How to create an effective SEO strategy in 2021

What is a SEO strategy?

A SEO strategy is the process of planning, demarcating and implementing steps that help enhance website rankings on search engines such as Google or Bing.

Simply put, an SEO strategy helps you get more organic traffic to a blog or website. It also focuses on creating experiences and moments with your users across different platforms.

So, what’s the real secret to winning at SEO in 2021? Our specialists in online marketing in Adelaide have summed it up in three steps that will have you well on your way.

• Producing the best content you possibly can.
• Ensuring a sound content distribution plan.
• Working with SEO experts for the best website optimisation.

Steps to create a winning SEO strategy

Here is a complete guide to creating a successful SEO strategy that will keep you at the top of search results in 2021.

Step #1: Focus on search intent

Fact: New content is added to the web every day, competing with existing content and catering to the 63,000+ searches per second on the most used search engine — Google!

For users, a quick search on Google can often lead to thousands of results, from which only a few are looked at in detail. It has become a prerequisite to try and reach the first page of search engine results with the help of search intent content and strategies.

An Adelaide local SEO expert can help you to optimise your website by creating highly specialised content.

SEO experts can help you:

• Identify the most searched keywords for your business or content.
• Meet the demands of Google algorithms. With more than 200 major ranking factors, everything boils down to knowing what content is most helpful to the user.
• Develop a clear understating of the purpose of the content. In SEO terms, you need to conduct regular SEO content analyses and check out how your content satisfies a user’s search intent and the robot’s indexing parameters.
• Identify the target audience.
• Implement the strategy.
• Analyse the performance of strategies.

Whether it is selling products, sharing information or entertaining users, a website needs content and strategies that are centred on search. Understanding the why, how, who, where, what and when of every step is a necessity.

Step #2: Create and update the keywords list

Keywords are at the heart of SEO and organic growth plays a significant role when it comes to user intent. A search for how to recover hard disk data is vastly different from who can help me recover hard disk data. The end result may appear the same, but for the user the query is different, thereby requiring different content.

To find the best-suited keywords for your content, you can start by searching Google Suggest. Enter the main keyword into Google’s search field and you will find a list of suggestions. Usually, these are the most popular keywords your target customer searches.

Spend time:

• Identify 10–15 short-tail as well as long-tail keywords.
• Familiarise yourself with keyword density and proximity.
• Understand monthly search volume.

Apart from Google, you can also use tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush or GrowthBar to look at search volumes and keyword variations. It requires technical knowledge and hiring a local SEO service provider is highly recommended.

Step #3: Optimise content with keywords

Now that you have finished searching for the most appropriate keywords, it’s time to start optimising your content with the keywords.

You should focus on:

• Including your keywords in URL addresses, titles, Meta descriptions, image filenames, ALT attributes and captions, H1-H4 headings, and anchor texts of internal links.
• Looking at content that is ranking well for your keywords. Understand what they are saying and how you can improve or revise the content to draw more traffic.
• Using graphs and charts helps for an easy and practical understanding of hard data — it brings your content to life. Whether you are comparing trends or analysing figures in the content, they also help you to gain clarity and authority.
• Using appropriate keywords and tags for images, graphs, etc.

Digital marketing agencies know that understanding how Google decides which pages deserve to be on the top is key to developing a successful SEO strategy.

Step #4: Create unique and high-quality content

The best search engine optimisation services will discuss the importance of content quality. Google algorithms index quality content thereby improving your chances of retaining the top position on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

The core principles of content writing are:

• Ensuring the content is free of plagiarism.
• Meeting the user’s search intent.
• Creating content for different screen sizes — shorter sentences, using subheadings, pictures with captions, and graphs.
• Increasing retention with images.
• Encouraging interaction with smartly placed calls to action.

Some experts will tell you to publish content that is better than your competitors. While that is absolutely true, keeping your focus on what your user wants will get you better and faster results.

Step #5: Adding a relevant hook

Link building is the process of getting inbound links — also known as backlinks — to your website. Getting users excited about your product will let you earn links. It is called ‘The Hook’.

The higher the number of backlinks from external sources, the higher the chances of a top ranking on SERP.

• Internal links allow users to move from one page to another on your website.
• External links help a user to reach your website from another website, blog, or social media page.
• The heart of link building is quality content and the right platforms to host content. Content about ‘easy ways to make an apple pie’ is more suited to an Instagram page or blog while content about ‘steps I need to follow to get insurance’ is better suited to a company’s web page.

There is debate within the SEO community on the effectiveness of link building but regardless, it is one of the major criteria used by Google to rank websites and cannot be ignored.

Step #6: Create an engaging experience

Let us start with an example. You have created an amazing watercolour painting. It is displayed in the darkest corner of your shop. Very few people entering the shop will notice the painting. Similarly, you might have the best content, but if your website’s UI (User Interface) and design are not appealing, your users will not reach or stay.

• Engage users with interesting content from the first point of contact.
• Allow them to get information easily with minimum clicks.
• Use CTAs and make it easier to close a sale.
• Offer an actionable takeaway for your users.

You must spend time, money, and resources to create a website that users will enjoy browsing on different screen sizes and devices. Your user may move from an Apple iPhone to a Lenovo laptop — so ensuring consistency to prolong a moment and build rhythm becomes a necessity.

Step #7: Website optimisation is important

One aspect many business owners overlook when it comes to SEO strategy is website optimisation. As they say “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”. A website is often the first point of contact with your business.

The UI and UX (User Experience) is an important part of your SEO strategy.

• Take care of common website issues like server errors, broken links, broken redirects, broken images, dead-end pages, crawling issues, missing meta tags, and indexing issues.
• Opt for fully automated tools to fix common website issues. Some tools you can use to measure your site’s usability are Peek by UserTesting, Five Second Test, and Daltonize.
• Using tools such as On-Site Issues Overview, you can detect SEO errors on your website. Address tool issues like Meta tags (short, repeating or outright missing) can be set for automatic regular scans and email alerts.
• Keep your website error-free from Robots.Txt File issues.
• Check website formats to enable search engine crawlers to view and index your page and content.
• Use structured data on your site and test your marked-up pages for any possible errors before making the website live. You can also make use of Google’s free Structured Data Testing Tool.

Your website should run like a well-oiled machine. Experiencing technical glitches or errors on a website forces a user to move away.

The final word

Search engine optimisation service providers understand the need to encourage engaging moments with users. Anticipating what your digitally savvy customers want is critical to the success of any online campaign.