It’s no secret that SEO is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy. But how does it truly provide long-term value?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, a way of optimizing your website to appear higher in the search engine results pages. In other words, SEO helps you to increase website visibility and traffic over the long term.
If you’re interested in SEO, Gert Mellak, with Tim and Erik from Digital Velocity, has plenty of advice that could prove invaluable. Read on!
Table of Contents
Overview of Erica Framework
With ever-changing SEO best practices, keeping up with the latest strategies can be hard. To address this worry, Gert wrote “The ERICA Framework: Your answer to Toughest SEO Challenges.”
This work outlines these five-step process:
- Evolution. Through continual SEO learning, website owners can comprehensively understand their current situation. This first step also incorporates an evolutionary process that yields positive results.
- Research. In SEO, research is key to success but often overlooked. This step is all about understanding how different layers of algorithms interact for each keyword in a particular area.
- Interlinking. Internal and external linking is an essential part of any successful SEO strategy. This step helps your content rank higher. Additionally, it also creates relationships between the various pages on a website to improve user experience.
- Content. Having great content is essential for success in Google rankings. After all, a great way is to take a step to create content quality.
- Action Steps. Every couple of weeks, Gert’s team identifies a sprint to ensure that their clients are set up for success. They give careful consideration to the business goals and competitive landscape.
SEO can seem like a daunting task. But with the right methodology, like ERICA, you can make SEO a breeze.
Where Do People Fail the Most in the SEO process?
Most website owners tend to struggle in SEO because of these two-fold reasons:
They pick the wrong battles.
Often, people set an SEO goal their website isn’t yet equipped to achieve. Picking the right battles is key when setting and meeting SEO goals.
According to Gert, consistently monitoring evolution and seeing what converts and what does not is a great way to do so. Additionally, competitive research and goal-driven figuring out what needs to focus on are also essential.
They think that Google will automatically rank good content.
Many content creators assume that simply producing high-quality work is enough for Google to show their page higher in search rankings. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
It was much easier for content creators to get Google traffic in the past when there wasn’t as much competition. Besides, some successful blogs have experienced a decline in visibility due to not keeping up with changing SEO strategies.
User experience and intent are also important in the process. Google needs to determine what people are looking for from your website.
Google Ads and SEO are different in terms of approach and results. However, many companies fail to see the importance of SEO. You need to take the time out for this task to be worth it in terms of long-term results.
How Does SEO Works
Many clients focus primarily on the cost of paid traffic to measure their business success. Paid ads can be a great tool for acquiring leads quickly, but it’s not always easy.
As a result, SEO becomes an attractive option due to its long-term presence in SERPs.
Here are tips you need:
- Monitor the branded and non-branded traffic. When looking at the incoming traffic on your site, it’s important to consider branded and non-branded sources. Both types of visits should be monitored as they are essential when evaluating overall website performance.
- Break down your SEO elements. The most effective way to use SEO strategies correctly is by breaking down each element into individual parts. Engage with visitors by focusing on conversion rates. Plus, ensure that they’re completing the desired action or movements, such as submitting a form or requesting a proposal.
- Focus on conversions. You can increase conversions by getting more exposure for a particular keyword or page. So stop focusing on traffic numbers and look at what really matters - conversions.
In-House SEO Vs. SEO Agency
Having an expert in SEO can be beneficial. But there’s a big decision: should you hire an agency or do it in-house?
It’s a tough question, and it’s one that many businesses face when they’re looking to maximize their online presence. If you are considering taking on a digital marketing project, it is worth weighing up the pros and cons.
With in-house SEO, the person assigned can never go on vacation, can never get sick, or leave your company. In other words, they could not provide all the expertise necessary for success alone.
On the other hand, an SEO agency like SEO Leverage provides the right process to help you maximize your online visibility. Each individual is assigned to writing content, building links, and overseeing strategy. In short, you can gain the right power to reach more customers.
For some SEO people, career progression often involves a move from client-side to agency work. This shift enables them to really demonstrate their expertise and acquire the specific knowledge needed for success in this area. In an agency environment, they can flourish and reach their full potential as digital marketing specialists.
What SEO Tests to Run that Have a Meaningful Impact?
Taking a deep dive into SEO testing can be difficult, as this type of analysis requires a different approach than traditional paid ad channels. For example, when working with Google, you never know exactly when it will come and evaluate your site - so performing split tests is nearly impossible. Instead, you focus on making changes within an identified area.
Here are examples of simple things you can do:
- Place all call-to-action buttons, options, and other elements on your webpage strategically. Make sure also to mark these changes with conversion tracking so that you have an accurate measure of which strategies work best.
- Implement multiple call-to-actions. To make sure this is a good idea, try rolling out the same tactics on 20 more pages and observe if it yields similar results. If successful, incorporate these strategies into your future content publishing to ensure maximum conversions.
- Optimize article layouts. If you want your website to stay ahead of the competition, consider focusing on user experience. With Google placing such high importance on this area, optimizing article layouts for better navigation and engagement can be a great way.
- Minimize how much content appears at the top of your page. Consider removing sliders on select articles and using a platform that allows clients to insert URLs they wish to track.
Within weeks you’ll have all the data necessary for informed decisions - no more guessing!
Do You Need to Run Google Ads to Improve Your SEO?
Trying to understand the difference between Google Ads and organic SEO? You need an understanding of how these two channels work together.
People now believe that paying for Google or Facebook ads can increase their organic rankings in search engines. That’s why they’re often willing to invest more in those platforms despite the cost. It’s an ongoing debate as to whether this really affects SEO.
While you can’t establish a connection between Google Ads and social media activities, observing indirect relations is possible. For example, when people run Facebook ads for their brand, they often receive a higher amount of organic traffic as well. This is because it’s likely due to increased recognition from the ad campaign itself.
With the introduction of Google Analytics 4, attribution has changed so that last-click tracks as the standard. This means you only see what channel was used to find the most recently and don’t get insight into how someone got there. It cannot be easy to interpret data this way without being able to track a user’s full journey.
Furthermore, people who are aware of your brand can have the power to boost it in searches on Google. In other words, attracting more attention through marketing efforts could ultimately help you get ahead in terms of visibility.
What Do You Need to Focus on When Creating Content?
The search intent can give you a clue as to the value of a query. This means what someone hopes to get out of it. For example, if you type “height of the Eiffel Tower,” all you want is an answer - no more and no less. Google is smart enough to recognize and display results before users even hit enter.
When it comes to providing a great user experience on search engines, content is key! People who shop around for different products tend to expect tables that compare the various brands and models. They’ll also benefit from visuals like product images or videos featuring real-life applications of the item.
If you want your content to be valuable and rank well in Google, keep an eye on keywords and searcher intent. That way, you can create engaging content and images that hit all the right notes for clients’ needs. Additionally, do a site audit and content audit.
Conclusion
SEO is vital for any website that wants to rank high on search engines and get more traffic. However, knowing where to start or what to do next can take time and effort.
Often, it all starts with a comprehensive site audit and content audit to determine what is working best. Get SEO Leverage quick audit here!
We offer site audits that are thorough and easy to understand. Plus, we also guide how to fix any issues we find.
