Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) should be included in every marketing strategy. This includes having product/service/solution content pages ranking well in search engines when a potential customer conducts a related search. This also involves having appropriate content appear when existing customers conduct service-related queries. Following those minimum requirements, content creation should take place to have the business rank for related (business-wise or audience-wise) and higher-funnel type queries.

SEO tips

  • Each topic area looking to rank for should have its own separate page of content – with the opportunity to create subpages from there to further explain more specific details that searchers seek
  • Research what people are searching for – and produce content with that in mind
  • If your site leverages a complex search tool to help users narrow results or find specific items, there’s a good chance those searches are conducted in Google/etc. as well; i.e. there’s likely a case to make such results pages indexable as static (or similar) pages to capture such queries.
  • Look at every page on your site and think about what types of queries that page could potentially be a quality result for; optimize pages accordingly
  • Types of pages to consider:
    • Product/service/problem/feature category pages: Targeting product/service/problem/feature type queries
    • Industry+product/service/problem/feature category pages: Targeting product/service/feature queries as it relates to specific industries
    • Specific product pages: Targeting branded product search queries
    • Location pages: Targeting more localized (usually city) queries
    • More niche category pages (usually replicating multi-selector website search results): Targeting more niche product/service queries
    • Support pages: Targeting queries related to product/service issues
    • Review pages: Targeting queries seeking social proof of your brand
    • Expert/staff page: Targeting practitioner, expert, or job title queries (usually with location)
    • Email sign up page: Targeting newsletter type queries
    • Blog post pages: Targeting specific knowledge-based queries
    • Competitor comparison pages: Targeting brand “alternative” queries (or possibly brand-only queries)
    • Integration partner pages: Targeting partner brand integration-type queries
    • (Google Business Profile, and equivalent, profiles for all locations of the business)
  • Ensure your CMS supports custom title tags – and have keyword research guide the wording of those title tags (a title tag provides a great opportunity to have a more keyword and CTA-friendly page title than what is displayed on the page).
  • Encourage the click from search results: While title tags should consider what people actually search for (per above), they should also encourage a click from search results – find phrasing that does both; Meta Description tags should be written in a way that informs but also encourages the click from search results
  • Utilize keyword-rich internal linking to help search engines understand the content of the destination page (and to help readers as well!)
  • Use schema/rich snippet markup where appropriate
  • View organic listing CTR data via Google Search Console and optimize/test accordingly (change title, description, etc. for higher CTR)
  • View organic visits direct to PDFs via Google Search Console and convert PDF content into webpage content
    • Visitors now land ‘on your site’ versus the PDF
    • Webpages are mobile-friendly whereas PDFs are not
    • Webpages better facilitate calls to action
    • Webpages can be better optimized for search engines
    • Webpages provide full website analytics, whereas PDF analytics are very limited
  • Content creation: Drives search traffic; provides link opportunities; provides social sharing content
    • A blog interface included with a corporate website (same URL), provides an easy way for anyone on staff to produce content that drives search traffic and is ‘bait’ for inbound links
    • Extract interesting findings from existing (or cultivatable) data and use that for a content piece that is supported by social sharing and a press release
    • Create helpful tools for target audience (calculators, etc.)
    • Bring information or data from other sources and group/display/present it in a helpful format
  • Support content distribution through email and social – and consider paid promotion as well
  • Consider paid promotion of content as a way to gain natural back links
  • Utilize social meta tags that enhance content snippet display when shared socially
  • Ensure content is available and readable via mobile (no PDFs!)
  • Optimize pages for retention reasons as well — i.e. optimize pages so existing customers can resolve their issues quickly via search engines (log in page, support page about topic x, online manuals, helpful downloads, etc.)
  • If tracking keyword rankings, group similar terms together based on common keyword – and track that grouping (thus including long-tail terms in the reporting and focusing more on categories versus specific wording)
  • If business has a local address, complete and verify accounts with Google Business Profile, Bing Places for Business, and Apple Business Connect
  • Ensure URL redirects are in place in the event that page URLs change (for users and search engines)
  • Check that page content you want indexed is present in the DOM
  • Follow accessibility best practices (they tend to be good for SEO as well)
  • Run Lighthouse (Google Chrome) or similar tools to evaluate page speed and other technical aspects that may affect SEO
  • Set up Google alerts for ‘site:yoururl’ to be informed when new pages are indexed
  • Think beyond traditional search engines: Social search (TikTok, Instagram, etc.)

SEO resources

Keyword research

  • Google Ads Keyword Planner – provides search query data from Google Search, including volumes and forecasts
  • Keyword Tool – provides search query data for various services (Google, YouTube, Amazon, etc.) along with related data; limited data for free – paid users gain more keywords and relevant data
  • KW Finder – generates keyword ideas with volume and competition figures; limited number of searches free – pay for full access
  • Google Trends – displays and compares keyword (and topic) search volume over time
  • Ahrefs – advanced keyword research tool that includes keyword bucketing features, estimated volumes, competition levels, search result snippets and more; paid service
  • SEMrush – advanced keyword research tool that includes keyword bucketing features, estimated volumes, competition levels, search result snippets and more; paid service
  • KeywordSheeter – keyword ideas generated from inputs and positive/negative keyword filters

Search engine rankings

Search indexing and evaluation

  • Google Search Console – provides information about your website indexing and ranking in Google; request page indexing, view search query data, view technical errors and more
  • Bing Webmaster Tools – provides information about your website indexing and ranking in Bing; request page indexing, view search query data, view technical errors and more
  • Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool – scans website and outputs various data points about pages scanned (url, meta data, alt tag data, outbound link data, etc.); free download; paid service if want greater URL capacity
  • Lighthouse (Google Chrome) – scan individual webpages for technical issues that may affect SEO

Search intelligence

  • Search Demand Trends – search demand trends by industry/topic
  • Google Trends – displays and compares keyword/topic search volume over time; accompanied by news stories that could be affecting search volumes; localized breakout; related searches; email notifications available

Inbound links

  • Google Search Console – view backlinks for your site – among other helpful site information
  • Bing Webmaster Tools – view backlinks for your site – among other helpful site information
  • Ahrefs Webmaster Tools – view backlinks for your site – among other helpful site information
  • Ahrefs Backlink Checker – displays a selection of backlinks for any URL or domain along with relevant metrics and information – for free; extended data for paid users of the full suite
  • Backlink Watch – displays inbound linking URLs with PageRank, anchor text, total outbound links, and nofollow information
  • Help A Reporter Out – get inbound links to your site (and free publicity) by helping a reporter who is looking for a subject matter expert for their story; free for regular alerts; paid subscription for keyword-specific alerts and extra lead time