7 Ways To Avoid Harming Your SEO Strategy
With search engine algorithms forever changing it is vital that firms remain on the ball, adapting their SEO strategy to ensure their campaigns are effective as possible.
Below are seven key pointers on how to refine your SEO strategy to improve rankings, visitors, optimise your content, please readers and improve the results of your SEO efforts.
Undertaking Thorough, Manual SEO Audits of your site is critical – after all how can you be expected to know what areas to prioritise if you do not have all the facts? For smaller sites the person doing the audit is often able to audit and implement changes, although this will require some coding skills. For larger sites clear instructions are needed from the SEO to ensure all action points can be implemented effectively by developers, copywriters or other SEO?s without any confusion or questions, which slows down implementation.
Proper Keyword Research is the cornerstone of any successful SEO campaign and involves finding content gaps, ascertaining how many people search for a specific query and how competitive search results are.
Excessive Keyword Use is a clear sign for overly optimised content and Google now penalises sites with a high keyword density on their site. Search engine crawlers used to like this approach, placing posts crammed with irrelevant keywords at the top of their search results. However as times are a-changing it is advisable to make the most of synonyms and variations of words in your content. Using long tail keywords minimally in favour of other related works will also boost your SEO campaign no end.
Be Creative With Your Copy and refrain from simply duplicating posts that have caught your eye. Copying and regurgitating content is a sure way to get your page banned or see it fall dramatically in its ratings. Fresh, interesting posts are the best way to serve and engage your audience, who, lets face it, will probably have visited competitors sites and are now looking for an inspiring, NEW, post to catch their eye.
Gaining High Quality Backlinks is still important – a few years ago driving low quality backlinks to your site would have pushed up your search engine rankings, however in today?s ever-changing SEO climate it is all about quality not quantity. Poor quality links could indeed cause more harm to your site than good. Focus instead on producing quality content and relevant links, from a trusted sources are sure to follow.
Don?t Just Write For The Search Engines instead write engaging, relevant posts that people will find useful. Trying to trick the search engine crawlers is a mistake and can turn off your target audience. Make your content easy to read and straightforward to navigate and you are on to a winner.
Invest in Optimising Your Site For Multiple Devices – just because your site responds and adapts to fit mobile screen sizes doesn?t mean it is mobile optimised. Smartphone traffic has now outgrown desktop search; as a result businesses now generate large amounts of sales from smartphones and tablets. With this in mind it is clear why firms need to get to grips with optimisation for tablets and mobile devices.
Following these pointers is a surefire way to optimise your site and most importantly attract visitors. Appealing to your target audience is something your SEO strategy should never leave out – bearing this in mind is key when refining your campaign!