SEO Tactics to Improve Rankings

Organic search generates an average of 60.32% of traffic for the clients we work with, and organic search is a significant source of traffic for most organizations. In fact, almost all companies have at least a basic understanding of organic search. Businesses typically have some kind of strategy for increasing traffic through organic search, at least for their brand and core product or service. Yet, even if most companies understand the basic requirements for search engine success, they lack a deeper understanding of this critical marketing method. With very few exceptions, the primary goal of any SEO tactic is to rank well over time. Paying attention to what Google is doing with its algorithm is absolutely critical, and there are countless subtle sub-factors that contribute to the long-term optimization of your site for search engines. The better you understand and incorporate these factors, the easier it will be to increase your search rankings and keep them there over time. Here are some important SEO subtleties and opportunities to watch out for:

Mobile SEO

51% of internet access is via mobile devices. As consumers turn to smartphones for an increasing portion of their searches, search engines are placing an increasing emphasis on these devices. In particular, Google recently updated its search algorithm to maximize mobile searches. This means that no matter how well your site performs in desktop search results, you could miss out on top mobile rankings if you’re not prepared for mobile SEO. The clients we work with receive an average of 21.28% of their site visits from mobile devices. This can be a major source of traffic that companies need to pay attention to, but since many companies design and view their sites on desktop, they’re less likely to notice how their sites look on mobile and miss opportunities for improvement. Here are 3 simple and effective ways to update your site for mobile SEO:
Direct mobile conversion services will create a new version of your site that is directly suitable for mobile search. This method is the easiest and fastest way to get a mobile version of your website if you don’t already have one. This leads to inefficiency in the long run because it creates two versions of your site that you have to maintain separately. There is also strong evidence that search engines will not consider this approach in the long run.

Mobile plugins Most leading content management systems offer mobile plugins that can recognize the device used to visit a website. The system then changes the layout of the site based on the device being used, ensuring that it always displays correctly on that device.

Responsive design The most effective approach is to design your site for mobile devices. This means that the page layout and navigation design anticipate the device and provide the best digital experience. This requires a little more upfront planning, but it will create the most consistent and useful user experience and lead to the biggest SEO improvements over time. This is the approach we recommend, and Drupal 8 is responsive “out of the box.”

Mobile internet access is growing by 25% every year. This means that optimizing your site for mobile will have lasting benefits, increasing user satisfaction and improving your search rankings over time.

Future SEO Opportunities

The rise of mobile is closely tied to another major SEO development: voice search. While users once typed in the majority of their queries, an increasing number of people are now using Siri and other voice search services. This trend has a direct impact on SEO because users don’t use the same vocabulary when they speak as they do when they type. The better you anticipate these changes, the higher your site will rank when users switch to voice search. Overall, this is an opportunity with your content strategy:
Natural and conversational users tend to speak more conversationally when they perform voice searches, compared to the shorthand way they type queries with traditional searches. This means you should include more conversational keywords and phrases. The specific terms you should use depend on your industry and location, but the more you understand how people talk about your products and services in everyday language, the easier it will be to find the right keywords.

Accurate and Local When specifying a location in voice search, users tend to specify specific landmarks, businesses, and neighborhoods. This means that if you indicate that you are near these geotagged locations, your website will appear higher in the results. Instead of saying that your business is “in New York,” say that it is “near Lincoln Center” or “in Woodside.”

Stock up on thesauri Users often switch between different terms and phrases with similar meanings in voice search, and it is difficult to predict which ones they will use. You should try to include as many alternative phrases as possible. For example, if you expect users to ask their phones, “How do I get to X?” you should also include phrases like “Directions to X.”

As with written keyword selection, you will need to reevaluate your voice search keywords over time. As more people embrace voice search and use it for a greater portion of their online searches, the most common keywords and phrases will change. By tracking which keywords are performing best and updating your site accordingly, you can stay ahead of these changes and maintain high search rankings over time.

Still an Important SEO Factor

Backlinks remain one of Google’s strongest indicators of authority. While backlinks are not the most important SEO factor, they are a critical component to SEO success. Google has several patents on algorithms designed to calculate “link scores.” The score is calculated based on the quality score of an incoming link (also known as PageRank) and the number of incoming links to the site. Links from authoritative websites indicate that your company’s site is highly relevant. Google, Bing, and other search engines take all of this into account and improve your rankings accordingly. Therefore, the amount of links is an important part of the score. Building backlinks is an ongoing initiative, not a one-time campaign.

More SEO Opportunities

In addition to strategic approaches like mobile SEO, voice optimization, and backlinks, there are other simple tactics that can improve your organic search rankings over time.
Use other types of content. Instead of filling your pages with just text, include other types of content, such as research, whitepapers, case studies, images, videos, and audio. Ideally, these elements should be directly related to the text on each page and added in a way that adds value to the user experience.

Optimize Images When using images, optimize the alt tag attribute. This is the text that appears when the image doesn’t load or when a user hovers over the image. Alternative text makes it easier for search engines to determine the overall content of the page.

Spread Your Keywords SEO isn’t about using more keywords. It’s about using them in the right places. Be sure to include them in the title tag attribute, headings (H1, H2, etc.), and internal links where appropriate, and this will improve the user experience. Once you have synonyms, use them as supporting or secondary keywords in the main body of your content.

Search engine optimization is a critical component of digital marketing. The goal is to rank well over time, but this should be done by people, not machines.