AERPOWER Blog

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SEO for (Aviation) Dummies

“What is SEO”
“What does SEO stand for”
“What is SEO Marketing”
“How do I improve my SEO?”
“Quick fixes for SEO” 
“How do I rank better in search?” 
“How to improve search engine optimization”

Any of these questions sound familiar? Well, you aren’t alone. In fact the first three questions stated receive 22.2k, 3.6k and 3.6k searches respectively on average per month according to SEMrush. 

We all know that SEO is import, that we need SEO but we don’t often really understand what SEO is – and it really has become a term that seems to overwhelm us.

At AERPOWER, we get asked about SEO almost daily, whether it be our existing clients, or new clients looking for help – SEO is always part of the discussion. Especially now, as our traditional and in-person industry has had to rely on more digital marketing channels due to COVID-19

While SEO may seem daunting, we hope you have a much better grasp on it after reading this blog. Let’s dig in.

What the heck is SEO?!

“A methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP) – including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.”

– Webopedia

But to simplify even further let’s use this definition…

“In its simplest form, SEO or search engine optimization is anything done that improves the ranking of a website on search engines results pages (SERPs)”

– Marketpath

What can I do to improve the ranking of my Website?

Naturally, that was our next question! Every search engine is different – we will use Google since it holds 70% of the market share. So our next step is to see what Google values when determining rankings. This can be a bit challenging as Google is constantly updating algorithms and priorities but even with the constant change certain fundamentals remain the same and what it all really comes down to is quality. Quality of your website. Quality of your website content & experience. 

QUALITY OF YOUR WEBSITE.
This is a bit more on the technical side and something that your developer or IT team should be able to assist with. Really for this blog we want to focus more on the Quality of Content but I do want to spend a few moments here. Let’s break this down and give you a couple action items.

  1. Is your website secure and accessible?
  • Quick Checklist
    • Is your website is well-coded on a website builder such as WordPress?
    • A robots.txt file tells Google where it can and can’t locate site information
    • A sitemap is created that lists all your webpages (this can be done through Google Search Console or the All in One SEO Plugin – if your website is built on WordPress)
    • Do you have an SSL certificate? (If your web address is HTTPS you are good! If you have HTTP – chat with your IT team to get it updated)

2. How is your website speed (both desktop and mobile)

3. Is your website Mobile Friendly?

  • Quick Checklist
    • Pull up your site on your phone – how does it look? Does it resize to fit the device? Are fonts easy to read? Are the menus easy to click and use? Is content easily accessible?

4. Domain Age and URL

  • Quick Checklist
    • Does your URL reflect your business?
    • How long has your URL existed? (While you can’t speed time up, it is helpful to know that nearly 60% of sites that rank in the top ten Google search spots are 3 years or older – according to an AHREFS Study)

5. Technical SEO (While this all seems overwhelming – it can actually easily be done with a plugin like All in One SEO – if you are using a WordPress Site.)

  • Quick Checklist
    • Are keywords used in page titles?
    • Do you use header tags H1, H2, H3?
    • Do you have optimized meta descriptions that entice readers and use keyword phrases on each page?
    • Do you use alt tags on your site?
    • Do you use schema markup to tell Google what kind of content you produce?

OUR MAIN FOCUS –> QUALITY OF YOUR WEBSITE CONTENT.
Now this is the fun part. The part that we as marketers can really dive into and optimize. Let’s jump in.

