{"id":20365,"date":"2018-10-15T03:30:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T08:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/?p=20365"},"modified":"2024-10-10T14:52:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T19:52:57","slug":"4-seo-strategy-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/blog\/4-seo-strategy-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"4 SEO Strategy Basics Every Company Needs to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blog was contributed by our partner, BlueSwitch<\/a>. BlueSwitch provides a suite of services for ecommerce merchants, including website development, marketing, and branding.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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According to Borrell Associates<\/a>, companies spent a combined $65 billion on search engine optimization (SEO) services and strategies in 2016. With this number only climbing in 2018 and beyond, your company must invest in an SEO plan as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to know where you stand with your knowledge of SEO. Especially since 70-80% of search engine users<\/a> focus solely on organic search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To launch your organic SEO strategy, start with these four basics elements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Keywords<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Internal and External Links<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Google My Business Local Listing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Citation Sites\/Online Directories<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s how to started on your search engine optimization strategy today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Keywords<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Keywords are the core of your SEO strategy. These keywords represent search queries entered by users on search engines. Implement your chosen keywords throughout your website, blog content, and other forms of online content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The keywords you target should be relevant to your industry, products, services, and local area. As tempting as it is to use all possible keywords, this is not a sustainable strategy. Instead, perform keyword research<\/a> to identify the right keywords and competitive organic opportunities for your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Link Building<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When determining how to rank content, search engines crawl websites to evaluate their relevance and influence with regard to the search query. Part of this process includes examining a website\u2019s links, both internal and external.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Internal links direct users to other pages and content on your website<\/a>. Your company\u2019s website should have an internal linking map to guide users to relevant content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    External links point users to your website from other sites on the internet. When search bots crawl various websites, they use external links as bridges between content. This helps bots understand your website\u2019s context as well as level of authority. In other words, the number of quality links back to your site increases your online authority. This is why companies work diligently to build a strong portfolio of external links<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Google My Business Local Listing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Google provides businesses with a portal known as Google My Business<\/a>. Here businesses can control how their company profile looks on Google Maps and other areas across the most used search engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Within this listing, brands can list everything about their business including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n