At the time of this writing, it’s mid-January 2024. There’s still plenty of time this year for you to think about how to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you were to think like professionals in the field, like InSync Media Marketing Agency, how would you approach SEO in the near future? Here are some potential strategies:
Rewrite Your Old Posts to Suit E-E-A-T
For those that don’t know, Google used to really emphasize something known as E-A-T, which was “Expertise,” “Authoritativeness,” and “Trustworthiness.”They have since added one more ‘E” for good measure, “Experience.” Now it’s E-E-A-T. Take a look at your old posts and see how you can write them to suit this new metric. How can you show that you are both an expert and experienced at something?
Basically, you want to show that you have done the things that you are writing about and didn’t just sit for three hours doing a deep dive into it. Doing this can really help your rankings as Google recognizes the updated post and adjusts things accordingly.
Don’t update all your old posts though. Only pick the ones that are evergreen, which means they will always be topical, no matter when someone reads them. Ask yourself if that’s the case with each post. That should guide you on when to rewrite something. Do an audit every quarter to see what should be updated and what should be left along.
Redo Parts of Your Posts
Redo Keyword Research
Just like people change passwords, they also change what keywords they might be interested in looking for. Take a look at what particular keywords might be popular at the time by using SEO software. Then you can see about using new keywords or possibly retargeting.
Redo Your Headers
Headers are more than just a guideline for your readers so that they will know what the subsequent paragraphs will be about. They are great for Google to target so that it will know what the user is interested in. You should also structure your headers in a way that it makes the entire piece flow like it should and be judicious about how you use h2 and h3 tags to get this working like it should.
Ideally, you’d start off with an H1 and then an H2 along with two or three H3s before a second H2 and several H3s. That will show the reader what they are going to be looking at. Of course, you can add and subtract based on how long you’re going to make a post.
Redo Your Meta Descriptions
A lot of people view the meta descriptions as a throwaway part of writing a post. They just tack several vaguely related words and call it a day. This can wind up costing them a good amount of potential traffic. It’s time to take this part of the post very seriously and redo them in the best way to reflect what you’re all about. This is very important if you use Google AdWords. You could make extra money by seeing what is working and then adjust your writing based on that.
Redo Your Content Headlines
The internet is full of posts and people usually gravitate to the ones that have interesting headlines. You can work on yours so that you can have something to reel people in. There are some that like to do it in a “bait and switch” way where they write something outlandish and then the post itself isn’t remotely related to the headline. It seems to be a bad trend – there are a lot of online games that show gameplay that is very different from the real game. People may download the game but delete it when they realize they were duped.
So, while you can write intriguing headlines that get attention, make sure that the content that is underneath is what the headline billed it as. You won’t keep an audience for long if you are like the game companies. Also, you could have the headlines include the current year in them.
Redo Your Images
Yes, having successful SEO results doesn’t just rely on having the right words. You also need to optimize any images that you have on the site. You can do this a variety of ways. Make sure your filename has an actual name. Google won’t know what IMG248240 is, but it will understand “Michael Jordan 1988 slam dunk.”
Just like metadata, people often pay little attention to crafting alt text correctly. While it’s a great way to help people who are handicapped view images on your site (that’s a bit of good karma right there), you can also write the description in a way that will get Google’s attention.
Yes, size does matter. If you have an image that is very high-definition and is large in storage size, that can slow down your site load time. While it might not bother someone who is using high-speed internet at home or work, it can make those who are using smartphones impatient. Google will ding you for that.
Be Extra Thorough With Your Proofreading
Your posts are a reflection on your writing skills. It can be easy to make spelling and grammatical errors when you’re trying to set up a base of posts. But when you go back and look, it can be embarrassing to see those mistakes. So, make it a part of your work to look through your writing with an extra sharp eye and see what kind of errors you made. This way, when your re-written posts get re-indexed by Google, you’re going to have something that looks nice and polished.
Make Sure the Content is Accurate
While you’re mostly aiming for evergreen content, you also want to make sure that the facts in the post are all still accurate today. You would want to update it and note that Pluto is NOT a planet anymore, for example. That way, you will still be able to keep your E-E-A-T score high, which will help your search engine rankings. Having outdated info can hurt you, since people won’t trust the information that you give them.
Make Sure All the Links Are Still Active
Here’s another great way to lose people. You’ve probably encountered something like this when visiting another site. You see a link to something that interests you, and you click it and get … “404: Site not found.” That irritated you, right? You don’t want to make people irritated when they visit your site. Make sure that all the links go to the proper websites and see about fixing any broken ones or even removing ones that the original website has not updated or redirected.
Consider Working on Your Backlinks and Other Links
This one is a bit more controversial. Some people swear that it’s worth doing things like adding internal links, external links, and backlinks. Others see it as a waste of time and that your content should be enough. It’s still a good idea to run a test and see what kind of results you’re getting from any kind of linkage before you completely pull the plug on doing them.
Make Your Content Shine
You might think this suggestion is a bit too hard. Writing is subjective, right? Not necessarily. There are ways you can write in a way that will get people’s attention. You can use certain sites to get rankings on how SEO-friendly a particular post is. Then you can write around that number to improve it before you send it back out to the world.
There are other things you can do, like reading other posts and seeing what makes them so interesting to read and popular in search engine rankings. You’ll instinctively say, “That’s good writing there…” Ask yourself how are they both accessible and trustworthy? See if you can bottle that up yourself and reap the benefits.
Working in SEO is a constant balancing act. It can feel like Google or the other search engines are constantly shifting the board by changing the algorithm. This isn’t a job where you can just “set it and forget it.” One new tweak of the algorithm can take a post that you had a lot of views on and send it to the search engine graveyard. That’s why you always need to check your statistics and insights to see what has changed and then figure out what you need to do to get back on top.
It can feel like you’re playing a game where you’re trying to hit a spot, and it keeps moving. When you do it hit it, it can feel exhilarating, but that’s a temporary feeling. But if you treat it like an adventure and even a competition to see what you can do to build up your site to become monetized, then it can make each day feel brand new and exciting.
This isn’t an ironclad guarantee that doing these SEO tweaks will make you have a successful 2024. There’s an element of luck in this too, and the whims of the people doing the searching can be quite fickle. Still, you’ll give yourself a much better chance of achieving your goals than just standing pat. Whatever success you do have, the effort will be worth it.
