Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ensures a higher SERP ranking (Search Engine Results Page), increased user engagement, and improved lead generation. Here is a comprehensive guide that helps you unlock SEO success through keyword research, page optimisation, and measuring metrics.
Guide to Keyword Research
Keywords are the lifeblood of a webpage's ranking as they are crucial in SEO and online content strategy. You can build and implement a suitable keyword strategy with these quick tips.
Understand your business goals
Start by defining your business objectives, identifying your target audience, and framing a buyer persona. Ensure that these match your company's vision, mission, and sales and marketing goals. Perform a SWOT analysis and ensure your business goals align with the SMART framework.
Brainstorm seed keywords
The core foundational step in keyword research is brainstorming seed keywords. They are called so as they are the seed, or the starting point from which you expand your list to include more specific keywords. Businesses need to analyse competitor keywords and think like their audience. They must also consider variations of products and services and list core terms related to their industry. Also, continuous and periodic keyword monitoring and evaluation must be done.
Use keyword research tools
Once you gather all the required information after the competitor analysis, you need to use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, MOZ, or Ahrefs to generate related keywords that are the most relevant and most searched in the particular domain. Before choosing your keywords from the list, consider the search volume, competition, and relevance to your business.
Types of keywords
Keywords are classified according to their nature and specific terms used. Short-tail keywords comprise one or two words, such as "lawyers" or "software tools." Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific. However, they usually have lower search volumes but are more targeted due to the ease of infusion in content. Some examples of long tail keywords are "best lawyers in Boston" and "Software tools for small businesses."
- Intent and product-basedProduct-defining keywords describe a product or service and often include brand names, whereas geo-targeted keywords include location-specific terms that are essential for local businesses or industries targeting a specific area. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are related terms semantically linked to the main keyword. They help search engines comprehend the context of the content. Intent-based keywords reflect the user's search intent and are classified into navigational, transactional, and informational.
- Business and industry-specificBranded keywords include the brand name, whereas generic keywords tend to be broad and unspecified with high competition. Seasonal keywords are specific to holidays and events and useful for time-sensitive campaigns. Competitor keywords are related to competitors' brands, products, or services and are used in competitive analysis and advertising. Businesses can use industry-specific keywords that cater to a particular industry or niche. You can use negative keywords if you are worried about excluding certain terms from triggering ads. Terms like ‘cheap’ and ‘free’ fall under this category.
Create a content strategy around targeted keywords
Before creating a content strategy around targeted keywords, you must ensure that the content aligns with user intent and search engine algorithms. Start by grouping and prioritising them based on relevance and purpose. Create topic clusters where a pillar page covers a broad topic and cluster content delves into specific aspects. Analyse the intent behind each keyword and determine the content time that resonates with your audience.
Frame a content calendar by outlining what content can be created and planned around industry events, holidays, or product launches. Perform an optimisation of existing content, identify existing opportunities for target keywords, and update outdated information. Create pillar pages that cover various topics and optimise content for high-priority keywords. Create supporting cluster content that dives into specific aspects of the pillar topic and interlink cluster content to reinforce the topic's authority. Lastly, craft content that answers common questions by creating an FAQ page or blog posts.
Monitor keyword density and placement
Keyword density is the percentage of times a target keyword appears in your content compared to the total number of words. Businesses must ensure that the density is optimum and not stuffed. Most importantly, the language needs to flow naturally. Target keywords need to be included in the title tag, meta description, headings, and subheadings, as well as the introductory and conclusion paragraphs. Use suitable tools to check the density of words and make adjustments accordingly. Structure your content to ensure optimum readability. Monitor user feedback and behaviour and pay attention to metrics to understand user interaction. Make sure to review and update the content regularly to ensure relevance.
Why is an SEO Audit Essential?
A comprehensive SEO audit helps businesses to ensure that their websites are optimised for search engines to ensure optimum website ranking. It helps identify technical issues, enhance user experience, improve website visibility, address duplicate content, optimise URL structure, check indexing and crawling issues, analyse backlink profiles, examine content strategy, perform SEO optimisation, local SEO optimisation, and improve site architecture. It also helps stay compliant with search engine guidelines, analyse site analytics, optimise voice search, benchmark, set goals, perform competitive analysis, prepare for algorithm changes, and quantify ROI.
Steps to Perform an Effective SEO Audit
Here are a few steps that will help you perform a comprehensive SEO audit and improve your online presence in SERP.
Technical SEO optimisation
Technical SEO optimisation involves crawl accessibility, ensuring a clean site map, and implementing a robots.txt file, which is placed in the root directory of a website, thereby serving as a communication tool between website owners and crawlers. Businesses need to check the crawl accessibility with tools like Google Search Console, optimise site images, and use browser caching to improve site speed. They should also ensure that the design is responsive and mobile-friendly.
Perform on-page and off-page SEO
In on-page optimisation, add title tags and meta descriptions and infuse target keywords whenever you post content or update existing content. Use the H1 tag for main headings and H2 H3 for relevant subheadings. Ensure that the content stays relevant and use videos and infographics wherever required. Perform local SEO optimisation by verifying consistent and accurate local business information and optimising Google My Business (GMB) profile. Check your SSL certificate and regularly audit and optimise website content to ensure it adheres to search engine guidelines.
In backlink building, you must analyse the quality of backlinks, eliminate harmful links and maintain an active social media presence. Linking building is an essential part of off-page SEO optimisation. Obtaining high-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative websites is critical. Look for authentic organic backlinks to improve credibility and search engine trust. Also, anchor text in backlink building helps avoid appearing manipulative.
Your business can also boost its social media presence, submit content to social bookmarking sites, collaborate with influencers, ensure brand mentions across online platforms, and publish guest posts that link back to your website. Encourage users to leave positive reviews on websites, optimise for local searches, engage in forums, build broken links, and optimise videos for platforms like YouTube. Most importantly, perform regular backlink audits to eliminate spammy links that harm SEO.
Enhance the user experience
A fast and improved website experience will help users navigate through your website with ease. You need to improve internal linking, optimise the website for mobile and other smaller devices, and implement a clear and user-friendly site structure.
Measuring Metrics with Analytics
To measure the results of your SEO practices, you need to use platforms like Google Analytics to view your website's overall performance and look for improvement areas. Set up the analytics by installing tracking code on your website and configure the goals and events that match your business objectives. Some of the key metrics to measure include.
Traffic metrics: Sessions, page views, bounce rate
User engagement metrics: Average session duration, pages per session, interaction
Conversion metrics: Conversion rate, goal completion
Traffic sources: Organic search, referral search, direct traffic
Behavioural metrics: Top pages, exit pages
Custom metrics: Specific business metrics based on your goals and KPIs
Embrace an AI-Driven SEO Approach with Vajra Global
Performing SEO optimisation involves using multiple tools and resources that could be highly time-consuming and resource-heavy. At Vajra Global, we help you streamline your optimisation process with an SEO consultation and performing site optimisation through an AI-driven approach, enabling you to achieve sustainable results with optimum SERP ranking. We leverage cutting-edge AI tools tailored to your business needs and formulate an SEO strategy that satisfies your goals. Learn more about how AI technology can help unlock a wide range of ways to make your web presence outshine your competitors with Vajra Global's SEO consultation and SEO audit.