Protect Your Rankings From The Virus- SEO Tactics That Work

The coronavirus outbreak has changed businesses in every possible way. Physical offices are closed down and teams are operating remotely. Organizations facing financial crunch are cutting costs with massive pay cuts and layoffs. At the same time, those selling via brick-and-mortar stores are being forced to embrace the e-commerce model. Obviously, this transition has made digital marketing more significant than ever. And even when companies are reducing their marketing spends, this is one area they cannot afford to ignore.

In such a situation, you cannot afford to compromise your online visibility. This means that you will have to climb up search rankings quickly if you are new to the internet landscape. And retaining them is critical if you are already established. So how do you protect your SEO rankings even in a tight budget amid the crisis? Is there a way to keep climbing up even when there is cut-throat competition in the digital landscape? What strategies would work for maintaining a steady stance until your brand gets back on its feet? Here are some tactics that can help.

Continue business as usual

Right now, when the economy is off track, you are bound to be concerned about every single dollar spent on marketing. After all, it does not make sense to spend on promoting your brand when consumers are least interested in buying. But remember that businesses and consumers will be back on track soon. If you go slack with SEO today, your ranking will fall, and coming back up may be more than a challenge. And there are still some customers probably searching you online. Therefore, it is important to continue your SEO promotions even amid the pandemic and economic crisis. The show must go on, rather now is just the right time to create brand awareness and loyalty.

Focus on priority keywords right now

Staying on top of SEO rankings is all about standing out in the crowd and outranking the competitors. This is easier said than done, considering that Google processes thousands of search queries every second. The only way you can avoid getting lost in the seas of results is by staying one step ahead in identifying the words and phrases the audience are likely to search. Utilizing long-tail keywords is the way to go, though right now you will also have to bear in mind COVID-related searches. Long-tail keywords are ideal because they have more specific intent and connect you specifically with the ‘end-of-funnel’ consumers. So you get a worthy audience with lesser work and stay on the top as well.

Prioritize editorial content

If you want to sustain your SEO ranking despite the pandemic attack, prioritize editorial content. At present, there isn’t much scope for transactional terms because people are least interested in buying, Rather, they are looking for engaging, informative content that serves value because they have plenty of time and appetite to consume digital content. Creating fresh, valuable and top of the funnel content is, therefore, the key to staying ahead and sustaining your position there. Also, ensure that your content is updated frequently because Google loves freshness and will keep you on top if you keep adding fresh and informative pieces time and again. While strong SEO content should be on top of your checklist, don’t forget the value of a powerful social media content strategy to support it.

Abstain from keyword stuffing

Pandemic or no pandemic, Google hates keyword stuffing, and doing so is the easiest way to lose your SEO rankings. After all, you are expected to write for users, not search engines. Even while you create top-notch content and serve the best information, make sure that you are judicious about using keywords. Overloading the content with keywords just to improve search rankings will do more harm than good and you may even end up with a Google penalty. And this is the last thing you would want to deal with right now! Focus on longer content pieces that provide in-depth information to the audience and include the priority keywords contextually. It is all about the user experience and content that makes the users happy is good enough for Google.

Go the extra mile with link building

You cannot deny the value of quality backlinks when it comes to maintaining your SEO rankings. Staying on top of search rankings requires you to go the extra mile for finding the best opportunities for building high quality yet affordable backlinks to your website. While you can do it manually, relying on software like SEOJet is a better idea to stay one step ahead. With such tools, you have an assurance that there will be no unnatural ones to hamper your SEO growth. Moreover, you can actually secure the best with only a fraction of work as compared to manual link building. Prioritize earned links from high-quality, niche-relevant sites for the best benefits and abstain from practices such as buying and harvesting them. It is also a good time to clean up your backlink profile.

Do the extras for an additional push

Although sustaining your SEO ranking at present may be more important than ever, you should also invest in boosting it even further. Some extra tactics would help- for example; having a dedicated coronavirus page on your website will enable you to leverage the related keywords for climbing up the rankings. Moreover, you can have the most amazing content on this page to get more traffic and engage the audience with rich information. Updating the FAQ section with COVID-related queries will also help. You can add facts about changes in operations during the pandemic, the brand initiatives to combat it, and other helpful information. Video content is another good way to boost your site’s ranking during the crisis.

Steering clear of the ranking drop during the pandemic is quite doable, provided that you continue investing in SEO and do it the right way. And this is an investment you should happily make to save your business from the after-effects of the virus. Being on the top today and staying there tomorrow will surely give you a winning advantage!