Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very important to gain free traffic to a website. This is a method in which SEO specialists used different techniques to place a certain page on top of Google search. Google updates its algorithm in terms of quality, authenticity, user-experience, and site authority.
Find The Most Relevant And Most Searched Keywords
Utilizing effective and searchable keywords is the most effective SEO strategy. Specific keywords are highly advisable, especially if you’re already competing with already high-authority websites. SEO tools and software can help you do this. Then, put the keywords in a long-form content ranging from 2000 to 5000 words. Google will see that it talks about a certain topic more in-depth. Recent studies showed that the usual top 10 results in Google have at least 1100 words.
The second thing is that you need to optimize for RankBrain. It is Google’s AI system that is revealed to be one of the top three ranking signals. To do this, you must create a content that answers a specific question. Just think about it. People usually search in Google to look for a solution or answer that they need. This will take a lot of time for research but it will eventually lead to topics that answer a particular query for a certain type of audience.
Optimize For Voice Search
With the recent technological developments through using a smartphone, people now can use their voice as their primary mode of searching. Search engines are already optimizing for voice search results thus changing the landscape of what we already know about SEO.
Major technology providers are now investing in virtual assistants and in voice search. Google, Apple, Microsoft and even Amazon have their very own voice assistant. According to MindMeld, voice searches jump from 0 to 50 billion in a month. They have asked 2,000 cell phone users and they have found out that 27% of those use voice search.
Readability is very important in ranking for keywords. The content should be easy to say and so as easy to understand when read.
Look For The Keywords Your Competitor Is Ranking For
Search engines always analyze the incoming links to your website as part of the ranking process. An idea on your competitor’s number of incoming links can have a major advantage. Before you do that, you must figure out who your competitors are.
First, search a specific topic on Google. Let say, the topic is the best e-mail vaporizer. You must find out the quality and quantity of links for the top results. You need to identify the keywords in the linking page and the percentage of links containing specific keywords. Use Google PageRank or Mozrank in linking pages. Also, find out how popular the linking domain and linking page are.
Optimize Meta Title And Meta Tags
Make sure that every webpage and posts have a unique, descriptive title tag. This tells the search engine and your audience what you are writing about. Also, HTML and Meta tags should be different from one another. This will prompt Google to store and list every page of your website.
For Meta title, you need to use relevant keywords within the 66 character limit. However, there should be distinctive words for it. The best advice we can give to you is to add top terms without being spammy. The basic advice is to utilize the best and most searched keywords.
Improve User Experience
It is important to remember that post click engagement also sends signals to search engines. In the past, it is just enough to get the most organic traffic as possible. The number of clicks to our site overshadows the metrics that matter.
We must consider how users will perceive the value of the page. This is measured by the amount of time the reader stay on the page. Thus, it yields to a better traffic. The factors that contribute to it are the loading time of the website, no 404 errors and on-site engagement.
In order to improve onsite engagement, you must link the content you made to another page. The search engine spider loves this. Not only it will crawl your text but also follow the links within your site. This will provide related information that the readers might find valuable.
Outbound links to non-competitive sites give a more powerful user experience. Find links that can provide additional value to readers. After that, you must link it to your text.
Optimize For Mobile Devices
Google’s algorithm will shift to mobile-first indexing by mid-2018. This is due to the prevalence of smartphone use. After that, mobile-indexing will come first before mobile. To find out if your site is mobile-friendly, you can use Google’s Mobile Friendly Tool. If it isn’t, you need to switch to a more responsive design. Also, WPTouch WordPress plug-in automatically switches to a mobile theme for mobile visitors.
During this shift, expect the rise of micro-moments. It is the term for when we turn for a device to take an action. 65% of mobile users don’t care where the information is coming from as long as they get them.
Another useful SEO tip is to opt for a .com domain name. Almost 84% of top-ranking pages use a .com domain. SEO strategies are constantly innovating throughout the years. It is important to be up-to-date with the search engines algorithm. This will give us an idea of how we can optimize pages of our website. Lastly, keep your content fresh and new. You can create a News and Events page for your website. You can also revisit the content you made a few months later. Update some necessary changes and information if there is any.
Joel House is owner of Australia’s highest ranking SEO Company Joel house Search Media. It helps small to medium businesses grow their revenues through increased search traffic by using SEO best practices.