The first step to any good SEO strategy is keyword research. This all-important step is one that is often overlooked or replaced with opinion. A lot of SEO companies in Indianapolis start targeting keywords that they think people will search when looking to find a company like their own. ‘Think’ is a bad word in the SEO world.

Our biased opinions or industry-speak doesn’t always transition to the real world of Google search. Instead, a thorough process of keyword research using a multitude of different tools will bring out data-driven decisions as to which keywords will provide the most value to rank for in terms of search volume, competition and purchasing intent.

Before taking any next step, we will conduct a very clear keyword research analysis so we know exactly what we are targeting, why we are targeting it and the expected return.

Once we have identified the primary keywords we wish to target, it’s now time to develop a clear strategy. An Indianapolis SEO company should never tell you broad information such as, “our SEO initiative is started” or “we’re going to build backlinks.” Instead, they should explain what the initiative consists of, what steps are taking place when, why that’s happening, what specific backlinks and their purpose, and many other details.

An SEO strategy like this has several benefits. For one, it holds the SEO accountable. And it also keeps the client informed and educated while also setting appropriate expectations.

And, of course, it gives a clear roadmap of what steps need to take place in the most effective manner to reach the results that your company has set out to achieve.

The content on your website is extremely important to SEO for obvious reasons. But what’s often overlooked by SEOs is the organization of that content. The way in which your site’s pages are organized and the structure of the hierarchy can make your break your SEO efforts.

A strong site architecture makes it easy for Google to crawl and understand your website and it creates an internal linking structure that gives SEO strength to the pages of your website that play a role in bringing organic traffic.

Think about it. If every page of your website is built off the home page, then you have told Google that every page of your website is just as important as the next. So if you’re a roofer, you probably have a page on your website called “Roofing Contractor City, State”. That’s your SEO page. But without proper site structure, you’re telling Google that page is just as important as your FAQ page and your About page and your Privacy Policy page. Those pages are important too – but not from an SEO perspective.

The graphic to the right (or down below if you’re in mobile) is a simplified look at how your pages should be structured. Your high value pages should be at the top. You should have supporting pages under that which all link back to that high value page. And, if it’s a competitive search phrase, you should have other pages or blog posts under and linking to the supporting pages.

And you repeat the process for every high value SEO search phrase. This builds an incredibly powerful SEO structure that will make it very hard for your competitors to ever out-do. And don’t worry if this doesn’t make perfect sense. That’s what we’re here for!

Site architecture is how your pages are organized. Content is the words and media on each of the pages.

But it’s not just the words. It’s what they say, how you say it, the formatting of the words, the layout, the ease of consuming the content, tagging of the content, proper calls-to-action and internal linking.

The best example of this is right in front of you on this page. It’s not about stuffing keywords in a nonsensical way into your pages. On this page, you’ll see the use of visuals, easily readable fonts and font sizes, links to parts of the page and to other pages, call-to-actions placed strategically throughout and these content boxes which all have anchor links from the beginning part of the page.

We’re offering you very in-depth information if that’s what you are looking for. At the same time, we’re making it easy to take the next action without having to read all of the content on the page.

And for these reasons, we have been rewarded well in our search engine rankings, and we’ll do the same for you.

The technical components aren’t necessarily as fun to talk about as the content parts of the website, because the technical components are mostly unseen.

But the technology behind your website is just as important as the front-end design of your website. If for no other reason, because Google reads the code of your website to determine where and how you should rank for any given keyword. They don’t browse it like you and me.

In addition to that, how you compose the website technically has huge weight into how quickly your website loads. In fact, according to Google, a 100-millisecond delay in load time can cause conversion rates to drop by 7%.

Most people who have done some research around SEO are probably familiar with the concept of backlinks.

Backlinks are other websites that link to your website. In Google’s eyes, the more people (websites) talking about you (linking to you), the more important you must be. Therefore, the more links you have pointing to your website, the better you’ll rank.

But it’s quite a bit more complicated than that. Many Indianapolis SEO companies will go out and build a bunch of backlinks from low quality, irrelevant websites. But it’s not a quantity game. It’s a quality game. The authority of the linking website is more important than the number of links.

These quality links are difficult to get. It takes strategic outreach, incredible content and the ability to find those opportunities. Fortunately, that’s what we do best.