SEO or Search Engine Optimization is all about getting found online. How do people go about finding a service or product? They take to Google first. They scroll through the search engines as the resulting list becomes their guide. It stands to reason then, that to make your business more successful and attract more customers, some SEO should be involved. Most, however, hear the term SEO and panic. Thinking that it either takes too much time or costs a lot of money, they are unsure of where to even begin. Optimizing your website doesn't have to cost a fortune and it doesn't have to consume a great deal of time either. In this article, we look at some basic ways that you can do SEO for your website.
Page Title Tags
Often people will overlook the page title tags on their site. These are most definitely key as the page titles are among what search engines crawl through first when matching pages with search terms. Especially if you created your website and skipped the page titling step, you want to go back and revisit those. Make sure they make sense and are relevant to what is on the page.
Know Your SEO Keywords
Everyone by now is familiar with what keywords are and how important they consequently are as far as your site getting found online. That said, have you done your keyword research? Do you know which ones to target—both longtail and short keywords? Google's Keyword Planner is a great tool to use in terms of trying to nail down what the most relevant and most searched for keywords are in your industry. You don't want to just guess or take a random stab at which keywords to incorporate into your site content. Do some research and it will pay off as far as SEO for your website.
Track the Competition
A great source of information regarding the success, or lack thereof, of SEO strategies for business websites, is your competitors. Who comes up towards the top of the list organically when you search within your industry? This probably means that their SEO strategy is working. So what are they doing that you're not? Look at their site content. See if you can identify the keywords they're foregrounding. Are they doing anything that seems particularly enticing to consumers? You could also check out their social media pages and see what strategies they employ there as well.
Create Content Regularly
Having a website that integrates SEO techniques is great, but if you then just leave that website sitting stagnant, this is ultimately going to hurt you in the long run. The search engines like sites that are regularly updated. This could mean adding a blog post or two per week. It might entail adding photos, or how about spotlighting new promos. The key to effective SEO here is to add new and unique content regularly. And you also want to try and incorporate content that is of value to consumers. Content that answers frequently asked questions is considered superior in the realm of SEO.
High-Quality Links
Having high-quality links to other sites on your website can certainly be an SEO boost. The thing to keep in mind with linking to outside sites is that you want to ensure the link is relevant to your site, and also make sure that you reach out to that site owner and request to link. Randomly adding links throughout your website without getting permission could potentially backfire on you. This way too, if you reach out to that site owner, they might be interested in linking to your site from theirs as well.
Don't Neglect Social Media
Many businesses spend some time establishing their social media accounts and accruing followers. Don't let all of this hard work go to waste. If you nurture your social media connections and engage with platform users, you build relationships. In turn, this can lead to increased exposure for your content. Not to mention, your followers will be more likely to visit your site more often. Take advantage of all relevant social media platforms. YouTube videos are huge in terms of helping with SEO. Of course, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are all popular platforms for small businesses to leverage.
Track SEO Analytics
Doing SEO for your website is also about measuring the effectiveness of your efforts. Among the best ways to do this is through Google Analytics. Understanding the analytics and how to read the metrics will show you which pages are performing the best. You can also get a better sense of how long people are staying on your website and what the bounce rate is. There is quite a lot you can tell even about the type of users that are visiting your home page. Analytics includes things such as user location, operating system, device, and even interests based upon their search history. This information can be extremely helpful when it comes to devising an overall SEO plan for your site.
Study SEO
Yes, you can google how to optimize your website and integrate SEO strategies that work. There are a ton of high quality and informative sites out there—from beginner's guides to SEO to more advanced SEO articles. Spending a little time online and familiarizing yourself with tips and strategies that have worked for others is a great way to get started on how to do SEO for your website.
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