Search Engine Optimization Strategies & Tips 2023

Here’s a cliche among digital marketers: search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t what it used to be.

Here’s a true statement you don’t hear as often: your SEO strategy shouldn’t focus on keywords.

These days, most businesses understand the basic concepts of SEO and why it’s important.

However, when it comes to developing and executing a sound SEO strategy for your business, just creating content for the keywords your customers are searching for is both arduous and, well, wrong.

In this post, we’ll explain what an SEO strategy is, and how you create your own to help you meet your content marketing goals.

What is an SEO strategy?

An SEO strategy is the process of organizing a website’s content by topic to improve the likelihood of appearing in search results. Essentially, it is the process you follow in order to maximize the opportunity to gain organic traffic from search engines.

Having an SEO strategy is important because it helps you stay on track when creating content. Instead of just creating what you think people are looking for, your strategy will ensure that you’re creating content that people are searching for.

For content marketing, an SEO strategy is a critical piece of the puzzle because it is how your content will come to be seen in the first place, especially in search engine result pages (SERPs). If your content is scattered and unorganized, search engine bots will have a harder time indexing your site, identifying your area of authority, and ranking your site pages.

Mobile SEO Strategy

Mobile SEO is an important factor to keep in mind when creating your overall strategy. Mobile optimization involves ensuring your site and site content is available and accessible to visitors on mobile devices, so they can have the same experience and receive the same value as desktop browsers.

Mobile optimization is incredibly important, as Google practices mobile-first indexing. This means instead of crawling a desktop site, the algorithm will use the mobile version of your site when indexing and ranking pages for SERPs. In addition, 61% of Google search queries in the U.S. occur on mobile devices. So, all things considered, your SEO strategy would be ineffective without prioritizing mobile optimization.

While it’s not an entirely separate process, there are distinct considerations for mobile SEO like monitoring page speed, responsive site design, local SEO, and creating content that is high-quality, regardless of device it’s viewed on.

What is an SEO?

Search engine optimizers (SEOs) are people who optimize websites to help them rank higher on SERPs and gain more organic traffic. In essence, an SEO is a highly specialized content strategist that helps a business discover opportunities to answer questions people have about their respective industries.

There are three types of SEO that an SEO strategist can focus on:

1. On-page SEO: This SEO focuses on the content that’s actually on site pages, and how to optimize it to boost the website’s ranking for specific keywords.

2. Off-page SEO: This SEO focuses on links directed to the website from elsewhere on the internet. The number of backlinks a site has from reputable sources helps you build trust with search algorithms.

3. Technical SEO: This SEO focuses on a website’s backend architecture, like site code. Google cares just as much about technical set-up as it does content, so this position is important for rankings.

Bear in mind that every business has different objectives, so it is an SEO’s job to examine their industry, determine what their audiences care about, and develop a strategy that gives them what they’re looking for.

Below we’ll go over some steps you can take to ensure your SEO strategy sets you up for success.

SEO Strategy for Beginners

I’ve been an SEO for the greater part of the past decade, and I can tell you: Our industry has never, ever seen anything like this before.

The search landscape is no longer the same in 2023. With the advent of search AI and AI-generated content, we need to implement new approaches to keep our sites ahead of unprecedented competitive challenges.

The good news is that the basics of SEO remain the same. Focus on the user first, always. Focus on helping them, always, and not just gaming the algorithm. Your goal isn’t just to rank highly — it’s to get the right content in front of the right people.

I’m going to walk you through a basic SEO strategy I would use if I were starting a site in 2023 for the first time. Later down below, I’ll cover a more sophisticated SEO content strategy that has generated millions of organic traffic visits for the HubSpot blog.

Let’s get started.

1. Search For Your Company’s Head Term on Google

If I were trying to start an SEO strategy in 2023, my first step would be to look for my company’s head term on Google.

