How to Achieve SEO Success in 2018
More than 90 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine, which is one of the most compelling reasons to be proactive about maintaining your online visibility. Successfully using SEO is a process that includes a combination of the technical aspects of SEO like site structure with on-page and off-page efforts. The San Diego SEO experts at Saba SEO discuss a few things to do if you want to succeed with SEO in 2018 and beyond.
Apply SEO to Multiple Platforms
Most people think of SEO as primarily applicable to websites. While optimizing your site is certainly important, it’s just one of several places where SEO can be applied. Optimization can also extend to:
- Google My Business listings
- YouTube videos
- Blog posts
- Social media profiles and content
- Vertical search engines and third-party sites like Amazon and Yelp
- Online directories
- App store listings
OptimizeContent for People
If you are constantly thinking about how to work keywords into your content, you might end up with something that does not appeal to actual readers. Instead, write for real people first. Google is increasingly placing more importance on relevance. If you create content while keeping your target audience in mind, you may be rewarded by the search engines.
Tap into Your Searchers’ Pain Points
Most searchers looking for online content are trying to solve some type of problem (“pain point”). Your content strategy should be based on a solid understanding of your customers’ needs. There are plenty of “audience tools” you can use to get clues in Google search results. Pay attention to the information that pops up on:
- Auto complete feature (based on recent search habits)
- “People Also Ask” boxes
- Related searches
The extra insights from these results can be used to fine-tune your content. The idea is to direct your intended audience to your content by providing the answers they’re looking for.
Take a Cue from Social Conversations/Comments
A lot of people use social media to say what’s on their minds. Oftentimes, this means voicing concerns or complaining. However, if you pay attention to the valid comments on your social media pages, you’ll get a better idea of the topics you should be addressing in your content.
Do Competitive Research
You can also get some idea of where to focus your SEO efforts by looking at how your competitors are targeting the same audience. There are plenty of tools you can use to see the keywords your competitors use. However, you won’t be able to know every single detail of their SEO strategy. You can still get a feel for what’s working for other businesses and what’s not, which can help you decide where your priorities should be with SEO and the content you present.
Consider Voice Search
It’s estimated that half of all searches could soon be voice-activated. Part of the reason for this is the increased accuracy of voice-recognition tools like Siri and Alexa. Optimizing for voice search means:
- Using long-tail and conversational keywords
- Having an FAQ page since voice searches tend to be in the form of questions
- Using structured data markup to give voice search devices more info about your website content
News and social content are more likely to attract attention organically on search engines these days. Take advantage of this trend by consistently producing fresh, engaging content on your social platforms and finding ways to work trending topics into your own content.
Whether you need help creating high-quality content or a fully optimized website for your business, turn to Saba SEO. As a leading internet marketing service provider, our agency has several years of experience in search engine optimization, paid marketing, and website development. Our experts have designed customized and comprehensive digital marketing strategies for a wide variety of businesses worldwide. To learn about our high-quality services, give us a call at 858-951-1717 today.