Table of Contents
- What is a SEO strategy
- Step 1: Set your SEO goals
- Step 2: Do a keyword research
- Step 3: Optimize your content
- Step 4: Improve the technical SEO of your website
- Step 5: Build your authority with linkbuilding
- Step 6: Make a SEO plan
- Step 7: Monitor en analyze your SEO-results
- SEO strategies for different types of websites
- Frequently asked questions about a SEO-strategy
What is a SEO strategy?
Why is a SEO strategy important?
The three pillars of SEO: technique, content and authority.
SEO is build out of three main pillars that together ensure strong online visibility. A good strategy focuses on all aspects. Only working on the technical aspect or the content is (usually) not enough. It is about the balance of these three elements:
Technical SEO: Think of Fast loading times, a mobile-friendly website, and a well-structured site architecture.
Content: Relevant and optimized texts that address search intents, blogs, product pages, and landing pages.
Authority: Earning high-quality backlinks, positive online mentions, and a strong domain authority.
Step 1: Choose your SEO goals
How to set measurable SEO KPIs?
To know if your SEO strategy is working, you clearly need to have measurable KPIs. These give insights into your performance and help you adjust where necessary. Important SEO KPIs include:
- Organic traffic: How many visitors come to your site through search engines?
- Click-through rate (CTR): How often do users click on your search result?
- Bounce rate: How many visitors leave your site without taking further action?
- Conversion rate: How many visitors complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or submitting a request?
A concrete SEO goal could be: 20% more organic traffic within six months or increasing CTR to 5% by improving meta titles and descriptions. By choosing your KPIs wisely, you make SEO measurable and results-driven.
SEO goals for different types of bbusinesses
SEO goals vary by business, so choose KPIs that align with your situation. A good strategy focuses on measurable results, such as:
- E-commerce: Ranking more product pages and increasing conversion rates. Example: 15% more organic traffic to product pages within six months.
- Local businesses: Improving rankings in local search results. A painter in Amsterdam doesn’t benefit from visibility in Maastricht. However he want to have a more local discoverability.
- B2B companies: Generating more leads through content marketing. Example: 30% more contact inquiries via the website through targeted blog content.
Step 2: Do a Keyword Research
A keyword research is the foundation of every good SEO strategy. It helps you understand which words and phrases your target audience uses when searching for the products or services you offer. By optimizing for these keywords, you increase your chances of being found in search engines.
Use usefull tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to find the most relevant keywords for your website. These tools provide insights into search volume, competition, and related search terms.
Short tail vs. long tail keywords
In search engine optimization , can you choose between short-tail and long-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords are short and general, such as "shoes" or "buy laptop". They have high search volume but also high competition, making it difficult to rank well. Long-tail keywords are more specific, such as "white running shoes for women" or "best laptop for working from home". They are searched less, but they better match what users are actually searching for. This makes the chances of conversion much bigger.
A smart SEO strategy combines both types of keywords. In the table you can see a couple of exmaples of short tail as well as long tail keywords.
Short tail | Long tail |
Search engine optimization | How to write an engaging meta description? |
Link building | How to get high-quality backlinks? |
SEO tips | How to improve Core Web Vitals for faster loading times? |
Google Ads | How to reduce CPC in Google Ads? |
Keep in mind the search intent
Search intent is the goal behind a search query:does someone want to find information, buy a product, or compare? It’s essential to align your content with this intent.For example, if someone searches for “buy laptop”, they expect to see a selection of laptops to choose from, not a blog post. If you write a blog on this topic, it’s unlikely to end up high in the search results. Other websites provide more relevant content, such as product or category pages showcasing different laptops, including prices and specifications.So make sure that the content and the search intent hace a good match: does someone wants to buy somthing? Offer then clearly what they are looking for.
Step 3: Optimize Your Content
E-E-A-T en Helpful Content: the key to success
On-Page optimizations for better visibility
Here below are some key elements to optimize:
- Titels and meta-descriptions: Make sure to have engaging and informative titles and meta descriptions that align with search intent and attract users to click through.
- Headers (H1, H2, etc.): Use clear and structured headers, preferably incorporating keywords. This helps to users as well as search engines to undestand your content.
- Internal links: Connect relevent pages in your webiste with internal links to improve the user experience as well as to give your page authority
- Images: Optimize pictures and images by including relevant alt-texts , so that it can be found easier in the search query and help your SEO.
By improving these elements, you increase the chance of ending up higher in the rankings.
Step 4: Improve the technical SEO of your website
Technical SEO is the spine of a proper made website. It makes that the search engines can find you site, undestand it and go through it smoothly. The key points to improve are:
- Website speed: A fast loading time creates a better user-experience and is important for ranking element for the search engines.
- Mobile friendliness: More and more people use their phones to search, so your site needs to be good on mobile devices.
- Clear structure and internal links: A logical navigation and a clear URL structure helps the search engines to undestand your content more and index.
- XML-sitemap and robots.txt: These files help to make the search engines clear which pages to crawl and which not to.
Technically improving your webiste can be difficult, specially is you dont have any experience. However is it still a crucial part of SEO.
