Introduction
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It’s the process of increasing your website traffic through search engine results. Ultimately, this helps your website become more discoverable. When potential customers search terms related to your brand, they’ll have a better chance of discovering your website. Consequently, you have a better chance to convert them into customers.
According to the statistics, 93% of experiences on the Internet start with a search engine. Moreover, the first five results that show up on Google get 67% of all clicks. In other words- if you’re not number one on the page, you miss out on a third of potential traffic. If you’re relying on people to find you through a Google search, SEO needs to be at the top of your priority list. There are certain things you can do to increase your chances of getting ranked higher on Google searches. Follow these suggestions to improve your SEO strategy and rank your website to the top of search engine results.
Improve your page loading speed
Page speed matters when it comes to both SEO and conversions. If your load speed is too slow, it will harm your ranking. In addition, a slow website will also impact the way your website visitors engage with your pages. Research shows 40% of visitors will abandon websites if the page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Furthermore, 80% of those visitors won’t return to that website.
On the other hand, if your page loads fast, people will keep coming back. Google’s algorithm will recognize your website’s popularity and adjust your search ranking accordingly. This makes it extremely important to optimize both your page speed and server response time. If you want to test the speed of your website, try online services such as Pingdom for free.
This will allow you to test your website from different locations all over the world. If you find that your site is running slow, check your website theme and plugins. Moreover, Google’s PageSpeed Insights gives you valuable insight into how fast your site loads across all devices. In addition, it shows you the specific issues you can fix to make your site faster.
Produce high-quality content
Improve your SEO strategy by producing high-quality content. Your content needs to be high quality, recent and relevant. That way you can drive more traffic to your website and increase its popularity. Another factor that impacts your SEO ranking is so-called dwell time. This relates to how much time people spend on your website per visit. Websites that provide highly informative content typically have long dwell times. When users bookmark your website from a Google Chrome browser, it can help your SEO ranking. High-quality and relevant content will increase the chances of your website being bookmarked by visitors.
Optimize your images
Make sure to optimize your images if you want to improve your SEO strategy and overall ranking. This includes factors such as the file format and size. Huge images can slow your page loading time, which can ultimately harm your ranking. Therefore, resize or compress your images to optimize them. You can also use your images to sneak in keywords by naming them accordingly. Hence, strategically use keywords in the title of your image as well as the caption or description.
Organize your content with header tags
Headings are another way to help improve the user experience on your website. They break up the content and make it easier to read or skim. Plus, headers make everything look more appealing, which is always beneficial. If your website is full of text, it’s going to discourage people from spending a long time on it. As a result, your SEO ranking will suffer. If you’re running your site on WordPress, you can easily change the header tags.
Start blogging
Blogging is an outstanding tool for lead generation that helps you engage with visitors to your website. Furthermore, blogging also improves SEO rankings. Producing fresh, updated, and relevant content can drive people to your website. Moreover, it can give them a reason to stay on your pages for a while. If you can establish a large group of faithful readers, you can get lots of traffic to your site daily.
Use outbound links
Increase the credibility of your website by linking your data claims to trustworthy and authoritative sources. Use citations from authority sources for facts you present in your blog posts through outbound hyperlinks to those websites. In addition, make sure they are recent and up to date. For example, outbound links to resources from 2009 are irrelevant. Hence, they won’t be as effective for your SEO ranking. Moreover, you should also include internal links. As a result, these links will direct visitors to other pages on your website.
Add imagery
Improve your SEO strategy by adding relevant imagery to your website. Consider adding other multimedia elements such as videos, slideshows, or audio to your site. This will help improve the user experience for it will be easier for your visitors to watch than read. Moreover, it can dramatically improve the amount of time someone spends on your website. Depending on the length of your videos, people could be on your page for several minutes. Consequently, it will definitely boost your search ranking.
Make sure your site is readable
Keep your audience in mind when you’re writing content on your website. If you want people to visit your site and spend time there, speak in terms they can understand. In other words- create your content in a way the majority of people can understand. If you’re not sure if your content is readable, use online resources to help such as Readable.com. It can help you identify words that might be too long or difficult for people to comprehend.
Fix broken links
Improve your SEO strategy by fixing broken links. It doesn’t look good when a link you provide to your visitors brings them to an invalid website. You can use tools like Dead Link Checker to search for links with errors on your website. Anytime a link goes dead, you’ll be contacted right away so you can replace it. As a result, this will drive more traffic to your website.
Optimize your site for mobile devices
Over 60% of Google searches come from mobile devices. Google recognizes this and ranks sites accordingly. Moreover, it has launched the mobile-first index. This means you might rank better if you focus on mobile friendliness. Therefore, your website needs to be optimized for mobile users. If your site isn’t optimized, it’ll hinder the user experience, adversely affecting your ranking. Responsive design offers the easiest solution. You can download free and premium WordPress themes that have responsive design built-in. In other words- you don’t have to worry about adding any extra code.
