I’m sure you are already familiar with some of these on page SEO best practices. You may even be doing most of them already. But, I’m willing to bet that you are not doing all the on page SEO best practices. Just because these are about on page SEO doesn’t mean that off page play less of a role in terms of ranking higher in the SERPs. It just means that they are not purely technical things.
These are common on page SEO best practices which I presume you have already heard of, but aren’t doing yet.
Add Your Main Keyword Early On In Your Content
It’s no secret that you want to use your keyword a handful of times on your page.
But you may not know that the location of your keyword also makes a difference.
Specifically, you want to mention your main keyword at least once at the top of your page.
Why does this matter?
Google puts more weight on terms that appear at the top of a webpage.
For example, this page on my site is optimized around “mobile seo”.
So I mentioned that term once in the first 25 words of my content.
Simple.
Write Unique Titles, Descriptions and Content
Avoiding duplicate content is one of the most important SEO best practices to keep in mind.
In fact, Google has stated that you should avoid “duplicate or near-duplicate versions of your content across your site.”
And this rule applies to every piece of content on your website, including:
- Title tags
- Meta description tags
- Ecommerce product pages
- Landing pages
- Image alt text
- Category pages
Basically: if you publish a page on your site, the content on that page has to be 100% unique.
If you run a small blog with a homepage and a bunch of blog posts, this rule is pretty easy to follow.
But if you’re an eCommerce site owner with thousands of products, writing unique content for each page can be tricky.
Tricky… but worth it.
If you’re having trouble writing content for each page, consider combining pages that have similar content together. Or use the canonical tag.
Optimize Your Title Tag for SEO
When it comes to on-page SEO, your title tag is KEY.
Google has even said that: “it’s important to use high-quality titles on your web pages.”.
Here’s how to get the most out of your page’s title tag:
Front-load Your Main Keyword: “Front-load” simply means that you start your title tag with your target keyword.
Why is this important?
Well, search engines pay close attention to the terms that you use in your title tag. This is why you want your keyword in your page title.
But what you may not know is that Google also puts more emphasis on words and phrases that show up early in your title tag.
So if it makes sense, start your title off with the keyword that you want to rank for.
For example, I currently rank #1 for the super competitive term “eCommerce SEO”.
And my title tag starts off with that exact phrase.
Sometimes it’s not possible to use your keyword that early on because it will make your title tag look weird. Yes, search engine optimization is important. But your title tags need to be useful for users too.
(More on that later)
If you’re not able to start your title tag off with a keyword, no biggie. Just include your keyword as early on as you can.
For example, this page is optimized around the keyword “SEO strategy”.
I couldn’t figure out a way to include the keyword “SEO strategy” really early in my title. So I just used my keyword as early as I could.
It’s not right in the beginning. But it’s early enough so that Google can see that my page is clearly about “SEO strategy”.
Use One Keyword Per Title: Google has been really clear on this.
They don’t want you to stuff your title with a bunch of different keywords.
(Also known as “keyword stuffing”)
Instead, you want to use one main keyword in your title. And if your page is high-quality, you’ll naturally rank for that keyword… and lots of others.
For example, this page on my site is optimized around the term: “keyword research”.
And, as you can see, I use that term in my title tag.
The other words and phrases in my title are just to highlight what my page is actually about.
And because my page contains high-quality content, it ranks in the top 5 for my main keyword.
And, according to SEMRush, this page also ranks for 630 different keywords.
Did I optimize my page around 630 keywords? Nope!
Instead, I optimized my page (and title) around ONE important keyword. And Google largely took care of the rest.
Write Compelling, Shareable Titles: Your title tags should make people want to click on your page to learn more.
Why?
When lots of people click on your result in Google, you can find yourself with higher rankings for that term.
This is why, once my SEO stuff is taken care of, I then start optimizing my title for clicks and shares.
In other words:
I try to write title tags that are interesting, compelling and push people to share.
For example, this list of content marketing tools has an eye-catching title.
Optimize Your Site’s Loading Speed
Google usually doesn’t talk publicly about the ranking factors in their algorithm.
So when they talk a lot about a specific ranking signal, you KNOW it’s a big deal.
Site loading speed is one of those rare ranking factors.
This is why I highly recommend making your site load as quickly as possible.
(Especially on mobile devices.)
Your first step is to benchmark your site’s current loading speed. That way, you know where you’re at before you start making changes.
I recommend the super-helpful PageSpeed Insights tool.
After all, the recommendations you get from this tool come from Google themselves.
