1. Create fresh and timely content
This is not new advice, but it remains the most important piece of SEO information there is. The sites that rank highest in search results are the ones that have useful, relevant content — material that answers user questions while promoting your business and its value to customers.
How do you know what search engine users are searching? Turns out there are several useful tools that give you priceless insight into what’s trending for certain search engines. Google, for example, provides Google Trends, a tool that shows what the world is searching. It also offers regional variation, which can help determine what matters to potential customers. Alternatively, Bing offers a Keyword Research Tool that lets registered users pull together useful data, including query volumes and keyword suggestions.
Building popular keywords into your website may be as simple as posting a blog or statement that outlines your company’s COVID-19 cleaning or reopening procedures, but staying on top of popular searches can help you freshen up your website and capitalise on users current interests.
2. Question search engines
Online marketing expert Neil Patel has pointed out that some search sites have significantly better conversion rates than Google. Why does that matter for business?
While there might be more users of Google, there might be more buyers on search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, StartPage and Yandex. Paying attention to individual search engines other than Google can pay off. To start, search for your business and relevant keywords on a variety of search engines. If you don’t like the results you see, get to work.
3. Keywords, meta tags, links and hyperlocal information matters
When Google altered its algorithm to not include meta descriptions in page ranking, you might have thought you could ignore those descriptions. But not if you care about search engines.
Some search engines do factor meta tags in their results, so making sure they’re complete and accurate matters. Likewise, with keywords and high-quality links: These factor in for several search engines, but each algorithm may work differently.
And with the huge number of searches being performed on mobile devices, combined with Google’s powerful ability to collect user data, your site might show up in local searches on Google, even if you don’t include locally-focused keywords.
Spending a little time figuring out what affects search results from a variety of search engines can improve your overall visibility.
4. Focus on mobile and desktop searches
The challenging climate created by COVID-19 has changed the way we’re accessing and using the internet, meaning that the way web content is accessed may need a makeover. Make sure the user experience across mobile and desktop devices is seamless.
Additionally, Google mobile-first indexing is one of the major reasons why SEO is so different for mobile right now. Taking care of it will help increase the number of free organic traffic flowing to your website that can eventually convert into sales.
5. Write for humans first and search engines second
The Google algorithm gets smarter by the day. But there is no clever loophole or formula to outwit a search engine, so don’t bother trying. Write for humans first and search engines second.
It’s been difficult for many small businesses to continue generating revenue while the world is trying to figure out the new normal. But one can’t overstate the fundamental importance of your company’s website that contains useful, relevant and timely information.