Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of creating digital content with a focus on pooling several techniques together with the objective of ranking organically on the search engine’s results pages (SERP’s).
The only way people are going to find your content (organically) and what you have to offer is to pop up on their search page after typing a query or what’s known as a keyword. And for that to happen, artificially intelligent bots from the search site need to know your content answers the query being typed. That’s where SEO comes in.
When you post your content online – bots are sent to your site from Google, Bing etc as they can detect new entries yet to be ranked and indexed. These bots crawl through your site and, depending on the structure (more on this below) of your content, they index it for a time when it matches someone’s search intent; at which point your content is then produced as a possible answer to what the person is looking for.
The key then, is to optimize your content in a way that communicates to these bots your content has the most useful answers on the particular topic you’re writing about. Hence, search engine optimization.
In this article I’m going to break down the best SEO strategies that work for 2022. Beginning with:
Keyword Research
Conducting keyword research is the first base for any content creator that has SEO in mind. Keyword research is needed to find out what your audience’s pain points are. What are they typing into the search boxes?
Instead of creating what you think people are looking for, keyword research ensures you craft your content around what people are looking for. So you can then focus on helping them achieve that goal with engaging content.
Copy Structure & User Experience (UX)
Another SEO strategy that can promote your content’s position in the SERP’s is the structure of your copy, general readability and user experience whilst on your webpage.
In order for search engines to understand what you’re writing about, bots communicate how you’ve broken down the body of text. They scan for headings and sub-headings; step-by-step explanations; bullet points; paragraph length; and images (with alt-tags). This is so they can highlight key information for searchers.
Organizing the body of text into neat bite-size pieces also helps with easier reading and digesting of your main points; whether the reader is just skimming through or attentively reading word-by-word.
Having one long cluster of text can seem visually daunting and will likely cause people to bounce back from your page. Consider making mobile-friendly pages and having quick page loads. It helps with the UX and encourages the reader to stay on your page.
Link-building
One of the more crucial SEO strategies is link-building. External link-building is when another site links to content on your site. This helps you gain authority before the bots; since others are linking back to your page, you must have something useful to say. It also acts as leverage in attracting visitors to your site.
Not only do visitors come through search engines but now also from other sites. Two avenues of organic visits mean more eyes on your content and better SEO scores.
Internal link-building is linking to other pages within your site. It keeps visitors on your site; thereby achieving a lower bounce rate and raises the probability of having more conversions.
