Search Engine Optimization is simply the process of helping your website to rank higher in Google search engine results. This, in turn, means more traffic and engagement, with more eyes on your content. Click-throughs lead to sales, so many people use SEO as the foundation of their business. Although the practice is quite nuanced, these simple steps will yield immediate results.
#1 Use the right keywords
Keywords are and always will be the bedrock of any good SEO, but most websites use them incorrectly. Your keywords need to be extremely specific, and you don’t need to use as many as you think. Keyword stuffing is one of the biggest and most common mistakes that content creators make. Not only does it make content difficult to read, but it actually leads Google to drop you lower in its search rankings. Keyword stuffed websites trigger Google’s spam filters, and the search engine reacts accordingly. Keep your keywords laser focussed and scatter them naturally throughout your content.
#2 Build an intuitive website
SEO isn’t all about keywords, though. Building an intuitive and easy-to-navigate website is key to how Google classifies you. This means clear menus, big and easy-to-read text, plenty of white space, and clearly marked links. It’s useful to hire a creative and digital agency such as ALT to take care of this for you. Not only will they be able to build a more polished website, but they’ll also have a more in-depth knowledge of what constitutes a “good” and healthy SEO layout. A poorly formatted website will always suffer from low rankings, no matter what other measures you take.
#3 Use healthy links
Links are another important area. Linking to other pages on your site and strong, authoritative third-party links is important. This means reputable sites like news outlets and online magazines. Linking to these classifies your content along with them, boosting you higher in search rankings. If, however, you link to low quality or spammy URLs, expect to see your ratings plummet. Google categorizes your site (in part) according to its links. Bad linking to spam sites will see you classified accordingly. Try to link only to sites that offer real value to your readers and are related to the niche that you’re writing in.
#4 Focus on your niche
Put yourself in the shoes of a person performing a Google search. They want information on a specific topic, so they want the search engine to return extremely focused content within a niche. If you’re a golfer searching for golf content, then you don’t want a website that covers a range of other sports not relevant to your interests. That’s why specific sites rank higher in Google searches than more general ones. Identify what your site is about, both in terms of the subject and how it can help users. That information should inform every content decision, every keyword, every link, and every image. Nail your niche, and you’ll be rewarded with much better rankings.
