SEO, the Vuurwerk way

Great searchability on Google and other search engines is and remains the holy grail of online marketing. The first link on the page gets the most clicks, after all. But getting a high ranking seems to become more and more difficult. Tough competition, the arrival of AI, changing rules… Let’s see how we can successfully overcome these challenges in SEO!

Research your target audience and keywords

The real question is how to rise above the noise and get those treasured top positions in Google? And how to do that without spending too much budget on it? At Vuurwerk we have a great deal of experience with this, which we’ll happily share in this article.

The first thing of importance is to think hard about your target audience. That tells you what the best decisions are. Perhaps you’ll discover you don’t even have to compete for the most expensive and highest positions in the search engine. For instance, because your audience searches mostly for less general, less well-known keywords. Or because you offer a product or service people are willing to dig a little deeper for. This tells you whether to market on so-called “all-purpose words” (general and therefore costly keywords) or on keywords catering to specific niches. To get to the bottom of this, you would do well to invest in a thorough keyword research in advance, followed by continuous cycles of measuring and improvement. This is the best way of generating more quality leads.

The right method for SEO

As soon as you know the optimal approach for your target audience, you can then apply targeted SEO. Search Engine Optimization is a collection of techniques and settings that make your website or content attractive to Google. The better your SEO, the faster search engines can find you and the higher they’ll place you. It used to be that this was a matter of repeating certain phrases and keywords, but nowadays optimizing your content is a lot more complicated. We view it as playing chess on multiple boards at the same time. What are the best moves you can make?

• Keywords: Analyze which queries currently lead to you and which don’t. This research helps you find the ideal keywords.
• The right text: If SEO is no longer about seeding your text with specific words and phrases, what does Google look for? At the moment, the search engine is interested in whether or not your content has something meaningful to offer. By asking and answering clearly defined questions, your content increases in value. It remains, as ever, important to write the perfect message for your customers.
• Domain and hosting server speed: Your infrastructure counts. Should your site take a little too long to load or react, Google will say “no, thank you.” So make sure your site is on a fast server, preferably close by. Another factor in this is whether or not you share a server with others (shared hosting) or have one all to yourself. These things add up to how quickly your site loads.
• Search engine friendly pages: Equally important is your website’s page structure. Format text in easily readable paragraphs, with clear headings, add images and a good balance between HTML and Java code.
• Mobile first: Google has a preference for websites optimized for smartphone use. The switch between laptop and mobile screen should be smooth. Are all your images loading, is the environment secure and stable?
• Link building: Another thing Google reviews is the your page’s or text’s relevance. Your ranking goes up as soon as other sources, preferably other sites, link to your content. Link building, then, is a way to “seed” the internet with articles referring back to you.
• Adjust your branding to the audience: It doesn’t matter what you think is beautiful or understandable, your customers’ taste and language is more important. What do they like? Google is smart enough to know based on your tone, words and elements on your site who it’s meant for. Of course, in order to do that, you first have to know the ins and outs of your own corporate identity .

In all these areas we offer excellent results for our clients. Now, while reading the above points you might think: “Isn’t it also important for my website and content to look good?” Visual appeal isn’t that important to Google (and therefore for SEO purposes), though. For your target audience, on the other hand, it all depends on what they like. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; it’s the impact you have that matters.

More important to keep in mind is to have your website be designed professionally and thoughtfully. That isn’t just crucial for SEO, it also creates trust with your customers. Needless to say, Vuurwerk can create the perfect branding for your organization.

Ten times the sales

By applying all of the mentioned techniques and elements at the same time, you’ll quickly notice how it fits together. How your marketing campaign on social media or website content springs to life. A great example: we once developed an advertising campaign on Facebook that generated a huge amount of traffic for a client’s website—but the actual sales disappointingly lagged behind. What went wrong? By experimenting with different postage in A/B tests (where you use two variants of the same mail or text to compare responses), we discovered exactly what the hitch was. By fully removing the shipping fee, a relatively small post, sales went through the roof! This shows how powerful it can be when you look at a campaign from all angles, critically analyze it and keep testing.

Is your SEO optimally done?

The world and rules of SEO continue to change every day. That’s why you should let your approach develop too. The right start is always to apply solid measuring indicators. Another great choice is to sign up for a Vuurwerk content subscription, where we immediately create some quick wins for your site and after that professionalize your marketing step by step. Would you like to check where you’re at first? In that case we recommend our Webmotivator Quickscan, in which we analyze your website and offer practical points of improvement for your SEO.