[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]We asked SEO – expert Karin Axelsson from Pineberry to share her knowledge about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in what became an eMarketeer Academy webinar called “5 factors to succeed with SEO.” The purpose was to give the viewers a basic understanding of how SEO works, but also get some tips on how to succeed with their current and future SEO-projects.
In case you missed the webinar, we listed the key takeaways here. If you’re curious, you can also go ahead and watch the recording of the webinar here.
5 factors to succeed with SEO
1. Set measurable goals
What do you want your traffic to do once they end up on your website or page? The first step is to determine your goals and what your ambitions are with your traffic. Some examples of goals could be customers, leads, branding, etc. Karin shared some of their objectives they’re striving for at Pineberry, which were lead forms, phone calls, and chat sessions. No matter what goals you have, they all should have in common that they must be measurable. It’s important for you to know when you reach your targets, so remember to have a tool in place, like Google Analytics, to track your progress and results.
2. Behavior analysis
Put yourself in the mind of your target group. You need to analyze what they’re looking for and how they’re looking for that information. There are different types of searches for different purposes. Are they looking for inspiration, information or are they further down the funnel and looking to do a deal (transactional search)? The next question is, what kind of keywords are they using for their search? Map out the different purposes with their keywords; one way to explore some keywords is to try out some search phrases in the Google search bar. There you can get some ideas for keywords from the suggestions that come up.
This type of mapping is also important in terms of budget. Perhaps you’d like to focus more on the transactional searches that are closer to a sale, rather than the inspirational searches. What’s common for any type of search you choose to focus on, it’s still important to make sure that the keywords are relevant to your offer and make sure to track your conversion so you can focus on the keywords that perform the best.
3. Content – On page
According to Karin, content is probably your best investment in terms of SEO. It might take time to write, but with a solid SEO strategy behind it, you’ll see your content rank higher on Google. Remember to focus on only 1-2 keywords per landing page. Those keywords should be synonyms, so avoid using two completely different keywords. For example, you can use “broker” together with “real estate broker” but not the keyword “apartments,” as it’s not related to the other keywords.
When you write content, think of your web page as a word document and organize your text with headings and sub-headings. The title is one of the most important elements of your content as it shows what the text is about. Actually, whenever you do content, always keep in mind that it needs to be very clear to Google what your content is about.
Another point Karin had was that Google likes speed. If your page takes too long to load, Google interprets that as a bad experience for the user and it affects your ranking.
4. Think link
What made Google stand out as a search engine from the start was that they saw links as references. When somebody else links to your content, that means it must be good content, right? That’s a good signal according to Google. So, always “think link.” What can you do to get links to your content? Some examples could be via PR, content marketing collaborations, and recycle links (which means that you update your links that might be “old,” pointing to an old domain of yours, for example).
However, the world of links is not a democratic one. A link from a site that already has a lot of links to themselves is probably worth a lot more compared to a smaller site that has no links pointing to it. Keep that in mind in your hunt for links.
5. Have patience
Compared to Google Ads, SEO is a long-term and constant process where you won’t see results right away. As Karin put it, SEO is not a short sprint, it’s a long-term marathon. So although SEO-projects might take time, you’ll be the winner in the long run. However, Karin suggests working both with Google Ads and SEO, as you then cover both the sprint and the marathon for best results.
Good luck on your SEO-projects! Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter for other upcoming webinars and marketing tips.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]