Five SEO Resolutions You Won’t Want To Break

It’s January and time to make a few resolutions for 2013. With the best of intentions, we promise to lose weight, limit the sweets/sugar/salt/other foods on the no-no list, or try to quit smoking.  If you can’t think of a resolution, the US government offers resources to help. TechCrunch reviewed Time magazine’s list of most frequently broken resolutions and offers an app to help!

So what professional resolutions are you making for 2013? I have five suggestions to improve your content marketing that you won’t want to break.

Audit your website
When was the last time you read every page? How old is the information? Which pages need replacing, updating or archiving? Google is placing more emphasis on fresh, relevant content that serves a need. Resolve to improve your site to make it more valuable to consumers.

Update your SEO strategy
Naysayers claim SEO is outdated and ineffective. That’s nuts. Panda and penguin have changed the playing field, and the most effective use of keywords has changed. Resolve to review your analytics and devise a strategy that reflects the best practices of 2013, not 2011.

Connect with your customers
In today’s digital world, successful companies understand the needs of their consumers. Sustaining authentic communication isn’t a blog post every once in a while or touting a sale on Facebook. Resolve to formulate a robust social media strategy across the channels that your consumers use.

Think links
Google values links, and numerous companies have benefited or been punished for their use of links. Forget about the black hat practice of buying links. Resolve to free up resources, and put someone in charge of crafting a strategy to increase legitimate links.

Metrics matter
How do you measure success? What do you measure? In the past, getting to the top of the SERP results was the goal, but with Google’s increasingly personalized results, that’s no longer the gold standard. Resolve to carefully consider, and clearly determine your standards for success in order to map out a campaign to achieve it.

I know that most resolutions get broken before January is over, but these five should be easy to keep if you’re serious about improving your website, increasing your value to customers and staying ahead of the competition. If you need help, EVG is here to help you.

Kathleen Gossman – Project Manager