The Three Main Focus Areas For SEO in 2021

If you ask for my advice and I should pinpoint three main focus areas for SEO in 2021 for you to focus on, here are my priorities:

Google Core Web Vitals:

The focus of user-friendly websites is a key focus for Google, and they have already announced that Core Web Vitals will be a ranking factor in May 2021.

So now would be a good time to check your site’s conditions to see if you are ready.

What should you focus on?

Load speed is critical, and it is way too time-consuming to test it on individual URL´s, So the first step is to get a tool that can run an SEO Audit.

You can download a free trial of Website Audit here – that is a fine tool that gets you an overview of any technical errors your website might have.

Content optimization

If you thought it is just about splashing your primary keyword in a headline and a few times during the article, you could be pretty sure that you are NOT GOING TO RANK IN GOOGLE.

You need to examine your competitors carefully:

• How are they structuring their headlines?
• How many words do your competitors use?
• How many times are they using different words? 
• How many images are they using? 
• How many paragraphs are they using?

You can go through each competitor in Google manually, but if you have to carefully examine each result, it will take days!

It would be best if you had a tool that can examine all this and an editor that keeps track of how your text is structured for maximum impact in Google.

One of the best tools on the market is Surfer SEO. For a limited time, Surfer SEO offers a 7 day trial for just $1 – that is time enough to clean up your most important content for your primary keywords. 

Link building

Link building is a real pain for many webmasters – how do I get started, and where do I find good and relevant link opportunities?

First of all, it is NOT about the quantity – it is about THE QUALITY of the backlinks you get!.

It would help if you focused on websites with authority within the same or similar niche as your webpage.

You don´t want links from a children’s cloth shop if you are selling laptop computers. And who would click on such a link that is completely off topic? 

It is also important that you keep track of the different link building opportunities you are chasing.

It might seem time-consuming, but you can stay completely organized with the right system and know exactly which opportunities you have explored and where you are heading.

Interesting link opportunities.

Here are a few examples you can explore:

• Guest posting 
• Review pages 
• Top ranking pages 
• Similar websites 
• Backlink Gap 
• Competitor´s new backlink

Once again, trying to stay organized in a spreadsheet trying to figure out which websites you have contacted is almost impossible.

Especially for guest posting, it is vital that you can keep track of which website owners you have contacted and where you are in the process.

There is a tool that can be streamlining your entire link-building process and keep the entire process organized.

You can read my review of Link-Assistant here.

Conclusion:

Since Google Core Web Vitals is being counted as a ranking factor it is important that you take action before May 2021.

If your website is loading too slow or is not mobile-friendly, you simply miss your chance for a top position in Google – even how well crafted your content is.

I hope this little intro to the three main focus areas for SEO in 2021 and a few ideas to get started – even if you are on a shoestring budget, it is time to take action! 🙂 

All the best,

Brian