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Imagine this: your team created an aesthetically pleasing website for your company’s pharma marketing blog. The posts are concise, interesting, and educational. So why is no one visiting the site? There may be a simple answer—you’re not implementing an SEO strategy.

SEO stands for ‘search engine optimization.’ In non-technical terms, SEO helps your website appear at the top of search results. An SEO strategy boosts this process and increases the likelihood that people will view your content. But how do you create one?

First, you must understand how Google ranks websites. While Google’s algorithm is top secret, we do know a few things. They have bots, sometimes called spiders, which ‘crawl’ your website looking for keywords, content, and links. Google then indexes your site so it can appear in the search results when people type in a topic related to your content.

Next, focus on using keywords in your page titles, meta descriptions, subheadings, page content, and URLs, as this is a sure way to move up in search result rankings. Essentially, keywords describe what your pages are about. There are many types of keywords, but the two most important are short-tail and long-tail. Short-tail keywords are broad, containing 1-3 words. An example could be ‘pharma marketing’ or even just ‘pharma.’ Although short-tail keywords are more competitive and harder to rank for, you should still use them as part of your strategy because they’re highly searched for. Long-tail keywords, as the name implies, are longer and more specific, for example, ‘pharma marketing companies in New Jersey.’ While long-tail keywords are searched less often, they’re less competitive and easier to rank high for. To determine which keywords to use, make a list of terms related to your business and type each one into the Google search bar to see the autocompletion recommendations. You can also scroll to the bottom of the search results page to the “Related searches” section for more ideas. Google Trends is a great tool for seeing the search activity of people in the U.S. and across the world. These keyword tips will help you create content that people are actually searching for.

Third, develop a link-building plan. Link-building refers to having other websites link back to your website. You can accomplish this through guest blogging on other sites, asking your partners to mention you on their sites, working with influencers, posting shareable content on social media, and issuing press releases.

Another component of your SEO strategy should be your website’s usability. In other words, how user-friendly is your website? Most people who click on a site will leave within seconds if it doesn’t load fast enough, is hard to understand, or is not mobile responsive, and Google knows this. If you increase the time spent on your site through smart design and easy readability, you’ll likely increase your ranking.

Finally, be sure to frequently update your website. You can do this by refreshing your content, blogging, posting press releases, uploading white papers, adding new testimonials, and more. When people visit your pages often, Google sees your website as active and valuable, which could help it rank higher.