Actionable SEO Strategies for Actionable People

Anything involving both technology and an acronym can seem particularly daunting, and SEO is no exception (that’s Search Engine Optimization for those just passing by). This is something that must be overcome; actionable SEO is one of the most important factors for your online business or blog, as it is what drives traffic to your website.

Thankfully, implementing SEO is not as hard as it sounds, and there are plenty of actionable SEO tips and tricks to help your website or blog shoot up in the rankings (of Google, not the WNBA…in case that wasn’t clear).

Actionable SEO is essentially optimization practices that concretely generate leads, build brand awareness, and develop an active community. In this way, one of the most important SEO tips is to not create content simply for the sake of having content. This means avoiding things like keyword stuffing (i.e. including 50 keywords in a 500 word blog post) and repetitive, pointless posts or descriptions.

These things not only have the potential of alienating potential leads – they can also have an adverse effect on your search result rankings.

Instead, strive to create content (a blog post, product description, or landing page) that meets one or more of the following criteria:

• Has a clear and immediate call to action
• Answers a question or solves a problem
• Unique information on a topic relevant to your business
• Is authoritative, with clear facts and (ideally) external links

These actionable SEO guidelines will not only help your search result rankings, but also the way in which leads interact with your blog or page. In addition to maintaining unique content, there are two actionable SEO techniques that will benefit your content: long-tail keywords and strategic placement. A long-tail keyword is essentially what it sounds like: including more specific words for the search term (i.e. “ponies for sale” instead of just “ponies”).

Long-tail keywords are more successful for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, they account for 70% of search terms but attract lesson search volume, which means that they are generally less competitive. Even better, more specific search terms can bring better qualified (and therefore better converting) leads to your website.

The second most actionable SEO tip for online business owners is to place these keywords strategically.

This is more than simply avoiding keyword stuffing and placing the correct level of keyword usage (i.e. 5-7 long-tail keywords in a 350-500 word post). Strategic placement also includes using the keyword in the permalink (that is, the URL that takes the browser to the post), the title of the post, and the meta description (the short description that appears on the search result page). All three of these aspects not only help your page ranking, but also help a potential visitor or lead identify your topic, purpose, and brand.