My SEO manager Vitalii always says SEO is so easy. It's just 1,000 small steps and a lot of focus and discipline over the long haul. He's right. SEO is not that difficult. It's just incredibly diverse. Instead of naming 1,000 small individual tasks here, I would like to cluster the most important ones into nine steps for your SEO strategy on how you can multiply your visibility on Google.
It's clear to me that there are SEO tips for multiplying your visibility on every corner. On YouTube, on LinkedIn, in blogs and in forums, you can find out what to do everywhere. Telling you what to do is easy. Proving that it works is another matter. That's why I want to prove to you here that my tips are not just theoretical, but based on real experience with data that is up to date. Here is an excerpt from the Seach Console from a project ... within three months it went from 1,600 a day to over 14,400 a day. The progression is nevertheless linear, so that it is also visible that the project shown here was not a favorite of a Google Core Update, but that this success was achieved through daily disciplined work.
A comprehensive and consistently implemented SEO strategy forms the basis for sustainable success in terms of visibility in Google searches, as you can see from the chart. The following strategy covers the essential steps required to optimize a website, from the technical review to content and user-oriented optimization. Admittedly, even with these tips, such a multiplication in three months is rather rare. This is because intensive SEO measures have already been running on this project since 2021 and the audits and site hygiene optimizations have already been carried out in previous years. But the following SEO steps should give you an idea of how you can develop a strategy for sustainable success. Believe it or not, at the beginning of 2021, this project had exactly 100 clicks per day. Read the steps, follow them on your project and stay focused as you work through them. Multiplying your visibility is also waiting for you!
Find out how you can lead your website to success through systematic audits, targeted content creation and constant monitoring.
1. SEO audits: The basis for all further measures
The first step in your SEO strategy is a comprehensive review of the existing website, which serves as the basis for all further optimizations. This review consists of several specific audits:
- Google Search Console: A detailed analysis of the GSC data to determine crawling errors, current visibility and rankings etc.
- Technical audit: Technical aspects such as the website structure, loading speed, mobile optimization and the correct implementation of schema markup are checked here. Security and accessibility are also checked, as these two aspects contribute to the user experience.
- Indexing audit: Identification of pages that are not or insufficiently indexed and analysis of indexing problems.
- Performance and rendering audit: Checking loading times and rendering processes, especially for JavaScript-heavy websites, to ensure that all content is displayed correctly.
- Content audit: Analysis of existing content in terms of quality, topicality and relevance.
- Backlink audit: Examination of the backlink profile to identify toxic links and opportunities for link building.
Here, for example, is the PageSpeed Insights evaluation of the website speed of a new customer project that we have just launched in the last few days:
Based on the insights gained from the various audits, a customized strategy is developed that addresses the specific challenges and potentials of the website and solves the problems identified. This involves listing which tasks can be carried out in-house and by whom, and where external help (e.g. from developers) is required.
2. content improvement
In the second step, all existing content on your website is checked for its value and relevance. In particular, the current ranking of content is crucial to the question of how far it needs to change. These options for action are crucial:
- Content is deleted because it does not rank, does not match the search intent of target customers and/or is irrelevant.
- Content that is still valuable is identified and integrated into the new content strategy.
- Outdated or stagnating content that offers added value but has previously had low rankings and click-through rates is revised.
- In addition, new, more comprehensive articles on the main topics of the site are created in order to achieve greater relevance and authority in the respective subject areas.
In order to improve click-through rates, the page titles and meta descriptions are also optimized for higher clickability. For this SERP optimization, you can use the free tool from Seobility, which always gives you a good preview. To evaluate the original result, I integrated emojis with teeth in the page title and arrows for the call-to-action in the meta description. Now this SERP entry attracts more attention and the click-through rate should increase.
3. on-page sprint and rectification of technical problems (page speed, indexing, etc.)
With the help of SEO software such as Seobility, the on-page quality is measured in terms of technology & meta, structure and content. All anomalies are dealt with so that page hygiene is restored. The following OnPage sprint shows our work for Dr. Felix Handy's oral surgeon & dental implant website. The initial values of technology 81, structure 64 and content 46 became the total value for a total of 56 pages as part of our OnPage sprint:
- Technology 98
- Structure 100
- Content 98
I also use SEO software. You simply can't do without it. Alternatives to Seobility are Performance Suite, Sitebulb, SE Ranking, Sistrix, Ryte or ahrefs. For very large websites, you will also need Screaming Frog or Audisto.
PageSpeed-Insights or Lighthouse have already been used to measure website speed. The recommendations made there should be implemented by the agency in charge or the in-house developers. Above all, it is important that the Core Web Vitals are passed! These improvements can then be combined with the OnPage Sprint.
4 URL management and internal linking
Efficient management of URL variants is crucial to avoid problems with duplicate content, 404 pages, redirects and parameter URLs. This includes minimizing dependency on canonicals and strict control via the robots.txt file.
In the following example, there is a glaring disproportion of indexed and non-indexed pages and therefore many of the problems mentioned above.
A balanced ratio of anchor texts both internally and externally is equally important. Internally, the diversity of anchor texts is limited in order to maintain a clear structure, while externally a mixture of brand and keyword anchors is used.
Especially in the case of regular content production by the team, guidelines for internal linking should be defined so that the page hygiene once established is maintained.
