SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has already had a long history since its fairly recent inception. Throughout its time it has changed constantly – keeping businesses and marketers on their toes! A lot of this change has come off the back of Google and their ongoing Algorithm updates that happen nearly every day. While we could delve into the history of SEO that’s not what we’re here to do. We’re here to discuss whether it is still effective in 2019 and how you should be using it for your business.
Okay, so does it still work?
The phrase “SEO is dead” has travelled the community for a long time and it rears its head consistently after most large Google algorithm updates – causing panic and a lot of rash decisions being made. SEO is far from dead and yes it is still effective in 2019 however it continues to become more difficult and unpredictable. If done correctly, it is still a great investment for your business. So where should your SEO efforts be focused on this year?
Content
Content is a fundamental part of any SEO strategy. Whether that be in the form of blog articles, infographics, videos, whitepapers or something else – quality content engages your audience and will help to grow your traffic organically. Of course, it should be well researched and optimised which will assist in increasing its organic reach but most pieces of content need a little nudge. That’s where content promotion comes in. Promoting your content can be done in numerous ways including:
- Sharing across Social Media
- Internal linking
- Paid promotion
- Sending to your email database
Content promotion gets your content noticed and in front of the right audience. If you’ve produced a great piece, your audience is going to want to share and link to that content naturally which in turn will build your repertoire with Google and other big search engines.
Metadata
Title tags, meta descriptions etc. all fall under that category of metadata. Although this isn’t as important as it was a few years ago, optimising each page on your website can still boost your organic SEO as well as provide additional benefits. Let’s take a meta description for example. While this no longer provides any direct benefit to a pages search engine rank, it still provides an opportunity to persuade prospects to click through to your website.
URL Structure
The structure of your website not only has an effect on your organic search visibility but it’s equally important to your website experience. URL structure plays a big part in this. Your website URLs should be informative. This helps visitors and search engines to understand what the page is about instantly.
User Experience
The average time a visitor spends on your website shares a positive correlation with organic search rankings. With that being said, how do you get a visitor to spend more time on your website? First off, provide a fantastic user experience that is responsive, fluid and guides them every step of the way. Secondly, keep them captivated and engaged with exceptional content. One of the number one reasons for video content being so powerful is that it engages us like no other form of content can. It is proven that websites using video tend to experience a larger amount of time spent on their site per visitor.
Security
Your website’s security can alter your SEO performance and it can also have a negative influence on your website’s conversion rate. Many who see an unsecure site are likely to bounce immediately. Getting your website secure starts by making contact with your website hosting provider and asking them to install an SSL certificate. With most providers, you will have to pay for this. Once a certificate is installed and configured correctly your site should serve over HTTPS and show the secure symbol in the browser.
How WDA Can Revamp Your Business Marketing
WDA’s digital team are experienced in all aspects of digital marketing from SEO and PPC to Social Media and Email Marketing. We will work with you to create a business marketing strategy that’s unique to your business and will get results. We won’t just recommend SEO if we don’t feel like it aligns with your current business and marketing goals. On top of our digital marketing expertise, we are specialists in branding. Your brand is your biggest asset and often, giving a new lease of life to that, through a new brand positioning or visual identity is what will help your business stand out. For more details on how we can revamp your business marketing get in touch today by emailing anna@marketing.dev-wda.com or call us on 01332 372728.