Digital Insights
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4 Tips to Get Better Results with Your SEO Campaign

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Published: December 9, 2014

Search engine optimization can be a frustrating and expensive proposition, and what’s worst of all, you have no guarantee that your efforts will be met with success. With Google’s algorithm updates and tweaks rocking the digital community at the rate of 500 to 600 changes every year – or 1 to 2 every day – you can’t even be certain that what worked yesterday will still work today.

Fortunately, there are a handful of techniques that you can implement to improve your odds of gaining better position in the search results. While you may not achieve page one ranking on Google, these tips and tools will give you a definite edge in improving your SEO campaign and driving more traffic to your web pages.

Use Google Webmaster Tools
The Google Webmaster Tools suite is a critical factor in every successful SEO campaign. It enables webmasters to see their website through the eyes of Google, providing vital information such as which web pages have been indexed, which inbound links have been indexed, and which keywords are driving the most traffic. In short, Google Webmaster Tools can give your website a definite edge in getting fully indexed and ranking better. You can sign up for a free account at https://accounts.google.com.

The Search Queries section of the tool will provide you with actionable data in five key website performance areas:

  • Query – This metric will tell you which keywords your website is currently ranking for.
  • Impressions – This will provide you with the number of people who are viewing your website in the search results for a given keyword query.
  • Clicks – Gaining impressions is only half the battle. This metric will give you the number of users who actually click through to your website after seeing your listing.
  • Click-through rate – Your click-through rate is the percentage of search users who are clicking through to your website.
  • Average position – This metric shows the average results page position where your website is ranking for each of your targeted keywords.

Conduct Proper Keyword Research
Targeting the correct keywords is the critically important first step in a successful SEO campaign. Get the keywords wrong and your entire effort is doomed to failure. You want to target those keywords that are delivering a sufficient volume of search traffic yet are not so competitive that you have little chance of ranking for them. For optimal results, include a mix of long tail and shorter keyword terms. Long tail keywords typically have less search volume than shorter terms but tend to deliver a more focused visitor with greater buying intent.

Some of the most popular keyword research tools include Google’s Keyword Planner, WordStream’s Keyword Tool, Ubersuggest, and FreshKey.

Regularly Add Fresh and Relevant Website Content
Directing users to website content that answers question and helps solve problems is the whole idea behind search. If your content is falling short in this area, you are simply not going to rank well. Website visitors as well as the search engines like to see fresh content, so be sure to regularly dust the cobwebs off your older content with an update or a new twist in addition to creating brand-new articles.

Design Relevant and Well-converting Landing Pages
A landing page is the web page that visitors land on after clicking on your search results listing. An effective landing page will be laser-targeted to the subject matter of the search query, kept free of distracting and irrelevant information, and contain a clear and irresistible call to action. Multiple targeted keywords may require more than one landing page and calls to action.

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