SEO STRATEGIST CHICAGO

SEO strategy, these are your goals.

There is no such thing as one SEO strategy that applies to all websites. Your strategy should be adapted to your individual wishes and the goals of your website - whether short, medium or long term.

Is the goal of your website to sell products or to inform users?

Which keywords are really relevant for you?

Which personas are in your target group that you want to tap into?

These are important points that must appear in your strategy. When formulating your goals, make sure that your goals are SMART (specific, measurable, attractive, realistic & timed) and are backed up with KPIs.

SEO strategy, this is not just SEO.

Relying solely on SEO and traffic via organic search is no longer enough to get the maximum output these days. To do this, you should place yourself on all channels in online marketing that are conceivable for your site. The use of the synergy effects between the disciplines can bring further advantages for the profitability of your site. Although the effort for the channels is correspondingly high, the combination of SEO, SEA, content marketing and social media makes it much easier to achieve your goals.

SEO is now more than the combination of backlinks and placing keywords at important points on your site. So try not to lose touch here either and follow the latest approaches and trends.

SEO strategy, this is where you start.

Before you think about what your strategy should look like and what goals you are setting yourself, it is important to first get a precise overview of where your site is currently and which points you can already bet. The status quo gives you important insights and a lot of optimization potential, which can have a great effect with little effort. You also get a sensible basis on which to align your goals.

Another possibility for you and your site is to take a look at the competition - how fitting we have something for you here: Our SEO competition analysis! Alternatively, you can also carry out an SEO audit, in which you put your entire site through its paces in order to identify the corresponding potential for search engine optimization.

From status quo to strategy

Have you successfully gained insights from the checks and analyses? Well, then you should have found an overview of the performance and the status of your website as well as points that need optimization. You should include this in your SEO strategy so that this potential can also be used. Depending on the impact of the points, they of course play a different role in your SEO strategy. In addition to making the biggest changes, make sure not to neglect smaller, but still effective, optimizations. An example: In addition to changing the structure of the page, a snippet optimization of threshold keywords can also make sense. The result can be influenced here with two different points.

Nevertheless, the biggest problems that you have uncovered should also appear primarily in the SEO strategy as optimization points.

What does the perfect SEO strategy look like?

As mentioned above, there is no such thing as one SEO strategy that can be used for all websites. In order to give you an approximate overview, however, I will show you a few points below that you should consider in your SEO strategy.

1. SEO in terms of content

Search engine optimization in terms of content is primarily about optimizing the content and content of your site. Your keywords are fundamentally important for this.

But before you start optimizing your content, you should find out the keywords that are really relevant for you. In other words: For which keywords do you want to be found and what are your potential customers looking for? Basically, after your research, you should have keywords that explain your site and that you are already familiar with. If you need help finding keywords, you can read Felix ‘blog post on how to find keywords successfully.

If you are clear about which keywords are the right ones for you and have assigned them to the corresponding pages, I recommend that you pursue the following three points:

Optimization of title and description

All you need is: little effort and good luck! By changing the snippets, success can usually be achieved in the short term, as these are a ranking criterion for Google. Try to pinpoint the user's intention here and highlight your advantages! Here Felix gives you valuable tips on how to create the perfect snippet. The optimization is most worthwhile, for example, if your page is already scratching the top 10 ranking. With small adjustments you can get to the front positions with a neat snippet.

If you have generally not yet focused on optimizing snippets, you should definitely include this as an important point. Make sure that you optimize your snippet to the focus keyword of the corresponding page. Also, make sure that no other pages rank for this keyword so that the website doesn't block itself.

Creation of high quality content

"Content is King" - this statement is often used to point out the relevance and importance of content marketing. High-quality texts and content are fundamentally important for the success of websites, because this is what makes good rankings possible.

SEO strategy: content search engine optimization - copywriting

Make sure that your content is of high quality and that it covers the needs of the users!

At the beginning it is of course always easiest to start where content is already available. Just try to optimize it based on the potentials that you have identified in your research. Clues that show you that your content is not yet sufficient can be, for example, bad user signals, such as low interaction with your page or high bounce rates. Therefore, critically question the content from the point of view of your users, who do not know their way around and find their way around as well as you as the person responsible for the site.

So make sure that you really make all the necessary content available to the user. Incomplete pages or missing information put the user off. Ask yourself whether your content is already tailored to the search intent of the users. Ultimately, you write the content for your users and not for yourself or Google.

When optimizing, it makes sense to start with your core topics on which your page is based. If these have already been optimized, you can deal with the sub-topics. As with the headings, I recommend that you strictly adhere to the keyword focus so that the same content cannot be found on several pages.

