The 5 things you need to know about SEO in 2024
When it comes to SEO, it can often feel like it’s a big mysterious beast that only pops out at night (or in one-sided conversations with marketing bros).
But even though the chances of organically appearing in someone's Google search results are astronomically low, SEO is still worth getting a grasp on.
Almost every app we use regularly has a search function, whether you're looking up C-list celebrities on LinkedIn or you're trying to find a cooking video on Instagram because the written recipe isn't cutting it anymore.
As the programming for these search engines advance, the goal posts are constantly moving in different directions, making it difficult to stay on top of what "SEO-hacks" you need to implement in order to stay relevant and in touch with your people.
But there are still tried and true SEO practices that have stood the test of time that trump even the flashiest of updates. So, we’re here to fan away the mysterious fog that lingers around SEO, to give you the SEO information you actually need to be across.
Is SEO more than just keywords and content?
In short, no - but it’s complicated. There’s no question that SEO has many components, including technical aspects, user experience, off-page factors and more. But the reality for most businesses is that you can’t do it all.
Unless you have an in-house SEO specialist, chances are your marketing team needs to choose how many eggs to put in each basket. And most of us are time-poor with not many eggs to spare.
So, where should you focus? As the most dominating search engine in the market, Google’s algorithm update in August can give us a clue: quality, user-centric content is being prioritised, while high-volume content that has obviously been created to “hack” SEO is being demoted.
That means website copy and blogs filled with jarring keyword usage or long rambling bodies of text (typically what generative AI serves up) isn’t just useless to your SEO on Google, it can harm it.
So if we know that search engines want to give their users the most reputable and highest quality content to their audience, and as modern-day brands who need to create and publish content anyway — putting our eggs into the ‘keywords and quality content’ basket seems to be a win-win situation that makes the most of limited resources while still practising good SEO.
Because SEO is about improving your brand’s reach, it’s best seen as a tool in your brand building toolbox, and not a lead generator. No matter how many times your brand appears on Google’s first page of search results, people are more likely to open a website from a brand or source they know.
The gist of creating quality content and using keywords effectively
There’s a certain knack to creating quality content, and it requires more than just telling ChatGPT to “write that paragraph better”. Similarly, it’s not as simple as just loading up your content with as many keywords as possible, without paying any mind to what’s actually being said or how it sounds when you read it out loud.
Even though we have some research-backed scepticism towards Google’s search engine results, Google’s EEAT SEO guidelines help draw some helpful questions to ask when evaluating the quality of your content to ensure you’re feeding the machine exactly what it wants.
Source: fatjoe.
With such a big emphasis on personal experience, expertise and authoritativeness, it clearly pays to build your profile as a thought-leader in your specific niche. Write regularly about what you know and better yet, appear or be cited in other sources and websites. Being quoted as an expert by other publications, businesses and people online will have your own content and webpages favoured in the search engines.
There’s a fine line to keyword usage, first it needs to be thoroughly researched to ensure you’re focusing on the right words, and second they need to be incorporated into your copy as organically and humanly possible (emphasis on the humanly). Keyword stuffing your content is penalised by both Google and other search engines, so it’s best to use them as a guideline for the type of content you create and language you use.
(But, of course, outsourcing your copywriting and SEO writing to us is the easiest way to get your hands on valuable content that the search engines and your audience will love.)
Okay, so I’m creating quality content and using the right keywords frequently and organically. Is there anything else?
If you’re creating high quality content that naturally includes well-researched keywords and manages to cater to the needs and challenges of your target audience, you have yourself the best foundation of the SEO practice. But if you’re looking for another way to strengthen your brand’s chances in the search engines and don’t want to complete a 6-month certification in SEO, here are some other actions to take:
Take advantage of your website’s built-in SEO settings: be sure to optimise any meta titles, descriptions and headings your website provider offers to improve your site’s visibility and click through rates.
Get high quality backlinks: build relationships with reputable and popular websites in your industry to earn valuable backlinks e.g. a hyperlinked mention in an article that links back to your website. Listing yourself as an expert available for media comments on sites like Sourcebottle is a great way to get that happening. (And look, we just gave them another backlink!)
Improve your website’s user experience: improving your website’s loading speed, usability and hierarchy of content are just three of the many principles to good UX design that can keep visitors engaged and boost your SEO.
Ensure your website is working as it should: Using website analytic tools like SEMRUSH can help you know how your website’s technicality is performing and whether there’s anything happening under the hood (like coding issues) you need to check.
Get a custom SEO strategy: General SEO advice can only take you so far because your SEO is as unique as your brand! Get in touch with us and we’ll give you a customised SEO strategy that won’t take rocket science (or a diploma in SEO) to implement.
SEO is a powerful marketing tool that can too-often get over-complicated in the way it’s explained and talked about. If you’d like SEO advice, copy, or strategy, click the button below to book in a chat or send us an email at admin@stellarcontent.
