Optimizing a web site for successful search engine placement is as much an art as a technological skill. It's an ever-changing world of links, keywords, algorithms, and social media connections. While trying to master the entire field of SEO can be daunting, there are a few actionable strategies that any website owner can use to start boosting traffic and exposure immediately. These 3 tips can help you build up your SEO game in no time. 1. Refurbish Old Content Having a deep variety of content on your site is definitely a good thing, and older content can create an important SEO foundation. But if you are running a website that is structured in the common blog format, older posts get buried in the chronological hierarchy. Do you have to dig through a number of pages to find old posts? So does Google. So you want to keep things fresh, and consistently bring back older material so that it's not lost to the ages. Go back and add a little more timely content to an old post, update any links and then republish it with the current date. Now you have fresh material right at the top of your feed without having to spend time creating a whole new post, and your older content is back in the limelight. You can also use this time to revamp old posts to reflect more up-to-date keyword choices, especially older blogs that aren't performing all that well to begin with. 2. Watch Competitor's Links This is a lesser-known technique that lets you cash in on the SEO success of your competition. First, you need to make up a list of your main online competitors. Stick to the top 5 for now. Then use a backlink tool like Open Site Explorer to compile a list of places that are linking to your competition. Use that information to find sites you should be in contact with for your own links. In other words, if someone is linking to your competitor, you need to get in there and have them link to you to. Did your competition write a guest post? Then contact that site and see if they'd be interested in post from you. Did a freelancer write an article that referenced your competition? Contact them and offer your own expertise for their future pieces. 3. Build Links and Connections with Influencers Now we're talking about other websites that are big in your field, but not necessarily competition. While adding outbound links to authority websites may not directly impact your own rankings, it gives you a technique for building a relationship (and hopefully some important links back to you later on). When you have posted content that links to one of these important influencers, send them a message letting them know that they've been featured on your site. Someone from their site may want to share your new content, knowing that is highlighting them. This means your post gets shared, and you can start to build a relationship with an influencer. They may return the favor at some point, and link back to you.
Have questions? We LOVE to help! Please feel welcome to reach out to us.