How to build an SEO strategy

Our simple guide to putting together a robust SEO strategy.

For SEO to work effectively, it should be carefully considered. When planned effectively, it should start to deliver results within months, but your aim should be to grow the number of meaningful visitors to your website over time.

A quick fix may give you a short-term boost in Google’s search results, but it’s unlikely to be sustained for long.

To achieve substantive growth, you need a well-worked out and implemented SEO strategy.

What is an SEO strategy?

An SEO strategy is the process by which a website’s content is organised to increase the chances of it featuring prominently in search results. It is the process by which you maximise an opportunity to attract organic traffic.

By developing a strategy, you decide the particular approach to SEO you are going to take, and how that will evolve. It’s an important part of the marketing puzzle, one on which other aspects of your overall marketing strategy will hang.

There are three types of SEO, and all of these may play a part in any strategy that you opt for:

On-page SEO

This relates to the content on your website. It will include researching keywords, and then including those in your content to achieve maximum effect. It is also about how your website looks and feels when a visitor lands on it.

It will usually be an ongoing process, and form a part of your long-term SEO strategy.

Technical SEO

This is the invisible technical fixes that you need to pay attention to. It relates to non-content elements of your website that make it easier for Google, and other search engines, to find.

It will include the site architecture, its speed, mobile-friendliness, security and structured data. You will always need to pay attention to technical SEO, but it will be particularly important during the set-up stage of your website to provide the best platform possible.

Off-site SEO

This is a set of techniques and approaches that helps to strengthen your website’s connections with other websites. It’s primarily focused on building backlinks to your website from authoritative websites to enhance your credibility.

It shows search engines that your website is established and authoritative. All of these approaches will be incorporated into most SEO strategies.

So, what sort of SEO strategies are there?

The different types of SEO strategy

Content

Is the field your business operates in information-rich, such as law or media? In which case, a content-driven strategy is likely to be most successful.

Nearly all SEO strategies will involve content, but in some cases it will be extensive.

Campaign

While SEO is fundamentally a long-term strategy for growth, a campaign strategy may be a shorter-lived means by which to improve a poorly-performing website or page. It may begin with an audit that considers the current performance, followed by measures to rectify any underlying issues.

Link building

A link-building strategy is the process by which other websites with authority link back to yours. This is by its nature a longer-term approach, but one that encourages real results as it establishes credibility with Google and your customers.

Link building forms a crucial part of your website’s off-site SEO.

Regional and local

If you have a shop, or other business, that primarily deals with customers who live in or visit your local area, then a regional or local approach to SEO will be the most effective strategy to adopt.

This is about ensuring your business appears in local search results. You do this by creating geographically-relevant content, link building with other local businesses, and ensuring that the appropriate technical aspects are all addressed.

An SEO strategy checklist

Your strategy checklist can be extensive, but there are several key points to remember, on which you can build an ongoing SEO strategy.

Conduct keyword research – what are people searching for?
Define achievable keyword targets – are you going to target competitive keyword searches, or opt to target less intensively searched keywords?
Create a topic strategy for your content – when planning your content, think in terms of topics and subtopics.
Set up tracking – what are your traffic goals and how will you track your performance?
Submit an XML sitemap and install an SSL certificate – this alerts search engines that your site exists and can be included in search results. SSL certificates add a layer of security to your website through encryption. Installing a certificate takes your website from HTTP to HTTPS
Optimise your meta data and other technical SEO – ensure that you have done this across your website.

How to improve your SEO strategy

At Aqueous Digital, we really understand SEO. Our success as a company is built on our ability to deliver results to our customers. In 2020 we won the Best Small Integrated Search Agency at the converted UK Search Awards and more recently were shortlisted as Best Small Integrated Search Agency at the European Search Awards 2021.

We can conduct a comprehensive SEO website audit, and then develop a tailored strategy to improve your SEO performance in the long-term.

Why not contact us today for a free website audit and to find out more about how we can help? hello@aquesous-digital.co.uk 0800 2851424