Four Pillars of Effective SEO

Four Pillars of Effective SEO
SEO can be complicated, in many cases, overcomplicated. How many ranking factors are involved in generating strong organic search results? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Two hundred? A quick search for “SEO ranking factors” will give you all of these answers and myriad others. There is a lot of information out there. And the reality is, while there are likely hundreds of variables working together to determine final placement, much of what is suggested is guesswork. And certainly, not all ranking factors are relevant to every business. Point being, it is easy to get lost down an algorithmic rabbit hole. It’s information overload out there, and you can spend all your time on a research hamster wheel and achieve very little.

In a recent article published by the online SEO journal Search Engine Land, the posting describes a way to simplify things and outline the four main areas you should be focusing on with your SEO.

The four pillars of SEO

The four key areas of SEO that site owners need to consider are:
1.technical SEO: How well your content can be crawled and indexed.
2.content: Having the most relevant and best answers to a prospect’s question.
3.on-site SEO: The optimization of your content and HTML.
4.off-site SEO: Building authority to ensure Google stacks the deck in your favour.

Of course, these four areas have some complexity and overlap, but understanding your strengths and weaknesses in relation to them is key to focusing your efforts.

Technical SEO:

•crawl. Can a search engine explore your site?
•index. Is it clear which pages the search engine should index and return?
•mobile. Does your site adapt for mobile users?
•speed. Fast page load times are a crucial factor in keeping your visitors happy.
•tech. Are you using search engine-friendly tech or CMS for your website?
•hierarchy. How is your content structured on your website?

Onsite Optimization:

•keyword research. Understand the language of your target audience.
•descriptive URLs. Ensure each URL is simple and descriptive.
•page titles. Use keywords naturally within the page title.
•meta descriptions. Craft meta descriptions like they were ad copy to drive clicks.
•content optimization. Sensibly use keywords and variations in your page copy.
•good user experience (UX). Ensure your site is a joy to use and navigate.
•strong calls to action. Make it easy for your users to know what to do next.
•structured data markup. Tap into the latest SERP features to improve click-through rates.

Content:

•Service content. What you do and where you do it.
•Credibility content. Why a prospect should engage with your business.
•Marketing content. Content that helps position you as an expert and puts your business in front of prospects earlier in the buying cycle.

Off Site Authority Building:

Eventually, all SEO rivers run to this one spot: authority building. Building your authority, in large part, involves link building. Links are still a crucial component to developing strong organic rankings; however, links can be the hardest part of SEO to get right.

To read the complete posting, visit the Search Engine Land page.