As a beginner, launching an incredibly well-designed website can seem like a big move, and while that is true, there is a lot more that needs your attention once this step is done. The truth is that you may have a hard time attracting traffic to your website, and that is where the concerns for SEO begin to arise.
To make sales or achieve any other goal on your website, then you are lucky to be here because it is time to get learning about optimization practices. Ideally, your focus should be to rank well in Google searches, and from there, a lot of all the other goals will be effortless. Here are ten SEO basics to get you started:
Right keywords
Google uses keywords as a way to identify what your website should be ranking for regarding what the audiences are typing on Google searches. Google places the searched terms in categories of industry, and if you want to rank for words in your sector, then it is time to begin keyword research.
Identifying the right keywords is an essential part of the research part. You want to narrow your searches to industry, location, niche topics, among others. The keywords should help you to communicate your messages better, but in the language that your target audience will find your work relatable and relevant to their needs. The most important thing is to use your keyword research to find terms and phrases that people are looking for, then use them to guide Google into how to rank your site.
Keywords in URL
There are many sure ways of using up your keywords, and URLs are the perfect place. After the ‘.com/’ part of your domain, the rest of the URL to your web pages should be more descriptive on what the content is about, therefore making keywords appropriate to use. The slug sends a signal to Google, and even your audience, on what the material is about.
High-quality content
You may have heard the phrase ‘content is king’ in matters of SEO. The sentence is a depiction of the importance of high-quality material in optimizing a site. People are interested in articles that are current, relevant, entertaining, informative, and persuasive. In the event you consistently publish such material, you grasp the attention of Google and your target audience in a positive light.
When Google ranks different sites for specific search terms, the quality of the content websites post is the determinant of how high the site ranks. Quality content pulls a larger crowd, but more importantly, increases the time that users spend interacting with the material.
Length of the content
As you aim for quality in the copies you develop, are you considering the length of the content? Consistently generating high-quality material can be challenging, which explains why most webmasters prefer short-form content.
Today, there is more value for long-form content than shorter content, because it provides more information to consume. Ideally, Google is always looking for authoritative and informative content to rank first. The best part about long-form content is that it keeps your audience on your site much longer than would short-form content.
Internal Linking
You may not be old enough as a website, but the minute your content starts building up, you must indulge in internal linking.
Internal linking creates a network of your work by highlighting which of your work you deem relevant, hence allowing Google to find more of your content for accurate ranking.
Outbound Linking
While you may pride in independence as a business, in SEO, you cannot achieve your very best alone. Link building is paramount in the optimization processes, and nothing sounds better than capitalizing on the prominence of other sites.
Ideally, outbound linking is about linking your content to authoritative sites. While this may look like free publicity for those websites, it is a bold move that will earn your trust in both your audience and Google. It is a sign that you care for your audience to learn more about the topic matter. However, you want to be sparing about the integration of outbound links on your web pages, lest they sink your page’s visibility.
Smart meta descriptions
The snippets displayed on Google’s search results capture the meta descriptions of texts, and if they are missing, it automatically picks up the introduction statements of your content.
Capitalize on this opportunity by adding primary keywords, and luring phrases like humor and suspense. Remember to keep the descriptions brief and relevant to the topic matter, and this will automatically improve your click-through rates.
Use visualization
The highest population learns from visualization more than reading, which explains why images are widely popular online. Your best shot at drawing organic traffic to your site is using images of different kinds to pass across messages, either on their own or as complements to text-based content.
Optimize the images by captioning them and using keywords on image descriptions and titles to further guide Google on how to index and rank your media.
Be active on social media
Social media platforms have a high domain authority, which is why they also show up on search results for particular search terms. Increased visibility on social media will as well boost your visibility on search engines.
The trick is to be strategic with your interaction and communication so that your brand is still visible for results in your industry and specific keywords. Join industry-specific groups and forums, and participate in activities and hashtags that mostly bring out your brand’s essence.
Submit your site to Google
Whether or not all the tips mentioned above work for you, submitting your site is necessary for improved ranking. Using Google Search Console, you can submit your business, but better still can capitalize on this SEO tool to help you analyze your website in a bid optimize our website better with the reports it generates for you. The best thing is that it is affiliated to Google search engine, and will, therefore, help you sick by Google’s best practices as regards SEO.
Because Google sees everything that is published online, now you have all the fundamental SEO basics to kick your organic traffic into gear.
You can find more on how to rank your website and track your SERP on https://serpbook.com/blog/rank-website/.
