In the competitive research phase, we often find that the client's site is lagging behind its competitors in terms of the amount of indexed content. In those cases, this phase of the process takes on additional importance. After adding new, high-quality content, we tackled page optimization. See our article on the basics of page optimization for more information on this topic.
This post will guide you through all the critical stages of the SEO process, from competitor research and page optimization to content strategy and link building. When we're done, you'll have a clear idea of what you need to make your next SEO campaign a success. Keyword research reveals what people are looking for in relation to your brand, category or industry and tells you how often they search for different terms. The most effective way to create a comprehensive keyword list is to use a premium keyword research tool such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Long Tail Pro.
Your content is likely to be well-presented and packed with value. So take note of anything they seem to be doing well so you can set a benchmark for your own content strategy. Performing an analysis of content gaps on competing websites will reveal untapped opportunities for keyword segmentation that you can take advantage of with your own content. More information on content gap analysis can be found in the “Content Strategy” section, below in this blog post.
The next step in the SEO process is to ensure that your website architecture is as easy as possible for users and search engines to navigate. The SEO process simply can't generate growth without a well-defined content strategy as a foundation. The first task in creating a content strategy is to conduct a content audit. The goal is to develop a good understanding of the information needs of your target audience (keyword research) and the competitive landscape surrounding your brand (competitive research).These findings lay the foundation for the content strategy that follows.
We have seen that the SEO process involves the interaction of some key activities. These include keyword and competition research, page optimization and technical SEO, and content creation and link building. For example, if you see your competitors publishing articles such as “The 10 Most Common Problems with Cars”, you could up the ante by creating an exhaustive list of the 100 most common problems. You can also consider formatting your page differently or including a short video about each car problem to improve the user experience (UX).
These are just a few of the strategies you can use to improve your website's search engine performance. When WebFX analyzes your site at the start of an SEO campaign, we analyze more than 200 SEO factors on the site. Call us at 888-601-5359 to learn more about our professional SEO services and how we can improve your SEO so you can enjoy more potential customers, sales and revenues. As an example, our blog content alone gives us approximately 256.9K organic views every month.
This is because we create content designed to rank based on keywords with search demand. For example, introducing the main focus of our blog, SEO, Keywords Explorer reveals more than 395,000 keyword ideas. When it comes to results, SEO is often a long process. More than 4,000 respondents told us that it usually takes between 3 and 6 months.
And since rankings change, be prepared to periodically review step 3 to improve your content and step 4 to create more links. Technical SEO optimizations not only involve the correct use of relevant SEO tags, such as title tags, meta descriptions and header tags, but they also include improving page load speed and using structured data. In addition, it should include verifying that search engines can index all relevant pages. Users will share high-quality content and easily link to it.
For this reason, content marketing is a crucial component of an SEO strategy. As for the cost of SEO, the least expensive option is to do it yourself; all you need is time to learn and experiment and tools that fit your budget. Since 75% of people don't look beyond the first page of search results, it's extremely important to maintain the top positions with SEO. This quick SEO tutorial will provide you with some basic SEO knowledge and a list of practical SEO steps you can use to kickstart your strategy today. Far from being a single exercise, the SEO process is a continuous cycle of tests and adjustments aimed at maximizing a website's ranking potential.
If you benefit from structured and guided learning, an SEO course is another option to develop your SEO skills. Another vital step in the SEO process is to ensure that all elements of the page are fully optimized. We cover changes in the SEO landscape on the HubSpot blog, and Google also keeps an updated list of major updates that may affect your SEO success. It's simple, the only way to achieve consistent and lasting progress in SEO is to follow a proven SEO process.
The SEO process always starts with research, whether the website in question hasn't been created yet or is already up and running. Another useful SEO strategy is internal linking, which involves linking to other pages of your site from your own pages. As director of SEO at Break The Web, Jason focuses on the strategic direction of client campaigns and on internal frameworks and execution processes. In fact, many companies starting out in organic search see significant improvements in their rankings 4 to 6 months after committing to a well-executed SEO strategy. A specific tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush can be useful for SEOs, whether you're a novice or a professional, but you can also start by simply listing words and phrases relevant to your business.
Ultimately, SEO helps you gain visibility in relevant search results, so that more people can find and visit your website, get in touch with you and buy.
