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Focusing on search engine optimization, SEO, helps your website rank higher in organic search results, making your website more visible to people be looking for your brand, product, or service via search engines.

Is it still relevant? Yes! The strategies and algorithms may have changed, but it is not likely that SEO will cease to be effective in the near future. In addition to focusing on your written content, you can also add search keyword information to audio and video. According to Searchenginewatch.com, “Considering that 93% of online experiences begin with search, prioritizing the latest best practices in digital marketing and optimization will be critical to the success of any website.”

What are search engines looking for?

They are looking for content, performance, authority, and user experience. When you are working on your website try to look at it with a fresh set of eyes. How does it look? Is it easy to navigate? Does it have high-quality content to which other sites can link? You should also take a look at your analytics to see if you have a high bounce rate. You can read more here about bounce rate and how it can affect your website.

What to avoid:

Some of the old SEO tactics such as buying links will not produce the same results in 2017. Too many ads will increase your bounce rate and attract negative attention. Avoid over-using keywords in your content because that can raise a red flag to search engines. Try to focus your attention on creating the most valuable content you can while including relevant keywords or phrases.

What to include:

It is important to use the right keywords to attract your ideal customer. If you rank highly for a keyword that isn’t attracting the right people, your bounce rate will increase and eventually your rankings will go down. For example, you are a website development company that is ranking highly for the keyword “social media.” However, you do not offer any social media management packages so searchers expecting to find social media information get frustrated and confused and look elsewhere. Here are some other strategies to keep in mind:

  • Try to use an important keyword in your business name and website address
  • Include keywords in title tags and image tags
  • Link to relevant content within your website (i.e.; internal link structure)
  • Network with other websites and online influencers to create inbound links
  • Connect your social media channels to your website and check that they work properly
  • Have a content marketing strategy focused on your top keywords
  • Update your website and post regularly, Google likes to see fresh content
  • Reach out to the media for interviews, guest blog post opportunities, and offer to collaborate with other businesses to create more backlinks to your website

How does SEO relate to content?

With some good copywriting. Take some pointers from professional copywriters and keep your message simple and easy-to-understand. Avoid long sentences and try to cut out anything that is just filler. Nowadays businesses have to compete with the short attention span of the user so use headings to break up long articles. Catch their attention with the headline and then they will read the text.

Applying basic SEO strategies while continuing to improve the user experience will help your business come out on top. Don’t let your competitors get ahead by failing to apply these strategies. If your business needs help with SEO we can help you apply a strategy that will work for your individual needs. Contact us to help you get started.