What is an SEO strategy?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) involves designing your website to effectively answer the questions people ask Google, leading to better rankings among the search results and more traffic. While it might seem like the best approach is to cram your site with as much information as possible, there are more resource-efficient strategies to extract significant value from SEO. An added bonus is that it won’t drive visitors mad because of an overload of text. In this article, we explore the fundamental components of successful SEO.

Read more about how Bombayworks works with SEO here

There are three aspects to consider when building an SEO strategy: on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. The boundaries between these can sometimes blur, but it's a good way to keep track of what needs to be done.

Before you can start working practically on your strategy, it is crucial to conduct a thorough analysis to identify your website’s needs and opportunities. A healthy dose of creativity helps to find untapped paths along potential customers' buying journeys. While you can rely on intuition to answer questions that seem logical to your customers, tools like Ahrefs can help quantify the value and resources needed to be visible for different search terms. The best and most profitable analysis comes from a combination of various tools, experience, and creativity.

How long would you wait for a website to load? For most people, the answer is "not long at all." Therefore, your website’s technical performance is a crucial factor that should be prioritised early in your strategy. Ensure your site's Core Web Vitals are in good shape. While load times are perhaps the most tangible aspect of technical SEO, the site structure should also be reevaluated at this stage.

On-page SEO includes all the content on the site. The strategy here must be adjusted significantly based on what already exists on the site. If the site is empty, focus on what needs to be added. If the site is filled with 10 years of work, it becomes trickier to determine the next best steps. Here, keyword analysis will be your guide. Identify existing pages that fit into the keyword analysis and optimise the content accordingly. This might mean some pages need to be removed if they are too similar and serve the same search intent, or new pages may need to be planned to fill gaps in the customer journey.

Off-page SEO refers to building authority through external links (backlinks). Building a strong link profile has long been a necessity for success in SEO. Nowadays, it is much less critical as search engines are getting better at evaluating a page's content independently. However, since links still impact your performance, we recommend focusing on acquiring links from existing relationships. Reaching out to sites you don’t already have a relationship with to ask for links can easily become a time trap if it doesn’t yield results.

As mentioned initially, an SEO strategy should be planned with a long time horizon, preferably six months at a time. Relatively small, targeted efforts often have a significant impact. Be agile in your planning and have scheduled evaluations to ensure your work is having the expected effect. Be prepared to shift focus between on-page, off-page, and technical SEO as needed. Here, you can advantageously combine tools like Ahrefs and Google Search Console to create a more comprehensive picture.

SEO is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. Search engine algorithms are continuously updated, and staying updated with the latest trends and best practices is essential to ensure your website continues to perform well. Google itself has a blog summarising adjustments to its algorithms and how to adapt to these changes.