In January 2008, Google processed 6.13 billion search queries in the United States. This year, the same month saw that number more than double to 13.22 billion. People are relying more and more on search engines, but when they need your industry’s products or services, are they finding you? Or your competitors? Here are 5 steps to building an effective SEO strategy that will help drive users exactly where you want them: on your website.

1. Create a solid content plan. You’ve probably heard the phrase “Content is king” an exorbitant number of times already, but that’s because it’s true. Content is the key to helping users find your website, and a successful plan starts with making sure you have adequate content on all of your primary pages. A good rule of thumb is 300 to 1,000 words, but this can vary drastically by industry and the type of website. Frequently generating new content is important, too, so consider starting a blog if you haven’t already. With 52% of consumers saying a company blog influenced their purchase decisions, blogging is a worthwhile time investment.

2. Start with good website structure. Without packing your site’s content with a single keyword (also known as “keyword stuffing”), try to include relevant terms in your URL structure. A great example is: www.example.com/category/product/widget-name-here. Also, wherever possible, try to avoid session IDs and query strings in your URLs like the one shown below. Doing so will help to ensure that search engines like Google accurately understand your site’s content, and help your visitors more easily remember links to your pages.

3. Get a social plugin. Using social sharing plugins on your website will not only help your content get seen by more viewers across social networks, but it can also help generate new backlinks. There are many plugins to choose from that will enable your readers to share your content across a multitude of social networks. Two of my favorites are www.addthis.com and www.tynt.com, each with its own benefits such as helping you predict which channels you think your viewers will use and tracking where your content is being shared.

4. Build great backlinks: Rather than building spammy or irrelevant backlinks, try to focus on obtaining links within your particular niche, ideally from trustworthy sources. For example, if you’re trying to increase online search presence for your travel brand, you should consider reaching out to industry websites such as online travel magazines, your local chamber of commerce, or even other destinations. If a staff member at your organization has reached a milestone like getting a travel guide published, try reaching out to the local media and getting some online news coverage, ideally with a backlink to your website.

5. Don’t neglect on-site optimization: Although on-site optimizations are far less important than link building, it still plays an important role when it comes to ranking well in search engines. Some things you’ll want to remember are to tag images and title pages and to include meta descriptions on each page. Rather than keyword stuffing your meta descriptions, focus on writing compelling text that will convince consumers to click on your result versus the competition.

Building an effective SEO strategy can help attract a few of those 13.22 billion Google searches in the coming months, so be sure to take the proper steps when getting started. Need a little more help? Drop us a line.