SEO Marketing In 2023: The Ultimate Guide – Forbes Advisor - Forbes
SEO marketing is a term that you might hear a lot about as you develop a web presence. You want people to find your website with its products and services but this doesn't just happen. You have to work at building a site that is liked by the search engines. But how you do this is no easy task and you can test many strategies before you implement the SEO marketing strategy that works for you. This article will review what SEO marketing is, how it works and what you can do to win at the SEO game.
What Is SEO Marketing?
The term SEO stands for search engine optimization. When you type something into Google, you get a series of results that are relevant to your search. These are called search engine results pages or SERPs. The goal of SEO marketing is to be in the top three, if not the top, SERPs. This means that Google feels that you have the best content to answer the question in the search query, which in turn results in successful SEO marketing.
In short, the goal of SEO marketing is to utilize strategies that tell Google that your content has the best answers for popular search questions. When people go to Google, they want answers. An effective SEO marketing strategy helps the search engine see that your content is the most informative and thus the best. This means that Google will then highlight your work by putting it at the top of search results or using snippets in the "people also ask" (PAA) sections on a SERP. If you want to be seen, an effective SEO marketing campaign lets Google recognize your content to then highlight it to those making Google queries.
How Do Search Engines Work?
Search engines are complex information sorters. They use web crawlers to scan hundreds of billions of pages of content to sort that content and index it into useful results pages. The web crawlers are called bots or spiders. The search engine takes the pages it crawls and downloads them. It also discovers new content as it indexes new pages and sites.
On each page, the bots gather pertinent information about the content. What are the keywords? It defines the type of content so that the search engine can present the right type of content contingent on the search parameters. In other words, it categorizes content by user intent.
For example, someone searching for "restaurants near me" is likely looking for somewhere to eat, not a recipe guide. This means that the SERP will feature places to eat or reviews of nearby eateries. It won't go down the rabbit hole of providing recipes in the SERP.
Another thing that the bots look for is the freshness of the page. Search engines want updated data and don't want to reward old pages that may be out of date. So it aims to identify either new pages or updated pages where old content has been reviewed and edited. Another component that the search engines seek is user engagement. If readers respond to your content, the content must be helpful. The search engines reward pages with a lot of user content.
SEO vs. SEM Marketing
To better understand the differences between SEO and SEM marketing, let's define the terms. As already explained, SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the process of getting your content to rank on search engines. SEM, meanwhile, is search engine marketing, which is the process of getting views to your content through paid searches. Organic means that you were found in the SERP as an unpaid top result, which is SEO marketing. But you can also pay the search engine to feature your content as a paid ad or result. This is SEM marketing.
Both of these terms are often confused and used interchangeably. But the key is one is organic and one is paid. Don't confuse organic with not putting a budget together to accomplish your marketing goals. You'll still be paying for the SEO research that will help you build your content. You just won't be paying the search engine itself to feature the content. Instead, you're paying your content team to develop SERP-winning content.
Why Is SEO Marketing Important?
The bottom line is that SEO marketing is important because it makes your content visible. By being visible, people learn and trust your brand. This improves your ability to sell your products and services because you have built trust by making your brand a top result. Since the goal of SEO marketing is to get people to click onto your website, you're getting more visibility to your company when you have effective SEO campaigns.
Here are some key benefits of an SEO marketing campaign:
- It is a low-cost way to get eyes to your business's website
- When done right, it delivers a great return on investment
- SEO research provides actionable data that you can use in developing or updating content
- Winning in the SERPs helps you build credibility and trust with your audience
- It attracts relevant users because people are finding you after entering in a specific search term or question
Remember that the goal of SEO marketing is to win SERPs. You want to be the top listing because that is the listing the searchers will most likely click on. You at least want to be on the first page because people may click on several sites in the SERPs but they don't often go to the second or third page to check on more results. They usually find what they're looking for on the first SERP. This is why you want your SEO to be effective.
4 Types of SEO Marketing
There isn't just one way to do SEO. You can implement one or more of the types of SEO strategies into your website to give your content a better chance of ranking on the SERPs. Let's look at four different types of SEO strategies that you can implement.
1. On-Page SEO
As the name suggests, on-page SEO uses keyword elements directly on the page to help users properly find and use the information you provide. It helps people navigate the website in a useful way. On-page SEO involves several key components.
The key components to on-page SEO include:
- Title tag: This is a shortened version of your page's title. Ideally, it should be less than 60 characters long, and should include your primary keyword, possibly your secondary keyword and your brand's name. This is how the title appears in SERPs and is a fundamental way that people choose your content to view.
- Meta description: The meta description is a short summary of the content on the page you are referencing. It should be less than 160 characters so that it can be fully read when you see it in the SERP. It generally tells readers what to expect from the article and gives them a reason to click. The meta description should contain your primary keyword or a synonym.
- Images: Your content should have at least one image that is optimized with its description. The description should include a keyword. You will also want to include alt text on the image, which is a description of the image.
- URL: The URL is the web address of the page. You should keep it simple and avoid numbers and dates. Instead, use a version of your title with each word separated by a hyphen. This makes it easy to read and identify.
- Internal linking: Internal links are hyperlinks that reference other content you have written on your website. It lets the search engines know that your content is part of a bigger relevant topic that you are an expert on. When creating the hyperlink, use a keyword as the anchor text. Don't use something such as "click here" as your anchor text as that isn't a natural way to introduce the topic.
- Content: This is the meat of the web page. It's the article you write. Use the keyword in the first 100 words and make sure the page is written with the search intent in mind. Use the keyword or synonyms throughout the content to help reinforce what the page is about. Make sure to use proper grammar and write the page so that it is understandable to a wide range of people and academic backgrounds.
2. Off-Page SEO
Any business loves getting referrals. Referrals mean people like and trust you and are satisfied when working with or buying from you. Think of off-page SEO as your referral program. This is an effective but sometimes difficult strategy to execute.
Off-page SEO occurs when other websites link to your content. It helps the search engines recognize that your content has authority since other websites trust the data enough to link to it. Many businesses work on off-page SEO by reaching out to other companies' web content and pointing them to relevant content on their own site.
However, this is what can make off-page SEO difficult. Other websites need to have a good reason to refer to your website. Note that paying other websites to link to you is done by some, but is considered a black hat technique, meaning it is frowned upon and can get penalized by Google if the tactic is recognized.
Besides getting backlinks from other websites to your content, another off-page strategy is getting online reviews for your company, products or services. This can be a formal review by another website or customer testimonials through third-party review sites such as a Google Business Profile or Yelp.
Another component of off-page SEO is brand signaling. This is when search engine users put your company name directly into the search query. It shows that people are looking for you and your brand and that your company is relevant.
3. Local SEO
Local SEO is especially important for small businesses looking to build a local brand within the community. It can be useful when someone is looking for a local ice cream shop or pet store. Local SEO is achieved through:
- Having your name, address and phone number (NAP) on every website page
- Including the business contact information in business directories such as the Chamber of Commerce or local business publications
- Ensuring NAP data is accurate on all pages, directories and social media
- Establishing and maintaining a Google Business Profile page
Local SEO helps you compete in your local marketplace. It tells searchers that you are an open and relevant company that consumers should use.
4. Technical SEO
Technical SEO has to do with how your website is built—the architecture of your website. Search engines want to recommend websites that are fast and reliable so that users can get answers quickly and reliably. The cornerstones of technical SEO are:
- Utilizing ways to increase your site's speed. This is how fast the page loads. You want the page to load within three seconds or faster.
- Rectifying site errors. Google doesn't want to send readers to a place where there are a lot of errors going on.
- Having a mobile-friendly website. A majority of readers view content on smartphones or tablets. You need to be mobile-friendly to rank well.
