Dos and Don’ts to Guide Your SEO Campaigns
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website to increase its ranking on the search engine results page (SERP). Web-crawlers, or ‘spiders’, of different search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. are constantly indexing the websites. So when you google something, you are not actually accessing the internet. But rather browsing through the websites indexed by Google. These websites are arranged on the results page according to their relevance to the search keywords. which is computed by special search engine algorithms to determine the significance of each webpage.
Businesses have realized the importance of ranking higher on the search engine results page. As it increases their traffic and visibility across target audiences. This has led to an increased investment in SEO campaigns. Especially by companies that have a higher stake in expanding their online presence.
However, extensive knowledge of how search engines work is essential to building an SEO campaign. Here are some Dos & Don’ts to keep in mind.
What you should do-
Content Planning
Content is the key to a successful SEO campaign. Different types of content- text, pictures, videos, audios, infographics, etc. should be planned for the quarter well in advance. This allows for a smooth measurable step-by-step traffic growth on the website.
Also, one should hire content writers who are well-versed with the native writing style as they understand how SEO writing works and utilize the keywords and webpage space optimally. Quality and quantity should be at equilibrium while planning.
Aim should be ‘Featured Snippets’
Google Featured snippet is the highlighted content on top of the results page which provides a list of the information requested. The focus while planning must be to develop the web pages that have all the ingredients that can help you earn “Featured Snippets”.
Boost organic traffic
While planning, have measurable sales goals and actionable items which are driven by strategies that boost organic traffic.
That is why it is essential to have a separate budget for premium tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush and Moz which can advance your SEO campaign.
Bank on backlinks
The outreach campaign planning starts with preparing a list of influencers who can be helpful in sourcing content for the website. The aim should be to become an influencer and help others with resourceful content to earn reputation. This helps to increase backlinks which also helps to climb website ranking on the search engine’s index.
Barnacle SEO Approach
For the first three months of the campaign, the plan should focus on ‘Barnacle SEO approach’, which means leveraging highly ranked websites to drive your presence on the internet and generate brand equity. This helps to make the homepage powerful, and then the rest follows.
What you shouldn’t do-
Over-commit in the projection planning
Quote achievable figures when presenting the plan to your client. Every industry’s target audience differs, so the projection of the people you can reach with your campaign should not be overstated. This requires extensive homework.
Don’t over-do the backlinks
Those 5 million backlinks gigs might look enticing but rather they are harmful to the website. Google, the most popular search engine, no longer rewards the websites with most backlinks. With the preference of quality over quantity, if the anchor text is not built in a natural way then your website can be penalized, which will lead to a dramatic drop in the ranking.
Experience counts, don’t hire novices
SEO is not a game of guesswork. It requires a factual understanding of how search engines evolve, making it a super-specialist domain.
Do not waste your budget by investing in inexperienced agencies or employees. Google is constantly updating the way it operates. If need be, your SEO campaign should be flexible enough to do the same.