2018 is a wrap, you guys! Congrats on keeping your business afloat and thriving in the constantly changing market! With 2019 already well on the way, it is time to consider your strategy for the new quarter and see how your online presence and reach compare to those of your competitors. We contacted our reliable Denver SEO Service friends (because who better to ask than the pros, right?) and did a little throwback blog on what SEO tips and strategies worked best in 2018. Kind of like an SEO cheat sheet for the previous year. Maybe some of them will inspire you to start the new year with a climb in rank! Dive right in!
Research your keywords
Well, this is the single basic staple of good SEO no matter what year we are in, so we might as well start with that – but the truth is, 2018 saw a huge rise in the insistence on intelligent keyword understanding, as opposed to just cramming them into text. When a person in the real world has a problem, a need, or a want, they are going to navigate the virtual world in a very specific boat in order to sail to a solution. You have to figure out exactly which words and phrases people are going to search or, and then you need to find a way to incorporate those into your own online presence.
Make people understand that your content is the solution they were looking for. To do this, select one primary keyword and a few secondary ones to form a small intention set. The words and phrases should be related in meaning, and they all have to share that particular intent that a searcher is most likely to have when typing them into a browser search bar. When you have the same intent behind your search terms, you can make sure they will be neatly addressed by the same piece(s) of content. You may also want to check out this link for a handy collection of best SEO how tips and how-to’s.
Be smart in employing the hierarchy
Okay, so by now you are certainly more or less an expert on different types of keywords, like local search, long-tailed keywords, intent phrases (especially those with buying intent) and all of that fun stuff. But how often do you stop to think about their mutual positions?
If you want your rankings to skyrocket, we earnestly recommend you sit down and give it some thought. We already mentioned primary and secondary; now get smart with your related keywords as well. Related keywords share a semantic connection (related meaning) with your primary ones, and this is what Google scours for in your content to see whether it is relevant to the query.
What is important to remember is that these related keywords have to be present in your text content. Let us reiterate that: text content, guys. If you place them in videos, or other visuals, or any other embedded elements, they will likely not count. It is hard for Google to sift them out from there. These things are not even fully treated as page content – more like content somehow linked to the page – so you have to rely on text to prove to Google that you have the relevant keywords on your pages in order to get that traffic. While you are here, you may want to do a full-on audit for your website. Find some awesome tips for that at this web page: https://searchengineland.com/5-minute-seo-audit-196513.
Never neglect the SERP investigation
Seriously, it is the simplest and most effective thing to do: go Sherlock Holmes on Google Search itself! It also kind of ties in with our initial point. Perform a search with the engine – go with any search query at all. See what gets back to you. This will help you understand what content Google thinks is the most relevant to your query keywords. What answers does Google perceive as the most useful for searchers? If you crack its way of thinking, you can find service gaps and get top
