UNCOVER THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE FOUNDATIONAL AND MOST MISUNDERSTOOD SEO SERVICES.
By Casey Rogers, SEO & Digital Marketing Specialist
When done correctly, search engine optimization (SEO) is a traffic-boosting, lead-generating marketing tactic that ultimately helps bolster your bottom line. However, it can also be overwhelming to fully grasp its inner workings – let alone implement it correctly. In this blog, we’ll cover the three main components of search engine optimization, including:
- Keyword research
- On-site SEO
- Off-site SEO
Learn more about these three aspects of SEO services and how they work together to improve your website authority and drive targeted new business opportunities.
Keyword research
If SEO was a house, then keyword research would be the foundation that holds it all together. This aspect of SEO is about analyzing search intent and determining what words or phrases your target audience uses on Google (or other search engines like Bing) to find information, products, and services. For example, a user looking to buy a custom wedding cake may search for “best bakeries near me” or “custom wedding cakes.” If your business is a bakery that specializes in cakes for that magical moment, you’ll want to make sure your website appears as #1 on their search results.
Just how can you do that? With a winning combination of on-site and off-site SEO work.
On-site SEO
Once you know exactly which keyword rankings you want to achieve, you’ll want to turn to your website first for maximum optimization. On-site SEO refers to any action you take to improve and optimize your website so that it shows up in search results for your target phrases. This on-site SEO process includes:
- improving your site structure
- Removing and consolidating duplicate content
- Refreshing and updating old content
- Writing unique, keyword-rich meta tags for every page
- Developing new blog or page content centered around keywords
- Fixing broken links and other site errors
- Reducing the load time of your website
Off-site SEO
After cleaning up your business website and developing targeted content to achieve rankings, you’ll want to consider off-site SEO next. Off-site SEO is about using other sites and tools to promote your website in order to build search engine credibility. One way to do that is to secure links on other sites, which are called backlinks. When another website links to your site, that backlink serves as a signal to search engines that your content is credible and relevant to your audience. As such, they’re likely to rank your site higher on results pages for the keywords you’ve chosen.
Some conventional methods of building backlinks include:
- Guest blogging on a relevant, trusted industry leader’s site
- Sharing your content on social media to generate clicks and engagement
- Using influencers to promote and share your content
- Including your content in email newsletters or lead generation campaigns
All three of these SEO components are needed to enhance your keyword rankings and boost organic traffic. When combined with other marketing tactics in an integrated campaign, SEO can also improve your company’s credibility, build brand awareness, increase lead generation or sales, and ultimately benefit your bottom line.
If you need help developing comprehensive keyword research or an SEO strategy, learn more about our SEO services and contact our Madison-based SEO team today.
