Like building a house, SEO is a process. It’s not something that can be quickly done overnight. It can’t even be done in a few weeks. It takes time to build a strong SEO campaign that delivers results, just as it takes time to build a sturdy house that’s meant to last 100+ years. A house that is built in a hurry, and without proper planning, will likely start to fall apart much sooner than it should. The cost to fix the problems and the headaches that it can cause the homeowner will be much more so than if it had just been done correctly the first time around. The same is true for SEO. Take the time to do it right the first time, and the results will be long lasting.
The first step to a successful SEO campaign is to do some research. Let’s think of the research as the foundation of the house, or the foundation of the SEO campaign. Without a strong foundation the whole project is doomed from the start. SEO research begins with understanding what the goal of the website to be optimized is. The website owner needs to decide on a conversion metric and build the site and SEO campaign around it. The next step is to understand the target audience and analyze the competition. The last step in the research phase is keyword research, which is extremely important. Website owners should never assume that they know how their target audience is searching. Keyword research is an essential step in the process since missing important keywords can result in missing out on potential clients or customers.
Once the foundation has been set, the next step is to build the structure. Just like a house doesn’t have only one big room, a website doesn’t consist of only one page. The structure needs to be built room by room, or in the case of a website, page by page. This step is called on-site optimization. It involves optimizing the content, meta tags, URL structure, and linking structure of every page. Keywords that were chosen based on research should be implemented into every one of these components. Each page should have unique tags and content since the search engines rank individual pages, not websites as a whole.
The last step in the process is the exterior and interior design, which is ultimately what gets it noticed and separates it from the rest. It allows for some customization and creativity. This is like link building. Link building is an ongoing process to increase a website and company brand visibility in the search engines and online in general. Link building activities include article marketing and document sharing, press release distribution, blog writing and blog commenting, video marketing, and directory submission. It’s important to always be aware of what’s going on in the industry and keep up with search engine trends. Just as a home owner might not want to invest in an orange shag rug or wooden paneling from the 70’s, a website owner doesn’t want to engage in outdated link building tactics that no longer hold any weight with the search engines.