  • Content & Experience. What is the purpose of your website? To let people know you exist? To provide information on your products and services? To place yourself in contention for their business? – So how do we do that? First we have to understand our audience. What are they looking for? What information do they need to make a decision? Let’s break it down a bit more by looking at the buying process for our industry. We know that we have a LONG sales cycle – purchases in aerospace and defense aren’t cheap and usually are not quick decisions – meaning, our audience will want to consume quite a bit of information before making a decision. We can break that down by looking at the different phases of the buyers journey.
    1. First is the awareness or navigation stage. This is the stage where the buyer may not know that you exist. Our goal here is to incorporate content on our site that will help them find you. How do we do that?
      • Think about questions they may type into Google. What phrases or keywords will they use? What generic terms can you use? For example if someone isn’t aware of your product – they won’t know to search for your product names but they will know to search for your product type/category for example “airplane” vs “Boeing” or “avionics” vs “Garmin G1000”
    2. Second is the consideration or information/investigation stage. This is the stage where a buyer knows their options and is comparing offerings. Our goal here is to convince the buyer that we have the best option available and they want to purchase from us. How do we do that?
      • What type of information would help them with this? Product descriptions, benefits, features, demos, comparisons, case studies, etc. So how do we rank for this? We provide quality content that speaks to your product/service using both generic and branded keywords
    3. Third is the decision or transactional stage.This is the stage where a buyer is making their final decision. Our goal here is to get them to make the purchase. How do we do that?
      • What type of information would help them with this? Company contact or sales information so they can speak to you directly, product guarantees, customer service offerings, pricing, etc. So how do we rank for this? We make sure this information is easily available on your website.

Now how do we get all this content on our website? First, every page should have a specific purpose and at least 300 quality words (research suggest that content with 2,000+ words gets more top 10 rankings) on each page that help with that purpose – not just marketing fluff. Really think about what questions your customers would ask. What terms will they search for? What keywords do you want to be known for? Then make sure those terms are used on that page.

Let’s look at AERPOWER as an example. We want to be known for Aviation Marketing so our main keyword is Aviation Marketing. We use it throughout our entire website to make sure that we rank for that term. However, we have secondary terms as well, for example, on our Services, page we want to be known for “branding”, “promotional campaigns”, “content”, “websites”, and “strategy” so we made sure to have a dedicated page where we can talk more about those items and the services we provide in depth.

Additionally, at AERPOWER, we have conducted research on what top search terms or phrases are around Aviation Marketing – once we gathered that information we started a Blog where we can address those questions directly. Take this blog for example – all of those questions that we started this blog with are searched over a thousand times each month – and this blog addresses them directly. Google will see a user type that question and will connect it to this blog. Meaning this blog should rank well in search – helping users find us!

Blogging 

I mentioned blogging above, and to be honest if you take anything away from this blog I want it to be this. Blogging is one of the most important things you can do to help with your SEO. Here is how:

Create a list of terms you want to be known for, questions you are commonly asked, talk to your sales team and see what questions they get asked, use a program like SEMrush to conduct keyword research, do a competitive analysis to see what keywords your competition is ranking for that you aren’t – then start a blog. Take each and every one of those topics from above and dive into them. Make yourself the expert, help your users find you, and rank well with Google because you are providing quality content for your users. 

Curious where you currently stand? Take that information you gathered from above and go straight to the source – Google it! Where do you rank? If it is lower than you expected – it’s time to beef up your content. Take a look at some of the sites that rank well for what you Googled – what are they doing that you aren’t?

Backlinks

Last, I want to talk about backlinks. Backlinks are extremely important as they help Google decide your website Authority – or a simpler way to explain would be credibility. A backlink is a link from another website that points to you. If the website that is pointing to you is a credible source – then Google will see that website trusts you and will also consider you a credible source as well. For example, let’s take Aviation International News (AIN) or Vertical Magazine. Both are very popular in our industry, receive high traffic numbers each month, and are constantly pushing out content. These well established web presences have high authority – if they were to have links on their sites that directed back to you, Google would see that as a credible recommendation and would rank you higher in other search instances. The more credible backlinks you have, the better your search rank will be. Here are some ideas to help you with backlinks:

  • Get listed on credible directories
  • Guest Blog on other sites or forums (and link back to your site of course)
  • Get featured in articles
  • Produce & distribute Press Releases
  • Promote your content – see if other sources will help you distribute it
  • Write testimonials on other sites
  • Contact journalists, bloggers or other important influencers in Aerospace
  • Use Social Media to direct back to your website

Wrapping it all up

So to recap – SEO is anything done to improve your search rankings. And as marketers we can affect that through quality content. Don’t have the time to focus on SEO or need help – we got you. Give us a shout.