As you prepare to get your digital marketing moving forward for your startup, you know that search engine optimization (SEO) is important. What you might not know is exactly how to go about boosting your online rankings.
The good news is that there are a lot of strategies that are available. You can implement many of them yourself, although with everything else you need to do it might pay to work with the pros instead.
On-Page vs. Off-Page SEO
There are two different parts to boosting your search engine optimization. The first is on-page SEO. This is the part you have the most control over, but it does take some expertise to implement.
On-page SEO involves using the right keywords for your niche, having the right tags on your web pages, using titles appropriately, and more. You also want your site structure to be easy to navigate and you must have a website that’s mobile-optimized.
Off-page SEO can be a bit more challenging. It involves elements that are not under your direct control, although there is plenty you can do to influence the results. When you combine excellent on-page and off-page SEO, your website will be sure to rank more highly.
Establish Your Brand
The first thing you have to do is stand out from the crowd. When you establish your brand, you not only get attention from potential clients, you get attention from search engines as well.
How do you establish your brand? There are two strategies to focus on.
Reviews
Online reviews are a major signal of trustworthiness. 84% of people trust them as much as a recommendation from a friend, and search engines love them as well. You can build up your reviews by simply asking for them every time you delight a customer.
Don’t worry about bad reviews – people expect a few “negative nancies.” In fact, having a few bad reviews makes all of your reviews more trustworthy because it makes it clear the comments are authentic.
Be sure to build up reviews on Google, Yelp, social media, and any other relevant platforms. These reviews will help you gain new customers and boost your ranks in search results.
Social Media Mentions
Social media is a significant part of people’s lives all over the world. As a result, search engines make a note of social media mentions and use it to measure your brand’s influence online.
You can boost social media mentions by not only sharing on various platforms but also having conversations and replying to comments. The more helpful information you share the more people will be able to talk about your brand in positive ways.
Build Links
Having excellent inbound links is a major part of successful SEO, but they can seem difficult to come by. Don’t give in to the temptation to use shady tactics to build links. Instead, try guest posts.
Creating content on your own website is great, but it won’t get you any incoming links. Instead, reach out to blogs with a similar audience to yours and offer to create content for them. Guest posting allows you to share helpful information with an entirely new audience and also gets you great inbound links.
You can also look for an opportunity to be added to resource pages that list tools and tips for your industry. If you find a page that looks good, you can contact the website and offer your own resources with a link.
Finally, be sure to keep an eye on times that your company is mentioned online. Be sure each of these includes a link – if they don’t, reach out and ask for one!
Building links can feel like a lot of work when you’re already building your own business. Instead of going it alone, work with a top SEO consultant who can take care of it for you.
Keep Your NAP Consistent
As you establish your business, you’ll be listing your business name, address, and phone number in a lot of different places. Everything from your Google Business page to social media to your website needs to have this information.
It’s very important for your SEO that you keep this information consistent on every platform. Not only do mistakes confuse customers and cost potential clients not to trust you, it also makes it hard for search engines to trust your website as well.
You want your website to be authoritative in the eyes of Google and other search engines, so keep your NAP consistent throughout the internet.
Building your off-page SEO is a bit more difficult that on-page, but the two together are a powerful one-two punch. You’ll be able to improve your search engine rankings over time, and it will help you build your brand and get new customers.
