How to Fast-track Your Search Engine Marketing Efforts

For any business, search engine marketing is an important component of establishing your brand in the digital space. Sometimes the rapid changes to search engine optimization intimidates people, making them hesitant to implement search marketing best practices. Instead of becoming overwhelmed by the world of SEO, learn how you can put search engine marketing to work for your organization to increase leads, provide expertise, and expand awareness.

Data-Driven Practices

The success of any search engine marketing strategy hinges on the data systems in place. From tracking to analyzing, every piece of a search marketing campaign must be informed by data. If your business isn’t using Google Analytics, now is the time to change that and familiarize yourself with this extremely helpful SEO tool. For WordPress users, install the Google Analytics plugin to your site. Examine these numbers to discover how you can improve, not only your search engine marketing but other advertising tactics as well.

Speedy Sites

The speed of your site not only impacts its search engine rankings but the overall user experience. You have less than three seconds for your site to load before visitors click away and search engines ding you. Test and optimize site speed, so you are never lagging behind your competitors.

SERP Features

Not even a decade ago, search engine result pages (SERPs) were a simple list of blue links. However, search engines developed complex algorithms that deliver better results for individuals conducting online queries. These features include local packs, Knowledge Graph panels, and featured snippets, which encourage users to click through to websites. With monitoring tools like Rank Tracker, track how your site keywords perform within these features.  

Voice Search Marketing

These days people ask Siri and Alexa to complete searches for them when their hands are otherwise preoccupied. This new method for search demands that search engine marketers rethink how they answer questions from users. When creating content, incorporate question keywords along with other long- and short-term keywords and phrases.

Structured Data

Think of structured data like the Dewey Decimal System at your primary school’s library: a method for thoroughly organizing information so it is easily accessible to anyone. Using structured data on your site provides stronger information to search engines, allowing them to serve more accurate results to people. This data creates Knowledge Graph panels and rich snippets, both of which are far more enticing to your target audience than regular snippets.

Link Building

Search engines want to see links to your site on other web destinations. Link building establishes your authority. One of the top link building methods is backlinking, which demonstrates your company’s expertise because others are willing to reference you on their websites. Guest blogging is an easy content marketing technique to incorporate into your SEO strategy to build backlinks to your site. Nurturing relationships with other organizations in your industry, so they are willing to backlink to you also helps your efforts.

High-Quality Relevance

One of the most crucial components of search engine marketing is content marketing. If your website is publishing low-quality, irrelevant copy in an effort to build on keywords and improve rankings, search engines will recognize these black hat tactics and penalize you for using them. Invest in top-level content, from site copy to blog posts, to appease Google and Bing.

Mobile-Friendly

People spend more time on their smartphones and tablets than desktops these days. In fact, more than half of all searches are done from a mobile device. Every page on your site must be mobile compatible because search engines take this into account within their algorithms for ranking.

Search engine marketing is a complex field requiring in-depth knowledge of a variety of techniques from data analysis to content creation. Once you have your SEO strategies in place, it’s crucial that you maintain them and track their performance. Our team at ProactiveWP can help you keep your site running smoothly while keeping an eye on your SEO performance. Contact us today to see how we can help.