Properly format your page
If your website is cluttered with too many pictures, advertisements, colors and blocks of text, it can appear untrustworthy. Your site architecture and navigation also fall into this category. A clean format and design will improve your SEO ranking. Organize the layout for your website to be neat, clean and uncluttered. Consider things like your font size and typography. Use colored text, bold font, and italics sparingly. In addition, bullet points and checklists make it easy for visitors to scan through your content.
Provide appropriate contact information
Improve your SEO strategy by proving contact information. Avoid people starting reporting your website just because you forgot to include basic information. Your contact information should be clear and in plain sight for people to find. Therefore, provide your phone number, email address, location etc.
Set up on Google Business
Local SEO is important, hence focus on setting up an account on Google Business. Edit the info on your business, verify contact info, add images, monitor reviews, and more. This can give you a huge advantage over competitors who fail to capitalize on this powerful resource.
Encourage sharing on social media
You can get your SEO ranking improved if people share links to your website on social media. One of the best ways to do this is by including social sharing icons on all your content. In addition, you should also share links on your social media pages. When that information appears on people’s timelines, all it takes is just one click for them to share it.
Use keywords
Keywords play a major role as they can improve your SEO strategy. Hence, include words people will search for throughout your content and fit them naturally into sentences. Include them in your header tags and even in image captions. You should also use long-tail keywords, which are three or four-word phrases that could be found in a search. For example, someone probably won’t just search for the word “lawyer” when they’re looking for something. But they may type in the phrase “personal injury lawyer” as an alternative. If your keywords match their search, your website will have a greater chance of getting ranked higher. However, avoid saturating your website with keywords, for it will have an adverse effect on your ranking.
Conduct thorough keyword research
Tools like Ubersuggest help you find keywords related to your business and niche. Use it to find long-tail keywords that fit with your prospective customers’ user intent. Think about why they would search for a particular keyword and what they would hope to find on a page about it.
Start with a broad keyword. Ubersuggest will provide you with a list of keywords that you can filter in several ways. You’re looking for long-tail keywords you can use to attract a specific audience. Do this over and over again as you create more pages for your site. Write long, in-depth articles that provide as much information on the topic as possible.
Write click-worthy titles and descriptions
When writing titles for search engines, you only have 65 characters to write your headline. Therefore, keep several tips in mind. Firstly, front-load all of your keywords in your titles. People will typically only scan the first two words of a title. Next, keep it predictable. Your title should click-through to a page that meets the expectations of the user. Finally, keep it clear. Your reader should know what your webpage is about in 65 characters or fewer.
Write a great meta description
The meta description is the next element you must optimize. Here are the three most important Google tips on how to create a good description: Make them descriptive, unique and short. Firstly, front-load keywords that are relevant to the article. Use the journalist formula to answer the important questions: “Who? What? Why? When? Where? How?” Next, each meta description should be different from other pages’ descriptions. Finally, make them short because Google limits meta descriptions to 160 characters or fewer.
Create a mobile app
Creating a mobile app can help improve your SEO strategy. This is a rather expensive option, but it’s also an investment. Google is now indexing apps on Google search with Firebase App Indexing. When people are searching for keywords in your niche, they could find your app. As a result, it will increase your SEO. For example, when you search “reserve a restaurant” on Google, you’ll find an app on page one. When your app pops up on a Google search, it automatically becomes a valuable resource.
Use latent semantic indexing (LSI)
Latent semantic indexing (LSI) is very powerful and can give your site a serious SEO boost. LSI is the process search engines use to find related keywords in addition to your main keywords. In other words, LSI finds synonyms for keywords. For example, if you’re writing an article about Facebook, you’d include “social media network” as an LSI keyword. This article is a great example of how LSI can improve your SEO. Utilize it to see just how effective it can be.
Eliminate unnecessary code
If your site has excess code, search engines will take longer to showcase your site. Therefore, your code should be as lightweight as possible. This will also help your page load time, which will ultimately help you improve your SEO strategy.
Join Q&A sites
You can increase your website’s traffic by growing your personal brand. Afterward, use your personal brand to boost traffic and generate high-converting leads. Start sharing your knowledge tactfully and helping others without giving away your business secrets. First, register at Q&A sites such as Quora or wikiHow to showcase your expertise. Furthermore, consider LinkedIn groups and reach out to other sites in your niche that could benefit from your guest authorship or input.
Compose a thorough, well-written answer to someone’s question, preferably a question that doesn’t have many answers. Write the best answer possible and include links to your site when it’s relevant. By doing this, you’re helping the person asking. Moreover, you’re getting attention to your links, exposing them to countless readers. As a result, you’ll be seen as a valuable resource by the community and people will be more likely to click your links.
Use infographics
Utilize infographics to improve your SEO strategy. Include professional design and valuable content in order for your infographics to be powerful. Furthermore, fulfill your infographic with at least 2,000 words of high-quality content. Google won’t index the text on the infographic itself, so writing long-form content will give you extra ranking power.
Give your audience what they want and expect
If you meet your audience’s expectations and help them find what they want, you’ll secure a customer. You want your audience to convert at much higher rates. Hence, study your audience closely and give them what they need and expect. If you’ve applied the data to your site, you can expect a jump in conversion rates. The people who visit your site find what they need quickly and appreciate your brand for providing it. Therefore, create a site with valuable content. Moreover, provide plenty of opportunities for visitors to convert.
