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Tag: Seo strategy

  • How to Unlock Profitable SEO as AI Search Engines Take Over | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As AI technology continues to grow in capability and popularity, the online search landscape and search optimization are rapidly changing. AI search engines, including Perplexity, Google’s AI mode, ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Arc Search and others, are competing for their share of searches and are quickly catching up to traditional search engines.

    In fact, one study projected that AI search engines may have more users than traditional search engines by 2028. These constantly changing search dynamics have many businesses wondering whether their current SEO strategy is sufficient or whether they need to adapt to stay relevant. While many SEO strategies can help businesses rank in both traditional and AI search engines, there are some key techniques businesses can implement to ensure that the evolution of AI search engines does not leave them behind.

    Related: Want to Be Discovered in AI Search? These Are the Sources That Matter

    The increasing popularity of AI search engines

    AI search engines are generative AI platforms that create answers to queries entered by users. Rather than simply presenting results, like traditional search engines, AI search engines summarize and present information pulled from multiple sources. AI search engines are quickly becoming the first choice for many users.

    Rather than using a traditional search engine, people prefer to use AI search engines for more specific, conversational queries. AI search engines consolidate and summarize information, which appeals to many users, particularly when they have a longer, more specific search query or are researching a new topic. Users can also utilize AI search engines to compare products or generate a list of multiple service providers without needing to visit various websites.

    4 strategies for ranking in AI search engines

    AI Search engines cite the websites they pull information from. Having your website cited as a source is an effective way to generate organic traffic and increase leads. Fortunately, many of the SEO strategies that are effective for ranking in traditional SERPs remain effective for ranking in AI search engines. Additionally, search engines pay attention to ranking positions when they select websites to pull information from and cite. However, for businesses looking to stay ahead of their competition, here are a few strategies that we implement at Outpace SEO to make sure our clients rank in AI search engines as well as traditional SERPs.

    1. Audit your strategy

    AI search engines prioritize credibility and relevancy. Before you begin, audit your current SEO strategy and identify its strengths and weaknesses. Who is your target audience, and are they likely to use AI search engines? Are you hoping to rank nationally or locally? Answering these questions can help you adapt your strategy for continued success.

    2. Ensure visibility

    It’s essential to make sure that AI search engines can index your website and easily understand the context and relevance of your content. In-depth technical SEO is crucial to ensure that your website is visible to the relevant search engines. Some search engines have specific primary crawlers that need to be enabled in your robots.txt file. Make sure that your pages are indexed by Bing, not just Google. Your site should have a simple and easy-to-understand site architecture that allows AI engines to navigate it effectively. Other technical strategies include optimizing alt text, URLs, meta titles, page speed and internal linking to enhance your website’s visibility.

    Related: How AI Is Transforming the SEO Landscape — and Why You Need to Adapt

    3. Create concise, organized content

    AI search engines summarize information in conversational language. This means that they can more easily extract information from websites that provide clear and concise content. Answering questions clearly in a sentence or two increases the chance that AI search engines will cite your website in answers to search queries. Creating content that is clearly organized with header tags is an effective way to make sure that users and search engines can easily skim your content and identify its relevance. Using high-volume, long-tail keywords as titles and headers also increases the chance that AI search engines will use your content when they generate answers to popular questions. How you write your content can significantly increase your chances of ranking both in traditional search engines and AI search engines.

    4. Build online authority

    Both traditional search engines and AI search engines are more likely to rank your website if it has a strong online presence. AI search engines pay particular attention to websites with regularly updated content and a strong off-page authority. The type of brand mentions and backlinks you acquire is also significant; backlinks from websites in your industry with strong domain authority will do more to boost your website’s profile than links that are irrelevant or appear untrustworthy. By consistently creating on-site and off-site content, you can establish authority and credibility within your industry, resulting in increased rankings, leads and traffic.

    Final thoughts

    As more people use AI search engines, it may not be enough for businesses to simply rank on SERPs. If your target audience is likely to use an AI search engine to find businesses, information and products, then it’s essential to adapt your SEO strategies to rank in AI search engines as well as traditional search engine results pages. By creating content strategically, implementing technical optimizations on your website and developing your online authority, you can provide your business with a competitive edge and keep up with rapidly advancing AI technology.

    As AI technology continues to grow in capability and popularity, the online search landscape and search optimization are rapidly changing. AI search engines, including Perplexity, Google’s AI mode, ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Arc Search and others, are competing for their share of searches and are quickly catching up to traditional search engines.

    In fact, one study projected that AI search engines may have more users than traditional search engines by 2028. These constantly changing search dynamics have many businesses wondering whether their current SEO strategy is sufficient or whether they need to adapt to stay relevant. While many SEO strategies can help businesses rank in both traditional and AI search engines, there are some key techniques businesses can implement to ensure that the evolution of AI search engines does not leave them behind.

