Traditional advertising is relatively simple: you put messages out in the world and hope people notice them. Before the web, that’s what worked. But far too many companies have extended this passive style into their online efforts.
The hopeful assumption is if a company has a web page, or some posts on Facebook or Instagram, customers will somehow find them. The problem is: smart companies don’t run on hope. If your competition is smart, they’re already using active tactics to sink your passive efforts online.
In this post, we go beyond the basics of SEO and talk about how it’s not enough to just be findable online — you have to be a valuable destination that customers actively look to seek and employ on purpose
Long-term Tactical Gains
By now you should know that SEO is Search Engine Optimization, and its advantages are crucial for sustained business traffic. Paid advertising and other digital marketing strategies stop generating results when the budget runs out. In contrast, SEO is always on and delivers lasting benefits that get stronger over time.
By consistently publishing high-quality content, optimizing your website for search engines, and staying up to date on best practices, you can maintain and improve your rankings for long-term success. This effort ensures that a steady current of organic traffic keeps flowing right into your main business harbour.
Beyond Basic Training
Until recently, SEO was a process of finding relative keywords for your website’s products and services, writing or adjusting your content to match the keywords, building links, and making sure the site worked properly. This got good results — until everyone started using the same basic SEO process.
Those basics are still important, but they’re not enough to put you on top anymore. In the evolving SEO marketplace, companies that focus on being found get the most traffic. But how do they do it?
Build Your Base
The first big change is thinking of your website as a long-term investment. Just like the value you build into your overall brand, your website and its content should be something you regularly feed, update and actively use to get business. It’s a crucial piece of digital territory that you should see as your brand’s central command centre.
When properly built and maintained, your website should have the same stability, value and visibility as any physical headquarters in the real world. In the hands of an expert, advanced SEO can turn your remote outpost into a trustworthy reference point for the whole industry.
Key Ordinance for Advanced SEO
WARNING: we’re about to dive into the nerdy depths of SEO. First off, the key objective for every search mission is winning more visibility and ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Choosing the right SEO specialists can be the difference between getting lost on the dark edges of the map, and having a highly visible destination website that users actively seek out.
Get Fully Equipped
Advanced results require advanced equipment. This is some of the standard and advanced gear we pack for today’s challenging search conditions.
- On-Page Optimization: including HTML meta tags, strategic H1, H2, H3 heading adjustments and body copy analysis for maximum search engine visibility. It’s standard, but important.
- Off-Page Optimization: these external factors affect the perception of your site’s value, and often include guest posting, influencer outreach and content syndication.
- Semantic SEO and User Intent: this practice builds meaning into your site’s content to make it more attractive for what users are really searching for. It’s not enough to just have what they’re looking for. You also have to look like you have what they’re looking for.
- Voice Search Optimization: to get Siri and Alexa’s attention, we look at natural language phrases and question keywords, check for clear and concise answers, and optimize content for local queries like “near me” and “closest” so you never miss potential voice search traffic.
- Heatmaps (and Other Secret Weapons): did you know that eye-tracking technology can optimize your website for deep-seated human behaviour? Even more amazing: it’s not even new tech. That’s just one of the dozens of special tools we would probably need another 1,000 words to dig into.
Too Deep? Talk to Us
Don’t worry, we know SEO gets complicated. We want your company and customers to remain your top focus. Other than some basic training, we don’t expect clients to spend any time learning (or even understanding) advanced SEO technology. That’s what Battleship is for.
Give us a call and we’ll take care of the rest. Let’s activate your website and turn it into a destination customers can find on purpose.