1. Revisit and improve your keyword selection

One of the first things you need to look into when you’re not getting enough traffic and search visibility is your keyword list. Are you optimising for the keywords that potential customers are really using? Do your keywords match your targeted user intent? Maybe you’re using keywords like “artisanal vegan cookies” and appearing on search results for vegan cookie recipes instead of transactional queries like, “where to buy artisanal vegan cookies” where your patisserie should be.

Another keyword-related problem you could be having is your choices are too broad. If this is the case, you’ll be competing with various giants in your industry (who most likely occupy the top five positions in the search results), meaning that you will only receive a light trickle of traffic.

You’ll have a better chance of attracting organic traffic if you optimise your website for ‘long-tail’ keywords. These tend to be transactional and geo-targeted, so if you integrate these keywords in your on-page content and off-page SEO efforts, you’ll appear in the search results when people who are ready-to-buy look for products and services that are similar or related to yours.

2. Improve the meta information of your sub-pages

Optimising URLs, meta titles, and meta description is the simplest method in the book, but it is one of the most effective. Review the metadata of the pages you want to rank. For instance, if you’re aiming for higher sales, then improve the metadata for your category and individual product pages.

3. Create and publish content regularly

It is widely known in the online marketing community that if you want to get a constant stream of traffic for a commercial website, you need to publish a blog. Post one or two well-written, engaging, informative, and shareable articles per week so that people will have more reasons to visit and interact with your site. It would be even better if you can diversify your content and produce videos, podcasts, and infographics so that your content can make their way to various channels instead of passively waiting for audiences on your website.

Quality content will always be one of Google’s main metrics for ranking. Remember to write for your target audience; from there, it will be easier to discover potential topics to write about (i.e., problems your products or services can solve) and long-tail keywords that your customers actually use when doing related searches online.

4. Undertake organic out-reach and promotion

Is there a “one time, big time” strategy for increasing your search ranking and driving more traffic to your site? Getting a referral link from a big, authoritative website with .edu and .gov URLs can be one. The linking power from these high-DA (domain authority) websites can give your website a huge boost in the SERPs, increasing your visibility and chances of getting the lion’s share of search traffic. Moreover, audiences consider referrals from .edu and .gov sites as accurate and reliable and won’t hesitate to click on the link if they need more information.

How do you get these referral links? Engage with your local government institutions and schools. Participate when they organise events, i.e., become a sponsor or event participant. You can also plan projects that align with their mission, vision and goals or offer your support for their key projects. The relationship you build with them can eventually earn you a backlink or more.

5. Make your website mobile-friendly

Mobile search has overtaken desktop search as early as 2015. According to several statistical sources, the number of people that use mobile search and the hours they spend on their phones will continue to increase beyond 2020. Recent surveys from Google also gave the following results:

• Sixty-three per cent of smartphone users buy from companies who offer relevant recommendations through their mobile apps or sites.
• Fifty-one per cent of smartphone users will use a company’s app to browse or buy, especially if they can get rewards points.
• B2B workers will increase their mobile phone use from two hours to three hours a day.
• Millennials and GenZers are still the leading users of mobile, but there is also an increase in usage among older generations.

If you’re not yet doing any of these five steps, you’re long overdue for an update on your organic SEO methodologies. Moreover, if you hired an SEO company and they still failed to do any of these for your business, consider that a sign that you need to move on to a more capable and knowledgeable digital marketing services provider.

Vaccoda has been in the industry since 1997. We know digital marketing – we breathe it and live it every single day. If you have trouble increasing or maintaining a decent traffic volume for your website, we can help you.

Get in touch via our contact form or give us a call today.