Creating an SEO Strategy that Stands the Test of Time

    Blog-Tile-1803-seo-strategy-time-blogInbound marketing requires constant attention to the changing requirements of the market and of the most popular search engines in order to remain effective. Many marketers feel as though they are constantly adapting their SEO strategies in order to keep up with the latest changes in search engine algorithms and the needs of their markets. What if, however, you could design an SEO strategy for your company that will stand the test of time, helping you to build a solid online presence and raising your search engine ranking substantially? These tips will enable you to build a strategy that will go beyond the latest demands of the year, creating an effective platform that will help you develop content that will continue to raise your search engine ranking.

    Step One: Set Your Goals

    What is it that you're really hoping to accomplish with your content creation strategy? Is your goal to raise your search engine ranking and nothing more, or is your goal to create content that accomplishes other goals, as well? For example, your goals might include:

    • Providing information that will help customers make informed decisions about products and services in your industry.
    • Creating quality content that will guide customers through the buyer's journey.
    • Increasing sales.
    • Encouraging customers to sign up for your email list. 

    When you understand the goals of the content you're creating, you go beyond SEO to create quality content that will genuinely benefit your company--and raise your search engine ranking at the same time. 


    Step Two: Know Your Customers

    Once you know what you're hoping to accomplish with your website and your content, it's important that you get to know the customers you're trying to reach. Pay particular attention to these key questions:

    • What are your customers' pain points, and how can you help alleviate them?
    • What do your customers want from your brand? This includes everything from the specific information they're looking for--often found in the questions they ask most often through social media and other channels--to the products they want and the customer service they require from your company.
    • How do your customers prefer for their information to be presented? Do they like long-form blog posts, or do they prefer short, simple answers? Are they more likely to respond to a video or an infographic? 

    The better you understand your customers, the easier it is to create content that's designed specifically for them. You'll find that creating content that is genuinely beneficial to your customers helps increase your search engine ranking over time: the more customers visit your blog or website and spend time on it, interacting with it, the better your ranking will be.


    Step Three: Know What's Standing in Your Way

    What's actually standing between your company and the search engine ranking you've always wanted? For some companies, the answer is simple: a competitor has already cornered the market on quality content in the industry, and their name is the top result for nearly every keyword you can come up with. For others, it's simply a matter of a small content library that fails to maximize the potential of their website or a focus on the wrong keywords for their business's specific focus. Take a look at the obstacles that could be standing in your way, then start shaping your strategy to move around them.


    Step Four: Go Local

    You've taken a hard look at what your customers really want from your business and the obstacles that could prevent you from meeting your goals. Now, take a closer look at your most important customers: the ones that are local to you. In a global society where information is available at the press of a key, local customers are still important to most industries. Customers like the idea of being able to come by in person to pick out products, have a meeting with an industry representative, and connect with people face-to-face. That makes your local customers some of the most important for your business--and making sure that you're optimized for local search traffic will continue to be important. Claim your business's page on Google My Business and other critical pages and make sure that local keyword optimization is part of your SEO strategy. 


    Step Five: Design Your Plan

    In order to design an effective plan, your SEO strategy must include the flexibility to adapt according to current trends. Your industry changes rapidly, and SEO requirements change, too. Your plan, therefore, should include several key facets.

    Your Content Creation Map

    You know what keywords are most important to your industry. Over time, you'll build a content library that includes more of them--but that doesn't happen at random! Your content creation map should include those critical keywords, but also be flexible to include:

    • Changing formats for information (the rise of video, for example)
    • Shifts in keyword requirements for your industry
    • News and events as they occur in your industry
    • Changes in SEO requirements

    Paid Ad Strategies

    Whether you're just getting started with your search engine optimization plan or you've been building your content library for years, paid ads can go a long way toward boosting your ranking and getting your content noticed. Make sure that your SEO strategy includes paid ads in a way that will genuinely benefit your business, including the specific keywords on which you most need to focus. 

    Your Data Analysis Strategy

    In order to understand the changing information that your customers need and want, your SEO plan needs to include a data analysis strategy. What data are you collecting? This could include information from your website, social media pages, and blog as well as wider industry information. Make sure you include a plan for incorporating that data into your content creation strategy.

    Today's SEO strategies must be adaptable in order to incorporate the changes made to search engine algorithms and within your industry. By focusing on creating great content for your business, however, you can raise your usefulness to customers. Meanwhile, SEO strategies that are prepared to incorporate both industry and global changes will help you continue to rise to the top of search engine rankings in spite of the changes around you.




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