5 Effective SEO Strategies To Outrank Your Competitors

Even though most marketing experts are constantly talking about search engine optimization (otherwise known as SEO), many business owners don’t put enough effort into it. Though they may have a website and a blog, they don’t do enough research or put any thought into the SEO value of each piece.

However, if you are smart with your SEO, your business can stand out above other businesses. Though you may think it is hard, there are some simple yet effective strategies to get your business noticed.

Here are some of the most effective SEO strategies to help to outrank your competition.

Keyword research.

Keyword research involves doing some research about popular words that people are using when they are searching for information. You can start doing your research by thinking about several topics that your customers are searching for. Then, write a list of questions that people may be asking about these topics. You should use both short keywords (one or two words) along with longer ones (also known as long-tail keywords) in order to get noticed.

If you really want to outrank your competition, you need to use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner and other tools. These free tools can help you make sure that you are using the right keywords.

Once you have found keywords that you want to focus on, you need to sprinkle them throughout your title and body so that your content is more likely to be found. However, you shouldn’t stop there. You need to use these in your meta tags, descriptions, and even the tags on your images.

Page load optimization.

Just recently, Google has made page speed a priority. They are more likely to recommend pages that can load quickly, over those that are slower. Because of this, you need to make sure that your page gives readers everything that they need, without taking forever to load. If it takes too long, people are going to search for a faster one. They don’t want to waste their time on a page that seems isn’t coming up.

This is especially important for mobile users. You need to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile use. If not, you could be missing out on a lot of customers who simply just want to do research when they are on the go.

Backlinks and internal links.

Backlinks and external links are very important. It is when you send your readers to another website so that they can further understand what you are trying to say. Though you may not want to do this because you don’t want to send your customers to your competition, by putting up links, you are helping them even more! In fact, your customers will start to trust you even more because you are willing to send them elsewhere to continue to learn.

Internal links are links to your own website. Though this can seem spammy, the truth is that internal links show Google that your website is important enough to send others to.

Content Quality.

Most business owners have heard the saying that content is king. However, you may not really know what that means and how important your content is to SEO. The answer is that it is very important. Without quality content, your website won’t get in front of your competition.

So, what makes page content high-quality?

It is something that your customers want to know. The more people that search for an answer about a question, the more Google takes notice. If they see that you are willing to answer it, they will take notice.

It provides value to your customers. Though many business owners blog just to blog, it could actually hurt you. It is much better to make sure that a piece adds value than to just publish a fluff piece about nothing. Everything that you write has to be helpful to your readers.
The content is unique. Many pieces of content are just regurgitating information that has been read over and over. Google is looking for something that is different, and they are more likely to send readers to content that is different from anything else on the internet.
So, how can you tell if your content is good enough? You will notice that people are liking it, commenting on it, and even sharing it.

Fresh Content.

Besides just publishing high-quality content, you also need to put fresh content up on a regular basis. To most business owners, that means updating their website. Most business owners don’t have the time to do that regularly, nor do they want to once they are happy with it.
Lucky for you, there is a way to provide fresh content to your readers on a regular basis. All you have to do is blog regularly (at least one or two times a month, if not more) and Google will take notice. The search engines are more likely to send people to websites that update their website by blogging.

If you truly want to outrank your competition, you have to listen to Google. It states that links and high-quality content are two of the most important things that you can do for SEO. The other one has to be keyword research. If you aren’t using the right keywords, nobody is going to find your site. However, once they are there, it is up to you to keep them there. If you give readers what they want (and quickly), they are more likely to spend time on your website, showing Google that your website should be shared with others. High-quality content, along with links, will do just that.

If you are concerned about your SEO and want to outrank your competition, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We can either design you a perfect website that the search engines will notice. If you already have one, we will edit it to make sure that it stands out above other ones. We work hard to drive free organic traffic to your website so you only have to worry about your business!