SEO Approaches You Need to Know

When it comes to making good use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in your digital marketing plan, there are several different types that can benefit you and the strategy differs a bit for each. Don’t hit the panic button thinking that they are outside of your grasp!

Here’s an outline of the 4 best SEO marketing approaches to use, in plain English.

1. Local SEO

SEO marketing that has a local focus will increase the visibility of your brick-and-mortar business when potential customers search for related goods and services while in a particular geographical area.

Local SEO strategies go beyond just your website and should include:

Participating in community events (and sharing them on your social media)
Creating profiles on Google My Business, Yahoo! Local, and Bing Places for Business
Registering your website on top directory sites and using data aggregation tools

2. Barnacle SEO

Taking its name from the sea creature that attaches itself to a large surface and feeds on anything that happens by, barnacle SEO works in much the same way. Businesses with lower search engine rankings attach themselves to sites with higher rankings and feed on the search results that they get.

Where to start:

Look for sites with the best rankings by searching for top keywords in that industry
Observe the sites and directories that are the top of that search result
Focus your SEO efforts on the results that you find in those searches

3. National SEO

The opposite of local SEO, this type of search engine marketing applies to businesses that aren’t bound by location and can service the entire country. A good national SEO strategy focuses on feeding search engines information that will show up in results from a search done anywhere in the nation.

How to focus on national results:

Be sure not to include any references to a specific location
Look at what other sites show up in a national search based on your keywords
Focus on general keywords (“digital marketing services” vs. “digital marketing Texas”)

4. Technical SEO

This type of SEO marketing is not something that you can afford to ignore, as it focuses on the backend of your website. This might be the area where you need to go ahead and call in some professional help if you are unfamiliar with the more technical side of website operation.

Technical focus should be on:

Page load time and mobile optimization
Optimized URLS, page titles, and tag titles
Monitoring of your site for any type of page errors

The most important thing to remember with your SEO marketing strategy is that whatever types you choose to implement, they must all work together as a team. Your ranking will thank you!