So SEO means to rank your website higher on Google, right?
It’s true, but this is just a tail of the huge elephant what SEO actually is.
Sorry to break your bubble, but SEO is actually what goes into making a website rank higher.
I mean, your primary purpose is to rank your website, sure, but that is your purpose. Not SEO.
SEO is the process of moving all the needles to make a website rank higher, enhance its visibility, drive more organic traffic, increase sales and ROI while improving overall user experience.
Yes, the purpose of SEO is to do all this for your business.
And most businesses know this!
That’s why around 61% of marketers agree that working on SEO and online presence is their top priority.
Source: HubSpot
But despite knowing the significance of SEO, only a few websites manage to get a place on the first page of SERPs.
What happens with the rest of them?
They remain as the backbenchers who hardly get any searcher’s attention.
Because:
According to HubSpot, 75% of searchers only stick to the first page of the search result, and never get past it.
But have you ever thought why businesses fail to win their SEO game despite spending hundreds of dollars?
The reason might surprise you, but that’s true.
Most businesses miss out on getting organic traffic and all other perks of higher rankings just because they don’t have a robust SEO strategy.
You can’t throw random techniques in your SEO efforts and expect them to stick to the right target because… they will not.
You need to come up with a viable SEO strategy that will help your New York SEO come on the right track.
What is SEO Strategy?
SEO strategy is the process you design to improve your search engine rankings.
Just like any other strategy, it also includes assessment, planning, designing, implementation, and evaluation steps to achieve the desired results.
In other words, SEO is not a linear, two-step process.
You have to…
- Begin with a why
- Hop on what
- Slip to where, when, who
- Decide on how
And finally, find out what you got after combining why, what, where, when, who, and how.
Here is how it works.
That’s how you come up with an SEO strategy that promises to deliver results.
Don’t let your New York SEO efforts turn into a white elephant for your business that just feeds on your money and gives nothing in result.
This takes us to our next question:
What goes in making SEO Services New York a warrior for your business?
Here is your answer!
Basic Steps of a SEO Strategy
I think, now it is pretty clear that SEO is not a playground for jaywalkers.
You have to do a lot of things.
You will work on some on-page things, while other things are off-page.
You can’t skip any one of these from your New York SEO recipe because both of them are interconnected and essential to make SEO services New York work.
Here I have come up with the basic steps you can take to make your SEO journey a bit less bumpy and more productive.
Step 1: Find the Right Keywords
Check out any SEO strategy guide, and you will see that most of these guides tag ‘keyword research’ as the first step of the strategy.
The reason is simple:
Keywords are from where everything starts.
People generate search queries using keywords…
Keywords tell what your website is about…
Google checks keywords to see if your content matches the search query…
You can only get selected to appear in the top searches if keyword matches…
See?
It all starts with a keyword.
But here you need to know one thing:
Keyword stuffing is wrong and forbidden by Google.
Google considers it as spamming and deception – Google hates both.
Just check out this example:
Seriously?
Who are you trying to fool? It is a clear invitation to Google’s penalty.
Never, ever do that for the sake of your business.
But again, keywords are important, and selecting the right keywords is equally significant.
Obviously, you don’t want to rank for keywords that will put you in front of the wrong audiences.
So kick start your journey with the right keyword research.
Here is how to do that.
-
Use a Keyword Research Tool
Keyword research tools can become your saviors.
Here you can get the help of The Google Keyword Planner.
It is the top most popular keyword finding tool among marketers because everyone knows:
Google itself is telling you what people are searching for.
So:
Things can’t go wrong with it.
It is free and super easy to use.
- STEP 1: Enter a keyword into the keywords search field, and search.
- STEP 2: You will find a list of related keywords, along with their average monthly searches.
- STEP 3: Select the most relevant keywords you need to rank for.
It will help you a lot.
But if you are not sure which keywords to pick, I have a super sneaky trick for you.
-
Find Out Your Competitors’ Keywords
You know your competitors, great, but you don’t know what they are adding to their New York SEO strategy.
Wouldn’t that be great if you can find out what keywords are they targeting?
