The COVID-19 pandemic has brought much of the country to a halt. With so many physical operations slowing down, it can be tempting to let the marketing department follow this same path; however, the reality is that digital marketing strategies including SEO are actually more important during the COVID-19 pandemic than ever before. Therefore, this article is going to take a closer look at why Denver SEO is important during the COVID-19 pandemic and how businesses can leverage SEO to improve their digital marketing results even while much of the country continue to shelter in place.
The Importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) During COVID-19
The trend from search engine data shows that many search results in several industries have been dropping. Despite this reality, SEO is still crucial during the pandemic. Some of the reasons include:
- Consumers who are confined to their community which means that are looking for local businesses
- There is never a bad time to publish content that is evergreen, which is one of the biggest points of SEO
- The visitors attracted to the business right now are more likely to be highly qualified leads, which is going to lead to a higher conversion rate
- SEO should focus on the long-term and COVID-19 is a current trend
- SEO is free and businesses might have more time to work on their digital marketing right now
These are just a few of the most important reasons why SEO is more important now than ever before.
General Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Business During COVID-19
There are a few important themes that all businesses should be focused on during COVID-19 when it comes to SEO. These include consistency, long-form content, local SEO, and planning for the long-term.
The Importance of Consistency
SEO is similar to other entities that require regular maintenance. When companies invest in SEO strategy, this is like investing in a harvest that will reap results down the road; however, stopping early might lead to poor results.
Therefore, even during COVID-19, it is critical to invest in SEO. Even if there isn’t much to do right now, investing in SEO now will pay off after the pandemic is over.
Long-Form Content Is the Key
When it comes to content that goes on the page, it is critical to invest in long-form content. Right now, the pace has slowed for numerous customers, and, therefore, they are more likely to delve more deeply into topics instead of simply scrolling through their newsfeed reading headlines. Information shows that organic search results that rank at the top of Google tend to average more than 1,800 words. This simply shows that long-form content is critical right now. Therefore, if traffic has started to slow, take the extra time to build long-form content blog posts that can be published during the next few months. This will pay off down the road.
Local SEO Is a Major Focus of SEO 2020
One of the most important SEO tools is called local SEO. This is one of the top ways that you can optimize your site. Local SEO is a lucrative way for smaller businesses to compete against some of the top corporations in the world. With numerous people staying close to home, people are looking to local businesses now more than ever. Some of the ways that local SEO results are triggered include when someone enters “near me,” zip codes, cities, or towns. In order for a result to rank well for local SEO, it is critical to make sure that all NAP information (name, address, and phone number) is correct across all online directories. Businesses also need to claim their listing in “Google My Business.” With so many people looking for local businesses, local SEO has the potential to provide massive returns.
Planning for the Future
During COVID-19, it is important to plan for both short-term and long-term results. Some of the short-term efforts include publishing content that is related to COVID-19 themes throughout the industry. This also includes updating listings for local search terms. Long-term SEO efforts should. Focus on answering questions customers are asking after the pandemic. This should also include traditional goals that aren’t related to COVID-19. It is important to balance short-term and long-term goals when planning for SEO.
Content Strategies for COVID-19
This is a good time for companies to update their Denver web design content with long-form information; however, what type of long-form content is the best? There are a few tips to keep in mind.
Target COVID-19 Keywords
In the short-term, it is a good idea for companies to target currently trending terms to boost their traffic. Broad search terms are going to end up competing against some of the top sites such as Forbes and BBC; however, long-tail COVID-19 keywords that are related to niche searches can translate into ranking success. For example, a chiropractor office might want to target “back pain from quarantine.” Targeting COVID-19 keywords is a good content strategy.
Optimize Old Content that Is Relevant
One of the hidden gems that people don’t realize about SEO strategy is that it doesn’t necessarily require someone to produce brand new content. Many dormant topics are getting revived thanks to a sudden shift in the interests of users.
Therefore, businesses should check and see if there is any old content that can be optimized to boost traffic. Take those old posts, add some new content, and republish it at the top of the blog reel to drive more traffic to the site.
Generate Evergreen Content
Finally, it is also important to think about content that isn’t related to COVID-19 but will be relevant regardless of the current situation. While pandemic content is going to be relevant now, it is just as important to plan for the future. Therefore, focus on evergreen content that will accumulate new traffic over time. This is a great way to build SEO equity.
Update Content That Performs Well
Even the top content on a website is going to need tweaks from time to time. Posting high-quality, regular content is one of the cornerstones of SEO. Between the daily operations of a business and trying to come up with new content, it can be hard to update current content.
With extra time, now is a great opportunity to update current content. Even if they are collecting decent traffic, even a few quick updates can provide them with a massive boost.
Some of the top ways to update existing content include:
- Adding high-quality outbound links
- Providing new information that might be related to the current climate
- Updating screenshots and images
- Providing new alt text to images
- Providing new keywords to headings
- Changing title tags to something more interesting
Taking the time to update current content is a great way to generate huge returns.
Off-Page SEO Strategies
Finally, there are a few off-page SEO strategies that businesses should be focused on during COVID-19. Some of the top SEO strategies that take place off-page include:
Build High-Quality Links
It is important to build and chase high-quality links. There are ways to build natural links (in which the quality of the content increases links on its own), manually building links (which is asking others to provide links back to the content), and creating links on your own (which focuses on publishing other content that links back to a specific page). Remember that links are about quality and not quantity. Therefore, focus on building high-quality links during COVID-19 and this will pay off in the long-term.
Social Media Marketing for SEO
Finally, social signals are going to matter when Google is looking at page rankings. In order to boost rankings through SEO, it is important to build social media followings as well. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and even Instagram are all major platforms today. They are very important during the COVID-19 pandemic and with people having more downtime than ever before, they are spending more time on social media. Therefore, serve up content that people are going to love on social media and they are more likely to share it. This is going to translate into a major return when it comes to SEO.
Focus on SEO During COVID-19
These are a few of the most important strategies that everyone should be focused on during COVID-19. Even though businesses might have ground to a halt, SEO has never been more important.