Search engine optimization (SEO) is a necessary part of any online marketing campaign. Investing in SEO is a really important part of your marketing strategy. If you’re not familiar with SEO, that’s okay! Here are the most important things you need to know before hiring an SEO consultant or starting your own strategy:
An SEO consultant can help you craft an effective strategy
SEO consultants are often able to provide insight into the best way for your company to be represented online, and they can also help identify areas where improvement is needed. They’ll be able to tell you what your competitors are doing, which will give you insight into what works and what doesn’t work in terms of SEO. Additionally, they may be able to point out ways that certain aspects of your website could be improved so that Google sees it as more authoritative than others in its field or industry (e.g., faster load times).
SEO must be a part of your online marketing strategy
If you’re just starting out, investing in SEO seems like a great way to get your business noticed by new customers. But as with any other marketing strategy, SEO is not something you can do once and expect results right away. It’s a long-term process that requires patience and consistency over time.
If you do it right, though–and if your site has good content or products–search engine optimization can be an excellent addition to your online marketing efforts!
Know what your keywords are
Keywords are words or phrases that people type into search engines to find information. They’re the foundation of your SEO strategy, and there are two main ways you can discover them:
- Conduct keyword research by keyword discovery, evaluation and prioritization. This involves researching the keywords already being used by your competitors in their content (and on their websites). You can also use tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to discover new keywords related to those you already know about.
- Use tools like Google Trends to see what other people are searching for right now–and figure out how best to target those queries with content that will resonate with readers looking for answers on those topics!
Test, test and test again
The best way to ensure that your site is optimized as much as possible is to run a number of tests. This includes:
Speed
Test your page speed with tools like Pingdom or GTmetrix. You should aim for under two seconds on mobile and four seconds on a desktop. You will keep visitors happy and avoid losing them from the site because they are bored or frustrated at waiting so long for pages to load. A good rule of thumb is that if the user leaves before seeing a page fully loaded, there’s something wrong!
Mobile-friendliness
Check how well your website looks on mobile devices using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly). If there are any issues found here, fix them now before launching any SEO campaign! The last thing you want is an unhappy customer who has trouble accessing content due to their device type–this could lead them straight into competitors’ arms instead!
Local citations are extremely important for local businesses
Investing in SEO and local citations is extremely important for local businesses. They help you rank in local search, get more traffic, get more customers and build trust with your customers.
Citation building
You can use a tool like Moz Local to see if any of your business listings are missing or outdated. If they are, it’s time to update them! Add as much information as possible (including photos). This will give Google an idea of what kind of business they’re dealing with when someone searches on Google Maps or Yelp!
Listing optimization
Once all the information has been added to each listing (and verified), it’s time for keyword research. This way, we know where our competitors rank within those platforms and which keywords we need to target for ours not only appear but also rank highly!
No two companies are the same
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to assume that all businesses are the same. There are many companies out there, and each one has its own special needs when it comes to SEO. The good news is that a good consultant will take into account your individual needs and help you achieve them.
Conclusion
SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. Still, it’s also a great opportunity for businesses to reach their target audience and increase traffic to their site. Therefore, investing in SEO seems like a no-brainer. If you’re looking for an SEO consultant or want more information about how this strategy can help your business grow online, contact us today!