Any technique you can push out to improve your SEO performance is well worth considering – but you might feel that you have all the regular bases covered. If that’s the case, it’s time to go back to basics and consider whether you’re overlooking certain techniques that could significantly impact your website’s organic performance.

Here are three examples of SEO tactics that often fall by the wayside in favour of new and trending techniques – but which can still pack a powerful search punch.

1. Comprehensive Keyword Research

Keyword research forms the bedrock of any successful SEO strategy. However, merely identifying high-volume keywords isn’t enough: you must consider the user intent, too. Are they looking for information, planning to make a purchase, or comparing different products? By creating keyword lists based around intent, you can create optimised content which serves each need. This helps you to provide the right kind of content, at exactly the right time, to meet your audience’s needs and maximise conversions.

Additionally, exploring long-tail keywords – longer and more specific phrases – can uncover hidden opportunities. Imagine you have a coffee shop in London. You might explore long-tail keywords such as “quiet coffee shop with free Wi-Fi in East London” or “organic coffee roastery near Covent Garden”. While these keywords may have lower search volumes, they can be far more valuable than a generic “coffee shop in London” search.

2. Create Pillar Content with Topic Clusters

Pillar and cluster content is a powerful SEO strategy that can improve your website’s authority and relevance in the eyes of search engines. Rather than creating isolated pieces of content targeting individual keywords, this approach calls for content to be structured around an overarching topic (the pillar content) followed by the creation of supporting content (cluster content) that links back to the pillar.

By interlinking related content within your website, you not only provide a better user experience, but also signal to search engines the depth and breadth of your expertise in a particular subject area. This can result in higher rankings for your pillar content, and increased visibility for your entire website.

3. Leverage Google Search Console Reports

Google Search Console (GSC) offers invaluable insight into your website’s performance in organic search. One example is the Performance Report, which offers comprehensive data around your website’s search performance, including clicks, impressions, click-through rates (CTRs), and average search position. This can help you identify which pages and keywords drive the most traffic to your site, allowing you to prioritise your optimisation efforts accordingly.

Another valuable feature of GSC is the Index Coverage report, which highlights any issues that may prevent Google from properly indexing your website’s pages. From crawl errors to indexing errors, this report makes it easier to identify and resolve technical issues that could negatively impact your SEO performance and be costing you visitors and therefore, sales.