Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.
Today’s day and age is largely defined by the technological era in which we find ourselves. In the wake of the internet, social media, smart technology, and sophisticated AI programs were all introduced as regular pieces of society and everyday life. This was all emphasized even further in the last few years as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe and fundamentally changed the way in which we would live for the rest of our lifetimes. One of the biggest and longest lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was the surge of activity in the mobile and virtual marketplaces. Another, was the way in which businesses transitioned to operating almost entirely in remote or work-from-home environments. These events coinciding have led to a society that largely operates over digital and virtual means, and has created a virtual marketplace that is absolutely booming.
In order to make sense of the sea of information that the internet made available to the everyday person, today’s search engine behemoths like Google created SEO practices. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and is now a core business strategy for any modern brand that’s trying to remain competitive.
However, many modern SEO strategies are focused on the concept of content-marketing. While content marketing is a very hot marketing trend, and very effective for many industries and companies, some brands prefer to use alternative SEO methods that don’t require additional web-content.
“For a business, additional traffic to your website means more opportunities to introduce new people to your product or your services. To put it simply, SEO can help you generate more leads, increase sales, and improve revenue, which is ultimately the goal of every digital marketer.”
– Josh Wardini, Author, SERP Watch –
Optimizing Existing Content and Web Pages
If you’re looking to boost your SEO without adding any extra content to your web presence, the first thing you’re going to want to do is optimize any existing web pages and content that already exists. This is going to take a little bit of fine-tooth combing, but will be well worth the effort. For instance, make sure your homepage is ranking for the keywords and key phrases that you’re targeting. If your homepage isn’t ranking on the top of the search engine results page (SERP) for the keywords and key phrases you’ve targeted, you’re going to miss out on a significant portion of potential clients and customers.
“Keywords and keyphrases are integral to achieving high SEO scores. It’s the bread and butter when you really think about it. Your keyword or key phrase literally tells the search engine when it should look for your webpage in associated searches.”
– Breanne Millette, CEO, Bisoulovely –
Keywords and keyphrases aren’t going to be enough to give your webpage a high ranking, though. This was a loophole that was notoriously exploited in the earliest SEO algorithms that came onto the scene. Malicious website designers would create web pages hyper saturated with invisible text repeating a keyword over and over again. This way, the web page would rank at the top of the SERP, without offering any real value to online users. In worst-case-scenarios, these were actually fraudulent websites looking to take advantage of uninformed browsers.
“SEO practices have certainly come a long way since they were first introduced to the world-wide-web. They are, without a doubt, much more sophisticated today than ever before.”
– Ubaldo Perez, CEO, Hush Anesthetics –
Utilizing Metadata
Another important SEO tactic to utilize when trying to boost an SEO score without creating additional content is to make use of the metadata fields wherever and whenever possible. This will also help in optimizing the current web pages and any existing content that the brand hosts. Furthermore, it will give the search engine algorithm even more to grab onto when looking for content similar to yours.
“Metadata is really simple and can sometimes feel a little bit redundant, like when you’re just putting words to a picture to describe what’s there. But it’s actually a very important piece of the SEO puzzle. Especially if you’re not going to focus on any type of greater content marketing strategy.”
– Alexandre Robicquet, Co-Founder and CEO, Crossing Minds –
Developing a Strong Library of Backlinks
One of the strongest SEO strategies that has very little to do with native content is the development of an external backlink library. Backlinking is an important part of SEO and is typically associated with a content marketing strategy. However, the beautiful thing about backlinks is that they’re hosted on external websites or web pages that link back to whatever page of yours you choose. For instance, an external blog post about hiking boots could have a backlink leading readers to your hiking-boot-sales page.
“Backlinking is actually even more important now after the most recent update to the Google search algorithm, which prioritizes websites and web pages that have a healthy mix of internal and external links.”
– Lilian Chen, Co-Founder and COO, Bar None Games –
A strong library of backlinks also helps further establish brand authority and brand awareness within the industry. By cultivating a high influence rating with your backlinks that are sprinkled across the internet, more consumers will organically come across your brand.
“Brands can skyrocket in rankings due to a successful backlinking strategy. Getting a backlink from a website like Forbes can be hugely powerful for your website’s authority score, as well as being a great PR play.”
– Brian Lee, Co-Founder and CEO, ARENA CLUB –
Linking Social Media
Social media is wildly important in conducting and operating businesses in the modern era. Entire brands have been created through a social media presence, following, or influencer. Ignoring the marketing power of social media is an irresponsible business tactic. By linking social media pages to your overarching website, you’ll double down on visibility, search traffic, and more easily direct consumers and clients from one to the other.
“Social media is an incredibly powerful tool. You have people out there making over $1 million per post because the brands know the power, the reach, and the influence that one post will have. Social media can be the perfect marketing machine.”
– Ann McFerran, CEO, Glamnetic –
There are a plethora of ways to integrate social media into both the SEO strategy and the overall marketing, sales, and growth strategy. Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and even LinkedIn all offer brands direct access to literally millions, and arguably billions of people.
“Millions and millions of people use social media every single day. It is such a powerful marketing tool. If you are not currently utilizing social media in your marketing campaigns, definitely begin doing so.”
– Shaunak Amin, CEO and Co-Founder, SwagMagic –
Acknowledging the Power of Content Marketing
There are a lot of different factors and variables that play into an SEO score. This is why the search engine algorithm is constantly changing, evolving, and being updated – to try and bring the most accurate results possible to the consumers conducting the search. In that way, we cannot fairly discuss SEO practices without touching on the power and purpose of content marketing.
“Content marketing started as a trend and has emerged as a fundamental change in the way marketing strategies are approached and developed. It could be in part, a reaction to the growth of digital natives in the consumer base, or something else entirely, but content marketing is here to stay.”
– Lyudmyla Dobrynina, Head of Marketing North America, Optimeal –
Content marketing is extremely powerful because it bolsters brand awareness, it populates the internet with industry-relevant-information that helps establish authority, and attracts more clients and consumers, all while engaging potential customers. In a highly virtual and mobile economy that’s hyper saturated with competition, consumer engagement is valued at a premium. With content marketing strategies, brands have a better chance at winning the attention of a consumer by publishing relevant, interesting, and impactful content that isn’t necessarily sales-focused. By winning the authentic interest and attention of the consumer, the organization successfully positions themself to be more successful with follow-up calls-to-action that eventually could lead to a sale.
“When you’re able to fully engage the target audience your chance at successfully getting them to buy into what you’ve bought into sky rockets. That’s only a part of the reason that content marketing is so powerful.”
– Miles Beckett, CEO and Co-founder, Flossy Dental –
Wrapping up on Boosting SEO
SEO is a crucial part of conducting business in the modern era. There are a variety of tactics, techniques, and strategies that organizational leaders and managers can utilize to boost their SEO scores. From optimizing existing web pages to building a library of backlinks, or even dabbling in content marketing.
“For most businesses, being on the first page of search results means standing up over competitors. On average, people make over 40,000 search queries every second – more than 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion per year. As a matter of fact, Google is the most visited website ever.”
– Brian Childers, Author, Foxxr Digital Marketing –
