Dossier: SEO strategy

Content experts have a challenging task: to map out, plan, create, and distribute content. That may sound simple, but there are still a lot of factors to consider — with the result that not every piece of content they publish attracts the number of visitors it deserves. Predictive SEO can give content the boost it deserves.

A good website is never finished, in the same way that your company is ever finished. A website is alive. That is why companies renew their websites either partially or completely every few years. We call this a website migration. If you don’t develop your website or development isn’t executed properly, you can potentially lose up to 80% of your organic traffic. Fortunately, implementing a well-planned and executed website migration means your website can retain its SEO value – and your business will continue to grow afterwards. Read this blog post to find out how that works.

How Google presents search results has changed a lot in recent years, with an increase in the use of snippets and rich results. The addition of structured data to your content helps Google to understand your website better. That improves your score and gives you more chance of achieving a place at the top of the search results. In this blog iO experts explain how you can make structured data work for your organisation.

The goal of link building, as a part of SEO is to increase visibility and the number of visitors to your website, by trying to obtain a higher position in (Google) search engines results. But how does link building contribute to your overarching SEO strategy? How do you implement qualitative link building? And why is it a good idea to outsource link building?

The fact that short-form video is becoming social media’s most important format, is nothing new. TikTok has become a fierce competitor for popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and is now even becoming a threat to Google. You see, Gen Z not only uses TikTok as a social media platform but also as a search engine. About time we all started working on an SEO strategy for TikTok, then, don’t you think?

Is your organisation thinking about search marketing? Are you finding it difficult to decide between SEO and SEA? Often the combination of SEO and SEA is presented as an either/or story, while in fact, they both perform better when they work together. There is always a possibility that there will be conflicts between Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Advertising, but they can also reinforce one another. Together they can help you to achieve your goals: optimal digital visibility and findability. The only difference is how you approach it. If you want to find out more, you are in the right place.

Local SEO is local search engine optimisation, a marketing technique that ensures that your company is found easily when potential customers search with local search intention. Local SEO is becoming more important and is therefore a huge opportunity for retailers with multiple physical locations.

For the 2023 Local SEO Benchmark, we analysed nearly 100,000 business locations in 36 cities in the Netherlands and Belgium, across 14 different industries. Curious about how the retail sector in the Netherlands and Belgium is doing in terms of Local SEO? Find out in our 2023 Local SEO Benchmark Report . Some key conclusions of the 2023 Local SEO Benchmark Report:

In 2020 we published "The 2020 Local SEO Benchmark Report". Our analysis of the state of local SEO in the Dutch retail sector. At the time, our conclusions were not too positive. About 75% of all business listings were incorrect or incomplete, less than 26% of retail chains had made a Google post, and only 8% answered reviews and customer questions. Now, three years later, we've mapped the state of local SEO again, but this time we’ve expanded the scope of our analysis covering 36 cities in the Netherlands and Belgium, divided into 14 different industries. In total, we collected and analysed data from nearly 100,000 business locations and over the last few months, we have analysed the results and are proud that we can now  share the report and the most important findings. Let's dive into the key insights...

From libraries to Google to TikTok...in just a few decades, our source of information has shifted to unexpected places. Today, a whopping 40% of young people use TikTok as their primary source of information.   Did you know that this platform is increasingly focusing on its own search function? This makes TikTok SEO an essential part of your digital strategy. 

Since Google Optimize closed its doors in October 2023, you might be wondering where to turn for reliable A/B testing tools. Well, you're not alone. Here at iO, we've navigated the shifting landscape to find the best alternatives for you, uncovering the leading A/B testing solutions that stand out for their innovation and efficiency. This guide is crafted from our expertise to yours, offering a streamlined selection of tools that promise to fill the gap left by Google Optimize and enhance your digital marketing strategies. 

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation) is important to generate more conversions from website users. However, Google will soon be taking its special CRO tool, Google Optimize, offline. So what are the alternatives?

Google is the unequivocal search engine market leader (and probably will be for a while). However, when it comes to search queries, there’s a challenger to that monopoly: Bing by Microsoft. In the last few months, Bing made some significant strides, moving from 1 in 20 search queries to almost 1 in 5. That growing influence and Bing’s market share are some aspects you should leverage in your digital strategies. You can ignore 5% of your potential visitors, but ignoring 18% of the queries that lead to your business would probably have a significant impact on your business – and not in a good way.

Almost everyone has a smartphone these days, on which we often use navigation apps such as Google Maps. Google indicates that almost half of all searches on this platform, namely 46%, have a local intent*. As a retailer, you simply cannot ignore this; it is essential for you that potential customers can find your locations effortlessly. To support retailers in this challenge and provide them with practical knowledge, strategies and insights, we decided to organise an exclusive event around local search.

Stay ahead of your competitors by focusing on Local SEO. Request a Local SEO (LSO) Opportunity Scan and discover where your optimisation opportunities lie. 

Our SEO experts make sure you are found online — by both people and robots.

Find out what changes are coming to SEO in 2022 and use these insights to power up both your online and offline presence.

What are the trends in search engine marketing in 2023? What should we look out for when machine learning takes over part of our work? We list three notable trends and provide some best practices.

It’s best to describe every product you sell or service you offer as accurately as possible on your website so that your target group knows exactly what you can do for them. Carrying out keyword research ensures that the pages on your website are relevant. 5 key insights emerge from keyword research that demonstrate the added value of this research for your organisation.

Artificial intelligence is nothing new under the sun. We ask our smart speakers what the weather’s like today, use smart translators and let algorithms decide our choice of entertainment. The general public is clearly ready to accept AI as an everyday part of life. One example of an AI tool that is becoming increasingly popular is ChatGPT.

Organisations who wanted to accelerate the digital growth of their business in 2023, stay ahead in e-commerce, or were making plans to innovate their e-commerce landscape - all were welcome at the Webwinkel Vakdagen (Webshop Trade Days) to accomplish just that. To no one’s surprise, iO made an appearance at the event. At our booth we shared our e-commerce expertise across two days, in the form of compact Lightning Talks dedicated to sharing our (strategic- insights in e-commerce trends. 

Whether you were looking for inspiration about trends and developments in e-commerce or about important choices to realise (international) growth ambitions. With 200+ lectures and 250+ exhibitors, the Webwinkel Vakdagen was home to all the knowledge and inspiration you needed to make a fresh start in 2024. We were also present as an exhibitor. At our stand, we shared valuable insights on the most discussed e-commerce trends during our Lightning Talks. Moreover, during the iO Table Talks, a group of e-commerce professionals got the chance to discuss the future of their e-commerce business.

A content strategy is often based on your own insights and those of the client. At iO, we like to link data to this that confirms or corrects those assumptions. In this webinar, data expert Michael will show how he generates the right data to build his strategy based on keyword and competition analyses and content dashboards, and what a data-driven content strategy will look like in the future.

Google Search Console is an incredibly powerful tool whose strength is still relatively unknown to the general public. This has to change. In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the reports Google Search Console has to offer and equip you with the skills you need to optimise your website.