Part II, as continued from our previous week's article:
https://4goodhosting.com/blog/seo-clarity-2016/
I. Keyword Research
There has been a significant change in SEO methods over the past year, but the aspects of keyword research have remained stable.
You still want to identify the words & phrases that prospects are most often using to seek out your products and/or services. There are a variety of ways we can do this effectively:
· Analyze your website analytics to identify the set of keywords that are already generating traffic to your site, particular which keywords are most likely generating sales. Then use that information to find new, related keywords, and to build additional content based on those words.
· Use keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, Searchmetrics’ Keyword Analysis tool, SEMrush, Ubersuggest to compare popular keywords and phrases that are not overly competitive.
· Focus on longer keywords; as more natural language searching becomes more popular.
· Examine the competition’s top-ranking pages to identify which keywords they are targeting.
J. Link Building
The “old school” concept of link building, which mainly consists of reaching out to other sites to exchange links, or manually submitting your domain to web directories, and placing “spammy” comments and forum post, is still dead and buried, maybe forever.
Savvy users know that these previous link building tactics are not only ineffective; they can cause ranking penalties to their site. However, the emergence of non-linked mentions (so called “implied links”) are now being considered in the ranking algorithms. This has changed the perspective across the industry on link building; and it has become apparent that building a brand is more important than building links. Business owners and marketers should be working towards organically building links through publishing high quality content.
While the significance of back-links as a ranking factor is changing, they remain a significant ranking factor. Here are the content types that are most likely to accumulate a high number of links. These are:
· Opinion forming journalism
· Research-backed content
· Long form content over 1,000 words
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So, what techniques remain viable for link building aside from publishing fabulous content and then hoping it attracts eyeballs?
Guest blogging remains an effective strategy for reaching a new targeted audience, not only for building inbound links, but also for promoting your content through social media.
There has been some recent buzz around the term ‘social signals’. This is the concept that “likes”, “shares” and “retweets” should also count as links, and therefore pass on ‘link juice/affinity’ to your content/site. However, Google has stated (youtube) that they do not count likes & shares from Twitter and FaceBook as links.
So, does that mean getting traction on social media isn’t worth the effort? Well, despite what Google has stated, there is most definitely an indirect relationship between social likes and shares and high rankings. Superb content that gets liked & shared get in front of a larger audience. So as more people see and appreciate that content, at that point your content begins to accumulate more links; which subsequently increases your site’s ranking factor.
K. Content Marketing
Content is at the heart of the practice of achieving high rankings in search. Strategies formerly used were effective at achieving rankings, such as publishing short content with a high keyword density no longer produce a positive effect.
In 2016, the key to high ranking is publishing, comprehensive content that meets the needs of users.
High value content will naturally rank well in search results, because it attracts links, and shares, via email and social media. Content that does a thorough job of covering a subject naturally uses relevant terms. Comprehensive articles tend to be longer, and usually will include helpful external and internet links.
Creating useful, thorough, well-optimized content is key, but so is having a plan in place for getting that content in front of a wider audience.
Proof & relevant words/phrases: are terms that support and offer ‘proof of relevance’ to the central topic of your content. Related words indicates to Google that your content comprehensively covers a topic. Proof terms are words & phrases that are by definition used to describe a particular topic. For instance, the word “server” will almost always be used when writing about ‘web hosting’.
Relevant terms are words that are often used along with a primary keyword, in order to provide comprehensive coverage of the topic. When discussing ‘Canada Real Estate’, relevant words would be ‘Interest rate’, ‘home’ or ‘agent’.
Regarding Advertisements: Take note that high-ranking mobile pages tend to have significantly fewer ads than no-ad pages. Simply people prefer not to see ad-clutter pages, and Google recognizes that. This also applies to desktop sites, but to a much lesser degree. Banner ads, or worse, flash-based ads, usually slow down loading times - and even more significantly on mobile devices, so it is good S.E.O. policy to keep ads to a minimum.
Summary:
Was Part II of this article series helpful? You can use these techniques to maximally elevate your own rankings. But even more importantly, providing the best possible user experience should be the first priority. By sticking to quality content, it will provide the best return for you through the years. If you would like some professional help, you can request to be contact by one of our website SEO professionals.
