As we head into 2021, brands are trying to level up their marketing strategies. When launching a website, you learn the basics – navigation tools, search engine optimization (SEO), etc. Is fundamental knowledge enough to keep you going in 2021? With intensifying competition, it is time to dive deep into advanced SEO tactics to supercharge your site’s performance. After all, SEO has always been amongst the most competent digital marketing strategies.
Although 2020 was not a full-fledged business year, digital marketing services’ scope, demand, and significance escalated post lockdown. Thus, eCommerce and online shopping will continue to grow throughout 2021, increasing the demand for virtual stores. Therefore, more businesses are in the race of being first in search results. Here, advanced SEO tactics will come into play, helping you gain an edge over other websites.
From earning authority backlinks to digging into competitors’ best-performing pages – it is time to streamline SEO strategy. Firstly, keep up with Google’s changing algorithms and optimize your webpage accordingly to boost traffic. In case you are uncertain about this, have a look below. Here are five SEO techniques to increase organic traffic in 2021.
1. BUILD QUALITY LINKS
Are you familiar with link building? Every time a marketer searches for SEO tips, the ‘build quality links’ pops up on the top results. Despite being an old-school SEO technique, you have to focus on building high-quality links in 2021. A backlink is an external link directing users towards your webpage through another site. In addition to increasing traffic, it exposes your brand to online audiences. You can use descriptive text for adding links or adopt internal linking to redirect users from one page to another.
Moreover, if you are doubtful whether backlinks will bring traffic or not, use a traffic checker tool. It will conduct an analysis, counting the number of visits before and after inserting backlinks. If web page traffic does not increase after adding backlinks, you might be indulging in black hat SEO practices. Remember, spammy or paid backlinks will do no good for your SEO rankings; instead, they can lead to penalties and account suspension.
2. OPTIMIZE CORE WEB VITALS
In 2021, core website vitals are likely to become a ranking factor for the search engine. These web vitals include three specific factors – page speed, visual stability, and interactivity. It impacts the page experience, website traffic, conversions, and bounce rate. Let us break down the three core web vitals with tips to improve them.
I. First Input Delay (FID): It examines the time users interact with your webpage. Interactions include choosing an option from the menu, entering an email address, etc.
II. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): LCP assesses how long it takes for a page to load from an actual visitor’s viewpoint. In short, it is the time from clicking on the link to seeing content on the landing page. If your webpage is taking more than four seconds to load, it will offer suggestions to decrease loading time. For instance, it might ask to upgrade the web host, remove large page elements, etc.
III. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Today, Google wants to ensure optimal user experience. If elements on your site move around as the page loads, it can significantly impact rankings. Hence, CLS monitors visual stability to ensure the webpage’s layout doesn’t have any glitches.
3. CREATE A COMPETENT CONTENT STRATEGY
‘Content is the king,’ and this statement remains true even in 2021. Instead of dropping the content marketing campaign, create a brilliant content strategy to boost traffic. Alongside blog posts and articles, utilize long-format content such as eBooks to provide comprehensive insights. Similarly, give a shot to interactive content. You can develop interactive quizzes, contests, or polls to apprehend user behavior and purchase patterns.
Most importantly, leverage visual content. As more people engage with videos and infographics, you have to include them in your content strategy. Feel free to create an informational video tutorial highlighting the product features or give some rich insights through infographics. If your content offers value, visitors won’t hesitate to click on it.
Moreover, optimize your web page for visual search since it would be a big deal in the coming years. And if you fail to acknowledge its importance, you are missing out on incredible traffic grabbing opportunities. While marketers think of image SEO as tagging images with alt tags, there is more to it. You have to consider file names, build sitemaps, host images, etc. If done correctly, you can capture your competitor’s traffic.
4. KEEP RESEARCHING KEYWORDS
Unsurprisingly, keyword targeting is the most fundamental method of driving traffic. These are the word and phrases that people use to search for products and services similar to yours. However, these keywords keep changing from time to time as people find new words to search for products. In 2021, marketers have to perform regular keyword researches and update the new ones on their webpage. List out keywords that fall in your niche and directly synchronize with your target audience.
Alongside short-tail, target long-tail keywords to ensure higher search engine rankings. If a user’s search matches your targeted keywords, Google will put your site on the top, amplifying traffic. Nevertheless, keyword research is not purely dependent on keyword volume or cost per click, but on the content, you generate. After all, marketers have to learn the art of inserting keywords organically in the content.
5. TARGET PAA
The search engine results page (SERP) in 2021 goes beyond standard blue links. Now, SERP has many features, and brands have to exploit them strategically. Firstly, you can utilize the ‘people also ask (PAA)’ feature to streamline the user experience. These are a set of questions appearing on SERP that people ask with the particular search query. Are you wondering how it can bring organic traffic? Have a look below.
I. PAA can help your webpage rank twice on the top results.
II. Usually, these are query refinements – the questions that Google is unable to answer.
III. You can appear permanently on the SERP since you are giving answers to questions visitors ask.
Unlike featured snippets, websites can appear on both, PAA box and SERP. Hence, you will have the traffic coming from multiple sources simultaneously, increasing conversions and sales chances. Every brand must learn how to utilize these opportunities and make the most out of the SEO strategy.
WRAPPING UP
Generating organic traffic has always been the marketer’s utmost priority since it is the first step for driving sales. Fortunately, SEO offers a lot of exposure and organic leads for a website. It is all about understanding the algorithms and following necessary protocols to enhance user-experience. In 2021, relevant keyword selection, brilliant content strategy, and backlinks help in boosting rankings. Once your webpage is on the top results, you will automatically witness an influx of traffic.
