SEO and Hashtags-Become a better Digital Marketer today

We all know hashtags and SEO can be overwhelming, that’s why I did the research so you could focus on being effective in your approach from the get-go.

Table of content:

– What is a hashtag?

– What is SEO?

– SEO + Hashtags

– Conclusion

What is a hashtag?

Simply put a hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hash symbol to categorize content with a label to be used on social media sites. This makes it easier for users to find specific information and posts related to certain topics or themes.

It helps users who are interested in certain topics or information to quickly find content or discover content related to that specific topic. This enables cross-referencing of content that is mostly generated by users. It is fair to say that hashtags serve as a sorting process to enable discovery.

Hashtags are derived from social media (specifically Twitter) and are most commonly used there. However, they can be effectively used on most social sites nowadays to reach a target audience, attract followers in your niche, increase engagement, and develop a positive and recognizable brand image.

Hashtags could help find your specific audience but more importantly help your audience find you. The idea is to not only attract an audience but to attract the right audience.

If used properly hashtags will get more engagement, help your posts get discovered by viewers most interested in seeing them, consequently getting more engagement for the content you post.

According to a Hubspot survey, 85% of marketers have a documented hashtag strategy that they use and 81% of marketers say using hashtags has been very effective.

What hashtags to use?

There is a variety of different hashtags to be used and they all serve a different purpose or relate to different strategies or events that the marketer would like to draw attention to.

The hashtag you choose to use should have relevance to both your company, the post itself, and the content that you generally post.

Types of hashtags:

• Product or service
• Industry niche
• Branded
• Campaign
• User-generated
• Community hashtags for your industry
• Event
• Location
• Phrase
• Cultural movement

What is an SEO?

SEO is the abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization which refers to the process of optimizing your website’s organic traffic and the ranking your site has in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.

Simply put it is the process of finding your audience using research to optimize the probability that they will land on your site whenever they search for a service or information related to your company.

Search engines use digital content (keywords, location, language, content, previous searches, etc) and organize the information into hierarchically ranked result pages.

For example, when you type a certain word or phrase in Google the results it gives are all related to your input and your web experience.

Furthermore, the idea for SEO is to produce accurate search results for the user that is relevant and reliable to their search.

However, for businesses, it is used to rank highly in search engine results. It is an important factor to help boost the online visibility of your business and if set up correctly it could continue to lead traffic to your site over time.

SEO is everything you do on your site that could impact how search engines view it, like site metadata, mobile compatibility, site speed, etc basically everything that Google looks for.

Fun fact: Google is the world leader in search. Google has over 85% of the search market share and has maintained that level for a decade. They have, by far, the most sophisticated search and indexing algorithm out there. Their index is the largest, their analysis and sorting are the most sophisticated, and they’re constantly pushing the envelope on search technology.

Types of SEO

On-page SEO / On-site SEO

This is the practice of optimizing web pages for specific keywords, like title tags, content, headings, and internal links with keywords. On-page SEO enables search engines to understand your content and use that to rank your content for specific queries.

URLs play a critical role in Google’s understanding of what your page is about. It is advisable to include keywords in your URL, use real words, keep your URL short, and use hyphens between words. 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the improvement of the technical aspects of a website to increase the ranking of its pages in the search engines. To make your website faster, more understandable, and easier to navigate.

This addresses things like how secure your page is, if it is mobile optimized, how fast your page is loading, site speed, the amount of duplicate content, the site structure, etc.

Off-page / off-site SEO

Off-page SEO includes everything that happens outside of your website but still impacts the ranking of your site on search engines. To optimize off-page SEO you need to look at the popularity and user perception of your site, trustworthiness, and relevance.

User perception of the quality of a website is influenced by getting links from trustworthy sites, mentions of your brand, sharing of your content, and votes of confidence from sources outside of your website. This is all based on the simple human behavior that people only share or reference content they like.

How to approach SEO?

SEO can attract conversation, get you more leads, and ultimately encourage sales, it is a long-term strategy that includes creating high-quality content related to your niche, in addition to monitoring your site’s technical health, leading links from other websites to your site, maintaining your site’s local search presence, and more. 

Base your content strategy on the right keywords, create consistent content, optimize for local and technical SEO, and adapt your strategy as necessary based on performance. A complete SEO strategy involves competitive research and content amplification.

Tips on creating the perfect SEO: 

– Do keyword research to create a blog post

– Optimize existing content so that your webpage has a better chance at being used as a featured snippet in the SERPs (search engine results pages

– Work on technical SEO elements to improve page speed

All it takes to learn SEO is a curious mindset and a passion for helping searchers find the information they need.

SEO + Hashtags

While hashtags are primarily used in social media strategies, they could have a worthy indirect impact on SEO and website traffic. Using social media is a part of the best SEO practices. Social media doesn’t directly impact rankings, but it is a crucial off-page SEO tactic.

Hashtags and SEO help people find information more quickly, it ensures your content is placed in front of the right audience that can find the information valuable. It can increase your chances of getting exposure and traffic back to your website from an aligned target audience. It can increase backlink opportunities by getting specific content seen by users that may link back to your website.

Conclusion

To summarize what makes a digital marketing campaign successful is taking a holistic approach to each channel and understanding how each one can serve the other.

Using social media and SEO to work together instead of independently can have a significant, positive impact on your website. So start implementing strategic hashtags for added SEO and website benefits.

Hashtags can now add value to your #SEO campaigns and, by using them properly on social media, you can drive long-term, steady referral traffic back to your site.

By optimizing your blog, post, video, or graphic descriptions with hashtags, your topic becomes categorized and placed directly in front of readers who are genuinely interested in learning more about your company or product.

A properly placed hashtag can prompt readers to visit your webpage or share your information further, improving social media activity and visibility – key for generating SEO success.

If you are interested in learning more check out these platforms and get certified: https://thedigitalmarketinginstitute.org

https://abacusdigital.org

All it takes to learn SEO is a curious mindset and a passion for helping searchers find the information they need.

All it takes to learn SEO is a curious mindset and a passion for helping searchers find the information they need.