If small businesses want to succeed in the digital economy, they have to play the SEO game. For some, it’s fun. But for others, it’s an annoying chore which never seems to end. Sometimes it feels as if Google is partitioning up the internet into robotically allocated ghettos, consigned companies to the scrapheap with a simple algorithmic change.
Google is going to continue to change its algorithms, seemingly forever. And so the question is how businesses can beat them and ensure the long term survival of their online operations?
Good question. Here are some holistic SEO strategies to help you fight back against the search giant. These practices will help you stay one step ahead.
Scrub Your Backlink Profile
Google’s recent unannounced Fred update sent the SEO community into a panic. The company decided that it was going to change the way that the quality of backlinks was rated, meaning that some companies gained rankings, and others lost.
In many ways, however, the Fred update was perfectly predictable. Google is constantly looking for ways to weed out backlink spammers and provide its customers with genuine quality for the highest-ranked websites in its search results. So what’s the solution? The solution for businesses is to make sure that the links that they have are high quality. If you sell shoes and you’ve got a bunch of links from restaurant blogs, then Google’s algorithms will pick up on that and may even penalise you. Regularly check your backlinks and disavow those that aren’t organic.
Leverage YouTube Now
Google’s algorithms are sophisticated, but they’re not human level: at least not yet. As a result, Google’s computers can’t yet extract meaning or measure the quality of written text or video, putting SEO experts at an advantage. YouTube is expected to become the largest search engine in the world very soon, overtaking Google’s own number one spot. Because video search is going to be a form of search in the future, your company needs to start building its online video presence today. Find ways to reach your audience with things like tutorials and webinar recordings.
Diversify Your Marketing
The days of marketing on a single platform are now long gone. Today’s top companies now recognise that the future lies in advertising content across a range of different modalities, including desktop, mobile and social media. If you don’t, you could be missing out on valuable opportunities for growth.
Google continually updates its algorithms to reflect changing user preferences. If more people start using social media, you can bet that Google will start prioritising social media results above regular websites. The same happened with mobile sites back in 2015 when the quality of a site directly affected its ranking.
Use Less Expensive Platforms
Adwords bid prices are going through the roof, thanks to the level of competition for particular keywords. But other very popular platforms are nowhere near as expensive. Take Flipboard, for instance. Prices on the platform can be as small as one-tenth of those on Google for the very same target audience.