The SEO and digital marketing landscape as a whole has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Various technological advancements in the information technology industry both in the hardware and software sectors have led to the evolution of the Internet as we know it.
The Internet is no longer new.
It is already past the stage of crawling and learning to walk on its own two feet.
Today, this vast virtual network is a beast of sorts with all kinds of offerings that originate from all over the world.
Change is good in most cases and we are always encouraged to embrace it with open hands. The evolution of the Internet has brought about unlimited opportunities for businesses and companies that wish to expand their target audiences.
Digital or Internet marketing has made it possible for brands or business to interact with their customers and clients without the need for physical interaction.
SEO is the hallmark of digital marketing as it has catapulted millions of businesses into incredible success over the last 10 years.
What Was SEO Marketing Like Back Then?
10 years ago, SEO was still pretty new and unfamiliar to most Internet users.
This was because search engines were still in their developmental stages and they did not have the huge user base that they enjoy today.
Back then, getting ranked on Google was incredibly easy. There entire process was as simple as typing in a few keywords on your page.
Although we were all active users of the Internet back then, shopping online was only just beginning.
As more and more of us turned to the web to spend money, more and more businesses began to take notice of the importance of this emerging marketing channel.
Businesses that ranked high on page one on Google began to boom.
So there we were. Google was dominating in terms of being the “go to” search engine.
People were not only looking for information, but they were actively BUYING online.
Although most found it quite easy back then to rank well on page one of Google, more and more other businesses tried to jump on the gravy train.
The Internet revolution was in full swing.
Millions of websites were created which expanded the size of the Internet exponentially.
With this enormous growth came unprecedented competition for places on page one of Google.
There are only ten organic positions on page one. Google had to decide which ten websites were going to feature on page one for any given search term.
Google became the best search engine because the technology and algorithms they developed provided the best search results. They used certain criteria to decide which websites best served the searchers intent.
Back then, it was all about the keywords used in links pointing to, as well as the quantity of those keywords on the web page.
The more links and the more keywords the higher the rank.
Search engine optimization back then began to thrive as an industry.
Black Hat SEO was rife
“Black Hat SEO” is a term used to describe techniques that essentially aim to trick, scam or cheat Google into ranking their website higher.
The higher the potential profits, the more desperate website owners became. SEO was seen as a method to trick or scam to short-cut your way up the Google rankings.
Website owners essentially spammed the Internet with backlinks all in the hope of ranking on page one of Google.
Although we could discuss much more about the tricks and hacks used back then, there is one key message you need to consider as you finish here.
The mindset of website owners back then was more about what they could TAKE rather than what they could contribute to the Internet.
The rude awakening occurred when Google slammed new changes to its algorithm.
Websites were penalized and many businesses went out of business.
What’s The Point Of This SEO Marketing Strategy History Lesson?
There are no short cuts anymore to rank well in Google. Google is a lot smarter now.
If you are a business owner and are looking for a fast solution to rank on page one – then you’d be disappointed to learn that those days are over.
Optimizing your website for the search engines has gone beyond applying one or two simple tricks or techniques.
Ranking well on Google now requires a mid to long-term strategic focus.
Take a look at your industry. You no doubt have many competitors in your space with quality websites that are ranking well.
At a guess, there are probably more competitors working hard behind the scenes to also increase their rankings.
These days, if you seriously want to capture more leads and sales online, you will have very little chance without a deliberate digital marketing strategy.
Modern Marketing SEO Services
Moved from a period of tricks, hacks and spam
The biggest question asked these days is how long will it take to rank on page one?
Ranking on page one today is earned rather than a right. Because of this it takes longer than it did ten years ago.
There is more competition, tougher algorithms, and a stronger focus on authoritativeness, expertise and trust.
All this takes time to create and then prove to Google that you deserve a good ranking. There are no tricks or hacks anymore.
Modern SEO is an investment.
Top ranking positions on Google are earned over time with consistent and continuous positive SEO efforts. When making the right efforts it can take between 6 to 12 months to rank high for moderately competitive terms – and even longer for more competitive keywords.
The only way a business can succeed on the internet is by coming up with a detailed digital marketing strategy that they can follow for the long run. Here are some of the components of a comprehensive digital marketing campaign.
1. Onsite Optimisation and Keyword Research
Onsite optimization covers everything that is present on your site.
