You’ve worked hard to create an IT company that delivers competitive IT services that people need. However, reputation and word of mouth aren’t enough to bring in the number of customers you want. You need to advertise your business to ensure it gets the attention it deserves. A website is a great way to promote your IT services.
In order to reap the full benefits of your website, however, people need to be able to find it. The easier it is for people to discover your business online, the more likely they are to click on the link. When you drive traffic to your website, you gain more opportunities to convert visitors into paying customers. Search engine optimization (SEO) is arguably the best way to ensure as many eyes fall on your web page as possible.
What Is SEO and Why Is It Different for IT Companies?
Search engine optimization is the process of increasing a site’s visibility by raising its rank on search engine results pages. The goal of an SEO strategy is to make it so that your website is the top result on the page when potential customers search IT-related words. Since most people rely on search engines to locate goods and services these days, making sure your website appears first is highly important.
When it comes to improving your SEO rank, the rules are always changing as Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines are constantly adjusting their algorithms. Fortunately, there are a handful of general rules most websites can follow to keep their SEO value high. However, for IT and technology companies, SEO strategy is a little more complicated than it is for the other industries.
The reason why SEO is tough for businesses like yours is because the audience is large, unique, and segmented. There’s one part of the audience that consists of laypeople—people who don’t have professional or specialized knowledge of the subject. Normally, these people are looking for content that generalizes or simplifies the concepts of IT.
Then there’s the other side of the audience that does possess professional or specialized knowledge. Unlike laypeople, this segment of the audience is likely to appreciate more complex or specialized educational material that speaks their language. In addition, these people tend to search for and consume content in a different manner than professionals from other industries. It’s important to keep these nuances in mind when creating content for your IT site.
The Do’s and Don’ts of SEO for IT
The wealth of information available on the internet regarding IT means you are competing alongside a vast number of other businesses that are all vying for the eye of your customers. Search engine algorithms exist to create rules in an attempt to sift through the noise and present to the user the highest-quality content available. The websites that adhere the closest to these rules tend to wind up on top, but it’s not a guarantee.
As mentioned earlier, search engine algorithms are constantly being tweaked and they can often be fickle. So, if you follow every suggestion to the T, there’s still a chance another web page could outrank yours. While it can be a bit frustrating, it’s absolutely worth the effort to try and optimize your search results.
There are many ways to go about boosting your SEO rank. To make it a little easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best SEO strategies and concepts you can use for your IT business. We’ve also included a few things you should avoid while implementing SEO best practices.
Do Take Time To Understand Your Audience
Understanding the audience you’re attempting to reach is one of the general rules of SEO and is something every business should do. Build out buyer personas—semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers—and use them to drive the direction of your content. Having such information enables you to tailor the material in a way that addresses your customers’ specific pain points.
Don’t forget that you’re writing for both the average person and IT experts. The content should remain approachable, but also include detailed and specific information, with a hint of well-explained technical lingo. Knowing your audience also helps with identifying keywords your potential customers are using to find the services you offer.
Don’t Try To Be Like Everyone Else
When creating content, try to be a thought leader instead of a follower. There are countless websites that all offer the same or similar thoughts, opinions, and advice. Being like everyone else is a poor SEO strategy. Developing pieces that provide a fresh perspective on a subject can help it stand out in a congested sea of content.
By delivering something that’s compelling for the visitor to read, you can establish yourself as an expert with authority on the topic. In addition, most search engines devalue content that only provides the same information its top results already provide.
Do Publish New Content Regularly
If you want to build a reputation for tech-related keywords and IT topics, you have to be consistent in your messaging and frequency in publishing. A frequently updated website also offers search engines fresh content and new sources of information for search requests. Creating a blog is a great way to continue publishing new information. Just remember that the content has to be relevant to the topic, otherwise the search engine may devalue it.
Don’t Use Black Hat SEO Tricks
Adding keywords, internal links, and so on are a few ways to increase a page’s SEO value. Back in the early days of SEO, websites would try to game the system by doing things like stuffing keywords into a page or duplicating existing pages to mimic new content. These underhanded tactics are known as black hat SEO. Search engines have evolved to recognize these tactics and penalize the websites that use them.
Some examples of black hat SEO tactics include:
- Doorway Pages: This is the creation of low-quality websites solely for having an outbound link you can use throughout your own site.
- Invisible Text: Using the same color font as the background color to include target keywords without them being visible.
- Duplicate Content: This refers to copying content from other sources or having multiple pages that use the exact same content.
- Keyword Stuffing: The practice of filling a page with keywords, whether it makes sense or not.
Do Make Your Web Pages Load Fast
Don’t you hate going to sites with pages that take forever to load? So do search engines. When visitors click on a link, they are expecting the web page to load within a couple of seconds. Any longer and they are likely to move on to the next result. Google’s algorithm is able to notice sluggish websites and punish them for their high bounce rates.
If you’re worried your website isn’t loading fast enough, there are a few things you can do. First, Google has a tool you can use to measure the speed of your website. The tool also offers insights you can use to optimize your website. Simple fixes such as decreasing the size of images and optimizing the format can help with reducing load times.
Don’t Force Keywords
Just like how you don’t want to fill your pages to the brim with keywords, you don’t want to force keywords in places they don’t belong either. At one time, keyword density was an important metric, but it has mostly become irrelevant in recent years. It is recommended that a target keyword still be used, but it’s more important that the content delivers user satisfaction. The key to user satisfaction is to have high-quality content that’s well written.
When an average user visits a web page, they may not realize there is a keyword goal. However, they are going to know when something is poorly written and not trustworthy. If the user sees words that are weirdly placed throughout the page, they are likely going to stop reading and go somewhere else to find what they need.
Do Use Local Targeting
By general rule of thumb, it helps to write pages for specific cities, regions, or states where your company operates. Having a local SEO strategy can make your website rank higher on mobile search results. If you’re an IT or technology company that does most of your work remotely, you can still create pages that focus on the most popular areas where you provide services.
Staying on top of SEO best practices can be confusing given the ever-changing landscape. That’s why there are experts that devote their entire profession to studying the world of SEO. These specialists can help you create a strong SEO strategy, as well as help you figure out what may be hurting your value. Making a drastic change without an expert can lead to even worse problems.
Improve Your SEO With Abstrakt
Abstrakt Marketing Group is an industry-leading marketing agency that specializes in a variety of marketing solutions, including SEO services. Our SEO strategists work closely with you to analyze your website and find areas for improvement. From there, our copywriters step in to create pages that maximize your SEO value. With us by your side, you can rest easy knowing your website is in the hands of skilled professionals.
Contact us today to learn more.
Did you like this blog? Share on social media and be sure to follow us for more content like this!
Did you like this post? Share on social media!
Want to Learn More?
