Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a framework that allows rule-abiding websites to rank more highly on search engines. If they use the right combination of keywords, metadata, and hyperlinks, their content is deemed more credible, and thus entities like Google reward them with more visibility.
There’s a lot of scope for creativity here. However, many firms can get stuck with SEO. They can believe that all is well so long as they can incorporate some keywords and links in their content.
However, SEO is no longer so rudimentary. It’s technology, and that means it moves fast. The businesses hoping to make the most of SEO must adapt quickly and adopt new techniques to impress Google, their clients, and everybody else.
So, reinventing your approach to SEO is highly recommended. It will likely be something you should continually do as times change. Here are some of the best ways to break new ground in the area.
Crawling
SEO has to be conducted with precision. It follows trends and answers to an ever-changing formula that firms like yours need to keep track of.
Therefore, a data-driven approach to SEO is advised. Keyword research is only a basic (though still essential) way to conduct that effort, and more advanced techniques will be required.
That’s where things like crawling can come in. Crawling is the use of automated bots that collect data on behalf of your business (these bots are sometimes affectionally dubbed as ‘web crawlers’ or even ‘spiders’). They take on the web browsing responsibilities and report back to their human overlords by indexing the results of their link following and all subsequent searches.
Of course, the keyword you should note here is ‘automation’. By utilising crawling best practices, you can free up time for your business to pursue yet more SEO strategies.
Build Out Backlinking
No business is an island. SEO proves that well enough, especially when it comes to exchanging links.
A process called backlinking can be incredibly effective here. Backlinking refers to a website (ideally a reputable one with lots of traffic) hyperlinking branded or natural anchor texts in its content to a business like yours. That way, your firm gets advertised via a well-known party’s channels, and you stand a fair shot at welcoming new traffic to your site. It’s almost like you’re boosting your reputation via association.
Sometimes, you can approach these websites yourself and attempt to negotiate an arrangement. However, it’s not always easy. All parties are quite busy and don’t necessarily have the time to vet each other extensively for the sake of some light (though useful) backlinking. The lesser known your website is, the more challenging it can be to establish these connections yourself.
Don’t worry; there are no dead ends here. Usually, an intermediary can step in. By approaching a dedicated link building service for help, you can gain access to a huge publisher database. They’ll have an inventory of high-quality sites catering to English-speaking and international markets, and it will have been curated over however long they’ve been running. Moreover, you’ll also benefit from their spam blacklists, which can feature thousands of sites that will be checked for every backlinking campaign you propose. If you’re going to exchange links with businesses, you need assurances they will be good ones, and that’s what link-building services guarantee.
Consider Voice Search Functionality
Google Assistant is a voice assistant that’s becoming increasingly popular. You probably know about Alexa and Siri already, too.
What you may not know is that these voice assistants can contribute greatly to your firm’s SEO score. To use them to that end, you’ll need to optimise voice search queries on your website.
Consider adapting your website’s content to complement the conversational tone people might use when using voice search functions. Remember to keep peoples’ way of speech in mind – someone can talk differently compared to how they type, so chatty phrases and long-tail keywords will likely serve your business best.
When using text search, someone looking for somewhere to drink in Birmingham is likely to type a query like ‘good bars Birmingham’, using what could arguably be considered broken English. When speaking, there’s a bigger chance of them saying, ‘what are the best bars in Birmingham?’ By keeping this in mind, you can more easily create a synergy between users, their voice assistants, and your website. That will boost your site’s SEO capabilities.
Voice searches are often used on mobile devices to save time and get quick answers to straightforward questions. So, your site’s data needs to be concise and well-structured so that users aren’t misdirected in a muddled process. Voice search capabilities aren’t easy to adapt to, but they certainly need to come across that way to your visitors.
Bolster Mobile Compatibility
Phones are so much more than they were a few decades ago. Today, everyone has one, and one could argue they’re used more for surfing the web than making calls.
Therefore, mobile optimisation is a cornerstone of any SEO strategy a firm can come up with. If your websites don’t operate as efficiently on smartphones, it can be a dealbreaker for many visitors and link builders. Everything needs to function the same, if not better than it does on PC. That means the copy must be formatted correctly, load times must be quick, and videos and images should play perfectly.
Try to remember that advertisements can be especially irritating for mobile users. Their screens are small, and to be flooded with a range of popups can be overwhelming. This makes them more likely to swipe away from the site quickly, which can cause a surge in ‘bounce rates’. High bounce rates can hurt your company’s SEO score, as search engines can detect them and (fairly) deduce your website isn’t providing a quality experience.
Search engines do have hard lines that can’t be crossed here. After all, some people forget the changes Google introduced in 2015; the search engine now predominantly promotes mobile-friendly sites, giving them preferential treatment in many cases. So, if a site isn’t mobile-optimised, they’re not just missing out on a few visits from smartphone users – they’ll be ranked lower in everyone’s search results, regardless of the devices searchers are using.