2018 has been the year of big data and the rise of digital marketing platforms. With Google releasing updates on algorithms focused on specific industries, the SEO industry has been caught off guard. In August, many spas and health services were de-ranked because of the update called “medic”, which targeted health and medical sites.
The challenge for small businesses to soar high in the online marketing world gets tougher but at the same time simpler as long as their SEO efforts focus on their services and target area. Here are the top digital marketing strategies that are Google algorithm-proof.
Customised Digital Marketing Strategies
Not all businesses are the same and not all websites are made equal, that is why your digital marketing strategies should be tailored to your target demographic. You need to understand how your customers move through your sales funnel to create the best website marketing strategies possible. This could either be local SEO, brand campaign or both. It is crucial to not fall into a generic digital marketing campaign from SEO mills which can cause more harm to your online presence than good.
Local SEO
Majority of customers are using local search every day to find the products and services they want. Google’s new search results are geared towards giving customers the nearest businesses based on the customer’s search terms.
Here are some new website SEO tips to dominate local search:
- Multi-Location Landing Pages – Having a dedicated landing page for your business branches by either countries, regions or cities will give your business more opportunity to rank on specific location searches. You can dominate the search results pages with your landing pages for your brand and branches.
- Google My Business Listing – This is the first and foremost online directory listing that any businesses should possess. Google My Business (GMB) encompasses Local Search and Google Maps which benefits your business from appearing in organic search results and in Google Maps. Google Maps alone can drive traffic, store visits, phone calls and even bookings to your businesses now.
- Bing Places – Bing Places for business is a portal for businesses to get discovered by customers in searches coming from Microsoft-powered devices. Most digital marketing companies ignore the importance of creating and verifying a business in Bing Places due to the perception that there are only a few people who are using Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer. They are not aware that a verified business in Bing can show up in searches from Microsoft apps and devices which is a huge community.
- Local Citations Building – Local citations are either ignored or misused when it comes to SEO. Most digital marketing firms stay away from local citations since most directories don’t provide backlinks. Other agencies, on the other hand, abuse citations by submitting a business to a massive list of directories, which results in harming the website. The best approach to local citation is to ensure that you’re dealing with trusted directories since they can appear in the knowledge graph sections. This gives your Google My Business listing a boost.
Content Marketing
You are probably tired of hearing “content is king” but that is still the truth. Content will always be the king but don’t forget that distribution is the queen. Otherwise, content will be rendered useless if it can’t be found on the web. With an excellent on-page SEO, your content can reach your target audience in the right place at the right time.
On-page SEO is not just about title tags, meta descriptions and headers. It needs to have the Schema tags that can best describe what the page is all about. A website offering events is different from a website offering daily deals – you need to make sure Google and other search engines understand that.
There are other effective digital marketing strategies you should consider for your new website, but for starters, you can focus on the three for now then tackle on more complex tasks like backlinks – yes, it still works but tread carefully. I highly suggest prioritising technical SEO first before diving on buying or exchanging traffic with agencies as that can result in being penalised by Google.
To gauge the success of your SEO efforts, it’s vital to track your website’s performance. You can do this by setting up Google Analytics, Search Console and Tag Manager on your site or using a digital marketing platform.
Get a digital marketing platform that can measure your GMB performance, online searches and goal conversions. At DigitalMaas, we’ve got you covered. Test your website with our free audit tool so you can start filling the gaps in your SEO.
