Archives 2019

The Three Pillars of Modern SEO: Technical, Content, and Authority

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is often misunderstood as a single, monolithic strategy, but in reality, it is built upon three distinct yet interconnected pillars: technical SEO, content SEO, and off-page SEO. Neglecting any one of these foundational elements can severely limit a website’s ability to rank highly in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Technical SEO forms the critical bedrock; it is the practice of ensuring a website meets the technical requirements of modern search engines. This encompasses everything from site speed and mobile-friendliness to secure connections (HTTPS), a logical site architecture with a clean URL structure, and a properly implemented XML sitemap. Think of it as building a house—without a solid foundation (technical SEO), even the most beautiful interior (content) will eventually crumble. Search engines must be able to crawl and index a site efficiently, and technical SEO removes all barriers to this process, allowing the other pillars to shine.

While technical SEO makes a website accessible to search engines, content SEO is what makes it valuable to users. This pillar focuses on creating high-quality, relevant, and authoritative content that directly answers the queries and search intent of your target audience. The era of keyword stuffing is long gone; today, search algorithms like Google’s BERT and MUM understand context, semantics, and user satisfaction. Successful content SEO involves thorough keyword research to identify topics of interest, creating comprehensive content that thoroughly addresses those topics (often in the form of long-form articles, guides, or videos), and structuring it for both readability and crawlability using header tags (H1, H2, etc.), meta descriptions, and internal linking. The goal is to become the best possible answer for a searcher’s question, which signals to Google that your page deserves a top ranking.

The final pillar, off-page SEO, is about building a website’s reputation and authority in the eyes of search engines, primarily through the acquisition of backlinks. A backlink from a reputable, high-domain-authority website acts as a vote of confidence, telling search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable. Earning these links naturally is the cornerstone of white-hat SEO and can be achieved through creating truly exceptional “link-worthy” content like original research, powerful tools, or incredibly detailed guides that others in your industry will want to reference. While technical and content SEO are largely within your control, off-page SEO requires outreach and relationship building. However, its impact is profound; a strong backlink profile built on quality, not quantity, is one of the most powerful ranking factors, solidifying your site’s status as an authority and propelling it to the top of search results.

Increase Your Reach With Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has produced not only a fantastic way for people to share information with each other but also for businesses to reach out to their customers more personally. Utilizing social media allows companies to target individuals who might be interested in their products and to interact with them in a meaningful way. When a person encounters a business in the relaxed and casual setting of Facebook or Twitter, it doesn’t feel so much like an encroachment of their privacy, but more of an informal communication, allowing a feeling of trust to develop. With social media, a customer can decide the degree to which he or she wants to interact with a brand. The conversation may stop at viewing posts in their news feed, or they may prefer to go directly to the profile page of that company to find out more. Businesses should put all relevant information, such as contact info and web address, in their profile so it is readily available if viewers are ready to take action.

Additionally, social media offers a great opportunity to publicize sales, offers and other special events. Companies can even set up event pages and invite their fans to attend, which acts as a reminder. Another good idea is to provide coupons that customers can print right from their computer and bring with them to the store. If your company has a webpage from which products can be purchased, be sure to link to that page and consider providing coupon codes that can be implemented in the online check-out process. Providing unique offers to Facebook fans or Twitter followers only can make them feel special, and like they are part of a group. Social media is a great contemporary twist on traditional word-of-mouth advertising. When a company initiates conversation with a customer on Facebook or Twitter, it has an element of fun to it, especially when there are contests and promotions involved.

Generate excitement among your fans, and those fans will likely spread the word, sharing it with their friends. Those referrals are more likely to be positively received because they trust the friend who shared it with them. Because social media is such a popular past time for so many people today, advertising often doesn’t feel so corporate. Therefore, it is often times better accepted and businesses get better results. Try utilizing your social media monitoring profiles to communicate with your audience, and test it for yourself!