Plus, it doesn’t just tell you if your page is fast or slow. The tool gives you a detailed report that includes ways you can improve.
If you want to dig deeper with page speed stuff, check out Web Page Test.
It’s a free tool that tends to give a more accurate feel of how your site loads to actual users.
Either way, here are a few ways you can improve your site’s loading speed.
- Compress Images: This is a big one. Images tend to make up the bulk of a page’s size (in terms of KB). Which is why I recommend using a tool like Kraken.io to shrink your image sizes.
- Use Lightweight Themes: Bulky WordPress themes can slow things down. So if your theme isn’t optimized for speed, consider switching to one that is.
- Use Lazy Loading: Lazy loading images can boost your site’s loading speed by 50% or more. The downside is that images show up as users scroll down the page, which isn’t great for UX. So it’s a tradeoff.
- Use a CDN: CDNs serve images and other media on your site on servers that are close to your users.
Track Your Results With The Google Search Console
If you don’t have the Google Search Console setup, you’re flying blind with your SEO.
The Search Console is like a live dashboard that lets you know how your site is doing in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
There are a lot of cool features and tools in the Search Console.
But you probably won’t need most of them.
Instead, I recommend checking these 3 reports on a regular basis.
Performance: This data lets you know how many people see and click on your site in Google search.
You can also see the exact keywords that people use to find your content… and where you tend to rank.
This is all super valuable on its own. But the real value is tracking your impressions and clicks over time. If they’re moving on’ up, it’s clear that these SEO best practices are working.
If not, it may be time to try a different approach.
Coverage: The coverage report lets you know which pages from your site Google has indexed.
It will also let you know if it’s having trouble fully-crawling any of your pages.
If you see “errors” and “warnings” here, I recommend fixing these ASAP.
After all, if Google can’t index your page, it won’t rank for anything. Fortunately, Google doesn’t just tell you: “We can’t index this page”. They usually let you know what’s causing the issue.
Enhancements: The main thing to pay attention to in this report is “Mobile Usability”.
Considering that Google’s index is now mobile-first, you definitely want to make sure that your site is easy to use on mobile devices.
Prepare Before You Sell SEO
“Be prepared…or be prepared to lose prospects.”
If you meet a prospect with a half-baked pitch, you’re diminishing your chances of closing the sale by (ill) design. The more you study your lead and their industry, the easier it will be for you to talk them through their pain points and why they need your complete SEO services.
Dedicating time to prep allows you to discover information on who you’re talking to, as well as their pain points, needs and wants, who their competitors are and whether they’re doing better.
Prep is an important part of the sales process. It sets you on the right foot and ensures every move you make will lead you to get that client onboard.
Doing Your Prep
Selling is a skill, and like all skilled work, there are tools of the trade. Some of the things you’ll need before you begin on your sales journey are:
- A CRM – A tool that allows you to be mindful of every lead, so nothing slips between the cracks. Without a CRM, you’ll fall victim to the limits of your own thoughtfulness. CRM’s allow you to massively scale the ability to care, follow through, and allocate your time to the most promising relationships you cultivate.
- A professional email – Nothing screams “amateur” like a generic @gmail or @yahoo email.
- A Website – Your pitch time is limited. You’ll never be able to tout all the virtues of your brand on a call or meeting. So, why not have your value proposition permanently on the web, where it can be accessed by your prospects – anytime! And not to mention, all the marketing goodies you’ll be able to add on later as your business grows.
- A shortlist of people from your network – Think of them as your initial handshake. They may be people you’ve met during a conference or someone in a specific niche. They’re your low hanging fruit or the easiest to reach out to when selling SEO to local businesses.
- A few thoughtful questions to break the ice – Preparing these questions makes the entire conversation feel more natural instead of simply giving them the typical salesman spiel.
1. Knowing your prospects
Don’t treat your prospects as just another deal. Show your prospects that you truly care about their business, and this starts with taking the time to know more about them. The more you become familiar with your prospects, the less likely you’ll be treated as a stranger.
- Know their business – Diving deep into how they do their business, who and how they get customers, what industry they’re in, and what their products or services are can help you better position your SEO services.
- Research their competitors with an advantage – Show that you’re looking at every angle to help their business. This includes detailing what their competitors are doing and how their business can get better leverage.
- Find out about the current state of their digital marketing/online presence – Know if they’ve done SEO in the past, and if so, what their experience was like working with their agency.
