Why is national SEO so critical?

Back in the mid to late nineties, SEO was still an infant. According to Bob Heyman, the rock band Jefferson Starship (formally known as Jefferson Airplane) created a website to promote its name change. Instead of ranking first in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), the website ranked fourth. The band’s manager was alarmed. How could they get to the top position on search engine ranking pages?

While few knew it at the time, Jefferson Starship’s website creators would need to apply SEO strategies at the national level. In the nineties, few knew about local SEO ranking. Hence, all SEO ranking was national by default.

SEO strategies have come a long way in the more than two decades since original conceptualization. Today’s strategy for national SEO ranking is considerably more advanced than the early days of SEO.

National SEO Ranking

From a national SEO ranking perspective, you need to make sure your website gets on the correct indexes. This YouTube video explains How Google Search Works and gives insight into how SEO ranking at the national level works.

The following five national SEO ranking tips are preferred languages, keyword research at the national level, regional or city-specific landing pages, developing a strategy for managing national SEO best practices, and creating a high-quality all-device friendly website.

1. Preferred Languages – Today’s e-commerce market is global, meaning a U.S.-based company can reach a customer base in any part of the world. That being said, if your business targets only U.S.-based customers, you can skip this tip. 
   The Hreflang attribute tells Google where your website will be indexed. If this attribute is “en-US,” only American web searchers see the web pages. If not coded correctly, the Hreflang attribute confuses Google and sends web searchers to other places such as the U.K.
2. Keyword Research at the National Level – This seems like a no-brainer. However, suppose your content mentions a specific city. In that case, Google finds that city’s index and keeps your content at the local level. This means that you must find keywords that apply at a national level to rank outside of a particular city.
   For example, if you sell shoes, one possible keyword would be “best shoe store” This keyword applies to anyone that asks Google, “what is the best shoe store online?” Then you would optimize your site’s content and meta tags for that specific keyword
3. Regional or City-Specific Landing Pages – If you want to sell shoes to people that live in California, but you’re based in Florida, you create a California-specific landing page.  For example, www.shoes.com/California. You can do this for as many states and cities that you want.
   Just make sure you match the state and the city in the correct directory tree. Using these landing pages lets Google know where the person is searching for and provides search results accordingly.
4. Long-Term SEO Strategies – National SEO rankings need to be looked at as part of a larger business strategy. This strategy must include developing a reputation as the best at whatever business you own. In other words, if you say you sell the best shoes in the U.S., you should back it up.
   Being the best e-retailer in your e-commerce sector means you must establish authority and continually strengthen it. If your website has a blog, you should constantly update its content to stay at the front of the business sector. Google likes longer blogs and articles that go into greater detail about a subject. So, consider optimizing existing content with 1,000-word blogs and articles. Other quality contents that help with ranking include:
   1. Infographics: These are visual representations of information. Infographics help explain hard-to-understand information. Because they are visual, infographics attract user attention.
   2. Interactive content: Give users a reason to stick around by adding content they interact with. This also improves the user experience.
   3. Expert summaries: Nothing gives a topic more authority than experts talking about a subject. Send out dozens of emails asking experts to provide a brief summary. Get enough of them to respond, and you have enough material for a quality content piece.
   4. Expert guest blog posts: Offer to publish an expert guest blog post with an author byline to add invaluable credibility to your content.
5. Create a High-Quality Device-Friendly Website – Your website is your online presence. Hence, if you want to attract customers at the national level, you need to stand out amongst an endless sea of competitors.

A device-friendly website works on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, computer screens and monitors, including big-screen TVs. This enhances the user experience across all devices. A high-quality website doesn’t mean using one of those click-and-create domain providers. A high-quality website is one built from scratch by professionals that know ranking strategies.

Hire a Digital Marketing Agency that Specializes in National SEO Strategies

Hiring a qualified digital marketing agency that focuses on building a website optimized for national SEO rankings seems like a simple process. However, developing SEO strategies for national SEO ranking takes more skill and effort than a local SEO strategy. There are probably thousands of agencies that claim they know SEO, and only a handful know the intricacies of national SEO strategies.

The digital marketing agency you hire for your national SEO strategy should know how to build websites optimized for a nationwide customer base. Web Rocket Media has qualified experts that use SEO best practices. These SEO experts utilize in-house optimized content for maximum SEO exposure. 

The SEO experts at Web Rocket Media live and breathe SEO. There is no better match for your national search ranking needs. The team is a high-quality team of web designers, content writers, and social media ad campaign strategists that put their talents to work for your company. Give Web Rocket Media a call today and experience results you never dreamed possible.    Contact us today to schedule a consultation.