It’s very important to remember that SEO is not a cheat engine or holy-grail tactic to beat the search engine algorithm, but as established above, it’s a series of optimization to align our site and our content with the search engine’s mission to provide more relevant information for the users.

The objective of SEO is to achieve a higher organic search ranking, and if possible, the #1 ranking spot. In the above example, that is the spot right below the “People also ask” box.

Below are the strategies we’ve focused on implementing for several of our clients in the past couple of years.

Although, we strive to continuously refine and polish each approach to SEO, given that you need to be really adaptive in this line of business.

Utilize More Long-Tail Keywords

On the subject of long-tail keywords, these have been known to generate less traffic compared to shorter keywords. Despite the less traffic, these long-tail keywords tend to have a better conversion rate. This is due to these keywords being more specific searches, along with the fact that there is less competition compared to simpler keywords. With a lot of users opting to go for long-tail keywords, it is best to optimize your keywords to fit their needs.

How to apply: Like every keyword, it is best to do some keyword research using tools like AHRefs or Semrush, which offers you some of the most accurate data with regards to keyword performance. For the example below, I typed in “SEO strategies” on Semrush, and I quickly found some long-tail keywords that can be utilized.

As you can see, long-tail keywords may not be as competitive, but tend to have good search volume, along with having a cheap cost per click. Combine this with a sound link building strategy, and you would be able to help your website rank higher on search results pages.

Optimize Voice Search

Voice search has accounted for a good amount of total searches during the past year. In fact, voice searches have accounted for around 20% of all kinds of internet searches in 2016, and that number could be just higher during the late parts of 2017. With voice activation and recognition systems being utilized more, it is best to take advantage of this new technology as early as possible.

How to apply: A majority of voice search inquiries are questions, which means that your keywords must be long-tail and have to be actual sentences, as opposed to keywords that consist of phrases and a combination of related words. Voice-based search terms work better when your content can be seen in Google’s Featured Snippet. When it comes to your content, make sure that the question inquiry and the answers would be at the same page, as Google tends to favor those sites more, and ensures that users would be getting instant results.

Mobile optimization

It’s no surprise that Google rewards mobile-friendliness and, more specifically, responsive design.

In fact, the average mobile-friendly score of websites that rank for featured snippets is 95/100. So your site needs to be responsive, adjusting to whatever size of screen it’s viewed on.

Not sure if your site is responsive? Most website builders have built-in previews to tackle this, but Google Chrome lets you find out by sizing your browser window down.

If the size adjusts accordingly, then you can start viewing that page on other devices besides your desktop or laptop. If not, you can ask your developer to make some easy changes to your current site to make it responsive.

As more and more people are using smart devices, giving them a great user experience will not just help you with SEO, it will also make your visitors happy.

As more and more people are using smart devices, giving them a great user experience will not just help you with SEO, it will also make your visitors happy.

Evergreen content helps your website to stay evergreen

Quality content is one of the vital factors that not only contribute to improving the website ranking but also add value to the users.

Hence, it’s better to create evergreen.

It will help you to get long-lasting results and this is something really good from a long-term perspective.

Wait, wait, wait…

Evergreen content is the content that always adds value to the users.

It hardly matters whether how old the content is.

It will work for a longer time and give long-lasting results.

For example:
One content is having the title: Importance of SEO

The second one is having the title: SEO Latest Updates

The first one can be considered as evergreen content.

This is because the importance of SEO will hardly change with time.

It will always add value to the users whenever they want to know about SEO importance.

But if we talk about the trends, it will surely change with time.

As the updates change very frequently.

Once your website has secured a good position in the SERP.

It will stay for a longer period due to evergreen content.

Ultimately, good positioning will reward you with more number of quality leads, conversions, online sales, and profit too.

Video

With a whopping 72% of businesses saying video has improved their conversion rate, it’s clear consumers and marketers love video.

But so do search engines — especially YouTube parent Google.

There are seven different types of sales and marketing videos we highly recommend you focus on, as they are proven to drive traffic, leads, and sales.

We call these The Selling 7, and we’ve seen businesses achieve amazing results with them:

1. 80% videos should answer the top 7-10 questions sales teams hear most often. We ask our prospects to watch our 80% videos before we get down to business.
2. Employee bio videos offer a quick look into who works at your company. Usually around two to three minutes, these videos give basic information about each employee to show off their personality and let the viewer get to know them.
3. Product and service page videos (like this example) showcase how your products and services can be solutions.
4. Landing page videos helps you build trust with your readers and guides them through the next step in your sales process.
5. “Bad fit” videos (like this one) show readers who might not be a good fit for your products and services.
6. Customer journey videos (like these) let you showcase your success stories.
   “Claims we make” videos show (rather than tell) people what you’re promising to do for them as a company.
7. By embracing The Selling 7 as the core of your video marketing strategy, your business will rank better in search, which will attract more qualified leads and close more deals faster.

Users experience do have an impact on SEO

Never underestimate the user experience factor when it comes to SEO.

Although it sounds beneficial for the users somewhere Google rewards those websites which are user-friendly.

If you optimize the website just for Google, it may affect the sales of the business.

But if the primary focus is on users’ experience, it will end up with a high conversion rate and good ranking as well.

There are a few elements to take into consideration.

They will help you enhance the user experience of your website.

The loading speed of the website is the primary thing that has to be considered at any cost.

Else if the website takes a pretty good time to load, it may be abandoned by the visitor without opening it.

Try to make the website visually appealing to increase the dwell time of the users.

Dwell time is the time spent on the website before returning to the SERP.

Keep the website navigation simple and sorted.

Related content 10 best landing page practices to improve your SEO