If you are online, people have to know that you are there. Chances are that you exist as a blog or website of some sort. If you exist as a blog, you have the advantage of being recognized as part of a particular blogging platform like WordPress or Blogger. However, if you have your own domain, chances are that you have to do all the heavy lifting yourself.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) exists for the sole purpose of getting your website known so that you attract the kind of traffic you need to sell whatever it is you are selling (content, products or services). A working knowledge of SEO is essential in this respect and that’s why in as much as there is a myriad of articles online on this topic, I still want to say something about getting started and what you should be paying attention to.
Content
The first place you should start is by confirming that you have content. When discussing content, it is possible for you to get confused about having articles on your website with many words. Some recommend at least 1200 words and others 1800 words plus. However, it is not necessarily the number of words in articles on your website that counts the most but the relevance of the content you have. The reason I say this is that not all websites are the same; therefore, not all websites sell the same kind of content.
Your website or blog could be about particular products; for instance, photos or clothes. Perhaps you want to start your own YouTube thing; therefore, your website will be more video oriented. I hope you get my point. If your website has more to do with photos, then chances are that you won’t be writing much but what is needed to explain the photos. The relevance of content is the most important thing.
Once you have content that is relevant and original, then you are ready to learn how to get people to know about it. This is where some enterprise SEO tactics and strategies come in handy.
User Experience
Search Engines have algorithms, which are more of a way of thinking or a protocol for them to rank or sort search results. One of your best tactics should be to know the algorithm that’s being used by the search engine you want to have high ranks on.
Today, search engines are looking for websites that are mobile friendly. The reason behind this is that most people access the web using mobile devices. Therefore, search engines want to give people the best results for what they are looking for. Websites that are mobile friendly will change layout based on the device that’s being used to access them and this gives users a better experience. Search engines prioritize such websites.
Furthermore, no one wants to wait two minutes for a website to load. Hence, page load speed is another thing that search engines are looking for. That means you should ensure your website can be easily accessed using mobile devices and that once accessed, it won’t waste a user’s time by taking time to serve pages.
Mind the experience users will have on your website and search engines will reward you with favorable rankings.
Authority
Eventually, you want those in your field to respect your website and even recommend it to others. Authority is earned through credibility and reliability. If people can always rely on your website for information, products, or services, they will consider it a credible website. Authority is very important because it is one of the things that will not only make search engines give your site favorable rankings but it will also make people to automatically click a link to your website without any hesitation because they know that it is a website they can trust.
Of course, there is more to it than this, much more. This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg in SEO. Nonetheless, I hope it gets you started on a wonderful journey of strategy and tactics. If you are completely new to SEO and intend to optimize your website for search engines yourself, then these guidelines will help you establish a firm foundation. However, if you don’t intend to do things yourself, then getting an SEO specialist is your best bet.
