6 Things to Understand about SEO in 2018

SEO is a term that has been around for a while and it gets used quite a bit these days —often in an intimidating and less-than-helpful way. Truth is, SEO is not as difficult as it sounds if you know the principles behind it.

The fact is, all of your content has to be optimized for findability.

• website copy
• blog
• press releases
• linked articles
• social media posts (to some extent.)

SEO is the process of inserting the right keywords into your site so that search engines like Google can rank you higher. The point is to make your website easier to find so that the people who are looking for you don’t have to dig and dig.

1. SEO Rankings

Google tries to give the user what it thinks they are looking for. Google needs to know what your site is to know if it might be what the user is trying to find. The higher you rank for relevant terms the better because people find you quicker.

Pro-Tip: Chances are you’re not the only business in your industry in town, which means you’ve got to stand out any way you can. To understand SEO as a strategic method, you need to realize it enhances your content in a way that works from the inside out.

2. The Correct Platform
   You need to start with the right site platform. A good SEO strategy starts with the right website. Fresh, continuously updated content is always good for SEO because it makes the website more robust and provides more of an opportunity to inject keywords here and there.

Good Example: Content Management Platforms like WordPress make fresh content easy to disseminate and have backends that are optimized for search. Plus, you can add SEO widgets that make every page and post checkable against SEO requirements.

3. Influence Matters
   This is one that especially rings true in 2018. Your social media followers matter and your overall influence matters to your SEO plan.

It’s simple: a company with 200 Facebook likes will not get the same ranking as a large company with over a million Facebook likes and a million Twitter followers. But don’t think that means you can buy influence. In this case, Google can detect the quality of your followers! Building your numbers organically is the only way social influence can really impact your SEO.

Pro-Tips:

• Consistency is the key to growing your social media numbers organically.
• Use the same voice over all platforms and update your users on a daily basis.
• Focus on content that is useful.
• Engage your audience in conversation.

4. Your Message

When you take your SEO more seriously, you take your writing more seriously. By writing original, quality content, you’ll demonstrate expertise, and gain rankings in the search engine.

• Make sure every part of your message aligns with your focus as a brand and what you are trying to accomplish with SEO.
• When sharing a post on social media, make sure that post links back to whatever you are trying to promote (website, blog, both).
• The post must have keywords that are SEO compatible.

This is your opportunity to take control of your online reputation. Deliver genuine, honest messaging that positions you as an authority.

5. Trusted Blog

To understand SEO, you have to understand what Google wants to see. If Google sees you’ve got a decent industry-centric blog, meaning one that’s well-trafficked and shared,it essentially sees you as an expert or an authority. To Google, you’re clearly trusted on this topic, so the search engine boosts your ranking.

6. Keywords and Meta Descriptions

The keyword for a page should be what the page is about.

• Use it once in the title
• Once in the Sub Heading
• Once in the first paragraph
• A few times in the copy
• At least once in the meta description

Meta descriptions are for human consumption, and Google doesn’t really read them to determine ranking but you still need to take them into consideration. They are the little one or two sentences of text you see below a site title in search results and they’re pretty much meant to get the person to click on the page. This is where you need to understand the human factor along with SEO. When you become more visible, you have the potential to attract new consumers. And the higher rank is vital because very few people ever click past page 3 in search results. So, don’t make your consumers dig for you.

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_{Founded in 2001, RUSSO is a strategic branding agency based out of Lafayette, Louisiana. RUSSO uses consumer insight to develop branding initiatives that effectively change the conversation — forming emotional connections between the consumer and the brand.}