If you were to go to your favorite search engine and type the words SEO Dallas, what do think you would discover? The first thing that might come to mind is that the organic results that you see at the top are for websites that know what they are doing. What harder competition could there be for search engine optimization agencies than to achieve the first position in search results?
If you want great search engine visibility results, you have to do the work and be aggressive about it. If not, you can be sure that the sites that are pinned at the top of the results are going to stay there until you outdo them.
If you want results you have to:
- Plan
- Build
- Implement
- Outreach
Although there are probably millions of variables out there that could factor in the specific results that you are looking for, the fundamental aspects of search engine optimization are simple and straightforward.
The First Step is to Plan for Success
Before you even start building the website it is crucial to do some research on what your keyword pillars will be for your business. If you know what the main keyword is that you want to strive for in results, be sure to put it in the domain name and URL of your website.
Websites that have keywords in the URL have much better chances of reaching the highest level of search results because search engines use pieces of information to help them determine which results are the most beneficial for the users.
The business name, the website URL, the headings, the content, the images…all of it and more build a foundation that the search engines use in order to provide accurate information to people performing searches.
Build your search engine visibility foundation by planning for:
- Website URL
- Website home page title
- Landing pages for keywords
- Images with keywords
- Name of business
- Hosting solution
For example, if a company that sells women’s clothing is named Flash Sass only uses the words flash and sass in the URL and the rest of the company website, the most prominent results from searches would be for people searching for flash sass.
The best way to ensure proper search engine visibility is to use one of the keyword pillars of the business in the company name, and the URL. Instead of “Flash Sass” it could be Flash Sass Women’s Clothing. Although the URL may be a bit longer than that is convenient, it will allow for more search engine power with prominent keywords than without.
People searching for a company by name already know about the company, but people searching for answers with raw keywords can be potential new customers that could be from anywhere in the world.
Building the Website for Optimal Search Engine Results
Once the entire structure and direction of the website have been planned out and scrutinized it will be time to build the site. During the planning of the site, somebody should have been searching for a hosting provider that would be able to handle the needs of the business.
With adequate hosting and a great idea of what keywords will be most beneficial for the site the next step will be creating a structure for the site that will create an environment that is conducive to optimal search engine visibility.
- Titles
- Metadata
- Headings
- Content
- Landing pages
- Link structure
In addition to the URL and the business name, the search engines will use information that they glean from the site itself such as the titles of the pages, the metadata behind the scenes, the headings on the pages, the content, and so on.
In addition to obvious keyword placement, there is also the element of landing pages that are specific to keywords that the site is trying to rank for.
For example, if a website is selling multiple types of merchandise items such as clothing, tools, fishing gear, and automotive parts it would be difficult for the search engines to present any pages to people based on pages of a site that has all of the keywords stuffed into every page.
Each item will be its own keyword and have its own keyword variations for search results. The way to go about getting visibility for all of the keywords is to build pages that promote each keyword on its own substance.
The keywords should be present in the titles, the descriptions, the headings, and the content of each page. What this means is that it is appropriate for every item that is available on the site to have its own specific landing page with its own content.
Tools should be a landing page. Fishing gear should be a landing page. Clothing should be a landing page…and so on.
Beyond landing pages for general keywords, each item for sale should have its own keyword based on the category it falls under. If one of the tools available for sale is a hammer, and another is a wrench, each hammer and each wrench should have its own landing page with its own content.
Structure is a key element in the success of search engine visibility. Especially when there is a lot of competition.
Implement the SEO Strategy of the Site
Once the website is built and live on the internet, it is only the beginning. Search engine visibility comes from many factors beyond the construction of the site and on-page strategies. The goal is to build up a platform that extends the website out into the world wide web that links back to the site.
Building citations is a large part of generating respect in search engines. A citation is when the name of the company is cited on the internet. It is not the same as a backlink, however, the name of the company, the address, the phone number, and a link to the site is great and helps to build authority on the web.
Implementation of the SEO strategy is not going to be the same for every website. One way to get things rolling is to submit the URL to all of the major search engines across the globe. Anywhere and everywhere it is possible to submit the link back to the site, do it -unless the site is a spammy site and has a bad reputation. In any event, going out and putting the company information everywhere on the web is great.
Outreach for Blog Posts and Article Placement
This is probably the most difficult part of a search engine optimization campaign. This is where you need to reach out to other websites that share news and publications and ask them to post articles that you submit.
Placing blogs with solid backlinks back to the site is a powerful tool to get higher rankings in search engines. However, you have to be careful of the way that you go about it. Too many links from the same site are not good. This is why you have to reach out to multiple sites and ask if they will accept blogs from writers.
In addition to blogs and articles, it is good practice to reach out to websites and ask if they will put a do-follow link to your site from theirs. It turns out that the more backlinks that you have pointing to your site from other reputable sites the better you look like a good source of information to provide people with when they do searches.
Conclusion
The most effective way to get results in search engines is to never stop trying. In the beginning of the campaign, you should do some extensive keyword research and find out what keywords will bring the most traffic. Continue to research keywords and add content to pages as it seems fit. The more you do, the higher the payoff will be.
