If you’ve been keeping up with the digital marketing landscape in the last decade, you know how important search engine optimization (SEO) is. SEO increases your digital visibility, making it crucial for you to build and maintain an effective online presence. That said, SEO strategies are constantly changing, and it can be frustrating if your efforts are not proving successful and you’re experiencing SEO issues.
What is SEO, Exactly?
Search engine optimization is the process of using a myriad of strategies to boost your search engine ranking. A higher ranking means you are more likely to appear higher in specific web searches, increasing site traffic, business awareness, leads, and sales, and ultimately reducing SEO issues in the long hall. SEO is the golden standard of internet marketing today.
How it Works
A search engine like Google or Bing will analyze your web page and determine its relevance for certain searches. The algorithm will determine which pages best fit each search, placing sites that rank higher at the top. This increases the odds that users will click the link to your site to find the solution to their problem or question. Pay per click consulting companies can help determine keywords to use in your content to increase your rankings.
Why is SEO So Important?
There are many reasons utilizing SEO in your marketing strategy can contribute to the success of your business. Here are a few reasons why SEO is so important:
Keep Up With Competition
Since the most successful companies are implementing SEO strategies, you should too. Showing up on the first page of search engine results can make or break your company’s visibility. How will you reach new customers if they don’t even know you exist? Investing in SEO helps you stay in the game with your competitors.
Obtain Useful Data
The great thing about SEO is that it gives you a plethora of data to shuffle through when considering what you need to work on to improve your marketing practices. There are various platforms available to help you gain a clear understanding of your success– or lack thereof. Keep track of your rankings, conversion, and traffic to determine what’s working and what’s not. These insights give you critical information that will allow you to adjust your strategies accordingly.
Boost Your Credibility
Consumers tend to trust higher-ranking websites more than those on page six of search results. Utilizing paid search management enables you to continue evolving and improving your website with fresh content that further increases credibility.
Supports Content Marketing
SEO constantly allows you opportunities to make exciting content and get creative with writing about subjects relevant to your business. Utilizing SEO keywords will enable you to make the content you care about while increasing your internet presence.
Reach a Wider Audience
While a lot of SEO content these days is focused on garnering local traffic, it can also make your website available to a more diverse crowd. This is especially useful if you’re a local business trying to bolster your internet sales. SEO content will reach a wide range of potential customers at all stages of the buying process.
8 SEO Issues That are Hurting Your Rankings and Their Solutions
SEO is essential, but what happens when you encounter problems? Here are a few common SEO problems and how to fix them.
#1: Improper Use of Keywords
Correct use of keywords is crucial to SEO success, and there are many ways people can misuse them. In-depth research of keywords can make a vast difference between the success and failure of your SEO strategy. You’ll also want to avoid keyword stuffing, the term for the unnatural overuse of keywords. Pages that feature an absurd amount of keywords will not rank well.
Solution:
Hire a professional to help you decide which keywords to use. For printing company SEO services, many consulting businesses ensure you are using your keywords in a productive way.
#2: Ignoring SEO Formatting Strategies
Formatting may seem like an obnoxious roadblock, but it matters in SEO! You could be wasting perfectly good content if you’re throwing articles together without using headings or line breaks and ignoring meta titles and descriptions.
Solution:
Thoroughly research SEO formatting requirements and stick to them! If you struggle with this, hiring a professional specializing in paid search management may be helpful. They can ensure that all blog posts and articles adhere to proper SEO formatting standards.
#3: Low-Quality Content
A poorly written article with a few random keywords strewn about is a waste of time. Consumers can quickly identify an article or blog post written without good intentions. Aimless, gimmicky content won’t be received well and will prevent consumers from reading further into your services or products. Pages with very duplicate or very little content also do not rank well. Additionally, if you’re using AI-generated articles, search engines may mark them as spam. Never underestimate the power of the human touch; readers also recognize this.
Solution:
If you’re not a great writer, hiring someone else to do it for you is worth it. Many writers are proficient in SEO practices and can help you craft excellent posts that readers and search engines will eat up. A company that uses pay per click in Portland may also offer writing services.
#4: Failing to Consider the User Experience
If your website is not meeting the basic standards of a usable website, all your SEO work could be going straight down the drain. Here are a few primary reasons you may not be meeting the criteria for a top-ranked site:
- It’s not mobile-friendly: Nowadays, it is crucial to have a web design that translates seamlessly from web browser to mobile. Users will not be interested in spending time on your site if it’s not a smooth experience on their mobile devices.
