Non – SEO strategy #1: Learn to read a SERP
To know how a SERP works means a better understanding of the ways SEO strategies can influence search results
Most people who lead a business and are just starting to consider optimizing their website, do not know how a search engine results page (SERP) works.
They may, at first glance, not realize that on the page presented by the engine there are different types of results. The organic answer to his search may lie in the middle (or below) of Ads, Maps previews, featured snippets…
It is important to know how a SERP is made. This helps you to discover how many ways the actions of an SEO strategy can influence the results to your advantage. For example, if you have a local business, it’s crucial to appear with your brand in the Maps section or with a Knowledge Graph.
An SEO specialist can help you chose the right tools and the right areas to achieve the best results for your business, to make it more authoritative for Google and more useful for visitors.
Non – SEO strategy #2: Assess the whole customer journey
It’s important to remember that not all Google users are ready to convert right after finding your page.
You need to think about users at every stage of their customer journey. It begins when they start wanting something, to the moment they experience the product or service. In between, they do their research, compare more options, and eventually decide.
For example, if a user wants a new racing bike, they will probably start looking online for the best product. They’re not yet ready to buy: at this time, they may look for some advice.
They’ll search and browse very useful articles that explain how to choose a bicycle according to the use you want to make of it. They haven’t started a buying process yet, but they are doing targeted research.
At this stage, if you have implemented an SEO strategy, your online presence will propose your content as an authoritative voice.
Most likely, that user will “listen”, then browse some competitors before returning and be more ready to become a customer. They may contact you via the form on your blog, a text, or an email: here’s a hot lead brought to you by well conceived SEO strategies!
Then, after a user buys a product or service from you, you could ask feedback from them, and achieve a double goal:
- that user will feel involved and listened to, this can make them purchase again.
- You’ll have a happy customer who’s willing to witness the quality of your products or services with people with the same needs.
As you can see, you’ve just grown extra leads, increased website traffic, earned more money as a result of an SEO strategy.
Non – SEO strategy #3 : Collaborate with your SEO consultant
Few things are good for SEO as a good collaboration between specialist and client.
Good communication will help you achieve your business goals and speed up improvements in ranking. This is because search engine optimization is a process, similar to a long journey: if you don’t plan it carefully, you’ll encounter many obstacles that’ll make it less pleasant and delay your arrival.
If you already have a website, most likely the SEO specialist will tell you that there are changes to be made and, most likely, the SEO specialist will be right.
A good professional, however, will always explain to you why the changes are necessary and what you can expect next.
Of course, even experienced consultants can make mistakes (and SEO is all about probability): in this scenario, the most important thing is that they quickly provide an action plan to solve the problem.
Your SEO consultant will probably propose you to publish new articles or add text to the pages.
This is because one of the most frequent issues behind a bad ranking is the lack of original content.
We could analyze with a tool (Google search is not reliable: it tracks the specific user and provides tailored results) the websites of two businesses offering the same service. The one that ranks better is likely the one with the best content, with every other factor being equal.
Both have a contact page, some product/service pages and, perhaps, a company blog. The one with more online authority will be rewarded… And maybe its product is not better than the others!
I know, writing new articles takes time and, therefore, money. It could be convenient to leave the job to your consultant, who’ll decide whether to do it personally or hire an SEO copywriter.
But if your SEO specialist offers you to buy backlinks, or setup a blog chain, better don’t go that way (it’s Black Hat SEO). Your website could be flagged as a spammer and Google could severely penalize it through its Quality Raters.
Then, look for another partner in Search Engine Optimization and have a better value for the money.
