How to be a differentiator in SEO

SEO can seem like a complicated puzzle for digital marketers. But you need to combine them together to create a better picture for your website traffic.

Explore these key tactics, tools, and time-savers to make sorting through quizzes easier and help you shine when it comes to sharing your performance data.

Choose better keyword phrases

There is no “right” when it comes to keywords as they involve a lot of guesswork. A keyword phrase seems ideal, but additional work and time will reveal whether it's not relevant enough or too competitive.

A keyword phrase that seems ideal. Timing reveals whether it's not relevant enough or too competitive, @mikeonlinecoach via @CMIContent said. #SEO Click to Tweet

When starting out, focus on searcher intent to better match your keywords to possible conversions. You can dig deeper into that with the following articles:

You can't rely on your hunch to choose keywords. You also can't do keyword research , based on plugin data on some formula and run with the results. Examine the data and decide what it tells you.

Don't remove it completely

If your site ranks 99 now for the keyword, it probably won't be number 1 or number. 11 even eight months from now. But don't exclude keywords. The other variables will make it clear whether or not it should be removed from your list.

Find your hot spot

Consider how well your site is performing for keywords and add keywords related to those that perform best. (I go deeper into 21 SEO Tips, Tactics and Trends for Website Content in 2021 .)

Identify current rated drivers

Let's say your site ranks 3rd on Google for keyword phrase favorites. Possibly, the keywords in the page content title influenced that top ranking. Now, if your page ranks as Number 67, it's possible that your favorite keyword phrase is mentioned only once in 18 paragraphs. Edit your page accordingly.

See value in low search volume

Exact keyword phrases (long tails) can be a great choice. For example, if your product has a high price tag, say $30,000, your potential audience may not be that large. So even 20 searches a month is worth it. Patience. Keyword phrases with low search volume can yield the right prospects over time.

Patience. According to @mikeonlinecoach via @CMIContent, keywords with low search volume can bring in the right leads over time. #SEO Click to post a Tweet

You can also check your search volume for non-branded keyword phrases that rank in the top 10. You don't need to chase keyword phrases with 1,500 monthly Google searches if the keywords are The top 10 sites typically correspond to monthly searches in the 50 to 200 range. That is an important correlation.

Determine how SEO works beyond rankings

People are still fascinated with rankings. I guess they are a measure of success. But the way your site ranks on Google shouldn't be too ostentatious.

The good news is how organic (organic) traffic has impacted leads and sales. Rate website content old and new to see which page will get the most credits. Is it the main text on the page or the call to action? clear ? Maybe they work hand in hand.

You can follow all of this in Google Analytics , including conversions (from completed forms to product demos). Start by creating goals that can be tracked from organic search engine traffic and other website visitor data.

A screenshot showing how to create a goal in Google Analytics.

Make sure to take advantage of the Google Tag Manager (GTM) feature. It allows you to track PDF downloads, on-demand webinar views, and even clicks to any email address listed on your website.

Use @Google Tag Manager to track activities like PDF downloads, on- request webinar views and even clicks to email addresses on your website, @mikeonlinecoach via @CMIContent for know. #GoogleAnalytics #SEO Click to Tweet

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Know when to adjust

You should never have the set-and-forget mentality. Usually, marketers “optimize” one page at a time and so on. If you manage a large website, it will be difficult for you to revisit and update 5,000 pages over three months.

Instead, rely on your organic search traffic and ranking data to help you choose priority pages to review. Of course, you can return to the same page more than once. I edit several pages several times a year, including:

I also focus on internal links and send some love from existing pages to new content.

Sometimes you need to be careful when making updates that can affect successful SEO tactics. If a keyword phrase ranks #25 on Google, you might be happy it ranks #6. But have your changes replaced another important keyword phrase? I protect from problems by changing young children.

RELATED CONTENT TO BE TREATED: Use internal links to get better reception from search engines and readers

Essential tools to speed up SEO work

While there is no magic formula for SEO, there are a few tools that can make the process easier and more effective.

Rating history

I sometimes think of keyword phrases long after I've developed a strategy for a client. I focused on “CNC machining services” and then wanted to explore “precision CNC machining services”. At that point, I had a deep understanding of SEO and the tactics that can affect rankings on certain websites.

How do I know if my efforts are affecting search engine rankings for “precision CNC machining services?” Semrush always come to the rescue. The company can show me nine years of history. While it doesn't have all historical data for every keyword phrase, I can usually check how keywords are ranking right before I start an SEO update.

Use @semrush to check how keywords are ranking right before the #SEO update, says @mikeonlinecoach via @CMIContent. #ContentMarketing #Tools Click to Tweet

Keyword combinations

The Keyword Mixer of SEO Scout generates keyword phrase variations. Enter your keyword list (A, B, and/or C), then SEO Scout creates some new combinations to consider. You can search for broad terms, exact match, or phrase match.

Page title and content title

Screaming Frog does a great job at aligning the SEO page title and the site content header data with the URL. The report shows that the page's URL corresponds to both the title and the page title, making it easy to evaluate the data. I don't need to worry that the URLs can change from page title to title.

. @screamingfrog does a great job of aligning the #SEO page title and page body header data with the URL, @mikeonlinecoach via @CMIContent said. #ContentMarketing #Tools Click to Tweet

Search operator

Learn about search operator – commands that help you identify the SEO data you may need. For example, if you wanted to use Google to search for a website, your search operator would be “site: topic.”

It is helpful to see if your website content reflects the keywords. Are they prominent, or are they only mentioned in small ways (as a reference going through the page)?

Here's how you can do that:

site: example.com “text here”

site: example.com intitle: “text here”

I also use search operators to identify link building opportunities. For example, you can try these and other combinations for tracking industry directories:

intitle: “industry”: directory

intitle: sector inurl: directory

Related: sector inurl: directory

Get instructions on extended search operators from the following sources:

Reduce keywords

In some cases, I've improved rankings by cutting down on the number of times a keyword phrase appears on a web page. You cannot follow a magic formula. But you can modify the content and limit the keywords to be packed in some photo captions, subheadings, and other page elements. The Keyword density analysis tool of Internet Marketing Ninjas provides a useful breakdown of keywords per page.

The Keyword Density Analyzer from @NinjasMarketing provides a handy breakdown of # of keywords per page, according to @mikeonlinecoach via @CMIContent. #SEO #Tools Click to Tweet

Match keyword rankings with data relevancy

I want to understand data beyond keywords, rankings, page URLs, and search volume. I keep track of how many keywords each URL ranks for. While I always have a set of strategic keyword phrases, this data tells me how many other keyword phrases compete for the top positions on the same page:

Other tactics that can guarantee success

There are several other pieces to consider adding to your SEO puzzle.

Content Creation: Introduce new content ideas can support keyword strategies. Detailed development Frequently asked questions how-to guides, glossary and evergreen content.

Cluster of content: Elise Dopson offers many ideas in How to Rank and Read with the Topic Cluster Model . The approach involves choosing a pillar topic and related sub-themes around which some pieces of content are created.