10 Effective ways to Develop an Effective SEO Strategy
SEO Strategy is a long-term process of systematizing a website to appear on Google Search engine result pages.
Developing an effective SEO strategy will drive organic traffic to your website. It is a long-term process and I mentioned in the 2023 marketing trends article that more marketers will invest in developing a sustainable SEO strategy .
In this article, i will explain how you can map out an SEO stratagy for your website which will cater to your content marketing goals
Aspects of SEO
- On-page SEO – On-page SEO Focus on the elements which are on the site pages like content, image, typography, and visuals.
- Off-Page SEO – Off-page SEO focus on establishing site authority through building backlinks or earning backlinks from higher authoritative sites
- Technical SEO – Technical SEO focus on the site’s backend codes.
10 ways to build a successful SEO strategy
1. Choose a relevant topic for your business
Let’s say you are running a bakery business.
Your topics will be based on cakes and bakery items. Now you have to do your research on short and long-tail keywords for your topics. You can do the research for keywords research tools like
- Google Keywords Planner
- Ahrefs Keywords planner
- SEMRUSH
- Moz
Short tail keywords can be Bakery cake or Bakery cream cake. Long tail keywords can be Home made bakery cake, Custome made Bakery cakes near me, or Bakery shop near me.
Now you have to choose at least 10-15 keywords with a good mixture of short and long-tail keywords and create articles using those keywords.
Always consider the Search volume and competition of those keywords.
Also, you can put those relevant keywords in product descriptions.
Keywords are not the primary ranking factors but everything starts from keywords.
2. Optimize your topic with long-tail keywords
Have you seen when you start typing in Google, Google automatically starts suggesting a list of related searches?
Those searches are the most valuable keywords as those searches are directly generated by Google. People have searched those topics which is why Google is suggesting them.
Focus on these results.
You will see there are a lot of long-tail searches. Long tail searches or Long tail keywords are the Game changer. If you want your websites to rank on Google’s first Page, you have to optimize your blogs with long tail keywords.
Here are some ways to get and use Long tail keywords.
- Go to google and type your topic.
- Note down suggestions suggested by google
- Also, look for related searches.
- Put all those keywords in the Google keywords planner
- Google keyword planner will suggest you similar keywords
- Compare search volume, and competition and use those selected keywords on your page or blog.
3. Build Topic Cluster
What is Topic Cluster?
A topic cluster is multiple pieces of content grouped by shared topics and subtopics. You can think of a tree that has several branches.
It is the most organized way of managing your blogs and topics. It improves user experience.
For example, If the main topic is SEO organize sub-topics under SEO. Sub-topics like On page, off-page, technical SEO, and so on should go under SEO. Any other topics related to SEO will go under SEO.
That is how there will be multiple main topics and under those, there will be numerous sub-topics.
This is the basic structure of Content Cluster or Topic Cluster .
4. Blogging, Blogging, and Blogging
Content is king. This is the truth no matter how good your products are you have to put content in your website and align those content with keywords so that your website gets a ranking on the Googls result page.
So there are some steps you can follow to start your journey of Blogging.
- Have a deep understanding of your market. Study your market and know what are the people looking for. You can use tools like Google trends or Anser the public to find out what are the trends.
- Gather those topics, Align them with Long and short-tail keywords and create a blog.
- Create a Content calender so that you can keep your content marketing journey smooth.
- The most important thing is, to align your content with the Sales funnel.
5. Backlink strategy for ranking
Coming to the off-page SEO tactic, to rank in SERP a website needs backlinks from genuine websites.
Authentic backlink helps Google to understand the authenticity of your website. Having backlinks helps a website rapidly grow in ranking and building authority.
As a general rule, the site with more authority that links back to your content has a more significant impact on your ranking.
If you want to learn more in details about backlink , check this articale from Backlinko
6. Media files should be compressed
Media files have many sizes. We often do not think about that but when it comes to putting media into your blogs, you should be thinking about that.
Compressing media files without losing their visual qualities is a very important step for blogging. If the media file is too large it will reduce the page load speed and that will lead to early user drop-off. It will increase the bounce rate.
To avoid that you should compress media files before uploading.
You can do that manually or use image/video resizer tools.
For WordPress, you can use plugins to reduce Media file size.
Here is the media file cheat sheet by Shopify, check this out
7. Measure content success and competitor's Growth
The basic step to measure content success is measuring Google Analytics reports.
Make sure your website is using Google analytics and Google search console. By combining these two you will be able to measure deep analytical data about your website and content.
Now to level up your game, try to measure your competitor’s growth.
Keep eye on your competitor’s blogs, posts, and keyword ranking, and compare yourself with your competitor.
You will have a deep understanding about your stand points and where you are lacking
You can use semrush to have a deep understanding. The free version of semrush offers a lot of features so if your business is small , do not need to iunvest in paid version.
8. Focus on Technical SEO
Technical SEO is a bridge between users and your website.
If your page load speed is slow, if your URLs do not open properly or show wrong results, the Bounce rate will increase and in the bigger picture, you will lose a customer.
Things to keep checked always
- Optimal page load speed
- Smooth UI and UX
- Should not be any URL errors like 404 or 302
- Links are clickable
- Mobile responsiveness
9. Local SEO
Local SEO helps you increase the visibility of your business near your business’s location.
An effective Local SEO strategy will show your content in SERP for the queries of your local customers.
The image below is a SERM result for “gym near me”
The business is showing have a dedicated Google my business profile that helps them to appear in SERP
10. Alignment with your Business Goals
Your SEO strategy should be aligned with your business goals.
You should have a clear understanding of what your business needs and what your business can achieve through an SEO strategy.
Create an SEO strategy that will fulfill each and every business’s needs.
Some tips are
- Be absolutely clear about your business goals which will include long and short-term goals.
- Decide your KPIs, channels, content types, and keywords and align those with your business goals.
- Keep eye on historical data and optimize based on those data
- Consider consumer funnel (AIDA) in every step of your business.
- Nurture your customers by providing answers to their quarries
Lastly Business needs returns, and that means a business needs sales. Whatever strategy you take, if that stretagy does not bring money then that is no use of it.
So the thing for long-term goals and break those goals into short-term steps so that you can have a clear understanding of your work and business.
Signing off, see you in the next blog. Happy reading.