Do you ever go past the first page of a Google search?
Yes, neither do I.
Welcome to the world of SEO. Not all companies with the highest level of engagement may be offering great products or services, but they are certainly the best online marketers. If getting onto the Google first page is your business goal of the year, you need to know these five open secrets from ‘Google Guru’ Monte Huebsch for SEO success.
1. Strategy is power
With an increasingly competitive digital market, SEO is an important and powerful tool for businesses when used correctly. Improving the quality of a website by increasing site speed, establishing easy site navigation and promoting a user-friendly format, SEO is a process that requires a detailed strategy and time.
SEO is similar to that of a ‘farming activity’ – in that it takes time achieve sustainable results, but doubling the fertiliser and water will not double the results. Effective SEO requires a methodical approach. Make sure you;
• Establish a “Content Creation Calendar” and stick to it. Post/upload original and fresh content at least every two weeks.
• Establish and follow a “distribution schedule” for all your content. Use a tool like www.bufferapp.com
• Find some “virgins” who have never been to your site and ask them to complete strategic tasks on your web site AND from a smart phone. Now make that experience better.
• SEO is not a “set and forget” process. Allocate resources in your yearly budget – every year.
2. It’s really not just about your website
In today’s innovative and dynamic technological sphere, the one unchanging truth about SEO is that it is continually changing. SEO is not simply limited to your website, but now includes mobile, social and video.
Social media has had a significant influence on the SEO industry. Now, Google not only allows Twitter feeds back into the search results, but have two properties of their own they use; YouTube and Google+. Add Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest links to your website to improve relevancy and authority in search results on your page. But, more important as ranking signals are the Page Speed and Mobile friendliness of your website. Make sure you fix these first.
3. Fast and ‘Mobile Friendly’
Page speed, also known as page load time, is a crucial ranking factor in Google’s algorithm for both desktop and mobile sites. Faster load times will not only improve your ranking, but help you to gain more organic traffic. Page speed impacts website user satisfaction, site usability and conversion rates.
Ensuring your website is ‘mobile friendly’ is also a contributing factor in Google’s ranking system. Mobile-friendly websites create desirable experiences for users, allowing them to easily view content without the need to zoom in or scroll horizontally. The site speed and mobile-friendliness of your website will have positive effect over time, resulting in increased click-throughs, higher rankings and most importantly, growth in revenue.
4. Original content is a must
The goal of any search engine is to provide the most relevant results to users. For this reason, organisations require an honest evaluation of their content.
In today’s limitless digital platform, old content that exists purely to secure page views achieves little else. Detailed, relevant content on the other hand, is content that answers queries and has the potential to hold value and stay fresh. Consistently providing new and engaging content means “listening” to your clients and constantly reinventing your business to be fresh and relevant.
Up to date and original content establishes your organisation as a thought leader, attracts links, encourages social shares, brings traffic to your site and builds trust with your audience. Be sure to check out Google Developers’ Page Speed Insights Analysis and Mobile-Friendly Test to review your site speed and the mobile-friendliness of your website.
5. Google the answering machine. Feed it answers!
SEO is now more important than ever, with search engines serving billions of users everyday looking for answers to their questions.
Ranked first amongst the most visited multi-platform web properties worldwide, Google encompass over 60 per cent of the market share with 11.2 billion unique monthly visitors globally (NetMarketShare, 2015).
Surveys suggest over 50 per cent of businesses, both small and large, use Google analytics. Such statistics position Google as a leading player in the online marketing industry. Google is becoming the ‘answer machine’ for users today. For this reason, an organisation’s SEO activities need to address the questions being asked.
Monte is a member of Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO), a global network of more than 10,000 business owners in 42 countries. The Brisbane chapter of EO is made up by more than 130 of the most successful business people in Queensland – ranging across various industries such as IT, marketing, engineering, farming, retail, and everything in between. EO is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs grow through peer to peer learning, once in a life time experiences and connections to experts. For more information please visit: http://www.eonetwork.org/
