Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to evolve, and many have been surprised to see where it has taken the industry over the last decade.
Looking to the past, SEO was seen as a way to game Google to make a quick buck or establish a more prominent brand over its competitors as quickly as possible.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
But at its core, Search Engine Optimization remains the process by which companies try to rank as high as possible on a search engine results page (SERP).
Unless a user wants something specific, you can be guaranteed a large slice of the Google traffic pie by reaching the no.1 slot. While the idea remains simple and easy to follow, our processes to achieve those goals and results have become anything but.
Many different tools and features can now be bought or installed for free to help a company improve its standing. And these remain core parts of any solid Search Engine Optimization strategy until Google decides they want to do things differently.
SEO in 2023 & beyond
The days of giant search engine updates seem to have passed, and we no longer find ourselves waking up to shocking new realities following accelerated growth.
Google has become more gradual in its approach to updating its ranking formulas and guidelines, which everyone should read and follow before making decisions about their web experience. Having said that, you can expect the industry to take note whenever an announcement is made regarding a new update.
August and September 2022 saw several small and medium-sized updates go live, serving as a small reset for many sites that had run into trouble during the previous 12 months.
One standout example was the “helpful content update,” which had a particular goal that everyone could plan for, with the official description from Google confirming: “The helpful content update aims to reward better content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.”
Google
Its goal was to boost “satisfying content” creators and push others away from producing content built for search engines. So, while we’re all trying to please Google when building an SEO campaign, there are hard limits to what can be achieved. This post should serve as a helpful guide when determining what Search Engine Optimization services would benefit your company.
What SEO services should I choose?
The first step in any campaign should be conducting serious research on your industry. A manufacturing company will have different needs and key performance indicators than one specializing in novelty gifts and outfits.
The manufacturer could target extremely low-yield and highly niche keywords that its customers look for regularly but not in high numbers. SEO tools specializing in keyword research and online ranking data would be a great place to start and key to determining where your website sits among its rivals.
And your competitors could hold vital information too. What are they doing, and why are they doing it? If you see a pattern in which they post helpful FAQs explaining how its products work across several of them, perhaps you should consider why you’re not doing the same.
You will also need data connected to your website and how people use it, and if you haven’t already done so, you will want to have Google Analytics and Google Search Console connected. Not only will they provide you with breakdowns of how people are using your website, but they will also tell you how they engage with it.
Google & its user experience
According to Google, user experience and content created for those same users are some of the most important ranking factors in today’s internet. User experience can boil down to how fast your website responds when loading, and plenty of dedicated tools help you work out where you might be falling behind. Page Speed Insights can seem pretty technical, but it’s a great graph for finding out exactly how Google rates your site based on its current performance, breaking it down into key areas like accessibility and best practices.
Another piece of the puzzle is checking how mobile-friendly your site is. Google weighs this heavily over other platforms, such as desktop. Even though your customers might visit your site from a work computer, you still want to ensure you’re not falling behind.
These are core tools that everyone starting their Search Engine Optimization journey should look at and try to understand. With so much data flying at you all at once, it can be challenging to get a clear idea of everything. In that situation, conducting a full SEO audit with an outside agency or consultant could help set you on the right path.
This won’t be right for everyone’s budget, but it will help those who believe they need an extra hand understanding how to build their website towards a better and more competitive future.
Let’s work together
Our team can help ensure that no site falls behind and provide knowledge and assistance if your site needs to be spruced up, refreshed, or reviewed to ensure it stays compliant with Google’s ever-changing algorithm.
Contact us today to work together to make your website its best.
