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SEO STRATEGIES FOR 2016
SIMPLE SEO STRATEGIES TO FOCUS ON IN 2016
The best SEO strategies are constantly changing, and the digital landscape is evolving just as fast. All of us are becoming more and more reliant on the internet to help us research, shop and communicate. As the internet shifted our shopping habits from traditional media to online, both small and large businesses continue to spend more and more advertising dollars to try and figure out how they can increase their online market share. Irrespective of the industry, they all have one common question “How do I get my website ranked to the top of the search engines?” Here lies the million dollar question.
As the search engines continue to get smarter, predicting user intent in order to provide the consumer with a positive experience and end result, businesses are scrambling to figure out what they need to do to get their website ranked competitively on the search engines. Below is a list of some simple SEO recommendations that should help you with your online strategy.
Make Sure Your Site is Responsive.
This means your website will automatically conform to the device (mobile, tablet, etc.) it is being viewed on. In 2015, Google made it clear that they were going to use mobile friendliness as a ranking signal. Having a responsive website is the safest way to ensure your mobile friendliness. This is highly recommended. Not only as to comply with the search engines best practices, but to also provide consumers visiting your website with a positive user experience.
Provide a Great User Experience.
This is the most important SEO focus area. If you can get users to your website, but you are unable to engage them, then your website is obsolete. Focus your time on creating quality content that will be useful to the end user. You want to provide content that is accurate, trust worthy and easy to read. If you can accomplish this, you become the go to expert in the consumer’s eyes. To the search engines, you’re showing that you care about much more than the click. The search engines are looking at how users interact with your website, their level of engagement, and numerous other post-click activities.
Stop Keyword Stuffing.
Keywords in the sites technical design (Title, Meta Description, Headers, body copy, etc.) are becoming less important for SEO; the search engines have gotten much more sophisticated and can interpret meaning. So if you are writing content for “Laminate Floor Installation”, the search engines are going to look for laminate floor, pergo, floor glue, spacers, saw, etc. This will in turn send signals to the search engines that this is quality content. Think about what you are writing and whether or not it will answer the consumer’s questions.
Establish Trust with Search Engines.
Establishing trust with the search engines is critical. In order to establish trust, your citations (business profile information) needs consistency. Search engines want to know that your business profile is the same on all citation sources. NEVER USE TRACKING NUMBERS!!! There are companies out there that like to use tracking numbers, which can be good to tell you how many leads you are receiving, however the problem with that approach is that data aggregators like to scrape your information and post it in other places. When this happens your listings become convoluted and can do more harm than good. If you were Google, would you rather serve up a (Google My Business) listing of a company that has 200 citations that are all consistent or a company that has 200 citations with 4 different phone numbers for one location?
As with most search engine optimization strategies, it comes down to common sense. With every SEO measure that you employ, put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and answer the following questions:
- Is my website organized and easy to navigate regardless of the screen size?
- Is the content on my website informative? Does it answer the questions a consumer may have on a product or service you offer?
- Does my website analytics show good user engagement?
- Is your online business card information consistent?
- Do people have positive things to say about my company? How are my online reviews?
These are just a few things that can pay dividends when trying to get ranked organically, acquire clients, and increase customer loyalty.