The art of optimizing content for search engines is one that people have been trying to learn for several decades now. Unfortunately, there is no foolproof strategy to ensure that your content will appear on the first page of the search results. However, there are a number of methods that you can employ to maximize the effectiveness of your content marketing plan.
Create Quality Content
Perhaps the easiest way to ensure that your content obtains maximum exposure is to ensure that it is worth reading and sharing. The more often a piece is shared or mentioned online, the higher it will rank, as this is taken to be a signal that your content is authoritative. Although you’ll want to include your target keywords roughly once per 100 words of text, it’s important that this is done in a natural fashion. As a general rule, it’s in your best interest to write for people as opposed to writing for robots.
Make Sure That Your Site Is Technically Sound
If your site isn’t optimized for mobile users, you can expect your site to be buried in the search results. The same is likely true if your site takes too long to load. Ideally, pages will load in less than a second, and shaving even 0.1 seconds off your site’s loading time can significantly increase traffic and conversions.
Use a Variety of Content
It may be tempting to focus solely on writing short articles for your website. However, your time and money may be better spent creating videos and infographics to go along with plain text content. This is because some people prefer to watch videos as opposed to reading blocks of text, which means that they are more likely to share them with their friends or family. Generally speaking, infographics are a key addition to your content strategy because they are easy to understand and are ideal for sharing.
Focus on Creating Natural Backlinks
Early in the 21st century, it was common for site owners to buy links pointing back to their sites. Alternatively, they would create multiple sites for the purposes of creating content that would include links pointing back to their main online properties. However, this is one of the most common SEO mistakes that you should avoid at all costs. The only way to get backlinks is to create quality content that other content creators want to cite to their own communities.
Don’t Ignore the Social Aspect of Your Site.
It’s a good idea to include a comments section, social media buttons, and other interactive tools on your blog or website. This provides your blog readers or site visitors a chance to express themselves while also giving you an easy way to add fresh content to your only properties. Adding social media buttons to your site or blog makes it easier for people to share your content with the click of a button. In some cases, simply having social media tools on your site can boost its SEO value.
Successfully optimizing your site for search engines takes both skill and luck. However, if you focus on creating quality content that is posted on a site that is easy to navigate, there is a good chance that your efforts will lead to greater visibility for your brand.
