Latest SEO Best Practices to Increase Website Traffic

Just when you think you’ve figured out how Google and search engine optimization (SEO) work, Google goes and makes some changes. The challenge for the small business owner is…

keeping up with the changes
adjusting your marketing efforts
understanding what your potential customer is going to search for
come up on top of Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)
enticing the searcher to click on their link
driving more traffic to the website
keeping the potential customer there until they convert into a lead or a sale

“Human search behaviors have changed, and so have the technologies used to interpret and serve up search results.” — Hubspot

What is a Pillar Page and How does it help SEO?

Pillar Page — it’s a new buzz word in the website creation and SEO world. But what is a pillar page? And why do you need one?

“A pillar page is the basis on which a topic cluster is built. A pillar page covers all aspects of the topic on a single page, with room for more in-depth reporting in more detailed cluster blog posts that hyperlink back to the pillar page.” – Hubspot

So what does this mean for your blog, website content and SEO?

First, go through your topics and select those that are you want to rank for — the ones you feel describe the gist of your content. Pick a few — not too specific and not too broad. If you’re website is not new, here’s a free tool called Ubersuggest that will help you see what you already rank for. Another free tool to determine what topics people are searching for is the Google Keyword Tool.

For example, you would think my main topic would be social media marketing — which is too broad for a pillar page. Yet “Twitter Hashtags” is too narrow. “Twitter Marketing” would be the broad topic, then there would be links to “cluster pages” on specific aspects of Twitter marketing that go into more detail.

This video from Hubspot will help explain topic clusters…

Plan out your pillar page campaign for maximum SEO

Learn how to blog on WordPress Gutenberg

Most of us are visual organizers. I like putting ideas on a whiteboard or a flow chart.

Start with your broad topic. For instance, I created a Digital Marketing Glossary. From there, all the terms are linked to respective articles. So, it actually becomes an index.
List all the sub-topics related to that broad topic.
List more detailed sub articles below each one of those.

For example, the term “Twitter” is linked to the overall, “How to use Twitter” article. In that blog post, there are links to more specific articles like, “How to Use Hashtags” and “How to Take Advantage of What’s Trending on Twitter“.

Yes, this is a time consuming project, but it’s worth it. The Google search engine only sees text and links. It follows those links. That’s why you want to add both internal links — to other relevant articles within your website — and external links — to outside relevant websites (like I did with Hubspot above). However, when you add these links, always have them open in a new page or tab so the visitor doesn’t lose the original website. This actually helps your bounce rate.

But how do you I get the people to covert and generate leads?

Here are some more articles on Lead Generation and Conversions:

All this many look daunting, however, it’s necessary if you want your website to be effective. Remember, it sells for you 24/7! The good news is that I can help you!