Did you see the recent guide to SEO ranking factors from Search Engine Land? It prompted me to think of search slightly differently & highlighted 3 areas that business often get wrong. Checkout the graphic below and overlay your own thoughts, experiences & how your SEO plan relates. Are you on-top of the +3 (highest rated factors) and avoiding any negatives or violations?
* Click image for larger version
This is the biggest mistake I see in the running of search engine optimisation by far. Obsession about all the data & myriad of tools usually end means quality content generation is forgotten or taken on half heartedly. Out of the 30 factors (positive & negative) mentioned above, content relates to all of them in some shape or form. Whether that be the quality, frequency or if it is structured appropriately with relevant keywords in or if it is shared amongst social networks & relevant to a particular location.
Content is the primary ingredient for successful natural search, focus on understanding your customers & creating incredible content for them. Remember content needs to take multiple formats whether that be a corporate blog, news area, videos, infographics, podcasts, microblogging. Write & deliver your content in a way which is relevant for your customers. Then use tools like the Smart Insights Social radar to place your content in other relevant places!
While popular Content Management Platforms are making it easier for search engines to index websites I am still surprised at home many people get this wrong. Key to understanding how search engines access your website is Google Webmaster Tools. Ensure you have access to account even if your SEO is managed separately! Creating and spending time on amazing content & products to show to the world is a waste of time if search engines cannot get to the webpage to tell people about it.
Simple things like ensuring you submit a valid XML sitemap to all major search engines will make sure every bit of content makes its way to the search engines. Checkout our on-page optimisation guide for further guidance.
Search engines are ultimately relevance engines. They want to serve users the best results they can specifically for that user. Relating to the diagram factors such as country, locality, engage, quality & research combine to dictate relevance. During my time at an international travel company we often discussed whether local sites with local product, content, pricing would be better over one bigger domain. We tested both during my time there. Since leaving the business I have come to realise we didn't discuss relevance enough.
Do not create a generic website / content / product that tries to target everyone as you actually end up targeting no-one. Always have in your mind, "is this URL, content piece or product relevant to my customers?".
By Chris Soames
Chris Soames is a Smart Insights blogger and consultant, he has worked in digital marketing for over 6 years with the last few years managing international web strategies for a leading travel brand. Now the Commercial Director at First 10, an Integrated marketing agency, he helps clients get clarity on their marketing strategy and create campaigns engineered to engage with their consumers to help drive sell-through. Most of all, Chris enjoys working with talented people who want to create great (& commercial) things not just tick boxes.
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