Creating an SEO Strategy For Your Website
In a world becoming increasingly digital each and every day, showing up on search engines means more and more. Search engine optimization, the process of improving your website for users and search engines, is an investment of time, money, and resources that you need to make in order to rank well on Google & Bing and drive traffic to your site.
This week, I watched former Bing webmaster Duane Forrester’s video titled “Learn the Basics of SEO.” I strongly suggest that you spend time watching it as well. Duane gives a great perspective by positioning SEO as a marketing tool that should be focused on making a better user experience. Here’s a look at his definition.
He has great tidbits throughout, but here are some of my major takeaways from the video.
Start The Keyword Research Process Early
If you don’t start thinking about search engine optimization early in the process of building your website, you will have to spend a lot of time catching up.
Do the research. Get the keywords right. Know what you want to rank for. By doing keyword research, you can find the words that have the right amount of search volume and user intent that will result in positive outcomes for your website. If you skip these initial steps, you’re just taking a stab in the dark.
Search Engine Optimization is a Long Game
You won’t start ranking overnight. You won’t be able to “do some SEO” once and be good to go. SEO takes an investment. As such, it’s important to get the foundations for your site done correctly.
One of the early SEO considerations that you should make is how you will get your site set up for future success. Make sure that your architecture is in place to properly add all the elements you need. Spend time thinking what makes sense as far as the layout of your site, and consider the SEO implications of different options.
Focus On Content
Once you have the basics in place, spend your time crafting great content. You should already have the keyword research that can help guide you in the right direction.
Search engines appreciate content that is unique and well-written, but more importantly, so do users. You create a great user experience and also could attract some links. Allocate time and resources to regularly putting out content.
One of Duane’s tips in the video is to not take shortcuts at this stage. Limit syndicated content. Be original and become an authority in your niche.