In the political sphere, you might think Google is your BFF. After all, you can find anything you need to know about your campaign, your opponent, and your policies with a few keystrokes. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. You see, without the right Political SEO strategies in place, you could be throwing good money after bad. You see, search engines like Google take into account a lot of different factors when ranking websites. Things like technical performance, content relevance, user experience, and trust are just some of the criteria they check. So, if your campaign’s website isn’t optimized for search, it could be costing you money. As a result, that’s why we’re here to explain what you can do to increase your campaign’s SEO efforts and save money in the process.
Tips for Political SEO Campaigns: How to Save Money, Increase Engagement, and More
Use an SEO-friendly domain name
This is one of the first things you can do to improve your SEO efforts. A domain name is your website’s address — that’s what shows up in search engine results. The address is typically made up of letters and numbers. So, the address for www.shadycandidates.org could be “www.shadycandidates.org/”. Now, if your domain is “shadycandidates.org”, then you’re going to have a lot of problems with your SEO efforts. Why? Because “shadycandidates.org” is not a keyword-rich domain. Instead, it’s made of very generic words — “shady,” “candidates,” “campaign,” and “for.” So, if Google is looking for a website about shady candidates, it’s not going to find it. Even worse, Google might think your website is a spammy site. That’s not a good look for the people who are looking to win the election.
Make your website mobile-friendly
Now, you might be thinking, “We’re not in 2016, what’s the big deal if Google sees our website?” Well, that might be true. But, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you could be losing out on a lot of potential visitors. Why? Because there are a lot of people out there who spend their time browsing the internet on the go. So, if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, there’s a risk you could miss out on a lot of potential voters. Now, you might be thinking, “But my website looks fine on my phone.” We get it — we’re not technical experts, either! What we can tell you is that our experience is that most people’s iPhones are higher resolution than the average human’s eyes are. That means most people will only have a subpar experience when visiting your website on a mobile device. That’s a waste of time and money.
Create a List of Targeted Keywords
Now, it’s important to note that, while keywords are helpful, they are not the end all be all for SEO. You see, there are other factors that determine how high your site will rank. One of those is your domain name, which we talked about above. Another is your content. After all, if you’re not writing great content, then you’re not going to rank well in Google. So, before you start writing your next editorial, let’s talk about some keywords you can use to improve your Political SEO efforts.
– The name of your campaign – The policies your campaign is based around – The issues your campaign is focused on – The team behind your campaign – The events your campaign will be participating in – The places where you’ll be holding your events – The concessions you’ll be giving to voters – The policies you’re looking to pass – The policies your opponent is looking to pass – Your campaign’s mission – Your campaign’s vision – Your campaign’s core values – Your campaign’s tagline
Write compelling content for Political SEO
Now, you may be thinking, “We don’t have the time or money for content.” You’re right! That’s why you should start now. And, what better place to start than with the content that will be showing up on your website? Why not make content that educates your readers about how your policies work? Or about the issues your campaign is focused on? Or about the team behind your campaign? How about the events you’ll be participating in? Or about the concessions you’ll be giving to voters? It’s all good content that will help your campaign’s SEO efforts.
Use Schema.org for Better Content Optimization
Now, Google is a big fan of content that is easily navigable and understandable. That’s why it’s a good idea to make sure your content is Schema.org-compliant. Now, what is Schema.org? Well, it’s a set of rules and guidelines that help Google understand the content. That makes it easier for Google to rank your website higher in search engine results. What’s more, Schema.org allows bots to see your content and allows for better back-end management. That means you’ll be able to see which keywords are driving traffic to your website and which content is driving traffic.
Build a Website from Scratch for Political SEO
Now, you might be thinking, “But our website is fine!” We get it. But, we’re telling you that things like your site’s structure, the way you’re structuring your content, the navigation on your site, and your headers and footers could be harming your SEO efforts. Why? Because they aren’t helping your content to rank higher in Google. And, you don’t want to be wasting your time making your website as good as new. What you want to do is make sure you’re following all of the Political SEO tips we’ve outlined above. That way, you’ll be able to have a website that is optimized for both technical performance and content relevance.
Find Out Where Your Audience Is Hanging Out
Now, one of the best ways to improve your campaign’s Political SEO efforts is to find out where your audience is hanging out. After all, if you want to be in front of your audience, you’ll need to be in front of them. So, you might be thinking, “What’s the best way to find out where my audience is hanging out online?” Well, there are a few things you can do. First, you can set up an ad campaign using Facebook ads. Second, set up an ad campaign using Google ads. And, third, set up an ad campaign using Instagram ads. Why? Because each one has a different way of finding out where your audience is hanging out online. What’s more, each one will have a different impact. So, you can use them to find out where different segments of your audience is hanging out online. Now, once you know where your audience is hanging out, you can create a website that is optimized for those areas.
Get good at link building
Now, when it comes to link building, you’re going to want to follow some best practices. Why? Because they could be costing you money in the long run. To begin with, make sure you’re following Google’s link building guidelines. Why? Because they could be hurting your campaign’s SEO efforts. Another thing you want to make sure you’re doing is not creating spammy links. Why? Because spammy links can be thought of as black hat link building. That means they could be harming your campaign’s Political SEO efforts. And, if Google sees that you’re creating spammy links, they could be ranking you lower in their search results. What’s more, a lot of link building is done manually. That means it takes a lot of time. That’s time your campaign could be spending on other things. So, if you want to be saving time and money, you can