Let’s say you recently started an SEO business and you’re planning to sell SEO to local businesses in your area. How do you approach them? You arm yourself with as much information as possible about their brand – their local audience, the value proposition of their products or services, and their overall goals.
2. Is the prospect the right fit for your agency?
When you sell SEO to small businesses or even to large enterprises, understand that every client has a specific need. It’s important you know how your agency fits into their needs, so you can pay attention to the right prospects.
That’s where qualifying comes in. As you qualify SEO leads, there are four factors you need to keep in mind: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeframe.
- If you had to choose between time and budget, which would take priority? (Budget)
- Would I send proposals and all the materials to your personal or work email? (Authority)
- Why do you feel that your business is digital-ready today? (Need)
- How soon do you want to see results for your SEO? (Timeframe)
Asking the right questions and getting the right answers will allow you to focus on the right prospects instead of wasting time and resources on projects that are a) not within your SEO price range; b) not within your agency’s capabilities; c) not about to start anytime soon.
3. What type of client are you talking to?
In sales, you will encounter different types of clients. We refer to these as Customer Profiles, and they are the:
- Amiable – Clients who are likely to purchase to avoid offending. They are the ones who will buy if your service solves a problem. They love the win-win situation.
- Achiever – Clients who always talk about results. You will need facts and evidence to convince them to buy. They are clients who are likely to buy if the purchase makes them feel good or improves their image in the eyes of their peers.
- Skeptic – Clients who will need a lot of convincing in the form of figures, such as statistics and results from previous campaigns. The more you show them evidence, the better. You will need to keep selling to them every month.
- Alpha – Clients who must feel control at all times. They must be made to feel that the sales were an independent decision.
It is important to match your SEO sales approach based on the type of client you’re facing. Our advice is to research your client and prime them with the right questions.
4. Top questions you need to ask
As part of your prep, you need to have a set of SEO intake questions (probing) that will help you unearth the needs of your prospects.
Here are some examples:
- Have you worked with an SEO agency before?
- On a scale of one to 10, how satisfied are you with your current agency?
- How would you rank price, quality, and timeframe to fulfill the service in terms of importance?
- What challenges did you encounter in your business? What steps did you take to resolve them?
- Do you have a set marketing budget?
- What’s your measurement of SEO success?
5. Identify who you’re going to sell to first – Prioritize
Selling SEO shouldn’t be a guessing game; otherwise, you’re wasting time, effort, and resources instead of getting more business. Ideally, you should use a CRM to keep track of your prospects, organize their information, and essentially, identify who’s moving through your pipeline.
Your CRM may also act as a filter to manage and prioritize your prospects, letting you know who to nurture and who’s ready to do business with you. Some of the great CRM’s out there are SugarCRM, SalesForce, PipeDrive. But, we’ve also developed a great nimble CRM that you can use on our SEO software platform to close more sales without breaking the bank.
Treat prep as your homework. If you feel that your knowledge about the prospect is still lacking, don’t jump into a sales meeting with them. This is key in the fundamentals of prospecting.
Key Takeaways: Ready to Sell SEO?
Defining your sales process is just the start. The process we’ve described above doesn’t have to be set in stone. It’s all up to you how you plug this into your daily grind.
But, one thing we can tell you from our experience – it’s a process that takes away dependencies, helps you align your agency’s goals, and make your sales team better and more efficient at selling SEO to small businesses and enterprise-level alike.
Let’s do a quick recap of how you can better sell SEO to business:
- Always be prepared. The better prepared you are, the more chances you have of closing SEO clients. Know your prospects, keep a list of top SEO questions to ask them, qualify, and prioritize.
- Reach out to SEO clients. Whether you decide to sell SEO over the phone or set up a meeting and talk to a client in person, be sure you have everything you need to communicate the value of your SEO service.
- Build rapport and desire. Learn how to connect with prospects on a more personal level. Send them a website audit or an SEO proposal that reinforces what they need.
- Overcome objections. Remember these four steps: acknowledge, isolate, own, and act.
- Close with confidence. This is your make or break moment. Once you’ve drop your closing line, STOP TALKING.
- Don’t stop adding value. Cross-sell and upsell when necessary. Maintain the same level of proactiveness to get your clients to stay with your SEO.
Conclusion
Whenever I talk with small business owners about why they don’t rank higher in Google, I almost always hear the same answer. They tell me it’s because they aren’t “trying harder”. Since ranking high in Google is something that any business can accomplish, the only thing stopping most business owners from ranking is their willingness to try new things and take some risks. And of course, this isn’t just true of SEO best practices.