This includes the headers, text and images on your site. Onsite optimization goes hand in hand with web development and design. If you want to have a website that ranks well on search results, then you must invest in creating a beautiful and responsive website.
Your website must be properly structured with nice layouts and segments. Apart from the general aesthetics, your website must function as required without any annoying errors such as broken links and missing pages.
Everything on your website must conform to the standards recommended by search engines like Google.
This means that you should not have tons of ads everywhere and very little content for visitors. You must optimize the content on your website with relevant keywords for better ranking on search results.
You must also create captivating headlines, titles, meta tags and descriptions that can be used to easily identify your brand or business.
Keyword research is also an important component of an SEO campaign.
Failure to do keyword research properly can result in you associating your website with the wrong keywords. You must do your due diligence in order to find the most relevant and most competitive keywords to rank for.
Keyword optimization involves placing your keywords of choice in strategic locations throughout the content on your website. Be cautious not to stuff too many keyword phrases in your content as this can lead to your website being penalized.
Any good Melbourne SEO consultant can help you with this
2. Offsite Optimisation (Links and Backlinks)
Just like onsite optimization, offsite optimization is equally important in your digital marketing campaign.
Offsite optimization deals with promoting your website from the outside to the inside.
The aim is to get other websites on the internet to notice your website. Offsite optimization has proven to be a very strong ranking factor that Google uses to determine which websites are legit and which are not.
Effective offsite optimization using links and backlinks can do wonders for your SEO campaign. The key is to connect your website to high ranking or authority websites.
The saying that you are as good as the friends you keep comes into play here. Google views the websites you connect with as your circle of friends. If you keep a circle of friends that Google trust then Google will automatically trust you as well.
Make sure though to avoid connections with websites that show a lot of ads.
3. Mobile Optimization (Sites and Apps)
At the beginning of 2017, Google made it clear that mobile search has overtaken desktop search. This means that there are more people doing searches on their smartphones than on computers.
This fact alone has prompted a change in SEO tactics among websites owners and internet marketers.
Websites are no longer been designed to viewed on computers and laptops alone. Today, websites are being primarily developed to be viewed on small screen devices like smartphones and tablets.
The term ‘mobile optimization’ has since been made to refer to the process of optimizing websites for mobile search.
What does it involve? Mobile optimization involves changing of website design as mentioned above to facilitate easy navigation and loading of web pages on mobile devices.
Also, mobile optimization includes creation of dedicated mobile apps that can be used to access a website.
This apps are meant to make the user experience much better. So, it might be time to think of getting your business an app which mobile device users can download and interact with your enterprise.
4. Fresh Quality Content
Content is one of the few SEO ranking criteria that has withstood the test of time and remained relevant and powerful.
Google has long used the quality and freshness of content on a website to determine its ranking on search results.
Websites with low quality content or outdated content do not see the light of day.
Content marketing is a powerful search engine optimization technique that has helped small businesses to rise to the level of large corporations. This should tell you that you should never underestimate the power of content.
You must remember that content is not just text in form of titles and paragraphs. Content is so much more.
There are images, videos, audios, gifs, info-graphics, location coordinates and many more. Whatever you choose to publish on your website is your choice. However, it must be of high quality and it must be updated as frequently as possible.
Google loves fresh content because it knows that its users love fresh and new content as well.
This is why it sends billions of search engine crawlers across the internet to search for new content. You should strive to post quality content that is relevant to what your business does in order to rank high on search results.
5. Social Media Marketing
We are in the social media age.
Everyone is on social media interacting with their friends and family while looking for new acquaintances and opportunities.
Social media networks are a very valuable asset when it comes to digital marketing. Harnessing this valuable asset can do a lot to propelling your business to the next level.
How do you harness the power of social media? It all start with establishing a presence for your business in all the popular social media sites.
These include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and many others.
Creating profile and pages for your business in these social sites allows you to reach to an extended target audience.
The good thing about these sites is that they allow you to advertise your products and services.
There are millions of potential clients and customers who are using these platforms on a daily basis. It would be a shame not to tap into this marketing opportunity.
When you market your business on social media sites, you are able to attract a huge traffic of users back to your site.
More traffic means a higher ranking on search engine results pages. Also, more traffic to your website means a higher conversion rate that ensures better return on investment.
All the above mentioned strategies can be incorporated into your business’s SEO and digital marketing campaign.
SEO marketing in Melbourne has become a little bit challenging but this does not mean that it is not impossible to manoeuvre and achieve success.