“Head term” refers to the general word or phrase you’d use to describe your product or service, or even the topic you’d like to write about. If I were trying to launch HubSpot for the first time, I would look up “marketing software,” our product’s head term.

And if I were trying to start a blog about publishing, then I’d look up “publishing blog.”

Head terms are usually high-volume, meaning that many people search for the terms on a monthly basis. That makes them more difficult to rank for.

What we’re trying to do with this step is not find keywords, but rather build our awareness of the search landscape. Take note of everything you see, including the terms suggested after you type in your head term.

We don’t need to use any fancy tools yet, though you’re welcome to if you’re familiar with SEO tools. With Semrush, for instance, you can look at the exact number of searches a term receives, and an estimation for how difficult it’d be to rank on the first page.

But I’d caution against using tools just yet. It’s really important to live directly in the SERPs as you create an SEO strategy because Google comes up with new SERP features every day.

I’m not just talking about AI-generated results. Featured snippets, local packs, image packs, knowledge packs, and “People Also Ask” boxes can be valuable sources of information that can help you optimize your website later.

2. Look at Google’s Suggested Searches and Filters

The most important step after looking up your head term is to look at Google’s generated filters, highlighted below.

Don’t look at the standard filters, such as “Images, “Shopping,” “Maps,” and so on. You’re looking for the unique filters that Google generated for your head term.

These filters are invaluable for answering several questions:

• What are people looking for that’s related to your head term?
• What would they find most useful?
• Does your service or product match what people are looking for?
• Can you offer a product page or article that people would find useful?

If I were building a product page for Marketing Hub, I would be able to answer these questions favorably. Marketing Hub is free, small businesses can use it, and it’s useful for digital marketing.

That means I could probably address a person’s goal when they’re looking for this term. This is good strategic information to have. I wouldn’t execute on it just yet, because I haven’t looked at how difficult it is to rank for this term.

Remember: Head terms are more difficult to rank for, so you’ll want to aim for longer keywords (also called “long-tail keywords”) in your actual SEO strategy. You can begin getting ideas on long-tail terms by clicking on the filters below your head term.

Now, for my publishing blog, I see that I could focus on the publishing industry or self-publishing, as seen by the filters below.

That’s good news — but later down below, I see that Google has included a “What to read” search feature.

That tells me that a blog could be a good fit for this term, but that people are also looking for books on publishing. I would then revise my initial head term, or revise my blog strategy to slant toward thought leadership.

3. Examine the SERPs

Once you’ve found a good head term and perused the filters, take a look at the SERPs. I’d recommend going several filters deep so you can get an approximation of a long-tail keyword.

We’re looking for several pieces of information here:

• How many people are trying to rank for this term?
• What kinds of publishers and companies are ranking? Well-known publishers like New York Times or Nerdwallet, or niche publishers and companies?
• What is located “above the fold” (the area in the upper part of the page, before the user scrolls)?
• What SERP features is Google including?
• What kinds of pages and articles are ranking?

For “marketing software for small business,” a relatively long-tail keyword, I saw that Google delivered 850M+ results.

Yikes. That’s a lot of competition.

But the truth is, Google has excellent crawlers. It will find just about any website related to a term and rank it in a bid to answer a searcher’s query. Don’t be discouraged by large search results.

What you should pay close attention to is what’s happening in the results themselves. For instance, “marketing software for small business” has multiple SERP features:

• Sponsored ads
• “From sources across the web” product panels
• A “People Also Ask” box

Yikes again. All of these conspire to give us fewer chances for ranking for this keyword, because the SERP features push us down and we’re already competing against publishers like G2.

Even if we managed to rank on the first page, our click-through-rates will probably be lower because this is such a competitive term. Click-through rate refers to the number of people who see your search result compared to the number of people who actually click on it.

I would do two things here:

• Search for an even longer long-tail keyword to try rank for
• Or: Continue examining the SERPs for opportunities related to the same search intent, like related searches and FAQs

Search intent refers to what the user wants to do when they input a keyword in Google.

