How does a search engine like Google or Bing decide whether your article is worthy of being showcased in search results?
The answer is based on a series of factors and you need to get your SEO Tactics right to feature on top SERP.
SEO Tactics in 2023 require you to have a razor-sharp focus and a knack for getting your implementation done in a scientific manner.
I’ll be taking you through the various SEO tactics which ProductivityLand has employed over the past two years.
Here is our list of 12 Actionable SEO Tactics to Boost Organic Traffic in 2023:
1. Conduct a worthy Competitor Analysis for SEO & beyond
In the past decade of my professional career, I have noticed that people are almost scared of understanding how search engines work.
Add to that competitor who is ranking for difficult keywords and you have a fresh marketer running for their lives.
But it doesn’t have to be that way…
My years of experience have taught me that SEO is not that hard to understand; plus, your competition can be your biggest ally if you allow them.
Just imagine that you had the capability to understand your competitor’s success and reverse engineer to get a grip on how they managed to achieve that.
In addition, you utilize your own skills and SEO Tactics to win bigger and more frequently.
The methodology to achieve this is called “Competitive Intelligence”.
Your goal is to understand what’s working for your competitors, adapt and improve them, and gain a worthy edge over them all.
For a digital marketer, the heart of this process involves keyword research.
I’m sure many of you out there must be sick of being outranked by the competition.
Don’t worry, I’m about to spin the beans and guide you on the steps involved to rank higher:
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Identify your SEO competitors
So can you name your main SEO Competitors?
You might have a number of competitors outside your main niche who you would have to compete with for in SERPs.
For example, a productivity-focused website like ProductivityLand trying to rank for keywords like “Best Project Management Tools” would be competing with Project Management Tools as well as review websites like G2 and Capterra for the first page results.
We would have our work cut out for us to rank and compete for SERP space.
Therefore, if you focus on different niches then you might have a distinct list of competitors for each niche.
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Evaluating Keyword Difficulty
It’s always a good SEO Tactic to assess the strength of your SEO competitors.
Technically speaking, you might outrank any competitor in any niche for a particular keyword but the resource that would be required would create a negative ROI.
You need to evaluate your competitor’s total domain authority and then analyze specific factors including:
- Domain Authority
- Indexing in Search Engines including Google
- Backlink Data
- Rankings in independent websites like Alexa
- Traffic Volume
- Social Mileage
You need to write down all the information and pinpoint any potential weak areas – Eventually, the goal is to capitalize on these weak points and write better quality and more useful content.
Focus on competitors with lower overall scores ranking well for certain niche keywords.
Related: The 10 Best SEO Tools Used by SEO Gurus in 2023 (Free & Paid)
2. Copy Adwords Ads to Make Killer Title and Description Tags to boost Click-Through Rates (CTR)
I personally am an advocate of utilizing your Meta Description and Title Tags as an ad copy.
For starters when your search result appeals for shopping and buying purposes it will encourage your listing when it appears organically or as a paid result. It’s one of the perks of using seo tools these days.
The problem statement is simple – Unless you use a high domain authority website that is crawled by search engine bots on a regular basis, you won’t be able to test out your titles quickly and efficiently.
Because of which you’re basically “hoping” the Title Tag you plugged in would work and bring in the best Click-Through Rates.
So here is the solution…
You should use a tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs to get a fair understanding of what Titles different agencies are using for your choice of keyword.
Get a hold of the best ad copy titles and brainstorm to improve on them for your very own.
Yes. It’s that simple!
3. Building a well-rounded backlink portfolio
Over the years, I have observed that most websites gather backlinks from one or two main categories of assets.
What you don’t want is being in the middle of a storm with Google constantly updating its algorithms.
What if they completely dispel considering a certain category of backlinks?
You’ll be in a position you definitely don’t want your website to be in.
You can always look for a link building agency for SaaS companies to help you with your strategy, but if you decide to do it on your own, here are some of the best SEO Tactics to build a well-rounded backlink portfolio:
- Articles
- Directories
- Local Links
- Industry/Keyword Specific
- Blog Links
- Social Links
4. Optimize for Mobile
Mobile optimized websites are not something for the future.
They are here and you have to hop on the bandwagon to stay up to pace with your competitors.
Google is currently working on creating two different indexes – Web and for Mobile.
Interestingly enough they plan on keeping the Mobile Index as the primary one.
You would not be surprised to know that mobile devices are the primary connection to the Internet in the United States.
Knowing these facts, it makes complete sense to have a mobile-optimized website for your clients – Doesn’t it?
So making sure that you rank high on mobile devices is mandatory for any successful online business.
