No matter who you are: whether a small business owner, SEO specialist at an agency, or DIYer; these SEO tips will make your site easier for both visitors and search engines alike - as well as help your site rank higher in Google's search results pages.
Link building
Link building is a key aspect of SEO and should be treated as such. There have been various shady techniques developed over time for acquiring links, which may damage your search engine rankings. To build links in an organic manner, create valuable content and foster relationships instead of buying links or spamming other websites; these approaches are more sustainable long-term strategies.
Step one to making your website link-worthy is understanding what kind of content your audience desires. A great way to do this is by studying competitors' online presences - their topics and websites they visit - then filling any gaps in coverage by creating in-depth pieces on those subjects yourself.
When choosing which websites to target, it is essential to remember that different websites carry different weight in Google's eyes. For instance, linking from The New York Times will likely carry more weight than linking from Aunt B's riding school website.
Refreshing content
Refreshing content is a key element of an effective SEO strategy. Doing so can improve organic search performance and boost visitor counts; just ensure it matches user intent and expectations and remains unique and relevant.
Tracking individual pages and blog posts' performance using web analytics or marketing attribution tools is the ideal way to identify if content needs refreshing; for instance, if it had been performing well but suddenly slips in search rankings it may be time for an overhaul.
Add new data and research to make your refreshed content even more relevant, signalling to Google that it's trustworthy source for information. Furthermore, make sure your readers know about any updates so they know they have access to the most up-to-date version.
Keyword research
Keyword research is one of the cornerstones of SEO. This process involves evaluating, comparing and prioritizing keywords so that your content matches what people are searching for on Google. While this task can take some time and patience, its impactful to reaching business goals.
Keyword research can be an invaluable asset when trying to drive traffic, increase leads or expand your brand. By creating content more likely to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), keyword research will enable you to achieve these objectives more quickly. It should be noted, however, that keyword research is a lengthy process; it could take weeks or even months before changes on your website become evident.
Start by identifying keywords that best align with your business objectives and their search volume. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs and Wordtracker can assist with this endeavor. Additionally, it's beneficial to analyze competition for these keywords to see how hard it will be to rank on the first page of search engines.
On-page optimization
On-page optimization refers to optimizing individual pages on your website - this includes both content and HTML code on each page - with the goal of helping search engines discover and rank your content more quickly.
URLs are another component of on-page SEO, and should ideally be both descriptive and logical. Furthermore, it's also essential that duplicate content be removed from your website in order to improve both load speed and user experience.
Page titles and headlines are an essential component of on-page optimization. Google reads H1 tags as on-page titles to understand what a particular page's content is all about, making it easier for searchers to navigate its contents. When creating page titles or headlines it is recommended that keywords should appear at the start, with H2s providing subtopics.
Make sure that the text on your page is easily legible; readability may not directly influence search rankings but could help increase visitor counts to your website.
