There are a few things to consider when increasing your SEO (search engine optimization) for your website. Just throwing in buzz words, or key words, isn’t going to do the trick. One of the most important things to remember about SEO is:IT TAKES TIME! You can’t just completely transform things over night. So, with that in mind let’s take a look at what is important and why.
Keywords
Yes, I said that just throwing in keywords isn’t going to be enough. That’s true, but it doesn’t mean you should ignore this. Google has actually started to shift to look for topics more than just keywords and phrases. This is good news for focused businesses. It means that if you continue to produce focused content, you’ll get better results.
Keywords can be tricky. Some of them are so overly saturated that it is unlikely you’ll get much traction from adding them to your posts and photos. Choose your keywords carefully and measure their success. Consider using Google AdWords to help you determine which words may be best for your business. Decide what your goals are and take stock of where you are once a month. If something needs to be changed or tweaked you can do it then. Remember, give it time to work, so making changes too often may actually slow your process.
Keywords
Yes, I said that just throwing in keywords isn’t going to be enough. That’s true, but it doesn’t mean you should ignore this. Google has actually started to shift to look for topics more than just keywords and phrases. This is good news for focused businesses. It means that if you continue to produce focused content, you’ll get better results.
Keywords can be tricky. Some of them are so overly saturated that it is unlikely you’ll get much traction from adding them to your posts and photos. Choose your keywords carefully and measure their success. Consider using Google AdWords to help you determine which words may be best for your business. Decide what your goals are and take stock of where you are once a month. If something needs to be changed or tweaked you can do it then. Remember, give it time to work, so making changes too often may actually slow your process.
| Post Titles and URLs It’s important that these contain the keywords you are talking about. It has to be more than that though. You need to make the titles descriptive so that they grab the attention of your reader. If someone searches for content that you’ve written about, there is a good chance others have written about it as well. People like lists. Titles within the post make it easy to skim through quickly. |  |
Pro Tip: People generally search questions. Consider what question your post is the answer to and name your article that.
Mobile Optimization
This has become a big one. Google started ranking sites, no matter how much of an authority you were before, as lower if the site was not optimized for mobile compatibility. The majority of Americans use their phones or tablets for most of their internet use. With this in mind, Google changed their algorithm to be more supportive of sites that work well on this platform.
Internal Links
When you mention something in passing in a post, and you have written about it in more depth before, link to it. It’s that simple, but it will help your bounce rate, which will help your rankings.
Use Multiple Channels
You’re website looks great. It’s mobile optimized, there are key words and internal links in all the right places, pages and images load quickly… now what? Well, think outside your webpage. You should utilize the power of social media to boost your SEO (read more here). Stay consistent with your keywords and watch your numbers increase!
Mobile Optimization
This has become a big one. Google started ranking sites, no matter how much of an authority you were before, as lower if the site was not optimized for mobile compatibility. The majority of Americans use their phones or tablets for most of their internet use. With this in mind, Google changed their algorithm to be more supportive of sites that work well on this platform.
Internal Links
When you mention something in passing in a post, and you have written about it in more depth before, link to it. It’s that simple, but it will help your bounce rate, which will help your rankings.
Use Multiple Channels
You’re website looks great. It’s mobile optimized, there are key words and internal links in all the right places, pages and images load quickly… now what? Well, think outside your webpage. You should utilize the power of social media to boost your SEO (read more here). Stay consistent with your keywords and watch your numbers increase!
Keeping those five things in mind will help you increase your SEO and yield results that will boost your business. Here are a few more things that will help you understand what is going on with your SEO and what you need to focus on:
Quality Content – Posts that are well written will get more attention from search engines. Misspellings, bad grammar and unfocused content will be detrimental. You also need to be aware of the length of your posts. 500 words is a good minimum. Longer posts get more attention. A warning though: Long posts are more likely to lose reader’s interest, so keep your formatting and topic in mind.
Authority – How many posts does your website have? Sites with more than 401 pages get SIX TIMES more content than those with less than 50. If other authoritative sites link to you, this increases your authority.
Usability – If your site loads quickly and doesn’t contain broken links, you’ll rank higher. Consider using images that are .png instead of .jpg or .gif. They’ll load much faster. How your site looks and how easy it is to navigate are also important factors. Make sure it is set up in a way that users can easily anticipate where things are.
Quality Content – Posts that are well written will get more attention from search engines. Misspellings, bad grammar and unfocused content will be detrimental. You also need to be aware of the length of your posts. 500 words is a good minimum. Longer posts get more attention. A warning though: Long posts are more likely to lose reader’s interest, so keep your formatting and topic in mind.
Authority – How many posts does your website have? Sites with more than 401 pages get SIX TIMES more content than those with less than 50. If other authoritative sites link to you, this increases your authority.
Usability – If your site loads quickly and doesn’t contain broken links, you’ll rank higher. Consider using images that are .png instead of .jpg or .gif. They’ll load much faster. How your site looks and how easy it is to navigate are also important factors. Make sure it is set up in a way that users can easily anticipate where things are.
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