I still remember how exciting it was when I finally figured out how to use SEO for a local bakery I worked on back in the late '90s. Their website was barely visible on page 10 of the search engine results. But with a concentrated SEO strategy, we ranked them on the first page for "best cupcakes in Long Island." This increase in website traffic and client inquiries proved SEO's revolutionary impact.
So, what is SEO? It means optimizing your website for search engines and making your website visible to the right people at the right time. This is why, no matter the size of your business—whether it's a local bakery or a full-size food manufacturer—you need an effective SEO strategy to compete in today's information-savvy digital market.
My intention here is to help you create a successful 2024 SEO strategy. I'll cover the latest trends, key processes and actionable recommendations to help you navigate SEO's ever-changing landscape.
In SEO, it's important to always be one step ahead of the competition. As an example, one big trend that is changing the digital world right now is the rise in popularity of voice search. According to a 2018 Backlinko study, snippets provide an astounding 40.7% of the results returned by voice searches. As a result, it's no longer optional to optimize your website for voice search. To help achieve this, use long-tail keywords and natural language. And keep your site secure—the same study shows that 70.4% of the results pages for voice searches have HTTPS links.
Video is also becoming more popular as a means to get information, which makes it a useful tool for making content more interesting and better for users.
Of course, it's important to put the user experience (UX) first in any SEO plan. Google and other search engines favor user-friendly websites with good interface design. Part of this is making sure the website loads quickly, works well on mobile phones and is easy to use.
In addition to keeping up with SEO trends, there are steps you can take to make your SEO strategy work in 2024.
Having well-defined goals helps you laser-focus your SEO efforts. In fact, determining what constitutes a successful SEO campaign is a powerful but often overlooked step. Is it bringing 20% more people to your website? Boosting your visibility for local search terms? Getting more online sales? If you have clear goals, you can track your progress, measure how well you're doing and change your plans as needed.
You need to conduct keyword research to find out what your ideal customers are looking for online. To do this, you can use SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner, among others, to find profitable keywords, research their search volume and assess the competition.
Say you have a website with baking tips and are having trouble with your next blog post. You found that a lot of people search for "easy cake recipes" every month through keyword research. These keywords can then be used in the post's title, headers (H1, H2) and meta description. This will make it more likely that your content will show up in search results for key terms your target customers are looking for.
The next step, after deciding which keywords to utilize, is to make your website user- and search-engine-friendly. Among these are:
Good content is the bedrock of an SEO strategy in 2024. Your content should do three things: inform, engage and set your website as an authority in the field.
When evaluating a website's content, Google emphasizes E-E-A-T—expertise, experience, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Because of this, it is critical to make an honest attempt to be creative.
Think beyond the box, do your own research, and sprinkle in some tales where appropriate to offer fresh perspectives. Moreover, acknowledging the author and their qualifications helps establish credibility and trust with your readers. By following Google's guidelines and writing content that people want to read, you could boost site traffic and establish yourself as an industry expert.
Think of building backlinks—that is, links from other websites to yours—as gathering recommendations. These increase your website's trustworthiness and ranking potential by showing search engines that people are confident in you.
For example, I helped a local eco-friendly apparel manufacturer boost their web presence by concentrating on quality information rather than unethical approaches. We created a blog post about sustainable fashion to demonstrate the brand's environmental responsibility. This automatically drew backlinks from eco-friendly blogs and online magazines with similar opinions. This method generated high-quality backlinks, boosting authority, traffic and brand exposure.
Keep in mind that if you concentrate on making content that is worthy of links, the backlinks will come.
Staying on top of SEO trends and algorithm changes is imperative. But remember that SEO is a long-term process. By following the above tactics, having clear goals, and monitoring and altering your strategy, you can unlock SEO's power and succeed against continually changing SERP algorithms.
You can stay ahead by subscribing to industry magazines, following Google updates and attending pertinent webinars or conferences. However, if you feel overwhelmed, do not hesitate to consult a seasoned SEO agency for assistance.
