As the Internet and digital devices become more and more deeply ingrained in the day-to-day lives of the global population, consumer habits and preferences are shifting. For a great many people, e-commerce is now the option of choice when it comes to sourcing the products and services they need, and in almost all cases, these consumers are beginning their journeys on search engine sites like Google. Given this trend, it’s easy to see why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has emerged as such an essential part of what constitutes a successful digital business strategy today. In spite of understanding this, though, you may find that you’re struggling to make any real ground when it comes to search engine rankings. So, why might this be the case?
In truth, there’s a good chance that your problems may be a consequence of your geography, as geolocation issues can have a considerable impact on SEO initiatives. Fortunately, by leveraging the power of Virtual Private Networks, it is possible to overcome these challenges and achieve meaningful growth in SEO. In this article, I’ll discuss exactly what VPNs are all about and how they can empower SEO for your start-up.
Analyzing results pages
A successful SEO strategy is always built on a solid foundation of research. That involves analyzing and assessing Search Engine Results Pages, or SERPs, to gain insight into which search terms offer the best ranking potential in your target region. While that may seem a relatively straightforward task, it can be much more challenging than it sounds.
The reality is that most popular search engines now use geotargeting in order to provide a more personalized experience to users. While this has some benefits, of course, it is impractical for SEO research. This is because it causes search engines to return results that are only relevant to the location you’re searching from, rather than the area you want to target. However, by simply using a free VPN, you can surmount this obstacle with relative ease.
Using a VPN, you can connect to a remote server that acts as a middleman between you and the search engine you’re using. This means that you can conceal your IP address and location to appear as a user in the server region. Once connected, you can simulate searches from your target region and gain meaningful insights into rankings so that you can devise an effective local SEO strategy in that region.
Assessing local SEO strategies
Having successfully conducted thorough keyword and market research in your target region or regions, you will want to begin testing the local SEO strategies that you have developed to ensure that you’re building your authority as planned. This is ordinarily quite challenging when attempting to test strategies in multiple regions, but a virtual private network can make all the difference.
As we’ve mentioned, VPNs can enable you to achieve unmatched locational flexibility online, and this will stand you in good stead when testing local SEO. Since you can effectively change your location as often as you please with just the click of a button, you will be able similar traffic from a variety of different regions and conduct searches to determine how well you are performing on your target keywords in those parts of the world. In this way, using a VPN can not only help you to devise more resonant SEO strategies, but it can also help you to assess their effectiveness after they’ve been rolled out so that you can tweak them on the fly to continually improve your rankings.
Protecting your SEO data
As you strive to achieve meaningful results through SEO, you will naturally acquire considerable amounts of data through research and analysis. This data can be highly valuable, so you should seek to protect it as best you can to safeguard your progress against the threat of breach. Conveniently, this is also an area where VPNs perform to a high level.
By allowing you to conceal your IP address and stay anonymous online, a VPN will allow you to fly under the radar and avoid the attention of hackers who might seek to track you and mount an attack. What’s more, since VPNs apply robust encryption protocols to user data, they can help to keep your sensitive research findings safe from prying eyes, even on an unsecured public network.
In this way, a VPN application can help you defend against cybercrime, allowing you to pursue your SEO goals without having to worry about a setback due to a data breach.
Final thoughtsIn digital marketing, search engine rankings are everything, so engaging in effective SEO is essential to the success of your start-up. While geolocation may pose some challenges along the way, it is possible to transcend the limitations of your geography with virtual private networks. By leveraging VPNs to your advantage, you can conduct meaningful keyword research, accurately assess the effectiveness of local strategies, and protect your valuable data to achieve better results through SEO.