Search engine optimization (SEO) is not a new concept – but, since its start, it has only grown in importance. After all, recent studies show that a whopping 93% of online experiences begin with SEO lessons (source).
There’s no way around it– in our digital era, SEO is a significant contributor to the overall success of nearly every modern business. For this reason, modern marketers must be educated in SEO best practices to compete in our online world.
To make this easier, we use today’s blog post to break down a few key SEO lessons all modern marketers must learn. Keep reading!
1. Don’t create content just for search engines.
Even if your goal is to improve your search rankings, marketers must always remember that Google is not your audience– human beings are. For this reason, it’s critical that your priority is to create high-quality, meaningful content.
Of course, quality content provides a better user experience, but it also influences how search engines perceive your website. Google’s algorithm continues to grow more sophisticated in its ability to recognize the quality of your site’s content. Here are a few tips to make sure you’re creating the kind of high-quality content that Google rewards:
Offer value: Create content that your target audience can learn from, refer to, and share with others. Ask yourself – is this piece of content useful, or does it exist to exist?
Carve your niche: Consider what your site offers to your audience that none of your competitors currently offer. If you create high-quality articles that closely resemble a dozen other websites’ content, you won’t stand out from the pack. Instead, look for holes in your content strategy that none of your competitors have explored.
Avoid clickbait and deception: A catchy headline is perfectly fine, but not if it misleads users. We’ve all experienced deceitful web tactics aimed at garnering clicks– these tricks will ultimately impact your bounce rate and do more harm than good.
To ensure quality content across the board, we recommend that you put together a guide to content marketing standards and distribute to all new hires and marketing employees. Although not every piece will be perfect, this guide will go a long way to improve and control the quality of the content your team produces.
When you’re doing an SEO campaign it’s very important to use specific tools that will assist you in getting over your competitors. Linkio is one of those tools that will give you the right anchor text and percentage to use in your campaign so that you will get more organic traffic and the first place on the search engines.
2. Don’t expect immediate results.
Marketers are conditioned to solve problems quickly and efficiently– but improving your search rankings is a long-term process. Google’s algorithm is intricate and complex, and it’s updated constantly to offer the best experience to its users. So, looking for a quick fix to boost your site’s ranking will get you nowhere and can even hurt your efforts.
Many marketers still fall victim to SEO hacks and services that claim to provide fast results. Remember– as Google evolves and changes it picks up new deceitful practices and penalizes sites that employ them.
SEO may seem like a lot of work with minimal reward but, if you stick with your strategy, your efforts will pay off in the long run.
3. SEO requires constant attention.
Some marketing strategies only require you to take action once and then wait to see your results. SEO is different. You must constantly be vigilant to ensure that every new piece of content you publish on your website is in line with SEO best practices. As we stated earlier, Google’s algorithm for ranking websites is always evolving– and your SEO strategy must evolve along with it.
Keeping up with SEO can seem like a full-time job by itself. However, the right SEO tool can help you monitor search results and automatically identify problems that you need to address. For this reason, if you can’t afford to hire an SEO specialist, we recommend you invest in an SEO tool to add to your marketing technology stack.
4. Mobile optimization is more important than ever.
It’s no secret– mobile devices are only growing in popularity. In fact, recent studies report mobile devices account for more than 50% of website visits (source). It should come as no surprise that Google has adjusted to reflect this new development– their algorithm now favors websites optimized for mobile (source).
5. You need an inbound linking strategy.
Although high-quality content tends to garner external links on its own, you should also make a strategic effort to collect inbound links. Keep in mind; quality is critical when it comes to link building. Spammy links will not only harm the reputation of your website, but they can ultimately result in a Google penalty.
Work with other websites and publications that hold themselves to high standards. Think of link building as a professional partnership rather than a way to boost your rankings. Here are a few quick ideas to generate high-quality links to your website:
Monitor unlinked mentions of your brand and reached out to these websites and asked them to include your link.
Contribute unique and valuable content to outside publications
Develop an award or certification program and encourage winners to publish a badge on their website—a badge designed and distributed by you.
Optimize your press releases for target keywords and links.
Of course, you’ll never have complete control over your link profile; we recommend you use a tool or service to monitor your backlinks. Then, work to remove any harmful or spammy links.
6. Headlines and URLs can make or break your ranking.
You may feel confident that your content is high-quality– but you’re still wondering why your site’s search rankings aren’t improving. If that’s the case, you may need to take a closer look at your H tags and URLs.
These items are just one piece of SEO puzzle, but they’re often controlled by content marketers who don’t always understand the impact they have on SEO. For this reason, we recommend that you optimize your URLs, H1 tags, H2 tags, and so on so that they include your target keywords. But as with all SEO tactics, don’t go overboard.
The bottom line
SEO is a constantly evolving element of digital marketing– but one thing is for certain: it’s the single most important practice when it comes to building your business’s visibility on the web. That means, optimizing your website isn’t a task that can be delegated to one specific employee.
Of course, not everyone is going to master the ins and outs of SEO. But, your entire team should have a working knowledge of important SEO best practices. So keep our tips in mind, and you’ll be on your way to getting your business in front of a larger audience.
About the author: Sam Holzman is the Content Marketing Specialist at ZoomInfo where he writes for their B2B blog. ZoomInfo is a leading business B2B data provider that helps organizations accelerate growth and profitability. Sam regularly covers topics related to sales, marketing, and recruiting, and likes to write about sports and travel in his free time.
