Stand Out in a Crowd: Steps for Improving Organic Search Performance

Organic search offers low-hanging fruit for generating website traffic. While paid ads can provide a temporary boost, investing in a robust content strategy is a better long term approach to increasing visibility for your brand in search results.

Unlike ads that stop driving traffic once the budget is exhausted, quality content keeps giving, leading users to more content, services, and products on your website. A recent study of various websites by BrightEdge showed that 53% of overall web traffic originates from organic search results. It's even higher for B2B websites, where search drives 64% of organic traffic.

Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes into the world of SEO, implementing effective organic strategies can significantly improve your website's visibility, credibility, and, ultimately, its success.

7 Steps for Improving Organic SEO

1

Proper Keyword Research

Proper keyword research is the bedrock of an effective SEO strategy. Utilizing tools like Google Keyword Planner, MOZ, or SEMrush enables you to identify relevant keywords and prioritize them based on search volumes and competition.

It's essential to target both short-tail and long-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords capture broad search intent, while long-tail keywords cater to specific queries, offering higher conversion potential. Balancing these ensures comprehensive coverage of your target audience's search behavior.

2

Produce High-Quality Content

You might have heard the phrase “content is king” in SEO. However, it's not just about churning out many articles or blog posts. In a digital world where hundreds of thousands of new websites are launched every day, quality reigns supreme over quantity. So you should focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience's needs and interests.

It's also important that your copy is simple, clear, and highly readable. Write for humans, not search engines. Create content that addresses pain points, offers valuable insights, and provides actionable solutions.

3

Update Existing Content

Refreshing your website's existing pages and blog posts with new information, statistics, or insights benefits your audience and supports improved search performance. Keeping your content up-to-date is essential for maintaining relevance and enhancing its value, both for audiences and for your website's SEO.

This turns outdated content into a more powerful magnet for organic search traffic. You can use data from Google Search Console to audit page performance and plan updates. By analyzing keywords that have generated the most impressions and clicks from Google's organic search results, you can make informed updates to improve search visibility and user engagement with key landing pages on your website.

4

Build Quality Links

Building quality links to your content is essential for organic SEO success. Internal links that connect pages on your website improve navigation for users and distribute link equity for search engines. Strategically placing internal links enhances user experience and signals to search engines the context and relevance of your pages.

Outbound links that connect to authoritative external sources, establish credibility, and demonstrate expertise are also important for validating the authenticity of your content. Balancing both inbound and outbound links fosters a robust linking profile, which can boost your website's topical authority and lead to increased search engine rankings.

5

Optimize On-Page Elements

Optimizing on-page elements like titles, meta descriptions, headings, alt tags, assistive text, and content improves crawlability, indexability, and click-through rates. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout your content and meta tags to signal relevance to search engines.

6

Use Schema Markup

Schema markup provides search engines with structured data about your content. Schema defines topics and types of content that support the display of rich snippets, knowledge panels, and other enhanced search features that optimize your content for maximum organic search visibility.

7

Optimize General Web Performance

To optimize performance, and enhance website speed, responsiveness, and user experience. Utilize tools like Google Lighthouse to identify and address performance issues. Implement caching mechanisms and content delivery networks (CDNs) to improve loading times and overall site performance.

Empower Your Online Presence With Organic SEO

While mastering organic SEO is essential for online success, navigating its intricacies can be daunting. Each step requires careful attention and expertise, from optimizing content to building quality links.

Enlisting a professional agency specializing in Organic Search optimization may be more efficient and effective for those seeking to maximize their results. With their knowledge and experience, SEO professionals can guide you through the complexities of best practices and search performance criteria.

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