4 Signs Your SEO Strategy Needs an Overhaul
How easy is it for your target audience to find your business online?
According to Forrester Research, 93 percent of all online experiences begin with a search engine. It’s safe to assume, then, that a good portion of that activity involves looking up businesses to purchase products or services. If your site isn’t adequately optimized, chances are it isn’t getting found online, which means you are missing out on the opportunity to attract and convert new customers.
Is your SEO strategy getting you the results you’re after? If not, here are four warning signs that it may be time for an overhaul.
Your site isn’t ranking on the first few pages of Google.
Logically speaking, the higher up your business appears on the list of results when someone conducts a web search online, the better. You may not be able to quickly claim the number one spot (aka the Holy Grail of SEO), but since 75% of users never bother to scroll past the first page of results you should at least be aiming for that. Getting on page two or even three is ok as well, but if you’re currently on page 12, chances are your business will never get found. Make sure you’re using the right targeted keywords and that your content is optimized and indexing properly.
You’re not getting enough mobile traffic.
According to Google, more than half of all online searches now occur on mobile devices. If your site isn’t properly optimized to be mobile-friendly, you are missing out on traffic, which means you’re leaving money on the table. If you’re not investing enough money into your mobile strategy – including mobile SEO – the time to make the switch is now. Otherwise you risk getting left behind (and allowing your competition to pick up the slack). Here are a few tips from the Google blog for developing a more mobile-centric search strategy.
You’re spending way too much on paid ads.
Paid search engine ads are ok as part of a larger online marketing strategy, but if you’re dishing out hundreds or thousands of dollars every month on things like Google AdWords and not ending up with very much to show for it, it’s probably time to change directions. Recent studies indicate that a whopping 70-80 percent of internet users completely ignore paid ads, opting instead for the organic search results that turn up below. It’s ok to invest a little bit in paid advertising, but most of your efforts should be focused on getting a better ranking through traditional SEO methods.
The quality of traffic is lacking.
When it comes to getting value out of your online marketing efforts, the proof isn’t in the volume of traffic you’re getting to your website, but rather the quality of that traffic. If you’re receiving 500 visits a day, but only 2 of those visitors are actually converting, something’s not right. You may be targeting the wrong keywords. Or, you may need to incorporate the use of negative keywords into your strategy. If you’re unfamiliar, these are words that instruct Google to exclude your site from the search results. For instance, if you sell only women’s shoes, you might include “men’s shoes” and “children’s shoes” as negative keywords to ensure that people searching for those phrases won’t accidently get directed to your site. This helps to weed out visitors who are not suited for your products or services
Digital marketing begins with a foundation of strong and solid search engine optimization. By addressing any or all of the above issues, you’ll be able to improve your approach and begin seeing better results from your SEO efforts.
