Although the major updates to Google’s algorithm hit certain sites pretty hard, search engine optimization hasn’t changed that much in the last few years. The demand for high-quality content has increased, but the basics are still the same and SEO remains one of the most important components of a great marketing strategy.

While SEO has been dubbed the genie of online marketing, you have to speak the language of search engines to get that genie to grant your wish. Otherwise, your requests to rank higher will be ignored. For example, a strong SEO strategy requires a collaboration with content creation, social media marketing, and any other advertising campaign you’ve got. All your gears need to be moving in the same direction to achieve your ultimate goals. 

1. Step up your link building game

Your link building strategy shouldn’t look like a mad dash to grab as many links as possible. You can probably get some decent links that way, but it’s not a sustainable practice. In 2019, your link building strategy needs to include link building outreach. The difference is, an outreach strategy involves personally connecting with business owners, marketers, bloggers, and social media influencers in an effort to get a backlink or brand mention to your website.

If you’ve never reached out personally to generate links, the marketing pros from Seo.co outline link building outreach in detail. They suggest starting with a list of possible opportunities, and then crafting compelling offers to each person or business you’d like to approach. While link building outreach is sustainable and effective, it does take time to pursue. However, you’ll acquire high-quality links that will stick around for a long time. When the webmaster combs through their site to purge content and links, they’ll be more likely to remember you and leave your link alone. Especially if you provided something of value to the webmaster like a special article or if you appeared as a guest on their podcast.

On the other hand, if you’ve pushed your way into getting linked on a popular website and they don’t know who you are, your link might get deleted if the webmaster decides it doesn’t add value to their website. 

2. Rank your content for a reason

So you’re ranking content in the search engines, but do you know why you’re focusing on particular pieces of content? That’s an important question to answer. You don’t want to rank content for no reason. Every piece of content you optimize for search engines needs a purpose tied to your overall marketing strategy. 

Do you want people to make a purchase? Sign up for your newsletter? Request a free consultation? Comment on your posts? Are you trying to educate people with a series of articles that take them deeply into a subject they’re passionate about?

Be intentional about selecting the content you try to rank in the search engines. Make sure that content supports one or more of your marketing goals. For example, informational content with no call to action won’t support your marketing goals. You may not be selling anything, but even educational organizations request users to take some kind of action. If visitors aren’t being guided to buy something or get on your email list at minimum, ranking that particular content is wasted traffic. Either create a call to action or rank a different piece of content.

3. Track your progress with the pages you’re trying to rank

You can’t be effective unless you’re tracking your progress. While personalized search makes tracking page rank in the SERPs difficult, it’s not impossible to track progress. To see how well you’re doing in the SERPs, you need to track your traffic stats. 

Don’t use your webhost’s general tracking software – it’s limited. You’ll need something complete like Matomo (formerly known as Piwik). It’s important to track every action a user takes on your website not just during one visit, but all visits over time. Matomo creates profiles for individual users and tracks them long-term. The software also integrates with Google, Bing, and Yahoo search consoles for enhanced SEO tracking.

Analyzing traffic data will tell you where your traffic is coming from, which pages are ranking well, and which ones aren’t. If you’re spending money on PPC ads for certain pages that aren’t getting traffic, you’ll know it’s time to shift your PPC strategy. 

SEO is an ever-evolving long-term strategy

While SEO evolves, it doesn’t stray too far from its roots. Backlinks will always be the foundation of SEO, although not all backlinks are beneficial. The key is to stay on top of major algorithm changes, track your progress, and adjust your strategies along the way.