A couple lands at the airport and is waiting on their luggage. They have already reserved a room and a rental car, so there is no need for anxiety in their lodging and transportation needs. Yet, they are hungry. So, what does the couple do?
They pull out their phones and Google search restaurants in the area. If you are a business owner or manager and are not paying attention to the SEO movement, then you are short changing yourself, employees, customers, and target market. Your bottom line will reflect this ignorance.
A constant vigilance is necessary in this search engine world. Your restaurant may be right under this couple’s nose, but if it does not show up quickly on their Google search, chances are good they will spend their money elsewhere.
How to Improve Your Organic Search Results:
Keywords
This is one of, if not the most important, aspects of optimising your presence online. Our couple that just landed at the airport, if they type in “Italian restaurants near Auckland airport”, will your establishment show up?
Sure, the physical address will get you some search engine attention. Would it not be better to have articles posted on your site that utilises the keywords mentioned above? The way to find out is to use the tools that are available, such as Google’s Keyword Planner.
Figure out how people will search for your products and services, and then research the traffic that is associated with them.
Keyword Quantity
How often the keywords should be used in a piece often makes the difference between a successful SEO campaign and a bust. Well-intentioned writers and executives think more is better, and flood their blog posts with keywords.
For the shorter pieces, keyword repetition is best limited to 2-3 times, with one mention in the first 50 words or so. For longer pieces, 4-6 times is sufficient, and as with the shorter work a mention in the first 50 words.
If keywords are overused, it can, and usually, does, have a negative reaction in Google algorithms.
Internal Keyword Links
Let’s revisit our couple at the Charlotte airport. So, they have found your restaurant and want to look at the menu. You have placed a link for the menu on your opening page, contained in the description of your restaurant. What anchor text keywords are you using? Does it say “click here for menu” or “download here”? These will not help your SEO campaign.
This is another area where you can be a step ahead of the competition. Refrain from using exact keyword matches from other pages. A slight variation in keywords used as anchor text, to the restaurant’s menu page, will result in higher search rankings.
Quality Content
The algorithms that Google uses are constantly being revised. There are some truths that have remained unchanged, and one of them is that quality content reaps views. Google algorithms reward quality.
While the fine line between quality over quantity is a debate that rages on, what can not be denied is that poorly written content serves no real purpose. Sure, it will attract some views. The goal, however, is durability over the long term. The latest terminology that describes this is “Evergreen”.
Page Titles
Page titles is another often overlooked aspect of SEO. Short, concise page titles, preferably under 70 characters, bodes well. Try to implement important keywords at the beginning of page titles. Google recognises the page titles in the HTML as the second most relevant SEO element.
Cornerstone
<>Multiple pages with the same keyword emphasis make it difficult for Google to determine which of the pages are relevant. A great example of this is a site that has 7 pages of “how to’s”. If the keyword emphasis is the same for these 7 pages, the site is better served to merge these pages into an authority cornerstone page.
Relationships for Link-building
The art of successful people in business is their ability to form long-lasting relationships. How this relates to your SEO success is your ability to work with others to link back to your site. This can occur through guest bloggers, posting quality content on your site that is shared, and asking for help from authority sites.
Fear may keep you from spending an hour a week sending emails to webmasters and bloggers asking for help. What is the worst that can happen, they say no? It will be when someone says yes, and your site is linked on an authority site, that you will see the fruit in your labour. Be certain that they use your keywords for improved Google rankings.
Mobile Compatibility
With the latest Google algorithms, sites that are not mobile-friendly will see a considerable drop in rankings. With approximately half of all Google searches performed on a mobile device as it is now, ensures that your site is mobile compatible.
If you’re struggling to improve your organic search results and need some help, get in touch with the team at Grow Digital Marketing. It’s what we do!
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