Establishing an SEO Methodology: 5 Tactics to Reach Your Customers
Last update: 16 August 2023 at 11:43 am
3.00/5Search engine optimization, or SEO, allows you to attract quality web traffic from major search engines like Google or Bing. The purpose of optimizing your website for SEO is to rank highly on the right search engine results pages, or SERPs.
The higher you rank on relevant SERPs, the more likely your website is to be visited by a user who’s searching for the products, services, or content you are offering. This is a great way to increase your conversions.
So, let’s look at a solid SEO methodology to follow if you want to give your business the best chance of reaching your ideal customers and making more sales.
1. Invest time and energy into building inbound links on relevant websites
Backlinks are one of the top factors that search engine algorithms use to determine the value of a web page, and how trustworthy a particular website is. This means, the more high-quality websites link to yours, the more credible your website will appear, and the more likely it will be listed on the first page of the relevant search engine results page (SERPs).
Ultimate Netlinking Guide: Best Internal Linking Strategy for SEO
Netlinking, or internal linking, is essential for optimal site performance and search engine optimisation (SEO). It’s what drives visitors to navigate from one part of your website to another. It also affects your search engine results page (SERP) ranking. That’s why having a netlinking strategy with quality internal linking and backlinks is crucial. Sure, you […]
The SEO process when it comes to link building revolves around getting your links on high authority sites and also directing users back to your website. This aspect of an SEO methodolgoy can be done in lots of different ways:
- Guest posting for a relevant website to help you reach a wider audience and drive traffic. You’ll usually be able to include a backlink to your website in your author bio.
- Creating resources that people will want to reference and link to when writing their own online articles.
- Giving people quotes to use in their articles to help establish you as a thought leader and build links back to your website.
You can also use a tool like Ahrefs to find backlink opportunities. Perhaps one of the best techniques is to look at where your competitors are getting their links — chances are, their referring domains will also be willing to link to your business if you give them a good reason. So, make sure you take a look at the backlink profiles of similar companies for inspiration.
Then, once you find a website that you would like to work with, you can use Loganix’s domain authority checker tool to ensure its backlinks will provide you with the results you need.
Domain Authority, or DA, is scored from 0-100, and the higher a website’s score is, the more likely its links will help you to rank for your target queries. So, it’s best to prioritize websites with a relatively high DA where possible.
2. Focus on keeping your website’s bounce rate low
Your bounce rate outlines what percentage of people visit a page on your website and leave without exploring further.
Using your Google Analytics dashboard, you can find out what your bounce rate is. As a top piece of SEO methodology advice, you typically want to keep this below 30%. A high bounce rate can indicate that your audience is not engaging with your site, and search engines like Google may be hesitant to promote your business as a result.
For inspiration, let’s look at some companies that use a variety of techniques to grab their visitors right away and keep them browsing. This is sure to help keep their bounce rate low.
Intelius, an online people search tool, makes sure website visitors can get the details they need as soon as they land on the company’s service pages.
For instance, the brand’s reverse address lookup landing page has an advanced search tool to help customers begin looking up information about someone quickly and easily. And, because this is placed right at the top of the page, it’s likely people will engage with it straight away, keeping them on the website for longer.
Another great example comes from American International University. This site keeps its bounce rate low by offering three different calls to action (CTAs) that target different groups based on their individual needs.
For instance, prospective students who are just doing their research could click the “find a program” or “request info” CTAs, while someone who is confident in their choice of school and ready to enroll could hit “apply”. By ensuring there’s an option for everyone, the school reduces the chance of website visitors bouncing.
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Find an agency!3. Conduct keyword research and let it dictate your website copy
Using the right keywords in your content will help to ensure the right people find your website, as Google will find it easier to rank your business for the most appropriate queries. This is what a good SEO methodology is all about.
Having a great keyword strategy can also help you to outrank your competitors on the search engine results pages, as well as rank for relevant phrases that they aren’t.
You can use a keyword tool like Ahrefs to conduct your research. Be sure to look out for keywords with high search volumes and low levels of competition to ensure your web pages outrank your competitors’.
You should also look at your Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) to get an idea of which keywords are bringing you the most traffic when it comes to search engine rankings. You can then double down on content around these pages.
Here are some factors to consider when you choose the keywords to target on each page of your website.
- Relevancy: Keyword relevancy is a measurement of how closely related specific keywords are to a particular page on your website. It is important to also check the Google Ranking Signals.
- Search intent: Search intent refers to a person’s motivation when searching for something online. Some customers will be looking for general information on a topic, while others will want to make a purchase. You’ll want to target informational keywords in content like your company’s blog posts, and commercial keywords on your selling pages.
- Competition: Keyword competition measures the level of difficulty involved in ranking for a particular term. You will want to use a tool like Ahrefs to understand how competitive a term is and focus on finding the right balance between a good search volume but a manageable level of difficulty to give yourself the best chance of reaching a lot of your target customers.
4. Consistently publish content your target customers are looking for
There is a reason why in search engine marketing, content is king. It’s one of the most powerful tools for helping the right people to find your business organically, because it can improve your SEO by allowing you to target more keywords, showing off your authority, and providing search engines with more context about what you do.
You can create a variety of content to demonstrate your knowledge, including:
- How-to guides that show potential customers how to use your products or complete a process related to your area of work.
- Ultimate guides that take a deep dive into topics related to your industry. This information can help you reach customers who are conducting their own research and drive more sales.
- Articles about industry news and market trends to connect with customers looking for ongoing information and updates.
For inspiration, let’s look at a few companies that publish content based on their customers’ needs to help drive qualified traffic to their websites.
Bankruptcy Canada Inc, a bankruptcy debt relief group, writes many in-depth blog posts about bankruptcy and related issues.
This information provides advice for the company’s target audience, who are likely dealing with bankruptcy, by explaining different aspects of bankruptcy, who should file for bankruptcy, and how the group can help individuals going through the process.
For example, the company’s blog post that answers “What Is Bankruptcy?” provides in-depth information about how bankruptcy can help individuals, who should file for bankruptcy, and how bankruptcy works. This information provides answers to customers who are researching this topic online, which can drive more engagement and attract more customers.
For a good SEO methodology, you can use the same SEO strategy by publishing content that addresses common questions or problems your ideal customers are likely to be having. This can provide you with more opportunities to catch their eye on the SERPs and hopefully drive more sales for your business.
5. Add valuable internal links when writing your website copy
Internal links are an essential part of on-page SEO because they help search engines get a better idea of the structure of your site, what your web pages contain, and which web pages are the most important. Plus, they can help your customers navigate your website, providing them with a better experience.
When you’re writing a piece of content or some copy for a particular page of your website, consider what else your visitors might be interested in learning about. You could link to related blog posts, products they might be interested in, or even your customer reviews — you just need to make sure your internal links add value and have contextual anchor text for the best results.
The Ideal SEO Methodology
Without the right SEO efforts, your website is likely to get lost among the intense competition for the coveted spot on page one of Google’s search results. So, you must take the time to harness the power of keywords, content, and other essential tactics that will support your business goals and help your web pages rank highly.
Use these SEO methodology techniques to give your business the best chance of reaching your target audience. This will help to increase conversions as more and more people find your website on the SERPs and recognize the value of what you can offer them.
