If you ask 10 digital marketers about the most important elements that make up a successful SEO strategy, you’ll probably get 10 different responses, ranging from building more backlinks to technical SEO or growing domain authority. While these services are helpful, the truth is that great SEO campaigns focus on the same core common elements.
These elements, like technical SEO, on-page SEO, and link building should be fundamental parts of your SEO regardless of your website or industry.
Whether you’re doing SEO yourself or looking to hire an agency, these are details of these strategies you ought to know. In this article, we’ll explore each of these and give a clear understanding of these must-know parts of SEO.
Technical SEO
In a nutshell, a search engine is a software created to navigate web pages, analyze their contents, and employ a specific algorithm to organize and rank the information on the search engine results pages.
While a lot of SEO tips focus on links and content, Technical SEO is what helps search engine bots discover, crawl, and understand the content on your website in the first place. Although good content is vital to SEO success, it loses effectiveness if search engine crawlers are unable to even access your site.
Some key technical SEO services include bot crawler optimization, XML sitemap review, studying crawl budgets and server logs to see what content search engines crawl the most, schema markup, checking for and fixing broken links and incorrect redirects, and optimizing page speed and performance. These tasks usually require the help of a developer or webmaster.
Technical SEO not only helps with search engine rankings but also improves user experience. making the site simpler to use and interact with.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is a method for improving specific parts of a web page, such as content and HTML code, to boost search engine rankings and increase organic visibility.
It’s a “catch-all” term that can include optimizing content for specific keywords, using proper headers and meta tags, writing engaging meta descriptions to improve click-through rate, enhancing image alt-text, rewriting title tags, page titles, and subheadings, and designing an easy-to-navigate URL structure.
For some websites, on-page SEO deliverables would be optimizing eCommerce product descriptions, adding new subcategories, updating internal links, rewriting articles to focus on the right keyword, and optimizing images and title tags.
Keyword Research
Keyword research in SEO is the process of identifying relevant keywords and phrases that searchers use when looking for information, researching products, or choosing services. This process helps content strategists and SEO specialists understand how popular specific terms are and allows them to craft engaging and relevant content that meets users’ needs.
There is no “best” or “most important” SEO strategy if you’re curious, because each one matters. However, if we’re forced to pick, keyword research is the primary aspect that defines a thriving or dying SEO strategy. It’s the foundation for all content strategy and plays a key role in content creation and on-page optimization.
Content Strategy
SEO content strategy refers to the planning, creation, and refinement of written content on a website, aiming to attract visitors, enhance search engine rankings, and achieve business objectives.
The focus of an SEO content strategy is typically on the various forms of content published on a website. It entails comprehending your target audience by considering their needs, preferences, and challenges in order to develop content that connects with them and addresses their concerns.
With a clear understanding of your audience, tasks such as keyword research enable you to generate optimized, high-quality content that is both informative and captivating for readers and valued by search engines.
An effective content strategy recognizes the role search engine content plays within the broader content marketing framework, encompassing paid advertising and social media efforts.
Off-Page SEO (Link Building)
Link building in SEO is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites that point back to your own site. These links, also known as “backlinks,” are important because search engines like Google use them to determine a website’s trustworthiness, credibility, and authority. The more high-quality backlinks a site has from reputable sources, the more likely it is to rank higher in search engine results (SERPs).
Backlinks are a huge ranking factor in search engine optimization. There are many ways to get them including guest posting, link inserts, and broken backlink campaigns. While more backlinks are usually better, the authority, relevance, and anchor text are what really drive SEO results.
Crafting a Cohesive, Ongoing SEO Strategy
Within the 5 SEO elements listed here are hundreds of granular steps and strategies that, when combined, work to attract more highly-targeted visitors to your website via organic traffic. For this to happen, all SEO aspects must be addressed.
High-quality, in-depth content alone is insufficient if your site lacks backlinks or has poor technical SEO. Similarly, a lightning-fast website with low-quality information will have difficulty ranking and converting.
How do I Know If My SEO Is Working?
Once an SEO strategy has begun, professionals utilize SEO tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and keyword tracking software to assess their organic search results. These tools provide a comprehensive evaluation of your content’s performance, including the number of clicks received, the SEO rankings of your keywords, and the conversions driven by organic search.
If you’re interested in doing SEO but aren’t sure where to start, an SEO audit is a great first step into long-term SEO work.
