For most businesses, a goal is to be one of the first results someone sees when searching for their products online. Many behind-the-scenes tasks all contribute to it, also known as search engine optimization, to reach that first page. That process involves several steps, but there are some things you can do to increase your SEO and hopefully, in turn, increase your profits and revenue. Here are a few ways that businesses in nearly any industry can leverage the power of search engine optimization.
Work with an SEO expert to get your online presence in shape.
If your online presence is weak to begin with, then the best and fastest way to boost your overall SEO is by working with a Denver SEO expert or someone located in your area of the country. They will have the know-how and expertise to implement some important practices to get your website ranking better on search engines like Bing and Google, but keep in mind that it is usually not an overnight improvement, especially if you’re trying to rank for competitive keywords in a larger market. Techniques that an agency may use include:
- New Website Design: If your existing site needs some work or wasn’t built correctly, you may need a new website built with proper structure, as that is the foundation of your SEO. You need a site with meta tags, meta descriptions, well-structured content, and more. Without a proper site, the other SEO practices may not work as well.
- Content Creation: Along with a website, you need new, fresh content generated and published regularly. Search engines like to see that you’re adding new content and not just using a stale website. That’s where content creation and content marketing comes in. For example, if your business is centered around manicures and nail polish, then the content created for your site will focus on certain keywords such as “stick on polish” or “gel polish.” This type of content can help get your manicure site to rank higher on the search engine result pages (SERPs) and hopefully get you some new customers. Once the company writes new posts, they should promote them on social media sites, Google My Business profile, and email newsletters.
- NAP Citations: If you are looking for local business traffic, then updating your NAP (name, address, phone number) citations can also help with your SEO. When filled out correctly, these citations can communicate back to Google and Bing about your company and show them that you are listed on other reputable sites.
- Build Backlinks: Getting other sites to link to your site, referred to as a backlink, can help increase your website’s overall reputation. The agency you work with will make sure that those backlinks are on reputable sites.
You can also work on your SEO on your own.
If you want to try and handle SEO on your own and plan out your own SEO strategy, you can use the same techniques listed above. If you want instant results, though, you may want to allocate some marketing spend toward a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign on Google Ads. This will at least get you some traffic while the SEO works its magic to get you organic traffic directly to your website.
Just make sure that if you decide to handle SEO on your own that you become well-versed in digital marketing, as one misstep can mess up any organic ranking that you do have. You’ll also need to continuously educate yourself on SEO trends, especially since Google keeps making algorithm changes that can affect rankings if you don’t adjust accordingly.