Let’s Jump Into it..
Core Factor One:
Keyword Research – I start with this because it really is that important. Hate to sound cliche, but “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” ~Yogi Berra. What I mean by this is how in the world can you ever target your right customer base and geography when you are targeting the wrong keywords. You must do extensive and proper keyword research to find the best keywords with good monthly traffic to target and devote your SEO efforts towards.
Core Factor Two:
Keyword Strategy – This piggybacks slightly off of factor one, but it needs it’s own point. What I mean by a keyword strategy is that when you do your keyword research you need to understand that your keywords should be broken up into 2 groups: It is important to have both a long-term and short-term strategy with your keywords.
Why?
You need to understand that SEO is a process and it is more difficult to rank for some keywords than it is for other depending on the competitiveness of that keyword and of course other factors. For Example: If you are an attorney in Philadelphia that practices personal injury this would really come into play because the keyword “Personal Injury Attorney Philadelphia” might be your “Grand Slam” keyword that you want to rank for and will yield the best results, but you need to know by the level of competition for that keyword that you might be 2-3 years out from ever making it to the first page of google for that keyword if you are just starting SEO now. There is nothing you can do about that, and you have to move up organically and compete with other attorneys who have been competing for those spots on the first page for many years before you, so essentially you are starting at the back of the line! That would be a long-term keyword strategy. Now, an example of a short-term keyword strategy for the same client. Let’s use a key phrase like: “Best work injury attorney in Philadelphia”. This keyword is not as competitive, does not have as much traffic, but will still yield you very good results because it is very specific and still has good traffic. Long Story-Short… You need to have a mix of both. Keywords that will pay dividends in the future, and keywords that you can win at in the short-term for faster ROI.
Core Factor Three:
Proper Meta Data & “On Page” – So you have your keywords picked, you are ready to rock. What is next? You have to do your “On Page” properly. Each page should have different meta, and you need to write natural Page Titles and Descriptions for every page on your website with a consistent NAP, without excessive keyword stuffing or spammy looking text. Also, Proper H1 and H2 tags and Alt tags. Make sense? Yeah I know it can be confusing. I can write a whole blog about “on page SEO”, so I’m not going to go into full detail of these, but you can easily do some research online about them, or if you have additional questions, feel free to reach out to us.
Core Factor Four:
Content – Content is super important to your website and SEO. In recent years content has actually become more important, and some will argue it is the most important factor now. Regardless of your opinion:
- You must have good natural content on your website.
- You must have a good “Text to HTML Ratio”.
- You must have at least 300 words on just about every page.
- You must not have duplicate content both onsite or offsite
- You must not keyword stuff, but still have a good keyword ration on the designated pages.
Again, I can write a whole blog on content, but they are just some good factors to keep in mind.
Core Factor Five:
Blogging – And I could have added this above with content but I want to elaborate further, because I’m actually writing a blog right now. So what is the main purpose of a blog when it come to SEO? Aside from it being an information source for your clients and potential clients, it is really an easy way of pumping fresh new content to your website on a regular basis.
Why should you do that? It prompts google and the other major search engines to come and crawl and index your website making it RELEVANT for your keywords online!
In Closing
So we basically have come full circle with making your website relevant and that really is the main objective, but the things I mentioned above are core factors that have held true for SEO for a long time now and they are core factor that must be done properly and although they are probably the least tedious part of SEO in the long run, they must must be done correctly from the start. You may notice I did not even get into link building and other “off page” SEO tactics because those parts of SEO have changed so much more in the last few years and will continue to change, but the core factors I mentioned above must be done, and must be done correctly.
If anyone has any further questions about this, please feel free to reach out to us: [email protected]
Thank you,
Dave Di Paolo
