Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is an extremely lucrative practice, as so much business can be gained through proper implementation and techniques. Because Google doesn’t actually tell people how their algorithm works, it makes Search Engine Optimization even more mysterious and difficult for those who aren’t familiar with the SEO world. The truth is, that unless you dedicate an overwhelming amount of time to optimizing your website for search engines, then you’re probably going to be like a lost child in the woods. After you spend hundreds and thousands of hours devoted to learning the tricks, tips, and best practices of proper search engine optimization, then the algorithm will change, and then you’ll need to adjust. Every time Google makes an adjustment, it gives competitors a chance to gain an edge on your current search ranking. The best tip for for the truly staying ahead of the SEO game is to hire a Search Engine Optimization agency, like NewStyle Digital. As many research studies show, that the difference in revenue between the #1 organic listing and the #2 organic listing in Google’s search results is 50%. That means that if business A ranks #1 in Google and does $200,000 in annual revenue, that business B who ranks #2 will bring in around $100,000 in annual revenue. The business of SEO in 2018 has never been more prominent as it has today. However, Search Engine Optimization is a long term strategy, unlike Pay-Per-Click campaigns such as Google PPC and Facebook PPC.
So….
How Can I Boost My SEO Right Now?
Outside of the intricacies of SEO, there are many SEO tips that are “global” and are considered to be standard SEO practices in 2018 and will remain this way for years to come. These SEO tips are general in nature, and are usually the first things we check as SEO’s. If you implement these tips correctly, you’ll surely see massive ranking changes to your website! So here we go, here are the 10 SEO Tips to Boost Your Website Ranking Right Now.
1. Optimize your meta titles and descriptions
Meta titles and meta descriptions are the titles and descriptions of your page that the internet sees. You should be optimizing these to increase CTR (Click Through Rate) and should be relevant to your topic. Never automate your meta titles and descriptions! As you can see from the photo above, our website ranks #1 out of 1,230,000 websites for the keyword “Equestrian Marketing”. The top red bar shows our meta title, and the bottom red bar shows our meta description. Both are relevant to our topic, and waste no time getting our point across as to what we are trying to promote.
2. Submit a sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools (Search Console)
If you aren’t familiar with Google Webmaster Tools, then get familiar! If you don’t already have an account, sign up (it’s free) and configure your account settings. Once setup, you need to click the “sitemaps” tab, and submit your sitemap. What this does is relay the content that you have on your website to Google’s search engines, to let them know what content you have on your website. Therefore, the Google bots can crawl your website, and your site will get ranking faster!
3. Write and design your content to your audience
The key to ranking higher in search engines is to create content that people want to read, and benefit your audience — based upon the purpose of your website. For example, if you run a website that sells t-shirts, you should write articles about the best fabrics, styles, and designs. You should stay away from politics or unrelated topics to your genre. This way, users who come to your website will be reading and viewing content that is related to what you do, and hence, your bounce rate will drop — and your search engine rankings will soar! Above is a screenshot of a few articles from our blog, with all edgy topics that circulate around our purpose: digital marketing and website design.
4. Use external AND internal links
It is a common belief in the SEO community that only linking to yourself (internal links) will boost your search engine rankings. There could be nothing further than the truth. In order to maintain an effective balance in your website’s content, you need to link to internal pages and external pages (other people’s websites). Linking to other people’s websites shows that you are operating in a “community” fashion, and your goal is to benefit the reader, and not to shelter external sources. When you link out to other people’s websites, they usually take kindly to that, and you may even get a backlink from them in return.
5. Implement a blog
For many businesses, their websites are comprised of static content. Static content is content (pages) that doesn’t change often. Examples of these are homepages, service pages, product pages, etc. These pages do not change regularly, and because of that, you don’t have the ability to continuously create amazing content. This is where a blog comes into play. By implementing a blog into your website, you are able to write about relevant topics, controversial topics, and inform your audience with knowledge and understanding that you would never have been able to achieve through a landing page! Remember, the best way to boost search ranking is to be the better answer and the better resource for information. This doesn’t mean that you need to post 1,000 blog posts a month, but it does mean that you should post at least a few times a month to keep content circulating.
6. Speed up your website
Nothing is worse than a slow website…nothing! Decreasing the load times of your web pages will guarantee users will stick around longer. Google has announced that website speed does play a part in Google’s ranking algorithm, so be sure to keep your website running fast! You can use this free tool to scan your website speed, and heck, it even tells your how to fix your speed issues!
7. Make sure your website is mobile compatible
If your website is not mobile compatible, then you are taking a google penalty! You need to ensure that your website is mobile compatible. Google has announced in the last update that websites that are not mobile compatible will indeed be taking a google penalty and start to drop from search rankings. If your website is not mobile compatible, then you need to reach out to a Web Agency to get your website mobile compatible or responsive! All of the SEO tips in the world is not going to save a non-mobile responsive website in 2018, so get your website mobile responsive today!
8. Don’t keyword stuff your pages and posts
Back in the day, keyword stuffing was the next best thing — but now keyword stuffing is bad practice, bad tactics, and will likely end up with users finding Jimmy Hoffa before they find your website. So, don’t do it. Keyword stuffing is basically repetitively “stuffing” keywords into your content to manipulate search engines for your search terms. Google is not much smarter than this, and when they catch on to your keyword stuffing, then you’re going to pay for it heavily. If you want to optimize your website for search engines, do it in a way that isn’t an attempt to “cheat”, because you’ll most likely end up at the back of the line.
9. Check for duplicate content
If you want to find yourself with a Google Penalty, just publish duplicate content! An good SEO will know that duplicate content can tank your rankings, and 90% of the time duplicate content is published and the website owner’s do not even know about it! This can happen when posts show up under multiple archives (post categories, etc) and your website is crawled by Google bots only to find the same content in two different places. The purpose of this penalty is to demote search rankings of website who are trying to publish the same content over and over, hoping to boost rankings! This is an SEO no-no! If you want to check your website for duplicate content, use this free tool.
10. Write useful content that people need
This is the most important tip of the SEO tips provided in my opinion. The whole purpose of having a website or publishing content is to give users a better insight, and to provide your readers with useful content that they can use. Publishing boring or wasteful content is doing a disservice to you and your readers, and I’m sure anyone would understand this concept. If you want better search rankings, then you need to publish cool and useful content. Useful content is the foundation of a top-level SEO strategy. If your users aren’t going to be genuinely interested, then don’t publish it. It’s really that simple.
Overview
Search Engine Optimization is crucial to the success of many online businesses, and without it, you’re missing a major piece of the pie. However, SEO is extremely simple at its core value, but is not simple in the execution. If you practice white-hat SEO techniques and publish useful content that captivates and informs your users on your topic, then you’ve got your bottom line covered. We hope you learned something from reading our 10 SEO tips, and if you need advanced SEO work, feel free to contact us.
