Free SEO is Still SEO
There’s a misconception out there that SEO has to cost an arm and a leg. And while it’s true that the very best SEO services will cost you (mainly because it costs the SEO company to provide it!), there are plenty of free SEO optimization techniques you can apply to your blog or corporate website. You can:
- Shore up your on-page SEO
- Analyze your competition with free SEO tools
- Research keywords with the Google Keyword Tool
- Contact other bloggers for guest blogging opportunities
- Write an epic, pillar article for your blog that will attract links and visitors for years
Start With Local SEO
It can be tempting to shoot for the stars and set your goals on keywords like “Accountant” or “Auto Insurance.” But before you go after these blockbuster keywords, it makes a lot more sense to target easier local SEO keywords like “Houston Accountant” or “Miami Auto Insurance,” depending on where your business is located.
Here are three local SEO tips that show why this is the case:
First, beating out established corporations for highly-prized keywords will take a lot of time and money. There’s just no way around it. But if you focus first on ranking #1 for local keywords, you’ll start to get some cash rolling in while at the same time making progress for your target keyword. For example, building up a backlink profile for the keyword “Houston accountant” will actually help you rank for the keyword “accountant,” even if you don’t see yourself in the top 100. Google needs to see that you’ve proven yourself with lower-volume keywords first. Only then will you have a chance at higher-volume keywords down the line.
Second, targeting local keywords will gain you clients much sooner than you would have otherwise, which is important because this allows you to gain positive testimonials and referrals. This is a much better situation to be in than to finally reach the Top 5 for “Accountant” and not have any clients under your belt.
Third, it’s much easier to track your progress for easier keywords. Even if you’re doing everything right, you still might not see much progress for a keyword like “Accountant” because the competition is just so stiff. This makes it hard to know if you’re taking all the right steps, whereas if you just targeted an easier keyword, each positive step you take is probably going to have a noticeable effect in the Google search engine rankings.
This isn’t to say that local SEO is easy–far from it. But it’s a heck of a lot easier than trying to rank for the big kahuna right out of the gate, especially for beginners at SEO.
Bing SEO = Google SEO
A common mistake SEO bloggers make is they think they have to optimize their website for Google and Bing separately, somehow thinking that these two search engines have drastically different ranking algorithms. The truth is that yes, their algorithms are different, but it’s no use trying to use two separate strategies to rank your sites on both. What works for one will probably work for the other, and most of their algorithm differences are things you can’t control anyway (keywords in your domain name, for example).
All the top SEO tips you read can and should be applied to all search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing. If you do happen to notice that you rank in the Top 10 in Google but not even in the top 100 in Bing, there may be some steps to take in order to fix that problem. But unless the discrepancy is that big, don’t assume that you need to employ a “Bing SEO strategy” because for the most part, SEO is the same everywhere.
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