    Related: Want to Be Discovered in AI Search? These Are the Sources That Matter

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    Summit Ghimire

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  • 10 Powerful Link-Building Tactics for Boosting Your Website's SEO | Entrepreneur

    10 Powerful Link-Building Tactics for Boosting Your Website's SEO | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Link building is an essential cornerstone of any solid SEO strategy, and with Google’s continued trend towards machine learning in its algorithms and rewarding sites that display relevance, quality, and authority, building a healthy link profile is harder than ever.

    In this post, we’ll look at 10 of the most powerful link-building tactics you can use to build a quality backlink profile and start climbing your target SERPs.

    Related: Why Is Link Building So Controversial?

    Guest blogging

    Guest blogging is the classic go-to for link-building tactics for one simple reason: it works!

    This tactic involves contacting blogs and online news sources in your niche and pitching the site owners’ content outlines. If they accept and like your content, you can link back to your target website either as part of an author bio or within the body of the content.

    There are a few better ways to ensure your backlink’s referring page has the kind of topical relevance that Google loves to see. It’s also a great way of demonstrating your expertise to your target audience in the process. Just be sure to cast a wide net with your blog outreach, and don’t just stick to sites that explicitly call for submissions.

    Leverage your existing network

    Leveraging your existing network is one of the easiest link-building tactics out there, yet it’s unfortunately neglected by many SEOs.

    If you’ve spent a long time in your industry, you’ve likely built a rich network of ex-colleagues, partners or other contacts. These people may be able to authorize organic dofollow backlinks on their site and will already be familiar with your level of expertise in a particular topic.

    Ask around and see if your network can throw some relevant links your way.

    Register on business directories

    Directories are a controversial subject in the modern SEO community. However, considering how cheap and easy it is to acquire these kinds of links, there’s very little downside to finding directories with a clear relation to your niche and getting listed with a link to your site.

    If you choose your referring domains wisely and look for a high degree of relevance for both the directory site as a whole and the businesses that are listed on it, you’ll be able to build a high volume of valuable links in a very short space of time.

    This can be a particularly useful link-building tactic for local brick-and-mortar businesses looking to optimize for localized keywords, such as “florists in Honolulu.”

    Related: 19 Sure-Fire Subject Line Formulas for Link-Building Emails

    Broken link building

    Another big one among low-cost, low-effort link-building tactics, broken link building is a great way to build links at scale for those embarking on a new SEO campaign.

    This tactic involves finding broken links (pointing to a dead page) on websites that have a topical relationship to your business and reaching out to webmasters, suggesting that they amend the link to point to one of your resources.

    The referring webmasters get to improve their user experience, and you get a powerful new link!

    Unlinked mentions

    Link-building through unlinked mentions is one of the more attractive link-building tactics because it doesn’t involve creating fresh external content to act as a referring page.

    In this strategy, you simply find mentions of your brand name on external sites, then reach out to the webmasters and ask them to link their mention of your business. As they’re already familiar with you and are happy to mention you as an authority in your industry, you’re likely to have a high success rate.

    Competitor link building

    Competitor link building involves analyzing your competitors’ backlink profiles to determine which kind of content is most likely to garner high-quality links within your topic focus.

    Using a backlinks analytics tool, you’ll be able to see whether your competitors get the lion’s share of their links to infographics, ultimate guides, tutorials or other kinds of content, and also discover the actual focus of the content.

    You can use this research to inform your own content calendar and maximize the chances of attracting quality, organic links from similar referring domains.

    Related: 6 Elements Your Link-Building Campaign Must Include

    Repurposing content

    Think about your site’s MVP — that one piece of content that gets a huge proportion of all the traffic and shares and has kept on proving its value long after it was first published.

    If it’s done well in its current format, it will likely see the same success in other formats, such as a video or infographic.

    Though it’s one of the higher-effort link-building tactics on this list, repurposing content can pay dividends by building on your stock of evergreen content and offering plenty of long-term value.

    Redirect links pointing to inferior content

    During your research for SEO drives, you’ve probably come across pieces of competitor content that have a ton of quality backlinks despite the content being fairly mediocre.

    If you’ve got a page on your site that you know blows a certain competitor out of the water, then you may be able to acquire new, powerful backlinks by reaching out to the referring domain authors and suggesting they link to your content instead.

    Considered one of the “gray hat” link-building tactics, redirecting competitor backlinks will not only help your visibility but could decrease your competitors’ in your target SERPs.

    Forum link building

    Forums and similar sites are often associated with spammy, low-quality link-building tactics. However, they can be fantastic referring domains for links to content and resources that are relevant to the conversation and useful to the site users participating in these communities.

    One of the best link-building tactics for sites with a rich library of authoritative content, this strategy involves looking for discussions about your business niche on sites like Reddit or Quora, offering some useful input, and linking to your content as a reference.

    Social media link building

    Social media can be a hugely effective tool in your link-building arsenal, enabling you to become a more visible authority and develop a strong network of content creators who are likely to cite you as an authority.

    Some of the most effective social media link-building tactics include using popular hashtags when sharing content to get your online assets in front of journalists and bloggers, following journalists in your niche to look for interview and citation opportunities, and actively participating in industry discussions to get your brand in front of potential linkers.

