Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the fastest-changing aspects of digital marketing. Google and other search engines are constantly changing their search algorithms, meaning that digital marketers have to alter their strategy to get their content in front of their target audience.
It’s easy to get frustrated when you have to constantly change your SEO strategy, but bear in mind that these changes are being made for the benefit of consumers, not for businesses trying to make a quick buck. Google is striving to make searches more accurate, helpful, and user-friendly. If digital marketers have to change their strategies to stay in line with Google’s criteria, it will only benefit them and their customers.
If you want your business website to appear at the top of the search listings, you will need to improve your SEO strategy. Here are several ways to optimize your online content and fast-track your way to the top of Google results.
Optimize for voice search
Voice-based search queries are, without a doubt, the next big thing in digital marketing. 20% of all searches are now conducted by voice, and 41% of adults perform at least one voice search a day. These figures will only grow as time goes by, so marketers need to ensure that their websites are optimized accordingly. The SEO strategy required will be noticeably different from that of standard typed searches. The main reason being that the terms used are significantly different. When users type a search, they generally type the relevant keywords without proper sentence structure, whereas with voice search, users will typically ask a fully-formed question. An example of this might be “Who plays Captain America in the Avengers movie?” as opposed to “avengers + Captain America + actor.” For this reason, it is more important to use long-tail keywords in your content and include both a question and an answer to frequently asked queries to ensure your website is deemed relevant.
Improve your website’s loading speed
How fast your website loads when a user clicks on it will significantly impact your search ranking. If it takes ages for it to load, users will often get frustrated and leave the site, and Google will deem it less relevant to searches as a result. There are many ways to improve your website’s speed, but a few critical steps would be to compress large images or move to a new hosting platform.
Use header tags
Modern internet users have short attention spans, and when it comes to extensive text articles, they will scan them for the information they are looking for. Huge, unbroken blocks of text are difficult to scan, so breaking content up into sections with header tags, much like the article you’re currently reading, makes it easier to consume. Google knows this and will favor sites that use headers well. Make sure your most important keywords are located in a header tag to emphasize their importance to the content.
Create outbound links
The more trustworthy your content, the higher it will rank in search engine listings. For this reason, it is a good idea to back up any stats, quotes, or insights with factual corroboration. Link any information back to the sources you obtained it from, and this will improve your website’s credibility. The sites you link to should be not only authoritative and respected but also recent and relevant.
Use a variety of content formats
If your website is only text-based, it is missing out on an opportunity to rank higher. By including a range of content types such as pictures, videos, audio, and slideshows, your SEO will improve greatly. This is because users will spend more time on your site consuming the easier-to-digest content.
Create quality content
Some things never change, and when it comes to SEO, high-quality has always been and will always be the most important thing. It’s not enough to create empty content randomly peppered with relevant keywords. Google is much smarter than that. Your content needs to be full of useful information and help readers solve problems. It should be legible, well-written, and easy to understand and be tailored to your target audience. You shouldn’t talk like a lawyer to a consumer audience, so limit the technical jargon unless you know your audience will understand it. The best content will be read and shared widely and keep readers coming back to your site, continually improving your SEO with each person you attract.
Fix broken links
If your website has been live for a long time, there may be many links in old content that are now broken. This means that the website or page to which they link is no longer active, causing a dead end for users that click on it. This will have a significant impact on your SEO ranking, but as a problem, it is incredibly easy to fix. There are plenty of free online tools that allow you to quickly check your website for broken links and then remove them immediately.
Optimize for mobile
In this day and age, there is no excuse for not having a mobile website. Most people now use computers and smartphones interchangeably for internet use and want to have the same quality of experience on both. Over 60% of searches come from mobile, and if a phone user lands on a clunky website that hasn’t been optimized, they will soon lose patience and switch off. Mobile use is only going to increase, so if your site isn’t optimized, it may require a complete overhaul.
Fill in meta-data
Meta-data is information that tells Google what your site is about. For each web page you create, you will need to create a meta-title and meta-description to explain what the content is about, and assign alt-text to any images and videos for the same reason. Including relevant keywords and search terms into the meta-data will tell Google that your site is relevant to particular search queries, and it will rank you accordingly.
SEO is an ever-changing beast, and it is not something that marketers can afford to be complacent about. No matter how well-optimized your website is now, this will inevitably change in line with new trends, searching habits, and alterations to the algorithm. Make sure you stay up to date with the latest developments and optimize your site to stay ahead of the game. Visit https://unravelseo.com/seo/on-page/ for more information on improving your on-page SEO
Create quality content
Some things never change, and when it comes to SEO Marketing, high-quality has always been and will always be the most important thing. It’s not enough to create empty content randomly peppered with relevant keywords. Google is much smarter than that. Your content needs to be full of useful information and help readers solve problems. It should be legible, well-written, and easy to understand and be tailored to your target audience. You shouldn’t talk like a lawyer to a consumer audience, so limit the technical jargon unless you know your audience will understand it. The best content will be read and shared widely and keep readers coming back to your site, continually improving your SEO with each person you attract.
No comments yet.