It all starts with a firm grip on our objective – There’s an old saying my dad would repeat to me, “measure twice and cut once.” When it comes to SEO I find that same rule comes into play just as much as it did when I would spend my afternoons helping my dad with things around the house. When setting out to create a strong SEO strategy for your brand, the measuring is done by having a firm understanding of your landing page’s objective. Once we make that determination we can find our target keyword. We accomplish that part of the process by using things like Google Keyword Planner tool to determine keyword volume estimates and long tail opportunities. Once we have that, the writing process can begin. Using a combination of ChatGPT or some other AI model, combined with some good ol’ fashioned elbow grease, we can create a content outline and eventually, a completed SEO article that stands as good a chance as any at achieving a top page rank for our targeted keyword.
Almost anyone with basic problem-solving skills can accomplish the above. The process is repeatable and almost formulaic at times. But that alone won’t create good SEO. I believe what makes truly great SEO is a combination of the above, landing page optimization based on Google Search Data, plus several other key aspects of content marketing that when done correctly, can drive long-lasting, high quality traffic that your brand can count on for decades.
When creating an SEO landing page designed to rank organically in local Google SERPs, it’s crucial to identify your target keyword and target location from the start. The target keyword ensures your content aligns with what potential customers are actively searching for, helping Google understand the relevance of your page. Meanwhile, specifying a target location optimizes your page for local searches, allowing search engines to connect your business with users in that geographic area. By strategically incorporating both elements into your page title, headers, meta description, and body content, you improve your chances of ranking for local intent searches. Additionally, local SEO signals—such as Google Business Profile integration, local backlinks, and location-specific content—further reinforce your authority in that market. Without a clear keyword and location focus, your page may struggle to compete, making it harder for your business to attract the right audience and convert organic traffic into leads.
Google Search Console (GSC) is a powerful tool for identifying the search keywords that customers are already using to find your website. By navigating to the Performance tab, you can view a list of queries that generate impressions and clicks for your site. This data helps you understand which keywords are driving traffic, their average search position, and click-through rates. To refine your SEO strategy, analyze which queries are ranking well but could benefit from optimization, such as incorporating them more prominently in your content, meta descriptions, and headers. Additionally, identifying keywords that generate impressions but have low clicks can reveal opportunities to improve your title tags and meta descriptions to increase engagement and relevance for searchers.
Google Keyword Planner, on the other hand, helps you discover high-volume search terms that align with your business offerings. By entering seed keywords related to your industry, you can access data on average monthly searches, competition levels, and bid estimates for Google Ads. This tool is invaluable for uncovering new keyword opportunities that you may not have considered. When optimizing for SEO, prioritize high-search-volume, low-competition keywords to target terms that can drive substantial organic traffic with less difficulty. Additionally, filtering results by location allows you to fine-tune your keyword research for local SEO, ensuring your content reaches the right audience in your geographic market.
By combining insights from Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner, you create the most effective keyword strategy for SEO content creation. GSC reveals how your existing content is performing and where optimization opportunities exist, while Keyword Planner identifies high-potential keywords that align with search demand. Together, these tools allow you to balance relevance and search volume, ensuring that your chosen keywords are not only popular but also realistic to rank for. This approach results in stronger, more targeted SEO content that enhances your visibility in search results and drives more qualified traffic to your website.
Now that you have all of that out of the way you should have a solid idea of some keyword targets for good landing pages you can create on your website. What you want to do now is ask yourself some essential questions? How are the things we’re promoting classified? A good place to start is the navigation for your website. What are the master drop downs? Do we have a page for each city that matters to us for each one of those master drop downs? Now move on. What is located as a menu item under each drop down? You do not need to do this when it comes to sections like “About Us” but an important page not to overlook is your “Contact Us” page. First, ask yourself – Is your main “Contact Us” page optimized correctly? Are you optimizing for “Contact Us” that’s a mistake if you answered “yes.” We want to be thinking bigger than that. What are we selling? Insert that along with your contact us hook and come up with something like Contact A Local [Thing/Service] Near You” Just this small change can make a huge impact.
Back to our main objective of checking each top nav and sub-menu item. Ask yourself the important question “Have a made a version of this page for ever city and or market area that matters to me? If your answer is “no” then you have work to do. Start by completing the process above, using Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner to find the best keyword opportunity for each landing page opportunity and marrying that with a city that matters to you. Create a list of content you plan to tackle this month and keep a long-running list of content targets for the rest of the year. It is only with good planning and firm sights on where you want to go that you can achieve what is possible with your on-site SEO.
It’s a pain in the butt but you can’t forget about this crucial part of a well-rounded SEO strategy. Link building and off-site SEO are critical components of a well-rounded SEO strategy, as they help establish your website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines like Google. Off-site SEO refers to all optimization efforts made outside your website, with link building being one of the most important factors. When high-quality, relevant websites link back to your pages, search engines view this as a signal that your content is valuable and trustworthy. These backlinks serve as “votes of confidence,” improving your site’s domain authority (DA) and helping it rank higher in search engine results. However, not all links are created equal—gaining links from reputable and authoritative sources within your industry is far more beneficial than acquiring low-quality or spammy backlinks, which can actually harm your rankings.
A strong off-site SEO strategy includes natural link acquisition through high-value content, guest posting, business directories, social media promotion, and influencer outreach. Creating shareable, informative content encourages other websites to link to you organically. Guest posting on industry-relevant sites allows you to position yourself as an expert while earning a high-quality backlink. Additionally, listing your business in local and niche directories helps build trust and improves local SEO rankings. Social media also plays a role in off-site SEO, as increased engagement and shares drive traffic and brand awareness. By consistently implementing ethical link-building strategies, your website will gain more authority, improving its rankings, visibility, and overall online presence.
I’m going to be real honest with you – THINGS ARE BLEAK! Now more than ever – the internet is fragmented. Attention spans are shorter than ever and getting in touch with fellow website owners that understand the value of a back link is a tough thing to accomplish. Pair that with the fact that posting valueless links on web forums (with or without the anchor text) doesn’t amount to much and you have a real buzzkill in terms of potential for measurable results from off-site link building. That being said – that’s why now more than ever, when you can make contact with another site owner that understand the value of trading an anchor-text, keyword-rich link back to each other’s sites – it makes it all the sweeter! Pair that with links you can get from customers leaving reviews, fans sharing links to you on social media, etc. and you can do some real damage when it comes to taking it seriously and actively pursuing a strong off-site SEO strategy wherever possible.
A strong SEO strategy is built on proven principles, data-driven decisions, and a commitment to long-term success—and that’s exactly what I prioritize. As outlined in my philosophies on search engine optimization, effective SEO isn’t about quick hacks or shortcuts; it’s about understanding search intent, creating valuable content, optimizing technical performance, and building authority through strategic link-building. By focusing on these core principles, we can create a sustainable SEO strategy that drives high-quality traffic and real business growth. If you’re ready to take your website’s visibility to the next level with an SEO approach that actually works, reach out today—let’s build a strategy tailored to your business and goals!
Consider Contacting Me Today. I’d love to learn more about your business and how I can bring some SEO magic to your brand.