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6 Surprisingly simple SEO tips for digital marketing of your small business
What is SEO in digital marketing?
We have all heard of SEO and how it is crucial for digital marketing but several small business owners don’t have the time to understand it in depth. In digital marketing SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It basically involves optimizing your website so it ranks better in Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The better your site ranks in Google Search Results page, the more organic traffic you get to your site.
One of the key sections of your Maketing Plan should be to have your website rank on page 1 of Google Search. If you have not done so already, download my free Marketing Plan for small business. There are several factors that affect a website’s ranking. To improve ranking is not easy and takes time, but it can happen. You should have a SEO strategy for digital marketing and stay consistent with it.
What is an SEO keyword?
The next thing to understand in the world of SEO is a SEO keyword. An SEO keyword is a word or phrase that people type into a search engine to find information. When you optimize your website content around keywords that people are searching for, your website can rank higher in search engine results pages. This means that more people will be able to find your website when they search for those keywords, which can lead to increased traffic and sales.
There are three main types of SEO keywords:
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Short-tail keywords are one- or two-word keywords that are very common and general. For example, “shorts” or “meat.” Short-tail keywords are often very competitive, so it can be difficult to rank for them high in SERPs.
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Long-tail keywords are three or more words long and are more specific. For example, “woman running shorts” or “meat recipes for keto diet”. Long-tail keywords are usually less competitive than short-tail keywords, so it’s often easier to rank for them high in SERPs.
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Question keywords are keywords that ask a question. For example, “what material are running shorts made of” or “how to safely store meat in fridge?” Question keywords can be very effective for SEO, as people are often more likely to click on results that answer their questions.
When making a list of SEO keywords, it’s important to consider the following factors:
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Search volume: The number of people who search for a keyword each month.
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Competition: How many other websites are ranking for the keyword.
For beginner sites which are working their way up through Google Search Results page, it is usually recommended to use medium to low volume keywords with low competition.
Several sites allow you to look up keywords for free if you create an accounts with them. I am very fond of Ubersuggest.com which allows you to do a certain number of free searches until you are ready to create a paid account with them.
What to do with SEO keywords?
Keywords are the foundation of SEO. Once you find the right keywords that people are searching for, use them strategically throughout your website and content. This includes using the keywords in your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and throughout your content.
Keywords tell you what people are searching for in Google, you could use this data to write compelling content anywhere – be it social media posts, your website blogs or on your website including using keywords in your images and videos.
In addition to including SEO keywords in your website content, you can also use them to create targeted advertising campaigns. This involves bidding on keywords that are relevant to their target audience and requires more advanced knowledge of digital paid advertising.
5 simple things you can do to improve site SEO
1. Create high-quality content
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Create high-quality content. This is still the most important factor in SEO. Your content needs to be informative, engaging, and well-written. It also needs to be relevant to your target keywords. Some times people stuff their content with their target keywords but that is truly not the right approach. Google has gotten smarter over the years and can detect this when it happens. Creating engaging content with your target keywords is the way to go. Think about interesting things that people might want to know about your product or services. Some examples noted below:
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New products showcase with pictures and content using your target keywords
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Informative blogs or posts about your service or products
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Frequently asked questions
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Lesser known, interesting facts related to your product or service
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Showcase reviews from customers in your posts which include target keywords
2. Build backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. They’re a signal to Google that your website is high-quality and trustworthy. There are several simple ways of building backlinks:
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Use social media. Social media can be a great way to promote your website and content, and it can also help you build backlinks. Responding to relevant social media posts and where appropriate linking to your site as a possible answer to their question/ problem area is a great way to build traffic to your site
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Participating in online forums and communities such as Reddit and Quora
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Submitting your website to directories
3. Keep your website up-to-date
Google loves fresh content, so make sure you’re regularly adding new blog posts, articles, and other content to your website. This is the most important thing you can do to keep your website fresh and relevant for search engines. New content gives you the opportunity to use new keywords and phrases and create interesting content, and it also helps to keep visitors coming back to your site.
4. Optimize your title tags and meta descriptions
Your title tags and meta descriptions are the first things that people see when they search for your website in Google. Make sure they are well-written and include your target keywords.
5. Use internal links.
Internal links are links from one page on your website to another. They help Google crawl your website to understand the structure of your content and determine the relationship between pages. When you are linking to other pages on your website, make sure to link to the most important pages. These are the pages that you want people to find when they search for your website or your products or services. Don’t just add links for the sake of adding links. Make sure that the links are placed naturally in your text. This will help to make your website more user-friendly and it will also help search engines understand the structure of your website.
6. Make your website mobile-friendly
More and more people are using their mobile devices to search for information online. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices so that people can easily view it on their phones and tablets. Test your site on the common mobile devices and see how the site displays content including site speed.
SEO is an ongoing process, but by following these simple tips, you can improve your website’s SEO and make it more visible in search results.
And remember to be patient. SEO takes time. Don’t expect to see results overnight. Just keep searching related keywords, creating high-quality content using target keywords, optimizing your website, and building backlinks, and you’ll eventually start to see your website rank higher in search results.