5. creation of content briefings: targeted content production
The next big step is the creation of detailed content briefings. These briefings are crucial in order to clearly define the requirements and expectations of the new content. This includes the following subtasks:
- Relevant search queries and user intent: identifying users' main concerns and their search intentions.
- Prioritization of information: Determining which information should be emphasized.
- Content hierarchy and depth: Structuring the content into a clear hierarchy to ensure an optimal user experience for both search engines and users.
- Internal linking and media integration: Determining the necessary internal links, embedded media and call-to-actions (CTAs) to guide the user through the content.
There are special tools for keyword research, such as those from Seobility. This makes it clear what exactly is being searched for and where small differences can make a huge difference to the search volume.
Example:
Bone augmentation vs. bone augmentation. An oral surgeon talks about bone augmentation as a matter of course. And if you enter "bone augmentation" in the Google search, you will find countless websites of dentists and oral surgeons. However, the person who is looking for this service is searching for bone augmentation. The top 10 in the SERPs are also all dentists and oral surgeons. The search volume between these two factually correct terms is enormous.
6 Content production and publication
With the briefings created, you or your team of writers start producing the content. The entire production process is closely monitored:
- Quality control and approval: once created, the content is checked for quality and compliance with the briefings, sent to the client for approval and finally published.
- The published content is optimized for the defined keywords using Seo tools. Documentation is provided by integrating the content into the SEO strategy to ensure performance tracking in terms of rankings.
- Strengthening E-E-A-T: In order to strengthen the credibility and authority of the website, special care is taken to carefully substantiate all facts and statements and to avoid statements that could be misunderstood.
There are various tools that you can use to check the content you have created for keyword optimization. To do this, you enter the keywords and the URL. The automated evaluation gives you tips on where you still have room for improvement - here is a screenshot of the keyword check from Seobilty:
7 Monitoring and optimization
Once the content has been published, the process of monitoring and continuous optimization begins. The Search Console is used to monitor the indexing of the new content and the development of search queries and how the rankings are distributed across the new articles. Adjustments are made if the content is not performing as expected. In addition to the Search Console, professional tools such as Sistrix or Seobility also help, where you can enter the important keywords and check the ranking changes every day. Barely online, our customer project already has 20 of 89 monitored keywords in the top 3 in the ranking. We are very pleased about this.
It is also advisable to build high-quality backlinks through PR measures, pitching for guest posts and targeted acquisition of links in existing posts on other websites. Link building is often cost-intensive and rarely easy. Backlinks strengthen the authority of a domain, which is why they are a ranking factor for good rankings. You can also see how a link was placed directly in this post to our oral surgeon client project, because we know that this link will also support this new website in its ranking efforts.
Keyword monitoring is used to analyze the performance of the content created. Content from authors who perform particularly well is promoted and further content is created in a similar style. Finally, a content profile is created that offers users real added value. This includes providing information that goes beyond the obvious and offers users unique insights and solutions.
8. user experience and UX testing
An important part of the SEO strategy is improving the user experience (UX) because there are always two levers for improving the target behavior: driving more visitors to the website or improving the rate of those who perform the desired behavior. The user experience is crucial for the latter.
A user must understand within three seconds that they are in the right place on the website and have found what they were looking for. If these three seconds are prolonged by excessively long loading times, the risk of premature abandonment increases. This is why PageSpeed is so important.
The content presented must serve the search intention. To use the example from above with the bone structure: Google recognizes that the search intention of the website visitor is not asking for anatomical information to build up a bone, but the oral surgery service is requested with it.
It must also be clear to the user what the desired behavior is (call-to-action). In our example with the oral surgeon, this is: call and make an appointment. That's why this CTA (call to action) is integrated everywhere and the navigation at the top with the telephone number and location icon is permanently visible.
Videos, image galleries, quizzes or other interactive elements help to increase the length of stay and clicks on the page, which are important user signals for Google. If you have clicked once at the top of the website, you will also have noticed that there is no cookie banner greeting you. It's a WordPress site, but we actively avoid the cookie banner. The data from the Search Console is enough. A great user experience and avoiding frustration are more important to us. And when you came to our agency site, you were welcomed without one. Just ask yourself why so many websites use cookie banners and who actually analyzes which data in the end. Exactly ... the least. Only large websites, platforms and online stores need cookie banners for functional reasons and also because they receive so much traffic that a deeper analysis makes sense.
UX improvements such as dispensing with a cookie banner, integrating the call-to-action in several places, etc. help you to increase the conversion rate. If you want to delve deeper into the topic, you can find a 3-hour video training on user experience from me here. By the way: there is also an SEO course in video form from me.
Parallel work: Brand building via other channels
A sustainable SEO strategy requires careful budget planning. In the first 12 months, there is also a focus on brand building. This includes increasing brand awareness through targeted PR measures, content marketing and social media campaigns. A strong brand not only improves organic visibility, but also has a positive effect on the click rate and user trust.
Conclusion: an SEO strategy that will have an impact
This comprehensive SEO strategy - which includes technical SEO as well as on-page optimization and content creation - is designed to achieve sustainable results and bring the website to the top of the search engines. Through careful planning, continuous optimization and close collaboration between all parties involved, you can ensure that the website is not only visible, but also achieves the desired business goals. Every single point in these nine steps has only been covered in brief and deserves to be discussed in more detail in further articles here. So look forward to everything that is yet to come.
Stay tuned and stay focused, and you too will succeed in multiplying your Google visibility. And if you need help, you know an SEO agency that can support you.