Driving more web traffic to your blog or landing page can result in more conversions, sales and a higher Google ranking. But how can you drive more organic traffic with the stiff competition? The best way is to improve or augment your SEO strategy.
If you rely on online consumers to discover your blog or product page via searches, you must prioritize augmenting your SEO tactics. Why? According to BrightEdge Research, 68% of internet engagements begin through online search. Besides, Google’s first page receives the most clicks and 75% of users won’t click further than page-one results. So, in this article, I’m sharing the importance of amplifying your SEO techniques and showing you practical SEO tips that will boost your ranking position.
Why Should You Care About Improving Your SEO Strategy?
Several reasons come to mind when considering why you should improve your search engine optimization strategy. One of them is that it helps you stay relevant in the competitive SEO market. And, without a durable SEO strategy, no one will find you online. For instance, when I was writing this blog post, internet users had already performed more than 5.6 billion searches on Google alone. At the same time, bloggers published 5.4 million blog articles and counting.
Source graphic: Worldometer
The numbers show that search engines serve billions of people daily. These are people who are searching for answers or solutions to their problems. Do you see why augmenting your SEO strategy to conform with trends in search is so vital? It allows your audience to find you online.
How to Improve Your SEO Strategy to Boost Google Search Ranking
The main reason for SEO optimization in marketing is to improve your ranking position and drive targeted organic traffic. Thus, the SEO tips below are proven to work, so consider them carefully.
1. Develop a User Intent-Focused Keyword Strategy
Yes, you need to pay attention to user-search intent starting now! Why? Because Google has a strong focus on creating content relevance. I mentioned briefly above that Google’s primary goal is to improve user experience, and one way to make the search engine giant happy is to create content pieces based on user intent.
Search intent or user intent represents the motive or objective of the user performing a search. Therefore, it is essential for powering your SEO strategy since matching a user’s intention for searching online helps you drive quality organic traffic. However, to develop a solid keyword plan with search intent in mind, examine your competitors to see what they do to gain traction on search engine results pages (SERPs).
First, define whether your topic is thriving on search results and if it matches your readers’ search intent. The idea is to figure out what topics and keyword phrases your audience is typing on Google to find relevant content.
2. Revamp Your SEO Techniques With Topic Clusters
A topic cluster is a prominent blogging tip for SEO’s best performance. And intelligent marketers use this SEO trend to gain website traction and rank on SERPs. Applying topic cluster SEO tactics correctly can differentiate between a boring website and a high-conversion site.
What Are Topic Clusters?
Topic clusters imply a category of related web pages that centers around pillar content. Otherwise stated, it is a group of interlinked blog pages built on primary content that points to a broad topic. This type of content provides several opportunities for internal links and helps keep readers engaged longer on your page, thereby increasing time on-page and SEO ranking. Remember that these indicators help Google to better rank your site.
Note that topic clusters start with powerful pillar content and include relevant internal links to topic cluster pages. This SEO technique is vital because it enables more pages on your site to rank on searches by providing informative content to users’ queries. Therefore, to rank better on search engines, topic clusters are some of the best solutions. Why? Because they provide answers to the new search queries, such as the “what, why and how” of a search.
How to Create Topic Clusters
To create topic clusters, select a subject for your target keyword and develop subtopics related to your pillar content. Then, link those pages to your pillar content to establish your authority. This SEO content-creation technique is one of the best ways to show up in searches and improve your rankings.
3. Examine Competitors’ Content Structure
Another vital area of competitor research is to study your competitors’ content or page structure. It lets you see why their blog posts are generating traction and driving web traffic, how they structure their content and how you can make yours better.
But where do you begin? Start by evaluating the top pages of your topic on Google. Accordingly, enter your search terms on Google to see what pages are ranking for the keywords. Also, look at:
- Featured snippets
- Google answer box
- People also asked
- Searches related to
Then select the most relevant web pages and click the URLs to see how they structure their blog articles. Your content evaluation gives you an edge over your competition. How? You will have more insight on:
- Content length
- Article structure
- Blog format
- And more
It allows you to create better content than your competitors. This step is essential because a healthy page structure and in-depth content improve the user experience (UX). Also, it lets Google correctly index your pages. These activities help increase click-through rates and search rankings.
4. Apply Image SEO for Better Results
Visuals are incredible content marketing elements that make your site and content materials more appealing. But it would help if you optimized the visuals you use on your blog and website for SEO purposes. That way, you make it easier for search engines to find you online.
Image SEO refers to optimizing photos and other visuals for SEO to allow Google bots to read and understand the purpose of the image. This process is ideal as it improves content visibility and increases SEO ranking.
For proper optimizations, look at the image size and file format. Large photos reduce website speed, which is not suitable for SEO. So, reduce or compress images where necessary.
More Ways to Optimize Images for SEO
To maximize content marketing ROIs, optimize your photos for humans and search engines. The following image optimization tips will help improve your SEO effort.
- Produce original link-able image assets.
- Optimize image alt text, titles and captions.
- Use the correct image format.
- Create SEO-friendly image file names.
- Use lazy loading for images.
- Add your photos to the site map.
- Ensure all images are mobile-friendly.
Consequently, before uploading and publishing image content, be sure to apply the image SEO tips above. Check that the images and alt texts correspond with the content so that you strengthen your SEO techniques and drive results.
5. Vary Your Backlink Profile
An outstanding element of SEO is inbound links, but the incoming links should come from reputable high-authority websites. It means considering two useful sources when building your inbound link profile.
Sources to Consider
- The kind of backlinks to your site: are they dofollow or nofollow links? Yes, both link types matter for SEO, but a dofollow has more weight.
- Examine the authority of the websites where you’re getting inbound links.
Why Is Diversifying Your Link Profile Important for SEO?
Varying backlink profiles are crucial for three tangible reasons. It tells search engines that:
- Your content is valuable.
- Incoming links are natural.
- Your website is credible.
It is a fantastic way of telling search engine bots that you are performing white hat SEO techniques, in contrast to black hat SEO tactics.
How to Vary Your Backlink Profile
- Create different anchor text, and avoid exact match anchor text.
- Select websites with diverse PageRank to balance your link portfolio.
- Develop content worth sharing across social media.
- Produce data-driven blog articles and reach out to publishers who may feature the content in new media platforms with links back to your site.
- Create links on multiple web pages.
- Accept nofollow backlinks since they provide helpful referral web traffic.
It’s Time to Improve Your SEO Strategy
The primary objective of amplifying your SEO effort is to attract more organic web traffic, boost leads and improve Google search ranking. Understanding what works is only part of the process, but enforcing the tips is the only way to get results.
Given this, implement the pointers as outlined above. Then test your SEO performance to determine what’s working, what’s not and make adjustments where necessary. Do you have more hacks for improving SEO results? Please, tell us in the comments below!
