Search Engine Optimization can boost the traffic to your site by paying closer attention to what your visitors want from you. It can help you create the content that your readers will enjoy while optimizing your pages to be as useful as possible.
The first steps towards search engine optimization can be scary, but you can start implementing small changes to improve your rankings in search results.
11 tips to keep in mind:
1. Think like a user
Once you start searching like a user, the next step is to also think like a user when you’re improving your site. You don’t have to be an SEO expert to make small tweaks to your site’s performance.
For example, how fast is your load page? If your site is too slow then this will also affect your search rankings. Moreover, if your site is not optimized for all devices, then Google probably won’t place you high in the search results.
2. Learn the art of the headline
Your headlines should be short but descriptive. It’s suggested you create headlines of 50-60 characters. This is the limit of what search engines access so even if you create longer headlines, the rest won’t be tracked.
3. Add internal links
Internal links help you highlight the value of your content. It’s a good way to increase your traffic while boosting your SEO, one page at a time. Every link should have a different focus keyword to avoid cannibalizing your own content.
4. Add external links
External links can also bring value to your site provided that you use them in moderation. You don’t want to lose your readers by leading them to a page that serves as your competitor. Treat link building as a strategy and avoid the temptation of over-stuffing your content with external links.
5. Involve social media
It’s common to ask whether social media affects your SEO strategy. Although there is no direct correlation between the two, it is still useful to build your social presence while improving your search rankings.
6. Create fresh content and don’t forget your older content
Fresh content can serve as a ‘signal’ that you’re regularly updating your site. Whether it’s a blog post or any tweaks to keep your messaging new, it’s good to add new content from time to time.
Except for new content, it’s also useful to revise your existing copy. Your older blog posts can end up having a bigger value than your latest ones. SEO takes time to work, which means that the older your post, the higher it can land in rankings.
7. Add meta tags
Title tags describe the content of your page. It’s the language that helps search engines understand what your site is about. This is where you need to add the right keywords that are more relevant to your page.
8. Optimize your images
SEO is not limited to written text, but it can also extend to images. As visual content becomes more popular, it’s critical to optimize your images to make them easier for people to find them.
Think of image search as a new chance of building traffic to your site.
9. Local SEO
Local marketing is gaining ground as more marketers try to reach more targeted audiences. As Google invests in local advertising, there is also a growing space for local SEO. Keyword strategies focus more on local audiences and the copy can be optimized to fit different targeting.
10. Understand your keywords (but search like a human being)
You need to perform keyword research to find the best keywords that will bring you success. The next step is to include them in your copy in the most natural way. It’s important to understand that your keywords are your search terms that people will search for your site. They need to make sense and they shouldn’t be too general.
11. Focus on your content
A good start to search engine optimization is to pay attention to your content. Keywords can help you become more specific to your search objectives, but you still need to create quality content.
Your content should make sense to your readers first, rather than the search engines.
searchenginewatch.com