If I search, “how to bake kale chips,” then my intent is not only to bake kale chips but to stay “healthy.” Google, as smart as it is, would deliver both recipes and related questions about kale chips’ “health value.”

The SERP features for “marketing software for small business” are all supposed to serve a single intent: A searcher who wants to market their small business using software.

Therefore, every SERP feature you see is an additional opportunity to serve content to the very same searcher.

The “People also ask” box is a gold mine for finding related questions that the same user probably has, giving us an opportunity to answer those questions.

With SEO, what matters most is not just that your page ranks — but that the right user finds you and ends up becoming a customer (or signing up for your newsletter, subscribing to your YouTube channel, etc).

If I were creating an SEO strategy for Marketing Hub in today’s search landscape, the “People also ask” box is probably where I’d start for keyword and content ideas, and not the head term itself.

The questions, after all, serve the same user and are much less competitive.

You could also use a tool such as Answer the Public to find questions and related terms.

Of course, don’t forget a classic: Looking at suggested searches at the bottom of the SERPs. These will not only give you alternative terms you could try to rank for but additional long-tails and even hints about your top competition.

4. Analyze Your Competition

When you find a keyword you’re happy with, it’s time to start looking at your competition.

I would say that with SEO, it’s less about what we do and more about what they do, then beating them. The thing is, though, that how we beat competitors has changed. It’s no longer about who has the longest blog post or the most backlinks (although these are still important).

The Google search algorithm has gotten more complicated than ever. It’s important to take into account a wide variety of factors like website age, authority, user experience, and even website structure.

Looking at these elements can help you decide what you should put on your website and learn what Google is currently favoring.

When trying to rank for the term “publishing blog,” I found three top competitors: Selfpublishing.com, thatpublishingblog.wordpress.com, and janefriedman.com.

I would look at several things when trying to beat these competitors.

• What kind of content do they publish?
• What kinds of categories do they address?
• What’s the publishers’ or owners’ personal and professional history? Jane Friedman, for instance, is a known industry veteran.

The first question in particular is essential for mapping out my SEO content strategy.

For instance, selfpublishing.com has the following categories:

• Book Marketing
• Book Reviews
• Design
• Distribution
• Editing
• Legal
• Self Publishing
• Writing

If you’d asked me years ago how I would approach beating this publisher, I would say that I would copy all of their categories and add three more just for kicks.

But Google is no longer the same. It values authority and expertise. It wants to know that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re not just gaming the system.

Therefore, based on my personal expertise, which is in children’s fiction, I’d probably choose two to three categories where I feel I could create a wealth of content: Writing, Children’s Fiction, and Publishing.

If I were trying to rank for “marketing software for small business,” I would ask:

• What kinds of articles or pages are ranking?
• Because this is such a competitive term, what kind of authority or history do I need to rank?
• Could I create something similar?

Look at your competitors’ pages, and keep their qualitative attributes, such as their history in the industry, in mind. But don’t be discouraged by long-time industry players.

When I was an SEO at a transportation startup, we were competing against transportation companies that had been in the industry for 30+ years.

But with a strong content SEO and backlink building strategy, we managed to get one of our transportation partners to the top of the SERPs.

Once you’ve scanned your competitors, it’s time to dive into a simple three-pronged strategy:

Authority, content, and backlinks.

5. Generate Online Authority

If content is queen and backlinking is king, authority is the kingdom.

Authority, in fact, is everything.

SEO these days isn’t just about writing SEO-optimized content and hoping the algorithm will discover you.

Once upon a time, you used to be able to include the keyword in the title, headings, and text, and rank well.

Now, there are a wide variety of content quality factors that Google takes into account, such as:

• Expertise
• Experience
• Authority
• Trustworthiness

Collectively, these are called E-A-T, and they’re part of Google’s Search Quality Rater guidelines. Google wants to know that you’re qualified to deliver information to searchers. And if you’re selling a product, it wants to know that you’re legitimate.

