Over 50% of all website traffic comes from organic searches. If your website doesn’t appear at the top of a search engine results page, customers might not find you. They could choose your competitors instead.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can help you improve your organic rankings. Then, you can generate brand awareness, website traffic, and leads with ease. With a strong SEO campaign, you can get leagues ahead of the competition.

Not sure where to start? Here are the six steps you need to take when building your search engine optimization strategy.

With these tips, you can learn how to start an SEO campaign with ease. You can boost your rankings and generate more business than ever before.

Set your business up for success. Add SEO to your digital marketing strategy with these tips today.

1. Gather Research

Before anything else, it’s important to gather research. Otherwise, you might make assumptions when developing your search engine optimization strategy. Gathering research can help you make more informed decisions with each step of your SEO campaign.

First, take the time to learn more about your customers.

Google prioritizes content that appeals to the user intent. What are your customers hoping to find during a search? Understanding who your customers are can help you appeal to that intent.

If you’re targeting a broad audience, segment them into buyer personas based on:

• Location
• Gender
• Age
• Household income
• Marital status
• Buying behaviors
• Pain points
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Language
• Education

Each buyer persona will have its own needs and interests. For example, a mother of three kids will have different needs than a male college student.

Once you know who your customers are, determine what they search for online. You can use Google Trends or Keyword Planner to get started. Otherwise, consider requesting SEO services.

A professional SEO agency has access to tools that can help you gather the research you need.

Look for longtail keywords (four or more words) that are phrased as questions. You can answer these questions within your content. As you start creating content, make sure you’re appealing to the user’s needs.

2. Update Your Website

Before you create content and launch an SEO campaign, look at your website.

Google prioritizes websites that are fast, secure, and mobile-optimized. It also wants to make sure you’re creating a positive user experience (UX). To ensure you’re creating a positive UX, Google created its Core Web Vitals.

If your website doesn’t appeal to Google’s Core Web Vitals, you could frustrate visitors. Your SEO rankings might drop. Instead, you can update your website by:

• Getting mobile-optimized
• Adding an SSL certificate
• Using minimalistic design
• Adding negative space
• Speeding up page load times
• Improving readability
• Condensing photos
• Making buttons easy to click on
• Simplifying your forms
• Improving the navigation

Run your website through Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Test.

Otherwise, a one-second delay could hurt conversions by 20%. Visitors who have a negative mobile experience are 62% less likely to make purchases, too. You can work with an experienced digital marketing agency to update your site.

3. Create Compelling Content

High-quality content is key if you want to launch an SEO campaign. Your content will help attract consumers to your website.

When creating content, it’s important to focus on quality over quantity. Make sure you’re providing readers with helpful content. Don’t forget to consider their search intent.

You can create different types of posts, including:

• Blog posts/articles
• Webinars
• eBooks
• Polls
• Quizzes
• Infographics
• Videos

Videos are becoming more popular. They’re easy to consume and a great way to engage your audience. In fact, video content accounts for over 80% of all web traffic.

Experiment with different posts to determine what helps you draw the largest audience.

Optimize Your Posts

Once you start creating your website content, make sure to optimize each post.

Have a single main keyword in mind for each post you create. Then, include the target keyword in the:

• Page title
• URL
• Opening and closing paragraphs
• Body text
• Image alt text
• Image file name
• Meta description
• An H1 header

Avoid stuffing your content with the same keyword. Instead, add secondary keywords and synonyms throughout the post. Otherwise, Google might penalize your site.

Appeal to EAT

Before launching your search engine optimization strategy, consider EAT.

EAT stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Adding EAT to your posts can boost your credibility. You’ll have an easier time engaging your target audience as a result.

Add an author biography to your posts. Make sure you’re avoiding fluff within your content, too.

Building your personal brand can also help you establish EAT.

4. Go Local

As part of your SEO campaign, it’s important to consider all types of SEO.

Local SEO will help you appeal to nearby consumers. You can build your local SEO strategy by:

• Optimizing your Google My Business listings
• Updating your listing on other online directories
• Writing location-based content
• Adding location pages to your website
• Requesting reviews from your customers

Gathering customer reviews is another great way to boost your credibility, too.

5. Build Links

If you want to build a successful SEO strategy, you’ll need three types of links.

Internal links send readers to other pages on your site. These links can boost your clickthrough rates and dwell times. Improving these metrics can benefit your SEO rankings.

External links send readers to other websites. Consider linking to studies and research. Back up any claims you back with supporting information.

Backlinks are the most difficult to generate, but also the most important. In fact, backlinks are one of Google’s top three ranking factors.

Backlinks send readers from another website to your website. Consider guest blogging or using SEO services to gain backlinks.

6. Keep Up With Trends

If you want to rank ahead of the competition, make sure to keep up with the latest SEO trends.

Google changes its search engine algorithm constantly. Follow trends like:

• Artificial intelligence/machine learning
• BERT
• Voice search
• Image optimization
• Video content
• Core Web Vitals

You can work with an experienced SEO agency to make sure you don’t fall behind.

Boost Your Business: 6 Steps for a Successful SEO Campaign

Developing an SEO campaign is crucial if you want to boost your business online. Use these tips to develop your search engine optimization strategy. With these tips, you can get ahead of the competition and boost your business!

Need help developing your campaign? We’re here for you!

Contact us today to get started.