Clear heading structure

In order to find your way around your site more easily, it is helpful that you do not create text wastes, but rather use short, clear sections of text with meaningful headings. The advantages that you have from this are, on the one hand, the easier reading flow for users. On the other hand, it makes it easier for search engine bots to rate your site correctly. I always recommend using questions that the user asks about the topic. Starting with the most important question sorted in descending order of relevance. Luisa has already written a blog post on the subject of "SEO & Headings" if you need further help here.

2. Technical search engine optimization

In addition to content search engine optimization or content SEO, technical optimization is another point where improvements often result in positive results. In addition to loading time and mobile optimization, the structure of your page also plays a major role here.

Mobile first

The effects on the rankings through technical optimization are enormous nowadays. That's why you shouldn't leave this point out of your SEO strategy. The most important points that I can recommend to you are the optimization for the mobile display, since Google now also relies on "mobile first" and penalizes sites that do not perform well on the move. In order to optimize your site on mobile devices, your design and content should be adapted accordingly.

Loading time

The loading time of a page has been a ranking criterion for Google for some time. If you have found in your analysis that your site is significantly slower compared to the competition, you should take appropriate measures. Above all, the optimization of the image sizes, which account for a large part of the loading time, and the need for a cache should be mentioned here. Tools (e.g. PageSpeed ​​Insights from Google or WebPageTest) and plugins (e.g. WP Rocket for WordPress sites) that can take on these tasks can help you.

Page structure

In order to be able to index your site at all, the search engine bot has to crawl your site. So that there are no complications, you should make sure that you have a clear structure. To help orderly directories which, combined with good internal links, make crawling easier. In your SEO strategy, you should avoid creating unnecessary pages or having too many subdirectories. Therefore, ask critically whether the new page really makes sense and where you can classify it.

With crawlers like Ryte or the Screaming Frog, you can get a good overview of how your page is currently structured, whether pages are currently not accessible via links and how clear your website actually is.

3. Use untapped potential

Finally, another point that you should consider in your SEO strategy: expansion. By this I mean, above all, the exploitation of previously unused potential. Create pages on topics that are not yet on your site. This could be, for example, new category pages based on keywords that have not yet appeared on your page. You can find out these unused keywords through keyword research or competitor analysis.

For a better understanding, the following example: If I had an online shop for technology & PCs, I would of course first of all create category pages for the most important keywords (e.g. "Buy a laptop" or "Brand XY laptop"). If these pages have enough content, I can now create even more specific landing pages for keywords that were not covered in the first step. As long as there are corresponding products that match, keywords such as "gaming laptop under 1000 €" or "laptop battery" can also be included.

Category optimization has the highest transactional impact on your site. Because here the intention to buy is clear. If you want to pick up users earlier in the customer journey, you can also use information-oriented content to ensure that potential customers come to the site earlier. In a guidebook or magazine I would then cover topics such as “Difference between laptop and notebook” or “Comparison of operating systems”. These pages would not be as transactional as the category keywords, but they still affect the visibility of the page and can attract important users to your page.

If you have the opportunity to expand your product portfolio, this would also be a useful way to make the site better. Make sure, however, that these fit your previous portfolio and offer. In the example given with the online shop for technology & PCs, you could now also offer the user printers or cameras, which can then serve as an upselling opportunity for you.

Attention: If you find it difficult to reach the top positions, you can concentrate on smaller keywords first. These niche or long-tail keywords usually have less competition and the top positions are therefore often easier to reach.

SEO strategy, is that just on my side?

As already written above, the sole focus on SEO is not enough for me nowadays to reach all users of your target group. In your SEO strategy, try to use the potential that lies in other media. With elements such as checklists, podcasts or videos, you are more likely to attract the user's attention and thus reach more people in your target group. Feel free to be creative here, but make sure that the media used also suit your site.

SEO strategy, preferably immediately!

SEO measures take time. Don't expect significant changes too quickly.

An important virtue to keep in mind in your SEO strategy is patience. Many measures take time before they are noticed by Google and the corresponding changes become visible here. It is not easy to simply win, especially with highly competitive keywords. For the impatient, I recommend the article on the topic: "How long does SEO take?"

SEO Strategy, Will It Last Forever?

Clearly: No! The strategy for your search engine optimization has to be constantly adapted and revised, because the basis of your site is also constantly changing. Thanks to Google, SEO will also continue to develop. This is precisely why it is important to stay on the ball and regularly to critically question your own steps and, if necessary, to adjust or even reverse the changes in order to attract new users to your site.

If you need help with your individual strategy or are simply looking for a sparring partner who can support you in your project, please do not hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to put this theory into practice with you.