SEO Strategy: A Simple Guide

SEO Strategy & Planning

SEO Strategy and Strategic SEO Planning by top UK SEO Consultant London & Hampshire

One thing we love about SEO is how it encourages a holistic and integrated approach. To truly be effective SEO success needs to make the most of all aspects within the marketing toolbox. Strategy may be a buzz word for some or overwhelming. But having a clear vision of where you're trying to get to and some form of adaptable plan of how you are going to get this is not to be underestimated.

What is SEO Strategy?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Strategy or SEO Approach is basically how you plan to increase search engine rankings. Devising an SEO Plan becomes your blueprint on how you are going to obtain those all important first page positions. SEO is a long-term solution to drive relevant, quality traffic to your website, improve conversion rates and boost profits for your business.

What tactics are used to achieve SEO Success?

Looking at SEO in isolation there are 4 main tactical areas:

• Technical SEO

Is your site cleanly coded with no major errors. Can the search engines crawl your site effectively. Is the site fast loading. Users do not like slow loading websites (surprisingly neither does Google). Is the site secure (Have you got an SSL certificate so the site resolves on https:// not http://)

• On-site SEO

This is about how well is your site and content structured. Did you do your research and target the effective search terms? For example, some businesses like to create their own jargon and language. That's all well and good to please the bosses and brand managers. But if you're not speaking in the language of your customer or client base then you could be missing out.

Is the user being placed in the forefront of thinking. The user experience and ultimately their journey is paramount. Are you sending someone into a pristine tidy house or into a nightmare of a maze. it's the same for your site. Can your visitors find want they want in a few clicks?

• Content 

Content is King. You may have heard this before and arguably it holds true. Google wants to send its speculative searches to sites that have answers and content that is relevant, informative and useful. Google needs to 'trust' they can send these visitors to your site. You may wonder why your SEO Consultant keeps asking for more content. But more quality content creates further context and understanding. For a user to land on a page with no more than 2 lines, when they have a handful of questions they were hoping to be answered would cause big problems for Google. People trust Google and it's important for them to maintain that trust. It is no wonder the buzz word of authority building has become so big. Because Google needs to assess and judge you are what you / your business claim to be. 

• Off-site SEO

As mentioned before building authority and trust is paramount. One way of doing this, is letting Google see that the words and claims on your website also ring true across the web. This is where content marketing, user engagement and social media marketing come to the forefront. The importance of engagement can not be underestimated. Many businesses will tweet for tweet sake for example. Then scroll through their social media posts and realise they have little to no engagement. So no likes, comments, shares, retweets etc.

When a Royal or Celebrity walks into a room, everyone stops and notices. You're trying to get your business to do the same online. When respectable sites are asking to link to your site or championing your brand by sharing your content, you're doing something right.