste on your site. After all, older posts can be just as valuable as new posts if you keep them updated, helping your website’s SEO in several different ways!
#4 Interlink Older Content
In the previous tip, we mentioned the benefit of interlinking to newer content while updating older posts. However, this is just as true the other way around: you should link to older posts when publishing new ones. Interlinking to relevant content not only reduces bounce rate, but it also provides the site visitor with additional related information.
You can add interlinks within the copy itself or as a suggested reading at the bottom of the post. However, be sure not to overdo it! You should also link to external sources when appropriate, especially case studies or statistical sources.
Improving Your Website’s SEO
As stated before, the Google search engine bases its search engine rankings on over 200 factors…and it’s not the only search engine! There are numerous strategies for improving your website’s SEO; while all are important, these are 4 of the easiest steps you can take today.
We understand that not all business owners have the time to improve their website’s SEO on their own. However, every business needs an SEO strategy; that is why Media Venue offers several services for clients to help boost their SEO, including SEO consultations, SEO performance, content development, and more. Our team is always watching for the latest SEO updates and strategies to present our clients with the most up-to-date practices.
For more information on improving your website’s SEO, give us a call at 502-855-4783 or email our SEO and Content Manager—Sarah Kelley—at cassie@mediavenue.com. Enhance your marketing investment with Media Venue!
