Once upon a time, good SEO meant jam-packing your content with keywords. Then, a pair of dragons named Penguin and Panda came along, slaying all the spammy keyword-stuffed content and sparking an internet revolution. Today, Google algorithms are tight, and your SEO strategy is either smart or it’s ranked Search Page 3, which is to say, it never sees the light of day, let alone meets and marries a prince.
But just because SEO is more sophisticated doesn’t mean it’s out of reach for the average business. In fact, simply producing good copy is half the battle. But while quality content alone may get you into the kingdom of Google Searches, it takes a few more knights in shining armor to seat you on the Throne: Google Page One, Position One. The Promised Land, flowing with milk, honey, and search traffic.Â
It starts with the overall quality of your site.
Before you worry about which keywords to target, the frequency of keywords, and whether to put keywords in titles and subtitles or in the text, begin with a changing of the guard: update your content. Quantity is less important than quality. Deliver on your promises. Provide interesting, informative, and relevant content that answers the questions people are actually asking. This boosts the quality (authority) of your site. Then, all of your individual pages have a much higher chance of being ranked well. You’re welcome. (Pssst… Having trouble getting the content you need? GSG has a whole team of writers waiting to fill your website, blog, and social pages with top-notch content you’ll be proud to call your own.)Â
Don’t make the mistake of skimping on the metadata.
Does it really matter about all those meta titles, meta descriptions, title tags, header tags, and what the URL is?Â
Yes.Â
These may not look too important to the reader, but to those website crawlers, they’re the Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs that lead to high-quality content. You see, those who sling up just any ol’ content don’t take the time to get the metadata right. So having those things in order sends a thumbs up to the Google crawlers, telling them your stuff is worth a read. (Pssssst…. GSG’s got one of the best website building teams in the biz. No joke.)
Be smart about which keywords you’re targeting.
Would we love to sit on the throne of Google searches for keywords like “marketing” and “online relationship management”? Uh, YEAH! Us and every other marketing firm in the universe. But targeting those broad, popular keywords is, for most small business budgets, impossible. However, targeting less common “long-tail” keywords is very doable. For instance, you might never rank #1 for “house” or “pool” or “hot tub” but you can very reasonably expect to rank at the top for keywords like “house in Wichita, Kansas” or “pool in Prairie Plains, Tennessee” or “hot tub in Hartford, Connecticut.”
Ready to be crowned the king of your SEO kingdom? Give us a call. Get Smart and let us do the hard work for you. For more information, start by scheduling a FREE 30-minute marketing consultation today.
