Competition is fierce for some in the online marketing arena. Getting the kind of attention that brings in leads and clients and customers is the hard working effort of all online marketers. Due to such competition, it calls for today’s marketer to up their SEO game or just sit back and get run over.
This is not a battle, even though the title of this article uses that word. It’s not a battle, it’s a war. Plain and simple. It used to be a battle until the search engine algorithms became so complex that no one knows what to expect anymore. There are SEO pros who see disaster behind every rock and there are those that see opportunity at every turn. The optimists and pessimists in this field can have all the ideas they want, what is the core bottom line is, what are the results via statistics.
Your stats detail your actions and that of surfers and search engines. Place of origin, number of hits, page views, time, date, and deeper. All this data is to be analyzed regularly to give a solid foundation as to what is being equitably successful and what is not.
Careful analysis of these statistics will give a clearer picture of what needs to be done on your part.
Your competition can be massive. Depending on your type of business and location. If you’ve a dog grooming service in a big city, you’ll undoubtedly have much competition. Should your shop be in a smaller city, you might be exclusive and in demand. Either way, SEO is valuable to you. The more the competition, the harder the work. Here is where you can’t afford to let yourself be beaten down.
Analysis is the first step. Analyzing the construction and operation of your website cones first. What is missing, or what can be improved is what you’re looking for. No errors in spelling or grammar can be allowed. Google looks for such things as a site that is interactive and serves the surfer with relevant data than some static, unremarkable site that has been keyword stuffed to death.
One there’s been an objective analysis done, you can look at the in-depth statistical data to glean anything that can be helpful. Picking it apart you can see whether surfers and search engines like what specific type of content, be it copy or graphic, and then you can provide more of it in an updated fashion. Regularly updated sites are what Google is looking for because that’s what the surfer is looking for, a website that has some sort of value to one and all.
Don’t get too involved in keywords. They’re not the magnetic miracle they used to be. Because SEO consultants had so many ways to manipulate Google via keywords, Google got wise to it and applied countermeasures to thwart anyone from gobbling up the first page of search engine results with spammy and non relevant data. Keywords are important, but not that important to the overall success of your site. You’ll still be battling over the top keywords, keyphrases, and keygroups as well as long tailed queries. Sometimes to win that battle, some money needs to be invested and that can be too expensive for the small business person.
It’s also a good idea to fine tune those outbound and inbound links. Clean them up pronto, make sure you’re not getting links coming in dead or troubled or banned sites. It’s tough work to get a link removed if the site has been abandoned, but it’s doable in most cases.
Overall, it’s all about what skills and discipline and tools you’ve got. Applying them and having a realistic outlook regarding your goals and abilities will make for a better series of search engine results the SEO way.