The Art of Search Engine Optimization
In terms of marketing in today’s Digital Age, internet real estate is more important than ever. So many companies are trying to capture the type of saturation where they can rely on people outside of the company (that is, people they don’t have to pay) to advertise their products. It doesn’t matter what the market is, or the product, or the company — word of mouth will keep them relevant and in demand.
Creating this type of buzz, however, is not an easy task. So few companies go viral and become a part of the zeitgeist in an instant. And even those who do have a hard time not letting the moment slip through their fingers. Whether you are trying to keep the position you’ve gained in your customers’ headspace, or you are striving to land there in the first place, the first hill to climb is proliferation on the internet through search engine optimization.
How Does Local SEO Work?
Mastering this concept is an art form; the ability to not only determine the right audience for a product (usually by correctly identifying the client persona, i.e. the characteristics of your product’s average consumer) but to ensure that audience gets eyes on your brand by utilizing relevant keywords.
Essentially, proper search engine optimization consists of a few important elements:
- Using smartly targeted keywords that aren’t too broad or too narrow. This can be a challenge since search engine providers like Google will judge the value of your content by whether or not you are naturally incorporating these keywords into good copy, or trying to game the system through keyword stuffing.
- Creating a landing page that utilizes good web design practices. This can refer to the page’s internal or external hyperlinks, and making sure they all go to the right places; the readability of the page, ensuring that text is broken up in manageable chunks; or whether the page is optimized for useability by being fast.
- Capturing the interest of potential customers through effective writing. Whether you are writing an article for your website or adjusting the meta description and tags of the query result, making the content interesting and “click-worthy” will help get your brand into the SEO enzone.
Like the legs of a stool, each of these points is important and can’t be neglected. But the contact point between your company and the audience will always be in the strength of your writing. Of course, good writing is subjective, but effective writing can be taught, and with practice, improved.
Tips for Effective SEO Writing
Already numerous times in this article we’ve written about keywords. Keywords represent the distillation of the main connection point between your content and the audience, and will likely be the reason that they click on something. For example, if I am searching for a good recipe for hollandaise sauce, I might search for just that: “best hollandaise recipe.” If you were writing about cooking, and you had keywords like “eggs benedict at home” or “make sauce,” I might run into your content, and click on it.
There are ways to make your article more appealing to readers, and to the search engine providers who need to place it in people’s search results. Here are a few tips:
- Place the keywords in your headings. When optimizing your content for search engines, providers like Google like it when keywords are used in headings and subheadings. A natural sprinkling of keywords throughout the copy is essential as well, but headings tend to be highlighted more in search results.
- Break up the page in natural ways. Readability is key when trying to attract people to your website. If you want people to make it through 1000 words on the best cooking and sauce-making techniques, for example, your article should include short paragraphs and at least one list to make things more digestible.
- Make sure your content is fresh and interesting. It may be difficult, but your article should present helpful information in an interesting way. The more helpful it is, the more likely it will be read and shared. And though it might be a given, it’s crucial to avoid plagiarism at all costs.
It may take some strategy, but by using all of these tips in smart and effective ways, you will see your SEO credibility increase, your brand remains in the consciousness of your audience, and your business succeeds. And you might just have fun along the way, as you play chess with the search engine to get your content out in front of people.