Well, congrats! You can do it.
And for that, you don’t even need to trespass their system to find their strategy.
Ahrefs Site Explorer can help you.
Along with getting your competitors’ keywords, you also get some other important keyword metrics.
Want to know another trick?
You can compare the keywords collected through The Google Keyword Planner with your competitors’ keywords, and see which keywords appear in both lists.
You know what to do after that (Wink!).
PRO TIPS
- Don’t get greedy by hitting keywords with the most number of searches. Analyze your chances of beating top competitors.
- Going for long-tail keywords makes it a bit easier to rank.
- Think from people’s mind-set. Find out what’s their search intent rather than what you want.
- Make keyword research a continuous process and keep on updating keywords accordingly.
STEP 2: Create Content That Stands Out
In case you haven’t been living under the rock, you know:
Content is one of the most important factors Google considers for ranking a site.
In fact, Google is unapologetically obsessed with content.
It just loves high-quality content!
So that’s what you should also do: Create high-quality content.
But while making Google happy, don’t forget to make your readers happy too.
In fact, that’s what Google also asks you to do in its Webmasters’ Guidelines: to focus on providing the best user experience.
But while providing value to users, you can’t forget Google as well.
You have to walk on the double-edged sword: Create content that satisfies Google, and readers also love to read it.
In short, something that makes you stand out on both fronts.
Here are some tips for creating content that guarantees impact:
-
Scan Google’s First Page
Nothing is better to find what is actually working than scanning Google’s first page.
If something is ranking on Google’s first page, it means:
- It has a higher click-through rate.
- It has a low bounce rate.
- It matches searchers’ search intent.
In other words:
People like it, and that’s what they want to read when they search for a particular keyword.
For example, I searched for the keyword “content marketing strategy,” and that’s what I found.
It will help you in two ways:
- First, you will find users’ intent.
It means that you can find out what users are actually looking for when they search for this keyword.
Like, do they want:
How-to Blog
Ultimate Guides
Tip and Techniques
Just reading out titles of all these blogs tells you what people are actively looking for.
- Second, you can read out a few top-ranking blogs to know the approach of the writer.
What is his content ideation?
What is his approach to ideas delivery?
Which aspects does he cover?
What are his hooking points?
Finding answers to all these questions help you determine your approach towards the content.
Obviously, your target is to produce something better than them to out-rank them.
So definitely, you need to come up with something different or better in terms of ideation, quality, number of words, and a hook.
If others are talking about 21 tips, go for 50+. In other words, exceed the limit.
You can get searcher’s attention only in two ways:
- Either you are ranking on the top three positions.
- Or you are giving them an attractive reason to click your link.
So now you know what you should be doing to stand tall.
-
Create In-Depth Content
Gone are the day when 600-700 words articles were considered enough.
That time is gone for good.
Now Google wants you to give your readers maximum value in your content rather than just littering online space.
Based on this, now SEO services New York can’t work well with the short content.
Need some proof?
Here you go.
See?
All these stats point towards one thing: In-depth content is the way for your success.
This can be time-consuming, tiring, and you might also feel fed-up.
But remember? Good things always come the hard way.
PRO TIPS
- Focus on providing value to readers, not making Google happy.
- Add visually appealing elements to make content attractive and digestible, and to keep readers hooked.
- Set the sky as the limit while writing content if you want to outclass others in rankings and get natural backlinks.
STEP 3: Work on Natural Link Building
Question: How do we elect a president among so many candidates?
Answer: Through votes.
That’s what links do for your site.
Google takes links as votes for a site.
More votes (links) a site has, higher are its chances of ranking higher.
It is almost impossible to rank without having backlinks.
Let’s do a little experiment.
Previously, we talked about sites ranking for keywords ‘content marketing strategy.’
Let’s see the number of backlinks of the top two ranking sites.
It clearly shows that numbers of backlinks coming from different referring domains play a major role in ranking a site.
But remember that all backlinks are not the same.
Some are naturally earned, while others are built with sneaky methods.
Google forbids any black hat technique to earn links.