    Jeff Peroutka

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  • 5 Simple SEO Strategies to Improve Your Rankings

    5 Simple SEO Strategies to Improve Your Rankings

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Search engine optimization (SEO) affects your website’s visibility online. Good SEO means more page traffic and higher chances of selling your products and services to a broader audience. No matter how great your products are or how well-designed your website is, without an SEO strategy, your chances of ranking on Google or any other search engine are slim.

    How important is SEO?

    Sure, you’re already making other marketing efforts to lead your audience to your website. You’re spending on ads and perhaps partnering with content creators to post links to your page. But that’s not enough.

    If you’re getting traffic from other sources, that’s great! But did you know that organic search is five times more valuable than Google ads? This is because over 90% of website traffic comes from search engines.

    Users who land on your page from a search engine have higher chances of converting because they specifically searched for your brand, products, or services. On the flip side, someone who ended up on your page after coming across your ad may not have had any prior intentions to check out your website.

    Unlike organic search, that’s intentional, paid marketing efforts may disrupt someone’s experience. Besides, any website that’s too deep into the Google search page may lose its credibility.

    Related: 7 Reasons Why SEO Matters for Every Startup

    What is an SEO strategy?

    An SEO strategy improves your website’s search engine ranking to improve your organic traffic. A complete SEO strategy should tackle three types of SEO:

    • On-page SEO: Focuses on content that’s on your website and ensures that it addresses your specific search query. Some critical factors that affect on-site SEO are content quality and uniqueness.
    • Off-page SEO: Focuses on strategies done outside your website to improve its credibility and ranking. Link-building is the backbone of off-page SEO strategies.
    • Technical SEO: Technical SEO deals with the backend aspects of your website to help increase your ranking. Good technical SEO means your page load time is fast, all your pages work, and it has structured data.

    Related: This Is What Makes SEO Important For Every Business

    Easy SEO strategies to improve your ranking:

    1. Content is everything

    While Google has made significant changes in its algorithm in the past year, content has long been a priority. Consistent publication of engaging content is the number one factor that affects your ranking. This means your website shouldn’t just have a bunch of keywords, but you should also produce high-quality content that’s unique and provides value to your readers.

    Google looks at the quality of your copy — beyond any SEO technique. You have to go beyond regular calls to action and stand out from other similar pages.

    If you have an e-commerce business, creating a blog to supplement your main page can answer your audience’s questions and help you rank higher on search engines.

    One of the factors that Google looks at is whether your content is up to date. Updating your website with fresh content with a blog will be much simpler. Plus, a blog can help you reach a broader range of search queries and increase the average visit duration.

    There has been debate on the ideal length of a blog, but according to a HubSpot study from 2021, the ideal blog post length for SEO should be 2,100-2,400 words.

    2. Make a list of keywords

    Keywords are no longer the essence of an SEO strategy but are still essential in optimizing your page. Use a keyword search tool to help you find a list of keywords related to your niche.

    If you’re a new business, targeting low-competition keywords would be a good idea for a higher chance of ranking, and getting more organic traffic to your website would be a good idea. Of course, these keywords have to make sense for the type of content on your page.

    3. Know what your audience is searching for

    Many will make the mistake of creating content to increase page rankings — this technique will backfire. Ultimately, you’ll have a page filled with keywords that aren’t relevant to your business. Consider creating an accurate buyer persona to understand what your audience wants. After that, you’ll know what motivates your audience and what content can address their needs.

    4. Build high-quality links

    A backlink is when another website links to yours. It is one of the most significant factors that affect your ranking and is a great way to get organic page visits. This means you can’t rank with on-page efforts alone.

    Top websites may get backlinks organically, and building connections with reputable websites is essential. One of the best ways to get backlinks is by sending a genuine outreach email to websites you have linked to.

    Email blasts do work but are becoming less effective as many marketers have overused them. That said, there are plenty of resources on the web to get your creative juices flowing and develop creative ideas to set up an outreach campaign. Make sure that if you do conduct an outreach campaign, you are polite and genuine and always try to provide value first.

    5. Don’t upload large files to your page

    Images and videos undoubtedly add value to your content and can help attract more visitors to your page. However, these files can be large and, as a result, affect your page’s load time.

    Page load time is one of the factors that affect your page’s ranking, and it also affects your mobile friendliness. Look at these factors and what managers can do to stay on top of them.

    Many plugins and tools can help you reduce your file size without losing quality. Never upload high-resolution images. As a best practice, stay within 500 KB.

    Related: 10 Essential SEO Strategies For Entrepreneurs to Increase Their Traffic

    Summing up

    Like any business strategy, it will take time to see results. And instead of reaching for the stars, always make your SEO goals more specific to address your business needs. This way, it will be easier to track and measure your progress.

    Since the algorithm is constantly changing, you also have to stay up to date with the latest changes to ensure that you’re familiar with the best practices.

    Nick Brogden

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