Eight SEO Essentials to Stay Competitive This Year
With each passing year, the SEO landscape becomes increasingly complex. Just as soon as you’ve grasped the latest rules for effective website optimisation, Google shifts the goalposts once again.
Effective organic search marketing has never been easy, but the basics of a robust SEO strategy have remained unchanged for some time. Google considers more than 200 ranking factors, of which many continue to hold more weight than others.
As things stand from a current perspective, these are the essential SEO staples that form the core of an effective organic search strategy:
Appropriate Title Tag Optimisation: SEO experts constantly remind online businesses to incorporate their most important keywords in their title tags. Research suggests that keywords at the beginning of title tags are the most effective, translating to better SEO performance and an improved CTR. However, as with general on-page content, compromising the quality of title tags by stuffing in too many keywords can reverse their beneficial effects entirely.
Internal Linking: The influence and importance of internal linking continue to be overlooked by many online businesses and web admins. This is surprising, given the number of times Google has gone on record to clarify the weight internal linking carries in SEO stakes. With strategic internal linking, you can effectively manipulate Google to focus on your highest-quality, highest-authority pages.
Long-Form Content: Longer isn’t always better when it comes to content, but varying the content of your posts/articles could support your SEO strategy. There’s still a place for standard 500-word quick-read posts, but Google increasingly prefers sites that publish long-form content—1,500 words to 2,500 words being the sweet spot for in-depth articles.
Technical Performance: Even a minor technical issue or performance problem could be enough for Google to negatively view your site. Google evaluates websites from the perspective of real users, for whom technical performance problems are largely unacceptable. Therefore, regular site audits are essential for identifying such issues before they become problematic.
Authority Outbound Links: Inbound links from authoritative sources are not the only ones Google considers. Authority outbound links point from your pages to a site of high trust and authority. In doing so, authority outbound links enhance your site's perceived trustworthiness while giving the major search engines a better indication of the type of content you publish and the niche you operate in.
Blogging: Publishing regular blog posts allows businesses to showcase their personality, tell engaging stories and share their thoughts with their customers. In addition, each post provides limitless scope for strategic keyword inclusion, authority outbound link placement, and a higher likelihood of earning organic inbound links from authority sources in your field.
Google Reviews: Research suggests that around 93% of people now use online reviews to guide their purchase decisions. Google Reviews, in particular, carry enormous weight, appearing right next to your Google My Business listing in the local search results. Understandably, Google places heavy emphasis on reviews when showcasing and recommending local businesses, so more is always better.
Agency Involvement: Last up, it is becoming increasingly difficult for those with limited SEO knowledge and experience to get ahead. The contemporary SEO landscape is such that full-time dedication to the cause is the only way to make things happen. With more than 200 ranking factors to consider, outsourcing SEO requirements to a capable service provider is the recommended approach for most smaller businesses.