Black hat technique means any tactic that deceives Google or violates any of its natural link building guidelines.
So only naturally earned links are your safe haven.
Here are some tips to earn natural links to boost your New York SEO:
-
Create an Edge to Get Backlinks
No one will give you backlinks out of the courtesy.
You have to earn them.
In other words, you have to provide them with a pretty good reason to link to you.
Some of the advanced link building techniques revolve around ‘creating an edge’ in your content.
Here are some examples:
- Publish in-depth studies
- Create linkable assets
- Do groundbreaking research
- Collaborate with other influencers
- Create how-to guides
- Write better content than others
- Give new ideas, concepts, and definitions
- Do what others aren’t doing
These tactics are like link magnets.
Once you start publishing such content and earn a good name, you wouldn’t have to beg others for links.
-
Promote Your Content
No one can magically know about your groundbreaking research work unless you tell them.
So creating awesome content is great, but still, you need to promote it.
For that:
- Do guest posting to promote your content.
- Pitch out to the niche-specific influential bloggers.
- Ask site owners already linking to your competitors.
- Promote on your different social media platforms.
- Send newsletters to your existing subscribers.
You have to actually ‘work’ to get natural backlinks to strengthen your New York SEO game.
But once you establish yourself as an authority in your industry, natural links keep on flowing without much effort.
PRO TIPS
- Only reach out to high-quality sites. Getting one link from a high DA site is better than getting links from 100+ low DA sites.
- Getting links from different high-quality domains matters more than getting many links from only one quality domain.
- Place anchor text naturally; don’t stuff it.
- Diversify your link profile to avoid link spamming.
STEP 4: Focus on On-Page SEO
Link building is good, high-quality content creation is great, and selecting the right keywords is awesome.
But it all is useless if your SEO services New York are not focused on optimizing for on-page SEO.
On-page SEO includes everything you do on your website to optimize it for rankings.
We have already talked about the right keyword selection; here is what else you should be doing.
-
Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
Most people least bother their page’s title tag and meta description.
But they are essential on-page SEO factors.
- Title Tags tell Google what your site is about.
- And meta descriptions increase click-through rate.
So you can’t randomly create it.
Always use the ‘focus keyword’ in your title tag and meta-description for optimization.
Google will use this keyword to determine if your site should appear in search results of your targeted audience or not.
For example, I searched for ‘keto diet plan’ phrase, and that’s what I found.
Almost all of them have used keywords in their title tags, and some of them also used it in their meta description.
What does it mean?
Use this important place as smartly as you can.
This is your first encounter with Google, as well as your searchers.
It can make or break your whole New York SEO pillar if not handled with care.
So make sure to use this important place effectively to leave the best impression on both of them.
PRO TIPS
- Write unique title tags and descriptions for different pages of your website.
- No long strings of keywords and no keyword stuffing.
- Give factual and correct information.
- Don’t use deceptive information to get some attention.
- Make them readable and understandable.
-
Internal Linking
We have discussed that backlinks are an important SEO factor because Google considers them as votes.
Similarly, internal links of a site are also important because they help Google understand your site.
Your site has an architecture, and Google needs to understand it to crawl and index your pages properly.
Internal links give Google’s crawlers a pathway to follow and register each page.
Everyone does this practice.
For example, this is an internal link on Neil Patel’s blog. Once you click the link, it takes you to another blog on the same site.
Internal linking also enhances the authority of linked pages by transferring link juice.
Result?
A push to the ranking of the linked page.
And:
It also reduces the bounce rate and increases the dwell time.
Feeling surprised?
Yes, internal linking can do all this for your site, and you must focus on it.
PRO TIPS
- Link from high authority pages to low authority pages.
- Use an exact-match anchor text for internal linking to help crawlers understand what linked page is about.
- It’s better to link relevant pages with each other.
-
Make Your URLs Smartly
If you are just beginning your New York SEO journey, the URL might be just a website’s address for you.
But it is more than that.
Search engines use it to identify and locate a resource present on the internet.
It means that you can’t randomly add meaningless words and numbers in your URL.
