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We all know how important it is to invest in SEO, however, there are some components that are simply overlooked.
This could be for many reasons, whether you are working with an agency that thinks they are too time-consuming or something as simple as you hadn’t considered it for your business before.
So, let’s get into it and help you to give your SEO strategy a good refresh!
Local SEO
If you aren’t targeting local keywords in your SEO strategy, it’s definitely time you start doing it. Whilst this won’t be applicable for every business, such as those who are only eCommerce-based businesses, however, if any part of your business is customer-facing or linked to a location, this is such a great area to focus on. You are going to be targeting highly qualified users when you choose the right keywords and target your catchment area, which will seriously increase your return on investment for your marketing.
So many businesses can benefit from local SEO, from dental SEO to restaurants, real estate companies, hairdressers, dry cleaners, medical practices and so many more. A good local SEO strategy will include optimizing your Google My Business page, something that is vital for helping to improve your local visibility as well as build trust. So, if you’re not investing in local SEO and you think your business could benefit, get in touch with a well-recommended agency to see how they can help!
Link Building
Many people believe that link building is outdated, but it is actually one of the most important components out there. It is the best way to build the authority of your website, which is absolutely essential to help you compete in the world of SEO. The reason many people say it’s outdated is probably that it is a very time-consuming task, however when you have a strong link profile built by the right agency, then it can absolutely transform your SEO strategy and therefore your business.
If you have no experience in link building, we would recommend working with an agency, as they will know what differentiates a good link and a bad link. However, if you just want to get started, the best thing you can do is search for things like “food blogs accepting guest posts” or “fashion blogs write for us”, which will help you to find websites that are welcoming guest blogs. You can reach out to them explaining that you’re a writer wanting to post on their website, and if they reply, then you can write them an article (following their website’s guidelines) and among various other links to useful resources, you can link to your website.
The vital thing here is to make sure that the link looks natural and that by linking to your website in the blog, it is providing some use for the user. This is a very basic summary of link building and there are so many different ways to do it, so read up a bit more using some of the many resources online and you will soon learn more about this vital skill.
This is a specialist skill that takes time to get right, and any old link won’t do. You have to create a natural balance of links that are related to your website, and over time, the authority will gradually build and so will your rankings.
Alt Tags
Website accessibility and SEO go hand in hand, and one component of this that is very important is alt tags. Alt tags are the written copy that can be added to images so that when someone who is visually impaired is using a screen reader on a website, there is a description available to help them understand more about the image and the page in general. This is also an important component of SEO because search engines can’t read or process images, so a description helps them to understand more about what it is the user will be seeing. When you include a mention of your target keyword, this assists your SEO strategy.
Again, for eCommerce websites specifically, this can be very time-consuming, however, when it is done gradually as products are added to the website, this can really change the game and push you above the competition. Your primary goal when you are optimizing alt tags is to provide genuinely valuable descriptions so that if the description was picked up by a screen reader, it would make complete sense.
So, don’t spam the alt tags with keywords, instead, you should select a keyword that will be naturally occurring. For example, you might be targeting “mini dresses” on a page, and then in the product alt tags, you are likely to naturally be mentioning the term mini dress.
Final Thoughts
Investing in a great SEO strategy is one of the best things you can do for your business, particularly if you need a strong return on investment and a more consistent marketing and PR channel that doesn’t rely on high-cost advertising that you may not always have. Invest in SEO and your business will reap the benefits for years to come (as long as you stick with it, don’t give up when things are going well as the progress can go quickly!).
