Hey alluser,
Welcome back to our "Traffic Generation Made Easy" series! 🎉
In the first email, we talked about building a Buyer Persona, to understand who you want to attract to your site.
The next stop on our journey takes us into the abyss we call SEO.
Part 2: Foundational Search Engine Optimization 🚀
First things first, we need to address the elephant in the room.
SEO isn't static.
The rules and best practices are constantly changing, especially with the latest updates from Google.
You might even wonder if optimization is something worth doing anymore.
Maybe it's easier to just publish whatever content you want and pray to the algorithm gods for a lucky spot on the first page of Google.
Funny enough, there's something useful in that too.
But don't throw in the towel just yet.
There are still actions you can take that will help you rank well, and generate organic traffic.
SEO Basics 🪨
If you don't know much about SEO yet, I suggest you read our Beginner's SEO Guide before going through the rest of this email.
You'll get a good understanding of the basics, including terminology and ranking factors.
–
Google's Latest Updates: What You Need to Know 👀
In the past few months, Google has rolled out several updates that can significantly impact your SEO strategy:
1. Helpful Content Update: Google continues to emphasize high-quality, helpful content.
This update prioritizes content that provides real value to users over content stuffed with keywords but lacking substance.
This means your content should be focused on solving your audience's problems, answering their questions, and providing actionable insights.
It makes sense if you think about it. A ton of articles online are just fluff sprinkled with keywords.
This shift is forcing websites to think about their users when they write.
Google is recommending everyone to follow the E-E-A-T criteria, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.
2. Core Web Vitals Update: Site performance remains a key ranking factor.
Google's focus on Core Web Vitals (a set of metrics that measure real-world user experience) means you need to ensure your site loads quickly, is visually stable, and offers a smooth user experience.
If your site doesn't meet these standards, you could see a drop in rankings.
3. AI-Driven Search Enhancements: Google is increasingly integrating AI to improve search results.
This means search engines are getting better at understanding natural language, user intent, and even the context of a search.
As a result, optimizing your content for AI means making sure it's clear, well-structured, and aligned with what your audience is really looking for.
For tips on boosting traffic and making sense of these changes, read this: 15 SEO Tips To Help You Boost Your Traffic & Rankings in 2024
Key Elements of SEO You Can't Ignore 🛑
With these updates in mind, let's break down the core components of SEO that you should focus on:
✅ Keyword Research: Start by understanding what your audience is searching for.
Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush can help you find relevant keywords.
With Google's shift towards AI, it's crucial to focus on long-tail keywords and natural language queries that match how people speak and search.
Pro Tip: Optimize for conversational queries and questions. These are increasingly popular with the rise of voice search and AI-driven search engines.
✅ On-Page SEO: Once you have your keywords, it's time to optimize your site:
- Title Tags & Meta Descriptions: These should be compelling, informative, and include your target keywords.
- Headings (H1, H2, etc.): Structure your content with clear headings to improve readability and SEO.
- Internal Linking: Keep users engaged with internal links to other relevant content on your site.
✅ Technical SEO: Make sure your site is easy for search engines to crawl and index:
- Site Speed: Improve your site speed, as Google's Core Web Vitals emphasize performance.
- Mobile Optimization: Your site should be responsive and look great on all devices.
- Schema Markup: Schema markup is a type of code that you add to your website to help search engines better understand the different content elements of your page
For in-depth information and tips on On-Page and Technical SEO, read this article.
✅ AI SEO: With AI becoming a bigger part of how search engines operate, optimizing for AI is essential.
This includes creating content that is not only keyword-rich but also contextually relevant and structured in a way that AI algorithms can easily process.
- Semantic Search: Focus on the meaning behind search queries rather than just the keywords.
- Content Optimization Tools: Use AI-powered tools like Clearscope or Surfer SEO to optimize your content for relevance and readability.
✅ Content Creation: Content is still king, especially with Google's emphasis on helpful content. Focus on creating high-quality, informative, and engaging content that directly addresses your audience's needs.
✅ Backlinks: High-quality backlinks are still one of the strongest ranking factors.
Build backlinks by creating valuable content that others want to share, guest posting on reputable sites, and reaching out to influencers in your industry.
Learn more about content optimization and building backlinks in this article.
Bonus SEO articles you should read:
Putting It All Together 🧱
With your Buyer Persona in hand, you now know what your ideal audience is searching for, and with SEO, you can make sure they find you.
The great thing about SEO is that it's a long-term strategy – once you've done the groundwork, your efforts will continue to pay off for years to come.
In our next part, we'll explore another powerful traffic generation strategy: Paid Ads.
We'll talk about how to use ads effectively, so you don't waste money and get the results you want.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to hit reply. We're here to help! 🙌
See you there!
Angie
General Manager
OptinMonster
