SEO is nowadays a major part of online promotion for any company. The problem in most cases is that all the major search engines keep changing their algorithms. Due to this, the businesses that rely on shady strategies or loopholes end up wasting a lot of time and money. Search engine optimization is not as difficult as you might think if you want to put in the effort to do it properly.
If you want to increase search engine rankings, you know about link building, brand mentions and other things like that. These do need to continue. At the same time, the following quick tips can help you rank even faster.
Tip#1 Make Your Site Load Faster
Website loading speed is so often overlooked. Site speed is a factor used by Google ever since 2010. Even so, most websites out there are not optimized. Keep in mind that around 50 percent of all web users want web pages to load in just around 2 seconds. If the site does not load in 3, the visitor will most likely leave. Due to this, the bounce rate is increased, which is another important factor taken into account by search engines since it is an indicator of the user experience created.
Obviously, many different things can be done to low down site speed. However, usually the problem is associated with images that are not compressed. By compressing website images, page size can be drastically reduced, sometimes even by more than 50%.
Tip#2 Secure The Site With HTTPS
Another really quick SEO tip that does help is to increase the security of your site. HTTPS is recognized as being more secure, as it works with SSL and encrypts data so it cannot be corrupted or altered when transmitted.
It is a well-known fact that Goole prefers HTTPS. This was made clear when Chrome users started receiving messages about the lack of security of non-HTTPS sites.
Tip#3 Optimize The Site's Mobile Version
Most brands out there understood how important it is to deliver a good mobile-friendly experience for visitors but they do not actually know how to do it right. Mobile responsive websites are prioritized in search results. This is something you want to focus on since you need to offer a really good experience for mobile users. You do not do this by simply using a responsive theme. Always work with a good developer that can create good versions and that has experience.
Tip#4 Increase Engagement Metrics
Although not really official, Google does reward sites that offer a really strong user engagement. Usually, this relates to how much time visitors spend on a website. If the users spend more time on the site, it practically means they enjoy what they see. As a result, Google favors the website as it is labeled as offering a better user experience.
Fortunately, there are always many ways in which engagement metrics can be increased. Make sure that your content is as easy to read as possible and do add graphics and videos to support the articles. Offer real value at the start of your content and be sure that you focus on reducing bounce rate for some quick SEO ranking improvements.
Tip#5 Create Really Valuable And Engaging Content
You need content marketing for a website to be successful and gain better search engine rankings. Content lets you target specific topics and keywords that are based on what ideal buyers look for. At the same time, it offers the opportunity to fully connect with readers so that real value is provided.
If you want to create really good content, market research is paramount. Basically, you need to go way beyond just explaining services and products. The focus should always be put on creating something that people find valuable.
Remember that content is king and it needs to be unique. 500 words articles are simply not good anymore. Countless articles all compete for the exact same keywords. Content quality and relevance are now taken into account by Google when ranking content.
Tip#5 Strengthen Social Media Presence
When hearing about improving social media presence, people automatically think about marketing. However, at the same time, this offers SEO benefits.
Social profiles do rank in search engines. Actually, for so many companies out there, the social media profile appears in top results for brand name searches. Leads might end up clicking on social media URLs in order to learn more about the business/brand.
It needs to be added that social media channels also stand out as search engines. People use them to learn more about specific brands. If you are present and actually involved on social media, you have a higher chance of getting leads. At the same time, you have to consider the links that you get from social media. This can improve rankings and becoming popular on social media can bring webmasters to your content so that you can get extra backlinks.
Tip#6 Focus On Long Tail Keywords
This is one of the really important SEO tips you need to remember. Long tail keywords help you to improve traffic much faster than anything else. The trick is to find longer phrases and keywords that are exactly what people look for when they want to engage with the type of content you create. If you manage to do this, the SEO results you get are much better for the goals the site has.
One thing that many do not know is that long tail keywords always bring in more traffic to a site than regular keywords. Practically, users that visit a site are much more likely to use a long tail keyword. This is especially the case for those that are more likely to actually make a purchase or interact with your content in a desired way.
As you can see, there are many things that can work really well if you want to increase SEO traffic as fast as possible. However, most site owners just tunnel on a couple of strategies that they know work. Every single site is unique and it has to adapt to the target audience, which is what you always want to do.