A global SEO strategy to increase organic traffic

Do you struggle to attract more visitors to your blog? Many other bloggers have already been in the same situation as you. Here is how they managed a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy to climb the ladder and boost the organic traffic of their blog.

Why develop a comprehensive SEO strategy?

Promoting a blog after its creation is a long-term job. It is not enough to publish new content and respond to readers’ comments. This method is too simplistic and rarely works. This happens only when all the conditions are met (beautiful pen, percussive subject and good timing of publication). The organic traffic obtained from a single interesting post rarely lasts in time. Increasing the number of visits in a sustainable way, therefore, requires an ongoing effort. And a consistent SEO strategy, of course. Such a strategy is not limited to the creation of effective content alone. You can produce four, five, or six content a week or more and get only a small increase in organic traffic. A well thought out SEO strategy has several other components.

Delete very little-visited content

At first glance, this advice contradicts the opinion of many SEO experts. After all, putting in the trash, publications on which you have devoted a lot of time and energy, seems surprising. Behind this radical decision lies a reality that must not be overlooked.

Google updated its search algorithm

A few years ago, Internet gurus advocated the production of numerous content to attract the attention of Google and Internet users. As late as 2013, the golden rule of content is: the more you have, the better. This method worked well for some time. Then, Google deploys many updates on its search algorithm. The very famous Hummingbird launched in 2013 is one of them. At the same time, the number of blogs and blog pages has exploded. There are currently more than 2 million new blog posts per day. These changes have dramatically changed the very foundations of SEO. Creating a large quantity of content currently generates more harm than good. And the explanation is quite simple.

Google currently monitors several signals to assess the quality of sites and blogs. The number of unique visits to the pages is one of them. Now imagine that you are producing several blog posts, many of which have not generated any visitors. This kind of underperformance is a bad signal to Google. Clearly, your site will be considered unreliable by Google’s algorithms. They will therefore not display it on the first page of the search results.

You can avoid this problem to arise

Such a disaster is preventable. Do an audit first of all the content of your blog. Then mark the performance of each page by encrypting the total number of visitors, search visitors, the referring domain (number of incoming links) and the number of words. You will soon notice posts that have not generated any views, nor attracted any incoming links. It is precisely this kind of content that needs to be removed from your blog.

Each deletion must be accompanied by compensation. Links to deleted pages should be redirected to other more relevant pages or to the home page.

Use relevant keywords in your content

The updates made by Google have largely influenced SEO practices. These “improvements” lead in particular to the rejection of the method of referencing which focuses exclusively on the keywords. The abuse of keywords is even penalized. This does not change the fact that the use of keywords remains one of the key elements of SEO. Developing a content strategy without keywords is now unthinkable.

Knowledge of keywords that interest Internet users in a specific field provides a number of advantages. This helps you to identify topics that really interest your readers. A detailed keyword study also allows you to gauge the amount of organic traffic you could reach on your blog.

How to identify the right keywords for your blog?

Several tools for analyzing and planning keywords exist on the internet. You can, of course, use the Google Adwords service. Other independent services, such as Long Tail Platinum or Positions Explorer are also available. These services will help you isolate the words, expressions, and topics that generate the most visits in your industry. You could then develop a clear content strategy based on that data.

Focus on quality, not quantity

Do you usually publish several posts without really analyzing their actual relevance? Such a strategy would have been very effective five or six years ago. Not anymore. Much has changed in the meantime. Google and other search engines have become much more looking at the quality of publications and the use of keywords. Simply creating a large quantity of content is no longer a reliable signal. Google’s algorithms are now able to “read” and evaluate the relevance of the keywords used in each publication.

The challenge is simple: you have to create content that is perfectly suited to the keyword on which you plan to position your site. Finding such content takes time, a lot of time. This would significantly reduce the frequency of your publications, but would definitely improve the quality of your content. Your site would then gain in authority and attract many inbound links. Google will interpret these signals as a sign of quality and will make your site appear in good position on the keywords you are targeting.

Filtering guest articles is an option

Here is a pretty common tip in the bloggers circle: writing a guest post on other blogs is a good way to increase traffic and improve visibility. This would also work in reverse. The facts nevertheless show that Google sees things differently.

Thanks to its constantly improving algorithms, Google is able to detect the difference in the quality of different posts of the same site. There lies the whole problem with the guest articles: you never have the assurance of top quality every time. If some bloggers are able to provide you with impeccable content, others do not have the capacity. Accepting all guest-blogging requests would then do you more harm than good.

Take the time to read the blog of those who want to post a guest article on your site. Do not believe that you must accept all articles invited in the name of solidarity between bloggers. The only rule that prevails is that of quality. Only welcome posts that deserve to be included in your timeline, even if this causes you to refuse 70%, 80% or even 90% of guest-blogging requests.

This will lead to a triple-win situation

Your blog, the author of the guest article and your readers are all winners if you do so. Your blog will get high-quality content that will be well referenced. Your readers will also appreciate the information provided in these publications. The author enjoys a certain visibility and could recruit new readers.

Optimizing publications is an art

Optimizing a blog post is not just about using good keywords. Many other “details” matter. Here is a non-exhaustive list of parameters to check for optimally optimized contents:

the presence of the main keyword in the URL
the mention of the same keyword in the description and the title of the post
the use of the targeted keyword in the text
the presence of the main keyword in the description of the post image

The optimization of the posts should in no way disrupt your readers. Be sure to include keywords naturally in your publications. It is better to propose a post irreproachable from a grammatical and orthographic point of view, rather than using awkward twists on behalf of the SEO.

Invest in promoting your content

An exceptional blog post will have no impact if no one notices it. A little-highlighted content is promised to failure and forgetfulness. You have an obligation to promote your new publications – and even old ones – at the right time. But how to proceed?

SEO experts usually answer this question with a simple rule: spend 20% of your time creating. The remaining 80% will be used for promotion. In other words, if you spend a whole day writing a post, you must be prepared to spend the next four days promoting it. There are several ways to launch a publication on the internet:

share it on influential social networks
target all readers affected by the publication
attract the attention of some influencers on your post
decline the publication in other formats (videos, PowerPoint presentation, etc.)
mention your post in comments on blogs or articles
mention your publication in forums
post your article as a guest post on other blogs

You probably know other ways to promote your content. Our advice is clear: do everything within your means to draw attention to your blog posts. This will take time and a lot of energy. But it is really worth it.

Master the technical aspects of a good SEO strategy

A good SEO strategy also takes into account the technical details related to the actual functioning of your blog. These “details” are not really, given their impact on the reputation and performance of your site. Sophisticated readers appreciate quality content. However, they will be more satisfied if they easily access these contents. A page that loads too slowly is not a plus. This is also the case for poor quality images, badly formatted subtitles, and other illegible paragraphs.

Broken links also send bad signals to Google and users. Take steps to repair these defective links, whether they are incoming or outgoing. For example, you could use Redirect 301 to prevent 404 errors and keep your traffic and Page Ranking.

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