Increase Search Engine Visibility In One Step
Every business wants to increase search engine visibility for their website.
What is search engine visibility?
There are many ways to measure search engine visibility, but in a general sense, it is a metric of how prominent your web pages are in search results. In other words, how likely are people to find your website for a certain search phrase.
Let’s say that we’re looking at the top twenty results in Google for our search visibility metric. If your site ranks at position #1 for a given search phrase, that would be 20/20, or 100%. Position #2 would be 95%, position #3 would be 90%, and so on down the line.
We already know that SEO is a long-term process. And while everyone wants great SEO, not everyone is ready to do the hard work.
That’s what I want to talk to you about today.
You see, there is something that you can do to increase the odds of being found for your keywords.
It is not an easy step. It requires discipline and sustained effort.
The secret to increasing your site’s search engine visibility isn’t a secret at all.
In order to increase your online search visibility, you need to publish more information that your customers are already looking for.
A Few Words on Search Engine Visibilty
Google looks not only at the information on the page itself, but hundreds of other factors, including how fresh the content is. Since Google’s Hummingbird update, search results are becoming more conversational—search engines are learning what pages best answer questions that people are typing into Google.
Long Tail Search Visibility
Claiming the #1 position in Google for a search phrase that’s one or two words long is difficult. The more specific the keyword phrase, the less competition you will have for that top spot.
This is why you should leverage long tail keywords. Long tail search phrases are three to six words long, but they can be longer if necessary. Long tail keywords occur when customers are asking specific questions that they need answers to. Google said in 2016 that 20% of customer searches on mobile were voice search. Long tail searches are going to continue to increase as time goes on.
How does this affect your SEO strategy? If your marketing department has a plan for creating content that answers specific questions that your customers are asking, the more likely it is
that you will be found for those searches.
The Work of Search Engine Visibility Begins
Take this to heart: the more content you publish on your site, the better chance you will have at getting traffic to your website.
Think of creating website content like buying raffle tickets. The more you create, the better chance you will have at getting one of those pages to rank.
Continuing the raffle ticket analogy, just because you buy a bunch of tickets doesn’t mean that you’ll win all the prizes. But you’ll have a better shot than the person who only buys one or two tickets.
This is the truth about building brand authority around a given topic — if you don’t publish anything, you won’t establish any thought leadership.
If your competitors have hundreds, or even thousands of pages published on a given subject, you won’t outrank them if you only have five to ten pages on your site. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
The only way you can compete with the big dogs in your field is to go toe to toe with them on publishing content that serves your customer base.
I don’t know about you, but I’m buying as many raffle tickets as I can.
Fresh Content as a Search Visibility Factor
Another big factor in Google’s ranking algorithm is how often you publish fresh content. When a site publishes quality content on a regular basis—over time, it gains authority. Continually publishing great content is how you can gain ground on your competitors.
I’ve looked at other folks that published quality articles on a schedule. Sean McCabe built a small empire on publishing continually on his site, YouTube, and his podcast. Chris Lema got 1 million pageviews in eighteen months by blogging daily.
Granted, you have to be delivering value to your target customers. You can’t expect them to show up just because you created a company blog.
But a funny thing happens when you continue creating content. You start developing a business voice. You get better at writing, podcasting, or whatever it is you choose to do. People start to find you more and more. Remember, that the more tickets you buy, the more chances you get at winning. The more pieces of quality content you create, the greater chance some of those will resonate with your customers, or be the definitive answer to their question.
My advice to businesses is to publish more quality content that provides information, shows expertise, or solves a problem for their customers. Don’t over think it. Just get in the habit of publishing. If you have content that doesn’t produce traffic, you can always prune or improve that site content later.
What Should You Write About?
When your current customers are asking the same questions over and over, write a blog post (or make a video) that addresses those questions.
If you can think of fifty questions that your target customers always ask, great! Write about those fifty things first.
Think about it from your customer’s perspective. What would they be typing into Google if they needed your services?
Now, go to Google and begin typing those search phrases in. As you begin to type, see what phrases are coming up in the auto-complete section. Use some of the longer search phrases to find a subject for your next blog post.
Quick Questions About Search Engine Visibility and Publishing
Q: How often should you publish?
A: As often as you can, on a consistent basis. Daily if possible; more often than all of your direct competitors are, for certain.
Q: What do I do if I don’t time to write, create videos, or create content?
A: If you could improve your business enough to where you could hire someone to help you in your business, would it be worth the time investment? If you feel it is worth it, you can schedule the time in your day.
Q: How long will I have to keep producing content until my site traffic improves?
A: It depends on where your site is starting from now, how fierce the competition is in your field, and how many people are willing to socially share your content. It could be a few months, it could be close to a year. Content-driven traffic is like a snowball — it takes a while to get going, but then takes off. Consistency is the biggest key to success.
Conclusion
Keep in mind, the biggest benefit to all of this isn’t being found in search, but being able to show customers your expertise. Each page you publish is a chance for others to see how you think and work, and how well you understand your field. Becoming a trusted source of knowledge in your field builds community trust in you, and leads people to want to do business with you.
