Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the essence of an online marketing strategy. Without it, your brand is less likely to get noticed in the sea of websites, social media platforms and digital advertising. With well over 1.5 billion websites in operation today, your business has to have a SEO strategy development for 2019 to get seen.

If you are new to digital marketing you may be asking, “What is SEO?” The short version is SEO helps to draw organic traffic to your website. Regardless of what your site is about or what industry you represent, SEO can get your targeted audience to your website.

There are distinct rules and formulas for effective SEO. Some have been proven to work, while others tactics have faded out over time. It is always good to stay abreast of what’s current in the SEO.

Make sure you’re up-to-date. Continue reading to get the tips SEO strategy development 2019 has to offer.

Let’s recap 2018

There are some aspects of SEO that will never go away. There are things you or your web designer should be doing consistently. A good website layout can only be great if it is relevant and tells the most recent story about your business.

Remember, having an online presence is not just about checking off a box on your business to-do list. You are building your brand and getting your name at the top of search engine ranking pages (SERPs).

Your SEO content strategy should continue to focus on keywords, title tags, link building, and visual designs.

Mobile responsive websites were a big driver since we continue to see the usage of mobile devices outpace desktop and laptop computers. Another growing trend was mobile apps for business.

What do we have in Store this Year?

Understanding what’s hot with SEO in 2019 will help you optimize current trends in your current marketing strategy. Content will still reign supreme but expect Google strategies to focus on purposeful and relevant content. You can also expect to see Google continuing its efforts to help serious brands to optimize their websites.

Statistics and analytics will continue to be big in helping businesses track their success.

What to Make Sure You Add to Your SEO Strategy 2019

One important focus for 2019 is building your SEO strategy to get more customers through the sales funnel. Businesses often place too much emphasis on getting consumers to their website but do not understand how to convert the visit into a sale.

Remember, having an online presence is not just about checking off a box on your business to-do list. You must be intentional, set goals and monitor your insights to measure your effectiveness.

Your overall SEO content strategy should include the following:

Go after Customers in all Phases of the Sales Funnel

If you build it they will come was a great line in a movie but rarely works well in business. In 2019, make a commitment to better understand your target audience. Learn their shopping habits, how serious they are about buying, and when are they more likely to buy.

Businesses also need to understand how to attract people that are willing and able to meet their price point.

Research Phase

If your goal is direct response, you need to research AdWords and Remarketing in 2019. AdWords is a Google product that allows businesses to run ads on the internet using Google placement. These ads run on websites that you target using keywords and paid searches.

When site visitors click on the ads they are directed to your website. This is the first indication that the consumer has an interest in your product or service.

If the consumer is not ready to commit after their first visit, don’t abandon the sales opportunity. Review your analytics and develop a Retargeting campaign from the research.

With AdWords, you can build customer lists using cookies that you capture from site visitors. Create retargeting ad campaigns by using the email list to target these consumers. Your new ads can include sales promotions or discounts to entice the target audience to revisit your site and close the deal.

Narrow your ads down to site visitors that stay for a certain amount of time and visit multiple pages. Create a separate more direct campaign for those that abandon their shopping carts.

Ready to Buy Phase

In 2019 no website is complete without a pop-up window featuring a call-to-action (CTA). These CTAs can encourage visitors to join an email list, offer a 10% discount on their first purchase or feature a free SEO audit (wink, wink).

The goal is to continue the relationship beyond their first visit. The first sell is important but building a relationship and turning the buyer into a repeat customer is key to your business success.

Continue Optimizing for Voice Search

If Alexa doesn’t know your business exists she can’t recommend it to users. Your SEO strategy 2019 now has to address this need. But how will you integrate these chatbots or artificial intelligence systems into your plan?

First, you will have to understand the mind of the consumer. Expect to hear the term “user intent” a lot. This means anticipating what the user is looking for. AI systems are designed to narrow down the search based on the interpretation of information provided.

How to Prepare?

To prepare your business, you will need to anticipate what questions someone will most likely ask about your service or product? Next, you want to think like the AI device and anticipate the response.

An important factor to remember is that it doesn’t matter how the search request is received. If someone is typing the request into a keyboard or speaking to a smart device, the information is going to a search engine. The search engine takes how people phrase questions and determines the best results.

Your goal is to think like the search engine and have the answer available in the content on your website. When it comes to AI, you need to have key phrases of seven to nine words.

An example, if someone wants to paint their bike blue. A simple keyword would be blue paint. For AI, you want to specify, “what is the best blue paint for painting bicycles?”

Build your Brand (and stick to it)

Social media will continue to be big in SEO strategy 2019. A well-planned SEO strategy can do a lot to boost your rankings. It is a perfect way to drive traffic to your website and improve your rankings.

One aspect you want to focus on is creating brand advocates. Brand advocacy involves building customer loyalty among consumers and employees that consistently support your brand. This, in turn, improves your SEO ranking.

Brand advocates will comment on your social media postings. They also give favorable reviews. The more brand advocates you can gain the greater ROI you will have on your SEO campaigns.

Don’t forget to reward your advocates by publicly thanking them in posts and offering other incentives.

Social Media

Social media continues to play a big roll in SEO. Look at it as a hub where you test your SEO content strategy. It helps grow brands, as well as direct traffic back to your website. With platforms like Facebook and Pinterest putting a bigger focus on business traffic, there is no reason not to utilize it.

You can define your target audience and build ads specific to them. In addition, your retargeting AdWords campaigns can reach people where they spend most of their time when online.

Videos

Consumers are captivated with video. Growing your business becomes easier when you learn how to promote through visual marketing.

The business that focuses on brand awareness has an advantage when it comes to video. Chances are you have already grown your audience. Now you can invite them into your business world by going live on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Those in the beauty industry have made their niche via demonstration videos. The same has worked well for home improvement specialists, plastic surgeons or those in the entertainment field.

Marketing through video does not have to be costly and extravagant. You simply need to convey a message and include a strong CTA that moves the consumer to your website.

Authentic content

Be authentic and relevant. Don’t place content on your website and forget about it. If you had a special for a certain holiday and the date has come and gone, that content needs to be replaced.

By making updates to your site you increase your visibility. Old or outdated content can bury your website in the rankings. If you are not sure what to add consider hiring a blogging service to give you scheduled posts relating to your industry.

Conclusion

Now that we have given you the latest for SEO strategy development 2019, are you ready to do a website check-up? Knowing how your site is performing will help you tweak some things and work-out any bugs. You can also use this opportunity to revitalize outdated and useless content.

Next, regularly check in on our blog for great SEO strategies you can use throughout the year.