Expert SEO Insights – Audience Questions Answered by Jonny Ross

30 April, 2024

In the recent webinar “Discover How to Climb the Google Ladder with SEO,” I had the chance to tackle some insightful audience questions that highlighted common concerns and strategies in SEO for 2024. Below, I recap our discussions and provide detailed answers that can help you enhance your SEO approach.

Question 1: Impact of Social Media on SEO

Audience Member (Kerry): After discontinuing Twitter, I noticed a drop in my Google rankings. Could this be related?

Jonny’s Answer: While social media doesn’t directly influence SEO rankings, it impacts your site’s traffic and visibility. A drop in activity on platforms like Twitter can reduce the direct traffic to your site, potentially affecting its perceived value and authority. It’s crucial to maintain a strong presence on appropriate social platforms to support your overall digital marketing ecosystem.

Question 2: Optimising Shopify for SEO

Audience Member (Lorne): I need a checklist for optimising my Shopify store for SEO. Where can I start?

Jonny’s Answer: Starting with the basics is crucial. Utilise resources like Moz’s begginers SEO guide. Focus on optimising your Shopify site by ensuring your meta tags are accurate, improving your product descriptions, and enhancing site navigation. Additionally, Shopify’s SEO-friendly features, such as customisable headlines, titles, and meta tags, can significantly help improve your store’s visibility.

Question 3: Building and Maintaining Site Trust

Audience Member (Charlotte): How much do I need backlinks and social media posts versus good content to rank on Google?

Jonny’s Answer: Backlinks continue to play a vital role in SEO as they signal to Google that other websites consider your content valuable and trustworthy. However, the quality of content and on-site SEO fundamentals remain paramount. Strive for a balanced approach where quality content, robust social media engagement, and strategic backlinking work together to boost your site’s authority and rankings.

Question 4: Effective Keyword Strategies

Audience Member (Rob): Most of my site traffic is direct. How do I determine the best keywords?

Jonny’s Answer: Understanding your audience’s needs and the search terms they use is essential. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to research and identify keywords that align with your content. Consider long-tail keywords that are specific and relevant to your products or services, as they often have less competition and higher conversion rates.

Question 5: What SEO Strategies Should We Focus on for Long-Term Success?

Answer: For long-term SEO success:

• Focus on Content Quality: Create comprehensive content that genuinely fulfills user intent.
• Technical SEO: Regularly audit your site for issues like slow load times, broken links, and crawl errors.
• User Experience: Enhance the overall usability of your site, ensuring it’s easy for visitors to navigate and find information.

Question 6: How Do We Optimise for Voice Search?

Answer: Voice search optimisation requires focusing on natural language and question-based queries. Include conversational keywords and FAQs on your website. Structuring content to answer specific questions can help your site become a go-to source for voice search answers.

Question 7: Can You Explain the Importance of Structured Data?

Answer: Structured data helps search engines understand your content better, enabling rich results, which can improve visibility and click-through rates. Implementing schema markup for articles, products, or reviews makes your entries stand out in SERPs, providing users with more information and potentially increasing traffic.

Question 8: What Are the Key Factors for Mobile SEO in 2024?

Answer: Mobile SEO is crucial as Google primarily uses mobile-first indexing. Key factors include:

• Mobile Usability: Ensure your site is responsive and easy to navigate on mobile devices.
• Page Speed: Mobile pages should load quickly. Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to identify and rectify bottlenecks.
• Local SEO: Optimise for local search as many mobile searches are location-based.

Question 9: SEO Strategy for New Websites

Audience Member (Rob): What are the initial SEO steps for a new website to gain traction quickly?

Jonny’s Answer: For new websites, the focus should be on establishing a strong foundation. This includes:

• Ensuring all technical SEO elements are in place, such as sitemaps and robot.txt files.
• Producing high-quality, original content that targets relevant keywords.
• Building a presence in local search listings if applicable, especially Google My Business.
• Starting the process of building quality backlinks through outreach and content marketing.

Conclusion

SEO is multifaceted and evolving, but staying informed and responsive to changes in search algorithms and user behavior can greatly enhance your effectiveness. Remember, integrating robust content strategies, maintaining active social media channels, and building quality backlinks are key to a successful SEO campaign.

If you missed the live session or wish to delve deeper into the strategies we discussed, feel free to watch the full webinar here.

Continue to engage with these insights and apply them to your SEO practices to ensure your website not only climbs but maintains its position on the Google ladder in 2024.