Technology is an important part of the user experience equation. In addition to providing audiences with helpful and informative content, you’ll want to make sure that your website is easy and enjoyable to browse. Make sure to optimize your website to be mobile friendly and to ensure that it has a quick load time. If you run a small business, gaining exposure and driving traffic to your website is probably a key part of your marketing strategy. If you’ve got a brilliant website, but you’re not getting as much interest as you’d like, stepping up your SEO campaign could prove to be a game-changer. Never sell yourself short and never assume anyone knows your business better than you. Link building has always been an important aspect of local SEO. It is only through links that search engines crawl your website. Getting links from authoritative domains and local resources (local newspapers, publications, magazines etc) would work wonders for your business.

How long is my content alive?

Ultimately, SEO done correctly can land your website on the first page of the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages), and that is always the goal behind SEO. Why? Because most people doing web searches will not look past the first, and sometimes the second, results page when they’ve done a search. So the first page is where you want to be. When it comes to long-term SEO strategies, there are so many tactics to consider. The best way to build links is to not build links. I’ve worked for companies in the past that don’t have to ask for them, they just flow in from press, customer blogs, their awesome blog posts, etc. If this is an option (and we’ll go over a couple of ways to make it more likely) you’re in a great place. Google has over 200 factors to determine which sites should rank higher than others. As one of the main ranking factors, backlinks are essential to improve a website’s rankings.

You’re not an SEO, unless you’re also a content marketer

Search engines no longer require you to spell things in order to rank, so your focus should be on writing for the people viewing your page instead. After all, time on page and other elements indicating your content was useful provide a stronger value for SEO. The reality is that, for many businesses, 10-20 high-quality links will lead to top rankings in short order – sustainable rankings will last for years. Do not even expect to be on the first page of the Google if you believe in the theory that link building is an outdated concept. Fundamentally, SEO is a marketing discipline, not a technical one meaning that an understanding of basic marketing principles is essential. Nothing is more important to a successful marketing strategy than a strong understanding of the audience you are looking to attract.

Planning the Takeover

Instead of willy-nilly linking to pages from site-wide elements, like the top navigation or the footer, consider the value of the pages that you intend to throw in the navigation. Try to limit your sitewide links to only the 20 percent of your pages that are the most valuable, and pages required for a good user experience. Keyword selection requires its due consideration. You do not want to select a common, albeit popular, keyword featured in various other contents as it dilutes your visibility. Conversely, you do not want to choose a keyword that is so vague that your content becomes almost non-existent for the users. If you’re not blessed with excellent writing skills, outsource this job to somebody who is. With 75 percent of companies currently increasing their content marketing budget, it’s apparent that content can no longer be treated as a part-time job. Outsourcing content creation to dedicated writers allows for consistent, high quality publishing, fresh perspectives, insight into best practices and better leveraging of resources. We asked an SEO Specialist, Gaz Hall, for his thoughts on the matter: "All the content you produce should be tailored to your target customer / audience. If you submit posts with very little content and a load of popular search terms, you’re likely to be found out."

SEO is a journey, not a destination

Results driven, intelligent search engine optimisation. Anybody can optimise a site with a little know-how. Paid links are links garnered in exchange for payment. They can come from a network of link buyers and sellers, and a network usually consists of a group of low-quality sites that collectively link to a specific website in an effort to increase it’s authority in SERPs. Other times, there may be a reciprocal linking program, where a group of websites link to one another. We all know that search engines have been trying for years to decrease their reliance on links as a ranking factor. But they haven’t got there yet and I don’t necessarily see that happening in the next year or so. We’ve all been frustrated by sites that load slowly, or won’t load at all, on slower data connections. Sites that load quickly help build positive digital engagement with your business, and there’s some evidence to suggest that both load time and engagement with your content improve your rankings.