Invisible for Google? Time to shine!
Step 5: Build your authority with linkbuilding
Linkbuilding is very important for your seo performance. The amount and the quality of those backlinks going to your site show for a big amount how authoritary your site is in eyes of the search engines. Qualitative links give Google the signal that your content is helpfull and relevent, somehting that translates into a higher postions in the search engines.
How to get high quality links?
Guest blogging is an excellent way: write valuable articles for other websites in your industry and include a link to your site. PR is also an effective way to earn links—by publishing interesting research, newsworthy content, or case studies, you increase the chances of other sites linking to your content. Another technique is broken link building: find dead links on relevant websites and offer your own high-quality content as a replacement.
Need help acquiring high-quality backlinks? We’re happy to assist you in building a strong link profile that aligns with your website and target audience.
Let the internet speak about you!
Step 6: Make a SEO plan
Which tools help you making a good strategy?
Google analytics
SEMrush
Ahrefs
ScreamingFrog
Step 7: Monitor en analyze your SEO-results
When do you see the efects of your SEO strategy?
SEO es a long/term investment en something that takes time to see results, it is co-dependent on several factors. Think about the current state of your website, competitors in your niche, the keywords you choose, and the quality of your SEO actions. Dont expect big changes, specially if you are aiming to very competitive keywords.
Period | What you can expect |
0-3 months | You start by seing improvement in technical aspects, such as loading speed and mobile usability. There is little improvement in organical search, but big changes in the search results is unlikely. |
3-6 months | Improvement in the rankings for less competitive keywords. The user interactions will have some improvement translating into a higher CTR. |
6-9 months | Linkbuilding and content omptimization will have its effects. You will see grow in trafic and rankings for a bigger amount of keywords. |
9-12 months | After 9 to 12 months your consistent SEO actions will translate into a solid increase in your organical trafic. Now you probably have a competitor advantage and have good results for your most important keywords. |
SEO is a constant process. Achieving good results take constant monitoring and actions. Competitors, search engines and market changes can influence on your results, so it is very important to constantly update your strategy.
SEO strategies for different types of websites
Webshops (e-commerce)
Webshops often have thousands of products, which leads to complex SEO challenges such as duplicate content and indexing issues. Here are the key aspects:
Aspect | Explanation |
---|---|
Structured data | Implement structured data (product markup) for product information such as price, availability, and reviews. This helps search engines generate rich results in the search engine results pages (SERP). |
Filtering | Many webshops use filtering functions, but these can cause SEO problems if not properly managed. Make sure filtered pages have a canonical tag to prevent Google from treating them as duplicate content and competing with the original pages. |
Breadcrumbs | Add breadcrumbs to both product and category pages. This makes the site hierarchy clearer to both search engines and users. |
Internal linking structure | Link to and from related pages, such as from product pages to related products, to improve navigation and indexing. Breadcrumbs also contribute to a strong internal linking structure. |
URL structure | Ensure a logical and clear URL structure that includes keywords and is easy to understand for both search engines and users. |
International websites
For successful international SEO, it is important to optimize your website for different markets and regions. You can do this by:
- Using hreflang tags: Hreflang tags help search engines understand which version of a page is suitable for which language or regional area, preventing duplicate content and ensuring the right page is shown to users. This is crucial for improving international SEO performance.
- TLD choice: The choice between a country-specific TLD (such as .nl, .de) and a subdirectory (such as example.nl/de/) depends on your goals:
- Country-specific TLD: This can help increase local authority and visibility in search engines in a specific country. It clearly signals to search engines that the website is targeted at that particular country or region. This can be particularly effective for businesses that focus heavily on a single country or market.
- Subdirectory: When you want a broader, more international approach, subdirectories (e.g., yoursite.com/de/) can be useful. This allows you to maintain a single main domain while targeting country- or language-specific content. Subdirectories may be easier to manage since they share the same domain authority.
- Optimization for different languages and cultural nuances: It's important to not only translate content but also adapt it to local culture and preferences. Keywords cannot always be translated literally, as markets use different search intents. It is essential to incorporate keywords that are locally relevant.
- Geographically targeted server location: Choosing a server location closer to your target audience can improve load times.
Local businesses
For local businesses, local SEO is crucial to be better found in search results within their region. The strategies below will help increase your local online visibility:
Aspect | Explanation |
---|---|
Use local keywords | Use terms that describe not only your products or services but also the location of your business, such as "dentist near me" or "bike shop nearby." These keywords are identified through thorough keyword research, so you know which terms are relevant in your region. This helps search engines understand that your business is relevant for searches in that area. |
Optimize Google My Business | Ensure your business profile is fully completed with your address, phone number, opening hours, and website. This improves your visibility in local search results and on Google Maps. |
Acquire local backlinks | Obtain backlinks from local businesses, organizations, or websites, such as news sites and events. The more local references you have, the better your position in local search results. |
Collect local reviews | Encourage customers to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google and other local review websites. More positive reviews increase your chances of ranking higher in local search results. |
Frequently asked questions about a SEO-strategy
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