When considering making a purchase, 97% of consumers now turn to a search engine. This single statistic should mean worlds to any small business owner or online marketer.
There are now countless way to get your website in front of more eyes. However, this means there are many ways to make mistakes. An educated and methodical approach is necessary when trying to boost traffic.
Social media has provided a new interactive landscape to market online, but what about your website? Are you using onsite SEO tactics? Are they working?
There are a number of things you need to consider when trying to increase viewership online. Let’s look at ten very important SEO solutions you need implement and check off your list.
1. Good Keyword Placement
The selection and placement of effective keywords throughout your site is one of the most important elements of your SEO campaign. These keywords are what allow people to find you based on the service you provide or what type of information and resources you’re offering.
If the appropriate keywords aren’t in place, organic traffic won’t make it to your site. You’ll basically be invisible.
What search queries do you want to rank for? You need to thread these keyword phrases throughout your site’s content, blog articles, and tags (we’ll get into these later).
Remember, don’t go overboard. You could end up getting penalized by Google.
2. High-Quality Content
It’s no longer good enough to throw content up on your site just for the sake of filling pages. It needs to add value. Generic content is no longer acceptable to search engines or your audience.
In order for your content to have value, it needs to be both original and useful to the reader. People should want to share your content, which is a great way to boost visibility.
When producing content, think about your niche audience and what they need. Provide information with supporting facts so you’re offering knowledge that people wouldn’t get otherwise. Avoid duplicating content at all costs.
3. Optimize Pages Titles
Of these SEO solutions, this one sounds a little more technical. But it’s actually not that difficult.
Title tags are used by search engines to show a webpage in a list of search results. They inform search engines what a particular page is about. Therefore, it’s important to have relevant keywords pertaining to each page in your title tags.
Look into the title tag descriptions for each webpage and make sure they make sense and accurately describe the content on the page.
4. Internal Linking
When a search engine analyzes your site’s content, it follows internal links. These links act as little passages to other content on your site that search engines love to index. Therefore, you want internal links leading to other relevant and interesting information.
When linking internally, ask yourself what additional information a reader would benefit from and link to that page. Always link to a relevant and sensible anchor text.
5. Backlinks
Aside from internal linking, having backlinks to your site from reliable sources is also important. When Google indexes your site, it ranks the site’s relevance based on the number of inbound links from other reputable sources. Think of it as a vote of confidence from someone else.
Having links back to you on other sites also increases your exposure.
If you have any close relationships with local associations, ask if they will provide an inbound link. You could also ask clients whom you have a good relationship with. Good linking is one of the top SEO solutions you can’t ignore.
6. Optimizing for Mobile is a Must
We’re now living in a mobile world. In fact, mobile search has recently surpassed desktop. More people are getting online via smartphones and tablets than ever before.
If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re way behind the curve. It’s that simple. If mobile users find you and your site can’t perform because it doesn’t have a responsive design, they will leave.
This is especially important if you run a small business. Consumers are finding local businesses through their smartphones and even making purchases. Look into mobile optimization and stop losing valuable business.
7. The Alt Tag
Did you know that images and video need optimization as well? This is where the alt tag comes in. This tag allows you to enter descriptions and keywords pertaining to the images and videos on your site.
Think of them as title tags for videos. When Google indexes your site, it picks up useful information from the alt tags. Make sure you have them loaded with relevant keywords.
8. Local Search
Local search is an important factor in how a person finds local services online. It’s also a way for your business to gain a solid local reputation.
Make sure to create a Google Business listing in order to get yourself on the map. This not only helps people find you easily, it brings visitors to your site.
Aside from the all-important Google Business listing, you can list in other directories like Bing and Yahoo to help boost exposure.
9. URL Structure
One of the first things a search engine indexes when ranking a site is the URL of a page. This means that the structure of your URL actually becomes one of your SEO solutions.
You want to keep your URLs short and also relevant to the page’s topic. Think about those keywords we discussed earlier and try to get them into your URLs.
10. Tracking Performance
Part of enhancing your site’s performance is staying on top of the numbers. Which pages are getting traffic and which aren’t? Where are your visitors coming from and how long are they staying on your site?
Consider using Google Analytics for tracking how users are interacting with your site. This provides great insight into where you need to focus your efforts.
Take Advantage of These and Other SEO Solutions
In today’s competitive online world, you have to use all the tools you have at your disposal. Staying educated on current SEO tactics will give you an edge when trying to increase visibility.
This checklist is a great starting point for getting more visitors and boosting conversion.
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