Frustrated with a lack of movement in the search rankings? Not seeing enough conversions? You’re not alone. Sometimes, following the same tactics and routines makes it hard for online businesses to see the traction they’re craving. While the standard SEO practices — editorial backlinks, an optimized robots.txt file, and a bit of consumer psychology — are still useful, there are times when you’re going to want to think outside the box.
Taking an unconventional approach to your SEO strategy can help you reap the rewards in the search rankings if you handle things effectively.
Use alternate sources for your keywords.
Finding and selecting high-quality keywords can make a major impact on your overall search engine performance. Chances are, you’re using keyword research tools or Google searches to determine your prospective customers’ search behaviors. These are tried-and-tested tools. For the most part, they’re fairly reliable, which is why so many businesses utilize them. However, sometimes, these tools can lead you down a dead end. What do you do if you feel like your keyword pool is drying up? How do you truly get into the minds of your customers?
These questions can be hard to answer. To start, keyword research tools can tell you what people are searching for, but not why. Thankfully, there are resources available that can help you do just that. If you want to learn what drivers consumer search intent, why not read what prospective customers are saying? For all of its flaws, social media can help you tap into what drives customers. You can view their discussions about different products and services. You can even learn from customer reviews. Plus, you can distill customer comments into actionable keywords that can help drive your content strategy even further.
Curate content from other websites.
Before you dive into this one, it’s important to know the distinction between content curation and content duplication. Publishing duplicate content offers little-to-no value for your website. In fact, search engines that spot duplicate content may even penalize you for the lack of effort. Content curation, on the other hand, allows you to take the content foundation laid by your competitors and elevate it into something more effective, engaging, and rank-worthy.
Start by running site audits on your competitors. Once you’ve collected enough data, take a look at which of their pages rank over others. If you find valuable content and articles, see if there are ways that you can repurpose topics. This is where things get a bit tricky. Even if you’re finding useful articles, blog posts, and pages, you need to ensure that your content doesn’t simply rehash previous talking points. You should find new sources, incorporate fresh ideas, and even attempt to make your content more timely. This is particularly useful since many online businesses neglect to update their older content. While you don’t have to refresh every single blog you’ve ever posted, your website should resemble a content graveyard.
Optimize more than just your website.
While your website is likely your bread and butter, it’s not the only thing you can update. In fact, you can optimize your digital listings, Google Business profile, and even your social media pages. While you don’t necessarily want to keyword-stuff these sites, it’s always a good idea to make sure they all have the correct business info and web links. You’d be surprised how many businesses fail to take advantage of the entirety of the internet.
If you’re struggling to diversify your SEO efforts, you may want to consider securing some extra assistance from a company like Link Laboratory (found at linklaboratory.com). An SEO agency can help you with out-of-the-box thinking, unconventional marketing approaches, and unique linking strategies. Partnering with a digital agency is one of the most cost-effective ways to ensure your web performance never grows stale.
There’s nothing wrong with a little online experimentation. Sometimes, a bit of trial and error is the best way to find a new path forward for your business.