This Ask an SEO question comes from Ian from San Juan who asked:
“For a brand looking to grow its wholesale product business to generate more leads and sales, what do you think should be the top SEO focus in 2022?”
Every year, SEO professionals are looking for a panacea.
Even after 21 years, I’m still hoping to find a technology that can automatically rank sites for any query I want.
I haven’t found it yet.
I know I never will.
But I still look.
Most SEO experts I know are still looking.
We discuss the latest trends uncovered from our hours of reverse engineering work.
While there are certainly some “hot” techniques, I hope readers of this column understand that the basics of SEO haven’t changed in a long time.
Instead of chasing algorithm glitches that come and go like your latest Google rep, I suggest going back to basics.
The basics are still the same
The fundamentals of SEO have remained the same since the advent of link-based algorithms like Google’s PageRank.
I can’t guarantee much in life – Google told me not to give guarantees.
But I can guarantee that if you do the following five things correctly for each query you want to rank for, you will rank for that query.
Here are what I believe to be the five pillars of SEO:
code
The code of your website is the foundation of your entire marketing strategy.
The code to build this site is needed so that search engines can easily find the great content you create.
Your site’s code might not get you to rank – but it might get you unranked if not done properly.
content
Words mean things.
The content on your website needs to be all-encompassing to your potential customers.
You need to have content suitable for visitors who are ready to buy, and visitors who need more information before making a purchase or filling out a lead form.
Your content also needs to utilize the keywords and phrases you want to rank for.
According to Google, your content needs to Distribute expertise, project authority and project trust. This is often referred to by its culinary acronym EAT.
connect
Also known as link building, this is what separates a good SEO expert from a good SEO expert.
Most people who do SEO can handle the technical side of things. Many can also create a coherent and effective content strategy.
But building links is harder.
It requires a public relations mindset with SEO knowledge.
Buying a link is risky and I don’t recommend it.
Strive to create a linking strategy based on yourself. For warehouses, I initially look at links to my suppliers and partners.
Then I will seek to create Link-worthy content What influencers in my field want.
communication
It’s true that social media doesn’t directly help your SEO, but social media is how we spread and amplify the great content we create.
Social media is often how we connect with influencers who need links.
Your communication strategy is important to SEO, even if links from social media won’t give you a Google boost.
capture
Data tells you where to go.
Google Analytics It itself can provide you with content ideas, user experience insights, audience insights, and more.
Take the time to process your data.
If you don’t know what you’re seeing, hire someone else to spend time with your data.
I’ve been doing SEO for 21 years, and my team still regularly checks the data with another pair of eyes to make sure I’m not missing anything.
Do these five things better than anyone else and you’ll surpass him every time.
But be warned – you need to win on every query you want to rank for.
Most of us will never win this battle.
This is one of the reasons why SEO is ongoing, not a one-and-done strategy.
Know your audience
Knowing your audience isn’t a new trend in 2022, but I’ve seen a lot of SEO campaigns fall short of their goals.
Just because the work we do as SEO professionals is sometimes technical in nature, it doesn’t mean our audience is technical.
In fact, I see too many SEO experts who think their target audience is just like them.
In most cases, the audience is very different from the person optimizing the website.
SEO professionals need to show empathy in our keyword research, user experience changes, content creation, and basically everything we do.
Know your audience’s likes and dislikes.
If possible, learn about their political leanings.
Find out their average income, age and gender.
Learn the best way to approach Your audience.
For a B2B Warehouse customer, this is likely to be different than a company selling tea or refinancing mortgages.
Use the data provided to us by search engines as well as your own website data to better understand your audience.
ROI can be important.
In summary
Stop chasing the latest silver bullet.
Double down on SEO basics that haven’t changed in 15 years.
Remember, every query is different and you need to win every search.
Do these things and you’ll hit your ROI goals.
More resources:
Featured Image: WAYHOME Studio/Shutterstock
Editor’s Note: Ask about SEO is a weekly SEO advice column written by the industry’s top SEO experts handpicked by Search Engine Magazine. Have questions about SEO? fill out our form. You may see your answer in the next #AskanSEO post!