Otherwise, your web page will be like a lost planet in the huge universe of the internet that has lost connection with its system.
Here is what Google has to say about making a URL structure.
Based on this guide, here are some pro tips.
PRO TIPS
- Always use simple and descriptive URL.
- Add the focus keyword to optimize it.
- Go with short URLs because they win long URLs on SEO’s front.
- Use punctuation to separate words and to increase users’ readability and understanding.
STEP 5: Dive into Technical SEO
Technical SEO is becoming important day by day because it is related to the user’s experience.
And Google is working hard to give its users the best possible experiences.
That’s why technical SEO is a fundamental part of SEO services New York.
Here are given some technical SEO factors that need your attention.
-
Improve Your Page’s Loading Speed
Ask yourself:
Can you wait for a website taking several minutes to load?
Hopefully, your answer is no.
Today’s media consumer’s consumption patterns are nothing like before.
They have so many options, so they can’t afford to waste their time on a slow website.
Around 40% – 60% of users quit a web page that takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Moreover, their attention span has also reduced.
So it’s you who have to cope up with their changing consumption patterns if you don’t want to lose prospects.
Source: ThinkwithGoogle
The increase in the bounce rate gives Google a bad signal that your website is not a good option for users.
So it can turn the table for all your New York SEO efforts because it can lower your rankings.
Here is what can help you out:
PRO TIPS
- Hire a good web hosting company that is always up and running.
- Visual content is important to enhance user engagement, but always optimize images.
- Consider a CDN if you are a global business to provide a seamless experience to all regardless of the server location.
-
Make a Responsive Website
Having a website that gives the best user experience on all types of devices has become a necessity.
Significantly, when Google has switched to a mobile-first policy.
It means that Google will rank websites that are mobile-friendly than those that are not.
And Google has a pretty good reason for this:
40% of consumers switch to the competitor’s website after a bad web experience.
So why would Google rank a site with such a bad user experience?
Here are some tips to get the best results:
PRO TIPS
- Make a responsive website from the very beginning; don’t keep it for the later working.
- Do A/B testing on all devices before launching a website.
STEP 6: Match With Users’ Search Intent
With the RankBrain, user intent has become an important part of SEO services New York.
Google uses machine learning to understand what is the intention of a user behind a search.
To give an idea, here is an example.
Type in any keyword in Google search.
For example, I typed ‘fitness diet’…
… and that’s what I got.
Google gives you a list of different related searches.
Because:
Google understands that there could be multiple intentions of doing a search query.
Like in the above example, a ‘fitness diet’ keyword can’t single-handedly reveal your actual intention.
You might be looking for a…
Fitness diet plan
Fitness diet instructions
Fitness diet chart
Fitness diet advice
Fitness diet tips
It means that there can be various search intentions associated with a particular keyword.
And that’s where Google is trying to master itself.
Before things go out of your control, it is time that you start optimizing your content according to the search intent factor.
So what should you be doing?
Take help from Google.
For example, you are a fitness dietician and want to attract more people.
You might think that people might be searching for you using the keyword ‘fitness dietician.’
Put it into the search option and see the results.
You can see that search results are totally opposite.
Hardly one or two results talk about fitness dietician practitioners. The rest of them are just random talks.
It means that people’s search intent associated with this keyword is not what you expected.
So it is always better to centre your SEO services New York around optimizing your content according to users’ search intent to avoiding getting lost.
PRO TIPS
- Don’t focus on what you think is best. Think with the people’s mind-set.
- Take Google’s help because it knows all.
- Despite focusing on the search intent, don’t forget to provide value to users.
Conclusion
For a beginner, working on New York SEO might sound hard because there is so much on the internet that you don’t understand where to begin.
You feel lost and giving up because SEO seems like a maze that has no way out without getting wrecked.
That’s not true.
SEO seems hard because most of us don’t know how to build a strong SEO strategy that drives results.
Once you come up with a robust strategy, things start getting easier.
I hope this guide helps you find your path because I have broken it down into simple and actionable chunks.
Use these tips and share your success story.
You never know you might become an inspiration for my success story blog (wide grin!).
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