Dave Scelba - 04/24/2014
No one can argue that a strong online presence is vital to a company’s success. For over 20 years, websites have played an integral role in marketing strategies by serving as the central nervous system to all communications. However, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies have typically taken a backseat to other digital communication tactics. This is a big mistake. A solid SEO program should be the primary foundation to every digital marketing strategy.
To support my claim, just ask yourself this simple question. What do you do when you’re looking for information or considering a purchase? Whenever I’m out to dinner with my friends and a question arises, everyone at the table turns to their smartphone for the answer. Even my friends that aren’t particularly tech savvy instinctively use their phone. Search engines have become a critical part of our daily personal and professional lives.
So let me ask you, doesn’t it make sense to implement a digital strategy that will help you improve your SEO and earn you a higher position ranking than your competition?
Before you begin an SEO strategy, you should determine how your company stacks up to competitors and establish a baseline position for measuring progress and establishing a ROI. This can be accomplished with a comprehensive Position Analysis Report (PAR). A PAR measures ranking by word or phrases of content and provides recommendations for correcting inefficiencies and a scorecard on your SEO.
A baseline Position Analysis Report (PAR) should measure:
- Your website’s search ranking compared to your competition.
- A list of your competitors’ keywords.
- An analysis of your URL structure.
- A content value audit and relevancy review.
- A content publishing evaluation.
- Content Curation – Constant development and re-freshing of unique relevant content, including web pages, blogs, social media posts, videos and e/vmail campaigns.
- Social Media Analysis – Online share of voice and integration of multiple social media platforms.
- Page Authority – Number establishing your brands overall online presence.
- Calls-to-Action (CTAs) – Placement and usage of offers to promote and entice engagement.
- Identification of short and long tail keywords.
- Tag Analysis:
- Title Tags – Describes the web page content and displays a preview of the content to users in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
- Heading Tags – Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) elements used to define headings and subheadings on a web page.
- Meta-tags and Meta-tag Descriptions – HTML describing and summarizing content on a web page.
- Alt Tags and Image Nomenclature – HTML used to identify and describe images to crawlers.
- Linking Analysis – An overview of the quality and quantity of websites linking to your web pages.
- Directory Submissions – Recommendations of online directories for submission to your website.
- Site Mapping – Publishing of a site map within your website as well as for Google submission.
- Mobile Site Integration – Submission of mobile site maps.
- Matrix Measure Models and Tools – Free Google Analytics and the creation of a dashboard to monitor relevant data and information.
- Restrict Crawling – Restriction crawling only to web pages that have potential to enhance your SEO.
- Cloaking Prevention – Analysis of your website and mobile site to prevent the perception of cloaking.
It all starts with knowing your SEO Ranking and how your website is positioned against the competition.