Maintaining A Strong SEO Game During The Pandemic

Did you know that Internet usage has skyrocketed ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? With millions of people stuck at home and brick-and-mortar businesses being forced to close, consumers have had no choice but to turn to online shopping to get the goods and services they need. As such, it is more important than ever before to keep your eye on the prize and maintain a strong SEO game. Your business should look at this as a chance to improve and expand your online marketing efforts if it was not that strong before. In this article, we share with you some ways you can keep your SEO game strong during the pandemic.

Optimize Your Web Design and Layout

Many businesses have taken the opportunity to start an ecommerce store since the start of the pandemic. If your business is new to the digital world, you may be at a loss where to start. The truth is, having a simple and navigable web design and layout is critical. If customers cannot quickly find what they are looking for, they will soon give up and bring their business to a competitor. It is easy to prevent this through optimizing your web design and layout. One golden rule to remember is that customers should never need to click more than three times to get to any inner page.  

Make Full Use of Local SEO

A large number of searches conducted by customers has local intent. This means that customers intend to drop by the physical store or make an online purchase from them. For instance, it is common to search for “fast food places near me” so that customers can easily place an order online and pick it up later. This makes local SEO an aspect of marketing you absolutely must invest in, particularly if your business’s offerings cannot be sold within a large geographical base. Examples of some businesses include those selling food and beverages as well as those in home services. When you make use of local SEO, it also helps to keep your Google My Business profile to keep customers updated of your opening hours, any promotions you may be running and more.

Update and Add New Content

Did you know that updating your website content regularly can help with SERP rankings? This signals to Google that your website is relevant and trustworthy. Imagine if you came across a website that was last updated years ago. Would you trust it enough to make a purchase? The answer is probably not. While it is impossible and unnecessary to update the main pages of your website regularly, one way you can constantly be adding new content is through a blog. A blog does not have to just consist of blog posts – you can add more engaging forms of content such as videos and infographics.

If your business is in a niche industry that’s not exactly conducive to text explanation, infographics and videos can be a good way of explaining something. For instance, if your business sells tents, you may want to film an instructional video teaching customers how to pitch a particular model. You may also want to consider hosting online webinars where customers can tune in and ask any questions they have, particularly if you have been getting a lot of emails or correspondences lately.

Revisit Meta Descriptions and Keywords

Do all your inner pages have meta descriptions and keywords? If you cannot answer yes with confidence, it’s time to take a new look at them. One good thing about remote working is that you can easily review such details from the comfort of your own home, which is at least an aspect of work that’s not been compromised. If some of your pages don’t already have meta descriptions, write them, making sure to include your keywords. Keywords should not only be generic, for all we know that it can be hard to rank on the first page for generic keywords with so many competitors in the game. When you use long-tail keywords consisting of four or more words, you are increasing your chances of ranking on the first page of SERPs.

Engage A SEO Digital Marketing Agency

Undoubtedly, maintaining a strong SEO game takes lots of time and effort. We can establish that it is definitely doable, regardless of which industry your business is in. However, monitoring site data as well as visitor activity can cut quite a bit into your time every day. This is where outsourcing your SEO efforts has become an increasingly popular option. If you do not have the budget to hire a marketing expert inhouse, outsourcing makes sense. It can free up time for your employees to focus on their own tasks while generating the results you want.