Just how important and profitable is search engine optimization (SEO) these days? Consider these eye-opening statistics: 93% of all online experiences start with a search engine, Google (News - Alert) handles 81,000 searches per second, and the size of the global SEO industry is projected to reach $79 billion by the end of 2020 — up from $65 billion in 2016.
“While other digital marketing strategies are growing in popularity — most notably pay-per-click advertising like Google Ads and Facebook (News - Alert) Ads — SEO is still the most profitable long-term way to generate quality leads,” commented Jesse Willms, a seasoned entrepreneur and business owner from Las Vegas, Nevada, with a deep background in digital marketing. “The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the growth of SEO, as more consumers in both the B2C and B2C spaces are using search engines to search for companies and vendors.”
With the above in mind, it is also true that some businesses are winning the SEO game, while others are losing. To help businesses enjoy the rewards and avoid the regrets, here are five tips to boost SEO rankings according to Jesse Willms:
1. Perform a Backlink Audit
Not all back links have the same value. Those that come from credible and authoritative sources are like jet fuel for an SEO engine, while those that come from low quality or possibly even manipulative (e.g. link farms) sources are like sand for an SEO engine.
“There are two things that a business should do when it come across bad links,” commented Jesse Willms, who owns several vehicle history websites that enable consumers to check out the history of used cars and identify whether vehicles of interest have been in an accident, have any recalls, and are reliable according to other drivers. “The first is they should remove it from their site. The second is that they should create a disavow report of bad links, and send it to Google using the Google Disavow Links tool. This tool allows publishers to ask Google to stop taking specific low-quality links into account when evaluating a site.”
2. Conduct In-Depth Keyword Analysis
Many businesses spend a great deal of time and money chasing after keywords that fall into one of two categories: there aren’t enough potential customers searching for them, or there are too many competitors and the chances of making it to page one — let alone within the top three results — is virtually impossible. The best keywords avoid both of these pitfalls. There are enough potential customers searching for them, and they are not excessively popular and commandeered by large corporations with multi-million-dollar SEO budgets.
“There are multiple tools available, such as Google’s Keyword Planner, which can help businesses identify and develop a list of viable and profitable keywords,” commented Jesse Willms. “However, most businesses will benefit from working with a proven and reputable SEO consultant or digital marketing agency.”
3. Create Great On-Page and Off-Page Content
The major element that drives SEO is content, content, and yet more content. Why? Because content is the means through which search engines identify and determine what a website (or more specifically, a web page) is about. On-page content includes web copy, blog posts, articles, and properly tagged images and videos. Off-page content includes guest post articles, social media content, infographics, and so on.
“One of the best and easiest ways for businesses to decide what their content should focus on, is simply by asking their existing customers,” commented Jesse Willms. “Platforms such as LinkedIn (News - Alert) and Quora can also provide insights and ideas regarding what customers find topical and relevant.”
4. Optimize Site Navigation
Search engines aim to provide searchers (i.e. potential customers) with the best and easiest experience possible. As such, businesses can help their customers — and indeed, help themselves — by optimizing their site navigation. For example, many SEO and UX experts believe that a web page should never be more than three clicks away, and the navigational menu should be clear, consistent, and labeled in a logical and intuitive way — especially for mobile searches. In 2019, for the first time the volume of mobile searches on Google surpassed desktop searches.
“Imagine going into a grocery store and discovering that instead of organized aisles, various food items are strewn out all over the place — the cookies are next to the fruits and vegetables, the cooking oils are next to the dairy products, the condiments are next to the breakfast cereals, and so on,” commented Jesse Willms. “Obviously, shopping is going to be a tedious and chaotic ordeal, and customers are going to race for the exits and never come back. Well, believe it or not, but even though the web has been around in one form or another for more than 30 years, there are still a massive volume of sites that do not have clear, linear and intuitive navigation and usability. The good news is that fixing this problem is relatively fast and inexpensive. Unlike renovating a brick-and-mortar grocery story, re-designing a website doesn’t involve tearing down walls and rewriting circuits.”
5. Increase Site Loading Speed
Google is notoriously secretive when it comes to discussing how its search engine algorithm works. However, a couple of years ago Google pulled back the curtain and revealed something monumentally important: the loading speed of a website (and its various web pages) is a leading factor in SEO ranking.
“There are many ways that a business can increase site loading speed,” commented Jesse Willms. “One of the most effective is to use a content delivery network, which uses a geographically dispersed network of servers to reduce the physical distance between where content resides, and the individuals who are trying to access it. All else being equal, the shorter the distance, the faster the delivery and the quicker the loading speed. Businesses should also make sure that their host is not imposing a bandwidth cap on their site. If so, then they either need to buy more bandwidth, or switch hosts. In addition, optimizing images, compressing files, reducing redirects, using browser caching, and minifying CSS (News - Alert), JavaScript and HTML can all significantly improve loading speed.”
The Bottom Line
There is no magic wand (or alas, state-of-the-art app) that enables businesses to instantly win the SEO game. However, businesses that follow Jessie Jesse Willms’ advice will definitely find themselves climbing ahead of their less-capable competitors, and in the big picture this translates into more clicks, more customers, more sales — and more success!
