So we all know that SEO is extremely freaking important to drive traffic to your website, but actually doing it successfully—well, that’s the tricky part. There seems to be all these “tips and tricks” to help you, but we have a little secret for you:
SEO isn’t about clever tips (those are usually shady and could get you in trouble with search engines). True search engine optimization is technical and requires some dedication, care, and patience. It won’t happen overnight.
Instead of trying to find the easy way out, our team at Lifted Logic has all you need to jumpstart your SEO strategy the right way. If you’re looking to revamp your digital presence in 2021, get started with our SEO checklist.
What is SEO?: The Ultimate 2021 Guide to Search Engine Optimization →
1. Set up your Google necessities
Google has a ton of tools to get you started, and you should 100% take full advantage of them. For businesses, this means setting up:
- Google Search Console: gives you insight on your search engine ranking and traffic, keyphrases that give you the most clicks, keyphrase ideas, and even notifies you about website errors
- Google Analytics: allows you to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as where traffic is coming from, how long users stay on a page, which pages are gaining the most traffic, and much more
- Google My Business: establishes your business as credible in Google’s eyes, and can help you appear on a search engine results page (SERP)
How to Set Up Google My Business →
2. Create quality content
Welcome to 2021, where quality content reigns supreme. No, seriously. Gone are the days when you could post subpar web content and expect to rank because you’ve thrown in keywords (we’ll get to that in a sec). Search engines are all about finding the best content to answer user questions.
Here’s what that means for your SEO checklist:
- When it comes to web content, think about what users want to know about your company. Don’t just write what you want people to know. More often than not, people aren’t going to care about your entire life story.
- Write for people, not for search engines. Search engines are getting smarter now, and they think more like us (well, kind of) than a machine.
- Consider long form blog content. Post content that’s about 1,500 words or more. More content allows search engines to pull more information, which can make a world of difference for ranking.
3. Optimize that sh*t
If you don’t optimize your content, it’ll get lost in the sea of SERPs. How do you optimize? G.Y.K.P.I.O. (get your keyphrases in order… yes, we just made that up).
Before you decide on keyphrases, you need to do your research. While you’re doing that research, here a few things you should consider:
- What are people searching for? (the keyphrase itself)
- Why are people searching for it? (user intent)
- How difficult is it to rank with that keyphrase? (ability to get on top pages)
Once you have your keyphrases, you don’t just want to throw them around willy nilly or overuse them. Make sure they flow with the rest of your content. With new updates, search engines can now understand synonyms, plurals, and other basic linguistics so you don’t have to always use your keyphrase word for word.
Does My Web Content Need to Repeat Words Over and Over Again? →
Plus, location is critical. For instance, if you’re a wellness clinic in West Bloomfield, you’ll want to ensure you include that location in your keyphrase. Also, make sure your keyphrases (or some variation of them) are placed in your:
- H1 tags
- Meta descriptions
- Subheaders
- Alt tags on images
- Page Title
- URL (keep it short, though)
- Logically and naturally throughout your body content.
4. Build up those links
We get it—link building is often easier said than done. Yes, it may take a lot of work. Yes, you’ll have to put yourself out there. Yes, it might sound like a huge pain in the ass. But link building is a large component in search engine ranking.
Link building is all about getting other websites to link to your website. But you don’t just want anyone to link to your website. Your goal should be gaining links from credible, high-quality websites. The more credible links you have, the higher search engines will rank you.
Quick tips to build more links:
- Create a blog
- Network with other businesses
- Engage with the community
- Put links in your email signature, proposals, social media pages—literally everywhere you can
5. Deep dive into your website
Here’s a hard pill to swallow: great optimized content on a sucky website is going to hurt your SEO. Before you can rank for any given keyphrase, search engines crawl through your site to find relevant information and index that content for users to find. If your website is poorly organized and hard to get through, search engines are going to struggle, which will hurt your chances of ranking.
Also, user experience (UX) will never not be important. If someone clicks on your site and finds it too confusing, they will click away instantly (bye, bye link building). Your website should tell the story of your brand to keep users on a page. Don’t be afraid of a website redesign if your current site isn’t up to par.
From there, you also want to perform an SEO audit. Make sure your website content is up-to-date with keyphrases that are still relevant to your business. If your website doesn’t have a blog, consider adding one to maximize your site’s SEO capabilities.
Still not sure where to start with your SEO checklist? Cue in: Lifted Logic
We’re not going to pretend that SEO isn’t a monster. Fortunately, our team at Lifted Logic has our sleeves rolled up, and we’re ready to put in all the work so you don’t have to. We are a small-but-mighty digital agency in Kansas City, and we serve a small number of new clients each year so we can dedicate our time and effort toward each project (no, we don’t believe in half-assery).
No matter the size, if your company needs help driving web traffic through great SEO, we’re here to help. We’ve got you covered with high-quality content, superior web development and design, and all the SEO tools needed to ensure that your business grows.
To get started, feel free to contact us or you can use our free cost calculator tool today.
Becca Stebbin, Lead Content Strategist
Becca was a Content Strategist before it was cool, building SEO best practices into digital marketing strategies for our clients well before it was an industry standard. Her experience at the forefront of digital marketing and SEO serves her well as the intrepid leader of Lifted Logic's Content Department.