- It loads too slowly: Websites that don’t load quickly are a sure way to drive away potential consumers. Sites that operate quickly and correctly appear to be more professional, thus ranking higher and encouraging more traffic.
- Intrusive pop-ups: Pop-ups can be a helpful tool for increasing conversion, but obnoxious pop-ups that force users to give information or are difficult to exit out of can encourage customers to look elsewhere. Search engines may penalize sites that utilize intrusive pop-ups.
- Confusing navigation: Potential consumers should be able to look at your site and know exactly where to find specific information. Unclear navigation counteracts all your hard work to make your site rank higher.
- Lack of security: Today, people are very concerned about protecting their information, and rightfully so! If your site is not secure, web browsers will encourage users not to continue to the site.
Solution:
Companies that use pay per click in Portland may have access to other marketing tools, such as user experience specialists or web design consultants. These professionals can help you keep track of your website to verify that everything is up to date and up to standard. It’s worth investing your time and money in a high-quality website to ensure your SEO strategy is working to its full potential.
#5 Broken Links
If a page you are linking to in your content has been deleted, moved, or blocked, it could affect your search rankings. Broken links are also annoying for people viewing your content and can hurt your credibility.
Solution:
There are a few different softwares available that you can apply to your site to detect broken links. Using these tools can help you fix problems as soon as they arise. A pay per click consulting service may also be able to help you maintain this aspect of your website.
#6 Lack of Social Media Presence
Although signals from social media sites do not directly impact your ranking, they can boost it through ‘likes’ and ‘shares,’ as well as drive traffic to your website from different avenues. In other words, a lack of social media presence is a missed opportunity.
Solution:
You don’t have to have thousands of followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to find success with social media marketing. Pick a site or two that feels relevant to your target audience and work on building it by posting consistently and linking to your website. While this may seem like a slow and grueling process, you will reap the rewards with time and patience.
#7 Ignoring Website Analytics
SEO isn’t as easy as throwing a page or two up and leaving it be! A quality SEO strategy involves editing and adjustment based on your metrics and analytics. These indicators can help you identify your site’s strengths and weaknesses. They feed you information about your visitors, clicks, bounce rate, and time spent on your site. Ignoring this data is sure to impact your SEO practices negatively.
Solution:
Using tools like Google Analytics can give you key insights into your site’s successes, but knowing how to adjust things on your own can be difficult. A consulting service that uses pay per click in Portland may be better equipped to analyze this information and help you make effective adjustments. Over time, your rankings will improve as you learn more about what’s working for users and what’s not.
#8 Poor Use of Backlinks
Well-researched content requires the use of backlinks to credit sources, but you may be failing to use this tool correctly. Some business owners choose quantity over quality in this department, which can hurt their search engine rankings. Google penalizes sites that use too many backlinks.
Solution:
Be selective with the links that you use. Avoid linking to competitors, as this completely defeats the purpose of creating SEO content! Link to credible sources, including trusted or popular sites or sites with high authority. This will help to improve your rankings, as well as increase the relevance and accuracy of your content.
Bonus SEO Strategies
Solving the above issues may improve your SEO rankings. Consider the following strategies if you want to take your SEO strategy from good to great!
Write to Your Audience
What does your target customer want to hear? Many businesses get caught up in trying to write gimmicky sales pitches, which often fall flat for consumers. For example, a printing company that writes articles only about their services will quickly run out of fresh content. Printing company SEO services would suggest blog posts with interesting facts about the origins of printing, an informational piece about different types of paper and their uses, or everyday problems people face when printing. Show consumers that you care by speaking on subjects that are important to them.
Use Images
Humans are visual. Big chunks of boring text are not always very appealing. Using a few high-quality pictures in your articles improves the readability and attractiveness of your posts. This way, your site could also come up in image searches.
Pack a Punch With Your Headline
A good title evokes curiosity while clearly articulating the article’s content. Find a happy medium between a creative, abstract headline and a boring one that will keep users scrolling to the next. You have just a few short moments to grab a reader’s attention, so make it count.
Keep it Fresh
Strive to maintain fresh, relevant content. If something changes in your industry, jump at the opportunity to write about it! Avoid recycling the same content that your competitors are using. Thinking of things from a fresh angle can make you stand out from other businesses.
SEO Could Be Your Key to More Success
SEO is more complicated than it may appear, but don’t be discouraged! With the help of consultants that use pay per click in Portland, you can transform your site into a force to be reckoned with! Now that you know what issues could be holding you back, it’s time to perfect your SEO strategy and see the numbers roll in.