Take a Fresh Look At Your SEO Strategy: 3 Tips to Make an Impact in 2022

If you’ve been feeling stressed about keeping up with all of your marketing goals lately, you’re not alone. The pressure for marketing teams to increase customer acquisition after a year of record-low sales is on. We know that a great SEO strategy is the key to reaching consumers online. So I sat down with Chatmeter’s SEO and PPC Manager, Dwayne Jones, to discuss his best tips for brands looking to build a focused but impactful SEO strategy.

My question was simple, “Marketing teams have a lot on their plate right now, where should they best focus their SEO efforts in order to attract more customers?” Jones, having spent the past 6-months thinking about this very same question, had three great tips any marketing team (no matter how big or small) can implement right away.

SEO Tip #1 – Focus on a Searcher’s Intent Not Exact Match Keywords

We all know keywords are essential to great SEO but the keywords a searcher uses to find your site is not as important as the searcher’s intent. Using the example of “Taco Tuesday Near Me”, Jones broke it down like this…

If you’re searching for “Taco Tuesday” it’s not that you’re just looking for a restaurant that sells tacos on Tuesdays, but in reality you’re looking for a restaurant with specials (who doesn’t love a great deal?).

Instead of creating web pages that only talk about Taco Tuesday specials, businesses should include content around all types of specials; happy hour deals, daily specials, even events. Then make it easy for them to take action. Include a CTA to book a reservation or sign up for an event. Consider what the searcher is trying to achieve through the keywords they’re using. Creating content that speaks to the true intent of a customer’s search entices the visitor to stay on the page longer and makes them more likely to take action.

SEO Tip #2 – Optimize for the Impatient

If a website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, it’s slow. Think about that… 3 seconds. The need for instant gratification has only grown over time. Brands need to be doing everything they can to not only increase page speed but make the website navigation and experience as intuitive as possible.

Jones warned that one of today’s biggest web design trends is about creating visual and image-focused sites, however, large images typically slow down the site. Compressing images and cutting down on the volume of images are easy ways to increase site speed. With Google’s slow rollout of their “page experience update”, increasing site speed should be a major focus for businesses right now.

Google’s PageSpeed Insights

Another aspect of optimizing for the impatient consumer is by creating seamless and intuitive navigation. We know that hiring is a big priority for a lot of businesses right now, is the link to the careers page easy to find? What if they’re looking for information about a specific location can the visitor easily find your local pages? Making the site accessible and easy to navigate are essential part of SEO.

SEO Tip #3 – Refresh, Refresh, Refresh

The biggest goal of search engines is to provide the searcher with relevant and up-to-date information. Refreshing your content on a regular basis shows the search engine that your content is up-to-date and makes them more likely to populate your site higher on the SERP.

Jones reminded me this tip isn’t just important for web SEO, but it’s vital for all aspects of a brand’s online presence. There’s nothing that can cause a consumer to lose trust in a brand faster than inaccurate information. You can’t just set and forget the information you put online; you have to continuously update your local business listings, social media accounts, the Google Q&A section, and much more. Keeping your information online is the key to building trust with search engines and consumers alike.

SEO Bonus Tip – Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks

The last thing Jones mentioned before the end of our interview is that when it comes to SEO, brands shouldn’t be afraid to take risks. Sometimes brands focus so much on their core keywords that they can often miss out on new keywords or trends. In the fight for position 0, taking risks are a requirement if you want to outperform the competition. Not every endeavor will pan out but there’s great value in being the first or the most common source on the internet.

Need more help with your SEO strategy? Let Chatmeter’s location experts guide you on best practices for Local SEO, Local Pages, Social Media, and more.