In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Wolff Street Digital is featured as a Top Content Marketing Agency in Denver. Check out their profile here.

SEO is constantly evolving and changing, which is why it can be difficult to stay on top of it. However, with every new lesson we learn in SEO, we become better at tailor making our blogs, websites, etc. for the people who read them.

Good Writing Is Important

Content needs to be clear, intriguing, and filled with information to drive lead generation and engagement.  Online users want answers to their questions, information that makes them think, laugh, or feel another emotion.  

Many a blog has sputtered and sunk because it didn’t first include a well-written post or article with something valuable to say. You can’t just throw a bunch of keywords on a page and expect success; you have to want to say something and say it well.

Content Needs to be Optimized

Even the most well written blog posts won’t make an impact if you don’t play the game a little. This is why good SEO practices are so important. You have to drive traffic to your site, or no one will read your insightful posts.

Keywords are important when it comes to getting your content in front of the right audience. The best way to know what to write about and which phrases to include in your content is to use a service such as SEMRush, or use Google’s search engine suggestions. This way you will have a better idea of what people are searching for online, so you can target your content.

Don’t Feel Like You Can Do It All on Your Own

It feels good to have a blog you designed, write for, and manage all on your own, but you may never get the traffic you desire unless you scale operations. Hiring people to write articles for your blog can help you immensely.

Having someone else writing content for you means that you can achieve other goals much faster because your attention isn’t divided. According to a LinkedIn Technology Marketing Community survey, 51 percent of B2B marketers list lack of time to create content. Curata found that most marketers outsource as much as 18 percent of their content.

SEO Knowledge Is a Commodity

People would have laughed twenty years ago at the thought of major companies hiring someone just to focus on the SEO practices of their blog or website. But we now understand that this knowledge is seriously valuable. After all, there are millions of how-to guides, PDF books, and websites that offer in-depth information on the subject.

SEO should be the cornerstone of every digital marketing campaign. You can’t deny its power in online success when 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. Finding someone who can get your website on the first page of search results is crucial to your success.

Good SEO Requires a Plan

Again, you can’t just throw keywords around or create blog titles that don’t make any sense because you’re trying to jam all the important keywords at the beginning. There aren’t just a few key tactics to repeat over and over when it comes to SEO. Instead, you should have a comprehensive plan that is easy to follow and execute so others who work with you can do the same.

Some of the tasks you need to have included in your SEO plan are:

• Keyword research
• Content based off those keywords
• Pages and landing pages created based on keywords
• Link building campaign
• Social media integration

It’s not only about content and keywords when it comes to SEO. It’s critical to bring in social media and other websites to help boost the authority of the site.

Longer Content Is Better

“Long-form content opens up the doors to brand-building,” according to Forbes.

While we once thought keyword density was more important than longer articles, we have since realized we were wrong. Long articles are great for establishing a business online. As long as it provides clear, useful information, people will trust your business more, and be more willing to spend money on that business. McMurry/TMG found this to be true when 78 percent of consumers they interviewed believed organizations providing custom content are interested in building good relationships with them.

Post Frequently

It’s important to post as frequently as you can without being inconsistent. Search engines will be more likely to bring your posts to the top if they are recent.

Guest Posts Are Important

You may have thought in the past that all your posts should belong to the website itself with no outside contributor listed. However, guest posts will extend your blog’s reach and provide an opportunity for an expert to connect with your audience. It’s also an important way to naturally build your site’s backlink portfolio.

Ensure Websites Load Quickly

In 2010, Google announced they would include a website’s load speed as part of their ranking factors. Every since then, website developers have done everything they can to increase website speeds. The faster the better is what they shoot for since Google hasn’t provided specifics on what they are seeking in site speed.

Fill Out Your Meta Descriptions

Don’t leave meta descriptions blank as they are important when it comes to conversions. If you’re using a WordPress-based blog, consider downloading the Yoast plug-in so you can easily optimize your meta title, description, and alt tags. While they are less important when it comes to search engine rankings, well crafted meta descriptions are important when it comes to gaining user click-through from SERPs.

Make Your Site Mobile Friendly

We are now past the “mobile Tipping Point”, according to a recent article by Smart Insight. This means that more people than ever before are relying on their phones and tablets to access content vs a desktop. Also, since January 2017, Google began penalizing sites that are not optimized for mobile.

Use Headings

While not a huge ranking factor, using the heading tags, as well as including keywords in your subheadings, will help contribute to a successful SEO campaign. Furthermore, headings are important to readers, provide structure, and improve accessibility.

Don’t Forget Voice Searches

Thanks to the rise of mobile use, more people are using voice search, so don’t forget about your long-tail keywords. They’re particularly important because people are more likely to be long winded when they use applications such as Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana AI.

Track Trends and Adapt to Them

If one thing has been proven time and time again, it’s that SEO is ever changing, so always stay informed of the current trends. Make a habit of checking industry resources like Moz, the Ahrefs blog, and Search Engine Land to learn about the latest Google algorithm updates and how the SEO world is reacting to them.

Be Original

It can be difficult to stand out online but it’s important to let your voice shine through in your content. Even if a topic has been covered numerous times before, you can identify a unique angle. Find ways to connect broader topics to your niche or adapt it for a local audience.

SEO Is All About the User

Google and other search engines just want to present websites that their users find useful. If you provide a website that is useful to your target audience, you will end up doing well online. While there are some technical advantages to including keywords and information in specific areas of your website, as long as you keep the user in mind through it all, you will be successful with your SEO efforts.