5 SEO Strategies for Getting Found Online

Every time I talk to clients or students about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), I see their eyes glaze over and just know they aren’t understanding what I’m talking about. So, when I ran across the infographic, I thought it would help build greater understanding of how to get found online.

First, let’s talk about SEO strategies for getting found online.

Google (which represents about 70% of searches) uses an algorithm to determine position in the search results (SERPs). And, we know that the top search results get MOST of the click-throughs (CT) — I’m identifying all the acronyms because I got a very nasty comment the other day for not defining them. So, for those of you who find it annoying to define terms that are part of our everyday vocabulary, I apologize.

Let me provide some more depth about this infographic. First, keywords. As you see at the bottom, keywords are actually phrases of between 5-7 — called long-tail keywords. I wrote a post a few days ago about how to select good keywords that you should look at. Keyword strategy underpins everything else you do in SEO.

1. SEO Links

It used to be that getting backlinks to high-ranking sites was the magic bullet for SEO. Now, not so much. Sure, backlinks still help traffic and Earning backlinks should still be part of your strategy, but buying, swapping, or other tactics should not be part of a sound SEO strategy for getting found online.

Instead, we now talk about content marketing as the magic bullet. Google, in its efforts to give searchers exactly what they were searching for, finally realized what the rest of us already knew — content is king. When I search online, I don’t want some spammy article full of black-hat SEO tricks, like buying backlinks, I want answers to my query. So, providing fresh, valuable content on a consistent basis is the best SEO strategy for getting found online.

2. Google authorship

You wouldn’t BELIEVE the number of folks who figured they didn’t have time to spend on Google+ or debated whether Google+ would fail. Excuse me! It’s GOOGLE — You can’t ignore the company’s social media platform when they account for 60-80% of your website traffic!!!! And, all those +1’s (the Google+ equivalent of a “Like”) add to better SERPs.

Getting Google authorship used to be kinda hard — you had to insert a piece of Javascript into your pages identifying the Google+ account for the author. Now, it’s much easier. Just create a Google+ account if you don’t already have one. Then, go to this link to associate your profile with your website. Some SEO plugins (for WordPress) also take care of this task for you. Don’t worry if you don’t see results right away — adding your image to posts you’ve written — it takes a little while for this to populate.

3. Canonical URL

Canonical URLs are a way of specifying links to your content when you have several ways to reach a particular piece of content. The example used in the linked post is one where there are multiple ways (URLs) to reach the same product. But, this can also happen with other types of content. For instance, some analytics tracking software requires a tracking code in your posts and this can create duplicate content when a piece of content is shared multiple times with slight variations in the URL for tracking. And, Google now punishes duplicate content pretty severely. Using a canonical URL reduces the chance the Google Bot will find you guilty of posting duplicate content in these situations. Again, many SEO plugins resolve this problem for you by letting you designate the canonical URL.

4. Microdata and schema

In the old days, you placed keywords in your metatags so search engines knew what your page was about. Black hat SEO junkies would seed their metatags with high-value keywords even when their content didn’t deliver on this promise. Google fixed this a few versions back, but putting appropriate keywords in your metatags is still important as part of your SEO strategy for getting found online.

I use WordPress SEO by Joast to take care of this for me. Just be sure to fill out the necessary information each time you create new content.

5. Responsive design.

Your content should appear in a usable format regardless of whether the users is on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. That’s responsive design — where the website automatically detects which screen size you’re using and adapts to the limitations of that screen. As more folks opt for tablets and smartphones, being responsive is important for more than just good SEO strategy for getting found online.

Need help building an SEO strategy for getting found online?

I’m happy to help — whether you need a complete social media strategy or just a little help building your keyword strategy, SEO strategy, or content marketing strategy. You can request a FREE introductory meeting using my vCita pop-up or sign up for my email newsletter to learn more about social media marketing.