2021 SEO Strategy For Generating Revenue

In 2021, there's no need to ask if SEO is still relevant because all entrepreneurs know that it is.

The term SEO is often thrown in a conversation when someone mentions online businesses, marketing, and internet advertising. But even if many people remember the three letters, few understand what they stand for.

If this is the first time you read about search engine optimization, don't worry; this article has you covered because it presents some tips you should apply when developing an SEO strategy for your business.

Why is SEO important?

61% of entrepreneurs think SEO is the secret to online success , and this is why organizations allocate on average 40% of their marketing budget to it. Having an SEO strategy in place can revolutionize a business and boost online traffic. Considering that the pandemic forced people to use the Internet more than ever, SEO has become essential for organizations that want to remain competitive in their sectors.

How to create an effective SEO strategy

SEO isn't always about using the most popular keywords and competing with the big fish in the market. It's often about knowing the target public, creating the perfect pieces of content, providing the audience with reliable information, and ensuring that the clients are satisfied with the overall services they receive. Keeping this in mind, here are the tips all entrepreneurs should consider in 2021 if they want to craft an SEO strategy.

UX is vital for any SEO strategy

Internet users don't want to land on websites they can barely understand or use. It takes them a couple of seconds to become frustrated and exit the website. Most people don't bother with a website they cannot figure out because they have other alternatives they can choose from. Things like messy site structures, error pages, and dead links take visitors away from your website.

People have little time to spare, so they're looking for easy navigation and a good experience on a website. Google's crawlers are also looking for content to quickly scan when they inspect pages to determine the SERP rankings. If you don't know how to make your website more user-friendly, you can hire an SEO Company to evaluate the website and make recommendations. Create easy-to-read paragraphs, use headings, and optimize the pages for mobile. This way, you improve the rankings, reduce the bounce rate and boost conversion.

Write content for humans

For a long time, all content creators focused on producing content for search engines. But Google's algorithm changed and became smarter; it focuses on the human input and, more importantly, user intent . But it doesn't provide a magic recipe business can follow, so everyone needs to find a way to align with the latest algorithm on their own. However, Google clarifies that the organization that produces content for humans first and search engines second is more visible online.

Therefore, your priority is to create content that provides your clients with the information they're looking for. This means writing engaging and fundamentally naturalistic content. Readers can easily spot a keyword shoehorned in an article or stuffed in a paragraph. Fit keywords only if they make sense and in phrases where they look natural and ensure that you post only informative and valuable content.

Use keywords when possible

While you should always create content for humans first and search engines second , the goal is for the page to rank higher in Google, and therefore you need to include relevant keywords. The keywords are the ones that attract visitors to the website and tell Google what the page is about. Search engines are isolating common search terms to drive organic traffic to websites. Keywords are at the heart of any SEO strategy, and they should also be the center of any piece of content you create.

However, it doesn't mean you should stuff them. Use Google Ads, Ahrefs, and other similar tools to research seed keywords relevant to your business. Then search for their long-tail variations, study your competitors to identify what keywords they use, and find ways to include them in the metadata in a natural way.

Your content is valuable as long as it's not stuffed with keywords and the terms fit naturally in the discourse.

Write content for featured snippets

Featured snippets have a significant impact on SERP rankings nowadays. You're familiar with them even if you may not know that they're called this way. They are the small answer boxes search engines display when you run a search query. If you manage to earn a featured snippet for your website, you'll do great in rankings because it gains greater visibility on the web.

But to boost your chances to get your content featured in the snippets, ensure it matches the formatting and stylistic requirements. Google prefers the websites that organize the content and ideas using bullet points, numbered lists, infographics, and answer question-based searches. Featured snippets are great tools to boost brand awareness because they get your name out there.

Pay attention to the latest Google algorithm updates

Google is getting smarter every day , and old SEO strategies are no longer effective. The updates and tweaks the tech giant brings to its algorithm are constant and most often surprising. While some websites benefit from the latest updates, many get penalized without knowing what they did wrong.

But you can stay ahead of the trend because regularly, Google penalizes websites by evaluating some factors like spammy content, speed, accessibility, and advertising. You can easily avoid a penalty if you make sure your website provides high-quality information and is user-friendly. However, the purpose is also to rank higher, and for this, you need to pay attention to the latest updates to refresh the website according to the latest requirements. Subscribe to forums and industry websites, and collaborate with SEO specialists to track recent improvements. You should also join Google's Search console Community that provides information about the latest updates in Google Analytics and SEMrush.