Dos and Don'ts to Guide Your SEO Campaigns

SEO or Search Engine optimization is the process of optimizing a website to increase its ranking on the search engine results page (SERP). Web-crawlers, or "spiders', of different search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. are constantly scouring the internet and indexing the websites. So when you google something, you are not actually accessing the internet, but rather browsing through the websites indexed by Google. These websites are arranged on the results page according to their relevance to the search keywords, which is computed by special search engine algorithms to determine the significance of each webpage.

Businesses have realised the importance of ranking higher on the search engine results page, as it increases their traffic and visibility across target audiences. This has led to an increased investment in SEO campaigns, especially by companies that have higher stake in expanding their online presence.

However, extensive knowledge of how search engines work is essential to build an SEO campaign. Here are some Dos & Don'ts to keep in mind-

What you should do-

• Content planning-

Content is the key to a successful SEO campaign. Different types of content- text, pictures, videos, audios, infographics, etc. should be planned for the quarter well in advance. This allows for a smooth measureable step-by-step traffic growth on the website.

Also, one should hire content writers who are well-versed with native writing style as they understand how SEO writing works and utilise the keywords and webpage space optimally. Quality and quantity should be at equilibrium while planning.

• Aim should be "Featured Snippets'-

Google Featured snippet is the highlighted content on top of the results page which provides gist of the information requested. The focus while planning must be to develop the web pages that have all the ingredients that can help you earn "Featured Snippets".

• Boost organic traffic-

While planning, have measurable sales goals and actionable items which are driven by strategies that boost organic traffic.

That is why it is essential to have a separate budget for premium tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush and Moz which can advance your SEO campaign.

• Bank on backlinks-

The outreach campaign planning starts with preparing a list of influencers who can be helpful in sourcing content for the website. Aim should be to become an influencer and help others with resourceful content to earn reputation. This helps to increase backlinks which also helps to climb website ranking on search engine's index.

• Barnacle SEO Approach-

For the first three months of the campaign, the plan should focus on "Barnacle SEO approach', which means leveraging highly ranked websites to drive your presence on the internet and generate brand equity. This helps to make the homepage powerful, and then the rest follows.

What you shouldn't do-

• Over-commit in the projection planning-

Quote achievable figures when presenting the plan to your client. Every industry's target audience differs, so projection of the people you can reach with your campaign should not be over-stated. This requires extensive homework.

• Don't over-do the backlinks-

Those 5 million backlinks gigs might look enticing but rather they are harmful for the website. Google, the most popular search engine, no longer rewards the websites with most backlinks. With the preference of quality over quantity, if the anchor text is not built in a natural way then your website can be penalised, which will lead to a dramatic drop in the ranking.

• Experience counts, don't hire novices-

SEO is not a game of guesswork. It requires factual understanding of how search engines evolve, making it a super-specialist domain.

Do not waste your budget by investing in inexperienced agencies or employees. Google is constantly updating the way it operates. If need be, your SEO campaign should be flexible enough to do the same.