I read a great article this morning by Dolly Howard promoting a webinar series on how to transform your SEO strategy and I thought I would share the key takeaways with you.
The world of SEO has undergone a total transformation since its early days. Contrary to popular belief, successful B2B marketers need to create quality content targeted to real human visitors instead of keyword-rich content targeted to search engines.
The good news is that SEO is evolving to encourage marketers to create the useful and remarkable content that our most qualified customers crave. The bad news is that most marketers haven't figured this out yet.
In case you are wondering what's driving this change in direction the answer is simple and noteworthy: Google itself. They have declared a war on web spam.
If you think about it, this makes complete sense. If Google is to remain the pre eminent search engine of choice, its search results must be the best, most reliable and accurate source on the Internet.
The move to social platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn is providing an alternative source of information for online searchers. Google have directed their significant resources to catch spammers and punish them by demoting them in the search engine rankings. A severe penalty for almost every business.
Here's how to avoid having your virtual wrist slapped. Your site needs to...
Feature quality content more than a quantity of keywords
No more keyword stuffing or cloaking. Take out the text boxes full of keywords at the bottom of your page and make your site titles authentic, clear, and descriptive. The content of each page should also be rich in actually useful, relevant information - not just littered with the keywords you think search engines want to see. Blog posts should now be around 600 words each.
Provide a clear site map and text links
Your website should be easy to navigate and simple for both users and search engines to understand. Think of your website like a file folder. You wouldn't file your tax returns in your pet's medical history folder, would you? Of course not. The same rule applies to the content of your website. Every page should be logically placed and reachable from at least one static text link on your website.
Create a useful, information-rich site
Search engines want their users to find the information they need, not useless sites that are just stuffed with empty keywords. So be sure to write pages that accurately describe your content. Your <title> tags and ALT attributes must be descriptive, clear, and accurate. You should not be using a keyword simply to have it on your page. It's a habit a lot of marketers have yet to break.
Use keywords to create descriptive, human-friendly URLs
Offer URLs that are user and keyword-friendly. Your keywords should feel authentic, not spammy, and should describe the page your visitor is on. For example, if I land on the "About" page of your website, the URL should not be "buy-sell-your-home-today.html." Search engines see this, compare it to the content on the page and give you a big thumbs down.
In short,
- stop playing games and trying to trick the search engines,
- play nice and be authentic,
- be focused on your customers and their needs.
Not a bad approach to running your business...why would your approach to SEO be any different?
We have written an article that expands on these themes. If you would like to read more please download it with our compliments:
