But with all we know about SEO myths, misunderstandings still abound. Let’s debunk a few of them to get a good idea of what SEO is — and what it isn’t.
The moment you stop your SEO tactics, everything you’ve achieved so far starts evaporating. (Image via Unsplash)
Myth #1: SEO guarantees top search engine rankings
Truth: While search engine optimization tactics can help you get to the first search engine results page (SERP), guarantees simply don’t exist. SEO is only one part of the SEM strategy. Without other components like pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, it’s hard to achieve tip-top results.
SEO is an ongoing process, which may take months to show any significant results. Even then, you may not get on top of the first SERP. However, with the right approach and a well-thought-out strategy, it’s possible to achieve high rankings.
Myth #2: Once you achieve desired results, SEO is complete
Truth: The SEO process is ongoing. The moment you stop your tactics, everything you’ve achieved so far starts evaporating.
SEO is like a muscle. As long as you keep at it consistently, it stays strong. Once you stop flexing it, the muscle mass begins losing strength — often faster than it was gained.
New SEO trends and updates appear almost every month. Without following them and adjusting your efforts accordingly, it’s impossible to maintain high rankings.
Myth #3: SEO is a cheating tactic
Truth: One of the most pervasive SEO myths is that search engine optimization is just a way to cheat Google so your website ends up on the first SERP. The fact is that there are certain “quick-win” tactics that people will use to try to leapfrog into higher results. These methods are referred to as black hat SEO, and their efficiency is quickly approaching zero.
Highly advanced Google algorithms can now identify black-hat techniques like keyword stuffing, poor content, broken links, and much more, rendering them nearly obsolete. What’s worse, employing these tricks may get your site penalized or have your pages disappear from results altogether. Basically, it’s not worth the risk.
After all, search engine optimization is about making your website highly valuable to your audience and leveraging ethical, white hat tactics. These include targeting a human audience, publishing images with alt tags, and following other suggested search engine guidelines.
Myth #4: SEO is cheap
Truth: Achieving top-notch results with little investment of budget or time is nearly impossible in most niches. SEO isn’t an exception. Search engine optimization requires continuous investment. Any solutions offering a high-impact return at a low price point (whether that means dollars or effort) are likely short-lived, ineffective, and often against guidelines.
As we mentioned, it can take time to see significant results with SEO. But by investing the time and money it takes to ensure your site is optimized, your content is high-quality, and your website as a whole can be viewed as trustworthy, you’ll be poised to see results that will be worth it.
Remember the muscle comparison: It’s impossible to get a huge bicep after two workouts, no matter how long and rigorous they are. (Image via Unsplash)
Myth #5: It takes forever to see SEO results
Truth: Speaking of time, the time it takes for SEO to start working depends on how you begin. If you already have a well-designed website, high-quality content, and a smart backlink strategy, the effect may become visible in a few weeks.
Some tactics that help you see fast results include using low competition keywords and optimizing metadata.
If you’re starting from scratch, that’s fine! Just manage expectations and don’t fall for the SEO myth of expecting results to be immediate. Remember the muscle comparison: It’s impossible to get a huge bicep after two workouts, no matter how long and rigorous they are.
Myth #6: SEO is all about keyword search
Truth: Some people believe that SEO boils down to doing a high-quality keyword search and sticking these keywords into the content on their websites.
While keywords and content are the pillars of SEO, they’re hardly the only components of the strategy. Search engine optimization works with website speed and design, backlinks, mobile-first indexing, social media, security, and much more.
Myth #7: Buying links boosts your ranking
Truth: Buying links is a black hat SEO technique, which is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. If you buy links, they may boost your rankings for a while. But eventually, the search engine will catch on and slap your website with a penalty.
Recovering from such a punishment may take months. It will also hurt your entire marketing strategy.
It’s worth noting that several legal ways to “buy” links exist. For example, paying a website for posting your content (guest post) with a link inside is perfectly within regulations. But keep in mind that you’ll be hard-pressed to find a respectable website that will post poor content, so you need to keep the quality high whether the content is on your site or another.
Myth #8: The more backlinks you have, the better
Truth: With backlinks, ignore SEO myths that say that quantity matters more than quality. Google focuses on the authority of the page that links to your website. Links from well-respected websites are much more powerful than links from no-name or spammy sources. The backlink should, of course, also be relevant to the content you’re posting.
SEO experts can devise strategies for garnering high-quality backlinks. While getting them might take time, one high-quality backlink can be more powerful than its 50 low-quality counterparts.
Myth #9: High-volume keywords are all you need for achieving high rankings
Truth: Sure, high-volume keywords are appealing to you… and everyone else in your industry. That’s why the competition for them is fierce. If you focus solely on these keywords, you’re more likely to get frustrated and have difficulty rising through the ranks.
Using high-volume keywords is an essential part of your SEO strategy, but it’s hardly the only one. Low competition and long-tail keywords could bring you impressive results as well, so try focusing on those. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Know how to spot SEO myths and misinformation so you know you’re on the right track. (Image via Unsplash)
Myth #10: Long content ranks better
Truth: Long content ranks better only if it’s valuable. If you can write a 500-word article full of high-quality information and include keywords organically, go for it. Google doesn’t check for the length of your content — it checks for relevancy and value.
Aiming for a higher word count could lead to adding fluff and making your articles downright boring, leading to a higher bounce rate. Sure, longer content has more room for internal links and keywords, but at the end of the day, it’s about how valuable the content is, regardless of the length.
Pro tip: Though there’s no magic SEO word count you want to hit, it’s worth noting that you want to steer clear from thin content. This type of content is defined as “content that has little or no value to the user,” according to Yoast. They add that Google considers low-quality affiliate pages and those very little or no content as thin content pages.
The takeaway
Search engine optimization is a complex marketing strategy. To understand how it works, you need to be able to see through the common myths. If you’re trying to implement SEO tactics on your own, you want to be careful with the information you use as guidelines so you know you’re on the right track.
Many SEO myths stem from the lack of knowledge about the latest updates. Staying on top of the current SEO trends and exploring Google algorithms can help achieve the results you seek.
Need help creating a top-notch myth-free SEO strategy? Let’s chat.
Sam Yadegar
Sam Yadegar is the co-founder and CEO of HawkSEM. Starting out as a software engineer, his penchant for solving problems quickly led him to the digital marketing world, where he has been helping clients for over 12 years. He loves doing everything he can to help brands "crush it" through ROI-driven digital marketing programs. He's also a fan of basketball and spending time with his family.
Questions or comments? Join the conversation here!
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It’s like the age-old saying goes: An SEO pro’s work is never done.
OK, so maybe we made that up, but the sentiment holds true. With the ever-changing algorithm and advances in tech, optimizing your website for search engine results is (and should be) an ongoing process.
The good news? There are SEO best practices you can start putting into place now that’ll set you up for success months and even years down the road. These methods will not only help ensure you’ve got top-notch SEO, but they’ll add value to your overall brand while helping illustrate to prospects and users that your company is one they can trust.
SEO includes both on-page (elements on your own website) and off-page (which comprises things like backlinks and social media) optimization. While you have more control over your on-page SEO, there are things you can do for both categories to ensure your site is getting as much exposure as possible.
Let’s dive in.
It’s a good idea to give your website a “wellness check” once a year at least. (Image via Unsplash)
1. Plan for regular “wellness checks”
There are multiple factors that go into making sure your site is optimized for the search engine results page (SERP). That’s why it’s a good idea to give your website a “wellness check” once a year at least.
As we’ve mentioned before, you can seek out a website grader tool that’ll instantly tell you how your site’s SEO stacks up.
During this SEO wellness check, you’ll want to check for things like:
Page titles (ideally 70 characters or less)
A site map for easy navigation
Relevant meta descriptions (ideally 300 characters or less)
Headings and subheadings on blogs and other pages
Dead-end pages (broken links that route to empty 404 pages)
There are other technical elements of your site that can affect SEO. Things like page load speeds, your domain’s security (especially if people log in or are asked to submit their info on places like landing pages), and compressed media files all go into managing a top-notch site.
2. Conduct a content audit
There’s no single “right” way to conduct a content audit. The aim of this practice is to analyze your content. With an audit, you can identify old posts, high-performing pieces, duplicate content, and everything in between.
Creating a spreadsheet is the easiest way to conduct an organized content audit. This spreadsheet should have categories for:
Content title
Content type
Author
Date published
Keywords
Meta description
URL
Word count
Traffic
You can uncover lots of insightful SEO data through this type of audit. It’ll show you which content could use a refresh, which pieces need to be optimized, any duplicate content that could hurt your SERP ranking, and which pieces aren’t getting you any traffic whatsoever. This will also help you identify top traffic drivers that you’ll want to work to expand upon or replicate.
If you have a high volume of content (and not a lot of time to gather this info manually), you can use Google Analytics or SEMRush to help you gather the URLs and other info you need to perform the audit.
Pro tip: A content audit can also help identify topic gaps you can fill via new content. Which topics related to your business have you not covered? Which related topics are your competitors outranking you for? Often, these chosen topics relate to the products or services your business offers. Narrow them down, then use a tool like Google Keyword Planner to determine the popularity and competition for these keywords.
3. Create (or update) your content strategy
The best content strategy is one that’s not set in stone. Here’s why: The more you create content, the more data you can gather, the more topics you can cover, and the more opportunity you have to optimize your site for search engines.
Your content strategy serves as a high-level look at your content goals and how you plan to achieve them. Plus, it’s one of the most effective SEO best practices you can adopt.
Whether you create a doc, a slideshow, or go old-school with pen and paper, your content strategy should include:
Goals
Key performance indicators
Target personas
Tactics
Creation process
Projects
Your strategy could also map out how often you plan to publish content. Some content strategies even include content creation checklists to ensure each published piece is optimized before it goes live.
Optimized content has elements such as:
Subheadings
Title tags
Internal and external links
Meta descriptions
Sentences and paragraphs that are easy to digest
Images with alt text
By providing proper attribution, you can effectively illustrate why this person is the authority on whatever topic they’re writing about. (Image via Unsplash)
4. Prioritize E-A-T
These days, Google’s algorithm is all about authenticity. These parameters have been dubbed this E-A-T: expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. The sites with credible content created by trustworthy authors move up in the rankings, while those without the right credentials get left in the dust.
By providing proper attribution — say, giving the blog writer a byline at the top of the post and a photo with a short bio at the bottom — you can effectively illustrate why this person is the authority on whatever topic they’re writing about.
When it comes to trustworthiness, ask yourself if your overall site looks trustworthy, if there are quality backlinks related to this topic, and whether or not the reader has a reason to trust that the author knows what they’re talking about. If you answer “yes” to all, then you’ll know you’re covered.
5. Embrace video content
Video is fast becoming a highly effective content tool, and it’s a great way to increase page time and boost engagement. TechCrunch reports that, by 2021, a whopping 82 percent of all consumer IP traffic will be video.
But once your video content is good to go, don’t forget to optimize it. You can optimize your videos by following SEO best practices such as:
Choosing an engaging thumbnail image
Creating a thoughtful title and meta description
Optimizing the page the video is hosted on
Investing in paid ads for promotion
Including captions within your video
6. Prioritize mobile-first indexing
The masterminds at Google rolled out mobile-first indexing in the spring of 2018. Before this, Google was crawling and ranking the desktop version of a website.
But with the increasing rate at which people are searching for things on their cellphones, it became clear that using the mobile version would be the best way to help the majority of their users ensure they’re getting the best results.
So, what does this mean for you? Your site has to look sharp on mobile to rank well. That means no wonky formatting, no slow page loads, and no weird margins that make reading or scrolling nearly impossible.
Do a spot check on your pages by pulling them up on your mobile device to see how they’re rendering. If you don’t have a mobile-responsive site, it will continue to pull your desktop version, but this leaves you more prone to a sub-par user experience and search engine results page (SERP) ranking.
7. Make sure your site is up to speed
Speed is a vital part of following SEO best practices. Even though research shows that people will bounce from a site within about 10 seconds or so if you don’t catch their attention, many sites still suffer from slow page-load times.
Images and video are two features that can affect page speed since these tend to be larger files. More — and larger — files mean more HTTP requests, which means more load time.
Make sure the files you’re uploading aren’t bigger than necessary (they don’t need to be magazine-quality high-res photos to look good on your site). And consider enabling compression, so your files are compressed (aka smaller) and take less time to load.
Enabling browser caching can also help, as this means the page isn’t loading completely from scratch each time it’s visited.
Data also shows that images with descriptive captions — like, ahem, this one — perform even better. (Image via Unsplash)
8. Don’t underestimate good visuals
Visuals don’t just catch the reader’s eye — they help bring your content to life. Our experts recommend using at least two images per blog post, whether that means photographs, well-designed infographics, or something else.
But don’t just slap a couple of free stock images into your copy and call it a day. The images you choose should make sense for the topic you’re covering, and the look should feel in line with your brand, even if you’re using stock imagery.
By now, you probably know what’s coming next: optimizing!
Once you’ve found some high-quality photos and compressed them to the proper size to keep your page speedy and your formatting on point, make sure to include proper alt text that corresponds to the image. This is what will show up if someone has images disabled on their device, or potentially if they hover their mouse over the image. Data also shows that images with descriptive captions perform even better.
9. Monitor your reviews
Brand sentiment is part of what the algorithm takes into consideration — not only for Google but for other review sites like Facebook as well. Because of this, it’s important to keep a close eye on your reviews across various sites, and even consider setting up alerts so you’re notified daily or as soon as a new one hits.
Negative reviews should be publicly addressed, if possible, as long as the comment seems authentic and not like spam (you should be able to tell the difference). Do what you can to turn this disgruntled customer’s opinion around — it could be as easy as:
Offering a refund
Getting them on the phone with a customer service rep to sort out an issue
Talking to them when they’re less fired up, reminding them there are people behind your brand
Apologizing for a miscommunication, misunderstanding or mixup, which could result in the person deleting their negative review entirely
But don’t just respond to the negative reviews — SEO best practices suggest acknowledging and thanking someone for a positive review makes your happy client feel seen and valued. And, as we know, word of mouth is one of the most effective marketing tools around.
10. Keep featured snippets in mind
It seems like featured snippets (also known as answer boxes) are all the rage in SEO these days. Featured snippets are usually found in the space between paid search ads and ranked results, sometimes accompanied by an image or video.
Featured snippets are a SERP feature that often shows up when someone asks a question in the search box — the snippet result usually includes what the algorithm deems the most relevant answer.
Similarly, Google’s Knowledge Graph panel boxes will often appear on the SERP when you search for people, places, and things. It can be tough to get a featured snippet or knowledge panel spot, so see what those who land those spots are doing and how you can emulate them in a way that makes sense for your business.
11. Look into structured data
Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex banded together to create a structured data language called Schema that helps search engines understand what a post is about.
Schema is a type of vocabulary with tags you can add to the HTML markup of your web pages and emails. One of the biggest benefits to Schema is that it can enhance the snippets that appear below your page title on the SERP. It allows you to add enriching content like a publish date or rating, rather than simply the meta description.
Backlinks are like endorsements — they help illustrate to Google that your site is legitimate and valuable. (Image via Unsplash)
12. Own and manage your backlinks
Oh, backlinks — so valuable and yet so elusive. While there’s no real shortcut to getting quality backlinks, by putting in the work, it’s still possible to begin seeing SEO-boosting results. The first step is to measure up your site’s current backlinks, then compare the results with those of your competitors.
Sites that will link to your competitors are likely to link to you as well — if your content is optimized, high-quality, and relevant (it’s also a good idea to link to relevant, high-authority sites). When reaching out about backlink opportunities, it’s key to prioritize personalization, show the value you’re offering, and focus on building a relationship with this business, not just asking for a favor out of the blue.
There’s no secret to getting good quality backlinks, but some ways you can encourage backlinks to your site include:
Publishing unique stats, research, or findings
Guest blogging on other sites
Leveraging industry influencers
Reaching out to sites with directories (like a site’s resources page)
Take things to the next level by partnering with other high-authority brands upfront during the creation process — they’ll feel more involved and may be more likely to link to the post once it’s live.
13. Stay in the SEO best practices loop
The rules surrounding SEO best practices are ever-evolving. Because of that, keeping up with the latest updates and changes can seem like its own full-time job. That’s where an SEO newsletter comes in. Instead of taking the time to research, you can work smarter (not harder) and let the latest news come straight to your inbox instead.
There are plenty of SEO newsletters to choose from, and you may even be able to find one that applies specifically to your industry. Moz Top 10 is a popular newsletter that sends out the 10 most valuable pieces of SEO content every two weeks. The newsletters from Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal are worth subscribing to as well. (P.S. Hawk has one, too!)
14. Keep an eye on voice search
Forbes predicted that voice search would encompass half of all online searches by 2020. The appeal of being able to search without using a screen is understandable — you can get answers and find information while doing other activities like cooking or driving.
The concept isn’t new, but household technology devices like Google Home have taken the trend to a whole new level.
Optimizing your site for voice search is a whole ‘nother ball game — but it can be done. Along with ensuring it loads quickly, you can optimize for voice search by:
Making sure your site is mobile responsive
Including longtail, natural-sounding keywords
Prioritizing featured snippets
Keeping copy concise and digestible
Having strong local SEO (like a thorough and accurate Google My Business Page)
While the voice-search space is still developing, early results show that prioritizing this search type can yield better brand awareness, revenue, and more.
15. Track your progress
Having goals is only half the battle — you also need to be tracking your progress. This keeps you on the right path and can shine a light on how and when you should be iterating your processes.
Keep an eye on your monthly ranking status and any new backlinks you accrue. This also allows you to quickly see when to disavow links that might be spam, which can hurt your SEO status. Disavowing a link basically tells Google to ignore the link in connection to your site.
You can even monitor website speed as you add new content. Being able to evaluate your progress and efforts is key to your SEO success.
The takeaway
The algorithm’s goal is to help people find answers and resources they need. By implementing the above SEO best practices, not only will your site become easier to find, but you’ll be able to better connect with users and customers who can benefit from what you have to offer.
Whether you’re fine-tuning your current strategy or starting from scratch, now is a great time to assess your goals, evaluate your current practices, and implement a stellar SEO plan.
Want even more expert tips to up your SEO game? Let’s chat.
This article has been updated and was originally published in September 2019.
Caroline Cox
Caroline is HawkSEM's content marketing manager. She uses her more than 10 years of professional writing and editing experience to create SEO-friendly articles, educational thought leadership pieces, and savvy social media content to help market leaders create successful digital marketing strategies. She's a fan of seltzer water, print magazines, and huskies.
Questions or comments? Join the conversation here!
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Everything you need to know about search engine optimization
Here, you’ll find:
What search engine optimization (SEO) is
Why SEO is an important part of digital marketing
What makes up a good SEO strategy
SEO trends worth keeping an eye on
It’s no secret that, in today’s digital marketing landscape, it’s all about the search engine. Whether you rely on organic reach or leverage paid ads, getting on page 1 of the search engine results page (SERP) is always the goal.
But it doesn’t come easy. The algorithm changes often, and new competitors can crop up anytime. Having a site that’s optimized for search engines can be the game-changing factor that helps your brand stand out.
For the full 411 on SEO, let’s dive in.
What is SEO?
The point of SEO is to rank organically for relevant searches to your website without having to pay for ads. As we’ve mentioned before, following SEO best practices helps ensure your site is set up for success. These strategies also add value to your overall brand while showing prospects and users that your company is one they can trust.
One of the most effective SEO methods is to publish well-written, original content that can inform people or answer their questions. Unfortunately, SEO isn’t quite as simple as that, and just having quality content is only scratching the surface.
What is “the algorithm” and how does it affect SEO?
Google (along with all other search engines, such as Bing) has an algorithm that takes hundreds to thousands of different aspects into consideration when a user enters keywords or a query into the search bar.
That’s why, when we say “search engine optimization,” we’re talking about setting up your site to show search engines that your brand is relevant, trustworthy, and legitimate in relation to your industry.
Paid and organic search results on the SERP for a query about creating a gallery wall
You can learn about the process and guidelines Google adheres to make sure their algorithm “meet high standards of relevance and quality” here. However, search engines keep marketers on their toes by regularly rolling out tweaks and updates without much (or any) advanced notice.
Since it launched, Google has gone from making only a handful of algorithm updates every now and then to rolling out thousands of changes each year. These updates come with varying levels of impact on the search engine results page, or SERP — according to Search Engine Journal.
Because of this, it’s worth your time to focus on white-hat, long-game SEO techniques rather than trying to game the system through black-hat “quick wins.” The latter may get your site penalized down the line (more on that below).
Key factors that help determine which results will appear for your query are:
Meaning of your query
Relevance of web pages
Content quality
Usability of web pages
Context and settings
How to start your SEO off on a clean slate
Whether your site is brand-now or has been around for a decade or more, it’s never too late to put good SEO practices in place. Even if everything looks fine and dandy, websites can have hidden technical errors. These may not appear or be visible to the end user, but Google’s crawlers can detect it in the website’s code. Depending on the issue, this could cause your site to get penalized.
Put simply: If too many “red flags” exist on a site, Google will value it less than a competitor’s site. Because of this, your site may not rank well despite having original, informative, and high-quality content.
Other issues Google dings your site for include:
404 error pages (aka broken links)
Missing or duplicate meta tags
Duplicate content
Pagination issues (such as too many indexable URLs)
A 404 error page from Mailchimp
To avoid Google undervaluing your site, making sure it’s “clean” is an important first step. Once you have a solid base to build off of, you can focus on content strategy and creation, links, schema markup, and other optimizations.
This stage can be time-consuming. You may want to look into having your developer crawl the site and conduct a wellness check or getting an SEO audit from a marketing agency.
SEO through quality content
Whether your business is e-commerce, financial services, or something in between, having well-written content on your site is beneficial for so many reasons. Not only does it strengthen your SEO, but it can educate your audience, show that you’re a thought leader in your industry, and help attract more visitors to your brand.
Determining the keywords you want to cover through content
Deciding the best brainstorming, writing, and editing process
Prioritizing promotion
Regularly analyzing performance
If you want your content to help boost your SEO, it’s important to pay attention to grammar and spelling. One way to think of it is: If an English teacher were to grade your website like a paper, would they give you an A, or an F? Google’s algorithm will read your content like an English teacher, and will also grade it (to a degree).
Once you’ve determined your relevant keywords and search terms, it’s time to work on creating the content. At the beginning of the writing process, think about how your content can answer questions of who, what, where, when, and why.
A content calendar example from a SaaS company
Pro tip: When creating content, avoid keyword stuffing. This practice of over-inserting the keyword you’re trying to rank for is frowned upon. Plus, Google can recognize when someone is clearly mentioning a search term repeatedly and downgrade your ranking.
Once you feel confident about your content output and strategy, it’s wise to plan on regular content audits. This will allow you to identify old posts, high-performing pieces, and other content-related factors that will impact SEO.
Search engines favor new, robust content. By continuing to optimize pages, you can benefit from the long history attached to a URL while making sure the info on your site is timely, accurate, and up to date.
What are some stats on SEO?
More than 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product while conducting a search on their smartphone.
72% of consumers say search is their first choice to find information on local merchants.
Today, more people use search engines to find products or services than any other marketing channel.
On average, B2B buyers conduct up to 12 searches before engaging with a brand.
Google has more than 92% of the search engine market share worldwide.
61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority.
As Moz explains, meta tags provide information about the webpage in its HTML. This info is dubbed “metadata.” While it’s not visible to your readers, it’s key nonetheless. Meta tags live in a page’s source code, and it’s used to tell search engines what a page is all about.
How meta titles and meta descriptions look when creating content about performing a site migration in WordPress with the Yoast SEO plugin
Having pages with proper meta tags (which includes a title and description that accurately represent the page’s content) can impact not only the ranking of your page, but your clickthrough rate (CTR) and bounce rates as well.
When the preview for a page is accurate and lines up with the page’s content, those in search of what you’re offering already have a good idea of what they’re going to get from that particular page.
Header tags
No matter how high quality the content or well designed the page, if your site features large blocks of plain text, you’re in danger of having eyes glaze over and people bouncing from your page. Much like the metadata, header tags (the most common being H1, H2, and H3) serve as a kind of outline or table of contents for each page. See that “Header tags” line above? It’s an H3 header tag.
These tags also serve to emphasize what a paragraph or section will be about. This makes it easy for readers to scroll to the parts of your page that particularly interest them. Header tags are tied to SEO because search engines can weigh these headings and subheadings more than the paragraph copy in terms of importance.
If your blog title is H1, your headings are H2, and your subheadings are H3, they’ll be prioritized in that same order when it comes to the search engine. Also worth noting: While header tags extend to H6, most sites stick with H1-H3.
