It is important for businesses in Canada to take advantage of SEO. With SEO, you can reach your targeted audience without paying upfront, like with paid ads. An SEO agency can help grow your organic traffic. In this article, I share ten ways to improve the organic reach of your business.
1. Hire an SEO agency
It is a good idea to hire an SEO agency. Luckily, Serpcore, one of the best SEO agencies in Calgary, Alberta, works with businesses at affordable prices.
Serpcore has a lot of experience and has helped many companies improve their SEO. These companies have seen a boost in conversions and customer engagement.
To increase your business’s organic reach in Alberta, contact us at contact@serpcore.com or use the contact form on our website. We will get back to you quickly.
2. Upload an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file on your website that helps search engines find your pages faster. It usually includes a list of your most important pages—the ones you want search engines to find.
An XML sitemap has the following parts:
- A mod to tell crawlers what they are looking for
- The URL of your important pages
- A “mod” tag to tell search engines the last time your pages were updated
Create and upload an XML sitemap to your website. It will help increase your organic reach. Many of your competitors use XML sitemaps, so it is a good idea to use them, too.
3. Optimize for your industry keywords
Keywords are words that people type into search engines. These words help search engines find the information people are looking for.
Every industry has its own keywords, and some are specific to locations. For example, if people in Edmonton search for “Arts Supply Stores in Edmonton” it helps to include the words “Art Supply” and “Edmonton” in your content.
To optimize keywords, first, you need to find out what people are searching for. This is called keyword research. Then, you should use these keywords in your content.
To see how competitive a keyword is and how often people search for it, you can use keyword tools like Semrush or Ahrefs.
4. Check out your competitors
Learning from your competitors is a good way to improve your business, not just in your province but anywhere in Canada.
Every business has competitors, including yours. To be successful, you need to watch what your competitors are doing and try to do it better.
- What are your competitors doing?
- What keywords are they using?
- What SEO methods are they using?
Find the answers to these questions and use the information to improve your own site. This could help your site reach more people and do better.
5. Have sensible URLs
Good URLs can help your site perform better in SEO. URLs work best when they are short and easy to read. Use words, not just numbers, and try to include keywords in your URLs.
Shorter URLs are easier to share and have fewer errors.
Remember, URLs are sensitive. This means the capital and small letters in your URL matter. Uppercase and lowercase letters can change the URL, so use them carefully.
6. Write for people, not for bots
Google launched an update in mid-2022 called “The Helpful Content Update.” The update checks if websites are written for people, not just for search engines.
Google says it will check how helpful your site’s content is before it ranks your site in search results.
Writing for people means making original and interesting content that your readers will enjoy. It also means using keywords correctly without making the text hard to read. To learn more about Google’s Helpful Content Update, check this page.
7. Update old content
Updating old content can really help your website and improve your organic reach.
Old content may not be helpful anymore, and both readers and search engines may not like it. Facts change over time, so you need to update your content with new information.
Be careful not to have duplicate content on your site. Duplicate content can lower your ranking on search engines and reduce organic traffic.
8. Optimize for local SEO
Many searches on Google are location-specific. This means people often add a location to their search.
Here are examples of location-specific searches:
Edmonton-based searchers:
- “Best Coffee shops in Edmonton”
- “Top-rated dentists near downtown Edmonton”
- “Walk-in clinic in South Edmonton open now”
Calgary-based searchers:
- “Car repair shops open now in Calgary NW”
- “Emergency vet clinic in Calgary SE”
- “Chinese restaurants in Calgary Beltline”
Ottawa:
- “Co-working spaces in Ottawa with free parking”
- “Chiropractor with good reviews in Ottawa East”
- “SEO experts for small businesses in Ottawa”
Research found that local searches make up 22.6 percent of website traffic.
You can improve your local SEO by doing these things:
- Create a Google My Business account
- Optimize your website for voice search
- Create content that people in your area will like, like writing about local news in Alberta
Local SEO can help increase your organic reach in Canada.
Google my Business local businesses results usually appear at the top in search results. Google tries to offer users results that match user intent, and in the case of local businesses, that usually means the location and contact information. With it, your customers can easily find you. I’m sure you have used something like this to find a product or service recently.
9. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
The reason is simple: we always have our mobile phones with us, so most searches on Google are done from mobile devices.
Making your site mobile-friendly will help you get more visitors and may even improve your conversion rates.
10. Check Your Robots.txt Files
A Robots.txt file tells search engines which parts of your site they can visit and which parts they should not.
The goal is to limit search engine activity on your site so that Google’s crawler does not overload your server. It also helps prevent search engines from crawling parts of your site that you want to keep private.
Setting up Robots.txt files correctly will help improve your local SEO.
Summary
Organic reach is important for the growth of your business. Please contact us if you want to improve your organic reach.