Get some press
Use press to help your company rank higher and faster. A simple way is to pay a PR agency like PR Serve, which has a performance-based pay model. In other words- it allows you to pay it only when it gets you press. A cheaper way to get press is to build relationships with reporters. Consider continually helping them out with their stories and giving them feedback. As a result, you will increase your chances of them eventually being interested in covering your company. Finally, if you want to go for the cold approach, you can always follow this PR email pitch template.
Get interviewed
Improve your SEO strategy by getting interviewed. One of the easiest ways to generate links is through interviews. Every time someone interviews you, chances are they will link to your website. The links will be fairly relevant too as the linking web page will typically talk about your story or what your company does.
Diversify your links
There are a lot of different types of links you can get. For example- homepage links, links from blog posts, directory links, educational links, footer links etc. If you want to rank high, focus on several types of link-building methods such as directory links. Get links to your site from blogs, directories, and sometimes from the homepages of other sites. Moreover, make sure those links are also relevant as in order to have the biggest impact.
Turn a standard post into a long-form post
Long-form content ranks better than a typical 500-word post. Look for a shorter post, under 1,000 words that can be improved to its full potential. Then spend 30 minutes “beefing it up” by adding more content, charts, graphs, visuals etc. As a result, you will have long-form content that will rank better in search results.
Get into Google News
News articles get pulled by Google on two SERPs—the traditional SERP you’re used to and the News section. Getting into Google news requires perseverance, honest reporting, cutting-edge articles, and regular updates. If you want your website to show up on the Google News SERP, here’s what you should do:
- Start a “News” section on your blog/site.
Update it regularly (1-2 newsy posts a day is a good practice). - Publish authoritative, unique, original, and newsworthy content. For research, set up a Google Alert for keywords in your niche.
- Informational articles such as how-tos and guides do not qualify. Every post must be newsy.
- Do not publish aggregated content.
- Every news article you write must be authoritative.
- The byline of each post must be linked to the author’s profile, which should contain their contact information and links to their social media profiles.
Follow the Google quality guidelines before starting your news section.
You need to subscribe to a paid Google account to become a Google News Partner. Consider signing up for a Google Apps email account, available for as low as $6 per month. Finally, start publishing, and enroll as a Google News Partner after building up sizeable content (at least 50 pages).
Make your website useful for your specific audience
Focus on your goals to:
- Serve up the best possible content for your audience
- Create a positive website user experience
- Prioritize content that offers significant value
Give your audience what they want and write content that people love to read. Make sure to provide meta information to help Google better understand the copy. If you optimize your website for conversions, focus on guiding visitors toward a specific goal. Knowing how to optimize your website for SEO and conversions simultaneously furthers both of those goals and creates a better relationship between your site and the search engines.
Grow your organic traffic
Invest your time and, if necessary, money into growing your organic traffic. Attracting organic traffic through SEO is free, but you have to pay to develop and promote the content. However, that’s not nearly as expensive as pay-per-click. When you compare the close rate between searchers who arrive at your site via organic search and those that come via paid ads, the results are illustrative. Organic search closes at nearly 15 percent, while paid search closes at less than 2 percent. It might take longer, but the results last longer and result in more conversions.
Capitalize on existing traffic
Learning how to optimize your website for conversions requires an understanding of the user experience. Figure out how visitors navigate your site, whether they scroll down the page, and how often they click on your calls to action (CTAs). When people visit your website, make a lasting impression and encourage them to return. If someone signs up for your email list, you can contact them at a later date with offers, incentives etc.
You can also encourage visitors to follow you on social media, visit your product pages, and read your blog posts. Capitalizing on existing traffic helps improve your conversion rate because a higher percent of your organic traffic will convert. You know which offer your audience will respond to and how to present it to them in an appealing way.
Analyze all of your website data
User behavior reports and Google Search Console traffic data to analyze your website. User behavior reports, show you how people behave once they land on your site. On the other side, GSC data tracks key metrics, such as number of sessions, number of unique sessions, bounce rate, and more. Hence, analyze the data for specific patterns. Referral sources can tell you a lot about your audience. Look for pages that get more traffic and more conversions than others. Reverse-engineer that page’s success to replicate it across your site.
Get quality backlinks
Backlinks are a prime factor in helping your website rank better. When high-quality sites link to yours, Google interprets the link as a signal of your site’s credibility. As you build a solid backlink profile, your pages will climb up the ranks. Getting quality backlinks takes effort, but you’ll see results. Moreover, consider emailing influencers and other blogs in your niche. Share your article with them and point them to a page where you’ve shared a piece of their content.
Conclusion
Learning how to optimize your website for SEO and conversions is crucial for your business’s success. If you have good SEO, you can attract more traffic and get more opportunities to convert potential customers. The previous tips and strategies will help you learn how to improve SEO ranking and conversions. As a result, you will better your SEO strategy and achieve overall business success.