Maintaining an online presence may not be the biggest priority as a retailer, but with many retailers’ moving into the digital sphere, keeping up with the competition is important.
Many have implemented a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign to score high volumes of traffic for their website. If your brand is looking for a quick fix, a SEO campaign is not the avenue to explore due to the time and amount of work that goes into making it successful. An effective SEO operation takes at least three months to take off, but if it is still not working, there must be a problem at hand.
Here are four common signs that your SEO campaign is dying and four methods to revive it.
1. Poor reviews
Reviews are important for any business and it especially applies to retailers. Reviews on user-friendly formats like Facebook and Google act as key signals of trust from consumers and they are critical for optimisation purposes. Search engines sees the review process as a major part of their ranking application, which means negative feedback relating to your brand must be addressed before your site falls further down the search engine results page.
Solution: Poor reviews are almost impossible to hide from, so the only way to solve it is to provide efficient customer service. This allows your brand to take on-board any feedback that needs resolving, which will ultimately result in more positive reviews.
2. No keyword cut-through
You will need more than just a few hot topic keywords to skyrocket your brand’s optimisation performance. An effective keyword strategy means nothing too broad and vague, or too niche-specific. The goal is to find terms that are popular within the niche, but not generic enough to lose your brand within the crowd.
Solution: There are many tools to help in this department: Google’s Keyword Planner is a favourite amongst companies, and Keyword Tool can find the hidden gold in long-tail keywords and phrases that will be ideal for general SEO users.
3. No external backlinks
By having hyperlinks that attracts users to your site, the more popular it will be. Backlinks to your page is a major determining factor by search engines that judges your authority and credibility in a niche. If no one is talking about your brand on the web or offering links, then your site is left to do all the heavy lifting.
Solution: The best way to combat this problem is to make connections. Engage sites that are within the same markets by getting mentioned in articles for a niche-targeted publication. These bridges will be built over time and will ensure other sites see your brand as transparent, open and consumer-focused.
4. Incompatible to mobile
Sites that are not catered to the smartphone market are more likely to suffer, as desktops are no longer the first point of call when searching for brands and services online. Google and Bing are placing more emphasis on sites with mobile compatibility than ever before and domains that fail to deliver easy navigation will be pushed down the ranks.
Solution: With the help of online tools such as Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, most websites can be fixed for mobile compatibility. Make sure your site is flexible and designed for all screen shapes and sizes to be able to run optimised content on mobile devices.
About Davide Defendi
Davide Defendi is Head of Strategy at digital marketing agency SEO Shark, which has a 4.9/5 Google rating and an 8.8/10 Trustpilot rating. Visit seoshark.com.au.