Here are a couple of SEO tactics to get you up and running for mobile optimization:
- Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) markup
- Implement schema markup
- Choose a responsive web design
- Remove Flash
- Compress Images
- Remove Popups from your mobile site
5. Use Good Hosting For Your Website
Using a good host is crucial for your website’s organic (SEO) health. People get into a dilemma of shared or dedicated hosting for their website. It really depends on your business and traffic goals to which website hosting you choose.
However, this a part of your web infrastructure, but it a good loading website with quick server response and up-time helps you build a better user experience giving improvements in your SEO.
Besides choosing a hosting provider, it is required to look for website security like SSL certificate. You should find an SSL certificate to make your website secure from cheap SSL certificate providers or check with the hosting provider. It is to note that paid SSL certificates are more preferred as they come with many benefits. These providers can offer you a cheap SSL certificate at a very low price.
Check out this resource on web hosting as their reviews are comprehensive to help you select a suitable host.
6. Update, Upgrade and Republish Old Blog Posts
In SEO you need to be clear on one thing – Not all of your content will rank in the higher echelons of Google SERPs.
You need to follow the subsequent steps in order to optimize your existing content:
- Step 1: Identify underperforming pages with content issues
- Find underperforming pages
- Make sure it’s a not a page less than 12 months old
- Rule out backlink factors such as competitors having higher quality backlinks
- Step 2: Refresh the Content
- Make sure the post aligns with search intent
- Analyze your backlink profile
- Step 3: Re-publish the post
7. Write longer content using the Skyscraper Technique
Back in 2015, Backlinko’s Brian Dean developed the SkyScraper Technique 2015.
The technique was an instant hit because within two weeks of him implementing the strategy his traffic literally doubled.
Yes, you read that right. Within just two weeks!
The Skyscraper technique focuses on improving the existing content available on the internet and attracting high-quality backlinks.
Steps involved in using the Skyscraper Technique:
- Search for a blog to create
- Shortlist distribution partners
- Recreate better content
- Promote your new blog
- Email your blog to different websites
8. Take Advantage of Youtube SEO
The day Google took ownership of Youtube was the time when video search got a fresh impetus.
One of the major advantages of uploading content on Youtube is that you get immediate indexing by Google.
Yes, you got that right!
No time for bots to crawl videos.
Here are six top secrets on how to increase the number of views on Youtube:
- Add Accurate Closed Captions instead of Youtube ASR captions
- Include your transcript in the Video Description
- Write a Keyword Optimized Title, Tags, and Description
- Use your target keyword in the title, description, tags, and in your transcript
- Use the Video SEO Embed
- Focus on user engagement
9. Create SEO optimized landing pages
The main goal of an SEO optimized landing page is to rank instead of conversions.
But normally they convert better as well.
This is one of the best ways to bring significant organic traffic to your funnel through your target search keywords.
The main differentiator between a traditional landing page and an SEO optimized landing page is that it will have more content.
It will also contain proportionately more inbound links to keep bounce rates low.
While it’s difficult to hone down the exact factors for which Google ranks certain landing pages while not ranking others but there is consensus over the following elements:
- Healthy Keyword Density
- 6-7 inbound links
- Lengthy word count
- Low bounce rates
- Evidence of people staying on the page for a longer period of time
- Fast loading times
10. Grow your website traffic with infographics
In 2023, infographics have become one of the most effective marketing tools to boost your website’s engagement levels.
Unlike images, infographics are the visual representation of information such as numbers, statistics, facts, etc.
Below I’ve listed down the characteristics of good infographics:
- List down possible infographic topics
- Ensure it has a good headline
- The infographic should have a story that connects with the audience
- Use authentic and verifiable sources in your infographic
- Utilize graphs and charts to make the infographic more appealing
11. Use Advanced SEO internal deep linking
Your homepage can’t rank for every keyword which you want to optimize.
So I’ll give you three solid reasons why you should utilize internal deep linking your core SEO Tactic.
- Increase your websites overall relevance
- Raise the domain authority of your website
- Increase your websites overall visibility
And to top that off here are six often ignored deep linking tactics:
- Guest Post Bios
- Blog Comments
- Email Signatures
- Forums
- Social Publishing sites like Scribd or Squidoo
- Article Syndication
12. Send link juice to lower-ranked pages sitting on Page 2 or 3
One of the most common missed opportunities in SEO these days is wasted link juice.
Webmasters and SEOs are often on the lookout for quality backlinks from external sources.
But they miss a trick…
They underestimate the internal linking possibility which they have with the very assets they are operating.
Here is a process for draining link juice from existing content:
- Create a keyword list
- Locate internal link prospects
- Prioritize internal link juice prospects
- Add keyword links to drain the equity
Take action on my advice and don’t let your hard-won link equity go to waste.
For me, this is a no-brainer and something all SEOs need to prioritize.
Further Readings:
