As a business owner, you know that to be successful in today’s world you need to have a strong online presence.

One of the key factors of that is having an optimized website with high traffic, which means you need to work on your search engine optimization (SEO) comes in.

But SEO is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

You need a customized SEO strategy based on your business and marketing goals.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss what exactly is a customized SEO strategy, and some tips on how to develop it.

Whether you’re just starting out on your SEO journey or you’re looking to refine your current approach, these tips would be applicable.

What is a customized SEO strategy?

A customized SEO strategy is an SEO plan that is specifically tailored to help you achieve your website objectives and business goals.

You may already have a website, and you want to improve its performance.

Here are some examples of goals that you could set:

• Get more visitors, organically
• Increase domain authority
• Improve user experience

A customized SEO strategy should also consider factors like your unique value proposition, brand purpose, industry, target audience, and key competition.

So it’s not about reading up SEO blogs and applying all the techniques to your site randomly. That takes up too much time and effort, and it may not be all worth it.

To truly win with SEO and ensure that your website is optimized to attract and convert your ideal customer without getting overwhelmed, you need to have a customized SEO strategy.

Why do you need a customized SEO strategy?

The benefit of customized SEO is that it’s designed specifically for your business, which means that you’re more likely to see results that are relevant to you.

Especially if you’re a small business owner or an entrepreneur, customized SEO can be a game-changer for your business.

It allows you to get your small business website noticed online, get found by people who are actually looking for what you have to offer, and even compete with bigger brands in your industry.

Here are 5 reasons why you need a customized SEO strategy:

1. Improve brand awareness and credibility

A well-executed SEO strategy can help to get your website noticed and build credibility.

As customers see your brand appearing in search results more often, they’ll become more familiar with it and more likely to trust it. You will also be able to establish your brand as an expert in your industry.

2. Drive more relevant website traffic

A customized SEO strategy will ensure that you optimize your website for every phase of the customer journey of your target audience.

Your ideal audience may first need information on how to solve a problem, then compare different products, and finally look for places to buy them.

When you customize your SEO approach to target specific keywords and phrases that your ideal customers are searching for at every step, you will be more likely to get visits from people who are actually interested in what you have to offer.

It also makes it more likely that visitors will stick around – and maybe even convert into paying customers.

3. Create content that’s valuable for your audience

One of the best ways to get traffic to your website and drive conversions is to create valuable content that resonates with your audience.

But there is also a lot of competition online, which makes it difficult to build differentiation. With a customized SEO strategy, you can develop a plan for content marketing optimization.

You can create a digital content strategy that is tailored to the needs and interests of your audience, content that is informative and engaging, and also keyword-rich and search engine friendly.

4. Get more relevant leads and customers

You know that generating leads is essential to growing your business.

By targeting a relevant audience and their needs, by creating content that solves their problems, you get leads who could be interested in your brand and product or service.

Read my post on SEO success stories to know how SEO can drive leads and conversions.

5. Make your marketing spend more effective

By customizing your SEO strategy specifically for your small business, you can avoid wasting money on ineffective marketing tactics and only focus on the steps that work for you.

You will be able to focus your budget on activities that are more likely to generate a return on investment.

How to develop a customized SEO strategy for your business

As a small business, it’s important to find the right SEO strategy that works for you. There are a number of factors to consider when developing your plan, including your industry, competition, and target audience.

Here are some steps to customize your SEO strategy based on these factors.

1. Determine your brand positioning and story

The most important factor in developing a custom SEO strategy is determining your competitive differentiation and unique value positioning.

What makes your small business special? What can you offer that your competitors can’t? Which are your topics of specialization? Which keywords do you want to show up for in SERPs?

For example, if you have a business selling soaps made with fresh, organic materials, you don’t need to show up for all searches related to scented soaps. You can only decide to optimize your website for searches related to your specific niche of scented organic soaps.

2. Set S.M.A.R.T goals for your customized SEO strategy

Firstly, you need to set SEO goals and focus on exactly what you want to achieve with your SEO efforts.

Secondly, SEO is a long-term investment, and it’s important to set not just vague goals, but ones that you can track and measure over time. So set S.M.A.R.T goals for your customized SEO strategy: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Some examples of S.M.A.R.T goals for your customized SEO strategy could include:

• Increasing website traffic from organic search by 15% within 6 months
• Improving your website’s ranking for key target keywords by 3 positions within 3 months
• Generating 1000 leads from your website within 1 year

This will help you track your progress and adjust your approach as needed to achieve the desired results.

3. Analyze your SERP competitors

There are a lot of brands out there, and it’s not just products and services you compete on.

You always have to aim to be better than your SERP competitors.

To beat them, you first have to know what they have in common. Why are they showing up on page 1? What keywords do you think they are targeting? How are they promoting their content?

By understanding what’s working well for them, you can adapt and improve upon their strategies to improve your chances of ranking higher.

Some elements you could analyze are:

• The use of relevant keywords and phrases
• A well-designed and user-friendly website
• High-quality, keyword-rich content
• Powerful backlinks

4. Conduct an SEO Audit

Evaluate your current website from an SEO perspective, especially in regards to content, technical, and on-page SEO. This will help you identify both the strengths and weaknesses of your site and allow you to make necessary changes.

You can conduct an SEO audit yourself with an SEO tool like Semrush, Ahrefs, SE Ranking, etc.,  or hire an SEO expert to do it for you.

Either way, make sure to use web positioning software to assess these elements of your website:

• Are you using the relevant keywords?
• Do your meta tags accurately reflect the content on your web pages?
• Is your site structure optimized?
• Are all your pages indexed?

Your current on-page SEO, targeted keywords, and backlink strategy will help you determine what you could do better to achieve your SEO objectives.

5. Identify your target topics and keywords

The content topics and related keywords you choose for your website should be a perfect balance between your target audience’s needs and your brand attributes.

Start by thinking about what potential customers might type into a search engine when they’re looking for a business like yours.

You can also use free tools like Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends or paid SEO tools to get ideas for possible target keywords.

For example, if your brand promise is that you are a B2C business that sells sustainably-sourced high-quality argan oil, look for topics and keywords around that specific promise.

Some topics you could create content for then are how to test the quality of your argan oil, how to store such high-grade oil, etc.

However, if you are a B2B business selling the same, you can focus more on topics like ways of sustainable sourcing argan oil.

Once you’ve identified some specific keywords, integrate them into your website and content.

Related: A 9-Point SEO Keyword Research Checklist for Your Website Content

6. Create and promote quality content

Content marketing is an important part of any SEO strategy, and a good content strategy will focus on the most relevant, valuable, and useful content for your audience.

This is where many businesses fail when it comes to SEO. They create content for the sake of creating content, without really thinking about whether or not it’s valuable or informative. As a result, their content doesn’t get shared or ranked highly by search engines.

So every time you create content, make sure you have a goal in mind. Which topic is the content on? What do you want your audience to do after they see the content? Is there a lead generation/ sales funnel?

You should also work on your search engine positioning and regularly update your content to keep them fresh and relevant for your audience and for search engines.

Finally, you’ll need to promote your content. This can be done through social media, guest blogging, and other creative marketing strategies. The important thing is to get your name and your website out there so that potential customers can find you.

Related: How to Write Your First Blog Post [The Complete Guide]

7. Keep search intent at the core

Search intent, also known as user intent, refers to the reason why someone is searching for something online. And understanding this is key to ranking high in search results and driving traffic to your website.

There are four main types of search intent: navigational, informational, transactional, and commercial.

• Navigational intent: When someone is looking for a specific website or web page.
• Informational intent: When someone is looking for information on a topic.
• Transactional intent: When someone is looking to make a purchase or take some other action.
• Commercial intent: When someone is considering making a purchase but isn’t quite ready yet.

For example, someone who searches for “how to start a small business” is probably looking for informational content, while someone who searches for “Small business insurance”, which is a high-intent keyword, is likely looking to make a purchase.

Understanding which type of search intent your target audience has can help you create a customized SEO strategy to better meet their needs.

For example, if you know that most of your target audience has informational intent, then create content that provides them with the information they’re looking for.

On the other hand, if you know that most of your target audience has transactional intent, then develop content that helps them make a purchase or take action.

8. Invest in the right SEO tool

One of the best things you can do to achieve your SEO goals is to invest in a good SEO tool that is a good fit for the SEO of your brand website. There are a lot of different SEO software options, and it can be tough to know which one is the best fit for your business.

Here are a few things to evaluate when choosing SEO software for your small business:

1. Necessary features

An SEO tool that includes basic SEO research and analysis features is a must for most small businesses. But also look for other features that you might need, like content marketing or local SEO.

2. Ease of use

You need to get SEO software that has a good user interface. You’ll want something that’s easy to navigate and understand so that you can get the most out of it without feeling frustrated.

3. Budget.

You don’t need to break the bank to get good SEO software, but you should make sure you’re getting something effective that fits within your budget.

Related:

• Best SEO software for small business
• SE Ranking review
• SE Ranking vs Semrush
• SEO PowerSuite vs Semrush

Besides an overall tool for your SEO, one tool you should definitely consider is Link Whisper.

It makes your internal linking (a key factor for good SEO) easy and simple. Read my full Link Whisper review to know more.

9. Prioritize on-page SEO

On-page SEO is essential for any effective SEO strategy.

If your site is full of keyword-stuffed articles that don’t actually provide value, it’s unlikely that you’ll rank high in search results.

You need to make sure each of your website pages is optimized for the keyword it’s targeting.

Your website should be easy to navigate and include keyword-rich content that reflects the search intent of your target audience.

Related: Optimize Your Website to Drive Growth: A 2022 Guide for Small Businesses

10. Improve the user experience

Getting your target audience to visit your website is one thing.

Whether they stick around, how much, and make a purchase, is largely influenced by the experience they have on your site.

There are plenty of small and inexpensive changes you can make to your website that will improve the user experience.

Don’t go crazy trying to take all the steps, just do what you can based on how your website looks currently and the resources you have. Here are some easy examples to implement:

• Ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
• Use clear and easy-to-navigate menus.
• Include calls to action on every page.
• Make your website content easy to read

Related: 14 Easy UX Improvements to Boost Your Website Conversions

11. Work on your local SEO if relevant

Local SEO is the process of optimizing your website and online presence for local search. This means making sure that your website appears in search results when people are searching for businesses like yours in their local area.

Local SEO is essential because it helps you connect with people who are already interested in what you have to offer. It’s a great way to attract new customers and grow your business.

Here are a few tips to work on your local SEO:

• Optimize your website for local keywords
• Add your business to local directories
• Create location-specific pages on your website
• Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone number) is consistent across the web

This will help to make your small business visible in local search results and attract new customers.

12. Track, measure, and revise

Remember the SMART goals you set at the beginning?

It is important to keep a track of that and measure your SEO metrics on a regular basis to ensure that your efforts are paying off.

Google Analytics is the best way to monitor your performance.

You can identify areas where your SEO strategy is working well and areas where it needs improvement.

If you’re not seeing the results that you want, don’t be afraid to revise your approach. Try experimenting with different tactics and tracking your progress over time. With a little trial and error, you can find an SEO strategy that works for your business website.

13. Develop a backlink strategy right for your brand and business

Backlinks are an important part of any SEO strategy, but they’re not always easy to come by.

To start, make sure that your website is high-quality and informative. If you have great content, people will be more likely to link to it.

You can also reach out to other websites in your industry and niche, and ask for a link.

Another good way is to create helpful resources that other people will want to link to. This could be anything from an informative blog post to a downloadable guide. If you have something valuable to offer, people will be more likely to link to it.

Last but not least, always keep an eye on your competition. See who’s linking to them and try to get links from the same sources.

It takes time and effort to build up a strong link profile, but it’s worth it in the long run.

14. Improve your technical SEO

Technical SEO is one important part of an effective SEO strategy.

Ensure that at least the basics of it are right:

• Your website has a sitemap
• Your website pages are indexed
• There is no duplicate content

You can get a lot of pointers from your site audit about underlying issues.

If you have the budget, you could get a professional technical SEO expert to check your website once to ensure everything is working right. Read a full guide to technical SEO to see all the necessary steps and decide which one makes sense for now.

Should you hire an SEO professional or do DIY SEO?

While there are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches, ultimately it depends on your specific situation and needs.

If you have the time and resources to invest in learning customized SEO and have budget constraints, then you could try to handle it yourself. There are a variety of free resources available online that can help you get started, and there are also many paid tools that offer more advanced features.

However, if you’re short on time, not confident in your ability to execute a customized SEO plan, or struggling to get results, then hiring an SEO professional may be the best way to go.

An experienced SEO professional will be able to tailor a plan to your specific business goals and needs, and they will also be able to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of SEO.

Whichever approach you choose, make sure that you’re realistic about your time and ability to execute a successful plan.

How to create a customized SEO Strategy for your business – Conclusion

A customized SEO strategy can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website. Developing such a custom SEO plan for your small business can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.

By understanding the basics of SEO and how it applies to your unique business, you can create a step-by-step plan that will help you rank higher in search results and attract more customers.

However, it is important to remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and you will need to continually adapt your strategy as the search landscape evolves.

How do you approach working on your website SEO? Do you develop a proper, customized strategy? Let me know in the comments!