You may have noticed, but it is quite difficult sometimes to get on the top ranking pages in google and other SERPs. Corporations which have been established for 50 years or more tend to jump right up the rankings and then the rest of the results trickle down after them. If there any way in which you can bypass the corporate giants and get your site seen? Here are 5 SEO tips that will help you to stand up to the giants.

Be Specific

If you are a retail market that specializes in polka dot pantyhose then your SEO should be focused on meeting this niche. You do not want to try to go head to head on the retail keywords, you will not win. However, if you can find something unique about your site that is not offered on the corporate sites then you have a wedge in which to get past the corporate giants SEO. For example:Back to school suppliers will undoubtedly give you Walmart, Target, Kmart, Amazon, and Ebay on the ranking page. Yet, if you have “Buy your pre-made school supply kit for the 2015-2016 Lamar County School system” then you have the upper hand. First, you are offering a supply kit, secondly you are localizing the business, and thirdly you are not just throwing out a keyword that is already dominated by the giants.

Use topics

Do not abandon key words completely (they have their place and are essential to SEO) but use topics and long-tail keywords as your main SEO “keyword” strategy. You need to ensure that your topics and your long tail keywords are relevant to your site as you will be sacrificing the popular keywords with those that have less popular words. Why would you want to do this?

Much like being specific puts you in a better for your SEO so does adding words that are not overly popular. Remember, people do not search for keywords when they use Google, they search for content. Having a long-tail keyword/topic such as “a step by step guide for installing your brake pads” instead of “brake pad installation” may get you better SEO results.

Market to the Local Crowd

One of the best strategies that you can have concerning your SEO is to localize your market. Where the giants may have the upper hand on the global market, you can get to the top rankings locally if you focus your attention locally. Google listings as well as local sponsorships will help you tremendously. If you can post a local video to your site, this will help as well. Where the giants may have the upper hand on the global retail market, those which are seeking locally owned business can find you if you make yourself known.

Make your social status personal

Comments on social media platforms and customer engagement are critical parts for SEO. Many times corporations will forget that the personal touch is what drives the sharing and the comments and they rely more on the product reviews on social media. If you can put the personal touch to your brand strategy then you will have a leg up on the giants. The more humanized and non-corporate your business is, the more apt you are to get a following of engaged clients.

Keep the content coming

Perhaps one of the best ways in which to stand up to the giants with your SEO is to keep the SEO content going. Do not make the mistake of getting your site “SEO ready” and then just hope that your blog will carry you the rest of the way. Keep your content fresh and engaging, ensure that you keep your SEO current by checking it daily, and when needed implement new SEO strategies.

Giants write campaigns and generally fail to get involved in the “how to” or the “engaging content”. Why should they? Their businesses are already making billions of dollars and people typically flock to their sites anyway. You can greatly increase your chances of getting past the corporate giants by making relative and engaging content (partnered of course with great visuals) on a regular basis. Keep the content coming and the SEO current and you will see results.

Press on

SEO is an ongoing process and requires that you are committed to the long term. As ranking system algorithms work in cycles, you should not expect immediate results on the changes that you make. Keep in mind that your SEO will greatly depend upon other factors such as duplicate content, mobile friendly site, social media integration, linking, keywords, and organic content. However, if you are diligent and use the strategies above, I am sure you will see that you too can be on the top SERPs.