Let’s go back to the publishing blog example. Jane Friedman, who ranks #3 for the term “publishing blog,” is a well-documented industry veteran. Her site ranks for 30K+ keywords and she has more than two-hundred-thousand backlinks.

Her blog post, “How to Find a Literary Agent,” ranks #1 for the highly competitive head term “literary agent,” above top publishers such as Reedsy and even Wikipedia.

Why?

Because Friedman has plenty of E-A-T — she’s an expert with experience, and therefore she’s authoritative and trustworthy.

There are several ways to build your authority when creating an SEO strategy for a new site or company:

• Include your credentials across several sources in the web: LinkedIn, Facebook, your personal website, etc
• Interview experts and include their insights in your pages and blog posts
• Hire freelance writers who specialize in your niche, and use their name, content, and insights on your website
• Publish guest blog posts in authoritative blogs and websites to slowly build a digital footprint

The Google algorithm is smart. It can cross-reference hundreds of thousands of sources to determine whether you’re an authority in the field.

And to make it a bit easier for the algorithm: You should also make your authority clear, as Jane Friedman does below in her biography.

If I were launching Marketing Hub for the first time, I would:

• Cite my six to seven years of marketing experience in the “About” page
• Publish guest blog posts on marketing blogs and websites
• Start another media outlet, such as a podcast or blog, to publish my marketing opinions and insights
• Publish an ebook with my marketing expertise
• Hire software developers who’ve created proven products before — and publicize that Marketing Hub was made by the developers who made X

As you foster authority, you should concurrently create content on your website, which I cover next.

6. Create Search Engine Optimized Content

This step is probably what you thought of when I first started talking about an SEO strategy.

Remember all that research we did at the beginning? It finally comes into play, because it’s time to create content that’s optimized for those long-tail keywords.

I recommend using a tool to help you find potential keywords, such as Ahrefs or Semrush.

Here’s a guide on keyword research to help you out.

I follow one simple rule when creating content I want to rank: Write for humans first, search engines second.

I like to think of it this way. I’m writing an article or page to help a person, but also to hold the algorithm’s hand a little bit. Google is smart, but not so smart to rank your page unless you give it a few hints.

Therefore, I like to stick to the basics.

• Include the Keyword in the Page Title, H1, Text, Meta Description, and URL

You generally want to include the keyword a few times on and off your page to give Google a hand.

As an example, our product marketing team optimized Marketing Hub’s page to a T.

They include the keyword in the page title (which is the text that appears in search results, pictured above), the H1, and the very first line of text at the top of the page.

And it works: We rank #3 for the highly competitive term “marketing software.”

You’ll also want to include your keyword in the meta description and the URL.

• Be Helpful

Be helpful with your content. Ask yourself: When a person lands on this page, what would they be looking for?

You can answer this question by examining the SERPs and your competition. You can also think through your reader’s thought process and their search intent.

For Marketing Hub, we included commonly asked questions, even those related to one of our competitors.

And Jane Friedman includes information on what to expect from a good literary agent.

Notice that this content is not necessarily beautifully formatted, nor does it target a specific keyword. It’s supposed to help the reader first and foremost — and by helping the reader, you help yourself.

After all, Google only wants to rank content that genuinely helps someone do or learn something.

• Include Alt Text and Compress Images

Image alt text still remains one of the most underrated ways to optimize your page.

Not only does it improve web accessibility, but it gives you a chance to rank in Google’s image pack and image results. That ultimately means more traffic to your website.

And if you don’t believe me: Here’s a traffic snapshot from HubSpot’s image pack rankings (look under the column titled “Traffic”).

Just from our position for “resignation letter example,” we’ve received more than 6K organic visits.

Not surprisingly, the image that ranks has the alt text “gracious resignation letter sample.”

In addition to describing what the image contains, you should include your keyword in the alt text to give you a better chance for ranking.

