SEO Marketing: Search Engine Optimization

If you’re on this page, you’re either a potential employer or you’re wondering just what the heck SEO is.

But no matter who you are… welcome!

Whether you’re looking to get acquainted with SEO, brush up on SEO best practices, or checking to see if I know what I’m talking about, I hope this introduction to SEO is helpful. Let’s get started.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it’s exactly what it sounds like. SEO is used to help your website appear as high as possible on search engine results pages, also known as SERPs. Typically, good SEO leans on strategic and thoughtful copywriting, but that’s not everything that goes into it — web design, load speed, and any number of backend factors are also important.

SEO copywriting supports your larger SEO efforts, which can include link-building (outbound, inbound, and cross-site are all important!), mobile optimization, positive press, article length, load speeds, relevance, timeliness, and more. It’s important for your copywriter to understand where they fit into the bigger picture, but it’s also important for companies to know when, why, and how your copywriter works with the rest of your team.

Good SEO doesn’t begin or end with good copywriting, but it definitely includes it.

On-page optimization

On-page optimizations include everything you do on your own website to positively influence your ability to rank on various keywords and search terms. 

Examples of on-page optimizations can include: 

• URL

• Title tag

• Meta description

• Heading tags

• Alt tags

• Keywords

• Content

• Internal linking

• Images

• Mobile-friendliness

If you need help thinking through how this looks for your company, feel free to reach out here.

Off-page optimization

Off-page optimizations include everything that happens outside of your website to influence organic search rankings.

For example, let’s say you post a great blog on your website and then a well-known celebrity or industry influencer posts it on their social media. Well, you’ve just achieved off-page optimization — that re-post or retweet tells search engines that your website is well liked. The more this happens, the more times search engines are reminded that you’re great, and the more evidence these search engines have to assume you put out only the best content.

Examples of off-page optimization can also include:

• Links from other websites  

• Guest blogs

• Forum posts

• Article comments

• Positive press in the media 

In short, off-page optimization is sometimes out of your control, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you can to make them more likely to happen. Search engines put a heavy premium on what others are saying about you and how often they’re mentioning you or linking back to your content.

How to build an SEO strategy from scratch

There is no single answer that will have you ranking on hundreds of new keywords and elevate your domain rating overnight. However, there are a number of steps that will help you get there. 

1. Create a blog 

A well-crafted homepage and a few detailed subpages isn’t going to do it. You need more than a few pages on your website to be ranked highly on search engines. A blog gives you the ability to quickly and consistently add content to your website. But it’s important to make sure whatever you’re posting is valuable, timely, and relevant to potential customers.

2. Perform an SEO audit 

Okay, you’ve got a blog. Let’s take a look at how your current site is doing in terms of organic keywords, referring domains, backlinks, and more. I like to use SEMRush but there are a number of SEO research tools out there for you.

Here’s a recent site audit from ODG Apparel, one of my current partners.

I also decided to run some competitive analysis for ODG Apparel — trying to find keywords that we were missing or that were weak on our website.

Now I’ve got some data (and research-backed analysis) to get started listing out keywords that I want to target with strategic content that I’ll post on the blog. I’ll also likely take the target keywords that I’m weak in (or missing altogether) and find places to put them throughout the rest of the website.

3. Make a list of content topics 

This is where the plan starts to take shape. Start your list by answering some basic questions about your company.

• What are my core product offerings?

• How is our company unique?

• What do we do better than anyone?

• How does our team approach problems differently than the competition?

For example, given the research above for ODG Apparel, I see that there are some keywords where I’ve started to enter the organic search pack, but I’m not anywhere near the leader. We’ll probably start with the following:  

• Tetelestai 

• Abide

• Bear fruit

• Christian apparel  

4. Put those keywords into Google 

Now that you’ve got keywords you know you want to improve in, let’s see what’s already performing well on Google. We’re gonna start with Tetelestai — which is the Greek word for the phrase “It is finished.”

Because we’re a Christian clothing company, this seems like a great place to start.

There’s a lot of room for improvement with this keyword, and it looks like what’s working so far is explanations for the word Tetelestai — pronunciation, meaning, and background.  

5. Create optimized content for your website 

I’m probably going to start with some articles entitled “What Does Tetelestai Mean?” and “Why Is Tetelestai Important For Christians” but the possibilities are endless.

What if we had an entire collection of apparel dedicated to the word Tetelestai?

What about a central landing page where we referenced everything we’re learning about Tetelestai, including cross-links throughout the website to individual blogs and our new apparel?

Some key things to keep in mind as you begin writing content:

• Blogs and articles should be at least 1,000 words in length. 

• Your focus keyword (and tertiary keywords) should have strong keyword densities in the text. 

• Include your focus keyword in image alt text, but make sure it fits naturally. 

• Include the focus keyword in your title, near the front if possible. 

• Use keyword variations throughout the body. 

6. Focus on off-page optimization too 

Make sure your new content is cross-linked throughout your website. Linking out to relevant sections from your new blogs and articles is recommended too.

Are you posting your new content to all your social media channels? That’ll help with SEO as well.

What about a contest where people enter by posting #Tetelestai and linking your new articles?

The possibilities are endless.

Let’s talk!

This is just a brief summary of SEO strategy. If you truly want to invest in driving major SEO results for your business — let’s talk.

I’d love to help!