- Creating and maintaining a site map. This is what the search engine crawls and indexes.
- Eliminating and avoiding duplicate content.
How To Optimize Your Website for Search
Knowing that SEO is important to your online marketing efforts is one thing. Building an effective plan is another. Here are some fundamental strategic ways that you can optimize your website for search.
1. Properly Use Keywords
By now, you know that you should have keywords and use them on your web pages. But it's important to know where to put them so that you can maximize the juice you get from the search engines for your efforts.
The keyword should appear in the title tag at least once. This is what readers see when your article pops onto the search engine's results. You also want the keyword to be in your URL. This tells the search engine what your page is about. Include the keyword in the first 100 words of content. Some experts and tools such as Yoast prefer you to use the keyword in the first sentence. Either way, get to the point to tell readers what your article is about—the keyword.
Those are three key places to have the keyword. You'll also want to use it in the text throughout but try not to overuse it as that can be considered keyword stuffing. A best practice would be to include it five to seven times per thousand words.
2. Avoid Pogo-Sticking With Relevant Content
Pogosticking is when users come to your site and bounce off it quickly. Search engines know how long users stay on a site and give more credibility to those that keep readers on longer. It's more than just getting a click to your site that is important—you want to keep people on it.
If someone pogo-sticks on your site, that means they didn't find the answer they were looking for and they return to the search results to find a better resource. When this happens frequently to your site, search engines will push you down in the SERP rankings.
So how do you prevent pogo-sticking? You write content that meets the needs of the keywords. Don't beat around the bush and instead get to the point so that readers know you have relevant content and want to read more to find the answers they are looking for. For instance, you can make the content easy to read and more visually appealing by using bullet lists and headers to break up long passages of text.
3. Use Long-Tail Keywords To Enhance Ranking
Long-tail keywords take the keyword and expand it with a tail word or phrase. These keywords go a step further in search to specify exactly what users read. You can get a sense of long-tail keywords by typing in the keyword into the search query and seeing what other possible keywords populate in a drop-down list.
Incorporate long-tail keywords into the content to get better search results. By creating content that addresses long-tail keywords, you can ensure you are getting the specifics down that the reader wants to know about.
4. Eliminate Non-Performing Pages
Non-performing pages are often referred to as zombie pages, which simply exist but get no traffic. They don't help your site ranking because they are deemed to not have useful content on them, so it's ideal to get rid of them. This, in turn, will re-index your site on the search engine and help the search engine see that all of your content is relevant and helpful.
Use a tool such as Semrush to see what pages are getting traffic and which ones aren't. Prune your site of those that aren't doing anything for you. Search engines prefer a solid page of content that is relevant over many smaller pieces of content it can't categorize and deem useful.
5. Do an Industry Study To Get Backlinks
Remember that a backlink is a link coming from an outside website that recommends your site for content. It means that the website either used you as a source, or feels your website is a good source for further reading. But backlinks can be hard to get.
This is where doing an industry study can greatly help. When you conduct a study, you become an expert in the industry. The statistics you glean from the study can be used by others in the industry who will backlink to you as the source of the data. Though this may be time-consuming and may cost some money, it's worth it in the end to become a leader in industry data.
Bottom Line
In this day and age, you need to have more than just a website. You need a site that is recognized by search engines so that the search engines will promote you to readers. This is where SEO marketing comes into play and helps your content be defined as helpful and relevant to readers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the four types of SEO?
The four types of SEO are on-page SEO, off-page SEO, local SEO and technical SEO.
Can I do SEO on my own?
It is possible to do SEO on your own. However, you will want to have the right tools in place to help you get the right information about keywords and page traffic. Try a tool such as Semrush or Ahrefs.
How much should SEO cost me?
Expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per month for a third-party SEO company to provide you with data needed for small campaigns. Larger SEO campaigns may cost you upwards of $5,000 per month.
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