Directing traffic to your website to promote your product used to be a case of keyword research, on-site optimization and link building – but this has all changed in the name of quality.

Engaging content, industry influencers and social media are now all SEO and used as content amplification strategies.

By following our 10 rules for this new breed of digital marketing, you’ll be giving your content the chance to gain the recognition it deserves.

1.) Focus more on semantic search & intent – less on keywords

Since last year, Google has become more sophisticated in understanding the meaning and intent behind a search, as opposed to returning a page on its keyword density.

This means that when writing your content, focus on questions your target market might be asking and write it long-form, covering all aspects.

2.) Have a mobile content strategy

According to the ‘Mobile Path To Purchase Report’, 60% of consumers use mobile searches exclusively to make purchase decisions.

It’s no longer acceptable to have your website responsive to mobile browsing, it needs to be optimised.

3.) Work less on technical strategies – more on relationship building

Complying with a structured SEO strategy isn’t enough, as high search rankings are no longer achieved through keyword-heavy content.

Make sure your site and content is sound, then move onto nurturing relationships with industry bloggers, influencers on social media and brand advocates.

4.) Focus on hard-earned, quality links

Following on from the last point, building relationships in the industry can lead to high quality links on websites and increase the outreach of your content.

This can be done by guest-blogging on high-quality websites, creating great content that attracts social shares and syndicating content on popular sites to do with your niche.

5.) Keep SEO in its place

Whilst SEO does still remain important for directing web traffic, too much focus on it can be detrimental if any algorithm changes are put into place.

Keeping a balance of social media, referral traffic from other sites, direct traffic and offline referrals is an important thing to consider.

6.) Optimise your on-page content

People want to join in on a conversation, so write headlines in that way. As mentioned, Google have changed their algorithm to focus on intent, so when someone asks a certain question on your topic make sure your headline attracts visitors.

This can be done in the title tag, heading tags, image tags/captions and in your URL, i.e. – ‘myblog.com/how-to-write-an-incredible-post’

7.) Content Distribution

The content beast needs constantly feeding and we’re constantly in a rush to create more, but we sometimes let ourselves down on its distribution and promotion.

Optimising for search only drives a third of web traffic, so how else to we direct traffic to your amazing content?

Reaching out to influencers, paying for distribution on social media and segmenting your audience in terms of what content you deliver are all proven ways to increase traffic.

8.) Integrated approach to SEO

Once you have attracted large volumes of traffic through search and social media, readers need to be directed to targeted content.

This is done through your ‘funnel’, which helps stream each traffic to the content they should be seeing where they might be enticed by a product offer. This is a complicated process that a digital agency can help you with.

9.) Social Media is a key component in your strategy

It comes as no surprise to say that articles with a high amount of social shares also have a high search ranking.

Being active as a social media agency acts as a ‘brand signal’ to search engines that your content is credible and trustworthy, so it’s now a must-have in your marketing strategy!

10.) Concentrate on writing content your audience will find true value in

Taking the time to invest in your content so that it offers insight into the conversation will have its benefits – even if it’s not straight away.

Content that gets shared on social media will accumulate more views and eventually create more inbound links thus leading to a greater search ranking.

Digital Marketing – Develop An All-Round Strategy

The importance of SEO just not be diminished, but with the emergence of Social Media and more intelligent algorithms you have to be on the ball.

Reaching out to industry influencers and websites that could hold potential customers is a no-brainer, but it all comes down to the quality of your content.