Backlinking
Linking is an incredibly important aspect to cultivating SEO that ranks you well. Having high-quality, highly relevant backlinks (which are links from another domain to yours) tells search engines that other sites trust yours, so end users probably can as well.
We’ve talked before about more backlinks (also called inbound links) from credible sites help you rank higher on the SERP. Think of backlinks like endorsements. They’re used to let Google know your site is valuable and legitimate.
You can encourage backlinks to your site by:
Publishing unique statistics, survey data, or other exclusive info
Writing guest blogs or being quoted on other credible websites
Partnering with influencers in your industry
Reaching out directly to sites you want backlinks on
When it comes to reaching out, there’s no magic formula. And, like SEO itself, it takes time. Your best bet, when cold-emailing another brand to request a backlink, is to keep the message short, make it personalized, and highlight the benefit for their site, not yours.
For example, if you find a well-known industry site is using outdated stats or content that you happen to have an up-to-date version of, send it to them and see if they’ll replace the older link.
Disavowing links
Not all backlinks are good, however. Spammy or “toxic” backlinks can lower your site’s domain authority and your rating. In turn, this lowers how trustworthy your site appears. If there are a bunch of spammy sites linking to yours, Google will treat your site as a terrible one as well. Consider it a “guilty by association” mindset.
Luckily, there are steps you can take to prevent low-quality sites from tanking your SEO rep. Disavowing these toxic sites (which tells Google not to associate these links with your website) is key to maintaining a higher standing with Google.
While external linking is important, internal linking shouldn’t be overlooked. Linking from your own pages to other pages on your site is beneficial in Google’s eyes. It can also be helpful to the end user as well (which, really, is a big reason why search engines value internal links).
Pro tip: When it comes to disavowing backlinks, Google warns that this advanced feature should be used with caution and only in cases where the link is sure to reflect negatively on your site. “If used incorrectly,” Google explains, “this feature can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google’s search results.”
Schema markup, structured data & rich snippets
Schema is a structured data vocabulary created by the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex). Structured data is what helps these search engines better understand and define what a post or page is about.
This special language can be added to an HTML markup as code to enhance the snippets that appear below your content on the SERP. With schema markup, you can add elements like a publish date, event schedule, or product rating. It can improve your SEO and CTR by adding context to your pages, thus helping you rank better.
Google’s structured data markup helper tool
This additional content is referred to as “rich snippets.” If a normal snippet merely includes the URL, title tag, and meta description, any additional info is considered a rich snippet.
You can add schema markup to your pages by visiting schema.org, selecting the type of markup that you want to use, and adding the code to your page. If you publish on a site like WordPress, you can add this data via plugins in a snap. Once added, you can test that the structured data was set up properly via Google’s structured data testing tool.
Pro tip: While adding structured data to your pages can boost SEO, adding it doesn’t guarantee that will show up on the SERP, even if you’ve followed all of the steps correctly.
What is local SEO?
HubSpot defines local SEO as a way to help businesses “promote their products and services to local prospects and customers. To gather information for local search, search engines rely on signals such as local content, social profile pages, links, and citations to provide the most relevant local results to the user.”
“Near me” searches, or searches based around a local city or region, are extremely popular these days. In fact, 80% of consumers use search for local information. However, location-based searches are treated slightly differently than a standard search. If you own a local business, have a local blog, et cetera, then you’ll want to keep local SEO in mind.
One way to do this is by making sure your site is optimized for Google My Business (GMB). This search engine feature aims to show that a business is relevant and authentic. As a bonus, GMB-optimized businesses may show up as a pullout sidebar on the SERP, giving your biz that much more exposure.
How HawkSEM’s Google My Business page looks on the SERP
Optimizing for Google My Business entails:
Creating a verified GMB page for your company
Garnering authentic online reviews from customers
Responding to these reviews using location-based info
Using Google Posts in your account (which allow you to share news and messages on your GMB page)
Other ways to optimize for local SEO include publishing location-specific content, adding separate location pages to your site (if your brand has locations in multiple cities), and making sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) info is consistent and accurate across the web.
Accelerated mobile pages
The majority of searches are now done on mobile devices. In fact, Google rolled out mobile-first indexing in the spring of 2018 to take precedence over its traditional desktop index. Because of this, it’s crucial for your SEO to make sure all of your pages are mobile friendly.
