How To Create a Long-Term SEO Strategy That Works

Some business goals are short-term, like monthly sales goals. Others are lengthy, like developing new products. SEO fits in the “lengthy” category. It takes effort but pays big dividends — simply optimizing your existing content can increase traffic by 75%. Start reaping these rewards by developing an SEO long-term strategy. 

The Basics of SEO Long-Term Strategy

SEO, or search engine optimization, makes your website visible to search engines. They find and rank your site according to specific criteria.

The higher you rank, the higher your website appears in search engine results. Better SEO gets you to the top where people can find you.

SEO consists of three main components:

1. On-page SEO: Optimizing your page’s meta descriptions, title tags, URL structures, and high-quality content.
2. Off-page SEO: Connecting with other reputable websites to demonstrate your site’s quality.
3. Technical SEO: Building your site’s architecture to help search engines understand, crawl, and index it.

These elements can improve your SERP rankings. That’s the good news — SEO levels the playing field and allows you to rank alongside (or higher than) companies with bigger marketing budgets.

The not-so-bad news? SEO is a long-term strategy. It can take months or even years. Once you reach the top, though, the return on your investment is excellent.

Why SEO Is a Long-Term Process

Building good SEO is like building a well-constructed home. You need to take your time to make it solid and long-lasting.

High-Quality Content

Informative and engaging content is essential to good SEO. It attracts your target audience, establishes you as an industry authority, and invites backlinks.

Substantial content takes time to create. You’ll research relevant keywords and include them in well-written blogs and web pages. After that, search engines and your audience will find your content.

You’ll need to update and optimize your content regularly to keep ranking well on search engine pages. Does this sound like a lot of work? It can be, but we’re here to help. BKA writers have expertise in creating great content for your site.

Search-Engine Algorithms

Search engines continually update their algorithms to improve user experience. As they change, so do the methods needed to rank well. You’ll need to stay flexible to keep up with algorithms, modifying your SEO long-term strategy when necessary.

Good Backlinks

When you post high-quality content, other sites will find you. However, this process takes time. You may need to request backlinks, especially in the beginning.

Data Analysis

After working hard on your content and establishing backlinks, it’s time to track your progress. Performance data crunches the numbers for you, including:

• The organic traffic you’re gaining
• Your bounce rate, which is the number of users viewing but quickly leaving your site
• Your conversion rate, which tells you how many people engage with your site by completing a particular action

Tracking your data and making adjustments requires time and effort.

How To Build Your SEO Long-Term Strategy

Once you understand the basics of building an SEO strategy, it’s time to get to work.

1. Think of Relevant Topics

Choose general keywords people would use when searching for your page. If you have an accounting business, you may have topics such as taxes, bookkeeping, or payroll. A massage therapy business may cover aromatherapy, reflexology, or facials.

General, one- to three-word keywords like these are called short-tail keywords. They are broad and have a high search volume.  Since they’re so competitive, you’ll have better luck narrowing the topics to be more relevant.

2. Create Long-Tail Keywords

Use your topics to generate long-tail keywords, which are longer phrases. They have a lower search volume and can effectively lead people to your site; they comprise the majority of searches.

Say, for example, your accounting business serves professional freelancers. You may choose long-tail keywords such as “tax preparation for freelance tutors” or “bookkeeping for small businesses in Miami.”

Another example: Say you make and sell aromatherapy oils alongside your Chicago massage therapy business. You may get good results from “reflexology in Northwest Chicago” or “handmade aromatherapy essential oils.”

Long-tail keywords benefit you by weeding out users who don’t require your product or service. Search engines also like long-tail keywords because they are more likely to answer someone’s question.

3. Create Website Pages for Your Keywords

Once you have keywords, it’s time to put them on your site. Don’t overdo it, though — search engines recognize keyword stuffing and penalize sites for it. Your keywords can vary a little to sound natural.

4. Create and Maintain a Blog

Creating a blog is an excellent way to incorporate keywords and keep content fresh. Write informative posts about topics that interest your customers. Add entries regularly and refresh older posts to optimize them for changing algorithms.

5. Establish Backlinks

Backlinks add authority and trustworthiness to your SEO long-term strategy. You can establish backlinks by:

• Writing guest blog posts
• Checking for sites that mention your product
• Listing your site on directories such as Google My Business
• Asking other sites for backlinks

Getting backlinks is a sizable task. However, BKA can help. We find quality backlinks to be part of your SEO long-term strategy.

6. Fine-Tune Other On-Page SEO

Meta descriptions, URL structures, internal links, and title tags are other on-page SEO elements. They are turbo-charged details that help search engines index and rank your site and attract your keyword audience.

You can improve your on-page SEO by:

• Creating alt tags for videos and images
• Including keywords in your URLs and meta descriptions
• Adding internal links

If you don’t have images, adding them can boost SEO.

7. Optimize Technical SEO

Your site’s architecture affects how it functions and how search engines index it. You can improve your technical SEO by enhancing your page speed, making your site mobile-friendly, using HTTPS for security, and eliminating duplicate content.

What SEO technique is the most efficient in the long term?

High-quality content is the most effective long-term SEO technique. Well-researched, informative content adds value to your site, helps search engines find it, and attracts readers.

Partner With BKA for Your SEO Long-Term Strategy

SEO takes time, but you don’t have to tackle it by yourself. BKA Content can develop and maintain your SEO long-term strategy by optimizing your content, writing blogs, acquiring backlinks, and more. Learn more today about how we can improve visibility and drive traffic to your site.