The following is an excerpt from our Ebook, “How an Inbound Marketing Agency Does SEO,” which thoroughly details the steps necessary to rank high in Google as well as other search engines. For more expert tips, be sure to read the full Ebook. 

“A successfully optimized search campaign can help your business generate more leads and get found by potential customers.” – HubSpot

Rank High in Google

Here’s the problem with search engine optimization; most companies nowadays know what it is, but have no clue where to begin when it comes to developing an effective SEO strategy.

So where does that leave you? Well, to put it bluntly, toiling away on the last pages of search results.

And you know what the means, right? It means that prospective buyers in your industry may be finding your competitors or other sources of reference through the search engines, but they’re probably not finding you.

Maintaining a powerful SEO strategy is critical in today’s online marketing world.

Lucky for you, we’re in a sharing mood. Listed below are the main points of criteria we value here at IMPACT in order to execute an effective SEO campaign.

We’ve broken them up into five main steps:

  • List Keywords
  • Create Keyword-Focused Pages
  • Start Blogging
  • Have a Link-Building Strategy
  • Stay Current

Follow these five steps, and you’ll be well on your way to implementing a powerful SEO strategy to rank high in Google, capturing more relevant traffic as a result.

Having trouble ranking high in Google? Give us a call here at IMPACT and learn how we can help!

List Your Keywords

Selecting the right keywords will make all the difference between a successful SEO strategy and a failed one.

As certified partners of HubSpot, those of us here at IMPACT are able to more effectively optimize our content for keywords using the HubSpot Keyword Tool.

By selecting 10-15 keywords that relate to our industry or services, the Keyword Tool will help to grade each keyword, telling us the following:

  • Global searches per-month for each keyword
  • Company’s current ranking for the keyword
  • Difficulty to rank on the first page of search results

This allows us to more effectively optimize our content for the right keywords.

So narrow down a list of about 10-15 keywords you’d like your company to be ranking for.  Keep in mind that you should be updating this list as needed, as new services or products need to be included.

Google’s Keyword Tool is another helpful way to both identify and analyze the keywords you wish to rank for.

Create Keyword-Focused Pages

So now that you know the importance of optimizing your pages for keywords, the next step is learning how to successfully incorporate them into your website content.

At IMPACT, we’ve found that the best way to rank high for specific keywords is to have several web pages focused on specific keywords or phrases, rather than trying to get one page to rank for your desired keywords.

Keywords should be the central focus when you’re creating web pages. How many web pages do you need?

Well, first determine how many keywords you’re trying to rank high in Google for. Now develop several pages on your website devoted to pushing the sort of content that will prominently feature these keywords.

The key here is not to stuff your pages with keywords (Google actually penalizes for this), but to offer relevant and helpful content for your website visitors.

Start Blogging

Blogging will be your most valuable asset when it comes to ranking for keywords.

Whereas web pages aren’t updated frequently, a consistent, fresh blog will pump out keyword-rich content on a weekly or even daily basis. Think of each new blog post as a new web page to be indexed into the search engines.

This can be tricky, as you’re writing for your readers, not the search engines. However, there is a thin line. If you’re writing helpful content focused on the keywords related to your industry, you should have no problem developing keyword-rich, helpful blog content.

Have a Link-Building Strategy

Link-building refers to the act of driving traffic to your site through inbound links. Make a list of ways you can realistically attract more links to your site.

Here’s some ways that have worked for IMPACT:

  • Share links with local businesses
  • Share all content through all social media platforms
  • Look into guest blogging
  • Post articles on recent news or events in your industry

The idea is to create content that entices other users or readers to share your content. This all goes back to writing content that is both helpful and resourceful for your readers.

Do that, and everything else will fall into place.

Stay Current

Perhaps the most frustrating part of staying on top of your SEO is the fact that it’s always changing.

In order to avoid having a bunch of your content fall off search results, use the following four SEO news sites to stay current with any notable changes to search engine criteria.

  1. SEOmoz
  2. SEOBook
  3. Search Engine Roundtable
  4. Search Engine Land

A powerful SEO strategy will deliver measurable results.

Don’t feel you have the time or resources to fully develop a successful SEO strategy? Give us a call at IMPACT and learn how we can help.

Continue reading the Ebook…