SEO STRATEGIES FOR EXECUTIVES
With 75% of all web searches beginning with Google, whether B2B or B2C type of search, it’s never been more important for business owners to practice organic search marketing and have an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. Having an SEO strategy will help keep the content you create intentional and over time, increase traffic to your website.
At Autumn Consulting, we help small businesses and non-profits learn the ins and outs of SEO and how to improve their organic search rankings in order to get more traffic to your website. Here, we’ll dive into what SEO and organic search marketing are, how they work and provide recommendations below to improve your search rankings.
What is Google organic search marketing?
Organic search marketing is the way your website shows up when a prospect does a search, without paying.
The majority of users will never go beyond the first page of Google results, which is why it’s important to dedicate bandwidth to your business’ SEO strategy. Doing this will help your likelihood of appearing on page 1 on Google when your prospects and future clients perform a search.
How does Google’s organic search work?
There are six key items that determine who appears on page one on Google search. These six items are part of what is called Google’s organic indexing. Google’s indexing process happens every month, whether you’re working to improve your website or not.
1. Searching for Active Sites: Google’s bots, also known as crawlers or spiders, crawl the internet looking for active websites in order to index and rank them.
2. Bot Crawling Frequency: The frequency at which Google’s bot review your site varies depending on how frequently you’re updating your site. For example, if you created your website at the dawn of the internet and don’t update it, Google will only find your website approximately every 90 days. The more active Google finds your site and the less frequently it finds your competitors, the more likely it is for your site to incrementally rank higher over time.
3. Crawling Your Site’s Code: Bad or complex code blocks Google’s bots and spiders. it’s important to stay up to date on best practices for streamlined sitemaps and update your website often. For example, pop ups on your homepage block Google from indexing your site, which will negatively affect your rankings.
4. Mobile-Friendly and Secure: One of the most important foundational aspects of your site that these bots look for is mobile friendly websites with a Secure Sockets Layer. This is referred to as an SSL and often appears as a “lock” symbol at the top of your browser’s address bar. You want to ensure that your site is equipped with an SSL and that, when visiting your business’ site on your mobile device, it’s as user friendly as on desktop. Google stated that they will prioritize mobile-first websites, even over desktop. The more mobile-friendly your site is, you’ll benefit in the long run.
There are a few different ways you can check to see if your website is mobile friendly. The easiest is to check out your own website on your mobile device. Additionally Google also has provided a tool to help you understand if your site is mobile-friendly or not. Simply Google “Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool” and run your URL through the tool.
5. Calculating Matches to Algorithms: There are 7 key algorithms that Google runs on a monthly basis. These include searching for simple and clear navigation, easy forms and widgets and more. You can find the full list in this blog post.
6.Regular Evaluations: Google regularly evaluates how sites were previously indexed and ranked. It’s thanks to this that your search result standing is never permanent. It’s never too late to improve your site’s SEO.
So, where should I start with SEO?
SEO is innately intertwined with the user experience (UX) and navigation of your site. You’ll want to work with a designer to understand how prospects are using your website. This may affect your navigation bar, what content and calls-to-action are on any given page of your website. The goal is to place everything exactly where the user would look for it.
Content is king. It’s important to add content to your site regularly, to not only build your audience and be of service to your prospects, flagging your website as an authority on your topics in the eyes of Google.
Finally, know that SEO is never ‘done’. It’s not a to-do that you can mark off your checklist. Improving and maintaining your sites SEO is an ongoing process. We know that this can sound daunting, and especially as executives with numerous priorities, but trust us, it’s worth it as soon as your rankings and website traffic start to increase.
If you’re looking to improve your business’ search rankings and need help implementing your SEO strategy, contact us today.
