Want to capture the attention of qualified leads without giving Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn all your cash? Try these search engine optimization tips and tricks.

Regardless what your business offers, your target audience is likely searching for products or services like yours on search engines like Google. If you want to attract those prospects to your site, you should consider on page search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is a strategy for improving your site’s rankings in search engine results. It involves identifying which keywords and phrases your target audience uses when looking for products or services like yours and then working to rank well for those searches.

SEO Boosts Your Credibility and Authority

SEO can help your business get in front of your target audience as they’re actively searching for information. If you want your business to be part of a prospect’s online research process, your business needs to show up in search results for keywords related to the products or services you offer. Having a strong online presence will enable your target audience to research and buy in a way that works for them.

Consumers have access to a wealth of resources that can help them learn about their options before they speak with a sales representative. When you create valuable content, you have the opportunity to build trust and credibility with prospects early in their research process.

The process goes something like this – prospects find your site by searching for information related to your industry and seeing one of your resources in the search results. If they like the resources they find, they might share those resources and subscribe to your email list.

Here’s where the process can slow down. Prospects might return to your site several times and read your content regularly over a period of months without taking action. However, with each piece of content you’re establishing your brand as a credible, authoritative resource. And when prospects are ready to make a purchase, they’ll know where to turn.

SEO Can Help You Rank Higher and Improve the User Experience

As you optimize your site, you’re not only working to improve where your site ranks on results pages but also moving ahead of your competitors. As you move up in search results, you’ll earn a larger percentage of the clicks for your target keywords — and your competitors will earn fewer.

Google’s ultimate goal is to provide the best possible results for their users. As a result, many of their algorithm updates focus on directing users to sites that provide relevant content and a great user experience. Today, mobile-friendliness, usability, and site speed play a much bigger role in both search engine rankings and conversions than ever before.

On-Page SEO Saves You Money — and It’s Measurable

One of the biggest advantages of SEO is that it doesn’t involve paying for ads. With traditional ad campaigns, you determine where you want your brand to appear (TV channel, radio station, or magazine/newspaper) then pay for media placement. As soon as the ad period is up, your ad stops running — and stops generating results for your business.

In search engine results, the top listings are pay-per-click (PPC) ads. As with traditional ad campaigns, earning these top spots involves ongoing costs. With PPC, you pay only when a user clicks on your ad. However, every visitor still involves a cost — and when you pause your ad campaign, the ads stop running.

Sites that appear in organic results don’t pay for their rankings. The exact placement of those sites in search results depends on how valuable Google’s algorithm thinks those sites are to users. It takes time and money to design and create high-ranking content, but that content earns traffic without ad dollars.

One of the biggest advantages of SEO is that you can measure your results. It’s easier to see the return you’re getting from your SEO investment than from a more traditional marketing investment. You can use tools like Google Analytics to monitor your traffic, referral sources, conversions, and other KPIs that matter to your business. Evaluate what’s working — and what isn’t — to allocate your marketing budget to the strategies that have the biggest impact.

Key SEO Considerations (Key Search Engine Optimization Tips)

As Google continues to update its algorithm, the steps required to improve rankings in search results have changed over time. Here’s what you need to know about SEO in a nutshell:

• Focus on Your Prospects – All Google updates are designed to provide the best possible results for searchers. Always remember to keep your focus on your prospects. Choose topics that are relevant to prospects’ needs, write content in a way that’s helpful and straightforward, and make sure that your site is easy to navigate.
• Use Keyword Optimization – Search engines consider keywords when they rank pages.
• Optimize Your Site for Mobile – To keep up with the increasing number of people accessing online content on smartphones and tablets, Google ranks pages based on the best results for mobile. Are your pages responsive? If a site doesn’t perform well on mobile, its rankings will suffer — even in desktop results.
• Do the Following for Every Page of Site Copy: Choose a keyword, write 300+ words per page, use the keyword in 0.5-3% of the page content you write, use the keyword in the introduction paragraph and in at least one H2 heading, use the keyword in the URL (slug), include at least one outbound link and one inbound link, use the keyword in the image alt tag, and use the keyword in the SEO title and meta description.

Final Search Engine Optimization Tips

The goal of SEO is to improve your site’s rankings in search results in order to attract more traffic and to convert that traffic into prospects and customers. SEO can help you boost your credibility, earn more organic traffic, and improve your brand awareness and online visibility – all without paying for ad space.

Website search engine optimization doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, planning, and patience to achieve desired SEO results. But if you’re willing to invest the time needed to carry out a well-planned SEO strategy, the long-term sales and revenue results you’ll see are worth it.

Learn more search engine optimization tips and tricks here.

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