Lastly, don’t forget to compress your images so that your page loads more quickly.

• Build Internal Links

After creating content, internal linking is paramount.

It creates a network for Google to follow. Remember, the Google algorithm is smart, but it still needs a hand here and there. How will it know certain pages are topically related unless you tell it?

So by internally linking from one page to another, you’re giving the algorithm a pattern to follow.

At the HubSpot blog, we call this the pillar-cluster model, which helped us overcome a year-long traffic plateau.

By internally linking, you’re telling the algorithm that a number of your pages are interrelated. You’re also signaling that you cover specific topics at length, and that you’re therefore an authoritative resource.

And authority is everything.

7. Build Backlinks

Content is still queen — but she has to be accompanied by her king: Backlinks.

You could have the most beautiful, SEO-optimized website, but Google won’t rank it unless you receive “votes” from other sites.

We cover backlinks again for your SEO content strategy below, but I can’t underemphasize how important they are, so I’m going to repeat it again.

Backlinks are the most quantitative way to build authority in your industry. The more backlinks you have, the more authoritative you seem to the Google algorithm.

Why? Because a site wouldn’t link to you unless you were a legitimate, trustworthy source of information.

Here’s a selection of my favorite backlink strategies:

• Publish guest blog posts on other publishers’ websites and link back to your site
• Write helpful content that other sites will want to link to
• Publish original research that other publishers will want to link to
• Partner with companies on co-marketing campaigns
• Join industry membership organizations with public profiles
• Sponsor events and conferences

Next up, I’m going to dive a little more deeply into the SEO content strategy that’s driven millions of visits for the HubSpot blog.

SEO Content Strategy

To develop a successful SEO content strategy, you need to follow a systematic approach. Below are the steps you can take to create an effective SEO content strategy that will drive organic traffic to your website.

Step 1: Make a list of topics.

To get your SEO content strategy off the ground, make a list of topics you’d like your content to address. These topics should be relevant to your business and aligned with your target audience’s interests and needs.

Step 2: Make a list of long-tail keywords based on these topics.

During this step, use keyword research tools to identify long-tail keywords related to each topic on your list. Long-tail keywords are specific phrases that your target audience is likely to use when searching for information or solutions related to your topics.

Step 3: Build pages for each topic.

Create web pages or blog posts that provide a comprehensive overview of each topic. These pages should serve as the cornerstone content for your topics and provide valuable information and insights to your audience.

Step 4: Set up a blog.

In addition to your core topic pages, set up a blog on your website. A blog allows you to regularly publish fresh content that addresses specific subtopics within your broader topics. This helps you attract a wider range of potential customers and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

Step 5: Create a consistent blogging schedule.

Develop a content calendar and commit to a consistent blogging schedule. Publish new blog posts on a regular basis to keep your website fresh and engage your audience. This will also help you attract more organic traffic and improve your search engine rankings.

Step 6: Create a link-building plan.

Implement a link-building plan to increase the number of backlinks to your website. Backlinks from reputable sources signal to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy. This can help improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your website.

Step 7: Compress media files before uploading them to your site.

Optimize your website’s performance by compressing media files, such as images and videos, before uploading them to your site. This will help improve your page load speed and provide a better user experience for your visitors.

Step 8: Stay up-to-date on SEO news and best practices.

Stay informed about the latest SEO news and best practices to ensure that your content strategy remains effective. SEO is a rapidly evolving field, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies will help you maintain a competitive edge.

Step 9: Measure and track your content’s success.

Regularly monitor and analyze the performance of your content to determine its effectiveness. Track metrics such as organic traffic, search engine rankings, and conversion rates to assess the impact of your SEO content strategy. Use this data to identify areas for improvement and refine your strategy over time.

By following these steps and implementing a comprehensive SEO content strategy, you can drive more organic traffic to your website and improve your search engine rankings. Remember to regularly review and update your strategy to adapt to changing trends and algorithms.