First of all,let me start with the ancient business model and their marketing approach.
Let’s take example for setting up a physical store that would include:
Setting up a store (location and products setting) so that people can find you.This is the base of your existence.
Moving forward,We would now like to build our brand so that people can know about us;our brand.In simple we want to create a buzz for us.For that we would create our ads on Tv,Newspaper,and other sponsored events.
And even after investing hundreds of thousands on all these marketing stuffs,we can just hope for the best because that would not ensure everything since we can't measure our sales directly from advertisement.
Things changed and there came the entry of internet and search engine.With search engines booming in the world,an entirely new marketplace came into existence as there were billions of people surfing internet from around the globe.
With the rise of people on the internet, gave birth to an entirely new form of marketing.And that is what we call as digital marketing/internet marketing/search engine marketing/SEO, etc.
In the early days,The main purpose of SEO used to rank the website in the first page of any search engines.
But now the things has completely changed.SEO is a lot more than that. SEO is about building your brand and authority online.It takes a lot of time and effort to acheive such goal as SEO isn't a magic which will boom your website with few fixes and set ups.
Where the world is seeking for information and businesses shouting for attentions,It is very important to define your audience and target the right ones.Getting traffic of 2k/month is not worth if those traffic is not relevant to your business.So don’t target everybody.Just target the right people on the web.
After years of research and expertise,What we believe is SEO is not all about ranking your website in the search engine.It's way of doing business.It is a way of branding and authorizing your website to a whole new level.
It is therefore I would advice not to waste your SEO effort and time only for the sake of pleasing the Google and its algorithm.Build smart approach for overall branding of your business.
There are many such practices that affects the performance of the overall website.
First of all, i would like to enlist some of the worst SEO practices and myths that has been in use for ranking the website.
1) Think of SEO only after designing website:-
SEO doesn’t come after design.It must be there from the beginning because website design and user experience(UX) may affect the SEO.
2) Promoting before organizing:
First-page rankings don’t always translate to increased revenue.Prioritize creating a site that engages users and delivers an unforgettable experience, and you’ll quickly see your website traffic resulting in increased conversions and growth for your business.
3) Optimization is the key:-
Getting your site ranked isn’t going to do much good if your site isn’t prepared to convert site visitors when they get there. You need to make sure your site is user-friendly and well written. It needs to be compelling. It needs to work for you and not against you. Never optimize your site at the expense of the users experience.
4) Ignoring content writing:
Content is the key factor for SEO.Content writing is a strategic way to attract and engage new visitors. Title plays a vital role in attracting them but it's the content which will engage them better.You must Focus on converting visitors into leads and content plays a vital role here.So always create fresh,unique and relevant content.Use Content marketing approach to promote your content on the web.
5) Short and relevant content ranks better for google:
This tactics has been taken from journalism.yep.That is correct to some extent for web also as long as it is relevant but not quite right too.This tactics used to work 4 year earlier but not now.You can't write a complete and meaningful content in 200 words.It is therefore Google recommends lengthy relevant contents compared to short ones.Relevancy is important because it reduces the bounce rate and increases the click through rate which are good factors of Google algorithm.
It is therefore recommended to write a complete article full of information so that reader would not have to move to other place for a piece of information.So whatever you are writing about,Write everything(be aware of relevancy to title though).Make use of nfographics, photos or videos whenever required.Don’t try to insert everything about your niche.Just stick to your topic and write smoothly.However 1000-2000 words is recommended.
6) Creating massive inner links to increase the authority of website:-
That is truly incorrect.The reality is google will penalize you for over linking.Use links that are natural for the reader.Use a reasonable number of internal links.And Never create massive blocks of site-wide footer links!
I would rather recommend to Create internal links wisely whenever it is needed.Don't overuse it.The main purpose of internal links is to Distribute page authority and ranking power throughout the site but you should always choose it wisely.Also choose the anchor tag smartly.
7) Stuffing keywords everywhere to make it rank in Google:-
This is the greatest myth i have ever heard of.In reality, Google will penalize you for keyword stuffing.
Write for the user not for the search engine.First write your article(free writing) and then insert your keywords wisely so that it would not hamper the quality of that article and the interest of the reader.This process must be executed during the time of editing.
8) creating presence in each social channels:
Social media can be turned into Customer Relationship Management tool if done correctly.social media makes customer interactions a lot better.Social media marketing is a powerful link building strategy used widely these days.Since billions of people around the globe exists on different social media.It is therefore important to define your audience and create social media presence wherever your audience hangs out.It will also reflect on the branding of your business.
9) Ignoring customer reviews:
Customer review has turned out to be an important weapon for marketers.All the world's information and media is online.power has been shifted from companies to consumer.companies cant get away with crummy products because that hurts during customer review.Great products win.Don’t make plan.make strategic foundation.
Each customer is the king. So It's recommended to focus on their requirement and complaints(if any). Take care of reviews by customers.
After reading these worst SEO practices that you have been unnoticed for a long time, You must have understood that Google hates people manipulating its algorithm by any means (be it keyword stuffing or irrelevant link building or link farms). So It's a good strategy to follow simple and natural practices for SEO which would raise your business brand as well as ranking high in search engines.
RECOMMENDATION
Talking about Google recommendation for the best SEO practices, Here are few lists that you would definitely like to work on:
- Build a well organized,mobile and user friendly website.
- Focus on your business services.
- Determine the target audience.
- Determine the keywords you would like to rank for.
- On-site SEO(meta setup, social media integration, analytics and webmaster setup)
- Off-site SEO (internal linking and backlink creation)
- Focus on URL structure
- Local SEO strategies specifically involve getting your business listed accurately on third-party directories and review sites, then managing your online reviews
- Content writing to attract and engage the visitors. Your topic will attract them but it's the content which will engage them better.So always create fresh,unique and relevant content.
- Content marketing to promote your content on the web.
- Social media management
- Google ad word
- Evaluate the progress through Google analytics and webmaster tools.
- Alalyze what worked well and focus on new oppurtunities in case of keywords and contents.
- Keep experiment going and repeat the process.
- Work on the quality and authority development of your website.
- Each customer is the king.So focus on their requirement and complaints(if any) as well.Take care of reviews by customers.
- social media makes customer interactions a lot better.Client management can be acheived through social media if done properly.It will also reflect on the branding of your business.
- Focus on Google reviews as they boost the ranking
- Focus on converting visitors into leads and there comes the turn of content to play their role.
So what are your views on these best and worst practices for Business branding?
Do let us know about any practice that you would like to add to our list.
In case of any kind of seo and digital marketing service, seek help from professional seo company like Qodemedia
Thanks!