2018: Organic doesn’t end in the supermarket
So far 2018 h
as rallied behind everything organic, from the foods we buy in the supermarket, to the organically sourced coffee beans now sold at your local café. It seems that doing things organically is becoming the latest trend this year. Yes, it’s even seeped into the marketing and tech industry, with 2018 bringing with it the importance of organic SEO.
There is no denying that the growth of online reviews and social media justice warriors sharing their opinionated views, has given organic online presence increasing importance in today’s current climate – in fact, 88% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from their peers. What’s more surprising is that PPC, or pay-per-click advertising through Google, accounts for a mere 6% of total clicks from search engines, compared to organic SEO which accounts for 94%. (source: https://searchengineland.com/6-local-seo-stats-every-online-marketer-needs-know-226562
With the growth of review sites, and social media making word of mouth and personal opinions a highly rated means of brand perception, getting those coveted first page results on Google can make all the difference. So how can you boost your SEO organically?
Foster engagement on your website
Understanding your audience means you can begin to create content and design work that will foster engagement. Latch onto key trending topics that are relevant to your service or organisation and begin using opinion pieces to create content that directly relates or impacts your demographics. By linking to current trends you can foster engagement with the right people, nurture a loyal audience and influence customer perspective.
Content is key
Now this doesn’t just mean creating relevant and interesting content – although this is important. As well as this though, think about key phrases, titles and who you are hoping to attract to your website.
Additionally the need to update your website at least once a week is important. This way Google will see it as an active site and can therefore index any new updates quickly.
Optimise your YouTube Presence
It’s not surprising that YouTube offers an almost unlimited source of traffic, along with countless comments and shares online. However, utilising this online community can both make, and break, your business. If done correctly, optimising your YouTube presence can help get the desired organic results, and feed into the online community. Improving your YouTube SEO could involve:
- Add a “call to action” on your YouTube page
- Provide plenty of information in the summary section
- Come up with a good title
- Make the video content as engaging as possible
Fast loading pages on a responsive website
It’s no surprise that Google favours websites that are responsive – but if that’s not reason enough to think about updating your website then the latest stats on customer engagement rates might. In fact in 2017 the BBC declared that they lose an additional 10% of their online users for every additional second it takes for their site to load. Having a positive user experience not only ensures your users are happy, but can also makes them engaged and cultivates a loyal following and positive brand recognition.
Build quality backlinks
Backlinks, in the simplest of terms, are links to your website which have been posted on other online sites. This impacts your SEO as Google will view this as a positive “vote” for your website, and will therefore increase its credibility. The Domain Authority of each website that uses a link to your site will impact your overall search engine value, with high ranking sites carrying Domain Authorities of 50 and over being well received, enhancing your own website’s Domain Authority and SEO. With this in mind, paid back-links from blog¬¬gers with a low ranking DA could in fact harm your site more than help.
SEO link building is frequently used for this, however with many publications now refusing to publish articles with follow-links, the future of public relation firms selling SEO link building services could be about to change for the worse, or better depending on your point of view.
Deal with technical difficulties:
Take a proactive approach to 404 errors, and try to switch to HTTPS. Hiring a third party to manage and host your website can help with this, making the process more manageable and ensuring your website is constantly optimised for higher rankings.
Dealing with technical difficulties also involves ensuring all H1 tags, Alt text and other technical SEO fixes are updated.
Localise your SEO
If you own a physical establishment, ensuring that your business is listed on Google, and other search engines, can help hugely when it comes to localised SEO. In fact local searches lead 50% of mobile visitors to stores within one day . Source: https://searchengineland.com/6-local-seo-stats-every-online-marketer-needs-know-226562.
Localising SEO for your business can be done through:
- Listing it on the large local portals, such as Foursquare, as well as on smaller local directories.
- Set up a Google Places for your business
- Create a multi-network presence through establishing your business on social media
- Create localised SEO content
Analyse your traffic and keywords
Finally, by analysing your website traffic and keyword rankings you can highlight the problems and focus on the areas that need improvements.
Alternatively you can measure the monthly volume of certain key words or phrases in order to track specific ones to focus on. This again links back to looking at the current trends, finding the right blend of key phrases that receive high monthly volumes of traffic, and those that are designed for specific demographics. However it is important to understand that targeting the right audience is vital in cultivating an engaged following. Mindlessly using keywords and phrases that are generating high volumes of traffic might get your website sessions up, however could also lead to higher bounce rates and lower customer retention. It is vital to keep the UX that your website offers as a key priority.