Created by Google and Twitter, accelerated mobile pages (AMP) are a critical part of Google’s mobile approach. AMPs feature a more minimalist, stripped-down HTML version of a webpage for quick loading and easy access on mobile devices.
It’s up to you whether or not AMPs are worth it for your business. While they may receive a favorable ranking on the SERP, these pages often don’t have as many elements or designs as regular pages.
Since AMPs don’t appear to be going away anytime soon, it’s worth it to at least explore your options when it comes to enhancing your AMP content for Google Search and customizing these pages to fit your needs.
Important metrics
We often get asked what types of metrics or KPIs are most important to keep track of when it comes to SEO. In terms of core KPIs, we generally look at:
Organic sessions
Organic bounce rate
Average page views per session
Domain authority/rating
The number of keywords or search terms ranking in the top 3 results (above the fold, first page)
Keywords or search terms ranking on page 1 (in spaces 1-10)
Keywords or search terms ranking in spaces 11-50
The metrics you look at and prioritize will depend on factors like your goals and how long you’ve been actively implementing your SEO strategy.
White hat vs. black hat SEO
“White hat” and “black hat” are SEO techniques marketers can leverage when optimizing a site. Basically, white hat SEO techniques are ethical, Google-approved methods that are looked favorably upon by search engines. White-hat techniques include publishing high-quality content that speaks to a human audience, implementing a long-term SEO strategy, and including alt tags with your images.
Black hat, on the other hand, refers to methods that attempt to trick search engines by making a site appear more legitimate than it is. These methods include keyword stuffing, creating blogs for the sole purpose of generating links to other sites, and hiding “invisible text” in the code of your website in an attempt to game the algorithm.
Black hat methods are frowned upon by search engines. While it’s not against the law to use them, they can get your site flagged for violating guidelines or prevented from appearing in search results entirely. Plus, black hat techniques often result in a poor user experience with your website.
Then there’s “grey hat” SEO. These are SEO methods that, while not currently against search engine guidelines, could become viewed as black hat in the future. This includes posting fake reviews, offering incentives for online reviews, and purchasing expired domains for the sole purpose of linking or redirecting to your site.
Speaking of alt tags, visuals are another important part of good site SEO. According to TechCrunch, 82%of all consumer IP traffic will be video by 2021. Not only that, but Search Engine Watch reports that video content has a 41% higher click-through rate than plain text.
If you have the bandwidth and budget, experimenting with video content could end up being what sets you apart from your competition on the SERP. Pages with videos are often visited for longer periods of time, and a longer visiting period can only mean good things when it comes to SEO.
In terms of photos, graphics, and other static imagery, Yoast explains that well-chosen images can complement your content and get you a good ranking in image search results.
“Alt tags” are alternative attributes on an image’s img tag. The purpose of this tag is to describe what the image is portraying, which not only helps the search engine understand the image, but it’s used as context for the visually impaired.
Depending on your website platform, it should be easy to add SEO-enhancing alt tags to your images as well as a title and meta description for your videos.
Pro tip: Videos can also be optimized by choosing an eye-catching thumbnail image, investing in paid ads for promotion, and adding captions.
Speed doesn’t just matter to users — it also matters to search engines
Why is site speed important for SEO?
Site speed, especially on mobile, is becoming — well, has already become — another highly important aspect with regards to SEO. That’s partially because a site that takes even a few seconds to load can cause a significant number of visitors to immediately bounce.
But speed doesn’t just matter to users — it also matters to search engines. Google has been upfront for years about how page speed is a ranking factor for them (though, admittedly, not a hugely significant one). You can test out how speedy your pages are with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.
The takeaway
Search engine optimization is important when it comes to ranking on the SERP and growing your reach. But, at the end of the day, the goal of a search engine is to connect users with the answers they seek.
As long as you (or your chosen SEO agency) follow the above tips — and have a fast website with high-quality content that’s engaging, unique, current, and helpful — you’ll be well on your way to boasting successful, strong SEO.
Caroline Cox
Caroline is HawkSEM's content marketing manager. She uses her more than 10 years of professional writing and editing experience to create SEO-friendly articles, educational thought leadership pieces, and savvy social media content to help market leaders create successful digital marketing strategies. She's a fan of seltzer water, print magazines, and huskies.
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